Trusting in the Lord: A New Way

September 27, 2015

Trusting in the Lord

A New Way

1 Peter 3:8-16

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Introduction

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We know the feeling of getting into, and driving a car that we are not familiar with.

• You have a look round, see where the switch for the lights is, check the angle of the mirrors, and so on.
• With some of today’s cars, how to start the engine.
• It may take a moment to figure out.
• But then, as you drive off, you revert to instinct.
• Just when things are going well, you reach down to turn on the wipers and the lights go off.
• It's hard to change these little habits.

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The same can be said for our relationships.

• Young children learn how to be a friend with the two or three children closest at hand.
• But let's say that they move to a new school.
• For a week or two the child may feel like a fish out of water.
• What happens? They find someone with similar interests.
• It may take an effort to work at doing things differently.

And so on through life...and the point doesn’t need to be stressed.

It does need to be stressed when it’s a matter of Christians learning to navigate in the dangerous new world they find themselves in.

• This was so in the first century, and it’s increasingly so in the twenty-first.

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It has been taken for granted that we lived in a ‘Christian’ country.

• Unless people were obviously Jews, Muslims or some other definite religion, it was assumed that everyone was, more or less, ‘Christian’.
• Things have changed, those who are real 'Christians' are likely to stock out...if they are doing things correctly.
• As I shared last week, Christians in many countries will face criticism and discrimination.

How does a Christian behave when surrounded by a world that doesn’t understand what we think we’re about, and is potentially hostile?

• The answer that Peters gives comes from Psalm 34..."seek peace and pursue it."

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Text

8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. 1 Peter 3:8-16

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It may be hard to find, this ‘peace’ which we’re supposed to be looking for, but we should hunt it down.

• Think of something that you've lost and can't find.
• You seek after it because it means  so much to you.
• Don’t expect ‘peace’ to come to you when you whistle...you have to do the work.
• You have to learn the new habit.

You have to learn it because it will be all too easy to lapse into the way many people behave.

• Here is the irony: Christians are supposed to stand out as distinctive.
• When we do, and are mocked or criticized for it, we are tempted to mock and criticize right back.
• But if you do then we are no longer distinctive, because we are behaving just like everyone else!
• This is another victory for the enemy.

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We have to learn new habits.

• They are new habits of the heart and life.

Lesson

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Lessons of the Heart

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Peter, like Paul in one passage after another, insists on this as a basic rule of life: like-minded, sympathetic, loving, tender-hearted and humble.

• We may think of some people as naturally tender-hearted, and others as naturally a bit rough and cross-grained.
• But the early Christians assumed that they were all called to become tenderhearted, however difficult that might be.
• That’s why we are given so many spiritual resources.
• To enable us to work at the new habits of heart and life.

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Guard Your Tongue

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The wisdom of Psalm 34, then, is all the more needed today: guard the tongue the way you would fence in an unbroken horse.

• Stop it from doing damage.
• Then, and perhaps only then, you will be ready to face the hostile world, which may well attack even when you are doing right.
• Then and only then will you be able to ‘make a reply to anyone who asks for the reason for the hope that is in you’ (vs. 15).
• It must be done, as everything must be done, with gentleness and respect.
• Not in a clever or superior manner because thinking that they've got this new religion all figured out.

Conclusion

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It is important to maintain a good conscience...this is vital.

• Day by day, hour by hour, we need to keep a watch over our inner moral monitoring system.
• Don’t let it get rusty.
• Don’t start ignoring it or telling it to be quiet.

And this is not for your own sake.

• A good Christian conscience means a good witness in a puzzled and suspicious world.
• It may take time to have its effect, but that’s a lot better than a single moment of ignorance which gives the watching world the perfect excuse to ignore the gospel ever afterward.