Our Reaction to Adversity
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. 18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
We have been in these verses for a few weeks now looking at how Christians are to respond to authority, government, people around us, and tonight, we will conclude this section of Scripture by looking at “Our Reaction to Adversity” from verses 19-23.
When people treat each other properly and fairly, God’s commands about authority are easy to obey. When an authority, however, is demanding, derogative, or demeaning, the challenge for us is great.
Our strength for these situations must be found in God rather than ourselves. The fiery trials of ruthless human authorities will rob us of our zest for life and zeal for God if we try to respond in our own strength.
10 If thou faint in the day of adversity,
Thy strength is small.
The day of adversity comes to everyone. The godliest and the most evil will experience their own adversity, and that is a test to see whether or not they will faint.
Notice, though, the day of adversity didn’t make your strength small, but “If thou faint…Thy strength is small.” - the day of adversity revealed your strength to be small. There is a sense in which we should welcome the day of adversity as a revelation of our strength or weakness.
Charles Stanley wrote, “Adversity removes the cloak of “what we are supposed to be” to reveal the truth of what we are.”
Francis Bacon wrote, “Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.”
I think that’s definitely not a popular statement, but I do believe it’s Biblical…Just read and study your Bible and see what conclusion you come to on that.
Let’s look at a couple things tonight out of these verses on how we are to react to adversity...
1-An Irritable Exhortation (vs. 19-20)
1-An Irritable Exhortation (vs. 19-20)
19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
I say it’s an irritable exhortation because our human nature bristles at this suggestion. Being mistreated by those in authority is legally wrong. We have and want our rights! “It’s not fair” is often the cry of those under an authority that is restrictive or repressive. But God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
Peter tells the church that when they do right in spite of the wrong done to them it is a commendable thing (it is thankworthy) because they are serving the Lord through suffering.
The conscience of the believer is to be sensitive to God and His will and not rebel against the Lord when trials come. Christian’s submission to their masters or bosses is commendable because their submission to their masters is done because of their submission to the Master!
1 Peter 2:20 (KJV 1900)
20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently?..
Peter is giving a common sense argument here.
There’s no glory in doing wrong! When we do wrong we ought to expect to be punished! Peter tells the Christians that their freedom in Christ doesn’t mean that they can rebel against those who were in authority over them! God is not pleased when His children misrepresent Him in the world in any way!
That word “buffeted” means “beaten”…There’s no glory when you deserve to be beaten! That’s the idea in this verse!
Look on at the rest of the verse:
1 Peter 2:20 (KJV 1900)
20 ...but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
This tells us if we do good and suffer for doing good and not rebel and show out and bring reproach on Jesus then this is commendable before God.
Doing well in life is not always a prescription of praise in life. God will commend us, but the world may condemn us!
Some people think that if you serve Jesus no one will ever oppose you, everyone will love you, and everything will be just fine!
The Bible shows us something completely different…Quite the opposite actually.
The Bible shows us that it is possible and highly likely in life that we will suffer for doing good!
Warren Wiersbe wrote, “Jesus proved that a person could be in the will of God, be greatly loved by God, and still suffer unjustly. There is a shallow brand of popular theology today that claims that Christians will not suffer if they are in the will of God. Those who promote such ideas have not meditated much on the Cross.”
We suffer at the hands of sinful men because they oppose Holy God! And Peter is encouraging the saints to do good no matter how others receive them or respond to them.
God is pleased with us when we do the right thing in spite of the wrong!
Now, we are not without an example on this…As a matter and a fact, we have been given...
2-An Incredible Example (vs. 21-23)
2-An Incredible Example (vs. 21-23)
That’s the second thing I want to look at tonight.
21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
“For even hereunto” refers to suffering wrongly for doing right! We have not been called to suffer for doing wrong, but for doing right in spite of the wrong.
We have been called by Him to be like Him, to follow Him, to live for Him, to serve Him, and if need be to suffer for His sake.
As Christians we will not go through life unhindered by opposition and tribulations.
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
F. B. Meyer wrote, “Expect to be reviled and buffeted, misunderstood and misrepresented, cast out and crucified, as He was. The sheep cannot expect to fare better than the Shepherd; nay, they know that they are on His track, when constrained to follow in His footprints of suffering and sorrow.”
“Christ also suffered for us” this speaks of the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus for sinners. He died for us, suffered it all for us—that we may come to Him and be saved!
He died our death, took our punishment, and the wrath of God was upon Him for us!
What has God ever done for you? The answer is more than we can fully understand! Jesus has suffered for us—the righteous for the unrighteous; the sinless for the sinful; the Holy for the unholy; God for the ungodly! He died to save us and in His suffering He gave us a great example to follow.
No one has ever been mistreated more adversely than our Saviour. We need to look no further than to Him for a proper reaction to fiery trials. The pattern for our behavior in adverse situations is not the world. It should not be determined by what the courts allow or what our friends think we should do. We must always look to Jesus—the Author and Finisher of our faith.
We are to follow in His steps…What does that look like?…Look at the next verse:
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
Jesus was the epitome of perfection. He did no sin at all. This qualified Him to be the sacrifice for the sins of mankind. He was a perfect sacrifice, the spotless of Lamb of God. Peter continued and stated that no guile or deception was found in His mouth. This word “found” does not mean a casual look. It means “to find after much scrutiny, examination, and enquiry.” After intense scrutiny, no deceit was found in the Lord. He was honest and up front with people. We should live the same way.
Christ did not retaliate when He was reviled, insulted, maligned, or abused. Wow! If you have ever been treated this way, you know it is hard to keep your mouth shut.
When Christ suffered at the hands of others, He did not threaten retaliation. Instead, the Lord Jesus committed His life into the hands of His Heavenly Father. We too, need to learn to turn our problems over to the Lord and let Him take care of us.
Don’t ask “What would Jesus do?” Study the Scriptures to see “What Jesus did.” He has given us an example and we are to follow in His steps.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The response that we are to have according to these verses is not an easy one, but it’s for one who is walking in the Spirit. Without the strength of the Holy Ghost, this is impossible because we don’t have the strength in our own flesh; as a matter and a fact, in our flesh, we will not respond at all the right way.
It seems like a no-brainer that we should walk in God’s ways, but that means giving up our own way which is never easy. We think we know what is best for us, but if you’re wise, you will take heed to familiar advice:
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
And lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him,
And he shall direct thy paths.
It won’t always make sense to us, but we can trust our Heavenly Father who has never made a mistake. He won’t make His first one with us either!