Sunday 06 • 30 • 19

I'm thankful to stand before you. If you don't know me, my name is Russell McCutcheon and I'm the new church planter here looking to launch by God's grace next fall 2020. I'm so glad to be a part of this body.

Before getting into God's word, I have to say thank you to the body. We've been here a little over a month and you guys have helped make our transition smooth by sending us groceries. Shout out to RUF because if you ladies and gents did not come and help us unload those pods, we might still be unpacking them now. I just want to thank you all so much for loving our family and helping us to get settled and feeling comfortable with this body of believers.

Now, as we prepare to turn to God's word, let's read what you'll see on the screen. We're going to read our text which is 1 Peter chapter 3, verses 8 through 17. We're doing the CSB today. Ready? Let's read.

Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult, but on the contrary, giving a blessing since you were called for this. Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit and let him turn away from evil and do what is good. Let him seek peace and pursue it because 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 what is evil. Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be intimidated. But in your hearts, regard Christ the Lord as holy. Ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will than for doing evil. — 1 Peter 3:8-17 (CSB)

Amen.

A Story from Baltimore

Baltimore Projects. Now, I'm not referring to any place in Baltimore, Maryland but a local housing project in my hometown of Mobile, Alabama. And it was in projects like these when I was younger that I would often go there to have fun and to play basketball because many of these housing projects had gyms.

One particular day, as an adult, newly married with both of my children born at the time, I went with a few of my friends and former teammates to Baltimore Projects to pay to play in an adult league basketball game. And that's when I still had a little juice. We won. After the game, we left walking out together and my friends, many of my former teammates, began to talk about how they were going to kick it. They were going to go out to the club and do all of this stuff that made me uncomfortable.

Why did it make me uncomfortable? I was a new believer. Not long before that—maybe a year or two before—I had put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I used to be involved with the things that they mentioned, but I can't do it now. I realized that I can't go back. They were just talking about how much fun they were going to have, and then they turned to me and they said these words: "Stick, are you down?"

Let me mention what that nickname means. In college, playing ball, I was a very thin dude and they called me Stick because I could get through cracks and crevices without being touched. So they looked at me and said, "Stick, are you down?" I turned to him and I said, "Brothers, I can't. I can't do it. I can't go out. I've trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not mad at you but I can't do those things anymore."

When I said this, it's like I just dampened the overall mood of everybody. And then one of my former college teammates began to talk about me in my presence to the other guys. He maligned and criticized me for my faith. "You're weak, you're lame." And then he began to say things like, "All you Christians think you are better than everyone else."

Now, this bothered me. This really bothered me because I was the only Christian in that circle and they seemed to put me in a category out here where everyone else was over there. And it felt lonely. If I'm honest, it felt lonely because these were my friends. I used to run with them but now because I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they felt that those things like, "Man, we just can't be with you. You're not down anymore."

But I knew something. I couldn't go back. I couldn't go back to my old way of thinking or my old way of doing things. Why? Because Scripture tells us:

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. — 2 Corinthians 5:17

I had a new value system and this new value system clashed with that old value system. We understand what this is like, right? We know what it's like.

Before coming to Christ, we lived according to the world. We did our own thing, our own values. But when we placed our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we took on His values. His value system became our value system.

So we look out at the world today and move about in the world. The question I want to put before us is this: just how are we as Christians to live in a society that's hostile to Christians? How are we to live?

Do you ever feel like separating from society? I don't know if you watch the news and you feel like, man, it's just so much filth here. It's so much evil going on. If we could just leave and go somewhere else and create our own community. There is one, but it's called the New Jerusalem, the new heavens and earth. It's not here. But you just want to separate from all of this evil. Or maybe you want to change society by bringing Christian values into the marketplace.

We all wrestle with the question of how do we live as Christians in this society. And so here in 1 Peter, Peter informs these elect exiles living in Asia Minor. He tells them how to live in a world that's hostile to them.

The main thrust of this passage is this: to show how Christians ought to live out the gospel in a world that's suspicious and even hostile to them. Peter calls on these believers in Asia Minor, but not just them. He's calling on us as well to live differently from those around us, even if strife and persecution arises. You gotta live differently.

He's not calling us to live outside of the social structures of society, but to live within these social structures while living differently.

This morning, as we walk through verses 8 through 17, I want us to see three things. First, we are to act like family with one another—verses 8 and 9. Second, God is opposed to those who do evil—we see this in verses 11 and 12. And finally, we are to understand this aspect of suffering for doing good—verses 16 and 17.

This morning, I want to speak from this subject: living as an alternate society within society.

Before going further, let's ask the Spirit's help in this time. Let's pray.

Father, Your Word is open, and the Bible says that Your Word is sharper than any two-edged sword. So, Holy Spirit, I pray that You would do surgery in our souls. Open our eyes. Give us ears to hear that we will obey You. In Jesus's name, amen.

Acting Like Family with One Another

Let's look at our first point: we are to act like family with one another. Let's read verses 8 and 9 again.

Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult, but on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you are called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing. — 1 Peter 3:8-9

When I read this, I see family language. This is family language. He wrote to people who trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and are now in the family of God. When you're a family, you relate to one another differently from those on the outside. You relate differently.

Now we are brothers and sisters in Christ with God as our Father. These two verses summarize the household code that Peter had just given. Remember, going back, Peter began by talking first to slaves. I'm so thankful that Jeff defined what that meant, because this was not the chattel slavery—that evil atrocity of America that we know so well—but it was different. He speaks to these slaves and servants and tells them how to relate to their masters. Why? Because of the gospel.

Then he turns to wives and tells wives to submit to your husbands, but he doesn't leave husbands out. He then turns to husbands and says, "Live with your wives in an understanding way." Why? Because of the gospel. Then he brings everybody together and calls for social unity within the body. Why? Because of the gospel.

As exiles in a foreign land, we are to live differently from the unbelievers around us.

Now, that word unity is something that we gotta put into practice, y'all. We have to. We live in a world that knows disunity, but this unity is just not out there. We even see disunity within the church. We divide over any and everything. You believe one thing politically and I believe another, and then we start hating the other people because they don't believe like we believe. Oh, that's not right. And then we put them in another category.

We divide over things about us that I believe is the most shallow thing about humans, and that's race. How much melanin I have in my skin as opposed to who has less than I have. We divide over what someone looks like.

Then, we divide over other things like, should I vaccinate my child or not? Should I homeschool or not? Should I live in the city, in the hood, or should I live in the burbs? And so when people do something different from us, we can malign and look down on them when we need to have unity within the body of Christ.

In these verses, Peter gives some adjectives on how God's people should act with one another. Look at it. He says, be like-minded and sympathetic. He says, have love for one another and be compassionate and humble. See, Peter wanted them to be an alternate society, a safe place where they would not face that same insults and hostilities that come from outside of the church. But they're not supposed to separate and be this within society.

I love the diversity of the body of Christ. God in his infinite wisdom has brought people together from different races, different backgrounds, different cultures. And y'all, I gotta tell you, we cannot like it here on Earth, but in Revelation 7 and 9, we need to get some practice because we're going to be singing Swahili, we might be singing some Mandarin, we might be singing some Fred Hammond or some Chris Tomlin, but we are going to be together before the throne of God. I love the diversity.

And then I love how Jesus did it. Jesus took a dude who worked for the state, supported the state, got rich because of the state—Matthew. And then he took a dude who hated the state, railed against the state, and was ready to kill everybody who was with the state—Simon the Zealot. He brought them together. He called the disciples whom he called apostles to be with him that he would send them out to preach the gospel. He took two people on opposite spectrums and said, "You're brothers now. Go do my bidding." And you and I are sitting here today because of the work of a person like Matthew and Simon the Zealot being together. He does the same with you and me today.

So Peter says, be like-minded. Be sympathetic. Be humble as you're with one another. Then in verse 9, he tells believers to return blessing in response to evil. Now, whoo. I don't know about y'all, but when I read that, I'm like, "That's not natural. Return blessing in response to evil."

We, you know, you insult me, I'm gonna insult you back. I may do it behind your back. I'm gonna do it in your face. But that's what feels more natural, right? We go tit for tat. I don't know about you, but I grew up. My folks would say, "Russell, if they hit you, you better what? You better hit them back." And if you didn't hit them back, you better leave and go get the job done. But we understand that well. It's natural for us—if someone did this to me, I'm going to do it back to you. But Peter tells them not to do that. Peter, in essence, tells them to have an attitude of non-retaliation in a culture of retaliation. Don't retaliate when they do this to you.

Jesus told the disciples in Luke 6:27 to love your enemies.

Now, Peter remembered that teaching and he applied that teaching to the situation of his readers. So instead of retaliating, he said, give a blessing. Give a blessing. See, to bless someone in a world that knows retaliation is a witness to the world of the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a witness to the world.

See, we bless those who insult the name of Christ because the blessing is our inheritance. We have been called to active blessing instead of passive hostility. You know what that passive hostility is? That's like us inwardly seeking someone's hurt while we outwardly bless them. Like inside you're seething and you're wishing their demise, but outwardly you're saying all good things about them. That's not how family acts.

I've been here a little over a month, a couple of days over a month, and since I've been here, I have been thinking deeply on my own family. I miss them, and one particular person in particular I miss is the patriarch of my family, a mountain of a man, Fred Reed, my grandfather, who died at 98 right before we moved here.

I was thinking this week of one situation that is seared in my mind. If I forget anything else, I will remember this. One day my brother and I—I got two brothers and a sister—and my brother right up under me, we did everything together. We played college ball together. But you know, we were like oil and water sometimes. If you got some siblings, and one particular day, my brother and I had gotten into it. That was some furniture moving, if you understand what I'm saying. We're at each other, and because of what we had done, we had gotten in some pretty big trouble.

My mom was at work and my dad was gone, and so when my family found out, the first two people that we ran to were grandfather and my grandmother. My grandfather, we stayed right around the corner.

They ended up at my house and later that evening, my extended family was there. My grandfather, who was in his late 70s at this time, came into the dining room where my brother and I were, and he begins to passionately implore us: "Do not do this to one another because you're family."

And then this happened. In his late seventies, he began to weep. I had never seen that a day in my life. This man who has seen—he's forgotten more than I knew. He's sitting before his grandsons and he's saying, "Don't do this because you're family. You don't treat each other like that." He's crying and now my brother and I are crying and we turn to each other. We embrace and we in essence say, "I will not hurt you again."

About a month before he died, we're sitting at my grandfather's house and he's sitting in his easy chair and I can see it as clear as day. My grandfather—I don't know how he did it, but he'd cross his legs and he could put both feet on the ground. I can't do that. He'd cross his legs and even in his old age and battling a sickness, he pretty much said, "Family gotta love each other. I'm not gonna be here long, but you must love one another."

How have you treated those within your family? Now, I'm not just talking about your blood or those that live in your same home, but I'm talking about your Christian family. How have you treated your brothers and sisters in Christ? Those who worship with you, those you do life with. Are there those that you have failed to be compassionate and humble towards? Do you need to go to someone and ask for forgiveness? Or should you offer forgiveness? What is that? What's going on with some of these relationships? Do you need to make it right?

If you need to, I implore you: don't leave today without making it right with those you are at odds with. Why? Because you're family. And because you're family, we must act like family.

God Is Against Those Who Do Evil

Secondly, I want us to see that God is against those who do evil. Let's look at the last sentence of verse 11 and then verse 12.

Let him seek peace and pursue it because 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 what is evil. — 1 Peter 3:11-12

In verses 10 through 12, Peter uses Psalm 34 as the ground for exhorting the people of God to live in a way that pleases God as the outside world watches. This call to turn from evil and do what's good involves the way the mouth is used to respond in a way of evil. Now, I don't know about y'all, but we got some tongues and we can speak. I don't know about y'all, but this gets me in trouble a lot, right?

Peter says, "Don't use your mouth for evil." And so David—he's the one that wrote this Psalm—and the background of this Psalm is when David was in exile. He's away from Judah. He's away from the family of God in the land of Philistine. Just as David was living among a pagan society, Peter's readers were living in a pagan society. Peter wanted the people to know the same God who delivered David from his stresses and his affliction is the same God who would deliver them.

But if deliverance was delayed, they were still to turn from evil and do good. You see, David had hope that God would deliver him from his affliction, his shame, his lack, and the same hope that David had, these believers that Peter wrote to had that same hope.

Now, it's important for us to understand that as Christians, just because we are Christians does not mean we will not experience affliction—and I'm talking about the kind of affliction that your money can't get you out of. It doesn't mean that we're exempt from that kind of pain. Because understand, when David wrote this Psalm, where is he? He's outside of the land. He's in the midst of his pain. The people of First Peter, they're in the midst of their pain and suffering. But no matter what the circumstances are, those who are in Christ, those who have been born again, have a new life with God and we are called to bless instead of insult.

Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12, verse 19:

Friends, do not avenge yourselves. Instead, leave room for God's wrath because it is written, "The vengeance belongs to me. I will repay," says the Lord. — Romans 12:19

See, Jesus understood this. Jesus kept his tongue from evil and deceit and Jesus understood that 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.

This reminded me of the end of Jesus's life in Matthew 20, where Jesus is on his way to the cross and these guys come in, they arrest him. And you know my boy Peter, he just—Peter just be on some stuff sometimes. Peter pulls out his sword, right? He starts swinging that thing and he cuts off a guy's ear. And Jesus says in verses 52 and 53:

Put your sword back in his place, Peter. — Matthew 26:52-53

Because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think I cannot call on my Father, and God would not send me twelve legions of angels? In other words, Peter, I can tell God to send an army and God will send it, but that's not how this is supposed to happen.

Jesus knew that the Father was keenly aware of what was taking place. See, Jesus, even going to his death, he didn't slander. He didn't insult. Isaiah 53 says it this way:

Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like sheep silent before his shearers, he did not open his mouth. — Isaiah 53

Just like David, Jesus knew that the Father knew what was going on. He understood the circumstances, and Jesus knew that God would deliver. But what happened? Jesus died. He hung on that cross, exposed. They put him in a borrowed tomb. But I love it. As them old church pastors I grew up with say, he didn't stay dead. He got up. Jesus, the one who paid the price for my sins, is right now sitting at the right hand of the Father, interceding for me. If you're in Christ, he's interceding for you now.

He understood what persecution and suffering was. So Peter wrote to those and to us and let us know that even in the midst of hardships, we must turn from evil and do good. See, the things that Peter mentions in verses eight through twelve—we are able to do. We are able to do it. Not in a legalistic way or forced compliance, but with confidence in the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ by his Spirit.

See, I'm old enough. I grew up during a time where Charlie's Angels was a popular show. Anybody know what I'm talking about? I ain't talking about new. I'm talking about old, like late seventies. You know what I mean? Charlie's Angels, right? And they end up making movies about this. But this show was about three women who would do the bidding of a dude named Charlie, and they had never seen him. Charlie would call them and tell them and give them their marching orders, and they would take these orders and willingly submit to the difficulty. Why? All because Charlie said so.

See, if Charlie's angels could represent his interest even though they had not seen him, how much more us who call ourselves Christians? And we have not even seen the Lord Jesus Christ. See, even though we have not seen him, we should be ready to fulfill his mission and to share his love with the rest of the world.

Now, when we are dealing with people on the inside of the church and outside, we must not give insult for insult or be evil towards one another, even those on the outside. Because once you start on that slippery slope, it don't stop. It keeps on going. You insult me. I insult you. I'm allowing you. You malign me. It just keeps on going. But as Christians, we can demonstrate the power of God's grace through radically new conduct.

You see, God is opposed to those who do evil. So the question for you and me this morning is: Do you want to be blessed by God or opposed by God?

Suffering for Doing Good

And finally, as we prepare to close, I want us to see this aspect of suffering for doing good. Let's look at verses sixteen and seventeen. The word says:

Yet do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will, then for doing evil. — 1 Peter 3:16-17

You see, in verses 13 through 17, we have the themes of a good conscience and good conduct and the preference to suffer for doing good rather than doing evil. See, none of us want to suffer for doing good. None of us want to suffer unjustly. And see, Peter addresses suffering unjustly directly, and we need to see that this is a potential for each and every one of us as Christians.

Now, remember the context. Nero is ruling at this time, and Nero is a wicked dude. Some theologians and some commentators believe that this is before the most intense persecution. Well, we can debate that, but no matter what, the hostility at this time was still real for these Christians in Asia Minor.

Now, based on Matthew chapter 10, verse 28, where Jesus is saying:

Don't fear the one who can kill the body, but you need to fear the one who can destroy the body and soul in hell. — Matthew 10:28

So based on that, we know that even a person who is murdered for their faith—death cannot hurt them. Why? Because Paul would say, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Even though this is true for us, there could be persecution and ill treatment in this life. Even though God's eyes are on the righteous, it may be God's will that the righteous suffer at the hands of those who oppose righteousness.

And Peter connects both suffering with being blessed in verse 14. Jesus did this in Matthew chapter five, verse 10, where he says:

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. — Matthew 5:10

For both Jesus and Peter, the privilege of right living is blessing. No matter if there is suffering, it's a sign of God's favor and evidence of one's salvation. So, what is the response to unjust suffering? He tells us in verse 14, he says, don't be afraid and in verse 15, he says, regard Christ the Lord as holy. They didn't have to be afraid because God was with them and just like he was with them, he is also with us.

Then, in verse 15, many people use this verse to justify the academic state of Christian apologetics. Now, that's a good application. So, we have professors and theologians who write books on apologetics. I think this is good but I don't think Peter had in mind the professional or academic field of apologetics. Peter is just writing to a people who are suffering in the midst of the world and he encourages them—from the lowest man on the totem pole to the highest man—that they should be able to share their faith humbly and respectfully and defend their hope in Christ whenever a person asks.

The question is, are we able to do that? Are we able to share our faith? Can we give an answer for the hope that we have in Christ? That's both clear and biblical. See, Peter does not advocate withdrawing from society to safety. He advocates for new relationships with the hope that others would come to know God through Jesus Christ and for this to happen, we have to be proximate with those who are not saved. We can't retreat from them. We have to be near them.

See, they were to live openly in the midst of an unbelieving world and be prepared to give reasons for our hope in Christ. See, I pray that we will have the same evangelical, evangelistic heart that when we engage the world around us and they ask us, we would be able to give a reason for the hope that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. See, our lives, they must not be lived in contradiction to the hope that we say we have in Jesus.

God's Will and Christian Suffering

So then, when we look at verse 17, one may ask this question: Would a loving God will a person to suffer? What God would will that you suffer? See, the truth is, it may be God's will for Christians to suffer for doing good. Notice that—for doing good. Peter affirms that it is not God's purpose for the Christian to suffer for living rightly but when Christians do suffer for living in the right way that pleases God, on some level and in some sense, it was God's will for that moment in that situation.

Peter refers to suffering for doing right, not suffering for suffering's sake. The point of this is that God wills doing what is right rather than doing wrong even if it brings suffering and if suffering does come, that God wills it, we must understand that God is sovereign even over our suffering. Oh man. God has suffering on a leash. We don't experience any more suffering than what God wants us or allows us to suffer.

Peter refers to suffering for doing right. See, it's inevitable whenever Christians show their genuine faith when they engage in an unbelieving world. As Christian faith and an unbelieving world meet, we have to expect some hostility. Remember, Christ suffered purposefully for a time on our behalf. Therefore, those who suffer like Christ suffered or similarly because of their faith in him will also share in his victory.

God's purpose for the Christian is not suffering but faithfulness and obedience even if suffering results.

The Example of Desmond Tutu

Many of you may have heard of the name Desmond Tutu, a South African priest who, during the time of racial segregation—apartheid—stood in the face of this evil injustice in South Africa. He wrote a book called No Future Without Forgiveness and in his book, he talked about what's called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. What's interesting about that is during these sessions, those who committed these evil atrocities would come to court and say, "Here are my wrongs," and then they would be graciously forgiven. Now, these were some terrible, terrible acts of injustice done because of race.

But at one of these commissions, a white police officer walks into the front of the room and he stands before the judge and he says this: "During apartheid, I came to this woman's house," and he points to an African woman behind him, a younger woman. He says, "We came to her house, took her husband, bound him with rope, poured gasoline on him, and set him on fire, and she had to watch as he screamed to his death." He said, "That wasn't all because two months later, we came back to the same woman's house, took her son, bound her son, poured gasoline on him, and set him on fire." He says, "These are my sins."

Then, the judge turns to the woman and says, "Is there anything you want to say to this officer?" Now, I want you to pause and think about what you would say in this moment. Feel it. A woman who's lost her husband and her only child.

This woman then began to weep and then she says these words: "Young man, you have taken everything from me."

My only husband whom I loved, and my only son who I gave birth to, and I still consider myself a young mother with a lot of love to give. She said, "Would you and your colleagues be so kind as to come to my house once a week and let me cook for you? Would you bring your dirty laundry and let me clean for you? Would you let me mother you?"

Just like now, there was a hush that came over the crowd for moments, and then some teenagers in the back began to sing "Amazing Grace."

How does this story make you feel? How does it make you feel? It just doesn't seem right, but I think it gets at the heart of what Peter is writing here.

See, if that was me, I'm saying kill him. If you take the people I love, I'm saying kill him. But this woman, because of her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, offered and extended forgiveness for those who wronged her. It didn't remove the pain, but it shows what this woman's faith was made of.

This is what it looks like to live as an alternate society, and I pray that we would reflect these qualities for one another as the world watches us today.

Prayer

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, again, I still think, man, this is some tough stuff for us, but I thank you that your Word addresses things that we would probably not address so we would do things differently. I thank you for the gospel rubric and gospel paradigm. And I pray that we would continue to feed on the nutrition of the gospel by the power of the Spirit that enables us to live in a way that honors you as we have an unbelieving world watching us.

They may malign us because of our faith in Christ, but we know there is coming a day where Jesus is going to part the sky. He's going to return and he's going to make all things new. May we rest in that hope, Heavenly Father. In Christ's name, amen.