Encouragement in the Hard Times 1 Peter 2
Last week we started a new series entitled Encouragement in the Hard Times.
These are hard times for a lot of people.
The difficult times, stress full times,
times of crisis can make you or break you.
You definitely get to see the stuff you are made of.
If you’re under the circumstances today,
I’ve got some encouragement for you to get you out from
under and over on top of the circumstances.
Last time we made a distinction between consequences and trials.
Consequences are the result of our actions, or the actions of others.
The Bible gives us an explanation why there is evil in the world,
why there are natural disasters, disease, poverty, and death.
The Bible reveals that all that is bad is the result of sin.
We all suffer the consequences of sin.
Sometimes the hard times we face are just the natural consequences of
living in a world that is infected with sin.
Then there are the consequences of our own behavior.
Do the crime, pay the time
Sometimes we unwittingly choose our hard times.
I’ve found some encouragement that sometimes a consequence can be
transformed by God into a trial.
If you’re in the midst of a hard time right now,
you need to discern if the reason things are difficult is because of a
consequence or a trial.
“Consequences we repent and turn from.
Trials we embrace and learn from.” (http://www.whenlifeishard.com/Downloads/DiscussionGuide.pdf)
Today I want to focus on trials.
Trials—nobody likes them.
We’ve already learned that a trial is a refining process.
The word “trail means to prove by testing.” (James MacDonald, When Life is Hard, p. 26)
God uses trials to take us to a new spiritual reality.
God uses trials to qualify us for a bigger blessing.
God uses trials to prepare us for the next level.
“A trial is a painful circumstance allowed by God for the purpose of changing
conduct and character.” (James MacDonald, When Life is Hard, p. 26)
Conduct is the stuff you do.
Character is the person you are.
God’s desire is to conform both to the example set by Jesus.
The purpose of a trial is to shape character and conduct.
Since we tend to avoid change, the hard times of a trial
is the tool God “uses to get stubborn sheep to greener pastures.”
James MacDonald, When Life is Hard, p. 28)
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews puts is this way:
Hebrews 12:10-11 (MSG)
God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.
The discipline of training is never fun.
You are taken to your limits and then stretched.
Just when you think you can’t take it anymore,
More starts coming.
Did you catch the words of encouragement in Hebrews?
The pain is momentary
The profit is immense
The blessing is big time.
Just remember that the promise of blessing
is conditional based on your endurance and perseverance in the trial.
(James MacDonald, When Life is Hard, p. 41)
Hang in there, don’t give in, don’t quit.
On the other side of your hard time you’ll find a blessing.
Trails nobody likes them,
But they have the power to mature you.
As we to consider the 2nd chapter of 1 Peter
We’re going to gain some insight to into the purpose of hard times, how to handle the hard times,
and it my hope you’ll find some encouragement if
you’re in a hard time right now.
1 Peter 2:1-25 (MSG)
1 So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You've had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God's pure kindness. Then you'll grow up mature and whole in God.
Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you'll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent:
Look! I'm setting a stone in Zion, a cornerstone in the place of honor. Whoever
trusts in this stone as a foundation will never have cause to regret it.
7 To you who trust him, he's a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to
trust him,
The stone the workmen threw out is now the chief foundation stone.
8 For the untrusting it's
... a stone to trip over, a boulder blocking the way.
They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.
9 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you— from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
11 Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it.
Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among
the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be
won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.
13 Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God's emissaries for keeping order. It is God's will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.
18 You who are servants, be good servants to your masters—not just to good masters, but also to bad ones. What counts is that you put up with it for God's sake when you're treated badly for no good reason. There's no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you're treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.
21 This is the kind of life you've been invited into, the
kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would
know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.
22 He never did one thing wrong, Not once said anything
amiss.
23 They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you're named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.
In verse 1 of chapter 2 Peter starts out with “SO.”
That means that because of what he just told us we need to do something.
The “SO” refers to the new life God has given you when He accepted
your faith.
So now that God has given you a new life, live like a disciple, a follower of Jesus.
Clean house of everything that doesn’t belong.
There is work we must do, not to save our lives, but to become like Jesus.
Peter says we are being fitted for the
“high calling of priestly work… God's instruments to do his work and
speak out for him.” (1 Peter 2:9 (MSG)
There is a lot of stuff that we need to get rid of.
Trails help us get rid of the stuff that holds us back in becoming the
person God created us to be.
In this sense trials are correcting.
Correcting trials help us clean our spiritual house.
Trials help us to get rid of hindrances.
The hard times can correct us.
Trails help us acquire the stuff we need in order to live our lives to the full.
Trials fit us into what God is building.
Nothing like a hard time to motivate you to practice the 7 Habits of a
Disciple:
Bible Study, Prayer, Fellowship, Service, Worship, Obedience
and Contemplation.
Nothing like a hard time to motivate you to learn new skills to handle the
Situation, to develop new ideas.
The philosopher Plato observed that:
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Hard times definitely create necessities.
Nothing like a hard time to motivate you to work on the issues of your life.
It was trying to figure out the hard times that sent me to therapy,
To the book stores,
To the seminars,
To Godly friends and wise counsel.
And most importantly to my knees
Trials help us get the stuff we need to be and do what God wants.
The hard times can perfect us.
Trails can correct you,
And trials can perfect you.
But regardless you find yourself in the school of hard knocks,
And that is always difficult.
Peter gives us some guidelines in how to handle the hard times.
One thing that may need correction and perfection is your relationship to the
world.
Because you now have a new life in Christ
your relationship with the world has changed.
1 Peter 2:11-12 (MSG)
Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.
Home is where its safe,
Where there is love and support, shelter and warmth,
food and friends.
Home is where it is comfortable and secure,
A place where you belong,
where you are accepted.
Peter says this world is no longer that place for you.
Don’t expect the comforts of home to be found in this world any longer.
We are to look for a new home, one whose builder is God.
Most of us cozy up with the culture.
For most of us there is no real discernable difference between the way we
live our lives and the way a good person who doesn’t know God lives
theirs.
Trails may come so you learn not to be a chameleon,
Blending into the various backgrounds you find yourself in.
Trials may come so you learn not to indulge your ego at that expense of your
Soul, which is common practice in the pagan culture we live in.
With verse 11 and 12 we see the first signs of what the believers were facing—
Prejudice and persecution from non-believers.
Because of their faith the government looked upon them as illegal atheists.
(http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/FILES/faculties/theology/2009/m.heemstra/08-c4.pdf p. 94)
Who were undermining the common good by turning people away
from their ancient gods, inviting people to orgies, participating
in cannibalism, claiming to know the truth, and
disrupting family life.
(http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/pagan2.html )
Talk about a hard time.
That’s not fair, discriminating against someone because of their religious
beliefs.
Rather intolerant.
What Peter tells those believers to do is excellent advice for what we need to do
when we find ourselves in the midst of a hard time.
Peter says that in the face of this kind of prejudice and persecution
live exemplary lives (2:12),
be a good citizen ( 2:13),
do good to others (2:15),
treat others with dignity and respect, obey the authorities
(2:16-17)
Follow the example set by Jesus.
When you live the life of a disciple you will face prejudice and even here
in the US of A, -- persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12)
Yet even if discrimination is not what kicked off your hard time.
Hard times are going to come.
When they do Peter is telling us live a life of love.
For Peter’s original congregation living a life of love is how to refute the
world’s accusations and misunderstandings.
If you continue to live a life of love in the midst of your hard time,
People are going to notice.
So even when you are struggling in your hard time
Be a person of integrity,
one whose heart is set on doing good for others.
God’s grace is sufficient.
Be kind to others, considerate, looking out for the other guy.
God’s grace is sufficient.
Be a person of dignity, honesty and hospitality;
Compassion, not guided by feelings but directed by principle.
God’s grace is sufficient.
The life you live is your apologetic for your faith.
As we shall see it is your greatest tool for evangelism,
For telling others about God.
Trials come when there is some area of your life that is not up to speed with the grace you have been given,
God allows difficulty to encourage you to pick up your game.
There may be areas of sloppiness in your living that just have to go.
There may be character and conduct issues that are holding you back in
becoming the person God created you to be,
behaviors that keep you from doing what God created you to
do.
They have to go in order for God to bless you.
Trials come when there is some area of your life that needs to be brought into a more
intimate relationship with God.
God allows difficulty so that you hunger and thirst for His presence.
The hard times encourage you to seek God with all your heart.
Remember correcting and perfecting trials come to shape you for the next blessing.
They lead you into holiness.
Closely following holiness is happiness.
God knows that holiness is the pre requisite for real happiness.
“The motivation for God’s action in allowing your life to become so hard is
love…a love that is willing to take you through a valley to get you to a
mountain top.” (James MacDonald, When Life is Hard, p. 31)
It is God’s will for you to live your life in such a fashion that it glorifies Him.
That means your life is to be a reflection of Jesus,
So that when people encounter you,
They encounter Him.
Trials shine the mirror.
Peter gives us an example to follow.
Do what Jesus did in the face of false accusations.
1 Peter 2:21-24 (MSG)
This is the
kind of life you've been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He
suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done,
and also know how to do it, step-by-step.
He never did one thing wrong, Not once said anything amiss.
They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in
silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry
our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way.
Let the righteous way you live your life turn the hearts of others towards God.
I think of the Centurion soldier who participated in the crucifixion of Jesus.
Mark 15:39 (NIV)
And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"
Jesus example gives us another way to understand our trials.
Trials come to correct.
Trials come to perfect.
Trails come to infect.
(Now go watch the movie: District 9)
By infect, I mean infect people with the Gospel.
Trials can make you infectious.
When you signed on to be a disciple,
You gave away your rights to follow the dictates of egoism.
You swore allegiance to God.
That means God gets to use you to accomplish His purposes on
this earth.
The trial you are enduring may be so that others can see how a
Christian thrives during hard times.
The trial may be for the benefit of others,
who from observing you see the benefits of faith in God.
Your hard time may be evangelism.
Your hard time may be the way someone catches Christianity.
Your hard time maybe “ to tell others of the night-and-
day difference he made for you…” 1 Peter 2:9
The Apostle Paul had his share of hard times:
2 Corinthians 11:23-28 (NIV)
I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
One particular trial Paul asked God to bring to an end.
2 Corinthians 12:8 (NIV)
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
Nobody likes hard times.
Anyone you enjoys suffering has a problem
Paul wanted his hard time to come to an end.
But God didn’t end the hard times.
God gave Paul the power to endure .
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NIV)
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
God’s grace is sufficient,
Grace is the desire to be and the power to do.
God has an inexhaustible supply to give to you in the hard times.
It may very well be that the hard time you are enduring has for its sole purpose
Being a dramatic tool for evangelism.
So today we’ve hammered home the point that
Trails are the hard times allowed by God to correct us,
Perfect us and to make us infectious.
We’ve learned how to behave in the midst of a hard time:
live exemplary lives, be good citizens,
do good to others,
treat others with dignity and respect, obey the authorities
Live a life of love and God will set things right.
Here’s some encouragement for the hard times of a trial.
Reframe the way you think about your hard times.
Don’t fight, embrace.
Consider your trials a blessing in disguise.
God will use the hard times to correct you,
or perfect you,
or infect others,
if you submit to Him.
No matter what you are up against God’s grace is sufficient to see you through.
Hang in there, don’t give up, there is a blessing worth the price of the hard
time coming your way if you keep living that life of love that God
empowers you to live.
There are two things I suggest you do when your hit with a hard time.
First: Ask and God will give you grace,
Grace is the desire to do His will and the power to accomplish His will.
Grace is what you need so that you can not only endure but spiritually
thrive in the midst of your trail.
God hasn’t abandoned you.
He’s making you desperately hungry for Him.
He is helping you through, even when you don’t realized it.
1 Peter 1:17 (MSG)
You call out to God for help and he helps—he's a good Father that way.
God will walk with you in the hard times.
Comforting you, strengthening you, encouraging you,
sometimes carrying you,
but most importantly God will see you through.
When you are tempted to think that God has abandoned you,
God is right there with you,
Keeping a close watch over you.
Seek Him, and even if God doesn’t show Himself to you,
He will empower you through.
Second: Tell your confidant, your dear brother or sister in Christ,
what you’re going through.
Don’t hide.
One of the biggest mistakes we make is to isolate ourselves from others
during a hard time.
We think we need to handle everything on our own,
We don’t want to be a bother or a burden to somebody else.
We choose to suffer in silence.
Disconnection will make your hard times worse.
Bottling it up, slapping a happy face on,
Keeping up a good front,
Will not bring you any medals.
You may win and Oscar for your acting,
But it will be just that,
Acting not authentic living.
“You can heal from any hurt and withstand immense pain if you don’t try to
face it alone,
You need a friend. You need a family.
You need a small group. You need a church.”
((Dave Earley, 21 Reasons Bad Things Happen To Good People, p. 114)
Going through a hard time?
Ask for God’s grace
Continue to live a life of love
Ask others to come along side you.
The hard times will eventually be over,
And you’ll be rewarded with a blessing.