Beautified
1 Peter 4:14 “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.” [1]
I. Blamed
A. Try
B. To
II. Blessed
A. Spirit
B. Sets
III. Beautified
A. Others
B. Ours
Introduction: Society is spinning truth in such a way so that now those of us who were once outspoken about the things we feel important are not as ready to speak as we once were. It is not easy when you hear so much against what you believe.
Every channel on TV says that Christians are intolerant prudes. We who believe the Bible can’t live in a society that allows and even promotes people to do whatever they want to do. They say that everybody who comes should have the right to take whatever they want and do whatever they want to do to those who have because that is the humane way. Therefore it is better to not work because if you do work, then you must serve others who don’t.
Some who promote this thing called Socialism even use the scripture to turn and spin Luke’s account in Acts where the believers shared with one another. The truth of Christianity is that we all have something to offer that God has given us and true Christians are willing to share with those less fortunate who are in a place where they would rather not be. Often Christians want to contribute and they do. Often they want to do more than they can at this point in their life when they are not as able as they once were. After they recover, they will contribute to the good of their community. This is not what has become Socialism where the government takes and the elected leaders take credit while they make slaves of those who serve and serve those who would keep them in power.
Times have not really changed much since the early church. Just like what we read in Ecclesiastes 3, to everything there is a season. Good times come for us and good times go. It really seems like the good times for Christians in this country is in the past and as others attempt to bring back the idea of hard work as the way to prosperity, there are more pushing us towards anarchy.
Today we will hear what Peter had to say why back then as a way to encourage. Peter’s direct writings are powerful with few words though not so prominent in the Bible as Paul’s. John Mark’s gospel is thought to be from Peter’s account as he told Mark of his remembrances.
Scripture: The scripture is 1 Peter 4:14. When you have found it please rise to your feet for the reading of God’s written word.
Prayer: Please be seated
Message: In the 12th verse from chapter 4 of Peter’s first letter, there is something very familiar to what I hear today. 12 “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:” [2]
Don’t find it weird that we are being sifted as Peter was sifted back then. Satan is defeated and that is the absolute truth but he is throwing darts to capture whomever he can while he has the chance now. The fiery darts are flying across the airways and cable news more now than any time in my lifetime. Those against God’s Word Jesus are more active in spinning lies than those of us who attempt to spread the truth of His gospel. Think it not strange! It happened before so now it’s happening again.
Peter says something that unless you do have the Holy Spirit, you cannot say. 13 “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” [3]
Be glad? When some knot head is calling you stupid you should be joyful? As said before, unless you have the Holy Spirit in you and you give over to His will, your first inclination is retaliation. “Well let me tell you what I think about you!” Right? That’s what I usually do. I try to make my point. But as the old thing from some years back, “What would Jesus do?” Actually that should be, what did Jesus do. He didn’t fight back because He knew His purpose was to take up His cross.
If we receive what Jesus did because we are Christians, little Christs, we rejoice because when His beauty or glory is revealed, we will share with in His moment of glory with Him as Our Heavenly Father is pleased with our obedience.
So that brings us to the focal verse. When, not if, others who are against you try you in the court of public opinion and point to you as what is wrong with the way things are today, remember it is because of the name of Christ that you carry. You are a Christian. The Declaration of Independence that our nation adopted includes these words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
If we are happy to carry the name of Jesus and to be included with His personal persecution, and Peter says that should be where we find that allusive thing called happiness, then the forefathers said we have a right to pursue His will.
We are blessed! That should not be a reason to hide our heads in the sand as others would like us to do. We are blessed! We are Christian. Yes Jesus loves you. Yes Jesus loves you. Yes Jesus loves you. The Bible tells me so! It tells you so too.
For the Spirit of God rests! Look closely there. Spirit is another word for wind. Wind is air, that perfect combination of gasses that promotes life, when it moves is called wind or in the old days, spirit. The Spirit of God, when He comes to you, He rests upon you. When you receive Him, He stays with you. He indwells you. He sets where you are and He will not leave you. If you are receiving some of those darts that Satan is throwing that are intended for the Christian, the little Christ, rejoice. Find joy! Hey, you’re on the right team. Take the dart and laugh at the scar it leaves because when you get to the Judgement Seat of Christ, you want to have it and Jesus will see it. You carry the mark of righteousness with you wherever you go. Don’t let anybody or anything take your joy of being with Jesus! They can’t unless you give your joy away. Don’t do it! Show the world what it is to be a Christian and you will find happiness as the forefathers said is your right.
And it will be a beautiful scar because Jesus will be glorified or beautified because of His scars that we carry for Him. Others see what we carry as ugly scars from the truth that they attempt to change. They believe the deception that disagrees with The Way, The Truth, and The Life. He is Ours because we are His. The accusations thrown against us are ours too. Wear them because they are beautiful to Him. Yes, you neigh Sayers are right. I do trust in my Lord because He died that I might live and I will live with Him eternally. Throw that kind of accusation because I am guilty of being a Christian.
That’s verse 16. But there is a flip side to this record. Does anyone remember the flipside? CDs don’t have a flip side do they? This generation now forgot even what a CD is. I know for sure whatever the younger generation listen to music on now probably doesn’t have a flipside. Anyhow, let’s look at it from Ecclesiastes 3 which we are studying in our evenings just now. There is a positive truth and a negative truth. Accusations that say you are a Christian are positive for you but negative for those who accuse. Verse 17 warns even today as good means bad and bad means good. “15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.” [4]
A murderer is a person who plans to end the life of someone and carries out the deed. So who are those who are killing the innocent today? If you are one, then Peter says this is not a good thing for the Christian to be accused of. He warns about thieves too. They are people who take what others have which are rightfully theirs as God has given over to them in this life. Nobody has the right to forcefully take yet we are to rightfully give as others have need. Don’t be accused of being a thief. An evildoer is one who works at doing what is evil or against good. If you promote that which God forbids and you work to make sure that evil is carried out, you’re an evildoer. Peter said don’t do that and call yourself a Christian. Uhoh, Peter quit preaching and now he’s gone to meddling. Don’t be a busybody? Sounds like somebody started with a prayer meeting that turned into a gossip session. That never happens to us here in this church called Merry Oaks Baptist, right? Busybody? Busy in your body trying to make yourself look better than everybody else? What is your definition of busybody? Christians do lift each other up in prayer especially when they seem to be against God but we must leave the accusation and punishment to God.
That was a long paragraph of what not to be accused of. Peter turned back again to affirmation. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 17 "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." [5] To do and not to do; that is the proclamation from Peter.
Prayer:
Invitation: Peter did what Jesus said he would do. He lived to be an old man and he was led to places he did not want to go. Tradition has it that Peter followed Christ even in death as he too died on a cross but Peter wanted to be hanged upside down to show that though he followed his Savior, Peter was the opposite of his Savior. We can never be Christ but we should be happy when we are accused of following Him. We should be joyful.
This message today was intended to help us as Christians to live in such a way as to be unaffected by others who would try to turn our attention away from Jesus. Peter attempted to encourage those who were being beaten down into thinking they were strange or weird at that time. The pendulum has swung in that direction again. We need to remember that we are His and that we will take His pain of rejection from those who do not want Him but there can be no joy without Him.
Take these few minutes this morning to pray for those who accuse because unless they receive the Holy Spirit, they will never find that allusive happiness that the declaration of independence says we have in this nation. Take these few minutes to give God the glory that He deserves for choosing you to be His adopted child.
Consider this as we sing…
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1995). (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version., 1 Pe 4:14). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[2] ibid., 1 Pe 4:12
[3] ibid., 1 Pe 4:13
[4] ibid., 1 Pe 4:15
[5] ibid., 1 Pe 4:16–19
