The Code

Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 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. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: 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. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 1 Peter 2:18-25.

Your life and mine are a string of opportunities. Opportunities for God. Opportunities for self and Satan. None of us are, so to speak, born with the silver spoon in our mouth. We start at the bottom. That being the case, we will be working for somebody as we make our livelihood. Now this morning is an unusual opportunity. You who work on campus here are sitting with your bosses and they are sitting with you. Let's look at our text. I want to tell you young people, you are way ahead. Peter as he writes here is speaking in regard to slaves--actual slaves in the Roman empire. You move on to the next thing. But these people Peter writes to are set for a life of slavery. A few were able to buy their way out to freedom, but most who became slaves lived out their lives as slaves and servants. But still, go ahead and apply this here to yourself.

You will have good bosses and bad bosses. Many times you'll be convinced that your present boss is a bad boss. But later on, when you truly work under a bad boss, you'll look back and say, "ah, those were the days. I had a good boss then." Hear what Peter writes:

"Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward." The Word of God tells us to be subject to our masters with all respect. Not just the good ones, but the froward ones. That's an ancient word for bad ones. Be subject to them. God has a purpose in it. Besides, how do you hope someday to provide good guidance in leading others if you don't have some experience in being led? So respect those in authority over you. In the long run this will help you.

In fact, Peter goes on to say, "this is thankworthy." It's a good thing to serve with a respectful attitude. It "is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 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. For even hereunto were ye called."

Now we bump into something peculiarly out of sync with our age--totally out of sync with our age. It is the being of a person of conscience. Such people are rare. But we are called to this. Ask yourself, am I willing, for conscience toward God, to suffer grief? Are you willing to suffer wrongfully or unfairly? And are you willing to suffer unfairly and to do so with the kind of attitude and behavior that accompanies the true Christian? I am afraid that too many times I have not been. Oh, maybe I let some injustice be done to me and took it silently and didn't say anything. And maybe I thought I was really being noble for reacting that way. God was giving me grace to get through it. But I wonder if I was willing to accept all of His grace. We might suffer silently and think we are really martyrs, but what is our attitude? We may be silent, but is our spirit chafing? Are we outwardly compliant but inwardly stroking ourselves and nursing the offence that's been done to us?

If we are silent where we receive unfair treatment, does any venom ooze out somewhere else in our behavior in subconscious retaliation? We need to examine ourselves. We might not come out so cleanly if we are honest.

Peter tells us that if we suffer for our faults and accept that, we don't get any credit for that. That's to be expected. Appropriate discipline suited to the behavior is not suffering for wrong. It is part of our training. Everyone manages to foul up and everyone gets to eat some crow. That's OK. But when we suffer for doing what's right, how do we react? That is really the question here. Peter says, "But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called."

I was wondering, have we ever thought of it that way? Have you ever considered that the Bible says that we are called to do well and endure suffering for doing well? I want you to see that it is not just the suffering imposed upon us that matters here. You don't get any credit for suffering for God. What the Bible says is that our reaction to the experience is what makes our behavior acceptable or unacceptable to God. Mind you, even if our behavior is acceptable to Him we receive no credit from it toward our salvation which comes in truth wholly from Christ Jesus. But our attitudes, our reactions to what life sends our way are still a part of receiving the end, or goal of our faith, "the salvation of our souls" (1 Peter 1:9).

Yes. How will you or I react the next time we think we are being treated unfairly? Every speed-bump that our lives cross over is an opportunity for spiritual growth and development. God has a plan for you. He wants to give you His kingdom. Are you willing to take all of it and receive all of it?

But I know how some of you are thinking. See, I've been there too. Never try to outguess someone else. You don't know what path they've taken. See, there is a shortest distance between two points for us. I'm here now, and I'm on my way to the heavenly land. But when I was more youthful, I was afraid that maybe if I stepped out and followed God He'd be some kind of Scrooge or Grinch and take away my fun. Oh yes, "I want to get married, at least that, before Jesus comes. Is that OK God?" I know this thinking. I have thought it. But there is a shortest distance between two points. There is a shortest distance between where I am now and where I am going, a path with less trials and a path with more and harder trials. And we can't forget that there is also another path, one that leads totally off the map, to Hades. The devil is out there looking for happy-meals (1 Peter 5:8). Don't bounce off of God's trails and speed-bumps right onto the devil's dinner plate.

I know it's not fashionable today to speak of anyone being finally "lost." Oh well. The truth is the truth. Think of it. If any of us in this room are saved, it will be a miracle. If any of us are lost, it will be a tragedy. And don't even imagine that there is some surprise option out there with no trials and no suffering. If you are on a path with no speed-bumps, you aren't in this world. The devil's road doesn't have speed-bumps, it has pits with sharp spikes and landmines all through it. But he'll sell it to you as if paved with candy and roses. None of us here is that naive. Please don't buy into that. If you get deceived and finally lost I hope it will be on a stronger deception than that.

People will tell us sometimes that Christianity just doesn't "seem relevant any more." But it is not truth that has changed. It is people. It is because there are few men and women, young and old, who are men and women of conscience, who will suffer for conscience toward God. There are few who will draw the line and say, "Here I stand on principle. That's the bottom line, it's just the way it is, I am immovable; I stand here for the truth of God."

But all of these cheap Cracker-Jack nick-nacks are spread out before us, even in the church. They are littered across our pathway. They are there, as if a shining coin laying in the sand. But you pick up these cheap religious substitutes, whether rock music in Christian guise, or the fascination and mystery of exploring things with the opposite sex. But outside of God's morality there is nothing but extreme pain, long-term and yes, short-term too. In His way is the path of life. In the broad road is the path of death. The early church was called not Christianity, but before that they were called "the Way." They loved and lived God's way, God's code. They were people willing "for conscience toward God" to endure, and to suffer.

They turned the world upside down. But they suffered in doing so. But they counted that suffering as nothing compared to the thankfulness, yes, thankfulness that pulsed in their bosom as they submitted to God's plan. They were giants. What are we?

We are not giants. We are a generation of wimps. Now let's just be honest about it. It is true. We are nothing but spiritual dwarves. We have to ask, how is it that they did live it? How did they do it? What was different for them perhaps than how it is in our own experience? Look now at the next verses:

"For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps." Because Christ suffered too, and He did it for us. His life was to be our pattern. Heaven's plan for our lives--for every one of us--is that we would live and be those impossible reproductions. People who live like Jesus. We don't have to try to follow Jesus in leaps. Just in His steps. Just one by one by one by one. And in His strength. We can do all things through Jesus who strengthens us. Even take steps as slowly as it takes, one at a time.

Christ didn't just suffer randomly. He didn't come here just to walk across a stage and pretend, or just to soak in the sensations of humanity and go on back to heaven to say to the Father, "Dude, that was rad." All of this was connected. Notice what the Bible says here, "Christ also suffered for us. A major part of the project--no matter what anybody else tells you or will tell you later when you are sitting in a chapel at some Adventist college somewhere--is that Jesus did this for us for the very purpose of "leaving us an example." He didn't leave it to someone else. He left it to us, to you and to me, personally, individually, directly. When you read your Bible you can be absolutely certain that everything that Jesus endured was endured for you so utterly personally.

Yes, He is our substitute. But never ever forget buy into the good-time, rock-and-roll, plastic-banana fakery that says to ignore that example part. That says, His example is interesting, but let's not focus there. His example means very much to us. The devil is always interposing and saying, "Stop! Don't look at Jesus!" And He does it in so many subtle ways, sometimes even by pointing you to Jesus. He says, Look there at that Fellow. You can never equal Him. Don't even try. It is impossible for you to become perfect. Settle for being the best that you can be. God couldn't expect more than that now, could He?"

Now my brothers and sisters, our goal is not to equal Jesus, or to become as perfect as Jesus, or to become Jesus. That is so much chaff and lies. We are to follow Jesus fully. We are to become as perfect as He is willing to make us (and that is indeed quite perfect). We are to become as fully human as we can, as fully "me." The devil wants to make us all into mindless little robotic imps. God wants to help us grow into all that our potential can be under the influence of His mighty grace and power. Satan wants to destroy. God wants to recreate. Satan wants to kill. God wants to give you life. Is the math on this thing hard?

Look at the text: "who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: who, when He was reviled, reviled not again." Jesus didn't sin. As an example for us. So we are not to do sin. No guile was found in His mouth. And in Revelation 14:5 we find a people in whose mouths was found no guile. No guile, no falsity is in their mouths because no falsity is in their hearts. And their hearts are their minds and so their minds have been cleaned up by the purifying presence of the Holy Spirit of God. They have permitted, no--they have requested--God to seal them. And He did. And they who are there spoken of are to be we who now live. We are to stand on that heavenly Mount Zion with the Lamb. Are we willing to become those people?

When Jesus was reviled, when they abused Him, criticized Him, and scorned Him, He did not give back in return. Some hard rebukes went out, but as warnings to those who stood by listening, not as verbal assaults upon the wicked. Jesus spoke straight, but He spoke in love. How important that we find that same mixture, neither too bitter nor too sweet. For we are His followers and our lives and words should be as His life and His words were.

"When He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." That's what Jesus did. Instead of striking out, He reached out. They came out to Him in the night with swords and staves, with torches and lies. He healed, He replaced the ear that was chopped-off in the fray. As they brought Him up to Golgotha, He prayed, "Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do." Impractical? No way! Super-practical. He who was in God's image was showing us what we who are made in God's image are to be.

Jesus committed Himself to His Father, "Him that judgeth righteously." Satan put into His ear the thought that he would be forever separated from His Father, that He would never be joined to Him again, that indeed, He would never rise from the grave, but for all time be bound away in the darkness for an unappreciative race of demon-overwritten people. But He trusted Himself to His Father's justice and His mercy.

Will we ever become like Jesus if we continue to refuse to trust in God for justice and fairness? Remember, Christ suffered for us, not for any sin that He had done. He didn't worry about "getting even." He just trusted His Father. I tell you that you and I have to stop thinking about "getting even" with those whom we think have treated us unfairly. When we do get even, we rob God of His vengeance. When we give vengeance it is never redemptive--it is never really aimed at the salvation of another person. Instead, it is aimed at our attempt to extract repayment for some wrong, real or imagined. But we should leave vengeance to the Lord. Vengeance is His, because only he can repay in a redemptive way, calculated to heal and help and save.

When we get even we show that we aren't trusting God's character. We are showing that we aren't fully convinced that He will do justice to us. That is a poor commentary on our faith in Him. He left us an example that never failed. He never left us one hint that He wouldn't be merciful and fair to us. Not one. I urge you today, trust in God. Risk the outcome by faith. Say, "This seems unfair to me, but I am going to trust God. He knows what I need, and if I leave the matter with Him, He will use this to help save someone else."

"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." Look at those lines there in 1 Peter 2:24. Do you see the emphasis. "Who His own self" . . . "in His own body." Jesus did this for us. He bare "our sins," on the tree. He took the curse for us. "That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness." When? We are constantly told "later," but the text plainly tells us "now." We can, now, live lives that are permeated with righteousness. Not on our own, not apart from God, but if we live in company with Him, what else could our lives be than that?!

"By whose stripes ye were healed." Now that is an interesting line. Right out of Isaiah 53. And it says that with His stripes we were healed. The healing has come. It is not all over the horizon future-stuff. Now is the time of the living our Christianity. Now. Here. On planet earth. Right before the flood. Right before the end.

See, we are Noah to our generation. The world around us is the antediluvian world all over again but in worse measure. The flood is coming. God will not always strive with flesh. Only this time, the flood will be a flood of fire. God needs His Noahs today. Are you willing to be a Noah? A person who lives "for conscience toward God"? Too often we don't want to admit that the healing power is here. We don't want to be responsible to partake of it. Well, it's here. The power and the help are here. With God's help, will we be people of conscience? Will we live up to the gospel, or down to our nature?

The Bible says through Peter, "For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." So are you? Jesus died to change us, to buy us back an opportunity to become truly human. He offers to walk with us so that we can live "soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world" (Titus 2:12). He offers us His company when we feel we've been wrongly treated. Let us be willing to suffer with Him. We are limited only by our love for sin. May He remove it and replace it with a love by which we will gladly return unto Him as our Shepherd, and the Bishop of our soul. May we learn to live by the Code.