Rev. David Holwick ZD
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 28, 1997
1 Peter 4:12-19
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I. Only sickos like to suffer.
A. Do you like to suffer?
1) I do not. I like easy-going life.
2) Marv Albert, humiliation of trial and sentence.
"There, but for the grace of God, goes ... one of my
deacons."
B. What causes most suffering in your life?
1) General effects of sin and decay in a fallen world.
a) Sickness, mean bosses...
2) Your own stupid mistakes.
3) Commitment to Jesus.
II. Trouble is inevitable.
A. Why American Christians don't suffer (much).
1) Pagans more accommodating?
a) Article on Christian bosses... (Terry Dwyer)
b) Religious Christians remain a favorite "whipping boy."
2) Christians more wimpy.
a) We don't stick our necks out.
b) Genuine faith carries a cost.
B. Pain of being Christian in a hostile environment.
There has been no church amongst the Kurds of Northern Iraq
in recent history.
In the 1920's and 1930's there was intense missionary work,
many seeds were sown, and a price was paid: a missionary
and his daughter were killed by locals in Dohouk.
After the war with Iraq, when the Kurds were being pushed
out by Saddam Hussein, Christian agencies offered them
food and shelter.
The Kurds were amazed that help came from Christians and not
people from their own religion.
None of this work or sacrifice has been in vain.
There are now small groups of Kurdish Christians in the
north of Iraq - the church has been born.
One convert was Mansour Hussein.
He was born in Baghdad in 1954 into a Muslim Kurdish family.
As a young man he became a Communist and rejected all belief
in God.
In January 1996, Mansour became a believer in Christ, mainly
through the witness of another believer in Arbil.
A few months later he began to work in a small Christian
bookshop.
Mansour was very active in teaching others the truth he had
found in Christ.
Not surprisingly he and his Christian friend often received
threats.
On the morning of April 21, his friend walked into the
bookshop and saw Mansour lying on the floor.
Blood was flowing from his head.
On the floor beside the body was Mansour's personal pocket
New Testament.
It appears that Mansour was cleaning the floor of the shop
when someone came to return this book.
As Mansour went to get the record of loaned books, the
visitor shot him in the head with a pistol equipped with
a silencer.
The police immediately arrested the Christian friend.
But soon they realized it was the work of an extreme Moslem
group.
The missionary who sent this account says it would be a grave
mistake to see Mansour's death as just another tragedy.
#4170
1) Not unusual, but should be expected. 4:12
a) Greatest persecution of church is happening right now.
b) 120 deaths a day.
c) Slave markets in Sudan.
III. Being saved does not make you immune.
A. We often imply this to get people to believe.
1) Instead, we should tell them their lives may become WORSE.
2) Paul: Kingdom is entered through much suffering. Acts 14:22
B. Faith can bring concrete blessings, but doesn't have to.
1) Don't believe because it works, but because it's TRUE,
and Jesus is LORD.
C. Suffering can be a test.
1) Only real Christians will be persecuted.
a) Are you more concerned about people's opinion of you,
or God's??
Amy Carmichael, missionary to India:
If I am afraid to speak the truth because I might lose
someone's love, or am concerned someone should say,
"You do not understand",
Or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness;
If I put my own good name before the other's highest good,
then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying peace,
peace, where there is no peace;
If I forget the poignant words, "Let love be without
hypocrisy" and blunt the edge of truth,
speaking not right things but smooth things,
Then I know nothing of Calvary love. #4171
2) Don't think that suffering you deserve gets you any credit.
a) Dennis Lee Curtis, an armed robber in Rapid City, South
Dakota, was carrying the following list of personal
rules in his wallet when he was arrested:
1. I will not kill anyone unless I have to.
2. I will take cash and food stamps - no checks.
3. I will rob only at night.
4. I will not wear a mask.
5. I will not rob Mini-Marts or 7-Eleven stores.
6. If chased by a vehicle I will not put the lives
of innocent citizens at risk.
7. I will rob only seven months of the year. #3307
b) Much of our suffering is self-inflicted. Deal with it.
IV. Godly suffering can bring spiritual glory.
A. Be happy about it. 4:13-14
1) Suffering due to faith shows you really belong to Jesus.
a) A blessing is pronounced on such people.
b) "Christian" began as a dirty word, in Antioch.
1> Wear it as a badge of honor.
2> Note attitude of apostles following persecution,
in Acts 5:41. Also 1 Th 1:6; 2 Th 1:4-5
c) Genuine Christian joy transcends troubles.
2) Are you happy to be a Christian?
a) If you don't give it much thought, maybe you aren't one.
B. We participate in sufferings of Jesus.
1) We cannot add to his redemption.
2) But helps us identify more fully with Jesus.
a) Makes us, or proves that we are, peculiarly at one
with Jesus.
V. God's judgment is only beginning.
A. Jesus on "birth pains."
B. Judgment begins with Christians.
1) In OT, God's judgment always begins with believers.
a) God has to clean up Church before he can deal with
world. Ezek 9:6
b) Reason it may be harder for us, than for pagans.
2) Suffering now is better than rejection by God later.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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