[Steve Myers] In fact, I have a question for you to begin with this afternoon. What would you call the greatest gift of God? What would be the greatest gift of God? In fact, this one thing has not only been called the greatest gift, but it's also been called the great doctrine of the Bible, the great doctrine, the ultimate truth. Well, the apostle Paul wrote a lot about it and I think intimates to that very point at the end of 1 Corinthians 5:7. If you'd like to turn there with me. What is the greatest gift, the great doctrine of the Bible, the ultimate truth? Well, summarized in just a few words at the end of 1 Corinthians 5:7, gets right to the heart of the matter. 1 Corinthians 5:7, at the end it says, "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." The greatest gift of Jesus Christ, the ultimate truth, the hope of the resurrection, the hope of eternal life, the great doctrine of the plan of God all surrounds Christ Himself.

Well, how well do we understand this ultimate truth, this great doctrine, this greatest gift of God? Where would you gauge your understanding when it comes to Jesus Christ and your relationship with God, the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ? There've been many different perceptions of who He was, who He is, and how we relate to Him. If you look over to John 7:5, in just this chapter alone, are a number of ways that people of His own day perceived Him. Take a look at John 5… or John 7:5, John 7:5, you would think that in His very own family, there would be quite a deep appreciation of who He was. And yet here in John 7:5, it says, "Even His brothers didn't believe Him." A couple of verses down. What about other people?

Verse 12 says, they were “complaining among the people.” There was murmuring. “Some said, ‘He's good’; others said, ‘No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.’" A few more verses down. Look at verse 20, deception wasn't a big enough accusation against Him. Verse 20, "People said, 'You have a demon.’” That was their perception of Christ. And a couple of verses below that. Verse 26, others said, "He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?" You see there were many different opinions. Opinions were divided about who He was. To the average Jew, He was kind of mysterious. Interesting man. Not really understood. They kind of liked Him because He did some fantastic things for the average person, the simple man, but He certainly was a curiosity. The leadership of the day, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Zealots. Here was an archrival. Here was a Man who was a competitor. He was the ring leader of some new cult that was a threat to the Pharisees. He was against the authority of the religious leadership of the day. What about the Romans? What did the Romans think about Jesus? Ah, He was kind of an oddity. They didn't know what to think. Maybe He was a magician, could do some interesting things, but in the end, they condemned Him. They crucified Him. He was just a troublemaker.

Now, to Pontius Pilate, he said a couple of interesting things. Pilate said he found no fault in Jesus. He said there was nothing there at all to accuse Him of. But what did he do? He sentenced Him to death. He wanted to avoid a riot and so he sentenced Him to one of the worst deaths that you can imagine. That leads us to the key question though, not what they thought about Him. It really comes down to the key question. What is Christ to you? What does He mean to you? Who is Jesus? What is Jesus to you? That becomes absolutely critical because it's about our relationship with Him. It's about Passover, who and what He is, what He did, because you read your Bible and it will tell you many things about Christ, great things, amazing things, phenomenal things. Christ as Creator, as Prophet, as Lord, as King, as Master, Savior, Redeemer, Deliverer, the Apostle, the Judge. Awesome things.

Over 200 different attributes it said is mentioned in the Bible about Him. Do you know about those things? Do you understand those things at a level that goes beyond the superficial? We're told we need to. There's a Psalm that sings to this very fact. Psalm 111:2. Let's take a look at Psalm 111:2, as we develop this concept of who Jesus is to you. Who is He to me? Psalm 111:2 gives us insight into how to answer that very question. What does He mean to me? What does His life have to do with my life? How does it impact me? What's its effect? Well, Psalm 111:2 says, "The works of the Lord are great,” we have an awesome God, but it goes deeper than just having a superficial understanding of his greatness. It says, "The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them."

What is the meaning of our relationship with God? How does it impact our life? Do we truly take delight in it? Some translations say that. "All who delight in God study deeply or think deeply about these things." One translation says, "God's work are so great, it's worth a lifetime of study. It's worth a lifetime of study. It's an endless enjoyment. Is that where we're at? Do we begin to answer that question, what is Jesus to me? Do we begin in that fashion by studying and taking delight in his ways, in his offer of salvation? Well, if we're going to do that, there's a number of ways that we can begin to better define what exactly that relationship is all about. As we consider what the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5, he wrote that section of scripture at this time of the year, in the springtime of the year. He wrote that about Christ our Passover. And if Christ is our Passover, how we define it. Well, a couple of things we can do to better understand that very answer is to recognize our focus. Let's begin there. Let's consider our focus. How much do we focus on Jesus Christ? I mean, there is no doubt, at Passover, Jesus Christ is the focus. He is the Lamb of God. That sacrifice that He gave should be the most awe-inspiring event in our life as we recognize that He was slain, not only for the entire world, but He died for me. He died for me personally. It was a sacrifice for me. What is He to me? What is His meaning to my life? Paul talked about this very fact over in the book of Romans.

If you turn with me over to Romans 10, notice verse 4. Romans 10:4, Paul speaks much to this very fact, the significance of Christ, the sovereignty of Jesus Christ and how it should impact each and every one of our lives. And when he gets to verse 4, he says something a little startling, something maybe a little surprising if we don't understand exactly what he's getting at. In fact, it takes most of the religious world in a whole different direction. Notice Romans 10:4, here's what Paul says, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Now, most of the religious world reads that and they'd say, "Aha. See, I don't have to worry about any ceremony on Passover. I don't have to worry about any Sabbath or tithing or Holy Days or any of that because Christ is the end of all that. It's over. It's done. I don't have any worries when it comes to that. I can worship any way I want," which usually means I don't worship anyway. Right? That is not what Paul is talking about here. When he says, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness," certainly, there's the sense that if we think we can earn salvation, if we think that by any amount of law-keeping, if we think that, "Well, because I kept the Sabbath, you know, my entire baptized life, I deserve eternal life." If there's any thought that we can make God honor us by what we do and keeping His ways or the Sabbath or anything like that, he says, "That's over. That ain't happening. That's not possible." Certainly, that's an aspect of what this verse getting at. But I think it points to a greater truth. The greater truth when he says, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness," He's the end.

Literally in the Greek, He's the terminus. He is the goal. He's the stop at the end of the line. When it all comes to an end, He is the goal. He is our aim. He is the purpose. Jesus Christ is the object. In fact, we could say Jesus Christ is the object of the entire Bible. Christ is the object. And, like, everything in God's purpose, the end, the goal, the aim of the law is to do what? To bring us to the measure, to the stature, to the fullness of Christ. That's the purpose of the law. That's the end of the law for righteousness' sake, that we can only be righteous through Jesus Christ. And so, when we recognize that fact, that has to be our focus. Our focus must be Christ because Christ perfectly exemplified everything that is good, everything that is God's desire for us. He did everything in the way that would most bring honor to his father. And so, He personified perfection. He personified righteousness. He personified righteous government. He was the perfect Man and yet, Emmanuel, God with us. And so, Jesus is the standard we strive for. And when we apply Psalm 111 and we study His ways, when we know Him, when we take time to appreciate Him and take pleasure in understanding His Word, we recognize that. He becomes the focus. We recognize Him as the Creator, the one whom through the Father made all things. He is our elder Brother. He is the very Son who reveals the Father. We recognize at a much deeper level how He heads our Church, His Church. He is the head of the Church. He is the Savior, the one who was crucified and resurrected three days, three nights later, He was resurrected. And so, we see that. We understand that.

We take the time to deeply appreciate those things and we recognize that His love has such an intensity for us that that we even have a hard time grasping how much He cares for us. And if we were to summarize all of those things, we would recognize Jesus Christ is everything we are not. Jesus Christ is everything we are not and yet everything we are striving to become. He's everything we're not but everything that we are striving to become. He's the example. He is the standard. It is His stature that we conform ourselves to. And as we look at Him, as we understand Him, as we appreciate Him, we should never allow what He did, never allow what He accomplished, never allow what He now is, never allow what he will accomplish in us to ever stray very far from our thinking. We should never allow that. In fact, He reminds us of that very fact. John 15:5, you know this verse. He says, "Without Me, you can do nothing." We can do nothing without Him. Oh, we can live our life right now, but we can do nothing spiritually. We can do nothing righteous without Him. Without Him, we can do nothing. And so when we consider what Jesus is to me, He must be my focus, must start there. And as we consider the facets to that very question, it begins with the focus, but it has to lead us to preparation. It has to lead us to preparation. What is Christ to you? Certainly preparing becomes an aspect. It is an aspect of Passover. When you consider Christ our Passover, even Passover itself, the celebration of the Passover is a preparation. It's a preparation for the rest of the Holy Days. Each and every Holy Day requires a preparation.

But a day that's not even a Holy Day, the Passover, demands the most significant personal preparation. Doesn't it? It demands the most personal preparation, so much so that Paul corrected the Corinthian Church because they didn't recognize that. They got the wrong focus and it took them away from that preparedness that was necessary. So in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul corrected them and instructed them about the Passover ceremony itself. Let's notice that. 1 Corinthians 11. Paul started by reminding them this was unacceptable. It is unacceptable to be unprepared. It is unacceptable to just rush through this most significant of all ceremonies and have your minds focused on yourself, on food, on drinking, on a party. That's not what it's about. You cannot be disrespecting each other, treating each other so terribly and be unprepared for what is most critical. He said, "You cannot have such selfish regard." And so, he was pretty hard on them. He laid it on the line and said, "That was totally uncalled for."

Then he says, "Here's what you need to do." He gave instructions then, verse 24, 1 Corinthians 11:24. He looks to Christ Himself in the instructions that he gave. And Paul says, "When Jesus had given thanks, He broke bread and He said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he who drinks… or he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."

Now, as Paul corrected the Corinthians, he didn't do this just to recount history. He wasn't just going through the lesson to remind them, "Well, this is what Jesus did" and we can't do that either. This is something that we have to take so much more critically. The purpose of Passover is not just to remember some certain historical facts, just to rehearse some events that happen. That is not what it's about. It's to grasp the significance of the death of Christ. It's to be prepared to recognize the significance. Because, if we fail to discern the meaning, we disrespectfully come before Christ. We come before God, dishonoring the Savior. And that is unacceptable. And so he says, "Here's how significant it is. This cup, it's symbolizing the blood that Jesus poured out in bleeding to death, sacrificing His life for us. It is through the blood, it's by His sacrifice that the agreement is sealed, that we may have the opportunity for salvation through that awesome sacrifice where Christ spilled His blood on our behalf." And even though it was already promised, that blood, in a way certifies the covenant, certifies the agreement, and justifies us. We can be made right. We can be forgiven. We can be acquitted of sin. We can be brought into a right relationship with God by that very sacrifice and our faith in that sacrifice.

And so that event, that monumental sacrifice must be properly remembered. It must be properly observed. That great memorial, that awesome anniversary cannot be just a mere habit. It cannot be just a ritual. It cannot lose its significance. And so we recognize by our preparation that that sacrifice really is something we have to understand in a deep level, and it demands and determines the quality of our observance. Our preparation and understanding that sacrifice determines the quality of our observance of the sacrifice of Christ because it prevents us from doing it carelessly. It prevents us from taking it for granted. And so Paul says, "In order to not to do that, we examine ourselves. We test ourselves. We scrutinize ourselves. We examine ourselves to determine if we're the real deal." Are we a real Christian? Are we truly representing Christ? Because that's what the examiner did in the first century. The examiner, he was the guy at the bank, what we'd call a bank today, and he examined those coins to make sure they weren't a phony. They weren't a fake, they weren't a counterfeit, they hadn't shaved off the edges of that coin to make it less valuable. It was a full value. And so we're to be the examiner of our own life, of our own worth. And we examine ourselves to determine whether we're genuine. Are we genuinely following Christ? And so he says, "That's what we do and we discern the body." We discriminate. We make sure that we recognize the significance of the death of Christ. We give preference to Jesus Christ. And by doing that, we become prepared. We're prepared, not just for the Passover, we're preparing our life ultimately for the Kingdom of God.

And it's something that we don't take for granted. We recognize the supremacy of our Savior, and what an awesome thing that is. And by examining ourselves, wow, is there a contrast to those two things? You know, when you recognize the ultimate, the best, the most extreme, what an amazing Savior we have.

I was reminded of this thinking back at some of my past. I used to work at the auditorium where we'd had so many amazing musicians that would come in. Some of the greatest of all time would come into the auditorium and I had an opportunity to work with them and provide sound for them. And you would sit back and listen to the greats, and sometimes you couldn't help but, you know, drop your jaw at the amazing talent and gift that these fantastic musicians had. I mean, the greatest, they came and performed right there in front of your eyes and you could appreciate the awesomeness of the talent that they had been given. And what made it even more striking was that you know, some of us claim to be musicians. But boy, by comparison, I thought I was a musician until I heard some of them. I was like, "Wow, that is just phenomenal." And the talent and the ability that would come out in the voices and in the instruments, you know, it was just absolutely amazing. The professionals just seemed to do it so effortlessly. Just seemed like it just came so naturally to them. And certainly, those of us who pretend to be musicians could really appreciate the pros, the professionals, the ones who really could do it well. Now that came to mind because I think in a way, the preparation that we go through kind of carries that same principle. Doesn't it? That we recognize how awesome our Christ is.

What an amazing example that He set for us. And when we consider and we contrast who Christ is, and what He did, and how He lived His life, we contrast ourselves to that perfect glory, that perfect Savior, that amazing Man who lived 33-and-a-half years and never once, never once sinned. What a stark contrast for the rest of us. And that deeper understanding we gain, I think, begins to tell the story. By recognizing that, by not failing to ignore His greatness helps us to appreciate who He is and what He did for each and every one of us. Because we don't want to be tied in with those who take it lightly and, and ignore that great significance. And so, we do take it seriously, and it's a reminder that we can't get stuck in the sin section of that recognition, because the focus is not on ourself. Our focus has to be on the payment. So our focus is not sin. The focus is the solution. The focus is the means by which we're forgiven. So that becomes Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the solution to sin. And so that preparation concentrates our mind on the most important element of salvation. Now, we don't want to miss that significance. We don't want to shut the blinds on the importance of this critical matter. Two passages that we often find ourselves in conflict over, when it comes to this preparation… Look at 2 Corinthians 10, 2 Corinthians 10:12, Here's one of the ways that as we prepare and we go through this examination process, we can get caught up. In 2 Corinthians 10:12, notice what Paul also warned the Corinthians about. Here's what He said in verse 12, chapter 10 of 2 Corinthians. "We dare not to class ourselves or to compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise."

Now a couple of passages later, if you turn over to 13 verse 5, we have another preparation problem I suppose you could say. When we look at ourselves and we go through this scrutiny, we notice another problem. 2 Corinthians 13:5. He says, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?— unless indeed you are disqualified." So, these two extremes oftentimes seem to hinder us. This extreme of judging ourselves compared to others, looking at our lives, this becomes a fatal trap. It's a trap really of self-justification. "I'm not that bad because I don't have the problems they do. I don't have those issues. At least my problems aren't as bad as those problems." And so then we judge ourselves and rate ourselves, by what standard? By our own standard. By our own standard, by our own means. And that justifies us for being the way that we are and how are we going to change? How are we going to grow because I'm all too willing to compare myself to somebody else rather than the standard of Jesus Christ? And so that can be a pitfall. 2 Corinthians 13 points out the other pitfall, that we end up judging ourselves so harshly that we become discouraged, that we have a tendency then to feel like, "Well, who can make it? Nobody can make it. How can I possibly measure up?" And so, we become also self-focused.

Isn't it also a selfish viewpoint? I become self-focused. And in a way, do I take the grace of God lightly? Do I discount the fact that God is a graceful God? Maybe even in a way I'm blaming God. Could I be blaming God for calling me and making it so hard? "God, You've made it so hard, so difficult," or is it possible that I'm telling God, "Well, You can forgive a lot but You can't forgive that much." You see, those two pitfalls, I think become a stark contrast to where we don't want to go. Our focus shouldn't be on self, it shouldn't be on sin. It should be on the solution. It should be on our Savior, the payment of sin through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ because He is willing and He is able to forgive all sin. And by His grace, by His mercy, we can be justified through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now, we don't overlook sin. Of course not. We can't overlook sin, but we recognize the ultimate solution to that sin. In fact, it leads us to another aspect of answering that question. What is Jesus to me? What is Jesus to me? When I put those things together and go through this process, and prepare myself, it helps me to recognize the value. It helps me to recognize the value of my Passover. It helps me to recognize the value of Christ's sacrifice. There's one person that epitomizes that very thing. Remember the apostle Peter? Well, before he was an apostle if you left him at the crucifixion, where was he? What was he like? What was Jesus to Peter? Well, at the crucifixion, he denied Him, not just once, but he denied Him over and over and over again.

God didn't leave him there. God had a solution for that sin. Peter's perspective changed. He began to recognize the value of that sacrifice. And in 1 Peter 1:18, Peter came to that very point to be able to answer that question, to change his perspective and focus on the Christ, to focus on that ultimate human being, God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. And he recognized the value of that sacrifice. And actually, I think he writes about it here in 1 Peter 1, notice verse 18. We'll kind of pick it up in the middle of the thought here. But he says in verse 18, "Knowing you're not redeemed with corruptible things." How are we forgiven? How are we purchased out of the slave market? Certainly not with silver or gold. That's not what purchases us. It's so much more. We have to recognize the value. Silver is pretty valuable. Gold is pretty valuable, but that's nothing, nothing in comparison to the sacrifice of Christ. So he says, "It's not those corruptible things, like silver or gold that will redeem from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead, gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." And so Peter tells about that value. He tells about the worth of our savings. In fact, he uses this word knowing. We know this is the case. In fact, this word for knowing most times throughout the New Testament isn't even translated as knowing.

Do you know how it's normally translated? To see. To see. And not just to see something with your eyes, but it carries the meaning of perceiving or the meaning of discerning or recognizing, this is something that demands a response. It can take on the meaning to ascertain something needs to be done about it. So knowing we weren't redeemed with corruptible things, that's not our Christ. Our Christ is priceless. He is priceless. We know living and knowing the redemption of Christ has the price that can't be matched, the value of the life that was given so we can be forgiven, that value. In fact, we were aimless. We had no goal. We didn't know where the path was leading. We had no terminus. We didn't understand our purpose. We were purchased out of that aimless conduct to have a goal, to have a Christ, to have a Savior that we value. And now our lives have direction. Our lives have meaning. Our lives have purpose because we count Christ's sacrifice as priceless. We have purpose. In fact, not only does He leave it at knowing and recognizing something has to be done, He says it's precious. This understanding is precious, that we hold it in honor. We don't take it for granted. It is especially valuable to us. And recognizing the value of Christ is exactly what we do. We assess the value of that sacrifice, not just to the world, but His personal value for me because that makes the difference between Christ a Passover to Christ my Passover. It causes us to ask the question, "What am I willing to pay for His sacrifice?

What does it bring me to do? What am I to do about it? What am I to do about it?" Certainly, as we focus on the Lamb, we become aware of our sins. We are sinful people. But Christ doesn't leave us there. The Father offered His Son on our behalf, so we can't just flounder and drown in our own sins, but we recognize the price that Christ paid and we recognize how critical that becomes, how valuable that truly is. In fact, Christ Himself spoke to the value. John 6:53, notice how valuable this perspective must be. John 6:53, look how critical it becomes, not allowing that value to be taken for granted and not allowing that sacrifice to stray far from our minds, Christ reiterates the significance of that point in John 6:53. Now when He said this, there were many who had been following Him that quit. They gave up. They couldn't do it anymore. They didn't understand the great meaning behind what he was saying here, but we can. We can. Look at John 6:53. Jesus says, "Most assuredly, I say to you…” Most assuredly is Amen. Amen. This is undoubtable. This is absolute. This is beyond question. “There is absolute assurity in what I'm telling you." He says, "I'm saying to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you." I mean, think about the significance and the value of His life. I mean, it points to the fact He's everything. He is everything. Can words really describe how much he should mean to us? Because He's saying, "You don't eat food physically, you're going to die." You can only fast for so long.

The same thing's true spiritually. Without Christ, we die spiritually. He must be our Lord. He must be our Master. He must be our Teacher, and Brother, and Savior, our strength, our King. And we're compelled to focus on that great sacrifice because, without it, we have nothing. Oh, we can live this life for a while, but real life, eternal life, not possible without Christ. And so, we're moved to recognize the value. We recognize our weakness and His strength. We recognize our need and His abundance. And as we consider these things, we recognize our sinfulness and His perfection. We recognize we deserve death, but in Him, we have life. In fact, that ultimate act of sacrifice is the ultimate. It's the very essence of God's love. And so, the value, it's absolutely priceless. In fact, Hebrews focuses on this critical fact as well. Look at Hebrews 10:5. Hebrews 10:5 is a great reminder of the significant sacrifice because many at that time were coming out of a whole different system, a whole different way of life. And here we find the apostle Paul tells him, "That way isn't going to get you anywhere. Not going to happen. It's not going to get you to the goal, to the aim, what we're really shooting for." Hebrews 10:5 says, "Therefore, when He," talking about Jesus, “'came into the world,’ He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure.’ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— in the volume of the book it is written of Me— to do your will, O God.’" You almost have a little conversation between Jesus Christ and God, the Father going on here. Quotation from Psalm 40, he's quoting Psalm 40 and he's making that very point, the value of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Going on. He says, "Previously saying “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings; and offerings for sin You didn't desire, nor had pleasure in them, (which are offered according to the law),” you see that couldn't earn the people's salvation. It couldn't earn them eternal life. It couldn't make them right with God. It took the life of the Savior. That's why he says, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God." He takes away the first that he may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” So he points out the fact that Jesus is the greatest gift. Animal sacrifices, don't cut it. That doesn't amount to a complete forgiveness of sin. Never could. But the sacrifice of the perfect one, Jesus, the Christ could. That sacrifice has the power to cleanse us of sin. And so, a New Covenant, a whole new order, a whole new way had to be established, a whole new relationship, a whole new concept. Recognizing sacrifice of sin is where we have to turn. And so, when we consider that, what a cost, what an astounding cost for salvation for each one of us, the sinless sacrifice of the perfect one. And being Man, He had the frailties of human flesh. He had human nature as we do, but was sinless, was innocent, and He was sinless.

And so when we consider that, we recognize he had empathy for us, compassion for us, kindness for us. And yet, what was the cause of His death? My sin. Each one of us caused the death of Christ. And so our reaction to that sacrifice is so critical. What is our reaction? What is Jesus to me? You see that should move us and motivate us to express our appreciation, perhaps express our indebtedness to Him, our thankfulness to God the Father expressed in what way? How do we express that? What is our response? Let's consider, what is Christ to me? How do I respond to what He is to me? Because it has to elicit a response. We have to ascertain, what am I going to do about it? What is our response? Well, John 16:33, Christ speaks to that response that should be necessitated by understanding our Savior. John 16:33, let's notice what he says. And once again, this is Christ speaking. John 16:33, Christ said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." And so we may read that and say, "Well, what does that have to do with our response?" Well, it speaks to the recognition of Christ as our Savior. In Him, we have peace. Do we have a Savior that we must respond to, that we must put our faith and our trust? There's no doubt. If you were to read this in the message, here's what The Message says. Look at verse 33 again. "I've told you all this so that trusting Me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I conquered the world."

You see that's what Christ has done. So what is our response? Well, our response has to be John 16:33. That we have to be courageous. We have to be brave. We have to be undaunted by a sinful world. We have to be resolved to make it our goal, to make it our aim, to be brave against the wiles of the devil. The fact that we sin when we see it, we repent and we change, and we're filled with joy and encouragement to fight that battle and be certain of a successful outcome because there is no other outcome when we have the power of Jesus Christ behind us. We've been given the power over sin. We've been given the power over Satan. We've even been given the power over ourselves and this evil world, and it's all through Christ, our Passover. We have that authority and our response has to be one to obey, to follow him. In fact, if you look back at Psalm 111, I think it epitomizes our response. Psalm 111. Sometimes it's called a halaal, a praise song. Psalm 111, 112, 113, all begin exactly the same. They all start with, "Praise the Lord!” Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So Psalm 111:1 begins just that way. It says, "Praise the Lord! I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.” It doesn't matter where I am, who I'm with, what the situation, whether I'm at church, away from the church, He's always on my mind. He is my very being with my whole heart. I will praise him." Verse 2, "The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;” to be memorialized. “The Lord is gracious, full of compassion. He's given food to those who fear Him; He will ever be mindful of His covenant. He has declared to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of His hands are verity and justice; all His precepts are sure. They stand fast, forever and ever, they are done in truth and in uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people; and He has commanded His covenant forever: holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever."

This wonderful song just reminds us of what a blessing it is to be given God's greatest gift, what an honor it is to understand the greatest truth of the Bible. What a miracle. It is a miracle to comprehend the truth, the great teachings of God. And because of that, because of that very thing, through the Father, we must make Jesus Christ our standard, our focus. We must study and grasp the deepest meanings of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We must recommit ourselves. We must have that focus to deeply recognize the significance of the awesome Savior that we have. And we can then be courageous. We can be bold. We can be brave, and we can live, and walk by faith in righteousness because we can confidently go forward. We will confidently take action because we absolutely no doubt indeed have Christ our Passover who was sacrificed for us.

[Steve Myers] So what a fantastic blessing it is to have special music and to be inspired. We really appreciate that. Thanks for the effort that went into preparing that for us and praising God and helping us be edified as well. So thank you very much.

I was reading through some comics the other day. It was from Humor Times. It was a Humor Times cartoon. And it had a picture of a vending machine on it. And on the top of the vending machine, it said, "Life's not fair. Insert $1,000." Of course, on the bottom was a vacant slot that said, "Get nothing in return." And that's sometimes the way life feels. You give it everything you got and what do you get in return? You got an empty slot. And that's the kind of world we live in at times. Doesn't it seem that way? Do you ever feel that way? You put everything into it. And what do you get back? You get hassled. You get discriminated against. You have situations where you're hassled. You're mistreated. Anybody here ever been teased or bullied, put down? Yeah, okay, yeah, we have. Probably everybody has, and that's no fun. And people say, "Well, quit being a cry baby. Why don't you just grow up, get over it?" But doesn't it seem like, "Well, they get away with it. How do they get away with that?" And sometimes that intimidation, sometimes that being made fun of, sometimes the being dissed isn't obvious. It's not obvious to others. We know it. We've been made fun of. It's been intimidating for us.

We've been dismissed or humiliated. We've certainly been treated unfairly. And then how am I supposed to deal with that? How am I supposed to handle that when it happens to me? Of course, we might remember Romans 12. Romans 12:17, it's a very familiar passage. It says, "Okay. I shouldn't repay evil for evil." And we think of that, that's a tough thing not to do because “I didn't deserve that. What did I deserve to be treated like that?” And yet, that section of Scripture kind of rings in our ears. It says, “'Vengeance is Mine,' says the Lord." And we're supposed to leave it in God's hands when that happens. But boy, that is so much easier said than done, isn't it? It's so much easier to treat people the way they treat us, especially if they treat us badly. I want to get them back. That's my natural tendency. And it's hard to overcome that way of thinking. And yet, one of the things that God tells us is it's not just a nice idea to treat somebody nice even if they treat us badly. It's commanded. We're commanded to have a different approach, even if we are the ones that have been mistreated. So how do you do it? How do you deal with that? How is it possible to stay right when you've been wronged? How is it possible to deal with unfair treatment and meet that standard that we're given and act in a godly way? Well, this afternoon, I'd look to look at three facets to help deal with unfair treatment, how to stay right when you've been wronged.

Now, before we get to those three things, let's lay a little bit of a foundation for a moment. We'll look at what Peter tells us in 1 Peter. So if you turn over to 1 Peter, we'll begin in chapter 2. But, in fact, if you've got a little ribbon in your Bible, a little marker or something, you might put it in 1 Peter because we'll come back here several times throughout the message this afternoon as we consider how do we deal with the hassles? How do we deal with being bullied or being teased when we don't deserve it? How do we handle those kinds of situations when they stare us straight in the face? Well, in 1 Peter 2:13, we're given something that seems disconnected to the topic. But in actuality, it fits together. Oh, that makes a nice noise, doesn't it? Everybody looked up when I did that. Okay. Nice. When I need your attention, I'll just touch the microphone. All right. Let's take a look at this passage because it doesn't seem like it fits with the idea of being treated unfairly, but it does. Let's see how it does.

Verse 13 of 1 Peter 2. We know this section of scripture. It says, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of those who do good." So oftentimes we'll look to this section of scripture to say, "Yes, you better stop at the stop signs. You better obey the traffic signals. You don't want to steal from the shop. You can't be shoplifting. It's good to obey the government because it keeps society in order." That's not a bad thing. When there is laws in place that aren't against God's laws, we must follow them. So this section of Scripture we often turn to for that very concept.

Okay. What does that have to do with being treated unfairly? Well, let's see. As he concludes this thought, he says in verse 17, "Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king." And so as we think about this, what is that getting at? Well, there's a connection to obedience. There's a connection to who is in charge. When the government makes good rules, we need to follow them. So what are we talking about? Authority. We're talking about authority. And Peter's helping us to see that we can understand God and His way of thinking at a deeper level when we understand authority when we recognize who's in charge. And maybe, more importantly, when we submit to that authority, when we submit to authority, we recognize God's in charge. And as a Christian, true Christians understand authority because when we came to God as He drew us to Him, we said, "God, you're in charge. I don't want to be in charge of my life anymore. You are the one. I'm trusting in You. I'm honoring You. I want to follow You." And so we claim that baptism that we understand authority and we recognize who's in charge.

And so Peter's kind of posing a question here in a way to say, "Do we really trust that God is the authority in our life?" He gives us a couple of situations as he paints this picture for us. Verse 18, "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear." So it's not just about obeying the government. It's not just about obeying the traffic laws. Even as a slave, we have to be submissive to your master. It's about who's in charge. And it's not if they're just a good master or if we paint it for us today, if you got a good boss, yeah, it's easy to do what he likes. It's easy to like him but he doesn't stop there. He says, "Not only to the good bosses, the good masters but also to the harsh." Do we have to be submissive to that? Well, it shows we understand authority. He says in verse 19, "This is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully." “Okay. I don't deserve this. What did I do? I was going along my way and doing what I was supposed to do. And now, they're hassling me. They're giving me trouble. They're dismissing me. Why do I deserve?” Well, he says, "You endure that, that shows something about us. It shows we understand authority." Verse 20 he says, "What credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently?" Well, I deserve that. I didn't do the right thing so I deserve it. "But on the other hand when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God for to this you were called because Christ suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow in His steps."

There are some serious things he's talking about here because we can be persecuted, we can be hassled, we can be dismissed for doing wrong, and that's something that we take it because, yeah, we deserve it. But he also says we could be doing right and still be treated unfairly. We can still be persecuted. We can still be discriminated against or harassed or hassled or dismissed. But if we take it patiently, literally, holding fast to the truth. When we hold fast and we endure it, we bear with it without complaining, without grieving about it, without answering back, without lashing out, without getting even, he says that says something about us. That says something about our relationship with God. In fact, he says when we behave in that way when we take it patiently, do you notice the word that he uses there in verse 20 at the end? He says, "If you take it patiently, this is commendable before God." Now, that doesn't mean, well, God goes is a little badge and look, I have a commendation from God. He's not saying that.

This is a very interesting word. If you were to look this up in the Greek, you know what word this is? Charis, which is the word for grace. Hundreds of times this word is translated grace throughout the New Testament. This is grace before God, which should expand our concept of what grace is all about because he's not talking about unmerited pardon. He's not talking about a free gift, right? He's not talking about any of those things. He's not talking about favor. It's none of those types of things. He says, "This is commendable, this is charis, this is grace," which is more of kind of a third aspect of what Thayer talks about. If you looked this up in Thayer's Greek Lexicon, it says, "What is due to grace." In other words, because I have grace, because God loves me and has given me mercy and favors me, because He pardons my sin, this is my spiritual condition. This is a reflection that I am governed by the power of grace, the power of grace, or to think differently, I've been given the power to overcome sin through God's Holy Spirit. And because God has been graceful to me, favors me, by granting me His Holy Spirit, the result of that, you see, the outcome of that, is I submit to that Spirit and that is commendable before God. I'm showing that I am a graceful person, that I have been given this gift and it's reflected in what I do.

And so when I'm hassled and I'm bullied and I am harassed and I'm intimidated or they make fun of me or I'm humiliated or biased against, I can take it patiently and that is grace before God. That is evidence of my spiritual condition. It's evidence that I'm governed and submissive to God's Spirit and it's reflected in the grace that God's given me. And it shows in my character. It shows in my attitude. And, in fact, he says that's why we're called. That's one of the aspects of why God is working with us. We've been called to have that evidence that we can take it. We can take being treated unfairly. And, in fact, we're called to be able to patiently take that. And, in fact, He says, "Yep, you've been called to stay right even when you've been wronged.” And so when we begin to consider that, if we keep reading here in 1 Peter 2, we've got this perfect example in Christ. But instead of reading it here, hold your place here, and let's read it straight out from the book of Mark. Mark refers to this same aspect that Jesus Christ set the ultimate example in that commendable grace, that example of how to take it when you don't deserve it. Mark 15:3, this is, of course, occurring as we near the end of Christ's life. Just before the crucifixion, we know that he was mistreated. Mark 15:3. Here's where it's so evident. It says, "And the chief priest accused Him of many things." So there's the accusations. There's the dishonoring. There's the bullying. There's the hassles. There's the mistreatment. There's Christ being dismissed as the Son of God. Well, how does He take it? "But He answered nothing." He answered nothing.

So verse 4, “Pilate asked Him again, saying, ‘Do you answer nothing? See how many things they testify against You!’ But Jesus still answered nothing." He says, "So Pilate marveled." He was amazed. He was shocked. He was surprised by that. Of course, why would he be surprised? Because that's not normal. I know it's not normal for me. You know, if somebody accuses you, if somebody disrespects you if someone puts you down, someone mistreats you, I'm going to defend myself. “Listen, you’re wrong! Who are you to question me?” That's not what it was about. I don't deserve this. But here Christ didn't. Pilate was amazed because all of us have this tendency to try to defend ourself. And it's amazing that even if I'm guilty, "Okay, I did some of that," I'm still going to act like I didn't. "I didn't do that. No, it wasn't that bad." And so here's Christ who is totally innocent. What did He do? He didn't say a word. He kept quiet but that didn't mean He was doing nothing. You see, what was He doing? He was putting it in God's hands. He left His life in God's hands. And he set this amazing example. He set the example that patiently enduring it, taking it patiently, even when it's undeserved, undeserved suffering, beatings, and scouring, that was not only acceptable to God with the way He handled it and it was pleasing to God, but it was also expected by God. It was commendable before God. It was evidence of the fact that Christ most certainly was the Messiah governed by everything that's godly. And so He didn't defend Himself.

Now, when you think about that, that kind of of draws us to this concept of the facets of helping to deal with unfair treatment, helping to deal with it. Certainly, there are at least three things that happen when we stop defending ourselves, when we step back and quit retaliating, quit letting anger rule, quit trying to take that back and give it right back to people. I think the first thing that we find as evidence here is that we've got to trust God. Who's going to defend us? Who's going to take care of us? We trust God with our defense. When we're being mistreated, we submit to God's authority. I don't have to take that authority to myself. I can turn it over to God. And God, look at what is happening. I can talk to Him about this. I can refuse to begin to justify myself or make excuses or try to take it in my own hands and retaliate. I can take the grace that God has given me and I can show that it's evident that I rely on God and I trust in Him. Now, Peter talks about this very fact.

Go back to 1 Peter. This time, let's turn over to chapter 3. Let's notice how trusting in God with our defense, boy, does that take the pressure off us. I don't have to think of the right words to get him back, to give it fight back to them. I don't have to worry about the mistreatment or questioning my motives. God's going to handle this. God's going to take care of that. And so Peter discusses that very thing in chapter 3. Notice verse 8. Chapter 3, verse 8 of 1 Peter. He says, "Finally." Of course, he's not finally yet here. There's a couple more chapters. I think there's three more chapters to go here. So not quite finally, but when we think of this concept, he says, "All of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous." Of course, as brothers, hey, that shouldn't be that hard. We're family. We can do that, right? Yeah, that's not the hard part. That's the easy part because we're on the same page. You know, we're in this fight together. We're all right. But then he says, you know, sometimes we do get out of line. Sometimes the accusations do fly. Sometimes there is the hassles and the mistreatment and the things that are unfair do happen.

And So Peter says in verse 9, "Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing." Oh, he says it again. Do you think Peter wants to emphasize this what he just got done saying in chapter 2, right? Verse 21, he says, "This is why we're..." Here we are in the next chapter. He says the same thing, blessing instead of reviling, blessing instead of trying to get even, blessing instead of trying to make it right in your own hands. You can't do that. Peter's saying don't do that. God's saying, on the other hand, you want to bless them that you may inherit a blessing. And, of course, if we skip down a little bit, in verse 13 it says, "And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?” Is anybody out for us? If we're not doing what's good we open ourselves up for evil, to the evil one? I think so. I think he's making that point. And maybe, in a way, he's saying when we try to defend ourselves and take that vengeance when we're the ones that try to defeat the enemy in that way, are we forfeiting spiritual protection? Well, it seems the story of ancient Israel was just that. When they relied on their own strengths, what happened to them? They were in trouble. When they relied on God, it was a whole different story, a whole different story.

So when we endure unfair treatment, are we getting set up? Yeah, I think we probably could say that. When we endure unfair treatment, God is setting us up for a blessing. God is setting us up for a blessing. Don't let anyone steal that from you. Don't allow wrong influence to take us in the wrong direction. Don't deny that spiritual protection. In fact, Christ emphasized this over and over again in some of His teachings. There's a familiar story, one of the parables. Let's go over to Luke 18. Now, hold your place here in Peter. We'll come back here once again. But in Luke 18, Christ gives a parable. It's a familiar one but we want to look at a different lesson than maybe the one that instantly comes to mind. Let's see how it may fit into this concept of not retaliating, how it fits in with unfair treatment and being dismissed or humiliated or intimidated. How does this story fit in with that? This is in Luke 18 right at the very beginning of the chapter. Here Christ is speaking a parable. You know this parable. Verse 2, he says, "There was in a certain city a judge who didn't fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; she came to him saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' And he would not for a while. But afterward, he said within himself,'" this is the judge, "Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." So we know the story. All right, we should be going to God and pouring our hearts out to Him, you know, constantly. No doubt.

But it's also interesting what the judge says. "The Lord said, 'Hear what the unjust judge said.' And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?” You see, the judge is supposed to be representing God, in a way. Does God hear? Does God know what's going on? Absolutely, He does. Do we trust the Judge? Do we allow the Judge, ultimately, God Himself, to avenge us, to justify us because he uses that word here? Will not God avenge His own? Won't He avenge us? Now, that's an interesting word as well. Since we're in court, right, we're talking about judges and court hearings, that's the scenario he paints here. This word avenge is not to get even. It's not to retaliate. Oftentimes, we think of that. It has to do with bringing justice, that justice will be done, that, ultimately, in the end, there will be a right decision. There will be justice. And it has the connotation of something that is always right. God's going to always give what's right. And so when we rely on really the just Judge, the ultimate Judge, will He take care of things for us? You see, I think that's another aspect of the story, not just the continuing going before God, but the fact is God's character is just that. He will bring about justice. He will avenge us. He will make things right. He's going to take care of this in the end. Do I have to take it upon myself to get even, to retaliate, to get justice? Christ didn't have to. Did Christ, ultimately, get justice? Yeah, He was resurrected. What more justice could you have than that? Absolutely.

And so when we stop defending and retaliating on our own behalf when we trust God with our defense, great things begin to happen. It can take the stress off. I don't have to stress over this because God has promised to take care of us. In fact, I think it brings us to another facet, to a second aspect of what begins to happen. When we stop defending and retaliating, it allows Christ's character to develop in us. Now, we know we've been called to grow in the stature of Christ. Have you ever thought, "Well, if I don't take things into my own hand, I'm actually exhibiting Christ-like character"? Because we are. We are. When we stop retaliating or wishing evil on others, it does develop Christ-like character in our life. In fact, here in 1 Peter, if you flip back to 1 Peter, I guess I'm still here in Luke if I go back to 1 Peter go to chapter 4. Chapter 4 in 1 Peter brings this point out. He says it a little bit different way but let's see how this fits with this whole concept of unfair treatment and how we respond to it. 1 Peter 4 right at the very beginning of that chapter, verse 1, he says, "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves." All right. I'm ready. I got my baseball bat and I'm going to get even with those guys. I'm armed and dangerous now, right? Sometimes we feel that. That's what I want to do. That's the first carnal thing that comes into my mind. I can't do that though.

So Peter doesn't leave us hanging there, right? He says, "Arm yourselves also with the same mind. Christ suffered for us… Arm yourselves with that same mind, for he who suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men." “I can't pick up the baseball bat,” but he says “I'm supposed to do the will of God.” And so he's talking about a whole different kind of armaments, isn't he? When we arm ourselves, that Greek word literally means to strengthen ourselves, strengthen our thinking. It can mean to equip yourself. So you can kind of of see where we might take it like in a military sense, but what do we equip ourselves with? The ability to get even, you know, the words that can put others down? No. He says we should be strengthened with the mind of Christ. We should prepare our minds to think like this, to be ready, to be ready with the same mind. So that the first thing is not to pick up the baseball bat or the bad words that just spew out of our mouth. Instead, we should be prepared to answer with Christ's way of thinking, what He would have done, that same way of thinking, that same attitude, that same perspective, that kind of resolve, intention that Christ had. That should be the way that we arm ourselves.

In fact, if you look at that again, verse 1, if you read this in the New Living, it puts it a little bit differently. It says, "Since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves," right, we equip ourselves with the same attitude that he had “and be ready to suffer too.” Oh, you mean I haven't been called to have perfect health and everything's going to be great and everybody's going to love me and life will be just a dream of all unicorns and rainbows and it will be just great? No, it's not going to be like that. Be ready to suffer.

The New Living goes on. "If you have suffered physically for Christ, you've finished the sin." Okay. That doesn't mean sin isn't going to be there. Verse 2 says, "You won't spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you'll be anxious to do the will of God." Look at verse 3, "For you have had enough." You see, that's what he's getting at. When we equip ourselves with the mind of Christ, we've had it with sin. I've had it with that way of life. I'm not going to be drawn that way. I don't want to think that way. I'm not going that way. My first reaction is, go to the foundation. Trust God and allow Him to develop that character within me. I'm going to be armed with Christ's way of thinking. And I'm armed for unfair treatment. I'm armed for the difficulties that I'm going to face. And I am armed when I'm going to be facing that mistreatment or the bullying or the harassment or the discrimination that I don't have to have an ungodly response to it. And so we have to arm our minds and be ready for unfair treatment. So then we're going to act in a godly way instead of react in a poor way. And that's what God's Spirit helps us to do.

And so we know that we're called to grow in the grace of knowledge of Jesus Christ. We know we're to develop the character of Christ. We're to rise to the stature, to the maturity of Christ. That's our goal but that kind of of growth doesn't happen automatically, does it? It doesn't happen just because we want to or just because I can recite a few scriptures. It doesn't mean I'm a more spiritual person. That growth can occur when we suffer and we take it patiently. That growth can occur when we're treated unfairly and yet, we exercise our calling and respond with grace, the evidence that God has called us and we have God's Spirit. And if we patiently endure the persecution, we patiently endure the suffering, then we show it is possible. It is possible. And we rise above the situation. And what does that do to us? I think that builds a resistance. It helps make us stronger. And then it's possible to grow even more. And then it's reflected to others. That can inspire them because we're not going to get away from it because difficulty and unfairness is a part of life. It is a part of life. And so the challenge is then to quit asking why. “Why does this have to happen to me? What did I ever do to deserve that?” I got to quit thinking like that. I didn't do anything. Because we ask those questions, where are you going to get an answer to that? The answer is you might as well just accept it because you're not going to get an answer to that. Move on. Focus our energy on becoming more Christ-like. That's where the focus is. Wouldn't it be a better question, instead of saying, "Well, what did I do to deserve this," if we turned it around and we said, "What can I learn from this? How can I be a better person?" I think that was certainly Christ's perspective. And He set such an amazing example for us.

Another example of that is in Matthew 5. So hold your place in Peter. We'll go over to Matthew 5:10 just for a moment. This is the section of scripture we're familiar with often called the Beatitudes. You know, those are blessed who do these different things. And there's quite a list of you're blessed if you do these things. Well, that ties in with this whole concept of staying right even when you're wronged, even when you're unfairly treated. Christ spoke to that in the Beatitudes. And in verse 10, notice what he says in chapter 5 of Matthew. He says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake." Okay, I'm doing what's right and I still get hassled. I still am mistreated. I'm unfairly accused. Well, blessed are those who are persecuted for doing what's right. He says, "For theirs is the kingdom on heaven." In verse 11, He goes on. "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely for My sake." We're doing what's right. We're doing what's good. We're trying to follow God. And we still get hassled. We still have issues with people. We still have difficulties. But He says, verse 12, "Rejoice. Be exceedingly glad," He says, "For great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

And so in a way, He's saying something pretty fantastic here. Part of our calling is to suffer for righteousness' sake. Should we expect to suffer? I think He's saying that, which also should cause us to ask a pretty tough question. If I've never suffered for righteousness' sake, am I living a righteous life? If I've never suffered for righteousness' sake, am I a real Christian? Am I truly striving to be righteous? Because He's saying right here if you'll be hassled if you'll be treated unfairly, if? No, he doesn't say that. Verse 11, what does He say? When. When you're reviled, when you're persecuted. So there is this, I think, this undeniable connection that if we are striving to be righteous and live God's way you better expect to be treated that way because those times will come. They will come and if they haven't, then I've got to ask myself that tough question. Am I really striving to be Christ-like? And if I can't handle the persecution correctly can I really claim to be godly? Those are the questions that hurt. But I got to ask those questions because it definitely points to the fact that knowing the truth, that's a good thing. It's a good thing to know the truth. It's a good thing to understand the Bible. But knowing it is a whole separate issue from living it, doing it. I have to do the truth. I have to live the truth, which means that guy that wants to retaliate, that guy that wants to yell back, the guy who wants to put her in her place, the guy that wants to, you know, take things into his own hands, I got to get that guy behind me. I've got to kill that guy. I've got to put that man to death. And I promised to God that I was going to do that. And He promised to give me His Spirit to be able to accomplish that very thing.

And so when we read those sections of Scripture that talk about, I'm supposed to be crucified with Christ, I put that guy away. And so now I've got to strive to be upright and honorable and do those spiritual things really to be Christ-like in the most difficult situations when life isn't going my way, the things that I want are gone against. When there are these ongoing difficult situations and somebody stabs you in the back or they question your motives, those are the tough times. Others lying about you? Others saying things that just aren't true? People disregarding your input? They don't consider your opinion. They make fun of you. They diss you behind your back. Well, am I going to over-react? Am I going to take it in my own hands or when they say those mean things about you, when they accuse you of things that are untrue when I feel betrayed when I want to be indignant about this, when I want to have what I say is righteous anger when it's just plain old anger and it's not really that way. And if I'm feeling betrayed, am I going to lash out? Am I going to take it in my hands? Boy, if I do, then I'm going to sound angry and bitter and mean because that's what happens naturally. That's what comes out. And when we feel threatened, we do stupid things. We do have a tendency to do those things. And then you know what that does? And this is the worst of all. It makes it seem like the unfair treatment that you got really wasn't that unfair. So we can't act that way. We've got to refuse to allow that anger to rise. We've got to refuse to think that way. We've got to refuse to go into that defense mechanism that we have, just all humanly, naturally, it seems because when we take it patiently, it turns things all around.

When we take it quietly and discreetly, Christ-like, then we really are dying to ourselves. We're a different person. And when we bear it and we put up with the annoyance or the difficulty, the disgrace that someone pours out on us, when we look that in the face and we take the insensitivity and the unfairness, aren't we dying to self? Aren't we putting it in God's hands? And I'm not seeking the praise and the condemnation because sometimes that can get us irritated that I didn't get the credit I deserve. Why did they get the credit? I was the one that really deserved the credit. You see, that's part of the equation as well because I've got all of my good works recorded, right? Here they are and nobody's noticing. Nobody's paying any attention to all. Why are they telling him he did a good job when I did even more? In fact, they've got the bigger house and the better car and bigger credit. They got the raise. And doesn't God know that I've got bigger needs than they do? Doesn't God know?

You know, when we see a friend or a coworker or a brother or sister, can we honestly rejoice with them? And sometimes that is the challenge because I want to feel jealous or envious of that because God knows my needs are greater. God knows that I've got issues that aren't met yet. And yet, wow. See, that's dying to self, dying to self when I can, wow, sometimes be reprimanded, maybe corrected, and that's hard, corrected by somebody you feel is not on the same level as you are, by your superior to them. They come to you and you got to, wow, admit that they're right, and then take it a step farther and not dislike them or have a resentment toward them because they are right. See, those are the challenges that we're called to. That's dying to self. That's getting yourself out of the way. And so how much have we really died to self and are on that path to developing a deeper Christ-like character? That begins to happen more effectively when we stop defending ourselves when we really put our full trust in God to defend us.

And a third thing come as a result. An amazing aspect of this is when we do that, it glorifies God. The third thing that happens is it brings God glory. And one of the things that comes to my mind when I think of that, you know, not getting what you deserve, I can't help but think of the apostle Paul. And you know the things that he went through. God called him, knocked him down on the road to Damascus, and he had a life of peaches and cream from then on out, right? There was no problems. Everything was great. He never had a hassle in his life, never was put down. Nobody ever questioned his authority. Nobody had questioned his apostleship. Wait a second. Yeah, all of those things plus he was beaten. He was scourged, plus he was shipwrecked. He was stoned. And here's the amazing part. Remember what he said in Philippians? He said, "I've learned to be content." Wow. "I've learned to be content in whatever circumstances I'm in." Did he deserve that? He was striving to live a godly life.

Paul was confident in His promises but all that stuff still happened. Somehow, when he was in total poverty, he could be content. Did that bring glory to God? Somehow, when he was in abundance, especially when the Philippians would send aid and, hey, life was good, yeah, he honored God with that. When he was in comfort, when he was in a jail cell, when he was in pain, he recognized God in it all because there were times it said he was respected. There were times that he was abused. And God could use every one of those circumstances for His good. And it showed something more. It honored God. It gave God credit. Somebody could be stoned and still love God, still, get up and go to the next town and continue to preach and teach. Wow. What a powerful example.

And so when you consider that, it is such an amazing aspect in the apostle Paul. He didn't say, "I'll give God the glory in spite of my pain." He didn't do that. "Well, in spite of the beatings that I've taken, I'm still going to glorify God. In spite of the stoning or the shipwrecking, I'll still give God..." What did he do? You see, the other hand is what he did. He said, "I'll give God glory because of it, because of the challenges, because of the difficulties, because of the humiliation, because of the disrespect, because of the questioning of his authority, I'll give God glory." And that's a whole different mindset, isn't it? A whole different mindset. And so it's amazing when you consider Paul exemplifying that very fact that we don't take credit but how can you do that? Well, you can't do it without God's Spirit. Without submitting to Him, you can't do it. You can't do it. So God gets the glory and the honor and the credit for all of that. In fact, Peter addressed this as well. Go to 1 Peter 2 once again. 1 Peter 2, notice verse 12. 1 Peter 2:12, we’ll see it not only was evident in Paul's life, it's evident in Peter's life and his writings as well. And we see the impact of that kind of a reaction rather than our own kind of reaction. 1 Peter 2:12. He says, "We should have our conversation honest among the Gentiles," which isn't just talking about being an honest person. This is King James. It says, "Our conversation, our behavior, our conduct, the way we live our life, it should be evident what we're God's people." And so he says, "When they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation."

So because we act as Christians, because we don't take it upon ourselves for retaliation and vengeance, yeah, even though they don't like us, we're going to stand out. And this is the hard part is sometimes it's not going to be noticed. It's not going to make a big difference right now to these people. But it does say, "God will be glorified in the day of visitation," the day of visitation when Christ returns. When Christ returns, if these people are alive, they're going to recognize, "Wow, how did he put up with us? How did she do this? How could they handle the mistreatment and the abuse?" Well, that's only by God's power. They will glorify God. And if it's in the second resurrection, that day of visitation, they'll recognize that it was all about God. And it will bring Him glory. And so when we take it in our own hands not to retaliate, but to give it to God, when we pray about these difficult situations, when we give it over to the hands of our great God, it helps us to develop that character of Christ and fruit then begins to grow. And that's where Christ said, "My Father is glorified by this that you bear much fruit." You see, he told us that in John 15. God is glorified in that we are growing and that the world is going to see those results. They're going to see the results of God's grace and His favor. They're going to see the results of being led by the Spirit of God. It may be a different way to think about it. In a sense, it puts God on display to the world through us and how we handle things and what we say and what we do. And by that display in our life, it brings God honor and glory because He gets the credit.

And, in fact, just over a page, at least in my Bible, 1 Peter 3, look at verse 8. In verse 8, we talked about this just a little bit, you know, be of one mind. “Don't return evil for evil." We know we were called to this in verse 9. But in verse 10, 1 Peter 3, he says, "He who would love life and see good days," boy, and that's us. I want not just a good life but, ultimately, eternal life in the Kingdom of God. You want to see good days? You want life to go better even right now? "Let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it."

So in a way, we're taking it up a notch, aren't we? That when we recognize this very fact, that I got to quit defending myself. I've got to trust God with that. I've got to allow Him to deal with these things. What begins to happen then is I grow in character. And it's not just enough not to do evil. It's not just about not doing the bad things. Do you see that here at the end of verse 11? Turn away from evil." But then I got to do good. It's not good enough just not to do evil. I've got to do what's right. I've got to do what's Christ-like. I've got to, it says, "Seek peace," which isn't just like, "Well, I hope peace will be here." He says, "No, I got to pursue it. I can't just be static. I can't be passive. I got to go after it. I've got to go after it and do good. That's what God wants me to do." He says, "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers." God hears us. He knows what's going on. When we lay it before Him, is He going to be sure that justice is served? Absolutely. That's His promise. That's His promise. In verse 13 he says, "Who is he that will harm you if you become followers of what is good? Well, even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed.
Don't be afraid of their threats. Don't be troubled.’" It says, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Trust Him. Give it over to Him." How do you handle it? How do you handle those situations?

You see, life is too short to whine and complain and fuss about these situations that are unfair. They are mistreatments. But when we recognize what God tells us, He says, "I've given you the ability to be able to handle these things, to accept the unfairness of life and cut off the negativity." You don't have to think that way. God says, "I'm giving you through My Spirit the ability to rise up and overcome these things. And, in fact, not just overcome yourself but inspire others along the way as well so that we can grow and we can mature." And, in fact, there can be an immunization against the pain of being treated unfairly, especially when we put it in God's hands, when we trust Him, when we recognize His authority, when we submit to that authority when we allow Him to develop that character in us, and we glorify Him in the things that we do. What a powerful statement we make. We are called for that very purpose. So let's trust God. Let's trust His authority. And we can't forget that God promises to help. He promises to help each and every one of us to stay right even when we're wronged.