All right, good morning.
Today, as we continue our preaching series in the book of 1 Peter, we come to a passage
where Peter gives instruction to Christian slaves on how they are to live as Christians
under unjust masters.
The passage surfaces important issues for our church to look at with clear eyes and
humble hearts, issues of slavery and freedom, issues of suffering and injustice, of power
and authority, and it shows us how Peter points us to the gospel in the midst of these discussions.
This is not an easy topic.
I was talking with Katie last night, and she gave me permission to share her comment.
She said, wow, must be pretty controversial to be worse than telling Americans to submit
to the government.
If you were here last week, that's what we preached on.
That was meant to be funny, lighten the load a little bit.
Okay, here we go.
So, I have two things to say as we begin this.
One, I want to acknowledge I'm a white male who has been born in a world and in a life
where I have not been the recipient of any hatred or discrimination because of the color
of my skin.
And I have enjoyed material blessings and advantage that others have not had.
And so, I come to you this morning in some ways feeling deeply unqualified to preach about
the topic of suffering and slavery.
Secondly, I want to acknowledge that we as a church are affiliated with the Southern Baptist
Church, have been for the entire history of this church.
The Southern Baptist denomination was founded in the 1850s by men who were slave owners and
who defended as Christians the institution of slavery.
And the history of the SBC is that since its beginning, it has accommodated or promoted racism
in many ways.
While there has been recently a recognition of and statements of repentance from this sin,
this history still has effects in our present.
I want to humbly acknowledge that this morning.
So, how do we approach a text like this given these things?
Well, with humble hearts, with repentant hearts, with a recognition of unworthiness, but also
a hope.
A hope that as we have always done here at Trinity, as we come to the Bible, as we come to see
what God's Word has to say to us, that with compassion and courage, with humility and conviction,
that God might use me to direct you to the truth of God's Word this morning.
With that, let's pray.
God, our Father, the Father of every family on earth, and Jesus, our Savior, who came to
redeem sinners from every tongue and tribe and nation, have mercy on us this morning.
May we sit under your Word this morning with humility.
May you open our ears.
You give us a soft heart.
And may you, by your Spirit, show us your truth this morning.
Lord, call us to a life that reflects that truth.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So, with that, we're going to go ahead and read the passage.
We're in 1 Peter chapter 2.
That's page 954 in your Pew Bible, if you're reading along in the Pew Bible.
1 Peter chapter 2, starting in verse 18, is where we're going to start this morning.
So, let's read the passage, and then we're going to dive in with what we're going to talk
about this morning.
So, let's read this together.
Servants, which could be also translated slaves.
The ESV often uses bond servant.
Be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to
the unjust.
For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering
unjustly.
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?
But if, when you do good and suffer for it, you endure?
This is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example
so that you might follow in his steps.
He committed no sin.
Neither was deceit found in his mouth.
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.
When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges
justly.
He himself bore our sin in his body on the tree.
need to address some issues. There are broader issues that may affect how we think about and how
we come to this text. So as with last week, this week's sermon is going to be slightly more topical.
We're going to get to the text, but as opposed to last week, we're going to have the text at the end
of our message. We're going to try to clear our way so that we can think clearly about what this
passage says by talking about some of the bigger issues that probably are raising in your mind as
they do in mine as I read this. So we're going to spend a few minutes talking about things we don't
usually talk about. We're going to be talking about slavery and race in the United States,
and we're going to be talking about slavery and race in the Bible, and then we're going to come
back to this passage and seek to address it. So that's where we're going. Hang in there,
buckle your seatbelts, as I've told you a couple times. Here we go. First of all, we need to
recognize that the issue of slavery in U.S. history is a particularly fraught and difficult
one. And I recognize because of our church, not all of you are U.S. citizens or come from the U.S.,
and this is foreign to you. This is outside of your experience. But we need to be able to speak
the truth about these things. And I am not an expert here by any means. But we need to acknowledge
these things publicly because often they have been hidden or they have been diminished and made small.
And I also want to say this is also not the whole history of the American country, but this is a
particular history of how slavery has been a part of it. So let's look at that together. In 1819, the
first ships that brought slaves from Africa arrived in the United States. The nature of slavery in America
has been race-based chattel slavery. Race-based, that is, Africans, because of their black skin,
were taken from Africa and brought over here. And then them and their descendants were held as slaves.
And they were chattel slaves, which means that they were property of their owners. They were not
treated as people. They were treated as commodities. In 1776, America became a nation. And yet, even during
that time, many founding fathers were slave owners. Some of them were even Christian slave owners.
And slavery continued to be supported by the law and grew increasingly as central to the economy of
our nation, particularly in the South. This led to, ultimately, a crisis in 1861. The Civil War was fought
primarily, although not exclusively, over the issue of slavery. In 1863, President Lincoln passed the
Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves. And in 1865, the 13th Amendment was added to the Constitution.
And yet, even when the legal support of slavery ended, during the period that followed Reconstruction,
the establishment of principles in our country, whereby Jim Crow laws that supported a separate but
equal legal standing in our society continued for the next 100 years. The Civil Rights Movement in
1954 to 1968, led by Martin Luther King and others, sought to address this in a new way. The Civil Rights
Act was passed in 1865, seeking to abolish those separate but equal laws and creating a platform for
legal equality in new ways. And yet, the problems of race relations and racism continue in our world.
Hasn't taken a lot to see this in the last five years, whether it be the death of George Floyd at the
hands of police, whether it be sociological studies that show the ongoing ways in which racial profiling
and disparity of application of law continues to be an issue. Now, I say this, and I want to
acknowledge something else that's really important here. The conversation of race in America has
primarily been on the axis of black and white. But there are a lot of other axes upon which people
have discriminated against others from Asian, from Latin American, and Native American backgrounds.
So we want to recognize this isn't just this, but this has been the primary narrative, one of the primary
forces in American society that we need to focus on and we need to recognize.
We need to see that this has been a part of our American society for a long time.
And lest you think that I'm sitting here saying, what a terrible society we live in, thank God that the church
is different. It's not. The history of defending, or at least accepting, or being passive in the face of slavery,
has been a hallmark of the American church since the beginning. In early days, slaves were often forbidden
to attend church. They were not allowed to by their masters. This created a clandestine black church that
slaves would meet in secret hiding places in the middle of the night, and created a culture that
developed a black church tradition with spirituals and hymns. And we need to recognize that many
theologians and slave owners use the very passage that we are looking at this morning to defend the
institution of slavery, preaching that their slaves were bound to obey them based on this passage.
Furthermore, many, even abolitionist Christians, that is, those who fought against the institution of
slavery, say in the 1850s and 1860s, did not actually support an integrated church.
Northern churches did not welcome blacks into their white churches in the Civil War and post-Civil War era.
If you haven't read Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter, famous letter, the letter from a Birmingham jail,
you ought to read it. He laments the lack of support for civil rights among
white pastors. And while there have been counter examples along the way, and this is not the whole story of the church,
this is broadly and predominantly the reality and the history.
And so we come to our present moment today. And friends, I was heartbroken as I spent time exploring and reading
and thinking, preparing for this sermon, as I heard some of my black brothers and sisters express the pain
and the frustration
that they feel
even today,
even within the church, even with people that I know and trust and respect,
seeing them torn apart because of these issues that continue to feel unaddressed.
Tensions and divisions and factionalism are growing in it.
And my fear is that this issue will tear us apart as a church if we don't grow in how we respond to it.
We have to recognize this history because it shapes our presuppositions and our values and the questions that we bring as we come to a text like this.
And this is normal.
Everyone brings their cultural perspective to a text.
Everyone brings questions that are going to come out of how they have lived and what they've experienced.
We need to be honest about our past.
We need to recognize the reality about our present
and see how it might affect us.
And then we need to go and listen to one another
who come from different perspectives and different backgrounds.
Not because any perspective has a privilege or more right perspective,
but so that we might refine one another in our understanding of the Bible.
So we might listen to one another so that we can ultimately get closer
to a clear understanding of the truth of God's Word.
So if that's the backdrop of our cultural moment,
let's then look at the Bible broadly to see what does it say about slavery and race.
I'm going to start with race.
We're going to go fast.
Daniel's going to try to keep up and put some slides up
so you can see some texts.
This is going to be kind of like last week.
We're going to go through it quickly.
First of all, principle, the dignity and worth of every human life
is affirmed as being made in God's image.
So Genesis 1, 27 says God created man in his image.
In the image of God, he created them, male and female.
He created them.
And every human being is descended from Adam and Eve.
And all of us have this image of God.
And so we see even after the fall and after the flood and the judgment on the Word,
in God's interaction with Noah in Genesis 9, 6,
God reminds Noah this,
whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.
He reaffirmed this principle.
But then we see in the Bible storyline,
the second principle,
which is that we live in a world where division over race and culture is a part of the fall.
In Genesis 11,
the Tower of Babel talks about how God scattered the people
and diversified them in their race and in their culture.
And the racial part there is not exceedingly clear,
but what it seems is that from there,
from a unified humanity,
there's then a diaspora,
which then creates this mosaic of human cultures.
Every tribe and tongue and nation is the language the Bible uses for it.
Right?
We often read the Bible through the lens of the culture we've come from,
through a monoculture.
We need to recognize there's this diversity of culture
that God allowed to happen and in fact meant to happen
because as we keep going,
we see that God's redemptive purpose has been for all people,
always.
As we shift from the Old Testament to the New Testament,
we see that in the Old Testament,
there were certain people who were brought into the nation of Israel.
But as we get to the New Testament church,
the New Testament church becomes a transnational reality
of people not based on anything except for a single criteria,
faith in Jesus Christ.
And in Acts 2,
we see the day of Pentecost,
the Holy Spirit poured out on people
from at least nine different nationalities and ethnicities,
spoke different languages,
and God called them to faith in Christ that day.
And so we see the principle laid out
in a place like Galatians chapter 3 verse 28,
for as many of you were baptized into Christ,
have put on Christ,
there is neither Jew nor Greek,
neither slave nor free.
There is no male nor female,
for you are all one in Christ.
And in Ephesians 2,
Paul even breaks this down even more.
He's talking about the division between Jew and Gentile,
which was a racial and religious division.
And he says this,
for he Christ himself is our peace,
who has made us both one
and has broken down in his flesh
the dividing wall of hostility
by abolishing the law of commandments
expressed in ordinances
that he might create in himself
one new man in the place of two,
so making peace
and might reconcile us both to God
in one body through the cross,
thereby killing the hostility.
And friends,
all of this is headed towards a future glory
that we see in the book of Revelation,
chapter 7 verses 9 and 10,
where the apostle John talks about this vision
of the throne room of heaven.
He says this,
after this I looked and behold,
a great multitude that no one could number,
from every nation,
from all tribes and peoples and languages,
standing before the throne
and before the lamb,
clothed in white robes
with palm branches in their hands
and crying out with a loud voice,
salvation belongs to our God
who sits on the throne
and to the lamb.
So friends,
this is the sweep of God's perspective
that even as God created
the diversity of peoples in the world,
including racial diversity,
his desire is to bring people together
through the person of Christ
so that there might be a unity of worship
with this amazing diversity
that gives greater glory to Christ,
that gives greater glory to God.
And this is the,
so if this is the purpose that God has,
for us to treat others differently
based on race
or on the privilege of my own race
and culture
denies God's creative and saving purposes.
To the extent that the church has done this,
to the extent that the church has been racist,
we must repent of it.
We must call it wrong.
We must say there's no excuse.
We must find a way forward.
The Bible calls us to forsake it
and to celebrate racial diversity
in the body of Christ
as an expression of God's glory.
So if that's what the Bible says about slavery,
or race,
then what does the Bible say about slavery?
Well, slavery in the Bible
is referred to in a wide range.
I'm really thankful.
We have an early Christianity scholar,
Tom, who's on our eldership.
He gave me some great help in this,
thinking through this.
There was a lot of different kinds of slavery
that were expressed in the Bible.
Some of it was similar to what we talked about
in American slavery,
race-based chattel slavery.
But there were also indentured servants.
There were prisoners of war who became slaves.
There were household servants, right?
And it was a wide range of people.
The Old Testament law seems,
in the law in particular,
seems to address mostly indentured servanthood
or household servants,
rather than the more harsh forms.
But it doesn't mean that it was true freedom.
It was still slavery.
There was real issues there.
In the New Testament,
we're now under Roman law,
and we see that there's a Roman slavery
that was pretty hard.
Often slaves were the spoils of war.
They were the result of kidnapping.
Some were born into slavery.
And there was a provision or a way
that people could sell themselves.
This is indentured servanthood.
Sell themselves into slavery.
And there was some opportunity
to buy yourself out of slavery,
particularly if that was the case.
So first century slavery,
though typically not race-based,
was still pretty brutal.
As one New Testament scholar says,
ancient slavery was not more humane
than modern slavery.
So we don't want to make a huge distinction,
but we do want to say,
let's think a little bit
with a little bit of nuance about it.
So what does the Bible say
about slavery as an institution?
There are places where the slavery
is referred to as an institution.
So in Exodus 20,
in the Ten Commandments,
it talks about households.
It talks about you and your children
and your servants or slaves.
We see this as well in the New Testament
in these what are called household codes.
First Peter 2 is one of them.
We also see them in Colossians 3,
22 through 4, 1,
and Ephesians 6, 5 through 9,
where it refers to the relationship
between slaves and masters.
Now while these are references
to the institution,
there is not a strong support of
or command to be involved in this.
And in fact,
the overwhelming pattern of the Bible
runs the other direction.
It runs away from slavery.
And so even as in Exodus,
God reveals himself in the Ten Commandments
and explains and refers to slavery,
he starts with this,
Exodus 20, verse 2.
I am the Lord your God
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.
And the Exodus is this monumental theme
in the Old Testament.
This was the greatest work of God's redemption
to free people from slavery.
And we see other places
in the Old Testament law,
in the Old Testament,
where we have senses of this.
So Deuteronomy 25, 15 and 16
says that if an escaped slave comes to you,
don't turn him back to your master.
Let him live freely with you.
So we see in Leviticus 25, 50 and following
that there's this pattern of jubilee freedom
where people weren't going to be slaves forever,
that within the kingdom of God,
they were meant to be set free
during the jubilee,
which almost never happened.
No, it never happened
in the Old Testament time.
Isaiah 61,
a vision of a future playing,
a servant who will come,
who will bring good news to the poor
and declare freedom for the captives
to break the rod of the oppressor.
And then we come to the New Testament.
We come to a passage,
maybe most clearly,
1 Corinthians 7, 21 through 24,
where Paul is talking to the Corinthian church.
It's thinking about how they live
in lots of different ways.
And he says this,
were you a slave when called?
Don't be concerned about it.
But if you can gain your freedom,
avail yourself of the opportunity.
For he who was called in the Lord
as a slave is a freed man of the Lord.
Likewise, he who is free when called
is a slave of Christ.
I've retranslated the ESV
to put slave rather than bond servant
just so you all know what the word is.
You were bought with a price.
Do not become slaves of men.
So brothers,
in whatever condition each was called,
let him there remain with God.
Now, some people read this text
and they think,
well, Paul's saying you should stay.
But he doesn't.
He says generally the principle is stay.
If you're single, stay single.
If you're married, stay married.
But if you're a slave
and you can get your freedom, take it.
And then we have the book of Philemon,
which probably isn't on your top 10 books
of Bible books.
But the whole story is that
Paul is returning a slave
who'd run away to his master.
So Onesimus is returning to his master
with this letter.
And Paul encourages Philemon, the master,
receive Onesimus,
as he says in verse 16,
no longer as a slave,
but more than a slave,
as a beloved brother.
So with all of these patterns,
we see this strong pattern
of moving away from slavery,
that slavery is antithetical
to the gospel
and to the path of redemption
that God is doing in the world.
And yet,
we also need to see,
and we saw this in 1 Corinthians 7,
that Jesus
and Paul
and Peter
all call themselves
slaves.
Slaves of God.
So we need to recognize
this is the big picture
of what the Bible says.
So what does it mean?
A few final thoughts
as we think about this.
So what this means broadly is
there is a strong biblical place
for us to seek to overturn slavery,
to bring societal transformation
such that slavery does not happen,
such that racism and racial inequality
does not happen.
These are good things
that are consistent
with the overall picture of Scripture.
and we're thankful
for large pictures.
If you don't know
the work of John Perkins,
you should read about John Perkins
and the work that he has done.
Locally,
some of you I know
have been involved in this.
There are places like Borden House.
Some of you
have engaged in foster parenting
for the sake of overturning
some of these structures
and coming alongside of it.
Bridges of Hope
seeks to bring churches together
across what would normally be divides.
As we think about these things
and as we think about engagement,
we need to be careful
to be gracious for one another.
Not to demand
that this is the way
you must respond
or this is the way
you must respond
to a particular situation
or a particular thing
or this is the way
that all Christians
ought to be active
in this pattern.
There are various means
and some are more public
and some are less so.
And what we need to do
is to be gracious
and encouraging
to one another
rather than critical
and divisive
about how we go about
being a part of what God
wants to do in this world.
Racial reconciliation,
I believe,
is a necessary part
of the gospel
because of what it says
in Ephesians 2.
That God has made one person
and we need to work
towards reconciliation
as we have opportunity to.
We need to pursue this
and there's a lot
to be said there.
That's a different sermon
for a different day.
But I hope you see
that the biblical pattern,
there's strong support
for us to be engaged with it.
But just as we saw
with politics last week,
with government last week,
as we see the biblical picture,
it embraces two different principles.
One is we work
to transform our society
that we live in
towards righteousness.
But the second one is
how do we live
with Christian character
in a fallen world
under fallen authorities?
And both of these things
are in play.
And right now,
our cultural wave
and our cultural moment
is very strongly
on the second.
We want to fight for justice.
We want to see
the world changed.
And amen,
may God do it.
May God change this world
to be a better one.
But in 1 Peter 2,
he addresses more of the first.
How is it that we live
with Christian character
even when we face
unjust suffering?
He addresses people
within the institution of slavery.
He's speaking to those
that he knows.
And he knows this
because he himself,
right,
he understands
what it's like
to live under authority
of others.
Though it's not clear
that he was ever
actually a slave,
he understands
and knows what it's like
to be a slave of Christ.
And he writes to people
who he's called already
sojourners
and exiles.
And he's calling them
to figure out
how can they live
distinctly as Christians
in their context.
Peter has,
therefore,
two points.
Let's finally close
by looking at our text
and seeing what it has
to say to us
this morning.
1 Peter 2,
verse 18.
Verse 18 through 20.
The message is very clear.
Submit to your masters
even if you suffer
unjustly
for doing right.
Peter says
you're supposed
to serve them
even if they're,
what's the word he uses
in verse 18?
Also to the unjust.
It's a great word.
It's scolioi.
Like scoliosis,
you know,
you have like a curved,
a bent spine.
He's saying these people
have bent morals.
They have bent character.
And you are called
to submit to them
even when they are like that.
How are we supposed
to do that?
He says you're supposed
to do it respectfully,
not coweringly,
not belligerently,
but with dignity.
You're also supposed
to do it mindful of God,
not because they intrinsically
deserve your submission
because of their character
or goodness.
Clearly,
that's not true.
But because you are
mindful of God
who is the ultimate master
and who is the ultimate Lord
over all of us,
because of him you submit.
And recognize that this includes
enduring sorrow.
That word includes
both emotional pain,
physical pain,
grief,
and trouble.
But Peter says,
to do this is grace
in the sight of God
when you endure these sorrows.
God looks upon this
and he's pleased
with the way
that you bear up
under unjust suffering.
When you look to God
and you seek his praise
and when you depend
on his grace
as being greater
than the evil
that you are enduring
in this moment.
Why did Peter
give this command?
Well,
in the flow
of the context
of the book,
he gave it because
his concern
was for Christian witness.
How would Christians
respond even to injustice?
If they sinned,
if they did evil
in response to injustice,
then what credit
do they have
when they get punished
for it?
None.
But he says,
if you,
for doing good,
suffer unjustly,
this is grace.
Peter is looking
into our hearts
and he knows,
he knows that
in our hearts
when we suffer injustice,
our greatest
and our most human response
is to strike out
in return
and to sin
in word
and deed
in an attitude
of bitterness,
rage,
and spite.
I'm going to say
one thing
really briefly.
This does not mean
that if you're
in an abusive marriage,
you must stay in that.
Nick's going to deal
with that next week,
so I'm just going
to put that in place.
However,
Peter's looking
into our hearts
and he knows
how difficult it is
for us to follow
in the words
of Jesus
to turn the other cheek
when we suffer unjustly.
Martin Luther King
in his sermon
on love,
law,
and civil disobedience
wrote this.
Three ways
that oppressed people
have generally
dealt with their oppression.
One way
is the method
of acquiescence,
the method
of surrender.
That is,
individuals will somehow
adjust themselves
to the oppression,
they adjust themselves
to the discrimination,
to segregation,
or colonialism,
or what have you.
The other method
that has been used
in history
is that of rising up
against the oppressor
with corroding hatred
and physical violence.
Now, of course,
we know about this method
in Western civilization
because, in a sense,
it has been the hallmark
of its grandeur.
And the inseparable twin
of Western materialism.
But there is another way,
namely,
the way
of nonviolent resistance.
Martin Luther King
saw clearly
how easy it is
for our hearts
to be turned
and twisted
either into accepting evil
or rising up
in bitterness
and anger against it.
And he says,
there is a third way.
There is a third way
to respond
which is right
and good.
When you think
about this,
suffering unjustly,
how does your heart run?
does it run
to despair
and slavish self-abandonment?
Do you seek
desperately
to please
the one
who's oppressing you
so that you might
somehow
appease them
so that they will
no longer
cause you suffering?
Do you allow
anger, bitterness,
and rage
and desire
for retaliation
and revenge
to consume your heart?
Peter knows
this is the way
we are
and yet he calls
us to something else.
He calls us
to follow
in this pathway
of submitting
and I would say
in love
reading lots
of Martin Luther King
this week.
One of the things
that he saw
so clearly
was that
the desire
to love
in the midst
of suffering
is one of the hardest
but one of the most
Christian things
that we can do
and how do we know that?
Because it's following
in the footsteps
of Jesus.
We're not creating
a new path.
This third way
is not new.
In fact,
it's very old.
It's the paradigm
that Jesus gave us
and this is the last part.
This is the second half
of what this passage
tells us this morning.
We are to do this
as we follow
the example of Christ
who suffered
for us.
Peter begins
by saying
to this
you've been called.
You,
slaves,
have been called
to follow
in the footsteps
of Christ.
That actually
gave them
great dignity
and worth
in their culture.
Peter saw them
as being important
members of God's kingdom.
But as he's calling
them to this
he's saying
unjust suffering
is not a mistake
in God's kingdom
for even as Jesus
said in John 15, 8
if the world
hates you
know that it
has hated me
before it hates you.
Peter says
to this
God has called
you to be
his
in following
in the footsteps
of Jesus.
Following his
example
in verses 22
and 23
what was Jesus'
example?
These are a bunch
of images
that are translated
and kind of
jumbled a little bit
from Isaiah 53
that we read
earlier in a passage
he did it
without sin.
He did not
revile
he did not
threaten
he did not
take it into
his own hands
to condemn
or retaliate
or bring justice
but instead
as it says
in verse 23
he entrusted
himself
he entrusted
himself to
God who
judges
justly.
Peter's already
reminded
his audience
that this is
what we need
to remember
that we have
a father
in heaven
who is the
God who
judges
justly
the world
on earth
and this is
where final
justice comes
in the midst
of suffering
and trial
by trusting
the one
who will
ultimately
bring
all judgment.
This is the
example
par excellence
look to
Jesus
Pastor Micah
Edmondson
of the
Koinonia Church
in Nashville
Tennessee
wrote this
about Jesus
there was
no greater
atrocity
in all
the world
than when
Jesus Christ
the innocent
righteous
perfect
sinless
light of
the world
who only
spoke truth
and always
loved people
was set up
falsely
accused
tried
in a sham
trial
and tortured
his death
on the cross
was a lynching
and God
allowed it
and Jesus
Christ
trusted
that through
his choice
to lay down
his life
God would
bring about
redemptive
good
whenever
Jesus
talked about
his coming
death
he also
always
talked about
his resurrection
he is the
ultimate example
of how God
is able to
bring about
redemptive
good
through
engagement
with
unearned
suffering
friends
this is the
good news
of the
gospel
that Christ
took upon
himself
our sin
he unjustly
suffered
the punishment
of God
against our
sin
as he hung
on the cross
for us
this is his
substitution
for us
his atoning
of God's
wrath
against sin
and Jesus
did this
so that we
might have
healing
so that we
who wandered
away
from God
might be
brought back
into his
household
and be
called
his people
and he
is the one
who is the
shepherd
and the
overseer
of our
souls
and as
God
redeems
us
in this
work of
Christ
through this
work of
unjust
suffering
he calls
us then
to die
to sin
and to
live for
righteousness
so that we
might know
the power
of forgiveness
in our
own lives
so that we
might forgive
those who
sin against
us
so that we
might have
the refining
power of
the Holy
Spirit
to burn
out the
sin that
resides in
our heart
so that we
might love
one another
purely
Jesus died
for our
sins so that
we might have
in us a
new life
with enabling
power
to persevere
and endure
even unjust
suffering
for the
sake of
Christ
as I've
thought about
how to
apply this
to our
church
I've
thought a
lot about
how the
black church
in America
in the last
300 years
has responded
to unjust
suffering
Martin Luther
King
wrote this
in 1960
my personal
trials have
taught me
the value
of unmerited
suffering
as my
sufferings
have mounted
I soon
realized that
there were
two ways
I could
respond to
my situation
either react
with bitterness
or to seek
to transform
the suffering
into a
creative force
I have
decided to
follow the
latter course
recognizing the
necessity
for suffering
I have tried
to make it
a virtue
if only to
save myself
from bitterness
I have
attempted to
see my
personal
ordeals
as an
opportunity
to transform
myself
and heal
the people
involved in
their tragic
situations
I have
lived these
past few
years with
the conviction
that unearned
suffering is
redemptive
friends this is
what I have
seen as I've
talked and read
in the past
we who are not
a part of the
black church and
don't have this
history have so
much to learn
from our
brothers and
sisters about
how to endure
how to persevere
in hope through
centuries of
subjugation and
discrimination and
injustice not
forsaking their
hope in God or
their inheritance in
the kingdom but
with that also
having the ability
to work for
change to see
injustice and to
confront it and
to work in
godly ways for
transformation
to not only
change their
society for the
better but even
to redeem the
souls of those
who are trapped
in sins of
racism and
prejudice
and friends
what I see is
that if we
can't have both
of those things
the ultimate
hope of God
and the work
now we will
lose our faith
because we will
see that the
injustice of the
world is
unbearable and
we will either
try to enforce
it through other
means or we
will despair of
it and we will
lose the hope of
the gospel
and look
the day is
coming when
all Christians
will suffer
unjustly
we will find
ourselves in
positions where
those who have
authority over us
will treat us
unjustly because of
our faith in
Christ as our
culture moves
further away from
some overlay of
Christian values and
morals as the
church becomes more
distinct from the
culture we live in
we will suffer
unjustly and we
need to be prepared
for that and we
need to learn from
our brothers and
sisters how they
have walked in
fellowship with
Christ so that we
may know the
strength and power
that they have had
so that together we
might work walk with
them through what is
to come
God's purpose for us
is that we may know
the fellowship of
Christ and his
sufferings
even being even
dying with him so
that we might be
raised with him to
new life
for God's glory for
our good and for the
salvation of others in
the world let's
pray Lord we thank
you for this word
and we pray that you
would help us to
receive it to hear
it and respond to it
as you would call us
to we pray this in
Jesus name amen
an amen
you
in
you