Alston Road Church of Christ Podcast

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore

Series: 1 Peter (Living in Exile)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Read Genesis 6:1-13 with me and consider what it would have been like to be Noah and his family before the flood. This is a sad and strange account. Eve previously saw that the fruit looked good when Satan presented it to her, so she took it and ate it. Here, the “sons of God” see that the daughters of men look good, so they take any they want as wives. God immediately expresses displeasure — saying his Spirit won’t abide with man forever. It appears that “Nephilim” — giants — were the result of these mixed marriages. This is admittedly strange. Some say the “sons of God” refer to the godly offspring of Seth going after Cain’s daughters; however, my opinion and the standard Jewish interpretation in Jesus’ day was that these Nephilim were the result of sexual relations between angelic beings and the daughters of men.

Notice Jude vs. 6–7 ESV, “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” It appears we could say of Genesis 6 that angels did not stay within their own position of authority, left their proper dwelling, and desired foreign flesh as Sodomites later did, and the human women (and their fathers) went along with it. Now, mighty Nephilim, giants, have resulted. The woman’s offspring was supposed to crush the head of the snake and his offspring, but it appears angelic beings — the sons of God — have joined the side of the snake, and are taking over the offspring of the woman by taking these women for themselves.

I recognize this seems strange to us, but this appears to be how Jews saw this event and the world.  When you talked about Noah and the angels, this narrative came to their minds (see the first few pages of Enoch). Imagine what it would have been like to be Noah and his family in these days before the flood. Everyone’s thoughts are continually evil. The earth is filled with violence. People and angels are seeing, taking, and sleeping with whomever they want. Fearsome giants are around. Wickedness and death filled the earth, and here they are as a small minority — righteous and blameless. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. How easy do you think that was for Noah and his family? Do you ever think they felt scared by it all? Vulnerable? Isolated? With all the sexual immorality and violence, I have to believe they did.

But God sent the flood to cleanse the earth and rescue Noah and his family from that perverse, and violent generation. Furthermore, it appears God did not spare these sons of God — these angels — either, but has committed them to the chains of gloomy darkness in the deep abyss of hell until the judgment of the great day. All this stands behind our text today in 1 Peter 3:17-22.

How can we as exiles and foreigners like Noah not give in to fear, discouragement, and pressures when we do good, love and proclaim truth, but are only repaid with hatred, malice, slander, and threats of violence? When the world is only questioning us, listening with respectful curiosity, and sometimes even turning to the Lord, it is hard to understand why anyone might be afraid, discouraged, or even be comforted by a passage like this. But empathy for the experiences of other Christians will motivate us to pray for them and to get ready for the day when we could meet similar fates. We might lose jobs, family, friends, and be threatened or intimidated for doing and saying what is good and true.

Peter’s main thrust here is to help us recognize that if it is God’s will it is indeed better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Peter offers two examples of those who suffered for doing good — Jesus and Noah — but who were likewise saved and glorified as we will be. Note, Peter doesn’t encourage us in the ways we would naturally expect to be helpful, and yet, the Spirit of God believes we need this, and so, it is an act of true humility to attempt to grasp Peter’s thrust here.

1. Christ’s Suffering and Glorification

The first example is Christ. He suffered as a sin sacrifice. He was righteous, but he suffered for the unrighteous. He gave himself over to the violent, slanderous, Satan-filled mob. But consider Peter’s point here that this was actually good and that the forces of evil did not win. (1) Through his suffering he brought us to God. (2) Though put to death in the flesh, he was made alive — resurrected — by the Holy Spirit. (3) Those evil spirits — the sons of God — who brought sexual deviancy, violent carnage, and idolatry upon the earth? After his resurrection, Jesus went and preached to them. Maybe he proclaimed, declared his victory over them.

Jesus’ suffering and death was the means by which he brought us to God, experienced the Spirit’s resurrection, and had ancient cosmic powers subjected to him. When you see Jesus suffer all that evil and yet you see the good and the victory that resulted, we can say in the midst of fearful oppression and slander and loss, “You know what? Clearly I’m not on the wrong side here. When I suffer for good, I’m aligned with winners who conquer death and cosmic powers.” But that’s not all.

2. Noah’s Flood and Salvation

Second, Noah and his family was, as one writer put it, a “small embattled minority in a hostile world.” (Schreiner) He was a preacher of righteousness in a world where everyone’s thoughts were continually evil, where violence and might made right, and even a world where it seems that dark spiritual powers had invaded  and spread sexual deviancy and raised up mighty giants. Noah likely looked like a fool heralding righteousness and constructing a massive boat. He himself may have woken up some days and wondered what in the world he was doing and if this was really worth it. But this embattled minority was rescued from that wicked world through the ark in the  water — God actually ordained those scary, chaotic waters of judgment were actually their salvation. His suffering led to him being glorified as a new Adam over the world.

Peter says that baptism actually corresponds to this. If we can see it, there is a rich picture of baptism here. Think about it. The scary, chaotic floodwaters simultaneously judged the evil world and saved Noah from it, and those same waters save us today. As with the flood, when we are baptized the old man — the old creation — is judged, killed, buried; but as God’s Spirit-wind blew and brought dry ground and new life after the flood, by the power of the Spirit and Jesus’ resurrection, we come through and out of those chaotic flood waters alive, conscience cleansed.

Just as that small, embattled minority was saved from that corrupt world through its destruction by water, we are saved by the destruction of the old man in that water too. As Jesus suffered, was killed, and was raised and all rebel powers were subjected to him, we too will be raised up even from death to reign with him — all powers under our feet as well.

Ramifications for Today

I got on Facebook a few days ago to deactivate my account — I feel there is limited fruitfulness for me keeping it any longer. But, before I could, I saw a post from an acquaintance from the Christian college I attended in Florida. What she posted was a logically fallacious attack against an unpopular Christian teaching. Two other Christian friends that we went to school with replied that her argument wasn’t sound and they invited further conversation. But then, two more that we went to school with joined the conversations and immediately started mocking their replies and even falsely accusing one of the Christians of promoting heinous practices and beliefs he has never promoted. They misquoted and publicly slandered him. When I urged him to re-consider his slander so we could engage in a friendly conversation about truth, he refused to back down. Then, all three — the author and the two mockers — joined in with the other friends in a final round of mocking.

Fourteen years ago, these were Christians who cared enough to pay — or let their parents pay — good money to attend a private Christian college. But now, they and their friends gang up to publicly slander and humiliate Christians. Psa. 22:12–13, 16-19 NIV, “Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me… Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. But you, LORD, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.” I wish this was the only time I have seen this same thing happen, but this is not uncommon. It’s coming. And, as we discussed last time, we have to be ready for a real defense — we can help some of these same enemies with well-informed defenses — but we also have to be ready for when people mock our defenses of Jesus and tear us to pieces. Based on this text, in that day…

1. Remember our baptisms. Noah too preached righteousness and suffered and then when the waters of judgment came, he was brought safely through. There’s a reason we declare “Jesus is Lord” with our mouths, there’s a reason we believe his resurrection in our hearts, and there’s also a good reason our actual bodies are plunged in water. It is a concrete reminder that we have already lived through that old world’s destruction and renewal in the flood, we have already crossed through the Red Sea and escaped Pharaoh’s army, and we have already entered the death and burial of Jesus at the hands of sinners, and yet come out victorious. At that moment, we appealed to God for a clean conscience and he delivered us through. We are clean. They may accost our ears, take our things, hit our bodies, but we have already emulated and tasted our Noah-like salvation in baptism. In the words of Hebrews 10:22, our hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

2. Remember all powers have been subjected to Jesus. When Jesus was raised, he went and proclaimed his victory over those ancient cosmic powers. When evil people slander us, we need to know that the evil powers animating their actions are under Jesus’ control. Do not fear! In a vision, Daniel sees that the kingdoms of men have become like frightening beasts trampling down the earth, devouring much flesh, and even oppressing the saints. It’s a reversal of Genesis 1 where humans are given dominion over the beasts; but now the humans have become like animals and they are ruling the world. But then the beasts are slaughtered and he sees a human one — a son of man — coming in the clouds and he receives dominion. And then the promise is made that the people, the humans with him will receive dominion too. We are on the bottom now, but through the suffering of Jesus and Noah we see that we are on the right side. We are saved. We will be glorified.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Daniel and his friends were shipped off to Babylon and forced to attend Babylon University. Last time we talked about the importance of recognizing that Babylon’s secular worldview is everywhere — in the very air we breath. When Babylon educated Daniel and his friends, their goal was indoctrination, not free education. Everything they learned was contained with in a Babylonian story that centered on Babylonian gods and Babylon’s triumph for Babylon’s glory.

When the state educates us today, we must recognize that their Babylonian, Western, American, and especially Darwinian worldview is off. They tell a different story about how the world began, why it is here, why we are here, what went wrong, how that can be fixed, and where all history is headed. This flawed story effects both what is taught and how everything is taught — from science to literature, economics, social studies, psychology, and health. Evolutionary philosopher and scientist Daniel Dennett writes that Darwinism is a “universal acid”: “It eats through just about every traditional concept and leaves in its wake a revolutionized worldview, with most of the old landmarks still recognizable, but transformed in fundamental ways.” Welcome to the minds of the researchers inspiring today’s textbooks. Control the water supply and you control what people drink; control what goes in textbooks, and you control how people think and live in the world. There are good teachers and administrators doing genuine good, but there are also puppeteers running the whole thing and often giving life to Satan’s warping of the truth. And so, we must recognize that, as Jeff Wilson says, “It’s always Babylon out there.”

But how did Daniel and his friends respond to this situation? And how did God help them? We will consider two things Daniel and his friends did and three things God gave to help them thrive.

1. They resolved to not defile themselves without being obnoxious jerks.

Daniel and his friends were put through a lot. They were ripped form their homeland and families, they were given new names that extolled Babylonian gods, and they received an education they largely didn’t agree with. They were even likely made eunuchs — the person in charge of them was called the “chief of the eunuchs” and even Isaiah told Hezekiah that “your own sons shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” And yet, we don’t get the sense that at any point they stamped their feet or whined about how their God-given freedoms were being taken away. They accepted what they could accept.

But, when the king assigned them a daily portion of food and wine from his table, Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with it. Maybe it the meat was unclean. Maybe it had been offered to Babylonian gods (though, the vegetables may have been too). Maybe he is establishing distance between himself and the king. Whatever the reason, it would have defiled him, and he resolved not to allow that.

It is no small thing to turn down the king’s food. This is the best food in the land. To refuse the king’s diet could be perceived as insulting the king. Everyone else is eating. No one but his friends are watching — Mom and Dad aren’t there. “Why go through the trouble? After all, it’s what’s in your heart that matters. I don’t want them to put me in this box thinking food’s the only thing that I or God care about. My heart is right. God wouldn’t judge me for eating — but Nebuchadnezzar sure might if I don’t eat. How am I supposed to be a light anyway if I can’t even eat the same food at the same table?”

And yet, no excuse: he resolved and he spoke with the chief of eunuchs. Notice that we don’t get any sense of arrogance or rudeness from Daniel. He doesn’t make this about personal liberty either — a note we need to be aware of. Coercing someone to sin against God is not problematic because it removes personal liberties. The Bible isn’t about the triumph of liberty and happiness but about the reign of God over the creation. Besides, if it’s about personal freedoms, refuse becoming a eunuch and eat the king’s food!

And so, Daniel asks for vegetables and water. But the chief doesn’t want to lose his head, so he declines. But, notice, Daniel doesn’t stop. “Well, I tried to do the right thing once — it didn’t work. God will understand.” He persists and talks to the steward next. And note Daniel’s reasonableness — “just test us for ten days and you can observe us and decide what you see is best.” This doesn’t have to become a big deal unless the Babylonians make it that. Daniel kindly, peacefully, persistently resolved to do what was right without being a jerk.

There will be times in university, school, school-trips, work, work-trips and more where we have to resolve to not defile ourselves. They will invite us to social functions and bars where we shouldn’t be. They will hand us a drink that we need to turn down. We’ll be invited to movies we have no business seeing. They’ll wear clothes we shouldn’t wear. They’ll spend money in greedy, idolatrous ways that we will not keep up with. And must be ready to draw a line in the sand — to resolve. But know that you can do that kindly and quietly. You don’t need to make a big stink about it.

Regardless, it will carry risks. We may not advance in school or in the company. We may not be asked about that big decision. We may be passed over for the promotion. They don’t always care what you know, sometimes it’s who you know and whether you were part of that conversation over drinks at the bar. Sometimes its whether you rolled over when they gave the unethical order.

But, in this situation, notice how God gave them what they needed to thrive.

God gave them favor and compassion in the eyes of those in charge of them. In the cruel Babylonian empire, it’s rather shocking how amiable the chief and the steward are. We aren’t guaranteed this — Jews would later die at the hands of Antiochus Epiphanes IV for the same request. We are called to be faithful no matter what, but we may just find God gives favor in compassion in the sight of those over us. This is what I was blessed to experience when I worked at Sonic and Applebees in high school and college. I was determined to be at Bible class and worship on Sundays and Wednesdays — which is no easy thing in the restaurant business. They pushed back, but I kindly insisted. “I will work any time. Call me in and I’ll have your back. I’ll work hard. But not at those times.” I had to keep reminding them of my limits from time to time, but God gave me favor in their eyes.

God  gave them good appearance. Based on depictions of wisemen at that time it is probable that Babylonians liked their wisemen to be on the chubby side. Don’t underestimate the importance of the right look in Babylon. This is one thing I noticed in China. The airline stewardesses usually had a uniform look and hairdo. Men in military were also very similar. Daniel and his friends likely needed to be chubby, yet they were going to eat vegetables and drink water?! Yet, verse 15: God causes them to somehow be both better in appearance and fatter in flesh than everyone else who was stuffing themselves with the king’s food and wine!

Faithfulness to God may seem like career suicide. “You’d better be willing to fudge the numbers for this boss, sign that paper and stop asking questions, lie a little here or there, eat and drink what’s put before you — or you don’t know what might happen.” And it may be the case that we will suffer. But don’t count out God. Whether it relates to our commitments to this community here, to Biblical ethics, the truth, or to personal purity, we have to do what’s right and give room for God to work. He may glorify his name through our faithfulness in career suicide or by causing us to thrive in unlikely situations.

2. God helped them excel without being co-opted.

We don’t know what happened in the classroom. I feel confident that there were likely points where they took opportunities to respectfully offer different perspectives. However, I don’t get the sense that they bucked and protested at every turn. They went to school and God gave them learning and skill and wisdom in Babylonian literature and learning.

There’s a time to speak up and there’s a time to sit down, take notes, and disagree while circling the answer the teacher wants to hear. It’s not cowardice, it’s recognizing you’re living in Babylon, not heaven. They could have slouched and sighed and said this was all dumb. But they worked hard and learned and God made them excel. Col. 3:23–24 ESV, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

To those in school-aged years: God has given you your mind and he wants you to use it for his glory. Excel. Work hard. Learn about the world God has made. Learn how to live in it with God’s wisdom. Receive from those who have more training than you. To those working a job and to those being mothers at home: God has given you your hands, feet, lungs, heart, and mind to do good work for God’s glory. Be fruitful and multiply and exercise your God-given dominion in God’s good world.

But recognize the fallenness of the world around us and of the learning institutions and companies around us. Receiving their training and graduating suma cum laude at Babylon University did not mean Daniel and his friends bought into their worldview — not for one second. If you remember that, God will give you opportunities to make the truth known as he did with these friends. Nebuchadnezzar was impressed with them beyond all the others. And, he thought his training made them into who they were, but he soon found out after some bad dreams that no education, only the Spirit of God, was able to ready Daniel for what came next. They worked hard and waited on God and he used them as vessels for his glory. God used their success and faithfulness to eventually bring a pagan kings to their knees praising the true God as the King over all other kings.

Conclusion

Sometimes faithfulness leads us to thrive in Babylon, sometimes to die. But we must resolve to work hard and refuse to be co-opted and wait to see what God does. We could be imprisoned like Paul and embolden the brothers and sisters to speak more boldly of Christ as we testify to those in prison with us. Or God could put us at the top of the establishment to testify to kings and CEOs of his glory through the wisdom and power he gives us. The choice to thrive, be marginalized, or to die is not ours, but God’s. Let’s trust him to do what he wills to do with our lives.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore

Series: (none)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

A few months ago I was doing work at our kitchen table while Ashley was with the girls in our room. She asked me to pull out dinner at a certain time. I was hard at work and at some point the smoke alarm went off. Dinner wasn’t due to be done for another 15-20 minutes, so I thought it was just giving off a little smoke, I fanned the alarm with a towel, it shut off, and I got back to work. But soon the alarm went off again. I went back to fanning the alarm, but more alarms started going off. The girls wanted to come out, but I told them, “No, it’s too loud, just wait until dinner is done cooking.” At some point it occurred to me that I should check what was going on with dinner in the oven. As soon as I opened the oven, smoke billowed out and eventually cleared to reveal a dinner that had been burnt to a crisp. And that’s when I finally took another look around the room and finally saw that the whole house was thick with smoke. I had thought there was just a little natural smoke being given off, but evidently I wasn’t seeing things right. Smoke had been all around me, but I had been staring at my computer screen and couldn’t see it.

We have been talking for some time from 1st Peter about the challenge of being in the world, but not of the world — living, going to school, and working in Babylon, but not being defiled by Babylon’s way of thinking and living. But it helps to see these principles lived out in action —  especially as our kids are going back to school soon — hence Daniel 1.

Like sitting in a room that gradually fills with smoke, it is hard to see Babylon for what it is when you are living in Babylon, working for Babylon, and when Babylon is the one teaching you. It can be hard to imagine that there is a different way of thinking, learning, working, and living — or why anyone would want to do anything differently. And yet, as you may know from the book of Daniel, Daniel and his friends went to school in Babylon, they worked in and for Babylon, and yet, not only were they not compromised in the slightest, they brought pagan kings to their knees praising the God of heaven.

This morning we will look at three big picture things in Daniel 1: (1) What Babylon does, (2) what Daniel and his friends do, and (3) what God does.

What Babylon Does (Daniel 1:1-7)

1. Babylon believes their power and their gods run the world (vs. 2). Nebuchadnezzar takes the vessels of the true God’s house and puts them in the house of his God. This is what ancient empires commonly did. In fact, when Babylon itself had been defeated by Elam, Elam took Babylon’s statue of Marduk to its capital city only for it to be recaptured years later and bring it back to Babylon. They think, “We won, so that means either that our god is bigger than your god or your god joined our side.” Later, though God has told him otherwise in a dream, Nebuchadnezzar will only see his hand as the reason for Babylon’s success, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (4:30). And yet, verse 2 says that “The Lord gave … Judah into his hand.”

Babylon believes their way and their gods run the world, and that’s a problem because that means they don’t know how the world would keep on going without the Babylonian way. How would things keep going without Babylonian power? gods? businesses? technology? education? And when you think you can’t live without something — that the world cannot go on without Babylon — you worship Babylon.

The kingdoms of this world forget that the world has existed for a long time and that there is a God, king, and kingdom that both precedes them and will still be around after them: the kingdom of God. The God of heaven both gave Babylon its power and would take it away, and the same will be true of every kingdom. Every rule, authority, and power must be destroyed (1 Cor. 15:24) and as we live in Babylon we need to recognize that is not ultimately Babylon’s system that keeps the world turning, it is God Almighty.

2. Babylon values the young, the competent, and the good-looking (vs. 3-4). This was the Babylonian way. Other empires simply scattered people and had no use for them. Babylon operated differently. Their empire was rapidly expanding and they needed competent people to help run it. So, when they conquered nations, they did as they do with Israel here: they bring some from the royal family and nobility who are young, without blemish, good-looking, wise, knowledgeable, and competent to stand in the king’s palace. It is certainly a blessing from God to have any of those things, but do we see in this how Babylon views people? One author (Longman) puts it like this: “The Babylonian court apparently did not want unattractive smart people or dumb attractive people, but rather people who were pleasant to look at and intelligent enough to contribute to the management of the state.” In the eyes of Babylon, people are valued for their usefulness. People are tools to get stuff done and bring pleasure — and if you don’t, you’re out.

We live in the thick of a world that prizes this utilitarian ethic: youth, good looks, and intelligence above the image of God. When Ashley has been pregnant the doctors ask if we want genetic testing — see what blemishes there are so we can determine if the baby will have a life Babylon deems worth living (i.e., do they fit in with our utilitarian ethic or not?). While we give glory to God for our strength and abilities, we need to remember that all men are made in God’s image: the poor and rich, the old, young, and not yet born, those with high IQs and low IQs, those who live in Babylon and those who do not, those who have blemishes and those who do not.

3. Babylon indoctrinates people in its pagan worldview (vs. 4-5). These smart and good-looking youths are brought in to be educated in Babylon University for three years to learn the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Babylon always demands: you will talk like us, learn like us, and think like us. Through the recovery of ancient cuneiform tablets, we know they would have likely the ancient Mesopotamian myths about the creation (Enuma Elish), the flood (Gilgamesh Epic), and more. It is possible they would have been trained in the Babylonian ways of divination — interpreting sheep organs and the stars to seek to determine the future. They would have been taught a Babylon-centric worldview where all real history that matters begins with Babylon. Babylon’s worldview encompasses everything. It changes how they view history, science, technology, government, and religion.

Are we able to see that it is no different today? And that can be okay — Daniel and his friends were educated in Babylon and by Babylon. And as we will see in a moment, God caused them to excel in pagan Babylon University. But it is only okay as long as we realize we are being schooled by Babylon — because then we can see Babylon’s thinking for what it is. But it can be hard to see the smoke we’re sitting in. I have absolutely zero interest in this becoming a debate about home-schooling and public schooling. We all likely know fantastic Christians who were educated by public schools and homeschoolers that simply aren’t. I was both homeschooled and public schooled — so hear me correctly both public school and homeschool families: Daniel and his friends went to Babylon University and that’s okay because they knew it was Babylon University and they knew the difference between the worldview found there and the worldview seen through the lens of God’s word. Whether we are at school or in company-sponsored training: we are not learning mere objective facts. The questions they ask and the answers they give are part of larger worldviews. Whether we are talking about history, social studies, economics, business, literature, science, or technology: there are Christian ways of viewing these things, and then there are Babylonian ways of viewing these things. Parents: we need to prepare our kids to see the difference. That means we show them what is real — but we also expose them to the counterfeit from time to time. Babylon will try to indoctrinate them.

4. Babylon tries to co-opt our identity (vs. 6-7). It is hard for us to see it, but Daniel, Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah are all Hebrew names that praise the name of Yahweh and Elohim, but do you notice what Babylon does? They changed their names to Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego — names that extol the gods of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar later says of Daniel that he was named “Belteshazzar after the name of my god.” (4:8)

Names mean something. If someone remembers our name, it means something. If they forget our name, it means something to us. It means they remembered us and who we are. And naming someone denotes authority over a person. Adam named the animals and he named Eve. Eve named Cain. Naming says I have the authority to say who and what you are.

Do we see what Babylon is doing? They have taken them from their homeland, put them in school for three years, and changed their names to Babylonian names. They are attempting to re-write who these young men are from the ground up.

And, as we will talk about next time, there’s a lot of this that Daniel and his friends don’t seem to fight. We will get into that next time, but what we need to realize for now is that this is what the kingdoms of the world do. It’s not something to pull our hair out over — it happened to Daniel and his friends and they are some of the most righteous people we read about in Scripture. But we also know that we are only told about these exiles. Verse 6 — there were others. We don’t know how they responded to all this.

The question is not whether or not we live or work or are educated in Babylon, the question is whether we recognize it for what it is. I was sitting in the smoke and I had no clue.

John 17:15–19 ESV, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

Series: 1 Peter (Living in Exile)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Part of the message of the gospel is that the God who made the land, the sky, the sea, and the fresh waters is bringing his kingdom and coming in judgment. We are his delegates — priests of the king sent into the world with this warning and with terms of peace. As our neighbors, coworkers, family members, and friends find out who we are, some will be curious and some will even be excited because they have been praying for help. Others will be dubious or even hostile. 

In the West, most people haven’t minded Christians for some time. Sometimes that’s because Christians have been co-opted by the culture. But I hope we have seen in Peter’s letter the need to lean into our “foreigner” identity. We should look different. To some we will be a breath of fresh air, to others we will appear goofy, and to others we will seem like a threat to their ways and worldview. Some will ask questions, others will insult and threaten us. How should we respond? Over the next few paragraphs, Peter warns us to be ready to suffer for doing good as Jesus did. Today, he instructs us to (1) repay with blessing and to (2) prepare to defend with gentleness.

1. Insulted? Repay with Blessing (3:9-14)

It is now a given we need to accept today: people will insult us and be evil toward us. But I don’t think it helps to only have extreme pictures in our head. Ashley and I used to suddenly shape our fingers into a gun and ask one another if we believed in Jesus. That’s typically not what happens. Even in the Roman Empire, the test was not only whether you professed to obey Jesus. If you would simply offer a pinch of incense and say, “Caesar is lord,” you could often avoid trouble — even if you kept worshipping Jesus. Similarly, today, many people may not mind if we give allegiance to Jesus, as long as we mimic acceptable right, left, or woke ideology. We must prepare to die for Jesus in an instant, but it is more likely that cultural powers will tempt us to gradually compromise by praising, accepting, and giving jobs to people like them while insulting, stripping community acceptance, and taking jobs away from followers of Jesus. Friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, or even others who claim to follow Jesus will turn on us — do evil and insult.

If we take our cues from the culture, we are going to get even. Yell, call names, publicly slander them. But Peter tell us to not repay evil for evil, insult for insult. Instead, we bless them. We speak well of them and kindly to them. Jesus instructs that we love, pray for, and even greet our enemies (Mt. 5). We want them to know God and repent. We want their family to be well. I read a story of a Christian soldier who prayed and read his Bible each evening in the barracks before going to bed. Another soldier often insulted him for this. One evening, the hostile soldier threw muddy boots at him. The Christian cleaned and polished the man’s boots and returned them (Jobes, 291).

It can be hard to act like this among our family, let alone our enemies. If someone gives us a dirty look, it can be difficult to not adopt an aggressive posture, let alone bless them with kind speech. But Peter motivates us: those who bless their enemies obtain a blessing from God.

Peter cites Psalm 34:12-16 as evidence. Saul was wreaking havoc on David’s life and on Israel, but it was not within David’s authority to deal with Saul (yet). He could have taken an aggressive posture towards Saul, led an open rebellion, or publicly reviled him. Instead, David sought peace by accepting exile: he fled Israel and ended up as a foreigner among the Philistines — at the mercy of the enemies God had charged him to destroy. And yet, David was a righteous man who continually sought and pursued peace. He cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord’s ears were open to his prayer. God delivered him from both the Philistines and from King Saul.

David’s experience highlights what is so challenging about repaying our enemies with kindness — the threats of evil people endanger our families and lives in large ways. That’s when the gloves come off, right? Handle things in secular ways, right? Insult, post about it, ignore them, slash their tires. No. We keep turning away from evil and doing good. We seek peace and pursue it. We walk by faith and not by sight. If so, God will keep his eyes and ears open to our cries.

If we don’t, Peter and David warn us that “the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” That should terrify us: the Lord will turn his face against us if we repay with evil! We signed up to follow the Lord who didn’t repay with evil when unjustly murdered, so no sin is ever excused!

Peter motivates us further in verse 13 with an optimistic outlook: if we are zealous for what is good, who is there to harm us? If we really love what’s good, it is less likely that people will hurt us. That’s no guarantee. Plenty of people suffer innocently. “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” (2 Tim. 3:12), but that doesn’t mean everyone all the time will hurt us.

With respect to this, Peter offers one final admonition in verse 14. If we do suffer, God will bless us. Don’t be afraid or troubled — thinking this isn’t supposed to happen, doubting whether we are on the right side, wondering if Christ really is the holy one we keep making him out to be. He is. Suffering for righteousness is standard fare. Fear is healthy, but we are prone to make the biggest mistakes when fear of evil people dominates our minds. Let us bless the evil and be blessed by God: God’s blessings are more powerful than their evil. Next, Peter tells us to prepare for questions.

2. Questioned? Prepare, Defend — with Gentleness (3:15-16)

We must keep honoring Christ as holy in hostility because it will lead us to prepare to answer people in a way that honors him. People should question us. We are confident in the kingship of Jesus. We are confident in our hope that he will one day come with the angels, raise the dead, punish, reward, and make all things new. We are confident in the victory of God’s kingdom over the kingdom of darkness and the kingdoms of men. We are certain of salvation. And this isn’t some private Sunday-only religion. This hope reorders how we live, work, and talk Monday to Saturday. And people will ask for an explanation, a reason, a defense of this hope we speak of.

Many of you may be like I was in the past: “Defending our hope sounds great in theory, but I’m scared I won’t know what to say. I’m scared they’ll get angry. Maybe they have better reasons for not believing than I have for believing.” Those are legitimate fears that Peter addresses here.

First, are you afraid you won’t be ready? Peter says always be prepared. So don’t be afraid that you won’t know what to say, because Peter says we can get ready to always be ready. Peter writes “be ready” because he knows some aren’t ready. (But, in reality, it is a lot less likely someone will ask us about a hope we don’t feel ready to defend. Our lives won’t be changed much by a hope we aren’t ready to defend. And we certainly won’t bring up a hope we aren’t ready to defend.)

How can we always be prepared? Well, how could we have a hope we aren’t prepared to defend? Maybe we are doing and believing good things without fully knowing why. Why do we go to work? Why do we do good? Have kids? Believe God will raise the dead? How does the message of God’s kingdom make sense of reality and of the world? If we aren’t prepared to answer those questions, it means we are doing and believing some things without much basis.

So, how can we always be prepared? We need to be more thoughtful as we study, believe, and apply the Bible to our lives. The Bible as a whole isn’t a how-to manual for everyday living or salvation (though it contains some of this). Good Bible study is not simply step-by-step instructions about the nuts and bolts of every-day godly living (though we should do this!). We don’t need to know simply what to believe and what to do — we need to know why we should believe it and why that makes sense. If we don’t know that, it is likely we will veer off-course anyway.

To always be ready to answer “why?”, we need to always ask “Why?” Think about how we watch any good series like the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars (or how we read a series of books). We watch (and read) thoughtfully. We ask why characters are introduced in certain ways at certain times. We propose theories about where its all going before the ends. And when a series like Star Wars goes off the rails and concludes in a way no thoughtful person would have ever imagined, we get mad because the writers didn’t create a cohesive story or message.

The Bible is cohesive and I fear sometimes we don’t read it like that, so we aren’t ready to answer questions. God planned general history from eternity and created the world with the end in mind. The Bible is a carefully crafted account of that plan and story and it has wide-ranging implications. We don’t have to become Bible scholars to get this — we just need to keep asking why? Why tell the story in this way? Why did God save Israel in this way? Why did John tell us that Jesus healed that person? Why does Genesis begin like that? Why does Revelation end like that? How does this make sense of everything in between? What really is the Christian hope? Why does God want us to be fruitful and multiply — have kids and go to work — until that hope comes? This will gradually build a cohesive worldview that will help us confidently walk in hope and understand why we do it. Keeping asking “why?” and we will always be ready to answer “why?” 

Second, are you scared they will get angry? Peter says to answer with gentleness and respect. We aren’t gentle when our confidence goes overboard. We can be confident without being condescending or pressuring people. Someone at another church texted me yesterday heartbroken because she got her friend to study with her preacher, and her friend is avoiding her now because the preacher pressured her friend — he wasn’t gentle. But, on the other hand, we will fail to answer with respect when we aren’t ready to answer. There are holes in our reasoning, they can see it, we can see it, so we get defensive, attack, or make poor arguments. But, no, if Jesus really lives, reigns, and is coming again, his Spirit must be shine through in our gentle and respectful attitude as we defend our hope.

Third, do you fear they have better reasons for unbelief than you do for belief? Peter instructs that we make a defense for the reason for the hope in you. The danger today is that we mistake “gentleness” for not offering a compelling defense at all. Maybe we offer timid suggestions or hesitate to assert concrete facts. Satan won’t be timid. Let’s be ready with a real defense. 

We must leave behind feelings-based answers. “You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart.” I’m not a fan of that line. There will always be intellectually dishonest people who will mock our hope, but we are asking for it if we reply like that.

If we are going to be ready with rational, authoritative, biblical answers, we need to study the Bible like that. Keep reading the Bible and asking why — but don’t settle for irrational, short-cut answers. I don’t mean we should study the Bible scientifically. The Bible is not an encyclopedia. The Bible is literature, theology, and history all-in-one, and each aspect much be appreciated to study it properly. But are we studying and drawing conclusions rationally?

One way to help with that is to read the Bible in community. This community can check us.  On our own, you and I make bad Bible interpretations that lead to bad Christian living. However, even that isn’t fool-proof. We have all likely sat in Bible classes where, if a genuine seeker was listening, they would leave discouraged because no one was drawing rational conclusions from the text. The authoritative message of the text wasn’t communicated. Conclusions were drawn that were full of logical missteps. People wanted the text to feel relevant, they wanted it to say something, they wanted answers to the questions they superimposed on the text, so they cut corners. 

If we are all going to make a defense for the reason, we must remember that Bible study is not only intended to impart hope and transformation — it is! — but it is also intended to inform. If we inform without transforming, we will be unredeemed Bible nerds. But if we aim for transformation without information, we are going to fall on our faces when people ask us why. If we open our Bibles only hoping for our heart, emotions, and daily walk to be impacted without our intellect, we won’t be ready with a real defense. Genuine seekers aren’t going to buy light, feelings-based arguments. And the secular world won’t come at our kids with anything less than powerful, seductive, “fact-based” reasons to leave behind Jesus. Biblical defenses and Christian worldviews can stand up to atheism and secularism, but only if we prepare to defend with reason.

Consider Paul in the last few chapters of Acts as a good example of defending our hope as Peter tells us. Paul was on trial, but he acted like the resurrection was on trial. He refused to treat the gospel as private truths rationalized by feelings. He fully expected the gospel to stand up in court. When he challenged powerful rulers with the gospel, he made them feel uneasy. Our hope rests on Jesus’ resurrection. This is an objective, publicly defensible reality. If he’s dead, everything falls. If he’s alive, everything follows. We must defend why we believe it actually happened in real history and why that makes rational sense within the story of the Bible, the world, and our place in it.

While there are many unhelpful religious books, there are good authors who have carefully considered the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection and who have carefully considered the Christian worldview and written well about it. I am happy to offer you recommendations if you want some. (Maybe I can someday lead a class geared towards preparing us to be ready to defend.)

Conclusion

If we will both bless those who insult us and respond to doubters with logical, respectful answers, people who revile us will be put to shame. They will see our cogent answers, respectful attitude, and godly lives and realize there’s nothing harmful about us. We are just zealous for what is good and for what is true for the glory of God. If we will have that attitude even when others are cursing us, God Almighty — who is more powerful than our enemies — will bless us. 

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore