INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• WE have learned a lot from the book of 1 Peter concerning how we are to conduct ourselves in this world.
• Now, if we follow Peter’s instructions, everything in life will be smooth sailing for us, right?
• If you do what is right, if you spend your time doing what is right, your life will be problem free, won’t it?
• How many times have you suffered for doing the right thing in life? You know what I am talking about, you are doing what God has called you to only to face people making fun of you, or people who would try to get other people to persecute you.
• Sometimes even under the best of circumstances life will give us a bunch of lemons.
• I know for students, living for Jesus, trying to do good it life can be difficult. There are always people who try to make fun of people who do good, or they make fun of the boy or girl who wants to abstain from sexual activity until they are married.
• In the workplace, when you try to do good, it is sometimes met with resistance and trouble from other people.
• We look around us and see good people dying at the hands of the wicked and we see the wicked seemingly prospering.
• Life is not always fair.
• Sometimes life just gives us a bunch of lemons.
• Lemons are in my view something that I would not eat without a lot of sweetener.
• Lemons are so sour tasting to me.
• WE are getting ready to see kids go all over town in a couple weeks to get candy.
• We are going to have a Harvest Party on the 31st. We will have a lot of candy and other wonderful treats.
• Just imagine what would happen if we just handed out lemons to the kids and their families. I wonder how many would come back next year?
• When you do good you expect to get something good, but life does not always work that way.
• It is tempting to think that if we do what God calls us to do with our lives that we will not have problems, but it does not always work out that way because life is not always fair.
• Sometimes life just gives us a bunch of lemons.
• The question that Christians need at answer is, “What do we do when life hands us a bunch of sour lemons?”
• Do we complain do we quit serving the Lord? DO we throw the lemons?
• I think God wants us to make lemonade when life gives us lemons. I love lemonade! Nothing like a cold glass of lemonade on a hot summer day. (With sugar free sweetener of course).
• Today from our test we are going to look at how we can make lemonade out of the lemons that life gives to us.
• Let’s start with verses 13-14
• SLIDE #2
• 1 Peter 3:13-14(ESV) 13Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. Life will give you all the lemons you need. (13-14)
• Verse 13 asks us “Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
• This leads to the subject of the rest of chapter three which is, suffering while doing good can open other areas of service for us as it did for Jesus.
• To be zealous for what is good means to love doing good with the same passionate intensity with which the most fanatical patriot who loves his country has.
• The word “good” deals with a lifestyle of doing good, not just occasionally doing what is good. It is a lifestyle that loves to do the morally good thing even if the person we are directing our good works toward has been hostile to us.
• Have you been around people who seemed to get joy out of doing the right thing? That person who finds the wallet stuffed full of money and wants no reward for returning it to the owner, money in tact?
• Can you think of times in your life where you suffered for doing the right thing?
• Times when you did the right thing only to receive a bunch of sour lemons for your effort?
• Maybe you lost a friend with whom you would not follow down the wrong path they wanted to take you. Maybe you lost a boyfriend, girlfriend or fiancé?
• Maybe it was a job issue, the company is pressuring you to do something immoral and you refuse to do it, only to pay the price of losing your job or knowing you will never get the opportunity to advance.
• You would think God would not allow bad things to happen to us as we are following His will for our life; it does not seem fair does it. The one who is living for themselves is seemingly getting along fine, and then here I am, being persecuted for doing good.
• When we are persecuted for doing what is right, what do we do? We are doing what God calls us to do, but if we seem to be paying a steep price for it, what do we do?
• SLIDE #4
II. Don’t quit squeezing the lemons. (14)
• 14But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
• When life keeps tossing lemons in your direction what do you do with them?
• We can get mad and throw them at God or we can throw them back at the ones who gave them to us in the first place.
• Or we can just keep squeezing those lemons to make so good lemonade.
• Verse 14 tells us that at times we will suffer for doing good, it should be a rare occurrence, but it will happen.
• Those to whom this letter was addressed were facing persecution like nothing we deal with today.
• It would seem that if you are being persecuted that God is not with you. Verse 14 reminds us that if we are suffering for doing good, we are still being blessed by God.
• The word “blessed” in this verse is the same word Jesus used in the beatitudes. It means to be spiritually prosperous.
• This does not mean we will enjoy the persecution, but dealing with it properly can help us to grow spiritually.
• Verse 17 also reminds us that it is better to suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing evil.
• We cannot allow ourselves to quit in the midst of suffering.
• These people were suffering only BECAUSE they were Christians. We are not to let anyone intimidate us out of being faithful.
• SLIDE #5
• Let us look at verse 15.
• 1 Peter 3:15(ESV) 15but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
• SLIDE #6
III. Add plenty of Jesus to your mix. (15)
• When we are making lemonade out of the lemons life throws at us, the mix will be so much easier to make and the mix will taste so much better if we add PLENTY of Jesus to the mix.
• Verse 15 encourages us to regard Christ the Lord as holy. Some versions tell us sanctify Christ as Lord of our hearts.
• To “regard Jesus as holy” means to: enthrone, worship as sovereign, to acknowledge in the inner part of the mind as supreme.
• If Jesus is first in our heart, if we allow Him to be our LORD and Savior, we will be able to handle the bad treatment that can follow as we try to do good.
• If God is for us, who is against us?
• The Lord is the one we should fear, not those who persecute us.
• Isaiah uses this same thinking.
• SLIDE #7
• Isaiah 8:12-13(ESV) 12“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
• When Jesus is allowed to be our LORD as well as our Savior, we can make some awesome lemonade.
• The other thing we need to realize when life gives us lemons is…
• SLIDE #8
IV. Lemons give us the opportunity to make lemonade. (15)
• As I stated in the beginning, lemons by themselves are not too good to me, but mix it with some sweetener and water and you have a great drink.
• In order to have good lemonade, you need lemons (or some chemicals that resemble lemons). The lemons of life give us an opportunity to make lemonade.
• When we are going though unjust treatment, we can use it for an opportunity to reach people for Jesus.
• Verse 15 tells us to always be ready to make a defense to everyone concerning the hope that is in us.
• , always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; 16yet do it with gentleness and respect,…
• When people see how we deal with adversity, they will want to know how we are able to do it.
• “Ready” means to make the necessary preparations and to be anxious to take advantage of the opportunity.
• “Defense” means to answer before a magistrate with a reasonable, intelligent statement of one’s position.
• We are to give this defense with an attitude of gentleness and reverence. We cannot come across as angry or with an “I’m better than you attitude.”
• People look to see how we handle adversity.
• Instead of being intimidated and silenced, let us be ready to give intelligent reasons as to why we believe and live as we do!
• Let’s wrap up with verses 16-17
• SLIDE #9
• 1 Peter 3:16-17(ESV) 16yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
• SLIDE #10
V. Keep your mix pure. (16-17)
• When we keep our lemonade mix pure we know we will have good lemonade. We do not want to try to drink or sell a mix that has junk floating in it!
• One way to keep it pure is to have a clear conscience!
• The conscience is the voice in our head that tries to get us to do what is right and convicts us when we do wrong.
• People will only take notice if we keep ourselves pure in action. Verse 16 says if we keep our conscience clear, we will put to shame those who try to persecute us for doing good.
• We can make a defense knowing that we are not guilty before God. Our conscience is not accusing us of evil doing nor is it agreeing with those who would revile or slander us.
• It is easy to give up and reason that if we are going to be persecuted, we might as well get in trouble for doing evil. That will accomplish nothing.
CONCLUSION
• The fact of the matter is that there will be times in which while we serve the Lord, we will get persecuted or put another way, we will be given a bunch of lemons for what we do.
• The question we need to deal with is what do we do when this happens?
• In 2 weeks, we will see what Jesus did when life gave Him lemons!
