EASTER III I Peter 2:19?25 John 10:1?10 PSALM 23
"Count it all joy to follow in His steps."
I Peter 2:19?25
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 sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
John 10:1?10
Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."
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Christian friends, you don’t have to be afraid as you go about your daily life.
There is a 500+ year old prayer that says “I will not fear the power of any adversary.” We are instructed to watch out, be aware there are people who will do harm, but we are to keep our wits about us. . .we need not be afraid. Fear paralyzes. My pet Beagle keeps his distance from even small dogs and cats now because he was attacked once by a killer Chow and another dog. During the attack, he fell to the ground and didn’t even try to get away. He was paralyzed by fear.
Tell me, have you ever been hurt? What happened? Did that event mean anything to you? Did you learn from it?
If we are in the wrong place in our lives, acting wrongly and not living in Christ, there is reason to be paralyzed. However, the Apostle Peter, who knew well what it meant to be in the wrong place when His Lord was on trial, and who fled from the Cross fearing for his own life, eventually came to a place of confidence. The Church, his friends in Christ were undergoing persecution when he wrote these lines: “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. . . .. 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.” Why would Peter ask his friends in Christ to follow this example of Jesus. How could James write, “ My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into diverse kinds of trials?” (James 1:2)
Count it all joy when you suffer as a Christian; when you follow in Jesus’ footsteps.
That is really a hard saying. Nobody likes a martyr, people who go around advertising how much they suffer. We can’t always be singing “no body knows the trouble I’ve seen.” Nobody is supposed to know but Jesus. Sign a person is a Christian is his or her love, joy, peace, patience, faith, hope and lack of complaint while suffering as a Christian.
James 1:2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into diverse kinds of trials; knowing that the trying of your faith produces patience. Let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
If you are not perfect yet, it may mean you will be blessed with more suffering. How are we to understand what is happening to us? Lord have mercy, we say at that prospect. And yet, the suffering visited on us is a sign of God’s love and mercy directing us.
What is joy? Why is it important? Why is listed in Galatians 5:22 and 23 as one of the Fruits of the Spirit?
JOY according to the diction ary is
1. the emotion of great happiness . . .A source or an object of pleasure or satisfaction: their only child, their pride and joy.
2: something or someone that provides pleasure; a source of happiness; "a joy to behold"; "the pleasure of his company"; "the new car is a delight"
Joy is a stable and ever present attitude in the midst of life. It is more than happiness. It is more than laughter. It is closely related to peace and hope.
Galatians 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law
Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit,. Let us not become conceited provoking one another, being jealous of one another.
When we have the Spirit of God, When His Holy Spirit is in our midst, we have joy. I can think of joy as that sense of satisfaction I have when patience is having its perfect work.
To see life and the world make sense when lived under the reign of Christ, to see patience having its perfect work in human life is a source of joy to me. Then I have the peace that passes human comprehension.
Arthur Ashe the tennis pro of some years back wrote these lines:
As I sat in an armchair watching my little daughter dance and my wife’s face sparkle with life and joy, a wave of emotion like one of the waves of the ocean a few feet away from us washed over me, and I started to cry. I cried quietly, but Jeanne turned her face and saw me. The smile left her face and then it quickly returned... because she knew at that moment I was happy. She knew I was crying not only out of sorrow but also out of joy, and that the joy was so powerful that it hurt. My joy was that there I was, on the beach under those stars listening to that music and watching the two people I loved more than anyone or anything in the world, and I did not want that feeling of perfect joy ever to end.”
Some of us here today are hurting. We are suffering. James does not suggest that we manufacture some kind of other-worldly, phony sense of happiness about our troubles. So, what is he suggesting?
There is a reason to be joyful in the midst of trials. It is not being happy about the trouble. It is finding joy in what the trouble produces. It is enjoying the sweet fruit produced only by bitter times.
One of the writers of the Psalms, when he was a slave in Babylonia asked the poignant question: “How can I sing the songs of Zion in a strange land?” How can I be happy when I’m in exile? How can I have peace and joy?
We started today with the Shepherd Psalm, Psalm 23. Many Christians assume this Psalm was composed with Jesus in mind. No, it was composed hundreds of years before Jesus birth by King David, on the eve of battle. This is a sort of creed. . .a statement of faith. . .that God would bring him safely through the dark valley of battle. The enemy was of his own household: his son and an old friend who had taken up arms against David and his army to steal the throne.
We think of David as a saint of sorts because he composed so many wonderful and comforting Psalms, such as Psalm 23. He also composed Psalm 51 and Psalm 103 . . . .Psalms reflecting the struggles he had with his own brokenness.
What is a saint? A saint is a witness to the goodness of God. The word for it in the New Testament original language is the word from which we get the word martyr. A Christian is to be a saint now . . .not something he becomes after death. A saint is a witness to the goodness of God. What kind of witness is it that goes around saying, “I’m down. . .I’m beaten.” In the hour of trial, friends, countrymen, even his own son against him, David is converted and says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I will lack for nothing. I will dwell in the Lord’s house forever.”
Present tense saints, I will dwell . . .now and ever.”
The Sign of Contradiction and The Fellowship of Suffering
Hebrews 11:36 to 12:2 Speaking of the company of martyrs (that is witnesses for God)
“. . .others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain
with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins; being destitute,
afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered in deserts
and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all having
obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having
provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run
with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners agains himself, lest ye
be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving
against sin.
The author of Hebrews concludes with the lines that tell us “For whom the Lord
loves he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives.” He tells us that in suffering God is dealing with us a Sons. This is the way the world is constructed. Pain follows wrong choices and wrong actions. Pain, suffering is its own reward, just as righteousness or goodness is its own reward, and as such, it is corrective, redemptive.
But beyond that, Paul tells us that he filled up in his own body that which was lacking
in the sufferings of Christ. What could have been lacking in the sufferings of Christ that Saint Paul in his day would suffer to supply?
What is lacking in the sufferings of Christ today that your suffering or mine can supply?
Think about it. In our communion service we refer to the sufferings of Jesus on the cross as a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, satisfaction and oblation for the sins of the whole world. What could Paul’s sufferings, yours or mine add to that?
Not every human being on the globe in Jesus day witnessed the scene on Mt. Calvary.
None in our times have. In our life, in our patience in suffering sickness, poverty, abuse, discrimination, or mistreatment can be our witness for the glory of God. We can show what the Spirit of Christ is like, a sort of incarnation, a putting on of Christ. That is our calling.
I remarked to Diane Battey, who is dying of cancer that her example was an inspiration to us all. I asked if her faith remained strong, she said, “I am in a safe place, a good place.”
Now, if the sufferings of the pre?Christian saints was not perfect without the testimony (martyrdom, suffering) of the Jesus and the Christian contemporaries of the writer of Hebrews, what is left for our generation?
Paul said that he filled up in his own body that which was lacking in the sufferings of
Christ. In Paul’s mystic understanding of the Church as the Body of Christ, it is the extension of the saving work of God in history. The work of the martyrs (witnesses) extends through time and the purpose of this witness (suffering) is the salvation of the world. In this sense, Paul could say, “Be followers of me as I am a follower of Christ.”
In this, you find your ministry. If you remain joyful, serene, happy even in the midst of trouble and sorrow, others will see the pattern of Christ in your life and will follow in your steps. Someone is watching you. You are a priest, a witness, a martyr, a saint.
“Count it all joy when you fall into diverse trials, Knowing that the trying of your faith
works patience. Let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and
entire wanting nothing.”
If you are aren’t perfect yet, know this for certain: you will be blessed with a sorrow and suffering. Look upon it as an opportunity. . .a source of good for your life. Give thanks for the rain as well as the sunshine.
As John’s Gospel tells us, Jesus is the Door of the Sheep. He is the Way to the Father.
He stands even now at door of your heart . . .knocking, waiting for you to open and invite him in.
