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Well...I sat in my living room Saturday....from 2-9 and finished my sermon. I was already half done but I was not sure and waiting upon God to give me a clue. I never did use the “life as a pulpit” example. I fond it more important to point out why Peter wrote the letter. To a church facing extinction. Are we facing extinction? I could argue both sides of that coin....and I would really not do that here. Well...i can't figure out how to link my sermon, so here it is. Peace All Part 4 “Walking the Talk”
Good Morning
Today I have the privilege of sharing with you all the third part of the series “Sharing Your Faith”.
Perhaps you all will recall Pastor Bill started with Witnessing 101.
Gary Walter spoke about Overcoming Fear. That we have a story about what God has done in our life and he wants us to share it. It is not up to us to convert or save people, that is God’s responsibility. All we have to do is share…and God will take care of the rest. That should take all the burden off us and allow us to overcome fear for the Lord is with us at all times.
And last week Pastor Bill taught about Witnessing to Your Closest Companions and that it is hard for us to witness to the people closest to us because they know us best. We are to pray for those that persecute us and lay our life down for people that around us. We can win people with our conduct.
This leads us into today. The title of today’s sermon is “Walking the Talk” As Pastor Bill said last week, we can win people with our conduct and Paul addresses this in the Passage of Scripture for Today.
1 Peter 3:8-12 :: New International Version (NIV)
1 Peter 3
Suffering for Doing Good
8Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10For,
"Whoever would love life and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.
11He must turn from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.
12For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."[1]
It was quite a scene. The guy came into the donut shop carrying a travel mug adorned with the shop’s logo. He didn’t seem to be angry or agitated about anything. He didn’t seem in a particular hurry. He waited patiently and when he finally got up to the front of the line, he placed the mug on the counter and asked for a refill of decaffeinated coffee. His voice wasn’t gruff, or otherwise unpleasant, as far as I could tell. An older, very diminutive woman working the counter told him the shop didn’t serve decaf coffee. He was surprised, and he did raise his eyebrows and sort of shrug his shoulders. But he didn’t overreact, at least not at that point. He just said, “Okay, okay. While it amazes me that a coffee shop in this day and time doesn’t serve decaf coffee, I’ll take a cup of the regular stuff.” She took his travel mug, filled it with fresh coffee from the urn behind her, and placed it in front of him on the counter. As he reached into his pocket for the money, she said, “That will be 79 cents.” He looked a little put out and responded rather directly, “How much? I just got this travel mug yesterday at another one of your shops, and refills are supposed to be 25 cents. That’s what the sign said … and frankly that’s why I bought the darn thing.” The shy little woman quietly said, “Well, yes, there are some of our shops which offer such a refill price, but this shop doesn’t participate in the program.” Oh my! That was not what he wanted to hear. He began to speak louder than necessary – Everybody in the shop could hear him without any trouble. He said something about not being impressed with companies with franchises which don’t participate in advertised programs, and something else about not being informed when he bought the mug that some of their shops would not honor the refill price. He spoke rather harshly to the woman, admonishing her for not telling him when he asked for a refill in the travel mug that the shop didn’t discount refills. She didn’t say anything … and I’m not too sure she could have the way he was carrying on. Finally, he asked if there were some method by which he could register a complaint. She turned and pointed to a telephone number for such purposes, prominently displayed behind the counter. He wrote the number down on a napkin as she made change for the coffee purchase. And then he wheeled around, and headed for the door, chirping over his shoulder, “I’ll make sure someone learns how I was treated here, too!”
He had called the customer service number he had written down. He related the whole incident to the person on the other end of the line. And I in response to the person on the other end, “No, I don’t want a free cup of coffee! I just want you to know that I don’t appreciate such poor service from your company, and I don’t like to be treated so nonchalantly. Your employee did not seem too concerned that I wasn’t able to get decaf coffee, nor that I had been duped into buying a travel mug with unlimited 25 cent refills, which really is untrue because not all of your shops honor this deal. And she never even offered that she was sorry for the unavailability or nonparticipation or misunderstanding or inconvenience.” And without a hint of a pause, he added, “You know, as a minister, I believe businesses should have integrity, and … .”
(Pause)
. And listen to the response he got from the person he was blasting. “You’re a minister! I can’t believe it! What right do you have to dictate to any company what it should serve? We are fully aware that people will respond one way or another to what we have or don’t have available. It’s called a business decision, probably not too different from the decisions you have to make in your church regarding what programming you offer or don’t offer. And about this employee you have complained about. She is one of the meekest and mildest persons I have ever known. She has been with us for over 20 years, and is one of the best employees we have ever had. And I don’t know for sure what she did or did not say to you, but given your totally-out-of-line reaction to such a trivial matter as a 79 cent cup of coffee, I’ll take her version of the story over yours, which based on her call to me just a few minutes ago, is that you were rude and abusive to her in front of our staff and customers. Now, one last thing; even if she was rude to you, as a minister – of all people – you should be the first one to extend grace. My suggestion to you, Pastor, is that you drop to your knees right now, and ask the good Lord for forgiveness for what you have said and done. It is people like you who give Christianity a bad rap. I believe the appropriate word is hypocrite! This conversation is over!”
The Minister was stunned.. He held the phone for some time without hanging up as his words sunk in. He was absolutely right. The Minister wanted to hide from the world. But more than that, he wanted to hide from God. It has since occurred to him that he acted no differently than the scribes and Pharisees Jesus spoke about. He stands before people proclaiming the Word of God week after week, pleading and trying to persuade you to follow the two greatest commandments: Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. And another one of my favorites is: Love one another in the same way that Jesus loves us. But sadly, in this instance, he betrayed that which he proclaimed, and Him whom he served.
Now I do not know if there is anyone here today that can identify with this Minister. The truth is that as soon as we profess Christ as our Lord and Savior we all become Ministers for God. We are all called to act in a Godly manner that Christ represents.
If we go back to today’s scripture I want to talk a little bit about the Author. Peter, of course, was one of the original Apostles. He was very distinctive too. Merril C.Tenney, author of “New Testament Survey” writes:
He was impulsive, vacillating, and selfish, hasty in action and quick in recoil. His denial of Jesus was not the result of premeditated malice but of sudden panic of which he later repented bitterly.
I think out of all of the apostles…a majority of Christians that I have met all relate in one way or another with Peter. We have all at points in our lives conducted ourselves in a way that is not only unbecoming of ourselves but is extremely contradictive of the Christian walk.
NOW,
By the time Peter writes this letter he was a very changed man. He had matured and was blessed by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He was no longer the young gun quick to snap and pick up the pieces later. He had become the Rock Jesus had prophesied over. Here in this passage he addresses some churches that had been planted and were experiencing persecution. So much so, it threatened Christianity with extinction. Peter in this letter, and particularly in this passage shares about how the church can silently witness: By using their lives, their Christian Walk, as an example.
To give you an idea of how serious the persecution was at this time I will give you an example in which you all may relate. Imagine….having a church plant of Americans in Iraq right now. (no jokes please….the US army is not a church plant) If there was a church plant it would be very touchy wouldn’t it? Do you think there would be murder, death and persecution? How long do you think someone handing out Christian tracts at the local shish kabob stand would last? For a church plant in to succeed in this area it would have to act very wisely.
Such is the Church that Paul is writing to in this letter.
Last week Bill shared one of my favorite quotes. Francis Assisi: Preach the Gospel at every opportunity and if you have to use words.
Preach the Gospel at every opportunity…..and if you have to use words.
Preach the Gospel at every opportunity…..and as a last resort, use words.
Preach the Gospel at every opportunity…..and try not to use words because that is when you are really going to screw things up.
Well, here Peter offers a solution on sharing the gospel without using words. He gives several great examples of how as Christians we should conduct ourselves.
From verse 8 We should Be agreeable, sympathetic, loving, compassionate and humble. This goes for each and every one of us that profess to following Christ. There are no exceptions.
Peter Continues: No retaliation; we shouldn’t be vengeful or repay evil with evil. We shouldn’t be sarcastic or insulting……
To sum everything up: We need to be a blessing To All People All the Time.
I find it amazing….that people have to be told to do these things. Call me an optimist…but I would really like to think that all of this comes natural to people. But it doesn’t. Good behavior is not natural. Evil is natural. Sin is natural.
-How many of us are argumentative? We’ll argue over everything. Especially argue vehemently about a trivial point because we believe we are right?
-How many of us do not feel for or reach out to the poor, the sick, or the abused?
-How many of us are boastful of our possessions? We like to show off our new clothes, car, cell phone or built in pool.
-How many of us hold grudges. We carry them for years and never let them go. They eat us alive and break and sever relationships. All because we lack forgiveness and the ability to just let things go.
As Christians we need to be free of all of these things. We will never ever be able to share the gospel if our walk has too many missteps. A strong witness requires a strong walk.
Let us take the picture of a trial. You are the only witness for the defense and it is your testimony alone that will free a falsely accused man. What is the first thing the prosecution does? It tries to ruin the credibility of the witness. If the witness is found to lack sincerity or integrity their testimony will be discounted by the jury. The same goes with the Christian. Our jury are all those that you come in contact with everyday. Our testimony is only as strong as your credibility. Stumbling in our walk weakens our credibility. Our ability to share the Good News and the love of Christ is impaired if we fumble and fall continually.
Returning to the text; Peter encourages us by reminding that we are called to Bless. It’s our job, it is our task to complete in this life. Bless. As we bless we will also get a blessing. Have you ever noticed that when you bless someone there is always a blessing that is given back.
I want to close with verse 12
12For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil
We should memorize this verse. We should constantly remind ourselves, make it habit, that God is looking over our shoulder all of the time. We should also keep in mind that if we keep his rules, and love all people, that he will respond well to what he is asked.
On the same token…at the top of our list we should remember that he turns away from all those that do evil He looks away, he turns his back, he lowers his head in dismay.
I want to ask everyone here something this morning. Think about it…How is your walk? Are you stumbling continually….or are you stumbling less and less. I pray it is less. As we mature as Christians we understand that no one but Jesus Christ is sinless. But as followers of Jesus, everyday we should be sinning less and less.
The Eyes of God are upon you….may your walk give great credibility to your testimony of Christ our Lord and Savior.
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