The Ward Hill Church of Christ the King (Congregational) » sermon summaries

Repaying Evil with Goodness – Message for 4/27/08 (Easter VI)

wardhillchurch — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:28:35 +0000

1 Peter 3:8-22 (ESV) - 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor 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; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

1 Peter 3 reminds us that we are not to repay evil with evil, but instead bless those who revile us. When some notice our unusual response to persecution, they may ask about the hope to which we cling. We should be ready, with gentleness and respect, to explain how our hope is anchored in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And just what is the gospel in the context of this passage? It is the fact that God did not repay our own evil with evil, but broke the pattern of our sinful ways through our Lord’s reconciling sacrfice.

God has responded to our sin and evil with mercy and goodness, in order that he might bring us to himself. Likewise, our repayment of evil with goodness might just lead others to know the hope that only Christ Jesus has the power — through his death, resurrection and ascension — to offer. For he is the one “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”

Apart from Christ, we are subjected to the ways of this world, to the patterns of sin and retribution and endless cycles of violence and hatred. But in Christ and his atoning sacrifice, we have received power from on high to offer goodness and hope in the face of injustice and despair.

Today’s Message (Easter V)

wardhillchurch — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:41:54 +0000

1 Peter 2:2-3 - Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The apostle Peter assumes that the Christians to whom he is writing have experienced the goodness of the Lord. In fact, it would be quite strange for people who have confessed faith in Christ not to acknowledge that he is indeed good. People must trust only what is good and true, and without that trust our faith would be meaningless. So, as those who have tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord, we long for more of his pleasing nourishment and crave, as Peter puts it, that “pure spiritual milk.”

We say that we shun evil and injustice and that we hunger after righteousness, and we are probably telling the truth. When assessing our own goodness, we talk a good game. But, in truth, we often neglect to encourage what is right and true. We also hate our enemies and fail to see any hope for them. Finally, we believe God has abandoned us and is simply letting the world rot to its core. That is so often, our response, or “our take on the matter”.

God is different. He sees much more clearly than we the presence of sin and death in our world. He knows with infathomable insight the waywardness of his image-bearers. Yet God in Christ comes to us in love, offering forgiveness and new life through his own redemptive suffering and death. He takes our sins upon himself and overcomes the death through the power of his resurrection. He actually restores the goodness in us that he pronounced in creation, when he said that we were “very good.”

How in our response to that kind of love and mercy can we say anything other than that God is good? We should say with the psalmist, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” (Psalm 34:8-10)

When we have known this kind of goodness, we will obviously want more. But there is something else we must remember. In an attitude of thanksgiving for the divine goodness we have known, we must show others the same goodness God has shown us. In other words, ”Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:13-14). Or, as Peter puts it, “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” (1 Peter 2:1).

We believe that God is good. Now let us desire all the more the goodness of his nourishment, that “pure spiritual milk,” and let us strive to be that “royal priesthood” through whom he blesses the world.

Today’s Message (Easter IV)

wardhillchurch — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:54:40 +0000

This morning’s text was from 1 Peter 2. The sermon explored the tension we Christians feel because we acknowledge two realities: one is the kingdom of God and its radically beautiful vision of peace and justice, and the other is our current state where human governments are necessary to maintain order and security. We must continue to submit ourselves humbly to the current order of things while at at the same time working to advance God’s Kingdom, which will eventually make our current order unnecessary.

So, is it wrong for Christians to work for justice here and now? Absolutely not. But as we work for justice, we must remember that it is only the Holy Spirit who will bring lasting peace. And we must also be prudent and realistic about what can be achieved in any particular time and place, always making sure that we are not sacrificing the Spirit’s reconciling work in the world for our own short-sighted agendas.

May God grant us the wisdom to know when to submit quietly to our government and society and when to take the opportunity to speak boldly for God’s justice.