Living Righteous in a Hostile World: Martyrs for Christ

Take your Bibles and open them to 1 Peter chapter 3.

! Find verse 13. I'm going to read verses 13 through 17 this morning.

! That will be our text for today. 1 Peter chapter 3 starting with verse 13. Okay, I hear the page is turning.

Peter asks, And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? Some translations have the word zealous.

Which, by the way, is best, better. Zealous for what is good. But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed.

And then a quote from Isaiah. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.

And always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. With meekness and fear. Having a good conscience.

That when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

All right? Very good passage. A lot that could be said from that passage. And I'm going to draw from this short paragraph in Peter's letters.

I'm going to draw from that an application to witnessing. Witnessing of the gospel. In fact, I have entitled this message, Martyrs for Christ.

You say, I thought you were going to talk about witnessing. Well, I am. That's why I call this Martyrs for Christ. You might remember just before Jesus ascended back up into heaven.

After his resurrection, he was standing there with his disciples. You might remember that he gave them and us a commission. In Acts chapter 1, verse 8, he declared.

And this passage is so familiar to us. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be, say it, what?

Witnesses. Witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And we know that passage very well. Now, the word witnesses, that's found there in the text.

And you've repeated it for me or quoted it with me. And I appreciate that. The word witnesses there comes from a Greek word. The Greek word is martous. Now, it sounds very similar to another word that we have in our English.

And indeed, it should because we get from that word our word martyr. Martyr. And I'm sure you've heard this before. Martyr. And so, in the English, I think we would all admit that that word, the word martyr, has really one primary meaning to us.

One primary connotation. And that is to, you know, describe someone who is willing to suffer death rather than renounce their faith. And so, they become martyrs.

And so, we have that understanding of the word martyr. And all I have to do is mention the word martyr. And that's immediately what comes to your mind. Now, in the Greek language, though, the word has a dual meaning.

And you probably have heard this as well. There is, in the technical sense, there is a legal sense of the word in terms of witnessing or giving a testimony about something.

And we understand witnessing in that sense, don't we? And the meaning is, then, one who gives testimony of the truth. That is, this is what I know, or this is what I saw, or this is what I heard, or this is what happened to me.

And so, certainly in the context of a court of law or a court proceeding, you have witnesses that come forth, and they bear witness of the truth, at least as they see it.

All right, so we understand that sense of the word, don't we? The word witness in the legal sense. And the word martus in the Greek language carries that idea as well.

But it also carries the idea that's probably more understandable to us, and that is not the technical sense or the legal sense, but what is referred to as the ethical sense of the word.

And so the meaning there is, one who has proved a genuineness of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to the point of willingly submitting themselves to death or being put to death because of their faith.

And we certainly understand that meaning of the word martyr or martus, but martus carries both meanings. Now, both of these meanings certainly applied to Jesus' disciples when He gave this commission in Acts 1, verse 8, because all of them were powerful witnesses for their faith in Christ, and all of them, except one, that is the Apostle John, all of them died violent deaths because of their faith.

Now, here's the point. By extension, and we understand this to be true, by extension, the commission that Jesus gave His disciples there in Acts 1, verse 8 was given to us as well.

We are to be witnesses. And also, both meanings of the word martus apply to us as well, or may apply to us.

Now, let me explain. On the one hand, in one sense of the word, we are to be testifiers of the faith. We are to be that.

Every one of us. Or to testify the faith. This is what I know. This is what I've seen. This is what I've heard. This is what happened to me. We are to be testifiers in that sense. Every single one of us.

But we might also be called to be martyrs. We might also be called to be martyrs for the faith.

Both of those things are true or can be applied to us. One for sure. The other may be. It just might happen. And so we are to be martyrs for Christ.

That's why I've entitled the message in that way. Martyrs for Christ. We're to be martyrs for Christ in one or both senses of the word martus.

Now, Peter places both together in our text this morning. Both of them are found right there. Both possibilities are found there. And his subject is then the Christian's witness in a hostile world.

A witness that may or may not result in suffering even martyrdom. That's quite possible, isn't it?

Now, as to the latter of the two that is martyrdom, I must confess that I'm not really qualified to preach about it. I'm really not. About persecution, really.

I just don't feel qualified to preach on that subject, quite frankly. And I might point out to you that you are not qualified to hear it either. And what I mean is, you know, I'm an American pastor and I live in relative comfort in my life as a preacher and teacher of God's word.

I have never been arrested. Never been threatened with imprisonment because of my faith. That has never happened to me.

I have never had my property confiscated by the government because of my faith. I've never even had the threat of it here in America as an American pastor.

That's never happened to me. And I have never had my family taken away from me because of my faith in Christ. And that has just never happened to me.

Nor have any of those things, as far as I know, ever happened to you because of your faith. Right? There might be an exception in here. I don't know. Once in a while we have visitors from VOM.

And some of those certainly have had these kinds of experiences. But I don't think we have any here this morning. So I think it's safe for me to say that not only do I not feel qualified to preach on the subject of martyrdom, or even overt Christian persecution, I don't think you're qualified to hear it.

But I'm going to preach on it anyway because one day we may. One day it may happen. And the question maybe at this point is, are you ready for that?

It's a good question, isn't it? Are you ready for that? Now, with that in mind, kind of the introduction, Peter gives us some important instructions on how to be effective witnesses in this hostile world.

And there are three things he tells us. And I'm going to divide it this way. Number one, he speaks of the place of our witness.

The place that is right here. That is in our world, our culture, in our country. The place of our witness. And the place of our witness, the place we are called to witness is, dear people, a hostile world when it comes to Christianity.

Even though we may not have experienced it. Let me just give you a few examples. And these are kind of hot off the press. August 4th this month, just ten or so days ago.

Now, in Laos, Christians in Sunia village in Laos have been ordered to stop worshipping in private homes as several Christians were arrested in different parts of the country.

Christians in this village have faced persecution since the conversion of Christ of around 400 residents in 2002. They have been meeting in homes since the authorities destroyed their church building two years ago.

August 3rd of this month, in Iraq. A blast outside a church injured 23 people as police foiled two further car bomb attacks on churches in northern Iraq on the very same morning.

August 2nd, Iran. Fears are growing for the health of an Iranian pastor held in jail three months after he was cleared of all charges and was set to be released.

And yet he's not been released. July 30th, Tanzania. Muslim extremists burned down a church building in Zanzibar Island off the coast of Tanzania.

Church leaders said thus are just three days after other another congregation's facility on the island was reduced to ashes. August 27th, China.

The deputy chairman of the Chinese House Church Alliance has been sentenced to two years in a labor camp for organizing unregistered church. That is, house church gatherings.

His church has been ordered to stop meeting. And police have confiscated the congregation's car, musical instruments, and choir robes, as well as 140,000 yuan.

That's $21,700 in American money in donations. All three of Pastor Shi's daughters and their husbands have been threatened by the police.

July 22nd, Sri Lanka. The homes of the five Christian families in Dehuwina village. I'm not sure if that's the right pronunciation.

They were attacked by a mob of around 50 people. The attackers threw rocks and stones at the houses, damaged roofs, and smashed windows with clubs and rocks. A church in a nearby village was desecrated with human waste before the Sunday morning service.

The mess was cleared up by the pastor and others, and the service started as normal. At 10 a.m., the congregation of around 300 worshipers was warned that a mob was headed for the church to disrupt the service.

Within half an hour, a 200-strong mob carrying placards forced their way into the church and began shouting threats. A lay leader who tried to speak with them was beaten and left bleeding from the nose.

The intruders, some of whom were armed with clubs, continued to shout, demanding that the service be stopped. Police arrived, but rather than dealing with the aggressors, they asked the pastor to stop the service.

July 25th, Saudi Arabia. An Eritrean Christian, someone from Eritrea, that's a small community or country in East Africa, he was threatened with the death penalty for allegedly preaching to Muslims.

But now the Saudi authorities have decided to deport him to his own country, which is one of the worst places in the world to be a Christian. So although he has been given a temporary reprieve from execution in Saudi Arabia, further danger awaits him in his homeland where he may face prison, torture, and even death.

And I have several others, Egypt and Kazakhstan and persecution that's happening in places all around our world. And so we live in a hostile world, don't we?

There's no doubt about that. That's hostile toward Christianity. Now, this may not be your experience. It may never be ours. But you see, Peter highlights two possibilities here in the text.

Or when I call them two potentialities. Look again at verse 13. He says, And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?

There's one possibility or one potentiality. That is, they won't hurt you if you do good. But, in verse 14, But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed.

So there are the two potentialities that Peter puts side by side. And the implication, of course, in verse 13 is clear. If you are zealous for good works, zealous for what is righteous, then, generally speaking, you will not be persecuted.

Now, that's good news, isn't it? Right? I mean, it is. Proverbs 16, 7 says, When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

And we like that. But now, dear people, that's not a promise. That's a proverb. Oftentimes, we make a mistake by turning proverbs into promises.

They're not necessarily promises. This is not a promise without any exception. Rather, it's a proverb. Or, we might call it a maxim of life.

Something that is generally true. And that maxim of life is that a righteous life is more often peaceful than a wicked life.

And that's the maxim. And it's generally true, isn't it? But now, I should mention here that when Peter said, Who will harm you?

It could be that Peter is speaking here, referencing real harm. Or, maybe, to put it this way, an ultimate harm.

Who can ultimately harm you? That is, no one can really harm you. Or, ultimately, nothing that happens to me in this life will harm me.

And that's basically what Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew chapter 10, verse 28. He said, Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul.

But rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. See, they might kill your body. And to us, that sounds pretty bad.

But Jesus says, They cannot kill your soul. That is, they can't ultimately harm you. And it could be that Peter is speaking of that. Now, listen. Can you imagine America becoming a place that is hostile to Christianity?

A place where it is illegal to become a Christian? Can you imagine that happening in our country? I would say, maybe, if I had said that 10, 20, 30, maybe 40 years ago, you would say, No, I don't think that's ever going to happen here.

But don't you see how that could happen? And maybe, if we would open our eyes, we're kind of seeing the precursors of these things.

In fact, clearly, Christians are persecuted more now than ever before in this nation. Could we see that happening? I mean, where Christianity is out and out, illegal in our nation anymore.

Let me ask you something. What if our economy collapsed? Could that happen? I'd say, if you've been watching the news lately, you'd say, yeah, that could happen.

In fact, that is somewhat the source of fear in many Americans' heart these days. Maybe for the first time in our lives, we see that our country could collapse.

I mean, we're a debtor nation. To the tune of 14 plus trillion dollars. Our nation could collapse. And imagine then that we could no longer afford a military to protect us.

Could that ever happen? And then imagine a communist country like China, for example, invading America and conquering us.

I know that that sounds far out. And, you know, but I think that we could imagine that. Or if not a communist nation like China, just imagine an Islamic country like Iran.

Or maybe an alliance of Islamic nations invading America and conquering us. And so then freedom of religion is no more.

It's gone. Christianity is illegal. Punishable by imprisonment and maybe even death. Your pastor is thrown into prison.

Or worse, executed. And our church then has to go underground if it still exists at all. Can you imagine that in America?

Now, that may never be our experience. May never happen to us. And certainly, we could argue that though it could one day happen, it won't happen in our lifetime or maybe even the lifetime of our kids.

But it could happen. And if it happens, let it be because of a zeal for righteousness. A zeal for good.

And if it happens to you on a smaller scale and persecution does come your way, whether it's just simply a verbal kind of communication, persecution or some other relatively minor form of persecution, or maybe it's even greater than that, let it happen because, this is Peter's point, let it happen because you have a zeal for good.

For what is good. For what is right. And so the persecution comes just by virtue of the fact of who you are in Christ. And you're righteous living.

R.C. Sproul tells about a professional golfer who was invited to play with a foursome. And among the four, there was Gerald Ford, Jack Nicholas, and Billy Graham.

Imagine playing golf with Billy Graham. Actually, honestly, I can't imagine playing golf with anybody. I don't know how. But maybe what a foursome. And after the round of golf was over, one of the pro's friends asked him, he said, well, how did it go out there?

Playing with Billy Graham. He highlighted him particularly. And to his amazement, this golf pro, his friend, responded with a flurry of blasphemies and curses.

And he said, I didn't need Billy Graham to stuff his religion down me. And his friend was just aghast. He said, I guess Billy Graham gave you a hard time out there, huh?

And he said, no, not really. Kind of said in an ashamed voice, he said, no. In fact, he didn't even mention religion. I just had a bad round of golf.

He had a bad round of golf. And yet, he lashed out at the preacher there in the group. The righteous one.

Not because he said anything or promoted his religion or did any over witnessing or any words of condemnation, but just because of who he was.

You see, listen, Billy Graham didn't suffer for his righteousness during that golf game, but he could have. He could have. And obviously, the pro golfer felt condemned there in the presence of Billy Graham.

I think I probably would too, even though I'm a Christian. And that's the way of it, isn't it? Even in our country. That is, you know, sinners, unbelievers feel condemned in the presence of a Christian or righteous person because of Christ.

And even if that person says nothing about God and nothing about Christ, just because of the righteousness in his life. But unbelievers will feel then condemned because their sinfulness is exposed.

By contrast, and their guilty conscience because of their sin is confronted, by the righteous life of the believer.

And when that happens, oftentimes, they respond positively. Sometimes not at all. Maybe more often, not at all.

But sometimes, they will respond with persecution. And if that be the case with you, then Peter says you're blessed.

You're blessed. Peter's not talking about blessed feelings. I just feel good about being persecuted. He's not talking about blessed rewards either.

Though ultimately, that will be the case. He's talking about the blessing of knowing that your life is pleasing to God. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5, 11.

He said, Blessed are you when men cast insults at you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of me. Rejoice, he said.

Be glad. For your reward in heaven is great. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. That is, you're in good company.

So, God has left us here in this hostile place to bear witness of His saving grace toward those out here in the world who are literally at war against God.

So that's the place. And so how are we to do that faithfully? Well, that leads me to a second thing. Not only the place of our witness, but the practice of our witness. The practice of our witness.

And the practice of our witness involves two things that work in concert with one another. Good works and good words. Those two go together. You can't have one without the other or should not.

Don't try to be a faithful witness without both things in your life. And so, first of all, practice, the practice of our witness involves good works.

Good works. And the concept here really appears over and over again in the paragraph with words like good, verse 13, righteousness, verse 14, good conscience, verse 16, good conduct, also there in verse 16, doing good, verse 17, over and over again.

Paul, or Peter rather, highlights, good works. That's how a Christian ought to live. And Peter says, who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?

I mentioned a moment ago, the better translation is if you become zealous. Zealous of what is good. Or we might even call it this, passionate. That the passion of your life is to live out your life righteously in every context, in every area.

And that is important, isn't it? And it's particularly important when we are dealing with unbelievers. Christians, Christian organizations, Christian churches, individual Christians, must never, ever be shady in their business dealings with the world.

Never. Christians should always pay their bills on time. Christians should never cheat on their taxes.

Christians should never be unreasonable to work with. Huh? Whether it's a Christian employer or employee or whether it's a Christian customer down at Walmart with a complaint.

Christians should never be unreasonable. Hard to deal with. faith and such because we are to be people of good works. And we express that in our lives.

Not just simply doing some good things, but expressing through our lives that we have a zeal for it. We are, in a sense, zealots. Zealots for righteousness.

A passion for good works. And Peter says in verse 16 that we are to always have a good conscience. A good conscience. And listen, a good conscience is absolutely necessary if you're going to be an effective witness for Christ.

I read a story the other day about a Christian baroness who lived in Nairobi, Kenya. And she had a young national, kind of a young boy national working for him as a house boy.

And after three months, he asked her for a letter of recommendation that he might give it to a certain sheik that lived not too far from there. And the baroness, of course, not wanting to lose her house boy, she said, well, how about if I give you a raise?

He said, it's not more money that I need or am looking for. She said, well, then what's the problem? He said, well, I made up my mind several months ago that I was going to decide whether to be a Christian or a Muslim.

And that's why I came to work for you because I wanted to find out how Christians act. And now, I'm going to go work and want to work for this Muslim sheik down here to find out how Muslims act.

And as soon as he said that, she was ashamed because she remembered how she had treated the boy and how she had really not expressed Christianity or righteousness in her life.

And all she could say to the young man was, why didn't you tell me this at the beginning? And isn't that just like it? See, unbelievers are watching.

They're watching our lives and they are making judgments about Christianity based upon the way we live our lives. They're observing these things.

And if you are zealous or passionate for what is good and especially when you're under persecution, then it's a powerful witness, isn't it?

It really is. And so the practice of our witness involves good works. But that's not enough. And that can't stand alone. Because the practice of our witness also involves good words.

Good words. Look at verse 15 again. Peter says, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

Now this is good words. Not just good words. See, has anybody ever asked you that question? That is, you know, what's the reason for your hope?

Or, why do you live the way you live? Anybody ever ask you that question? And the fact that someone would ask you a question like that implies that they have made certain observations about your good behavior.

And so they ask the question. And if you're zealous for good works, zealous for righteous living, if you have a passion for good works, righteous living, then sooner or later someone is going to ask you, why do you live the way you live?

And they'll ask you very honestly. And Peter says, be ready to tell them. Are you ready to tell them? Let's just pick this apart and notice several things about this readiness for good works.

Don't jot these down. They all come right from the text. Be ready, number one, be ready continuously. Did you notice what Peter said?

Always be ready. Always be ready. There must be a readiness, there must be a preparedness to witness, to give a witness.

As one preacher put it, he said, there must be a preparedness to witness, not as a program or an addendum to the church calendar, i.e.

grow on Tuesday nights, not just for that, not as an entity which can be avoided or engaged in at will, giving to missions, involving yourself in a short-term mission project or something.

You can avoid that or you can engage in it at will. It's not just that. nor as a sideline speciality for the peripheral professional, pastors, or whatever, but rather as the distinctive mark of one who has sanctified the Christ as Lord.

That's what he's talking about. Be ready continuously, always prepared. Second, be ready conversationally. Conversationally.

Peter said, be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks for a reason. The reason for your hope. A defense to everyone who asks you of a reason.

Defense, reason. Those two words just ought to stand out to us. Now, the word defense is the word apologia. apologetics. We get our word apologetics from that.

And the word reason is from logos. You've heard that word before. Word. In this case, words. And the idea is to be ready to verbalize, put in words, a logical, complete, reasonable presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

are you prepared to do that? See, lifestyle evangelism is a good thing. I think we all ought to be involved in that. It's a powerful part of our witness.

But it's not enough. It must be words. Are you, as Peter said here, that we are to be ready? Are you ready to give, always give, at any moment, give, to verbalize a logical, reasonable presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is your hope?

Mom, dads, are you ready for that? If your son or daughter asks you about spiritual things, don't just call up the preacher, invite the preacher, come down and explain to them what you ought to be able to explain to them.

Are you ready? Teachers, deacons, elders, Christians, are you ready? See, be ready continuously, be ready conversationally, third, be ready confidently.

You ought to have every confidence. Why? Because of the hope. He said, be ready to give the reason of the hope, the hope that is in you.

That's a very important phrase. In fact, the word hope is important. In the Greek language, it means a confident expectation. Not a hope so, or a wishful thinking kind of thing, but a confident expectation related to your salvation and your eternal security and your eternal destination.

I have this hope that Jesus lives in me. It's a confident expectation. And Peter's point here is that that kind of hope, that you all ought to have.

I hope you do. That confident expectation requires, it demands communication. Demands us speaking about it and giving a defense of it and laying out the reasons for it.

It's a confidence. So be ready confidently. And then one more, be ready courteously. This is important. Peter says, with meekness and fear.

Meekness and fear. Now, first of all, the fear is of God and not of man. Okay? But more significantly, and don't miss this, we're to witness with meekness.

Meekness. Now, there's a word, meekness. What kind of image does that bring up in your mind? You think of somebody meek? Usually, I'm afraid to say, it usually brings up images of weakness or timidity or something like that.

That's not the idea here. Now, the word means mildness of disposition. That would be one definition of the word. Another would be gentleness of spirit.

But neither of those two suggest weakness of any kind. In fact, really, the word means strength under control.

Strength under the control of the spirit. See, listen. And we all need to hear this.

There's no room for arrogance when it comes to Christianity. No room for arrogance when it comes to proclaiming the gospel.

We don't flaunt our salvation, flaunt our righteousness in Christ. We didn't deserve it anyway. No room for arrogance.

And we don't castigate people into repentance. We don't do that. We don't bully people into belief or faith.

Belief in the Word of God or faith in Christ. We don't bully people into that. Someone has said that arrogance stifles a response to the truth, but meekness draws people to Christ.

Peter is instructing us here on how to be effective witnesses in a hostile world. We've considered the place of our witness. It's right here where we may or may not endure overt persecution.

But if we do, we're blessed. And also, we've considered the practice of our witness. Combination of good works and good words.

And then finally, the power of our witness. Now, pay attention to this. The power that guarantees an effective witness for Christ is Jesus Christ sitting on the throne of your heart as the supreme Lord of your life.

Now, let me say that again. The power that guarantees our effective witness, no matter how hostile things might be, the power that guarantees it, is Jesus Christ sitting on the throne of your heart as the supreme Lord of your life.

Now, Peter put it this way in verse 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. That's exactly what I just said.

sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Let me give you a literal translation. But set up in your heart Christ as your Lord.

Set Him up. Now, you use the word sanctify. It means to set apart or to hallow or to make holy. And I have said, and this is a perfectly fine translation, set up.

set Him up in your heart. Set up Christ as Lord of your heart. That's what he says. And really, this is a continuation of Peter's quote in the previous verse.

Though it's not an italics, it really is still part of the quote there in verse 14. And he's quoting Isaiah chapter 8, verses 12 and 13. And if you could go back and read that story, you would find that Isaiah, the prophet, is speaking to the people of God.

And they are very frightened because the mighty Assyrian army is fast approaching. And they are about to overcome and overrun the city of Jerusalem. And they are vastly outnumbered.

That is, God's people are. And the people of God, it seems to them, are in a hopeless condition. And it's just a matter of time before the Assyrian army is going to come and conquer them.

And that's where they are. And Isaiah is speaking to them. And what Isaiah says to them seems totally unhelpful. It seems on the face of it, crazy.

And Peter quotes from it. And this is what he said. Do not be afraid of their threats. The entire Syrian army, they're coming.

outnumbered this vast number, but don't be afraid of their threats, he said. Nor be troubled. And then he said, the Lord of hosts.

By the way, Peter, quoting from that, he translated the Lord Christ. It tells you something about who Christ is, who Jesus is. The Lord of hosts, he said, this is what Isaiah said, the Lord of hosts, him you shall hallow or sanctify or set up as supreme in your heart.

Let him be your fear. Don't fear the Assyrians. Let the Lord of hosts be your fear and let him be your dread.

Your dread. Here then, you see, is the power of our witness. The driving force in our witness. Makes our witness effective even in the midst of hostility.

Out now persecution, which we have not endured yet. But here's the power of it. No matter what the context. It's Jesus Christ. It's him set up in your heart as the supreme ruler, Lord, of your life.

Martyrs for Christ. Martyrs. It's who we are. As witnesses, to testify of the hope that is in us, as martyrs in the strict sense, We may even one day be called by God to die for it.

We're martyrs for Christ. Thank you.