How to Survive the Fire

We had VBS and kids trusting Christ and lots of things happening around our campus. And I was gone with 41 people, mostly from our church. And we were in Greece, walking, literally walking in the footsteps of Paul. Went to the island of Patmos, where John received the revelation of the book of Revelation. And we're in some great spots and we celebrated some big things.

But one of the things that going into the world of the Bible reminded us of is that the victories always came in the midst of a struggle. And you have to ask yourself, when we're standing at a spot where they're demanding, when we are in Ephesus, in Turkey, they're demanding emperor worship. To bow your knee to a politician as if he's the Savior, and you confess that Jesus is Lord, will you make that compromise? And it was in those tensions that these victories oftentimes happened. You wonder where that comes from.

It comes from commitment. Commitment's a weird word in our world because we have a commitment phobia. Not an official diagnosis as a mental illness, but it's definitely recognized and even in peer journals in the psychological world that there is a commitment phobia that has taken place, and the stats and numbers back it up. It's not just when we ask you to sign up for something and everybody waits till the last minute, you know what that is? That's, I'm going to wait and see.

I'm going to wait and see if a better opportunity comes along. I'm going to wait and see if there's some other commitment. I'm going to wait and see something else. But we do that in all kinds of areas of life. Let me share some stats.

At work. When they evaluate commitment, global employee engagement has dropped to 21%. In 2024, 21% of people are engaged at work. That should be convicting to some of you and overwhelming to the few that are committed. You're like, wait.

Other people aren't doing their work. What it's really discouraging if you own a company to hear that. It's really encouraging if you pastor a church, because I think to myself, they're paying people and they're not engaged. Why are we fussing about the volunteer signups? What is it that we're just asking you to help out here?

And we've got about similar numbers. 20%, you know, doing a lot of this stuff and friendships. In 1990, 49% of high school graduates reported having at least six close friends.

In 2024, that number was cut in half to 17%. More than in half. 17% of people having more than a couple close friends. A 2024 Pew Research center survey found that roughly one in five American adults reports having no close friends. We don't even commit in relationships.

But listen to this. 92% of adults recognize that relationships are a key source of meaning in their lives. So we know we need it, we want it, but we won't commit. Robert Putnam wrote a book, you can look it up. Some people know it because of the phrase bowling alone.

But he talks about the third places, places outside of work, outside of family, where we connect with people. And notes that organizations like the Rotary Club, Elks Club, they're down roughly 80%. And people signing up as the population continues to grow since 1970, bowling remains popular. But I don't know anyone that bowls, so that's interesting to me. Bowling remains popular, but roughly 80% of folks aren't engaged there as well.

Listen to this stat. The average number of non relative people you discuss important matters with has dropped from almost three people in 1985 to approximately two people in 2004. And it's probably gotten worse since COVID So people don't commit in civic areas, in community, in friendships, in church. Weekly church attendance has dropped from 42% two decades ago to about 30% today. 55 to 57% of Americans now seldom or never attend religious services, even inside churches.

Small group participation. That's not just our church. This is in general, across America, small group Participation dropped from 50% of worship attendees in 2008 to 44% in 2022. So numbers keep down. Trending some marriage stats.

Less people are getting married, so the divorce rates are going down. But that's because less people are getting married. Less than half of American households, 47.1% are headed by married couples. That percentage has been below 50% since 2010. In 1950, 1949, it was 78.8%.

So almost 80%. It's below 50% now. Those who are marrying are waiting longer. The average age in 1960 was approximately 20 years old. And today in 2024 statistics, it is 30 years old.

It's almost 10 years different. Lack of commitment is consistently cited as the number one cause of divorce. 75 to 85% of divorce individuals and national surveys say that it was lack of commitment that caused the marriage to fail. When you think about that, those of you who are married, think about the words that you say when you get married, the vows of commitment. I remember when I met Shanna.

We'll celebrate next week on Wednesday. 26 years of being married, and I remember when I, yeah, praise God, give her a hand. It has been hard work for her. And as one of my mentors told me, one of the keys to being happy in life is getting a smart person to make a dumb decision. Did it.

And I think about when I met her, walked into this Mexican restaurant and opened the doors. There were no windows inside. So literally, when I opened these double doors to come in, it was like light shown in. I'm slow on the uptake sometimes. And it was like God was saying, here she is, Scott.

There she is. She was standing there like an angel. Here's Shannon. I applied for this job there. She went to her manager and said, remember this name, Scott Lear.

And the manager said back to her, why is that your future husband? He was a prophet. He didn't even know it. Here we are, we dated for five years. We're 31 years later, and he was still right.

Good job, Bill.

But then after dating for a little while, we got married, and we stood at the altar and we said vows. I remember the opening charges by one of the ladies who's leading worship, Nikki Cohen's dad. He's the guy who led me to Christ, and he was challenging us what marriage is and talking about what that commitment looks like. And then Shanna's dad, who was an ordained pastor, led us through our vows. And they were traditional vows.

I, Scott, take you, Shanna, to be my wife. To have and to hold, which is actually legal terminology from this day forward, forsaking all others. Because when you make that commitment, you're not just saying yes to that person. You're saying no to everybody else.

To have and to hold from this day forward, forsaken all others. And do you remember this part? For better or worse, and richer or poorer, till death do us part, huh? I would like to rewrite those if I could not, because I want to be married to Shannon. I just like to rewrite life so that it just goes, let's delete all that poorer and worse and sickness stuff, right?

And the problem is a lot of us do that with Jesus. We think that if we follow him correctly, life will be easy. And Peter writes our passage today to correct that thinking. Because it's bad thinking that will lead to bad relationship with God if you continue in that. Because there will be worse, there will be suffering, there will be difficulties.

And he's asking those that he's writing this letter to decide now how you'll respond when the difficulty comes. Decide now because when we get there is not the time to decide when you're being told. If you just bow down, then you can keep your job and we're gonna take care of you and life's gonna be good. But you just have to say that this guy's in charge rather than Jesus is in charge, then you're good and everyone else is doing it. What are you gonna.

And so if you've got your Bibles, we're in first Peter. We've been in this series I've titled Today's Message how to Survive the Fire. Because the image that this passage gives for suffering and difficulty is an image of fire. And so the fire is coming. Maybe it's persecution, maybe it's a cancer diagnosis.

Maybe it's something you experience, maybe it's somebody around you is experiencing. But it's going to happen. And Peter's writing so that people will be prepared. And so I want you to imagine. Imagine being one of the original listeners of this.

People have lost their jobs because of following Jesus. People have been marginalized. Maybe you've had something said about you. Perhaps your family thinks you've lost your mind, that you're following Jesus. But imagine you're gathered together in someone's home, you're sitting in a circle, and you're talking about how to live out following Jesus in your context.

And there's a knock at the door. You don't know if it's persecution or not, because right now people are just under suspicion. But here's what happens. What starts off as suspicion leads to persecution. We know that historically, you see this repeatedly.

This is not me speaking prophetically. I'm just telling you this is normal. When you get suspected because your faith in the marketplace, in relationships, it's only a matter of time before you'll be persecuted for your faith in those exact same context. And so while today we might not be persecuted, it's closer than it's ever been before in America.

Peter is the one who's delivering the letter. That's the knock at the door as you're sitting in that room.

And here's what it says in chapter four. We're going to focus in on verses 12 through 19. I know last week Pastor Rob was supposed to go all the way to this passage. Thanks, Rob. But he made it to the end of chapter two.

Well, chapter two starts the topic living under authority. Chapter three starts off by putting it into specific context. Wives who are married to people who aren't believers live it out so they can see it, so they can see it's real, that Jesus is real, the gospel is real, makes a real difference. And then keep doing good. You should be persecuted for doing good, not for doing bad.

Not just consequences of your decisions, but when bad things happen to you because you're suffering because of doing good, keep doing that. That's where you get that passage. But always be ready to give an answer for the hope that you have. Well, it's in a context of you're being persecuted. And it says with gentleness and a clear conscience.

And then chapter four, verses one through 11, talks about being armed with an attitude which some of you have. Some of you do have an attitude that you're armed with, but it's talking about the attitude of Christ who did suffer. And it says this in verse 12. Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come to you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. Talking real specific to them here.

Contrast. But rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed. Okay, so this joy language is being repeated. You're gonna see it four times right here. Definitely an emphasis.

Rejoice so that you can be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. Verse 14. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal or even a meddler. That's somebody probably like a gossip or somebody who causes trouble walking around talking about stuff.

However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. So there's identity statements happening here. Verse 17. Here's why. Where it is time for judgment to begin with God's household.

And if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it's hard for the righteous to be saved, well, that's a hard phrase. We'll get to that. What will become of the ungodly and the sinner? So then those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves.

There's that commitment word to their faithful creator. That's key. And continue to do good, keep being faithful, is what Peter is saying here. And you probably caught in verse 12. He calls this fiery trial.

He's referring back to when Pastor Brad kicked us off in this series. He talked about fire in chapter one and how fire tests metals, it tests gold. It's a Refiner's fire. But it gets rid of the impurities and makes it stronger. And so the.

The fire here is difficulty. It is persecution. It is what's lingering in the context of this passage. Those of you who haven't been with us, it's AD 64. Nero has burned Rome, literally burned Rome to the ground, then blamed the Christians for it, then begins persecuting Christians by doing things like arresting them and putting animal skins on them, cutting up animals that are all bloody and there's meat, and then putting them out on the streets and having wild dogs chase people down to kill them, and then using them as living torches.

So he's burned the place down and he's burning Christians alive. And some of them, he's putting tar on them and running them through the streets and burning them as they run through the streets. And then here he uses fire language. And while we're not experiencing that, praise God, we're all going to suffer. And sometimes it's just from being in this place, in a broken world.

And sometimes as a result of your faith, sometimes it's financial, sometimes it's relational, sometimes it's health. Sometimes it's in a situation like a prodigal child or a spouse that won't believe. Or we struggle. And so we ask the same questions that if people are going to kill us because of our faith, are asking, why is this happening? Where is God?

Did I do something wrong? And what do I do now? That's why Peter wrote this, so it's applicable regardless. And what we're gonna see is that the fire that's mentioned in this passage is powerful and that it works in our lives and in our spiritual journeys. And we see four movements.

We'll walk back through the passage here and see them. And the first one is, the fire reveals our expectations. That's in verse 12. The fire reveals our expectations. You notice it says, don't be surprised.

He starts off, though, with this kind word, Dear friends. If you've got English Standard Version or King James, depending on the date of it, probably translates it. Beloved. These are kind words he's trying to say. This is like, not just a factual.

Hey, here's the information. Believe the information, you'll be all set. He's going, I love you, dear friends. The niv. Beloved.

But don't be shocked. Don't be surprised at the fiery ordeal that's come to you to test you. And why is he telling them not to be surprised? Here's the answer. Because they're surprised.

And you know why? Because Their expectations are what many of our expectations are that if I just do this Christian thing right, God should hashtag bless me, not blessed, like the Bible talks about. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who born. But blessed, like we talk about. If I follow you faithfully enough, I should have a Lambo, right?

I gotta get under the spout where those blessings come out. So I'm gonna pray harder and I'm gonna not do sin. I really want to do sin, but I want a Lambo. I want the hashtag blessed. And then you get cancer and you're going, wait, but I didn't do the stuff I wanted to do.

And I'm doing stuff I don't want to do because it's for you now, why is this happening? It doesn't make sense to us. If you've got a secular worldview, which some people who go to church and confess Jesus, do you view suffering as something to be solved because it's a glitch in the system. It's a bug software. If you've got a legalistic worldview, then you believe that there's suffering in your life because you did something wrong.

There's sin that needs to be found out. There's some punishment taking place. And some people, amen, Grace, sing amazing grace. That's how you live your life. I remember I don't golf a lot.

I remember golfing not too long ago, and I hit a shot that hit a condo.

Ding, ding, ding, just bouncing around. And when I got up to the green, it was on the green about six inches from the hole. Praise God. And I'm with three guys. Two of them are Christians.

One of them goes, well, somebody's living right.

That's the opposite perspective. It's just like, when good things happen, God must be really happy with you. That's a legalistic mindset.

And the same thing is going on when bad stuff happens. I don't deserve this, right? Or did I? Is there something I need to. It's not wrong to search your heart, not wrong to repent.

Think through stuff. God does purify us, and he disciplines us. Not to punish us, to refine us. A coach will discipline a team to get them better, get them on track. But when we get like that, like, this is weird that this has happened, some strange thing is taking place.

And we're surprised by suffering. It's revealing our false expectations. And when we have these false expectations, when we begin to question God, why, where are you? We're on the wrong track of what's taking place. Peter's trying to prepare us for that while we're not in the fire.

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you. So even gives the purpose for it, though something strange were happening to you. This isn't strange. There's a word play there, too, between surprised and strange.

And you think about, we all still end up surprised, but suffering's normal.

In fact, if you can just recognize patterns in your life and you've lived for any period of your 20 or older, you can probably think through your life and go through stages and go, oh, I see patterns. And it doesn't mean you can predict how long before the next episode of suffering. But I remember about 15 years into pastoring here, I was journaling, and I just decided I was going to journal big life events. And I just looked at the big life events from a macro picture. I was like, wow.

There's like, always a season of, like, things are great, and then things are not great, and then things are great, and then things are not great. And then sometimes what happens is the things that were not great back in the early part, it becomes a normal part of life, doesn't just go away, but it doesn't feel it's not great anymore because you've grown, you've gotten stronger. But when you can recognize the patterns, you live different. If I go into my closet right now, there are clothes that are totally irrelevant to me. Sweaters, wool suits.

Why am I not getting rid of those? Not just because it's North Carolina and it may snow this afternoon, but because I recognize that while I don't need it today, winter will come again, and I want to be ready. What Peter is doing here is not giving a test. The fire itself is the test. And we're gonna talk about what the test does when we get to the next point here.

What he's doing is kind of like, kids, how many of you have ever done a fire drill at school? Ever done a fire drill when you go to school? Yeah. Raise your hand. Some of you.

I can't believe you're still in school. Wow. Ever seen Tommy boy? My name right. Here we go.

Seven years. They call them doctors. Any.

The reason why they do the drill is so that when the fire comes, if the fire ever comes, it's not just total chaos. I mentioned that I was in Greece with a group of folks from our church, and it was really hard on us. Part of the trip, rather than traveling by bus, we had to travel by a cruise ship. I know, I know you feel bad. You feel bad for us.

It's pretty cool that you can get from place to place and enjoy the experience. But when we first got on the boat, they did this mandatory. Mandatory. My wife is more of a rule follower. She went.

I didn't go. But it's a mandatory class on how to use a life jacket. And I was like, I saw some of these people online. They're not all the smartest. All right?

But they don't know how to use a life jacket. Come on. So I didn't go to the class. My wife got me out of it. She's such an angel.

Such an angel. I was like, I'll be up on the pool deck and you enjoy your life jacket class. And they were like, well, your husband needs to be here. Oh, he's just running a little late. And they didn't ask again.

Now I got my. They can, hey, come get me. I'm off the boat now.

What are they gonna do, make me watch a webinar on life jackets? Whatever. A couple days later, we're on a ferryboat to get to the cruise ship. It's nighttime. The water is cold, 800ft deep.

There's 250 people on this ferry boat. And most of them are just laughing and having a good time. And I noticed the water was doing more work than the boat was doing. We couldn't get to the boat, and we were stuck for a long time. And most people on the boat didn't even realize it.

I leaned over to a guy, a boating captain behind me, and I said to him, this boat's struggling. He said, the people on this will have no idea how much danger we're in right now. And then he said to me, do you see any life jackets? And on that boat, I don't know where they were, but I couldn't find them. There are a couple of those orange little dinghy things.

Well, there's 250 people here. So I literally said to my daughters over by me, I said, do you think you can swim to that cruise ship? It's about 10 pool lengths from here. Cold water. They all said no.

And I was like, I am in trouble. When we got back and we were settled down, I said, how many people on that boat do you think could have swam one lap in a pool? One lap in a pool without stress? Maybe 10%. Just FYI, they weren't ready if the emergency came.

Peter is writing here to all believers. These specific believers in Rome who don't have. They're not most of them are being killed yet when this letter is written. But Peter himself is going to be killed because of this persecution he's writing about. He's saying, get ready now.

If you're surprised by it, that just reveals you've got faults, expectations. But the fire doesn't just reveal false expectations, it also reveals allegiance. That's the next part of the passage. Remember who Peter is, right before we even read again, verses 13 through 16. Remember, Peter knows that oftentimes the suffering in his life is a result of obedience.

We oftentimes talk about that passage in Matthew chapter 14 where Peter walked on water and we're like, what amazing faith. Remember, he's only in the boat because he obeyed Jesus. Another way to say it, he's only experiencing the storm because Jesus told him to go. In fact, if you go To Matthew chapter 14, I think I gave you guys that verse. It says In Matthew chapter 14, verse 22, Jesus fed the 5,000.

John the Baptist's head was chopped off. The passage right before that, 4 being faithful. And then in verse 22, Jesus says, Immediately, Jesus made the disciples, made them go, made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side. So they couldn't be in the boat. When they're afraid for their lives and look at each other and go, what a dumb idea to get in this boat.

Because it was Jesus idea and he's never wrong.

But they were terrified for their lives. That's why Jesus, when he meets them in the storm. That's right. The same Savior that leads you into the storm will meet you in the storm, says, take heart. That means have courage, don't be afraid.

It is I, Jesus. When Peter sinks, they're walking. The same Jesus that told him to get out of the boat, come to me. Same one that rescues him immediately you can go read Matthew 14. Peter with that awareness, writes what he writes in these next verses.

Dear friends, verse 12. Just to remind you, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you. You can underline that as though something strange were happening to you. But contrast, rejoice. And as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ.

And so that's interesting, some of your Bibles might say, share in the sufferings of Christ, not that you're sharing the cross, but when you're suffering for the name of Christ, you're linked to him. And so these are all identity statements that happen through this section, the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when the glory is revealed, you'll know more what it's like. See, American Christianity, a lot of times what we do is we want to substitute the crown for the cross. There's no crown without a cross. And what he's saying here is, you're koine.

You're sharing in. You're having a connection with the sufferings that Jesus himself experienced because you're suffering for the name. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, there's an identity statement, you are blessed. That's a different kind of blessing than we often talk about. But the spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

That's God's very presence. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief because you did bad stuff. However, if you suffer as a Christian, that word's only used three times in the New Testament. When it was originally used, it was used as a slur, kind of like calling someone partisan. It's not a bad word, but nobody wants to be called that little Christ.

If you suffer as a little Christ, someone who shares the name, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

So the test, the test here is different than the drill, the fire drill, or the life jacket drill. The test is there's actually an emergency. And what it's testing is, is your faith genuine?

And the way that you know is, is you decided ahead of time. And the way that you see it is how you respond in the suffering. It's interesting that the second identity statement in there, verse 14, verse 13, is the first one connected in the sufferings of Christ. Verse 14 says, if you're insulted because of the name of Christ, and then the next one's going to talk about your name as a Christian. So there's all these identity statements through here.

Rejoice. Well, that's what the early believers did. Acts, chapter five. Remember, they were being held by the Supreme Court of their day, and they were told, don't talk about the name of Jesus anymore. And they're like, well, we're gonna do that.

They said, well, we're gonna punish you if you do. And they kept talking about Jesus. And the Sanhedrin kept their word too. They beat them, tortured them. Then In Acts chapter 5, it says this amazing statement, verse 41, the apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name.

So suffering wasn't a sign that God abandoned them. I mean, the same as I shared with you. I was golfing with some guys and they thought because this went well, you're blessed. I remember going through a really hard season of life. One of them.

Because there's more than one. There's patterns.

And having a Christian at this church say to me, well, what's going on in your life that we don't know about? Huh? I don't know. I don't know about it either.

It's that thinking.

Here they're saying suffering wasn't a sign that God abandoned them. Suffering was actually a sign they were close enough to experience him. The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they've encountered. I was given the opportunity to suffer for your name.

One of the places we went on the Greece trip was Philippi. If you read Acts, chapter 16, it's an interesting place to be. Especially anybody who thinks, strangely enough, because maybe what media says that the Bible would minimize women.

They're pretty prominent in Philippi. The first convert, Lydia, businesswoman. The next person impacted, a woman at the opposite side of the social spectrum. Lydia's rich, Lydia's influential. This woman's a slave, and she's demon possessed.

And Paul doesn't heal her because of his compassion. He heals her because he's annoyed with her, which I appreciate. There are some people who get so many emails, you're like, God, will you deliver them, please? But it's not out of love. It's just like, cut it out.

And so you read Acts 16 if you don't believe me, read it. And Paul's annoyed with her, casts a demon out of her. And then they don't get thrown in prison because of a theological issue. They're thrown in prison because casting the demon out of that girl, costing people money. You mess with people's God, then you'll have persecution.

Their God was the money while they're in prison. And if you know the story, you're like, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. No, while they're in prison, they've been beaten. They're in chain, literally chained to the cell. We went to the actual cell.

Stone dark, cold cell. They're singing hymns, huh? They're rejoicing without knowing if they'll be delivered.

You can read the story to see what happens. And here, that's what Paul is saying, or Peter is saying in this passage. Peter is saying, rejoice because you're connected to the name Rejoice, because then you'll have greater joy when his glory is revealed. Then he says, the glory, the spirit of glory is going to rest on you and that you get to be called what's considered a slur, a slander, but it's connected to Jesus. And that testing then is being revealed.

The way you're responding is revealing that this is real faith.

It's kind of like, I don't know if any of you knew this or noticed, but the Carolina Hurricanes did well this year. Did you see that?

And there are a lot more hockey jerseys at 90 degrees this year than there are most years. You notice that because you're wanting to say, I'm associated. Those are my guys. Those jerks are my jerks. Those are my guys.

And what Peter's talking about here in this passage is that idea. But he's not just saying to identify with it. Did you notice? He says, participate, not just identify with. Rejoice in as much as you share in.

Participate in the sufferings of Christ. That'd be like if you bought a hurricane jersey. They were like, come on down here. Do you know how to skate? Nope.

You're out there. And that's how some of us are. In our sufferings, in our faith. It's messy. Cause we're just learning how to do it.

Peter's preparing us here. He's saying, it's not strange. Don't be surprised. What we're gonna test and find out is your allegiance. But the fire doesn't just reveal your expectations.

It doesn't just reveal your allegiance. It also reveals God's presence.

Think about Peter himself having suffered because of being obedient. Jesus. If we went to Crabtree Mall today and asked 90 random people, what is Jesus known for? Love, grace, forgiveness, compassion. I bet maybe one would say suffering.

Yet the Bible's real clear Old Testament and New Testament that he's the suffering servant, that he came for a cross, and you can't have one without the other. Some of us sign up for Christianity and it's like terms and conditions when you're on a website. Yep. Click, click. I didn't read any of that stuff.

Whatever. And now you later find out following Christ comes with a cross. And you're like, ah. Was that in the fine print? No, it's in pretty bold letters.

But we don't want to think about it. And so we set our own expectations and we make up our allegiance. And suffering is one of those call to the carpet moments of, are you really committed? I know you said the vows, but this is the for worse season. This is the for poorer season.

This is the I prayed, but it's not happening season. This is man. If I want to, I don't want to compromise. But I want to do well at my job and I want season testing. It's happening.

There's a story in the Old Testament that shows us this is not unique to us today or to people in Nero's time. But in the book of Daniel, there's three boys, they get renamed from their Hebrew names and they're better known for their pagan names, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. And everybody is bowing their knee to a 90 foot statue of the most powerful man in the world, Nebuchadnezzar. We see some egomaniacs on the news. We see people that it's popular and kind of trendy now.

To call people narcissists, having a lot of confidence is not narcissism. Nebuchadnezzar was a narcissist. He was demanding everyone bow to him. All you gotta do is bow. Just bow your knee to a politician.

Oh. Kind of like what happens in the New Testament, kind of like what happens now. Just bow your knee. I know you said Jesus, Lord, I know that you say, you follow. Just bow your knee to Nebuchadnezzar and your life will be smooth.

And these three guys, they won't bow.

Listen to Daniel 3. Just a few verses, because we don't have time for the whole chapter. Nebuchadnezzar, if you do not bow and worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand?

That's verse 15 and verse 17 through 18. You don't say this if you haven't been through the drill. That means you decided ahead of time, like now, before the persecution comes. If we were thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able, because that was the statement that Nebuchadnezzar made. Who could?

No one can even save you from this. He'd go, no, he's able, but they don't have a promise. He's able to deliver us from it. And he will deliver us from your majesty's hand. Even if that's by death, by the way is what they mean.

But even if he does not, even if God didn't do what we think he'll do, expect him to do, we want you to know, your majesty, so respectful, we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you've set up, even if he doesn't. So let me ask you this.

If you knew that following Jesus would mean shattered dreams, the opposite of what you want to happen in life, would you still do it? They said Even if he does not. That's a huge statement.

Even if I can never have that child that I want to have, even if I can never, I'll never be healed. Even if. Would you. Would you still follow? That's what's happening here.

But the story, it gets wild. That really ticks Nebuchadnezzar off. He cranks the furnace up seven times hotter, so much so that the guards, the soldiers that throw these guys in, they die from. From getting close to the heat. Not being thrown in the furnace, getting close to the heat.

Verse 24. Like I said, I can't read the whole chapter. Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire? Maybe you thought one of the guards slipped in, said, certainly, your majesty. Everyone agreed.

They probably always agree with him. Look at what he does when you don't. So then he says, look, behold, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed. And the fourth looks like the son of the gods. He expects three.

He sees four.

Now go back to our passage in First Peter, chapter 4, verse 14. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed for the spirit of the glory and of God rests on you. That's an allusion to when God. When they built the tabernacle, when Moses built the tabernacle in Exodus, chapter 40. Again, don't have time to go to the passage.

Go check it out on your own. Study the Bible on your own. I'm dropping quorums. There's a great feast at the end of this trail. Can't give you all of it.

It's kind of like how we covered chapter three in about 10 seconds. Here we go. What happens is God shows to reveal that he's present with this tabernacle when they would move it around because it's a tent.

Be a cloud by day and a fire by night. That's what Peter's alluding to here. The same glory that rested on the tabernacle now rests on you. God's presence is not in a building. It's not with an institution or denomination.

It's. You.

Let that sit for a second. I know we got little ones in here, and I want to wrap up, but whoa.

One of my favorite missionary stories is of John G. Patton. He was a missionary in the South Pacific in the 1800s. He went to a people who did not ask him to come, and they did not want him there. In fact, it was so bad that one night the natives were going to kill him, and he climbed up into A tree. And he tells the story in his journal of what it was like to be in that tree.

Can you imagine being in a tree? And every time you hear a branch crack, you could think, this could be it. This is it. This is the moment they get me. You could hear muskets being fired, them running around yelling in their native language.

Think about that. What that's like the foreign language. I love seeing my kids in a place where they speak a foreign language. Americans are the only ones arrogant enough to expect people to speak their language.

But you go to a foreign country and, like, the outlets are different. And if you didn't know that, you'll find out when you plug your device in. The language is different. They drive on the wrong side of the road. Isn't that interesting?

We use moral language for that. The opposite side. So things are different. You get disoriented. The language is being used of not being surprised.

And being a stranger is literally translated, alien foreigner. This isn't a foreign thing to your life. This is not strange to your life. But you get disoriented by it because you've been into a sacred safety and a culture of comfort. But that's not how life really works.

But here's the reality. The same as Peter experienced. The same savior that led you into the suffering storm will meet you in the storm. The same as these guys are in the fiery furnace in Daniel, chapter three. Who's the fourth Jesus?

Peter saying, this is a universal truth. Verse 14. The Spirit, the glory of Christ, will rest on you. And Patton says in his journal, there's never been a time in my life where I experienced the presence of God more. And then later in his ministry, when people weren't as resistant, he said, I'd climb back up in that tree to experience Christ again.

Huh.

I know suffering that I've had in the past doesn't seem as bad now as it did in the midst of it. I still don't want to go back. But I can go back and see how God met me in it.

You sense this presence, the suffering? I hope so. And if not? It's coming. Will you see him there?

The fire also demands a decision. Look how this passage ends. I'll read verse 17 through 19 to get the full context of verse 19 is what I'm getting at. It's not an explanation of suffering. It's not a why, it's not a where, it's not a what do you do now other than trust what it says?

4. It is time for judgment. And the judgment There is not condemnation. Judgment that we oftentimes think about a judge when they're evaluating a case has to orderly sift through the information. That's what's taking place.

And it begins with us. And there's a testing. Who are the wheat? Who are the shaft? What is real faith?

If it's not real, there'll be condemnation. But you're staying condemned yourself. You've chosen. God's not deciding, you've decided. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome?

For those who do not obey the gospel, it's bad. Verse 18. And if it's hard for the righteous to be saved, it's not saying it's hard for God to save us, but it means that we're going to go through hardships in the process of working out our salvation. What will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Oh, bad.

Eternal separation from God. No more general grace. The Bible calls it hell.

So what's happening here? It's a purification that's taking place for us. It's getting rid of the impurities in our faith. But look at verse 19. So then those who suffer according to God's will, his desire should commit themselves to their.

Interesting choice of language feeder faithful creator, and continue to do good. He could have said shepherd. He could have said Lord. He could have said King. He could have said Savior.

Here, the only time in the New Testament this word is used of God, Creator. That means he runs it all. He's in charge of it all. But he's not just creator, he's faithful creator. Remember at the very beginning of the message I said there's a commitment phobia.

Psychologists and those who analyze these things, academians, they say the reason why we have commitment phobia is because of wounds. It could be from early childhood attachment disorder, when you were not responded to, when you were in need. It could be a betrayal later in life, it could be a divorce, it could be lots of things. Someone cheated on you, wronged in a business deal. But it makes us more hesitant to commit to trust.

Peter intentionally says, faithful creator. He's never let you down. He's never not been true to what he might not do what you expect him to do, but he's never not done what he said he's going to do. He's a faithful creator. And Peter's calling us to entrust ourselves to him.

To give over our lives, our desires, our money, our thoughts, our families, our jobs, everything to him. Entrust it to him. Give it to him and let him work it out because he's faithful.

So will you. And talk about those vows that I said to my wife. And we'll celebrate next week. 26 years ago, but on a wedding day, everything's great. You're just thinking about, like, a honeymoon and eating some cake and.

But then, like on a Tuesday. And not even in the suffering, just a mundane, normal day. And there's no more milk. Who's going to go to the store?

Are you going to do that?

Jesus asks us if anyone's going to follow me. Take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me. Would you make that commitment here today? Let's bow our heads and our hearts before him. Father, some here are suffering.

Some here may be silently suffering. Maybe there's been a miscarriage this week, a betrayal, some shameful situation I'm not even sure they can share. In fact, they might be so lonely, we know statistically they don't even have anyone to share with. Well, we'll listen. I'll tell you that.

And so will God.

And he will meet you in that. Some of you are in a great victorious season. It's wonderful, but he wants to prepare you for what is coming. It's not a warning as much as it's just wisdom. That's how the patterns go.

This is how life works. And you're in this broken place, and you live. If you've committed to him contrary to this place, you view the world differently than the rest of this place. And you follow a savior that's offensive to this place.

Will you commit? And some of you recommit, not saying to get saved again, but like a husband and wife renewing your vows, would you recommit your commitment to Jesus today?

Would you call on him as Lord, Hand your life over to him. Hand your heart over to him. Hand your time over to him. Hand the area of your life that you know you want to hang on to. Some people, there was a time period in a group that when they would get baptized, they would hold their sword out of the water because they didn't want to be held accountable as a Christian for what they would do in war.

Some of you, it's your watch. Some of you, it's your wallet. Some of you, the secret part of your life, will you hand that over to him right now?

And, Lord, will you meet us even in this moment when we sing the song? Like Patton experienced your presence in that tree like those men did in the furnace, Like Peter saying, we will in the fire, Will you reveal your presence to us? It's In Jesus name I pray. And all God's people said Amen.