Choose to Revolve

1 Peter 4:14-16 | January 12, 2025

14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, and of God, rests upon you. 15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.

INTRO AND PRAYER

Have you ever eaten something a little strange?

When I was a teenager, I had the chance to go on a cruise ship for a few days and during the nightly meal one of the appetizer choices was escargot – that’s not a sporty French convertible – it’s a swanky French cuisine – namely, a plate of shelled gastropods.

Now, I was a teenager out on the high seas exploring a whole new world – a dazzling place I never knew – which included some international meats of mystery, so I took a chance and had some of those garlic butter snails for dinner.

They tasted like chicken – chicken of the sea – ask any mermaid – they’ll tell ya.

To be honest as I brought that little fork up to my mouth with the first bite of garlic butter snail I had some doubts – but then I remembered the words of a famous Wisconsin Pioneer who said…

Doug Larson

Never doubt the courage of the French. They were the ones who discovered that snails are edible.

Whether it’s eating escargot or watching a Hallmark Christmas movie in June or picking out Pokemon Jibbitz for your crocs or rewiring your den 220-221 – whatever it takes – we can all have moments where we need a little courage because we aren’t quite sure what to do – moments of doubt or fear – moments when we question what is happening in our lives and what decisions we should make.

Are you in a moment like that right now in life?

We continue our series called “Do the Next Thing” – where we are looking at a simple concept for how to keep moving when there is doubt or fear or confusion or difficult questions.

And today we are going to let Simon Peter help us reach into an extreme scenario to try and help us keep moving no matter what scenario we may find ourselves in.

Our message today is called “Choose to Revolve” and we will be looking at 1 Peter 4.

Listen as we begin in verse 14 – Peter writes…

14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ,

Peter is writing to folks who were being insulted in a lot of different ways – meaning they were being reviled, slandered, verbally abused. 

Why?

For following Jesus and the truth about Jesus.

The meaning of the verb here is not just being insulted one, random, isolated time because you wore white pants after Labor Day – but rather being regularly insulted for what you believe about God and how you live for him.

3,003 years ago, the psalmist wrote…

Psalm 42:10

As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries taunt me,

 

Psalm 42:10

While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

The Psalmist is saying that being insulted and challenged about his faith in God felt like someone was breaking his bones.

He kept hearing them say…

“Where’s your God?”

“Where’s your God while all of this bad stuff is happening to you?”

“Shouldn’t your God be protecting you and rescuing you?”  

“Who wants a God who lets his people suffer?”

On the flip side, sometimes the insults aren’t words – it’s silence.

You live for God, and you promote the truth about God, and you love people, and you serve people, and they don’t respond at all – their verbal insults are non-verbal – their silence can be like a dagger to your heart. 

Insults and verbal abuse and non-verbal abuse can linger – they can hang around in your mind for days and weeks and months and years – they can make their way from your mind down to disrupt the very fibers of your heart.

The feelings from getting punched in the gut go away after a little while, but the feelings from being insulted or slandered or ignored or denied can go on and on and on.

So, how are Christians supposed to look at and think about being insulted for the name of Christ?

14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed,

Christians should consider insults for the name of Christ a blessing.

Well, sure – that’s my natural reaction when I’m slandered and insulted…

“I’m too blessed to be stressed!”

That sounds like a cute bumper sticker to put on your car, but that’s not usually how we feel if we are insulted for our faith, right?

So, what is Peter getting at?

This is what Jesus told his closest friends…

Matthew 5:10

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness…

Matthew 5:11

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you,

 

Matthew 5:11

and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

• Blessed!
• Happy!
• Honored!

Those don’t sound like how we should feel after being insulted, right?

So, why did Jesus say those things?

Because he knew deeply first-hand what it was like to be reviled and slandered.

While Jesus was being brutally executed on a cross outside of Jerusalem crowds of people were gawking at him and even some of the leaders of the church were shouting at him…

Luke 23:35

“He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.”

Jesus understood insults in an unimaginable way.  

But He also knew that those insulting words had no lasting impact and no lasting value.

How did he know that?

Look at the next part of verse 14:

14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed,

 

14 because the Spirit of glory, and of God, rests upon you.

Why should Christians consider it to be a blessing when they are insulted for the name of Christ?

Because those insults can serve as affirming evidence that you are saved.

Those expressions of verbal or non-verbal abuse can point to the great reality that you are right with God.

John the apostle said that when it comes to the insults and rejections that come from the enemies of the gospel, we should remember this…

1 John 4:4

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them;

1 John 4:4

because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

Christ in you is greater than the worst insult and rejection the Enemy of your soul can drum up against you.

Christ in you is greater than the worst moment of suffering that a believer can endure this side of eternity.

Peter says that our insults for Christ are just evidence that the glory of God rests upon our souls – chew on that for a second – the glory of God rests upon your soul.

That is a glory we can catch a glimpse of now, but one day we will know full on.

151 years ago, Fanny Crosby wrote it this way…

Fanny Crosby

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! 

O what a foretaste of glory divine!

What a foretaste!

What we will taste and enjoy for eternity is greater than the bitter taste of insults and rejection here.

3,470 years ago, the glory of God was manifested to the Israelites through a cloud by day and a fire by night.

We no longer have the cloud or the fire – we now have the actual Spirit of Almighty God breathing his great glory into our lives and resting his great love upon our hearts.

Blessed, blessed, blessed – even in moments of fear and doubt and confusion and questions and suffering and insults.

Are things truly right between you and God?

Are you truly believing in and trusting in and relying on and clinging to Jesus and his truth?

If so – if you have been rescued and redeemed from the penalty of your rebellion against a holy God – you know!

If you have truly been saved and transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son – you know!

What do you know?

You know that the glory of God is shining in you and resting upon you.  

Peter says consider it a blessing – count it a blessing if you are insulted for the name of Jesus – because that can be a mesmerizing reminder that the glory of God has found you. 

But just in case anyone decides to create their own version of Christian persecution that has nothing to do with Jesus Peter gives a warning in verse 15…

15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler;

If you murder someone because you are driving drunk or steal someone’s retirement money through an investment scam you should not label your punishment as suffering for the name of Christ.

If you are selfishly rebellious and consistently stir up conflict with the leadership at school or work or church and you get in trouble, don’t say that you are suffering for the name of Christ.

If people get aggravated with you and insult you because you are a Negative Nanny or a Frightened Freddy or an Angry Andy in every conversation raging and ranting about the government and the economy and the culture and the price of produce don’t say you are suffering for the name of Christ.

If you start meddling in the lives of people or meddling with things that are not appropriate for you to be involved in and you get in trouble or people get mad at you, don’t say you are suffering for the name of Christ.  

Suffering for un-Christ-like conduct is not suffering for the name of Christ. 

But if you are truly suffering as a result of having a humble and Christ-like attitude in all that you do, then Peter has something to share with you.  

16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed,

Don’t be an arrogant jerk with your faith and randomly go around slapping people on the forehead and telling them they are doomed to hell – but don’t listen to the Enemy’s lies through the philosophies of the world that say if everyone isn’t getting along with our religion, then we must be doing our religion wrong.  

Do not be ashamed or embarrassed when you encounter any degree of suffering for the name of Christ.

Believe in Christ, hold fast to Christ and do not be ashamed when you are insulted for his name.

What should we do instead of being ashamed?

16 but is to glorify God in this name.

69 years ago, when Steve Saint was just a boy his father Nate was speared to death by a tribe of people in Ecuador as he attempted to share the gospel with them.  

45 years later, Steve Saint was speaking at a funeral and shared these words…

Steve Saint

The difference between the unbelieving world and the followers of Jesus is that for them,

Steve Saint

the pain is fundamental and the joy is superficial because it won’t last.

Most of us feel that way in the moment – the pain or the fear or the doubt feels like the only thing that exists. 

The pain or the fear or the doubt feels like the fundamental and most important thing.

Have you ever had a moment like that?

Have you had a moment like that this week?

I have.

But then Steven continued…

Steve Saint

For us, the pain is superficial and the joy is fundamental. 

For a believer and follower of Christ the pain is very, very real, but it is not the fundamental and most important thing – joy is the fundamental and most important thing.

Why?

Because our lives revolve around the glory of God.

The glory of God that it shining in us and resting on us. 

The glory of God that fills the earth and fills our hearts. 

The pain and the doubt and the fear and the confusion and the insults and the rejections are so very real – but they do not have to be the fundamental and most important thing. 

The joy that the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has found us can be fundamental. 

Tammy – our family life minister – and I were talking about this passage Friday and the idea of our lives revolving around the glory of God and she said the thing about a revolving door is always brings you back to the same point – the same entrance.

Dear friend, if the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has entered your heart you no matter what happens the beauty and glory and power of the gospel can always bring you back to the same point – the joy of your salvation. 

The joy is fundamental because the joy lasts – pain and suffering and insults and rejection and doubt and fear and confusion are ultimately superficial – but the joy of salvation in Jesus Christ is fundamental and everlasting and completely and totally satisfying. 

Elisabeth Elliot’s husband Jim was also murdered that day with Steve Saint’s dad Nate. 

She came across an anonymous poem that she used throughout the rest of her life to help her focus on the glory of God – to focus on the fundamental and most important thing. 

This is the second part of that very old, anonymous poem…

Unknown

Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt will be quieted here.

Unknown

Moment by moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, guidance are given.

Unknown

Fear not tomorrows, child of the King.
Trust them with Jesus. DO THE NEXT THING.

When fear and doubt and pain and questions and confusion and insults and rejection come, remember that in Jesus Christ your souls revolves around the glory of God.

So…trust it all with Jesus and do the next thing.