On November 13th, Paris was attacked by terrorist and the lives of 130 people were lost and almost 400 others injured.  Less than a month later we saw a similar attack in California.  People are coming to the realization of this new reality.  This of course has set off wide spread debate on the causes and solutions to this global problem.  While typical gun violence has dropped in the last 25 years, there has been a sharp rise in Mass-shootings.  All sorts of causes are claimed from violent first person shooter games, to violent movies, to the breakdown of society, and of course you can’t leave out terrorism.

Sometimes the killers are Islamic terrorists, seeking to kill in the name of their religion.  Sometimes it’s someone trying to get even for losing a job or relationship.  And other times they are children who have given up on life and want to lash out in some way.

Clearly, the sanctity of life falls short of the priorities of these people.  Their pain, their issues, their lives are all that matters and they feel that hurting others is the best way to communicate that message.  Whether because of the degeneration of mankind, or the influence of Satan, and probably both, we see how quickly life can be taken in today’s world.

Although God’s people are not persuaded to take up these tactics, there are pitfalls that we can fall into.  Satan is making this world into his own image and if we are not careful to see things through God’s eyes, we can be lured onto a contrary path that does not lead in the right direction.

Have you ever considered how God’s government will deal with topics like these? How will Jesus Christ, in the world to come deal with dissent?  Are there lessons today that we need to learn to prepare us for the age to come?  God’s government is a huge topic so I will base this message on biblical precedent and point us toward our citizenship of Heaven.

The title of this sermon is:

PREPARE TO MEET YOUR GOD   

The title is taken from Amos 4:  Turn over to Amos 4.

The Context of the passage is about the downfall of Israel.  Here God tells them that he brought many plagues upon them to turn them back to Him and they did not return.  He allowed war, disease, pestilence to ravage them and still they did not return.  Sounds a little like our future.

 

Amos 4:11-13   11 "I overthrew some of you, As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.  12 " Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!"  13 For behold, He who forms mountains, And creates the wind, Who declares to man what his thought is, And makes the morning darkness, Who treads the high places of the earth -- The LORD God of hosts is His name.

 

 

Here God establishes that is He that made them and it is He that can remove them.  Many think that this is proper condemnation of the modern day descendants of Israel today.  Now while God certainly kept the promises made to Abraham and He can revoke them at any time.  Although time is short for the governments of this world, the focus for me of Amos 4 is on my attitude toward God’s government.  I know I have to reshape my mind to think in the terms of God’s Kingdom and not my own sense of right and wrong.  As we read in proverbs 14 there is a way that seems right to man but that way leads to death. 

For me the thought of “Prepare to meet Your God” is stark.  God’s people have been called by Him and lead by His Son to transcend the governments of this age and to adhere to a higher standard.  If we are not careful we can be influenced by the god of this age, Satan, to adhere to his standards of governance.  You may not even know you are being affected but Satan’s influence is in places you might not expect.

For people of this country there are few noble causes that rank as high as the American Revolution.  America meant freedom for its people and a shining light to the rest of the world to aspire to.  Government was going to focus on the people and not the other way around.  For too long, the governments of this world was focused on power and control at the expense of its citizenry.  America changed all of that.  But buried in the documents that formed this country is some dangerous language.

Written into the Declaration of Independence are these words.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness

Although the constitution does not give us the right to revolt, the document that stated our reasons for existing did.  The founders wanted to move power to the people, away from corrupt government and so these words seemed to do the trick.  But turn over to Luke 1 and lets read the Words of God spoken through Gabriel to Mary as he told her about the child she would have.

Luke 1:32-33   32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.  33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!"

You see, there will be no replacing the government that Jesus is bringing to this earth.  But what about until that time?

What about all of the civil unrest and suffering of people today?  How should we deal with it now?

Turn over to 1 Peter 4:  Here Peter is admonishing God’s people to hang in there and keep up the good fight while avoiding the bad fights that can distract us.

1 Peter 4:15 - 5:1   15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters.  16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.  17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?  18 Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?"  19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. 

So lets analyze this section.  We have a number of parts to this to make the complete thought. 

1.  Persecution for doing wrong
2.  Persecution for righteousness sake
3.  Their reaction to persecution
4.  We are being judged now
5.  Warning

In the remainder of this message I would like to examine each of these points in more depth and see how it applies to us today.

1.Persecution for doing wrong

We make mistakes but we are warned by Peter to guard our behavior so that we are no longer an example. In Verse 15 Peter says.  We have been called to overcome this world.

15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters.  16

The list hear is actually quite broad here.  You might do time for some of these but not others.  Peter equates a busybody in other people’s matter with being and evil doer and even a thief and murderer.  This is because if we are guilty of these things than the example we are to be giving to the world is useless.  Think about Jared from Subway.  Once a great example of how to get healthy, and because of his degenerate actions landed him in Jail, he is no longer and asset to Subway but a liability.  God does not want us to become a liability. Turn over to Matthew 18.

 

Matthew 18:4-8  4 "Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  5 "Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.  6 " But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

 

 

Jesus then warns them of the terrible times to come and how this might infect the church.  He is telling them in the next section how to avoid committing the sins of the first section.

 

 

 7 "Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!  8 "If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire.

 

 

So the sins of this world can certainly lead us to the lake of fire.  Guarding our names, reputations, and example we are to others is very important to God.  The second Point in the passage is:  

2. We will be Persecuted for righteousness sake.

In the Beatitudes in Matt 5 we read

Matthew 5:10-11   10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  11 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.

2 Timothy 3:12   12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Of course our first thought is that we are persecuted for righteousness sake but often times we go back and look and there are powerful lessons of Humility God need’s us to learn in this life.

Think about the Life of Joseph.

Did Joseph deserve to be sold into slavery by his brothers?  Did he deserve to be later persecuted by Potiphar’s wife?  Did Joseph deserve to be thrown into prison? 

We can look back with 20/20 hindsight and see that God used these situations for good and taught Joseph compassion and patience.  What are those two things worth today.

We often feel persecuted and it is easy to play the problems over and over in our heads until all we can think about is how wronged we were and what we deserve.  But for us, like Joseph, its not about what we deserve because we know from our conversion that we deserve death so whatever persecution we suffer is actually less than we deserve. 

Hebrews tells us that Abraham obtained the promises only after he endured patiently.  Here is the lesson we want to take from persecution.  The third points talks about how we deal with Persecution.

3. What is our reaction to persecution?

Turn to 1 Peter 2:19

 

1 Peter 2:19-20   19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.  20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.  

 

Story of Korah and Moses - Story of Judah and Jerimiah.  God said to suffer and be patient,  they decided that God wanted them to fight and stand up for what they thought was right.

Human nature tells us that we have rights before we have responsibilities.  When hard times come we tell ourselves how we deserve better we need to fight for what’s right.  But few people have as good a case for vindication as does David after Samuel anointed him King.  You see, there was no vacancy when David was ordained.  Saul was on the thrown and remained there for many years.   

Now David was a man after God’s own heart.He was the rightful King and poor Israel was suffering over the hands of a corrupt King.Here is a situation where David surely would have been justified to take matters into his own hand and take the throne, right.On two occasions David had an opportunity to Kill Saul and take the throne.The most famous of these is found in 1 Samuel.

 

 

1 Samuel 24:4-7   4 Then the men of David said to him, "This is the day of which the LORD said to you, 'Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.' " And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

 

 

David was justified to force Saul to show him respect.At least that’s what he allowed his men to talk him into.People are always trying to get you to do some bold action to fix a problem.But that is what went wrong with Abraham.What would the middle east look like today if Abraham would have waited for the promise from God and not take matters into his own hands and have Ishmael?But then David begins to see things from God’s point of view again.

 

 

 5 Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe.  6 And he said to his men, "The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the LORD's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD."  7 So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.

 

 

You see, In man’s heart he is doing what is right for God where in fact, he is just taking matters into his own hands because he is impatient to wait on the promises of God.David understood the importance of Government.Remember when someone mercifully killed King Saul who was dying anyway?What did David say?

2 Samuel 1:14  14 So David said to him, "How was it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?"

 

Think about how God views us.If we can live under imperfect rule whether by man or by the church, then God can trust that we will obey perfect ruler ship under His son.But if we decide that anything less than perfection should be fought then we risk a life of rebellion that toppled Lucifer.

4. We are being judged now

Going back to our template in 1 Peter 4 again we review the first three points.

1 Peter 4:15 - 5:1   15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters.  16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.  17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 

We are being judged now.  And that judgement continues each and every day that we are alive on this earth.  The rest of the world does not have that same burden right now.  For those that have been given the Holy Spirit to know the secret things of God, we have a higher calling then the rest of this world.  We must overcome and obey the Gospel.  Turn to Mark 1

Mark 1:14-15  14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,  15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

If we are going to Obey the Gospel, we need to repent of all things carnal and turn ourselves completely to Him.  We need to live as though we are walking in that Kingdom.  With Justice, Mercy and Faith first and foremost in our lives.  To put others ahead of ourselves.  If we do these things, then God knows our hearts.

5.A Warning for God’s people

Our final point is found in the last two verses of our template found in 1 Peter 4.  Starting in verse 18 we read.

18Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?"  19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

No matter what the difficulty in our lives, the template that God expects us to live by is that we always do good no matter what we are suffering with.  We are not here to get even in this life.  We are not here to win in the eyes of man.  We will not find Justice in this life.  Jesus Gave us the example of not opening His mouth at the injustice He faced.  This was an example for everyone to follow. I talk to people all the time that go through the process that I did.

Abraham, Rebecca, Jacob, Rachel, joseph’s brothers – all tried to take matters into their own hands and fix what they saw was broken.  Only, they were all in God’s plan and in His good time.  We will suffer persecution and we will be tempted to step in and try to fix things.  Fixing things is God’s department, patience is ours.  Vengeance is God’s Department, attitude is ours. 

God is an awesome God to be FEARED.  We need to live our lives with the idea that at any time our lives can end and we will be facing God.  The important point is that we are ready for the Kingdom whenever that time arrives for us.  Then we will be prepared to meet our God.