The previous two weeks in 1 Peter 2:18-25 we’ve looked at how God advances the gospel through unjust suffering.

Jesus Christ is not only the greatest example of this, but his substitutionary death is our only hope.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live for righteousness.”

1 Peter 2:24

We also mentioned two people in the modern era who’ve modeled proper responses to unjust suffering:

• An African-American Baptist minister named Martin Luther King, Jr., and 
• A White Anglican British politician named William Wilberforce. 

In his famous Letter from A Birmingham Jail (16 April 1963), Dr. King wrote:

Though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label.

Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.”

Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”

Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.”

And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.”

And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.”

And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal …”

So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?

In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime—the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

You can learn more about William Wilberforce in this…

• Documentary: The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce
• Book (by Eric Metaxas): Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery 
• Film (starring Ioan Gruffudd): Amazing Grace

“How greatly I desire that you who are not yet enlisted in my Lord’s band would come to Him because you see what a kind and gracious Lord He is.

Young men, if you could see our Captain, you would down on your knees and beg Him to let you enter the ranks of those who follow Him. It is heaven to serve Jesus. I am a recruiting sergeant, and I would fain find a few recruits at this moment. Every man must serve somebody: we have no choice as to that fact. Those who have no master are slaves to themselves. Depend upon it, you will either serve Satan or Christ, either self, or the Saviour. You will find sin, self, Satan, and the world to be hard masters; but if you wear the livery of Christ, you will find Him so meek and lowly of heart that you will find rest unto your souls.

He is the most magnanimous of captains. There never was His like among the choicest of princes. He is always to be found in the thickest part of the battle. When the wind blows cold He always takes the bleak side of the hill. The heaviest end of the cross lies ever on His shoulders.

These forty years and more have I served Him, blessed be His name! I have had nothing but love from Him. I would be glad to continue yet another forty years in the same dear service here below, if so it pleased Him. His service is life, peace, joy. Oh, that you would enter on it at once. God help you to enlist under the banner of Jesus even this day. Amen.”

-Charles Spurgeon’s last sermon at Metropolitan Tabernacle on June 7th, 1891

In his second post, Abe Stratton encourages us “to step out in faith – to memorize a section of Scripture that is larger than we think we can handle.”

Why?

Because the rewards are great and eternal!

SIX ENCOURAGEMENTS TO SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION

1. Memorize for the Long Haul. 
2. Persevere Through Hard Days. 
3. Memorize Strategically. 
4. Find a Quiet, Undisturbed Location. 
5. Share Your Experiences With Others. 
6. Memorizing the Word is Undervalued and Under-Practiced Today.

1. Memorize for the Long-Haul.

Set a goal (e.g., memorizing a Psalm or even a book of the Bible).

Stick with it.

But…

• Don’t be in a hurry. You don’t even have to set a deadline. The purpose is to meditate on the very words of God and incorporate them into life, not finish by a certain date.
• Don’t hold onto your plan too tightly. It can be easy to cherish your plan of memorization instead of cherishing God’s Word. Let the Word be most important to you, not your plan. 

Personal Examples.

It took me three years to memorize Romans, and I remember thinking at the outset, “I’m going to stick with this no matter how long it takes.” But frankly, I don’t know if I would have started if I’d known it would take 3 years. Sometimes plunging into something without scoping it out to the nth degree can save a lot of anxiety (or despair) at the size of the goal.

2. Persevere Through Hard Days. 

Work at it even when your mind is distracted and your body is tired.

Personal Examples.

Some days I felt as if my memorization time wasn’t doing any good. It seemed as if I were working through the same set of words over and over, yet they weren’t finding a place in my head (or in my heart). However … 

I believe there is value

• To washing ourselves with the Word even when we don’t think it’s doing much good. The Word of God is alive and powerful, and the Holy Spirit wields his sword in ways we cannot always see or sense.

I believe there is value

• To “sweating” in memorization. Let’s be honest: it’s hard work. As with physical exercise, there are days when you don’t want to or don’t feel like doing it. However, the effort, the strain, the labor is part of our imperfect human experience, and God himself is the reward of our memorization. 

Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. - Galatians. 6:9

3. Memorize Strategically.

Memorize for Your Own Spiritual Growth.

At the beginning of the year we preached on Longing for the Living & Abiding Word from 1 Peter 1:22-2:3. The goal was to stir us up to treasure Christ through treasuring his word. In God’s providence, Sunday’s message brings us back to that text. 

To help further apply 1 Peter 2:22-2:3 to the life of our church, we’ve asked Abe Stratton (from our sending church) to share his observations about treasuring Christ through Scripture memorization.

Below is the first of two posts. It took him three years, but he memorized the book of Romans with approximately ten to fifteen minutes a day. 

___________________________________________

From 2009 until the end of 2011 I worked to memorize Paul’s letter to the Romans. The following thoughts are Observations On and Benefits of Memorizing Large Portions of God’s Word. In a future post I plan to offer some encouragements and exhortations.

My prayer is that the Word of Christ would dwell richly in the hearts and minds of his followers so that individual believers will be sanctified, the church will be built up, and ultimately our God will be glorified!

1. A Well-Organized Plan Is Not Mandatory In Order to Memorize.

Your “plan” can change as you go along. Mine did as I realized how I needed to memorize a growing portion of Scripture, how I needed to review, etc.

Personal Examples.

When I began Romans …

• I decided to spend time memorizing 4 days a week (Tuesday-Friday).
• I spent about 10-15 minutes a day working on a new verse and going over the previous verses I had memorized. [This about the average commute time to work.]
• I memorized out loud as it was helpful for me to internalize the words and message. Not only was I seeing and reading the words, but I was also hearing them.

When I got further along …

• I changed plans a bit because the amount of time it took to review the verses previously memorized was increasing.
• The best method seemed to be to review the previous chapter to the one I was memorizing.

When I passed the half-way point of Romans … 

• I began reviewing three chapters a day in addition to memorizing one new verse.
• This review was rotational. 
• I would review chapters 1-3 while memorizing 10:12; the next day I would review chapters 4-6 while memorizing 10:13; the next day I would review chapters 7-9 while memorizing 10:14.
• When reviewing 3 chapters a day and memorizing a new verse, the time commitment was probably 20-30 minutes a day.

Note: This sounds like a lot of time, and it is, in one sense. We are busy people. But what could be more important than thinking on and treasuring the eternal Word of the living God which will remain forever. We tend to spend a lot of our time on things which are transitory and much less important.

When I finished Romans …

• I review two-four chapters a day to keep the book fresh in my mind and to keep the connections between chapters

Your routine can be flexible as you progress.

Personal Examples.

2. You see connections in lengthy passages of Scripture when you are in them for long amounts of time.

Personal Examples. 

• Only after I had finished the book of Romans and had been reviewing it for some time did I see the bookends in Romans 1:5 and 16:26 regarding “the obedience of faith.” 
• Paul says at the beginning of the book that he was chosen by God to be an apostle so that he would bring others to faith, but at the end of the book in 16:26 Paul states that God has unveiled in his Word his marvelous plan to bring people to faith. 
• I had never noticed these bookends before and may never have if I had not spent a long time in this letter.

3. Scripture comes naturally and unbidden to your mind in everyday life.

Personal Examples. I have found that in counseling a person or in reading a book or in fighting my own temptations some passage from Romans will rise to my thoughts. This is a wonderful blessing and a work of grace!

To be continued…

In Sunday’s message from 1 Peter 1:14-21 we referenced some resources to help us think about the the command to be holy as God is holy. 

The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul 

R. C. Sproul, in this classic work, puts the holiness of God in its proper and central place in the Christian life. He paints an awe-inspiring vision of God that encourages Christian to become holy just as God is holy. Once you encounter the holiness of God, your life will never be the same.

Holiness by Grace by Bryan Chapell

“Be holy, for I am holy.”

How can God expect us to be holy as he is? But thanks to what Christ has accomplished on our behalf, God accepts us because of his Son’s righteousness. Yet the call to holiness remains.

Bryan Chapell traces the relationship of holiness and grace in three parts.

• The Principles of Grace (Chapter 1-2)
• The Practices of Faith (Chapters 3-6)
• The Motives of Love (Chapters 7-10)

Read and discover the gracious source of joy and strength we will need for a lifelong pursuit of holiness.

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots by J. C. Ryle

J.C. Ryle’s landmark book on Holiness (originally published in 1879) is an excellent read to accompany the previous two books. It’s also a great one to read for heeding the sage advice of C. S. Lewis:

It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.

Further,

Ryle’s Holiness has become essential reading on this most important subject and the first chapter on “Sin” has rarely been bettered.

We hope these books will help us understand the position and practice of our holiness through our great Christ, who has been made holiness for us (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Lindsey Holcomb over at the Resurgence provides some helpful advice in protecting our children from sexual abuse. She writes:

We’ve written quite a bit about sexual assault on the Resurgence because it is a huge issue (1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men have been or will be assaulted during their lifetime). Heartbreakingly, many of the victims of this epidemic are children: 15% of those assaulted are under age 12, and 29% are between ages 12 to 17. Girls between the ages of 16 and 19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of sexual assault. Here are eight ways you as a parent can protect your children from sexual abuse.

You can read the whole post here.

Lindsey and her husband, Justin, have also written Rid of My Disgrace, which is a book providing research along with gospel hope and healing for victims of sexual assault and their caregivers. The book opens with these words:

If you have suffered as the result of a sexual assault, this book is written to you and for you—not about you. What happened to you was not your fault. You are not to blame. You did not deserve it. You did not ask for this. You should not be silenced. You are not worthless. You do not have to pretend like nothing happened. Nobody had the right to violate you. You are not responsible for what happened to you. You are not damaged goods. You were supposed to be treated with dignity and respect. You were the victim of assault and it was wrong. You were sinned against. Despite all the pain, healing can happen and there is hope.

You can also watch an interview with the authors where they provide a beneficial summary of the book.

Sunday we looked at 1 Peter 1:3-5 where God holds out a sovereign and living hope for his people, espeically his people who are in despair. 

To help us see how to rest and believe in our living hope, we referenced an account from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. 

Christian and Hopeful are locked in a dark dungeon, deep in the heart of Doubting Castle. Giant Despair rules over Doubting Castle, and he’s been railing on them trying to persuade them that suicide is their only escape from despair.

After several days of depression and deprivation, a way of escape dawns on Christian.

Now a little before it was day, good Christian, as one half amazed, brake out in passionate speech:

“What a fool am I thus to lie in a stinking Dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty. I have a Key in my bosom called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any Lock in Doubting Castle.”

Then said Hopeful, “That’s Good News; good Brother pluck it out of thy bosom and try.”

Then Christian pulled it out of his bosom, and began to try at the Dungeon door, whose bolt (as he turned the Key) gave back, and the door flew open with ease, and Christian and Hopeful both came out.

Then he went to the outward door that leads into the Castle-yard, and with his Key opened that door also. After he went to the iron Gate, for that must be opened too, but that Lock went damnable hard, yet the Key did open it.

Then they thrust open the gate to make their escape with speed. And so were safe. 

On Sunday we looked at the overall message of 1 Peter. Standing firm in our gracious suffering is one of the key elements in Peter’s message (cf. 1 Peter 2:21-25).

We referenced that there may be no greater example of what 1 Peter 2:21-23 looks like in the history of modern America than in the actions and words of the Baptist minister, Dr. Martin Luther King.

We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. Throw us in jail and we shall still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall win freedom but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory.

-The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Selected by Corretta Scott King

Such actions point us to Jesus Christ himself who wins our hearts

• By enduring our rebellion, rather than retaliating against it, and 
• By taking our sins on himself, rather than throwing our sins back in our face. 

He has worn us down by his capacity to suffer for us. 

By his wounds we have been healed. 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Is it Possible to Love Jesus Without Loving the Church?

In looking at the Lord’s Prayer this past Sunday we referenced several resources to help us learn to pray.

Some of the mentioned resources we referenced previously in a post called: Prayer Weapons for the Warfare: 3 Books, a PDF (Martin Luther), & Blog Post (Tim Keller).

Some New Resources

  Learning to Pray from Others

    The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Puritans wrote down their prayers as a way of keeping a record of God’s dealings with the soul. Included here are prayers of Bunyan, Watts, Spurgeon, and others. Arranged by theme — from the awesomeness of God to the awfulness of sin — you’ll find promptings for your own heart’s dialogue with your heavenly Father.

  Learning to Pray Scripture Itself

    Face to Face: Praying the Scriptures

Face to Face helps break prayer down in specific categories helping to make sure our prayers are biblically proportioned. 

Face to Face helps by adapting the very words of Scripture into prayers.

  Learning to Pray Kingdom Prayers

    Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every

Operation World is the definitive global prayer handbook that will help focus your heart and life towards God’s passion for His glory.

     Window on the Word: Prayer Atlas for All 

An excellent illustrated resource for families to help encourage children to pray “Your Kingdom Come” as they learn the needs of the people of the world.