Christ’s Example: Truth Amid Injustice - Conference on Reconciliation and Justice

“Christ Suffered for You, Leaving You an Example”: Speaking the Truth While Enduring Injustice Reconciliation Justice Conference 2018 1

1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia 4

1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. 5

1 Peter 2:11-12 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 6

1 Peter 2:13, 16 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority:whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 7

1 Peter 2:18-20 18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 8

Matthew 16:21 21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 9

Matthew 16:22 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 10

Matthew 16:23 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” 11

Westminster Confession of Faith Larger Catechism Q. 142 What are the sins forbidden in the eighth commandment? A. The sins forbidden in the eighth commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are, theft, robbery, man-stealing, and receiving anything that is stolen; fraudulent dealing, false weights and measures, removing landmarks, injustice and unfaithfulness in contracts, between man and man, or in matters of trust: oppression, extortion, usury, bribery, vexatious lawsuits, unjust inclosures and depopulations; ingrossing commodities to enhance the price; unlawful callings, and all other unjust or sinful ways of taking or withholding from our neighbor what belongs to him, or of enriching ourselves…

Proverbs 31:8-9 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.9 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. 13

Romans 12:19-21 19Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord.20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 15

Jeremiah 20:8-9 8Whenever I speak, I cry outproclaiming violence and destruction.So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long.9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. 17

1 Peter 2:21-23 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22“He committed no sin,and no deceit was found in his mouth.”23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 18

1 Peter 2:24-25 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 19

“Christ Suffered for You, Leaving You an Example”: Speaking the Truth While Enduring Injustice Reconciliation Justice Conference 2018 20

MLK Excerpt from “Letter from Birmingham Jail” “In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: ‘Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern.’ And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other-worldly religion which makes a strange, unbiblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.” “There was a time when the church was very powerful – in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.”

“Although a boycott was necessary in Montgomery to bring an end to discriminatory laws, King urged the church people in the movement to keep in mind that a boycott and its achievements did not in themselves represent the goal. ‘The end is reconciliation, the end is redemption,’ he said, ‘the end is the creation of the beloved community.’” 22

Christ’s Example: Truth Amid Injustice - Conference on Reconciliation and Justice