Episode 1317: Be Ready Always

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1,317 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:08] Stacy Henry: I'm Stacy Henry, owner and coach at Center Branch where we grow great leaders. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling.

[00:00:28] Having the ability to deal well with change is key, and one way to be inspired to do this is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

[00:00:48] Scott Maderer: How we're counted, that's not the measure of success. Because the measuring rod to faithfulness is the call of God. In answering that call, God [00:01:00] will take care of the response of others. It's not our job. It's beyond our pay scale. It's not what we need to worry about. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:15] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you. Can impact the world.

[00:01:42] Today's spiritual foundation episode, I talk with you about one Peter chapter three, verses 13 through 22. I share how the challenge to be ready is given to the church, and I also share how we are called to not count the result, but rather to focus on the message of hope. [00:02:00] First Peter chapter three, verses 13 through 22 says, now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good, but even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed.

[00:02:13] Do not fear what they fear and do not be intimidated, but in your heart. Sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear so that when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame for it is better to suffer for doing good if suffering should be God's will than to suffer for.

[00:02:42] Doing evil for Christ, also suffered for sins, once for all the righteous, for the unrighteous in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit in which he also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, [00:03:00] who in former times did not obey when God waited patiently in the days of Noah during the building of the arc, in which a few things that his eight persons were saved through water and baptism, which this prefigured now saves you.

[00:03:15] Not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers made subject to him.

[00:03:32] This idea of having something that we do that is good, that maybe we suffer for, but. Maybe we're called out for it, and yet at the end of the day, we know that it is the right thing to do and we do it anyway. Is something that I think a lot of folks will hear and resonate with. The interesting things is often people, even on different sides of an [00:04:00] issue, will both think of themselves as doing this, but the truth is there are people who are hurt doing good all the time.

[00:04:11] Think of aid workers in times of war or those trying to help refugees from some sort of totalitarian regime or standing up against injustice. Even whenever the people who are having that injustice done upon them are people that others hate or do not like standing up for those who suffer from misrepresentation or bias.

[00:04:38] All of these things could be put on this list of people that are hurt when doing good, and then Peter kind of moves quickly and says, but even if you're suffering for doing good in other words, it seems like Peter's very aware of the fact that many people doing good [00:05:00] suffer or think of themselves as suffering or think of themselves as doing good.

[00:05:05] And yet, It's a complicated word, world and there's all sorts of things going on, but at the end of the day, he's saying, just simplify it. Don't live in fear. Don't hesitate to do good. Don't let the threats or the worry about harm keep you from doing what your faith has called you to do. Be ready to make your defense be ready, that when you're challenged, you can speak and say, the reason I'm doing good is because of the love of Christ.

[00:05:40] The reason I'm doing good is because this is an example of standing up for those that don't have power. This is an example of loving others in a good way. Th this is not about what I want or what I think is right. This is not about converting people to any particular view. This is not [00:06:00] about telling someone they're wrong and I'm right.

[00:06:03] Instead, this is about doing good because Christ demands it. We have a message of hope and to keep it to ourselves would be wrong. Hey, quick, quickly. Peter goes on and starts talking about how to do this. When you're defending yourself. Don't do it with anger, don't do it with force. Don't do it with annoyance or trickery.

[00:06:29] Do it with gentleness and reverence. I think sometimes that's one of the ways of seeing the difference. I see people who say that they're doing good, but when someone calls them out instead of answering in kindness and gentleness and love, they lash out with anger. How dare anyone disagree with them?

[00:06:51] Truth is I don't know that I'm right in the way I see the wrong world. In fact I'm pretty sure I'm actually probably wrong in a lot of ways, but, [00:07:00] At the end of the day, I have to do the best I can to continue to do good and serve others. The truth is don't say you won't run away when you will. Don't say you're perfect when the truth is.

[00:07:15] Everyone knows that's not true. Peter says, speak with integrity. Speak with truth. If you are baptized into a new life, a new way of living, then show that. Do it by what you say. Do it by what you do, and do it by how you say it and how you do it. That's the context, that's the idea here. Th this idea of doing things not for our own glory, but for God's glory.

[00:07:46] The writer here is speaking of that. Speaking of not doing it out of force or anger or fear, but instead out of love and kindness. [00:08:00] And I think it's important too, to recognize oftentimes when you're doing that good deed, The crowds don't respond. The world doesn't respond. People are looking at you and not clapping their hands.

[00:08:15] You're not able to set up and say, I've saved this many souls. We're not supposed to focus on that anyway. We're not supposed to focus on the result, but only on the doing, because the truth is we hope that we're making a difference in the world, but that's not actually. How we're counted.

[00:08:35] That's not the measure of success because the measuring rod to faithfulness is the call of God. In answering that call, God will take care of the response of others. It's not our job. It's beyond our pay scale. It's not what we need to worry about. Thanks for listening.[00:09:00]

[00:09:03] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspired.

[00:09:27] Stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we are serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there. Until next time, invest your time. Your talent and your treasures.

[00:09:51] Develop your influence and impact the world.[00:10:00]