1st Peter, Peter, Chapter 2, beginning at verse 18, and going to the end of the chapter.

Servants be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to the kind and gentle, but also to the

overbearing.

For one is approved, if mindful of God, he endures pain while suffering unjustly. What credit is it if when you do

wrong and are beaten for it you take it patiently.

But if when you do right and suffer for it, you take it patiently, you will have God's approval.

For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example

that you should follow in his steps.

He committed no sin, no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not

revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore

our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.

You who were straying like sheep, but now have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

If you're a Christian this morning, God has called you to suffer unjustly.

And that's what I want to talk about.

It's your vocation.

It's not to be surprised.

It's normal to be mistreated, to be abused. This is your calling.

Let me give you two reasons why I want to talk about this.

The first is that it seems to me that a lot of people today,

Christians included, justify their In other words, a lot of people, if you point out to them that they seem to have an undue sense of anger or bitterness or critical spirit or a slanderous attitude, they immediately tell you how badly they've been treated, as though

there's some kind of connection there, from a Christian standpoint, that they've been let down, they've been heard, it's obvious why they're

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