Return with Favor

With us this morning, hey, just off the top, show of hands, did anyone lose power the last couple of days? Man, a lot of us. We had some power outages, so a couple of things with that. One, I hope that you ate your ice cream before it turned into milkshake, and I'm sorry that you have to throw away all the contents in the fridge. It's not fun when they do that, and I'm so sorry. It really is hard. And if you need anything in this season, please let us know.

We'd love to be able to care for you and serve you and pray for you in this season as well. Hopefully, that's the end of that, right? And we can actually catch up with some fall weather in a few days. But once again, welcome. We're glad that you're here. It's been a crazy week for that regard, but also... We have some news to celebrate. And if you were here on Wednesday, Wednesday evening, we did celebrate because Pastor Austin welcomed their third child into their family.

We can tell you that. Eliana Charis Axen. She was born on Wednesday morning, October 14th at 3:26 a.m., 8 pounds, 7 ounces, 20 inches long, and the most important thing, mommy and baby are both doing well and they're healthy. So once again, can we thank the Lord for her? Having him back with us in the next couple of weeks or so, but right now we're so glad. Hopefully he's getting rest, she's getting rest, everyone's getting rest in that house.

But until we welcome him back, we're going to continue on in our series. We've been going through the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 2 is where we're at today. So if you have your Bibles, please turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. We're going to be looking at a stretch of verses from verse 18. Verse 25, 1 Peter 2:18 through 25. And as you're flipping there, as you're turning there, as you are settling in, I want you to consider with me.

Think with me about the phrase, return the favor. Return the favor. It's probably a phrase that we all know we're accustomed to saying. It's rather cultural. We return the favor. Oftentimes in a good way, this is a great thing. If somebody buys you something, Breakfast or lunch or dinner, you want to return the favor and you want to buy them on the next occasion, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You know, you're doing great and the drive to church is going well.

You know, you're getting all the green lights and people are waving you through. It's one of those moments where you gather all at the four-way stop sign all at the same time and everybody's like, no, you go ahead. No, you go ahead. You return the favor. But while returning the favor can be a good and a positive thing, conversely and ironically, it could also be a sarcastic negative thing. We love to return zingers for other zingers.

We love to return harm for harm. There's just something about it within us that just makes it feel so good when we are slighted and we can return the favor. There's one historical figure that's credited to saying a lot of these and I think some of them find their basis in reality and some of them have been attributed to him but Winston Churchill was a man, I think, who loved a good zinger. There's a story once where Winston was given some tickets and the person presents the tickets to him and he says, "Winston, here are two tickets to my upcoming play.

Bring a friend, if you have one. Feel that dripping with sarcasm there. So Winston responds, at least as the story goes. He says, I cannot possibly attend the first night, but I will attend the second, if there is one. Maybe the play wouldn't be as good as it was. Winston Churchill also on another occasion is credited with saying, but it probably predates him, where a woman approaches Winston and says something to the effect of, Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea. Oh, indeed. That's called homicide. To which he returns the favor by saying, if I were your husband, I would drink it. We love to return the favor. Winston, culture, movies, we love to return those good zingers. There's something in us that understands. We laugh at it because we know to be true. No, I've never said that, but, you know, we've all said things like that.

We've all said something that's hurtful or harmful in return for a harmful response. This morning, we're going to be presented with the idea that we are not, as Christians, to return the favor. In fact, we are to return with favor. That subtle word distinction, the and with, could change the course of our relationships, could change the course of our day-to-day interactions, could change the course of our employee-employer relationships if we don't return the favor, but we return with favor.

That's what I titled the message this morning, that Christians should return with favor, and that emphasizes and explains the gospel message as well. Before we get into our text and our context this morning, let's pray once more, and then we'll dive on in. So Heavenly Father, Thank you for greeting us with favor. Thank you for giving us your grace. So Lord, I just pray that as we open up your word this morning, as we dive into the text, as we apply it to our lives today in 2026, I pray that you are glorified and that you are honored.

Lord, we know that your word stands the test of time. And so I pray that as we read it, As we think about it, that you would help us to have the grace to apply it. Lord, forgive us for the times that we fall short. And I pray that as we open up your word, that we would have minds to receive what you have for us. So Lord, go before us this morning in Jesus' name. And all God's people say, Amen. So let's get into the context of 1 Peter overall just for a few moments before we dive into 1 Peter 2.

1 Peter 1:1. Peter is writing to the exiles. of them. That's believers. And they're scattered under the nation of Rome. They're in a bunch of different places. You can read about those in 1 Peter 1:1, the very first, the very first verse of the book. Now they're there, they're scattered, they're exiles. Most importantly, they are spiritual exiles. And a big theme of the book is to suffer well, to endure well, to bear with persecution in a godly way. Now, going through the book, we had Pastor Doug Posey, our founding pastor, give a message a couple of weeks ago who talked about how we are a holy nation, a royal priesthood. So while the Christians scattered did not have a necessarily national identity, Peter gives them an identity in Christ, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. And then last week we began a almost a three-part mini-series talking about ordered and structured relationships in the book.

So last week we looked at the Christian citizen. And today at the very beginning, we're going to look at the essentially the employee-employer relationship for a few moments. However, we'll spend a little bit of time there, but really it broadens out to address almost everybody, I believe, and every situation. We'll come to those things in a few moments. But here is my thesis. Here is my one point that I want you to consider to take with you on a Tuesday evening, on a Thursday morning.

If you take nothing with you other than just the pure reading of scripture, this is what I hope to communicate. And everything will point back to this very point. Please pull up that slide. It'll say, the Christian is called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment. The Christian is called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment. The Christian is not called to return the favor.

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The Christian is called to return with favor. We'll unpack all of that, but let's begin. Chapter 2, verse 18, just the first verse. It says this, servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. So what is the right response? Well, the first right response is to serve respectfully. To serve respectfully is a part of our call as Christians in a right response.

So this is a response. We're going to discuss what this means and then we'll broaden it out in just a few moments. But first, we must understand who the servants are, who are servants and who is Peter writing to in the first century, thousands of years ago? Well, servants is the word there is the idea of people serving under a household. Yes, they are being economically employed, but they are servants in a particular household.

Oftentimes these servants were tradesmen, tradeswomen. They had technical proficiencies and skills. And some of these servants were treated rather well. They could purchase their freedom as well. This is not a one for one ratio between employer employee relationships today, nor is it a one for one treatment of the injustices that our American culture has experienced. In the past as well. So this is not the slavery that we know from our textbooks.

This is also not I've interviewed for a job and you've you know accepted me and there's a mutuality there it is slightly Asymmetrical and somebody is serving a household using their trade their technical proficiencies in an ordered and hierarchical relationship the best equivalent today would be employee-employer relationships, so we can certainly apply it there as well. I want to highlight four things from this verse.

The first is address, and then association, authorization, and then finally we'll get to attitude. First, the address is to servants. These were common people with common problems with common needs, right? 1 Peter is not writing necessarily to the governors, he's not necessarily writing to the aristocrats. And a lot of the context, I believe, is to the servants, to the working class, to the normal citizens in the area.

And he's addressing them as servants. We've already kind of talked about who that is. Next is the association. Who are they associated with? Well, in this case, the relationship with their masters. In our case, Our employers. So he's writing servants and then in association with masters. And then there's an authorization. What are they supposed to do? Well, they're to be subject, to obey, to submit, to be obedient, to order and arrange yourselves under.

We talked about this last week, talking about government. The idea of that word is to be ordered underneath authority, someone or something else, whether that be a person or an institution. Now, if that's not hard enough, Peter goes one step further and adds an attitude. Are you ready? Respect. He adds an attitude, and the attitude is respect. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect. I want to camp on the word respect here for a few moments.

What is respect? Well, in this text, The Greek word, and I'll say it, is phobo. Do you know where we get that word? Do you know what word that is associated with today? Phobia, right? A fear. So I put together a list of some phobias, and I want to see if we can guess a few of those. So here are a few phobias that I looked up on the internet. These are all true, and I encourage you to look them up yourself.

I believe they're all true. The first one I cannot pronounce. So good luck in pronouncing that one. Arachibutyrophobia. We got Pogonophobia, Arithmophobia. We might be able to guess that one. Phobophobia. And then they really got unoriginal on the last one, Bosphobia. They kind of dropped the ball on that last one. Can anyone guess any of these? OK, I think the first one is spiders. The first one is arachnophobia.

Well, arachnophobia would be spiders, but this is arachibutyrophobia. Let's throw up the answer key. It's actually fear of peanut butter sticking into the roof of your mouth. This is something that we would do to our dogs when we were kids. We would put a little bit of peanut butter in there, and they would just-- Take the time to lick it off. The next one is pogonophobia, which is fear of beards. So no one will ever be fearful of me if they have this phobia, which is a beautiful thing.

Arithmophobia is the fear of numbers. Does anyone have this? You're counting in the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy. Skip over that fourth book. Skip over the book of Numbers. Phobophobia, fear of fears, you know. I think of John F. Kennedy, right? The only thing that we have to fear is... Yeah, he was talking about phobophobia. And then boss phobia is, I think we all nailed it. Fear of bosses.

Why are we talking about phobias right now? Because the word is phobo. The next slide will show you the two contextual verses back to back. The last one from last week and the first one from this week. Honor the emperor. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. The verb of fear, and then honor the emperor. The next verse, today, it says, be subject to your masters with all fear. It's the same word. One is the verb, the other is the noun.

Now, hear me, I'm not saying that we need to be irrationally afraid of our bosses or necessarily tremble and quake in fear, but what I'm trying to show is Is that our relationship to our employers or hierarchical structures is somewhat emblematic of how we want to fear God. Is how we want to show up to him. So our relationship with our Heavenly Father, there should be some sort of mirroring with those who are in authority over us as well.

Once again, I'm not saying that we necessarily need to be afraid. I'm not necessarily saying that we need to be trembling at all times in an irrational sense. However, there is some sort of unique structure here with verse 17 and verse 18 using that same word in a usual way. Now, let me share with you a little bit about the context. As we must remind ourselves, last week, Peter talked about Christian citizens obeying their governments.

Peter never once addressed the government. You do this. In this verse as well, Peter is talking to servants. He never once addresses the master. So once again, the responsibility, the control, not just falls on those who are above us. We take responsibility and control within ourselves and how we show up and how we respond. Our goal as Christian citizens, our goal as Christian employees, our goal as Christian people is to treat people with respect and dignity.

And then Peter throws in this last line in verse 18. He says, not just the good masters, not just the gentle masters, but the unjust as well. He keeps hitting us with these hooks. He's saying, hey, be subject to your masters. Do it with respect. And not only the good ones, but the harsh and the difficult ones as well. Treat them in the same manner. We're going to spend the rest of our time going through this, but this goes back to our point.

The one point, the Christian is called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment. One disclaimer, I'm not saying that if you're being, you know, if your employer is absolutely taking advantage of you, if you're feared for your lives, I'm not saying that we necessarily have to stay in that setting or situation. Once again, there was far more freedom and flexibility that we have today in the United States than they did then.

There are laws governing employee-employer workplace conduct. So hear me, I'm not saying... Stay at all costs. But what I am saying is regardless, we are to show up in a respectful manner. Now we're going to go on to the next part of our text, which really broadens it from the employee-employer relationship. And we'll see that in the next few moments. So let's move on to verse 19 and 20, the next two verses.

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And we'll read it and then unpack it and process it. It says this. For this is a gracious thing when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. Verse 20, for what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing In the sight of God. Alright, we're called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment.

How do we do that? Well, we serve respectfully. And second, and I hate to say this because we don't like it, we suffer graciously. The text is saying it. I don't want to say it, but that's what I'm reading here. The text is saying, suffer graciously. And we're going to unpack that and we'll talk about that in the next few moments. But that's what I'm reading from the text here now. A quick note on one of the concepts that Peter brings out.

And it's the differences between consequences and suffering. He does tease out a difference and you can read it in your Bibles. I won't bring it back up. But verse 20, I think he kind of highlights it. There is a difference between consequences and suffering. Consequences can entail suffering. But there's not a necessarily one-for-one, like-for-like response. It's not suffering when we're speeding on the freeway and we get a ticket for it.

Our wallets or our insurance gets beaten for it, if you will, in Peter's terminology. No, that's a consequence. If we find ourselves breaking the law in some way, shape, or form, and we find ourselves with a fine or some other slap on the wrist, That's a consequence. It's not for us to say, ooh, we're suffering for the gospel. I got my speeding ticket today. That's not suffering. That's a consequence.

But what Peter is talking about is suffering. Consequences are often what? Deserved. Suffering oftentimes is undeserved. Some of you guys have actually experienced real suffering in the workplace or in life or in a relationship. Suffering is standing up for Christian values and your employer not liking that and letting you go unjustly. Suffering could be standing up for your faith and getting verbally assaulted and attacked for it.

There are real instances in this room right now where I know people have suffered unjustly, and that is incredibly hard. And I know stories in this room as well of people who have also suffered graciously. It's a hard thing, but it's a call to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment. You know, as we continue on, there's two words, there's a phrase that's used twice, and it brackets what we just read.

Maybe you caught it, but I want to draw attention to it. It'll be up on the slide. The first, the same thing is said verbatim at the beginning, This is a gracious thing. And then this is, at the very end, a gracious thing in the sight of God. What does this mean? Let's talk about the word grace here for just a moment. My personal favorite definition of grace is unmerited, undeserved favor. Talk about return with favor, right?

Return with favor. Unmerited, undeserved favor. Bill Mounce, one of the leading Greek scholars in our world today, puts this long definition up on his website. I copied it and pasted it because it's great. I just want to read it all. You'll see it. It says, grace, the state of kindness and favor towards someone, often with a focus on the benefit given to the object, by extension gift, benefit given.

Words of kindness and benefit, thanks and blessing. The word there, grace, I spelled it for you in the Greek and then transliterated it charis. And let me share, I already used the word charis this morning because it's Eliana's middle name, if you caught it. Eliana Charis Axen. A beautiful middle name. A beautiful word showing what a gracious thing is, a gracious response. So let's unpack that grace just for a moment.

And I'm reminded that grace from God to us, is it earned or unearned? Is it deserved or undeserved? Grace from God to us is unmerited, undeserved favor that he gives to us. Therefore, to some degree or another, is a right response from us within our responsibility to Should we give it whether it's earned or not? Should we give it to the good and the unjust? Should we give it when things are going well or when things are going poorly?

We're called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment. This is a gracious thing when we're thinking about who God is, and it's also a gracious thing in the sight of God, regardless of how we're experiencing things in the moment. One other word I want to tease out that's mentioned twice, and you'll see it up again on the slide, is the word endure. And let me share with you all, don't roll your eyes, we can all learn a thing or two from endurance athletes.

Amen? We can all learn a thing or two from Jesus. I love endurance sports. I love endurance athletics. I love watching the Olympics. I can watch people run around in a circle for hours. I really can. It's weird. It's part of my DNA. But we can learn a thing or two from that. The idea of persistence, patience, consistency. That's what's being employed here. Let me tell you a quick story. Years and years and years ago, maybe 20 years ago, I was running in a race.

And I remember this race very, very well from how long ago it was. I was in the great city of Yucaipa. You guys know where Yucaipa is out in the desert. It was wicked hot that day, I remember. And we were out in Yucaipa and we were running this race. And I've run this course maybe two or three times before this race. And each of those times, I won. I won that race two or three times in a row. But this race, the outcome was not the same.

I remember on this particular day, it was super hot. It was wicked hot. It was so hot, and I'm from Irvine. You know, it's like we have the coastal breezes and everything. I was not prepared. The starter pistol went off, and my legs just felt like lead. You ever know when you just roll out, and you're just like, this is going to be a drag of the day. I think I knew before I was defeated in my mind before I even started.

Well, the race goes off, and I'm fighting for... For the win. I want to win again. And my legs are not cooperating. And you know what? At some point during the race, my mind didn't cooperate as well. And I remember watching the leaders ahead of me, thinking to myself, what's going wrong? I remember it was a dirt trail and there was a sharp turn that we all needed to take. And I remember very clearly, 20 years ago, that would be a great place to fall.

That would be a great place to blow the tires on my shoes. To fall. Just to call it quits. At the very least, I could get back up and then people would have pity for me and I'd be fine. I'd be all dirtied up and stuff and they'd be like, of course you didn't when you fell. I remember very clearly that feeling. But I didn't. I didn't. And you know what? I've run tons of races. And I've won a lot of races too.

But that one sticks out to me as one of the most memorable. Not because I won, but because I finished it. Because I endured it when I did not want to. I did not want to cross that line. My legs, my mind, my body was miserable. But I endured it. When we, as Christians, respond differently. In the right way, in the midst of wrong treatment, we endure in the same way. A couple of things here as we're talking about this idea of response.

I want to share that I've never had a regret for responding rightly in the midst of a harsh situation. I've never regretted saying the gracious thing in a bad environment. I've never regretted holding my tongue. But can I tell you how many times, how many times I have regretted exchanging anger for anger? How many times I have returned the favor with a zinger? How many times I have overlooked the mind of God and responded in my own selfish way?

How many times do I look back on regret, not for finishing first place, but for calling it quits on godliness, dare I say? Because when we don't endure, we're like, hey, I need to pepper in my word. I need to say my zinger. I need to speak my piece and truth right this very moment, regardless of the context. Oh, man, I've quit on godliness so many times. The Christian, we're called to endure. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

And you might get tired of me saying this, but you're going to see it back up on the screen again. The Christian is called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment. In the midst of serving respectfully, but also in the midst of suffering graciously. We're going to land the plane here as we begin to look at the last couple of verses here. We're going to look at verses 21, 22, 23, and 24 because we need an example.

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Some of us might be tracking to some degree, and some of us might be like, man, Conrad, you're using some harsh words. You're saying the word called. Am I called to that? Let's read verse 21. For to this you have been called. For this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

When he was reviled, he did not return the favor. I'm sorry. He did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself 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. Yes, the Christian is called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment.

And here's the kicker. The reason why is because Christ did it first. It says he left an example so that we might what? Follow in his steps. I remember as a little kid, you know, as a kid wearing my dad's shoes, I would go raid his closet or whatever. It would just be a cool thing to do to put on his shoes. His shoes were bigger. His shoes were shinier. His shoes just looked like something that I wanted to put my feet in.

Now, could I walk actually in those shoes? Not for very long, but it was a fun thing for me to do as a kid. And it's fun for me to have kids and then to come home and take pictures of them when they have done the same for me. That's my middle son, Cohen, wearing my really beat up white chucks, my converse shoes. But it's just this fun idea of your kids standing in your shoes. It's not something that they're ready for yet.

But it's cute to see them do that as they will grow and follow in your footsteps. The idea of example is important. We love examples. We love seeing something and saying, hey, model your work after this. Do this. For me as a kid, as a runner growing up, it was run like Prefontaine. For you, it could be hit like Babe Ruth. Dunk like Jordan. It could be paint like Monet, compose like Mozart. The text is telling us to endure like Jesus.

To endure like Jesus. He gives us an example. He gives us a path to follow in his footsteps. And I want to highlight four things about Christ's example in the verses that we just read. We'll keep them pretty quickly. But the first is Christ's credentials. We see that in verse 21 and 22. For to this you have been called, because he suffered for you, leaving you an example. So you might follow in his steps, verse 22.

He committed no sin. One of the beautiful verses in the Bible, which speaks towards the holy perfectionism of our Savior. He knew no sin, yet became sin. He committed no sin. He was holy. He was faithful. Blameless. What are the credentials of the person we're following? Perfection. Holiness. Sinlessness. Next, we're going to look at Christ's conduct. Something that we are now following in our example, verse 22.

And verse 23 speaks of this. I'll read them for you. Neither was deceit found in his mouth, so what he spoke was true and pure. Verse 23, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. As I mentioned, he did not return the favor. He returned with favor. Next, I want to actually spend a few moments on this because we need the same confidence. But we see Christ's confidence. You'll see that in verse 23.

Verse 23 says, when he suffered, he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. So he entrusted himself over to the perfect judge, to him who judges justly. Curious show of hands, anyone like comic books or liked comic books over time? Anyone like to watch movies with comic book characters in them? We all at least know of the shows, the movies, the actual comic books book strips that says, "Wham, pow," you know, all of those things. But comic books is a part of our culture today. And among comic book characters and figures, there's a couple that stand out. You might have one or two in mind, but you cannot think of Batman, and you can't not think of Spider-Man, right? Batman and Spider-Man, two of the most pinnacle figures in all of comics, all of Marvel movies, TV series, what have you. But what does Batman and what does Spider-Man have in common? They're actually both vigilantes. Do you know what a vigilante is? Somebody who takes justice into their own hands. Somebody who's not authorized by the state or the national government. Somebody who's not designed to carry out justice. Somebody who's not designed to have a badge, have handcuffs, take... Law and order and is authorized to do this in a unique way.

Vigilantes carry this out, you know, for good, but on their own accord. Most of the time we think of vigilantes as a bad thing. Batman and Spider-Man get a pass, for me at least. But vigilante justice is something that is a popularized part of our culture. And I think something that really connects us to the idea of vigilante justice is because we want to do that for ourselves. Right? When we are treated incorrectly, when we are wrongly treated, when we are maligned or mischaracterized or something, we want to take justice into our own hands.

In that moment, right then and right there. Let's return the favor. Let's see that justice happen. is served. But that's not what verse 23 tells us. It says, he continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. The word entrust there is the idea of handing over. He handed it over. When he was reviled or condemned or mocked or ridiculed, he handed it over to his Heavenly Father who had just who would judge justly.

What a reminder for us. What a call for us to do as Christ did. Hand over justice to the one who sees. Finally, we see Christ's, what do I got here? Christ's cross. This is really where it all comes to a culmination point. Verse 24, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, on the that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds, you have been healed. What a beautiful reminder to us that Jesus Christ is going to make all things new.

By his wounds, we are healed. One thing that I found in my study, I don't have time to show a slide for it or anything, but I think verses 21 through 24, you'll find quotations from Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 speaks of the suffering servant, the suffering Savior who would come and as we look, who did come and as we think, who will come. To wrap up this message, we've been saying this one thing over and over and over again.

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You'll see it again. The Christian is called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment because Go ahead. Jesus gave a right response in the midst of wrong treatment. This is a tough pill to swallow. It's a tough pill for me and thinking of all the times that I regret, all the incidences, all the moments where I've responded and returned the favor. But as I want to grow in more and more the image, the example, follow in the footsteps of Christ's I want to return with favor for this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. One more verse. We're actually going to wrap here. We don't need to talk about it too much. But it's beautiful. Verse 25. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. We begin talking about employer-employee relationships, and I think everything that we just talked about can be transferred over to the workspace.

And here it almost returns. You know, returning to that relationship, that ordered relationship, but now we've returned to the shepherd. We order ourselves under the shepherd. We order ourselves under the overseer of our faith. And who is that good shepherd? The Lord Jesus Christ. It's his example we follow. It's his grace he gives in whatever moment we are experiencing. So I hope that in the midst of whatever you are going through, you are given grace.

We are mindful of God and can respond in a right way. Does that mean agreement? No, no, no, not always. Does that mean affirming what that is? No, no, no, not always. Hear those little disclaimers. But at the same time, we are to respond with respect, just as Christ did on our behalf. I want to conclude just by, you know, tailing in on that final verse, verse 25. We've returned to the shepherd, the overseer of our souls.

And I just want to quote Psalm 23, just as we conclude here this morning. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want... He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for my good shepherd is with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all of the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Do you believe that? Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the example that you have given to us. The fact that when you were reviled, you did not revile in return.

For the fact that When you were treated poorly, you did not threaten for the fact that you gave your life for us as an example for us to follow in your footsteps. You're not calling us to do anything that you didn't do. But Lord, we are sinners and you are not. So Lord, forgive us of our own failings. Forgive us of our own faults. And help us also to forgive those who have faulted us. I pray that you'd give us the grace to respond well, for we know that this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. So Heavenly Father, thank you for this time. Remind us that these light and momentary afflictions pale in comparison to the weight of glory which will be with us for all eternity. So Lord, let us keep the end in mind and give you the glory. We thank you for your example and we praise you for your sinlessness and your holiness.

We pray these things in the name of Jesus and all God's people said, Amen.

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