Suffering Well
0 Amens
1 Peter 4:12-19
March 11, 2007
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Introduction
The American dream is to live well. In secular society the big emphasis is on whether or not one generation will live as well or better than the last. I have heard parents say that they just want their children to live better than they did. Of course the measuring stick for this type of living is material wealth. If the next generation has more square footage and more luxury cars then the generation has succeeded.
In business and manufacturing people are always striving to do things better. They want to be more efficient. Car manufacturers are looking for technology that will allow our cars to get better gas mileage.
We all desire to do things well. For the men, we desire to do our jobs well and to have those in authority over us pat us on the back and tell us job well done. The ladies here desire to keep their homes well. They want their homes to be presentable to their husbands, children, and guests. The children, I hope desire to do their schoolwork well and to do their chores where their father and mother can recognize their achievements.
Faithful Christians spend time and effort on being a good Christian. We read our Bibles, pray, attend church, study the Word, live a life that is a witness for Christ to a lost world, and raise our children to do the same. There is a reason for this and that is because we realize that as believers we are called to a higher standard than the world. We desire to do well because of the proper light that it sheds on our Lord.
All Christians should desire to hear these words from our Lord. “Well done you good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
We believe Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that tells us “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
The overarching priority of the Christian life is to glorify God and this truth governs all of our behavior. And that includes our behavior in a time of suffering.
Did you know that God not only calls us to live well, but we are also called to suffer well?
This whole time that we have spent in 1 Peter 3:13 through where we are to day has taught us that in the Christian life suffering is inevitable and through that suffering God provides us an opportunity to evangelize and to glorify Him. The last two weeks we spent looking at what God requires and demands of each of us regarding how we interact with one another in times of suffering. We say that we were to walk carefully and pray. We were to love one another and be hospitable. Last week we saw that in our service to one another we were to use our gifts to the glory of God. All of that had to do with our outward behavior in the times of persecution. Now Peter turns his attention to how we are to react to suffering.
In order to glorify God in the midst of suffering we must suffer well. Now how in the world do you suffer well? How do you handle the onslaught of the sinful world that hates you and desires to destroy you or see you deny the Lord that you serve well? How do you come out on the other side of persecution in a manner that keeps you from losing your faith and dishonoring your Lord?
Jesus warned us, “Whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not worthy of me.” So we all walk in the same shoes here and we must understand that it is very possible to undergo persecution and not please our Lord. Peter shows us that it is all in our reaction to suffering and our attitude as we suffer. Suffering will come. That is a fact. In some shape or form you are guaranteed to experience it. How you handle it and whether or not you suffer well will reflect on you and it will reflect on the Lord you claim allegiance to.
PNP
So in light of all that, today from our text, I want you to see that Peter gives us six commands for us to be able to glorify God by suffering well. Today we will see three of these commands and Lord willing next week we will see the final three.
1. In order to suffer well we can not be surprised at the onset of suffering. (12)
2. In order to suffer well we are to rejoice and be glad in the midst of suffering. (13-14)
3. In order to suffer well we are not to suffer for doing evil. (15)
4. In order to suffer well we are not to be ashamed for suffering for Christ. (16)
5. In order to suffer well we are to glorify God. (16)
6. In order to suffer well we are to entrust our souls to God. (19)
Purpose
My purpose in preaching this section is to show you from the Word how we can suffer well. To not suffer well is to not bring glory to God. Over and over in the Bible we hear these words. “He who endures to the end will be saved.” Hebrews 10:36-38 says,
36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. 37 FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE,HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. 38 BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH;
AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.
RPNP
So look with me at these first three of six commands for us to be able to glorify God by suffering well.
1. In order to suffer well we can not be surprised at the onset of suffering. (12)
Look with me at verse 12.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
Most of us operate under the assumption that when you live right and according to God’s intended plan you will avoid suffering. That is true to a certain extent. There are certain self inflicted sufferings that we can avoid. When God would tell the Israelites in the Old Testament that if they would do certain commands and keep certain ordinances then He would not allow certain calamities to come upon them.
It would seem that God would operate in a similar manner in the Old Testament and the New. However the
In the Old Testament the nation of
When Jesus Christ came the Kingdom was no longer the nation of
The
That is what Peter has been telling us all along. We must expect this to happen. God has called us, His people, to a standard that is in direct opposition to the ways of the world. And because of that we are called to suffer.
Let me remind you of Philippians 1:27-30.
27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28 in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. 29 For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.
God has not called us to live in cocoons. He calls us to be in the world but not to be of the world. We go to our jobs. We go to the grocery store. We interact with our neighbors and in the process of living out the Gospel we suffer persecution.
So our first command is that we are not to be surprised when we suffer. Look at verse 12.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you
Notice that Peter did not say if it comes upon you. He said when this fiery trial happens do not be surprised (Imperative). He also does not say that it will be easy. Notice the verse again. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial…
We have some promises from the Old Testament and the New Testament as we endure trial and suffering. Listen to Isaiah 43:1-3.
1 But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! 2 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. 3 "For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of
The trial will not be easy, it will be fiery and painful. But it does have a purpose. Look at verse 12 again.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
The test is whether or not we will suffer well. We can suffer well because of the last part of the verse. Look at it with me. As though something strange were happening to you.
So in order to suffer well we are not to be surprised. Second I want you to see that:
2. In order to suffer well we are to rejoice and be glad in the midst of suffering. (13-14)
Look at verses 13-14 with me.
13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
I want you to understand that Peter is not giving us a suggestion here. When he says, “But rejoice,” he is issuing a command. Again the verb rejoice is imperative. To not rejoice is to not suffer well. To complain and grumble is to lose your reward for the suffering.
I have heard some say that the rejoicing happens after you come through the suffering. When we come out on the other side then we can rejoice. But to rejoice in midst of suffering and persecution is not possible. Here is the problem. The word rejoice is not only a command but it is in the present tense. Peter’s message is to rejoice in the midst of the suffering not just when it over. James 1:2-3 tells us the same thing. James says,
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials , 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance . 4 And let endurance have its perfect result , so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
In Acts chapter 4 and 5 Peter and John are dragged before the Sanhedrin twice. Both times they are threatened and told to stop preaching the Gospel. The last time they were beaten. Chapter 5:41 and 42 show us how we too are to glorify God in the midst of suffering. This is the example par excellance of suffering well. Listen to the text.
41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council , rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ .
Why could Peter and John do this? Was it superior intestinal fortitude? What was it about them or better what had they experienced that made them suffer so willingly and do it so well?
Look again at verse 13 and 14.
13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Peter gives us three reasons in these verses as to why we can rejoice in the midst of suffering.
1. We share Christ’s sufferings. Look at verse 13 again. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings,
The Apostle Paul had this same attitude about suffering and in Colossians 1:24 he even equates his suffering as adding to Christ’s sufferings. Paul says,
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.
Paul is not saying in any way shape or form that Jesus did not pay for our salvation fully and completely on the cross. Paul would have never denied the sufficiency of the death of the Lord Jesus. What he is saying that the sufferings that he endures is for the glory of Christ in the spreading of the Gospel. In order for these churches to be planted Paul had to suffer. And in order for our church to grow and plant other churches we are called on to share in the sufferings of Christ as well. And we do that rejoicing in the fact that we have been counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ.
The second reason is:
2. We will be able to rejoice and be glad when Christ’s glory is revealed. Look at the rest of verse 13.
that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
To not suffer well is to miss out on the glory of Christ. The day will come when the world will be judged. The believers will be rewarded and we will see the Lord in His glory. In that day their will be rejoicing and their will also be weeping. To suffer well, to share in the sufferings of Christ, is to rejoice in the midst of suffering. We suffer now because we know the reward is out there.
It is like an athlete that trains their body to physical exhaustion and deprives themselves of things like Doritos and cheesecake in order to perform at their very best. We as Christians rejoice in the fact that we suffer, we endure hardships, we walk through the fires of affliction in order that on that day we will receive the greatest reward ever and that is to look upon the glory of God in Christ Jesus in all its magnificence.
The lost world and the carnal Christian can never get this and that is because their view of reality is world centered. If the Lord is the most magnificent and beautiful being in the universe then the greatest and most magnificent reward that any of us could ever have would be to look upon that glory. Think about the Cherubim in Isaiah 6 that are around the Lord constantly. They have one song and that is Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And they sing that constantly and throughout eternity and never grow weary doing so.
These cherubim are unlike us. They are not fallen creatures. We are sinful fallen creatures redeemed by the blood of this same magnificent beautiful being and now in spite of our sin and fallenness we are allowed to gaze on what Moses never could. We will see what blinded the Apostle Paul on the road to
The third reason is:
3. To suffer for the sake of Christ means that we are blessed.
Look at verse 14.
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you
Here is proof of your conversion. To suffer means to have the Spirit of glory and of God to rest upon you. This suffering marks you out as a child of the King of glory. I could go on and on here about pictures from the Old Testament prophets who got a glimpse of this.
But I think what Peter is drawing on is the Baptism language of chapter 3:22. At the baptism of Jesus John the Baptist saw that the Holy Spirit of God came down on the Lord Jesus in the form of a dove and rested on Him. On the
Let me remind you that so far we have seen that in order to suffer well we are to not be surprised and we are to rejoice and be glad in the midst of suffering. Third I want you to see that:
3. In order to suffer well we are not to suffer for doing evil. (15)
Look with me at verse 15.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.
This particular point is pretty self explanatory. What Peter is getting at is the fact that as a Christian it is very possible to invite suffering upon your self as a result of sinful actions. He uses three specific terms- murderer, thief, and meddler and then a general all encompassing term-evildoer.
So the possibility is, by living a lifestyle in opposition to the design of our Lord, we can bring suffering on ourselves. If we decide that our knowledge of how life works is far superior to what God has given to us in His Word then the resulting calamity will not be to God’s glory.
Particularly if we decide as a Christian we can be a murderer or a thief or an evil doer then the rest of these promises are null and void. We have disqualified ourselves. There will be no sharing in the glory of Christ. Nor will there be any glory received by God for one who claims the Lord as their Father and acts like their father the Devil.
The classic biblical example of this is found in the early church in Acts. You all know the story of Anninias and Sapphira and how they lied to the Holy Spirit. The first act of church discipline we find was God striking down a husband and wife for their lies. They could not claim that they suffered as Christians but rather as evil doers.
The other word, meddler, is interesting as well. Paul tells us that as much as it is possible we are to live at peace with all men. But this meddler has literally placed himself or herself over the affairs of everyone and is constantly trying to order others steps. The word literally means someone who is over the affairs of another. Kind of like a self appointed power of attorney.
So if you decide that you are not going to live by God’s righteous standard and your life falls apart and you end up in prison or worse, don’t expect God to be glorified by all of this.
Conclusion
We have seen that in order to suffer well we must not be surprised when we suffer, we must rejoice and be glad when we suffer, and third we must not suffer for doing evil.
All of this is for the glory of God and we bring glory to God by suffering well.
Let me ask you, in the times of suffering in your life, how did you handle that? Did you rejoice or did you complain? Were you caught by surprise?
If you walk away with nothing else this morning I want you to walk away understanding that God desires us to suffer and we are to suffer well.
As I was pondering this thought I thought about as a father how much I would want my own children to suffer. There is suffering that happens of course because of them doing and saying the wrong things. But I am talking about them suffering in spite of living correctly. Maybe someone abusing them. I would be very angry and I immediately would rush to their defense. I would stop the suffering as soon as I could and I would do everything in my power to protect them from suffering.
But somehow, through our suffering, our Lord is glorified and He in His providential wisdom has ordained that the Gospel would be furthered through the suffering of His people. I have a hard time understanding this. I think the reason for that is because just like you, I can not see eternity. Our heavenly Father allowed His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to suffer at the hands of evil men. He was spit upon, slapped, punched. His beard was yanked out. He was beaten almost to the point of death. A crown of thorns was placed upon His head and a rod was used to beat those jagged points into his sinless head. Then God the Father looked on as the Lord Jesus struggled to carry His own cross to that place of the skull to be nailed to it and hoisted up for those whom had put Him there to look at and jeer at. All the while the Father could have stopped this action at any moment. He could have rightly and justly destroyed all of those who would brutalize His Son. Even when Christ called out from the cross, “My God My God, why have you forsaken me?” the Father did not intervene. He allowed His son to suffer death.
But in that suffering came the victory. Sin was defeated and the Gospel was fulfilled. The death and burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus accomplished the salvation and satisfaction that the Father intended. Isaiah 53:10 says,
10 But the LORD was pleased (Hebrew chaphets- to delight in)
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
Why? Because our heavenly Father has an eternal perspective. And in order to suffer well we must do what verse 19 tells us and ultimately entrust our souls to a faithful Creator.
Let’s pray.
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