WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:01.600 Hello, friends. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:02.799 This is Pastor Creighton. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:06.000 Thank you for tuning in to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:13.279 At Newsong Church, we want to see Jesus lifted high in Port Perry, Ontario, as we worship, grow, and serve. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:18.800 You can learn more about us and find contact info at newsongportperry.ca. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:25.359 Our second lesson is taken from 1 Peter 4, verses 12 to 19. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:36.640 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. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:46.079 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:55.119 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:01:02.079 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:10.239 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:14.560 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:20.560 And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:27.200 And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:36.400 Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:38.159 The word of the Lord. 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:49.760 Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:51.760 Let's pray. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:08.400 Almighty God, whose most dear son went not up to joy, but first he suffered pain and entered not into glory before he was crucified. 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:17.199 Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:19.919 Through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:21.039 Amen. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:28.800 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be always pleasing in your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:29.680 Amen. 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:31.199 Please be seated. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:41.199 I want to tell you about my very first pastoral appointment that I ever had. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:57.439 I was a freshly ordained deacon at the ripe old age of 25, and sitting in my very first office in Christchurch in Plano, Texas, with cardboard boxes still kind of strewn around, you know, still in the process of moving in. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:05.280 And when I arrived at the church, they were in the middle of a membership kind of intake process, which required meetings with a pastor. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:09.439 Maybe it was a half an hour meet and greet if you have any questions, that sort of thing. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:10.400 It was a large church. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:13.280 There was probably about 2,000 there on a Sunday or so. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:17.680 So making a point of, you know, sitting down with people, that was a big deal. 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:26.719 Anywho, so I was assigned a number of names along with seven or eight other pastors on staff, and uh I started the process of meeting with them one by one. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:29.039 And uh you can believe I was nervous. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:32.319 This is my very first pastoral appointment I ever had. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:43.919 And so I still remember this uh young woman came in and we sat down and I asked her for you know about her story and how she came to know the Lord, and we chatted a little bit, and I thought things were going pretty good. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:47.680 I thought I was handling myself pretty well, almost like a pro, I thought. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:54.000 And uh we got towards the end of the interview, and one of the questions I was encouraged to ask is just do you have any questions for me? 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:59.919 And so I asked that question, and she goes, you know, I do have a question for you. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:07.759 And she began to share with me uh a history of struggling with chronic illness that was for her really quite debilitating. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:12.240 It would have her in bed for days, maybe weeks at a time. 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:18.480 And she shared with me that she has prayed over and over and over that God would take this from her. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:22.639 And she has asked others to pray for her, and she's been to conferences. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:29.120 She says, I've seem to try to do everything I can think to do, but still I seem to suffer. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:31.279 And her question was, why? 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:34.879 What did I do? 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:37.680 Or what should I do? 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:44.399 And you can imagine I'm 25 sitting on the other side of a desk going, how do I answer? 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:47.040 What would you say? 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:51.920 I mean, I suspect we've all asked that same question ourselves. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:59.279 At one point or another, maybe we're in the middle of asking that question of the Lord or of a brother and sister in Christ. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:01.920 Why do I suffer? 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:03.519 What did I do? 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:05.120 What can I do? 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:17.360 When we enter into pain and distress and hardship, maybe it's facing illness like this young woman, maybe it's a job loss, maybe it's marriage troubles. 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:25.199 Whatever it is, when we meet this hardship, when we meet this suffering, it's it's a normal thing to begin to doubt, isn't it? 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:28.639 Normal thing to fall into desolation. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:44.560 A quote came to my mind this earlier this week from a fellow named Bart Ehrman, who is a graduate of my school, but has since lost his faith largely because of this question of suffering. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:57.199 And the bottom line for this fella is this: he says, a God who is capable of preventing suffering, but chooses not to, is either not all-powerful or not all-loving. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:00.000 Have you ever had a thought like that yourself? 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:04.800 I wouldn't suffer if God was either all good or all-powerful. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:09.360 You see, he can't be both if I'm experiencing what I'm experiencing. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:12.399 We fall into doubt, we fall into desolation. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:14.720 And sometimes we live there. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:19.600 This is not a new experience for us in the 21st century, is it? 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:22.639 This has been the experience of Christians since the very beginning. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:32.800 In fact, we've been journeying through 1 Peter, and we've seen that the Christian experience of suffering is largely the theme that Peter is writing about. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:55.839 He's writing to an audience that's dispersed around the Mediterranean world, experiencing all sorts of suffering, being maligned and being cast out of their families for their profession of faith, who are experiencing increasing political pressure, that Peter anticipates, I suspect, and his readers I suspect anticipate that it's going to get worse before it gets worse. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:03.439 Peter writes to folks who have been grieved by various trials, he says in chapter one. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:10.000 And Christians have been grieved by various trials from one generation to the next ever since, haven't we? 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:13.680 But Peter doesn't just write a woe is me type of letter. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:22.959 He writes to communicate hope, to call these Christians to persevere in the midst of suffering. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:28.959 See, Peter understands that Christ is the paradigm of Christian living. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:41.040 Christian living can only be understood in light of our Lord Jesus Christ, which might sound intuitive, but Peter wants these Christians to understand the significance of this. 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:48.639 See, the way of the cross means Christ did not first go to glory, but first suffered pain. 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:52.000 The cross comes before glory. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:55.439 And suffering comes before glorification. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:04.639 If we follow a crucified Lord, then suffering is not something that's exceptional or out of the ordinary for a Christian. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:14.319 But if we're called to follow Christ in suffering, then that changes a Christian's experience of what suffering means, doesn't it? 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:27.199 Maybe it doesn't answer suffering, maybe it doesn't solve the rubric scube quite like Professor Ehrman would like, but it does suggest something quite important to us who experience suffering as Christians. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:35.120 And it suggests this that God remains faithful in suffering. 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:43.279 God remains faithful to us even and especially in suffering. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:59.279 So what Peter writes in chapter 4 in our verse today, in our passage today, is he wants Christians to reckon with that fact, the faithfulness of God, not despite suffering, but in suffering. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:04.399 And if that can be the case, then we as Christians ought not to be surprised by suffering. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:14.080 We ought not to count ourselves forsaken when we encounter suffering, and we ought not to be ashamed in the midst of suffering or to suffer as a Christian. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:15.679 Don't be surprised. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.080 Don't count yourself forsaken. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.879 And don't be ashamed is what Peter would say. 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:22.320 He says it to his audience. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:25.600 I think he would say it to us here at New Song. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:31.519 Because I suspect each and every one of us is coming with some burden on our hearts this morning, aren't we? 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:39.840 Maybe we're in the middle of that season of desolation and asking, Lord, what is it that you're doing? 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:47.679 We might not solve this Rubik's Cube, but I hope that today we can find hope in God's word, because I do believe there's hope for us to find. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:51.120 God remains faithful in suffering. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:54.000 So pull out your Bible, pull out your order of service. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:58.480 Let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 4, beginning at verse 12. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:02.480 Don't be surprised is the first thing that Peter wants us to know about suffering. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:14.559 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, but rejoice. 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:26.480 Insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:28.720 Don't be surprised. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:34.879 We'd be surprised by suffering if it was something out of the ordinary or something that is unexpected. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:37.600 And maybe Peter expects this at his audience. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:42.320 You know, Jesus has, well, he's gone to the cross, but he's been raised to new life. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:44.799 He's ascended into heavenly glory. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:54.320 Maybe Christians in Peter's age are going, well, if Jesus really is reigning and ruling as king over everything, then why am I experiencing the suffering that I'm experiencing? 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:55.840 That doesn't compute. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:02.720 And Peter wants them to know that the suffering they experience is not something out of the ordinary, but it's something to be expected. 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:15.279 There's a certain kind of preaching that seems to have this idea that if we are following Christ or following Christ faithfully, we're only ever going to experience forms of prosperity. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:25.279 We're only ever going to experience greater health, greater wealth, whatever it is that makes us feel secure and, you know, comfortable. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:30.000 And truthfully, this kind of preaching is maybe more common than we would think. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:36.240 And I gotta wonder if a preacher is making this case, how do you square that with a verse like this? 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:39.679 Don't be surprised when you encounter suffering. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:41.919 It's not something out of the ordinary. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:49.759 Don't be surprised because when you suffer, you are sharing in a real way with Christ's suffering. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:51.519 Did you catch that in verse 12? 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:53.360 Pardon me, in verse 13. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:58.799 Rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:01.440 That word share is hugely important. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:06.240 It's the word koinonia or koinonia, which is related to koinonia. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:11.279 It means a participation, a fellowship, a joining together. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:17.039 We come to holy communion because we believe we are having a real participation with Christ. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:22.639 And here Peter seems to say you really share with Christ in your sufferings. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:26.320 Your sufferings are not something separate and apart from Christ. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:29.200 They're a place where he meets you. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:32.639 It's a strange and mysterious thing. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:36.480 But our sufferings don't happen apart from Christ. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:41.360 They are in some way joined together with Christ's own suffering. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:13:02.320 Whether that's the sort of persecution that Peter's audience is facing, whether that's the sort of suffering that you and I encounter day to day or in this season of life, somehow, mysteriously, it's joined together with Christ's suffering, just as we are joined to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by faith. 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:07.360 Somehow this suffering binds us in common with Jesus. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:09.759 It doesn't separate us from him. 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:22.000 And for Peter, the hope here is if we share in Christ's suffering in this way, then we have reasonable hope to say that we will share also in the glory that will be revealed. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:25.039 Did you catch that on the last part of the verse? 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:35.200 Rejoice that you share in Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed, when Christ returns and his kingdom is made manifest. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.159 Things on earth are as they are in heaven. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:40.399 We have a hope of a share in that. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:40.960 Why? 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:51.440 Because just as in our sufferings we've been joined to Christ, so too do we have a reasonable hope that we will be glorified with Christ, if indeed the cross precedes glory. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:55.200 So I've been thinking a little bit about marriage vows this week. 00:13:55.679 --> 00:14:07.840 And one of the things that we're so familiar with in our marriage vows, if indeed you had the traditional marriage vows at your ceremony, or you've heard them being said, what is it that we promised? 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:13.120 For better, for worse, for richer, for poor, in sickness and in health, right? 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:29.120 And I think we know it's a reality, and maybe we've even walked through individuals or couples that have had a breakdown in their marriage because they encounter, well, they encounter a sudden loss of wealth, or they encounter sickness or illness, and that seems to split the marriage apart. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:31.759 It's a very tragic and real thing that happens. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:33.679 I don't mean to make light of that at all. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:42.720 But even while, you know, for poor or for you know sickness has a way of breaking apart marriages, I've never known the opposite to be true. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:54.639 I've never known a couple who has walked through a season of sickness to now come out on the other side and find a season of health where one spouse says to the other, you're just too healthy, I can't take it anymore. 00:14:55.919 --> 00:15:05.360 Or having been through serious financial issues and having come out the other side of that to a place of financial stability, they just say, we're just too financially stable. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:07.840 I've never known that to be true. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:18.879 If you've known that to be true, then forgive me, but the idea here is if we've been through what's worse, then it's a guarantee that we will go through what's better together, right? 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:22.799 We share in what's worse so that we can share in what's better. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:26.000 And I think what Peter is getting across here is the same. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:34.080 If we share in Christ's sufferings through our suffering, they suggest to us that we will also share in his glory. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:38.960 If we share with Christ for worse, we will share with him for better. 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:48.480 And this is Ascension Sunday, which should remind us that Christ has entered into glory, and that is our hope to share in that glory for all eternity. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:51.279 So we rejoice when we meet suffering. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:57.360 Not because suffering makes us happy, by the way, not because it's God's delight to just deal out suffering indiscriminately. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:02.559 No, we don't rejoice because of the suffering, but we can rejoice in the midst of suffering. 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:03.200 Why? 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:06.639 Because suffering points us towards this promise. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:11.679 The suffering of for worse points us to the promise of for better. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.919 And when we look at the cross, we should be reminded of the resurrection as well. 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:18.240 That's our hope as Christians. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:21.519 That our suffering is not the end of the story. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:25.600 So don't be surprised when we encounter suffering. 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:29.600 Don't count yourself forsaken either, is what Peter would say. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:31.919 Let's look at verse 14. 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:42.720 Peter says, if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:49.200 To be forsaken is a feeling of being abandoned or being deserted, isn't it? 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:52.080 Insults can make us feel abandoned and deserted. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:56.080 They can make us feel like we're on the back foot or forsaken or forgotten by God. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.039 But Peter wants to say, in fact, the opposite is true. 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:02.080 When you are insulted, count yourself blessed. 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:04.319 Which is so weird, right? 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:10.160 Because it's like slander, when you encounter slander, count yourself as someone who's flourishing. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:12.960 It's like the math is not adding up in my head, at least. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.279 Help me understand what you mean, Peter. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:21.039 And he says this: if you're insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:28.000 In a real way, just as Christ was insulted, we're entering into that experience of Christ's own sufferings, aren't we? 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:34.880 And just like we said, if we enter into Christ's own sufferings, we have an opportunity to enter into Christ's own glory. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:39.839 We suffer for the name of Christ, so we count ourselves blessed. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:40.400 Why? 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:45.119 Because Peter says the Spirit of God rests upon you. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:52.240 See, I think it's easy to feel forsaken and abandoned as if the Holy Spirit, as if God has left the building when we encounter suffering. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:55.119 Which is often, I think, why we ask, Lord, where are you? 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:57.680 And by the way, I do think that's a very normal question to ask. 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:02.720 The psalmist asks it in Psalm 22, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:05.200 That's what Jesus says on the cross, isn't it? 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:07.519 So that's a normal question to ask. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:15.039 But Peter wants to remind Christians, perhaps in a season of desolation, that suffering doesn't mean that God has left the building. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:26.079 In fact, it can suggest that God is very much present and at work, seeing his purposes through to completion, because that's the work of the Spirit in our lives. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:36.799 What we see as suffering can in fact be God working out his purposes in real time in ways that perhaps escape our attention at first glance. 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:47.519 Bishop Tom Wright tells this story about William Tyndale, who was a translator for the first English New Testament. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:52.240 Pardon me, one of the an English reformer and translator, pardon me. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:53.759 Tom Wright writes this. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:19:03.599 He says, when the early English reformer William Tyndale was translating the New Testament into English, he was living in hiding, in exile in Northern Europe. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:13.119 Translating the Bible into the vernacular language was strictly forbidden, and the official clergy were worried that it would bring heresy into the church. 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:24.640 Tyndale was short of funds for the project and anxious to sell copies of the first edition of his translation so that he could fund further work and the revisions he knew were needed. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:33.599 But would the people in England be prepared to buy his work, knowing that they might get into trouble if they were found with it in their possession? 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:35.599 And then it happened. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:40.480 The Bishop of London got wind of the project and was furious. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:45.119 He determined to stamp out this nonsense once and for all. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:53.200 So he commissioned his agents to buy up all the copies they could, all the copies they could find, and bring them together to burn them. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:58.640 But little did he realize that he was feeding the problem that he was trying to prevent. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:07.759 He got all the books all right and he destroyed them, but the money he paid enabled Tyndale to move the all-important second phase of the project. 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:14.799 And it's Tyndale's translation that in many ways forms the basis of the English translations that we have in front of us right now. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:24.559 See, I suspect when Tyndale is in hiding for fear of his life and he gets wind of the Bishop of London's vendetta against him, that's a pretty desperate place to be. 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:37.759 The reality is Tyndale did not see the full fruits of his project before he was martyred, but nevertheless, his suffering was not evidence that God was set against him. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:47.839 In fact, God used the suffering he endured to move his purposes forward in the world, even if Tyndale himself didn't see that. 00:20:49.039 --> 00:21:01.359 It requires the eyes of faith, or it requires a trust in the Lord to do what we ourselves can't do, or to trust that he's at work in a mysterious way that we can't quite glance. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:10.720 So we don't count ourselves forsaken having encountered suffering, but rather we encounter ourselves blessed. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:19.119 Because suffering is evidence of the abiding Holy Spirit at work moving forward God's purposes. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:26.240 Tim Keller was a real hero of mine, and he passed away. 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:32.160 He was a Presbyterian pastor who passed away this past week after a lifetime of faithful ministry. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:38.400 He writes a book called Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering, which I highly, highly recommend. 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:47.920 And he writes that suffering is not evidence of God's absence, it can be the very means by which we encounter his presence. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:53.279 And I think that was just as true at the end of his life as it was when he wrote that. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.680 So we can take heart and count ourselves blessed, not because we encounter suffering. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.960 Suffering is not the same thing as the blessing. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:05.200 But God is at work in suffering. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:09.440 And we count ourselves blessed by the work of the Holy Spirit in us. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:12.160 So don't be surprised. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:13.519 Don't be forsaken. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:15.519 Don't count yourself forsaken. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:18.960 And Peter would go on to say, don't be ashamed. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:21.440 Verse 16. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:27.279 All presupposing, of course, verse 15, that we're not suffering just because we've done wrong. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:32.160 We don't get to embezzle$500,000 and be like, well, now I'm going to prison. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.240 I guess the Christian life is so hard. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:35.519 Well, no. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:40.240 Peter's saying, let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:45.279 What we're talking about is the sort of suffering that goes with living the Christian life faithfully. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:54.319 But Peter goes on to say, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:58.000 So don't be ashamed, Peter writes. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:02.880 Don't be embarrassed, don't be guilt-ridden, don't be withdrawn when we encounter suffering. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:07.519 It's a very vulnerable place to be, and we have a way of shrinking back, don't we? 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:11.680 But rather count suffering as an opportunity to exalt God. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:13.759 How is that the case? 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:20.720 Peter wants us to see in verses 17 and 18, it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:25.920 And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:32.240 And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:44.240 The kind of judgment here that Peter has in mind is not this sort of pastel test that God is going to push a little suffering on us and see if the litmus test comes back positive or negative. 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:56.480 The sort of judgment, the sort of fiery trial, the sort of uh the thing that Peter's got in mind here is less of a pastel test and maybe more of a refiner's fire. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:06.640 Maybe more of that forge for our soul that burns away impurities and strengthens what's pure and what's purposed to be there. 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:16.160 This refiner's fire begins in God's own household, God's people, and its purpose is to sanctify us, to make us holy. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:29.279 Looming over this whole passage is Malachi chapter 3 that Peter's got in mind, he writes, That the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:36.319 Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts, but who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:42.000 For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:51.440 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them as gold and silver. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:57.680 The fiery trials that we encounter can be for us the refiner's fire. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:05.599 That strengthen faith, that strengthen our trust that God is in fact at work moving his purposes forward in our lives. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:10.160 Far from abandoning us, God might be at work strengthening us. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:13.119 I think this was true for Joseph, who I've been reflecting on. 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:20.480 Joseph, of course, in the book of Genesis, he starts out as a pretty, pretty wild character. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.480 He's got an inflated head and I think an inflated ego. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:33.039 And he goes to his brothers and he's very quick to tell them about some of the dreams he's been having that one day, in fact, they're going to bow down to him, the youngest brother. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:36.400 And you can imagine how his siblings feel about that. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:45.359 And they beat Joseph, leave him for dead, sell him off into slavery, and Yafi goes into Egypt. 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:53.279 And for all of these episodes of suffering that Joseph encounters in Egypt, eventually the Lord, through his providence, brings him to Pharaoh's right hand. 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:56.000 He's the second most powerful person in all of Egypt. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:02.480 And because of the Lord's work in and through him, he saves Egypt and the whole surrounding area from famine. 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:19.279 His brothers eventually come to Egypt because they hear that there's food set aside and they encounter Joseph, and Joseph eventually reveals himself to his brothers, who I can only imagine gulped when they saw Joseph for who he is. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:28.319 When their father passes away, they're convinced that Joseph, there's nothing preventing Joseph from revenging himself upon them. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:40.640 And so they make up a story about how the father Israel, Jacob, has asked Joseph to forgive his brothers, which Joseph has anyway. 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:42.480 He sort of sees through his brothers. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:49.759 He says to them in Genesis chapter 50 at the conclusion of the book, do not fear, for am I in the place of God. 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:55.359 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. 00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:59.599 To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:01.039 So do not fear. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:04.720 I will provide for you and your little ones. 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:08.000 So what's going on here in this example of Joseph? 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:23.119 Joseph has begun as someone who's a pretty brash and egocentric fella, even as he's being used by God, and through all of the difficult trials of life has come out on the other side with a sense of who he is and how he is related to God. 00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:29.680 He himself is not God, but he has been used by God to fulfill his purposes. 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:36.000 And because he's been used by God, he can be enabled to forgive his brothers. 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:41.039 His character has been refined, as it were, through a refiner's fire. 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:51.119 And not just his own character, but he has been used to benefit and bless Egypt and his family and the whole surrounding area. 00:27:52.079 --> 00:28:02.720 See, suffering is not something we ought to be ashamed of, but it can be something that God uses to refine us and to use us in the lives of other people. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:07.519 And this being the case, it is an opportunity for us to glorify God. 00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:11.839 See, being a Christian can be a very vulnerable thing. 00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:14.240 But we ought not to be ashamed. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:16.319 We ought not to shrink back. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:23.279 In fact, we ought to seek every opportunity to walk with others in seasons of pain and suffering. 00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:30.319 But above all, we trust that God is at work even now, refining us. 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:36.960 Suffering is not God's best will for us, and one day suffering will be past tense. 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:44.960 But Peter wants us to know that there is hope in the present for those who experience pain and suffering. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:46.079 What did I do? 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:48.880 Was that young lady's question in my office. 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:56.000 And truthfully, I don't know what I said to her, but I remember stumbling through what I understood was the best biblical answer I could give her. 00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:58.160 And I don't think it was very adequate. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:02.000 Because at the end of the day, I think I was trying to explain away suffering. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:06.480 And I think Peter, for me, has been a teacher in the years that's gone by. 00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:17.200 Peter doesn't attempt to explain suffering away, but what Peter has for us, for those of us who walk through pain and suffering, is a hope. 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:20.240 A hope that we have a share with Jesus. 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:25.440 A hope that we who share with Jesus' sufferings will in fact share with his glory. 00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:28.960 So we ought not to be surprised when we counter suffering. 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:31.759 We ought not to count ourselves forsaken. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:40.240 Because Christ, who went to the cross for our sake, he himself was not forsaken, but vindicated and raised, and now is ascended on high. 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:42.880 And we ought not to be ashamed of the gospel. 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:46.240 For it's the power of God for salvation. 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:53.440 So, friends, this doesn't solve suffering. 00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:57.440 But it does mean that God is at work in the midst of it. 00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:02.960 And we can have hope that He will remain faithful to us in the midst of it. 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:07.039 For God remains faithful even in suffering. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:16.640 Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:22.640 Lord, would you walk with us through whatever season of suffering that we are encountering right now? 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:33.200 Whatever it is, Lord, that's on our hearts, whatever it is that's on our minds, Lord Jesus, would you step into it with us? 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:36.799 Would you show yourself to be present? 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:40.240 Would you comfort us, Lord? 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:43.119 Would you strengthen us? 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:46.400 Would you refine us? 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:53.680 Would you give us the grace we need to walk with you this day and every other? 00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:56.160 It's in your name we pray. 00:30:56.480 --> 00:30:57.119 Amen. 00:30:58.960 --> 00:31:00.640 Thank you for listening today. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:06.240 We worship a generous God who calls us to follow Him in giving willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially. 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:12.960 Newsong Church's mission and ministry is 100% funded by the generous gifts of those worshiping and journeying with us. 00:31:13.119 --> 00:31:20.720 If you'd like to offer a gift towards Newsong's ministry, please visit Newsongportperry.ca slash giving for more information on how to do that. 00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:23.599 May God bless you and keep you today and every day.