I Peter - Perspective On Suffering

Our guest speaker Ryan C. summarized the epistle of I Peter and it's teaching on suffering in the Christian life.

Transcript

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 insofar as
you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his
glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed
because of the spirit of glory and of God's rest upon you. But let none of you
suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone
suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that
name. 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? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and
the sinner? Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their
souls to a faithful creator while doing good. Praise God for his word. This
morning we have the privilege of having Ryan Corbett with us. Several years ago,
we had heard about Ryan. At that time, Ryan was being held in captivity by the
Taliban. And like many other Christians, we prayed for Ryan. And it's such a joy
to see how the Lord has answered the prayers of so many people. We're thankful
that Ryan is with us. For about 15 years, Ryan served as a missionary in
Afghanistan. Ryan is from the area, Dansville. He's a wife, three children, and
we're just, again, thankful for God's grace in bringing Ryan back. And just the
work that the Lord has done in those years of captivity, we, this morning in
Sunday school, learned a little bit more about just what the Lord did in and
through that time. We're thankful, Ryan, that you're here, and we're glad that
you can come and preach for us this morning. Thanks, Micah. It's a real honor
and privilege to be here. I don't know, am I all on and connected here? Sounding
good? Okay. Yeah, I'm just so blessed that your pastors invited me, kind of
sight unseen, without a whole lot of context or relationship, but invited me to
be part of your worship service this morning. It's been a real blessing so far,
and there's been a lot of warmth here in spite of the cold outside, and now we
get to open God's word and receive some more of the bread of life. Greetings
from my family, who would have loved to be here. They like to travel with me
whenever they can, but they also have their routines and fellowship, and today
hosting small group down in Dansville. But they send their greetings and also
their thanks, all of our thanks for your involvement through prayer in the
crisis that we went through, and the Lord was so faithful, and I'm not going to
say a whole lot more about that this morning. Those of you that were in the
Sunday school hour got to hear a few of the stories. There's so much to unpack.
And you also have your own stories of God's faithfulness through adversities and
difficult times, and I mean something that would be probably every bit as
fruitful as what I'm about to do would be to just take the mic and pass it
around and hear some of those testimonies. But my task this morning is to take
you back to the book of 1 Peter, because I think you've been there for quite a
while, and kind of give a topical approach to this book, which is probably
abnormal for you, as it's abnormal for me, because I would love to just pick one
or two of these verses and exegete them, but I have the confidence that that has
already been done. Over the past several months, you've been well served as a
congregation to walk through this book line by line, verse by verse, chapter by
chapter. I know so, because I've listened to a few of the sermons, and you've
been well fed. And so on that confidence, I'm going to do more of a fly-by
survey. We're going to touch on a lot of different texts. In some ways, it's
going to feel a bit more topical than probably what we're used to. On the
subject of suffering, I believe that God wants to prepare His people in every
generation to have the perspectives, the resources, and the mindsets to suffer
well in this world for His glory. And there's maybe no book of the Bible that is
more chock full of help for us on this topic than is the book of 1 Peter. Let's
have a word of prayer before we go any further. Just ask God to bless the
delivery of His word. Lord God, we ask in the next few minutes that you would
give us ears to hear, hearts to obey. Lord, that you would keep us from error,
and that you would deliver for us the messages, the thoughts, the perspectives,
the spiritual resources that would help this group of believers and help me to
be prepared to suffer well for righteousness' sake so that we can receive all of
the blessings that you intend for your church and so that Christ might be
magnified in places near and far. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, as you know from your journey through this book, the Epistle to Peter was
written to a group of exiles dispersed in an area around Asia, mostly what we
consider modern-day Turkey. And it was written in a context of persecution, but
probably not the more kind of intense state-sponsored persecution which came
later under Nero and other cruel emperors that were trying to crush
Christianity. But this is earlier on. This is a very early epistle, and the
types of adversity and hardship and persecution that the believers were going
through was more of a low-grade persecution and adversity. It comes out in
things like insults and misunderstanding. They don't understand why you don't
join them in the same behaviors that you used to join them in. And so they
insult you and malign your name. That was the type of low-grade, everyday
pressures and persecution that was being faced by these churches. And so that
puts it pretty close to where we're at too. I don't want to overreach here, but
I'm expecting that in a group this size that some of you, maybe most of you,
have experienced adversity of this kind. People that don't understand you and
your value system. Maybe people that you used to hang out with at the bars that
all of a sudden you don't hang out with them there and do the things that they
used to do anymore, and they misunderstand you and make fun of you. Maybe kids
at school that can't participate in certain things or can't join activities on
certain days and just have a different value system, and that grates against the
world and they don't like it. And so sometimes the way they respond to it is to
put pressure and to try to convince us that we're stupid and ignorant and
whatever else they may want to say about us. And so there's a lot of help for
us, I think, in this book. Peter wants to help us to interpret what's going on
as we face these kinds of adversities in the world. We need sometimes a good
interpreter. Some of you have gone to other countries where they speak different
languages, and if you don't know that language, you're sitting around, walking
around the streets, and people are laughing maybe at jokes, but you think
they're laughing at you or some explanation is given some direction, but you
have no idea what was just said. And isn't it so helpful when an interpreter
comes along and someone that knows your language and knows their language and
explains, okay, they just told a joke, they're not laughing at you, they just
told a joke and here's what it was, it still might not make sense after it gets
explained to you because humor is one of those things that's kind of difficult
to translate, but that's what was going on. The person was trying to tell you
how to get from point A to point B, let me break it down in your language so you
know where you're going. It's so helpful to have an interpreter. Or maybe you
think about a child that's going through puberty and experiencing changes in
their body and emotional and hormonal changes and kind of feels like they're
getting pulled apart, what's going on? And when mom or dad comes along and says,
okay, let me explain that this is something that happens to every person as they
mature into an adult. And it might be painful and uncomfortable and weird right
now, you might be feeling all kinds of strange things that you've never felt
before, but the fruit of pressing through this is going to be that you're going
to become a young man, young woman. How helpful is that? In the subject of
adversity and suffering and persecution, we also need interpretation because in
our natural minds we don't understand what's going on. And so Peter wants to arm
us with a certain way of thinking. He wants to put on a certain lens. He wants
to reframe the whole conversation for us. Suffering can be positive in the life
of a believer, but those positive benefits, that blessing that gets talked about
through the epistle is not automatic. It only comes as we suffer well armed with
the perspectives that Peter gives us. Suffer well like Jesus and with Jesus.
That's where we meet with blessing and the path of adversity. Mostly what's in
view here, although not exclusively, is suffering for righteousness sake.
Suffering as a Christian, suffering while bearing his name. Although I think
there is application for sufferings of all kinds that we share just by being
part of this broken humanity. So what are the interpretations that Peter has for
us in this book? Again, this is hopefully going to be review for you. First of
all, suffering is normal and it's necessary. Look at chapter 1 verse 6. In this
you rejoice in your salvation, though now for a little while, if necessary, you
have been grieved by various trials. Jump over to chapter 4 verse 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. Isn't that our first response
when we encounter suffering? Something strange, something abnormal is going on
here. Or maybe I must have done something wrong because if I've been obedient to
the Lord and I'm facing this kind of pressure or adversity or people mocking me,
making fun of me, I'm feeling uncomfortable, God's not being faithful to his
promises or I got something wrong. And that's just deeply ingrained into our
culture and the way that humans frame things, isn't it? You think about that
song in the Sound of Music where Fraulein Maria is singing to the Baron,
somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. Now good
things are happening to me, I got the guy that I love is interested in me, I
must have done something good when I was a kid. Karma, right? Tit for tat, good
for good. Boy we need to reframe when it comes to that, don't we? It's necessary
and normal to go through suffering. Our tendency, I think in particular in the
American church where we've experienced a lot of freedom from suffering for a
long time and wealth and affluence, is to quickly jump in and relieve adversity
and suffering wherever we find it, maybe even globally when we hear about
brothers and sisters that are being persecuted for their faith, we just want to
jump in and maybe give them visas, give them money. What they really want, when
you really sit down and interview them, talk to them, hear their stories, they
want our prayers. They want a sense of solidarity with them. They don't
necessarily want to be relieved, why? Because they have experienced that
suffering is a normal and necessary part of the Christian experience and we're
in good company when we suffer, aren't we? So persecuted they the prophets that
were before you and even Jesus Christ himself. Your brothers around the world in
chapter five, Peter's going to tell us, remember your brothers around the world
are experiencing the same thing. We can get a lot of comfort and energy from
that, like oh maybe the cultural moment that we're living in in the United
States right now is actually abnormal and what is normal and necessary is paths
that lead to adversity and suffering and our world accepts this to some degree.
I think about influences like Jordan Peterson or the new Stoics that acknowledge
that suffering is inevitable and can be good for us and so we need to man up, we
need to reach down deep and find inner resources that we need in order to
transcend that. And there's some help in those perspectives to make us hearty
people, make us resilient people for what we're going to face in this world. But
for us, for followers of Jesus, there's something more, something more personal.
Suffering is not only normal and necessary, it is the Christian's calling. Look
at chapter two verse twenty-one. For to this, what is this? It's being beaten,
it is suffering, it is being unjustly treated. To this you have been called
because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might
follow in his steps. Some people ask the question, where is God when suffering
happens? You see that in journalism all the time, you know, maybe there's a
school shooting or something happens, a natural disaster and maybe the
journalist will go to a church and interview a pastor or priest and say, hey,
try to explain where is God in this or maybe your neighbor asks you that
question. Where is God? He's right in the middle of these situations of
suffering. He's present because he also transcended heaven to come to earth and
live among us and experience all the things that we experience. And so when
Peter says that we're called into suffering, I think what we are to picture is
that the Lord Jesus who's gone before us in suffering, he's there in the water,
so to speak, you know, go on vacation or something, it's a pool or a natural
spring or something and who goes in first? Dad goes in first or big brother goes
in first and then they say, okay, it's not so bad, come on in, the water's warm.
That's what Jesus has done for us. He's gone ahead. He doesn't call us to do
something. He's not calling us from a distance, like go over there. He's calling
us from a place of the experience of adversity, the experience of suffering, far
beyond what you and I will ever be asked to go through. So he has real resource
to help us in that. It's a personal calling that we're submitting ourselves to,
not just sort of a stoic, you know, submitting to some fate or something like
that. No, it's a personal God that calls his people into suffering and there's a
certain privilege in that. If God has called you to a place of suffering, there
are so many things that could be said about that, so much comfort that needs to
be given to one another, but in the whole mix of things, we really need to
understand and believe that there is a privilege and a calling to go with Jesus
into places of suffering. Suffering is normal and necessary. Suffering is the
Christian's calling and suffering involves a blessing. Look at chapter three,
verse 14, just as an example. Even if you should suffer for righteousness sake,
you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. Then skip down to
chapter four, verse 14. If you're insulted for the name of Christ, you are
blessed. Now the root there with blessed is very close to the word for happy.
You're a happy, privileged, blessed people when called into suffering. Now what
a tremendous reframe that is. We've gone from thinking of ourselves like a pity
party, woe is me, for me, to understanding that there's a certain sense in which
we've been called into a blessing. Now what is the blessing? Oh man, we could
spend the rest of the time trying to understand that from Peter and to flesh it
out, but I think even if we did that, we would come up short. Remember what I
want to say is if you want to know what the blessing of suffering with the right
perspectives with Jesus are, follow him into hard places in the particular path
of obedience that he's laid out for you and you'll find out. You'll find out.
It's a gracious thing, chapter two, verse 19, in the sight of God. It's a
credit. It's a positive thing. It's on the pros list, not the cons list. If
we're to take Peter seriously here, why? Well he suggests a lot of things. It
tests our faith. Your faith is so, so valuable to God, so valuable, more
precious than gold, and he desires your faith to be purified so much that he
privileges you to go through the fire so the dross goes away. He is laying up
for you an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison as we look not at the
things that are seen but at the things that are unseen. Blessed are those who
are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. True
suffering is your passageway to learn and be formed into a citizen for the
eternal kingdom of God. It's the path in the door. The apostles understood this.
I'm reading through Acts right now in my personal devotions. The apostles got
this. In fact, the message, one of the first messages that they delivered to all
of the churches was this message, through many tribulations, you must enter the
kingdom of God. Now if you think about your own path of discipleship, maybe you
were mentored or before baptism you took a class or something like that, maybe
you're mentoring someone right now in the faith. For how many of us on our top
10 or 20 topics for new believers would be suffer well because it's through many
tribulations that you're going to enter the kingdom of God. That was lesson
number one for the new churches in the day of the apostles. Suffering involves a
blessing. Do you believe that? Maybe you don't understand. I'm not asking you to
understand it. I don't understand it myself. I've experienced pieces of it. You
have too. But I'm asking you to believe it. I'm asking you to take it to the
bank with me that there is a blessing. And I experience that when I have been
around people that have suffered. I know that that's true. Most of all, when I
am with people that have suffered, not everybody, because remember it's not
automatic. It requires the proper mindsets. But have you ever gone to the
hospital to visit a saint to encourage them and you walk away and you found that
you're the one that was encouraged? Have you ever spent time with somebody
that's gone through something tough and been sweetened by it? And it's just so
obvious that they have spent time in the presence of Jesus. I told you I'm
reading Acts. Just the other day I read the account of Stephen being martyred.
And you want to feel sorry for Stephen, but the text doesn't let you. The text
doesn't say anything that would lead you to pity Stephen or feel sorry for him.
The text leads you to almost feel a little bit envious of him. Because as he's
being accused and mocked and dragged out of the city, his face starts shining
like an angel. And the glory of God opens up in his vision. And Jesus Christ
himself, who normally sits at the right hand of the Father, gets up and welcomes
him home. And just like Jesus, when he was on the cross, said to the Father,
into your hands I commit my spirit, Stephen looks and sees Jesus Christ and says
to him, into your hands I give my spirit. Now I don't know how that lands on
you, but when I read accounts like that and when I read of others who have
suffered for righteousness sake, I can't help but feel the truth of this, that
there is a blessing, that these aren't just words and platitudes that Peter is
giving, that he has really experienced it and he knows that it's true. Suffering
is normal and necessary. Suffering is the Christian's calling. Suffering
involves a blessing. And suffering signifies our involvement in the age to come.
When you're suffering, your world can really collapse into something really
small and really private and something that no one else understands and
something very selfish. That's a potential effect of suffering, isn't it? We've
seen it in ourselves, we've seen it in others. I know sometimes when I'm sick or
something I just want to be left alone and I'm the worst version of myself when
I'm not feeling well. But again, Peter's going to help us to reframe this. He
wants us to put it in a context. Your suffering is not just this private little
personal thing that you're going through right now, not even just a blessing for
you. It's part of something redemptive and cosmic that God is doing in the
universe right now through the church. And getting a hold of that helps us out a
lot. Okay, this isn't just about me. This isn't just about me being comfortable.
There's something going on, cosmic, right now that's being proclaimed, that's
being accomplished as I go through this suffering. And so don't allow yourself
to feel sorry for yourself. You know who doesn't feel sorry for you? All of the
saints and prophets that have gone before and look back at our day with envy.
Those are the days, they say. That was the time to be alive. You know who
doesn't feel sorry for you? The angels in heaven that long to look upon the
things that are happening in our age. Where am I getting this from? You probably
remember from chapter 1, verse 19, chapter 10. Concerning this salvation, the
prophets who prophesied about the grace was to be yours searched and inquired
carefully, inquiring what person or time the suffering of Christ, the spirit of
Christ in them was indicated when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the
subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they have now been announced,
that they were serving not themselves but you in the things that have now been
announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy
Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Peter really
wants us to feel these are amazing days that we live in, privileged days that we
live in. And even the path of suffering that so required such a part and parcel
of living in these days should signal to us that the end is coming and that
somehow through our sufferings with Jesus we get to be a little part of that.
See that? You remember that story about the three guys that were building Rome
and someone comes up and asks the first one, what are you doing? I'm mixing some
mortar. And then he asks the second one, what are you doing? I'm building a
wall. And then the third one, what are you doing? I'm building one of the most
magnificent cities in the world. See our perspective? Yeah, it's just a little
thing you're doing. You're mixing some mud, you're putting a brick up, but
you're part of something really big. And brothers and sisters, when you go
through suffering, however small and seemingly insignificant, the angels are
looking, the saints and the prophets are looking, and they're cheering you on to
finish your race well because they're waiting for something too. They're waiting
for the full redemption. And they're watching us to see how we weather that with
the Lord Jesus. They're like locked in from their heavenly seats. The angels are
locked in, so, so interested in what's going on in these days. Don't feel sorry
for yourself. Time can slow down when you're suffering, can't it? Man, I just
reflect some on my experience where for when I tell the story, it maybe seems a
little exciting and phenomenal, but man, my memory of it is just hours and hours
sitting on a mat with nothing to do, time seeming to stretch out into eternity.
But you know what? With that bigger perspective, what would Peter have us to
understand? Now for a little while. A little while. What does he mean by a
little while? What do you mean by a little while? Kids, when you think of a
little while, it's when mom says, you know, I'm going to have a snack ready in a
little while, five minutes, feels like a really long time. You know, a little
while could be for somebody in a context of persecution. You know what a little
while could mean for somebody with a chronic illness? 70 years? Doesn't feel
like a little while. But if you back up with a lens of eternity, it's a little
while. It's a blip. And it is storing up for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond comparison as we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things
that are unseen. We're only in this position for a little while. And while we're
there, God is working forward the purposes of redemption in this world. He is
considering us the new people of God, chapter two, the new temple being put
together brick by brick, stone by stone, into the presence of God on earth, the
chosen race and royal priesthood, the holy nation, verse nine, a people for his
own possession, those who had not been a people but now are his people. We're
the Israelites wandering in the desert being pressed and misunderstood and
harassed by our enemies on all sides, but certainly victorious sojourners and
exiles heading for a destination. Even those who speak evil of us can't do so
forever because of that. The end is at hand, chapter four, verse seven. The end
of all things is at hand. We're living in the last days. That was true 2,000
years ago when Peter wrote these words, and it's still true today because God,
to God, a day is like 1,000 years. So a couple of days have passed from God's
perspective since this was written. So don't start doubting that it was somehow
Peter got it wrong when he said the end is at hand. The end was at hand then.
The end is at hand now. And in the end, which we're living in, in the end, in
the day of the Lord, everyone who has persecuted you, every enemy of yours,
everyone who has judged you in the flesh will be judged by the Lord, the judge
of the universe, will receive the recompense. That's why we don't have to take
matters in our own hands. That's why we can lay down our lives for people.
That's why we can love people. That's why we can forgive people. That's why we
don't have to get an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The only people that
really can do that, the world tries to do that, and they kind of stumble along
and they give a good attempt sometimes to live that way. They can't really
sustain that. The only people that can sustain returning good for evil in
context of suffering are those that know that an end is coming when God himself,
the righteous judge, is going to exact everything that needs to be exacted, and
he knows best, and he knows best, and he has put forward his son, Jesus Christ,
as a propitiation for sins of anyone who will believe our sins and the sins of
our persecutors if they will trust in him. So leave it. Leave it to him.
Vengeance is mine. I will repay. The end is coming. The end of all things is at
hand. It's right there at the door. We should live with that sense. The end is
coming. The end is even here. It's at the door. What God is doing right now
through suffering is purifying his people now so that he can judge the world
later. Chapter 4, verse 17. Let's back up to verse 16. If anyone suffers as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name, for it
is time for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if he begins with us,
what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the
righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?
Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a
faithful creator while doing good. We are the ones who God is judging now, and
when I say judging, I don't mean that he is punishing us for our sins. He took
care of that on the cross, for any of you who believe. But he's judging us in
the sense of, as a good and loving father, he's ordaining and putting us through
a path of difficulty and adversity that tries our faith so that we come out
strong on the other end and so that our enemies have nothing evil to say to us
and so that at the right time they get their turn. So this is happening to you
now as part of some cosmic plan that God is doing to bring about the end. And so
if you don't go through it now, the end's not going to come. You see that? The
purification's happening in the church now, and then later on it's going to
happen to the rest of the world. So embrace it. Fit yourself strong for it. And
arm yourself with the mindsets to endure it well, because after you do, for a
little while, then God's eternal and cosmic purposes are going to come to
fruition in the world. Okay, much more that could be said about that, but let's
move on. Four perspectives. Suffering is normal and necessary. Suffering is the
Christian's calling. Suffering involves a blessing, and suffering signifies our
involvement in the age to come. It's part of something bigger. For what? What
should we do tomorrow morning when you get up and you face whatever it is that
God's got out there for you? What are you going to do when someone laughs at
you? What are you going to do when your obedience to Him ends up costing you
something? First of all, you should rejoice and be glad. And it would be a
ridiculous thing for me to get up here and say that. I'm only echoing passage
after passage after passage in the scripture that expect and even command us to
rejoice and be glad. Look, for example, at chapter 4, verse 13. Rejoice insofar
as you share God's Christ's suffering so that you may also rejoice and be glad
when His glory is revealed. Where do you get the joy to rejoice in your
sufferings? The answer of this verse and other passages of scripture is that you
borrow it from the future. Where do you get the joy? To withstand and endure,
but not only to endure, to do so happily. You borrow it from the future. So
there is an endless, unlimited storehouse of joy waiting for you in the new
heavens and the new earth. And that joy is available to you and to me right now.
Rejoice now in order that you rejoice later. And get the joy that you need to
rejoice now from the later. Do you remember that parable that Jesus told about
the man who found some treasure in a field? And in his joy, don't miss that, in
his joy, he sold everything that he had. It's not usually something that's
associated with joy, you know, getting rid of everything. All your memories,
your house, your bank accounts, clearing it all out. It's not something that's
usually associated with joy. In his joy, he did this and then went out and
bought that field that had a way greater treasure in it. Friends, in our joy, we
suffer well with the Lord Jesus because what's coming to us at the end of that
suffering for a little while is eternal joy. And that joy is enough for them and
it's even enough for us now. And this is the testimony of so many who have
suffered throughout the ages, Paul and Silas, when they found themselves in
prison. Their first response, the natural thing that came out of their hearts
was to sing, to start a worship service. I read recently the account of a
Chinese believer who was interviewed after an experience in prison for her
faith. And the interviewers were asking her about that and she said, oh yes,
those were really good times. And it was so phenomenal and so unexpected that
the interviewers assumed that they had misunderstood and so they asked through
the translator for an explanation. She said, no, no, I really mean that. That
was one of the best times of my life, being with the Lord there with nothing
else to do. Nothing else to do but just abide in him, the ways that he met me,
the ways he showed himself to me. In your joy, in your joy, the joy of heaven
available in abundance for those who will suffer. So rejoice and then submit to
God. Now this is a hard one. This is a hard pill to swallow. But there's a whole
section in the middle of this epistle that talk about submission, submission to
authority, submission to kings, et cetera, emperors. Remember this is the Roman
Empire. These are not nice people to submit to. Submission of wives to their
husbands. Again, in some of these cases it's not like the guy was great. He's
somebody like Abraham that would sometimes ask ridiculous things. Submitting,
submitting a slave to the master even when that master is cruel and unjust.
Again and again, the posture of the Christian is submit. But what we're not
ultimately submitting to in those situations is that authority. Okay? Women, if
you're in a situation where your husband's not a believer or not making wise
decisions, submitting to him as scripture expects is not about submitting to
him. It's about submitting to the Lord who has put these things in our life.
Those of us that are called to be good citizens of a country that sometimes
doesn't always, isn't always a friend to our faith, when we submit ourselves to
that, we're not submitting to the governors and presidents and kings, congress.
We're submitting to God who has put that authority in our lives. And there is
such a blessing in releasing your grip of control on your life and allowing
yourself to be in a position of submission, not ultimately to the people that
might be abusing you, but to God who has grand, grand things planned for you.
And this is what Jesus did. This is what Jesus did. He entrusted himself,
chapter 2, verse 22. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not
threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Chapter 4,
verse 19, therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their
souls to a faithful creator while doing good. That is the expectation of the
Christian sufferer, that we would submit ourselves to the Lord and join a silent
revolution of those that don't take matters in their own hands, don't exact evil
for evil, but rather return evil for good. And trust God that he has good things
planned for you. That's what Jesus did. That's how Jesus endured the cross. He
trusted that his Father had good in store for him and for the people that he had
come to die for. He trusted that. And so he doesn't mean he didn't wrestle. He
wrestled hard in the garden, didn't he? But he ultimately said, not your will,
not my will, but yours be done. And that's what God wants us to say, and not
just say, but believe and act on. Lord, not my will, but yours be done. And to
let go, and there's a wonderful grace in that. Americans don't like to submit to
anything. We don't like to be subjective to anything. But open your hands,
because it's only when you let go sometimes that you can receive the good that
God wants to give you. Rejoice, submit yourself to God, and finally do good.
Just keep doing good. That seems pretty simple, doesn't it? But we don't go
through these things with selfishness or pity or with an eye on ourselves. We
keep looking for opportunities to do the next right thing, to do the next good
thing. What should you do tomorrow when you wake up in a situation of suffering?
Do good. Chapter 2, verse 11. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles,
abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Drop
down to verse 20. For what cred is it when you sin and are beaten for it you
endure, but if you do good and suffer for it you endure. This is a gracious
thing in the sight of God. Chapter 3, verse 16. Having a good conscience so that
when you're slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may have
nothing to say. So the calling is not just to endure, but to keep doing good.
Keep doing your thing as a Christian. Keep loving your neighbors. Keep being
generous with the poor. Keep doing all the things that Jesus calls you to do in
the context of suffering, and there will be a great blessing. Well, Jesus is the
ultimate beautiful, wonderful example of suffering, and He is also the source of
our power in suffering. He, by His unique example of going to the cross for us,
has brought us to God. He brought us to God so that we don't have to endure
suffering in order to have God. It's not a path to get God. We already have Him
in full measure. We can endure because we have Him, because Jesus has brought us
to Him through His sufferings and set us an example that we might follow in His
steps. Let's pray. Lord, it's easy to talk about these things, but we pray that
you would shift our mindsets, Lord, because these things are so unnatural.
Everything in the world is fighting against us, thinking about adversity in
these ways. Lord, reframe our perspectives that we might follow Jesus to the
hard places, to do the hard things in the particular path of obedience that you
have in front of each one of us, and that when that adversity comes, for it
certainly will, it is necessary, it is normal, that we would experience it as a
blessing, that we would experience it with joy, and that we would experience it
as part of something grand and cosmic that You're doing, to bring about good
things in our lives and even in the whole of the world and the universe, Lord.
So who is sufficient for these things? Lord, it is only in You who gives us this
efficiency, Lord, would You pour it out now upon Your people that they may
suffer well for their joy and for Your honor and glory, and we pray in Your
precious name, amen.