Sermon Prep FINAL| 1 Peter 4:12–19

Recap

Good morning GracePointe. If I haven’t had a chance to meet you yet, my name is Scott Brockett and I am one of the pastors here. It is an honor to come to you today as we continue our series in 1 Peter titled “Hope Under Pressure”. Pressure is something we have all felt over the last while.

Despite that pressure we may feel, we have the joy of going through God’s word together this morning and I am confident that God will continue to do a mighty work in our hearts and minds through His word.

One of the things that will not surprise you is that I love guitars. I have from a very young age loved guitars and music featuring guitars. I have long said that I love playing guitar…regardless of my skill level. My first concert was the iconic roots country artists....the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in Bend, Oregon. I am hoping that many of you now have their big hit “Fishing in the Dark” stuck in your head now....you are welcome. One of my favorite blues artists is Stevie Ray Vaughn who entertained audiences with his giant bear claws known as hands. So so talented! In 1990 after his untimely death in a helicopter accident, the family put up his guitar on auction for over $600,000!

Insert Picture

For those that are looking at the picture, look how beat up the guitar is. It is a 1965 Fender Strat that had been refinished by someone who did not know what they were doing. This guitar is the very definition of used. Several sections of the guitar body finish are worn off, the finish on the neck and body is sanded down from playing. Fun fact, it is also signed by Mickey Mantle as Stevie played the national anthem at a baseball game where Mickey mantle is in attendance and he got him to sign it.

This guitar has been played, hard…and yet it is these blemishes, these wear marks, these scars, these sufferings that reveal the treasure, the true worth of the passion the musician had who played the instrument. No one looking at this guitar would wonder if it was played often. It looks like he played the guitar 24/7. This guitar was used by the player to make beautiful music!

In our walk with Christ, in our relationship with Christ, we can often declare our faith is real. We can mean it whole heartedly. But all of us know that when the stress of negative comments, slander, and persecution come, that is when our faith is shown for what it really is. In these verses today we find that we should not be surprised by suffering but instead follow the example of Christ and rejoice in being counted with Jesus. When we feel the temptation to give up, we lean on the Lord to keep doing good! We keep doing good to exemplify the grace of God in our lives.

Turn with me now to 1 Peter as we look at our main passage for today. If you don’t have a bible, please raise your hand and someone will come to give you a bible. We are gonna start on Verse 12.

1 Peter 4:12–14 ESV

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.

Beloved

Isn’t it interesting how he starts out this passage. “Beloved”. Other translations say “Dear Friends” It strikes me with an air of putting gentleness in your voice whether you are saying something or writing something…just before you need to give some hard news or advice.

I was chuckling thinking of when my dad and I went fishing as a way to deal with some grief in our lives. I bought one of those one man pontoon boats. One time, early in our fishing expeditions, we were out fishing on a lake and my Dad was in a row boat quite a ways from me. I was all set. I had my rod, tacklebox, my box for any fish I would catch and my new waterproof phone holder for my brand new iphone.

All of the sudden, the phone rang. I am not positive but I believe it might have been one of our members and worship leaders here, Josh Crosby. In any case, the phone rang and I was like sweet…I got my case. I just need to open the case and get the phone. Well I try to open this case and it flips up in the air, the phone comes out of the case and falls right between my feet into the lake. My brand new iPhone. It happened so fast. I had no time to think about what I would do....it was gone. I rowed very angrily to shore to borrow a phone from someone to make the unfortunate call to my wife Jen. She answered and I tried to put all of my hurt and embarrassment into my response....”Hey babe”. She responded “.....did you drop your phone in the lake?” That is a wife who knows her husband right there.

Peter from the get go here is reminding them that their identity is in Christ. They are sons and daughters of God. They are the family of God. They are beloved. His reminder is so critical because when talking about suffering, our identity is one of the first things that gets called into question.

Suffering

Suffering is so difficult and we all have the temptation to run in word, thought and deed from suffering. We spend a good portion of our lives making things easier for ourselves. When suffering happens, there is a real part of our response that signals an alarm. This is Not what we want, intended, desire.

And yet philosophers and theologians alike agree in some way or another that there is benefit to be found in suffering. SLIDE: Author Tim Hansel points out that “Most of the Psalms were born in difficulty. Most of the Epistles were written in prisons. Most of the greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers of all time had to pass through the fire. Sometimes it seems that when God is about to make preeminent use of a man, he puts him through the fire”

We worship God who can use any and all experiences to draw you near to Him. To cause growth in You. To hone your relationship with him

Today, a question should form in your mind....do I want a pain free life without God....or a life with God that absolutely have pain and suffering.

Before we go on I want to outline a few types of suffering and this is not an exhaustive list but helps us to know what suffering we are talking about today and we are not talking about today.

Suffering Type: Creation Suffering

Sin is the earthquake and we continue to feel in the aftershocks through out the world in every aspect of life. Natural disasters, terminal diseases, born with unexplained diseases, the sting of death. Much of suffering is explained by “sin has made this world broken”. We hurt along with creation itself as it groans as Paul references in Roman

Suffering type: Consequential Suffering

Sin is a ripple that effects everyone. In our souls and the people around us. When we engage in sin, we are providing a source of pain in our lives and we suffer. Those who are victims of sin....suffer. Trauma, oppression, abuse, these are painful realities in our community and around the world. Whole people groups and demographics suffer as families, nations, ethnicities, and genders due to Sin. Even watching someone you know suffer brings about its own suffering.

Finally this last type of suffering what our verses in 1 Peter are referencing.

Suffering type: Christian Suffering

When we follow Jesus , we will experience the suffering of laying down our fleshly desires and fighting our sin. But Jesus warned His followers that just following Him will lead to suffering at times. Historically, God’s people all over the world have frequently suffered at the hands of those who oppose God. Christian suffering can range from negative stereotypes, taunting, getting made fun of all the way to the extreme of physically persecution, genocide, and martyrdom. Missionally, Jesus endured suffering to show off how much God loves those who are seemingly far from God. We will sometimes be called to do the same to sacrificially love people far from God. That can and will lead to suffering.

My story from Australia. Keep short

The Promise of Suffering in Scripture

The Bible outlines that when we follow Christ, we will experience suffering for His sake.

Philippians 1:29 ESV

29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

2 Timothy 3:12 ESV

12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Matthew 5:11–12 ESV

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Even the term “Christian” traces its roots to being given by the powers that be in Antioch in Acts 11:26. It is often assumed that the name “Christian” was given somewhat flippantly or even disparagingly by these powers-that-be—a sort of dismissive wave of the hand to those “little Christs.” Technically, the ending “-ian” means “belonging to the party of,” so “Christians” meant those of Jesus’ party.

We have and will experience the suffering for the sake of the Cross according to Scripture. When we lean in to what God would have us do, people will not understand. They have different values, different goals, and different behaviors. This leads to a different lifestyle. Much of what goes on in the world depends on lies, pride, pleasure, and a misplaced object of desire. We were created to desire God for eternity. But when we remove God from the equation, we are left desiring everything else and nothing satisfies. What satisfies our desire? Everything.....plus one. That is our sin at work twisting what God created for good…and making us miserable in the process.

This stark contrast will mean that we will be looked at, treated, and spoke about differently. Jesus points out where this negativity comes from when he says that we can’t serve two masters in Matthew 6:24

You will love one and hate the other. People pick a master and then have to justify that love by hating those who oppose it. Christians have faced trials and have suffered for choosing THE MASTER from the beginning of the church.

And before we think it is not happening today....let us not fool ourselves. According to Open Doors’ 2021 World Watch List—an in-depth investigative report focusing on global Christian persecution—persecution is increasing at an alarming rate. Research for the List indicates that each day, a staggering 13 Christians are killed for their faith in the top 50 countries ranked on the World Watch List. That same report outlines that 12 churches are attacked. Can we agree that here in the United States, Christians face Christian suffering....but not at that level? Everyday we should be lifting up our brothers and sisters around the world who face intense persection. We should cry with them and encourage them in anyway we can.

Persecution in a grand sense is when their is a clash between two irreconcilable value systems. Where are you clashing ?.What does Peter have to say about that. I would give you a few responses that Peter outlines for us here in these passages.

1 Peter 4:12 ESV

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 first is.....

DON”T BE SURPRISED

Peter here says don’t be surprised. Don’t be caught off guard.

When have you been surprised by something that you shouldn’t have been? I am a very jumpy guy as we have already covered a few times in previous spider stories. But even more so than a jumpy surprise is a holistic caught off guard type moment. The one that jumps out to me is having children. Everyone tells you how tired you will be. Everyone tells you how much work it is. And yet, you are still not prepared for the magnitude of it. Even after you have had one child, you are still surprised by the amount of work with the second one. haha

When we are experiencing suffering, there is a delusion we can all engage in. Why is this happening? Why to me? I believe in God…why am I experiencing hardship? It is not supposed to be like this. Our doubts kick in and try to make a better equation. What did I do wrong? Does God not like me? Is there a God?

Here is why Peter reminds us that we are beloved. You are a part of the family....not regardless of what you are going through. You are going through this persecution Because you are part of the family of God.

Don’t think it strange? Don’t fool yourself into thinking this is abnormal. God is telling us in his word that this is to be expected.

As a sidenote, can we as Christians begin to work at not being surprised by non-Godly things. I am not saying we need to be ok with them. Quite the opposite.

We can stand against something but do we need to be shocked. Do we need to be caught off guard? There is nothing new under the sun.

When we react with surprise to sin, it doesn’t do much other than often times....damage our witness. When someone comes to you and says they are struggling with sin…and we react with surprise or shock. I believe it makes it look like we are not sure God can handle it. Is God big enough to overcome any of those things I just mentioned? YES! But again, a side note...

We are not to be surprised at Christian suffering but there is another response we are to have....

1 Peter 4:13 ESV

13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

Rejoice!

Before you begin to think that Peter is a crazy person, test this out. Through out this book, Peter is outlining how we have hope at all times in Jesus Christ. This hope is everything. Look for a moment with me at another passage where Paul both unpack this concept of rejoicing.

Romans 5:2–5 ESV

2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

The translation of this word for rejoice is to “BE GLAD”.

We rejoice because we are now counted with Christ. Remember, we are little christs. We have a hope for our past, for today, and a hope beyond death. Draw on that hope. But Paul goes on as to why we rejoice....

Be with Christ

1 Peter 4:13–14 ESV

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.

We can rejoice because we share Christ’s sufferings. We have talked about our suffering. What of the suffering of Christ?

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came in the flesh to suffer and die and by that suffering and death to save undeserving sinners like you and me. This coming to suffer and die is the ultimate example of grace of which all glory and honor are given. It all happened THROUGH SUFFERING. Christ who was blameless suffered and endured the cross. He bore the wrath of God that was meant for us. He bore our sin and shame. He defeated death…but that meant he had to suffer death.

1 Corinthians 15:55–57 ESV

55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ disarmed Satan and purchased with his body and blood a perfect final healing for all His people....and He did it through suffering.

The sufferings of Christ are intrinsically missional, Jesus is always redeeming. This means that sharing in the sufferings of Christ should relate more with persecution in the context of the Great Commission. Not our comfort. Not our own ideas. This is big....Jesus is all about the marginilized....the forgotten…the least of these. Are we standing up for them, sharing Christ, and in doing so....sharing in the sufferings?

SUFFERING displays the greatness of grace found in Christ Jesus. This is glory. This is the promise of this passage: It is impossibe for us to experience the Christian Suffering without experiencing the subsequent glory of being identified with Jesus.

I came across a great thought around the glory of God.

Isaiah 40:12 ESV

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

Think for a second to the last time you washed your hands (hopefully we have all gotten better at that :). But you are washing your hands and imagine trying to cup your hands and keep every drop of water in your hands coming out of the faucet. Now imagine trying to do that with every faucet in the bathroom running....now imagine if you turned all the faucets on in the city…in your state, country, the world…then, consider that your God can hold all of the liquid in the universe and not spill a single drop! Awe inspiring glory!

If you suffer for his sake, you will share in glory for his sake. When we experience suffering, Peter points out the blessing“…you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” Peter here is making reference to Isaiah 11 and Jesus.

Isaiah 11:1–2 ESV

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

God delights to bless those who are maligned in his name and for his sake, since it shows that his approval is more essential to you than theirs. God guarantees glory to the sufferer. We as christians will face judgement or harsh consequences here in this life because of our relationship with Christ but it can’t hold a candle to the life we look forward to in Heaven.

But what about?

Having two boys, I get the what abouts quite a bit. When will they get in trouble? This concept is not new and is felt by every human at times when they are suffering injustice. For those experiencing Christian Suffering, Peter gives us an answer....

1 Peter 4:16–18 ESV

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?”

He paraphrases from Proverbs to assure us that God will not be mocked, that his people will not go unvindicated. This is another way of telling us that we don’t need to be in the business of vengeance against those who hate us—God will take care of them. This is a classic stay in your lane moment and frankly one that we as Christians tend to forget all the time. We love to jump into the seat of God and try to pretend like we are in control. Those who persecute believers in Christ suffer now (in the things that matter) and will end up suffering for an eternity without God.

There is still another way we can respond when in the midst of Christian Suffering....Peter points out that we should be discerning as to why we are suffering.

DO GOOD

1 Peter 4:19 ESV

19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

This is the summary verse of the summary text

Keep doing it. Suffering is not built in to our DNA to keep doing it. We tend to curl into the fetal position and certainly…whatever is causing us pain....stop doing it by any means necessary. If we can’t stop the pain, we look for non-God ways to escape through distractions, pleasure, pills, booze, and sex. But is the evidence that God wants to see as we showcase His grace in our lives?

Galatians 6:9 ESV

9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

We will reap the fruit of the Spirit in our lives as God continues to hone us and shape us into His image.

What is the evidence that we are trusting Him? We give evidence to the world by doing good. Nothing speaks more powerfully of our faith in God through Christ than to continue to do good even as we suffer. We are encouraged to entrust our souls, the very essence of who we are, to a faithful Creator! When we are suffering, we want to pull back in every way but God wants us to entrust ourselves with him. When we suffer for Christ and keep doing good, we demonstrate that we are indeed a holy people set apart by God for His purposes.

Keep praying for those who persecute you and reveal who your master is. Focus on what you know…that God is good and His love endures forever. May you keep enduring for the sake of the cross.

Will you pray with me.

Would you stand with me now. I am going to read

1 Peter 5:6-11 as a rallying cry for us as we go out into our lives to do good and rejoice in what God would have us endure to exemplify His grace.

1 Peter 5:6–11 ESV

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Thanks for joining us today and we will see you next week.