1 Peter Bible Study #13: The Secret to Experiencing Joy in the Midst of Suffering

February 7/14 will be a brief break in our Wednesday night Bible study time as we’ll be in between studies. On the 7th we’re going to have a Planning Center training time and look at our upcoming church calendar and events coming up the rest of the year. On the 14th we’re going to take a spiritual gifts assessment and pray about ways that we can use our gifts for God’s glory and the good of our church/community. We’ll pick back up with our “usual” schedule on February 21

Mission’s Sunday is March 3rd - We had our first one of these last year and it was a wonderful time as we came together to give sacrificially for our upcoming missions engagements both locally and internationally. From last year’s funds, we were able to build a stage out at Camp Joy, help build 10 homes in Guatemala in addition to feeding hundreds of families, assist with some unexpected costs with VBS, and assist local ministries like Grace Harbor, The school backpack program, and the Riverways Pregnancy Care Center.

It would be a blessing to be able to do these things and even more this year!

Prayer Requests

We have finally arrived at the climactic passage in 1 Peter on suffering - a topic that has been building for several chapters now. We’ve talked about this point often the last month or so, and tonight I pray we are able to understand this application even more as we find ourselves suffering at times simply for trusting in Jesus Christ and living for His glory. One of the best pictures of suffering well in the New Testament is that of Jesus. This is the example that Peter uses often as he connects our temporary suffering to that of our Savior. Think of the Last Supper. Jesus gathers His disciples, we see this in John 13, and He begins to wash their feet. What happens after the passover? Judas betrays Jesus and Jesus is tortured before being crucified. Was this “fiery ordeal” a surprise to Jesus?

Absolutely not!

In fact, if we look in John 13, we see that Jesus knew that the hour had come. This night marked the beginning of the end as His suffering was here. Yet, what did Jesus spend that night doing? Washing feet. Whose feet? Just Peter and James and John? No - even Judas’ feet. The man who would betray Him. The man who sold Him out for 30 pieces of silver. Before this happened, Jesus knew, and He still washed Judas’ feet.

What we see in this final hour of Jesus’ earthly life is a truth that remains so for believers today: Suffering proceeds glory - see Romans 8:17. There are some who argue that once you become a Christian, you will no longer suffer or you won’t suffer as often. We don’t exactly see this in Scripture. We see the opposite, more often than not. Peter’s final appeal to his friends is to look to Jesus. Identify with Jesus. Find your hope in Jesus. Suffer well for Jesus. Don’t be surprised when suffering comes knocking as you follow Jesus. Instead, view your suffering through the lens of Jesus. Whenever we do this, as we’ll see tonight, we can find joy.

1 Peter 4:12–19 CSB

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. 13 Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler. 16 But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in having that name. 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? 18 And if a righteous person is saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? 19 So then, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator while doing what is good.

Christian, Do Not Be Surprised When You Suffer (12)

We know that suffering exists in our world and it exists in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some suffering we can see coming - like when we look at the extended weather forecast and we see that it’s going to be -30 for a few days, we know that to go outside during those days is to suffer! Other times, suffering isn’t exactly on the calendar. Like when you’re driving your car to work and get rear-ended. Both result in suffering, one was expected or at least gave you some warning and the other one just happens. This is how suffering works in our fallen world - everyone we know suffers, including ourselves!

Who enjoys being surprised? What is the best surprise you’ve received?

In 2006 the Cardinals were in the playoffs and my birthday happened to fall on a home game against the New York Mets - my best friend and his family got tickets to the game and had 1 extra and invited me to go. That was an awesome surprise!

Again, not every surprise we experience is a good one. We experience surprises of suffering often and some call this the problem of evil. Have you ever heard that expression before? The problem of evil goes like this:

If God is All-Powerful and All-Good, Evil cannot exist

Evil does exist

Therefore, either God is not all powerful or God is not all good

Therefore, the God of the Bible does not exist

Our answer is that of theodicy - seeking to understand why exactly God permits evil and suffering

We can think of Job, Joseph, and Jesus as Biblical examples of people who suffered greatly even when they didn’t “deserve” to because of their failures and actions. Job and Joseph were completely in the dark as to why they were suffering as well. Yet, in all of this, God is accomplishing something good through their suffering. We see this come to bear in Genesis 50:20

Genesis 50:20 ESV

20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

We can call this a “Greater-Good-Theodicy” as Greg Welty, prof at SEBTS, has written about before. That God has purposes and plans for us in this life that are for our good, sometimes these purposes require us to suffer first, and God doesn’t always give us the answer behind why we suffer in the moment. But in all of this, we trust that He is at work. This isn’t something unusual. This is to be expected for followers of Jesus Christ. We should not be surprised whenever we suffer! God uses suffering to bring about something good.

Why have Christians, especially in modern times, wrestled with this Biblical teaching?

Because if we have the option of suffering or not suffering we’d naturally choose to not suffer

Because it’s been popularized that if we have more faith then we won’t suffer

We will face trials in this life. James 1 and John 16 teach us this. What are these trials?

There could be times where we lack certain things that we’d like to have

There could be times where we suffer persecution because of standing on Scripture

There could be times where we watch those we love slowly pass away

There could be times where we experience spiritual warfare for our faith in Jesus

These trials should not surprise us - we should expect them. They happened to Jesus. They happened to the early Christians. They will happen to us. If you want to experience joy in the midst of suffering, don’t think that you’re the first person to suffer. That’s a one way road to the pit of despair and it’s likely not true. Other Christians have lost loved ones. Other Christians have dropped the ball. Other Christians have lost their health. You are not alone in your suffering. Don’t be surprised. Keep pressing on.

Christian, Glorify God During Times of Genuine Suffering (13-16)

The alternative to acting surprised and being flung into despair is to rejoice - and this is the antidote that Peter gives. This is why we have to have good theology - bad theology hurts people and it leads us astray in times of suffering. As we read the Bible and allow it to guide and direct us, instead of the other way around, then we can stand up and rejoice during times of suffering. The basis of our joy is not in our circumstances - that is happiness. We are happy whenever things go our way. Whenever we get what we want. In Philippians 4:13 terms - we are happy whenever we win the race, but we can have joy when we lose. This is why joy is what we are after as Christians. Happiness will ebb and flow, joy will remain! In our suffering, God is refining us and working in us as verse 13 tells us. When Christ returns, if we have suffered for His namesake and followed Him by faith, we can rejoice in knowing that our faith will be made sight. God is working in us through our suffering and accomplishing something good!

How does the reality of Christ’s return encourage you during difficult seasons in your life?

Suffering s temporary

His return is certain

Our hope is eternal

As we rejoice in Jesus, we glorify God and we encourage others. Think of Philippians - Paul’s dissertation if you will in Christian Joy - Paul is in prison. Suffering. Isolated. Persecuted. Yet, even then he rejoices and gives God glory. What Peter is sharing to these believers in areas where persecution is starting to ramp up is that they have a wellspring of joy available in the person and work of Jesus Christ if they will simply recalibrate their brain in times of suffering. Look at verses 14-16, Peter shares two different types of suffering that we can examine together. There is suffering due to faith and there is suffering due to failure.

Have you ever met someone who tried to use the Christian persecution card whenever the reason they suffered was because they just did something dumb? Imagine this - someone is driving down the highway listening to Christian music and going 100 mph and gets pulled over for speeding and gets a hefty ticket from the highway patrolman. They explain to someone the next day that they got a ticket and they say that the reason that they got a ticket is because they were listening to Christian music. That’s not the reason at all! You can’t say that you were persecuted because of Jesus, you suffered because of your mistake. Peter is sharing that you can’t say that are suffering for being a Christian whenever you steal something or act like a jerk. That’s on you! If you murder someone, you can’t complain when you suffer. When you steal something, you can’t complain when you suffer. When you do something bad - evil - and you suffer, you can’t complain. But then he says the word meddler and this is an interesting word. How is this person in the same category with a murderer, thief, and evildoer? This is the only time this word shows up in the entire New Testament! This word is “allotrioepiskopos” - episkopos is the word overseer which is used at times to describe a pastor. This person is trying to rule over someone else. This is similar to what we see in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 as Paul encouraged us a few Sunday nights ago to live a quiet life and attend to our own business - to stay out of the affairs of other people. What is this word doing here in 1 Peter 4:15? Because there are some who are being a troublesome meddler and trying to rule over other people. To this person who is agitating other people for no reason - you can’t claim to be suffering for Christ.

But, if you follow Jesus and stand on His Word and share His Gospel and that leads you to suffer, then Peter’s encouragement is to not be ashamed of this suffering because you are blessed. The Holy Spirit is with you. You glorify God whenever this happens. We use the phrase glorify God a lot in church life - what exactly does this mean?

Showing by action and attitude that God is glorious, valuable, precious, satisfying

The greatest way to do this is to keep rejoicing in Him whenever everything else in life drops out and fails you. It is easier to see someone glorifying God whenever they have nothing else or whenever their life has been marked by recent tragedy. There is no earthly reason for that person to be rejoicing, yet they are. That stands out and that glorifies God.

God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him. Being content and satisfied in God, regardless of the cost, glorifies God. This isn’t easy, but it is the secret to being content and joyful in times of suffering. We suffer for having that name (v. 16) and that name, Christian, will cost us. But it is not something that we should be ashamed of.

Christian, Trust in the Lord During Times of Suffering (17-19)

So, we shouldn’t be surprised when we suffer as a Christian. We seek to glorify God during our seasons of suffering and find satisfaction and contentment in Him alone. Practically speaking, the way that we do this is by trusting in the Lord. We trust in Him during difficult seasons. We embrace our suffering because we know that there is a Greater Good that God is accomplishing through the suffering. We trust in God to do what is good for us and what is for His glory. We trust in Him - and sometimes as we trust in God that means that we’ll be like a tree that has to be pruned.

Peter is connecting our suffering with God’s ultimate judgment. Notice, he doesn’t say that God’s people are snatched away for the judgment to happen either. Some are so fixated with escaping judgment that they miss what God is doing. God’s judgment is purifying to His people - it is punishing to His enemies - God’s household goes through judgment as our text clearly tells us.

This is significant because to this point in time every aspect of suffering has been due to ungodly people. Yet here it is God who is afflicting His people because we deserve it. We need to be corrected and disciplined. God prunes us. Spurgeon once shared this story as there was an apricot tree near his home and it was pruned and trimmed back so much that he didn’t think it would even get its branches to grow back. Fast forward a few months and they had more apricots than any other year! In the Bible, God disciplines His children for a reason.

Hebrews 12:7 CSB

7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

Hebrews 12:11 CSB

11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Peter’s point is to demonstrate that there are times where God sends His people through these fiery furnaces of suffering and this isn’t unique to individual Christians but His Church as a whole. Why would God send these things to His church?

To separate the sheep from the goats. Some are looking ahead exclusively to this time of judgment, but we can see this already inside of Christ’s church whenever suffering strikes. Some jump ship when the going gets tough. Whenever COVID hit, the nominal Christian left the church and millions haven’t been back - let me be as painfully and lovingly clear as I can be when I say this: If you stopped going to church in 2020 and you go to Walmart, ballgames, school, work, and all the other stuff but you still, 4 years later, haven’t come back to church you might be a lot of things, but a Christian likely isn’t one of them. Judgment begins with God’s house and when we go through suffering as Christians some will abandon ship and in doing so they reveal this

1 John 2:19 CSB

19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

They haven’t remained - they left, and the reason why is because they didn’t belong in the first place. Jesus didn’t come to make lukewarm people. It’s hard to belong to Jesus and trust in Him during difficult times of suffering - but imagine what it will be like for the person who does not know Jesus to suffer whenever Jesus returns - this is Peter’s point. This is a warning to people who go to church but find themselves playing the game. They come for the gift but not the giver. They come to consume not to contribute. This person is in for a rude awakening whenever temporary suffering strikes and this person is in for a serious awakening whenever Jesus returns to judge His enemies and they are on that list. This is a stern warning to wake up. But it’s also a comfort to believers to endure suffering faithfully.

To trust in God - verse 19 - while they suffer. To remember that God is sovereign - their suffering didn’t surprise God. God is over all things and He is faithful in all things. Because of this, whenever we suffer we know that God has a reason. He has a purpose. He is doing something for His glory and our good. Even when we can’t see it, we can trust it. We can kiss the waves that throw us upon the rock of ages - even the waves of loss, suffering, death, and tragedy. As we trust in God, we do what is good. As that beloved hymn says, “Trust and Obey. For there’s no other way. To be happy in Jesus. Than to trust and obey.”

This is the secret to have joy in the midst of suffering according to our text:

Remember that Jesus suffered too

Remember that God has purposes in our pain

Remember that God is with us and for us

Remember to trust in God and do what is good

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