Suffering as a Christian
Notes
Transcript
Good morning, Gateway Chapel!
If we haven’t met before,
my name is Chris I’m the pastor of Gateway Chapel and we are a church family that seeks to encourage one another as we hear, love, and obey Jesus together.
If you’re interested in learning more about following Jesus with us, the connect cards in the seat backs are a great resource for you. You can either use the QR code or fill it out with a pen and drop it in the black box.
Potluck
Anybody hungry? Hold tight. Why potlucks? We are a family in Christ. Families eat together. Every Sunday share the freedom meal of communion which celebrates the fact that Jesus has brought us into God’s family through his death. And every 3 months we have a potluck where we enjoy each other, enjoy food, and remember who we are as a family. We’ve got a potluck right after the service so once we sing our final song, unless the Lord has other plans we’ll move the chairs, set up some tables and enjoy time together. Something to consider, who is someone you could encourage today? Who is someone the Lord would have you notice and let them know that you notice them and give them encouragement? Who might be someone that you could pray for? If someone shares a bit of their life, consider not just saying, “I will pray for you, but can I pray for you now?” Just my two cents.
Membership Class
If you consider Gateway Chapel your home church and you’ve yet to come to a membership class, that is your next step in following Jesus with us. If you’re curious about what it means to be a member of a local church, I’ll see you there next Sunday right after the service. We’ll feed you, childcare is provided. Please RSVP.
Church in Hard Places
In May our goal was to raise $3,000 to support Church in Hard Places and specifically adopt a cohort of pastors in South Africa who are meeting together in Johannesburg this August.
Last Sunday if you were here we were a little over halfway at about $1,700. We did not raise $3,000, we did not raise $4,000, we did not raise $5,000, we raised, $5,475.
How cool is that? Praise God for his generosity shown through you. Like we talked about last Sunday that’s living an ordinary life of love by giving to others. I love you guys no matter what AND I love you for being a generous church.
Prayer
We are a generous church and we want to be a praying church. When we pray we see life as it is: we need God, he is a Father who wants to hear from his children, and we want to partner with him in what he’s up to in our world.
And this month in June we are praying for Gateway Chapel. And so we’re going to take some time each Sunday to pray Scripture over our church body. Would you join me in prayer.
Remember and celebrate our identity in Christ - 1 Pet 2:9-10
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Rejoice in hope even when trials test our faith - 1 Pet 1:6-7
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Represent Christ to our community - 1 Pet 2:12
12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Love one another deeply 1 Pet. 1:22
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
and clothe ourselves with humility 1 Pet. 5:5
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Elders would shepherd like Jesus. That we would not use authority wrongly, but be an example and gladly have responsibility to guide our church towards Jesus.
Intro
I struggle with this passage.
Don’t you?
I have a hard time with this text.
Suffering isn’t strange?
Suffering leads to rejoicing?
Be glad when I suffer?
When I suffer, I am blessed?
Don’t be ashamed when people insult you?
When you suffer for doing good, keep doing the stuff that made you suffer?
I really don’t like to suffer.
I like to go home on Sundays, watch golf, and take a nap.
I don’t like suffering.
Not only that, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever truly suffered for Christ.
Maybe you can relate.
Has there been a time in your life where your faith has cost you? Not just discomfort but has caused you harm.
Maybe you have suffered for Christ and are suffering for Christ. And so this passage is going to speak to you and encourage you.
And we recognize that there are Christians, largely not in the Western world, who are in danger NOW because they love Jesus, are a part of a church, and profess Christ.
Maybe you know my story that I left a sales job to be your pastor.
And when I told several dozen of my old coworkers, most of whom were not Christians, nearly every one of them said, “Way to go! Way to follow your heart!” I received anything but insults.
I’d imagine many of us are in the same place that when it comes out that you follow Jesus, people may look at you differently, but largely it’s met with apathy. “Oh cool, you like Jesus I like going to Township 20.”
I’m having a hard time with this passage.
How is it possible to respond to suffering like Peter says? With joy, perserverance, and trust?
What does this passage say to us who are mostly not suffering for our faith?
Well let’s engage 1 Pet. 4:12-19 together because this is God’s word and he is speaking to us today just as he was speaking through Peter to these 1st century Christians.
I think we’ll see that suffering with Christ is a really good thing.
Suffering with Christ is a really good thing.
We’ll see in verses 12-14 that suffering is a really good thing, then we’ll see in verses 15-18 that suffering apart from Christ is a really bad thing, and in verse 19 we’ll see how we can trust God in suffering.
Body
First, suffering with Christ is a really good thing.
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.
This word “Beloved” shows we are in a new section of Peter’s letter.
If you look back at 1 Pet. 2:11, Peter called his readers “Beloved” and then preceded to speak about how to live as Christians in a hostile world.
Now in 4:12 he says “Beloved” and he will conclude his letter talking about how to suffer as Christians.
He’s going to say a lot about suffering in these next few weeks as we conclude 1 Peter.
Don’t be surprised
Rejoice
Let no one suffer sinfully
Do not be ashamed in suffering
Glorify God
Entrust yourselves to God
Shepherd the flock
Submit yourselves
Humble yourselves
Be alert
Be sober minded
Resist
Why is he saying all this?
Because the people he’s writing to ARE suffering.
We don’t know exactly to what degree. We know this is before statewide persecution where martyrdom is frequent.
But we know they’re discouraged, anxious, afraid, confused, grieving, ashamed, and in need of hope to persevere.
And he seeks to calm them by calling them, “Beloved, dear friends, loved ones…”
And that message is for us today, as well if we are in Christ that you are loved.
First, Peter wants to change our expectations with suffering.
Don’t be surprised!
What does that assume?
They ARE surprised. Not like surprised - yay a new car, but surprised like there’s water pouring out from under my kitchen sink. Terror, shock, dismay. I can’t believe this is happening to me!
Perhaps they’re wondering where is God in this? Has he abandoned us or turned against us?
Don’t be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.
What kind of fiery trial?
It’s not out right martyrdom or physical violence, although that threat may be present for some like slaves or wives who had no status or rights in the 1st century.
This fiery trial is they are being shamed, rejected, insulted, falsely accused of crimes, ostracized, and slandered for their faith.
They are recipients of emotional and verbal abuse. They are undergoing serious trauma because they follow Jesus.
And Peter says this fiery trial is actually meant to test you.
Peter compares Christians to metals which are placed under extreme heat in order to test their strength and burn off the impurities.
He’s said this before.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Fire doesn’t feel good. But, in the right place and under the right circumstances, fire can actually do a lot of good, like shaping a metal, like cooking a pizza, like purifying a Christian. It burns off something to reveal what is truly valuable.
Don’t be surprised by suffering because it may be from God for your good!
How can that be?
Christ himself was tested and suffered and God was fully a part of that struggle. Christ’s suffering in his life and in his death were not a sign of God’s absence, and we should not be surprised by his suffering because they were predicted in Scripture. They were a part of God’s plan.
Peter is saying your suffering is not a sign of God’s absence, it is a sign of God’s activity.
Suffering with Christ is a really good thing.
How?
Verse 13
13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
In a verse about suffering, Peter also says rejoice, rejoice, be glad, and talks about glory.
Don’t be shocked…be glad!
Anybody glad when things go terribly?
Be glad because you’re sharing in Christ’s sufferings.
If we are Christians and we follow Christ, then we will suffer because our King suffered, too.
Peter heard this straight from Jesus himself.
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Suffering can lead to gladness instead of sadness as we remember that Christ’s suffering led to his glory.
So for us if we suffer with him for a little while, we will have glory forever!
Suffering with Christ is a really good thing.
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Again, doesn’t this sound like Jesus?
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.
Not only that but the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
It’s like in the middle of pain and suffering for your faith, you are in the middle of the Trinity - the name of Christ, the Spirit of God, and of God.
God is particularly present with his people when they suffer for his name.
Peter himself experienced this.
He and some of the other apostles in Acts 5 were whipped for preaching the gospel. And instead of suing the Jewish leaders, it says
41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
Peter wants us to see that suffering with Christ is a really good thing.
Jesus’ path to victory looked like losing.
The message of the gospel: God came to die at the hands of his enemies, doesn’t make sense.
And yet, it is the best news in the world.
Jesus’ suffering was in our place. Jesus’ death wasn’t the end. Jesus rose again and now has power over all spiritual beings.
And so to follow Jesus means to suffer.
So is all suffering from God?
In verses 15-18 Peter is going to show how suffering isn’t always a really good thing.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
Peter says not all suffering is created equal.
If you kill someone, you can’t go to God and say, “Ah the joy of suffering for you, Lord!”
If you steal, you can’t go to God and say, “What a blessing!
If I mistreat someone in the church and get reprimanded, I can’t say, “I am suffering for the name of Christ!”
Sometimes we suffer because we’re jerks.
Don’t call evil good and good evil.
Yet, if you suffer as a Christians
This is the only time in the New Testament outside of Acts that followers of Jesus are called Christians.
I haven’t done much research on it but I wonder if part of the reason is he wants his readers to see their connection to Christ.
Don’t be ashamed to be named with Christ, but give praise to God in being named with the suffering Christ.
Suffering with Christ is a really good thing, but suffering without Christ is not.
He continues…
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?”
Okay so what’s going on here.
I think Peter is saying that the suffering these Christians are experiencing is judgment from God - it’s like God’s discipline, which although it’s really painful, is actually for their good.
It’s meant to shape them into the best version of themselves.
And this begins with the household or the temple of God. And what or who is the temple of God? Us!
And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
What’s the gospel of God?
In short, Jesus!
Jesus! He came, he lived, he taught, he suffered and died, he was raised to new life and now he reigns as king of the world and all those who put their allegiance in him have eternal life. To obey it is to trust it and suffer with Christ!
If we’re barely making it and we’re a part of the people of God, what’s going to happen to those outside of God’s family?
And that’s what he’s saying in verse 18
And if the righteous are scarcely saved…
If it’s hard for us, how hard will it be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
What’s the gospel of God?
Prov 11:31 reference.
Explain ‘scarcely saved’
Suffering with Christ is a really good thing.
To suffer without Christ is a really bad thing. Because there’s no glory afterwards.
Life is hard for everyone.
Part of my struggle with this passage is a false view of reality that says I can live in such a way to avoid suffering. It’s a lie.
So if suffering with Christ is hard, what will be the outcome for those without Christ?
Suffering with Christ is a really good thing.
We’ve seen that and we’ve seen that suffering without Christ is not a good thing, and finally Peter shows us how to trust God in our suffering.
19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Don’t give up!
This is like a summary statement for this passage.
Entrust your souls
Commit yourself.
You know when you go to a hotel and they have the little vault you put your valuables in. You are entrusting your wallet, passport, keys, whatever, to the vault.
I trust you’ll keep this safe.
God I trust you will keep me safe even in suffering.
Why?
He is Faithful
Reliable, trustworthy, beyond a shadow of a doubt even when we’re in the shadow of death and our very lives may be in danger.
He is the Faithful Creator
Hmm
This is the only time this word for God shows up in the entire New Testament.
When you think of God as Creator what comes to mind?
He’s looking after all of creation.
He made everything.
He’s the ancient one who existed before time and this universe ever came to be.
He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And he came in the flesh as Jesus and suffered and died to save his household and purifies them through fiery trials so that when his glory is revealed our faith will result in praise, honor, and glory.
That’s the God who’s with you in suffering. You can trust him.
And, keep going. Keep doing good. Trust him AS you are generous, as you say no to idolatry, as you are hospitable, as you are refraining from revenge and violence. Trust him.
Suffering with Christ is a really good thing.
Conclusion
I struggle with this passage.
I have a hard time believing that suffering with Christ is a really good thing.
I like comfort, I like feeling good, I don’t like pain.
And to be certain, God is the God of comfort, he is the most joyful being in the universe and he is not a fan of pain, AND, suffering is a part of this world and our Christ suffered.
And maybe you can relate that as a Christian - even as a pastor - I am not being insulted for my faith.
Maybe that’s because I don’t have Facebook and I don’t post about my faith. But I don’t think that posting things on social media and getting push back is suffering for Christ. You can post about not liking cilantro and get insulted.
So what might we take away from this passage?
What would it look like for me to not be surprised by suffering?
What would it look like for me to not be surprised by suffering?
What would it take for me to be a person of joy in suffering?
What would it take for me to be a person of joy in suffering?
