Grace in Suffering
Notes
Transcript
Church good morning! It’s good to be here with you again today and to worship together. It’s been a good morning so far. IF you have your Bible’s please go ahead and open them up to 1 Peter 2:18-25. That’ll be our text this morning and church this is an incredibly rich, good, helpful, and really hard text. I told small group this week that I might end up leaving you with more questions than answers, but I do hope to at least give you a framework for thinking through suffering.
Now before we jump into this I want to back up and give us a little bit of a running start to get to our text. If you haven’t been with us for the past month or so we’ve been walking through the book of 1 Peter. Peter wrote this book to a group of exiled Christians—probably both Jew and Gentile—to encourage and instruct them in the midst of their lives. Scholars wrestle with the exact timing of when Peter wrote this letter but it is likely that the early church and the Christians that this was written to were enduring some extreme suffering.
So Peter starts his letter off with a bunch of doctrine. He reminds them who they are and what’s been done for them by Christ on the cross before he gets in to the practical application of what their beliefs cause them to do. This is important because we tend to want to sweep away the doctrine—big scary word for what to believe—and focus on what we do. We want to just know what to do. Like Byron said last week, give me the 1, 2, 3 and let me go eat lunch, but that’s not what Peter, or Paul for that matter, do. They always start with believe rightly and that’ll transform the what you do. I’ve heard it said this way, the why is more important than the what. So Peter reminds them of what they believe and then he reminds them of who they are. We looked at this last time I preached but I want to go ahead and put it in front of us again because it’ll be important later. 1 Pet. 2:9
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.
This is who they are. Chosen, royal, holy, and God’s people. So now, because of that, as Will preached on 2 weeks ago they are to keep their conduct honorable. With faith rightly aligned Peter turns to conduct. Last week we saw how that conduct relates directly to our relationship with the government. This week, we’re going to look at what our conduct should be like in relation to suffering. I’ll explain it shortly, and while there does seem to be a general direction towards suffering in the workplace, I believe that this passage gives instruction towards suffering in general. So the main point of the passage that we’re going to look at this morning is this: Christians are called to follow the example of Christ in the midst of suffering. I get it, a message on suffering is probably not something you’re super pumped to hear about, but I think by the time we get to the end you’ll see how relevant and important it is to know the truths in the passage. So with that bit of background and a touch of direction, let me read 1 Pet. 2:18-25 and then I’ll pray.
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 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. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
This is the Word of the Lord. Let’s pray.
When I was 14 years old I wanted a job so bad. I didn’t want to work for my dad on the farm because he would say, “I put food in your mouth and a roof over your head, so I’m not going to give you cash.” I wasn’t cool with that so I wanted to go work for another farmer. Dad was cool with that even though it meant he had to take me to work. He reached out to a friend and asked if I could come and learn how he farmed. I was so excited on day 1 when I showed up and my first job was to help load trucks at a set of grain bins. Something that I always thought was so awesome. Little did I know, that loading trucks lasted for about 2 minutes and that turned into cleaning out a boot pit. Who in here knows what a boot pit is?
This particular set of bins had a really deep pit—14 year old me thought at least 20’. And I don’t think it had been cleaned out in about 14 years. So my boss gave me a bucket and a rope and said get to work then he jumped in his RV and drove to California for half the summer. Y’all, do you know what 14 years worth of rain & grain smells like 20’ down in the ground? It’s nasty. I called dad and told him to come pick me up. I was done. You know what my dad did? He said no. My whole summer was that way. This guy was probably genuinely a little bit abusive in how he treated his employees and his expectations of them, but dad always just said it was character building. Mom wouldn’t let me in the house with my clothes on. I had to hose down every day before I could go shower. I was nasty. It was terrible. I wanted to let this guy have a piece of my mind and I hated the job that I did.
Now we live in a world where we’re fortunate enough that if we’re functioning in a toxic or even abusive work environment that we have the privilege of being able to find a new job or a new place to live pretty simply. In fact, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:21 when addressing slaves that if they have the opportunity of gaining their freedom that they should go for it. So our text today doesn’t answer the question of whether we should or should not leave a bad situation. I think Paul would counsel us to do so. The group that Peter is addressing however didn’t have the privileges we do. So Peter is now telling them that based off of what they believe and who God has made them to believe how they should now behave in the midst of their suffering. This passage breaks down into 3 different sections for us to look at. The first thing we see Peter instruct these aliens to do is to submit—that’s our first point—
Christians are called to submit.
Christians are called to submit.
Peter says, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect.” Now we might be tempted to look at this passage and go, well I’m a boss not an employee, or I’m not a slave, so this really doesn’t have anything to do with me. But there’s something contextually important happening here that we need to pay attention to. Last week Byron preached the previous passage where we saw in verse 13 Peter say, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake” and this was addressed to the “beloved” we see back in verse 11. That is the group of people that God has called that we opened up with in verse 9. Everybody tracking with me? So Peter addresses the whole group but now he narrows down to who? Servants. Next week guess who we’re going to look at? 3:1 Wives.
Do you know who the two least recognized people where in the room at that church when it came to status? Servants and wives. What Peter is doing is he’s bringing dignity to the lowliest people in Roman society—slaves & wives. As one commentator says, “By doing this he is showing them how to live a life that is truly of meaning. It’s not by gaining a particular social status. “Peter points to Jesus Christ as the true model for how to live a significant, dignified life of freedom even in the midst of the most oppressive situation.” So if this is true for servants & wives—contextually the least important people in the room—how much more so should it be for those who weren’t one of those two things? So then this is for all of us.
The first call Peter gives is to submit or be subject with all respect. Now the word respect here is the greek word phobos. It’s where we get the word phobia—fear. In fact, is the same word used in the previous verse, look one line up, Fear God. Now wait a minute Peter. You just said fear God and now your saying submit to your master with all fear? So which is it? Peter started this whole section off back in verse 13 with, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake”. All of our submission to those in authority is for the sake of the Lord and out of our fear for him. Here’s why: Look back at 1 Pet. 1:17
And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
Once again, this is for all who are truly Christians, and we see that all of our conduct flows out of our fear of our Father who judges impartially. Now the question that this causes us to ask then is what does it mean to conduct ourselves with fear or to submit to our masters out of our fear for God and for his sake? I think John Piper’s definition of fear was most helpful. Piper said, “Fear isn’t a slavish or cowering fear. It’s a fear of treating God as if he were not worthy of being trusted as a worthy Father.” Does your submission to your boss or to those who have authority over your display your trust in your Father? Christians are called to submit because they fear God, not their master. This leads us to our second point:
Christians find grace in suffering.
Christians find grace in suffering.
Now think about how encouraging this would’ve been to Peter’s audience—and should be for us. They’re unable to escape the exiled servitude in which they exist. Peter’s reminder that they can and should submit out of their fear for God because their trust in Him will enable them to endure suffering. If they can trust him as the God who established rulers and authorities in their places, then they can trust him to be the one who allows or even appoints them to have certain masters. If they can trust their Father with that do you know what that enables? It enables endurance.
This is why Peter says in verse 19, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures.” Do you see that? When your minds are on your Father and your fear and trust are in Him, then not only are you able to endure suffering, but it actually becomes God’s grace towards you. Now there’s a lot to unpack there, but I don’t know about you, but I really don’t tend to view suffering as God’s grace towards me. And if I’m suffering at the hands of others, I don’t want to submit to them. But that’s the first thing we’ve got to notice here. This isn’t just suffering for the sake of suffering. This isn’t just suffering because we’ve screwed up. Look back at 1 Peter 2:20
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
No, the emphasis here is on suffering for doing good. When we do good, by which Peter means we walk in obedience to the Lord and live in fear of Him, and then we suffer for doing good, Peter calls it grace. In fact he says it twice. v19 starts with it and v 20 ends with it. So the question is how in the world is suffering for doing good God’s grace towards us? I think there’s 2 ways in which this passage shows us we find grace in suffering. The first way we find grace in suffering is that it reveals our focus. Look back at v19, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God.” That one struck me this week as I meditated on this. It’s grace when our mind is on God. Why is that?
Our context is our key here. What would the temptation be for these exiles in the midst of their suffering? If they’re doing good and suffering at the hands of their masters then I think their temptation would be to want to either wallow in depression or retaliate in response. In both of those situations their eyes are focused inward on what they deserve or desire which means they’re 1) not trusting God and 2) elevating themselves to a different position at least in their minds which is idolatry. So church, God in his grace allows us to walk into the midst of suffering to help us see what our minds are really on; who our trust is really in. Suffering reveals our focus.
The second way we find grace in suffering is that suffering refines us. This flows logically out of the first reason. When our minds are on God and our trust is in him, then our desires in the midst of our suffering become so much less about escape, and so much more about becoming who he’s called us to be. But not only do our desires change, but our cares changes. “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows.” What are you sorrowful for in the midst of suffering? Again, this is suffering for doing good, so are you sorry that whomever you were aiming to please wasn’t pleased? If that’s the case then you were working to serve man and not God and if that’s true then there’s an idolatry problem and our suffering has once again revealed that our focus is in the wrong place.
By revealing that we’re able to repent and redirect our sorrows to what sorrows our Father which then tempers how we respond to and behave in the midst of our suffering. Now our sorrows aren’t towards the victim mentality that is so easy to grab ahold of, but instead our sorrows are towards the brokenness of the people and the situation and the world that we live in.
Think about this for a minute in the context of this passage. You have a group of people who are enslaved, which by definition means they are unjustly oppressed; they are exiled from their homeland serving other masters, rulers and governments. As Byron said last week, our American identity would say, no way not me. I’ll fight for what is mine; I’ll fight for my freedom. But notice that Peter, nor any other writer of a New Testament book, never encourages a revolutionary overthrow of the systemic injustice that these people are facing—either in the workplace or the government. Church, I’m just going to be honest with you for a minute, that rubs against me a whole lot. But why would Peter, nor any other NT writer, nor Jesus himself, not encourage rebellion towards these ungodly injustices? As one commentary said,
1 Peter ii. Christ Dignifies the Lowly (2:21a)
The call to follow the crucified Messiah was, in the long run, much more effective in changing the unjust political, economic, and familial structures than direct exhortations to revolutionize them would ever have been. For an allegiance to the crucified Messiah—indeed, worship of a crucified God—is an eminently political act that subverts a politics of dominion at its very core.
We look at William Wilberforce, who because of his fear of God fought to end the slave trade, and we look at Abraham Lincoln, who because of his fear of God fought to end slavery in the US, and we look at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who because of his fear of God fought to end segregation, and we celebrate and are thankful for the work of every one of these men. But despite all of the good, just things they’ve done, slavery and racism still exists today and do you know why? Because it’s not just the systems that are the problem it’s the people who put them in place. They’re sinful people, just like you and me.
So you see revolution & retribution are not the solution to suffering. It’s having a heart that’s been refined by the grace of suffering that is now focused on God and living in fear of Him that changes things. When you view your suffering for doing good as a grace from God, your heart becomes sorrowful for the brokenness that exists in this world and you don’t seek to escape from it, or fight back to make things right, or change it by revolution, but instead you move towards people because you have a sincere compassion for brokenness that exists. Suffering refines us by growing us in godly sorrow and godly love. This is why Christians find grace in suffering, and also see suffering as God’s grace towards us.
Christians are called to submit to their masters because they fear God, and in their submission they do good and they suffer for it, but in their suffering they find grace. Do you see how Christians are called to follow the example of Christ? This leads us to our third point and the last half of this text:
Christians are called to suffer.
Christians are called to suffer.
I know, called to submit—not too exciting, but by God’s grace we’ll do it. Find grace in suffering—hopefully that’s helpful and begins to shape our perspective on our suffering, but called to suffer? Now you’re probably much less excited. Take your Bibles and look back with me real quick to 1 Pet. 2:21
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
For to to what you have been called? Contextually we can see it, but the next phrase makes it obvious. “Because Christ also suffered for you.” Earlier we looked at 1 Peter 2:9“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.” The word called is used again. you were called out of darkness into his marvelous light and now your call is to suffer. Have you ever considered that your call from darkness to marvelous light is a call to suffer?
Now notice the order here that Peter puts this verse in because it’s really important. You have been called to suffer because Christ suffered for you. That’s the first thing he says and that’s what’s called substitutionary atonement—Christ suffered for you. He did this leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his footsteps. That’s the second thing. It’s what Piper calls the illustration of Christ. Now we’re going to spend the rest of our time unpacking those two things, but it’s important that first we acknowledge the order and that these two things are held together. Here’s why: Christ can’t be your example if he hasn’t called you. As Tim Keller says, do you know how depressing it would be if Jesus was just your example? If Jesus is just your example then you begin to deny the most important thing about you and him. Piper says you become an irrelevant liberal who thinks that you can do good by just being like him. You think that by doing good you can earn God’s or man’s approval or by doing good that you can fix all the problems in your world by your own efforts.
However, I don’t think that’s most people’s temptation in our culture. Our temptation is to do the opposite. We’re happy to recognize Jesus as our substitute, but don’t like to live as if he’s our example. Piper said when that’s the case we become a nice conservative evangelical who neglects the supernatural power that teaches us to suffer for Jesus’ sake. The word example used here doesn’t really capture the full image of what’s intended. The greek literally means to trace upon. So imagine a little kindergartener who’s learning their letters. They trace over the a, b, and c to learn how to write them and the shapes and movement to follow. That’s what the word example means here. It means that Jesus was the life upon which you are to trace your life upon. As one commentary said, “he is the paradigm by which Christians write large the letters of his gospel in their lives.” But this can only happen once he’s called me, because otherwise I’m living my life out of my own self-righteousness and own self-efforts. Which is what we all do, so we need a substitution. So holding these two things together let’s look at how Christ as our substitutionary atonement calls us to suffering.
“Because Christ also suffered for you.” Christ is our substitution. Peter in the next few verses shows Jesus as the Suffering Servant that the prophet Isaiah told about in Isaiah 53. Verses 24-25 show us Jesus as our substitute. 1 Pet. 2:24-25
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
In his very body, Jesus took on our sins, our rebellion, our not treating our Father as trustworthy, our determining what retribution should be, our thinking more highly of ourselves, our not treating others with the dignity and respect they deserve, Jesus took all of that on himself when he was hung upon the cross—the tree. This is an allusion to Deuteronomy 21:23 where God says anyone who is hung upon a tree is cursed. What Jesus did on the cross was he became the curse of sin for us. Every wrong thing you have ever done or will do Jesus took upon himself and was crucified for it. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus became sin on our behalf. He bore my sin and your sin on the cross. Why did he do this? “So that in him we might become the righteousness of God;” so that “we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Jesus did this so that we could live the righteous life we were created to live. He died so that we might now not live in fear of our masters, but in fear of God. His substitutionary atonement changes the way and the why of how we live our lives. It changes our ethical compass by which we live.
How does it do that? “By his wounds we have been healed.” The fractured, broken relationship that exists between us and God because of our sin, has now been healed by the wounding and crucifixion of Jesus. His wounds have now healed our relationship with our creator and brought us back into a right relationship with him. We were straying like sheep, wondering out in the desert away from the shepherd, walking to the beat of our own drum, but he called us back and received the punishment for our rebellion and wondering. Now we’ve returned to the shepherd and overseer of our souls. With Christ as our substitute we now walk in fellowship with God and that fellowship breaks the power of the attractiveness of sin because we’re now more attracted to living in fellowship with Him than we are in living in fellowship with the world. His wounds heal our relationship with our Shepherd so that now we live in fellowship with Him.
Here’s the thing you need to understand about this fellowship Peter is talking about here. Peter calls God our shepherd and overseer. We tend to think of God as our shepherd in a tender and compassionate way. I think of the beach bum pictures of Jesus—you know where he has long flowing golden hair and blue eyes, ripped, holding the little baby sheep, kind of glowing—beach bum Jesus. You know what I’m talking about? We tend to think of Shepherd Jesus that way. He is a good shepherd who is gentle and kind. Probably without golden hair. But Peter ties Shepherd and Overseer together here. The word for overseer is the greek episkopos which is one of the terms used for pastor/elder throughout the NT, but the connotation it carries is one of authority. So Peter is here calling to mind the shepherd as the authority over our lives. This healing of our relationship and the fellowship we walk in with Christ as our substitute means that we submit to the authority of Christ over our lives.
So church the question that comes from all of this this morning is this: Have the wounds of Jesus healed your relationship to God? Is Jesus the substitutionary atonement for your sins? If not, the call for you today is to acknowledge the debt that your sin has caused and then repent from your sins and put your faith in Jesus. Trust in his atoning sacrifice to be the balm for your broken heart and broken relationship with God.
If so, if Jesus is your substitution and you have been healed by his wounds, then your call is to follow his example. Your call is to trace your life upon the life of Jesus. What was the example of Jesus? Jesus’ trust in—his fear—of his Father enabled Him to submit to the most unjust, horrific crime ever committed. He endured suffering for only doing good. But the call isn’t just that we endure suffering, it’s how we endure suffering. Look back to 1 Pet.2:22-23
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.
He committed no sin. When someone treats you unjustly what is your knee-jerk response? I know I want to seek justice and retribution. Jesus was absolutely perfect and was betrayed, arrested, beaten, mocked and scorned. Yet in that moment he didn’t act as the judge, jury and executioner to fight back.
Neither was deceit found in his mouth. He never lied or made false promises to work his way out of a horrific situation.
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When someone speaks bad about or physically wants to come after me my inner lawyer bows up and I want to fight to maintain my reputation or image or prove them wrong. When someone criticizes me I want to fire right back. But Jesus didn’t do that when they mocked him. He didn’t do that when they belittled him.
When he suffered, he did not threaten. He was beaten. He was punched, abused, whipped, scourged. A crown of thorns forced down upon head. He would’ve been bloodied and bruised. It was a gruesome event. Yet in all of that he didn’t threaten them. He could’ve said a word and a whole legion of angels come to his side. In small group we talked about he could’ve had a whole Marvel—like the marvel movies with hulk/captain America/Thor—he could’ve done the hulk smash an decimated those around them. But he didn’t even threaten them. He could’ve looked at them and said, oh you just wait for what’s coming to you. Don’t you know who I am!? But instead you know what Jesus did? He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He didn’t threaten; he showed compassion and forgiveness!
How in the world could Jesus do all of that? “He continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” I think this is one of the most terrifying and comforting phrases in the Scriptures. He trusted His Father. He continued trusting His Father. In the midst of his pain and suffering. In the midst of his isolation and abandonment when all of those who he called friends and followers deserted him He continued trusting himself to His Father to be the just judge. Jesus trust in His Father, because he was and always had been living in a right relationship to Him, enabled him to endure suffering and submit to ungodly and unjust authorities. He knew His Father would make things right because his Father is the one who judges impartially and justly.
This is terrifying because we will have to face the just judge and without a substitute we will be held accountable for our actions. But this is comforting because if you’re enduring suffering then you can press forward because you know he will be just. He will make things right. It may not be on your terms or in your time, but he will make it right. He is the just judge.
Peter is writing to these exiles and he’s saying, “Don’t be afraid of the unjust suffering you are experiencing. It is not evidence that God has forsaken you; to the contrary, it is evidence that God has chosen you. Do not wander off from Christ, for God will strengthen you to face life as a Christian. God has made you secure because Jesus has suffered the ultimate injustice and yet he lives. You have been born again into that living hope.”(1)
When you follow the example of Christ, when you trace your life upon his, you will face unjust suffering for doing good. But to this you have been called so that in the midst of that suffering you can proclaim his excellencies. You can press on knowing that there is grace for you in the midst of suffering so that you can submit because you fear your Father, not man. All of this happens because you trust Him. So the last question for us today is this: do you trust Him? Do you trust Him to be the just judge, or do you think that’s your role? Are you willing to submit and endure suffering for doing good? Is your mind on Him or you and your circumstances? Have you been healed by his wounds?
Church you have been called to follow the example of Christ in the midst of our suffering. He trusted his Father. Do you? Let’s pray.
1 Karen H. Jobes, 1 Peter, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005), 200.