Christians are ... Sufferers

Text: 1 Peter 4:12-19

Theme: What are Christians? According to the Bible we are, Saints, Sons, Sheep, Servants, and Sufferers.

What are Christians? The simplest definition is that we are Christ-followers. The first time anyone was called a Christian is recorded in the Bible, "It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians" (Acts 11:26). The word "Christian" is less important than the spiritual reality it illustrates.

Christians know God loves them.

They recognize their rebellion separates them from God. This is what the Bible calls sin.

They know Jesus came to earth, died and came to life again to offer forgiveness.

Christians have responded to God's offer of forgiveness by making a choice to stop living for themselves and allow God to make them who He wants them to be.

These are things we know and believe about our faith. But when it comes to fleshing out what it means to be a Christian, how do we understand who we are. According to the Bible we are, Saints, Sons, Sheep, Servants, and Sufferers. Tonight is the last of these character descriptions. Christians are called to be sufferers."For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him," (Philippians 1:29, NIV84)

As Christians we should never be surprised when trials come our way. In vs. 12 the Apostle Peter is explicit, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. All those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will, more likely than not, endure persecution at the hands of other.

ILLUS Think of all the believers who are mocked when they take a stand for Jesus. Think of Samaritan’s Purse. This is an organization that stands ready to respond to a medical crisis anywhere in the world. When COVID-19 was hitting New York City extremely hard, they set up a 68-bed field hospital in the city. Doctors, nurses, and dozens of volunteers put their own lives at risk to treat New Yorkers afflicted by the pandemic. There were no restrictions on who they would treat. How were they thanked? Dozens of NYC politicians and an anti-Christian press pilloried the organization for it’s confession of faith ... especially the part that maintains marriage is to be reserved between a married man and woman.

Evangelical Christians are some of the last holdouts in our culture to some of the great sins of our era. Fight against them, and you too, will be pilloried.

But we have every reason to persevere and stand firm in our faith. For we have been born again to a living hope of salvation ... longed for by the prophets and guaranteed by Christ’s resurrection. As believers we are called to suffer ... let me make some observations about it ...

I. OBSERVATION #1: SUFFERING IS A PART OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE

1. the author of the Old Testament book of Lamentations speaks to this condition of life that engulfs all of us at some time or another:

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me . . . “ (Lamentations 1:12, NIV)

a. in other words, there is no suffering like our own suffering when we are going through it

b. and there is no suffering like that of a loved one when they are suffering and we know there is nothing we can do to alleviate their suffering

2. simple observation confirms that good, righteous people are not immune to the suffering that comes part-and-parcel with human existence

a. the Bible tells us many stories of men and women of great faith who struggled with the presence of pain and suffering in their lives

b. they also sought to understand it and cope with it

ILLUS. Philip Yancy, in his book The Gift of Physical Pain, writes; “Nothing in the Scripture hints that we Christians should expect life to be easier, more antiseptic, or safer. We need a mature awareness of the contributions of pain, and we need the courage to cling to God despite the world of pain and sometimes because of it.”

3 preachers are often asked to respond to the question: "If God is a loving God, how can He allow evil to flourish in this world?"

a. the earth is full of natural disaster, political upheavals, catastrophes, economic hardships, accidents, illness, untimely death and abundant wickedness

b. my answer? — it ain't God's fault!

4. man is responsible for every bit of pain and sorrow, evil and difficulty we experience

a. we live in what theologians call a post-Genesis-3 world”

1) in Genesis, chapter 3, we see the entrance of sin into the world because of disobedience

2) ever since that moment everyone who has ever lived is a recipient of Adam’s fallen nature, and guilt

b. sin is real, deeply seated in our lives, and pernicious ... it is a subtle poison

A. PAIN AND SUFFERING ARE A PERSISTENT HUMAN PROBLEM BECAUSE SIN IS A PERSISTENT HUMAN PROBLEM

1. some men suffer because of their own sinful behavior, disobedience to God, or evil choices

a. man is a sin-soaked creature ... every part of our personality and character being affected by it

1) we are willful beings endowed with the freedom to choose between right and wrong, between good and evil

2) the problem is we frequently choose wrong!

b. the result?

1) men—all men—chose to live for themselves rather than God

2) the Apostle Paul says that men would rather walk after the flesh than in the Spirit

c. when that happens, eternal spiritual principles which God has put in place take over

"For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Galatians 6:8-9, KJV)

2. some men suffer because of the sinful behavior or evil choices of others

ILLUS. On September 11, 2001, thousands of people go about their normal routine of going to work. They step into an elevator and take it to the upper floors of the World Trade Center. Hundreds of miles away, passengers are boarding plains for routine business trips not realizing that those plains are going to be turned into deadly missiles. Hundreds of NYC police and fireman answer the call to a disaster, not knowing that two of the world’s tallest buildings are going to come crashing down on their heads.

3. some men suffer because all of creation was affected by sin and is fallen

a. we must remember that the world's situation today is not the result of God's original plan

1) this world is not the way God wanted it to be

2) God did not build illness, or disaster, or upheaval, or catastrophe, or hardship or even death into His original creation

b. in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome, he wrote that creation was subjected to frustration and that it is in bondage to decay because of man’s original sin

c. because we live in a fallen creation, tainted by sin and evil, even good Christian people are affected by pain and suffering even though they have done nothing to deserve it

II. OBSERVATION #2: SUFFERING IS INTENSIFIED WHEN JESUS BECOMES OUR PRIORITY

1. Jesus recognized this

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.” (John 15:18–21, NIV)

2. for the faithful believer, God’s priorities become our priorities and God’s agendas become our agendas, and God’s will becomes our will

a. and a lost world does not understand that

A. OUR FAITH MAKES US RESIDENTS OF GOD’S KINGDOM, EVEN THOUGH WE STILL LIVE AMONG KINGDOMS MADE BE MEN

ILLUS. There is an old gospel melody that reminds us not to grow to comfortable in this world. Albert Brumley wrote, “Some glad morning when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away; To a home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away. When I die, hallelujah, I’ll fly away.” It’s time is, according to the third stanza, “Just a few more weary days ahead.”

1. believers are now citizens of a city whose Builder and Maker is God Himself

a. in the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul reminds us of our true citizenship

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19–22, NIV)

ILLUS. Some time around 200 AD, an observer of Christians wrote to his friend Diognetus concerning the Christian faith. These are his observations:

Christians are not differentiated from other people by country, language or customs; you see, they do not live in cities of their own, or speak some strange dialect, or have some peculiar lifestyle.

This teaching of theirs has not been contrived by the invention and speculation of inquisitive men; nor are they propagating mere human teaching as some people do. They live in both Greek and foreign cities, wherever chance has put them. They follow local customs in clothing, food and the other aspects of life. But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the wonderful and certainly unusual form of their own citizenship.

They live in their own native lands, but as aliens; as citizens, they share all things with others; but like aliens, suffer all things. Every foreign country is to them as their native country, and every native land as a foreign country.

They marry and have children just like every one else; but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are at present "in the flesh" but they do not live "according to the flesh". They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the appointed laws, and go beyond the laws in their own lives.

They love every one, but are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are short of everything and yet have plenty of all things. They are dishonored and yet gain glory through dishonor.

Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life. They are attacked by Jews as aliens, and are persecuted by Greeks; yet those who hate them cannot give any Reason for their hostility.

To put it simply—the soul is to the body as Christians are to the world. The soul is spread through all parts of the body and Christians through all the cities of the world. The soul is in the body but is not of the body; Christians are in the world but not of the world.

2. do you catch something of the ‘other-worldlyness’ of the believer’s life?

a. is this world your home, or do you see yourself as ‘just passing through’?

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15–17, NIV)

B. OUR LOVE OF GOD’S KINGDOM OVER THE KINGDOMS OF MEN IS WHAT PUTS OUR LIVES IN JEOPARDY

1. Christ-followers are persecuted all over the world simply for what they believe

a. according to our own U.S. State Department, Christians in over 60 countries face the realities of massacre, rape, torture, mutilation, family division, harassment, imprisonment, slavery, discrimination in education and employment, and even death

b. why?

1) because they choose to bow their knee to Christ instead of to Muhammad, or Buddha, or their dead ancestors or even the state

ILLUS. Paul Marshall in his book Their Blood Cries Out describes persecution as a ". . . plague affect[ing] two hundred million people, with an additional four hundred million suffering from discrimination and legal impediments."

2. persecution of Christians is real, but it is not new

a. as I have shared just a moment ago, Christian persecution can be traced to Christianity's beginnings

b. Jesus Christ himself was martyred on the cross, and the early church faced widespread persecution

3. while Jesus was on earth, he bore witness to the battle between God's Kingdom and the temporal kingdoms of earth

a. He said this tension would sometimes result in physical harm, discrimination, and death for believers

b. Jesus said: "No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:20)

3. modern-day persecution is well documented

a. in fact, it is estimated that more Christians were martyred in the 20th Century than in the previous 1,900 years combined

4. the Christian must live his life in a world that does not understand our faith and our priorities

III. OBSERVATION #3: GOD WILL USE THE PAIN AND SUFFERING OF THE RIGHTEOUS TO GIVE US UNFORGETTABLE EXAMPLES OF GRACE UNDER FIRE

1. at some point, we are confronted with the necessity of giving up the intellectual search for why the righteous suffer and, instead, to turn to God who is our recourse and strength in the midst of our suffering

a. that is what so many Bible characters do

b. they continued to have faith in spite of hardship and suffering

“the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:38–40, NIV84)

ILLUS. Faith of the Three Hebrew Children. King Nebuchadnezzar had commanded that everyone in his kingdom — including all Jews — should worship an idol that he had erected. Three young Jewish men named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego decided that their faith in the true God would not allow them to worship the king’s idol and so they refused to bow down and worship it. For defying him, the king decided to have them burned alive. But just before their deaths the king gave them one last chance. He said, “In a moment you will again hear the sound of the horns, flutes, lyres, zithers, harps, pipes, and all the other musical instruments. If you bow down and worship the statue I made, that will be good. But if you do not worship it, you will immediately be thrown into the blazing furnace. What god will be able to save you from my power then?” Now listen to their response: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, saying, “Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves to you. If you throw us into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from the furnace. He will save us from your power, O king. But even if God does not save us, we want you, O king, to know this: We will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

2. this was the kind of defiant faith that God calls us to have—to believe that God can deliver us by His might and strength

a. but even if He does not, we will not bow down and worship the idol of despair or self-pity

“My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” (Psa. 119:50, NIV)

A. GOD HAS ALWAYS USED SUFFERING TO PERFECT AND PURIFY HIS PEOPLE AND TO DEMONSTRATE THE SUFFICIENCY OF HIS GRACE

1. God began with His own Son

2. our own Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, was not immune to unjust suffering

Hebrews 2:10 “God is the One who made all things, and all things are for his glory. He wanted to have many children share his glory, so he made the One who leads people to salvation perfect through suffering.” NCV

a. if the King of kings and Lord of lords was made perfect through suffering, we should not be surprised that the grace of God can also lead us to a higher level of spiritual maturity through the difficulties of life

B. OUR PATIENT ENDURANCE IN SUFFERING VERIFIES OUR FAITH

1. the Apostle Peter used the analogy of refining gold to illustrate this aspect of suffering

a. just as a goldsmith uses fire to purify gold by burning away the dross, so God uses trials to test and to purify our faith

1 Peter 1:6-7 “. . . even though now for a short time different kinds of troubles may make you sad. These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold, which can be proved to be pure by fire but will ruin. But the purity of your faith will bring you praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is shown to you.” NCV

b. but suffering cannot only burn out the dross, but it can also burn in the promises and lead us to a closer dependence on God

ILLUS. King David never did say in the Psalms that if you have faith, “God will take you around the Valley of the Shadow of Death.” David said He goes through it with us.

c. Jesus Himself taught us, with His hands nailed to that stark tree, that it is in the midst of our suffering that we learn the most about the presence of the Living God

2. King David’s faith was a proven faith and a proven faith is a precious faith because it assured him that his faith was genuine

C. OUR PATIENT ENDURANCE IN SUFFERING AMPLIFIES OUR SPIRITUAL VIRTUES

1. In his letter to the Christians at Rome, the Apostle Paul wrote that believers can also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope

2. notice the progression

a. suffering produces perseverance

1) perseverance is a word that refers to cheerful endurance which leads to a consistent way of life

2) this is not a passive take-whatever-comes-your-way kind of attitude, but an active overcoming through faith

b. perseverance leads to character

1) the word “character” applied to metal whose impurities had been purged by fire

2) in the Christian experience Paul is referring to a tested and approved life

3) it results in a trustworthiness gained through tempering

c. character leads to hope

1) the word hope means to happily anticipate

3. what are we to happily anticipate?

a. it is in the reconciliation received by faith in Christ and all that goes with it ... our justification, and our sanctification, and our ultimate glorification

D. OUR PATIENT ENDURANCE IN SUFFERING ENCOURAGES OTHER BELIEVERS

1. God often uses the suffering of one believer to encourage and strengthen others

2. Paul wrote that his first imprisonment resulted in greater progress for the gospel because it gave other believers far more courage to speak the word of God without fear

3. some of us have been encouraged in our Christian life because of how we saw others handle hardship, suffering, and even death

E. OUR PATIENT ENDURANCE IN SUFFERING IS A WITNESS TO UNBELIEVERS

1. only eternity may reveal the positive affect our triumph in our suffering provides others

ILLUS. One of my favorite old Hollywood Biblical epics is a move entitled Quo Vadis. It's about a Roman General named Quo Vadis who falls in love with a beautiful slave girl who is a Christian. Through her life and the testimony of other Christians Quo Vatus becomes a Christian himself. For his faith he earns the wrath of Nero. Nero is played by Peter Ustinov who gives a wonderful over-the-top performance of an evil, maniacal emperor. Nero has burned Rome, placed the blame on the Christians and is busily entertaining the masses by delighting them with mass execution of believers in the Roman arena. After one episode where dozens of Christians have been thrown to hungry lions, Nero goes down into the arena to examine the corpses that are left. To his amazement, many of them are smiling! They suffered and died with joy. Nero doesn’t understand.

2. I’m sure there are many who do not understand how we can continue to smile throughout our ordeals

a. only those who have the same Jesus in their heart can truly understand

“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,” (Philippians 1:29, NIV84)