Strenght for Suffering
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· 8 viewsSuffering for righteousness’ sake is not easy, but Peter reminder us of our future hope so that we would have strength to endure suffering.
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Open your Bibles to 1 Pet 3:8
Intro to Elect Exiles
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
Let’s pray
Some things are harder than they look
Whistling
Slacklining
Keeping your room clean
As Peter has been giving us instruction on how to live as elect exiles, he has most recently been telling us to be subject to those who are in authority.
Citizens submitting to their governing authorities
Servants submitting to their masters
Wives submitting to their husbands
Now this might sound easy in theory. But in practice, submission is far more difficult that it might seem.
Citizens submitting to their governing authorities
Then Rome
Today our own authorities
Servants submitting to their masters
Even those who are not good
Submitting to rules we just don’t like
Wives submitting to their husbands
Even if they do not obey the word
Here is the underlying theme tonight’s text
1. Suffering makes submitting difficult.
1. Suffering makes submitting difficult.
In each of these contexts, submission would likely lead to suffering. And suffering makes submitting very difficult. But Peter gives us elect exiles some tools that will strengthen us endure when we suffer for righteousness sake.
There are going to be two main ideas that we are to be mindful of if we wish to remain faithful throughout our life of exile.
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Hear the first idea to be mindful of when we suffer as exiles.
2. Those who pursue righteousness will be rewarded.
2. Those who pursue righteousness will be rewarded.
Why do people sin? Because they think their sin will somehow satisfy them.
This is universal to all sin
Be it Adam and Eve eating the fruit in the garden
Be it any kind of sexual sin
Be it stealing greed
Or in tonights context - Peter is speaking about those who wish to return evil with evil - because our flesh is convinced that vengeance will satisfy us for any injustice.
We love a good story of justice - the Avengers
But we must not fight against evil with evil - through slander, gossip, violence, or otherwise.
But Peter shows us how to respond to such evil. We are to respond by pursuing righteousness that will lead to our great reward. - and that reward is far more satisfying than vengeance - listen to how Peter says it,
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
Peter tells us to pursue four different things - things that usually go out the window when we are suffering. But we must pursue them all the same.
Unity of mind - we don’t seek division over our disagreements. Rather we are unified by the gospel and by the Word of God.
Brotherly love - again, the opposite of violent vengeance. We are a family - and as such, we are to love one another.
tender heart - as opposed to a hard heart, those with a tender heart are quick to love those who are difficult to love. - so think the opposite of Pharoah, who only sought to kill, and to make those under his rule miserable - a tender heart seeks to show love and kindness to all people,
those who are suffering - ultimate suffering
Those who are difficult love
humble mind - rightly understanding that we lack all understanding - not to be confused with gullible to believe everything that you hear - but those who are humble are those who can take correction, and who will conform themselves to the word of God.
Doing these things can be summarized in saying “pursue righteousness”
So as opposed to pursuing all other treasures and satisfactions that come from the world and the flesh… pursue that wich pleases God.
And when you are mistreated - when someone sins against you - do not return evil for evil. But instead bless your enemies so that you may obtain a blessing.
A word about working for rewards
We are not saved by works - when we talk about working for rewards from God some of us might feel a bit uneasy as if we are contradicting the good news of God’s grace that saves.
Good works do not save us, rather good works confirm that we have been saved - or as I like to say, we are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works.
Remember, Jesus says you’ll know a tree by its fruit - so if there is no good fruit produced by your life, this means you are not a Christian. And if you’re not a Christian then you will not receive a reward from God.
Back to the subject at hand, doing righteousness so that we might receive our reward - Peter grounds this idea the word by quoting Psalm 34
10 For
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
So do you love your life? Do you desire to see good days? If so, then the psalmist that Peter is quoting here says, “keep you tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit”
James 3 tells us, “if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.”
This means, if you learn to control your tongue… by keeping yourself from gossip, grumbling, from slander and from speaking evil, then you will also be able to keep your whole body under control. So Ps 34 starts by telling us to keep our tongue from evil.
So as Peter puts it, if you are reviled, to not revile in return. (Revile means to speak critically and abusively) But instead of reviling, choose to bless your enemies.
Very similarly, Jesus said,
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
And what is our motivation for loving our enemy and blessing them? It’s the blessing and reward that we shall receive.
Peter said,
9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
So do not return evil for evil, but instead return evil with righteousness
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Submitting in the midst of suffering is difficult… but you can do it in the strength that the Lord supplies. And one means of grace that can give you strength to endure suffering is by remembering that God rewards those who are righteous. So pursue righteousness by blessing those who hate you and keeping yourself from evil.
Doing so will lead do a far greater satisfaction than if you were to try to avenge yourself.
But there is another think that keeps us from righteousness.
On one hand, we don’t pursue righteousness in the mist of suffering, because we wrongly believe that avenging ourself will be more satisfying than entrusting ourself to the Lord.
But on the other hand, we don’t pursue righteousness because we are afraid of what man might do to us if they hate that which is good. So peter tells us that we do not need to be afraid of man. Listen to how Peter says it,
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
Here is the second means of grace that we can use to pursue righteousness in the face of suffering.
3. Those who fear God do not need to fear man.
3. Those who fear God do not need to fear man.
Jesus Christ was chosen by God, and rejected by man. And as his followers, as elect exiles, we will not be rejected as well.
Certainly this was the case for the Christians during Peter’s day.
Rome, Unjust Masters, And non believing husbands would all cause for Christians to fear man.
And the same is increasingly so for Christians in America
But Peter says,
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
To be zealous for what is good, means to be eagerly long to do what is good.
if you obey traffic laws, do you need to be afraid of the police?
If you do what your your manager asks you to do, do you need to be afraid of getting fired?
If a wife honors her husband, does she need to fear him being angry at her for dishonoring him?
If you do what is good, then chances are, you will not be punished. But if you do what is wrong, well then you have good reason to fear the punishment of man.
So be eager to do what is good… But even still, doing so will not mean you will never suffer for doing what is good. Peter speaks to this,
1 Peter 3:14 (ESV)
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed.
If you suffer for doing what is good… you will still receive that future blessing from the Lord. So do what is good. Do what is righteous. The Lord sees your good works and he will give you your reward. For Jesus has given this promise,
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.
And again
17 You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
But why would the Lord allow us to suffer? Why not just protect us now? Well, Peter shows us that when we suffer, the Lord is actually giving us an opportunity to bear witness to the gospel before those who wrong us.
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
When we suffer wrongly, and respond graciously, we get an opportunity to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in us.
That is, we get a chance to share the gospel.
And we don’t do so by being brash, or rude, but Peter says, we are to do so with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience knowing that our suffering is undeserved.
And Peter gives us this instruction not from a place of theory, but he tells us to do so having repeatedly had the opportunity to make a defense before those who persecuted him for righteousness sake.
Remember when Jesus was wrongly accused and on his way to the cross, Peter was not prepared to make a defense, but instead what did he do? He denied Jesus three times. But this all changed for Peter.
Later, Peter himself suffered for righteousness sake.
1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
Later, peter would get to make his defense. Listen to him.
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.
What caused this change for Peter - from denying Jesus, to making a bold defense before those who had imprisoned him in a short matter of time
He saw this in our risen savior, who wrongly suffered, and then was vindicated at the resurrection.
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. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 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.
And surely Jesus was vindicated at the resurrection. If Jesus rose again, surely Peter, and all those who followed Jesus would be raised as well.
So how can we have strength to endure suffering?
Don’t fear man, but instead fear God who will judge the living and the dead
And know that if you do what is right and pleasing to God, he will surely give you your reward.