Suffering For Good
1 Peter 4:1-3
In Peter’s epistles, he teaches the topic of suffering six times. Suffering seems to have different levels of intensities. Jesus himself was called the Suffering Servant, the Man of Many Sorrows. The Bible refers to the root word “suffer” sixty-five times.
Peter denying Christ possibly was the place he learned about suffering.
1). Sitting outside the courtyard/servant girl (“You were one of those with Jesus.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”)
2). Out at the gate, someone noticed him and spoke out to those present. (“This man was with Jesus.”) This time Peter denied it with an oath. “I don’t even know the man.”
3). Other bystanders/group of people (“You must be one of them, we can tell by your accent.”)
The three attempts to deny Christ certainly led to it. But I believe this one event that Dr. Luke brings details to… the last of the three denials that change Peter’s life for good.
Luke 22:61-62 NLT
61 At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord's words flashed through Peter's mind: "Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me."
62 And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
How long did Peter suffer from this life-changing eye contact from Jesus before it changed his life forever?
There are countless books on how to grow and become mature Christ-followers. Most of the books use the same important elements to promote growth.
Read your Bible
Pray
Go to church
Fellowship with other believers
And most importantly, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
But you rarely see in the table of contents of these books about the critical need to respond to suffering correctly.
Suffering is known as “the well-worn path of pain.”
We will be looking at three separate sections this morning if you’re taking notes.
1). Suffering for OUR OWN good
2). Suffering for OTHER’S good
3). Suffering for the GREATER good
1). Suffering for OUR OWN Good
1 Peter 4: 1 (NLT)
1 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin.
If we respond to suffering correctly here are some of the benefits of suffering. First, suffering causes sin to loosen its grip on us. Second, you no longer succumb to sin with the same ease. Third, you might even tighten the boundaries of your life and reduce your personal vulnerability. Fourth, we don’t chuckle or wink at sin in our lives – suffering will make us sick of our personal sin. And last, after we suffer for a while, we have the tendency to think more clearly because the pain has tempered us.
When I was a young man living in Canyon Lake, seventeen years old, a friend of mine had a Super Bowl party, and coincidently, his parents weren’t home. And we were all there at this party, and about half time we ran out of the refreshments for the party. And, somehow, I was the one that made the run back for more.
I got there safely. I even waited patiently out in front of the store for someone to buy it for me because I wasn’t old enough. But on the way back, on a two-lane road, a friend of mine was coming in the opposite direction, on the road. I wasn’t thinking clearly, then, for several reasons. But I took my car and put it in his lane and sped up. And I thought he was going to move, he never did. I did at the last second, but we hit head-on at about forty-five or fifty miles an hour.
All of the refreshments that were in the back of my car, blew out the back window and were all over the street. My car flipped on its side, and rolled, and skidded off the road, and landed in someone’s front yard. Neither one of us got hurt.
The Highway Patrolman came over to me and said, “Why don’t you give me your parent's phone number, I’m going to call your parents and have them come pick you up.” And I thought, this is better than getting arrested, this is better than all the other things that could have happened right there.
He literally called my mom, and she rushed over and picked me up. He said, “It looks like you’ve learned quite a lesson today. Why don’t you just go home?”
But I never forgot the sound of those two cars hitting. Never. It shook my life to this very day. Forty-three years ago, it happened. Today, I’m labeled in my family as the most slowest, obnoxious, careful driver in the world. I have been since that day. In fact, I didn’t drive for over two years after that accident because it got a hold of me so bad. And I’ve never forgotten that sound. It has changed my life, literally, forever.
1 Peter 4:2a (NLT)
2a You won't spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, …
A). You won’t spend (invest any more) time, thoughts, treasure.
B). You will put more thought into how precious time really is.
C). Selfish people are very lonely, empty people, and suffering has a way to change that as well.
D). Chasing our own desires is much like the hamster on the exercise wheel, getting nowhere, accomplishing nothing.
E). Chasing our own desires always has an unfilled, empty ending.
Suffering from our own mistakes and repercussions (the scars or wounds) from sin drives us back to having a deeper dependency for the quest of what God wants from our lives.
If we don’t run from suffering and turn into the pain of suffering, God will use it to help us re-prioritize what is important in your life.
When you go to a loved one’s funeral, it’s painful, but when it’s over and you walk away to go home. Life itself and all by itself becomes so precious. You have a different outlook on people, you realize how precious the people that still remain in your life truly are.
Hebrews 5:8 NLT
8 Even though Jesus was God's Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.
1 Peter 4:2b (NLT)
2b …but you will be anxious to do the will of God.
Just a few thoughts on the will of God mentioned in the second half of verse 2.
The will of God is not a distant, unknown, inanimate object that only the super Christians ever find. God’s will for your life is now – today. So, put your crystal ball away. Stop looking in the mirror at yourself and trying to figure out how to look younger. Peter says in verse 2b you will be anxious to do the will of God. So… start at home by praying for your spouse or loved ones, ask God what you can do for them that would give God the most glory. Ask God what changes he wants you to make right now in your life that would give him the most glory.
God saved you for a specific purpose. (He has given you time/talent/treasure). What are you doing right now that God made you to do?
It’s like Peter knows us all too well.
1 Peter 4:3 (NLT)
3 You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy--their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.
What past mistakes have you suffered for in your life that have permanently changed you for the good? You made a mistake or two, but instead of running away, you leaned into your wound and God has used it for good in your life.
1 Peter 4:12 (NLT)
12 Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.
If you are suffering right now, you probably asked, “God, why me?” When I recently asked God this same question, “Lord, why me?” Do you know what he said? (Well, why not?)
If me suffering:
1). Loosens sin’s grip on me
If me suffering:
2). Will temper me or warn me to not fall into the same sin over and over
If me suffering:
3). Will cause me to voluntarily tighten the boundaries of my life to things that eventually cause me heartache and pain
If me suffering:
4). Stops me from just chuckling or winking at sin in my life and suffering makes me sick of sin
If me suffering:
5). After I suffer for a while, I have the tendency to think clearer – it seems to break away all the debris
If me suffering:
6). From my own mistakes and sin drives me back to having a deeper dependency on God and what he wants from my life
So, when I cry out to God… “Why me?” He says, “Why not?” because it’s a privilege from God from this day forward in your life will never be the same and it’s all because God loves you!
Several years ago, I worked at California Baptist University for quite a while. The campus is really big, from Adams to Monroe for about a mile and a mile to the north. We do several jobs on the campus at once. I think I used to ride my bike around there. But I think a fifty-five-year-old man riding his bike around campus was kind of odd-looking, so the company I worked for gave me a golf cart. And I would plug that thing in at night before I left, and then I’d get in it in the morning.
Inadvertently one morning, when I was driving away, I didn’t know at the time, but something had bitten me back in the upper part of my glut area. My lower back. As the day went on, I was irritated, and I would itch it and it would bother me. And it caused a lot of discomfort. And then I kind of “manned up” for the night, and said it was going to be okay. And then when I got up in the morning, there was a grapefruit-sized looking pimple on it, and it was looking bad.
It hurt me so much, that I eventually weakened and went to the doctor. I mean, it took a fever, it took me being really, really sick for me to say, “Okay, I’ll go.” So I went. The doctor takes a look at it. He ends up lacerating it and drains it, and says, “By the looks of this thing, it seems you’ve been bitten by a brown recluse spider.”
And eventually, my skin did fall off, and it got bigger and bigger and it was more and more painful. But he said he was going to have to give me a shot. And, I’ve always been kind of afraid of shots, they’ve always been something I kind of turn away from. So he says, “I’m going to have to give you a shot. And this particular serum is really thick, and it takes a long time to push it through.” And he said, “It’s so painful, we’ll have to put a little spoon of Lanacane in it, in order to kill the pain for when it goes in.”
The spider bite was driving me to be okay with it all. So, they bring in everything, get it all ready, and I look over at the table, and this syringe seemed huge and the needle looked incredibly thick. I finally said I’m ready. He said, “I’m going to have to give it to you in your arm.”
He got it all in and told me I did really well. I said, “Thank you, I know this is going to make me all better.” And he says, “You're right, it will. But I need you to come in two more times this week, and three times a week for a month.”
And that’s exactly what I had to do. When it was over, no more problems with the shots. But it took that spider bite, it took that pain (it was painful), and looking at my skin in the mirror peel off of my body, and all the stuff that happened from it, to break me of that phobia for those shots. So now, I don’t pass out when I get my blood work done, or anything. I’m doing a lot better.
2). Suffering for OTHER’S good
1 Peter 3:13 (NLT)
13 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good?
When things are going tough, and you choose to do the right thing, other people can hurt you, poke you, jab you, they can throw you in the lion’s den but they cannot harm you because you will end up in heaven.
1 Peter 3:14a (NLT)
14a But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don't worry or be afraid of their threats.
Suffering for doing the right thing is a guarantee, especially in this day and age. But it is all about how we respond to it. A medical issue that will not ever go away. A loss of a loved one. A broken heart given to you from one of your children. A marriage that has brought on pain. These life-changing events are all essential to sever the cords that bind us here to this earth and redirect our hearts upward to heaven.
So here is some great counsel on how to respond to suffering and how others benefit from your response.
1 Peter 3:15 (NLT)
15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.
It’s all about how we respond, isn’t it?
The presence or possibility of suffering for doing good should not make us shrink back from doing the right thing. Your perseverance in difficulties, your correct response to suffering, actually gives those around you hope as it says in verse 15. We are to sanctify Christ as Lord, King. We should give a special place (sanctify) to God in our hearts at that time and always be ready to explain our faith (give a defense), for the hope that lies within us.
This is not a twenty-page doctrinal statement written on a scroll or reciting the ninety-five thesis from Martin Luther. It’s a simple acknowledgment of a transformed life. I once was lost but now I am found. I once was blind but now I see because God loves me so much, he taught me to trust him more when it hurts and because of his love for me, I will never be the same.
Just on the other side of every difficult circumstance in our lives is a testimony of God’s goodness.
Here is a quick question checklist to evaluate how you are doing with your current response to suffering.
1). Ask the Lord, “What are you trying to teach me?”
2). Do I need to make some changes in my life?
3). Am I suffering because of my own sin?
4). Is how I am handling this difficulty glorifying Christ?
1 Peter 3:16 (NLT)
16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.
The overarching truth in verse 16 concerning suffering for the good of others is to be filled by the Spirit of God and set apart for Christ at all costs – regardless of how I feel or what I want to do.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NLT)
9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."
1 Peter 3:17 (NLT)
17 Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!
Sometimes suffering is what is best for me if that is what God wants because God is good all the time.
3). Suffering for the GREATER good
1 Peter 2:19 (NLT)
19 For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment.
The older I get the more I understand that pleasing God is the highest calling for all of us that claim to be Christ-followers. Pleasing God at work makes you the best employee in the office. Pleasing God in our marriage makes us the best spouse. Pleasing God as a parent gives our children the best chance to see and know the power of God is real and a personal relationship with God is the answer to all life’s challenges.
1 Peter 2:20a (NLT)
20a Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong.
You don’t get any credit, but you get a golden opportunity to make the correct changes, seek forgiveness for your wrong and live the rest of your life as a forever changed man.
1 Peter 2:20b (NLT)
20b But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.
Endure it patiently means don’t run/remain/hold fast in the pain/turn into the wound until you find fortitude.
God is pleased with you speaks of God pouring his grace out on you like a flood to give you the strength and the courage to endure.
At the end of ourselves is a great and powerful God. When we break, God’s grace puts us back together, but never the same.
1 Peter 2:21a (NLT)
21a For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering,
Earlier in this message, we talked about God’s will being a “now” thing, not an unknown future mystery. So, whatever difficulty you are going through right now – today – God’s will for your life according to verse 21 is For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering,
You ask, “How long? How long? To what extent?”
1 Peter 2:21b (NLT)
21 …just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
Just as Christ suffered for you. Remember people can hurt you, poke you, jab you, and they can throw you in the lion’s den, but they can’t harm you because our last breath here on earth will be our first breath in heaven.
2 Corinthians 1:5 (NLT)
5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.
1 Peter 2:22 (NLT)
22 He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone.
When we are suffering, when we are hurt or wounded, we are in a very vulnerable place to sin and forfeiting the grace of God being poured out on our lives. Our sinful nature wants to retaliate when we are insulted, we want to avenge ourselves.
Speaking of Jesus
1 Peter 2:23 (NLT)
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
You know, my mom was on oxygen for the last five years of her life every day and all night to breathe. A few of us in the church today were in the room when she slowly couldn’t breathe any longer, she stopped breathing. But you know when she stopped breathing, she stopped suffering. Then I suffered for years over losing her.
Suffering is a part of life. There is no getting around it, but you can choose how you are going to respond to it.
Speaking of Jesus.
1 Peter 2:23 (NLT) (again)
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
He’s a good Father. That’s who he is.
1 Peter 2:24-25 (NLT)
24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
25 Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.
Take a moment, if you’re suffering this morning, I want to encourage you in the quietness of your own heart, to put your case in the hands of God who always judges fairly.
Peter denying Christ possibly was the place he learned about suffering.
1). Sitting outside the courtyard/servant girl (“You were one of those with Jesus.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”)
2). Out at the gate, someone noticed him and spoke out to those present. (“This man was with Jesus.”) This time Peter denied it with an oath. “I don’t even know the man.”
3). Other bystanders/group of people (“You must be one of them, we can tell by your accent.”)
The three attempts to deny Christ certainly led to it. But I believe this one event that Dr. Luke brings details to… the last of the three denials that change Peter’s life for good.
Luke 22:61-62 NLT
61 At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord's words flashed through Peter's mind: "Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me."
62 And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
How long did Peter suffer from this life-changing eye contact from Jesus before it changed his life forever?
There are countless books on how to grow and become mature Christ-followers. Most of the books use the same important elements to promote growth.
Read your Bible
Pray
Go to church
Fellowship with other believers
And most importantly, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
But you rarely see in the table of contents of these books about the critical need to respond to suffering correctly.
Suffering is known as “the well-worn path of pain.”
We will be looking at three separate sections this morning if you’re taking notes.
1). Suffering for OUR OWN good
2). Suffering for OTHER’S good
3). Suffering for the GREATER good
1). Suffering for OUR OWN Good
1 Peter 4: 1 (NLT)
1 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin.
If we respond to suffering correctly here are some of the benefits of suffering. First, suffering causes sin to loosen its grip on us. Second, you no longer succumb to sin with the same ease. Third, you might even tighten the boundaries of your life and reduce your personal vulnerability. Fourth, we don’t chuckle or wink at sin in our lives – suffering will make us sick of our personal sin. And last, after we suffer for a while, we have the tendency to think more clearly because the pain has tempered us.
When I was a young man living in Canyon Lake, seventeen years old, a friend of mine had a Super Bowl party, and coincidently, his parents weren’t home. And we were all there at this party, and about half time we ran out of the refreshments for the party. And, somehow, I was the one that made the run back for more.
I got there safely. I even waited patiently out in front of the store for someone to buy it for me because I wasn’t old enough. But on the way back, on a two-lane road, a friend of mine was coming in the opposite direction, on the road. I wasn’t thinking clearly, then, for several reasons. But I took my car and put it in his lane and sped up. And I thought he was going to move, he never did. I did at the last second, but we hit head-on at about forty-five or fifty miles an hour.
All of the refreshments that were in the back of my car, blew out the back window and were all over the street. My car flipped on its side, and rolled, and skidded off the road, and landed in someone’s front yard. Neither one of us got hurt.
The Highway Patrolman came over to me and said, “Why don’t you give me your parent's phone number, I’m going to call your parents and have them come pick you up.” And I thought, this is better than getting arrested, this is better than all the other things that could have happened right there.
He literally called my mom, and she rushed over and picked me up. He said, “It looks like you’ve learned quite a lesson today. Why don’t you just go home?”
But I never forgot the sound of those two cars hitting. Never. It shook my life to this very day. Forty-three years ago, it happened. Today, I’m labeled in my family as the most slowest, obnoxious, careful driver in the world. I have been since that day. In fact, I didn’t drive for over two years after that accident because it got a hold of me so bad. And I’ve never forgotten that sound. It has changed my life, literally, forever.
1 Peter 4:2a (NLT)
2a You won't spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, …
A). You won’t spend (invest any more) time, thoughts, treasure.
B). You will put more thought into how precious time really is.
C). Selfish people are very lonely, empty people, and suffering has a way to change that as well.
D). Chasing our own desires is much like the hamster on the exercise wheel, getting nowhere, accomplishing nothing.
E). Chasing our own desires always has an unfilled, empty ending.
Suffering from our own mistakes and repercussions (the scars or wounds) from sin drives us back to having a deeper dependency for the quest of what God wants from our lives.
If we don’t run from suffering and turn into the pain of suffering, God will use it to help us re-prioritize what is important in your life.
When you go to a loved one’s funeral, it’s painful, but when it’s over and you walk away to go home. Life itself and all by itself becomes so precious. You have a different outlook on people, you realize how precious the people that still remain in your life truly are.
Hebrews 5:8 NLT
8 Even though Jesus was God's Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.
1 Peter 4:2b (NLT)
2b …but you will be anxious to do the will of God.
Just a few thoughts on the will of God mentioned in the second half of verse 2.
The will of God is not a distant, unknown, inanimate object that only the super Christians ever find. God’s will for your life is now – today. So, put your crystal ball away. Stop looking in the mirror at yourself and trying to figure out how to look younger. Peter says in verse 2b you will be anxious to do the will of God. So… start at home by praying for your spouse or loved ones, ask God what you can do for them that would give God the most glory. Ask God what changes he wants you to make right now in your life that would give him the most glory.
God saved you for a specific purpose. (He has given you time/talent/treasure). What are you doing right now that God made you to do?
It’s like Peter knows us all too well.
1 Peter 4:3 (NLT)
3 You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy--their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.
What past mistakes have you suffered for in your life that have permanently changed you for the good? You made a mistake or two, but instead of running away, you leaned into your wound and God has used it for good in your life.
1 Peter 4:12 (NLT)
12 Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.
If you are suffering right now, you probably asked, “God, why me?” When I recently asked God this same question, “Lord, why me?” Do you know what he said? (Well, why not?)
If me suffering:
1). Loosens sin’s grip on me
If me suffering:
2). Will temper me or warn me to not fall into the same sin over and over
If me suffering:
3). Will cause me to voluntarily tighten the boundaries of my life to things that eventually cause me heartache and pain
If me suffering:
4). Stops me from just chuckling or winking at sin in my life and suffering makes me sick of sin
If me suffering:
5). After I suffer for a while, I have the tendency to think clearer – it seems to break away all the debris
If me suffering:
6). From my own mistakes and sin drives me back to having a deeper dependency on God and what he wants from my life
So, when I cry out to God… “Why me?” He says, “Why not?” because it’s a privilege from God from this day forward in your life will never be the same and it’s all because God loves you!
Several years ago, I worked at California Baptist University for quite a while. The campus is really big, from Adams to Monroe for about a mile and a mile to the north. We do several jobs on the campus at once. I think I used to ride my bike around there. But I think a fifty-five-year-old man riding his bike around campus was kind of odd-looking, so the company I worked for gave me a golf cart. And I would plug that thing in at night before I left, and then I’d get in it in the morning.
Inadvertently one morning, when I was driving away, I didn’t know at the time, but something had bitten me back in the upper part of my glut area. My lower back. As the day went on, I was irritated, and I would itch it and it would bother me. And it caused a lot of discomfort. And then I kind of “manned up” for the night, and said it was going to be okay. And then when I got up in the morning, there was a grapefruit-sized looking pimple on it, and it was looking bad.
It hurt me so much, that I eventually weakened and went to the doctor. I mean, it took a fever, it took me being really, really sick for me to say, “Okay, I’ll go.” So I went. The doctor takes a look at it. He ends up lacerating it and drains it, and says, “By the looks of this thing, it seems you’ve been bitten by a brown recluse spider.”
And eventually, my skin did fall off, and it got bigger and bigger and it was more and more painful. But he said he was going to have to give me a shot. And, I’ve always been kind of afraid of shots, they’ve always been something I kind of turn away from. So he says, “I’m going to have to give you a shot. And this particular serum is really thick, and it takes a long time to push it through.” And he said, “It’s so painful, we’ll have to put a little spoon of Lanacane in it, in order to kill the pain for when it goes in.”
The spider bite was driving me to be okay with it all. So, they bring in everything, get it all ready, and I look over at the table, and this syringe seemed huge and the needle looked incredibly thick. I finally said I’m ready. He said, “I’m going to have to give it to you in your arm.”
He got it all in and told me I did really well. I said, “Thank you, I know this is going to make me all better.” And he says, “You're right, it will. But I need you to come in two more times this week, and three times a week for a month.”
And that’s exactly what I had to do. When it was over, no more problems with the shots. But it took that spider bite, it took that pain (it was painful), and looking at my skin in the mirror peel off of my body, and all the stuff that happened from it, to break me of that phobia for those shots. So now, I don’t pass out when I get my blood work done, or anything. I’m doing a lot better.
2). Suffering for OTHER’S good
1 Peter 3:13 (NLT)
13 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good?
When things are going tough, and you choose to do the right thing, other people can hurt you, poke you, jab you, they can throw you in the lion’s den but they cannot harm you because you will end up in heaven.
1 Peter 3:14a (NLT)
14a But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don't worry or be afraid of their threats.
Suffering for doing the right thing is a guarantee, especially in this day and age. But it is all about how we respond to it. A medical issue that will not ever go away. A loss of a loved one. A broken heart given to you from one of your children. A marriage that has brought on pain. These life-changing events are all essential to sever the cords that bind us here to this earth and redirect our hearts upward to heaven.
So here is some great counsel on how to respond to suffering and how others benefit from your response.
1 Peter 3:15 (NLT)
15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.
It’s all about how we respond, isn’t it?
The presence or possibility of suffering for doing good should not make us shrink back from doing the right thing. Your perseverance in difficulties, your correct response to suffering, actually gives those around you hope as it says in verse 15. We are to sanctify Christ as Lord, King. We should give a special place (sanctify) to God in our hearts at that time and always be ready to explain our faith (give a defense), for the hope that lies within us.
This is not a twenty-page doctrinal statement written on a scroll or reciting the ninety-five thesis from Martin Luther. It’s a simple acknowledgment of a transformed life. I once was lost but now I am found. I once was blind but now I see because God loves me so much, he taught me to trust him more when it hurts and because of his love for me, I will never be the same.
Just on the other side of every difficult circumstance in our lives is a testimony of God’s goodness.
Here is a quick question checklist to evaluate how you are doing with your current response to suffering.
1). Ask the Lord, “What are you trying to teach me?”
2). Do I need to make some changes in my life?
3). Am I suffering because of my own sin?
4). Is how I am handling this difficulty glorifying Christ?
1 Peter 3:16 (NLT)
16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.
The overarching truth in verse 16 concerning suffering for the good of others is to be filled by the Spirit of God and set apart for Christ at all costs – regardless of how I feel or what I want to do.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NLT)
9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."
1 Peter 3:17 (NLT)
17 Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!
Sometimes suffering is what is best for me if that is what God wants because God is good all the time.
3). Suffering for the GREATER good
1 Peter 2:19 (NLT)
19 For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment.
The older I get the more I understand that pleasing God is the highest calling for all of us that claim to be Christ-followers. Pleasing God at work makes you the best employee in the office. Pleasing God in our marriage makes us the best spouse. Pleasing God as a parent gives our children the best chance to see and know the power of God is real and a personal relationship with God is the answer to all life’s challenges.
1 Peter 2:20a (NLT)
20a Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong.
You don’t get any credit, but you get a golden opportunity to make the correct changes, seek forgiveness for your wrong and live the rest of your life as a forever changed man.
1 Peter 2:20b (NLT)
20b But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.
Endure it patiently means don’t run/remain/hold fast in the pain/turn into the wound until you find fortitude.
God is pleased with you speaks of God pouring his grace out on you like a flood to give you the strength and the courage to endure.
At the end of ourselves is a great and powerful God. When we break, God’s grace puts us back together, but never the same.
1 Peter 2:21a (NLT)
21a For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering,
Earlier in this message, we talked about God’s will being a “now” thing, not an unknown future mystery. So, whatever difficulty you are going through right now – today – God’s will for your life according to verse 21 is For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering,
You ask, “How long? How long? To what extent?”
1 Peter 2:21b (NLT)
21 …just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
Just as Christ suffered for you. Remember people can hurt you, poke you, jab you, and they can throw you in the lion’s den, but they can’t harm you because our last breath here on earth will be our first breath in heaven.
2 Corinthians 1:5 (NLT)
5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.
1 Peter 2:22 (NLT)
22 He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone.
When we are suffering, when we are hurt or wounded, we are in a very vulnerable place to sin and forfeiting the grace of God being poured out on our lives. Our sinful nature wants to retaliate when we are insulted, we want to avenge ourselves.
Speaking of Jesus
1 Peter 2:23 (NLT)
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
You know, my mom was on oxygen for the last five years of her life every day and all night to breathe. A few of us in the church today were in the room when she slowly couldn’t breathe any longer, she stopped breathing. But you know when she stopped breathing, she stopped suffering. Then I suffered for years over losing her.
Suffering is a part of life. There is no getting around it, but you can choose how you are going to respond to it.
Speaking of Jesus.
1 Peter 2:23 (NLT) (again)
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
He’s a good Father. That’s who he is.
1 Peter 2:24-25 (NLT)
24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
25 Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.
Take a moment, if you’re suffering this morning, I want to encourage you in the quietness of your own heart, to put your case in the hands of God who always judges fairly.