Suffering for God

Give me liberty or give me death. Seems to be giving way in our culture and in our world to give me liberty by giving me death. Personal autonomy, the culture, the air that we breathe now increasingly means that I have ultimate control over every single aspect of my life, including when and how I die. In a recent Newsweek article, it tells the story of how assisted suicide is advancing in the Netherlands. According to Dutch law, Dutch citizens can choose to end their lives if two physicians agree that the person endures unbearable suffering. So this would include things like having Lou Gehrig's disease, multiple sclerosis, advanced stages of cancer. But the bar is getting lower and lower. Depression, loneliness are also acceptable reasons. So that as the author says, now the Dutch can choose death when they're tired of living. The bar is getting lower not just in terms of the nature of the suffering that's taking place, According to the article, minors in the Netherlands are now allowed to choose euthanasia too. Children ages 12 to 15 may ask to die if they can get parents' permission. After age 16, young people can make the decision with only parental involvement. And there's at least one physician cited in the article who is arguing that 12 is an arbitrary age. and that the Dutch may be withholding something good and right from an 11-year-old seeking his or her own death. The author describes a conversation he had with a 65-year-old woman who, according to him, laid out the circumstances under which she no longer wants to live. If she's severely and permanently lame, if she can no longer leave the house on her own, if she's dependent on others to eat, drink, shower, and put on her clothes, if she goes blind or deaf or is suffering from dementia. I am an autonomous person, she says. For me, for me, it seems a disaster not to be able to go out and visit friends, to a concert, to the theater. There's many more questions than we can answer this morning raised by this article, but I bring it to our attention just to demonstrate how the world around us thinks about suffering. If this life really is all that there is, then suffering is truly meaningless. And these people are acting consistent with their worldview, that suffering is meaningless and it is to be avoided at all costs. As Christians this morning, though, we have to see through this facade of personal autonomy to the heart of this way of thinking, which is actually a culture of death. Can you imagine an 11-year-old signing off for your child to die? As Christians this morning, we know that death is not the end. Because at the very center of our faith and the way that we understand the world because of our faith is Jesus, who died and was raised. He conquered death and rose from the grave. He is alive. He is alive today. And because He's alive, we know that death is not the end. And yet too often, I fear that even as Christians, we do not have a better answer than the world around us for why there is suffering in the world. Now we may not have the same cynicism that the secular world around us has, but too often I think we respond to trials in a very moralistic way. We think that if we live a good life, God is going to bless us. And we assume that suffering is God punishing us. It's Him correcting us for doing something wrong. And if we just start doing the right things and stop doing the wrong things, then we'll stop suffering. But neither secularism nor moralism do justice to the biblical picture of suffering. And I hope we'll see this morning that God's Word actually has a much better answer for us. We are continuing a study through First Peter, approaching the end of the letter now. And this section, I think, really actually serves as a good summary of the whole book of what's been said all along. And then it prepares the way for what we'll see as the conclusion next week. We're going to hear this morning, as you already know, another challenging word regarding suffering. And I hope for us to see this morning that Christians are called to rejoice in suffering because God uses it to purify us. Christians are called to rejoice in suffering because God uses it to purify us. So let's read together 1 Peter 4, verses 12 through 19, page 1016, if you want to use the Pew Bible. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. but rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler, Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will become for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. Amen. Before we get into the outline this morning, I just want us to walk through the text briefly to understand the flow of it. Peter addresses the church's beloved. They are loved by Christ first and then by Peter, his apostle. He's confirming their status as God's people, God's chosen ones. He's reassuring them in everything that's been said and preparing them again for what he's about to say. He urges them not to be surprised when suffering comes, not to be caught off guard, but to actually expect it. And even further, he tells them to rejoice because they're sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Their rejoicing now prepares them for greater rejoicing when Christ returns and His glory is revealed. He then goes on to describe a certain kind of trial, a certain kind of suffering that takes place when Christians suffer because they're identified with Jesus Christ. That kind of suffering gives Christians assurance of God's blessing in His presence even in their suffering. He qualifies it, verse 15, that there is an undignified kind of suffering that comes from sin. There's a kind of suffering that we bring upon ourselves, and there's no commendation in that. And yet he reiterates in 16, suffering for Christ, suffering as a Christian is glorious. In verse 17, he transitions. He says, all this suffering is taking place because God's judgment is beginning now. God's judgment has begun, and it's starting from the inside out. He starts with his house, his people. And Peter makes the point that if Christians, if God's people have to suffer, have to endure this kind of suffering, it will be much worse for those who are not God's people. And he reiterates that with the Proverbs quote in verse 18. In 19, he concludes the section with another exhortation. Christians must trust God, persevere in doing good, knowing that God is sovereign over their suffering. So as we take a look this morning, I want us to consider the text in two parts. First, why Christians suffer, and second, how Christians suffer. So that'll be our outline this morning. Why Christians suffer and how Christians suffer. So first, why Christians suffer. Let's look back to verse 12. Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you." So we see that suffering is testing. It's God testing His people. The fiery trial is something that we've been hearing about really throughout the series in 1 Peter. In chapter 1, Peter says that this audience, these churches, these Christians were grieved or distressed by various trials in order to test their faith. which is more precious than gold, though it perishes, though tested by fire." So our verse is confirming this idea. Trials come upon Christians to test them. The idea that Peter's using is a metaphor. It's the refining that takes place in gold in order for it to be pure. So in its natural state, gold is normally harvested as big chunks of rock, some kind of ore. And in order to get the gold out of the ore, out of the rock, the rock is heated up and it's melted into a liquid form. And so those impurities, everything that's in it that's not gold, melts down and rises up to the top so it can be extracted. And the gold that's left is pure. And that's a process that would be repeated over and over again until the gold had reached its desired purity. And so what Peter is saying is for Christians, trials serve as God's heat. They are revealing what's inside of us. They're separating us into our components and exposing impurities within us. Now that idea sounds simple enough, it's easy to understand, but I think there may be a little bit more to it than we first realize. As I was doing my preparation this week and looking into the process of refining gold, I saw an image that stuck with me. It was a huge rock, big chunk of rock of gold ore, weighing nearly a ton, almost 2,000 pounds. And inside that rock was estimated that it contained a whopping one ounce of gold. So if you separated that rock into 30,000 pieces, one of those pieces was pure gold. Brothers and sisters, that's what we are like. So much here and yet so much of it needs to be refined, needs to be removed, needs to be purified. And it doesn't happen at once. It doesn't happen at conversion. It's a lifelong process of being heated, having impurities removed, and then heated again. And that's what trials do for us. They test us. They show us the things that keep us from pure devotion to Christ. So as Christians, when suffering comes upon us, the question we should be asking first is not, why? Why is this happening to me? Which is what we want to ask. That's the natural response to suffering. But what we really should be asking is, what sin is being revealed in my heart? As a Christian, when you feel the heat, what God is doing is He's separating your elements. He's showing what's inside of you, exposing you, bringing impurities to the surface. Trials come upon us to test us. And so we should be asking ourselves when we are tried, what we are holding on to that distracts us from pure devotion to God. Now, in order to do this, God has given us two great gifts. He's given us His Word, and He's given us each other. Because on our own, we have trouble seeing these things. We have trouble identifying what's in our lives. But if we go to God's Word, He reveals sin to us. He shows us how our life fails to match the life that He requires. But we also need each other. When we walk through trials in the context of a community, we have the benefit of outside perspective. Others see things in us that we don't or can't or won't see in ourselves. And so approaching suffering with that kind of perspective, asking that question, what's wrong with me that God is showing me, actually gives us the humility. not only to assume that there's something impure about us as individuals, but also to then go out and seek the help we need to identify it and to get rid of it. So suffering is testing, but we also see that suffering is judgment. So let's skip down to verses 17 and 18. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous person is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? So Peter says that our trials are actually judgment. Now this is judgment, maybe to be distinguished from final judgment, punitive judgment, condemnation. He's talking about the process of judgment, the sorting out, as it were, the separating of people. And he says here that judgment begins with the household of God, the house of God, God's people, God's temple in the Old Testament, which is built of living stones, which is us in the New Covenant, according to chapter two. And so a couple of Old Testament pictures are in view here. I think the one that we want to look at is from Malachi. We see Israel being rebuked for having impure worship, having false worship, having a broken relationship with God because they're not taking worship seriously. And in Malachi 3, he says, Behold, I will send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. So we see this picture of God Himself coming to His temple to judge. And yet the effect, the takeaway from that judgment is pure worship is able to resume in Israel. And Peter says this judgment is happening right now. As Christians endure suffering, they are being tested and purified to be more acceptable, to offer more acceptable worship to God. I just want to point out here, because I think this passage verifies it, that suffering is real and hard. Okay, I don't want us to think that in any way Peter is minimizing how hard suffering is. We see in Malachi, the prophet anticipates this response. Who can endure? When God comes to judge, who can endure? And so there's no lessening, there's no diminishing of those expectations regarding what's in store for us. Suffering is hard. But we also see that it is purposeful. It is to refine God's people. Through suffering, God purifies his people for his worship. So then rather than God's absence, suffering is really God's presence. It's the manifestation of his love coming to us to change us, to make us more faithful worshipers of him. God uses trials in us to confirm that we are really his people. Suffering shows that we are devoted to God, not because of the things that he does for us, but because of who he is in his glory. So if you think about when suffering comes, when you're suffering, it's because the things in this life matter to us, right? It's great to have relationships and wealth and health and a job and children and to feel good about yourself and your life. All those things are wonderful gifts from God to be received with joy and thanksgiving. And yet the Bible tells the story over and over and over again, how we take those good things from God. And instead of honoring him and giving thanks to him, we make it about the stuff, the things, and we forget the God who gave them. And so Christians, what is suffering other than God reclaiming something that he's loaned to us? Suffering comes upon all of us and God allows suffering to come upon all of us. So we have the opportunity in our suffering to prove that we love God, that we are devoted to him regardless of what he gives us or what he withholds from us. It's his way of reminding us that we are his and we cannot let our hearts wander away from pure devotion to him. And we're going to get into the mechanics of suffering, how this works in our lives in the next point. But already we see how difficult this is. And already, if you're like me, you can feel the weight of how poorly we handle the trials that come to us. You know, often it's not the big things that get us. It's not that dreaded phone call. It's not the serious, the weighty things. We know a lot of times, I feel like, how to handle those things. A lot of times it's the small things. A snippy remark from a spouse or a friend. You know, that the person who cuts you off in traffic, someone who has something that you see and you wanted, but you know you can't afford that. You may wonder if they can too. You see a relationship or a friendship that you desire, that you wish you had, and you don't. All of those things bring something about in my heart, and maybe yours, that's ugly. That's not at all in line with the pure and undivided worship that we're talking about this morning. And so that's heavy. That's heavy upon me. That's heavy upon you this morning. And so I don't want to take away what God demands of us. I don't want to diminish God's expectations at all. But I do want us to see this morning that the mark of a Christian is not someone who perfectly navigates every single trial. The mark of a Christian is one who never gives up. So think of a track, okay, with hurdles. Sometimes the athletes are able to clear each one without any issue. They look like gazelles hopping over each one. Sometimes they make a little bit of contact, knock the hurdle over, but they keep going. And sometimes they get tangled up in the thing, they miss a step, and they fall flat on their face and they get scraped and bruised. Being a Christian doesn't mean that you are the one who always perfectly sails over each hurdle. Sometimes, hopefully you do. But being a Christian means that when you blow it, when you eat it in the track, you get up, you dust yourself off, you go back to the starting block, and you run again. And again. And again. It's not about how perfectly you run the race, but it's about you never walk away from the race. You never look at the hurdles and say, not that one, that's too big, and then just give up. The mark of a true Christian is perseverance through trials. In this section, Peter turns to those outside of the church. He's been talking about the way that Christians respond to suffering, the way that Christians deal with suffering in their lives, and that's hard. And so the question that comes to him and to the readers and to us is, if God treats his own people this way, what about those who are not his people? What about those outside of the covenant? What about those who disobey the gospel? And I just want to say this morning, if you're here, what I'm about to say is really hard, but we are glad you're here. We want those outside of God's people here with us. We want you to hear and see and experience what we understand to be Christian worship. Notice this morning, the gospel is a message that requires a response. It is a command that must be obeyed. And Peter is saying that if it's this bad for those who seek Christ faithfully, imagine how bad it will be for those who reject him, who don't follow the gospel. And in verse 18, the quote from Proverbs makes the same point. If it's this hard, if it takes this much effort for a righteous person to get saved, how much more, how much more work, how much more judgment will come upon the ungodly and the sinner? If it's this bad for us, how bad will it be for them? God's heat, the heat of God's judgment comes upon Christians to refine and purify. But it comes upon unbelievers to destroy. The fact that Christians are suffering now means God's judgment has already begun. And it will continue until the day every human being stands before him to give an account. So if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, this is why the gospel is actually good news for us. It's good news because on our own, in and of ourselves, we are sinners. We have rejected God. We've sought to do our own thing. And sometimes that means we've done lots of horrible things. Sometimes that means we've made a perfectly good life without him. Sometimes it means we've been involved in church our whole lives, and yet we've never submitted to God's word about its specific bearing upon our lives. Regardless of where you are this morning, I can guarantee, because I know that I'm not, none of us are ready to stand before God and give an account of ourselves for every deed, every word, every thought. None of us can stand up to his scrutiny. But the good news of the gospel, this is where it comes in as good news, is that Jesus Christ came into the world for sinners. He came into the world to take our place, to live the life that we owed God, to be the perfect lamb without spot or blemish, to be killed as a sacrifice for sinners. Because He was blameless before God, death couldn't hold Him. He was accepted by God, raised from the dead, glorious. He now offers His righteousness to everyone who believes so that we can be forgiven and counted righteous in Him by being united with Him by faith, having our sins covered by His death. So there is hope for everyone here this morning, but that hope is not in trying a little bit harder and being a little bit better than last week. It's in Jesus Christ. It's in submitting to Him as King, believing on Him, following Him, repenting from our sin, turning to Him in faith. Salvation is found in no other name but the name of Jesus. We'll see in the rest of our text that the way that we respond to trials really says everything about us. God uses trials as we've seen to test and to purify his people, to confirm them as his own, and to free them to worship him more purely. So the question for us is what do we do and how do we do it? How do we handle suffering that comes upon us? So second, we'll consider how Christians suffer. Let's go back to verse 12. First, we see that Christians should not be surprised, should expect suffering. So beloved, don't be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. And this sounds a lot like what he said back in the beginning of chapter four. Arm yourself for suffering. Expect suffering. Don't be surprised when suffering comes upon you. As if something strange were happening. And this is where Peter really, really knows us, doesn't he? Because most of the time, trials do surprise us. Most of the time, we act like something strange is happening. And even though this whole letter really has been warning us about the coming trial and the purpose of trials and all these things, we still get caught off guard as if we didn't know what was happening. I imagine myself, a man, whatever, just sort of on a leisurely stroll through a field. And then all of a sudden he hears gunfire, and it seems odd. And then he starts to hear not only gunfire, but the bullets whizzing by his head. And then he starts to notice that some of them are hitting the dirt right around him. And then he realizes, I'm not just in a stroll in a field, I'm actually in the middle of a war. Peter is saying, don't let that happen to you. Don't be caught in a war, not realizing you're in a war. Expect trials. Arm yourselves and be ready. They are coming. And so the simple exhortation for us this morning is to expect trials. Expect things to be difficult. I think particularly as Americans, we have conditioned ourselves to expect to be comfortable. at ease and not tried. And so this text says, as Christians, we've got to reject that. We've got to resist that. We've got to expect suffering. Understand, brothers and sisters, that the trial is not strange. The absence of trial is strange. If being a Christian is not pressing you, it's not confronting you, it's not testing you and refining you, you may not actually be one. God requires his people to be holy, and yet we are not in and of ourselves holy. And so he is purifying us for himself. We should expect that we need purification and lots of it. It will continue to happen until we are perfectly pure in his presence. But until then, trials, brothers and sisters, are not strange. They are normal. Second, we will see that not only are we called to expect trials, we are called to rejoice in trials. So verse 13, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. So we're called not just to not be surprised, but to rejoice. And notice why we're called to rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings. And it's here, I think, that we really begin to sort of plumb the depths of what Christian suffering is all about. What does it mean to share in Christ's sufferings? Well, we know that Jesus' suffering was unique. According to verse 18 of chapter 3, His suffering was substitutionary in nature. His suffering was once for sin. He was the righteous for the unrighteous. And His suffering was for the purpose of bringing us to God. Jesus accomplished something in His suffering that we never can. And that's what we need to understand this morning. Jesus suffered that He might bring us to God. Jesus had eternal glory, honor, and praise as the Son of God, but the gospel tells us He didn't grasp it. He didn't hold on to it. He emptied Himself of divine, eternal glory and came to suffer and die for His people. So what specifically did Christ's suffering accomplish? You're looking at it. And look around the room and see what His suffering accomplished. It accomplished us. It accomplished us, you and me. We see this over and over again in the Bible. Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. The only thing Jesus gained from his suffering was us. His suffering was out of pure, perfect love for us. He had nothing else to gain. He suffered because he loved us and he wanted us. Now, Christian, doesn't that make your heart sing this morning? When you look into the mystery of the gospel and you see it, the foundation is a holy and righteous and yet merciful and gracious God who loved you and died for you. If that's not a reason to rejoice, friends, then what is? And as we look into the gospel and we see that, we start to understand what it is to share in Christ's sufferings. It is our response of love to the God who loved us. See, the barrier to Jesus' love for us was His glory. It was His holiness. It meant He couldn't relate to us as His people because we are sinful. And so the barrier, He had to empty Himself. He had to remove it. He emptied himself of divine glory and came to us and died to purify us. The barrier for us is our love for this world and the glory of this world. So suffering exposes our idolatry. It exposes our false loves so that we're brought into greater and deeper love for Jesus. He was stripped of all glory because of His love for us. And so when we suffer, we are stripped of the things that distract us, that we think are glory, but are not, for pure love for Him. So we see something amazing is happening in Christian suffering. Most of the world thinks that suffering and joy are opposites, that as suffering increases, joy is necessarily decreasing, and that as joy increases, suffering is necessarily absent. And yet for Christians, this is not the case. Suffering activates joy. Just like when the temperature drops outside, which thankfully it's not today, it's a beautiful day, but when it's cold, the temperature drops, and what happens? The furnace kicks on. The cold activates the heat inside so that the temperature is maintained. And so for Christians, suffering causes our joy to increase so that we're not shaken, we're not stirred from our faith. We're driven to deeper love and trust in God. Now, that is not to say that Christians are stoics. We're not denying that trials are real or painful at all. If you think about Jesus' example and His suffering, The night before he went to the cross, he prayed, my soul is sorrowful unto death. He sweated drops of blood. He was so grieved and so distressed by this trial that was on him that he could have died simply from the emotional and psychological weight. And yet for the joy set before him, he endured despising the shame. And so it can be said of Christians as his people, we are sorrowful and yet always rejoicing. When trials come upon us, they remind us that this world is broken. God designed this world without suffering. And yet because of sin, the world is broken. Suffering is a reality. And so Christians can have big hearts and soft hearts that can truly mourn the reality of the brokenness of this world, that can truly feel the effects of sin and pain and sorrow, who can genuinely sympathize with others in their suffering, while at the same time rejoicing that God hasn't abandoned us in our pain, that Christ came to identify with us, to invite us to share in his eternal glory, and to offer hope to all who suffer in his name. We're called to rejoice. Rejoicing is a necessarily outward response. Of course, it starts in the heart, but it flows outward into our words and our songs. And that's why we devote a fair amount of our time here on Sunday mornings to singing together. We as Christians, we as God's people have something to sing about. We are to be a people who delight in God's love for us, who respond with joy. We should note that the opposite of rejoicing is grumbling and complaining. Rejoicing acknowledges and celebrates the sovereign goodness of God even amidst our trials. Grumbling and murmuring denies the goodness of God necessarily every time. There's a place for Christian sorrow. There is no such thing as Christian complaining. We see here that rejoicing now leads to an even greater rejoicing in the future. Rejoice so that you may also rejoice and be glad. Our current circumstances, our trials are temporary. The day is coming when Christ will return, when His glory will be revealed, when He's going to be exalted as the true King of the universe. When at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to the glory of God the Father. That day will be a terrible, a fearful day for those who have rejected Him as King. But for those who love Him, for those who love Him, it's the moment we've been waiting for. It's the day of consummation. It's the marriage supper of the Lamb, when Christ is united with the bride He died for. It is the day. It is the best day. And on that day, His people will rejoice and be glad, and no joy is greater than that. And it's that reality that causes us to rejoice now, because the trials are preparing us for that day. They're helping us. to not be distracted now for the day that nothing will distract us from worship of Christ. Every act of resisting sin now and repentance now is a rehearsal for that day when we cast all sin aside and we glorify Christ. And friends, if we're not doing that now, if we're not rejoicing now, we're not going to do it then. In verse 14, Peter begins to unpack a specific kind of suffering. He says, if you were insulted for the name of Christ. So there's a unique suffering that comes upon Christians when we suffer as Christians. We saw earlier in chapter four that the world is surprised by our new behavior, that we don't join them in the same flood of debauchery. Being a Christian necessarily means that we will be different from the world, and that difference will result in hostility. In Peter's world, that obviously meant being insulted or maligned. And I think it's oftentimes very much the same for us, isn't it? Our culture is open to many different claims about truth, but there is a negative view toward the exclusivity of biblical Christianity. If we are truly in Christ, our beliefs, our convictions, our actions, and our words will inevitably lead us to conflict with the world around us. We have a different king, and allegiance to that king puts us at odds with the kingdom of this world. And so it's in those moments, it's in those moments when we're suffering for Jesus that I think we are particularly fragile. We don't like to be thought of by the world as backward or ignorant or judgmental or anti-intellectual. And yet what Peter is telling us is in that moment, we are called to rejoice. He says, when we are insulted for Christ's name, we are blessed. Right here, right now, we are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rest upon us. In the moment when we are mocked or ridiculed for the name of Christ, something amazing is happening. God is assuring us. He is telling us we are His. The world is giving an insult, but God is giving a blessing. It says the Holy Spirit rests upon us. If you remember back to Jesus' baptism, The spirit descended like a dove and rested upon him. And God's voice said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And I think Peter is seeing the same thing happen confirmed in Christians when we suffer for what we've done or not done or said or not said in Christ's name. God, the father says to you in you, I am well pleased. The Spirit is manifesting Himself in us, and just as Jesus promised, the world is hating us, just like it hated Him. We are being identified with Christ, and that is even more reason for us to rejoice. It's giving us a glimpse of the glory that is coming to us. In verse 15, Peter sort of pumps the brakes a little bit, and he gives a big qualification. Again, because he knows us. He says, let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a meddler. He's saying, before you start to get carried away, before you put a stamp of approval upon all suffering, there's a kind of suffering that is perfectly deserved and not at all praiseworthy or glorious. And that's suffering that comes upon you because of your own sin. So immediately he says, don't suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer. If you do bad things, you will suffer. And it's right for you to do so. It's not identifying with Christ. It's not praiseworthy. It's not noble. It's not anything. It's just what you get. It's justice. He knows us. He knows that we're tempted to make ourselves into martyrs, to paint all of our suffering as if it's positive, as if somehow we're the victim of somebody else's sin or some other circumstances. But Peter says, no, you bring suffering on yourself from your sin, and that's not commendable. The last word that he uses there in verse 15, meddler, is kind of an odd word. It's not used anywhere else in scripture and really not in many places in ancient Greek literature, so nobody really knows exactly what it means. But at the root of the word is the word for bishop, overseer, that we translate for talking about the office of elder. And I think that gives us some insight. It also seems like Peter's working his way down the moral hierarchy, so murderer, thief, evildoer, not necessarily lawbreaker, but doing something wrong, and then meddler. A meddler is somebody who is inappropriately involved in the business of other people. It's a self-appointed overseer or bishop in someone else's life. Now, I don't know if this is a universal temptation or not, but it seems like Christians are especially susceptible to being meddlers. We like to tell other people what to do. We do this as individuals. Think about how easy it is to think that your particular cause is a Christian cause. We as Christians are prone to drawing hard lines on things like diet or exercise or how we educate our children or the kind of entertainment we do or don't enjoy, how we spend our money, lots of different things like that, and make those lines really hard and make them known to other people. And if we're not received, then it's easy to say, oh, I'm suffering as a Christian. I think that might be exactly what Peter has in mind here. If God hasn't spoken clearly on something, then let's be careful about presuming to speak for him. Let's focus on where God has spoken clearly and let's allow freedom and grace where He hasn't. Let's be careful as Christians to reserve Christian suffering to that which is truly Christian. And so both as individuals and a church, let's keep in mind to draw clear lines between what is truly Christian and what isn't. It is so easy for us to get caught up in political and social causes. that don't have a direct bearing, a direct relationship to our faith. Let's devote our time and our energy and resources to clear causes of Christ. Verse 16, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. When we truly suffer for Christ, it is a glorious thing. You can hear a little bit in verse 16, a bit of a derogatory tone. Christian. Christian. In Peter's time, that wasn't a box to check sort of among other religious affiliations. It was a term of shame of derision. It was a rebellious group within Judaism, which was an accepted but still kind of an outcast religious minority in the Roman Empire. To be identified with Jesus in the world's eyes was to claim to follow just another Jewish insurrectionist, rebellious leader who had met the same fate as all the others. Crucified. Culturally, it was embarrassing. Maybe not so different from today. And yet, Peter says, in that day, when somebody looks at you and says, you Christian, You are not to be ashamed, but you are to glorify God. Brothers and sisters, to be identified with Christ is everything. It's everything. He is gloriously raised from the dead. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. He is waiting for all of his enemies to be put into subjection under his feet. So Peter says, don't you dare drop your head in shame when somebody calls you a Christian. And don't give in to the temptation to deny Christ or to give up and walk away. Instead, drop to your knees and worship, because God has counted you worthy to bear the name of His Son. I don't know about you this morning, but I find that verse terribly convicting. Because I can think of times in my life that in order to avoid suffering, I have concealed Christ from my identity. And yet it's very comforting to me to know that the author of this letter is the same man whose words are recorded not in one or two or three, but all four gospel accounts. Being confronted after Jesus' arrest. denying him, even to a little slave girl, denying him, invoking a curse upon himself. I do not know the man. And yet we have his instruction here for us. If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. What was it that changed Peter? What was it that changed for him? Well, he had an encounter with the resurrected Christ. After Jesus' resurrection, John tells the account of Peter being restored, Jesus coming to him and saying, Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Yes, Lord, I know. Yes, Lord, I love you. You know I love you. And Jesus says, Feed my sheep. Follow me. And yet even then, Peter doesn't fully get it, does he? Because he immediately looks to John and says, Well, what about that guy? We read in Acts this morning, we see Peter boldly leading the church, preaching the gospel, testifying to Christ, rejoicing that he is suffering for that name. And yet when we read in Galatians, Paul had to rebuke Peter because he had gone back to not eating with Gentiles. Peter's testimony is not one of perfection. It's one of correction, constantly going back to Christ as his only hope. And brothers and sisters, that's where all of us are this morning. We are in need of an encounter with the living Christ, whether it's for the first time or whether it's for the millionth time. We need to gain a fresh perspective of his love for us to respond with a deeper and purer love than we had before. What can be greater than being identified with Christ? The God of the universe who so loved us and came to us and died for us. The name Christian. It may have had a derogatory tone then, it may have a derogatory tone now, but it is our identity. Everything about us as God's people hinges on being in Christ. So this new identity is going to come into conflict with rival identities. That's what we've seen throughout 1 Peter. He said in chapter 2, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. If our identity is in Christ, that means we're necessarily out of step. So expectations as a citizen and employee and a spouse, a child, a friend and neighbor, all those things, while they certainly inform much of who we are and what we do, they must never take the place of our primary identity, which is in Christ. Every time we experience the tension is an opportunity for us to obey Christ, to suffer with Him, to glorify Him, to rejoice. Let's get down to verse 19. He says, therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. Peter wraps up this this section with this conclusion. Don't be surprised. Rejoice and finally entrust. So Christians are called to follow the example of Christ who didn't respond to his suffering with threats, but kept entrusting himself to God who judges justly. And that's hard, that's really hard. And yet Peter tells us by reminding us what is true about God, how we can follow in his footsteps, how we can respond to suffering like that. He says, we entrust our souls to a faithful creator. We suffer according to God's will. And brothers and sisters, this means that God is sovereign in our suffering. It means our suffering is never God's absence or His inability. And that's something you've got to believe this morning as you encounter suffering. Whatever you're facing, it's not there because God wasn't aware of it or He wasn't strong enough to stop it. He is absolutely sovereign in our suffering. He is the creator and the sustainer. Your suffering, your trials are God's will for you. and they are necessarily limited in intensity and duration. God is faithful. He is utterly good. And your suffering does not contradict that at all. As we saw earlier, your suffering is purposeful. God is exposing impurities within you. He's showing you the sin that keeps you from having a deeper relationship with him. He uses suffering to melt away the delusion that you're as good as you are. He uses it to show you how much you need Christ and how much you are loved by Christ. Even though trials are hard and painful and sometimes even result from sin of others against us, God is allowing them, listen to this, God is allowing them only to the extent that they accomplish His good purposes in you. And that is good news in our suffering. God only allows trials to the extent they accomplish His purpose. Those are the two great anchors, God's sovereignty and His goodness, that hold us through life storms so we do not drift away, so that our faith is not destroyed. We see here that trust necessarily results in action. We are called to continue doing good. Suffering and even persecution are not excuses for us to be lax in our duties. We must be faithful and persevere despite adversity. As the old hymn says, trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. It's not only the means of our happiness, it's also the fruit of our happiness. We see that because God is purifying us, Christians are called to expect, to rejoice, and to trust God in our suffering. He says we are specifically to entrust our souls to God. We are to entrust our souls to him. And here he echoes the words of Jesus on the cross, some of his last words when he cries out to the father into your hands, I commit or I entrust my spirit. And I wonder if there isn't a reminder here for the audience, both Peters and us today, that death is not the end. Even if someone suffers unto death, his life is in God's hands. And that brings us back to the article that I mentioned at the beginning. The author quotes a Dutch physician who has assisted in dozens of suicides. And he says this, the fear is of doing something to a person you know can never be rescinded. I never had an easy death, but over time, he says, that angst has subsided. He has grown increasingly at ease with injecting patients with a lethal dose of sodium theopentyl and then a muscle relaxant, knowing he is bringing suffering to an end. Imagine the horror, brothers and sisters, on that day when that man stands before God. And he comes to realize that rather than bringing suffering to an end, it has only just begun. As Christians, we are assured that our suffering will come to an end, not with a decision of our own will, but with the sound of a trumpet. When the dead are raised imperishable and those who remain are changed, the perishable put on the imperishable, the mortal immortality, and then shall come to pass the saying, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And I think Peter would wholeheartedly agree with Paul when he says, Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor, and may I insert, even your suffering is not in vain. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we confess this morning that we have so often failed to see and appreciate our trials for what they are. Lord, we grumble against you, we stumble as you bring trials about, and we contemplate giving up. Lord, we confess all of that this morning, and yet I thank you that each one is here. And I pray that you would lift up our eyes to see, once again, the cross, the glory of Jesus' love for us, the power of the resurrection. Remind us of Christ's suffering for us. Give us the grace to respond to suffering, knowing that we are sharing in His suffering. We are participating in something amazing. Give us the grace to know and believe that the trials you bring about are for our good, to purify us so that we can rejoice in them, we can trust you and obey you. Lord, we need your help to do that. So give us a fresh vision of Christ. We pray in his name. Amen.