Sermon Transcript
Well, thank you so much for choosing to worship with us today. Would you please help me welcome our Bloomfield Campus who's worshiping with us this morning? So great to worship together. And as we continue our heart of worship, let's go before our Father in heaven, let's pray and ask the Lord to speak directly to us today. Would you pray with me, please? Lord Jesus, we're gathered here today because we come to worship you because you are so worthy and we're so in need of you. Lord, we ask that during this time of the proclamation of your Word, Lord, that you would speak directly to us. Lord, every time your Word is opened and proclaimed, Lord, you have a word for us, Lord, to help us receive that. And so Lord, we just confess to you. If there's any known sin in our life right now, Lord, we just confess that to you right now. And, Lord, we just receive your forgiveness so that we can hear you clearly this morning.
So Lord, have your way with us. Lord, do what you want with us. And Lord help us to hear what you say, to believe what you say, and to put in practice the very things you show us. And now all God's people who are ready to receive His word and put into practice those very things agreed with me by very loudly saying the word amen.
Amen.
Amen. Oftentimes when we start on a new adventure, we're aware that there can be some challenges, obstacles, or pain, but we usually don't focus on those. For instance, when people enlist in the military and they're going to be part of the infantry, they're aware that they're going to be on the battle lines in the front, but when they enlist, they're not thinking about what it's going to be like in that very moment when people are firing bullets at them. When people get engaged, they're aware because they've heard other married couples tell them, "In your marriage, you will have challenges," but they're not focused on what those challenges will be at the time when they're engaged and just getting ready to be married. Wives who desire to be pregnant, when they realize that they want to be pregnant, they don't spend much time thinking about the pain that's going to come nine months later once they are pregnant. But they realize that it's there, it's just not something that they focus on in the moment.
Well, when it comes to our relationship with Jesus Christ and being born again and being a believer in Christ, suffering is part of the package that comes with being a Christian. And yet, so often it's not something we think about when we're first born again. It's not something that we even like to talk about after we're born again. But suffering is inherent. It is part of being a believer in Christ. Just like a person in the infantry is going to face battle, just like a mother that is pregnant is going to experience pain in delivery, just like a married couple is going to experience some trials in their marriage, as a believer, you are guaranteed going to experience suffering. And when we do, it can often be confusing because we don't know why is this going on and why is it I'm suffering. I'm supposed to be a believer. God loves me, and if He loves me, why is this stuff going on?
And for that reason, we are going to God's Word today because God wants to give us the purpose for what suffering is all about. So, if you have your Bible with you, I encourage you to open up to 1 Peter 4. We're going to begin in verse 12 and go through the end of the chapter. And as we do, I'd like to read those verses aloud and then we'll unpack them together. Here's the Word of the Lord. "Beloved, do not be surprised that the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. But to the degree that you share the suffering of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
"Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Therefore, those who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right."
In this text, we're going to talk about the purpose of suffering. As Christians, you are going to suffer, you will suffer. Many of you have suffered already for your faith. Some of you, if you haven't yet, will. Here's what God wants us to know about suffering. The first is this, that suffering for Christ is not surprising but rather an opportunity to rejoice. Suffering for Christ is not surprising but an opportunity to rejoice. Notice the text, he starts off with saying this, "Beloved. Beloved." We've heard that word before. We've talked about that word before. But before we talk about suffering, you need to understand who you are in Christ. You need to be resolved in your identity, and here's how God views you, as His beloved. That means you're His chosen one. That means you're special and unique and priceless and cherished and honored. That's how God sees you. And if you don't own that, when suffering comes, you'll start asking the wrong question. You'll start asking the question, "Why doesn't God love me anymore? Doesn't God care about me. And if God loves me so much, then why am I going through this?"
Here's what he's saying, "Beloved.". Now, let's get straight from the get-go, God says, "Because you are born again, I love you with an unconditional love." Now who's He talking to here? He is talking to believers in Christ. So let me just pause here in the message to tell you, if you're not a believer in Christ, God has a love for you as well, but there's a special love He has for those who have trusted in him. And if you've never trusted in Christ, the good news is this, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but would have eternal life. Meaning this: if you don't have a relationship with God, you can have a relationship with God. You can have it right now where you are sitting in your seat by repenting of your sin and confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord.
And when that takes place in your life and you recognize, "I'm not good, but God is good. Jesus Christ came as the perfect God-man and lived the perfect life and died on the cross in my place for all my sin and was buried and rose from the grave. I'm exchanging my sin-life for His righteous life, and I'm confessing Him to be Lord of my life," when that happens, the Bible says you're born again. When you're born again, here's what you need to know. You're more than just loved, God loves the world, you are beloved. You are chosen. You are special. Church, you need to hear this, because when we talk about suffering, get it down in your core, even when you suffer, and especially when you suffer, you need to be reminded of the fact God loves you so much. He loves you so much. That's part of the reason why you are suffering. Okay?
"So beloved," here's what he says, "Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you." He says, "Do not be surprised." Now, he uses the word fiery ordeal. You need to understand, at this time in church history, Nero was the emperor, and Nero set fire pretty much to the city of Rome, the city burned down. Most people think it was Nero that set fire to the city. But what Nero did was he blamed the Christians. Christians were being marginalized anyway. They were thought of a fanatical group that ate flesh and drank blood, because they took communion, right? And so they were like, "These people eat flesh, they drink blood, they're radicals, they're out there." So it was another way of blaming Christians.
And then what Nero went on to do is he would dip Christians in wax and light them on fire to light his parties and all sorts of different things. And so, here's what Peter's saying, "Do not be surprised at this fiery ordeal that's happening. Do not be surprised that you suffer for the name of Christ, as though some strange thing were happening to you." He means Christians. Listen to me, you are going to suffer for being a Christian. You are. And when it happens, beloved, do not be surprised.
Now, when I was in sixth grade, I remember, we went out for pizza one night. And when we were going out for pizza, my parents dropped me off and said, "Go in and get us a table, and we'll be right in." And so I walked in, and it was the craziest thing because I walked into the pizza place. They had two different rooms. I walked to the back room, and a bunch of my friends were there. They were all just sitting around. I was like, "I can't believe you guys are here." They were like, "Yeah, we just all wanted to come out." We started talking, and then my parents came in. I'm like, "Yeah, you'll never guess who's here." It didn't dawn on me it was a surprise birthday party for me. I mean, it was just all my friends, and it was so awesome. I mean, they're laughing their heads off, right?
And when you get surprised that way, then you're like, "I'm going to be on alert from now on." Now, I married a gal, and when I married this gal, birthdays are a humongous deal in our house. I mean they're the most significant days in our calendar year. When I turned 40, there was no doubt my wife was going to do something for my birthday. She hadn't told me about it, and so she told me where to meet her. She blindfolded me at Park Meadows Mall, put me in a car, took me to where we were going. I kind of had an idea. I'd been thinking about it. I knew who was going to be there. I knew what was going to be served, and it pretty much went how I thought. Now, at the end of the night she said, "Were you surprised?" And I said, "Not at all." I knew it was coming, right?
As Christians, that's what suffering should be like. Now, we can't choose what kind of suffering's going to come down the way, we can't choose the way in which we're going to suffer. And the reason is if we chose it, it wouldn't be that hard. It wouldn't be as much of suffering. Suffering comes in ways that we would never ever choose. When it comes, beloved, don't be surprised as though it were a strange thing that's happening to you. Meaning this: I believe we serve an awesome, faithful, loving, prospering God. I believe that God has our best interests at heart. I really do. Where I part ways from the prosperity gospel is this: I do not believe that 100% of the time God always has to do stuff in your life to make your life feel better.
Amen.
Okay, I don't believe that. I do believe we serve a prospering God. I do believe God can prosper us. I believe all that. I believe He's generous. But here's what I also believe, I also believe He loves us so much He will allow suffering and cause suffering at times to come into our life to grow us. Suffering is going to happen to you. And when it does, don't be surprised. Don't think God doesn't love you anymore because God definitely loves you.
And here's what the purpose is. What does he say in the verse 12 here? He goes, "Which comes upon you for your testing." God uses suffering to test us. He uses suffering to see how far have you grown in your faith. Now, if you think about school for a while, there's different kinds of testing. I remember learning my multiplication tables when I was in third grade. And that was a big deal, trying to learn all those. And then I remember going to high school and you had a whole different set of things. You had to read books for different classes. And then I remember being in college and they would give you a stack of books for classes that you had to do. And I remember then in my doctoral level courses not only did you have to choose the books, it felt like you were reading the entire library. And then they gave you oral examinations after you wrote your paper and then critiqued everything you did. I mean, there's different levels of testing.
As you grow in your faith, there will be different levels of testing. And as you go through them, it gives you an opportunity to see just how far you've come. Now, how do you know how far you've come? The text tells us, the text says, "Which comes upon you for your testing. Don't be surprised as though some strange thing, but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing," don't forget that word, "so that at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation." When suffering comes, it's a test to see if you really are rejoicing in the Lord.
Now, Paul says in Philippians 3:10, "Rejoice in the Lord always." I'll say it again, rejoice, which isn't that shocking because Christians walk around all the time, "Praise the Lord. PTL. PTL. Hallelujah." I mean, we talk like that, but what makes it so shocking when you read the Book of Philippians is Paul's writing it under house arrest. Paul's writing it wondering if he's going to get his head to opt off any minute. Paul's writing it in a suffering time, and he's saying in the middle of that, "Rejoice in the Lord always." In case you didn't get it, I'll say it again, "Rejoice."
When suffering comes, it's an opportunity for you to rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice is not just singing a song or listening to your radio. Rejoice means from the depths of who you are that you're going to give God praise that He's deemed you worthy to suffer for His great name. That's exactly what it means, right? And here's what happens, as you grow in your faith, you'll see that.
I was recalling in this message when I was doing this, some 24, 25 years ago when I was becoming a youth pastor, I had to go meet a person to interview that was part of this organization I had met with other people. We were sitting at a restaurant and in front of all the people at the table, he looked across me and said, "So Jeff, just tell us all what Christ is doing in your life." Not a big deal now, but I'm telling you back then I'm like, "You mean in public? You mean in front of all these people, like all eight people, you want me to talk about Christ and what He's doing in my life?" It's a big deal for me. I mean, I was going to be a youth pastor. That was still a big deal for me, because I was like, "What if I share it wrong? I don't know much about the Bible. What if I don't quote this thing right?"
And so, I just started sharing from my heart here's what Jesus is doing in my life, and here's why I want to be a youth pastor, and here's what I want to do with kids. And here's how I want to lead people to Christ. I shared from my heart, but I remember being totally nervous like, "What if I shared it wrong? What if I got the verses out of order? What if I didn't do the Christian... " I mean, I just was nervous. If you would ask me today, "Jeff, what's Christ doing in your life?" I wouldn't get nervous. I wouldn't get nervous if there were non-believers around the table, I wouldn't get nervous whoever was there.
I mean, just a couple of days ago, we were in the Orlando Airport and this guy came up. We started talking to him. Next thing you know, 40 minutes later, we're sharing Christ with him. We're telling him how to listen to messages from our church and what he needs to do. And he gets done, he says, "Man, my two older brothers are Christian. My mom prays for me every single day," to which my wife chimes in and says, "That's why we're having this conversation, because your mom is faithful prayer. I'm a mom too, and that's why you need to listen to everything we're telling you." I mean, it was awesome, right? Not scared to do that anymore, but I was scared then. That was a big deal for me.
When you go through suffering, which you can't choose the suffering, when you go through it, can you rejoice in it? Because the more that you rejoice when you suffer, the more you'll realize just how far it is that the Lord has brought you, right? That's the point of suffering. It's a purpose. It's not surprising, it's a testing for you to see if you can rejoice. And there's benefit to this. You can write this verse down if you can't flip there fast enough. In Romans 5:3-5, he says, "And not only this, but we exult in our tribulations, that's suffering, "knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope. And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
Suffering brings about what? Perseverance, character, hope. Suffering's good. Suffering's what grows us. Suffering's what allows us to know that this faith that we claim and we say that we believe, when we go through suffering, it gives us an opportunity to exult and worship in the Lord. It shows us just how far we've come. Right?
Last year when I had my vocal cord surgery and I wasn't able to speak for three weeks, they told me be completely silent, which for me personally I think is a bigger miracle than anyone I've ever read about in the Bible, but in doing that during that time when I couldn't speak, knowing that my whole profession is geared upon being able to communicate and speak, I realized even more of my identity and telling the Lord, "Lord, even if I can never speak again and I have to learn sign language to get this thing out, I'll be the fastest sign language communicator ever, but even if I have to do it, I know who I am. And I'm rejoicing in you because of who I am and that you love me so much that you've saved me."
That's what suffering does for us, suffering gives us a deeper awareness of Christ's presence that we can rejoice in Him even when things aren't going our way, and it's to our benefit. Why should we be rejoicing? Because of the revelation of Jesus Christ. At His coming, there will be incredible exultation and joy. That's what the text tells us back in 1 Peter. Right? And so, what we're thinking about there... I mean, picture this, have you ever been at a Christian concert, whatever, or at a football game before the team comes out or before the band takes the stage, there's this anticipation or this excitement before the performers or the team get out on the field or on the stage. There's an electric energy. And sometimes even before they come out, maybe the place goes dark and they start showing a video of them walking towards the stage or walking toward the field, and you can feel the emotion bubbling up, right?
This is how he's telling us to live as Christians, especially when we're suffering. When we're suffering is a great time to remember, "Oh Jesus, you're coming back soon, and I hope it's today. I'm going to rejoice with you in such a way that if you broke through into human history again in your full bodily, physical, glorious state, it will be awesome." That's how he wants us to rejoice. He wants us to be rejoicing in such a way that when Jesus returns we're not surprised by His coming back either, that even in our suffering, when we're suffering all these things, just know they're temporary. They're not a big deal. They feel like a huge deal, they're not a big deal. And we're rejoicing in such a way that if Jesus broke through the clouds right now and came back, we would be like, "Woo." I mean, we're anticipating that bubbling up. And when we go through suffering, here's what we're realizing: nothing in this world will ever satisfy me to the full.
Amen.
This world will never ever be my home the way I think it's going to be. There's always going to be pain in this world, and suffering is a way of reminding me that I shouldn't be surprised by this. I shouldn't be shocked by this. I shouldn't be like, "What's going on?" I should recognize God loves me so much. This is an opportunity rejoice that my time on this planet is short and He's coming back soon. Amen. That's the whole point of suffering. The whole point of suffering's not for it to be surprising, but it's an opportunity for us to rejoice.
He gives us a second purpose. He says, "Suffering for Christ is not shameful, it's not shameful, but it's an opportunity to glorify God. Suffering for Christ is not shameful, but an opportunity to glorify God." He says, "If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed." Blessed means happy. Blessed means highly favored. If you're reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because why? "Because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." Now, let's talk about this. He's talking about the Holy Spirit. There's not two different Holy Spirits. He's talking about the Spirit of glory and the spirit of God. Okay, first of all, Spirit of God, that's His name. We have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. One God, three distinct persons. That's God's name, the Spirit of God, right? Right?
What's His nature or His character? His nature or character is glory. That's who our God is. Here's what happens at the moment you're converted, at the moment you're converted, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in you. In the Old Testament we read about the Holy Spirit coming upon people for a purpose, for a period of time and then maybe leaving a person for a period of time. That's why when David prays in Psalm 51 he prays, "Do not take the Holy Spirit away from me." Right? We don't have to pray that way, the Holy Spirit indwells us. He will be with us forever. That's what the Bible promises. And when the Holy Spirit comes in, the Holy Spirit rests upon you. You know what rest means? It means He refreshes you. It means He abides with you. It means He remains in you and through you. He's not going anywhere. That's what it means.
So, when it comes to our suffering, we need to realize if we're being reviled for the name of Jesus, for living out the gospel, if we're being reviled, we're blessed. You're blessed. Right? Now, some of us, and maybe many of us in this lifetime, won't endure physical punishment for what we believe. It's happening in droves all over the world. There's more martyrdom for Jesus now as a Christian than any other time in human history. But while you may not experience that, what you may experience is if you speak up and live out your life, you may experience suffering in the workplace. You may experience it in your neighborhood. You may experience it at your school, right? You may experience it out in the world in some capacity. I mean, you're going to experience suffering somewhere, right? But here's what you can know: when you suffer, here's what you need to know, that the Spirit of God remains in you and He rests upon you. And when you're rejoicing, it's the Spirit of God magnifying the resurrected Christ in and through your life through your suffering.
I mean, we heard stories in the New Testament. I mean, we shouldn't be shocked, right? I mean, we studied the person of Jesus. Did Jesus Christ suffer at all during His earthly life? Absolutely. He suffered more than any person has ever suffered. But then we read about Paul, did Paul ever suffer any? Well, yeah, he suffered immensely. Did Peter ever suffer? Well, yeah, he did too. What about Steven, did he suffer? Yeah, he was martyred. It's hard to find somebody in the New Testament that wasn't suffering in some way. And yet, we in the 21st century find it shocking to believe that we'd suffer. We find it surprising that we would suffer. And when we do, we can sometimes feel like maybe I did something wrong. Maybe I shared the gospel wrong. We feel shame. There's no shame in suffering for the name of Jesus. There's great glory that comes from it. Amen.
Amen.
Now for those of us, because we live in America, when we think about a chapter in the Bible, like Hebrews 11, the great hall of faith chapter, we think about all the great heroes of the faith, like the hall of fame for God. Which really a hall of fame for God means that those people honored God in the earth. There's no hall of fame in heaven, so to speak, where we get shrines in heaven. No, there's one person we're going to celebrate, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. So we talk about this hall of faith. We read all the parts about how awesome it was that these men lived for God, but I want to read you part of this chapter at the end of Hebrews 11, starting in the middle of verse 35. Here's what it says. Now these are real people that we're reading about. So think about this being you and/or your friends or people in your church.
"They were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others experienced mockings and scourgings. Yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with a sword. They went about in sheepskins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated," that's what the text says, "men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us they would not be made perfect."
Now, some people have a martyrdom complex like, "I'm going to die for Jesus someday. I'm going to be awesome for Jesus." That's wrong because here's how even you're thinking, you're thinking, "I'm going to die in such a way the world's going to know I lived for Jesus." How about these people here? They died and nobody knew. They walked around in holes and caves, nobody knew. I mean, we live in such a way that even if we do something great, we want everybody to know. We want to be like, "I mean, at least if I'm going to be martyred, put it on the front page of USA Today. Maybe CNN, Fox can cover it so that people will know when I died I was just dying for Jesus. I mean, let the world know."
How about this, saints, let's just be anonymous and serve Jesus and get the approval from our faith that the Lord Jesus Christ sees the way that we suffer and the Lord Jesus Christ is honored by the way that we suffer and nobody else in the world even needs to how we're suffering other than the Lord. Amen.
Amen.
We don't need to be shamed by this. We don't need to be shamed by it. If that's the way the Lord takes you through a period of suffering or through a long time of suffering or even to martyrdom, nobody else has to even know about it. And there's nothing shameful in suffering for the name of Jesus. There's great honor from the Lord.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
And that's how we need to live; not in shame, but reminded of who we are and all that God is doing. But here's how we to do it, notice verse 16... I'm sorry, verse 15. He says, "But make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or a thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler. Murder, thief, evildoer, get it. I'm a Christian now, I don't want to live like that. I mean, I used to live like that, I'm not living like that anymore. How about a troublesome meddler, right? I mean, it's including somebody who sticks their nose where it doesn't belong. You're meddling in other people's business.
Amen.
Let me just tell you something, the only way to change the world is with the gospel of Jesus Christ. To try to change the world, to try to change non-believers other than with the gospel of Jesus Christ is wasting your time. Okay? "Well, Pastor Jeff, don't you realize how evil the world is. Don't you realize what they're doing against God." I totally do, I used to be one of them, right? And so did you. I'm totally aware of that. And apart from the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'd still be doing it. The only reason I'm changed is because of the gospel of Jesus that declared to me that Christ died for my sins, according to the scriptures, that he was buried and he was raised according to the scriptures. That's what changed me. That's the only hope the world has. To try and change the world without the gospel is a waste of time. In other words, quit bothering the world, telling them everything they need to do to act like you because they can act like you because they don't have Jesus in their life.
Yes.
It means this: quit throwing every political rally and every educational thing and doing all these things without the gospel thinking you're going to change people. All you're going to do is modify people's behavior at best, which doesn't do anything now or for eternity, right? If you're going to suffer, here's why you should suffer, you should suffer because you're proclaiming the gospel to the lost. You should suffer because you're edifying the saints and rebuking people in their sin. You should suffer because you're living so much for Jesus that Jesus is what people are rejecting in you, not your own agenda. Does that make sense? That's how you should suffer. Suffer because Jesus is so prominent in your life. And that's why he says in verse 16, "But if anyone suffers as a Christian, if that's what you suffer like, he is... " What? "Not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name."
Now, here's what it means to glorify God, it means praising God that in the moment He would deem you worthy to suffer for Him because He is living His life through you in such power that you're sharing with the loss so powerfully or you're living among the saints so powerfully. Praise God and glorify Him that He's deemed you for such a time and a place to suffer for His name like that. You want a biblical example of this? Does anybody want a biblical example of this? Okay. All right. I'm just hoping you're reflecting and that you're still paying attention. How about Acts 5? In Acts 5, the apostles had been arrested. There was a jail break. They were arrested again. They came before the council. Gamaliel, one of the council, was talking about different sects that had formed. And when the leader of that sect died, the whole thing died out. And when the leader of that sect died, the whole thing died out. And so he says this, he says, "Be real careful how you treat these people because if it's of man, it's going to die out. But if it's of the Lord, it can't be stopped."
Very cool, prophetic word from a non-believer. Amen.
Amen.
So what happens? They take their advice in Acts 5:40, and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them, which means they beat them within an inch of their life, and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. Now, what would you do? Here's why you're arrested, you're arrested because you've been proclaiming to the world that God loves them and that the only way to have a relationship with God is to repent of your sin and confess Jesus Christ as Lord. Because of that, you've been arrested. Now you've been beat within an inch of your life, you've been released with this command: "Don't ever preach or teach in the name of Jesus Christ ever again." What would you do? Would you feel sorry for yourself? Would you be upset? Would you wonder why God doesn't love you anymore?
Here's what the apostles did, "So they went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name." So right there in the middle and all the way home, here's what they did when they were beat within an inch of their life, "God, we're just praising you that we are so worthy, that we're telling the truth so much that they beat us nearly to death and that we're worthy to suffer that kind of shame for you. God, we praise you that you would use us for this kind of glory for your name."
Then notice what else they did. "And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." So did they listen to him? No. No. "We're going to continue to preach Jesus. Your beatings will not stop us. You can do with us whatever you deem right, but as for us, we cannot stop talking about what we've seen and heard." Right? That's what changes the world, when you're living the gospel and you're declaring the gospel and you're suffering for the sake of the gospel. There's no shame in that. There's shame in the fact if you sin and you bring shame the name of Christ because of your sin, but there's no shame in living for Jesus and being rebuked. There's no shame in living for Jesus and being pushed back upon.
Now, I know what some of you're thinking, because I'm human too. So here's what you're thinking, "Well, then I just won't go all in with Jesus, because maybe if I just don't go all in with Jesus I can save some of this suffering thing." Can I just tell you this? You're going to suffer either way. If you choose to sin, you're going to suffer. If you choose to walk with Jesus, you're going to suffer. And I'm going to tell you, it's far better to suffer for doing what is right than to suffer in your sin. Right? And you're going to suffer no matter what. If you're single, you're going to suffer. If you're like, "I'm going to get married and I won't suffer anymore," you're going to suffer when you get married.
Amen.
Right? And if you're married and say, "I'm just going to get a divorce, I'll never suffer again," you're going to suffer when you get divorced. I mean, there's no way around it. If you don't have money, you're going to suffer. And if you say, "Well, when I make more money, I'm not going to suffer anymore," make more money, you'll suffer as much. I mean, you can't escape suffering in this life. That's why the best way to suffer is suffer for the fame and for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the text is telling us to do, suffer for His glory. Amen. And this what's he's telling us.
So, suffering for Christ is not surprising, it's an opportunity to rejoice. It's not shameful, it's an opportunity to glorify God. And finally he tells us this, that suffering for Christ is not stoppable, but it's an opportunity to know God's grace and His justice. Suffering for Christ is not stoppable, but it's an opportunity to know God's grace and His justice. You can't stop suffering. It's unavoidable in this life, right? You guys know that my 104-year old grandmother died recently. It's painful to lose somebody, but it's understandable. I mean, I recognize sin in the world, that everybody's going to die at some time, and 104, geez, I mean that's a long time to live. I mean, it wasn't all that surprising. It's still painful, right?
But what about when someone's four?
Amen.
That's really painful. I mean, we like to have suffering when it goes along our timeline and we kind of, "Okay, I can see why that happened." But there's oftentimes where suffering comes and it's like... takes our breath away. That doesn't seem right. That doesn't seem right. And when it doesn't seem right, don't be surprised and don't be shamed by it. Know it's an opportunity to rejoice, and know it's an opportunity to glorify God.
I've watched people in the moment that have suffered far greater than I've ever suffered, who have stood it up and [inaudible 00:32:25] their feet as they've lost kids in a tragic accident and said, "Hey, here's what we can tell you, we don't know why it happened, but here's what we do know, we still love the Lord Jesus Christ and we'll honor and serve Him no matter what. And something goes off in my soul that says, "Yes, that's right." And "Wow, that's so hard." and "Wow, way to glorify God and rejoice in your suffering." Right? That's what he's calling us to do. And because we can sit here and we can nod at a sermon and be like, "Yeah, I get that. I get that." It's really easy to nod until suffering happens to us, and then it's not so easy to nod anymore.
It's one of those where you have to go back and say, "God, did you really say that? Is this really what you want me to do? Is this really what you want me to [inaudible 00:32:59]?" And notice where this suffering takes place. Verse 17 says, "For it is time for judgment to begin... " Where? "... with the household of God." There's a couple of different words in the original language used for time. One is chronos, which is time like you would have, like it's this time, then it's this time. Time keeps going on. And then there's a word called kairos. Kairos is a special kind of time. It's a definitive moment in time. So if you're married, your wedding day was a kairos time. When you had your first child, it was a kairos time. If you lost your parent and you were at their funeral, it was a kairos time. It was a special time. It was a unique moment in time.
Peter was telling people, "It's a unique moment in time for judgment to begin... " Where? "... to begin at the household of God." I mean, Peter uses the word suffer more than any other author in the entire Bible. I mean, this short little book uses this word more than any. We don't like to read it, we don't like to talk about it, because we as Americans don't like to think about suffering. We think it's strange when it happens. We think we can avoid it. We think it's stoppable. And we think it's really shameful. We've even had people tell us stuff like this. If we're suffering, we probably had other well-meaning believers tell us, "Well, you probably have sin in your life. You probably did something wrong."
Can I just tell you that's not true. It could be true if you sinned and you're choosing to suffer. I mean, reflect on it. But I'm going to tell you some of the greatest saints in the history of the world have suffered mightily in this world. They haven't sinned to get there, it's part of the package of being a Christian. That's why when Jesus called His disciples, He said in Matthew 16:24, "If anyone would come after me... " He wants what? "Deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." In other words, you're coming for me. You're dying to yourself. You're going to come suffer to death and follow after me. And that's the call. And Peter's saying the same thing. This is why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:11-12, which when you're going through suffering, I'll tell you, these are great verses to look at when you're going through suffering, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Peter's saying the same thing. He's just repeating the words that Jesus is saying, right? When you suffer for the name of Christ, you're blessed. You're happy. You're highly favored. Because God's looking down from heaven and saying, "I'm entrusting this suffering to you to see if you'll rejoice and give me glory in this moment." As you grow, you're going to experience more of the grace of God, and you're going to see more of His justice that is to come. It's the time for... Where? For judgment to begin at the household of God.
Now, what's the household of God? The household of God is the church. Why does he use the word household, do you wonder? Because I want to tell you something about church, church is not a place that you just drive by. Church is not a place that you swing by on the weekends when you're in town. Church is not a place you just go listen to a message and then go on your way. It's not a place you just podcast. Church is this: it's a community of believers. I'll go one step further, it's a family.
[inaudible 00:36:07].
It means we are committed to one another not because we did a resume of each other and we really like each other and we have all the same interests, we're committed to one another because this is the vehicle that the Lord Jesus Christ has established to advance His gospel on planet Earth. And because we're all part of the same team, because we share the same Father, it makes us all brothers and sisters, and guess what we are. We're family. And where does judgment begin? It begins in the family. Why? Because God loves you so much that He grows you and disciplines you on this side of heaven to get you ready for what's to come. Okay.
How many would say, that are believers in this room, that you still have some growth to do in your Christian life? Just by a show of hands... Bloomfield, I'm seeing hands go up all over the place, right? We all do. So what's the purpose of suffering here? For God to allow His grace to grow you so that you can see His marvelous grace at work in your life. And God's amazing grace is the grace that saves us from all our sins when we had absolutely nothing to do with it. But God's grace is also what grows us. You can write this verse down in Titus 2:11. Titus 2:11 says, "It's the grace of God that teaches us to say no to ungodliness and live self-controlled, upright lives in this present age."
What's God's grace do? He teaches us how to live here. Have you ever noticed that you can be going along in your life, having Bible study, doing quiet time, going to church, living your life, and you got some steady growth, but it's in a time of suffering that you massively grow, that you're holding on Jesus like, "I need you now more than I've ever needed."? Like when you have a friend or a child or a parent, they're deathly ill and you don't know if they're going to make it, your prayer life increases, your intensity increases? When at work, you're dealing with a situation, you can't get through, your intensity for Christ increases? That's what suffering does, it brings more of the grace of God into your life. Because what is He doing? He's preparing us to be perfected at the day He presents us to the father who's in heaven.
Suffering is one of God's instruments to grow you. If you don't suffer as a Christian, let me be clear what that means, it means you're not a Christian. That's all it means. You say, "Well, Jeff, where do you get that from?" The Bible. In Hebrews 12, after this great hall of faith, what we read about is in Hebrews 12:6, "For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives." Let's keep reading. "It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom His father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which you have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons." In other words, if you're not being disciplined through the discipline of suffering, it means that you're not a believer in Christ.
Now, if you would do me a favor this morning, take out your Bible if you have it. If you have a phone, you can take that out, this will work too. If you don't have a Bible, take one of the ones underneath your seat or get one from an usher. Open up to 2 Timothy 3:12 because I want to do something as a congregation this morning. This is underlined in my Bible. And yes, you can underline in your Bible, it's very healthy to do. 2 Timothy 3:12, I think it's a real important biblical promise that we need to read together. The reason we need to read it is I've never seen it in a biblical promise book, but it's definitely one of the Bible promises that you have, okay?
2 Timothy, 3:12, I can quote it to you, but I'm going to read it to you, so I can see it underlined in my own Bible. Underline it in yours. "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Okay? "Indeed, anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Church, if you want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, you will be persecuted. Underline it. It just means when that happens, it's God showing you that you are His daughter or His son, and that He loves you enough to grow who you are. That's all it means. If you a good parent, I mean, for heaven's sakes, you don't just keep your child away from every harmful thing that could happen. You want to see them grow. You want to see them develop. You want to see them learn to work things out. They have to get their legs under them. They have to do stuff. And sometimes it's painful as a parent to watch your kids suffer in a way that they don't need to suffer because they're not listening to good wisdom, right?
God does the same for us. God gives us His word. If we would just be obedient to His word, we wouldn't have to suffer in some of the ways we suffer. But sometimes we're just not, and we don't even realize that we're not. God takes us through a season where He's disciplining us and growing us in a discipline of suffering because He loves us so much that He's preparing us. That's why I'll say this, and listen really close because you're going to hear somebody at some point in your life, if you haven't heard somebody tell you this already, they're going to tell you this, and it's false. Here's what they're going to tell you, "Give your life to Jesus. And if you do, your life will be easy. Give your life to Jesus. And if you do, you'll never suffer again." That is false. Here's what I'm going to tell you, give your life to Jesus is the greatest thing you can ever do. He's coming soon to redeem your soul. And I promise you, you will suffer in this life in some way, and it's completely worth any suffering that you'd have.
Amen.
That's what he's teaching us. Study through the New Testament, you won't find anybody that didn't suffer in some way. People suffered all the time. Paul suffered greater than any New Testament apostle, and yet, what does he talk about? "These light and momentary afflictions are worth nothing compared to the eternal weight of glory that is to come." Light and momentary affliction like being stoned, like being threatened to be killed, like being in prison, like being shipwrecked, like almost drowning, these light and momentary afflictions, right? I mean, this is the same Paul that when things got so bad... I mean, whatever the thorn in the flesh was, I mean, it was worse than being stoned, worse than almost being killed. I mean, it was worse than any of those because three times he asked the Lord to take that away from him. I would've said, "Lord, just don't let me get stoned again. I don't want to be shipwrecked anymore." Whatever this thorn in the flesh was, it had to be a big deal.
Three times he told the Lord, "Take it away from me," and the Lord said, "No, no, no, no. I'm not taking that away. You're going to suffer with that. But here's what I want you to know, Paul, in your suffering, here's what I want you to know church, in your suffering, my grace is sufficient for you." "But I can't make it through this." Yes you can because God's grace is sufficient for you. "Yeah, but this is so painful. I don't know if I'm ever going to... " Yes, yes, yes. But God's grace is sufficient for you. It's all you need. "Yeah, but you don't understand what my marriage is like." But God's grace is sufficient for you.
Amen.
"But you don't know how they're treating me at work." But God's grace is sufficient for... Do you hear the theme here? I mean, that's what it is. And when we suffer, we need to be reminded that we're beloved. It's an opportunity to rejoice. It needs to be reminded the fact that it's an opportunity to glorify God. We can't stop this suffering, it's actually God's love for us. In doing this for us, He loves us. But notice what else it says. What will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? I mean, if it's this hard for the Christian, right, and by the way, getting to heaven has nothing to do with enduring trials, I mean, getting to heaven is simply the cross of Jesus Christ and God's grace. And if you're saved, you're saved to the full and no one can snatch you out of His hand. But because He loves you so much, he takes you through all this stuff so that when you get to heaven you're never going to meet anybody that's like, "Yeah, I trusted Christ at four, died at 80. It was so easy. Loved the earth."
That person ain't going to be there y'all. The only thing you're going to hear is, "I trusted Jesus, and I loved Him. And here's the hard parts in my life. And here's what was difficult in my life. And yet, Jesus is who sustained me and kept me through." And if that's true of the Christian it's hard, what's going to come of those who don't obey the gospel of God? Here's the answer. Here's the rhetorical answer. They're going to spend eternity in hell. He goes on and quotes Proverbs 11:31, "And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?" Hell. Hell. "Well, I wasn't a Christian. I didn't suffer in this world. I lived for myself." Yes you did, and you forfeited your soul for all eternity.
And what does profit man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? If you live 100 years of perfection and you forgo eternity in hell, it wasn't worth it. That's why he says this, "Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God," which means we're suffering because we're living for Jesus, "shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right." It means when we suffer like this, I'm just entrusting myself to the Lord all over again. No matter what the suffering is, I'm telling the Lord all over again, "I belong to you, you're mine. I belong to you, you have my life. Whatever you want from me, God, I'm yours. In this suffering, I'm just rejoicing afresh all over again and I'm thanking you that I get to glorify you in this. I'm not surprised. I'm seeing your grace grow in me. But here's what I'm also seeing God, I'm also seeing your justice for the world."
Because here's the Old Testament question, why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer? Why do the wicked prosper, and why am I suffering if I'm a Christian and they're not a Christian, they seem to be doing well? Because when I suffer it reminds me that my temporary suffering is limited, their suffering is eternal. It means when you see somebody who's not a believer in Christ, you don't need to change their political philosophy and you don't need to change anything about their convictions other than this: they need Jesus. They need Jesus. And what do we do? We proclaim the gospel. We share with them the hope and love found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for them, who rose for them, and by confessing and repenting of their sin and confessing Jesus as Savior, they can have a relationship too.
But apart from Christ, apart from Christ, they will suffer eternally. It means don't look at the unrighteous and make your judgment about whether it's worth it to suffer or not. Don't look at the unrighteous, you don't look at Christians, you look at Jesus and say, "Jesus, I'm sharing in your suffering." I mean, Philippians 3:10, Paul says, "I want to know Christ in His power and in His resurrection. And I also want to do... " What? "I also want to share in His suffering." Do you know that when you suffer it aligns you more with the heart of Christ and what He went through to come to this earth for you? That every time you suffer, it's a special opportunity for God to show you just how special He thought you were when He suffered for you? And as you're suffering, you're reminded of His grace in your life, and you're also seeing His justice as well. That those who He suffered for, who do not trust Him will spend eternity separated from Him forever and ever. Amen?
That's why the only option we have is to do what? Proclaim the gospel. God does all the work. We can't save anybody, right? We can be persuasive, we can do it. God does all the work. God's the only person that can open a heart. God's the only person that can show a person faith. God's the only person that can redeem anybody. But what are we called to do? We're called to be obedient to the gospel of God, because we have a world out there that doesn't believe that. When you suffer know this too, church, oftentimes when you're suffering, it's God's witness to the world that you're still going to hold onto this faith that you claim, that you say that you have in a way where the world says, "Well, if they're going to hold onto it like that when they go through this, their God has to be real."
That's right.
Amen. There's purpose in suffering. Now, does this mean we like it? No. Does this mean we crave it? No. Does this mean we pray and say, "God, after hearing this message, I just want to suffer more because it's awesome. I get to worship you more, rejoice more, glorify you more, get to seem more." No. It's just inevitable that you are. And when you are, don't be shocked, don't be surprised. Know it's not stoppable. Know it's unavoidable. And when it happens, just know this, God's not shaming you, God loves you. God loves you with an unconditional love. What God wants you to know is there's a purpose in this. There's a purpose for you and there's a purpose for what He's doing in you through the world.
And many of us need to hear this message because I think in our culture, when suffering happens, we think, "What did I do wrong? How come I'm suffering and they're not suffering?" It's because you're His beloved, that's why you're suffering. And these are the purposes for the suffering, and God is growing you in all that. Amen.
Amen.
Suffering is a blessing if you're a Christian. You're blessed. Blessed are you when you suffer like this. Amen. Would you stand with me as we close? Lord Jesus, we give you all the praise, glory, and honor for who you are. And Lord, in this moment, if there's people on either campus who have never trusted you, here's how you can pray. Lord Jesus I confess to you that I'm a sinner. But I believe that you died for me and rose from the dead, and right now I confess you as my personal Lord and Savior. I want to repent of my sin and trust you alone.
And Lord, for many of us here, we just needed to hear this word, that it's okay to suffer, that it's just part of the package, and Lord that you love us with an unconditional love. Lord, remind us of our identity in you, and Lord, let us not be ashamed or shocked by the suffering. Let us not try to stop the suffering, but let us praise you and glorify you and worship you and become more acquainted with you. We give you all the glory and honor. In Jesus' name. Amen.