← ArchiveFirm FoundationFirm Foundation: Suffering As A Christian (1 Peter 3:13-17)DateMay 7, 2023SpeakerJared MitchellText1 Peter 3:13–17Passages in this sermon1 Peter 38:08Luke 1417:31Matthew 1627:44Psalms 3431:491 Peter 134:21TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00We'll be right back. All right, well, good morning, church family.0:30It's good to gather today. It's good to be together and to do the things that we do every single Sunday as we get to fellowship in our small groups. We get to pray together. We get to pray for one another. We get to worship and sing together. And now we have the privilege to study God's word together.0:56My name is Jared and I'm the worship pastor here at Bethel. And it's such a joy to be able to lead us in our worship and our singing every week. But today it is an honor that I get to preach for us. As always, I'm so just incredibly thankful to Matt and the band and the praise team and the choir for just leading us so incredibly well. This morning, we're going to continue our time in the book of 1 Peter.1:25And we've joked over the past few weeks that when I found out that we would be in the book of 1 Peter, I got excited. I said, yes, finally, a normal book. Because you see, here at Bethel, we have this rhythm with our preaching that we go Old Testament, New Testament, Old Testament, New Testament. And now our pastor does have a PhD in the Old Testament, so you can guess where he likes to be. So finally today, I'm preaching, and this is not a genealogy.1:55This is not end times revelation. But it is 1 Peter. So to be able to preach this book is a little bit like a breath of fresh air. And I say this jokingly, of course, because I'm so incredibly thankful that here at Bethel that we do preach the entire Bible. And that we preach the entire truth of the Bible. And no matter what verse or what book or what chapter we may be in, we get to the heart of the matter.2:23And that is the gospel is Jesus in our place. And we preach here that salvation comes through grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, according to Scripture alone. And that is 66 books in the Bible that point us to the goodness of God in Christ. So I'm thankful that we have a pastor here that shepherds us so well week in and week out through every single one of those books.2:50So today, we're going to look into the chapters 3 and 4 of 1 Peter. And we're going to see that Peter takes the bulk of these two chapters to address the issue of suffering. Now, we want to be clear from the beginning that Peter is writing to believers.3:15These believers were in Asia Minor, and they were suffering intense persecution. So he's writing to encourage them. He's writing so that they would press on, so that they would not give up. So today, the theme is not only suffering, but it's about suffering as a believer. As the title of today's sermon is Suffering as a Christian.3:43Because you see, there's this truth that every single person who is breathing will walk through suffering. That Christians and non-Christians alike will all face hardships, and they will all face battles. But scripture is clear. And Peter's writing, and what we'll see today is that there should be something different about the Christian who walks through suffering.4:07That a world of unbelievers looks at the Christian in the midst of suffering and says, you know, something is different. There's something going on here. There's something different about him. There's something different about her. So for the believers in the room, let's ask this question. This is a question that we all must answer sooner rather than later.4:35As someone who loves Christ, loves his people, loves his word, loves his church, but at the same time, realizes that suffering is a promise and a guarantee for all of us. How do we live and reconcile these two realities? Let me ask this question for the unbelievers in the room, because I know that there's some of you here, and I want you to know that we are certainly glad that you are here.5:04Let me ask you the question, does your suffering matter? That when you walk through the hardest seasons of life, and maybe you are right now, is it enough to make you ask the question, why? To ask the question, what's the point to all of this? And if you're asking these questions, I'm glad that you are, because we have to wrestle with this question.5:34This is the kind of question that should keep us awake in bed at night. How do we deal with our suffering? And we've got to come to a place where we can answer this question honestly. Because this question has temporal and eternal ramifications in our lives. Because yes, the way we answer this question does matter in the temporary, how we live our lives on earth.6:00But at the same time, if we don't answer this question with an eternal mindset, then we have missed the long game. That we have missed the long view of what God wants for us. So how are we to walk through suffering? How are we to learn from suffering?6:30How do we embrace and use suffering? And maybe the hardest question we have to answer is how do we rejoice in suffering? So today, our objective is to lean into the word of God, to see how scripture answers these questions. And Peter has a lot to say here in this short letter, because it means a lot to him.6:54And I pray that it would mean something to us as well as we seek the Lord together. So let me pray for us and let's pray to that end. Let's seek the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we believe that you are so good. And you are worthy of all the praise and all the glory. And as we have already sung today, God, how marvelous is your name.7:23That we stand amazed at what you have done for us. That we thank you that we are born again to a living hope. So God, I pray that right now as we read your word, as we talk about who you are and what you've done, God, would you open up our eyes to see what we need to see, our ears to hear?7:50Would you open up our minds to understand? And would you open up our hearts to not only take in, but to change? We pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. So if you have a Bible, I'd invite you to open it up to 1 Peter chapter 3. And we're going to start in verse 13. Peter says this in verse 13. Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good?8:21But even if you should suffer for righteousness, then you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts, regard Christ the Lord as holy. Now we talked about this last week. Be ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason that hope is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.8:48For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. So let's remember that Peter here is writing to Christians who are already suffering for their faith. They're already in the midst of hard times. So Peter is not writing that one day suffering may come. Peter is writing that suffering is already here.9:16And it may not get any better. And here's where we want to zone into the text. We want to pay attention. We want to look really close at these words. Because these words matter. Look at verse 13 when he says, who will harm you for doing what is good. But look at 14. These two words, even if. Even if they do harm you for doing good.9:43Even if you do suffer for righteousness. What does Peter say? He says, you are blessed. And I think as Christians, when we think about suffering, we have to wrestle with what we believe. And we have to reconcile certain realities in our hearts.10:09And here is one reality that we have to face. That it is sometimes God's will for Christians to suffer for doing good. I'll say that again. It is sometimes God's will for Christians to suffer for doing good. Now, if you've read your Bible at all, this should come as no surprise to you.10:38That all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, believers have suffered for doing good. Believers have suffered for their faith. Peter, who wrote this letter, who walked side by side with Jesus, would later be put to death for his faith at the hands of Nero. Now, Nero was the very same one who was persecuting these believers that he was writing this very letter to. Now, all throughout church history, there have been believers who were martyred for their faith in Christ.11:08I'll suggest one reformer to you by the name of Hugh Latimer, who was a preacher in England, who made it his life's resolve and mission to preach only the truth that salvation comes from grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone. And during his time in England, he was known among every believer as the most honest man that ever was11:36because he preached the truth of the gospel. Now, he was so well-liked as a preacher because he preached the truth in a way that the most common man could understand. He was also known as the common man's preacher, is my kind of preacher. So as he preached, he grew in popularity. But as history would change, times would change and a new queen came into power. And she greatly reviled Hugh Latimer.12:04She didn't only disagree with what he was preaching, she hated what he was preaching. So because of her hate, she had him to be condemned and to be burned at the stake as a heretic in Oxford. And on the day that he was condemned and as he was lifted onto the stake and as the flames rose, he turned to his friend by the name of Bishop Ridley. Now, Bishop Ridley was another preacher12:33who was suffering the same fate. And he turned to him and said, let the flames burn, Ridley. For today, this fire is lighting a candle throughout England that will never be put out. And this took place on October 16th, 1555. Now, here we are today in 2023 and that flame was never put out, amen? That flame was never put out.13:01So yes, Christians have, they do, and they will suffer for doing good. But by God's grace, it is for a gospel flame that is lit for eternity. So we can say, praise the Lord for his saints who have gone before us for the sake of the gospel. And we can say, praise the Lord for saints who go today, even now. And how I pray that we may be counted among them.13:28Look what Peter writes in verse 17. He says, for it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. So again, there's this promise that we will suffer. But as Christians, suffering is different for us. All throughout the New Testament, believers suffer. All throughout church history, believers suffer.13:58Peter writes in verse 18, to look at Christ. For Christ suffered for sins once and for all. So if no other example means anything to you, just look at Jesus who suffered for your sins and suffered for my sins. But in 17, Peter writes to suffer for what is good. Suffer for the things that are worth the cost of suffering. So we think about that word, cost.14:29That we pay a cost for everything, don't we? The things that we buy, the food that we eat, the decisions we make, where we choose to go to college, the work we choose to do, the people we choose to be around. Everything in life will cost us something. And the older that I am getting, that I am learning that there are some things14:58that are worth the cost and there are some things that just aren't. I remember when I was 20 years old in college, me and my wife, Anna Claire, we had been dating for a few years now and college was coming to an end. So I reached the point in my life when I was ready to ask her to marry me. That the time had finally come. So when I realized that this time had come, I went to the diamond store to buy a ring.15:28I really wish someone would have told me that diamonds were like super expensive. So I look at rings, I found a few that I like, but I did, I came to the perfect one. Like I saw it, I knew it was for her, I knew she would love it, I just had to have it. So I see the price tag of $1,300. Now you may say that's a lot. You may say that's a little. I don't care. She said yes.15:57So I talked to the person at the store and I see if they'll come down on the price and they come down to $1,200. And this is no joke. This is a true story. I opened up my phone. Remember a 20 year old for the most part broke college kid about to be really broke. And I pull up my bank account where it shows them that I have $1,100 to my name. So they said, okay, sir, $1,100 it is.16:25So I walked out of that store that day with $0 and 0 cents in my bank account. But I did have the ring. Now I will tell you, I had no idea how I was gonna get back to college. But I had the ring. And I paid this cost. And I walked out with zero. But that's because I knew that something was coming down the line that was of infinite value.16:54That something was coming that was priceless. That I would get to marry my wife. And now we've been married for over 10 years. We have two incredible kids. And I would pay that price every day if I had to. Listen, not many things in this life are worth the cost. I would argue that rarely is anything worth the cost. But following Jesus is worth everything.17:24And there will be a cost. In Luke chapter 14, Jesus looks at his disciples and tells them to count the cost before they would follow him. That Peter knew that he would ultimately have a price to pay as he would go and be crucified for his faith. Paul knew that there would be a price to pay. Hugh Latimer and every other martyr in Christian history knew there would be a price to pay. But Jesus is worth it.17:53And his name among all nations is worth it. So Peter writes that if you suffer for doing good, then you are blessed and your reward is coming. Remember, as Christians, we are playing the long game. That we live with a long view. That I may suffer here, but I know that there is a day coming when I will see my reward in heaven when I see my Savior face to face.18:21And we can live here and we can long for that day. So let's skip down chapter four, verse one. Peter writes this. Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same understanding because the one who suffers in the flesh is finished with sin. In order to live the remaining time in the flesh, no longer for human desires,18:51but for God's will. So again, Peter writes to expect suffering, that Jesus suffered and we will too. But let's key into verse two. When he writes in order to live the remaining time in the flesh, no longer for human desires, no longer for my own desires, but for God's will. Friends, I would argue that there is no greater resolve in all of life. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said19:21about our time on earth. When he says this, I do not know how much time remains, but it cannot be long even for the longest lived person. We must not forget that while we are talking about the rest of our life, it is already passing by. That every moment we are here, we are traveling at an immense rate, speeding onward toward the great goal of death. So we must be earnest and we must be honest. We must make up our minds now19:52because while we're trying to make up our minds, time is slipping away. He says the way to do a great deal is to keep on doing little by little, but the great way to do nothing at all is to continually resolve that we can do everything. Church, would we make a resolve in our lives to use the days we have for God's glory in every season of life, even the hard ones. And for the seniors that are here20:23on Senior Recognition Day, that you are about to start into a brand new season of life and starting right now, if not already, the world is going to throw so many things at you that might seem worth it. Things that might seem good and it might seem like the right thing to do. But listen, if it doesn't point your heart to Christ and if you cannot do it20:52for the glory of God, then it's not worth it. And let that be true for all of us in the room. That in every aspect of life, let us aim to do it for the glory of God. And if we can't, then I would suggest it's time to find something else to do. Let's go down to verse 12. Chapter four, verse 12, when Peter writes, dear friends,21:22dear friends, don't be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual was happening to you. So here we see Peter say for a third time, don't be surprised when trials come your way. Don't be surprised when suffering comes your way. And I know that we've mentioned this a lot, but that's because Peter has mentioned it a lot. So we want to pay attention. In verse 13, he says, instead, rejoice. Rejoice as you share21:52in the sufferings of Christ so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. for if you're ridiculed for the name of Christ, then you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rest on you. Let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief, an evildoer, a meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in having that name. So a few things that we know22:22just by today, that suffering is promised, death is guaranteed, time is going by way too quickly, so how do we glorify God in the midst of it all for the short time that we are here? Because that's the goal, right? But the goal isn't just to be good for the sake of being good. The goal isn't just to survive through suffering, but our goal is to glorify God22:52with every day that we have. So how do we do it? I believe scripture gives us a lot of ways to do it, but for the rest of our time, we're gonna focus on only three. That if we are to suffer well, and if we are to glorify the Lord in all that we do, number one, we must live with an eternal mindset. Like we saw up23:21in verse two, that we make a resolve as Christians to make the most of our days here by serving the Lord, and we do this best when we live in light of eternity. Because we believe that eternity matters. And this is where theology matters. Theology is simply what we believe about God. So every single one of us in this room has theology.23:50has theology. It's not just something for pastors or for intellectual elite, but it is essential for each of us to lean into the scripture and to figure out and to dig and ask questions and to reconcile what we believe about God. because it's true that the most important question you will ever answer in this life is who is God to you? But I would argue24:21that a close second is the question of eternity. What do you believe about eternity? what does the Bible say about it? Now last summer, our pastor, Pastor Josh, he went through a sermon series on heaven. And I would commend you to go back and go online, find those messages, watch them, and to be encouraged. Because when I come face to face24:51with the truth that when I take my last breath on this earth, I'll be taking my first breath in the presence of the Lord, then it changes the way I see everything through this earthly temporary lens. And for the believer, and we've said this before, that this world is the closest to hell as we are ever going to get. So when we truly believe this, when we believe that there is a day coming where suffering will be no more, it is only then25:21when we are empowered to embrace suffering in this life. And then we can do exactly what the text and what Peter is telling us to do in verse 13 when he says, rejoice. Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ. So that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. For if you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, then you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rest on you.25:50And this is what the world says is upside down. That if the world causes suffering for our faith in Christ, if the world ridicules you for your faith, then like Peter says, take encouragement. Take joy in the fact that the world is able to discern that Christ is in you. That there is nothing greater to be known26:20for. Now we want to be super clear that we want to suffer for what is good and we don't want to suffer for what is not good. If you run out of gas in your car and you pull over and you say, why is this happening to me? What do I make of this awful suffering? We're going to look at you and say it's because you let your car26:49your car run out of gas. So our life goal is not to see every negative experience as suffering for the sake of Christ because let's be honest, we're human and a lot of times we put ourselves in tough situations because of our own really bad decisions. If you keep your car filled up with gas, you won't suffer walking on the side of the road. But as believers, we get to rejoice that we27:19that we get to share in the sufferings of Christ. These are the things that are worth suffering for. Spurgeon said this, he says, if we do not share with Christ in his humiliation, then how can we expect to share with Christ in his exaltation? And don't just take Spurgeon for it. Jesus said this in Matthew 16 when he says, if anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself,27:49himself, take up his cross and follow me for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. For what will it benefit someone if he gains the entire world and yet loses his life? Listen, when Jesus calls us to follow him, it will cost us something. It may even cost us everything. But like Paul says in Philippians, that we can count28:18can count everything as loss. and while we are on this earth, we want to know Christ. We want to know the power of his resurrection and yes, we will take losses in this life. We will walk through seasons of immense suffering and it will hurt. But what we know to be true is that what we gain through life in Christ is far worth more than anything that we could ever lose. So we28:48So we make a choice to rejoice. And sometimes it's a choice that we make. There are times that we are inclined to rejoice. Maybe when your child is born. Maybe when your favorite team wins a game. But there's times in our days where rejoicing is our natural overflow. But I would argue that for the believer gratitude and29:16gratitude and rejoicing is the natural posture and the natural overflow of our lives consistently. Because why wouldn't it be that as Christians through the gospel we are dead to sin and alive in Christ. So every day we can say life is good. But I want you to hear me clearly. That life is good not because life29:45because life is good but because God is good. And my life is no longer my own but through faith I have entrusted my life to my faithful father in heaven and he's good. And I can trust him with every step and every breath. And that's exactly what Peter is calling us to do in verse 19 when he says so then let those who suffer according to30:15according to God's will entrust themselves to a faithful creator while doing what is good. So how do we suffer well? Number one we live with an eternal mindset. Number two we rejoice in all three all things. And then number three and lastly we entrust ourselves to our faithful creator. and we walk closely with him. Let us30:46Let us not forget that we have a God who created all things. We have a God who put the stars in the sky but yet at the same time he knows you and he knows me by name. And he is faithful. and as our good father we can walk really close to him. And if I can be honest when I31:14when I look at my life and I look at believers around me I look at the church as a whole I just have this suspicion that we aren't walking close enough. I know I'm not. This text has been working on me this week and by the way it's not done with me. But we just aren't walking close enough. But through Christ guess what we can walk really close. And through31:44And through Christ God comes really close. Psalm 34 don't miss this that the Lord is close to the broken hearted. The Lord is close to those who are crushed in spirit. I'm reminded of this story in this book called Blue Like Jazz and in this story in this book there's the story of a32:13of a mom and a dad and their little boy and in the story the mom goes to pass away and she goes to be with the Lord and the night that she passed away the dad goes to tuck his son in for the night and a son looks up at him and says dad I'm feeling pretty anxious tonight would you hold me until I fall asleep so of course the father does and he puts his son to sleep and he walks out and he32:43and he walks over the window and he looks up and he prays and he says God I'm feeling pretty anxious tonight would you hold me until I fall asleep listen friends we can not be afraid to ask God to come close because through Christ he already has maybe33:10maybe you're here today and you've been keeping God at a distance saying God don't come too close to me you don't want to see what I see I've been gone too long I've done too much and friend if that's you God is looking at you saying come if you're broken come if33:39if you're wondering come if you're lost come through faith in Christ for the believer today maybe you haven't come close to God in a really long time and the invitation is to come and find rest for your souls to find encouragement because when you get close to God you find Jesus the keeper of your soul and if you're here and if you're lost in sin you're not only lost in sin but you're34:09you're dead in sin that the invitation for you is to come to God through faith in Christ to repent of your sin to turn to him so like 1 Peter chapter 1 says you can be born again to you know a little earlier I told you the story of when I bought Anna Claire's engagement ring and I walked out that day34:39day with zero dollars to my name why would I do that it's because I knew that Anna Claire was completely worth it maybe you're here and you're asking am I worth it am I even worth it why would God come close to me and if that's you the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ loved you enough to die in your place for35:07for your sins and he looks at you and says you are worth it so if you give your life to Christ you no longer find your worth in the things of this world it doesn't matter what they say about you it doesn't matter what they think about you because now your worth and your value is in Jesus Christ and he looks and he calls you his own and this worth that you have now inherited like35:37like first Peter chapter one says it is imperishable it is undefiled it is unfading it is kept in heaven for you there's nothing you can do to earn this worth and you don't have to worry about holding on to35:56and this is the greatest news in all of the world so friends listen suffering is not meaningless it might hurt it might cost us everything but it is not meaningless so would we find God in the midst of it would we seek God in the midst of our suffering because when we seek God we find Jesus and when we find Jesus everything changes so36:24so for the next little bit we're gonna sing and we're gonna have pastors across the front maybe today you're asking questions about suffering maybe you're asking maybe you're seeking maybe you want to find God and he's telling you come we would love to talk with you and to pray with you church let's pray father we← Previous in Firm FoundationFirm Foundation: Grow Up (1 Peter 2:2)More sermons on 1 Peter →
