Suffering, in faith.

If Christ did not suffer, there would be no redemption

I'm going to let that one marinate for just a second. If Christ did not suffer, there would be no redemption. If you're familiar with the story of Jesus, then you know that he came to this earth to die for our sins. And before he even got to the cross, he was beaten, he was mocked, and he suffered greatly for the sake of serving his Father in heaven, including his own death. The reason is that the world operated on a sacrificial system. As we read about in the Old Testament, the law that God gave his people was that they were imperfect, and they needed something to die on their behalf because of their sins. And so what these people would do is impute their sins onto an animal, and sacrifice that animal, letting it be the redemption of God's wrath upon the animal instead of on them. And this would last for a while, until they would have to do that again, and then again, and then again. That animal that they killed died on their behalf, but it wasn't sufficient in the long term. And so they had to regularly kill animals for the sake of their sins.

But that's where Jesus came in. He was sent to this earth to live every single moment of his life for the sake of his own father in heaven, and then to die this final sacrifice for the world at that time and the world that was to come, and that includes for us here today. And to get to that death, he had to suffer. And living his life in complete devotion to God the father, he experienced a greater suffering than many of us here, especially in the city of Clovis, will ever experience. What an uplifting message, right? And there's part of me that does feel uncomfortable in kind of prepping this and coming into today. But this part of 1 Peter is where we land. 1 Peter, chapters 3 and 4. This is where we get to talk about suffering for your faith, suffering while following Christ, suffering for the sake of righteousness.

A letter to scattered people

Now, there is a reason why Peter has written this letter, just as a reminder. What this is, is just that. It's a letter. It is thoughts and a message written from one man to a group of people that were scattered throughout all of Asia, to teach them something, to give them something, some kind of encouragement or hope, as they were experiencing life in the world that they had. So everything, every thought is connected from beginning to the end.

So keeping that in mind, if you look back at the passages that we've already covered, there's this call to be holy, or to be a holy people. And even last week, we didn't touch on it a whole lot, but at the end of chapter 2, we read Peter addressing servants and slaves. What he is doing there is commanding them, the servants and slaves that still followed Jesus, scattered throughout Asia, that it didn't matter what situation they found themselves in, they were still to live their lives in devotion to God. There was still this command to live in devotion to God, no matter what unjust ruler or unjust suffering they had experienced.

And then Peter begins chapter 3 talking about the roles and relationships between a husband and a wife. He addresses wives and tells them to love, submit, and serve their husbands with purity and reverence. And this is so that, if their husband doesn't believe in Jesus, they would then be won over to the faith. And then for husbands, not to be domineering, authoritative rulers over their wives, but to honor her and to work to understand her, because, as he puts it, they are heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers, as it says in chapter 3, verse 7.

So why then have we been studying, the last few weeks, that Peter is telling people to find this living hope, to find a living word from the living stone, or the living cornerstone, and then to live holy lives? I think the reason behind that comes through a little dig into history. Now, we don't know exactly when the books of 1 and 2 Peter were written, but what we can find out through history and other historical writings is that he was martyred around the year 64 AD. Just a couple years ago, I guess. So it had to have happened before his death.

But one thing to also note is that at this time, the Roman Empire was ruled by this man named Emperor Nero. Nero took over the Roman Empire in 54 AD, when he was only 16 years old, and he ruled all the way up to 68 AD, when he eventually committed suicide at the age of 30. Now, when he came into power, it wasn't by his own will and his own doing. It was also with the influence that his mother had in that time. His mom, because of her influence and her power, was still seen as somewhat more important than even Nero was. And that led to a power struggle that Nero had with his own mom, to the point of even orchestrating her death. And then later on, he was implicated in the death of his wife, as well as the death of his own stepbrother. So you can say this guy wasn't the most stand-up kind of guy.

Now, in 64 AD, there was something else that happened, known as the Great Fire of Rome. And Emperor Nero was actually the one that had started this fire. It lasted for about seven days, destroying much of the city of Rome at that time. People that were living there were growing suspicious of who this Nero guy was, and they started thinking that maybe it was him that had started this fire that destroyed the city. And so what does he do? Well, there's this group of people who followed this man named Jesus, and they've kind of been a nuisance already. So what he does is he blames them for starting the fire. And this further ostracized these Christians from the rest of the community, and they experienced torture by the hands of Nero himself. He would take them and he would crucify them. He would feed these people to wild animals, and he would cover them in tar and light them on fire to light his garden parties. This was the kind of man that was in charge of the Roman Empire during the infancy of the followers of Jesus. This was the kind of man who was in charge of servants and slaves. This was the environment that so many other men and women lived in, and this was the kind of suffering that the people were facing when Peter was writing this letter.

Love those who persecute you

So if that was happening, then there sure as heck is a reason why he was writing all of this. In chapter 3, verses 8 to 12, there's a continuation of proper understanding of relationships with people, except not just with husbands and wives, but now with other believers and other people. And he's essentially telling them, hey, don't be a bunch of ding-dongs. Actually love each other. Have compassion for each other. Have a love for one another. And it goes to the point, in verse 9, where he says,

do not repay evil for evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you are called, so that you may inherit a blessing.

And this is actually the same message that even Jesus preached on the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5, verses 38 to 48. In that passage, Jesus is saying, if somebody slaps you on the cheek, turn it and let them slap the other one also. If someone sues you for your shirt, give up your coat as well. And then in verses 43 to 47, he says,

you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

So Peter, now coming back into 1 Peter chapter 3, is reminding the people who follow Jesus of his own words, to actually love those who persecute you, because that's how you show that you belong to Christ. And for the reason why we do that, Peter then quotes Psalm 34, that if we do good and we love the life that we have, then we will be sure to not speak evil things, or we will keep our tongue from evil, which includes deceitful speech, which includes telling lies. We will actually turn away from that evil and move towards a peaceful living, striving for righteousness.

So now let's read together verses 13 to 18.

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats. Do not be frightened. But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but was made alive in the spirit.

So what's happening in these first couple of passages is that Peter is appealing to these people that they are actually not in a lot of danger at all. Because even if they suffer for doing good, as he says, they will actually be blessed for their effort. And that seems kind of counterintuitive for the human mind, to comprehend that suffering equals blessing. But if we keep our minds on things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, then there's actually nothing for us to be afraid of, as Peter then quotes the prophet Isaiah at the end of verse 14.

Within the next couple of verses, we get to see the reason why they would even suffer in the first place. And that is because they revere Christ as Lord, and with gentleness and respect they give their reason for the hope that they have in him, namely in Jesus. It's not saying that they are suffering because they are rude, or because they're disrespectful. It's because they have shared their testimony. And when they do this, they make sure they do it with a clear conscience, so that when someone tries to come against their character, they can't. Because they have done everything that they can in order to be kind, respectful, and loving, while also telling the truths of who Jesus is. Peter then gives them this check, of making sure that their suffering is done because they are doing good and not evil. Because, as he says, Christ suffered as a righteous person for the sake of the unrighteous. So their suffering, hopefully, is coming from doing good, matching Christ's suffering in that same exact way, and they're not in danger because of it.

The verses nobody is certain about

Now, the next few verses in 1 Peter 3 are a little iffy, and can cause some people to question some things, but I want to read over them and explain a little bit. So starting at verse 19, it says,

after being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits, to those who were disobedient long ago, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it, only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water. And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also, not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand, with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him.

Now, where this gets kind of iffy for some people is when it starts talking about how he goes and speaks and ministers to the imprisoned spirits, which I think the Catholic Church uses as an argument for a purgatory, or this holding place for spirits to go before Christ comes to retrieve them. And it also talks about baptism being what saves you through Jesus Christ. But when you start doing research on those passages, no matter what commentary you look at, no one has a definitive meaning of what Peter is trying to say. So you have some people who say one thing about it. You have others that say something completely different. But where they all agree is that they can't know for certain. Crazy, right? It's like we don't have the mind of God always.

But what we do know, especially about our salvation, is, as it says in Ephesians 2, that we are saved by grace through our faith in Jesus, created then to do a good work of the Lord that he has set aside for us to do. So it's not the act of baptism that saves us, but rather baptism being this outward expression of an internal grace that has happened to us by Christ. So I would argue this, that the purpose of these verses that we just read isn't necessarily to make a theological statement or a stance, but rather to affirm this. That it is not the old way of living, it is not the Old Testament, under-the-law way of living, but rather it is that Christ came and transforms our heart, and then calls us back to him.

In this passage, it refers to the flood in Noah, because when that flood happened, it was a physical cleansing of the entire earth that God had to do because of a disobedient people. But now, because of Jesus, that cleansing isn't a physical cleansing. It is a cleansing of our heart, with a physical cleansing to come when Jesus returns.

So now let's move on to chapter 4, verse 1. It says, therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. Talk about suffering, right? Jesus literally died sharing his hope that he had in his father in heaven. He was willing to give up his own life, because he knew that his purpose was to serve his father and die for our sins. And then Peter tells these people that when they do the same, when they live their life for their father in heaven, and they are willing to suffer, it will show that they have put to death what is earthly in them, as it says in the book of Colossians.

Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal

In this passage, we're going to skip verses 3 through 11, because it covers a lot of the same subject matter that I preached about, I think, about a month ago, and that Pastor Tim and Pastor Mark touched on within the last couple of weeks. So I want to continue reading, starting at verse 12 and going through the end at verse 19.

dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or a thief or any kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for the judgment to begin with God's household. And if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue to do good.

So here's what Peter's saying to his people. He's telling these followers of Jesus that when they do suffer, and feel that their faith is being tested, they shouldn't be surprised. That this is something that should be expected. And when it does happen, they should rejoice, because it's something they actually get to share in with Christ. He suffered for serving his father, so you should also rejoice for being able to share in that same suffering with Christ. That is what Peter is telling them. But he also says that that suffering shouldn't be because you've done anything that warranted it. So he gives the example of being a criminal, or a murderer, or a meddler, as he says.

Now, the Greek word for the word meddler is this long thing that I don't even know how to pronounce, but Strong's definition of that word is, one who takes the supervision of affairs pertaining to others and in no wise to himself. And the way that the Strong's dictionary describes this is that the writer seems to refer to those who, with holy but intemperate zeal, meddle with the affairs of the Gentiles, whether public or private, civil or sacred, in order to make them conform to the Christian standard. You know what that sounds like to me? It's someone who goes into other people's business, their personal life, and intentionally, with zeal, tries to force what they believe onto that person. It doesn't seem kind. It doesn't seem compassionate. It doesn't seem like a respectful way of communicating their faith in Christ.

So Peter here is trying to make sure that they aren't suffering because they've made bad choices and are living with the consequences, but rather that they rejoice in the suffering they experience because they lived their life for his name's sake. The reason why it is so important that Peter is writing this to them is because, as he says, God's judgment is coming, not just to the unbelievers, but to the believers as well, and it's starting with them. So he's reminding them that when God comes to judge the earth, it is going to be a judgment of the whole earth, not just those who don't believe in him.

Where is your suffering coming from?

So what does this mean for us today? There are two main points that I would like for us to remember. And it's two, so it should be kind of easy. We need to understand where our suffering is coming from, and our lives need to be motivated by and lived for God.

So why do we need to know where our suffering is coming from? Well, I think the primary reason is because there are not very many of us in the United States, and again, specifically in the city of Clovis, where we get to experience the kind of suffering that we just read about. Suffering to the point of even death. Most of the time, what we will see, at best, is a loss of friendship, maybe some mocking, maybe even a ton of loneliness. And all of these things Christ also experienced. He experienced mocking. He experienced a loss of deep friendship. He experienced loneliness, but even more so as he was on his way to die.

And I want to focus on this idea of where suffering is coming from, because I think often we as Christians in America use a minor inconvenience to pat ourselves on the back for doing the work of the Lord. I'm going to say that another time, but a little bit differently. I feel like a lot of Western American Christians use something very trivial as an excuse to feel better about themselves and their relationship with God. Maybe we tell somebody the truth, but we don't have any tact in how we do it. We don't care for the other person that we're actually talking to, because it's the truth and nothing else matters, right? It's the truth. But you know what? It's not compassionate. It's not gentle. It's not respectful. Maybe people just reject you because you're rude, not because you're telling the truth.

At the same time, I want to be careful, because I do think there's a time and a place for more aggressive action, but I don't think that's what Peter is talking about in these passages. He's trying to communicate to these believers in Jesus that their character matters. He's trying to tell them that it matters how you treat other people, so that if they try to come against your character, they will be made a fool. So in the same way that it mattered to Peter to communicate that your communication style matters, it should matter to us as well. So my encouragement for all of us is to be mindful of the way that we communicate the truth of the gospel to the people we come in contact with. Because, as it says, we need to be ready at any point to be able to make a defense for the way that we have placed our faith and our hope in Jesus.

One of the great ways that we can do that is by sharing our own testimony. So as we share our testimony, we need to be mindful of how we say things to people. But even in mentioning that, that brings up another thought. How many of us have actually shared your testimony with somebody, like, in the wild? Very few. And I ask because it is quite unfortunate how many people have never written, or even spoken, their testimony out loud to somebody else.

Your testimony doesn't have to be something crazy and elaborate. I remember growing up, I always wished that I was the guy that was addicted to drugs for 12 years, ended up in prison, God met me in prison and then got me out of it, and I'm saved now. Which is crazy. I know there's at least one person who has told me that. Hey, that's my testimony. And I'm like, praise God. But something that I unfortunately neglected was the beautiful story of somebody who grew up in the church, made a commitment to follow Jesus for their life, and then did so. Because in both circumstances, what you see is somebody finding a reason to believe and follow Jesus, and then committing to it. And in both circumstances, that is a beautiful story that's worthy to be shared. Our testimony, like what Peter said, is simply us expressing to people why we have put our faith in Jesus.

Now, in our membership class that we do once a quarter, as Pastor Mark said, we have one coming up next week. If you're interested, you're more than welcome to come. Shameless plug. But in that membership class, we actually spend time talking about what our testimony is. And we even give time for the people in that class to practice writing their testimony and sharing it with the people that are in that room. So it's a little intimidating. But the way that we teach it is that it doesn't have to be this 15 to 30 minute exposition on your faith in Jesus, but simply talking about what your life was like before Christ, your encounter with Christ, and what your life is now that you've lived your life with him. And it doesn't have to be this long thing. Truly, one to two minutes. And that might seem like a very short amount of time, but we don't know when we'll have the opportunity, or how long we'll have it, to actually share our faith with somebody else. And if we believe in a God that can make everything from nothing, then he can take a one-minute testimony and do a work in someone's life.

Lives lived for God, and what that has cost some

This leads me to the second point. That our lives need to be motivated by and lived for God. As it says in 1 Corinthians 10, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. I think it's when that happens that we find ourselves in opportunities to actually go and share our testimony with other people. Because if we're just trying to live our lives for ourselves, or to find comfort with where we're at, then we won't find ourselves in places that make us uncomfortable and force us to share our faith in Jesus with other people.

Now, I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on this application point, because if you've been at New Hope for a minute, or even if you're new and this is your first time, we have two years worth of resources and sermons covering this subject, of what it means to be unlocked for discipleship, and how we are a church to be unleashed into the world, and even now, how we are to have an unrelenting faith. And that's what our Sunday mornings are for. It's to come in to study and learn about our faith in God, then to go home and study further and deeper into who God is, so we can then go and share that knowledge and that experience with other people. So instead of going deeper into that and sounding redundant, or beating a dead horse, what I want to do is actually spend some time sharing stories of people who are and were living their life for Christ, even to the point of experiencing truly biblical suffering.

The first story is of someone that I actually got the chance to meet. Back in 2017-ish, I went to Turkey and Greece with the Well Community Church. They were doing one of their trips, and it was just a beautiful time. We got to see most of the churches that were written to in the book of Revelation, and we also got to see a few more little cities along the way. But one of the excavation sites we got to see and experience was the city of Ephesus. Which, if you ever have the chance to go to Turkey, please, of any place, go to Ephesus. It's an incredible city that, I think they said, was only about 10% excavated at the time in 2017. So I'm hoping there's more.

But before we went to that city and that site, we were in the hotel, and I noticed that they had this natural hot spring on location. And I thought, hey, that's pretty cool. I asked so many other people who were on that trip if they would want to go with me. Nobody said yes. And I was like, well, that stinks. Might as well just go by myself, as any young, single, adventurous guy would do, right? So I go down there, and the room's just magical. The water feels great. The room is cool. There's this group of other guys that are there having their own little conversation. I don't understand what language they're speaking, so I'm just minding my own business, soaking it all in. And I start hearing them speak, and it sounds like they're saying a few things in English. And so my curiosity perked up, and I wade over there. And I ask them, hey, do you guys speak English? And they're like, yeah.

Come to find out, most of them speak pretty good English. So I ask them their names, what they're there for, who they are, where they're from. And I do not remember their names for the life of me, but I remember that they had come from Iran, and they were there for a Christian conference in Turkey. And I was like, dang, that's so cool. I would never expect Turkey to have a Christian conference. And then I started talking to these guys about God, because I found out they were Christians. And then I probably shared a little bit too much information with them. Like my name, my birthday, my social security. I didn't go that deep. But I did tell them who I was and what I was there for.

And what was fun about sharing these stories is I got to hear about their lives, and their life specifically in Iran. And I don't know if you guys know much about the country of Iran, but it is a very Muslim country. And you can actually be punished for believing in Jesus. To the point where one of the men in that group told me that, I think within a week or two of my meeting them, one of their family members had been removed from their home by police, arrested, and thrown into prison. And he asked me to pray for them. And I did.

But they're not the only ones that experience true suffering for their faith. In 2002, there was this Hmong pastor named Fu Chao, who, at the end of a prayer during his service, opened his eyes to see police in the building where they were meeting. And he was kind of confused, because they had never interrupted his services before, but he had been detained about ten times for trying to go and deliver Bibles into the jungle of Vietnam. And so as he finished praying, the police came and arrested him, and said that he is no longer going to be free. So what does he do? As they start walking him out of the building, he immediately starts thinking of his family, and decides to make a run for it. Dips out into the jungle. Evades the police for two days. And thinks about going to another Hmong village that he knows has a Christian church there. So he goes, asks them for help, and they're able to cut the chains in between his handcuffs, but not get them off all the way.

From there he went into the city of Hanoi, Vietnam, being sure to cover the handcuffs he still had on. Because in that city, he knew that there was the president of the denomination that he was a pastor for. So he goes to the president of the denomination and asks for help. And the president said, because you're Hmong, we can't help you. But the most that we can do is set you up in a hotel that's in town. So he goes to that hotel, and as he checks in, the staff look at his passport, recognize who, or at least what nationality he is, and immediately call the police.

So the police come, arrest him, take him to prison, and force him to eat out of a bowl like a dog for a while. And then, after a certain point, they loosen the handcuffs he's in, trying to force him to sign a document that said Christianity is a false religion. But he doesn't do that. He refuses. And so they even get an ink pad, force his thumb onto it, and put that on the piece of paper, saying that he had signed the document. The police then take Pastor Fu in front of other Hmong Christians that were imprisoned, and they force him to tell them what he had done, and that Christianity is false. But instead he called out to the people in his native language, knowing that the officers wouldn't understand what he was saying. And he said, I want you to know that I'm not wrong. They forced me to give my fingerprint. Jesus is true, and I want to continue being a Christian. It is up to you if you want to continue to believe in Jesus. For me, I won't deny him.

Now, the crowd didn't respond in the way that the officers were expecting. There was a little bit more rejoicing and some hollering, and they immediately knew something was up. So they took Pastor Fu Chao back into the prison and beat him. And he's still alive, or was, at least. And he now thanks God for that suffering, because not only did it strengthen his faith, but it strengthened the faith of all the Christians that were there in the prison as well.

In May of 2023, there was a young Iraqi man who was killed by some of his peers for converting to Christianity. In February of this year, 2024, ISIS members in Mozambique destroyed 18 churches and killed many other Christians, because they were living their life for Christ. And even as recent as September 12th, about two weeks ago, there was a Muslim woman and her daughter who converted to Christianity, but were mocked and then beaten by the husband and father. And when the woman and daughter went to the police to try to report it, they sided with the husband, because the two had left the Muslim faith.

So the reason why Peter is writing this letter, to rejoice in their suffering, is because they are becoming more like Christ. He says that they actively get to share in the same suffering that Christ did. And isn't that the point for us as well? Aren't we supposed to try to be like Christ? That's the definition of a Christian, right? A little Christ. And so now, for us, as we live our lives bringing honor and glory to God, being motivated by him as we face our suffering, we praise God, because, like Christ living his life suffering for his father in heaven, we also get to suffer for our father in heaven.

So what does your suffering look like? What is it that you're doing that shows that you are living your life for God to the best of your ability? What are you not doing that God has convicted you to do, and you're disobeying? Are you ready to face whatever comes your way because of your love for God?

Let's pray. Heavenly father, suffering isn't fun. And the idea of suffering for you, I pray now, would be something that we would be able to look on with rejoicing and with blessing and honor, because you have said that it is. And again, God, that we wouldn't suffer because we are making choices that are bad, or dishonoring to you, or dishonoring to other people. But God, that we'd be motivated by you enough that we would experience a suffering that you would call blessed. And so I pray now that you would increase our courage, that you would strengthen all of us here to want to serve you the best that we can, and to rejoice in the fact that we get to share a life with you. And so, Lord, we love you, and we desperately need you. And it's in your precious and holy name that we pray. Amen.