Sermon manuscript:
Tonight I’d like to consider something that Peter says in
our epistle reading: “Indeed, it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer
for doing good than for doing evil, because Christ also suffered once for sins
in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”
First, I’d like to speak a little bit about suffering. We
know from the Bible that suffering is the consequence of the fall into sin.
With sin came death and everything that leads up to death, including pain,
sickness, and disease. Psychological and spiritual suffering came with the
fall—the worst of which is the feeling of alienation from God. There is also
emotional suffering.
Right from the get-go human beings have tried to alleviate
suffering to the greatest extent that they could. Right after Adam and Eve
sinned they tried to alleviate their shame by making some clothes for
themselves. From that time forward we have applied all the gifts and abilities
that God has given to us to eliminate suffering wherever we might find it. One
invention after another has reduced our toils and troubles and pains and
sickness. Just think about it. We don’t have to walk anywhere. With our HVAC
systems we are never cold nor hot. Gadgets and devices of all kinds make it so
that we never have to exert ourselves while doing chores. There are also all
kinds of drugs that can address disease, pain, and even our moods.
Now there is nothing unclean about these things unless they
contradict God’s commandments. They can all be sanctified by the Word of God
and prayer. We shouldn’t deliberately shun them like the Amish do. There’s
nothing in God’s Word that says we should do that. However, let’s not pretend
that this way of living hasn’t had a powerful effect on us. When we are trained
from the moment of our birth that suffering is bad and it must be eliminated,
then it will be much harder to believe what the Bible says.
For example, Jesus says that we are to take up our cross and
follow him. The cross was the Roman government’s way of inflicting capital
punishment in a particularly painful way. It was reserved for slaves and
non-citizens. Capital punishment for Roman citizens was beheading—a much
quicker and less painful way to die. So Jesus is calling us to a life of
suffering.
But this is not a life of suffering simply for suffering’s
sake. It’s not like everything gets turned upside down where suffering is good
and joy is bad. Suffering is still sad and hard, but it can be blessed, good,
and holy. Suffering is also not something that we should go out of our way to
find. Peter says, “it is good to suffer, if
it is God’s will.” Again, I might mention the Amish. God is not better
pleased with us if we use some gadget or don’t use some gadget. We should not
make up good works for ourselves, and then feel good about the suffering that
those self-chosen works might cause us. That is not suffering for doing good.
But God will, indeed, give us our crosses to bear if we are
his disciples. These normally come in our everyday walk of life. God puts us
all in families. Inevitably there will be hard times in those families. How do
you react when you are mistreated? Do you forgive? Or do you seek some kind of
payback? Or, what is much more common, we will rationalize our payback by convincing
ourselves that we are teaching them a lesson. If we allow this one irritation
to pass, then we’ll become a doormat, so we better teach them a lesson.
So everybody teaching everybody else a lesson with their
sour faces, sharp responses, and tit for tat. Of course, these things can
easily grow until we hate each other. It doesn’t need to be this way though. If
we would only cover up the faults of our loved ones and let the mistreatment
roll off our back, there wouldn’t be these blazing fires. Also, all along the
line, if either party will only humble themselves, and quit teaching the other
a lesson, how quickly the fire would be knocked down! Peter, a little later in
this letter, says: “Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers
a multitude of sins.”
Another area in our life where we must not shrink from
suffering is in our good confession of our God. Bearing up under this kind of
suffering is harder than suffering with your family or job. Suffering in your
family or job will lead to you being blessed in an obvious way. When a person
suffers for confessing what is true, it doesn’t look like it is going to be worth
it.
Consider Daniel. When Darius made the law that nobody could
pray to anybody except him Daniel had several options available. Instead of
praying to his God like he was accustomed to doing—in broad daylight, with the
windows open, facing Jerusalem, three times a day—he could have shut his
windows. He could have prayed at night. He could have not prayed at all. If he
would have done any of these things (and we could probably come up with a bunch
more—even some cleverer ones) he wouldn’t have gotten in trouble—at least not
from his wicked, jealous colleagues. Of course, this would have not been
pleasing to God, which is always more important for anybody’s welfare. But that
can be hard to see and believe when you are being escorted to the lion’s den.
Daniel did not let his fear control him, and as you heard,
great good was worked thereby. God was glorified in that suffering. People were
blessed through it.
So when you are with your friends and your family and they
contradict God’s Word and speak evil of it, what are you going to do? When people
denounce Christians for being hate-filled or bigoted or narrow-minded, who are
you going to pick? Will you be faithful to God or will you pick your friend? Or
will you close your window, keep your mouth shut, and let the storm pass? We are predisposed to think that these little
conversations are no big deal. They are here and gone before you know it. But
isn’t this precisely what Peter must have thought when that servant girl was
asking him if he wasn’t one of those guys from Galilee who were following
Jesus?
Again, this same Peter learned something from that I’m sure.
Just before our reading tonight he says: “Always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you.
But speak with gentleness and respect, while maintaining a clear conscience, so
that those who attack your good way of life in Christ may be put to shame
because they slandered you as evildoers.”
So when people say that we hate gay people, or we hate
women, or we are judgmental, or we hate having fun, or we hate people living
their life, respond firmly but with gentleness and respect. You should notice
that Daniel did not kick up a big fuss. Jesus did not kick up a big fuss
either, when they were asking him all those trick questions during his trial.
He answered what he could. He didn’t take their bait so as to fly off the
handle.
But perhaps the most important thing, with whatever
suffering might come upon us, is that we not be afraid. We have to remind
ourselves that God exists and that he is in control. You might not be able to
see how on earth you can make it through the trial without disaster, but that
is not really your concern. Did Daniel know that God’s angel would hold shut
the mouths of the lions while they prowled around him? The way that the
salvation comes is usually not known until it actually happens.
So also with the crosses that God places upon you. It might
seem impossible that the suffering that takes place in your family can have a
good outcome. That’s not really up to you to decide. God will do that. You just
be faithful and watch yourself, so that you are doing what is right. When
friends or family mock Christ and his Church, it might seem like a lost cause.
But it is not we who convert. It is the Holy Spirit who converts. But he always
does it through his Word. He does not do it with the stuff we make up that
sounds better as it soft pedals and manipulates.
When you are afraid of suffering for doing what is good,
remember that God cannot fail to bless you in such a situation. After all, it
is right at the heart of his own love. Remember the latter part of the passage
that we have been looking at: “Indeed, it is better, if it is God’s will, to
suffer for doing good than for doing evil, because Christ also suffered once
for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”
When you suffer for doing good you are following the pattern
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest possible good was brought about by his
suffering. He brought you, though you were unrighteous, to God. When you suffer
as a Christian, Jesus is with you. God will bring about good from it, even
though you probably won’t be able to see how. Nonetheless, believe. He will
bring about the good outcome in his own good time, as we see throughout the
whole Bible. The Lord will provide.
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