All the More Gladly

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Well, tonight we’re gonna finish up 1 Peter chapter four. We’ll be looking at verses 12 through 19. And in these verses, Peter returns to the theme of sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Now, people typically view suffering as something abnormal, something that we’re supposed to try to avoid. The medical community seeks to alleviate, if not eliminate suffering caused by disease. We all long for a world no longer made to suffer because of famine and war. Wherever suffering exists, it’s considered a problem and something to mitigate where possible. And this is a perfectly normal response to a lot of suffering. If you have a toothache, you go to the dentist to get the problem resolved.

If you have cancer, you look for the best oncologist you can find. But in many cases, suffering is part and parcel of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. It’s not abnormal, nor something to avoid at all costs. It’s an integral piece of what identification with Him entails. Jesus said we would have tribulation in this world, John 1633, and that the world would hate us because it hates him, John 1518. Job observed that a man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly up from a fire, Job 5.7. A common reason that we react so negatively to suffering is because we often don’t see any purpose in it. We view it as some random misfortune that befalls us and hinders rather than helps us.

You don’t have to be a great student of the Bible to understand that suffering, far from being random and pointless, is something God uses for our greater good and for his own glory. Paul wrote in Philippians 3, for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things. And then he asks that he might know Christ and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. And then he goes on to answer why he would ask such a thing. That by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. The biblical principle that Paul understood well is that of dying in order to live eternally.

Unfortunately, large sections of church today reject this truth. One well-known false teacher is famous for preaching another gospel that says God wants, quote, your best life now, meaning that one life that is largely free from suffering. This is a false gospel and will lead many to spiritual shipwreck if they buy into it. Suffering is never for nothing. In every case, God uses it to make us better Christians. Spurgeon said, there is no university for a Christian like that of sorrow and trial. Paul makes the same point in Romans three through five where he wrote, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who he has given to us.

Now he gives us what at first sounds like a strange progression. Suffering leads to endurance, which leads to character, which leads to hope. The natural man would say that suffering tends to lead to despair. But Paul says it leads to hope. The difference maker in where it leads is how we view suffering and our willingness to accept it for what it is intended to do in us and for him. And so that, a truth, is what Peter is going to explore in the passage that we have for tonight. So kids, if you’re following along in your kid’s corner, the first area of discussion is I called the passage, which actually is probably not in yours, but let’s go ahead and read the passage and see what it says, just a few short verses.

Starting in verse 12, 1 Peter chapter four, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. But let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.

And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner. Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.”

So let’s first talk about then what Peter has to say about suffering understood. The first thing Peter calls for in this passage is that we have a proper view of suffering. Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. He starts by telling his readers to not be surprised when suffering comes and describes it as a fiery trial. Now, Peter doesn’t use the word fiery here to indicate the severity of the suffering, but rather the purifying purpose of the trial. Back in verses 6 and 7 of chapter 1, he explicitly pointed out this use of suffering when he said, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been greeted by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that perishes, though it’s tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So God allows these fiery trials into our life to test us, to refine us, to purify us. Here in verse 12, he repeats the same idea. The fiery trial comes to us as a test. Now when he says it comes to us, we understand that to mean that it is sent by God to refine us and make us better prepared to enter into his glory when that day arrives. There is a purpose to it. We’re not a victim of bad luck. There’s a tendency for us to sort of still think that way, that this misfortune was just something bad that was unknown to God that happened to us. Scripture repeatedly tells us that God is at work preparing us for heaven.

He uses our time on earth to burn off the dross so that our faith shines brighter, resulting in maximum praise and glory. Now, don’t confuse this purification process with our justification. Our suffering, no matter how great, could ever pay the penalty for our sins. But suffering is used by God to increase our sanctification. In C.S. Lewis’ work, The Weight of Glory, he discusses what it means for us to be delighted in by God. This, he says, is what glory means for us. But to know this glory more fully, we must allow him to continually burn away the worldliness that remains in us. Lewis wrote, the promise of glory is the promise that some of us shall actually survive that examination, shall final approval, shall please God, to please God, to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness, to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work, or a father and a son.

It seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain, but so it is,” end of quote. Peter says in verse 13 that we, more than not considering suffering strange, more than not considering suffering strange, we should rejoice in it. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s suffering that you may also rejoice and be glad when that glory is revealed. There is a relationship between suffering and glory. The more we share in his sufferings, the more we share in his glory. It should give us comfort and even make us rejoice to know that Christ has already set the example for us to follow.

He’s not asking us to do something that he has not already done himself. Hebrews 5, 7 through 12 tells us, In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And then later in Hebrews, the author says of Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, Hebrews 12.2.

Peter wants us to take encouragement from the knowledge that when Christ’s glory is revealed, he’s going to share it with all those who make up his bride. The suffering in this life is a necessary process for that purification for that day. John Calvin noted, no one will calmly and quietly submit to bear the cross, except those who have learned to seek their happiness beyond this world. I believe, I really believe one of the greatest mistakes Christians make is to rest all of their hope in this life like one rests their weight in a hammock. You get the picture, you just climb into that hammock and all of your body weight is just hanging in that hammock.

And we do that to this life. We put all of our hope into this life like one rests in a hammock. Our hope in the life to come must be far greater than anything this life has to offer. Which moves us on to his next point, suffering rightly. In verses 14 and 15, Peter briefly describes the difference between right suffering or suffering rightly and wrongly. 14, if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Suffering because of Christ is appropriate and inevitable. In this verse, he singles out being insulted for the name of Christ.

Now, insults in the early days of the church when Peter was writing would have been a very common occurrence. The non-Christians at that time were still leery of the Christians, it was a weird, strange cult with a lot of strange ordinances and so they were frequently insulted for their faith. And increasingly, it’s becoming more common in our culture today. Didn’t used to be so much so even 20, 30 years ago but these days, being insulted for being a Christian is becoming quite common.

A news headline I saw this week, used the term Christophascist to describe a group of Christians who were protesting a family-friendly event, quote, put on by a drag queen group. They were inviting children to come in and walk the drag strip, and these Christians were protesting, and so they were labeled as Christophascist for protesting. Peter is likely repeating what he received from Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount, when he said, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

That’s Matthew 5, 11. Both Jesus and Peter say we will be blessed, but they give different ways in which we’ll be blessed. Jesus said we are blessed because our reward in heaven will be great. Peter says our blessing comes in the form of having the spirit of glory and of God resting upon us. That means the blessing that we receive from suffering is both now and in the future. History is full of examples of saints who for the sake of Christ suffered insults and even death. Many of these accounts describe how their courage during suffering encouraged the saints and brought about the repentance of their persecutors.

Clearly, there’s a very real power that flows from suffering for the right reason and the right way. I just, in my newsfeed and a recounting, I can’t remember the name of the martyress now, it was two women in early church history. And they, the Romans were asking them, bow down and worship our gods, they refused so they were imprisoned and then ultimately they were put into an arena and then a mad bull was let loose and the bull of course went throwing their bodies all over the arena. And one of them not yet dead, you know, stood up and she just called out to any Christians that might be in the stadium and just said, hey, keep the faith, you know, be strong, we have a better reward.

The emperor who ever sent soldiers down there to finish her off and the guy was, I guess, young soldier and he was trembling and afraid and he’s got a sword in his hand. She grabs a sword and she puts it up to her throat and she says, don’t worry about me, I’m going to a better place, just do your duty. That’s the kind of courage that she had in that example. Now on the flip side, there are those who suffer for the wrong reasons. Peter lists four of them that are bad reasons, murder, thievery, evil doing, and meddling. I’m going to assume tonight that we don’t have anybody here guilty of murder or thievery. So I’m not going to dive into those too deeply.

The word Peter uses for evildoers is often translated as criminal in other places in the scripture, indicating the kind of evildoing he’s referring to. But the literal definition is to act badly. That broadens the scope of what it can mean to be an evildoer. There are any number of ways to act badly that result in suffering, such as responding with anger, even when you’re right about what angers you. Other reasons for this kind of suffering might be strained relationships with your spouse or child because of some sin habit that you’re not gonna repent of. If these are reasons you’re suffering because of your own sin, Peter is saying that is not the reason to be suffering.

Now out of all of Peter’s lists, The fourth one, meddling, is likely one to probably trip up many of us in this room. This is the only place in the Bible that this particular word actually appears, so it’s kind of hard for the translators to get to the exact meaning. But they seem to lean towards one who interferes with the affairs of others, hence the reason they translate it as meddler. So in other words, a busy body. That seems to fit with similar warnings that we find in 1 Thessalonians 3.11, 4.11, and 1 Timothy 5.13, which warns against the idle person who doesn’t mind their own business. That’s a good way to bring suffering into your life is to stick your nose into other people’s business where it’s not wanted or warranted.

A meddling person ends up suffering because they foolishly insert themselves into matters where they have no vested interest and their involvement is unwanted. Proverbs 2617 offers this warning to a meddler. Says, whoever meddles in a quarrel, not his own, is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears. Not advised. It’s Proverbs 2617.

Other wrong behavior along this vein are troublemaker, nosy, gossiping, bossiness and agitator. Now this is as good a point as any right now, to point out that besides suffering for acting badly, we can also sin by acting badly when we suffer. The Bible couples righteous suffering with joy, blessedness, and thankfulness, as opposed to grumbling, thanklessness, and having a quote unquote martyr’s complex. When we respond to suffering sinfully, we undermine God’s purpose in it and ruin any testimony for Christ that might have come from it. Anyone can gripe about their hardship. Only those who are fully trusting in God can endure it with grace.

And that brings us now to not ashamed of our identity. Having dealt with good and bad reasons for suffering, Peter returns in verse 16 to his point that suffering as a Christian is nothing to be ashamed about. Verse 16, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

There’s always a temptation when we suffer to think we’re doing something wrong. Again, because we tend to think suffering is abnormal, then we try to figure out what am I doing wrong to bring this suffering into my life. This is especially true if you are in a minority situation. When you find yourself suffering in some way because of something you said or did, first check and consider if you actually did do something wrong. If after self-examination you conclude that you are being an obedient Christian according to the word of God, then don’t make any apologies and don’t feel bad. Peter says, rejoice. Now Peter perhaps had in mind the time that he stood before the Jerusalem Council recorded in the book of Acts, where it says that they, the council, beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for his name. That was Acts 5, 40 to 41. As Christians living in America these days, we have not really yet suffered to the degree of many of our brothers and sisters around the world, at least not in the sense of being persecuted for our faith. It would be easy for us to examine the call to suffering in some kind of academic way. We can give intellectual assent to what Paul is saying, but our minds and our minds and hearts prepare to embrace suffering if called to do so. More typical in our community is suffering We’ve got health issues that don’t seem to have any medical solutions, those kinds of sufferings, but the outright persecution is not as overt here yet.

But in all of those cases, it’s important that we don’t take this study on suffering and just say, yeah, in theory and presume that we’ll have the faith that when that time comes to stand up and resist, we have to be prepared mentally for that eventuality. who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Earlier in the same chapter Peter wrote, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourself with the same way of thinking. For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

we see that purifying, strengthening effect that suffering has upon us. Now this attitude toward suffering sounds like it is more than just being willing to accept suffering when it’s foisted on you by outside forces. Peter is describing a kind of purifying suffering that results in us denying fleshly desires.

As modern day saints, we have rightly abandoned the kind of asceticism practiced by the various monks in the medieval age. But have we moved so far away that we have lost the benefits that self-denial can bring? When does enjoying the things of earth in a God honoring way turn into pampering our flesh so that we can maximize our own comfort?

Now there aren’t easy one size fits all answers to those questions, But those are the kinds of questions we should be asking ourselves. We can’t get away from what the scripture says about the necessity and the inevitability of suffering in the Christian life. And if we’re not suffering, you’d have to stop and say, hmm, something doesn’t align here. That moves us on to them what I call purified versus purged. Having discussed some of the reasons for suffering in verses 17 and 18 Peter points out the stark reality of suffering in the human experience and compares the godly man’s experience then to the ungodly. Verse 17 for it is it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God and if it begins with us what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God. And then in verse 18 and if the righteous is scarcely saved what will become of the ungodly and the sinner.

These verses can be a little tricky, especially where it says, it talks about the righteous is scarcely saved. That’ll put a little concern in you when you read a verse like that. Some like the Roman Catholics take this to indicate that there is no such thing as assurance of salvation and use that fear of not being good enough to motivate their followers. Having been raised a Roman Catholic myself, I can remember well, always the question mark, have you done enough? Have you observed all of the things they tell you to observe? Have I made a right confession to the priest? Have I received the Holy Communion in a worthy manner?

And on the list of things, observed all the holy days. In Catholic teaching, justification is something man maintains, and the Catholic Church says justification is something that man maintains and even increases by his works. You get that? They have a concept of justification, but that justification is not locked in. It’s not a one and done as we hold. It’s a, yeah, God starts it, but then you’ve got to maintain it, and you can increase your justification by your works. This explains why they put such emphasis on the works. There is always sufficient doubt about one’s salvation to keep them obedient to the Church’s teachings. Their hope of salvation rests as much on them having earned it as it does on the work of Christ on the cross. If Peter was intending to cast doubt on the the believer standing before God with that phrase he used.

He’s not in harmony with the rest of the New Testament, which teaches the assurance of our salvation. John wrote, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. First John 5.13, Jude said, not a hymn who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.

Jude 1 24. Paul reminded his readers, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs Romans eight 16 through 17. None of these verses sound the least bit doubtful of the security of the true believer. None of these make our salvation contingent on what we do. And in case you need more convincing, said, truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life.” Suffice it to say that the judgment of the household of God, Peter mentions, is not referring to judgment in any kind of salvific way. Nevertheless, it does say the household of God does experience judgment.

So what does it mean? When God judges his children, he does so for sake of refining them and making them more pleasing. Hebrews 12 tells us that he disciplines his children because he loves them. Because we still live in these corruptible mortal coils, we will always fight the temptation to not pursue greater holiness. And as such, God will be judging his children. He’ll be judging our actions, and he will bring discipline. He will bring suffering as necessary to continue to keep us growing in Christ. Charles Spurgeon made this point in a sermon that he preached on the same passage. He wrote, quote, observe first that the faith of the righteous, which is always imperfect, has like a physical power, a constant tendency to decrease in strength and firmness through its exercise being neglected.

The temptation to such neglect are many and great. The righteous, for the most part, are leading a busy life. Hence, they are tempted not to find time for the exercise of faith. Besides, sensible things ever surround them try to press into their souls by every avenue of their senses and exclusively fill their affections and engage their thoughts, hence their discipline, uh, discipline nation into exercising faith would be proportionately increased. Basically saying we’re all easily distracted people and so therefore we will be in a constant need of God doing that refining work in our hearts. Spurgeon is identifying the reality we all face.

The pursuit of holiness is a struggle. It does not come naturally and it involves considerable suffering as we put off the old and put on the new. In this sense, are we scarcely saved? The more our eyes are open to our condition, the more we realize the gulf between us and the holiness of God. If you guys notice that phenomena as you mature in your faith, when you’re young in the Lord, you go, I got this far to go, and when you finally have grown that much, you say, well, the gap gets bigger and bigger and bigger. The more our eyes are open to our condition, the more we realize that gulf between us and the holiness of God.

It can feel like the goal line’s moving faster than we can run. If we had to reach that goal line on our own, we would never make it. But thankfully, Jesus will take us across the finish line. But He will also discipline us along the way to run the race before us to our very best ability.

Another reason Peter’s comment about being scarcely saved can’t be intended to induce doubt in us, is what he wrote himself earlier in chapter three, verse 18. He said, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. There can be no doubt that our eternal security rests on what Christ did, and not on how much blood, sweat, and tears we shed, even though there will be plenty of those.

And then in verse 19 Peter turns his attention to the ungodly and asks the rhetorical question, what will happen to them if the godly are scarcely saved? If all the judgment in the form of discipline and suffering believers receives can’t save them, then what hope do the ungodly have? The answer clearly is that they have no hope. The judgment that awaits them is not a purifying one, but rather a purging one that ultimately removes them from God’s presence. For us, the suffering brings about purification for them. The suffering is gonna bring about their purging. When we’re tempted to grow weary of the judgment of God, when we are tempted to grow weary of the judgment that God brings us in this life to make us more holy, Think about what it would be like for a non-believer to hear, away from me, I never knew you.

The alternative to the judgment we experience as believers should make us appreciate his loving discipline even more. That brings us then to the end of the matter. Peter, having discussed the reason for and the realities of suffering, gives a conclusion in verse 19. Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.

According to this passage and many others, suffering is a part of the normal Christian life. We can resist it, resent it, or rest in it. This verse tells us several important truths. First, suffering is not determined by the whims of the fates, but rather by the will of God. Because it comes from the will of God, it has purpose, it has value. Our highest urge when suffering comes should not be to escape it, but rather to trust our souls to God. When God allows us to suffer, it is because He is being faithful to us, to conform us into the image of His Son. Finding peace and suffering comes down to submitting our will to His.

To the unbelievers, suffering serves as a warning of the wrath of God to come. But to Christians, it should serve as a reminder that He actually cares about us enough to to grow us to maturity so that we are better prepared to enter the glory that will someday be revealed.

Peter wants his readers to understand that the suffering God wills for them is his signature proof of his love for them. It may not seem intuitive, but suffering is a doorway to blessing. All he asks of us is to have faith in him and not base our hope on our circumstances. Job just demonstrated this kind of faith when he declared, though he slays me, yet I will trust him, Job 13.15. Paul showed the same kind of faith when God denied his petition to have a thorn in his side removed. And after God had said no, Paul responded, therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. So to sum it up, in what ways has God called you to suffer? The scripture gives multiple reasons for suffering in multiple ways we suffer. It might be a disease or sickness that God has allowed for his glory. Think Lazarus, John 11, four, or the man blind from birth in John nine. Those are both examples where God allowed that so that his glory could be revealed. It might be for the sake of developing faith like Paul on his missionary trip to Asia where he despaired of life itself but learned to rely on God more fully.

Second Corinthians 1, eight through nine. It might be for the sake of disciplining us to repentance and holiness, Hebrews 12-6. It might just be simply to test our faith, 1 Peter 1, 6-7, and you can also think of James chapter 1. Whatever the reason, we need to accept it as a part of the normal Christian experience. We may not always know the reason for it, but we can know that it comes from the hand of a loving God who is using it for our greater good and for his glory. The way to make suffering unbearable is to grumble and to be bitter in it. Asking God why in the way a judge probes a defendant is not the proper response to our suffering.

You can ask Job if that worked for him. Conversely, submitting to suffering and being thankful for it, even if you don’t fully understand his purpose in it, causes God to supply the grace that we need then to bear up in the suffering. When talking about suffering and all the good God intends for it, now we must be careful to negate, to not negate the fact that it is suffering. There is pain, difficulty, moments of wavering faith. Those hours in the middle of the night crying out, you know, because suffering is not fun. Some well-meaning Christians who have not yet endured profound suffering might naively insinuate to those who are suffering that they should just suck it up, buttercup.

There is a reason we’re told to weep with those who weep. So suffering’s a real thing. It hurts. But we have to remember that it’s for a reason, it’s for a purpose. It’s from the hands of a loving God. The pain can be great, but the grace of God will always be greater if we have faith. A critical piece in not letting suffering overwhelm you has to do with your perspective. John Calvin touched on this when he observed, quote, We can experience joy in adverse circumstances by holding God’s benefits in such esteem that the recognition of them and meditation upon them shall overcome all sorrow. What are those benefits?

Among them are his glory and his delight. This does not mean, when we think about that, well, for God’s glory, he’s allowing us to suffer, and you might think, well, boy, that’s kind of a mean God, isn’t it? But this does not mean in any way that he’s sadistic and derives pleasure from our misery. His intention is that we, His intention is that we participate in his joy and find deep satisfaction in him as he lets us share in his glory. And that’s why he’s gotta take us through that purification process. No amount of suffering in this life can compare with that. Paul understood this truth deeply. That’s how he could write.

So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away and our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. In the 2 Corinthians 4, 16 through 18, those gentlemen’s perspectives enabled them to put suffering in a category where they understood that it was good. It heard it wasn’t pleasant, but it led to a greater good. And they so wanted that greater good that in Paul’s case, it almost made it seem inconsequential in comparison.

So in closing, let me just share a couple of quotes from two women who knew something about suffering in this life. The first one comes from Johnny Eric Santata. And she said, quote, He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer his embrace. The greatest good suffering can do for me is to increase my capacity for God. Real satisfaction comes not in understanding God’s motives, but in understanding his character, in trusting in his promises, and in leaning on him and resting in him as the sovereign who knows what he’s doing and does all things well.” And the second quote then comes from Elizabeth Elliott.

And in her book titled Suffering is Never for Nothing, she discusses the seeming dichotomy between human suffering and a good God. How do those go together? Many atheists use that problem as an argument against God. If there’s a good God and he’s all powerful, how can there be so much suffering? Well, she writes in her book, quote, it’s only in the cross that we can begin to harmonize this seeming contradiction between suffering and love. And we will never understand suffering unless we understand the love of God. It is the best thing that ever happened in human history as well as the worst thing, end of quote. The next time that we wonder what good can possibly come from horrible suffering, we only have to look to the cross to find our answer.

Let’s pray. Well, Father, as we think about this topic of suffering, all of us as Christians are more than eager to celebrate and to participate in your resurrection, in the likeness of your resurrection, and yet we see in your word that what precedes that that is identification in your death and suffering. And so we pray that you would increase our ability to not only just tolerate suffering, but to recognize it for what it is and a good gift from you that you’re using to bring about that purification process to make us stronger in the faith that we would allow you to have your way with us. And that as we respond with thankfulness and with gladness and with hope and with eager anticipation of the glory to be revealed that through all that, there would be a sweet aroma that arises that causes many to wonder and ponder and to be open to hear more about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Father, I don’t know if and when the day’s gonna come and we’ll see the kind of persecution the early church saw in this country. It seems like it might be coming. Already they hate us, they mock us, but you told us that’ll happen because it’s what happened to Jesus. Whatever form it comes, if it’s over persecution because of our faith, if it’s the suffering with an illness that there is no cure, whatever it may be, help us, Father, to have the kind of heart that Peter is describing here for us, that you may be glorified whether in life or in death, that we would not be guilty of grumbling and complaining.

Thank you that you do love us enough and care for us enough that you are willing to even put up with us Fussing back at you when when you do bring discipline our way in the form of suffering But continue that process Even as we serve son earlier, whatever you bring father is right May that truly be something that we believe and hold on to And we just ask this now in your son Jesus name Amen