The Reason for Suffering

Amen. Amen. Y'all can be seated. I want to say good morning to everyone. And uh also just a uh happy 4th for those who celebrated this weekend. Uh, did anyone stay up watch any fireworks last night or did it rain it out wherever you were?

Um, for those who are listening later uh to the recording and didn't make it because they slept in, I stayed up till 1:00 a. m. watching fireworks. All right. And so I love Fourth of July. I love fireworks.

Uh, and so I I still made it. All right. Just want to put that Jesus juke out there uh for those who who are still sleeping in right now. Um, but for the rest of us, you're here and Jesus is with us. And so, we're going to open up his word. We're going to hear from him.

We're going to see what he has for us. Uh, and and honestly, I think this is such a timely message um in regards to some of the temperature of our culture uh especially towards Christians who bear the name of Christ and sometimes will receive ridicule or suffering because of it. Um, and so whether you if you're not receiving any ridicule because of it, again, we would question whether not are you vocal about Christ? Are you living it out? Are you are you representing Jesus? Because if you are, there are going to be people who do not like it um and will ridicule you or cause suffering in your life because of it.

But what we do when that suffering happens is a big deal. It's a big deal whether we recognize it or not. And that's what we're going to be talking about today is the idea of the reason for suffering. The reason for suffering that comes in our life. Because oftentimes there's really two types of suffering. There's the suffering in your life that you cause because you're a sinner.

Or there's the suffering that comes upon you from others around you because of the fact that you don't live the way they want you to live. You live rather the way Jesus wants you to live. heaven. So, we're going to be looking at those two types of suffering uh in this passage in First Peter. So, we're going to be in chapter 4 looking at verses 12 through 19 this morning. 12 through 19.

And again, the big idea here is that we are to suffer well while doing good because God is faithful. We're to suffer well while doing good because God is faithful. And so the first thing that you're going to see here is that we are to expect suffering from the world. And so I'm going to read it in totality. 1 Peter 4:12-19. And then we'll unpack it together this morning.

Starting in verse 12. 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 of it, 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. And so, looking at that first verse, verse 12, this is where I get the idea that we are to expect suffering from the world. To expect suffering from the world.

In other words, why would fiery trials or suffering be a surprise? Why would fiery trials and suffering be a surprise to people who are doing good? Well, because most every false religion that exists. Every ideology out there that is not biblical believes in a reward-based ideology. In other words, do good things and good things will happen to you. Do good things and good things will happen to you.

Do bad things and bad things will happen to you. Our culture right now just calls that karma. If you do good, good things will come. If you do bad things, bad things will come. And if we aren't clear in what our Bible teaches, then it's easy to slip into believing that Christianity is the same type of religion. That if I do good, God rewards it, and if I do bad, God punishes it.

And that's actually not entirely what the Bible teaches at all. If you if you've been paying attention to it as we walk through the scriptures and as you see that Christians while keeping a a good conduct among Gentiles often times receive suffering from them that if you see Christians and the apostles that as they followed the will of God and submitted their lives to the will of God, it didn't lead to them having successful lives in the world's eyes. It led to them getting their heads cut off. It led to them getting chopped in half. It led to them getting boiled alive. It led to bad things happening to them.

And so it'd be easy for us to look at this and say, why? Like if we adopt a world's mentality when we are trying and serving and following Jesus and then bad things happen. If we adopt a world's mentality, we would actually think God's abandoning us. God's not rewarding us. God's not providing for us. And so what Peter is doing is he's he's telling these scattered Christians, don't be surprised.

The only reason why they would be surprised is if they don't know what God's design is for Christian living that might also bring suffering. That's the only reason why we would be surprised is if we don't know how God orchestrates things. And so he's telling them, he's teaching them, don't be surprised when bad things happen to you for doing good. Don't be surprised if the world hates you because Jesus loves you. Don't be surprised by that. In order to make sure that they aren't believing that their suffering is because God is upset with them, Peter begins with this one term, beloved.

Beloved. That's why Peter begins with that word fiery trials and suffering is not coming your way because of your disobedience or because of your wrongdoings. No, God's not punishing you, nor is he harming you in some way. God's calling you his beloved. And therefore, it actually communicates that this relationship that we have with Christ is secure regardless of our circumstances. So just because bad things happen to you, especially in the name of Christ, and I'll talk about what that means in a minute, but as you live out the Christian life, if that causes hardship on your life, that doesn't mean that you are no longer God's beloved.

Instead, he's actually encouraging you that it is a sign that you are God's beloved. That your relationship with him is secure, things are fine, things are good. And so, he's making sure that they understand that before they live out this suffering and how they are to respond in regards to it, they are beloved. In other words, they're not earning his security. They're not earning his love. We are his loved.

Beloved, do not be surprised by the fiery trial. Now, fiery trial here, we've talked about this before. Peter has already spoken about this type of trial by fire that does not consume you, but it refineses you. So, it's a difficult thing in which we experience, but is a good thing that produces something in us, produces perseverance for us. Look back at 1 Peter 1 verses 6-7. Peter's already instructed them of this.

He says, "In this you rejoice." So, first of all, in this you rejoice. In this, this is something that you are excited about and thankful for and grateful for because of what it produces for you. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials. What's the purpose of those trials? So that the tested genuiness of your faith and again a faith that is more precious than gold that perishes through tri uh though it is tested by fire though that faith that is tested may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So here's the thing. What's happening to us in suffering is that the testing of our faith by trials and suffering, it is used by God to test the genuiness of our faith so that it may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the return of Christ when we receive trials. So for example, take a group of people who all say, "Yeah, we believe in Jesus. We're following Jesus. We love Jesus. We're about Jesus."

When the world doesn't like it and they start ridiculing you and insulting you and harming you and creating problems for you, it will test all of those who say we follow Jesus. And those who come out remaining following Jesus proves that the genuiness of or that it proves that their faith was genuine. those who do not and who scatter and who say, "Ah, just kidding. We actually we we don't want you to harm us. We don't want you to take our lives. We don't want you to ridicule us anymore.

We actually affirm everything that you're saying. You're right. We actually are about what you're about and we want to be about what you're about." And they're no longer about Jesus. That proves that their faith was never genuine. One has gold come like one comes out the other end with the impurities taken away and they're shining like gold.

The others actually show that the gold was never there and they're just still impure. They're not following Jesus. So here's the thing. The tested testing of our faith by trials and suffering is used by God to test whether or not your faith in him is genuine. In other words, those who draw near persevere. Those who draw near persevere.

Those who draw near to God in all things will persevere for God in all things. That's what the fiery trials are producing for us. That's why he says in verse 13 back in our chapter 14 or chapter 4. So rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Listen, I get it. Nobody nobody's natural response is to rejoice when experiencing suffering because suffering's hard.

Suffering's hard. It's difficult. It's suffering. So why tell us to rejoice in it? Why tell us to rejoice in it? Because we we don't rejoice because we suffer.

We rejoice because we share Christ's sufferings. It it's it's it's revealing that there's an alignment that we have with Jesus, [snorts] that we're actually on team Jesus, which means the right kind of suffering identifies us with our savior and it provides asurances that our future in him is secure. To expect suffering doesn't mean we expect every day to be miserable or that hardship um is persecution. It means we should expect that faithfully following Jesus in a world that rejects him will inevitably bring opposition, ridicule, loss, sacrifice, and at times even persecution on you. It means that if they don't like him, they're likely not going to like you. So if we're suffering because of that, then we rejoice because it reveals that we're on team Jesus.

That we're on team Jesus. And so I would often tell like right now there are still lots of churches and lots of Christians who are merging their lives with culture by still living under the banner of Christ. But yet what they speak and how they serve is not in step with the spirit of God. It's not in step with the truth of Christ. And therefore culture is actually not they don't have a problem with them. Culture looks at them and is like, "Oh yeah, that's the way of Jesus because it actually approves and affirms our view of how to live a life even though it's actually sinful."

And what he's saying here is is that's not good. Don't be living under the banner of Christianity if your version of it doesn't create or welcome suffering from a world that doesn't understand who Jesus actually is. They'll reject it. And if you're not being rejected, if you're not being ridiculed, are you actually preaching the words of God? Are you actually serving with the strength of God? As we talked about last week, are you living the way of Jesus that is in opposition to the way of the world?

So, if we're never experiencing opposition, are we actually preaching the words of Jesus? Are we actually living out the life of Christ? And so, we rejoice not because suffering is enjoyable, but because it confirms our union with Christ. Every insult, every sacrifice, every hardship endured for his sake is evidence that we belong to him. And every moment of present suffering moves us one step closer to the day when his glory and ours with him will be fully revealed. That's what he's talking about here.

Which leads me to the second point. Embrace your identity in Christ. Look at verse 14. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed. You are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Peter says, "If you're insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed."

That sounds completely backwards to our culture. That sounds completely backwards to our culture. We instinctively think blessing means acceptance or comfort or approval and success. That's what we think blessing is. I mean, I we went to a cookout last night and as we're walking up, I mean, it's the biggest house in the neighborhood. And my first thought was, "This guy's blessed."

But is that how we measure blessing? No, it's not how the Bible measures blessing. That guy's successful. Absolutely. He's successful. But is he blessed?

Peter says blessing may actually look like the opposite of success. It might look like ridicule. Why? Because not all rejection is bad. Sometimes rejection is confirmation that you're faithfully representing Jesus. Like if you're faithfully representing Jesus, if you're faithfully following Jesus and nobody wants anything to do with you, you actually might be the most blessed person to exist.

But if the world loves you, are we actually following the way of Jesus? Like are we living it out? And when I say like, are we preaching the words of Christ? and are we also serving with the strength of Christ? That means if we're preaching the words of Christ, it's going to expose the sin of the world so that they can see their need of a savior. And by exposing the sin of the world, it's exposing everyone's imperfections.

It's it's exposing every time they fall short. It's exposing their thinking is wrong. It's exposing their words are wrong. It's exposing the way they conduct their life is wrong. It's it's exposing the way they invest their money is wrong. When was the last time you enjoyed being told you're wrong?

Nobody likes that. Nobody likes to be told they're wrong. And so, it's going to invite ridicule. It's going to invite insult. But it also is creating an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work in their life and for them to see, oh, wait, I am wrong. I am doing it the wrong way.

I'm not following the creator of the world who has a design that actually leads to flourishing. I thought I was blessed and I actually realized that I'm empty there. There's a void in my life. There's a void in my heart and everything I'm running after is actually vanity. So, there's going to be moments where even though we expose sin, it creates an opportunity for them to see their sin and trust Jesus for taking it away from them. So here, sometimes rejection is confirmation that you're faithfully representing Jesus.

I think Peter was taking notes during one of Jesus's sermons and uh because this is echoed in Matthew 5 11-12 in the sermon on the mount where he says this, "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. Why did they persecute the prophets? Because the prophets told them what they were doing that's wrong and told them to repent of it and start following God. Jesus shows up on the scene and tells them, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is here.

Stop living the way you're living. Start following the way that I'm calling you to follow." They don't like it. So they reject him as well. They crucify him. And so as as Jesus is on the sermon on the mount preaching this message to the people, he's telling them, "Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you for doing the same thing that the prophets have done for doing the same thing that I'm doing for you right now."

And the culture is not going to like me, they're going to reject me for it as well. So if you continue doing this and they reject and revile you, blessed are you because we're not living for reward here. We're living for relationship with God in what we get there. That's the purpose. And so Peter here, he's just remembering his teacher's theology on suffering. He's remembering what Jesus taught.

What does for the name of Christ mean? Look at this. This is much richer than just simply saying because you're a Christian. It's deeper than that. In scripture, a person's name represents their identity. It represents authority.

It represents reputation. It represents ownership. To suffer for the name of Christ means you're suffering because your life is publicly connected and associated to Jesus. Regardless of where you land politically, think about it this way. Try wearing a MAGA hat to a Democratic national convention and see how you are treated. Think about it.

Like that's obvious to us that if you wear a MAGA hat at the DNC, you're going to be ridiculed. You're going to be insulted. You're going to be mistreated while you're there. Why is it because of who you are? No, it's because of the name that you're representing. If we are wearing the name of Jesus to a culture that doesn't like what he represents because he's exposing their ignorance, it's exposing sin.

It's exposing where we fall short. It's exposing our imperfection. Then we should expect ridicule, insults, persecution, suffering that comes from them. And so that's why he's saying if you're actually living it out, don't be surprised when this happens to you, when what they did to me happens to you. So when it comes to the name of Christ, when we're wearing that hat, and that's the hat that matters most. When we're wearing the name of Christ, it includes at least three ideas here.

You represent his authority which means we speak and we live under the authority of King Jesus rather than the authority of any authority in the world. Christ is king. That's the banner we live under. We represent his authority and what his authority actually represents in the world. He's the king of kings and the lord of lords. Second thing, you represent his reputation and character.

So your words, your actions, your convictions, your love, they all communicate something about who Christ is. So again, if you're not being rejected because of your words and your actions and your convictions and your love, if you're not receiving ridicule for that, then are your words and actions and convictions and love the same as Christ? Probably not. Probably not. And if they are the words of Christ, but you're never receiving any ridicule, honestly, all that means is you're just hanging out with a bunch of Christians. You're just hanging out with people who agree with you, and we're not actually being missionally engaged.

We're not actually taking the gospel to those who don't know it. Third one here, you belong to him. To bear someone's name is covenant language. It's a declaration of ownership. Just as a bride joyfully takes her husband's name, the Christian, the church gladly takes the name of the bridegroom. We're his.

We're his. We bear that name. And when the world mocks that name, it's reminding us who's we are. Who's we are. That's why Peter says later, "If anyone suffers as a Christian," which was actually a name not created by Christians, but was a name that mocked people by saying, "Basically, you're just a bunch of little Christs." And he's saying, even if they're calling you that, wear it with pride.

Wear it boldly. Embrace it. Thank you. I do want to be called a little Christ. I do want to bear the name of Jesus. [snorts] Don't hide it.

Honor it. And so why are we blessed because of it? Peter gives one reason. Because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. The spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Now, just think about that for a moment because the world sees when we're suffering, the world sees someone who's losing.

The world sees someone who's losing. God sees someone upon whom his spirit is resting. Who's winning in that regard? Who's winning? This is one of the greatest reversals in scripture. The world's rejection is often accompanied by God's unique presence in your life.

Throughout scripture, God has a pattern of drawing especially near to his people in seasons of faithful suffering for his name. Faithful suffering for his name. Think about Stephen, one of the first deacons. When Stephen was being stoned, he saw the glory of Christ standing at the right hand of God to receive him. It's one of the only times in scripture that it ever says that Christ at the right hand of God was standing. Usually, he's seated.

And in a moment when Stephen is experiencing the worst suffering he could possibly experience because of the name of Christ, Christ stands a unique special moment in which as he's receiving the worst possible thing you could receive in this world, literally death by stoning. I mean, I remember one time I was in my backyard and I was picking grapes because we had this little grape vine and I I get hit in the head and it's because my mom threw a softball at me. Still don't know why she threw a softball at me, but she did and it hit me in the head and I just look up like it hurt. It hurt. I can't imagine what a stoning feels like. Can't imagine a stoning.

I mean, to me, like that's one of the worst ways to go out. And in that moment, Stephen receiving the most ridicle you could possibly experience because of preaching and proclaiming Jesus Christ. Not only does he look up and he sees Christ standing at the right hand of God, but in that moment, it provides so much blessing to him and peace to him that he's able to be like Jesus and look out at those who are ridiculing him and stoning him to death and says, "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. When the apostles were imprisoned in Acts, they were filled with bold boldness by the same spirit of Christ. When Paul suffered, Christ assured him, "My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in your weakness."

Man, there's just a unique thing that God is doing for us when we are experiencing the absolute worst possible thing the world can throw at us. And so in that regard, when we experience suffering, don't reject it. Don't try to avoid it. Don't try to dodge it. Don't try to abandon it. receive it because you are actually blessed in that moment because God uniquely provides for you the gift of his spirit resting upon you.

So to bear the name of Christ is to belong to him, is to represent him, is to live under his authority. So when the world insults you or insults us because of that name, Peter says we're not abandoned. We're blessed. We're blessed. Then Peter makes a contrast here of identity. He's told us which identity to embrace and he also tells us which identity to exclude.

Look at verse 15. Let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a medddler. Those are all terms that oftenimes we look at and we say, "Well, I don't want to be like that person." Because if you murder someone, what does that do? It welcomes suffering on you because you're going to be imprisoned. You're going to receive judgment.

You're going to there's going to be justice engaged. You literally sacrificed the freedom of the rest of your life and are now going to be in a jail cell receiving suffering for your consequence because of what you've done. Or as a thief, there's going to be a consequence that's going to be brought on you. Or as an evildoer, there's going to be consequences that come from that. So what he's trying to say here is there's two types of suffering. There's the suffering for doing good and the world rejects it and cause you to have suffering.

He says good, that's good. You're blessed. But if you are receiving suffering that's brought on by yourself by your own sin, no good. That's on you. There's no blessing from God for that. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed of it.

Let him glorify God in that name. He's drawing an important distinction between deserved suffering and faithful suffering. Don't be in the category of deserved suffering. And I think oftentimes we even try to move it into the category of faithful suffering because we don't really realize that it's our fault, that it's our fault. We mismanage finances. Well, we're just experiencing suffering.

God's going to bless us. No, do a better job. Well, you know, we're we're just receiving suffering because we actually went out and punched somebody. No, that that's not being rejected by the world. That's being the fact that you went out and you were just an idiot. Like if you're causing the suffering because of sin, there's no blessing in that.

It's not being faithful. I think it's one of the reasons why, as we'll get down to it here in a moment, he says, "While doing good." While doing good. Not while doing evil. While doing good. So, some suffering is self-inflicted.

If we suffer because we've lied or cheated or stolen or hurt others or inserted ourselves into matters that don't concern us as meddlers, that isn't persecution. It's consequence. God isn't glorified when Christians suffer for behaving sinfully or foolishly. We got to remember everything we do is for the glory of God. Choosing to sin is not for the glory of God. And so we got to make sure that we're understanding what's right and what's wrong and that we're living it out according to his design.

But if we suffer simply because we belong to Jesus, we refuse to compromise his truth, we faithfully bear his name, Peter says we have nothing to be ashamed of in regards to that. Nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, we should glorify God that we have been counted worthy to bear the name of Christ, to bear the name Christian. So the issue isn't whether we're suffering. The issue is why. Why are you suffering?

What's caused your suffering? And then often begs the question, if we are suffering, is God still in control? And I think that's where he's going to shift to next. Again, he's telling them, don't be surprised when suffering comes your way. And when also suffering comes your way, don't question whether or not God is still in control. I think sometimes that's what we naturally want to do when hard things come our way.

It's it's okay to ask God, "What are you doing?" Because again, it's his doing. He's in control. He's sovereign. David oftenimes in the Psalms, God, what are you doing? Where are you?

What's going Let me in on the secret here. Let me in behind the scenes. What story are you writing because this is difficult, this is hard, I don't like it? It's okay to ask those questions, but it's not okay to abandon him thinking that he's abandoned us. So, we need to understand, and this is where Peter helps us understand what's going on behind the scenes, the reason for our suffering. Here's the third thing I want you to see here.

Endure confidently in God's sovereignty. Endure confidently in God's sovereignty. Look at verse 17. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. We'll talk about what that means here in a moment. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

So, he's saying judgment's coming. Judgment's happening. And it's going to start with the household of God. And then it's also going to come upon everyone who's not in the household of God. And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will then become of the ungodly and the sinner? Peter now pulls back the curtain and he gives us God's perspective on suffering.

And it's a beautiful, beautiful perspective. The suffering of God's people is never random. It's never random. It's never accidental. It's never outside of his sovereign care. It is part of his loving work of refining his church.

It's refining you and I. It's why again he goes back to the fiery trials. It's why he he goes back to to the the process of gold. Like when gold comes out and I'm personifying gold here, but when gold comes out at the end, it never it never complains about the fiery trial because what it proves is that it's removed its impurities and it's now presenting it pure. So it never it never complains about that. It actually says, "Thank you for making me more worthy, more glorified, more valuable."

And that's exactly what Peter is reminding him uh the the Christians here is that judgment first begins with the household of God and that God uses the suffering of the world and the rejection of the church. He uses that to actually purify the church and to refine the church to continue getting out the impurities so that it represents more and more what Christ actually looks like. that we reflect him and him above everything for everything else. So for the believer, suffering is essentially just temporary discipline that prepares us for glory. For the unbeliever, Christ leads it to ultimately eternal judgment. Like our suffering is temporary to rid out the impurities and to make us what we already are.

For the unbeliever right now, actually, they don't think they're receiving any suffering. They think they're trying to live life to the fullest and actually believe that we're causing the suffering on them because we're telling them what they can and can't do, not realizing that what is ultimately coming upon them will be suffering that will last forever. where the fire refineses us for them the fire will ultimately consume them. It will consume them for eternity. And Peter reminds us that if God's own household undergo undergoes this refining work now, how much more serious will his final judgment be for those who reject the gospel altogether? And so we're constantly communicating.

This is part of the reason why we speak the words of God and we serve with the strength of God. We're trying to help them see that there's a judgment that is coming and everyone's going to give account for their for the works, for their speech, for their life, for their actions. And the better option is right now to bear the name of Christ, to follow him, to submit to him, to surrender to him. And it might bring suffering upon you, but that suffering is going to be temporary. And actually, God's going to use that to make you more like Jesus and to to progressively grow and become more like him to just prepare you for what you're going to be eventually regardless. We call that progressive sanctification as it's preparing you to become more and more like the glorified state that you're going to receive in the end.

But for the unbelievers in this world, they don't get to become that. Actually, they're given over to what they actually are. And just as we talked about, if you are if you are suffering because you're an evildoer or a sinner, it's actually just communicating to them that you're going to be having consequences because of your evildoing. that's not going to be temporary, but it's going to be eternal. We call it hell, and it's not good. It's not good.

It's not a place you want to go. So, we're actually trying to warn them. And so, for the Christian, suffering is not something that we should question whether or not God's with us. suffering for the Christian is actually revealing to us that the presence of God is near and that we're actually on team Jesus and that he's also using it using it to continue refining the process and getting the impurities out so that you look like Jesus. You look like Jesus. The message is not God has turned against you.

The message for the Christian is God so loves you. He's beginning the process of your glorification. Your glorification. And for everybody honestly, it it's a different it's a different process. Not I think some for some people who live long in life and have 50 60 years of following Jesus get to experience so much refining work throughout that that they experience the greatest blessings here and now here and now even though it's a lifelong process of suffering it's as if they get glimpses of glory and so I look at for example if you were to contrast juxtapose thief on the cross in the Apostle John, the thief on the cross, God tells him, Jesus on the cross, looks over to him and says, "Today you will be with me in paradise." Here's the greatest thing.

He gets the same thing the Apostle John gets. And the Apostle John lives into his 90s following Jesus for 70, 80 years, living a life that is very difficult. Literally getting to the point where his fiery trial was being boiled alive. I mean, talk about the imagery of getting the impurities out. I mean, he was literally thrown in, boiled alive, and survived. John here and now in his life gets to experience the shared sufferings of Christ in a longer way that provides a ton of blessings.

And in the same way, so does the thief on the cross because he's experiencing a same type of crucifixion as Christ is in that moment. Shared suffering with Christ. For one, he gets to be with paradise. The other on the cross, on the other side of Jesus, experiences a suffering that leads to damnation. It doesn't matter how long the suffering is. As long as it's for the sake of Christ, for Christ, you're blessed, you're blessed.

So, if it's if it's in a moment and you get to go be with Jesus, or if it's in a lifetime and you get to go be with Jesus, you're blessed. You're blessed. Peter reminds us that our suffering is never random or outside of God's control. And therefore, rejoice in it. Look what he says here. If you're in Christ, your judgment is behind you.

Your refinement is in front of you. So the fourth thing I want you to see in verse 19 is to entrust your souls to a faithful creator. Entrust your souls to a faithful creator. Once you realize how he's orchestrating everything that you experience in this life, there's no other appropriate way to respond than to entrust our lives to him, to invest our lives, to commit our lives to him. Look what he says here, verse 19. Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will.

So, he's in control. It's his idea. He's ordaining it. He's orchestrating it. He's using your suffering for your good. Those who suffer according to God's will, not according to Satan's will, not according to the world's will, even though they're the ones causing it, according to God's will.

Entrust their soul to a faithful creator while doing good. While doing good. What Peter concludes here is the only response that can sustain a Christian. Trust God. That's the only thing that can sustain you in suffering is trust that God's using it to refine you, to secure you, to assure you that he loves you and that he's got you and that you're this is not going to lead to eternal damnation for you. This suffering is not going to last forever.

You've got an eternity awaiting you. Even if this suffering takes your life, don't worry about it. Trust him. Trust what he's accomplishing in your life. To entrust your soul means to make a continual deposit, an investment. to place your life into his hands and say, "I'm I'm grateful for whatever the ROI on me investing my life into your control returns."

That's what he's saying. Our suffering is not evidence that God has abandoned us, but that he is actively at work in us. And therefore, rejoice in it. Rejoice in it. God's judgment towards his children is not condemnation but refinement. And so Peter reminds us that God who created us is faithful.

Again, he began with beloved, which is fatherly language. It's covenantal language. It's your mind. It's it's it's same language of Christ in the church. Um br groom and bride. It's that type of language.

That's what he begins with. And so he could have finished it here by saying faithful father. But he says faithful creator. Creator meaning God's writing the whole thing. God's the author of the whole thing. that no matter what your neighbor concocts, no matter what uh on social media someone replies to something you posted and they say, "How dare you?

Why don't you go ahead and unfriend me?" Or if you have a loved one who chooses an alternative lifestyle and you say, "Hey, Romans 1's pretty clear, like in love, I want to make sure that you're not giving yourself over to the world's way of living, but you're actually trusting in what God has said is right and wrong. And so, would you please stop living that way? And would you please live this way? Would you consider God's truth rather than your own truth? And they say, "Don't ever talk to me again.

You don't love me. You don't affirm me. You don't care about me." Like, if those things happen to you, what he's telling you here is God's in control of it. God's created everything. God set everything into motion.

God's not surprised by anything. He's not surprised when your family member rejects you. He's not surprised when your neighbor calls the cops on you. He's not surprised by anything that happens if it causes suffering on you because of the name of Jesus. And so he's saying entrust your soul to a faithful creator. And he finishes by saying while doing good, he's essentially the thing that causes you suffering, don't stop.

Don't stop. Don't stop. Keep what has he been saying? What has he been teaching us for the last four chapters? Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that it essentially dumbfounds them when you don't engage in the sin that they are doing. And they're wondering why you used to be this way.

And you're like, "Yeah, I I I was ignorant. I was dumb. I was foolish. and the wisdom of God through the word of God that was presented to me. Someone shared the gospel with me. I heard it in a sermon.

I heard it in a whatever. I heard good news and it revealed the bad news that I was living foolishly. And so I no longer want to do those things. I want to live for Jesus because I recognize what he accomplished on the cross. That all of my sin was actually keeping me away from my creator, my father who loves me and sent his son Jesus to die on the cross in my place because I was on my way to death. Death for eternity.

And I don't want to go there. I want to spend eternity with the God who created me, who knit me together in my mother's womb. So, we're pleading with our neighbors. We're pleading with our family members. We're pleading with our co-workers. We're pleading with our neighbors to know Jesus, the one who we used to not know, but have come to know because someone shared the good news with us.

And here's the thing, we might have ridiculed others before. I mean, how many of us before becoming a Christian met a Christian and said they're they're hateful? I don't know. Maybe that's not your part of your story. It was part of my story. I mean, I remember being and I mean, I was young.

I was in middle school and I had a neighbor who was in fifth grade at the time who was a Christian and and I don't know if if you've never watched the Simpsons, you'll not understand this, but I was the Bart Simpson and my neighbors were the Ned Flanders. They were the Christians who who, you know, have their shirts tucked in, looked all nice, like whatever. And I was the kid next door where I'm trying to um h what's the word? I was trying to get them to live a life that was sinful. Watch this show. Listen to this music.

Hey, let's sneak out and go do this thing. And they were the ones who were sharing the gospel with me. And I'm the one who's basically telling them over and over, why are you so goody two shoes? Why are you trying to do the right thing all the time? Let your hair down. Have some fun.

Let's get in trouble. Let's make some bad decisions. And by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit woke me up to my foolishness. And I still call Clint every year on my birthday to let him know, thank you for sharing the gospel with me for the first time because I was an idiot. And I also again just want to continue to apologize to all the things I exposed you to when you were in fifth grade that you shouldn't have seen. We're trying to reach people with the gospel because we know what it produces.

We know what it provides for them. It provides for them what the world cannot. Security that they can actually be satisfied in Jesus and not in business, not in relationships, not in having the best yard on the block. It's not saying that any of those things are bad, but it's saying those things are not ultimate. Jesus is ultimate. Jesus is ultimate.

This is what dumbfounds the world. God tells us that when the world ridicules you or insults you because you wear the name of Jesus, you simply don't match that energy. Instead, you serve them and you love them and you submit to every human institution in order to display to them the love and truth of Jesus in hopes that they too will no longer live in ignorance. That's what Peter's been teaching for four chapters now. This is why last week Peter told us to speak the words of God, to serve with the strength of God, because it's going to be difficult. It's going to be difficult and so don't be surprised when it's difficult.

And so Peter ends by telling us to entrust ourselves to God. And communion reminds us why we can. Communion reminds us why we can trust in God. Because Jesus first entrusted himself to the father on our behalf. Jesus broke his body. He shed his blood so that the judgment we deserved fell on him instead of us.

Because Christ bore God's wrath, our suffering is never punishment, but instead it's the loving refinement of a faithful father preparing us for glory. It's preparing us for glory. When we suffer, it's not because God's punishing us. It's because God's disciplining us. He's disciplining us. He's refining us.

He's forming us into who we are in Jesus. And so when we take bread and the cup today, we're reminded that the cross proves God's faithfulness. That the suffering that came upon Christ was necessary but also temporary. And it's the same for us as well. It's the same for us as well. So let's go and stand together.

If God was faithful to give his son for us, he will certainly be faithful to carry us through every trial until we see him in glory. Father, this morning as we come to you, Father, it's quite possible that there's people in this room who right now are experiencing forms of suffering for your name. [snorts] For us, it's probably going to look most like the insults and the ridicule. We're not necessarily in a culture right now where we're being stoned for our faith or killed for our faith. But that is happening all around the world right now. There are Christians in Nigeria that are being killed and slaughtered for the sake of Christ.

So, I want to be mindful that this suffering that we're talking about in this passage is happening around the world. And I just want to lift up those Christians in countries right now that it is not a freedom for them to worship Jesus. I want to pray that your strength right now would sustain them. That your spirit would rest upon them and that they would see their suffering as a badge of honor. That they would not be ashamed of it, but that they would wear it proudly knowing that they are sharing in Christ's suffering. And may they be honestly a model for us that when we right now face our own ridicule and insults for being Christians because that's honestly that's all we're really experiencing.

May our faith be strengthened by those around the world who aren't just being ridiculed and insulted but are being slaughtered. because they are blessed. They're blessed. May it embolden us to take the gospel to those around [music] us and to share what Jesus Christ has done for us. And if we receive those insults and ridicule, may we not stop doing good, but continue doing good. And may we entrust our souls to you as our faithful creator.

And may we just press in and continue going deeper and deeper. As Romans 1 says, may we not be ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God and to salvation. May we not be ashamed of the gospel. May we share it with those around us. For it is the only thing that can save them.

It's the only thing that can forgive them of their sins. May we recognize that and may we help them meet their savior. And right now as we come to communion, Lord, may we remember your sacrifice, your suffering. You broke your body and you shed your blood because you took on our punishment. You received our consequence. We are the evildoers.

We are the murderers. We are the thieves. We are the medddlers. We deserve the consequence. We deserve the eternal punishment and damnation. But you sent your son Jesus because of the love that you have.

You sent your love in the form of Christ as a baby in a manger to then live a perfect life that we could [music] not live and to then die a death that we deserved. And because your wrath towards our sin was satisfied in Jesus's death on a cross and his burial three days later, he rose from the grave and he defeated death. He defeated sin. He defeated evil once and for all. And your message is clear. For anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Anyone who believes in the work that Jesus accomplished on their behalf will be saved. Our sins are forgiven. Our slate is wiped clean. We are seen washed white as the snow. And we get to be brought back into relationship with our faithful creator. And we get to bear that name, Christian, little Christ.

And we get to wear it proudly. And I pray if there's anyone in this room who's never done that, never followed Jesus, never clearly articulated. I believe in the gospel. I believe in what Jesus accomplished for me. And I no longer want to live for my own life, but I want to live for the sake of Christ. I pray that this morning that they would do that for the first time.

Just declare, call on the name of Jesus and follow him and repent of their way of living. God, thank you so much for your gospel. And if we receive suffering because of it, thank you. Thank you for we are blessed. For we are blessed. It's in Jesus name we pray.

Amen. If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you,