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Peter 3:13-22
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, May 10, 2026
“The Right Way to Suffer”
No one wants to suffer. That statement probably doesn’t surprise you. It makes sense. It’s basically just stating the definition of suffering. We call an experience suffering because we find it painful and uncomfortable. If it was something we wanted, we wouldn’t call it suffering. But the Bible makes it very clear that Christians have a different relationship with suffering. They experience it differently than nonChristians. They think about it in a different way, and they realize that God can and does accomplish amazing things not just in spite of suffering but through it and by it.
Today we have a reading in front of us that says a lot about suffering. This reading is just one example among many in the Bible. This is the fifth time in a row that our Second Reading for our Sunday morning worship services has come from the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter was a letter that Peter wrote to Christians, many of whom were suffering. Peter had been a close disciple of Jesus, and after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, God used Peter to take the message that he had from Jesus out into the world. Peter was an apostle. He knew suffering in his own life and in the lives of many Christians.
In our reading today, Peter packs so much into several verses that it would be very difficult to really consider everything on a deep level, but we’re going to look at these ten verses and learn something about suffering. We’ll see how Peter is telling us (really God is using Peter to tell us) about the right way to suffer.
Peter brings up the concept right in the first verse we are considering. Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? The answer that is suggested by the question is no one would do this. It seems so contrary to the way that things ought to work that it just wouldn’t happen. If someone does good, why would someone else want to harm them? Peter brings it up as an idea almost so ridiculous that it couldn’t possibly be true. Unfortunately, it is true. The people to whom Peter was writing were experiencing suffering because of their faith and lives. They were facing persecution. They were suffering for doing good.
Peter goes on to describe this further. He knows about the suffering of these Christians. He knows that it is real. He knows that it shouldn’t be happening, but it is happening. He even reminds his readers that it’s not just doing good that potentially brings suffering. He also calls it righteousness. The word reminds us of the spiritual dimension. Anyone can call something good or bad. It may just be a reflection on how people feel about it or what society thinks. But righteousness is determined by God. Righteousness is doing things that way God wants us to do them. And even suffering for this, for the actions that God wants in our lives, is a real possibility in the lives of believers. The believers to whom Peter addressed his letter were living proof of it. Suffering the right way can only happen when we suffer for doing good, good in the eyes of God.
So where does this leave us? Do we suffer like those Christians so long ago did? Are we being actively persecuted for our faith. Not in the same way. And I don’t mean to suggest it couldn’t happen. Christians are actively persecuted in some places today and have been at various times in history. Here among us that is probably not the case, though we have no guarantee that it couldn’t be at some point. You could make the point that we suffer in less obvious or less drastic ways. We may suffer ridicule. People may think less of us when we do what God directs. But if I’m honest, I admit it doesn’t happen all that often.
What does it mean if we are not suffering for doing good? Maybe it means that we aren’t doing as much good as we would like to think. Maybe we need to examine and consider closely. Are we really living the way that God directs us? Or are we just going along with the people around us? Do we base our decisions and choices on what God’s Word tells us, on his direction, on his call to serve others? Or do we base many of our decisions on our own preferences and feelings and opinions? Peter suggests to us, too, that
our lives are different. They are different when we live for God and the righteous things that he desires. And if it happens that we suffer for this, that’s the right way to suffer.
One of the benefits of suffering the right way, which is to say for righteousness, is that it may provide opportunities to share. People notice when Christians handle suffering well. People notice when Christians don’t lose hope and aren’t defeated, when they can maintain a level of confidence and joy even when hardships come their way. Peter suggests that others may even ask us about this hope. They see that we think not just about the present, but about the future, the eternal future. They notice that we have a confidence about the future that changes the way we live right now. And they may want to know more. They may wonder about what we have that they don’t. And if we have an answer for them, what a blessing that can be!
Peter understands our sinful natures, too. We might be tempted in those situations to be arrogant or rude. But that’s not how we would maintain a good conscience. That is not the way to suffer for doing good. No, gentleness is called for, humility. We are not to lash out against others, but serve them. We are to have respect, be aware of the circumstance and the situation. View those who listen to us as ones who deserve our attention and effort. We suffer the right way when we not only suffer for righteousness but we also do so with an answer to share.
And it has been hinted at but maybe not fully expressed: our answer is Jesus. The whole reason that we can suffer this way is that he suffered for us. Jesus Christ enables and motivates our living for others because he lived and died and rose for us. The righteous—completely righteous—Christ suffered in our place. He suffered what we deserved. He wanted to bring us to God. And he did.
And we can be assured of this because he was also raised to life. He had come in the flesh, in a fleshly and physical way. Here Pater describes what we sometimes call Christ’s humiliation. He was always true God, but people were not always able to recognize it. He hid it. He humbled himself. He put away the use of the power and glory that he always had. He had to if he was going to suffer and die. But his coming to life was the very start of his exaltation, his making use again of that power and glory, putting it on display.
A powerful display of his power and glory was his descent into hell. We confess this truth in the Apostles’ Creed. He did not go to suffer, that was done on the cross. But when he was alive on early Easter Sunday morning, before his resurrection appearances, he marched through hell proclaiming his victory. That was a prison that could hold his enemies, generations of sinners like those that stubbornly perished in the flood, but it could not hold him. See his glory as he makes his proclamation and then appears, alive, to his people.
That is the confidence we can have. It is proven. Look at what he did! Look at what he is doing now! He sits at the right hand of God, meaning that he rules over everything. Every angel, every power, every authority is subject to him. The one who died for you. The one who gives you everything that he has earned and won in the precious washing of holy baptism. He saves you through baptism just as God once rescued Noah and his family in the flood by using the flood waters to carry them in the ark to safety. Your baptism places you in the arms of Jesus where he carries you to safety. You can be sure of it. You have God’s very own guarantee that your conscience does not need to be troubled. Your sins have been taken away. You suffer the right way when your suffering takes place with the confidence of Christ’s resurrection and Ascension and ongoing reign at the right had of God his Father whom he has made your Father.
In one sense, no one wants to suffer. That’s essentially what the word means. But let’s think about suffering differently. Let us be intent to suffer not for doing evil, but if we must, for doing good. Let’s view our suffering as an opportunity to share our hope. And let’s suffer for righteousness in the confidence that Christ’s resurrection brings. That’s the right way to suffer.
The Text: 1 Peter 3:13–22 (EHV)
13Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you should happen to suffer because of righteousness, you are blessed. Do not be afraid of what they fear, and do not be troubled. 15But regard the Lord, the Christ, as holy in your hearts. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you. 16But 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.
17Indeed, it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, 18because Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in flesh but was made alive in spirit, 19in which he also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison. 20These spirits disobeyed long ago, when God’s patience was waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In this ark a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. 21And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body but the guarantee of a good conscience before God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 22He went to heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.