Pastor Tim Patoka 17 Sunday After Pentecost: September 16, 2018 Suffer As A Christian 1 Peter 4:12-19 th
1) Rejoice In Your Sufferings 2) Remain Committed To God On my commute to church, I usually listen to a podcast by ESPN so I can stay on top of what’s happening in the sporting world as I’m typically busy doing something when games are on live TV. And it’s been interesting to notice how the radio hosts fill their allotted time slot depending on the time of year. In the months of March and April, basketball was the talk of the town. During the summer, World Cup soccer and random sporting events filled the airtime. But nowadays I pretty much only hear about 1 thing – football. The NFL season has started back up and our national fascination with it can be found in just about every home. And I’m okay with that. While I didn’t see the games, it was fun listening to the highlights of Week One whether it was Jets quarterback Sam Darnold who started off his NFL career with a pick-6 or the injury and return of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. It’s what happens this time of year. If you are part of the mainstream American culture, football has some effect in your life. In the Apostle’s Peter 1st letter, he shares with us something that is equally as true for all Christians. However it’s not something we find pleasure in. That thing we all share is the suffering we receive for being a Christian. In writing these words, Peter is encouraging the Christians in Asia Minor to remain true to God and not to be discouraged by the sufferings of this world. And who better to write such encouragement than the Apostle Peter? He knew firsthand how suffering can mess with a Christian’s faith. As we read in the Gospel, Peter proudly declared that Jesus is the Messiah. But not long after he would deny even knowing who Jesus was. Yet his tears were dried when Jesus reinstated Peter to be his witness to the unbelieving world. In the first half of Acts we see what a role model Peter was with his bold leadership and willingness to suffer bodily harm. Peter knew firsthand what it meant to suffer as a Christian in his time and in our time. For when a Christian suffers for their faith, they have a cause for rejoicing since they are participating in Christ’s suffering and glory. And the strength to endure their suffering comes from remaining committed God so as to do good to all. 1) Rejoice In Your Sufferings When the Apostle Peter commends suffering, he’s referring to the suffering a Christian receives because of their faith in Jesus Christ. We usually refer to this type of suffering as a Christian’s cross because that’s how Jesus refers to it in our Gospel reading. This cross consists of many different things. It is the persecutions that we endure. It is the self-denial of our sinful wants. It is where our lives publically show that we would rather stand out as a child of God than conform to the ways of this sinful world. And surprisingly they are also a cause for rejoicing. As Peter tells us, “But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, 1
Pastor Tim Patoka 17 Sunday After Pentecost: September 16, 2018 so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (1 Peter 4:1314) th
Many times when we think of these sufferings, we think of physical persecutions like in the book of Acts or hostile countries around the world. Sometimes people wonder if Christians are persecuted in America since we don’t see these things happening. While I will agree that Christians have it easier in America than elsewhere, we still suffer for being a Christian. It only happens in different, less obvious ways. Just about every extended family has doctrinal differences within it. Differences that often lead to decades-long tension or conflicts. More and more our nation’s culture is becoming intolerant of the Bible’s message. Christian employees need to watch what they say if they want to advance in their job fields. Universal truths about how a person should live now are old-fashioned customs. This sinful world insists that religion is to remain a private and looks down on outreach efforts by saying there are many paths to God, that all religions are equal. Sometimes it’s the subtle persecutions that are the most dangerous. And what makes these sufferings so dangerous for us today, and why we need to listen closely the Apostle Peter’s encouragement, is because each suffering is a temptation for us to give up our faith so as to avoid suffering in the future. For the family that is bound by blood but broken by belief, how much easier would family functions be if religion was no longer a wedge? For the Christian whose foot is in the door, how much easier would it be to move up the ladder if the end justified the means? For the Christian who’s trying to find companionship, how much easier would it be if the talk never got serious? We live in a sinful world and there will always be friction between the children of God and the children of Satan. It will always be easier to give up the truth and achieve earthly peace than to win someone over to the truth and achieve eternal peace. And yet in the face of such a stark reality Peter encourages us to rejoice in our sufferings when we suffer because that is how we participate in Christ’s suffering and glory. Jesus too suffered while he walked on earth. People did not like it when he called them out on their hypocritical and sinful behavior. People did not appreciate it that he came to solve their eternal problem instead of their physical problems. And they showed it. They gave him no honor in his hometown. They plotted his downfall from within the inner 12. They shouted “Crucify!” even though he was found innocent. But the greatest pain he suffered happened while he was on the cross. Abandoned by God, betrayed by his close companion, rejected by the people he came to save, and topped off with his death. But that suffering ended. 3 days later, Jesus’ suffering was replaced with glory when the women found the empty tomb. Hundreds of people saw Jesus in his resurrection glory in the 40 days after Easter. And on the Last Day that same glory will be seen by all the living and dead when he comes back. It is this glory what will make us 2
Pastor Tim Patoka 17 Sunday After Pentecost: September 16, 2018 overjoyed as Peter writes about in his verses. For it will be on that day that God will sit on his heavenly throne, look at you and me, and say, “I declare you not guilty for your sins because of what my Son has already done for you.” It is then that our joy will reach its highest level when the Lord takes us and every other suffering child of God to be in the glories of heaven and with our glorious God forever. As Christ has suffered, so will we. As Christ now has glory, so will we one day. For it is in our Christian sufferings that we participate in Christ’s suffering and glory. th
2) Remain Committed To God It is that glorious eternity which gives us the encouragement to say no to the daily temptation of giving up the faith for an easier life, which allows us to rejoice that as surely as we participate in Christ’s suffering so we will also participate in his glory. But that doesn’t mean that those sufferings are any less real or hurtful. There’s a reason why Peter quotes from Proverbs chapter 11 where he writes, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (1 Peter 4:18; Proverbs 11:31 from Septuagint) He recognizes how hard those sufferings can be. He knew what it felt like to be beaten for the faith. He knew how the heart hurts when it is rejected. Yet he still encourages Christians to willingly endure those sufferings because that is what we are to expect if we are to call heaven our home one day. But we don’t have to go through our sufferings on our own. As the Apostle Peter writes, “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” (1 Peter 4:19) Those who suffer for being a Christian are to remain committed to God and continue to do good, that is, living as a Christian. This is the very thing that brought suffering in the first place! Yet Peter encourages us to remain committed to God through the sufferings for God alone is the one who can give us the strength to endure those sufferings with the guarantee of his coming glory. I find it interesting that, in addition to remaining committed to God, Peter included us doing good after we suffer for the faith. I don’t know about you, but when someone wrongs me it doesn’t take too long until I start considering how I can even the score. It’s our sinful nature at work tempting us to take matters into our own hands. But what does Peter advise us to do in such situations? To commit ourselves to God which means leaving justice in his hands. That commitment takes great patience and trust! That’s hard for us to do. But not only does doing good include trusting God to have the final say, in addition we reach out to those who have caused us to suffer. They are lost in their sins and need to believe that Jesus is their Savior from sin. It is only we Christians who have the message of a Savior that can free them from their sins and have them stop causing Christians to suffer. I know that’s a lot to expect of us – to love those who make us suffer – but that’s what Jesus did to those who caused him to suffer. He loves those who did not love him, including 3
Pastor Tim Patoka 17 Sunday After Pentecost: September 16, 2018 you and me. That’s the reason why we call Jesus our Savior and can look forward to a glorious future after some expectant sufferings. th
There are some things all people will experience. For mainstream America at this time of year, the NFL is a part of our lives. For Christians, it’s something not so fun. It’s the suffering we endure for the sake of calling Christ our Savior. While we may not enjoy them, we can rejoice in our sufferings for that is how we participate in Christ’s suffering and glory. As they treated him, so they treat us. As he now has glory, so we too will one day share in the same glory. But we will undergo suffering in the meanwhile. Our strength to endure such suffering comes from remaining committed to God. He is the one who will always be with us in our sufferings, renewing our forgiveness, and giving us strength to endure it all. We also continue to do good to those who cause us to suffer by leaving justice in God’s hands and by reaching out to those who cause us to suffer with the message of their Savior. May the Lord help us be willing to endure whatever suffering will come our way and keep us committed to him so that we may one day rejoice in the glories of heaven. Amen.
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