Sunday 07 • 28 • 19

One thing I just want to mention—I thought about this just now as the guys came up talking about Nicaragua, and one of the gentlemen just said, "We were just like them." And I'm thinking about this as we come to the text because we are thousands of years removed from the completion of the text. But when we enter into the text, we will find out that we don't know them, but we do know them because they're us. So when we look at Scripture, we are looking into a mirror because we have many of the same experiences.

I didn't introduce myself. My name is Russell McCutcheon. If you do not know me and if I have not met you, I look forward to meeting you. I am the church planter and the resident here, and by God's grace, we will launch in the fall. So I pray God will help us in that endeavor as we seek, like CTK, to be a Gospel witness in this city.

This morning, we're going to be in 1 Peter, chapter four, verses 12 through 19, and it should be on the screen. Yes, it is. And I would like for us to read it together.

Dear friends, don't be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in having that name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with God's household and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? And if a righteous person is saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? So then, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust themselves to a faithful creator while doing what is good. — 1 Peter 4:12-19

The Illustration of the Braces

A little boy's legs were not growing properly. So as his parents took him to the doctor, the doctor recommended that they give the boy braces that would keep his legs and his feet aligned. And so, the love that Mom and Dad had for their son—they decided this would be a good thing. But here's the issue: when he put on the braces, he could not move and it was painful. So night before he went to bed, they would put the braces on and his legs would be constricted in one place, and the boy would scream and holler because it was painful.

And if you're a parent in here, you know what that's like—to see your child cry and you can't do anything about it. You're looking at what's causing them pain, and yet you can't. It's almost like, you gave me the braces, but I don't need the braces. So they're watching their son crying. Mom just wanted to let him take the braces off for a night. Let me not put them on our son. But then she thought about it: this is going to help our son in the end. They did this because of their concern for their son. They were willing to sacrifice convenience now for a better life later.

God's Love in Our Pain

My friends, this morning, I want you to know: if you're in Christ this morning, if you don't hear anything else I say, I want you to hear this. God loves you and he cares for you. He loves you and he cares for you. He knows what's best for you, but because he's God and because he is our Father, he may use things that cause us pain. He may allow pain into our lives.

And this is not even in my notes, but I'm thinking about this in John chapter 11. What do you do when God leverages the relationship he has with you to bring pain? John 11 with Mary and Martha and the death of Lazarus—because when Jesus heard that he was sick, he stayed where he was. He died, and yet he said, "Now we're to wake him." And you know what? If you know the story, Mary and Martha said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." What do you do? How would you feel if God leveraged the relationship he has with you to bring pain?

I want you to know this morning that God knows what's best for you and he has a result for the pain. There is an end for the pain, even though we can't see it at this moment.

The Context of Peter's Letter

To those who Peter is writing, they are experiencing great difficulty as Christians. So them being Christians—they are being persecuted by those who are not Christians. And remember the context of this book: who is ruling at the time? Nero. You know, it's a bad brother. He's gangster with the A, not the ER. He's just rough and rugged, and this dude—but because Rome had burned to the ground, it was fires. He used the Jews or the Christians as scapegoats, and then he would do some ratchet stuff. Like, he would take fresh animal skins and put them on the Christians and allow hungry wild animals to devour them. He would even crucify Christians, and for sport, in his gardens.

He would tar them, set them on fire, and use Christians to illuminate his gardens. Later on, they would simply be persecuted for being Christians and the abominations connected with being a Christian.

What were these abominations in the Roman mind? They rejected the Roman gods and many of the Roman traditions. Christians were considered to be atheists because they worship an invisible god when the people around them worship gods of wood and gods of stone. The emperor commanded Christians to pray to the Roman gods and to burn incense to the emperor, which Christians refused. They would even tell Christians, "Look, if you denounce Christ, you would live." But history tells us that many Christians would rather go to their deaths than reject the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must understand that what we are reading in the text was normal for the people Peter wrote to. This was normative for them, but for us in our context, this is not a normative experience. We do hear of occasional sufferings by Christians here in the West, but again, it is not normal. As we consider this text, we must not cheapen what took place in Peter's day nor think it is irrelevant for us.

How can we make this relevant for us? They lived in an honor and shame society. We know what honor and shame is like. We understand honor and shame. What would you feel if you lost status in your life simply because you are a Christian? If you're ashamed because of your faith?

Let's bring it home. What if because you are a Christian you were told you had to move out of your community—"We don't want Christians around us"? What if at your job, and I know I'm looking at a bunch of qualified folk here because my wife and I moved to an area where people got more degrees than the thermometer—people got degrees here, right? What if you as a Christian with all of your degrees did not get that promotion? You were not elevated even though you are qualified simply because you are a Christian?

I had a true story with one of my friends who is Indian and born to parents who were Hindu, worshiping all kinds of gods. Yet he became a Christian, and his parents and others would criticize him for his faith. Again, we understand honor and shame, and those whom Peter wrote to frequently experienced loss because of their faith in Christ. We too can experience loss and shame for being a Christian.

The Christian View of Suffering

Now, as the text shows us, as Christians, we don't view suffering the same way the world views suffering. I gotta say this—I'm a dude that does not like to suffer, and I'm not saying that we gotta be masochists and run to pain and suffering. But we have a different view of it as Christians.

I believe the overarching theme of this text is to show that suffering for Jesus Christ's sake is joy and blessing. I'm gonna repeat that: suffering for the sake of Jesus Christ is both joy and blessing. But we don't tend to connect suffering with blessing. We don't do that. But if we have God's perspective and God's point of view, we know that this type of suffering for the sake of Jesus Christ is a blessing.

Why is it a blessing? My friends, because we know how this ends. We know how this game ends. When we leave this earth, we're gonna go be with him for all eternity.

This morning, as we walk through this pericope, this section of scripture, there are three things I want to put before us. The first thing I would like for us to see is the blessing of suffering in verses thirteen and fourteen. The second thing I would like for us to see is the eschatological reality of judgment in verse 17. And the last thing I would like for us to see is that as Christians, we are to trust God in verse 19.

This morning, as we walk through this text, I want to speak from this subject: "Father Knows Best."

Before going further, let's pray. Father, I stand in awe and I bow before you because you are holy. Your word is open, and Father, as your word is open, what you have given us, you are speaking. So Lord God, I pray that you will give us eyes to see and ears to hear—not just to gather more information, but to obey the information that's before us. Show us how we ought to live in a world that's broken. We bless you in Christ's name. Amen.

The Blessing of Suffering

Let's look at this first point: the blessing of suffering. Let's read verses 13 to 14 again.

"Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you." — 1 Peter 4:13-14

Looking back at verses seven through eleven, Peter tells the believers how to live in the midst of suffering. He says they ought to think right and be sober minded so one can pray in the face of suffering. He urged them to maintain constant love for one another, to be hospitable to others without complaining, and to serve one another.

In our text, in these verses, Peter wants to comfort God's people with some thoughts as they experience persecution. This whole letter is Peter's pastoral heart to those who are suffering. Now, we intuitively know that suffering is not the way life is meant to be. This suffering is just not right.

However, in the text, Peter makes the startling claim that suffering should come as no surprise for the Christian. If the Christian suffers for the right reasons, it is a blessing. In verse 12, he says when this unjust suffering comes—and he describes it in the CSV version as a fiery ordeal—we are not to see it as something unusual. Instead, it is an occasion to rejoice because when the Christian suffers and has God's point of view, we know everything turns out okay.

Paul would write in Romans chapter eight, verses twenty eight and twenty nine, these words:

We know that all things work together, not some things but all things, work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. — Romans 8:28-29

My friends, we may not be able to trace his hand, but we can trust his heart. Why? Because Father knows best. And this is depicted wonderfully in the life of Joseph, I believe.

The Story of Joseph

If you read Genesis chapters 37 through 50, you see that Joseph had a dream for a little while. He had these dreams. First, his dad gives him a coat of many colors, and he flaunted it the way kids do. Then he had dreams. And then his brothers, they got tired of this, and so they plotted, ultimately selling him to Midianite traders who sold him to Egypt as a slave.

Look at the trajectory. He ends up in Potiphar's house. The Bible says that God was with him and blessed him. Potiphar, seeing God was with him, said, "Brother, you got free reign. Handle your business." And then Potiphar's wife wasn't right either. She approached Joseph when she had the opportunity, trying to get next to him. Joseph says, "No. I have free reign of everything in his house except for you. I'm not to mess with you." Joseph was an honorable man, but she really pursued and pushed. So much so he ran and she got his robe in her hand. Then she lied on him: "He tried to violate me." Potiphar gets upset and sends him to prison.

But in prison, it says that God was with him. Now he's years from when he was sold. He's in prison, and the warden of the prison said, "You handle your business. You run it." Two guys who used to work for Pharaoh had dreams—the baker and the cup bearer. And these brothers were messed up. They said, "What does this mean?" Joseph says, "Interpretation comes from God. Tell me your dream." So he interpreted the dream for the cup bearer and the baker. The baker died. The cup bearer is elevated back to his position, and Joseph just says, "Look, remember me when you get before Pharaoh. I'm here for no reason." But the man forgot.

And then finally, Pharaoh has a dream. Someone tells him, "It's a brother that can interpret your dreams." So they bring Joseph. He interprets the dreams, and then Pharaoh asks him, "What should we do?" He gave some advice. Joseph is now elevated to second in command. There's a famine in all the land. Who had to come to Egypt? His brothers. They needed grain. God is doing this thing, y'all.

They come, and Joseph is probably angry but glad at the same time. But then finally, he revealed himself to his brothers. And after Jacob died, he said this:

Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You planned evil against me. God planned it for good to bring about the present result, the survival of many peoples. — Genesis 50:19-20

I want to encourage you. You don't know what your suffering is for while you're in it, but God has a purpose for your suffering just like he had for Joseph. And for Joseph, it was the survival of many people. This is God's providence.

He is in control of every aspect of your life and so for Peter's readers, suffering was a reality but he told them not to be surprised and rejoice and even more rejoice because the glory of Jesus is going to be revealed. See, we have joy in the midst of suffering because we know that future deliverance is certain because of Jesus. He is coming back to make all things new.

That could be the tendency that we have when suffering is to question God or wonder where is God. We may ask questions like this: Is God angry with me? Did I displease him? Has God abandoned me? I want to encourage you my friends that God has not abandoned you in suffering. As a matter of fact, he has moved close to you in suffering by the power of his Spirit.

Now, Peter does tell them they should not suffer for doing some stuff. He says, don't suffer by being a murderer or being a thief or being an evildoer and then he uses his word "a meddler." I had to look that up because I wondered what that meant and there is an aspect of that word that means stop getting in another folks' business. But he says, now, don't suffer for doing those things because those things could damage our gospel witness if we're involved in them. We don't want to attract hostility, but if it comes because of our faith in Christ, we must stand firm and not renounce our faith. Peter wanted them, if they were going to be accused of anything, be accused for being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and not to be ashamed of it.

Joni Erickson Tada—many of you know that name. She dove into a lake one day, hit her head, and was paralyzed. Years ago, today, she has a worldwide ministry to people who are physically challenged and she would tell you that she wouldn't trade her experience for anything. Her ministry to others even in the midst of her pain has given so many people hope. Her testimony is that she would have never known that God could be so real had she not experienced that pain. Isn't this true for us? I know many of us have experienced great pain in life. All of us in here. We're not exempt from pain regardless of who we are, where we come from—we all know pain, deep pain.

I believe it's in those moments that we have sweet communion with the Lord as we seek him in his word, as we come close to him in prayer, realizing that he has flagrantly run towards us to be with us, to comfort us in the midst of our suffering and our pain. Now, it doesn't mean that our circumstances have immediately changed outwardly, that everything is okay, but it does mean that our inward disposition, even in the midst of struggle, is one that says, even if my circumstances don't change, I'm good.

And this reminds me of the story of the three Hebrew boys in Daniel as they are in the furnace. Nebuchadnezzar says, he looks in like didn't we throw three in there? But I see a fourth and he's like the Son of God. What's beautiful is that when they came out, there was no sense of smoke on them. The whole idea is that God was close to them in the midst of their pain and suffering. Instead of seeing suffering as abandonment by God, we should see it as assurance of God's presence.

I pray that we understand that God is sovereign over suffering. He's sovereign over it. And for us as Christians to suffer is evidence that God has saved us and is changing us by his sovereign power to be glorified with Christ. This my friends is a blessing.

The Eschatological Reality of Judgment

Secondly, I want us to see the eschatological reality of judgment. Verse 17 says:

For the time has come for judgment to begin with God's household and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? — 1 Peter 4:17

Now, when we speak of eschatology, we are speaking of end times. And Peter tells us in verse 16 to not be ashamed for who we are but because the time has come for judgment to begin with God's household.

Now, referring to God's household or God's house is picking up the image of what Peter said early in chapter two when he's referring to Christians as living stones in the spiritual house. He also joins the Old Testament image that God in judgment starts with his people. Judgment starts at the household of God.

Now, we don't like that word judgment because it sounds very destructive. It sounds like there's an end to things like I've done something wrong but for the Christian, that's not so. Paul would write in Romans chapter eight verse one to believers:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. — Romans 8:1

There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. See, those who believe in Jesus will be delivered from the destiny of those who disobey God and not trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ but Christians will be judged and this judgment will be brought to a good end. Why?

Not because you mow your yard every week, not because you pray in the morning and before you go to bed, not because you take meals to your neighbor. All these things are good. Don't hear me say they're not good, but you won't be rescued from judgment not because of the things you do, but because of what Jesus did on that cross. What he's accomplished for us.

And those he predestined, he also called and those he called, he also justified and those he justified, he also glorified. — Romans 8:30

In the Old Testament, the images of God's presence as a refining fire that judges starts with his own people, and this is probably what Peter had in mind. We see situations of that like in Ezekiel 9, but here's the difference. In Ezekiel chapter 9, God is judging his people at his house because they violated the covenant. That's not what's taking place here in 1 Peter, but Peter still wanted them to know that the suffering they were experiencing was an essential part of eschatological judgment which all humans must face. This is for purification and refinement for the believer, not destruction.

Those who belong to God are purified through suffering. Now, if those who are going to be saved are purified through suffering, then what do we think is going to happen when God judges those who are not in Christ? It's going to be detrimental for them. It's going to be detrimental, and that should break our hearts to know that there are people around us, all around us, who don't know him. And if they don't come to know him, God's wrath they would endure for all eternity.

See, those who reject the gospel are unbelievers and those who disobey. All unbelief is disobedience. Believers are characterized by obedience. The suffering that's associated with the end times is a familiar theme of Christian eschatology, and if you remember some of the teachings of Jesus, he talked about the woes that would come before he returns. It seems as if Peter is seeing their persecution and he's getting a glimpse, and remember what Jesus said—and is encouraging them that this is what's going to happen before Jesus comes to make all things new.

This does not mean that Peter thought that Jesus's return was imminent, but he does see a connection with those woes that Jesus pronounced and the suffering that they were enduring. But he wrote this to console and comfort his readers that Jesus is coming back. He's coming back to make all things new.

Jesus speaks of what this judgment looks like when he is gathering those who are his and those who are not his. There will be a separation. He talks about this in Matthew chapter 25 starting in verse 31.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you. — Matthew 25:31-34

Then he will also say to those on the left, depart from me, you who are accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. — Matthew 25:41

See, those who profess Christ are the first ones to be tested in God's judging action—the sheep. The goats will be separated. Persecution sorts out those who are truly Christ's from those who are not. When Christians stand firm and persecuted, they bring glory to God, and there is hope for the believer. A future hope that everything will turn out well for Christians.

Anthony Ray Hinton

Another person I want to mention to you is Anthony Ray Hinton. That name may mean nothing to you, but in the mid-1980s, his life was forever changed. He lived about thirty minutes north of Birmingham, Alabama. In the mid-80s, there were two restaurant managers who were murdered, and somebody who said they were a witness gave up Anthony Ray Hinton. But on this particular morning in 1985, Anthony is living with his mother, and he gets up in the morning and just goes to mow the lawn. He's just cutting the grass. As he is making his rounds and cutting the grass, he notices two detectives in his yard. Being a southerner with great hospitality, he stops his engine and walks up to them and says, "How can I help you, officers?" They say, "We have a warrant for your arrest."

In his yard, they arrested him. He kept asking them, "What are you arresting me for?" but the detectives would not say a word until they got to the jail. When they got to the jail, they pretty much said, "Now we got you. You are going to suffer just like those who you killed suffered." He's like, "What are you talking about? You killed those two restaurants." He said, "I didn't do no such thing."

You got the wrong guy, but they didn't listen. You gotta understand the context. This is Alabama, mid-eighties, and there is still a struggle with race relations. Anthony is a black man. The two people killed were two white restaurant managers, and so they put him in jail. He goes to trial and they give him a sentence that is the worst sentence you can have. We sent you to die. We sentence you to die. And for fourteen years, he is on death row trying to get people to say, "Man, just go review the evidence. I did not do anything."

Now in Alabama, if you know anything about Alabama, you know some people can be put on death row and be killed within a few months or maybe even a year. But I even see God's hand in this because for fourteen years, he just sat on death row trying to get people to review the evidence. But then finally, after those years, the Equal Justice Initiative led by Brian Stevenson took his case and they reviewed thoroughly and said, "No, the ballistics don't match." And they proved this before the courts. But he sat on death row for another sixteen years. For thirty years, this man sat on death row.

But then it happened. He was released. Praise God, he was released. What seemed to be death for him—and it was certain death—in the end turned out well for him because now he is able to enjoy his life.

We see stories like this all around us and we know it's not right. We know it's not right for someone to suffer unjustly. But the truth is, this happens in our world. God's people have always been opposed by Satan, by the flesh, and by the people who refuse to submit to God's will. This happened to Moses. This happened to Elijah. This happened to Joseph. This happened to Jesus and the apostles. This is happening right now on Mainland China and in some Muslim countries. If you call on the name of Christ, there is persecution.

But I don't have to look out there. All we have to do is sometimes look around us because we see suffering even in our own backyards, down the street. And some of this suffering is because of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's always been a part of the Christian story. Even though it's uncomfortable, we should not be surprised.

The beauty is when Anthony Ray Hinton was released, you can see in his eyes that he was never ashamed of who he was. Never ashamed. Likewise, neither should we be ashamed of who we are in Christ. To be a Christian is a badge of honor. It's a badge of honor. And therefore, we should wear it proudly.

It's because when we look at Scripture, the truth of Scripture tells us that no matter what's happening in this life, we get to go home to be with him. There is a place. Jesus says:

"I'm going away. I'm gonna prepare a place for you. You got a room. And if you're in Christ, you got a room too."

I don't even know what these rooms look like, but I know it's better than the one I got right now. It's a heavenly room and we get to be with him forever.

Trusting God in Suffering

Finally, let's look at what it looks like to trust in God. Verse 19, he says:

"So then, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust themselves to a faithful creator while doing what is good." — 1 Peter 4:19

The believer's response to suffering is trusting God. Now, if God is God—and he is—and if he is sovereign—and he is—we can trust him.

Now, it's easy for us to entrust our lives to him when things are going well. You know what I mean? Like, when you got plenty of food in the refrigerator, when your lawn is manicured well, when the kids seem to be just brilliant. "Yes, Mother. Yes, Father. I cleaned up my room without you asking, Mom." When the dishes are washed, when there's no sickness in your body, when on the job you seem to be elevated—like everything seems to be going well. It's easy to entrust ourselves to God in those circumstances.

But what does it look like when suffering comes? And then the Bible says "according to God's will"—can we entrust our lives and ourselves to him in those moments? Again, we may not be able to trace his hand, but we can surely trust his heart.

What did Jesus do when he was reviled, when he suffered? Chapter two, verse 23 says:

"He entrusted himself to the one who judges justly." — 1 Peter 2:23

Jesus did this because he knew that God had the authority and power to judge all humans justly. See, human governments nor any one in society can pass final judgment on Christians. That's God's doing. And because it's God's doing, we can trust him.

To entrust oneself to God while suffering as a Christian is to continue doing what is good. Now, what does that look like in the midst of suffering? The Scripture tells us to love one another, to care for the poor, the widow, the orphan, to pray for those who are doing evil towards us. Those things we are to continue to do even if persecution arises. And for Peter's readers, these were the very things that was causing them pain.

They were actually living out their faith, and they are being persecuted for their faith. Now, it seems foolish to continue to do those things that are causing pain, but if we are Christ followers, these are the things that God has called us to and it pleases him. Suffering is an opportunity to glorify God and a badge of honor for those in Christ. We ought to have joy rather than be surprised. We ought to bless rather than insult. We ought to give glory to God rather than wallow in shame. In suffering, we trust God.

Now, I don't know all of you personally, but I know if you've had a rough morning and you're late, you're trying to get to work and sometimes we may actually look at a traffic report before going to work because we want to understand where the traffic is. I'm learning being new here that there could be some traffic out there. It happens, and so you might want to listen to or watch a traffic report. In some states I've lived in, the traffic report was given by someone who was in a helicopter. They are flying over the city and looking at where the traffic is.

Now, regardless, no matter what you decide, you could say in the morning, "Man, I'm not worried about no traffic report. I'm just going to do what I normally do." And have you ever done that and just ended up in traffic? You're just stuck and you don't know why it's bottlenecked, but you're stuck in traffic. So in that situation, who would you rather trust? Your own thinking or the person in a helicopter? Of course, we want to trust the one in the helicopter because he or she has a higher view of what's taking place. And it's the same in our lives. There is one who has a higher view of what's taking place in our lives.

The old church I grew up in, seeing those church mothers and those deacons, they would often get up and say, "God sits high and he looks low." He has a perspective that we don't have. So when things get tough in our lives, we need the one whose perspective we can trust. We trust that God sees and knows. And I say, even with suffering, we can take those hurts and pains to God. He's big. God is not worried about our complaining and suffering. I think he wants us to bring that to him and then, hopefully, see what's taking place from his perspective.

See, I praise God that he has given us his word. And in his word, we know how this ends, and it ends with us spending eternity forever with him. Why? Because Jesus, in my place and in my interest, in your place and in your interest, he hung on that rugged cross. He hung on that wood.

He who knew no sin, God made him to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. — 2 Corinthians 5

Because Christ hung on that cross and paid the price for your sins and my sins. Let me make it plain. When he hung on that cross, he had you in mind. He died, but I love it—he didn't stay dead. In my mind, I can see Jesus getting out of the grave, dusting his shoulders off, and telling death and Satan, "You can't hold me. It's finished. Not more than finished. I paid the price, but it is finished because I have done the will of the Father and paid the price for the sins of humanity." He shed his blood for us. The spotless Lamb of God.

My brothers and sisters, I call on you and myself to trust in the author and finisher of our faith.

Prayer

Father, I confess personally that suffering is hard and I never want it. I don't want to hurt. I don't want pain, and I'm the first one to run from it. The beauty is, Lord, you know this about me, but I thank you that my life is not the final authority—your word is. And in your word, you tell us how this ends. And you are sovereign over the suffering that we are experiencing in our lives.

So, Lord God, help us to have your perspective and help us to live in a way that honors you, even if it's your will, as your text says, for us to suffer for a short moment. Lord, thank you, and we bless you in Christ's name. Amen.