1 Peter 2:21
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Have you suffered unjustly in your life before? I have one experience vividly that I recall from college in my life. I was playing soccer there in college, and we played against one of our local rivals, and we lost 5-1. The game should have been a lot closer than 5 to 1.
For those of you who do not play soccer or know about soccer, it's kind of one team had five touchdowns, the other had only one. So you can do the math. It's not pretty. I don't remember all the details of the game, but I do recall that our defense specifically made a lot of blunders and the other team scored a lot well the next day I showed up to practice and our coach said boys put your shoes on tennis shoes we're going to have a special practice today and he said let's hop in the vans and we're going to practice downtown and I started to wonder what's come up with that, right? So he drove us downtown and he dropped us off and he said, you need to run back to the university and we'll finish practice after that. Well, it was about a
12-mile run. I was not a happy camper. And that day, I didn't think I deserved that punishment And yet, I ran more than 30 minutes and made it back and had to run more after that. Here's the truth from that story, is that suffering is a universal reality in our lives, right? Whether you're young or older, whether you're born in this country or in another country or on another continent, suffering and pain are real.
Suffering and pain are everywhere. But here's the question. How do you react to affliction in your life? how do you process suffering what's your posture in suffering as Christians how do we deal with suffering in our lives our text tonight talks about suffering and provides guidance on how we should deal with pain and affliction. The text is a literal call to follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who suffered unjustly for you and for me. So if you have your bulletins in front of you, I'm going to read the text. If you're using one of the Red Pew Bibles, you can find that on page 1015. 1 Peter 2, verse 21. It says this. For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. So here's the main idea. I think it's very clear from the text. Follow your Savior's example Glorify God in your suffering Follow your Savior's example Glorify God in your suffering I want to unpack this text with two points One, unhelpful responses to suffering And then God-glorifying responses to suffering Our text clearly here distinguishes different kinds of suffering and different ways that we respond to suffering.
I don't know if you, we didn't have time and I didn't read verse 20, but if you back up to verse 20, it says this, For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But when you do good and suffer for it, you endure. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God. So the text points out here that sometimes we face suffering, right, for sinning.
It says when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure. Meaning, again, it should be normal, right, If we do something sinful to sometimes face the consequences of those sins. So, for example, if people murder other people, they'll probably face time in jail, right? And spend life in prison. Bearing that suffering and punishment in some ways look normal for that occasion.
But then there is the suffering that Jesus suffered for sinners that we heard this morning. He suffered for doing good. And he suffered for us. You heard this morning, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He did not deserve that suffering. And yet, as we heard this morning, he did it for us.
And our text here is specifically calling us to follow his example, to follow in his footsteps. We need to follow Jesus' example in glorifying God as we respond to suffering. How do we do that? So first, let's think about some unhelpful responses to suffering. Number one, denying suffering, right?
Maybe there are some of you here who are surprised about the truth of this text. The text explicitly states that Christians suffer. This book was written to Christians. 1 Peter 1, 1 through 3, it says this, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ And for sprinkling with his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you.
So Peter is talking to Christians in the region of Asia Minor here. And he says again in our text, look there again, verse 21. For to this, again, going back to what he has said in verse 20, that when you do good and suffer for it, you endure. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God. And then he says, for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.
Now, how do we deny then suffering as Christians? Well, there are people who preach a false gospel that says that Christians don't suffer. They misinterpret and twist the texts of the Bible, and they have a distorted view of the Christian life. They also probably skip this text that we have here in their Bible reading and in their teaching. Our text clearly assumes that Christians face trials, difficulties, and suffering.
So the prosperity gospel is false. But I don't think that this is a major problem in the life of our church here. So let's move on. How then do we deny suffering in our lives? I think we may be tempted in more subtle ways to think that Christians should not suffer. Perhaps we think that we don't deserve a hard providence in our lives. Maybe we question why God allowed this fill in the blank in our lives.
We may even be tempted to despair and elevate our specific situation, our specific circumstance, to the point of questioning God's character. Or maybe we're tempted to think that we deserve to know the specific reasons why we have this specific affliction going on in our lives.
Those are some ways that we deny suffering. Another helpful way to respond to suffering is to downplay suffering. We may say, it's not a big deal, right? I can power through this situation on my own. Or we may reject the help, the assistance from others around us by saying, everything is fine, don't worry about me.
If you know what has been going on in my life in the last three, four months, And those of you know that I ruptured my Achilles playing some soccer. And one of the things that the Lord is teaching me through this season is that I have downplayed my suffering. So in the last three, four months, one of the things that I was trying to do when I was suffering, to be honest with you, I was laying down for weeks, not doing a whole lot of standing.
And knowing that my wife and kids were bearing the weight of having to live life without a present and helpful husband and a father, I decided to try to clean the bathroom one night with one leg. And so I did clean one bathroom. I went on to the second one, and I passed out.
And after passing out and waking up and realizing what had happened, my wife said, you're going to the ER. And I said, I don't want to go to the ER. And the last thing that I said was, I think I'm fine. Clearly, I was not fine. I was downplaying my suffering because of my pride, because of not wanting to bother other people or let other people help me.
How have you downplayed suffering in your life? So we have looked at two ways that are unhelpful in responding to suffering. How then do we follow in Jesus' footsteps and glorify God in our suffering? So let's look at a few ways of glorifying God in response to suffering. First, the text is not saying that we should seek suffering or that we can suffer in the same manner that Jesus did for us.
That would be a wrong application and interpretation of our text. We cannot suffer on the cross like Jesus did. So how do we glorify God then in our suffering? And how do we follow Jesus in his footsteps, right, as the example for us in our suffering? I love what one theologian says about this.
He says this, to suffer as a Christian is to suffer for Christ, for the name of Christ, for the truths of Christ. for the ways of Christ, for the worship of Christ. So how do we do that? One, suffer with humility. As Jesus was praying in the mountain or the Mount of Olives before his crucifixion, he said, Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. We should emulate our Savior and have this posture of humility as we face suffering. Suffering with humility means that we recognize and seek God's grace and the Spirit's help in our suffering. Number two, and this is specifically for those who are helping those who are experiencing suffering to, again, try to glorify God through suffering.
Matthew, and the point is suffer with compassion, suffer with compassion. Jesus, throughout his ministry, as he looked at the crowds, as he healed people, he dealt with those with compassion. Matthew 9, 35, 36 says this, And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. That means that if you want to help those who are suffering and you want to help them to glorify God in their suffering, have compassion on them. Do not be quick to speak, but be slow to speak and quick to listen.
Offer help, but also give space to the people who are suffering. Don't minimize their suffering and don't compare their suffering with other types or examples of suffering. In many ways, we try to, again, face suffering by connect or comparing specific examples of suffering with others.
But in some ways, those things are helpful. In other ways, they sometimes are harmful. So be aware of that and pray with them. Finally, I think our text calls us to respond to suffering in a God-glorifying way by entrusting ourselves to the one who suffered for sinners. So if you're not a believer and you're here, I think the best way that you can hear the gospel is from the text here.
After verse 21, verse 22, it says this. He committed no sin. Talking about Jesus. Neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judged justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.
That we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. So friend, trust in Jesus. He died for sinners like you. And one day he will come back. and suffering will be no more. Beloved brother and sister, trust and trust yourself and trust in the one who became man and suffered for you.
He is the one who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, Being born in the likeness of man and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Entrust yourself to your Savior. Let's pray. Father, we praise you that you are a God who not only created us, But you have loved us to the point of sending your son to die for sinners like us.
We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you, the one, again, who spoke the universe into existence. The one who upholds all things by your powerful word. You became a baby. And you grew up. And you experienced the temptations, the limitations.
You experienced the sufferings that we face. And yet, without sin. We praise you that you not only experienced that, but you conquered sin, death, the devil. you rose again you appeared to many you ascended into heaven you reigning over all and one day you will come back to completely fulfill your kingdom and to establish the new heavens and new earth and sin suffering, pain tears will be no more come Lord Jesus we pray this in your name Amen