Dealing With Suffering
4-27-25
I think it's pretty obvious that our culture is becoming increasingly hostile toward biblical Christianity. Hostility towards the church, of course, is nothing new, it's been going on since the time of Christ. But there was a time in our country when Christians and Christianity were not only accepted, but were admired. Ministers were held in high regard as pillars of the community. Faithful church members were respected. The church was being used by God to make a difference for His kingdom.
Those days are long gone and may never come again, although God will always use His church to make a difference. The scandals of high profile ministers have tarnished the reputation of clergy. The scandals of entire denominations have tarnished the reputation of the church. That has brought suffering and persecution to many people who love the Lord.
So we as believers need to be ready and prepared to live in and to deal with a culture and society that may not like us very much. That was the same environment that the early church found itself in. Christians and the church were being attacked and persecuted and the people needed help in knowing how they were to respond to such treatment. That is what Peter is trying to help his readers do in his first letter. Let's see what he has to say to us as we read 1 Peter 3:13-17.
One way that we can deal with suffering for righteousness in life is to be zealous for the things of God. (v. 13). The apostle begins this section of his letter with a rhetorical question. "Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?" His question makes a very good point. There are no laws against doing good. When we do what we should and when we obey God and zealously follow His will and purpose for our lives, it will have a good affect on others, even those who would otherwise be hostile to Christianity.
Zealous means "intensity or enthusiasm." It describes a person with great ardor for a specific cause. In NT times, there was a radical political party of Jewish patriots called the Zealots. They pledged to free the Jews from all foreign rule by whatever extreme measures were necessary, even if that meant their own deaths. One of Jesus' disciples, Simon the Zealot, was likely a member of that group.
Today, we might equate the whole idea of zealousness to those fanatical sports fans that you see at games. I'm not even going to dig out and publicize pictures of me when I was in college, I definitely fit the description of a zealot for Nebraska football. The zealot loves his team and goes to great extremes to show off that love. They buy all of the paraphernalia, they spend money on tickets, or make sure they can watch games on TV. You know the zealots because they're always wearing a shirt, or coat or belt with their teams logo.
Quite frankly, that is the way that we should be living our lives as Christians. There should be a zealousness that we have about our faith and about our Lord. We love Jesus and we should be going to great extremes to show off that love. Yet in our modern society, it seems that so many believers hide their faith. We're afraid of witnessing to people; we're afraid of being called a religious fanatic, but that is exactly who we need to be. You don't necessarily have to buy a bunch of religious paraphernalia, but people should know whose we are because it should come through in how we live.
Back to Peter. He says we should be zealous for what is good. Good refers generally to a life characterized by generosity, unselfishness, kindness and thoughtfulness toward others. Gal. 6:9-10. Living that way will quiet down even the most ardent foe of the gospel. Zealousness will also help us deal effectively when we suffer for doing good. Be zealous.
A word of caution here: Having a passion for godliness is not a guarantee that one won't suffer for their faith. It's possible that living a godly lifestyle may make suffering more unlikely or less frequent, but then again it might not. Jesus was obviously very godly, perfect in fact. Yet a hostile world hated Him enough to put Him to death. Jesus Himself made it abundantly clear that believers cannot expect to escape all suffering if their Lord did not.
We all know godly people; folks who are doing their best to follow and obey the Lord; who love Him first and foremost and love others like themselves, who still seem to suffer a lot in life. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't seem fair to our moral sensibilities. Yet the truth of the matter is that we live in a sin cursed world. So-called bad things happen to the righteous and the unrighteous; the Christian and the non-Christian alike deal with pain and heartache and loss and suffering. Sometimes sin in our lives can cause us problems. If you smoke you may very well develop lung cancer and that cancer would be a direct result of what you did to your body. But not all suffering and problems in life are a result of personal sin. Sometimes, we just get caught up in the sinfulness of the world and suffer right along with everyone else.
Many Christians in the early church, and no doubt many of Peter's readers did suffer for their upright, godly behavior. Therefore, we shouldn't be surprised or afraid if such suffering comes to us. In fact, we need to expect to be persecuted for living for the Lord.
Another key to dealing with suffering for righteousness in life is to have the proper perspective on it. The proper perspective is to understand that suffering is a blessing. (v. 14). That doesn't make any sense does it? How can suffering be a blessing? We ask that question because we generally think of blessing being ease and comfort and all of the good things in life without any of the bad. We view suffering as something bad and to be avoided at all costs. But that is the wrong view of blessing and the wrong idea of what suffering is.
Blessed as Peter uses it here is not referring to happiness or joy like it does in other parts of the NT. Peter uses blessing more along the lines of the privilege of living and suffering for the Lord. Matt. 5:10-12.
There are actually many ways that suffering can be and is a blessing in our lives. For one, suffering helps us to be made perfect and established in our faith. Peter mentions that very thing later on in this letter. 5:10. Nothing that happens to us in life is wasted. God knows what He is doing; He is on His throne; He is sovereign over His creation; nothing happens to us that is not part of His will and His purpose for us. That includes suffering. He uses those tough, difficult times in our lives to perfect us and confirm our salvation. He also strengthens us to be able to deal with whatever comes our way.
Another blessing of suffering for righteousness is that it produces endurance in our lives. James 1:2-4. We learn and we grow from the difficult times. As we survive the difficulties and suffering of life, we are better able to deal with other tough times that come our way. We are able to endure and persevere and grow in Christlikeness because of what we go through.
Suffering for goodness also renews the inner man. 2 Cor. 4:16-18. It is suffering for righteousness that develops Christlikeness in our lives. God takes those tough times and refines us so we can be who He has created us to be and so we can do the things that He is calling us to do. What we go through in this life may seem like it's almost impossible to deal with and beyond our ability to endure and that is actually true. But part of what gets us through is the knowledge that what we experience here is nothing compared to the glory and joy that awaits us in heaven. The suffering we experience here can't even compare to the eternal weight of glory we will receive one day. John tells us in Revelation that we will receive the crown of life if we are faithful to the end.
In our willingness to suffer, believers must face all circumstances with courage. We must stand firm in the face of suffering. We must set our minds and affections on things above. When we do that, we will be able to rejoice when we undergo sufferings because we see through to the blessings to be gained.
So when you're being attacked by someone because they see Jesus in you, be strong; stand firm; be courageous. Keep your eyes on the prize and realize that this earth is temporary and no matter how bad things might seem at the moment, it is short lived and eternity in heaven is forever. If you lose your job because of your faith, losing the job isn't necessarily something to be happy about, but if it's because of Jesus in your life, then that is a blessing and something to rejoice over.
Who knows what might come of that. You wouldn't think persecution and suffering would come from the church, but it does. Even church people don't like seeing too much Jesus in people's lives. We had some problems in our church in West Virginia and that led us to Columbus, Nebraska. We experienced some attacks and suffering there, which led us here. I don't know, maybe you don't agree with me, but I think that's a pretty good outcome and would never had happened if it wasn't for some difficulties that we faced that God used to move us to where He wanted us to be. We can thrive in the midst of suffering by understanding that suffering can be a blessing.
Another key to effectively dealing with times when we suffer for righteousness is to sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts. (v. 15a). Sanctify means to set apart, or consecrate. In this context, it also means to give Christ the primary place of adoration, exaltation or worship in your heart. Believers who sanctify Christ set Him apart from all others as the sole object of their love, reverence, loyalty and obedience.
We must understand that sanctifying Christ and submitting to His authority may very well result in suffering. But we need to continue to honor and worship Him above all else even when we face unjust suffering for doing good. It is our trusting in God that gives us courage and boldness to triumph through any and all circumstances of life. We can deal with suffering and overcome adversity as we sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts.
We can deal with suffering as we focus our lives on defending our faith. (v. 15b). This is also another blessing of suffering, the opportunity to defend gospel truth. We must always be ready to make a defense of the faith. The Greek term for defense means a formal defense in a judicial courtroom. It's also used in Scripture to denote an ability to answer questions people ask about our faith. Phil. 1:16. Paul was always ready to defend the gospel.
Always means exactly what it says. Believers need to be constantly prepared and ready to respond. We need to be ready to respond whether it is in a formal courtroom setting, which probably isn't something any of us will ever have to deal with, or if we are informally talking to a friend. We need to be ready to respond to everyone and anyone who asks us to give an account for why we live and believe the way we do. We should all be able at the time we're asked to give the right words in response to questions about the gospel.
You don't have to know everything to be an effective witness for the Lord. You simply need to love Him and be ready to talk to people about what He has done for you. I sadly confess to you all that I haven't been the witness I need to be for the Lord. I have just recently gotten back to committing to talking to people about Jesus. I start out with simply asking how I can pray for them. You would be surprised at how people respond to that question. Then it's just a matter of being ready to take the conversation wherever God leads it. But I think we often miss opportunities because we're not ready to discuss Jesus with others.
Our defense must be firm and uncompromising. We must never back down on what we believe or condone sin in any way, shape or form. At the same time, we must also be gentle and meek. Eph. 4:15. We are to speak the truth in love. That doesn't mean that we are weak in any way, it means that we shouldn't be dominate or overbearing in how we relate to people we're trying to win to the Lord. Always be ready to defend your faith.
We can also effectively deal with and overcome suffering in life when we live with a pure conscience. (v. 16). The conscience is the divinely placed internal mechanism that either accuses or excuses a person. It either affirms right behavior, or condemns sinful behavior. A good conscience is what every Christian needs to maintain in his or her life.
A clear conscience allows believers to be free from any burden of guilt as they face hostility and criticism from the world. Acts 24:16. If we have a good conscience, we will be untroubled by guilt and we will be able to withstand and defeat whatever abusive, insulting attacks are leveled against us.
To have a pure conscience, we need to confess and repent of all known sin. We need to seek to be right in all of our relationships with other people both inside and outside the church. It doesn't mean we're perfect, because we're not. It means we're doing all we can to be right with God and right with others. A pure conscience will help you deal with suffering.
In the book of Romans, Paul writes that "all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose." Knowing that truth will help us to accept suffering as part of God's plan for us. It will also help us equip ourselves so that we can effectively deal with and live in a world that is hostile towards the church.
As our singer and musician come now, we invite you to be ready for suffering because if it hasn't already, it will come to your life. But through it all we can overcome because Jesus has overcome. If you need to share something with us today, we invite you to come now and share that with us as we stand and sing.
Prayer.