Suffering is something which it seems the church has not done well in responding to, at least in America. We’ve responded in almost every way imaginable. Some have responded like Luther (prior to his realization that we are justified by faith alone) in abusing themselves. I recently saw a special on television of a guy carrying a large cross a number of miles for no apparent reason except to inflict pain upon himself. On the other hand, the health and wealth message has spread across our country so strongly that it is difficult to find someone on television preaching who isn’t promoting the message that God’s will is not for his people to suffer but to be blessed with health and wealth. In fact, I once went to hear a popular preacher who had come to preach in my hometown as he declared, “You want to see the glory of God; you look at the black and white Mercedes that are parked in my garage. That’s the glory of God!”

And then there are several others, maybe including most of us here this morning who would be quick to critique these views we’ve held up as examples of responses to suffering. We know that we are not to set out on a mission to seek suffering in any means possible. We know that beating ourselves daily or even carrying a large wooden cross over several miles doesn’t necessarily make us any more holy. And we also know that the message of health and wealth in our country is a message that will only lead many to seeking riches in this world while they will be damned in the next.

We are able, no doubt, to look around us and point out many responses to suffering that are wrong. However, could we declare to those around us what the biblical response to suffering is? How does the Bible tell us we should view and respond to suffering? That is what I want us to see this morning because it’s what Peter points us to in our text, 1 Peter 4:12-19.

Thus far in the book Peter has spoken much about suffering, for he was writing to a people facing insults, slander, and persecution for being followers of Christ and not joining the world in their pursuit of sin. And we’ve heard much of how we are to respond to suffering, even last week reflecting on it. However, our text this morning a bit of a climax to Peter’s writing. It’s as if he brings back up the points he’s made throughout the letter, sharpens them a bit, and puts them in this one paragraph that sums up how the believer should see suffering and why it is so important that we respond to suffering correctly. Therefore, I want us to hear the same thing this morning from this text that Peter intended his original hearers to hear and receive.

First, we learn from the text that …

We must expect suffering, for it is God’s means to purify us (12)

Peter writes to them in verse 12, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” Peter doesn’t want his readers to be surprised by suffering as though it is something strange. And indeed Peter’s readers, nor we, should see suffering as something that is surprising or unexpected, for Jesus told us clearly that we suffering.

He pointed out that even as the world hated him it would hate us. He told his followers that if they persecuted our Lord that they would persecute us as his followers. And he had told Peter specifically that when he would stretch out his hands and another would carry him where he did not want to go, John adds, indicating by what manner of death he would glorify God (John 21:18-19). In addition, Paul declares in Acts 14:22 that it is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God and to Timothy that everyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12), even as Jesus had declared to him what things he himself must suffer for Christ’s sake (Acts 9:16).

Therefore, though many other things are unclear in our lives, this one thing we can know, we will face suffering. We will know persecution as we follow Christ and obey him. It is sure. It may be known in different degrees among us, but face persecution we will. Thus, it is silly for us to be surprised when it comes. Don’t be. Our Lord promised we will face it, and so we should expect it.

No doubt anyone who has been a parent any length of time has faced a situation with their children where you tell them that unless they obey they will be disciplined, then they disobey, and then they act astonished or surprised when disciplined as if they weren’t foretold. Let us not be the same way.

But Peter also reminds us here that suffering doesn’t simply come for suffering’s sake. He tells his readers not to be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes “to test you.” God doesn’t bring suffering to us because he somehow just enjoys watching us walk through suffering. It is the means God uses to refine us, to purify us, to make us fit for the blessing that awaits us in his kingdom. It is the means he uses to make us more like his Son. It is, therefore, good for us. And he has told us it will come, so let’s begin our stance toward suffering by expecting it to come to us as God’s means to refine us.

But even more than simply expecting it, Peter declares that …

We must rejoice when we find ourselves suffering for Christ’s sake (13-15)

The call to us is not just to expect it or even to bear it but to rejoice in our suffering. Peter writes, “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (v. 13). What’s clear is that Peter is commanding us to rejoice as we share in Christ’s sufferings, which I think means suffering on account of following Christ. But what may not be quite as clear in this verse is why we should rejoice. Now, yes, in verse 14 Peter gives us details of why we should rejoice, pointing out the blessings that come to us, and we’ll look there in a second. But, first, in verse 13, he gives us a reason as well that is weighty. He tells us to rejoice insofar as we share in Christ’s sufferings, “that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (v. 13).

I believe what Peter is doing here is showing us that those who rejoice on the day when Christ returns, when his glory is revealed, are those who rejoice in suffering for following Christ now. That is, it is only those who find greater delight in suffering for following Christ than in living an easy life not following Christ who will rejoice on that final day. In other words, those whose delight is in an easy life rather than suffering for following Christ will not rejoice on that final day, for they do not belong to Christ. For those who belong to Christ obey him, even in suffering. They delight more in suffering for Christ’s sake than in living an easy life not following Christ.

So the first reason we should rejoice as we suffer for Christ’s sake is because we’re showing ourselves to be among those who will rejoice on that final day. So if you have no joy in suffering for Christ’s sake, then be warned now, you will not then be rejoicing on that final day!

And yet Peter tells us more. He tells us that we should rejoice in suffering for Christ’s sake because we are blessed. He writes, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (v. 14). Even as Isaiah 11 said that the righteous branch, whom we know as Jesus of Nazareth would have the Spirit of God resting on him, Peter tells us that same Spirit rests on those who follow Christ and are insulted for his sake. The Spirit who is a promise and guarantee of the glory to be revealed to us rests on us so that we are assured that the glory of eternity awaits us. Really, the reasons for rejoicing in verses 13 and 14 are the same. We should rejoice for suffering in following Christ because such people who follow Christ through suffering are those who will be with Christ for eternity, rejoicing on that final day.

Simply put, Peter identifies Christians as those who follow Christ and obey him even through suffering. Those people are his true children, those who have the Spirit of God resting on them, and those who will rejoice on the day of judgment. However, lest we then seek to praise others or ourselves for pressing on in all suffering, Peter points out that he is talking about those who suffer for following Christ. He writes in verse 15, “But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.” There should be no praise or satisfaction for those of us suffering because we’re criminals or simply annoying people in society. But for those who suffer in following Christ, we should rejoice for we are those who will rejoice on that final day.

And although it is implied in what we have said so far, we may also add another response of Christ’s toward suffering:

We must persevere in suffering, focusing on glorifying God (16-18)

Peter writes in verse 16, contrasting those who suffer for doing evil, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” The idea of not being ashamed is more than Peter simply saying don’t blush or be embarrassed about our suffering. This is Peter’s warning, I believe, against being ashamed in the sense of denying Christ, of walking away from the faith. Peter is telling his readers that we must not allow persecution to drive us to the point of shamefully abandoning the faith so that we might avoid suffering in this life. Rather, we must persevere in following Christ through suffering, focusing on bringing glory to Christ in this world.

And Peter gives us something to remember as we face persecution and the difficulty of persevering in it. He writes in verse 17, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” He wants us to see that our suffering is actually God’s judgment breaking into this world. And God’s judgment applied to his people results in vindication that they truly belong to God.

Thus, God’s judgment starts with his house (clear from 1 Peter 2:4-12, this means his people). It begins with us. God brings suffering to his people as judgment to them. Not a judgment that punishes us; we’ve already seen in verse 12 that it is to test us. Suffering is a judgment that is meant to vindicate us, to reveal that we truly belong to God. Even as on that final day our faith will be vindicated on the basis of our good works, so in this life God is already bringing such judgment to his people, vindicating their faith, their belonging to him, through their perseverance in obedience to him through suffering.

Therefore, it is those who persevere who will be shown to truly belong to God. Thus, we must persevere. “But,” we may say, “Denying Christ is the only way to escape great persecution in this world.” Peter’s answer? He wants us to consider that if God is using suffering to judge his people (vindicating them), then imagine the judgment that awaits those who deny him, those who do not follow him as their Lord. He asks us to imagine what will be their outcome. Then he calls us to this reality again, writing in verse 18 (quoting from Proverbs 11:31), “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” That is to say, if the righteous is saved through such difficult means, then imagine the judgment that awaits the one who is unrighteous.

Therefore, no matter how tempting it might be to walk away from following Christ so that you might enjoy the blessings of this world and miss the suffering that comes to those who follow Christ, remember that it is only those who persevere who truly belong to Christ and that those who show themselves not to belong to Christ will face a judgment much worse than any suffering we might behold or taste ourselves in this life.

Finally, …

We must continue to do good, obeying and entrusting ourselves to God (19)

Peter writes in verse 19, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” Peter ends the section telling us that as we suffer we should continue to do good, to obey Christ, to follow him even though it brings suffering. After all, such suffering is God’s will; it is God’s means whereby he is vindicating our genuine faith and making us more like his Son.

And we should entrust ourselves to one who is faithful, one who has always provided for us, upheld us, and has given us our greatest need – forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Jesus Christ. Entrust yourselves to one who is so faithful. And we are to entrust ourselves to a faithful Creator, that is, one who made this world, who is sovereign, and who will make for his people a new world. We can entrust ourselves to one through whose hands comes everything as it comes to us. He is the creator. He is sovereign. Can anything come to us apart from coming to us through his hands? No. So, let us entrust ourselves to that faithful God, who will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. Let us continue to follow and obey him.

1 Peter 4:19 has become somewhat of a cry for me in difficult situations. Whether it is from dealing with the difficulty of raising kids whose hearts I do not have ultimate control over to dealing with my own future which is so unclear to me, I entrust myself and my children – my life and everything – to God, our faithful and sovereign God, reminding myself simply to press on in doing what I know he has commanded.

So, what is the biblical response of Christians to suffering? We must expect it, rejoice in it, persevere through it, and trust God in it, continuing to do God. For it is only those who respond in this way who will show themselves to be true followers of Christ, those who will rejoice on that day of judgment. Therefore, may we declare that we will obey this call of response to suffering by coming to the Lord’s table, entrusting ourselves to the one who sent his Son to die for our sins. Amen.

THE BLESSING OF SUFFERING AND A CALL TO TRUST