Tested by Fire

Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain

Presbyterian Church, and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today. Special welcome. If you're

new or visiting with us, we're glad that you're here. And we're glad that you're here not because

we're filling seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community. And as we follow

Jesus together, we've become convinced that there's no one so good that they don't need God's

grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it, which means that God has something to say to

everyone in his Word, which is why we come back to it week after week. We've been studying the book of

1 Peter, and as I've been telling you, the book of 1 Peter is a letter. It's a letter written by a man

named Peter, and he writes it to churches in the first century AD in the 60s who are living in part

of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor, what would now be known as modern-day Turkey, and he writes this

letter because these Christians are struggling. They're struggling because they are feeling out

of place in the world as they follow Jesus, and they're facing opposition from the world as they

follow Jesus. So Peter writes to both encourage them and instruct them. He writes to encourage them

that Jesus is worth it. Jesus is worth living and loving for. He's worth suffering and dying for.

And he also writes to instruct them how to live as Christians in the world and how to respond when

they face opposition in the world as Christians. Now, last week we were in a section about the church,

and before that we were in several sections about suffering. We're returning to suffering this week.

By the way, we're getting very near to the end of 1 Peter, so we're going to close out chapter 4 today,

and then we have three more sermons to get us through chapter 5. Next week is going to be the

church again. We'll have one more sermon that touches on suffering, and then we'll have a

conclusion to take us to the very end. You'll remember that there are three different types

of suffering, at least three different types in the Bible. First would be suffering for your own

personal foolishness or sin, and I'm going to give you examples today related to jobs. So if you are lazy

and you spend most of your time at your job on Facebook and you get fired, that's a type of

suffering. It's suffering for your personal sin and foolishness. Suffering type 2, suffering for the

general presence of sin in the world, or we could even add other people's sins. So let's say you were

born in 1985 or 1986, and you graduated from college in 2008. Well, in 2008 it came out that borrowers were

lying to lenders, lenders were lying to banks, and banks were lying to regulators. So guess what?

There were no jobs for you. That's a type of suffering, not because of your sin, but because of the sin of

other people. Then type 3, there's suffering for righteousness sake, or suffering for the name of

Jesus Christ, or as we're going to be told in this passage today, suffering as a Christian. This would be

you have a job, your employer finds out that you're a Christian, and they decide they don't want that type

of person working for them, and so they fire you. So these are our three categories, and we're going

to head in to this passage. We're starting at verse 12, and we're going to see, Peter's going to review

a lot of things that he said before, but we're also going to take a special focus on what he refers to

as a fiery trial or a testing. So we're going to ask, in what sense is suffering a trial or a test for

Christians? How does God use suffering in our lives to test us? We're going to continue our now,

what will be a four-week streak as well, of having a hard passage to figure out, a hard verse, and here

we're going to have to figure out, talk about what does it mean for judgment, this is verse 17, to begin

at the household of God. If God's grace is extended to believers, if they have been taken, have the

penalty of sins been removed, in what sense do Christians still face God's judgment? How can Peter say

that judgment begins with the household of God? And so it's with that focus that we are in 1 Peter

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, starting at verse 12. So I invite you to open your Bible, you'll find it at the end of your

worship guide, or on your phone. And as we come to this passage, remember that this is God's word.

And God tells us that while the grass withers, and the flowers fade, his word stands forever.

So that's why we read it now, starting at verse 12.

Verse 15.

Verse 18.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you that you are a faithful creator,

and we can trust our souls to you. And one of the reasons that we can trust our souls to you is that you

speak to us, rather than leaving us alone. And so we simply ask that you would do that this morning.

That you would send your spirit to help us, that we would be able to hear from you.

That we would be encouraged and challenged, and that we would respond in love and faith in Jesus Christ.

And so we ask these things in his name. Amen.

Amen.

There's a man whose name is Jeff Henderson.

And for a long period of time, Jeff worked at a very high level in marketing for Chick-fil-A.

And while he was working in marketing for Chick-fil-A, there was a time when he was interacting with the Chick-fil-A stores in the Atlanta area.

And they came to him and they said, hey, we've been doing this Eat More Chicken cow campaign for about 10 years now.

Don't you think it's time we tried something else?

I mean, people have probably got the message at this point, right?

They've seen the signs of the cows on the road.

By the way, this had made its way into the Advertising Hall of Fame.

Isn't it time we picked something new?

People know this by now.

They know that the cows want them to eat more chicken.

So he said, that's a great question.

Why don't we do some market research?

And we are going to look and see how people in the Atlanta area are responding to this.

Are they aware of this?

They did this research and after 10 years of the campaign, it was just starting to catch on.

People were just starting to realize that it was time to eat more chicken.

And so they decided we need to continue with this.

We need to continue this same message over and over again.

It's been 10 years.

Maybe we need another 10 years.

I mention that because we are coming to another passage on suffering.

By my count, I've given you the three categories of suffering at least six times now in this sermon series.

And you might be thinking, we've heard this before.

Why do we need to hear it again?

You might be thinking the same thing for Peter.

Peter said this over and over again at this point.

Why does he need to keep telling these people about suffering?

Of course, this raises a larger issue of how we read the Bible.

I hope that as you come here and as we are together week after week and I'm teaching you,

I hope that you learn things that are true about the Bible.

But I also hope that you learn how to read the Bible.

I don't want you to just walk away with truths.

I want you to be able to dig into God's word for yourself.

And so one, it's important when we come to God's word to understand these categories of suffering.

It can be very confusing when folks come to passages and they think it's about one type and it's not about another.

But the other point is that God uses repetition.

He repeats things over and over to highlight and underscore how important they are.

Peter knows that we've heard about suffering before.

And yet when we read the Bible and we see something repeated over and over,

we're able to say, ah, that must be very important.

That must be something that Peter desperately wants us to take away.

So if there's anything else that Peter wants us to know, it's pretty clear he wants us to know this.

You're going to suffer as a Christian.

And when you suffer, he's repeating here everything that's come before in chapters 1 through 3.

So let's look.

We have verse 12.

Don't be surprised at suffering.

Okay, we probably already knew that at this point, right?

He's been talking about suffering a lot.

It's a fiery trial.

Does that sound familiar at all?

Well, chapter 1, we were told that we had the tested genuineness of our faith would come out.

So he's telling us in chapter 4 what we saw in chapter 1.

We talked about that, by the way, in September.

We talked about the idea of not being here for the snacks.

We're not here just for what we can get.

Trials prove that we're here for Jesus Christ.

We're seeing it in chapter 4.

We saw it in chapter 1.

Then we see what we've seen before in verses 13 and 14.

13, rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you also may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

In other words, this is what we saw in chapter 1.

There's going to be praise and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Chapter 1, verse 7.

I told you when we looked at chapter 1, verses 6 through 9, that suffering is the DNA test that proves that we belong to God.

So we suffer and we rejoice because we know we belong to God.

Chapter 1, verses 10 through 12.

I told you sufferings, part of the story, sufferings, the path to glory.

It's the same thing Peter's saying here.

If you suffer, remember Jesus suffered, you're associated with him.

Jesus' sufferings led to glory, your sufferings will lead to glory.

Jesus was vindicated by God.

You will be vindicated by God.

None of this is new.

Chapter 2, when we talked about slaves and masters, Jesus' path is our path.

Chapter 3, Christ's sufferings led to victory.

That's why we had the whole discussion about him proclaiming to the spirits in prison,

and it's also why we had the whole discussion about Noah.

Noah suffered, he was rescued.

You suffer, you will be rescued.

Jesus suffered, he was vindicated.

Jesus suffered, he was victorious.

You suffer, you'll be victorious.

Peter is telling us these things over and over again,

and so our response is to realize this is really important.

There's a saying that we don't rise to the occasion, we fall to the level of our training.

The level of the training that Peter wants for us in suffering is to respond instinctually.

When we suffer, we should remember immediately.

If someone wakes us up in the middle of the night and asks us about suffering,

we need to be able to say,

Jesus suffered and he was glorified.

When I suffer, I will be glorified.

And so Peter tells us that over and over again,

that it would sink into our hearts.

That's why he's reviewing this for us.

That's why when we read the Bible,

things are repeated over and over and over again

to tell us what is so important.

Same is true in other parts of the Bible.

You read one of the Gospels.

Jesus doesn't just heal someone once.

He heals them over and over and over.

To make the point,

Jesus is a healer and a restorer.

You read the Gospel of Luke,

you're going to hear over and over again

about the appropriate use of money.

Luke could have told us once, right?

But he wants us to know how important it is.

Peter could have told us once,

he wants us to know how important this is.

There's nothing else you take from this letter.

This is the letter about suffering

for the name of Jesus Christ.

And Peter wants written on your heart

that Jesus' sufferings led to glory.

Your sufferings will lead to glory as well.

By the way,

why do you think this is so important to Peter?

We haven't talked about Peter as a person.

I haven't talked about him as a person much

since chapter one.

Peter had a really poor theology of suffering.

Mark chapter eight,

Peter rebukes Jesus for talking about suffering.

And Jesus says,

get behind me, Satan.

Then,

when Peter sees Jesus' suffering

and has the opportunity to suffer on Jesus' behalf,

suffer for the name of Jesus Christ,

for being called a Christian,

Peter decides that's the time

he's gonna deny Christ.

Peter has learned the hard way

the truth about suffering.

And so,

like a parent who warns their child

over and over again

not to repeat their mistakes,

Peter is speaking on a very personal level

to these people

that they would know the truth

about suffering as a Christian.

And so,

that's everything we're seeing

at the beginning of this section.

We are seeing a review.

Suffering's a trial.

Suffering means you're associated with Jesus.

Suffering means you belong to Jesus.

We have some new ideas relatively here.

So,

verse 14,

he's gonna build,

right?

A good teacher's gonna review

and then add something more.

Verse 14,

if you were insulted for the name of Christ,

you are blessed

because the spirit of glory

and of God rests upon you.

Now,

we've seen this idea of blessing before.

The spirit resting on you,

I believe,

is new in the book of Peter.

And we could take this several ways.

One,

some people take it to mean

there's a,

God gives his presence to you

in a special way

if you're suffering.

That could be true.

That's not clear.

What we do know

is that if you're suffering,

God's spirit is with you.

We could put it another way.

If God's spirit wasn't with you,

you wouldn't be able to suffer

for righteousness' sake.

And so,

God,

your suffering

for the name of Jesus Christ

reminds you

that God is with you.

Otherwise,

you wouldn't have made it this far.

So,

again,

he's reminding us

of God's presence with us,

his presence

with people who suffer.

Verse 15,

just summarizing

what we've been saying

for many weeks now,

don't fall into suffering type one.

Don't suffer

for your own sin

or foolishness' sake.

And then,

verse 16,

he continues

to encourage them here.

If you're a Christian,

the world is going to

try to make you feel ashamed.

Instead,

let glorify God.

The world may be ashamed of you.

Jesus Christ is not.

Amen.

And when you suffer,

you bring him glory.

Because you are saying,

I believe Jesus is worth it.

He is worth suffering for.

And so,

when we suffer

for the name of Jesus Christ,

we automatically

are bringing

praise and honor

and glory

to him.

Peter's continuing

continuing to encourage.

Look,

this is everything

we've covered.

I'm coming near the end

of my letter to you.

Remember this.

When you suffer,

you belong to Jesus.

You bring him honor.

He is with you.

And so,

you are blessed.

this is a good teacher

reviewing

what's come before.

There's going to be

a new emphasis

in this section,

though,

and it's going to be

an emphasis

on the fiery trial

or the test.

Verse 12.

Don't be surprised

at the fiery trial

when it comes.

Don't be surprised

by suffering

as a Christian.

That's part of following

after Jesus.

He suffered,

you'll suffer.

And suffering

is a type

of test.

And test here,

he's talking about

the idea

of something

that reveals

what's true.

If you're a student

and you take a test,

that test doesn't

create knowledge,

right?

Primarily.

Now,

if it's an essay test,

you could argue

that it helps you

synthesize.

But primarily,

it reveals

what you already know.

It reveals

what's true.

The same is true

of these trials.

They reveal

the faith

that was already there.

God uses

suffering

as a Christian

to reveal

the faith

that you have.

You could think

about it another way.

Some of you

are married.

When you took

marriage vows,

you said,

for richer

or for poorer,

for better

or for worse,

in sickness

and in health.

So let's imagine

that you're married,

there's a married couple,

and the husband

loses his job

for a long time.

And his wife

sticks with him.

That is a test

that reveals

what's true.

When she said

for richer

or for poorer,

she really meant it.

Let's say

you have

a wife

who comes down

with a terrible illness

and she ends

the rest,

she's gonna spend

the rest of her life

in a wheelchair

and her husband

sticks with her.

That's a suffering

that's a test.

It reveals

that when that man

said in sickness

and in health,

he really meant it.

Jesus tests us

in our suffering

in the sense

that he's asking us,

when you said

that you would

take up your cross

and follow me,

did you really mean it?

It's a test

that reveals

what is true.

When we suffer

for the name

of Jesus Christ,

we reveal

that we belong

to him

and that our faith

is real

and he is with us.

Suffering

tests us.

Will we stick

with our commitments

when they cause us pain?

Will we stick

with our commitment

to Jesus Christ

when it causes us pain?

In that sense,

it is a test.

And so God

uses suffering,

we're gonna get to this

in the next section,

he uses suffering

to reveal the faith

of his people.

It's something

that brings him

honor and glory.

In the same way,

Job suffered,

not for righteousness' sake,

but just Job

suffered in general.

In a sense,

he suffered

for righteousness' sake

because Satan

wanted to test

his faith.

Job brought honor

and glory to God

in that.

And the Spirit

of God

was with him.

That's just

the first discussion

or hint here

to test

in verse 12.

And that's gonna

take us

to verse 17,

which is

in our list

here of hard

to understand passages.

So,

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?

If you're familiar

with the basics

of the gospel,

the basics are this,

that we deserve

God's punishment

and that punishment

is death,

that's the penalty

for sin.

But God

has removed

the punishment

for those

who have faith

in Jesus Christ

because Jesus Christ

took God's punishment

on our behalf,

which means

there's no judgment

for Christians,

right?

And yet,

Peter says,

it's time

for judgment

to begin

at the household

of God.

What does he mean?

We have to understand

that judgment

has several stages

to it.

And when we talk

about judgment,

often we mean

God's punishment,

but judgment

is actually

a little bit

more comprehensive

than that.

So,

I've been

doing some judgments

at my house

recently.

I'm a purger,

so at least

every year or so

I go through

and I figure out

what I don't want

anymore

and what needs

to leave my house.

So,

recently I've been

taking some trips

to the Goodwill

and when I go

and I stand

at my closet,

there is a stage

of judgment there.

I'm assessing

all the items

in my closet.

Have I worn

that recently?

If I haven't

worn it since

the last time

I purged,

it might be time

to go.

Does that fit

anymore?

Do I like

that?

In that sense,

every item

in my closet

experiences judgment.

There is a sorting

element to judgment.

There's also

a penalty

or a punishment

element to judgment.

So,

there are some

items that will

not stand

in the judgment.

Those items

go into

the Trader Joe's bag.

The items

that are in

the Trader Joe's bag

are banished

from my presence

forever

and I take them

to the Goodwill.

all of my

clothing

experience judgment

in the first stage.

Not all of them

experience the

punishment of judgment.

Everyone

experienced the

sorting element

of judgment,

not all the

penalty element

of judgment.

So,

there's a sense

in which then

when we're talking

about this judgment,

we have to have

that category

in mind.

everyone in this

world will

experience God's

judgment

in the first

sense.

Everyone will

be sorted.

Think Matthew

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

chapter 25,

the separation

of the sheep

from the goats.

Everyone's going

to be there

for that portion

of the judgment.

When I'm going

through my closet,

sheep,

sheep,

goat,

sheep,

sheep,

goat.

Goats go to

Goodwill.

All of my

clothing

experienced

judgment

in that

sense.

Not all of

them experienced

judgment in

the sense

that I

separated

them from

myself

forever.

When we

suffer as

Christians,

that is part

of God's

sorting.

It is his

way of saying

that person

belongs to

me.

I have

proof that

that person

is a

sheep and

not a

goat.

Because if

they were a

goat, they

would not

stand.

They would

not suffer

for righteousness

sake.

And so

there's a

sense in

which the

sorting portion

of God's

judgment is

going on

even now.

Every time

we suffer

for the

name of

Jesus

Christ,

that is

part of

God's

sorting out

of those

who will

stand in

the judgment

and those

who will

not.

He is

showing.

We're not

earning

something from

him.

In my

earlier

example,

when the

husband or

the wife

keeps their

vows,

they don't

suddenly become

married at

that point.

They were

married the

whole time.

But now

that they

were serious

that they

really meant

it is

finally revealed.

They meant

it all the

way back at

the beginning.

They meant

it on the

wedding day.

But now

the judgment,

as they stand

and remain

faithful in

suffering,

it becomes

clear that

they meant

it.

And so

that's a

sorting that

happens.

By the way,

this is a

helpful category

for coming to

other portions

of Scripture.

If we have

this holistic

idea of

judgment,

it's helpful

in reading

Matthew 25.

It's helpful

in reading

Romans 2.

It's helpful

in reading

the end

of John 5.

It makes

sense of

how judgment

works.

This is the

way Psalm 1

speaks, by the

way.

It says,

the wicked

will not

stand in

the judgment.

So there's a

judgment.

Some people

will stand in

it.

Some people

will not.

In that

sense,

judgment

begins at

the household

of God.

In other

words, the

sorting element

of judgment

has begun

for Christians

even now.

And he

asked this

question,

if it begins

with us,

what will be

the outcome

for those

who do not

obey the

gospel of

God?

In other

words, if

this is how

God treats

the faithful,

unfaithful,

if God

allows Christians

to have a

little bit of

suffering in

this world,

imagine how

much suffering

those who are

not Christians

will experience.

If this is what

judgment looks like

now for you

here, imagine

how much worse

it will be.

It is something

that's painful,

right, that

reveals help.

When I was

little and I'd

go to the

doctor for

checkups, he

would have

this little

rubber mallet,

and this may

have happened

to you, it

hadn't happened

to me recently,

for some reason

they've gotten

smart and they

don't do this

to adults,

but they hit

you with the

mallet on the

knee, right,

and you're

supposed to swing

your knee out

to prove that

your reflexes

are working,

and if your

reflexes are

working, of

course you have

no choice,

right, but to

kick the

doctor.

And so it's

something that's

painful,

that reveals

health.

That's the

same sense in

which judgment

begins at the

household of

God.

It's something

painful,

suffering for

the name of

Jesus, that

reveals health.

If this is

what, you

might imagine

the doctor

saying, if

this is what

I do to

the healthy,

imagine what

happens to

the sick.

If this is

what you are

experiencing,

what will be

the outcome

for those

who do

not obey

the gospel

of God?

How much

more suffering

will they

experience one

day?

That continues

to be the

point he's

making in

verse 18.

If the

righteous is

scarcely

saved, what

will become

of the

ungodly

and the

sinner?

Scarcely

saved here is

not talking

about God's

power,

sinning

and

sinning

and

sorting

now.

The

righteous

is

scarcely

saved

in the

sense

that the

righteous

suffer

because

they

belong

to

Jesus.

There's a

difficulty

to remaining

a Christian.

It's not

easy.

If it's

not easy

to be a

Christian,

what will

become of

the ungodly

and the

sinner?

Imagine

how much

worse it

is for

those who

are not

Christians.

put it

another way,

if the

righteous

suffer in

this life,

imagine how

much the

wicked will

suffer in

the next.

In other

words,

choose your

suffering.

You can

suffer now

or you can

suffer later,

but you

cannot put

it off

forever.

Speaking to

Christians who

might be

tempted to

think,

is it

worth it?

Is it

worth

suffering

for the

name of

Jesus?

Peter

reminds them

the suffering

that will

come if

you're not

with Jesus

is much,

much worse.

And so

remain

faithful

to the

end.

You can

skip

suffering

now,

but you

can't

skip it

forever.

You can

have a

little bit

of suffering

now for

the sake

of Jesus

Christ,

or you

can have

a lot

of suffering

later because

you rejected

Jesus Christ.

this is

what the

righteous

suffer.

Imagine

what the

unrighteous

will suffer

one day.

That's the

point of

Psalm 73,

by the way,

which we

looked at

last summer.

The

psalmist is

crying out to

God,

hey,

it looks

like the

ungodly

have all

the benefits.

What do

I get?

And then

he realizes

you stretch

things out

over a long

enough period

of time

and the

end is

not good

for the

ungodly.

And so

there's a

reminder and

a challenge

here is there

often is that

there are

only two

ways to

live.

We can

live with

faith in

Jesus Christ

without faith

in Jesus

Christ.

If we have

faith in

Jesus Christ,

we will

suffer a

little now

for his

name and

experience

glory later

with him.

If we do

not have

faith in

Jesus Christ,

we may be

able to avoid

some suffering.

We may be

able to have

comfort now,

but God's

judgment is

coming.

It is

real and

he will

bring it

fully and

finally to

this world

one day.

His

judgment is

coming for

everyone.

He will

sort every

person in

this world.

He will

sort them to

those who

belong to

him and

those who

do not.

And those

who do not

belong to

him will

not just

experience the

sorting element

of judgment,

they will

experience the

punishment element

of judgment.

And so

there's a

call to

repentance and

faith in

Jesus Christ.

There's a

call to

you if you

do not

have faith

in Christ.

Things might

seem good

now, right?

We looked at

the days of

Noah a couple

weeks ago.

Everything was

great in the

days of

Noah until

the flood

came.

Everything

might be

going great

until Jesus

returns.

And when he

returns, it

will be too

late.

God

and so

the time

to repent

is now.

God

offers his

forgiveness

to anyone

and everyone

who asks

for it,

who repents

of their

sin and

follows after

Jesus Christ

in faith.

If that's

something that

you're wrestling

with or you

want to talk

about more,

I'm happy to

talk about it

with you.

After any of

our elders,

many of the

people around

you in this

congregation

would be

happy to

talk to

you about

it.

But when

God brings

his judgment,

there will

only be two

camps,

those who

belong to him

and those

who do

not.

There will

be a

sorting.

And those

who do

not belong

to him

face only

God's

judgment.

If the

righteous is

scarcely

saved,

what will

become of

the ungodly

and the

sinner?

If it

begins with

us, what

will be the

outcome for

those who

do not

obey the

gospel of

God?

In other

words,

hold fast.

This

suffering is

for a

little time

before Jesus

returns for

his people.

And so

that's why we

end with this

final admonition.

Therefore,

verse 19,

let those who

suffer according

to God's

will entrust

their souls to

a faithful

creator while

doing good.

God is

bringing justice

to the world.

Trust him.

He's the

creator of the

world.

Trust him.

Trust him in

suffering.

Don't let

suffering stop

you from doing

good.

Because that

would be to

fail the

test of the

sorting.

Instead,

continue doing

good knowing

that it's a

judgment, it's a

sorting, it's a

way that God

proves that his

people belong to

him.

By the way,

Peter failed.

Peter was

tested by God.

Remember when

Jesus was going

to his death,

people asked

Peter if they

knew Jesus,

and Peter,

being afraid

that he would

suffer for the

name of Jesus

Christ, said

no.

And yet he

repented and

returned and

was faithful.

And so God's

grace is even

for those who

are imperfect and

faltering, calling

everyone back to

obedience in him.

Peter feels so

strongly about this

in part because he

was the one who

failed the test,

but has now chosen

that suffering is

worth it.

he betrayed

Jesus, and then

later he died

upside down on a

cross, according

to church history,

for the name of

Jesus.

And so God's

grace is enough.

We don't pass the

sorting, we don't

stand in the

judgment, ultimately

based on our works,

what we do, but we

stand, verse 14,

because the spirit of

glory and of God

rests upon you.

In other words, if

you belong to

Christ, he is a

faithful creator,

verse 19, and his

spirit is with you to

help you stand and

stay firm.

And so ultimately, we

rest on his strength

and his ability, just

like Peter did, turning

away from sin and

towards righteousness,

remaining faithful,

knowing that God is

using it to reveal

our faith.

faith, that it's

only for a time, and

he is bringing his

redemption.

The reminder in this

is the same reminder

at the beginning, what

happened to Jesus will

happen to us.

Jesus suffered, we

will suffer.

If we stick with him

in suffering, we will

be glorified as he is

glorified.

And so verse 19, we

suffer, we trust God,

and we do good.

In what sense is

suffering a task?

It's a task in the

sense that it reveals

our faith.

God uses it to show

that our faith is real,

and we can rejoice in

it because it proves

that we belong to him

and that he is with us.

And so because of that,

we can suffer according

to God's will, entrusting

our souls to a faithful

creator and continuing

to do good.

Please pray with me.

Our Father in heaven, we

thank you for your

encouragement, and we

thank you that you are a

faithful and trustworthy

creator.

We ask that you would send

us your spirit to help us

do what you've called us

to do because we know that

we cannot do it without

your help.

That you would strengthen

us, that you'd help us to

reign faithful in

suffering so that we could

glorify God in that name.

We ask all these things,

not in our own strength,

but in the mighty name of

Jesus.

Amen.