Let Us Please Christ Even In Our Sufferings (1 Peter 5:1-10) - A Sermon by Elise Beatrice

TRANSCRIPT

Let Us Please Christ Even In Our Sufferings (1 Peter 5:1-10.)

1 Peter 5:1–10

A Sermon by Elise Beatrice - Tuesday 3 June

Let’s pray.

Holy Father, thank You very much for this day. Thank You for this passage we’re going to read, Lord. It comforted me. You always know exactly what verse and what passage to give us daily. And You always help us in many situations. So thank You for helping us and teaching us what You have to tell us.

In the same way I’ve been comforted by this passage, please help me also to speak in a way that those who are hearing will be comforted; those who are going through the same situations as me; your children everywhere; Your sheep; Your flock; those who do the will of Your Father, Lord, and those who are suffering for Christ. So yes, Lord, thank You so much.

Please deliver me from this evil and give me victory over them. Let Your Holy Spirit guide me. Thank You that Your power is made perfect in our weakness.

You are the Lord of Lords, You are the King of kings, You are the Alpha, You are the Omega, You are the beginning, and You are the End. You are the joy, and You are the Light, and You are the Salvation. You are our strength and power.

Thank You, Lord Jesus. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit to take over. In Your Holy Name, Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen.

We’re reading 1 Peter 5:1-10.

1 Peter 5:1–10

"5 And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in His glory when He is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: 2 Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. 3 Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. 4 And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor. 5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.

8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.

10 In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation. All power to Him forever! Amen."

Yes, I must admit that reading this really comforted me. Sometimes, the words just come at the right time to comfort you at that moment, and nothing could have been more powerful to comfort you than these words. The thing to do when we're going through tough times, when we are going through trials, is to quickly remember what other servants of the Lord have been through and also what our Lord Jesus has been through on His sojourn here on earth. So, by remembering that, we quickly pull ourselves out of that place where we are just feeling the pain, and feeling left out, and abandoned or rejected, or whatever we may feel at that moment.

Yes, it is true. These words are coming from the Apostle of Christ, and it is true that he went through a lot of sufferings. I mean, every single servant of the Lord, all His Apostles went through tremendous sufferings. And we cannot really measure the amount, which one was bigger or which one was smaller. But each one of them went through their share of sufferings, just as us today; we go through our share of suffering. And some may go through worse things than others. And whatever our sufferings, they still can be really unbearable if we don't quickly remember what we are suffering for.

Yes, what are we suffering for?

Is what we're suffering for worth suffering for? Definitely yes. Is what we're suffering for a good thing? Yes. Is what we're suffering for because of our sins? No. I'm referring here to the servants of the Lord, who are devoted to the Lord and live for Him and are going through lots of persecution, not because of their own sins, but because of their devotion to the Lord. They are shunned from left to right, falsely accused for doing nothing wrong, abused verbally, physically, spiritually, and all those things. So many out there suffer because of their sins, because of what they want, because they want to do their own will. That doesn't count as suffering for Christ.

Many I have spoken to are living in sin, and they're seriously thinking that suffering because of their sins is carrying their crosses and following Christ.

If you’re suffering because of your sins, you are nowhere near suffering for Christ. You are not suffering for Him at all; you are just giving in, you are just succumbing to temptation, you are just surrendering to satan, you are surrendering to the persecutor. You are giving in to him for what you want, for your own gain, or your own will. Of course, who doesn’t suffer when they are in the darkness? If we can suffer even when we are in the Light, let alone those who are indeed in the darkness. We are bound to suffer on this earth. This world we live in is not free from suffering. But the difference is that, being in the Light of Christ, we are going through a good suffering, while being in the darkness is just like a taster of hell.

No one can really say that suffering for Christ is worse, no.

It is the enemy, it is the darkness trying to oppress us and force himself into our lives, knowing that we are a threat to him because God uses us to expose him, and to say things about him he did not want people to know. For this, he’s not very happy about that. So, of course, he targets the servant of the Lord and oppresses them with all kinds of trials and tribulations, all kinds of persecution, whether physically, verbally or spiritually. But we rely on our Comfort, we look at our Comfort, Christ, who was there, and He took the front, He carried His Cross for us until He was pierced on that Cross. So, we carry our own crosses, and we follow Him, and we comfort ourselves in Him, we delight ourselves in Him, and remember also that His Apostles went also through this suffering, and any devoted one who stands there to give you a word of comfort is a great thing. Because reading this passage this morning comforted me. Those words were spoken by the Apostle of Christ, Simon Peter, moved by the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit used those words today to comfort me; Christ used those words to comfort me.

'As a fellow elder, I appeal to you, care for the flock God has entrusted to you.'

Everyone who loves indeed suffers. Everyone who has ever truly loved, with the Love of Christ, is bound to suffer. But many who don't love enough, because they're still so busy thinking about themselves, and still do things for themselves, cannot really say that they are suffering for the Lord Jesus Christ. That suffering they go through because of what they want cannot be compared to the suffering of Christ. But only one type of suffering will be rewarded by the Lord: the suffering we go through for Christ, and only that type of suffering turns us into good characters.

So, we must stay alert, and we have read so many times in the Scriptures, saying, "Watch out, for the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." So, we are warned.

The devil is the number one responsible for humanity's sufferings, and we, humans, are the second most responsible, and the third responsible for our sufferings is evil, even though evil does not force itself on humans; humans choose to do evil and to listen to satan and demons, who are pure evil and bring evil. The devil orchestrates it all, coaching his demons and his human servants to hurt others. The devil uses even those who have some genuine love, but are not listening to the Lord Jesus, to hurt those so close to them who are there to take care of them.

We must all watch out. Because if we don't, the congregation suffers, and also the leaders suffer, and as a result, the Lord's Holy Spirit is grieved, and the Lord Himself is not pleased with us.

We are all going through these kinds of trials all over the earth. But as long as we are not suffering because of our sins, the Lord is with us, and fighting for us, and strengthening us, filling us with His love, renewing our minds, restoring us. For indeed, it is saying here,

"10 In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation. All power to Him forever! Amen."

Yes, He will place you on a firm foundation. Suffering builds us up. If somebody never suffers, they are not built up. They have no foundation built on suffering that turns us into strong characters, equips us, and strengthens us to the point that we can endure, persevere, and cope in many trials.

If our lives are free from suffering, there is no great foundation. But once we have suffered and suffered, given that we passed all those tests that come our way, there is an amount of suffering we must go through, and once we go through the first suffering and endure that one, we have passed one test, and then, the next suffering comes, and we also pass that one. And another comes, and so forth.

It is always, like, suppose we have about a hundred sufferings to go through, and each one that we endure in a way pleasing to the Lord moves us to the next step, until when the hundred sufferings have gone, and now, there is nothing to bring us down, and so, God places us on a firm foundation. And once we are placed on a firm foundation, we can never be destroyed. Nothing will get through that foundation or destroy that foundation that God has put there. So suffering is good when we are suffering for the Lord.

1 Peter 4:12-16 says,

1 Peter 4:12–16

"Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by His name!"

So, if you're suffering because of your own sins, you need to let go of those sins.

Giving in to sin is surrendering to satan.

In the fight, we must not surrender to satan for whatever reason, but we must surrender to Christ, no matter what. And we build that great relationship, a proper relationship with Him, through sufferings. And once we pass that exam, we're fully equipped for whatever He has given us ahead of us.

There are so many beautiful things in this passage, but this is a great comfort to all those who are suffering out there, all the elders who are suffering because of their devotion to God, their faithfulness to Christ, faithfulness to the words of God, faithfulness to the truth, and all the sheep, all the followers of Christ who remain truthful to His teachings and are suffering for it.

So, let us please Christ even in our sufferings. Yes, let's keep pleasing our Lord, even in our sufferings. You're not alone, and Christ is with us. Just as I was really in pain this morning, and I read this Bible Passage, and it reminds me that you may not have people around you who even understand you and who can even comfort you when you're suffering, but always reach out for the words of God; they surely comfort me, just as Christ always comforts me. Keep on doing what you're doing, which is pleasing to the Lord, and surely, your hard work in the Lord is not in vain; that verse comforts me also.

So, do not be afraid, yes, be strong and courageous, and do not be afraid, for the Lord, your God, is the One who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. And He will uphold you with His righteous Right Hand, and He won't let anyone snatch you out of His mighty hand. So keep doing the work for the Lord, no matter what, knowing that everyone who loves the Lord is there for you. Everyone who loves to please the Lord and remain truthful to His teachings is there for you. Even though we may not be face-to-face, and might not even know who you are, or where you are, you are in our prayers; all the faithful ones in the Lord, you are in our prayers. And all the weak ones who love the Lord, you are in our prayers, and all those who seek the Lord but don't even know where to start, you are in our prayers, and all those who want to turn away from darkness and make things right with the Lord, You are in our prayers, and all those who may be struggling now, but want to begin to do the will of the Lord, You are in our prayers. I pray this message will comfort you. May the Lord's peace be with you.

Lord Jesus, thank You so much, God, for this comfort that You bring us.

That is why we have this Book, that is why Your Spirit inspired Your servants, so that we have all these inspirations here. Every time any of your servants is comforting us, it is You comforting us through them. Because Your Spirit speaks these words of comfort to us. And I'm grateful for these words, Lord. I'm grateful that I'm in suffering, and as I open Your Bible, and I read, "I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in His glory when He is revealed to the whole world." Hahaha, I just smiled. My suffering turned into laughter. Hahaha. Lord, thank You so much, thank You, God, thank You so much, God. We love You, and thank You for loving us.

Holy Father, Glorious, gracious Father, thank You so much for Your Son, Jesus, and You, and Your Holy Spirit. Please hear my prayer, in Your Son Jesus' name. Amen.