Grace Under Fire - When You Suffer as a Christian…

Well, you ready for the Word of God this morning?

Yeah, okay.

Well, turn to 1 Peter, 3, and we're going to look at a few verses here this morning.

Our journey if you've been with us in 1 Peter, peter has been taking us through and introducing us to this idea of suffering as a Christian as we live out our faith in what I would say is a pretty godless culture.

And I think you can agree that Peter holds out this example, the supreme example, as he does three times in this book, of Jesus Christ and his suffering.

In chapter 2, 21 through 25, peter highlights this suffering by Jesus as Jesus makes his way to the cross, and that Passion Week is all about that.

And I think when Peter looks back at this and he's remembering, as he's writing and remember, he gets all these words from the very lips of Christ.

But he's got a front row seat as he's watching and listening of how Jesus responds to suffering, as Jesus was ridiculed and he was mocked and disparaged, he was called names, he was beaten and he was shamed and on the way to the cross, he was the one who was placed on that cross in nakedness and shame and he died for our sins.

And Peter is remembering this, he's thinking about this, and, you know, last week we kind of saw how possessing the character of Christ is so essential for us before we even get in a situation where we might face this ourselves.

Mark did such a great job reminding us of that.

You see, christian suffering is a calling that we're supposed to learn from and model as we look at Jesus' life, to come out of our comfort zone and actually be willing to do well, what I would say is to stand for Jesus in a culture that wants to see him disappear and see Christianity disappear.

And I think the question for us is twofold.

Number one is we ask ourselves is the character of Jesus already here?

Has Jesus so molded our hearts that it sort of just comes out of us?

When we're squeezed and I just think of this when we're insulted and we're mistreated in our culture today, what we want to do is what the culture does, which is simply we want to retaliate.

When somebody cuts you off in traffic or says something unkind, you know, anger may rise up within us, and we tend to act like the culture.

And so there's a part of this that's counterintuitive for us, because we have this sense of moral outrage as well, that how we're being treated or seeing other fellow Christians being treated is wrong, and so it rises up in us because we live in a culture that has no respect, has lost a sense of courtesy, if you will.

Manners have sort of gone out the window, haven't they?

So our society is really not normal.

Normal Christianity and normal, orderly society holds these things in place.

So we're living in a time when we have to have the character of Jesus exuding out of us, because we've lived and walked with him, we have a close relationship with him.

Second thing we have to consider, I think, is do we trust God enough to actually do what he says when we're faced with this reality ourselves, when it comes to us, are we actually willing to walk the path that Jesus walked and to do what Jesus did, to curb our retaliation and to really just you know, even as it says, not just simply not to retaliate, but Jesus says, when this happens to us, we're to not return insult, but go further and bless, bless other people.

That's a tall order, isn't it?

And so will we rise above our emotions and we let God do in us what he wants to do.

It really takes supernatural power, doesn't it to have self-control, and that's what he's getting at.

So, with that in mind, peter now, today, goes further and he begins to apply this general teaching about suffering to this idea, to the specific situation where we face hostility for simply being a Christian, simply being a Christian.

Well, let's look at it.

Our text is in 1 Peter 3.

We're going to look at verses 13, through chapter 4, verse 6.

And let's just read it.

It says Now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

Now, let's just stop there, because I think we're going well.

There's a lot of people out there that would harm me for doing good.

We live in a culture like that and I think, really, if we had lived in Peter's day, maybe if they had lived in the time where Nero was the emperor, they might've said are you kidding Peter?

Nero is lighting Christians on fire, putting them on crosses, lighting them on fire and using them to light the roadways.

But thankfully, I don't think Peter's audience is quite there yet in the history of this letter, and thankfully we aren't either.

But I do think that we're somewhere on the way, we're in between.

Maybe let's go on.

Verse 14 says but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed.

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts, honor Christ, the Lord, as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you.

Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

Baptism, which corresponds to this now, saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities and powers, having been subjected to him.

Since, therefore, christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions.

Live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God, for the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties and lawless idolatry.

With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you.

But they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead, for this is why the gospel was preached, even to those who were dead, that, though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the Spirit, the way God does.

Father, we are so thankful for your word this morning.

We ask you, spirit of God, to open our eyes, give us understanding and enlighten it for us that we can follow you, and so we pray for that, lord, and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.

Now, medal of Honor winners are normally recognized for doing some amazing kind of thing in combat, some singular act that they've done that makes them stand out from the rest of the group.

But there are some people who really go beyond that.

They're superheroes and they do things that are beyond hardly belief superhuman in some ways.

And that's how you would describe Desmond Doss.

Desmond, whose character was portrayed in the movie Hacksaw Ridge, was just such a hero.

It's just.

Desmond's story is a true story of a man who really he went into World War II as a conscientious objector and so from the moment he got there in the time of war and got into the first week at the time of training, he was mistreated by his fellow soldiers and you can imagine this guy won't even touch a gun, and he had convictions about that.

And so we see in a movie that Desmond is mistreated by his fellow soldiers.

There's one scene where he's even beaten for it.

Not only was it his fellow soldiers, but those who were over him tried to get him to change his mind and they gave him the worst jobs possibly imagined during that time so he would give up and quit.

And even his superior officers, even those who were way up in the ranks.

They threatened Desmond with this idea that he's going to be brought up as a court-martial and he would face time in prison.

And yet Desmond held to his convictions and maintained what he believed.

But he was a Christian.

And so at his court-martial, which ended up happening.

Desmond in the scene in the movie, he's there in the middle of the courtroom and he's trying to make his case.

He gets an opportunity to tell them why he believes what he believes and to hold to his convictions and he's not going to change because this is something God has put in his heart.

And in about the middle of the scene in walks a man with a letter.

He hands it to the general who's presiding over the trial and the letter says Desmond Doss is free to serve in the war with the rest of these soldiers.

So he got what he wanted.

But the letter said he will serve as a medic in the field.

And so this is really what Desmond wanted.

He wanted to be a medic.

And so off they went after basic training and Desmond Doss, along with his fellow soldiers who really were really resentful that he'd gone in the first place, because here's a guy without a gun and we get the first time when they go to the battle at Okinawa.

And the story of Desmond Doss is that he, in the heat of the battle, when many men were wounded and dying on that battle, it was Desmond Doss who carried down 76 men wounded and dying, men off of a cliff, down a rope by himself to safety, men off of a cliff down a rope by himself to safety.

And, as you can imagine, every one of those men changed their thinking about Desmond.

He became respected and beloved and anyone who thought of him said there is a superhero.

A few years ago, doss, who's now passed on.

A few years ago, doss, who's now passed on, he was asked about his experience in a series of I guess they were interviews over five days long, grueling interviews, and he would tell really this same simple story.

He was a very humble man.

He would tell the same story until one day he actually just broke down and told what was in his heart.

He said in that battle he was exhausted and in desperation mode and, more than anything else, believed there were more men on that battlefield that God wanted him to save.

And you can hear him in the movie saying just one more Lord, just one more.

Lord, the man who interviewed Desmond, writes you see, desmond is the rock in this story, and everything flows and changes around him.

That is not your normal character arc in a movie.

Desmond and his convictions stay the same, and everyone else changes as they learn more about him and see his beliefs in action.

This is sort of what we're talking about when we see what Peter is saying.

He's telling us that we may suffer for doing what is right, but it's also a means of bearing witness to the people who don't know him, and so this illustrates his ideas so well.

And what is he wanting to say?

Peter's telling us this simple truth that by following christ's example of suffering, we can share in christ's victory.

We haven't a reason to fear because guess what?

God is in control of it all, no matter what happens to us.

So in our text this morning p Peter gives us some really clear instruction I want you to see it of how to respond to suffering for doing good in a morality culture that lacks basic senses of morality, a confused culture.

Here they are.

I'll just give them to you in three words to help us remember his ideas Number one honor.

Number two, imitate, and number three, obey.

Why don't you say them with me Honor, imitate, obey.

So let's look at that first one Honor Christ by defending the gospel.

This is in verses 13 through 17.

He says there in your hearts, honor Christ.

The Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that's in you.

This is the Christian response, the normal Christian response to suffering, and normally no one would typically be harmed for doing what is right.

But in a culture like ours, you never know.

It may very well happen to you if you do what is right, if you live as a Christian.

But if you do happen to suffer for doing good, that is being righteous.

He tells us a couple of things.

Number one is that don't be afraid.

The words there are literally do not fear the fear of them.

Do not fear the fear of them.

In other words, them is the society at large who wants to push back and basically threaten you.

He's saying don't be afraid of their threats Because God's watching over us and even though sometimes things happen, god is in control.

He also says something else.

He says remain faithful to Christ in the middle of it.

Don't mentally, emotionally, physically break down or be so troubled by what you hear or what you're threatened by that, you just give up and go away.

And sometimes that's the way the church has been in recent years.

Don't be silent, don't be silent, don't be silent.

Speak for God.

In 1858, there was a Presbyterian minister whose name was George Duffield and he was speaking out against the things of his culture.

In fact he was speaking against the problem of slavery.

That era of time that was one of the main issues, and by doing that he ended up.

His church really got rid of him.

They told him he couldn't serve anymore and he left his church on, being pushed out.

But he had a friend and the friend's name was Dudley Ting, and Ting was his fellow minister.

And Ting came alongside Duffield and said you know, you can continue to do what you do, because it was in Duffield's heart to share the gospel.

And so Duffield had an idea.

He said I'm going to go down to the YMCA and I'm going to hold a meeting and share the gospel in that meeting to all those men.

So he made the invitation and, believe it or not, 5,000 men showed up at that meeting at the YMCA and when Duffield preached the gospel, 1,000 of those men came to Christ, tremendous number of people.

And right a few days after that, duffield was working on his farm and he was involved in a terrible accident and the doctor said you probably won't live accident.

And the doctor said you, probably you won't live.

And before he died, duffield went to his dad and his father and he said tell my brothers, whatever they do to stand for Christ, to stand for Christ.

And then he died and his friend Ting began to think about that.

And his friend Ting began to think about that and he wrote a song, a hymn that maybe some of you know, called Stand Up, stand Up for Jesus.

The words of the first stanza read Stand up, stand up for Jesus.

You soldiers of the cross, lift high his royal banner.

It must not suffer loss.

From victory unto victory, his army he shall lead till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord.

Indeed, I sing that song many times as a boy growing up in church and sometimes I think of that old hymn and sometimes I think of how sad it is because the church seems to have lost some of this awareness and this sense of duty that we have to stand up for Christ, and it's especially true in our culture when we see lots of other religions speaking out and speaking for their own God, their false God, and the Christians remaining silent.

So how do we respond?

He tells us but honor Christ as the Lord, as holy, in other words, make sure you know who the real Lord is here.

It's not these people who are giving you the business.

Make sure you know who the real Lord is, because Jesus is the Lord and he is in control of everything that might happen.

So remain faithful.

Well, how do we honor Christ?

He tells us.

Here, too, he says make a defense.

The word's meaning literally say something.

When someone comes at you for what you believe or how you live and righteousness for Christ, speak out and say something to defend it, to defend the gospel and defend Jesus Christ.

Peter makes sure we don't do that in a wrong way.

He says you know how you communicate really matters.

He says do it with gentleness and respect.

So our goal isn't to embarrass anyone, is it?

It's not to, as he says.

When we put them to shame, we put them to shame with a good argument, for reasons why they should believe.

That's how we put them to shame.

Daniel Taylor, who's a Christian author, he said this.

He said that in our battle with a hostile culture, we have adopted the culture's tactics.

We fight ugliness with ugliness, distortion with distortion, sarcasm with sarcasm.

And so why do we do that?

Because we don't believe that what Jesus says about suffering and how to live through it works in a culture like ours.

Someone speaks to you.

What we think is it'd be better just to walk away or go hide somewhere, and Peter says no, no, speak up for Jesus.

And I think of this when I think of Jesus and Peter, reflecting on these thoughts and remember Peter is hearing these things and remembering these things as things that came from Jesus' own lips.

But that experience when Peter if we can imagine for a moment Peter being back in the garden when Jesus was surrounded by that group of soldiers who came to get him and take him away to the cross, and that group comes up upon that little band of disciples of 11.

And of course, judas the 12th is one of the group that's coming after him and Peter, what does he do?

He's intent on defending Christ and he pulls out his sword and he takes a swing at the head of the high priest servant and I'm sure the the servant did like this and Peter takes off his ear, instead intending to take off his head, and then Jesus is led away.

And I would just imagine that Peter sometime, if he had an opportunity to talk to Jesus later, just saying to Jesus why didn't you just annihilate those people?

Because Jesus told him I could call down myriads of angels to take care of this problem.

Why didn't you just annihilate this group of people and Jesus telling Peter this principle that we have here it's better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Jesus knew something Peter still needed to learn.

So does that mean for us that we become a verbal punching bag or a doormat for people?

No, I don't think that's what Peter's after here, not according to him, there's a time to speak and there's a time to listen, just be silent.

But given the opportunity, we're free, even commanded, to say something to defend the faith, to clear up any confusion about those who would try to destroy the gospel and denigrate Christ, we're called to say something with gentleness and respect.

Now let me just say that I believe these opportunities for us to do this are going to come more and more, whether you're ready for it or not.

It's coming.

Here's what John Piper said, the more earnest we become about being the salt of the earth and the light of the world and reaching the unreached peoples of the world and exposing the works of darkness and loosing the bonds of sin and Satan, the more we will suffer.

That's why we should prepare.

So here Peter gives this.

This is the guiding principle for this whole text, that governs this whole section and by which we're supposed to operate.

It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

And when we do, we honor Christ.

We honor Christ.

Now Peter goes on and he points out to us, as he has before, that Christ is our chief example.

And he says something else.

He says imitate.

Imitate Christ by dying to human desires, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous.

That he might bring us to God.

Underline that phrase that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.

So even though Peter has encouraged in this letter to follow Jesus in his footsteps chapter 2, verse 21, here's something we can't imitate.

Here's where the following stops and it becomes worship, because he tells us that Jesus died once for sins.

It's a word in the Old Testament for sacrifice for sins, and it speaks of the sacrifice that only Jesus could make on our behalf.

And what was the sacrifice?

To take away our sins and to actually trade places with you and me.

To trade places.

2 Corinthians 5, 15 says this he died for everyone, so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.

Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

Aren't you thankful for that, that Jesus came to take away our sins and he paid it all, as the song says.

Peter tells us why.

Why, that he might bring us to God, that he might bring us to God.

How would that happen?

Well, peter tells us what Jesus did in this next section by speaking about Jesus' activity in what I call the unseen realms Following his death, in chapter 3, verses 18 through 22.

This is a really, really fascinating passage, and let me just reread the verses to get them into your memory, which have to do with Christ's proclamation to the spirits in prison.

The spirits in prison, let's look at it.

I'll read a little bit before.

First, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit, in which, referring back to, in the Spirit in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited, in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight, persons were brought safely through the water.

These verses are notoriously difficult to understand, which is kind of ironic, since Peter makes the claim that Paul's words are really hard to understand, and I'm kind of going, peter, did you read what you wrote here?

But the questions, they really come down to this.

As we read through this passage, they basically come down to these when did Christ go, where did he go, to whom did he speak and what did he say?

And so, as I work through this passage this week, I thought I would pull the rest of my hair out trying to figure it out, and I find I'm not alone.

By one count, there was over 181 different versions of how to interpret this, these sections, these verses, and even from the earliest days of the church, even the great reformer Martin Luther.

Here's what he said about his attempt to struggle as he struggled with this passage.

This is a strange text and certainly a more obscure passage than any other passage in the New Testament.

I still do not know for sure what the apostle meant.

I'm going to go yes, somebody agrees with me.

So I just decided to consult a children's Bible.

No, I really didn't, but I probably should have right, for the sake of simplicity, what I just want to give you and summarize these three main verses for us in verses 19 through 20.

And these are the three main verses.

It's a lot more complicated, but let's narrow it down to these three.

So, number one Christ descended in Hades, the realm of the dead, during the interval between his death and resurrection, and preached to the people of Noah's day.

Now, those have two sub-points.

One of those is that either he preached as condemnation to the unrighteous dead in hell, which many of you have heard, that he went to preach in hell, or it was an opportunity to preach to the righteous dead who are now in paradise waiting to hear the gospel, because they never heard it before.

That's the first view.

Number two is that Christ preached through Noah to those of Noah's generation.

This is the idea of a pre-incarnate Christ, that Christ preached through Noah to those of Noah's generation.

This is the idea of a pre-incarnate Christ who preaches through Noah to the disobedient people of Noah's day.

But I'll just say this the Bible seems clear that after you die, it's appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment, there is no more opportunity for you to come to Christ, and there are other places in Scripture that seem to bear this out.

So let's go on to number three.

Third one is Christ proclaimed his victory on the cross to fallen angels, either by descending into hell or during his ascension.

Now, this is the view I kind of landed on, and I will just say, every time I picked one it was like I ran into brick walls, but I think this is the one that seems to be most sensible.

So here, the spirits in prison are not those souls of deceased human beings.

These are demonic beings responsible for the sins that caused Noah's generation to fall into sin and ended up with the flood.

So this is who he's talking about.

So the question what did Christ proclaim then?

Well, it doesn't really answer any of these questions specifically.

I think Peter had a bigger point that we'll get to, but I wonder, just I wonder, if Peter might have said what he said in the book of Revelation.

He says I am the first and the last, remember he's picturing this.

He's talking to the demonic horde wherever in hell or on the way to his ascension.

I am the first and the last and the living one.

I died and behold, I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades.

So it was a victory proclamation, jesus.

Almost I picture this as Jesus going metaphorically in your face, satan, I am the victor here.

And how ironic.

Because the enemy thought they had Jesus, thought he had him, but that was not to be.

Peter now uses the flood and the deliverance of Noah's family to kind of as an analogy to what he's just pictured here.

And it's pictured in Christian baptism.

Noah's flood in Christian baptism, he says, about baptism.

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In other words, baptism, he says, corresponds to this.

What is the this here?

Well, baptism is a proclamation of victory over the enemy.

So every time we see someone baptized, if you are baptized, you come up and you get in the baptismal pool.

And what happens when I do baptism?

I say this I say buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life, and raised to walk in newness of life.

And so we go through the baptism of waters, dying to ourself and coming out a new creation, intent to live for Christ.

And just like those who were delivered through the flood of judgment upon sin in Noah's day, christians are delivered from their sin as they go through the baptism of waters.

But that's not what saves us, and that's why Peter clarifies this.

He says the water of baptism doesn't save you, it's not a cleansing, it's a testimony, it's a pledge for what God has done in you and it's a witness to the world.

But it's a pledge to God.

God, I'm obeying you and I'm intent on following you, jesus, because I am victorious over the enemy through you.

So it's a pledge to live for Christ.

And what we do in baptism, we're sowing the seeds for a good conscience.

Now Peter goes on and this is where it gets a little deeper, because there's a mystery in all of this that goes beyond the outward, to deal with suffering as something that happens within us when we suffer.

You look at this and Peter's structure sort of goes like this.

He says put to death in flesh, made alive in spirit gone into heaven.

Put to death in the flesh, made alive in the spirit gone into heaven.

Now this is a parallel and it's almost like a creed In 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, it is a creed, and let me just read how it shows up there.

1 Timothy 3:16

It says he was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

But right before that Paul says Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.

And so I would say to you, I think this is really a point that brings us to this idea that unjust suffering brings us into a deeper experience with Christ.

And so when you suffer, things are transacted in your spirit that only God can do as you follow Jesus in his path and follow in his footsteps.

And I believe this is what Paul speaks of in his own experience when he says in Philippians 3, verse 10, that he says I want to know him and the power of his suffering.

Philippians 3:10

Peter speaks of it in chapter 4, verse 14.

He says if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

See, there's something that happens that we can't explain when we go through suffering like Jesus, and so it is.

It's better to suffer for doing good than to suffer for evil.

And so honor Christ, imitate Christ.

And then Peter finally points out this last thought of this same principle obey Christ.

Obey Christ, since your willingness to suffer proves you've decided to live for God.

He says there.

Since, therefore, christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking or the same attitude, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

So the idea here is that the confusing thing might be whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

It basically is saying our willingness to do that, our willingness to suffer, proves that we have been freed from sin.

It basically is saying our willingness to do that, our willingness to suffer, proves that we have been freed from sin because you're willing to follow Jesus wherever he leads, and so we die to ourselves in order to live for Jesus wherever he takes us.

See if you remain faithful when it costs you something.

When it costs you something to be a Christian, it shows that you really are one.

That's kind of the idea.

And remember what Jesus said in the garden when he didn't want to do what Jesus or what the Father had called him to to go to the cross.

I mean, jesus was human, fully human, and he said remember, he sweat great drops of blood.

And he said if there's any way you can take this cup from me, meaning the death he was about to face, god, I wish you'd do it, but not my will.

Yours be done, yours be done, yours be done, yours be done.

And that's how we are to respond when we suffer as a Christian.

Well, I want to end with a couple of thoughts One, a question to answer for all of us, and the other a truth to believe.

A question to answer and a truth to believe.

The first, the question, and that is am I willing to suffer rather than sin, no longer motivated by human desires, but in order to live by the Spirit?

Are we, when we face that encounter with someone who we'd rather not encounter for the sake of Jesus Christ, are we willing to stand up for Jesus?

And the other, the truth.

When we say no to the culture's way of living, that is, the excesses and overflow which is kind of the idea going out of bounds with what's normal, when we say no to the culture's way of living and its excesses and choose to live holy lives, we bear witness to the power of Christ living within us, and that's what Peter is calling us to and I think he's going to bring it to bear in our lives in the coming days.

Let's pray.

So, father, we're grateful for your word, as it reminds us, lord, you went before us.

We're so thankful that we have a model to follow, and not only that we have a model to follow, to know that you are always with us.

You tell us you're with us always, even to the end of the age.

You tell us you're with us always, even to the end of the age.

So in the coming days, lord, as we face struggles and trials for living out the faith, the beliefs that we have in you, lord, give us the power to do what you did, to say what you said and to have wisdom when to do it.

We pray this and ask it in the name of Jesus, amen.