Text: 1 Peter 2:18-25
Title: Called to Suffer
Date/Place: LSCC, 9/25/05, AM
A. Opening illustration: As parents we are all called to a special time of suffering for the whole family called potty training. Therefore with a baby on the way, and much discouraging news from older parents of toddlers, and more tips than we know what to do with, we begin. We arrange all the events to clear aside all activities for the day, use the doll, give her lots to drink, watch the video, demonstrate for her, read the book about it, bribe her, encourage her, teach her, train her, and ask the question of the day: “Do you need to go pee-pee in the potty?” about a million times, then try to act surprised and aghast that she peed in the floor, again. Frustration mounts, bladders fill, distractions flood the mind of a busy Mackenzie, who probably all the while wonders “what is the big deal with the potty all of a sudden.” Really, you got to wonder what they are thinking.
B. Background to passage: Specifically in this passage, Peter is dealing with submission of slaves to masters, or in our case, employees to employers. But he assumes here that this relationship would bring about hardship at least at some level (explain the differences in slavery then vs. in 19th century America.) Therefore what we find in our passage is a instruction on how to suffer well. So, while the immediate application goes toward vocation, the general principles apply to any circumstance in which we are suffering unjustly. And as far as general application toward work and our attitude toward it, here is the nutshell version: 1) view your labor as a calling from God, 2) as a Christian you should be the best worker on the job, 3) you should be the best boss that one has ever worked for, 4) and your work should reflect and honor the Lord in every way.
C. Main thought: So, Peter is going to answer the question: If we are called to suffer, how do we suffer well?
II. BODY
A. Exhibit patience (trust) (v. 19-20)
1. Peter’s first instruction is that we suffer patiently. The word means to bear up under something or support something from underneath; then to remain under it quietly, confidently, awaiting deliverance. And we are not talking about acts of nature, or well-deserved consequences of our actions. We are talking about unjust, or literally unrighteous treatment—not getting what you deserve, getting jipped, ripped off, stabbed in the back, betrayed, sabotaged by people Peter calls crooked, meaning perverse and malicious. One of the things Peter says to do is to maintain God on your conscience.
2. Isa 43:2, Eph 1:3, Ps 37:3-5, Prov 3:5-6, James 1:12
3. Illustration: Driving through Texas, a New Yorker collided with a truck carrying a horse. A few months later he tried to collect damages for his injuries. “How can you now claim to have all these injuries?” asked the insurance company’s lawyer. “According to the police report, at the time you said you were not hurt.” “Look,” replied the New Yorker. “I was lying on the road in a lot of pain, and I heard someone say the horse had a broken leg. The next thing I know this Texas Ranger pulls out his gun and shoots the horse. Then he turns to me and asks, ‘Are you okay?’” In 1962, Victor and Mildred Goertzel published a revealing study of 413 “famous and exceptionally gifted people” called Cradles of Eminence. They spent years attempting to understand what produced such greatness, what common thread might run through all of these outstanding people’s lives. Surprisingly, the most outstanding fact was that virtually all of them, 392, had to overcome very difficult obstacles in order to become who they were
4. As Christians whose rights have been violated by bosses, spouses, governments, or anyone, we are supposed to submit unto the God-ordained authority structure and bear up under it patiently. How could God ask us to restrain our feelings, withhold our anger, overlook our rights, and hold our tongues while evil people take advantage of our situation or us? Because He is God! He has purchased us. We are not our own. And He is in absolute control of every situation, circumstance, crisis, as well as good and evil men; furthermore He is bringing them into His plan and accomplishing His design, whether we understand it or not. Remember that he is the one who provides, protects, strengthens, and supports us. Or do we act like we have to fix our own situations? When we have been wronged, we turn the other cheek, go the second mile, give the shirt as well as the coat, and do it patiently. What if I am all out of patience? Ask God for His patience. Practice a continual meditation on God. During suffering is a good time to take stock in yourself.
B. View as a calling (v. 21)
1. Peter says that we are called to suffer for Jesus. There are things in this life that will come and produce more glory for God and more good for you in the end than if they hadn’t come. The ultimate purpose for which we were created was to become like Christ and bring glory to God. Suffering will be a part of both of those ends, achieving them in your lives.
2. John 15:20, Rom 8:17, Acts 5:41, 14:22, 2 Tim 1:12, 1 Thess 3:3,
3. Illustration: Just suppose you could speak with those who have gone to be with the Lord; everyone has a different story, yet everyone has a tale of suffering. One was persecuted by family and friends...another was inflicted with pain and disease, neglected by the world...another was bereaved of children...another had all these afflictions. But you will notice that though the water was deep, they all have reached the other side. Not one of them blames God for the road He led them; ‘Salvation’ is their only cry. Are there an of you, dear children, murmuring at your lot? Do not sin against God. This is the way God leads all His redeemed ones. –Robert Murray McCheyne, While my husband Frank and I were living in Pakistan many years ago, our six-month-old baby died. An old Punjabi who heard of our grief came to comfort us. “A tragedy like this is similar to being plunged into boiling water,” he explained. “If you are an egg, your affliction will make you hard-boiled and unresponsive. If you are a potato, you will emerge soft and pliable, resilient and adaptable.” It may sound funny to God, but there have been times when I have prayed, “O Lord, let me be a potato.
4. We should not consider ourselves any better than our Lord, who suffered for His part in God’s will. View it as part of God’s will for your life, and receive it with thanksgiving. Don’t go looking for suffering, but don’t run from it either. We are simply a tool in the toolbox of God to bring honor to His name, and we simply ask the Lord to do as He wills to bring glory to His name.
C. Remember Christ (v. 21-25)
1. Peter says to remember Christ’s reaction to His sufferings as our example. This word meant something that was placed under the paper to preserve the exact original. Christ did not revile in return, in fact, he (being the most undeserving criminal ever) prayed for His persecutors. He continually entrusted himself, his circumstances, his persecutors, his disciples, and his family unto God. He died to his own rights, and lived for God’s. He did it on behalf of people who were literally killing him. He did it with purity.
2. Heb 12:2-3, Rom 12:17, Luke 23:34, Heb 4:15,
3. Illustration: Suffering is the heritage of the bad, of the penitent, and of the Son of God. Each one ends in the cross. The bad thief is crucified, the penitent thief is crucified, and the Son of God is crucified. By these signs we know the widespread heritage of suffering. - Oswald Chambers, If we consider the greatness and the glory of the life we shall have when we have risen from the dead, it would not be difficult at all for us to bear the concerns of this world. If I believe the Word, I shall on the Last Day, after the sentence has been pronounced, not only gladly have suffered ordinary temptations, insults, and imprisonment, but I shall also say: “O, that I did not throw myself under the feet of all the godless for the sake of the great glory which I now see revealed and which has come to me through the merit of Christ!” - Martin Luther. Study about the 3 top countries for road rage: Greece, England, South Africa.
4. Are you ever on the giving end of road rage? Do you say things in an argument that are UnChristlike? None of us has been persecuted that much. And yet, do we pray for the one who rips us off in business? Do we love the spouse who just treated us worse than scum of the earth? Do we maintain our integrity in the heat of battle? Do we do it for people who hate us? For the abortionist, or the gay couple, or the sex ed secretary of our schools? When are we ever going to really die to ourselves and let Christ live through us while we imitate his life? Stop trying to live, and start dying? Then you will suffer well. Then you will be concerned about God’s glory, not your rights, your house, your pride.
III. CONCLUSION
A. Closing illustration: the man who continually sits at the bedside of his wife of many years as she suffering from Alzheimer’s, can’t remember who he is…and he says that even though she doesn’t know who he is, he knows who see is, and he made a promise, and intends to keep it.
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
