INTRO.- ILL.- An 84 year old man went to the doctor for a physical. A few days later the doctor saw him walking down the street with a gorgeous young woman on his arm. The next time the doctor saw him he asked how he was doing.
"Great," said the old guy. "I did just what you told me. ’Get a hot momma and be cheerful.’"
"I didn’t say that," said the doctor. "I said, ’You’ve got a heart murmur. Be careful.’"
What is the good life? It all depends on who you are talking to. It could be someone with a beautiful date or mate. It could be someone with great looks or good health or someone with great wealth.
ILL.- I saw an article one time about Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of CA. It was entitled, “Arnold’s Toys.” Arnold is not only worth around $800 million dollars, he also loves his toys and he has plenty. He smokes $4000 cigars, wears shoes that cost as much as $5000 a pair, wears $3000 Italian suits and has a $38 million Gulfstream Jet. Arnold and family cruise in style on a $4.5 million 88 foot yacht. He also has a great fondness for Hummers which run anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000. He has nine of them, estimated to be worth $1 million. The first one he purchased at a cost of $117,000. (Although I read recently that because of the environmental problems that California has he has given up all of his Hummers). No telling what he drives now.
Schwarzenegger does not accept his governor’s salary of $175,000 per year, and instead donates it to charities. That’s to his credit. However, if we all had the money that Arnold had we, too, might be willing to donate some to the church or to different charities.
Does it sound like Arnold has it made? Well, it certainly sounds like he has it made financially but none of us know what is happening behind the scenes. After all, he’s the governor of California. DO YOU THINK HE HAS A PLEASANT JOB? I wouldn’t want any politicians job! I wouldn’t trade jobs with any of them, including the President of the US. And especially, the President!
WHO DOES HAVE IT MADE IN LIFE, IF ANYBODY? Honestly, I’m not sure anybody has it made perfectly in this life. No matter how good a person has it in this life there will always be something to throw a wrench in the works: the economy, our health, family members, etc., etc.
ILL.- A man went to see his doctor because he was suffering from a miserable cold. His doctor prescribed some pills, but they didn’t help. On his next visit the doctor gave him a shot, but that didn’t do any good.
On his third visit the doctor told the man, "Go home and take a hot bath. As soon as you finish bathing throw open all the windows and stand in the draft."
"But doc," protested the patient, "if I do that, I’ll get pneumonia." "I know," said the doctor, "But I can cure pneumonia."
The sad truth everybody gets something or some illness they don’t like. And often, there is no way to figure out how you got it.
Unjust suffering. Doesn’t sound good, does it? Did that ever happen to you?
PROP.- In our text, Peter spells out the good and the bad of unjust suffering.
1- Unjust suffering is conferred on all
2- Unjust suffering is commended by God
3- Unjust suffering is Christ-likeness
I. UNJUST SUFFERING IS CONFERRED ON ALL
18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.
Suffering. It is conferred, given or bestowed on all people. It happens to everybody.
ILL.- A lady said: I was sitting in the waiting room of my new dentist. It was my first appointment. I noticed his diploma on the wall, which had his full name.
Suddenly, I recalled a tall, dark haired, handsome boy with the same name had been in my high school class nearly 50 years ago. Could this be the same boy I had a secret crush on, way back then?
When I saw him, however, I quickly discarded that thought. This gray haired, balding man with the deeply wrinkled face was way too old to have been my classmate. Hmmm! Or could he?
After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Northampton High School. "Yes, I did!" he said. "I’m a Konkrete Kid." He gleamed with pride.
"What year did you graduate?" I asked. "In 1959," he said. "Why do you ask?" "I was in your class!" I exclaimed.
He looked at me closely. Then, that ugly, wrinkled, old, fat, bald, gray, decrepit man asked, "What did you teach?"
Anybody ever say anything that cruel to you? THAT’S UNJUST AND YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SUFFERED FROM IT.
ILL.- We had a deacon in one church who never smoked a day in his life and yet he got emphysema, which really did a number on him all of his life. He always struggled with that disease, which limited what he could do in life. In a sense, it was very unjust. He was a very good man, a very Godly man. But it can happen to anybody.
ILL.- I knew of preacher and his wife who were driving their little VW Beetle (probably 40 to 50 years ago) and got hit head on by a drunken driver. It killed both the preacher and his wife and they left behind four small children. TALK ABOUT UNJUST SUFFERING!
ILL.- Once when Bob Hope received a major award he responded, "I don’t deserve this, but then I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either."
Job 14:1 "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble."
There is no doubt in our minds that Job of old suffered unjustly when he lost everything: his wealth, his health, and all 10 of his children. And Satan was behind it all. Could it be that the godly suffer the most?
18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
Why would Peter mention submitting to an earthly master in one sentence and then unjust suffering in the next? Because in his day the servant or slave often suffered unjustly from his master. The same idea could be applied to the employee/employer relationship today. Did you ever suffer unjustly from a boss, a manager, an employer?
ILL.- Someone asked C.S. Lewis, "Why do the righteous suffer?" "Why not?" he replied. "They’re the only ones who can take it."
We can take suffering better than most people because we know something better is coming.
Romans 8:18 "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."
II Cor. 4:16-18 "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
I Cor. 2:9 "However, as it is written: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."
II. UNJUST SUFFERING IS COMMENDED BY GOD
19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
ILL.- On Veterans Day a Boulder, Colorado, man parked his car in a metered area. Noting a sign saying “Sundays and Holidays Excepted,” he didn’t put in a coin. But his car was ticketed, and he went to city hall to ask why. It was closed for the holiday except for the police department, where an officer told him Veterans Day wasn’t a holiday as far as parking was concerned. So the man said he’d pay the fine.
But the officer refused his money. “You can’t pay your fine today,” he said. “This is a holiday.” TALK ABOUT INJUSTICE!
Wouldn’t that just burn you? That’s not fair.
If you live in this world (and you do) you will experience some unjust suffering.
ILL.- In the 1960’s I carried a key to the back door of the Foodtown grocery store in Webb City, MO. The manager also carried a key, as did the Asst. Manager, and the produce manager. We had delivery people who would ring the doorbell and deliver milk, soda, bread, or produce. And someone had to let them in and check them in. I felt privileged to carry a key and do that. Apparently, the manager trusted me to do that.
One day the doorbell ring. I went to the back door and let a produce man bring in his produce. Then I went back into the store and starting stocking shelves. Sometime later, the assistant manager came to me and said, "Give me your key. You’re fired!" I’m what? I could hardly believe it.
That assistant manager gave me little explanation, except that he said I wasn’t supposed to let that produce man in the back door. Well, how was I to know that I wasn’t supposed to let that particular produce man in the back door? No one said to me, "You can’t let that guy in the back door."
I was floored and frustrated and a few other things. I had no idea that I did anything wrong but I was fired, nevertheless! TO ME, IT WAS AS UNJUST AS IT COULD BE. I personally think that the assistant manager just didn’t like me for some reason.
In today’s world, I probably could have filed a grievance against that assistant manager and got my job back but I didn’t do that. I just went looking for another job and got hired a week or so later at Safeway in Joplin, MO.
Brothers and sisters, what happened to me, happens to many people. It was unjust but there are far worse injustices in this world. What about poor people suffering from starvation and/or disease just because they were born in a country where they had little food and no doctors? Whew! Talk about unjust!
19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
When we suffer for doing wrong, we deserve that suffering, but when we suffer for doing wrong when we’ve done right, we are commended by God. I think I’d much rather have God commend me than anybody in this world!
ILL.- On year, Ken Griffey, Jr. chose not to attend "The Players Choice Awards" to receive the "Player of the Decade" award. Junior beat out three time MVP winner Barry Bonds and four time Cy Young Award winner, Greg Maddux for the honor. The award is a big deal.
Why didn’t he go? Trey, his 5-year-old son had a baseball game that night--his first, and Griffey Jr. didn’t want to miss it.
I suspect that some people probably thought Ken Griffey Jr. was dumb for not attending and receiving his award. However, he considered his child as being more important. Bless him for that.
There is always something better than the awards of this world. Man’s accolades are nothing in comparison to God’s praise or commendation. "Well done, thou good and faithful servant..."
Unjust suffering is commended by God. Have you been commended lately?
III. UNJUST SUFFERING IS CHRIST-LIKENESS
21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Unjust suffering is Christian in the sense that it is Christ-like.
ILL.- A judge in a western mining town once presided at a murder trial at which the defendant was absent. The evidence was presented and the jury came back with a verdict of not guilty. The judge shook his head an said, “Well, I’m going to have to send you back to reconsider your verdict.”
The jurors weren’t dumb and they got the message. Shortly thereafter they came back with a verdict of guilty. The judge said, “That’s more like it. After all, we hanged the defendant earlier this morning.”
That kind of sounds like unjust suffering to me. And it’s very possible that some people have been imprisoned or put to death and they weren’t guilty. THAT FITS JESUS TO A T!
21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
What a powerful thought! IN HIS STEPS. Are you following in His steps? In what way or ways?
What is the most Christ-like you do or have done in life? Think about it. Pray? Read God’s Word? Worship? Give to the poor? Bring healing into someone’s life? Or perhaps demonstrate love to someone who didn’t deserve to be loved? Jesus did all these things and more. And probably the greatest thing He did was to suffer unjustly for us on the cross!
Christ, who never once sinned, died on the cross for the sins of the whole world! THAT’S EXTREME INJUSTICE! And yet, that’s what He did for us. He took our pain and punishment on Himself. He was separated from God for us! He suffered the torment and agony of hell for us!
22"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
Any time we suffer unjustly, any time we suffer pain for doing something right, we are walking in His steps. That’s when we may well be the most Christ-like in life.
ILL.- Adoniram Judson, the renowned missionary to Burma, endured untold hardships trying to reach the lost for Christ. For 7 heartbreaking years he suffered hunger and privation. During this time he was thrown into Ava Prison, and for 17 months was subjected to almost incredible mistreatment. As a result, for the rest of his life he carried the ugly marks made by the chains and iron shackles which had cruelly bound him.
Undaunted, upon his release he asked for permission to enter another province where he might resume preaching the Gospel.
The godless ruler indignantly denied his request, saying, “My people are not fools enough to listen to anything a missionary might SAY, but I fear they might be impressed by your SCARS and turn to your religion!”
That is true, Christ-like suffering! And it’s something that we American Christians know nothing about! We have definitely not suffered for Christ while witnessing for Him.
Perhaps if we’d do more, preach more, witness more, we’d suffer more for His sake!
Galatians 6:17 "For I carry on my body the scars of the whippings and wounds from Jesus’ enemies that mark me as His slave." The finest marks anyone can carry on their body are the marks of Jesus. Unjust suffering is Christ-like.
CONCLUSION------------------------
God, as I sit here, suffering from shingles,
They hurt so badly that my body twinges.
God, be near others that suffer.
Father, I have time to think of those that are hurting.
Some cannot walk. Others cannot talk.
Why should I whine through this pain?
What do I have to gain?
God, be near others.
There have been days I cried, in agony,
Praying, with tears flowing down my cheeks.
God, be near others that are crying.
Some are so burdened by their pain and grief,
Material losses and even their vanity.
God, be near others.
I did not ask you to take the shingles away.
It was for your purpose, to teach me to say,
"God, be near others that suffer this day."
Our world is in turmoil, with confusion and war.
Help us, in our faith, to soar;
Lifting up others that you so adore.
God, be near others that have suffered more.
