Joanna Lerud of Steamboat Rock, Iowa, was standing up to leave a restaurant when she hit her head hard on a lamp hanging above the table. As she staggered away, she heard an older gentleman, who was sitting nearby, say, “It will feel better when it stops hurting.” (Joanna Lerud, Steamboat Rock, Iowa, “Lite Fare,” Christian Reader; www.PreachingToday.com)
Talk about stating the obvious. Sure, it will feel better WHEN it stops hurting, but what about feeling better BEFORE it stops hurting. As believers in Jesus Christ, we know that life will be great in heaven, but what about enjoying life here on earth with all its hassles? Sure, the pain will be gone in glory, but what about finding the benefit in pain today?
How do you do that? How do you find the blessing in affliction? How do you find the privilege even in your problems? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Peter 3, 1 Peter 3, where God’s Word tells people who are suffering unfairly how to find blessing in that pain.
1 Peter 3:13-14 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled... (ESV)
If you’re going to find the blessing in pain, especially in those times when you are unfairly treated, then God would say to you…
DON’T FEAR PEOPLE.
Don’t be frightened by their threats. Don’t be stirred up by their attempts at intimidation, because no real harm can come to the believer.
Here in verse 14, Peter quotes Isaiah, one of the Old Testament prophets. In that context, the armies of Syria and Israel had allied themselves against the little country of Judah. Everyone in that little country was afraid, but God told Isaiah, “Do not fear what they fear” (Isaiah 8:12).
It would be like God saying to us today: Do not fear those who would destroy our country from within and without. Do not fear entities like the Chinese Communist Party, which unleashed a pandemic on the world. Do not fear militant Muslims, who want to wipe Christians off the face of the earth. They’re not the real threat, because God prevents them from doing any real harm to the believer. The worst they can do is kill you, but for the believer in Christ that only means an entrance into heaven.
In the early 1940’s, Nikolai Velimirovic, a Serbian bishop, spoke out against Nazism. As a result, he was arrested and taken to the Dachau concentration camp. This is the prayer he prayed even as he faced the brutality of the Nazi government.
“Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them. Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have… Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an un-hunted animal does, so have I. Persecuted by enemies, [I have] found the safest sanctuary, having [established] myself beneath your tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.” (Bill White, Paramount, California; www.PreachingToday.com)
Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). If you want to enjoy the benefit of pain, then God would say to you, “Don’t fear people.” Instead…
FEAR CHRIST.
Revere Him. Regard Him as the holy Lord in your life.
When two enemy nations invaded Isaiah’s little country and everybody was afraid, God told Isaiah, “Do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy” (Isaiah 8:12-13).
Here, Peter uses some of that same terminology.
1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.”
Jesus is the only One you should treat with special respect, not your enemies nor anyone else who tries to threaten or intimidate you. If you want to enjoy the benefit of pain, then learn to fear Christ in your hearts, not people.
That means, 1st of all, treat him with special respect by what you say. Fear Christ in word. Show reverence for Christ by what comes out of your mouth.
1 Peter 3:15 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... (ESV)
Warren Wiersbe says, “When Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives, each crisis becomes an opportunity for witness.” But this is true only if you’re prepared to give an answer when people ask you how you can have so much hope when you’re in so much pain.
Brian Doerksen is a songwriter and worship leader who has written some of the most popular worship songs sung in churches today. His son, Isaiah, suffers from a genetic condition known as “fragile X syndrome,” which is the second leading cause of mental retardation behind downs syndrome. In Brian’s book, Make Love, Make War, he reflects on the day he and his wife first received confirmation of Isaiah's condition. In the midst of his heartache, Brian considered leaving his worship ministry altogether, but God had a different plan. Brian writes:
“[After receiving the test results], I stumbled around our property weeping, confused, heartbroken. At one point I lifted my voice to heaven and handed in my resignation: ‘God, I am through being a worship leader and songwriter…’”
Then Brian writes, “When I was able to be quiet enough to hear, I sensed God holding out his hand and inviting me: ‘Will you trust me? Will you go even with your broken heart – for who will relate to my people who are heartbroken if not those like you who are acquainted with disappointment?’”
Then as Brian reflects on that time of heartbreak in his life, he writes, “I used to think people were most blessed by our great victories. But now I know differently: People are just longing to hear [others] speak of how they have walked through the deepest valleys. The world lifts up the victorious and the successful, but God lifts up the brokenhearted.” (Brian Doerksen, Make Love, Make War, David C. Cook, 2009; www.PreachingToday.com)
When you worship Christ, even with a broken heart, people sit up and take notice. Your suffering is an opportunity for a powerful witness, especially when you take that opportunity to speak highly of our Lord even in the midst of your pain. So if you’re going to find the benefit in pain, then fear Christ in word.
But not only that, fear Christ in deed, as well. Show reverence for Christ not only by what you say, but also by what you do. 1 Peter 3 says, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy by...
1 Peter 3:16 ...having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. (ESV)
You have a clear conscience only when you obey God’s Word. Conscience is like a window that lets in the light of God’s truth. And as long as you respond to that light and put it into practice, then that window stays clear. But if you persist in disregarding God’s Word, then that window gets dirtier and dirtier, until the light of God’s truth can no longer enter. Then the conscience is no longer clear, and the line between right and wrong gets very fuzzy.
With God’s help, you can keep God’s Word and so keep your conscience clear even in the hard times. You can do what’s right even when you feel like doing what’s wrong. Then even your harshest critics will have to eat their own words.
British author, A. N. Wilson, a British author, not too long ago was notorious for his scathing attacks on Christianity… Then, in 2009, he celebrated Easter as a believer in a church full of believers. He had come to believe in his own heart that the Jesus of the Bible is the only story that makes sense out of life and its challenges. [Wilson said], “My own return to faith has surprised none more than myself… My belief has come about in large measure because of the lives and examples of people I have known – not the famous, not saints, but friends and relations who have lived, and faced death, in light of the resurrection story…” (Ravi Zacharias, Has Christianity Failed You? Zondervan, 2010, pp. 105-107; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s the benefit of being a living witness in the midst of pain and loss. It can lead those who know you best, your friends and family, to true and genuine faith in Christ. This is part of God’s will for every believer!
1 Peter 3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. (ESV)
It is God’s will to use your unjust and unfair suffering to bring people to faith in His Son. Dear friends, if you want to enjoy the benefit of pain, then God would say to you, “Don’t fear people; fear Christ. Fear Christ in word and in deed.” Then
FOLLOW CHRIST FROM GRIEF TO GLORY.
Look to Jesus Himself for the inspiration and strength to take advantage of the unjust suffering in your life. Depend on the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from your sins and to keep your conscience clear even in your pain.
1 Peter 3:18a For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God... (ESV)
Christ’s unjust suffering brought you to God. It gave you an audience with the King of the Universe Himself.
He who knew no sin took our sin upon Himself and died in our place on the cross. He did not deserve to die; you and I did! We were the sinners, and our sins had kept us separated from God, but Christ’s unjust suffering made it possible for us to be reconciled to God. On the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins so God could be our Father instead of our judge.
Now, all you have to do is trust Christ with your life. All you have to do is depend on Him to give you access to God. All you have to do is rely on the Lord Jesus Christ and you WILL be saved; you WILL have an eternal relationship with your Heavenly Father. Jesus took your place that you might take His place in Heaven.
I like the way Tim Keller put it in his bestselling book, The Reason for God. In that book he says, “In a real world of relationships, it is impossible to love people with a problem or a need without in some sense sharing or even changing places with them. All real life-changing love involves some form of this kind of exchange.”
Then he talks about parenting. He says, “Children come into the world in a condition of complete dependence. They cannot operate as self-sufficient, independent agents unless their parents give up much of their own independence and freedom for years. If you don't allow your children to hinder your freedom… at all, and if you only get to your children when it doesn't inconvenience you, your children will grow up physically only. In all sorts of other ways they will remain emotionally needy, troubled, and over-dependent.
“The choice is clear,” Keller says. “You can either sacrifice your freedom or theirs. It's them or you. To love your child well, you must decrease that they may increase. You must be willing to enter into the dependency they have, so eventually they can experience the freedom and independence you have.”
Keller concludes: “All life-changing love toward people with serious needs is a substitutional sacrifice. If you become personally involved with them, in some way, their weaknesses flow toward you as your strengths flow toward them…
Then Keller asks the question, “How can God be a God of love if he does not become personally involved in suffering the same violence, oppression, grief, weakness, and pain that we experience? The answer to that question is twofold: First, God can't. Second, only one major religion even claims that God does” (Timothy Keller, The Reason for God, Riverhead Books, 2008, pp.201–202; www.PreachingToday.com).
Christianity is the only religion whose God became a man, who suffered as we suffered, and who died in our place for our sin. He did all this for you, so you could be free to live a supernatural, God-like life.
Christ’s unjust suffering made it possible for you to forgive as He forgave, and to love even your enemies with the unconditional love He has for you. So look to Christ for the strength to take advantage of the unjust suffering in your own life, because His unjust suffering brought you to God!
More than that, Christ’s unjust suffering brought Him victory in the end. It led Him to conquer His enemies.
1 Peter 3:18-20 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. (ESV)
From the very beginning, Satan’s demonic hordes tried to thwart God’s plan of coming into this world as a man. God had promised Adam and Eve that “the seed of the woman” would one day bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). However, some of Satan’s forces tried to poison that seed in Noah’s day by intermarrying with the “daughters of men.” Genesis 6 says that giants were born of those unholy unions and eventually the whole world of humanity became so wicked that God had to destroy it all with a flood, all but the eight people in Noah’s family.
It looked like those demonic forces had won, but when the flood hit, God put those demonic spirits into some kind of prison. Jude 6 says, “The angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, [God] has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.”
Those demonic forces lost and Jesus won! God HAD become a man. The “seed of the woman” CAME. He suffered and died for our sins, and after He rose from the dead, He went to those “spirits in prison” and “proclaimed” to them verse 19 says. That is, Jesus announced his victory to those disobedient spirits in prison. He declared His conquest over Satan and his forces. Therefore, you can face all of life with confidence.
Jesus’ unjust suffering brought you to God. Jesus’ unjust suffering brought him victory with the result that His unjust suffering also brought salvation. By His death and resurrection, Jesus saved believers from their sins.
Peter was talking about Noah’s ark, in which he says, verse 20, “a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
1 Peter 3:21 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... (ESV)
Now, please do not misunderstand what Peter is saying here. He is not saying that the ritual of water baptism saves you. The word “baptism” literally means “a washing,” and it was used in Mark 7:4 to talk about “the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.” But here, Peter makes it clear. He is not talking about “a removal of dirt from the body.” He is not talking about water baptism here.
Instead, he is talking about something that gives you “a good conscience.” Now, getting baptized in water gets you wet, but it won’t clean your conscience. Only Jesus can do that, and He did it through His death on the cross. 1 John 1:7 says, “The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purifies us from all sin,” not the waters of baptism.
In fact, Jesus Himself described His own suffering on the cross as “a baptism.” In Mark 10, Jesus had just predicted his death and resurrection when two of his disciples, James and John, came to him requesting the top two spots in His kingdom. Do you remember how Jesus responded to their request? He said in Mark 10:38, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
Jesus was referring to the suffering He was about to endure on the cross, and it is THAT baptism which saves you from your sins. It is the unjust suffering of Christ on the cross that delivers you from evil.
Dear friends, if you are depending on some religious ritual to save you, whether you were sprinkled or dunked, you are still lost and going to hell. Please, put your trust in Christ instead. Rely on the One, who died for you and rose again, and He will give you “an appeal to God for a good conscience.” He, and he alone, will take away the guilt of your sin.
Look to Jesus. Depend on Him, because His unjust suffering brought you to God. His unjust suffering brought Him the victory.
His unjust suffering brought salvation; and His unjust suffering put Him in the place of all authority. After he died and rose again, He ascended into heaven where God ranked every authority under Him.
1 Peter 3:22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. (ESV)
Hallelujah! Jesus is Lord! Revere Him and Him alone.
On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off, carrying the first human beings to the moon. At that time, President Nixon asked William Safire to write a speech entitled, “In Event of Moon Disaster.” If anything went wrong on the moon mission, Nixon would read the speech on TV, the media would stop broadcasting radio communications with the moon, they would leave the astronauts alone to die, and a minister would commend their souls to “the deepest of the deep.”
Thankfully, President Nixon could set that speech aside. On July 20, 1969, with less than 30 seconds of fuel left, the lunar module landed in the Sea of Tranquility, and Commander Neil A. Armstrong stepped off the ladder onto the gray, powdery surface of the moon. It was the first time a human being had ever set foot on another heavenly body.
After their return to earth, the whole world celebrated! Washington D.C. officials organized parades and dinners in their honor, and President Nixon gave each astronaut the Presidential Medal of Freedom. They had just accomplished humanity’s greatest technological achievement of all time.
In the same way, when Jesus Christ accomplished the greatest act of love and redemption of all time, heaven celebrated His return. He had just completed a very dangerous mission. He had faced every temptation but never gave into sin. He stood up to the intense hatred of people with only truth and love. He could have called legions of angels to rescue him, but he willingly obeyed God. He gave up his life as a sacrifice to bring people back to God. He defeated the Devil. He destroyed death. Now He has returned in victory. The Father welcomes Jesus home and seats Him at His right hand, the place of highest honor. He gives all authority to Jesus.
So celebrate! Revere Jesus and Jesus alone. Do not fear anyone else, not even the demons. Instead, fear Christ and follow Him from grief to glory. Look to Jesus alone to keep your conscience clean even in the midst of your pain. It’s the only way you’ll ever find benefit in your pain. It’s the only way you’ll ever take advantage of your suffering.
John Piper put it this way: Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ (John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence, Crossway Books & Bibles, 2010, pp.101-102; www.PreachingToday.com).
Please, Trust Christ all along your journey. Trust Christ through each switchback. Trust Christ even in your pain, knowing that He is for you, working all things together for your good and His glory.
