“Why Suffering?”
1 Peter 3:17-22
Pastor John Bright
1 Peter 3 “17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”
Certain things that don’t go together. Old examples: Military Intelligence – Partial Pregnancy – (and my fav) Short Sermon 😊 Today, think about pairing sweets and seafood. How would you like me to offer you a cake with salmon and cream cheese icing? YUCK! How do you handle things that don’t go together?
&&&&&&&&&&&&
There is a problem at the heart of Christianity. If God is good and loving why is there evil and suffering in the world? There is an old response when you are asked to do something: “I would if I could but I can’t so I won’t.” That response is like one of the ways our world tries to solve this problem: God wants to end suffering but He can’t. Why that won’t work – that makes God good and loving but NOT omnipotent/all powerful. On the other side, folks say: God is all powerful but is unwilling or uncaring about our suffering. This is the problem faced by Jesus Followers for a long time.
When we suffer, v. 17
“17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, looked at the problem of evil and suffering in a way that different than others in the 1700s. He saw creation as good; having been made by a God who is good. Into that perfect world enters evil and, then, suffering follows. Who was the first one to be disobedient? Lucifer/Satan. That pattern of “evil leading to disobedience” then enters into the Garden of Eden. There is suffering in the world because there is evil in the world. There is evil in the world because all human beings (and the angels) have free will. It’s not an either/or proposition. Rather, suffering is all around us because supernatural evil exists (for now) AND because humans have the free will to put ourselves first at the expense of our neighbors.
“Wesley adopted a traditional Christian distinction between types of suffering: natural, moral, and penal. People suffer because of disease and natural disaster; people suffer because other people harm them; and people suffer because they are punished for wrongdoing.”
(Natural Suffering) “Wesley argued that God did in fact design a better universe, and that nature as it is now, which can be a source of great pain, became the way it is as a result of sin. Human sin dragged the entire created order down with it. As for moral suffering, it is not hard to see that sin, the result of which is self-centered human nature, gives rise to humans who seek their own good above the good of others, and do not mind causing pain along the way. As for penal suffering, it is also not hard to see that a just God would mete out punishment for sin (and as an encouragement to do better).”
https://www.patheos.com/library/methodist/beliefs/suffering-and-the-problem-of-evil
Peter is pointing to the suffering of being mistreated by others – especially in return for doing the right thing. That’s why Peter can connect this suffering to the suffering of Jesus Christ.
Sharing your testimony, v. 18 & 22
“18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,”
“22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”
In this letter of 1 Peter, we keep coming back to a core belief of Christianity – the doctrine of atonement. What is doctrine? “The word translated “doctrine” means “instruction, especially as it applies to lifestyle application.” In other words, doctrine is teaching imparted by an authoritative source. In the Bible, the word always refers to spiritually related fields of study. The Bible says of itself that it is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). We are to be careful about what we believe and present as truth. First Timothy 4:16 says, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-doctrine.html
We need to have core beliefs that do not change over time – NO MATTER WHAT! The doctrine of atonement is under attack today. It is attacked by folks who look at humans and see each one as basically good who occasionally do bad things. They talk about each person’s freedom to become your authentic self – which basically means you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, with whoever you want. In order to do that, you must get rid of a Holy God and God’s Holy Word.
Those of us who try to see the world God made through the lens of God’s Holy Word, we see things in a different way. Every human being is made in the image of God, but we are far from good – we come into this fallen world as fallen persons. Children are born with the ability to be self-centered and selfish. Just ask the parent of a two-year-old😊 We need saving from ourselves and from the evil in our world. That’s why Jesus died on the cross. He shed His blood – the just for the unjust – He did that for you and me. He died in our place, like the S&H Green Stamps I mentioned last week. It’s about something in place of something else.
But the cross is not the end of the story! In verse 22 we read, “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.” The cross is not a defeat – it’s a great victory. We celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Morning. We usually make little or no mention of the Ascension of Jesus that happened 40 days later. (Luke 24:50-51, Acts 1:9) Christ, who was crucified, has now been glorified. He is the central figure of the End Times as described in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Revelation 5:6-7 “6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain…. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”
Between the Good Friday and Resurrection Morning v. 19-21
“19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”
Some versions of the Apostles’ Creed read like this:
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
Why do they have that phrase, “he descended to hell”? Because of verse 19 - “by whom (that is the Holy Spirit) also He went and preached to the spirits in prison.” This is viewed as part of Christ’s victory over death. There are different ways to understand these verses, and anyone here can spend a little time (or lots) on the internet to read about them. The way I like to look at these verses comes from a Jewish understanding. I think that fits best with Peter’s understanding.
While Christ’s body laid in the tomb on Saturday (day #2), the Divine Christ in the form of a spirit went to the place where the angels described in Genesis 6:1-4 were being held. These angels are also referred to in 2 Peter 2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;” This way of understanding these verses helps the connection to Noah in here make sense – “when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah.” God was patient with these disobedient angels while the ark was being built by Noah.
Now, Peter makes a comparison by looking to the water in different situations – the Ark floating on the water and the water of baptism for the Jesus Follower. The only humans saved at the time of the Flood were the eight folks on the Ark. What about now? Are we saved by baptism? No way! Peter is connecting the water – flood and baptism – but now the ones who will be saved to everlasting life are the Jesus Followers… who should be baptized. Make sense?
Making Sense of Suffering
Back when I was serving a congregation before moving here, we joined with many churches in the area praying for a 6-year-old boy with extremely aggressive form of brain cancer. Of course, we prayed for a full healing so that the boy could have a long life. He died within 6 months. His parents grew in their faith of a God that sustained them though the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4). Many folks began to have questions. I would ask them – “How many 6-year-olds have aggressive brain cancer.” They would answer – “Very few.” My response – “So we want to blame God for the very few and not for the millions of healthy, happy 5-year-olds. What you have forgotten to do is ‘factor in fallenness.’ We live in a fallen world and it is ONLY by the Grace of God that most 5-year-olds are not sick. Look at the other end of life – most 90-year-olds are sick and we are amazed by the few who are healthy.”
I want to remind you of something I already told you. When we pray for healing, we need to remember that all healing is temporary. Every person Jesus healed in the Bible died. If not, they would still be here. Lazarus died at some point after he was brought back from the dead. He was not resurrected. He was revived and later he died. Everyone we pray for will die. That’s a key part of this fallen world. Our great hope is that those for whom we pray are all saved by the blood of Jesus. That they know about the Good News of the Gospel is our calling – our assignment – our J-O-B until Christ calls us home. Amen
Homework:
• Look up all the Bible verses on your teaching sheet. Have you struggled in the past when prayers did not hold back death? Are you struggling right now?
• Are you praying every day for your family or friends that are not saved to the uttermost? Would you be willing to cry out and fall on your face before the Lord lifting up each of those folks over and over, day after day, month after month?
• Next week: Series: “Jesus’ Blood for Me” Exodus 12:21-28 “From His Hands and Feet”
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
TEACHING SHEET
“Why Suffering?”
1 Peter 3:17-22
Pastor John Bright
“The problem” If God is good and loving why is there evil and suffering in the world?
When we suffer, v. 17
John Wesley saw creation as good; having been made by a God who is good. Into that perfect world enters evil and, then, suffering follows. There is suffering in the world because there is evil in the world. There is evil in the world because all human beings (and the angels) have free will. Suffering is all around us because supernatural evil exists (for now) AND because humans have the free will to put ourselves first at the expense of our neighbors.
“Wesley adopted a traditional Christian distinction between types of suffering: natural, moral, and penal. People suffer because of disease and natural disaster; people suffer because other people harm them; and people suffer because they are punished for wrongdoing.”
https://www.patheos.com/library/methodist/beliefs/suffering-and-the-problem-of-evil
Peter is pointing to the suffering of being mistreated by others – especially in return for doing the right thing. That’s why Peter can connect their suffering to the suffering of Jesus Christ.
Suffering of Christ, v. 18 & 22
The doctrine of atonement. What is doctrine? 2 Timothy 3:16 1 Timothy 4:16
https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-doctrine.html
We need to have core beliefs that do not change over time – NO MATTER WHAT!
Every human being is made in the image of God, but we are far from good – we come into this fallen world as fallen persons. Children are born with the ability to be self-centered and selfish. Just ask the parent of a two-year-old😊 We need saving from ourselves and from the evil in our world. That’s why Jesus died on the cross.
But the cross is not the end of the story! In verse 22 we read, “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.” The cross is not a defeat – it’s a great victory.
The Ascension Luke 24:50-51, Acts 1:9
Christ who was crucified has now been glorified. Revelation 5:6-7
Between the Good Friday and Resurrection Morning v. 19-21
While Christ’s body laid in the tomb on Saturday (day #2), the Divine Christ in the form of a spirit went to the place where the angels described in Genesis 6:1-4 were being held. These angels are also referred to in 2 Peter 2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;” Now, Peter makes a comparison by looking to the water in different situations – the Ark floating on the water and the water of baptism for the Jesus Follower. Peter is connecting the water – flood and baptism – but now the ones who will be saved to everlasting life are the Jesus Followers… who should be baptized. Make sense?
Making Sense of Suffering
When we pray for healing, we need to remember that all healing is temporary. Every person Jesus healed in the Bible died. If not, they would still be here. Lazarus died at some point after he was brought back from the dead. He was not resurrected. He was revived and later he died. Everyone we pray for will die. That’s a key part of this fallen world. Our great hope is that those for whom we pray are all saved by the blood of Jesus. That they know about the Good News of the Gospel is our calling – our assignment – our J-O-B until Christ calls us home. Amen
Homework:
• Look up all the Bible verses on your teaching sheet. Have you struggled in the past when prayers did not hold back death? Are you struggling right now?
• Are you praying every day for your family or friends that are not saved to the uttermost? Would you be willing to cry out and fall on your face before the Lord lifting up each of those folks over and over, day after day, month after month?
• Next week: Series: “Jesus’ Blood for Me” Exodus 12:21-28 “From His Hands and Feet”
