Why Suffering? Series

“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?

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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.”