Worship In Pain (Salvation Foundation For Joy)

A. Opening illustration: Christian funerals are a place that we see worship in pain if they are sorrowing like Paul said to do “with hope.” The I thought about it more, and I think that so many go to corporate worship each week in pain. Some of us live our lives in more pain than others. Pain is a commonality to life.

B. Background to passage: after his greeting, Peter goes into a doxology/hymn of praise in order to accomplish what the entire letter is supposed to do: encourage suffering believers to endure pain and persecution well. The word “be” is not really in the original text, so Peter may have been saying, “praise God!” That’s the main sentence. The rest of these two sentences give the foundations for that encouragement.

C. Main thought: we are going to see several aspects of the go-to weapon to combat discouragement, depression, suffering, and pain – praise, and God worthy of it

1) Because of His Great Mercy (v. 3)

a. Same construction as “according to his foreknowledge” above, Peter describes the reason behind the main sentence structure of bless God because he has granted us to be born again. He brings up the character trait of God of his mercy. That would probably be a forgotten or questionable trait during a time of severe testing and suffering. I mean, who thinks of how God’s blessings are flowing while you are being unjustly accused, tried, jailed, beaten, fired from job, disowned from family, possessions confiscated, marriages wrecked because of one spouse’s faith, made slaves, ridiculed publicly.

b. Illustration: Jimmy coming in terribly distraught after listening to Jonathan Edwards’ sermon from July 8th, 1741. It speaks of the mercy of God as the only reason that our hearts don’t burst forth with the most vile evil, as the only reason we are not cast into hell immediately, the cauldron of fire and brimstone and the devils await our foot to slip to fall into, and God having no obligation to save or withhold his explosive wrath or cast us down from our precarious position at any moment.

c. In our pain, we should be quick to meditate on the attributes of God, all of them. Mercy in particular is a humbling perspective when we suffer. Often when we suffer it makes us call into question the “fairness” of God. It’s not fair that my father died at 55. It’s not fair that children get cancer, get sold into human trafficking, or have to dig for their food in garbage dumps. We weep when things don’t go our way, and not to invalidate your feelings, but we must keep them in perspective. God doesn’t owe us anything. It’s by his great mercy that we enjoy our next breath of air, that we live in a free country with access to the gospel, and on and on with blessings we could go. So, when we suffer, discipline yourself to praise God for mercy, even if you don’t feel it. We don’t get what we deserve 😊 2) Because of Regeneration to Hope (v. 3)

a. Peter praises God for the fact that he caused the believers to be born again or gave them new life. Regeneration just means born again. When we think about salvation it’s the beginning of our Christian experience here on earth. It’s when our eyes are opened to the beauty of Christ, we realize his value, exercise faith and repentance and are cleansed from our sin. The bondage of sin is broken, justification takes place (declaration of imputed righteousness), and the Holy Spirit indwells us. It’s a wonderful time. Gotta wonder if these elect exiles, these chosen sufferers, were wondering if this was such a good thing now. However, Peter says they were born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ.

b. Jesus’s story about a man who found the greatest treasure, and for the joy of it, he sold everything. He knew that all the things of this earth would pale in comparison, and that all sorrows would be surpassed

c. Illustration: ever met someone, or had someone in your life that had a near-death experience? Mackenzie (in the briars) and Shane Shirah’s sister-in-law.

d. Some of you have been saved for a long time. You were born again years ago distance seems to make everything fade. In your times of pain and suffering do you realize the blessed assurance that you have in Jesus? Our joy, our foundation to endure suffering is a living hope based on the resurrection of Christ. We have been given new spiritual life in exchange for our dead one. When you and I feel like the weigh of the world is crushing us, preach to yourself from the unshakable foundation of the resurrection of Jesus! Your hope is alive and will always be alive. Jesus can’t die, nor can your hope. Read the stories of the resurrections in the gospels – that’s your prescription for hopelessness. If you are a born-again believer, rejoice in the testimony that you share of your new life in Christ. Salvation lies in him, hope lies in him because of the resurrection, and it’s yours today if you haven’t experienced it.