Are We Supposed to Suffer Because Suffering is Good for Us?

Welcome to the New Life Ministries podcast. Does suffering have value in and of itself? In today’s message, we look at how suffering can be misunderstood, and how people can manipulate Scripture for their own purposes. This chapter in 1 Peter does in fact talk about the call to suffer, but in a way that makes sense.

Let’s join today’s service as we begin. Hey, today we’re going to look at 1 Peter chapter 4, page 1830 in your Bibles. So the Grey Cup is this afternoon.

Saskatchewan Rough Riders versus Montreal Alouettes. I was reading a little bit about the workout regime of a football player, and I found this really good article written a while back called The Work Never Stopped for CFL Players, written by Ian Hamilton. And in his article, he quoted some of the football players and their thoughts on exercise and working out.

And one player said, a lot of people don’t realize that you’ve got to wake up every morning and work out, whether you feel good or not. You could be sick and have a flu, but it’s like, man, I can only have the flu for so long, I still got to work out. And another player talked about all the components of the workout.

You have to work on your weights, you have to work on cardio, and you have to work on your technique. And he said one season, he came back from the off-season, and he said, I looked the best I’ve ever looked. I was moving as well as I’ve ever moved.

By what I went out to the field, and none of it transferred. I was struggling because I didn’t put the effort into the technique. It’s like, you’ve got to hit all the pieces to be a professional athlete.

And one guy said, I was getting to that complacent point in a guy’s career where you lift just within your normal safety limits. And then he got a new coach who pushed him harder, and he said, oh, it’s good to get kicked out of that. Good to get kicked out of your safety limits.

So now you’d expect, was that? Into your danger limits. I know, I’m thinking it’s body breaking. You’d expect that a professional athlete would have to endure some physical pain and suffering to get good at their sport.

You would just expect it. It makes them stronger, it makes them better prepared for their goal, and their goal is to win football games. So in today’s passage, Peter comments on the benefit of pain and suffering when it comes to your faith, which is a little bit surprising.

And it’s not that different from being a top athlete at a sport, or anybody who’s very good at something. There’s just a certain amount of suffering and sacrifice you have to be willing to do to get to your goal. So today we’re going to ponder why Peter says it, and then also what he’s not saying in it.

With me? Let me offer a prayer. Father, as we look at your word, please challenge us, draw us to the truth of how this works out in each of our lives, and help us to learn so that not only are we encouraged, and not only that we live well, but we would be able to help other people as they learn how to follow you. So to you, glory, we pray this.

Amen. So 1 Peter chapter 4. So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude He had and be ready to suffer too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin.

You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing after your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols. Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do, so they slander you.

But remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead. And that is why the good news was preached to those who are now dead. So although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit.

The end of the world is coming. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most importantly of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God Himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Then do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ, all glory and power to Him forever and ever.

Amen. Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad, for these trials make you partners with Christ in His suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to all the world.

If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian.

Praise God for the privilege of being called by His name. For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s good news.

And also, if the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners? So, if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for He will never fail you. So, this is a passage. I have to start with what the passage doesn’t mean, because Finley was telling me about an experience where a person used this passage, or something close to this passage, to justify hurting people.

The phrase they used was, you have to suffer to get into the kingdom of heaven, which is not actually in scripture, but it’s close, like it sounds close. So, our passage says, if you’ve suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin, which might sound like any suffering you go through will be good for you. It will burn the sin desire out of you, which is not really true, because suffering can just as likely cause you to do bad things.

And it’s also a very short jump to say, you know, if you suffer physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. That’s a short jump to, therefore, any injury I do to you will be good for you, because suffering is good for you. This is twisting scripture for our own agenda.

Don’t do that. And this is why, when we study scripture together, we’re always asking, what is the author trying to tell us? And we read it in the context of the whole, to try to prevent us from twisting scripture to say what we want it to say. So, the Bible doesn’t say that you must endure suffering because suffering is good for you.

It doesn’t actually say that. If you can stop, or if you can get out of suffering without denying Jesus, then do it. And I could even make an argument that some suffering is good for your character.

Like, I think being frugal for a period of your life is very healthy. I think pushing through physically really hard experiences, like a workout where your muscles are burning, that’s actually good for your body. But that idea of suffering is good for you is not at all what this passage is talking about.

This passage is not in any way saying some suffering is actually good for you. So, what the passage is trying to say is that sometimes we endure suffering and hardship because we have our sight set on the goal of protecting our connection with Jesus, of being faithful to Jesus, of serving Jesus. So, this is a theology of suffering that is about Christ, not a theology of suffering that’s about morality.

This is not suffering to become good. This is Jesus is calling you to share his experience, and in the experience that you might have to go through, he understands he’s gone through it. So, this is about Christology.

Jesus didn’t suffer because he was trying to be good. He didn’t suffer because he was trying to be good. He suffered because he was committed to the work God gave him to do, and he just did what was necessary to accomplish that goal, and that’s what we’re being called to.

So, let me give you a very short summary. In John chapter 6, Jesus says, I am the bread of life, right? Anyone who comes to me will never be hungry again. I have, and he says, I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.

Sounds lovely. In response, the people began to murmur in disagreement with him. He then continued to explain what he was about, and people began to argue with each other on what he was saying.

He then kept explaining his purpose, and a chunk of his disciples, his friends, got up and walked away. Two chapters later, he’s trying to help them understand that although they’re claiming to worship God, they’re actually not doing that. They accuse him of being the devil, and then a little bit later, he’s very blunt about who he is.

People pick up stones to kill him. So, Jesus is trying to do the work that God gave him to do, to be faithful to God, to rescue people, and people are responding with, I don’t like this. I don’t want to hear this.

Let’s kill this guy. So, if it happened to Jesus, it might happen to you when you’re doing the same kind of work, and that does mean if it happens to you, if people react to what you’re trying to say about Jesus with violence or with hatred, that doesn’t mean you did something wrong, because Jesus did it right, and it still happened to him. With me? Because so often, if it goes bad, we’re like, what did I do wrong? You might have done nothing wrong, and then there were other sufferings that Jesus went through.

He was betrayed by a friend, sold him out. He experienced deep agony and fear and a sense of, I really don’t want to do this anymore. He prayed.

That was the gut of his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, but then he said, not my will, God’s will. He was mocked by soldiers. He was beaten by soldiers, and when he was on trial, they lied about him.

He was misunderstood, and people intentionally twisted what he was trying to say. So, Jesus was willing to go through these experiences to complete the work God gave him to do. So, therefore, as Jesus expands his kingdom by working through your life and your obedience, it might happen to you as well, and that’s what this passage is about.

There is a suffering that comes because you’re committed to the goal of following Jesus, and Jesus knows what you’re going through. He’s present. He sees all.

He understands all. So, it says in verse one, so then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourself with the same attitude he had and be ready to suffer too. So, at times when walking with Jesus is just plain difficult, and you think, why am I doing this? The passage says that might happen.

It’s not unusual. Be ready for it when it happens. Okay, and then it starts giving us some really neat good news.

For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. Let’s just ponder how good that sounds. You’re finished.

You’re done with sin. It does not suggest that you become sinless by suffering. It’s not saying that.

That would be quite the religious claim to say you become sinless by suffering. That would be like saying, if I go to the gym and I lift heavy and my legs burn, therefore, I’m a winning athlete. No, you actually still have to play the game.

So, it’s not saying that you’re made good by suffering. It’s also not saying that by suffering, you earn righteousness like God rewards you for your suffering by making you good. Instead, what this verse is saying, and one writer said it like this, the decision to suffer for Christ indicates that you have ceased to let sin dominate you.

Or, in my words, when you choose to go through hardship for the sake of your connection with Jesus, then sin and its ability to tempt you to unfaithfulness loses its power over you. If you’re willing to go through something difficult, rather than get out of it, rather than go and enjoy the pleasures of sin, you choose to stay faithful to Christ. When you do that, sin loses its power to tempt you.

You’re free from it. It’s not easy, and it’s not saying that temptation goes away permanently. You know, the evil one wants you.

It’s trying to get you back, but you’re developing strength. You’re developing those muscles of perseverance and patience and that muscle of self-control. And as you resist sin, like as you stay with faithfulness with Christ, there’s a craving.

Sometimes in that craving, the Lord will bring an awareness of something deeper in your psyche. You’ll go, oh wait, this is what’s driving me right now. This is my loss.

This is the wound, or this is what I’m really afraid of. And that awareness can be very helpful as you walk with God. But sometimes hardship is just working that muscle of being committed to Jesus.

You’re doing what you know you should be doing. Let me add a couple of points. When it comes to being faithful, when it comes to being committed to Jesus, you’re not waiting for some internal feeling of, I feel full from sin.

I feel so full from sin that I no longer need to sin. It’s going to be easy to be obedient now. You’re not looking for that.

It would be great if that happened. It’s not likely. And let me also add, when we’re obedient to Jesus instead of to sin, you start to taste the results.

And you actually start to taste being clear-headed. And you realize, I actually prefer how I feel when I’m following Christ than how I feel when I’m pursuing sin. Because sin can make us feel yucky, make us feel sick.

You might get a feeling of, I’m so sick of sin, I never want to sin again. Like that you might get. But it’s important to realize, it’s important to actualize, I feel good when I am pursuing Jesus.

Like I feel healthy. Because that internalizing helps in the resistance, helps you develop your strength. So in our passage, there are two other characters.

One is the group of friends or former friends who are surprised by your commitment to Jesus, and they don’t like it, and they’re making fun of you, and they’re throwing abuse at you. And the other character is God, who comes as a judge. So in verse 5, it says, remember they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead.

And verse 17, for the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s good news. I’d like us to think about this really well.

So far, we’ve been talking about our commitment to Jesus, our connectedness to Jesus. And you could call that being purified in our faith. This passage is still talking about being purified in our faith.

So when it talks about judgment, when the Bible talks about judgment, it’s making things right. It’s God is starting to make things right, and he’s going to start with his people. That’s what it means judgment is coming.

Now last week, I said not to be afraid to take risks in following Jesus, because you’re already forgiven. Now this passage says judgment’s coming. Let me clarify, because I don’t want to undo what I said last week.

If a parent asks a young child to take their plate from the dinner table to the kitchen sink, and the plate comes crashing to the floor, does the child get punished? It’s too simple. It’s too simple thinking. So if the child was trying very hard, was focused, but then something happened.

There was a loud sound outside, or the cat ran by their feet, and it disturbed the child, and they dropped the plate. Well, you wouldn’t scold that child, because they’re trying. They’re trying to learn.

You’d forgive. But if the parent asks the young child to take their plate and put it in the kitchen sink, and the child knocks the plate to the floor in an act of, don’t tell me what to do, that’s a different story. So the Lord is making things right.

If you make a mistake because you’re trying to learn to follow Jesus, but it’s a genuine mistake because you’re trying to learn how to follow Jesus, that is easy to forgive. But if your response to Jesus working in your life is some version of, don’t tell me what to do, that’s a different situation. That’s not developing your connectedness to Jesus.

So God is trying to make things right in us. There’s freedom to learn. Now, if you’re still with me, you’re tracking, you’re trying to follow Jesus, you’re trying to, you know, learn those lessons of being faithful to Him, and, you know, sin is losing its power over you.

What about your friends who are driving you crazy? Two thoughts. Sometimes you have to put boundaries around what you can do to protect who you want to become, right? To protect who you want to become. Every man who plays in the Gray Cup today has been very disciplined and had very strong boundaries around him for the past week, probably for the past six weeks, because he wants to be at his physical, mental, very best at five o’clock today.

So he went to bed on time every day this week. He ate healthy. He didn’t go drinking.

He was faithful in working out. He was faithful to his classes, his training, but without, you know, pushing his body too far without injury. He lived with boundaries.

You know that a deep connection with Jesus brings you a better life than life without Him. So boundaries that you set in place are about protecting your goal of being connected to Jesus. So you can say yes to some stuff, and you can say no to some stuff, and that’s not being rude.

That’s not being unkind. It’s keeping Jesus as your priority. So for me, I go to bed very early because I get up ridiculously early so that I can spend the time I need to spend connecting with God and then get a workout in before I come to work, because I’ve learned I can’t work out after work.

It just don’t work. So I have a pretty strong bedtime boundary, which is ridiculously early, but I can’t. I’m still always late, but I can’t surrender my walk with God.

Like it’s just too high a priority for me. So boundaries are okay. Second thought is, the second thought is about extending kindness to your friend rather than extending revenge, because when they make your life difficult, revenge is our normal response.

So back in Proverbs 25, it says, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their head.

And we’ve heard that line, heaping burning coals of shame on their head before. It was in Romans, and when I remember preaching it in Romans, I said, we don’t really know what this line means. Like we don’t know where it comes from.

Well, at the recent pastor’s retreat I was at, Pastor Zig from Mission Baptist up the street casually threw out this idea that stopped us all. And he was not acting like he was smarter than us. He himself was still impressed that he discovered this.

He said, in scripture, coals and burning coals always represent the presence of the Lord, the presence of His holiness. It’s like, oh that’s brilliant. So when you are kind to those who treat you like an enemy, when you care for them, when you don’t seek revenge but seek to bring goodness to them, you are bringing God’s presence and His holiness down on their head.

Like you’re bringing God’s goodness onto their head. That’s what we are called to do. This is living out Christ in you around people who don’t know Christ.

So rather than revenge and giving them what they give you, you’ll be okay if you have to suffer for Christ, because you are connected with Christ. He understands what we’re going through, and we respond with kindness and grace, with patience, trying to bring the presence of Christ down on their head as a blessing, as a this is the way. With me? Incredible idea.

So let me ask, where does this passage challenge you? Arm yourself with the same attitude Christ had to go through hardship in order to be faithful to our Lord and His call in our life. It’s about suffering for our connection with Him. Christ went through hardship.

He knows what we go through. This is not suffering in order to be good or in order to earn goodness. When you choose to follow Christ, instead of getting out of that tension and pursuing sin, sin loses its power over you.

You are free from it. You’re done with it. God is working to make things right, to purify our faith, to purify our connection to Him.

So when others don’t understand, when others make your life difficult, it’s okay to have boundaries around what you will do and what you will not do to protect your walk with Jesus. And when you’re kind to them, instead of seeking to get even, you’re helping to bring the presence of God and understanding of God down on them. It was beautiful.

So where does this passage challenge you today? Where does it challenge me? Everywhere. I look back on the way that I lived my life going through work at a major corporation, and I see so much of what I shouldn’t have done. But I see in that the opportunities that I had to be Christ to them.

Sometimes I listened, sometimes I didn’t. But the beauty of trusting God is that when it comes to, I have to fight dirty in order to get ahead. No, you don’t have to fight dirty, and you won’t get ahead.

You’re right. You won’t. But God’s got it.

He doesn’t need you to get ahead. He doesn’t need you to advance yourself. He will advance you when He needs you advanced.

These things don’t have to be under your own power. And that kind of left me with this peaceful thought of, you know what? I don’t have to fight. I don’t have to make my own way.

I don’t have to be somebody. They don’t have to remember me after I’m gone. All I have to do is what God’s put in front of me and what He stirs in my heart to do, because that’s where it’s going to happen.

Yeah, that’s freeing. Hey, they don’t have to remember me when I’m gone. That’s a freeing sentence.

Lovely. Those were good comments. I wonder where Curtis was 30 years ago when I could have really benefited from this.

I was in the corporate world as well, making the same mistakes as Paul. You know, it would have been so helpful back then, and still is. But I can’t add anything to what Curtis said, but it’s wonderful advice.

Thank you, Curtis. Scripture, yeah, yeah. George, it really puzzles me to hear you say that, you and Pam, because this passage is about availability to God, and your lives have reflected that for decades.

So I have no idea what you’re talking about, but that’s okay. That’s all right. You do.

So yeah, just like verse one here, I appreciate what you said about suffering. And what I’m catching here is that, again, that idea of availability. This is what our Lord did.

He got Himself crucified. He experienced a lot of negative stuff. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, familiar with suffering.

That’s our guy. And so if we are trying to live life to avoid that, which is the cultural norm, then we’re not following that guy. And He is not asking us to make ourselves a martyr.

He’s just saying, be available for what I’m calling you to. So that’s one thing. This passage is so compelling, and I really appreciated what you said about boundaries, and having those boundaries in place to be able to do a thing that you are clear that God is calling you to do.

And I’m going to say it’s sometimes trickiest to do that and be that in church, when we are relying on one another, needing each other. So I’m going to just say an example. When I was a youth a long, long time ago, I was pursuing medicine, and I was doing that from an early age.

And up to a certain point, I was really active in youth group and all of that stuff. But I knew that this calling on my life would mean that I had to put away, like aside for a time, that level of involvement. And of course, there was a transition in leadership, a new guy that was in charge of youth at the big church that I was at, not so big, but the church that I was at didn’t know me, didn’t know anything about what God’s calling on my life was.

And He really made me feel like you are choosing something else instead of God, which is a thing. And so I just want folks who are struggling with their vision to understand that it’s a lonely walk sometimes, even within your loving church community, that it may not always be understood when you have boundaries and you have to say no. Because God gives us energy for the things that He’s called us to do, but He doesn’t bless everything that there is to do out there.

In my life, there is way more that’s being asked of me than I can do, and more importantly, that God has given me the grace to do. And when I step outside those bounds, I find mistakes happen, I’m not blessed, I’m getting angry. But I just wanted to encourage that.

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