Jesu Juva
“Christians in an
Unchristian World: Suffering”
Text: 1 Peter 4:1-19
Grace, mercy, and peace
to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Tonight, the rubber meets the road for Peter. The
first three chapters of Peter’s first letter were important - to know who we
are as baptized Christians, that we’re being built as living stones into the
living temple of the Church, and that we live in love in the places and under
the authorities God has placed over us. But Peter’s words to us tonight are
what all that was leading up to: suffering. Or, when the rubber meets
the road and leaves a skid mark on us.
Sadly, this is sometimes the speed bump that
causes some to veer off the road of Christianity, and some to veer off the road
of life altogether. It is why assisted suicide and so-called mercy killing
continues to grow in popularity and public acceptance. We don’t want to suffer.
For Christians and non-Christians alike, the ideal life would be a smooth,
straight road, all downhill, and always with the wind at your back. And many
are looking for a God or a god who will give them just that.
But man’s ideal is not man’s reality. It was,
in the beginning, but then sin took care of that. Adam’s work became toil,
Eve’s childbearing became painful, and brother turned against brother. And
though many things have changed and progressed across the centuries,
that reality has not. Suffering became the new normal, quite contrary to
what the serpent had promised.
But when the Son of God came into our world in
the flesh, the ideal became reality again. A perfect man unstained by sin once
again trod this earth. And through His suffering, death, and resurrection, He
paved the way to eternal life, though the way will still not be smooth,
straight, all downhill, and with the wind always at your back. It will still be
hard and it will still involve suffering.
Because you will have to
wrestle with your sinful flesh and its passions which oppose the way of Christ. You will have to endure
both the enticements and the attacks of the sinful world, which wants you to go
its way and will hate you when you don’t. You will be under seige from satan,
who wants to wear you down and wear you out so that you give in. And you will
even have crosses sent from your Father in heaven for your good, though you
will be tempted to see them as not good, and sent not in your Father’s love but
in His anger. Which is all to say: suffering is not an abberation;
suffering is the norm for the Christian Church. Which is why
Peter says: Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes
upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
And so also Peter began this chapter: Since
therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of
thinking.
Arm yourselves, which means to be ready. Soldiers arm
themselves when expecting attack. So you, too, expect to be attacked, and so be
ready for it.
Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. Or,
with the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ who came to help the
helpless, to love the loveless, to serve the lowly and outcast, to forgive the
sinner, to suffer for the suffering, and to die for the dying. The mind of Christ which is not me first, but you first. The mind of Christ which seeks not to hold your sins against you,
but to cover your sins. To cover them with His blood, that they be
washed away in His forgiveness. That is the mind of Christ given to you and
each Christian in baptism.But think that, do that,
and like Christ, you will suffer for it.
But when you do, Peter also says, rejoice!
Rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and
be glad when his glory is revealed. Which doesn’t
mean that our sufferings atone for our sins, as Christ’s did - that could never
be. And it doesn’t need to be - Christ has done it all. He atoned
for all the sin of all the world, yours and mind included.
It is finished, He said on the cross (John 19:30), and it was. 100% complete. Nothing more need be
done. But when you suffer for being a Christian, when you suffer for the truth,
when you suffer for doing good, when you suffer because you are a baptized
child of God, you are being treated just as Jesus was and in that way sharing
in His suffering. And when that happens, Peter goes on to say, you are blessed,
because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. The Holy
Spirit, who is making you holy now, and will glorify you in the end.
And the end of all things is at hand,
Peter also says. You know, whenever I hear that or something like that, I
always think of the cartoonish characters who stand on
street corners with a sign that says: The end is near! Which I think satan likes because when we think
that way we then dismiss the thought, just like we dismiss the crazy carrying
the sign as a kook.
And yet it’s true. Man knows not his time.
How often are we surprised when we hear of someone dying suddenly, having a
heart attack, random acts of violence taking someone, sometimes in what is
called the prime of life. The end always is at hand. And the
closer the end gets, the more satan
will rage against the Church and the truth.
But do not fear or fear him. Instead, Peter says,
go on serving one another to the glory of God. For satan cannot harm those who are in Christ. And if the
end is at hand, that also means this: your salvation is at hand - the end of
your suffering and your rest and peace with Christ Jesus. For at the end of
Jesus’ baptizing hand, His absolving hand, and His feeding hand, is the end of
your sin and thus the beginning of your life. Jesus leading us on till our
rest is won (LSB
#718).
Which we will always need, for as long as we live
in this world and life, our thoughts, words, deeds, and desires will not be
pure and without sin. While the new man in us ceases from sin because in
baptism He has died to sin, the old Adam in us will continue to rebel. We’ll
never like suffering and seek to avoid it. But as Christians living in an
unchristian world, Peter concludes with this: Therefore let those who
suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while
doing good.
Trust the Word of God. Trust His promises. Trust
His faithfulness. Don’t give up doing good for He who
created you also re-creates you, and He who gave you
life will give you new and eternal life when He
raises you up on the last day. Until then, it won’t be easy. The
righteous are scarcely saved, Peter writes - the dangers of false
belief and false gods abound. The attacks and the suffering will continue. Of
that you can be sure. But of this you can be sure as well: in Christ you are
safe.
In the Name of the
Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.