The Gift of Suffering

1 Peter 4:12-19

Immanuel – 9/19/21

You hear it again and again and again: “If God is good, how can there be so much pain in the world?” Or, “I can’t believe in a god that would allow so much suffering in the world.” It is the age old problem of pain, and millions upon millions have used this justification to reject God.

For some reason, those who believe in a world governed by uncaring chance and survival of the fittest, think that suffering is somehow wrong. Where do they get such an idea? They certainly don’t get that idea from the cold hard Darwinian world, forged in fire and violence and death.

Perhaps the concept that suffering is a problem comes from the very God which they reject: and this is what we Christians understand.

We understand that a world filled with pain is the consequence of our wicked and sinful hearts. A world of suffering reflects the judgement we deserve – eternal suffering. We deserve God’s wrath; for we are the corruptors of His creation. We are the vain rebellion against His holy nature.

And we Christians also understand that God has a plan to restore all things. It is a plan that He initiated by becoming a man; thus entering into our suffering. Unlike us, the Son of God lived without sin. Yet on the cross He was judged on our behalf. There He experienced the condemnation of man and the unfiltered wrath of God. Jesus knows human suffering on a level that we can hardly comprehend.

But even under the heaviest weight of pain, Jesus was faithful. And then He died. But that death was defeated, along with sin and suffering, when Jesus rose to life. He is the picture of what is to come: bodies perfected and a paradise restored.

And as unbelievable as all this may be, Jesus calls us to repent and believe. He calls us to trust Him and obey Him. And then, by faith, He begins the process of reconciliation in our hearts. By faith we are given a new heart filled with the Holy Spirit. By faith our lives are united to Christ eternally. By faith we are reconciled to our Heavenly Father. And by faith, God wipes every tear from our eyes.

Yet, there are still tears. And sometimes the doubts of unbelievers creep into our minds. For even after all these glories of faith, we are not exempt from the pains of this world.

We are visited by loneliness, depression, anxiety, guilt, and relational strife. We hold our strength as effectively as we hold water. There are viruses that afflict our bodies and viruses that afflict our minds. And then there are those disasters that rain suffering down upon countless souls; and evil institutions that corrupt truth and steal freedom. Piled on top of all these pains we find persecutions.

What is the meaning of all this? Where is the goodness of God in the face of suffering?

Purpose

What is God’s purpose for suffering?

How do we suffer faithfully?

Read 1 Peter 4:12-19

Peter starts with a word of tenderness, a word of sympathy; because he understands that questions will naturally arise. Only two chapters ago he was telling the churches that they are the chosen people of God, living stones and royal priests. But then he began talking about persecution and suffering and the end of all things. Should we not be surprised that such divine privilege is mixed with the same pains as a perishing world?

Read vs 12

Faith Refined

Peter’s logic is as follows: Christians are not to be surprised at the fiery trial, because God is using the trial to test you. This is the second time Peter has said as much.

You have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. -1 Peter 1:6-7

In this context, testing is not about passing and failing. Testing is about purifying. Fire does not determine if gold is actually gold. Gold is gold with or without fire. Fire tests the purity of that gold. Every impurity, mixed into the raw gold, is burned away so what is left is pure and brilliant and tremendously valuable. Fire is the best friend of gold.

Likewise, suffering is a gift unto faith. It tests what are the things of Christ’s kingdom, and what are not the things of Christ’s kingdom.

This is the first of God’s purposes in our suffering. God uses suffering to refine our faith. Suffering will not destroy you, just as gold is not destroyed by fire. Suffering refines.

If something else is thrown into the fire it is scorched and burned up, proving that it was never gold. If suffering comes and faith is abandoned, then what we learn is that there was never any faith to begin with – just fool’s gold. The fire proves the reprobate have not been counted among the elect.

I pray you are able to see, my brothers and sisters, your suffering is not a strange thing; some unwanted invader disturbing the tranquility you imagine you deserve. Suffering is a glorious gift!

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake. -Philippians 1:29

Are we surprised when fire is put to a lump of raw gold? No. Neither should we be surprised when fiery trials are put to us.

When Peter uses this imagery, relating faith and suffering to gold and fire, he is drawing upon ancient and deep wisdom.

The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise. -Proverbs 27:21

And now we get our first glimpse of how a Christian suffers faithfully, how the gold is purified. When the fiery trial comes, let its result be praise. A person that praises God, brimming with love, in the midst of their sufferings; they indeed are a reflection of divine glory.

Church history is filled with stories of faithful saints who stood for Biblical truth though it meant imprisonment: others who worshipped Jesus even as they were marched to their death. And this kind of golden faith is not just reserved for legends of the past. It is found in our very midst.

Just two weeks ago you heard testimony of people from this church that are walking through great difficulties: brain tumors, family heart aches, and various other fiery afflictions. And though their road is hard, still they follow after the Lord, still they trust in Him. These present experiences of faith under fire show us that glory streams from the midst of the furnace. The same glory that streams through the hardships of so many here.

When crippling pain and agonizing uncertainty falls upon a person, and still they lift their hearts in worship of Jesus, does it not radiate the glories of Christ? Has not a little light from heaven broken through the storms of this troubled planet?

This is precisely why Peter tells us to rejoice.

Read vs 13

Shared Sufferings

Rejoice in your suffering! Again I say, rejoice! Back in chapter 1, as we saw earlier, we can rejoice because faith, refined in the fire, will result in God lavishing upon you praise and glory and honor. What joy is to be found in the purifying fires of pain!

But here in verse 13, Peter gives a different reason to rejoice. And in this joy we find the second purpose God has for our suffering. Suffering is a part of our union to Christ. We must understand our suffering in light of God’s will for Christ’s suffering.

The mystery of suffering, which countless souls fail to understand, is unlocked through our understanding of Christ’s suffering. It is a mystery that can only be unlocked by faith. We are able to understand mysteries of suffering that Job was not privy to; for by faith we have seen the risen Christ!

Faith unites us to Jesus. Faith means that you trust Jesus died your death, enduring the wrath of God that you deserved. He experienced suffering meant for you; and by His suffering He saved you. Faith also means believing that Jesus gives you His life. It is a life that lasts eternally, and it is yours to live right now. And right now, that means living righteously even as we follow Jesus through trials.

Faith walks in His steps, just as He walked in yours.

By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked. -1 John 2:5-6

We were made righteous by Christ, and now we suffer as the righteous with Christ. Emotional sufferings, failing health, and all the other forms of adversity; how exactly are these sharing in Christ’s sufferings? Paul tells us that:

I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church.

-Colossians 1:24

Peter and Paul are telling us that our sufferings are a witness to Christ’s sufferings.

In Colossians Paul wrote that we are filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. What could be lacking? Certainly nothing that has to do with the elect’s redemption. The thing lacking is that each one of us, and countless other souls, have never seen the afflictions of Jesus: suffering for those He loved, rejoicing in His Father through the fires of pain, trusting in God’s perfect will while everything crumbled around Him.

Our suffering gives us great insight into the sufferings that Christ endured on our behalf, and He did it so faithfully. And how our hearts fill with love for Jesus when we better see His love, as expressed on the cross. And when we follow Jesus in suffering faithfully, others get to see those insights too.

Though Jesus might not have suffered in the exact way as you, when you trust in God through your suffering, rejoicing in His eternal promises while you wrestle through temporal pains, the world is catching little rays of His glory. They are seeing the righteousness of Christ stream out of the fires of your pain.

You won’t suffer as perfectly as Jesus did, but even still, glimpses of the gold can be seen through the flickers of flame. And the more that gold becomes visible – is purified – the more everyone’s attention is directed towards the object of your faith: Jesus Christ the Risen Lord!

This is why we can rejoice in our suffering. Jesus is visible. We are walking in His suffering. By faith we have picked up our crosses and are following Him.

So give thanks when the Father refines your faith in the fires of pain. Rejoice that He has counted you worthy to share in Christ’s sufferings!

And when He returns, and we truly do see Him face to face, He will know how we trusted Him with our suffering. Our hearts will hardly be able to contain our joy when we hear from the Lord, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Father (modified from Matthew 25:23).”

Read vs 14

Love Affirmed

Peter then begins to write about a more specific form of suffering: persecution. But this is not the persecution of martyrdom or tortures or imprisonment. Insults. It is persecution when people speak unkindly because of your faith.

And with the sufferings of persecution we find yet another reason to rejoice. If our faith remains true through suffering, you are blessed. For in this fire it is revealed that the Spirit of glory - the Spirit of Christ – indeed rests upon you. It is revealed that God has given Himself to you!

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the raging inferno (Daniel 3:8-30) they were not consumed. But standing in their midst was the Son of God. At that moment, was there any doubt in their minds that God was for them, that He knew their plight and they could trust in Him? Not at all.

So it is in the fires of persecution – and all suffering really. Even if someone so much as insults you for the name of Christ, know that the Spirit of Christ stands with you. You will not be consumed.

And how good of our Heavenly Father to be so concerned with our sufferings that even insults are enough to capture His attention. He sees our trust in His purifying hand. He sees us sharing in Christ’s afflictions. And He is reminded of His Son; and He is moved to the deepest of affections. And He provides for us the greatest hope in this hostile world, the greatest affirmation that we are His and He is ours: the Holy Spirit – and all of the Spirit’s righteous fruits.

Even the smallest persecution is an affirmation of these transformative glories.

Read vs 15-16

Suffering is the natural consequence of evil. When we break God’s law, there are consequences. When we break man’s law, there are consequences. In the Roman Era, under which Peter wrote, murders and thieves faced grave consequences. If Rome regarded you as an evildoer or a meddler your life would be difficult indeed, and perhaps quite short.

No Christian should be counted among these wicked. It is no place for disciples of Christ; unless you are counted as wicked for being a disciple of Christ. And they were. Even in Peter’s day Christians were falsely accused of all sorts of evils. For instance, they were thought of as enemies of the state for refusing to worship Caesar; and murderers for drinking the blood of hapless victims. Lies!

False accusations are made in our day too. We are called hateful because we believe God created male and female. We are called regressive because we believe life in the womb has value. We are called stupid because we will not bend our knee to the narratives of this fallen society.

Do not be ashamed! Christ suffered the same and worse. You walk with Him, just as He walked for you. Once more, see in such accusations a reason to praise God! Yes, when the tide of society turns against Biblical values, let it not cause you anxiety or sorrow. Even here is a reason to rejoice. Gold nuggets hidden all throughout American soil are being purified.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

-John 14:1

And believe that there is a judgement coming.

Read vs 17

Judgements

In these verses we discover a great revelation. The topic of suffering has suddenly morphed into judgement; a judgement that begins in the household of God.

If we are going to understand what Peter means, we need to look at two Old Testament passages. He has been alluding to them throughout this whole section: Malachi 3 and Ezekiel 9. Both have to do with the Lord coming to His temple.

In Malachi 3 the long-awaited Messiah suddenly comes to the temple to establish a new covenant with the people. There we read these words:

But who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and a fuller’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. -Malachi 3:2-3

Do you hear how Peter’s words emanate from Malachi’s? The judgement that begins at the household of God is the judgement of a refiner’s fire. It is a judgement not of condemnation, but of purification. In Malachi it says that the Lord will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold. The sons of Levi were the priests. We are the temple and the we are the priests.

Remember what Peter told us in chapter 2?

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

-1 Peter 2:5

Then, in Malachi, once the Refiner finishes His work among His people, judgement moves out from the temple and falls upon the wicked.

Though it is hard to see it in our modern translations, Peter’s language closely mirrors that of Ezekiel 9. In Ezekiel 9 the Lord Himself summons six executioners of judgement. They come to destroy the wicked. But before they do, one of the executioners seals the righteous with a mark of protection.

And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark in the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” -Ezekiel 9:4

The righteous are the purified, they are the holy ones of God. Once they are sealed with the mark and protected, the other executioners are sent out to kill and destroy all doers of evil.

“The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice…As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads.” -Ezekiel 9:9-10

1 Peter 4:17 ends with, what will be the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Though it’s a rhetorical question, we find its answer in Ezekiel 9. The God of the universe, sovereign and all-powerful, will have not pity on them. He will justly plunge them into the fiery furnace. The flames will reveal no gold of any sort. There will just be fire, from which there is no escape.

In verse 18 Peter continues this theme, but this time he quotes the Old Testament directly.

Read vs 18

That is Proverbs 11:31.

What is the application of these two verses in 1 Peter 4? What does it mean for us?

Wayne Grudem puts it very succinctly. “The fire of God’s holiness is so intense that even the righteous feel pain in its discipline. The [godless] and sinner will, by implication, find it to be a fire of eternal destruction.”

The elect are the righteous, those to whom God has given golden faith. But that faith is received in the rough, mixed with all the sins of our flesh. God will not allow gold to be mixed with impurity; and so He says,

“You shall be holy, for I am holy.” -1 Peter 1:16 and Leviticus 11:44

Yes, suffering is awful. It is not a pleasant experience. And when Peter calls us to rejoice in our sufferings, it is under no delusion that you should be somehow giddy about pain. The purification process is painful. But rejoice, for the Refiner makes you holy through the flames of suffering.

But how much better to be refined by flames today, than be consumed by them eternally? Praise God that there is any gold to be found in you! Praise God for the most precious gift of faith!

Read vs 19

What has been implied, Peter here makes explicit. God wills for you to suffer. It is Him that brings the pain. And Peter has already told us why.

God is refining your faith.

He counts you worthy to share in Christ’s suffering, that you and others might better understand Jesus’ sacrifice.

Suffering is affirmation that He loves you.

In light of these purposes, how do we suffering faithfully, as Christ suffered faithfully? First, rejoice in the good plan of God and that your suffering is not in vain. God weaves glory into your soul through faith in Jesus Christ.

Secondly, trust Him. It will not be comfortable, it will not be easy, but trust Him. And when it feels like your faith may falter, remember that His never will. He is eternally faithful, and He deeply loves you, and He will make good on all His promises. So trust Him, and obey.