When Christians Suffer

One night recently Melissa and I were going on a walk, and it wasn’t totally dark outside, but it was dark enough to see the moon, and the moon looked unlike any moon I had ever seen before. 

It was hanging lower in the sky, and it was an oval shape … it was an oval moon … and of course I did what any 21st century American would do, I pulled out my phone and tried to take a photo — and I don’t know the last time you’ve tried to take a photo of the moon, but it’s not easy. I tried a few times, from a few different places, but I couldn’t capture it, so I just stopped trying and I looked at it. It was an oval moon … that has everything to do with 1 Peter Chapter 4, verses 12–19. 

In this passage, the apostle Peter returns again to the topic of suffering, which has been a major theme throughout this book, but here especially, in these verses, Peter dives into this topic with more detail. He gives us here the Christian perspective on suffering, and that’s what we’re going to look at today. This is a sermon on how to suffer as Christian.

And before I say more, you might be wondering why it seems like we talk so much about suffering at Cities Church. If you’re new to Cities Church, maybe you’ve heard us talk about suffering way more than you’re used to and I just wanna tell you why that is.

First, it’s because in our preaching we take books of the Bible and we preach through them verse by verse, and that means we are subject to whatever the Bible says. The book of 1 Peter says a lot about suffering, and so in this series, we’re talking a lot about suffering. 

But also, secondly, over the last six years we’ve talked about suffering because suffering is a reality in life, and it is the ministry of the Bible through the local church that is meant to help us endure. 

In today’s passage, the apostle Peter gives us the Christian perspective on suffering in three exhortations. This is how we as Christians should think about suffering:

1. Expect trials as a refining fire.

2. Rejoice in trials as the path to glory.

3. Hope in God as the faithful Creator.

We’re going to look closer at these three points, but first let’s pray:

Father in heaven, thank you for your Holy Spirit who speaks through your word. We ask that you have him to lead us now to behold the glory of Jesus, in Jesus’s name, amen. 

Okay, so when it comes to how we should thinking about suffering:

#1. Expect trials as a refining fire. (v. 12, 17–18)

We see this in verse 12. 

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. 

In verse 12 here Peter is reminding us that suffering is not abnormal for the Christian. Suffering is not strange — and we’ve already seen us this at the end of Chapter 3 a couple weeks ago. 

At the end of Chapter 3, remember, Peter is talking about the gospel event, how Jesus suffered on the cross and how he was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God. And we’re supposed to keep in mind that these two things always go together: the suffering of Jesus and the victory of Jesus. 

But we don’t just hold these two things together, we need to understand their connection, that Jesus’s victory came through his suffering. The glory of his resurrection came through the shame of his cross. Jesus and his gospel show us that suffering is part of God’s plan, and what’s implied there, in Chapter 3, is that we should not think suffering is strange. And well now what was implied at the end of Chapter 3 is made super clear in Chapter 4. Peter says very simply: Do not be surprised.

And the opposite of being surprised by something is to expect something, right? And those two responses — surprise and expectation — they look very differently. I know this from a few nights ago. 

It was late, it was dark, and I had a couple boxes I was breaking down inside the house, and I went to take them outside to the garbage. And well, when I went outside, I noticed that some children (who will remain nameless) had all the lights on in their room and they were at the window playing with Legos. Now, the house was shutdown, everything was quiet, I’m not normally outside at this hour, but while I was there, I thought I would catch these kids from outside. So I very calmly went, put my face up to the window, and stared in. And they didn’t see me at first, but when they did, they were surprised. And they responded as though they were surprised. 

There was lots of motion and movement and frenzy — and Peter is saying that when hard things come into your life, don’t be like that. Don’t be surprised. 

WHY WE SHOULDN’T BE SURPRISED

But what’s really important in verse 12 is why we should not be surprised. We see this in how Peter describes suffering. Peter calls suffering fiery trials that come upon you to test you. 

The word in verse 12 for “fiery trial” is actually one word and it simply means burning. English translators add the word “trial” because that’s the context, but Peter is saying, literally, “Do not be surprised the burning comes upon you to test you.” 

This is important because it means that the burning has a purpose — it’s to test you. The image here is of a refining fire. It’s the same idea Peter says in Chapter 1, verses 6–7. He says there, Chapter 1, verse 6:

… you have been grieved by various trials [which is the same word for test in Chapter 4, verse 12 — you’ve experienced these 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.

Our faith is like gold, see, and suffering is like the fire that refines the gold. And this alone changes everything. Because it means there is a purpose in suffering beyond our pain. God is at work refining us.

REFINING FIRE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

And this whole concept of a refining fire is one that Peter gets from the Old Testament. He’s not making this up, but he has been shaped by Scripture, in places like Psalm 66, verse 10, where the psalmist says,

For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.

Or Zechariah 13:9, where God is speaking about his people, and he says, 

… I will put this third into the fire, 

and refine them as one refines silver, 

and test them as gold is tested. 

Or Isaiah 48:10, where God says to his people, 

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; 

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 

Based upon the testimony of Scripture, and what God has done and has promised to do for his people, Peter wants us to understand what our suffering is about. It’s a refining fire and God is at work.

We also see this in verse 17, where Peter gives us another Old Testament allusion. Skip down to verse 17 for a minute. Peter says there, in reference to suffering, 

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. …

The “household of God” is literally the “house of God,” which in the Old Testament is the temple. And a promise of God in the Old Testament is that he will purify his temple. The prophet Malachi said that one day the Lord of hosts, Yahweh, will come to his temple, and, Malachi 3:3, 

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. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord …

So the judgment here for God’s house — this affliction, this fire — it’s not to punish sinners, but it’s to purify God’s people. It’s a refining fire.

AT WORK IN OUR SUFFERING

And so with this Old Testament background, Peter tells us that this refining fire is what’s happening in our suffering. 

The house of God, the temple of God, the dwelling place of God, is now us — and when suffering is part of our lives, it does not mean that God is absent, it means that he is present and doing something. He is shaping us and forming us for our ultimate good.

And that’s why you shouldn’t be surprised by the fire. Don’t be shocked. Suffering is not strange. But God is using that fire to refine you. Peter says, as a Christian, the way to think about suffering, #1, expect trials as a refining fire.

#2. Rejoice in trials as the path to glory. (vv. 13–16)

Now we see this in verses 13–16, but there’s at least three questions that come up here, and I wanna try to address each one of these questions head-on. But this is gonna take some time, so I need you to bear with me a little.

Let’s start in verse 13. There’s the negative exhortation in verse 12, don’t be surprised, but then there’s the positive exhortation in verse 13 to rejoice. Verse 13: 

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

So Peter wants us to go beyond just expecting suffering, but we’re to actually rejoice in the suffering “insofar as you share in Christ’s suffering.” Now that’s an important qualifier! Peter does the same thing in verse 15: “If you are insulted for the name of Christ…” He does it again in verse 16: “If anyone suffers as a Christian…”

We can all see what Peter is saying here. 

He’s not just talking about suffering, but he is talking about Christian suffering — suffering as a Christian — and that important qualifier leads to maybe the most important question of all when we experience suffering, it’s that: How do we know whether we’re suffering as a Christian or not? 

QUESTION #1: WHAT CONSTITUTES SUFFERING AS A CHRISTIAN?

This is a big question, and we should feel some tension here. Take two examples from real-life situations in our church:

• Over here, you’re a Christian and you get fired from your job because you hold to a Christian understanding of sexuality.

• Then over here, you’re a Christian and you get diagnosed with brain cancer.

Both kinds of suffering happen to Christians, but are they both suffering as Christians?

The answer is Yes, they are. 

So does this First Peter Chapter 4 apply to both? Yes, it does.

Now, to be clear, in this passage, Peter has persecution in direct view. That was the immediate threat for his original audience. These Christians were slandered and insulted, and they were fired from their jobs because they were Christian. But verse 15 is where Peter shows us the real contrast when it comes to different kinds of suffering. He says in verse 15, in contrast to suffering as a Christian —

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

Do you see that? The contrast to Christian suffering is suffering that is retribution for wrongdoing. If you murder someone, or you stole something, or you do evil or you meddle in other people’s business — if you do those things, and life gets hard for you, so what? That’s the way it goes. There are consequences. 

Christian suffering, though, is not retribution for wrongdoing, but, back to verse 12, it’s suffering that “comes upon you” — you who are a Christian —

• whether it’s slander or sickness;

• whether it’s getting fired or undergoing chemo;

• whether you get yelled at by your neighbors because they think you’re intolerant or you lose a loved one to a horrible car accident —

— if you are a Christian and these things happen to you, you are suffering as a Christian. It’s not the type or the cause of your suffering that makes it Christian, but it’s the purpose of God at work in your suffering because you are a Christian.

In your suffering, Christian, you are sharing in the suffering of Christ. And Peter says you should rejoice. Rejoice. 

But why? 

Question #2: Why do we rejoice in suffering?

Verse 13 again: 

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that [so that] you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

Peter says that our rejoicing now in suffering is so that — for the purpose of — our rejoicing and gladness when the glory of Jesus is revealed. And Peter is talking about the return of Jesus, which he mentions at least four others times in this letter (see 1:7, 13; 2:12; 5:4).

Jesus is coming back, and Peter says that if we rejoice in our suffering now, then on that future day, when we see Jesus, we will “rejoice and be glad,” which means there will be more joy. There will be more joy in our future, on the other side of our sharing in Christ’s suffering. And it’s more joy because in our future we don’t share in his suffering anymore, but in his glory.

And Jesus himself told us this. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew Chapter 5, verse 11, Jesus says: 

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven …

“Rejoice and be glad” is the exact same phrase Peter uses in verse 13. Remember Peter heard Jesus say Matthew 5:11. Peter heard this from the voice of Jesus. So he tells us, rejoice now in trials because through them you have a better future ahead.

We also see this idea in Romans Chapter 8 — one of the greatest chapters in the whole Bible about our future. The apostle Paul says there, in verse 17, that because in Christ we are children of God, “we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

Do you hear that? Because of our union with Jesus we share in his suffering now in order that we will share in his glory later. And so if we rejoice now, we will rejoice later, but the joy later will be even deeper and greater, and we must keep that in view — otherwise, none of this makes sense!

If suffering is all we get as Christians, that is not something to rejoice in — that would be crazy! 

It’s our future with Jesus that makes the difference, and that’s what our present suffering points to. The trials that we experience today, the suffering of Christ that we share in today, it verifies to us that we are on the path to sharing in his glory …. That’s what verse 14 is getting at. Look at verse 14 for a minute — and hold on tight, okay, because this is next level stuff. Verse 14: 

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

I think again here, Peter is alluding back to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:11. Peter heard Jesus say the paradox, that Blessed are you when you are insulted. 

And again, this applies to any kind of trial Christians might face. It’s not only insults, but every kind of suffering as a Christian is actually a blessing because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

And with this language, Peter is alluding back to the Old Testament, Isaiah Chapter 11. Isaiah 11 is a prophecy about the Messiah. Isaiah 11, verse 1 says, 

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him … 

The Spirit of God resting upon the Messiah was the sign of Messianic identity. This is how you’re gonna know who the Messiah is! Which is why at Jesus’s baptism, when he came out of the water, the heavens were opened, and Matthew tells us that the Spirit of God descended like a dove and came to rest on Jesus. That was showing the fulfillment of Isaiah 11:1. Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah — Look, the Spirit of God rested on him!

And now here, Peter takes that same Messianic sign and he applies it to us in that the same Spirit that rested on Jesus and proved that he was the Messiah now rests on us and proves that we belong to the Messiah in our suffering. That’s the blessing, see! It’s that we are his. It’s to know that we are his.

And, in verse 16, this is nothing to be ashamed about, but we are glorify God in this calling. We are Christians, church. We are Christians. The trials we experience with Jesus are on the path to glory with Jesus.

So rejoice. 

QUESTION #3: BUT HOW DOES THIS REJOICING LOOK?

Because this is still weird, you know. Rejoicing in suffering? Peter, what do you mean? 

I’m not sure what you imagine when you think about rejoicing, but chances are, we all have a pretty one-dimensional understanding of this. We hear the word rejoice and we think party hats and cake — and that’s not wrong. Those things can be part of rejoicing. There is an exuberance of joy that the Bible calls us to — singing and dancing and mirth. That is part of biblical joy, but joy is also more than that. And this is where we get into the deeps. 

A couple weeks ago I was able see a friend of mine, Paul Middleton, who is a pastor down south. And in November last year Paul and his wife lost their 20-year-old son in a car accident, and a couple weeks ago was the first time I’ve seen Paul in person since the accident, and so I gave him a big hug, and I said to him, “Brother, you’re living a nightmare.” 

And he said to me, through tears, “But you don’t know the way Jesus has been with me.”

We tread into mystery here, but my friend, Paul, he had joy. And we know this joy exists because Jesus has been there.

Do you remember Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? The night before his crucifixion — the night before he experienced the worst suffering that any human has ever experienced — Jesus is on his knees, praying in the Garden, and what did he ask the Father? 

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

Jesus was greatly distressed and troubled, and he did not want the suffering that was ahead, if there were just any other way. This was real suffering.

And then also, in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 12, speaking about the suffering of Jesus, we read that “for the joy that was set before him Jesus endured the cross.”

So somehow in his terrible distress he had the capacity for joy. Even in the midst of his pain, Jesus could look down the path and know joy, and when we share in his sufferings, we share in that.

It’s a joy unlike common joy because it takes the longview. It’s the joy of hope, which is what we see in verse 19.

And this is our last point. The Christian perspective on suffering means 

1. Expect trials as a refining fire.

2. Rejoice in trials as the path to glory. …

#3. Hope in God as the faithful Creator. (v. 19)

Verse 19 is Peter’s conclusion to the passage: 

Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

To suffer “according to God’s will” is another way to say “to suffer as a Christian” — and then another way to explain joy in suffering is to entrust your soul to a faithful Creator while doing good. 

That is what Jesus did in the Garden before his crucifixion, and that’s what we are called to.

And I think the way Peter refers to God here is really important. He calls him the “faithful Creator,” which highlights the sovereign goodness of God. 

When we remember that God is the Creator, we remember that he is sovereign over everything. All things depend upon him, and he is in ultimate control. 

And when we remember that he is a faithful Creator, we remember that the exercise of his sovereignty is always in line with his promises. God will keep his promises to us, and his promises are always for our good, because he himself is good. 

When Peter calls God the faithful Creator he is saying that God is great and God is good — and you may have learned that as a child, but in the midst of suffering the truth of God’s greatness and goodness is what seems most dim. Because suffering comes like a cloud. It turns us and twists us and it distorts our perspective, and it makes us think like there is such a thing as an oval moon. An oval moon.

Melissa and I went on our walk, and moon looked like an oval. Sometimes you might think the moon looks like half a pie. Sometimes it looks like a crescent. I saw it as an oval, but here’s the thing: the moon is always round.  

There’s a children’s book about this. It’s my favorite. Just because the moon appears to us a certain way at a certain time, that does not change what it is. The moon has never been anything but round. And so God has never been anyway but sovereign and good. 

God is always sovereign and good. He is your faithful Creator, and in your suffering you can trust him with your soul. In your hardship, hope in God. The moon is always round.

That is what brings us to the Table.

The Table

Because here at the Table each week is where we remember together that God is both great and good. God has given us the whole Bible as the testimony to who he is, and it’s at the cross especially where we see his heart in vivid display. In the death and resurrection of Jesus we see the sovereign goodness of God. That is the place of our salvation, and this morning, as we eat the bread and drink the cup, we give Jesus thanks.

We share this Table as the covenant members of our church, but if you’re here and you trust in Jesus, if you hope in him, if you put your faith in him, we invited to eat and drink with us.

His body is the true bread. His blood is the true drink. 

Let us serve you.