Willing to Suffer?

Willing to Suffer?
Series: 1 & 2 Peter: Faithful Endurance

1 Peter 3:8-12 - Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Last week Pastor Phil preached about doing good for the glory of God…. He looked at what doing good to glorify God looked like in the context of different relationships.  Today, we continue with the passage and the charge to do good as Peter charges his readers to do good, even in the midst of suffering.  

Main Idea: Do good in the midst of suffering.

I: Remain humble and united.

Unity and humility are both recurring charges for the Church throughout the NT.  

1 Peter 3:8 - Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

A. Ending his instructions on doing good in relationships, Peter gives the ingredients to the person who does good.
B. “…unity of mind” – means essentially that we ought to think the same way and be harmonious.  
C. We need to be sympathetic towards each other.  Basically, be understanding.  That becomes easier for us when we believe the best of each other.
D. “Brotherly love” and a “tender heart” towards each other.  We need to genuinely care for each other and be willing to think of others first.
E. That’s where the “humble mind” comes in.  To think of others before self.
F. So, to do good for the glory of God, we must, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
But Peter is going to extend this teaching out to include doing good in the midst of suffering… 

Main Idea: Do good in the midst of suffering.

II: Bless those who persecute you.

Now, I want to say, this isn’t easy… When someone does us wrong, we want justice.  But it when we do someone else wrong, we want grace. But we demonstrate our trust in God when we allow Him to fight our battles.  And when we remember that He will judge those who do evil it becomes easier to show grace to people who do us wrong.

1 Peter 3:9-12 - Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

A. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling – “reviling” is abusive talk – some translations say “insult for insult…
B. When someone insults us, we tend to have one or two ways of response – we tend to either insult them back, or retreat. Peter says don’t do either of those things, instead, bless those who insult you…
C. Luke 6:27-29 - “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.
D. The Apostle Paul adds – Romans 12:14-21 - "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
E. I think we understand the eternal implications here, but we will talk about them in just a minute – but there is a here and now blessing for obeying God by returning good for evil. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
F. Ultimately, we are saying, God, I trust you in this when we don’t repay evil for evil or insults for insults.

Main Idea: Do good in the midst of suffering.

III: Suffer with eternity in mind.

When we have eternity in mind, it is much easier to think of others.  

1 Peter 3:13-14 - Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled

A. At first, this sounds like Peter is contradicting himself – “who is there to harm you” – then “even if you should suffer”- there isn’t a contradiction when you understand that we are eternal beings…
B. “you will be blessed”… fortunate because if we are called upon to suffer, it isn’t without meaning. Those 70 souls that were murdered for their faith may very well bring revival in their area.  Around 130 years after Peter wrote this letter, Tertullian famously said, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”  
C. 1 Peter 3:18-20 - For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
D. How do we remain positive and do good when we are in the midst of suffering?  By remembering the suffering of Christ that happened on our behalf.
E. He took on the suffering that we deserved and we earned and has granted us salvation.  This salvation and new life He has given us is pictured in baptism.
F. Peter 3:21-22 - Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
G. For clarification, Peter isn’t saying that baptism is saving you here… Theologian Wayne Grudem explains: "But what does Peter mean by saying that baptism … now saves you? It saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience. We could paraphrase, ‘Baptism now saves you—not the outward physical ceremony of baptism but the inward spiritual reality which baptism represents.’ Thus Peter guards against any ‘magical’ view of baptism which would attribute saving power to the physical ceremony itself."
H. While baptism doesn’t save you, we are commanded by God to be baptized once we have surrendered to Him…

Main Idea: Do good in the midst of suffering.

Conclusion: In order to do good in any circumstance we need to remember: other people and their need for Christ, our eternal reward, and the example of our Master. We learn to do good through the example of Jesus. We follow Him in baptism and may be required to follow Him in suffering. We also remember His sacrifice through the Lord's Supper. Peter wrote: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God”