Blessed Through Suffering

1 Peter 3:13–17 CSB

¹³ Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, ¹⁵ but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. ¹⁶ Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. ¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

Who can harm us?

Peter begins this section with a question: Who then will harm you for doing good?

While it seems like a rhetorical questions that expects the answer of “no one”, their present reality could prompt an answer like, “my neighbor”, “the Romans” or “Nero”.

To understand vs 13 you have to remember what you just read (or listened to) previously. We call this context.

1 Peter 3:12 “12 because 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 what is evil.”

God watches over those that do good, and he opposes those that do evil.

1 Peter 3:13 “13 Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good?”

It is not that people will leave you alone, nor is is that people will fear you. But if God is in control and is looking out for his children then we can be sure that things will be OK — eventually — though maybe not in our lifetime. That is a relief because that means I do not have to worry about revenge or justice because God promises to take care of that for me. That can give us closure to the injustices we face in this life.

SO – we have a God that has our back, so no one can truly harm us, BUT they can make life miserable for us!

1 Peter 3:14 “14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed…  “

Blessing from suffering

If you suffer for RIGHT LIVING you are blessed.

If you suffer for breaking the law, sinning, being stupid… well that is a different story. That would bring about the opposite of blessing! IF you suffer for doing the right thing, as your brother I will support you and try to support you in your suffering. If you suffer for doing something evil, I will still meet with you, but to help you address the sin and repent. Your consequences will still be yours and my empathy level will be low.

The blessed is not that you are suffering.

Let’s not paint a false image of a “super-spiritual Christian” that celebrates their persecution. That is not real. We rejoice because we know God will be pleased with us and is with us, not because our circumstances are terrible!

I want to come back to this concept of blessing a little later. Let’s keep moving.

A Godly Response to Suffering

So, WHO WOULD dare mess with you… but if they do – how do we respond?

1 Peter 3:14 “14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated,”

DON’T

The first think you might notice is that we have some things we are told NOT to do.

Do not fear them –

There are a lot of verses that talk about not fearing men — even Jesus taught this! God is the only one we should fear. Don’t fear others. Fear God by submitting to his Lordship.

As is his custom, Peter is digging back to the Law and Prophets to remind his listeners of the words Yahweh gave them about these situations hundreds of years before.

Isaiah 8:12–13 CSB

¹² Do not call everything a conspiracy
that these people say is a conspiracy.
Do not fear what they fear;
do not be terrified.
¹³ You are to regard only the Lord of Armies as holy.
Only he should be feared;
only he should be held in awe.

Do not be intimidated – ultimately they have no control over you unless God gives it to them.

This word for intimidation has a LOT of meaning.

• Don’t be restless.
• Don’t be anxious.
• Don’t be distressed.
• Don’t be troubled.
• Don’t doubt.

It is the same word in John 14:1 – ⭐

John 14:1 CSB

¹ “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

Don’t doubt the goodness of God because there is suffering. Don’t doubt the power of God because suffering exists. Don’t allow your circumstances and oppression from others to alter your view of who God is.

Instead, we are to live with confidence, calmness, peace, and of course HOPE.

1 Peter 1:3 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”

REALITY CHECK. This set of verses is certainly not trying to teach “If you trust God you will never be intimidated”. That is a dangerous teaching. In some circles you might hear false teachings like, “If you just had more faith in God you would not struggle in this or that.”

It seems like all of the great men and women of faith had times of doubts, times of intimidations, times of anxiety or distress.  Just think of David — we was told he would be king, but it did not happen immediately! And during that delay he was hunted down like an animal to be killed. Let’s read one of his Psalms:

Psalm 13 CSB

For the choir director. A psalm of David.
¹ How long, Lord? Will you forget me  forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day? How long will my enemy dominate me?
³ Consider me and answer, Lord my God. Restore brightness to my eyes; otherwise, I will sleep in death.
⁴ My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,” and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
⁵ But I have trusted in your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord because he has treated me generously.

What I love about the Psalms is that they paint a realism to our faith. David felt like God abandoned him. He felt like his enemies won and were going to dominate him in. He even said he was shaken, anxious, mentally tormented. Have you ever felt that way?

BUT his heart trusts in God – he will not turn his back on God because he knows God. And even if the present suffering takes his life, he declares that God has treated him generously (has been good to me).

How can David say God has treated him well when his enemies triumph and when he is anxious, shaken and exhausted? Because he is not focused on the current situation but the future promise. He was focusing on who God is and what God can do – if it is meant that God allowed his enemies to triumph over him.

This is the same type of attitude that Peter wants us to have. WHEN we fear, WHEN we are shaken, WHEN we feel anxious – remember who God is and what he has promised.  DON”T be shaken. Don’t believe the lie that your circumstances and suffering is too big for God.

DO

Don’t fear people. Don’t be intimidated. Now we come to a section of things we need to DO.

1 Peter 3:15 CSB

¹⁵ but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Regard Jesus as Lord

We don’t have “lords” today, so that has become one of those terms we use in church that may have lost its meaning. It means boss. Set apart Jesus as CEO, Boss, Commander in Chief.

Heart.

This is the Greek word Kardia – which means heart. Since life was connected to the blood, the heart represented LIFE.  Allow Jesus to rule over every part of your life and let him be the one that sustains your life.

SET APART / HOLY

The word that we translate “holy” here is the word we also translate as “sanctify”  – both of which mean “set apart”. So what does it meant to regard Jesus as “set apart” in this context?

• Recognize that our lives are in Christ and therefore are set apart from our current struggles.
• Recognize that Jesus is above all that we struggle with, and we are now in him.

It means choosing to live for him and not being concerned about what others think or do to us.

Psalm 56:3–4 CSB

³ When I am afraid,
I will trust in you.
⁴ In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?

Respond to Opportunities

In relationship to God, we are to set Jesus as Lord and live for him alone. Allowing him to rule over us and giving him pre-eminence. But what about our response to those that are causing us to suffer? ⭐

1 Peter 3:15–16 NIV

¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Always be ready to give an answer for your hope.

That means they need to see your hope, then they will be willing to hear about your hope. You and I need to weather suffering and challenges in our lives in a different way than those that do not know God. Because we DO have hope!

Sharing what God has done, is doing and will do is all about sharing our hope. That is what we call a testimony. This is what Paul did in the book of Acts! He shared the hope that he has in the resurrection, in Jesus, and in his mission.

It does NOT mean they will respond – but that is not our work. Our work is to share. Only God changes hearts!

Be Respectful

When people see that we weather suffering different than others, it will catch their attention, and some people will ask questions. That is probably NOT the right time for a “turn-or-burn” sermon!

We are to treat them with respect and our response should be gentle. The Bible is FULL of verses about the power of a gentle and respectful response. Don’t lay into them. Simply give them details about your faith and even more importantly about God. It might be simple answers, like:

• I have hope because I have found that God is trustworthy.
• I have hope because God has shown me that this world is not what life is all about.
• I have hope because I know I am accepted by the God who made me even if others never accept me.

We might *want* to call down fire from heaven on them. We might *want* to show them their depravity. But destroying them and berating them will not bring about God’s redemption for them.

Don’t disqualify the work of Jesus by being a jerk.

Social media has made it really easy to be a jerk. #justsaying and THAT is a very dangerous hashtag. Social media allows people to say things about others without saying them in front of the person we are talking about. There is a license, a freedom, in being able to speak unchecked and unfiltered. And there is a tremendous danger as well.

Too many Christians have used social media as a counseling platform where they can “let it all out” without ever giving a though to the eternal implications.

1 Peter 3:16 “16 Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.”

It is our good conduct that will put them to shame. Sometimes this will happen immediately.  They will make accusations or slander and when we do not return evil for evil, but give a blessing, they look bad and it can shame them. Ultimately, Peter is referring to them being put to shame SOME DAY – or ON THAT DAY.  But notice WHO is going to be doing the shaming on THAT DAY? It will be God. Peter talked about this previously:

1 Peter 2:12 “12 Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.”

Perhaps the question to ask when I give a response is, “Why am I saying or doing this?”

When it comes to me words and actions during conflict and opposition, that question can not only save me from a lot of regret, but it can also help keep my motives pure.

• Do I want to retaliate in such a way as to “win” or prove that I am right and my actions justifiable?
• Do I want to respond in such a way that God is pleased with my actions and words?
• Do I want to treat others they way they are treating me, or the way God treats me?
• Do I want my name to be vindicated or God’s name to be?

If God wills

Let’s wrap up…

1 Peter 3:17 “17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

I really like the way the CJB translates this verse:

1 Peter 3:17 CJB

¹⁷ For if God has in fact willed that you should suffer, it is better that you suffer for doing what is good than for doing what is evil.

Anyone else wrestle with the phrase that “God wills that we might suffer”? Have you ever thought about that? Not that God does harm to us, but that he might allow others to do harm to us? If he allows it, are you going to be OK with it?

Job is one of the most widely known stories of the Bible. It is known by people who have never even read the Bible. The opening scene is the dialogue between God and “the accuser” where God allows the accuser to cause Job to suffer BECAUSE Job is righteous.

Perhaps it is such as well known story because suffering is universally known. Perhaps it is popular because it helps us understand that sometimes we can suffer for doing what is right. Hopefully it helps us understand that God is not the cause of suffering, though he may allow us to suffer.

So, one question we might ask is, “Why does God allow us to suffer?”

At the end of Job, we read this:

Job 42:5 “I had heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.”

Times of suffering can bring us closer to God than times of prosperity if we are willing to seek and obey God during our suffering .

I want to marry that verse with one we read at the beginning of our passage:

1 Peter 3:14 CSB

¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated,

If you suffer for living for God (righteousness) you are blessed. Job went from knowing about God to seeing God by suffering for righteousness. I believe one of the greatest blessings of suffering is that enlarges our vision of who God is. We get to know God better.

We are not promised that the suffering will end, but the blessing of knowing God and seeing him more clearly have been realized by many of us here today. 

If the only purpose of your suffering was that you would know God better – wouldn’t that be reason enough to rejoice in your suffering?

Ultimately, the FOCUS is on owning OUR OWN actions.

I think this is one of the challenges of our culture. Few are willing to take responsibility for their own actions. Most prefer to find fault with the other person’s action: in government, our workplaces, and even in marriages.

Peter is certainly saying that the focus needs to be on MY actions. It does not matter what others are doing, am I placing the name of Jesus first? Am I living in a way that will make God smile REGARDLESS of what others say or do to me?

How we respond in adversity matters!

• It may lead to them coming to know Jesus!
• It may allow me to see God like I have never seen him before.