Following Jesus Always Includes Unjust Suffering

Let me read verse 12 and then we'll jump down to verse 18. Peter writes, keep your behavior, lifestyle excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evil doers, they may on account of your good deeds as they observe them glorify God in the day of visitation. Verse 18, servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor that is grace if for the sake of conscience toward God a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated you endure it with patience, but if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds grace with God. If you have been called for this purpose, you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth, and while being reviled he did not revile in return, while suffering he uttered no threats but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously, and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds you were healed, for you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Father, we ask now that you would bless your word as we look at it. We prepare our hearts for this communion table. We pray that your spirit would open our eyes and our hearts. We have had our eyes open to this great need and the other side of the world, Father, where you have raised up men and women who have this deep conviction and desire to spread the gospel among these people, of their own people, and Father, we pray that you would continue to give us a part in this for the sake of Christ we pray. Amen. You may be seated.

I want to just spend a couple, just a few minutes on, if you notice in their bulletin, there's some notes there, in fact, I'm going to jump down to the last point, but notice what we're talking about is how following Jesus Christ always includes suffering and suffering that is unjust suffering. That is suffering that comes when we don't deserve it. That is a part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple of Jesus Christ is a person who is an apprentice of Jesus Christ. He is learning to live. His inner life is being shaped to become like the inner life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And here in first Peter, Peter commands believers to live an excellent life and that sounds wonderful. That is to live in such a way that even our enemies end up glorifying God. Sounds wonderful until he begins to give the examples of what that means, the implications. And he begins, for example, in verses 13 through 17, it says, that means submitting to civil authorities. We are to live an excellent life by submitting to civil authorities. Even when it takes you a year to get a use permit to build, you continue to submit to civil authorities.

He goes on and talks about submitting to unjust masters, which we just read. We'll look at in a second. And then finally, maybe the hardest of all, submitting to disobedient husbands. He tells women, this is how you're going to live an excellent life before the world. This is our calling. And the reason is our calling is to, primarily, if you notice in your notes there, the first is that we live in a fallen world.

And because we live in a fallen world, we're going to experience this all the time. But there's a deeper and more powerful reason. And that is that we have been called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. This is really one of those passages, one of those phrases that we must follow in its steps that we hear a lot about. Maybe one of the most shocking things about seeing any depiction of the sufferings of Christ is the fact that we have been called to follow in its steps. And quite specifically, in this context, is to follow in its steps in this way to suffer the way Jesus suffered, to suffer unjustly.

And then he tells us why it brings grace from God. Why does it please God in Isaiah 53? This has great impact on us in days like this. Isaiah says it pleased the Lord to crush him. It delighted the heart of God. He was delightfully attentive as he crushed his son as he stood in our place.

And Peter explains why that this is our calling to follow in the steps of Jesus. Why Jesus suffered in this way? And notice what he says. He says, first of all, that his suffering secured our salvation and provided us an example, those two things. When Jesus suffered, it did secure our salvation, all those who would come to believe on him, but it also provided an example for us in the way we are to suffer. And he says this in verse 21, you have been called summoned by the living God for this purpose that is to suffer unjustly.

Since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. What an amazing calling, the follow in the steps of Jesus, to be willing to suffer injustice in order to follow Christ, in order to be obedient to Christ. I don't think anyone doubts the fact that the American church or the church in the West is probably the least tested generation of believers in the history of the church. There are so many Christians who aren't even aware that it's going to cost them something to follow Christ. That following Jesus Christ is a costly pursuit. It's why Jesus said to the great multitude who was following him and we're so excited about it.

He turns them in Luke 14 and says, no one can be my disciple. If he doesn't hate his father and mother and sister and brother in his own life, and takes up his cross and follows me. Now taking up your cross means that you take up the very implementation of your own death, your own dying to self, that you're willing to say no to yourself in order to say yes to Christ in being a disciple of Jesus Christ. And in this text Peter says, and Peter is going to experience us by the way, he has experienced it already when he writes this letter but he's going to die. He's going to be put to death because of his following Jesus Christ. Tradition says he demanded that he be crucified upside down so that because he didn't feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner that Jesus was, he laid down his life for Christ and he's telling us that that's what Christ has called us to do.

But notice also, in verses 22 and 23, that the suffering of Jesus revealed his true character and the suffering of the disciple reveals your true character. When you suffer, it reveals your character. This is one of the scariest things about suffering. Sometimes we don't like what we see when we suffer. And notice what he says in verse 22, he committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. And while being reviled, that is in the process when he was being reviled, when he was being cursed at, when he was being spit upon, when he was being treated, as though he wasn't even a man, it says he did not revile in return.

While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. What a man is under pressure is his true character. Our true character is revealed when we are under pressure. Jesus says in Matthew 12, the thing that we're going to be held accountable for are those words that shoot forth from our mouth under times when we are unguarded. When what comes out of the mouth really reveals the heart. He says that's what we're going to be judged for.

The reason is it's a revelation of our heart. It's what we really are. It says of Jesus, this is what revealed, this is what was revealed about the Lord Jesus when he suffered. He was faultless in verse 22. In fact, that's why he suffered is because he was faultless. Six times Jesus stood in judgment.

Under Jewish trial, three times under Roman trial, and Peter says he was faultless in word and deed. They couldn't even find anyone to make accusation against him that would stand up in their own courts. He suffered sinlessly. The writer Hebrew says he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. He was sinless. That's what his suffering revealed, it revealed the true nature of his heart.

Now what we need to understand is when we suffer and what is revealed is not sinlessness, it should encourage us to flee to the cross of fresh. And not only that, but to come to God and say, I don't want to be this kind of person. I'm amazed at how people when they fall into sin, they always say it was the circumstances. The circumstances were just intolerable. I didn't really want to do this. Oh yes, you did.

That's why you sin. We sin because that's what we want to do more than anything else at that moment. Instead, what we ought to say is, you know what? This is the kind of person I am. I'm a person who lies under pressure. I'm the kind of person who will not do the right thing when it's going to hurt me and I want to change.

I want to become like Jesus. I want to be an apprentice of Jesus. I want the Spirit of God to change me into a different kind of person. That's what suffering ought to do to us. It ought to cause us to flee to him and ask that he would change us. Instead of asking that the pressure be taken off, we ought to pray, God, let this pressure change me.

Refine my faith. Refine my character. And then at verse 23, it says he was patient. This is how he suffered. He was patient in his suffering. While he was being reviled, he didn't revile in return.

He could have, while suffering, he was enduring evil, physical abuse. His trial wasn't anything like a modern American trial, as you know. And yet he did not strike back his response. Peter gives us like a moving picture here. He was not reviling in return. As they were reviling him, he was never reviling in return.

He didn't attack them. He didn't even threaten them. He could have threatened them, but he offered no threats. He didn't attack them. He didn't become in bitter. It says he kept entrusting himself to the one who judges righteously.

Who was that? Well, it's the God who was in sovereign control over that whole process. As Peter preached on the day of Pentecost to the Jews, you with sin in your heart handed him over with evil hands you did this.

But it was also the sovereign work of God, because God was the one who handed him over for judgment on our behalf. And so he, instead of getting embittered at those who were trying to destroy him, he gave himself a fresh to the Father as he went through this trial. The Father was delighted with the suffering of his son, because the son's suffering revealed the truth about him. This is an amazing thing. The Bible says that what men call weakness, God says is the greatest display of his strength ever, when God became so weak that men could take him into their hands and do with him whatever they wanted to do. The weakness of God was this great display of the Almighty power of God that removed our sin.

The foolishness of God of becoming sin for us was the great wisdom of God. How in the world could you ever save a fallen humanity that is at war with God, that refuses to stop being at war with God? You send your son and he becomes one of them. And then he takes up our humanity and he offers us it up to God. And all those who come to be connected with him are transformed through this. His suffering removes our sin problem.

Notice in verse 24, he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds. You were healed. The suffering of Christ wasn't just a model. He was being a mediator. He was suffering in our place to remove our sin. He bore our sin.

What a picture this is. It means bearing a heavy load and the heavy load was our sin. The weight of our sin, the guilt of our sin was upon him. And in Isaiah 53, when it says that God was pleased to crush him, if he would render himself a guilt offering, if he was willing to take the sin of the world upon himself and then suffer the penalty for that sin, he would redeem us. He would set us free. The problem that we have is that there is a penalty for sin and that penalty is death.

The Old Testament sacrificial system was to bring that home to the heart of those who came to the temple time after time again, that the only release from the penalty of sin was the death, was death, the shedding of blood. God's picture of how man gets rid of his sin. But the problem is that the Bible says that this death is an eternal death, that the penalty for sin is eternal death apart from the presence of God. And Jesus comes to experience that kind of death. And you say, well, how could he do that? How could the brief sufferings of Jesus?

You know, he was only on the cross for six hours. He was only hanging by the nails in his hands and his feet for six hours, three hours of that in total darkness. How could six hours? Oh, it was treacherous.

But how could six hours of suffering the wrath of God pay the penalty of eternal death for us? Is Jesus an egomaniac? No. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. His life was worth so much to the Father that the six hours of suffering that Jesus experienced in our place was payment in full for our sins. And finally, in verses 24 and 25, the universe 24 and 25, he says his sufferings restored our relationship.

I love this. Notice this is the benefit of me dying for us. For by his wounds, you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. We've been healed. Everything about us that made us alienated from God, all of the effects of sin that was upon us that kept us in this state has been taken care of through the suffering of Jesus Christ.

We're able to have a relationship with the living God. His wounds brought about our spiritual wholeness, he says. But then notice in verse 25, not only that, now he takes care of us. He doesn't just save us, but he shepherds us. You know, there's a beautiful expression in Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 40, right at the end of Isaiah 40. Turn there just a second.

We're going to come to the Lord's table. But in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 11, listen to these words. Isaiah the prophet says, like a shepherd, he will tend his flock.

Now that meant a lot more to them than it does to most of us. How does a shepherd tend his flock? Well, with great care and tenderness. Notice this, like a shepherd, he will tend his flock. In his arm, he will gather the lambs who can't keep the pace up, and he will carry them in his bosom, and he will gently lead the nursing use. That is those who can't move very fast.

In other words, not only has he saved us, but he's going to shepherd us. He's going to lead us and feed us and sustain us because he purchased us with his own blood. One of the warnings we have about this table is if we take this Lord's supper in an unworthy manner that we are subject to the discipline of Almighty God. If I come to this table and in taking this, I am trying to foist a lie upon God and His people. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11 that if we do that, we can expect that God's disciplining hand will come upon us. And he says to the Corinthians, because they were doing this, and because of this, many of you are sick, many of you are weak, and some of you have fallen asleep, some of you have died because of this.

He takes it so seriously. You see, this shepherd shepherds his lambs, and he's brought us into a relationship with him. And when we come around this table, we understand that we're coming into the very presence of Almighty God because Jesus Christ is here among us. And we partake of this with him, and we say by taking this loaf and this cup that it is in Christ, the one who died in our place that we have rested our faith and our trust, and that we recognize everyone else who takes this cup as our brothers and sisters in Christ who have also been purchased by this blood and have been brought into this union with the living God. He takes what Christ has done so seriously that he says, if you don't take it in a worthy manner, if you come foughtlessly, and you pretend as though because you think there's pressure on you because you've got to fit into the group, you ought to partake of this supper, you are greatly mistaken. The living God is looking down upon us.

You know, the Jesus said, you can't put new wine into old wine skins and he talks about the, Paul talks about the fact that we have this treasure in earthen vessels. That is the treasure is this Christ and his gospel. The vessels are earthen vessels. Some, you know, earthen pots, he says, some people say crack pots like us. He has put his treasure in us. Christ lives within us.

And it doesn't matter what the outside looks like. It doesn't matter what the vessel looks like. What's important is what is the treasure?

And so we come to this table just because I don't wear vestments and I don't look like clergy doesn't mean that this is not a very serious matter to the living God because this is a table that celebrates his son and what his son has done for a people. And so we come with great seriousness. We come with great rejoicing because Jesus Christ suffered for us. He restored our relationship. He healed us by his wounds and now because we have believed upon him we come together around this table and we celebrate that great work of Jesus Christ and we glory in the fact that he has purchased us and made us one in Christ.

And so we come with great seriousness but with great joy. So I would just encourage you if you were a believer in taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner doesn't mean I didn't sin this past week. Oh, you'd be lying if you said that but it means are you in a right relationship with him? If you're living in rebellion against God, if you're in your plans you're already deciding you're not going to walk with them this week. You're not going to obey him. You're not going to about it as authority.

Then please don't take this Lord's Supper because what you were saying by taking it is he is my Lord. I need his forgiveness every day because I don't obey him perfectly but I am committed to following Christ. That's what we're doing. So as we come around the table, would you come with your hearts prepared? I'm going to pray I want them in to come forward and as we sing we'll pass out the elements and then we'll pray over them before we partake. Our Father we thank you this morning that the Lord Jesus Christ died at Calvary to save a people from the United States and Uganda and the Philippines and South America, North America, Asia, Africa, Europe.

Save people out of every tribe and tongue and nation. Even as we come around this table this morning we're just a little group but we know that we are coming to a table around which people all across this globe come to. As we celebrate this glorious Savior who laid down his life for us and made us one with each other, we pray that we could come with hearts that are humble, that we'd come in a worthy manner. We know we are not worthy in ourselves. We want to come in a worthy manner, humble before you, believing in this Christ that we celebrate. We pray in Christ's name.

Amen.