This last Sunday Pastor Craig preached a sermon called “From Death to Life“ (I am a little disappointed I have not seen any increase of traffic to my website because of his sermon). The text he was preaching from was 1 Peter 4:1-6. His main points was ”Arm yourself with the intention to suffer, understanding that it is inevitable. To do so is to make a decisive break with sin, imitating the thinking of Christ“.
He asked and answered several questions in this sermon such as:
What is the way of thinking we are to imitate Christ in regards to suffering?
- Christ accepted suffering as part of being in the flesh.
- Christ accepted suffering as the consequence of holiness.
- Christ accepted suffering as doing the will of God.
He asked another question which was very pragmatic. He asked ”Why does it have to work this way?“ Why do we as Christians have to suffer, why is suffering inevitable for Christians?
Paraphrasing Pastor Craig’s answer (even typing on my computer I am not fast enough to keep up with him), he said ”When holiness touches a fallen world there is a violent reaction, there is push back, there are sparks of friction.” They are polar opposites.
With that answer is it at all surprising when Holiness personified (Jesus) touched the world that people reacted the way they did? Jesus was hated by the world but He was never polluted or stained by it.
So again why do we suffer (stealing from my notes again)?
- We suffer because we choose God’s will and we inherit suffering.
- We suffer because human beings hate holiness unless we embrace holiness
If we have been called (Romans 8:30) and we have chosen to follow God’s will, we will be transformed from the depraved lawless idolaters (1 Peter 4:2) to being holy and blameless, conformed into the image of his son (Colossians 1:22; Romans 8:29). The metaphors that describe this process in the bible is anything but fluffy bunnies, comfort and ease.
God knitted us together in the womb to make us the way he wanted us (Psalm 139:13-14). He once again takes up His tools to reshape and transform us into a holy image of His Son. One of His tools of choice is our suffering. God orchestrates our suffering to transform us as the master potter uses a clay knife and potter’s wheel (Isaiah 64:8) or as a metal smith uses a a refiner’s fire (Malachi 3:2-3) or furnace and files to forge and shape metal. (See Proverbs 17:3; Isaiah 48:10; 1 Peter 1:6-7; Titus 2:14)
God uses suffering to purify us from the world. Unlike Jesus we do get polluted and stained by the world. God needs to scrape, file and burn off the sludge of our sin and worldliness. That process hurts. We were born of the world and have always lived within it. Now God is scraping the worldly and sinful things that we have come to depend upon to replace it with His holiness, grace and love.
As God continues to work on me I am beginning to understand why both Peter and Paul see their suffering as a gift and are able to rejoice in it.
Thank you Lord for letting me suffer through my depression and bringing me from death to life. I pray that you continue to teach us all how to trust you especially in our suffering.
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