Rejoice in Suffering: God Prepares, Is Present, Preserves

Peter has a hard word for us that we need to hear as Christians. He says that if you live for Jesus in this world, you are going to suffer for it. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Now, this morning, we're just studying eight verses, but you might have noticed this as Sydney was reading today that the word suffering appears four times. So, in this small, you know, clutch of verses, here's what you read. Suffering, suffering, suffering, suffering, fiery trials, testing insult judgment. That's our word today. But right next to those words, you hear glory, praise, rejoice, and blessed. And so you come to this word today and there's a tension of suffering and joy, of pain and praise, of hardship and hope. [00:57:51] (50 seconds)

You don't get to choose your suffering, but you get to choose how you respond to it. Peter says, here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna rejoice. You're gonna rejoice in your suffering. That doesn't mean that you say, yay. I'm suffering. Yay. A trial. That's weird. Don't be weird. You give thanks in the suffering, not for the suffering. Don't get that confused. See, the reason why we can rejoice, Peter outlines it. He says, here's why, because you're participating in the sufferings of Christ. [01:08:57] (27 seconds)

Revealed in the Greek refers to a veil that is lifted. So right now in your current state, you sometimes don't understand your suffering. You ever go through a trial and you're like, why is this happening? And then like ten years later, you're like, I get it. Right now, you're going through a trial and you don't understand it. And maybe ten years goes by and you still don't understand What the bible is saying is one day that veil will be lifted. It will be removed. You will see Christ in all of his glory and you will see the evidence of how every single moment of suffering and every trial you experience on earth was worth it because it's for the glory of Jesus. [01:11:49] (38 seconds)

What your post was was harsh and judgmental and as Christians, we shouldn't talk like that. That's why Peter says to always speak with gentleness and respect to unbelievers. And so in the same way, if you go around taking a baseball bat to a beehive, you shouldn't be upset and confused when you start getting stung. Peter says that's gonna happen. But if you suffer for being a Christian, that's different. You need to understand something today about being a Christian. The word of God just doesn't align with our culture at all. And so when you start reading the word and you say, I'm going to actually live this out, people are going to make fun of you. They're gonna mock you. They're gonna think you're weird. You might even lose friends. You might lose a a relationship. [01:15:31] (42 seconds)