Christians Suffer For Christ's Sake

Good morning church. Hope you're all doing good. Shall we turn our Bibles to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3, from verse 8 through 17. “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 are called, that you may obtain a blessing.

“For whoever desires to love life and seek 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. 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.” Verse 13. “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, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make so anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience so that when you are slandered,

“those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.” So this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for this time that you have given us, Lord, to worship you, to honor you, to sing praises to you, and to look into your word, Lord. Now as we, Lord, spend some time understanding this passage, we pray that you will just open our eyes and ears, that we may be obedient students of your word.

Father, help us to understand this passage and apply the principles to our lives and help us, Lord, to live in such a way that will bring glory and honor to your great name. I pray, Holy Spirit, you help us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So this is a big passage, and from this passage what we are going to look at is that Christians in this world will have to suffer for Christ's sake. So the title is Christians Suffer for Christ's Sake. So under that we can see that this passage can be divided into two big portions. So from verse, we can see that Christians can expect sufferings there.

And from 13 to 17, we see Christians endure sufferings. So those are the two parts. And those are the two subtitles that we will look at. So now, this Christians suffer for Christ's sake. This is not a fancy title or really an attractive one.

However, this is a truth that we see in the New Testament about Christians. Christians are those who have repented of their sins and trusted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. It is they who go through hard times or persecutions in this world.

This is not something new that is happening only in this century, but since the beginning of this world, God's people have had difficulties living in this world full of evil. So the word evil means immoral or wicked in one sense, or harmful or injurious in another sense. The word evil has a Germanic origin and probably that is why when we think of evil, we think of Hitler from Germany.

One of the deadly evil guys in the world. So coming to this passage, let's just look at the historical context of this book, 1 Peter. So Christians who lived in times of the apostles faced a lot of persecution under the rulers of Rome especially.

Nero was one of those Hitler kind of person who targeted Christians and tortured them like anything. It is believed that Peter died in AD 67 when Nero was ruling Rome. According to tradition, Peter was crucified upside down on the cross. It is this Peter who is writing this letter to Christians who are going through persecution because of their faith. So he wrote to comfort those who are going through these hard times and give them hope which is in Christ Jesus alone. own so when we see the context of this book peter opens this letter calling christians as elect exiles we see that in verse one and then he praises god for the great mercy that he has shown towards his chosen ones he reminds christians how they were born again to a living hope through

the resurrection of Jesus Christ and we see that in first Peter chapter 1 verse 3 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead then he reminds them of the inheritance that Christians have in heaven which never fades or perishes then he encourages them to rejoice even though they are grieved by various trials because their sufferings will only prove their faith and prepare them for their Savior. So we see all these things in chapter 1, first passage itself. So in chapter 1, Peter calls them to be holy and to conduct themselves with fear of God. In verse 17 of chapter 1 we see that.

Then in chapter 2, he reminds them who they are in Christ and calls them to keep their conduct among the Gentiles honorable. Then he goes on to tell them in chapters 2 and 3, end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3, to submit to human authorities that God has placed over them.

That is, to the government authorities, to masters, to husbands, and all being Gentiles. To wives, Peter says that husbands may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. chapter 3 verse 1 you see that then peter calls christians to be submissive not just when everything is going well but even in hard times when they are treated unjustly or cruelly first peter chapter 2 verse 18 through 21 we'll just read this and look at some things here 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 18 through 21 In

this passage, we can see a couple of things. You see that Peter is saying that it is a gracious thing to endure suffering for Christ's sake. It's a gracious thing. He repeats that in verse 19 and in verse 20. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God to endure suffering. So when a person is mindful of God in such situations and endure sufferings, then he says it is a gracious thing. And he also reminds them that Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his footsteps.

This kind of suffering is a gracious thing before God. It means that it is worthy of God's attention as it is the imitation of Christ. God himself praises them and accepts them because they honor God before people by following in the footsteps of Christ.

Peter encourages servants or workers or employees to do so. Peter likewise tells both husbands and wives to conduct themselves in a way that honors God and wins people to Christ. After saying these things, Peter pens the word. In verse 8, finally, finally. Well, this is not the end of the sermon. This is just the beginning.

So we come to our passage now to see what's in it for today. He says, “Finally, all of you.” Whom is he talking to now? To the church, to Christians, to the members of the local church, to the gathered Christians, as if they are a team or a unit. So we see most of the epistles written by the apostles are written to local churches but if you have them what it into some people. So, Peter is writing here to a local church. He's speaking to them collectively. So they also, as the letter is read to them, and as they are listening to Peter as one man having one ear.

I hope that this is the case here. If not, then this ought to be the case. So all the Christians together in the local church act like one man listening with one ear. After targeting specific groups, Peter then finally speaks to all of them together.

In the previous chapter, in chapter 2, we see that he talks to masters, he talks to servants, he talks to husbands, and he talks to wives. And then here he comes generalizing everything. So Peter is moving from speaking to specific groups to a general crowd. Until now he has given specific rules to specific groups. Now he is generalizing things for everyone. Now let us see what Peter wants to, wants us to know as Christians living in this world. So we come to our first point here, which is Christians expect sufferings. So if you look at this passage from verse 8 to 12, so we can divide this into two big parts again, verse 8 and 9 and verse 10 through 12. So in verse 8 Peter talks about the attitudes that Christians should have and in verse 9

he tells them what not to do and then what to do and the result of it. Then verses 10 through 12 is a quote from Psalm 34 verses 13 through 15. He borrows it from that Psalm which is in relation to what he just said in verses 8 and 9.

So how should Christians be? So when we come to verse 8 of chapter 3, we see there are five must-haves for Christian according to this verse. So we can see five things there. Number one is unity of mind, two sympathy, three brotherly love, four a tender heart, and five a humble mind. Thus these are the five things that Isaac’s Christians must have. So unity of mind, the first one. This calls for more than one person to work together, actually the whole church to work together. This is an essential attitude that the church should have. In Ephesians 4 Paul calls the church to be eager to maintain the unity of

the Spirit in the bond of peace. Unity in the church is something that the Holy Spirit causes. And it is our responsibility as members to guard that unity and maintain peace in our local churches. We guard it by having a unity of mind among ourselves.

Take a football team or a soccer team, as we say. All the players on the ground have one goal before them, right? One goal before them. They must work with the unity of mind to score goals and win the— When I played football or soccer with my schoolmates, our team had one goal, just to kick the ball. It doesn’t matter where.

So they would be fighting for the ball outside the school compound, just to kick it. And that is not a good lesson. So we should learn from the professional players. So we in our churches should also work with the same mindset. Our one goal before us is Christ and his glory.

In this we must be united in our hearts and minds. Otherwise we will fail him and dishonor him greatly. The second thing is sympathy. It means to feel with somebody the feelings they are going through. Romans 12 verse 15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.” Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus identifies himself with us. He knows what we go through and much more than that. When Christians experience pain, he feels it. He feels it. That's sympathy. We as Christians should have that towards other Christian brothers and sisters in our churches. It happens when we are walking in unity and love. When one suffers, we all feel the pain.

So brotherly love. Brotherly love is an affection or care shown towards others. In the context of a local church, when you treat others as your brothers and sisters, you truly care for them. And that is brotherly or sisterly love. This is one of the marks of the body of Christ. When we show this loving care towards each other in our churches, the world will see that and know that we belong to the God who is love.

And the fourth one is a tender heart, which means to show compassion towards others. This quality is possessed by our Savior himself. And the last one is a humble mind. It means to be friendly or kind towards others and not being proud or arrogant, not big headed, but to be gentle and kind in attitude. So these are the five qualities that Christians need to possess. These are not the only ones though, but in this context Peter reminds Christians these things as they are useful to set a good witness to the outside world. So, and then in verse 9 he talks about what Christians should not do, and Peter says that Christians should not repay evil for evil or

reviling for reviling. The word reviling, the term, insulting talk, speaking evil against someone. This verse sets the stage for what is about to come. There is an expectation. In the first place, why did Peter say that? Because it was probably happening to them. We know from the text and the history that it did happen and is still happening to Christians all over the world. There is abuse everywhere, especially towards Christians in this world. So how should Christians respond when someone does them harm or picture them as bad people before others? Peter tells his audience not to act in the same way as them.

Not to act in the same way as them. He says, “Do not repay, do not repay.” This is not an eye for eye or a tooth for tooth command. Those days are gone. That’s for a different context and a different covenant. We are in the new covenant and the thing and things have changed, and even some commands. So as Christians there are some things that we are not supposed to do. And one of them is retaliating or taking revenge.

Jesus himself said, “Vengeance is mine and I will repay it.” So let us leave that to him. It is not our job to strike back when someone does harm to us. Now what should Christians do? Instead, they should bless that person who is causing them harm or pain.

This is something hard, isn’t it? That is why Peter is saying here, “bless them.” Bless means to pronounce divine favor upon or ask God to show favor on the person. It’s asking God to show favor on the person who is hurting us. He is saying use your mouth to speak good things and not evil things about others.

What do we generally expect to happen to our enemies or to those who hate us? As a normal sinful human being, we expect harm to happen to them in return for causing us harm, isn’t it? That’s a sinful desire. Christians should overcome that and do quite the opposite. They should expect that God will have mercy on them.

What did Jesus teach us? He says, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.” This is exactly what Jesus did to us while we were his enemies. When we hated him, he loved us. When we cursed him with our lips, he blessed us. When we took his name in vain, he prayed for us. Now we who trust in him are the objects of his grace and mercy — should we not reflect the same? In fact, Peter says that we are called for this. You can see that there: “but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called.” It is a part of a calling to bless

others and they revile us. We must feel obligated to do what Christ commands us to do. Through Peter, Christ is commanding us to bless others and not to do evil to them. So what should come out of our mouths? Blessings. There’s a story. There’s a new local church pastor moved into our neighborhood and he’s working on his house rebuilding it and also is doing his yard work and trying to build a boundary with the woodwork. So he got his hammer and started nailing the wood. So a boy from the neighborhood ran towards him and he just sat right opposite to him and started watching him, and as the pastor is working on the wood with hammer in his hands and driving nails into the wood.

After some time, the pastor felt a bit annoyed with the boy, but then he wanted to know what he’s about to do. So he asked the boy, so he said like, “Young man, are you here watching me and learning how to do carpentry?” He said, “No.”

And the pastor kept working. A lot of things were running in his mind about why the boy was there. Asked him again, “young man why are you here?” And he replied saying, “I want to see what comes out of the mouth of a pastor when he hits his finger with the hammer.”

Do you get it? So his reply was, “I want to see what comes out of the mouth of a pastor when he hits his finger with a hammer.” People are watching us to see what comes out of a mouth, Christians. Now what would be the result if you obey? There it says that “you may obtain a blessing.” That is, we will find favor with the Lord. What is a blessing that we can expect here? If we look at the next three verses, Peter is quoting from Psalm 34 where the psalmist expects the Lord to bless him in this life and deliver him from all the afflictions from his

enemies, from all the trials that he was going through. So in verses 10 through 12 we say, or verses 10 to 12 says that whoever desires to love life and seek good days should keep his mouth from what? Evil. So he should keep his mouth in control and turn away from evil to do good and seek peace. It is a blessing to enjoy good days in this life.

Peter reminds them that life and good days come from the good Lord whose eyes and ears are towards his people who do his face is against those who do evil. So we see this pattern all throughout the scripture. God is for those who trust him to bless them and is against those who hate him to punish them.

So this world is full of evil doers. The curse is still on human beings because of the sin of Adam and Eve. “The heart is deceitful and wicked,” says the Bible. What can we expect to come out of it? Nothing but evil. That’s why we see children bullying each other, teens rebelling against the parents, adults getting into fights. There is no age limit to that. So what can Christians expect from this world? When others revile us, let us not see it as a— This is something that we can expect to happen. Moreover, it is not just from the world, but it can be from within our churches too.

Christians are still in flesh and blood. They are in the process of sanctification towards perfection, but they are not yet there. So there is still sin remaining in this body and those worldly attitudes can be displayed in them too. So we can expect that kind of behavior from our own brothers and sisters as well in our churches. How should we respond to that?

It is the same principle. Bless them. Do good to them. Speak kindly with them. When we have those five qualities mentioned above, this is how we respond. And the Lord who sees us will bless us and reward us for the way we act. And that leads us to our second point: Christians endure sufferings. In verse 13, Peter uses a rhetoric question saying, “Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?” We all expect that when we do good, something good happens to us in return. Right? That is a general idea in a good society and it should be the norm.

But Peter starts with the word, “now.” Look at verse 13, he starts with the word, “now.” And that should raise a question. Just before this, Peter was talking about how to enjoy a good life and he gave some principles to attain it. It sounded like if we apply that formula, everything will fall into place and everything will be good and smooth in life. However, everything changes here in verse 14. Peter says, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed.”

Though it sounds like a hypothetical situation, it is possible in this crooked world, isn’t it? What should Christians endure? So what is Peter saying here? He says, “Dear Christians, when you do what is right, and still people demean you, say all kinds of negative things about you, malign you and defame you, you just bear it and you will be blessed for it.”

God’s people have been enduring unjust sufferings since the beginning of this world. Abel endured Cain’s anger for a while until Cain killed him. Noah might have endured the taunts of the ungodly people around him as he was building that ship or boat. Joseph endured sufferings from his brothers and others.

Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others in the Old Testament suffered for doing what is right. The Lord was with them in all that they went through. In the same way, even in the New Testament we see the Apostles and early disciples suffered a lot under Roman officials.

Later, church fathers suffered. The reformers and Puritans endured sufferings at the hands of Roman Catholic officials. People of God in the history of this world suffered and they are still suffering. You and I too in some way or the other experience this suffering, isn’t it? This is not something new or strange. Above all, our Lord Jesus Christ himself endured this unjust suffering on that cross nearly two thousand years ago. He came into this world through a virgin birth and he lived a perfect, holy and sinless life. He went about doing good to others by healing them of their diseases and casting out demons and raising the dead.

And for that, he was targeted by the Pharisees, Sadducees and the scribes. They tested him, they challenged him, accused him, arrested him, mocked him, spat on him, spat on his face, beat him, flogged him and finally they crucified him. Also he endured the wrath of God so that we who truly deserve that wrath can escape the punishment and have forgiveness and eternal life in him.

It can be obtained by truly repenting of our sins and putting our trust in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Is there anyone in this room who still has not believed? This is the time to think about it. Please do not leave this room without giving a thought. If you have any questions, please come and meet the elders or your friends who are here. Talk to them about what it means to be saved from hell and sin. I urge you to put your trust in Christ who alone can forgive your sins and give you eternal life.

And as Christ was suffering on the cross, the Father who saw him endure all the sufferings was pleased with him and raised him from the dead and blessed him with a name that is above every other name in this universe. Jesus was seated at the right hand of God. Such was the blessing that God bestowed upon Jesus. He is the truly blessed one. And only in him and through him we can truly be blessed. And this is the same blessing that God promised Abraham. That through him all the families of this earth will be blessed. If we turn to Acts chapter 3 verses 25 and 26.

If we turn to Acts 3 and look at verses 25 and 26, Peter sums up like this. “And of the covenant that God made with your father, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

That is turning away from evil. What a blessing. Right? When we talk about blessing, what do we think about? I know that in the Old Testament there are a lot of physical blessings. But what is the true blessing that the Bible is talking about? It’s delivering us from our wickedness, from our sins. So all those who put their trust in Him, God will deliver them from their sins. He’ll turn them from their wickedness to Himself.

That we cannot do ourselves but God can and he does when we trust him. And how should Christians respond when they suffer for righteousness’ sake? Now a Christian who goes about with a new heart and changed life, when faced by evildoers who do evil to him, how should he respond? So Peter answers that in verse 14 itself. He says, “Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.” And in verse 15 it continues, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.” Christians should fear the Lord rather than fearing people. The Lord is in control of every situation, for he is sovereign over all. So our confidence rests in him. Our confidence should be in the Lord

and we trust him to take care of the situations that we are in. Now what should Christians do here in this context? Verse 15 onwards we see they should be ready with the gospel. They should be ready with the gospel. That’s our defense. When people see us suffering unjustly under evil evildoers or bad people, they will definitely have questions for us. When we behave differently from the world, people ask questions.

When we do not repay evil with evil, people will want to know why. And that's our moment. And that's our opportunity to share the gospel with them. And it is the defense for the hope that is in us. That is how people will come to understand how Christ, the righteous one, suffered under the unrighteous people but for the unrighteous too.

One suffered under the unrighteous. We beautify the gospel backing it with our lives and make it even more attractive to those around us when we endure sufferings for Christ’s sake. So what a privilege it is to serve in this way the gospel which saved us from our sins.

He suffered infinitely on that cross for our sake. So let us treasure him, let us love him, let us proclaim him and be faithful to him even unto death. When we do answer them in gentleness, respect, and with a good conscience, with our good behavior, as we see all those elements here in verses 15 and 16, so when we do answer them in such a way, it will put those evildoers on the spot and put them to shame.

This can be true of a Christian brother or sister who too does evil like them, and might cause them to repent. So when a Christian brother or sister sins against us, against us, watch, how should we respond to them? Be good to them. Be good to them. And that will cause them to repent. Finally Peter says that it is better to suffer for doing good, if that, than for doing evil. In verse 17 of chapter 3 we see that there is nothing special in suffering for doing evil. But when we do good and suffer for it, the Lord who rewards us will bless us for

sure. Philippians chapter 1 verses 29 and 30. Philippians chapter 1 verses 29 and 30. Paul says here, it is God’s will for us to suffer for Christ’s sake. And it is through our suffering for Christ, we show the world Christ’s suffering for us on that cross.

We point people to Christ by the way we live for Christ. In 1 Peter 4, verses 13 and 14, 1 Peter 4, verses 13 and 14, it says, “Insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”

Dear Christians, we need to understand this. We are already in a blessed state. We are already in a blessed state. Spirit is in us and we have Christ in us. Let me remind you again that this kind of suffering is a gracious thing before God. It is worthy of God’s attention. It means that God who sits above the heavens looks at you and smiles as you suffer for his sake with you and you do that, and God will be proud of you and will not be ashamed to call you his son or daughter but will gladly identify himself with you. What a blessing to be noticed, to be noticed by the God who made everything and owns everything, right?

Everything belongs to him in this world, even you and me, and to be noticed by him itself is a blessing. Let me just read a passage and close it. Romans 12, verses 14–21. I’ll just read this passage and then I’ll close with this one. Romans 12, verses 14–21.

So in Romans 12, verses 14 through 21, Paul says here, he’s writing to Christians who are suffering as well, and he’s saying these things. “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 all. Beloved, never avenge yourself, 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.” This is what we are called to do as Christians. We ought to be different in this world. As Christians we ought to keep blessing others, and as Christians, we endure suffering for Christ’s sake. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we want to come before your throne of grace. And I want to thank you for every good thing that comes from you. Father, we want to thank you for you gave yourself to us. Thank you for your Spirit who resides in us. Thank you for Christ who died on the cross for us.

Father, you have done so much for us. And what we can do for you in this suffering is very little in comparison to the sufferings of Jesus on that cross. So Lord, help us to be ever grateful to you for offering your son Jesus on that cross for us.

And help us to know his value and worth. That we might, Lord, treasure him in life above everything else. Nothing can be compared to him, Lord. And when we have him, we have everything. And for him, help us to endure anything in this world, even sufferings, even unto death.

Father, prepare our hearts and minds in such a way that we will change the way we live, that we will alter our ways, and live in such a way that will bring glory and honor to your great name. Father, everything that we think, that we see, that we speak, that we do, everything, every intention of our hearts be pleasing to you.

When others harm us, help us not in return harm them, but help them to bless them. Love them. Lord, by nature we do not have this heart, but we pray that you'll just give us this heart. And as Christians, help us to keep loving others.

No matter what the circumstances are. Give us grace, more grace, abundant grace, to live in a way that honors your name. Once again, we want to thank you for this time of fellowship, in your word. May you bless this word. May you plant this word deep in our hearts that this word might bear fruit in our lives.

For the glory of your great name and for the good of our brothers and sisters in Christ in our local churches. And we ask all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.