Called to Suffer: 1 Peter 2:21

Somehow, in some way, a malformed idea has infected the Church.  The idea is this: It is that our faith is all about worldly well-being and pleasure.  Because of this idea, we have lost our focus on eternity, expecting God to give us heaven on earth.  Because of this idea, we’ve given up preaching “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).  In the last two decades, this idea has become more than a minor blight; it has become a cancerous scourge.

You can hear this skewed thinking in the way we talk about God.  When life is going well, we often say, “Thank God!”  When circumstances are magnificent, don’t we often say, “God is good”?  And it is proper that we praise God when life is going well!

Yet, Scripture also tells us to thank God in every circumstance–every circumstance–not only when life is going our way (1 Thessalonians 5:18).  If we confess that God is good only when we find life going well, what does that imply when we are miserable?  Isn’t God a good God, even when we are miserable?  Indeed, He is.  So we should never imply by our actions that God is not good when life is going poorly.

Of course, it’s no secret that we like God best when we best like our circumstances.  The better life is going, the easier it is to think that we have God’s approval.  The better life is going, the easier it is to see life’s momentary gain as a reward from God.  But if you have a god like that, then you have a god who thinks like you do, and deals with you according to your standards.  In other words, you have just created a false a god in your own image.  And such a false god cannot save.

The Apostle Peter tells us something different.  He tells us that, as Christians, we will suffer.  But he tells us even more.  As Christians, we just don’t happen to suffer as some side effect of living in this world.  Peter tells us that God has called us to suffer.  Yes, we have been called to suffer.  If God has called you to suffer, then Christianity cannot be about feeling happy or being rewarded with God’s favor in some worldly way.  After all, we are but sojourners here in this fallen world.

But honestly, who here wants to suffer?  I don’t.  You don’t.  So, here’s the point of nuance: The Christian faith is not about wanting to suffer.  As Christians, it’s not as if we are gluttons for punishment, seeking out suffering at every turn.  No, not at all–but Christianity does understand that suffering takes place because we are God’s people.  As the people of God, we realize that we may have to suffer as Christ did.  That is our calling.

Jesus tells His disciples in John’s Gospel, as He was making His way to Golgotha, that they would suffer just as He would.  And the Apostle Peter says, “Don’t be surprised when the fiery trial comes to test you, as if something unusual were happening” (1 Peter 4:12).  In other words, suffering is a normal part of life for the Christian.

How could we miss such an obvious truth about suffering in Scripture?  We miss it because we don’t like that truth.  We’d rather have it slink away quietly and leave us alone.  We’d rather have our pastor preach stuff we want to hear instead of that uncomfortable truth about suffering.

So here it is.  You–not someone else–you have been called to suffer!  Why are you called to suffer?  It’s because you’ve also been called to be the living embodiment of Christ.  You’ve been called to be holy and faithful.  That means others may despise you, and so you will suffer.  That is your calling!

As Christ suffered, so also will you suffer.  And Jesus shows you how to suffer.  He shows you by example.  He was arrested.  He was spat on, beaten, and mocked.  He was falsely accused, convicted, and sentenced to death.  He was executed in a brutal, grisly way.  Yet, Jesus endured that all suffering without sinning.

Jesus suffered enormous pain and sorrow–although He was innocent of any crime, sin, or wrongdoing.  He could have railed against the injustice, cried out against oppression, and demanded His rights.  By His divine power, Jesus could have escaped and destroyed His enemies.  But He did not.  For Jesus knew His suffering had a purpose: Your salvation.

Jesus suffered for you.  And as He suffered, He left an example for you, as suffering comes your way because you are now in His family.  But Jesus’ example is not a monkey-see-monkey-do way of life.  Following the example of Christ’s suffering is not a simplistic act like asking, “What would Jesus do?”  For that’s just a surface, intellectual faith.  That’s an outward, veneer faith, not in deep, Jesus-is-within-you faith.

St. Paul writes that “those [whom God] foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29).  Following Christ is not monkey see, monkey do.  Our faith is much more than that.  It’s a total makeover.

The Apostle Peter wrote that Jesus “has granted us His precious and magnificent promises, so you may become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).  As Christians, we have Christ’s divine nature within us.  And so don’t find it strange if you have to suffer.  That is your calling!

You see, the Christ for you also becomes the Christ in you.  Because Christ suffered, you suffer.  As your faith deepens, and as the knowledge of Jesus Christ becomes more-deeply ingrained in your worldview, you then begin to respond as Christ would respond.  This, in a sense, becomes more and more natural.  For as your faith in Christ grows and deepens, it even shapes the patterns of your thought.

In holy baptism, we enter the life of God.  St. Paul says, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27).  In baptism, your life as someone who embodies Christ begins.  The Holy Spirit stirs within you, you become a temple of God, and your true journey with Christ begins.

Your life with God grows and develops as you struggle against sin, when you suffer, and when you are walking in Jesus’ footsteps.  In this momentous struggle against sin, God does not abandon you.  He calls you to repent of your many sins and failures.  And when you do this, you are simply returning to your baptism.  For in the forgiving words of absolution, God forgives you anew and fills you again with Himself.  Such repentance is the Christian’s normal way of life.  Repentance is not an occasional event, but the norm as you journey toward Eternity.

Your oneness with Christ continues as Jesus comes to you in His Supper.  In His Supper, you come before the Divine and receive and take in God the Son.  You become a Christ-bearer, and the divinity of Jesus courses in your veins.

As the Christ for you also becomes the Christ in you, you will then view life more and more from God’s divine perspective.  And this divine worldview even extends into suffering.  For faith in Christ is a spiritual life, and it creates godliness and love–even when in the depth of suffering!

Jesus suffered to save you for Eternity, healing you of the deadly cancer of sin and guilt.  Now, the life of faith is a force within you, but more than that.  The life of faith is Christ within you, which can even move you more powerfully than the most painful, stinging whip.  It is as the Apostle Paul says.  If you are a child of God, then you are heirs of God and a fellow heir with Christ, if you suffer with Him that you may also be glorified with Him (Romans 8:17).  The divine nature within you emboldens you to follow God, even in the face of suffering, just as Christ did.  For “the love of Christ compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14).

So do not grow faint or weary.  In Christ, even your suffering has meaning and purpose.  For when Christ suffered, didn’t His suffering have meaning and purpose?  And since you are in Christ and Christ is in you, your suffering also has meaning and purpose.

From the suffering Jesus endured, God worked it all to a blessed end–your salvation.  From the suffering you endure, God will even work that to a blessed end–your salvation.  For salvation is not simply a one-time event, some 2,000 years ago.  Yes, it’s true that Jesus saved you on the cross 2,000 years ago.  But it’s also true that you will be saved on the Last Day, when Christ will come to judge the living and the dead.  And on that Day, Christ will welcome you into His kingdom and say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).  This is all yours by faith.  That is your calling.

In eternity, all will make sense.  In eternity, you will be able to see what God achieved through your suffering.  But now, you must walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7), often not knowing what good God is working, as you endure suffering in this evil world.  But, through the eyes of faith, this you know: Your “present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed” (Romans 8:18).  Amen.