“Fighting Suffering with Faith”  4/13/08  I Peter 2:19-25  Dr. J. Ben Sloan  Lake Murray Presbyterian

            Jerry Thomas died in 1990.  His body still lived, but his willingness to live, his spirit, his passion for life died.  It happened when he got divorced.  He thought it was not right.  He loved his wife, as much as he could- in his way.  But she left him for someone else after four kids and twenty years of marriage.  He quit his job.  He sold his house and moved to a trailer in the woods of South Carolina.  He pretty much had to anyway to pay her for her part of the divorce settlement.  He sold his new car and bought an old one that broke down about every four months.  He was living for his wife and for his kids.  Now his kids were grown and moved away, and his wife totally deceived him and seemed to enjoy his twisting in his suffering.  Sure he could have done better.  But for sure, she was the one who left him, and he paid the price for her leaving.  So he basically folded up his life into one tight package and retreated until his body caught up with his spirit and died.  Nothing seemed to bring him out of it- no friends, no offers for help, nothing.

            What do you do when you are treated unjustly, unfairly, treated badly and are wronged?   Some resign from life- like Jerry.  Some get bitter.  Some seek revenge.  For Jerry it happened with his divorce.  But it could happen with the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, not getting that promotion, finding out you are sick.  What unjust thing will make you give up?  The devil is trying to find the answer to that question.  What temptation will make your life a living hell?   Our passage speaks to unjust suffering.  Peter is writing to people who are really, really suffering in ways they do not deserve, and he encourages them. 

            I. IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL SUFFER UNJUSTLY

The justice and fairness of life will break down for us all.  Heaven is not here, not yet.

The early bird doesn’t always get the worm.  The bad do not always die before the good.  The selfish person is not always the one who loses.  The most talented, bright, and deserving of us do not necessarily win.  Sports will teach you that.  Life will teach you that there are unfair variables.  In fact- our passage reminds us that we are called to suffer (21- “to this you were called.”).  It is one thing to know that there is suffering in the world.  It is another to know that it is OUR JOB, OUR WORK, OUR VOCATION, OUR TASK to suffer.  I Peter 4:12 says it another way- “Dear friends, do not be surprised about the painful trial you are suffering as though something strange were happening to you.”  If you expect the world to always be fair, to always be just- then look at Jesus Christ who suffered though he was the most jus t/innocent person there ever was.  Our calling is to be like him.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a martyr to the Nazis wrote, “When Christ calls us he bids us come and die.” 

            Peter was writing this passage primarily to servants and slaves.  The Roman empire had about 60 million of them.  Whenever they conquered a nation, they would take captives and slaves.  Some of these would be doctors, teachers, lawyers, household servants.  The word used here for slave is the word for such a professional person who was a slave.  Yet a slave was still seen as only property and not a human being.  Aristotle said this “There can be no friendship nor justice toward inanimate things; indeed, not even toward a horse, or an ox, or yet towards a slave as a slave.  A slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave.”  Even a well-treated slave was still just a thing- a  tool to be used.  Christianity began changing this.  It often happened that a slave would become the leader of a church with the master in the congregation.  There is a movie that came out about how England abolished its slave trade- and it was commiserate with the spiritual revival there with Wilberforce and Newton.  These were men who were inspired by the scriptures to see the slave as a human being.  Peter was writing to human beings who were being treated unjustly.  If you have been treated unjustly, this is for you!

            Peter indicated it is one thing to suffer for doing wrong- that is justice.  It is another thing to do great work for those who treat us well.  But where we serve Christ best is when we face up to hardships, injustice, evil- with grace and a turning of the other cheek. 

            Paul Cedar wrote a politically incorrect story- but it is a true story nonetheless- of a family where the boy was crippled at an early age by polio. The boy’s father became very bitter and drank too much.  In his drinking he would sometimes beat the boy.  This is ironic- but in his misery over the boy’s suffering, he made it worse!  The boy was stuck- he could not go anywhere. The boy however, turned to the great Shepherd of the Sheep- Jesus in the midst of his unbearable injustice.  He learned to not fear or hate his father- but feel sorry and pity him.  The father could not take this. Eventually he too came to Christ and stopped his beating.  The cross of Christ is a symbol of enduring injustice.  There is a time to flee from injustice- Jesus did this when they tried to throw him off the cliff in his home town.  But there is a time to endure injustice and overcome it.  Jesus said the night before he was arrested- in this world you will have tribulation- but take heart I have overcome the world.  But when the people saw him on the cross they thought the world overcame Him!  The cross is a an enduring symbol of injustice- but the cross always points to the resurrection.  Injustice is never the last word- even in the face of death.  This is why Christian martyrs can die with hope. This is why we must not despair- in the face of our crosses—and each of us has or will have crosses.  But each of us has and will have- if we believe the resurrection.  Do not judge the future by the present.   Our future is not more suffering- but the resurrection.

            II. LEARN FROM HOW JESUS SUFFERED- The book “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis is a classic and most encouraging work.  It talks a lot about how to face up to suffering with faith- a portion is written on the cover of the bulletin today.  But he also shows us.

The scriptures say that Christ gives us an example of suffering that we follow in his steps.  The word “example” (hupogrammos) was taken from a writing exercise book.  On the top line of the exercise book the letters were written- and the pupil had to copy those letters trying to imitate them as closely as possible.  Peter was saying that Jesus has given us a model, a living example of how to suffer.  A lot of the language in these verses is taken from Isaiah 53- the passage of the suffering servant.  The New Testament consistently agrees that Jesus was this suffering servant.  How did the suffering servant and Jesus suffer?  What is the model they set for us?

A) THEY DIDN’T COMPLAIN- like a sheep before its shearers is silent. Arguing back against someone who is in a position to treat you with injustice- usually doesn’t work.  We like to argue, be skeptical, place ourselves in the place of God.  Exodus and Numbers are books full of the people of God complaining about their crosses.

Driving through Texas, a New Yorker collided with a truck carrying a horse. A few months later he tried to collect damages for his injuries. "How can you now claim to have all these injuries?" asked the insurance company's lawyer. "According to the police report, at the time you said you were not hurt." "Look," replied the New Yorker. "I was lying on the road in a lot of pain, and I heard someone say the horse had a broken leg. The net thing I know this Texas Ranger pulls out his gun and shoots the horse. Then he turns to me and asks, 'Are you okay?'"

B) CONTINUALLY LOOKING TO THE SHEPHERD- He entrusted himself to him who judges justly (vs. 23).  If people treat you unfairly- if the boss puts you down unfairly, if the coach criticizes you unfairly, if you are called down for doing something wrong that you did not do- always remember there is a higher judge.  Remember that this judge loves you. He is the shepherd and guardian of our souls.  We must return to the shepherd when the wolves are after us, or have wounded us. 

We return to Him- by praying to Him, and counting the blessings we do have.  “I believe in love even when I don’t feel it.  I believe in God even when He is silent.”
C) TURN YOUR CROSS INTO A RESURRECTION- (By God’s grace)Malcolm Muggeridge said that in his 75 years he learned everything through affliction,and nothing through happiness.  In 1962 a study was made of the top 400 successful people.  They looked for a common thread- none was found except suffering. 

            Jesus didn’t like suffering. He hated it.  He came to earth and healed people from their suffering.  He asked the Father to remove the cup of suffering from him if  there was any other way- but there was no other way.  Jesus stayed on the cross- even though he told his disciples- “Don’t you think I could call on my Father and he would send 10,000 angels to rescue me?”  What if Jesus, like Superman, just rose up into heaven?  What if he, like Houdini, slipped off of the nails and the cross and escaped his captors?  How would that effect our views on suffering and pain? 

            III. DIE TO UNJUSTICE, LIVE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS The cross is many things.  It is how the innocent lamb of God, Jesus, was sacrificed for our sins.  The cross is a symbol of injustice in this world. But the cross is also an example for us of sacrifice in a fight against the injustice in the world.

            Jesus was not concerned about his own fate- but more concerned for the glory of God.  This is the missionary spirit that changed the world.  As Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”  Until the church as a whole, and we as individuals in the church can grasp this, the world will change us, instead of our changing the world. Jesus was willing to leave his sufferings in the hands of God and do the best he could with what he was facing.  Can you do that?  Or are you resigning to life, giving up on your problem.  Our world would tell us to give up and move on somewhere else.  Even the church many times will tell us to give up when the going gets tough.  But I am surly glad Jesus didn’t give up and give in when the going get tough. 

            The cross is a symbol that God understands our pain, and came to this world to understand but also to overcome.  When we take our crosses, we share in the sufferings of Christ, the Bible says.  When we take our crosses, we begin to understand his.  When we complain, fuss, give up, lose faith- we have said that the comfort of this world is not worth the hope of the next.

            Last week President Bush awarded the Medal of Honor to the family of Michael Monsoor.  Michael ran into a hail of gunfire in May of 2006 to save a wounded comrade.  But on 9/29/06 Michael was in Ramadi Iraq on a rooftop when a grenade bounced off his chest.  He could have escaped, but his two comrades could not.  So Michael gave his life for them that they might live.  He was the fourth Medal of Honor recipient since 911.  Sacrifice out of love, redemption from injustice, enduring pain for a greater good- these are what Jesus teaches us.  These ideas of sacrifice, redemption and endurance are important if our faith is to help us through suffering, and if we are to be a changed people.