Even in the midst of hardship… it is well with my soul

Ties in perfectly with our text today.

Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

1 Peter 3:13–17

This is the Word of the Lord.

If I had to guess, verse 15 is probably the most quoted verse in 1 Peter, and for good reason. But the context is important. It’s in the context of talking about suffering.

Peter’s writing to people (then and now) who are exiles in this world. And exile inherently entails some suffering.

So we’re going to talk in the first person this morning, apply it to ourselves as we go along.

1. I should expect suffering.

Last week, verse 9, “you were called to this.”

We should be willing to suffer unjustly because Christ was willing to suffer unjustly to bring us to God.

Jen Wilkin

Peter points to different kinds of suffering in these verses:

  1. Suffering because you did evil. There’s no real joy in that. Avoid that. Think Jonah in the Bible. He suffered in the belly of the fish because he ran from God.

  2. You can suffer for doing right. Think Joseph in the Bible–he was sold into slavery and put into prison for doing the right thing. But God used his suffering to bring salvation to others. Joseph said at the end of his life to the brothers that had enslaved him, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” This is Christ-like suffering and still happens today.

  3. Sometimes God has us suffer for no perceivable reason. Think Job for this one. He will changes you in it, but you don’t quite know what he’s doing in the world through it. It’s just a mystery.

So three Joe’s in the OT, all suffering for various reasons… Jonah, suffering for doing what is wrong; Joseph, suffering for doing what is right; Job, suffering for no perceptible reason.

Peter says, “In all of them, God is at work.”

You need to know this, before it’s happening: just because you’re suffering doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong.

It’s just God’s will sometimes for you to suffer. You can do everything good and still suffer. We need to get rid of this idea of a “smooth sailing God” who, when you please him, makes everything peachy keen for you.

We are disciples of our King, Jesus — that’s not what Jesus’s life was like! He did everything right and suffered.

We need to disciple our kids to expect suffering in life. Otherwise we set them up for a crisis of faith.

If we teach them that if they do their part everything will be smooth, then at some point something goes wrong in their lives—they get denied that dream job, they get taken advantage of, their marriage falls apart, death comes unexpectedly, maybe even yours—and they feel like, “But I did everything right. God, what’s wrong with you? Are you even there?”

We need to hear this from Peter, in the midst of suffering, yes, but even better beforehand… the call to follow Christ is a call to pick your cross daily and follow. Crosses are painful.

There’s a reason if you turn on the TV to one of the many “Christian” channels, the prosperity gospel preachers don’t spend much time preaching from 1 Peter! Peter says suffering is the norm of the Christian life.

I’ve told you before that every once in a while I tune in to the Christian hip hop scene just to see what’s going on and get fired up, because they talk so fast they can fit a whole sermon in a single song, so an album is almost like a series, and if you’re a rapper, you obviously have a way with words.

Shia Linne is my favorite artist, SBC church planter. 2013,“Fal$e Teacher$” Quoted before , but been a while…

On the popularity of the gospel of Prosperity
Turn off TBN, that channel is overrated
The pastors speak bogus statements, financially motivated
It’s kind of like a pyramid scheme
Visualize heretics Christianizing the American dream
It’s foul and deceitful, they’re lying to people
Teaching that camels squeeze through the eye of a needle!

Ungodly and wicked, ask yourself,
“How can they not be convicted
treating Jesus like a lottery ticket?”

And you’re thinking they’re not the dangerous type
Because some of their statements are right
That only proves that Satan comes as an angel of light
This teaching can’t be believed without a cost
The lie is you can achieve a crown without a cross

Tell me, who would teach you to pursue as a goal
The very thing that the Bible said will ruin your soul, huh?
Don’t be deceived by this funny biz
If you come to Jesus for money,
then He’s not your God, money is!

Jesus is not a means to an end
The Gospel is He came to redeem us from sin
And that is the message forever I yell
If you’re living “your best life now”
You’re heading for hell!

If that’s not a sermon I don’t know what is!

This is a unique battle we have to face, to defend the real Gospel against false gospels, one of the most popular of all is the smooth-sailing, peachy keen, prosperity gospel. You can sell a lot of books that way, build a big ministry that way. You won’t make many disciples that way.

Anyone can be happy when things are going well. But can you have joy when they aren’t?

People who don’t know Jesus are happy when they get a new car, that’s nothing special. What’s unique and shocking to the is when your loved one is in a car accident, and you can still say, through the deepest pain imaginable, “Jesus is enough. My flesh, and my heart may fail , but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

  1. I should expect suffering.

2. The glory of god, not the fear of man, should be my motivation.

Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy

1 Peter 3:14–15

It’s easy to be intimidated when you’re somewhere you know you don’t belong, isn’t it? Ever walk into a room and feel that way? Especially if you know they’re actively against you.

But it said right there, even if you suffer, you’re blessed. A life spent suffering and following Christ is better than a life of ease and comfort without him. It’s true on some level now. But even more so in the time to come.

This is about the heart, about whose voices we’re listening to!

  1. I should expect suffering.
  2. The glory of god, not the fear of man, should be my motivation.

3. I should be ready to turn my misery into ministry.

Now for the rest of verse 15:

in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

1 Peter 3:15

Peter says your suffering might be the best moment you have to point others to Jesus!

When you go through suffering with hope and unshakable joy, people will be curious, and they will ask you about it and you should be ready in that moment to give a defense of what you believe.

This verse assumes a couple things:

This is part of why I believe in the missional model of church. We are never going to be a program-driven church, because us living joyful, hope-filled lives in every part of this community is the program. They’re never going to ask if they don’t know us, and they won’t know us at all if we spend all our time in the holy huddle vs playing the game. (It’s almost fall, football is almost here. Maybe)

There’s a big difference in defending our faith and being defensive about our faith!

Most Christians are good being defensive about their faith, but being ready to give a defense means first living a life that is so different that it evokes questions from others and then being prepared to answer those questions well.

This was the secret of the early church. They blew people away with their lives.

We may have found more sanitized ways of doing this, but the abortion industry in our country is essentially the same. You can discard kids you don’t want. The early church practiced things called baby runs. Members would walk the streets at night listening for these discarded babies. Soon churches were filled with new babies, particularly baby girls, discarded on the streets.

These things made them ODD, and they provoked questions. When was the last time someone asked you about your oddness? In a good way, I mean! If they haven’t, maybe that’s because we’re not as different as we ought to be.

  1. I should expect suffering.
  2. The glory of god, not the fear of man, should be my motivation.
  3. I should be ready to turn my misery into ministry.

4. I should have a clear conscience.

Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.

1 Peter 3:16

Evangelism doesn’t mean being a jerk, or a sleazy Jesus salesman. The power of the Gospel is not in high-pressure sales tactics.

The Bible talks a lot about having a clear conscience. Does that describe you?

Life lived with the goal of a clear conscience will be a life people are drawn to and can’t make an argument that sticks against.

Damage can be done in an instant.

Conclusion

When’s the last time anyone asked you about your hope? About how you’re making it through?

What would need to change for people to start asking?

Maybe you need to get to know them. Deeply.