1 Rev. William J. Shields St. Mark Lutheran Church, Lindenhurst, Illinois The Third Sunday of Easter May 4, 2014 Second Lesson 1 Peter 4:12-19 Sermon Series 1 Peter Part 9 Entrust Your Soul To A Faithful Creator 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. A couple of weeks ago, my good old Aunt Lena, up dere in Minnesota, and some other women from her church were invited to a Ladies Aid meeting at another church, about thirty miles away. Lena volunteered to drive. They were about halfway there when they were suddenly pulled over by a policeman. Lena said, Officer, what did I do wrong? I don t think I was speeding. He said, No, you weren t speeding. In fact, you were going way to slow. So I pulled you over to see if everything was okay. Lena said, I thought I was going right at the speed limit. The officer said, No, the speed limit here is about 50 mph and you were going about 20. Lena said, But what about all those signs that said the speed limit was 23 mph? The officer laughed and said, Those weren t speed limit signs. Those were the highway signs. You re traveling on route 23 right now. Lena laughed and said, I feel so stupid. Just about then, the officer noticed that the other three ladies in the car hadn t said a word yet. In fact, they were all sitting up straight, with terrified looks on their faces. The officer said, Ma am, what s the matter with your passengers? They all look like they re scared out of
2 their wits. Lena said, Dat s probably because we just got off of route 113. The moral of the story is, never put your life in the hands of my Aunt Lena, when she s behind the wheel of a car. If she insists on driving, then just drive separate in your own car. But what I really want to talk to you about this morning is that there is someone who is so powerful, and so faithful, that you truly can put your life in his hands. In fact, you can put more than your physical life in his hands. You can also put your eternal soul in his hands. The person that I m talking about, of course, is God. The title of my sermon today is Entrust Your Soul To A Faithful Creator. It s a phrase from our text in 1 Peter 4, and it could really almost be the theme of the whole book. As we ve said before, Peter is writing this book to Christians who are suffering. They are suffering the general hardship associated with life in the first century A.D. But they are also suffering the specific hardship of being persecuted for their faith in the Roman Empire. And in our text, Peter has a message for these suffering Christians. I ve divided that message into four parts. Last week, Pastor Breum had all of his points start with the letter B. So today, I thought I would have all of my points start with the letter E. And point number one is this: I. Expect Suffering You heard me right. Peter tells the Christians of his day that they should expect suffering. Here s how he says it in 1 Peter 4:12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. We do a lot of things in America today to try to insulate ourselves from suffering. We vaccinate our children. We try to live healthy lives. Right now, in our culture, there is a huge emphasis on eating right, and exercising, and losing weight. We buy health insurance, and auto insurance, and homeowner s insurance, and life insurance. We put money away in retirement funds, so that we have a hedge against the future. And we expect the government to do their part. We want protection from invading armies and terrorist attacks. We want police and fire protection for our lives and our property. We want clean air and clean water and safe products. We want miracle drugs with no side effects. But somehow, despite all of this work that is done to keep suffering away from our lives, it always seems to make its way in. And when it does, it often catches us by surprise. We wonder, Why me? Why is this happening to me? Peter says that, as Christians, we should not be caught off-guard by suffering. We should expect that suffering will come into our lives at some time. We know that, because of sin, this is a broken world. People are broken and nature is broken. And that brokenness breaks into the life of every person at one time or another. I had a professor in seminary who said, If you are suffering in your life right now, just wait. Things will get better. And if you are not suffering in your life right now, just wait. Suffering is coming. Peter says that the suffering we face in this world the fiery trial is a test. When suffering and hardship come into our lives, do we fall apart? Or do we fall on God? If you don t expect some suffering in your life, then you are more likely to be devastated by it when it
3 comes. Peter says, Expect Suffering. And then the second thing that Peter says in this text is that we should II. Exult In Suffering To exult means to rejoice. And that s what Peter talks about here in verse 13. He says, But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Notice that he doesn t say rejoice because of your sufferings. God doesn t want us to be masochists. He doesn t want us to wish for more suffering. But when we are suffering, he does not want us to lose our joy. He wants us to remember that, when we suffer faithfully in this life, we will be rewarded for our endurance in the next life. That s what the little phrase insofar as means. Pastor Breum often says, Those who suffer greatly in this life are going to be rewarded greatly in the next life. And Peter agrees with him here. And that statement is even more true if the suffering that you endure is because you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Peter says in verse 14, If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Peter is simply repeating what he has heard from Jesus. In Luke 6:22-23 Jesus said, Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. Again, Jesus isn t saying that we should go out looking for suffering or wishing for it in our lives. But when it does come our way we should rejoice, because those who suffer much in this life, and remain strong in the faith, will be rewarded in heaven for their perseverance. And I believe that the reason God rewards those who suffer faithfully in this life is because God knows that those people are the greatest witnesses for Jesus Christ in this world. When unbelievers look at your suffering, and see your joy and your strength in the midst of it, they are drawn to your faith. They want what you have. I did a funeral recently for a longtime friend of mine. His church is without a pastor right now, so the family asked if I would do the funeral. He died of cancer, and his last year was physically miserable. But his faith was powerful, and his smile was broad, until the day he died. And I have to tell you, that funeral was one of the most joyful that I have ever seen. We sang five old hymns, because he liked to sing. And he loved a good joke especially my Ole and Lena jokes so I had to tell one. And people, I can t begin to tell you the effect that the joyful funeral of a faithful Christian has upon the people who are present. He had a lot of friends and acquaintances from the community who were at the funeral. And I know that many of those people were either nominal Christians or non-christians. And those people were moved by the joy that they saw, both in the service and when they visited with the family afterwards. It was the joy of family and friends who knew that their loved one was in Heaven. And it was a powerful witness. Peter wants the Christian community to have that kind of witness for Christ in the world. That s why he says, Exult In Suffering. And then the third thing that he says about suffering in this text is that each one of us should
4 III. Evaluate Your Suffering Peter says in verse 15, But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Peter says that there are some kinds of suffering which are not just the effects of living in a broken world. They are not the result of persecution against the faithful. There are some kinds of suffering in this world that we bring upon ourselves, because of our own sin. I had a man in one of my previous congregations who left his wife, because he wanted to pursue a career in Christian music, and he felt that his marriage was hindering that dream. His kids were understandably upset and refused to talk to him. He came to my office one day in tears, because his kids were treating him so badly, and he felt that he was suffering because of his commitment to follow the call of God. And I said to him, Whoa! Wait a minute. You re not suffering because you are faithfully following God. You re suffering because of your own sin. Don t try to put this one on God! Peter says in verse 16, If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. But then he says in verse 17, It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? He s saying, If you are suffering because you re not obeying the gospel, then don t go crying to God about it. Instead, you need to go to God on your knees and repent of your own sin. Then you ll be surprised at how quickly the burden is lifted from your shoulders. Some of the suffering that we endure in this life, that we attribute to outside forces and to other people, is really the result of our own sin. And the only way to get rid of that kind of suffering is to confess the sin. Peter urges us to take a good hard look at ourselves. He tells each one of us to Evaluate Your Suffering. And then the fourth thing that Peter says about suffering in this text is IV. Entrust Your Suffering To God Peter says that, when you have truly looked into your heart, and you know that you have confessed your own sin, then here is what you need to do with the suffering that remains. You need to lay it on God. Peter says in verse 19, Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. That verse represents the absolute deepest kind of faith that a Christian can have. Peter is talking here about the suffering that comes at you from the outside, through no direct fault of your own. I talked about it earlier. There are two kinds of outside suffering. The first kind is the natural result of living in a broken world. That can include natural disasters, accidents, diseases, and, eventually, death. The second kind of outside suffering is the harmful acts that other people do toward you, simply because they are sinners. Peter says that there is only one way to deal with this kind of suffering. You need to entrust your soul to the God who created you. The Greek word that is translated here as entrust is paratithemi. It s a banking term. It means to deposit something for safekeeping. If you had a large sum of money, and you wanted to give it to someone for safekeeping, it makes sense that you would want to give it to someone whose character and integrity you
5 really trusted. Peter says, God is that person of character and integrity. God is that person that you can trust. When Jesus was facing that crucial moment on the cross, the moment when he would bow his head and die, do you know what he said? He said in Luke 23:46, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit! Do you know what the Greek word in that verse is? Paratithemi. Peter says, When you are suffering, I want you to commit your soul to your Father in heaven, just like Jesus did when he died on the cross. You can endure any suffering in this world if you confident about what is waiting for you on the other side. You put your soul in God s hands, and he carries it from this world of pain and suffering and persecution into the next world of perfect love and joy and peace. One person who has truly entrusted his soul to God is a man that we have been talking a lot about in recent weeks. His name is Pastor Saeed Abedini. Pastor Abedini became a Christian in an Iranian house church when he was 20 years old. He eventually became a driving force in the house church movement in Iran, at a time when Christian activities were tolerated. He eventually traveled to the US for seminary training. He met a Christian woman who was of Iranian descent but was an American citizen. He eventually became a citizen as well, and they had two children together and established a home in Idaho. Pastor Abedini made frequent trips back to Iran, to visit relatives, to bring mission dollars to build an orphanage, and to support the house church movement. But all that changed a few years ago, when Iran decided to crack down on the house churches. When Pastor Abedini traveled back home in 2012, he was immediately arrested. He was eventually tried and convicted for his previous Christian activities. He was sentenced to eight years in one of the worst prisons in Iran. Since then, he has been subjected to regular beatings and abuse. Most people believe that he will not be able to survive for eight years. Just before Easter, his injuries were so severe that the government was forced to put him into a prison hospital. It was in that hospital, on Easter Sunday, that he wrote a letter and gave it to one of his relatives who had been allowed to visit him. He asked that relative to make the letter public. Here is what Pastor Abedini s Easter letter said. Happy Resurrection Day! On the eve of Good Friday and Easter I was praying from my hospital room for my fellow Christians in the world. What the Holy Spirit revealed to me in prayer was that there are many dead faiths in the midst of Christians today. That Christians all over the world are not able to fully reach their spiritual potential that has been given to them as a gift by God so that, in reaching that potential, the curtain can be removed and the Glory of God would be revealed. Sometimes we want to experience the Glory and resurrection with Jesus without experiencing death with him. We do not realize that, unless we pass through the path of death with Christ, we are not able to experience resurrection with Christ. We want to have a good and successful marriage, career, education, family life (which is also God s desire and plan for our life). But we forget that, in order to experience the Resurrection and Glory of Christ, we first have to experience death with Christ and to die to ourselves and selfish desires. Jesus said to his Disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me (Matthew 16:24).
6 This means that we should not do things that we like to do, but which God does not want us to do. And we should do things that we do not like to do, but which God wants us to do, so that He may be glorified. So in addition to spending our days and nights in doing the works of faith as described above, we should also transform our dead faiths into living and active faiths through the resurrection of Christ which is an active and constructive love that is effective. In conclusion, let us resurrect our dead faiths to living faiths by first dying to our selfish resurrected self and experiencing the cross of Christ. Then we are able to experience the Glorious resurrection with Christ. A Glorious life with Christ starts only after a painful death to self with Christ. We will start with Christ. Pastor Saeed Abedini Prisoner in the Darkness in Iran, but free in the Kingdom of Light. That is a man who has entrusted his soul to a faithful Creator. He is not riding through this life in terror, like the ladies in Lena s car. He is enduring brutal torture and imprisonment in total peace and in profound faith. He endures because he knows that, though they may harm his body in this world, his soul is in the hands of Jesus. And so is yours. Amen and Amen.