Christian Suffering: A Sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and our risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Throughout the entire Epistle of 1 Peter and here again, the great apostle warns and prepares his readers and hearers to suffer for the faith. To be made a participant along with the sufferings of Christ Jesus. As we heard in a few stories from the book of Acts this Easter season, may we too rejoice as we are counted blessed to suffer for the sake of the Name of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately as the Lord speaks of his disciples on the night of betrayal, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We don’t like to suffer. There are names for conditions for people who like to suffer. Suffering is not something many people look forward to, of course it comes, knocking like the undesired guest you feel compelled to invite to thanksgiving dinner because he’s family, you smile and you bear it but you certainly aren’t happy he actually showed up.

But suffering for the sake of something can bring about good results. The most suffering I have every put myself through was when I volunteered to run Cross Country for my High School. The tempo distance runs, the 400 meter sprints followed by 3 minute rests and the circuit began again. The extra stretching to keep my calves from locking up. The pounding of pavement sending shock up my legs. It was suffering I willingly put myself under for the sake of the team. I was the 5^th runner. You needed 5 to qualify for the state races. It was the carrot I kept chasing, helping the better runners have a chance to qualify for state races. And you know what? I actually saw my times get better over time. I actually began to look forward to the runs. And when it was time to lay it all out for the sectional race, I put down my best time all year, pushing through the rigorous cross country course to run my personal best. The past suffering helped push me along.

You can see this with any endurance racer. You have to suffer in order to endure a marathon. You have to grit it out and push your body to the brink to prove to yourself it can be done when it counts. And usually this suffering results with a good outcome.

Christians, as Peter tells us, should expect suffering. And like the suffering of a runner, Christian suffering results in good on a much greater scale. The Christian never suffers alone, but always with Christ. And suffering with Christ is a blessed suffering.

Its been a while now but you can do a quick search of the most dangerous countries toward Christians. You probably have an idea where most of those countries are located: most being located in the Middle East and North Africa. And like I said last week, we have begun to feel some of the pinch. Nothing like these places where there are people dying for the sake of the Name of Christ. We have little to no idea what true suffering for the sake of the Name actually looks like. Many of us should repent because of our anger for what we think we are suffering. They are in the fiery trials, we are like sitting on a hay bale roasting a marshmallow. Little to no comparison.

But the sufferings are likely coming our way. Peter told his hearers to be ready. So we too must be diligent and awake. We should be looking to the sky, awaiting the Lord to return at any time. We should be made ready by the hearing of the Word of Christ. We should be joyfully receiving from Him the forgiveness and life everlasting he has purchased and won for us by his own suffering and death on the cross. And you have these precious gifts before you this day. Earnestly desire them. Do not despise them. For only in these gifts of Christ are you made ready for the day of suffering.

But are we ready? Or are we ignorant because we have been blessed to not have the sufferings of many of our brothers and sisters in the faith? I would suggest that in a way we have been lulled to sleep. We have grown complacent and actually we in America are falling away from the faith without any fire at all. Matt Walsh, a commentator of church and culture affairs, effectively said the same thing in a recent interview with Issues, Etc. Do not be lukewarm concerning the faith. Do not be like the church of Laodicea which the risen and ascended Lord scolds saying, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor blind, and naked.” “I counsel you to be from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”

Yes repent and do not be lukewarm when it comes to your confession of Christ in word and deed. But know that you will suffer for the sake of the Name of Christ. Expect it.

Not all suffering is created equal. Some suffering is justified and some is not. But only Christian suffering, that is suffering for the sake of the confession that Jesus is Lord and God will be a blessing.

Peter reminds us that we are right to suffer the consequences of our sins. And we know very well some of the worldly sufferings on account of our sins. Broken homes. Relationships broken because we can’t help but gossip or desire things and people that are not ours to have. Having to suffer these consequences of our sins is not Christian Suffering. Suffering due to our sins is a just reward. Like the men on the cross to the right and left of Jesus. The man confesses they deserve what they are getting in the cross. And we too confess similarly in the preparation rite of the Divine Service, that we deserve both temporal and eternal punishment for our sins. And quite honestly we deserve even more suffering that we often get.

So what then is Christian suffering? Christian suffering has to do with Christ and our relationship with Him. You are blessed if you are insulted for the name of Christ, for “the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” Christian suffering is that suffering that comes simply by being a Christian and holding to the confession that Jesus is Lord and God, the redeemer of the world. In the day of judgment the Christian who suffers will be blessed. He will rejoice and be glad in the unveiling of Christ’s full glory and splendor, while the ungodly will stand in complete and utter terror. The Christian might suffer for the Gospel of Jesus now, but suffering in the world is temporary, the suffering Christian has a promise to be taken to a place where God wipes away all tears. There shall be no sorrow, no suffering, and no more fear. For the Lamb will be their shepherd and will guide them to quiet and restful waters. He will be with them forever. The Christian suffers here and now in the world but it is only temporary, for you will be called to your eternal home, the place which Jesus has gone to prepare for you. The world and the ungodly might rejoice now, they will suffer the consequence of their unrepentance.

The suffering of a Christian is rewarded by God. This is not a salvation issue, you do not have to suffer so that God saves you. But, suffering for the sake of Jesus is an almost given in this world and climate. God promises to exalt those who are prepared to suffer for the sake of Jesus. It is only in Christ that we can withstand the attacks of your sinful nature, the world, and ultimately Satan. Satan might roar like a lion, but he has been chained. He has been conquered by the greater lion of the Tribe of Judah.

Let us pray then to our Risen and Ascended Lord that we may stand fast when our time of fiery trials come that we may remain steadfast in the one faith of Jesus Christ, who has indeed destroyed the power of sin, death, and Satan by dying on the cross and having been raised to new life on the third day. It is He who fights to keep you, it he who is with you in your sufferings, your Christian sufferings. The Christian suffers in order to participate in the sufferings of Jesus. Holy Scripture testifies that god, who has called us, is faithful. So when He has begun the good work in us, He will also preserve it to the end and perfect it, if we ourselves do not turn from Him, but firmly hold on to the work begun to the end. He has promised His grace for this very purpose. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO