This is Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. We're so glad you tuned in today. At Connect with Skip, we're passionate about helping you grow in your relationship with Jesus. That's why we share verse by verse Bible teaching that's both clear and practical, so you can live out God's truth wherever He's placed you, and you can stay connected beyond the broadcast when you sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical encouragement, exclusive content, and helpful resources to guide you deeper into God's Word, delivered straight to your inbox.
Signing up is quick, easy, and completely free. Sign up today at connectwithskip.com. That's connectwithskip.com. Before today's teaching, stay with us for a special invitation from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Have you ever dreamed of visiting Israel?
Leni and I want to invite you to join us for a life-changing journey through the land of the Bible in April of 2027. You can walk where Jesus walked. You can worship on the Sea of Galilee. You can celebrate baptisms at the Jordan River, and we're going to share communion at the empty tomb. You'll also have the option to attend.
The Epicenter Summit in Jerusalem, where I'll be speaking alongside of Joel Rosenberg, Greg Laurie, and Graham Lotts, Jack Graham, and more.
So join us April fifth through April sixteenth. You can learn more today at ConnectWithSkip dot com slash Israel.
Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig, verse thirteen. He has the audacity to use this word, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings; that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, he is blasphemed, but on your part, he is glorified. Rejoice!
I don't know how that hits your ears, but I imagine for for somebody who was suffering the kind of atrocities they were suffering, they they probably even thought, "Really, you're going to dare tell me to rejoice during this time." But what Peter is saying to them, and I want you to hear it carefully, is that we have no right to expect better treatment from this world than Jesus received from this world. See, that's the the point of his language in these verses. In fact, what Peter does is take suffering and lift it up high, give honor to it, extol it. You know, we would want to take suffering, and if this were a house, it'd be in the basement. With the rest of the junk, he takes suffering out of the basement, moves it into the great room, and even higher, and says, "Ah, if you suffer for the right reason, it's a position of honor.
You're suffering with Christ." When C.S. Lewis was asked the question, "Why do the righteous suffer?" he said, "Why not? They're the only ones who can take it. They will do it differently than somebody who doesn't have that hope." Now I do want to say that as believers, we're not naive concerning evil. We believe three things about evil.
Number one, it's real; it exists. Evil exists. We are not like those who subscribe to what is called Christian Science. I'm sure you have seen names on buildings or on so-called churches that say Christian Science. It was a Belief system started in the 1800s by a gal named Mary Baker Eddy Glover Patterson Fry.
She had a problem with men. She had an even worse problem with doctrine because she believed that evil doesn't exist, pain doesn't exist, suffering doesn't exist, disease doesn't exist. It's all an illusion. Even death, she had the audacity to say, "Death is an illusion." I've always been mystified by Christian Science. It's sort of like the cereal my mom used to give me when I was a kid called Grape Nuts.
Do you remember Grape Nuts? Ever looked inside a box? Are there any grapes at all? There are no grapes, and there are no nuts. It says Grape Nuts.
All there are inside are flakes, no grapes, no nuts, and Christian science. There's nothing Christian about it, and there's nothing scientific about it. And to play some metaphysical game and not call something what it plainly is doesn't help anybody.
So Christians are not naive. We go, yep, suffering, evil, hardship, pain exist. But we know something else is true. We know that God allows evil to exist, and we believe—at least I believe—that God is in absolute control of the universe that He made. I know not everybody believes that.
There's this, there's a teaching out there called open theism.
Some of you have never heard of that, perhaps. Open theism or process theology, which says. God is in the process of becoming a better God. See, God doesn't know what's going to happen tomorrow. They say, thus He's not in control of it.
So every day He's learning new things. He's a deity in process or in progress.
So today God is a better God than He was yesterday because more things have happened, and He's finding out more things.
So that that's how they deal with the problem of evil. They got a God running around saying "Oops" all day long. No, thank you. Evil exists. God permits evil to exist, but I know something else, and that is God has a purpose in it.
That it can actually be helpful. Can actually be helpful. Peter here says that he is glorified. Really, God is glorified when I suffer, and it can be helpful.
Well, you you know that's true. We've studied that, and I hope by now you believe that is true. Does a it does a few things for you. You know that suffering does. It makes you pure.
Number one, it makes you pure, purifies you like nothing else. We've studied it already in depth, but let me just refresh your memory. Back in chapter one, verse six and seven, of First Peter, said these trials have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes, though it is refined by fire, may be proved to be genuine. God, like a goldsmith, pours the gold back and forth in its liquid form and scrapes the impurities off, purifies you. Second thing, suffering does it humbles you.
It humbles you. We who have a tendency to walk in pride are quickly brought down to street level with a period of suffering. Did you know that Paul the apostle, though he wasn't prideful, he had the temptation toward pride, and he admitted that he saw and heard God speak. He saw visions from God. He saw miracles of God.
And so, listen to this. This is Second Corinthians chapter twelve. He writes. And lest I be exalted above measure, so filled with pride I couldn't stand it. There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, which is a sharp, painful stake in my flesh, my body, some physical ailment, a messenger of Satan to torment me.
I suppose it would be hard to be around Paul. Talk about a Starbucks buddy. Can you imagine? Here, here is Skip at Starbucks, and here is Paul on the other side. And go, hey Paul, let me show you what I read today in Psalm 23.
You go, that's great. Let me tell you what God verbally spoke to me this morning as I saw a vision of the third heaven.
Okay, never mind. See at lunch. The suffering will purify you. It will humble you. Here is another thing it will do, and we know this to be true.
It makes us depend on God, like nothing else. It keeps us dependent. You see, when you're weak, you lean on something—a crutch, a cane, a walker, a person, an item. You you're weak. You you lean on them.
You depend on that. When the Apostle Paul spoke about the thorn in the flesh, You recall that he said concerning this thing, I prayed three times. I pleaded that the Lord would take it away three times until the Lord finally answered me. Do you remember what he said? He said, "My grace is enough.
Sufficient. It's all you need." So then Paul says, "Therefore, I will rejoice and exult in my suffering, because when I am weak." Then I am strong. Strange but interesting thing about God's power and God's strength—it is attracted to human weakness. God has chosen the weak things of this world, the foolish things. It's attracted to human weakness; it's drawn to it.
His power kicks in when my power runs out. No one is ever too weak to be powerful. We're only too strong. Find the person who says no, thanks. I got this covered.
I can handle this on my own. Just count the seconds before there's a face flop. The person who will quickly admit I need help will be a powerful person. Trials will do that.
So don't be surprised by suffering. Don't be scared by suffering. Here's two positives, two do's. Do be selective in suffering. Verse fifteen, but let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evil doer, or as a busybody.
Okay, stop right there. Don't you find this interesting? That in the list of murderers, thieves, busybody, they do as much damage. That's what. In other people's matters.
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Now, let's return to today's teaching. Yet, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. In other words, if you are going to suffer, and you will, make sure it's for the right reason. Don't retaliate when the government confiscates your property, you Roman Christians, by being a thief. Don't retaliate, Roman Christians, when they are violent against you by murdering them.
Don't do that. Suffer if you suffer for being a Christian. Look at the word Christian. I say look at it because you'll only find it three times in the whole Bible. This is one of them.
Did you know that the early church didn't call themselves Christians? They never referred to them as such. They called themselves believers, believers, or the Way, or brethren. Christian was a term that was a derogatory term, a nickname given to them by Romans and Greeks who wanted to come up with a term that set them apart from the rest of the Roman Empire. You see, most of the Roman Empire were called Caesarianos, followers of Caesar, they hold allegiance to him.
They pay their taxes. They're not antagonistic against the government, because Christians were this sect who didn't give the all-allegiant bow to Caesar. They were given a different title, Christianos. They're followers of Christ, not Caesar. They won't say Caesar is Lord.
They keep saying Jesus is Lord. And so it was a term that was derogatory.
However, over time, these early believers took on the name Christian. They just thought it's sort of fitting to call ourselves this derogatory term because we embrace being followers of Jesus Christ. Let's continue with our thought, verse seventeen. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first. What will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, a quote out of Proverbs, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? What does he mean when he says it's time for judgment to begin at the house of God? Simply, what he has already been saying—the purging, the purifying work of a loving God, and using suffering to purify His church.
So he says. If that's happening in the church, the house of God, and then in the next verse, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner be? In other words, we are saved through difficult times. We are saved through trials. Jesus called the gate.
What kind of gate that we walk through? A narrow gate. And what did he say about the way we walk on? It's a difficult way. His words.
It's difficult.
So if our way is narrow, and the road we walk on as believers in a hostile world is difficult and it is inevitable, the only weird thing about persecution is if you don't get any. And if Paul said we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God, if that's true, and it's hard for believers now, think of how horribly painful it will be eventually for the unbeliever. That's his point. What about the ungodly? And the sinner.
If God purifies His church through suffering, what about the end of the ungodly? Let me boil it down to this thought: Suffering in this world makes us long for heaven. But this world is all the heaven that some people will ever see. That's what he means.
So, don't be surprised by suffering. Don't be scared by suffering. Do be selective in suffering. You're going to suffer. Make sure it's for the right.
Reason and finally, when we close, do be sensitized by suffering. One verse, verse 19. Therefore, don't you love the therefores? Don't you love when he talks about stuff and he goes, "Now let me make it applicable." Here's the therefore. We already know what what it's there for, so we can keep going.
Therefore, let those who suffer, according to the will of God, stop right there, please. Underline that, please. Or remember that that's in the book.
Some of you have been told that suffering is never in the will of God. God wants His children always to be healthy, always to be smiling, always to go through life we happy and healthy and prosperous, not suffer. That's never God's will.
Well, then you better rip this page out, or change your thinking. Let those who suffer according to the will of God. What should they do? They should commit, commit their souls to Him, in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. The word "commit" is a banking term that means to deposit something for safekeeping.
I'm going to deposit. My trust. I do not understand what's happening in this world around me. This is so hard. This is so painful.
I don't get it. I want answers. They're not coming.
So what I will do is deposit my trust in God's bank. That's the picture. And here's the truth: when you deposit your trust in God's bank, you will get dividends of blessings in your account. He won't let anything you deposit go to waste. Every bit of trust you deposit will be rewarded.
Now I'm going to close with two words that I think are what verse 19 is all about.
Okay, so so you commit, put that in the bank, trust God. But look at those words: doing good. Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. Better translation: and continue to be doing what is right and what is good, because you see, if doing good is what got you in trouble in the first place, you think I better not do any more good. If being a faithful, good Christian, faithful, good Christian, gets me in trouble with the Roman government and they persecute me, then I better just be a little bit less bold and a little bit less intense as a believer.
Just sort of bring it down a couple notches. Peter says, "Don't do that. Commit that to God and continue to do." Good.
Now, here's what I want you to know about suffering from this perspective. Peter never saw suffering as academic; it was real. He wanted to enter into the reality of it. You know, we got that from Jesus. You'll remember this.
John chapter nine. There's a man who's blind, blind from birth, and the apostles see him, and and they're not they're not in this guy's life.
So so here's a case study. And they look at this case study and they look at it academically and they say, "So why was this man blind? Is it his sin or his parents' sin that caused him to be born blind?" They want to answer the why question, right? The question that never goes away: Why is there pain and suffering? Who is responsible?
Why is this happening? Was it his sin or his parents' sin? Jesus' answer is classic: Neither his sin nor his parents' sin caused this, but that the glory of God might be revealed in him. And what tickles me is that Jesus never answered the question why. This is what he said: "I must work the works of Him who sent me, while it is still day, for the night is coming when no man can work." And he healed him.
In other words, right now, boys, the answer theologically, academically, philosophically, as to why there is evil in the world doesn't matter much to him. You know what matters to him? He can't see. I am going to fix that. I am going to fix that.
He entered into pain in reality. By the way, Christians have always done that. You know who started the first hospitals? You know who started the first orphanages? Was Christians, Christianity was birthed into a hostile, brutal Greco-Roman world that saw life as disposable.
Jesus saw it as precious; therefore, life was cared for. That's what reload love is all about. To us, we don't want to deal with the problem in a classroom or a discussion group. It's good to do that, but we want to go beyond that. We want to do more.
We want to be active. We want to do it today. We want to do it practically. It's like the cartoon that I saw of two turtles talking by a fence, and one turtle turned his little turtleneck to his friend and said, "Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty and famine and injustice when He could do something about it." And the second turtle turned back his turtleneck to his friend and said, "I'm afraid God might ask me the same question. Same question." Like we learned last week, we're the hands, we're his feet, we're the body of Christ.
We're the ones that get involved. Have you heard that strange insurance phrase? Kind of drives me nuts. Any time something bad happens, some earthquake, some tornado. What are they called?
Acts of God. That's really gnarly. What happened? That's an act of God. I don't dispute that God can't do that and that He's not in total control.
But why can't acts of God be when He enacts love and compassion to the life of one of His children? Let the world see those acts of God. That's what it's about. I close with this. I promise.
I found it. I thought it would be meaningful to share. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are better off than the six million people who will not survive this week. That's sinking in. Here's another: If you've never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of prison, the agony of torture, the pang of starvation, you are ahead.
Of five hundred million people in the world, if you can attend a church meeting without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion. That's with a B, three billion people in the world. If you have a food. Or if you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep, you are richer than seventy-five percent of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top eight percent of the world's wealthy.
So Jesus talked about loving the least of these. And James talked about true religion being caring for widows and orphans, and there are so many around the world.
So rather than just dealing with it academically, we want to enter into it. That's what Reload Love is about. We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, don't forget about Pastor Skip's brand new devotional, Soaring Above It All. This one-year devotional gives you a panoramic view of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, helping you better understand God's Word and stay engaged with it every day.
Request your copy as our thanks when you give fifty dollars or more to help bring clear Bible teaching to people around the world. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight. We'll see you next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
