Suffering is Sacred, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Today, as we continue this sermon series titled, How Free People Suffer, Rich challenges us to reframe the way we view suffering. He shows us from God's Word that suffering is sacred. The apostles knew this about their own suffering. After receiving a beating for sharing the gospel of Christ in Acts 5, the apostles left rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Listen as Pastor Rich unpacks 1 Peter 4, 14 through 16, to show that suffering is a unique opportunity to engage in the highest purpose.

Good morning church. The title of this series is Live as People Who Are Free. Do we know what our freedom is? Because if you are in Christ, you are free. Free from what? Free from the power and the penalty of your sin. Free from the penalty and the power of sin.

You say, Rich wait a minute, sometimes I still sin. That's true. I'm glad you admit that. But we are free from the penalty of that, but we're also free from the power of that, which means you have the capacity to say no. You have a capacity that an unregenerate person does not have. This is a Selah moment.

Think about that. You are not under condemnation. You don't have to live by guilt. You are free. But you're not only free from something, you are free to something.

What is that? This is where it's testing my capacity to teach. What are you free to? Free to righteousness. You're free to know God and walk with Him. You see, an unregenerate person cannot do that.

Are you aware of that? An unregenerate person cannot walk with God. They cannot know God.

They can know of Him, but they cannot know Him. You cannot know God until you are reconciled to Him. That requires the gospel. See, you are free from the penalty and the power of sin, but you are free to know God and love Him and walk with Him.

That's what you were made for. That's your freedom. And when God is your delight and your love, you walk and live for His opinion alone. And listen, that sets you free.

So live as people who are free. This is what Peter has been teaching us all through this book. Now in chapter four here, we're looking at how free people suffer because Peter was writing to a people who were suffering.

Some of them had been driven from their homes. Some of them are receiving ridicule because they bear the name of Christ. We're to see that in the text today. You are Christian.

What does that mean? And because they are Christian, they are being maligned, they're being disdained, they're being reviled, they're being denounced because they bear that name. So how do free people suffer? Suffering is not strange. Suffering is shared. We share in the sufferings of Christ. And thirdly today, suffering is sacred. Suffering is sacred. Look at verse 14 of chapter four. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

I'm just going to challenge your perspective this morning. Because what this text is talking about very specifically is a very specific kind of suffering. And that is suffering expressly because you are a Christian. You are a Christian. You are a Christ follower. And people know that.

And therefore, because you are a Christ follower, these certain things are true about you. At least they might at least assume that they should be able to see manifestation or evidence of that. But it may require us to put on new lenses to update our lenses.

We need a divine new prescription for our lenses. Because let's say, let's say you put yourself in a work environment or you're in the public market. And someone may know you're a Christian or they know that you are going to affirm and champion God's goodness and his design and you're going to share his love and your life manifests his love and his goodness. And someone might come at you and call you a name. Maybe some of you haven't even experienced anything like that.

It's not that common in our country yet. There are brothers and sisters in Christ who every day have no idea what they're going to face out there just because they're Christian and many of them lose their lives for it. I challenge you in this room, prosperous, comfortable Americans, I challenge you to read the magazine Voice of the Martyrs. It's a reality check. It's what many of our brothers and sisters in Christ have to face every day because they bear the name of Christ.

Maybe some of you have. In your work environment, if you have felt like you've been shunned or belittled or someone has called you a name, a name in your work environment, just raise your hand. Don't be ashamed, okay?

Wait, you're a homeschool mom. It's, Russ, what's going on? You see, it's not all that God. Maybe some of you here today feel like your work environment is becoming more and more anti-Christian or anti-religious or anti-faith. And so you feel like maybe the walls are closing in on you. You might be in that category here this morning. You're thinking, you know, what am I going to do?

And I remember one of my sisters used to attend here a long ago. Now he's moved away. But he says, you know, in my work environment, it was years before anybody knew that I was a Christian. Maybe we're just afraid to let people know. And I'm not saying you have to, you know, it's not like you're called to preach at people when you're at work. But your values, your life, the things you champion, the things you affirm, the things you don't affirm, the jokes you laugh at or don't laugh at, the things you say, the encouragements you give, how you handle pressure and stress, all of those things. If you see someone coming at you and they know you're a Christian and they're coming at you and you know they're going to denounce you somehow, here's where the lens needs to change. Because in the flesh, if I see someone coming at me to denounce me because I'm a person of, or they might just pfft, or roll their eyes, whatever.

We don't like that, do we? But if I see it coming, I might choose to respond in the fog of fear. That's what fear does to us. It surrounds us with fog and we become paralyzed because we don't know which way to go, we don't know what we want to do, and so we do nothing. That's what fear does to us.

Here's the lens that needs to change. If you see someone coming at you to denounce you because you are a Christian, instead of seeing them attacking you, they are approaching you to pin a badge on you. Say, Rich, what on earth are you talking about? It's a badge of honor. They may not know it, but if they are going to denounce you, if they are going to insult you for being a Christian, for being a Christ follower, for championing what Christ champions, if they insult you for that, they're pinning a badge on you. Don't see it as an attack on you, because it's not.

Who is it? It's an attack on Jesus. But if they're attacking you, that means you have identified with Christ. They've just pinned a badge on you. It's a badge of honor. The sacredness of being insulted for Christ.

Why? Because we are a people set apart unto Christ. Look back at chapter 2. Turn with me, chapter 2, 1 Peter 2, verse 9. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

That's who you are. And when they insult you for being a Christian, they are acknowledging 1 Peter 2, 9 about you. That's a badge of honor. Suffering is sacred. This kind of suffering is sacred. So, what does he say in verse 14?

Point number 1 today. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are what? Blessed.

Now that's just very counterintuitive, isn't it? I don't feel so blessed when somebody denounces me. You know why?

Tell me why. Your flesh is screaming. Because your flesh is saying, I don't deserve that.

That is an injustice and I don't deserve that. Your flesh is screaming. But what is the Spirit saying? The Spirit says you are blessed.

Which one are you going to listen to? When you are insulted, the word insulted means to be reviled, to be denounced. And in that moment, and you should prepare ahead of time in that moment, what means more to you than being affirmed by those who do not believe? We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, 7 Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. 7 Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.