The Walk of Suffering

Louis Zamperini was an Olympic track runner who enlisted into the US military in 1941 at the beginning of World War 2.  In 1943 Louis was captured by the Japanese and became a prisoner of war after surviving a plane crash and 47 days on a raft in the Pacific Ocean.  Louis spent 2 years as a prisoner of war being mistreated and severely beaten.  On one occasion, he was forced to hold a heavy wooden beam above his head at gunpoint.  At the end of the war Louis was freed and later became a Christian at a Billy Graham crusade.  As a result of Louis becoming a Christian, he miraculously returned to Japan to share the gospel with those who mistreated him and he once hated.

READ:  1 Peter 2:19-25, 4:1-5

Living life in the same way as Jesus did requires SUFFERING for the sake of OTHERS!  SUFFERING = Enduring the pain and hardship of MISTREATMENT by others without RETALIATION.  Throughout Jesus’ life, after His arrest, all the way up until the moment He died Jesus endured constant mistreatment including criticism, rejection, insults, false accusations, threats on His life, betrayal, wrongful arrest, being spit on, punched, slapped, mocked, made fun of, and finally crucifixion as a criminal.  Amazingly, Jesus never did anything wrong to deserve any of this mistreatment!  Even more amazingly, although Jesus endured a lifetime of unjust suffering, He never once retaliated in any way!  Why did He do it?  Peter said that Jesus, “suffered for (us), leaving (us) an example, so that (we) might follow in His steps”.  Every time Jesus endured suffering He had us in mind, and He wants us to live our lives in the same way.  How are we to respond to the mistreatment of others?

When we are mistreated by others we should not REVILE in return (1 Pet. 2:23) – Teenagers and siblings are professional revilers.  They tend to say things intended to hurt or injure others’ reputations.  To revile means to “insult”, “mock”, or “speak abusively” to someone.  Sadly, when we’ve been mistreated with words, it’s hard for us not to return the favor.  According to Peter when, “(Jesus) was reviled, He did not revile in return”.  Jesus endured the verbal mistreatment of others by speaking kindly to them or remaining silent (Mark 15:16-20, 29-32; Luke 22:63-65, 10-11, 35-43)!  Throughout our lives we can expect to be abused verbally by people in varying degrees of intensity, and yet we are to have a similar response each time, we are simply not to return the same type of mistreatment to them.  When we do, we are sharing in the suffering of Christ!

When we are mistreated by others we should not THREATEN in return (1 Pet. 2:23) – “I’m going to kill you”!  I’ve heard this threat a handful of times around our house, any one of us might use this threat out of anger when we feel that we’ve been mistreated and we want the one who mistreated us to know it is our desire to mistreat them in return.  According to Peter when, “(Jesus) suffered, He did not threaten”.  Jesus endured the mistreatment of others by doing good to them.  When we have been mistreated we are to refrain from declaring that we personally are going to make sure they get what they deserve.  Not threatening in return may not bring an end to the mistreatment we experience, but it will free us of being guilty of mistreatment as well.  Threats will only escalate the issue, whereas responding with love and kindness provide a powerful opportunity for forgiveness and reconciliation to occur.

When we are mistreated by others we should ENTRUST ourselves to GOD who judges justly (1 Pet. 2:23) - If we are not to stand up for ourselves when we are mistreated, what are we supposed to do?  According to Peter, instead of reviling or threatening Jesus, “continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly”.  Jesus did not consider it His responsibility to make things right for Himself, instead He fully trusted God to do it for Him!  Paul said in Romans 12:19, “never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’”.  One day, God will judge everyone fairly and give them the consequences they deserve for what they have done to us, which frees us from the need to do it for ourselves!

CONCLUSION
Philippians 1:29 says, “it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake”.  Paul wrote these words joyfully while he was “imprisoned” in a jail cell “for Christ” (Phil. 1:4, 13-14).  We are not just called to believe in what Jesus did, we are called to participate in the life of suffering that He lived!  Do you merely believe in Jesus Christ or are you also sharing in His sufferings?