Imitating Jesus, Peter, and Paul in Dealing with Suffering

(John 20:21 NKJV) So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

We are looking at Jesus’s last statement in this passage: “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” The isv translates this as “Just as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” So our Lord is sending us just as—or in the same way as—his Father sent him. So (beginning yesterday) we’ve been asking ourselves, “How did Father send his Son Jesus? On what mission, and with what provision and empowering did he send him?” Continuing from yesterday’s list, we see:

4. SUFFERING

(Hebrews 5:8 NKJV) Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

This is a challenging topic for us to face and talk about, let alone grasp the way God wants us to see it. We certainly don’t need to be listening to our own ideas on this, or anyone else’s opinions; only God’s truth through his word has the answers.

Over the centuries, it seems that people’s beliefs about Christian suffering has been formed by experience rather than by simply looking at what God’s word says. So, let’s begin by first looking at what Jesus said about this:

(Matthew 20:22-23 NKJV) But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.” (23) So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”

To be sure we know what the “cup” that Jesus was “about to drink” is, we read his use of this phrase in its direct context: his arrest, trial, torture, and crucifixion:

(John 18:11 NKJV) So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”

Seeing Peter was an eyewitness to this and knew exactly what Jesus was talking about, let’s look also at what he said about us suffering:

(1 Peter 2:19-21 NLT) For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. (20) Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. (21) For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.

From this passage of the apostle’s doctrine, we see two types of suffering: one is when we suffer as a consequence of doing wrong—like being fined for speeding. God is not calling us to this type of suffering. In truth, he has done what he can to enable us to avoid it; he has given us a new birth, his own Spirit of holiness, and is offering us his grace. His objective is to change and empower us so we don’t do wrong and suffer for it.

The other type of suffering mentioned in this passage is when a Christian is obeying God and walking in the Spirit, but this brings on vengeful suffering and rebuttal from the evil one—either directly as a spiritual attack, or through flesh and blood humans. What the apostle Peter said about this type of suffering is a crucial piece of doctrine; it reveals the truth about Christian suffering. Let’s look again at what Peter said—this time as translated from the Aramaic original:

(1 Peter 2:18-23 APE) To those who are Servants among you: Submit to your masters in reverence, not only to the good and to the meek, but also to the severe and to the perverse; (19) For such servants have grace before God who, for the sake of a good conscience, endure distresses which come upon them by The Evil One. (20) But what honor is it to those who endure suffering because of their foolishness? But when you do what is good and they afflict you and you endure, then it magnifies your honor with God. (21) For you are called to this, for even The Messiah died for our sake and left us this example, that you would walk in his steps, (22) He who did no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth; (23) He who was insulted and did not insult, and he suffered and did not threaten, but he handed his judgment over to The Judge of righteousness.

Being sent just as the Father sent Jesus will lead to suffering—even to the point of martyrdom, the cup that Jesus was given to drink. Father doesn’t cause the suffering, but doing his will will always bring us into direct and forceful conflict with the unseen enemy; he brings on this type of suffering:

(Matthew 11:12 DKJV) “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven forcefully advances and the forceful try to seize it back by force.”

In the Gospels, we see that the enemy’s forceful counter-offensives led to the beheading of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Jesus. In Acts, we see the martyrdom of Stephen and James, the imprisonment of Peter and others, and we see the suffering Paul underwent as he was out advancing the gospel.

This suffering is a consequence of being sent by Jesus and being led by the Spirit. I emphasize again that it is not the suffering brought on by our own disobedience; that type of suffering is covered in the following passage:

(Psalm 107:17-20 NLT) Some were fools; they rebelled and suffered for their sins. (18) They couldn’t stand the thought of food, and they were knocking on death’s door. (19) “LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. (20) He sent out his word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death.

The “fools” described here suffered because of their own sins. God’s solution to this was to “send out his word.” When we suffer as a consequence of our own actions, we should first realize that this is neither God’s will nor his call. He wants us to cry out for forgiveness and restoration, and then to use his word to deal with the consequences and to seek healing from the resulting afflictions. Thank you Jesus.

The Living Word is also the authoritative solution to suffering brought on by [seeming] natural occurrences, such as weather extremes, etc. Jesus gave us the example in this:

(Luke 8:24 NLT) The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm.

Jesus “rebuked” the wind and waves. He told them off and calmed them, standing against their attempts to make him and his disciples suffer. We should follow his example in this; we too should resist the enemy, rebuke damaging storms and raging waves. By finding grace and having God’s words come alive in us, we can calm storms, stop winds, bind the enemy and every cantankerous thing that tries to make us suffer needlessly. (Obviously, you cannot rebuke the police if they catch you breaking the road rules; but you can repent, ask God for forgiveness, and prayerfully plead the blood of Jesus.)

We can also use Jesus’s prescribed ways to resist and overcome the persecution and affliction that comes forcefully against us, as we are obeying him and doing what he sent us to do:

Rejoice when persecuted (Mat. 5:12),

Flee when persecuted (Mat. 10:23),

Pray for perpetrators (Mat. 5:44), etc.

Paul gave us a great example of dealing with someone trying to hinder what Jesus sent him to do. He was obviously led by the Holy Spirit to do it; we may be led in another way, but be just as forceful and resistive to the enemy’s plan to obstruct us.

(Acts 13:7-12 NLT) … The governor invited Barnabas and Saul to visit him, for he wanted to hear the word of God. ( But Elymas, the sorcerer (as his name means in Greek), interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to what Barnabas and Saul said. He was trying to keep the governor from believing. (9) Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye. (10) Then he said, “You son of the devil, full of every sort of deceit and fraud, and enemy of all that is good! Will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord? (11) Watch now, for the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you, and you will be struck blind. You will not see the sunlight for some time.” Instantly mist and darkness came over the man’s eyes, and he began groping around begging for someone to take his hand and lead him. (12) When the governor saw what had happened, he became a believer, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.

Today, we have seen three types of suffering that a Christian may encounter. One is brought on by their own sinful, unwise actions; this can be solved with repentance and applying God’s living word. The second type is less specific, brought by [apparently] natural disasters, weather conditions, and circumstances. (Obviously the enemy can be behind this in his general rebellion against God’s order.) The solution to this is again by applying God’s living word and by rebuking the spiritual causes.

The third type of suffering comes because we obey Jesus’s call, being led by the Spirit. This suffering is a direct, targeted counter-offensive by the enemy. Some of it we take patiently and silently—following the example of Jesus dying on the cross for others. Much of it, however, we resist, rebuke, and overcome in the name of Jesus as Paul did—by obeying the living Word, and by using it as our sword of the spirit.

I encourage you to get Jesus’ and Peter’s doctrine on suffering very clear in your own mind. Don’t succumb to what you should resist. Do accept the type of suffering we are called to, but overcome as much of it as possible—only suffering silently when specifically called to it by Jesus. And do not accept the suffering threatened by what seems like natural circumstances; rebuke storms, calm waves, stop thieves, and bind the spiritual forces behind them.