The Hope of Grace in Suffering

Outline

A path God has provided His church to find blessing and hope in times of suffering

I. God has Called Pastors to Care for the Flock (1-4)

A. Not out of a sense of duty, but with genuine service (1-3)

1 Peter 5:1b-3 - …witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed…

1 Peter 2:21-24 - For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

1 Peter 4:1-2 - Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

Luke 24:45-48 - Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

1 Peter 5:1-2 - …shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.

“Pride is so natural to fallen man that it springs up in his heart like weeds in a watered garden or rushes by a flowing brook. It is an all-pervading sin, and smothers all things like dust in the roads or flour in the mill. Its every touch is evil as the breath of the cholera fiend, or the blast of the simoom. Pride is as hard to get rid of as charlock from the furrows or the American blight from the apple trees. If killed it revives, if buried it bursts the tomb. You may hunt down this fox and think you have destroyed it – and your very exultation is pride. None have more pride than those who dream that they have none. You may labor against vainglory till you conceive that you are humble, and the fond conceit of your humility will prove to be pride in full bloom.” (Charles Spurgeon)

B. Knowing the Chief Shepherd will return (4)

1 Peter 5:4 - …when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

II. Humbly Trust in the God of Hope (5-9)

1 Peter 5:5 - You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

“Smooth relations in the church can be preserved if the entire congregation adorns itself with humility. When believers recognize that they are creatures and sinners, they are less apt to be offended by others. Humility is the oil that allows relationships in the church to run smoothly and lovingly. Pride gets upset when another does not follow our own suggestions.” (Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003, 238.)

A. Humble yourself

1 Peter 5:6 - …humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time…

B. Casting our cares on Him

1 Peter 5:6 - …casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

C. Trust in the care of God

Isaiah 40:10-11 - Behold, the Lord God will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him. Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

D. Resist the devil

1 Peter 5:8-9 - Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

Romans 12:1-2 - Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 John 2:15-16 - Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

1 Peter 1:13 - Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 5:5 - …God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

III. Hope During Suffering (10-11)

A. Endure Suffering with Eternity in Focus

1 Peter 5:10-11 - After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

1 Peter 5:11 - To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 1:24-25 - For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.

2 Corinthians 4:17 - For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

B. God will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you

1 Peter 5:10 - …will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

C. Rejoice in the Sovereignty of God

Question…

Don’t we just love books or movies that teach a lesson in pride.

Stories like The Emperor’s New Groove, Humble Pie, or Pride and Prejudice.

When the main character or the villain is an arrogant jerk and somewhere in the middle something bad happens because of that arrogance, then, finally, they get a swift helping of that humble pie!

They go from prideful to humble because something bad happens to them and they learn a lesson, and we eat it up because we feel like it’s sweet justice being served.

Usually, the point of these is to get across that pride can lead to your downfall if you do not change.

We rarely think of those characters as being us, right?

But, can we sometimes end up being like that character or villain? Can we sometimes be that arrogant jerk?

In order to not become that, we must learn to humble ourselves and be obedient to God’s word. We must not let pride take a hold of our hearts!

Are we willing to learn a lesson this morning? Even if that means we learn usually through our suffering?

Today we will see that God calls both pastors and the flocks to be humble before Him. And how turning away from pride will give us hope in times of suffering.

This week we reach the end of our study of the book of 1 Peter.

We have been navigating our way through our study for this year called Hope for Everyday Life.

Today we turn our attention to 1 Peter 5. Our study today is called The Hope of Grace in Suffering

Please turn to page 182 of the back section of the Bible under the seat in front of you. Let’s read these last 14 verses of the book of 1 Peter.

1 I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,

2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;

3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.

4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

6Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

11 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

12 Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!

13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.

14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ.

With that in mind, let’s look today for A path God has provided His church to find blessing and hope in times of suffering.

As Peter begins his teaching, we find that he focuses his attention on Pastors.

Peter let’s us know that…

God has called Pastors to care for the flock (1-4)

You may have noticed that this passage uses the term elders here to talk about the leaders within the church and you may be a bit confused because there is no official title of elder in our church.

In the New Testament there 3 terms which are used interchangeably to describe the same office.

Elder – which emphasizes the necessity of maturity among the church’s spiritual leadership.

Bishop or overseer – which shows the need for the church’s spiritual leadership to have guard over the church

Pastor – which shows the need for the church’s spiritual leadership to feed the church with the Word of God

Notice that Peter is referring to the fellow elders in this passage.

This demonstrates a level of humility on the part of Peter in this portion of the passage.

He is saying that he relates with the church leader.

He could have easily set himself apart by using the term of an Apostle to cast authority over what he was about to instruct the elders to do.

Instead, he is saying that he is right there with them ready to face the same testing and trials that they are to lead the church through.

So how are the elders called to lead the church in the midst of these trials?...

They are called to lead…

Not out of a sense of duty, but with genuine service. (1-3)

This service is emphasized in verses 1-3

To be a…

1 Peter 5:1b – 3

…witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,

Earlier in the book of 1 Peter we talked about the sufferings of Christ.

1 Peter 2:21-24, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

1 Peter 4:1-2 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

The point here is that in the midst of their suffering and the fiery trial that is coming, the Pastor stands to be a constant reminder of the suffering of Christ and the purpose of that suffering which namely is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Luke 24:45-48, “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. “You are witnesses of these things.”

Friends, let me say this to you.

In the midst of your suffering there is no greater hope that can be given to you than the reminder of the hope that we have as a result of the suffering of Christ.

The Pastor is to stand ready to point you to the Gospel in the midst of your needs.

The Pastor is to be first reminding Himself of the glorious hope that is found as a result of the suffering Savior.

If you are here today and you feel hopeless let me plead with you to let today be the day that you discuss the Gospel and understand the hope that comes from realizing that the sufferings of Jesus were to redeem you back to a relationship with Himself.

Pastors are to be the prime example of the sufferings of Christ by leading in humbleness.

Peter emphasizes this in verses 2 and 3

2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;

3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.

They are to be servant-leaders and examples of our humble Savior regardless of the circumstances.

We have talked about this in the past…

Anyone in a leadership position (we spoke particularly about the husbands) is to lead by serving others rather than exercising authority over them.

This means that…

If the church is about to go through a fiery trial the leader must be willing to volunteer to stand in front of the church and to guide them through it regardless of the attacks.

Otherwise, we are taught that God will humble the proud. (We will talk about this a little more later on).

I am so thankful for the willingness of the Pastors who serve within our church who are willing to take a stand on the foundation of the Word of God and are not going to back down from that truth.

Even when a Pastor does this, they must do so without allowing pride to settle in.

Charles Spurgeon puts it this way…

• - “Pride is so natural to fallen man that it springs up in his heart like weeds in a watered garden or rushes by a flowing brook. It is an all-pervading sin, and smothers all things like dust in the roads or flour in the mill. Its every touch is evil as the breath of the cholera fiend, or the blast of the simoom. Pride is as hard to get rid of as charlock from the furrows or the American blight from the apple trees. If killed it revives, if buried it bursts the tomb. You may hunt down this fox and think you have destroyed it—and your very exultation is pride. None have more pride than those who dream that they have none. You may labor against vainglory till you conceive that you are humble, and the fond conceit of your humility will prove to be pride in full bloom.” - Charles Spurgeon

Pride can so easily set in, but there must be no room for pride in a Pastor’s heart.

So, Pastors are to be examples by being ready to preach the Gospel and to serve others.

Pastors are also to lead the church by remembering and…

Knowing the Chief Shepherd will return. (4)

In Verse 4, Peter reminds us that…

• - …when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

There is hope for the pastors who demonstrate godly leadership in the church that they are not doing it alone, there is a shepherd over them and they are just under-shepherds.

This encourages and gives me hope as a pastor that my Savior reminds me, he is a Shepherd and he is my Shepherd. He is well acquainted with the suffering and shepherding challenges of this life.

There is hope that ultimately my focus is following his authority as I shepherd and I do not have to rely on my own wisdom, power, or resources for the task.

Praise the Lord the Chief-Shepherd knows the difficulty of the task and so he knows how to reward his shepherds well with an unfading crown of glory.

Pastors must keep their focus on the eternal reward, if you do, you will not be discouraged nor fearful in shepherding.

Riches or power will not sustain a pastor who is shepherding. Rather you need the eternal hope of Christ and the eternal reward that awaits you with his return: the unfading crown of glory.

So, Pastors are to lead the church by being humble in trying times knowing that Christ will reward them.

Peter now refocuses on the flock.

The flock is called to follow their pastors because they will lead you to…

II. Humbly Trust in the God of Hope(5-9)

Verse 5 says…

1 Peter 5:5 - You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Just as Pastors must not allow pride to set in, so must the church.

God does not want his pastors lording it over the flock but to be humble servants in how they care for the church, but at the same time he exhorts the younger to be submissive and to be humble toward their leadership because there is a temptation for those younger to look down, not honor, and be discontent with the elders that God places over them for their good even when they are leading by a good example.

We see this in Moses’ life…

Numbers 12:3 mentions how the shepherd-leader Moses - was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.

Yet even the men of that generation viewed Moses as Lording his authority over them in Numbers 16:3.

Peter encourages the younger men in particular to choose to willingly put themselves under their leadership for the unity and growth of the church.

If the whole church is characterized by humility toward one another they will experience the grace and kindness of God that he gives, whereas the proud will experience opposition from God. As one commentator says…

“Smooth relations in the church can be preserved if the entire congregation adorns itself with humility. When believers recognize that they are creatures and sinners, they are less apt to be offended by others. Humility is the oil that allows relationships in the church to run smoothly and lovingly. Pride gets upset when another does not follow our own suggestions.” – (Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 238.

So, we learn that all you who claim Christ and want to be obedient to Him must…

Humble yourself.

1 Peter 5:6 - humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

What ultimately does pride say about your belief in the power of God?

At the end of the day your pride ultimately is you claiming to possess more power than the very one whom you are refusing to humble yourself to.

Think about that for a second.

My pride says I with my limited knowledge, strength and ability believes that I am greater than you.

Where are we supposed to humble ourselves?

Under the mighty hand of God.

The mighty hand of God is referring to his sovereign power at work.

God is working and directing and guiding even in the midst of the suffering.

Friends in the midst of your suffering, regardless of your prideful beliefs in your own abilities to handle yourself, there is no safer or better place to be than under the mighty hand of God.

I hope that you are keenly aware of your own inability to navigate the suffering of this life on your own.

Realize that this is the very reason God put Pastors in place.

They are here to guide you through the suffering.

Sometimes pride blinds you from that.

What do you trust more? The word of God or your own?

I have two questions to ask you…

Question 1…

What happens when you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God?

He exalts you!

God’s purpose for your humility under His mighty hand is so that He can exalt you.

Question 2…

What does Pride ultimately do?

It destroys you.

Eventually your pride will fail you.

Eventually the end of all sin is destruction.

But humility is exalted in the end.

Those who humble themselves under the mighty hand of God will be exalted by the very one to whom they have humbled themselves to.

What is this exalting?

Even in considering this phrase we may be tempted to show our pride.

So, if I am humble enough for long enough then eventually God will lift me up on some sort of winners platform of humility and there I will stand with great pride rejoicing in the recognition of my own humility.

This exalting is when God lifts us up out of the sufferings that we have endured in his divinely appointed timing.

So, even when we believe we are the most humble, we must recognize that we are not humble enough!

So how do we humble ourselves?

Peter teaches that we must be…

Casting our cares on Him

1 Peter 5:6 - casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Casting is a supporting participle in this particular passage.

In other words, one of the expressions of humility is that you cast your anxieties on Him.

This is more than just your anxiety, it can also mean your

Discontentment

Discouragement,

Despair,

Questioning

Pain

Suffering

All of that must be surrendered to the Lord!

Not casting our cares on Him is prideful.

One of the expressions of pride says I can handle it all myself.

I can do it.

I can face my anxieties in my own strength and make it

I can over come the discontentment in my life and eventually get what I want out of life.

I can overcome my discouragement by masking it with overachieving, or some form of hiding from the realities

I am able to endure my despair

I will figure out the best way for me to live

I can take on the pain

I can endure this suffering.

What is the problem with this.

Your pride will never be able to sufficiently provide the peace you want in the midst of your suffering.

If you carry your own anxieties and try to fight them in your own pride eventually they will crush you!

So instead of trusting in yourself and being prideful…

Trust in the Care of God.

Peter reminds us to trust in the Lord because He cares for us.

In the end your pride will rob you of the sweetest care that God wants to provide for you.

Isaiah says,

Isaiah 40:10-11, “Behold, the Lord God will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him. Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

Think about the imagery of this picture.

God with His all powerful arm full of might.

The muscles are rippling, the veins are popping, the shirt is tearing under the might and the power represented here.

And yet He is still gentle and comforting and caring for that scared little lamb.

On one hand he is destroying those who rise up against Him, and with the other hand He is comforting those who are suffering.

This is the sweet care that God wants to provide for you. Don’t let your pride rob you of that!

Peter also reminds us that our pride can be blinding, and ineffective when we seek to fight off temptation when we are suffering.

Therefore, during times of suffering we must be humble and…

Resist the devil

1 Peter 5:8-9 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

We are called to be of sober spirit and to be on alert.

The devil is always looking to devour us just as the lion seeks to devour a frail sheep.

We can sometimes make ourselves easy targets.

In the simplest form of the word what is the opposite of sober?

It is to be impaired or drunk

In other words to not be in a state of clear thought.

If you knew you were in a situation where you may be attacked at any moment and time you would not want to be in a state of impairment that would prohibit you from reacting in an appropriate way.

This is a metaphor to serve as a reminder that we need to be careful not be so consumed with the intoxicating pleasures of this world that we are unable to recognize the attacks of the roaring lion that seeks to destroy us.

Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

We must be alert to this!

And when suffering sets in (we learned last week it is to be expected for Christians, right?) and difficulty comes, who and what will we turn to?

Are we going to resist the devil? If so, how?

Well, Peter says that we are to stand firm in our faith!

1 Peter 1:13, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

What does this verse tell us about being prepared for the attacks of the devil?

You need to have your mind prepared for those attacks by being reminded of the strength of the hope that is found in Christ.

So, you are aware of the danger of the lurking lion that is seeking to devour you, but instead of lurking in fear and looking around every corner, instead you are prepared by having your mind prepared for potential attacks.

Notice this verse says that you are fixing your hope completely on the grace that will be revealed to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

To whom does God show His grace?

We learned in verse 5 that,

…God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

We are to stand firm in our faith by being humble enough to recognize that we cannot endure the suffering alone, we cannot fight off temptation on our own.

We must trust in God’s mighty hand and in his loving care for us.

We must also understand that we are not the only ones going through suffering.

Peter reminds us that there are brethren around the world who have suffered and who are suffering. Yet they have been sustained.

Therefore he gives us a…

III. Hope During Suffering (10-11)

Let us think through the context leading us to this point.

We have discussed multiple time that these folks that Peter is writing to were in the midst of some pretty significant persecution, trials, testing, and suffering.

They had been warned at the end of chapter 4 that testing was coming in particular to the “household of God.” And that suffering is to be expected.

We have seen that the Pastor or the shepherd needs to be ready to lead the church in the midst of the testing that is coming to the church.

Through all of that, we learn that…

Endure Suffering with Eternity in Focus

In verses 10 and 11 Peter says,

1 Peter 5:10-11 - After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

11 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

What does a little while mean to you?

You may be thinking, my suffering has been going on for ages! Peter surely can’t be serious?!

Well, let’s put this into perspective…

What does it mean that you will suffer for a little while?

Do you see the end of the little while in this verse? (Kari please underline the phrase a little while in the verse)

No, we rather see the term eternal…

(Kari circle the phrase His eternal glory in Christ)

Therefore, with eternity in mind, we can see that our suffering is for a little while.

So how long is a little while?

It is your life span.

That may seem like a long time to be expected to potentially endure suffering.

You might be thinking I just want a little bit of peace with no suffering.

Where is the encouragement in this train of thought?

1 Peter 1:24–25 For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.

Compared to the rest that is offered in eternity the sufferings of this life are very short.

What percentage of eternity is 80 years?

It is nothing in comparison.

2 Corinthians 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison

So we can rejoice!

We can have hope that although in the moment our suffering may be pressing, difficult, hard to endure, our God says that it is momentary, it is light, it is but for a little while.

And we can trust that our…

God will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

The end of verse 10 says that He,

will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

After your suffering, the glory of God will come and what will God do for those who have been suffering?

Perfect – In other words, God will renew you. You have suffered much so you need to be made whole again.

Confirm – God will stabilize you after your period of suffering

Strengthen you after your suffering so you can worship Him for eternity.

Establish – you will be established for a life of eternal praise to our glorious God

Therefore, we can, even in our suffering,…

Rejoice in the Sovereignty of God

Verse 11 reminds us that we can trust that God has dominion over our lives.

We can trust that His sovereign hand will put leaders in place to guide us during our times of suffering.

We can trust that our lives will be cared for completely, and…

We can trust that we will find rest at the end of our suffering.

If you are here thinking that you can make it on your own and are being rebellious towards God, His word says that He is opposed to you.

As we learned last week, your suffering is caused by your sin and rebellion.

Turn towards Christ, trust in Him, humble yourself before Him, and find His grace.

Christian, if you claim Christ, then let’s work at being humble in the face of our suffering.

We know that we are to expect suffering. When our suffering is caused by fighting off temptation and not giving in to our fleshly desires, when we find it difficult and suffer through putting off pride and putting on humbleness,

let’s run to Him and the ministries of grace that He has provided to us in the church and in its leadership.

We have reason to rejoice in this!