The Suffering Of Christ

Well, we probably all at some point or another have trouble with our memories and the older we get, the worse that gets, struggling to remember things. 185-year-old man used a commercial break to get up, struggled up from his recliner to go into the kitchen, he said to his wife, he said, I'm going to go get some ice cream. Would you like some? And she was pleased that he would think about her and want to get her some ice cream. But she knew how forgetful he was. So she said to him, now I want you to write it down. You know what I like, but write it down so you don't forget I want vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce on it. I write it down so you don't forget. He just shook his head, walked on back to the kitchen. 15 minutes later, he walked out with a plate full of scrambled eggs. She took one look at it and said, I told you to write it down. I knew you'd forget. Here you come bringing the scrambled eggs in your forgot my bacon. We all forget, don't we? We all have a tendency to forget. Even things that are very important to us. That's why we're here this morning. We're here to remember. We're here so that we don't forget. Jesus knowing our tendency to forget even those things which are most basic to us, even those things which are the foundation of our eternal life. Jesus knowing that we have a tendency to forget before he died for our sins on the cross, said, I'm going to leave you a visual reminder. I'm going to leave you something that you can do regularly so that you will remember my death. You will not forget what it was like. And we come here today to observe communion to remember the sufferings of Christ. To help us focus on the sufferings of Christ and what they're all about, I'd like for us to open our Bibles this morning to 1 Peter 2. Second chapter of Peter's first epistle. We're breaking from our series in Romans this morning to take a moment to focus our attention upon specifically what Peter says about the sufferings of Christ. In fact, in five verses in 1 Peter 2, Peter gives us three key elements of the sufferings of Christ for us. Three key elements of the sufferings of Christ for us. The first one is the example of his suffering. If you have your place in 1 Peter 2, look at verse 21. So this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leading you an example that you should follow in his steps. The first thing Peter reminds us of when he talks about the suffering of Christ is that Christ's suffering is an example for us. Now that verse has often been misunderstood. Some people think that verse 21 is saying, and Peter is saying, well, you know, Jesus came and lived his life and his life as an example for us. And if we just live like Jesus lived, if we follow that example, then we'll be good like Jesus was and we'll get to heaven if we just follow and live like Jesus did. That is not what Peter is talking about. There are others who say, well, what Peter is talking about is as a believer, as a Christian, you should always try to do what Jesus did. And a book was written along those lines called in his steps long before what would Jesus do, movement came along, encouraging us to learn what Jesus would do and live by his example. Well, while that is somewhat true for the believer, that's still not what Peter is talking about. In order to really understand the focus of Jesus' example here in this text, we have to put it in its proper context. Peter is writing, he tells us himself, to explain what the grace of God means in our lives, how the grace of God enables us to live. Chapter 5 and verse 13, he tells us, he says, I wrote to you to testify of the grace of God. So this book is designed to help us understand how to live by the strength of the grace of God. In the first couple of chapters, we need God's grace to live holy lives. And that's the focus of up through chapter 2 and verse 12. In chapter 2, verse 13, he turns a corner. And he says, we also need God's grace to be submissive to proper authority in our lives. And he talks first of all about the authority of government, the authority of human institutions that God has placed over us. We need God's grace sometimes. Sometimes we need an extra measure of God's grace to live under governmental authority in our lives. But then he turns a corner again, says there's another authority, at least in the culture of Paul's Day, the Roman Society of Paul's Days. That was the authority of, and the submission of slavery in verse 18. He says, slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. And he goes on to talk about, it's commendable for you if you suffer as a servant, and by the way, there were 50 to 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire, doctors could be slaves. They were just working in a certain household, possibly. Slavery was much different than what it is in our history and what we think of. You could be a doctor, an educator, so forth, but working under someone's household, you were considered a slave. 50 to 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire. And so it was a very common institution ingrained into the society of the day, and sometimes slaves were mistreated. And what Peter is saying is you're under authority in that situation. Here's how you should respond. If you suffer because you're a bonehead, because you did something bad and you deserved to suffer, you got what was coming to you. But if you suffer because you did right and you suffer unjustly, that's commendable to God. If you respond to that appropriately, that's commendable to God. But in that setting, he says in verse 21, to this you were called. To this kind of commendable response to unjust suffering, you were called to that because Christ and his suffering suffered the same way. He suffered unjustly and he left you an example of how to suffer unjustly. So in that sense, Christ's death is an example to us, not an example of how to live and die for a good cause. In one specific sense, Christ's death serves as an example of how to suffer unjustly and suffer commendably in God's eyes. So the example of Christ's suffering, and by the way, the word example is the word that was used in New Testament times of the model letters that a school teacher would make, and the children in her classroom or his classroom, the school master's room, would copy those letters. I'm not sure how educators do it today. Some of you could help me here, but I remember back in the dark ages when I was elementary school, they did something very similar to that. Teacher would go up to the board, you don't have these lines on the board, and she would write a letter, and then some student would be called up, and you're supposed to write the same letter on the board. You're looking over at what she wrote, you know, and figuring out how she did that, and trying to write, you're patterning after the model that she set, the example she set. That's the word here. Jesus laid down a mark. He left us an example of how we should suffer unjustly and respond in a way that's commendable to God. In that sense, his suffering becomes an example to us, the example of his suffering. Peter says there's more than that. Notice also the manner of his suffering. If Jesus did not die for his own sin, if he suffered unjustly, then what was his death all about? The manner of his suffering, verse 22, he committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. What Peter is saying there, quoting actually from Isaiah 53, is that Jesus never committed any sin in his actions, committed no sin, or his speech. There's no deceit in his speech. By the way, it's interesting to me that in these next four verses, Peter alludes to Isaiah 53 five times. Five times he makes a reference to Isaiah 53. Sometimes word for word, sometimes just the thought lifted from Isaiah 53. That's a very interesting methodology that Peter leaves us here and it teaches us something. You see, Peter was an eyewitness to much of the sufferings of Christ and where he bailed out after he denied the word, even though he had seen the arrest and part of the trial, he had first-hand testimony as to what happened to the cross. So he had seen and he had heard first-hand eyewitness testimony as to the sufferings of Christ, but rather than quote, that is his authority, he quotes the Old Testament as his authority. Which tells us that Peter regarded the word of God as a higher authority than his own experience. That's a good lesson for us to learn. This book, The Word of God, is our authority. Not even we see or hear. There are a lot of people today who say, well, I know what the Bible says, but I experience this. Well, you can experience anything if it's contradictory to the Word of God. The Word of God is our authority. Peter leaves us an example in that regard. But his quote from Isaiah 53 in verse 22 basically establishes the fact that the manner of Jesus suffering had nothing to do with any sin on his part. He was not suffering for his own sin, because he committed no sin in act or speech. So what was the manner of his suffering? Why did he suffer? Verse 23, When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. He said he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. Peter is establishing the fact that Jesus suffered unjustly. When he died on the cross, there were all kinds of cruel things, unkind, unjust, incorrect statements made about Jesus. People were mocking the fact that he claimed to be the son of God. And people were mocking his divine power. If you really are who you say you are, show us, come down from the cross. They were mocking all of his claims to be it. And even though he received unkind, unjust words, unkind, unjust, cruel treatment, he did not retaliate. He did not threaten from the cross. Jesus never prayed. God gets them for what they are doing. God punished them, judged them for what they are doing. God I have nothing to do with them for what they are doing. No. You remember what Jesus did say? Father, forgive them. But they know not what they did. You see, Jesus was treated wrongly and did not retaliate, did not respond in kind. He responded totally differently than what you would expect of a human being, a normal human. But he responded with the love of God, with the grace of God toward those who treated him so unjustly. Now there are lots of lessons to learn about the manner of Jesus suffering, how easy it is for us when we are unjustly attacked to retaliate, to respond with venom, to want that person to be judged, to vindicate ourselves, to clear the record, how easy it is for us to respond that way. And Jesus leaves us the example of how to suffer unjustly but in a way which is commendable to God. There are lots of things we can learn here about Jesus suffering in the manner in which He suffered. Something another lesson we should meditate on is we remember through these symbols, the suffering of Jesus, is Jesus suffered and yet He never did anything wrong. Have you ever put those two together? Jesus never did anything wrong but He still suffered. Now you need to think about that. I need to think about that because there are a lot of people blaring at us today through the health and wealth gospel that if you don't do wrong, if you do right, God is obligated to pour out blessing and that blessing always in their eyes comes in the sense of material things. I have always wondered what do they do with Jesus? Do they not understand Jesus never did anything wrong? Jesus always pleased the Father but He suffered. And He suffered unjustly. That in itself ought to tell us the health and wealth gospel is wrong. Lots of lessons we can learn about the manner of His suffering. Another is that submission and patient endurance under that kind of unjust suffering shows strength, not weakness. Jesus was in control of this situation. The Bible says in the gospels that at any moment He could have called twelve legions of angels. They were perched on the edge of heaven, ready to respond to His call and they would have annihilated everyone who was unjustly treating Christ. He could have called seventy two thousand angels, Roman legions, six thousand soldiers. So next time you sing the song, correct the lyrics, okay? He could have called seventy two thousand angels to destroy the word correct the lyrics because He could have called seventy two thousand angels, but He didn't. He didn't. He was being unjustly treated but He didn't call those angels. But that shows His strength, not His weakness. The ability to patiently endure even unjust suffering shows strength of character, not weakness. The manner of His suffering He suffered unjustly. Let's remember that. Even as we per take of communion today and remember these elements, He was setting an example for us in the very manner in which He suffered. Suffering unjustly but not retaliating, not threatening, leaving His case to God and letting God take care of it. But that's not really the core of Jesus suffering either. That's all involved, Peter says. But now He's going to get to the real core of Jesus suffering and that is the reason for His suffering versus twenty four and twenty five. Here's the idea, if Jesus did not suffer because He did anything wrong, if He suffered unjustly then why did He suffer? Peter tells us, verse twenty four, He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness by His wounds. You have been healed. I'm not sure that there is any more concise phrase in the Bible that describes more powerfully the reason for Jesus suffering than the first few words of verse twenty four. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree. That is the essence of Jesus death. That's the reason why He died. He did not die for His own sins. He was not being punished for His own sins. He was not paying for any of His own sins because as Peter as a reminder this, He didn't have any sin. But He Himself, He didn't delegate this. He took it upon Himself. He Himself bore our sins. The word for bear there is the word that was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to carry a sacrificial animal to the place of sacrifice. He bore, He carried our sin to the place of sacrifice. And as He died there on the cross, He placed that on His shoulders and He said, Father, I am willing to be a sacrifice, a substitute to be punished for the sins of all men. I am taking on myself the sin of the world. As John said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He took it away, He bore it. He took it upon Himself. He carried your sin in my sin. So He bore in His body through His physical suffering, His physical death on the cross. He bore, He carried our sins on that tree on the cross. That is the essence of suffering. Notice all the substitutionary terminology there. He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree. So Jesus died for us as a substitute for us in your place, in my place, taking the punishment for my sin. In your sin, that is the reason why He died. He had no sin of His own to pay for. He was paying for yours and He was paying for mine. And the reason for that and the result of that notice is Peter says, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. Death in the Scriptures always refers to separation. So that we might be separated from sin. There might be a connection that we have to sin that's cut off. In other words, we're no longer slaves to sin. We no longer have to serve sin. But now we can live for righteousness. When we get the Roman 6, we'll see Paul really flesh that out and describe it in full. What it means no longer to be a slave to sin, but a servant of righteousness, Peter is just putting it in capital form here. The result of Jesus' death for us was so that our relationship under slavery to sin might be cut off, that we might die to that, and we might live for righteousness. And he says, the way that happened is by His wounds you have been healed. Another part of the verse that's often been misunderstood, he's not primarily speaking of physical healing here. Although all of the physical results of Adam's fall in the curse are covered in the death of Christ, the Paul reminds us in Romans 8 that the physical part of redemption hasn't happened yet. That's awaiting us when we get to heaven. If it's happened already, then we have nothing to hope for, Paul said in Romans 8. So the physical part of the curse which is covered by the death of Christ will not be fully realized until heaven. But in the context here, it's clear he's not really talking about physical healing. He's talking about spiritual healing. He's just talked about Jesus' bore our sins. Where to die to sin live for righteousness. This is a spiritual healing that he's talking about here. He's been healed from that cancer of sin, of being under the domination of sin. We've been healed from that so that we can live a righteous lifestyle. That's the healing that has been made possible by His wounds. And he goes on to further describe the reason for Jesus' death in verse 25, for you were like sheep going astray. Once again referring back to Isaiah, you were like sheep going astray, ignorant, dumb, wondering, animals, followers, following whatever temptation looks alluring. The next clump of grass and you wonder off after it. That's the way we are. Like sheep, we've all gone astray. You were that way, he says. But now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your soul. I love those two terms that Peter uses which he'll use again in chapter 5 of pastors to feed the flock, shepherd the flock, and to be overseers, bishops of the flock. But our ultimate shepherd and overseer is Jesus. He is the shepherd who provides for his sheep, guides his sheep, protects his sheep. He's the overseer who watches over his sheep. And we have been returned to His fold because of His death so that He might become our shepherd and our overseer. That's the reason for Jesus' death. And that's what we're observing this morning as we observe communion. So remember, as we observe communion this morning, let us remember the sufferings of Christ for us. That He set us an example even in the way He suffered, unjust suffering, unjust treatment. So He left us an example of how to respond in a way that's commendable to God. But let us never forget the reason He suffered was to carry, to bear your sin and mine in His suffering there on the cross. So as we observe communion, let us remember Christ's sufferings for us. And Red Square in Moscow, even today lies in state the body of Vladimir Linnon who died in 1924 was the father of Communism. And even though Communism has fallen over 20 years ago and his lying in state is no longer funded by the Russian government, it is funded by private contributions. Still a testimony to the people's reverence for Vladimir Linnon, the father of Communism. He was still filed by day after day to pay their respects to the father of Communism. By His monument reads this inscription, He was the greatest leader of all people of all time. He is the Lord of the new humanity. He was the Savior of the world. They got it wrong. And it would be wrong of any other human being. The Lord of the new humanity, the people of God, is Jesus Christ. The Savior of the world is Jesus Christ. And what we do today when we partake of these elements is that we remember that it was through His suffering, that He became our Lord and our Savior. The real question is, do you know Him personally as your Lord and Savior? Are you a part of that new people of God, His church, His body, His bride? And He came to redeem by His death on the cross. As we observe communion, let us remember the sufferings of Christ for us. Let's pray together. Father, we have come here today to remember, to remember what it meant for you to suffer, for your Son to bear in His own body on that cross our sins. Father, we are not even sure how to say thank you just to say that we are thankful or grateful is not enough. We can only legitimately thank you for that sacrifice by giving our bodies, our lives as a living sacrifice to you. So as we use these symbols to help us remember what Jesus did, Father, would you please help us to recognize the sufferings of Christ and what it means for Him, what it meant for Him, to give His body the shed His blood for our sins. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.