Pastor Jeff on the Radio

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Jeff Schwarzentraub, senior pastor of Brave Church. At Brave, we believe God has called his church to stand boldly for truth, not on defense but to advance, proclaiming his word with clarity and without compromise. If you’re looking for a church where scripture is preached with conviction and Jesus Christ is exalted, we’d love to have you.

Join us on Sundays at our Englewood or Westminster locations at 8:30 or 10:30 AM. Learn more at Brave.org. Once again, that’s Brave.org. Now, here’s Pastor Jeff with today’s message.

Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub: The only way to change the world is with the gospel of Jesus Christ. To try to change the world, to try to change non-believers other than with the gospel of Jesus Christ, is wasting your time. You might ask if I realize how evil the world is or what they are doing against God. I totally do. I used to be one of them, and so did you.

I’m totally aware of that, and apart from the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, I’d still be doing it. The only reason I’m changed is because of the gospel of Jesus that declared to me that Christ died for my sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised according to the scriptures. That’s what changed me. That’s the only hope the world has. To try and change the world without the gospel is a waste of time.

In other words, quit bothering the world telling them everything they need to do to act like you because they can’t act like you since they don’t have Jesus in their life. It means quit throwing every political rally and every educational thing and doing all these things without the gospel, thinking you’re going to change people. All you’re going to do is modify people’s behavior at best, which doesn’t do anything now or for eternity.

If you’re going to suffer, here’s why you should suffer. You should suffer because you’re proclaiming the gospel to the lost. You should suffer because you’re edifying the saints and rebuking people in their sin. You should suffer because you’re living so much for Jesus that Jesus is what people are rejecting in you, not your own agenda. That’s how you should suffer. Suffer because Jesus is so prominent in your life.

That’s why verse 16 says, "But if anyone suffers as a Christian," if that’s what you suffer like, he is not to be ashamed but is to glorify God in this name. To glorify God means praising God that in the moment, he would deem you worthy to suffer for him because he is living his life through you in such power that you’re sharing with the lost so powerfully or you’re living among the saints so powerfully. Praise God and glorify him that he’s deemed you for such a time and a place to suffer for his name like that.

Does anybody want a biblical example of this? I’m just hoping you’re reflecting and that you’re still paying attention. How about Acts Chapter 5? In Acts Chapter 5, the Apostles had been arrested, there was a jailbreak, and they were arrested again. They came before the council. Gamaliel, one of the council members, was talking about different sects that had formed, and when the leader of that sect died, the whole thing died out.

He said to be very careful how you treat these people because if it's of man, it’s going to die out, but if it's of the Lord, it can’t be stopped. It was a very cool prophetic word from a non-believer. What happens next? They take his advice in Acts Chapter 5:40, and after calling the Apostles in, they flogged them, which means they beat them within an inch of their life and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and then released them.

What would you do? You’re arrested because you’ve been proclaiming to the world that God loves them and that the only way to have a relationship with God is to repent of your sin and confess Jesus Christ as Lord. Because of that, you’ve been arrested, beaten within an inch of your life, and released with the command to never preach or teach in the name of Jesus Christ ever again.

Would you feel sorry for yourself? Would you be upset? Would you wonder why God doesn't love you anymore? Here is what the Apostles did. They went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name. Right there in the middle and all the way home, after being beaten within an inch of their life, they said, "God, we’re just praising you that we are so worthy that we’re telling the truth so much that they beat us nearly to death and that we’re worthy to suffer that kind of shame for you. God, we praise you that you would use us for this kind of glory for your name."

Then notice what else they did. Every day in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Did they listen to the council? No. They continued to preach Jesus. Beating did not stop them. You can do with us whatever you deem right, but as for us, we cannot stop talking about what we’ve seen and heard. That’s what changes the world. When you’re living the gospel and you’re declaring the gospel and you’re suffering for the sake of the gospel, there’s no shame in that.

There is shame in the fact if you sin and you bring shame on the name of Christ because of your sin, but there’s no shame in living for Jesus and being rebuked. There’s no shame in living for Jesus and being pushed back upon. I know what some of you are thinking because I’m human, too. You’re thinking that you just won’t go all-in with Jesus because maybe if you don't go all-in with Jesus, you can save some of this suffering thing.

Let me just tell you this: you’re going to suffer either way. If you choose to sin, you’re going to suffer. If you choose to walk with Jesus, you’re going to suffer. I’m going to tell you it’s far better to suffer for doing what is right than to suffer in your sin. You’re going to suffer no matter what. If you’re single, you’re going to suffer. If you get married, you’re going to suffer. If you’re married and get a divorce, you’re going to suffer when you get a divorce.

There’s no way around it. If you don't have money, you’re going to suffer, and if you make more money, you’ll suffer just as much. You can’t escape suffering in this life. That’s why the best way to suffer is to suffer for the fame and for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what the text is telling us to do. Suffer for his glory. Suffering for Christ is not stoppable, but it’s an opportunity to know God’s grace and his justice.

Suffering for Christ is unavoidable in this life. My 104-year-old grandmother died recently. It’s painful to lose somebody, but it’s understandable. I recognize sin in the world and that everybody is going to die at some point. 104 is a long time to live, so it wasn’t all that surprising, though still painful. But what about when someone is four? That’s really painful.

We like to have suffering when it goes along our timeline and we can see why it happened. But there are often times when suffering comes and it takes our breath away. It doesn't seem right. When it doesn't seem right, don't be surprised and don't be shamed by it. Know it’s an opportunity to rejoice and an opportunity to glorify God.

I’ve watched people in the moment who have suffered far greater than I’ve ever suffered. I have seen those who have lost kids in a tragic accident stand up and say, "We don't know why it happened, but here is what we do know: we still love the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will honor and serve him no matter what." Something goes off in my soul that says, "Yes, that’s right, and wow, that’s so hard. Way to glorify God and rejoice in your suffering."

That’s what he’s calling us to do. It’s really easy to nod at a sermon until suffering happens to us, and then it’s not so easy to nod anymore. It’s one of those where we have to go back and ask if God really said that or if this is really what he wants from me. Notice where this suffering takes place. Verse 17 says, "For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God."

"Time" is not just chronos, which is chronological time. There’s also a word called kairos, which is a special kind of time. It’s a definitive moment in time. If you’re married, your wedding day was a kairos time. When you had your first child, it was a kairos time. If you lost your parent and were at their funeral, it was a kairos time. It was a special time, a unique moment in time. Peter was telling people it’s a unique moment in time for judgment to begin at the household of God.

Peter uses the word "suffer" more than any other author in the entire Bible. This short little book uses this word more than any. We don’t like to read it or talk about it because we as Americans don’t like to think about suffering. We think it’s strange when it happens, we think we can avoid it, we think it’s stoppable, and we think it’s really shameful. We’ve even had people tell us that if we’re suffering, we probably have sin in our life or we probably did something wrong.

Let me just tell you that’s not true. It could be true if you’ve sinned and you’re choosing to suffer, but I’m going to tell you some of the greatest saints in the history of the world have suffered mightily in this world and they haven’t sinned to get there. It’s part of the package of being a Christian. That’s why when Jesus called his disciples, he said in Matthew 16:24, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me."

In other words, you’re coming for him, you’re dying to yourself, you’re going to come suffer to death and follow after him. That’s the call. Peter is saying the same thing. This is why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew Chapter 5:11-12, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Peter is saying the same thing. He’s just repeating the words that Jesus said. When you suffer for the name of Christ, you’re blessed, you’re happy, and you’re highly favored because God is looking down from heaven and saying, "I’m entrusting this suffering to you to see if you’ll rejoice and give me glory in this moment." As you grow, you’re going to experience more of the grace of God and you’re going to see more of his justice that is to come.

It’s the time for judgment to begin at the household of God. What is the household of God? The household of God is the church. Why does he use the word "household"? Church is not a place that you just drive by, or a place that you swing by on the weekends when you’re in town. Church is not a place you just go listen to a message and then go on your way. It's not a place you just podcast.

Church is a community of believers. It’s a family. It means we are committed to one another, not because we did a resume of each other and we really like each other and we have all the same interests. We’re committed to one another because this is the vehicle that the Lord Jesus Christ has established to advance his gospel on planet Earth. Because we’re all part of the same team and we share the same Father, it makes us all brothers and sisters.

We’re family. Judgment begins in the family because God loves you so much that he grows you and disciplines you on this side of heaven to get you ready for what’s to come. How many who are believers in this room would say that you still have some growth to do in your Christian life? We all do. What’s the purpose of suffering here? It is for God to allow his grace to grow you so that you can see his marvelous grace at work in your life.

God’s amazing grace is the grace that saves us from all our sins when we had absolutely nothing to do with it, but God’s grace is also what grows us. Titus 2:11 says it’s the grace of God that teaches us to say no to ungodliness and live self-controlled, upright lives in this present age. What does God’s grace do? It teaches us how to live here.

Have you ever noticed that you can be going along in your life having Bible study, doing quiet time, going to church, living your life, and you’ve got some steady growth, but it’s in that time of suffering that you massively grow? It is in those times that you’re holding onto Jesus because you need him now more than you’ve ever needed him. When you have a friend or a child or a parent and they’re deathly ill and you don't know if they’re going to make it, your prayer life increases and your intensity increases.

When at work you’re dealing with a situation you can’t get through, your intensity for Christ increases. That’s what suffering does. It brings more of the grace of God into your life because he’s preparing us to be perfected at the day he presents us to the Father who is in heaven. Suffering is one of God’s instruments to grow you. If you don't suffer as a Christian, let me be clear what that means. It means you’re not a Christian.

Where do I get that from? The Bible. In Hebrews 12:6, we read that the Lord disciplines those he loves and he scourges every son whom he receives. Hebrews 12:8-9 says, "It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons." In other words, if you’re not being disciplined through the discipline of suffering, it means that you’re not a believer in Christ.

If you would do me a favor this morning, take out your Bible or your phone. Open up to 2 Timothy Chapter 3:12. I think it’s a really important biblical promise that we need to read together. Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Indeed, anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Church, if you want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, you will be persecuted.

It just means when that happens, it’s God showing you that you are his daughter or his son and that he loves you enough to grow who you are. If you’re a good parent, you don't just keep your child away from every harmful thing that could happen. You want to see them grow and develop. You want to see them learn to work things out. They have to get their legs under them and do stuff.

Sometimes it’s painful as a parent to watch your kids suffer in a way that they don't need to suffer because they’re not listening to good wisdom. God does the same for us. God gives us his word. If we would just be obedient to his word, we wouldn't have to suffer in some of the ways we suffer, but sometimes we’re just not, and we don't even realize that we’re not. God takes us through a season where he’s disciplining us and growing us in a discipline of suffering because he loves us so much that he’s preparing us.

Listen really close because you’re going to hear somebody at some point in your life tell you this, and it’s false. They’re going to tell you to give your life to Jesus and your life will be easy. They will say that if you give your life to Jesus, you’ll never suffer again. That is false. Here’s what I’m going to tell you: give your life to Jesus. It’s the greatest thing you can ever do. He’s coming soon to redeem your soul, and I promise you will suffer in this life in some way, and it’s completely worth any suffering that you’d have.

Study through the New Testament and you won't find anybody that didn't suffer in some way. People suffered all the time. Paul suffered greater than any New Testament Apostle, and yet he talks about these light and momentary afflictions being worth nothing compared to the eternal weight of glory that is to come. These are things like being stoned, being threatened to be killed, being imprisoned, being shipwrecked, or almost drowning.

This is the same Paul who, when things got so bad with the thorn in the flesh, three times asked the Lord to take that away from him. Whatever the thorn in the flesh was, it had to be a big deal. Three times he told the Lord to take it away, and the Lord said, "I’m not taking that away. You’re going to suffer with that, but here’s what I want you to know, Paul, and here’s what I want you to know, church: in your suffering, my grace is sufficient for you."

You might think you can’t make it through, but you can because God’s grace is sufficient for you. This is so painful, but God’s grace is sufficient for you. It’s all you need. God’s grace is sufficient for you. When we suffer, we need to be reminded that we’re beloved, and it’s an opportunity to rejoice. It’s an opportunity to glorify God. We can’t stop this suffering. It’s actually God’s love for us.

Notice what else it says. What will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? If it’s this hard for the Christian, and getting to heaven has nothing to do with enduring trials but simply the cross of Jesus Christ and God’s grace, God still takes you through all this stuff so that when you get to heaven, you’re never going to meet anybody who said it was so easy and they just loved the earth. That person isn’t going to be there.

The only thing you’re going to hear is, "I trusted Jesus and I loved him, and here were the hard parts in my life and here was what was difficult in my life, and yet Jesus is who sustained me and kept me through." If that’s true of the Christian and it's hard, what’s going to come of those who don't obey the gospel of God? The answer is they’re going to spend eternity in hell. He goes on and quotes Proverbs 11:31. If it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Hell.

You might say you weren't a Christian and didn't suffer in this world because you lived for yourself. Yes, you did, and you forfeited your soul for all eternity. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? If you live a hundred years of perfection and you forgo eternity in hell, it wasn't worth it. Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God, which means we’re suffering because we’re living for Jesus, shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right.

It means when we suffer like this, I’m just entrusting myself to the Lord all over again. No matter what the suffering is, I’m telling the Lord all over again, "I belong to you, you’re mine. I belong to you, you have my life. Whatever you want from me, God, I’m yours." In this suffering, I’m just rejoicing afresh all over again and I’m thanking you that I get to glorify you in this, and I’m not surprised, and I’m seeing your grace growing me.

But here’s what I’m also seeing, God: I’m also seeing your justice for the world. Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer? Why am I suffering if I’m a Christian and they’re not a Christian and they seem to be doing well? Because when I suffer, it reminds me that my temporary suffering is limited and their suffering is eternal. It means when you see somebody who’s not a believer in Christ, you don't need to change their political philosophy or their convictions other than this: they need Jesus.

What do we do? We proclaim the gospel. We share with them the hope and love found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them and rose for them. By repenting of their sin and confessing Jesus as Savior, they can have a relationship, too. But apart from Christ, they will suffer eternally. Don't look at the unrighteous and make your judgment about whether it's worth it to suffer or not. Look at Jesus and say, "Jesus, I’m sharing in your suffering."

In Philippians 3:10, Paul says he wants to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and share in his suffering. When you suffer, it aligns you more with the heart of Christ and what he went through to come to this earth for you. Every time you suffer, it’s a special opportunity for God to show you just how special he thought you were when he suffered for you. As you’re suffering, you’re reminded of his grace in your life and you’re also seeing his justice as well.

The only option we have is to proclaim the gospel. God does all the work. We can’t save anybody. God’s the only person that can open a heart and redeem anybody. But we’re called to be obedient and show the gospel of God because we have a world out there that doesn't believe that. When you suffer, know this, too: often when you’re suffering, it’s God’s witness to the world that you’re still going to hold onto this faith that you claim that you say that you have in a way where the world says, "If they’re going to hold onto it like that when they go through this, their God has to be real."

There’s purpose in suffering. Does this mean we like it? No. Does this mean we crave it? No. After hearing this message, we don't pray and say, "God, I just want to suffer more because it’s awesome." It’s just inevitable that you are, and when you are, don't be shocked. Don't be surprised. Know it’s not stoppable, know it’s unavoidable, and when it happens, just know this: God’s not shaming you.

God loves you with an unconditional love, and what God wants you to know is there’s a purpose in this. There’s a purpose for you and there’s a purpose for what he’s doing in you through the world. Many of us need to hear this message because I think in our culture, when suffering happens, we think we did something wrong. It’s because you’re his beloved; that’s why you’re suffering. These are the purposes for the suffering, and God is growing you in all that.

Suffering is a blessing if you’re a Christian. Blessed are you when you suffer like this. Would you stand with me as we close? Lord Jesus, we give you all the praise, glory, and honor for who you are. In this moment, if there are people on either campus who have never trusted you, here’s how you can pray.

Lord Jesus, I confess to you that I’m a sinner. But I believe that you died for me and rose from the dead, and right now I confess you as my personal Lord and Savior. I want to repent of my sin and trust you.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for today’s message. If you’re in the Denver area, join us Sundays at our Englewood or Westminster locations at 8:30 or 10:30 AM. We’d love to meet you.

And before you go, remember that when you give to Brave, you’re not just supporting a ministry, you’re advancing the gospel. Your gift makes an eternal impact on those who come to know Jesus and strengthens believers who are growing deeper in their faith. Join us next time for more bold, biblical teaching from Pastor Jeff.