1 Peter 4:12-19
May 8, 2016
preached by Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“The difference between shallow happiness and a deep sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can’t stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope–and the hope that has become our joy does not disappoint us.”

~Walter Wangerin (1944-present), American author and educator

“Everywhere a greater joy is preceded by a greater suffering.”

~St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), an early Christian theologian and philosopher

“Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you.”

~Tim Keller (1950-present), American pastor, theologian and Christian apologist.

“God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper; and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any, or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.”

~Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), New England author, theologian and pastor

“Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than those who are most content.”

~Bob Dylan (1941-present), American singer-songwriter, artist and writer

“The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt.”

~Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Trappist monk, writer, poet and social activist

“Those who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls.”

~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), British author and minister

Sermon Passage

 1 Peter 4:12-19 (ESV)

¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. ¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. ¹⁶ Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. ¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ And

“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

¹⁹ Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.