Christ Redeems Suffering

Pastor JonAlden Pedersen

Dear Christian friends, especially you, who suffer in a different way from anyone else in the world, you who suffer on account of the life of faith Christ has called you into: grace and peace are yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no coincidence that these particular words of Peter come up this particular week of the resurrection season, during this particular time in an increasingly digital age. I hope you’re still amazed with me over the tremendous moments of faith we witnessed from those young men and women just two short weeks ago. There they learned the very particular kind of suffering one faces as they prepare to share their love of Jesus before others. It’s a unique suffering that burdens the conscience when you are made to talk about something as personal as faith. On that day they were able to demonstrate not only the faith that we all profess weekly, but a mature faith by overcoming two lies their consciences were accusing them of leading up to that examination. Lies and accusations whispering in the back of their minds either during class working on their project or at home the night before. #1:  If the people out there knew you the same way you know yourself, they would never listen. In fact, they would probably laugh or slander.  #2: There is no way you know enough about God to speak about him, especially to people who’ve known about him far longer. These were the two lies the children faced before they spoke in church, and those are the two lies I wrestle with every time before I speak in church. I call them the devils of doubt and uncertainty, they would probably call them anxiety. However you want to classify it, those lies afflict the conscience. They gnaw away at it, spoiling everything around you from how you act, how you eat, and how you rest at night or even during the day. 

It’s a unique kind of suffering, yet it’s something all Christians have experienced; whether demonstrating their faith through their words or maybe more commonly, certainly just as necessary, through their actions. There is no one here unfamiliar with suffering a Christian endures, thus there is no one here who cannot resonate with the words of Peter when he says “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.” Those who suffer for what is right, who suffer for the sake of Christ and his command: “Love one another as I have loved you.” They know, purely by the grace of God that Christ Redeems Suffering, by giving us his promise of resurrection and his power to us rest.

That first lie that plagues the conscience of a Christian, that you are unworthy or an imposter that no one will ever take seriously is also the lie that brings up the receipts. Do you remember that stupid thing you did to hurt that person you love all those years ago? Who could ever love someone who did something like that? There is a law written on our hearts that keeps a record of all of the worst things we’ve done that surely brings us under the wrath of God. Does it take you a while to remember one of those moments in your life? It doesn’t for me, and it certainly didn’t for Luther.

Before the 95 theses, Luther had suffered what has been called Anfechtungen which is an intense fear of God’s judgement, or “an extremely disturbed conscience.” He suffered this, because at the monastery Luther was slowly and painfully realizing that he could not do enough good to balance how much and how often he had broken the law of God. Later in his life, 1543, he commented on the torment that specifically is brought about by the Law, he says, “Why waste many words? A bad conscience is hell itself. This is created by the rod of the oppressor, the Law. When this oppressor bears down on a man, then no soundness remains in the flesh and in the bones. The soul or conscience is tortured as if it were in hell.”   It was only after this contrition, brought forth by the Law, causing Anfechtungen, that he was able to do the good he did for the church at large even though it led to suffering. And what drove him? Was it trying to balance the evil in his life with the good? That’s not Lutheran. It was that “his conscience was held captive by the Word of God,” as he famously said in 1521. He had to go to something outside of himself to find the rest Christ had redeemed for him. Something exactly like what Peter says in our sermon text: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God.”

“Christ died for sins once for all” is exactly the truth that drove those young men and women to be able to share their faith. They knew they could overcome those two lies that constantly and persistently gnaw away at Christians “Who do you think you are?” “Who do you think God is?” The Holy Spirit gave them a “living hope” that Peter refers to at the start of his letter that called them to a new life that can forever find rest and solace in the suffering Christ has done on their behalf. That is what it means to “set apart” or “revere” Christ as Lord. That’s why they could overcome those threats or intimidations of the conscience, whether it’s accusing their character or their knowledge of God, and that’s why you do not need to be intimidated by those things that cause non-believers to tremble in fear. You are baptized; therefore, You are blessed, whether you suffer harm for doing good or not, your baptism is a pledge of a good conscience before God. A ‘pledge’, and that word can mean a ‘legal claim’ just as much as it can mean ‘guarantee,’ or an even more official confirmation because it’s connected to the Word of God. Christ, and only Christ, by his resurrection, clears your conscience, and in an overflow of his grace, he gives you baptism as another guarantee of his promise of your resurrection and salvation. 

And so I suppose one last question remains from this text, and no it’s not “What’s Peter saying in verse 19 about proclaiming to the spirits in prison?” although that will be addressed one day. It’s what is keeping you from entering the rest God gives you right now because of his promise of resurrection?

 The last thing we looked at this year in our evening catechism class was “Remember the Sabbath Day.” One of the amazing powers we are now given as a result of Christ’s resurrection is the ability to obey the law freely, without a guilty conscience, because it was made for our good, not our condemnation. Of course, this directly goes against what the Pharisees were making the Sabbath during the time of Jesus, with so many rules and rituals, accusations, lies, and threats that burdened the people on a day that was supposed to be for the people. I asked those five young women to raise their hand if they found regular and recurring time to rest. Not one of those young women raised their hands. It almost caused me to cry. How can it be, that in a day where everything is immediately available in excess, that regardless we commit ourselves to an excessive amount of work. Is it because our brains now operate like our phones? Always running and keeping us up at night? Or is it because the silence that naturally accompanies a day of rest opens the door for our conscience to gnaw away at us once again? 

Dear friends, the answer to those questions is not more frantic activity or digital distraction. The answer is the same one Peter proclaims and Luther clung to: Christ redeems your suffering. He has already silenced the accuser. You are baptized children of God, Christ died once for all to make it so. This is the living hope that empowered those young men and women two weeks ago. This is the power that sustained Luther’s Angfechtungan far worse than ours. And this is the rest that Christ gives you right now. In Christ, every day becomes a Sabbath rest for your conscience because the work is finished. Suffer for that truth, because that is both good and right. Know you are blessed, for Christ is risen, and your times are safely in His hands. Amen.