April 26, 2026 - 1 Peter 2:19-25 - 4th Sunday of Easter

Being numbered as one of God’s people often carries some problems when it comes to living in the world. In generations past, when our country treated Christianity as something to be cherished, Christian faith was prevalent throughout all of society. As with any society, when Christianity gets shoved out, everything else starts falling apart. Even denominations we’d don’t agree with 100%, like the Baptists or the Catholics, do a far better job of keeping things on track than any false religion could do.

With Christianity pushed out, the way is paved for other mindsets and worldviews to enter into the picture. As God warns over and over again, there are really only two options. Either he is God, or we are. How we act as god or hold ourselves up as god changes from person to person and from era to era, but the purpose is the same all along. Someone decides he or she should be the center of the universe, not God, and does whatever is necessary to claim that attention, that power, that fame, that luxury.

In our day and age, the best way to become the focus of attention, gaining all of the sympathy you want and gaining authority over others to make sure your orders are followed and dictate the lives of others to them is to claim victimhood. If I can demonstrate that I am the victim of some sort of injustice, some kind of oppression, some misfortune, then I now have a weapon to bludgeon everyone around me who agrees with me. All I have to do is convince you that my life has been more difficult than yours. All I have to do is shame you for doing better than me in some way and now I can use that to make you do what I want. If you want to pay off your guilt for doing better than I am, I’ll tell you how.

Anything I can use to get leverage is fair game. If I can get you to feel sympathy for me because of my skin color, I’ll use that. If that doesn’t work, or if that isn’t an option for me, maybe because I’m a woman, or maybe because my family came from some war-torn or impoverished nation, or maybe because of certain lifestyle choices I’ve made, even if they’re ones I chose entirely on my own. The more different ways I can claim to be a victim, the more leverage I’ll have, the more demands I can make, the more power I gain, the more like God I become. If something stops being effective for some reason, I’ll look for something else to use, no matter how tiny or otherwise inconsequential. If it’s something I can twist so I can use it, I will.

As Christians, we know there is only one God. No matter how much any of us might want to be God, or a god, or even just something more than what we are, we understand that that just isn’t an option. No amount of fame, fortune, power, or anything else in this world will make us anything more than what we are. We are human creatures. We always have been and we always will be.

Earthly benefits, things that make life more comfortable or give me more satisfaction, we know they’re all fleeting. None will save. None will last. None can do much to change your life here in this world. But...that doesn’t stop any of those things from being really, really tempting.

In the early church, dying for your faith was a very real possibility. The Jews in power wanted to maintain their status among the people and did whatever they could to squash this new movement that gave no allegiance to the old temple and the authority figures associated with it. Just as they killed Jesus to maintain their status, so too would they try to eliminate any of his followers. Saul, before he was Paul, was already at work doing this very thing when we meet him in the book of Acts.

The sentiment isn’t confined to the Jewish authorities. The Roman emperors of the first three centuries took a similar view. Anyone who didn’t consider the emperor a god and worship him as a god was actively contributing to the downfall of the empire and thus had to go. Christians would get rounded up and tortured or butchered in various ways unless they publically recanted their faith. It was a pretty gruesome time. Unfortunately, while the Roman empire itself is gone, the circumstances continue in various parts of the world. Anywhere that is run by Islam or any country that is opposed to any religion that isn’t run by the government still sees this kind of persecution. Christians die for their faith in many places in the world today.

The word “martyr” comes from the Greek word, “marturia,” which means “witness.” The word was used of those who testified to their faith in Christ and the resurrection confidently to the very end. Their testimony was powerful. Those who saw them wondered what would make someone so willing to face such a horrible death. It was people like that who really spread the church and made it grow at a surprising pace.

Dying specifically because you’re a Christian doesn’t happen much in modern America. There’s not much chance God will call any of us to die like that. For the most people that probably comes as a relief, but not necessarily everyone. Many in the early church were eager to be counted as martyrs. That sounds crazy and ridiculous. Why would anyone be signing up to be a martyr? It wasn’t because they were suicidal or had some kind of mental illness. It was because martyrs were kind of the first Christian heroes. The stories of the men and women who confidently faced down the Roman soldiers and refused to reject their faith, or those who stood firm in the face of ravenous lions, these were the stories shared around the small household churches. It was their stories that emboldened other Christians. Their last moments became legends.

So far, it’s all rather tragic, but also benign. Dying for your faith necessarily means you died in faith. But, not all martyrs ended up there for completely pure reasons. Becoming a legend is dream many aspire to in one way or another. Going down in history as a great (fill in the blank) is something most people wish for. What could be better than being remembered for my great faith? There’s also that little fact that I’m giving up my life for the sake of the church. God’s kingdom grows as a direct result of my death. That has to be worth something. God has to recognize that and reward me accordingly, even if it has to be in the afterlife.

Both of those were powerful motivators for certain kinds of people. Still, even if you wanted to die and become a legend for your faith today, there isn’t much chance it would happen around here. But, we’re still tempted by all of the earthly benefits that are out there. If I can’t get anything for dying for my faith, maybe I can get something for just suffering a lot for my faith. The victim thing works for everyone else, maybe it can work for me too? I probably won’t get much attention in the church for being a different skin color. I may get attention for making poor lifestyle choices, but it won’t be the good kind of attention. No, if I want to get a lot of attention from other Christians, if I want more sympathy, more respect, more favors, whatever it is I’m after, then I need to do something that at least sounds good and righteous.

Maybe I can show off just how humble I am and people respect me for being such a humble guy. Or, maybe I can show off how much I give to the church and people will respect my generosity. Or, maybe I can show off how hard I work for the church, for the benefit of God’s kingdom. I suffer. I suffer a lot. I suffer every day. I work extra hours. I give extra money. I give and I give and I give, but no, don’t thank me. I’ll just be over here, tired and worn out from all I’ve been doing to help others and build up the church. No, I don’t need any help. I’m used to suffering for the cause of righteousness.

Modern day martyrs can say all they want about helping the church. They can tell you all about what they’re doing all day, every day. They can talk about how they have no free time because they just do so much for the church and for those in need.

They don’t want help though. If you help them then they won’t get to hold themselves up with the same kind of pride they’d have if they did everything themselves. They’ll say they don’t want to be a burden, but behind that is pride and their own self image. Help also means those martyrs can’t claim the same level of victimhood. If I don’t suffer as much, then I don’t have as much leverage, and that’s what I’m after.

St. Peter calls our attention to the concept of suffering. Suffering, all by itself, doesn’t get you anything. Plenty of people suffer every day. Criminals sit in prison, deprived of various luxuries that the rest of us enjoy. Their suffering doesn’t get them any kind of credit. They brought it entirely on themselves. But those people who suffer for doing good things, churchly things, godly things, what about them?

How do you measure up? That’s the question behind Peter’s discussion. Not to each other, not even to the apostles themselves. No, how do you measure up to Jesus? Did Jesus suffer? Sure. He suffered more than any of us will ever know and it was entirely unjust. What did Jesus do about it? Nothing. He said nothing. He never looked for sympathy. He never sought accolades. He never looked for any kind of support. He simply bore it and went on. Nothing in this world would save him from death and nothing in this world could keep him dead. The pain of that single, terrible day, bad as it was, would quickly be blotted out in the endless progression of days to come. It just wasn’t worth him getting worried about it.

On top of that, no fame, no power, no recognition in this world could be better than what his Heavenly Father had given him. Despite the pain, the insults, the beatings, and even the death, he was no victim. His victory over it all was already waiting for him. He would triumph no matter what happened here.

Our petty pride, our desire to have control over our lives and the lives of those around us, the desire to be held up so that we can look down on people who are lesser, in whatever sense we’re using. None of this “being a victim” stuff works, at least not to God. St. Peter points to Jesus and his life, how he died even though it wasn’t just. Why would he do all of this? Because suffering is part of the job. The fact that Jesus took on more suffering than any of us would ever be able to handle doesn’t change what we also face in our own lives. My suffering doesn’t pay for sins. It doesn’t win me recognition. It doesn’t give me a club to hold over someone else’s head. It’s just part of Christian life and Jesus never hides that. Satan and everyone aligned against God will hate you and despise you. They’ll do everything they can to make you miserable, to lure you away, to get you to give up the faith and join them. That means suffering.

Seeing our suffering in light of Christ’s suffering should change our outlook. It is Christ’s perfect suffering, his perfect sacrifice that paid for our sins. That’s all done with now. There is no more payment that needs to be made, not from us, not from anyone. Christ takes our pride, our desire for luxury and pampering, our desire for recognition and fame, he takes all of that and shows us where it leads. It leads to death. Christ dies our death. It is because Jesus suffered that all of those instances where we let pride or temptation get the better of us, we can be forgiven and start again. We can be forgiven and look ahead to an eternal future.

Our own suffering, whatever form it may take, isn’t needed for any of that. We could never suffer enough to pay for our sins anyway. Instead, our suffering makes us more like Jesus. Our lives were always meant to reflect his. Not that we should seek out suffering, but that we shouldn’t shy away from it anymore than he did. Those who preach prosperity don’t reflect the reality of the world. The life of the flock is like the life of the shepherd. He suffered, and so will we. But, in his suffering, he triumphed and is glorified. So, in our suffering, we become more like him. We are brought low, and in our humility, we find our glory in him. Our suffering points the way to Jesus, the only one who can truly put an end to all suffering because he alone has conquered it.

If you should suffer, do so in confidence, knowing that it is temporary. Suffer, knowing that God is at work, both in you and through you, to bring the world to himself. Look to the cross and the suffering he endured and then look to the open tomb, and know that there will be an end to all of your suffering, because at the last your suffering will give way to eternal joy.