The Bible Breakdown

1 Peter 04: Suffering is Like Windshield Flappers

• Brandon Cannon • Episode 649

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Speaker 1:

Hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 1 Peter, chapter 4, and today's title is Suffering is Like Windshield Flappers. Suffering is like windshield flappers and we're going to get into all that in just a moment. But if you're new here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast, make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook. The more we dig, the more we find, if you have your Bibles. I want to open up with me to 1 Peter, chapter 4. Remember, the overall goal and theme of 1 Peter is that Christ is our living hope. He's constantly helping us look toward eternity and look toward things beyond this life, so that we can truly see the hope that we have and what God is doing. And it reminds me of this guy who was talking about this and first of all, he was saying that life was like windshield flappers. I was like what in the world is a windshield flapper? And he was like you know the thing that goes back and forth and gets rid of the water on your windshield? I was like, oh, windshield wipers. And he's like, yeah, windshield flappers. I was like man, if your windshield wipers are flapping, you need some new windshield wipers, because they shouldn't be flapping, they should be wiping, you know. But he kept calling them flappers. So there we go. And what he was talking about is this idea that whenever you are, you get so preoccupied with life it's almost like you get snow blindness so you can't see anything because life is just, you just lose perspective, right? And he said it's also kind of like when you're driving down the road and the windshield gets just full of just rain, snow or whatever. You lose perspective, you can't see. And he's like sometimes you need something to come along and just clear all of the junk out of the way so you can see clearly. Well, I've read so much about this from this guy I was talking to one time, but also CS Lewis and different ones. And CS Lewis says God whispers in our successes, but he shouts in our pain, and many times it's because when everything is going great, we're pretty satisfied with life. You know, we love God. Thank you Jesus. I got this, I'm going well, things are going well, but it's when things get bad that we go. Man, I need God. We realize what's important. We realize what's not If you ever talk to someone who is on their deathbed or they think that they very well might be.

Speaker 1:

It is amazing what matters and what doesn't. And I've talked to people who know they have a matter of days to live. They're not talking to me about their mortgage. They're not talking to me about their social media status. They don't care about all that. They want to get their relationships right. They want to make sure their loved ones are cared for. They want to. It is amazing.

Speaker 1:

What becomes clear in that moment and what we're going to find out is that Peter is constantly trying to remind us of what really matters and that what Jesus did has given us a template on how to suffer. Well, remember that he's in the city of Rome and the Christians in Rome are starting to experience persecution and some suffering and some setbacks, and it's going to get a whole lot worse. They don't know that yet. It's going to get a whole lot worse. So he's telling the neighboring cities hey, listen, persecution is on its way. It happens here first. It's going to happen there next. Get ready for it. It doesn't mean you've done anything wrong. It just means that the world is always going to hate Jesus. So, therefore, get ready for it, but don't lose perspective that God is king, and sometimes suffering and bad times have an amazing way of being windshield flappers that help us get a really good view of what's really important. All right, I know that's against some of some people's theology, but it's just good. Bible, are you ready?

Speaker 1:

First Peter, chapter four, verse one, teaches us like this so then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer too, for if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have suffered. You have finished with sin. You won't spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and their wild parties and their terrible worship of idols. Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things that they do. So they slander you, but remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead. That is why the good news is preached to those who are now dead. So, although they are destined to die like all people, they will live forever with God in the Spirit.

Speaker 1:

Now pause real quick. He's not talking about preaching to dead people. He's talking about preaching to people who are spiritually dead. And do you see how? In that context, it's just like today, how, when you become a Christ follower, you start following him. You start saying no to the destructive things of the flesh. You say yes to God. All of a sudden, the people who were your friends start to wonder what's wrong with you. So nothing's wrong with me, everything's right with me. I don't have to self-medicate all my sins anymore and they don't know what to do with that. But then that becomes an opportunity for you to speak life to their dead situation. Right, let's keep going.

Speaker 1:

Verse seven the end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sin. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. God has given each of you a gift from his variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking, then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Then do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God. Through Jesus Christ, all glory and power to him forever and ever. Amen. I'll pause again. He's saying whatever you do, do it as an act of worship to bless one another.

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Verse 12. Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad for these trials. Make you partners with Christ in His suffering, so that you will have wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to all the world. If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble or prying into other people's affairs, but it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name, for the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God's household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God's good news. And also, if the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners? And so here it is, verse 19.

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If you are suffering in the manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you. Wow, first of all, do you notice that it says in verse 19, if you suffer in a manner that pleases God. So, in other words, it's possible to suffer in a way that does not please God. What does that look like? Well, we can suffer in a way. Well, we can suffer, not because we're pleasing God, like we can just suffer because of bad mistakes we make. We can suffer because we have lost our integrity. We can suffer because we've lost everything around us due to sin. There's a thousand ways we can suffer. But if we suffer, experience hardship and pain because we're trying to do the right thing, it pleases God. And then he's saying if you do that, don't stop doing the right thing, keep on doing what is right. Well, but, pastor, that's going to bring more suffering. Yeah, keep on doing what is right and trust your lives to God who created you, for he will never fail you. That's hard. You know why that's hard? It's because it says clearly here that there will be times when you should expect to not always have the best day of your life as a Christian. Just because you're a Christian, it does not mean you will not have bad times. I know I say that a lot, but I'm trying to recorrect some incorrect theology that some of us were raised with. As a matter of fact, in verse 12 it says don't be surprised at fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad because these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, and you will have wonderful joy when you see his glory, when it is revealed to all the world. So is it possible that some of us are not experiencing gladness of God because we are not willing to step into the suffering of God? Now, suffering of God means when you are suffering, you're experiencing something negative because of your relationship with God. That could either mean not being accepted by others. It could mean being left out because of others. It could be saying no to sin because you're trying to follow Christ. You are fighting against temptation. You're suffering because you want that temptation, but you're saying no, all of these things he's saying. Well, of course it's not going to feel good, of course it's going to be hard and of course it's going to be horrible, but that's part of it, that's part of following Christ. And there's a thousand reasons why that happens. But you know what one of them is. Let me read verse 19 to you one more time. It says If you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right and trust your lives to God, who created you, for he will never fail you. You know how we've said many times, sometimes you have to get to the place where God is all you have before you realize God is all you need. You know, one of the amazing things that suffering does is it instantly brings in priorities. It instantly causes you to focus on what matters and what doesn't. You know, I've talked to so many people before that when everything is going right, they don't want anything to do with God.

Speaker 1:

They don't care, they don't care about God, they don't care what's going on. Matter of fact, they would tease me a little bit and be like ah, you know, you Christians, and then just all manner of ridiculousness. But then, when they get diagnosed with a horrible disease, when someone they love does. When all of a sudden they see a loved one in pain, it is amazing how quickly they'll call the preacher and ask me to pray for them. And I will admit to you, I've never been mean enough to do this, but many times I want to say well, why do you care now? Well, I can tell you why they care now. It's because suffering is a lot like some good windshield flappers. It has an amazing way of going. Hey look, here it is, you know, and many times when we experience difficult times, it has an amazing way of bringing us back to God.

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Can I tell you, I've talked to a lot of people who've come back to God. They maybe they serve God at some point in their life and they come back to God. You know what I've never heard in my entire life? I was so blessed, everything was going so well, everything was so wonderful that I decided it was time for me to come back to God. I'm sure it's happened. Never happened to me. I've never heard that happen before. The closest thing was a family has a baby and they decided they want their baby to grow up to know who God is. That's the only one. Most of the time, everything's going great. They don't have anything to do with God, but it's when they're suffering, when they're struggling, when their marriage is falling apart, when their kids have run off, when everything is, then they go okay, we're suffering. It's time to figure out what's most important, and it always comes back to God.

Speaker 1:

Is it possible that sometimes suffering is like windshield flappers? It has a way of clearing off all the debris and all the things that don't matter, so we can see clearly what God is doing. Now that doesn't mean that suffering is not terrible, that it's not hard, that it's not difficult, and not all suffering is intended to just clear out whatever I'm saying. It does do that, whether or not it's intended for that. That is also what it does. There's a thousand things that could go into suffering, and just because you're suffering doesn't mean God doesn't want to heal you. None of that. But while he is healing you, god is doing something along the way. So make sure you hear me. I'm not saying that if you're struggling with a physical issue, I'm not saying that God has done that just so you can know him more. No, no, I'm saying God is wanting to heal you, but while he is doing that, he's also going to use it as a way to clarify his goodness in your life. So how's that possible, pastor, I'm sick. Wouldn't it be clear once he heals me? Of course, but in the process you can only find the strength of God when you get to the end of yours.

Speaker 1:

You know, some of the most holy, godly, wonderful people I've ever met are people who have tragic seasons and situations of suffering, because it was in that dark moment, when they had no more strength, that they found God and they said oh, there you are. I didn't know this whole time that you were right there. You let me operate on my strength, but all along the way you were holding me and then when I ran out, you didn't let me fall. What would it look like in your life if you stopped seeing suffering as punishment from God, but instead you saw it as God's windshield flappers that, as he is healing you and as he is bringing you to that season, he's also using it to clarify who he is in your life. And you know what God's word says he will never fail you.

Speaker 1:

Now, it doesn't mean he always moves in our timetables. It doesn't mean he always does it the timetables. It doesn't mean he always does it the way we want him to, but he always does it in the best way. Our job is not to figure out what he's doing, it's to trust him along the way. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1:

God, thank you so much for all you're doing in our life. And while, god, we would have a hard time ever saying thank you for suffering, we would say thank you for the results of the pain. Thank you that it opens our eyes, it clears away the debris so we can see you and see what you're doing. God, truly, you are our living hope and Lord. As we go through whatever it is we're going through, I pray we will see you more clearly and see that you're always doing more than we can imagine. I celebrate that today. In Jesus' name, we pray amen. God's word says in 1 Peter 1, verse 3,. All praise to God. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, and now we live with great expectation and we have a priceless inheritance. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for the finale, 1 Peter 5.

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Brandon Cannon

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