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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Our
Suffering Savior
(1 Peter 2:21-25, Isaiah 53-:2-11)
by
Karl J. Forehand
A little bird was flying south for the
winter. It got so cold it froze up and fell to the ground in a large field.
While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some manure on it. As it
lay there in the pile of manure, it began to realize how warm it was. The
manure was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and
soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the little bird singing, and
came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under
the pile of manure, and promptly dug him out—and then ate him.
The morals of the story are:
1. Not everyone who
drops manure on you is your enemy.
2. Not everyone who
digs you out of a pile of manure is your friend.
3. Sometimes, when
you’re in the manure, keep your mouth shut!
The truth is that sometimes a person can be in
the will of God, greatly loved by God, and still suffer unjustly. After all, we have a suffering
Savior.
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for
you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit
found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return;
while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to
sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep,
but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. (1 Peter 2:21-25)
There are many paradoxes in the Bible.
Jesus suffered so that we might be healed. He died that we might live.
In the Old Testament the sheep died for the shepherd; but in the New
Testament the shepherd dies for the sheep.
We have a shepherd that suffered.
By his suffering, He set an example for us to follow. We will suffer. It’s not an option. To
understand this better, tomorrow, we will look at a more complete picture of
our suffering Savior.
To get a
better picture of our suffering Savior, we can go back to Isaiah 53.
His appearance
Isaiah 53:2
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched
ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor
appearance that we should be attracted to Him. (Isaiah 53:2)
Jesus was not necessarily
attractive. I believe He was a man,
in every sense of the word. He most
likely had calluses on his hands and the marks of a carpenter. He looked like other hard-working
carpenters. I don’t believe he looked
like many of the television personalities.
He didn’t have slick hair and a purple suit. The Antichrist will come and be accepted because of his outward
charm and charisma. Jesus attracted
people for the right reason. This is
important because we must learn to attract people to us and our churches for
the right reasons. I’m ashamed to
say, that many times we hire pastors and ministry workers based on their
outward appearance. Jesus had to take
the high road of drawing people to God for the right reasons.
His popularity
He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and
we did not esteem Him. (Isaiah 53:3)
Jesus was
familiar with sorrow. He cried tears,
he anguished over sinners and he felt compassion. Grief was a constant figure in his life – much like those that
work in emergency wards and hospitals.
People were always bring their worst to Him for healing or
deliverance. Jesus was acquainted
with sorrow and sickness, but also snobbery.
He was not the normal religious leader and snubbed by the religious
elite. The very ones that should have
lifted Him up let Him down.
Jesus didn’t
sell out for popularity and neither should we.
His burdens
Surely our griefs He
Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him
stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. (Isa 53:4)
He carried our grief and
sorrows. With ministry comes grief;
and often ministry has sorrow. I
don’t trust pastors that are happy all the time, because I know the burdens
that a minister of the Gospel carries.
Surely, there is joy and peace; but there are also burdens. Jesus took this one step further when He actually
bore our sin – I can’t imagine.
We should learn to share our
burdens.
To get a
better picture of our suffering Savior, we can go back to Isaiah 53.
His suffering
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our
iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
Jesus literally and physically
suffered. Being God didn’t make it
hurt any less. He took our whippin’
for us. He had to be the one who took
the suffering because He “knew no sin.”
He knew that it was necessary to suffer for others.
Are you willing to suffer for
others?
His substitution
We all, like sheep, have
gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on
him the iniquity of us all. He was
oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he
did not open his mouth. (Isa. 53:6-7)
Jesus didn’t just suffer for
us, but he took our sin upon Him and became the sacrificial lamb. It is said that lambs, when they are
slaughtered, literally lean against their killer. Many of those in slaughter houses give up the job because it
touches them deeply.
His sacrifice
By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation,
who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living, For the
transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? His grave was
assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He
had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. (Isa. 53:8-9)
Jesus gave up his earthly
rights, reputation and respect to gain eternity for us. It was the eternal, once and for all,
sacrifice for our sins.
Next, we will go back to 1st
Peter and look at His example.
His example
In verse
21, of 1st Peter 2, the Bible says we are called for “this
purpose.” What purpose is that? If we go back to verse 20, we see that it
is suffering for the good. Someone
who suffers for doing wrong is only getting what they deserve. But, Jesus never did wrong and suffered
for the good. This “finds favor with
God.”
- He did not
revile in return
He
didn’t spit back. He didn’t boil
over. When he was unfairly treated,
He didn’t just respond. I’m sure
there were times He wanted to strangle the Pharisees. One reason He didn’t revile in return is
because He realized that this is not the end. There is the whole of eternity to live for. This world will never be totally fair or
just and we can’t fight all our battles for equity on earth.
- He kept entrusting Himself to God.
When He
was tempted to strangle a Pharisee, He turned it over to God. Even if we never see justice on earth, we
wait for one “well done” in eternity.
Karl J. Forehand, 2001
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