Refiner's Fire | Week 7 | Bill Bush · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · Jul 19, 2021 · 70 min watch · 3 min read

Refiner's Fire | Week 7 | Bill Bush

Big Idea

Suffering for doing good is an opportunity to experience God's power and peace and to point others to Jesus, not an oppression to avoid.

Drawing from 1 Peter 3, Pastor Bill teaches that Christian suffering — the kind that comes from faithfully following Jesus — is not something to dodge but an opportunity to embrace. When believers suffer for doing good, they experience a peace that defies understanding, they become most Christlike, and they open doors to share their hope with others. The key is learning to fight from the victory Christ has already won, not for a victory still in doubt, and to respond to opposition with gentleness rather than defensiveness, just as Jesus resolutely set His face toward Jerusalem.

Key points

1
1There are three kinds of suffering — common, carnal, and Christian — and only Christian suffering (suffering for doing good) is what 1 Peter addresses.
2
2Suffering for doing good is an opportunity to experience the peace and power of God that transcends understanding.
3
3When under pressure for your faith, you must worship Christ as Lord above all, be prepared to share your hope, and do so with gentleness and respect.
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4We must point people to Jesus rather than weaponize Jesus to defend our political or cultural territory — gentleness in persecution is what historically caused Christianity to explode.
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5It is better to suffer for doing good than for doing wrong, because Christ Himself suffered for sins He did not commit to bring us home to God.
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6We must learn to fight the fight of faith from victory, not for victory, because Jesus has already won.
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7Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem, heading straight toward suffering because He knew eternal value lay on the other side — and we are called to do the same.

Application

Pastor Bill calls every believer to stop treating suffering as something to be avoided at all costs and start recognizing it as the very terrain where God does His deepest work. Practically, this means three things. First, ask yourself honestly: are you living to avoid suffering, or are you willing to suffer for the right thing? Second, when opposition comes — online, at work, in your family — resist the urge to fight or defend your territory and instead be prepared to share the hope you have in Christ with gentleness and a clear conscience. Third, identify your 'Jerusalem' — the hard obedience God is calling you toward — and plant your feet resolutely in that direction, trusting that anything of eternal value is on the other side of hard. Because Jesus already won, you can walk forward from victory, not anxiously striving for it.

Take it into your week

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7-day devotional

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Most of us have a built-in instinct to avoid pain. We reroute around difficult conversations, uncomfortable situations, and anything that might cost us socially or professionally. That instinct isn't evil — it's human. But Pastor Bill opened this passage by making a distinction that changes the way we read suffering altogether. Not all suffering is the same. There is common suffering, the kind every person on earth experiences simply by being alive. There is carnal suffering, the kind we bring on ourselves through poor choices. And then there is Christian suffering — the kind that comes specifically because you are doing what is right and following Jesus faithfully. First Peter 3 is written for that third category. Peter's question in verse 13 is almost rhetorical: who is really going to harm you if you are eager to do good? And yet, verse 14 acknowledges the hard truth — sometimes they do. Sometimes doing the right thing costs you. But Peter's word for that moment is not 'brace yourself' or 'prepare to fight.' It's 'blessed.' That reframing matters enormously. If you have been treating suffering as a sign that something has gone wrong, this passage invites you to look again. It may be a sign that something is going very right.

For reflection

Looking at your life honestly, which of the three kinds of suffering do you most often experience — and what does that reveal about where you are right now?

Pray

Pray for honest self-awareness about the suffering in your life and whether it is drawing you closer to or further from faithful obedience.

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Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message takes a hard look at something most of us instinctively avoid — suffering — and argues that for followers of Jesus, it might actually be the most important terrain we ever walk.

Discussion questions

1
In 1 Peter 3:13-14, Peter distinguishes between different kinds of suffering. Pastor Bill identified three types — common, carnal, and Christian — and said only one of them is what Peter is actually addressing. How would you describe the difference between those three in your own words, and why do you think that distinction matters for how we read the rest of the passage?
2
Peter writes in 1 Peter 3:15-16 that believers should be ready to share their hope with gentleness and respect — and that a clear conscience matters in how that happens. What do you think it looks like, practically, for a community of people to respond to opposition that way rather than with defensiveness?
3
Pastor Bill made a distinction between 'pointing people to Jesus' and 'weaponizing Jesus to defend our political or cultural territory.' What's the difference he seemed to be drawing there, and how might that shape the way we talk about our faith in tense or contested conversations?
4
In 1 Peter 3:17-18, Peter grounds his call to suffer for doing good in what Christ Himself did — suffering for sins He did not commit in order to bring us to God. What does it change about how we think about Christian suffering when it's framed that way, as participation in something Jesus already walked through?
5
Pastor Bill drew on Luke 9:51, where Jesus 'resolutely set His face toward Jerusalem,' knowing what was ahead. He called this the posture of someone walking toward hard obedience because eternal value lies on the other side. What does that kind of resoluteness look like in an ordinary life — not dramatic martyrdom, but everyday faithfulness in a hard direction?
6
Pastor Bill described the fight of faith as something we fight 'from victory, not for victory,' because Jesus has already won. How does that framing change what faithfulness under pressure actually feels like — or how a community like ours might encourage one another through it?

Pray together

Courage to walk toward the hard thing God is calling us to, trusting that Jesus has already gone ahead

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Refiner's Fire

Week 7 · 9 messages

Where these passages are preached

1 Peter 3 Luke 9

Explore related topics

Christlikeness Gentleness in Opposition Persecution and Faith Suffering for Christ Victory in Christ

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