Things That Hurt Us
Text: I Peter 3:13-16
Series: Restoration Sermons
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository
Learning Objectives
By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:
- State the governing principle from Matt. 10:28 and I Pet. 3:13-16 — what determines whether something can do us ultimate harm.
- Explain why Jesus is the primary example for this sermon and specifically what I Pet. 2:21-24 reveals about how he received the things that fell on him.
- Identify all six categories of potentially harmful experiences (Section II) and state the condition under which each becomes a curse rather than a blessing.
- Explain why temptation is called "a blessing in every one" (James 1:12) and state precisely when it becomes harmful.
- State the motto from Section II.5 and explain the theological principle it expresses.
Thesis
Nothing can hurt us if we receive it as God teaches. No one can do us real harm if we remain faithful to God. The six categories of life experience that most commonly cause damage — temptation, sickness, pleasure, sorrow, slander, and the general experiences of life — are not automatically destructive. Each one has a dual possibility: it can be received in a way that produces growth, patience, and likeness to Christ; or it can be received in a way that makes it a curse. The condition under which it becomes a curse is the same in every case: the wrong response from the inside.
Burden
The governing text is I Pet. 3:13: "Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?" The question is rhetorical but not naive — Peter has just described the suffering that faithfulness can bring. The point is not that faithful people are exempt from painful experiences; the point is that no experience, however painful, can accomplish the ultimate harm of destroying the soul of the person who receives it the way Christ received everything that came to him.
Introduction
"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28). The ultimate category of harm is the destruction of the soul. Everything else — the most extreme physical, relational, or social damage — falls below that threshold. The person who has grasped this hierarchy of harm has the framework needed to receive any experience without being finally destroyed by it.
Every attempt to harm the faithful person is turned toward a blessing. This is not sentimental optimism; it is the pattern of the New Testament and the testimony of the church in every era of its history. Joseph said it in the language of his story: "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Gen. 50:20). Paul said it in the language of his: "My circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel" (Phil. 1:12). The pattern is consistent.
I. How Jesus Lived (I Pet. 2:21-24)
Before examining the six categories, the primary example must be established. The standard is not a general principle about resilience; it is the specific person of Christ.
He met conditions, never evading because of difficulties. The Gethsemane prayer — "if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will" (Matt. 26:39) — is the statement of a man who did not evade but who asked whether there was another way before accepting that there was not. He met what was there to be met.
Tempted in all points (Heb. 4:15). "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." The full range of human temptation — not a selection of the more dignified varieties — fell on Christ. He was not sheltered from the experience of temptation; he went through it.
"Yet without sin" — unhurt. The temptations that fell on him did not accomplish what temptation is designed to accomplish: they did not produce sin. He came out of every assault as he went in: without sin. The potential harm was real; the actual harm was nil.
He endured human hate in all forms, never embittered. The mockery, the betrayal, the false testimony, the legal travesty, the torture, the execution — he endured all of it without the response that such treatment would produce in most people: bitterness, rage, the desire for revenge. "While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously" (I Pet. 2:23).
We should imitate him (I Pet. 2:21). "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." The imitation of Christ is not aspirational; it is the specific calling of the person who has been called for this purpose. The pattern was set before us in order to be followed.
II. How and Why Some Things Hurt Us
Six categories. In each one, the thing is not inherently destructive; it becomes destructive only through the wrong response.
Temptation — a solicitation to do evil. A blessing is present in every temptation: "Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him" (James 1:12). The temptation that is resisted produces approval — the proven character that comes from having been tested and having held. The temptation gives the opportunity to win a victory that could not have been won without it. We are hurt by temptation only when we yield to it. The harm is not in the assault but in the surrender.
Sickness — two possibilities. Sickness, received in a spirit of patience and faith, produces what James describes: "the testing of your faith produces endurance" (James 1:3). The person who is ill and who learns in the illness to wait on God, to release control, to trust what cannot be seen — has received suffering as a teacher. The same illness, received in a spirit of impatience, self-pity, and lost interest in what lies beyond the suffering, becomes a curse. The illness is the same in both cases; the response is different, and the response determines the outcome.
Pleasure (Prov. 17:22). "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones." Pleasure used rightly — the legitimate enjoyment of what God has given, maintained in proportion, serving the life rather than consuming it — is good for us. The same pleasure, when it draws us from God, when it displaces the things that matter most, when it becomes the organizing principle of a life rather than one of its proper gifts, becomes a curse. The pleasure has not changed; the orientation has.
Sorrow. "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart" (Eccl. 7:2). Sorrow, received in the spirit that Ecclesiastes describes — the spirit that takes seriously what mourning reveals about the nature of life — softens the heart, enriches the inner life, sweetens the spirit, and brings out humility that comfort cannot produce. The same sorrow, when it makes life bitter — when it sours into resentment or self-pity — becomes a curse. The example is the disappointed lover who was not able to receive the loss as anything other than injustice to be nursed.
Slander, reproaches. "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me" (Matt. 5:11). The slander that falls on the faithful person should be endured meekly — received without retaliation, borne without bitterness, answered (as Peter says in the governing text) with a defense made "with gentleness and reverence" (I Pet. 3:15). The curse comes when the slander leads us to do wrong in response — when the injustice of the accusation produces the behavior the accusation alleged, or when it produces bitterness that defiles the person who was falsely accused. The motto states the principle precisely: "Nothing can hurt me but myself." The slanderer cannot ultimately harm the person who does not give them the satisfaction of a wrong response.
Experiences of life. The full range of what life brings — the disappointments, the reversals, the losses, the ordinary friction of living in a fallen world — gives the opportunity to reflect Christ. Every experience is either the occasion for Christ to be seen in how the person receives it, or it is not. The curse comes when the experience is not received rightly — when it is received without faith, without patience, without the orientation toward God that the experience was designed to produce.
Application
The governing principle — nothing can hurt us but ourselves — has a specific practical implication: the work of the Christian is the inner work. The outer circumstance is given; the inner response is chosen. The person who cannot control what happens to them can control what they do with what happens to them. That is the one domain of genuine freedom that no circumstance can take away.
The examination for each hearer: which of the six categories is currently present in your life? And is it being received in the way that produces blessing — or in the way that makes it a curse?
Conclusion
"Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?" (I Pet. 3:13). The question implies the answer: no one can do ultimate harm to the person whose inner life is oriented toward God and whose response to every experience is shaped by the example of Christ. The harm that matters — the destruction of the soul (Matt. 10:28) — requires the cooperation of the person being harmed. The six categories of experience that most commonly produce damage are all, in the end, invitations to either a blessing or a curse, and the invitation is answered not by the experience itself but by the response.
Invitation
The person who is not in Christ has no framework for the principle this sermon describes. The experience that falls on the person outside Christ has no promise attached to it — no assurance that it is working toward anything, no pattern from Christ to follow, no indwelling Spirit to produce the inner fruit that patience and faith require. The invitation is to come in — to believe, repent, confess, and be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38) — and to receive with the new life the resources to receive everything that comes with it.
Word Study
| English Term | Greek Term | Basic Meaning | Usage in This Sermon | Sermon Significance | Key Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial / Temptation | peirasmos | A test, a trial — the same word covers both the testing that strengthens and the solicitation that tempts. | Used in James 1:2, 12 for the trials that produce endurance and approved character. | The dual meaning is significant: the experience of temptation is simultaneously a test of character and a solicitation to sin. It is a blessing when it is treated as a test and resisted; it becomes harmful only when the solicitation succeeds. The "crown of life" is promised to the one who perseveres under it — not to the one who never faces it. | James 1:2, 12 |
| Reviled / Reviling | loidoreō | To abuse verbally, to rail at, to use abusive language. | Used in I Pet. 2:23 for what was done to Christ: "while being reviled, He did not revile in return." | The standard Peter holds up for Christian suffering is Christ's specific refusal to return verbal abuse for verbal abuse. The instruction in I Pet. 3:9 — "not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead" — is the application of Christ's pattern to the ordinary experience of Christian life. | I Pet. 2:23; I Pet. 3:9 |
| Endurance | hypomonē | Remaining under — the capacity to stay under a load without being crushed; active patient endurance rather than passive resignation. | Used in James 1:3-4 for what the testing of faith produces: "the testing of your faith produces endurance." | Hypomonē is not the stoic acceptance of what cannot be changed; it is the active remaining-under that produces proven character. The person who has hypomonē has not simply survived their trials; they have been formed by them. | James 1:3-4; Rom. 5:3-4 |
| Approved | dokimos | Tested and found genuine — the term for metal that has passed the assay and been found to be what it claimed to be. | Used in James 1:12 for the person who perseveres under trial: "once he has been approved." | The trial produces the approval: the person who comes through the testing still standing has been demonstrated to be genuine. The temptation that is overcome does not merely leave the person unchanged — it produces the dokimos character that could not have been produced any other way. | James 1:12 |
Scripture Interlock Table
| Theme | Boles' Outline | Supporting Scripture |
|---|---|---|
| "Who is there to harm you if zealous for good?" | Text | I Pet. 3:13-16 |
| "Fear Him who can destroy both soul and body" | Intro. | Matt. 10:28 |
| Christ: "reviled but did not revile in return" | I | I Pet. 2:23 |
| "Leaving you an example — follow in His steps" | I | I Pet. 2:21 |
| "Tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" | I | Heb. 4:15 |
| "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial" | II.1 | James 1:12 |
| "Testing of faith produces endurance" | II.2 | James 1:3 |
| "A joyful heart is good medicine" | II.3 | Prov. 17:22 |
| House of mourning better than house of feasting | II.4 | Eccl. 7:2 |
| "Blessed when insulted... because of Me" | II.5 | Matt. 5:11 |
| "Answer with gentleness and reverence" | II.5 | I Pet. 3:15 |
| Baptism for remission — entering the resources to receive rightly | Invit. | Acts 2:38 |
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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 178. Primary text: I Pet. 3:13-16 (stated by Boles). OCR corrections: "I vet. 3:13-16" → "I Pet. 3:13-16"; "teachers" → "teaches" in introduction; "lll." → "III." Doctrinal audit: the principle "nothing can hurt us but ourselves" developed carefully — not as denial of real suffering or as a claim that circumstances never damage people, but as the affirmation that the ultimate harm (soul destruction, Matt. 10:28) requires internal cooperation; temptation developed from James 1:12 without softening its character as a genuine solicitation to sin; sorrow section uses Eccl. 7:2 accurately — the house of mourning is better because it produces insight, not because grief is preferred to joy; invitation retains full obedient response (Acts 2:38).
