Neither is he, of course, in relation to Jesus, talking about the kind of suffering we know all too often which comes as a result of sin and its long and drawn out consequences. He is talking about a kind of suffering that comes as a result of faithfulness. A suffering which is the inevitable result of the clash between the Gospel's truth and broken humanity's unexamined lies. Suffering that is inevitable when one moves through an unbelieving world captured by the will and values of God. The obedience that he is speaking of is not the simple, which is really not so simple, trying to do what God says, or trying not to do what God says not to do.
Obedience is a deeper and more durable concept than that.
Obedience has to do with the transformation of the will such that all of life, every action, every choice, every relationship, every priority, every conversation, every work decision, everything reflects the will and values of God. What our author is saying is that in suffering for faith, in suffering for being God's love in the world, in moving through an unbelieving world captured by love and paying the price for it, God's values became perfectly reflected in Jesus and resulted in both a way and a model for salvation. The call is clear in many places in Scripture. Stand fast in the face of suffering, we don't have to embrace it, welcome it or look for it. But we are not to run from it.