Good morning, church. It's good to see you this morning.
I was blessed to be here yesterday for Amy and Brian's wedding, so if you think about it,
pray for them as they begin their married life together. And one other announcement,
and this is not Tom's fault because we didn't tell him to do this, but if you are leaving,
please let sure you let us know so we can celebrate you in a couple of weeks at our
send-off Sunday. So if you're graduating or if you are leaving town, please let us know for those
things. Okay. We read the headlines of the state of the church around the world. There are times when
these headlines are fearsome. We read of churches burned. We read of pastors imprisoned.
We read of police raids on gatherings of believers. We read of missionaries who are attacked.
Places like Myanmar, Afghanistan, China, Nigeria, North Korea, and others, such things are happening.
All five of these countries are in the top 20 watch list for the most dangerous places in the world
for Christians to live. How do we respond to this? Maybe we're filled with compassion and moved to prayer
and to giving. Maybe we're filled with outrage and moved to advocate for human rights and for intervention.
And these are good responses. But what if it comes home? What if it were you? What if it were us?
What if we woke up one morning and Trinity had been raided and burned? What if your pastors were put in
prison for preaching the gospel? What if your small group was in fear of being raided by police?
How would you respond? Hopefully we'd be prayerful. We might be outraged and seek redress and
some sort of help from the government. But you know, we might also wonder, did we do something to deserve
this? Have we done something wrong? Is God judging us? Or has God abandoned us?
These are some of the questions that the early church asked themselves as they saw persecution
rise against the early church. As we've been studying in the book of 1 Peter, Peter writes this
letter to a group of churches in Asia Minor that either have been or are now or will soon be suffering
from various forms of persecution. As Peter writes a letter, it was not a matter of if but a matter of when
they would face these kinds of trials.
How do we respond? What kinds of attitudes are we to have in the face of persecution?
What does God want to bring to us in the midst of persecution? These are the questions that our passage
looks at this morning. So if you want to turn to me, we're in 1 Peter chapter 4 starting in verse 12.
That is page 950-something in your pew Bible, and that'll get you close enough
to find it. 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 12 through 19. As we come to this, recognize that this is often seen
as a beginning of the last section of the book. The last section that Pastor Nick preached on last
week ends with a doxology, what seems like a wrapping up of a thought, and Peter now comes back
with his pastoral heart to encourage the churches that he's writing to as he writes these things.
1 Peter chapter 4 verses starting in verse 12.
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you,
as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's
sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for
the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler.
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed.
But let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God,
and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?
Therefore, let those who suffer according to Christ's will—sorry, according to God's will—entrust their soul
to a faithful creator while doing good.
Will you pray with me?
Lord Jesus, we look at this passage. We come to it this morning.
Lord, we ask for your Holy Spirit, Lord, to open our minds to understand your word,
to soften our hearts to receive your word.
God, we pray this morning that you would shape us, our hearts and our souls,
Lord, so that we might be those who walk through suffering
in ways that bring glory and honor to you.
Lord, I pray for my words and for your help,
that I might speak your words this morning, Lord,
and that you would use them in all of our lives.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
So how does God want us to see this kind of suffering?
This kind of suffering that comes from persecution, suffering for Christ's sake.
Three things we're going to look at.
Verses 12 and 13 tells us that persecution brings not surprise, but joy.
Verses 14 through 16 tells us that persecution brings not shame, but blessing.
Verses 17 through 19 will tell us that persecution brings not fear of condemnation, but confident faith.
So that's your outline.
For those of you who are taking notes, that's what we'll be looking at in order.
We'll just walk through the passage, and we'll explain it and seek to apply it to our lives a bit as we go.
So first, verses 12 and 13, persecution brings not surprise, but joy.
There are two imperatives here.
Paul is exhorting the congregation to think about two things and to do two things.
The first one is, do not be surprised by the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you.
Right?
This imagery brings to mind very, you know, for anyone who's read the Old Testament, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego,
the three men who were thrown literally into a fiery furnace
because they would not bow down and worship a different God,
but that they would maintain their fidelity to their worship of God alone.
But it says here, Peter says, this fiery trial has come to test you,
to reveal the character of your faith.
What kind of suffering is it?
It's important to see here as we think about this fiery trial.
It is not just hardship of living in a fallen world.
It's not just the trials of living around other people who make your life difficult
or living with natural disasters or diseases.
Those are a different kind of suffering.
There are passages that tell us to rejoice in those too.
Places like James 1 and Romans 5.
But here in particular, Peter is talking about suffering for persecution.
Suffering that is for Christ's sake.
We'll see that more in verses 14 and 16.
This is suffering that is being identified as loyalty to Christ
that is provoking or causing the trial that we are going through.
And it might be physical harm.
It might be verbal or relational.
You may be maligned or reviled or spoken against or insulted.
You may be excluded.
You may be discriminated against.
All of these things are ways that we suffer persecution.
That is the negative effects of others upon us
because we are followers of Christ and publicly identifying with Him.
And Peter says, don't be surprised.
For those of us who live in the Western world,
this is not an easy thing because we've grown up in a world
that for hundreds of years has been undergirded by a welcoming
or by a general embracing of a Christian worldview.
And so there's been a lot of places where being a Christian
has been in sync with our culture,
been in sync with the worldview of our neighbors around us,
regardless of what faith they profess.
But that presumption is not a one that Christians should hold broadly.
We see this in the rest of the world where Christians suffer deeply
because their Christian faith is out of line so much
with the worldview of the culture that they live in.
And we find ourselves in a culture that is increasingly at odds
with a Christian worldview as well.
And we have to remember that Christ Himself predicted this.
In John 15, 20, He says,
A servant is not greater than his master.
If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.
And we see that this was true from the very beginning of the church.
The passage that Tony read earlier from Acts 5.
Remarkable, isn't it?
The early church suffering, being beaten,
being accused, being arrested, being threatened,
and yet they counted it worthy.
They rejoiced because they were counted worthy of suffering for the name of Jesus.
We are tempted when facing persecution to be surprised, I think.
We are tempted to fall into self-pity.
Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is happening to me.
This is so terrible.
Or self-justification.
Well, I'm right and they're wrong.
And we become proud and arrogant.
Sometimes we go on the attack.
Well, those people are doing wrong for attacking me.
Why can't they be tolerant to me the way I'm trying to be tolerant with them?
But Peter says,
Don't be surprised and fall into these heart attitudes.
But instead, his second imperative,
Rejoice.
And he gives a reason.
Look in verse 13.
He gives a reason.
Rejoice insofar as you share in Christ's sufferings,
that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
You see, the key, according to Peter,
for our ability to rejoice even in the face of persecution
is that our joy now is a part of our joy later.
That our suffering now is a part of the glory that will come later.
This is the pattern of Jesus,
that his cross comes before the crown.
Jesus, who, according to Hebrews 12, says,
For the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Peter says,
Don't be surprised because Christ suffered as well,
and your union with him,
because of your faith in him,
you are joined with him.
And as you are joined with him in your suffering,
you are also joined with him in his joy.
And this joy is now that you can have in the midst of suffering.
And this is joy that you can have
knowing that there will be a future that will be only joy
and no more suffering in his glory.
Peter is suggesting that our fellowship with Christ,
our union with Christ,
is deepened through persecution.
And we enjoy a depth of fellowship with Christ that we never could have had
in the same way if we had not suffered.
Because only when we suffer do we know this Christ-like joy in the midst of persecution
that allows us to see the glory of the joy that is to come.
So Peter says,
Persecution brings not surprise to Christians,
but joy because of Christ.
And then he goes on in verses 14 to 16.
He says,
Persecution brings not shame,
but blessing.
We might wonder,
Why shame?
Why is he talking about being ashamed in this context?
Well,
Peter is writing to a church that's living in a largely non-Christian culture.
People would walk out their doors
and they would see the Roman pantheon
lived out in all sorts of big and small ways in their everyday life.
Right?
Something that we as Americans find it hard,
even in a place like New England
where there are churches on every corner.
Half of them are now condos,
but there are still churches.
And we see all of those things.
Right?
We see how much that's been a part of our culture.
But Peter is writing to a place where Christians were small and despised,
not highlighted,
not seen.
Peter's saying,
You may feel like your faith is being diminished and dismissed in your culture.
You may feel marginalized and discriminated against.
You may feel the threat of violence and physical harm.
And these things are real.
The privilege that I had of meeting believers in China
who lived in a much more of this kind of a culture
and to see them,
it was easy at times for them to become so discouraged and overwhelmed.
Is this really worth it?
Should we really do that?
They become ashamed of the gospel
because it feels so out of step with the world around them.
You believe that there's something wrong with you because of your faith.
The day may be coming when we're close to that here in the West as well.
You might feel it in small ways and in large ways.
You might feel it when you're not up on the latest TV shows and movies
because you've chosen to fill your mind with things that are profitable.
Maybe you're suffering as a parent
because your child can't sign up for community sports
because they have all their games on Sunday morning
and you've made a prior commitment to be a part of attending church
and being a part of the church community.
Maybe you're a student
and you know that the views that you're expressing in your term paper
that flow from your Christian convictions and worldview,
you know that you're going to get docked points
for not the argument,
but for the content of what you say.
You know that you will suffer a lower grade because of that.
It's easy in these contexts to feel ashamed,
but Peter says don't.
Don't be ashamed.
He goes on and he warns us,
but make sure that we're not suffering those things for the wrong reasons.
You see, this is what verse 15 says, right?
But my summary is like,
suffer for Christ, not for being stupid.
What he really means is,
don't suffer for doing wrong, right?
Don't be rude, ungodly, hateful.
Don't be a murderer, a thief.
I love this word meddler.
It means getting your nose into other people's businesses
in the wrong way,
in an unhelpful or ungodly way.
You don't have to fix the whole world.
You don't have to make everyone do what's right in the world.
Even if you know it because of Christ,
you don't have to make everyone—
that's not your job.
So let's not fall into those things
and find ourselves on the back end of persecution and backlash
for being ungodly people.
Because look, we can do it.
Christians, out of zeal for certain truths,
can do terrible things.
We can even justify violence against others
on the basis of upholding Christian values.
We can cheat or steal
because we claim self-righteous ownership of things.
We can compel others to conform to Christian ethics
in a world that we can invite them to do it,
but to compel them to do it?
Peter says,
let us not be suffering for the wrong reasons,
but if we suffer in the name of Christ,
if we suffer for being a Christian,
if we suffer because we identify with Jesus
and his gospel of grace,
we will always feel like we don't totally belong.
We will always feel that we will be misunderstood.
And increasingly in our world,
we will be assigned false motives.
Friends, let us not be unwise about our moment today.
There are places where a Christian worldview
is increasingly out of step with our culture.
In ethics, as we think about the beginning of life
and the end of life,
as we think about things like abortion and euthanasia,
Christians will uphold a pro-life stance.
Not in a political sense,
but in a sense of God loves and cares about life
in a way that will be out of step.
We know this,
but in areas of sexuality and gender,
our understanding of what humans are
and how they're created by God,
how they're affected in their created goodness,
in their fallen brokenness,
and in their potential for redemption and glory.
We are out of step with a world
that will tell us different things
about how we can be self-determinative
in these things.
Religious tolerance is something
that increasingly has boundaries.
We have religious tolerance for tolerant people,
but we have religious intolerance
for people who hold to beliefs that are exclusive.
And friends, we believe in exclusive gospel,
not because we choose to be hateful to others,
but because Christ alone has done
the only thing that can save us.
And even the most gentle and gracious
and kind orthodoxy will be condemned
and we will be called hated,
hateful and bigoted and cruel and oppressive
for our following of Christ.
And we should expect that there will be times
when we will be excluded,
disrespected, marginalized,
and discriminated against
because we follow Christ.
We need to avoid a culture war mentality.
We need to not see that there's an enemy
that we have to win the culture war
in our world,
but we are to hold the truth of God
with humility and grace
and belief and practice.
We are to love our enemies
and we are to fight to live
as citizens of a kingdom
that is unshakable
and cannot be broken
in the midst of a world
that is increasingly
going to be difficult to live in.
So Peter says,
let us not be ashamed of the gospel.
Why?
Because he says,
you are blessed.
You are blessed by God
in the midst of this persecution.
This is what Jesus said
in the Sermon on the Mount.
Blessed are those
who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you
when others revile you
and persecute you
and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely.
On my account,
rejoice and be glad,
for your reward is great in heaven.
For so they persecuted the prophets
who were before you.
God looks at you
as one walking in Christ
and suffering for Christ
and says,
you are blessed.
And how do we know that?
Because he pronounces your favor,
his favor on you publicly
because you have,
this is what the end of verse 16 says,
because you have
the spirit of glory
and of God
resting upon you.
You see, friends,
we might feel ashamed
like we're doing something wrong
when we suffer persecution,
but God looks at us
and says,
as you suffer persecution
and as you stand firm
in humility and steadfastness,
you are proving
that the spirit of God
is on you
and you are displaying
the spirit of the gospel
and of Christ
in the world.
And he looks at you
and he says,
this suffering
is revealing to the world
what I have already done,
which is I have pronounced upon you
a blessing
by giving you the spirit
by virtue of your faith
in Christ.
This is what verse 16 says.
Karen Jobes,
this commentator,
we keep quoting
because her commentator
is really excellent
on 1 Peter,
notes that the suffering here
is not productive.
Sometimes we want to say
our suffering
and our persecution,
they're only worth it
when we can see
what good it produces.
But here,
Peter's not saying
the suffering here
doesn't produce the blessing.
The suffering
simply reveals it.
The suffering
is a testing fire
that shows
what is really there.
Friends,
this is what
Helen Rosevear found.
If you don't know
Helen Rosevear's story,
you should.
She was a missionary
in the 20th century.
She went to
Central Africa,
to the Congo,
to serve as a medical missionary.
She suffered deeply
as a missionary.
In the midst of civil war
and the Simba rebellion,
she was imprisoned,
she was beaten,
she was raped,
she suffered immeasurably.
And in the midst
of her
faithful service
and seeking God
in the midst of her
terrible,
terrible circumstances,
as she reflects back
on that season in life,
she writes this.
One word became
unbelievably clear,
and that word was
privilege.
He didn't take away
pain or cruelty
or humiliation.
No,
it was all there.
But now it was
altogether different.
It was with him,
for him,
in him.
he was actually
offering me
the inestimable
privilege
of sharing
in some little way
the edge
of the fellowship
of his suffering.
Friends,
this is what it means
to have the glory
of God revealed
in a believer
who stands firm,
who is not ashamed
in the midst of,
but who knows
that they are blessed
because the Spirit
of God resides
in them
because they can see
this.
Suffering is an opportunity
for fellowship
with Christ.
So persecution
brings not surprise,
but joy.
Brings not shame,
but blessing.
And finally,
verses 17 through 19,
persecution brings
not fear
of condemnation,
but confident faith.
So I don't know
if you felt it
when we read through it,
but verses 17 through 19
strike me
as you read through
the logic of this
as a bit of a non sequitur.
What is he doing here?
He's talking about
suffering for Christ.
He's encouraging
the believers.
This all makes sense.
And then verse 17,
he says,
for it is time
for judgment
to begin
at the household of God.
And if it is
to begin with us,
what will be the outcome
of those who do not obey?
And why does he turn to this?
Why does he turn to judgment?
And I think that
to get this right,
I think Peter may be
using judgment
in a slightly different way
than we usually think of it.
Usually we think of judgment
as condemnation.
We think of judgment
as bringing punishment.
And so it often is
in the New Testament.
It means that judgment is,
and for believers,
it can be judgment
that comes to refine people
so that they might be purified
of their sin.
There's a final judgment
on the whole world
where there will be
a final reckoning
and accounting
for our standing
before God
and where God
will vindicate
the righteous
and where he will condemn
and punish evildoers.
But it doesn't seem like
this is the sense
of judgment here.
because there's no sense
of Peter saying,
hey, you guys are falling short
in holiness
and you need to grow in this.
And there's no sense
that Peter's saying,
hey, there's a final judgment
that's going to come,
so hold on for that
because in verse 17 it says,
for the time is now
that this judgment is happening.
So what is Peter talking about?
Peter's talking about
the persecution
that the church is suffering now,
not as a condemnation
on the church,
but as a test.
This is what we saw
in verse 12
and I think he's coming back
to this idea.
A test in God's hand
that is a trial
that as we stand firm
through it,
we see
and what God sees
is who are truly
his people.
So judgment here
is not the condemnation,
but it's rendering a verdict,
whether good or bad.
And then he explains
that the verdict
could be good or bad.
Right?
For judgment,
that is this testing,
starts with the house of God.
God comes
and through this fiery trial
that's happening now
of persecution,
the true church
is being revealed.
Those who are
falsely claiming Christ
or those who are
saying they want
to follow Christ,
but only when it is easy
and when it doesn't
include suffering,
those people are winnowed
out of the church.
Yes, that's a true thing.
And so the church,
the true church
will be revealed
in its glory.
Peter says,
well, if that's what's happening
with those who know Christ,
what about those who don't?
When he says
those who do not obey
the gospel of God,
this is a different language
for saying
for those who have not
put their faith in Christ.
It's going to happen
and those who are in Christ
are going to be preserved,
then the message
for those who are not
in Christ
is a fearsome one.
And the persecution
that the church
is feeling now
is of a piece
of that final judgment
that will come
and that final verdict
that will come
upon all people.
This is why he quotes
Psalm 11, 31,
if the righteous
are scarcely saved,
that is,
if the righteous
are saved
through a great trial,
what will become
of the ungodly
and the sinner?
That is,
those who don't know God
and don't care about God.
The great sorting
of humanity
is prefigured
in persecution.
Who will endure
and stand to the end
and who will not?
If those who claim Christ
may waver and fall,
what about others?
Without Christ,
when we face God's trial
and his judgment,
there is condemnation
for sin.
God's wrath
is poured out.
There will be
an eternal punishment
for those
who are outside
of Christ
because a holy God
cannot suffer
to overlook sin.
And only in Christ,
only in Christ,
has those sins
been dealt with
and taken away.
with the gospel,
there is hope
to persevere.
Without the gospel,
there is only
condemnation
and fear
and death
for all people
at all times
who do not know Christ.
This is why Peter
ends with this exhortation
in verse 19.
Therefore,
let those who suffer
according to God's will
entrust their souls
to a faithful creator
while doing good.
He's saying,
friends,
I know that there's
a fiery trial.
You're either in it
or it's about to come.
Don't be surprised.
Don't be ashamed.
Don't be afraid.
But entrust yourself
like a little child
who runs
to his daddy's arms
and who's enveloped
by the grace
of the gospel
and protected
from all the harm
and all the trial
and all the hardship,
all the condemnation,
all the attack
on them
from the outside.
So we run to Christ
and trust ourselves
to our creator
who knows us
and what he's made us for.
We run to this one
and find in him
refuge
and strength.
And as we entrust ourselves,
not trusting in our own ability
to manage
or to navigate
or to take care of ourselves,
but to give ourselves over
to him
and to his purposes
in our lives,
this is how we endure
suffering.
This,
it's with these attitudes
that we are able
to face the fiery trials
of living as aliens
and strangers
in a world
that does not know us.
Friends,
we do this
because we know Christ.
We are able to do this
because Christ
is our treasure.
and in Christ
we find joy
and blessing
and hope.
We find a place
of refuge
where we can hide ourselves,
where we can be
what Peter
exhorts us to be.
And friends,
if we're here this morning
and we don't know Christ yet,
or we're not sure
how we stand with Christ,
if we are wondering
whether Christ is worth it,
if the cost may be too high,
if the suffering
may be too hard,
this word has
a warning for us as well.
There is no hope
outside of Christ
and the hard things
and the trials
that are facing,
that you may be facing now
are nothing compared
to the final judgment
when you will stand
before God.
And Peter would implore you,
turn to Christ,
put your hope in him,
put your trust
in him today.
And then you will be able
to endure
these fiery trials.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you
this morning.
We thank you this morning
for this word,
Lord,
that
Lord,
is meant to encourage us
to give us strength
in our inner being.
Lord,
we know that
when you called us
to yourself,
you called us
out of this world
and that
as long as we live
on this earth
as your people,
we will feel
like aliens
and strangers,
like exiles
whose home
is somewhere else.
Lord,
we pray
you would give us
endurance
and patience
and steadfastness
to embrace this life.
And Lord,
when we do
suffer persecution,
when we do
suffer for Christ's sake,
Lord,
we pray
that you might bring us
the joy,
the confidence,
the blessing.
Lord,
that our faith
may be tested
and found
to be true.
Lord,
the faith
that you have given us
and so we might
stand firm.
Thank you,
Lord.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.