1 Peter 4:12,13
Surprised by Suffering

Peter begins the third and last major section of his letter with a look back at the ground he's covered

  1. Don't be surprised by persecution
    1. Beloved
      1. Just as he began the last section at 2:11
      2. Strange address in pagan lit. and therefore significant. (I.e. he's saying more than "Friends, don't be surprised....)
      3. Peter means of course that they are beloved to him — but he also means more
      4. But also that they are beloved of one another
        1. He reminds them, thus that they have love for one another which unites them against the world
        2. The world is not against any single individual, but against all of them as a community of those who love each other with the sacrificial love of Christ
        3. And thus though individually, they are weak; corporately they are strong.
      5. And even more, that they are beloved of God
        1. Remember your OT Saints
          1. When they trusted God, they received typological blessings, that is, physical pictures of the blessings they would receive in heaven
            • Their fig trees blossomed; there swas fruit on the vines; the olive trees yielded food; the fields produced grain; their sheep bore young and their stalls were filled with cattle
            • These things signified to them that God was pleased with them and that he loved them
          2. And when the Psalmists lacked these things, how they cried out to God, asking if he had forsaken them utterly.
          3. But when the people were taken captive into Babylon, these typological blessings ceased
            • Habakkuk cries out to God asking that he restore these signs of his covenant blessings as a sign of his love
            • God replies, "The just shall live by faith." No longer are these visible signs of love to be given to God's people
            • Habakkuk, believing (and thus living), testifies to his faith that God loves his people: Habakkuk 3:17-19 "17Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—18Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills."
        2. This is where Peter's audience is
          1. There faith is shaken because of the "fiery trial", i.e. the persecution that has arisen against the church
          2. They need to be assured that this does not relflect God's lack of love for his people
          3. Quite the contrary. The Gentiles may mean it for evil, but God means it for good.
    2. Don't think trials are strange
      1. Clearly, they were expecting something far different.
      2. This persecution seems strange and wrong; surely God cannot mean for this to be happening to his people.
      3. Peter responds with a rebuke so mild that it is more of an encouragement as he realigns their thinking to reflect the teaching of Christ.
      4. Trials are to be expected he says
      5. And he has ample testimony from Christ to this effect
        1. Matthew 5:11,12 — "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.12 "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
        2. Matthew 10:24-25 — "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.25 "It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!"
        3. Luke 6:40 — "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher."
        4. John 15:18-21 — "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.20 "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.21 "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me."
        5. John 16:1-4 — "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.2 "They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.3 "And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.4 "But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you."
      6. With this, the NT writers uniformly agreed
        1. Romans 8:17 — and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
        2. Hebrews 13:12-14 — Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.13 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.
        3. James 1:2 — My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
        4. 1 John 3:13 — Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.
      7. I am overwhelming you with proof texts because I know how the flesh is attached to this world and wishes to deny that this persecution will continue as long as the world endures
        1. We want to hope that some time in this life this persecution will be at an end
        2. We are so attached to this life that it's not enough to be told that their will be an end when Christ returns
        3. Believe it! This teaching is central to the message of 1 Peter and to the whole New Testament ethic.
        4. This is the gospel.
      8. Peter writes to those who felt that the power of Christ would extend to the conquest of their surrounding culture.
        1. For the church to be victorious, she must rise up on earth and subdue the political and cultural institutions of her day to Christ.
        2. Instead, they are persecuted, ridiculed, beaten down, and full of suffering.
        3. They are shocked. They are as shocked as Peter was when he heard Jesus saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men to be crucified and rise again on the third day.
        4. The promise of the resurrection was not sufficient for Peter; he rebuked his Lord for suggesting their would be suffering and death beforehand.
        5. And he was told, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.... If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
        6. In a sense, Peter might say to his audience, "I had a right to be surprised. How was I supposed to know that the path to glory led through suffering? But you... You have seen the example of Christ. You ought to know better."
        7. Has the cross of Christ taught them nothing? Did they really expect that Christ's body would follow a different path to glory than the one he established in his blood?
        8. Did they really expect to bypass suffering and enter immediately into glory?
        9. Did they really expect the church to lay up treasure on earth by redeeming a cultural and economic entity destined for destruction in the day Christ comes to judge?
    3. They've been sent to try you
      1. They are "fiery trials"
        1. Or, more literally, they are "refining fires"
        2. Peter re-invokes the image of 1:7
      2. These trials are sent to purify your faith until the day of Christ
        1. Don't misunderstand. It's not God saying, "Let's see how hot you can stand it!"
        2. How miserable! We are weak; we should certainly fail the test.
        3. The trials do not strengthen our faith the way weight training makes our muscles strong.
        4. They strengthen our faith the way losing his money and job sends a young man home to Mom and Dad to depend on them once again.
      3. These trials come that you may not love the world or the things that are in the world
      4. When you are persecuted, ridiculed, and attacked for the name of Christ
        1. you do not wish this earthly life to continue for the world is a bitter place in which the Christ is hidden from view (though, sweetly, available to your eye of faith)
        2. Rather, you pray Amen! Come quickly Lord Jesus! How long?!
        3. And your faith is set fully on the glory coming with him
        4. Thus are you purged of your love of this world so that your faith becomes pure and less and less tinged by doubt and sin.
  2. But rejoice because suffering unites you to Christ
    1. To the extent you partake
      1. The more you partake of Christ's sufferings, the more you should rejoice, says Peter.
      2. These sufferings unite you with Christ
        1. Are you ridiculed by the people of this world? So was He.
        2. Do they mock your faith and suggest that God wouldn't let you be so oppressed if he loved you? They said the same thing of Jesus on the cross.
        3. Do men even beat you physically and use whips on your back and handslaps on your face though you deserve none of it? Jesus also was treated this way.
        4. Does the government of this world exert a wrongful authority over you property, your religion, and even your earthly life? Jesus went through all this first.
      3. You, as his body, are suffering the same things he suffered. And you are doing it for him and with him and he with you.
      4. Do you really want to get rid of these now, before the end? Peter asks.
      5. Think what you're saying! You're saying don't unite me to Christ anymore!
      6. What's the result? If not even suffering and opposition can separate us from the love of God in Christ, but unite us all the more....
    2. Rejoice even now
      1. in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us (Romans 8:37)
      2. What do you want more than fellowship with Christ?
        1. Then we gladly suffer with him and rejoice to share his pain.
        2. What joy it is to follow him, even if we must do it by taking up our cross.
      3. Are we "being put to death all day long" as the Psalmist says?
      4. It is "for Thy sake." Rejoice!
      5. Peter does not write this to encourage you to seek suffering.
      6. Rather, he says, suffering will come
      7. The world means it to you for evil
      8. God means it to you for good
      9. If your co-workers, neighbors, friends ridicule you for your faith, Rejoice! It is because you bear the name of Christ.
      10. If you are outcast because you rest on the Lord's Day, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness... Rejoice! Be glad!
      11. Rejoice that you have been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. What unbeliever has that exquisite privilege!
  3. So you will rejoice even more when he returns
    1. His glory will soon be revealed
      1. This situation of persecution will not last forever; your great hope and confidence is that it will one day come to an abrupt halt
        1. But your hope is not that this will happen sometime before Christ returns, Peter says
        2. Rather this takes place at the end when what is hidden is revealed
        3. This "revelation" is a term Peter has used before to refer to the end of all things when Christ comes again to judge the living and the dead. (1:13)
        4. Then the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. The clouds will be rolled back as a scroll and what was hidden behind them will be shown forth, never to be concealed again.
      2. We grow weary. We groan within ourselves and say When will the church show forth her glory on earth?
      3. We should ask rather, "When will Christ come again and display the glory of his bride?"
      4. Only in the coming of Christ will the Church militant be revealed as the Church triumphant, triumphant in her Lord in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword
    2. And you will rejoice even more
      1. If it delights us now to fellowship with Christ in suffering
      2. How much more when God himself wipes every tear from your eye?
      3. Do you grow weary with the sufferings of this present time?
        1. Let them unite you to Christ not only in his suffering, but in his hope of glory.
        2. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame and has sat down at the right hand of God.
        3. Look beyond them to the joy that will be yours at his return
      4. Only a little while. The end of all things is at hand. Courage!
      5. Soon we shall be transformed from glory to glory
        1. In the present time you have access to that glory by faith. You drink of it each Lord's Day, you taste it with the tongue of faith. You revel in it and rest in it and are refreshed and sent back, strengthened, into the world.
        2. Then, that hidden glory will at last be seen and your joy shall be made complete.
      6. In that day you will be glad with exceeding joy
      7. Then truly, finally, and definitively we will say, "This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."

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