BIG IDEA:
BE PREPARED TO SUFFER INTENSELY AND STAY COMMITTED TO THE WILL OF GOD – LIVING OUT YOUR VICTORY AND VINDICATION
INTRODUCTION:
Motto of Boy Scouts = “Be Prepared”
God’s message to Joseph in Egypt = help the nation to be prepared for 7 years of famine;
Doctors take much more time today than they used to making sure patients understand and are prepared for the operation
Peter wants his readers to be prepared to suffer even the fieriest of trials
John MacArthur: These verses direct believers to expect suffering, exult in suffering, evaluate suffering, and entrust suffering to God.
David Wheaton: Peter now returns to his theme of suffering, and suggests further factors which will enable the Christian not merely to endure, but actually to rejoice in it. In the first place, it is a test to prove the reality of faith, and we should expect God to try (and thereby strengthen) this. It is also a sharing of Christ’s sufferings, which were His pathway to glory, and so will they be for his follower. For that reason the Spirit of God will, even in persecution, be radiating the sufferer’s life with glory; when persecution as a Christian is nobly borne by the innocent, his behaviour is a means of bringing glory to God. Such suffering is a reminder to his people that God is beginning His judgment with them, and they can at least look beyond the persecution to a glorious future, in the light of which they can commit the issues of life in full confidence to the One who gave them live. By contrast the unrepentant sinner has nothing to look forward to here or hereafter once God begins to act in judgment.
Big Idea: BE PREPARED TO SUFFER INTENSELY AND STAY COMMITTED TO THE WILL OF GOD — LIVING OUT YOUR VICTORY AND VINDICATION
I. (:12) BE PREPARED TO SUFFER INTENSELY
The degree of suffering is in view here
A. Assurance of Love Produces Security
Beloved
This is true in our family; true in the family of God
B. Intense Suffering Should Not Produce Astonishment
do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you,
as though some strange thing were happening to you;
Danger of prosperity doctrine = presenting Christ as a cure-all:
Christianity does not provide immunity from suffering; Don’t be surprised if the world hates you (1 Jn.3:13)
We need to teach people to count the cost
John MacArthur: Not expecting to be so hatefully persecuted, the believers to whom Peter wrote were understandably surprised, troubled, and confused by their suffering. Perhaps they expected life to be full of blessing, benefits, and divine protection. However, believers’ expectation for suffering is bound up in the words of Jesus, who told the apostles, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18); Paul’s admonition to Timothy, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12); and the apostle John’s warning, “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you” (1 John 3:13). For Christians, the confrontation with sin and the world often results in suffering, which is part of the promised cost of discipleship (cf. Matt. 10:38–39; 16:24–26; John 12:24–26). Counting the cost is behind Jesus’ words that no one builds a tower or enters battle without first calculating that cost (Luke 14:28–32).
Warren Wiersbe: Every Christian who lives a godly life experiences a certain amount of persecution. On the job, in school, in the neighborhood, perhaps even in the family. . . Peter dealt with this kind of “normal persecution” in the previous part of his letter.
But in this section, Peter explained about a special kind of persecution – a “fiery trial” – that was about to overtake the entire church. It would not be occasional personal persecution from those around them, but official persecution from those above them. Thus far, Christianity had been tolerated by Rome because it was considered a “sect” of Judaism, and the Jews were permitted to worship freely. That attitude would change and the fires of persecution would be ignited, first by Nero, and then by the emperors that followed.
C. Intense Suffering Should Produce Purity
which comes upon you for your testing,
- Intensity — a fiery ordeal
Must have been a very severe trial in view since they already had weathered other opposition;
Only other NT usage = Rev. 18:9 — the burning of Babylon
- Purpose — divinely allowed for testing; image of purifying metal
II. (:13-14) REJOICE IN YOUR VICTORY
A. (:13a) The Degree of Rejoicing — determined by degree of fellowship with Christ
but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing
God’s purpose is to make us like His Son;
We must go thru the same school of obedience — Heb. 5:8; Philip. 3:10-11
B. (:13b) The Occasion of Rejoicing
so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.
- Right now as we are going thru the suffering
- Even greater rejoicing at the revelation of His glory
That will be glory for me (Rom. 8:17-18; 2 Cor 4:17-18)
Obtaining a better resurrection Heb. 11:35
“shout for joy” used earlier in 1:6 and 1:8
Warren Wiersbe: It is necessary to understand that God is not going to replace suffering with glory; rather He will transform suffering into glory. Jesus used the illustration of a woman giving birth (John 16:20-22). The same baby that gave her pain also gave her joy. The pain was transformed into joy by the birth of the baby. The thorn in the flesh that gave Paul difficulty also gave him power and glory (2 Cor. 12:7-10). The cross that gave Jesus shame and pain also brought power and glory.
C. (:14) The Reason for Rejoicing = Assurance of Victory
If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed,
because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Assurance produced by the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives right now; performing His
function of exalting Christ in our lives
Warren Wiersbe: In other words, suffering Christians do not have to wait for heaven in order to experience His glory. Through the Holy Spirit, they can have the glory now. This explains how martyrs could sing praises to God while bound in the midst of blazing fires. It also explains how persecuted Christians (and there are many in today’s world) can go to prison and to death without complaining or resisting their captors.
III. (:15) ASIDE: REMEMBER, THE CONTEXT MUST BE COMMENDABLE CONDUCT
By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief,
or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler;
Def. of “troublesome meddler” — a compound word:
“another” = denotes an activity which is foreign to the doer, or which is not his concern
“overseer” (same as bishop)
In the context — seems to be someone guilty of conduct which justly involves him in shame and punishment at the hands of the state;
Some type of political agitator that would be viewed as a threat to the state?
John MacArthur: More specifically, Peter was referring to political activism and civil agitation—disruptive or illegal activity that interferes with the smooth functioning of society and government. Such activity would compel the authorities to mete out punishment (Rom. 13:2–4). It is wrong for believers to view that punishment as persecution for their faith. If they step outside the faith and bring trouble, hostility, resentment, or persecution on themselves, they have no more right to expect Holy Spirit relief than if they were murderers. That Peter here includes allotriepiskopos in his list of sins may mean that some disciples, in their zeal for the truth and resentment of paganism, were causing trouble in society for reasons beyond a sincere and legitimate concern for the gospel.
IV. (:16-18) DON’T FEEL ASHAMED, BUT GLORIFY GOD IN YOUR VINDICATION
A. Don’t Feel Ashamed — not trying to deny or minimize allegiance to Christ
but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed,
John MacArthur: First-century believers referred to one another, such as “brethren” (Acts 1:15–16; 6:3; 9:30; 12:17; 15:13), “saints” (Acts 9:13; Rom. 8:27; 15:25; 1 Cor. 16:1), and those of “the Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). Ironically, however, Christian was not a name first assumed by believers themselves; instead, because it was originally a derisive designation given them by the world, it was associated with hatred and persecution (cf. Acts 11:26; 26:28). It has become, and should remain, the dominant and beloved name by which believers are known—those who belong to Christ.
B. Glorify God in Your Vindication
but in that name let him glorify God.
C. Contrast between temporal judgment of the state in executing believers and eternal condemnation of God against unsaved
For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?
V. (:19) STAY COMMITTED TO THE WILL OF GOD BY ENTRUSTING YOUR SOULS TO A FAITHFUL CREATOR
Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God
entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
Edwin Blum: The combination of “faithful” and “Creator” reminds the believer of God’s love and power in the midst of trials so that they will not doubt his interest or ability. The continuation in good works or action is a concrete sign of the faith that is the essence of being a Christian (cf. 2:15, 20; 3:6, 17).