Hope in the Midst of Suffering

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We live in times that can suck the very joy and reason for living right ouf our life.
The financial crises of 2008, COVID back in 2020, Inflation, cost of living, rumours of wars.
Many are sick, some are battling with depression, stress is affecting people, there is of course the pains that come with old age.
There is a groaning and suffering that permeates society and we know this is only the beginning because we were warned by our master that things will get worse before the day of the lord.
Everywhere we turn there is a reason to lose hope.
But it is also during times like these wehre followers of Yeshua can stand out.
1 Peter is written for times like this.
1 Peter 1:1–9 TLV
1 Peter, an emissary of Messiah Yeshua, To the sojourners of the Diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia—chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, set apart by the Ruach for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood of Yeshua the Messiah: May grace and shalom be multiplied to you. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! In His great mercy He caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Messiah Yeshua from the dead. 4 An incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance has been reserved in heaven for you. 5 By trusting, you are being protected by God’s power for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this greatly, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. 7 These trials are so that the true metal of your faith (far more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire) may come to light in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Messiah Yeshua. 8 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And even though you don’t see Him now, you trust Him and are filled with a joy that is glorious beyond words, 9 receiving the outcome of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
How many of you like long walks? Alexis and I enjoy our long evening walks. But there are some walks that are not as fun. When I was in high school I joined an award program called the Duke of Edinburgh award which was started by Prince Philip in the United Kingdom more than forty years ago. More than six million young adults have participated in or are currently working through the programme. A participant has to engage in community service, physical recreation, the apprenticeship of a new skill or hobby, and attend adventurous journeys to achieve their Bronze, Silver and Gold awards.
The worst part were those ‘adventerous journeys’. That prhase is the english translation from the underlying Bahamian word ‘suffering’. These adventerous journeys consisted of long walks in the hot Bahamian sun , with a 50lb sack on your back that doest fit quite right, full of chef boyardee spaghetti cans, pots, pans, not nearly enough clothes, and other surprisingly heavy items. I forgot to mention the tent because these suffering walks extend over a period of days because you have to overnight on your journey from one side of a hot boring island to the other side, through the hot bush. And I would start out on those walks fresh, but not long in the sweat began to accumulate between my thighs and those thighs rub over and over until they were chafed raw…mixed with stinging sweat. Why would I and six million young adults persevere through this type of suffering? Because there is an award at the end that has significance, and because others that I knew had endured it and gone before me.
Main point: Epistle of Peter is a message of hope. A call to maintain your faith despite your circumstances by fixing your eyes upon Yeshua and your inheritance.
Peter is writing to the beliving communities in what is modern day Turkey, called Asia Minor back then. Very obvious from the letter that these people are suffering. And though Peter is writing to communities in Asia Minor that are suffering, he is writing from Rome, which he refers to in code language as ‘Babylon’ in chapter 5. Nero was a cruel roman emperor that reigned during the 60’s under whom extensive persecution of believers took place in Rome. You may recall the story that rumours were that he set fire to Rome cuasing massive descturction, and so to deflect that rumour he blamed the followers of yeshua who many considered a strange jewish-ish group of people. This sparked his intense campaign of persecution against them. Tradition has it that Peter was a martyr in rome under Nero and that he was crucified upside down. Peter is no stranger to what he is preaching. He is living it. And so here is Peter living in the heart of suffering writing to a people who are also suffering. So as you read his word I want you to hear someone that has gone before you and is leading you to a mindset to help you endure your suffering and make it out on the other side.
Known By God
So this is the context Peter is writing to the communities and the mssage he starts with in the first chatper is one of hope. But the first thing i want you to see is that he says is that darwin’s theory of natrual selection is stupid. OK not in so many words but he says the believing communities are not a random coincidence. No, the first thing Peter says is that you are chosen according to the forekonwledge of God. I want to avoid the disucssions around determinism vs. free will because those debates go back to the sadducces and pharisees and esssens and we won’t solve it today. Suffice to say that my personal belief is that on one side is the sovereignty of God and on the other side is the will of man, and just like train tracks they don’t touch but as you look into the distance at God they meet somewhere on the horizon.
But what I do want you to see is that Peter is saying to those who are suffering you are intimiately known by God - that is the main point. What is happening to you during your suffering is not because God is not near or that he doesn’t consider you important. You are important to the Father. Peter wants you to know what you’re worth - you are the choicest people to God. You say but that is not how I feel Peter! But you’re not being asked to feel it, you’re being asked to believe it precisely when you don’t feel it. Peter is essntially going to tell us that “All things work together,” not “Some things”. - and Peter will soon explain what the outcome will be.
You are intimately known by God. Remember that in the midst of your suffering.
Say Blesssed Be The Lord
Verse 3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah… We might read this statement and skip right by it. Under normal circumstances this is nothing to be surprised at. Of cousre we bless the name of God. But ocntext matters. Peter is not expecting us to join in blessing God when everything is going right, we are being asked to say ‘Blessed be’ when things are going horribly wrong! This is a suffering community and yet Peter starts by saying let us bless the name of God. The nerve of Peter. How can this be? Why would this be a reaction for a suffering people? Because we don’t bless God based on our circumstances, we bless God based on who He is and what He promised, despite our circumstnaces.
The prophet Habakkuk said:
Habakkuk 3:16–19 TLV
16 I heard, and my belly trembled. My lips quivered at the sound. Decay comes into my bones. I tremble where I stand, since I must wait quietly for a day of distress to come up against the people who will invade us. 17 Though the fig tree does not blossom, and there is no yield on the vines, Though the olive crop fail, and the fields produce no food, the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no cattle in the stalls. 18 Yet will I triumph in Adonai, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! 19 Adonai my Lord, is my strength. He has made my feet like a deer’s, and will make me walk on my high places. For the choir director: On my stringed instruments.
Habakkuk has been given eyes to see the invasion upon Judah, he sees there will be no food, no flock, there will be nothing to eat whether fruits, crops, or cattle - it will all be taken away and there will be famine and desolation in Jerusalem. But Habakkuk has also been given eyes to see beyond that - he sees the ultimate end. The end where God gives just due to the wicked and just due to the righteous. And in this the prophet rejoices - “I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!” The Justice vs mercy of God - a huge topic. How can a just God allow the wicked to prosper and the rightesous suffer? The answer is their prospering is short lived - there is a last day coming - the day of the lord - when everyone will receive their just reward.
And this is the same message that Peter is telling you who are suffering - blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua the messiah! - because in His mercy we are born again and through the prophet’s words we also see the ultimate end. And Peter says to you in verse 6 - You rejoice in this greatly… You rejoice just like Habakkuk did even though the circumstances screamed everything but joy. So we say blessed be, and not because our circumstances are easy, but because our minds are set firmly on the sovereignty of God and his faithfulness to deliver His promises.
Born Again
Continuing in verse 3, Peter reminds us that God ‘has caused us to be born again’ or in some translations ‘he has given us new birth’. As I read this I was reflecting upon the primary meaning of this metaphor. What do you think was the central element that the Scriptures want to communicate when it refers to be being born again? I mean, there are number of things we could think about. For example one might think of growth as the primary meaning. That’s easy enough to understand - as you think of a new baby you asssoiate a lifetime of growth ahead. Or, one might associate a fresh start as the emphasis. I think these do have validity but as I read this passage afresh I couldnt help but sense the emphasis of a new family. Being born into a new family status. It is familial language, the language of lienage and family history and belonging. You have been born into a new family with a father that will hand down to you the inheritance of his dynasty, citizenship, a spiritual house.
Citeznship and nationality was important in the ancient world and there are differences compared to our modern undersatnding. In any roman community, aliens were in a vulnerable position and resident aliens could live in a city for generations and not obtain citenzhip. And when those cities need more funds, resident aliens had higher taxes. And if you wanted citizenship you had to pay large sums of money to buy it.
Peter writes this letter to the communities using the metaphor of ‘resident aliens’, sojourners in the TLV, in the diaspora and the point is that while your status in your natural family may put you at a disadvantage, your status in God’s society has an inheritance stored up for you because you have been born again as a citizen of his kingdom. During this time a gentile proselyte that converted to Judaism was considered ‘like on who is native born’. The point of being born again is that you have status in a new family group from the one that you inherited from your earthly parents and lineage. This is why He is indeed our abba ‘Father’. We are His seed which means he is our Father and so are in his family dynasty and His riches will become ours one day. You hear ‘born again experience’ - my friends, the main point of being born again is not the experience, it is the status change.
1 Peter 1:23–25 TLV
23 You have been born again—not from perishable seed but imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All humanity is like grass, And all its glory like a wildflower. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed as Good News to you.
That’s great Peter but what does this have to do with hope in the midst of suffering? We learn here that there are two types of seed. There is one seed that is tied to this age - the seed that decays, that fades, that dies and we bury it, the grass that witheres, the flowers that look so beautfiul on a sunny day but eventually winter comes and their beauty is lost - the seed destined for destruction. But unlike that seed the other seed is the word of the Lord and it endures forver. This is important to internalize. God’s word endures forever. God’s word - his promises, his vows, His Torah, what the prophets have said - that word endures forever. God’s word endures forver. There is no other option - if God has said it you can take it to the bank.
God’s word is the seed of our new life - it is the seed that transfers us into the future hope of a resurrection to eternal life. These decaying bodies of ours will be transformed because of that seed. The good news of the future kingdom with the son of David, Yeshua our messiah, on the throne; when that Good News was proclaimed to you it was the seed that took firm root, and when you believed this Gospel of the kingodm, when you accepted it, when you pledged your allegiance to it and made an oath to committ to it, you became born again of a seed that doesn’t perish - that is what the word of God said in the prophets - do you believe the words that come out of God’s mouth endure forever?! It’s not about a born again experience, it is about being born anew into a family change.
Hope in the mist of suffering:
Know that you’re intimately known by God.
Say blessed be the Lord despite your circumstances.
Born into a family inheritance.
Confident Hope
Still in verse 3 Peter brings us to this concept of hope - he wnts us to know that this hope we have is not dead. And I want to you know this is not a dead hope. This is a living hope. Don’t think of this word hope as ‘wishful thinking’ like we use it today. It is not ‘I hope the weather is nice tomorrow’. I hope I win the lottery. Story: At work we recently transferred over to a new payroll and hr system. It has all the nice features - being able to better request vacation, track time off, learning and training modules - all very fancy. But do you know as we’re planning and making sure the transfer to the new system works when we flick the switch, the one thing that you really care about and have to pay attention to when transitioning the payroll system? That the money makes it into the employee’s bank account on Monday morning!
This is the hope we are talking about. This word hope is one of confident expectation. And not juist any expectation, one we set our life on and one that sustains us. It is like your paychceck. In Dt 24.15 when the poor person works you are not to let the sun go down before giving him his wages because he is poor and sets his heart on it. The hebrew litterally says ‘toward it he bears his nefesh’ וְאֵלָ֕יו ה֥וּא נֹשֵׂ֖א אֶת־נַפְשׁ֑וֹ When the ancient jewish translators translated ‘set his heart’ from hebrew into greek they chose the greek word elpis. This is the word before us here in Peter. The poor person doesn’t simply hope in the employer to give him his due wages, he has a confident expectation that it will happen and bears his life on it. He makes future life decisions based on it.
And do you know why our expectation is especially confident? It is beceuase the one we base it on is alive - Yeshua is risen! Peter is saying to you that the sure link between your suffering and your coming inheritance is the empty tomb. Stop and think and consider who is telling us this. This is Peter. The deny three times because I prefer safety over suffering for the name of messiah. This is the sink on the water Peter because his gaze and faith is not fixed on Yeshua. In fact, his name isn’t even Peter, it was Shimon, Yeshua looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You shall be called Kefa (which is translated Peter).” Yeshua gave him his name Peter, which means rock. He thought he was confident but he wasn’t.
But something transformed Peter. Something made Peter comit his life 100% ready to emrbace suffering. What transformed him was the person he saw with his own eyes.
2 Peter 1:13–16 TLV
I think it right to stir you up with a reminder, as long as I remain alive in this “tent” of a body— knowing that my death is soon, as our Lord Yeshua the Messiah has made clear to me. And I will make every effort for you to always remember these things even after my departure. For we did not follow cleverly concocted tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
Mishpocha I want you to know for certain that you do not base your hope on fairy tales, your confident expectation is based on eyewitness testimony that stands the test of modern investigation. Peter sees his own death right in front of him, yet he’s focussed that you would remeber his eyewitness testimony and stand firm in your hope. Sometimes we forget that if Yeshua should tarry, we are all going to die. We are so caught up in our daily living that we neglect to maintain the right perspective that life is short and fragile.
We often talk about this concept of testimony. We say ‘let me tell you about my testimony’ and what we really mean is ‘let me tell you about my experience’. But we don’t, or shouldn’t, beleive in God just becuse of an experience. All sorts of people have an experience that they shouldn’t believe in even though that experience is very real. Lot’s of experiences are real but are entirely false. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying experiences aren’t importnat. I’m simply saying that the testimony we are talking about here is that Yeshua rose from the dead, is alive, and our holy apostles are eyewitnesses to this event and we have confident expectations we call hope because of their testimony, not ours.
Unfading Inheritance
Let’s continue to read from verse 4
1 Peter 1:4–6 TLV
An incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance has been reserved in heaven for you. By trusting, you are being protected by God’s power for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this greatly, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.
Side note: we’ve mentioned joy a few times now. Joy and rejoice doesn’t mean you are expected to smile when you hear the diagnosis of cancer, or laugh when your child dies, and that your faith is lacking if you don’t… that’s just weird. It means that when you step away and reflect you choose to set your happiness on the future God has promised you in the world to come.
Peter reminds these suffering belivers that stored up for them is an inheritance. But look at the language of this intheritance. It is incorruptible, unedefiled, unfading. While life and trials are short, the inheritance you are moving toward is unchanging and everlasting. More than that, it is already there waiting for you. It is in your bank account - you have a confident expectation of your pay day! Confident expectation that your reward is guaranteed after your short but difficult adventurous journey. Sickness, disease, disaster, and persecution eat away and your current life, but your future life remains secure through the power of God and this gives you a joy that the world doesn’t understand.
1 Peter 1:7 TLV
These trials are so that the true metal of your faith (far more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire) may come to light in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Messiah Yeshua.
Have you seen the show ‘how it’s made’? It is a show that looks at the items in your every day life and shows you the processes and activities that goes into making those items from start to finish. You can see how gold is made. There is drilling, crushing, pulverising, mixing, and all of that just to get it to a mixture of gold and other elements - that’s a lot of beating to get an impure mixture. Then that unrefined mixture is put through an intense fire process called smelting which essentially turns everything to a molten liquid in order to separate the impurities called slag from the gold. And at the end of that process guess what you have? Only 85% pure gold that needs to go through further refining and fire until it is 99.9% pure.
So these short temporary trials are so that God our metal worker can bring out the true value of your faith at the end of the process. But notice carefully that the end of the process isn’t in this life! The end of the process when your true worth is shown is when you are raised from the dead at the revealing of Yeshua in all his glory and you being raised up in your glory to be joined with him and the inheritance reserved for those that call upon his name. Be ready to die in this world because your confident expectation - your hope - is not in this life but in the next life. And as valuable as gold is you were redeemed by something fare more valuable than gold, the precious blood of the lamb, which is the only thing that will be accepted as pure enough on the heavenly altar.
Take a moment to reflect upon what we know so far doesn’t change. The fact that you are the choicest of people and foreknown - doesn’t change. The fact that God is blessed, that doesn’t change. The fact that you are experiencing circumstnaces that are difficult, or more than difficult, doesn’t change. Even your inheritance Peter says specifically, is reserved for you and doesn’t change. But there is one thing that changes. You change! When you endure suffering it is you that changes. You are the thing that is refined and purified. What changes is who you are and the proof of your value.
We pray for loved ones and say ‘Oh Lord do what is needed to save them’ - perhaps God wants to use our situation to do just that. Perhaps God knows what is in their heart and that our unwavering belief in the coming reign of Yeshua despite our circumstances, a belief we hold until the moment we are lowered into the grave, perhaps that steadfast belief is exactly what will change the hearts of those people we have been praying for for so long. Because the greater the distance between your hope and your circumstances is the greater your testimony will be. Or perhaps, God wants us to know what is in our own heart.
Known By God so Say Blessed Be The Lord because we are Born Again to a Confident Hope in an Unfading Inheritance through the Risen Yeshua = YOUR RESPONSE?
Your Response to Hope
I think by now you understand what your response to this hope should be. One word - perseverance.
Because you have a confident expectaion of the future, you have certain expecations on you now in the midst of your trial. We find that the clear expecation in verse 8 is that you love and trust Yeshua as Lord even though you can’t see him and it’s through that relationahip you will receive salvation when he returns.
I want you to pay attention to what follows in verse 10 to 12. Read it. Peter tells us something that I think is important in understanding his message. Peter essentially says that there were many godly and holy prophets that were very interested in the point in history that his audiences finds themselves in. They were interested in the grace that was to be brought. Grace to be brought.
The prophets did not understand all the details, but Peter says that they did predict the Messiah’s sufferings and subsequent exaltation, and that they knew their message would serve most fully the future generation when these matters would be fulfilled (1 Pet. 1:12).
In other words the former generation of prophets wrote, spoke and saw into the future generation of messiah - a generation that would experience the suffering and glorious kingdom. They all spoke about the last generation. This is a common way of undersatnding the scriptures in the ancient world - we find this at qumran and in targums. Everything points to the final culminating generation upon whom the end of the ages comes. Peter wants his readers to see themselves as that generation and if Peter were here now he would say we are the last generation.
Peter, what does this have to do with hope?! My legs don’t work Peter. My stomach hurts from the cancer Peter. I’m being persecuted at home and at work Peter. It has everything to do with hope! We have an entire school of prophets and their stories and predictions all pointing to the generation we are in right now. We are the last generation. It is hopeful because it means your trial and testing is coming to an end really soon! It means your coming glory is around the corner. It means you only have to walk a little while longer in the hot sun with a pack on your sore shoulders to obtain your precious reward, and while you do it there is huge crowd of prophetic witnesses to the trial filled faith that cheers you on! These prophetic witnesses came to a point when they realised they weren’t dealing with their sufferings and generation - they were looking to your suffering and generation.
The author of Hebrews echos what Peter is saying:
Hebrews 11:39–12:4 NLT
39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. 4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.
So what is the expected response in the midst of the trials? Simply put - to run with endurance. Persevere. We keep our eyes fixed on Yeshua - we keep loving him, we keep trusting him, we keep seeing him as the one who first endured and then was given honour. He is the ultimate example of endurance. Having faith means holding on to the hope of resurrection to life while you obey during your darkest hours. This is what it means to persevre.
1 Peter 1:13 CSB
13 Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
In your darkest times gird your loins, live with full awareness of the times you’re in, and set your hope completely on the grace that is coming when you raise from the dead at Yeshua’s return.
Let’s pray.
AMEN.
“I am the resurrection and the life! Whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
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