The Role of Trials in God's Kingdom Plan - 1 Peter 4:17-19
Introduction:
Background:
Proposition: Because trials produce refinement, we must trust God and do right!
Interrogative: What does God’s plan in this time include?
I. Present Refinement of God’s People - 17a
A. The Timing (dispensation)
B. The Object: The House of God
C. The Action: For judgment to begin
Application: God is refining us so that we can be presented to God as an offering that is pleasing in His sight.
4:17 The “for” (hoti) beginning this verse reaches back to the idea of suffering in v. 16. The suffering of believers is the beginning of God’s judgment from “the household of God” (tou oikou tou theou). The NIV interprets the phrase as “family of God,” but this obscures the Old Testament background of the term. The phrase “house of God” (translated literally) refers back to the Old Testament, where God’s house is almost invariably his temple.40 Many more examples could be adduced. The Old Testament background stems especially from Ezekiel 9 and Malachi 3. In Ezekiel 9 the Lord judges the sinners within Israel and begins from his sanctuary, the temple.41 The language of Ezek 9:6 is similar to Peter’s in that the Lord said, “Begin at my sanctuary” (apo tōn hagiōn mou arxasthe), while Peter wrote, “For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God” (NRSV; arxasthai to krima apo tou oikou tou theou; cf. Isa 10:11–12). The language is similar, but the theology is actually quite different, for in Ezekiel rebellious sinners are being destroyed, but in Peter the judgment does not involve the destruction of the godly but their refinement and purification.42 The background of Malachi 3 is closer conceptually to Peter’s message in this respect, for the Lord will come to his temple and refine and purify his people, and then the offerings of his people will be acceptable (Mal 3:1–4). That the judgment in Peter does not involve destruction is clear from the parallel statement in v. 18, where the godly are “saved.” We have already seen in 1:6–7 that the trials and difficulties of the righteous are designed to purify and refine believers so that they will receive their final reward (cf. also 4:12). Even though God’s household is the temple in the Old Testament, we see here that Peter, in concert with other New Testament writers (1 Cor 3:16; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:19; 1 Tim 3:15; Heb 3:6), now conceives of the church, God’s people, as his temple.43 Such a move is not surprising in Peter, for he already had identified the church as God’s priesthood, his chosen people, and his holy nation, so that blessings belonging to Israel now belong to the church (1 Pet 2:9). In Ezekiel 9 the judgment literally begins at the temple, but now God’s judgment begins not at a building but with his people. The judgment that begins with God’s people purifies those who truly belong to God, and that purification comes through suffering, making believers morally fit for their inheritance.
The judgment here is the final judgment (cf. 1:17; 2:23; 4:5), but this judgment begins even now, in the present evil age.44 The judgment “begins with us,” which means that it commences with Christians. In the present age believers experience suffering, and this is the purifying judgment that begins with believers. Peter proceeded to argue from the lesser to the greater. If even those who are going to be saved are purified and judged by suffering, then the “outcome” (telos) or result of those who reject the gospel will surely be a greater punishment. Unbelievers are described here as “those who do not obey the gospel of God.” Peter could have written about judgment falling on those who disbelieved the gospel, but here he wanted to focus on the failure to obey, for all unbelief leads to disobedience. On three other occasions those who will be judged (or are being judged) are described as disobeying (apeitheō, 1 Pet 2:8; 3:1, 20). In 2:8 and 3:1 such disobedience is described as disobedience to the word (logos), and the “word” in these texts is simply another expression for the gospel. Believers, on the other hand, are characterized by obedience (1:2, 14; 3:10–12; 4:3–4). Peter did not specify what judgment awaits unbelievers, but he already had indicated in 4:5 that they await final judgment. We should also observe that the order of Malachi 3 is preserved here. When the Lord comes to his temple, he refines and purifies his people (3:1–4), but those who are unrepentant sinners will be destroyed (3:5).
Transition: So what are God’s plans in the future.
II. Future judgment for those who disobey the gospel - 18
A. The Argument - 17b.
1. If it begins with us first (almost like a down payment of the fulfillment of God’s
judgement)
2. What will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel
b. Peter says Christians are characterized by obedience
B. The Scriptural Basis: -
1. Now if righteous one is scarcely saved
2. Where will the ungodly appear
5. Persecution should sometimes be seen as a step in the purification of Christians. The logic is straightforward: if judgment begins with us, what will the outcome be for unbelievers? “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household” (4:17), with the church of Jesus Christ. This is the time, the age, when God, good heavenly Father that he is, metes out a measure of punishment on his people, invariably for their good. As James puts it elsewhere, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2–4). In other words, sufferings and trials play their part in making me a mature Christian—and what Christian does not want greater maturity? Show me the Christian who has suffered very little, and I’ll show you an immature Christian. But Peter takes an extra step: if God’s judgment “begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17). When we face persecution, part of us should be welling up in compassion for the persecutors, because they will face a greater judgment, an unrelenting judgment, one that issues not in purification but in destruction.
6. Persecution should always be seen within the framework of God’s faithful and providential rule over Christians. “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good” (4:19).
I conclude with a prayer:
O Lord God, we do not want to romanticize suffering. But as we read of brothers and sisters in the church around the world who face much greater challenges in suffering for Christ’s sake than we do, we hold them up in prayer before you now. We think of the perhaps two million who have suffered in the Sudan, of the Karen people in recent years in Burma, of those who have suffered on some of the Indonesian islands, of Nigerian brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer at the hands of the Fulani and of Boko Haram. We think of totalitarian regimes of various stripes, regimes that react, sometimes violently, to any claims of the sovereign Lord Jesus. We ask that somehow by your Spirit you will give your people in these places—how dare we ask it!—joy in their afflictions, steadfastness, glory, bearing witness because in their suffering they thus align themselves with King Jesus. And in our small corner, Lord God, where most of our suffering for the near future is likely to belong to the realm of insults and not much more, to minor legal difficulties, grant that instead of whining and asking where our inherited culture has gone, we may rejoice, because we too are beginning to be counted worthy to suffer for the name. We thank you for the privilege of filling up the sufferings of Christ in his body, the church. And we ask that we may do our share for Jesus’s sake. Amen.
Applications:
Transition: So how should we respond to all of this?
III. Believers are called to commit their souls to the Lord - 19
A. The Concept:
1. Let those who suffer according to the will of God
2. Commit their souls to Him in doing good.
B. The Basis: As to a faithful Creator
Implications:
1. Because Christ made you, you belong to Him
2. Because Christ made you he knows what you can handle
3. Because Christ created you he knows how to refine you
4:19 A conclusion from all of vv. 12–18 is now drawn.49 Those who suffer according to God’s will are those who share in Christ’s sufferings (v. 12), who are insulted in Christ’s name (v. 14), and who suffer as Christians rather than for doing something evil (vv. 15–16). The reference to God’s will here as in 3:17 indicates that all suffering passes through his hands (cf. 3:17), that nothing strikes a believer apart from God’s loving and sovereign control.50 When suffering strikes, believers should “commit themselves to their faithful Creator.” Christ modeled what Peter enjoined, for when he was suffering, he entrusted himself to God (1 Pet 2:23). Jesus used the same word (paratithēmi) when he entrusted his spirit to God at his death (Luke 23:46). In Acts the word is used when Paul entrusted his converts to God (Acts 14:23; 20:32), and in the Pastorals the word designates the entrusting of God’s truth to faithful men (1 Tim 1:18; 2 Tim 2:2). Similarly, believers should entrust their lives to God as Creator.51 The reference to God as Creator (ktistēs) implies his sovereignty, for the Creator of the world is also sovereign over it.52 Therefore believers can be confident that he will not allow them to suffer beyond their capacity and that he will provide the strength needed to endure. Such confidence can be theirs because he is a “faithful” Creator, faithful to his promises and faithful to his people, never abandoning them in their time of need, always vindicating the righteous and condemning the wicked (cf. 4:17–18). The way believers will reveal that they are trusting in God is by continuing “to do good” (agathopoiia).