1 Peter 4:12-19
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12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
early church persecutions back then
goes with the overall theme of 1 peter
2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. 3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.
Paul finding aquila and priscila in Corinth - fellow tentmakers and later would become great helpers of the faith
Claudius was one of the first emperors after Christ (AD 41-54)
Roman sources on the persecutions
Pliny the younger - wrote this letter to the emperor asking for advice
“I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. There were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome.”
“they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food—but ordinary and innocent food.“
“I therefore postponed the investigation and hastened to consult you. For the matter seemed to me to warrant consulting you, especially because of the number involved. For many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms.“
Tacitus - Roman historian on Nero’s persections
“Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths.”
“Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car.”
“Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.”
persecutions continued with varying intensity to happen in the roman empire until 325 when constantine legalized Christianity
Peter - “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing were happening to you”
he wasn’t only talking to the early church though, this is something timeless
one of the great things about the Bible - truly timeless and unites all generations of Christians, we all had the same Bible
he tells us to not be surprised when this happens to us - that it’s going to be normal
Jesus told us that “the world” will hate us
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
“the world” hating us is the NORMAL state of things, we will never be loved by the world
therefore, we should never try
this is the problem with compromising
if we compromise to the point to where the world loves us, we have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, we have hollowed out the faith to the point that it’s useless
the old prophets suffered as well
34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: 35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
“Peter comforts believers here by telling them not to be upset when they face suffering, since Christ bore much more for our sakes than we could ever bear for his. We should therefore remain steadfast in such trials so that one day we may rejoice in his presence.”
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
regarding suffering for doing right
we can rejoice, since we are suffering for righteousness sake
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
this is right after the apostles were commanded by the Jews not to teach in Christ’s name, like we talked about on wednesday
29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
the fleshly perspective vs the spiritual perspective
we know that the Spirit and the flesh are often at war with each other
we are in the world, but not of the world
when we ask ourselves “why are we suffering?”
if our answer is that we are suffering for Christ, we are suffering for a greater purpose
not only are we being obedient, but our suffering is for a higher calling, it is not pointless suffering
if we suffer for doing the right thing, we are suffering yes, but we are doing so to bring about what God wants for the world
to bring about something greater than just ourselves and our personal life
the verse says we are actually “partakers” in Christ’s sufferings, we can take comfort in this
greek word for “partaking”
κοινωνέω - share, have a share
this was the same word used to talk about sharing the Lord’s Supper in 1 Cor
also, Christ suffered before us, and knows our suffering, but we can relate to Him in this way
when we suffer for doing right, we are in fact imitating Christ
Peter himself practiced what he preached, he suffered greatly
not only throughout his life as an apostle, but he was also martyred, just like Jesus told him he would be
we can not only suffer for Christ, be we can rejoice in these sufferings, there is no better way to be than imitating Christ
this should be where we want to be, what a privileged it is to be able to imitate our Lord and Savior, and to partake in, to share in, His suffering for doing the right thing
“when His glory shall be revealed...”
we know that one day, Christ will arrive on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory
and on that day, whenever it will be, we can be glad, we can be ecstatic, knowing that not only will our suffering be over
but that that the Savior, who endured the ultimate suffering, who’s suffering we partook in ourselves on earth in our lives, will be with us, and we will be with Him
all tears will be wiped away, all pain will be gone, and we will be with Him in glory
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
we see here that our suffering on earth is unworthy to even be compared to the happiness, the glory, and the comfort that we will receive once we are with Him
again we can think of the fleshly vs the spiritual perspective
in that the problems we experience here on earth are not forever
sometimes it feels that way on earth, maybe sometimes we have problems that last years and years
Christ knows all our sufferings, how much and how long, and it will not go unnoticed because God is the perfect judge
but how long really is that when we compare that to eternity?
they have a lasting impact not only in how what we do affects the world, but that we are doing it for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and that is truly what matters in this world
14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
we see yet another angle of why we should rejoice in this kind of suffering - the Spirit of God resteth upon us
like we said earlier, God see’s our suffering, He knows our suffering, and He cares for us
remember that we’re suffering FOR HIM, how could He not take notice? of course He would care for those suffering for Him?
what a blessing this truly is, to have the Spirit of God resting upon us, this is a privilege like no other!
2nd part of the verse - one might ask the question “how is me being reproached for God glorifying Him?”
when people accuse you falsely, or revile you for God’s sake, the shame and guilt ultimately rests upon them
you are doing your part and standing up for God, on top of that, the one who reviles you sees that.
whether it changes their mind or doesn’t, you are doing your part, you are doing what God asks of you and standing up for Him
this is similar to what the pastor has been talking about regarding witnessing
whether anyone believes or not, you are doing your part, your job that God asks of you, and God will take care of the rest
and in this way, God is glorified
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
we know though that not all of our suffering is necessarily because of what we’re doing for Christ
because we’re humans, and not every single action that we take is for Christ, unfortunately
just to speak on this busybody section for a moment, one might think “well that doesn’t seem on the same level as a thief or a murderer”
often, one only knows one side of the story - and we know how that goes
even if we do know both sides of the story, often that’s not the whole story, and that there’s more to it
and even if we think we know everything about a given situation, often it’s not really our place to deal with it
now this isn’t to say we shouldn’t try to give advice or be there for people, often that’s really helpful, but we just need to know where the line is
marriages or families can be destroyed by this kind of thing, think about what that could do to a child
we see in the book of Hebrews that sometimes we are chastised by God for our sins
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
this tells us that we will be suffering from both directions, we will suffer when we are doing the work of Christ, and we also will suffer from chastisement sometimes
again we must think of why we’re suffering, it’s for a bigger purpose than ourselves
it’s not pointless suffering
God chastises us when we need it because He is trying to make us better, and isn’t that what a loving father would do?
how else could we be corrected?
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
we see here the contrast between suffering over doing evil and suffering for doing good
it’s all about the “why” - we’re suffering for Christ, and if we sin, we’re suffering for essentially no good reason
we don’t have to be ashamed when suffering for Christ, and if we do, it’s our fear of man getting to us
at the end of the day, if we’re reviled for serving Christ, it really shouldn’t bother us, and sometimes it’s hard to let that go
but we just have to realize that serving God is more important than serving what people think about us
often this is not easy, but it’s the truth, and goes to suffering for the right thing
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
“look, judgement is coming, and we will be judged first, we know how that will ultimately go, but what about those who don’t obey the gospel? that’ll be a different situation”
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
alluding to
31 Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: Much more the wicked and the sinner.
the righteous will receive their judgement, and even though we’re saved it doesn’t mean we have the freedom to go around sinning constantly
but much more the wicked and the sinner
many times when we witness we may be rejected, or even mocked or made fun of
but God loves these people and they deserve to be witnessed to just like anyone else
we should love these people as well, they are made in the image of God, and surely we shouldn’t want anyone to be suffering an eternity separated from God
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
earlier in verse 2 Peter refers to the will of God in this way
2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
we see that when Peter is talking about the will of God here he’s talking about what God wants for us to do, as in doing His will
BACK TO VERSE 19
so he’s telling those who suffer for doing good to not lose their focus, because when we lose focus on why we’re suffering, it’s going to start getting to us and we might get bitter
we need to keep our eye on the prize, we need to always remember why we may be suffering, and if we’re suffering for doing good, it glorifies God
not only that, but it’s accomplishing God’s will, and about something bigger than just ourselves and our personal needs
we need not be wrapped up in our personal feelings when it comes to this kind of suffering, because it will hinder us, we’re doing these things for God and not ourselves
when we join the brotherhood of Christ, we are becoming servants, that should be our role in the world, remember what Jesus said about servants? and the least among you being the greatest among you?
often, the servants and the “lesser” people suffer right? but that will all be turned around one day
“the first will be last and the last will be first”
we should commit ourselves to God in these times, and not lose this focus
we saw Jesus do this and say this while on the cross, it was also written about in Psalm 10
men of God and Christ Himself in times of suffering commited themselves and their very lives to God, and we should be following this example
we see in the very last bit of the verse why, because He is a faithful Creator and we can trust Him
it’s not like we ever have to doubt if our suffering is legitimate, or if we’re wasting our time, we have a perfectly holy and just God in charge of these things
remember, He sees all things, and knows very much so the pain we may be going through