1 Peter 4:12-19
In these verses, Peter returns to the topic of suffering. He told his readers not to be surprised when a fiery trial comes upon them, to test them, as if it were something strange. (12) Why would they think it strange?
Then, as now, believers often assumed that doing God’s will meant every thing would go smoothly. At the present time there is an entire industry devoted to this idea: the prosperity gospel.
But Peter knew better. He had learned this partly from rebuke and partly from instruction.
The rebuke came when Peter attempted to keep Jesus from the cross. Mark tells us the story. As Jesus began to teach the disciples that he must suffer many things, including death, Peter actually took Jesus aside and rebuked him. Jesus responded by rebuking Peter in front of the other disciples. It was a stinging rebuke. He said “ Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but the things of man.” (Mark 8:31-33) Peter did not want the way of Christ to be suffering. He wanted it to be glory in earthly terms.
The Christian life is more about suffering than success in earthly terms. It is about self denial, not self indulgence.
Peter also heard Jesus instruct the disciples to prepare for suffering and persecution. He told them the world would hate them because it hated him. (John 15:18). John must have remembered this also, for he later wrote “do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. “ (1 John 3:13) Jesus told the disciples they would have tribulation. (John 16:33). He told James and John they would drink the cup he would drink. (Matthew 20:23).
So, Peter knew suffering would come and prepared his readers for it. We are in a similar situation today in America. Many believers are surprised that much of our culture is turning away from the church and seeking to harm it. But, here is the deal: you are either of the world or of Christ.
Jesus made this clear. He said the Father gave the Son people out of the world. (John 17:2, 6) The Father gave you to the Son to give you eternal life. And so, he called you out of the world and into his kingdom. You are in this world, but not of it.
You recognize this when you are uncomfortable with the world, despite the people of the world around you being comfortable with it. They rejoice in abortion. You recoil from infanticide. They celebrate gender fluidity. You contemplate God’s creation of male and female only. (Genesis 1:27) They deride those who go to church. You delight in gathering to worship.
The people of the world notice your discomfort also, and they do not like it. Jesus said “the world has hated them (the disciples) because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14)
That is where persecution comes from.
If you know these truths, you should not be surprised when persecution comes.
Not only were Peter’s readers not to be surprised at suffering, they were to rejoice in it. (13) They were to rejoice that they were able to share Christ’s sufferings. It is an honor to suffer for Christ, since he suffered for us. It is an honor to suffer for his church. Paul, who suffered a lot, had his same thought. He said “Now i rejoice mu sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, the church. (Colossians 1:24)
They were also to rejoice in their sufferings so they would be glad when Christ’s glory is revealed. The more you are suffering for Christ, the more you would be glad to see his return. If life is easy for you now, you do not as easily look forward to his return. I actually had a family member tell me at one point she did not want Christ to come soon because she was having too good of a time on earth.
If we suffer, we are blessed because the Holy Spirit rests on us. This is a corollary to Jesus’ words of comfort to the disciples: “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will begin to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matthew 10:19-20) When we need him, the Holy Spirit is there to help us.
In the hour of greatest trial there is a great consolation. With great suffering on earth comes great support from heaven.
However, you can only rejoice in suffering if you suffer for the right reason. (15) If you suffer because you committed a crime or meddled in other people’s business, your suffering is a result of wrongdoing and receiving what you deserve.
But, if you suffer for your faith in Christ, you should not be ashamed. (16) instead, you should glorify God in Christ. As God was glorified in the death of Christ, he will also be glorified in the suffering of his saints.
Peter said judgment begins with the church, the house of God. (17) What does that mean? The context is Peter exhorting the church—the house of God—which was facing persecution, to persevere in suffering. “Judgment” includes a judgment that is for the purpose of discipline, though not necessarily for any specific sin.
Sometimes God uses suffering to test our faith so that we may display our deep commitment to Jesus. Sometimes He uses it to strengthen our faith; it is far easier to trust God after being put “through the wringer” than it is before we faced any serious difficulties. Other times He might use it to bestow some kind of reward, if we have endured faithfully.
However, the word can also include judgment in the sense of bearing some kind of suffering because of repeated sin. Though we have seen that this suffering is not the kind that glorifies God and brings blessing to the believer, it can result in blessing if the believer turns from the sin in question as a result of God’s discipline.
This is part of the process of sanctification. God is making you more like Christ. He does this even when you have given up. He does this when you don’t care. In fact, God cares more about your sanctification than you do. He will discipline those he loves. (Hebrews 12:5) He will bring the work he started in you at salvation to completion. (Philippians 1:6)
Judgment will also come on those “who do not obey the gospel of God.” (17) Yet for them, it will not result in purification but eternal condemnation. Peter made a contrast here for emphasis, saying, if God will judge the church, or individual sinners, in a way that brings suffering, how much more will he do to those who reject him. Peter quoted Proverbs 11:31 (from the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament) as authority for his statement.
In verse 19, Peter concluded his teaching with a summary: those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust themselves to God, their faithful Creator, while continuing to do good. And that is the answer to it all. Look only to Christ, not to yourself, or others, to truly bear suffering.
Keep looking, looking continuously, knowing he loves you.
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