This week, Firefighters rescued the marble temples and stadiums of ancient Olympia from raging flames but forest fires ravaged nearby villages and the death toll from Greece’s three-day inferno rose to 58. "The church bells are ringing. It’s hell here," a resident from Oinoi village north of Olympia said by phone on television. "In the name of God, where are the firefighters? Where is the help? "Ancient Olympia boasts ruins of the stadium and pagan temples that hosted the Olympics for centuries from 776 BC and is the site of an Olympic flame ceremony every two years. Fire brigades, stretched to their limit by scores of blazes, threw reinforcements from Greece’s European Union partners into action to fight blazes stretching over 160 km across the Peloponnese, the island of Evia and near Athens.
All in all, this summer, Record summer temperatures and hot dry winds have made parts of the Mediterranean a tinder box with fire-fighters working around the clock to control blazes threatening people and vegetation on thousands of hectares of southern Italy, Greece, and other parts of the Mediterranean.
About 50 000 fires sweep through as many as one million hectares of Mediterranean forest and other woodlands each year. In the Mediterranean, up to 95 percent of fires are caused by people, mostly from arson and negligence.
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000640/index.html
For nine days during the summer of A.D. 64, a huge fire raged in the city of Rome. The flames spread rapidly through the city’s narrow streets and the many tightly bunched wooden tenements, ordinarily crowded with residents. Because of his well-known desire to refurbish Rome by whatever means, the populace believed Emperor Nero was responsible for starting the blaze. As the fire destroyed most of the city’s districts, he watched gleefully from the Tower of Maecenas. Roman troops prevented people from extinguishing the fire and even started new fires. The disaster thoroughly demoralized the Romans because many lost nearly all their earthly goods and found their civic pride scorched as well. With public resentment toward him at a high level, Nero diverted the focus away from himself and made the Christian community the scapegoat for the fire.
Nero’s ploy was a clever one because Christians in the Roman Empire were already the unjust targets of much hatred and slander. Unbelievers falsely reported that Christians consumed human flesh and blood during the Lord’s Supper (cf. Mark 14:22–25; 1 Cor. 11:23–26) and that the holy kiss (cf. 5:14; Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26) was actually a sign of uncontrolled lust. In addition, the Romans viewed Christianity as a sect of Judaism. With the increasing anti-Semitism of those days, the populace easily adopted an anti-Christian attitude as well. Christianity had also caused stress within families when one spouse (particularly women) believed but the other did not. That generated further resentment toward the saints.
Following the burning of Rome, Nero capitalized on that anti-Christian sentiment and punished the Christians by using them as human torches to light his garden parties, by allowing them to be sewn inside animal skins to be devoured by predatory animals, by crucifying them, and by subjecting them to other heinous, unjust tortures.
The apostle Peter likely wrote this letter just before Nero’s persecution began. Peter’s major recurring theme is how his readers should respond to unjust suffering. Today hostility toward Christians who speak out against the culture’s sins and in defense of the exclusivity of the gospel is on the rise.
Our series on 1 Peter is coming to a close. My purpose for the series was one of preparation. First Peter has talked about hope, faith, the love of Christ, His word, submission and suffering. As your pastor I am leading this congregation in a new phase of ministry. The time has come to step out further than we have, and I am sending you out as Christ does: into a world of indifference, skepticism and hostility. This series has been designed to prepare you for action.
To endure the present hostility, as well as what might come in the future, believers need to heed this passage’s instructions on enduring severe trials. These verses direct believers to 1) Expect suffering, 2) Exult in suffering, 3) Evaluate suffering, and 4) Entrust suffering to God
1) EXPECT SUFFERING 1 Peter 4:12
1 Peter 4:12 [12]Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. (ESV)
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,
John 15:18 [18]"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. (ESV)
Paul’s admonition to Timothy
2 Timothy 3:12 [12]Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, (ESV)
and the apostle John’s warning,
1 John 3:13 [13]Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. (ESV)
Beloved (agapçtos, cf. 2:11) is a common pastoral word conveying tenderness, compassion, affection, and care (cf. 1 Cor. 4:14; 1 Thess. 2:8).
Such love provides a sweet pillow for believers’ weary souls to rest on in the midst of trials and persecutions. Severe suffering can tempt them to doubt God’s love. Thus the apostle sought to reassure his readers of his and God’s unfailing love.
The phrase do not be surprised informs believers to expect that the gospel of Christ will be offensive to many and will produce persecution. The original Greek is zenizô, meaning “to be surprised or astonished” by the novelty of something.
As saints are obedient to God’s Word and effective in proclaiming the gospel, animosity from unbelievers is inevitable. Whether it is hostility toward their exclusive message, their efforts to evangelize, or their godly lifestyle.
While the term rendered fiery trial/ordeal (purôsis) portrays figuratively a painful experience of persecution, it is also used of a furnace melting down metal to purge it of impurities (cf. Ps. 66:10; Prov. 17:3;).
1 Peter 1:7 [7]so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (ESV)
Peter is saying that the persecution is the Lord refining His temple—His people.
-With an allusion to the smelter’s fire, Peter intimates that gold is refined by fire so the believer’s faith is tested/refined and proved genuine through suffering.
-God wants to separate true faith from pretense, and He uses the instrument of suffering to accomplish His purpose.
Poem: An Unknown author expressed this concept in a Poem called: “In the Crucible”
Out from the mine and the darkness,
Out from the damp and the mold,
Out from the fiery furnace,
Cometh each grain of gold.
Crushed into atoms and leveled
Down to the humblest dust
With never a heart to pity,
With never a hand to trust.
Molten and hammered and beaten
Seemeth it ne’er to be done.
Oh, for such fiery trial,
What hath the poor gold done?
Oh, ’twere a mercy to leave it
Down in the damp and the mold.
If this is the glory of living,
Then better to be dross than gold.
Under the press and the roller,
Into the jaws of the mint,
Stamped with the emblem of freedom,
With never a flaw or a dint.
Oh, what a joy, the refining,
Out of the damp and the mold.
And stamped with the glorious image,
Oh, beautiful coin of gold!
Such mistreatment comes upon believers is also to their test, proving the genuineness of their faith (cf. Job 23:10; Rom. 5:3; 2 Cor. 1:10; 2 Tim. 3:11; James 1:3–12). Suffering for righteousness’ sake not only refines, but, even before that, reveals whether people are truly believers.
Romans 5:3 [3]More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, (ESV)
In 1 Peter 4:12, The verb translated were happening (sumbainontos) may mean “to fall by chance” and calls for Christians to understand that experiences of unjust suffering for Christ are not accidental, but inevitable because the message of sin, salvation, and judgment offends. In addition, these incidents occur by God’s design and reveal whether professing believers’ faith is truly regenerate (cf. Job 5:17; Prov. 3:11–12; Heb. 12:5–11; Rev. 3:19).
WE NEED TO 1) EXPECT SUFFERING
2) EXULT IN SUFFERING1 Peter 4:13-14
1 Peter 4:13-14 [13]But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. [14]If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. (ESV)
Please turn to Luke 6
Insofar/To the degree is a generous way to translate katho (“as,” “according to which”) and thus to show that Christians’ eternal reward is proportionate to their earthly suffering (cf. Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:16–18; Heb. 11:26; 2 John 8; Rev. 2:10). That is a reasonable relationship since righteous suffering reveals faithfulness to their Lord Jesus Christ, who Himself noted this relationship between suffering and reward, saying:
Luke 6:22-23 [22]"Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! [23]Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. (ESV)
Peter further encourages the endurance of those who are persecuted by stating that they share Christ’s sufferings. That is not in any redemptive sense; neither does it refer only to spiritual union with Him, as Paul describes in Romans 6. But it refers to believers experiencing the same kind of sufferings He endured—suffering for what is right.
Quote: R. C. H. Lenski rightly elaborates the meaning of Peter’s expression:
We fellowship Christ’s sufferings when we suffer for his name’s sake, when the hatred that struck him strikes us because of him. Never is there a thought of fellowshiping in the expiation of Christ’s suffering, our suffering also being expiatory. In Matt. 5:12 persecution places us in the company of the persecuted prophets (high exaltation indeed); here it places us in the company of Christ himself, into an even greater communion or [koinônia]. Is that “a strange thing” or to be deemed strange? It is what we should deem proper, natural, to be expected, yea, as Peter says (following Matt. 5:12), a cause for joy. (The Interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John and St. Jude [reprint; Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1966], 203).
-This all presupposes that we are out, willing to put our physical neck on the line, proclaiming the exclusive case for Christ.
-When we fail to proclaim this then we embrace Satan’s false comfort of a “personal faith”. I know what I believe and that just fine.
-We sinfully cling to God’s sovereignty by saying: God will find some way to save those who need saving, but I at least know that I am saved.
-This kind of selfishness or fear shows faith in Christ to be nothing of consequence.
-When we are willing to look foolish and suffer reproach for the name of Christ, and respond with kindness, we show the supernatural transforming power of Christ.
-Faith in Him at that point is shown to be real and life changing.
To the degree that believers suffer unjustly, they should, as their Lord did, rejoice/keep on rejoicing, a sentiment completely unacceptable to those who have no hope of heavenly reward.
In 1 Peter 4:13, the indication of the time when Christ’s glory is revealed refers to Christ’s return. The Lord resumed the full exercise of His glory after He ascended to heaven, but He has not yet revealed it on earth for everyone to see (cf. Matt. 24:30; Phil. 2:9–11; Rev. 19:11–16). (Peter, James, and John did get a preview of that glory when they witnessed Christ’s transfiguration [Mark 9:2–3; cf. 2 Peter 1:16–18].)
When Christ returns, believers will rejoice (chairô) and be glad/rejoice with exultation (agalliaô), and do so in proportion to their share in His sufferings in this life. Those who share His sufferings will also share His glory (5:1; cf. Matt. 20:20–23). The saints’ suffering for righteousness proves them, refines them, and earns for them “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17) so that the greater their suffering the stronger their hope, and the richer their joy (cf. 2 Cor. 4:16–18; James 1:2).
In 1 Peter 4:14 the name of Christ is the cause of evil hatred directed toward believers (Matt. 10:22; 24:9). In Peter’s sermon before the Sanhedrin, he asserted, Acts 4:12 [12]And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (ESV).
It is not the name “Christ” that offends the ungodly, but rather who He is and what He said and did that causes hostility from them.
-It is human nature to want to be liked. But when that comes before proclaiming the exclusivity of faith in Christ; we desire to be liked by the world, more than loved by Christ and lifting His name up High.
-We just need to remember, that we did not invent this. Our job is just to proclaim the only way of salvation. When people find offense, suggest they take it up with the author.
-We can explain it and put it into perspective, but ultimately God must change their hearts, illuminate their minds and savingly draw them unto Himself.
That animosity is summed up in the word insulted/reviled (oneidizô), meaning “to denounce,” or “to heap insults upon.”
Christians are more blessed for such suffering, not only for the eternal reward they will receive but for the present blessing, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on them. It is not merely because of suffering that the Holy Spirit will rest on believers, as when He came on and departed from an Old Testament prophet, but rather that He, already being in believers permanently (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 6:19–20; 12:13), gives them supernatural relief in the midst of their suffering. Because the Spirit is God, divine glory defines His nature (cf. Pss. 93:1; 104:1; 138:5). Rests (from the present tense of anapauô) means “to give relief, refreshment, intermission from toil” (cf. Matt. 11:28–29; Mark 6:31), and describes one of His ministries. “Refreshment” comes on those believers who suffer for the sake of the Savior and the gospel. The Spirit gives them grace by imparting endurance, and understanding.
-This is the same description when God was described as being present, like in the burning bush or on the Old Covenant tabernacle or Temple (Exodus 40:34-35).
-When we face suffering, we are promised a special presence of God resting upon us.
WE NEED TO 1) EXPECT SUFFERING 2) EXULT IN SUFFERING
3) EVALUATE SUFFERING
1 Peter 4:15-18 [15]But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. [16]Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. [17]For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? [18]And "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
Not all suffering brings Holy Spirit relief. Trouble stemming from lawless actions obviously does not constitute suffering for righteousness. If any believer is a murderer, or thief (capital crimes in the ancient world), he or she has no right to complain about being punished, nor any right to expect the Spirit’s graces. The same applies if any should suffer as an evildoer (kakopoios), a more general term that encompasses all crimes without exception (cf. 2:14; 3 John 11).
The surprising inclusion of the term rendered (troublesome) meddler (allotriepiskopos), used only here in the New Testament, and at first seemingly minor in comparison to Peter’s previous terms, shows that all sins, not just crimes, forfeit the Holy Spirit’s comfort and rest. The word literally means, “one who meddles in things alien to his calling,” “an agitator,” spy (Phillips), informer (JB), revolutionary (Moffatt), embezzler or “troublemaker.” Paul’s exhortations to the Thessalonians illustrate the word’s meaning:
1 Thessalonians 4:11 [11]and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, (ESV)
2 Thessalonians 3:11-12 [11]For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. [12]Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. (ESV)
Christians are never to be troublemakers or agitators in society or in their places of work (cf. 1 Tim. 2:1–3; Titus 3:1–5). They may confront the sins in the lives of other believers, help administer church discipline, challenge unbelievers with the gospel, and exhort fellow saints to greater levels of godliness; but regarding others’ private matters that do not concern them, believers should never intrude inappropriately. 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.
If anyone suffers as a Christian his suffering qualifies for Holy Spirit blessing.
-Remember, that the accusation of being a “Christian” here was a mocking. That is why it only describes believer three times in scripture as these. During the early years of the fifth decade, believers “where called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26). Before that time, Christians described themselves as “disciples” (Acts 6:1) “believers” (Acts 4:32) and those “who belonged to the Way” (Acts 9:2).
A Christian should not feel ashamed (aischunô, “dishonored”), but rather because of this benediction of supernatural comfort he is to glorify God in that/this name (Christian). 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.
To glorify God in this context means to praise Him for the privilege and honor of suffering for that/this name, because of all He has done, is doing, and will forever do for His saints. Not only does this kind of suffering produce joy over heavenly reward and the blessing of God, it also purifies the church. Here Peter’s thought returns to the Malachi 3:1–3 imagery. The Lord will purge His temple, His people. It is time (kairos), designating a decisive, crucial moment—in this context, the season—for judgment to begin. The Greek for judgment is krima and refers to a judicial process that renders a decision on someone’s sin. The word identifies a matter for ajudication (cf. 1 Cor. 6:7) and is used especially for divine judgment (cf. Rom. 2:5; 5:16 11:33).
In 1 Peter 4:17, Peter deals with divine judgment on believers is the decision God renders on their sin, which includes chastening and leads to cleansing (cf. 5:9–10) of the household of God, but not eternal condemnation (Rom. 8:1).:
1 Corinthians 11:32 [32]But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. (ESV)
Household is Peter’s reference to the church; other New Testament verses also make that meaning plain (cf. 2:5; Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19; 1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:6; 10:21).
Peter poses the comparative question, if [judgment] begins with [believers] first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? The answer is plain: judgment concludes with Christ’s final condemnation of the ungodly at the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11–15; cf. Matt. 7:21–23; 25:44–46). Though God chastens His own people now, His future judgment of the lost will be infinitely more devastating (cf. Dan. 12:2; Matt. 13:41–42, 49–50; 22:11–14; 25:41; Mark 9:44–49; Luke 13:23–28; 16:23–24; Rev. 14:10–11).
It is infinitely better for people to endure suffering with joy now as believers being purified for effective testimony and eternal glory than to later bear eternal torment as unbelievers (cf. Luke 16:19–31).
In 1 Peter 4:18 Peter reinforced that point for his readers with a quotation from the Septuagint rendering of Proverbs 11:31,
1 Peter 4:18 [18]And "If the righteous is scarcely saved/with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
Please turn to Hebrews 12
Scarcely saved/With difficulty is the adverb molis (related to molos, “toil”), which means “hardly” or “scarcely” (see uses in Acts 14:18; 27:7, 8, 16) and reveals the difficulty with which believers are brought to final salvation through the fires of unjust suffering, divine purging, and God-ordained discipline:
Hebrews 12:7-8 [7]It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? [8]If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (ESV)
Please turn to 2 Thes. 1
If it was with excruciating difficulty that Christ gave Himself to redeem sinners, and with painful difficulty that the redeemed endure to their final glory, does anyone think the ungodly and the sinner, who has lived his life without suffering for righteousness’ sake (because he is unrighteous), will simply die and go out of existence or be given a place in heaven because God is nothing but loving and forgiving? That is a foolish thought. Peter is saying the ungodly’s eternal suffering, compared to the godly’s temporal suffering, is far greater. Paul draws the distinction between the earthly sufferings of the saints and the endless punishment of the lost.
In dealing with Persecution, he says:
2 Thessalonians 1:5-9 [5]This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering-- [6]since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, [7]and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels [8]in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. [9]They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, (ESV)
Poem: Annie Johnson Flint wrote:
This weighty burden thou dost bear,
This heavy cross,
It is a gift the Lord bestows,
And not a loss;
It is a trust that He commits
Unto thy care,
A precious lesson He has deigned
With thee to share.
Rejoice that He so honors thee
And so esteems
Of highest worth; the crown of thorns
With Him to wear,
And all the suffering of that crown
With Him to bear,
That by and by His glory, too,
With Him thou’lt share.
(V. Raymond Edman, But God!, (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids; 1962), p. 131)
WE NEED TO 1) EXPECT SUFFERING 2) EXULT IN SUFFERING 3) EVALUATE SUFFERING
4) ENTRUST SUFFERING TO GOD 1 Peter 4:19
1 Peter 4:19 [19]Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (ESV)
Therefore draws the reader into the obvious duty he has in his suffering. Those who suffer according to God’s will receive this encouragement concerning the difficulty of their righteous pain—it is God’s will (cf. 3:7; 5:10). Knowing that fact, believers rest their souls in God’s care and purpose. Entrust (paratithemi) is a banker’s term referring to a deposit for safe keeping. One would be properly concerned about the character and ability of the person given such a trust. Jesus used the same word on the cross when He committed His spirit to His Father (Luke 23:46). Believers are encouraged further to recall that the One to whom they give their souls is the faithful Creator. Only here in the New Testament is God called Creator. That is because it was generally understood that the Author of everything, the Designer of all that is, the One who sustains not only His material creation but achieves His purpose for it all, will bring to pass what He wills—only He is completely able and trustworthy in doing good/what is right.
Please turn to Psalm 31
God is faithful in Himself and to His own promises, believers’ souls are at rest in His power and purpose (cf. 1:3–5; John 10:27–30; 17:11–12, 15; Rom. 8:35–39; Eph. 1:13–14; Phil. 1:6; 1 Thess. 5:23–24; 2 Tim. 1:12; Jude 24–25).
The psalmist David walked the road that took him from anguish over his persecutors to assurance in his faithful Creator. Psalm 31 is a rich example of a believer entrusting himself to God: (Read Psalm 31)
Please take your Hymn book and turn to Hymn # 112 “He Giveth more Grace”
The poem I read before my previous point was from Annie Johnson Flint. She is the author of 6,000 hymns and gospel songs. She was an orphan. She lived with crippling arthritis. She was stricken with cancer. Yet her faith was especially evident in this hymn:
(Our Daily Bread, March-May, 1996, p. for March 30)
Closing Hymn: # 112 “He Giveth more Grace”
