Now let us turn together in God's
Word to 1 Peter 4. And as we shall be completing
our study in this chapter this morning, I read for the last
time for a while this paragraph that we've read for several Lord's
Day mornings, beginning in verse 12. Continuing to the end of
the chapter. Beloved, do not think it strange
concerning the fiery trial among you which comes upon you to prove
you, as though a strange thing happened unto you. But insomuch
as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice, that at
the revelation of his glory you may also rejoice with exceeding
joy. If you are reproached for the
name of Christ, blessed are you, because the Spirit of glory and
the Spirit of God rests upon you. For let none of you suffer
as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler in other
men's matters. But if a man suffer as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name. The time has come for judgment
to begin from the house of God, and if it begin first from us,
what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous is with
difficulty saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? Wherefore, let them also that
suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in
well-doing unto a faithful Creator. Now imagine with me at this point
in the service that I were to ask the ushers to come down the
various aisles, as they did to receive our offering, and to
distribute a piece of paper to all of you who could write. for
you who just would draw pictures and doodle, no paper for you.
But if you're old enough to be able to write, we would encourage
you to take a piece of paper and then to write down your answers
to a little survey that I were to do on the subject of what
makes a good teacher. Now, I'm sure that most of us
have an opinion with respect to the issue of what makes a
good teacher. In fact, some of you kids, no
doubt, have very, very strong opinions, and your opinions are
in direct proportion to your ignorance in some cases, but
nonetheless, you feel you know what a good teacher is. Some
of you, a bit older and more mature, perhaps are a little
less dogmatic, but at least you have some idea of what constitutes
a good teacher. Now, as you were writing your
And suppose I were to ask, what are the characteristics of a
good teacher's personality? And you might write down, well,
cheerfulness and approachableness, and no doubt there'd be a general
consensus. But now, if I were to ask you,
what makes a good teacher as to the teacher's teaching method,
that is, how the teacher teaches, I think it would be very interesting
to receive your papers, to go through them, and see if we had
some kind of a general consensus. And I'm quite sure we would,
though the wording might be different. I think the characteristics that
most of you would put down with reference to what makes a good
teacher as to teaching method that somewhere in there at the
top of the list would be the fact that the teacher really
knew his or her subject. You never sat there wondering,
you know, I just might know more than he or she does about this.
You have that sense of confidence, whatever the teacher's passing
on to you, he or she knows a lot more than he or she is giving
you. But then you would say a good teacher is one who can excite
the student about the subject because the teacher is excited.
There's nothing worse than a teacher bored with his own subject. The
quickest way to bore your students is to be bored with it yourself.
So you say, well, a good teacher is someone who not only knows
his or her subject, but is excited about it. And then as you thought
through the characteristic of a good teacher, you no doubt
would then, some of you at least, would put in there, well, as
to teaching method, it would be that the teacher tells us
what he or she hopes to impart to us, where he or she is taking
us. and then clearly takes us step-by-step
on that journey of learning, and when we've arrived, looks
back and gives us a nice summary of where we started, where we've
come, and where we are. Isn't that what you appreciate?
And you would call a good teacher who tells you where he hopes
to take you, takes you there, and you're not lost along the
way, and when you've arrived, stands with you and looks back
and says, that's where we were, here's where we've come, and
this is where we stand. If you agree with me, and I don't
have time to say how many agree with this, that, or the other,
but I think I've carried the judgment of many, if not most
of you, this is precisely what Peter, as an inspired apostle,
has done in this section of his letter. He began in chapter 3
and verse 13 to tell us that he was now going to come to the
very center of his pastoral passion and burden. namely, the subject
of suffering for righteousness' sake. And having announced to
us the subject with which he is dealing, he then has led us
step by step into an ever-enriched perspective on the suffering
of a Christian in the way of righteousness, suffering for
righteousness' sake, suffering, as he says, for the name of Christ. Now as we come to verse 19 of
chapter 4, Peter is standing with us and in a sense looking
back and saying, now here is the summary of all that I've
said. Look at the text. And this word
wherefore, used only twice by Peter in his letter, he doesn't
throw it out carelessly or frequently, points to the fact that he's
giving us a summary statement, a statement in which he will
sort of recapitulate in many form the heart and soul of what
he has been conveying to us by the inspiration of the Spirit
and the fact that there follows the wherefore the final imperative
with respect to the subject of suffering, it is, as it were,
the capstone directive over everything else that he has set before us.
Granted, in chapter 5, in verse 1, he will make a reference to
the sufferings of Christ, but without any connection with our
sufferings. Again, in chapter 5, in verse
9, he will make a reference with respect to the sufferings of
their Christian brethren in other parts of the world, but no directives
in conjunction with that aspect of suffering. And in that final
expression of confidence in God's work in them in verse 10, he
speaks of the fact that their suffering will be but for a little
while, but there is no exhortation, no admonition. This is Peter's
final word of directive concerning the Christian as he faces his
suffering for the sake of Christ. And so I'm entitling our exposition
this morning, The Climactic Directive to Suffering Saints. Not the
only directive, but the climactic directive to suffering saints. Or we might think of the passage
as the Spirit-inspired last page in Peter's little mini-manual
on how to suffer for Christ in a way that glorifies Christ and
advances the cause of the gospel of Christ. And as we look at
our text this morning, you will note with me that there are two
main units of thought. Wherefore, let them also that
suffer according to the will of God. There Peter points us
to the ultimate cause of all suffering for Christ, And when
he says, let them commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful
creator, he's setting before us the unchanging duty in the
midst of all suffering for Christ. So we have the ultimate cause
and the unchanging duty. Very simple, but that's Peter's
desire as a good teacher to nail the issue in very succinct words. And if we rightly apprehend those
words, not merely comprehend, but apprehend, lay hold of them,
In a sense, they will have a bunch of little pegs on which we can
hang all of the other issues which Peter has set before us
in this section, beginning with chapter 3 and verse 13, coming
through to verse 19 of chapter 4. First of all, then, the ultimate
cause of all suffering for the sake of Christ. As Peter is about
to issue his final and climactic directive as to how a Christian
is to conduct himself in the midst of suffering for righteousness,
he takes his readers back to this most foundational issue,
namely, what is the ultimate cause of all suffering for the
sake of Christ? And according to Peter, what
is that ultimate cause? Well, the answer is on the surface
of the text. It is the will of God. So he
writes, wherefore also let them also that suffer according to
the will of God. Now, Peter is not introducing
a new subject. In Suffering 101, as we called
it, the first paragraph, treating of suffering in a concentrated
way, Peter brought this issue into sharp focus, verse 17 of
chapter 3. For it is better if the will
of God should so will. You English grammarians, if one
of your students, if you were a teacher, sent in an essay and
had this language, you say, that's tautology. That's using the same
word or similar words with no additional meaning. And the Holy
Spirit knows it's so vital that it's not beneath his dignity
to use tautology in the words with which he speaks to us. Peter
writes, for it is better if the will of God should so will. He wants these believers never
to forget that when clinging to Christ, and out of unswerving
loyalty to Christ, and diligent, scrupulous obedience to the Word
of Christ, we are plunged into suffering, that behind the frowns
on the faces of those who may frown, behind the sneer of those
who sneer, Behind the bitter words of those who may reproach
us, behind whatever combination of actions could be described
as they are in verse 12 of chapter 4, the fiery trial, the burning
which comes upon us to try us, behind the look, the mouth, the
hands, the rack, the prison, whatever it is, stands God. in all of his undiminished sovereignty,
the living, the reigning, the almighty sovereign of the universe,
in his governing and disposing power, Peter says, is the ultimate
cause of the suffering of the child of God. Now, one of my
patron saints, as I've been working through 1 Peter, you've heard
me mention him before, is Hebert, and he writes on this little
phrase, their suffering was according to the will of God. For the name
of Christ, verse 14, and as a Christian, verse 16, a suffering now regarded
from the standpoint of God's will. Behind the vicious activities
of their enemies stood the wise will of God. Peter sought to
assure the readers that Christian suffering does not come at the
caprice of blind chance or as the predetermination of inexorable
fate, but as a divine discipline. Assured that their suffering
was in harmony with the divine will for them, they were not
to quarrel with that wise and gracious will. neither let them
be discouraged or grow faint and weary in their Christian
course. Now as with these believers in
Asia Minor in the first century, so with us. Whenever suffering
comes to us, not for our evil doing, not for our reckless and
foolish actions, but because of uncompromising love for and
unswavering obedience to Jesus Christ, it is crucial that we
remind ourselves that that which has determined both the nature
The intensity and the duration of that suffering is the will
of God. That's what Peter does in his
summary statement. Before he brings his capstone
exhortation, his final imperative to the saints with respect to
this matter of suffering, he says, always remember this, as
you're seeking to do what I'm about to tell you to do, It will
be so much easier to do it if you constantly remind yourselves,
I suffer, katah, according to, by the measure and the standard
of the will of God. Isn't this beautifully illustrated
in the book of Acts? You remember in the early days
of the outpouring of the Spirit in Jerusalem, and the disciples
were multiplying greatly, what was the climate in which the
church was growing? Well, Luke tells us in three
places that it was a very congenial climate. Oh yes, there was a
little ruffling of the feathers of some of the leaders, but the
overall climate is described in Acts chapter 2 and verse 47. Speaking of God's people, they
were praising God and having favor with all the people. In those early days, even non-believers,
witnessing their internal life, they had favor with them, they
liked what they saw. Chapter 4, we have a similar
statement. Chapter 4 in verse 21. And they,
when they had further threatened them, that's the leaders, they
were causing some disruption, they let them go, finding nothing
how they might punish them. Why? Why did not these few disgruntled
religious leaders let loose more vicious, concentrated opposition
and suffering upon the servants of God because of the people. For all men glorified God for
that which was done. God was restraining the native
antipathy to light and truth. God was giving his people favor. And even though Peter and John
had a measure of opposition and persecution, the rank and file
of God's people did not. But then you know what happened.
This man Saul comes into the picture. Stephen is martyred
and then the scripture tells us in Acts 8 and verse 1, Saul
was consenting to his death and there arose on that day a great
persecution against the church and they were all scattered abroad
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. favor with all the people. A
short time thereafter, everyone is raging against them, and they
are scattered. But a while later, we read in
Acts chapter 9, in verse 31, after the conversion of Saul
of Tarsus, Acts 9.31, so the church throughout all Judea and
Galilee and Samaria had peace. being edified and walking in
the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit was
multified. From a favorable climate to intense
persecution, back to a favorable climate. And what's behind all
of this? The will of God. The will of
God. And in the very book of Acts,
we see some of the unfolding of the divine purposes. He wasn't
acting capriciously. He wanted the gospel to penetrate
other areas. In Acts chapter 11, the very
future base of missionary endeavor to the Gentile world is established
because God let loose persecution upon the church in Jerusalem.
Read it for yourselves and see. So when Peter says to these distressed
believers, Here in my summary directed to you on this issue
of suffering, never forget, keep it as a given. Let it reverberate
through the chambers of your heart again and again. When you
come into the crucible of suffering in the way of righteousness,
suffering as a Christian, suffering for the name of Christ, the ultimate
cause is the will of God. Not only do we see that clearly
illustrated in these broad-stroke examples in the book of Acts,
but what has Peter continually brought before these believers
as the most fundamental spiritual perspective in handling their
sufferings? You remember? I hope you do.
He constantly brings Christ before them, as the model sufferer. You remember how he did this?
With respect to those slaves who were being ill-treated by
their masters in chapter 2 and verse 21. Here unto were you
called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example
that you should follow his steps. He says to these slaves, Christ
is the exemplar par excellence with respect to suffering in
a way that pleases God. He goes on in other parts of
the epistle to focus again upon Christ's sufferings as the model
for the people of God. And while we assert and constantly
underscore that as to the purpose of his sufferings, the nature
of his sufferings, Christ's sufferings are utterly unique, Chapter 3
in verse 18, Christ suffered for us the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to God. There is that which is utterly
unique in the nature and the intent and end of Christ's sufferings. But having said it and having
repeated it again and again, we dare not bleed off the vigor
of Peter's use of our Lord as the example for the suffering
of his people. And when we take that perspective
and apply it to this statement of Peter, and we look at the
life of our Lord Jesus, what is it that was the ultimate cause
of all of his sufferings? It was the will of God. He says
in John 12, now is my soul troubled? And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour? No, he says, for this purpose
I came forth. Lo, I am come to do your will. John 18, the cup which my father
has given me, shall I not drink it? The well-known words of Gethsemane. Oh my father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass. If this cup cannot pass except
I drink it, your will be done. It was the embrace of the will
of God that was the ultimate reference point for our blessed
Lord. And since we are called to follow
in His steps while trusting in the virtue of His unique sufferings
as the divinely appointed sin-bearer, we are also to fix our eyes upon
Jesus, author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was
set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame, And underneath
and around all of that was his resolute determination to do
the will of his Father, no matter what the extent of the suffering
doing that will would entail. So Peter, in this climactic directive
to suffering saints, says, never forget the ultimate cause of
all suffering for the sake of Christ. the will of God. But then secondly, and this is
the heart of the text, Peter sets forth what I'm calling the
unchanging duty in the midst of suffering for the sake of
Christ. Here are the words. Let them commit their souls in
well-doing unto a faithful creator. Now, I've called these words
a statement of our unchanging duty. Now, I know that the word
duty for many is a dirty word. But it's not dirty to those that
love Christ, for he said, if you love me, you will keep my
commandments. He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. If we say that we
know him and keep not his commandments, we lie, and we do not the truth. And we keep them as commandments. We don't look at them as mere
suggestions and get enticed to doing it. Jesus said that the
world may know that I love the Father as He gave me commandment,
even so I do. He goes to the cross as a matter
of duty, not naked duty, but duty nonetheless. The cup which
my Father has given me, shall I not drink it? It is part of
my duty as the Messianic Savior. And I say duty because it is
an imperative. Peter chooses an imperative. And I say it's an unchanging
duty because he chooses a present imperative. He writes, Wherefore,
let them that suffer according to the will of God be continually
committing their souls unto a faithful creator. So it is the unchanging
duty. that is incumbent upon every
child of God in the midst of suffering for the sake of Christ. Now, the translation in the American
Standard is a good translation. The one that's in the New King
James is good. But none of the translations
that I've consulted reflects what I believe are very, very
helpful nuances that are there in the original. Let me offer
my own translation that's a bit rough in terms of English sentence
structure, but I hope will be understandable, and it's the
way I'm going to expound it. Wherefore also, the ones suffering
according to the will of God, to a faithful Creator, let them
continually commit their souls in well-doing. Wherefore also,
the ones suffering according to the will of God, to a faithful
Creator, let them continually commit their souls in well-doing."
And what we have basically are three units of thought. We have,
first of all, the specific object of this unchanging duty, and
then we have the essence of the unchanging duty, and then we
have the context, or the assumed sphere, in which that unchanging
duty is to be rendered. First of all, the specific object
of this unchanging duty. When Peter wrote under the guidance
of the Spirit, he did not write what is reflected in the English
translations. Wherefore, let them also that
suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in
well-doing unto a faithful Creator." No! Faithful Creator stands on
the front end of Peter's directive. The ones suffering, he describes
those to whom he's writing with this present participle, the
ones who are in the process of suffering, and the next two words
are, to a faithful creator. Two words in the original, we
take three in English. To a faithful creator. Before he specifies what they
are to do, he sets before them the one with whom They are to
have dealings in the doing of it. It is the specific object
of this unchanging duty that Peter is highlighting. He's putting
the floodlight on the God to whom they are continually to
commit themselves. And notice the unusual way that
he describes God. He describes Him as a faithful
creator. Now, this word, creator, is another
one of those words found only here in the New Testament. You
Greek students, it's a hapax logomenon. Hapax, once for all,
logomenon word saying. It's a once for all. The only
time this word is found in the New Testament. Oh, you say, but
pastor, God is called creator many places in the New Testament.
Yes, he is. Christ is called Creator. John 1.1, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Same was in the beginning with
God. All things were made by Him. That's a statement of creation. In Acts, chapter 17, in verse
24, Paul, in his preaching at Athens, describes God as the
God who made all things and who subsequently governs all things. In Acts 4, 24, when they gather
to pray after this opposition, they address God as creator.
And in the book of the Revelation, chapter 4, in verse 11, God is
worshipped as creator. But this particular word, this
specific word, is found only here in the New Testament. And
it highlights the reality that God is indeed Creator. Now, put yourself in Peter's
place. You're thinking of Christians way out there in the outer reaches
of the Roman Empire, in the midst of opposition from a pagan society. You have a sense that more intense
suffering and persecution is going to come upon them, and
you're encouraging them now to do something with reference to
their God. What of the various characteristics
or titles or names or functions of God would you have highlighted?
Maybe we might have written, Wherefore, let them also who
suffer according to the will of God, to a faithful Redeemer,
to a loving Father, to an unchanging—whatever concept that is biblical, we
might be tempted to focus upon some other aspect of who God
is. But what Peter focuses upon is
the fact that he is creator. Now let me ask you a question
again. When you think of God as creator, go back to Genesis
1.1. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. You read all the way down through,
and I love verse 16 of Genesis 1. He makes the greater light
and the lesser light, and then almost as an afterthought, no
repetition of the verb, the stars also. I sat at my desk and I
laughed. Oh, the stars also. Think of
it, the stars. I made those also. No big deal
for God. In the beginning God created all reality. It's created
reality. What aspect of God's being comes
into sharpest focus when you think of God as creator? I hope you're thinking His unlimited
power. Maybe you're also thinking His
unfathomable wisdom. Maybe you're also thinking His
unfailing faithfulness, what he makes, he upholds and governs
and guards and protects and guides to its destined end. But surely
the concept of unlimited power stands to the forefront when
anyone within biblical intelligence thinks about God as creator.
In fact, Paul is careful to underscore that even those who don't ever
see the pages of a Bible, Romans 1 in verse 20, He says that from
the things that are made, God is bearing witness to himself. And what do men who've never
seen the pages of a Bible know about God from his creative work? They know even his everlasting,
what? Power! And the next word is hard
to translate. Probably the best way to translate
it is God-ness. This is what men know simply
by looking at the world around them, His everlasting power and
His Godness. Now come back to 1 Peter 4, 19.
Peter, having reminded these saints that the ultimate cause
of all of their suffering is the will of God, He's about to
tell them what their unfailing duty is, their unchanging duty,
with reference to this God. And He said, I want you, in the
midst of your suffering, to think of Him in terms of who He is
as Creator. Think of Him in terms of His
unlimited power, His unfathomable wisdom, and His unfailing love
manifested in His creative work. And then he puts to help us this
adjective in front of the noun, faithful. Now he doesn't say
all-powerful creator. His power is highlighted in the
very fact he's creator. His wisdom is highlighted in
the fact that he is creator. But he says you must think of
him as faithful creator. In this word, faithful, in the
sense in which Peter uses it means trustworthy. He's predictable
and reliable. He is, if I were to give a long
hyphenated word, an always-to-be-trusted-as-trustworthy God. Always-to-be-trusted-as-a-trustworthy
God. He is faithful creator. If he's infinite in power and
yet we're capricious, to think of him would be intimidating.
Don't know if he's going to blow a cork. If he's infinite in power
and unpredictable, there would be anxiety. If infinite in power
and unreliable, we would be discouraged from trusting him. So Peter says,
oh, you saints of God in Asia Minor, listen, listen. In the
midst of your suffering, never forget they are ordered ultimately
by the will of God. And I'm directing you to constantly
commit yourselves to this God, particularly thinking of him
as men and women of faith, as a trustworthy creator, as the
God whose covenant fidelity is never, never eroded. Were you
to read Deuteronomy 7, 9, Isaiah 49, 7, and a host, not a host,
a number of other passages, you will find that God's faithfulness,
His trustworthiness, inheres in His very being. God can no
more cease to be untrustworthy than He can cease to be holy. It is of the very essence of
His being to be the God who holds Himself to His Word, who is perfectly
predictable in terms of what He has bound Himself to do. No temptation taking you, but
such as man can bear. And what's the great encouragement?
But God is faithful. May God sanctify your whole body,
soul, and spirit Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5, faithful
is he who called you, who also will do it. So this is the specific
object to which he calls these believers. Think of him as faithful
created. As you wrestle with your fears,
the grief, the pain of suffering for Christ's sake, this is what
you're called to do. Before you even focus upon the
central duty in its essence, commit your souls. Remember who
He is, faithful Creator. I'm trying to illustrate this.
The best I could come up with is another one of those very
silly illustrations, but I hope it helps like some of the other
previous silly illustrations have helped. Here's a little
girl, just old enough to be able to go out with her older siblings.
She's got three or four rough-and-tumble brothers, and she tries to mix
it up with them and play with them. So one day, they're trying
to get up into a tree in the backyard and They get her to
stand on their shoulders, and she gets perched up in the tree
beyond now where they can help her down. And she begins to look
down from a height of about ten feet up, and she's scared witless,
and she begins to cry, and the boys are torn. Shall we go in and get help from
Dad, or shall we try to get her down? If we get help from Dad,
he's going to ask us what in the world we did putting her
up there. So, finally, her cries prevail, and they go in and say,
Dad, Dad, Sis is in a mess out there. She's up in the tree.
We can't reach her, and she's scared to death. And so Daddy
comes up. Now, Daddy can do one of two
things. He can go out and stand at the base of the tree, and
he can say to her, now, sweetheart, Daddy's here. Jump. Or he can
do this. He can go out and noticing that
she's white with fear, she's trembling like a leaf, she's
And he can start off by saying, Sweetheart, look at Daddy. Sweetheart,
look at Daddy. See Daddy's arms? These are the
arms that pick you up and carry you to bed at night. These are
the arms that have snatched you when we've been swimming down
at the shore and a big wave caught you. Daddy's arms. And he reminds
her of Daddy's arms and what they've done in the past. And
then he reminds her of Daddy's words. He said, Now, sweetheart,
has Daddy ever told you to do anything that was for your harm. Has everything Daddy's ever told
you to do been for your good? And he reminds her of Daddy's
arms and Daddy's words. And after he's done that, then
he says, now, sweetheart, in the light of what you know about
Daddy's arms and Daddy's words, jump. Does Daddy make it a bit
easier for her to jump? Now, he has the right to come
out and say, sweetheart, jump. But he reminds her, daddy's arms,
daddy's words. That's what God is doing in his
word. He could have said, let them
that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls,
period. But he doesn't. He says, wherefore
also the ones suffering according to the will of God to a faithful
creator. Look at your father's arm. They're
the ones that formed galaxies out of nothing, flung them out
into space. In your daddy's word, it is always
to be trusted. That's the object of the duty. Now, what's the essence of the
duty? Let them that suffer according to the will of God, to a faithful
Creator, be continually committing themselves. translated commit,
is a verb that means to entrust something to another for safekeeping. In Luke chapter 12, in what is
a very familiar text to many of us, I want you to turn there
for a moment because you'll see what the context is. It is a
stewardship context. It is the context of an entrustment. The Lord is speaking a parable,
Luke chapter 12. And the Lord said, verse 42,
Who then is the faithful and wise steward? to whom the Lord
shall set over his household to give them their portion in
due season. You remember some weeks ago when
we were considering chapter 4 and verse 11. Good stewards of the
manifold grace of God. A steward is one who has been
given a trust. He has been given property or
money or goods or people to care for them by the master. Well, in that setting, look at
verse 48. But he that knew not and did
not things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes.
And to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.
And to him to whom, here's our verb, they commit much, of him
will they ask them more. Here's the picture of the master,
the lord of the house, the lord of the plantation, the lord of
the vineyard, entrusting to another for wise use and safe keeping. It's the very word recorded in
Luke chapter 23 and verse 46. Jesus' final prayer, Father,
into your hands, here's our verb, I commit my spirit. I entrust into your hands my
spirit, into the safe keeping of his God and his Father. So that's the sense of its meaning.
It is to entrust to another. In the secular Greek world, where
you didn't have banks and safe deposit box, if you were going
on a journey and you wanted to take your jewels from out under
the rug in your bedroom and put them in safekeeping, you would
go to a dear friend and say, these are heirlooms, these are
precious jewels, I'm committing them to you until I return. That's
the verb you would use. Peter says, this is the essence
of your unchanging duty in the midst of your suffering, remembering
that all of those sufferings are ordered by the will of God,
that the one to whom you are to do this is a faithful creator. You are to entrust to him. And what is it we are to entrust? The text says, committing their
souls. Now, what in the world did Peter
mean, committing their souls? Well, here again, it's a word
that in the New Testament sometimes means our whole being, what we
are, body and soul, as we normally use it. That's how Peter used
it in chapter 3 and verse 20. Speaking of those that were spared
in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few,
that is, eight souls were saved. He didn't have disembodied spirits
in the ark and coming out and inhabiting the earth after the
flood. Souls is synonym for those people
in the integrity of their spiritual and material and non-material
psychosomatic entity as human beings. And it's used this way
throughout the New Testament. They sought the young child's
life, the young soul's life, Matthew 2.20. They weren't out
to try to kill the soul of the boy Jesus, the little babe Jesus.
They were out to kill him. Acts 241, and 3,000 souls were
added unto them. You didn't have 3,000 disembodied
spirits floating around in the First Pentecostal Church of Jerusalem.
So sometimes when you find the word soul, don't jump to conclusions,
well it must mean the non-material part. It's not used that way
exclusively in the New Testament. On the other hand, Jesus said,
don't be afraid of those that kill the body, but after this
have no more that they can do, but fear him who can destroy
both soul and body in heaven. All right, there, it obviously
means the non-material part of us. We have a material and a
non-material part of our humanity. When Paul says in 1 Thessalonians
5.23, I pray that your whole body, soul, and spirit, he's
obviously speaking of the non-material part of us. 1 Peter 2.11, in
this one epistle, Peter uses it both ways. Beloved, I beseech
you, 2.11, I'm sorry, 1 Peter 2.11, to abstain from fleshly
lusts at war against the soul. So it's used both ways. But how do we tell how it's used
here? Well, my judgment is, and here I don't take exception to
anyone who's dogmatic one way or the other, that what Peter
is simply saying is this. In the midst of the crucible
of your suffering for righteousness' sake, remembering that the will
of God determines that suffering, it's the ultimate cause reminding
yourself afresh of who God is, faithful creator, commit the
entirety of your being to Him from the inside out. Then you
take both meanings and you're not robbed either way. If you
commit yourself from the very citadel of your inner being down
to your last fingernails and the toes on your feet and the
top of your head, You're in safekeeping from stem to stern, from toe
to top, from the inside out. Commit your souls unto Him, to
this faithful Creator. Now, why does Peter give that
as the capstone duty in the midst of their suffering? He's given
several other imperatives throughout this passage. telling them to
sanctify Christ as Lord, ready to give an answer. He's told
them many other things, but here he says, this is the capstone
duty. In the midst of your suffering,
continually be entrusting to God the entirety of your whole
being. Well, certainly one reason is
that this is another way that they are following the example
of Christ. Remember back in chapter 2? When
Peter is describing what Jesus did when he suffered unrighteous
treatment, what did he do? We read in 1 Peter chapter 2
and verse 23, who when he was reviled, reviled not again when
he suffered, threatened not, but committed to him that judges
righteously. That's what Jesus did. Peter
says, this is what you're to do. You are to commit your souls
to him, knowing that in that posture, the believer's demeanor,
the believer's whole bearing, will be a monumental testimony
to the transforming power of the grace of God. Again, let
me try to illustrate. Here's a man who's been given
a bag full of very rare and precious jewels. He's had them appraised. They're worth tens of thousands
of dollars. And for some kooky reason, he's
so attached to his jewels that he keeps that bag in his trouser
pocket. So everywhere he goes, the minute
anyone begins to look at him, he gets very nervous. He wants
to see, are they looking at my pocket? Are they going to go
after my jewels? He goes into any social setting,
he's very nervous, bites his nails, he's jittery, can't enter
into, why? Because his whole life is wrapped
up in the fear that somebody's after my jewels. If someone should
happen to look at him, oh, he's looking at my pocket, he's after
my jewels. Well, a close friend notices this pattern and sits
down with him and says, now John, anyone who's John here, I'm not
picking on you. He says, John, You know, really, there's a better
place for your jewels. So what do you mean a better
place? They're right next to me, they're my jewels, and I
know what's going on. But listen, there's such a thing
called banks. And the banks have safe deposit box. Well, what
in the world's that? Well, let me tell you. And so
he explains. And he goes on to say that this particular bank
has been in existence for over a hundred years. And they've
not had an instance of the loss of a dime's worth of anything
that's ever been put in their safe deposit. section in the
bank, and he explains to him there are these huge thick doors
with all of these different things that mean the door is locked
and when it's shut, no one but all, and finally persuades him
that he should go and put his jewels in the safe deposit box
at this local bank with an impeccable reputation of fidelity to their
trust. So he goes, fills out the forms,
hands over his bag, they put them into the thing, put it in,
And so his friend meets him outside and says, how are you doing,
John? He said, well, I feel kind of funny. My tools aren't here.
Well, he says, you'll get over that. And every time you think
where they are, just remember, they're in safekeeping. And you
know, within a matter of two weeks, he's learned how to interact
with people with freedom and liberty. Oh, once in a while,
he's tempted to get a little nervous when someone looks anywhere
from here down to his toes. Oh, wait a minute, my jewels
aren't there anymore. They just must be admiring my
new trousers. They must like my Dockers. Or maybe they like
my Botany 500. Whatever it is. And he begins
to learn to think and live and relate to people as a man who
really believes his jewels are in safekeeping. Another foolish,
silly illustration. I know, you have to forgive me.
That's all I got. Give me another few hours, might
come up with something more elegant, but you see the point of the
illustration. If we are to be and to do all of the things that
Peter has outlined in chapter 3, verse 13, all the way through
this section, as Christians who will, as we've said again and
again, Sooner or later, in one way or another, to one degree
or another, we will suffer for righteousness sake. Peter does
not want a bunch of nervous Nellies constantly wondering what's going
to happen to my jewels. He says, you put them where they're
safe and where the one who holds them is none other than your
faithful creator. That's the essence of the duty. And from that posture, then we
are able to pray for those that despitefully use us. We are confident
that our entire beings are safe in His hands. And if they take
us to the rack and to the stake and to the prison and to the
cross, it doesn't make any difference. We are safe in His keeping. But then, Peter adds at the end
of his sentence, these words, in well doing, having looked
at the specific object of the duty, faithful creator, the essence
of the duty, commit your souls to him. Here we have the assumed
context of the duty. There is no command, just a little
prepositional phrase. All of this is to be done, Peter
says, in the sphere, in the realm of well-doing. To a faithful creator, be continually
entrusting your souls in the context or realm of well-doing. That's why I've called it the
assumed context. Peter's not saying Be those who
do well in this passage. He's assuming that that's the
context within which they are suffering for righteousness sake. But he does delineate and identify
the assumed moral and ethical context. To use non-technical
language, he assumes a specific lifestyle setting in which they
would be obedient to this directive. Now this word, Well-doing. What does it mean? Well, it's
one of Peter's favorite, favorite family of words. We have again
this poor ignorant fisherman using a word found nowhere else
in the New Testament again. He's using them all the time.
I've come to appreciate the intellectual vigor of Peter. The Spirit of
God guided him, yes, but the Spirit of God didn't put a word
in his mind that he mindlessly wrote while in a trance. It was
part of his working vocabulary. But it's in a family of words
that Peter loved to use. This is the noun. The verb, he's already used four
times in this epistle. Very quickly, look at the uses.
Chapter 2 and verse 15. For so is the will of God that
by, here's our word in the verbal form, that by well-doing you
should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Chapter 2 and
verse 20, what glory is it if when you sin and are buffeted
for it you take it patiently, but if, here we are, when you
do well. There's the verb again. Chapter
3 and verse 6 and his directive to wives. whose children you
now are, here's our verb, if you are doing well and are not
put in terror by any man, then chapter 3 and verse 17, for it's
better if the will of God should so will that you suffer for,
here's the verbal use again, well doing than for evil doing. Now what would happen to you
ninth or tenth or eleventh grade students if you handed in an
essay in which in a very short essay you used the same verb
four times? Your teacher would write in the
margin, please consult your Roger Thesaurus or your Rodale's Synonym
Finder. You are overworking this word. But you see again, the Holy Spirit
has no such fastidiousness. There is a word that Peter uses
by the inspiration of the Spirit four times in its verbal form,
well-doing, well-doing, well-doing. He uses it in the agitival sense
in verse 14 of chapter 2, unto governor is sent by him for vengeance
on evildoers and for praise to them that do well. But here,
in the only noun form but the same family of words, Peter says,
the context in which you are as you suffer, to conceive afresh
of the will of God standing behind in determining your suffering,
as you prepare afresh to commit your souls to God, think of him
as faithful creator, and be sure that all of this continually
occurs in a context in which your suffering has not budged
you from the path of well-doing. That's what he's saying. That's
to be the context within which This duty, by the grace of God,
is to be continually performed. And here I must share with you
a quote from Old Bishop Leighton. If you're doing any serious studies
in 1 Peter, you will find almost every commentary Of the 20 or
so that I consult quite regularly, almost all of them are referring
in one way or another to Bishop Layton's classic commentary on
1 Peter. Listen to what the old bishop
says. He was the Archbishop of Glasgow
back in the 1700s. If you would commit your soul
to the keeping of God, know that he is a holy God and an unholy
soul that walks in any way of wickedness, whether known or
secret, is no fit commodity to put into his pure hand to keep. Therefore, as you would have
this confidence to give your holy God the keeping of your
soul and that he may accept of it and take it off your hand,
beware of willful pollutions and unholy ways. Walk so as you
may not discredit your protector and move him to be ashamed of
you and disclaim you. Shall it be said that you live
under his shelter and yet walk in ways of sin? As this cannot
well be, you cannot well believe it to be. Loose ways will loosen
your hold of him and your confidence in him. Dear people of God, do
you hear that? Loose ways some other path other
than the path of well-doing, the path marked out by the God
who defines what well-doing is, loose ways will loosen your hold
of Him and your confidence in Him. You'll be driven to question
your interest, that is, your saving relationship to Him and
think, surely I do but delude myself. Can I be under His safeguard
and yet follow the course of the world and my corrupt heart?
Certainly, let who will be so, he, God, will not be a guardian
and patron of wickedness. No, Psalm 5, verse 4 says, he
is not a God that has pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil
dwell with him. If thou give thy soul to him
to keep upon the terms of liberty to sin, he will turn it out of
his doors and remit it back to you to look as you will with
it yourself. You see what he's saying? You
say, oh, the Bible says, in the midst of my trauma and the pressure
and the crucible and the jaws of suffering, commit my soul.
He says, you commit to him a soul that is not fundamentally walking
in his ways, and God will turn it back to you. Say, keep it
yourself. Keep it yourself. Yea, in the ways of sin thou
dost indeed steal it back, and carriest it out from him. Thou
puttest thyself out of the compass of his defense. You go without
the trenches, and are at your own hazard, exposed to armies
of mischief and miseries." You see, there was divine wisdom
in this little prepositional phrase. This is to be done in
the assumed context of well-doing. All the previous pointers to
the believer's path as a path of well-doing in the context
of suffering and opposition, whether by word or deed, now
Peter brings it to a sharp focus and says, yes, that is to be
the context within which You commit your souls unto a faithful
creator. One brief quote from John Brown
who makes this observation. These two injunctions are most
intimately connected. Commit the souls in well-doing. He regards them as two injunctions.
We've seen there is an injunction but then an assumed context.
It is only he who is continuing in well-doing that in the day
of severe trial can commit the keeping of his soul to God as
to a faithful creator. And it is only he who commits
the keeping of his soul to God as a faithful creator that in
the day of severe trial will continue in well-doing. All others
will become weary in well-doing under persecution and silently
withdraw from or openly renounce connection with the oppressed
and persecuted Church of Christ. There is tremendous wisdom in
his observation. It is only the one who, in the
midst of his suffering, can say, Oh God, in spite of all of my
sin and my failure, You know that I love You, that I'm in
this because of my adherence to Your ways. Oh God, I commit
afresh my whole being to You. Only he who walks in the way
of well-doing can commit his soul, and then he says, It's
only the one who's committing his soul who can continue to
walk in well-doing. And that's why Jesus said, as
we were reminded in the previous hour, when tribulation and persecution
arise because of the Word, what happens to spurious believers?
They fall away. They fall away. They fall away. Now then, what do we say? In
summary and final application, here is what I've called Peter's
climactic directive to suffering saints. The ultimate cause of
suffering for the sake of Christ? The will of God. The unchanging
duty when suffering for the sake of Christ? The specific object? A faithful creator. The essence?
Constantly turn over to his safekeeping all that you are. The assumed
context? A life of well-doing. So then,
child of God, this is what this text says to you and to me. Let
every new experience of suffering in the way of righteousness,
suffering that Peter describes as coming upon us for the name
of Christ, suffering as a Christian is another of Peter's terms.
Let every new experience of this be a fresh call to do two things. Remember who's behind us. It'll keep you from wanting to
strike out at the secondary agents. Remember what Jesus said before
Pilate? He said, hey, you better swear
with me and do what I tell you. Don't you know I've got power?
What did Jesus say? You would have no power except
that we're giving you from heaven. The person whose mouth, whose
pen, whose typewriter, whose computer printer, the person
whose hand whose eye, whose heart is turned against you, could
not draw his next breath if God didn't give him time. He could
not frame his lies about you. He could not speak his words
against you if God were not upholding him. You suffer ultimately according
to the will of God. That is the most liberating thing
in the world. And then when you recognize, my sufferings are
ordered by the will of God, It is the God who is faithful Creator,
spoke worlds into being out of the womb of nothing, upholds
them by His own power and will, and He is utterly trustworthy.
Utterly trustworthy. I can afford the luxury of again
and again committing the entirety of my being, my soul, unto Him,
and by His grace hold to the path of well-doing. That's what God has called us
to. Safe and strong, writes F.B.
Meyer, tender and true are the hands of our faithful God. Drop
down into them, they will catch you. Sweetheart, jump! It's daddy's
arms and daddy's word that promises that I'll catch you. Drop down
into them, they will catch you. and sustain your burdens and
yourselves. They can hold the oceans in their
hollow, but they are scarred with Calvary's nails. Weary,
tired, suffering ones, lie still. None shall pluck you out of the
Father's hands. Without anxiety or alarm, you
may look out from them on the wreck of matter and the crash
of worlds. Those hands shall ultimately
bear you as they did your Lord through all the heavens, and
set you down as His own right hands in glory." It's a wonderful
thing to be a Christian. But what about you, who are not His children? You who
are yet in your sins, yet uncleansed, guilty, dead. You will not suffer
for Christ's sake. You may suffer much in this life,
ill health, frustrations with work, disappointments with people,
but my dear unconverted friend, whatever sufferings you face
in this life, though they will not be sufferings for Christ's
sake if you remain in your sins, they are but a piddling preview
of what awaits you in another world. Remember last week we
closed with those two questions of verses 18, 17 and 18? Those questions are still the
same. What will be your end? Where will you appear? A week
has gone by since we expounded those questions, and I sought
to press them upon your conscience. Maybe you forgot them. But you
sit here this morning, and I ask the same two questions in the
language of Peter. Where, where will you appear? And what will be your end? God
hasn't rubbed those questions out of his book. He's mercifully
spared you for another week. You have no promise from heaven
to spare you yet another. We have concentrated in the opening
up of this text to instruct and comfort and encourage the people
of God. But, oh, my unconverted friend,
the Christ who has such mercy stored up for his people is the
Christ who is accessible to you in the word and promise of the
gospel. You go to him as a naked, helpless,
hell-deserving sinner, throw yourself down at his feet, and
you have his promise, him that comes to me, I will in no wise
cast out. Let us pray. Our Father, we bless and praise
you that you are the faithful creator. We worship you, we praise
you as the God of unlimited power, the God of unfathomable wisdom,
the God of unfailing faithfulness. And we pray that you would forgive
us when, through our confusion and our unbelief, We have acted
nervously as though we were holding our own jewels. We would commit
ourselves afresh into your safekeeping, believing that you will preserve
us to your everlasting kingdom. Have mercy upon those who have
no such confidence. Have mercy upon those who have
such a confidence with no just grounds for that confidence.
Strip away their false assurance. Bring them to rest truly in yourself. Seal then your word to our hearts
and bring it to our remembrance when in days to come we are cast
into new and uncharted waters of opposition and suffering for
the sake of Christ. Help us, O God, our Father, we
plead, through Jesus Christ our Lord.