Now let us turn together to 1
Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4. And follow if
you will please as I read verses 12 through 19. 1 Peter 4 and
verse 12. Beloved, think it not 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 also you may 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. For the time is come for judgment
to begin at the house of God, and if it begin first at us,
what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely
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 I am sure that most of you,
if not all of you, have been in a group setting of what we
might call relaxed social interaction, the kind of interaction we have
down in the foyer after the service in our homes, sitting in the
living room with well-loved company in our homes, And into that setting
of relaxed, goodwill, free conversation, somebody says something or does
something that immediately, as it were, injects an electrifying
current into that group. And everyone, as it were, stiffens
up, holds his or her breath, wondering how this one or that
one is going to respond to that electrifying moment in that social
interaction. Well, it was one of those electrifying
moments in the experience of the disciples. We read in three
parallel accounts, Matthew 16 and Mark 8 and Luke 9, that our
Lord Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, asked them to
give him a report of their first century Palestinian religious
cult. And he said to them, who do men
say that I am? and they give him the results
of their poll, and they say some say this, some say that, some
say the other. But then you will remember that
the Lord then addressed this question to the disciples, but
who do you say that I am? Peter responds by saying, you
are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And after commending
Peter, and making it plain that he did not come to this discovery
by mere human analysis and by human means, but it was a result
of the revelatory act of God upon his mind and upon his heart.
After saying a few more things about the future of his church,
at that point, after that confession, Jesus began very, very explicitly
to tell his disciples, I must go to Jerusalem, at Jerusalem
I must suffer, and at Jerusalem I must die. And at that point,
the electrical current begins to be injected into that little
group. But no sooner does the Lord say
that, but that Peter, in the language of Scripture, takes
upon himself to rebuke the Lord Jesus, not to ask a question
and say, Lord Jesus, did I hear you correctly? Are you talking
about Jerusalem suffering? Lord, I don't... No, he didn't
do that. He blurted out in a cheeky way,
Be far from you, Lord! This will never happen to you!
Now, can you feel the electricity in that Peter's telling the Lord
off. He's rebuking the Lord. He's
telling the Lord what to do. The one he's just confessed is
Messiah, God's final authoritative prophet to declare the will of
God. And now Peter, a mere creature, is telling incarnate deity what
to do. You are Christ, Messiah, Son
of God, but I'm telling you what to do. It was cheeky. And one
can only feel, if you read the passage, now the amount of electricity
in the air must have been tremendous. Because in Peter's mind, there
was no way that Messiah, rejection, suffering, and death could ever
fit together. Now, why do I remind you of that
electrifying moment? Well, for the simple reason that
by the time this same man, Peter, about 35 years later, writes
a letter to a group of Christians, he is not only convinced in the
depths of his soul, that the only way Messiah could accomplish
His messianic work, even the work of saving His people, was
through the path of rejection, suffering, and death, and that
only as Messiah dies, only as Messiah suffers, can He then
enter His glory. This very Peter, who now glories
in the suffering and death of Messiah Jesus, is absolutely
convinced that suffering for Jesus and with Jesus are both
inevitable and indispensable accompaniments of a saving attachment
to Jesus. May I repeat that? 35 years later,
the very same Peter who with shameless cheek and arrogance
rebukes his Lord saying, no suffering and death for you. He's writing
a letter to Christians in these Roman provinces of Asia Minor
out of the conviction that he surely as Messiah had to die
to secure his salvation and the salvation of all of his people,
he is equally convinced that suffering for Jesus and with
Jesus are the inevitable and indispensable accompaniments
of a saving attachment to Jesus. And therefore, as he writes this
epistle, after laying out the obligations of Christians as
a privileged people, chapter 1 verse 3 to chapter 2 verse
10, and the obligations of Christians as a pilgrim people, chapter
2, verse 11, to chapter 3, verse 12. Beginning at verse 13 of
chapter 3, he is setting forth the obligations of Christians
as a persecuted people. And as we have been working our
way through this last section, we are really now in the heart
of Peter's central pastoral burden. That burden to enlighten, to
encourage, and to instruct the people of God with respect to
how they are to handle this suffering that has come to them and will
continue to come to them and most likely come to them with
increasing intensity. How are they to respond to it?
How are they to act in the midst of it? What is to be their inner
disposition? What is to be their response
to those about them? How are they to conduct themselves
in their life together as congregations? Well, as we have been working
through this section, we come this morning to the last paragraph
in chapter 4, and we will focus our attention upon verses 12
and 13. And if you want a convenient
little handle to remember the central thrust of these verses,
it's very simple. Peter says, don't think it strange,
but rejoice. Or if you prefer, don't be surprised. but rejoice. That's the heart
of the passage, and I say so because these are the two imperatives
in verses 12 and 13, and everything else is either an explanation
of them, a qualification of them, or an amplification of these
two directives, beloved, Think it not strange, don't be surprised
concerning the fiery trial among you, but inasmuch as you are
partakers of Christ's suffering, rejoice. Don't be surprised,
but rejoice. That's the heart of the passage. Now then, note with me as we
try to work out the various lines of truth that hang on to and
flow out of that simple dual imperative. Note with me, first
of all, the gracious introduction to this paragraph, verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange. Now again, try to construct the
setting with me. Peter has been dealing with the
subject of the Christian in the midst of suffering in a concentrated
way starting in chapter 3 verse 13. He had already mentioned
it in chapter 1 verse 6. He had already mentioned it with
reference to house slaves and their suffering. and indirectly
some of the emotional and perhaps even physical suffering of a
wife who has an unconverted spouse, and some of the verbal opposition
the people of God are receiving, but now in a most concentrated
way, he has been opening up the subject of the Christian who
suffers according to the will of God. And in the midst of treating
the subject, we saw in verses 7 to 11, he wants them to know
that their commitments to God-honoring church life are not to be eroded
because things are kind of hot on the outside. And so in verses
7 to 11, in the light of the next great epical event in redemptive
history, the coming of the Lord Jesus, he gives them specific
directives concerning their life together. And as he gives those
directives to be fervent in their love among themselves, to exercise
their gifts among themselves. He tells them the great purpose
of all of this is that in all things God may be glorified through
Jesus Christ, and that launches him into that brief but passionate
doxology, whose is the glory and dominion forever and ever.
And then he gives his own affirmation, his own so be it, let it be. He signs his amen with a broad
stroke. And then he pauses, gathers his
thoughts, Perhaps he looks at some sketchy notes that he has
taken, outlining the various items that he wants to be sure
to include in this letter, the same way some of us do that when
we're composing a letter that is more than just the effusion
of our hearts to an intimate friend. We may take little notes,
and as we then dictate or write the letter, tick off the items.
Well, imagine Peter may have, may have, I have no evidence
that he did, but he may have, could well have had, a sketchy
outline of what he wanted to say or at least in his mind as
he contemplated what he wants to tell them having focused in
those earlier verses 3, 13 to the end of chapter 3 and on into
chapter 4, 1 to 6 he is focused upon how they respond to suffering
and persecution particularly in the horizontal dimensions
And now as he thinks, or he looks at his notes, he says, I now
want to take them deeper into the school of suffering. I now
must tell them things that are not going to be pleasant. I'm
going to tell them things that may, on the surface of the issue,
appear as though somehow God is lessened in his love to them,
or perhaps they might question the depth of my love to them
in terms of what I'm going to write. And so Peter begins with
this gracious introduction, using it not as verbal filler. He takes this one Greek word,
beloved. Agapitos uses the plural here,
agapitoi, in the vocative case, that is, it's a direct address
and he's saying, dearly loved ones. So that when that letter
was read, when copies would be made and were to be distributed
and people would sit down to read them as they entered into
this section, it's as though Peter says, look, I want you
to know that everything that follows comes under the blessed
canopy of your identity as dearly loved ones. He used it only one
other time in the epistle, chapter 2, in verse 11, when he appealed
to them, Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims. Now
he uses it again. He will not use it again through
the rest of the epistle. So you see, this is not just
some verbal fill-in. This is a word pregnant with
significance. If you look to 2 Peter 1, you'll
see the incident that Peter never forgot. Nine times in the Gospels,
this word is found, and in every instance, it refers to Christ
as the dearly loved one, the one beloved of his Father. It
is most frequently found as a word that God spoke from heaven. This
is my son, my beloved one. And Peter never forgot that.
Look at verse 16 of 2 Peter 1. We did not follow cunningly devised
fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty,
for he received from God the Father honor and glory when there
was born such a voice to him by the majestic glory, This is
my Beloved, there's our word. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. And this voice we ourselves heard
born out of heaven. For Peter, this was a heavenly
word. He heard it spoken by God the
Father with respect to God the Son. This is my Son, my dearly
loved one. Now, he's writing to suffering
saints. He's going to take them further
into the school of suffering for righteousness' sake. He's
going to speak of a fiery trial, literally a burning, calculated
to be a trial. He's going to speak about judgment
beginning at the house of God, fire and trial and judgment,
and the righteous scarily saved. What is Peter doing? Peeding
up on us? No. Dearly loved ones, dearly
loved ones, dearly loved ones, in all that you read from my
pen, Peter is saying, remember, I write out of the passion of
principled love and concern for your souls. And more than that,
you are not only loved by me, but you are loved by God, your
heavenly Father. and by Christ, your almighty
Savior. So whatever I tell you about
the will of God being that which leads you into suffering, remember
it is the God who loves you with infinite, deep, inexplicable
love. And He wants them to know that. We've seen the trite little phrase
on little stickers, the magnetic stickers that go on the refrigerator
and in little remembrance cards, you are loved. Now it's become
very trite, but the reason those have proliferated is that people
have to know in ways that are unmistakable, am I loved? And
Peter is telling them in unmistakable terms, you are loved. The gracious introduction to
this paragraph. But then notice with me, secondly,
the central concern identified. As we've considered the gracious
introduction, now the central concern. What is the central
concern of these verses? Well, it is set before the readers
in terms of a vivid figure of speech and then an explicit statement
of purpose. First of all, a vivid figure
of speech. Look at the text. Beloved, do
not think it strange or do not be surprised concerning the fiery
trial among you. Don't think it strange concerning
something that is rendered in our version a fiery trial. The word literally means a burning. Used only two other times in
the New Testament, Revelation 18.9 and 9.18. I'm sorry, Revelation
18.9 and 18.18. And it's the description of God's destruction
of Babylon. that symbol of the world power
and its worldly goods and pomp and pride and stuff. And when
God overturns it and destroys it, there is a mourning as it
undergoes a burning. It's the only other place it's
found in the New Testament. And Peter is here concerned with
a set of circumstances that has come upon these believers in
the providence of God that had the fierceness and the potential
destructiveness of a burning, and also had the capacity to
inflict the pain that fire brings, and also the ability to be a
dross-consuming element, that capacity of fire when it is used
as a purifying element. So whatever Peter's talking about,
it is not a little burp in the way of a peaceful light. Beloved,
you are loved by me and loved of your God. Do not forget it,
but I am giving you this directive. Do not be surprised. Do not think
it strange concerning the fiery trial among you." One careful student of the original
language renders the passage this way, Think not strange of
the burning among you occurring to you for a trial. It is the
burning among you. It has appeared in your midst.
Perhaps not every individual is affected the same way, but
this burning has occurred among you, that's the vivid figure,
and then he gives a statement of the specific purpose. It is
a burning which is occurring, a present tense participle. It is not something that shall
come, but it is already occurring, not to inflict pain as punishment,
not to consume you as a judgment, but rather as a trial to test
you and to prove you. 1 Peter 1 and verse 6. Peter had already stated this
earlier in the epistle, wherein, that is, in this great salvation
you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be,
you have been put to grief in manifold trials, that the proof
of your faith, the trial that God had brought upon them, was
going to be used as a proof of their faith. both to validate
the legitimacy of their faith and to purify the quality of
their faith as fire tests and purifies precious metal. So this
thing had a specific purpose in the will of God and it was
for a trial. Well then, what specifically
was it? What is it that he would describe as a fiery trial, vivid
imagery, sent for this specific purpose for testing? What was it? Well, some suggest
that the Neronian persecutions have already broken loose and
are touching the far reaches of the Roman Empire. And some
of you know, who have at least a sketchy awareness of church
history, that up until Nero declared the Christian faith an illicit
religion, The people of God were thought to be a bit of a bother.
The book of Acts contains many instances of persecution, particularly
that came from the Jews, but not exclusively. Remember at
Ephesus, these guys who built their heathen idols were losing
business and also people that were indulging in soothsaying
and they had their mediums and the rest. So there was a disruption
wherever the gospel went. But it was not declared an illicit
religion in the Roman Empire until Nero declared it such,
and that declaration eventually resulted even in Peter's execution. But the problem is that there
is nothing in the passage to indicate that this was a political
persecution. There is no indication that martyrdom
was part of this fiery trial at present. And the use of these
two present participles in verse 12 and a present verb in verse
13 make it very difficult to think that Peter is talking about
something that would be an unusual occurrence facing them in the
future. It is a fiery trial already occurring
among them. It is a burning already with
its flames touching their spiritual skin. And so I believe we have
every reason to believe then that what he's talking about
is what he's been talking about throughout the entire letter,
especially from chapter 3 and verse 17 onward. He is talking
about suffering for righteousness sake. He is talking about the
people of God receiving opposition from the heathen around them
and intimating, perhaps, that this opposition and persecution
that is presently upon them is going to heat up and intensify
in the days to come. Peter knew, as Paul did, that
all who would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And so he is seeking to prepare
them for not only a godly response to the present pressure called
the burning among them, but for a future intensification which
we do know from secular history did come upon them. And when
we read the letters to the seven churches, churches in this very
area of Asia Minor, we know that martyrdom and imprisonment and
hostile treatment at the hands of men was part and parcel of
the people of God in that area. So as to the identity, I am not
persuaded that it refers to some unusually concentrated specific
future trial that Peter is announcing, as it were, almost prophetically,
but Peter is seeking to give them further preparation for
present opposition and also to furnish them for the days to
come in which that opposition, perhaps Peter's own awareness
of this, if he wrote the epistle from Rome, Knowing that in a
short time Nero is going to execute him, perhaps Peter anticipates
this and is giving not only a present medicine, but giving something
that will stand them in good stead in the days to come. And
I want to bring a word of application here. You've heard me say this
in one way or another in recent months, but I want to say it
again. As I think of many of you young men and women, teenagers,
young adults, As I pray for you, I wonder, I wonder what you may
face in the way of focused, shameless persecution for the name of Christ
in the years to come. Christians, real Christians,
who have right-angled convictions, who will not sell out to what's
called the postmodern mentality, where your truth is your truth,
you're welcome to it, that my truth is my truth, and you better
say I'm welcome to it, and don't you try to force yours on me.
That's the climate. So that more and more, the only
heresy is to believe there is such a thing as heresy. And for
you to say, however sweetly, however graciously, however compassionately,
that you believe men are lost, that there is an absolute moral
law, and that God before whom all will give account in the
day of judgment, and except men repent, they will perish, And
if you seek to work out a consistent lifestyle as a Christian, bringing
every thought captive to Christ, the home of your life in every
area, in every relationship, in every set of circumstances,
seeking to glorify God by a life of meticulous obedience to His
Word, the time may well come in this country when the persecution
will not be as subtle, will not be as restrained, when there
will be more and more boldness to come down with both feet in
opposition to real, vigorous, biblical Christianity. For you
who get World Magazine, you'll be shocked to read of that woman
who in the trucking company for whom she works, She simply says
over the phone, have a blessed day. She doesn't say in Christ's
name, for Jesus' sake, or in fellowship with God. She just
closes her phone calls with this statement, speaking as an outspoken
believer. People know that's what she is.
All she says is have a blessed day. There is legal opposition
seeking to shut her mouth. For simply saying, have a blessed
day, you see that infers that there's someone to give the blessing
and that someone is outside of us and above us and controls
things. That's a veiled allusion to God. That is a violation of
the American way of life. That stuff is going to increase.
Some of you know the opposition in many public schools when students
have tried to use a room just to gather to pray. Well, that
stuff, as it were, is like the first leaping force of opposition
that may well become a mighty conflagration and become an intense
burning. And you may look back and thank
God for these days of studying 1 Peter together. It may seem
to have little relevance for you now. There may have been
some there when Peter wrote and said, don't think it's strange
concerning the fiery trial among you, literally the among you
fire or burning, which is sent occurring as a trial. Some might
have scratched their head and say, well, I'm getting a little
bit of frowning from my neighbors, a little bit of verbal abuse
where I work, but I wouldn't call it a burning. The time may
come when they would say, oh, that's what Peter meant. That's
what Peter meant. Well, having looked at the gracious
introduction to this paragraph and sought to identify the central
concern, now we come to the heart of the text, the reaction forbidden. The reaction forbidden. As these
believers are conscious of opposition, slander and abuse, and other
forms of the flame which constitute the burning among them, what
are they to do? And as is so often the case in the Bible,
he starts with the negative and then he gives the positive. First
of all, the negative. Beloved, do not think it strange. Perhaps better so you get the
sense of the passive voice of the verb. Don't be surprised. Don't be surprised concerning
the fiery trial among you which comes upon you to prove you as
though a strange thing happened to you." By the use of this present
imperative, Peter is saying, stop and continue to refuse being
surprised at the burning. And he uses exactly the same
word that he used in verse 4 of this chapter, concerning their
unconverted, former drinking, carousing, partying buddies,
wherein they think it strange. That's our verse. When you no
longer run with the gang and no longer booze and drink and
party and indulge in every form of excess of evil, they think
it's weird. They can't figure it out. It's
something strange that has come into the orbit of their awareness. And when we confront something
we've never confronted before, we become surprised, we become
The thing is bizarre to us, and as these people react to the
transformed lifestyle, all they can do is speak evil of them.
Now Peter says to these believers, don't you be spooked. Don't you
be surprised. Don't you think it's strange,
with respect to that fiery trial that is among you, as though
Something strange happened to you. You see, Peter assumes that
in the natural realm, when we encounter something unexpectedly,
we think it's strange, we are surprised. But he says, don't
you be surprised as though a surprising thing happened to you. You've
been told through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom. You've
been told all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution. You've been told the Lord Jesus
said, if they hate me, they will hate you. and they will hate
you because they hate me. Don't react in this way as though
this is something that wasn't in the bargain. Peter, by these
words, is reminding us that in the days of the apostles, Christ
was not offered as the great panacea for all your troubles.
He was offered as a savior from sin and a deliverer from bondage
to sin and to the world and to the devil. And to embrace Christ
as he is offered is to be identified with Christ in his rejection
and in his suffering. And so Peter forbids the reaction,
don't be surprised. Don't be surprised. And several of the commentators,
I think, very wisely point out that in a very special way for
these first century Christians, most of whom came from a Gentile
background, the ones to whom Peter is writing, They did not
have years of church history such as we have. They didn't
have a completed New Testament. And when they heard of the mighty
triumphs of Messiah Jesus, as Peter taught earlier in this
epistle, having been raised from the dead, he's been exalted and
seated at the right hand of God's power, at the right hand of God
in a place of supreme power. when all of this trouble begins
to be let loose upon them and that ascended, exalted, almighty
Christ seems to do nothing to intervene. Allows the enemies
to afflict them, to persecute them, to speak evil of them,
to slander them. Peter understands that they may
indeed have thought it strange, but he says, You are not to be
surprised, you are not to think it strange with respect to this
burning. But then he goes to the positive,
and now we look at the response commanded. The response commanded. From the negative, the reaction
forbidden, and he begins verse 13 with a very strong particle
called an adversative particle, Allah, but, but, don't do this,
but, this is what you're to do, and what is it? But, insomuch
as you are partakers of Christ's suffering, rejoice, that at the
revelation of his glory also you may rejoice with exceeding
joy. He gives the essence of the response,
and then he gives reasons for the response. What's the essence
of the response? And it's beautiful in the original.
This little imperative use of the verb, I rejoice, stands right
in the middle of those two lengthier statements. Peter says, but,
on the other hand, insomuch, insofar, to the extent you are
partakers of Christ's suffering, rejoice, Rejoice, that at the
revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exceeding joy. The
essence of the response commanded is another present imperative
of this common verb, to rejoice. There's to be no self-pity, no
moroseness, no attitude expressed in the camp song some of you
know how to sing. Nobody loves me. Everybody hates
me. I'm going out to eat worms. Peter says, no camp songs, everybody
hates me, nobody loves me. You are, when you are conscious
of the burning, that burning that is sent to try you as a
testing, you are not to be surprised, you are not to think it's strange,
but instead every single awareness of the heat of the fire upon
your being should be a trigger to renewed rejoicing. He continually
rejoicing, continually rejoicing. You see, Peter remembered the
words of his Lord in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 10 to
12. Blessed are you, says the Lord Jesus, when? What happens
to you? Happy are you when? Blessed are
they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall
reproach you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. Not simply rejoice, but rejoice
and be exceeding glad. Bringing together the two words
Peter uses in the passage. Rejoice, but more than that,
rejoice with overflowing exuberance and gladness. Remember what Paul
said to the Philippians? Rejoice in the Lord always. Peter,
I mean, Paul, did you really mean that? Rejoice in the Lord
always? He said, yes. And again, I say what? Rejoice
twice, the same present imperative of the same verb. Rejoice in
the Lord always at all times and in all circumstances. And
again, I say rejoice. And that is the response commanded. Every time we're aware of the
burning which God sends as a testing and a trial, it is to be a call
to intensified rejoicing. Now, God doesn't need to give
reasons for His commands, but He does, and two reasons for
this response commanded are given to us. One has to do with our
sufferings for Christ now, and the other has to do with our
sight of Christ in the age to come. Why should we continually
rejoice as a godly response to the trial called a burning? Well, the first reason is your
sufferings for Christ. are a fellowship in the sufferings
of Christ. Look at the text. But in so much,
in so far as you are partakers, this is the standard Greek verb
for fellowshipping, sharing in, partaking in with another. In so much, in so far as you
are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice. Now what does this mean? Well, obviously it does not mean
that our sufferings, called here by way of a figure of speech,
the burning among them, they in no way contribute to the vicarious,
sin-bearing sufferings of Jesus. In chapter 3 and verse 18, Peter
stated what is the universal teaching of the New Testament.
Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but made alive in the spirit. When we ask the question, how
can my sins be blotted out? How can my sins be righteously
forgiven? The answer is that the only ground
on which God can righteously pardon sin is found in the sufferings
of Jesus, plus no sufferings of you or anyone else. A million
angels, no. The blood of Jesus, God's Son,
cleanses from all sin. No suffering of anyone in any
way, at any time, to any degree can add to the virtue of Christ's
vicarious, sin-bearing suffering. I don't know how to state it
any plainer. The same Bible that makes that
truth known again and again also tells us that the faith which
unites us to Christ and thereby enables God righteously and justly
to declare us righteous in Christ is the faith that so unites us
to Christ's person that we are prepared to suffer for Christ. The faith that unites us to Christ
results in our being declared righteous on the grounds of the
obedience and death of Christ, but it so unites us to Christ
that the world's attitude to Him will be mirrored in its attitude
to us. Turn to John 15. The Lord made
this so clear. John 15 and verse 20. Working back up to verse 18.
If the world hates you, you know or know. One of those forms of
the verb that can be an imperative or an indicative. If the world
hates you, you know or know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love its own. But because you are not of the
world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world
hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant
is not greater than his Lord. If they persecuted me, they will
also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will
keep yours also. But all these things will they
do unto you, now notice, for my name's sake, for my name's
sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come
and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have
no excuse for their sin. You see what Jesus is saying?
The attitude the world has to me when I'm gone is going to
be reflected in its attitude to you. The way they treat me
is the way you will be treated. And when we are treated that
way because of our attachment to Christ, that is what Peter
calls having koinonia, having fellowship in the sufferings
of Christ. But insomuch as you are partakers
of Christ's sufferings, rejoice! You are privileged to be so identified
with your Savior that the sufferings you bear because of his name,
your believing response to the revelation of God's will and
saving mercy in him, you're attached to him because of who he is as
revealed in the gospel. And when you are opposed and
maligned and persecuted for that which you now are as a Christian,
he says, those are the sufferings of Christ. That is fellowship. That is sharing in Christ's sufferings. And this is so much part and
parcel of vital saving Christianity that Paul can say in Romans 8,
17 that the people of God will be glorified with Christ if so
be that they suffer with Christ. Philippians 129, to you it has
been granted, given as a gift of grace, not only to believe
on his name, but to suffer for him. And what lies at the root
of that opposition to Christ and therefore to the people of
Christ? Well, the Lord more than hints at it in the passage that
I read to you. said if I had not come, they'd
had no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. I've
exposed them. John 3, 19. This is the condemnation. Light
has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds are evil. Neither will they come to the
light, lest their deeds should be reproved. Listen to the words
of old Archbishop Layton. The exact holy walking of a Christian
really condemns the world about him, shows the disorder and foulness
of their profane ways. The life of vital Christianity,
set by the side of dead formality, discovers it to be but a carcass,
a lifeless appearance. And for this, neither grossly
wicked nor decent formal religionists can well digest it. There is
in the life of a Christian a convicting light that shows the deformity
of the world's darkness. There is a piercing heat that
scorches the ungodly and stirs and troubles their consciences.
This they cannot endure, and hence rises in them a contrary
fire of wicked hatred, and hence the trials, the fiery trials
of the godly. If they could get these precise
persons removed out of their way, they think they might then
have more room and live more at liberty. That's what you live
with in your office. When everyone else is tittering
and laughing at the latest dirty joke to go around, and you've
absented yourself, and you have frowned, and if necessary, even
given an appropriate rebuke, that's when you'll get the designation,
oh, he's holier than thou. goody two-shoes, and worse. That's when it comes. Why? When
what you are in attachment to Christ exposes them. And those in darkness, love the
darkness, will not come to the light. and do their best then
to discredit that light. So Peter wants them to know that
in calling them to rejoice, they're not simply to rejoice with no
thought fueling that joy, but to rejoice insofar as their sufferings
come as a result of their identification with Christ. He says your sufferings
for Christ are a fellowshipping in the suffering of Christ. And isn't that what Paul longed
to know? That I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings. He wants to know the nearness
of Christ in the crucible of suffering for Christ. But then
he goes on to say the second reason is your rejoicing in your
sufferings for Christ is a certain pledge of a greater rejoicing
at the coming of Christ. That's what he means when he
says, rejoice. Now here's the second reason.
That at the revelation of his glory also you may rejoice with
exceeding joy. Rejoice that you may rejoice.
That's strange language, isn't it? When they say stop being
gloomy and rejoice, he says rejoice in order that you may rejoice
even more. What's he saying? Well, look
again at the text. He says that at the revelation of his glory,
that's a reference to the second coming of Christ. It is the unveiling,
the apocalypsis, the unveiling of the glory of Christ. In chapter
1 in verse 5, the second coming was called the revelation or
the unveiling of salvation. Chapter 1, verses 7 and 13, the
revelation or the unveiling of Jesus Christ. Here in chapter
4, he calls the same event the unveiling, the revelation of
his glory, not the imparting of glory. He has that at the
right hand of the Father, but it is now veiled. People can
Jesus Christ this and Jesus Christ that and take his name in vain. And when you bring it to their
attention, they say, well, I didn't even know I was dead. Christ
is just a convenient verbal filler in their viler language. They
see no beauty in Him. They think some of us are crazy
because our whole lives grow out of being enamored with Christ
as our Savior and our Master and our Lord and our Companion
and our Heavenly Bridegroom for whom we yearn and for whose coming
we eagerly wait. But when he comes, Peter says,
it's going to be the revelation, the unveiling of his glory. The glory is there. Cherubim,
seraphim, redeemed saints, made perfect. They see it, they revel
in it, they marvel at it. But it's veiled to us. But when
the voice of the archangel sounds, and the trump of God sounds,
and our Lord comes, the veil will be pulled away and every
eye shall see Him in the revelation of His glory, the outshining
of all that He is, as God-man and the Savior of His people
and the judge of the world. And Peter says to these saints
who are wondering, how can I rejoice when the troubles become a burning? And when the troubles are providentially
ordered to test me, I'm to rejoice? Why? Because you are not only
sharing now in the sufferings of Christ, But as you rejoice,
you are preparing yourself for a moment of greater rejoicing,
that rejoicing that will be yours at the coming of your Lord. And
here there's a subtle emphasis in the grammar. He uses an aorist
subjunctive, that you may rejoice with a concentrated, isolated
burst of joy that will be unique at the moment he comes, and then
he follows it with a participle, that you may rejoice, exulting
in that joy. It's hard to even translate it. Lenski, the Lutheran commentator,
and Lutherans are generally not known to have an excessive amount
of emotion. Now, there may be exceptions,
but Lenski writes, as the writer has expressed it, the worst persecution
can be... I've lost the word here. But
then he goes on to say what he calls this is exalting, jubilating,
skipping and bubbling over with shouts of joy. It's the kind of joy that's mentioned
in Revelation 19, 6 and 7, when the people of God triumph in
the consummation of God's redemption in conjunction with the marriage
supper of the Lamb. Let us rejoice, and here's our
word, be exceeding glad and give glory unto him, for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
You see what Peter is saying, as now the people of God who
are in the midst of the burning, as you are enabled to rejoice,
making it evident that your joy is not rooted in your circumstances,
in the approval of your fellow mortals who are on their way
to judgment, But your joy is in Christ, and when your sufferings,
your burning intensifies the consciousness of your communion
and fellowship with Christ in his sufferings and you rejoice,
this is both pledge and preparation for that moment when Christ's
glory is unveiled. And when it is, you will then
rejoice with an overflowing, sipping, exulting joy. Surely that is motive enough
to help us to rejoice in the midst of the fire. Here, our
rejoicing is tempered with heaviness. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6
10, he says, sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Peter had said earlier
in this letter, chapter one in verse six, wherein you greatly
rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you've been
put to grief. We're both greatly rejoicing
and greatly grieving. Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,
but then it will be all pure, unmixed, undiluted, ever-growing,
ever-expanding joy. As one writer has said, one can
indeed by the grace of God face the worst persecution when as
a child of God the eye is fixed on the revelation of Christ's
glory, and the unbounded joy that awaits the faithful. Now
having sought to open up these verses, verses 12 and 13, I have
one major concluding word of observation and application.
And I confess that this was the area that I greatly struggled
in the hours of preparation Knowing I would make some application
along the way, what is the great burden of this passage that needs
to be highlighted, regardless of what our present measure of
the burning may be, regardless of what it may yet be? And surely
this is at least one of the major emphases of the passage, that
apostolic or biblical Christianity is a Christ-obsessed, future-oriented
religion. I want to repeat that. This passage
underscores that apostolic or biblical Christianity is a Christ-obsessed,
future-oriented religion. Do you see that? Peter is saying,
beloved, don't be surprised at the burning, the fiery trial
among you that comes upon you to prove you as though a strange
thing happened, but But inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's
suffering, what's he assuming? He's assuming that when he mentions
koinonia, fellowship in the sufferings of Christ, he's touching a deep,
tender cord with these believers. It never enters Peter's mind
that, well, this will only touch a third of them, it won't touch
most of them. He knows that to speak of having this fellowship
in the sufferings of Christ will touch deep chords. Why? Because
he knows that insofar as they have vital saving religion, it
is a Christ-obsessed religion, and it is future-oriented. His
second reason is that at the revelation of his glory, you
may rejoice with exceeding joy. In other words, you're willing
to wait for your best things to come in the future. And I
fear when we take that simple principle and apply it to much
that is called Christianity in our day, it falls pathetically
short. It is not Christ obsessed and
future orient. Christ comes in, insofar as he's
necessary to fireproof us. But after that, what really matters
is my house, my car, my clothes, my vacation, my friends, my this,
my that. Not with Peter. There is this
obsession with Christ. And much of current professed
Christianity is now oriented. It doesn't shed any tears now
when songs about heaven are sung. We've got too much heaven here. God has smitten my heart as I've
tried to work my way through this epistle that how much Peter's
letter is suffused with the future orientation of these believers. You have an inheritance undefiled,
incorruptible, reserved in heaven for you and he says in this you
rejoice. They are future oriented. Ah,
but you say, Pastor, isn't it possible to be so heavenly-minded
we're no earthly good? That's not my problem. And that's
not the problem of the vast majority of you here. We're so earthly-minded
we're no heavenly good. either in terms of allowing ourselves
to be so caught up in what Jesus called the cares of this life,
not just carousing and patently sinful things. He says, beware,
lest your heart be overcharged with the cares of this life,
that future orientation grows more and more dim. And we do
not live each day in that awareness. He could come back today. and my joy would be exalting,
bubbling over joy. For any joy I now know in the
midst of opposition and affliction is but a pledge of the unmixed,
the undiluted, ever-growing, ever-expanding joy that is promised
at his coming. Dear people of God, do we not
all need to give ourselves to fresh, earnest prayer? Oh God,
make me a Christ-obsessed Christian and a future-oriented Christian. May I make all of my decisions
and set all of my goals and establish my priorities in the light of
the preciousness of Christ, that I might know Him. be found in
him. For me to live is Christ. Life means Christ to me. That's
Paul's simple explanation of who and what he was. Life means
Christ to me. And then to have that future
orientation that we will put every present trial against the
backdrop of the exceeding joy that will be ours when we see
him as he is. And for you who are not Christians,
I would not deceive you. I wouldn't deceive you and tell
you Christ will be this and Christ will be that to you. Listen,
if you're determined to have your world structured by what
you can see and touch down here, and you're not prepared to say,
no, the true values, the things that really matter, I know are
not here. They're found outside of me and
above me and beyond me and before me, and I'm prepared to seek
them in Jesus Christ and to follow Him until I'm with Him. My friend,
you're not serious about the state of your soul, but if you
are, Christ stands ready and willing to receive all who come
unto God by Him You can ask him to change that horrible obsession
with yourself, with your face, with your form, with your friends,
with your fun. And that obsession with the now
world, for the world passes away and the lust thereof, but he
that does the will of God abides forever. And ask God to help
you to be one of those obsessed with Christ who will deny fixed
in the future. You're prepared to begin to lay
up treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupt and thieves
do not break through and steal. There's nothing wrong with wanting
a treasure. The issue is where you're going to seek it. Here
or there. May God grant that these words
will help us to seek it where we are. Let's pray. Our Father, we do thank you again
for this portion of your Word. We thank you for your grace that
was so manifestly worked into this man, Peter, the one who
at one point dared to rebuke the Lord Jesus because he mentioned
suffering and death, but now who writes to comfort and instruct
those who suffer and some who might have eventually died for
attachment to Jesus. We pray that you would write
your word upon our hearts. We pray that you would scour
out of our souls all of our inordinate and idolatrous attachment to
things, any attachment to the creature that rivals the place
that Christ alone should have. And our Father, we beg of you
to help us to get untethered from this world, that we may,
with the Apostle Paul, be able to say, while we look, not on
the things that are seen, but on the things that are not seen.
For the things that are seen are temporal, and the things
that are not seen are eternal. Help us then, our Father, we
plead, in Jesus' name. Amen.