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 1 Peter 4:12-19
The last two times we have looked at 1 Peter we have seen that he has concentrated on how to live a good Christian life and we have looked at some marks of Christian character and behaviour. These have constituted good living. Today we finish this “series within a series” looking at Christian behaviour as set forth in 1 Peter. Here we see the final mark of being a Christian which is the ability to keep going even when we suffer for being a Christian and so I have called this sermon not good living but good suffering. If you like, the whole question of suffering as a Christian and how to respond to it is the big theme of 1 Peter because he has been writing to a displaced Christian community who had experienced some persecution and would be experiencing more in the future. Persecution in some form or other comes with the territory as a Christian. Remember Jesus said in Jn.15:18f “If the world hates you keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world it would love you as its own but I have chosen you out of the world, that is why the world hates you. No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me they will persecute you also.” Paul also says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12 “In fact everyone who wants to live a godly life in Jesus Christ will be persecuted.” For many christians throughout the centuries these words have been their experience and they have suffered criticism, imprisonment, injury, oppression, death. We in our western world and particularly in N Ireland have led a fairly charmed existence in society but all of us, if we truly seek to live for Jesus in our homes and workplaces, will have experienced some kind of cold shouldering, or being viewed as cranks or a little bit weird. It does come with the territory and I think will do so increasingly as we live in days where Christian principles are marginalised. Last time we saw that when the going gets tough the tough get going and when times get a little bit harder it does sort out the true from the false and it causes us to ask ourselves where do I stand with Jesus Christ? How much shame and dishonour and embarrassment am I prepared to take for the Christian cause? Here are 3 recent examples of persecution in our world today - Buddhist villagers in south eastern Bangladesh forced Christians to participate in a Buddhist cremation rite for a deceased family member last weekend and demanded money for a post-funeral ceremony. Uttam Chakma, died last Friday (May 15) after a long illness. He had converted from Buddhism to Christianity two years ago. Pastor Vubon Chakma and Christian villagers sought to give him a Christian burial the next day, but a hostile group of local Buddhists forcibly stopped them from doing so, according to a local Christian source. The source told Compass that a member of the Buddhist group told family members, He was born as a Buddhist, and he will be buried as a Buddhist. In an attempt to silence a Christian human rights activist living in England, Iranian authorities arrested and interrogated his Muslim father for six days before releasing him yesterday. Abdul Vashahi, a retired 62-year-old suffering a heart condition, was arrested on Thursday (May 14) in Irans south western city of Bandar Mahshahr and interrogated about the human rights activities of his son, a Christian convert who has been living in England since 2003. His son, John (Reza) Vashahi, converted to Christianity while in England and in 2008 founded the Iranian Minorities Human Rights Organization (IMHRO). In February the elder Vashahi had received a call from local authorities telling him that if his son didn’t stop his activities, they would arrest him instead. An Islamic group in West Sumatra province, Indonesia, has issued threats against Dominikus Supriyanto, the only Christian to win a seat in the district legislature in recent general elections, warning him that he should convert to Islam if he wants to retain the seat. On April 23, after results were announced, a group identifying itself as the Islamic Forum of West Pasaman attacked Supriyanto’s home, slinging stones and breaking several windows. Supriyanto, who was in the house at the time, said the attackers also shouted threats and demanded that he become a Muslim if he planned to stay in politics. All over our world, every day, our brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering for their faith. These stories should spur us on to live for Christ for he is worth it for eternal issues are at stake here. Tradition has it that Peter himself died by being crucified upside down. We must ask ourselves if, faced with the choice of proclaiming the Lordship of Christ and dying, or denying Jesus is Lord and living which would we do? For some believers today this is not hypothetical – this is a real choice and so Peter says in v.12 “Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering”. Jesus promised it would come, Paul promised ii, Peter promised it. It is part of being a follower of Jesus Christ, it is part of being a minority in the world. But Peter gives us three positives in the midst of possible suffering in v.13-19 – he gives us a reason to rejoice, he gives us a reason to feel blessed and he gives us a reason to praise God. Let’s look at each. 1.A reason to rejoice (v.13). Here he says that we should rejoice because we are participating in the sufferings of Christ. A disciple of Jesus is basically a follower of Christ – one who seeks to copy or imitate him. Now Christ’s suffering and death were redemptive, they were to save people. His death on the cross atoned or covered the sins of people who repent and believe on Him. In that sense our suffering is not the same as Christ’s, it is not redemptive, it does not save people. But it does show that we are identifying with Christ and we are suffering with him. Paul said in Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection” but he recognised that knowing Christ and his power had implications, it had a cost. He goes on “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead”. When we think of the word fellowship it usually has a very positive sense to it. Fellowship is often also linked with coffee or a meal or hanging out with friends. But here the bible speaks about the fellowship of suffering together for Christ. That is a whole deeper level of fellowship. But it is a fellowship that leads to joy for we rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for Christ. A mark of the Christian is the willingness to suffer for bearing the name but it leads to joy. Is your Christian life mediocre, dull, listless, lacking in joy. Maybe it’s because it is too soft and comfortable, there is no suffering in it for the name of Christ. Piper – “When you suffer according to God's will, don't be ashamed, rejoice. This is amazing. The mark of a Christian is that he experiences deeper and greater joy in being dishonoured with Christ than he does in being honoured by men” We have a reason to rejoice, we are part of the fellowship of Christ’s suffering. 2. A reason to feel blessed (v.14). Linked to this secondly is the idea that in our suffering we should feel blessed “for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” Paul in Romans said something similar – “Now if we are children then we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory.” If you are going to receive a large inheritance you feel blessed. Paul, and Peter’s point, is that when we suffer for the name of Christ we should feel blessed in knowing that glory rests upon us. Our reward will be great. The suffering will be worth it. a) When the Spirit of glory rests upon us we feel the affirmation of God. Just as when Jesus was baptised and as he came up out of the water he heard the voice of God saying this is my Son in whom I am pleased, so the affirmation and the smile of God rests on us when we suffer for him. You are not to suffer for being a criminal (v.15). That kind of suffering is deserving and is actually dishonouring to God, There is nothing glorious about being a criminal who steals, lies or kills, but if the crime is for following Jesus that is a different matter. When we come back to the reason for our existence as human beings it is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. We should be consumed with this thought each day. How can I live in such a way that God is glorified in my body, with my words, how I behave, whether by life or by death? This ought to be the consuming desire for the Christian. b) When we live in this way I think it gives our lives a sense of weight. The word glory has a sense of heaviness or weightiness about it. So many people are drifting through life and their lives are not counting, they will leave no great spiritual legacy, no fruitfulness, there is little glory. When w e are prepared to stand up for Christ our lives our given new eight, the weight of glory, the spirit of glory rests on us. That is an awesome thing. In contrast a life that is lightweight juts blows away. In Psalm 1 the weighty life is fruitful, blessed, it prospers, but “not so the wicked, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.” 3. A reason to praise God. (v.17) “If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed but praise God that you bear that name for it is time for judgement to begin with the family of God.” Praising God for judgement sounds unusual. But we need to look at the reason for the judgement and the end result of it. This theme of judgement occurs throughout 1 Peter (1:17, 2:23, 4:5). We live our lives as human beings in the light of the judgement of God. The suffering that comes is like a fire - that fire does two things - it refines and purifies on the one hand, and on the other it damages and destroys. As we live our lives on earth the fire of God is always burning allowing tests, trials and temptations to occur. How we respond to those will be determinative for our character, for our faith and for our eternal destiny. For one person the suffering will help to purge them of wrong things as they use it to submit more to Christ; for another person the same fire will lead them more into sin and to denying that Jesus is Lord. Fire does not leave us unchanged. This fire of judgement is not one that will destroy the Christian for if they are Christ’s then there is no condemnation for those in Christ, they are saved. The fire is simply a purging, a refining, a purifying of their faith and of their moral character and should be seen as such. But for the unbeliever the fire will drive them ether towards God or further away from him. But it will one day turn into the ultimate fire of judgement after our deaths when we are faced by God and we will have nowhere to run and he asks what did you do with my Son. Jesus you see is the ultimate protection from judgement and we dare not face God without him. The judgement which begins in the family of God and which refines faith is that same judgement which will condemn those who do not obey the gospel and bow the knee to Jesus. Mark Driscoll says it well when he says “for the believer life here on earth is as close to hell as we are going to get. For the unbeliever life here on earth is as close to heaven as you are going to get”. I agree with him and so does Peter as he says “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved what will become of the ungodly and the sinner.” If you are a true follower of Jesus today you can rejoice whatever comes, you can feel blessed and you can praise God even for the judgement for it drives you closer to God. Today if you have not trusted in Christ for your salvation a serious judgement will fall which has eternal consequences for you and you are just a heart beat away. Back to Psalm 1:4-6. “The wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away. The wicked will not stand in the judgement nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked will perish”. (See also Jn.15:6-8) Righteous or wicked, standing or blown away, saved or condemned. These are the choices before us. Life is not a game but carries enormous weight and seriousness. We are here for the glory of God, how much glory will you give him today?
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