1 Peter 4:12-19
A few weeks ago, we looked at chapter 4, verses 1-6, and in them, there were two aspects to suffering. First, it demonstrates that we are living according to God’s will, which we looked at last week. Second, suffering is necessary now in light of judgment day, which we are going to look at tonight.
Tonight’s message can be broken down into two main points. First, believers are blessed through suffering, and second, everything works according to God’s plan. How can we be considered blessed to endure suffering? Let’s see what Peter has to say.
Peter begins here in verse 12 by telling the people not to be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes to test them. When something particularly bad happens to someone, one of the first responses is to ask, “Why me?”. What did I do to deserve this?
We are surprised that something bad has befallen us, but Peter says we are not to be surprised as if something unusual were happening to you. You almost get the sense that the surprise should be when something bad doesn’t happen to you. Not exactly a comforting thought. The normal course of events is that some fiery ordeal is going to test you.
Instead of acting surprised and asking, “Why me?”, we should rejoice that it is happening. The reason Peter gives for this is so that we will be overjoyed when Christ returns. How does rejoicing now in suffering translate into greater joy when Christ returns?
If we go through life complaining and being miserable every time we face adversity, when Christ returns, we might be tempted to say, “Finally, it’s about time.” Where is the joy? If, however, we learn to rejoice in our adversity, then when Christ comes, we will be in a position to respond appropriately because we will already be at this base level of joy and can now rejoice with even greater joy.
If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed. Let me pause here to make a point. Not all suffering is because of faith in Christ. Sometimes we suffer because we made bad choices, and those bad choices have consequences. We need to be able to determine, truthfully, when we are suffering because of our faith and when we are suffering because of our actions.
Peter here is speaking to those who are legitimately suffering because they believe in Jesus. If that is the case, then you can rejoice because you are blessed. You are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. It is not that the Spirit of glory and of God comes to you because you are being persecuted. After all, you already have that Spirit by faith in Christ. That is why they are ridiculing you in the first place.
The proper response to that kind of adversity is to rejoice because nothing they do or say changes anything. The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you, and they cannot take that away. You do not need to change to stop the ridicule because that would be counterproductive.
If, however, the adversity is because of your own choices, then a change is warranted. That is not the kind of suffering you rejoice in and refuse to change. We must be honest about why we are suffering. The people Peter is writing to were being persecuted for their faith.
This is the point being made in verses 15 and 16. If you murder someone and are arrested and face the death penalty, it is not because of your faith in Christ that you are being put to death. That is an extreme example, but Peter covers all the bases here.
The word for evildoer speaks of one who regularly engages in doing what is wrong. The word for meddler speaks of one who busies himself in the affairs of others in an unwarranted manner. In other words, Peter is telling people to mind their own business and to interfere with others and then try to claim persecution based on faith in Christ. These types of persecution you should indeed feel ashamed.
But if anyone suffers as a Christian, solely because of their faith in Christ, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in having that name. Far too often, Christians act as evildoers or meddlers and then claim the consequences of those actions are persecution for their faith. The problem with misdiagnosing the root cause is the failure to know if we need to correct course or keep true.
Verse 17 can be tricky to understand because Peter speaks of judgment beginning with God’s household. We typically think of judgment being the same as punishment, and sometimes the Bible uses it that way, but not always. Judgment can also be used to differentiate between good and evil, and that is the sense here.
The time has come for God’s household to understand the difference between good and evil. Suffering is the means by which refinement and transformation happen. If a believer is an evildoer or meddler, and they suffer because of that, and they rightly understand the reason for the suffering, it can lead to a change of attitude and behavior. Peter is saying here that it is time for Christians to start acting like Christ.
Suffering is part of that process. If it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? The point here is that if suffering does not bring about the desired change, then the punishment aspect of judgment is going to be far worse. “You think you have it bad now, just wait.”
In verse 18, Peter quotes from Proverbs 11:31, but from the Greek translation, not what you will find in your Bible. They are similar but not exact. He is using this to reinforce what he just said in verse 17.
The difficulty for a righteous person is the suffering they must go through. Nobody likes to suffer, but sometimes it is necessary to get us to shift our focus onto God and His ways. Again, no matter how difficult you may think your suffering is, it pales in comparison to what the ungodly, or the unbeliever, is going to face in eternity.
Peter concludes this teaching in verse 19 by reminding Christians that God knows what He is doing. Everything that happens fits into God’s plan. Do we trust Him to work it out? That is the real question we need to be asking ourselves in times of trials and suffering. Instead of asking, “Why me?” the question should be, “Do I trust God?”.
If the answer is “yes,” then we must continue on the path of doing what is good. We don’t abandon God’s path simply to alleviate our suffering. We trust that God’s path is best and that God knows what He is doing because He is God and we are not.