Text: 1 Peter 4:12-19, Title: Are you a Christian Weirdo? Date/Place: LSCC, 2/26/06, AM
A. Opening illustration: talking the other day to someone down south who asked about the snow. Piper talking the other day about the anomaly of the American church for the past 300 yrs and the 164K martyrs this year.
B. Background to passage: Peter comes back to his constant theme of suffering, and speaks of more suffering that is coming to these believers. He encourages them with these truths about the good side of suffering. He wants them to realize that they are not a victim in their situation. That God is his flawless wisdom and providential care has ushered them into this place for a special purpose. Again the absolute sovereignty of God is the rock of faith for the apostle, knowing that the same God that was in charge of life before a trial began, will be there in charge of life through the fiercest droughts or storms lovingly sustaining his elect.
C. Main thought: Peter gives us encouragement in four truths related to the fact that suffering in our lives is normal, not strange.
II. BODY
A. It is for our purification (v. 12, 17)
1. Peter uses a word here that means “a blazing furnace of testing.” It was used for a refiner’s fire as he smelted silver or gold ore to remove impurities. In this he acknowledges several truths. Trials are very painful. He teaches that the refiner is closest to the ore at that time (more on that later). He teaches that painful suffering has several great purposes, one of which is to purify us. God is always about the business of transforming our lives in to Christ-likeness. And there are some sins that must be purged with pain. God is much more concerned about your holiness than your happiness.
2. 1 Thess 3:2-4, Mal 3:2, Pro 17:3, Isa 1:25, Dan 12:10, Zech 13:9, Tit 2:14
3. Illustration: Depression feels like p. 20-21, C.H. Spurgeon Said: "The Lord gets his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction". The health and wealth gospel ministers teach that God doesn’t want you in trials, We read not that Christ ever exercised force but once, and that was to drive profane ones out of his temple, and not to force them in.—John Milton, “Lord, in thy Spirit’s hurricane, I Pray, Strip my soul naked--dress it then thy way”
4. We must realize the normalcy of trials in the Christian walk. Don’t be the victim, be the victor! When we minister to those going through struggles, don’t minimize pain. If we become embittered to struggle and pain then we may miss the point of it, and go through it again. Lisa Beamer’s loss of her father at 15. Realize that anger is a sin, pride is a sin, greed, self-centeredness, materialism, these are all sins that can be exposed well through a lens of pain. Spend some time in your sorrow searching your own heart for sin issues that God may be dealing with. Counsel with others may help pinpoint the issue.
B. It determines the extent of our glory later (v. 13)
1. Peter instructs that instead of complaining, grumbling, or becoming embittered, rejoice. Peter is very counter-cultural. And there is a subtle implication in the text that your suffering and pain here will reflect greater joy in heaven. Suffering is not evenly distributed among the saints. Some will bear more than others. But those that bear any suffering we will rewarded.
2. Acts 5:41, Rom 5:3, 2 Cor 6:10, 4:17, Rom 8:18, Philip 4:4, Matt 5:12,
3. Illustration: the harder one works during the day will be proportionate to the enjoyment of the meal and fellowship that awaits you at the end of the day. “Our office is a ministry of grace and salvation. It subjects us to great burdens and labors, dangers and temptations, with little reward or gratitude from the world. But Christ himself will be our reward if we labor faithfully.” –Luther, Although the threads of my life have often seemed knotted, I know, by faith, that on the other side of the embroidery there is a crown. –Corrie Ten Boom,
4. We are commanded to rejoice in our sufferings. We can do this because we trust God, and believe that He is doing what is best for our good and His glory. We can do this because we are thankful that God loves us enough to remove sin from destroying our lives. As we suffer, we are laying up joys and treasures in heaven reserved for us. Suffer know that you will be rewarded for it. It is our job to be a shining testimony to the faithfulness of God during trials. How do we do that? Glad you asked…We bear up under these trials with a constant testimony (not a constant smile) to God’s graciousness to us in our lives. We remind others that all we really deserve is death and hell. Eph 1:7-8 and Rom 8:32. How do we do that? You don’t…
C. It allows the Holy Spirit to minister (v. 14)
1. Peter explains that one of the reasons that we are and can consider ourselves blessed is that the Holy Spirit is resting upon us during our suffering in a special way. The word means to give rest to or refresh. So the Spirit of God refreshes and renews those enduring suffering in a special way that He does not to those that are not suffering. It is His ministry of refreshment. God gives a special grace to those that need it to stand firm under persecution. What a great sovereign God—allowing and ordaining the Christian to suffer for his name, then providing a special refreshment through the Great Comforter to endure it. As it refreshes, it gives strength, wisdom, insight, and power to be faithful to the Lord.
2. 2 Cor 12-9-10, Lam 3:22-23, Matt 11:28, Isa 33:2, Zeph 3:5,
3. Illustration: When their lights are turned on and you look through the tiny, thick plate glass windows, what do you see? Fish! These fish cope with extreme pressure in an entirely different way. They don’t build thick skins: they remain supple and free. They compensate for the outside pressure through equal and opposite pressure inside themselves. Christians, likewise, don’t have to be hard and thick skinned--as long as they appropriate God’s power within to equal the pressure without. Charlotte and Judy ministering to Etheline last week.
4. This is what allows persecuted believers to continue to hold fast to Christ. This allows believers to endure tragedy upon tragedy in their lives without quitting. While suffering learn to rely more on the Spirit’s provisions for strength and stamina. We can rejoice in the special Fatherly love and care that is made manifest toward us who believe in, trust in, hope in Christ, even though circumstances might cause us to think otherwise. The Spirit also uses other believers to be His instruments of mercy and encouragement to those going through tough times. Sometimes just the fact that you are there, praying for them, being with them, walking beside them, believing God for them, can help get us through.
D. It is light compared to unbelievers out of the will of God (v. 17-19)
1. Peter’s words resemble the judgments given in Malachi 3 and Ezekiel 9, where God calls the executioners and the judging angels to begin judgment within the house of God. The picture is of chastisement upon true believers, purifying them from sin, then on to the tares that grow up among the wheat changing to a judgment of condemnation, then the judgment moves on to unbelievers (who do not obey the gospel). We see this in the literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls as well. Peter reminds these believers that the suffering of the unbeliever will be infinitely worse on that Day. They will be cast into utter darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
2. 2 Thess 1:6-9,
3. Illustration: apocalyptic writings like the Revelation of Peter, or Dante’s Inferno do not compare to the reality of Gehenna, Charlie Peace, a criminal in England, on the day he was being taken to his execution, listened to a minister reading from the Word. And when he found out he was reading about heaven and hell, he looked at the preacher and said, "Sir, if I believed what you and the church of God say, and even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that."
4. If you think your suffering is bad, it is nothing compared to what those who do not obey the gospel will experience. If you are here and you do not know Christ, I beg of you to turn from your self and beg mercy on the basis of Christ from God the Father. Your judgment is sure, but you now have a chance to escape by trusting the One who has the keys to death, hell, and the grave. Give your life away to obey the gospel. This should give us who are Christians great motivation to share Christ. Therefore, Peter says, continue to be faithful as you suffer under the will of God, knowing that it is far better than the alternative.
III. CONCLUSION
A. Closing illustration: the good of the thorn—ill file.
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
