“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER? 19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”
In an earlier sermon we talked about the debauchery and cruelty of Nero, who at the time of the writing of this letter had not yet begun his murderous rampage against the followers of Jesus Christ. So I won’t go again into the detail of his person and his actions.
But it is important for us to take note at the beginning of this section of chapter 4 that Peter is talking to people who are not in Rome but in the Rome-controlled regions north and east of that city, and they are at the time of the writing already going through what he calls ‘the fiery ordeal’.
So where the persecutions by Nero and his successors have gained a more prominent and well-documented place in history due mainly to the place where they happened and the infamy of the dictator himself, still, there were Christians well before his crimes were committed who, unnamed and all but forgotten, went through difficult and torturous persecutions of their own for the name of Christ.
.
. And I just wanted to point that out because, Christian, you may suffer things for the name of Christ that no one but you and He will know about in this world. Be aware that a martyr is a martyr even when no one else knows but the One for whom he is martyred.
These words of Peter that we’re going to look at today deal with a pretty dark topic on the surface, but they offer great encouragement in that the heavenly reward of the one who suffers for Christ far outweighs the time of testing and trial here.
Let’s look at the passage.
NO SURPRISE
It is significant that Peter begins this series of admonitions telling his readers not to be surprised at the coming of persecutions, even severe persecutions, among them.
But that is needed, isn’t it? I’m sure those folks in the first century were fundamentally no different than we; and don’t we act surprised in a way whenever some trouble comes?
We just don’t really feel like we deserve any adversity, do we? If someone publicly declares to his friends and family that he deserves to suffer they’re usually quick to put an arm over his shoulder, pat him a little and say ‘there, there, don’t think such thoughts’. If he is persistent in this sort of thinking they’re likely to encourage him to get counseling.
Hey, we live in a society that teaches no guilt and no regrets. If I keep my ideas of morality and righteousness to myself and do not try to push God on you, then just about anything else goes, and you won’t judge me and I won’t judge you and the magic words for social success are tolerance and acceptance, and as long as we stay on that path we’re all pretty good people.
In our present day society those looked upon as evil are the religious people who try to tell folks that they do not have a right to just do anything they want, any time they want with anyone they want.
I have to take just a little side trip here. Just the night before coming back to this sermon I watched a television program that is supposed to be about solving crimes and the heroes are FBI agents and very intelligent scientists. In the course of a discussion about why the star of the show – the MAIN character – doesn’t celebrate Christmas, she criticized the whole concept of celebrating the event simply because there are differing opinions about the time of year Jesus was born, and she said, “If Jesus Christ ever existed…”
Yet in another program she was depicted as having just finished wild sex with a man who was one of her professors in college; whom she hadn’t seen for years, and before the day was out they were in bed together.
Folks, we are back to ‘in those days every man did what seemed right in his own eyes’, and the innocent are going to suffer alongside the guilty. Mark my words.
So getting back on track, adversity comes and our knee-jerk reaction to it is “WHY ME?”
We’re surprised. Now by that word I don’t mean that we’re totally taken aback as though we didn’t know a certain thing could happen; it just isn’t supposed to happen to us, and not now. Not in this time of my life. If it has to happen it’s supposed to happen when I’m ready for it.
Y’know what I mean? If I’m ever arrested for being a Christian and I am sent to the chopping block, I want the rapture to happen as the blade is falling.
Because I’m a pretty nice guy, all things considered, and I don’t deserve to go like that.
But I want you to notice that Peter isn’t telling them that they should not be surprised at adversity because after all, being sinful creatures they do deserve it, although that is true that we do deserve punishment and we do deserve Hell.
No, he’s telling them not to be surprised for a very different reason. It is because it is sent, not for their punishment, but for their testing. This ‘fiery ordeal’ of suffering is sent to them by God to test them!
Now that’s kind of funny, if you think about it. He doesn’t want them to be surprised at the ordeal because it is sent to test them, and because of the way we generally understand things in the flesh, the fact that it comes to test is the part that surprises us the most! Not the ordeal, but the reason!
We generally have a very poor view of God, don’t we? And I don’t mean the unsaved world. They have no view of God at all. Some of them know gods, but nothing about God.
But in the church we often worship a god, small ‘g’, because the god we worship and think we understand is our own little fantasy god because our silly, sinful minds don’t want to have a God who is different than we think He should be.
Would He, before the world was made, choose His elect as vessels of honor and actually make vessels of dishonor; people through whom to show His wrath and His judgment against sin and unrighteousness?
The Bible says He would. That He did. We don’t like that.
Would God send great suffering and pain and seemingly unbearable grief on His own, His elect, to test them? To test their faith? The Bible says He would. That He did. That He does. We don’t like that.
But a number of things are being accomplished through the suffering of God’s saints, not the least being that it separates true believers from pretenders.
The church has always had and always will have, until He takes His bride home, pretenders. Religious people. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. Nominal Christians – meaning, Christians in name only. Card carriers.
When strong persecution comes against believers because they are followers of Christ, the phonies will always be weeded out. If they don’t really know Jesus and they don’t have the Holy Spirit in them, they have no real reason to suffer for His name and in fact, will not have the strength, the desire or the endurance, all of which come from the Holy Spirit.
And when I think of some of the silly, childish, selfish reasons I’ve heard for people turning their back on the church and Christians, I have to believe that as it becomes increasingly unpopular to be a Christian in society and true persecution comes, there will be a large exodus from the church by people wanting to avoid being pegged as a follower of Christ.
In fact it is my belief that many of them will turn out to be the most vicious persecutors.
There is no viper deadlier than a frightened hypocrite.
Just as testing in the life of the individual believer causes the dross to rise to the surface so it can be scraped off and the child refined like gold, so God does the same in the church as a body. In the end He will present to Himself the purest vessel for His glory.
NO STRANGE THING
The term that Peter utilized that in our text is translated ‘strange’, there in verse 12 at the end, can also be translated ‘surprising’. So we get the sense that he is repeating himself for double emphasis. ‘Don’t be surprised as though something surprising is happening’.
Remember what I was saying about the question we ask? Why me? Well the Biblical answer is, ‘why not?’
Jesus promised it, “In the world you will have tribulation…”
And then He Himself suffered it. And since no servant is greater than his master, why would we expect better treatment?
I have recently been paying more attention to television commercials that advertise churches. What got my closer attention is that a church in our region has placed an ad on TV and because I know of that church I was led to analyze with a sharper focus.
One denomination invites people to find their path in life by coming to their churches. The ad by the local church depicts a place where people can go to be loved, to find community, to learn about God and the Bible.
Jesus is not mentioned in the ad, unless it was so quick I missed it.
And as I see these things and think about the message they’re sending out, I then stop to consider the audience they’re after. Because as you know, commercials are designed to reach certain audiences and draw them.
I wondered if they were trying to entice other Christians away from their present churches to come and join the one being advertised.
Well, that may not be the intent. But then who are they reaching? The unsaved? Where is the gospel message? Is their intent to get people to come and then give them the gospel once they’re in?
And if the newcomers do not want to obey the gospel are they then asked to leave? Or are the leaders of these churches content to fill their congregations with non-believers who are only there for the social fulfillment and are content to remain spiritually dead?
I could go on with more questions, but let me just get to where the rubber meets the road.
This is not the New Testament pattern of evangelism. This is not according to the mandate of Christ.
Neither He nor His Apostles ever preached a ‘come, join us and find fulfillment’ message. None of them offered the faith as a place to hide from the mean ol’ world.
One church advertised on television implies with its visual message that you are invited to come there no matter what your lifestyle is. Well, of course as Christians with the gospel message we should look past people’s faults and address their spiritual need. But if we begin by sending them a message that they are already ‘ok’ with us, then they think that they are ‘ok’ with God, so how is coming in going to help them? I don’t need a Savior if I’m not a sinner.
Jesus called for people to take up a cross, and He said it during a time when people were literally being crucified in great numbers.
Jesus called for people to be willing to turn their back on father and mother, sister and brother if they were not willing to come along.
Bunyon got it right in the beginning of chapter 2 of Pilgrim’s Progress when Christian, broken-hearted as it made him, ran away from his own wife and children who would not believe when he said destruction was coming to the city and went on his own, leaving them behind, to find the Celestial City.
Folks, we of the church of Jesus Christ have gotten completely off track with the scriptural mandate, when we offer comfort and healing and unconditional acceptance and forgiveness apart from confession and repentance, and neglect accountability and a call to share the sufferings of Christ.
And how are we ever going to get that message across to the unchurched and unsaved when so few of us are ready and willing to obey the mandate ourselves.
Well, it may soon be coming to all of us whether we are willing to have it come or not. And as I said, there will be a great weeding out.
NO SHAME FOR THE GODLY
I want to skip to verse 17 and we’ll come back before we end; but there is a phrase here over which I’m sure there has been a lot of confusion.
“For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God”
Now if we take that phrase just as it is and not in the context of the verse it is in or the rest of the passage, it could cause some consternation and not a small amount of trepidation.
Judgment? If judgment of some kind is coming, who is this judgment against? Just who is the ‘household of God’?
One commentator tried to make it the Temple in Jerusalem, since this letter was written around 63-64 A.D. and the Temple was destroyed by the Roman General, Titus in 70 A.D. But that doesn’t work.
Peter was an Apostle of Jesus the Messiah and no longer thought of the Temple as God’s house, but of the church as God’s house.
He said it in chapter 2 verse 5.
“ …you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The writer to the Hebrews also used this terminology in reference to true believers.
“…but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.” 3:6
It’s used again in Hebrews 10:21
So if we, the church, are the household of God, what sort of judgment is Peter talking about?
Well certainly not a judgment of condemnation. We know that because Romans 8:1 says “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
We do get some help from 1 Cor 11:32
“But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world.”
Paul was talking there about some inappropriate behaviors in the practicing of the Lord’s Supper.
The judgment he was talking about is the sort that a father uses to assess his children’s actions and discipline them accordingly and appropriately in order to correct them and purge them of wrong behavior and wrong thinking.
So to get to what Peter was talking about we back up a step and read verse 16.
“…but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God.”
The judgment coming on the household of God was the persecution that would test and strengthen the faith of true believers and purge out the dross.
Now that does not mean that the dross, the hypocrites would escape the judgment. He asks a question and then uses Old Testament scripture to repeat the question.
If the coming persecution is tough on us, who are true believers and therefore sharing in the sufferings of Christ and can rejoice and glorify God, how much tougher will it be on those who have not obeyed the gospel and have no promise and no reward waiting; whose life cannot glorify God because in truth they are not of His household?
So now we can back up to verse 14 and put this whole picture together.
“If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”
This is why I called this sermon “Fire and Judgment”. Peter is promising true believers that the ordeal they are suffering and will suffer is all from God, to test and to purge.
Fire, in the Bible, is always symbolic of God’s wrath against sin.
His fire refines true believers and destroys those who are under condemnation for their sin.
His judgment disciplines His children and shuts the godless up under wrath.
So our concern, Christians, is not to ask who is persecuting us. Whoever the tool is that is being used, persecution and suffering for the believer come from a loving Father to test and purify.
And we need never fear the fiery ordeal that comes upon us, for we are only sharing in the sufferings of Christ, and that, says Peter, is cause for rejoicing.
More than that, if you look closely at verse 13 again, not only can we rejoice that we are tested in this way, but later, at the revelation of His glory, which is His second coming to rule and reign, our rejoicing will be with exultation. In other words, our joy will be even more joyful.
One of our senior sisters in our congregation loves a verse from 2 Chronicles; one she has had many opportunities to cling to for strength.
“For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” 2 Chron 16:9a
Don’t be surprised, believer in Christ, that God would send a fiery ordeal to test you. Don’t be surprised that He would continue to judge His own household in order to correct and discipline the children He loves.
He is Holy and His house must be holy. But the testings that He sends as a just God, prove who is truly His; whose heart is completely His; and He is always looking for someone like that to show His strength to … and through.
Therefore, as Jesus the Son of God did, as the Apostles did after Him, as the thousands upon thousands of Spirit-filled believers have done after them all over the world and through the many years that have followed, be willing to suffer according to the will of God, and entrust your soul to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
Many of you will remember the popular catch-line during the 70’s and probably into the 1980’s as well.
“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”
It was a little over used and it was more than a little incomplete, if the preacher didn’t go on to lead the person through the gospel message.
But it’s true, you know. He does love you and He does have a wonderful plan for your life. It’ll probably be often painful. It will often cause you to be confused and wonder what He’s doing. But don’t be surprised.
His fire purifies; His judgment corrects. Trust your faithful Creator to do what is right, and let your joy be exceedingly joyful.
And don’t be ashamed, but in the name of Christ glorify God.
Mk 10:30 Jn 16:33 1 Thess 3:4 2 Tim 2:3-4 3:12 Matt 7:13-14
Ps 66:10 Prov 17:3
