RTS Papers / Communication 1 / Summer 2016
A sermon on 1 Peter 4:12-19
(iv.) Because the Christian is given a gospel suffering, we should trust God through it — vv. 17 - 19
The word for ‘time’ used by Peter here is not the word for chronological time, but rather the appointed time. A time marked out by God for something that would tell the story by fire. The time had come for a gospel suffering. And surprisingly a kind of judging fire is poured out first on God’s own house. Look at this verse: For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God (17). Commentators are divided on the meaning here. Is it a refining judgment or a vindicating judgment? But whether this refers to the normal experience in this age or the culmination of all these fires in the Last Judgment, Peter compares the incomparable here. A tale of two judgements: one that is real and painful, but ultimately good for God’s people, and the other that is incomparably more severe.
and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (vv. 17-18)
Is it a refining judgment now or a vindicating judgment on the Last Day? In either case, one thing Peter makes very clear: We want to be in that first group! We want to come out of the fire like gold. We do not want to be ashamed for how we are mistreated, which is to say that we do not want to be ashamed for why we are treated to such pain.
Then Peter gives us the upshot application. And once again it parallels what Jesus did in the gospel in Chapter 2: “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (2:23). So we are to follow in his steps here: Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good (v. 19). The only difference between how Jesus entrusted Himself through suffering to God and how we are being called to entrusted ourselves to God through suffering is that, in the case of Christ, the focus is on God as Judge, whereas here Peter switches his emphasis to God as “faithful Creator.” Why this emphasis? How will our trust in God as faithful Creator build our trust in God through the trial? We can see how this works with justice. If I really believe that vengeance belongs to God—that God will pour out a final judgment in the end—then I will be more likely to trust his justice and relent from pouring out my own in the moment. But it is harder to see how trusting God as faithful Creator restrains my natural inclination to want to fight back or plead my case or whatever.
As I was going through boxes of books in the bookstore the other day I came across a title called “Righteous Indignation.” The face of the radio personality on the cover was … well, indignant. He was the angry white male — all of them I think — the embodiment of a not so silent majority: mad as hell, and demanding nothing more than a return to common sense and decency and law and order and justice. But as I looked closer I realized more of what he wanted. He wanted his old world back.
Don’t get me wrong. It is an awful thing to watch one’s country and culture degenerate. And I believe that in the biblical worldview, the church has a prophetic role to speak truth to power. However, that same biblical worldview sets a gospel suffering above the cry of Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” What if Christ had demanded liberty now and exacted justice now? It was the death of Christ that made liberty true and lasting. And it was the resurrection of Christ that starts everything new — and so I think that I found my clue as to why Peter tells us to trust in God as the faithful Creator here.
When the Psalmist was done being jealous of the wicked, it was because he saw their just end (cf. Ps.73:17). He had been tempted to throw up his hands and say, “Then what’s the use of being a child of God?” or “What’s the point of following Christ!” But the Psalmist there comes back to Himself, and He sees God as a good Creator, faithful to his lasting work. Oh yes, there is a time and a place to stand up to injustice—to say, “Hey that’s not right” and so on—but when it is time for the fiery trial, don’t we trust what He told us at the end of the Bible? “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5). Or as the author of Hebrews connected our trust through suffering with the new creation: “you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one” (Heb. 10:34).
So in summary, we have seen that because the Christian is given a gospel suffering, we should not be surprised by it; we should rejoice in it; we should never earn it; and we should trust God through it.
* * *
With the Pulse shooting here in Orlando still fresh in our memories, we get a sense of how Christians could be subject to mob injustice. Whatever else happened that night, one thing that many people are sure of is that Christians are to blame. We are in a time and place in which our neighbors will cry to have the most violent Barabbas delivered to them if only they can crucify anyone who identifies with Jesus Christ. Can you hear the rising cry of the crowds to crucify … crucify … crucify the Christian? How do we respond? With “righteous indignation”? Toward what end? Will we match mob justice with mob justice? Will we always prove our point? We very rarely do.
If we are reviled, let us be reviled for our love. Let us be scourged and handed over in the same way and for the same reasons as Jesus was. As Peter says,
"Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation" (1 Pet. 2:12).
Because the Christian is given a gospel suffering, we must respond to all mistreatment in a way that tells his story.
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