LIVING THE KINGDOM LIFESTYLE

Part 3

A LETTER FROM PETER - 4:12-16

Suffering for Being a Christian

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.

14 If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. 15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!  (1 Peter 4:12-16 - NLT)

We need to keep in mind that these are not Jewish people to whom Peter is writing, used to being persecuted, taken into slavery and discriminated against, but rather Gentiles, to whom the whole experience was quite new and daunting. The circumstances no doubt seemed strange and unwelcome and probably caught this new Christian community off guard.

As we have discovered this new Christian community was highly visible and its people, in a sense were large and obvious targets. It was a community with high ethical and moral standards that glaringly stood out against the lifestyles that surrounded it. There is a sense in which it was some sort of troublesome and unwanted moral conscience, a conscience many around wanted to obliterate.

From his Jewish roots, Peter had a very clear picture of both the negative and positive sides of persecution and wants his readers to see the complete picture, including their opportunity to be partners with Christ in his suffering. It is not a new thought among New Testament writers with Paul writing in a similar vein to the Christians in Rome. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. (Romans 8:15-17 - NLT) For Jewish Peter, such treatment is almost a badge of honour, worn with pride for his Master.

17 For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? 18 And also, 

“If the righteous are barely saved,
    what will happen to godless sinners?”

19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you. (1 Peter 4:12-16 – NLT))

There is seriousness about Christianity that cannot be avoided nor carelessly dismissed. Judgment is as much part of the doctrinal position as is the overwhelming love of God and His grace, and it is the Christian community itself that must be acutely stringent to ensure that their members understand this doctrinal position. In all that is taking place, our trust in God must be rock solid because He and His promises are infallible.