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Several years ago Mel Gibson (The Passion of the Christ)
produced and starred in a film called Braveheart. It is the
story of a 13th century Scottish peasant named William
Wallace who tried to unite his countrymen to overthrow their English
rulers. He was a brilliant strategist and pulled off amazing
victories in the face of overwhelming adversity. One of the
particular obstacles he had to overcome was the Scottish nobility
who were being paid off by the King of England. It was financially
advantageous for them to remain under the rule of England, so they
weren’t too inclined to follow Wallace as he waged his war. It is a
gripping movie because just when you think the nobility is going to
assist him, they abandon him. This happened repeatedly, and the
story turns tragic when Wallace is treacherously betrayed by the
nobility and is imprisoned in London where he is going to be
tortured and eventually executed for his treason.
One of the subplots running through the movie is that the King of
England’s daughter in law, a shrewd French princess, is in love with
Wallace and is responsible for his being able to evade the English
army for so long. She visits him in prison and implores him to
confess his treason and swear allegiance to England, just so he can
die quickly by being beheaded instead of going through a regimen of
torture which would turn your stomach. This is something he cannot
bring himself to do. After pleading with him to no avail, she
offers him a vial of sedative which will at least dull the pain of
the upcoming torture, which he also refuses because he wants to have
all his wits about him during the ordeal. Weeping, she asks him,
“Is there anything I can do for you?” And his answer, in my
opinion, is the pinnacle of the movie. He says, “Pray that I will
die well.”
What does that response tell you about his priorities in
life? Most of us would say that he viewed freedom as being the
pinnacle of human experience. But I see something more in that
response . What I see is a perspective of life that views death,
not as something to be avoided at all costs, but rather as something
to be faced with dignity. From his perspective, death was
inevitable. He knew he was going to die. It was either going to be
a quick death by beheading, or a slow death as he was carved alive.
He had no control over the certainty of death. But what he did have
control over was how he died. Therefore, he wanted all
his wits about him. He didn’t want his senses dulled by sedatives.
He wanted to maintain his focus and die well.
You are probably wondering what in the world this has to
do with the book of 1 Peter. Over the past few weeks as I have
asked you to be reading this short book in preparation for our
study, I mentioned that the theme of this book is “how to suffer
well.” What we are going to see is that suffering is not something
we should try to avoid at all costs. Rather, it is something we
need to face with dignity. Suffering is inevitable, if you are a
true follower of Christ. In 1 Peter 4:12 we read,
“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.” In 4:17 we read that “it is time
for judgment to begin with the household of God.” In 2 Tim.
3:12, we read, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in
Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Suffering is inevitable. We
have no control over it. What we do have control over is how
we suffer. And what we are going to see as we go through this book
is that we need to have all our wits about us. This is why Peter
tells us in 1:13 to “gird your minds for action” and
“keep sober in spirit.” In 5:8, Peter repeats the
command to be “sober in spirit” and adds to it to “be on
the alert.” In a nutshell, we need to have all our wits about
us. We don’t want our minds to be dulled by sedatives in any way.
We want to maintain our focus and suffer well.
So as we go through our study of 1 Peter, keep the theme
of the book in mind - how to suffer well. 1 Peter is a rather
unique book because it is the only letter of the NT that was written
without a specific doctrinal issue in mind. In other words, the
recipients of this letter were not struggling with abandoning their
faith and going back to the Mosaic Law, as in the book of
Galatians. They weren’t confused about the return of Jesus like we
see in the book of 1 Thessalonians. They didn’t need instruction on
the basics of Christianity as in the book of James. Peter didn’t
have any particular doctrine in mind as he was writing this letter
to the believers scattered throughout “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia.” His sole purpose in writing the book is to
encourage suffering, persecuted Christians.
I believe this topic is going to be especially relevant
to us, as I shared with you last summer. As Western Christians
fortunate enough to have lived during the most financially affluent
and religiously free period in U.S. history, we don’t know anything
about suffering. In fact, Christianity as you and I have
experienced it is an aberration. Our experience is not the norm
when viewed from the perspective of the last 2000 years of church
history- which is why parts of the New Testament sound foreign to
us. For instance, what did Jesus have in mind when He said,
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not
come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 "For I came to set
a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and a man's
enemies will be the members of his household. 37 "He who
loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who
loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
This kind of talk doesn’t make sense to a Christian, brought up in a
Christian home, living in a “Christian” nation, where freedom of
religion is a right. But it makes perfect sense to our all brothers
and sisters in Christ outside of Europe and the Americas. Talk to
one of your brothers in Christ living in Sudan, and he’ll tell you
what this passage means. Talk to one of your Anabaptist forefathers
living in Switzerland in the 1500’s, and he’ll tell you what Jesus
meant in Matthew 10:34-37.
We have trials and tribulations, we have all walked through some
pretty deep and dark valleys, and I’m not trying to diminish that;
but when it comes to really suffering, we don’t have a clue.
Personally, though, I think our days of affluence and ease are
coming to an end. It may not happen for several decades, but if the
projections of knowledgeable people come true, those days will be
upon us sooner rather than later. As your pastor, I want to prepare
you biblically for those days.
I have a homework assignment for you this week. I’d
like each of you to read the book of 1 Peter once a day for five of
the seven days. It will take you less than 30 minutes, but it is
important that you read it each time in a single sitting. I want
you to be familiar with the flow of the book and Peter’s major
themes. You won’t pick up on that if you read it in bits and pieces
throughout the day. As you read the book, I want you to be on the
lookout for Peter’s sub-themes. In other word, we know his major
theme is about how to suffer well, and you will see numerous
references to that; but keep your eyes open for the following list
of secondary themes. First of all, look for Peter’s
emphasis on the
importance of perspective.
Note how often he exhorts us to focus on issues of eternal
consequence vs. issues of temporal consequence. For instance, look
at the last half of 1:13 where Peter exhorts us to “fix
your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ.” That is having an eternal
perspective. Secondly, keep your eyes open for his
emphasis on
visible holiness.
By visible holiness, I mean objective, tangible, lifestyle
differences from the unsaved population we live in. This was
surprising to me as I have been studying the book. What does holy
living have to do with suffering well? Believe it or not, a lot!
Look quickly with me at 2:12. “Keep your behavior
excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they
slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as
they observe them,glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Finally, the third smaller theme to look for is the
importance of sanctification.
Sanctification is the process we go through as Christians where we
gradually become more and more like Jesus. How do we do that? We
stop living contrary to God’s expectations and start living
according to them. This journey from rebellion against God’s
standard, to conformity to them is called sanctification. And
again, this emphasis was a surprise to me considering the overall
theme of the book. What does sanctification have to do with
suffering well? You will find out over the next few weeks. A good
example of Peter’s focus on sanctification is seen in 2:1-2.
“Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy
and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk
of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”
The malice and guile and hypocrisy and envy and slander are all
manifestations of life contrary to God’s standards. Peter tells us,
“Get rid of them!” And in their place, get into the Word of God so
that you can start growing to become more like Jesus. That is
sanctification, a theme Peter hits on repeatedly.
Something we did when we were studying the book of James
that I’d like to repeat with study is to commit a key passage to
memory. There are many outstand passages in 1 Peter, but the one I
have chosen for us to memorize is in chapter two, verses 19 – 25. I
like it because it encapsulates the overall theme of the book as
well as the three sub-themes. In other words, you could take the
entire book and distill it into these seven verses. Think with me
about the overall theme of the book – how to suffer well. In verse
21 we see that if we want to suffer well, we need to follow the
example of Jesus. “You have been called for this purpose, since
Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to
follow in His steps.” And then he gives us a list of way in which
we can suffer like Jesus.
What about the sub-theme of the importance of perspective?
Look at verse 20. “For
what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you
endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and
suffer for it, and you patiently endure it, this finds favor with
God.”
A temporal perspective on suffering focuses on relief. An eternal
perspective on suffering focuses on pleasing God. You can see the
secondary theme of visible holiness in verse 22 were
if we suffer like Jesus did, deceit will not be a part of our
speech, and neither will reviling our persecutors. Threatening
retaliation against the perpetrators during the pressure of the
suffering will not be how we operate. These are all physical,
audible, manifestation of holiness. And the theme of
sanctification is seen in verses 24 and 25 where we are told
to “die to sin and live to righteousness.” To the extent we
do that, we will be like Jesus. Once, we were “straying like
sheep, but now we have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of our
souls.” That is a poetic way of describing the process of
sanctification. Do you see how all the various themes of James come
together in this single passage? That is why I believe it to be
worthwhile to commit to memory. Let’s say it together.
19
For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward
God a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.
20
For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated,
you endure it with patience?
But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, and you
patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
21
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also
suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His
steps:
22
who committed no sin,
nor was any deceit found in His mouth;
23
and while being reviled, He did not revile in return;
while suffering, He uttered no threats,
but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;
24
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might
die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were
healed.
25
For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have
returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
One thing I want to warn you about before we get into
our study is that we are not going to study this book verse by
verse, or even phrase by phrase, like we usually do. One of the
unique aspects of 1 Peter is that it is probably the most eloquent
and formally written book in the New Testament. The Greek of 1
Peter has been described as “the work of a man of letters, skilled
in all the devices of rhetoric, and able to draw on an extensive,
and even learned, vocabulary. He is a stylist of no ordinary
capacity, and writes some of the best Greek in the whole New
Testament, far smoother and more literary than that of the highly
trained Paul.” Another scholar’s assessment of 1 Peter is that “it
has no equal in the New Testament for sustained stateliness of
rhythm.” Someone else says that “the Greek of 1 Peter is not
entirely unworthy to be set beside the Greek of the masters of the
Greek language.”
So because of Peter’s stylistic exuberance, we are not going to try
to mine the riches of each verse. It would take us forever! So
what I did was to divide the book into 10 sections, following the
divisions of the Greek text. We are going to deal with one section
per week, unless I sniff a rabbit that needs to be chased. What I
will show you each week is the overall point Peter is making in the
section, and how it will help us suffer well. For instance, in
1:1-12, Peter’s point is that if you want to suffer well, you are
going to have to maintain an eternal perspective. In 1:13-25, if
you want to suffer well, you are going to have to discipline your
mind. In 2:1-10, if you want to suffer well, you are going to have
to realize who you are in Christ. But we aren’t going to analyze
each verse of the section like we usually do.
In closing, one other thing I want us to do as we study this book is
focus each month on a hymn that has particular relevance to
suffering well. Some of the hymns you will be familiar with, others
may be new to you. But for four Sunday’s at a time, I want us to
end the service with the same hymn. I want to do this because when
we take the principles of Scripture and put them to music, it
enables us recall those principle easier. The hymn we close with
will probably stick with you much better throughout the week than
the message! So we’ll close our services each Sunday with a special
hymn.
The first hymn we will focus on is # 728, Am I A Soldier of
The Cross? Isaac Watts wrote this song, probably based on the
passage in 2 Tim. 2 where Paul says to Timothy, “You therefore
must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one
engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life,
that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” I chose
to do this one first because it asks such penetrating questions.
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