Should we
expect to suffer for being Christians? When we do
suffer simply for being Christians, and for seeking to live righteously, has
something gone wrong? Has God
somehow lost control of the situation when his people, either individually, or
en masse, suffer? Because
surely if we’re living to please him, he’ll show his approval by giving us a
pain free life, won’t he?
These sorts
of questions were doubtless in the minds of the Christians that Peter wrote to
in his first letter. These were
people who had trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, who now called the all
powerful God of this universe their heavenly Father. But they
were finding that this didn’t mean that life was always straight forward. They hadn’t
suddenly been transported, upon faith in Jesus, to a world, to a life, where
there was no sorrow, no suffering. In fact,
they were finding that being a faithful follower of Jesus could lead to
complications in this life. Not
everybody around them liked their honesty, their refusal to play a part in
breaking the law, their determination not to lie or be deceitful, their
morality. Being a
Christian, living by Christian principles, could bring you in to conflict with
people, including people in positions of authority over you.
One group of
Christians for whom this was particularly true was slaves. Many of our
English translations speak of servants in v18, but that can be slightly
misleading. When we
think of a servant we think of someone who has chosen to be a servant. They’re not
owned by the person they serve, so what they have is a job. A job they
can in theory at least leave if they want to, if they feel they are being badly
treated. But the
people Peter addresses at the start of v18 couldn’t just up and leave their
masters if they didn’t like them. That’s
because these people were what were called bondservants in Greek, in other
words their masters owned them, they were slaves. Some of
these slaves would have had good and gentle masters as Peter describes them in
v18. Living by
Christian principles wouldn’t have brought those slaves into that much conflict
with their masters. But other
Christian slaves had masters who were far from good and gentle – they were
unjust. They would
have treated their slaves harshly, at times in inhumane ways. They would
have asked their slaves to do things, to be party to things that as Christians
those slaves knew they just could not do. But they
couldn’t just leave their masters, so when they opted to obey God rather than
their master, to do good rather than evil, they did it knowing that a beating
would be coming their way. For these
people, becoming Christians had virtually guaranteed them sorrow and suffering. They must
have had some faith mustn’t they!!
What words
did Peter have for these slaves who had trusted in Jesus Christ? What truths
did he have to tell them as they suffered for their faith?
What he had
for them was words that were realistic, there are no false promises here of
total freedom from suffering in this life, quite the opposite actually, but
these are words that when we think through them fully, and prayerfully, though
demanding, are full of rich encouragement. Words that,
yes call us to suffer, but also point us to the sovereignty and justice of God. Words that
point us to the Saviour, the man of sorrows who endured great suffering for us. Words that
point us to his protection, he is the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls, our
souls are utterly secure for all eternity.
We’ll have
three points from these verses this evening;
1 1) Patiently enduring unjust suffering
is a commendable thing in God’s sight (18 – 20)
A theme that
runs through 2:13 – 3:6 is that of submission, subjecting ourselves to
authority.
In verse 18
Peter opens up by saying, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all
respect.” Now as we’ve
said, that’s easy enough to do with a good and gentle master, but what about
with an unjust and harsh one. Well, Peter
tells these Christian slaves, you must have a submissive spirit even towards a
bad master. In the same
way as in the previous verses Peter commanded Christians to submit to the
ruling authorities, to honour them regardless of whether we think they’re good
or not, he here tells slaves to submit to their masters even if they are
unjust. He’s not of
course telling them to obey their masters if they command them to do something
evil, but he is saying subject yourselves to them.
Same applies
to us with employers today. Even though
our employers, if we have employers, don’t literally own us, they are in
authority over us. Say you work
in admin, and your boss is obviously not a good guy, in fact he, or she, is
obviously a nasty piece of work. That doesn’t
give you permission to refuse to type up a letter if they bark an order at you
to do it. We’re to
submit, and do it – unless of course the contents of the letter are evil, and
then refusal to type would be defensible, but otherwise we must do it. We’re to
submit to bad authority figures, so long as they are not telling us to do bad
things.
In verse 19
the emphasis shifts slightly. Peter encourages
his readers who have bad masters, by saying,
“it’s a
gracious thing, a commendable thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows
while suffering unjustly.”
The
situation in mind here is different to obeying an order that isn’t evil, even
though it’s given by an evil master. The
situation in v19 is one where a Christian slave in some way has to defy his
master, because he is mindful that what his master is asking him to do is
contrary to God’s will. That leads
to suffering for the Christian slave as the master punishes him for his
disobedience. Peter encourages
those who find themselves in such a situation by saying that it is a gracious
thing to endure that sorrow and suffering. And the idea
here is that it’s a gracious thing when it’s endured with patience. That
principle would apply not only to a Christian slave patiently suffering under
an unjust master for obeying God, but also to any believer who is persecuted
and made to suffer because of their faith and obedience to God.
Peter
elaborates further in v20. He says, “For what credit is it if, when you sin and
are beaten for it, you endure?” In other
words there’s nothing particularly commendable about accepting your punishment
when you deserve it. “But” Peter goes on to say, “if when you do
good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” In other
words, it is credit to you, when you don’t lash out against someone in
authority over you who treats you badly. Even when in
God’s sight you’ve done nothing wrong.
Now none of
us are slaves, but I’m sure many of us can think of times when because of our
Christian principles we’ve ended up with a rough deal from employers. We can
definitely think of high profile cases where other Christians have ended up
with a rough deal because obeying God has put them on the wrong side of the law
of the land. That seems
to happen increasingly.
How are we
typically to respond, as Christians, to such situations?
According to
what Peter says here, the gracious thing in the sight of God is to endure it
with patience. Now, none of
this is to say that there isn’t a place for speaking out against abuse in the
workplace – or anywhere else for that matter – that of course is often very
necessary. But, we
mustn’t miss what Peter is emphasising here, what God’s word is emphasising. When, as
Christians, we suffer for obeying God and not men, an indispensible element in
how we deal with that suffering is that we show patient endurance.
It’s often
been said that Christianity thrives, when Christians out suffer their enemies.
In other words, the way a Christian handles unjust suffering should be so
different from how the world handles such things, that it wins to people to
Christ. What should
shine through is our graciousness, patience, endurance under such suffering. Now that is
far from easy, it is hard, but it is what we are called to, and may
increasingly find ourselves having to do in this country.
I was at a
Christian men’s conference in Manchester last weekend and one of the speakers
was a man called Justin Mote, some of you know the name. He was
talking about changing attitudes towards Christianity in this country. Attitudes in
society around us, and how that effects the attitude of employers, the attitude
of government, and following on from that, the attitude of the law. Two
generations ago wider society’s attitude towards Christianity was generally
positive. Christianity
was a good thing, and many people went to church. People
sought to live by Christian principles and morals, the law of the land upheld
these principles. One
generation ago the attitude had changed somewhat. Christianity
was still considered good for those who wished to pursue it. Fewer people
actually practiced Christianity though, even in a nominal sense.
Christian
morals and principles were still present, but following them was now optional. The law was
beginning to reflect this change in attitude. Now, things
have changed again. The attitude
towards Christianity is increasingly negative, in fact many consider
Christianity not to be good, but evil. Wider
society has not only rejected Christian morality for itself, but very often condemns
Christians who insist on practicing Christian morality themselves. The law
increasingly reflects this and restricts the practicing of Christian belief and
morality.
I think his
assessment of the situation is right. And that
means of course, that as Christians we are increasingly likely to suffer for
obeying God and not men. So the
question arises, what are the biblical principles that guide how we respond to
such suffering? What do you
think Peter would say?
What I say
at this point might initially sound somewhat controversial, but please hear me
out. I don’t
think Peter would call us, first and foremost, to take our employers and
government to the courts to try and overturn their treatment of us. I don’t
think he would call us first and foremost to shout loudly, to try and gain
publicity, and lobby our employers and government to try and make them change
the law.
That’s not
to say there’s no place for that, but I genuinely don’t think he’d say that it
was anywhere near the first priority in responding to such suffering, that he
would suggest it would be the thing that would actually make a difference. Why? Because
it isn’t anywhere in his list of suggestions here is it.
It might
seem like the natural response, to say take them to court, appeal to law, but
he doesn’t. To a people
suffering for their faith he says, “endure it, patiently, graciously.”
Now I really
don’t think this was because Peter thought slavery was O.K. and didn’t care if
it continued. Slavery
brings unjust suffering. But over
time, the wisdom of this approach to dealing with it was seen. The patient
suffering of Christians led to the incredible growth of the church in the Roman
Empire. Unbelievers
saw how Christians responded to injustice, with patient, gracious endurance,
and they were drawn to the gospel, drawn to Jesus and many were saved
themselves. Eventually
so many were won to Christ, that Christians were a majority and eventually, as
a result slavery was outlawed, that injustice was removed. As
Christianity became mainstream, the law was aligned to Christian values. But that
came about through suffering, graciously, patiently endured suffering of unjust
persecution.
I wonder if
that’s a lesson that the church in the west, the church in the UK, is going to
have to learn again. We haven’t
had to learn it, not really, for at least a few hundred years. But as far
as I can tell, the Bible teaches us that if we want to see our land won again
for Christ, then it won’t actually happen primarily through us as a minority
group trying to lobby our none-Christian law makers, and none-Christian legal
system. Instead, the
Bible teaches us that we have to be ready to suffer. To suffer
injustices, and to suffer them well – with endurance, with patience, with
grace. We have to
be ready to adorn the gospel message of Christ’s suffering, with suffering of
our own, so that people will believe the gospel and turn to Christ. Don’t you
think, given the verses we have in front of us, that that’s what Peter would
call us to first and foremost.
Perhaps as
Christians in this country, because of our recent history, we tend to feel a
sense of entitlement. A sense that
we are entitled to laws that back up our beliefs, a sense that we are entitled
to practice our faith free from persecution of any kind. But we’re
not entitled to freedom from persecution are we, not even from the government –
not in God’s book.
Now there’s
nothing wrong with desiring laws that we know are what’s best for all society,
laws in accordance with God word. And it’s
definitely not wrong to ask for and argue for such laws. It’s also
not wrong to desire freedom from persecution, to pray for freedom from
persecution, even to write to politicians to graciously ask them to uphold that
freedom, but we mustn’t think we’re entitled to that freedom. In the Bible
we’re promised persecution. I think we
do sometimes have a sense of entitlement though, and it can blind us to
thinking through carefully, and prayerfully, how we suffer when injustices come
our way.
I do find
myself asking, where are the voices telling us how to suffer well? How to
suffer patiently, with endurance, with grace so that we might point people to
the gospel, to Christ?
As the world
observes us, watches to see how we cope with, and respond to injustices
committed against us, what do they hear and see from us? Do they see
people who suffer well, or people who shout a lot about the injustices that we
suffer? I do sometimes
wonder what they see!!
Peter
teaches us here that patiently enduring unjust suffering is a commendable thing
in God’s sight.
That’s a lot
to ask though isn’t it?! Why would he
teach us that this is the way to respond to injustices?
Our second
much shorter point comes from verses 21-23
2 2) Christ patiently endured unjust
suffering as our example
Peter opens
verse 21 by saying, “For to this you have been called.” In other
words we are called to do what he has just outlined in v20 – to do good and
suffer for it with patient endurance.
But why?
He tells us
v21, “because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you
might follow in his steps.” We are
called as Christians to follow the pattern of life that Christ followed, and in
his life on earth Christ suffered.
He suffered
injustices that go way beyond anything we could ever suffer. In fact, his
suffering was exclusively for doing good, as Peter says at the start of v22, he
committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
When Peter
uses the word “example” in v21 it was a word used of children who traced over
the letters of the alphabet in order to learn to write their letters correctly. You wanted
to follow as exactly as possible the outline of what you were trying to copy. As
Christians we’re to be all about copying Christ. Following
his lead, planting our steps exactly where his have been. And he
walked through unjust suffering. He walked
through a trial of trumped up charges, he suffered the ultimate injustice at
the hands of men, as he was condemned to death for crimes that he had not
committed. He only ever
did what was right in God’s sight, and yet he was crucified.
How did he
walk through all this, v23? “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.”
There’s our
example. Like Christ,
we don’t try and strike back, instead we patiently endure.
Notice that
Jesus was able to do this because he trusted his Father. He knew that
any wrongs now, any injustices committed against him now, would one day be
judged by his Father.
When we
suffer an injustice due to our faith, the temptation is to think, this must be
put right now - "I need
justice now." It’s not
wrong to desire justice. But we must remind ourselves at such times that God
will provide justice one day. One day all
rights will be put wrong. We can trust him with that absolutely.
And in the
meantime that will help us to patiently endure suffering in the present. We look to
Christ as our example in this says Peter, and we draw our strength from him, in
order to respond like him.
Peter has
almost reached the end of this section on suffering, and as he thinks of
Christ’s suffering, he can’t help but say one more thing about that suffering.
Something about Christ’s suffering that was unique, that sets it apart actually
from ours.
3 3) Christ also suffered as our
Substitute and Shepherd (v24 – 25)
There was
something unique about Christ’s sufferings wasn’t there.
When we
suffer, we’re not paying the ultimate penalty for anyone else’s sin. We’re not
taking upon ourselves God’s eternal wrath so that someone else doesn’t have to. Only Jesus
has ever suffered in that way. “He himself
bore our sins in his body on the tree”, v24. He paid the
price of our sin for us. We can follow his example in patiently and graciously
enduring unjust suffering, but we can’t eternally save anyone by paying for
their sin through our suffering. Only Christ
does that. He carries our sins on the cross.
But then
Peter gives us a reason why he did that.
He says it
was so “that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” What does
that mean? Well it
means that the purpose of Christ’s death, his carrying of our sins on the
cross, was not only to make forgiveness possible for those who put their faith
in him, it was also to empower those who put their faith in him to live to
righteousness.
One of the
commentators says this about v24. “The verse
begins with the basis upon which believers are forgiven: Christ’s sin bearing
death. Peter then emphasises the purpose of his death: it is so that believers
will live a new kind of life”, an increasingly righteous life.
The ability
to live in the way Peter has just outlined – graciously enduring unjust
suffering, would be impossible, utterly impossible, without faith in the
crucified Christ. But, Christ
has died for us, carried our sin to the cross, so that we might be able, by his
Spirit’s power, to increasingly live like him.
The
Christian life is genuinely demanding. Forgive those who hurt you. Patiently
endure unjust suffering. But whatever
God asks of us, through Christ, he graciously provides the spiritual resources to
obey. So we must
learn to lean on him, because we have to lean on him, in order to live like
him.
Conclusion
Let’s bring
this message to a conclusion.
Peter draws
this section to together with some words of real comfort and encouragement for
hard pressed Christians. He ends v24
by saying, “by his wounds (that Jesus’ wounds) you have been healed.”
No matter
how much of a physical beating Christians may take, Christ’s wounds have healed
their sin sick hearts. And no
amount of suffering can change that. They’ve been
healed by Christ’s wounds.
Then in
verse 25, he says, “For you
were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of
your souls.”
Without
Christ, any person is in a far greater place of danger than with Christ. Even if
being with Christ brings unjust sufferings. Without him
we’re straying like lost sheep and on our way to a lost eternity. But with him
we have a Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. Our souls
are completely safe from lasting harm. As the great
Shepherd psalm, Psalm 23 says,
“Even though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you
are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.”
We have an
all seeing, all knowing, all powerful, loving, Shepherd and Overseer, Protector
and Keeper of our souls. Whatever we
face, and who knows what God may call us to face, to endure, our souls are
always safe. We’re in our
Shepherd’s care, and that is our greatest comfort.
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