Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20110918.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Peter: Effective Christian Living In A Spiritually Hostile World
Part XI: Living In Holiness Under Spiritual Persecution, 1 Peter 3:8-4:19
F. Suffering Persecution Successfully By Faith
(1 Peter 4:12-19)
  1. Introduction
    1. Suffering persecution for righteousness' sake seems like a daunting task to many, but that is not what God wants it to be for us: Jesus in Matthew 5:11-12 called believers to rejoice greatly if thus persecuted, for the experience is a calling reserved in God's permissive will for special people like godly prophets of old.
    2. 1 Peter 4:12-19 details God's program of suffering persecution successfully by faith, and since a believer can suffer both overt, physical persecution as well as covert, spiritual persecution of the inner man, what we believers in our land have been more prone to face, we view the passage for edifying insight:
  2. Suffering Persecution Successfully By Faith, 1 Peter 4:12-19.
    1. Peter directed his readers who were about to face severe persecution from the Roman government under emperor Nero (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 838) not to be surprised at that fiery trial as though some strange thing had come upon them, 1 Peter 4:12. Note how well this directive fits Jesus' words in John 15:18 where He predicted the world would hate the believer just as it had hated Him simply because the believer was not part of the world system, but that he had spiritually been taken out of it by the Lord!
    2. Since persecution is thus inevitable for the godly as Paul also asserted in 2 Timothy 3:12, Peter told his readers to rejoice when it arose since they would thus be partakers of Christ's sufferings, that they would then also partake of His glory that follows persecution at His coming, leading to great joy, 1 Peter 4:13.
    3. The initial type of persecution Peter's readers would likely face would be that of being "insulted for the name of Christ," 1 Peter 4:14a. Peter thus directed that when this initial form of anti-Christian persecution came their way, his readers were to consider themselves as being blessed by God, for the Holy Spirit of glory and of God rested upon them, 1 Peter 4:14b NIV, ESV.
    4. However, Peter claimed that no believer should suffer because he had sinned as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer or meddling in the affairs of others, 1 Peter 4:15 ESV, NIV. Being oppressed by unbelievers for such wrongs is not praiseworthy for the believer in the eyes of God!
    5. Nevertheless, if anyone suffered for being a "Christian," he was not to be ashamed of that suffering, but to praise the Lord that he suffered for bearing that name, 1 Peter 4:16 NIV, ESV.
    6. To emphasize his directive that a believer not suffer for sin, but for righteousness, Peter then told his readers that it was time for God's judgment to begin at the household of God, with the believer, and if it began with him, the outcome of that judgment once it reached the unsaved would be very great, 1 Peter 4:17. He backed up this claim by citing Proverbs 11:31 in the Greek [Septuagint] translation of the Old Testament in 1 Peter 4:18 to teach that if the righteous are scarcely saved, how much more severe would be God's judgment on those who rejected Christ! ( U. B. S. Greek New Testament, 1966, p. 801)
    7. Accordingly, when the believer faced persecution for righteousness' sake, not for his own sinfulness, he was to consent to the permissive will of God that he thus suffer, 1 Peter 4:19a.
    8. Then, regarding the pain of such suffering, Peter told believers to entrust their "souls" to a faithful Creator while doing good, 1 Peter 4:19b. This directive in the Greek New Testament text provides greater insight:
      1. The word "soul" is psuchas, and Peter uses it in 1 Peter both of the inner man (1 Peter 1:9, 22; 2:11, 25) and of man's physical life (1 Peter 3:20; Moult. & Ged., Conc. to the Greek Test. , 1974, p. 1023)
      2. So, in facing persecution for righteousness' sake, whether the outer or the inner man is being afflicted, the believer must entrust (paratithemi, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Engl. Lex. of the N. T. , 1967, p. 628) his whole humanity to God as the Faithful Creator of both the outer and the inner man (Gen. 2:7) and Who knows fully the limitations of both, and to keep focusing on doing what is good, 1 Peter 4:19b.
Lesson and Application: If facing persecution for righteousness' sake in some form, may we believers rejoice in the high calling involved, may we avoid doing evil and do good while entrusting to God as our Faithful Creator our entire being to deal with what we face by way of the pain of the suffering involved.