Don't Be Surprised, But Rejoice

Introduction: Peter's Transformation and the Sermon's Core Message

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, November 21st, 1999, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now let us turn together to 1 Peter and chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter 4, and follow, if you will please, as I read verses 12 through 19. 1 Peter 4 and verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which comes upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you. But, insomuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of his glory also you may rejoice with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you. Because the spirit of glory and the spirit of God rests upon you. For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men's matters.

1:21 But if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name. For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begin first. At us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?

1:42 And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? Wherefore, let them also that suffer according to the will of God, commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful creator. Now, I'm sure that most of you, if not all of you. Have been in a group setting of what we might call relaxed social interaction.

2:16 The kind of interaction we have down in the foyer, after the service, in our homes, sitting in the living room with well-loved company in our homes. And into that setting of relaxed, goodwill, free conversation. Somebody says something or does something that immediately, as it were, injects an electrical...

2:41 Electrifying current into that group and everyone, as it were, stiffens up, holds his or her breath, wondering how this one or that one is going to respond to that electrifying moment in that social interaction. Well, it was one of those electrifying moments in the experience of the disciples. We read in three parallel accounts, Matthew 16 and Mark 8 and Luke 9. That.

3:11 Our. Lord Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, asked them to give him a report of their first century Palestinian religious pole. And he said to them, who do men say that I am? And they give him the results of their pole.

3:30 And they say, some say this, some say that, some say the other. But then you will remember that the Lord then addressed this question to the disciples. But who do you say that I am? Peter.

3:41 Peter responds by saying, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And after commending Peter and making it plain that he did not come to this discovery by mere human analysis and by human means, but it was a result of the revelatory act of God upon his mind and upon his heart. After saying a few more things about the future of his church, at that point, after that confession, Jesus began very...

4:12 He began very, very explicitly to tell his disciples, I must go to Jerusalem, at Jerusalem I must suffer, and at Jerusalem I must die. And at that point, the electrical current begins to be injected into that little group, but no sooner does the Lord say that, but that Peter, in the language of Scripture, takes upon himself to rebuke the Lord Jesus, not to ask a question and say, Lord Jesus, did I hear you correctly? Did I hear you correctly? Did I hear you correctly?

4:42 Did I hear you correctly? Did I hear you correctly? Did I hear you correctly? Are you talking about Jerusalem, suffering, dying?

4:47 Lord, I don't... Please, no, he didn't do that.

4:50 He blurted out in a cheeky way, be it far from you, Lord, this will never happen to you.

4:58 Now, can you feel the electricity in that?

5:02 Peter's telling the Lord off. He's rebuking the Lord. He's telling the Lord what to do. The one he's just confessed is Messiah.

5:12 God's final authority. He's the authoritative prophet to declare the will of God. And now Peter, a mere creature, is telling incarnate deity what to do. You are Christ, Messiah, Son of God, but I'm telling you what to do.

5:27 It was cheeky. And one can only feel, if you read the passage, now, the amount of electricity in the air must have been tremendous. Because in Peter's mind, there was no way that Messiah, rejection, suffering, and death, could ever fit together.

5:48 Now, why do I remind you of that electrifying moment? Well, for the simple reason that by the time this same man, Peter, about 35 years later, writes a letter to a group of Christians, he is not only convinced in the depths of his soul that the only way Messiah could accomplish his messianic work, even the work of saving people, his people, was through the path of rejection, suffering, and death, and that only as Messiah dies, only as Messiah suffers, can he then enter his glory. This very Peter, who now glories in the suffering and death of Messiah Jesus, is absolutely convinced that suffering for Jesus, and with Jesus, are both inevitable and indispensable accompaniments of a saving attachment to Jesus. May I repeat that? 35 years later,

6:59 the very same Peter, who with shameless cheek and arrogance rebukes his Lord, saying, no suffering and death for you, he's writing a letter to Christians in these Roman provinces of Asia Minor, out of the conviction that as surely as Messiah had to die to secure his salvation and the salvation of all of his people, he is equally convinced that suffering for Jesus and with Jesus are the inevitable and indispensable accompaniments of a saving attachment to Jesus. And therefore, as he writes this epistle, after laying, out the obligations of Christians as a privileged people, chapter 1, verse 3, to chapter 2, verse 10, and the obligations of Christians as a pilgrim people, chapter 2, verse 11, to chapter 3, verse 12, beginning at verse 13 of chapter 3, he is setting forth the obligations of Christians as a persecuted people. And as we have been working our way through this last section, we are really now in the heart of Peter's central pastoral burden. That burden to enlighten, to encourage,

8:26 and to instruct the people of God with respect to how they are to handle this suffering that has come to them and will continue to come to them and most likely come to them with increasing intensity. How are they to respond to it? How are they to act in the midst of it? What is to be their inner disposition?

8:48 What is to be their response to those about them? How are they to conduct themselves in their life together as congregations? Well, as we have been working through this section, we come this morning to the last paragraph in chapter 4, and we will focus our attention upon verses 12 and 13. And if you want a convenient little handle to remember the central thrust of these verses, it's very simple.

9:15 Peter says, Don't think it strange, but rejoice. Or if you prefer, don't be surprised, but rejoice. That's the heart of the passage. And I say so because these are the two imperatives in verses 12 and 13, and everything else is either an explanation of them, a qualification of them, or an amplification of these two directives, beloved, think it not strange, don't be surprised concerning the fiery trial among you, but inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's suffering, rejoice.

The Gracious Introduction: 'Beloved'

9:57 Don't be surprised, but rejoice. That's the heart of the passage. Now then, note with me as we try to work out the various lines of truth that hang on to and flow out of that simple dual imperative, note, note with me first of all the gracious introduction to this paragraph. Verse 12.

10:20 Beloved, think it not strange. Now again, try to construct the setting with me.

10:30 Peter has been dealing with the subject of the Christian in the midst of suffering in a concentrated way, starting in chapter 3, verse 13. He had already mentioned it in chapter 1, verse 6. He had already mentioned it with reference to how, how slaves in their suffering and indirectly some of the emotional and perhaps even physical suffering of a wife who has an unconverted spouse and some of the verbal opposition that people of God are receiving, but now in a most concentrated way, he has been opening up the subject of the Christian who suffers according to the will of God. And in the midst of treating the subject, we saw in verses 7 to 11, he wants them to know that their commitment, to God honoring church life, are not to be eroded because things are kind of hot on the outside. And so in verses 7 to 11, in the light of the next great epical event in redemptive history, the coming of the Lord Jesus, he gives them specific directives concerning their life together. And as he gives those directives to be fervent in their love among themselves, to exercise their gifts among themselves, he tells them, the great purpose of all of this is that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. And that launches him into that brief but passionate doxology whose is the glory and dominion forever and ever.

12:00 And then he gives his own affirmation, his own so be it, let it be. He signs his amen with a broad stroke. And then he pauses, gathers his thoughts. Perhaps he looks at some sketchy notes that he has taken outlining the various things that he has done.

12:17 The various items that he wants to be sure to include in this letter. The same way some of us do that when we're composing a letter that is more than just the effusion of our hearts to an intimate friend. We may take little notes and as we then dictate or write the letter, tick off the items. Well, imagine Peter may have, may have, I have no evidence that he did, but he may have, could well have had a sketchy outline of what he wanted to say or at least in his mind as he contemplated what he wants to tell us.

12:47 I'm going to tell them having focused in those earlier verses, 3.13 to the end of chapter 3 and on into chapter 4, 1 to 6. He is focused upon how they respond to suffering and persecution, particularly in the horizontal dimensions. And now as he thinks or he looks at his notes, he says, I now want to take them deeper into the school of suffering.

13:11 I now must tell them things that are not going to be pleasant. I'm going to tell them things that may on the surface of the issue appear as though somehow God is lessened in his love to them or perhaps they might question the depth of my love to them in terms of what I'm going to write. And so Peter begins with this gracious introduction using it not as verbal filler. He takes this one Greek word, beloved, agapitos uses the plural here, agapitoi in the vocative case, that is it's a direct address and he's saying dearly loved ones so that when that letter was read when copies would be made and were to be distributed and people would sit down to read them as they entered into this section it's as though Peter says, look I want you to know that everything that follows comes under the blessed canopy of your identity as dearly loved ones. He used it only one other time. In the epistle, chapter 2 in verse 11 when he appealed to them, beloved I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims. Now he uses it again.

14:28 He will not use it again through the rest of the epistle. So you see this is not just some verbal fill in. This is a word pregnant with significance. If you looked at 2 Peter chapter 1 you'll see the incident that Peter never forgot.

14:44 Nine times in the gospels this word is found. And in every instance it refers to Christ as the dearly loved one. The one beloved of his father. It is most frequently found as a word that God spoke from heaven.

15:03 This is my son, my beloved one. And Peter never forgot that. Look at verse 16 of 2 Peter 1. We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15:17 But we were not eyewitnesses of his majesty for he received from God the Father honor and glory when there was born such a voice to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved. There's our word. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

15:41 And this voice we ourselves heard born out of heaven. For Peter, this was a heavenly word. He heard it spoken by God the Father with respect to God the Son. This is my son, my dearly loved one. Now, he's writing to suffering saints. He's going to take them further into the school of suffering for righteousness sake. He's going to speak of a fiery trial, literally a burning, calculated to be a trial. He's going to speak about judgment beginning at the house of God.

16:24 Fire and trial and judgment and the righteous scarily saved. What is Peter doing? Feeding up on us? No.

16:32 Dearly loved ones. Dearly loved ones. Dearly loved ones. In all that you read from my pen, Peter is saying, remember, I write out of the passion of principled love and concern for your souls.

16:48 And more than that, you are not only loved by me, but you are loved by God, your heavenly Father, and by Christ, your almighty Savior. So whatever I tell you about the will of God being that which leads you into suffering, remember it is the God who loves you with infinite, deep, inexplicable love. And he wants them to know that. We've seen the trite little phrase on little stickers, the magnetic stickers, that go on the refrigerator and in little remembrance cards, you are loved.

17:27 Now it's become very trite. But the reason those that proliferate it is that people have to know in ways that are unmistakable, am I loved? And Peter is telling them in unmistakable terms, you are loved. The gracious introduction to this paragraph. But then notice with me, secondly, the central concern identified. As we've considered the gracious introduction, now the central concern. What is the central concern of these verses? Well, it is set before the readers in terms of a vivid figure of speech and then an explicit statement of purpose.

The Central Concern: The Fiery Trial and Its Purpose

18:09 First of all, a vivid figure of speech. Look at the text. Beloved, do not think it strange or do not be surprised concerning the fiery trial among you. Don't think it strange concerning something that is rendered in our version of fiery trial.

18:31 The word literally means a burning used only two other times in the New Testament, Revelation 18, nine and nine, 18. I'm sorry, Revelation 18, nine and 18, 18. And it's the description of God's destruction of Babylon, that symbol of the world power and its worldly goods and pomp and pride and stuff. And when God overturns it and destroys it, there is a mourning as it undergoes a burning. It's the only other place it's found in the New Testament. And Peter is here concerned with a set of circumstances that has come upon these believers in the providence of God that had the fierceness and the potential destructiveness of a burning and also had the capacity to inflict the pain that fire brings and also the ability to be a dross-consuming element, that capacity of fire when it is used as a purifying element. So whatever Peter's talking about, it is not a little burp in the

19:50 way of a peaceful light. Beloved, you are loved by me and loved of your God. Do not forget it, but I am giving you this directive. Do not be surprised.

20:02 Do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial among you.

20:10 One careful student of the original language renders the passage this way. Beloved, think not strange of the burning among you occurring to you for a trial. It is the burning among you. It has appeared in your midst. Perhaps not every individual is affected the same way, but this burning has occurred among you. That's the vivid figure. And then he gives a statement of the specific purpose. It is a burning which is occurring, a present tense participle.

20:46 It is not something that shall come, but it is already occurring not to inflict pain as punishment, not to consume you as a judgment, but rather as a trial to test you and to prove you. First Peter 1 in verse 6. Peter had already stated this earlier in the epistle. Wherein,

21:13 that is, in this great salvation you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in manifold trials, that the proof of your faith, the trial that God had brought upon them, was going to be used as a proof of their faith, both to validate the legitimacy of their faith and to purify the quality of their faith as fire tests and purifies precious metal. So this thing had a specific purpose in the will of God, and it was for a trial. Well, then what specifically was it? What is it that he would describe as a fiery trial, vivid imagery, sent for this specific purpose for testing? What was it? Well, some suggest that the Neronian persecutions have already broken loose and are touching the far reaches of the Roman Empire. And some of you know, who have at least a sketchy awareness of church history, that up until Nero declared the Christian faith an illicit religion, the people of God were thought to be a bit of a bother.

22:31 The book of Acts contains many instances of persecution, particularly that came from the Jews, but not exclusively. Remember at Ephesus, these guys who built their heathen idols were losing business and also people that were indulging in soothsaying and they had their mediums in the rest. So there was a disruption wherever the gospel went, but it was not declared an illicit religion in the Roman Empire until Nero, declared it such and that declaration eventually resulted even in Peter's execution. But the problem is that there is nothing in the passage to indicate that this was a political persecution.

23:14 There is no indication that martyrdom was part of this fiery trial at present. And the use of these two present participles in verse 12 and a present verb in verse 13 make it very difficult to think that Peter is talking about something that would be an unusual occurrence facing them in the future. It is a fiery trial already occurring among them. It is a burning already with its flames touching their spiritual skin.

23:47 And so I believe we have every reason to believe then that what he's talking about is what he's been talking about throughout the entire letter, especially from chapter 3 and verse 17 onward. He is talking about suffering for righteousness sake. He is talking about the people of God receiving opposition from the heathen around them and intimating perhaps that this opposition and persecution that is presently upon them is going to heat up and intensify in the days to come. Peter knew as Paul did that all who would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And so he is seeking to prepare them for not only a godly response to the present pressure called the burning among them, but for a future intensification which we do know from secular history did come upon them. And when we read the letters to the seven churches, churches in this very area of Asia Minor, we know that martyrdom and imprisonment and hostile treatment at the hands of men was part and parcel of the people of God in that area. So as to the identity, I am not persuaded that it refers

25:15 to some unusually concentrated specific future trial that Peter is announcing as it were almost prophetically, but Peter is seeking to give them further preparation for present opposition and also to furnish them for the days to come in which that opposition perhaps Peter's own awareness of this if he wrote the epistle from Rome knowing that in a short time Nero is going to execute him, perhaps Peter anticipates this and is giving not only a present medicine but giving something that will stand them in good stead in the days to come. And I want to bring a word of application here you've heard me say this in one way or another in recent months but I want to say it again as I think of many of you young men and women teenagers, young adults as I pray for you I wonder I wonder what you may face in the way of focused shameless persecution for the name of Christ in the years to come. Christians, real Christians who have right angled convictions who will not sell out to what's called the post-modern mentality where your truth is your truth you're welcome to it, but my truth is my truth and you better say I'm welcome to it and don't you try to force yours on me. That's the climate. So that more and more the only

26:45 heresy is to believe there is such a thing as heresy. And for you to say however sweetly, however graciously however compassionately that you believe men are lost that there is an absolute moral law and that God before me for whom all will give account in the day of judgment and except men repent they will perish and if you seek to work out a consistent lifestyle as a Christian bringing every thought captive to Christ, the whole of your life in every area, in every relationship in every set of circumstances seeking to glorify God by a life of meticulous obedience to his word the time may well come in this country when the persecution will not be as subtle will not be as restrained when there will be more and more boldness to come down with both feet in opposition to real vigorous biblical Christianity. For you who get World Magazine, you'll be shocked to read of that woman who in the trucking company for whom she works, she simply says over the phone have a blessed day. She doesn't say in Christ's name, for Jesus' sake or in fellowship with God, she just closes her phone calls with this statement speaking as an outspoken believer. People know that's what she is.

28:14 All she says is have a blessed day. There is legal opposition seeking to shut her mouth for simply saying have a blessed day, you see that infers that there's someone to give the blessing and that someone is outside of us and above us and controls things, that's a veiled illusion to God that is a violation of the American way of life. That stuff is going to increase. Some of you know the opposition in many public schools when students have tried to use a room just to gather to pray.

28:49 Well that stuff as it were is like the first leaping force of opposition that may well become a mighty conflagration and become an intense burning and you may look back and thank God for these days of studying for first Peter together. It may seem to have little relevance for you now. There may have been some there when Peter wrote and said don't think it strange concerning the fiery trial among you. Literally the among you fire or burning which is sent occurring as a trial.

29:23 Some might have scratched their head and said well I'm getting a little bit of frowning from my neighbors and a little bit of verbal abuse where I work but I wouldn't call it a burning. The time may come when they would say ah that's what Peter meant. That's what Peter meant. Well having looked at the gracious introduction to this paragraph and sought to identify the central concern now we come to the heart of the text. The reaction forbidden.

The Reaction Forbidden: Don't Be Surprised

29:49 The reaction forbidden. As these believers are conscious of opposition slander and abuse and other forms of the flame which constitute the burning among them what are they to do? And as is so often the case in the Bible he starts with the negative and then he gives the positive. First of all the negative.

30:10 Beloved do not think it strange. Perhaps better so you get the sense of the passive voice of the verb. Don't be surprised. Don't be surprised concerning the fiery trial among you which comes upon you to prove you as though a strange thing happened to you.

30:35 By the use of this present and imperative Peter is saying stop and continue to refuse being surprised at the burning. And he uses exactly the same word that he used in verse 4 of this chapter concerning their unconverted former drinking, carousing, partying buddies wherein they think it strange. That's our verb. When you no longer run with the gang and no longer booze and drink and party and indulge in every form of acts of evil. They think it's weird. They can't figure it out. It's something strange that has come into the orbit of their awareness and when we confront something we've never confronted before we become surprised. We become the thing is bizarre to us and as these people react to the transformed lifestyle all they can do is speak evil of them. Now

31:32 Peter says to these believers don't you be spooked. Don't you be surprised. Don't you think it's strange with respect to that fiery trial that is among you as though something strange happened to you. You see Peter assumes that in the natural realm when we encounter something unexpectedly we think it's strange we are surprised. But he says don't you be surprised as though a surprising thing happened to you. You've been told through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom. You've been told all that will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. You've been told the Lord Jesus said if they hate me they will hate you and they will hate you because they hate me. Don't react

32:18 in this way as though this is something that wasn't in the bargain. Peter by these words is reminding us that in the days of the apostles Christ was not offered as the great panacea for all your troubles. He was offered as a savior from sin and a deliverer from bondage to sin and to the world and to the devil and to embrace Christ as he is offered is to be identified with Christ in his rejection and in his suffering. And so Peter forbids the reaction don't be surprised.

33:01 Don't be surprised. And several of the commentators I think very wisely point out that in a very special way for these first century Christians most of whom came from a gentile background the ones to whom Peter is writing they did not have years of church history such as we have. They didn't have a completed new testament and when they heard of the mighty triumphs of Messiah Jesus as Peter taught earlier in this epistle having been raised from the dead he's been exalted and seated at the right hand of God's power at the right hand of God in a place of supreme power when all of this trouble begins to be let loose upon them and that ascended exalted almighty Christ seems to do nothing to intervene. Allows the enemies to afflict them to persecute them to speak evil of them to slander them. Peter understands that they may indeed have thought it strange but he says you are not to be surprised you are not to think it strange with respect to this burning but then he goes to the positive and now we look at the response commanded the response commanded from the negative the reaction forbidden and he begins verse 13 with a very strong particle called an adversity particle Allah but

The Response Commanded: Rejoice

34:28 but don't do this but this is what you're to do and what is it but in so much as you are partakers of Christ suffering rejoice that at the revelation of his glory also you may rejoice with exceeding joy he gives the essence of the response and then he gives reasons for the response what's the essence of the response and it's beautiful in the original this little imperative use of the verb I rejoice stands right in the middle of those two lengthier statements Peter says but on the other hand in so much in so far to the extent you are partakers of Christ suffering rejoice rejoice that at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exceeding joy the essence of the response commanded is another present imperative of this common verb to rejoice there's to be no self-pity no moroseness no attitude expressed in the camp song some of you know how to sing nobody loves me everybody hates me I'm going out eat worms Peter says no camp songs everybody hates me nobody loves me you are when you are conscious of the burning that burning that is sent to try you as a testing you are not to be surprised

35:57 you are not to think it's strange but instead every single awareness of the heat of the fire upon your being should be a trigger to renewed rejoicing be continually rejoicing continually rejoicing you see Peter remembered the words of his Lord in the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5 10 to 12 blessed are you says the Lord Jesus when what happens to you happy are you when blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when men shall reproach you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad not simply rejoice but rejoice and be exceeding glad bringing together the two words Peter uses in the passage rejoice but more than that rejoice with overflowing exuberance and gladness remember what Paul said to the Philippians rejoice in the Lord always Peter I mean Paul did you really mean that rejoice in the Lord always he said yes and again I say what rejoice twice the same present imperative of the same verb rejoice in the Lord always at all times and in all circumstances and again I say

Reason 1: Fellowship in Christ's Sufferings

37:26 rejoice and that is the response commanded every time we are aware of the burning which God sends as a testing and a trial it is to be a call to intensified rejoicing now God doesn't need to give reasons for his commands but he does and two reasons for this response commanded are given to us one has to do with our sufferings for Christ now and the other has to do with our sight of Christ in the age to come why should we continually rejoice as a godly response to the trial called a burning well the first reason is your sufferings for Christ or a fellowship in the sufferings of Christ look at the text but in so much in so far as you are partakers this is the standard Greek verb for fellowshipping sharing in partaking in with another in so much in so far as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings rejoice now what does this mean well obviously it does not mean that our sufferings called here by way of a figure of speech the burning among them they in no way contribute to the

38:55 vicarious sin bearing sufferings of Jesus in chapter 3 in verse 18 Peter stated what is the universal teaching of the New Testament Christ suffered for sins once the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit when we ask the question how can my sins be blotted out how can my sins be righteously forgiven the answer is that the only ground on which God can righteously pardon sin is found in the sufferings of Jesus plus no sufferings of you or anyone else a million angels no the blood of Jesus God's son cleanses from all sin no suffering of anyone in any way at any time to any degree can add to the virtue of Christ's vicarious sin bearing suffering I don't know how to state it any plainer but the same Bible that makes that truth known again and again also tells us that the faith which unites us to Christ and thereby enables God righteously and righteously to declare us righteous in Christ is the faith that so unites us to Christ

40:23 person that we are prepared to suffer for Christ the faith that unites us to Christ results in our being declared righteous on the grounds of the obedience and death of Christ but it so unites us to Christ that the world's attitude to him will be mirrored in its attitude to us turn to John 15 the Lord made this so clear John 15 and verse 20 we can back up to verse 18 if the world hates you you know or know one of those forms of the verb that can be an imperative or an indicative if the world hates you you know or know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love its own but because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you remember the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his Lord if they persecuted me they will also persecute you if they kept my word they will keep yours also but all these things will they do unto you now notice

41:50 for my name sake for my name sake because they know not him that sent me if I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no excuse for their sin you see what Jesus is saying the attitude the world has to me when I'm gone is going to be reflected in its attitude to you the way they treat me is the way you will be treated and when we are treated that way because of our attachment to Christ that is what Peter calls having koinonia having fellowship in the sufferings of Christ but in so much as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings rejoice you are privileged to be so identified with your savior that the sufferings you bear because of his name your believing response to the revelation of God's will and saving mercy in him you are attached to him because of who he is as revealed in the gospel and when you are opposed and maligned and persecuted for that which you now are as a Christian he says those are the sufferings of Christ that is fellowship that is sharing in Christ's sufferings and this is so much

43:19 part and parcel of vital saving Christianity that all can say in Romans 8 17 that the people of God will be glorified with Christ if so be that they suffer with Christ Philippians 1 29 to you it has been granted given as a gift of grace not only to believe on his name but to suffer for him and what lies at the root of that opposition to Christ and therefore to the people of Christ well the Lord more than hints at it in the passage that I read to you said if I had not come they had no sin but now they have no excuse for this I've exposed them John 3 19 this is the condemnation light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil neither will they come to the light lest their deeds should be reproved listen to the words of old Archbishop Layton the exact holy walking of a Christian really condemns the world about him shows the disorder and foulness of their profane ways the life of vital Christianity set by the side of dead formality discovers it to be but a carcass a lifeless appearance and for this neither grossly wicked nor decent formal religionist can well digest it there is in the life of a Christian a convicting light that shows the deformity of the world's darkness there is a piercing heat

44:48 that scorches the ungodly and stirs and troubles their consciences this they cannot endure and hence rises in them a contrary fire of wicked hatred and hence the trials the fiery trials of the godly if they could get these precise persons removed out of their way they think they might then have more room and live more at liberty that's what you live with in your office when everyone else is tittering and laughing at the latest dirty joke to go around and you've absent in yourself and you have frowned and if necessary even given an appropriate rebuke that's when you'll get the designation oh he's holier than thou Mr. goody two shoes and worse that's when it comes why when what you are in attachment to Christ exposes them and those in darkness love the darkness will not come to the light and do their best then to discredit that light so Peter wants them to know that in calling them to rejoice they're not simply to rejoice with no thought fueling that joy but to rejoice in so far as their sufferings come as a result of their identification with Christ he says your sufferings for Christ are a fellowshipping in the suffering of Christ

Reason 2: Pledge of Greater Rejoicing at Christ's Coming

46:16 and isn't that what Paul longed to know that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings he wants to know the nearness of Christ in the crucible of suffering for Christ but then he goes on to say the second reason is your rejoicing in your sufferings for Christ is a certain pledge of a greater rejoicing at the coming of Christ that's what he means when he says rejoice now here's the second reason that at the revelation of his glory also you may rejoice with exceeding joy rejoice that you may rejoice that's strange language isn't it we may say stop being gloomy and rejoice he says rejoice in order that you may rejoice even more what's he saying well look again at the text he says that at the revelation of his glory that's a reference to the second coming of Christ it is the unveiling the apocalypse the unveiling of the glory of Christ chapter 1 in verse 5 the second coming was called the revelation or the unveiling of salvation chapter 1 verses 7 and 13 the revelation or the unveiling of Jesus Christ here in chapter 4 he calls the same event the unveiling

47:44 the revelation of his glory not the imparting of glory he has that at the right hand of the Father but it is now veiled people can Jesus Christ this and Jesus Christ and take his name in vain and when you bring it to their attention they say I didn't even know I was doing it Christ is just a convenient verbal filler in their viler language they see no beauty in him they think some of us are crazy because our whole lives grow out of being enamored with Christ as our savior and our master and our lord and our companion and our heavenly bridegroom for whom we yearn and for whose coming we eagerly wait but when he comes Peter says it's going to be the revelation the unveiling of his glory the glory is there cherubim seraphim redeemed saints made perfect they see it they revel in it they marvel at it but it's veiled to us but when the voice of the archangel sounds and the trump of God and our lord comes the veil will be pulled away and every eye shall see him in the revelation of his glory the outshining of all that he is as God man and the savior of his people and the judge of the world and Peter says to these saints

49:12 who are wondering how can I rejoice when the troubles become a burning and when the troubles are providentially ordered to test me I'm to rejoice why because you are not only sharing now in the sufferings of Christ but as you rejoice you are preparing yourself for a moment of greater rejoicing that rejoicing that will be yours at the coming of your lord and here there's a subtle emphasis in the grammar he uses an heiress subjunctive that you may rejoice with a concentrated isolated burst of joy that will be unique at the moment he comes and then he follows it with a participle that you may rejoice exulting in that joy it's hard to to even translate it Lenski the Lutheran commentator and Lutherans are generally not known to have an excessive amount of emotion now there may be exceptions but Lenski writes as the writer has expressed it the worst persecution can be lost the word here but then he goes on to say what he calls this is exulting jubilating skipping and bubbling

50:39 over with shouts of joy it's the kind of joy that's mentioned in Revelation 19 6 and 7 when the people of God triumph in the consummation of God's redemption in conjunction with the marriage supper of the lamb let us rejoice and here's our word be exceeding glad and give glory unto him for the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready you see what Peter is saying as now the people of God who are in the midst of the burning as you are enabled to rejoice making it evident that your joy is not rooted in your circumstances in the approval of your fellow mortals who are on their way to judgment but your joy is in Christ and when your sufferings your burning intensifies the consciousness of your communion and fellow ship with Christ in his sufferings and you rejoice this is both pledge and preparation for that moment when Christ's glory is unveiled and when it is you will then rejoice with an overflowing skipping exulting joy surely that is motive enough to help us to rejoice in the midst of the fire here our rejoicing is tempered with heaviness Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6 10 he says sorrowful yet always rejoicing Peter had said earlier in this

52:07 letter chapter 1 in verse 6 wherein you greatly rejoice though now for a little while if need be you've been put to grief we're both greatly rejoicing and greatly grieving sorrowful yet always rejoicing but then it will be all pure unmixed undiluted ever growing ever expanding joy as one writer said one can indeed by the grace of God face the worst persecution when as a child of God the eye is fixed on the revelation of Christ's glory and the unbounded joy that awaits the faithful now having sought to open up these verses verses 12 and 13 I have one major concluding word of observation and application and I confess that this was the area that I greatly struggled in the hours of preparation knowing I would make some application along the way what is the great burden of this passage that needs to be highlighted regardless of what our present measure of the burning may be regardless of what it may yet be and surely this is at least one of the major emphases of the passage that apostolic or biblical Christianity is a Christ

Concluding Application: Christ-Obsessed, Future-Oriented Christianity

53:36 obsessed future oriented religion I want to repeat that this passage underscores that apostolic or biblical Christianity is a Christ obsessed future oriented religion you see that Peter is saying beloved don't be surprised at the burning the fiery trial among you that comes upon you to prove you as though a strange thing happened but but in as much as you are partakers of Christ's suffering what's he assuming he's assuming that when he mentions koinonia fellowship in the sufferings of Christ he's touching a deep tender cord with these believers it never enters Peter's mind that well this will only touch a third of them it won't touch most of them he knows that to speak of having this fellowship in the sufferings of Christ will touch deep cords why because he knows that in so far as they have vital saving religion it is a Christ obsessed religion and it is future oriented his second reason is that at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exceeding joy in other words you're willing to wait for your best things to come in the future and I fear when we take that simple

55:04 principle and apply it to much that is called Christianity in our day it falls pathetically short it is not Christ obsessed and future oriented Christ comes in in so far as he's necessary to fire proof us but after that what really matters is my house my car my clothes my vacation my friends my this my that not with Peter there is this obsession with Christ and much of current professed Christianity is now oriented it doesn't shed any tears now when it comes about heaven we've got too much heaven here God is smitten my heart as I've tried to work my way through this epistle that how much Peter's letter is suffused with the future orientation of these believers you have an inheritance undefiled incorruptible reserved in heaven for you and he says in this you rejoice they are future oriented ah but you say pastor isn't it possible to be so heavenly minded we're no earthly good that's not a problem and that's not the problem with the vast majority of you here we're so earthly minded we're no heavenly good either in terms of allowing ourselves to be so caught up in what Jesus called the cares of this life

56:32 not just carousing and patently sinful things he says beware lest your heart be overcharged with the cares of this life that that future orientation grows more and more dim and we do not live each day in that awareness he could come back today and my joy would be exalting bubbling over joy for any joy I now know in the midst of opposition and affliction is but a pledge of the unmixed the undiluted ever growing ever expanding joy that is promised at his coming dear people of God do we not all need to give ourselves to fresh earnest prayer oh God make me a Christ obsessed Christian and a future oriented Christian may I make all of my decisions and set all of my goals and establish my priorities in the light of the preciousness of Christ that I might know him be found in him to me to live is Christ life means Christ to me that's Paul's simple explanation of who and what he was to me and then to have that future orientation that we will put every present trial

57:59 against the backdrop of the exceeding joy that will be ours when we see him as he is and for you who are not Christians I would not deceive you I wouldn't deceive you and tell you Christ will be this and Christ will be that to you listen if you're determined to have your world structured by what you can see and touch and you're not prepared to say no the true values the things that really matter I know are not here they're found outside of me and above me and beyond me and before me and I'm prepared to seek them in Jesus Christ and to follow him until I'm with him my friend you're not serious about the state of your soul but if you are Christ stands ready and willing to receive all who come unto God by him and you can ask him to change that horrible obsession with yourself with your face with your form with your friends with your fun and that obsession with the now world for the world passes away and the lust thereof but he that does the will of God abides forever and ask God to help you to be one of those obsessed with Christ with an eye fixed on the future you're prepared to begin to lay up treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal there's nothing wrong with wanting a treasure the issue is where you're going to seek it here or there

59:28 may God grant that these words will help us to seek it where we are let's pray our Father we do thank you again for this portion of your word we thank you for your grace that was so manifestly worked into this man Peter the one who at one point dared to rebuke the Lord Jesus because he mentioned suffering and death and now who writes to comfort and instruct those who suffer and some who might have eventually died for attachment to Jesus we pray that you would write your word upon our hearts we pray that you would scour out of our souls all of our inordinate and idolatrous attachment to things any attachment to the creature that rivals the place that Christ alone should have and our Father we beg of you to help us to get untethered from this world that we may with the Apostle Paul be able to say while we look not on the things that are seen but on the things that are not seen for the things that are seen are temporal and the things that are not seen are eternal help us then our Father we plead in Jesus name Amen