Suffering & hospitality

1 Peter 4:12-19

When you heard those opening words, 'Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering', I guess your heart sank - “Oh no, not another sermon on suffering – surely we've suffered enough of those recently!”

Well, I sympathise. In fact, the thought did go through my mind that we'd skip these verses – I did wonder if you'd suffered enough.

But then, as I was thinking about last Sunday's passage – about hospitality, love, serving & using our gifts – I began to wonder why Peter goes from talk about suffering to urging generous hospitality and then back to suffering again. And I wondered how this fits into the bigger picture of the letter as a whole. As is often the case, it was as I asked those questions that I began to see the new things that Peter's teaching here.

One more word of introduction: the question of suffering is one that we can't afford to skim over. We do need to get in deep – to give it time. And not just because it's complex – though it is – but also because suffering hurts! And we need to know why God allows Christians to suffer for him. And the key is to understand God's big plan for the world – for you and for me. And that's precisely what Peter has done in the early chapters of this letter – he's explained where we fit into God's big plan. Let's just remind ourselves of this:

 

Now that we understand this, Peter says, 'Dear friends, don't be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.'

“Don't be surprised. Because you live this side of the cross, you live with the amazing, undeserved benefits that Christ won for you, but you also live with the suffering that he had to put up with. Just as the world didn't understand or accept him but hated him, so now the world doesn't understand or accept you. Instead it hates you. As Jesus said, 'If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

This is the way God planned it, so don't be surprised... but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

Those who now share in Christ's sufferings will burst with joy and happiness when the full extent of his glory is revealed when he returns.

We've seen time and again how important it is to be looking ahead. Sometimes we're so preoccupied with looking back to the cross that we forget to look forward to the coming of Christ. 

One of the things about the poppy day appeal is that yes, it looks back with gratitude to our salvation from the tyranny of dictatorship, but it also looks ahead to provide for the service men & women & their families who have and who will sacrifice lives or health.

Yes, we look back to the salvation of the cross (and we must never stop doing this), but we also look ahead – ahead to the glory of Christ's return. And that perspective is really important when we're suffering for being a Christian. Hope transforms the present.

So when your husband scoffs at you & patronises your faith; when your friends laugh at your commitment to church; when your employer threatens you because of your ethical stance as you seek to honour Jesus – then remember that your suffering itself points to your glorious future: v13, 'rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ now so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.'

If the Spirit of God's glory were not with you, you would not be confessing Christ. You would not be standing with Christ and suffering with him. But the fact that you are insulted for your faith shows you that the Holy Spirit of God is in you now, and that when Christ is one day revealed from heaven, you will shout and dance and scream for joy!

But is suffering always a sign that someone is filled with the Holy Spirit and that the glory of God rests on them?

Verse 15 says, 'No':- some people suffer for their evil behaviour – for murder, theft or any other kind of criminal behaviour. But the point here is that Christians and criminals suffer at the hands of the same authorities – as the thief steps down from the dock in the courtroom, he is replaced by a Christian. And so it is vitally important that the Christian is only there for his faith and for doing good, and never for any kind of criminal behaviour. And then, when the thief and the Christian are sent down to the same cells with the same punishment, the Christian must not be ashamed. Rather, v16, he should praise God that he bears that name.

It would be easy to back down in shame as soon as persecution or insult comes because we're Christians. But we really have no reason to be ashamed. We are Christ–ians – we bear – we carry – the name of Christ into the world. What's to be ashamed of?

According to the Daily Mail in Feb last year, the perfect man is a 'geek with facial stubble'. But according the East Anglia Daily Times, the perfect man is “average height, with a decent sense of humour, an ability to cook and short, dark hair?” That rules me out – being tall, grumpy & fair! But, of course, all of that is stupid. The perfect man – the only perfect man – is Jesus Christ so why should we be ashamed of bearing his name?  Why would we be ashamed to be known as a friend of the greatest man who ever lived? You wouldn't be ashamed to be known as a friend of someone like Sir Steve Redgrave, so why be ashamed of Jesus?

So we're not ashamed of Jesus because of who he is, but we're also not ashamed of him because of what he's done for us. And it's this that provides the key to understanding verses 17-18 and the conclusion in v19.

Before Jesus came, God's people met in the temple where sacrifices were made for sin and praises were sung. But after Jesus died as the final & perfect sacrifice, he did away with the need for a stone temple. So now it doesn't matter where or when God's people meet. But the important point is that we are God's chosen, holy people – as we saw back in 2:4-5. However... we know that though we're forgiven sinners, we're not yet sin-free. But we also know that God is at work in us making us more holy – more like that greatest of men, Jesus. And to do that, God needs to judge his people – 'it is time', v17, 'for judgement to begin with the family – or house – of God'.

Throughout our lives as Christians, God is refining us to make us more holy.

• Sometimes he does this as we read the Bible and are convicted of sinful behaviour or attitudes.
• Sometimes he does it via other Christians pointing out that we're not behaving as we ought.
• And sometimes he does it through the hurtful remarks and attitudes of non-Christians.

Such rebuke and correction can be painful, but it's necessary if we're to glorify God. And Peter's point here is that if this kind of judgement is painful for us who have been forgiven, cleansed and filled with the HS, how much more painful will be the final judgement for those who reject God's gospel altogether? God's plan and will is that we should be increasingly holy as we mature in our faith. He wants us to be increasingly different from the non-Christians who surround us. More and more like that greatest man, Jesus Christ.

But because that refining of our lives is painful, Peter concludes, v19, 'So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue to do good.' When the refining is painful, we need encouragement to keep going in Christ-like holiness. And that's what the section about hospitality was all about.

Living in a hostile world is not easy – even when we're focused on the future coming of Christ and the glory that we'll receive then. So day-by-day, week-by-week, we need encouragement and support. And these come as we meet together at church or in each other's homes; and there is something particularly special about sharing a meal with Christian friends. Giving and receiving the hospitality of a meal really helps us to open up to each other and cement our friendships.

You see, as God's people, we can't just look a this plan of God's and see it as a nice idea – it's not an idea, it's reality, and we're a part of it. We are God's people – he has set us apart for himself to be his holy temple – his household.

And the Bible regularly pictures God's people as sitting down and eating with each other in God's presence. So meals are an important part of being a Christian:

• They're 'fellowship' meals in which we get to know each other – and Jesus himself was always eating meals with people- Little Zaccheus; Levi the reformed tax-collector; and all sorts of sinners who needed saving.
• It was often over a meal that Jesus taught his disciples or even great crowds. And we learn as we share in conversation over a meal.
• They're also opportunities to serve each other and share God's grace – as we heard last week.
• Meals point us back to the last supper when Jesus broke bread & drank wine with his disciples, before he went to the cross.
• And meals point us forward to the great banquet in heaven – when the painful trials we suffer now will be over forever.
• Meals give us hope in the present as we're reminded how good it will be to have unbroken fellowship with God's holy people.

So let's remind each other of where we are in God's great plan of salvation. It may be tough for a while – and I suspect that it may get much tougher yet – so we need to be preparing ourselves for the battles to come. And as we face those battles, we can rejoice together that we share in the sufferings of Christ, so that we may be overjoyed together when his glory is revealed.  

And we can rejoice together when we're insulted because we share Christ's name – we are Christ-ians – we are blessed because the Spirit of glory & of God rests on us.

NB See Tim Chester's book, A Meal with Jesus