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SILENCE
When we come back we’ll see if we can wrap chapter four of 1st Peter up (picking it back up at verse 14)
1st Peter 4.17
November 15th 2015
Meat
All right we left off last week reading:
1st Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
And then at verse 14 Peter continues, saying:
14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
All right, having addressed the “rejoiceful” attitude we ought to have when trials come upon us, Peter continues at verse 14 saying
14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
“If ye be reproached” (ON-I-DIDZO)
(“defamed, railed on, chided, taunted, anciently, “cast in teeth,”reviled, upbraided”) “for the name of Christ” ( “On His behalf, for your faith, for your walk, for your love or representing Him”)
“happy” are ye.”
The word translated happy here in the King James is the exact same Greek word found in the beautitudes of Matthew 5 –
“Fortunate, blessed, well-off are you.”
And it is NOT describing our finding personal joy in the defamation but that our lot (before God) is blessed.
Get that?
We are fortunate for the misfortunes experienced when they come by virtue of being in His employ or on His errand.
How are we blessed or fortunate? Peter tells us in the next line of the verse, saying:
“For . . . “the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.”
It seems pretty clear that this phrase is in reference to the Holy Spirit – the glorious and Divine Spirit and the word FOR (as in, “For the spirit of glory” . . . ) is related to the fact that the divine spirit rests on those who are reviled for their representation or affiliation to Christ.
Again, why are we blessed or fortunate? BECAUSE (for) the spirit of Glory and of God rests upon us when such attacks come.
This is an intriguing way of speaking of the Spirit of glory and of God because we are talking to believers who have been spirit filled so what’s the deal with saying that the blessedness of those who are abused in their service to the King is the fact that the spirit of glory and of God “rests upon” them?
Virtually all the translations include all the elements of the line:
“Because the spirit of glory and of God RESTS upon you.”
Now, if we are spirit filled, is this a description of something different happening?
I may be wrong, but I think so. I think what Peter is describing is an anointing of the Spirit which may be seen as something ancillary or additional to being spirit filled.
We know from scripture that Jesus was not increasingly filled with God as he matured by had the fullness within Him from the get go.
But we also read (in John 1:33) John the Baptist saying that one of the reasons he baptized with water was to identify the one who was the Messiah, saying
John 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
The Greek words, admittedly, are different in this verse (“for the Spirit remaining on Him”) and (the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you but the idea seems to be similar.
Are believers given an anointing of the spirit of glory and of God when they suffer trials and persecution for Christ?
In my life, I would say so. Is it in addition to what resides within those who believe?
SEEMS to be.
And it makes sense on many levels. I mean if we are doing the work of Christ, and He is with us, maybe we are blessed with the spirit of His glory and of God resting on us as a result, confirming that we are operating by the same means and measures as He did when He was on the earth.
All I can say from a purely subjective point of view is when I am buffeted and attacked for doing what I am certain Christ would do there is a presence of Him (at times) that blesses me with reassurance that I am neither the author of such behavior nor alone.
Peter adds, speaking of those who do the buffeting –
“On their part,” or, as far as they are concerned “He is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.”
Now, this line is absent from most modern versions (which are taken from the revised manuscripts) and obviously it is included in the Authorized versions like the King James.
This is a unique insight and so it is intriguing to me that some of you, in your study of the Word will never read this line while others of you will.
Because of this we HAVE to admit that the Word is spirit, understood by the Spirit, and is sufficient in whatever form we happen to appeal to through the Spirit who will, if not in this exact passage, then in others like it reveal this point – or not.
All Peter seems to be saying is that those who pick on us for our service to Christ are only speaking evil of either God or His Spirit but in so doing we, in doing the will of God, are glorifying Him.
Then Peter adds:
15 But let none of you (believers) suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
Don’t you just love that short laundry list of crimes. He starts with saying, “But let none of you believers be guilty of
Murder
Thievery
Evildoing
Busibody
That’s from the top range of evil to the bottom, isn’t it?
In other words if you are called to suffer don’t let it be for a crime (murder thievery) or sin (evildoing and busybody?)
Busibody? Wherever I hear that word my mind goes back to Saturday morning Warner Brothers cartoons that take place in a chicken coup where all these hens (wearing bonnets by the way) are cackling up a storm and running all over finding out what’s going on in the other ladies lives).
The Greek is a mouthful (allotriepiskopov)
“al-lot-tree – ep-is’-kop-os”
And it means “overseeing other peoples affairs,” “a meddler.”
It’s derived from two Greek words –
See Greek 245 (allotrios)
See Greek 1985 (episkopos)
We recognize episkopas because that is synonymous with Bishop or overseer in religious affairs.
The Episcopalians take their name from this word.
Preface it with ALLOTROIS (which means “a stranger, a foreigner, another person” and we have a word that suggests we ought not get overly concerned or involved in the affairs of another person’s life. Other versions translate the word as Meddler, spy, overseer, inspector and mischief maker.
The busy body.
In the King James the word is used in 2nd Thessalonians 3:10-11 saying:
“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.”
But the Greek here is another mouthful “per-ee-er-gad’-zom-ahee” and is composed of two completely different Greek words –
(peri) “around” and
(ergazomai) “labor”
So this time it describes a person who walks all around work but never does any.
In one more instance where the King James uses busybody Paul is speaking of young widows in 1st Timothy 5:12-13 and says:
“Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.”
Here we seem to have the hen house imagery at work and yet another Greek term translated, busybody –
PerEE – Ergos, closely related to someone who walks around labor or work.
The tie to speaking and (chicken sounds) is that here Paul describes these young widows as
“tattlers”
“busybodies”
“speaking things which they ought not”
The chicken coup.
If you are a Christian who is suffering, don’t be suffering for murder, thieving, evildoing and being a freaking bonnet wearing cackling hen house fowl!
(am I in trouble?) ?
However! (however) as scripture can be paradoxical we have what seems like paradoxical verses to this.
For instance Phillippians 2:4 says:
“Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
Similarly 1st Corinthians 10:24 says,
“Let not each one be always seeking his own, but rather his neighbor’s good.”
So . . . taking it all in I think we discover a reasonable interpretation – at least to me.
Be very interested in the happiness and welfare and well-being of others and absolutely remove ourselves from meddling in their personal lives and drama and choices.
Care but do not condemn.
Hear and help but never hurt.
Include and never exclude.
Get the gist? (verse 16)
16 Yet (Peter says, getting back to those who are suffering for being Christians) if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
I love this verse. We have a tendency to feel shame in our world – even in the church – when God allows us to suffer.
I think it’s pretty natural for us to look around at people who appear to have been blessed in a multiplicity of ways (especially when we are undergoing one trial or another) and think, “why Lord – why me – why us – how come this and this and this?”
There is an absolutely remarkable documentary out called “An Unreal Dream.” It’s about a man named Michael Morton who was sentenced to prison for murdering his wife and served 25 years before being exonerated.
In the first years of his sentence he was angry, and embittered and filled with hate – and it started to take its toll on him.
He says that one night he did something he was no accustomed to doing – he called out to God.
And God appeared to him as light in his cell and from this visit he realized (and repeats) three central things he learned:
First, there is a God.
Second, He is wise beyond measure (and)
Third, he loves me.
From that point forward Michael willingly endured his trial – for what I think was another couple DECADES before the Innocence Project people got him exonerated.
He does NOT resent the incarceration to this day but with it glorifies God. This seems to be Peter’s point here.
And he says, “don’t be ashamed.”
Disgraced. Disfigured. “AHEE-SCHOO-NO” ashamed .
if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
I would think the only way to glorify God on behalf of a person suffering is that person would have to accept that fact that God has allowed this suffering to exist – and that it is in accordance with His will for some reason or another for their life at the time.
We have to say that as believers in Him as sovereign and able to fix all things if He was willing to fix them.
So if a circumstance exists – and is allowed to exist – there is something in it that God is allowing according to His wisdom and will.
That being said we do see a fantastic result of suffering in the believer’s life – an immediate manifestation of their heart-felt faith and love for God in the eye of the storm.
This is the principle upon which the whole story of Job rests.
In the first five verses of the story we read how blessed Job was.
Then at verse 6 we read:
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
7 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
9 So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
10 “Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 “But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
The story is fascinating on some many accounts it would take a month to address them properly.
But as a summary, it seems (it appears) that it is God who appeals to Satan to test the character of Job. He is the one who points Job out in the first place, saying to Satan:
“As you have been going to and fro in the earth, have you considered my Servant Job? There is none like him in the earth.”
And Satan’s response was:
“That’s because you have greatly blessed and protected him. Given him abundance of wealth and care. Change that set up, God and that boy will curse You to Your face!”
So God says:
“Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
And we see the result of this is devastation of what was once a blessing to Job. Of course we then read at verse 20:
“Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”
Honest to goodness this was the attitude of the man Michael Morton after serving 25 years as an innocent man!
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Why did Job and Michael Morton possess this attitude? Because they knew Him and in knowing Him fully trusted in His wisdom and ways in their lives – especially their trials.
But here’s another tough but applicable reality. God doesn’t stop with just one set of trials for those who seek Him.
I’m sure Michael Morton is going to face new and difficult challenges. We know Job did.
I mean after allowing Satan to literally wipe out all that he possessed – his lands, his animals and his family we read in chapter two:
Job 2:2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.”
4 So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
5 “But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”
Now Job was going to lose his health. Anyone who has been sick knows that physical health is vital to a happy and fulfilling life – more important that money material or knowledge, right?
And yet at this point God tells Satan some really terrifying words:
“Behold, he (Job) is in your hands, but spare his life.”
And then we read:
Job 2:7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
8 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
It is one of the utterly amazing, impactful, attitude-changing response in the entire Bible that Job delivers:
“Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”
When and if believers are, by the Spirit and in faith, able to actually make this line part of their world view –
That “we indeed accept good from God, we ought to also accept adversity?”
We are able to enter in to another level of faith and walk . . . and often the only time God is able to impart this perspective to us is in and through the application of adversity and/or the removal of his blessings.
And it all comes in at us at different frequencies, seemingly predicated on our ability to cope.
Year ago we were friends with two other couples. One – a physician and his wife and the other a man who had inoperable brain cancer and his wife.
One night Mary and I were invited to go to dinner with them all.
As we took to the table the doctors wife sighed loudly. Her husband seemed concerned for her but said nothing.
We made small talk and ordered all the while the doctors wife was really struggling with having a good attitude.
When the food came, the man with brain cancer tried to cut his steak but due to the disease was unable – and his wife – for the first time in their long relationship, had to not only cut his food but actually feed him.
We were there watching her bear this burden – and she vocalized how this was a new turn for the worst.
Suddenly the doctors wife decided to unburden her heart and the weight she was under and with total transparency let us all know how horrible her day was.
“What happened, honey,” her doting husband said, causing her to reveal the contents of her heart.
“Well I was on the phone all morning trying to get tickets to Paul McCartney and I was only to get in the second tier. And I really, really wanted to get closer.”
And the wife of the man with brain cancer wiped his mouth.
Job. Mike Morton. A widow. Our personal trials and troubles . . . .
16 Yet (Peter says) if any man . . . suffer . . . . as a Christian . . . .let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
Between the narrative of Job and the words of Peter (plus) we have some ground rules laid out on how to interpret the reasons or purpose for Christians who are suffering.
First, Peter reminds us that we don’t want to suffer for murdering, thieving, evildoing or being busy-bodies.
I think there is a reason for the breadth and scope of this list. What he is saying is, “If you are suffering and being tried in your life first make sure that you have not brought it upon yourself through SOME sort of wrong-doing “– anything from murder to being a busybody – ought to be avoided.
So when we are reflecting on our trials and examining what is happening to us we have to shine a light into our lives, attitudes, and behaviors.
A humble self-assessment can go a long way in revealing that we are either receiving our just desserts from the world due to bad behavior and/or maybe God is trying to work some attitude out of us.
But once the self-exam is over, there are things we suffer, like Job, that God is using for HIS purposes and have little to do with us.
And (finally) one of the most glorifying outcomes in a believer’s life is when they do as Job and refuse to curse Him but instead trust in Him and His ways amidst the storm.
Perhaps there is no more glorifying manner in which God can be honored and uplifted than when one of his children, like His Son, in the midst of trial and pain and suffering and shame, continue to look and rely on Him without reservation, or hesitation.
When they, as Peter says, “glorify God on this behalf.”
And then Peter puts the reason he has written all this (into context) saying:
17 For . . . the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
We can read these words today and certainly apply them to our lives and times but here Peter clearly ties what he has written to that specific place and time by saying:
FOR . . .
In other words, “Glorify God in light of your suffering FOR . . .”
“the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.”
Now, allow yourself to ask:
Why would Peter write this, at this time, to these people? He was seeing the signs of the times.
Back in verse 7 he wrote:
“But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.”
And now within ten verses, and after talking about these believers allowing their suffering to glorify God, he says for
“the time is come . . . that judgment . . . must begin . . . at the house of God.”
The Lord predicted that, previously to the destruction of Jerusalem, his own followers would have to endure various insufferable injustices.
In Matthew 24:8-10 He said:
“All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.”
Then at verses 19-22 he added
“But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
In Mark 13:12-13 He warned His own disciples, saying:
“Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Peter here is commending believers to endure . . . to the end.
In John Jesus warned them at 16:2:
“They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.”
So Peter is confirming the judgement is coming and it has begun with or at “the house of God.”
I would suggest that the true disciples and believers are called the house or family of God and this is to whom Peter is speaking.
Judgement is beginning with them.
Now, the word for judgment here is “krima,” which is taken from the noun Krino (judge) means a number of things in scripture all related to “a decision being made.”
Here it may mean nothing more than a decision being made to afflict those who are of the household of God.
It was a common belief among the Jews that when God was about to pour down some general judgment on earth, He would began by afflicting his own people in order to correct and amend them and as a means to prepare them for the coming scourge.
In Bava Kama, which is part of a series of Hebrew writings that deal with civil matters says (in Volume 60, 1)
“God never punishes the world but because of the wicked, but he always begins with the righteous first. The destroyer makes no difference between the just and the unjust, only he begins first with the righteous.”
In Ezekiel 9:1-7 we read where God orders the destroyer to slay both old and young in the city: but, He says, “begin at my sanctuary.”
So Peter here is speaking in harmony with this biblical and Hebrew thought, saying:
17 For . . . the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Now, there are those who believe that the line referring to the House of God is speaking of ISRAEL itself . . . and then Peter speaks of the Gentile world.
This could be. But because this is since Christ, and since the genuine House of God are those who believe it could also mean at the house of his true believers thus fitting the general view of the Hebrews that God begins his judgments on those who are His.
Others believe that Peter is speaking literally here and when he said that judgment must begin at the house of God it is speaking of the actual temple, but the fact that Peter associates the House of God with the line, “and if it first begin at us,” including his own person, I am of the belief that he is either speaking of the House of Israel in general (as He too was a converted Jew) or of those who had converted to the true house of God from Judaism (which is what I think he is speaking about).
For . . . the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
In other words, if God brings such trials upon those who have obeyed his gospel, what can we suppose will fall on those who have rejected (or not obeyed) the Gospel of God?
Let’s wrap today up with a brief comment on this principle.
God so loved the world that He sent His Son to save it.
His Son saved it amidst and through suffering which God allowed His Son to experience.
Those who believed on His Son in that day experienced suffering – death, torture but were saved. Saved from what? Eternal punishment and death.
But they, like His Son, were still, under God’s hand, allowed to suffer.
Even here, Peter is telling them that judgement (suffering) will start at the house of God . . . and if that’s the case what could we suppose will be the end of those who REJECT (what he calls) the Gospel of God?
In the face of all of this, I am personally convinced that believers today cannot expect anything less in their walk. I really can’t see any other way.
And I additionally cannot help but believe we must be willing to submit to such suffering first and prior to entering his kingdom, as we read in Acts 14:22:
“Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
The questions that remain in the face of all of this are:
“What form will this suffering take in our lives?” AND “Will we glorify God in the midst of it, or raise a fist and renounce Him?”
Next week we will continue with verse 18 which says:
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Questions and Answers
