Monthly Archive for September, 1997

1 Peter 3:14b

Published on September 30, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. ‘And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled’.”
 
 
suffer for righteousness’ sake,
 
“Suffer” – God does not make Christians immune from suffering. Everyone suffers in this life. We cannot get through life without pain. Some suffer more than others but we all suffer. None of us are exempt from trial. 
 
2 Tim. 3: 12 “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Even the godly suffer. 
 
God calls us to do well and suffer for it (2:20,21). That is our calling. God wants us to raise our suffering to a higher level than suffering for sin (3:13). Suffering for righteousness sake is suffering for taking a stand for what is right. 
 
PRINCIPLE: Unrighteousness has difficulty tolerating righteousness.
 
APPLICATION: True righteousness irritates unrighteousness for godly righteousness quietly condemns unrighteousness.   
 
You may say that “It is not fair that I suffer for righteousness’ sake.” However, we do not expect to find things fair here in time on earth. People are unfair. Even Christians are unfair. In soccer a referee may miss a call. That is not fair to the player fouled. That is not fair but it is a reality. The ref.’s are not fair and the folks in the away stands are not friendly. All they do is boo us. There is no even break here. 
Before we crush our hearts we better learn that things are not fair down here. We are “strangers and pilgrims” here. We are on the devil’s playing field. If the world dines and dances us, there is something wrong with our testimony. They do not know where we stand. They do not know what team for whom we play. People know us by our enemies as well as our friends. 
Lk 6: 26             “Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
For so did their fathers to the false prophets.”
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1 Peter 3:14

Published on September 29, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. ‘And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled’.”
 
 
But even if you should
 
“But” – strong contrast. In contrast to suffering for sin, we suffer for “righteousness’ sake.” We either suffer for our sin or we suffer for God. 
 
The “if” in the Greek expresses strong doubt that they will suffer for righteousness. The “if” deals with contingency. Suffering may not happen immediately. There is risk of suffering. Suffering is pressing against them. Pain always looms around the corner for all of us. Peter says, “I wish you were suffering for righteousness’ sake but you are not.” You suffer for self. 
 
PRINCIPLE: We all face the risk of suffering and pain.
 
APPLICATION: Sooner or later we will all face suffering. If we depend on happy times to establish our character we will come to a great fall one day. If we depend on the circumstances of life to make us happy we will ultimately come to misery. We generally do this in periods of prosperity. 
 
All of us will come to pain in our lives. God designs pain for our growth. God allows two kinds of misery to come into our lives: primary and secondary. Primary pain comes from God’s sovereign placement of pain to gain our attention. Secondary pain is self induced misery. This is pain that comes from personal sin. We pay the consequence of our choices.
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1 Peter 3:13b

Published on September 28, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?”
 
 
if you become followers of what is good?
 
 “Follower” means to burn with zeal. A “follower” is one who deeply commits to something and is therefore zealous. He is an enthusiast. Paul calls himself “zealous.” 
 
Ac 22 3 “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.” 
 
Zealots were uncompromising devotees. They were fanatics who swore to liberate their native land from oppression by every possible means. They prepared themselves to die if necessary.
 
The “Zealots” was a name applied to an extreme subdivision of the Pharisees who were bitterly hostile to the Romans. Josephus refers to them as the “fourth sect of Jewish philosophy” (in addition to the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes). Judas of Galilee founded the Zealots (Acts 5:37). After his rebellion in a.d. 6, the Zealots fostered the fires of revolution that broke out again in A.D. 66. This led to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Simon, one of the Apostles, belonged to this sect (Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13).
 
“Become” – to become something that you were not previously. Christians in Asia Minor were not followers of the good but now Peter asks them to become zealots for the good. He wanted them to suffer for a “good” testimony not for some reckless action. 
 
Tit 2: 14 ”Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
 
What harm can come to those who know the Lord should suffering occur? Note the qualification “if.” God promises exemption, not from difficulty, but from “harm.” Zeal for good robs opponents of justification of their wrong treatment of us. 
 
God prevents our enemies from going beyond his providential concurrence of what will happen to us. Nothing happens outside his permissive will. He turns everything to good account. 
 
Gen. 45: 5“But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”
 
PRINCIPLE: Nothing happens to us without God’s permission.
 
APPLICATION: We can rest in God’s providential care for us when we do God’s will (“good”). God gives us exemption from a tragic testimony when we walk with the Lord. In this, God prevents our enemies to step outside his sovereign permission. No hurt can come to us without his permissive will. He turns everything to his purpose.
 
Are you resting in God’s providential care for you? Why do you churn if you trust God’s sovereignty?
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1 Peter 3:13

Published on September 27, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?”
 
 
And who is he who will harm you
 
“And” is a continuation of the idea of the quote running from 3:10-12. If God sovereignly and providentially cares for the righteous, no one can do anything to us that God does not approve. 
 
“Harm” in this context means the discrediting of our testimony. Christians will face harm even though we attempt to live at peace with his enemies but our testimony will stand in the face of affliction. The issue here is how the Christian responds to suffering.  
 
PRINCIPLE: God promises Christians immunity, not from difficulty but from the discrediting of their testimony.
 
APPLICATION: This verse does not say that the Christian will be free from pain or suffering. That is against everything he says in the book. The point is that no harm can come to our testimony if we follow God’s will. 
 
Much pain that comes to Christians is due to our own problems, not our testimony.  People find it hard to work side by side with us. We may be arrogant and contrary. Others of us may be inert or unprofessional. If we do what is “good” we will not suffer for these things. 
 
Do you rest in God’s providential care? Do you believe that God cares for you in such a way as to manage the circumstances of your life so that everything comes out to the good?
 
Ro. 8: 28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” 
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1 Peter 3:12d

Published on September 26, 1997 in 1 Peter. 2 Comments
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"For ‘He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit.Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil’."

 

We have now come to the end of the quote from Psalm 34:12-16 (1 Peter 3:10-12). Peter memorized Scripture. Obviously he could not have written this passage had he not memorized the Old Testament. The Bible permeated his thinking.

Principle:

The memorization of Scripture is crucial for spiritual development especially under affliction.
Application:
Those who wait till the trial is upon them wait too long. We need to get Scripture in our mind to fortify us against suffering. We cannot transcend our circumstances in the midst of suffering unless we already have the Word in our mind. We must transcend trial before the trial comes.
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1 Peter 3:12c

Published on September 25, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
 
 
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil
 
“But” – this is a right about face word. In contrast to answering prayer God will discipline those who step out of his fellowship.
 
“Face” is an anthropomorphism indicating fellowship with God.   
 
“Against” indicates discipline of the child of God who steps out of fellowship with God. 
 
“Those who do evil” – those who commit some sin and do not confess it. The Greek indicates that these are people who not only step out of communion with God but stay out for a long period of time. 
 
Ps. 66: 18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear.”
 
Prov. 15: 8 “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight.”
 
Prov. 15: 29 “The Lord is far from the wicked,
But He hears the prayer of the righteous.”
 
James 4: 3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
 
God provides everything necessary for our lives even in our discipline. He provides a way to get back into fellowship. If we immediately confess our sin God takes that discipline off our lives. 
 
PRINCIPLE: God does not answer prayer when we are out of fellowship with him but he does provide a way back.
 
APPLICATION: Are you trying to pray while out of fellowship with God?   God in most cases will not answer your prayer. The only thing that you need to do is get back in fellowship with God by confessing your sin (specify that the particular sin you committed acknowledging that it took Jesus to the cross).
 
I John 1: 9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
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1 Peter 3:12b

Published on September 24, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
 
 
And His ears are open to their prayers;
 
“To” means direction toward. God directs his attention toward our prayers. He is not off in the universe attending to other things. He pays attention when we pray. He is there for us. We can be assured that our prayer have been heard. We can also know that he will answer our prayer for our ultimate good. 
 
God is omniscient (all knowing) and omnipresent (everywhere present) in both his sovereign care and response to prayer. This is especially true with suffering. Suffering is the main context of the whole book.
 
Should anyone threaten injury to us, God is willing and able to intervene for us. God attends to our requests. God has good ears. He can hear everything we say. That is another reason why we “refrain” our mouths from evil.
 
James 5: 9 “Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!”
 
I Jn 5: 14 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
 
PRINCIPLE: God focuses his attention on our prayers.
 
APPLICATION: What a picture of God! Here is God with his eyes focused on you and his ears earnestly listening to your cause ready, willing and able to answer your prayer. He is ready to come to your aid when you pray. We do not have to propitiate him to gain his openness to answer prayer. He is already open to answer our prayer. 
 
God is not too busy doing other things in the universe to answer our prayer. He delights to respond to our need. 
 
Jer. 33: 3 “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
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1 Peter 3:12

Published on September 23, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
 
 
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
 
Christians need not fear the cruelty of their enemies because God watches over them. When the Bible attributes eyes and ears to God, we call this an anthropomorphism. An anthropomorphism attributes human physical characteristics to God. This anthropomorphism usually describes an attribute or action of God that forms an orientation or policy toward us. The eyes of the Lord here is God’s careful oversight of his people. God specially watches out for his people. He will never fail the righteous.
 
“Eyes” is qualitative in the Greek.  God ever watches. He watches in order to bless us. 
 
Job 34: 21 “For His eyes are on the ways of man,
And He sees all his steps.”
 
II Ch. 16: 9 “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”
 
Hebrews 4: 13 “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
 
“On” means “upon.” God’s eyes are favorably watching us. 
 
 “Righteous” – Christians are righteous in two senses: 1) God views us as righteous in his eyes so we do not have to gain his favor. This is judicial righteousness (Rom. 5:1). We already have God’s favor because of the death of Christ for our sins. 2) We are experientially righteous when we walk with the Lord. The latter is the point of this verse. This righteousness is experiential righteousness, not judicial righteousness. 
 
PRINCIPLE: God sovereignly and favorably cares for us all of the time. 
 
APPLICATION: It is wonderful to know that the eyes of the Lord are over us all the time. He watches, provides and protects us. He anticipates our problems. He knows the trouble that lies ahead. 
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1 Peter 3:11c

Published on September 22, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.”
 
 
Let him seek peace
 
We come to the third “Let him” – “Let him seek peace.” Christians already have peace with God (Rom. 5:1) so we do not seek peace in that sense. Non-Christians should seek that kind of peace. Christians seek peace with people. 
 
“Peace” is a well-ordered soul or a well-ordered relationship. In this context it means souls well ordered together. Christians can fellowship together even though they may differ about a lot of things. 
 
Matthew uses “seek” of seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness in the sense of striving after his kingdom:
 
6: 33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”
 
Here Christians are to attempt to attain the state or condition of peace with people. When people lay charges against us, we seek peace with them. 
 
and pursue it
 
“Pursue” is to do something with intense effort and with definite purpose. This pursuing person moves quickly and energetically toward some objective. He strives toward peace with the idea of seeking eagerly after it. Romans uses this term literally of pursuing (as a calling) the things that make for peace: 14:19 “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.”
 
Heb 12: 14 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.”  
 
PRINCIPLE: The mature Christian seeks to find a platform of peace even with his enemies.
 
APPLICATION: Are you in the midst of running battle with someone? Some Christians avoid other Christians. They can hardly speak to them in a civil way. If they can keep from it, they will not shake hands with them. They go out different doors of the church. This is not “loving life” and “good days.” 
 
God wants us to be tenacious about peace. As a drill sergeant keeps after his men to accomplish their goals, keep going after peace until you win it. The world still has a problem with Sadam Hussein because the US did not “pursue” him till they defeated him. Is peace with people an objective for your life?
 
Romans 12: 18 “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”
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1 Peter 3:11b

Published on September 21, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.”
 
 
and do good;
 
This “good” is the good of intrinsic value. Motivation for doing “good” is our relationship to Jesus Christ. We do not do good to gain approbation with God. We have his favor. We do good because we already have his favor. 
 
Psalm 37: 3 “Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” This is the right sequence. That is how we prove that we know the Lord. 
 
PRINCIPLE: We do good because of our relationship to Jesus Christ.
 
APPLICATION: What kind of “good” are you involved in now that you have come to Christ? We have to involve ourselves in other people’s problems. We confine our lives to our little world. We limit our relationships to our little family and a couple close friends. Thus our lives shrivel into a small world.
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