“For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.”
this is commendable before God
The word “commendable” is the word grace — “this is grace.” The Christian who utilizes God’s provision for salvation and the Christian life operates under the grace principle.
“Before God” means grace that comes from the immediate presence of God. The Christian who operates under grace will bring delight and praise from the heart of God. God knows all about us. He thinks about us. He designed us to operate under his provisions when we face pressure at work.
Both “if” clauses of this verse modify the phrase “this is grace before God.” When we are in fellowship with God, he allows undeserved suffering to come into our lives to show how he provides for us in grace.
If we stay under undeserved suffering with grace, we get “credit” for it in our employer’s eyes. This is also grace from the immediate source of God. Only grace can convert cursing into blessing. The plan of God is greater than any suffering or pressure in this life. God will provide grace for any situation.
PRINCIPLE:
God will provide for whatever we face at our job or place of employment.
APPLICATION:
God has goodwill toward undeserved suffering. It takes the grace of God to endure undeserved blame without complaining. If we receive severe rebuke for something that we did not do from our employer, how do we take it? Do we endure? Anyone can endure reproof when he knows he deserves it. (This does not imply that God does not want us to speak up for ourselves.)
It is something else to endure rebuke and reproof if you do not deserve it. It takes grace to receive undeserved blame without complaining. It is hard to accept blame for what we did not do. This passage later challenges us to take our blessed Lord for an example. People falsely accused and harassed him for things he never did. He left these things in the Father’s hands. (He also stood up for himself in a mature way.)
God expects a new relationship between employee and employer when an employee or employer accepts Christ as their Savior. When we accept Christ, our standards change. There is a bond between those at work that transcends the necessary differences between us. God introduces a new attitude toward work under the grace principle.
