If we went around the room, many of us could likely name a mentor we loved. If I then asked why they made such an impact, we might hear things about their character, their level of competency, their support in trial. But I imagine most (if not all) those who influenced our lives positively shared this in common: they plainly told us the truth.

Perhaps they would even preface that truth with words like, “Don’t be surprised…” “Don’t be surprised if these poor choices lead to a dead end.” “Don’t be surprised if marriage exposes some of the worst things in you.” “Don’t be surprised if work situations get harder when you refuse moral compromise.” Reality was initially harder to hear. But in the end, that’s what prepared us. We needed the truth.

Likewise, 1 Peter speaks the truth us. And sometimes that truth is initially harder to hear. But in the end, that’s what prepares us. Peter’s going to tell the truth about suffering. Don’t be surprised by it, he says. Instead, embrace suffering for Jesus’ sake as part of God’s will for your joy, your assurance, your worship, and your Christ-likeness. Let’s look at these things together, starting in verse 12…

¹² Beloved, don’t be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. ¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. ¹⁶ Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. ¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” ¹⁹ Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

“Fiery trial,” “suffering,” “insult,” “shame”—there’s no doubt that 1 Peter was written for Christians suffering for their faith. But to help Christians stand firm in that suffering, we need the truth about those sufferings. A soldier needs the truth about suffering before enters the battle. An athlete needs the truth about suffering before he competes. Likewise, Christians need the truth about suffering.

Don’t Be Surprised by Suffering

One big truth we need to hear is this: don’t be surprised by suffering when you follow Jesus. He says, “Beloved, don’t be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” Some take “fiery trial” literally as if Peter has in view Christians burning at the stake. However, Peter used imagery like this already in 1:6-7. These Christians had been grieved by various trials; and he compared those trials to a refiner’s fire: “that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it’s tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” So, more likely, “fiery trial” pictures the various trials we might suffer for following Jesus. God uses these trials to test us like gold is tested in fire. That’s important to tuck away for later.

For now, it’s also good to emphasize that the fiery trial is related to suffering for Jesus’ sake. It’s not simply a factor of living in a fallen world. Peter is addressing things like being “insulted for the name of Christ,” verse 14. It’s suffering “as a Christian,” verse 15. In 4:4, it’s being “maligned” for choosing obedience over sin. In 3:14, it was suffering “for righteousness’ sake.” Peter has in mind specifically Christian suffering, suffering that rises from our public allegiance to Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, be careful that you’re not surprised when these fiery trials come upon you. We live in a country whose founding principles recognize the dignity of man, and that contributes to relatively peaceful communities. We have religious protections that allow Christians to worship and witness without legal repercussions. We live in an affluent context, where being comfortable is the norm.

In our context, it’s very easy to grow up thinking that following Jesus is safe, comfortable, and easy. Sometimes it’s the first question people ask when it comes to outreach or missions: “Is it safe? Will we be safe?” Christians can become so accustomed to this more comfortable setting that we act surprised when anything disturbs it. They’re like a soldier in battle who, when the bullets start flying says, “What? What’s this!” and he’s not prepared to endure. Peter doesn’t want to leave us there. He’s preparing us for suffering, so that we don’t give up when it comes.

Peter says, “Don’t be surprised…as though something strange were happening to you.” Peter learned this from Jesus. John 15:18-20, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you…‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

As Occasion for Rejoicing

But he doesn’t stop there. Instead of surprise, suffering for Jesus’ sake is an occasion for rejoicing. Verse 13, “[Don’t be surprised] but rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”

Peter understands that our sufferings will cause grief—he said so in 1:6. He’s not asking Christians to work themselves into a state where they ignore pain. He’s also not saying that we should find joy in suffering itself. There are times in the Bible where the disciples (and even Jesus himself) avoided suffering until it was necessary.

Rather, the joy comes in getting to share in Christ and his sufferings. When we suffer for Jesus’ sake, we should embrace these sufferings from a standpoint of great privilege. We should take joy in the fact that our sufferings represent Jesus himself. Much like when the apostles were beaten in Acts 5:41. It says, “They left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” Our joy comes in knowing that we belong to Jesus and get to imitate Jesus.

Also, the purpose of present joy is that we also get to share in Christ’s future glory. Rejoice now, “so that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” 1:8 describes it as a “joy that’s inexpressible and filled with glory.” Nobody who shares in Christ’s suffering now will be disappointed later. Nobody will get to the end and say, “Oh. Is that it?” No, the joys of Jesus’ future glory are infinite. Thomas Boston once said, “the divine perfections will be an unbounded field, in which the glorified shall walk eternally, seeing more and more of God—since they can never come to the end of that which is infinite. They may bring their vessels to this ocean every moment and fill them with new waters.” You will not be disappointed.

We must embrace suffering for Jesus’ sake as part of God’s will for our joy, a joy that’s centered in Christ’s sufferings now and in Christ’s glory later. Consider how that helps us stand firm. For starters, it helps to know that suffering has a goal. We’re not just going through sufferings in vain. We’re heading to glory, what Paul calls an “eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” Sharing in Christ’s sufferings have that end.

But also, in suffering like this, the joys of this life may very well get stripped from you. There’s the joy of friendships, the joy of a steady job, the joy of owning a home, the joy of certain freedoms, the joy of family, the joy of holding your little ones. Yet in suffering for Jesus’ sake, people might threaten to take any of these things away. “Deny Jesus, and we’ll let you keep your job.” “Deny Jesus, and we’ll let you go home.” “Deny Jesus, and we’ll see that you stay comfortable.”

How do you choose? How do you stand firm? By preparing yourself with the mindset here: there is greater joy in choosing Jesus. The temporal joys of this life were always pointing to him anyway. Rejoice in his sufferings now, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. We must become like the Christians in Hebrews 10:34. They “joyfully accepted the plundering of their property.” How? “Because they knew they had a better possession and an abiding one.” Do you believe that you have a better possession in Christ and an abiding one?

As Assurance of the Spirit’s Presence

Next, Peter shows how suffering for Jesus’ sake also confirms the Spirit’s presence. Verse 14, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” Initially, I thought Peter was making a similar point Jesus made. In persecution, disciples don’t have to worry about what to say, “because what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you”—Matthew 10:20.

But I think Peter makes a different but complementary point. The fact that you are insulted for the name of Christ is proof that you’re already blessed by his presence. Consider the bigger picture. In 1:2, it was the Holy Spirit who set us apart “for obedience to Jesus.” If you are insulted because of your obedience to Jesus, what does that reveal? You have been blessed by the Spirit setting you apart.

In 2:5, Peter said that you’re a “spiritual house”—a temple indwelt by God’s Spirit. In the Old Testament, everything in the temple became holy. If you are insulted for seeking things that are holy, what does that reveal? The Spirit dwelling in you.

Peter also calls him “the Spirit of glory.” “Glory” is the “glory” he just spoke about in 4:13, the glory of Jesus’ final revelation. The Spirit reveals the glory of Jesus to us now (cf. 1 Pet 1:11). So, if you are willing to endure ridicule and loss in this life because you hope in a greater glory, what does that reveal? The Spirit ministering that glory to your heart. He’s fit you for a better country, and your heart belongs there.

Something else to consider is how this same word, “rests upon you,” appears in Isaiah 11:2. The Spirit of God was promised to “rest” on the Messiah. Just as the Spirit rests on Christ, so the Spirit rests on those who follow Christ.

So, far from suffering being an occasion to think God is absent. We should embrace our suffering for Jesus’ sake as part of God’s assurance that he’s present. Isn’t another temptation in suffering that we begin to think God is far away? That God doesn’t see us? That God doesn’t care? That maybe he’s forgotten about us? Such thoughts get even worse when the wicked prosper. The Psalms are filled with questions like, “Lord, where are you? Why are you letting them get away with this?”

But Peter’s words reassure us: “Beloved, the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” That’s your assurance. When you suffer for Jesus’ sake, you shouldn’t interpret those sufferings to mean God is absent, but that God is present. He’s close. His Spirit rests on you, just as it rested on Jesus in all that he had to endure for our sake.

As Worship in light of Coming Judgment

Something else: suffering for Jesus’ sake also signals that coming judgment has begun. Several times in the letter, Peter has been adamant that Christians suffer for doing good and not for doing evil. He makes the same point in verse 15: “let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.”

That might sound obvious—“Yeah, Peter, we’re Christians here.” But put anyone in a tough situation that squeezes them and even Christ’s disciples might be tempted to retaliate. Didn’t Peter himself go about things wrongly, trying to cut off the man’s head when Jesus was arrested? Likewise, if someone threatens your family because you’re talking about Jesus, you might be tempted to murder. If a government steals your stuff or puts you out of a job so that you can’t feed your kids, you might be driven to steal. If you see the culture using certain tactics like slander and political deviance to undermine your witness, you might fall into the same tactics to ruin them.

Peter says we must not go there. We are not revolutionaries, insurrectionists, troublemakers. Be sure that you’re suffering for the right reasons. Don’t be the murderer; be the one who’s murdered for Jesus’ sake. Don’t get put in prison for breaking good and just laws; be the one who’s put in prison unjustly. Don’t get shunned because you can’t help but stir up trouble; get shunned for being too much of a peacemaker.

Be like Paul in Acts 16 when he heals a slave girl from a demon; and her owners get mad at him because they can’t make any more money off her. So they seize him and tear off his clothes and then beat him with rods in the street. Be the one who gets hurt for being a person of healing. Choose to glorify God in your suffering that way, in the way of Christ and his cross. He says, “If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

Verses 17-18 then give us the motive for choosing to glorify God; and the motive is that our sufferings signal the outworking of God’s final judgment. He uses two Old Testament references. One comes in verse 17: “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” That’s not an easy verse. But a few clues help us.

One is the word “household” or simply “house of God.” Peter used this already in 2:5. He identified the church as “a spiritual house…a holy priesthood.” It’s temple imagery. Another clue is that judgment “begins at the house of God.” The last clue came earlier in 4:12—Peter used the language of “fiery trial…to test you.” Taken together, those three clues suggest that Peter has in mind a prophecy from Malachi 3-4.

In Malachi 3, the Lord promises to come on a final day. A messenger will prepare the way for the Lord, and he will suddenly come for judgment. But the judgment transpires in two stages. It begins at God’s temple with his priests; and when it comes upon the priesthood, it’s like a refiner’s fire. “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.” So, for those who belong to his covenant priesthood, stage one of God’s presence in judgment has a purifying effect.

But for those who don’t belong to the covenant, for those who reject the covenant, stage two of God’s fiery presence in judgment consumes them altogether. Malachi 4:1, “All the arrogant and all evildoers will be like stubble in a burning oven.” So, instead of purification they receive condemnation.

Peter, I think, is borrowing that imagery to say that with the coming of Jesus Christ, the end-time judgment of Malachi 3-4 has already started. God has started with his temple (the church); and through “the fiery trial,” he’s testing us and purifying us as his new priesthood. He uses suffering to sift from the church anything that does not bring him glory. But if that process has started with the church, among those inside the covenant priesthood, “what will be the outcome for those who disobey the gospel of God?” Stage two of God’s presence in judgment: they will be consumed like stubble.

The gospel of God is that Christ came into the world to save sinners. He died on the cross for our sins and then God raised him from the dead. If you trust in that message, then you belong to God’s new priesthood; and every hardship you face is not for your ruin but your refinement. But if you disobey the gospel by rejecting it, then the fiery presence of God’s judgment will ruin you.

The second Old Testament reference comes in verse 18: “And ‘If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’” That’s from Proverbs 11:31. Peter is likely quoting a Greek translation called the Septuagint. But our English versions read something like this: “If the righteous is repaid on earth [or in the land], how much more the wicked and the sinner [implied: outside the land].”

In the Old Testament, the land was a picture of God’s kingdom. So, if God didn’t hesitate to deal with sin inside the kingdom, how much more would he deal with it outside the kingdom. I think Peter draws from that wisdom to say: Look, if God doesn’t hesitate to deal with his own people—and sometimes that means purifying us through suffering—then he won’t hesitate to deal with those who aren’t his people.[i] In fact, their sufferings will be worse. Our sufferings are temporary and for purification. Their sufferings will be eternal and for condemnation.

I remember a man named Russell Vought, who was up for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. In 2017, he had to sit before the US Senate for a confirmation hearing. Previously, Vought had responded to a situation at Wheaton College; and in support of their gospel confession, he publicly expressed that “Muslims [don’t] just have a deficient theology. They [don’t] know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned.”

Anyway, while on the stand, Senator Berne Sanders ridiculed Mr. Vought publicly saying, “the statement…is indefensible, it is hateful, it is Islamophobic, and it is an insult to over a billion Muslims throughout the world.” Senator Sanders was trying to humiliate Mr. Vought for his Christian witness before the Senate.[ii]

How might you respond in a situation like that? In such a public setting, wouldn’t there be a temptation to start softening the message of Christianity? Wouldn’t there be a temptation to save face before others or start apologizing for the exclusivity of Jesus’ teachings? How do you not go there? What makes you bold to glorify God?

One is to remember this perspective about final judgment. Even your own sufferings for Christ are a sign of God’s final sifting of humanity; and that emboldens you to glorify God as a Christian. Human governments are nothing when compared to the Judge of all. Losing face with people is nothing when compared to losing face with God. Or stated more positively—the Judge of all already smiles on the Christian. They have his face and will be before his face for eternity. So, what are we losing, really, when shamed in front of others? Nothing. Even more, we have the assurance here that God will not overlook the wrongs done to us. He will judge; and our own sufferings for Jesus’ sake remind us that God’s judgment is already on the way. God is already sorting things out.

We could also go back to the picture of God’s new priesthood. Earlier in Malachi’s prophecy, it says the purpose of a priest was to “stand in awe of God’s name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with the Lord in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.” When you find yourself in a moment where someone is insulting you as a Christian, do you view yourself as the Lord’s true priesthood? Do you see God working like that refiner to make you into a priesthood who glorifies him?

Think about it—God’s fire, God’s Spirit, God’s house—it’s all there. In that moment of suffering, it’s all there. God is putting you forward as a new priesthood; and he’s calling you to glorify him as his priests. Only, we don’t bring another blood sacrifice. Jesus offered his blood for us once and for all. What, then, is the offering that we bring? Ourselves. We give ourselves to whatever suffering that is necessary to bring glory to God. So, instead of being surprised by suffering, we must also embrace suffering for Jesus’ sake as part of God’s will for our worship.

As Opportunity to Image Christ in Trust

“Therefore,” Peter says in verse 19, “let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” A faithful Creator. Why insert the title, “Creator”? Perhaps we’re supposed to consider again God’s role as Judge. If he created everything, then he alone possesses authority to judge. We can entrust our souls to him in suffering, knowing that he will set things right. Our persecutors won’t get away with their injustice.

Perhaps we’re also to consider God’s control. As Creator, there’s nothing outside his control, including the sufferings that might come to us. Peter can even speak here of sufferings as “God’s will” for our lives. We can entrust our souls to the Lord, knowing that his plans and designs are better. He is Creator.

Given Peter’s theme of final glory, maybe there’s even an element here of new creation. As Creator, God also has the power to make all things new again. He is the God who will create for you a new body in resurrection after your current body lies in the grave. We can entrust our souls to the Creator with the assurance that when our heart stops beating here, he will be faithful to raise us to life again.

In any case, our trust in the Lord will show itself in continuing to do good while suffering; and in doing so, our lives will look like that of Christ. 2:21-24 said this, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”

Jesus entrusted himself to the faithful Creator while doing good for us. He pursued the ultimate good for us by taking away our sins. But that cross also became the power by which we ourselves can follow in his footsteps. He died “so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” So, instead of being surprised by suffering, we should also embrace suffering as an opportunity to image Christ before others. When we entrust our souls to the Creator while still doing good to our enemies, people see Jesus.

Conclusion

I once heard John Piper tell a story about a “missionary who walked barefoot from village to village preaching the gospel in India.” He says, "His hardships were many. After a long day of many miles and much discouragement, he came to a certain village and tried to speak the gospel but was driven out of town and rejected. So he went to the edge of the village dejected and lay down under a tree and slept from exhaustion. When he awoke, people were hovering over him, and the whole town was gathered around to hear him speak. The head man of the village explained that they came to look him over while he was sleeping. When they saw his blistered feet, they concluded that he must be a holy man, and that they had been evil to reject him. They were sorry and wanted to hear the message that he was willing to suffer so much to bring them.”[iii]

This man entrusted his soul to a faithful Creator while doing good. Perhaps the Lord uses your life in a similar way, to show Jesus to others through your sufferings. But we must first let this truth about suffering prepare us. Don’t be surprised by it. Instead, embrace suffering for Jesus’ sake as part of God’s will for your joy, your assurance, your worship, and your Christ-likeness.

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[i] See especially the discussion in Bruce Waltke, Proverbs 1-15, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 514.

[ii] Emma Green, “Bernie Sanders’s Religious Test for Christians in Public Office,” The Atlantic (June 18, 2017), accessed at https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/bernie-sanders-chris-van-hollen-russell-vought/529614/.

[iii] John Piper, “Filling Up What Is Lacking in Christ’s Afflictions,” Desiring God (October 19, 2008), accessed at https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/filling-up-what-is-lacking-in-christs-afflictions.