Blessed!
David Peterson / General
Holiness; Suffering; Persecution; Holy Spirit / 1 Peter 4:12–14; 1 Peter 5:6–11
Sermon Type: Textual-Topical
Proposition: God is in control despite the suffering of Christians. Indeed, he is working through the suffering for his greater purpose, drawing us into intimacy with himself and forming us in the image of his Son.
Introduction
I. The Surprising Trial (4:12)
1. Explanation
2. Application
3. Illustration
Luther: A Christian is like a traveler who stops overnight in an inn where all the people are thieves and murderers. In order to survive he must arm himself and stay awake all night.
From <http://pericope.org/buls-notes/1_peter/1_peter_4_12_17_5_6_11.htm>
II. The Surprising Reason (5:6, 8-9)
1. Explanation
2. Application
3. Illustration
By the way, humility is a lot more than self-effacement, or lowliness of mind. Do not separate verse 7 from verse 6. A man becomes humble when he begins to realize his total dependence on the Lord. Look at Peter at Luke 5:8 or the woman at Luke 7:36-50.
From <http://pericope.org/buls-notes/1_peter/1_peter_4_12_17_5_6_11.htm>
Rienecker: The true Christian attitude is not negative self-abandonment or resignation, but involves as the expression of one’s self-humbling the positive and trusting of one’s self and one’s troubles to God.
From <http://pericope.org/buls-notes/1_peter/1_peter_4_12_17_5_6_11.htm>
Stoeckhardt: The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, proceeding from the Father as well as from the Son. He knows God’s heart and mind and so makes known to Christians that, although men revile and reject them, they have God at their side, that they belong to God. . . . Truly, Christians profit greatly from their suffering. It brings them into the closest relationship to Christ, whose companions in suffering they are, to the Spirit, who surrounds them with comfort, through the Spirit to God, their God and Father, vouchsafes unto them a foretaste of future glory.
From <http://pericope.org/buls-notes/1_peter/1_peter_4_12_17_5_6_11.htm>
III. The Surprising Result (5:10)
1. Explanation
2. Application
3. Illustration
In 1987 an IRA bomb went off in a town west of Belfast. Eleven died; 63 were wounded. Gordon Wilson, a cloth merchant and devout Methodist, was buried with his 20-year-old daughter under five feet of concrete and brick. “Daddy, I love you very much,” were Marie’s last words, grasping her father’s hand.
From his hospital bed, Wilson said, “I’ve lost my daughter, but I bear no grudge. Bitter talk is not going to bring Marie back. I shall pray every night that God will forgive them.”
Once recovered, Wilson crusaded for reconciliation. Protestant extremists who had planned to avenge the bombing decided, because of the publicity surrounding Wilson, that such behavior would be politically foolish. Wilson wrote a book about his daughter and spoke out against violence, constantly repeating, “Love is the bottom line.”
He met with the IRA, personally forgave them, and asked them to lay down their arms. “You’ve lost loved ones, just like me,” he told them. “Surely, enough blood has been spilled.”
When he died in 1995, all Ireland and Britain honored this ordinary citizen for his uncommon forgiveness.
Citation: Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace? (Zondervan, 1997)
In the opinion of the author of these Notes in 1 Peter 4:15 we have a gradation from crude, punishable crime to a “meddling” sort of evangelism. Murder must be punished by law. Thievery , though punishable, often goes unnoticed and is not punished. “Evil-doing” can cover a host of sins from crime to sinful pranks. But the sneakiest of all is the last one.
Selwyn: ‘Meddling’ denotes tactless attempts to convert neighbors, or to improve those who are already converted.
From <http://pericope.org/buls-notes/1_peter/1_peter_4_12_17_5_6_11.htm>
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