PETER’S EPISTLES: PREPARING FOR ETERNITY

XVII. Christian Service Under Persecution

(1 Peter 4:7-11)

I. Introduction

A. Before the Apostle Peter began to minister for the Lord in the Church, his outlook was impacted by Christ’s prophecy in John 21:18-19 that he would be crucified for Christ. Eternity was thus often on Peter’s mind.

B. Peter’s epistles highlight preparing for eternity, and in 1 Peter 4:7-11, Peter addressed Christian service under persecution. His readers faced persecution from unbelievers, but today, one can face “soft” persecution from other Christians over what one believes or does. We view the passage for insight, application and edification:

II. Christian Service Under Persecution, 1 Peter 4:7-11.

A. In 1 Peter 4:6, Peter had referred to Christians who had died as martyrs, in 1 Peter 4:7a he moved to the subject of the “imminent return of Christ for His church.” (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 853) Peter’s use of the Greek verb engiken that means “draws near” appears in the same form in James 5:8 to refer to the Second Coming, so the “shortness of the time remaining is motivation to live for and serve Jesus Christ (v. 2),” Ibid.

B. Thus, in view of the Lord’s return and eternity, and in view of their facing religious persecution, believers have several special responsibilities relative to Christian service as explaied in 1 Peter 4:7b-11:

1. We believers need to be responsible to serve the Lord in various informal ways, 1 Peter 4:7b-9:

a. We believers need to be “clear-minded,” from the Greek term sophronesate, literally “be of sound mind,” so we can think clearly under the duress of persecution, 1 Peter 4:7b; Ibid.

b. We also need to be “sober, self-controlled” (nepsate, Ibid.; 1 Peter 4:7c). This latter quality equips us to pray intelligently under the duress of persecution as we look to the Lord to address specific needs.

c. Prayer, “of high priority in persecution, is to be clear, reasonable, sober communication with God,” Ibid.

d. It is especially important that believers under persecution exhibit a deeply committed spiritual love for one another, a love that “covers over (kalyptei, literally ‘hides’) a multitude of sins. This kind of . . . love is not blind but sees and accepts the faults of others . . .” (Ibid.; 1 Peter 4:8)

e. An important way for such love to be expressed is to offer hospitality, free food and lodging for other believers who are fleeing persecution, and to do so without grumbling for those who are traveling. “During times of persecution, hospitality was especially welcomed by Christians who were forced to journey to new areas,” Ibid.; 1 Peter 4:9.

2. We believers also need to be responsible to serve the Lord in formal church services, 1 Peter 4:10-11:

a. Since each believer has received a spiritual enabling called a “gift” from the Lord for Christian service in the local church, each believer is to serve the Lord by using that gift to edify other believers in the body as good stewards of the various forms of God’s gifts, 1 Peter 4:10. Significantly, the use of these God-given gifts is very important under persecution, for with the pressures believers face in persecution, they need to function in God’s power well beyond mere human might, and God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of love, power and a sound mind, cf. 2 Timothy 1:6-7.

b. Peter then divided formal Christian service in the Church into two categories, that of speaking and that of serving, 1 Peter 4:11; Ibid., p. 854. This is the same major distinction the Apostles made in Acts 6:2-4 where they gave themselves to the ministries of prayer and God’s Word while the deacons addressed the livelihood issues of the widows. Both kinds of ministry were essential, both to a degree overlapped but both kinds of ministries played key roles in the welfare, testimony and outreach of the congregation.

c. As for these major ministry divisions, (i) those who spoke were to speak the very words of God in Scripture, 1 Peter 4:11a. God has promised to bless the use of His Word, not the use of man’s wisdom or man’s ideas, and under persecution, those who speak must use God’s powerful Word, 2 Timothy 3:15-17. (ii) Similarly, those who served to meet specific physical needs were to minister according to the strength or “power” (ischuos) that God provided that in all things God might be glorified through the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 4:11b.

Lesson: If facing religious persecution, be it persecution from the world or “soft” persecution from fellow Christians, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to be clear-minded, self-controlled, prayerful, loving, helpful and serve the needs of the rest of the church with the spiritual gifts God has given us in accord with 1 Peter 4:7-11.

Application: If we face any kind of persecution, may we apply Peter 4:7-11 to serve the Lord according to His will.