The Christian Superpower

We continue our series in 1 Peter, Exiles in Our Land. We’re learning a deeper identity as God’s people and with God’s people. 

When the gospel came to the Roman world in the first century, communities of followers of Jesus started spreading throughout the empire. They were small. They had little clout. They were weird. They were seen as weird, strange, by those who observed them. 

Peter in this letter is instructing the Christians on who they are, what they are to do, and how they are to relate to the larger society. 

Having explored with them their radical new birth and inheritance from God as well as their corporate identity as God’s new and chosen people, he moves his instruction to how they are to relate to the authorities that are in place, including political, social, ecclesial (church related), and divine. 

That was last week. 

This week he moves within the household. The household was seen as the foundation of Roman society. 

Within a household you found husbands, wives, children, and slaves. In this letter Peter does not address children (Paul does in his letters). But he does address slaves, wives and husbands. 

We’re going to look at what we’re called to and why we’re called to it.

1 Peter 2:18–20

Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

Slaves. Why is Peter addressing slaves?

Slaves were a big part of how society functioned in the first century. At least a fourth of the people in the Roman empire were slaves. In some cities easily half of the population were slaves.

Imagine that neither electricity nor fuel were a part of our economy. Everything would take a lot more time. Manual labor would be far more critical. Keeping the house warm, preparing meals, educating the children, farming the land, going places – it would all be much more time-consuming. Slaves were the electricity and fuel of Roman society.

Now, when the New Testament writers mention slavery, they are not supporting the practice. They are, rather, helping the Christians who find themselves in this condition understand that they can honor God in their condition. And there were many Christians who were slaves.

And, of course, the trajectory of the gospel, with the inherent value of every individual rooted in the image and glory of God, has led to many anti-slavery, abolitionist movements around the world.

Today an estimated 50 million people are slaves around the world, and that’s not counting many of the people that made the clothes we’re all wearing today, who for all intents and purposes are slaves, stuck with horrible wages and barely able to make a living.

And I say that, not to make you feel guilty (because these things are complex), but to help us not look down our noses when we read about cultures, in another place or time, whose customs and practices don’t make sense to us. Many of our practices would not make any sense to them either.

Slaves were a big part of Roman society, so Peter addresses them.

But there’s another reason he’s addressing them.

Slaves had the lowest social status. They had in many cases the deck stacked against them. So by addressing those who were slaves, Peter is addressing all of us. How so? If those who have the hardest and bleakest conditions in life can honor God and beautify the gospel, so can the rest of us.

Think about American slavery. The enslavement of black people in our country’s history will always be one of its biggest blemishes. And yet within this wicked practice we find also one of the most powerful examples of gospel freedom.

Black slaves loved Jesus. Many of them learned the gospel from their masters (some of whom were quite wicked while others were more gracious and generous). But the slaves were able to latch onto Christ, draw strength from him to endure unjust suffering, and distinguish between the corruption of their master (who taught them the gospel) and the purity of the gospel itself.

To this day, a higher percentage of Black people in America are Christian compared to White people.

What does Peter say to the slaves? In reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters. 

Last week we saw that he already told all Christians to submit to the governing authorities, like the emperor.

The emperor ruling when Peter was writing was Nero, who was a vicious, wicked man. In fact, Peter died under Nero’s persecution of Christians.

And yet he doesn’t call Christians to revolt or boycott but to submit. Submission because of God is far more radical than violent revolution.

And now he says to slaves, submit yourselves to your masters. And not just to those who were good and considerate, but also to those who were harsh.

In other words, the slaves’ behavior was not based on the masters’ treatment. There was something deeper fueling their submission. What is that? Look at verses 19–20: For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

Here’s how Peter is arguing. If you do something wrong and suffer for it, so what? What’s to your credit? Nothing. But if you do good and you suffer for it, that is commendable.

In the Greek the suffering could be the result of doing good, but not necessarily. It could also be that both things are happening at the same time without the one resulting from the other: you’re doing good AND you’re suffering – and you endure.

This, Peter says, is commendable before God.

This is the superpower Christians have.

Let’s think about contexts today in which people can suffer unjustly, and this includes Christians.

Immigrants, minorities, women, people with disabilities, the poor – people in all these categories can suffer through lack of opportunities, dignity not given to them, harassment of various kinds.

People who are trafficked or exploited through unfair conditions.

People living in war-torn countries, or under corrupt governments and authoritarian regimes.

Conversely, if your boss wants you to go into the office, and your chair is a bit uncomfortable, and the HVAC unit is a little loud, you’re not suffering unjustly. That’s called life.

Peter calls slaves, and by extension all of us, to do good and endure suffering. And in so doing, our actions are commendable before God.

Let’s think together about the special temptations that people suffering unjustly face.

• Self-pity. Why me? Why do I have to suffer? Why are things always so difficult for me?
• A victim mentality. I am trapped. There’s nothing I can do. I am powerless. 
• A lack of agency. Things are always happening to me. It doesn’t matter what I do, things never turn out as I hope.
• Seeking sympathy. I don’t want you to give me solutions. I just want you to agree with me that my life is harder than Job’s. 
• Overall negativity. Remember Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh? When they say “Good morning” to him, he says what? “If it is a good morning, which I doubt!”
• Bitterness and revenge. I hate him/her. I hope they get into an accident and the ambulance never gets there. 

Think of a slave in first-century Rome.

You woke up before dawn in a cramped, crowded, smelly, dark room.

You did backbreaking work on a building project.

You ate bread and porridge for lunch and maybe the odd vegetable.

You went back to more backbreaking work.

Meanwhile, you received no wages and had a master that was harsh to you, and beat you, and made fun of your religion.

How do you think you would do? When God says to you, I know you’re mistreated. I know you’re suffering. But keep doing good and enduring, how do you think you would do?

Do you see why I’m calling it the Christian superpower? Doing good while unjustly suffering? Because it’s so rare.

If someone goes too slow on the road, we’re fuming.

If someone doesn’t say hello because they didn’t see us, we think they don’t care.

If someone doesn’t invite us, we say, Fine. I won’t invite them. 

We’re so easily offended. Our egos are more fragile than dry leaves. A little pressure and we snap.

Peter goes on to say, To this you were called. We are called to do good even though we’re suffering and endure it. Endure graciously because of God.

1 Peter 2:21–25

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 

“He committed no sin, 

and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 

Peter is fully aware that no philosophical system, no ancient religion, no power of the will is going to enable people to suffer unjustly and suffer well, except the gospel of Jesus Christ. (These verses are some of the best verses to use when you’re trying to explain the gospel to someone.)

Peter begins by saying, To this you were called. To what? To bearing well under unjust suffering.

Whether we like it or not, suffering is in the world to stay. And one of the pieces of evidence that Christianity is true in what it claims about God, humankind, and the world is that it has good answers for the problem of suffering. Not just intellectual answers. Experiential answers. Answers you can take to your darkest hour and come out a stronger person, a more beautiful person.

And Peter knows this, so he takes us to the heart of what enables Christians to suffer well.

He says, To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you. 

Do you realize how profound this is? God suffered for you. God died for you.

The reason Christianity had slaves, the poor, women flocking to it by the droves is because when you are mistreated, regarded as less than, when you have nothing – and the elites of your culture make sure you know your low place in the world – to hear a message that the God of the universe identifies with your pain and suffered for you to comfort you and heal you and give you an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, you are transformed.

If the gospel is not transformational to you, you have not believed it, or you’ve believed it but have not worked it through. It’s still just an idea to you, not a power, the power of God’s love at work for your deliverance in real time.

You were called to bearing well under unjust suffering because Christ suffered for you. And in so doing, he left us an example, that we should follow in his steps. (I’m going to come back to this notion of his example and the transformation he brings in a bit.)

Let’s read the verses.

Verse 22 He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. 

Verse 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

Verse 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

Let me make some observations:

Peter understands the significance of Jesus’ death through Isaiah’s prophecy. 

We studied Isaiah 53 two months ago, the prophecy about the Suffering Servant of the Lord. Of course, Jesus himself helped the apostles understand what his death meant. The son of man came to give his life as a ransom for many, he told them (Mark 10:45). 

When Jesus was arrested, tried, and executed, Peter was at a loss, completely disoriented, reverting to his old self. But then after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to him and explained many things from the Old Testament scriptures concerning himself.

So then Peter looked at Isaiah 53 and read verses like, But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed (v 5). And Peter realized, Jesus is the suffering servant of the Lord prophesied to us seven centuries ago. 

That is the move that most Jews since the time of Christ have not been able to make. They know about Isaiah’s prophecy. They know about Jesus’ death. But they have not been able to say, This is that. A fact over which Paul agonized. How could my own people be so blind and unwilling to receive the Messiah? 

We need to pray for Jewish conversions to Jesus. There are an estimated over 300,000 Jews around the world who follow Jesus. I praise God that he has opened their eyes. The Oak Pointe Church in West Bloomfield is engaged in ministry that seeks to reach Jewish people for Christ. And we need to pray for them and support them in any way we can.

For a few years the apostle Paul, prior to his conversion, was in the same place as most Jews today: he knew of Isaiah’s prophecy, he knew of the death of Jesus of Nazareth. But his eyes had not been opened to see in Jesus the fulfillment of Israel’s hopes. We know the rest of his story.

Let’s pray the same happens for Jewish people around the world.

Jesus did NOT sin, deceive, retaliate or threaten.

Peter, as a faithful Jew, knows that every human sins, that there isn’t anyone in the human realm that is without transgression. Only God does not sin. So when he says that Jesus committed no sin, he’s making an outstanding claim. He is saying that Jesus is more than a human. He belongs to the realm of God.

Then Peter focuses on Jesus’ arrest and trial. When he was being insulted, ridiculed, derided, he did not open his mouth. He suffered in silence. He did not defend himself. He did not threaten or retaliate.

This same posture Peter is commending to the Christians because they too are being threatened and insulted.

It is so difficult to bite your tongue when you’re being accused, especially when the accusation is false.

Peter is not saying there isn’t a place to explain yourself. (We’ll see this in a later passage.) But he is saying we do not make threats or retaliate.

Jesus did entrust himself to the just judge.

Often when people take justice into their own hands, they don’t believe that they’re going to get justice anywhere. They don’t trust authorities. Perhaps they’ve been done dirty by the authorities, by the legal system, so they don’t trust. They think, I am my own justice. Of course, this mindset results in violence and anarchy.

Jesus knew he would never get justice on earth. Sinners put him on trial. Do you understand how backwards this is? Imagine if you needed heart surgery, but you, with no knowledge of medicine, put the heart surgeon on the operating table and began cutting away! When Jesus came, the whole world was put on trial. We read in John’s Gospel, This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil (3:19). Light came into a dark world, and the dark world hated the light and found fault with the light. How could he ever get justice? The only way Jesus would make sense to the authorities is if they received him on his terms, but to do so would prove them in the wrong. So it was easier to kill him.

Knowing this, Jesus did not take matters into his own hands. He entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He knew that justice did exist but only with God. Perfect justice resides with God alone. God will give to everyone according to what they have done.

When you believe this, you will not retaliate or threaten. You will entrust yourself to God.

There is so much that is so wrong with this world that justice will only be achieved when God remakes all things.

Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross.

Sometimes we think the power of the gospel lies in explaining the gospel. But there are essential aspects of the gospel that we can’t really explain.

How did our sins go into Jesus’ body? He’s on a Roman cross, held there for six hours by a few nails. His body is bleeding. He’s in great agony. Insulted by bystanders. Mocked by the soldiers. Chastised by a thief. Is that what it means that he bore our sins in his body? No. These are a part of his sufferings for our sins.

Sin is a spiritual reality. Sin is spiritual infidelity against God.

When a spouse is unfaithful, let’s say that their spouse doesn’t know it. So does that mean that no wrong has been done? The betrayed spouse doesn’t know they’ve been betrayed. So is everything fine? Of course not. We know everything isn’t fine. There’s been a violation of the marriage covenant. But where can this violation be found? It’s not on paper somewhere. Is it in the air? Is it in the minds of the people who committed adultery?

The violation is with God. Every sin is first done against God. Sin is spiritual infidelity against God. He became sin on the cross (2 Cor 5:21). He bore sin in his body.

But I can’t explain to you how that happened. The power of the gospel is not the explanation of how Jesus bore sin in his body.

The power of the gospel is the message itself: Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross. 

By Jesus’ wounds we are healed.

Again, explaining how we can go from his wounds to our healing defies comprehension. How is it that the wounds of this person 2000 years ago so far removed from my life and wrongdoing can be medicine for my soul? I don’t know the mechanics of this transaction. But I know the judge of all the earth, whose word is more permanent than heaven and earth, says it’s true and has given us a whole history with Israel to show us his plan and purposes.

Wounds for him. Healing for us. Wrath for him. Pardon for us. Punishment to him. Peace to us.

In his death for our sins we die to sins and live for righteousness. I want us to really hear this. In his death a moral transformation takes place in us.

This statement goes with Peter’s earlier statement that Jesus left us an example that we should follow in his steps. His steps determine our steps. His holy life traces out for us the holy life we should live.

We shouldn’t only emphasize the forgiveness that comes to us through the cross. We must believe and emphasize the ethical transformation that comes to us through the cross. The message is not just: I’m forgiven. The message is also: I am new. As much as you’ve been forgiven, you should experience newness of life.

If there’s no newness of life, you shouldn’t be so sure you’ve been forgiven. And part of the newness of the Christian life is a whole new understanding of suffering. Because unlike the rest of the world, we know that through suffering God is remaking the world.

This is the Christian superpower! Christians should be the most tenacious people. We of all people know that God brings unimaginable good out of unbearable suffering. 

Who would’ve guessed that the flourishing and salvation of the world would be found, not in the armies of Rome, nor in the learning of a savant, nor in the technology of the modern world, but in the death by crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. 

Because he suffered for you—and look at how much good he has brought to your life!—you can suffer unjustly. 

As we close, let me make a point of application from the greater to the lesser. 

We are called to endure, to endure unjust suffering, for the sake of Christ. 

A phenomenon in Christian culture today, especially since COVID, but for sure present even before, is that many Christians have a hard time committing to the church and staying in the church. 

People can casually show up to church for years and never get involved, never become known. Or when things get hard – when there’s conflict – they leave. 

So here’s the logic from today’s passage: If we are commanded to endure unjust suffering, how much more should we endure with the family of believers when neither suffering nor injustice is present? 

Peter has already made the point, and will make it again, that we should live as God’s people with God’s people. The church matters because the gospel matters.

Maybe the music is not our favorite, or the preaching rubs us the wrong way, or the people are hard for us to connect with, or this or that program is not our cup of tea. But these things can hardly be called suffering, much less “unjust suffering.”

Rather, if Christ is preached and we are his people, we should commit and stay, especially when it gets hard. 

I want you to take this to heart as we move toward membership in the new year. Gospel healing enables you to endure unjust suffering. 

For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.