1 Peter 3:13-22
Good Fear
1/24/2021
Having wrong expectations is a recipe for disaster. If you go into a relationship thinking that this person is perfect and they will never disappoint you in any way…prepare for disaster. If you think money will fix all your problems…prepare for disaster. In the same way, having wrong expectations of your relationship with God is a recipe for disaster.
Many people expect that with greater obedience that life will get easier, more restful. They think that if I just obey more, seek God more, and follow Jesus better, then my life will have less difficulty and struggle. If this is what you expect out of Christianity, then this is a recipe for disaster, because God has something very different in mind.
Sometimes God ‘t’s up the ball’ for us in a different way so that we can bring him glory. Sometimes he lets us endure heartache after heartache all for the purpose of setting us up so that an epic story can told about his work of redemption.
Discussion Questions: Have your expectations of God led to disappointments with God?
Peter has been telling a group of believers to live in submission to an unjust government, unjust authority, and even to difficult personal relationships. These people had been the subject of unjust persecution under the Roman emperor, Nero, and now found themselves all over Asia, some having lost their entire livelihoods and many their friends and family.
Nero was slandering and persecuting Christians and telling the government and citizens of Rome join in – go and kill those Christians, go destroy their lives and churches. Nero lied about what the Christians believed and how they acted, in hopes that people would have a common enemy and be united in what he wanted. But as people persecuted the Christians, Peter told them to respond with kindness. As they responded in kindness, people realized that Nero was lying, and that the Christians were way different than they had expected, thus realizing the greatness of God. As public opinion changed, people turned against Nero, and eventually Nero committed suicide. The encouragement of Peter actually worked – God had set up the situation so that the Christians could be seen as different, and God could have an epic story of redemption. But there was a problem…responding in kindness didn’t always get the response they wanted – sometimes things got worse.
You’d think that Peter would say to them, “as you live in submission, your life is going to get easier”. But what he says is different – he tells that sometimes it gets better (v 13), and sometimes it doesn’t (vs 14). Sometimes you do what is right and people are glad, and other times you do what is right, and people curse you.
But in this, Peter is telling them not to be discouraged because in actuality, God is still on the throne, and in letting them endure greater levels of persecution, he is just setting them up so that his story of redemption gets even better.
He tells the people ‘don’t be afraid, don’t be troubled’ knowing that God is up to something – and in having correct expectations, they can joyfully endure, even living in great anticipation of what God is up to.
In telling them this, Peter realizes he is telling them something really hard, so he tells them to think about the example of Jesus (v 18-22). Jesus was perfect, treated people perfectly, never said an evil word, never retaliated, but his life got worse and worse until he was eventually crucified, and even then, after he suffered more by preaching to the spirits in prison. Jesus did good – and it got worse.
What was happening? God was setting up Jesus to do the greatest story of redemption that could ever be told. While we look at it and say ‘that just looks like it is getting worse’, Jesus is looking at it, trusting the will of his Father who loves him, and thinking ‘how is God going to do an epic work of redemption through this?’ And sure enough, we live in the beauty of what Jesus endured, and we are worshipping our savior throughout all eternity…a work of redemption that is incredible.
If Jesus expected the result of obedience to be a life that was easy, comfortable, and happy all the time, he would have been really disappointed. But God set him up, things went from bad to worse, but in it all, the greatest story of redemption was unfolding. We look at Jesus and glorify God forever…his love, mercy and grace are mind-blowing.
Sometimes God lets us go through crazy difficult experiences – even letting circumstances go from bad to worse, so that people will have a chance to look at the way we respond and say “there is something different about those people” and in so doing, they will rejoice.
Throughout scripture we can see examples of this. In Genesis 33-50 we hear about the story of Joseph – the youngest song of Jacob who was sold into slavery by his brothers. Joseph worked hard as a slave, but was then accused of sexually assaulting his masters wife so he got put in jail. In jail he basically reformed the whole prison, then interpreted correctly two crazy dreams that his fellow prisoners had, and even though those dreams came true, he was forgotten about in prison for two years. When his story finally does change, he becomes the second in charge of all of Egypt, and his brothers live in fear that he will kill them for the injustice they did. Joseph’s response: what you meant for evil, God used for good. And their story has been told to glorify God throughout the centuries and will be told throughout eternity.
The example of Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego from Daniel 3 is another great story – these men were to be put to death because they were praying to God instead of praying to a false God. You might think…but God, these men were praying for you, they were doing what was right, they were doing good…shouldn’t it have gotten better for them? Yet what happened was they were thrown into a fiery blaze that was meant to consume them. God…why didn’t you stop that from happening? What was he up to? If you know the end of the story, God was just setting these guys up for something greater by making it worse.
When we understand what Peter is saying, understand the story of Jesus, and look at other stories in God’s word, we can then enter into difficult situations with joy, all because our expectations are correct, and we see the opportunities for God to be rejoiced in.
Discussion Question: How does changing your expectations lead to joyful anticipation as we consider what God is doing through our current story?
As God calls us to live in submission to government (honor), to employers, to spouses, sometimes things get worse; we have to expect this as an outcome but not with disappointment or despair, but with expectation that God is going to do something even greater in our midst.
When things go from bad to worse, God has not abandoned us – he is setting us up so that people will see him through us, and glorify him.
How are we doing in this current climate? Some of us think that in this current situation that we have been living in obedience – we have been living in integrity – we have been submitting to authority – we have been submitting to government, we have been submitting to employers, we have been submitting in personal relationships. We’ve been doing all the right things so why is life getting harder or worse? Has God abandoned me?
As a church I think ‘God, you led us to honor the government in this current season…other churches have opened their doors…many people that love and call Redeemer home are leaving to go to those other churches…God, I thought if we honored and responded to you in this season with obedience (even when it has been really hard) that you would make it easy…and it hasn’t been easy…have you abandoned us?’
If our expectation is that obedience makes for an easier life, then in this current moment, we are going to be devasted. But, if we expect that God calls us to be obedient but then is actually setting up circumstances to go from bad to worse so that he can have greater glory, then we can live in joyful expectation of what God has for us.
I think for many of us, we’ve been living in this tension. This has been a hard season and we’ve been doing our best to respond in obedience to God but things have gone from bad to worse and we are wondering if God has abandoned us. Is God just setting us up to bring more glory to him than we could ever imagine?
If your expectations are right, then you can joyfully wait out the hardship, knowing that God is going to do something better. You can look at the example of Joseph, of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and even the story of Jesus, and know that God is up to something greater.
If you are not a believer in Jesus, can I encourage you to look at the way at which Christians are responding. Even when things go from bad to worse, they are not complaining - watch them respond joyfully, differently, anticipating God to do something awesome. And as you watch Christians respond in that way, would you consider putting your faith in Jesus, knowing that he could make this kind of difference in your life as well?
Having the wrong expectations in any situation can be a recipe for disaster. This is certainly true about our faith. Having the right expectations not only enables us to joyfully endure, but it also allows us to anticipate a greater work that God is doing in our midst. And, it allows us to see people put their hope in Jesus as they see us respond differently than anyone else.
Discussion Question: What is the greater story that God might be doing through your current suffering?
Communion:
As we come to communion today, we get to remember what Jesus did for us. He was perfect, but he suffered beyond what anyone could ever conceive, going from bad to worse, yet through his suffering, we are healed – reunited to God. And now God is glorified forever as we worship him for what he has done through the work of Jesus. A bad situation that only got worse, but in the end became the greatest redemption story of all time.
