Peter’s Comfort for a Suffering People (1 Peter 5:10)

This sermon was preached on 26/1/2012

As we have observed in previous studies, Peter has provided divinely-inspired guidance for his readers as they face the likelihood of continued suffering for their faith. He has urged the elders to take seriously the responsibilities connected to shepherding believers under their care (5:1-4), he has urged the believers to submit to the directions of their elders (5:5), he has detailed the importance of humility in their relationships with one another (5:5-6), he had stressed the necessity of prayerful dependence on God regarding the many concerns they will have (5:6), and he warned them about the importance of ensuring that they were ready for the devil’s inevitable attack.

 

Those requirements may have seemed daunting for all concerned. Nevertheless it is a necessary feature of a pastor’s work for him to be precise about what is required for living the Christian life in specific situations. It is not a sign of insensitivity to the needs of Christians in such difficult situations; rather it is evidence that he possesses awareness of the reality of a situation.

 

Yet a true pastor will wish to encourage the believers with whom he is interacting, and Peter provides the comfort in verse 10. In doing this, he is a tool in the hand of the Comforter himself, the Holy Spirit, who has come into the world at Christ’s bequest to give spiritual consolation. In this verse, Peter provides five sources of comfort for his readers: (1) their troubles will be short duration; (2) a beautiful title for God; (3) a summary of his eternal purpose; (4) a fourfold description of his shepherd care; and (5) the reality of his sovereignty. These comforts, while clearly suitable for Peter’s initial readers, are also very relevant for us and therefore we will consider each of them briefly.

 

Troubles will be short in duration

Peter reminds his readers that they will suffer for ‘a little while’. This emphasis is frequent in the New Testament. For example, the Lord Jesus informed the church in Smyrna that it would have tribulation for ‘ten days’ – whatever the ten days signify, they are relatively short. Paul too reminded the Corinthians: ‘So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal’ (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

 

In what ways can their sufferings be classified as little because we know that some of them were very intense? One obvious way is that they are short in duration in comparison to the eternity of glory that is ahead. Another way of assessing their littleness is to contrast them with the sufferings of Jesus on the cross or with the sufferings of the lost in hell. But the main distinction is clearly the length of them. Peter reminds his readers that even if their sufferings were to last a life-time it is short in comparison to their existence in heaven afterwards.

 

A beautiful name for God

Peter describes the Lord as ‘the God of all grace’. Here are six aspects of divine grace in the lives of believers.

 

• The first detail to note is that this is a reminder that God is the only source of grace; if he has all of it, then it can be nowhere else.
• The description all tells us that he is the God of sufficient grace. Paul was told by the Lord that his grace was sufficient for the thorn in the flesh that troubled the apostle. Here Peter tells his concerned readers that their God has sufficient grace for them.
• A third detail that can be deduced from the description is that he is the God of suitable grace. Since he possesses all grace and has the wisdom to know when and how to give it, his people can be confident that it will always be apposite.
• Fourth, his grace will be superabundant at all times; there will never be a situation in which his people will have to wonder if the supply has diminished.
• Fifth, God’s grace will be sanctifying grace; he will work to make all of them Christlike in character.
• A sixth feature of his grace, especially for his people in times of trouble, is its sweetness; it will have this aspect whenever they are led to think about their Saviour and what he has done for them.

 

What is grace? It is undeserved divine favour appropriately supplied in a personal way by God. It is undeserved because we are sinners, and we should never forget that reality. When we forget that this is the case, then we begin to imagine that somehow or other we deserve something. Further, grace is unlimited in its provision. Think of what God does for sinners: he brings them to faith, he adopts them into his family, he provides for their spiritual requirements, he answers their prayers, he fulfils his promises, he prepares them for glory, and he restores them when they fall. All this, and much more, comes under the meaning of grace.

 

Grace is the environment in which we must live. The church is a community that reveals the grace of God. It is seen when we forgive one another, pray for one another, study the Bible with one another, build up one another, and look forward to meeting with one another. One way of understanding grace in action is to meditate on the various ways Paul uses the phrase ‘one another’.

 

A summary of his eternal purpose

The third comfort that Peter mentions is that God ‘has called’ us ‘to his eternal glory in Christ’. As we break down this clause, we can see several important treasures connected to the fact that God called us.

 

When did he call us? He did so through the preaching of the gospel. It was a call of love, one which was the outflow of his eternal choice of his people before the universe began. Why did he call us? He called us because he wanted us to experience his eternal glory in various ways, or as our catechism says, ‘to enjoy him forever.’ We should note that in is to his, not ours, eternal glory that we will experience. Obviously, we will have personal glory, but it is what comes from him that we will enjoy and what we will provide. I would suggest that this includes both communion with God and provisions from God. They will occur simultaneously and endlessly, increasingly and satisfyingly, and we will always be lovingly and thankfully conscious that it all comes from our gracious God.

 

This calling, in its inception and in its accomplishment, is all connected to Jesus Christ. Wherever we look in the divine plan, Jesus is central. In each stage we are united to him. It began in eternity when we were chosen in him; we were united to him when he died for our sins on the cross and when he rose from the dead; we are united to him through the work of the Spirit even although he is in heaven and we are on earth, and we will be united to him forever. Here we are reminded that the way to live the Christian life is by being Christ-centred.

 

The apostle is telling the believers to think about future compensation. It is important to remember that the Lord is the God of future grace as well as the God of past and present grace. And this future grace is not confined to after this life, as Peter proceeds to show.

 

God’s shepherd care of his people

Having referred to God’s long-term plans for his people, Peter now uses four words to detail what the Lord will do for them in this life. God will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish them. Their meanings overlap and basically say that God’s people will not only survive the trial but come through it well, stronger in the faith and equipped for future difficulties.

 

The word translated ‘restore’ would have been used by fishermen for the mending of nets (Mark 1:19) and that activity indicates to one aspect of what the word denotes. It means to restore after damage or bruising. Peter’s readers were going through great difficulties and would need the divine Doctor to recover them once the period of stress was over.

 

The idea behind ‘confirm’ is to have something that is fixed. It is the same word that Jesus used when he told Peter that after his denial he would strengthen his brothers. Peter means that God will set firmly in place certain convictions that may have been affected to some degree by the troubles they went through. For example, their troubles may have led them to question the sovereignty of God or the care of God. The Lord would enable such to become strong in their conviction. This shepherd care of God is a reminder of his faithfulness and of how he acts in gracious ways.

 

The reality of God’s sovereignty

Peter closes this section by a doxology: ‘to him be the dominion forever and ever.’ The apostle is not suggesting that God could lose total dominion. Instead he is stating a fact in an ardent manner. He is delighted that God reigns. His description of divine comfort has led him to burst out in praise. He knows that the God of all grace will give him a wonderful future and therefore he states the feelings of his heart. Knowing this God keeps him humble, gives him confidence to cast his burdens on the Lord, assures him of victory over the devil, enables him to look ahead to the glory to come, and leads him to expect personal restoration.