As a Gospel Advancing leader, you often spend more time pouring into students than getting poured into yourself. To refuel your soul, dive into part 4 of a Gospel Advancing devotional series exploring the apostle Peter’s first letter to the early Church. (Click to go back and read parts 1, 2, and 3)
Are your good deeds undeniable?
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
It’s important to start by pointing out that the reason we should live “set apart” lives isn’t to win God’s approval or earn salvation. We’ve already attained salvation through Christ. There’s nothing anyone can do to remove that from us.
Our obedience isn’t required for salvation, but it is helpful to our witness. It opens doors for us to share the Gospel and point people to Christ.
Everyone dislikes a hypocrite. Students often seem especially attuned to hypocrisy. I’m sure you’ve experienced it. You say something to a student, and they immediately begin to poke holes in it. They distrust anything that doesn’t quite line up. The same is true with adults. If people don’t trust us, how are we supposed to share truth with them?
Of course, the Holy Spirit can convict and bring about life change even if we’re hypocritical—praise God! However, we make it more difficult on ourselves when we don’t live in a way that distinguishes us from those who don’t trust in Christ.
Peter’s calling us here to live in such a way that even people who don’t like us can’t ignore our good deeds. Proverbs puts it this way:
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
If he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
And the Lord will reward you.
The goal is not to burn people by heaping coal on their heads. The goal is to get their attention and inspire them to look up. We should do good deeds so that people stop looking for hope in other places and look toward the God who loves them.
Do you live in such a way that people who don’t believe in Christ still give praise for the goodness your life radiates?
How do you silence foolish people?
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by Him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
In addition to good deeds, another way to distinguish ourselves from unbelievers is obedience to authority. We live in an era where people like to argue others into submission. We think that we can get people to obey God if we say the right words. Don’t get me wrong, words are important. As Gospel Advancing leaders, you know that it’s important to share the Gospel out loud, with words. But the most effective way to silence foolish and ignorant people is to sacrificially do good. And that includes willingly submitting to authority, rather than chafing against it.
What could our world look like if instead of trying to win people over through debate, we sought to bring about change by doing good deeds and sacrificially submitting to show love to those around us?
No one gets a free pass.
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. 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.
We’d like to believe that this command is just for slaves. And because we’re not enslaved, we think we get a free pass and don’t need to submit ourselves to harsh authority.
But the Bible consistently encourages us to suffer well, even when we don’t deserve it. Especially when we don’t deserve it. The way that we handle persecution directly affects our ability to witness. It’s always powerful when persecuted people have the moral right to protest their mistreatment but choose to endure it, as Jesus did. That kind of Kingdom mindset is unignorable.
A lot of Christians would rather be like the lion part of Jesus. The Jesus who flipped tables and who will descend on a cloud to usher in His eternal rule and reign. But what about the Jesus who was led like a lamb to slaughter? The Jesus who was whipped, spat upon, and eventually crucified, despite being without sin. Do we want to be like the lamb part of Jesus? Because frankly, that’s how Scripture commands us to be like Jesus. To be humble, gentle, and respectful, and to leave the fighting to Him.
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge, I will repay,’ says the Lord.
But God also calls us to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). So how do we balance these two commands?
What we see consistently throughout Scripture is that we’re called to seek justice for other people, not ourselves.
Is your sense of justice oriented only toward yourself? Or do you spend more time thinking about what would benefit others?
Don’t suffer uselessly.
‘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.
Sometimes, we endure suffering because we just don’t want to fight it. We disassociate and disengage.
It’s tempting to think that to endure suffering and submit to authority is embracing a victim mindset. It can feel like admitting defeat. Peter isn’t ignoring the reality of suffering by saying it’s no big deal. It is a big deal! But we can become so focused on the injustice of the situation that we lose sight of the bigger picture.
Enduring suffering is of little use if we don’t use it as an opportunity to share the Gospel. Enduring suffering without the endgame of the Gospel is usually born out of a spirit of self-sufficiency. But enduring suffering to testify to the suffering Jesus endured for humanity—that’s courageous. When other people watch us suffer well, it opens hearts to the Gospel that wouldn’t have been open otherwise.
Let me give you a sneak peek at what’s coming later in 1 Peter. Peter wants us to be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:14-16). And one of the simplest ways to show that our hope is in Christ is to suffer well the temporary difficulties of life. It makes other people want to know why we’re so hopeful. People can’t help but want that hope for themselves. And we get to show them where that hope is found.
Show your students how to suffer well.
You, as a Gospel Advancing leader, can model for your students what it means to suffer well and how to use suffering well as a vehicle to share the Gospel. Teenagers experience so much suffering, from fluctuating hormones, suicidal thoughts, difficult home situations, uncertain futures, and more. And many students don’t have a good role model to show them how to suffer well for Christ and the good of others. You can be that role model.
Suffer well for the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls!
