Ep 347 – 1 Peter 2:18-25

Nobody in their right mind likes to suffer. Normal people don't wake up in the morning hoping that their day is full of pain, suffering and trials. But as Peter continues to elaborate on the Christian life, he is going to stress the undeniable and inescapable reality of suffering. In verses 18-25 of 1 Peter 2, he is going to drive home the point that all believers, no matter their station in life, can expect to suffer as Jesus did, because they have been made a part of His body, the church. And the church, then, as now, was made up of all kinds of people from all walks of life. And in these verses, Peter is going to address a particular group of individuals who knew first-hand what suffering was like because it was a regular part of their daily lives. Believe it or not, the early church had a good percentage of slaves or household servants who had come to faith. Some of them even attended the same churches as their masters. While these individuals had come to know freedom from sin because of their relationship with Christ, they still found themselves literal slaves to real masters, who still viewed them as little more than property. One of the things that will jump out at us as 21st-Century Christians living in the United States, is that Peter has no moral indictments to level against the institution of slavery. But he had much to say about slaves living out their newfound faith right where they were. He's going to remind them that they were sons and daughters of God and, as a result, they should be willing to suffer like it.