EXPLORE THE TEXT

Be Ready (1 Peter 4:12-14)

Application Point:

Believers can anticipate opposition and ridicule for following Christ.

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you,
as if something unusual were happening to you.
13 Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ,
so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed.
14 If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed,
because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Key Word

Ridiculed

The word ridiculed (oneidizesthe) helps us understand the nature of the persecution in verse 12.
At this stage, Christians were experiencing verbal abuse and shaming.
Such insults from men are to be understood as blessings from God.
Peter’s words call to mind Jesus’s teachings from the Sermon on the Mount.

In that setting, Jesus clearly told His followers they would be insulted and persecuted.
Their enemies would slander them and the gospel they served.
Yet, they would be blessed and receive a reward in heaven (Matt. 5:11-12).

Ask:

• Why are believers so often surprised when they face opposition toward their faith?

Contrast:

walk through verse 12 and contrast what Peter says versus the way an unbeliever might respond.
Use the following phrases as prompts:

• don’t be surprised -vs- be caught off guard
• when -vs- if
• test you -vs- overtake you
• something unusual -vs- a common occurrence

Conclude:

create two if-then statements that answer the question:
How can we be ready for the test of suffering? (PSG, p. 85)

• Verse 13: If we . . . (share in the sufferings of Christ), then we experience . . . (great joy when His glory is revealed).
• Verse 14: If we . . . (are ridiculed for the name of Christ), then we . . . (are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God, rests on you).