1 Peter 4:4-7

11 Apr 1 Peter 4:4-7

Throughout Paul’s entire letter to the Philippians we are confronted with a radical attitude: rejoicing in suffering.  We are faced with Paul’s attitude while in prison, with Epaphroditus’ attitude during life-threatening sickness, and, especially, Christ’s mind and attitude while condescending to mankind.

It goes without saying, then, that Paul would command us to do the same, to have the same mind.  And at this point in his letter, most of his readers are probably already rejoicing.  Paul has just finishes discussing the pure righteousness of Christ that is now ours; he has just covered the resurrection of the dead that we will soon experience; he has reminded us of our primary citizenship in heaven–this is reason to rejoice in the Lord!

And, yet, Paul turns the human response of rejoicing into a point of obedience.  In the imperative he writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say: rejoice.”

There are no minced words.  His point is clear: you must rejoice.

1. We must rejoice when life is good.  When our life is joyous we must maintain that our joy is in Christ, not in the world around us.  We must not act as though Christ were dispensable or disregardable when life is good to us.  It is only because of the creative, generous, and loving Word of God that one experiences any wealth of spirit at all!  If we deny our Lord as the object of rejoicing, we deny his value and worth as savior of the world.
2. We must rejoice when life is bad.  Perhaps we are more prone to relying on God in times of trouble–this is natural and human!  It is when life is difficult and strenuous that our need of a savior is most implied!  But more is required from the Christian.  He is called to rejoice even in times of trouble.  Times of trouble are not an excuse for not rejoicing in the Lord.  The world tells us to rejoice only in what we feel, believe only in what we have seen.  But here, as in almost every other aspect of the Christian life, we are faced with the call of obedience over and above experience.

No man can control his emotional experience anymore than he can control the beating of his heart.  But obedience is a purely voluntary act.  Obedience issues forth from the will, and true obedience to Christ issues only from a truly changed, Christian will.

And, so, Paul places ‘rejoicing’ into the realm of the “do-able”, the “accomplishable”.  If rejoicing were an emotional response, it may never be attained.  But thank God He has given us all that we need for life and godliness!

How then do we rejoice? We establish Christ as the root of all joy and all health of spirit.  We rejoice always in the one thing that always is. We cannot rejoice in something finite, corruptible, changing.After Paul’s command to ‘always rejoice in the Lord,’ he then goes on to exhort: “Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  The Lord is near.”Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  It is the quality of Christians to be hospitable and gentle, even in conflict and disagreement.  The word Paul uses in Greek is επιεικής (‘epiekeis’), which means yielding, patient, moderate, and gentle.  Do not be mistaken, this does not mean the Christian is ‘flimsy’ in any way.  No, the Christian is ready to defend the faith he holds dear and to defend against the wiles and attacks of evil.  To be yielding is a rather different characteristic.  Perhaps th
e best way to relate it is in reference to 1 Corinthians 13.“Love is patient, kind, not boastful or arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way.”  This gentleness does not impose itself onto the recipient in a violent way, yet it imposes itself over and above the person by presenting the highest value: Christ.

This gentleness is possible only when every desire, goal, and outcome rests in Christ, the beginning and the end.  If we do not rely on Christ as the end, we must force our own way and will into the situation.  We must barge in as anti-christs to ‘fix’ the situation ourselves.  But we are not Christ, we are not the beginning and the end, we are not the pioneer and perfector.  It is Jesus Christ who is all of these, and it is Jesus Christ who we must yield to.

Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  Our yielding is not an individual practice that takes place apart from the community.  επιεικής is a communal affair.  It is also obvious when it takes place–it stands out against the day-to-day exchanges of the world.  It is known by those who see it.  It is ‘Christian’, and so it is inherently different from the surrounding world.

Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  There is no person exempt from Christ’s redemptive calling, so there should be none exempt from our Christian love and gentleness.