By Michael Girado
AN UNINVITED GUEST
The Christmas trees, lights, and decorations are stored away. They now wait 12 long months to be released from the darkness of their storage containers. But although Advent is over, a new year now awaits, along with its endless possibilities of new adventures and experiences. We can now live into the hope, love, joy, and peace anticipated throughout Advent with eager expectation. But what if those experiences come to us through an unexpected manner–the invitation to suffer? I know what you’re thinking: “Seriously! You want to start the new year by talking about suffering?” Choose a different topic!”
I get it; no one's excited to consider the possibility of suffering, especially when a new year so often represents the opposite. But if our shared experiences have taught us anything, it’s that we can expect to meet suffering this year in one way or another. It may not come today or tomorrow, but at some point in 2021, the suffering we dread and hope we somehow will escape will come knocking on our door. The question isn’t if we will encounter suffering this year, but rather, how will we respond to its inevitable visitation.
A FAMILIAR REALITY
As we jump back into our teaching series, Sojourners and Exiles, the Apostle Peter now races towards the end of his letter by primarily addressing the topic of suffering. In chapter 4, he writes, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you" (1 Peter 4:12). No, suffering isn't a strange or surprising experience. For the Christian, it's a familiar reality we should come to expect. Suffering acts as an agent that identifies our heart's longings and exposes the groaning for more than mere existence. It enables us to hope for something more and affirms our innate desire for the eternal.
As Christians, suffering serves as a reminder that this world is not our home. We have been delivered from “the domain of darkness and transferred” to the kingdom of light (Col. 1:13). Our citizenship is now in heaven, and “from it we await a Savior” (Phil. 3:20). We have “no lasting city” here on earth, but instead “seek the city that is to come” (Heb. 13:14). We are “sojourners and exiles” (1 Pet. 2:13), temporary residents longing to be “home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). But what will we do with the "various trials" (1 Pet. 1:6) we must suffer as we await that day when all will be made new? Will we pass up our exile in a state of passivity, sitting idly by for the Lord to return?
A FAITHFUL PRESENCE
Throughout the book of 1 Peter, we find that our exile is not a passive state of being. Instead, our sojourning and the suffering we endure in it is purposed to bring about a joy-filled hope that distinguishes God’s people from the rest of the world. Our hope enables us to serve this world during our exile with “brokenhearted joy and long-suffering mercy, for the good of man and the glory of Jesus Christ.”[1] No, our sojourning is not passive. It is active and intentional. It is a faithful commitment to God’s presence that makes him “concrete and real amid the world’s struggles and pain.”[2]
Understanding that we are sojourners–pilgrims or nomads traveling through this world–the rest of 1 Peter will encourage us to see how the hope of the gospel empowers us to stand firm in the grace of God (1 Pet. 5:12), not despite our suffering, but because of it. As we head back into our series, Sojourners and Exiles, let's consider how God calls us as his people to live as a faithful-gospel presence. Let's embrace our identity and purpose in the world, enabled to be a presence that “proclaims the excellencies” of God’s mercy (1 Pet. 2:9), even amid the world’s suffering and pain. So come what may in 2021, may we "rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory" because we know our future–"the salvation of (our) souls" (1 Pet. 1:8-9).
[1] John Piper, Christian Exile. Tabletalk Magazine, 1 May, 2011, www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/christian-exiles
[2] David E. Fitch, Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church for Mission (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016), pg. 10.