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Peter is writing to Messianic Jews living outside of the land of Israel in Asia Minor – modern‑day Turkey. They are facing trials and opposition because of their faith in Yeshua. Gentiles around them mock their devotion to the God of Israel, while fellow Jews who have not yet embraced Yeshua as the promised Messiah, view them as traitors. They are experiencing rejection and divisions in their families, loss of reputation and honor, economic hardship, and possibly persecution by local authorities.
Peter continues with the theme of suffering, specifically dealing with the pain that comes from friends turning against us because of our new way of life. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy – their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols. Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. But remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead. That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead – so although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit.
Hasn’t this has been the experience of many of us? It was my experience. Old friends, who we used to do things with, including things that were sinful, see that we’re following Yeshua and we’ve changed – and they don’t like it.
Why? They prefer immorality and feasting and drunkenness and wild parties to right living, and false religion or no religion to true religion.
When we are born again and live for the Lord, we make our old friends look bad and feel uncomfortable. We challenge them to live better, which they don’t want to do. We spoil their party. So they turn on us and say unkind or false things about us. That displeases God, who loves us and calls us His beloved sons and daughters.
How do we deal with friends who turn against us? By remembering: But remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead.
God’s judgment is certain, will include everyone and is ready. Everyone will be evaluated, and rewarded or punished by the One who sees all and judges perfectly. God is ready to judge everyone – the righteous and the wicked, those who are alive and those who have died. The reality of God’s judgment is a warning to unbelievers and an encouragement to believers.
God will judge those who turn on us and slander us. But in contrast, the righteous, who believe the message of salvation before they died, will live forever. That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead – so although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit.
The Good News was proclaimed to believers who have since died. When they heard the message of salvation during their lifetime, they responded with faith. They lived according to the truth. From the world’s perspective, that didn’t matter. They still died like everyone else. Those without God may have mocked them, criticized them, or thought their faith was useless, because they died like everyone dies. But death is not the end for those who are loyal to Messiah. Though their bodies died, they now live forever with God in the Spirit. Their spirits are alive in God’s presence, awaiting the resurrection of their bodies.
This should encourage us when we are being attacked: even if faith and obedience leads to loss of friends, or family, or even results in our death – the ultimate outcome for us is eternal life with our wonderful Creator.
Judgment and eternal life are certain. What’s also certain is the end of the world. The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.
The end of the world is coming soon. This world will not last forever. Messiah will return one day, rule the world for 1,000 years. After that, this world will be destroyed and replaced by a new world. If the end of the world was coming soon in Peter’s day, we can be sure it’s coming sooner in our day.
If Messiah’s return is approaching, followed by the end of the world, then we must focus on what matters most – being close to God and investing our time, talents and treasures in what will outlast the world – the people in Messiah’s Community.
Peter tells us to be earnest and disciplined in our prayers. Earnest prayer is sincere, passionate and heartfelt. It’s the kind of prayer we see in Channah, who poured out her heart to the Lord until Eli mistook her for someone who was drunk. It’s the kind of intense prayer of Yeshua when He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, struggling and surrendering to the will of His Father. It’s the fervent prayer of the mother who prays for her wayward, lost child.
Earnestness needs to be combined with discipline. Disciplined prayer is regular prayer. It’s prayer that becomes a daily habit. Disciplined prayer is seen in the life of Daniel, who prayed three times a day no matter what. It’s seen in the life of Yeshua, who often withdrew to isolated places to pray. Disciplined prayer means having one or more regular times of prayer during the day, especially the morning, along with talking to God throughout the day.
What happens if we aren’t earnest and disciplined in prayer? We become like an uncharged cell phone. A cell phone with no charging routine always seems to die at the moment its needed most. And so it is with us: without the daily “charging” of prayer, we are likely to be spiritually powerless when trials and crises arise.
Discipline and earnest prayer keeps us close to God and full of faith. It helps us stay calm and spiritually alert. It helps us resist temptation and align our desires with God’s will. It keeps us steady and courageous in a world that hates us and is certain to end.
Next, Peter emphasizes the importance of love for our fellow Christians and Messianic Jews. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. When the world grows darker and hatred for the Lord’s followers intensifies, we can either turn away from each other or turn toward one another. We are not to have a shallow, superficial kind of love for our fellow believers – which is typical today, but deep love – which covers a multitude of sins. Deep love overlooks small offenses, patiently forgives, and continues to love our brothers and sisters, who are imperfect, flawed human beings, who are works in progress.
As the end of the world approaches, and things get worse, our deep love for one another becomes more and more important. That’s what I want Shema to be – a community of people with deep love for each other.
And Peter tells us to engage in hospitality. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. In a time of growing hostility toward Christians and Messianic Jews, opening our home becomes an act of faith and courage and generosity. A place to rest, a good meal, and warm fellowship become a refreshing refuge from a hostile world. If you don’t open your home to your fellow believers to share a meal with you and spend time with you – I strongly encourage you to do it.
Because the end of the world is approaching, and these Yeshua-followers are suffering, Peter tells them to be earnest and disciplined in their prayers, love each other deeply, and cheerfully share their homes – and – use the gifts that God has given to every believer to serve the people in Messiah’s Community and reveal His glory to the world. God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Yeshua the Messiah. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
God has given each of you a gift. Every follower of Yeshua is given at least one spiritual gift, one supernatural ability. No one is ungifted. These God-given abilities come in a great variety but all accomplish the same purpose – to serve, bless, build up, strengthen the people in the Community of Yeshua followers we are part of – which means that every believer must be an active, involved member of a community.
Peter mentions two categories of spiritual gifts – speaking gifts and helping gifts. If our gift involves speaking – teaching, preaching, giving good advice, encouraging – Peter tells us to speak as though God Himself were speaking through us. That means speaking with reverence for God, and with seriousness, humility and accuracy. We do not speak to call attention to ourselves. We speak to faithfully convey God’s truth to serve others.
If our gift involves helping – and there are so many ways to help people – Peter tells us to help with the strength and energy that God supplies. Our help can’t rely on our own strength. We must depend on the strength and energy that God supplies, so that we don’t burn out and so that we’re helping others wisely.
How do we get that strength and energy that God supplies? By being filled with the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, living in the Spirit, being close to God, aware of God, talking to God, listening to God, reading the Word of God.
The result of using our spiritual gifts to serve the people in Messiah’s Community? Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Yeshua the Messiah. Our gifts are not about bringing glory and honor to ourselves, to call attention to ourselves – how gifted, how important we are. No. They are given to us so that Messiah’s Community is strengthened, functions at maximum capacity, is full of love and the Spirit, and is a light to the world. Then God is honored and Messiah is glorified. In dark and difficult times, using our gifts to serve our brothers and sisters is very important.
Back to the main theme of Peter’s letter: suffering with a good attitude. Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad – for these trials make you partners with Messiah in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
Why shouldn’t we be surprised at the fiery trials we are going through? Why shouldn’t they be strange? Because Yeshua told His followers that they would suffer. If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me first. Messiah was rejected and hated and insulted and persecuted, and if we loyal to Him, we will be too. So when trials come, they are not unexpected. They are part of what it means to follow Yeshua.
And we shouldn’t be surprised at the fiery trials we are going through because suffering is good for us. It refines us like fire removes the impurities in gold and silver. Trials remove pride, self‑reliance, hidden sins, and spiritual lukewarmness. Since God uses suffering as His method of improving us, it’s not something strange for us.
And we shouldn’t be surprised at the fiery trials we are going through because when we patiently endure suffering, we become partners with Messiah in his suffering.
Imagine a band of soldiers fighting a series of battles. They sleep in the dirt. They march in the cold. They go days with little food or rest. They watch friends wounded and die in combat. Yet something remarkable happens to them: they become a band of brothers. Why? Because suffering together creates a bond that nothing else can produce. Shared danger, shared sacrifice, shared wounds forge a fellowship that people who remain safe at home can never fully understand.
Think of families who have a young child with cancer. At first, they are strangers. But over time, something profound happens. They meet in the waiting rooms of the hospital, month after month – sometimes year after year. They sit together during chemo treatments. They cry together when tests come back with disappointing results. They grieve together when a child doesn’t make it. Their suffering creates a unique community. They understand each other in a way outsiders can’t.
This is what it’s like for us when we share in Messiah’s sufferings. When we suffer because we are Yeshua’s disciples and His representatives in this world, we discover that He’s not distant, not indifferent, not uninvolved. He’s very close. He’s on the battlefield with us. He’s in the trenches with us. He’s sitting in the waiting room with us.
This partnership in suffering, this fellowship of suffering bonds us to Him, draws us closer to Him, helps us understand Him better, deepens our dependence on Him, and conforms us into His likeness. Our lives become more aligned with His mission, His values, and His heart.
And we shouldn’t be surprised at the fiery trials we are going through because partnership in suffering means partnership in joy and glory. Be very glad – for these trials make you partners with Messiah in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. Suffering now results in joy later. Dishonor now results in honor and glory later. That was the pattern of Messiah’s life – suffering first, followed by joy and honor and glory – and the same will be true for us.
When He is revealed in all His splendor and glory, every sacrifice we made, every insult and trial we endured, all the suffering we experienced – will be replaced by great joy for us, and honor and glory for us too.
Let’s pray:
Father in Heaven, thank You for the powerful truths You have given us through Peter’s words. Strengthen us when our new way of life causes old friends and family to turn against us and misunderstand us and reject us and say nasty and untrue things about it. Help us remember that You are the righteous Judge who sees all and will set all things right, and that eternal life with You awaits everyone who trusts in You and Your Son. Lord God, make us earnest and disciplined in our prayers. Deepen our love for one another so that we forgive each other and live together in unity. Help us open our homes and use every spiritual gift You have given us to strengthen Messiah’s Community and reveal Your glory. And when fiery trials come, remind us that they draw us into deeper fellowship with our Lord Yeshua. Give us patient endurance that ends in victory, and the joyful hope of sharing in His coming glory. Amen.