Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro*

There is a popular saying which I think was first spoken by Joseph Kennedy, father of John F. Kennedy, which goes: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

[1]  Later, singer Billy Ocean, in the early 1980s, popularized it further when he put it into a song.

It ended up becoming the theme song to a Michael Douglas movie called /The Jewel of the Nile.*[2]*/

The way I understand the saying is that when tough times hit you, look within and become tougher by pulling yourself up from the bootstraps, somehow come up with inner fortitude and determination to make lemonade out of the lemons thrown at you.

“Be strong!” people say as way of encouragement.

The only problem is what do you do when you don’t have straps or boots to lift yourself up from?

What do you do when you end up squirting lemon juice into your face from the lemons?

Or you discover you can’t seem to find any strength inside you?

For believers in Jesus Christ, the answer does not come from within, on the inside.

It comes from without, from the outside.

In fact, the strength doesn’t come from becoming stronger, but by becoming weak and helpless before the Lord, who said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor.

12:9).

Christians are not exempt from hard times, especially if it comes just because they are Christians.

Some believers struggle hard to work with integrity, but then get bypassed on the promotion, which is instead given to the guy who has integrity issues.

Sometimes we invest hours into someone’s life to get him~/her grounded in the Lord, but they turn around and slander us.

Or we may not suffer for being a Christian, but we may still suffer.

You try to take care of your body, but are faced with one health issue after another, while some unbelievers you know abuse their body and do not seem to be suffering one bit.

Or your only child you have prayed years for finally arrives, but is then diagnosed with leukemia at the age of three.

It doesn’t make sense sometimes, actually most, if not all of the time.

Initially our reactions might be, “Why me?” or “What did I do to deserve this?” or “I gave my life to Christ and I get this?”

Peter is talking to Christians persecuted because of their faith.

Though we don’t know much of this firsthand, his principles apply no matter what form of suffering we will experience.

When the going gets tough, the tough do not get going.

The tough become weak, fall helplessly at the feet of Christ and find from the ashes and brokenness, nail-scarred hands that lift them up and carry them through the toughness.

It is from this closeness we realize that when the going gets tough, we can start growing!

So the title of the message is “Growing when the going gets tough.”

This has been the subtitle of our series called “Hope for the Living” this year in 1 Peter.

Peter is wrapping up his letter and is giving us some closing remarks on the topic of suffering.

Let me review the context again.

It was the summer of 64 AD.

For nine straight days, a huge fire swept through Rome and destroyed almost everything.

The emperor then was Nero.

He was psychotic, to say the least.

I would put him up there with Hitler, as one the most wicked men in all of history.

He was known for killing anyone if he had the slightest suspicion they were betraying him, albeit wife, brother or closest general.

He was also known for his desire to rebuild the city of Rome and doing so by whatever means possible.

So when this huge fire was set and Roman troops were even stopping people from extinguishing them (and some troops were even starting new fires), the general population started to resent their Emperor at an ultimate high.

One report said that Nero “stood in the Tower of Maecenes and watched gleefully as the city burned to the ground.

In fact...he was charmed by the loveliness of the flames.”[3]

So Nero needed to shift the blame on someone else.

Guess who? Christians.

Christians were blamed as the scapegoat for burning Rome.

This was ingenious on the part of Nero, because Christians were already looked down upon and slandered for cannibalism (misunderstanding on what communion was), incest (brothers and sisters giving each other the “holy kiss”), dividing up families as individuals (like a woman coming to Christ in a marriage, as described in 1 Pet.

3:1-7) came to Christ, and many other false accusations.

Nero then led the assault to kill the Christians.

You may remember when we talked about how he crucified some of them.

He also captured others, “using them as human torches to light his garden parties…allowing them to be sewn inside animal skins to be devoured by predatory animals…and by subjecting them to other heinous, unjust tortures.”[4]

Did you know that this persecution would begin a 200-year campaign against Christians?

One emperor after the other would seek to destroy Christians.

But praise God!

We are still here!

The great empire of Rome is gone, but Jesus and His church lives on!

This is because our Jesus is alive and still ruling the world with His feet up!

We are not sure, but most likely, Peter is writing this letter toward the end of that year, just after the persecutions began.

He wanted them to have the proper attitude, action and reaction to unjust suffering.

The suffering came as a shock to some of them.

Perhaps they thought coming to Christ meant they would be safe from all problems.

He did not want the believers to just go through suffering, but to grow through suffering.

I know we talked so much about suffering already, but I am sure the Lord wanted them and us to really have His perspective in the middle of it.

Sometimes we don’t need a new message, but we need to hear the same message to apply again and again to our stubborn hearts.

Actually I think though Peter shares old information, but he also has a fresh angle to look at suffering as well before he closes his letter.

So how should believers respond to tough times?

I am indebted to Pastor Stephen Cole for most of this outline.[5]

First of all:

*I.

Tough times are no surprise (1 Pet.

4:12)*

Look at 1 Pet.

4:12.

Peter tells us not to be surprised when trials come.

Interestingly, the first reaction we have when suffering hits is one of surprise.

“I can’t believe this is happening!”

or “I had a great quiet time all week.

I don’t deserve this.

What’s going on?”

Peter says, “Don’t be caught off guard.

Don’t be shocked.”

Peter has been saying suffering has been inevitable.

If you have been closely following any of this teaching, the real surprise is not that suffering comes, but if it /doesn’t/ come!

Notice how he addresses them first: beloved.

Wait?

I am beloved?

God still loves me?

Peter starts this new section with this word /agap//ē//tos /(just like he did with 1 Pet.

2:11),/ /which not only conveys Peter’s tender, pastoral side, but it means “dear or very much loved…by God their Father.

It is a love called out of one’s heart by preciousness of the object loved.”[6]

NIV and NLT both say, “dear friends,” which lessens the impact of that word.

This word emphasizes and implies that they are objects of God’s immeasurable love.

You lose that when you just hear “dear friends”!

(Sorry NIV or NLT fans…not really).

We need to hear that word all the time in our heart, but especially these who are struggling under suffering, because you start to wonder when you suffer, “Does God love me?

Does He care?”

So Peter uses “beloved” eight times in two epistles (1 Peter 2:11; 4:12; 2 Peter 1:7; 3:1, 8, 14–15, 17) to ingrain it in their minds that they are loved by God.

Circumstances will never change that.

Nothing can separate us from God’s love (Rom.

8:35-39).

And there is no pit so deep the love of Christ is not deeper still.

Amen!

But because we are beloved, we will experience life like God’s beloved, Jesus Christ experienced.

Jesus said, “if the world hates you, it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

Paul told Timothy, “Anyone who wants to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim.

3:12).

Peter will go this route in the following verses.

Notice Peter calls their situation a “fiery trial.”