Jacques Lefevre, born in 1455 in Picardy, France, has been called “The Pioneer of the Reformation in France.” His writings on the Psalms and doctrines like justification and Scripture had an influence even on some of the primary players in the Protestant Reformation like Luther and Calvin, though Jacques Lefevre never officially left the Roman Catholic Church. One distinctive emphasis of Jacques Lefevre’s writing and teaching is his emphasis on what he termed “Christiformity.” Christiformity is conformity to Christ, being shaped into the likeness of Christ, or more simply, becoming like Christ. This is one of the main goals of the existence of a Christian, Christiformity—to become like Jesus. And this isn’t just the emphasis of Lefevre, it is the emphasis of the Bible. As Paul writes in Romans 8:29, “For those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”
When we understand that our goal ought to be Christiformity, we can begin to answer some of the challenging questions we face in this life. Is it God’s will that we suffer? Is it God’s will that we face unjust hardship, insults, and persecution? Some preachers and authors in our day will try to sell to you that God’s will for you in this life is to achieve health, ease, and prosperity—that sickness and suffering are a result of a lack of faith on our part and are not the “best” that God wills for us. But I wonder what that view of the Christian life would do with Jesus himself. If our Savior took on human flesh, suffered for us throughout his life, faced the scorn and hatred of the world, was betrayed, and was put to death on a Roman cross, why would we think that the life of the one united to Christ should be a life devoid of suffering and persecution. As Jesus himself told his disciples in John 15:20, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” What if our calling is actually to suffer so that we might become more like our suffering Savior?
Jacques Lefevre faced the threat of persecution and expulsion from his school over his teachings, but in the generations following him, the life of the French Reformed Protestants, the Huguenots, would be one of severe suffering and persecution, including the mass murder of thousands during the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 and the flight of Huguenots seeking safety to the Americas, other countries in Europe, and countries like South Africa. The French Reformation faced in some ways the most severe persecution of the early Reformation. But what if their suffering, in the plan, worked in those French believers, the very Christiformity of which Lefevre wrote?
Our aim, and the aim of God in our sanctification, is Christiformity, but there is no Christiformity without Cruciformity. Cruciformity is a life shaped by the cross. No human can be shaped into the likeness of Christ without his or her life being shaped into the likeness of the cross. This also of course means that the exaltation and victory of Christ become ours when we are united to Christ, but if the cross preceded the crown for our Savior, it must for us as well. As servants, we are not greater than our master.
In this section of the letter of 1 Peter, the Apostle Peter is addressing different human relationships Christians encounter in this world and how we can live faithfully as sojourners and exiles in those relationships. The first, which we saw last week, was our relationship as citizens to the governing authorities placed over us by God. This week, Peter focuses on the relationship of servants to their masters, and he uses this relationship to teach us something very basic about how Christians face unjust suffering. The Christian who suffers unjustly can endure knowing that their calling is shaped by the unjust suffering of Christ.
We are called to endure unjust suffering
First, we see that we are called to endure unjust suffering. Again, the specific situation Peter has in mind is that of servants to their masters. Look at verse 18, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.” Slavery in the Roman world had many differences from American slavery, but it was still often terrible. The condition of slaves often depended on the character of the masters, and Peter even mentions that some were good and gentle while others were unjust.
With our cultural history of wicked slavery it could be easy to get stuck on the fact that Peter mentions it at all. However, just because slavery is mentioned here and elsewhere in the Bible does not mean it is a biblically commendable practice. It has been rightly observed that Scripture lays all the foundational elements that led to the undoing of slavery. The very fact that Peter addresses slaves as brothers and sisters in Christ and describes their calling as being like the Lord and King Jesus is noteworthy. The main thing to keep in mind is that Peter is not addressing slavery here because he approved of it but because it was the very real situation of many early Christians. The Apostle Paul encouraged slaves to gain freedom when possible, but the reality was that it was often not possible for slaves to change their situation. Peter wanted to specifically address these slaves to show them that following Christ was still possible for someone in their situation and that, in some ways, they had a uniquely powerful opportunity to be like their suffering Savior.
But if we are not slaves ourselves, should we just skip this section of his letter? No! First, many are still slaves in our world, and some are in situations comparable in many ways to slavery even in cultures where slavery is illegal. And even if we are not ourselves slaves, Peter teaches us something very basic about our calling and how we approach unjust suffering wherever we may encounter it—whether lies and rumors that are spread about you, being unjustly mistreated by an employer or family member, being betrayed by a friend, or the many other cases in our lives where we face an unearned suffering or are maligned for doing good. There is much for us to learn here about enduring unjust suffering.
In verses 19-20, we learn that there is a big difference between unjust and just suffering. “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” Peter tells us both at the beginning of verse 19 and end of verse 20 that it is a gracious thing when we suffer unjustly. The word for “gracious” here often refers to God’s favor and I think a good translation would be to say that “it is a commendable thing” or “it is pleasing in the sight of God” when we suffer unjustly.
We’ll learn in a just a little bit why this is commendable, but notice that sandwiched between these statements about unjust suffering being a gracious or commendable thing is a question. This question, at the beginning of verse 20 helps us to see what unjust suffering actually is by showing us what it isn’t. “For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?” The assumed answer is, “It’s no credit to you at all!” There is a huge difference between suffering for doing evil and suffering for doing good. If someone does wrong suffers justly, they have no real reason to complain. It is simply what they earned.
If you are a Christian and you are arrested because you brazenly broke the law, you don’t get the right to claim that you’re being persecuted! If you are a Christian and your coworkers dislike you because you are a jerk, you don’t get to say, “I’m suffering for my faith.” No, you’re suffering because of your sin. Don’t think that you will receive any commendation from God for that suffering.
Suffering that is commendable by God is undeserved suffering. Of course, I’ll qualify what I mean by that later, but unjust suffering really is a legitimate category. It is sometimes the case that we suffer not because we did something wrong but actually because we did something good! But know, if you suffer for good, that your suffering doesn’t go unseen or uncommended by God. Know that God’s smiles shine upon you when you patiently endure such suffering, not because he takes pleasure in the suffering itself, but because he takes joy in your faithful endurance.
Our calling is shaped by the unjust suffering of Christ
We learn in verses 21-23 why this kind of suffering is commendable and pleasing to God. Look at verse 21 with me, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” Because Christ suffered for us, our calling is also to suffer. We follow his example, we follow his steps. Again, Peter is writing to slaves here, but this is also simply a basic reality for all Christians. Our calling is to the imitation of Christ, to Christiformity.
And again, there is no Christiformity without Cruciformity. Do we think we can follow in the steps of a suffering Savior without suffering? Can we follow the steps of a crucified Savior without taking up a cross? If suffering, even unjust suffering, surprises us as Christians maybe we need to relearn what it means to be a Christian. But also, what a great comfort to sufferers and to the slaves to which Peter wrote who suffered under unjust masters. Your suffering isn’t the biggest problem in your Christian life, it is actually one of the biggest opportunities God has graciously given you so that you might follow more closely in the footsteps of Jesus and grow to be like him! Imagine how this would reshape the unjust suffering of these slaves. Imagine how it might reshape yours as well.
The suffering of Christ gives meaning to the Christian’s suffering and it also gives us an example for how to endure unjust suffering. I want to briefly highlight three ways that Christ’s suffering is an example for how we should suffer. First, Christ suffered for good. Verses 22, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” Christ is the perfect example of suffering for good. He wasn’t hated, betrayed, beaten, and killed because of any wrong he did because he did no wrong, but because the darkness hates the light—because he spoke the truth (even hard truths), healed the sick, and preached the gospel. He is the perfect picture of all Peter said in verses 19 and 20 about unjust suffering.
Second, Christ suffered peaceably. Verse 23, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten.” Anger, bitterness, and defensiveness are often our first responses to unjust suffering. But when we revile and threaten those who revile and threaten us, we end up becoming more like them instead of more like Christ. Christ endured patiently. He didn’t respond in kind to the evil shown to him.
Third, Christ suffered entrusting himself to God. The end of verse 23, “…but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” This is why Christ didn’t revile or threaten in return. He didn’t have to vindicate or defend himself because he knew that the Father would vindicate him in the end. This is why we can endure patiently and peaceably—because no suffering goes unnoticed by God and he will bring justice. Romans 12:19, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” This is part of what it means to suffer in a way that is “mindful of God” as we see in verse 19. We can entrust ourselves to the just judge who will vindicate his saints.
Unjust suffering is an opportunity to follow the steps of Christ, so when you suffer, seek by the power of God to suffer like Christ suffered. Suffer for good, suffer peaceably, suffer entrusting yourself to God.
Christ died not only as an example, but as a Savior
If Peter left it here, this would be a very helpful and even beautiful passage, but it would be incomplete and potentially discouraging. It might feel like a professional rock climber free climbing El Capitan in Yosemite telling us to just follow behind as if any of us were truly capable of such a feat. Though Christ’s cross-bearing is an example for us, the crosses we bear are not the same as the cross he bore. We cannot bear the sins of the world on our shoulders—we are not God. Though we suffer unjustly at times, we never suffer sinlessly. We may seek to imitate Christ, but verse 22 will never be true of us. We may receive injustice at the hands of sinful men, but as sinners, all of us deserve just punishment and eternal sorrows from the God who judges justly.
So, Peter, knowing that we are in fact sinners, ends this section by showing us that the cross of Christ is not only an example, it is most fundamentally a saving substitution—it is the saving work of Jesus who takes the suffering and wrath we deserve upon himself so that we might be free. He dies that we might have life. Verse 24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree (the cross), that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” The essence of the good news of Christianity is not “try your hardest to be like Jesus,” it is that Jesus died in the place of sinners. The essence of the gospel is substitution—the righteous for the unrighteous, the sinless for the sinner. As Isaiah 53 says (which is quoted here), he bore our griefs, he carried our sorrows, he was pierce for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, his chastisement brought us peace, his wounds bring our healing.
As Jacques Lefevre wrote, “Ineffable exchange, the Innocent One is condemned and the criminal acquitted; the Blessed is cursed, and the cursed is blessed; the Life dies, and the dead live; the Glory is covered with shame, and He who was put to shame is covered with glory.”
A deep knowledge of the substitutionary death of Christ is exactly what enables us to suffer ourselves, knowing that because of the suffering of Christ, our suffering here is only temporary, but eternally we have been freely given life, joy, and peace, not judgment. And even in our present sorrows, we have a good Shepherd and Overseer in Jesus, who gives us new life and who watches over his sheep so that nothing will happen to us that is outside of his watchful care.
Verse 25, “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” This imagery is about conversion—wandering sheep turning back to their shepherd. Perhaps you are a wandering sheep this morning. You know that you have gone your own way and turned from God. God freely offers to you forgiveness through Christ, who died in the place of lost sheep. God’s call to you is simple, as is his call to all of us. Turn away from your sins and your way and turn to Jesus. Trust in him and know the healing that only come through his wounds.
