Jump Start # 776

2 Peter 2:20 “For what credit is there it, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.”

Our passage today takes us down a road that we do not like, and it is hard to figure in our minds. Peter, addresses a series of relationships that many of his readers would have been in. He begins with servants, but then quickly moves to wives. Having a submissive spirit finds favor with God. Twice Peter uses that expression, “finds favor.”

A good heart likes to please others. A child likes to present to his mother a picture that he has drawn. The happy parent proudly displays that drawing on the front of the frig, like a display at an art gallery. That child has found favor with his parent. A worker likes to find favor with his boss and company. He wants favorably evaluations and reviews. He knows job security is tied in to how “favorable” he is to the management. The disciple of Jesus wants to please the Lord. He knows that obedience, faith, praise, and fulfilling his responsibilities are favorable to the Lord.

Our verse reveals another aspect of what the Lord favors. Peter describes the servant who is harshly treated for no reason at all. The guy who does wrong and gets it, we understand that. Someone may get an earful of criticism when he didn’t do what he was supposed to. As bad as that may be, that person deserved it because he failed to deliver. He didn’t do what he should have. Peter adds the word, “Sin.” Sin brings consequences and punishment. However, when you did what you were asked, and you still get blasted, now that doesn’t make since. A cruel master, an evil boss, someone who uses you to take out his personal problems makes us scream THAT’S NOT FAIR. And, it’s not. That’s the point! It’s not fair.

Our nature tells us that we don’t put up with things we don’t deserve. Resist. Fight back. Walk away. Quit. Find a new job. Leave the marriage. Switch schools. Shout back. Call your attorney. Get ugly. Those are normal feelings for us. This is the default mode that we automatically go to when we are mistreated. We want to make things right. We want to tell the world. We want revenge. We want to get even. We demand.

Peter’s words changes all of that. Patiently endure it. Those are concepts that are hard to grasp. Why? We are innocent. We are in the right. The master is wrong. The master has no reason to treat the servant that way. The master must be taught a lesson. The master must change. PATIENTLY ENDURE IT.

The text follows with a supreme example, Jesus. He suffered, without uttering threats. He endured without throwing a fit. He went through the cross, innocent as He was, patiently enduring.

Immediately, then Peter switches to wives. He begins that section by saying, “Likewise, wives…” Likewise what? Like servants, who have cruel masters. Like Jesus, who endured cruel hatred. Like that, some wives have husbands who are unfair, unkind and cruel. Like the servants…like the Lord…likewise, patiently endure.

This doesn’t seem right to us. It seems like we are letting people walk over us. It seems like we are letting others take advantage of us. Understand, Peter is putting this in two relationships: servants and wives. What were they to do? Rebel? Run as a servant? Leave as a wife? Our laws protect wives today. No one should be beaten. PERIOD. If they are, call the cops. Let the person spend a night in a jail cell to cool down. Aside from physical abuse, patiently enduring harshness when you have done right IS THE MESSAGE PETER IS DELIVERING.

Some of the fussing and arguing that takes place in the home is a result of someone failing to patiently endure. Suffering for doing right is the theme. A non-Christian husband verbally abusing his wife for going to worship so often. Patiently endure. A husband who belittles his wife for no reason, other than he is a jerk, patiently endure.

We’ve lost that patiently enduring part of our faith. This finds favor with God. The cruel master, the mean husband, they are not getting away with anything. God knows. God will deal with them in His time and in His way.

Patiently endure. We must ask ourselves, what aspect of our lives do we do this any more? We find reasons not to endure. We justify not enduring. We think about what is fair. We think about our rights. We think about self. We find that there is little areas of our lives that we have to patiently endure others. In wiggling out of all these situations, we miss the greatest thing of all, finding favor in this with God. We stand with Jesus when we patiently endure mistreatment for doing right things.

Patiently endure. Keeping my mouth closed. Not letting my blood boil. Not threatening back. Enduing. Patiently. Can you do it? Have you done it? Have you resisted when you should have endured? Have you walked when you should have stayed? Have you thought more of self than you should have?

Our walk with Jesus often takes us places we don’t like. This is one of them.

(P.S. if you go to our website, www.charelestownroadchurchofchrist.com, you will find two lessons, under the theme of Biblical Families, one on husbands and one on wives. They were preached by my comrade, Zack, and they are fantastic! Best I’ve heard on that subject in years. You ought to listen to them.)

Roger