21 For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in His steps, 22 He who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23 [x]and while being abusively insulted, He did not insult in return; while suffering, He did not threaten, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 and He Himself [y]brought our sins in His body up on the [z]cross, so that we might die to [aa]sin and live for righteousness; by His [ab]wounds you were healed. 25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and [ac]Guardian of your souls.

1 Peter 2:21-25 (NASB) 中文 

Our suffering vs His

Peter has encouraged us to submit to leaders over us and, to our masters (or those who employ us). And not just to submit, but to accept even unjust treatment. The example we talked about was Joseph. There are others. The chief example of suffering is Christ.

Peter uses Isaiah 53:9 to remind us that Jesus was perfect; He committed no sin. This is an amazing first-hand testimony! “Peter had lived with Jesus for more than three years and had observed Him closely, yet he could say that Jesus never sinned.” (Constable Commentary) There was no reason for Him to suffer punishment or unjust treatment. Surely, He did not deserve to die. But what about us?

Follow in His steps

Anyone who preaches that the Christian life should all peaches and cream, a bed of blessing, has not read the Bible. They will preach that if we encounter any suffering or, simply just don’t get the blessing we asked for (or think we should have), we lack faith and need to pray harder. They ignore scripture and prove they do not understand our God and the true purpose of suffering.

“Jesus Christ ‘suffered’ at the hands of sinners because of His righteous conduct (cf. Matt. 26:67; Mark 14:65). We too can expect that our righteous behavior will draw the same response from the ungodly of our day (Matt. 11:29; 16:24; Luke 14:27; Acts 14:22).” (Constable Commentary)

How to we follow Him?

But it’s one thing to give the example and call us to follow it, but who of us will suffer like Jesus? Actually, church tradition has it that Peter was crucified – even upside down. But what about us? How are we to follow in Christ’s example? Verse 24 provides the answer: we are called to die to sin and live for righteousness. Paul goes into much detail on this topic in Romans 5-7.

What does this look like?

Christ tells His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23) Paul also understood this an put it into practice (1 Corinthians 15:31). We take our desires, our skills, our possessions, our very lives and offer them as a sacrifice to the God. (Romans 12:1). Specifically, “…do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) Peter will next provide additional practical example of daily Godly living.

RЯeflection

• Have you believed the lie that Christians are not meant to suffer? I encourage you to diligently study today’s passage and the others referenced to understand what Jesus taught us and the apostles wrote down in the NT. 
• Suffering is not just the lot of all followers of Christ. It is more than that. It is a blessing – both here and now and in eternity. We should, as Christ modeled, embrace suffering as the Father’s will and part of His good plan.