MONDAY
This week, coming on the heels of our Serve Sunday Food Pack event, I thought we would spend the week reflecting on the Christian discipline of service as we find it in 1 Peter.
Suffering is a main theme of 1 Peter, as we have already discussed. Suffering, like nothing else in life, produces resilience. Peter has a lot more to say about suffering later on in his letter. For today, suffice it to say the suffering of Jesus is the grounding for his theology of suffering and his imperatives for how to live through suffering.
1 Peter 2:21 21 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.
1 Peter 3:18 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
1 Peter 4:1 1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking…
All this to say, suffering is a part of life this side of Christ’s return and the establishment of his new creation kingdom. Since suffering is a reality of this life, serving those who suffer will always be an essential practice of the Christian life.
Resilience is certainly developed on the part of the sufferer. It is also developed by those in the church community who walk alongside and serve those who are suffering.
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Reflection
Isaiah 53 portrays Jesus as the suffering servant. He served his people by suffering for them. Remember, Jesus is the cornerstone of the church, our life is built on him. How does the life of Jesus, then, inform our view of both suffering and service?