As we’ve been seeing in 1 Peter, suffering is part of life. It’s a component of living in a world that is fallen and sinful. Everyone suffers, whether that suffering is financial or relational or physical, with chronic pain or disease. There is no way to avoid suffering. Many people seek to avoid suffering and pursue distractions through sex or alcohol or drugs or extreme sports. Some pursue distractions through television or video games. Anything that can cause one to forget about the pain, at least momentarily, may be pursued with utter abandon.
What is particularly interesting is love often compels us to embrace suffering. While many spend their lives trying to avoid suffering, love chooses to suffer. In 1 Peter love for God leads to faithfulness fully aware of the cost. Those believers Peter writes to were suffering the loss of friends and social networks. They were losing business contacts and family members, all because they refused to go along with the culture in the culture’s sins. Their love for the Lord led them to choose to suffer.
Parents choose to suffer. When a newborn cries in the middle of the night, a parent gets up to care for the child, even though the baby kept her up late with crying and she has to get up early to care for the others. She chooses to forego that much needed sleep because she loves her crying baby. Love chooses to suffer in all sorts of ways. We see this in an interesting way in the book of Nehemiah.
In 587BC, Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the city walls and the temple Solomon had built. Many from Judah were taken into exile to Babylon. This was in fulfillment of God’s word through various prophets who warned Israel about their idolatry, telling them it would lead to this, to their loss of the land.
In time Babylon was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire (Persia). In 538BC many exiled Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and to rebuild the walls protecting the city. Not only did Cyrus the Great end the exile, he provided resources and the means for construction.
Years after the temple was rebuilt the walls remained unfinished, leaving Jerusalem and the temple—with its treasures—vulnerable to attack. Raiders could defile the temple and steal its treasures. Nehemiah learns about the state of Jerusalem and is sent there to oversee the rebuilding of the walls. As the governor appointed by the king he’s responsible for overseeing the work and has a large staff to assist him in this. He is, therefore, responsible to provide for his staff. Being a government officer, however, means he has access to tax revenues to provide for them. Their livelihood is a government expense. Nehemiah chooses to forgo these taxes, however, at great personal cost. We read this in Nehemiah 5.
Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God. I also persevered in the work on this wall, and we acquired no land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. Moreover, there were at my table 150 men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people. Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people.
Nehemiah 5:14–19 ESV
Each day his staff—150 men plus their wives and children, along with foreign officials who visited—required an entire ox, six sheep, and countless poultry birds. There would be, of course, all the food that went with these things, things like bread, cheese, butter, fruit, vegetables. It’s unlikely each official had just a hunk of meat on a plate. This was a daily expense! A full cow today—butchered, of course—is roughly $5–6,000. Plus sheep, chickens, ducks, pigeons, and whatever other sorts of bird they might find. And then all the other foods that go along with this allotment. Oh, and then there was the wine—”All kinds of wine in abundance”!
This was a substantial expense for Nehemiah. Think of what he says in our text. He had every right to tax the people to cover this cost. He was, in a real sense, working for them. Yes, he was appointed by the king to govern them, but the outcome of his work among them was their safety and protection. In the absence of a Jewish king he was overseeing them and leading them and protecting them. He had a right to be compensated by them via taxes. He refused to tax them.
It is clear that he had substantial means already. It may be that as governor he was paid very well by the king and the tax was to cover his staff’s salaries. He chose instead to pay them out of his own resources. Rather than lay a greater burden on the already burdened people, he allowed that burden to remain on his own shoulders. In a real sense, Nehemiah chose to suffer for their sake.
Think of how the people were suffering. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem all those years before, he destroyed the economy. All the business networks that existed were suddenly gone. Imagine today a war destroying our natural gas supplies or our electrical grid. How would you get to work? And if you got there, how would you work? No lights. No power. No heat. No computers. The same sort of thing happened back then. If you were a metalworker and suddenly your supply of metals was gone, how would you make plows? If you couldn’t make plows, how would farmers plow their fields? By hand, with wooden tools like hoes. Suddenly they cannot plow as many acres and so their crops are vastly smaller they used to be, which means they make far less at harvest than the year before. This also means there’s less food available for the smith to buy for his family.
To say this another way, inflation is way up and wages are way down. Previous governors exercised their right to tax the people, the very people who were struggling to feed their families. It’s fairly obvious that if Nehemiah could forgo tax revenues and purchase all this food out of his own pocket he himself was not struggling. Who among us has the resources to provide for 150 men, plus countless others, every single day? Still, rather than exercise his right as governor, he chose to take the burden of the people onto himself. While he clearly had substantial resources, he did not have unlimited resources. He carried that burden for them at great personal cost.
He gave the reason. He did not tax the people “because of the fear of God”. Fear here means reverence, honor, respect, not “terror”. Nehemiah wasn’t cowering in fear before God. He held God in awe, with profound reverence and so he did not do what prior governors did. The last thing people who struggle from paycheck to paycheck need is a higher tax bill. The text indicates he went further: not only did he refuse to burden them further, he and his people got busy building the wall! He joined them in the work!
Nehemiah carried this heavy burden for the people for twelve years. That’s more than 4,000 oxen he provided at his own expense. That’s more than 26,000 sheep he provided at his own expense. Who knows how many chickens and gallons of wine this was! This was a profound burden for him and he did so out of love for God and love for God’s people.
This is what love does: love chooses to suffer. Peter says in his first letter that love covers a multitude of sins. To say this another way, love chooses to suffer. Love gladly takes on a burden that the one loved might not bear it. When slighted or insulted or otherwise sinned against, love covers that sin by enduring, by bearing the burden—by not placing a further burden on the person who sins against you.
Those who are married do this all the time. This is what covenantal love does. Those who have children do this all the time. A child who backtalks needs to be corrected, but a parent simply cannot correct every hint of impertinence in a child. It would be endless correction! A spouse can be insensitive in the moment and since love covers a multitude of sins we usually shrug it off. Love covers a multitude of sins.
The world around us tells us to run from suffering, to find a place with less of it. If you can’t run from it, then pursue distractions from it. Entertain yourself. Immerse yourself in some pleasurable activity that your mind becomes numb to it. Scripture calls us as believers to choose to suffer, however.
When this mindset of running from suffering enters the church we end up missing out on something profound. God uses our suffering to shape us, and often that suffering comes from the aches and pains of being around people who are also sinners. When we live in community with one another we end up being around people who can be unbearable. Some people can be difficult. Sometimes personalities are so radically different they grate on each other. It can be difficult to be around a person who constantly complains. It can be difficult to be around people who takes offense at everything. It can be difficult to be around people who boast all the time. It can also be difficult to be around people who simply don’t have the same interests you have. Part of taking on the burden of others is showing interest in their lives.
We are each called to be like Nehemiah, to bear one another’s burdens. In his case, he took on a significant financial burden the people could not bear. Paul takes this idea further and expresses it in a profound way:
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 ESV
Think of what “law” is in Scripture. It’s not legislation or a list of rules. At Mount Sinai God revealed his character to Israel through a series of commandments. The commandments were less a list of rules and more a description of God’s character. Care for the poor and the sojourner because God is the sort who cares for those in need. Do not murder for God is not the sort who would take life unjustly. Do not worship others gods for the Lord God of Israel is the only one worthy of worship. What, then, is the law of Christ? It cannot be reduced to a single commandment. Instead, it is Jesus himself. He is the full and complete revelation of who God is, for he is God in human form. Everything that can be known about God can be known in Jesus. When Paul says to bear one another’s burdens and in this way fulfill “the law of Christ”, what is the law of Christ?
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13 ESV
The call to fulfill the law of Christ is the call to be like Jesus. Rarely are we called to physically die for one another, but this is what love is, and it is what love does. Love chooses to suffer for the good of others. In the context of community, it means overlooking minor offenses. It means caring for those who may be difficult to care for. It means being there to help when you’d rather be somewhere else. It means remaining committed when things aren’t going the way you want them to go. It means gently discipling your brother or sister in Christ away from sin and toward Christ. It means, at a minimum, dying to self and to your personal preferences.
Whether Nehemiah knew it or not, he was fulfilling the law of Christ, for he was being like Christ. He was choosing to suffer for the good of the people he was called to serve. We are called to serve the Lord by serving one another. Let’s fulfill the law of Christ by bearing one another’s burdens. That may be financial. A young couple or an older widow may be in need. We can help carry that burden. The burden may simply be loneliness. We can bear one another’s burdens by simply being present in someone’s life. Invite the single person over to share a meal. Spend time with others in the church, expending the effort to get to know them better that you may seek better ways to help bear their burdens. We are called to this faithful presence. We can do this by showing others love chooses to suffer.