Gearing up for Suffering | 1 Peter 4:1-6
Peter guides us through four steps to help us gear up to endure suffering: (1) draw motivation from Christ's suffering, (2) pursue dedication to God's will, (3) maintain separation from the world's behavior, and (4) live with the realization of God's judgment. This sermon is part 8 of "A Fisherman's Passion," Bryan Craddock's verse-by-verse series on 1 Peter 2:11-5:14.
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I am not a big fan of art museums. But I have been pleasantly surprised to find that some of the ones that I have visited have displays of ancient armor and weaponry. It does seem out of place to have the hardware of battle down the hall from modern paintings and sculptures with an anti-war theme. But some armor displays such exquisite artistry and craftsmanship that you have to wonder if it was ever intended to be used.
It does not seem practical. It looks too heavy and restrictive. You would barely be able to walk, much less engage in intense combat. It might be for show, to make noble men look impressive while standing still. It could not have been meant to deflect real blows. Some of it is so ornate that it must have been made for nothing more than being displayed in a castle or a museum.
Some people treat the Bible like a museum artifact. They extol its literary character and historical significance. Others trace its themes and sum them up in intricate doctrinal confessions. Their admiration for the Scriptures might even lead them to gather every Sunday to learn more about them, yet that does not necessarily mean that they use them in everyday life. They just don’t consider it practical.
But God has given us his truth to equip us for spiritual battle. In Ephesians 6:11, Paul calls believers to put on the armor of God. He explains that we are under attack from spiritual forces of evil. So, to stand firm against them we need the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Peter introduces a similar analogy in 1 Peter 4:1. He does not develop it as Paul does, but he speaks of arming yourself. Instead of preparing us for attacks from spiritual forces as Paul did, he guides us through four steps to help us gear up to endure suffering.
At the time that he wrote, Christians were experiencing opposition and hostility from the non-Christian world. He addresses that particular situation, but the lessons that he teaches here also help us endure all the other kinds of suffering that we face as we live in a fallen world. We all need to equip ourselves with these ideas. So, let’s walk through this preparation process.
Draw Motivation from Christ’s Suffering
The shape of the cross is everywhere in life. You see it wherever two roads intersect, and when you come to those junctions, you must decide which way to go. Will you continue in the same direction or change course?
The cross of Jesus Christ brings us to a spiritual crossroads. As Peter explained at the end of 1 Peter 3, Christ suffered for sins to bring us to God and to save us from his wrath. Hearing that message forces you to make a choice. Will you keep going in your own direction or change course?
I was brought to that crossroads in a youth group meeting on a Wednesday night thirty-five years ago this week. For the first time, I came to understand that Jesus suffered for our sins. I did not fully grasp where the path would lead, but I felt that I could not ignore him. In fact, it is the thought of Jesus’ suffering that keeps me on that road no matter how hard it gets.
Peter calls us all to draw motivation or purpose from Christ’s suffering. So, the first piece of armor relates to our minds and how we think. In the first half of 1 Peter 4:1, he says, “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, ...”
The suffering of Jesus was not a random occurrence of happenstance. He was fulfilling the mission that God gave him, to save people from sin. In fact, he made his intention clear long before the cross. Mark 10:45, for instance, tells us that he said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
So, Peter argues that our thinking should be shaped by the same guiding purpose. We should be willing to endure suffering for the fulfillment of God’s saving work. That is not to suggest that we can atone for sin as Jesus did. Certainly not! But we can carry on the fulfillment of his purpose in two ways.
First, we help fulfill his saving purpose when we share the good news about it with others. Back in 1 Peter 2:9, Peter refers to Christians as a chosen people to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. But a few verses later, he warns that unbelievers will speak against Christians as evildoers. To fulfill our responsibility to evangelize the lost, we must be willing to suffer. Why should we accept that danger? Because Jesus endured suffering for us.
The Apostle Paul was often persecuted for preaching the gospel. He was imprisoned, lashed, beaten with rods, and even stoned, but his character was also maligned. Acts 26:24, for instance, tells us that Festus, the Roman governor of Judea, accused him of being out of his mind. In 2 Corinthians 5:13-15, he explains why he was willing to endure that kind of treatment.
For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Jesus gave his life as an act of love. He died for our sins, and we are united with him through faith. We have died to our old selfish life. Now we must live for him, proclaiming his love even when it requires us to suffer. Are you willing to do that?
So, the suffering of Christ motivates us to accept suffering in order to fulfill his saving purpose through evangelism. But it also leads us to accept suffering as we fulfill his saving purpose by turning away from sin in our lives. That is our second step in gearing up for suffering.
Pursue Dedication to God’s Will
The prospect of surgery is never appealing in and of itself. Doctors can administer anesthetic to get you through it, but the recovery can be very painful. In the short term, it might be easier to just live with whatever problem you have. But we endure the suffering in the hope of better long-term health.
The mark of a healthy spiritual life is growth in humble obedience to God’s Word. But Peter wants us to understand that suffering is part of that process. To gear up for it we must pursue dedication to God’s will. Beginning in the middle of 1 Peter 4:1 and continuing down to verse 2, he says,
… for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.
What kind of suffering does Peter have in mind here? You might assume that he is still referring to the suffering of Christ. But since Jesus was always obedient, it does not make sense to say that he ceased from sin or that he stopped living for human passions.
You could argue that Peter is referring to the way that we as believers are spiritually united with Christ in his suffering. Paul presents that idea in Galatians 2:20 by saying, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” But as important as that truth is, it does not fit the context here in 1 Peter. So, this suffering must refer to the experience of believers, but in what sense?
Some throughout history have claimed that physical suffering is necessary to overcome sin. They practiced self-denial or even self-flagellation to counteract temptation. Some were already advocating an ascetic approach to spirituality in the early church, but Paul refutes it in 1 Corinthians, Colossians, and 1 Timothy. He argues that there is a difference between physical discipline and spiritual discipline. In 1 Timothy 4:7-8, he says,
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
Our battle with sin is spiritual not physical. It is primarily a matter of the heart, and we see that in 1 Peter 4. Peter speaks about a definite moment of life change, a decision to stop following our sinful human desires and to start living for the will of God. That is what happens when we repent and believe.
That dramatic change of life is exciting and joyful but also painful. Perhaps this is the suffering that Peter has in mind. Our suffering in the flesh is not just physical, just as Jesus’ suffering in the flesh was not just physical. It starts as God begins to lead us to repentance. We experience the emotional guilt of sin and the fear of judgment.
We must then cease our sinful habits and behaviors, and that shift often causes us to suffer emotionally, relationally, and in some cases physically. Breaking away from sin is always hard! I’ll say more about the emotional and relational suffering of repentance in a moment. But you might wonder how repentance can lead to physical suffering. Consider a person whose life is characterized by habitual drunkenness (Peter mentions this behavior in verse 3). When someone stops drinking, their chemical dependence causes terrible physical symptoms of withdrawal. To prepare for that kind of suffering, you must commit to doing the will of God that he has revealed in his Word.
But is Peter suggesting that it is possible to cease sinning entirely? Some Christian denominations teach that a believer can reach a level of entire sanctification through a dramatic encounter with God. They draw upon passages like 1 John 3:6 which the King James Version translates by saying, “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” We do not hear it in that translation, but the Greek verb tense that is used there indicates an ongoing pattern of sin. Furthermore, 1 John 1:8 explicitly says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
Both John and Peter are speaking of a change of direction. We will stumble and fall short of that commitment at times. It will be painful and difficult, but spiritual life begins with the decision to stop sinning and to pursue dedication to doing God’s will.
Maintain Separation from the World’s Behavior
Ancient Greece had a strong theatrical culture. Actors would perform in massive outdoor amphitheaters, so they used big cartoonish masks to identify characters and represent their state of mind. Heroes, villains, and wise men were obvious by their expressions. This simplistic approach does not lend itself to nuanced accurate portrayals, but people loved it.
I think we still like to see life in simplistic, cartoonish ways, and that can distort our understanding of what is required to live a holy life. We treat Christians and non-Christians like two entirely different characters. One is spotlessly good and the other reprehensibly evil and disgusting.
We act as if there is no attraction in the ways of the world. Change is as easy as taking off one mask and putting on another. But sooner or later the mask of one of the good guys slips. We find that he is not so spotless, but that doesn’t fit our narrative. So, we cast him aside and say that he was just a pretender all along.
Peter calls us to maintain separation from the world’s behavior. But he wants us to see that this commitment entails suffering. In 1 Peter 4:3, he says,
For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
Before he gets into his list of behaviors, he acknowledges that this description once applied to his readers. They were part of the world. But when you turn to Christ, you embark on a new period of life. You have had enough of the old way of living. You must leave it behind.
Peter describes that old way of life as being given over to sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. Ancient idol worship sometimes incorporated sexually immoral behavior, intoxication, and feasting. People in our society may not bow down to statues, but the party lifestyle associated with it continues.
What is the attraction? Why is it hard to leave this lifestyle behind once you have been involved with it? Why do people who seem to be outstanding Christians, even influential church leaders, succumb to the pull of these behaviors? It offers people an immediate way to cope with the pain and problems of life. Drink until you forget. Overwhelm your senses with fleeting sexual pleasure. Now those behaviors do not fix your problems. In fact, they invariably make them worse. But they offer a few moments of escape and relief.
Some people look to Christianity as an alternative source of escape and relief. They seek dramatic encounters and miraculous spiritual experiences. But they still tend to avoid their problems, rather than working through them. Choosing to repent and live according to God’s will means giving up the easy escape and the quick fix. It means taking responsibility for your sins as you seek to grow and change through faith in Christ.
So, we must recognize that maintaining separation from the world’s behavior is an emotionally painful process that every Christian must be willing to suffer through. If we deny the attraction and think about the Christian life as something that is easy, then we are deceiving ourselves and setting ourselves up for failure and disillusionment. You must gear up for the battle.
This suffering that we endure in maintaining separation also has a relational aspect. Peter speaks of it in verse 4 by saying,
With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.
Some translations of the verse say, “they think it strange.” They feel threatened when someone begins to change and grow through faith in Christ. It exposes the futility of their debauched lifestyle. As Paul says in Romans 2:15, the work of the law is written on their hearts. They already know that their behavior is wrong, but they want to justify it.
So, they malign people who are growing in Christ. They accuse us of being judgmental and hypocritical, and sometimes they are right. Some people proudly wear the Christian mask, and if that is the game you are playing, then their verbal attacks seem like a badge of honor. But when you care about people in the world and consider them friends who desperately need salvation, their rejection hurts deeply.
Jesus warned his followers that they would face this kind of suffering. He explained that families could be divided. Matthew 10:37-39 tells us that he said,
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
We must be prepared to suffer emotionally and relationally as we maintain our separation from the world’s behavior, and that leads to one more step.
Live with the Realization of God’s Judgment
An analog clock never stops ticking. It just keeps going around. Digital clocks just cycle through numbers. But an hourglass is different. It only has so many grains of sand, and each one that trickles through is a moment lost. Ultimately, it runs out.
We may not want to think about it, but we all know that life in this world is a sort of hourglass. It won’t keep going around or cycling through numbers. We only have so many grains of sand left. But unlike an hourglass, we cannot see them.
In 1 Peter 4:5-6, Peter calls us to live with the realization of God’s judgment. But some think that his words overturn common ideas about the relationship of death and judgment. At the end of verse 4, he spoke about being maligned by the world, and then he adds,
but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.
Some take this to mean that people will have an opportunity to hear the gospel and receive salvation after death. They claim that verse 19 of chapter 3 supports this interpretation. There Peter speaks of Jesus making a proclamation to the spirits in prison. As we saw, some say that those spirits are angelic beings. But even if you say that they are the spirits of human beings, the passage goes on in verse 20 to speak of Noah and to highlight that only eight people were saved from the Flood. The point of that passage is that to be rescued from God’s wrath, you must turn to Christ and be baptized while you have the opportunity.
So, how do we explain these verses in chapter 4? After thinking of Christians being maligned in verse 4, the idea of unbelievers being held accountable may be a source of consolation. The suffering inflicted upon you will not go unpunished. Paul presents that thought in Romans 12:19 as he tells Christians to never avenge themselves but to leave it to the wrath of God.
But I don’t think that the idea of consolation fits with what Peter says in verse 6. There he describes evangelism as a response to future judgment. So, rather than consolation, he is probably showing the motivation to persevere as we face opposition in sharing the gospel. It is that people desperately need to hear it! We should persevere through any suffering they might inflict upon us, because their eternal destiny is at stake. It is worth the risk.
Why then in verse 6 does Peter refer to those hearing the gospel as dead? He could be thinking of lost people as being spiritually dead even though they are still physically alive. Paul uses that idea in Ephesians 2:1. But the other possibility is that he is simply looking back and referring to people who heard the gospel before they died. Physical death itself is an expression of judgment that dates to God’s punishment of Adam and Eve’s sin. But faith in the gospel gives someone the hope of living forever in the presence of God.
As Peter moves into verse 7 of chapter 4, he begins by saying, “The end of all things is at hand.” We will come back to that statement, but it helps us grasp Peter’s thinking here in verses 5 and 6. He wants us to live with the realization of God’s judgment. Time is not just running out for our lives. It’s running out for the world as we know it. That thought should help us stay on mission with the gospel even when we face suffering.
__________
Following Jesus and representing him to this world is not easy. It requires us to suffer, but Peter has given us a process to prepare. It starts with the cross. Draw motivation from Christ’s suffering. Pursue dedication to God’s will. Maintain separation from the world’s behavior and live with the realization of God’s judgment.
Are you following Jesus? If not, do you understand how he suffered for us? In bearing our sin, he experienced great physical pain and death. He endured rejection by people and some kind of separation from his heavenly Father. He did it to save us from judgment and to give us eternal life. Would you receive that today? Would you change course at this crossroads? Would you start submitting to the will of God? If you would like to learn more about this life of faith, Romans 12 would be a good chapter to read.
If you are a believer, how are you doing with following God’s will? Is there a sinful behavior that needs to cease in your life? Don’t play games and live behind a mask. Look to the cross. Draw motivation from what Jesus suffered and renew your commitment to him.
Are we living with the awareness of coming judgment? Let it shape your priorities. Live for the gospel. Take the initiative to reach out to lost people with the love of Christ and share with them the good news of salvation.
May God strengthen our faith!
Reflect
What are some ways that sin and suffering relate to each other?
What are some practical ways to help fellow believers live for God’s will?
How should this passage shape our evangelistic outreach?