1 Peter 4:1-11

The Transformational Purpose of Suffering Part One

There are two choices Peter highlights in this section. He returns to a subject he has mentioned previously:

1 Peter 2:20–21 HCSB

For what credit is there if you sin and are punished, and you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God. For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in His steps.

1 Peter 3:17–18 HCSB

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God, after being put to death in the fleshly realm but made alive in the spiritual realm.

Suffering, as Peter and other early followers of Jesus, understood, was a normal and expected part of following Jesus.

Jesus himself spoke of suffering:

Matthew 5:10–12 HCSB

Those who are persecuted for righteousness are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. “You are blessed when they insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Luke 12:49–53 HCSB

“I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how it consumes Me until it is finished! Do you think that I came here to give peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided: three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Peter and Paul experienced suffering:

Acts 5:41 HCSB

Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be dishonored on behalf of the Name.

Acts 9:16 HCSB

I will show him how much he must suffer for My name!”

Suffering is not something we choose, it is a result of responding to the call of God in Jesus Christ.

The issue isn’t whether or not we will suffer. As Peter explains in this passage the issue is: how will we respond to the inevitable suffering that comes?

CHOICE # 1

1 Peter 4:1 (HCSB)

Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, equip yourselves also with the same resolve —because the one who suffered in the flesh has finished with sin —

Because of Christ’s death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead and His ascension to the right hand of the Father, sin is finished.

We who are Jesus followers are to equip ourselves with the same mindset/understanding which we see exhibited in Jesus.

Jesus didn’t suffer just to demonstrate His loyalty to the Father. By His sufferings we are set free from the power and penalty of sin. Isaiah prophecied:

Isaiah 53:5 HCSB

But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.

Though our suffering in no way compares to all Jesus’ experienced, our suffering can bring us nearer to God - “no longer living for human desires, but for God’s will.”

What Peter emphasized was that those who commit themselves to suffer, those who willingly endure scorn and mockery for their faith, show that they have triumphed over sin. They have broken with sin because they have ceased to participate in the lawless activities of unbelievers and endured the criticisms that have come from such a decision. The commitment to suffer reveals a passion for a new way of life, a life that is not yet perfect but remarkably different from the lives of unbelievers in the Greco-Roman world.

Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 201.

Following Jesus will bring attention to our lives. We are not exempt from the standards God has clearly revealed in His Word. No human being will escape the justice and/or mercy of God.

Suffering is often the tool God uses to purify, to cleanse, to set us free from sins of attitudes and actions that reflect a different view of the world.

Thus, we are marked, ‘Free From Sin.’

CHOICE # 2

Not only does our suffering following the model of Christ serve to separate us from sin, these evens in our lives call us to recognize how close we are to the end of all things.

One agency, Voice of the Martyrs offers support to some 4 million believers who are persecuted each year. In more than 70 countries, believers are targeted for scrutiny and surveillance simply because they choose to follow Jesus.

The number of persecuted beleivers rises, and all of the writers of the NT write from personal experience of suffering for following Jesus.

As we recognize the end of all things drawing near Peter offers counsel for how we are to live as the people of God:

a). be alert and ‘sober-minded’ for the purpose of prayer.

Many have said it - prayer isn’t just part of the ministry of the church, it IS THE ministry of the church.

As the end approaches we need to diligent and disciplined as we pray.

b). constantly love one another

The kind of love Peter writes of is not a love that ignores the failures of others, but a love that forgives freely, a love that willingly comes alongside the one who has sinned. Instead of allowing sin to overwhelm and distance us from one another, love is to bind us together.

c). be hospitable without complaining

Since there were no ‘church’ buildings most gatherings occurred in homes. Peter, Paul, and others travelled extensively and would need places to stay while preaching and teaching.

d). serve God by using the gifts He’s given:

All believers are gifted. There are no exceptions. Peter makes no effort here to identify every gift given by God. Rather he highlights several gifts as an illustration of how believers are to serve one another:

speaking

This would include teaching and preaching. Of course not all teaching occurs in corporate worship. Sometimes the most impactful teaching occurs one on one!

serving

This covers a multitude of gifts.

The gift of “service” or “ministering” (NLT, “helping others”) refers to all that Christians do to help or serve each other, such as benevolence, caring for others, or fixing things in a house.

Grant R. Osborne, “1 Peter,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: James, 1–2 Peter, Jude, Revelation, ed. Philip W. Comfort, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2011), 244.

The ultimate goal of all we do:

to glorify God through Jesus Christ!