Attitudes in Times of Suffering (Part 2)
1 Peter 4:1-11
Preached by Pastor Tony Miano
at Lake Hills Community Church
August, 2000
Introduction: Last week we looked at some of the attitudes we should have in times of suffering, specifically, on those occasions when we suffer for doing good. We looked at the possibility that some of our hardships, which we might consider times of suffering, might actually be times of testing allowed by God to produce endurance in our faith. The way we look at suffering was challenged when Peter wrote that suffering in the life of the believer who is doing the right thing for Christ is only a possibility. It is not inevitable.
This morning we’re going to continue to look at our attitudes in times of suffering. Turn with me to 1 Peter 4 and let’s read verses 1-11. Let’s pray.
Hopefully some of you were encouraged last week when you heard that suffering is not inevitable if you make a stand for Christ. But what if you are being persecuted for your faith?
It appears that the attitudes, which Peter talked about in the second half of chapter three, dealt primarily with those which helped the believer prepare for times of suffering. It seems that in the first half of chapter four Peter is talking about the attitudes the believer should have in the midst of those occasional times of suffering. So let’s dig in.
Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, (v. 1a).
The word “therefore” connects what Peter is saying with verse eighteen of chapter three. Let’s look at the two verses together (read verses). Peter is about to explain the main lesson he wants his readers to learn. It is the fact that Christ suffered for us. “Suffered in the flesh” can literally be translated “suffered death.”
Since Christ suffered for us, just as He suffered for those persecuted Christians to whom Peter wrote this letter, there are certain things we should do and certain attitudes we should have if we are faced with suffering. The wording of this first phrase tells us that Peter chose words that would cause his readers to be moved to action.
arm yourselves also with the same purpose, (v. 1b).
The first course of action Peter commands the reader to take is to arm himself. The verb used here for “arm” is used nowhere else in the New Testament. It comes from the Greek word hoplon. The word was first used for any implement or instrument used to prepare something. It later came to be used in the plural, “arms,” for weapons of warfare (Vine, p. 67). The verb form means “make ready or equip” (Abbott-Smith, p. 320).
Peter called the readers to equip themselves “with the same purpose.” Some have looked at this phrase and made the assumption that Peter was calling his readers to suffer martyrdom for Christ. But that’s not what Peter is saying here.
The NIV is closer to the original text in this phrase, with the word “attitude.” Peter is calling believers to have the same attitude as Christ when He suffered death on the cross. They were to have the same attitude as Christ in thought, principle, and resolve. Just as Jesus was “willing to suffer for righteousness in doing God’s will” (Hiebert, p. 256), so too should the believer be willing to suffer.
Last week we talked about how we can wait for the other shoe to drop because we fear the inevitability of suffering if we do what is good for Christ. What I want you to understand today is that not only should we take courage by not considering suffering to be inevitable, we should be as Christ and welcome those rare opportunities to suffer in His name.
Peter is calling his readers, in a very personal way, to be ready to carry on the mission of making disciples of every tribe and nation. Why?
because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, (v. 1c).
Once again, we are going to see how important context is in our study God’s Word. Look at the last phrase of verse one (read phrase). Now if we read verse one in its entirety, we might be led to think that Christ, who suffered in the flesh, also ceased from sin.
There are huge implications for interpreting this verse that way. This would mean that Jesus had sinned at some point. If that were the case, then Jesus was just a man after all. He was just a good teacher or prophet, as so many religions would ask us to believe.
However, Jesus was the spotless Lamb of God. He was without sin. He could not cease from doing something He never did. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, could not defile His perfect nature with the stain of sin.
This phrase simply means that the believer who has suffered for righteousness sake has broken the chains of sin in their lives. It’s not that this person has stopped sinning altogether. It means that the person who has suffered for Christ has demonstrated that sin no longer reigns in his heart.
so as to live the rest of time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but the will of God. (V. 2)
The result is that the believer will spend the rest of their life pursuing God’s will and not their own. Look at verse two. The Christians to whom Peter wrote were now aware of two standards of living. The standard which they formerly lived by–the lusts of the flesh, and the standard they were to live by from now on–doing the will of God.
“The rest of time” is not a reference to eternity. Instead, it refers to that time given for earthly human existence. Because of their faith in Christ, as long as they were still on this earth, they were to seek the will of God and not the earthly desires of their lives before Christ. In verses three to six, Peter explains to us what our motivation should be for enduring times of persecution or suffering.
For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desires of the Gentiles, (v. 3a).
Let’s look at the first part of verse three (read 3a). Peter is telling his readers that they had spent enough time in the past doing what unbelievers do.
Turn to II Cor. 5:17. Look at the word “passed.” It’s very easy to read this verse and say the present tense form of the word, “pass,” instead of the way it’s written in the past tense. We will recite the verse with this word in the present tense because we’ve convinced ourselves that getting rid of our old lifestyles before Christ is an ongoing process.
Is it true that when we come to Christ, all of our habitual sins from the past may not be instantly done away with? Although God could certainly do that if He chose to, sanctification is a process in which over time we become more like Christ. Is it true that it may take time to rid ourselves of some of our old habits? Yes. But should our attitude be that we arbitrarily accept this as a normal course of life? No!
We’ve allowed society, and even the church at large, to convince us that we need to constantly be working on breaking the chains of sin in our life. Why is it so hard for us to accept the fact that those chains were broken when Christ came into our lives?
Remember what we talked about last week. Remember the words of Christ on the cross. “It is finished.” II Cor. 5:17 tells us that our old, sinful way of life is a thing of the past. Our old ways of life died when we committed our lives to Christ. There’s no reason to hold on to it. There’s no reason to believe that our Lord and Savior’s finished work on the cross was insufficient to completely overcome the darkest recesses of our hearts. There’s no reason for us to have an attitude which tells the world that victory over certain sins has to be progressive over time instead of complete, once and for all.
Turn back to 1 Peter 4. “For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desires of the Gentiles.” Again, Peter is telling his readers that their time in their former ways of life was sufficient. The word “sufficient,” as it is used here, means “more than enough.” Peter uses an understatement to add emphasis to his point. The time believers spent living in sin, prior to coming to Christ, was “more than enough–too much in fact” (Michaels, p. 230).
Have you had occasion to talk to an unbeliever, or a believer for that matter, who insists that they need more time before they can give up the hold a particular sin has on their life? They hear your words, they agree with your message, yet they say they need a little more time.
Peter’s words should serve as a strong admonition to each of us. If you are here this morning and you insist on holding on to your sin, whatever it may be, even for a little while longer, you need to know that you’ve had more than enough time–too much in fact.
Don’t let your attitude be one of complacency where we give in to sin as something we are just going to have to deal with for a little while longer. Have a victorious attitude that says, “Now that I’m in Christ, I don’t have to hold on to that sin anymore. Because of Christ, I am a new creature and the old life is a thing of the past.”
having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. (v. 3b).
Peter provides a list of six different sins that were prevalent in society and were probably issues in the lives of his readers before they came to Christ. One way we can try to avoid dealing with the sin in our own lives is by convincing ourselves that we don’t fall into any of these sins.
We don’t have the time this morning to define each of these sins, but there’s something I want you to consider. In the Greek, these six sins are written in the plural form. This means that with each sin listed come a variety of other sins. Instead of looking at each of these as specific sins, we should look at them as wide categories. Instead of looking at these sins and saying, “None of them apply to me,” take some time and ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart for any sin that may be holding you in your former way of life.
In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; (v. 4).
Peter moves his readers from thinking in the past to thinking again in the present. He’s now going to look at the reaction of his readers’ unsaved friends toward their faith and why it should further motivate them to arm themselves.
Peter describes the friends from the readers’ former lives as “surprised.” They were not surprised in the sense of, “Oh, how neat. You’re one of those born again believers. We think it’s great that you’re not going to party with us anymore. Good for you!”
The unbelievers in their lives were surprised in the sense that they were very disappointed and amazed by the changes in the believers’ lives. The unbelievers looked at their saved friends as if they were now entertaining strangers. They thought these new Christians had lost their minds.
I remember enduring similar reactions from other deputies when I came to faith in Christ. On more than one occasion, I found anonymous notes in my mailbox about how some of the deputies felt about my faith. For a while, when I walked into the briefing room at the beginning of my shift, there would be anti-Christian epitaphs written on the chalkboard.
Peter says that the unbelievers were aggravated because his readers were no longer running with the crowd. Peter uses the word “run” in the sense of “running together like a pack of wild dogs.” Before coming to Christ, his readers probably ran around the city involved in every kind of immoral behavior you can think of.
Peter refers to these activities as “dissipation.” The Greek word here also means to live “a vicious course of life, [or] a state of being abandoned in moral principle and in vice” (Webster 1828, vol. 2, p. 45). It also means to be excessively wasteful with money and time.
The reaction to the believers’ new faith was severe. Their character was attacked openly and publicly. Unbelievers were so upset about the Christians faith that they went out of their way to destroy the reputations of those who professed faith in Christ.
It was not that the believers were going around town and telling all of their unbelieving friends that what they were doing was wrong. The simple fact that the believers would no longer participate in the blatantly sinful and immoral behavior of the day caused people to revile them. Others looked upon their change in character as condemnation of the lifestyle they once lived.
but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (v. 5).
Peter wanted his readers to have an attitude of confidence and assurance, even though almost everyone in the world that they knew was turning on them with a vengeance.
Peter asks the persecuted Christians of his day to look to the future. Although life may be very difficult now, there will come a day when everyone who maligned them because of their faith would have to stand before the final court and the Supreme Judge.
God is ready to judge the living and the dead. Whether the unbeliever is living or dead, they will not escape the Great White Throne of judgment. They will have to give an account for their actions, for denying the faith and persecuting believers who refused to live as they did.
This is not to say that our attitude toward unbelievers should be, “Just you wait, buddy. You’ll get yours.” Our attitude should be that no matter what the world throws at us, in the eternal scheme of things it just doesn’t matter.
Even if it seems that people get away with attacking you because of your faith, they cannot escape the reality that every person who rejects the gospel and persecutes the children of God will one day have to answer for their actions. Keeping this in mind should give us an attitude of pity for our enemies, not one of vengeance.
For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, (v. 6a).
Peter footnotes his thoughts in verse five with what he writes in verse six. He explains to his readers that the gospel was preached so that no man would be without excuse on that final day of judgment.
When Peter says “even to those who are dead,” he is referring to those who had the gospel preached to them while they were alive and have since died.
that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God (v. 6b).
What does Peter mean in the second half of this verse? Here he is referring to those believers who had been martyred for their faith. They had been “judged in the flesh.” Although these believers had been sentenced to death by men, for their faith in Christ, their sentence from God is one of acquittal. Their sentence is the reward of eternal life in Christ Jesus.
One of the arguments made against the Christian faith, in Peter’s day, was that if there was eternal life through Jesus Christ, why were Christians experiencing physical death. Peter’s words served as both an encouragement and a reminder that even though they will die a physical death, their hope should be in the fact that they will live for all eternity with God in the spirit realm.
Peter encourages the believer to have an attitude that causes one to live for Christ no matter what the earthly consequences, because eternity with Christ is waiting. “A fruitful Christian life, inspired by the hope of the future, is a further source of strength amid suffering for righteousness” (Hiebert, p. 268).
In verses seven to eleven, Peter provides the believer with certain pieces of equipment for their use in times of suffering. In these verses we will also see how important our fellowship with one another is for getting through times of suffering and persecution.
The end of all things is near; (v. 7a).
Peter opens this paragraph with a very sober reminder. “The end of all things is near (4:7a). The early church was well aware that widespread persecution of the church would occur before the end of the earthly age and the return of Christ. However, these early Christians were also taught that they should not try to predict the time in which Christ would return.
therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. (v. 7b)
The point Peter is trying to make is that “there is time for action, but there is no time to waste” (Michaels, p. 245). For that reason, Peter says, “therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer” (4:7b).
Just in Peter’s wording, we can see that he is calling his readers to look forward. They were not to focus on their trials and tribulations, but the future coming of the Lord. Even though they had no idea, as we have no idea, when exactly the Lord would return, His return is nonetheless immanent.
Peter is giving his readers two urgent commands–to be of sound judgment and a sober spirit. The two verbs in the Greek are almost synonymous. The idea, which they share, is one of mental alertness.
To be of sound judgment is the same as having a sober mind. It also means to be temperate, discreet, and to have self-control. Peter issued this command to his readers because he was well aware from his own past experiences how easy it would be for these new, struggling Christians to lose control and lash out at their detractors. Remember, it was Peter who cut the ear off the servant who was with the group of men that came to arrest Jesus in the garden.
When we are faced with hardship, it’s not always easy to maintain self-control. It’s not always easy to keep our attitude in check and maintain a temperate demeanor. Sometimes we just feel like fighting back, getting even, or just exploding to let the world know that we’re fed up. We’re not always discreet about how we feel, are we?
Do you know that unbelievers, even if they are people very close to you, will bait you into losing self-control? They will use your loss of sound judgment to justify their own lack of self-control. They can no longer rationalize their unbelief in their own mind, so they need to see you fail. This way they can say they’re no different from you and Christians are no different from the rest of the world.
Although it’s true that people will persecute Christians because they hate what Christians stand for; I believe it is also true that people persecute Christians because they hate themselves. Seeing Christ in the life of a person can cause an unbeliever to see the emptiness in his or her own life without Christ. Because of man’s depravity, their first inclination in such a situation is to attack that which caused them to see their own fallibility instead of submitting to the Lordship of Christ.
Our attitude in times of trial or suffering should be one of self-control. Since we established last week that nothing can really harm the believer who makes a stand for Christ, and we know that Christ’s return is imminent, we should exercise self-control with confidence, regardless of the kind of trial or suffering we may face in the future.
Peter also calls his readers to be of sober spirit. The Greek verb here means, “to have moral alertness, to be calm and circumspect” (Abbott-Smith, p. 303). Peter was calling his readers to be free from any “form of mental or spiritual drunkenness” (Hiebert, p. 270). Having spent a lot of time with people who suffered from a lack of sobriety, I can assure you that an intoxicated person has little self-control and are far from being alert.
I remember one man whom I stopped for suspicion of drunk driving. I stopped him in the east end of the Santa Clarita Valley, heading north toward Palmdale. He told me he had been drinking in the San Fernando Valley and was heading home to Orange County.
I asked him, “Why are you here?” He said, “Where?” He had no idea where he was. Like so many drunks before and after him, he became hostile at the suggestion that he was too intoxicated to drive.
When we lack moral alertness, when we try to handle our circumstances without calm or circumspection, it is very easy for us to become confused about what direction we should go. Peter’s choice of words would be significant to his readers. Although it’s doubtful that being “sober-minded” is a direct reference to actual drunkenness, it would certainly serve as a sobering reminder to them about what life was like before they came to faith in Christ.
Remembering how out of control their lives were before Christ saved them undoubtedly served as a wake-up call for them to keep their eyes fixed on Christ. We should do the same thing. If we are in Christ, we should have an attitude that does not allow our past to dictate our response to present suffering. Our attitude should be that which allows the negative events in our past to remind us to look to the future where all suffering will be a thing of the past.
The purpose or aim of these attitudes is so that we will be effective in our prayers. When we are in the midst of trials or suffering, it’s not always easy to stay focused during our times of prayer. Having the attitude of sound judgment or sober-mindedness are critical to staying focused during prayer.
The word “prayer” in this verse is plural in the Greek. Peter is including every kind of prayer in his statement–private and corporate. We need to be alert to what’s going on, not only in our own lives, but the world around us, if we are going to pray effectively. We also need to be alert in the way we pray.
Listen to what D.J. Kenyon wrote; “It does not take much in the way of carelessness and disobedience to turn our prayers into confession sessions to clear ourselves with God rather than into communion sessions to increase our strength in Him.”
I think there are times, especially when things have hit the proverbial fan, that our prayers can sound something like this. Those of you who are parents will relate to this better than others.
You’re sitting at the kitchen table and you hear what can best be described as a blood-curdling scream coming from outside the house. You sit up straight in your chair and listen. The scream was too short for you to discern if it came from one of your kids. Moments later you hear the sustained cry of a child. You know the kind I’m talking about. Those long, siren type cries that make you wonder how any child can go that long without breathing.
The cry is getting closer to your front door. You recognize it as belonging to one of your children. The door flies open. You see a very red, tear-stained face covered with those dark streaks consistent with dirty hands rubbing from nose to cheek and back again.
You ask the traditional first question. “What’s wrong?”
The child takes a deep breath and begins. “Johnny pushed me down. I fell and hit my knee. I didn’t do anything. I was just playing. Well, I might have said something that he didn’t like, but look at my knee.”
“Then Johnny started laughing, so I got up and knocked him down. He started it. Look at my knee. Then Johnny ran home to tell his mom. Then I ran home to tell you and I fell down running up the stairs. Look at my knee.”
“I never want to play with Johnny again. He’s mean. You should go talk to his mom. Look at my knee. Why am I so clumsy? I’m always falling down. Look at my knee.”
Have you ever experienced anything like that? I think there are times, especially during times of pain or suffering, that we come to the Lord in prayer the same way the child came to the parent. Our attitude is one of panic. We surround our requests with justification for our mistakes and complaints about other people.
What did the child really want from the parent? He wanted his parent to look at his knee. As a parent you are able to see through the emotion and hysterics and get to the root of the problem. But wouldn’t it be nice if your child came into the house and simply asked for a band-aid?
In our times of prayer, which Peter suggests are regular and not merely occasional, we need to approach the Throne of Grace with sound judgment and a sober spirit, and not with the out-of-control hysteria of a child. Like the parent who, through the haze of their child’s tears, is able to address their child’s real needs, so to is God more than able to supply all of our needs in Christ Jesus.
When we come to the Lord in prayer, our attitudes of sound judgment and sober-mindedness will help us to stay alert to what is really important so that we can pray effectively, intelligently, purposefully and confidently, knowing that God is sovereign, in complete control, and ever-present.
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. (v. 8-9)
Peter moves from talking about individual responsibilities and issues to addressing attitudes that should permeate the entire body of believers. Look at verses eight and nine. Peter places love “above all.” He is saying that love is to be placed above everything they do as individuals and as a body. Love is more than a kind of behavior. It is more than a feeling. It’s an attitude.
Peter is not talking about a particular kind of love. He is talking about the quality of love believers should have for one another.
Our love for one another should be a love that is fervent. The Greek word translated as “fervent” literally means “to stretch out with intense strain or to exert to the limit of [one’s] strength” (Thomas, L34). I think there are times when our attitude about loving others convinces us that some people are just unlovable. On those occasions, we should consider that it may not be that the other person is unlovable, but that we are not exerting ourselves to love them the way we should.
If we are fervently loving each other, then we will not be so apt to focus on the shortcomings of our brothers and sisters. This doesn’t mean that we will overlook sinful behavior and not hold each other accountable. It means that the negative things we do to one another will not affect the extent to which we love each other.
We will love each other so much that when a brother or sister in Christ sins against us our first response will not be to expose the sin to the rest of the world. Instead, our first inclination will be to come alongside our brother and lead them to repentance and reconciliation.
We can show each other that kind of fervent love by being hospitable to each other without complaint. The word “hospitality” describes a person who has an affectionate concern for strangers. That concern is best expressed through the giving of food and shelter. In the Greek, this word is in the plural form. This means that Peter was calling his readers to practice hospitality repeatedly and regularly.
It was common in Peter’s day for church leaders to lead multiple congregations. The body of Christ was young and most of its leaders were still in fairly early stages of discipleship. The church leaders needed a place to stay when going from town to town and the local inns were not the most desirable places to stay. In fact, one of the qualifications of a prospective leader was his willingness to open his home to travelers and church functions. It was not enough for one to simply open their homes to others. They had to do so without complaint.
Being hospitable can sometimes be time consuming, tiresome, and frustrating. Every one of us leads busy lives. After ten hours at work or twelve hours serving children, it’s not always easy to open your house to other people.
The Greek word for “complaint” represents “muttering or low speaking as a sign of displeasure” (Hiebert, p. 274). It would be like answering your door and saying with excitement, “Hi! I’m so glad you’re here,” only to later mumble under your breath, “How soon until you leave.”
Your attitude must match your actions if hospitality is to be authentic. Even when the activity is exasperating, our attitude should be one of cheerfulness. Hearing this you might say, “Well, hospitality is not my gift.”
I have some good news for you. Peter is not talking about hospitality as a gift. He’s talking about it as a normal course of action by every believer involved in the body of Christ. Practicing hospitality toward each other, with an attitude of cheerfulness, is one way to go from playing church to being the church.
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (v. 10)
In the last two verses of our passage, we are going to see Peter move from speaking about mutual love, to speaking about mutual service. Let’s look at verse ten. Peter tells us, as do other passages of Scripture, that the Holy Spirit has endowed every believer with one or more spiritual gifts. If you are a Christian, you have been given a spiritual gift. Paul’s teaching in First Corinthians and Ephesians shows us that the body of Christ doesn’t have any useless members. Everyone has been gifted through the Holy Spirit by the grace of God.
Every one of us is obligated to use our gift, whatever it may be, to serve the rest of the body of Christ. Maybe you’re here this morning and you don’t have any idea what your spiritual gift is. The “Basics 301" class at LHCC is one way to discover what your gift is.
We will be offering similar classes at Pico Canyon. But even beyond a classroom environment I believe there’s a perfectly legitimate way to discover your spiritual gift. Commit verses seven through nine to memory and begin to practice them as a normal course of life.
Be of sound judgment and sober-minded in your times of prayer. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ to the extent of your ability to do so, and then go a little farther. Open your home, your heart, and your hands to anyone and everyone you can with an authentic attitude of joy. I believe that if every member of the body of Christ, or our church, practiced these things, it wouldn’t be long before all of us identified our particular spiritual gift and began using it as our expression of Christian love.
We need to remember that every spiritual gift is from the Lord and given as a result of His undeserved grace and mercy. We need to treat the gifts that He gives us for His use accordingly.
Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (v. 11)
Our time is running very short, so let’s quickly look at verse eleven. It seems unfair because there’s an entire sermon in this one verse. We’re going to focus on one particular phrase within the verse, “so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” In this phrase, Peter sums up the goal of Christian living. Peter divides the gifts into two broad categories–speaking and serving.
If we speak the Word of God to a lost and dying world, whether as a pastor, teacher, or a believer sharing the hope that is in us with anyone who doesn’t know Christ, the purpose should be to glorify God through Jesus Christ.
Peter, I’m sure not by coincidence, chooses his words in such a way that all other forms of ministry fall under the category of serving. Peter is not limiting the exhortation to ministry leaders. He is speaking to all believers. Everything we do, whether in the church or in the world, should be motivated by genuine Christian love, to glorify God through Jesus Christ.
In this verse, Peter gives us the most important attitude, whether in times of suffering or times of peace. Everything we do should be done to the glory of God, always remembering that it is only possible to glorify Him through Jesus Christ.
It’s not enough to simply invoke Jesus’ name. It’s not enough to believe the facts about who He is. It’s not enough to do good things by participating in church activities. Jesus Christ the Lord must be the center of everything we do, the very center of who we are. Unless Christ is living in us, unless His Spirit is dwelling in our heart, there is forever an impassable divide between us on the Father.
Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father accept through Me.” If we are in Christ, if we have been saved by His finished work on the cross, then we should not simply hope for the right attitudes in times of suffering. Since He has made us holy in Him, we can live victoriously in Him and assert the right attitudes, no matter what the circumstances, glorifying Him in all we say and do.
