Doing God's Will in Difficult Days (1 Peter 4:1-11)

This sermon was preached on 8/12/2011

Although Peter is fully aware that his readers are facing difficult circumstances, he also knows that they face other dangers as well. These other dangers are connected to failing to live the Christian life. Probably he realised that ongoing harassment has the potential to diminish one’s devotion and it can affect our attitude to other things as well, especially with regard to pleasure. Instead of falling into such wrong practices, Peter urges his readers to imitate Jesus.

There are a couple of difficult statements in this passage, and we can consider them briefly. The first is in verse 1: ‘whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.’ Peter is fully aware that some sufferers continue sinning, so he does not mean that suffering brings spiritual benefits to all sufferers. Further, he is also aware that no-one becomes perfect in this life, so ‘ceasing from sin’ does not mean becoming sinless. What he means is that it is better to suffer for the faith than to live in sin. Christians at that time faced this choice continually. If they were to continue following Jesus, they would suffer persecution, but their choice prevented them from living sinful lives.

The second difficult statement is in verse 6: ‘the gospel was preached to those who were dead.’ Some discussion has focussed on whom he means by the ‘dead’ in verse 6. One interpretation is that the gospel was preached to people who have died, and so they were given a second chance of salvation. This view is untenable. Or he may mean those who are dead in a spiritual sense, even the very ones who delight in sinful pleasures. Personally I think he had in mind Christians who have died because of the persecution.

The focus of Jesus

We can see Peter’s call for imitation in verse 1 where he tells his readers to think as Jesus did. Peter regards such a step as a crucial weapon in their spiritual warfare because he says it is the equivalent of a soldier arming himself with the best weapon available. His exhortation is a reminder that the first place where the Christian loses a battle is in his way of thinking. What was the focus of the thinking of Jesus? It was to do the will of God, whatever it involved, and we know that in the case of Jesus it involved great suffering on behalf of his people. And here Peter tells his readers that they should live the rest of their lives on earth in obedience to the will of God.

Aspects of the will of God

When it comes to thinking about the will of God, we know that the phrase can mean different ideas. Here it does not refer to his secret will because we do not have any way of influencing it; his secret will refers to his eternal plan in which he foreordained whatever comes to pass. Nor does the phrase refer to his permissive will whereby he allows certain things to happen in his providence, although one can see how living under suffering is part of his permissive will. Of course, their situation in suffering was also his secret will for them. Instead the will of God here is his revealed will, that is, how he wants his people to live according to his Word.

Jesus lived according to the laws and principles detailed in the Old Testament. In doing so, he set an example for his disciples to follow. This means that we should know what directions are contained in the Bible because it is where we will find all the details of his revealed will. We will not find them elsewhere. Even when a Christian has to live according to another standard, such as the requirements of the company for which he works, these requirements must be in line with the principles of the Bible, otherwise the Christian should not work there.

In this short passage, Peter mentions three aspects of the revealed will of God and they are holy living (vv. 1-6), meaningful prayer (v. 7) and earnest brotherly love (vv. 8-11).

Holy living

The first aspect concerns the presence of sinful pleasure and Peter makes a contrast between what the Gentiles want to do and what God wants his people to do. The Gentiles want to live in uncontrolled license, especially in physical and immoral ways (v. 3). Hedonism is the technical term for such an outlook. It is important to realise that we were made to love pleasure, and sin has not removed that aspect of our humanity. Instead, what sin has brought about is intense love for sinful pleasures. We were made to find great enjoyment in God and in what he gives.

The lifestyle described by Peter is connected to pagan worship which permeated into every area of life. It was what created a community spirit in the ancient world. Through their passionate delight in such behaviour they formed an identity for themselves and expected all living in that area to adopt a similar lifestyle. Christians did not engage in such a way of life and immediately became a threat to those who lived for sinful pleasure.

Peter notes that the lovers of pleasure will be surprised by those who think differently and will disparage them at least and even slander them as dangerous because they refuse to participate in activities that were often connected to religious rituals (v. 4). How should Christians respond to such people? The believers should remember that the lovers of pleasure will yet appear before the judgement seat of God. Their lifestyles will yet be punished with awful divine displeasure. Obviously the knowledge that Jesus is ready to judge them should fill us with compassion for them, but that knowledge should make us afraid to participate in their activities. Better to endure a few taunts now than to receive punishment on the Day of Judgement.

Peter reminds his readers that is why the gospel was preached to those who have died. Before they heard the gospel they were facing the Day of Judgement without the mercy of the Saviour. But the gospel came to them and they heard about God’s way of deliverance. They believed in Jesus and were delivered from the wrath to come. This is one important reason for valuing the gospel, indeed it is probably the most important reason.

Meaningful prayer

The second aspect of the will of God is having a mind suitable for meaningful prayer (v. 7). Peter here reveals the timescale in which we pray. When Peter says that ‘the end of all things is at hand’, he does not mean that the second coming of Jesus is near. Instead he means that the second coming is the next major event in God’s programme of salvation, and since that programme is eternal a period of a few thousand years is not very long. That is the timescale in which we pray. We are not to pray because there are many years left in human history in which our prayers can be answered. There may be many years, but we cannot know how soon or how distant is Christ’s return. Instead we are to pray knowing that the next major divine event is the judgement seat of Christ.

We can see why that perspective requires a lifestyle that is self-controlled and sober-minded. What do these descriptions say about our prayers? They indicate that effective prayer is thoughtful prayer. In order to be thoughtful, prayers must have mental preparation, such as ‘Who should I pray for today?’ or ‘What should I pray for today?’ This inevitably means that effective prayer requires time. The terms also suggest that effective prayer is regular prayer; after all, it would not be possible to have regular prayer if we imitated the lifestyle of the pleasure seekers.

There are many encouragements given to us about prayer in God’s revealed will. We have examples in the Bible of individuals and groups who prayed and were heard by God. In addition, and more importantly, we have God’s great and precious promises about answered prayers. Sometimes, although not always, we make a big mistake when we try and find encouragements for prayer by looking at providence. Of course, answered prayers are encouraging, but we should get more comfort from God’s promises.

Earnest brotherly love

The third aspect of the will of God is earnest brotherly love, and Peter mentions three features of it. I would suggest that he does not mean that we should become earnest and then practice the three features. Instead, we are seen to be earnest when we practice them. The way to become earnest in brotherly love is to practice these three features, which will bring about a balance way of life.

The first evidence of earnest brotherly love is how we respond to the sins of our brothers. Unless a sin by a brother is serious, it should never be the subject of conversation between two other Christians unless they both have seen it. Sins and faults in a congregation should not be broadcast to Christians in other congregations. The greatness of my brotherly love is seen in the extent of my silence regarding the faults I see in other believers. Certainly we should speak to him about the flaw, and usually that will be sufficient.

The second evidence of earnest brotherly love is hospitality. Obviously we can see why hospitality was expected in times of persecution. Yet it was a call to other Christians to do something potentially dangerous because they could end up in trouble with the authorities for helping the persecuted. But hospitality is not limited to times of persecution. What is required for hospitality? It could be put this way — denial and delight. There will be denial of ourselves in that we wish to share what we have; there will be delight in all the brothers and sisters in the congregation. It is amazing the contribution hospitality gives in providing earnest brotherly love.

The third evidence of earnest brotherly love is our use of our gifts (vv. 10-11). Peter says several things about spiritual gifts. First, he reminds his readers that each of them as received at least one gift from God. These gifts are usually given at conversion when we first receive God’s grace. Second, he says that each gift has been given for the benefit of the others in the congregation. Third, the wide range of gifts can be summarised in two categories — speech and service. Those who can speak includes more than preaching; there can be exhorters and encouragers, it can be done in groups or one-to-one, it includes evangelism and witnessing, but all such activities convey the message of God’s Word. Those who serve are not to do it in their own strength but in the power of the Spirit. Fourth, such use of spiritual gifts will result in praise to God because their effects will be seen in the lives of others. The possibility of God being glorified should be the supreme reason for doing anything within the church.

As Peter thinks about his readers living that quality of life, he breaks out into a doxology: ‘To him belong glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.’  Peter is probably referring to Jesus here, so his doxology is also a confession of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The apostle’s desire was that his Master would be continually acknowledged for who he now is — the Sovereign whose kingdom will never end. This doxology is not merely a statement that focuses on another world; it is also a reminder to his suffering readers that they can bring glory to their Saviour by imitating him by having a desire to obey the revealed will of God regarding holy living, effective prayer and earnest brotherly love.