Key Truth: We will be able to suffer well by living according to God’s will as evidenced by being self-controlled, sober minded, loving, and generously using our spiritual gift(s) as good stewards of God’s varied grace.  

Introduction:

What looks different about how you live as a Christian as compared to when you were not a Christian?

The Call to Live According to the Will of God Instead of Our Passions:

1 Peter 4:1-6

“By consciously adopting the same resolve that Jesus had as he embraced his calling and faced his opponents, Christians are to be prepared to suffer as necessary, indentifying with their Lord and equipping themselves to engage their society as visiting strangers and resident aliens.”

Paul Gardner, 1&2 Peter & Jude: Christian Living in an Age of Suffering

Under what circumstances are your passions more likely to control your response?
What are some ways that you can gain control of these passions and live according to God’s will for His glory?

The Call to Live Self-Controlled, Sober Minded, and Loving Lives:

1 Peter 4:7-11

“Peter presents the positive side of the contrast in lifestyle. Not drunken debauchery and license, but sober clear-headedness, marks the Christian (4:7). Love, not lust, fills his heart (4:8); the Christian home is open for hospitality, not orgies (4:9). Ministry replaces exploitation (4:9-11). The dissolute life of the pagan fails to recognize his accountability to the Lord in the day of judgment, a day that is fast approaching. This is exactly what the Christian does recognize. The end of all things is near.”

Edmund Clowney, The Message of 1 Peter: The Way of the Cross

What are the distinguishing features of how you are currently living as a Christian?
What spiritual gift(s) do you have?
How are you currently using it/them as a good steward of God’s varied grace?

1 Peter 4:1-11 teaches us that we will be able to suffer well:
- by living according to God’s will
- as evidenced by being self-controlled, sober minded, loving, and generously using our spiritual gift(s) as good stewards of God’s varied grace

“To state Peter’s worldview simply, all of history is heading not toward an unfaltering reign of darkness but toward the eternal reign of the risen and ascended Christ….This is the Christian’s majestic conception of what awaits the end of the earth: the glory of God, the dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his reign forever and ever.”

David R. Helm, 1&2 Peter and Jude: Sharing in Christ’s Sufferings

Benediction:

1 Peter 5:6-11