Reflections on 1 Peter 4

1 Peter 04 (Contemporary English Version)
1. Christ suffered here on earth. Now you must be ready to suffer as he did, because suffering shows that you have stopped sinning.
   
2. It means you have turned from your own desires and want to obey God for the rest of your life.
   
3. You have already lived long enough like people who don't know God. You were immoral and followed your evil desires. You went around drinking and partying and carrying on. In fact, you even worshiped disgusting idols.
   
4. Now your former friends wonder why you have stopped running around with them, and they curse you for it.
   
5. But they will have to answer to God, who judges the living and the dead.
   
6. The good news has even been preached to the dead, so that after they have been judged for what they have done in this life, their spirits will live with God.
   
7. Everything will soon come to an end. So be serious and be sensible enough to pray.
   
8. Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins.
   
9. Welcome people into your home and don't grumble about it.
   
10. Each of you has been blessed with one of God's many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well.
    
11. If you have the gift of speaking, preach God's message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ, who is glorious and powerful forever. Amen.
    
12. Dear friends, don't be surprised or shocked that you are going through testing that is like walking through fire.
    
13. Be glad for the chance to suffer as Christ suffered. It will prepare you for even greater happiness when he makes his glorious return.
    
14. Count it a blessing when you suffer for being a Christian. This shows that God's glorious Spirit is with you.
    
15. But you deserve to suffer if you are a murderer, a thief, a crook, or a busybody.
    
16. Don't be ashamed to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God that you belong to him.
    
17. God has already begun judging his own people. And if his judgment begins with us, imagine how terrible it will be for those who refuse to obey his message. The Scriptures say,
    
18. "If good people barely escape, what will happen to sinners and to others who don't respect God?"
    
19. If you suffer for obeying God, you must have complete faith in your faithful Creator and keep on doing right.

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Peter is giving instructions to his readers on how to live as citizens of heaven who are "aliens and temporary residents" (2:11) in this world. Such living requires a new mindset to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpreting what life brings to them and thus avoid becoming overwhelmed by it. Those who are followers of Christ, and thus citizens of heaven, are not to look at those who live in this world around them and take their cues from them as to what they should expect from life. Instead, it is Christ who is their example, and Christ experienced suffering. So we, too, should not be surprised when we have suffering. Rather than wondering why God is allowing or even causing us to suffer, we should understand that it is a part of our identity in Christ. But we should also realize that it is only temporary.

Peter explains, in the first few verses of chapter 4, the source of some of this suffering that a follower of Christ might experience. It comes from those who continue to live "the will of the pagans" who are surprised that Christ's followers do not continue to live as they do. Therefore, they slander them. But before becoming too concerned by this, we should remember that they "will give an account" of their actions "to the One who stands ready to judge the living and the dead."  (4:5)

To arm one's self against losing perspective in light of such treatment, Christ's followers should "be clear-headed and disciplined for prayer." (4:7) It is through prayer - abiding in Christ - that we can keep our perspective. In addition, we must keep our love for one another "at full strength," (4:8) because "love covers a multitude of sins." (4:8) Christians should not be joining the pagans in slandering one another, but through love, they should overlook the minor faults and failures of other believers. Rather than slandering each other, this love for fellow believers will lead to being "hospitable to one another."  (4:9) This hospitality will flow from the proper management of the "varied grace of God." (4:10) Such actions and attitudes toward fellow believers will bring glory to God.

This perspective is a far-cry from the thinking of some who go to church on Sunday as a religious duty in order to please God. Such thinking does not come from God but from misguided thinking about God. Christ did not die that we might continue as world citizens who might later avoid the fires of hell. He died, not only that we might avoid the fires of hell, but that we might also live this present life on a new level. A level that brings freedom and life abundant. Yes, there will be suffering for the Christian, but so also does the pagan suffer. But he suffers because of his own actions. When the Christian suffers, he should not be surprised by it, but should instead, "as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory." (4:13)