Suffering in the Light of Judgment Day

I worked on a construction site for most of a year when I was 19 or so. I’ll be honest—I didn’t really enjoy it many days. The environment was terrible, and the guys I worked with were pretty challenging. Everybody knew I was a Christian and a lot of them gave me a hard time for that.

I’ll never forget the day my supervisor walked up to me and handed me the pink slip. After surviving several waves of layoffs, I had finally been let go along with several other guys. We were given the choice of leaving right then, or finishing out the rest of the day, and I chose to stick around.

And I had one of my best days on the job. Nothing had really changed—nobody was treating me any better, and actually they sent me over to the demolition crew to do some of the hardest work on the project. But none of it really bothered me, because I knew I was getting out of there. They could do their worst, and I could put up with it, but by that time tomorrow, I’d be free of them.

It was a similar experience I had as a child as June would come around, and you could practically smell summer vacation. Everything felt different because you knew you were only weeks away from being free. It’s amazing what some perspective does to us, doesn’t it? When we know something won’t last forever, and we can see to the other side of it, we have such an easier time persevering.

It reminds me of the story of when Florence Chadwick first tried to swim from Catalina Island to the mainland of California. After swimming for more than fifteen hours through heavy fog, she finally gave up, not realizing that she was less than half a mile from her destination. The next day at a news conference she said, “All I could see was the fog.…I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”¹https://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Jan/21/florence-chadwick-and-fog/

When we lose perspective, it’s so much easier to give in and give up.

We’re in a part of 1 Peter where the apostle is encouraging us to suffer well. And in today’s passage he calls us to suffer well in light of the future, in light of what God has promised to do in the future. In other words, Peter is helping us see the shore, to encourage us to keep on swimming. And I pray that God uses this passage to help give us perspective and perseverance as we seek to thrive in exile.

Let’s walk through this passage and all of it’s beautiful logic, beginning with the main instruction in verse 1:

1. Think about suffering like Jesus did (v. 1a)

“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking” (1 Peter 4:1).

This is the main instruction that kicks off this passage. And the line of thinking here connects us all the way back up to verse 18 of chapter 3: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

Christ suffered in the flesh—in his mortal body. Since that was Jesus’ experience, we need to prepare for this to be our experience. Peter assumes here that what happens to Jesus is what we can expect will happen to us.

But the way he describes this is so interesting. He doesn’t just say “prep for the worst” or “expect things to be hard.” Instead, he says “arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.”

So let’s notice that word thinking. We need to pay attention to how Jesus thought about suffering. This makes us think of Jesus in Gethsemane, “saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done’” (Luke 22:42).

Jesus didn’t love the suffering itself, but He submitted to His father’s will and accepted the suffering for the sake of the joy set before Him, for His father’s glory, and for the bride that He was laying Himself down for. And we need to think about suffering like this as well. We need to think like Jesus in our willingness to endure suffering for the sake of the Lord.

But again, notice how Peter words it. He doesn’t just say “think like Jesus.” He says, “arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.” This word “arm” speaks about equipping yourself with a tool or especially a weapon of war. This is serious business. Getting ready for suffering is like suiting up before a battle. This is very much along the lines of what Peter said back in 1:13: “preparing your minds for action.” And what we are to suit up with is the way of thinking that Jesus had.

So, we can sum this up by saying “think about suffering like Jesus did.” But of course, the way Peter writes this is quite a bit more intense and deliberate than that. Prepare to suffer by arming yourself, suiting up, with Jesus’ way of thinking.

2. because suffering demonstrates holiness (v. 1b-2)

Now, this is a command. We must do this. But like we’ve seen over and over, God through Peter gives us all kinds of reasons for this command. Why should we suit up our minds to suffer well? Because, as he says halfway through verse 1, “For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”

Note that word “for.” This means “because.” This is the reason for why we should arm ourselves with Christ’s way of thinking about suffering. Why should we arm ourselves with Christ’s way of thinking? Because “whoever has suffered in the flesh”—in this mortal body—“has ceased from sin.”

Now what is Peter saying here? Is Peter saying that you should embrace suffering because suffering automatically kills sin in your life? Suffering produces holiness? Is Peter saying, “go suffer as much as you can because it will make you a holier person?”

Some people believe that idea. There’s people who have acted on that throughout history. I recently saw a video of a man who follows another religion meditating on the side of a frozen mountain without any coat on. And certain strains of so-called Christianity have embraced this idea that suffering automatically makes you holy, so you should suffer as much as you can.

But I don’t think that’s the case. I’ve known too many people who have suffered and have responded to that suffering with pride or selfishness or arrogance or bitterness. I’ve seen how suffering so easily turns people inwards and can make them self-obsessed or self-focused.

But more important than my experience is what Peter says. And Peter is not saying that suffering produces holiness.

There’s two clues here we want to notice. First is in the language: “Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” The idea is not that suffering makes you cease from sin, but that the person who has suffered has already made a decisive break with sin, such that, as verse 2 says, they “live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God” (1 Peter 4:2). That’s how they live because they’ve already made a clean break with sin. “Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.”

The second clue comes from the context. What kind of suffering has Peter talking about in this whole section? He’s been talking about suffering for doing good. Suffering for our faith in Jesus. Suffering for refusing to sin. That’s what this whole section has been about.

So this isn’t talking about “go sit in the snow because it will make you a holier person.” This is taking about getting fired from your job because you refuse to go hang the rainbow flag out front. This is talking about being mocked in the locker room because you won’t come to the party that night. This is talking about the kind of suffering we endure when we refuse to join the world in their human passions, because we are devoted to doing God’s will.

And we know that we’re on the right track there because of verse 3 and 4: “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you” (1 Peter 4:3–4).

In other words, they can’t believe you won’t join in their fun, and they trash-talk you. Or fire you from your job. Or sue you. Or worse. That’s the kind of suffering Peter is talking about here.

And so, knowing that’s what he has in mind, it makes sense for him to say, “whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” When we suffer for doing good, it proves that we have made a clean break with sin. Because it’s that clean break with sin that provokes this suffering in the first place. If we were still living in human passions like everybody else, we wouldn’t be suffering in the way that Peter is talking about.

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

And don’t miss that Peter assumes that this is a good reason to endure suffering! Peter assumes we’ll hear this and think, “Yes, that is a good reason for us to endure suffering. I’m willing to suffer if it proves my desire to be holy.”

In other words, Peter assumes that we want to be holy. We want to be done with sin. We want to live the rest of the time in these mortal bodies no longer for human passions but for the will of God. Peter assumes that this is what a Christian is.

After all, isn’t that what we saw last week? Didn’t Peter say that baptism is “an appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:21)? And if we begin our Christian walk by asking God for a good conscience, from that point on, we can never make peace with sin. We can never settle in and accept sin as being a normal part of our lives.

And so, Peter can say, “prepare to suffer, because that proves your commitment to holiness.”

3. and you’ve already sinned more than enough. (v. 3)

Now, I’ve just said that Peter assumes this. But that’s not all he does. He also wants us to motivate us to want to be holy. In verse 3, he does give a reason for why we should want to demonstrate our holiness—why we should want to keep living out our decisive break with sin. And it goes like this: “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry” (1 Peter 4:3).

That word “suffices” basically means, “Enough.” Or, perhaps better, “more than enough.” “Enough is enough.” In other words, Peter is saying that we’ve spent way more than enough time already doing the kinds of sins that the people around us are doing.

It’s not like there’s a quota. Like, you’re allowed to do two or three of these sins and then you max out. Remember that a single bite from a fruit triggered the fall and God’s curse on sin. Any amount of sin is too much, and that’s basically Peter’s point here. You should want to prove your holiness because you’re all done with these sins. Enough is enough.

Peter gives us a list of what some of these sins are. The first two, “sensuality” and “passions,” has to do with sexual sin. Indulging in what feels good when it feels good with no regard for what God has said about it. It should not surprise us that some of the major issues Christians have to navigate in our culture also involve these issues. It’s always been that way. Using our bodies the way we want to is one of the main ways people have always rebelled against God.

“Drunkenness,” “orgies,” and “drinking parties” again speak to the wild and unrestrained behaviour that was well-known in the ancient world—as it is in our present world. People have always enjoyed getting together and using alcohol to break loose. And if you think it’s only teenagers who are tempted by drinking parties these days, just turn on the country music station for 15 minutes. Actually, don’t do that, but I think you get my point.

This final word, “lawless idolatry,” could also be translated “detestable” or “disgusting” idolatry, and is one of the stronger clues in 1 Peter that his readers weren’t from a Jewish background. Before they met Christ, they were up there at the pagan temples with everybody else, sleeping around with the temple prostitutes and enjoying all the sensual celebrations with their community.

Now, it’s important we recognize that what Peter is describing in this list is not the sum total of sin. There are all kinds of ways we can sin outside of this list here. But these sins here were the popular, social sins of that day and age. They were the sins that people would get together and enjoy together. And so when someone became a Christian, these would be the areas where they would be missed. “Why don’t you come over and drink with us this weekend? Why don’t you come up to the temple with us for the feast day?” These were the social sins where Christian holiness was most noticeable.

4. Even though holiness causes suffering, (v. 4)

And when Christians made a clean break with their sinful pasts and refused to engage in these behaviours, there would be push-back—like we’ve already seen. Look at verse 4: “With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;” (1 Peter 4:4).

The world doesn’t understand why we don’t join in their uncontrolled flood of doing whatever they want, and when we refuse to join in, they “malign” us. That word “malign” could be translated “blaspheme,” and could mean that these people are trash-talking God and us. Like Peter has warned us about all throughout his letter, we will have evil things said about us even though we’re only doing what is right in God’s eyes.

So, we can sum up verse 4 by saying that holiness causes suffering. Again, that’s a point we’ve seen earlier in the passage, and it’s all connected together. When we choose to part ways with the sins of the world, it will be hard. They will say evil things about us. We will be accused of all kinds of things that aren’t true. The trash-talk will be profound.

5. all will be made right on Judgement Day (v. 5-6)

But, not surprisingly, Peter wants us to think about the future. Peter wants us to think about where all of this is going. He wants us to realize that, though holiness causes suffering here and now, all will be made right on Judgement Day—a point we see in verses 5 and 6.

“They malign you, but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:4b-5). “Give account” here is a legal term, recalling a court of law. In other words, this is pointing us to Judgement Day, the day of reckoning when all people will give an account to the Lord Jesus.

Judgement Day is a day that we don’t often talk about as much as modern Christians, but we should. This was a standard and often-repeated belief held by the early Christians. Acts 10:42: “And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.” Acts 17:31: “he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Romans 2:16: “on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”

This day is coming. It’s the day spoken of in Revelation 20: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done” (Revelation 20:11–13).

This day is coming, brothers and sisters. John Newton, author of amazing grace, wrote a hymn about this day that contains these words:

Day of judgment! Day of wonders! Hark! the trumpet's awful sound,

louder than a thousand thunders, shakes the vast creation round.

How the summons will the sinner's heart confound!

At his call the dead awaken, rise to life from earth and sea;

all the pow'rs of nature, shaken by his looks, prepare to flee.

Careless sinner, what will then become of thee?

Knowing that this day is coming grounds us, stabilizes us, gives us an anchor, to respond like Jesus when we get trash-talked for following Him. We know that these class-mates, neighbours, even family members, are going to give an account to Jesus who is even now ready to judge the living and the dead. They are going to answer for their behaviour. They are going to answer for their slander about us. And when we remember that, we stop feeling sorry for ourselves. Instead, we start to feel a concern for them and their souls and their eternal destiny.

When you think about these people standing before the risen Lord Jesus on Judgement Day, it doesn’t feel so important to defend yourself anymore, does it? It doesn’t feel so important to make sure that people respect you.

It helps you remember that what God thinks about you, and what God decides on that Judgment Day, is way, way more important than what any other human thinks.

That’s the point of verse 6, which says: “For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does” (1 Peter 4:6).

Many people stumble over these words because it sounds like it’s talking about the gospel being preached to the dead, as if the dead get another chance to hear and respond to the gospel after death and before judgement day. Not only does this not make sense with Peter’s argument in this passage or the rest of his letter, it also doesn’t make sense at all with the whole rest of the New Testament. “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” says Hebrews 9:27.

Instead, the best way to make sense of what Peter is saying here is to understand “the dead” as “those who are currently dead,” and to understand “the gospel was preached” to as referring to those people who are currently dead hearing the gospel while they were still alive.

Just think about it this way: Christians had the gospel preached to them. They believed. And then they died, like everybody else. They were “judged in the flesh the way people are.” Or, perhaps a slightly better way of understanding these words, is to understand them to mean that the dead were judged according to people. That’s a slightly better way of understanding the original language here. Unbelievers judged them as following myths and pointless beliefs, and probably looked on their death as proof that there was no point in being a Christian.

Why follow Jesus if that just means missing out on all of the fun in this life, and then dying anyways? What’s the point?

But people who think that way don’t see the whole picture. They don’t see Jesus, ready to judge the living and the dead. They don’t understand that the gospel is not about our best life now but our best life later. The gospel is not so much about God’s wonderful plan our our life as much as God’s wonderful plan for our eternal life. Being a Christian is about being ready for Judgement Day.

And so, as Peter writes in the second half of verse 6, those who died believing the gospel might have been judged according to people, but they will live “in the spirit” the way God does. Or, once again, perhaps we should understand this to mean “live in the spirit according to God.”

Believers in Jesus are going to be welcomed by the Father into His kingdom, and given Spirit-resurrected bodies like Jesus to live forever with Him on a New Earth. And so who cares what other people think of you when God has already counted you righteous in Christ, has promised that you will face Judgement Day not on your own but in Christ, and that you can already look forward to an eternity of Spirit-empowered resurrection life with Him, forever?

That’s Peter’s point here. Even though holiness causes suffering, all will be made right on Judgement Day. And even if we die looking like fools, God’s verdict on Judgement Day will be the only opinion that really matters, forever.

Conclusion and Application

And the call for us today is to embrace this, and to really believe it. To live our lives with the end in view. To keep our eyes on this shore. To know that we’ve been given a pink slip from our persecutors, and try their worst, we’ll be out from under their power before long.

Do you believe that?

It’s been interesting for me thinking about 1 Peter in light of some of our growing concerns about religious freedom in Canada. There have been increasing signs in our culture for several years that it’s going to get harder and harder to be a faithful Christian in the years ahead. Already, being faithful to the Lord and His word carries significant risk in certain careers or relationships. Already it’s pretty common for us to be called “bigots” or to be accused of hatred.

And things might get worse. And we should not freak out. Because Judgement Day is coming. The school term is almost over and an endless summer will soon be upon us.

So what if we get treated like fools for a few decades? I mean that. What’s a few decades in light of eternity?

Now, I know that’s an easy thing to say in a sermon. It’s another thing to feel like that’s true right in the middle of the hardship. And that’s why today, we need to embrace these truths and ask God for the faith to really believe them. And then keep on feeding our souls with God’s word and keep on asking Him for the faith to believe this is true, over and over again, as long as we live.

And this isn’t just about preparing for future persecution. Odds are, most of us have some opportunity in our lives today where it’s easy for us to be afraid of people. Isn’t that why we so often shy away from telling people about Jesus? Or why we don’t speak up at family gatherings when that one relative starts going off ranting about Christians? Or why we go along with celebrating sin because we don’t want to offend people? People are big, and God is small.

And the antidote to this fear of people is Judgement Day. Whether you’re a student afraid of telling your classmates that you’re going to Young Adults that night, or a coworker afraid of voicing your disagreement with the latest sin-affirming policy being pushed on you, or someone who is trying to work up the courage to talk to a neighbour about Jesus, we need to remember that we will all give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. And what He thinks on that day is the only opinion that really matters.

Again, that’s easy to say in a sermon. But it is true. And so again, let’s call out to God for the faith to believe this. For the faith to embrace it. And so to arm ourselves with Christ’s way of thinking, ready to endure whatever suffering comes our way. Because we know that though the fog is thick and the water is cold the shore is not that far away.