Intro | Recap

1 Peter 4:1-6 Crossing the Pain Threshold: Having the Mind of Christ and Living for God

[1] Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm [equip with weapons] yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, [2] so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. [3] 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. [4] With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; [5] but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. [6] 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 Suffering Produces Clear Thinking About Sin: Crossing the Pain Threshold with Christ, v. 1-3

#2 Suffering Produces Clear Reactions to NOT Sinning; Crossing the Pain Threshold Causes Pain in Sinners, v. 4-5.

#3 When and to Who and Why is the Gospel is Preached?

#1 Suffering Produces Clear Thinking About Sin: Crossing the Pain Threshold with Christ, v. 1-3

Ill: Breaking with Sin and the Mafia.

First, just negotiating with the mafia: “Yeah, I’m done; I’m going respectable.”

It doesn’t work. He gets pulled back in.

Being blackmailed; once the guy publishes it for himself, he is free from it. It holds no more power. Why would he go back to it?

Now he has told the world, “I was a gangster; these are the names of my accomplices; it was wrong. I have crossed the threshold; there is no going back.”

The former gang may harass him, be angry, not want to be named for what they are. Sin hates being named as sin. But they cannot recruit you back in. The gangster is dead; only death awaits turning back to the old way of life, “the way of your ancestors,” Peter says earlier. You’ve left the family business and now are exiled.

This story captures imperfectly what Peter is arguing here. Look again in verses 1-3: Christ suffered righteously for us. He was a substitute for our sin; he purchased us out of the family business, and now we must arm ourselves with the same way of thinking.

Leaving the world of Mafia and gangs behind, what is this “same way of thinking” for us?

Peter 3:17 – It is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. That is the mindset.

What does it mean to cease from sin? The Greek word is where we get our word “paused.” Hit the pause button and walk away. But it is even more active. Strong’s Gk says to restrain: “no longer stirred by sin's incitements and seductions.” Why does “crossing the pain threshold” help us cease from sin – but now for the will of God?

Answer: “Genuine suffering will always be accompanied by a holy lifestyle” – Beale.

Once we have suffered like Christ for righteousness' sake, we are dead to sin and alive to God. We have exchanged our fallen “default” setting for a new singular operating

That principle asks, "what glorifies God?” and "what contributes to my fellowship, joy, and communion with my Creator and Savior, as I know it from His Word to me? [pause]

What is pleasing to God? Am I willing to suffer by rejecting my own sinful desires and rejecting the social sins/social passions, or community-acceptable KJV language “lusts” of my heart and my community's heart – to remove ourselves from sinning for those for whom it is beneficial to see me sinning “like them”? Peter will say if we do not sin like them, we will SURPRISE them. When we cease from sin, it’s a problem. Why? Because it ruins the “everyone is doing it” rationalization of sin.

For Peter’s context, the Christians are the killjoys. Jobes helpfully says, “The pleasures from which Christians typically abstain were the popular forms of Roman entertainment: the theater with its risqué performances, the chariot races, and the gladiatorial fights with their blood and gore. The alcohol-fueled festivals of Roman culture were typically focused on devotion to a god or goddess, making them idolatrous to Jewish or Christian beliefs. Christian lifestyle also condemned the ‘pleasures’ of an indulgent temper, sex outside marriage, drinking, slander, lying, covetousness, and theft…”

Christians who love God’s good creation are positive about all the good gifts of God in food, marriage, and alcohol in moderation, yet they are often seen as the killjoys…in every culture and era. Because sin never has enough. Sin always wants more. Sin always wants to transgress the bounds of God’s good design for our bodies, minds, feelings, attitudes, and relationships.

And when Christians say, No. I have crucified the flesh; it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, a powerful contrast is created between light and darkness. The darkness, the flesh, does not like the Light and the Spirit, even if it is filled with Christian joy and happiness. Christian pleasure in God’s good creation.

Because now the world can’t say, "Everyone gossips, everyone lives this way in college, everyone watches this TV show or follows these people on Instagram…" And Peter says, if you are already suffering for Christ, you are a spiritual exile; hit the pause button, step back, and cease from autopiloting what is acceptable for you. And we can easily say, ok I will change some of my behaviors.

But God doesn't just want our behaviors, he wants our hearts, he wants our loves, our attitudes, our beliefs reshaped by the mind of Christ. So that we love what he loves. So that What the Bible calls sinful, we call sinful. And we don't substitute talking about these things with the jargon and "its ok" type of language our culture uses to talk about cultural sin patterns.

And this will become culturally unacceptable and we may be maligned for it. Because we have crossed the pain threshold on cultural beliefs

Not affirming what the world affirms as good and moral, not condemning what the world condemns. Wrong speak and wrong thought. This could be in modern university settings, this could be places where jobs are at stake, or even a group of friends have taken an unbiblical stance on a moral area you can be subjected to a sort of "communist struggle session" and saying "Jesus is the Lord of my actions, my mind, and my words. Caesar is not Lord."

This society's pet sin and desire is still wrong, and I am not on the wrong side of history. Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will gather under the banner of Scripture?

o Perhaps as you follow Christ, you can be a witness to friends and family.

o Perhaps as you follow Christ, you will become a stranger to friends and family and suffer loss for the sake of Christ.

o But remember, human judgments do not have the last word.

Social consensus does not have the last word.

The flesh having the last word is dead and in the past, according to Peter.

Look in verse 3. Peter lists the same things we’ve been listing… But he characterizes it as over. That time, that stage of your life is the past.

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.

Verse 3: This time is PAST; living in this way – that is dead and buried with Christ. It has been crucified if you are in Christ.

This is sarcasm… you had more than enough time to sin in your former life, don’t you think?

What are the traits of this list? Living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

Peter calls these things a “flood of debauchery” or KJV “excess of riot.”

Sin just overflows our hearts because it has a well from our sinful hearts. So it just pours out.

And it’s an abandonment, dissolute, profligate, prodigality of a life the world lives in.

God, by the Holy Spirit, cuts off the power of sin, the shut-off valve, and he does this—mixing metaphors—he cauterizes the wound of sin with the power of righteous suffering. And what does this do?

HOW DO YOU VIEW YOURSELF NOW?

Certainly not sinless.

But forgiven, a new creation.

What are the “pain thresholds” of suffering unjust, undeserved reactions from the world that you need to embrace as a follower of Jesus?

Now we know sin is not simply a water pipe valve that we shut off.

Peter offers one motivation for being done with sin:

suffering. Viewing ourselves now as exiles to our former way of life. Pronouncing that that was the old man, naming those sins, and having crossed that pain threshold, being willing to bear shame and suffering from our former friends. That is certainly powerful.

That is a work of the grace of the Holy Spirit if you desire to repent of sin and walk in new obedience to Jesus.

That is a work of grace because you are entrusting yourselves to Jesus by faith to have (1 Peter 2:24) borne our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed. (ESV)

Having been once for all justified by faith in Christ, we now begin the lifelong journey of sanctification—the bearing of fruit that flows out of our salvation. Justification is an accomplished fact; sanctification is the Spirit’s ongoing work in us. And along this road, the Lord provides us with many motives and helps to encourage us to imitate Christ and to pursue holiness of life. Scripture is not silent on this, but gives us countless helps for walking in holiness.

First, we remember who we are in Christ: we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). The old has gone; the new has come. Our identity is no longer in Adam but in Christ, and so our lives must reflect that new reality.

Second, we remember that as new creations we desire fellowship with God. God Himself is holy and good, and He hates sin. Because we love Him, we learn to love what He loves and to hate what He hates—including our own sin. Holiness, then, is not merely a duty but a delight, for it draws us nearer to God and away from what destroys us.

Third, the Word of God teaches us to know the law rightly. It names sin for what it is. It shows us how sin harms, how it corrupts, and how it robs us of joy and peace. At the same time, it sets before us the goodness of God’s design: that living in the way He created us to live is for our flourishing. Sometimes the law warns us with fear—fear of God’s judgment, fear of earthly consequences that flow from sin. But at the same time, it encourages us by showing the beauty of holiness, the joy of obedience, and the blessing of walking in step with the Spirit.

Finally, God gives us examples to follow. We imitate Christ, our perfect pattern, and we also imitate other believers who walk faithfully before us. Much of the Christian life is “caught” rather than only “taught.” By watching the faith, humility, and obedience of others, we are stirred up to live likewise.

As the hymnist says, “May the mind of Christ my Savior live in me from day to day, by His love and pow’r controlling all I do and say.”

So the Christian life of sanctification is not left to us alone. God, in His kindness, supplies us with many helps: remembering who we are in Christ, desiring fellowship with the holy God, knowing the law and its wisdom, and imitating Christ and His people. In all these things, He is making us more and more into the likeness of His Son, until the day when we are GLORIFIED, perfectly holy in His presence in heaven.

Such a vision is beautiful…but the aroma of life to some is the stench of death to others. And Peter warns us of the response we may receive.

#2 Suffering Produces Clear Reactions to NOT Sinning; Us Crossing the Pain Threshold Causes Pain in Sinners

V. 4–5 With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (ESV)

And having suffered with Christ, we cross the pain threshold and accept that we may be maligned; we may be accused of being the bad guys because we ruin the “everyone is doing it” line that the sinful heart needs spoken in assurance to it in its sin. The emptiness of sin is revealed.

Peter says, “They will Malign you”

What happens if you start to hold an opinion that all the polls say—well, 80% of Americans approve of watching this, doing that, and living this way? Maybe even people think it's dangerous to not embrace what they embrace. Parents are suspect. Churches are suspect.

They are surprised, but it is the surprise of someone having the light suddenly flipped on and the response: Turn out the light. Light hurts. Come back to the dark where it is comfortable.

You are maligned, spoken of poorly. But it is okay, Peter says. Crossing the pain threshold does not mean having a sad, melodramatic persecution complex.

Christians ought to be as joyful as our happiest Easter hymns and our happiest Christmas hymns. 1 Peter itself has much warmth throughout it; we may be exiles marching to the celestial city, but we have a warm campfire all along the way. Consider these phrases throughout 1 Peter:

We are 1:3–5 …born again to a living hope… an inheritance imperishable…In Christ, we have been …born again to a living hope… an inheritance imperishable (1:3–5). Though we do not see Him, we …rejoice with joy inexpressible and filled with glory… (1:8–9). What the prophets searched for and …angels long to look… into, we now possess (1:10–12). We are …a chosen race, a royal priesthood… called out of darkness into marvelous light… (2:9–10). Once straying, we have …returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls… (2:25). Even in trials, we know we …inherit a blessing… for His ears are open to their prayer (3:9–12). Therefore, we …rejoice insofar as we share Christ’s sufferings… for the Spirit of glory rests upon us (4:13–14). In every anxiety, we …cast all our cares on Him… for He cares for us (5:7). And after a little while, the …God of all grace… will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us (5:10).

That is what we have in Christ Jesus. If you rest your life, your heart, your future in Him as Savior today.

But once again, Peter is a realist.

Those who are not in Christ Jesus by grace through faith, v. 5. They will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

What does Peter mean, Giving an Account?

Peter is arming his readers to suffer human judgment, even judgment by all the important people.

You could feel this from Universities, from the TV shows you and your friends watch, even the judges; the laws may be changed to outlaw and thus judge “malign” the Christian ethic..

This is the context of verse 6. The maligning judgement of those who are still trapped in darkness. And have yet to give an account for their actions. So verse 6, We ask.

#3 When and to Who and Why is the Gospel is Preached?

Verse 6. 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.

On first reading of verse 6, Some might be tempted to think of the dead as somehow lingering in a spiritual limbo, honored with offerings and celebrations like in the Mexican syncretism of Aztec and Catholic spirituality of Día de Las Muertos, the Day of the Dead. But Peter is saying something very different.

We talk this way – If I was honoring veterans, and I said, “These Veterans stormed the beaches of Normandy” or

For this is why the Championship was won even by those who are retired…

They were not retired when they won the championship, but Tom Brady is retired now.

Past action: the gospel was preached to them while they were alive.

Present description: they are now “the dead.”

The gospel was preached even to those who were alive when it was preached to them but are now dead—not to leave them in a shadowy existence,

But so that, though they were judged in the flesh as all people are (that is, living people giving judgy opinions against those who believed and lived according to the gospel), they now are free from human judgments and are alive in the Spirit the way God does (1 Pet. 4:6). As with chapter 3, I will say this is the Capital S Spirit of God, alive in Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Their life is no longer measured by human standards, by earthly judgment or ritualized remembrance, but by the power and rule of God. The dead are alive in Christ, fully embraced by His Spirit, not by human tradition or sentiment.

In the early church, there was great concern when the first few Christians died after having believed the gospel but before Christ had returned. Paul had to reassure the Thessalonians this way:

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, where Paul says that even if we die before Christ returns, we are not lost or forgotten. Those who have “fallen asleep” in Christ will rise first at His coming, and all believers—living or dead—will be united with Him forever. Take comfort; death does not separate us from Christ, and hope in His resurrection assures us that life in His presence is eternal.

So Christians might be judged by other people here on earth…. But when they die, God gets the last ruling. And God says, you will, by the Spirit of God, live no matter what you suffer when you are “maligned” and “judged” and called the bad guys for living a righteous life as those who have been born again by the Spirit of the living God.

Not because we were better and more deserving, but Christ suffered to save lost sinners who could not save themselves.

So also, we must be willing to suffer rather than sin. Be willing to suffer abuse for not sinning from unbelievers. Then compare God’s judgment of sin to human shallow judgment for not sinning.

So what about us? What would Peter have us do in response to these verses?

Let us close by thinking of action in response to what Peter is telling us.

Recall Zacchaeus, who encounters Jesus in the Gospels in Luke 19. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, wealthy from exploiting others. But when he encountered Jesus, something broke inside the old life of greed and self. His resolve to follow Christ was sealed not by mere words, but by sacrifice:“Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Luke 19:8). Jesus immediately recognized the genuineness of that costly repentance: “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9).

Now for us, when we read the Bible, pause and meditate on those very points where you find pain and discomfort with the word, and ask the Lord to help you have the mind of Christ, the attitude of Christ, and suffer the loss of the old man, self, and way of thinking, and put on the mind of Christ until that loss becomes, as Paul says again, until you can count it as rubbish. “We arm ourselves with a willingness to suffer” (Doriani) in order to live for the will of God.

Why? Because Jesus has gone before us; He left heaven, was born, suffered all the miseries of this life, death itself, and the pains of hell, to redeem us, to rise again, and give us life in the Holy Spirit, and the joy of being in a living community.

Christ’s humiliation and resurrection, offered to us in the Gospel, is also our salvation. He took our place, bore our curse, and entered our grave, so that we might share His righteousness, His blessing, and His eternal life. If the Son of God humbled Himself so low for us, then we may rest assured that nothing in us—no sin too deep, no sorrow too heavy, no shame too great—can separate us from His redeeming love. And as we behold His humility, the Gospel calls us to walk in the same pattern:“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5).

Pray

Benediction.

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