1 Peter 4 Discussion

Getting blindsided by hardship is exhausting, especially when you’re trying to follow Jesus with integrity. We open 1 Peter 4 and talk honestly about what Peter expects: Christians will face suffering, pushback, and even insults, and none of it should shock us. The call is not to toughen up with empty grit, but to “arm ourselves with the mind of Christ,” a deliberate, prayerful way of thinking that prepares us to endure without drifting back into sin.

We dig into the practical edge of the passage, including Peter’s unapologetic list of old patterns like sensuality, drunkenness, and lawless idolatry. When we stop joining in, people notice. They can be surprised, offended, or downright hostile, and that’s where Peter drops a line that changes everything: if you’re insulted for the name of Christ, you’re blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. We also talk about the difference between suffering for doing wrong and suffering for doing good, plus why pain without purpose feels like torment while pain with purpose fuels hope.

We even slow down for a tricky verse about the gospel being preached “to the dead,” exploring faithful interpretations and what it teaches us about God’s mercy, God’s justice, and the power of the gospel to bring life. If you’re facing pressure at home, work, school, or online, this is a steadying reminder to stay sober-minded, keep praying, and entrust your soul to a faithful Creator while doing good. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review with the biggest takeaway you heard.

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Transcript

Welcome And Passage Overview

Pastor Plek 0:10

And welcome back to a chapter today. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck. That's Pastor Hong. We are talking first, Peter chapter four. We're going to outline, observe it, interpret, and then apply it so that you can be equipped with God's word wherever you live, work, and play, and whatever you say, whatever the day, you are going to be on your way to honoring Jesus in every way. So 1 Peter 4, 1 through 6 says, arm yourselves with the mind of Christ. Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourself with the same way of thinking. You are going to endure suffering. And the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Hard to sin when you're suffering. Okay, verse 7 through 11. The end of all things is near, so be self-controlled, sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. You don't want your prayers to get jacked up because you aren't so self-controlled and sober-minded. Then verses 12 through 19 uh suffering as a Christian. Don't be surprised at the fiery trial that comes to test you as if you had no idea that this would happen. This is all a part of being a Christian. There is going to be some suffering attached, and there is joy eventually,

The Mindset For Christian Suffering

Pastor Plek 1:18

even though it's really hard right now. All right. In fact, there's a call for joy in every single moment. Okay. What do you see here, Holland, uh, for observations?

Pastor Holland 1:28

Okay. If you're insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed. Verse 14. Should you say thank you, Jesus? Yeah. I mean, I think there's some people who are, you know, missing out on this blessing because, you know, you don't want nobody wants to be insulted. And so a lot of people keep quiet about Jesus and don't, you know, make it known that they're a Christian or don't speak uh about what the Bible teaches because, like, oh, I don't want to be, you know, insulted by other people. But Peter says, if you're insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed. Why are you missing out on the blessing? Don't miss out on the blessing. Miss your blessing. Don't miss your blessing today.

Pastor Plek 2:11

Suffer well. All right. Um, okay. How about this? Um, that there's a lifestyle change that goes along with becoming a Christian.

Pastor Holland 2:25

No more orgies. That's what it says in verse three, right? Yeah. Stop the orgies. Stop the orgies.

Pastor Plek 2:33

Like, if you know, and I love that he's like, listen, you guys know what you guys used to do. You know, living sensuality, passionists drunkens, orgies, drinking parties, lawless idolatry. Like he rattles that off as if it's so common. Yeah. Like that everybody's doing it. And listen, I know it was fun, it was a crazy party, but you don't do that anymore. And you're like, like that is like the fact that that was just like orgies were just like a thing. Yep. Wow. Stop it. Stop the orgies. Yeah. Now, to be fair, I like even in my crazier, I never even saw an orgy, so I or heard of anyone doing orgies, but clearly this was happening pretty much on the regular.

Pastor Holland 3:13

Yeah. Um, and he says, This is yeah, this is just what the Gentiles do. It's human passions, and so he says, Stop all that. Um, be self-controlled and sober-minded now, and love each other.

Pastor Plek 3:27

That's way better. Yeah, okay, but like imagine your whole life. And now I guess it's not that hard to imagine. I mean, our our our culture right now is sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. To have all those things, you kind of have to have some money, right? Yeah. So you're probably spending all your money on all of that stuff. It's like a lot of college students. Yeah, this is like the old modern day. You and you probably, and now in a culture where you know there was no middle class for the most part, that meant you spent a lot of money on just being wasted. Yeah. And like trying to escape the pain of your life. Yep. And so what Jesus is saying, like, there's something better that you can have joy even in your work, and you don't need to escape

Leaving Old Sinful Patterns Behind

Pastor Plek 4:12

it with these really self-harming, self-what's the opposite of dignified self-uh. If um like devastating, no debasing. You're debasing there it is. Yeah, you're debasing yourself by going after these sensual experiences that destroy your soul.

Pastor Holland 4:30

And so instead you could have fulfillment in Christ and save a lot of money. Yeah. I just was like, how much money does that cost? Yeah. Drinking parties that it adds up.

Pastor Plek 4:39

Yeah, like sure it does. I mean, even if you get like just one bottle of wine somewhere, like, and you're just gonna have like that, like the celebrate. All right, that's a lot of money. Yeah. Now, if you do the gas station wine, it's like 10 bucks. Maybe that's where you go. Anyway, all right. So uh what else do you see for observations?

Pastor Holland 4:58

Uh also, no murdering and thieving and evildoing. Verse 15. Let none of you suffer. He's made this comment several times. Like, cause he's saying, like, you need to suffer well, like, you need to suffer well, suffer like G, but he has to keep clarifying. I don't want you to suffer because doing stupid, bad, sinful stuff. Don't do that. If you're suffering for that, that's your fault. You're stupid. Stop. It's on you. Yeah. But I like how he says, like, hey, murdering is bad.

Pastor Plek 5:23

Yeah. Like, way to go.

Pastor Holland 5:24

Like, none of you suffer as a murderer or as a meddler.

Pastor Plek 5:29

Um to be fair, was Paul a so Paul's like, hey, I've been there. I'm murdered. You know, like I'm I'm in that crew, but I don't suffer for But I stopped. I stopped murdering.

Pastor Holland 5:37

I don't do that anymore. Yeah. Now I suffer for preaching the gospel. Right. And that's what Peter's saying. That's what you should be suffering for. Preach the gospel and let people insult you and hate you and suffer for it. And it'll be great. Yay. He says, Don't be surprised. I love that.

Pastor Plek 5:53

As if something strange were happening to you. This is totally this is what it's like. That's what you get for being a Christian. You're like, what? I thought I got blessing and joy and hope. You do. Absolutely, you do. And suffering.

Pastor Holland 6:04

Yeah. But for the Christian, the suffering comes to an end one day.

Pastor Plek 6:08

And it has purpose.

Pastor Holland 6:09

Yeah, it has purpose and it comes to an end. And then it um gives way to eternal life with no suffering ever again. While the unrighteous who reject Jesus, the suffering they experience in this life will be remembered as merciful compared to what they endure in the life to come, being punished for their sins in hell. I think this is one thing we all understand.

Pastor Plek 6:30

Pain without purpose is just torment. However, pain with purpose is like joy because you know ultimately the pain is going to result in something great.

Pastor Holland 6:44

Yeah. It's not suffering that will take out a Christian, it's hopelessness. So it's when you forget that you have hope and that there's a purpose for this, then you despair. Okay. So Peter says, hey, don't give up hope.

Pastor Plek 6:58

Um I love another God's will. So every every chapter, it seems like he's pulling out a God's will quote here. Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. So it's God's will for you to do good and suffer. Yep. Yay. All right. Uh, what about some nature of man thing? We don't like to suffer. Yeah. And why we needed a whole book on it. We needed a whole book on suffering. And we get surprised by suffering. Yeah. And we say, Why would this happen to me? Uh recently, my truck broke down and it took us a while to get home. I had to get towed and all that. And my son goes, Why did God let that happen to you? And I go, because there's a purpose in it. I don't know right now, but I can trust that there is purpose in the suffering. And maybe it was just because I didn't tighten my battery well enough when I was chasing. And that's the purpose is to teach you.

Pastor Holland 7:58

So you can teach your sons not to make the same mistakes. That's right.

Pastor Plek 8:03

I am serving as a bad example.

Pastor Holland 8:07

Um, but also, you know, a big part of this is that our faithfulness in suffering is a testimony to the world of the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ. That's right. When we suffer well, it it shows, it displays how great Jesus is to the world. And when we refuse sin, it does that. That's why it says they're surprised in verse four. The sinful worldly people are surprised when you don't join. And so even you just saying, Oh, no, thank you. I I I can't, I'm, I'm not, I don't go to orgies anymore. And they go, What? Why?

Pastor Plek 8:45

Why would you not go to an orgy? I'm a Christian. And then they're like, that's crazy.

Pastor Holland 8:50

What does being a Christian have to do with possibly be better than orgies? Yeah. And you go, well, being Christian, God has a way, you know, here's God's design for this, and here's my conviction now.

Pastor Plek 9:00

And so And you say, like, hey, you know, when you're going to an orgy, you're actually numbing yourself to reality because that you know that you don't have a relationship and sex was designed for uh two to become one. And when you do that, you're just throwing yourself all out there in the darkness and the wickedness, and it's actually not healthy. And they would probably think about it, go, oh, you're right, but it sure feels good in the moment.

Pastor Holland 9:17

This man, that's why I always hate myself after the orgy nights. And now they're like, man, maybe I should like learn more about this creature.

Pastor Plek 9:24

Yeah, beautiful. I love that. And at the same time, you're you're not like like offended by their presence. You're just like, that's not what I do as a Christian, and I want you to know it. I want you to know the truth. I want you to repent. I I want God's

Pain With Purpose Creates Hope

Pastor Plek 9:38

love to extend even to you in the midst of your orgies because uh I was one of you at one time, whether it was orgies or sensuality or drunkenness or whatever the list of things is here. Lawless idolatry. Um, let's get into some character of God stuff. Okay.

Pastor Holland 9:56

Um, every single chapter you have God as merciful and God as judge. Yes. You have both.

Pastor Plek 10:02

Um so can I ask a question? I don't know if we got this into our observations, and maybe I I just blanked, but look at verse six. For this is why the gospel is preached even to those who are dead, that though judge the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. So the gospel has power to raise the dead. Are we talking about just dead spiritually dead here? Like not Christian. This is why the gospel is preached even to those who are not Christian, that they though judge the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. Is that what he's saying?

Pastor Holland 10:35

That's one interpretation. Another one is that it's referring to the same event of between Jesus' death and resurrection, where he preached the gospel to the um those who are in the place of the dead, and those who were faithful dead. Um, the gospel was preached to them that you know that this would include some people who were killed for their faith, like the prophets who died for proclaiming, and so they were judged in the flesh, um, they were killed for their faith, um, and yet they will live in the spirit. Um, so that's the other interpretation.

Pastor Plek 11:08

Yeah, I think that's good. But the the part of that that teaches me about God is that God allows us to live in the spirit the way God does. Like when you believe on him, you're no longer earthly, you're spiritual, hence why you don't take part in earthly things.

Pastor Holland 11:22

Yeah. God, God is shown to be a blesser of those who are faithful to him, uh, a rewarder and blesser of those who are faithful to him in this. You see, one another example in um verse 14 if you're insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed. Because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Oh, that's good.

Pastor Plek 11:42

Um, and when you want the spirit of God to rest on you, yeah. So the insults come. I want you to feel the power of God. Yeah. Um, all right. God is will take care of those who suffer for his will. Yes. Um, how about let's get into some application. Okay. All right, so it's sin to confess or promise to claim, an example to follow, uh, command obey or knowledge to believe. Um, how about arm yourselves, command obey, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking that

The Gospel Preached To The Dead

Pastor Plek 12:16

suffering, whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

Pastor Holland 12:20

Yeah.

Pastor Plek 12:21

Now, what does that mean? That if is that like those who have suffered in the flesh mean they died, no longer have sin's influence in their life, or is that while you're suffering, you can't be sinning at the same time?

Pastor Holland 12:34

Yeah, I've heard both interpretations, meaning like if you're suffering in the flesh, it's because you've been faithful to Jesus and now you're being punished for it. Um, so you but I've also could be the, you know, suffered in the flesh meaning like you died. Yeah. Um and ha arming yourself with that same way of thinking is just like I am ready and willing to die for my faith in Christ if if that's where it takes me.

Pastor Plek 13:00

Yeah.

Pastor Holland 13:01

Um, yeah. I love that. Um this is just such a different way of thinking about Christianity than a lot of people today, though, who who really it's like I think this is so important, this command, arm yourselves. That means like you like take up arms, like go on the offense. Yeah, with this mindset, people are gonna hate you. And um Chris, it it is an offensive faith. Um now the arms that you're taking up is a mindset, it's prayer, it's the spiritual armor of God, the sword of the spirit, a certain way of thinking um that's confident in God and unwavering, you know. Um, if you get human opposition, it's good, but it's important.

Pastor Plek 13:42

Uh okay, character God, or no, we're on uh spec still. Yeah, I want you to see this. Um look at verse uh four and then look at verse 12. So with respect to this, they are surprised when you don't don't join them, and then don't be surprised when the fire trial when it comes upon you. So surprise uh should be for those who don't know Jesus uh because of your ability to follow him and not be involved in orgies. And then you should not be surprised that the world hates you uh and your faith because it represents finding hope, lawless idolatry in anything other than Jesus, how he's designed and how he has ultimately designed you. Um so that the suffering aspect is gonna be so unique. Don't be surprised at it, but your suffering will cause others to be surprised. Yeah. That must be that's knowledge to believe, probably. Yeah.

Rejoice In Trials And Final Wrap

Pastor Plek 14:37

What else you got?

Pastor Holland 14:39

Um rejoice when you share Christ's suffering. So if you are, if you are like in a place right now where you're facing some persecution from family or in your social groups or something like that, just for your commitment to Christ, instead of being down and discouraged, uh, be happy. Yeah. Jesus suffered and you're suffering just like him. Yep. Yay.

Pastor Plek 15:01

I I do love another so we've got a couple God's will in here. You got the will of God in verse two, and God's will in verse uh 19. Verse 19 was like, you know, suffering. Uh, but then verse two, here's the will of God. No longer don't live for human passions. That's the will of God. Yeah. So don't go back to sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, parties, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. That is not the will of God. Will of God for you is to be uh sober minded uh and living for Him uh in everything. Yeah. I think that might be a good way to land the plane here. There you go. Hey, thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time on uh Chapter Day.