But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And

Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.—1 Peter 4:15–19

Outline

Introduction: Distrust, Distance, and Disobedience

The apostle Peter has continued to remind this people of who they are and what they are called to do. Their itinerary in life—where they go and what they do—is meant to flow out of their identity—who they are as exiles in a place that is not home. 

These people are facing suffering coming at them from the outside and facing sin that rises up from the inside. And Peter’s main point is simply and profoundly to trust God. Why?

Because he knows that’s the key to faithful endurance of suffering that also avoids sin. How does Peter know that? Because we’ve seen our Savior do it already in 1 Peter! ...

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.—1 Peter 2:21–23

How did Jesus face suffering and the temptation to sin? With trust in his Father. Remember last week when we talked about identifying with the suffering of Christ as he cried out, “Abba, Father!”? Jesus had ultimate trust in the plan and character of his Father because of a perfect relationship forged in eternity past as Father and Son delighted in one another in perfect love. And now we’ve been born again to a living hope as children of God—sons and daughters of the Father and fellow heirs with Christ. 

Our temptation to sin and our temptation to walk away from God in suffering will ultimately come from a distrust in God. Now, none of us would come out and say, “I just don’t trust God.” But when our future seems uncertain, our comforts seem shaken, and we find that Christianity is no longer popular but seen as foolish—is our instinct to draw near to God our Father because of our relationship with him?

Do you spend more time with the Lord, fixing your eyes on him and trusting him in it, or do you spend more time running to news reports, the latest polls, and the latest social media feed (I really don’t hate it, just what it does to us!), seeking to find your comfort there? None of those are bad things unless we make them ultimate things. None of those are bad things unless they replace God as our refuge—and we begin to find that we need certain news besides the good news of Jesus Christ to comfort our souls.

And here’s what will subtly happen, and you won’t even know it. You’ll begin to feel distant from God. You’ll begin to have your mind set on earthly things, not on heavenly things. You’ll neglect his offer to draw near to him and find rest for your souls and seek rest in other places. You’ll be restless in your suffering and uncertainty rather than settled and certain. And what happens after you do that for a bit? Sin creeps in. Distance and practical distrust in God does not usually breed the fruit of the Spirit. As you run to those other places and post all those articles and dive deep in that world for hours, do you feel love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control just bubbling up out of your soul?

As distance from God goes on, we begin to be disobedient to his call and disoriented to his purposes. In other words, as we forget to lean into our identity as children of the King of kings first, and we forget who we are, then our itinerary—where we go and what we do—begins to get messed up as well. Peter is going to help us reorient our hearts with this word today so that we can draw near to God and bear fruit for his name.

1) Live for the Glory of God (1 Peter 4:15–16)

Let me remind you from last week that Peter has just told them not to be surprised but to rejoice in sufferings as they share in the sufferings of Christ. And then he ended with a promise that the Holy Spirit would be with them to empower their rejoicing in the midst of suffering. Sharing in the suffering of Christ for the Name of Christ is the path to glory with Christ—and the Holy Spirit will be with us to help walk it. However, not all suffering is equal. 

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.—1 Peter 4:15 

We already saw that when believers follow Jesus they will be called evil—just as we are today. The world thinks Christians are unloving and narrow-minded, and it would probably say our views on various moral issues are evil by the standards of the culture we live in. That’s OK. That’s to be expected. We follow Jesus. We’re not surprised. We will get help from the Spirit for that suffering as we take up our cross and follow Jesus.

However, here is another call for believers to fight sin. The point here is that we not give the outside world obvious evil behavior to point at and say, “See, we told you those Christians are wicked.” We’ve seen this in recent news with certain Christian leaders. In those big, national cases it is obvious to see, right? The hypocrisy makes us all frustrated that Christians are getting a bad name. But do we do this in small ways in our own lives?

Perhaps we don’t actually murder anyone, but we are such an angry presence on our social media pages or staff meetings or small groups that it doesn’t smell like the name of Jesus—instead it reeks of hypocrisy. Perhaps we don’t actually steal any physical property—but do we work as hard as possible at our jobs, work the hours we’re supposed to, and do it with joy and excellence? Or do we steal company time with complaining and finding ways around hard work instead of working heartily unto the Lord so that people might ask the reason for the hope that is in us? Even when work is hard, do they see our joy in the Lord or do they look at us as the person joining in the complaining, grumbling, and laziness of the office? 

Or meddling. Do you always need to know things and get involved in things that aren’t yours to know or do? Or do you do your best wherever God has called you (in your home, at your job, etc.) and then keep yourself from meddling and gossip about others?

Peter then expands this to any kind of evil-doing. When we do things that are evil, it brings shame on the name of Jesus. It mocks the new birth that has caused us to be born again to a living hope. It fills the places we are in with hypocrisy instead of holy beauty. Now, we are not going to be perfect. When we make mistakes, when we don’t have integrity, and when we give into sin, it’s a great opportunity to shine forth the beauty of Jesus in confession and repentance. And living to the glory of God is what this is all about: 

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.—1 Peter 4:16 

This is not a call to perfection; this is a call to shining forth the beauty of the King. And if we suffer for following Jesus, then there is no shame. Notice something here that is different than the world. The opposite of shame in the world is self-esteem. In other words, I’m not ashamed because I can be proud of myself and others will think well of me. But in the Christian life, the opposite of shame is the glory of God. I’m not ashamed because even if others think poorly of me, my behavior shines forth the truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Paul says something similar in Philippians as he talks about the suffering he is experiencing: 

It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.—Philippians 1:20

No shame. Why? Because everyone likes him and thinks well of him? Nope. No shame because Christ will be honored in his suffering, whether by life or by death. This is the great passion we live for: the glory of our King. We follow him for the sake of his glory. We endure suffering for the sake of his glory. We fight sin for the sake of his glory. We have seen that he is most beautiful, we are walking in fellowship with him, and we long to help others see him and walk with him. 

And let me just pause here and say that this is the only way to fight sin and endure suffering. If you try to fight sin from your flesh and your shame rather than from a deep joy and hope in the beauty of the person and work of Jesus—in order to glorify him for how utterly amazing he is—you will find yourself caught in an endless cycle of sin and shame. If you try to endure suffering with the end goal of anything but the glory of Christ, you will find yourself disoriented and doubting. 

So the key to this step is to do what Hebrew 12 calls us to do: “Look to Jesus” and “lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely” so that we can run this race. In Jesus, we will see the seriousness of our sin, and in Jesus we will again see the sweetness of the glory of his grace. In Jesus, we see suffering for the joy set before him and we follow in his footsteps, empowered by the Spirit of glory.

2) Live in the Light of God’s Judgment (1 Peter 4:17–18) 

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Here, Peter gives an imminent reason for them to walk this way. As those living at the end of all things, the time between the first and second coming of Jesus, the judgment of God is near. Peter wants us to see that God will judge the church and the world. That is the similarity: No one escapes judgment.

Now, we’ve already seen God as judge of believers individually in 1:17: 

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.

If you remember that sermon, I said that God is a good Father who is always watching us as a righteous judge and his judgment works its way out in our lives as loving discipline:

But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.—1 Corinthians 11:31–32

The gospel is not the good news that God stops caring if we sin once we have trusted in Jesus. The gospel is the good news that our sins are forgiven, cast as far as the east is from the west, and that we belong fully, freely, and forever to our Father. And it is the good news that our Father is always with us—always watching—and, like any good Father, he will discipline us (Hebrews 12) to keep us from throwing away our faith. Peter says that time is here.

Now, that could sound mainly scary and awful—but for those of us who love God, it is actually a comforting thing meant to draw us into fellowship. Walking as the household of God with the knowledge that he is watching, and that he will discipline where necessary, leads us away from sin and into the arms of our Father who loves us. And when we experience his discipline, we need not wonder if it means he is against us. Instead, it is confirmation that he loves us and that we are truly his children. As this text teaches, his judgment on his church is his loving discipline that saves us (which can be severe, cf. 1 Corinthians!). He will do whatever it takes to help us make it to glory. 

What we saw more recently (1 Peter 4:5–6) was that God will judge those who do not believe with eternal, righteous judgment. Those who sin against God, trust themselves, and go their own way—those who do not obey the gospel—will not be saved but condemned.

So as we live to shine the beauty of our King, we do so knowing that he will discipline us as a loving Father, and we do so with a watching world in mind, praying that our good deeds might cause people to ask us for a reason for the hope that is in us, to glorify God, and to be saved from condemnation themselves on the day of visitation.

It is easy to live as though God is distant. It is easy to forget that part of the good news of the gospel is that we now have a Father who loves us far too much as individuals and as a church to let us continue to walk in our sin and just have everything be OK. He cares for our souls. This is an invitation to meditate on the love of a Father who always has his eyes on us and is always working for our good. And it is an invitation to meditate on the state of a world that is headed toward condemnation and needs to see an unashamed people living for the glory of their King. 

We remember who we are, and then we live in light of our identity as citizens of the kingdom of God—remembering that our Father is always watching and longing to shine the beauty we’ve seen in his Son to a watching world as we fight sin, endure suffering, and love one another.

Application: Trust, Nearness, and Obedience

We really need to view verses 12–19 as one section. So let’s review the main points. Don’t be surprised at suffering. Rejoice as you share in suffering with Jesus. Don’t suffer for sinful behaviors—instead, live for the glory of God and in light of his loving discipline. And in all of this, the Spirit will be with us to empower our rejoicing and obedience. So how would Peter sum up this call on us? Look at verse 19—here is our application. 

Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

We share in Christ’s sufferings by doing what Christ did. We entrust our souls to our faithful Creator while doing good. Listen to this verse that has helped me so much:

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.—Hebrews 2:18

Temptation will come. What kind of temptation? Temptation to general sin? Yes. But in this context the temptation would be what we’ve talked about. The temptation to assimilate and just give in to the sinful culture so that you don’t have to suffer. Or the temptation to be aggressive and fight sinful worldly cancel-culture with sinful Christian cancel-culture. Or the temptation to simply avoid everyone and sin in our selfish self-protection. Instead, the call through 1 Peter and here in verse 19 is to put your ultimate trust in your faithful Creator and keep doing what he calls you to do in this broken world. Keep trusting him. Keep leaning into your identity and your hope. Keep your eyes on your ultimate inheritance and your ultimate home and find rest for your soul.

Oh, Christian, what good would it be if you gained the whole world, got all the right people elected, guaranteed that your comforts would still be here, and made sure we had our little slice of heaven here on earth, but forfeited your soul?

Not just for eternal life—but for every moment of this life? Do you run to God more than you search Google? Do you long to be face-to-face with God in his word more than to scroll Facebook? Do you long to see his kingdom come more than any other kingdom in this world? Are you consumed with his gospel and his kingdom and his purposes as your hope, or are you consumed with the good news of a particular party and their purposes as your hope? I’m talking about practically. Day-to-day. Moment-by-moment. 

If your practical, moment-by-moment trust is in God, then you will find yourself running to him often in these strange days pleading for help. If you’re not—that’s ok—here’s the invitation: Run to him now before he needs to discipline you and bring you back with his love.

And here’s what you’ll find: As you entrust your soul to him and draw near to him, you will overflow with the fruit of the Spirit and an ability to engage this place in which we live with humility and courage that proclaims Jesus as King. As you obey God, you may suffer according to his will, and you will do good in the midst of it.

In your conversations, posts, phone calls, and everything else, is this the main message the world hears from you: “My King reigns. He’s purchased me. He loves me. He’s watching over me. I trust him. And I want you to see him and love him, too!” Is your main, obvious allegiance and hope in Jesus Christ?

You can trust him with everything. With all the craziness of 2020. With politics. With a culture that is against you. With your wayward child. With your broken relationship. With your disease. With your loneliness. With your uncertain future. He will bless you in your suffering. He will keep you. He will turn his face toward you. He will help us live for his glory, fight sin, and discipline us where we need it. Because of Jesus, our God is for us and the Spirit of God and glory will be with us in our weeping and rejoicing to help us entrust our souls to our God while doing good. Our God is always with us. Nothing is ultimately up for grabs because our souls are in the strong and safe hands of our Father. Trust him in suffering. Lay aside every weight and sin as you look to him. He will keep his promise by the Spirit to never leave us or forsake us.

Sermon Discussion Questions

• What makes trusting God hard practically?
• Although none of us would say we distrust God—are there ways in our lives we show we have trust in several other places? 
• How does distrust lead so easily to disobedience and distance?
• How does Peter emphasize our life for the glory of God? 
• Why is the fight against sin so important? 
• What is the opposite of shame in the life of the Christian? 
• Why should we remember God’s judgment on believers and unbelievers? How is it similar? How is it different? 
• How does our trust in God lead to nearness and obedience? 
• What areas do you feel distant? Where is there disobedience in your life? Where can you repent and ask for help to trust him and draw near to him again?