Should I Sin Or Should I Suffer? - 1 Peter 4:1-4a Series

1 Peter 4:1-7 Therefore, since Christ suffered in flesh, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in flesh is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do--living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. 7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.

Introduction

God's Will

What do you love about God? I am guessing you love His mercy and grace - His patience, His forgiveness, His kindness. No doubt you love it that He is so wise. You probably love His righteousness and holiness, and His majesty and glory. But what about His will? We found last week that there are two aspects of God's will - His will of desire and His will of design. His will of desire is what He wants emotionally and what He takes delight in. His will of design is what He plans and carries out - His perfect plan for history. And most of us have no problem at all loving God's will of desire. God desires righteousness and holiness. He does not desire that anyone perish. His desires for us are like the desires of a loving father toward his children. We love that about God. But what about His will of design - the events that God sovereignly ordains?

1 Peter 3:17 For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good.

1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Sometimes it is God's will for you to suffer in ways that you do not deserve at all. That's not His will of desire? He doesn't enjoy doing that (Lam.3:33). It makes Him weep when He does it because He loves you so much and hates seeing you suffer. But He does decide to let it happen nevertheless. It is His will of design.

Last week I was calling it His will of decision - what He decides to do. But I think will of design is a little better – it is something God decides to do as part of His perfect plan.

What about the Sin?

That's a problem, because when people persecute you for righteousness, that is sin for them to do that, right? How can God will something that is sin? So if it is sin, how can Peter call it God's will? Answer – it is not God's desire for them to cause the suffering, but it is God's design for you to endure it.

So when someone persecutes you, sins against you, treats you unjustly; and Peter comes along and says, "It's God's will!" - how can I learn to love that will? If God's will of design involves me suffering, how can I love that part of His will? Many people hate that about God. In fact, they cannot even bring themselves to believe it is true.

When you ask the question, "How could a loving God allow such horrible things to happen to me?" there are two possible answers:

1) God would prevent it if He could, but He is powerless to do anything about it.

2) God is in full control over all things and planned for that thing to happen for a good purpose.

Some of you have had things happen to you that are so horrible you can't even bear the thought that it might have come from the hand of God, no matter what His purpose behind it may have been. No purpose would be good enough to justify that much suffering, so you would prefer to worship a powerless god than a God who would intentionally allow that kind of suffering.

So you develop a conception of God where He is not involved at all in evil things. And that belief leads to despair, because if that is true then there is no meaning to suffering. If you lost a loved one in a car accident because of a snow storm - there is no purpose. No sense that can be made of it. It is just meaningless, purposeless bad luck.