First Peter: Humility | Part 4: Suffering — How Now Shall We Live?

How Now Shall We Live? 1 Peter 4:7-11

Suffering is a catalyst God uses to grow us into Christlikeness so we can bring Him greater glory! The Apostle Peter is writing to a suffering Church in the first century. His words are more relevant than ever to the Church of the 21st century.

How Now Shall We Live?

1)Live with urgency. 1 Peter 4:7, “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.”

Christ’s return is nearer than it has ever been! 2 Peter 3:3-4, 8-9, “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation’…But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 

We should be living with urgency for the things of eternity. Find your “one.” Suffering and crisis create opportunities for gospel conversations!

2)Love fervently. 1 Peter 4:8-9, “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’ Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.”

The early Christians were living proof of a loving God to a watching world. And the ancient world was changed by what they saw!

Emperor Julian wrote in A.D. 362 to pagan priests complaining about the growth of Christianity and blaming it on the Church’s “benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead…it is a disgrace that the impious Galileans [Christians] support not only their own poor but ours as well.”

3)Serve sacrificially. 1 Peter 4:10-11, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

The world kingdoms rise and fall, but the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will last forever!