I will list the studies for each of these books and add them as I complete them, but if you see a study title you would like me to do, or have a special request for one please feel free to pass it along. I will answer all requests as I am able to get to them. Just search by topic or by verse reference and you should find what you are looking for.
Below is a list of the books for this portion of Scripture and the studies I have identified or completed for them so far:
James
1 Peter
Praise to God for a Living Hope – 1 Pet.1:1-12 (Amplified)
Living for God – 1 Pet. 4:1-11 (Amplified)
Studies in this book include:
Be Holy – 1 Pet. 1:13-2:3 (Amplified)
The Living Stone and a Chosen People – 1 Pet. 2:4-12 (Amplified)
Submission to Rulers and Masters – 1 Pet. 2:13-25 (Amplified)
Wives and Husbands – 1 Pet. 3:1-7 (Amplified)
Suffering for Doing Good – 1 Pet. 3:8-22 (Amplified)
Living for God – 1 Pet. 4:1-11 (Amplified)
Suffering for Being a Christian – 1 Pet. 4:12-19 (Amplified)
To Elders and Young Men – 1 Pet. 5:1-11 (Amplified)
Final Greetings – 1 Pet. 5:12-14 (Amplified)
The studies that are currently completed may be found belowPraise to God for a Living Hope – 1 Pet.1:1-12 (Amplified)
Be Holy – 1 Pet. 1:13-2:3 (Amplified)
The Living Stone and a Chosen People – 1 Pet. 2:4-12 (Amplified)
Submission to Rulers and Masters – 1 Pet. 2:13-25 (Amplified)
Wives and Husbands – 1 Pet. 3:1-7 (Amplified)
Suffering for Doing Good – 1 Pet. 3:8-22 (Amplified)
Living for God – 1 Pet. 4:1-11 (Amplified)
Why should I bother living for God? Why should I give up what I want out of life for what God wants? Why is it so important? And what will I get out of it?
Living for God is an ongoing and growing skill in every Christian’s life. It is the spiritual equivalent of “growing up” physically. Just as there are stages of physical growth, there are stages of spiritual growth as well. Infant, toddler, adolescent, and adult are all stages of maturity in both our body and our spirit. Also, just as some people never mature past one physical stage to the next, many Christians never graduate from one stage of spiritual maturity to the next either.
Every person lives his or her life for someone or something. And all decisions are based on pleasing whatever or whoever that is. Whether it is ourselves, our family, our careers, our government, or God. Every object we choose as the focus of our lives brings with it a list of things that must be done in order to satisfy it. And God is no different.
The level of completion of whichever list you choose reflects the number of skills and level of maturity you have reached in that area. The list of living for God skills listed in 1 Peter 4:1-11 gives us both a checklist for seeing just how spiritually mature we are, it also provides us with the guidelines for growing to spiritual maturity.
1. Living for God means to suffer willingly and patiently rather than give in to the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
1 Pet 4:1 SO, SINCE Christ suffered in the flesh {for us, for you}, arm yourselves with the same thought {and} purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God],
1 Pet 4:1 SO, SINCE Christ suffered in the flesh {for us, for you}, arm yourselves with the same thought {and} purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God],
a. Every person’s body has needs, wants and desires. When these things aren’t fulfilled, or when it gets something it doesn’t need, doesn’t want, or doesn’t desire it is said that we are suffering.
b. But Jesus tells us in Luke 12:15 that our life “does not consist in {and} is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance {or} that which is over and above his needs.”
c. Therefore, all suffering is not necessarily pain, and hardship. Sometimes it is just doing without things we don’t really need. We just want or desire them. Jesus illustrated this to us in His life on Earth.
d. Suffering is far from being a form of self-punishment as the world, the flesh, and the devil wants us to believe. In fact, this verse says to “arm yourselves with the same thought {and} purpose” ARM ourselves with suffering, as if it were a weapon, which it is. It is a spiritual weapon we use to defeat the devil.
e. The use of this weapon requires two things on our part: thought, and purpose.
i. Thought – thinking; serious consideration of whether the thing before you is really a necessary need, an unnecessary want, or an extravagant desire.
ii. Purpose – the ultimate goal that our lives are to fulfill. Knowing this will clear up the majority of puzzles about which category things fall into. If our goal is to please out bodies, the wants and desires become obvious. Likewise, if our goal is to please God, our needs become crystal clear also.
f. As unlikely as it sounds, suffering on our part pleases God. This is not to say that He gets pleasure from our pain; certainly not. It simply means it pleases God to see us refuse things we don’t need and hold onto Him, the one we do need.
g. Even suffering in the form of pressure, affliction, and hardship pleases God. Impossible you say? Well consider this:
i. Everything that comes to us has to be approved by God before it is allowed to occur.
ii. God gets no pleasure from our pain; therefore He is not the one inflicting it.
iii. The world, the flesh, and the devil are the only other sources possible.
iv. The world inflicts pain on us in a number of ways to coerce us into “fitting in” by turning our backs on God. A large part of the world has been deceived by the devil and therefore pressures all those not conforming until they do.
v. No rational person wants or desires stress, problems, or pain, but we frequently make decisions that bring pain upon ourselves. Just as physical pain is a warning that something is wrong that we need to correct. Life pain that we bring on ourselves is a warning as well. Both are blessings from God designed to preserve our life, not destroy it. This firmly seats suffering the consequences of our sins as a need, rather than a punishment.
vi. The devil inflicts pain on us directly in the form of fear, worry, anxiety, even physical pain and illness. All designed to destroy us in one way or the other.
h. This means there are two kinds of suffering; positive and negative:
i. Positive suffering’s intent is to build us up through turning down things we don’t need. This increases our self-discipline.
ii. Negative suffering’s intent is to tear us down, make us give up, or kill us. It is an attack on us by our enemy, the devil. But God turns it around and uses it to strengthen our endurance and patience (Rom. 5:3), much the same way as exercise tears down our muscles just a bit, so they will grow back stronger.
i. Any way you look at it, our willing and patient suffering pleases God, because it shows him we are choosing to please Him rather that the devil, the true source of all suffering. That’s what Jesus did as our example for living, and that’s what He wants us to do as well.
2. Living for God means controlling our appetites so that our spirit gets first priority when it comes to being fed.
1 Pet 4:2 So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites {and} desires, but [he lives] for what God wills.
1 Pet 4:2 So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites {and} desires, but [he lives] for what God wills.
a. God created all living things. All living things have appetites. The purpose of an appetite is to motivate the living thing to seek the nourishment it needs to grow and maintain its life.
b. God originally created us in His image, as a triune being (one being made up of three parts). Just as God is composed of three parts (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), so are we (body, soul, and spirit
c. God created for us a physical body, and breathed into it the breath of lives (plural, literal translation of Gen. 2:7). Physical life, Soul life (mind and emotions), and Spiritual Life (relationship with God, lost when Adam sinned, and regained through salvation).
d. Every moment of a person’s life one of these appetites is dominant when it comes to making the decision of which one is to be fed. Whichever part gets fed, some other part ends up suffering for it because it’s not getting what it wants.
| Form of Life | Has Appetite For | Results when fed |
| Body | Food | body and emotions satisfied, but mind and spirit suffers |
| Soul (mind) | Knowledge | mind, emotions and spirit satisfied, but body suffers |
| Soul (emotions) | Pleasure | Is satisfied as the result of one part being fed at the expense of another part. |
| Spirit | Relationship with God | mind, emotions and spirit satisfied, but body suffers |
3. Living for God means not continually seeking to satisfy the body’s appetites while your soul and spirit suffers.
1 Pet 4:3 For the time that is past already suffices for doing what the Gentiles like to do--living [as you have done] in shameless, insolent wantonness, in lustful desires, drunkenness, reveling, drinking bouts {and} abominable, lawless idolatries.
1 Pet 4:3 For the time that is past already suffices for doing what the Gentiles like to do--living [as you have done] in shameless, insolent wantonness, in lustful desires, drunkenness, reveling, drinking bouts {and} abominable, lawless idolatries.
a. God’s provision of spiritual rebirth, through the atoning work of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross, restored life to the dead spirit we were born with.
b. This spiritual rebirth opens the lines of two-way communication between God and man. God relates to us through grace and mercy; man relates to God through worship, and obedience.
i. “Grace” is God giving us what we don’t deserve (salvation, blessings); “Mercy” is God not giving us what we do deserve (eternal punishment and separation from Him).
ii. “Worship” is us giving God what He deserves (Prayer, love for Him and His will); “Obedience” is us not giving God what He doesn’t deserve (disobedience, disrespect through sinful indulgence).
4. Living for God means rejecting the world’s self-destructive lifestyles.
1 Pet 4:4 They are astonished {and} think it very queer that you do not now run hand in hand with them in the same excesses of dissipation, and they abuse [you].
1 Pet 4:4 They are astonished {and} think it very queer that you do not now run hand in hand with them in the same excesses of dissipation, and they abuse [you].
a. The old saying “misery loves company” applies here. It means people who are indulging in self-destructive behavior want others around them to behave in the same way so that they feel justified in destroying their own lives.
b. Christians don’t fit into the world’s mold. They don’t seek immediate pleasure and postpone suffering, hoping it will never come (which it always does eventually). Christians know that immediate suffering is just the growing pains of spiritual maturity that will pay off later in the form of great blessings and abilities to do more than they ever thought possible.
c. Because Christians refuse to “fit in” with the world’s path to self-destruction we are looked down on and ridiculed and abused mentally, verbally, emotionally, and even physically. The world sees suffering as something undesired that hurts and therefore must be eliminated through pleasure seeking. But Christians know that suffering is merely spiritual muscle building that helps us to endure and overcome the greater times of suffering that destroys those who only seek to avoid it.
5. Living for God means looking forward to God’s final judgment, not fearing it.
1 Pet 4:5 But they will have to give an account to Him Who is ready to judge {and} pass sentence on the living and the dead.
1 Pet 4:5 But they will have to give an account to Him Who is ready to judge {and} pass sentence on the living and the dead.
a. Who are the living and the dead?
i. If we are living for God because we received eternal spiritual rebirth through salvation, then we are part of the living.
ii. If we have rejected God’s free gift of salvation, preferring to satisfy the demands of our bodies and emotions, never having received eternal spiritual rebirth, then we are part of the dead.
b. Why will the living be judged and sentenced along with the dead?
i. If a person is accused of a crime, regardless of whether he did it or not, he must go before a judge who will determine if he is guilty or not guilty.
ii. After the judgment is made a sentence is passed that determines the future of that individual.
iii. Therefore, both guilty and not guilty persons end up being judged and sentenced.
1. The guilty are judged as such and sentenced a fine and/or prison time.
2. The innocent are judged not-guilty and sentenced to freedom from any fines or prison time.
iv. Born-again (spiritually alive) persons will be judged innocent, free of any sin that would bring condemnation (Rom. 8:1) and are sentenced to eternal life with God in Heaven, unbelievers (spiritually dead) persons still have their sin crimes on their records so they are judged guilty and sentenced to eternal punishment and separation from God in Hell. (Jn. 3:36)
c. What evidence will God use to judge and sentence us with?
i. God will use two pieces of evidence to judge us guilty or not guilty. One is the book of good and evil deeds done in each person’s life; God has a record book for each person. Collectively, these are the “books” mentioned in Rev. 20:12a. The other is the Book of Life. This is one book that has in it every name of every person that has ever lived and believed in Christ and received salvation. This is the book mentioned in Rev. 20:12b. If a person never believes in Christ his name will not be found in the Book of life; he will be judged according to his life deeds book alone (Rev. 20:12c)
1. For unbelievers, good deeds amount to attempts to earn one’s way into heaven without Christ, which is impossible since the recording of just one evil deed cancels the effectiveness of every other good deed as qualifying us for salvation. So these are ruled as inadequate for eternal life with God. The recording of just one evil deed is enough to condemn that person to eternal punishment, and rejection of Christ’s offer of salvation alone is enough to warrant that. So their name is blotted out of the Book of Life.
2. For believers, faith in Christ blots out all evil deeds from their record book so there are none left to condemn them (Rom. 8:1) their good deeds are therefore irrelevant for earning their way into Heaven, so the remaining good deeds are the basis for rewards we will receive in Heaven.
ii. The Book of Life contains all the names of everyone who has ever lived. Every person, while he is alive, has the potential for being judged a believer in Christ and escaping eternal punishment (Ecc. 9:3-4). But if that person dies without accepting salvation his name is blotted out of the Book of Life (Rev. 3:5).
iii. Since every person will one day die, every person has the opportunity to be found in the Book of Life. (Heb. 9:27)
iv. Knowing all of this, we can be secure in our knowledge that our names are already in the Book of Life and can look forward to our final judgment, without fear of punishment. We will not answer for sins He has blotted out of our books and forgotten, only for the good deeds we have done for Him, and these will be rewarded.
6. Living for God means spreading the good news of salvation through Christ to all unbelievers.
1 Pet 4:6 For this is why the good news (the Gospel) was preached [in their lifetime] even to the dead, that though judged in fleshly bodies as men are, they might live in the spirit as God does.
1 Pet 4:6 For this is why the good news (the Gospel) was preached [in their lifetime] even to the dead, that though judged in fleshly bodies as men are, they might live in the spirit as God does.
a. Knowing that even the worst and most evil of all sinners has the potential for having his name remain in the Book of Life and escape eternal punishment should motivate us to spread the Gospel to all who will listen.
b. Even though there will be no suffering in Heaven (Rev. 21:3-4) we will all have to live for eternity with the knowledge and uncertainty of how many we might have lead to salvation had we been more diligent in spreading the Gospel.
7. Living for God means acting as though we will face final judgment at any moment.
1 Pet 4:7 But the end {and} culmination of all things has now come near; keep sound minded {and} self-restrained and alert therefore for [the practice of] prayer.
1 Pet 4:7 But the end {and} culmination of all things has now come near; keep sound minded {and} self-restrained and alert therefore for [the practice of] prayer.
a. There is no guarantee of tomorrow, or even the next moment. Final judgment could come upon us even before you finish reading the next sentence (Matt. 24:36).
b. We should therefore waste no time in reaching as many as we can with the Gospel message.
8. Living for God means having the same love for others as God has for us.
1 Pet 4:8 Above all things have intense {and} unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].
1 Pet 4:8 Above all things have intense {and} unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].
a. God has intense and unfailing love for us. It is without limit and without end. He even loves those who reject Him. If He didn’t He would never have sent His Son Jesus Christ to save us.
b. We should all have the same love for one another that God has for us. A love that is extended even to those who hate us.
c. Just as God forgives and disregards the offenses of others by offering salvation to all who will accept it, we should forgive and disregard the offenses of those who hate and mistreat us. Because ultimately, it is not us they are rejecting, it is God Himself.
d. Any unbeliever who rejects God until he dies will be lost forever. Any believer who rejects God is in danger of losing some of his rewards in heaven; not his salvation, just his rewards (2 Jn. 1:8).
e. In either case, to forgive and forget the offenses done to us is NOT a sign of weakness or “letting them get away with it”, it is in fact an act of love that mirrors God’s own love for us. A love that seeks to save and restore, not to condemn and separate (Prov. 10:12).
9. Living for God means being genuinely kind, generous, and friendly to everyone you meet.
1 Pet 4:9 Practice hospitality to one another (those of the household of faith). [Be hospitable, be a lover of strangers, with brotherly affection for the unknown guests, the foreigners, the poor, and all others who come your way who are of Christ's body.] And [in each instance] do it ungrudgingly (cordially and graciously, without complaining but as representing Him).
1 Pet 4:9 Practice hospitality to one another (those of the household of faith). [Be hospitable, be a lover of strangers, with brotherly affection for the unknown guests, the foreigners, the poor, and all others who come your way who are of Christ's body.] And [in each instance] do it ungrudgingly (cordially and graciously, without complaining but as representing Him).
a. To be hospitable to someone means to treat them with warmth, friendliness, kindness, and generosity.
b. We are to treat all members of the body of Christ (the Church) with hospitality, regardless of who they are. Whether they are strangers, foreigners, rich, poor, etc.
c. The Greek words in this verse translated “ungrudgingly” (aneu goggusmov) means “without secret displeasure not openly avowed”. To put it simply, we do not put on a false face of kindness to mask real face of unwillingness to be kind. Our hospitality must genuine, not a show. Hospitality is to be an expression of our inner love toward others rather that to satisfy some sense of obligation or to elevate others’ opinion of you.
d. The kindest and most generous thing we can do for those who are not of the body of Christ is to offer them the Gospel message. If they accept it, they are now fellow believers and are subject to all the loving kindness you wish to bestow upon them. If they reject it, but still treat you with respect, a certain level of hospitality is still called for to show yourself as an example of how believers in Christ truly act. If they reject it, but become hostile and disrespectful toward you, the most hospitable thing you can do is just leave them alone. Go your way and let God deal with them. You have given the Gospel to them, now it is the Holy Spirit’s turn to deal with that person. Otherwise you might be seen as “pushy”, a “kook”, or a “fanatic”. Either way you are doing nothing to display true Christ-likeness. Jesus didn’t push Himself on others, He even instructed His disciples not to (Matt. 10:14), so neither should we.
10. Living for God means fully using the spiritual gifts God has given you both within, and in harmony with other members of the body of Christ.
1 Pet 4:10 As each of you has received a gift (a particular spiritual talent, a gracious divine endowment), employ it for one another as [befits] good trustees of God's many-sided grace [faithful stewards of the extremely diverse powers and gifts granted to Christians by unmerited favor].
1 Pet 4:10 As each of you has received a gift (a particular spiritual talent, a gracious divine endowment), employ it for one another as [befits] good trustees of God's many-sided grace [faithful stewards of the extremely diverse powers and gifts granted to Christians by unmerited favor].
a. Each Christian (the body of Christ) is to Christ (the head of the body) as each cell of our human bodies is to our brain (Col. 1:18).
b. Every cell has its own particular specialized abilities to perform as well as the responsibility to harmonize with all other cells. An eye cell performs differently from a hand cell, yet both work together to accomplish common goals.
c. Likewise, every Christian has his own particular specialized gifts to use as well as the responsibility to harmonize those gifts with all other Christians. We all have unique functions in the body of Christ, yet we all should work together to accomplish God’s will and purposes.
11. Finally, and most importantly, living for God means not taking credit yourself for anything you do while using the time, truth, talents, or things that God has given to you to use for His glory.
1 Pet 4:11 Whoever speaks, [let him do it as one who utters] oracles of God; whoever renders service, [let him do it] as with the strength which God furnishes abundantly, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ (the Messiah). To Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever (through endless ages). Amen (so be it).
1 Pet 4:11 Whoever speaks, [let him do it as one who utters] oracles of God; whoever renders service, [let him do it] as with the strength which God furnishes abundantly, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ (the Messiah). To Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever (through endless ages). Amen (so be it).
a. The time we use to serve God is given to us by God, we can do nothing to change it. Neither murder nor suicide will be successful unless God permits it.
b. The truth we use in our lives to grow and evangelize others is His truth, not ours.
c. The talent we use to serve God comes from Him, not us. He created us with certain natural abilities, and at salvation He gifted us with others. All to be used in harmony to serve Him. If you doubt this, just try to become expert at something you feel is totally wrong for you. You may become good at it but you will never excel to the level of your natural and gifted abilities.
d. The things you possess are gifts from God as well; He made it possible for you to possess them. Some things are of course necessities, but others have been given to you to hold onto until the one He wants to give them to comes into your life. He uses us to bless others. Just think back at some of the people who have given you things you needed, just when you needed them. Like you, they were caretakers of items needed by someone till that person came along
Conclusion and Summary: Living for God
Living for God means doing His will for your life, and His will for your life it to:
1. Patiently and willingly endure suffering as a weapon against falling into the devil’s traps.
2. Employ self-control when it comes to the appetites of your body, mind, emotions, and spirit.
3. Not starve your spiritual life in order to gorge your physical, mental, or emotional life.
4. Avoid being pressured into self-destructive lifestyles so as not to feel left out or different.
5. Look forward to receiving your rewards in Heaven without fear or worry.
6. Give the Gospel of Jesus Christ to unbelievers.
7. Live as though you could receive your riches in Heaven at any moment.
8. Love others with the same kind of love that God has loved us.
9. Be kind, generous, and friendly to everyone you meet.
10. Use your natural and Holy Spirit gifted abilities to the full and in harmony those of other believers.
11. Give God total credit for the bountiful wealth of time, truth, talents, and things that He has given to you for use in glorifying Him.
The irony in all of this is the fact that when you conform what you want to get out of life to that which God wants to put into your life, you end up pleasing yourself as well as God, and getting out of life more than you ever expected to or would have been able to achieve on your own.
Suffering for Being a Christian – 1 Pet. 4:12-19 (Amplified)
To Elders and Young Men – 1 Pet. 5:1-11 (Amplified)
Final Greetings – 1 Pet. 5:12-14 (Amplified)
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
