welcome back to the podcast thank you for joining us today are we started this new week with an email from Alyssa and and Shannon Shannon is wondering if personal suffering is paradoxical for those of us who put so much stress on Joy for us Christian hedonist is her email Pastor John podcast about 1st Peter 4 verses 12 to there appears to be a point of a rival when we no longer live for human passions but for God's will as a Christian hedonist you see an irony that my sinfulness will cease only after I have suffered for a certain amount of time the showing my life is not to live for my own sinful pleasure but to pursue God as my greatest treasure
 is suffering a paradox for Christian hedonist
 okay there to at least I hear two distinct issues to deal with here is whether Shannon is interpreting 1st Peter 4:1 correctly and the other is suffering is indeed appointed by God is rooted out and is therefore a by which we come to enjoy Christ as our Supreme treasure that's kind of paradoxes she said that's true then we're going to be paradoxical issues first a few words about the meaning of 1st Peter 4:1 where Peter says so this is a quote from 41 since there for Christ suffered in the flesh
 cells with the same way of thinking for whoever has suffered In the Flesh has ceased from sin I have good friends I have good friends who has more than they say
 arming yourself with the same way of thinking
 Christ who suffered means that you resolved not to even if it cost you suffering
 and if you do that it is evidence that you have in principle ceased from since and are willing to endure the maligning referred to in verse for something like that kind of complicated but I have a hard time letting that interpretation on the text and seen it. Here's what I think Peter Menton and the folks will have to study this out for themselves the criticism that my interpretation usually gets is that it looks like I just taking it over from the Apostle Paul and that's not fair that's cheating you can't run over to Romans 6 in grabbing a drink station come squish it in two different feeder I get that but I don't think so if I thought that's what I was doing a 6 I'll give you the exact the parallel that is so remarkable was 66 he says we know that our old self was crucified with Christ
 in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for the one who is his dad
 has been set free from sin that's Paul's quote that's very close to Peter say whoever has suffered In the Flesh has ceased from sin
 Paul is saying that when Christ suffered and died we Christians by Union with him also suffered and died and that his death with Christ was a decisive death blow to our life of sitting we are essentially person in Christ and the mark of the newness is that we hate our sin and we make it to death by the spirit now that's essentially means in 1st Peter 4:1 text points in this direction for 1st Peter 3:18 just just a few verses earlier he says Christ also suffered once for sin
 the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit of Christ suffering which 1st Peter 4:1 refers to Christ's suffering in this verse is his death he suffered the death you suffered once said he's he was put to Death In the Flesh do in 1st Peter 4:1 says Christ suffered In the Flesh so whoever has suffered In the Flesh has ceased from seeing the natural man is Christ died
 so whoever has died with him has ceased from sin
 what makes that connection even more plain I think is is 2:24 where Peter says she has Christ our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to send the amazing parallel 4:1 to die to sit and to live to righteousness of Christ died for our sins that we might experience his death as and it is be set free from the Dominion of sinning so I don't think it's Unique to Paul
 call to say as Peter does in 41 paraphrasing 224 Christ suffered that is he died there for have that mindset because you died with him and the effect of that death with him was that your old SIM loving self died and you have ceased from your bondage to send an army into a life of warfare I don't think Shannon is right there for to say that first Peter four one teaches this is a quote from her question my sinfulness will see only after I have suffered for a certain amount of time I think the point is my bent towards received
 blow when Christ died for my sins and I died with him so I don't think she said things up correctly but now we turn to the second issue where she's on track but here's the second issue namely whether suffering is indeed appointed by God as a means by which sin is rooted out of our lives and is therefore a means by which I come to enjoy Christ more fully as my Supreme treasure but that's a different issue a paradox for a Christian hedonist that is somebody like me who believes it God is most glorified in us when we
 since diminishes our greatest and longest Joy does joy in Christ as our Supreme treasure that's the greatest and longest deer for Christian hedonist should welcome God appointed suffering as a means of killing the very thing that robs us of our greatest joy that's a paradox and I think that's one of the reasons God appoints suffering for his children is to wean off of Reliance upon the world whose Pleasures are deceitful and they robbed us of the greatest Pleasures at God's right hand we can show this from a lot of places in the New Testament 2nd Corinthians 12 7 to 10 but let me just glanced briefly at Hebrews 2
 6 to 11 so the Lord the Lord disciplines the one he loves loves loves and chastises every son whom he receives it is for discipline that you have to endure Scottish treating you loved God brings suffering it's for our good Joy are Holiness of April 12th he disciplines us for our good
 that we make sure he's holding this for the moment all discipline seems painful yes it does rather than pleasant but later the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by so he contrasts the painful experience of suffering that's the discipline of the father with the peaceful and pleasant fruit of righteousness so yes she is right in principle I don't think this is the point of 1st Peter 4:1 but it is the point of many texts in the Bible God loves his children and he knows better than any human physician
 what measures of displeasure
 are needed to chill the Sea of the greatest pleasures and neither one's in God's presence with Jesus as our greatest treasure
 so good yeah the Christian heating this welcome Scott appointed suffering as a means of killing the very thing the sin that robs us of our greatest joy in God that is so good so important they get better. Thank you for joining us today if you have a question for us like Shannon did today email us do it from our online home at a special john.com
 and speaking of Paul on suffering Philippians 3 verses 1 to 14 comes to my mind when it comes to preparing for personal suffering I know that's a text that you've explained before Pastor John and we're going to look at that text next time when we return what is step one in preparing for suffering
 we'll see you back here on Wednesday see you then