The message of I Peter could be summarized like this: God calls us to endure suffering, just like Christ suffered. He calls us to live morally pure lives, if for no other reason than our fear of dying in a lost state. We can live morally pure lives through exposure to his word and through submission to each other. We have no idea how much time we have, so we should make the best of it.
The key verse of I Peter is 4.7 — The end of all things is near. Keep your minds clear and control yourselves. This will help you in your prayers.
Several times throughout the letter, Peter warns them of their impending suffering, which would cause many of them to die. He uses what sounds like military terminology in a few verses, the kind of pep-talk a leader would give his soldiers before doing battle. “Many of you won’t make it through this. What’s more important than this life is how you live it, because this life isn’t the end for any of us.”
Over the next few weeks, we’ll do an application-based study of I Peter. For those interested in reading more than will be discussed in these articles, I highly recommend using the Easy to Read Version (free on biblegateway.com and on their app). It does a fantastic job of relaying the full meaning of the original text using language a child could understand.
The Preacher Pollard Blog 