As we begin this morning, I was thinking about the passage we're going to look at, which is in the first verses of chapter four.
I was thinking back to when I worked in campus ministry.
And one of the campuses I worked at, there was an athlete's Bible study that I got to do for two years.
And it was a great group.
A new believer, a few church kids, one or two really strong believers,
one person who was seeking, didn't know where they stood with Jesus.
And, you know, it was fascinating to hear some of them talk about their experiences as college athletes trying to be faithful to Jesus.
One girl shared about how literally every weekend her boyfriend said,
Hey, is this the weekend that we get to sleep together?
Just like, why not? You know, what's wrong with this? Can't we do this?
Every weekend, this was the question, right?
Another guy who was, his teammates, every weekend were like,
Hey, what are you going to get this weekend?
As he went out into the campus, this was the question.
And every weekend, as they gathered again on Monday, be like,
Hey, how'd it go?
And he's like, it didn't go.
But the pressure that they faced every week, week in and week out, to walk with Jesus,
not just in that context, but also just the parties, the lack of constraint,
the emphasis on drinking beyond what you could handle or control,
was an ongoing pressure for them.
The world pressed in on them on a daily basis to live not for Christ,
but for the passions of their hearts.
Their friends would ask them questions like this.
What's wrong with the way we live?
Are you judging us by not doing this?
You're so intolerant.
Is it really worth it to do what you do?
What are you saving yourself for?
What's wrong with you?
You're so weird.
Who's going to care?
Honestly, who's going to care what you do or don't do?
Now, I don't know how much you've experienced that in your life.
Maybe some of you have.
Maybe this is what happens when you go with your family to Memorial Day family reunion.
Maybe this is what it looks like at the employee Christmas party.
Maybe this is what it looks like when your lab workers or cohort go out for drinks
at the end of a long day of study.
Or maybe it's mom's night out where you finally get to let loose a little bit.
Maybe it's going away to academic or work conferences.
And everyone goes with the what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas mindset.
And you're thinking, what do I do with all this?
Maybe you're a young person and you see what flies across social media on Snapchat and TikTok
and those things I don't really know anything about, but I hear they're...
But not only what people share, but also what people request that you would share with them.
Or maybe you're even younger than that, but you're in school
and the pressure is to just think about how can we deceive the teacher?
How can we hide from them?
How can we do something else?
There are so many ways in which we face certain kinds of pressures to live,
not for God, but for other things.
And you know, sometimes, I don't know if you're like this,
but if you're a Christian here today and you're thinking,
you know, I'd like to figure out how to do that.
And you look at Jesus and you think, Jesus did it so easily.
You read the Gospels and he was just perfect at it.
He never screwed up.
He never messed up.
He always did the right thing.
But we find it difficult.
And so either we engage and feel like we're going to fail
or we withdraw and say, we're not going to do...
We're going to avoid all of that completely.
Wherever you're at this morning,
I think our passage has lots to teach us
about what it means to live in a relationship with God.
Our passage speaks to a Christian church
that was living in a culture not that dissimilar from ours.
Here's what a commentator, Karen Jobes,
writes about the first century context in a Roman empire.
It says,
The pleasures from which Christians in the first century
typically abstained were the popular forms
of Roman entertainment,
the theater with its risque performances,
the chariot races,
the gladiatorial fights with their blood and gore.
Christian lifestyle in the first century
also condemned the other pleasures,
the quote-unquote pleasures of an indulgent temper,
sex outside marriage,
drinking,
slander,
lying,
covetousness,
and theft.
These attitudes towards the contemporary Roman customs and morals
earned Christians the reputation of being haters of humanity
and traitors to the Roman way of life.
So Peter is writing to people who know these pressures as well.
And he writes to them,
remember the theme verse of the book of 1 Peter is in chapter 2.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles
to abstain from the passions of the flesh
which wage war against your soul.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles,
that means among the broader unbelieving world,
honorable,
so that when they speak against you as evildoers,
they may see your good deeds
and glorify God on the day of visitation.
That's the broad exhortation of the whole book of 1 Peter.
And we're going to look at what Peter says specifically in this passage.
What he's going to tell us is,
gear up.
Gear up for the life that God has called you to.
And the questions are,
gear up with what and why?
And that's what we're going to look at.
So if you want to look at this passage,
1 Peter chapter 4,
starting in verse 1,
we'll read verses 1 through 6.
Since then Christ suffered in the flesh.
Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking,
for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh
no longer for human passions,
but for the will of God.
The time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do,
living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties,
and lawless idolatry.
With respect to this,
they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery,
and they malign you.
But they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead,
for this is why the gospel was preached,
even to those who are dead,
that though judged in the flesh the way people are,
they might live in the spirit the way God does.
Let's pray together.
Lord, we thank you for this word.
We thank you for a chance to gather this morning
and to hear your word and to sit under it.
God, we pray for your help.
We pray for your grace.
We pray for your spirit to be at work.
Lord, that you would enable me to speak clearly,
that you would, Lord, turn our hearts to you,
that we would be ready to receive your word.
And Lord, that in receiving,
we may be strengthened and encouraged to know you,
to see the glory of the way that you have called us to live
as we follow Jesus.
And we pray this in his name.
Amen.
So as we look at this passage,
as we examine this,
structurally, it's kind of simple.
There's one main command,
and then there are three implications
or three aspects of how that plays out.
And so if you're taking notes,
that's our outline.
One command, three aspects of,
that are gonna answer the questions.
Gear up with what?
And gear up, and why do we need to do it?
So let's look at this in turn.
Verse one.
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,
arm yourselves.
There's the same way of thinking
for whoever has suffered in the flesh
has ceased from sin.
What does he see?
The central command is this.
Gear up.
Arm yourselves.
And the word here is a great,
it's a, the word is actually hoplite.
It's the same thing for the hoplite soldiers.
And they had helmets and breastplates and shields
and armaments of spears and swords,
and they had greaves on their shins to protect them.
And Peter is saying, put on this armor.
But he's not talking about physical armor.
He's not talking about protecting our bodies.
He's talking about protecting our souls.
And he says, what are we gonna gear up with?
We're supposed to gear up with a frame of mind.
First Peter said, in this verse,
it says the same way of thinking.
What is this same,
what is this way of thinking that Peter is saying?
We are to have the same way of thinking
that Christ had as he suffered while he was on earth.
This was Christ who came to obey God perfectly,
enduring the scorn, the shame, the rejection,
so that he might be our savior and our deliverer,
who for the joy set before him,
endured the cross, despising its shame.
And this is what Peter says.
We're to say, look at Jesus,
because he willingly entered into a life
where he would experience this suffering.
And you need to gear yourself up
with the same mindset of being prepared
to suffer for obedience that Jesus did.
Now, the end of verse one probably surprised you,
just like it surprises me,
as when I read it the first time.
What does this mean?
For whoever has suffered in the flesh
has ceased from sin.
Well, what can it not mean?
Well, it can't mean that if we suffer,
we no longer sin at all,
sin at all during this life.
It can't mean, well, now that I've suffered once,
I am no longer prone to sin.
Nor can it mean that sin,
that suffering purifies us,
because we all know that suffering sometimes,
rather than purifying us,
it embitters us, it hardens us,
it makes us more angry.
So it can't mean those things.
So what does it mean?
Wayne Grudem in his commentary says this,
whoever has suffered for doing right
and has still gone on obeying God
in spite of the suffering it involved
has made a clean break with sin.
When Jesus came, he said,
Lord, I have come to do your will.
And what Peter's saying here is,
we're to arm ourselves with that same attitude.
I am no longer enslaved to sin because of Christ.
As a Christian, I have been brought into a new place
and my determination is to no longer live
for those things, but to live for something else.
We have chosen Christ over a life of sin.
And though imperfectly in our living out of that,
there is a fundamental picture here
that Peter is saying,
that when we have chosen to follow Christ,
we've said,
no longer will we walk in the ways of sin.
We will turn away from it.
And we will obey and follow God
even when it means suffering.
This is Peter's exhortation,
to arm ourselves with this attitude.
Now, what does it look like to do this?
How do we enter into this?
Well, I'll tell you what, friends,
I've been wrestling with this all week
because what I really want is three steps.
Here are three easy steps.
You do these three things and it's gonna happen.
Thank you, Suzanne.
I appreciate that.
Right?
We want a list of to-dos and there isn't one.
How do we arm ourselves with the attitude of Christ?
It's this simple and this hard.
We meditate on Christ himself.
We read the scriptures daily.
We let it lead us to Christ.
And if you're not sure how to do that,
go back to our website,
look at the last Sunday school class
that Laura Bush just taught
on Bible reading and scripture meditation
and let it fuel your practice
of meditating on scripture
so that it will lead you to a clear vision of God
and a clear vision of Christ.
Look to him, remember him every day.
Cling to his promises.
See his faithfulness.
Fix your eyes on him.
This is how we arm ourselves with the attitude of Christ.
We look at him with our hearts,
with our minds every day.
It's that simple and that difficult.
So Peter says, arm yourselves with this attitude.
And then there are three facets,
three things that Peter says
about why this is so important.
So in verses two and three,
Peter says, arm yourselves
so that we can follow the will of God
amidst temptations.
Right?
Verse two says,
so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh,
no longer for human passions,
but for the will of God,
the time that has passed suffices
for doing what the Gentiles want to do,
living in sensuality, passions,
drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties,
and lawless idolatry.
Peter says, we need to arm ourselves
so that we can do what we want to do,
which is follow God,
and not do what we don't want to do,
which is fall into temptation.
Right?
Peter's presenting this picture
that I've already started with,
that there's a before and after
that should be true of the Christian life.
Before I was enslaved to sin,
I didn't know anything else,
and whether I was profligate
and completely over the top
in drunkenness and orgies,
or whether I simply lived
a proud, self-righteous,
self-serving life,
I lived for myself.
Now I have something else to live for.
And this is the distinction he's saying.
He's saying, as Christians,
you want to arm yourself
so that you can live the life
that you want to live
and that God has called you to live.
Right?
And Peter says,
we need to do this
because we know that there's a temptation
to fall back into the old ways
that we used to live.
And then he lists them.
And I just want to say,
if you think I'm picking on sex
and drinking today,
I am.
But it's not my fault.
It's what the Bible says.
It's what all of these five verses relate to
as they're talking
in the first century Roman context.
It's saying these are some
of the common human patterns
patterns of how we live
for self-centered human pleasure
and satisfaction
rather than for God.
Right?
Because God, in fact,
created us for pleasure
and he created us to be satisfied.
But in our fallen nature,
we take the things that he gives us,
we exalt them to this place of idolatry,
and we worship them
and they end up controlling us.
And so our passions
and our pleasures control us.
And sex and drink
are two of the historically
most prominent ways
in which these things
have been expressed
in human history.
Right?
And we need to not be afraid
of our post-evangelical,
post-fundamentalist reaction
to legalism to say so.
We need to be self-controlled
in the areas of how we live out
our sexuality and our drinking.
And we need to not play around
by thinking,
oh, I'm past that legalism.
I can do this and be safe.
We need to be wise.
We need to be shrewd
in how we do this.
But we also want to look deeper
because we recognize
that sex and drinking
are two expressions
of a deep heart position.
One commentary says,
all five of these terms
refer to practices
that have in common
a lack of self-control,
a character flaw,
leading to behaviors
that are self-destructive violation
of God's standards
and harmful to others.
What does that look like
in our lives?
Well, I thought of a couple.
They're all electronic,
I'll be honest with you.
One is social media
and the way that our addiction
to and use of social media,
how often is it characterized
by a lack of self-control,
a character flaw
leading to behaviors
that are self-destructive
and harmful to others?
I think of the number
of men and women
who are addicted to pornography
and who look daily, weekly,
express this sensual desire,
this sexual desire
in a destructive place.
I think that there are ways
in which for some of us
something like computer games
and the addiction
that that can cause
and the way that it can
separate us from
from real relationships
with the people around us.
However our screens
act in our life,
often they fall into this
self-centered,
lack of self-control,
destructive patterns.
It's not the only way,
but I think we want
to think about this.
We want to recognize
that in our fallenness
we have these disordered desires.
We look for good things
and we look for them
in the wrong places.
We long for intimacy
and pleasure
and joy and meaning,
significance and relief
and comfort,
but we look for them
in the wrong places.
And as we do so,
we fall back
into the old patterns
of life of someone
who doesn't know God
and we miss
the calling
that God has for us.
And Peter knows.
Peter is not being hard.
He knows how difficult it is.
We know how difficult it is,
how easy it is
to fall into the old ways.
We know it's easier
because the old ways
are familiar.
We used to do that.
I know how that works.
I know that that works
in a moment.
That's going to make me
feel better.
I want to do that.
Sometimes we get weary
of just feeling different
and we just get tired
of no one understanding
why we live the way we do.
Sometimes we just get lazy.
We're just like,
I don't want to have
to work so hard anymore.
Sometimes in the midst
of suffering,
we fall into self-pity.
We've suffered so much.
Can't God just give me a break?
Can't I have just this
one little thing
even though I know
it's not what he wants
and it's not good for me?
Sometimes it's as simple
as we just don't want
to live boring lives.
We know we're meant
to live passionate lives
and we don't quite know
what it looks like
to live passionately for God
so we look at the world
and we think
that looks like
a lot of passion
and a lot of fun.
But God has called us
to spend these passions
that he has given us,
this passionate heart
that he's created in us
for something else,
for the will of God.
This is what Peter
has been talking about
this whole book
and we want to just,
I just want to remind you,
he tells us to live
such good lives
and to suffer for doing good
because it's the way
that God has made us to be,
to live distinctly
in the world
as God's chosen people
so that we might reflect
the glory of his grace,
so we might reflect
the hope of the inheritance
that we have secure for us
in heaven,
so that we might know
the love of Christ
that has been poured out
in our hearts
and display that
in the world.
God has called us
to do this,
to be ready,
to take up this challenge
of forging a new way
to honor God
in our particular circumstances
and to live with
gospel-shaped relationships.
Some of the hard passages
we've wrestled with
in the last month
have talked about
how do we navigate this
in the realms of politics
and family and race?
How do we do this well?
But remember,
this is what God's calling us to.
How do we honor him
in every circumstance?
How do we live for him?
And Peter's reminding us
that there is something
worth our passions
and is living for the will of God.
So this is the first reason
we're to arm ourselves,
so that we no longer
fall back into the old ways,
but so that we're ready
to face those temptations
and pursue the thing
that we know God wants.
Verses 4 and 5
give us a second reason.
Let's look at it again.
With respect to this,
they are surprised
when you do not join them
in the same flood of debauchery
and they malign you,
but they will give an account
to him who is ready
to judge the living
and the dead.
Peter knows
that turning from the old ways
to a new way is hard
and the dynamic
of every adult convert
in the world
knows this challenge
because the people
you used to know
and the things
you used to do
are now things
that you no longer
want to do
and you're trying
to figure out
how do I relate
to these people
without continuing
to run with them
and doing the things
that they do.
This is why he says
join with them
in the same flood
of debauchery.
Just there's this
wide road
of really easy living
and that's what you know
and it's what you're familiar with
and yet when you come
to Christ
there's meant to be
a change,
a shift,
a transition
and these create tensions
and if you've walked
through this
you know
your friends are hurt.
They're confused.
confused.
What happened to you?
Where did my friend go?
We used to do
these things together.
We used to go
and get drunk
on Friday night together
and now
I don't know you
and I don't know
how to have a relationship
with you
apart from these things.
Not only are they
confused
and surprised
but often
they feel condemned.
You're judging me
aren't you?
You think
I'm doing it wrong.
And often then
that turns
to
as Peter says here
maligning
or reviling.
You're self-righteous.
You're a bigot.
Why do you hate me now?
You're so holier than now.
Why are you so judgmental?
I know some of you
have felt these pressures.
You've heard those words
spoken to you.
And I think
that we feel
a greater pressure
because in this era
in this stage
of the church
one of the things
we long to be
is a winsome church.
We want to be a church
that wins people's affections.
We want to love
well enough.
We want to be gentle
and gracious enough.
We think that if we do
those things well enough
somehow
people are going to
accept us
and welcome us
and celebrate us
or at least respect us.
Peter reminds us
that that's not true.
These two worlds,
these two ways
are divergent.
They're going
in different directions
and there is a conflict
between them
and this conflict
is inevitable
and maybe it doesn't happen
in every relationship
and it doesn't happen
in every circumstance
but recognize
that this is normal
that this will be a part
of following Jesus.
the conflict will happen
and look
we're still called
to be loving
winsome
gentle
patient
and kind.
We don't forsake
doing that
because quote unquote
it doesn't work.
We do that
because it's the way
we follow Christ
but recognize
that we're not
always going to get
the thing that we
I think we hope for
which is
when we do that
then people won't hate us.
Peter is reminding us
that is not true.
And we know
that that pressure
that fear of blowback
that fear of those
negative responses
and conflict to us
we know that
that's a high pressure
for us
to just go along.
We know that
the negative response
may come
and we say
I'm just going to be silent
I don't want to deal
with people
just going at me today.
Sometimes we just go along
it's like
well
God will understand
I'm just going to
I'm just going to do it
because it's too hard.
Peter reminds us
however
in verse 5
of why
we can have confidence
to stand up
to that kind of pressure.
Because he reminds us
as he turns a corner
he says
he reminds us
that look
those people
and their judgment
of you
their condemnation
of you
is not the final word
on your life.
Peter says
lift up your eyes
and look
and see
because you know what
they
and their judgments
will ultimately
sit under a greater judgment.
They will face
the one
God himself
who is the judge
of the living
and the dead
that means people
who are already dead
and people who are alive
today
and all people
will be judged
universally
by God.
and what will happen
is those who revile
you for doing good
for following Christ
will be shown
at the last day
to be wrong.
They will be shown
to have misunderstood
what is right
and wrong
in the world
and you
who follow Christ
faithfully
will be vindicated
because of Christ.
This is the implication.
living differently
will always feel awkward
and it will at times
make us feel like
the whole world
hates us
and condemns us
and judges us
but just like it did
with Christ
so we will know
that the end of this story
is not that judgment
but ultimately
the vindication
that comes with Christ
as he judges
the whole world.
So Peter says
gird up your mind.
See this long term view
know what Christ
was looking at
as he suffered
and look to those things
so that in the face
of temptation
with the great pressures
that you feel
even the
either the pull
in your heart
or the fear
of others
that these things
gird up your mind
with this long term view
so that you may walk
with God
and follow his will.
So that's the second reason
why we're to arm ourselves.
Verse 6
is the third one
that we are to arm ourselves
so that we remember
our gospel mission
and hope.
Verse 6
is not an easy one
we'll get into it
in a minute
but let's read it.
This is why the gospel
was preached
even to those
who are dead
though judged
in the flesh
the way people are
they might live
in the spirit
the way God does.
Now this is explanatory
this is explaining
this long term view
and saying
here's more explanation
about why this is important
but what does it actually say?
Now some people
in the history
of the church
have seen this verse
as grounds
for post-mortem conversion.
What that means
is that somehow
some way
after we die
we can still hear
the gospel
and turn to God
and after death
is a really good time
to do that
because we can live
our whole life
no matter how we
it doesn't matter
and then we die
and then we see
how bad death is
and then we think
wow that'd be great.
So we have
in our human heart
we long
for second chances
we long
to know
that this life
isn't all there is
and maybe God
can like
can rescue it
even after the fact
and some of us
do this
because we have
lost loved ones
and we long
for them
to have a second chance
but the scriptures
don't give us
that second chance.
Hebrews 9
17
says that
we are to
to die once
and then to face judgment
there is no second chances
this life
is what we have
in God's sovereignty
this is what we're
meant to live with
the reason why
I say this
and the reason why
I believe that
verse 6 is not saying that
is actually
the key words
the living and the dead
and the way that they're used
in verse 5
it says
they will give an account
to him who is ready
to judge the living
and the dead
that is all people
everywhere
the people who have
already died
and the people who are
living now
right
he's not talking about
spiritually living
and spiritually dead
he's not talking about
the people who died
in the days of Noah
there are a lot of
really interesting things
in verse 5
it's clear that he's
talking about all people
right
and in verse 6 then
he's saying the same thing
the dead
in verse 6
right
the gospel is preached
the dead
is the gospel was preached
to people
who heard the gospel
when they were alive
and now they are done
now they have died
they are physically dead people
that's what it means
why is Peter saying this
well because
in the first century
the Roman culture around
would say
okay you believe in Jesus
you're going to be resurrected
to an eternal life
well look at Joe here
Joe died last month
and what is he?
worm food
he's just dead
what good is it
to follow Christ
and to suffer
if all you're going to do
is die
just like everyone else
and Peter says
this is why
the gospel is so important
this is why
we preach the gospel
urgently
while we can
because in this life
God is using
the preaching of the gospel
to call people
to life with him
and to hope
and what he's saying is
Joe
who put his faith in Christ
even though his body
is in the ground
he will be raised
to new life
right?
this is what the end
of the verse says
though judged in the spirit
or judged in the flesh
they died
just like everyone else
yet they will be raised
by the spirit
in this
with God
in the spirit of God
and so they have
a great hope
and this is why
the gospel is so urgent
and this is why
the hope of the gospel
is so good
because if we suffer
in this life
for no hope
then it does seem
like a waste
doesn't it?
we might as well
just live it up
but in fact
because we have
this gospel hope
because we have
this new direction
that God has called us in
because we have
this kingdom
that is coming
because we have
this new place
of being God's people
and a future
of living with God
in his perfect
all satisfying
glorious kingdom
forever
this is what
Peter wants us
to take hold of
and to arm ourselves
with
what good is it
living holy lives?
because it means
we continue with Christ
till the end
and as we continue
with Christ
till the end
we have this glorious hope
and in the meantime
we take hold
of this gospel message
and we not only
take hold of it
for ourselves
but we preach it
to everyone else
so that before they die
they can too
turn from sin
and know
the glorious hope
of the gospel
friends
this passage
has a great comfort
and a great sting
the comfort
is that in Christ
we will live
in the spirit
a resurrection
and a victory
awaits us
no matter what
the cost is now
no matter what
suffering we may
walk through
to be faithful
to Christ
at the end
of the day
we will rise
victorious with Christ
and for beleaguered
and weary Christians
this is great hope
but there is a sting
as well
for those who continue
being controlled
by human passions
for those who
in their rejection
of God
and rejection
of Christ
continue apart
from that hope
seeking their life
here in this world
those who revile
believers
who malign them
who condemn them
for their faithful living
there is not a second chance
once you are dead
you are dead indeed
and then you will face judgment
and we need to soberly
hear that
to recognize that
for us
for our neighbors
for us to think about
how we might
hold forth
the hope
that we have
within us
as Peter says
in chapter 3
verse 15
so friends
brothers and sisters
arm yourselves
with Christ's
mindset
so that you might
pursue the life
that God has
called you to
knowing that it
will be a battle
knowing that it is
not an easy call
it is a hard call
but that the end
is good
and as we
gird ourselves
up for it
we will be prepared
for what comes
let's pray
together
Lord Jesus
we
ask now
Lord
that you would
remind us
fill our hearts
and our minds
with the glorious
truths of Christ
so that we might
arm ourselves
with the same
attitude
that he had
Lord I pray
that if there are those
here this morning
Lord
who have fallen
into old ways
while claiming
to follow Christ
Lord I pray
that they would
know the richness
of your grace
and mercy
that Lord
your call
to repentance
Lord is always
open
for us to turn
back to you
and to forsake
those things
and to know
your gracious
acceptance
and your empowering
presence
to help us
live the new
life that you've
called us to
Lord I pray
for those this
morning who may
not know you
who may be
exploring you
Lord that they
would hear
Lord the urgency
of the gospel
Lord that they
would hear the
good news
and respond
Lord I pray
this morning
that for all
of us you
would make us
wise to the
temptations and
the pull of this
world that we
live in
Lord that we
would gird
ourselves up
to live
differently
because of you
we pray this
in Jesus name
Amen
we in
we进