Get Your Mind Right

I Peter 4:1-6

Transcript

Since, therefore, 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. For 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 then malign you,
but they will give an 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. Father, we ask by the power of your Holy Spirit that
you would speak to us by your word as we come together to hear it. Would you
open our hearts and minds? Lord, where we are distracted or unfocused, I pray
that you would help to bring our attention on this word, that you would feed us
with what is needful for us today, that we would grow to be people who are
increasingly mature followers of Jesus. So strengthen us by your word, we ask
this morning. Amen. Okay, so picture with me that there is someone that you love
who is about to step into something that you know through personal experience is
going to be very challenging. So maybe they're joining the army and headed to
boot camp. Maybe they are about to get married. Maybe they're starting a new
job. Maybe they're about to experience their first Buffalo winter. Something
that you know yourself is going to be very challenging. If you care about them
and you know something about what they're getting into, then you often want to
give them a pep talk. In love for them, you want to share with them what you
already know about what they are about to get into. You tell them maybe what
they should be thinking about before boot camp or the person they should talk to
when they get that new job or the gear that they need for the winter. Because
you care about them and want to prepare them. You want them to be as ready as
possible for what they're going to endure. Well, that's kind of what's happening
in our passage this morning as Peter instructs the church in preparation for the
suffering that they're going to step into. This passage is instruction to these
churches scattered across Asia Minor about how they ought to get their minds
right for the situation that they are in. Peter begins chapter 4 by saying,
since therefore Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same
kind of thinking. The Apostle Peter is saying to these churches, here is how to
get your minds right. Start thinking right about what you're getting into. In
other words, let's get real clear about this situation that we're in. The
Christian life is a battle and we need to arm ourselves for it. And that
preparation, according to Peter, is mental. We need to have the right mindset.
He's writing to churches that were living in a culture that was opposed to them.
They feel, and he calls them, exiles in this world. When we think about our own
situation, it's not very different. So this morning we're asking, what is the
kind of thinking that we need? What does our mindset need to be as followers of
Christ in this world? The context is helpful here. Let's remember where we've
been, where Peter's taken us already. If you go back to chapter 3, verse 22, the
verse immediately preceding this, we read that Jesus has gone into the heavens
and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers having been
subjected to him. Right now, at this moment, Jesus is reigning. He has ascended
and he is reigning. We call this his session. And he has absolute authority over
all things. And as the church, we await his return and we await the full
consummation of his victory. And in chapter 4, verse 7, which is the passage
immediately subsequent to ours today, we read Peter say, the end of all things
is at hand. The end of all things is at hand. That is not to say that Peter was
predicting that Jesus would return next week or next month or this year
necessarily, but what he's pointing out is the key moments in redemptive history
that have already taken place. The key moments in God's plan for the world that
have already taken place. Jesus has come to earth. He has died on the cross. He
has risen from the grave. He has ascended. He is reigning. All that has already
happened. So to put us in that framework, we are living as followers of Jesus in
light of what already has happened, anticipating what is yet to come. That's the
situation that we're in. The end of all things is at hand. And in light of this,
Peter is giving us very direct, very realistic points so that we ought to get
our minds right as followers of Christ in a world that is not our home. It's
encouragement, but it's also what you could call kind of tough love. Peter's
being very realistic with these people. He wants the church to embrace their
calling to suffer in this world. So three points this morning. The first one,
the first one is that we must be willing to suffer to live for the will of God.
We must be willing to suffer to live for the will of God. Read verses one
through two with me. Since therefore Christ has 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. Peter's already described
the suffering of Jesus in the preceding chapter. In chapter 3, 17, and 18, he
says to the church, it's better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
It's better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will than for doing
evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous,
that he might bring us to God. Arming yourself refers to the battle that is the
Christian life and the mentality that we need. And Peter says we need a
willingness to suffer and pay the price in the fight against sin. And Jesus is
our example in this. We need to share that mindset and understand that there
will be suffering when we live for the will of God. You could hear Peter say it
like this, let's not be naive. Let's not be simple minded. Breaking sinful
habits and ways of life will be painful. They do not simply disappear without a
struggle. We have to understand that. In the physical world, in the physical
realm, if you have ever tried to break old self-indulgent habits, it's always
painful. It's always brutal. So eating a salad or going for a jog feels brutal,
especially when you begin, you hate it. Over time, you've probably experienced
this, your body adjusts and when you put on your sneakers for that jog, the body
seems to say, okay, I guess we're doing this. There's a breakthrough in a sense
as your body adjusts to physical pain. It's not exactly the same, but in a
similar sense, the willingness to suffer breaks the controlling hold that sin
can have in our lives. Now let's be clear, the power to do that is not self-
generated, it comes from the Holy Spirit. But the one who belongs to Jesus and
is following him has a new mindset. So this is speaking to someone who is
willing to suffer in obedience to God and then once they do suffer, continues on
to serve God. Many of you have interacted with the missionary couple that we
support that works to evangelize Muslims and translate the scripture in the
Komoro silence. And if you read their letters of support and their prayer
letters, you can read about how they're translating the Bible into the mother
tongue, they're sharing scripture and they're praying with these islanders. But
as they do that, they're also very aware that regardless of how stimulating
these conversations may be, these islanders will have to leave that
conversation, go back to, leave that Bible study and go back to their Muslim
homes and neighborhoods. And are they going to be willing to suffer for that new
commitment to Jesus? If they are, that indicates that they have made not just an
initial step of enthusiasm, but a real and true break with their old way of
life. It means that being comfortable is no longer their number one commitment.
So let's not be naive about what following Jesus is going to cost. The initial
commitment that's made will certainly be tested later. And in love for these
churches, Peter wants to prepare them for the suffering that making a break from
sin will involve. That phrase, ceased from sin, whoever has suffered in the
flesh has ceased from sin, that does not refer to some type of Christian
perfection. The Bible teaches us that sin will be part of our human experience.
We all suffer, we all stumble in many ways. But here's a helpful way of putting
it that I read this week. Peter's point is that when believers are willing to
suffer, the nerve center of sin is severed in their lives. The mature Christian,
or the Christian that's growing in maturity, has made a commitment, I'm no
longer living for human passions. But here's a contrast, but for the will of
God. And once again, we see Jesus is our example and our inspiration. We see his
suffering on the cross, and we are encouraged to adopt his mindset. Form
yourselves with the same way of thinking. He's our example of full and complete
submission to the will of God. Jesus is the one who said, my food is to do the
will of the one who sent me. And the Christian who's indwelt by the spirit now
has a different purpose in life. It's no longer for human passions. It's to live
for the will of God. So human passions, think of it as just kind of the selfish
assertion of my will and my desires. That's no longer the command center of my
life. In full submission to the will of God is, if we're honest, if we look at
ourselves, it's something that we're often afraid of, secretly afraid of.
Because we think that will mean, we're afraid of what that will mean. We're
afraid sometimes, I think, even to pray that. Afraid of what we might have to
give up. Afraid of the loss of comfort or control. But God's will is that we
might become holy, and that is for our good, his glory, and our joy. Earlier in
the letter, Peter writes, he writes, as obedient children, do not be conformed
to the passions of your former ignorance. But as he who has called you is holy,
you also be holy in all your conduct. So there's a spiritual reality. The
Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But there's also a mindset here, and
it's a mindset that we must refresh. Paul said it like this. You must consider
yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. When a person submits
to Jesus, when Jesus draws the sinner to himself, they receive a new nature, a
new purpose. It no longer makes sense for your life to be dictated by your old
passions, to live by the old ways of ignorance. I've kind of seen a picture of
this in the last month. In this last month, so many of you have helped with our
work down the street as we prepare to move into a new building. It's kind of
like we're getting to see a before and after process in motion. And as this has
been happening, as this work has been ongoing, friends from other churches have
asked me, how's it going? And I've said, well, if you take over an over 60-year-
old progressive church, there's a lot that has to go. There's a lot of pink and
purple. There are murals on the wall. We filled three dumpsters up full of junk.
There's a lot that has to be cleansed out of that place before it will be new
and clean. And in some ways, it is like a picture of sanctification. Imagine
going into a building like that and then painting the women's bathroom teal all
over again, right? Imagine recreating the murals that were on the wall. We
wouldn't do that. In Peter's language, that would be like conforming to your
former ignorance. When we come to know Christ, a decisive shift takes place. Our
mindset is now, I want to use whatever time I have left to live to glorify God.
I want to live for the will of God. Peter says, 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 rest of the time in the flesh, for some of us, that may be many decades. For
some of us, not nearly as long. But regardless, our lives in this passage are
framed in light of eternity. The end of all things is at hand. And our mindset
must be, I want to live the rest of my life, however long God sees fit for that
to be, for the will of God, regardless of the suffering or price that may
involve. And the question really brings us to this point of self-examination
where we ask ourselves, am I really living for the will of God? Is that what I'm
about? Am I really living for the will of God? We talk about repentance often in
terms of sometimes the illustration for repentance is a U-turn or an 180-degree
change. I know that I have talked about repentance like that. It's a change of
direction. It's a turning. That is correct. But there's also, as we grow in
maturity, there is a repentance of realignment. It may not be 180 degrees, but
there may be areas in your life where you need to be adjusted, where you are a
couple degrees off. You don't necessarily need 180 degrees, but you're clinging
to something and have become self-protected. Living for the will of God is not
like a one-time decision that we make and then set on cruise control. We need a
continual humility and prayer and submitting ourselves before the Lord to see if
we're really living for His glory. And Peter says, that's going to involve
suffering. We must be willing to suffer to live for the will of God. There's a
second point that informs our mindset. We also must be willing to suffer not
only to overcome sin, but at the hands of unbelievers. Look at verses three and
four with me. For 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. We need a
mindset that says, I'm willing to suffer for the will of God. We also need a
mindset that says, I'm willing to suffer verbal abuse or maligning. That's like
ridicule from unbelievers. And Peter says to the church very bluntly, that was
then and this is now. The time that has passed suffices. He said, you had enough
time when you lived like the Gentiles. When you lived like those who do not know
God. In the way of the Gentiles is described as living in sensuality, passions,
drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, lawless idolatry. It has particular
reference to living in sensuality. It's heartbreaking to think how many people
are simply taken out of the game because they have been unable to make a break
with sensuality. If or when they come to church on Sunday, they are thinking
about what they watched or clicked on or participated in on Saturday night. And
the word of God is just very direct here. Peter is saying, it's time to be done
with that. It's time to put that in the past. And when we make a break from sin,
there will be suffering. There will be pangs of withdrawal on a personal level
because the fleeting pleasures of sin are real. There are fleeting pleasures
that come with an old lifestyle, but Peter is now talking about social
suffering. He says, they're surprised when you do not join them. The idea here
is it's a flood imagery. It's a idea of running with them, they are surprised
when you do not go with the flow in the same flood of debauchery. First Peter
says they are surprised, and they might be your coworkers, your teammates, your
old friends, your classmates, your family members. Non participation can raise
some eyebrows, especially if you used to participate in certain activities. But
it won't end at surprise. Then they malign you. Then they scorn you. That means
to criticize or to ridicule. Non participation often gets interpreted as passing
judgment. So when you don't go to a certain party, or when you refuse to watch
something, or when you don't go to the strip club, or when you stay sober, or
when you refuse to participate in a certain conversation, when you stick up for
a person who's being mocked, when you do not go with the general tide, first it
will be surprising, and then you will be mocked, probably for being judgmental.
There is a, Peter's saying, there's a mocking or an abuse that will come from
non participation. The Christian's non participation has the power to prick the
conscience. It's very interesting when we think about the letter as a whole. Not
every person will malign or ridicule you. There are times when what you stand
for may actually spur great conversation, where we have a chance to verbalize
our Christian commitments. So sometimes if you look at chapter three, verse 15,
verse 15 says, in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being
prepared to make a defense for anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope
that's in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. That's a joy when your
behavior or your way of life instigates or creates these type of conversations.
People will be surprised and ask honest and genuine questions, and we need to be
ready to give honest answers for honest questions. But other people will be
surprised, and they won't ask questions, they'll ridicule you, and we need to be
prepared for that. In the Greco Roman context, where this was originally
written, that all that stuff, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness,
orgies, drinking parties, could have specific reference to some of the just
typical customs of the day, some of the pagan festivals that people participated
in in the ancient world. There were cultural traditions, rituals, holidays,
things that happened at family gatherings that people were just expected to
participate in. It's just the way of life. But some of those customs were now
incompatible for a new follower of Jesus. There's not much that's changed there.
Whether it's at school or work or a conversation, it's always going to be
easiest to just go along and get along. But we're called the holiness, and
Peter's saying that might be lonely. There might be verbal abuse, there might be
ridicule, so be prepared. In his book, The Holiness of God, so that's probably
40, 50 years ago, R.C. Sproul told a story about a professional golfer who got
to play a round of golf with President Gerald Ford at the time and Billy Graham.
After the round, one of the golfer's friends came up to him and said, what was
it like to play golf with the President and Billy Graham? The golfer just
exploded in temper and started to curse and he said, I don't need Billy Graham
stuffing religion down my throat. After a few minutes of anger and cursing, the
golfer's friend said, so Billy was pretty hard on you, huh? At that point, the
guy was spent, his anger was exhausted, and he said, he didn't even talk about
religion. I just had a bad round. Billy Graham, the point is, he was so
associated with holiness, with the reality of God, that his presence had the
power to prick the conscience of the unbeliever. Recently I was talking to a
friend of mine, not someone in this church, but he was talking about how
difficult it was as a Christian to find like-minded friends. And he said, most
people that I meet, what they want to do in their free time or on the weekend is
just escape their lives. The follower of Christ isn't escaping. We're living the
rest of our time in the flesh to live for the will of God. That's different.
That's going to mean surprise and in some cases ridicule. When we encounter the
grace of God through Jesus Christ, it takes our lives in a different direction.
Titus 2 says the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people
and training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-
controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. So we must be willing
to suffer to cease from sin and we must be willing to suffer ridicule from
unbelievers. And there's a final point here that I'll talk about briefly. We
must understand that God's judgment is universal. That's the third part of this
mindset. We must understand that God's judgment is universal. Look at verses
five and six. But they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the
living and the dead. For this is why the gospel is 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. Titus reminding his readers that they may feel
ostracized, but those who are mocking will one day give an account. In our
actions, our response to suffering, and our response to ridicule or
marginalization, they're not going to be judged in the court of popular opinion
forever. At least not for long. We will give an account. They will give an
account. And it will be before God, the holy judge of all things. Part of what
this means is we don't need to take on the responsibility of judging and
condemning the surrounding culture. So we understand there's already a universal
day of judgment. Those who mock and scorn and ridicule will stand before God.
But we all will. We all will. That is comforting in the sense that it is God who
will have the last word. There will be vindication, and we don't need to create
it. God will do that. It's also sobering. We'll be judged. When others scorn us
or ridicule us or exclude us, the temptation that we'll face is just to kind of
slide in and go along. But the temporary scorning will give way to a far more
important judgment. And the mindset that we need to have is one that recognizes
that God is the one that I will really give an account to. None of us are
prepared to stand before God the judge on our own merits. And Peter goes on to
say, 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 may live in the spirit the
way God does. The gospel being preached to those who are dead is not referring
to a second chance after death to believe. It's referring to believers who have
now died. So it's referring to believers who have heard the gospel preached to
them and subsequently did die. This was a source of distress for the early
church. You may have thought that Jesus would return before any of their loved
ones died. The church would have wondered, what happens to our loved ones who
die? And Peter brings comfort. The gospel was preached to them. They heard about
Jesus, who suffered and died in their place for their sins. The gospel was
preached to those brothers and sisters, and they believed. And then they were
judged in the flesh. They suffered hardship, persecution, physical suffering,
probably very similar to what the church was currently experiencing. And then
they died. And they are now living in the spirit and sharing in the
resurrection. God's judgment is universal. He will judge the living and the
dead. He will have the last word, and the ones who are saved are the ones who
cling to the gospel. So Peter says, let's get your mind right. You need to be
prepared to suffer for the will of God. You need to be prepared to suffer at the
hands of unbelievers. And you need to remember that God's judgment is universal.
That those who trust in the message of the gospel will be saved through judgment
and will live with God in the spirit, sharing in the resurrection of his son.
We're gonna take some time to pray. And as we do that, we're gonna do something
a little bit different this morning. This is the last time that we're gathered
here in this place under the authority of God's word. And for some of you, you
know, you haven't been here that long. But for others, we've been in this place
for 17, 18 years. And God has been faithful. And I just wanted to, before I
pray, I want to give people a couple silent moments to just pray, to consider
the word, and also to thank God for his faithfulness before I pray and we sing.
So let's just take a couple minutes of prayer quietly together before the Lord,
and then I'll pray for us. Lord God, we do thank you for your faithfulness to us
this morning, as we hear your word, and to us over many years. Lord, we ask that
your name would be praised in our congregation. We thank you that you have met
all our needs and more and done far more abundantly than all that we could ask
or think. We thank you for the ways that you have sustained and provided and led
and protected. And Lord, we anticipate that in the days to come. And our desire,
Father, is that we would be your holy people, representing you, functioning as a
clear representation of people who have been transformed by the gospel. Pray
that we would be a light in our community. Thank you for the ways that you've
allowed that to happen here, and we pray that that would only continue and more
as we transition down the street. And Lord, our desire is that many people would
come to the saving knowledge of Christ here in this community. So bless us, we
pray, for that purpose. We thank you for your faithfulness. In Jesus' name,
amen. You stand up now and we'll sing together.