Sermon Cloud

The Armed Christian 2

 

1 Peter 4:1-6

 

Grace Fellowship Church

 

February 11, 2007

 

 

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, ² so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. ³ The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. ⁴ With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; ⁵ but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ 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.

 

 

Introduction

 

When we lived in Kansas City I read a story in the Kansas City Star about a woman who lived in Florida .  As she was driving her car down the road she suddenly struck an alligator.  The poor woman was obviously afraid or confused because she stopped her car, got it, and if that is not crazy enough then she put what she thought was a dead alligator into her back seat.  She found out just a couple of miles down the road that the gator was not dead, just unconscious.  The gator revived and immediately began trying to exit the moving car.  You can imagine the poor woman’s surprise. 

 

What kind of confused person would put an alligator, dead or injured, into the backseat of their car?  If she was not mentally disturbed before this event she was after.

 

The same can be said of Christians.  Last week we looked at the Biblical Gospel and how the real Gospel and not the truncated, watered down Gospel that is marketed in many churches today is in reality worthy of suffering and possibly dying as a result of receiving and proclaiming. 

 

Most people, especially lost people, will look at a Christian who has been obedient to the Word of God and is suffering for it as crazy. 

 

They are like Job’s wife who said, “Job, curse God and die.”  When we live holy lives understand that we are putting the alligator of suffering into our backseats and it could wake at any moment.    

 

According to Scripture as we have fleshed out over the last several weeks, a call to salvation is also a call to suffer.

 

Context

 

For those of you who have not been with us and for those of us who need a quick reminder, allow me to try to catch everyone up to speed on what is happening today in our text.  Remember that Peter is writing to First Century Christians living in the Roman controlled provinces of Asia Minor .  They are now Christians living in a pagan society which many of them were formerly a part of.  Rome had many religions and tolerated many but when you refused to participate in certain pagan worship you were in trouble.  Many of the older religions such as Judaism were exempt from this worship but Christianity was new and held no such exemption.  So for a Christian to get along well in society he had to participate with the pagans in activities that we will briefly touch on this morning.  These were things that a Christian is just not supposed to do. 

Peter begins chapter one by reminding the reader of the great salvation that God has bestowed on us by His son Jesus Christ.  He then, after giving a wonderful defense of this Gospel reminds the reader of the inheritance that they will receive in Christ and that reward is in Heaven and not here on earth where all things are passing away. 

 

Chapter two begins to deal with Christian behavior and holiness which God requires.  The type of holiness is not pharisaical holiness but rather the holiness that is in accordance with the very nature of God.  “Be holy for I am holy.” The Lord says. 

 

Chapter three teaches the Christian woman who is married to an unbelieving man and the Christian man who is married to an unbelieving wife how they are to behave. 

 

But then we get to the section that we have spent quite a bit of time fleshing out and that is 3:13-4:19.  This is the section of 1 Peter that deals with suffering and persecution as Christians.  The reason God allows His people to suffer and be persecuted is so they will have an opportunity to give a defense of the Gospel.  That is what the entire section is about.  Suffering results in evangelistic opportunity.  Peter has consistently called our attention back to Christ as the example we are to follow.  In essence he says, “Christ suffered to bring us to God and therefore we suffer in order to proclaim that Gospel so that others might be brought to God.” 

  

That is what our passage is about this morning.  Peter has been preparing us for this text.  We have seen that suffering in the Christian life will lead to the opportunity to proclaim the Gospel to those who would question us.  Peter again in our text this morning turns our attention back to Christ.  Look at verse 1 of 1 Peter 4. 

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking,

 

We saw last week that the word “arm” in the text is an imperative verb.   It is a command.  This is what Christians are to do.  The word is interesting because this is the only time it was used in the New Testament.  It was a military word that was used to describe what a soldier did to prepare himself for battle.  The resolve with which the Christian lives an obedient life is to suffer as Christ suffered.

 

Now I understand that this runs counter cultural.  I understand that our human nature desires to avoid suffering usually at all costs.  We wear gloves to avoid blisters when we work with our hands.  The reason is because blisters hurt.  Beekeepers wear protective suits to avoid what?  Bee stings.  We by our very nature want desperately to avoid suffering.  But our command is to prepare ourselves or arm ourselves with the same resolve as Christ had to suffer.  There is a reason for this and here it is.

 

PNP

 

Today from verses 1-6 I want you to see one of two results of arming ourselves with the resolve to suffer as Christ did.  Let me give you the points so that you will know what we are looking for. 

1.  Suffering proves our ongoing sanctification. (1-4)

2.  Suffering is a proclamation of the Gospel to the lost world. (5-6)

       A.  A Witness to

       B.  A witness against

 

Purpose

 

My purpose in preaching this passage of Scripture is to show you that there is a reason for the suffering that Christ has promised us in Scripture and therefore by understanding these reasons we will seek to be obedient to the call of Scripture to suffer as Christ suffered living holy lives. 

 

Jesus said in John 16:33 , “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

 

 

RPNP

 

So look with me at these two results of arming ourselves with the resolve to suffer as Christ did.

 

 

1.  Suffering proves our ongoing sanctification.

Look at verse 1-2. 

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, ² so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

 

 

Notice that Peter teaches us that our suffering is proof that we belong to God.  The opposite is thought by the world and the fleshly false church.  While I was studying I was sitting in the coffee shop of the local book store and the bestseller rack was in front of me.  The Christian book on there was Joel Osteen’s “Your Best Life Now.”   It is a book all about how we can achieve ultimate happiness now.  But this is the American Gospel that I spoke against last week.  These writers are culturally acceptable but biblically illiterate.  The proof of our salvation is not that we are happy but rather that we are suffering. 

 

This section of First Peter has sparked quite a bit of discussion during and after our fellowship time which is a very good thing.  We have had to look around us and ask the question why none of us drag in here on Sunday morning beaten to a pulp because of our witness that week.  Or why we have not heard of one of our brothers and sisters in this congregation thrown into prison last month for being a Christian.  And let me tell you I have spent quite a bit of time agonizing over why that is not happening to me.  Am I not proclaiming the Gospel?  Am I not living a Christian life? 

 

I have been reading a couple of books that have been very insightful in helping me work this out in my own mind and none of them are Joel Osteen’s book.  One is “The Forgotten Spurgeon” by Ian Murray and the other is the story of William Bradford and the Christian colonists that came to America .  Also what has helped is reading Second Peter along side First Peter.  Bradford pointed out something very interesting.  Physical suffering is the norm in the New Testament.  But that is not all that is there.  There is also spiritual suffering. 

 

What I have come to better understand about suffering is that God is sovereign over that also.  Suffering must come through his permission.  It does not happen otherwise because He is God and all is under His control.  So if I am not getting beaten because of my faith in Christ then it is because God has not willed that.  But I think there is suffering in our day that is far worse than physical suffering and that is spiritual suffering.  Physical wounds heal.  We may have scars but the wounds go away pretty fast.  Death ushers us into the presence of God so death for a Christian is ultimately going home. 

 

However, spiritual suffering lingers.  Let me try to describe this.  And I am sure that you have experienced this or you probably would not be here in this congregation this morning.  You are sitting in the church that you once attended and you realize that something is just not right.  You may not recognize what it is right away but you know that the Lord has gotten your attention.  This may be the church that you grew up in or have been going to for a long time.  So you go and seek the Lord about it. 

 

Our family was a member of a church in Kansas City while we were at seminary and I literally hated going to church there.  Now this caused me a great deal of spiritual anguish.  I could not figure it out.  I went through the checklist and ultimately came down with two possibilities.  First, it was possible that I was not really a Christian and that is why I hated going to church there.  After all, many of my professors and classmates went to this church.  The other option after thinking about it some more was that I was just too prideful.  I would sit during the preaching and think often, boy he really missed the point of that passage or that was really funny but I did not come to laugh.  It was one of the most spiritually oppressive times in my life. 

 

I was discussing this with a friend and telling him my conclusions and he really helped me out.  He said you need a new church.  I asked if he had any suggestions.  He did and so the next week we went to the new church.  It was amazing.  It was like I was born again all over.  Somebody was feeding my soul on the Word of God.  The music was not performed.  The preacher preached for an hour.  It took all I could do to hold back the tears while he was preaching.  After the service was over I went to him and the first thing I said to him after I introduced myself was this.  “Thank you for spending time on the text this morning.”  I then briefly explained what had been happening and that this church was a breath of fresh air. 

 

We live in a day of spiritual oppression.  By far, in most churches the Word is not being preached.  Much man centered pop psychology is proclaimed and the Lord Jesus is presented as a addendum to an already wonderful life.  In many places the Bible is merely hinted at or the Bible is merely a prop for the stage.  Worship is centered on entertainment and not on the enjoyment of or entering the presence of the magnificence of our great God and Savior.  Preachers apologize when they read more than two verses of Scripture and you can forget any organized time of congregational reading of the Scriptures.  And that is just the church.  What about the world?

 

In the US the prevailing attitude of the non-Christian is really this.  “I am doing my own thing and you do yours just don’t bother me.”  Or all roads lead to heaven if there is a heaven and no one will go to hell if there is a hell.  The paganism abounds and people are embracing their inner depravity.  Ultimately we as Christians will suffer physically when the pagans decide to get tired of us. 

 

I said three books helped me.  Bradford showed me this and also Second Peter.  We will look at that verse in just a moment but let me explain.  In just a short time, maybe a decade, you have a paradigm shift in the focus of letters from the same man to the same churches.  The focus of First Peter was suffering at the hands of pagans.  The focus of Second Peter is suffering spiritually at the hands of false teachers.  In a short time the focus shifted.  The third book that was helpful to me was the “Forgotten Spurgeon.”  Ultimately what took Spurgeon to his grave in his early fifties was this spiritual suffering.  The Baptist Union that he was part of wanted to be more inclusive so they took theological requirements down to its lowest common denominator.   Basically in order to be a part of the Union you just had to believe in Baptism of disciples by immersion.  You did not have to believe in the Trinity or the deity of Christ or anything else.  You just had to be a dunker.  Spurgeon spoke and wrote against this.  He pulled out of the Baptist Union and in one letter to a friend he wrote this.  “The battle is killing me!”  He was right.  It killed him.

 

So is there a purpose in all this?  Why does God allow this to happen?  Why won’t He restrain Satan and not let him sow seeds of discord among the brethren?      

 

Let’s take a close look at our text.  Look with me at verse 1 and 2. 

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, ² so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

 

 

There are a couple of options here as to the interpretation of verse 1 and 2.  Let me give them to you.  The debate centers around the last phrase of verse 1.  for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,  The question lies in the part that says whoever has suffered.  In the Greek text this is one word.  Literally it could be translated, the suffering one or as the NASB translates it, he who has suffered.  So who is this suffering one?  Some will say that the one who suffered is the Christian who has endured persecution.  But we have a couple of problems I think with that interpretation.  For one, the suffering here in the text could be to death.  Second the last phrase in the verse says, has ceased from sin.  So this suffering one has probably died and has ceased from sin.  So if they are dead then it would be hard for them to do what is in verse 2.  ² so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

 

Not to mention that if the suffering one were us then we should go out and seek suffering if that would ensure our perfection now.  Who of us can say that we have ceased from sin?  Do we not still ask for forgiveness of sin and repent of our failures?  Who among us is perfect?  None. 

 

So I think a better way to look at this passage is to understand that the one who suffered was Christ.  And by His suffering he has ceased with sin, not in the sense that he was a sinner and now is not, but in the sense that by His suffering He has redeemed His people from their sin.  He has ended it in the sense that now those who have been born again no longer stand under the wrath of God for sin but have been forgiven through His suffering. 

When Jesus was on the cross, just before he died he said, “It is finished.”  It is completed.  What was completed?  Atonement for sin. 

 

So I would read “for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,” as parenthetical.  And it is pointing back to Christ as the example.  It would be nice to think that we ourselves have finished with sin but if that were so we would not need 1 John 1:9. 

 

Read these verses with me excluding the parenthetical statement.    

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), ² so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

 

 

Here is the way we are to think or have the resolve for.  It is verse 2.  Look at it again. 

² so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

 

Here is what we are to arm or prepare ourselves for and that is the resolve to live for the will of God.  So what is the will of God?  There are three clues in our text and they all have to do with our sanctification.  The first is in verse 2.  Look at the text. 

so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions.  

 

The first part of God’s will is for us to be holy.  Peter uses this same word passion in verse 1:14, 2:11, and here and all three times he is exhorting us to avoid these passions.

 

The second part of God’s will is what we are dealing with today and that is suffering.  The clue is in verse 4.  Look at verse 4.  . ⁴ With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign (Greek word is blasphemeo where we get our word blaspheme.  It means to slander) you;

 

The third part of God’s will is in our second point and that is evangelism.  But let’s go back and deal with the suffering.

 

I know that it has been a while since I told you what the first point was but let me give it to you again.  Suffering proves our ongoing sanctification.

 

Why do we suffer?  Look at the end of verse1 and all of verse  2.  ² so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

 

 

Here is the reason for the sufferings, we are no longer living for human passions.  Now why would that bring about suffering?  The Lord Jesus gave us the answer to that in John 15:18-21.

¹⁸ "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ "If you were of the world, the world would love its own(in other words if you lived like the world, for human passions then the world would love you because you are one of them); but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world(remember the biblical gospel of God’s election?), because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹ "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.

 

So as a result of God’s gracious action of salvation for us and His calling to a holy life that Peter outlined for us in chapter 2 and 3 we are ordained to suffer.  And now our lives have been totally turned around by the good that our Lord has bestowed upon us and this good leads to suffering. 

I want you to notice something in verse 3 that takes us a bit off subject but I think you will see the contemporary application of it and hopefully you will be edified by it.  Look at verse 3, the very first part.³ The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do 

 

I want you to substitute the word lost for the word Gentile in our text.  That is the meaning.  In the New Testament you find the word Gentile used of pagan unbelievers.  Here is the substitution.  The time that is past suffices for doing what the Lost want to do. 

 

And then we have churches in our day catering to the lost, pagan culture which we live in.  How ludicrous.  This is a slap in the face to the church and to Biblical Christianity.  I am all for evangelism and practice it as the Lord provides opportunity but I believe in evangelism God’s way and that is through the proclamation of the Gospel and not through acquiescing to the pagan culture.

 

This is how the seeker, emerging movement would have looked in the first century.  Notice again verse 3.

 

³ The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

 

Peter could have easily said to the churches there in the provinces of Asia Minor to whom he was writing this.  “Avoid the suffering.  You know what the Gentiles like to do because you liked to do it before also.  Don’t be so rigid.  You are starting to look like legalistic holier than thou pious Pharisees.  Participate with the pagans in their debauchery and then invite them to pray to receive Christ and they can be in your church also.  SO what that they don’t change because they can win more to by being in those same events.  Go to the parties and the pagan worship services.  Participate.  Show the world that you are not overly righteous.  Our goal is to build a big church. Sanctification can come later.”

This is what it looks like today.  “Have your worship services in a bar.  Serve drinks and not just soft ones.  Don’t talk about the Bible but talk about culturally relevant topics like television shows or popular music or movies.  Avoid theology because that just divides.  Our goal is to get people to accept Christ, punch their ticket into Heaven and hopefully they will tithe.  Invite the pagans to come into the services and then do some things to keep them their by giving away Super Bowl tickets, or money, or cars, or vacations.  Play popular music and avoid anything that looks too churchy.  Oh yes, and speak their language.  Use their vocabulary.”

In the downgrade of Charles Spurgeon’s day, he was raked over the coals because he said in order to really be a Christian there were certain theological concepts that a person must believe.  The liberals and men pleasers of his day told him he was too rigid.  They would say that about us today as well. 

In our lives we can let go of some convictions and avoid suffering altogether but the danger is that when that happens we stand in real danger of disproving our salvation through our ongoing sanctification. 

Peter warned of this deception in 2 Peter 2:1-3.  I told you earlier I would get to this verse.

¹ But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ² Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; ³ and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

 

So what happens as a result of this process of sanctification where we shun the way of the world and embrace God’s will?  Look again at verse 4. 

⁴ With respect to this they are surprised (literally taken by surprise) when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;

 

 

Notice the phrase flood of debauchery.  Here are the pagans living as pagans getting into as much sin as they possibly can and they find out all of a sudden that you do not want to be involved with them in their sin.  And they are surprised.  Literally shocked by it.  They don’t understand why you refuse to be like them and act like them, and talk like them so they do what comes natural and they slander you.  They speak evil of you even though you have done no evil.

 

This is the natural reaction to supernatural living.  Christ was offensive to the First Century Jew and His followers today will be offensive to the 21^st Century pagan.  And when you say that worldliness has no place in the church even so called Christians will tell you that you are either a legalist or you do not love lost people. 

So we go back to the command.  In light of what we are against, and that the weight of the world will sometimes be upon us.  That often we will have to endure slander from people we don’t know and from people we do know, should we not look more seriously at this command that Peter gives us?  Look at verse 1 and 2. 

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, ² so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

 

So what are some ways that we can do this?  How can we prepare ourselves for suffering?

1.  We can step into the realm of suffering because we can be assured that any suffering we experience for doing good is because our Heavenly Father has willed it.  Look at 4:19.

Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

 

 This verse also gives us the second way we can arm ourselves for suffering.  Notice the verse again.  The last phrase in my translation says, while doing good. 

2.  We can suffer successfully by avoiding the totally natural human desire to quit to avoid suffering.  It is perfectly natural for me to want to stop doing something if it causes pain.  If I put my hand on a hot stove I will do whatever I have to do in order to not do that again.  But Christian suffering is different.  Not only do we put our hand on the hot stove, we do it over and over again.  We don’t quit.  Jesus said this by reminding us that no one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.  We are to let our light shine before men and by doing so we will be persecuted for the sake of righteousness and by this we glorify our Father in Heaven. 

3.  We can arm ourselves for suffering by understanding that we are simply following in our Lord’s footsteps.  We become like the Master in this regard.  Oh yes, isn’t becoming like the Lord the goal of our sanctification?  Remember Romans 8:28-30?

²⁸ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; ³⁰ and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

 

 

Let me close by reading Hebrews 11:32-38 so that you may see the company you keep when you suffer for the sake of righteousness.

³² And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵ Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release , so that they might obtain a better resurrection; ³⁶ and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated ³⁸ (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

 

 

And by the way, Jesus said when we suffer and are persecuted, rejoice, be happy about it because you then become a member of a very exclusive club, the club that the world is not worthy of. 

 

Next week we will pick up the second point of this message. 

 

God, give us the grace to endure when called upon to suffer.

 

Let’s Pray.