Pilgrim Living: How we Persevere in a Fallen World
I Peter 4:1-6
Introduction: The invasion of Ukraine has caused many to flee, seeking refuge for their families in neighboring nations. We've also heard of those who have chosen to stay behind, among them Christians and missionaries. They feel their actions will be a testimony to the people that God has sent them to serve. And so, with their neighbors, many remain in harm's way, to suffer, as least for now, with their friends.
Peter wrote this letter to “God’s elect, strangers in the world…” Even though they were chosen,
he makes it clear in 1:6 that “…for a
little while, you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials…” It’s
only for a “little while,” relatively speaking, because we were created for
eternity, and the future that God has planned for us is better than we can
possibly imagine. We’ve called this series “Pilgrim Living in a Fallen World”
because the idea of living in the world as an exile and foreigner, and the
likelihood of suffering for our faith, has come up in almost every paragraph,
certainly in every chapter. Jesus
suffered willingly for us, we should expect suffering if we follow Him. I am not a salesman. If I were trying to
“sell” the Christian faith, I might have emphasized other aspects of the
blessings that come with knowing God.
But Peter is reflecting the approach of Jesus when He called His
disciples: “If anyone would be my
disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me…” (cf. Mk
8:34).
As we grow in our knowledge of God and our understanding of the gospel
our thinking, and our living, will change. We’ll have different priorities. One
thing that will happen is that we will desire others to know Him more than we will
desire our own comfort and security. Our purpose in living has shifted. It is not
about us, it is about Jesus, and His glory. In this text we see that believers
may suffer in this life as Jesus did, but even so, we choose to live for Him
and share the Good News while there is time.
The BIG Idea: As surely as Jesus suffered to bring
us to God, believers may suffer as we seek to bring the Gospel to the world.
Even so… we go!
I. Pilgrims “Arm themselves” to think like Jesus (1-2). Mid-term elections are coming up. With the events in the Ukraine and troops moving in other areas of eastern Europe, one of the things some of the candidates for Senate want us to understand, is that they will be strong on national defense. For the Ukrainians, they have mobilized men from 16 to 60 to be ready to defend their sovereignty. Peter uses similar language in a metaphorical sense to describe one means that Christians are to “arm themselves,” and that is by thinking like Jesus and by following His example,
“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.
First, we are called to think like Jesus – The word “suffer” in
verse 1 is where we get the word “passion,” as in the passion of Christ. He
endured such treatment for us, to address our sin problem – He
was willing to suffer if necessary (1).
“Therefore, since Christ
suffered in His body…” Peter immediately connects what he is saying here
with the previous context. Remember in 3:18, “Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous…”
Before that in 2:21 he said that “To this
you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that
you should follow in his steps.” Christ suffered to the point of death—for
us. Jesus had already said, “Greater love
has no one than this: that he lay down his life for his friends…” That
sacrificial love, that servant attitude is what we are called to as followers
of Jesus.
As believers in America in the 21st century, it is not easy
for us to make this kind of connection between discipleship and suffering. The Ukrainian
missionaries understand. Here, we don’t risk our life when we name the name of
Jesus. Rarely does our faith result in that level of persecution. Throughout
the history of the church, in many places on the earth, to identify yourself as
a Christ-follower has meant putting your life at risk. At this moment, in our
country, that kind of persecution is rare. Elsewhere it is happening. We have read
stories about what it cost the Christian believers in Islamic countries: sometimes
it is renounce Christ or die. Such hatred! That is what Christians through the
ages have often experienced. America, for the last 200 plus years, has been a
momentary reprieve for these few years, for many of us at least. Many, but not
all.
I’ve told you before the story of my conversion experience which
involved being a juror on a murder case. The accused killer had murdered his
wife, strangled her, and then dumped her body in a field. She had become a born-again
Christian, and her talk about heaven and hell, about sin and forgiveness, about
Jesus… drove Him “temporarily insane” he claimed, and he killed her. Carol Dubek’s faith literally cost her
life. She trusted Jesus, her hope was in Him. We get so defensive, so
afraid to speak the truth. What will people say? What will they do? Maybe they’ll laugh at me, maybe they’ll stop
being my friend. Would you want one of your friends to say to God on the day of
judgment, “No one ever told me about Jesus! No one ever told me to believe!”
What’s the worse they can do? Remember our text from last week. Peter said in
3:13-17…
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer
for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be
troubled, 15 but in your
hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense
to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and respect,
having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile
your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for
doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
Who can harm us if we are doing God’s
will? And even if they do, we will ultimately be blessed. Our attitude should
be that of Daniel’s friends, “Our God is able to deliver us… and even if He doesn’t…”
we will trust and obey. So, we remember Jesus, what He endured, and we try our
best to share Christ with those who need to know Him.
“…for whoever has suffered in the
flesh has ceased from sin…” I don’t think Peter is saying that a believer,
especially a believer who is suffering, will never sin. The point is that we
are not in bondage to sin, we don’t live under the control of our sinful
nature. Paul put it this way in Romans
6:10-12…
10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he
lives he lives to God. 11 So
you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ
Jesus. 12 Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.
That is Paul’s meaning in Galatians
2:19b-20 where he said,
“I have been crucified
with Christ. 20 It is no
longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Jesus redeemed us. He paid for our sins,
once for all, the Just for the unjust. Because, by faith, we are united with
Christ, our sins have been nailed to the cross, and we live a new life,
empowered by His resurrection.
Live like Jesus, for Jesus – Not to satisfy the flesh, but to do
God’s will (2). That is what Peter
is talking about in verse 2, the believer chooses to live life seeking to walk
according to God’s way, not guided by “human passions.” If we are seeking
God’s will, we are essentially asking, “What would Jesus do?” We know what
He did. He was the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for His sheep. He
said in that same context, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay
down His life for his friends.” And he did that. He showed his love
for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Believers may suffer in this life as Jesus
did, but even so, we choose to live for Him and share the Good News while there
is time. As surely as Jesus suffered to bring us to God, believers may suffer
as we seek to bring the Gospel to the world. Even so… we go!
II. Pilgrims love God more than they love sin: they have turned from their old way
of life to God (3-4). Where do we
find greater pleasure, in God, or in our sin?
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…
Peter is saying, “Enough with our old way of life in the world
(3)!” Do his words sound familiar? We have some of the same language in
Galatians 5:19-21,
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity,
sensuality, 20 idolatry,
sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions,
divisions, 21 envy,
drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
That is the way of the flesh, the way
of the world. The kind of living that Peter describes in our passage, and that
Paul speaks of in Galatians, are the attitudes that guide fallen humanity. Paul
also spoke to the Corinthians and said,
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of
God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you
were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by
the Spirit of our God
(I Cor 6:9-11).
God is holy, he hates sin. There are absolutes of right and
wrong, God is the Creator and He has given us His Word to discern truth. And
when we trust Christ as Savior, God begins a process of transforming our heart
and mind… and our actions will follow.
It all starts in the heart! If we know God and love God we’ll desire,
more and more, to live in a way that pleases Him. To the scattered believers in
Asia Peter says, “enough is enough,” in the past you lived like the world, but
the time has come to make choices that honor God, to act in a way that shows
our respect for His authority.
That kind of conduct will evoke a response from the people around us… It
may not always be easy.
Abuse may come from rejecting a pagan lifestyle (4). Suddenly our old friends may be surprised
when they see us acting differently, when we don’t join them in their partying
and immorality… and many will, as Peter says, “malign” us, speak evil about us,
maybe mock us, because we are acting differently. A young girl who had recently become a Christian asked the
famous Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon, “Do I need to give up my friends
now?” Spurgeon replied, “You do not have to give up any of your friends, though
some will give you up soon enough!” He
told her the truth! There is tremendous pressure that we all experience: we all want to be
liked, we want to fit in. No one wants people to think of you as “weird.” That
pressure hits us at all ages and in many situations. We know it as “peer
pressure.”
Let’s live in a way that we turn that around! We can be a positive influence on people
around us. I remember hearing a
story about a high school football player who was a Christian. He was a big guy
and a great athlete. He led his team to the best season they had ever had and
won many awards. He was being interviewed and the reporter asked him this question…
“You
know you have the reputation of being a devout Christian. Isn’t it hard to be a
devout Christian with all the peer pressure you face?”
And he
said “Ma’am, I am the peer pressure.”
Whatever your age,
we all face some degree of pressure. But Christians should be so courageous in
their faith, so unashamed, so different… that others are attracted to Him, not
repulsed. Life with Jesus means being willing to be distinct from the world!
If we are consistent,
standing for the truth while not disrespecting people, some at least, will respect our opinion. Better still, a few might be intrigued enough to ask us
about the difference in our way of life. And yes, it could be that some are
just waiting, wondering if God is real, if we can know Him, does life have
meaning. With the Evangelism Explosion ministry that I was involved in thirty
years ago, we would first converse with people about their secular life, before
moving the conversation to “spiritual” things. A few times people would say, “I
was hoping you would get to that!” The soil was ready! Believers may suffer in
this life. Jesus did, so we shouldn’t be surprised! Even so, we choose to live for Him and share
the Gospel while there is time. As surely as Jesus suffered to bring us to God,
believers may suffer as we seek to bring Him to the world. Even so… we go!
III. Pilgrims are different, because they are on a mission: Pilgrim Living means urgently
proclaiming the Gospel while there is time (5-6).
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.
A day of judgment is coming. “…but they will give an account to Him who is ready to judge…” God will
judge. There will be a day of accounting. God will not leave the guilty
unpunished. The very people who would
mock our faith or speak against our stand for morality, if they persist in
their unbelief, will one day stand before the holy judge of the universe and answer
for their sins. We are sent to them by God to warn them, to urge them to be
reconciled to God. We can go through
life and do our best to “fit in.” Maybe no one around us will ever know that we
are a Christian. God is calling us to take a stand and risk rejection, knowing
that we are God’s ambassador, we are “on assignment,” we have been entrusted
with the “Word of Life.”
We preach “good news” to the living, while there is time. Verse 6 is another difficult verse that has been
interpreted differently by various commentators. It seems most likely to me
that this is alluding to the fact that “it is appointed unto men once to die,
after this the judgement.” “Those who are dead [now]” were preached to
when they were alive! The point is that time is short. We don’t know how much
time anyone has. Whether it is an accident, an illness, or the return of the
Lord, the time will come when the day of salvation is past. Have you seen the
bumper sticker, “Life is hard… then you die.” That is some world view! I would
add a phrase, “Then what?” I.e., Are you ready?
No popularity contest. It’s not about how many “friends” we have on FB.
It won’t be about the car you drive or the neighborhood you live in, or the designer
of your clothes. We are going to stand before God, the Just and Holy Creator of
the Universe! Either we’ll be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, because we
trusted Him as our Lord and Savior, or we will stand there in the filthy rags
of our sinful life, without excuse, guilty.
While there is time, while it is day, we have a mission to carry out.
God has planned your life. He has strategically placed you where you are, and
He has placed a small number of people on the “front burner” of your life.
These are people you see regularly, people you rub shoulders with. I’ve said
before that experts tell us that for most of us, at any point in time, 8-15 of
them that we see regularly. Your life is
a witness to them. Some may be believers that have fallen away from church
attendance, others may have not yet put their trust in Christ. What would God
have you to do?
What is God saying to me in this passage? As surely as Jesus suffered to
bring us to God, believers may suffer as we seek to bring Him to the world.
Even so… we go, we choose to live for Him and share the Good News while there
is time!
What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Things are starting to open up, post-pandemic.
If you have been watching online, I think it is time for most of us to come
back to church. If you have been attending in person, I think we can start to feel
freer to invite others to come. By now, I hope you have made a list of people
that God has placed in your life friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, relatives.
A few of them are not attending church regularly, some probably don’t know the
Lord. If you haven’t written those names down yet, consider doing it. Why?
Writing their names down reminds you to pray for them, daily! Then we look for
opportunities to share Christ with them. A tract. A Gospel. A testimony, sharing
what Christ means to you. Will you pray
for God’s leading, and embrace the calling to be a witness where God has put
you? Jesus is still building His church! Let’s see, together, what God will do!
Amen.
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