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Living For God 1 Peter 4:1-6 Message of 1st Peter: Stand firm Message of this section: Living for God, isn’t easy, it’s good. Introduction: 1 Peter is a book that talks about pain, difficulties and trials… Peter knew about those things… the people to whom he was writing knew all about them… They were facing the persecutions of Nero! Every chapter of 1st Peter speaks of this issues: 1:6-9; 2:19-25; 3:8-22; 4:1-2, 4:12-19, 5:10. And now we are confronted with the same topic… What should we do? Human beings flee from discomfort. We move to safer neighborhoods. We choose milder climates. We buy air conditioners. We take aspirin. We come in out of the rain. We purify our water. We do not normally choose a life that puts us in pain or peril. Peter seems to have a very different view of these things. Paul had the same view, and Jesus… In Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Maybe we don’t we view pain and difficulties the way we should. But pain is a part of all of our lives… this week I heard a guy on the radio say that we all face pain, the question is whether we will choose to call it suffering. Story: Joseph Tson, was pastor of the second Baptist Church of Oradea, Romania until 1981, when he was exiled by the government. He tells the story of a man in an important position whom he had baptized. The man came to him and asked, “what shall I do? They are going to convene a meeting where in front of three of four thousand people they will expose me and mock me. They will give me five minutes to defend myself. How should I do it? “Brother,” Tson told him, “defending yourself is the only thing you shouldn’t do. This is your unique chance to tell them who you were before, and what Jesus made of you; who Jesus is, and what he is for you now.” His face shone and the man said, “Brother Joseph, I know what I am going to do.” And he did it well – so well that afterwards he was severely demoted. He lost almost half of his salary. But he kept coming to me after that saying, “Brother Joseph, you know I cannot walk in that factory now without someone coming up to me. Wherever I go, somebody pulls me in a corner, looks around to see that nobody sees him taking to me, and then whispers, ‘Give me the address of your church,’ or ‘Tell me about Jesus,’ or ‘Do you have a Bible for me?’” Every kind of suffering can become a ministry for other people’s salvation.
The key to living powerfully for God is finding the joy in trials and difficulties. The pearl of greatest-price is the glory of Christ. As we face trials the glory of Christ’s all-sufficient grace is magnified. And now we turn to our passage… and we are confronted with a question, ”What’s the therefore there for? It refers us back to verse 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. This is the pearl of great price! In order to live powerfully, we must . . .
How?
4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. · This is much more than just WWJD… the word “arm” comes from a Greek word that means a soldier putting on is armor and picking up a heavy shield and pike or spear… It’s preparing for heavy duty battle. Philippians 2:5-8 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! · “Will you choose the difficult path the sake of Jesus? Peter tells us that we must do this… or at least cultivate the attitude to do this… · Richard Wurmbrand from his book “One Hundred Prison Sermons” writes “Christians are meant to have the same vocations as their King, that of cross bearers. It is this conscience of a high calling and of partnership with Jesus which makes Christians enter prisons for their faith with the joy of a bridegroom entering the bridal room.” · We are to be motivated by the “joy set before” us! When we seek this joy, especially in the midst of pain, we see most clearly what Christ has done with sin!
2 As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do-- living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
Christ died to bring us to God and now we have a glorious new life. There is nothing to compare with this new life. When we honestly compare the eternal benefits of our new life to the list in verse 3 it’s obvious that any amount of past sinning is enough, we don’t need any more.
Luke 9:23-25 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
There is no true Christianity w/o daily cross bearing and dying. We must reject the world’s attitude. To be willing “Losers” so that we can gain true life! WE DO THIS BY…
John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
Learning obedience
does not mean switching from disobedience to obedience. It means growing deeper
and deeper with God in the experience of obedience. Hebrews 5:8 says that
“Jesus learned obedience in what he suffered,” yet he never sinned. Obedience should also be done, not because we have to, but for that same joy that allows us to seek God’s will even in suffering. · I think that so often we forget the joy of obedience. I am a world class procrastinator. · But there is joy in completing a project, in being obedient to the need. · If there is joy in being obedient in little things, think of the joy that is to be found in obeying the loving Creator of the universe.
4 They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 "You are the salt of the earth. Matthew 5:11-13a
True disciples live life from a totally different perspective. They are willing to lose their life to gain it. They are willing to lose the whole world to gain their soul. Prosperity means something totally different in the kingdom of God!
AND BECAUSE THE WORLD DOESN’T UNDERSTAND…
(John 15:20-21) 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. We may complain… “I’m not cool… I don’t listen to the same music, I don’t watch the same shows… I just don’t have any friends that I can relate to.” When we were obedient to Christ, the world notices. When we choose to follow Christ, the world will reject us. This rejection can cause us to want to give up, or give in, or it can make us bitter and want to defend ourselves by heaping abuse on the “worldly” people. We must
5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
Our power comes from God and in order to live powerfully for Him, we must leave judgment to Him. Our judgment is woefully inadequate to deal with all the injustice in the world, remember some of it is of our own creation. God is the only righteous judge.
Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Don’t get upset about the speck of sawdust in your neighbor’s eye, worry about the plank in your own eye.
All men and women will stand before God and give an account of their lives… Our job isn’t to judge people; it is to help them see the grace that God has given to us, and that he offers to them.
1 Corinthians 4:4 “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.”
-to live for Him · When we live for Him, we know His love, and His love, leads us to true repentance · It should motivate us to live in such a way that unbelievers will be curious about us and our savior. -to tell others about Him · We should have Christ’s attitude, willing to give our lives to bring others to God. -to truly worship · When we realize where we’ve been and where we are in Christ, we should drop to our knees and worship Jesus. · And then get up and get to work for Him
Matthew 13:45-46 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. “Will you choose to Live for God for the sake of Jesus? What are those things that are keeping you from being radically dependent on God. What don’t you want to give up? What is it that you are afraid to face? Christ is Sufficient for us!
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