Follow Christ

HBI - Be prepared for the end by following Jesus in this way, as He suffered and and defeated sin and death so our salvation means death to sin and one day having victory over sin and death.

Intro

That idea of being prepared so as to make the best use of our time here on earth is a theme we see often in the bible. This is important to remember if we say Jesus is our living hope we need to live in the hope and that means making the best use of the time we have here on earth, by preparing ourselves for the end. We can make the best use of our time by following Jesus in His response to sin. We are in a struggle right now and we need to be prepared to do what needs to be done to follow God.

I remember once when I was in India on a missions trip We where preparing to do a kids program. We had a series of 5 kids programs so we could do a week long VBS. We also had a youth series and a general audience series prepared. We where told that we had to prepare for a kids program that day so we got all of our stuff ready and hopped in the taxi to take us to another kids program. We had done a lot of schools and such for kids and we where expecting something similar to that. where we ended up though was Mother Terressas home for the dying and destitute. That threw us for a loop. No one including the staff knew what was going on. So we did a little program for them, helped do Laundry in great stone vats, helped in the garden. It was quite the experience.

In this life we need to be prepared. We are told that Jesus is coming soon but in the mean time we must be prepared. Jesus is our living Hope but it is in the midst of a chaotic world. We deal with the power of sin and the evil around us and in order to be prepared we learn that we need to follow Jesus. We need to cultivate a certain attitude towards different aspects of our lives. To live in the living Hope that we have amidst the chaos of the world around us we again look to what it looks like to follow Jesus.

1-2 - Our attitudes towards sin

First off we prepare ourselves to see what it means to follow Jesus by our attitude towards sin. To follow Christ we must see what Jesus did with Sin and how that should affect our lives.

1 Peter 4:1 CSB

1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same understanding—because the one who suffers in the flesh is finished with sin—

another difficult passage we are faced with. in a continuation of what has been said already, therefore. we jump back to 3:18. Since Christ has Suffered in the flesh for our sins, Since He has suffered for us we are to follow the example that was set before us.

arm ourselves - When it comes to following Jesus we are told to deal with sin in a certain way. We are to arm ourselves with the understanding that Jesus had. This word picture that it paints should sound familiar. To arm ourselves or to put on is a phrase that brings with it some sense of urgency. Like there is some great threat coming and we must be prepared for battle. It should get us looking and waiting and watching to see what may be coming to attack us. Look back to the armor of God, it is the same imagery. Our spiritual armor is what we are to put on.

Romans 6:13 CSB

13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness.

I like How Paul describes this in the book of Romans. Weapons for righteousness ready to battle for the K of G. But what the weapons, the armor we are to arm ourselves with is the point of view of Jesus. We do not fight against sin with literal weapons, it is not our strength that we battle with but rather the with the point of view that Jesus had.

with the same understanding - with the same insight or point of view.

The point of view of Jesus, the way we are to follow Christ is in this way. As he suffered and defeated the power of sin in the flesh so we must have the same understanding, that our salvation means a death to the consequences of sin and one day being done with the power of sin. We are dead to sin but alive in Christ. This is following the same example Given in Romans 6:7, being dead to sin but alive in Christ. But this passage deals not yet with the death to sin but still in the suffering stages of dealing with sin.

as we live in the flesh we will suffer in the flesh as we battle sin as Christ suffered in the flesh which points to one day having victory over sin altogether. Our union with Christ shows us that we are dead to sin though it is a battle we suffer through this life. We must arm ourselves with Jesus, though we battle sin, the strength to withstand comes from Him alone. It is when we are at our end, when we are about to fall to temptation to sin and we have no more that the strength of Jesus often comes in, that is often how long it takes us to turn to Jesus anyways. living in darkness is always easier then fighting it.

but as we identify with Jesus though we suffer through temptations to sin we also rejoice in the victory we can over it through Jesus as he defeated sin and death so will we defeat sin and death one day. We are to have this same perspective that we will one day be free of the sufferings of the world. This is part of our Living Hope. our ultimate freedom comes from knowing that Jesus defeated sin and we will to one day. This is what we learned Jesus proclaimed to the all when he died, “I have won” and we will partake of that victory one day as well if we are His followers.

arm ourselves with this understanding of the same perspective of Jesus, we may suffer in the flesh but will have freedom in Jesus in the end. we do this for 2 reasons. (not the flesh/but the will of God)

1 Peter 4:2 CSB

2 in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.

so we live now not for our own desires, for we are no longer living for ourselves but for the Lord. we will no longer live according to the fleshly desires but the will of God. Even though we may struggle now.We live for the will of God having hope in the victory we will have n the K of G

3-6 - Following the World

we have wasted enough time following the will of the world, that was time wasted.

1 Peter 4:3 CSB

3 For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.

We waste time doing lot of things. I remember when I started reading a Good book series for the first time. I was reading the left Behind series at college. A Christian book series that gives a fictional account of the lives of fake people during the tribulation. Not a good place to get your end times theology but a good read. Man I couldn't put the books down and wasted many hours that should have been used for homework instead. Sometimes that has happened to me playing video games as well, though not so much now.

Here we see that we have already wasted so much of our lives in sin. maybe you came to the Lord early on in life and never really messed up that much but any time spent in sin is to much. It is time wasted. Then we come to Jesus and our lives are changed and we realize how much of our lives have been wasted in living for the world. we used to live like this but now that our lives have changed the way we live should change. The idea is we should have changed our lives. (look at the disciples and where they came from). We go from wasting our lives in useless things to living for the will of God in the hope and joy of the freedom we will receive in the K of G.

But when our lives have changed and we act different people may start to slander us, this is when we go back to the Jesus perspective. Remember the victory He won that will be ours, that is already ours.

1 Peter 4:4–5 CSB

4 They are surprised that you don’t join them in the same flood of wild living—and they slander you. 5 They will give an account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.

don't worry about what they think, for the will have to give an account for what they have done, and their sin. They will all stand before the king of kings. Live for Jesus not what other people think. Follow His example.

1 Peter 4:6 CSB

6 For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged in the flesh according to human standards, they might live in the spirit according to God’s standards.

they have heard the gospel, they have been confronted with God and when they die they will be held account The time of the preaching was when thy where alive but they will be held to account when they are dead. Their response to the good news is what is held into account.

when alive both them and those that follow Jesus are held accountable by human standards. Those who have followed Jesus may still be looked down on for their past life. Those that refuse the gospel by human standards may look good for the coming judgement. But God will have the final say. We must therefore live now according to God's standards.

7-11 - Preparing for the end.

This alone should spur us on to do what God has called us to do, but if that doesn't, then this should. We must prepare for the battle because we are also preparing for the end.

1 Peter 4:7–11 CSB

7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be alert and sober-minded for prayer. 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

The end is near, so we must be prepared to meet Jesus in the way that we live our lives. Loving others, being hospitable to others, using the gifts God has given us for His glory, speaking the words of God serving God in all things. This is not a complete list but the point is that we must be on our Guard and prepared to meet Jesus in the way that we live our lives and treat others.

So What?

The end of this sermon is near, so what should we leave here with after going through this passage. Jesus is our living hope we are told from the very beginning of this passage. He is our living hope in the midst of this world that is not our home so what should that do to our lives.

Follow Jesus in your attitude towards sin.

There are many aspects to this but to sum this up in case you forgot. As Jesus died to sin and had victory over sin and death we are to follow Jesus example by arming ourselves with His example. Sin is going to tempt us as we live our lives for Jesus so we must be armed and ready with the perspective of Jesus. and that perspective is that Jesus has victory over sin and the strength for us to overcome comes from Him. As we live lives for Jesus we need to be reminded that we to will one day have complete victory over sin and death.

Be Patient with the Lost

We live our lives for Jesus and those lost in sin do not understand, they are to used to the darkness and sometimes don't see why we do the things we do. A person that goes from being lost in sin to alive for Jesus is often seen as crazy by their family. They do not understand why they have changed so much. We may be slandered because of the way we live but in the end they will be held accountable for what they have done.

That is unless they turn to Jesus. This should scare us as well. As our attitudes towards sin turn to mimic Jesus life it should scare us that so many people are going to spend eternity in the wrath of God. They will get their rewards but they also have a chance for eternity in Jesus as well.

Be prepared for the end.

We look to the end with expectation and a sense of urgency knowing Jesus is coming again and our job hear ion earth is not nearly done yet. We look to the return of Christ and strive to follow Jesus and pattern ourselves after Him. We want to be ready for the return of Jesus and hear “well done good and faithful servant.” But it should also scare us into a sense of urgency knowing that Jesus is coming again and so many people around us here do not know Him.

do not waste your time but invest it by doing the will of God.