1 Peter 4 Arm Yourselves

1 Peter 4:1-6

Arm yourselves with the same mind. (Verse 1)

Do Not Waste Time. (2-3)

Everyone Will Give an Account (4-6)

Therefore… In light of what Christ has done… In light of what Christ has done for us (Suffered in the Flesh, Became our Sin, Brought us to God, He is our Ark, our Great Salvation), In light of Christ being Lord or Lords, King of Kings, being over all powers and principalities...

Arm yourselves with the same mind, the mind of Christ, as you go through life and suffering.

The picture is a military picture, of putting on armor and preparing for battle. We are going into a battle. Christian arm yourselves as you go into life, into the world, into the battle...

Put on the same mindset. Put on the right mindset.

Suffering is normal. It is part of being in a fallen world, in a fallen body, with a fallen nature. Suffering will come to all. Suffering came to Christ. Suffering does not mean that God does not love me. Suffering does not mean that I necessarily did anything wrong. God is Sovereign over my suffering.

(Get this in your mind)Christ suffered. I will suffer. Christ suffered unjustly. We may suffer unjustly. Christ was vindicated. We shall be vindicated. Christ was raised. We shall be raised. Christ overcame. I will overcome through Christ. Death may come to us all, but Christ has overcome death… and He is the one Who has carried us through death into life and life everlasting.

(Get this in your mind)The greatest enemy, death, has been ultimately taken away. So the fear of death is taken away. We shall pass through death unharmed into the arms of God.

Now… Therefore… how shall we live?

We can live with freedom. What does Satan have on me? What can this world do to me? We have peace with God. We live with peace, comfort, and joy. We live knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God we have through Christ. Suffering draws us to Christ… not away.

We live… ready… alert…and sober. We live making the most of our time. We don’t waste time. We don’t waste life. We don’t live a life of fear and worry. We live a life of faith, of passion, of zeal, of truth… a focused and purposeful life… a life focused on Jesus and His mission for us.

Christian, you are in Christ. You belong to Christ. Christ has save you from the wrath and judgement to come, from hell and destruction. Christ hung on nails, bled out, and took on your hell… because of your sin...

Therefore… how shall we live?

We die to sin. We hate our sin. We turn from sin.

We are no longer living for ourselves. We are living for Jesus. We are no longer living to serve the lusts of our flesh and seeking to sin all the days of our lives… no… we are turning from our sins to live for this Jesus who has lived and died to take away our sins...

We know the will of God. He wants us to repent of our sins, trust in Christ, and follow Christ all the days of our lives. He wants to make us holy. He wants to reveal Himself to us and to the world through us. His will is for us to be fully satisfied and content with Him as we live for His Kingdom to Come and His Will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is also His Will: Do Not Waste Time.

2. Do Not Waste Your Time.

Life is short… we must make the most of our time. We must make the most of our life. We must make the most of our salvation and victory...

Verse 2 - The rest of our time on planet earth… is not going to look like running with the world. It is going to look like running to Jesus and with Jesus. It is going to be a holy time, a godly time… a time of doing the will of God.

We have spent enough time doing the will of Satan and this world. We have given them enough time.

There is a list here: If you are living lifestyles of licentiousness (immorality), lusts, drunkenness, revelries (life consumed with partying and substance abuse, and idolatry (loving things more than God)… You are living lives of waste. You are wasting your life. You are wasting the life that God has given you… and these lifestyles indicate that you do not have Christ.

Someone might say, “Yes, but the pain of suffering leads me to medicate in this way. The present suffering causes me to self-medicate and to fill my mind with other things… to numb the pain, and take my mind off of it.”

Yes, that is what you are doing. But is that what we should do?

No, we must arm ourselves with the Mind of Christ. No, we must be Spirit filled and Spirit controlled. No, we must be alert, sober, serious and watchful as we go through our time and life… through the pain… so that we can truly live, and live lives that glorify God.

We must have the mind of Christ about this. Our suffering will either make us bitter or better. Our suffering will either embitter us or purify us. Our suffering is either going to cause us to turn to Christ or turn to other things. We are either going to worship Christ… or other things… we will either waste life, or make the most of our time… by turning to Christ.

What do you want to do?

Christians resist sin. Christians suffering in resisting desires of the sinful nature. What do you do?

Look around you. There is a broad path and there is a narrow path. Many are on a path without God, dealing with their pain without God, blaming their pain on God, and never seeking to resist temptations.

There are people going down the currents of the times, swimming away from the pain of Christian resistance, and going with the flow of worldly/carnal living…

Verse 4 - People who live like that (for themselves and worldy pleasures)… they will look at Christians and think they are something strange.

Christians are called to be strange. Some of us are strange in other ways, but all Christians are “strangers”… in this world. We look at life and pain differently. We deal with sin and temptations differently.

We look at Jesus differently.

He was crushed for my sins… Why would I want to live for sin. This world crucified My Savior.... Why would I be friends with this world. My Jesus was hated and despised, rejected and suffered greatly...

So, no… I am going to embrace this life with Christ and follow Him wherever He goes. Why? Because He died for Me. He is King and Master. The world didn’t do that for me...

I am going embrace my cross and imitate my Savior. He died for me… so I will live for Him… No matter what.

I am not looking to pills or alcohol. I am looking to Christ. I am not looking to parties to distract me or money, sex, and materials to give me direction… I am looking to Jesus now and forever.

Yes, Living this kind of life is strange… to the world around us. And they may speak evil about you...

But we all are going to give an account one day.

3. Everyone will give an account.

And we will not stand before them on that day; we will stand before God and give an account.

Christ will judge everyone. Everyone who has lived, died, those who will be raptured… everyone will have their day at the Judgement Seat.

The Gospel has been preached and must be preached so that those who are dead in sins will become born again. And those who are born again, even though their flesh may die… their spirits will continue to live with Christ Who is waiting on us.

The baptism we saw earlier is the outward/visible sign of the inward reality. You were dead in your sins, but you have been immersed into Christ. You were dead, but you have been raised to walk in the newness of life.

You were living lifestyles of sin, but you were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Now live for Him. Live a full Life. Don’t waste your life.

You who will believe will be judged by your works as followers of Christ. Don’t waste your time. Do not waste your life. Live for God. Live to please God. Live in such a way that you will not be ashamed on that day when you shall see Him face to face.

The world may speak evil of you, mistreat you, and maybe even kill you. But that’s all they can do.

There will be an afterlife for us and them. But unless they repent… they will be judged with a judgement that will be absolutely horrific, before the Great White Throne Judgement.

For those who have rejected Christ… that is where they will stand… Condemned, guilty, and they will be punished forever in torment.

These will have wasted time, wasted life, and will have given themselves to this world, and lived a life of sin.

Their lifestyles will tell you who they are. When life gets hard they will run to everything but Jesus. When pain and suffering occur, they will run to anything and everything but Christ for help.

Why? Because Jesus is not their Savior and Lord. They don’t have Christ. They do not trust Christ. And that is why they don’t have the mind of Christ. They don’t want it.

But Church, you… You have Christ. You have the Mind of Christ. Put on the Mind of Christ and Grow while you suffer.

Arm yourselves with His mindset.

Don’t Waste Time.

Live as if you will give an account to God one day.