Holiness - A Christians Life Style
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Intro
Intro
Romans 6 page 942 in the pew bible
announcemnts
Suffering for something good is always worth it
Suffering unnecessarily is never worth it
Going for a walk or going hiking
Elise just wants to walk
I want to conquer something
I dont mind the pain as long as their is a result at the end
Elise wants to not struggle but enjoy the sceneray
Christians we arent on a walk we are on a journey
We have something to suffer for and thats what we will look at today
Read 1 Peter 4:1-6 Page 1016 in the pew bibles
1 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 For 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.
1 Peter is a letter to believers to encourage them in their suffering
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
It is a letter that encourages us as believers who are living in a hostile world
Its a letter of hope to the believer that we have something better to live for
We are just sojourners here we are just passing through this momentary life here on earth headed toward eternity
and here at this point in his letter Peter is trying to help those Christians living in an unchristian world
Those outsiders
Those people who are not of this world
TO THINK LIKE A CHRISTIAN
A Holy way of thinking
A Holy way of thinking
1 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 we see Peter calling us to a different way of thinking
A way of thinking that is not like the world thinks in the flesh
But its a way of thinking that is separate from this world
Christianity is a thinking religion
It’s not a religion based around feeling rather a religion based around knowledge and a way of thinking
This is what Peter is saying Christian prepare your mind for the battle of suffering
Put it in your mind that you will suffer
If Christ suffered then you will too
Thats what Peter is referring back to when he says “Since therefore”
Namely 1 Peter 3:18
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
Christs suffering is what led to his glorification
Jesus endured the suffering of the cross to achieve victory over death
Jesus suffering on the cross led to 1 Peter 3:22
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
So Peter calls the believer the exile to this same way of thinking
This way of thinking about suffering that keeps eternity in view
As Christians we Understand that suffering in the life of a believer is not a bug rather its a feature
We will face suffering in this life
This is a truth that is echoed throughout the scriptures
From Jesus to Paul to Peter to James to John
Christians will suffer in this should be our mindset
“Since Christ suffered, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking”
We arm ourselves
We ready for battle so we arent surprised
we put on this way of thinking
of understanding
That since christ was glorified through his suffering
We should expect nothing different
We should be ready for the suffering that will come
And we should expect to endure it so that we may receive our imperishable wreath
Arm yourself with the way of thinking that says even when suffering is upon me I will glorify God
I will choose suffering over disobedience just as my savior did
Peter wants us to arm ourselves with this way of thinking so that when we are tempted in our flesh we long to live for the will of God
This is the mark of a believer that their passions are no longer for worldly things, but for the will of God
Christian your though process should be focused on the will of God just as Jesus was
This is what it looks like to live as christians in an unchristian world
We have a different thought process this will play out in various ways in our lives
It will play out in our words and our actions
It will play out in our friend choice
It will play out in our career choices
Christians when we arm oursleves with this Christlike thinking our lives will be transformed
As pastor Keith always says right thinking leads to right actions
Part of this right thinking is how we think about our past conduct
A Holy Perspective About the Past
A Holy Perspective About the Past
3 For 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.
Peter makes it clear that the past is over and we need to put it behind us
As Christians we shouldnt remember our pre saved selves fondly
We shouldnt look back and think those were the days rather we should look forward and say there will be the days
Christians we must understand that the time for living in sinful passions is over
We have already experienced the best sin had to offer
Peter so beautifully states it for us the past suffices for doing what the gentiles do
Everything you did in the BC era of your life is sufficent for sinning
We already spent probably too much time living how we thought we should live
We have had enough gratifying and glorifying ourselves
Peter contrasts doing God’s will with the will of the gentiles
in Verse 2 we we are called to no longer live for human passions but for the will of God
And if that werent enough to convince us he puts this list forward as things that are in direct contradiction to the will of God
Many of these sins are in obvious gross contradiction to what the will of God
But there is little doubt that many of Peter’s readers and us today have probably taken part in more than we care to admit in our days before Christ.
This is the past for a believer
As peter laid out earlier in his letter we have been born again through God’s great mercy we have been ransomed from this old way of conducting ourselves
18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
Christian you have been ransomed from this past do not return to it
In fact be so opposed to that former way of life that even when those around you think you have lost your mind
Christian dont have anything to do with the past you and when as peter says you are maligned for not participating know that you are doing God’s will
Again will you take suffering over sin or will you go back
A true christian will choose to suffer as opposed to going back to their past conduct because they have armed themselves with Christ like thinking
They will endure the pain of the jeering and the joking when its notcied that they arent like they used to be
The will endure loosing relationships
They will endure all this because they have been made new with a new heart and new desires
They will endure this because they know that their will be judgement at the end of days
A true believer knows the God who will come to Judge and the living and the dead
A true Christian who has a holy way of thinking understands that God will be the judge and their job is to be obedient to His will.
a Holy way of thinking causes us to have a Holy perspective on our past conduct and the coming judgement of that conduct
A Hope for the believer and unbeliever
A Hope for the believer and unbeliever
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.
Finally Peter reminds his readers that they should continue in this way of holy thinking because of the gospel
Because there is a hope for believers that though they may be judged in the flesh
They might be put to death in the flesh but….
But the christians understands eternity waits for them on the other side of that death
Peter wants his readers to be encouraged here the suffering or maligning you may face in this life will be brief in light of eternity.
The worst thing that could happen to our physical bodies is death
what is death in the face of eternity but a doorway to glory
A door way to the presence of our Lord
All humans on this earth will die wether they come by natural causes or some other way
This has been true since the fall
Death comes for all
The difference is how the believer thinks about it
The believer says its gain
The gentile trys to avoid it
This may be the vary thing that the gentiles will use to revile us
“see if your God was good you wouldnt die”
Your friend wouldnt die
Your relative wouldnt die
You wouldnt face trials
your life would be good like mine
You see just as the gentile will be surprised when you change they will also misunderstand death and
To the gentile loosing this life is the worst thing that could happen
but to the believer its the best
To live is Christ but to Die that is gain
This is the reason for the gospel
to give hope to the exile that something greater awaits us
The gospel is preached so that the believer will choose suffering over sin
The gospel is preached so that we can have confidence that even those who may have passed away are being saved
Those who have believed in their hearts and confessed with their mouths that Jesus is Lord
Wether their death was at the hands of the unrighteous or from the natural consequence of sin in this life
They are present with the Lord have been saved from eternal punishment
The hope for us as present believers is that eternity living int he spirit the way God does is before us
We can endure now
We can suffer for now
We can choose suffering over sin because
Eternity awaits
As Christians we arm ourselves with a Holy Eternal way of thinking that allows us to forget our past way of life. Enduring the suffering that will come because of the change in our life because we have this great hope given to us by the gospel of an eternity spent in the presence of our heavenly father.