Rethink Suffering and Live for God
Notes
Transcript
Good morning, Gateway Chapel!
Good morning, Gateway Chapel!
If we haven’t met, my name is Chris and I’m the pastor of Gateway Chapel, the lovely church family who gets to gather here for worship.
As you can tell, we’re going to have a baptism this morning. Our own Alli Taylor is getting baptized after the sermon as a sign of her love for Jesus and her unity with him. It’s gonna be an awesome celebration.
If you’re new and you’re wondering what it looks like to follow Jesus with us, there are connect cards in the seat backs. The QR code on them will take you to a website with a few different options, there’s a place to sign up for a weekly email, a link for prayer requests which go straight to myself and the elder team, as well as a link for online giving. If you’re not a QR code person, you can just write on it and slip it in the black box by the lending library.
A few dates coming up in June…
On June 2, we are doing another family potluck right after the service. It’s a great way to enjoy time together as the people of God and bless one another with good food, so please mark that on your calendars.
On the following Sunday, June 9, we’re having a membership class, which if you consider Gateway Chapel your home church or are curious about learning more about being a member at Gateway, this is your next step with us. Lunch and childcare will be provided, please email info@gatewaychapelpnw.com to RSVP.
And then Saturday, June 22 is the Compassion Clinic just down the road here at Faith Covenant. It’s a free medical clinic available to anyone who needs it and an opportunity to serve our community and share the gospel. Many of you have volunteered in the previous two years, i’ve you like to do so again or perhaps for the first time, all this info is on our weekly email to learn more and sign up.
One last thing before we pray for our missionaries this morning is a reminder that this month we are seeking to raise $3,000 in support of Church in Hard Places, which is a ministry that helps plant churches in under resourced parts of the world. I know many of us have experienced the love of Christ and grown in faith through this local church, and we want others around the world to experience Jesus through a healthy local church, and Church in Hard Places helps make that happen.
We are adopting a cohort of 8 pastors in South Africa who are meeting in August as a part of a 2-year intensive where these pastors are being trained to plant churches in their communities. The $3,000 we raise will go towards the expenses of that intensive.
So far we’ve raised just over $1,100, and we’ve got a ways to go. Please give! You can give online at gatewaychapelpnw.com and when you go to give you just select the fund “Special Offering” or you can give via cash or check and just make sure you mark that it’s for the special offering.
This month we are praying for the missionaries we support and today we are praying for Gene and Anne Poppino. Gene is an elder here at Gateway, Anne is our Treasurer and they serve on the pastoral care team with Cadence International, a missions organization which brings the gospel to American Military around the world. Would you join me as we pray for them together.
I will be headed to Poland next Thursday, May 23rd, so it's very timely for our church to pray for that trip. I will be teaching two times at the conference: a session on grieving and farewell fatigue, and a session on personal prayer retreats and soul care.
I also would love for prayer for health--I've gotten sick way too often when I travel!
I will spend two days with Jarrod and Katcha in Prague.
A final prayer request is that my counseling appointments bring comfort, wisdom and direction to our missionaries.
Intro
I have only once in my entire life been offered weed.
That’s probably not a shock to anyone.
It was actually just down the street.
I was walking my dog, the guy says, “Hey! Want some weed?” And I said, “No thank you!” And he said, “Have a nice day!” A rather nice interaction with a neighbor.
When we read this passage, I wonder if that type of scenario comes to mind.
Verbal invitations to sin.
And that’s real! Maybe you’re here and before following Jesus, it was sex, drugs, and rock and roll and now that you’re following Jesus, some of your same friends are still inviting you back into that life.
Maybe your friends invite you to do things or say things that you know go against your values as a follower of Jesus. That’s a real battle.
For many of us I wonder if we hear this passage and dismiss it because, well shoot, no one has invited me to any lawless idolatry or orgies recently!
But I wonder if what Peter is getting at something very relevant to us today.
How do we remain faithful to Jesus when it hurts and the culture at large says that the ultimate goal of life is doing what feels good?
How do you endure suffering when everyone else is running towards pleasure? How is following Jesus better when it can mean feeling worse?
How can we remain faithful to Jesus when it costs us?
Peter seeks to pastorally address these questions in this text of 1 Pet. 4:1-6.
This morning we’re in 1 Pet. 4:1-6 as Annika read, and in this passage I believe Peter wants us to
Rethink suffering and live for God.
Peter wants us to Rethink suffering and live for God.
Peter will show us how to think and live (v. 1-3), why that’s a challenge (v. 4), and where we can find hope (v. 5-6).
PAUSE
First, How to think and live
1 PET. 4:1-6 is in the middle of a section in which Peter helps us understand how to live as chosen exiles in a hostile world.
Peter taught us how to live as citizens of earth while we being citizens of heaven, he taught slaves to submit to their masters, he taught about marriage, and from chapter 3:8 through 4:11 he’s talking to everyone in the church.
And that’s a lot of people. Peter wrote to churches in Asia Minor which comprise an area about the size of the PNW. As Fletcher told us last week, this is a huge audience.
And Peter’s aim in writing to this massive audience is to bring hope.
That’s why we’re calling this series Hope as Exiles - Peter is giving us hope as people who find it increasingly strange to live as the people of God in our own cities.
Do you feel that?
It says in verse 1 that since therefore -
The therefore connects to the previous passage about Christ’s victory in his resurrection.
Therefore Christ suffered in the flesh
When did he do that? On the cross. He died for you and for me.
Not only that, but Christ suffered throughout his life.
Hebrews says he is a high priest who can empathize with our weaknesses because he went through suffering, just like we did.
Isaiah calls him a man of sorrows.
He is a king who is familiar with pain.
Since therefore he suffered in the flesh arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.
Arm yourselves is this battle language but not in terms of a physical battle but a battle of our minds.
Equip yourselves with this attitude.
He’s said something very similar back in
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
So what’s he saying here?
I think he’s saying - rethink suffering.
Expect to suffer. If you follow Christ, arm yourself with the attitude that Christ suffered.
Suffering may be a part of your growth plan.
Don’t be surprised. Equip yourself, arm yourself, ready yourself with an attitude that my Savior suffered, so I will suffer too.
V - 2 For, whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
So whoever suffers no longer sins? That’s definitely not true. If you’ve had cancer or battled mental illness do you still sin? Yeah.
What’s he saying? Let’s keep reading.
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.
How you think about suffering affects how you live.
Christ suffered so we will suffer.
Christ’s suffering on the cross meant that sin was dead. So if we follow Jesus, sin no longer has power over us. Christ raised from the dead and lives a new heavenly life. We were raised with Christ and now live a new kind of heavenly life.
Alli Taylor is getting baptized today, and a famous baptism passage could help clarify what Peter is saying.
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
If you follow Jesus, Christ’s suffering and death is as much a part of your family history as the day your parents first laid eyes on each other.
Your old life is gone. You still sin, but your allegiance has shifted, your desires have changed.
So now, suffering isn’t a threat but it’s a reminder that you are joined with Christ.
Arm yourself with the attitude that suffering WILL happen as we follow Christ AND it can help remind us that we are called to live for God.
RETHINK SUFFERING AND LIVE FOR GOD.
Why?
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.
The commentary called this a vice list.
What’s your vice list? I kind of doubt this is your vice list.
Peter’s audience lived in a culture where these things took place as a part of the worship of the local gods.
It’d be like if Rhubarb Days was dedicated to Dionysus and if you went to get rhubarb pie at Rhubarb days you had to offer a sacrifice to Dionysus.
Saying no to these activities meant completely removing themselves from many of their neighbors.
What does this vice list have to do with us?
Our culture similarly worships pleasure and entertainment.
If it feels good, do it! If it’s fun, go for it!
It’s easy to say, “And that’s why I don’t go to burning man” or “And I’m glad I’m not like those pagans!”
But man, the more I think about it I really need to rethink suffering because I often live my life with the primary goal of feeling good and having fun over and above living for God even if it means suffering.
Isn’t it great news that Jesus didn’t think about suffering like I do.
Jesus suffered for you.
Jesus suffered for me.
He suffered mental anguish, some kind of panic attack in the Garden of Gethsemane and begged God three times to take away the suffering.
But ultimately he prayed that God’s will be done.
And he did this for us.
Peter calls us to rethink suffering and live for God. Enough is enough, the time is past for doing things the way we want all the time. Rethink suffering and live for God.
What suffering in your life might God be calling you to rethink? What would it look like to live for what God wants?
PAUSE
First Peter showed us how to think and live and now he acknowledges why this is a challenge
Verse 3 With respect to this
This being their list of vices in verse 3
They are surprised
Genuinely shocked!
When you do not join them
This is actually the phrase, “When you don’t run with them”
Picture people running into Target on Black Friday…and you’re just standing there and someone says, “Why aren’t you running with us?”
In the same flood - or excess
of debauchery
What a church word -
Debauchery is like overindulgence. I only needed a couple chips and I had three bags.
Your neighbors are confused that you no longer join in worshiping Dionysus at the temple. They’re trying to figure you out.
Not only that, but it says
And they malign you
Slander you, insult you, make fun of you, shame you, and in an eastern honor/shame society this was disastrous.
By the way, Peter can empathize with them.
He’s not immune to peer pressure.
Under pressure from others, Peter denied Jesus three times shortly after Peter told Jesus himself that he would never deny him.
I think Peter is concerned that people are going to do the same, and he wants to save them from that same heartache, or worse.
To rethink suffering and live for God can lead to public shame and will inevitably lead to a life that others find odd.
If we told someone, “Yeah happiness is not my top priority in life, it’s to be the kind of person God wants me to be and do what he wants me to do, even if that means suffering.” That’s not normal.
If we said, “My kids are amazing and I want to adore Jesus even more.”
If we said, “I don’t want more money. It could actually distract me from being the person God has called me to be.”
Thinking and living that way is hard because it’s not normal.
And yet again Jesus experienced this, too and helps us as we suffer.
Jesus was maligned, slandered, and insulted, and yet he remained faithful.
He was not moved by insults to change course, but listened to God’s voice and endured suffering for us.
Following Jesus through insults is better than following our desires because if we suffer with Jesus now we get glory forever. If we get temporary pleasure now but reject Jesus, we will not share in the hope Peter is promising.
We must rethink suffering and live for God.
He’s shown us how to think and live, why that’s challenging, and finally where to find hope.
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.
Where can we find hope to to endure suffering and live for God?
First, God’s judgment
If there’s an aspect of faith that I neglect it is the reality of the coming judgment of God.
9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
The early church was confused why following the king of the world felt like losing.
They can find hope because they can know the bad guys don’t win!
As Fletcher said last week, Jesus beats the bad guys and he WILL defeat them fully one day.
These folks who are slandering Christians will have to give an answer to God for their lives. These folks will be resurrected one day to rise before Jesus the Judge and he will say kind of like he said to Saul, “Why were you persecuting me?”
This gives us hope because we know that God is going to deal with evil. So we don’t have to hit back.
Second, the resurrection
For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead.
Spiritually dead? No literally dead. Peter is saying the good news that Jesus suffered on the cross to forgive our sins was preached to people who are no longer alive.
And in Peter’s day, like ours, there was a belief that there was no coming day of judgment. So if you were dead, you didn’t have to account for what you did while you were alive! Peter says that’s not the case.
That though judged in the flesh the way people are
We will be judged based on how we lived our lives here
They might live in the spirit the way God does
Peter is saying that there are those who said yes to Jesus, died, and will one day be a part of the great coming judgment of God and they will live in the spirit the way God does.
There are people who lived two-thousand years ago who were martyred for their faith who will be raised for the day of judgment and will be given a resurrection life.
For those of us who rethink suffering and live for God through faith in Jesus we will die one day and then be raised and judged by God and he will say there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and we will live like God.
Maybe you need to hear this morning that’s it’s not always going to be like this.
In the words of NT Wright, God is utterly committed to set the world right in the end.
There is a coming day of judgment and a resurrection so we can have hope to rethink suffering and live for God.
Peter calls us to rethink suffering and live for God, he showed us how to think and live, why that is extremely challenging, and where we can find hope.
21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
If you haven’t trusted Jesus, consider what he did for you. What if there is more to life than what we can see? What if we have to give an account for our lives one day? What if there is a new kind of life available today?
Not many of us are going to be offered weed or invited to unlawful activity this week.
But it does take rethinking things when we live in the age of Costco, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. The ultimate reality in life is not my personal happiness. It’s Jesus. He is the real thing. And he suffered and died. And so for those of us who follow him, we have to rethink suffering that it’s not the enemy but God can actually use it for our good to remind us what’s important.
Can we have fun? Absolutely? Does this passage say you can’t go to parties? No it does not. Does it say you can’t have a beer? No! Jesus had a ton of fun, Jesus went to a lot of parties, Jesus drank wine, but his ultimate goal was to do the will of God even when it cost him.
Pray
Baptism
We rethink suffering and live for God because of what God has done for us to save us from our old lives of sin and death. And baptism is the physical sign of not only what God has done for us but our union with him.
And this morning we are celebrating Alli Taylor
1 Peter The Motivation to Break from Sin (4:1–3)
“Peter is calling upon believers to arm themselves with a mental readiness to suffer, because if, like Christ, they are committed to following God’s will, then, like Christ, they too will suffer. Suffering, then, is a sign of their solidarity with Christ, and for that reason they must be prepared to suffer.”
1 Peter The Motivation to Break from Sin (4:1–3)
The result of being done with sin is that one will desire to follow God’s will rather than human lusts.
1 Peter The Motivation to Break from Sin (4:1–3)
However, rather than being celebrated for their morally upright behavior and freedom from decadence, the Christian community is instead being verbally abused.
1 Peter (Self-Mortification and Martyrdom)
“The problem for Christians consisted in the fact that their new way of life no longer allowed them the kind of full participation in the religio-cultural activities that was expected of all people living within the Roman Empire, a participation they had enjoyed prior to their conversion. Such participation was impossible principally because every public festival involved to one extent or another religious activities that Christians could only regard as idolatry.”
1 Peter The Judgment of God
“Judgment is necessary—unless we are to conclude, absurdly, that nothing much is wrong or, blasphemously, that God doesn’t mind very much.”
1 Peter The Judgment of God
“God is utterly committed to set the world right in the end.”