Thrive Now

1 Peter 4:1–11 (NIV)

1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives 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. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 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 human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

Morality / Christian Ethics

There is a lot of talk in 1 Peter about how we live our lives, behaviors, especially in the context of persecution… Christian ethics.

Ethics: the principles that guide people’s decisions and actions, and are concerned with what is right and wrong.

Christianity could be wrongly concluded that it is just another religion of different rights and wrongs. Another religion of morals. Like Islam or Buddhism, etc.

But not so with Christianity...

The foundation for our morality (of why we live the way we live) is Christ. That the infinite Creator and personal God Himself came to us, lived amongst us, is with us, and transforming us into imagers of Christ. Giving us Truth/Reality. We believe not only in the Creator God but also that He has revealed himself to us through divine revelation in His Word and through His Son.

That is the foundation for our morality of right and wrong.

1 Peter 1:15 “15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;”

1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”

Ephesians 5:1–2“1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Ephesians 4:20–24“20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

We must not compromise what is right and wrong in order to be accepted or less offensive. For when we do, we end up losing the very truth we claim to have.

In our current culture of subjective morality, right and wrong is determined by each individual or by the majority and it is always evolving in the name of progress.

The atheist says, that there are no absolutes, which is a self-defeating argument considering their absolute that there are no absolutes.

Atheism has yet to provide a solid foundation for any standard of morality (how to treat one another).

When you remove the personal infinite Creator God, you remove man. When God dies, man dies.

You remove any sense of meaning of our own existence. You lose all absolutes and you are left with a fatalistic machine that is determined by how the atoms that make you up decide you are to behave.

Therefore, without God, there are no absolutes or grounds for a standard of morality then…

It is the Great “Says who?”

If there is no God, then there is no way to say any one action is “moral” and another “immoral” but only “I like this.” If that is the case, who gets the right to put their subjective, arbitrary moral feelings into law? They usually say the majority. Well, what if the majority decides to exterminate the minority? If you say no that’s wrong, you are back to square one… Says who?

Without God, why should your moral convictions obligate those in opposition? Why should your view prevail against consensus?

Again, if there is no God, then all moral statements are arbitrary, all moral valuations are subjective and internal, and there can be no external moral standard by which a person’s feelings and values are judged.

Human rights disappear.

One writer who is in a profession called, “cultural relativism” faces a major conundrum. A culture decides what is right and wrong within their culture and it is therefore wrong for another culture to force their views on them.

But she is also a strong feminist and

One writer (in the NY Times) wrote an article on why she decided to raise her children without religion. Because she could not believe in a God that allowed so much suffering and evil in this world.

Well wait a minute! If there is not God, who is to say what she calls “suffering and evil” as a bad thing? Who says?

But for us, the “Says Who?” is God, His Word...

1 Corinthians 8:6 “6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”

You can imagine then, how compromise of what God’s Word says is right and wrong makes us just like every other person without God who follows the masses.

That was what many of the reformers were standing for. Because we have God’s Word, it is not the masses or majority that decide what is right and wrong but a single man or woman with Faith in God can stand against.

Why Motel Church girls?

Jesus says so

John 5:19 “19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

Peter encourages the readers that those who come against you for your stance of right and wrong will face the judge.

1 Peter 4:7–11 (NIV)

7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Peter says it is near (how many of us live as if it is far off?) Think about death often… Not in an evil morbid way, but as the Scriptures attest: life is but a vapor.

James 4:13–17“13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”

Regarding James, we are to take the Lord into consideration in all our planning. We end up living without urgency as if we will just live on forever. It’s not about what we abstain from, but also what we don’t do that we should have.

Perhaps I didn’t reach out to a neighbor in need or didn’t bear witness to a co-worker when I had the opportunity...

This way of thinking, living with the mindset of the shortness of life, a vapor and living with urgency.

Proverbs 27:1 “1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”

Psalm 39:5–6“5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure. 6 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be.”

Luke 12:15–20“15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’”

2 Corinthians 6:1–2“1 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

Nobody on their death bed desires to spend a bit more time with the possessions they have accumulated over the years.

If you knew that your life on earth would end tomorrow, what would today look like?

I’m spending these few moments loving deeply.

It’s amazing that when the end is near, what is truly important in life begins to rise to the surface.

4 Priorities:

Readiness for Prayer (self-discipline)

The plural noun indicates repeated acts of prayer.

Keeping one’s head despite the dangers and fears of the time. Fear and worry, stimulated by persecution, can easily lead to hasty and ill-conceived judgments.

Prayer is NOT time wasted.

Billy Graham was asked what he would do differently if he could do life over. Less meetings and more prayer.

Above all - Love.

Love deeply in English doesn’t fully express the sense of the Greek, “At full stretch.” Why at full stretch? Because this love will be stretched to the limit by the demands made on it. Let us remind ourselves that Christian love means caring for other people in their needs and that such care will be accompanied by a growing affection for them. Many people are prepared to care for others; they are less ready to have affection for them and to demonstrate it.

No one is “easy” to love at full stretch. We may find a whole list of offenses, real and imagined, in other people, and only love will over come them and regard them as of no account because love covers a multitude of sins.

We take people’s sins against us waaaay too personally

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:5, “love keeps no record of wrongs.” It does not treasure up the memory of wrongs committed or offenses but releases them and does not hold them against the person.

Life is too short to carry bitterness and unforgiveness.

Showing hospitality

Especially in these times where there were no church buildings but met in people’s homes. Also was the frequent feature of a love feast, or meal. This would have put many demands upon the host family.

In other words, showing hospitality is almost always inconvenient and costly… Peter says to do it without grumbling.

Hebrews 13:2 “2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

Service

God’s gracious gifts are to be exercised in serving.

When we receive God’s grace it then becomes our responsibility to share and serve with fellow Christians.

In other words, what has been given to you is given for others. You are the agent of God in passing it on.

Mark 10:45 “45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

Luke 22:27 “27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”

The measure of a leader then is not based on the number of people that serve you but the number of people you serve.

John Maxwell remarks, “The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people’s lives than you will from the times that you got it.”

We are to serve with the strength God provides - ultimately that in everything God will be glorified. God is the one at work in you who serves so that people will praise him and not the speakers or servers. (Although they express appreciation, God is the one behind it all).

Remember when I asked you what today would look like if you knew tomorrow was it?

Jesus did, and he served, taught, and prayed for those close to him and all of us who would believe in the future.

2 Peter 3:11–12“11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.”