Live Like Christ, Love Like Christ
Notes
Transcript
The idea of love actually stems from Christ’s suffering. That sounds backwards from normal. It seems like suffering comes from loving instead of loving coming from suffering.
Paul highlights the importance of living in unity, serving one another, and using their gifts, showcasing how passionate love can revive the community in the face of adversity and persecution.
1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human lusts, but for the will of God.
3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of indecent behavior, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries.
4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same excesses of debauchery, and they slander you;
5 but they will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as people, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.
1. Passionate Pursuit of Christ's Mindset
Peter reminds us that Christ suffered in the flesh.
The life of Christ was a life of love. From that love came suffering but it wasn’t because of Christ’s life that He suffered. It was because of our sin.
God the Son chose to take on human form and live a life as a human. But Jesus also chose to suffer in the flesh by going to the cross. It wasn’t so much that He suffered to the point of death. What is more amazing is that He chose to suffer for us so that we would not have to stay dead.
Christ’s suffering wasn’t just emotional or mental suffering. It wasn’t a mental exercise in trying to share being human. It was real suffering because God actually took on being human.
There is no other religion which has their God taking on being human just to die for others. There is no other God who could take on being human and still be God yet live a life as a human.
Therefore, since Christ had already suffered for you, then you must arm yourselves with the same understanding or the same purpose. The way we arm ourselves is by taking on the same mind as Christ.
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
We already know the mindset of Christ.
We have the four Gospels that tell us about His life and ministry and His suffering. We can understand the mindset of Christ and we can work to follow it but what is the purpose in having this mindset?
The purpose in arming ourselves with this mindset is so that we can endure through suffering and live like Christ.
Some translations express the idea that they have ceased with sin or have finished with sin. This can be a bit confusing to us since we know we still sin.
Verse two explains that Peter is talking about. The one who has suffered or been crucified with Christ turn from sin and to living. This means that when we identify as belonging to Christ, we strive to live a life that is very much Christ like; we seek the will of God so that we may live for Christ.
Paul put it like this:
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11 So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Are you looking for ways to sin or looking for ways to exhibit Christ? Even in the midst of suffering, of having someone talk hateful to you, in times when you don’t feel good or you just simply would rather be doing anything else, do you focus on you or on Christ?
2. Past Indulgence to Present Love
In our past, we would always focus on ourselves.
That was our past way of living. Self-centered, focused on what you wanted, scrounging for what you needed.
For a Christian, living in unchecked sin, living for nothing more than the next high, is over; at least it is supposed to be over. In our past, by that we mean before God called you, you were living for yourself and yourself alone. Now some get this confused and think if they do good toward someone or maybe they are consistent in giving money or time to charities, or that they live as moral a life as possible, they aren’t being selfish.
What we need to understand what matters is who we live for. And there are only two choices. We live for ourselves or we live for Christ. We put Christ first in our lives or we don’t put Christ in our lives at all.
How do you know if you are living for God or for yourself?
I would suggest one of the first ways is that you even ask yourself the question. Before being called by God, people don’t really care how they live; at least as far as God is concerned.
Another way is to compare your life to this list. Not so much do you do these things but are these the things you are seeking, that you want to do? What is it you are seeking? Are you seeking pleasure; fun or are you seeking God.
And another is the company you keep. I don’t mean that you can never be friendly with others who are not Christian. I do mean that believers always want to be around other believers, living a life for God instead of living to worldly standards.
Here is a difference between a non-Christian friend and a Christian friend. The non-Christian will smile and talk with you but then run behind your back and talk about you. A christian will smile and talk with you and then pray for you, help you when you need help, hold you when you need held and love you regardless.
How do I know this is true? Because we have the life of Christ to study and we know what the mindset of Christ was. Knowing both of these, we know what real love looks like.
3. Perseverance in Passionate Love
And we are called to love like Christ.
We cannot love until we are loved and we are not loved until we know the love of Christ. Once we know that love, we can then grow in love to love others. Even those who might persecute us.
That is the type of love Paul is talking about in Philippians 2:5-8, often referred to as the mind of Christ; I think it is also the love of Christ.
It is also the love of Christ that gave us the Gospel. God the Son emptied Himself and became human, meaning He chose to live as a human without the use of His authority. He lived a life as one of us, faced the challenges we face, faced the persecution as one living for God and then faced the penalty of our sins as if they were His sins. And on the third day, He rose again because death will never beat God’s love. And finally He was raised to the Father to sit with Him and make intercession for us.
Jesus left the throne, knowing the suffering He would face, and did not turn back until it was finished. That is love.
And that is what we are called to do, to love as Jesus loved.
Living like Christ means that we love like Christ. Living and loving like Christ means that we work on living in unity; that we seek to serve one another instead of living for ourselves; and that we use our gifts as a mean of lifting our community up.
Living like this will showcase our compassion and this love can revive a community.
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.
Love is essential for life and without God’s love, there can be no life.
Do you have the mindset of Christ that you love others?
Let’s pray.
