Arming Yourselves
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Introduction
Introduction
If i could summarize the last section that we looked at together in 1 Peter it would be
The suffering of our Lord was the pathway to His victory and exaltation.
Chapter 4 is the continuing of the argument that he has been developing in chapter 3, we see this in that he uses the word therefore.
I want us to look at a few points as we consider this passage.
But before we do I would like to state the main point here in this passage.
What we see is that we are to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ so that we can put sin to death.
John MacArthur Sermon Archive The Memory that Shuns Sin, Part 1
In his rich book called The Plague of Plagues, written in 1669, a godly man by the name of Ralph Venning wrote this paragraph about sin, listen to it. “In general, sin is the worst of evils, the evil of evil and indeed the only evil. Nothing is so evil as sin, nothing is evil but sin. As the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, so neither the sufferings of this life nor of that to come are worthy to be compared as evil with the evil of sin. No evil is displeasing to God or destructive to man but the evil of sin. Sin is worse than affliction, than death, than the devil, than hell. Affliction is not so afflictive, death is not so deadly, the devil is not so devilish, hell is not so hellish as sin is. This will help to fill up the charge against its sinfulness especially as it is contrary to and against the good of man.” Then he says, “The four evils I have just named are truly terrible and from all of them everyone is ready to say, ‘Good Lord, deliver us.’ Yet none of these nor all of them together are as bad as sin. Therefore our prayers should be more to be delivered from sin and if God hear no prayer else, yet as to this we should say. ‘We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord,’ ”
Remember who Peter is writing to, he is writing to a group of Christians that are suffering because of their faith in Christ and one of the things that He is doing here is teaching them that suffering for Christ can be one of the gracious means that the Lord uses to sanctify us.
Four things
I. Remember Jesus’ suffering lead to victory
In the first part of v.1 Peter reminds us of the suffering of Christ that lead to victory and exaltation.
Christ’s victory over hostile powers by virtue of his death and resurrection is what is pointed to here.
The connection between the two sections is this
Since Christ’s suffering is the pathway to glory, believers should also prepare themselves to suffer, knowing that suffering is the prelude to victory and exaltation.
Our Lord suffered for righteousness sake, He suffered because He did not live like the world, He did not fit in with the world, He was light in the midst of darkness.
He opposed sin and the world loved sin
Because of that He was hated, because of that He was rejected, because of that He was ultimately killed by those who could not endure His teaching and His godliness.
His will was to do the will of the Father and not to fit in with the world and its ways
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
And of course John tells us what the worlds reaction to Jesus ministry will be early on in the gospel
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
John 3.
But again even though He was hated by the world, even though He suffered He was victorious
The Resurrection right?
and 22 speaks of His resurrection and exaltation
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
And of course i think of
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
II. Arm yourselves in order to fight sin
After pointing us to Christ we are commanded in v.1
Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.
Arm yourselves has military connotations and in other texts the Christian life is compared to the life of a warrior
Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;
2 Cor.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
This language reminds us that the Christian life is a life of discipline, it takes grit particularly in view of the suffering believers encounter.
What is part of this armor that we must wear?
same way of thinking
with the same mind
with the same intention, attitude, thought, knowledge
I think what is being said is that we need to know, we must have the mindset that the world will hate us and that there will be suffering and difficulty and that is part of the life as God’s people.
We must look back over redemptive history and see that the people of God have suffered and they have been hated by the world
We must look especially at the life of our Lord and know that this is the case
And that part of being God’s people, part of being a follower of Christ is walking away from everything that the world says life is about
It is even like Moses,
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
Heb. 11
What does Jesus say to us?
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
The Christian life should be a life of dying everyday to self, of dying to the world
I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
2 Cor. 4.
But the mindset does not stop there. It is not a defeatist mindset ultimately.
It is a mindset that understands that the cross comes before the crown.
That the cross is today but the crown is tomorrow.
Listen to what what Paul goes on to say
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Cor. 4.
I think what Paul means in the rest of v.1 is simply this,
This mindset will help you put sin to death
III. Remember what is coming for the Gentiles
IV. Remember what is promised to God’s people