Present Arms!

In the military, the command to present arms, is followed by the soldier following their particular branch’s procedure to bring the rifle upright in a vertical fashion in front of them. In essence, it’s the form of a salute of someone who is prepared to follow orders to go into battle with their weapons and their skills. Supposedly, it originated with the British centuries ago. It carries with it the idea of preparedness for the upcoming battle, whatever it may be.

In today’s passage, there is a similar picture of the Christian who is to be properly armed, so as to be completely ready for what lies ahead in this life. In fact, some theologians would suggest that the verb which the whole paragraph surrounds and supports, is the command of arm yourselves. I would have to agree. Interestingly, this use of the verb is only found here in the entire New Testament. It literally means arm oneself with weapons. That certainly sounds like a battle is ahead and preparation needs to be made.

With whatever lies before us or is around us, to be a solid Christian who has a powerful witness, we need to make sure of the following.

Being properly armed leads to a proper attitude.

Proper Purpose - 4:1

Once again, Peter begins with that famous word, Therefore, and even adds since. So it probably would be wise for us to consider what he has to say to his readers and to us.

1 Peter 4:1 NASB95

Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

You recall that last time, we talked about how the sinless Christ suffered unjustly for our justification. You may also remember another Bible verse in , which says: fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. His purpose was that we might be set free from the slavery of sin, in order to become children of God, clothed in His righteousness.

Thus, we must understand the eternal purpose. Jesus’ purpose was very clear and had been known before the world was created. He came to be a curse in order to remove our curse. He came to take the penalty for our sin so that we would not have to pay the penalty which is what we rightfully deserved. Jesus did all that He did so that we might have eternal life.

So what is our purpose? I believe that in various places throughout the New Testament we read that we ought to have a willingness to die for the cause of Christ if that is what is necessary. Why would that be necessary? If we are put into a position where we are faced with the choice of denying faith in Christ, being forced to live in a manner contradictory to Christ, or be killed; then we ought to have the same attitude or purpose as Christ did.

You might consider this a bit radical. However, I believe it is a very proper attitude to be armed with, as we remember from Jesus own words in and .

Luke 9:23 NASB95

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Luke 9:23

There is a book, actually a few of them, as well as an organization, that is focused on martyrs for Christ. I remember when Joy was still in school, she would come to my office and I would read to her almost daily from Foxes’ Book of Martyrs. These were short stories of individuals who understood their purpose and had known that faithfulness and obedience to God was more important than life itself. They understood that taking up [one’s] cross was not speaking of an inconvenience or some seemingly negative thing we’re experiencing now. They recognized Jesus was speaking of death when He used that phrase.

In the phrase, has ceased from sin, the verb is in the perfect tense. This is important for it signifies a complete freedom from sin. Glory be to God for the fact, that even though sin is constantly striving to control my life, Jesus gives me the power to resist and escape from its clutches. And there will be a day, when I have left this earthly body, I will have that same complete freedom from sin, which Christ has purchased for me.

Proper Plans - 4:2

So far, we have looked at the proper purpose as we arm ourselves with the proper attitude. Yet, just like any purpose statement, there needs to be some action plan. We need to answer the following question. How then shall we actually live?

1 Peter 4:2 NASB95

so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

We know that God’s will definitely cannot involve sin in any way. We know that sin is defiance and rebellion against God. Obviously, sin should not be a part of our lives. How does verse 2 gives us a plan?

Obviously, we know that in heaven, sin will no longer be part of the picture. You might think of our time right now, as living in such a way, that others would clearly know what our destination is and that we are no longer obligated to live like the person who doesn’t belong to Christ. So, while on this earth, we ought to be chasing after holiness and not the things that the normal person would chase.

Thus, our being armed, is being given the ability or weapons to live for the will of God. We no longer have to suffer for living according to the flesh, because that is in the past. Our desire now is that even if we suffer for living a righteous life, we will do so because it is God’s will that we live for Him.

Specifically, Peter labels this former way of life as the lusts of men. This word is a very powerful word in that it means passionate longing. It’s not a good longing, but an evil longing. This is what used to control our lives. This is what we were like before Jesus was our Savior and Lord. This was what we used to consider normal. Sadly, this is what the world think is normal.

Peter is saying that in view of all that is going on, live for Jesus and not for the things of this world.

Proper Pursuits - 4:3-5

So far, we’ve seen being properly armed means having a proper purpose. We’ve also understood that, as a result, we need to have the proper plan of living not for ourselves, but for the will of God. Let’s look at the next few verses and see how we can have the proper attitude.

1 Peter 4:3–5 NASB95

For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

As I said earlier, the world thinks it strange that we don’t go chasing after the things they feel are so worthwhile and normal. They live in the present, not taking into consideration the fact that it will turn out horribly in the end, with judgment and condemnation to eternity in hell, apart from Christ.

This helps us to understand why Peter gives such strong warnings and commands about avoiding that which used to rule our lives and to pursue living holy lives. He even states the time is already past for doing all those sinful things in which we participated in the past before Jesus took over our lives. It’s over!

Even the next two verbs, have carried out and having pursued are also in the perfect tense which shows that what used to be is no longer to be part of our lives. That play was written and performed and was closed and cancelled with Christ.

If we continue with the idea of a play or production, we need to understand that the plot is seen in the phrase pursued a course. But for the plot to be carried out, we need to know that we and others without Christ, performed the parts of various actors. They would be sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.

Let me briefly describe them, understanding that this is not an all inclusive list which Peter wrote. First described is sensuality. This is probably hedonism at its worst. Debauchery is another word which means basically going crazy indulging in sensual pleasure. Sadly, when Christians attempt to avoid continuing in this, they are mocked severely by the supposedly enlightened people of this world. Various labels that imply negative shortcomings on our part are given to us.

Lusts is that force or mentality that causes people to want to pursue the sensuality and debauchery.

Drunkenness is next on Peter’s list. It’s actually somewhat of a funny word in that it literally means wine bubbling up. I guess I’m thinking of the old Disney movie, Dumbo, where this young elephant falls into a vat of an alcoholic beverage and becomes helplessly inebriated. In actuality, this refers to someone who is always finding themselves under the influence. Lest we pass it by and think this only relates to alcohol, it can refer to any substance which puts a person under its control.

Carousing is normally referred to, within that culture, those who are part of wild parties and orgies. According to one source from that period, the word referred to a bunch of drunk people, staggering throughout the streets, out of control, and basically destroying the peace. This now leads into the last two areas Peter describes.

Drinking parties and abominable idolatries. Strange as it may seem, there were gatherings that had no other purpose than for everyone to get together to get drunk. This then led to a ridiculous time of worship of many of the false gods, in particular, the gods of fertility and wine.

It seems that since Peter mentions all of these to his readers, that many of them must have experienced participating in some or all of them, in their lives before Christ. Even today, when visiting with individuals who have a somewhat checkered past, I hear them state that they do not ever want to return to that way of life. They understand that they’ve been forgiven; they just mourn the loss of time wasted that could have been used for Christ’s glory. This is the difference between the one who lives for himself and the world and the one who desires to live for Christ.

Verse 5 speaks even stronger about the judgment that awaits those who persecute believers and mock God. They wonder why we still don’t participate in this. It’s almost as if they want to drag us down with them. The living and the dead simply refers to those alive and attacking the church to whom Peter was writing, as well as those already dead.

Proper Preaching - 4:6

So far, we have understood that being properly armed provides a proper attitude. We’ve seen that if we are armed with understanding our purpose in such a way that we plan to live God’s way and pursue His ways and not our old ways. Then we can properly preach the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ, as we’ll see in this last verse today.

1 Peter 4:6 NASB95

For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.

We might find ourselves a bit confused by the phrase preached even to those who are dead. Who are these dead? I thought when a person was dead, they could not choose salvation. You’re absolutely right.

The dead, of whom Peter seems to be referring, are those who had not heard the Gospel message which Peter specifically presented, but those who had heard and believed before Christ. Many were the Old Testament saints who had believed prior to Christ coming with just the information they had from God. They truly had believed in faith. Some of them were also those who had been martyred prior to this writing. The real understanding is that though they were physically dead, they were eternally alive in heaven.

The dead Peter seems to be referring to are those who had not heard the Gospel message which Peter specifically presented, but those who had heard and believed before Christ. Some of them were also those who had been martyred prior to this. The real understanding is that though they were physically dead, they were eternally alive in heaven.

We see some evidence of this by how Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church. It was there he encouraged the believers about those who had died in Christ and how they would rise to meet Him in the air before we who are still alive.

Understanding this hope that we have, we don’t preach a gospel that is soft and fluffy and feels good, allowing us to continue on in the old ways. It is a very real gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone. And for the one who is genuinely saved, there is no longer any desire for the old ways of the world, the flesh, and the devil. And because of that hope, it doesn’t matter what comes our way, whether it be physical persecution, a viral pandemic, economic chaos; we belong to Jesus Christ. Death cannot keep us from Him.

In the words of an older famous rapper,MC Hammer, U can’t touch this. Nothing or nobody can take me away from my Savior.

You can see a bit more clearly now that: Being properly armed leads to a proper attitude.