Swimming Upstream

A couple months ago I did something I never thought I’d do. I dropped $30 on one of those big jumbo mega packs of toilet paper. I just happened to show up when they were stocking the shelves and that was the only TP to be had. And I had heard that we could be on lockdown—not knowing fully what that might mean—I took the, uhmmm plunge, and bought the $30 super duper last until Jesus returns mega pack of TP. And I felt like I won the lottery.

Why did I do this? Insanity? Perhaps. But we were hearing news that it was possible that difficult times were ahead of us—and we didn’t want to face the zombie apocalypse without our Charmin. My silly point here is that when you hear that suffering might be around the corner—or you hear that a season of difficulty might be upon you—any sane person begins to prepare.

If we lived in somewhere like Florida it’d be easy to make this point. They do this every year during hurricane season. They prepare for the tidal waves and crushing winds. If you know suffering might be coming you’re foolish to not prepare.

This same thing is true of Peter’s audience. They could see it all around them and in fact some where beginning to suffer. It’s not a huge step from dishonoring a person to actively and physically persecuting them. When somebody becomes less than human, when they are seen as the problem in your society, you can justify all kinds of wickedness against them and even call it noble. And so the writing is on the wall for the Christians that Peter is writing to. So what should they do?

READ 1 PETER 4:1-6

I think I’ve read this quote to you before but I think it’s fitting here again.

Evil and suffering have a way of exposing our inadequate theology. When affliction comes, a weak or nominal Christian often discovers that his faith doesn’t account for it or prepare him for it. His faith has been in his church, denomination, or family tradition, or in his own religious ideas—but not in Christ. As he faces evil and suffering, he may, in fact, lose his faith. But that’s actually a good thing; any faith that leaves us unprepared for suffering is a false faith that deserves to be abandoned. Genuine faith will be tested by suffering; false faith will be lost—the sooner, the better. Believing God exists isn’t the same as trusting the God who exists. If you base your faith on lack of affliction, your faith lives on the brink of extinction and will fall apart because of a frightening diagnosis or a shattering phone call. As John Piper writes, “Wimpy Christians won’t survive the days ahead.” Only when you jettison ungrounded and untrue faith can you replace it with valid faith in the true God—faith that can pass, and even find strength in, the most formidable of life’s tests. Unfortunately, most churches have failed to teach people to think biblically about the realities of evil and suffering. A pastor’s daughter told me, “I was never taught the Christian life was going to be difficult. I’ve discovered it is, and I wasn’t ready.”

This is exactly what Peter is doing here in this passage. There is a decent amount of evidence that a type of prosperity gospel was attached to some of the teaching going around in the early church. What I mean is this. If you take a look at 1 and 2 Thessalonians what you find is that believers were absolutely dumbfounded by the fact that fellow Christians were dying. This didn’t seem to fit. They were into a new era. This was the era when Jesus is King. The time of fulfillment is here. Suffering didn’t seem to have a place in their theology.

And that same thing can happen in our day. It’s a bit harder to promote a prosperity gospel in the midst of a pandemic but many are still attempting it. I think for a good number of Christians here in the west we are absolutely shocked by the idea that we might have to suffer. We will fight so hard against this. Suffering—lack of comfort—might be the greatest enemy that we see.

But I think Peter tells a different story. Suffering isn’t the biggest issue. Sin actually is. And so I think in order to really understand what Peter is saying here we need to do a little bit of leg work.

And this is what Peter is saying in this passage. Arm yourselves with a robust theology of suffering---which certainly means expect to suffer as a Christian. And what we have in these six verses are three things that come from arming yourself with a theology of suffering.

It’s evidence of your break with sin

We’re going to come to a difficult statement in verse 1 soon enough. “Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin”. What does he mean by that? Does he mean that if you suffer then you won’t ever sin again? Certainly not, but what does he mean?

First, we need to ask what is meant by sin?

Sin: Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature. It is rebellion and transgression against the law of God. The idea is of missing the mark in our actions, attitudes, and even our nature (desires). It’s fundamentally about the heart and not simply behavior. It’s great that you didn’t walk on the grass—but were you angry with the guy that put the sign up?

God defines sin. Not people. Not even the church. Sin is also fundamentally Godward.

So why does sin matter?

Let’s look at this from a human perspective for a moment. Imagine that you have a friend that is seriously ill. He’s dying. Everything in his life is falling apart. And you come to find out that the reason why it’s all falling apart is because every morning he drinks a poison that causes his organs to slowly shut down.

Sin is like that liquid. The Psalmist said that it eats away at our bones. Sin ultimately destroys us. It doesn’t come to us that way. It comes shiny and promising satisfaction but it leads to death. If we are to believe what the Bible says about sin then we must believe that sin is not something that will end in our good. We believe that it is at God’s right hand where true pleasure is found. Sin lies and says that true pleasure is found here. If God is true then that is a lie and what he says in Psalm 16:4 fits—“the sorrows of those that run after other gods will multiply”.

But that’s not enough. It’s not enough to simply say, “Wow, I don’t want to sin because I want to be happy and not miserable.” That’s wise. That’s wonderful. That’s a great step. Don’t hear me wrong. But it’s not where you want to stop. Ultimately we come to hate sin because we absolutely love the Lord. We know that he hates sin and therefore we don’t want to do it. It’s the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.

There is a difference between getting busted and exposed and having to experience the consequence of your sin and quite another to actually want to be done with sin because you hate sin. One, you really just want the consequences to be removed. The other, you actually want righteousness.

So here is the picture. You have a group of relatively new Jesus-followers who are beginning to experience being publicly shamed. That’s a huge deal for them. That’s the biggest thing in that culture—losing face. And it’s happening to them. It’s reasonable to assume that they’re a bit confused by this. I thought following Jesus as the rightful King would have changed things for me. Do I really want to suffer? Do I really want to lose out on all of this stuff? All these friendships? All this potential within our society?

Now what happens if Jesus has only been the means to some other end? What I mean is this, what happens in this moment when they are wrestling with all these questions…do I suffer…what happens if they became followers of Jesus because they thought it would lead to health, wealth, and prosperity?

This isn’t out of the realm of possibility in the first century, right? You see this in John 6. They want to make the guy king. It’s popular at the beginning of John 6 to be a follower of Jesus. Then the cultural tide turns. And it isn’t so popular. And most all of them leave by the end of John 6.

But what happens if they really have made a break from sin? What if their hearts and lives really have been transformed by Jesus. The threat of pain doesn’t cause them to waver. Question? Maybe. Struggle? Possibly. Ultimately waver? Not a chance.

Now look at verse 1. Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking? What’s that. Everything we’ve seen in 1 Peter so far. Have a robust theology of suffering which includes the fact that as a Christian you will suffer, how to respond in suffering, how to see your suffering missionally, as well as the ultimate vindication and exaltation that believers in Christ will experience due to our connection with Christ. That’s all jam-packed into verse 1…and then he grounds it and says. Here’s why you need to have that good theology. Because everyone who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

What? Is this a reference to Christ? Well could be—he certainly suffered in the flesh. His suffering was just what we were talking about. But that doesn’t quite make sense because he hasn’t ever sinned so it’d be weird to say suffering made him stop.

Does this mean that suffering has a tendency to be refining so that when we are suffering we aren’t going to be sinning as much? I think there is certainly something true about that. But what he’s really getting at here is that when we suffer in the flesh—when we are armed with this theology of suffering for Christ—it evidences that we have made a real and true break from sin.

This is what I was saying earlier. You know that sin—the comfortable lifestyle of just obeying your thirst—you know that this has been decisively broken if you’re willing to suffer.

But I don’t want to stop there. The Bible never does and so we shouldn’t either. I think we can be tempted to just “don’t do the bad stuff” but the Bible doesn’t just stop there…and you see that here as well. You don’t just “stop living for the passions of the flesh” but positively to live for the will of God.

I want to do what please God. Even if that means suffering.

2. You’ve lived in sin long enough

Verse 3—this is our second thing that comes from a robust theology of suffering. Though I think that might not be saying it exactly right. This is more evidence of that break from sin. So rather than point 2 this might be more of a 1b. But anyways...

The time that is past suffices. And then he gives a list of things that “Gentiles want to do”. The key here isn’t in the specifics but in what they have in common. These are all things that flow out of desires out of their banks.

But I love that phrase “For the time that is past suffices”. Do you know what he’s saying there? He’s saying that no matter how much of a flood of sin you had in your past that was enough. You’ve done enough of that.

Enough!

Can you say that? Peter presents the Christian life here as two distinct times. There was your life before Christ. And now your life after Christ. The two aren’t meant to merge. “I really wish I could still engage in those things I did when I was lost...” When we think or feel that way something is off. Something is amiss. That’s not the thoughts for believers for those who have new life in Christ. That’s his point here.

But this is also the reason why persecution happens. We try to mute that, I think.

When I first came to Christ…Brandon. I’m the same that I was. I just go to church on Sunday and there are some thing I don’t want to do. But that just didn’t work.

The phrase join them is literally ‘running with them’, an expression which vividly reflects the frenetic pace of their continually disappointing search for true pleasure.

Uncontrolled indulgence. That’s what this is. And so whenever a person has their life completely changed and says, “I can’t do this anymore.” Something happens. First, we see in this text that it starts with shock. How in the world could you do this? How could you abandon us like this? Who do you think you are? Or just completely not understanding that change.

But that shock quickly turns to slander. What is happening here. Well as a follower of Jesus your putting a check there causes something in their hearts. The Lord often uses that for conviction. But I think I need to say that what we are talking about here is stuff that the Lord CLEARLY says is against His will AND what is clearly FOR his will. That’s the shock. It’s a complete 180.

When you don’t join in it puts up a boundary. And if you are living in unrestrained or uncontrolled indulgence AND if the Bible is true (and it is) that God has set eternity on the hearts of men, and conviction still happens, and God draws men in kindness....people don’t like that. WE fight against that.

Turning the light on makes you made when you’re in the dark.

BUT THEY WILL GIVE AN ACCOUNT.

We find ourselves at the opposite extreme today: no threat of judgment—anywhere. We do find no threat of judgment in theology or morals, in our legal system (where a good lawyer seems able to get anyone off the hook), or in our social world. But what makes a moral life healthy is the threat of judgment that derives from an appreciation of the holiness of God. To be sure, it can be overdone, just as love or anything else can be overdone. But the solution to an overemphasis is not its neglect; rather, it is to bring the emphasized idea back into its biblical and realistic perspective

So why would I want to keep the door open to that which brings judgment? To that which God hates? Shouldn’t I want to love what he loves?

Society will dwindle away and stand before God some day. Peter wants us to look at the end of the story—us standing before the Lord. What do you want momentary accolades? To be friends with the world? A beloved member of society? A star? Or do you want approval before the living God. Eternal approval. Lasting approval. Do you want to hear “well done good and faithful servant” from the Lord of glory or from your buddy?

3. The gospel is eternal—your suffering isn’t

Verse 6 is a tough verse. It almost sounds like preaching the gospel to the dead. So wait..do people get a second chance?

I mean isn’t this what we just read in 1 Peter 3:19? Remember what we learned last week. Context. Context. Context. What in the world would he be saying to these suffering believers if these unbelievers had a second chance?

Don’t join them in their debauchery and for the temporary pleasures because you know that eventually they’ll be given a second chance to repent and believe. Does that make any sense? Of course not. There is no motivation in that. His argument would be nonsense.

So what does it mean? Who are these that have died? I believe they are believers in Jesus. Let me explain.

What is one way that unbelievers could have mocked Christians? Consider this. You’ve got one guy who just lives it up. He does everything verse 3 like a champion. He joins in all of it. He is king of this world. Then he dies.

Now you’ve got another person whose life is changed. He gives his life to Jesus. You see that BC and AC thing going on. And he doesn’t join with his old buddy who parties like a rockstar. He renounces that lifestyle and lives the opposite. He pursues holiness. Then he dies.

From the world’s perspective the guy who didn’t live like a rockstar was stupid. You’ve only got one life and you didn’t indulge in everything you desired? You didn’t obey your thirst. You denied yourself the pleasures of this world. And now you are just as dead and the guy who lived it up. You wasted your life.

But what Peter is saying is that’s not the whole story. Yes, they both died “yes they both were ‘judged in the flesh the way people are’. But there is a difference. But the follower of Jesus is now alive in the spirit the way God is. He died according to the flesh but he’s alive now by the power of the Spirit.

Sound familiar. This is the same thing that Peter said in 3:18 of Christ. The same thing happens with believers—we did in the flesh but are alive according to the Spirit. It’s not just about this life. And so yes, the gospel is eternal but your suffering isn’t.

If I have armed myself with the knowledge that the Christian life is one of suffering then it’s going to help me know and to live for that which is eternal. I either believe that or I don’t.

I also think this passage can be helpful in asking a question that many ask. Many don’t ask this question. But the text here speaks about standing before God. It speaks of life change. How do I know that’s happened to me? How do I know that I’ve been “born again”?

How do I know that I’m saved?

This was a question that plagued me in my early walk with Christ. As a pastor, it’s also a question that I’m continually trying to help people work through. I think it’d be much easier to have confidence if we never sinned. What brings difficulty to new believers is often that first season in the valley.

After falling into sin we hear words of condemnation. “If I was really a Christian then I wouldn’t do such a thing.” But I’ve argued for a long time that better evidence of our regenerate heart isn’t so much whether or not we do or do not do things of unbelievers, but rather it’s evidenced by doing things which only believers do.

I can illustrate this with a dead fish.

Trout fishing is a big deal down here in Southwest Missouri. This means that many of the streams are clear and you can watch the fish swim up and down the stream. We like to go to the creek and play in the river. And it’s always fun to just stand there and watch all the fish around you. Occasionally you’ll see a dead fish, belly up, being carried along by the current of the powerful stream.

But what separates a live fish from a dead fish? It isn’t that on occasion they are being tossed about by the stream or even swimming with the current of the stream. Both living fish and dead fish can go with the current. But there is one thing a dead fish can never do—swim up stream. They cannot go against the current.

The same is true of believers. There are times when we go along with the current of the world. We look just like the dead fish—being carried about by the cultural stream. We look like unbelievers being tossed to and for by every wind and wave. In such a season we’ll likely question our salvation because we aren’t reflecting our new life in Christ, we’re just going downstream like nothing has changed.

But there is one thing you’ll be able to do as a believer that cannot happen as an unbeliever. You can swim up stream. You can change directions and fight the flow of the stream. As those dead in trespasses and sins, an unbeliever cannot and will not change course. It is only those made alive by God’s powerful grace who can spin around and start flowing against the current.

Do you have evidence of this in your life? Do you have a history of repentance? Not simply changing a behavior or a personality because it fits better with the present cultural flow, but a true heart change where you kick against your desires. I appreciate the way Wesley Hill describes this in his battle against same-sex attraction:

The Bible calls the Christian struggle against sin faith. it calls the fight against impure cravings holiness. So I am trying to appropriate these biblical descriptions for myself. I am learning to look at my daily wrestling with disordered desires and call it trust. I am learning to look at my battle to keep from giving in to my temptations and call it sanctification. I am learning to see that my flawed, imperfect, yet never-giving-up faithfulness is precisely the spiritual fruit that God will praise me for on the last day, to the ultimate honor of Jesus Christ. (Hill, 146)

Are you fighting against sin at it’s root? Only believers can do that. And so be encouraged.

Or maybe you realize this morning that you don’t actually have a changed heart.