Bridge Church Vancouver

The first time someone steps onto foreign land they begin to see the world in a different way.  Most people remember their first time to step on foreign soil.  They discover the world is bigger and more different than they could have ever known. They experience new sensations, smells, tastes, sounds.  Things are different than they are used to.

 I remember the first time I traveled abroad.  I was 17 and my parents were sending me on a month-long trip to Europe.  A highschool teacher sponsored the trip and shortly before the group was to leave he called us all together at his home.  He said, "you are about to places very different than here at home.  For the first time in your life you are going to be a foreigner. You are going to places that are not your home, where different languages are spoken, different currency, values and perspectives.  It is a different culture. The people there will be kind but they are not your people, and they do not know anything about your home, where you come from, except what they see in you.  This was basically a "behave yourself" talk.  I think what he was saying to us was "don't become an ugly tourist", instead live your life in such a way that you create an interest in what it must be like to live where you do.

 It occurred to me that this is a pep talk I believe we should give every new believer as they begin their new life as a Christian.  We need to communicate that they now live in a foreign land, and the people they live around live in a culture that is no longer theirs, they speak a language that is no longer theirs, they have a philosophy of life that is not their philosophy of life, and to coin a phrase "don't become an ugly Christian". Live your life in such a way that you create an interest in what you call and will one day literally call home. 

I love the story of a missionary couple who come home after 40 years of service in Africa.  They travel to New York by steam ship and on the same ship was a very important dignitary who had got special treatment and recognition on the journey.  The passangers begin making their way off the ship and as the dignitary makes his way down the gangplank there is a band that begins to play and a crowd who welcomes him with great cheer.  The dignitary waves to the crowd and makes his way to the fancy limo that carries him off to his important destination, with the band playing. 

The old missionary couple watches the events play themselves out and the husband comments as they make their way down the gangplank "honey, it just doesn't seem right, after all these years of serving God and no one is here to welcome us and here this guy gets all this attention just because he has some postion, it just isn't right.

She put her arm around him and said "Honey, we aren't home yet."

You and I live our lives here away from home, we are citizens of another place. 

There is an old hymn that says

"This world is not my home, I'm just a passin through,

My treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue."

That is true.  We live in a pagan culture, surrounded by pagan folks with a pagan philosophy of life, with pagan values and out look of themselves and others.  We are left here on purpose, to demonstrate what it is like to be a member of a different country, with a citizenship in a different land, so that we can create a hunger and interest in that land.

All this provides a perfect introduction to our passage this morning found in 1 Peter.  We must remember Peter is writing to first century early Christians who were living in predominatly greek cities filled with pagan people. 

1Pet. 4:1   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,  2 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.  3 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.  4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;  5 but they will give 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 men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.

This passage begins with a word that always brings a point to something that has been just said - so everytime we see this therefore in scripture we should look back to see what it is there for.

Peter is drawing us back to: Pt 3:18 

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

and then v 22:

Jesus Christ,  22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand-with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

...since Christ has suffered in the flesh,...

Peter is building an argument and he is throwing his trump card out at the beginning - he is not playing around with us on this issue and he knows you and I have no greater position in an argument because Jesus suffered in the flesh, he died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous

 ...arm yourselves also with the same purpose,...

Peter is building a parallel argument and he is saying "think as Christ did about obedience and suffering, be convinced that it is better to do right and suffer for it than to do wrong

"Arm yourselves" is to take a strong position like a soldier going into battle prepared and equipped.  The soldier has been trained and given all the armor and weapons he needs but he is responsible to put it on and get it ready for the day so he has all the strength he can possibly have.  Our strength does not come from our weapons but instead it says "with the same purpose", or "attitude"  the word means "intentional moral understanding" 

We have the same purpose, insight and understanding as Christ regarding the nature and purpose of God in concerning how we are to live in this world.  We are no longer citizens of this world but now foreigners - just like Christ was, and now we have the same purpose, mission, that He had.

There is a motive for this:  we should be willing, like Christ, to suffer for doing right for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. 

...because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,...

As a general statement, without qualification, this would not be a true statement - there have been many people who have suffered greatly and yet sin very much. 

Nor is Peter saying that physical suffering somehow purifies and strengthens people, it may some, but others physical suffering can lead to greater rebellion and embitterment toward God.

But rather, we must read this in light of the theme of suffering for doing right.  

1 Pt 3:17 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

Therefore, we can read:

...because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,...

and understand ‘whoever has suffered for doing right and has still gone on to obey God in spite of the suffering it involved, has made a clear break with sin.

The phrase "has ceased from sin" can not mean he no longer sins at all, for certainly that is not true of everyone who has been willing to suffer for doing right.  Scripture also teaches that we cannot be absolutely free from sin in this life

James 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways.

1John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Rather it means; ‘has made a clear break with sin' or as in

Romans 6:11  count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

This is what makes you different - a foreigner in this world

Jesus suffered on the cross for our sin and so sin no longer is our master!  As a Christian, because Jesus died on the cross for our sin, and because of the Spirit that brought Him life lives in us, we have a strength that the rest of the world does not have.  A strength that overcomes sin, that wipes the sting of it away and gives us the ability to go on and do what is right - even if it requires us to suffer for doing what is right.

Truth #1 *** YOU ARE FREE from the power of sin

When you and I choose to obey God even when it means suffering, be it physical, emotional, relational suffering; that suffering will have a morally strengthening effect on our lives; it commits us even more firmly to a pattern where obedience is more important that than our desire to avoid pain. 

Peter explains ceasing to sin in greater detail...

has ceased from sin,  2 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 no longer live life governed by human feelings but instead by the will of God. 

We break clearly with sin - so we live the rest of our lives not ruled by the passions of our flesh. Because Jesus died on the cross.  Peter saw Jesus suffer in the flesh - and die - unjustly - and for his good - for our good - and it changed the whole picture of Jesus for Peter.  It completely changed Peter to the point that he said he was not willing to suffer like Jesus did and so asked to be crucified upside down.

The next thing that makes you different -

Truth #2 *** You live the rest of your life for the will of God

This is a picture of the transformed life that Jesus comes to offer us - to stop living for the empty passions and lusts of the world that the rest of the world chases and to live our lives in the confidence, freedom, assurance, security of the Will of God.

 The world around us clearly live lives ruled by the passions of flesh  - watch TV, listen to popular music, we pamper our flesh, spa our flesh, we lotion and shape our flesh, not because we care about our skin but what our skin represents - our image, our appearance, sexuality.

He goes on in verse 3  .

 3 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.

You have spent enough time chasing the same empty lifestyle as everyone else around you.  You know as well as they do that it is empty.

Look at the contrast between the will of God in v 2 and the desires of the gentiles in v 3.  You and I are surrounded by lost people who are lost.  The live a pagan lifestyle with pagan values and are marked by the desires of the Gentiles.  They are chasing a life that is not the life that God offers, that Christ suffered for.  We live in this same place, but it is a foreign land to us, we are not like them and we are not to be like them.

This is what the world chases

Sensuality - actions which excite and shock public decency

Lusts - more than merely sexual but can be lust for things, power, position, a desire with intentionality for things in the realm of sin.

, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties

You know what these are - this sounds like today's living - this has always been every days living - you see the Bible is relevant 

and abominable idolatries

We have all kinds of idolatries today - drugs, porn, materialism,

.  4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;  5 but they will give 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 men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.

Your friends expect you to continue doing the things you used to do, live the kind of life you used to live when you ran with them and when you don't they make fun of you, they speak against you,

All the sudden ‘Jerry's got religion, he thinks he's better than the rest of us now...'

What they do not know, or want to know, is there will be a time that they will have to give an account for everything they have done, and without Jesus they are doomed. 

Truth #3  - There is a judgement -

We were just like them, you and I, but Jesus took the penalty for us - he suffered in the flesh for us. The thing that makes us different is Our judgment is past - theirs is yet to come.

We have responded to the gospel that was presented to us, but they have not  -  yet.  It is a gospel of repentance and forgiveness, a gospel we have accepted and received into our lives, it has changed us and is changing us, it has brought us hope when previously we had none. 

The best anyone in this culture can live with is sensuality, lust, drunkenness, idolatry,

Unless someone offers the gospel to them

It is only by living as a foreigner to this culture do you have anything to offer it - you have to be different to offer something different, a hope that is real and sustainable. 

Would people say you are different - a gospel kind of difference or do you look just like them?

Would others around you say they are just as good, just as together as you, or is there something about you that is intriguing - different?

Are you really a foreigner? Is your citizenship someplace else and you are living like a citizen of your homeland - free from the bondage of sin, living for the will of God instead the desires of the flesh?

Have you become too acculturated - too much like the surrounding culture that there is not distinguishable difference and so you have nothing to offer?  That can change today. 

We are going to partake in communion - a sacred activity to remind us of who has sacrificed and suffered for us.  Whose life brings us energy and power.