Gear Up To Fight Temptation

As we begin this morning, I was thinking about the passage we're going to look at, which is in the first verses of chapter four.

I was thinking back to when I worked in campus ministry.

And one of the campuses I worked at, there was an athlete's Bible study that I got to do for two years.

And it was a great group.

A new believer, a few church kids, one or two really strong believers,

one person who was seeking, didn't know where they stood with Jesus.

And, you know, it was fascinating to hear some of them talk about their experiences as college athletes trying to be faithful to Jesus.

One girl shared about how literally every weekend her boyfriend said,

Hey, is this the weekend that we get to sleep together?

Just like, why not? You know, what's wrong with this? Can't we do this?

Every weekend, this was the question, right?

Another guy who was, his teammates, every weekend were like,

Hey, what are you going to get this weekend?

As he went out into the campus, this was the question.

And every weekend, as they gathered again on Monday, be like,

Hey, how'd it go?

And he's like, it didn't go.

But the pressure that they faced every week, week in and week out, to walk with Jesus,

not just in that context, but also just the parties, the lack of constraint,

the emphasis on drinking beyond what you could handle or control,

was an ongoing pressure for them.

The world pressed in on them on a daily basis to live not for Christ,

but for the passions of their hearts.

Their friends would ask them questions like this.

What's wrong with the way we live?

Are you judging us by not doing this?

You're so intolerant.

Is it really worth it to do what you do?

What are you saving yourself for?

What's wrong with you?

You're so weird.

Who's going to care?

Honestly, who's going to care what you do or don't do?

Now, I don't know how much you've experienced that in your life.

Maybe some of you have.

Maybe this is what happens when you go with your family to Memorial Day family reunion.

Maybe this is what it looks like at the employee Christmas party.

Maybe this is what it looks like when your lab workers or cohort go out for drinks

at the end of a long day of study.

Or maybe it's mom's night out where you finally get to let loose a little bit.

Maybe it's going away to academic or work conferences.

And everyone goes with the what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas mindset.

And you're thinking, what do I do with all this?

Maybe you're a young person and you see what flies across social media on Snapchat and TikTok

and those things I don't really know anything about, but I hear they're...

But not only what people share, but also what people request that you would share with them.

Or maybe you're even younger than that, but you're in school

and the pressure is to just think about how can we deceive the teacher?

How can we hide from them?

How can we do something else?

There are so many ways in which we face certain kinds of pressures to live,

not for God, but for other things.

And you know, sometimes, I don't know if you're like this,

but if you're a Christian here today and you're thinking,

you know, I'd like to figure out how to do that.

And you look at Jesus and you think, Jesus did it so easily.

You read the Gospels and he was just perfect at it.

He never screwed up.

He never messed up.

He always did the right thing.

But we find it difficult.

And so either we engage and feel like we're going to fail

or we withdraw and say, we're not going to do...

We're going to avoid all of that completely.

Wherever you're at this morning,

I think our passage has lots to teach us

about what it means to live in a relationship with God.

Our passage speaks to a Christian church

that was living in a culture not that dissimilar from ours.

Here's what a commentator, Karen Jobes,

writes about the first century context in a Roman empire.

It says,

The pleasures from which Christians in the first century

typically abstained were the popular forms

of Roman entertainment,

the theater with its risque performances,

the chariot races,

the gladiatorial fights with their blood and gore.

Christian lifestyle in the first century

also condemned the other pleasures,

the quote-unquote pleasures of an indulgent temper,

sex outside marriage,

drinking,

slander,

lying,

covetousness,

and theft.

These attitudes towards the contemporary Roman customs and morals

earned Christians the reputation of being haters of humanity

and traitors to the Roman way of life.

So Peter is writing to people who know these pressures as well.

And he writes to them,

remember the theme verse of the book of 1 Peter is in chapter 2.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles

to abstain from the passions of the flesh

which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles,

that means among the broader unbelieving world,

honorable,

so that when they speak against you as evildoers,

they may see your good deeds

and glorify God on the day of visitation.

That's the broad exhortation of the whole book of 1 Peter.

And we're going to look at what Peter says specifically in this passage.

What he's going to tell us is,

gear up.

Gear up for the life that God has called you to.

And the questions are,

gear up with what and why?

And that's what we're going to look at.

So if you want to look at this passage,

1 Peter chapter 4,

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

starting in verse 1,

we'll read verses 1 through 6.

Since then Christ suffered in the flesh.

Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking,

for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh

no longer for human passions,

but for the will of God.

The time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do,

living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties,

and lawless idolatry.

With respect to this,

they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery,

and they malign you.

But they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead,

for this is why the gospel was preached,

even to those who are dead,

that though judged in the flesh the way people are,

they might live in the spirit the way God does.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you for this word.

We thank you for a chance to gather this morning

and to hear your word and to sit under it.

God, we pray for your help.

We pray for your grace.

We pray for your spirit to be at work.

Lord, that you would enable me to speak clearly,

that you would, Lord, turn our hearts to you,

that we would be ready to receive your word.

And Lord, that in receiving,

we may be strengthened and encouraged to know you,

to see the glory of the way that you have called us to live

as we follow Jesus.

And we pray this in his name.

Amen.

Amen.

So as we look at this passage,

as we examine this,

structurally, it's kind of simple.

There's one main command,

and then there are three implications

or three aspects of how that plays out.

And so if you're taking notes,

that's our outline.

One command, three aspects of,

that are gonna answer the questions.

Gear up with what?

And gear up, and why do we need to do it?

So let's look at this in turn.

Verse one.

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,

arm yourselves.

There's the same way of thinking

for whoever has suffered in the flesh

has ceased from sin.

What does he see?

The central command is this.

Gear up.

Arm yourselves.

And the word here is a great,

it's a, the word is actually hoplite.

It's the same thing for the hoplite soldiers.

And they had helmets and breastplates and shields

and armaments of spears and swords,

and they had greaves on their shins to protect them.

And Peter is saying, put on this armor.

But he's not talking about physical armor.

He's not talking about protecting our bodies.

He's talking about protecting our souls.

And he says, what are we gonna gear up with?

We're supposed to gear up with a frame of mind.

First Peter said, in this verse,

it says the same way of thinking.

What is this same,

what is this way of thinking that Peter is saying?

We are to have the same way of thinking

that Christ had as he suffered while he was on earth.

This was Christ who came to obey God perfectly,

enduring the scorn, the shame, the rejection,

so that he might be our savior and our deliverer,

who for the joy set before him,

endured the cross, despising its shame.

And this is what Peter says.

We're to say, look at Jesus,

because he willingly entered into a life

where he would experience this suffering.

And you need to gear yourself up

with the same mindset of being prepared

to suffer for obedience that Jesus did.

Now, the end of verse one probably surprised you,

just like it surprises me,

as when I read it the first time.

What does this mean?

For whoever has suffered in the flesh

has ceased from sin.

Well, what can it not mean?

Well, it can't mean that if we suffer,

we no longer sin at all,

sin at all during this life.

It can't mean, well, now that I've suffered once,

I am no longer prone to sin.

Nor can it mean that sin,

that suffering purifies us,

because we all know that suffering sometimes,

rather than purifying us,

it embitters us, it hardens us,

it makes us more angry.

So it can't mean those things.

So what does it mean?

Wayne Grudem in his commentary says this,

whoever has suffered for doing right

and has still gone on obeying God

in spite of the suffering it involved

has made a clean break with sin.

When Jesus came, he said,

Lord, I have come to do your will.

And what Peter's saying here is,

we're to arm ourselves with that same attitude.

I am no longer enslaved to sin because of Christ.

As a Christian, I have been brought into a new place

and my determination is to no longer live

for those things, but to live for something else.

We have chosen Christ over a life of sin.

And though imperfectly in our living out of that,

there is a fundamental picture here

that Peter is saying,

that when we have chosen to follow Christ,

we've said,

no longer will we walk in the ways of sin.

We will turn away from it.

And we will obey and follow God

even when it means suffering.

This is Peter's exhortation,

to arm ourselves with this attitude.

Now, what does it look like to do this?

How do we enter into this?

Well, I'll tell you what, friends,

I've been wrestling with this all week

because what I really want is three steps.

Here are three easy steps.

You do these three things and it's gonna happen.

Thank you, Suzanne.

I appreciate that.

Right?

We want a list of to-dos and there isn't one.

How do we arm ourselves with the attitude of Christ?

It's this simple and this hard.

We meditate on Christ himself.

We read the scriptures daily.

We let it lead us to Christ.

And if you're not sure how to do that,

go back to our website,

look at the last Sunday school class

that Laura Bush just taught

on Bible reading and scripture meditation

and let it fuel your practice

of meditating on scripture

so that it will lead you to a clear vision of God

and a clear vision of Christ.

Look to him, remember him every day.

Cling to his promises.

See his faithfulness.

Fix your eyes on him.

This is how we arm ourselves with the attitude of Christ.

We look at him with our hearts,

with our minds every day.

It's that simple and that difficult.

So Peter says, arm yourselves with this attitude.

And then there are three facets,

three things that Peter says

about why this is so important.

So in verses two and three,

Peter says, arm yourselves

so that we can follow the will of God

amidst temptations.

Right?

Verse two says,

so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh,

no longer for human passions,

but for the will of God,

the time that has passed suffices

for doing what the Gentiles want to do,

living in sensuality, passions,

drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties,

and lawless idolatry.

Peter says, we need to arm ourselves

so that we can do what we want to do,

which is follow God,

and not do what we don't want to do,

which is fall into temptation.

Right?

Peter's presenting this picture

that I've already started with,

that there's a before and after

that should be true of the Christian life.

Before I was enslaved to sin,

I didn't know anything else,

and whether I was profligate

and completely over the top

in drunkenness and orgies,

or whether I simply lived

a proud, self-righteous,

self-serving life,

I lived for myself.

Now I have something else to live for.

And this is the distinction he's saying.

He's saying, as Christians,

you want to arm yourself

so that you can live the life

that you want to live

and that God has called you to live.

Right?

And Peter says,

we need to do this

because we know that there's a temptation

to fall back into the old ways

that we used to live.

And then he lists them.

And I just want to say,

if you think I'm picking on sex

and drinking today,

I am.

But it's not my fault.

It's what the Bible says.

It's what all of these five verses relate to

as they're talking

in the first century Roman context.

It's saying these are some

of the common human patterns

patterns of how we live

for self-centered human pleasure

and satisfaction

rather than for God.

Right?

Because God, in fact,

created us for pleasure

and he created us to be satisfied.

But in our fallen nature,

we take the things that he gives us,

we exalt them to this place of idolatry,

and we worship them

and they end up controlling us.

And so our passions

and our pleasures control us.

And sex and drink

are two of the historically

most prominent ways

in which these things

have been expressed

in human history.

Right?

And we need to not be afraid

of our post-evangelical,

post-fundamentalist reaction

to legalism to say so.

We need to be self-controlled

in the areas of how we live out

our sexuality and our drinking.

And we need to not play around

by thinking,

oh, I'm past that legalism.

I can do this and be safe.

We need to be wise.

We need to be shrewd

in how we do this.

But we also want to look deeper

because we recognize

that sex and drinking

are two expressions

of a deep heart position.

One commentary says,

all five of these terms

refer to practices

that have in common

a lack of self-control,

a character flaw,

leading to behaviors

that are self-destructive violation

of God's standards

and harmful to others.

What does that look like

in our lives?

Well, I thought of a couple.

They're all electronic,

I'll be honest with you.

One is social media

and the way that our addiction

to and use of social media,

how often is it characterized

by a lack of self-control,

a character flaw

leading to behaviors

that are self-destructive

and harmful to others?

I think of the number

of men and women

who are addicted to pornography

and who look daily, weekly,

express this sensual desire,

this sexual desire

in a destructive place.

I think that there are ways

in which for some of us

something like computer games

and the addiction

that that can cause

and the way that it can

separate us from

from real relationships

with the people around us.

However our screens

act in our life,

often they fall into this

self-centered,

lack of self-control,

destructive patterns.

It's not the only way,

but I think we want

to think about this.

We want to recognize

that in our fallenness

we have these disordered desires.

We look for good things

and we look for them

in the wrong places.

We long for intimacy

and pleasure

and joy and meaning,

significance and relief

and comfort,

but we look for them

in the wrong places.

And as we do so,

we fall back

into the old patterns

of life of someone

who doesn't know God

and we miss

the calling

that God has for us.

And Peter knows.

Peter is not being hard.

He knows how difficult it is.

We know how difficult it is,

how easy it is

to fall into the old ways.

We know it's easier

because the old ways

are familiar.

We used to do that.

I know how that works.

I know that that works

in a moment.

That's going to make me

feel better.

I want to do that.

Sometimes we get weary

of just feeling different

and we just get tired

of no one understanding

why we live the way we do.

Sometimes we just get lazy.

We're just like,

I don't want to have

to work so hard anymore.

Sometimes in the midst

of suffering,

we fall into self-pity.

We've suffered so much.

Can't God just give me a break?

Can't I have just this

one little thing

even though I know

it's not what he wants

and it's not good for me?

Sometimes it's as simple

as we just don't want

to live boring lives.

We know we're meant

to live passionate lives

and we don't quite know

what it looks like

to live passionately for God

so we look at the world

and we think

that looks like

a lot of passion

and a lot of fun.

But God has called us

to spend these passions

that he has given us,

this passionate heart

that he's created in us

for something else,

for the will of God.

This is what Peter

has been talking about

this whole book

and we want to just,

I just want to remind you,

he tells us to live

such good lives

and to suffer for doing good

because it's the way

that God has made us to be,

to live distinctly

in the world

as God's chosen people

so that we might reflect

the glory of his grace,

so we might reflect

the hope of the inheritance

that we have secure for us

in heaven,

in heaven,

so that we might know

the love of Christ

that has been poured out

in our hearts

and display that

in the world.

God has called us

to do this,

to be ready,

to take up this challenge

of forging a new way

to honor God

in our particular circumstances

and to live with

gospel-shaped relationships.

Some of the hard passages

we've wrestled with

in the last month

have talked about

how do we navigate this

in the realms of politics

and family and race?

How do we do this well?

But remember,

this is what God's calling us to.

How do we honor him

in every circumstance?

How do we live for him?

And Peter's reminding us

that there is something

worth our passions

and is living for the will of God.

So this is the first reason

we're to arm ourselves,

so that we no longer

fall back into the old ways,

but so that we're ready

to face those temptations

and pursue the thing

that we know God wants.

Verses 4 and 5

give us a second reason.

Let's look at it again.

With respect to this,

they are surprised

when you do not join them

in the same flood of debauchery

and they malign you,

but they will give an account

to him who is ready

to judge the living

and the dead.

Peter knows

that turning from the old ways

to a new way is hard

and the dynamic

of every adult convert

in the world

knows this challenge

because the people

you used to know

and the things

you used to do

are now things

that you no longer

want to do

and you're trying

to figure out

how do I relate

to these people

without continuing

to run with them

and doing the things

that they do.

This is why he says

join with them

in the same flood

of debauchery.

Just there's this

wide road

of really easy living

and that's what you know

and it's what you're familiar with

and yet when you come

to Christ

there's meant to be

a change,

a shift,

a transition

and these create tensions

and if you've walked

through this

you know

your friends are hurt.

They're confused.

confused.

What happened to you?

Where did my friend go?

We used to do

these things together.

We used to go

and get drunk

on Friday night together

and now

I don't know you

and I don't know

how to have a relationship

with you

apart from these things.

Not only are they

confused

and surprised

but often

they feel condemned.

You're judging me

aren't you?

You think

I'm doing it wrong.

And often then

that turns

to

as Peter says here

maligning

or reviling.

You're self-righteous.

You're a bigot.

Why do you hate me now?

You're so holier than now.

Why are you so judgmental?

I know some of you

have felt these pressures.

You've heard those words

spoken to you.

And I think

that we feel

a greater pressure

because in this era

in this stage

of the church

one of the things

we long to be

is a winsome church.

We want to be a church

that wins people's affections.

We want to love

well enough.

We want to be gentle

and gracious enough.

We think that if we do

those things well enough

somehow

people are going to

accept us

and welcome us

and celebrate us

or at least respect us.

Peter reminds us

that that's not true.

These two worlds,

these two ways

are divergent.

They're going

in different directions

and there is a conflict

between them

and this conflict

is inevitable

and maybe it doesn't happen

in every relationship

and it doesn't happen

in every circumstance

but recognize

that this is normal

that this will be a part

of following Jesus.

the conflict will happen

and look

we're still called

to be loving

winsome

gentle

patient

and kind.

We don't forsake

doing that

because quote unquote

it doesn't work.

We do that

because it's the way

we follow Christ

but recognize

that we're not

always going to get

the thing that we

I think we hope for

which is

when we do that

then people won't hate us.

Peter is reminding us

that is not true.

And we know

that that pressure

that fear of blowback

that fear of those

negative responses

and conflict to us

we know that

that's a high pressure

for us

to just go along.

We know that

the negative response

may come

and we say

I'm just going to be silent

I don't want to deal

with people

just going at me today.

Sometimes we just go along

it's like

well

God will understand

I'm just going to

I'm just going to do it

because it's too hard.

Peter reminds us

however

in verse 5

of why

we can have confidence

to stand up

to that kind of pressure.

Because he reminds us

as he turns a corner

he says

he reminds us

that look

those people

and their judgment

of you

their condemnation

of you

is not the final word

on your life.

Peter says

lift up your eyes

and look

and see

because you know what

they

and their judgments

will ultimately

sit under a greater judgment.

They will face

the one

God himself

who is the judge

of the living

and the dead

that means people

who are already dead

and people who are alive

today

and all people

will be judged

universally

by God.

and what will happen

is those who revile

you for doing good

for following Christ

will be shown

at the last day

to be wrong.

They will be shown

to have misunderstood

what is right

and wrong

in the world

and you

who follow Christ

faithfully

will be vindicated

because of Christ.

This is the implication.

living differently

will always feel awkward

and it will at times

make us feel like

the whole world

hates us

and condemns us

and judges us

but just like it did

with Christ

so we will know

that the end of this story

is not that judgment

but ultimately

the vindication

that comes with Christ

as he judges

the whole world.

So Peter says

gird up your mind.

See this long term view

know what Christ

was looking at

as he suffered

and look to those things

so that in the face

of temptation

with the great pressures

that you feel

even the

either the pull

in your heart

or the fear

of others

that these things

gird up your mind

with this long term view

so that you may walk

with God

and follow his will.

So that's the second reason

why we're to arm ourselves.

Verse 6

is the third one

that we are to arm ourselves

so that we remember

our gospel mission

and hope.

Verse 6

is not an easy one

we'll get into it

in a minute

but let's read it.

This is why the gospel

was preached

even to those

who are dead

though judged

in the flesh

the way people are

they might live

in the spirit

the way God does.

Now this is explanatory

this is explaining

this long term view

and saying

here's more explanation

about why this is important

but what does it actually say?

Now some people

in the history

of the church

have seen this verse

as grounds

for post-mortem conversion.

What that means

is that somehow

some way

after we die

we can still hear

the gospel

and turn to God

and after death

is a really good time

to do that

because we can live

our whole life

no matter how we

it doesn't matter

and then we die

and then we see

how bad death is

and then we think

wow that'd be great.

So we have

in our human heart

we long

for second chances

we long

to know

that this life

isn't all there is

and maybe God

can like

can rescue it

even after the fact

and some of us

do this

because we have

lost loved ones

and we long

for them

to have a second chance

but the scriptures

don't give us

that second chance.

Hebrews 9

17

says that

we are to

to die once

and then to face judgment

there is no second chances

this life

is what we have

in God's sovereignty

this is what we're

meant to live with

the reason why

I say this

and the reason why

I believe that

verse 6 is not saying that

is actually

the key words

the living and the dead

and the way that they're used

in verse 5

in verse 5

it says

they will give an account

to him who is ready

to judge the living

and the dead

that is all people

everywhere

the people who have

already died

and the people who are

living now

right

he's not talking about

spiritually living

and spiritually dead

he's not talking about

the people who died

in the days of Noah

there are a lot of

really interesting things

in verse 5

it's clear that he's

talking about all people

right

and in verse 6 then

he's saying the same thing

the dead

in verse 6

right

the gospel is preached

the dead

is the gospel was preached

to people

who heard the gospel

when they were alive

and now they are done

now they have died

they are physically dead people

that's what it means

why is Peter saying this

well because

in the first century

the Roman culture around

would say

okay you believe in Jesus

you're going to be resurrected

to an eternal life

well look at Joe here

Joe died last month

and what is he?

worm food

he's just dead

what good is it

to follow Christ

and to suffer

if all you're going to do

is die

just like everyone else

and Peter says

this is why

the gospel is so important

this is why

we preach the gospel

urgently

while we can

because in this life

God is using

the preaching of the gospel

to call people

to life with him

and to hope

and what he's saying is

Joe

who put his faith in Christ

even though his body

is in the ground

he will be raised

to new life

right?

this is what the end

of the verse says

though judged in the spirit

or judged in the flesh

they died

just like everyone else

yet they will be raised

by the spirit

in this

with God

in the spirit of God

and so they have

a great hope

and this is why

the gospel is so urgent

and this is why

the hope of the gospel

is so good

because if we suffer

in this life

for no hope

then it does seem

like a waste

doesn't it?

we might as well

just live it up

but in fact

because we have

this gospel hope

because we have

this new direction

that God has called us in

because we have

this kingdom

that is coming

because we have

this new place

of being God's people

and a future

of living with God

in his perfect

all satisfying

glorious kingdom

forever

this is what

Peter wants us

to take hold of

and to arm ourselves

with

what good is it

living holy lives?

because it means

we continue with Christ

till the end

and as we continue

with Christ

till the end

we have this glorious hope

and in the meantime

we take hold

of this gospel message

and we not only

take hold of it

for ourselves

but we preach it

to everyone else

so that before they die

they can too

turn from sin

and know

the glorious hope

of the gospel

friends

this passage

has a great comfort

and a great sting

the comfort

is that in Christ

we will live

in the spirit

a resurrection

and a victory

awaits us

no matter what

the cost is now

no matter what

suffering we may

walk through

to be faithful

to Christ

at the end

of the day

we will rise

victorious with Christ

and for beleaguered

and weary Christians

this is great hope

but there is a sting

as well

for those who continue

being controlled

by human passions

for those who

in their rejection

of God

and rejection

of Christ

continue apart

from that hope

seeking their life

here in this world

those who revile

believers

who malign them

who condemn them

for their faithful living

there is not a second chance

once you are dead

you are dead indeed

and then you will face judgment

and we need to soberly

hear that

to recognize that

for us

for our neighbors

for us to think about

how we might

hold forth

the hope

that we have

within us

as Peter says

in chapter 3

verse 15

so friends

brothers and sisters

arm yourselves

arm yourselves

with Christ's

mindset

so that you might

pursue the life

that God has

called you to

knowing that it

will be a battle

knowing that it is

not an easy call

it is a hard call

but that the end

is good

and as we

gird ourselves

up for it

we will be prepared

for what comes

let's pray

together

Lord Jesus

we

ask now

Lord

that you would

remind us

fill our hearts

and our minds

with the glorious

truths of Christ

so that we might

arm ourselves

with the same

attitude

that he had

Lord I pray

that if there are those

here this morning

Lord

who have fallen

into old ways

while claiming

to follow Christ

Lord I pray

that they would

know the richness

of your grace

and mercy

that Lord

your call

to repentance

Lord is always

open

for us to turn

back to you

and to forsake

those things

and to know

your gracious

acceptance

and your empowering

presence

to help us

live the new

life that you've

called us to

Lord I pray

for those this

morning who may

not know you

who may be

exploring you

Lord that they

would hear

Lord the urgency

of the gospel

Lord that they

would hear the

good news

and respond

Lord I pray

this morning

that for all

of us you

would make us

wise to the

temptations and

the pull of this

world that we

live in

Lord that we

would gird

ourselves up

to live

differently

because of you

we pray this

in Jesus name

Amen

we in

we进