Freshbrook Church Podcast | 21Jun26 | Living Hope | Graham Bennett

Living for God.

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body has finished with sin.

As a result, they do not live the rest of our earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

You have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, corrosion and detestable idolatry.

They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless while living and the heap abuse on you.

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

This is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

The end of all things is near.

Therefore be alert and have sober mind so that you may pray.

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms.

If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.

If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.

Amen.

Well, thanks, Rosie, and thanks, Andrew, uh, for that.

I wonder how many of us have memorized Jeremiah 29, verse 11.

Jeremiah 29:11

I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.

Maybe you've even got it framed, display proudly on your wall just so you don't forget it.

And that is right, and it is very proper.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 20, for no matter how many promises God has made, they are all yes in Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:20

So just as we started our service by reminding ourselves of what Jesus has achieved for us, so that we can better praise him.

And just as shortly we'll be obeying Jesus' command to meet around this table of remembrance, to remember his sacrifice once and for all upon the cross.

It is so, so very important that we constantly remind ourselves of all God's good promises to us.

But there's always a but, isn't there?

We need to ensure that we just don't take these good promises that are yes in Jesus and cheapen the gospel.

I know for I, for one, so easily drawn to a gospel of ease and comfort.

Follow Jesus and I'll be prosperous, healthy.

All my problems will go away.

I'll live a very comfortable life.

Thank you, Jesus.

I'll name that and I'll claim it.

Well, the purveyors of the prosperity gospel quite often make a very comfortable living out of preaching such a message.

But it isn't true, I'm afraid.

As our reading this morning that Rosie read for us highlights.

Jeremiah 29, verse 11 is a beautiful promise.

Jeremiah 29:11

But it's even more precious when we read it in the context of the whole chapter.

We don't just pull it out to make us feel nice and warm and cosy.

A text out of context is a con to quote Andrew Olerton.

Jeremiah is sending that particular promise of God to a people who've just been taken captive.

They're prisoners.

They've been deported, they're exiles, they've been displaced, they're refugees, migrants, maybe even unwilling asylum seekers.

Jeremiah is writing on behalf of God to a group of people who are actually under God's judgment.

They failed to keep his laws that we thought about earlier on.

The first four commandments, they completely broke every one of them.

There are people who had compromised on their faith.

They'd scorned God's commands.

There are people who had chosen to follow other gods.

They disobeyed every single command, starting with the first one.

They'd survived a terrible siege and famine, and now they were being carried off to a far land.

Many of their families probably had died en route.

And God isn't promising to restore their futures, their fortunes that day, but in 70 years' time.

Jeremiah is exhorting those people to remain faithful, to hold on to what God had promised, to look forward to that day when God would restore their blessings.

And he did.

God always keeps his word.

Just as he'd promised.

The edict of Cyrus in 538 made it possible.

You can read that in 2 Chronicles 36, verse 22, and I think you can even see a copy in the British Museum.

2 Chronicles 36:22

And so it was with Jesus.

Our passage today opens with the statement, therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, Jesus knew that the only way to achieve his mission here on earth was by pain and suffering.

And repeatedly he told his disciples that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected, that he must be killed and on the third day rise again, Mark 8.31.

And Mark 8.32 says that he spoke about this plainly.

When Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin on the night that he was betrayed, watched in the courtyard by Peter, the author of this letter, Jesus never once defended himself.

He never once tried to avoid the cross.

Clearly, Jesus fully embraced his suffering.

Because he knew it was the only way to save us from our sin and shame.

Our failure to live to those commands that we were thinking about before.

God's holy, perfect standard.

1 Peter 3.18, Christ also suffered for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

Our faith is a faith of great hope, a living hope.

We can and we should rejoice greatly in all God's good promises.

They are yes in Christ.

But today's passage causes us to seriously consider how we are to live that out.

How we are to live towards that promised inheritance.

How we too are aliens in a hostile world.

How we're to bring glory to God, verse 2 and verse 11.

This is a very serious passage.

And it points us to make the most serious choice we'll ever make.

Back to verse 1.

Will we arm ourselves with that same attitude as Jesus?

Jesus who suffered in his body for our sake.

We're not saved by a gospel of ease and comfort.

Our salvation is free, but it isn't cheap.

And if we do try to cheapen it, dare I say we risk losing it.

Or just maybe we never really had it at all.

When we come to this table, we must not eat unworthily.

We'll read that shortly.

So as we look at Peter's letter this morning, and as we come to this table, let's come with that right perspective.

Coming in our weakness and failure, in our sin and shame, but finding God's strength through his amazing grace, his provision, so that we don't remain condemned.

We come believing that Jesus has done everything necessary to make us holy.

1 Peter 1, 15.

And that the gift of his Holy Spirit is all we need to live for his glory.

Acts 1, verse 8 and Romans 8, verse 2.

Acts 1:8 Romans 8:2

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, I think this reading gives us three things to do.

First of all, to resolve, to think differently, to live for the will of God, verse 2, to leave behind earthly passions, to live for God's glory, verse 11.

And we do that in two ways.

By embracing our calling to be different in the world, verses 3 to 6, and by embracing our calling to serve the church, verses 7 to 11.

Why is this also very important?

Why is it so serious?

Well, simply because the end of all things is near, 1 Peter 4, 7.

And 4 verse 5 says, we have the choice.

We're either ready to live in that inheritance for God's glory, or we have to give an account and be ready to be judged.

1 Peter 4.5, they will have to give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

And when Peter says that the end of all things is near, he wasn't suggesting that Jesus' return was necessarily imminent, although it might well be.

Luke 12, 39 says, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.

But I think Peter is rather suggesting that the major events of God's great plan of salvation, which culminated in Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, and then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost have already been completed.

They've occurred.

Therefore, Jesus can return at any time in his story, our history.

God is only waiting because he is patient, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

2 Peter 3 verse 9.

2 Peter 3:9

So since the end of all things is nigh or near, we're not to simply look to heaven wistfully waiting for Jesus to return.

No, we're to be alert, sober-minded, so that we may be devoted to prayer, verse 7.

And as we maximize our usefulness in God's kingdom and his church by living lives of generous, hospitable love, verse 8 onwards.

Or we have the choice.

We can live to our human desires, verse 2.

Peter's list of pagan practices might sound a little extreme.

You might be thinking that you're well clear of being charged with anything on that list.

But for the rest of us, I don't think much has changed in those 2,000 years since this was written.

Those same temptations are common to man.

And in fact, when I was thinking about this, I was reminded of Solomon and in the book of Ecclesiastes, which was written 3,000 years ago.

Solomon writes about wine, women, and song.

Or maybe if you're a child of the 60s, sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

If you look at Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon says, I said to myself, come now, I will test you with pleasures to find out what is good.

But it all proved to be meaningless.

If you read on in that chapter, you'll see that Solomon actually built grand houses for himself.

He acquired huge wealth.

He employed singers just for his own pleasure.

And women, many women, who delight the hearts of men.

Chapter 2, verse 8 of Ecclesiastes.

Yet what did he find?

He found ultimately it was all unsatisfying.

Why?

Because God places eternity in men's hearts.

Ecclesiastes 3, verse 11.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

And from my own experience, living lives of, not me personally, but living lives of debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, etc., was one of the greatest desires of many of my RAF colleagues back in the day.

And I was also surprised, actually, when I came into civilian life, that it wasn't much different.

The office Christmas parties at Connie could be a fairly torried affair, quite literally.

There was a reason to try and excuse yourself at the earliest opportunity.

And despite the fact that just like Solomon, we all know how meaningless it really is, it does remain oh so appealing.

And so so many crave such a lifestyle.

And maybe even some of us secretly wish that too.

The ever-increasing depraved reality shows seem to just point more to underlying that kind of lifestyle.

But it does come with a cost.

Eventually there will be a reckoning.

1 Peter 4, 5.

They will have to give account.

So it is a simple choice.

Will you crave to follow those human desires?

Or will you choose to arm yourselves with that same attitude as Jesus?

And that choice dictates your eternal destiny.

An inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, or eternal judgment.

It's as simple as that.

It is black and white.

So what will you choose?

Will you choose to arm yourself with that same attitude as Jesus?

Arming yourselves not with military weapons.

I've been there, done that, and that's no fun.

No, we're to arm ourselves with a mindset that is ready to follow that example of Jesus.

Maybe even to suffer in our bodies just like he did.

We arm ourselves by having the same attitude as Jesus, Philippians 2.

And we do it by the renewing of our minds, Romans 12, verse 2.

Romans 12:2

And do it because we resolve to live for God, verse 2 in our reading.

And if we do this, we shouldn't be surprised, like those who are in the world are surprised that we choose to live differently to them.

They just can't understand why we wouldn't live for today and enjoy the moment, to the point that they may even heap abuse on you.

But by choosing to arm yourself with the same attitude as Jesus, we become alert and sober.

Verse 7.

So that we can pray.

And we're noticing a theme for today.

And prayer is a key theme through this letter.

It's a real mark of a restored relationship to God.

Prayer is nothing more than a conversation between friends, according to Pete Gregg.

But it's also a true thermometer of our faith.

We saw a couple of weeks back how a husband's behavior to his wife affects their prayer life.

And 1 Peter 3.12, Peter quotes from Psalm 34, for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayers.

We need to be our praying people.

So do join us tonight and do join us in the week of prayer.

But secondly, we also do it by embracing our calling to serve the church.

First of all, we choose to live different lives to the world, and then we choose to serve the church as God gives us gifts.

Verses 7 to 11.

We choose to live lives of generous, hospitable love, caring for each other.

And when I was preparing this, I was reading through Peter.

And every chapter has at least one mention of how we live and love each other as a church.

It's so much written into this letter.

And we do it by using whatever gifts God has, whatever gifts you have received to serve others.

So faithful stewards of God's grace is in its various forms.

Verse 10.

So as we come to this table of remembrance, as we remember that Christ suffered in his body for us, will you choose to arm yourself with that same attitude as Jesus?

Will you resolve to live your life for God's will, to leave behind those earthly passions, to live for God's glory by serving the church as he equips you with his good gifts.

But this is only possible because, 1 Peter 3.18, Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

And also because 1 Peter 2.24, he, Jesus Himself, bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.

For all of us, like street sheep, have gone astray.

So as we come to meet around this table, if you're willing, resolve to live differently to the world.

Resolve to live for God's glory and to serve his church as he equips you with his good gifts.