1 Peter: How to Think & Live According to the Gospel (4:1-11)

Hi, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning into Newsong Churches Podcast.

We're a biblically faithful, gospel-centered Anglican church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors.

You can learn more about us at newsongportperry.ca.

May God bless you today through his life-giving word.

Our second reading this morning is found in 1 Peter chapter 4, beginning at the first verse.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

Since therefore 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 time in the flesh no longer for human passions, but for the will of God.

For the time that is past 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.

The end of all things is at hand.

Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.

Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God.

Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

To him belong glory and dominion and forever and ever.

Amen.

The word of the Lord.

Dear friends, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.

Let's pray.

Gracious Lord Jesus, good shepherd.

We this morning are your sheep.

And we need you to lead us.

We need you to pasture us, to nourish us, to care for us.

And Lord, you've given us your words to be for us spiritual food.

And you bring us to your table and welcome us.

So we pray, Lord, fill our hearts.

Let our hearts be full.

We pray, Lord, that we would come to a deeper knowledge and understanding of your word.

And just as it had power in the day that it was written, so too, Lord, we pray you would have power in our day and in our hearts.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Do you have a purpose in life?

Have you ever asked yourself that question?

Has anyone ever asked you that question?

Let me ask you the same question with one more clause.

Do you have a purpose in life worth suffering for?

Do you have a purpose in life that requires, musters up perseverance because you know this cause is worth it.

It's worth the opposition that's faced.

And you know that it's worth the pain that comes for now to see the outcome.

Do you have a purpose in life?

That might seem like an intuitive question to some.

For others, it might seem like a question we've maybe we've not asked to ourselves.

Maybe you, like me, would be somewhat surprised to learn how rare a thing it is to have a purpose in life that you can articulate.

One recent study uh suggested that up to 58% of young adults, that's you know, young people, teenagers, 58% said they had little or no purpose in life.

58%.

Little or no purpose in life.

Is that where you're at today?

Because I don't think that's just limited to young adults, though that statistic breaks my heart.

Over half of young adults today might say, my life doesn't really have any purpose.

What gives purpose in life?

One of the features I think about modern life, uh, because I think about these things, maybe it's just the weird podcasts I listen to or something, but here's one of the features of modern life I think that's kind of counterintuitive.

I wonder if, you know, modern life and the way we value relative comfort, relative security, relative luxury, means that our purpose in life becomes something like this.

Our purpose is to minimize pain and suffering as much as possible.

That's our purpose in life.

But what's counterintuitive about that is if our purpose in life is to minimize suffering, then we really don't have a purpose in life for which we will suffer.

It's really not that meaningful to us, is it?

Where do we go to find true meaning in life?

This is what I think is described as the meaning crisis in our culture today.

And the amazing thing as we go through 1 Peter, the thing that strikes me over and over and over again is how saturated Peter understands the Christian life is in meaning, in purpose.

And not just, you know, a fashionable purpose that, you know, lasts for a little while.

It's a purpose that can draw us through even the most difficult, most challenging, hard times of life.

It's a purpose we can grab on to.

It's a purpose that can grab onto us, really, and bring us through life.

Peter has been writing his letter to faithful exiles.

That's how he calls us Christians, in the world, not of the world, and yet for the world, in the way that God's heart is for the world.

And the first thing he said about us is we are born again to a living hope.

The resurrection stands at the heart, not just of the Christian faith, but of the Christian life.

It animates us.

It means that even in the lowest points of life, we have a hope that life will still triumph over death.

And that animates everything we do and it changes the way we live.

It has to, pardon me, it has to.

And that's what Peter's been tracing all through chapter two, all through chapter three.

We've come to chapter four.

Here's all the implications it has for how we live our lives as Christians and for society at large, but especially for us as we live our life.

And last week we looked at suffering in particular, especially that suffering that pertains to how we live the Christian life, the kind of opposition we might face as we go about life doing our very best to be faithful to the Word of God and to the call of Jesus.

And even for sinners and sufferers like us, the gospel offers a life saturated in purpose.

We don't have to be in that statistic that says we have little or no purpose in life.

We can have the purpose in life.

What I think is perhaps the greatest purpose we could ask for in life.

And that's a purpose that Peter locates in the gospel.

The good news that Christ who is crucified is Christ who is raised.

Peter, in our passage this morning, points in two directions and says, here's where we go to find our purpose as Christians.

It's a purpose that can animate all of life.

It's a purpose that can renew and restore us, even when we're at our lowest.

First, we can look at Christ's cross and we can think accordingly, Peter says.

And then we can look at Christ's return and we can live accordingly.

If we want to know where we find our purpose as Christians, as human beings, Peter says, look at the cross and look at Christ's return, and you will have found the meaning, the purpose of the Christian life.

So this will challenge us this morning to consider those things in our hearts, in our lives that are at cross purposes with, wow, the cross, I didn't even think about that as a pun.

You know what I mean.

What are those things that go against the grain, let's put it that way, of Jesus' cross and Jesus' return in our lives?

It'll challenge us in that regard, but it will also offer us the greatest reassurance that I think we can ask for and offer us the greatest meaning that we could live into.

So let's discover that for ourselves this morning.

Let's think a little bit more deeply about this.

Open up your Bibles, if you will, the Pew Bibles, to uh page 955, or you can open up your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 4.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

Always recommend having a Bible, bringing your Bible to church.

That's never out of fashion.

That's never out of style.

1 Peter chapter 4.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

Let's discover how the gospel offers our life purpose, the purpose.

First, let's think in accordance with Christ's cross.

Verses 1 and 2.

Since therefore 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.

So, what's Peter saying?

Since Christ has suffered in the flesh, Peter's pointing at the cross, isn't he?

That is the characteristic suffering for Christ.

We've just read 1 Peter 3, 18 last week.

Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.

Peter is helping us to see the significance of what it is that Christ has accomplished on the cross, not suffering for suffering's sake, but once for all kind of suffering.

Suffering as our substitute, paying the penalty for our sins, suffering to bring us to God, to reconcile us to our loving and holy Heavenly Father.

This is suffering that Jesus endured in the flesh, that is to say, in his body, and he endured it for us.

I suspect some translations have that in the text as well, and that's a helpful indicator.

Peter says, since Jesus suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with this same way of thinking.

So the question is this: how did Jesus think about the cross that he was bearing?

What made Jesus willing to go to the cross?

And the answer might be something like this.

We saw it last week, we're seeing it here.

Jesus went to the cross out of obedience to God the Father's will.

He knew that God the Father willed the greatest good for all of us, for you and for me, and the cross was the way to accomplish it.

And so therefore Jesus was willing to bear his cross.

But he also bore his cross out of supreme love and service to us.

He was willing to sacrifice himself to do us the greatest good that can be done out of love.

This is Christ's mind as he comes to the cross.

It's a mind of obedience, a mind of love and service.

Paul puts it this way in Philippians chapter 2, as he calls the church to live a life of humility, he says, Have this mind, this humility among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not account equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

And therefore, Paul says God has highly exalted him.

So what's Christ's mind as he goes to the cross?

It's a mind of humility.

It's a mind of love, a mind of service, a mind of obedience to God the Father.

Well, Peter is saying, if that's Christ's mind as he goes to his cross, then those of us who are called to bear our crosses ought to be armed with that same way of thinking.

A way of thinking that is not self-interested, but interested in obeying God our Father who wills our greatest good.

A way of thinking that is interested in loving and serving our neighbor, even at our own expense.

That's the kind of thinking we're called to arm ourselves with.

And why, Peter says, verse 2, pardon me, last half of verse 1.

For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

Now here's what Peter can't mean by that.

Peter can't mean that the degree to which we have suffered is the degree to which we are incapable of sinning.

It can't be that one-to-one correspondence.

We know elsewhere in Scripture that on this side of eternity, at least, we will not be sinless, right?

But we will continue to be sanctified.

But there is something about suffering that tests the heart, tests the affections of the heart, tests our hopes.

What are our lives really aimed at?

Take, for example, if my life is aimed at nothing but security or comfort, if that's the priority in my life, then when I experience a loss of that security, when I experience a loss of that comfort, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to see that restored.

And if that's my number one priority in life, then maybe I'm even willing to risk doing something that disobeys God's word to make sure that that becomes the case, because my heart really is set on my own security and comfort.

Well, suffering can, if we let it, refine our heart's affections.

If we are set on Jesus as our greatest affection, as our greatest good, then even when suffering comes along, we will say there's nothing that I could do to abandon my Lord Jesus for the love that he has shown me.

And so therefore, it's almost like the nerve center of sin has been cut off.

And it's almost as though sin has lost its power or its grip over us as we suffer if we have set our hearts on the living Lord Jesus.

You ever reached a point in life where you just go, I am just done with this?

You know what I mean?

That's what suffering can help us do.

We can say, I am just done with sin.

This is not fulfilling its promises, it's not fulfilling whatever purpose I find in it.

I'm giving myself to Jesus wholly.

And that's why Peter goes on to say, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh, that is in this life, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God.

Christ's cross, his suffering, his hardship.

But not just that, his attitude towards the cross shows us how we can think about the crosses that we ourselves are called to bear.

So one commentator writes, Since Christ suffered to the extent of death in the realm of fleshly existence, Christians are to arm themselves with the same attitude that guided Christ.

In other words, think in accordance with Christ's cross, and you will find the purpose of the Christian life.

This means at least three things, I think, in Peter's mind.

Because Peter's a pastor, and he's got a congregation that he's writing to.

And he's got specific Christians in mind, and he knows what's going on in their lives.

So I don't think he's just pulling things out of the air.

I think he's got very much in mind, here's how this ought to apply in the lives of the Christians that he's writing to.

I wonder if there's something that we can pull out here for ourselves as well.

If we're called to think in accordance with Christ's cross, well, Peter goes on to say, for the time, pardon me, for the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles, that is pagans, that is non-Christians, do, or want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

Boy, what a list.

And you might say, Well, here comes the Christian moral police, you know, on the scene again.

You know, heaven forbid someone try and have a good time or something like that.

And Peter's heart here, of course, is not to just arbitrarily bring down the hammer.

Peter wants to go at those areas of life where the cross needs to come to bear.

If we are going to be Christians, then the cross needs to come to bear to every part of our life and every way of our living.

If our Friday night, how we spend our Friday night, does not agree with how we spend our Sunday morning, then there is a gospel disconnect somewhere here.

And Peter is saying if we are going to grow, if our thinking is going to grow in accordance with the cross, then we need to make sure these two things agree with one another.

So whether it's our sex lives, whether it's the things we indulge in, whether it's the things that we worship, maybe not just statues or idols, but maybe those things we elevate in our hearts to a matter of supreme importance.

We need to bring the cross to bear on all of this.

Because it's like Peter saying, these are lesser goods that will point us in the wrong direction, right?

Think in accordance with Christ's cross, and you will see there is a greater glory to come.

Don't settle for less.

Don't go the way that pagans want you to go.

And if we make the difficult choice and we say, I'm going to choose God's will over whatever a pagan idea of a good time is, then Peter says you can probably expect some slander and opposition.

Verse 4, with respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.

But what keeps us going even when we feel slandered, even when we feel opposed?

Well, Peter says, verse 5, but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

See, the being gripped by the cross or thinking in accordance with the cross equips us with the strength of will to persevere even when we feel opposition, even when we feel slandered, even when we feel maligned or mistreated, we can persevere because our life has been gripped by a higher love.

And even still, we can bear in mind that God will bring down his judgment even on this sin.

And that might be a reality that needs to break our hearts for those who are far from God.

And we can give God thanks and praise that through the cross, sin in our lives has been decisively dealt with.

I think at least verse 6 means that.

I don't entirely know what to do with verse 6, but I think it at least means that the cross is our assurance.

God has dealt decisively and brought life out of death.

So therefore, we think in accordance with the cross because it is our hope of true and full life.

We embrace true life, not avoiding the cross, but through the cross.

And we discover gospel purpose for our lives in thinking accordance with the cross.

If I am willing to humbly, obediently love and serve my neighbor even at my own expense, then I am thinking in accordance with the cross, and I am discovering a greater purpose for my life than I would otherwise.

Think in accordance with Christ's cross, is what Peter is saying.

Secondly, live in anticipation of Christ's return.

If we want to have a gospel purpose for our lives, we think in accordance with Christ's cross, we can look backwards and see that.

We can also look forward.

Because the amazing thing about being a Christian is the best is always yet to come.

The end of all things is at hand, Peter writes, verse 7.

Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

So that's heavy.

The end of all things is at hand.

You know, I remember when we were in downtown Ottawa, there was a fellow who stood by the street corner and he kind of had a bed sheet draped around him.

Mind you, I say that now, and I kind of have a bedsheet going on here, so I gotta be careful with what I say.

But he sort of draped this bedsheet over a blank toe.

He had a big PVC pipe and a sign on it that said, the world is about to end.

You know, and you kind of look at that and you kind of go, boy, that kind of tracks, doesn't it, that that picture.

And it kind of breaks your heart.

Is Peter, I don't know, putting up his own PVC pipe, so to speak, and saying the end is at hand.

Well, I think there's a lot going on here that we need to read very carefully here.

This word end is a very interesting word to me.

Some translations might put it this way.

The purpose or the goal of all things is at hand, right?

We use that in English, right?

What's the end of your action, right?

What's your intended purpose here?

The purpose, the goal of everything, all creation, all history is near at hand.

It's coming closer and closer.

What's Peter talking about?

Peter's talking about Christ's return.

That's how the Christian story culminates, isn't it?

There is the cross, there is the resurrection, there is the ascension, where Jesus now reigns at the Father's right hand, but we live in anticipation of the next act of this salvation drama.

And that's Christ's return.

What do we know about Christ's return?

Let me read a few verses from the New Testament here.

Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4: The Lord Jesus Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of great command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will be always with the Lord.

So notice that two things, at least.

Number one, Christ descends from heaven where he reigns right now.

He will make his reign known here on earth as it is in heaven.

And there will be a general resurrection for Christians and non-Christians alike.

And depending on where our faith is in Christ or not, we'll be raised to new life in Christ, or we will be raised to a judgment and live apart from Christ.

John in the book of Revelation catches a vision of where all of history is going.

In Revelation 21, he writes, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.

And he who is seated on the throne, that is the Lamb.

That's Jesus, said, Behold, I'm making all things new.

So at Christ's return, at his descent from heaven, God in Christ will dwell with us as people forever.

That's what we confess in the creed, isn't it?

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

That's what we're saying.

And not just that, but he will renew and restore all of creation to God's full intention and purpose.

We will live in a creation as it is always meant to be, apart from death and sadness and crying and mourning.

Then finally, Jesus gives us this to bear in mind.

Concerning that day, Matthew 24, sorry, concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour that you do not expect him.

So we should know this about Christ's return.

The timing is known only to God the Father.

Right?

Don't believe some guy on the internet who says Jesus is coming next Tuesday.

Because he doesn't know that.

No one can know that.

Here's Jesus saying, only God the Father knows when I will return.

And we Christians are therefore called to live in eager anticipation of this return, of this restoration, of this resurrection.

We're waiting for that last glorious chapter of this drama to unfold at Christ's return.

And that's the purpose, that's the goal of all creation and history to which Peter is pointing us.

Do you see how Christianity is a forward-looking faith?

I know we look at scriptures and we look at the cross and we're right to take the significance into our lives and live that out, but Christianity is fundamentally forward-looking.

We are waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled on that day when Christ returns.

And therefore we are full of hope, and we are full of anticipation, and we are full of an eager joy because we know that all the longings of our heart will be satisfied on that day.

That's the goal Peter is pointing us towards.

And we live in anticipation of Christ's return.

How do we live that out?

Well, Peter says, as those who are self-controlled and sober-minded, clear in our actions, clear in our minds.

That's worlds different than what I often see, which, you know, for folks who contemplate Christ's return, it's often some kind of fear or paranoia, isn't it?

It's like an anxiety that dad's coming home and he ain't happy or something like that.

You know what I mean?

Instead, Christ's return should fill the heart of a believer full of joy, full of anticipation.

It should give us incentive to be self-controlled, that is disciplined, living lives in accordance with God's will and clear-minded, sober-minded, living in love and giving ourselves over, Peter says, to prayer for the sake of your prayers is what he says.

If Christ's return fills us with these feelings, and it motivates us to Christian living, and it drives us to our knees, then we are thinking rightly about Christian we are thinking rightly about Christ's return.

If it fills us with dread and anxiety, then we need to come back to the gospel.

And remember that will be a good day when Jesus returns.

Christ's return shows Christians like us our goal, our purpose, our end, and it calls us to apply ourselves purposefully towards that end.

We live presently as we anticipate creation will be in that day when Christ returns.

And again, Peter has some directions for us.

What can that look like?

Well, number one, Peter says, above all, if you hear nothing else, and this is such a beautiful verse, I love this verse.

Above all, Peter says, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Love one another earnestly.

That word earnestly is like stretching.

Love one another in such a way that you stretch yourself outside of yourself for the good, for the benefit of the other.

That's the agape love that Peter is getting at here.

Since love covers a multitude of sins, and I don't think Peter is trying to suggest that, you know, if I sin, you know, a small amount, I should love someone to a small amount, and it all kind of balances out.

If I've sin a big sin, then I love really big and it all kind of balance.

Peter's not trying to sort of work mechanics that way.

There is one way that sin was dealt with.

It's at the cross.

Peter's talking about this practical application of love that if my life is centered in the love of God in Christ, then probably I'm going to be less inclined to hold those grudges, and I'm going to be less inclined to take offense when my brother or sister in Christ does me wrong.

Because love covers that.

It's a little like, you know, uh, I don't play basketball, so I don't want to pretend like I play basketball.

But I know this about basketball.

I know it's important to cover your opponent because you don't want to see your opponent make a successful play, right?

And it's a little bit like if we're loving the way we're supposed to love as the church, sin can't get an angle to take the shot because we're just all covered it over.

You know what I mean?

We're all over it.

Thank you.

Boy, I'm starting to get into this, aren't I?

Okay.

Y'all are gonna call someone for help after this.

Above all, love one another earnestly.

That's our job as the church, friends.

That's what we're supposed to do.

Not give sin any angle to infiltrate, but love one another in such a way that it's covered.

And what could that love look like?

Verse 9, show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Hospitality was especially important in Peter's day when visiting preachers needed a place to stay and there wasn't like a, you know, a holiday in or something like that.

But hospitality does at least this.

Hospitality makes space for the other.

Hospitality treats the other as one who has value, who is dignified.

And friends, there are so many ways we can do that as Christians.

We ought to do that as Christians, one towards one another.

We can open up our homes, we can have meals, but we can also make a point of coming to church and talking to that person we haven't had a chance to talk to before.

Extending that welcome.

And friends, there is nothing that warms my heart more than when a newcomer tells me how welcomed they're made to feel.

Because that's showing hospitality.

That's showing them the love of Christ.

Love one another, show hospitality and serve one another, Peter says.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.

Whoever speaks is one who speaks the oracles of God, whoever serves is one who serves by the strength that God supplies.

Not at all intended to be a comprehensive list of opportunities in which to serve, but Peter does break it down into helpful ways.

You can serve at least in this way as one who speaks, right?

Speaks God's word.

And we have those ministries of the word here at New Song.

I'm so heartened to work with uh you know members of our congregation who said, I want to learn how to preach.

And I just think, what a great way.

But there's more than just preaching for ministering the word, there's leading Bible studies, which many do, right?

There's table leading at things like Christianity explored, there's leading us in the prayers of the people, there's reading God's word.

There's a number of opportunities we have to give that gift of teaching or that heart we have for God's word into practice in our life as a congregation.

But there's plenty of opportunities as well to serve in accordance with uh, I guess what Peter calls as serving gifts, which seems a little redundant, but he's trying to contrast those practical ways we serve with the word.

Whoever serves is one who serves by the strength that God supplies.

So the bottom line is this we can express that love we have for one another by serving one another.

That's what God in Christ did for us.

Out of love, he served us through the cross.

We get to serve one another.

Not just have to serve one another, but get to serve one another.

So if you've been at New Song for a while and you're looking to grow a little bit more deeply in the gospel, and you don't have a ministry in which you serve regularly, let me encourage you to think about serving.

Find a place where you can say, I am committed to showing the love of God in Christ in this way for the benefit of my church family.

Whatever gift or talent or skill or interest God has given you, it can be used for his glory, because that's the point of everything that Peter's talking about in verse 11.

In order that everything, in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

So, friends, we want to live a life of purpose, don't we?

We want to live a life that is saturated with the life of God and dripping with the gospel.

And so, friends, if we want to live a life of purpose, Peter says we have only to look at the cross and to see Christ's mind and to see Christ's heart put on display and to think accordingly.

And we have to look forward to Christ's glorious return when everything is going to be made right, and to live in accordance with that, in a way that anticipates that and shows today a little bit more what like what new creation will be like on that day.

That's the opportunity for us.

Will we lay aside all those things that compete with that central affirmation and affection?

Will we lay aside the things that compete with our love for our Lord Jesus?

Will we embrace the cross and embrace his return as our hope?

Friends, today your life can be full of this sort of meeting.

Come to the Lord Jesus.

Amen.

We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today.

If you live in the area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m.

If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you.

Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us.

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Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.