The Book of First Peter: Week 4

So today as we go into the fourth chapter, we

are looking at surrendering, knowing, obeying, and experiencing God's will.

How many of you in this room have prayed, Lord,

show me your will?

Mm-hmm.

We've all done that at some point. But the reality

is that we really don't want God's will. What we

prefer is God's weather report. A weather report kind of

helps us prepare for the thing that we.

Are already going to do.

We prefer God just to sign off on our blueprints

that we've already prepared to say, hey, that's okay to do.

But if we are going to be the people of God,

we're going to have to do something that is more costly,

something a little more deeper, and that is For us

to embrace and follow through with the will of God.

We're going to walk all the way.

Through this into communion. But I want to say this

to you. If we want the Lord's will, we may

have to abandon.

Our own plans. I'm going to say that again over here.

Because they look scared when I said it.

If we want the Lord's will, we might have to

abandon our own plans. Now I know some of us

are shaking with that. But this morning I want to

introduce you to a word. This is a Greek word.

And today I am going to Greek you to death.

Amen. Yes, you are going to feel like a Greek

salad by the time we get out of here.

Amen.

The word is thelema.

Thelema.

And Thelema is a Greek word that's used in the

New Testament.

That means the will of God, the heart of God.

Of God. God's heart's desire. God has a heart's desire

for us. And I want to give you a warning

for those who are historians. This word was also brought

back again in the 20th century. There was a guy

whose name was Alistair Crowley who was an occultist who

took this word and literally turned its meaning totally around

to make it mean do whatever you want. of course

he's not around anymore to talk about it but the

reality today we want to take it back to its

original meaning and that is to pursue the heart's desire

that God has for our lives this word appears over

60 times in the New Testament in some of the

most familiar scripture that we know one of those scriptures

is when Jesus teaches us to pray In Matthew 6.10,

he says, your will be done on earth as it

is in heaven. That's Thelema. Again, when Jesus is in

the garden of Gethsemane, he is sweating as if there

were drops of blood. And he prays, yet not my will,

but yours be done.

That's also Thelema.

Now I want you to hold on to that passage

right there in Gethsemane because we're going to come back

to that as we approach the Lord's table. There.

In this passage in verse 2, Peter shows us the lima.

But then in verse 3, he then introduces another Greek

word which is bolema.

Bolema.

Now bolema is a different word because this is a

word that talks about doing what you want. Going after

your own agenda. The world's assignments. The things that are

in this world. The thing that has no room for

God's plan.

He puts both of these.

Side by side in verses so we can distinguish between

the will of God and our own will. And the

reality is, is that all of us here are pursuing

either one or the other. We're either pursuing the Thelema

of God or the Bolema of the world. And so

today we want to look a little deeper into God's

word and try to decide this question, whose will am

I living for? We're gonna read 1 Peter 4, and

we are gonna do the whole chapter, the entire thing.

The good news is I have to read it. The

bad news is I don't have my glasses. But nevertheless,

We're gonna read by faith, amen? The Bible says this.

It says 1 Peter 4, verse one. Therefore, since Christ

suffered in his body, arm yourself also with the same

attitude because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.

As a result, they do not live the rest of.

Their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for

the will of God.

For you have spent.

Enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do.

Living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

They are surprised that you do not join them in their.

Reckless wild living. And they heap abuse on you.

But they will have to give account to him who

is ready to judge the living and the dead. For

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 of 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 forever and ever.

Amen. Now, I know you believe that when you hear amen,

that means it's over. It means I agree. And Peter continues.

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal

that has come on you to test you as though

something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in as

much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ so

that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

If you are insulted because of the name of Christ,

you are blessed. For the spirit of glory and of

God rests on you. If you suffer, it should be

not as a murderer or a thief or any kind

of criminal or even a meddler.

However, if you suffer as a.

Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you

bear that name. For it is time for judgment to

begin with God's household.

And if it begins with us, what will.

The outcome be for those who do not obey the

gospel of God? And if it is hard for the

righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly

and the sinner? So then, those who suffer according to

God's will should commit themselves to their faithful creator and

continue to do good. Now, let's Discover the four steps

into the Thelema of God.

First, we must surrender to it. We need to know it.

We need to obey it. And then we will experience it.

Point one, surrender to it.

God's will begins where my plans end.

We all have plans in this place.

Some of us have lists.

I know some young adults who have lists for what

makes a person a qualified candidate. One person in particular,

never mind.

Here we go. You wanted to know. Here we go.

The reality is that we have these lists, but we

have to surrender those plans in order for God to

be glorified.

But check this out.

Peter opens this passage with this very military sounding attitude.

He says, arm yourself also with the same attitude. And

when he says that, who is he talking about?

He's talking about the same attitude as Christ who suffered

in his body. And when he says arm yourself, this

is like a military term. and that is not just saying,

you know, hey, arm yourself for the cookout.

You don't really arm yourself for a cookout.

Now, it would be nice to have a grill master

utensil set, right? But to arm yourself, he's saying arm

yourself to wage war in this battle.

And this is the battle for control over your life.

Who's in control? Is it God or is it you?

And if we are followers of Jesus Christ, we need

to allow the Lord to be in control and allow

his will to be done in our lives.

Amen.

So.

The reality is you cannot fully embrace God's will while

tightly gripping on to your own. It's either one or

the other. It's either the philema of God to lead

your life or the philema of this world that has

the grip. Peter says something very interesting in verse 3.

He says this, you have already given enough time to

your old life. You've already spent enough time doing a

thing that you were doing. In other words, he was saying,

you have Frank Sinatra the heck out of this thing.

You did it your way and what did it get you?

Only people of a certain age would get that. Some

of us have maneuvered our plans and put things in order,

and we have plans for 10, 20, and 40 years,

all the way through retirement, and even all the way

to death. Some of you have your plots already picked out.

You know exactly where you're going to be when Jesus

comes back. I'm going to be right here by the

tree and the little sprouts with the water. You've planned

it all, but I want to let you know that

you have to release your plan. You need to take

your plans and hold on to them loosely.

How do we know this? James helps us.

In the book of James, he says, try not to

be like the people who say, hey, tomorrow we're going

to go down and we're going to do business and

we're going to go make some money. He says, no,

instead we ought to say, if it is the Lord's will.

We will live and we will do this and we

will do that. James 4 and 15. James isn't telling

us not to plan. So hear me this morning.

It's okay. I'm glad you got the plot. Amen.

Glad about that because I don't want to have to

help figure it out with your family later.

Amen.

The reality is, yes, plan, but don't plan without God

and don't hold your plans tighter than you hold.

On to him.

Proverbs 19.21 says and reminds us that we make many plans,

but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. God's purpose

prevails in our lives. So it would make sense to

lean into his will because we can be just like

those people who drive with their cars and they have

their GPS going. And every time the GPS says turn,

they don't turn, they.

Go the other way. And every time they go the

other way, the car says... Recalculating, recalculating, recalculating.

And some of us have done that in our spiritual lives.

We have been recalculating for the last 10, 15 years.

Please make the turn. You're only frustrating yourself. Why are

things not working out? Why are things not coming together?

Because you won't turn. Look at your neighbor and say,

go ahead and turn.

Many of us are asking God for guidance while we're

holding tightly to our own map. Surrender means you stop

recalculating around God. Abraham understood this really well in Hebrews 11, 8.

It says that he obeyed and went even though he

did not know where he was going.

He had no clue. He didn't have an itinerary. He

had an invitation.

And he took that invitation. There's a cost to this.

And Peter was really honest about that. He says, when

you stop living to the old agenda, people are gonna

start wondering like, hey, in verse four, he says, they're

gonna be surprised that you don't join them anymore, doing

all the stuff you used to do, going to the

places you used to go, hanging with the people you

used to hang with, behaving the way you used to behave.

Surrender may cost you friendships, may cost you jobs, may

cost you education, opportunities, but I want to let you

know God never wastes what you lay down and surrender.

He never wastes what you offer up to him.

The plans you release into his hands are safer than

the plans you keep holding on to. Now, If you surrender,

your next question is automatically going to be, okay, Lord,

what is your will? I'm glad you asked. It's your

opportunity to know it. God's will is more revealed than hidden.

Many believers act as if we are on a divine

scavenger hunt. And God's will is hidden. And he's hidden

it somewhere. He's gave us a few vague clues. And

if you don't find the will of God, then you're

lost forever. I just want to let you know that

is not the God of the Bible. If you look

throughout the whole Old Testament, he thrives with a people

who do not find his will. They keep chasing after

other things, chasing after other people, chasing after their own ambition.

They kept missing it at every turn. And he thrived

with them. He stayed with them. He continued with them.

I want to let you know that God's will is

more revealed than hidden. Deuteronomy 29, 29 tells us the

secret things belong to the Lord and But the things

revealed belong to us and our children. The Lord will

reveal his will. He will reveal his will. Most of

God's will is not hidden.

It is written.

I want to let you know, some of us are

waiting for the will of God just to drop down

on us and bang us in our head.

Like, boom, the will of God. There you go.

No, I want to let you know, you open that book.

It's called the Holy Bible. They have different versions of it.

And you flip the pages, you will find the will

of God. God's will is written in his book. He

left us a document. He left us words of life

that we can use to thrive in him because his

will is for us.

Well, Peter helps us out with that. He gives us

something that says, hey.

If you don't know the will of God, I'm going

to give you five things to help you out on

this journey.

And he gives us five clear directives.

A five-point list to understand the will of God. And

you see this in verses 7 through 11. Number one,

he says, stay clear-minded so you can pray. Keep your

mind clear so you can pray. Amen. I want to

let you know, if we will be alert and of

sober mind, God will help us to discern.

What his will is.

He speaks to those who stay close enough to hear him. Two,

love each other deeply. I love this because Peter says,

above all, above all. Listen, you can get everything else wrong,

but you can't get love wrong. God is not going

to get you for loving. He's never going to say, uh-uh,

you're doing too much love over there. That's a little

bit too much love, baby. Uh-uh, pull it back. No,

he's not going to do that.

Above all, love. Love with your whole heart. Love with

everything you got. Give love because you can't get love wrong.

Three, open your home without grumbling. Hospitality is not a

spiritual gift for some. It is a command for all.

Uh-oh.

Yep, them. The people you, do I, they need to

come over? Yeah, they need to come over.

Mm-hmm. Because hospitality brings people closer to the Lord. Four,

use your gift to serve others. You are a steward,

a manager of the grace that belongs to God. You

get to dispense grace.

Grace is necessary for everyone.

I want to let you know, you've got to give

it away because you need it. Look at your pitiful self.

I want to be known as the pastor of grace.

You know why? Because I need a lot of grace.

I mess up. I get it wrong. I don't understand.

I'm sometimes late. Some of you are too. Grace. This

grace covers a multitude of our sins. Then five.

Do everything so God gets the glory. Friends, it's not

about you. It's about you, but not about you.

And how is that? Because at the end, it's.

About God getting the glory out of your life, out

of the things that he has placed in your life,

the things he's placed in front of you.

He deserves the glory. Notice this. Notice what's not on

the list.

It's not what job, what city, what spouse, what house,

what car, none of that's on the list because God

is not so concerned about that. God is far more

concerned with who you are than where you are. I'm

gonna say that again. God is far more concerned about

who you are than where you are. He is working

on your development, your character development, your spiritual life development.

And so I love this because then Paul comes along

and cosigns.

On the will.

You can't really do church and not talk about Paul.

He wrote a lot of the New Testament, right? And

so I wanted to throw three things that Paul says

and throws in plain statements of Scripture because.

We want to know the will of God.

Well, 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 says, it is God's will

that you be sanctified.

You don't know God's will? Be sanctified.

Two, 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18, rejoice, pray, and

give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will.

For you in Christ Jesus, it's his will. And then I.

Love one of my favorite Romans 12 too. It says,

as your mind is being renewed, you will be able

to test and approve God's will. And he calls it

his good, pleasing and perfect will. You want to know

the will of God? That's the will of God.

Here's a principle.

I'd like for you to write down if you're taking

notes or put in your phone. Obey what you already

know and God will show you what you don't. Obey

what you already know. Stop worrying about tomorrow. Worry about

what you got right now. The knowledge you have, the

wisdom you have, the insight you have. Just obey that.

As you obey that, God.

Will honor you.

We want to know 10 steps ahead, but God is saying,

what is right in front of you? What is step one?

We want to know where we're supposed to move, who

we're supposed to marry, what job, what school, all that stuff.

It's just stuff. What has God required of you? Remember,

God offers a lamp, not a floodlight. In Psalms 119, 105,

God says, That his word is a lamp for my

feet and a light on my path.

And a lamp doesn't show you the whole road. It

only shows you the next step.

It shows you what's right in front of you.

What is the thing that's right in front of you?

Now I know that knowing and doing are different. So

we can know the will of God, but now we

got to figure out how to do it. And how

we do it is that we obey it. Point three,

obey it. Obedience doesn't wait for comfort. You guys, some

of us are waiting, me included, waiting for the right

opportunity to do the thing that God has asked you

to do. I want to let you know the right opportunity,

the right moment that I'm going to let you know

when it is.

You want to know? You ready? Now.

Right now, if God said it, do it.

He's not waiting for two years down the road.

You've been trying to prime yourself up to have that

conversation with that person. Go ahead and have the conversation

because he told you two years ago. And that's why

you're stuck in the place that you are because you

will not obey the will of God.

Obedience doesn't wait for comfort.

Here's where a lot of people get confused. We assume

that if we're in God's will, life is going to

be smooth. Now, anybody who ever walked with the Lord,

can you testify that is not the truth? If you

walk with the Lord, I want to let you know

there's some bumps along the road.

There's some bumps and some bruises. There's a whole lot

of stuff that happens on this road. It does not

mean that life is going to be smooth.

Peter dismantles this idea when he writes, do not be

surprised at the fiery ordeal.

In verse 12.

Don't be surprised when things go wrong, when things go bad,

when the season seems rough. Sometimes we think that this

means that I have fallen out.

Of the will of God.

No, it may mean that you're right in the middle

of what God is trying to do. In the middle

of a sickness, in the middle of a drought, in

the middle of a job loss, in the middle of

the hardship in your family, in the middle of it,

that's what God is doing.

In the struggle time.

God is doing something.

He has a will in those spaces.

These people were in exile and he's saying, I'm giving

you a word of encouragement that you can live in

my will in a crazy place, in a strange land.

When it's not in your favor. God gives you favor.

He dismantles this. Now Peter gives a phrase that ties

the whole chapter together. Verse 19 speaks of those who

suffer according to God's will. And let me just put

a pause on this. Now I want you to know

that God is not in support of abuse.

Or mistreatment.

And if anyone in this room today, you find yourself

in that place where you're being abused or mistreated in

a very wrong way, has nothing to do with the

kingdom of God, please, oh please, talk to someone.

Tell someone about it.

A trusted friend, a loved one, a pastor, someone who

can speak truth and get you some help.

Hear my heart today. Amen.

Peter doesn't say that God delights in our pain. He

says that faithful obedience in a broken world will cost

us something. And the question is not whether obedience is costly.

Yes, it is.

But what will we do when it does cost us something?

And Peter gives two instructions in verse 19 when obedience

gets hard. This is the response. One, commit yourself to

your faithful creator. Two, continue to do good. I love

this because this word commit in this verse, the way

you say it in Greek, I told you I was

going to Greek you to death today, right? It's parathiphomy, parathiphomy.

And this means to deposit something valuable into entrusted hands

for safekeeping. Like putting a treasure in a vault, right?

And this is the thing that gives me chills and

probably should give you chills as well, is that in

Luke 23, 46, when Jesus is on the cross, he

cries out, Father, into your hand, I commit my spirit, peritophemy.

He commits himself into the hands of the Father in

a very difficult place, in the midst of a struggle,

in the midst of a battle.

When it was difficult, he surrenders in.

His suffering, his everything into the Father's hands. So when

Peter tells suffering believers across northern and western Asia Minor

to commit themselves to.

God, he is saying, do what Jesus did.

When you're going through the battle, do what Jesus did.

Commit yourselves into his hands. His hands are better than yours.

The second instruction is just as important. Keep doing good. Oh,

my Lord, I love that right there. No matter what

is going on, keep doing good. Don't become bitter. Don't

give up. Don't let go. Keep doing good everywhere that

you go, on that job, in that community, in that family.

Keep loving. Keep doing good. He encourages us.

I want to let you know, That obedience rarely looks dramatic.

It usually looks like faithfulness on an ordinary Tuesday. The

fact that we'll show up and be faithful to whatever

the Lord calls us. God honors that. What's the thing

that God has been prompting you to follow through with?

What's that call he's been asking you to make? That

place he's been telling you to show up to? That

ministry he's been telling you to serve in? That thing

that he has been prompting and knocking on the door

of your heart. Remember this, delayed obedience is still disobedience.

Partial obedience is still disobedience. God is not offering us a.

Buffet of his will that you can pick and choose

what you want and what you like.

He is offering us a banquet where we must trust

the host that he has prepared a.

Meal and everything that he has prepared is good for us.

This is his will. Can you trust the host?

Now this morning, if you've only heard me say surrender, discipline,

and suffering, you're probably saying, I don't know if I

want to sign up for that will thing. Sounds kind

of heavy, but I love what Peter does. He helps

us out. He goes from there and he says that

we can now, point four, experience it. The benefits of

living in God's will. I want to let you know

there are benefits to living in God's will. Just like

you have benefits at your job, right? Those benefits that

they have you sign up for and they take a

little bit out of your check but you're so glad

about it because you get medical, dental, vision. Now every

26-year-old in this room is not happy. because now you've

gotta pay for it, right? But those benefits allow you

access to certain things. And I wanna let you know

that when we submit, surrender, and when we allow God's

will to have occupancy in our lives and to do

whatever He wants to do, we get some benefits. And

I'm gonna give you the benefits real quickly. One, we

get freedom. There is freedom. That means that we are

done with sin. We are no longer captivated by the

bulimia of this world. No longer has control over us.

God's will doesn't imprison you. It frees you.

Purpose.

You have been gifted by God to serve others. You

are a steward of his grace. You get to dispense it.

And your life is not a filler. You have purpose.

You have meaning. To complete the assignment that God has

given you, he also will give you joy. I love

this one because he says that he will give you joy.

And this joy is overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

I know it's crazy out there, but his glory will

be revealed and you should be overjoyed at that. That

it's going to happen, the day is going to come

that all the suffering will make some sense.

And nobody can take that from you. Four, presence.

This might be the most beautiful promise in this chapter.

Peter says that when you are insulted for Christ, the

spirit of glory and of God rests on you. At

the very moment when the enemy comes on the attack

and does anything, God shows up. The place of obedience

is the place of his presence. And that's good news. Five, security. Finally,

Peter calls God our faithful creator.

The one who.

Made you knows you and designed you for his work.

He hasn't abandoned his creation. He will not abandon you.

Whatever you commit to his hands.

It is safe.

Whatever you commit to his hands is It is safe. Listen,

so this is the bottom line. When you abandon your

plans for his will, you are not trading up for

something worse. You're trading a small, fragile, self-made life for

a life of freedom, purpose, joy, presence, and security.

I wanna get personal with you for a moment.

As the worship team prepares to come and our servers

can come even now, I'm gonna ask you eight questions.

When you came in, you received this sheet of paper

and it asked a simple question, what am I laying

down today? One plan, one fear, or one area of control,

that thing I've been trying to control, what is that thing? Well,

if you can't think of those things, I'm gonna ask

eight questions. And if you'll close your eyes for a moment,

just to hear them out, insert your heart. Under surrender,

Is there a plan, a dream, or a relationship I'm

holding so tightly that I haven't let God touch it?

When I pray about decisions, am I asking for God's

direction or just his approval for what I've already decided?

Underknowing.

Am I spending enough time in God's word to actually

know his revealed will? Is there something God has already

showed me to do that I'm waiting to act on?

Under obey.

Under obey.

When obedience gets costly, do I commit myself to God

or do I start looking for a way out? Am

I still doing good in the hard places or have

I grown weary.

And pulled back? Under experience.

Am I experiencing the freedom and joy of God's will

or am I just... or I'm experiencing just the weight

of religious duty. If someone watched my life this past month,

would they say I'm living for the Thelema of God

or the Bulima of the world? If those questions stirred

something in you, that's not condemnation. That's an invitation. The

Holy Spirit doesn't expose something to shame us, but he exposes.

To free us. Take a moment and write down what.

You need to release today. Earlier I said I was

coming back to Gethsemane. On the night that he was betrayed,

Jesus knelt among the olive trees and he knew what

the next day held. He knew there would be a whip,

there would be nails, there would be a cross, and

there would be the crushing weight of our sins. And

Jesus had a will of his own.

And how do I know? Because he says, Take this

cup from me.

Then came the most important surrender in all history.

He says, yet not my will, but yours be done.

Not my Thelema, but yours be done.

The only reason you and I can really know the

will of God is because Jesus surrendered.

To God's will.

At every point, he surrendered in the garden. He knew

the Father's will. He obeyed to the point of death.

And because of that, we can experience forgiveness, we can

experience freedom, and we can experience eternal life.

This is the gospel. This is the gospel.

Of Jesus.

So it's time to respond. Would you stand on your

feet with me with your response card?

A few hours before Jesus prayed that prayer, he took

some bread and.

He took a cup common elements that be spiritual meanings.

And he said that this bread is my body, broken

for you.

Eat it.

This cup represents my blood shed for you to drink it.

He prepared a table. And we're about to come to

the table. But as we would come to the table,

we're going to make a great exchange. We're going to

exchange our will for his will. Whatever that thing is

that you need to let go of. And I know

some of that stuff isn't easy. And yes, you may

need to keep praying even after this moment, but this

is the start. On that sheet of paper, after you've

written what you needed to write, I want you to

fold it and you're going to bring it down and

place it in the baskets that are on the communion tables.

And when you place it in the basket, you will

then receive communion. What a gift. Trading a heavy weight

for the freedom that Jesus offers us. What a gift.

We're going to pray a prayer of surrender. And then

I'm going to ask that you would follow the directions

of our ushers. They will lead you to go out

of the left side, my right, your left. And then

you will come down, drop off, pick up. And hold

on to your communion because we're going to take it

together today, amen. As a body, as a family, because

we're all letting go of something. And then return back

to your seat going to my left, your right, and

enter back into the row. Let's pray this prayer together, amen.

Repeat after me if you would. Father, I confess. I

have lived for my own will. I've held my plans

tighter than I've held you. Today I lay them down.

Teach me your will. Give me courage to obey it.

I commit my life into your hands. Not my will,

But yours be done.

In Jesus' name, amen. Please follow the directions of our ushers.

Worship team.