Warfare
1 Peter 4:1-6
Don’t forget communion
Announce text: please turn to 1 Peter 4:1-6
Scripture introduction: thismorning we are going to continue our series in 1st Peter…
Scripture reading: 1 Peter 4:1–6 (ESV) — 1 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, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 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. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 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.
Prayer for illumination: please join me in prayer…
Sermon introduction: I have a book in my library entitled “Machines, Buildings, and Weaponry of Biblical times”. One of the chapters is titled “”weapons, fortress, and siege engines”. It’s the kind of book that appeals to 12 year old boy’s more than 12 year old girls.
There was a book published on warfare in the Bible because the Bible is full of warfare.
Not long after the opening chapters of the Bible warfare breaks out between Eve’s offspring and the Devil.
In Exodus warfare breaks out between Pharaoh and the people of God. God wins these series of battles with supernatural plagues, walls of fire, and the parting of the red sea.
Then we read about the warfare between Israel and the city of Jericho.
In the book of Judges there is warfare between Israel and her enemies. As a result, God raised up Judges to lead his people to victory. My favorite judge was Ehud (the lefty). Ehud’s job was to save Israel from Moabite oppression. He concealed his sword walked into the Moabtie king’s chamber, stabbed him in the belly, and fled for his life. Judges chapter 3 tells us that Eglon the king was so fat that Ehud’s sword disappeared in the cellulite.
In 1st Samuel we read about the warfare between David and Goliath.
Why do I mention warfare in the Bible? Because 1 Peter 4:1-6 has to do with warfare. But this is not a physical war this is a spiritual war. In order for us to succeed in this warfare we must understand the nature of this warfare…
To help us understand the nature of this warfare we are going to look at two things
Warfare against sin
Warfare from the world
First, Warfare against sin
How do we war against sin? We are armed with a willingness to suffer! Look with me at verses 1-2. “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, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”
One scholar notes- “The verb arm yourselves, which Peter uses to spur the believers to action, is a military term which refers to a soldier putting on his weapons to fight the enemy.” (Kistemaker, 156)
Peter tells us to arm ourselves not with physical weapons but with a way of thinking. We are in a battle against sin and we need a specific mindset. The mindset in view is the mindset that is willing to suffer like Christ suffered in order to overcome sin.
The first clause in verse 1 clearly calls our attention to Christ’s suffering. “Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking….”
Christ was willing to suffer to defeat sin and we are called to also suffer in order to defeat sin. Are you serious about defeating sin? Are you serious enough to suffer in order to defeat sin?
How do we know that Peter is talking about our willingness to suffer to defeat sin? Because of what Peter says in the end of verse 1 and verse 2.
Peter writes- “for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 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 end of verse 1 is difficult but most scholars think Peter is saying whoever is willing to suffer in order to defeat sin this person has made a clear break with sin. Verse 2 elaborates on this by saying that this same person spends the rest of his or her life living for the will of God.
These verses don’t teach that a Christian can at some point in their life cease from sinning. Peter is simply saying that if this person is willing to suffer to defeat sin they have made a clean break with sin.
1 Peter 3:17 helps us fill out the context of 1 Peter 4:1.
1 Peter 3:17 (ESV) — 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
Christ was willing to suffer in his battle against sin on our behalf. He had a rock solid resolve to say not so sin at all costs. This eventually cost him his life. Peter wants us to have the same resolve, the same mindset, the same mentality to say no to sin even though it may cause suffering.
How do we war against sin? We are armed with a willingness to suffer!
Illustration- Not to long ago I jumped into the driver’s seat of my friend’s car. I started looking around for a CD to listen to and I could not find one so I opened the glove box. To my surprise there was a pistol in the glove box.
I was a little surprised to say the least. Later on a found out that the same friend carries a concealed pistol.
On top of all that I found out that this same friend has guns strategically located in different parts of his house so that no matter where he is in the house he can quickly access a homeland security device when the swat team raids his house.
I learned a few things about my friend. First, don’t mess with him when he is driving. Second, don’t mess with him when he is walking. Third, don’t break into any room of his house. His wife jokingly told me that she whistles when she walks around the house so that she will not get shot.
Finally, the most important thing I learned about this friend is that he is well armed.
Are you well armed? I’m not talking about guns and ammo. Are you well armed with a mindset that is willing to suffer in order to say no to sin. This will help us in our warfare against sin.
Application:
Here is the application…
Following Christ is costly.
The flesh and the Devil war against us by making sin appealing and obedience hard.
Tithing sometimes causes some suffering….
Getting all the kids into the car to go to home group after a long day causes some suffering…
Reaching out to the person that no one else wants to reach out to can cause some discomfort…
Being a person who keeps his or her word sometimes hurts…
Not watching certain movies with your friends because you know that they are immoral sometimes hurts….
Husbands leading your family can cause some suffering… (Dad turning off Goonies)
Wives following your husband can be hard…
Submitting to a boss for Christ’s sake can cause some suffering…
Parents disciplining your children lovingly and consistently is often very hard…
Telling the truth sometimes hurts…
Getting up early to read the Bible and pray hurts…
I have a friend who got rid of his computer because of his struggle with porn. Getting rid of his computer hurt….
What we are talking about here is suffering from our fight against sin not necessarily suffering from the world. More on that in a moment.
Here is the irony- saying no to sin may cause discomfort and pain in the present but long term saying no to sin causes for less suffering in one’s life.
Is obedience to God more important than your personal comfort and pleasure?
What in the world is going to motivate us to suffer in our fight for holiness?
This is not sola boot strapsa text, suffer because good Christians suffer, etc…
Lets go back to 4:1 “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking”
1 Peter 3:18 (ESV) — 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
1 Peter 2:24 (ESV) — 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
These texts provide us with gospel motivation, gospel power, and gospel forgivness when we fail…
How do we war against sin? We are armed with a willingness to suffer
How else do we war against sin? We flee our old ways! Look with me at verse 3. “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.”
When Peter writes- “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do” he is sarcastically saying ‘Christian you used to swim in sin and all that sin you committed was sufficient for the past and you must not live that way anymore.
Peter then lists some of the things that his audience used to participate in.
This list boils down to three things-
Sex- (v. 3 sensuality, orgies, passions) does this sound familiar? Our culture is being destroyed by pornography.
According to a UVA professor
-Porn is a 60 billion a year worldwide industry. Over 12 billion is spent a year in America on Porn. This is more money than Americans spends in a year on pro baseball, basketball, and football combined. America’s favorite pastime is porn.
-More money is spent on porn in America then the revenues of CBS, ABC, and NBC combined.
-Our cultures love of porn is wreaking havoc on our culture. It is a radical problem.
-55% of sex offenders were porn addicts 71% of pedophiles were porn addicts.
-Many broken marriages, sexually abused children, lost jobs and unsexually satisfied people are the products of porn.
Peter says to us- you used to live this way but don’t live this way anymore… If pornography is a temptation for you, you need to get help. Talk to your home group leader or a pastor and please come to our sexual purity seminar on June 19th at 9am.
Not only were they tempted to go back to sex…
Drunkenness- (drunkenness and drinking parties) We are called to flee drunkenness. I would include drug abuse under the category of drunkenness.
Not only were they tempted to go back to sex and drunkenness…
Idolatry- (lawless idolatry) idolatry is sinful but this refers specifically to lawless idolatry. This most likely refers to the fact that the worship of idols often involved sinful behavior.
What idols are we tempted to go back to? Maybe the idol of money, the idol of appearance, the idol of control, the idol of approval, the idol of food, the idol of independence…
Application-
Are you tempted to go back to that way of life? Who isn’t? What is going to help us?
Sin will never satisfy but Jesus will!!!
We are involved in warfare. We have looked at warfare against sin!
Second, Warfare from the world
How does the world war against us? They malign us! Look with me at 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;”
The non Christians of Peter’s day were surprised that the Christians did not want to join in their sinful fun. As a result the Christians were maligned.
1 Peter 4:4 (NIV) — 4 They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.
The early Christians were maligned primarily because of their righteous behavior-
Karen Jobes writes- “Pagans of the first century viewed Christians as killjoys who lived gloomy lives devoid of pleasure… (Jobes, 262)
-These early Christians refused to burn incense to the emperor and so were called haters of humanity and despisers of the Roman Empire.
-These early Christians only believed in one God and so were branded as intolerant atheists since many in the Roman Empire believe in a plurality of Gods. Typically people did not care if you worshipped Jesus they had a problem with you saying that Jesus was the only God….
-Furthermore, their refusal to acknowledge or worship other Gods was thought to put the whole community in jeopardy since pleasing the Gods was the key to good weather, good crops, and overall prosperity.
The non Christians of Peter’s day warred against the early Christians by maligning them or heaping up abuse on them for their behavior.
Illustrations-
“R.C. Sproul, in his book the Holiness of God, tells of a time when Billy Graham was invited to play golf with President Ford and two PGA tour professionals. He writes: After the round of golf was finished, one of the other pros came up to the golfer and asked, ‘Hey, what was it like play with the President and with Billy Graham?’ The pro unleashed a torrent of cursing, and in a disgusted manner said, ‘I don’t need Billy Graham stuffing religion down my throat.’ With that he turned on his heel and stormed off, heading for the practice tee. His friend followed…. His friend said nothing. He sat on the bench and watched. After a few minutes the anger of the pro was spent. He settled down. His friend said quietly, ‘Was Billy a little rough on you out there?’ The pro heaved an embarrassed sigh and said, “no, he didn’t even mention religion. I just had a bad round.’” (Helm, 133)
Billy Graham was being maligned for his righteous behavior.
Application:
Have you ever been maligned because of your righteous behavior?
I have told this story before but I think it fits well here. When I was in college I was a Resident Advisor in my dorm. My boss asked me to put up some posters that endorsed the homosexual lifestyle I graciously told him that I would not because it was against my religion…
Breaking up with girlfriend and telling Gabe R.
Slow drift away from my high school friends because of lifestyle choices…
How about being maligned for saying things like Jesus is the only way to God, homosexuality is a sin, and the people who never heard of Jesus are going to hell?
As you can see being a Christian means living differently?
Do you live noticeably different from the world?
Do you stick out from your friends?
Are your friends surprised when they hear that you are a Christian after knowing you for some time?
Please don’t hear me saying that Christian are better than non Christians!!!!
How does the world war against us? They malign us….
What will sustain us in this war? Focusing on final judgment! Look with me at verses 4-5. “With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
Yes others will make fun of you or maybe worse for living a righteous life. But Peter reminds his readers that on the day of final judgment those who malign you will be judged. We don’t have to take matters into our own hands, we don’t have to lash out at those who malign us, and we don’t have to fight back. We can trust the judge of the universe to do what is right to those who war against us.
I find it interesting that Peter appeals to the Day of Judgment. This is not the first thing I thought he was going to say. I thought he was going to tell his audience to love his enemies, which he says elsewhere. Instead he tells them that those who war against them will face the judge of the universe and experience his just judgments. This no doubt brought them comfort.
Justice is a good thing. In fact, if there was not a day of judgment approaching it would be very hard for the victimized to go on living.
Application:
We don’t have to defend ourselves or plot the ruin of our non Christian enemies. We don’t have to take matters into our own hands. We are called to love them and leave the judging in God’s capable hands.
How does the world war against us? They malign us
What will sustain us in this war? Focusing on final judgment