1 Peter 4.1-6

Notes for a sermon - not a transcript.

As you sit there now, what does it mean to you that Jesus suffered and died?

• Sins forgiven – free from guilt & just punishment
• Eternal life – hope & no fear of death
• Adopted as God's son
• Filled with Holy Spirit – and filled with the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience etc.

All those are wonderful & true. And in chapter 1, Peter had reminded us of the new birth and living hope that are ours because of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. But also in ch 1, and in the midst of these great truths, is the not-so-welcome truth that now, for a little while, we may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. And in chapters 2 & 3, he's been telling us that Jesus “suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps.” So when we're abused & insulted for following Jesus, we keep on following him, and we refuse to retaliate or return abuse with abuse.

We know from 3:7 that it is better to do good and to suffer – if that be God's will for us – than to do evil and to suffer. So it comes as no surprise this morning that we read, 'Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude.' Just as Jesus always did the right thing and only said what was good and true, and suffered for that, so we must do and say only what is right even if that means suffering.

It's not hard to understand that we're called to follow in Christ's footsteps – in his behaviour and that we may have to suffer the consequences of behaving like him. But, is hard to keep walking that way – the way of Christ is the way of suffering, and if we see what looks like an easier path, we'll take it.

And yet, as any good Scout or Bronze D of E student knows, you leave the marked path at your peril.

And here Peter gives us good reasons to stick to the tough path that Jesus marks out before us.

First, we're done with sin.

Therefore, says Peter in v1, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

This verse cannot be saying that suffering leads to a sin-free life. We all know that's not true – and the Bible never gives us false hope or false promises.

It may be that this is one of the verses that has led members of the Catholic group Opus Dei to wear the cilice – a chain of sharp points worn around the thigh – in the hope that it will make them better people.

But this is not saying that self-inflicted pain will lead to a sinless life.

The context shows us that this is suffering for doing what is right – it's not suffering in order to do right, but suffering as a result of of doing right. So you'll be pleased to hear that we won't be handing you a cilice on your way out today!!

So, as someone has said, 'Whoever has suffered for doing right and has still gone on obeying God in spite of the suffering it involved, has made a clear break with sin.” Such a person “has most definitely acted in a way which shows that obeying God, not avoiding hardship, is the most important motivation for his or her actions.”

And, v2, as a result he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

Christians can get very hung up on trying to decide what God's will is for their life

• should I take this job?
• Should I move house?
• Should I send my child to Bennett or TWIGGS?
• Nottingham or Bristol Uni?
  • And so on

But here, as in the rest of the Bible, God is much more concerned with how we live life than where we live life – in how we do a job more than what job we do. Unfortunately, we too often put things the other way round – we get really wound up about where or what, and we should be much more concerned in how we live. God's will is that we should be holy. That we should follow in the steps of Jesus. That we should not live life for evil human desires but for the will of God.

Think back to that picture we had the other week of baptism – going down into the water symbolises death to the old way of life before rising up out of the water to a new resurrection life with Christ.

And that life with Christ is the life of Christ - a life which obeys the will of God by doing what is good and right, and suffering for that if necessary.

So, Second, what does this life lived in the will of God look like?

Or rather, what doesn't it look like? And the answer in v3, is that it doesn't look like the lives of those around us, and it doesn't look like the life we used to live:

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.

That was what the Christians Peter was writing to were surrounded by. Now it may be that you are surrounded by people who indulge in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry, and it may be that you used to indulge in such things. But if you are not surrounded by all of these and you didn't used to indulge in all of them them, don't think you've got away scott free and don't need to change your life! Instead, change the list. What un-Christian attitudes and actions are you surrounded by? What godless things did you used to do? Swearing? Crude jokes? Back-stabbing? Idolising work or your children or your home? Spending too much time and money on holidays, or clothes, or technology & gadgets?

But it's really not easy to abandon what are very often the accepted practices of the 'nice' people who live up and down our streets and who work next at the next desk. And because we're completely surrounded by people who think that their priorities are normal and good and right and nice, we too begin to accept them as normal and good.

Take, for example, Halloween. 10 years ago, hardly anyone really noticed it. Now it's everywhere, and it's easy to get drawn in. Now, I'm not one of those that's going to say, as some Christians do, that Halloween is infested with demons & witchcraft. But I'm also not going to say, like most non-Christians, that it's a bit of fun. It's not. People are scared by gangs of kids roaming the streets & threatening householders.

Small children are genuinely frightened by stupid stories of ghosts.

Why celebrate something that's fundamentally not good at best and thoroughly nasty at worst? Wouldn't it be better to celebrate good things? To celebrate what's true & right? And to do so in a way that brings everyone joy? So let's have nothing to do with Halloween, but see it as an opportunity to speak of the goodness of Christ.

But when we do get the courage to say 'no' to Halloween or any kind of non-Christian ungodliness then, v4, they will think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.

Well, perhaps not abuse as such – after all they're much too nice – too British – to do that – but they will look down their noses at you and put you under a lot of pressure to conform to what they think of as normal.

And when you find yourself tempted to give into this pressure to conform, think back to v5, 'They will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.' Everyone who refuses to do God's will will have to explain before him why they have rejected him. They will have to tell God why they never gave him the time of day. They will have to explain to him why they were always too busy for the Lord of time. They will have to tell the creator of all things why everything else was more important than him.

But Peter mentions this not as a threat to non-Christians and certainly not to gloat over them, but as a warning to us. It's so much easier to spend our lives being concerned with the colour of the curtains; where to go on holiday; which school the children should go to and so on and on – there are so many things to divert us from God. But the gospel was preached, v6, to save us – and those who are now dead – from the stupidity of following after trivial things and ending up under the eternal condemnation of God.

Yes, we may be judged according to men & women in this life, and we may suffer under their judgements, but we live according to God – we live this life under him, with him, empowered by him, glorifying him, honouring him – that's the life Peter calls, 'in regard to the spirit' in v6.

Conclusion

Sin is serious. Deadly serious. Literally. Christ died for sins.

Christ died for sins that we might not be judged for our sins, but live a new life for God – a new and eternal life. Baptism is a regular reminder of this.

Do we lead a perfect life now? No. And we won't until we are with Christ after our own death.

But can we begin to live a new life now? Yes. Absolutely. And this new and radically different life is not just for the keen Christian. It's not just for the so-called clergy. It's for all of us. And sometimes I wonder if we're not all a bit too soft on just how radically different our lives should be.

I pray that God will begin to reveal to us the kind of changes he wants us to make in order that we really will live the rest of our earthly lives not for evil human desires but for the will of God.