This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on October 8th 2023 by Lasya. For the audio & video please click here. For the worship please click here.
How to live in the midst of suffering
Sandwich analogy.
Today’s
passage is like the prosciutto and meat of a good sandwich. 1 Pet 3: 8-22 and 1
peter 4: 12-19, Peter speaks about suffering to people who are undergoing
tremendous suffering. He gives their suffering a purpose. He reminds them of
Jesus who also suffered in the flesh - the righteous for the unrighteous so
that he might bring us to God. And that now he is in heaven, at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers
being subject to him.
1 Peter 4: 1 -
11: “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the
same way of thinking(thought out attitude), 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 (epithymia) 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.
7 The end of all
things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake
of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since
love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another
without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one
another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 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 forever and ever. Amen.”
Let’s
pray
While Peter is
talking to the Christians about suffering, right in the middle of the passage,
he talks about what to do in the middle of suffering? How to suffer well. And
the model for us is Jesus Himself - Jesus willingly and even joyfully endured
suffering, yet did not excuse sin.
In our daily
lives, we tend to look at sin as the solution to suffering - when we are
rejected, we tend to lie and people please, when we feel lonely, we tend to
comfort eat, when we’re stressed, we tend to gravitate towards drinking or porn
or endless entertainment.
So Peter says,
arm (fortify) yourself with the same thought-out attitude as Christ
who embraced suffering, but scorned sin - because those who suffer in the
flesh have a completely different view of sin. They don't see it as
something to excuse, but something to get rid of. (illustration
of having to read the Bible in my bathroom)
When we equip
our minds with the kind of thinking as Christ we will live differently - not for
our human passions / epithymias (Over desires) but for the will of God. Over
desires, don't have to be evil desires - our desire for a family can result in
dating and marrying an ungodly person, our desire for success can cause selfish
ambition. But living for the will of God, is completely different because his
desires become our desires.
1 Thess 4:3-8 “3
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain
from sexual immorality; 4 that
each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, … 7 For God has not called us for
impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore
whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit
to you.”
The will of
God for our lives is to say no to sin and yes to him. How do we do this? What
is the greatest commandment? Love God, love one another. So the will of God in
suffering is that we are sanctified by loving God and loving one another.
1. Loving
God
Past: 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. Peter is echoing the sentiment - that’s enough of that. Don’t
procrastinate righteousness. A lot of us when we sin, invite shame instead of
the fear of God. shame becomes a chain and keeps us stuck in our
sin.
Present: With respect
to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of
debauchery, and they malign you. They malign you because they’ve not had
victory over something that you have. (When David defeated Goliath,
it only attracted more trouble for him- his brother and his king hated him
because he showed them up)
Future: “But they will give account to him who is ready to
judge the living and the dead”
Purpose: v. 7
- The end of all things is at hand; therefore be
self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
Eternity
perspective - the time we have to live on earth is a blink of an eye compared
to eternity.
self-controlled and sober-minded - alert in your heart and mind so you can give
yourself to prayer.
Why does
prayer require us to be alert - The AMP
version says ”so that your communication will be clear, reasonable, specific
and pleasing to Him”. Our prayers are very different based on what we’re
focused on. When we’re focused on the things of God, we start praying for a breakthrough, not a blessing, we pray for his kingdom to come and his will to be
done and not just for our daily bread.
2.
Loving one another
Above all,
love earnestly for love covers a multitude of sins - (ektenes (“love deeply”) is from ek “out” and teno “to stretch or strain.” Our words tension and tense
are from this root.) - (illustration of Bollywood
couples running towards each other v. an athlete or a basketball player dunking
the ball) ektenes is an athlete’s word; think of straining in effort or stretching out
every sinew. Think of an athlete or a basketball player dunking the ball. We
need to love one another earnestly because we are straining to reach the kind
of love that God showed for us.
The book To
End All Wars, written by WWII veteran Ernest Gordon tells the true story of
Gordon’s time in a Japanese prison camp along the River Kwai. The torture
turned the prisoners into something like desperate animals— as each man fought
for his own skin and “to hell with everyone else.” One day a shovel was
declared missing. The guards demanded the man responsible step forward. No one
moved. The guards raised their machine guns, warning unless the guilty man
stepped forward everyone would be executed. One prisoner stepped forward and
was beaten to death. It was soon discovered no shovel was missing after all;
there had been a miscount. The prisoner who stepped forward had sacrificed his
life to save the others.
Comparison
with Jesus’ own sacrifice that saved the lives of so many - covering a
multitude of sins.
Peter
suggested 3 areas of loving and said what ektenes might look like:
1. Hospitality
- without grumbling (illustration of long-staying guests)
2. Speaking - as one who
speaks oracles of God/ the very words of God. (illustration of my first
sermon)
3. Serving - as one who serves by the strength that God supplies (illustration of set-up teams) All the able-bodied
people here have the grace gift of serving on the set-up or clear-up team. The
strength comes from God and that is an inexhaustible resource. (illustration of Colin and Navaz’s business and church etc. Look at the
fruit of that.)
Purpose:
In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
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