1 Peter series Living the Will of God

                                                             Living the Will of God

1 Peter 4:1-6

Suffering is a part of God’s will, not that God's desire is to hurt anyone, it all comes down to the effect of sin on the world, and the work of salvation completed by Jesus Christ. Peter having seen Christ beat by Roman soldiers in the courtyard of the praetorium in Jerusalem. He knew the suffering of following Christ, the bearing of the cross, and at the end he was hung upside down on a cross. Peter learned the importance of living God’s will and not his own. Let’s look at the text, ”Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves 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.”

“Being armed with the same attitude” is an interesting phrase. You picture a soldier, or combatant. The attitude is important in warfare, and Peter wanted the exiled believers to grasp the seriousness of being prepared. He knew that people who were not prepared for suffering would fall away in the midst of conflict. Some of the conflict was being ostracized from communities, punished for being non-compliant, forced into servitude, and falling back into a life of sinfulness and darkness. Peter understood to end sin in one’s life required a life of yielding to God’s will. 

Application - I have heard and have seen the sacrifice men and women make in combat. I have seen and have experienced combat over my own sinful nature. It begins with confession of sin, the cleansing of sin by the blood of Christ, and the yielding to the will of God. Every soldier knows that they must yield to the authority of those in command. A rogue or rebellious attitude will bring defeat against an enemy like the devil and demonic powers that we fight against or the binding hold sin has on human nature. 

We must like Christ, arm ourselves with an attitude of complete surrender and yielding to the will of God. It is in this yielding that we can be victorious over suffering, even to the point of death. We are living in the last days before Christ’s return for his bride, the church. We are and will experience suffering for living the will of God. Suffering will come in various forms: temptations of the old lifestyle, being ostracized for not following the world’s attitude, for not complying to the world’s demands, and if we are not prepared with the same attitude as Christ, we will fall to suffering and sin. As the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter, having a yielding attitude like Jesus, and we will be done with sin. 

Second, Peter exhorts the believers to remember the lifestyle God had brought them out of. Let’s look at the text, “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.”

Peter’s military command “to arm yourselves” was deliberate. He knew how easy it would be to fall back, if you didn't have the same attitude as Christ when it came to the war on not yielding to the will of God. Even after years of serving Christ, Peter was reprimanded by Paul for ostracizing the gentile believers (Gal.2:11-21). Peter and many of the Jewish believers gave into the fear of the circumcised Jews for not eating and associating with the gentile believers who came with Paul. Paul called them cowards for not holding to the attitude of yielding to God’s will concerning the gentile believers. “The other Jewish believers also started acting like cowards along with Peter; and even Barnabas was swept along by their cowardly action. When I saw that they were not walking a straight path in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you have been living like a Gentile, not like a Jew. How, then, can you try to force Gentiles to live like Jews?” vv.13-14

Peter, after being set straight, desired all believers to be armed against this attitude and behavior. He went even farther in listing the debauchery of many if not all of the believers of their previous lifestyles and attitudes. In the major cities and even in some of the minor ones of Asia minor, the culture of the Greek’s and Roman’s idolatry and temple worship were still very prevalent, in fact you were considered strange if you didn’t live or have the same mindset and attitude as the locals, civic leaders, and authorities. The Roman’s Senate made laws to require all who didn’t participate in their cultural values to be jailed until a punishment was decided upon by the ruling authorities. “Punishment could include beatings, lashings, exile from Rome, fines, or even death. The Romans generally didn't send people to prison for crimes, but they did have jails to hold people while their guilt or punishment was determined. Many aspects of Roman law and the Roman Constitution are still used today. WWW.duckster.com > history > roman_law”. (see also Paul’s many imprisonment)

Application - Again, how much has not changed since Christ and Peter lived and walked upon this Earth. All the sinful pagan lifestyles have seemed to have increased. It is on the internet, in the social media culture, in the laws of the states and nations of this world. We see the Roman laws still in effect in our days. 

We do not live the rest of our earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. We are more than conquerors. People will think we are strange for not doing as the world believes is right, in the mindset of sinful human nature. But “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,  neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39

Third, Peter addresses the ridicule the believers were experiencing or would experience. “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.” Many believers were approached by their neighbors, acquaintances, and masters or authorities. It was the custom of the Roman Emperor Tiberius to appease the conquered nations by incorporating their gods and cultural practices in order to control the empire. In doing this, he mandated that certain practices and laws (civil, social, and religious) would be enforced, and everyone in the empire would be required to participate, or face the Roman law. Peter knew these laws and practices stood in stark contrast to the will of God and the moral values established by the teachings of Christ. He had seen and experienced the brutality of Roman law, and the ridicule of the gentile world. Peter’s instructions on the debauchery of Roman and pagan living, and the shock of not complying and/or practicing the sinful lifestyle of idolatry and its sensual pleasures. Peter reminded the believers that there will be a day or reckoning before Jesus for every person and what they have done, said, and thought in their lives.

Application - Again, we should not think it strange the trials and sufferings that we are facing or will face. Many in the past have gone before us, yielding to the will of God and not the world’s. In Hebrews 12:1, it says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” God has given us others to encourage us from His Word, who yielded to the will of God and not man’s. There is a coming wrath and judgment upon the sinful unyielding world. These days are closely approaching us and we must arm ourselves with the same attitude as Christ. We must stand in the battle against the world’s attitude and sinful nature and the sins that would so easily entangle us, “Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious].” Amp. Eph.6:13 

Last, Peter exhorts the believers for the reason for our lives in Christ Jesus and for living God’s will.  “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.”

It is said, “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.” Rom.2:13  Peter preached and lived the gospel. He knew the hearing of the will of God would not save anyone, it was the actual living and doing the will of God. The Gospel was not just to be words spoken to people, it must be lived out in the lives of people. Peter wanted the believers to know the reason for the gospel. In the past, the people heard the gospel. It was not merely speaking the words that changed the heart of people, it was their living the gospel. They were to demonstrate the life of Christ in their lives, denying the flesh and dying to sin, picking up the cross (suffering for doing God’s will), and believing in the living hope of Christ’s return to take them to where he is, in heaven.

Peter had seen many die, even his own wife. He knew that men and women would be judged for what they had done by human standards, but it was God’s standard, the living according to God’s will by the power of the Holy Spirit that mattered to God. Peter desired that all believers live the gospel, not merely hear its words. It was not a gospel of works, but by the grace of God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only believing that Christ was real, but that he came to this Earth to obey and submit to the Father’s will in defeating death, hell, and sin’s hold on mankind.

Application - I have heard the preaching of the Word of God, while I was living in sin. I learned the ways of a church service, when to say amen, to bow my head, and be polite and respectful. All this fits well with human standards of religiosity. It wasn’t till I not only heard the Word, but acted on it: responded to the call of repentance (confessing I was a sinner in need of salvation), receiving Christ as my Lord and Savior (the giving of my life to obey and yield my life to God’s word and will), and then submitting to the Holy Spirit in walking in the Word of God (living the Gospel) and following the will of God (living the will of God)  that I truly was changed, radically into a new creation. I know that I will suffer for living according to God’s will and not this world’s. And like Jesus, I need to keep the same attitude of living the will of God in all aspects of my life, not that I can earn heaven by obedience to a set of standards, but God’s grace (His favor) rests on me because of the work of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is this gospel that I live by the power of the Holy Spirit. And like Peter and Paul, I too want the believers in Christ to know that in our suffering for living the will of God, we are more than conquerors, and are able to stand against the enemies plans and attacks.

There are more lessons on http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com if you want to learn more about living the will of God.

Until next week, In His Service, Mike Davis