Moments in the life of a Pastor

Walking with God


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45 Sharing and Showing the Story – Part 4

1 Peter 4:1-6

4 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 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. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 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.

  • Abstain from sin. verse 2: “You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.”

Here’s your choice, you can live for your lusts or you can live for the Lord. The contrast is clear, we will either live for the will of God or for the world. Salvation should show in the way that we grow, Christ-followers don’t do what they used to do. Look at the phrase, “rest of your lives” it speaks to the brevity of life. This is a reminder of how short life is, and how we can live a worthy life or a wasted life. We’re not to just count our days but to make our days count. This is a call to live for the Lord now not later, don’t wait to walk out God’s Will and waste your life. Have you noticed that when you were a kid time loitered and took forever but the older we get the more time seems to speed up. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like life is fleeting but because it is we need to keep three perspectives in mind when abstaining from sin – the past, present and future.

  1. Keep the past in the PAST – vs 3

Verse 3 points out that we have wasted plenty of time sinning in the past. Peter’s point is that you don’t have to drag your past putrid life into the present and perpetuate the problem. This is a call to close the chapter on the past and pursue purity in the present. Some of you are ruining your life because you are being ruled by regret. Repent of your past and pursue Jesus in your present, stop being a prisoner to your past. Others are on the other side of the pendulum, you want to have a little more “fun” before you get serious in our faith, because you see sin as a good time God and the bible as boring. Deal with your disobedience don’t dwell there. Next Peter gives us a lists of six specific sins which I am not going to go into detail with suffice it to say that it sounds like our modern day Mardi Gras also known as Fat Tuesday whose original purpose was to prepare people for Lent, a period of 46 days of fasting, confession and contemplation. The sad reality of Mardi Gras is that it has because a time to live out one’s lusts before Lent begins. But feast before a fast doesn’t work. What you participate in today you will pay for tomorrow.

  1. Stay pure in the PRESENT Vs 4

There will always be pressure to pursuing a pure life. When you get saved and stop sinning in these ways, others are not going to be very happy. Look at verse 4: “Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you” Peer pressure can be a powerful pressure, but we are called to please the Father not our friends. People who pressure you into pursuing sin are not your friends, real friends push you to pursue purity not to party. Are you friends call you to conform to sin or the Savior? It says former friends, do you have any unhealthy friendships you need to walk away from? When the relationship is built on rebellious living it will always result in pain and problems. These problematic relationships of the past were based on behavior not belief. What about you are you building relationships based on belief or behavior? When you draw a line for the Lord people will either stand with you or strike out against you. Lastly if we want to persevere we must keep a future perspective in mind.

  1. Focus on the FUTURE – Vs 5-6

Peter reminds us of our purpose which is to Proclaim God’s plan of peace. When we share the story of Salvation we engage in eternity only 2 things will last, Scripture and souls so where are you spending your time. Our job is to go with the gospel to people who are still living so that when they die they will go to heaven and not hell. Christ is coming back and Jesus will judge every human being who has ever lived. 

Conclusion

Showing the story means submitting to sanctification, the problem is that many of us are submitting to sin instead of sanctification. So let me ask you is the way that you are living your life an advertisement for sin or for the Savior?


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44 Sharing and showing the Story – Part 3

1 Peter 4:1-6

4 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 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. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 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.

Not only can we share the cure to sin but we can show it.  

  1. Show the Story

One of the reasons that people don’t take the story seriously is that they don’t see it lived out in our lives.  The question we need to ask is are we going to be sold out or sell out? When it comes to showing the story I see two main imperatives from this passage. First, we must arm ourselves against sin and second, we must abstain from sin.

  • Arm yourself against sin – “So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had”

The words “so then” take us back to 3:18 where we read that “Christ suffered for our sins” and 3:22 which reminds us that Christ is now seated at the right hand of God the Father with all authorities and powers in subjection to Him. Peter starts by reminding us of Christ’s victory on the cross when He crushed sin, because of what Christ did on the cross, we are now dead to sin positionally. The problem is that we still sin in practice. So sandwiched in the middle of verse 1 is an exhortation to Arm ourselves with the Almighty’s attitude because our attitude affects our actions. Do you have the mindset of the Messiah, do you see sin the way the Savior does. When it came to sin the Lord didn’t have a lackadaisical attitude He went to war against wickedness. Many of us have settled when it comes to sin, instead of confronting sin we have become content to curl up and cuddle with sin. Instead of killing sin we coddle and cultivate it. Today we have divided sin into two categories those we abhor and those we accept. Sins we condemn and sins we cuddle. So let’s compare two controversial sins, that of gossip and that of being gay. I know I’m treading on dangerous territory and will probably end up being hated by both the church and the culture but when it comes to sin we don’t make the calls, the bible is our basis for truth. One is a social sin the other sexual, which do we take more seriously?  Why does gossip get a pass and gay get pointed out? Why are we strict with some sins while we let others slide, because when it comes to sin we only take some seriously. Gay goes against God’s design but gossip is the sin of slander; it ruins reputations and destroys relationship, how serious do you think the Savior is about sin that fractures the family? Why do we see the sin of homosexuality as wrecking the home but not gossip? Why are we soft on the social sins and serious when it comes to the sexual sins. The problem with separating sin into different categories is that it causes us to be hyper sensitive with some sin and hypocritical with others. The world is watching and when we war against some sin while warming up to others what kind of a witness will they see. When it comes to sin are you convicted or comfortable? The sins we are strong on become the ones we hide while the sins we are soft on we tend to hold.  The result is that we either fake it or flaunt it. So let me ask you are you dabbling with sin or dealing with it? Peter is calling us to have an axe like attitude when it comes to sin, if it slithers don’t dabble decapitate. Are you tolerating or terminating sin? Are you going to coddle it or killing it, because if you don’t kill sin it will kill you. When it comes to sin we are called to have Christ’s attitude not a careless attitude. To be proactive not passive, to see sin as hurtful not harmless. We are in a war with wickedness but sadly when it comes to sin many believers see themselves on a playground instead of a battlefield. The word “arm” refers to heavy armor not light armor and was used by a soldier that was fully outfitted for war with a javelin and large shield. Peter is not talking about playing war or the possibility of war he is reminding us of the reality of war and the need to be prepared. To arm yourself means to take sin seriously and suit up. Sin is our enemy and as Genesis 4:7 reminds us “sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” When it comes to sin do you have an armed and active mindset or an apathetic one? Do you have a worldly mindset or a warrior’s mindset? Our war with sin starts in the mind and we need to be both vigilant and diligent. It takes us back to 1:13: “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober…” Peter picks up on this in 5:8 as well: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Don’t be sleepy when it comes to sin, don’t be dismissive about your disobedience. Many of us lose the battle because we have a lax attitude instead of the Lords attitude. Christ didn’t cower or cave to sin he confronted it and so should we. We need to have a militant mindset toward sin and not minimize it in our lives because sin is destructive, deceptive, and leads to death and decay.