1 Peter 4:4-5 - The Company You Keep

“They think it strange that you do no plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, 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.”

The Bible is God’s truth; every last word of it. But some truths seem “more true” than others don’t they? To me, this is one of those statements. The bible isn’t hiding anything, if you choose to do God’s will instead of living a life of debauchery, lust, drunkenness, etc – those around you will abuse you for not living the way they do. Count on it.

Just because we know the abuse is coming doesn’t make it easy to take. And sometimes we don’t even take the abuse; we just give in and go with the pagan crowd (to use Peter’s term). Why is it so hard to do right when everyone else is doing wrong? In short, because one of our most basic needs is to be accepted. If the choice is between standing by myself with only my convictions to keep me company or leaving those convictions at home to be part of the group…you can see how some choose poorly.

I don’t know if this will help, but the choice isn’t whether you will stand all by your lonesome or go with the crowd, the choice is whether you will go with the crowd or stand with God. Many of our choices boil down to this: will I choose God or will I not choose God. And when you choose God, you never stand alone. You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses cheering your courage and commitment.

I realize that the great cloud of witnesses doesn’t give you someone to go bowling with on Saturday night. God knows that too. If we are faithful to follow Him, He will provide what we lack. A brief testimony:

When I moved to Houston to work at the church (where I lived before the ranch), I didn’t know a soul. So I prayed for some good friends…and left it to God. Several months later, I looked around and realized that God had delivered. I had expected friends that had no connection to the church; guys I could work out with, go to the movies, watch the game, and things like that. God gave me five guys, four of whom were married with kids, and all either worked at or went to the church. They couldn’t have been more different from what I expected, but they were exactly what I needed.

God WILL supply your needs, maybe not how you expect, but better than you expect. Here’s what I mean… As the single guy, I hung out with those guys and their families all the time. I didn’t realize it, but I learned so much about being a husband and a father during those days. God knew I was going to be married in a few years and have kids soon after – He not only supplied my need for friends, he was preparing me for the next stage of my life. God is good…and He is gooder than we think!

Does a verse come to mind as you read this? How about, “Seek first His Kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be added to you…” It’s not just an often quoted verse – it’s the truth for your life and mine. God knows your needs and is ready and able to provide for them – if you will let Him. All it takes is faith to believe it and courage to act on it.

To finish with the passage, those who give you grief for not living a lifestyle of debauchery will one day answer to God Almighty. A scary thought. This promise (not all of God’s promises are positive) applies to us as well – be careful that you do not abuse another Christian for the way they live their faith…

And to sum up, when you live for Christ, you will be ridiculed and abused for not living like everyone else. But when that happens, God Himself will come to your defense. You may lose some friends in the process, but God will provide above and beyond your needs! Will you choose the crowd or God today?

** One of God’s names is: “Jehovah-Jireh”? It means, “The Lord will Provide”. He is named, “Provider” – you can trust in Him.

1 Peter 4:2-3 - God or Not God

“As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life 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.”

I love to snow ski – it’s one of my favorite things to do. Several years ago I was skiing with some friends, one of whom was very fidgety. By that I mean, at the top of every lift, he would take off his gloves to readjust his boots, fix his hat, clear his goggles, put his gloves back on, try to zip up his jacket, fail, take his gloves off again, zip up his jacket, put his gloves back on, put the straps of his poles around his wrist, and then he was ready to ski. And that is a short example…

Every lift was like that. He would also need to stop about 10 times on every run to take off his jacket, tighten his boots again, get a granola bar, dig in his pockets for a Kleenex, loosen his boots, and on and on – it was maddening! We wasted so much time messing around with useless activity that could have been spent skiing. I get frustrated just thinking about it!

I get even more frustrated thinking about all the time and resources I’ve wasted on selfish desires when I could have been living for God’s Kingdom. If you are living for yourself instead of for God’s will, you are standing at the top of a ski lift, adjusting your goggles and fiddling with your skis when you could be skiing. You are wasting your life, one precious minute at a time.

Living for God’s will does not mean that you must be a preacher or a missionary. You can live for God’s will as a student, a banker, or even an attorney. The point is not what you do, but the spirit in which you do it. A receptionist who is a light in her workplace can be every bit as effective for Christ as a missionary in Mozambique. Living for God’s will means being obedient to Him wherever you are.

A buddy of mine is a financial advisor – a challenging job in this economy. His clients ask him, “What is the absolute safest place to put my money that will guarantee a good return on my investment?” My friend doesn’t suggest bonds, gold, or mutual funds. He says, “The only guaranteed investment is to pour your resources into the Kingdom of God. The returns are guaranteed, and they will multiply and grow for eternity. Everything else is a gamble.” I doubt many of his customers what to hear that, but it is the most basic truth in the world.

How do you want to spend your life? Do you want it to matter? Do you want to build something that will last forever? Or are you content to chase the banalities that the pagans chase: sensual pleasures, drunkenness, idolatry, and frivolity? You are free to choose – but there are only two choices, you will either serve God or “not God”. What is your choice today?

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:15

Today

My Dallas Cowboys are struggling this year. The quarterback is injured, the coach was fired last week, and they’re in last place instead of challenging for the Super Bowl as expected. Not a good year.

But yesterday, they played an inspired game for their interim coach and spanked the hated New York Giants (ha ha!). After the game, the interim coach, Jason Garrett, was asked what message he communicated to his team in the week leading up to the game. I cannot remember the exact quote, but he said something like,

“Let’s not worry about being a great team, let’s concentrate on having a great practice on Wednesday. And then let’s have a great practice on Thursday. And once we string a few great practices together, we have the opportunity to play a great game on Sunday.”

In other words, don’t worry about things you can’t control – focus on what you can control.

Garrett’s words also apply directly to our Christian life. We spend far too much time worrying about “what is God’s will for my life”, or lamenting that we make the same mistakes over and over, or wonder why we aren’t where we think we should be spiritually. As we give more and more attention to those thoughts, we become self-focused instead of God and others focused. There is a time for introspection and self-examination, but it shouldn’t be all the time and it should always lead to action.

Instead of wondering and worrying, spend that time and energy doing what you know God has called you to do. We have our marching orders – love God and love others. If you need specific instruction: make disciples of all nations, care for the poor, the widow and the orphan, and work for justice and mercy. Focus on the things you can do today, and those other things will come about in His time.

Don’t waste your life worrying about things you can’t control. Leave your unanswered questions and concerns in God’s capable hands and go out and have a great practice today!

“I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” – 2 Corinthians 6:2b

1 Peter 4:1 - I'm Done with You, Part II

“Therefore, 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.”

Not too much to add today, but I wanted you to see this. It’s another contribution from Hard Sayings of the Bible (it’s a handy book!):

“The Christian who has suffered has made a decisive break with sin. This happens totally when the Christian goes to the extent of Christ and dies; but it happens in part when the Christian suffers in any way. The act of suffering for Christ makes the attractiveness of sin hollow. The believer has put all his eggs in one basket, that of Christ, and has paid too great a price to turn back now.

This explains why it is an attitude with which believers are to arm themselves. It is the attitude seen in Christ; if Peter’s readers have this attitude their own suffering will result in their “not living the rest of their earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

While we have chosen Christ and are solidly against sin and are making good progress in the battle, we have not yet died. We may be longing for a perfection (completely done with sin) that will only be ours in resurrection, not that very real maturity (which doesn’t mean sinless) that is possible in this world.”

To sum up, “being done with sin” doesn’t mean that you won’t sin anymore. It is a change in attitude and purpose in life. When you are done with sin, you are following Christ full-tilt regardless of the outcome because your goal in life is to do His will. If suffering comes, so be it; you don’t care about the things of the world anymore. Your focus is doing God’s will as you go to school, as you go to work, as you spend time with friends and family – you are a Christ follower…not in name, but in practice.

Honestly, I’m not there yet. I still care too much for the trappings of the world – possessions, comfort, and the opinion of others. But I hope I’m making progress and I look forward to getting there one day…how about you?

“All human sin seems so much worse in its consequences than in its intentions.” – Reinhold Niebuhr

1 Peter 4:1 - I'm Done with You

“Therefore, 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.”

I find the term “done with” very interesting. I searched the phrase, “done with you”, its most common usage, and came up with some goodies:

- A Papa Roach song titled, “Done with You.” I checked out the lyrics, some classic lines: You made my life completely miserable, you drove me to the edge, you’ve caused me all this pain, you can’t help me, you can’t save me, and my favorite, I’ve got a bad liver and a broken heart.

- There is an episode of the Hills called, “I’m done with You.” I think the story-line is that Heidi caught Spencer at a nightclub with another girl…oh no he di’ent!

- There was an insightful article titled, “A Few Signs He’s Done with You.”

- And naturally, there’s a Facebook page titled, “I don’t hate you, I’m just done with you.” It has 370,660 fans, as I write this.

Being done with someone or something is a common attitude. I’m done with school, I’m done with work, I’m done with laundry, I’m done with traffic, etc, etc, etc…we are “done with” things when we make the decision to stop continually pouring time, energy, and emotion into something without getting anything (except annoyance, pain, and heartache) in return.

We can’t always be done with things that we would like to be done with. You can’t be done with school when you have 18 more hours to graduate. You can’t be done with traffic when you have to commute to work. You cannot be done with the weather, even though it’s too darn hot, cold, humid, rainy, snowy, etc. Some things we cannot control…but some things we can.

For example, relationships (romantic, friends, whatever)… at some point; we need to be done with relationships that are not working. The first step in that process is to see the relationship for what it is, not what you imagine or hope it to be. It doesn’t matter if the person in question is the best looking, coolest, most popular person in the world – if they are not treating you well, cheating on you, or not holding up their end of the relationship – you have to cut them loose (or move them down the importance ladder). You need to get to the point where you are done with putting your time, energy, and emotion into a relationship that only disappoints.

And that is exactly what must happen to our relationship with sin. Sin is the ultimate all promise, no deliver relationship of all time. Have you realized that this is true in your life? Sin creates an appetite that it is incapable of filling. It starts out as fun, but eventually the fun wears out and all that is left is a hollow pit in your stomach and a trail of painful consequences.

The Papa Roach song could easily be about sin, “You made my life completely miserable, you drove me to the edge, you’ve caused me all this pain, you can’t help me, you can’t save me.” That is what sin does in our lives. Sin only destroys; it never ends in anything good. Are you done with it yet?

I’ll finish up next time – until then, spend some time thinking and praying about whether you are done with sin. Are there sins in your life that you hold onto? Are there attitudes that you are unwilling to let go? Jesus will not make you give up your sins – that is your job. Are you done with sin?

1 Peter 3:19-22 - Umm, what?

“…through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison (20) who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, (21) and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (22) who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.”

This is one of the most confusing verses in the whole Bible, specifically verses 19 and 20. I have a book called “Hard Sayings of the Bible” and this is their take on this passage:

“We can now summarize what the passage is saying. The Christians in Asia Minor were facing persecution and possible martyrdom. Peter calls them to look at the example of Jesus. He was, from the human point of view, killed. Yet, in fact, he rose, not simply to renewed natural life, but to transformed life in the spiritual world, and in that world he proclaimed his victory to the fallen angels who were disobedient in Noah’s day. This may have been during his ascension, for while this text does not tell us where this prison was, some Jews located it in the “second heaven” and thus on the way between earth and the heaven where God dwells. Whatever the case, in the end of this section in 1 Peter, Christ is in heaven with all spiritual beings subject to him.”

The problem people have interpreting this passage is not that it is unclear. Peter is perfectly clear – Jesus preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago – nothing foggy about that. The difficulty is that we don’t know what to do with it. How do we reconcile this statement with our experience? Who are these spirits? Are they fallen angels? Demons? Where did Jesus go to preach to them? Why did he preach to them? This passage prompts many questions that we don’t have answers to.

But just because I don’t understand something doesn’t mean that it isn’t true. For example, I don’t understand how a camera captures an image on film, but that doesn’t stop me from taking pictures. And just because you don’t understand every passage in the Bible doesn’t mean that you can’t read it and live your life by it. There will always be an element of faith in dealing with God and His Word.

To be totally honest, I have no idea what to do with this passage – apparently there are things going on in the spiritual realm that I have no idea about. (Which is a good reminder...) And while that is frustrating at times, I’m okay with it. I don’t have to know everything because I know that I cannot know everything. God is good and I am content to put my lack of understanding in His loving hands.

When your experience doesn’t have an answer for what God’s word says… it is your experience that is lacking, not the Bible. Look at it as an opportunity to exercise a little faith – which is what God wants from you anyway. Maybe THAT is one of the purposes of passages like this one…

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” – 1 Corinthians 13:12

1 Peter 3:18 - Sufficient

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the spirit…”

The sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice is the bedrock of the Christian faith. Christ died for all sins, once and for all – that is all that needed to be done. Which is why the Apostle Paul got so angry when the churches began to believe that to be saved, they had to believe in Jesus AND be circumcised (discussed in Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, among others).

To add circumcision, or anything else, to the sacrifice of Christ means that His death and resurrection wasn’t enough to save. Paul vigorously defended against that teaching, as should we. Which leads to a question: Is there anything that you feel is necessary to add to the sacrifice of Christ for your salvation?

Are you sure? What about church attendance, bible reading, tithing, helping the poor, praying… anything at all? Whether we articulate the thought or not, we often feel we must do something to earn God’s favor. The things “we do for God” – going to church, reading the bible, and sharing our faith – are often ways we try to appease God instead of being our response to the love He has already offered us.

It’s a very human need, to be good enough to merit at least a little bit of God’s good graces. But we cannot be good enough, we cannot earn the smallest mote of God’s favor – salvation is a free gift of God because that is the only way salvation can happen. God must give it because we cannot earn it. That is the freedom of Christ – we are wholly accepted because of Him! If we could understand that – really understand it – it would revolutionize our lives…

On to the final statement in this verse…The Romans killed Jesus’ body, but He lived on in the spirit and by the spirit. My grandmother gave me the best picture of the difference between body and spirit. We were eating dinner one evening several years ago and she said,

“You know, I guess it really is our spirit that keeps on living because while my body is old and breaking down; I still feel like I’ve always felt on the inside.”

Even though she is old, she’s 92 now, her spirit, the essence of who she is hasn’t aged – she feels the same as she has always felt. That comment has always stuck with me…

Our spirits are eternal and our bodies are temporary. These bodies we walk around in are temporary shelters that will wear out one day. But our spirit will live on, in eternity with Christ if you believe in Him, in eternity without Christ if you don’t.

Everything that Jesus went through – the arrest, the mock trial, the beatings, the mocking, the crucifixion – were to bring you and me to God. He did the work already – it is our job to believe it and obey Him. When was the last time you thanked God for sending His son to die for your sins? Today might be a good time for that…as is every day.