Sep 18, 2013
1 Peter 4:1-11
I’d like to share an observation that will hopefully help us to
grasp what Peter is saying in the opening verses of Chapter
4.
Hummingbirds and vultures both fly over the desert. But all the
vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for.
Hummingbirds ignore the flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look
for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on
what once was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with
what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek
new life. They fill themselves with freshness. Each bird finds
exactly what it is looking for. We all do.
Peter writes in chapter 4 verses 1 and 2:
Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the
flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose,
because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from
sin, 2 so
as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the
lusts of men, but for the will of God.
Let’s look at those two verses again, as paraphrased in The
Message:
“Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more,
learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from
that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then
you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants
instead of being tyrannized by what you want.”
The Bible uses the term “The Flesh” to describe our old sinful
nature. It’s the part of us that needs to be broken, needs to be
crucified, if we’re ever going to live the life that God intended
for us to live. But the problem is - “The Flesh” doesn’t WANT to
die, it doesn’t WANT to give up running your life, even though it
was RUINING your life. That’s why the Message refers to it as
“being tyrannized by what you want.”
Well Peter says that the flesh HAD its chance, and now it’s time to
move on!
3 For the
time already past is sufficient for
you to
have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a
course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking
parties and abominable idolatries.
Does that describe anyone’s past who might be here today?
(Don’t raise
your hands!)
Paul gave a similar list of fleshly behaviors
in Galatians 5:19-21:
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which
are: immorality, impurity,
sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery,
enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes,
dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness,
carousing, and things like these.”
The point Peter is making is that while these things might describe
your past life, they shouldn’t describe your present life! That’s
what separates the vultures that live in the past, from the
hummingbirds that live in the present.
Of course there’s another factor that complicates the process of
changing from a vulture to a hummingbird; your old vulture friends
can’t understand why you’ve lost your taste for rotting
flesh:
4 In all this,
they are surprised that you do not run with them into
the same excesses of dissipation, and
they malign you; 5 but
they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living
and the dead.
Again, here are those same verses from The
Message:
Of course, your old
friends don’t
understand why you don’t join in with the old gang anymore. But you
don’t have to give an account to them. They’re the ones who will be
called on the carpet—and before God himself.
Now verse 6 is quite interesting:
6 For the
gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are
dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may
live in the spirit according to the
will of God.
Let me be clear about this – you can’t preach to gospel to dead
people! That’s not what Peter is saying here. He’s saying that
those who were once alive and heard the gospel while they were
living fleshly lives, now that they have died, will be judged by
whether they responded to the call of God while they were alive and
had the chance.
Ultimately that’s how we all will be judged, not based upon whether
we sinned or not (because we’ve all sinned) but based upon whether
we’ve accepted the forgiveness of our sins that was provided for us
by Jesus dying on the cross in our place.
Peter then stresses that the time is drawing near when it will
eventually be too late to make the right choice:
7 The
end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound
judgment and sober spirit for
the purpose of prayer.
To some extent it might seem odd that Peter wrote the words “The
end of all things is near” almost 2000 years ago. But for the
people he was writing to at the time it was actually true. The city
of Jerusalem was about to be punished for their rebellion against
the Roman Empire and the Jewish Temple was going to be destroyed
and many people would lose their lives. For them the end WAS near.
And that’s no less true for our lives. No one here has any
guarantee that we’ll still be here tomorrow. The book of James says
that this earthly, fleshly life is nothing more than a vapor; it’s
here one minute and gone the next; which is why Peter urges us to
live sober, thoughtful, prayerful lives, focusing on the eternal
things of God rather than the temporary things of this earth. And
then he adds this important reminder in verses 8 and
9:
8 Above
all, keep fervent in your love for one another,
because love covers a multitude of
sins. 9 Be
hospitable to one another without complaint.
When Peter says “above all” he’s essentially saying, “if you only
get one thing right out of everything I’m telling you, get THIS
right – love each other!”
And then Peter says WHY this is so important: “because love
covers a multitude of sins”.
One writer summed it up this way: “Love keeps no record of wrongs.
Love always forgives in response to God’s
forgiveness.”
Here are some other scriptures that address the same connection
between love and forgiveness:
Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up strife,
But love covers all transgressions.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind and is
not jealous; love does not brag and is
not arrogant,5 does
not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not
provoked, does not take into account a
wrong suffered, 6 does
not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the
truth;7 bears
all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things. 8 Love
never fails
James
5:19-20
My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and
one turns him back, 20 let
him know that he who
turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul
from death and will cover a multitude of
sins.
I want to point out that “covering” a sin doesn’t mean pretending
it didn’t happen, or pretending that it wasn’t a sin. Here’s a very
simple dictionary definition of the word “cover”:
“To place something over or upon, as for protection”
Isn’t that what love is supposed to do? Don’t we all need to be
“covered” by love to protect us from the fallout from the poor
choices and poor decisions we’ve made?
Love doesn’t say “What you did wasn’t wrong”, love says “You really
messed things up but I’ve got you covered. I’m going to walk by
your side and protect you while you deal with the consequences of
what you did wrong.”
Isn’t that what Jesus did for us?
Revelation 1:5 says “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of
the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our
sins by His blood.”
What did He do with our sins? He released us from the penalty of
our sins. He covered them with His blood. Why? Because He loves
us.
The question Peter is raising is whether we can love each other
enough to cover one another when we fall.
Think of this story from Genesis 9:20-23
“Then Noah began farming and planted a
vineyard. 21 He
drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself
inside his tent. 22 Ham,
the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and
told his two brothers outside. 23 But
Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their
shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their
father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not
see their father’s nakedness.”
Here is Noah, one of the great heroes of the Bible, stumbling
around naked and drunk. Keep in mind that Genesis 6:9 says “Noah
was a righteous man, blameless in his time” and
Hebrews 11:7 says “By faith Noah, being
warned by
God about things
not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the
salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and
became an heir of the righteousness which is according to
faith.”
And even 1 Peter 3:20, which we looked at last week, mentioned
“Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few,
that is, eight persons, were brought safely
through the water.”
But just like any one of us, Noah was human and therefore had
weakness in his flesh; and so he followed up his heroic obedience
to God by making a drunken spectacle of himself. His one son did
what’s commonly done in these situations; he quickly ran to get his
brothers and said, “Come check this out! Dad is drunk and totally
naked! Can you believe it?”
But the other two sons chose to COVER Noah’s sin rather than
exposing it. They took a garment and walked in backwards so that
they could place it over Noah without witnessing his humiliation.
That’s what love does!
Noah spoke blessings over those 2 sons when he found out what they
had done for him and he cursed his other son for broadcasting his
sin rather than covering it.
The book of 1st Peter has a special emphasis on the third part of
our vision statement, which is SERVING EVERYWHERE. In these next
two verses Peter gives us a very solid perspective on how we should
view our serving:
10 As each one has received a special gift,
employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever
speaks, is
to do so as
one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever
serves is
to do so as
one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so
that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus
Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and
ever. Amen.
These verses aren’t isolated or disconnected from the verses on
love; they are a continuation of the same thought. Peter says ABOVE
ALL, love each other. And loving each other means covering each
other’s sins; it means being hospitable to one another; and it
means using our gifts to serve each other.
And what is the end result, the end goal if we can do this the way
God wants us to?
“So that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus
Christ”!
That’s a pretty good reason to say “ABOVE ALL” let’s learn to love
each other!