Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from 1 Pet 4:1 and following. Indeed, how much the sin He had to take care of tired the Lord Jesus! He is now resting on it, having abolished it in his death. And so the Christian must be done with the lusts of men. Dear friends, is it not enough for us to have, before our conversion, wasted precious time in a senseless march towards death? Let us live the rest of our time “for the will of God.” No doubt our new behavior will contrast with that of the world around us. And the latter will be astonished that we abstain from his troubled and dubious joys. We will be pressured, we will be joked, we may be told insults. What for? Because the world will feel condemned by our separation, waiting to be condemned by the great Judge. Precisely, the imminence of this judgment dictates our conduct: sobriety, vigilance, prayer, fervent love (1 Pet 1:22-25). This is reflected in many ways: by seeking the restoration of our brothers, by practicing joyful hospitality, by using the gifts of God’s varied grace for the benefit of one another. This is how Jesus in heaven continues on earth to glorify the Father (which is His great thought) in the lives of His redeemed (John 17:4-11; John 15:5-8).
The first truth, then, is that Christ suffered once for sins, he just for the unjust, in order to bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh. We have to arm ourselves with this thought that the one who suffered in the flesh rested from sin. This principle is true for Christ and for us. What is true only for Christ is that He suffered for our sins and rested from them after taking care of them in His flesh, without a trace of sin. What is true for us is that the suffering in the flesh to which sin attaches itself is over, we are done with sin.
For rest can only be partial for us, but it will be all the more complete as suffering leads us to no longer live the rest of our time in the flesh, for the lusts to which men are bound by Satan. We understand, since, as a result of suffering, this enemy can no longer seduce us, as in the past, that we must obey a will other than his own, that of God. What a happy condition for the Christian that of suffering!
Is it not enough to have followed in the past time (the whole history of Israel proves it), the will of the nations instead of that of God, and would we like to start again? Notice that he is not talking here about following the will of the incredulous Jewish people, but that of the nations that surrounded them with all their debauchery. The nations, seeing that these Christians had separated themselves from Judaism, could delude themselves into thinking that these converts would walk with them. They found their abstention from these bad morals strange and insulted them. In this way, they suffered on all sides. Thus, more and more, the question of the sufferings of the Christian is brought to light in this epistle. But those of the nations would have to account, before the God judge, for their insults against Christians. Living or dead, at the appearance of the Lord or before the great white throne, they will have to deal with divine judgment. But the apostle goes back to what he said before. During the flood, those who perished in this judgment had been evangelized by the few whom grace had spared. There their fate had been fixed, for there was for them this alternative: either the judgment drawn upon men by their condition in the flesh, or life according to God by the Spirit of a dead and risen Christ.
Let’s not forget, in dealing with suffering, that it is also proof of judgment that falls first on the house of God. The apostle adds here this thought of judgment on us that has already occupied him. But what will be the end of those who disobey God’s gospel? Obedience or disobedience are always what characterizes in this epistle the Christian or the world. And if the righteous, the Jewish Christian to whom he speaks, is saved with difficulty, as will be the future Residue of Israel in the great tribulation, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? This is the complete cycle of sufferings covered in this epistle: Sufferings of Christ in redemption, in sympathy, by virtue of his absolute perfection; suffering endured by those who follow him, but also as a trial and as a discipline; suffering finally falling on the ungodly and sinners. It is therefore necessary that Christians who suffer, in whatever way, according to God’s will, hand over their souls to Him as to a faithful God who, from the beginning, has ordained all things, so that they finally lead us to resemble Christ in all our walk. This walk was summed up for Christ and must be summed up for us with only two words: “He passed from place to place, doing good” and: “He suffered”.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Breaking with the past:
- The Believer as a New Man
Ez 11:19 I will give them one heart, and I will put in you a new spirit; I will remove from their bodies the heart of stone, and I will give them a heart of flesh, 2 Cor 5:17 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed; behold, all things have become new. Gal 6:15 For it is nothing but to be circumcised or uncircumcised; what is something is to be a new creature. Eph 2:15 having annihilated by his flesh the law of ordinances in his prescriptions, in order to create in himself with the two one new man, establishing peace, Eph 4. 24 and to put on the new man, created according to God in a justice and holiness that the truth produces.
- Living for God
Lk 20:38 Now, God is not God of the dead, but of the living; for him all are alive. Rom 6:11 So you yourselves look upon yourselves as dead to sin, and as alive for God in Jesus Christ. Rom 14:8 For if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So either we live or die, we are in the Lord. 2 Cor 5:15 and that he died for all, so that those who live no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died and rose for them. Gal 2:19 for it was by the law that I died to the law, in order to live for God.
- Suffering stigma
Luke 6:22 Blessed will you be, when men hate you, when you are chased away, when you are insulted, and your name is rejected as infamous, because of the Son of man! 1 Tim 4:10 We work, indeed, and we fight, because we put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially believers. Hb 10:33 on the one hand, exposed as if in show to opprobrium and tribulation, and on the other, associating you with those whose position was the same. 1 Pet 4:14 If you are outraged by the name of Christ, you are happy, because the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, rests upon you.
- Vigilance for the coming of Christ
-The uncertainty of the hour Mt 25.13 Watch, therefore, since you know neither the day nor the time.
-A reward is promised to those who will watch Lk 12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the master, on his arrival, will find watching! I tell you in truth, he will surround himself, have them put at the table, and approach to serve them.
-The sons of light will not sleep 1 Thess 5:5-6 you are all children of light and children of the day. We are not night or darkness. 6 Let us not sleep like the others, but let us watch and be sober.
-The imminence of His coming Rev 3:11 I come soon. Remember what you have, so that no one takes your crown.
-His appearance will be unexpectedly Ap 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and who keeps his clothes, so that he does not walk naked and that we do not see his shame!
From all the above, we note that in heaven we will meditate without tiring on the sufferings of the Lord Jesus; they will be the inexhaustible theme of our praise. But the opportunity to share them will be over. But suffering with Christ is an experience related to earthly life. To share in his sorrows, to know the ingratitude, the contempt, the contradiction, the insult, the open opposition that He encountered, is to know Him Himself in all the feelings that were then His. Paul’s whole desire was to “know Him… and the communion of his sufferings…” (Ph 3:7-11). But there is a kind of sorrow that Christ obviously could not feel: those that we attract ourselves for having done wrong. We do not escape the “consequences of our inconsequences”. For a dishonest Christian will reap what he has sown in the courts of men, and whoever interferes in someone else’s affairs may have his punishment at the hand of the latter. What is saddest then is not the miseries we attract, but rather the dishonor cast on the name of the Lord. Conversely, to suffer as a Christian, that is, as Christ, is to glorify God in this beautiful name (Acts 4:15-22). Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and for centuries of ages. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow ” exhortation to the elders, to all and especially to the young men.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Lord of Hosts.