1st Peter #6: The example of Christ helps me have an attitude in life that honors Him

1st Peter #6: The example of Christ helps me have an attitude in life that honors Him

Short but honorable

We are passing through this earth, but our passage is of paramount importance to give glory to God.

1 Peter 2/11
11 Beloved, I encourage you, as temporary residents and strangers on earth, to refrain from the desires of your own nature which make war on the soul.
12 Be good in the midst of unbelievers, so that even when they slander you as if you were doing evil, they will notice your good behavior and give glory to God on the day he comes.

In everyday life, I can make a difference
The apostle shows the difference we can make to give glory to God in different areas:

• relationship with the authorities,
• relationship in the world of work,
• relationship in the couple .

Our voluntary submission can set us apart positively.

• Fraternal relationships truly nourished by love for each other, where benevolence replaces retaliation.

Normally “quiet”

• By thus reflecting Christ in our environment,
• by living the benevolent recommendations of God,
  there is normally nothing to worry about.

But our beautiful attitude irritates
However, the discrepancy produced by our attitude in life can irritate those around us and we can be the object
of • their sarcasm,

• remarks
• and other forms of harassment.

Do not be destabilized by it

• Do not let this disturb us because it is better to suffer for a just and pure cause than for something reprehensible.
• May this not nourish in us bitterness or vengeance, but let us speak of our hope in Christ with sweetness, even if it is not obvious and if we suffer from the situation.

On the long and powerful testimony
Even if our environment criticizes us and shows us opposition, it will notice our constancy in doing good and may be confused.

1 Peter 3:17
Indeed, it is better to suffer, if it be God’s will, by doing good than by doing evil.

Two illustrations
Christ

That of Christ,

• He perfect, good,
• unjustly killed by those He came to save,
• but raised by God who is just.

Good was victorious and the shame of

• those who disbelieved in Him and killed Him
• and also for those who were of the same frame of mind in the days of Noah,
  Christ testified that in the end the good always wins the victory.

Noah’s time

Indeed, the experience of Noah’s time was similar:

• God, patiently, put a rescue plan in place,
• rejected by all,
• only 8 people accepted it!

After Suffering Glory
Not only did Christ testify of His victory, but He received the glory, He who submitted to the Father received the submission of the angels of authority and power.

1 Peter 3
18 Christ also suffered once for all for sins. He the just, he suffered for the unjust in order to lead you to God. He suffered a human death, but he was made alive by the Spirit.
[…]
22 God (. He ) saves us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who ascended into heaven, received the submission of

• angels,
• authorities
• and powers
  and is at the right hand of God.

Sufferings of the recipients of the epistle

Obviously the addressees of this letter from Peter were living

• under pressure,
• persecution,
• suffering.
  This subject feeds the heart of this epistle.

After presenting the victorious results of the suffering lived for Christ, Peter pursues the same idea with a more personal angle.

1 Peter chapter 4
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, you also arm yourselves with the same thought: he who suffered in his body is done with sin, that you may no longer live according to the desires of the men, but the will of God, during the time that he has left to live here below.
3 It is already quite enough to have in the past accomplished the will of the unbelievers by walking in disorder, covetousness, drunkenness, orgies and other drunkenness as well as in criminal idolatry.
4 So they find it strange that you no longer rush with them in the same outburst of debauchery, and they slander you.
5 They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
6 Indeed, the Gospel was also preached to the dead so that after having been judged like all men here below, they might live according to God by the Spirit.

Difficult to understand

On first reading, this text is a bit difficult to understand, especially the part “he who suffered in his body is done with sin”.
Indeed, if I am sick, I can ask myself what is the relationship with sin.

Quite clearly, this text does not speak about this subject and to understand it, two things are useful:

• to clearly identify the sufferings of Christ of which it speaks in the text, since we must arm ourselves with the same thought
• and to consider the opposition between the will of God and the desires of fallen men, which are spoken of in these first two verses.

The sufferings of Christ are of the type:

• do good and be persecuted for it;
• do what is right and suffer injustice until you pay with your life.
• Not for spiritual masochism or a bad smell of Hinduism but to be victorious and glorious with God.

Suffering leads to a rejection of fallen aspirations

To follow such a trajectory of life is to renounce

• the sirens of sin,
• the aspirations,
• the desires of our fallen life.
• Invitation that we find moreover at length in
• our society,
• just like that of the time of Peter.

Examples are given in the text that we have just read:

• disorders,
• lusts,
• drunkenness,
• orgies
• and other drunkenness,
• as well as in criminal idolatry.

Disconnect between God’s expectations and those of society

• The suffering, the struggle and the kind of persecution are more in the fact that we are out of step with the aspirations of society which continually invite to meet and nourish the desires of this who is fallen in us.

Some examples

Some examples of the pressure of our society out of step with the will of God:

• no longer need to marry,
• sexuality outside marriage,
• numerous sentimental experiences,
• numerous sexual experiences.
• “youth has to happen”, so let’s test everything that is festive (behind “you’re a man to be wary of if you haven’t tested all the drugs and pills!”);
• you can only be “for” homosexuality, trans people and other LGBT people.
• Make your place at all costs in the world of work. It doesn’t matter if you ruin lives around you!
• Your realization, your hedonism and your pleasure take precedence over others.
• It leads to bizarre, even comical things (in a job search, the potential boss should adapt to the desires for free time)…
• Well-being at work has taken precedence over work (in Switzerland).
• Materialism and compulsive shopping: “I’m really not fashionable, I’ve been wearing the same thing for 8 days, I really can’t survive if I don’t change it right away!”.
• Veganism, antispeciesism, mindfulness and other recipes as solutions, instead of God.
• “If you’re not for abortion, you’re the worst torturer; if you’re not a militant for ultra-feminism, you’re a fundamentalist to be eliminated; if you are not in favor of euthanasia, you have no empathy; if you’re not an animalist, men are the bad guys, animals and nature are the good guys…”.

Inverted values

In short, it is good to be wary of those who do not fit into this mould, of what society imposes. On the contrary, it is good to find it brilliant to make laws for what is increasingly depraved, disordered and nourished only by feelings.

Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn bitterness into sweetness and sweetness into bitterness!

Same idea developed by Peter
And this is somewhat what is said in verses 5 and 6, in another way, Christ judges, Christ will judge the living and the dead, believers and non-believers.

Perdition

It is certain, (here the slanderers, those who cause suffering, those who have no case for Christ), it will be for their confusion and eternal misfortune.

eternal bliss

On the other hand, for those whose Savior Christ is, who endure suffering unjustly, who renounce sins (“who have finished with sin”), they live according to God, by the Spirit.
Little wink to verse 18 which reminds us that God, by His Spirit, raised Jesus. It is the same Spirit that is in question, the same trajectory that we must inspire ourselves with, certainly with unjust suffering here below, but with eternal bliss…
Suffering while resisting fallen solicitations, but also aiming to live the will of God.

1 Peter 4
7 The end of all things is near.
Throughout the epistle, the apostle Peter puts in perspective the brevity of our lives, of our world and planet with eternity.
Not to freak us out, but to show that eternal investment is much more reasonable than losing ourselves by letting go during our rather brief life…

1 Peter 4
So be wise (God in the background) and sober in order to devote yourselves to prayer.
8 Above all, have ardent love for one another, for love will cover a host of sins.
9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
10 As good stewards of the various graces of God,
put each one at the service of the others the gift you have received.
11 If anyone speaks, let him speak the revealed words of God; if anyone performs a service, let him do it with the strength that God communicates, so that in all God may receive the glory due to him through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen!

As a summary conclusion

1 Peter 4
12 My beloved, do not be surprised at the furnace that rages among you to test you, as if something strange were happening to you.
13 On the contrary, rejoice in your part in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is unveiled.
14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ,
you are happy, because the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, rests on you.
[They blaspheme the Spirit, while you give him glory.]
15 Let no one among you suffer for having killed, stolen, done evil or for having interfered in the affairs of others.
16 But if anyone suffers because he is a Christian, let him not be ashamed. On the contrary, let him give glory to God in this situation.
17 Indeed, this is the time when judgment begins, and it begins with the house of God. Now, if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the Gospel of God?
18 And if the righteous are saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?
19 So let those who suffer according to the will of God rely on him as the faithful Creator, doing what is right.

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