Studying 1 Peter could save our lives.
We’re only on this planet for a few decades; we’re in heaven for eternity. But the `wilderness times’ are the times when we’re most likely to give up on discipleship. If we do, however, we turn our whole earthly existence into something we’ll one day look back on with desperate regret. Quite seriously, working carefully through this book could make a difference to us for the next million years.
So then: As we move on into chapter 4, we’ll notice that it’s something of a reprise; time and again, Peter reworks the central ideas of ch.1. We should skip this chapter then? Not at all! First, because seeing what Peter re-emphasises helps us grasp what is most on his heart for us. But it’s deeply valuable for a far more personal reason. What will save us in the `wilderness` is not just the ideas we’ve read, but the truths that have burrowed deeply into our hearts. Peter – and the Holy Spirit who inspired him – wants us to re-absorb these lifegiving insights, because this increases our chances of really grasping them. It’s the repeated exposure that can drive them deeply enough into our hearts to make the vital difference when the wilderness comes upon us.
So what are these ideas that Peter takes such care to highlight? Let’s list what we find here (and it’s worth looking at the ch1 parallels):
Our sufferings are not pointless or fruitless, 4:1 – an affirmation repeated from 1:6-7;
But we need an `arming vision’, the adoption of a deliberate mental stance, 4:1, cf 1:13; and this `arming vision’ is primarily our grasp of Christ and his cross for us, as we saw last time;
`As a result’, we make that vital choice of desires which is such a key theme for Peter, 4:2-4, cf 1:13-14;
Radical, holy distinctiveness in view of God’s coming judgment, 4:5-6, cf 1:17 – deliberately focusing our minds on the `End’, 4:7, cf 1:13;
As a result of that `focusing’, grounding our distinctiveness by learning self-control, 4:7, cf 1:13;
`Above all’, at the heart of holiness, fervent mutual love, 4:8-9, cf 1:22;
Love leads into the deliberate use of all our `gifts’ for others, 4:10; pre-eminent among these is sharing the Word, which is in fact nothing less than `speaking the very words of God’, 4:11, cf 1:24-25.
(We need to take time here to pray our way through these!)
These issues seem very personal to Peter. `Arm yourselves with the same attitude’, he writes; was he remembering his own failure to have `armed’ himself at the crucial moment? Recalling, perhaps, how in his self-confidence he failed to take seriously Christ’s command (and example) to `Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation’ (Matt 26:33,41-42)?- and how, when the conflict came, he was `armed’ only with a useless physical sword, rather than with the necessary mindset from Christ’s Word (26:51-56, John 18:10-11), and ended up denying his Lord?
So what do we learn here about this vital `arming vision’?
First, it is in our `attitude’ (NIV), our `mind’ (AV), that the `arming’ for the wilderness occurs. If our spirituality grows `mindless’, we will be dis-armed for experiences of the wilderness. (There are churches where this can happen; that almost seem to cultivate a spirituality of the empty skull. It can be a costly mistake.) We become `armed’ as God’s concerns get a grip, ahead of time, on our thinking: above all Christ’s suffering on the cross, and (1:13) the `grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed’. Here again is where communion is so important for our spirituality: these twin insights are `refreshed’ in our minds as we take bread and wine and remember `the Lord’s death – until he comes’ (1 Cor 11:26). `Let us fix our eyes on Jesus… who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame… so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In the struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood’ (Heb 12:2-4). Lord, please help me arm myself for holy faithfulness, with this vision of your faithful suffering caused by sin; I worship you…
Second, we sense the seriousness of Peter’s demands for radical distinctiveness in the `struggle against sin’ (4:3). We are `aliens and strangers in the world’ (cf 2:11). So we must embrace a willingness to be dramatically different from the `empty way of life’ around us (cf 1:18), which he sees as marked by `debauchery, lust, drunkenness’ – like all too many parts of the contemporary clubbing scene. They `think it strange’ that you do not plunge in alongside them, Peter writes to his readers here (v4); in our own day, the media make it seem doubly peculiar. Yet our calling is to be radical, `aliens and strangers’ if necessary, `insulted` if necessary (v14), when contemporary culture and kingdom culture clash. `If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him’, says John (1 John 2:15; cf also James’ forceful comment in James 4:4); as Jesus taught us, the passion for holiness is indispensable (`If your right hand, causes you to sin, cut it off’). But then the issue will be which has become more real for our minds; the presence and example of the Lord, or the approval of our peers who may indeed `heap abuse’ on us (vv5-6). (I myself am finding that when I slip into sin it isn’t just the sin itself I need to repent of, but a prior casualness about holiness – a lack of concern as to whether I grieve God or not.) What matters, again, is whether we are `conscious of God’ (3:19), and how firmly we have grasped that soon `each of us will give an account of himself to God’ (Paul’s wording, in Rom 14:12; cf v5 here). The `fear of the Lord’ is the `beginning [the source, the root] of wisdom’ (Prov 1:7); lose this and triviality and carelessness about sin can soon follow. (Lord, I indeed believe that in the not too distant future I shall give account of my life to you; please keep that reality at the forefront of my consciousness…)
(On the difficult v6 please see the PPPS of our last post.)
And isn’t this why Peter now emphasises again that the `end of all things is near’ (v7)? As in his second letter (especially 3:1-4, 8-14), it’s awareness of this reality that empowers us to countercultural resistance and choice; it’s people who have lost this prophetic awareness that end up `following their own evil desires’. `Prepare your minds for action’, Peter had said in 1:13, `be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed’. The same group of truths belong together here.
And this radicalism, affirms Peter, is indispensable for two reasons. First, our holiness (being `clear-minded and self-controlled’) matters if the Holy Spirit’s power is to be released in answer to our prayers (v7). The insight parallels that in 3:7, where he stressed that if the holiness of husbands was deficient in considerateness and respect for their wives, then their prayers would unavoidably be hindered. (That assumes, of course, that our prayer lives are alive enough for us to sense the difference.)
Secondly, life in our exile depends on our learning the radical holiness where we `above all, love each other deeply'(v8). The spirit that `always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always endures’ (1Cor 13:7) is indispensable for a community seeking to make it together through the wilderness; the spirit also that shares `without grumbling'(v9) – where every resource we have is available, according to God’s command, to `serve others'(v10). (It’s striking how both Paul and Peter feel the need to stress the priority of love `above all’ as they discuss spiritual gifts.)
This may be crucial for us in these coming decades, unless `the end’ indeed comes with the Lord’s return. It is true that the Great Commission does now seem to be not very far from completion, and this is a crucial sign of `the End’ (see Matt 24:14). Otherwise, however, we very probably face a situation where the results of our culture’s `loss of God’ continue to multiply; where western civilisation continues to disintegrate, with speeding erosion of its foundations for anything but selfishness; and erosion too of its protective legal and social `safety nets’ for anyone weak or in need – or who follows Christ unreservedly. If current trends continue – that is, unless God sends `revival’ – the only way to survive the darkness of post-postmodern Britain may be in local communities taught and empowered by God to be deeply committed to each other in just this way. (Lord, please help me see where I need to learn more of this right now.)
What then is it, we might ask from these verses, that survives in `exile`? Peter answers us in v11, as his thought seemingly comes to climax: a community of unselfish (Christlike) mutual support, empowered by supernatural strength; through the preached Word of God; through self-giving service; and through devotion to God’s glory…
Lord, please take us, take me, forward in each of these…
