Thank you, Natalie. I invite you to open your bibles to 1st Peter chapter 4, where we'll continue our theme of suffering. 1st Peter chapter 4. We'll read the first six verses. Pay attention.
Jeffrey Heine:I've said this before, but your eyes have looked at a lot of things this week. There's always billboards demanding your attention. You've you've read a lot of websites, looked at a lot of blogs, some tweets, different things. This is different. All all those things will fade away, but the word of God remains forever.
Jeffrey Heine:And the word of god through the power of his spirit transforms us. And so as we read, this demands our full attention. Since therefore, Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
Jeffrey Heine:With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you. But they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who were dead. That through that though judged in the flesh, the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. Pray with me.
Jeffrey Heine:Our father, we ask that in this moment, you would convict us of your word. Or where we need convicting, you would convict us. Where we need healing, you would heal us, but Lord, you would have your way in our midst. Spirit, you're welcome in here to lift up high the name of Jesus. We need to see him as supreme and exalted above all.
Jeffrey Heine:No attention needs to come to me. I pray that my words would fall to the ground, blow away, and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. In the strong name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:Probably, most of you have heard of, a 17th century philosopher, mathematician, inventor named Blaise Pascal. I mean, he's the one who came up with the the Blaise Pascal, basically triangle theorem there. He's also the one who probably more famously is known for coming up with a wager called Pascal's wager. It was an early form of Christian apologetics, a way of defending the faith. And it's a famous wager, and it's lasted, it's used quite often still today, and it goes something like this.
Jeffrey Heine:God either exists or he doesn't. Those are your only two options, but reason can't decide which one is true. So it's kinda like a flip of the coin, whether he exists or whether he doesn't. Yet, everybody has to make a wager on it. Everybody has to make a decision, a bet on whether he exists or whether whether he doesn't.
Jeffrey Heine:Therefore, one should consider the different outcomes, and Pascal would use the different probabilities, to decide which one you should guess on. And he says, if one wages that there is a God, then he has the possibility of gaining an infinitely happy life, and he risks nothing if he's wrong. So if you believe in God, then you have everything to gain, but you have nothing to gain, and you have everything to lose. And so he would say, the logical choice is for you then to believe in God, and and by God, Pascal, he means the Christian the resurrected Jesus Christ, Son of God. You believe in him, you have everything to gain.
Jeffrey Heine:You gain a happy life now and for all of eternity, and if you're wrong, well, you're wrong. You you lose nothing. And so that's Pascal's wager, and it's still influential. It's an influential philosophical argument in Christianity. However, the problem with this argument is it goes against Peter, It goes against Paul.
Jeffrey Heine:It goes it goes against a lot of scripture. If you read 1st Corinthians 15, Paul argues that the resurrection of Jesus, the most foundational aspect of the Christian faith. He says, if if the resurrection, this fundamental belief is not true, then we have all people are most to be pitied. Hear these words from 1st Corinthians 15. He's Paul says, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
Jeffrey Heine:And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. If in Christ, we have hope in this life only. We are of all people most to be pitied.
Jeffrey Heine:Now, how is it that Paul can say this? I mean, Pascal would say that if there is no resurrection, then we of all people would most be wrong. We'd be wrong. But but but Paul says, we're most to be pitied. And not that just we're wrong, but but our life is is tragic.
Jeffrey Heine:That if Jesus didn't come in the flesh, if he wasn't the son of God, if he didn't die, and then rise again, if that's not true, then we have lived a tragic, tragic existence that deserves the world's pity. Now the the reason that Paul says this, that we would not just be wrong, but that we would be pitied is because he understands that believing in Jesus and following Jesus involves suffering. It involves sacrifice. To follow Jesus means to pick up your cross and to follow him. Pascal's wager only works if you don't really make a wager.
Jeffrey Heine:It it only works if Christianity somehow you can follow Christ without any cost, without any sacrifices. For Paul to believe in Christ and to be wrong isn't to risk nothing. To believe in Christ and to be wrong means that he was imprisoned. He was beaten. He was stoned.
Jeffrey Heine:He was shipwrecked. He was driven out of towns. It means that he would give up all of the comforts he could have had, all the respects he could have had, he could have given up all those things for nothing. I wouldn't call that you have nothing to lose. Paul looked at his life, and he said, I have lost everything in following Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:So Pascal's wager only makes sense if one believes that there is no real cost in following Jesus. But there is a cost, and Peter says that there's a cost. He agrees with Paul. Look at the first half of verse 1. He says, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.
Jeffrey Heine:Now last week, we looked at somewhat a theology of suffering, and how Peter's view of suffering had changed over the years. He wasn't responsive to it at first when Jesus introduced that theme. It says he actually took Jesus aside, if you remember, and he rebuked him. He rebuked Jesus over Jesus's theology of suffering. And he's done a 180.
Jeffrey Heine:He's turned around since then, and now he understands that the gospel is proclaimed through suffering. But he doesn't just remind us of that knowledge. He says that we are to our arm ourselves. We are to arm ourselves with the same way of thinking. So he doesn't just say know this.
Jeffrey Heine:This is something that you need to know that Christ suffered in the flesh. He says that we are to arm ourselves with the same way of thinking. You know, every Christian knows, you know, that Christ suffered for you. You know that Jesus died for you. You you know that.
Jeffrey Heine:But do you arm yourselves with that? To arm oneself means that you you put that that thought in the very forefront of your mind, that you always have it readily available. It's a military term to arm yourselves. It's it's accessible. It's a weapon that's always within reach that you can use.
Jeffrey Heine:And the difference between arming yourself and just knowing something can be seen in maybe ways that you read the bible. If you're like me and you have, you know, some Bible reading plan, you really love checking off the things each day. I mean, you just that's half the satisfaction. You you you check that off. You've done your bible reading plan.
Jeffrey Heine:I encourage that, and that's where you get to know. You get to know that Jesus, he suffered for. You get to know his mind, but that's not arming yourself with that knowledge. Arming yourself with this is when you read God's word, and and then you pray and you say, God, why did you have me read this today? Why is this this weapon, this the sword of your spirit, which is the word of God.
Jeffrey Heine:Why is this weapon given to me today? What do you have for me today? How am I to use this today? How should the knowledge that Jesus died for me change the way I love my angry coworker? How should it change the way that I love my spouse today?
Jeffrey Heine:Show me. That's arming yourself with this way of thinking. And then Peter moves on and he adds this curious phrase, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Can I just go and say, like, Peter and I have not been getting along lately? I mean, last week, I was pretty angry at him.
Jeffrey Heine:He has a curious way of saying things, and to make it somewhat difficult for the life of a preacher as as you're really studying through that. And this is another one of his curious ways of saying things. Let me tell you what he does not mean here. He he does not mean here that once you suffer, you no longer sin. Because if he does mean that he is going against a lot of the Bible.
Jeffrey Heine:That's that's not what he means here. What he is saying is that if you are resolved to suffer for the sake of Jesus, if you have armed yourselves with that, and you've decided to do that, then you and sin are going in opposite directions. And I would say that anybody who has, experienced some form of tragedy has seen this to some degree. Whether you're a Christian or not, you you've experienced this to some degree. Let's, let's say that you're somebody who struggles with greed, somebody who struggles with materialism, somebody who, you know, your every thought is about how you could climb up that corporate ladder, And and so you're thinking about these things, and then all of a sudden you get a phone call.
Jeffrey Heine:And the phone call, it's from the police, and they say your spouse has been in a horrible accident, and that things are touch and go. Now the the moment you receive that news, you were no longer thinking about how you can feed the greediness of your heart At all. All you can think about is your spouse. You're you're no longer, you know, thinking about how how do you want your dream home. You're no longer thinking about, you know, that really expensive car.
Jeffrey Heine:You're no longer thinking about how you can move up into that posh new office. You're not thinking of those things. Tragedy, when it has come in and has hit you, has given you this new perspective. Those once sinful desires that were really flared up, and you were feeding like that are gone. You're not even thinking of those things.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what suffering does when it hits us. It can immediately change what we thought was a insatiable desire. This is what Peter's talking about here. He says that when we willingly step into suffering, God uses that suffering like we looked in chapter 1, like a refining fire. And he begins purifying you and changing those desires.
Jeffrey Heine:You and sin begin going in opposite directions. Now in this context here, Peter is talking about a very specific type of suffering. He's talking about the suffering that you will experience if you try to live what we call a biblically moral life. Verses 34. The time that is past suffices for doing what Gentiles want to do.
Jeffrey Heine:Living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you. I love that first phrase, verse 3. The time that is past suffices for doing what what the Gentiles want to do. Peter saying, hey, guys, you know what?
Jeffrey Heine:God saw your college years. You know, he saw them. He saw what you were like when you were younger, and trust me, you've sinned enough. Alright? You you filled up the cup, you've sinned plenty.
Jeffrey Heine:It's time to put sin in the rear view mirror. Alright? It's time to move move past that. And then he says that we're not to live in all these things, sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, lawless, idolatry. Pretty much basic cable is what I was thinking as I was going through that.
Jeffrey Heine:The things that are flooded in your mind all the time. He says, rearview mirror, former life. And he says, when you choose not to do these things, people are gonna be surprised, and then you're gonna be maligned. I mean, you think, why? I mean, why is the world gonna be surprised that we don't jump in to do what they're doing, And not only surprised, but why are they then gonna get really angry at us for not doing that?
Jeffrey Heine:It's not like we're we're preaching at them about this. You need to be doing all these things. You know, we're not throwing stones of truth at them, or we're not outwardly just judging them in every way. So so why are they so angry at us? So they were surprised and they're ticked off.
Jeffrey Heine:Well, let's look at surprise. Why the world is surprised that we're not doing these things? The answer is obvious. The the world is surprised that we are not doing these things because these things seem really pleasurable, and they seem relatively harmless. I mean, why wouldn't you do these things?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, why wouldn't you deny yourselves these pleasures? I mean, the world's trying to think, I mean, we have option A, do things that aren't pleasurable. Option B, do things that are pleasurable. Why are you choosing this option? It surprises them.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, this feels good here. There's there's no real consequences here. This is harmless here. Do this. It's kinda hard for them to believe that we would not partake in those things.
Jeffrey Heine:And actually, you can look at denying yourselves that pleasure. Those pleasures can even be part of the suffering you're now experiencing. Could be sub part of the suffering that Peter's talking about. One of the reasons that he can say when one has suffered in the flesh, one has ceased from sin, is because saying no to something that you really maybe want to do at the moment is a form of suffering. But when you enter in that and you say, no, you've ceased from sin.
Jeffrey Heine:You're not going down that road. Now realize we are, we're in a church. I mean, a fancy one, you know, everything. Stained glass. And so this might make some of you uncomfortable to acknowledge that this list, for 1, you you kind of, you know, blushed as it was being read, but that it makes you uncomfortable to acknowledge this list, you know, that we could actually see some of these things as pleasurable.
Jeffrey Heine:But here, this is one of the reasons Paul could say that if Christ wasn't who he said he was, if he wasn't the son of God, if he didn't rise from the dead, then the world should pity us. They should pity our life because they're gonna look at all the pleasures we have given up. They're they're gonna look at our lifestyle we had, and then they wonder why did you deny yourself this? I mean, think of all the pleasure you could have enjoyed, but but you refuse to partake in these things. And if that's the case, if if if we do those things and Christ isn't raised, then we should be pity.
Jeffrey Heine:Pascal's wrong. There's a lot to lose by living the Christian life if you're wrong. In first Corinthians 15, which we've already read, you know, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we of all people are most to be pitied. After this, Paul goes on to say this phrase. He says, I die daily.
Jeffrey Heine:I die every day. What do I gain if humanly speaking I have fought with the wild beast of Ephesus if the dead are not raised? Let us eat, drink, for tomorrow we die. Now if you're thinking, okay, are is, like, is Paul in an arena? Is he, like, fighting wild what is this fighting wild beast?
Jeffrey Heine:It was just a common idiom for the day to describe passions or lust. So so when Paul is saying that, passions or lust. So so when Paul is saying that he fought the wild beast of Ephesus, he is saying that as a single guy, and he's going into to places, these pagan environments, he is being tempted. He's being tempted with all of these these passions, all of these pleasures, all of these lusts. And he says he has to fight these things.
Jeffrey Heine:It's like a wild beast that he has to fight. He says, every single day I've got to die. I want to do these things, but every day I have to die to myself, and I will not do these things. But then he goes on to say this, but if the resurrection wasn't true, you should just go ahead and do it. If the resurrection isn't true, then why fight these things?
Jeffrey Heine:Just give in to all forms of different sensuality. Eat, drink, for tomorrow you die. Do whatever you want. There is no right or wrong if Christ is not who he says he is. There is no judgment if we are not raised up.
Jeffrey Heine:Do whatever feels good. Now that's Paul's argument. It's not mine. It's Paul here. He's acknowledging that there are sins that at least to some degree look very pleasurable, and to abstain from them is to some degree a form of suffering that makes us pitiable.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright. Why why am I hammering this point home? Well, I think it's for those of you, and I know there's a number of you here that are not Christians, you're just interested in the faith, you kinda got a toe in, and and you wanna see what it's all about. When you hear and I've heard this from you so many times. When you hear that we want you to be a Christian, what you are hearing is that we want you to, turn over a new leaf.
Jeffrey Heine:We want you to give up a lot of fun things. You're just supposed to to give up all those fun little sins that you are doing. Things that are really enjoyable. And you're thinking, alright, why then would I ever want to become a Christian? Why?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, why would I ever wanna do this? That's a pitiable existence. Because when you're looking at a Christian who has given those things up, you think, if I were to also give those things up, I'd be miserable. If my life would stink, it'd be miserable. And you know it, to a large degree, you're right.
Jeffrey Heine:If you just tried to bow up and become a moral person, become a better person, turn over a new life Leaf, stop doing all these bad things. You could turn into a cold, legalist, lifeless person. Even farther from God than you feel now. That is not the Christian life is just trying to give up these things. And if you just try to do these things for when you're gonna fail, but also you would be living a life that should be pitied.
Jeffrey Heine:If that were Christianity, that would be a lifeless and a joyless experience, but that is not Christianity. That is not the gospel, and I want you to hear me on this. The gospel is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ happened. The gospel is that someday, we will rise with him. The gospel is that Jesus has given us his holy spirit as a way of ensuring to us that we will someday rise with him.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the deposit he has given us. And this holy spirit has come into us, and it has given us a new life, and we have become a new creature, and now we desire new things. And now it delights us to do away with these things. It delights us to obey God, but that's all due to the work of the spirit, not to the work of us bowing up and trying. Giving up these things after the spirit of God has come in us.
Jeffrey Heine:Giving these things up has been a light momentary sacrifice that has given way to an eternal joy. CS Lewis, he would put it this way. He would see and say, if we would, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half hearted creatures fooling about with a drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum, because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
Jeffrey Heine:We are far too easily pleased. When the Spirit of God comes in and changes you, it gives you this insight. You used to think, gosh, I just I really had such strong desire for passion, and that's what led me astray. And when the spirit of God comes and says, no, you didn't have nearly strong enough desire, because that desire would have ultimately led you to me. And these things awaken in us as the spirit of God changes us.
Jeffrey Heine:That is why over and over again, as you look at our the commands to be moral people in the bible, they are anchored to the resurrection. So it makes the life possible. Peter then comforts us with these words in verse 5 and 6. Says, but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Everybody will stand before the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:It reminds of the people who are maligning you, the people who hate you, and the reason that they hate you and not just not understand you. The reason they hate you is because you're actually enjoying giving up these things. If if you were if you were to just be miserable and obey this, like give up all these things and be miserable, you know what the world would look at you? They wouldn't hate you, they would just pity you. But if you give up all these things and you're really happy about it, just really happy, they will malign you.
Jeffrey Heine:Because they know if they were to give up those things, they wouldn't have that joy. Something is different about them. You stand in judgment of them. Because of your joy in doing away with those things, and your joy in following the moral commands of the Lord. And when they malign you, Peter says, you know what?
Jeffrey Heine:Judgment will happen. Everybody stands before him. And then he closes with this, for this is why the gospel was preached even to those who were dead. That's those who are now dead. That though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.
Jeffrey Heine:The the world that they could look at you and they could think, why should I live any different? You were judged in the flesh, meaning you die just like everybody else. And Peter reminds us, we might die, but not like everybody else. We are alive in the spirit. Remember the resurrection and your call to live this life.
Jeffrey Heine:Pray with me. Lord Jesus, I pray that for those who don't know you and they've always looked at the Christian life as just merely things to give up, They don't understand that. Lord, that they would hear you calling them. It's not what they give up, it's what we gain. And we gain a new life.
Jeffrey Heine:We gain your spirit who radically transforms us, and we put away mud pot pies in the slums, and we embrace sand castles on the beach. We embrace the life that you would have for us. Open up our eyes to see that. I ask that you would not weaken our passions. The spirit in this moment, you would increase them.
Jeffrey Heine:Increase them to the point where we know only you are the one who can satisfy. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.