Living for God
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
My Understanding: Before I read my passage for my QT with the Lord today, my husband shared his quiet time passage with me from 2 Chronicles 29:1-11. Hezekiah became king of Judah, following his father before him, who did evil in the sight of God. Hezekiah, nonetheless, did what was right in the eyes of God. Hezekiah’s father had hindered the people of God from the worship of God, but when Hezekiah came to office, he threw the temple doors open, and he repaired them. Then he brought in the priests and the Levites and had a talk with them. He told them to consecrate themselves and to consecrate the temple of the LORD. They were to remove all the defilement from the sanctuary. Their fathers were unfaithful to God, they did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and they forsook God. They had turned their faces away from the Lord’s temple, and they had turned their backs on God. They had shut the doors and put out the lamps. Therefore, God brought judgment on them. So, Hezekiah determined to make a covenant with God, so that God’s anger would turn away from God’s people. Then, he called the priests and the Levites “sons,” and he instructed them to “not be negligent now,” for the Lord had chosen them to “stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense.”
Translated into today’s church, the temple of the Lord is in the hearts of true followers of Jesus Christ, and together they make up the church, i.e. the people of God, Christ’s body (not to be confused with the institutional church, which is a corporation). Many of today’s church leaders have closed the doors of the temple and have put out the lamps by watering down the gospel of Jesus Christ and by following man over God. The door (way) into God’s holy temple is by God’s grace, through Jesus’ blood sacrifice for our sins, and through faith, which includes repentance and obedience to Christ and to his commands. Many church leaders have thus closed those doors and have hindered true fellowship with and worship of God by telling people they don’t have to turn from their sins and they don’t have to obey Christ in order to be saved. This is a lie of Satan, and it is so contradictory to the teachings of Christ and of the New Testament. Thus, they have put out the lamps of the true gospel of Jesus Christ from reaching into people’s hearts and lives, and they have put out the light of the word of God and the witness of the Holy Spirit in convicting men’s hearts of sin.
So, to open the doors and to repair (renovate; restore) them means to expose the lies of the false gospel of “easy believism,” or of works-based salvation, and to preach the true gospel of repentance and obedience to Christ, as required for our salvation. And, then it is to encourage the ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ to repent of their own sins first, and of how they have neglected to preach the true gospel of salvation; and to exhort them to sanctify themselves by the Spirit of God, to reform their own hearts, to renew their covenants with God, and to do what is right in God’s eyes. Then, they can be used of God to help restore God’s holy church, by removing those idols of men from within the sanctuary of God (our hearts individually and collectively) that defile God’s holy temple (our hearts).
Those idols include the watered-down gospel message that gives people a false hope of salvation, but that tickles their ears with what they want to hear, and it includes how the church corporately has adopted the ways and means of the world and of worldly businesses in how to grow God’s church, but what they are building are businesses of men, not the true church. The true church grows through people coming to genuine faith in Jesus Christ by way of the cross in dying to their old lives of sin, and in being resurrected to walk new lives of faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, and to his commands. So, they need to stop following the ways of men, and they need to follow the ways of God. God is calling out to the ministers of his gospel to no longer be negligent with regard to the gospel and with regard to the temple of God in their own hearts and in the hearts of those to whom they have been called to minister, but they are to now stand (remain; endure; hold fast; persist; prevail; continue) strong in their faith and in their commitments to obey Christ Jesus.
Enough Time
Going right along with this teaching from 2 Chronicles is the passage in 1 Peter 4. Peter began this chapter with a “therefore,” which means you go back and read what he said before that so you know to what he is referring by his following remarks. My commentary led me back to chapter 3, vs. 18, and I concur with this thought, and how it fits with Peter’s next remarks. He said, “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.”
1 Peter 3:18: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”
Ok, so the way in which Christ suffered in his body was by way of his death on the cross for our sins, in putting sin to death. He was then resurrected back to life in conquering hell, Satan, death and sin so that we could go free from the penalty of and the control of sin. He did this to bring us back into a right relationship with God. His flesh body was put to death, but he was made alive by the Spirit in raising him from the dead. So, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we die to our own sins in the power and working of the Holy Spirit within us, and because of what Christ did for us. Our old flesh nature is therefore put to death. Yet, we are then made alive in Christ by the Spirit of God to walk in fellowship, faith and obedience to Jesus Christ and to his commands. Jesus said that if anyone was to follow him, he must deny himself and daily take up his cross and follow Christ. He said that if we hold on to our old lives of sin, we will lose our lives, but if we lose our lives (die to our sins), then we will find them in Christ Jesus, and that is so true! And, this taking up of our cross (death to sin), and this following Christ in obedience to his will for our lives is a daily practice.
As a result of this death to sin, so that sin is done away with in the life of the believer, he or she no longer lives his or her life on this earth for evil human desires. Why is it that this is not being taught much? Coming to Christ Jesus means death to sin and to our old lives of living to please our own fleshly and worldly desires. We can’t come to faith in Christ and still live like the world. We are supposed to come out from the world and to be separate. And, we are supposed to be lights for the gospel (the whole gospel) of Jesus Christ, yet so many professing Christians act, think and talk just like the world, and there is not much that distinguishes them from the world, including I am talking about the worldly church here. Instead, we are supposed to spend the rest of our earthly lives for the will of God. We find out what the will of God is for our lives by spending time with Jesus each day in prayer and in the study of His word, and by obeying what he shows us. I think we all need to do a serious heart examination of how we are living out our daily lives. Are we still living to please our own flesh, or are we truly living each day for the will of God? In everything we do we must ask ourselves, “Am I doing this for the will of God to be fulfilled in my life? And, how is the will of God for my life being fulfilled through what I do and say?”
Peter, in exhorting the believers that they should have the same attitude of Christ in doing away with sin through death to sin, told them that they have spent enough time in the past living in wickedness, corruption, dishonesty, immorality, lust, adultery, drunkenness, partying, self-pleasure, and detestable (revolting; disgraceful; shameful) idolatry. The worldly (including in the church) think it strange when we do not plunge (rush; jump; throw ourselves in) with them into the same flood (abundance; excess) of dissipation (indulgence; wickedness; and immorality). So, they will heap abuse on us when we choose to stand for Christ and to walk in obedience to him and to his commands. We will be called “crazy,” or “old fuddy-duddies,” or “hyper-religious,” and we will be encouraged to be more “normal” like everyone else and to do the things that “normal” people do. Yet, they will have to give an account to God for their actions, and we must resist giving in to them, and we must remain resolute in our commitments to purity and to righteousness and holy living.
Peter exhorted them, as well, by reminding them that “The end of all things is near.” I find the word “near” in scripture to merely mean “imminent,” i.e. forthcoming, coming up, at any time. None of us knows when our last day will be on this earth, so we must live each day as though it could be our last, and particularly as though we know it is our last, like we have just been given 24 hours to live. If we truly knew we had just 24 hours left to live, how would we live our lives? What changes would we make? Would we continue as we have been doing? If not, then we need to make those changes now. Peter said we should live our lives as though the end is truly near. We should be clear (unblemished; pure) minded and self-controlled (instead of out of control) so we can pray. Above all else, we should love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. He is not speaking about loving each other in such a way that we help others in concealing, hiding, and disguising, camouflaging or masking sin. He is speaking about the kind of love Jesus Christ has for us that exposes sin for what it is, that calls for repentance and obedience, and that offers the hope of forgiveness and restoration (the covering of Christ’s blood over our sin). This is true love, not the kind that gives pats on the back and leaves people in their sin.
In still having the mindset of the end of things is near, we should also offer hospitality to one another without grumbling, and each one of us should use whatever gift he has received to serve others. Some of those gifts are not too popular in today’s church, either. Yet, the Spirit of God gives gifts as He determines, not as we choose. And, that is why he added, “…faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” When we speak, we should speak as one speaking the very words of God, i.e. we should be so in tune with God and what he desires that we speak what he would also speak. And, in all that we do, we should do it in the very strength of God that he provides, so that in all things God may be praised and may get the glory, instead of the glory going to ourselves.
So, God is calling out to us, his temple, and to the ministers of his gospel to wake up from our slumber, to stop living like the world, and to live as though tomorrow is our last day.
Wake Up! / An Original Work / November 25, 2011
Based off Ephesians 5:1-21; Revelation 3:1-6
Wake up, sleeper,
Rise from the dead.
Your God awaits
You to do what
He says to you.
Be not conformed
To your selfish will.
Trust in the Lord.
Do what He says.
He will give you victory.
Do not walk in
Darkness; come into
The light of love.
Listen to your
Savior calling
You to obey
All His teachings.
Repent of your
Sin, and Christ will
Shine His love on you.
He waits patiently
For you to
Heed His whispers to your heart.
Will you hasten
To obey Him;
Not from Him depart?
Live your life from
This day forward,
Walking in His
Love and mercy.
Let Him cleanse you
Of all your sins.
Dwell with Him today.
Do not insult
God’s grace to you.
Do not make light of your sin.
Let the light of
His truth come and
Free you from within.
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