Temptation, Sin, Repeat Series

TEMPTATION, SIN, REPEAT

1 PETER 4:1-6

INTRODUCTION… http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1631867/

There is a Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, and Bill Paxton PG13 movie that came out in 2014 which was not well received as far as I remember. In fact, the movie won the 2014 “Golden Shmoe” award for the most “Underrated Movie of the Year.” The director himself described the movie as “Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers.” I saw the movie when it came out and that description is pretty accurate. The title of the scifi movie was “Edge of Tomorrow.” When the movie hit Redbox for rentals, that was not the title that appeared, but it was renamed “Live, Die, Repeat.”

The basic plot of the movie is that an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Major William Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop-forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again...and again. But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). And, as Cage and Vrataski take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy! They fight over and over and get better and better each day until victory is achieved.

I thought it was very interesting that the title of the movie changed from when it was in the theaters to when it was rentable at Redbox. I don’t remember that happening before. I am sure it has, I just don’t recall. The basic plot of the movie is indeed “Live, Die, Repeat.” That pattern is played out over and over throughout the movie. Live die repeat. Live die repeat.

I was thinking about that pattern as I read the Bible passage we are going to look at today. The passage presents our world concerned with sinful human desires and not concerned with much else. The pattern of this world is temptation, sin, repeat and has been so ever since the Garden of Eden. Jesus has died for us and has broken that pattern for us and offers us a new pattern for life. We no longer have to live in the temptation, sin, repeat pattern. Let’s read what the Apostle Peter had to say and apply it to us.

READ 1 Peter 4:1-6

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. 2 As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 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. 4 They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 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.

I. THE WAY YOU USED TO BE: TEMPTATION, SIN, REPEAT

The Apostle Peter lets us in on what “earthly life for evil human desires” looks like (verse 2). We might be a little shocked to find out that the same sins we deal with now in our modern technologically advanced world were sins that they dealt with in the days when Peter wrote this letter. People in Peter’s day dealt with temptation, sinned, and repeated that pattern. What did Peter specifically point out?

Debauchery. Debauchery is excessive indulgence in pleasures. Debauchery is what is described in Luke 15:11-13 when Jesus tells a story, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” ‘Wild living” has the same meaning as “debauchery.” In the end it is completely wasteful to a person’s life and health. It layers pleasure on pleasure for the sake of pleasure. Usually when we think of this word, it is used to describe someone who layers pleasurable things one on another such as smoking and drinking while watching a pornographic movie in a house that costs more than they can afford. Temptation, sin, repeat. Debauchery exists today.