Our New Life In Christ

Our New Life in Christ

1 Peter 4:1-11

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - Feb. 10, 2013

*A new house, a new truck, a new TV, a new phone, a new book, a new grandbaby: We like new things. But better than all is the new life we have in Jesus Christ. In John 3:3, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And in 2 Cor 5:17, Paul said, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

*When we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive a brand new life. But how do we live this new life? -- What’s it all about?

1. First: Our new life in Christ is about right living.

*And in the first six verses, Peter gives us a flood of good information about right living.

[1] In vs. 1, we see God’s weapon for right living.

*Here Peter tells Christians: “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” God’s weapon in this verse is the mind of Christ. And Peter says, “Arm yourselves with the same mind.”

*Christians, we can do that because in 1 Cor 2:16, Paul tells us that “we have the mind of Christ.” This is the new nature we receive when we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. We are born again with the mind of Christ.

*And this new nature enables us to live the right way. But in Philippians 2:5, Paul urges us to “LET this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

*In other words, there is a struggle between the old nature and the new. So, in vs. 1, Peter tells us that we have to intentionally and consistently ARM ourselves with the mind of Christ. That’s God’s weapon for right living.

[2] But in vs. 1&2, Peter also shows us God’s will for right living.

1. Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

2. that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

*Our goal for right living is the same goal Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer. Listen to part of this model prayer from Matthew 6:9&10:

9. . . “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

10. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

*Our goal for right living is also the same goal on Jesus’ heart, as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Matthew 26:39, Jesus “fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’”

*Our goal for right living is God’s will in our lives.

[3] Next in vs. 3, Peter talks about the ungodly waste of our lives without Christ.

3. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in licentiousness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

*What a wasted life! -- God doesn’t want us to walk in “licentiousness” or “lasciviousness” in the KJV. What’s that? -- It’s unrestrained indecency: No blush, no shame. Also in 3, God doesn’t want us to waste our lives on drunkenness, wild parties and false gods.

*All of these things add up to the ungodly waste of our lives without Christ.

[4] Then in vs. 4, we see that our Godly living will bring on some ungodly words.

*In this verse, Peter said, “In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.” Peter reminds us that some people will think we are crazy for trying to live the right way, and many do think we’re crazy.

*But there are also people out there who are dying to see somebody who’s real, somebody whose life has been radically transformed by Jesus Christ. We need to be those people! -- And it’s not always easy.

*I may be wrong, but I think it’s a hundred times harder to live the right life than it was 50 years ago. When I was a kid, we had shows on TV like “Gunsmoke,” “Bonanza,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” and “I love Lucy.” Today’s TV line-up is filled with all kinds of terrible trash. And that’s just one example.