Recently, I read about a fictitious manual for Peace Corp volunteers headed for South America. It offers advice on how to handle a chance encounter with an anaconda (a large type of boa constrictor). The advice comes under the heading, “What to Do If Attacked by an Anaconda”:
#1) If you're attacked by an anaconda, do not run; the snake is faster than you are.
#2) Lie flat on the ground.
#3) Put your arms tight at your sides and your legs tight against one another.
#4) The snake will begin to climb over your body.
#5) Do not panic.
#6) The snake will begin to swallow you from the feet end.
#7) Step 6 will take a long time.
#8) After awhile, slowly and with as little movement as possible, reach down, take your knife, and very gently slide it into the snake's mouth. Then suddenly sever the snake's head.
#9) Be sure your knife is sharp.
#10) Be sure you have your knife. (John Ortberg, The Daniel Project—Part 3, November 15, 2009; www.PreachingToday.com)
These instructions are funny, but they remind us of the need to be prepared, to be ready for a crisis before it hits.
The Bible says, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). Jesus Himself said to his followers, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20). In other words, if you choose to follow Christ, you WILL be harassed; you WILL be persecuted; you WILL suffer for it in some way.
The question is: How can we get ready for that kind of suffering? How can we prepare for the harassment that’s coming? How can we arm ourselves for the persecution we will experience as followers of Christ? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Peter 4, 1 Peter 4, where the Bible addresses a group of people who are beginning to go through such persecution.
1 Peter 4:1 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. (NIV)
This verse pictures a soldier getting ready for battle. He arms himself with the proper equipment and weapons necessary to win the battle. Well, as those involved in a spiritual battle, se need to arm ourselves as well. Only we don’t arm ourselves with guns and swords, no. We arm ourselves with an attitude that says, “I’m ready to die for Christ if that’s what He calls me to do.”
You see, Christ came to this earth in the flesh prepared to die in order to save us from our sins, and we need to come with the same kind of mental preparation. We need to…
ARM OURSELVES WITH CHRIST’S ATTITUDE.
In our minds, we need to be ready to suffer as he did.
When Ronald Reagan gave his first inaugural address, he made reference to the simple white crosses that mark the graves in the Arlington National Cemetery. He said:
“Under one such marker lies a young man, Martin Treptow, who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.
“We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, ‘My Pledge,’ he had written these words: ‘America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.’” (From Ronald Reagan's first inaugural address, January 20, 1981; www.PreachingToday.com)
Martin Treptow had armed himself with the right attitude, so he was ready to give his life for his country. In the same way, if we want to be ready to suffer for Christ, we too must arm ourselves; we too must mentally prepare to suffer like He did, and that starts with a choice.
If we’re going to live for Christ and be prepared to suffer as a result, We need to choose right now to be done with the old way of life. We need to choose right now to forgo an indulgent lifestyle. We need to choose right now to…
ABANDON OUR SIN.
That’s what it means in verse 1 when it says, “He who has suffered in his body is done with sin.” In other words, when you see a believer who is suffering because of his or her commitment to Christ, you know that they have made a choice. They have made a choice to be done with sin. They have made a choice to cease living a sinful lifestyle in order to live according to God’s will.
1 Peter 4:2 As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. (NIV)
The one who suffers for Christ has made a choice. Like Moses, “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time” (Hebrews 11:25).
And dear friends, it’s time for us to make a choice, as well. It’s time for us to choose whether we’re going to follow Christ and experience mistreatment, or follow our evil, human desires and have a little fun for a while. If you call yourself a believer in Jesus Christ, it’s time to make a choice.
1 Peter 4:3 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. (NIV)
What will your choice be? Will you choose to be done with that old way of life? Will you choose to be done with the drinking parties and sexual promiscuity? Will you choose to be done with a lifestyle of sin, which will only destroy you in the end? As a believer in Christ, you can’t ride the fence anymore. So what will you choose to do – to party or to live for Christ? If you choose to live for Christ, you must choose to be done with sin.
One of my favorite movies of all time is a movie about the life of John Forbes Nash, Jr. The movie is called A Beautiful Mind, and it traces the life of this genius mathematician and Nobel Prize winner, who is also tortured by paranoid schizophrenia.
At the peak of his career, his psychotic delusions forced his wife to admit him to a mental institution, where doctors used shock therapy and various medications to try and help him overcome his schizophrenia. His delusional world all but disappeared, but the medicines left Nash unable to think, care for his young son, or be intimate with his wife.
So, with his wife’s help, he determined to get off the medications and discipline his mind to ignore the delusions it fed him. Eventually, he was able to resume his teaching career at Princeton University.
Then, in 1994, Thomas King (from the Nobel Committee) met with Nash to assess his mental state and determine if he would be a suitable Nobel prize winner. In their conversation, Nash says to King tongue in cheek, “I AM crazy.” Then more soberly, “I take the newer medications, but I still see things that are not here. I just choose not to acknowledge them. Like a diet of the mind, I just choose not to indulge certain appetites.” (A Beautiful Mind, Dreamworks, 2001, 2:08:00 to 2:08:30, directed by Ron Howard, written by Akiva Goldsman; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s the attitude we must have if we’re going to face the hardships it takes to have a life that matters for Christ. Like a diet of the mind, we must choose not to indulge certain appetites, which are only passing fantasies anyway. If we’re going to be ready to suffer for Christ, we must arm ourselves with His attitude; we must choose to abandon our sin; and we must…
EXPECT ABUSE.
We must anticipate harassment from people, especially those we used to party with.
1 Peter 4:4 They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. (NIV)
Literally, they blaspheme you; they speak evil of you; they slander you, because they’re surprised that you don’t run with them in their wasteful recklessness anymore.
Just a few years ago (2007), Mark Bellis, a researcher at the John Moores University in Liverpool, England, collected statistics on 1,064 rock stars from the United States and Europe. He studied rock stars that were popular in the 1950’s all the way to the present, and this is what he found: Rock stars actually die much younger than the general population. The average age at death for American rockers was 42; for Europeans, 35. Partying, transportation accidents (DUI’s), and mental instability were the primary contributors to causes of death. (“Rock Hard, Die Young,” The Week, 9-21-07; www.PreachingToday.com)
The partying lifestyle may be fun for a short time, but in the end it is a reckless waste, and after that comes the judgment.
1 Peter 4:5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (NIV)
People who waste their lives may be critical of you and me for our commitment to Christ, but there is coming a day when they will have to stand before One whose criticism really counts. You see, in the end, it doesn’t really matter what your friends think of you. Only what Christ thinks of you makes any difference at all. So expect criticism from people, but remember that their critical remarks don’t really matter in the end.
When people look at a masterpiece of art and criticize it, that says more about the critic than it does the art. Think about it. How can anybody criticize a Rembrandt or a Michelangelo? If they do, it just shows their ignorance. Well, in the same way, when people criticize a follower of Christ, it only shows that they really don’t know what they’re talking about.
You see, when we came to faith in Christ, God began to create a masterpiece in us. The Bible says, “We are His workmanship – his poema, his masterpiece – created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10). So when people criticize what God is doing in our lives, changing us from the inside out, it says more about them than it does us or the God who is re-making us. Such critics are ignorant people, so don’t let their remarks bother you.
Back in the fall of 2003, Rush Limbaugh tried to break into the field of sports, but only lasted a couple of months as a studio commentator for ESPN. In October of that year, he was forced to resign because of remarks he made about Donovan McNabb, who was then a quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. Rush claimed that McNabb was overrated by the media, because they were “very desirous that a black quarterback do well.”
Limbaugh should have stuck with politics, but McNabb handled the criticism well. At a news conference, McNabb identified such negative attitudes as motivating factors in his life. He said, “I'm a football player. My dream was to play football, play in the NFL, and I will continue to fulfill my dream.” After that, a national newscaster reported that McNabb would “continue to play professional football despite the criticism.”
And why not? Why would anyone give up everything just because someone on the sidelines, who’s never been in the game, thinks you stink? (John Beukema, Western Springs, Illinois; www.PreachingToday.com) Here’s the kicker. Just this last May, Rush Limbaugh actually supported McNabb, who now plays with the Redskins, against criticism from another commentator (USA Today, May 16, 2011).
It just goes to show you that people’s opinions are often like armpits. Everyone has them, but they usually stink. It’s not the critic who counts; it’s the person putting forth the effort. So don’t worry about the critics. Sure, we need to anticipate some harassment, but we can’t let it stop us. I mean why give up on following Christ just because someone on the sidelines, who’s never been in the game, makes some critical remarks?
If we’re going to be ready to suffer for Christ, we must arm ourselves with His attitude; we must choose to abandon our sin; we must expect abuse; and finally we must…
ANTICIPATE APPROVAL FROM GOD HIMSELF.
We must look forward to the day when the Lord affirms our commitment to Him. We must wait with an eager expectation of our Lord’s appreciation.
1 Peter 4:6 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. (NIV)
In this context, “those who are now dead” are those who have died as martyrs for their commitment to Christ. They heard the gospel, responded to it, and men judged them by killing their bodies, but before God their spirits are very much alive! While men condemned them to death, God’s approval gave them eternal life, and that’s what every believer can anticipate. So look forward to that day.
Look forward to that day when you will hear our Lord’s “well done, good and faithful servant… Come and share your Master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21,23). It will help you to remain faithful to Him when you hear otherwise from some of the people around you today.
Sean and Liegh Anne Tuohy, the real-life couple portrayed in the movie Blindside, share the following story in their book In a Heartbeat:
There is a little-known congressional program that awards internships to young people who have aged out of the foster care system. These are kids who were never adopted, and are no longer eligible for state support.
[A senator] employed one such man as an intern. One morning the senator breezed in for a meeting and discovered that his intern was already in the office, reorganizing the entire mailroom. The senator said to the intern, “This is amazing – the mailroom has never looked so clean. You did a great job.”
A few minutes later the senator saw that the intern had tears streaming down his face. [He] said, “Son, are you okay?”
“Yes,” the intern answered quietly.
“Did I say something to offend you?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, what's wrong?”
The young man said, “That's the first time in my life anyone's told me that I did something good.” (“How Little It Takes,” Men of Integrity, November/December 2010; www.PreachingToday. com)
In this world, there are so very few people that will tell us that we did something good, but there is coming a day when we will hear that from Jesus Himself. As followers of Christ, we can expect those who don’t follow Christ to be critical, but we’ll never hear that from Christ. He will reward even a cup of cold water given in His name, so look forward to that day; look forward to that day when we’ll be alive with Him forever! It will help you make it through today.
If we want to be ready to suffer for Christ, we must arm ourselves with His attitude; we must choose to abandon our sin; we must expect abuse; and we must anticipate God’s approval. Then we’ll be able to live the only kind of life that’s really worth living, the kind of life that makes an eternal difference as we live it for Christ despite the hardships that come.
