4 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.
Since Christ Suffered
Jesus suffered. This has tremendous implications. Jesus, the Only Begotton Son of God-God incarnate-suffered.
The God who suffers
. . . If love implies vulnerability, the traditional understanding of God as impassible makes it impossible to say that "God is love." An almighty God who cannot suffer is poverty stricken because he cannot love or be involved. If God remains unmoved by whatever we do, there is really very little point in doing one thing rather than the other. . .
When I was eight years old, I lost my father to cancer. A week after his burial, I became severely ill. The pain in my body eventually paralyzed me. I still remember how my mother, newly widowed, cared for me. She did not discuss with me how I felt. Instinctively she took me into her arms and caressed my back with her gentle hands, reassuring me with words of comfort and love for me. I grew so sick that I was hospitalized. Since we lived in a remote village about 10 miles from the hospital, my mother carried me there on her back, walking powerfully, uphill and down. With tears streaming down her cheek, she said: "Son, Daddy is not here. But Mommy is still here. Hang in there. We will make it to the hospital soon."
This childhood experience confirmed for me that a love that does not suffer with the suffering of the beloved is not love at all. What consolation would it have been if my mother had remained aloof from my suffering? Of what help to wounded people is a God who knows nothing of pain himself? by Dennis Ngien http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1997/february3/7t2038.html?start=1
“Only a suffering God can help”. Dietrich Bonnhoffer
“Arm Yourselves” Peter says something unexpected “Since Christ suffered, arm yourselves”. The two ideas don’t seem related. And if you take the phrase after it is equally surprising: “ . . . arm yourselves with the same attitude . . .” What does arming yourself have to do with suffering? What does having weapons have to do with attitude?
Paul, I think, can help us understand this. In Ephesians 6 he describes our spiritual armor and spiritual warfare:
Ephesians 5:10
-the helmet of salvation,
-sword of the Spirit,
-shield of faith,
-footwear of the Gospel of peace, and, the only offensive weapon,
-the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
This is the armor. And Paul says our battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces.
Peter puts it this way: “Attitude” –Way of thinking—our armor is our way of thinking, our mind, our attitude.
Philippians 2:5
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.
-The Dead Drunk
If you are an alcoholic, you have to be careful about going past a bar, or the liquor section of the grocery store. But if an alcoholic gets falling-down drunk, steps off a curb outside the bar, and is run over by a car and dies, you can run up to him and offer him a swig of rum. He won’t be tempted at all. He’s dead.
2 Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
. . . As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:2
This week is Valentine’s Day.
God has expressed His love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.
Henry Martyn
Accepted to Cambridge at the age of 16. Top honors in mathematics by age 21, father died when he was 19-recognized his emptiness, started reading the Bible, at age 21, left former life and committed himself to the Lord’s service. Translated entire NT into Urdu +
Said "Let me burn out for God".
He wrote his final journal entry on 6 October:
Oh! when shall time give place to eternity?
When shall appear that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? There, there shall in no wise enter in any thing that defileth: none of that wickedness which has made men worse than wild beasts, none of those corruptions which add still more to the miseries of mortality, shall be seen or heard of any more. [5] ”
On 16 October 1812 he died and was given a Christian burial by Armenian clergy. [2]
Epitaph on Henry Martyn
Here Martyn lies. In Manhood's early bloom The Christian Hero finds a Pagan tomb.
Religion, sorrowing o'er her favourite son,
Points to the glorious trophies that he won.
Eternal trophies! not with carnage red,
Not stained with tears by hapless captives shed,
But trophies of the Cross! for that dear name,
Through every form of danger, death, and shame,
Onward he journeyed to a happier shore,
Where danger, death, and shame assault no more.
Thomas Babington Macaulay
There is a saying “Only one thing needs to change for me to have happiness in my life: where I focus my attention”. I think this is true. Henry Martyn focused his attention of God’s will and His Kingdom. He understood the nature of Peter’s exhortation. When we die to ourselves only then are we truly alive.
