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Armed with Attitude

Armed with Attitude

Words of Faith 2-13-2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2020

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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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. [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.

 

        .”.. he who has suffered in his body is done with sin..."   It is little wonder that at various times in history people have crawled on broken glass, whipped their backs, and even nailed themselves to crosses in the hope that they would be freed from the desire to sin and the guilt that comes with it.  If suffering in the flesh can rid us of the desire to sin and set us free, let the suffering begin!  But purging ourselves of sinful desire is not that simple, is it?

        Self-denial has its place, to be sure, but history of full of deep seekers who punished themselves only to find the same desires haunting them.  Even the Apostle Paul talked about an ongoing struggle with sin-- "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate..." (Romans 7:15 NEV).  So, what is this really about?

         Yes, as you might have suspected, the Greek is here is a little tricky, and the translation is tough.  The NIV does a good job if we read carefully.  Peter says we are to have the same attitude as Christ, but not necessarily the same suffering.  He, the Lord Jesus, who has suffered in His body, is done with sin.  The Greek tense translated "is done with sin" is a perfect tense and points to a past action, namely the action of Christ. 

         The language here does not point to an ongoing activity for the believer. Suffering in our flesh will not free us from sin.  It is the suffering of Christ in His body that finishes, once and for all, the power of sin over us.  This is available to us by faith when we are united with Christ and die to self.  We appropriate this freedom when, by faith, we take on the same attitude as Christ, which is complete submission to the Father.

          So, what does this have to do with us?  We know the struggle against sinful desires.  But few actually go to extremes that we see in parts of the world where self-flagellation takes place.  Or do we?  We may not physically nail ourselves to a cross in Holy Week, or literally crawl across broken glass as an act of penitence, but do we sometimes punish ourselves in other ways? Do we beat ourselves up with guilt?  In our memories, do we crawl across the broken glass of the errors and mistakes of the past?  Do we punish ourselves over and over in the hope of being purged of sin?  If so, there is really some really good news here. 

          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, we do not live the rest of this earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.  Jesus has done the work for you - past perfect tense.  He has broken the power that sin once had over you.  You are set free to live the rest of this earthly life for the will of God rather than for evil human desires.

          We can choose to be armed with the attitude of Christ Jesus, absolute surrender to the Father, and in doing so, find freedom from sin. 

 

            Lord, forgive me for the times I have beaten myself up over things You have already forgiven.  Forgive me for trying to suffer for sin that you died for.  Set me free now to live the rest of my life for You and Your will.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

 

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, and our website, and our church app, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.  

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