Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Arming Ourselves Like Minded With Christ


1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 
1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 
1Pe 4:3  For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: 
1Pe 4:4  Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: 
1Pe 4:5  Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. 

Arm yourself…  when we hear these words we most likely think of arming ourselves with weapons, right? In a spiritual war our weapons are not guns, knives and the like. Arming ourselves with spiritual weapons to fight this spiritual war, we are told here in 1 Peter 4:1 that we are to arm ourselves with the same mind as Christ. Christ's mind - Christ suffered for us in the flesh, and we are told that we have to arm ourselves with the same mind of a suffering Christ.  If we suffer in the flesh we cease from sin. How can this be so?

Isa 1:16  Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil

Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

Ceasing from our own works, ceasing from sin, living for Christ, armed with the mind of Christ, willing to suffer in our flesh as Christ did.

Christ suffered in a way we can't truly comprehend. We think we suffer as we live in a world filled with heartache, and we do suffer. Christ suffered as a Creator able to witness the sin suffering creatures He created. Christ took on flesh and in the flesh He experienced everything- every emotion we can experience. We know our Savior wept, we know the anguish of what was to come before He was taken cause blood to drip from his forehead. He suffered. Long before our Savior's agonizing walk to the cross, He suffered.

If we are to arm our mind with the suffering mind of our Savior, if our flesh is to suffer so we cease from sin, we then we need to suffer.

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 
1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 
1Pe 4:3  For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: 
1Pe 4:4  Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: 
1Pe 4:5  Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. 

When we suffer in the flesh we no longer live the rest of our lives to our lusts but to the will of God.

The will of God- Joh_6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Not living to satisfy our lusts, this is something we don’t think about enough. What are our lusts? We tend to consider lusts merely sexual in nature, but our lusts can be any selfish desire we possess. When we are self focused we consider our own desires quite often. The more we are able to possess, the more we are tempted to lust. You can lust after things we think are simple and in no way lusts of sin. Yet they are. Just because we've regulated our lusts to acceptable behaviors and actions, doesn’t mean they are. 

More on this tomorrow by the will and grace, the mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR!!!!!!!

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