This is our sixth of seven weeks in 1 Peter.  Next week, we’ll look at how Peter closes things in chapter 5.  We called this series “Living Hope, Living Stones, Living Love.”  I hadn’t really planned this, but each title throughout the five weeks has contained the word life or a living.  This includes today, which we’ve called “This Is Living.”  There’s a great verse at the beginning of John’s Gospel which says of Christ, “In him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” (John 1:4)

In him is life.  I want us to stay with that for a few moments.  We want to be people who take being in Christ seriously.  To live in Christ is to know life – not just for the afterlife or the day of visitation/judgement/renewal of all things which we’ve been speaking about.  Life for that day, yes.  Life everlasting, yes.  But also life now in the Spirit of Christ.  There’s a Marvin Gaye song called “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” in which Marvin Gaye sings, “This ain’t living…”  I’m riffing off that line in my title today.  This Is Living.  We said last week that to live in Christ is to live, as much as we allow, in the infinite gracious loving fullness of the triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How then, sisters and brothers, should we live?  What is our goal?  We set personal goals and there’s nothing wrong with that.  When we’ve been around for a while, we find that we need to hold personal goals loosely.  They change.  Things we thought were goals for our lives career-wise or relationship-wise don’t come to pass.  We end up pursuing things or being pointed in new directions we couldn’t have imagined.  There’s a goal that we all, as followers of Christ, share.  We wonder about God’s will for our lives in a world that is full of ambiguity, and uncertainty, and questions.  There’s a will for our lives, however, that we share as followers of Christ.  How, then, should we live?  Let us ask for God’s help as we look at how Peter closes this section of his letter today.

In the middle of his discussion on ethics – on what a Christlike or cross-shaped life looks like – Peter continues to come back to Christ.  “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin)” (4:1). Peter is writing to a minority religious group who are facing hostility.  We may face hostility, or we may need to be prepared to face hostility in whatever form it takes.  Peter once again uses the language of war here.  Arm yourselves.  He uses the language of war not to promote violence but to underline the seriousness of his subject.  Christ suffered in the flesh.  When he was abused, he did not return abuse.  When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.  For whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin.  Once again, Peter is speaking of suffering for our faith in Christ.  I don’t believe Peter means here that one who suffers never sins, but that suffering for the faith is galvanizing for faith.  It shows faith to be real.  To turn away from self-serving, self-promotion, and self-absorption.  Even self-preservation.

Faith is serious business, and we want to be people who take it seriously.  People die for their faith in Christ.  People through 2,000 years have been put to death for their faith in Christ.  I was reminded of the story of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna (modern-day Izmir in Turkey), who was put to death in the 2^nd century.  Here’s some of the story:

“Polycarp was brought before the proconsul. He also tried to persuade him to deny the faith. “Respect your age,” he said. “Swear by the divine power of Caesar. Change your mind. Say, ‘Away with the atheists!’ “ But Polycarp, with a solemn look at the unruly mob in the stadium, pointed to them and, looking up to heaven, said, “Away with the atheists!”

The proconsul urged him harder. “Take the oath, and I’ll let you go. Curse Christ.”

“Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me any wrong,” said Polycarp. “How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

When the proconsul kept insisting, “Swear by the divine power of Caesar,” Polycarp answered, “If you vainly suppose that I will swear by the divine power of Caesar, as you say, and if you pretend that you do not know who I am, listen plainly: I am a Christian. And if you wish to learn the Christian message, arrange a meeting and give me a hearing.”

“I have wild animals,” the proconsul said. “I’ll throw you to them unless you change your mind.”

“Call them in,” Polycarp replied, “for we are not allowed to change from something better to something worse.”

“Scorn the wild beasts, and I’ll have you burned alive if you don't change your mind.”

Polycarp said, “You threaten with fire that burns for a short time and is soon quenched. You don’t know about the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment that awaits the wicked. But why are you waiting? Come, do what you will.”

Polycarp radiated courage and joy as he said these and many other things. Not only did his face show no sign of distress, it was so full of grace that the proconsul was astonished and sent his herald into the middle of the arena three times to announce: “Polycarp has declared that he is a Christian.”

Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Child, Jesus Christ, through whom we have received full knowledge of you, the God of angels and powers and of all creation, and of the whole family of the righteous, who live before you:

I bless you for considering me worthy of this day and hour—of sharing with the martyrs in the cup of your Christ so as to share in resurrection to everlasting life of soul and body in the Holy Spirit. May I be received among them into your presence today as a rich and acceptable sacrifice.

For this and for everything, I praise and glorify you through the eternal and heavenly high priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Child. Through him and with him, may you be glorified with the Holy Spirit, both now and forever. Amen.”

Arm ourselves with the same intention so as to live for the rest of our earthly lives no longer by human desires but by the will of God.  What is the good life?  A life of ease?  A life of doing what we want?  A life of pleasure?  Isn’t all of that really easy to say when we live in the prosperous West?  What about the other 90% of humanity?  You no longer live by such desires but by the will of God, Peter reminds us.   

What is the will of God for our lives?  I like to talk about God’s Big Will.  To make sure we have a secure foundation in God’s Big Will will go far, I do believe, in being able to discern God’s will in the individual aspects of our lives.  God’s Big Will can be summed up by “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and your neighbour as yourself.”  God’s big will is stated very well in Micah 6:8.  “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Mic 6:8)  We have heard Peter get more specific in his letter.  Hope completely.  Be holy.  Live reverently.  Love deeply.  Conduct yourselves honourably, for it is God’s will that by doing right, you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. (2:15)  Honour everyone.  Love the family of believers.  Fear God.  Honour the emperor. (2:17)  Have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind.  Repay abuse with a blessing.  Turn away from evil and do good.  Seek peace and pursue it.

“You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do…”  There’s another song I like by a blues artist who went by the name of Guitar Slim. A track from 1955 called “The Things That I Used To Do.”   The things that I used to do, Lord, I won’t do no more.  Check it out if you like. Different context, same idea.  I’m not saying that fried chicken is sinful, but this had my thinking about my own situation as I attempt to bring my LDL cholesterol level down through diet and exercise.  I have already spent enough time with fried chicken.  It’s over!  Though I may try it say twice a year.  “You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry.”  Excess.  Unhealthy escapism.  Anything that would seek to divide our allegiance.  You’ve done with those things.  Others may be surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation – excesses of “non-saving stuff” literally here in Greek.  Things that do not do anybody any good.  They may mock you for it.  Remember that everyone will have to give an account to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.

So be ready.  The end of all things is near.  The end of all things is at hand.  The word translated end here is also goal or purpose.  The goal is at hand.  You might say, “Well, it’s been 2,000 years,” to which I would reply one thousand years in God’s sight is like a day that has just gone by. (2 Peter 3:8)  I would also say we’re not so much speaking chronologically here as we are speaking theologically.  The day of visitation.  The day of judgement.  The renewal of all things, as Jesus described it, is next.  The end of all things is near.  This is not a truth to fear.  This is God’s goal.  It started when Jesus was raised, and a voice was heard in the garden calling out “Mary.”  It will come to completion when a voice will be heard saying, “Look, I am making all things new.” 

A change is going to come.  Here is the thing about something new coming about or a situation changing.  When a change is coming about that will result in a new situation, it should give us a sense of urgency and simplicity.  When we see the end of our life coming, we focus on the things that are most important.  Extraneous matters lose their importance, or we see them for how relatively unimportant they are.  When a tornado is coming, we act urgently and grab only what we need. 

So what do we need together?  Simply and urgently?  A final list!

“Therefore, be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.” Remain sober.  Sober-minded and also sober, as we heard earlier.  Let us take faith seriously together for the sake of our prayers.  Individually prayers.  Prayers spoken in pairs.  Prayers spoken in small groups.  Prayers spoken in our gathered worship. I like this reminder.  “When in great need, pray.  When discouraged, pray.  When in trouble, pray.  When successful, pray and give thanks.  Just pray day and night.”

Peter always comes back to love.  “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.”  Maintain deep love for one another.  Strenuous love.  Love that shows itself in effort.  What does it mean that love covers a multitude of sins?  The love to which we are called is other facing.  It turns us away from a self-focussed life.  When members of a faith family love one another, we want to see one another thrive.  Humble love enables us to confess and admit to our own sins and not elevate ourselves when we hear about the sins of others.  Someone has said that the church is a society of sinners, redeemed by grace.  Living in the love and grace of Christ enables us to forgive one another.

“Be hospitable to one another without complaining.”  Hospitality.  Literally, I love the stranger here.  The importance of extending and accepting invitations.  The importance of gathering around tables, around meals, around coffees.  The importance of creating space with one another where gifts can be shared.  The importance of such spaces being a jumping-off point for spaces to be created with people we don’t know. 

Speaking of gifts, “…serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.”  All of these things on this list need us to be gathered together in order for them to be practiced.  We can pray on our own, but we’re not called to just pray on our own.  We can’t love on our own.  We can’t practice hospitality on our own.  We can’t share gifts on our own.  It’s important to note this.  Each of us has received gifts from God, and we are called to live open-handedly with this gift – both in receiving them and sharing them. We discover our gifts and share them in the company of one another.  Peter speaks broadly of gifts here as either spoken or serving.  Words and deeds.  Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God.  Preaching.  Teaching.  Words of wisdom.  Words of encouragement or exhortation.  All our words even.  Whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies.  Giving to those in need.   Welcoming the stranger.  Visiting the sick or the prisoner.   Organizing.  Doing.  All of these things said or done in the strength and resources that God supplies.

At which point, Peter reminds us of the goal.  All of these things to be done not for our own benefit or fame or honour.  All of these things to be done so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ.  All of these things to be done so that all praise, fame, reputation, status, and honour would go to God through Christ Jesus.

What a worthy goal.  What a worthy life.  This is life, indeed.  This is living indeed, dear sisters and brothers.  Peter ends this section in the same way he started – with praise.  To him belong all glory and the power forever and ever.  Amen, and amen.