LIVING THE KINGDOM LIFESTYLE
Part 1

A LETTER FROM PETER - 4:1-3

Living for God

So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. 2 You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. 3 You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols. (1 Peter 4:1-3 - NLT)

Peter has developed his blueprint for the new Christian community and in 2:9-10 he has outlined God’s exciting and grand plan for His new, holy nation. Peter has gone on to flesh out behaviour norms for the citizens of this holy nation and what the kingdom lifestyle will look like. He has looked at domestic, fellowship and external relationships and he now moves on to deal with what the mature Christian can expect, and how they are going to respond to the holy nation lifestyle and mindset.

Once we truly embrace this new life in Jesus we become pilgrims in the kingdom lifestyle and consequently; life, including our evaluation and use of it, changes also. We will inevitably see it from a whole new perspective; since we are hidden in Jesus, His perspective.

Whether we like it or not Jesus is not offering a bed of roses but rather a life that will embrace significant elements of serving, suffering and pain. Behind the call of Jesus to the life of discipleship is always the spectre of the cross. It cannot and must not be avoided.

Much of 21^st century Christianity seeks to avoid some of the harsh realities of the discipleship lifestyle and promote a more self-focused, convenient, user-friendly version, with limited commitment of time and a negligible requirement for sacrifice.

Such an attitude seems to be completely out of line with Peter’s approach which seems to have strong elements of cost, suffering and sacrifice. The call here is for those within the kingdom lifestyle to prepare and fully identify with Jesus, particularly in His suffering. There is a sense in which if we share in the life of Jesus, we share in the totality of it with all its joy and suffering, and Peter will deal with this further in v12.

When we receive Jesus we intentionally and cognitively put off the old man, we die to self. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3 - NLT). We are then hidden in Christ and cloaked in the His righteousness and consequently, we embrace the new spiritual life, we are a new creation. Such is the symbol of baptism.

There is something of a warning and sense of a call to arms in these verses, as well as a strong focus on assimilating that same attitude that Jesus displayed. Paul also picks up on the same theme:  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Philippians 2:5 - NLT). What we need to understand is that our attitude, our mindset is not a fixed or immovable characteristic; it is influenced and moulded by other people, situations and life events. Consequently, it is a part of our basic nature that can be educated and developed, and for the Christian that is best carried out under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Since He is the Spirit of Jesus, we have no better guide is assimilating the attitude of Jesus. The call to arm yourselves with the same attitude he had is a strong and direct imperative about our decisions and actions and we need to get on with it.

There is a sense in which suffering and trial will mature us as we learn to handle the difficulties that come our way, However, we need to be careful how we read Peter’s comment: you have finished with sin. He is, in no way, suggesting that we have arrived at a sinless state or that we will be without temptation. While ever we inhabit this earthly existence there will always be sinful factors with which we must contend.

Perhaps what he is speaking about, is where the centre of our attention lies now that we are members of the holy nation and have embraced the kingdom lifestyle. Our focus now is more doing God’s will and less on satisfying our own selfish desires. We have matured spiritually, and more and more every day we are assimilating the attitude of Jesus. Consequently, this takes our interests, mindset and passions in a different direction, away from self and toward God and His will for our lives.

We have come to the point of maturity of not only seeing, but also acknowledging that much of our past activity was an empty, godless existence, focused on a corrupt and materialistic lifestyle. Since embracing the kingdom lifestyle of the holy nation, our desires, objectives and direction have taken significant alteration. Our passion now is to do the will of God.