MATURITY AND SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

We tend to equate growth and transformation with mountaintop experiences or loving relationships. Therefore, we find it hard to believe that there is a powerful correlation between transformation and what we know and believe (Romans 12:2).

An example might be helpful. I trust my wife completely. Therefore, I have entrusted everything to her and am grateful for her. If instead I believe that she is having an affair with the neighbor, I will feel entirely differently about her. Instead of gratefulness, I will feel bitterness and might even want to take revenge. This belief will also profoundly affect my behavior towards her.

This same principle pertains to the way we think about ourselves. If I believe that I am inferior to others and that they look down on me, I will probably resent and avoid them. Besides, as a social creature, I might even resent myself and practice self-harm.

Therefore, what we know makes all the difference in the world. This is also true about what we believe that Scripture is teaching. If I believe that I have to deserve and earn God’s love, I will probably resent Him, knowing that I’ll never be good enough to earn any mercy from Him. This principle probably pertains to the way we understand the entirety of the Scriptures. Let me use the example of one verse I’ve tried to understand:

·       Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1-2 ESV)

Your reaction might be as mine:

·       I haven’t “ceased from sin.” What’s the matter with me? Have I missed the boat? But it seems like there aren’t any sinless Christians. Perhaps this verse is in error?

Either interpretation – I’m a looser or Scripture is wrong – will upset our faith. Therefore, it is important to meditate (Psalm 1:1-3) on these verses to arrive at an understanding consistent with the Scriptures.

Here is the solution that I have adopted. Although we are not going to be sinless in this life, we can be totally sold out for the Lord. While we will continue to struggle against sin and even slip into it, we will no longer pursue it and justify it. I think that this is what Peter meant by “ceased from sin.”

Can we Scripturally justify this conclusion? I think so. The Psalmist made this same distinction:

·       Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. (Psalm 19:13)

What is this “great transgression?” One that is “presumptuous” or intentional, and there are many examples of this distinction (Hebrews 10:26; Ephesians 4:18-19; Numbers 15:30). Although the Psalmist doesn’t claim that he would then be “sinless,” he does claim that he would be “blameless,” the way that Job had been described.

I am assuming that this was the intent of Peter in writing “ceased from sin” meaning “intentional sin,” or blameworthy sin. (Any sin is blameworthy but confession can wipe it out entirely – 1 John 1:9) His next verse seems to bear out this understanding of “ceased from sin”:

·       For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. (1 Peter 4:3)

These sins represent intentional lifestyle or chosen sins but sins which can also overtake immature Christians. Nevertheless, while the mature Christian will thoroughly reject these sins, he is still prone to act selfishly, speak inordinately, and even throw a temper tantrum.

It’s important to realize that we will not reach moral perfection in this world. When we believe that this is possible, we will be inclined to put others up on a pedestal and to follow them without question. Instead, we all have this treasure in earthen and very fallible bodies (2 Corinthians 4:7). This means that we will suffer all kinds of affliction (4:8-11).

Let me now give you another example from the next chapter of what a Christian must know and understand:

·       Resist him [Satan], firm in your faith, KNOWING that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:9-10)

We must know that we are called to suffer “fiery trials” in order to prepare us to meet Jesus (1 Peter 4:12-13). If we don’t understand this, we will be inclined to think, “Why is God allowing this to happen to me. Evidently, I am not one of His favorites.” Such doubts will only cause envy and resentment. Instead, we need to know that it is because He loves us that we are afflicted. He chastens all of His children (Hebrews 12:5-11).

We also need to understand that the suffering is only temporary and will be followed by eternal joy, as Peter’s 10^th verse claims. When we know this, we can endure. King Solomon didn’t know this. Consequently, he hated life (Ecclesiastes 2, 3). This is why the Bible teaches that spiritual renewal comes through what we understand through the Scriptures, which are able to make us complete (2 Timothy 3:16-17):

·       So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day…as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16,18)