Lesson 20

Sins And Sinners

I Peter 4:1-6

I know that the saying "Hate the sin but love the sinner" has become a cliche', but that really is the theme of I Peter 4:1-7. Let's open our Bibles and read this wonderful text.

There is a command in this text. It is found in verse 1 - "arm yourselves likewise with the same mind". The mind that Peter is speaking about is the mind of Christ. We are to think like Jesus. We are to see our world and our circumstances with the eyes of Christ. We are to have His attitude. We are commanded to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ. Our attitudes are our armor.

Having the mind of Christ will affect our attitude toward sin. Having the mind of Christ will also affect our attitude toward sinners. These two things are dealt with in this text.

Our Attitude Towards Sin, 4:1-3.

We show what we love by what we hate. A doctor who loves health will hate disease. A judge who loves justice will hate oppression. And a Christian who loves God will hate sin. Psalm 97:10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil ... Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. But the honest truth is that it's not always easy to hate sin. Our unredeemed flesh still has an appetite for sin. The unregenerate world still makes sin look alluring and attractive. Satan is still around to tempt us with sin - to make it seem innocent and normal. It isn't easy for us to hate sin. In fact, its easy for Christians to get accustomed to sin. Instead of having a militant attitude that hates and opposes sin, we gradually get use to it.

These three verses tell us three things that will help cultivate the proper attitude toward sin.

Verse 1 - Remember the suffering that our sins brought upon Christ. Verse 1 says that "Christ hath suffered for us." Every pain that Christ experienced, every drop of His blood that fell to the ground - the thorns, the stripes, the nails - were all because of my sins. Can we love that which nailed an innocent man to a cross? If a vicious criminal stabbed your child to death, would you preserve the knife in a glass case on your mantle? No way! You would never want to see that knife again. So how can we enjoy that which made Jesus suffer and die on the cross? Think of what sin did to Jesus. It will help you to arm yourself with the right attitude, the hatred of sin. Our goal in life is stated in verse 1 - cease from sin. We will never reach this goal but that should not keep us from striving.

Verse 2 - Live for the will of God. There is a contrast alluded to in this verse. It is contrast between the desires (lusts) of men and the will of God. The will of God is not a burden that God places on us. The will of God is a blessing from the Lord, a divine enjoyment and enablement that makes all burdens light. It will help us to hate sin, if we can focus on pleasing God and not ourself or other people.

Verse 3 - Remember the emptiness of a life of sin. Remembering our past life when we wrought the will of the pagans was ultimately very empty. In verse 3, Peter says basically that when we were sinners we spent enough time doing the will of, walking the way of, pagans. Peter lists sins from our past - lasciviousness (lewdness), lust, excess of wine (liquor), revellings (letting lose), banquetings (partying / carousing) and abominable idolatries (lawless worship).

A life of sin is sure vain and empty. Some of you know that more than others. You experienced enough of the life of sin to know the emptiness that sin brings. Some of you, perhaps, envy (not in a sinful way) the protected life of a person raised in a Christian home and saved at a young age. You wonder what it would be like to live without so many regrets, so much baggage from your past life. Those of us who are second or third generation Christians, sometimes struggle more with temptation because we do not know first-hand the emptiness of a life of sin. Sin can look more glamorous to us than to you. (Illustration: My visit to a bar).

There are times when looking back at your life would be wrong, because Satan could use those memories to discourage you. But, at times, remembering our sinful past is a healty way to remind ourselves of the slavery and emptiness of sin and to help us to cease from sin.

The mind of Christ means the right attitude toward sin.

Our Attitude Towards Sinners, 4:4-7.

The "they" in verse 4 refers back to those Gentiles (pagans) of verse 3. "They" don't understand the change, the transformation, that has taken place in your life. It is strange, Peter says, to them that you won't run with them to those excess of riots. They just don't get it. They don't understand Christians. They don't get a changed life.

So what is the right attitude toward those who don't understand you? You have to be patient with them. Once again, it is not easy to be patient with sinners. It is easier to condemn the sinner for his riotous living than to show be compassion.

Further, those who don't understand you may, in fact, ridicule you - "speaking evil of you." It is hard to understand ridicule from former friends. And it hurts to be ridiculed, to be spoken evil of. Why would they do that? Perhaps because of their own conviction by the change they see in you. And so, they ridicule you and judge you and speak evil of you.

Verse 5 reminds us that they shall one day stand before God. It is ironic that the very ones who are judging you will themselves face the ultimate judgment before God. It is another reason for us to be compassionate and patient with sinners.

Verse 6 is called by commentators "a difficult verse." The best interpretation that I can discern is true to the context. Kenneth Wuest in I Peter: In The Greek New Testament says, "The words, 'them that are dead' refers to Christian believers who had died. The gospel had been preached to them and they had become Christians. As a result of this they had been judged according to men while they were on the earth. This judgment was in the form of persecution because of their Christian testimony. They died as martyrs 'but live according to God in the spirit.' "

The passage instructs us that we must keep our eyes fixed on Christ, continue living for Him, hate sin and strive to cease from it and not be surprised when we are misunderstood or mistreated. To those who are sinners, who are under the judgment of God, we are to manifest an attitude of patience and compassion.

It may sound cliche', but indeed the Bible teaches us to hate the sin but love the sinner. In this we shall have armed ourselves with the mind and attitude of Christ.

I urge you today to carefully examine your attitude. Do you, indeed, hate sin? Or is there a secret longing for it? Do you indeed love sinners? Or is there a judgmental attitude of condemnation for them?