Tuesday after the Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on November 21, 2023 by under
Scripture: 1 Peter 4:1-7 (NKJV)
4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.
Devotion
This teaching is a common sermon in the New Testament. Whenever the apostles exhort Christians to put away sinful behavior, they preach Christ’s crucifixion. St. Peter writes: “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.”
Christ did not have any sin of His own. He took the guilt of our sin and carried it in His own flesh to the cross. He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness,” (1 Pet. 2:24). We no longer bear the guilt and punishment of sin, because Christ has taken it away. We “cease from sin” in that our sins are no longer counted against us. They are washed clean in Holy Baptism (1 Pet. 3:21).
The message of the crucifixion teaches us to put away the lusts of our flesh, because we have been united with Jesus’ death and resurrection. Just as He was “put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18), so we in our baptism have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires so that we might live in the Spirit (Gal. 5:24-25). Having been made alive in Christ, we strive, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to “cease from sin” and live for the will of God.
Collect: O God, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by Thy Holy Spirit, that being ever mindful of the end of all things, and the day of Thy just judgment, we may be stirred up to holiness of living here, and dwell with Thee forever hereafter; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
