You Belong to Christ, Not This World
April 25, 2021 Preacher: Ace Davis Series: Biblical Worldview
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:9-12
Date: Sunday April 25, 2021 Scripture: 1 Peter 2:9-12 Title: You Belong to Christ, Not This World.
Link: Region around the Sea of Galilee
Contents
Introduction and Background. 1
Two areas of focus while we are pilgrims. 9
Introduction and Background
Well, as many of you know, we've been working our way through the gospel of Mark. As you see in your bulletin this morning, I thought it would be appropriate for us to take a little break from Mark and we're going to be in 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 2.
Why? Why take a break? Why stop here for a moment? Well…as we look at our world around us there's a lot that's going on, right? A lot of things that are going on in our world. We see the devastating effects of sin. We see how wrong has become right, and right has become wrong. Sin is celebrated and law-abiding citizens are shamed. Criminals are seen as victims, and those who serve to uphold law and order are demonized. Christian denominations are leaving the truth of the gospel for another gospel, while other Bible believing churches are being shut down.
And it seems like it's only getting worse and worse by the day, right? For many of us, this can become depressing. Can be saddening. For some it causes anger, bitterness, or even fear. We have probably, over the last couple weeks, couple months… have asked this question what is happening to our world?
What has happened to our nation? It seems as if the wicked are becoming even more wicked. And that the enemy seems to be winning the battle.
And for us as believers, this can be hard. In fact, it is hard, right? It's hard to see all of this going on. But for us as believers. We have hope. We have hope and we need to be reminded of that hope that we have. We may not have hope that our world -- that we're currently living in -- is going to get better. But we do have hope that where we are headed is going to be a perfect place. Right? With a perfect King who will rule and reign in perfect truth and perfect righteousness. That's where we're headed. But the reality is, we aren't there yet. We live currently in a sinful and a broken world.
This world, this nation, this state, this city…this is the place where we live our lives. It's the place where we have our homes. It's the place where we work. It's where we're raising our children. It's where we come together to have church. And so we have to ask ourselves, how do we live in this world that only seems to be getting worse and worse.
What I want to do this morning is I want to bring you some encouragement. We need it. We need encouragement this morning. We all need it. We need to be reminded about the truths of scriptures in order to help us to live in this sinful world. How do we navigate things? What do we do as we live in this broken world? We need reminders from God's word that will lift us up. We need to be reminded of the hope that we have in Christ. And to bring us encouragement and to help us, and to have a proper perspective as we face the days ahead.
And so what I want us to do this morning is I want us to look at a passage in 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. Will you open your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2? Peter is writing this letter to Christians who are in a bad place. These are Christians who are being persecuted for their faith and the world around them seemed to be crumbling.
Nero was a psychopath. He was an evil emperor who was reigning over Rome and he'd burned the entire city of Rome down because he loved to build. So he wanted to burn it down so he could just rebuild it all himself -- how he wanted to build it. Well, the Romans are there and they're watching their city burn. Many people were homeless and hopeless. And they became embittered and angry. And Nero didn't want these people to be angry at him. So he had a plan. He devised a plan, and he redirected the peoples anger and he blamed it all on the Christians.
It's the Christians fault. It's their fault for the city burning. The Romans already had a natural hate for the Christians because they were associated with Jews. And because they were seen as being hostile to Roman culture, because they didn't worship the idols that the Romans worshipped. They didn't indulge in the sinful Roman behavior like the culture around them. And so Nero sends word around Rome that it's the Christians who set fire to Rome. It's their fault. And the Christians then began to be persecuted and they had to flee Rome to escape the persecution.
So Peter writes this letter here so that it could be sent around to these persecuted believers to encourage them, to strengthen them in the midst of their troubles and the unknown future. And what I want to do this morning is I want to look at a portion of this passage in 1 Peter chapter 2 and give us encouragement as we face our current circumstances and the unknown future. Because there's a lot of unknowns, right?
Reading of 1 Peter 2:9-12
Look at 1 Peter chapter 2 and beginning in verse 9 with me. 1 Peter 2 in verse 9. The Word of the Lord says this:
“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (1 Pet 2:9-12)
Now, as Peter writes this letter here to these believers that are scattered around because of this persecution, and verses 4 through 8 he builds them up, and he offers them encouragement. Look at what he says in verse 5. Look at verse five, he says.
“you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)
And then Peter goes on and he goes on to talk about Christ being our precious cornerstone. And because we believe in Him, he says at the end of verse 6 we will not be what disappointed. (1 Peter 2:6)
We will not be disappointed. That word there, disappointed has the idea of being shamed. That is, he is saying we will not be shamed. But it also carries the idea of being deceived or led astray because of imminent danger. And what he's saying here is that those who believe in Christ will not be deceived. We won't be deceived. We won't be led astray, as if our faith somehow is going to fail us. It's not going to happen --because our faith is in Christ, who is our cornerstone. He is the rock who cannot be shaken. And so we can have confidence. We can have confidence in Christ as those who have put our faith in Him.
But not everyone has this faith, right? As we see – as is on display for us -- not everyone has this faith. In fact, Peter goes on to describe those who reject the cornerstone. He says that they reject Christ because He's a stumbling block to them. Notice at the beginning of verse 8, it says “He is a stone of stumbling.” (1 Peter 2:8) but He is also a rock of what? Offense. He's a rock of offense. That word offense in the Greek is skandalon. Which is where we get our English word scandal.
One commentator says. “in classical Greek the term skandalon denotes the trigger stick that released a deadly trap. In New Testament usage it is used to denote that which causes one’s fall, morally involving men in sin and its disastrous consequences.”
A rock of offense. Christ is scandalous to them. He's scandalous to unbelievers. He's a rock of offense. And what's the outcome of their life? Look at the end of verse 8 “they are disobedient to the word”. (1 Peter 2:8) That is, they are disobedient to Christ, the cornerstone, who is the Word. And what's their final destination? Doom. Destruction. Damnation in hell. That's their final destination.
And what Peter does here in these verses, is he points out two different types of people. You have believers and you have unbelievers. Those who accept Christ and believe in him, and those who reject Christ and disobey him. But what Peter wants to do is he wants to put his attention upon us as believers.
He wants to put his attention on us as believers, and notice what he says at the beginning of verse 9 in our passage there, he says, “But you.” (1 Peter 2:9)
But you, you believers, are not like those unbelievers whose end is doom and destruction. You're different. You're different from them. And you need encouragement to live in this world as believers in Christ. And so Peter gives them reminders and instructions so that they might be encouraged while they live in this sin-filled world.
So let's look at what Peter tells these believers to encourage them during their stay here on Earth.
The first thing that he tells them, and that you and I need to be reminded of, is number one that you are God's possession in this world.
1. You are God's possession in this world.
Look at what he says in verse 9,
“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION” (1 Peter 2:9)
Peter draws these titles from the Old Testament where these were used to describe Israel. And he begins by offering them comfort and encouragement as he reminds them of their election. Notice that.
A couple weeks ago in equipping hour, we studied the doctrine of election. Why is the doctrine of elections so important for us to know? Because it gives us comfort and hope. It's an encouragement for us.
Notice what he says there. He says you are “A CHOSEN RACE”. Now, in some of your Bibles, you'll see where it says a chosen race is in all caps. It means Peter there is quoting the Old Testament and what he's doing here is he's quoting Isaiah 43:20 where God tells Israel that He is going to destroy Babylon ---the place where Israel is going to be exiled for 70 years. Israel, because of their disobedience, is going to be exiled into Babylon, and God is prophesying there, and He is saying, “But listen, I am going to take care of Babylon. They're gonna come in and they're gonna destroy you. They're gonna come in and take you captive, and hold you as slaves, and they're gonna treat you badly. But don't worry I will take care of them.”
To a sinful people, a sinful generation. But God's going to take care of Babylon, why? Because He chose Israel. Because He loves His chosen people. And He gives them this promise that although things are going to get bad…He says, “listen, but I've made a covenant with you, and I don't break my covenants…I'm a promise-keeping God. I always keep my promises.” He's going to redeem His people because they are His.
And Peter reminds these believers, who are scattered, of this same message. You are a chosen race. You have been redeemed by God and He is going to care for you. Why? Because He chose you. Because you're His. You're His child. He cares for you. He elected you before the foundation of the world. He elected you. He chose you before you ever committed a single act. God chose you. And He chose to place His love upon you even though you didn't deserve it. Therefore, He'll see you through it all. He'll be with you through it all. You're His children.
Doctrine of Election
Now, how does this doctrine of election bring comfort?
- Well, first because it gives us security, it gives us security that even when things are out of control around us, knowing that we are God’s elect, gives us security that nothing is going to happen to us that is outside of God's will. It gives us security as His children.
- Second, it gives us assurance. It gives us assurance that we don't have to be afraid because we have assurance that our God is with us. And this assurance is not just for the future, but it's also for the present. Do you have assurance this morning? Do you have assurance in Christ? God has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Heb 13:5) Do you believe that? Do you put your trust in that?
- Third, the doctrine of election gives us joy. It gives us joy when we think about the doctrine of election. Why? Because our hope is not in this world. We've been chosen by God, who loves us and cares for us, and who has promised us that we will be with Him forever. If that doesn't give you joy, I don't know what else will. But that ought to cause our hearts to rejoice and be grateful, that we are God’s. We're His children. We're a chosen race.
Peter goes on and he says, we're not only a chosen race, but look what he says there. We are “A royal PRIESTHOOD” (1 Peter 2:9)
A royal priesthood, again, quoting from the Old Testament. He's quoting from Exodus 19:6 where God tells Moses, “and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:6)
But Israel failed. They failed because of their disobedience. God will restore them in the future. God hasn't forgotten about them. But they had failed.
And now, as believers in the new covenant, Peter says that you and I, that we are a royal priesthood. We are a royal priesthood. We are royal in that we are part of the royal house. We're a part of the royal family of God, where Christ is King. He's King, who rules and reigns overall, and we're a part of the priesthood in that we are servants of the King. You and I are called to be servants of the King. It was the priest’s duty in the Old Testament. It was the priest’s duty to serve God in the temple. And it's our duty to serve God as His royal servants. In this royal priesthood. You're a royal priesthood, do you realize that? That's what we are. We're chosen by God – we’re a royal priesthood.
He goes on and look what he says. We are also “A HOLY NATION” (1 Pet 2:9) A holy nation. Holy simply means to be separate from. To be separate from. That is, we are separate from the world. Nation is the Greek word ethnos, which means people. And so, what he's saying is, “you, as believers are a separated people from the world.” We are different from the world because we are God's children. We've been chosen by Him. Which logically flows right into Peter’s last description of us, where he says we are “A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION” (1 Peter 2:9)
We're a people for God's own possession. Possession here means to purchase or to acquire for a price.
That is, God has purchased us with the blood of His Son. God paid the price for our salvation, for you and I, and therefore what's the result of that? We belong to Him. We're His. We don't belong to this world. We are separated from this world. We are children of God. We are children of the King and you and I belong to Him. We're His.
And we need to remember this amazing truth as we look at the world around us, and the direction that things are going. We need to remind ourselves, “I am not a child of this world. I'm a child of the King of the universe. I'm His. He'll see me through it all. He knows what's going on.” Nothing is shocking Him right now. And He loves me and He cares for me because I'm His child.
We need to be reminded of this. We don't belong to this world. We belong to God. And nothing can take us away from Him. Nothing. And so not only are you God’s possession in this world, but second, you are God’s gospel preachers in this world.
2. You are God’s gospel preachers in this world.
Why did God elect us to be His own possession? Peter goes on in verse 9 and he tells us. Look at what he says. Continuing on in verse 9 he says, “so that”. You should circle that, underline that, so that. So that's our key when you read those in Scripture, this is now what I must do. What God is telling me to do.
“so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9)
Look, God didn't elect us so that we could go and change public policies in our country. God didn't redeem us to fix the Democrat or Republican Party. God didn't save us so that we could change the culture around us.
Peter is clear that God chose us so that we can proclaim His excellencies. That's what we are called to do. That's why God has chosen you. That's why God has elected you -- so that you might go out and proclaim the excellencies of Christ.
He saved us so that we could proclaim Him to the world around us. The world that is going in a bad direction, right? A world that is broken and full of sin. God has called you and I to go out and proclaim the message of the gospel to them. So that they might come to know Christ.
That word proclaim there, means to publish or to report or to advertise. It has the idea of making something known that is unknown to other people. We are called to go out and to publicize, not our political party, not our favorite sports team. But we're called to go out and to publicize and to publish to others the excellencies of Christ. That's what we're called to do.
Now what are these excellencies that Peter is talking about here? Simply put, it's the powerful, saving work, that He can do in the hearts of other people. That's simply what it is. He is able to take a hard heart and to redeem it. We can't. But He can, because He does excellent work.
He's able to take a sinner like you, and I, and to declare us righteous, right? As we studied this morning in equipping hour. He is able to take a spiritually-dead person, and to make them spiritually-alive, which is what He has done for us, right? He has done it. These are the excellencies that we are called to go out and to proclaim.
And what is the billboard that God uses to proclaim this? You and I. Us. We are the billboards. How? Because He's called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We are a walking billboard to the world to say, “This is a redeemed child of God, chosen by Him, saved, and guess what? I'm here to bring you the message of good news of Jesus Christ, who can do the same thing for you.” Listen up. That's what we've been called to do. To go and proclaim this message.
Look, we know what it was like living in darkness, right? We were all there. That's the same state that the world is in right now. We know what they're going through. We've been there before too. We were in a state of darkness. We know what it's like to have a heart that is only bent towards sin continually, because that was our heart before we were redeemed…before we received the gift of salvation. That was our heart. We were bent towards sin continuously.
But we're walking billboards of God's mercy. Right? We're walking billboards of God's mercy, of God’s saving grace.
In fact, Peter goes on in verse 10 to describe our life before Christ. What does he say there?
“for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY [we were dead in our trespasses and sins], but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.” (1 Peter 2:10)
We didn't receive mercy. We had what was coming to us -- and our destination was eternal damnation. That's where we were headed. But now we know what it means to have our hearts changed, right? Peter says, “but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD.” But now you have received mercy. Before, you were not a people who were receiving mercy, but now, you have received the mercy of God.
You know what it's like. You know what it means to be a child of God. We know what it means to deserve Hell and yet have the promise of eternal life. We know that. That's what mercy is. It's not getting what you do deserve. We all deserve hell because of our sin. But out of God’s great mercy He doesn't give it to us. He's redeemed us. He saved us and we've received that amazing gift of salvation and that ought to cause our hearts to rejoice. And to be encouraged. Because our future is not eternal damnation, although we deserve it. It's not eternal damnation, but our future is now eternal life.
Yesterday I was listening to the Hymns album, one of the Hymns albums, by Shane and Shane. If you don't listen to those, I would encourage you to do that…they are amazing. But they were singing one of the hymns on there that was written by the Gettys and the title of the hymn is this, His mercy is more. His mercy is more. And here's the lyrics of the chorus of that amazing hymn. The chorus says this:
Praise the Lord.
His mercy is more.
Stronger than darkness, new every morn.
Our sins they are many.
His mercy is more.
If that doesn't cause your heart to rejoice, I don't know what else will. That is an amazing doctrinal truth right there that ought to encourage our hearts that my sins are many, but His mercy is more, and I am a recipient of the mercy of God. I'm His child. He saved me.
We know what it means to live in the light now, and no longer in the darkness. And we know how that happened. How did it happen? It happened through the gospel. Through the gospel…when we heard the gospel and we repented of our sin and put our faith in Christ. We heard the gospel and at the moment of hearing the gospel, our hearts were changed.
And Peter is telling us, that even though things are not going well right now, we are still called to go out and to tell others this gospel, the good news of Christ. Look, don't let the bad news and all the turmoil and the trouble around you stop you from the mission that you've been called to do.
Remember what God has called you to. Remember what God has done in your past, and what God promises for your future. Our future is an eternal home with Christ --forever. This world is not our home. This world is not our final destination, as we're going to see…we're just passing through. Our home is heaven. That's what we long for. And as we remember that, that should bring us joy and encouragement. And move us forward in joy and praise and adoration to God and go and tell others about this amazing gift that we have been given, that is available to them as well.
That's what we've been called to do.
So not only are you (first) God's possessions in this world and (second) gospel preachers in this world. But third, you are godly pilgrims in this world.
3. You are godly pilgrims in this world.
Look at verse 11. Peter says,
“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” (1 Peter 2:11)
Look at how Peter begins verse 11. Notice how he begins it. He calls them what? Beloved. Beloved. These are Christians that are struggling. These are Christians that are going through persecution. These are Christians whom Nero has blamed for all the turmoil that's going on in Rome. They're not in their home state. They're not in their home country, they're scattered abroad. It's hard for them, but he says, remember you are beloved. You’re beloved.
This is the warm, affectionate embrace of these believers who are living in a hostile world. Peter had a love for these people and he wanted them to know that -- that's why he calls them beloved. You are beloved. Do you know that? You are beloved.
And Peter isn't just saying look, I have a love for you, but more importantly he is saying not only are you loved by me, but even especially you are loved by God. Your God’s child, and He loves you. And he wants them to know that they are the objects of God's love. Do you know that you're an object of God's love? He loves you. And He cares for you. You are the objects of God's love in Christ. God loves you and He's called you to Himself and therefore you belong to Him, not this world. You belong to Him. Which is why Peter says that we are aliens and strangers. Aliens and strangers.
The church that Sarah and I were saved in -- the pastor there drove a truck around town with the license plate on the back that said “alien”. And people would come up and they would stop him. They go. Oh wow. Are you into like the science fiction and UFO's and all that kind of stuff? He said no, actually, I'm not. Let me tell you why I have “alien” on my license plate. And he would point them to this. And he would say 'cause I'm a child of God. I don't belong to this world. I'm an alien. And you can be a child of God too. And it opened up an opportunity for him to share the gospel. All because he had a license plate that said alien. We're aliens.
Peter is reminding his readers that as believers, they are aliens and strangers. We are sojourners. We are pilgrims who are just passing through this world. Now, why does Peter say aliens and strangers?
Why didn't he just say aliens or just strangers? You guys as strangers? He doubles these up like this because he wants to emphasize the foreignness of us as believers in this Christ-rejecting world. We're foreigners. We're pilgrims.
And he wants us to make sure that we realize that this world is not our final destination. We're just pilgrims passing through. Our final destination is heaven. Therefore, we don't need to be fixed upon this world, but we need to be fixed upon who? Upon Christ, and we need to be fixed up on heavenly things. In fact, we need to be more heavenly-minded so that we are of earthly good. Have you ever heard that phrase “you're so heavenly-minded that you're of no earthly good”? That's a bad phrase. We need to be more heavenly-minded so that we are of earthly good -- because if your mind is fixed upon heaven, what are you constantly thinking about? Christ! And as you constantly think about Christ, you will be of earthly good. Because you'll be a messenger of the gospel, pointing people to Christ, living for Christ, saying hey, it's all about Christ -- giving glory to Christ in every area of your life.
But sadly, we as believers become so earthly-minded that we’re of no heavenly good. We're so focused on the things around us and we get distracted by all the things around us. It begins to weigh us down.
And we lose sight of heaven. God says no -- set your mind upon heavenly things. We need to be fixed upon heaven.
Look, we don't belong to this world system. We just live in the same place as people who do. They belong to the world system. We don't. We're children of the King. Our home is heaven.
Paul says in Philippians 3:20.
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil 3:20)
We're not waiting for a president to fix this world. We aren't waiting for government reform to fix this world. We are eagerly awaiting our Savior, who will come back and make all things right. That's where we need to have our focus. Christ is going to come back and He will fix every wrong and He will punish every evildoer. He will. It's all in His hands. He's going to come and He's going to defeat Satan and any power that He has allowed Satan to have over these thousands of years. He will take it from him and He will cast Satan into the eternal Lake of fire. That's what's going to happen. Because He's the King. And He's going to come and He's going to conquer, and He's going to rule and reign as King over it all.
That's what we have to look forward to do. That's where we need to keep our mind focused on…on Christ, who's going to come. And here's the amazing thing as God's chosen people, we will get the reward of ruling and reigning with Him. Did you know that? That's our future. That's the hope that we have. We will get to rule and reign with Christ. As God’s child. That's our future.
But Peter has some words for us. That he's going to tell us. Until this time comes. Because Christ hasn't come back yet, right? He hasn't come.
Two areas of focus while we are pilgrims
And so while we are here as pilgrims in this world, there are two areas of our life that we need to take heed to. That Peter is going to tell us about. The first has to do with
1. Being godly in the inner person
…in our heart, in our soul we need to be godly in the inner person.
Look at what Peter says in verse 11 there. He says, I urge you to abstain from fleshly lust, which waged war against the soul. Since we are not a part of this world, we need to abstain from fleshly lusts. We’ve got some work to do while we're here on this Earth. And the work is in the heart. We've got to abstain from fleshly lusts. The world indulges in fleshly lusts, but the believer is called to abstain from those lusts.
Now this word here lust is not limited to sexual immorality. It's not what Peter is talking about here. He's not just specifically saying you need to abstain from sexual immorality. It encompasses all of the sinful desires that the flesh longs for. What are those? Paul gives us a pretty good list in Galatians 5:19. It's not exhaustive, but it's a really good list. In Galatians 5:19 listen to what Paul says, he says:
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you. (Gal 5:19-21)
Pretty good list there. These are the deeds of the flesh. Those are the lusts of the flesh. And what Paul is doing there is he's listing out the deeds of the flesh that battle and wage war against our soul. That's the battle that every believer faces, right? We face battles in the inner man. All the time. Paul faced it. Paul faced battles. Peter faced battles…that's why Peter is writing this here, because he understands and knows there is a battle that is waging war in your soul. And every Christian faces this battle.
What Peter says here is that the battle is fought in the heart and it has to be won in the heart. You see that? That's what he's saying. You're going to fight a battle every day. It's a battle. And you're going to battle these fleshly lusts inside of you. There's a war that's going on. But it needs to be won in the heart.
You see, before Christ, all of us lived under the control of the flesh we gave into the flesh all the time. Some more or to a greater degree than others, but we all did. We all gave into the flesh. But here's the amazing thing. As children of God, we have been given the Spirit of God, who now indwells us. God has given us His Spirit and He's freed us from the power of sin… so that we are no longer slaves to sin, but we are now slaves of Christ. That's what we have been given, and that's what we have been called to.
And now, because we have the Spirit of God, we have the ability through the Spirit to abstain from these fleshly desires, and to seek to live godly lives in the inner person. We can win the battle. The battle that wages war in the inner person. We've been given the Spirit of God, and Peter says, “Abstain from those fleshly lusts.” Battle those and win those in the heart. That's what we've been called to do.
But it doesn't just stop there. Peter doesn't just say you’re to abstain and wage this war in the inward man and to live a godly life in the inward person. But Peter also tells us that as godly pilgrims, we need to
2. Live a godly life in the outward practices.
In the outward practices. Look at verse 12, it says,
“Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (1 Pet 2:12)
Look, no one can see your heart. But everyone can see your actions. Right? No one can see your heart. You know your heart. God knows your heart. But everyone can see your actions. And your actions reflect what is in your heart. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 15, “but the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” (Matt 15:18-19)
What you put on display for the world to see is a reflection of your heart. It's a reflection of your heart. And Peter reminds these struggling believers, who are living in a hostile world, to keep their behavior excellent. Keep your behavior excellent. He's calling for visible fruit in their lives.
The word excellent here has the idea of outward beauty. We need to have outward beauty. Things that are good, noble, praiseworthy and winsome. And what he is saying to them is the pagans are watching. The unbelieving world is watching. And the world is getting worse and worse and more wicked and more wicked. But even though that is happening, they are still watching. They're watching us. They want to see how we live our lives. They want to see how you, as a Christian, respond to all that's going on in the world.
And if you respond just like they do, why would they want to listen to your message? Right? Why listen to it? But we are called to live in a winsome manner. Even when they are acting like out-of-control pagans. Why? Peter tells us. So that in the thing in which they slander you as evil doers, they may because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12)
Simply put -- so that even if they slander you for doing wrong, they will see your good deeds and be one over to Christ. That's how we're to live. We're to live in a manner that is winsome, that will win them over to Christ. It's to be excellent behavior.
That's why God says that “they will glorify God in the day of visitation.” It's not as if the Pagan unbelievers are going to glorify God -- because they're not. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, but they're not going to give glory to God. Unbelievers aren't going to do that. In fact, they're going to be judged on the day of visitation when Christ comes.
Judgment is coming upon them. Wrath is coming upon them. But those who are won to Christ, by the message that we preached to them, in the life that we lived before them, those that are won to Christ on that day of visitation….do you know what they'll be doing? They’ll be standing right next to us, giving praise and glory to God. That's what they'll be doing.
As we lift our hands and we give praise to God, and we shout in glory to God. Giving Him honor and praise and adoration that He is due…they will be standing right there with us. They will be won over to Christ. Those who were our enemies, our enemies, will be redeemed. But they'll only be redeemed if we go out and preach the gospel to them and live in a winsome manner before them.
Gospel presentation
Some of you may be here this morning, and you are an enemy of God. You haven't repented of your sin and put your faith in Christ. You haven't surrendered your life over to Christ. He hasn't become King of your life, Master and Lord of your life. But He offers you today the gift of salvation. And He says, come to me in repentance and faith, and put your faith in Me. Jesus, who went to a cross, and died on a cross, to pay the price that you could not pay for your sins, and he took the wrath of God upon Himself, so that you would not have to endure the wrath. Then He rose again three days later, and He lives today, and He offers you life. And He says, come to Me and put your faith in Me. Call Me Lord, call Me Master, believe in Me and I will give you a free gift of eternal life. And you can have that today. Come to Christ.
Closing
In closing as we go through this world, it seems to be getting worse and worse. We need to be reminded of these truths that Peter tells us here in 1 Peter 2. To encourage us to keep going. We need this encouragement to keep on going. Don't get discouraged, don't get angry. Don't become fearful. But remember that you are God's possession in this world. That's who you are…a child of God. A child of the King.
And you are to go and be a gospel-preacher in this world. That's your task. That's what we've been called to do. And we are godly pilgrims in this world. That's how we're to act. And remember…we're just pilgrims that are passing through. This is not our home. We're citizens of heaven. Of the King. And we eagerly await our Savior, Amen.
Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this amazing Word at such a time as this. Lord, as we see the mess that not only our nation is in, but even our world is in…Lord, we see how people continually are being deceived. And it seems as if wickedness is prevailing. But Father, we need these reminders…that we are Your children, that this world is not our home, that Satan will have his domain…but he will be conquered…he will be cast down and he will be thrown into the eternal lake of fire. And we, as Your children, will rule and reign with You in perfect righteousness. And Father, we eagerly await the return of our Savior. But until He comes, I pray that you would help us to have the right perspective and to live a life that brings glory and honor to Your name. That we would live a life that proclaims the gospel to the lost so that many would hear… that they would come to You as their Lord and Savior. Father, we can't do this on our own, we need Your help. Help us to rely upon Your Spirit as we live our lives for You. We pray in Christ name, Amen.
