As strangers and aliens that are passing through the midst of a sin-bound world, God uses our priestly behavior to lead people to glorify Himself. In the meantime, there is an insidious enemy that we must avoid.
My Priestly Behavior Leads People to Christ
1 Peter 2:11-15
(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)
Turn to 1 Peter 2:11. We are going to be learning from 1 Peter 2:11-15 this morning. As you are turning there, I want to remind us of Peter's flow of thought coming into our passage. Peter has been explaining an amazing miracle work of God. God has a plan, and God makes sure the plan is fulfilled. Though God has created everything in His plan, the important part that Peter is focusing upon is the fact that God has recreated a unique race of people for Himself. He did this, and does this, in His Son, Christ Jesus. This Spiritual race, in a sense, is the ethnic identity of all who are in Christ. Though we are still people conceived as descendants of Adam, we are different. This difference is the great reason for our need to know these things. What I mean is that God puts the nature of Christ in us to make us into new creations that exist as what God calls, "the body of Christ." We are living temples that house His Spirit. We are God's holy ground. He owns us, dwells in us, empowers us, and He is well pleased with what He has produced. Peter has been describing some riches of what you are in Christ in salvation. But Peter continues to explain our purpose. He goes on to what you were made for. He says it is
"so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;" 1 Peter 2:9
Proclaiming God's excellencies is what God re-created us for, so this is what we need to be doing. This is the direction that the Spirit has led Peter to teach. With these things in mind, we continue reading, starting in verse 11,
"11 Loved ones, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly desires 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. 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men." 1 Peter 2:11-15
Please prepare your heart to learn, along with me, in this sermon titled,
My Priestly Behavior Leads People to Christ
[prayer]
It is vital that we become aware of the fact that the things that we do which is anything (even the mundane things)--small, big, or whatever--all of our behavior is part of God's design in leading people to Christ. We know this is true with straight forward evangelism, don't we? Certainly straight forward evangelism, where you proclaim the bad news and then the good news, is behavior. The bad news is lostness in sin. The good news is salvation in Christ. To tell someone that they are dying in their sins in need of being rescued spiritually by grace through faith in the finished work of the sacrificed and risen Lord, is the kind of behavior that is easy to understand as something that God uses to lead people to Christ. But just as there is more than one way for God's holy priesthood to proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, there is more than one behavior that God uses to draw people to himself to bring glory to Him. It encompasses every single facet of your whole existence in Christ. This morning we are going to glean some foundational principles concerning these things for functioning in the priesthood.
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The first principle concerning our behavior that leads people to Christ that we need to recognize, is something about ourselves that puts us in the right awareness. It is the importance of the constant awareness that we really are something different than what we were. It is from this awareness that God wants us to demonstrate what we are to the rest of the world which is something different from what they are. Peter says,
"11 Loved ones, I urge you as aliens and strangers ..."
Let's think about this a moment. This is more than mere poetic language that Peter is using for a really cool effect. You, and I, and all Christians, really are strangers and aliens that are stuck in the midst of a sin-bound world for a few moments of earthly life as we pass through it. You are here for a little while before you die and move on to experience your heavenly citizenship in a more perfect and complete way. While we are here, though, we should be thinking:
"I am the continuation of the race of Christ that He created in Himself. I have citizenship in an earthly country in a certain sense, but my true, eternal, citizenship is somewhere else. If I am still alive, I will be this tomorrow when I wake up and go to work, or go to school, or go down to the store. Anywhere I go in the world, I do so as a stranger and alien in this world."
Our citizenship is in that country called heaven. Paul who reflected the same kind of commanded imperative that comes as manifested fruit of the Spirit, explained our difference in a powerful exhortation,
"17 Brothers, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. ... 20 Because our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." Philippians 3:20
@1 As Christians, our unique citizenship is in _________________________. God wants us to live on this earth in such a way as to reflect our citizenship. Philippians 3:17-21
What the Spirit presses, over and over again, is that since our citizenship is in heaven, God wants us to look like we are from a place that is so foreign, so exotic, and so amazing, that the world can not relate to it. God wants us to look like we are visiting from His heavenly kingdom realm of purity and truth. It is like God has appointed you to be his special ambassador who is touring the world, and proclaiming His excellencies. We know, for the most part, that our old friends are not going to understand this, don't' we? Our unsaved family will see that there is something different about us, but it doesn't completely make sense to their dead souls. Sometimes they lump our difference in with all the false religions out there, and say,
"He's become a religious guy now."
"She 'found' religion, so now she is really weird."
Most people are going to look at you as if you have been brainwashed, and in a sense, you have been. Our hearts have been washed. This is how they know that something is different. At least they are supposed to know that there is difference. When we consider these things we should ask ourselves an important question:
"Do the lost people that are aquatinted with me really know that I am different than they are?"
I'm talking about the spiritual difference. Our foreign difference is what the Holy Spirit is working with. Your difference is either going to repel those people whom God is not drawing by His Spirit; or your foreignness is going to attract those whom God is drawing to Himself, through you, by His Holy Spirit.
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This leads to the second principle concerning our priestly behavior that leads others to Christ. There is an enemy that destroys the attractiveness that God gives us kingdom citizens. It eclipses that which is in us which the Spirit uses to draw others to Himself. The principle is that the Spirit wants us to avoid this particular enemy as part of our strategy in defeating that enemy. The enemy is fleshly lust. Peter says,
"11 Loved ones, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly desires which wage war against the soul." 1 Peter 2:11
The world recognizes, to a certain degree, what fleshly lust is because the world operates in fleshly lust. Decision after decision is made in fulfilling fleshly desires. Fleshly lust is a strong craving. It is where you want to satisfy yourself in respect to fulfilling your wants. In this context, Peter is talking about abstaining from the fleshly lusts that have to do with the world of sin. More specifically, they are the natural desires that people have apart from the work of the Spirit. Everyone has desires, including Christians. Not all desires are wrong. Desires of Christians, when governed by the inward Spirit, according to the revelation of Scriptures, are good. The point is that the world always operates in fleshly desires that are tainted by sin. It is their affinity. Why? Because they are void of the Spirit. So when we, strangers and aliens, operate in those kinds of sinful desires among the world, then what happens is that we put a marring stain on our priestly garments. We bring scandal into the priesthood. The lost world culture only does what is natural. They look at us and judge us based upon what they discover about us by our actions. They don't care about your washed heart. What do they care about? The marring stain of sin and compromise. This is why this war against our soul is not just a personal war. It is a war that extends to our witness. It is a war for shining out the glories of Christ to others. You may say,
"But we should not judge each other."
Yes, we are not to judge each other's spiritual destiny based upon our own criteria. For Christians to make unrighteous judgments concerning others is sinful. But remember, the lost world culture is only doing what is natural when they judge you. But, you may also say,
"Well, nobody is perfect. Only Jesus is perfect."
Again, you are right. But, listen to me: The world does not care about our protests. What the world cares about is accusing Christians; and God cares about what the world is accusing Christians of, especially when it comes to actual stains of sinful lusts of the flesh. It does not matter if the world is filled with sinful people who have no right judging God's people. It does not matter that everyone who is lost is a hypocrite. What matters is that when you, or I, succumb to the lusts of the flesh, then we become a casualty in respect to our witness of the life changing miracle of Christ that made us into new creations. Our job is to abstain from that which brings us into the likeness of the lost world, so that we can show the world that we are not as much like them and their citizenship as they want to think we are. This is the key. The sense that Peter is explaining is that the world is seeking to slander Christians by doing one particular thing. What they want to do is point out the sins in Christians that are the sins of the world. They do this so that they can treat Christians the way the world treats one another. So the question is,
"How do we do this urging of the Spirit?"
In the context of what Peter is saying to the dispersed Christians, which is what the Spirit is saying to us, the battle strategy here is to not do something. It is to not engage the enemy at all. The word is "abstain." God wants His priesthood to avoid the enemy of fleshly lust as a strategy in fighting against it by the power of the Spirit. Fleshly lust is an enemy that never ceases to attack you. The world we were delivered out of, still continues to offer us the pleasures of sin. Yes it is a deception. Yes it is the fleeting pleasure of sin for a season. But the attraction of greed, sexual lust, pride and things like these is real. This is why the fleshly lust "enemy" is so dangerous. When we give in by entertaining the enemy, and surrender, then we sin. Then comes the consequence. In James, it is described as a life cycle,
"14 But each one is tempted when he is lured away and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then when desire has conceived
[like an impregnation],
it gives birth to sin
[which is the baby's debut];
and when sin is accomplished
[fully grown],
it brings forth death
[which is the end of the life cycle]." James 1:14-16
James is describing the conflict. What happens is that instead of avoiding the lure, the lure is followed in its sparkling enticement. This is when desire (lust) has conceived. Then sin is born. When the sin is matured, the deathlike experience of the consequence is the ultimate end. Right now I know of a man who literally destroyed his marriage because he continuously surrendered to the enemy and was consumed with fleshly lust for pornography. He brought the effects of pornography into his own marriage-bed to defile the holy matrimony into a perverse ceremony that reflected, and replayed, the depraved images that he craved. Do we judge that man as if we are holier than thou? No. Remember, every time you point the finger of judging condemnation at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at you on your own hand. Instead we Christians pity fellow priestly family members like Him who are shipwrecked, and we learn from his living testimony of what the Scriptures are warning the rest of us against. In respect to what Peter is getting at, there is a consequence that is just as huge as destroyed marriages.
What is it?
The vibrancy of your witness of the excellencies of Christ is eclipsed.
No matter how much excellence we declare, it is drowned out by the surrender to sin. James has some more insight to add to all of this. Think about how James asks the hypothetical question that identifies the inner battle;
"1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?" James 4:1
James is talking about the inner source that the quarrels and conflicts come from. James is talking about whenever we have our self oriented, sinful, pleasures driving our actions. It really is like a war. Paul calls the same enemy, "the desire of the flesh,"
"16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." Galatians 5:16-17
@2 In salvation, when we walk by the ________________________ within us, then we will not carry out the sinful desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16-17
The big issue in this second point this morning, is that to fight the sinful desires of the flesh by abstaining from them, you must submit to the Spirit that empowers you to do it, by submitting to God's urging of avoidance which comes from what? His word. When we do, we are shining light through unsoiled priestly garments as a powerful witnessing tool. Either lost people will think you are just another religious weirdo who has decided to live according to a set of mystical, rigorous, rules of prudence, in which case they are demonstrating their spiritual blindness; or they will see, by the Spirit's opening of their heart, that there is life in you that is real, desirable, and attainable--the life of Christ who is the ultimate good doer.
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This leads to the third principle concerning our priestly behavior that leads others to Christ. It is to demonstrate behavior that is excellent in the world, so that the world does not have ground for saying that we are the evil doers that they really are,
"12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, ... 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. 16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. 17 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." 1 Peter 2:11-15
Just like the world was looking for ways to accuse Christ as an evildoer, the world is looking for ways to accuse us. Back when Peter wrote this letter, the non-Christian community was in the habit of bringing charges against Christians. Christians were accused of being government rebels. They were accused of upsetting business, and of divination, Acts 16 & 19. They were accused of holding antisocial values, and even of being atheists because they did not worship idols, or would not bow to Caesar Acts 15:29. Because they were having periodic meetings called, "love feasts" which were communion meal observances; and called each other their brothers and sisters in Christ, surviving Roman records show that they were accused of engaging in orgies and incest, while cannibalizing people. Accusations can come in many forms. Some are false. But some are true, like refusing to bow to idols. Being accused of evil doing is something that the lost will do to us because they have a broad pallet to use in identifying what their lost minds think is evil. And we must make no mistake about it, even though lost people do not know it, they have accusation of Christians in their nature. This is why our behavior should not be mediocre. It should not be shoddy. It should be excellent as we proclaim His excellencies. This does not mean that God is saying that you must be perfect to be saved. God is not saying that you must be sinless to merit His unmerited grace either. God is saying that the world is graceless with us kingdom nation people. In this aspect of our Christianity, excellence is simply walking in wisdom, and fruit, of the Spirit in such a manner that there is nothing offensive about us other than the offense of Christ. What we want to see happen is that the accusations become meaningless since there is no substance behind the accusation. Better yet, we do not want to give any opportunity for valid accusations to come at all. So the Spirit is strongly urging us, in our day, to be walking in such a way that nothing we do can be construed as coming from an evil doer. It is far better for the world to accuse us of being religious zealots than it is to be accused of being an evil doer. God wants all of us to be zealous for Him. If we are to be accused, then let it be because of zeal for righteousness. But when it comes to being an evildoer, the world has its own rules. Its rules are always changing, but the rules are real, and the rules are there, and so the world will scrutinize you, and as soon as they see something that they want to accept as evildoing, they will accuse and slander you concerning it. I think that one of the most common ways that the world does this is by using the teachings that God has given us, and then throwing them back in our faces when we neglect them. Isn't this what the world does when a brother or sister in Christ succumbs to fleshly desire? They may even say,
"See, Christianity is a joke."
"Aren't you guys supposed to be honest?"
"I thought you Christians were supposed to avoid adultery."
Or they say something like was leveled at Paul,
"8 ... (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say) 'Let us do evil that good may come?'" Romans 3:8
The point is that Christianity is already completely misunderstood by the natural mind anyway. Our job is to keep from adding fuel to the fires of misunderstanding through our actions; "For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men."
/4 /
This leads to the fourth principle concerning our priestly behavior that leads others to Christ. Your goodness is really Christ's goodness. Whenever you manifest goodness, you are manifesting the work that Christ has done in, and is doing in, you. Then this manifestation will be used by God to bring unsaved people to glorify Himself, to praise the Christian priesthood as those who do right; and silence the ignorance of foolish men,
"12 ... 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. ... 15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men." 1 Peter 2:11-15
Silencing the ignorance of foolish men in the lost world culture, and bringing glory to God because of our good deeds, is the big goal. Think about this a moment: Whenever we say that we are "Christians," people want to know what that word means. Okay, so we can tell them what a "Christian" is. But people are not content with that alone. People want to see what being a Christian means. And the way they want to see it is in you. The reason is because we are the ones who claim to have the way, the truth, and the life. We are the ones who claim to have been born again. We are the ones who claim that Jesus changes our lives. To the lost world culture, all these claims are grandiose religious mottos. To them, it is all just mystical language. People hear claims every single day. What people want to see is the substance. They want to see you proclaiming the excellencies of God out of your life. They think:
Since you say that you have the way, the truth, and the life, then show me what that means in the way you lead your life according to what you call truth. Since you say you have been born again, then let me see the new you that you supposedly claim that you are. Since you say that you have been changed by a dead man that you say is still alive, then show me the living change. If I don't see any change, then I don't see that you are telling me the truth.
Folks, this is just the way it works with the lost who are watching you. Let's say, for illustration, that I am in the world as a lost person and so I am foolish. How are you going to silence me? Are you going to silence me while I am staring at the foolishness of your stained priestly garment? What are you doing that will even remotely be used by your God to get me to glorify Him in the day of visitation? Are you trying to look more like me and my kingdom so you can show me how much like me that you so-called heavenly people can look and act to be acceptable to me? I already see my kind of people every day. I want to see Jesus. I want to see the heavenly kingdom of your citizenship. Are you trying to get me to perceive you as really being more like me than I probably think? Big deal if you are like me. In my lostness, I already think you are a fake. I already think all people are the same anyway. The point is that our good deeds do more than whatever the deed itself is. Our good serves a deeper purpose for pointing others to Christ. We are preaching an aspect of the gospel through being known as a good doer. The gospel is good news. Our good deeds need to come out and become good news to others that demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is really in us. Peter indicates that there are two outcomes that we are looking for in this:
First we glorify God in our actions.
Secondly, we are hoping the Spirit is using us to effectually draw others to glorify God too.
Notice that Peter calls that time when people will glorify God, in verse 12, "the day of visitation." The word that Peter uses for visitation is episkope. It is the word that is used to describe the office of an overseer in 1 Timothy 3:1. The connotation of the word is that of observing or inspecting, as in oversight. The day of visitation is the time when you are "looked upon" observed, and inspected. As we glean from what the Spirit is teaching us here, it is important that we stay with Peter's point. To do so, I think it is important that we are aware that there are some translations that add the word "he" here like it is God that is going to do the official observing and inspecting, as if Peter is talking about God coming and visiting. But, the word "he" is not in the text. What certain translations have done is make an interpretational judgment call; and so they add the word "he" to clarify what they think Peter's intention is in his statement. Notice that the NIV put it in there like this,
"... they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." NiV
The NET wants to make the same point, so they add it too, like this,
"... they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears." NET
The NASB, and ESV, render it in the more accurate way by leaving out the interpretive idea that it is God who will be making the official observation in a visit,
"... they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." 1 Peter 2:12 NASB
"... they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." 1 Peter 2:12 ESV
According to Peter's whole context, and sticking with Peter's immediate point that he has been making here, the day of visitation is the time when someone in the world comes to the Christian and actually observes or inspects them. The idea that God is the visitor may seem plausible from an eschatological kind of presupposition, but the other, more contextual way of understanding this, is more viable. In the flow of thought, Peter is saying to not be an evil doer. "Evil doer" is an important designation. We remember why, don't we? Evil doing is a marring stain. And so in this same flow of thought, Peter continues on and explains what he means. I am going to read through it again, and as I do let's pay attention to the wording,
"11 Loved ones, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly desires which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles
[meaning the lost world culture of the Roman world],
so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers,
[Keep in mind the slander of being called an "evildoer." Peter continues his immediate point,]
they may because of your good deeds
[meaning you are a "good doer" instead of an evil doer],
as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation
[or in the day that you are observed for what you are really doing in excellent behavior].
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers
[Again, keep in mind the "evildoer" designation that governors are coming to punish people when they find them being evildoers. Peter goes on]
and the praise of those who do right
[which are right doers].
15 For such is the will of God that by doing right
[as a right doer]
you may silence the ignorance of foolish men." 1 Peter 2:11-15
@3 The reason we are to submit to earthly governments, though we are citizens of heaven, is for the ____________________ sake--so that God will be glorified in our earthly actions. 1 Peter 2:12-14
But there is more. Peter uses the same language in chapter 4, saying,
"14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer,
[This is the same exact exhortation. Also notice the reference to suffering at the hands of society as an evildoer. In excellent behavior in abstaining from the desires of the flesh, we make sure we accomplish Peter's exhortation. What we see is that Peter uses this same motif in a consistent manner. He goes on,]
or a troublesome meddler; 16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name." 1 Peter 4:14-16
I thoroughly understand the reasons why some people interpret the day of visitation in an eschatological kind of judgment way; but, I think that in the context, it is clear that Peter is talking about the particular day of visitation as the day that government leaders are sent specifically to punish evildoers and praise those who are doing right. Peter is saying that you should live in such a way, so that when they actually come and observe you, they will find that you are not doing evil after all, and so they will praise you for doing right in keeping yourself excellent. They will have no basis to punish you as evildoers; and you will have silenced the ignorance of these people who are wrong in their foolishness. Instead, what will they do? Peter says that they will glorify God which we already know will only happen from the elect anyway. This folks, is the object of the theme of this sermon. It is where our godly behavior leads people to Christ. As we wrap up this morning, Jesus stated this same principle in easy to understand terms, when He told His students to,
"16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16
@4 The Lord wants His people to shine our light before men in such a way that they will see our good works and ___________________________ our Father in our heavenly kingdom of our citizenship. Matthew 5:16
Jesus is talking about the particular method of proclamation that has to do with what you do. It has to do with our lifestyle that is seen, and observed, by others at any time we are visited. The same goal is there too which is to glorify God. The goal for us, is that the self glorifying world sees Christ manifested in you, and so they glorify God. This is the result we are looking for in any form of evangelism. If there was a dictionary entry for "lifestyle evangelism," I would think Matthew 5:16 and 1 Peter 2:11-15, would be part of the definition. This is probably what Francis of Assisi meant when he said to;
"Preach Christ all the time. Use words when necessary."
We want to preach Christ, the Person, the Lord and Savior, all the time, and, of course, we want to use words because words are necessary to preach the gospel message. Yet we also want to preach Christ Himself in the words of the body language of our excellent behavior which manifests the Spirit.
Let's recap what all we have covered: We have been talking about the fact that our priestly behavior leads people to Christ. To really grasp this, we need to understand that we actually are strangers and aliens that are passing through the midst of a sin-bound world. As we pass through, we must think of ourselves as ambassadors that God has appointed to proclaim His excellencies. We want the lost to see that we are different. We want them to see, in us, the Jesus that we represent. In doing this, we must try to avoid the enemy that destroys our attractiveness that the Spirit uses to draw others to Himself. Remember; the enemy is fleshly desire that wages war against your soul. Succumbing to sinful lusts mars priestly behavior and seldom leads anyone to Christ. With this in mind, we realize that we need to demonstrate behavior that is excellent in the world, so that the world does not have ground for saying that we are evil doers. Instead, they will glorify God in the day of visitation. Amen.
@1 As Christians, our unique citizenship is in _________________________. God wants us to live on this earth in such a way as to reflect our citizenship. Philippians 3:17-21
@2 In salvation, when we walk by the ________________________ within us, then we will not carry out the sinful desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16-17
@3 The reason we are to submit to earthly governments, though we are citizens of heaven, is for the ____________________ sake--so that God will be glorified in our earthly actions. 1 Peter 2:12-14
@4 The Lord wants His people to shine our light before men in such a way that they will see our good works and ___________________________ our Father in our heavenly kingdom of our citizenship. Matthew 5:16
