05.23.2010 1 Peter 2 - How Christians Should Live

05.23.2010 Grace Summit Sermon - 1 Peter 2 - How Christians Should Live from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

05.23.2010 Grace Summit Worship from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

05.23.2010 Grace Summit 2010 Graduates from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

SermonAudio

Thank You, Lord, for our graduates – and the service they have provided to the church for many years – even in ways that people don’t even know – like Caleb running the PowerPoint for so many years, Hannah, playing the piano; Some have even served the church by cleaning for many years.

Lord, as we focus on You, I pray that we would hear from You.

I have been looking at 1 Peter 2 for several weeks now – and let’s focus on some areas of behavior that are in 1 Peter. Verse 11 is a dividing line in how we should act as Christians. Too often, as Christians, we have blended in – and Peter urges against that:

1 Peter 2:11 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.

Whenever you go to the Bible, it is important to know to whom it was written and why. Peter begins to instruct – Here is how you should act – this is what you should do – How Christians should act in light of their situation – the phrase commentators use: social location – so if you are in an argument, just say, we wouldn’t be arguing if we understood our social location – and then they won’t know what you are talking about and will stop arguing with you.

1Pet 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to [obtain] an inheritance [which is] imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

Peter is writing to a group of churches in Asia Minor that we would recognize as Turkey today. He refers to them as aliens and strangers – they were without the benefits of protection as being citizens – they were a displaced people – like refugees. They weren’t from the area – they were moved around for many reasons. They weren’t citizens; they weren’t home, and they had no way of moving from there.

Many of us have worked with the KaRen people – who had to flee their land due to persecution from the government – and they come over here and don’t speak the language. Imagine if you were forced to move to China – to learn a new language and get a job…

But these folks in Asia Minor were without any help or social services or legal protection.

There were some who weren’t like this, but the church is made up of the displaced. Corinthians said that there were a few who were noble and wealthy, but that was primarily not the case. Many were poor – many were slaves - it is interesting how the gospel is reaching into the lives of these. In America today, it is not like that – there are plenty of wealthy folks in the church – upper and middle class. But around the world, that is not the case. In China and Africa and India – most are the displaced and poor.

Many Christian commentators are concerned that America will go the way of Europe – a lot of beautiful churches with no people in them.

There is also something unique happening in our country – in 40 years, there will not be a majority race – no more than 50% of any one people. It is interesting that there is such an uproar about illegal aliens these days – and I am not making a political commentary here – but there are over 10 million undocumented people living in our nation - illegal aliens – displaced people – here in the US – and for the church – this is a group of people to reach with the gospel

Recently, Willowcreek – a super-megachurch near Chicago, has started a Spanish speaking service. They discovered that some of the people in their church were undocumented and wondered what to do (How do we deal with that one?!). At Christmastime – they had over 5000 at their Spanish speaking service.

There are people living in our communities – you don’t notice it so much here in Cuyahoga Falls – displaced, disenfranchised – not connected – they lack community – and those are the folks that were reached in the first century. Not just people of other races –

Last week, Dave Brunelle and a few others and I went to Alistair Begg’s pastor’s conference – and Dave took us to his church, The Rock, in Garfield Heights– and he showed us the area of their church – very poor – run down – these are the people they are reaching. Mike Hopkins – with Dave there – was a successful businessman with a nice home and 10 acres in Macedonia – and they sold it all to move into this poor community.

There are people in your life who are outsiders – displaced – those who feel outside of this social environment and outside of culture – they are often open to the gospel. You see throughout the Bible – God has this special thing for people like that – you can’t read the Bible without catching that – Jesus was always finding those types of people. God wants His church to be doing the same – and He wants you to be doing it in your circumstances and situation.

Back to Peter – they were aliens – and they had a double-whammy – they became Christians. In the Roman Empire, Christians were separated all the more – pushed out all the more – there was not a distinction between the secular and religious – their society was built upon idolatry – and in order to fit in and move up – you had to participate in idol worship – to participate in business – you had to do this.

Christians weren’t allowed to worship idols, nor would they participate in the sinful things associated with it. You were expected to – and if you didn’t, you were outcast – antisocial, and enemies of the state.

You might think of the Amish – people who have separated themselves out – but don’t think of the Amish – but think about what the typical American might have felt about a Muslim on Sept. 12, 2001. The early Christians were looked at as terrorists – blamed for the burning of Rome by Nero!

1 Pet. 2: 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe [them,] glorify God in the day of visitation.

Keep faithful! Keep your behavior excellent!

First – to counteract the false accusations

1 Peter 3:16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

Second – how to remain faithful to Christ in the midst of a difficult standard of living.

What we want to look at – how to counter the pressure that we have from society – to live unholy lives – How do we maintain Biblical standards in our lives? If we allow our standards to slip – we need to get back to a Biblical standard in our own walk – and not allow the world to set the standard or to cause that standard to slip – God is calling us to HIS standard of living. – And how we can minister to those in our country who are displaced.

I will have points under my subpoints this week – next week, I promise my message will be pointless…

First - He reinterprets their view of suffering. We tend to look at suffering in a certain way – God has left me, He is not blessing me, I must be doing something wrong.

YOU NEED TO LOOK AT DIFFICULTIES DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU NORMALLY WOULD!

1 Peter 1: 7 that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ

The difficulties are not to destroy your faith, but to prove that your faith is genuine. It is only when it is tested that it is vindicated. Only through the difficulty do you see the genuine faith. It is the opposite of what we think – we think that when everything is going right – then that person must be faithful to God. But that is not what the Bible says – it is through the testing that our faith is revealed for what it is.

Too often, we recognize our lack of faith – and that is not a bad thing – because that indicates that you are moving forward and growing.

1 Peter 4:

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.

When we struggle – we are sharing in Christ’s suffering – we are not separated from that. When you suffer for living for Christ – you are sharing in what He went through – participating in His struggles. If you participate in His struggle, you will participate in His glory. This does not mean that you hae to make your life miserable – you don’t need to lose your job just so you can know what it is like to struggle – but you CAN look for people who are struggling and help them out.

maybe it is visiting someone who is sick – to mak real acrifice of our lives – and in doing that – you participate in Christ’s suffering. We get so caught up in our own world – that we forget that there are those who are really suffering.

Some just need someone to care for them. For others – it is financial help. It can be a sacrifice of time, money, or even emotion – sometimes it is really hard to get emotionally involved with someone who is experiencing real difficulty.

Second – 1 Peter 2:4,10 – He redefines their community.

1 Peter 2:4 And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 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.

If you have ever been rejected – you know how much that stings – you may have been rejected by society – but you have been chosen by God – into a new and better community – God’s community.

1 Peter 2:10 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 .

Every high school seems to have a community that doesn’t belong with the rest – but people are looking for a place to belong – and as Christians – we are to be a community where people can belong.

Third – he redefines their behavior

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,

There is a battle going on – a war being raged – that is focused on our behaviors and actions – there is an enemy that is trying to win – but we need to live exemplary lives –

The devil wants to destroy us – and he will zero in on your behavior – trying to get you to act improperly and to destroy your testimony. He urges us to keep our behavior exceptional.

Such behavior brings glory to God.

As we live – and live lives that are truly different – from your coworkers and neighbors – it is seen – they were observed and then people glorified God.

Live exceptional lives in the midst of suffering because such behavior brings glory to God – Matt. 5:16 – let your light shine…