Living as Honorable Strangers: Reflecting God's Image in Our Conduct | Peter's Teachings | Shawn Miller

How, lord, we ask for your presence here.

I say your Holy Spirit would be in our midst and that we could feel your presence here.

I ask that you would open up our hearts and our minds to hear from you, to receive your word and to apply it to our lives.

Father, I ask that you would pour out your spirit on Sean and bless him with your anointing that you could just speak to us through him, through your word.

Might you just calm his nerves and help him to just proclaim your word with a boldness and a courage, and just with your anointing.

We commit this service into your hands.

In Jesus' name, I pray Amen, amen.

You seem so far away this morning, turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter, chapter 2, and today we would like to look at verses 11 through 17.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

So I'm not going to do much of a recap of the last sermon that I preached.

The last sermon had to do with us as God's temple.

We are no longer.

God's presence no longer dwells in a physical building, but we, as His people, are called to be the temples of God.

Today, as we look at the next section here in 1 Peter, I would like for us to keep the message in mind as we look at this section, and I'm going to read this more as a quote than as a comment.

In this section, peter explains that since the Christian has been redeemed and purified and born again and is now the temple in which God's present dwells, he must conduct himself accordingly.

In this section that we're going to be looking at in 1 Peter 2, verses 11 through 17, we're going to see that Peter classifies us as believers into three categories strangers, citizens and servants.

1 Peter 2:11–17

I'd like to read 1 Peter, 2, 11 through 17.

1 Peter, 2, 11 through 17, starting in verse 11.

Beloved, I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Verse 13, be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors, as sent by him, to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.

I like to jump into verse 11, and the first phrase I'd like to look at is honorable strangers, and he advises them to stay honorable when it comes to associating with the Gentiles.

Let's remember that the readers that Peter is writing to here they were all dispersed as exiles into these areas where they currently are.

These areas were areas of darkness.

It was during the rule of Nero, under the Roman emperor, under the Roman empire.

They were strangers in this land.

Now, as we know, a stranger we know that a stranger oftentimes is quickly noticed and observed.

I maybe I didn't have enough courage to do it.

I thought about doing an object lesson this morning of getting somebody from the audience here to dress up as a stranger and, as I start preaching, to walk up here and sit on the front bench with a big old hat, sunglasses, just totally dressed like no one else here is this morning.

I think I can accurately comment that if that would have happened for a brief moment, or maybe even for the next five minutes, I would have had a hard time keeping your attention because the attention would have been on the stranger that would have been sitting up here.

So what does Paul mean when he says you are as strangers?

Now, obviously, in the physical sense of the word, they were strangers because they were dispersed as exiles into these parts of the country.

And they were strangers also in the aspect of they were part of God's royal priesthood, they were part of God's holy nation and they were in a world of darkness and wickedness.

So what is Peter's advice or commands for them?

I urge you, as sojourners, or strangers and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh.

Peter stresses the importance of being a Christian witness, even though they're looked at as strangers.

He calls us as believers to abstain and to honor.

He is encouraging us, as believers, to abstain from that which will destroy the soul, to not get pulled into what we've been physically put into, to not just want to blend in wherever we are, but to stand because of who we are, as God's image bearers.

Abstain or stay away from the passions of the flesh.

Then he gives that just an extra oomph when he says which rage war against your soul?

We all know of the war that's going on right now between Israel and Hamas and we hear and we read about the torrents of rockets and bombs that they're sending into the other's space.

They are waging war against each other.

And what Peter is saying here be on the lookout, be aware, as you're in these spaces, the wicked one will wage war against your soul with your fleshly lusts.

But you have to abstain because you are now children of me, you are now children of God.

First John 2, 15 through 16, do not love the world or the things of the world.

If anyone loves a world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world.

Romans 13, 14,.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

This morning we're talking about the believer's behavior.

In the verses leading up to this section, peter tells them because you're redeemed, because you're a regenerate people, god is now calling you.

God is now calling us his holy nation.

God is calling us the royal priesthood, the mediators between the unbeliever and God, the only thing that some unbelievers might see.

That is at all a recognition of who God is, because we're called as image bearers and it's because of this that Peter is advising the exiles here do not give in to your fleshly lusts.

You are the light in the dark world, turning your Bibles to Galatians, chapter 5, and like to read verses 16 through 24.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Galatians 5, verses 16 to 24.

Galatians 5:16–24

But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other To keep you from doing the things you want to do.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such there is no law, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

I'm going to speak for myself.

Oftentimes, when I read the phrase the lust of the flesh, for some reason I identify the lust of the flesh as sexual sins, and they definitely include sexual sins.

But at times I believe I put it in the box to where I don't realize that I might actually be committing sins of the flesh outside of sensuality.

She lists a laundry list of things in the category of sins of the flesh idolatry, fits of anger, strife, jealousy, envy, drunkenness.

I'm not going to read through all of them, but I wanted to mention some of these that some of us might find ourselves in falling into, maybe easier than sexual sins or sensual sins, whatever this includes.

Peter is urging them to do not fall into these abstain.

By falling into these sins of the flesh, we will mar who God is to the unbeliever.

We will mar and damage the image of God.

The world is watching how us, as Christians, act and behave.

We are the strangers to the unbeliever.

We are the different ones.

How are we conducting ourselves?

How am I conducting myself in the area of business?

Am I being honest?

Am I using Christianity in order to gain what is not mine?

There is nothing more appalling to a watching world than to hear a Christian speak about righteousness but to observe him acting like the non-Christian.

Let me read that again.

There is nothing more appalling to a watching world than to hear a Christian speak about righteousness but to observe him acting like the non-Christian.

There is nothing more damaging to the image of God than when his image bears say one thing and do another.

One of our core values at work is honesty, and by being honest we simply mean doing what we say we will.

And this morning am I too strong to say that there are no levels of honesty.

Either you're an honest person or you're not.

There are no levels of honesty.

Either we're an honest person or we're not.

Then he goes on.

Then he goes on to say keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God in the day of visitation, the day of visitation.

In the Old Testament this was a common phrase and often it was associated with either God's judgment or God's blessing.

And there's a passage, there's a specific passage back in Isaiah, chapter 10, verse 3, and then also in Jeremiah.

Isaiah 10:3

I believe it's in chapter 22, verse 27 or 27 verse 22.

I thought about going back there but for the sake of time I will not.

But in the King James it uses the phrase the day of visitation, isaiah it's on judgment and in Jeremiah it's more of a blessing.

Interestingly enough, in the New Testament the word visitation is connected to redemption Luke 1.68 and 69,.

Bless it be the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.

Luke 7.16, after Jesus raised.

This was after Jesus raised the widow's son.

Fear seized them all and they glorified God, saying a great prophet has risen among us and God has visited his people.

So what is Peter saying here, when he tells us his believers, and when he's telling the exiles here that they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation?

Peter is saying that when the moment comes, when God draws that unbeliever to himself, let's live our lives as believers in a way that the unbeliever can think back and say oh, that's what I saw in that person, that's what I'm feeling God bringing me to.

He will respond in faith because he remembers and was influenced by the good works of the believer that he was in contact with.

Now let's jump to verses 13 through 16.

Verse 13, be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to the governors, as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

We are called to be obedient citizens.

Now I think we would all agree that as sojourners and as strangers.

As a believer, we have a citizenship in heaven for us to redeem some day, but as of now we are all still earthly citizens.

We all belong to somewhere.

So a citizen is simply an earthly inhabitant of a town or a city.

We all have an address, or I imagine we all have an address.

So whatever address you're in, you are a citizen of that town.

As Christians, again, because we are God's people, because we are the royal priesthood, because we are part of his holy nation, we are called to show who he is by conducting ourselves in obedience to our local government.

Peter wrote this in the days of the Roman Empire.

Peter wrote this in a day when the Roman Empire was not a democratic government and the Roman Empire was not friendly to Christians, yet he still recognized the responsibility to the Roman government.

I like to read Romans 13, verses 1 through 7.

Romans 13:1–7

Romans 13, 1 through 7.

Let every person be subject to the governor.

Sorry, let me start over.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.

In other words, if we behave correctly, we won't experience the tear that these rulers are known for.

Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?

Then do what is good and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good.

But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is a servant of God and a Avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Therefore, one must seep in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience, for because of this, you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing.

Pay to all what is owed to them.

Taxes, to whom taxes are owed.

Revenue to whom revenue is owed.

Respect to whom respect is owed.

Honor to whom honor is owed.

As I was reading through this passage, and I was reading through the part of if we do something against the law, then we should be afraid of who we're facing.

Years ago, as I turned 16 and I got my driver's license, I did not have a good start in driving.

I got my driver's license in May and by September I had my first speeding ticket.

And as you do now if you're, if you had a speeding ticket before you turned 18, you had to appear in court.

Well, unfortunately for me, my court appearing date was postponed and before I appeared in court the first time, I got my second speeding ticket.

I was scared to go face the judge.

Now, if I wouldn't have done anything wrong and I would have met the judge in the courtroom or on the street, I could have had a friendly conversation with the judge.

There wouldn't have been that fear between me and him.

But because I was guilty, because I did not behave like I should have, because I made a mistake, I had a fear of the judge and, by the way, I did lose my license for three months and mom and dad said you're biking to work.

So I bought a new, new, brand new bike and I bike to work for three months and it was probably one of the best lessons I ever learned.

How are we conducting ourselves when it comes to the local authorities?

Now, I know we all make mistakes.

I know we all make mistakes and I know how hard it is to drive in a 35 mile-hour zone, and probably most of us have gotten stopped and have gotten reprimanded and have had to pay what was due.

We all make mistakes, but when we make a mistake and we don't own up to it, and then we say, well, we're gonna fight it because we weren't at Falter.

How are we as Christians acting when we actually do make a mistake?

How is our testimony when we associate with the local authorities?

The only time we are not under obligation to obey our rulers is if something is in contradiction to God's word.

Acts 5, 27 through 29.

And this was when Peter and the apostles.

They were miraculously freed from prison by the angel.

And where did they go?

They went right back into the temple again preaching, and when they had brought them, they sent them before the council and the high priest questioned them, saying we strictly charged you not to teach in this name.

You were here, yet here you have sorry, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

But Peter and the apostles answered we must obey God rather than man.

So there is a time when, if the government is asking from us something that is directly against Scripture, where we obey the highest authority which all other authorities are under, and that is God Himself.

In the country that we live in and in the towns and the cities where we live in.

We probably haven't met up with anything like that yet.

That time could come.

But unless it goes against what God is saying, we do need to obey and for sure, respect our authorities.

We, as Christians, are the ones that need to be doing good.

Why is that?

Like to read Jesus own words in Matthew 5, verses 14 through 16.

Matthew 5:14–16

You are the light of the world.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house In the same way.

Let your light so shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven.

We, as kingdom workers are called to prove the gospel by our actions even more so than by our words.

What is he saying when he's talking about the ignorance of foolish people?

I'm going to keep reading here in verse 15.

For this is the will of God that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

The meaning of ignorance in this context is simply to not be acquainted with something.

Our conduct is an excellent way to introduce people to who Christ is.

Do they want a part of what they see in you?

Do they want a part of what they see in me?

To the unbeliever people that we rub shoulders with day in and day out, like I mentioned before, we might be the first time they know that there is somebody like God or that there is something like the peace of Jesus.

How is my conduct attracting the ignorant unbeliever?

We're 16 and 17.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God.

We are not to excuse our freedom in Christ as an excuse to break the law and say that we are above the law because we're believers of Christ.

It should actually be the opposite way Conducting ourselves that they can see who Jesus is.

A hypocritical Christian is appalling to the unbeliever.

I think we've all heard of situations where we might have met and talked with somebody that we've been praying for and that person simply says from what I view, from what I've seen of this person or that person or this professing Christian or this believer, I want no part of that.

That is very, very sad and it is very damaging to the image of God, to those people Using our freedom as a cover up for sin is extremely dangerous and damaging.

The freedom in Christ should make us think like this we are God's workers rather than workers of iniquity, because we have the freedom in Christ.

We use that to be slaves for God and not slaves to sin.

We've been brought out of that bondage and given that freedom.

Galatians 5-13,.

For you recall the freedom, brothers only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to the flesh, but through love serve one another.

And then verse 17,.

Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.

The passage ends with four short commands honor everyone, not only fellow Christians, but all people.

We are to value every person as a soul for whom Christ died.

We come in contact with a lot of people and I know I've had the tendency of making first impressions, making inaccurate first impressions if I'm at a stranger, or have a tendency of, if I know of somebody that is an unbeliever and has openly confessed to being an unbeliever, to kind of hold hard feelings toward that person.

Peter is urging the readers to value every person as a soul that Christ died for.

Honor everyone, love the brotherhood.

There is a special love and closeness between brothers and sisters in Christ, in the local church and also in the church abroad.

There's a special connection between brothers and sisters in Christ and the faith we have, the love that the unbeliever is not familiar with.

It should burn in our hearts to show the unbeliever what we have and that he can be a part of this.

Next one is fear God.

The unbeliever makes light of the commandments of God and at times even mocks the judgment of God.

We, as believers, are called to approach God in awe and reverence.

We serve a holy God.

How am I viewing God?

Do I view God as this person that as soon as I do something wrong, he strikes me down?

Do I view God as I view my physical father?

How do I view God?

Fear God.

God is a God of love.

God is a God of justice.

Fear God and then honor the emperor.

This was again written during the reign of Nero.

We are called to respect, even when it doesn't make sense on why a certain individual could hold that position.

It doesn't matter what we think of that individual.

We are called to respect who God has ordained.

And I will admit, with the situation that our world is today, with the situation that America is in today, I have had a hard time respecting and honoring the current political governors, presidents.

I've had a hard time with that.

But it doesn't matter if I don't understand how somebody like that could even be in the position.

I am still called to respect, I'm still called to pray for them.

I'm called to respect even if I don't agree.

If it goes against what the Bible says, then we are called to stand on truth, but even then we still respect who God has placed over us.

Again, I will read my opening.

Since the Christian has been redeemed and purified and born again and is now the temple in which God's present dwells, he must conduct himself accordingly.

I'm going to read verse 9 here of 1 Peter 2.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellency of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

In light of that, the question that I would like to leave with myself and all of you here today is how am I displaying God's image through my conduct and behavior when interacting with others?

What are they feeling coming from me?

What are they observing?

How am I acting?

What is my behavior as a believer.

How is my behavior as a believer?

Let's bow in prayer, our Father God.

Thank you for who you are.

Thank you, lord, for being a God that redeems Lord.

We were all of us were in the state of the unbeliever at one time.

And, lord, as we go throughout our days and as we go about our daily duties, I pray that, as your people, that we could be a reflection of you, an accurate picture of who you are, that the love of you could flow through us, that the unbeliever could be drawn to you through what they feel coming from us.

So, lord, as we looked at this passage, I pray that you might grant the increase to what was shared and I pray that your spirit could be with us as we go out of these doors into the world in general and as we meet people that don't know you, that we could, through our actions and words, draw them to you by your Holy Spirit.

So, lord, we commit this into your hand.

I pray this on your name Amen.

I will just briefly open it.