This week,
we have been looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the
New Testament of the Bible called the book of 1 Peter, where we discovered that
living as part of God’s kingdom community should lead to a life that refrains
from feeding our old nature. In 1 Peter 2:11-12, we see Peter reveal
for us three reasons why living as part of God’s kingdom community should lead to a life that refrains from
feeding our old nature.
First, in the first part of verse
11, we see that we are to refrain
from feeding our old nature because we are strangers here for a short time. As
followers of Jesus, who are a part of God’s kingdom community, we are to
understand and remember that we are strangers living in a place that is not our
true home. And as followers of Jesus, who are a part of God’s kingdom community,
we are to understand and remember that we are strangers living in here for only
a short while.
Then, in the
second half of verse 11, we see that we are to refrain from feeding our old
nature because we are in a conflict for our soul. As followers of Jesus, who are a part of
God’s kingdom community, we are to understand and remember that we are in
constant conflict with our old nature that desires what is forbidden by God
because our old nature has pledged its allegiance to the things in the world
around us that are hostile to God and that place themselves in opposition to
God’s Kingdom Community.
And as
followers of Jesus, who are a part of God’s kingdom community, we are to
understand and remember that we are in a conflict with our old nature for the
center and core of our being. You see, this is not a minor issue; at stake here
is our soul, which is the center and seat of life that transcends our earthly
existence. And in this conflict, we will do one of two things: Either we will
choose to feed and satisfy the desires that are forbidden by God that flow out
of our old nature apart from Jesus that is dominated by selfishness and
rebellion. Or we will choose to feed and satisfy the desires that flow from our
new nature and identity that we have as a follower of Jesus who is part of
God’s kingdom community.
And as
followers of Jesus who are part of God’s kingdom community, we are to engage in
this conflict in a way that refrains from feeding our old nature. Today, we
will see Peter reinforce this reality by providing us a third reason why we are
to refrain from feeding our old nature in 1 Peter 2:12:
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.
Now when
Peter uses the phrase “keep your behavior excellent”, this phrase, if
communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded
something like this: Make sure that you are living out your day to day life as
followers of Jesus in a way that is in line with the high moral standards that
Jesus calls us to as His followers. Now a natural question that could arise
here involves what Peter means when he uses the phrase among the Gentiles. When
Peter uses the word Gentiles here, he is referring to those in the world around
us who are not believers in Jesus. Peter is referring to non-Christians, to
those who do not buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church thing.
Peter here
is revealing for us the reality that as followers of Jesus who are a part of
God’s kingdom community, we are a part of God’s kingdom community while living
in the midst of the kingdoms of the world. Notice that Peter does not call
followers of Jesus to withdrawal from the culture. And notice that Peter does
not condemn everything about the culture. Instead, Peter calls followers of
Jesus throughout history to engage in the culture in a way that embraces the
aspects of the culture that line up with the message and teachings of Jesus
while refraining from those things in the culture that arouse a desire for what
is forbidden by the message and teachings of Jesus. By doing so, these
followers of Jesus would be revealing and reflecting their distinctive identity
as a follower of Jesus in the midst of those who do not believe, trust, and
follow Jesus.
Peter then
explained that by living out their day to day life as followers of Jesus in a
way that is in line with the high moral standards that Jesus called them to as
His followers, 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. But what does that mean?
When Peter
uses the word slander here, to slander is to speak ill of or to defame someone.
You see, as Christianity spread throughout the known world, there were many
people who spoke ill of and attempted to slander this new movement of Jesus and
His followers. For example, in his writings called “The Annals”, the Roman
historian Tacitus described Christianity as a dangerous superstition and
Christians as a race detested for their evil practices. In addition, in his
writings called “Nero”, the Roman writer Suetonius considered Christianity to
be a mischievous superstition.
There were
many people who viewed this new movement in history called Christianity as
being evil and who viewed early gatherings of followers of Jesus as being
filled with evildoers. Many who were opposed to Christianity claimed that Christians
were guilty of incest, because while married, they called each other brother
and sister. In addition, Christians were accused to be cannibals that drank the
blood and ate the body of someone, which is how they referred to communion. Christians
were also accused of being atheists because they didn’t have a statue of their
deity when most other religions at that time did.
And because of that reality,
Peter commanded followers of Jesus to live out their day to day life as followers of Jesus in a way that is in
line with the high moral standards that Jesus called them to as His followers,
because as they embraced the aspects of the culture that lined up with the
message and teachings of Jesus while refraining from those things in the
culture that arouse a desire for what is forbidden by the message and teachings
of Jesus, they would reveal that the accusations against them were malicious
and unjust slander that was designed to discredit them.
Peter
reinforced this reality by using the phrase “as they observe them”. Now the
word observe means to pay close attention to. You see, Peter recognized what we
all tend to recognize, which is that people watch strangers, or those who they
perceive as being strange, more closely. Peter recognized that as these early
followers of Jesus lived as citizens of God’s kingdom community, that they
would be watched closely by those around them as they lived distinctively
different lives than those in the community around them.
Peter was
concerned with the key question “Are followers of Jesus representing Jesus
well? What is the reputation of followers of Jesus in the eyes of unbelievers?”
Peter then explained that, as followers of Jesus represented Jesus well, the result
would be that those who did not believe in Jesus would glorify God in the day
of visitation. In other words, when Jesus returned to usher in God’s kingdom
community in its fullest sense, those who were not a part of God’s kingdom
community would enhance the reputation of God as a result of the influence that
followers of Jesus had on their lives by how they had lived out their day to
day lives.
As followers
of Jesus lived out their day
to day lives in a way that is in line with the high moral standards that Jesus
called them to in the face of slander by those who rejected Jesus, their life
would influence the opinion of those who slandered them in a way that enhanced
God’s reputation upon Jesus return. And
it is here that we see Peter reveal for us the reality that we are to refrain
from feeding our old nature because we are called to live a life that is of
high moral quality.
As followers
of Jesus, we are called to live a life of high moral quality in spite of being
spoken of as evildoers. As followers of Jesus, we are called to live a life of
high moral quality because those who do not believe are watching all our
actions. And because those who do not believe are watching all our actions, as
followers of Jesus we are called to live a life of high moral quality that
enhances the reputation of God among those who do not believe by how we behave.
As followers
of Jesus who are a part of God’s kingdom community, we are a part of God’s
kingdom community while living in the midst of the kingdoms of the world. As
followers of Jesus, we are not to withdrawal from the culture and we are not to
condemn everything about the culture. Instead, as followers of Jesus, we are to
engage in the culture in a way that embraces the aspects of the culture that
line up with the message and teachings of Jesus while refraining from those
things in the culture that arouse a desire for what is forbidden by the message
and teachings of Jesus. By doing so, we will reveal and reflect our distinctive
identity as a follower of Jesus in the midst of those who do not believe,
trust, and follow Jesus.
So here is a question to consider: Are you representing
Jesus well? What is your reputation in the eyes of those around you who do not
buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church thing? What is the reputation of this church
in the eyes of those who do not buy the whole Jesus Bible church thing?
And what are you feeding? Are you choosing to feed and
satisfy the desires that are forbidden by God that flow out of our old nature
apart from Jesus that is dominated by selfishness and rebellion? Or are you
choosing to feed and satisfy the desires that flow from our new nature and
identity that we have as a follower of Jesus who is part of God’s kingdom
community?
Because the timeless reality is that living as part of
God’s kingdom community should lead to a life that refrains from feeding our
old nature...
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