Living as part of God’s kingdom community should lead to a life that refrains from feeding our old nature...

At the church where I serve we have been spending our time together looking at a letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of 1 Peter, where we discovered that followers of Jesus have hope for the future that is greater than any trial. We then discovered the timeless truth that the hope we have in Jesus should lead to a life that is dedicated to looking like Jesus. We then discovered that the hope we have in Jesus should lead to a life that loves like Jesus.

And we discovered that the hope we have in Jesus should lead to us embracing our identity as part of God’s Kingdom community. We talked about the reality that our identity as part of God's kingdom community is built on the foundation of Jesus who entered into humanity to begin to usher in the kingdom of Heaven here on earth by establishing a new kingdom community that would be responsible for bringing the light of the kingdom of heaven into the dark spaces and places of this world.. Our identity as part of God's kingdom community is built on the fulfillment of God's promises and plan. And our identity as part of God's kingdom community is built for the fulfillment of God's kingdom mission in the world.

However, to truly embrace our identity as part of God’s kingdom community requires that we live out our identity as part of God’s kingdom community. But how do we do that? In other words, what does embracing our identity as part of God’s kingdom community look like? How should our identity as part of God’s kingdom community impact how we live out our day to day lives as followers of Jesus in the midst of a rapidly changing culture? How are we as followers of Jesus to respond to our faith being minimized and marginalized? How are we as followers of Jesus to respond when our faith results in us being ridiculed, criticized, and slandered?

To answer these questions, we are going to spend the next several weeks in a sermon series entitled Living as part of God’s Kingdom community. During this series, we are going to continue looking in 1 Peter, where we are going to discover several timeless truths about what it means to live as part of God’s kingdom community. So this week, I would like for us to spend our time together by jumping into the next section of this letter that the Apostle Peter wrote to early followers of Jesus, we will discover a timeless truth about how we are to live as followers of Jesus who are a part of God’s kingdom community in the midst of a rapidly changing culture. So let’s discover that timeless truth together, beginning in 1 Peter 2:11:

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

Here we see Peter, give the readers of this letter, and followers of Jesus throughout history, a timeless command that reveals for us a timeless truth when it comes to how we are to live as followers of Jesus who are a part of God’s kingdom community in the midst of a rapidly changing culture. However, to fully understand Peter’s command, we first need to define some terms.

First, when Peter uses the word urge here, this word literally means to make a strong appeal. What Peter was making a strong appeal to the readers of his letter to do was to abstain from fleshly lusts. Now to abstain is to avoid contact with or to avoid using or engaging something. And what followers of Jesus were to avoid contact with; what followers of Jesus were to avoid engaging were fleshly lusts.

When Peter uses the phrase fleshly lusts, he is referring to a desire for something that is forbidden that flows from our old nature apart from Jesus that is dominated by selfishness and rebellion. And it is our old nature apart from Jesus that is dominated by selfishness and rebellion that has a desire for what is forbidden by God. And because of this reality, Peter explained that these desires for what is forbidden by God wage war against the soul. In addition, when Peter talks about the soul, the soul refers to the center and seat of life that transcends our earthly existence.

Peter here is revealing for us the reality that there is a conflict that occurs within us as followers of Jesus between our old nature apart from Jesus and our new nature and identity that we have as a follower of Jesus who have the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.  In the core of our being, there is a conflict over which desires we are going to engage and satisfy. In the core of our being, there is a daily battle over which desires we are going to feed.

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 that is part of God’s kingdom community. Every day, we feed the desires that flow from one of these natures.

The question isn’t whether or not you are going to feed one of these natures; the question is which nature are you going to feed? And Peter recognized and responded to this reality by commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to abstain, to avoid, and to refrain from feeding the desires of our old nature apart from Jesus that is dominated by selfishness and rebellion.

Peter then explained that the reason why followers of Jesus are to abstain, avoid, and refrain from feeding the desires of our old nature apart from Jesus that is dominated by selfishness and rebellion is due to the fact that followers of Jesus are aliens and strangers. But what does that mean? When Peter uses the word alien here, this word was used in the culture of the day to describe someone who lived in a place that was not one’s true home. This word was used to describe someone who was a resident foreigner.

Similarly, the word stranger was used to refer to a person who was staying for a temporary period of time in a strange or foreign place. These words were used to describe someone who was not a permanent citizen of a country, but who traveled through and resided in the country for a period of time. In the culture of the day, much like today, foreigners and aliens did not fully participate in the customs or practices of the host culture that they found themselves residing in temporarily. In addition, much like today, foreigners did not have the privileges or responsibilities of the citizens of the host culture that they found themselves residing in temporarily.

Peter is addressing how followers of Jesus are to live in the unbelieving society and culture that they may find themselves in. Peter’s here is calling followers of Jesus throughout history to understand and remember that they were here for a temporary period of time. Peter here is calling followers of Jesus throughout history to understand and remember that they were no longer citizens of a world system that was hostile to God and that placed themselves in opposition to God and the kingdom of God.

Instead, as a result of believing, trusting, and following Jesus, they were now citizens of God’s kingdom community who were living in a place that was not their true home. And while they were to engage in the kingdom mission that they had been given by Jesus to bring the light of the kingdom of heaven into the dark spaces and places around them, they were to be careful that they did not feed the desires of their old nature that was dominated by selfishness and rebellion and that desired to embrace what was forbidden by God.

As citizens of God’s kingdom community, they were not to participate in the customs or practices of the culture that they found themselves residing in temporarily that embraced what was forbidden by God. As citizens of God’s kingdom community, they were to recognize the reality that they were foreigners who would not have the privileges or responsibilities of the citizens of the culture that they found themselves residing in temporarily.

However, while they may find themselves marginalized, ridiculed, criticized, and slandered for being citizens of God’s kingdom community, they were not to give into the temptation to feed the desires of their old nature apart from Jesus that were dominated by selfishness and rebellion so that they would fit into where they were residing temporarily. And it is here that we discover a timeless truth about how we are to live in a rapidly changing culture as followers of Jesus who are a part of God's kingdom community in 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. Friday, we will see Peter reinforce this reality by providing us a third reason why we are to refrain from feeding our old nature…