Preached Sunday, April 21, 2013 from 1 Peter 2:11-12
Theme: As sojourners and pilgrims, we must live carefully so that unbelieving people will be inclined to believe the gospel we preach.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
We’ve been studying together from the apostle Peter’s first letter; and specifically from 1 Peter 2. But before I read this morning’s passage to you, I’d like to share with you from another ancient letter.
* * * * * * * * * *
This other letter was written around 112 A.D. by a man named Pliny. He was a Roman governor, given authority over a province in what is now modern Turkey. His letter was written to his friend Trajan—who happened to be the emperor of Rome.
Pliny had a problem; and he needed the emperor’s advice. Several people had been brought before his court who were found guilty of the crime of being Christians. They needed to be prosecuted according to the law; but he was unsure just how the emperor wanted him to proceed with the cases that had been brought before him.
You see; the followers of this growing sect were considered to be dangerous criminals and a threat to the security of the state. The charges that had been made against them, however, were based on misunderstandings. Sometimes, they had been charged with criminal acts with which they had nothing to do. Others had charged them with the crime of ‘atheism’, because they wouldn’t offer sacrifices to the emperor or to the imperial gods but only to one God. Some charged them with ‘cannibalism’, because it was said that they gathered together in groups—just as their Leader had taught them—to ‘eat His flesh’ and ‘drink His blood’. They were accused of committing incest, because Christian husbands and wives would refer to each other as ‘brother’ and ‘sister’. And of course, they were often viewed as upsetting the civil rule and order of the empire because they refused to obey laws that were contrary to the moral laws they claimed to have received from their God.
In his letter, Pliny explained that those who were accused of being Christians had been examined were allowed to go free if they recanted—so long as they gave proof of their denial by cursing the name of Jesus, evoking the names of the gods, and offering incense to the image of Caesar. Those who would not recant were executed; or, if they were citizens, they were sent to Rome for further examination.
But then came the problem. When Pliny examined those who recanted of their faith, and asked them what it was that the Christians were doing in their meetings together, he found that the things they were charged with didn’t seem harmful at all. He wrote,
They asserted . . . that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food—but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations.1
Governor Pliny viewed these Christians as criminals according to the state; but if they indeed were criminals, they didn’t seem to him to really be very dangerous ones at all. He felt it necessary to further investigate the truth—which he said he did even through torture; but reported that he discovered nothing else but what he called “depraved, excessive superstition”.2 And so, he wrote to ask what he should do about a problem that didn’t really seem like a problem at all.
Now; let’s turn to 1 Peter 2:11-12. I agree with one Bible commentator who said that the letter from Pliny is a perfect commentary on our passage this morning from the apostle Peter. He wrote to his believing brothers and sisters and said;
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation (1 Peter 2:11-12).
* * * * * * * * * *
You see; the Christians to whom Peter wrote—as well as the Christians a few years later in the days of Pliny—were suffering persecution for their faith. And we also live as Christians at a time in which pressure is being applied against our faith.
Now; it may of course be that our suffering is not to the same degree that they experienced—or that many of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world experience for Christ today. But nevertheless, we have been called by God to live-out our commitment to Christ in an environment that is growing increasingly hostile to that commitment. It may even be that we ourselves will—one day, living in this very culture—be called upon to suffer for our faith in some of the ways that those early Christians did. And I believe that what Peter says in these two verses are meant to tell us how we are to live in such times in order to best advertise our Christian faith to this fallen world.
You see; the unsaved people around us—our unbelieving family members, and friends, and neighbors, and workmates, and schoolmates—are all watching our lives. They can’t help but do so; because God has placed us before them for that very reason. And they are evaluating the Christian faith—not just on the basis of what we say to them, but also on the basis of how they see us live.
Some of us were talking the other day about the amazing events we saw on the news last week in the Boston Marathon tragedy. We talked about how law enforcement officials, FBI agents, and just common everyday citizens in the city of Boston, were able to identify the two bombing suspects in just a few hour’s time on the basis of a tiny image from a surveillance video. One of the guys in our group said that we must be the most ‘surveillanced’ people in human history. But do you realize, dear brothers and sisters, that in the midst of this most ‘surveillanced’ of all cultures, we ourselves are the most scrutinized people within that culture? People are carefully watching our lives—scrutinizing us carefully, and longing to see if we prove that our testimony about Jesus Christ is true! It’s vital that we realize that fact—and that we live carefully and deliberately before the watching world!
These two verses actually serve as the introduction to a whole new section in Peter’s letter that tells us how to live the kind of lives that testify of our faith in Jesus Christ. He touches on such areas as our respect for our government and our leaders, our faithfulness on our jobs and in relation to our employers, our relationships as husbands and wives, and even our responses toward those who do us wrong. And it’s all so that we will know how to live in such a way that the unbelieving people around us will be more inclined to believe the truth of the gospel we preach.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; I really appreciate the gentle way that Peter begins the words of our passage this morning. He calls his readers, “Beloved”.
Some of those folks back then probably weren’t living the way they should. Some of them had probably not—at times—been the best representations of the Christian faith to those around them. Some of them may have even been an occasional cause for unbelieving people to say, “If that’s the kind of people you are, I don’t want anything to do with your Christian faith.” I’ve got a feeling that such would be the case of many of us here today. That’s just the way it is when imperfect people like us are given a message to declare to a fallen world. I know that I have probably turned some folks off to the Christian faith. We’ve all failed on one occasion or another.
But thankfully, our failure to consistently live like what we are doesn’t change the fact that we truly are what we are in the sight of God. The church is still what Peter says it is in verses 9-10;
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy (vv. 9-10).
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we really are “beloved” of God—even if the unbelieving people of this world may not think so. And knowing that I am eternally beloved and precious to God doesn’t make me want to be careless. It makes me want to live all the more as God would want me to live. Isn’t that true for you?
And with that in mind, I also appreciate that Peter doesn’t ‘command’ us, or ‘threaten’ us, or ‘order’ us. Instead, he appeals to us, and pleads with us, and urges us; and says, ” Beloved, I beg you . . .” It’s as if he’s appealing to us to do what is right and logical and sensible in light of the glorious truth of who we are in Christ.
I hope that’s how we will receive these words together this morning—not as a strong rebuke or as a harsh command; but as a sincere, loving appeal to behave like what we are in the light of God’s wonderful grace.
* * * * * * * * * *
Notice that Peter begins by reminding us . . .
1. WHAT WE ARE (v. 11a).
He writes, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims . . .”
I’ve noticed that those two words get translated in several different ways in different versions of the Scripture. The New International Version, for example, translates them “aliens and strangers”. The English Standard Version has them “sojourners and exiles”. It’s hard to pinpoint the intended difference between those two words in the original language—if a difference is even intended at all.
But one thing seems very clear. They both communicate to us that this world is not our home. We are a people who have our home elsewhere; and we’re just passing through on our way to a better kingdom. As the apostle Paul puts it in Philippians 3;
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:20-21).
We have, as it were, a dual-citizenship. We are citizens for a short while of this earthly city, and this earthly state, in this earthly nation. But that’s not our real homeland. Our real, permanent, lasting citizenship is in heaven. And it’s there that we consider our true home to be.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews was describing some of the great heroes of faith in Hebrews 11—Old Testament saints who lived with a sacrificial trust in the promises of God. And in the midst of his description of them, the writer pauses and says,
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them (Hebrews 11:13-16).
That’s what those Old Testament saints confessed themselves to be—strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And dear brothers and sisters in Christ; that’s what you and I are also to view ourselves to be. Near the end of his book, the writer of Hebrews says,
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come (Hebrews 13:14).
And let me ask; is that how you view yourself?—just a sojourner and a pilgrim on this earth? Have you learned to view yourself as someone who is a citizen of another kingdom—a glorious and eternal kingdom that is not of this world? Do you see yourself as under the authority of the one who is greater than all earthly powers—the King of kings and Lord of lords? Do you confess that, when it comes to this world, or the things of this world, you cannot settle down on them?—that you’re just passing through?
That’s what God’s word says that we are in Christ. That’s why the people of this world look at us as if we don’t belong here—because we really don’t! That’s why we look so ridiculous whenever we try to live in a way that’s indistinguishable from the people of this world—because that’s not who we really are!
May God help us to think of ourselves as He says we are—just sojourners and pilgrims on this earth who are in the service of a better King; and who are traveling on our way to a better kingdom!
* * * * * * * * * *
Next, as sojourners and pilgrims, notice . . .
2. WHAT WE ARE TO DO (vv. 11b-12a).
Because we are not of this world, Peter urges us to “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul . . .” The people of this world don’t abstain from them. They give themselves over to them wholeheartedly and are led around by them. But that’s not who we are. We’re to live differently.
When Peter speaks of things that are “fleshly”, he’s not talking about the normal things we need in order to live on earth—things like food, and shelter, and sleep, and marriage. He’s not saying that we need to live like monks. Rather, he’s talking about things that are “fleshly” in the sense that they are contrary to God’s expressed will for our lives. Paul spoke of “fleshly lusts” in Romans 7; when he said,
For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (Romans 7:22-23).
He taught that there is a principle in us—a product of our fallenness in Adam—that is called “fleshly” or “carnal”. It fights against God’s good will for us. “Because”, as Paul wrote later,
. . . the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be (Romans 8:7).
The people of this world give themselves over to this carnal principle rather than to the law of God. For them, the “flesh” is the guiding principle of what is to be considered “right” or “wrong”. They give themselves over to “fleshly lusts” as a normal course of life on this earth. But we are not to do so. We are sojourners and pilgrims on this earth; and we’re not to live as the people of this earth live.
This is because those fleshly lusts, in actual fact, wage war against our souls. The people of this world think that life is found in gratifying those lusts. But in reality, they destroy the inner man that God has redeemed for Himself. They war against the soul in that they will keep someone who is committed to them from being able to enter the true, eternal, lasting kingdom of which we are citizens. In 1 Corinthians 6, the apostle Paul wrote;
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
In Galatians 5—just before the “fruit of the Spirit” passage—Paul wrote;
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).
And in Ephesians 5, he warns us that—as citizens of a heavenly kingdom—we must keep ourselves from such practices and have no part in them; saying,
For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them (Ephesians 5:5-7).
If I may put it this way, we’re citizens of a kingdom that is glorious, and rich, and beautiful, and dignified. But we’re also sojourners and pilgrims who are traveling through a land that is fallen, and poor, and ugly, and often dishonorable. And we are to keep ourselves distinct and separate from the wicked practices of this land that we’re passing through—not out of pride, but out of humble recognition of who we are and who we belong to.
Dear fellow pilgrims; ask yourself—are you bringing dishonor to your true citizenship by embracing the practices of this world? If so, turn from them—and be what you truly are in Christ. As His people, we are to “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul”.
* * * * * * * * * *
But this doesn’t mean that we’re to become hermits—physically separated from the people of this world. We’re to live distinct and separate lives—but we’re to take that ‘distinction’ and ‘separateness’ with us out into this world were it can be seen. The apostle Peter next goes on to say that we’re to lives as holy ‘sojourners and pilgrims’; “having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles . . .”
When Peter writes here of “Gentiles”, he’s speaking as a Jewish man to Jewish believers. But he’s using the word as a figure of speech for the unbelieving people of this world. It’s like what Paul wrote when he said that we should “no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk” (Ephesians 4:17). In the New International Version, it’s translated “pagans”. Peter is telling us that we are to live our lives in Christ in an honorable and good and excellent way in the sight of the unbelieving people of this world. In fact—literally—he says we should live lives that are “beautiful”.
When I think of this, I think of what the apostle Paul wrote in the second chapter of his letter to Pastor Titus. He gave Titus instructions on how he was to teach the Christian people to live in a good and honorable manner in every area of life. I hope you don’t mind if I read at length what he wrote to Titus. He said,
But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things (Titus 2:1-10).
Living honorable lives was an important thing for them to do because it had an impact on the unbelieving people around them. This was so that, as Paul said, “the word of God may not be blasphemed”, or so that unbelieving people “may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you”, or that so the Christians “may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things”.
And it wasn’t just to make a good impression on non-Christians. It’s because good, honorable, excellent behavior is what we’ve been called to! Paul went on to write;
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works (vv. 11-14).
Dear brothers and sisters; as sojourners and pilgrims on this earth, we are to make sure that we live like what we are! We are to live as citizens of heaven who live with a “negative” aspect and a “positive” aspect in mind. Negatively, we are to “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul”; and positively, we are to have our conduct “honorable among the Gentiles”.
May God help us to do what we’re to do as His sojourners and pilgrims on earth.
* * * * * * * * * *
And finally, I ask you to notice . . .
3. WHY WE ARE TO DO THIS (v. 12b).
Amazingly, we’re to live lives of distinction on this earth in order to invite others to become sojourners and pilgrims along with us! Peter wrote that we’re to do all this before the people of this fallen world; “that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Now; you and I will be observed. There’s no way around that. We have been put on this earth in order to be observed. If we truly have the life of Christ in us, then it cannot be hidden. And if we faithfully live for Him, we will be spoken against because of it. The experience of those early Christians in the days of Governor Pliny will be our experience as well.
But let’s remember what the Lord Jesus said about it all. In His Sermon on The Mount, in the fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, He said;
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-16).
The day of visitation that Peter wrote about is not just a reference to judgment. It’s a reference to the invitation of God’s grace toward unbelieving people to repent of sin, realize that the things that they spoke against God’s people were not true, and to believe on Jesus Christ and glorify Him! And we—as faithful sojourners and pilgrims—are what God uses to help point them the way to Him!
Dear brothers and sisters; we are sojourners and pilgrims in this world. We’re just traveling through on our way to a better kingdom! Let’s make sure that we live such lives of holy distinction in this world that we invite others from this world to follow Him as well!
Pliny, Letters 10.96-97, http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/texts/pliny.html (April 2013).