The Church Is Bigger Than You Think Pt. 3
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Take your Bibles and be finding 1 Peter chapter 2…Verses 9-12
Tonight, we continue to work through these verses on the thought of “The Church Is Bigger Than You Think” - This will be message number 3 tonight.
So far, we have looked at “Our Position”, “Our Purpose”, and “Our Past”...
1 Peter 2:9–12 (KJV 1900)
9 But ye are (this is our position) a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye (this is our purpose) should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 (this is our past) Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
11 (Here is where we are tonight in our study) Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
These verses are all about what we are as a Church! It’s bigger than you think! So many think Church is just something you do because you were raised to go to Church; Mama and Daddy went to Church, Grandma and Grandpa went to Church, and getting saved is something I need to cross off my bucket list of things to do before I die, but it’s BIGGER than any of that!
Much of what most people do in the Christianity looks nothing like it does in the Bible…We have a need to dig into the Word and see what God says about His Church...
Let’s get on with our study tonight; In verse 11, right off the bat, we see:
Our Pilgrimage
Our Pilgrimage
The Christian life is a process…it’s a pilgrimage.
It’s not a sprint, but it’s a marathon…The goal is that you finish! It’s not about perfection, but it’s about progress!
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Now, Peter has discussed separation by birth (2:2–3) and by belief (2:4–10). Now he turns to separation by behavior.
Sooner or later, there has to be a practical side to all divine truth.
Look in verse 11 of our text:
A Compassionate Reminder
A Compassionate Reminder
1 Peter 2:11 (KJV 1900)
11 Dearly beloved...
Never forget that God loves you.
Everything God asks us to do is motivated by His love for us!
We may question the motives of people, but listen, you never have to question God’s motives because everything He does or asks us to do is always wrapped in His marvelous and eternal love for us.
3 The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying,
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love:
Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
When trials come, remembering that God allows what He does in His love will help us!
A Clear Requirement
A Clear Requirement
1 Peter 2:11 (KJV 1900)
11 ...I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
The word “beseech” is a tender word. It means “to call to one’s side in a tender way; to comfort, instruct, beg, encourage, exhort, or strengthen.” It is from this word we get the word for the Holy Spirit who is our Comforter.
In this section, Peter is about to share with us some important and difficult duties assigned to every Christian.
Notice first of all that Peter refers to us as strangers and pilgrims, clarifying our attitude and our position in this world. We are strangers. This word means “a foreigner, a resident alien; one who lives in a place without citizenship.” How fitting is this word in describing believers. Paul stated that our citizenship is not here, it is in Heaven. That is the place of our final home. Our conversation or citizenship is in Heaven.
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
This world is not our home! We’re just passing through! We are temporary dwellers down here! We have no permanent residence here! I’m just visiting this planet!
A stranger is a person who is away from home, and a pilgrim is a person who is on the way home.
As strangers and pilgrims we are to abide as temporary citizens. We are to live flat out for Jesus and give our all to Him every day and thank Him for all He has done! As sojourners and pilgrims we can live with joy down here because we are heading up there!
We are told in this verse to “...abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;”
The Christian life is a warfare. We must stay out of the enemy camp if we expect to win. The old Evangelist Billy Sunday used to say: “If you want to stop sinning, stay out of the devil’s neighborhood.”
You might wonder what are fleshly lusts?
We find a list of them in Galatians:
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
We are in a war! It takes work to live the Christian life! It is difficult to deal with these things because our flesh betrays us. Our flesh lets these sins through the gates. Peter states that they war against the soul.
10 My son, if sinners entice thee,
Consent thou not.
Listen to what the Bible says about Moses in:
24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
D.L. Moody said, “I have more trouble with D.L. Moody than with any man I know.”
If we yield to these sinful appetites, then we will start living like unbelievers all around us, and will become ineffective witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not win one battle, and the war is over! It is a constant warfare, and we must be on our guard all the time.
A Conversation Respected
A Conversation Respected
1 Peter 2:12 (KJV 1900)
12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles...
We are to conduct ourselves as strangers and pilgrims that do not give in and cave in to the lusts of the flesh, but live for Jesus in a wicked and perverse world.
Peter is talking about living life in such a way that non-believers take notice! We are to live all out for Jesus in this world!
Conversation here is referring to our way of life...
Our conversation needs to edify others and exalt the Lord Jesus, and be used to evangelize lost sinners, but life is more than words that come out of our mouths.
Warren Wiersbe wrote, “We do not witness only with our lips; we must back up our ‘talk’ with our ‘walk.’ There should be nothing in our conduct that will give the unsaved ammunition to attack Christ and the Gospel. Our good works must back up our good words.”
A Common Resistance
A Common Resistance
1 Peter 2:12 (KJV 1900)
12 …that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers...
Peter continued and stated that there are some folks who will slander you just because you are a Christian. In the early church, Christians had to deal with this problem repeatedly. In the middle of the first century, Christians were a distinct minority and often were the object of slander and subsequent persecution.
The early church was often looked down upon and persecuted from all sides.
Their good was spoken of as evil by the religious rulers and Jews who rejected Jesus.
Their good was spoken of as evil by the Romans because the Christian’s would not burn incense and hail Caesar as Lord.
People accused Christians of cannibalism because of Jesus, giving the Lord’s Supper said, “This my body. This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”
People accused Christians of being sexually immoral in all areas because they called their meeting the Love Feast. Mixing this and the cannibalism together, the Christians were often accuses of killing and eating children at their love feasts, which was absolutely preposterous!
The world still speaks against Christian’s as evildoers, intolerant, bigots, narrow-minded people. The world’s conversation is horrible concerning Christian’s!
I still cannot get over the Covenant Christian school shooting back in March in Nashville; the rhetoric in the aftermath of that, I never would have thought, and if it had been anyone else, anywhere else, we wouldn’t have seen the same narrative, but it blew my mind how silent our government was on that, it blew my mind how many articles and people come out showing the girl that killed those people that day; she was the victim because she was transgender…No, she was a murderer, there are three adults and three children dead because she murdered them! She was not a victim! The people she murdered were victims!
You don’t get to do bad stuff and say you’re a victim, but that’s where I society is!
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
That put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
How are we to respond to this resistance? Again, it goes by to faithful, godly, living…Just stick to what we know…Do right, follow God! Because it will lead to:
A Confounding Result
A Confounding Result
1 Peter 2:12 (KJV 1900)
12 ...they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
The result of the world investigating the consistent godly lives of Christians is that they glorify God in the day of visitation. It is by the faithful and godly lives of Christians that others are drawn to Jesus. God gets the glory when the saints are what they are supposed to be!
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
The Bible knows nothing of secret and selfish Christianity. Our faith is to be fleshed out in this watching world.
William Barclay wrote, “Here is a timeless truth. Whether we like it or not, all Christians are an advertisement for Christianity; by their lives, they either commend it to others or make them think less of it. The strongest missionary force in the world is the Christian life.”
The world watching the Christian is always going to have resistance, but let your life demonstrate the truth and confound this world…
John Philips speaks on the day of visitation. He wrote, “God visits people and nations, and such a visitation can be either in grace or in judgment. We cannot be sure which kind of visitation Peter has in mind here. Perhaps he anticipates the Lord visiting unbelievers in mercy—the godly lives of believers being used by Him as a factor in their conversion. Or perhaps he envisions the Lord visiting His enemies in judgment and using the good lives of His people as an added item in their indictment. Either way, those who are visited will be forced to acknowledge the goodness of God’s people and thus bring glory to God.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
The Christian life is a big deal! The Church is bigger than you think!
Our godly lives make a difference! We are affecting the world one way or the other!
Are our lives making a difference and bringing glory to God?
Do our lives bring shame and reproach on the name of Jesus and the cause of Christ?
Who are you living for today?