Sermon Tone Analysis

Mission for Moral Distinction - 1 Peter 2:11-12

Intro: How many of you are willing to fight for a good complexion?

(I have with me some common facial care products.)

I mean, we go to battle for the sake of our complexion against pimples—with face wash, wipes, medication, and tubes of this and that acidic ointment.

Some go to war against age wrinkles with creams and essential oils and the like.

With tweezers we pluck out the dastardly eyebrow hairs that treasonously refuse to obey our command.

And for Pete’s sake, men, why do our wives have to TELL us that long nose hairs and ear hairs need to be trimmed?

:-)

If only we took as much care to cut out sin and live godly lives as we do for our facial complexion, and put as much effort into that as to how we tame our hair.

If only we cared as much for personal holiness (for moral beauty) as we do for dressing ourselves with fine clothes and cool clothes for external adornment.

Peter tells us that we should, that we must, care for moral integrity.

If we have indeed tasted that the Lord is good… since we, his people… 1:3-5… So we must 1:13-15… and 2:2-3.

Peter continues… We are living stones being built upon THE LIVING STONE into his spiritual house and to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices in every part of life as we worship him.

Unfortunately for many, they reject this cornerstone—Jesus Christ—and are therefore condemned because in their disobedient disbelief they do not accept and submit to him as Lord.

Not so with you who are truly His…

PRAY: Father, I ask you to enable me to speak with the passion of a saved sinner and with compassion for lost souls, (help me to speak) by the power of your Holy Spirit, from the pages of your Word, for the purity of your Church, to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ… and to do so with patience and perseverance (modeled by the Savior) for as long as you see fit to keep me in this ministry and on this earth.

And Lord, I ask for all of us here this morning, by your mercy and for your own glory, that you root out all evil passions within us and plant in us a pure desire to be conformed to your character.

In vv.

11-12 of ch. 2 we come to a transitional text to another major section of the letter (from 2:11 to 4:11)… like a brief prologue to this next series of exhortations in the letter.

- The focus seems to shift here from the relationship that believers have with one another to the way they (as a group and individually) relate to an unbelieving world—a world that is suspicious and often hostile toward Christianity.

- So Peter describes the conduct of the citizens of heaven among the citizens of the world…

Here’s an excellent summary of these introductory verses as they present the theme for the whole subsequent section of Peter’s letter: “Believers should live as aliens in this world so that unbelievers will observe their godly lives and glorify God by coming to faith in Christ.”

Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol.

37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 118.

Beloved, I Urge You…

The passionate plea of someone who dearly loves the Church and desires God’s glory - This is no trite, “Can I make a suggestion?” No, this is, “Beloved—those whom I love because you are chosen and beloved of God—I implore you, plead with you, exhort you (from a position of both sincere caring concern as well as from a position of authority based on the truth of God’s character and revealed word)…

I beg you to abstain from fleshly desires and to maintain a godly lifestyle.

To abstain from worldly passions (which are the very thing that is leading men to destruction and from which you have been rescued, purchased, brought out and set apart)… and to maintain a godly lifestyle (that is consistent with the beautiful character of the God who has adopted you and made you his child, and which has the power to bring conviction upon men, even those who seek to slander you and do you harm because you bear the name of Christ).

- Your holy living can expose to others the gaping whole in the life they’re living!

But before abstain and maintain, he reminds the readers again of their status with relationship to this world with its systems and its people.

We are foreigners and sojourners here, meaning…

As Temporary Residents of This World (because you are in Christ, with citizenship in heaven)

God’s people dispersed among the nations… - This kind of thinking for God’s chosen people dates all the way back to Abraham, who specifically described himself as an alien and stranger (Gen.

23:4).

“Abraham uttered these words in a context in which he had no property on which to bury his wife.

Similarly, the Petrine readers had no permanent home in this world.”

Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol.

37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 119.

What’s the point of thinking of ourselves as only temporary residents here?

You aim to live well here but with primary allegiance elsewhere—to the heavenly kingdom of God, ruled by Christ.

Such a perspective allows us to not be bound by materialism.

…To not set our hope in temporal things, people, governments, etc. - Our hope is fixed on Christ, on the character of God, on our eternal inheritance that is sure and that we look forward to.

…To willingly sacrifice earthly ties to serve the Lord even in painful separation from what and whom we consider our home here on earth.

- Wayne Grudem notes, “The knowledge that Christians have no true home here on earth has been of comfort especially to those who spend years and even lifetimes away from their earthly homes in the service of Christ.”

Wayne A. Grudem, 1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary, vol.

17, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 122.

Once again, now we come to a negative exhortation and a positive one, where Peter portrays an image of warfare against our sinful desires and of witness to a watching and often hostile world.

Abstain from Fleshly Desires

Natural passions of the flesh

1:14 the passions of your former ignorance… 4:2 of human passions, and v. 3 as examples of flaunting a lifestyle of such passions (which you used to participate in, but now you do not… must not)

Notice also that having the Spirit does not exempt you from fleshly desires:

How?

By choosing to submit to the Holy Spirit as he keeps you accountable to His revealed word in the Bible RATHER than giving in to earthly passions.

Here, Peter says to abstain, to remove yourself far away from them.

Such a command implies that inward desires are not uncontrollable but can be consciously nurtured or restrained—a needed rebuke to our modern society which takes feelings as a morally neutral ‘given’ and disparages any who would say that some feelings and desires are wrong.

IN FACT, they wage war against your soul.

To describe it as “waging war” gives some picture of the depth of the struggle

You are daily in the ring with sinful passion (an enemy that attempts to overcome and conquer you) - And when we give into it (whatever that passion is), it rules us.

Some of us are ruled by our sexual desire… others by greed (love of money)… still others by selfish ambition.

Have you not noticed that we can sometimes almost became equated with a vice that rules us? - The overbearing leader, the discontented wife, the rebellious youth, the angry child, the control freak, the overly-sensitive one, the opinionated know-it-all, the selfish one (me first), the crass/inappropriate talker, the cranky neighbor, … we could go on.

- When I say some of these, a person literally pops into your mind.

Now look in the mirror!

I have been most if not all of these things!

Ah! - If we do not wage war against them in abstinence of such desires, by removing them far from us, they will rule us.

To say that this war is “against your soul” helps us grasp the harmfulness of sin (Holding on to sinful desires brings you spiritual harm.)

How? (Practically speaking, how do these earthly/sinful/carnal passions harm you as you give in to them?)

They are the very thing that lead to the eternal destruction of souls, marking men as enemies of God and objects of His holy wrath.

(If you claim to be a Christian but habitually give into sin) They sap your own assurance (of sincere faith) - If the Bible says that as a new creation we should have new desires, then regularly giving in to wrong passions and especially continuing in wrong directions that God says are wrong… leaves us in a place where we lack certainty of our salvation.

They stunt spiritual growth (2:2)

Hamper witness (discredit your testimony/profession, 2:12) - Bring defamation upon Christ, hurt the witness of THE Church

Forfeit spiritual blessing (both now and potentially in eternity)

Rather, we are blessed by God for doing what is right even or especially when suffering for doing good.

(that’s the next point being made in that section of chapter 3…)

So, wage war against carnal passions… abstain from them (be distant from them, avoid them) AND

Maintain a Godly Lifestyle

We see now too that “Christians are to abstain from sinful desires not only for their own spiritual well-being but also in order to maintain an effective testimony before unbelievers.”

Roger M. Raymer, “1 Peter,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed.

J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 846.

Good conduct - This means a day by day pattern of life.

According to Peter, we make it our aim to proclaim the excellencies of God through godly living on a daily basis.

— Even or especially in familiar situations, our conduct should be different.

I was reminded this week by this text that even as a local church, we should not aim primarily to be known for the specificity of our doctrine (though that is good) nor even our philosophy of preaching (which we also believe is critical) but to be known for the sincerity and beauty of our godly living.

(The former are aspects of a church family that meets together and works well together, whereas the latter is a central appeal of the mission of Christ’s Church.)

Among the Gentiles - meaning unbelievers (in this overarching metaphor), carrying the theme of the NT believers being compared to OT Jews… - So, among unbelievers.

Can I remind you too that this means that you are not of the world but certainly among those who are still held captive by the world?

- If you make it your aim to never be near unbelievers because you’re afraid of contamination, who will bear witness?

(Of course, the balance here is that our nearest and dearest friends need to be believers who strengthen us and comfort us and hold us accountable to God’s word… and that we not make excuses for loving what the world loves because we’re merely being near the world.

That’s foolishness.

What I am saying is that your cursing coworkers need the accountability of your presence among them, not swearing but speaking kindly and truthfully, not cheating but being a woman of integrity, not faking morality but being a person of sincere and evident faith.

Our family members whom we love that are living in sin need the constant reminder of our loving presence that holds their feet to the fire that we disapprove of their sin, not because we are perfect, but because God and his command is perfect.

That jerk of a neighbor NEEDS you to keep mowing his lawn and saying hello and asking, “Can I pray for you?”, even while he grunts and spits (and while dog poop is suspiciously appearing regularly in your fenced off back yard!).

Tell me, if not you, who is going to be that evidence of the long-suffering, self-sacrificial love of Jesus if you refuse to be what God has called you out of darkness for?

Who will be that light?

SO THAT...

When they slander you (wrongly) as evildoers - As believers, we are viewed with suspicion and hostility precisely because we do not conform to their way of life (4:4).

Our testimony among unbelievers is an additional reason to abstain from sin, to die to self, to deny the passions of our old life… otherwise, they will rightly accuse us of being hypocrites!

Now, this does not mean of course that you’ll never mess up and need to confess and seek forgiveness, but that you don’t have patterns of life that prove contrary to your claim of pursuing Christ.

Take note, by the way, that you can’t call it slander when you’re actually doing the very thing they say you’re doing.

“These people say that Jesus changes everything, but then they sleep together outside of marriage just like the rest of us.

They pursue money as an end in itself.

They claw their way to get what they want for personal gain.

Their leaders behave just like us and lord it over those in their charge.