The Good Life
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The Good Life
The Good Life
For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
Opening Prayer
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
“Make a defense” Aplogia
foundation of what we are called to do as witnesses to the Gospel
“Yet do it with gentleness and respect”
To understand more fully what we called to do here
We must understand broader context of this scripture
We are going to move a little bit through scripture
Ultimately what I want you answer this one important question
What does it mean to be a witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Desire the Good life.
For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
“Love life and see Good days”?
What is Good life?
subjective: Money, health, entertainment
This actually a quote from the Old Testament
Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
“The Fear of the Lord”
the “Good Life” is synonymous with Fearing the Lord
Right relationship with God.
What should be true about such person?
How do you know you have a relationship with God
We know that is only found through faith in Christ
But what type of person you are is can also be described with
A focus on what you say:
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
A lot of scripture dedicated to “taming the tongue”
Lies, gossip, slander, boasting, hatred
malicious words that come from people’s mouth
Today would include the horrible things people type
messages, social media
Simplified:
“Keep from speaking evil about people and stop lying”
Illustration: Secret Clearance
In Navy I working toward a certification that required Secret Clearence
introduced to “Need to Know”
You have proved to be trustworthy, but if you don’t a r valid reason to know the information, you are not privied to the information.
Why are you telling someone this thing you are saying?
A focuses on what you do:
Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
Turn away from evil and do good
notice the contrast between EVIL & GOOD.
“turn away” implies a decision on your part
when given the opportunity: turn from evil
Seek peace and pursue it
Seek and Pursue
indicates a constant, persistent effort
even in the face of opposition to peace, you still pursue it.
This could be peace with others, or peace with God
The reward of those who seek “The Good Life” … favor with God
The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
Don’t really need to elaborate too much on those verses, do I?
You want to be able to go to God when you face trails?
“His eye are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry.
You want to live life described for your own pleasure in a way that the bible describes as evil?
“The face of the Lord is against those who do evil...”
“...TO CUT OFF THE MEMORY OF THEM FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH” (Yikes)
The Good Life Challenged
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
I think most would agree that living a “good life” is better than living a “evil” one.
But what about those who question their strength to do so?
Peter gives a sort of logical argument to living this life for God.
Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
In other words, what bad could happen to you if you are a Godly person?
That seems pretty logical … except we know that there are horrible things that happen to godly people.
(What kind of argument is that)
The argument is one of getting the proper perspective...
But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
Plain an simple:
We do not seek to live a good life because of what the world has to offer. We seek to live the good life because of what God has promised.
Will we suffer for righteousness sake? YES you will
Will God always be there to bless us for living for Him? also YES
How can they really harm you when God has promised to bless you?
The Good Life Defended
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
Here we come to the focus of this sermon.
God Christ as Holy
Always be ready to make a defense for your hope in Christ
but do it with gentleness and respect.
Culture of “Theologians”
They have a tremendous amount of knowledge on the fact of the bible. (even brag about how much money they’ve invested in their library.
But their are lifeless and void of any kind of love.
They know facts ABOUT God but they don’t understand what He is talking about in His word.
You need take on the responsibility of knowing how to defend your faith.
How do you answer the questions of those who oppose or simply don’t believe what we believe.
You may be able to win an argument with facts
But you will change their hearts with the truth.
Closing Prayer