Published on
June 30, 1997 in
1 Peter.
Read Introduction to 1 Peter
“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.”
glorify God in the day of visitation
“Visitation” is a demonstration of God’s power (Genesis 50:24f; Exodus 3:16; Job 10:12; 29:4). This is the coming of divine power either to benefit or for judgment.
“Visitation” is the day of inspection, a day of reckoning for non-Christians. This is not the visit of judgment but the visit of the person of God in salvation.
Non-Christians will sit-up and take notice of your life if it is consistent. And our concern is about the inner life, it will manifest itself in our outer life.
Principle:
God visits the life of every non-Christian to bring them to Christ.
Application:
The “day of visitation” may simply be the pay off by God. It is the day that comes in the life of every person. It may be a tragedy, a frightful accident. It may be surgery, a bitter disappointment, a terrible financial loss.
God uses these experiences to bring people to Christ. Your testimony will come back to them. They will remember what the reality of your life is like. It all comes back to them on the day of visitation of God’s sovereign act upon their lives.
Experiences in life can bring us up short. That is the time when our heart is tender. That is when we can see the love of God more clearly. Those who were lost may now turn to Christ. They will then see the reality of your life. Their mouths are shut in silence. All they can do is glorify God because of your testimony.
Published on
June 29, 1997 in
1 Peter.
Read Introduction to 1 Peter
“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.”
they may, by your good works which they observe
A godly life will ultimately stop their slander and even cause them to glorify God.
The word “good” occurs twice in this verse. The first time it is translated by the word “honorable” and this time by the word “good.” A good life produces good deeds.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
“This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men” (Titus 3:8).
“Observe” means to view carefully as a personal witness. Non-Christians will carefully watch your testimony.
Principle:
What the Christian does proclaims the reality of what he believes.
Application:
God does not want us to become religious recluses, or hermits. God’s view is that we insulate ourselves from sin not isolate ourselves from those who sin. God does not want us to become monks and retreat into monasteries shut off from the world.
Christians should expect to be viewed as speckled birds or queer ducks by those who do not know Christ. Because we do not participate in their wild parties or enter into their life-styles, they view us as odd.
Christians should attend their testimonies with godly lives. This verse is an appeal to match our witness with our lives. We cannot evangelize others if our behavior is not consistent with our professions. God wants us to witness with our lives to win the lost.
We cannot have influence on the world by joining their values. We influence them as a pilgrim. We cannot root ourselves in their values if we are going to win them to another viewpoint. Assimilation into the world not only hurts the Christian but it minimizes our impact on the world.
On the other hand, we must not isolate ourselves from the world. Our highest calling is to win those who do not know Christ to Himself.
Published on
June 28, 1997 in
1 Peter.
Read Introduction to 1 Peter
“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.”
that when they speak against you as evildoers
“That” – in what thing. The very thing in which the world speaks evil of the Christian.”
As evildoers” – they seek to discredit the testimony of Christians. When God comes to scrutinize our conduct will give rise to the glory of God. He will make known the real truth about our lives.
“Evildoers” means to speak down. They love to run down the reputation of Christians. They are in the business of adversely criticizing Christians. The testimony of Christians makes them feel guilty. This happened in Christ’s life as well.
This is unjust slander. Christians of the first century were accused of disloyalty to the government because of their loyalty to King Jesus. The Roman government viewed their testimonies with great suspicion.
Principle:
Non-Christians are inveterate enemies of Christians with a positive testimony.
Application:
Slander is an occupational hazard of the child of God. If our lives are different because we have come to Christ, we will stand out as a speckled bird.
Non-Christians love to downgrade Christians. They don’t want anyone to put confidence in you. They don’t want someone with a testimony to get ahead and hold credibility before others. They will say anything to slur or belittle you. They love to degrade you in the opinion of others who make take notice of your life. This is especially true in the media.
Slander will try your soul. The natural reaction is to fight back and vindicate yourself. You want to stick up for your rights. You will lose your testimony and blow your platform to speak to others if you do.Your testimony is more important than justifying yourselves. You do not have to get your own way all of the time. This may cost you something, buy your testimony is worth it.
Published on
June 27, 1997 in
1 Peter.
Read Introduction to 1 Peter
“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.”
honorable among the Gentiles
The word “honorable” means lovely, good to look upon. Christians must make their lives so beautiful to look upon that the slanderers of their enemies may be undeniably demonstrated as false.
“Gentiles” is a synonym for non-Christians. It is the word for heathen, nations, pagans (1 Thessalonians 2:16; 4:5).
Principle:
The best argument for Christianity is genuine Christian living.
Application:
Whether we like it or not, every Christian is an advertisement for Christianity. By our lives we either commend Christ to others or we make people censure Him or think less of Him.
Since the word “honorable” means “beautiful,” we adorn our testimony by our behavior. It is the outer life that strikes the eye. Is your Christian life winsome? Is your life attractive? God wants us to live a life appropriate to our profession. Our life should match the gospel.
We often hear the phrase, “What you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” Another phrase is, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear a sermon any day.” This is especially true in the home. Preaching to relatives day in and out will not win them. Living the life before them will make a much greater impact. They watch and study us.
The closer we live to people the less we need to say. There are certain things we avoid even though they may not be sinful. They may be course, off-color, shady, and beneath the dignity of the child of God.
The Christian is an ad for God. God not only wants us to live a life of integrity but He wants us to appear to live that life as well. We can repel others from Christ by indiscretion. One bad testimony can do more damage that a dozen positive ones.
Published on
June 26, 1997 in
1 Peter.
Read Introduction to 1 Peter
“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.”
Christians abstain from sinful lusts for two reasons:
1) for their own spiritual well-being
2) for an effective testimony before non-Christians.
Today we come to the second reason for abstaining from sinful lusts.
Having your conduct
“Conduct” focuses on our daily behavior. It means to behave or live as a manner of life (Galatians 1:13; 1 Timothy 4:12; 1 Peter 1:18; 3:16). Literally, it comes from two words: back and to turn. Therefore it conveys the idea of to turn back, return, to move about in a place. It means to move back to a point or area from which one has previously departed. God views our Christian life as a daily sojourn of behavior. We can translate it as “behave.”
Of the 13 times the New Testament uses this word, 1 Peter uses it six times (cf. 1:15, 18; 2:12; 3:1, 16).
Principle:
Evangelism requires the life as well as the lip.
Application:
This word conduct means manner of life. God is concerned about our conduct as much as our talk.
We have often heard the phrase “What you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” Another saying is “I’d rather see a sermon any day than hear one.” These truths are specially crucial in our conduct in the home. If we live with non-Christians, it is not profitable to preach to them day in and out. We must preach to them with our life, not our mouth.
We will not have to say much about the gospel in the family until the time comes when they are open to the gospel. They will watch and observe us, sometimes for 25 years. However long it takes, Christians must watch their conduct.
The farther removed we are from people the more we have to use the lip. The closer we are to people, the more we employ, life-style evangelism.
Published on
June 25, 1997 in
1 Peter.
Read Introduction to 1 Peter
“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”
against the soul
Fleshly lusts will try to capture our soul; they war “against the soul.” This leads to the problem of kinks in our soul. When lust patterns control our life, we have a soul-kink. We do not build up these kinks overnight. This soul-kink produces self- pity and pride, envy, jealousy, hatred, implacability, vindictiveness, hostility, fear, worry and anxiety. Spiritual hoopla will not overcome them.
We must come to the place of Paul when he said, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). It is not through mental discipline or any other human technique. It is the power of God that overcomes soul-kinks. We can win no spiritual battle with human ability. As Paul goes on to say, “So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin.” We must accept God’s technique and his provisions to overcome soul-kinks.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Ephesians 6:12-20).
Principle:
War against the soul is a hot war, an all out frontal attack.
Application:
We have the idea that we can do anything we please. We are our own boss and we run our lives. If we have this attitude, we are headed for defeat in spiritual war.
God wants to equip us with armor to fight the spiritual war but we must first submit to his right to be the General in our army. That means He has the right to give me direction. He will dictate the terms under which I fight for Him in a hostile world. That means unconditional surrender to General Jesus. That means we take all our orders from Him.
We must check in with the General before we take a single manoeuvre. The wonderful thing about General Jesus is that he is omniscient. He can see over hills and around corners. He knows all the problems we might face. We can trust him with our future.
We see this principle n Plutarch’s Moralia. Question 39 asks why are the soldiers simply sitting in the camp without fighting the enemy. Plutarch records the answer: “It is more important to obey a military command than it is to slay an individual soldier…he who asks leave to perform the offices of a soldier [our word for 'war'] renders himself accountable to the regulations of his general.” It is more important that we follow the commands of General Jesus to execute our own strategy.
Published on
June 24, 1997 in
1 Peter.
Read Introduction to 1 Peter
“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”
which war
The word “war” means to do military service, serve in the army, to serve in war, to undertake a military campaign. The word “war” carries the idea of active military service.
The New Testament uses image of war for the Christian life (1 Corinthians 9:7; 2 Corinthains 10:2ff; Philippians 2:25; Philemon 2). Paul does not merely walk the Christian life but he engages in spiritual war.
The Christian life is a good war controlled by faith.
“This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme” (1 Timothy 1:18-20).
“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
James 4:1 also has the destructive aspect of war in view. This time in relation to inner disagreement that leads to wars and fights. Inner tension produces outer conflict.
“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:1-2).
Principle:
Christians are in a spiritual war.
Application:
This world is not a friend of grace to help us on to God. Most of us are totally unprepared and unequipped to operate as strong Christians in a hostile environment.
The Christian has an external, internal and an infernal foe. The external foe is the world. The internal foe is the flesh. The infernal foe is the Devil. These foes are not visible as we find in military campaigns today.
This is a battle to which there is no armistice. The only way to fight the Devil is to first submit to God and then resist him. James 4:7 says, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
Published on
June 23, 1997 in
1 Peter.
Read Introduction to 1 Peter
“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”
which war
The word “which” connotes quality – of the kind which; which are of such a nature as to. These lusts carry the quality of aggression. They war against the soul. They take offence in the war of our soul. Lusts are not latent but dynamically active.
Principle:
Lusts are aggressive and take the initiative against our soul.
Application:
If lust wars against our soul, our soul should war against it. Sin weakens and debilitates the soul by assaulting its faculties. Sin wages war against the Christian’s true values.
Those serving in the army of the Lord Jesus must take note that the Devil places fleshly lusts in our lives to defeat us on the battlefield of daily Christian living. These lusts are part of the strategy of the military campaign of the Devil to destroy the believer. They perform the office of a soldier. They have the discipline to destroy us.
If it means a subtle withdrawal to ultimately defeat us, the Devil will strategically withdraw lust to come back at a more vulnerable time. He will withdraw lusts and we think the battle is over. “We sure got the victory there,” we say. This leaves us vulnerable to greater assault and greater defeat.
We are up against a mighty strategist. The lusts of Satan are at his command. His tactics are beyond human resources to combat. We must leave the strategy to General Jesus. We are not on familiar territory. We’re on the Devil’s territory. The Devil knows the mountains, valleys and plains of the territory on which we are fighting. He has the advantage, only if we meet him on his own terms.
Published on
June 22, 1997 in
1 Peter.
Read Introduction to 1 Peter
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”
abstain from fleshly lusts
“Abstain” means to hold yourself back from. The phrase “abstain from fleshly lusts” means to hold the self back constantly from fleshly lusts. Anything that is incompatible with our fellowship with God is a fleshly lust: lust for power, lust for personal approbation, materialism lust or lascivious lust.
A lust is simply a craving. Some desires are legitimate. We have a God-given desire for food, drink and sex. “Fleshly lusts” are carnal appetites. This is the human nature apart from God. It is our fallen nature. This is not only gross lust but lust of any kind.
These lusts attack the soul (Galatians 5:19-21). This involves more than sexual sins but also attitude sins such as jealousy, envy, hatred, resentment. God wants us to avoid fleshly lusts (Acts 15:20,29; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 5:22; 1 Timothy 4:3).
Lusts originate from the Devil. They are the desires of the Devil.
“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:14).
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).
“And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24).
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Ephesians 2:1).
“Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22).
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men , 12teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:1).
“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).
Principle:
God wants us to hold ourselves back from fleshly lusts.
Application:
The Savior wants to manage our affairs. Yet we insist on doing it. We attempt to run our own life. “I know how to run my family. I don’t need any help from God.”
Fleshly lusts will consume us. We will become a slave to them because they will wage war against us.
God does not want us ruled by our lust patterns. The lust pattern is seeking to neutralize our lives. God’s Word gives us an appreciation for God.
Published on
June 21, 1997 in
1 Peter.
Read Introduction to 1 Peter
“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”
as sojourners and pilgrims
Peter challenges Christians of Asia Minor to live the Christian life. He makes his appeal on how we view ourselves in this world. He wants us to view ourselves as “sojourners and pilgrims.” This world is not our home. We are just passing through. Our home is heaven.
“Sojourners” – those who settle alongside non-Christians. This word comes from two words: alongside and house. It means to have one’s home alongside of. This is a person who lives in a foreign country where he has no citizenship rights. His home is somewhere else. He is an alien.
The word “pilgrims” comes from three words: alongside, upon and pagan. This is someone who lives alongside pagans. He stays temporarily in a place that is not home. He is different from a pagan. Christians hold different values than those around them. Christians live on earth temporarily.
Christians are not citizens of earth. We are citizens of heaven. We simply sojourn on earth. We are pilgrims passing through a foreign country.
“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).
Because we are citizens of heaven, we should live like citizens of heaven. God wants us to act in this world like we would act while visiting a foreign country. Whenever I travel in foreign countries, I carry my passport. My passport gives basic information about me: “Name: Grant C. Richison. Birthplace: Detroit Michigan. Birth date: ??!!” I go to foreign countries on a mission – to advance the cause of Christ. God has placed you where you are to represent your home – heaven.
Before we became Christians we were strangers to Christ (Ephesians 2:19). We were strangers to God and to heaven. We had little inclination toward God. We didn’t care about God. Now that we have become Christians we are strangers down here (Psalms 119:19). We have friends and relatives over there. Each year we have more friends over there. Some of us have more friends over there than we have here.
Note the order – strangers and pilgrims. Invariably we quote these words backwards – pilgrims and strangers. However, we cannot be a pilgrim until we take our place as a stranger down here. Every day we are one day closer to home.
Principle:
Christian fit into a different scheme and hold different values than the world.
Application:
We will not be here forever. We are not earth-bound. Why hold to this life so tightly? One day we must go. We can’t take it with us. We should hold things of this life loosely. Success and money will not make a big impression in heaven.
Are you homesick for heaven? Christians do not fit into the scheme of things down here. The world tries to force us into its mold. They do not like to be reminded that there are higher standards. We reject their values. We reject their philosophy of life. We march to a different drum beat than the non-Christian. We are going in a different direction. Ths is not our permanent residence. We are just passing through. We are heaven-born and heaven-bound.
God leaves us on earth to be light and salt. We are here to influence others for Christ. We do not want to go to heaven alone. We want to take others with us: father, mother, brother, sister, friends. The Lord might just as well take us to heaven now if we are not going to take others with us.
