“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 (Gal. 1:13; I Tim. 4:12; I Pet. 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 this word “behave.”
Of the 13 times the New Testament uses this word, I Peter uses it six times (1 Peter 1:15, 18; 2:12; 3:1, 16).
PRINCIPLE:
Evangelism requires life as well as the lip.
APPLICATION:
This word means a 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 especially 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. They may watch our manner of life for 25 years. However long it takes, the Christian must watch his 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, life-style evangelism.
This is great I truely love this exposition
I do too I use it for teaching sunday school