A Life of Submission Pt. 1

Scripture Reading: Micah 6:6-8

Recap

Far from Home series...

LIVING HOPE & ENDURING PERSECUTION

NOT of this WORLD, sojourners & exiles, just passing through.

Last week: THE SPIRITUAL HOUSE...Christ the cornerstone, us as living stones...our desires should be to long for spiritual things as a baby longs for milk & we are called to declare the excellencies of God...

Read Text & Pray

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Intro:

FIXED SOMETHING & FOUND out it STILL DOESN’T WORK right?

Or YOU’VE “BEEN FIXED” & still NOT WORKING right?

Likewise, WE are SAVED & CHANGED…BUT NOT PERFECTED

BUT GOD CALLS US to be a LIGHT, to SHOW OTHERS the HOPE & JOY of the Christian life & to do GOOD WORKS ..

Need:

The text we are looking at today instructs us in one way we can do this, and reminds us that there is a nonbelieving world around us watching how we live so we need to pay attention to this text today.

My life = NO STUMBLING BLOCKS for nonbelievers.

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Layout:

The Christian’s Fight against temptation (v11-12),

The Christian’s Submission to Government (v13-14),

God’s Will for Christians (v15),

and the Christian as a slave of God (v16-17).

Text:

Thought 1 (v11-12): The Christian’s Fight Against Temptation

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

BELOVED…

URGE (not command) LIVE like an EXILE!

ABSTAIN from the passions of your sinful flesh!

To abstain literally means,: “to avoid contact with or use of something” (BDAG) or “to be at some distance away from” (Louw-Nida).

STEER CLEAR, 100%, don’t touch it!

**We must fight these temptations, because they are fighting us…waging war against our souls!!

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(v12) keep CONDUCT HONORABLE… when they speak against you (inevitable) your good works will be a light!

How do you live before nonbelievers?

WE AREN’T called to be HYPOCRITES & put on a face! YET, we must BE DILIGENT.

**LOSING VOLLEYBALL this week, not letting frustration control!

We want to make the atheist question their unbelief with the lives we live.

Tom Schreiner - 1st century Christians stood out because they WOULDN’T WORSHIP GODS of their CULTURE...

Q- Do we have any gods in our culture that we have to face today??

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(Q) How will we respond as Christians?

(T) Let’s see a specific example Peter gives of how we can live our faith before nonbelievers.

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Thought 2 (v13-14): The Christian’s Submission to Government

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,

14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

Be subject/submit = 1st imperative today.

EMPEROR/King = TOP AUTHORITY

GOVERNOR/ roles below him...

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PURPOSE of GOVERNMENT/law enforcement = GOOD...

Riots last year -foretaste of lawlessness...

CHRISTIAN OBEDIENCE to government = IN THE LORD only...

Even Peter said, “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29)

When God & government clash..we follow God.

When they don’t, we obey laws & submit…model citizens!

(Sorry taxes aren’t unbiblical!)

(T) What is the result/purpose of all this?

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Thought 3 (v15): God’s Will for Christians

15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Ever wonder, “What is God’s will for my life?”

John MacArthur book… do God’s will from Scripture! Begin there!

NO NEED for SPECIAL MISSION if we’re NEGLECTING the COMMANDS in His Word!

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After seeing the result of a godly life, Peter finishes with a handful of commands.

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Thought 4 (v16-17): The Christian as a Slave of God

16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

All CHRISTIAN LIBERTY is FILTERED through a LENS of LOVE for OTHERS & SERVICE to GOD.

We are God’s servants- really God’s slaves...

Tom Schreiner says, “Genuine freedom liberates believers to do what is good. Those who use freedom as license for evil reveal that they are not truly free since a life of wickedness is the very definition of slavery”.

Paul the Apostle - a slave of sin or a slave of Christ!

**Not slaves of government, or of political party…primary affiliation is kingdom of God! Christian first!

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(V17)

First, he says that we are to “honor everyone.” Honor here means. “to show high regard for, to honor, revere” (BDAG) to respect (Louw-Nida).

ALL MANKIND is made in the IMAGE of GOD = deserves respect...

High standard, NOT JUST honoring THOSE who “DESERVE IT” - what reward is this (sermon on mount)

People know Christians for what they are against more than what they are for! Ouch!

2. Love brotherhood - family of faith

Universal & local.

3. Fear God.

Only God is feared. others = honored.

2 weeks ago, “conduct w/ fear”....God —watching.

4. Honor emperor/king.

no higher than normal man…but office deserves respect.

hope isn’t in government, etc. …but they deserve our respect. Even if incompetent, immoral, etc.

Command is for us…not conditional.

Intention:

So we see from this passage this morning that our worship response to God is: to abstain from sinful desires that still plague us, and to live honorably before nonbelievers as those who are exiles by our submission to governing authorities and our submission to God as His slaves.

(T) In addressing the way believers should live before nonbelievers, I want to consider how Jesus Christ, our example, lived a life above reproach before the world of his day.

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Cross:

PILATE- “This man has done nothing deserving of death”…asking crowd, “What evil has he done?”

UNDESERVING, he went to the cross…SUBMITTING HIMSELF...

BECAUSE of the CROSS & our FAITH in Christ, we are brought into marvelous light & are NOW EXILES! This is the foundation of this whole section.

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Takeaways:

Lives transformed by the gospel…no ammo for unbelievers to mock/criticize!!

Submit to government (in the Lord)…honor those in leadership.

Our Christian liberty must be considerate of others, although we are free, we are slaves of God.

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Application:

Honor the president & politicians, created in the image of God, especially when you aren’t happy with them...

Be careful with the comments, the memes, etc...

They can’t be put there without God’s permission. Our job isn’t to complain. Do our part & vote, and then honor those who rule/lead in America.

*Close in Prayer