We Are Not Keeping Up With The Joneses

1 Peter 2:9–12 (ESV)

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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

Everything is Different Now

As I said earlier, my wife and I were very fortunate to take a trip of a lifetime over the last couple of weeks. Some people have asked me why the trip, the location, and the duration. What I shared with them was that Joanna and I were married young. Real young. And we’ve been married for 19 years now.

So if you are doing the math we were married when we were 15. It’s legal where we come from.

I’m kidding…

But we were married young, and for the first eight years of our marriage one or both of us were in school. Either getting our under graduate degrees, or our graduate degrees.

We had wanted to go to Europe, but we were in school and working full time and we just weren’t in a place to make this trip happen. We always said when we finished school we would go.

Well as soon as Joanna finished grad school, she got pregnant with Jaden.

Funny story… we weren’t planning on having kids that soon after school. We wanted a break and we wanted to do some traveling. So when Joanna found out that she was pregnant, she didn’t celebrate, she mourned! Like she cried, and it was like a death.

Furthermore… when we went to the hospital for our first appointment, she was already over 3 months pregnant. We were in some serious denial/ so busy with life that we didn’t stop to even process what was happening.

When the nurse told us that Joanna was not only pregnant, but that there was a baby coming in six months we had such a look of shock. I mean, I don’t know what our faces looked like, but it was enough for the nurse to stop talking, and then say, “You know you have options...”

We laugh about it now, because of course we don’t believe in options. But what was going on with our faces that the nurse felt the need to tell us that.

Anyway, I say all of that because once Jaden came, everything was different now.

And in life, we have moments that change everything. We wanted to travel sooner, but we had a family now and our traveling took a back seat to our growing family.

In life things happen and life is never the same.

Transition

I am beginning this series by taking us to the writings of Peter because he reminds us that everything is different now in the life of the believer.

The Exegesis

The theme of Peter’s letter is so relevant to us today because he is writing to remind followers of Jesus of how they are to live in a world that is growing in hostility towards them.

Now, can we just stop right there and say that we do well to understand what Peter is saying as we are living in a culture that is becoming increasingly hostile towards followers of Jesus.

Now, I need to qualify that statement. The hostility that we are facing would be regarded by some in other countries as very accommodating. I cringe a bit when an American Christian believes they are being persecuted because persecution in this country is nothing compared to persecution in other countries. Countries where the Bible is a banned book. Countries where Christians can be killed for their faith.

So, just know that our hostility is much different than other areas of the world, and yet our culture is in fact shifting.

The values that we uphold aren’t relevant.

The values that we uphold aren’t current.

The values that we uphold are called oppressive.

So while I don’t want to gaslight our version of persecution it would also be negligent to not admit that the times., they are changing.

But this is not new.

Like the writer of Ecclesiastes famously wrote, “there is nothing new under the sun...”

So we look to the writing of Peter so that you Dad and Mom can see a blue print on how we are to live in a culture that is shifting.

We look to the book of Peter to gain wisdom and insight on how our families can thrive, and not just survive.

Salvation is Here

As I consider our text today I want to give you three things that you need to build your family on, and here is the first. Salvation is Here and Jesus is King.

Peter reminds his audience of this:

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Why does this matter and how does this affect my family, Pastor?

Too many families have lost sight of this great gift that we have. Unlike the those without Jesus, we have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus.

Families that are surviving have fallen into this when they lose sight of their salvation.

Families that are surviving stopped appreciating what we have in Jesus.

Families that are surviving have stopped seeing Christ as enough for us.

You see, to Keep up with the Joneses is to live with the expectation that if I keep up those around me I will be fulfilled in my life.

This type of thinking will cause you to live on the proverbial hamster wheel of life.

You place fulfillment in stuff.

But stuff has never been enough.

All throughout our Bibles we read stories about people who looked for fulfillment in things that they didn’t have.

But can I tell you that when you life your life like this you will be chasing the wind?

We don’t build our life on something, we build our life on someone. We don’t build our families on some thing we build our families on someone. And that someone is Jesus.

Start With This

So before I move on to the next thing that I see in the text, I want to make sure you get this.

Come on, here in our family meeting I need for you to get this.

If you want your family to thrive, you need to build your family on the person of Jesus.

We aren’t following what others are doing, we are following the way of Jesus.

We Have A New Family

Being a follower of Jesus has so many life-changing benefits, but let me tell you about another one.

When you have been baptized in Christ, you have been baptized into a new family.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

I need to make much of this, because the church has been diluted to an event that you attend and not a family that you belong to.

The word “church” comes from the Greek work “ekklesia” and it means “a called out assembly”.

I know that we use the word church to refer to a building, or a service, but the original word for church was not that. When the word church was used it referred to a people group.

Church is not a building, it is people.

Church is not an event, it is people.

We all belong to the Church. And because we belong to the Church we have a place in this new family.

Let me talk on this some more...

The Church is the fulfillment of God’s word to Abraham when he told him, “I will make you the father of many nations… I will make you fruitful; I will make nations of you.”

So as we remind ourselves of the salvation that we have in Jesus, we need to become aware that we are part of a new family.

Yes your family, you are part of a new and bigger family called the church.

It is a place that is to come alongside you and to help you discover who you are in Christ.

The church is a place where you can come in any condition and be loved and welcomed as you are transformed into the likeness of Christ.

The church is the place where when you can celebrate your victories together, and where we can carry one another’s burdens.

And as I say all of this, I need to encourage some of you to keep this community in the right place in your life’s priorities.

As I said a minute ago, church has been diluted to an event to attend if it fits in your schedule.

If the weather cooperates.

If you feel like coming.

If there’s nothing else going on, then we’ll go to church.

We have become so far removed from what the first followers of Jesus believed about the church. The early church saw their gatherings as essential. So essential that they risked their very life to gather.

When we were in Rome I was aww struck to stand in the coliseum. Yes, a part of that is because of how much I loved the movie Gladiator. But more so because I was standing in a place where Christians were fed to animals simply because they believed in Jesus. That happened in that very coliseum that I stood in.

And I contrast that to how we treat the church with social contempt today.

Parents, I honor you for bringing your children here today.

Children, some of you may not want to be here today. You may be wearing your parents out every Sunday morning as they ask you to join them. You don’t understand why your parents love this place so much… but let me tell you that they are more in love with a person than a place. They are more devoted to one another than a place. Their desire for you is to discover and receive Jesus, just as they have received him. They want for you to discover one another just as they have discovered one another. They know that the best shot you have in this life is to build it on Jesus.

Save Your Soul

Let me get to the last bit of counsel that we receive from Peter in our text.

After we are reminded of our salvation, and after we are reminded of the family that we now belong to, he then encourages us to keep our conduct honorable.

Let me reiterate the order…

First, he counsels us on how we are to relate to Jesus.

Second, how we should relate to one another within the church.

Finally, how we should conduct ourselves with others who do not share our beliefs.

Our love for God and our love for others will overcome evil with good.

Let’s read together how Peter encouraged us to do this.

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.

Hold on there for a second… Peter says when they speak against you. Not if they, but when they.

Listen to me church… you are going to be misunderstood. And when you are misunderstood someone is going to speak against you.

And when this happens, you can react one of two ways.

You can act according to your old nature or you can act according to your new nature.

For some of you this is hard. You come from a tough background and you’ve been waiting for someone to pop off so you can lay hands of them. And, I’m not talking about praying.

That’s your old nature. That’s the you without Jesus. That’s the you without the church.

But now that you have been saved, when someone speaks against you it’s your good deeds that need to do the talking.

It’s your good deeds that are going to tell the world about Jesus.

It’s your good deeds that are going to be an example of your faith.

I want to quote one of my favorite Pastors.

We can’t let people come to church looking for God and only find us.

Our lives need to tell the story of Jesus.

Our conduct needs to make much about Jesus.

Conclusion

Lighthouse, I know that some of you may have come looking for some “how to’s” and something very practical when it comes to your family.

How do I stop cussing out my kids.

How do I keep loving my wife.

Hey, I promise we’re going to get there.

But the practical application begins with spiritual formation.

James, the brother of Jesus said, “Faith without works is dead.”

But I want to add that “works without faith is empty.”

I don’t want my home to look like it’s in a good place, I want to know that my home is in a good place. My marriage is thriving. My kids are thriving. We have built our family on Jesus and on his church. We aren’t perfect, but we are on our way.

Call

Today, my call is for anyone who has not yet received Christ in their life.

Receive Christ today, and begin to build your family on Jesus.