How to live as Citizens of heaven

introduction

When I was a kid growing up with 2 brothers and a younger sister-My Dad in all of his fatherly wisdom knew that we often needed friendly reminders of what would happen if we misbehaved in Public. He always seemed to give us the same speech every time we went out in public. He would say “Dont forget who you are and act like it.”

In our Passage today Peter exhorts the church to look like who they are- To represent their father in Heaven to the world. To act like citizens of the kingdom of which they belong.

Text

1 Peter 2:11–12 (ESV)

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.

Peter in these simple two verses gives the church three ways they can act like who they are as citizens of heaven living in a hostile world.

Notice how He address the church....

BELOVED:

calling the church "Beloved," it is so much more than just a greeting.

Peter is reminding them of who they are in Christ.

. The term "Beloved" is a translation of the Greek word "ἀγαπητοί" (agapētoi), which is a form of the word "agape," love.

Agape love is a selfless Love, a sacrificial love, an unconditional love,

it’s a divine love that is unearned, its a love that is freely given without looking for anything in return.

By addressing the church as "Beloved," Peter is reminding them of the selfless sacrificial unconditional love that God has given them through the transformative power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Point number 1....TO live as citizens of Heaven we need to

REHEARSE:YOUR GOSPEL STORY

That changed everything in our lives.

Peter understood that if Christians are going to suffer well, we need to constantly be reminded that the gospel that saved us is the same Gospel we need everyday in our lives.

Brothers and sisters- Dont loose sight of the gospel that saved you that sanctifies you and will one day fully glorify you

Do remember who you once were before God, in sovereign love, chose to redeem you from your bondage of sin?

Do you remember how lost you were without any hope before Jesus lovingly stepped into your life?

Do you remeebr that the words of Eph.2:4-9 were written about you when it said that you were dead in your sins.

Friends do you remeebr the dilemmaYou had in your life before the gospel message radically made you knew?

Before the gospel We were completely Hopeless when it comes to gaining eternal life in heaven.

Psalm 14:2-3 “The Lord looks down from heaven at the human race, to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks God. Everyone rejects God; they are all morally corrupt. None of them does what is right, not even one!” NET

Romans 3:23 Sums up this depravity - this dilemma - that we all are part of as the Human race

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

But friends our depravity gets worse -Not only are we incapable of earning salvation, Our debt of sin requires an eternal punishment

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death,

DEATH = Seperation from God forever in a place called Hell

The Bible Describes hell in a very real and vivid ways.

I believe that as we rehearse the gospel message in our lives we need to be reminded of what God chose to save us from. we need to remember what the debt of our sin carried, and so I don’t share these verses to scare you from Hell but to point you to the Gospel of How far God was willing to go to redeem you as his own

Matthew 13:50 (ESV)

50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mark 9:48 (ESV)

48 ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

Revelation 20:15 (ESV)

15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 14:11 (ESV)

11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

We need to understand this morning that God Hates sin and there is no place for sin in God’s perfect heaven.

MAN’S DILEMMA-

Our dilemma is that not only does our own sin keep us from being acceptable to God, But it also condemns us to an eternity in hell apart from God

WE ARE IN DESPERATE NEED of GOOD NEWS

Friends God does not want to leave us in this helpless state- He offered us the Gospel.

His solution to our dilemma

God’s Solution

Listen to the words in Ephesians 2:4-5

“But God, -

Ephesians 2:4–5 ESV

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

GOD OFFERS THE SOLUTION TO MAN’S DILEMMA!!

He wants to bring Good news into Dead sinners lives

John 3:16 so beautifully describes this supernatural miracle for us,

For God [the supernatural Holy creator] SO loved the World, [ that’s us - Dead in our sins, and completely hopeless in our humanity , He loved us so much that he said I would do whatever it takes to redeem you from your eternal debt. and so what did He do? ] That He sent His only Son [Jesus a perfect supernatural solution to our delemma. and whoever BELIEVES IN JESUS- Will not Perish [ in hell] but will have ever lasting life in Heaven with God. (FOREVER)

In order to go from DEATH in Hell to life Eternal you must go through the gospel.

In order for your debt of sin to be paid in full- you must go through the gospel

“Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

This is the gospel Message- God in great love, despite our sin, Chose to pay our debt in full to redeem us and make us his own. And the only requirement we have to gain this freedom is to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Its that simple- Why -so that he receives all the glory from our salvation

WHEN YOU ACCEPTED This gospel messageYOU BECOME ...

A chosen race, a royal priesthood ,a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession and Glory

Friend when you accept Jesus as your Savior You become the Beloved of God.

Peter n calling these suffering christians Beloved is reminding them of the depth of God’s love that will never leave them nor forsake them even as they live as foreigners in this sinful world.

Brothers and sisters- we too need to be reminded of the great love God has bestowed on us through the gospel of Jesus Christ

He chose you

He called you

He redeemed you

He made you his child

and He will always love and protect you even in the hardest storms of life.

Friends dont lose sight of the gospel story that brought You life

Rehearse it and remember it often

Transition: Peter Goes on in verse 11

1 Peter 2:11 (ESV)

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

He says church if you are going to live out your heavenly citizenship you must refrain from Gospel-less Pleasure

REFRAIN FROM GOSPEL-LESS PLEASURE

Peter says “Beloved- I plead with you,

Don’t let this foreign world influence your life in Christ.

Remember who they are… This world that we live in hates everything Jesus is about.

Friends we need to understand that Jesus will not share the throne of your heart with this world.

in Gal 5 Paul he describes the works of the flesh

Galatians 5:19–21 ESV

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

THE passions of the flesh are selfish by nature-

they look for the temporary pleasures in this life,

They don’t care about other people,

they don’t care about eternity, ,

they don’t care about the creator God.

But the reality is this- even when we run to these worldly passions and experience their pleasure they ALWAYS leave us hurting and alone.

They never satisfy our hearts, the never fill up our desires they always leave us hurting alone, and in our sorrow,

Friends This is all we knew before the gospel stepped into our lives.

We need to understand that this is the biggest tool Satan uses to lead people down the path that only leads to eternal destruction in Hell.

He is the master at deceiving people into thinking this worlds pleasures are more filling than the gospel of Jesus Christ,

And frankly He is really good at what He does!

Friends do you understand that we have an epidemic in our country, Professing Christians are walking away from their faith in record numbers.

Barna group just put out some new research that shows that 59% of young people are walking away from church in the first 10 years of their adulthood.

Why because they have lost sight of the gospel message in their lives- They have walked away from the gospel and are looking for the pleasures of this world to satisfy their hungers.

Church family-This is a serious problem in our American culture

Peter Understood how hard it would be to live as Exiles in this tempting world.

He understood the foe that we were up against and as he closes this letter to the church He comes back to this point to remind them one more time how much they need to resist the gospel-less pleasures of this world

in 1 Peter 5: 8

1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Christian do you understand that there is a spiritual war going on for control of your heart.

and even though Satan is powerful and cunning and trying with all his passion to defeat you spiritually

The greatest enemy we face is not the devil but our own sinful desires.

DL Moody once said “ I have more trouble with DL Moody than with any man I know”

Friends when God saves you he makes you brand new - that old nature has been defeated through the precious blood of Christ,

But that selfish nature is still not ready to give up total control of your heart. He still wants you to feed his selfish desires.

Friends when we accept Christ -He gives us the ability to defeat this sinful nature in our lives, He gives us the Spirit of God to live in us,

and to convict us of our sinfulness,

to grow us in our christ likeness,

and to empower us to defeat the attacks of the devil in our lives.

but if we are going to win these battles of control for our heart, we must chose to follow Christ and Abstain from the passion’s of the Flesh, We must not let our old sinful nature quench the spirit’s leading in our life and lead us into the pleasures of this world.

Beloved, You are loved by God and because you are loved by God He has given you the ability to abstain from the passions of the flesh.

Don’t let your old sinful nature have a seat at the throne of your heart. live as the citizen of heaven you have been made to be.

Peter Goes on in verse 12

1 Peter 2:12 (ESV)

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.

If we are going to act like citizens of heaven in this world we must

RETAIN YOUR GOSPEL WITNESS

we are also called to Live Like Christ as an example of the gospel to the World

The point Peter is making is this- When we live lives that look Like Jesus and not like the world, they will see His gospel message through us. and accept him as their own and one day When Jesus Returns they will be in that crowd of saints glorify his name for the salvation they too received through the gospel message in their lives.

Story: a few years back I was in Ukraine on a missions trip and at the end our trip We had to ride a train about 200 miles through the hills and valleys of the Ukrainian country side. For some reason I got put in a train car all by myself with a Ukrainian family i did not know. As we were traveling it got really hot in that cabin and frankly really smelly, so I decided to open up the window and stick my head out to get some fresh air. As I stuck my head out of the window You could see their jaws drop on to the floor. They just sat their watching me to see what I would do next.

As I pulled my head back in the dad simply said You must me American, A kind of laughed and said how did you know? Because you act just like an American would act,

I said what do you mean? He simply said no Ukrainian would ever stick his head out of window and risk getting sick, And even the way you sit and the way you smile at everybody tells us who you are.

Friends if you are citizens of heaven it should be evident in your life. People should know that you are different by the way you act around them in this world.

Simply you should act like Jesus

In or text in Gal. that we looked at a few minutes ago , Paul doesn't just give us what the passions of the flesh look like , He goes to tell the church what the character of Jesus Looks like when it is lived out in our lives.

listen to what he says...

Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Friends If you have been made knew through the gospel of Jesus Christ- You no longer are selfish by nature seeking your own pleasures and desires.

You have been givenaknew life with a new heart, a heart that is to reflect the character and spirit of Jesus Christ in all you do.

When we love others the way that Christ loved us- We proclaim His gospel to the world

When we have joy and peace especially in our trials- we proclaim the gospel to the world

When we are patient and kind and good even with people who are annoying- we proclaim the gospel to the world

& when we are gentle in spirit and demonstrate self control even when things don’t go our way - we proclaim the gospel to the world.

Brothers and sisters do you understand that God has chosen you to be the conduit to carry his gospel message to your community your families and your friends?

and the way you live your life will either point people to Jesus or will turn them away.

I love the words of Jesus in

MAtthew 5:16

Matthew 5:16 (ESV)

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

BRING IT HOME.

Are you proud to be an American? Yah!!! We should be- We are citizens of one of the greatest nation ever to be on this earth

as citizens of America - We get to proclaim its glories to the wqorld. We get to share how amazing it is to be part of this free country.

The same is true for you and me in Christ

We are citizens of the greatest kingdom of all time- We are citizens of heaven!

a Perfect Kingdom where the creator of the world sits on the throne.

As we live on this earth we must remember where our citizenship lies

We must rehearse the gospel message in our own lives.

Remember the sacrifice and love God showed us through our salvation

2. We must reject the passions from this gospel-less world

Dont fall prey to the lies of self pleasure, run from them flea their grasp in your life

3. We must retain our Gospel witness in this world.

Live a life that looks like Jesus so that when the world sees you they see his gospel grace in their own lives.

pray