People of Excellence

Let’s take a step back into the 1990’s. The Hammonds Family lived in Greenspoint, a suburb of Houston. A family of ten lived in a three bedroom home measuring 1,150 square feet. Little Jesse was around ten years old. And I happened to walk by my parent’s bedroom one night and saw my dad working on a computer tower. The side panel was off and I saw the inside of a home computer for the first time. From that point forward, I was hooked on consumer electronics. They just fascinated me.

We don’t always appreciate how much has to work correctly for us to be able to use the electronic products we use every day. The world has changed and it continues to change at a rapid pace. Computers have gone from clunky, ugly pieces of plastic to a sleek and beautiful design. We are in an era where the devices we use are not just functional, but elegant. The consumer electronics we buy today are made with a high degree of excellence.

But then there is everything else...

Have you ever purchased something online just to find out what you received was a cheap knockoff of the product you hoped to receive? It’s a disappointing experience. It is one thing to get a good product that has flaws, but it is another thing to get a bad product masquerading as a good product.

What we will see today is Peter makes the argument that Christians must be a people of excellence.

Followers of Christ are called to be people of excellence.

Like a good product, made to high standards that result in both function and elegance, we are made to conduct ourselves with a high degree of excellence. When we came to Christ for salvation, we also came to submit ourselves to a process. In the theology world, we call this sanctification. This is the pursuit of holiness. As we accept the truth of of biblical principles and put them to work in our lives, Christ does a work in us that leads to transformation of our character so we look more like him. That’s the goal. That’s what we are working toward. The character and competencies of Christ are what we are after because it is who we are made to be. You are made to be excellent.

1 Peter 2:11–12 NASB95

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Focus on what he says in verse twelve, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles.” The question we are answering today is why. Why are we called to be a people of excellence? We are for three reasons we will see in the text today.

Our behaviors always communicate our beliefs.

There is the thing you say and there is the thing you actually believe. God wants to bring those two things into closer alignment. Peter reminds his audience that they are aliens and strangers. They are both that in the literal sense because the place they live in is not their homeland. But they are also aliens and strangers because they are now citizens of a new kingdom whose head is Christ. So, no matter where they live, they are foreigners among their neighbors.

You and I might be homegrown American citizens, but our true citizenship is the kingdom of Christ. We are foreigners living among the rest of the world. There should be a difference between who we are and who they are. We were called out of the world to be different than the world so we can change the world. We cannot live like the world and be different than the world at the same time.

What Peter means when he urges these churches to abstain from fleshly lusts those things that lead to sin, the very thing Christ died to save them from. Not every desire is sin, but to fulfill those desires in a way that rejects biblical principles is sin. When we flirt with sin in our lives, it communicates something about our beliefs.

For example, if you say that you believe the Bible but you are an alcoholic, you don’t actually believe what the Bible says about being sober-minded. If you say you believe the Bible but you also have a habit of losing your temper, you don’t actually believe what the Bible says about anger management. If you say you believe the Bible but you also can’t be trusted to tell the truth, you may not actually believe what the Bible says about honesty and integrity. If you say that you are a follower of Christ, but you are not a very loving person, you don’t actually believe the second greatest commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Our behaviors will communicate what we believe. Actions speak louder than words. When we act in a way that is contrary to what we say, we are speaking louder about what we actually believe. When we flirt with what Peter calls fleshly lusts, we communicate something about our values that will betray our stated values if what we say is not in alignment with what we do. We all struggle with this, but there should be measurable improvement over time where what we say and what we do are closer to the same thing.

On the flip side, when our behaviors communicate our biblical values, it becomes a powerful testimony for the gospel of Jesus Christ. While our evangelism should not be reduced just to living a godly lifestyle, doing so is a powerful testimony to the power of Christ in you. When your character is refined, and you become a better person, you are in a position to tell people why.

Living in sin will destroy you.

Peter says that fleshly lusts wage war against the soul. It is true. Before we know Christ, we do not see sin as sin. Our behaviors are just our behaviors. We may have an innate sense of right and wrong, but we don’t naturally see our actions as an offense to a holy God. We do not see our actions as breaking divine law. When we come to faith in Christ, we do so by recognizing there is a condition we have that is bent toward breaking God’s law, a nature we call the sin nature. Christ died and rose again to overcome that nature by giving us a new nature that has the capacity to pursue the holiness we are called to as new creatures.

But there is still a war raging within us. The old nature has been crucified with Christ, but the memory remains. There is a constant struggle between the new nature establishing new patterns of thinking and behaving and the old pattern of how we used to live. Paul illustrates this struggle well in Romans 7:14-25

Romans 7:14–25 NASB95

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

This passage can sound confusing. I recommend reading it very slowly and in several different translations. Paul recognizes the war between his two natures. The flesh is our mortal bodies, our human nature, and the new nature is everything we are having been born of the Spirit as a result of Christ. Even the apostle Paul, arguably one of the greatest men of faith to ever live, was disgusted by the evil he continued to do though he knew he had been given this new nature. You can hear the agony in his writing as you read about his experience wrestling with his own sinfulness.

This is why we long for Heaven! We know that one day the struggle between these two natures will be over and there will be no war within us. All that will remain is a spiritual nature that will be holy and perfect. Our struggle helps us see the war that has been raging in the spiritual realm and appreciate the steps God has taken to redeem us. It helps us appreciate the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice. One day it won’t be like this. But for now there is a choice.

Paul writes in Galatians 5:16-25

Galatians 5:16–25 NASB95

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Again, the war of wills is seen here. There is flesh versus spirit. Then there is a contrast between works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Let me simply ask you, which one do you want to be like? Those who practice the deeds of the flesh don’t inherit the kingdom of God. But if you want more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in your life, you have to walk by the Spirit. That means you have to starve the old man before the old man chokes the life out of you. To do this, we have to surrender to the Holy Spirit’s work. We have to agree with God and do things the way he wants them done.

Which do you want to be? What will you do to become more of what God wants you to be?

What is slander today will be glory tomorrow.

Verse twelve tells us to keep our behavior excellent among the Gentiles. The why question is answered just after that. The reason we keep our behavior excellent is that the thing we do that gets us slander today will lead to glory tomorrow.

Peter’s audience lived in a hostile world. Many of you have had the privilege of growing up in a world where Christianity was at least somewhat favored. Most people took it for granted, but there were few who were genuinely hostile toward people of faith. That world no longer exists. The world my daughters grow up in will be hostile toward followers of Christ. The churches in the five Roman provinces receiving this letter were no strangers to hostility. It was hostility that drove them to be planted there.

The world hates Christ. There is no more plain way to say it. You are seeing the shift of good becoming evil and evil becoming good playing out in front of you. We were told we couldn’t say Merry Christmas. We were told we had no right to oppose abortion, same sex marriage, or transgenderism. We are told we can no longer pray in schools. We are laughed at for believing in monogomous marriage, for creation, a global flood, and that a man who lived 2,000 years ago rose from the dead. You are slandered by upholding biblical values, when you refuse to lie, cheat, or take advantage of someone.

What you do when you stand up for biblical values is good. It is godly. The people outside the faith see it, and today they slander you. But the day of visitation is coming. The day of Christ’s return draws nearer. The day is coming where our faith is vindicated and the things we endure today will be turned into glory for God. The Bible says that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. There are those who are against him who will end up bowing the knee in recognition of his sovereignty and his right to rule. I can endure until that day comes.

What do you say? Would you live out your Christian convictions even if no one else around you would? Would you stand on the authority and the promises of the Word of God in the face of evil? Can you endure knowing that one day your king will come and set all things straight? Do you want to settle for a mediocre faith, or will you keep your conduct excellent knowing that not only will you be rewarded but those who insult you will one day recognize the authority of Christ and glorify him?

Your behaviors will communicate your beliefs. What do your behaviors say about you? Is it time to bring those closer into alignment? To live in sin will destroy you. There is a constant war raging in you and the old nature in you is fighting to hang on. Choose today to walk by the Spirit. We should stand apart because we do stand out. We were made to be different. How can you stand apart and stand out this week?