1 Peter 2:11-12 - Christian Living in a Strange World

Introduction

At the height of our most recent presidential election in America, one campaign initiated a messaging effort to label their opponents “weird.” In hindsight, this did not seem to have been an effective political move (since – as far as I can tell – it backfired in a big way). But I’m not interested in talking political strategy this morning (nor am I qualified to do that).

I am interested, however, in the cultural significance of using that label.

Many Americans were characterized as “weird” for believing stuff like… young people ought to get married… married couples ought to have kids… and kids ought to be protected and instructed (not exposed and indulged). It became apparent (at least to me) that some Americans (maybe a lot of them) view basic Christian ethics (on marriage, family, children, and parenting) as “weird.”

This seemed to reveal a significant cultural divide in America.

Of course, there are always cultural divides in the societies of the world. Even in the most homogenous populations (who share ethnicity, history, and basic life-experiences), there are going to be generational divides, gender clashes, and various groups coalescing around different values and goals from the rest.

But the label “weird” has a revealing implication.

To call this thing “weird” is to assume that some other thing is “normal.”

For example, people who like pineapple on their pizza are weird because normal people know that pineapple and pizza don’t go together. And adults who cosplay video game characters in the woods are weird because normal adults have jobs and families and responsibilities – normal adults are adulting.

Seriously though… in every area of our lives, there is a “normal,” and everything else is “abnormal” or “weird.” There is a standard, and everything else is a deviation from that standard.

In fact, the word “normal” comes from the word “norm,” which means standard or rule or pattern. It refers to what should be, what ought to be, the model to which all things are expected to conform.

In other words, those things we think of as “normal” ought not merely be common (i.e., a lot of people do this or don’t do that). Instead, when we think of what is “normal,” we ought to think of what should be (i.e., people should do this; people should not do that). After all, God (as creator and designer) has formed His creation in an orderly and intentional fashion – all people and things have their place and purpose.

But in our world (living under the curse of sin since Genesis 3), what ought to be normal or ordinary or standard often gets flipped on its head. That which is weird is celebrated as exciting, the strange is interesting, and the unnatural is normalized such that the normies can easily become discouraged and ostracized. Or to say it another way, those who maintain traditions and ethical standards and transcendent goods can often feel as though they are the ones who are missing out.

This morning, we are continuing our study through 1 Peter, and in these two verses before us, we are going to hear a couple of exhortations (or commands) about how Christians are to live in a world full of abnormal, strange, and even hostile people – “As sojourners and exiles,” how are Christians to conduct themselves?

There is a temptation for Christians to feel as though they are the ones who are “weird,” and there’s a sense in which that’s true. But (as we shall see) there are good reasons for Christians to embrace their peculiarity among hostile unbelievers even as Christians strive for holiness, goodness, and the glory of God.

May God encourage and enable us to live as He has commanded.

Scripture Reading

1 Peter 2:11-12

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.

Main Idea:

Christians are weird, and they must embrace their peculiarity among hostile unbelievers, striving for holiness, goodness, and the glory of God.

Sermon

1. Embrace Christian Weirdness (v11)

Christians are weird (i.e., they are foreigners and strangers), and they must embrace their peculiarity among hostile unbelievers, not seeking to be absorbed by a godless culture, but rather, maintaining a self-aware and intentional peculiarity.

Our passage this morning is a continuation of the topic Peter has been harping on for a while now – salvation and its implications.

Peter opened this letter by highlighting what salvation is – it’s a gracious gift of God’s blessing to those who love and trust the Lord Jesus Christ and to those who are being kept or preserved by God’s Spirit. This was something new – the prophets of old did not experience it the way NT Christians do – but God’s salvation was also not new at all – the prophets of old predicted it long in advance.

Then Peter turned (in ch. 1, v13) from explaining the salvation that Christians enjoy toward highlighting some meaningful implications for those Christians as Christians:

(1) they are to be a holy people because God Himself is holy;

(2) they are to live with reverent fear because God is an impartial judge who will punish those who presume upon His grace;

(3) they (i.e., Christians) have been born again by God’s word and Spirit, so they now live with love for one another and a hunger for God’s word;

and (4) Christians (not OT Israel) are God’s chosen people in the world; they are honored by God Himself even if they experience dishonor among sinners.

All of this leads up to our short passage this morning (1 Peter 2:11-12). And our passage does continue with Peter’s theme (i.e., salvations’s implications), but it also turns from highlighting implications for Christians with other Christians… toward listing many implications for Christian living among non-Christians.

From chapter 2, verse 11, though chapter 4, verse 11, Peter gets really practical about how believers in Christ (i.e., God’s chosen and peculiar people in the world) are to live in the context of their various relationships and stations in the world – as citizens, as members of society, as families, as those suffering persecution, as faithful witnesses, and as stewards of God’s good gifts.

This is what we are to do as individual Christians scattered about.

So, our passage is something of a summary and introduction to the main body of this whole letter. Peter wants Christians to know how they are to live (as God’s chosen and set apart and “beloved” people) while they are “sojourners and exiles” in a foreign land (1 Peter 2:11).

I think it is instructive that the first thing Peter says (after having described the glorious and exalted status of believers in God’s sight) takes them right back to the reality of the present status believers have in the sight of the world – they are “God’s honored people,” but they are also “sojourners and exiles” (v11).

Good Christians have wrestled with and disagreed about the meaning of this status. What does the Bible mean that Christians are “exiles” in the world?

Some have argued that it refers to the perennial political and economic status of Christians in the world. Since first-century Christians were largely outcasts (i.e., lower class, politically powerless, and socially vilified), Christians of every generation and place should learn to accept this same condition. There is no sense in working toward political influence or economic strength, since politics and business are the realm of non-Christians.

I think this is a bad way to understand what the NT teaches, and it is the opposite of what most Christians did before just a couple of decades ago.

The Bible is clear about what Christians can expect – followers of Christ are generally hated by unbelievers in the world, because Christ Himself was hated by them; believers will often endure persecution from those non-Christians who gain power over them; and Christians can expect that their best efforts will not remake the whole world into a God-loving, Christ-honoring, and Spirit-enlivened place.

Only Christ will do this when He returns on the last day.

But the Bible also teaches Christians to strive for and pray for a “peaceful and quiet life” (1 Tim. 2:2), to “work” in order to “make” a good “living” (2 Thess. 3:12), and even to live as godly “masters” over those in their service (Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1), which implies both political and economic superiority.

How can Christians do any of this if there aren’t at least some places in the world where the Christian way of life is not detrimental to one’s political or economic status? In fact, it seems quite the opposite – that Christian political and economic influence are actually necessary elements of the kind of society Christians should be (according to biblical command) working toward.

I appreciate Amish furniture and produce as much as the next guy, but I don’t think the NT supports their efforts to withdraw from the civic structures and functions of society. And (practically speaking) it is only in a Christianized culture (like ours) that such a group can have the luxury of isolating themselves as they do.

Historically, Christians have made many efforts to influence and even build societies according to biblical principles and ethics. When opportunities have been available to them, Christians have given significant time and energy to political and economic affairs. One can simply look back to the founding of America to see many Christians working to make biblical principles the major feature of societal laws, economic systems, and political structures (and we could see the same in other nations as well, both past and present).

It is only modern liberal and secular cultures that have seemed to make Christians assume that our “exile” status precludes us from aggressive engagement in the affairs of our present world. It’s been strange to see Christian talking heads advance their careers over the last 20 years or so by calling for political retreat!

So, what are we to do with this designation of “exiles” (v11)?

Well, it seems to me that Christians are “exiles” in the sense that they are foreigners or strangers or aliens among those who remain in their sin. Christians have sworn allegiance to Christ as King. Christians submit themselves to an ethical standard that stands over and opposed to the natural desires of the sinful human heart. Christians operate by an other-worldly rule (namely Christ’s rule), and they possess an other-worldly hope (that this life is not all there is).

And when we think and speak and act this way, it makes us stand out.

Non-Christians will inevitably perceive us as weird. They will sometimes identify our way of living as subversive to the worldly way of doing things. And when non-Christians have their hands on the political and economic levers, Christians often suffer for it.

But when Christians are numerous (in a given society), when they bear faithful witness to Christ with their lives, and when they engage in the public square, Christians can and have actually affected their societies for the good of all.

But brothers and sisters, if we are to avoid a constant feeling of anxiety and an expectation of defeat, then we must embrace our weirdness. If we feel like the best we can do is to make ourselves more appealing or more attractive or more accommodating to the unbelievers around us, then we are likely to feel anxious, and we are not likely to win the ground we hope to gain.

Brothers and sisters, Christians will never become more appealing to sinners by accommodating their sin. If we give up our conviction that marriage is a lifetime commitment between a man and a woman, if we stop pointing out that abortion is a heinous sin, or if we soften our position on the God-designed and complementary difference between men and women, then not only will we compromise our own witness, but we will also find that there are numerous other ways in which sinners will perceive our beliefs and practices as repulsive.

If we compromise in one area, then sinners will just shift the focus to another area. Surely, many of us have seen or experienced this very thing!

Christians of every generation and society have been out of step with the sinners around them. And we don’t get to choose the beachheads of our battles. But we must never assume that giving ground on one battlefront will result in a happy union between saints and sinners in this world.

We are exiles here, and we must learn to embrace Christian weirdness.

In fact, it is our strangeness that (in many ways) identifies us as God’s people; and it is our striving to live differently from those sinners around us that both preserves our souls and leads to God’s glory on the last day.

2. Fight the Good Fight (v11)

As a weird or peculiar people in the world, Christians must strive for holiness, making war on those remaining desires within them.

Like I said earlier, there are two main imperatives or commands in our passage here. The first is a call to “abstain” or “keep away” (NET) from “sinful desires” (NIV84) or “the passions of the flesh” (1 Peter 2:11). And the reason Peter gives for why Christians are to “abstain” from these desires is that they “wage war against your soul” (v11).

Brothers and sisters, this command is directly applicable to us today, and so is the rationale. There is a war within us, and we must fight the good fight.

Let’s consider this together in the form of three questions: (1) What are “the passions of the flesh”? (2) How do they “war against” the “soul”? And (3) what does it mean (or look like) to “abstain” from these “passions”?

First, what are “the passions of the flesh”?

The term “flesh” (in the NT) is often set opposite the term “spirit” or “soul” (as in our passage here). Peter is not trying to teach us about the two parts of human essence – a body and a soul. Rather, Peter is saying that there are “passions” or “desires” or “lusts” that are as natural to sinful people as their own bodily cravings. It’s not sinful to be hungry or tired or itchy (nor do we have to think anything about such things in order to feel these desires); but sinful desires also spring up from within us… and just as effortlessly.

The Apostle Paul talked about this as well, using the same phrase (in Galatians 5). He said that the “desires of the flesh… keep [Christians] from doing the things [they] want to do” (Gal. 5:17). In other words, Christians want to love and obey Christ, but there remains within (even Christians) an array of desires that still send us away from righteousness and toward disobedience and rebellion.

It is interesting that Paul’s list of fleshly desires in Galatians 5 and Peter’s list in 1 Peter 4 share fundamental commonalities. Both emphasize the perversion or abuse of good and natural desires.

It is good for a husband and wife to enjoy one another, but it is soul-killing sin for anyone to pursue sexual pleasure by some other means.

It is good for us to labor industriously to increase our means and comforts, but it is an idolatrous assault on God’s goodness and providence for us to envy what others have or to make indulgence and wealth our chief ambition.

So too, it is good for us to enjoy quality food and drink, but it is evidence of our sinful desires when we give ourselves to gluttony or drunkenness.

The “the passions of the flesh,” then (we might say), are those corrupted natural desires we have for less or more than what God has intended for us. They are our natural (or effortless) desires (or affections) for sin.

The old catechisms define sin as “any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.” In other words, sin is stopping short of doing what God commands or stepping beyond what God forbids… and that’s what our “passions of the flesh” want to do… that’s what we want to do!

And I think it’s instructive here (in our main passage) that Peter exhorts Christians – those who have been born again, those who are indwelt by God’s Spirit, those who have love for Christ and hope in God – Peter exhorts Christians to “abstain from the passions of the flesh” (1 Peter 2:11). While Christians are most certainly free from their former slavery to sin, Christians are not free from their desire for sin… not until we die, or until Christ returns to make us new.

Brothers and sisters, sinful desires remain within us; and such desires (in one form or another) will be with us for all of our mortal life. Therefore, we must understand the remaining danger of our situation.

Second, how do these passions “wage war against” the “soul”?

It seems to me that the words “war” and “soul” here compel us to think seriously about what is at stake.

The word translated “wage war” carries not only the meaning of activity but also of strategy. It is clear that Peter means to say that “the passions of the flesh” are like an army of enemy soldiers who are actively aiming to conquer. And the worst of it is that they have already breached the walls – the enemy is within!

My sinful desires don’t come from somewhere outside of me. There are so many temptations in this world that don’t entice me in the least, while other men have been destroyed by them. And yet, I can be the weakest and most foolish sinner in the world when my own fleshly passions are barely roused.

This means the enemy, the beast, the monster, is not out there… it’s me.

Brothers and sisters, no one makes us sin. No circumstance, no provocation, no opportunity or offense is ever to blame for our sin. When we sin, we step beyond what God forbids or we fail to meet what God commands because that’s what we wanted to do… it’s what we meant to do… it’s what we loved (in that moment) more than God, more than Christ, more than righteousness.

If we are Christians (if we are believing Christ, loving Christ, alive in Christ), then there is a war within us. We simultaneously love Christ and sin; we love obedience and rebellion; we love righteousness and wickedness.

And what is at stake in this war is our soul.

Friends, there is no doubt that those who have truly been born again will never face God’s judgment – no genuine Christian will ever lose their salvation. But the Bible clearly warns us (repeatedly) about self-deception and negligence and the dangers of sin… We must fight against that which threatens to destroy us!

The author of Hebrews said it like this, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Heb. 3:12-14).

May God help us. And, brothers and sisters, let’s be diligent to make war against our sin and to strive for holiness.

Third, what does it mean (or look like) to “abstain” from these “passions”?

Simply put, Christians are to keep away from or to withdraw from their love of sin. We are to persistently and intentionally order our lives so as to reduce the opportunities we have to be tempted. We are to form and execute a strategy that will improve our strength to resist our remaining affections for sin.

We would also do well to surround ourselves with people who love Christ, who aim for obedience, and who are growing in holiness, so that we may be inspired by their godliness, encouraged by their example, and corrected when we sin.

In short, we must fight the good fight against our own sinful desires… striving for holiness… for the sake of our souls.

3. Conduct Yourself Honorably (v12)

As a weird or peculiar people in the world, Christians must strive for honorable conduct or good behavior among those who live differently.

In so doing, Christians will bear witness to the truth and goodness of God’s grace and rules despite unbelievers’ best efforts to accuse them of evil. Of course, this may result in the conversion of sinners (to the glory of God on the last day), but it will most certainly result in the glory of God on the last day (either in salvation or judgment).

The second command in our passage is as straightforward as the first. We see it there in v12. Peter says, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles [i.e., unbelievers] honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter. 2:12).

The call here is for Christians to have “good” (NIV84) or “excellent” (NASB) or “beautiful” (NA28) “behavior” (NIV84) or “conduct” (ESV). This is a call to a life of holiness and Christ-likeness, and it is to be lived out in all of the (what we might call) mundane areas of our lives.

As we continue studying through 1 Peter, we will see that Christian behavior applies to us as citizens of our nation and state, as members of society, as workers in our economy, as wives and husbands, as witnesses of Christ out in the world, and as church members who follow Christ together.

This call to “honorable conduct” or “good deeds” is not evangelism per se (we must open our mouths to teach others the gospel of Christ with the aim to persuade them to believe). But it is a call to live in such a way that we “adorn” or “beautify” the gospel.

The Apostle Paul says it like this in Titus 2, “Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. [Older women] are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled… the younger men [are] to be self-controlled… [In every way, Christians – especially pastors – are] to be [models] of good works… so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us… [And] so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:2-10).

Brothers and sisters, there is no way to avoid entirely the accusations that unbelievers will throw at Christians. Peter seems to assume here that “Gentiles” or “unbelievers” will inevitably “speak against you as evildoers” (v12).

Non-Christians will (one way or another) perceive Christians as subversive and out of step with their way of life. And when they do, at least some of them are likely to express hostility toward Christians.

I saw a short video last week of a Christian bearing witness in a state legislator’s meeting – in the state of Georgia. A number of Christians and other conservatives in that state have put forward a bill that aims to protect the dignity and value of human life, especially babies in the womb. And one Christian came to make an argument for the adoption of that bill to outlaw abortion.

After he gave testimony of the logic of it (appealing to natural law and natural revelation), and after reminding the legislators that we all will give an account to Christ on the last day (according to biblical or special revelation), some of those elected officials derided him for being arrogant, biased, and intolerant. I thought he did a masterful job in responding to those accusations, but it was clear that some of those folks were not interested (in the least) to hear him out.

Brothers and sisters, even if we act in the most loving and charitable way, non-Christians will sometimes speak against us as evildoers. But even then, non-Christians ought to be able to observe us speaking and acting honorably.

And in such cases, God is and will be glorified.

It may be that God will be glorified in the conversion of some of those who now oppose Christ and His people. A non-Christian can “see” our “good deeds” and “glorify God” in the sense of changing their posture towards Him. They can respond to our good words and deeds by giving attention to the gospel we believe and the God we represent.

Indeed, we ought to pray for and hope for just such a response!

But it may also be that God will be glorified in the condemnation of those who oppose Christ and His people. When non-Christians “see” our “good deeds” and remain obstinate to Christ and hostile toward us, they will “glorify God” in the sense that their judgment will prove to be just on the last day.

It is not for us to change a sinner’s heart, but it is for us to bear witness – in both word and deed – to the glory and goodness of God in our lives.

May God help us to strive for goodness and beauty in our actions, so that we may glorify God even if others around us accuse us of evil.

Conclusion

Friends, most of us probably have a strong desire to be liked. Many of us prefer to explain ourselves when we’re questioned or when someone disagrees with us. Many of us think, “If you could just hear me out, you would understand, and you would agree with me.”

If we are honest, many of us would admit that we hate to be misunderstood or mischaracterized. The thought that someone thinks negatively about us because of some false accusation or some misunderstanding is intolerable to us.

But, brothers and sisters, we should be a people who act (not just speak), and we should let our actions tell the real story that may only come to light on the last day. Those who accuse us may go on for their whole lives feeling justified in their accusations, but on the last day God Himself will show all words and deeds for what they truly are.

Our passage today has been a general and summary call for Christian living in an often-hostile world. I believe we ought to embrace our peculiarity (not run from it) among sinners and unbelievers.

From this status of God’s beloved people who are sojourners and exiles in this strange world, we should strive for holiness and for goodness… and in so doing, our aim is the glory of our God.

He is holy, and so we should be holy.

He is good and beautify in all He says and does, and so we should strive to be the same.

He has told us how to live, and He has promised that our reward will be great in the end, and so we should embrace Christian weirdness, we should fight the good fight, and we should conduct ourselves honorably… until Christ comes.