1 Peter 2:11-25

God’s Beloved!

What a great tie in to verse 10. Because we are now God’s people, because we have been saved with such a great salvation we are now beloved. We have a new identity. Beloved literally means a much loved person. We are loved much by God because He has set His affection on us. What does this look like for us?

Isaiah 43:1–4 “But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. “For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.”

John 15:9 ““Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”

Deuteronomy 7:6–8 ““For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

Promises for the beloved:

Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

1 Peter 1:3–4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,”

You have a new identity born from the inside out.

Live In Your New Identity

1 Peter 2:11 “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.”

There is an urgency and emphasis given by Peter. This comes from the great new identity we have been given. This is a pleading to live in the new life we have been given and to no longer live in the old life we had.

What was that old life? Peter already mentioned it in chapter 1 verse 14. It was a life full of lust, of chasing after the things of the world.

Peter syas these things are like soldiers waging war against our soul.

How often do you think about your soul? How often do you think of things of this world fighting your actual soul? Its a pretty foreign concept for us these days. Peter says these lusts are trying to destroy your soul. That brings a different light to sin. Its not just something I shouldnt do but it is waging war to destroy my soul.

We can think of us as having been tethered to the world in our former identity. We were people of the world and our lusts held us tied down to it. We have been given a new identity now though, we are now aliens and strangers to the world and our new identity tethers us to the new world of the kingdom. We arent people defined by the world, we are people defined by Christ Himself. This is why Peter urges us so strongly to abstain from the way of the world. We dont belong to it and we arent to let it have a hold on us.

What kinds of things do the people of the world find their identity in that we need to abstain from?

Our New Identity is Filled With Purpose

1 Peter 2:12 “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.”

Peter is about to launch into chapters of how we are to live out our new identity as Christ followers. Peter isnt giving us a law to follow but a picture of the new people God has made us into. Just like some of Jesus parables some of Peters examples will be hard for us to accept but this is the upside down Kingdom we have been made a part of.

Peter says our purpose as new creations is that we would glorifiy God and though doing so others would glorify God as well.

He kicks off with a hard situation. Live well so that when you are slandered as an evildoer your life will prove otherwise.

Be ready, you could life the most perfect Christ like life and people would still slander you as an evil doer. Prove them wrong with your good conduct, maybe just maybe others will see it and glorify the Lord!

Honor Authority

1 Peter 2:13–20 “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.”

Submit will be a word we see Peter use often.

Talk About Nero

Talk what a servant was

Which one of these would you find most difficult and why?

Christ Leads the Way

We have been called to this way of life because Christ has led us into it.

When we follow Christ we entrust ourselves to the Father as He did.

Following Jesus means we are living

While sin is the enemy who attacks our souls Jesus is the Guardian of our souls. We walk under His protection as we follow Him.

As others see us they may be led to the one who can guard their souls as well.