Your Home is Where You're Born
Notes
Transcript
Where’s Your Home?
Where’s Your Home?
Sara’s dad is a native Texan. And, Texans are a proud lot.
He always says, “Never ask a man where he’s from. If he’s from Texas, he will tell you. If he’s not, there is no sense in embarrassing him.”
I’m a Kansan. The midwest is home for me.
When we visit Wichita, or back to Indiana.
The flat land. The sun rises and sets on the horizon.
Vinyl sided houses on large lots w/ grass and weeds, nicely landscaped.
The sights and smells are comforting to me.
Even as I sneeze due to the allergies.
Arizona? We don’t have a choice where we’re born and raised. That’s up to our parents.
But, when we get to the end of our career and retirement, we get to choose the best place on earth to live.
We’ve moved several times. As we moved, we learned that things are just done differently in different parts of the country.
Still the 48 contiguous, just different.
I have repeated the phrase enough to make Sara sick of it.
Growing up in Kansas, “The Wizard of Oz” was required watching when we first come into tornado season.
One of the more quotable lines, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas any more.”
We moved to N. Dak. in May. Sara has never been north of Missouri. Raised in Tucson. I take her to the northern end of the earth.
It’s May, but they are already talking about the winter.
Winter, whatever...
No, seriously, you need to get ready.
Block heaters on your cars.
It’s so cold and windy, it never snows horizontally.
I learned about polished ice on the road.
We would meet Sara’s family for ski vacations in Colorado, Utah, and Sunrise. And we would warm up.
It would 20 and we’d think it was spring skiing.
When you move, when you have a new home, you have to learn a different way of doing things.
When we moved to Granger, IN. A bedroom community, part of South Bend. It’s still the Midwest.
That’s where I learned about lake-effect snow.
It’s the only house we’ve owned that had a well and septic system.
They dug the well about 100’ down to an aquifer.
The pump was electric. You’d hear it come on whenever water was running.
It’s the midwest. Spring thunderstorms and winter snowstorms would knock the power out every year. Usually, for a few hours. Occasionally, for a few days.
When the power is out, the pump won’t work. So, no water.
You can get bottled water to drink and cook w/. But, the problem becomes flushing the toilets.
So, in preparation for a storm we would fill the bathtub w/ water. If we’d forget, we’d have a nasty bathroom.
When you move, you have to learn a new way of doing things.
Alyssa, our oldest, grew up and graduated from high school there. Her home. What she was used to.
She graduated college and moved to The Woodlands in the Houston area. I was talking to her on the phone on day and they had predicted weather for the area and she proudly told me remembered to fill the bathtub w/ water.
That was normal storm prep for her.
Then, I had to tell her that she was on city water, didn’t have a well, so her water would work even if her power went out.
Wherever you move to, wherever home is, you have to learn a different way of doing things.
“This is the way we did it in our last home,” doesn’t play well in your new home.
I’m a Kansan. Sara was born in Michigan, but they moved to AZ when she was young. She’d tell you she’s from Tucson.
Alyssa is a Texan and our boys are North Dakotans.
Your home is where you’re born.
When you are re-born, you have a new home.
It doesn’t matter where you live, where you’re from, or where you’ve been.
When you’re reborn, it only matters where you’re going, and who’s going w/ you.
As Christians, we are on a journey. We are just passing thru on our way home. And, our hope is to attract as many people as we can to join us on our journey.
Our focus, is not to be good-looking. Which is good news for many of us.
These masks do some of us a big favor. We never looked better!
Our priority is to live a godly life. If we are genuinely living a godly life some people will notice and it will attract then, not to us, but to Jesus, and they will want to join us.
This is Peter’s message in 1 Peter 2:11-17.
Everybody had moved to a new town. And, they had to learn a new way of doing things.
Maybe they had been Christians for a while.
But, they didn’t have the support system and resources that were available when they lived in the big city and went to the big church.
The government, the media, made the Christians out to be the problems. So, as their new neighbors realized that a family of Christians had moved in next door, the prejudice and assumptions would have worked against them having any influence or friends.
So, how should a Christian live their life in a society that is anti-Christian. How do you live as if their home is in heaven, but their house is in....somewhere else.
Be Attractive
Be Attractive
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Some of you guys in masks never looked better!
Not exactly what Peter meant here.
First, he connects w/ them. “Dear friends.”
They would have been hurting for connection like this. Someone who knew Jesus, was w/ Jesus, and eagerly acknowledged a connection w/ them.
He wasn’t hiding or running from them.
As Jewish Christians they would have appreciated the connection to Abraham when God led him to a new home he said to the locals, “I am a foreigner and stranger among you.”
Since Abraham, God has called His ppl to be sojourners, nomads, on a journey to heaven. There is a PL, but even the literal land is a metaphor for where we will ultimately end up.
Peter said live such attractive lives than anyone who accuses you of doing something wrong will look like a fool.
New town, new way of life. Submit to the ways they do things. Do not expect them to do things the way you used to do them.
Respect their ways and earn their respect back.
Live differently, but in such a way to attract others to join you.
Don’t participate in destructive behavior.
We have strong feelings, strong desires, especially when we feel we have been unjustly accused or punished.
One of the things we have to recognize about ourselves is that we will feel strongly that there are things we want to do that we just should not do.
Part of what is still in us that is affected by sin.
Self-control is one of the fruit of the Spirit that gives us the ability rein these things in.
Just b/c we feel strongly does not mean it right to do.
We have got to allow God to evaluate our feelings and change our desires. And then, only do what God desires for us.
Peter says it 2 ways;
First, negatively, abstain from evil desires.
Second, maintain a godly lifestyle.
Take from this we still have desires that are evil.
We have to face them and admit the reality that there are things we feel strongly about that are inappropriate to pursue.
Having the desire doesn’t make the behavior okay.
It may surprise you what you really want and some of your really wants are really wrong.
Why would God allow us to have strong desires for wrong things?
It was not His original intent. We fell when Adam and Eve fell.
The Christian life is fundamentally a life of surrender and sacrifice.
So, to say that you have the right to have something, a house, a second house, a spouse, a loving spouse, kids, retirement is fundamentally wrong.
We have no rights as Children of God.
We enjoy our wealth and prosperity. God has graciously allowed us to have many nice things.
But, the right attitude it is, it’s all God’s stuff. And, he can do w/ it whatever He wants. Including, He could take it all away.
If He does, it’s what’s best. And, we’ll get it al and more when we get to heaven.
I say this like it’s easy. But it’s a war. To admit otherwise is to live in the neighborhood of denial and not even in Egypt.
It’s a battle to hold things loosely. But, we can. It’s not impossible. It’s just very hard.
We like our comfort, a lot. But we have to recognize where so much of our trouble comes from and what motivates our destructive behavior.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
When the pursuit of what feels good, what we want, takes over our lives we end up fighting with each other for the things that we think will make us happy. But, they won’t.
Just b/c we want it doesn’t make it right. If it’s wrong, let God have it.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Let God change what you want to be what He wants for you.
This is a constant battle but one we can win.
And, we’re not just doing this for ourselves. There are ppl around us who desperately need to know Who we know but they don’t know it.
What they will know first is that there are things that they do that we won’t do. And, it will seem as though we don’t have as much internal struggle as they do.
We’re still in a war and we are fighting battles w/in. But we are winning where they aren’t.
Maybe you’ve heard it this way, too. If you had the cure for cancer would you keep it to yourself while your friends suffered?
You have the cure for not only the stress and anxiety they feel, but also the cure for death that they will all inevitably experience. Will you keep that to yourself?
The day that God visits us is the day we stand in front of Him and make the case why we should be allowed to get into heaven.
Imagine what it’s going to be like for someone who spent their entire life on earth not believing in God only to be standing in front of Him as he has the authority to assign him his eternal home.
For those of us who do believe, we don’t have to make our own case. Jesus will do it for us.
Live a life that attracts ppl, not to you, but to Jesus so that He will make their case to get into heaven for them, too.
Why? What would motivate us to live a life of surrender and sacrifice when collecting stuff is so much more fun?
And, what does it really look like to live that way?
Christian Citizenship
Christian Citizenship
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
What could possibly motivate us for what Peter is about to say? Surrender and sacrifice?
Out of reference for Jesus.
You can’t make a case for any right that you may think you have b/c Jesus didn’t make a case for any right.
Jesus would never ask you to do anything for Him that He hasn’t already done for you.
So, out of reverence for Christ, rein in your desires, and live as a citizen of Heaven even tho’ your house is… where it is.
He had just explained 5 characteristics of their new ID in Christ (last week).
Now, how do they live according to their new ID while living in a new community.
First, allegiance to God does not exempt us from submitting to the local authority.
And, second, while maintaining obedience to our new ID as a holy nation we need t/b prepared to suffer w/out retaliation for holding to our convictions and godly values when they conflict w/ the local authority.
Christina freedom does not give permission to rebel against civil laws.
It’s tempting to misconstrue our loyalty to God as permission to rebel.
Peter says to submit to the local authority. What he means as as long as it does not contradict God.
So, if the local authority says we should wear a mask, we should. There is nothing in the bible that says we can’t.
Racism is a direct contradiction to the 2nd most important command to love our neighbors as ourselves.
When Jesus was asked who our neighbors are he responded w/ the story of the good Samaritan.
The relationship between Jews and Samaritans was as racially charged as the relationship between blacks and whites is today in America.
We must peacefully protest racism in every area of our society while never rioting nor looting anyone’s property.
We must work to improve the living conditions for everyone in our community. Work to give opportunities to everyone.
Whey they do w/ those opportunities is up to them.
Equal opportunities, not equal outcomes.
Not everybody in our society gets the same opportunities.
In c.1, It would be hard to imagine being told to obey an authority who was bullying and abusing Christians b/c of their faith.
But, that’s exactly what he’s doing.
This isn’t heaven. He’s not expecting us to bring heaven to earth. He’s expecting us to get to heaven after earth.
We are supposed t/b less concerned about what happens to us here and much more concerned about what will happen once we get there and taking as many people w/ us as we can.
Christianity is not an escape from submission to authority and service. But, it’s a change in Master. And, God, our new master, wants us to obey the laws of the land.
We are citizens of heaven who must respect the laws of the land where our houses are built.
This is Christian citizenship.
Peter concludes this passage w/ a 4-pt. summary of Christian Citizenship.
1st. Respect everyone.
Everyone is created in the image of God. Nobody does everything right and deserves respect.
We are to treat everyone w/ the same grace and mercy that God allows us.
And, it probably takes more grace than you realize to save you eternally and more mercy than you realize not to smite you, daily.
2nd. Love all Believers.
All of them. Act like you love them. Not just the ones you like or the ones that look like you. And, not just the believers that worship like you.
That means the baptists need to love the Methodists.
The charismatics get to sit at the same table as the dispensationalists.
Some of us kneel, some of us stand, some of us jump over pews.
All of us, all of them.
3rd. Fear God.
The word is respect. Treat w/ reverence. It’s the root of worship.
Communicate to God that He is the most important thing in your life.
Nothing else is more important. That means nothing will distract you while you worship Him. That is, whether you are worshiping at home, online, or in this room.
For this hour, nothing else matters.
And the rest of the time, don’t let anything usurp God’s importance in your life.
4th. Honor the Emperor.
Or, the king. The president, regardless of party affiliation.
The governor. the mayor. The county board of supervisors.
The police. Honor everyone in law enforcement.
It’s our job to honor them. It’s their job to police themselves.
Respect the laws. Respect those who make the laws. Respect those who enforce the laws.
This is Christian citizenship. Out of reverence for Christ, treat these people like you love and respect them.
None of them would be in this position if God had not allowed them and placed them there.
Treat them as if they have been appointed by God to do this job in our society.
We need them, all of them.
How do we live in the world w/out being of the world.
Like this.
How do we influence ppl for good when they look suspiciously at us b/c the gov’t and media may portray us as problems.
Love them. Respect them and their ways.
Live as if you home is in heaven even though your house isn’t.
Applications
Rules
Rules
Are there any rules you don’t like and are rebelling against?
If it doesn’t violate God’s word and doesn’t contradict godly behavior then it’s probably a good idea to do it.
Any rules?
Desires
Desires
We have to face the fact that some of the desires we feel are wrong and should not be pursued.
Is there something you feel strongly about that God is trying to rein in?
Just b/c it feels right it still may be wrong.
Cure
Cure
You’ve got the cure. Who near to you has the disease?
Someone you know and are close to needs to know Who you know.
Pray for them. Show them how a Christian lives in an anti-Christian society.
Pray for an opportunity to tell them about Jesus and introduce them.
As Christians, we are on a journey. We are just passing thru on our way home. And, our hope is to attract as many people as we can to join us on our journey.
Our priority is to live a godly life. If we are genuinely living a godly life some people will notice and it will attract then, not to us, but to Jesus, and they will want to join us.
Think about how much better heaven will be if everybody you love gets to be there, too.
No regrets. Let’s work together to get as many ppl there as we can.