1 Peter 3:9-12
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 17 viewsNotes
Transcript
Illustration- Faithful Followers of Jesus placed in my path.
Illustration- Faithful Followers of Jesus placed in my path.
When I was 18, God placed a guy named Blake Bowman in my path. I watched his life, and there was something different about the way he lived. He was the guy that gave me a piece of paper with Scripture verses on them, and upon reading them, the Holy Spirit convicted my heart, drew me to Himself, and I was saved.
When I got to college as a Freshman, God placed several guys like Jeff Williams, Justin Walters, Drew Goodson, who faithfully lived out their walk with Christ in the dorm room.
As a Junior at NGU, God placed godly examples and guys who were serious about the Word in my path. My pastor Ben Skaug, professors like Walter Johnson, Donny Mathis.
Not to mention my friends who held me accountable. Guys like Aaron Cline, Zack Blount, Jon Goforth, Michael Moon, Lucas Lafevers.
And I know these names don’t really mean that much to you, but they do to me.
I don’t remember everyone from my past, but I do remember the people that had an impact on my life spiritually.
I remember the people who were salt and light.
Last week, we dealt with the five attitudes of a faithful church.
This week, we are going to deal with the actions that flow out of those attitudes.
Today, we are going to seek to understand, what is it that the Holy Spirit of God is at work in our lives to produce.
Obviously, from what we have already learned in 1 Peter,
The expectation is that we be holy.
Jesus said that we are to be Salt and Light.
And when we think of the word Holy, it means distinct and set apart.
Both of those metaphors of salt and light are dealing with how believers are to relate to the sinful world around us.
We are to be Salt and Light.
I think at times, we blame the world around us, for all the problems that we have. When if we were truly honest, at least some of the problems that we currently suffer, maybe a result of our past disobedience.
Where we have failed to be Salt and Light.
It seems as though the church‘s light has become more and more dim. We have adopted worldly strategies. We cater to the world’s desire in worship.
I’m not trying to paint with a broad brush here, but it seems at times, churches, have preached for the world to be like the church, and we think the best method of getting them there is for the church to become like the world.
That is the opposite of what Christ said.
We are Lights in a dark place. Salt in a tasteless world.
But lets not forget the warning that followed those metaphors.
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
If we fail to stick out, we have become worthless.
Its so frustrating, when the lights in the house go out, and you go to find a flashlight, but the batteries are dead. That flashlight is worthless. It does nothing to expel the darkness.
If you went to the cabinet and picked up the salt box, and it wasn’t salty, what good would it be to put it on any food?
In the same way, the Church is worthless If it looks like the world. The church has no light If it fellowships with darkness. The church has no salt, if it become as tasteless as the world.
Peter‘s point in verses 8-12 Is to give the people to whom he is writing encouragement on how to live in the world as a suffering believer.
To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;
not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.
Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.
I think its true that the true character of a man comes out when they are tested.
When we are treated well, it is expected that we treat others well.
But how do you respond when we are not treated well?
How do we respond when we are treated badly. Do we return those evil actions by more evil actions?
When we are insulted, do we return those insults with more insults?
The natural thing in me is to respond to evil actions with evil action.
The natural response to an insult is to insult back.
In fact, the worldly wisdom here is-
In order to get respect, you have to give respect. That’s what the world says.
The worldly wisdom is ”Fool me once, Shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.“
Worldly Wisdom is hit back when hit. Speak back when spoken against.
And if we are honest, this is our natural tendency.
We see this in our homes, where husbands and wives fight and constantly throwing shots at one another. We see it in our work place where people are vindictive toward those they don’t like. We see it on social media, where it seems like there is a perpetual fight going on.
And everything in us would want to justify our actions and our thinking on this, but if we try and do that we would have to ignore the clear teaching of this passage.
No we can’t do that. We have to be different. The Scripture is clear here. There is no gray area, no room for ifs or buts.
Don’t return evil for evil. Don’t return insult for insult.
So at this point, any justification for returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, is rebellion against what God has said.
Rather than do what we want to do when we are wronged like wrong back or insult back, this verse here says we are to give a blessing instead.
Now its one thing to obey the first part of the verse, its a completely different issue to obey the second part.
We are to give a blessing to those who wrong or insult us.
Isn’t that completely backwards that what we would want to do?
How many of us when we are hurt or insulted, we just stop what we are doing and pray that God would bless the person insulted us?
I was talking to a friend of mine, He’s a mail carrier, and he was talking about how people are constantly blowing the horn at him on the road, and how one time, he was delivering mail on 501 and there was a car that stayed in the lane he was using and basically ran him off the road- Well he responded by throwing his hand out the window, he basically went nuts, had a bad case of road rage and ended up making a gesture out the window. Turns out His preacher had gotten a new truck…and his preacher stopped to speak with him, and he quickly said, “Oh I knew that was you, I was saying hello.“ I think we can all probably relate to that where we have been caught in the heat of rage, and done something we immediately regret.
If I am honest, I can’t tell you to follow my example in this. I would encourage you to look at Christ. Look at how he responded to insults. Look at how he responded when he was hurt.
Look at how he lived.
Listen to the words of Christ And what he taught.
“But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Its not unclear what the Lord of Creation expect of His followers.
At time we seek to blur the lines and excuse our behavior on the basis of what others have done, but what these verse tell us is that our actions should not be determined by what others have done to us.
Our actions are to be determined by what Christ has done for us.
The Believer has to live differently.
First by the way he manages His-
Lips
Lips
For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
The one who desires life, and to see good days
Must keep His Tongue from evil-
I think Peter speaks here to probably one of the hardest things for any of us to do which is Controlling our tongue.
In fact, he attaches a promise of good days to this command. Read it again.
Our speech, as believers, is to be different.
The Bible is clear on this.
Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
“It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.
God is clear on his command to control our tongues.
And he is also clear that he cares, and every single word we have spoken in private in public online, we will be held accountable for.
“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
Imagine standing before God answering for the things you said just last week. Would your speech just last week, prove that you were a follower of Christ.
Was there more blessings or more cursing? Was there more gossip or edification?
That is is not a hypothetical situation. We will all answer for every word we speak. Last week- This week-and even beyond that.
I think at times, we forget that we will stand before God, but even worse that that...
I think that we forget that we live in the presence of God at all times. That theres never been a word that we have spoken that He hasn’t heard.
I had a friend in High School- Played Ball with him, hung out with him a little bit. But he had the worst mouth. He was known for it. He found a way to use an expletive in every sentence. It was creative the way he did it.
Anyway, I’ll never forget the first time he came to my house, I was really nervous about him being around my mom and dad. We didn’t talk like that. I even warned him. I said no cussing, which would have effectively eliminated about 50% of his vocabulary.
I actually didn’t even want him to come, because I was worried my parents would hear his language. But that joker came to my house stayed for like 3-4 hours and never said one thing that was questionable.
And He’s a talker. He talked the whole time, and he never said anything questionable.
When he left later that night, I walked outside with him, and immediately, he went back to his normal routine of speech. It was like when he was around my parents, he was a completely different person.
This has happened to me as a pastor. I can’t express to you how many times, I’ve heard people say a word, and then say, “Oops, sorry pastor.” Or whenever I meet someone new, they speak one way, and then inevitably it comes up in conversation what I do for a living. And I tell them I’m a pastor, and immediately, their way of speech changes.
Or my favorite, is when I walk up, and someone will say, “Hey Benji” and immediately turn and tell all those around him, “Now Benji’s a pastor, so y’all watch your mouth.”
Grant it. I appreciate the respect. I do. But I want to be honest. It really doesn’t matter what I think about the way you talk. At the end of the day, I have zero authority over the eternal destination of your soul. None.
In fact, when someone says a word and then apologizes immediately, “Oh Sorry Pastor.” I want to look at them and say “I’m not the one you offended.” “I’m not the one you will answer to.”
I tell you those personal stories, because I think it does illustrate something very clear.
We fear man more than we fear God.
How do I know this? Because people will readily acknowledge that God is omnipresent, meaning he is everywhere, and yet, they only change their behavior and speech when their parents or pastor or someone else is around.
As believers, we are to live our lives recognizing we live under the constant gaze of God Himself.
In the reformation, they coined the term, that believers live “Coram Deo.” which means “before the face of God.”
This has to motivate us to keep pur tongues from evil and our lips from speaking deceit
We must be people who have pure and truthful lips.
Its not just our lips- our lives matter as well.
Look in verse 11
“He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it.
Lives
Lives
Turn away from evil, and do good.
Its interesting here that it says we must turn away from evil, because what that implies is that we are not naturally pointed towards good.
The natural thing for any of us is to sin. That’s our bent. We are born into sin. We are born sinners.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”
From birth, our eyes, our minds, and our hearts are bent not towards God, but against Him. We don’t naturally point our lives in the right direction of God’s goodness.
We naturally go astray from it.
But, the expectation for the believer is to turn away from evil and do good. The excuse of “I was born this way doesn’t work.” We are all born in sin. The expectation is that we turn away from the sin and do good.
We don’t give our lives over to being a thief because we naturally desire to have something we don’t have to pay for.
We don’t accept the excuse of the murderer who says they were born with hatred in their heart for other people. No we prosecute them and lock them up.
And We don’t just give our lives over to sexual perversion of any kind, just because we desire to do it.
At this point, the standard in our culture has become “If it feels good do it. It can’t be wrong if it feels good to you.” “It can’t be wrong if its its what you naturally desire to do.” Thats a dangerous ethic. And it doesn’t hold up, Because at that point there is no wrong or right.
For the believer, we have a higher standard. God is holy, and we are followers of Him we are expected to be holy.
We must repent.
In fact, if there is no desire to repent in a person’s life of sin in general or a particular sinful lifestyle, and they choose to constantly walk in darkness, the Bible says they have no fellowship with God.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Repentance is a work of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer.
Now- Hear that very clearly. In the life of the believer Repentance is a work of the Spirit.
It is an outworking of the Gospel at work in the believers life.
If you are an unbeliever today here, don’t hear the message wrongly. These verses are for believers. People who are already walking with Christ. This is the expectation of our lives.
If you are an unbeliever today, you may be feeling the weight of your own rebellion.
Here is what you need to know about us as believers.
We are all sinners. We have all broken God’s Law. We are all hopeless in and of ourselves, from the greatest to the least.
God sent His Son to live how we couldn’t, to die in our place. On the cross, he was crushed under the weight of God’s wrath because God punished Him for what we did.
He rose again on the third day.
And we are people who have put our trust in Him, He has filled us with His Spirit, and now there is an expectation that we honor Him with our lips and our lives.
Unbeliever, you are a sinner too. You have broken God’s Law, but if you will call on the name of the Lord, If you will cry out for Him to save you, you will be saved.
But if you don’t, you need to understand that the Lord of Creation has set His face against you and one day you will experience the full weight of His wrath undiluted poured out on you in Hell.
“For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”