Living Like We Don't Belong

Intro

Undercover Boss is an American television series about bosses of large American companies who drop in to their workplaces unannounced, to see how their businesses run. They change their hairstyle, put on a wig, wear different clothing, add some make up, to make the boss look like a different person. All this happens so the boss can discover how their workers conduct themselves in the workplace when the boss isn’t around. They want to find out what procedures and protocols are working and what isn’t. Do the front line workers display kindness? Are they courteous to their customers? Do they have a good knowledge of the products they are selling? Do they display selfishness, have an uncaring attitude, dis the company? Do they show up for work on time? Unsurprisingly, the bosses do find some people who do have a caring and kind disposition, others who really don’t care for the company and are only there for the paycheck, and yet others who may know their job very well but have a no caring attitude toward the customers.

Christianity is a lot like this. The world looks at some and doesn’t see a difference between them and everyone else in society. I would call them non-Christians. But, there are also those Believers who not only say they are Christian, but live Christ centred lives.

The big question is how are we, as new creatures in Christ, to live in this world? We know this world is a very dangerous place for the Christian. God has created us to have emotions and feelings, and to enjoy the world. Since the fall, though, we humans have desired the world more than God, we have placed our love of the activities of this life above loving and desiring God and His word.

1 Peter 2:11-12 are the introduction to the larger passage ending in 1 Peter 4:11. This long passage deals with how Christians are to practice the holy living Peter has just encouraged among the Believers in 1 Peter 1:13-2:10. Living among other Christians is by far easier because we have a mutual goal, dying to self and living to God. But we aren’t called to live in Christian commune s, but to live among those who may be hostile to us. And we all know how hard it is to live according to God’s Word, while among people who don’t hold to the same convictions, and a society that is becoming more and more openly opposed to it.

Our Status

Beloved

Please open your Bible to 1 Peter 2:11. It says,  Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Everybody has the need to be loved by others and the Christians of the first century were no different. In verse 11 the original readers are being reminded that they are loved. The One who chose them to be a holy priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, is the One who first loved them. God is the One who sent Jesus to die for their sins and rise to give them life. Peter is rereminding them that God loves them as His own children. And he aslo reminds us. We may, at times, think we are alone in our own suffering, walking down this narrow path without a caring hand to hold. This little word, Beloved, reminds us that we are not alone, we have a God who loved us in Christ, and who, even now, loves us as children in His family. Peter declares that He loves them as brothers and sisters who have a share in the spiritual rebirth we heard about in the first chapter. Peter knows first hand what it is like to be hated by his own people. To be persecuted by his own government. He sympathises with them and encourages them to look beyond their current circumstances, to the One who went through the ultimate suffering and now sits on the eternal throne above, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sojourners and Pilgrams

Peter doesn’t want to just remind the Asian readers of their position in Christ. He urges the Believers to remember that their true home is not among pagan society. Peter says in 1 Pet 2:11, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims. This isn’t the first time Peter has mentioned the non-status of Christians in society. Peter begins his first letter to the pilgrims of the Dispersion. Christians may be temporary residents in the world, just passing through, because our citizenship in in the new kingdom. 1 Peter 1:3-5 tells us we have been begotten again to a living hope, an eternal inheretance. One that God is guarding until the Last day.

But the idea of God’s people being “sojourners and pilgrams” originally comes from the Old Testament. When God promised blessings of becoming a great nation to Abraham in Genesis 12, the promise was not fulfilled for over 400 years. The Jews spent 40 years in the wilderness as a nation without any place to call their own. 40 years sojourning through land not their own. Once they were given a home, one of the most important duties placed on the Israelites was the practise of hospitality toward other people. God had given this command because the Jewish people were once strangers and pilgrams in a foreign land.

Actions Speak Loud

Actively Abstain from Fleshly Lusts

Knowing who we are in Christ enables us to look beyond the present suffering and resist, fight agianst the strong urges of our sinful desires. Continuing in v11, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Commonly when we hear the word lust we immediately think that it must be sexual in nature. Peter is speaking of sexual desires, He doesn’t stop there, though, and includes every desire that does not match up with God’s Word. In chapter 5 of Paul’s letter to the Galatians we read some typical lusts of the world that hinder our growth. Galatians 5:19, Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul doesn’t include every lust that plagues us, but gives a good serving, and the horrifying thing is that as we read this list we can see some things that we struggle with as Chirstians. This shows us that it isn’t the momentary lapse into sin that Believers fall into, but the not ever saying no to them.

Is your life governed by what you get out of it?

Are your lusts and desires in the drivers seat of your life?

If you can’t honestly say no, then theymost likely are the driving force in your life. Some who call themselves Christian live their lives for the moment, filling themselves with all the pleasures the world has to offer. They hold to the current ideals of society at large. In today’s climate they will show support, possibly even participate, in gender fluidity, adultery, drunkenness, spending their earnings on gambling, wild living, and the list goes on. The Bible speaks of those types as not partakers of the Faith, false Christians. Christians may and do fall into some of these sins at various times in our lives, but they should not control our direction. Our direction is centred on Christ’s finished work on the cross. The Holy Spirit will always drive us toward the cross.

Honourable Conduct

It doesn’t matter how hard the battles are, nor how non-Christian people act, it matters how you, as a Christian act, and react. God has called us to a higher standard of living. 1 Peter 2:12, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles. In v11 Peter gave the negative plea, abstain, but now he states the same thing but in a positive plea. In the same way we put off the wicked things of 1 Peter 2:1, and desire the pure milk of the word, in verse 2, so too now as we abstain from fleshly lusts we are to live as true children of God.

Romans 12:2 tells us that we are not to conform to the world, “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” notice the two words Paul uses, we are not to CONFORM but be TRANSFORMED. We are not to form our lives around the world’s standards. Instead we are to reform our lives through studying, thinking through, and applying, God’s Word to our lives. Christianity is not a mindless faith, but is a well thought through faith. One based on truth and not a wish. In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul gives us godly principles to live by. He calls them the fruit of the Spirit. Verse 22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The fruit of the Spirit is not some magical formular for super Christians. It is simply the the Holy Spirit applying the Words of Scripture to your life, making you more like the image of Christ. This comes only through reading the Word. God can work miracles, but His normal working in the Christian life is through ordinary means. This means we must get the grey matter working. God’s Spirit helps us to understand it, giving us wisdom to apply the knowledge He implants as we are reading our BIbles.

Glory To God on the Day of Judgement

In the same way watering and feeding our plants helps to grow, so too does reading, and thinking about God’s Word help us to grow in godliness. And the natural result is a changed life. The things non-christians find important and desirable, no longer have the same meaning to us. We no longer feel the need to go out and get drunk every weekend, we no longer have the need to sit in front of the poker machines in the hope to get the big win. wealth no longer becomes as important to our survival. Instead our hope is sealed in Christ. Our future is secure in God’s hand. We therefore are able to live without spite for other people’s actions, whether their opposition is purposed or accindental. We are able to live out in the real world, in the same way we live on Sunday mornings.

1 Peter 2:12 says, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Not many people in the world will grace the doors of a church on any given Sunday. The only view of God they see is our conduct as we live and move among them. When we are in the supermarket do we push through not thinking of others? Do we grumble when someone takes our parking spot, or cuts in fromt of us on the roundabout? Or do we serve them with a humble heart, knowing that we are showing them the kindness God has shown us?

How does this effect them glorifying God on the day of visitation?

Before we get to that, let me briefly remind us what the day of visitation is. The idea that God was coming to “visit” Israel is found throughout the Old Testament, often in the phrase, “the Day of the LORD.” Early in Israel’s history it was a day of great excitement, of tremendous joy. But toward the end of the Old Testament we find it to be a dreadful day. In Amos 5:18, the prophet pronounced judgement upon the Jewish nation, Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! For what good is the day of the LORD to you? It will be darkness, and not light.

The Day of the LORD, or as Peter writes, the Day of visitation, is the day when Jesus returns to judge the people of the world. When Jesus does return, and He will, we are assured that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord. We are also assured that all the evil, slanderous opposition Christians face in this life, will be brought forward as evidence against them. God will be glorified. They will submit to His Majestic Sovereignty, whether they like it or not, and His righteous and just condemnation will come upon them.

Conclusion

Let me wrap this up by asking you a questions.

What would God find in you if He decided to come down from His throne, change His appearance, and spend a day with you?

Would He find a faithful child. One who is not driven by the whims of the world, but by His Word.

The battle is long and at many points very difficult. But though it continues until the Lord returns, Christ has already won the war. Each and every day can feel like a great battle we are fighting, inside and out. In Christ we are conquerors. Galatians 5:24, And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. What a great promise. All those who trust in Jesus death and resurrection, are covered with His blood. We have had our old self, our passions and desires, die with Him on the cross. And we have the Holy Spirit living inside us, helping along this journey. He has not left us alone to fight the battles, He is a personal God, who cares for each and every one of His children. What have we to fear from those who oppose us.

We don’t belong in this world, so can I encourage you to live each day, from this moment forward, for the life to come, displaying God’s love and mercy and sovereignty.

Amen.