I Peter 2:9-12: Christian Conduct with Influence |
Do you
believe that Christians ought to be different in their attitude and behaviour
to that of unbelievers? Does God want Christians to show by their lives that
Jesus really does make a difference in how we treat one another in the family,
at home, in the church gathering, on the job, and whatever we do and wherever
we go? Do you believe that Jesus does cause people to change in the way
they treat one another?
These Christians that Peter was writing to, were going through the toughest of times. 1:1 says they were "strangers in the world." 1:6, for a little while they may have to suffer grief through various trials. 4:12, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you" (ESV).
For all believers, including those being persecuted for their faith, Peter, in this passage of the infallible word of God, tells us that our behaviour is based on three things:
- Who we are as believers (v. 9);
- Our purpose while on
earth (vv. 9-10);
- And then he gets to the specifics of how we are to behave (vv. 11-12).
What kind of person you are, will always determine your actions in life. So your overall and specific behaviours paint a true picture of your inner being. Remember Jesus' words to the Pharisees:
"You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." (Matt. 12:34-35 NIV)
Firstly,
A. Christians, your behaviour will be based on who you are as believers (v. 9) |
This is language that is drawn from
the OT: Exodus 19:5ff; Isaiah 43:20ff. All Christians are a . . .
1.
Chosen people/race
This language comes from Isaiah's prophecy in Isa. 43:20-21, which reads: "The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise."
In the OT, who were God's chosen people?
It is important to note that "there is but one people of God from the days of Abraham, a people with one continuous life, one history, for the saints of the Old 'Testament also lived by faith in the Christ to come, in expectation of Him and in the strength of God's promises.
"As
Another description of who believers are, is
2. A royal priesthood
This means you are "a priesthood belonging to the King, to Christ" (Cranfield 1950, p. 49). Please note that this emphasis is on you, plural; the entire church is "a royal priesthood." This is not talking about clergy being called priests. In fact the NT word for church leaders is presbuteros, elders.
"There is no priestly caste to fulfil the Church's priestly functions; the whole Church, not a part of it, was to be a priesthood. The priestly service of the Church was something in which every member was to share. That is the scriptural meaning of the phrase 'the priesthood of all believers'" (Cranfield 1950, p. 49).
So all Christians are priests, members of "a royal priesthood." We are all ministering to God, the body of Christ, and to our community with the gifts God has given. This is the function of "a royal priesthood."
Believers also are a
3. Holy nation
This is the language of Exodus 19:6, "you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."
Remember back to I Peter 1:15-16 "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'"
To be holy is not to be sinlessly perfect. If you are to be without sin as a holy nation, not one of us would be eligible. To be "holy" is to be "set apart for the service of God" (Kistemaker 1987, p. 92). However, remember back to 1:15, "be holy in all you do." So, to be "holy" means to be separated to serve God, but it also means a holiness in the way we live.
This is who we are as believers, "a holy nation," but as 2:9 states, we are also
4. A People Belonging to God
Or, "a people for [God's] possession." This is another marvellous statement about who we are in Christ. It parallels what Paul wrote in Titus 2:14: "[Jesus Christ] who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."
Yes, we are God's special people, possessed by and belonging to God. Praise the Lord!
Put these 4 descriptions together and this is who Christians are:
- A chosen people;
- A royal
priesthood;
- A holy nation;
- A people belonging to God.
But this is never a reason to exalt ourselves or pat our spiritual chests and say, "What good Christians we are to be regarded like this by God." That would be the height of arrogance. Commentator R. C. H. Lenski put it well: "It would be a mistake to suppose that we can be all that Peter states and at the same time sit down quietly and contemplate our honor and our excellence" (1960, p. 102).
Instead, God moves from who we are to the purpose he has set in place for the people of God – all Christians, not as individuals, but as a group of God's people (the church). Because this is who you are.
B. Christian your behaviour is based on your purpose for being on earth (vv. 9-10) |
What are we here for? I want to pause for a moment to briefly examine a trend
in the church that is sweeping the evangelical world.
What's our purpose
for being on earth as believers? There has been a lot of talk these days
about the Rick Warren programmes, The Purpose Driven Church, The
Purpose Driven Life, 40 Days of Purpose. Rick Warren believes
that "God’s five purposes for
each of us" are:
We were planned for
God’s pleasure, so your first purpose is to offer real worship.
We were formed for God’s family, so your second purpose is to enjoy real
fellowship.
We were created to become like Christ, so your third purpose is to learn real
discipleship.
We were shaped for serving God, so your fourth purpose is to practice real
ministry.
We were made for a mission, so your fifth purpose is to live out real
evangelism" (Warren 2002-2005).
This purpose driven
model of Rick Warren sounds good and godly when outlined like this, but some of
what comes with the teaching is far from sound doctrine. For example, in The
Purpose Driven Life (Warren 2002), he states that:
"Gideon's weakness was low
self-esteem and deep insecurities" (p. 275).
Let's get a wee-bit controversial.
Please fill in this blank for me: "The best style of worship is
---------." Rick Warren states that "the best style of worship
is the one that most authentically represents your love for God, based on the
background and personality God gave you" (p. 102). Really? My
biblical understanding of "the best style of worship" is one that
brings glory to God, not based on my personality, but based on who God
is.
As the Psalmist put it, "Come, let us bow down in
worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we
are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care" (Ps.
95:6-7).
Or Psalm 96:7-9,
"Ascribe to the LORD,
O families of nations,
ascribe to
the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his
name;
bring an
offering and come into his courts.
Worship the LORD in the splendor of his
holiness;
tremble before
him, all the earth."
Our worship is based on who God is and exalting His
worth. It has nothing to do with our personality and background. He
is the Lord, our Maker, our God, the Holy One; we tremble before Him because of
who He is.
According to The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 23 June 2006, the editor-in-chief, Rob Eshman, wrote of Rick Warren:
As I sat listening to him speak at Sinai Temple’s Friday Night
Live Shabbat services last week, I thought of the only other person I’d
met with Warren’s eloquence, charisma, and passion — but Bill
Clinton carries a certain amount of baggage that Warren doesn’t.
There are two aspects to [Rick]
“I spoke with him constantly,”
It is Drucker’s theory of “management by
objectives” that
Peter Drucker was a
secular, Jewish management guru. This
led the Editor of the Northern Landmark Missionary
Baptist magazine magazine
(August 2006) to comment, "In other words, the purpose of
Why have I used this example? Because this section of I Peter is about
God's purpose for you, and I want to urge you to be discerning with teaching
that uses Christian language but there might be core aspects of it that are not
driven by biblical Christianity.
Just two more quotes to give you some idea of the
theology of Rick Warren & his purpose-driven model. In The Purpose
Driven Life, he wrote: "[God] uses circumstances to develop our
character. In fact, he depends more on circumstances to make us like
Jesus than he depends on our reading the Bible" (2002, p. 193).
When Rick Warren spoke at the Jewish synagogue in
“He’s built a giant church that attracts people of all
ages,” said
Do you understand the paradox here? Today's Jews reject Jesus, the Messiah, the Saviour. Yet, this Jewish Rabbi believes that because Rick Warren's "message . . . touches the contemporary spirit. . . Perhaps he can help us learn how to do that." How can an evangelical Christian leader teach Jews who reject the Saviour how to bring a message that "touches the contemporary spirit." We do get a clue from another article in The Jewish Journal of the Greater Los Angeles:
The other secret to [Rick Warren's] success is his passion for God and
Jesus.
Good for him and his flock — and not so bad for us either. His teachings
apply to 95 percent of all people, regardless of religious belief. As he put it
to a group of rabbis at a conference last year — using a metaphor that
might be described as a Paulian slip: “Eat the fish and throw away the
bones" (Eshman 2006).
Rick Warren told Wolfson his interest was in helping all houses of
worship, not in converting Jews. He said there are more than enough Christian
souls to deal with for starters.
I hope that you'll see from what I preach
today from I Peter 2:9-12, that God uses His Word, the Bible, "to make us
like Jesus." We need God's Word in our heart and mind to enable us
then to live according to God's ways. Circumstances will not tell you
God's standards for living.
There is no denying that God uses circumstances to
mature us, but the content of Christian living is not found in circumstances,
but in the living and abiding Word of God. What does the Bible say in Ps.
119:11? "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against
you" (NIV)? Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is living and
active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing
soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the
heart."
To make us more like Jesus and not sin against God, one
of the primary ways is to hide or "store up" (ESV) God's Word in your
heart. It is God's "living and active" Word that "judges
the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" so that we will be more like
Jesus in our thinking and living.
Notice the wording in I Peter 2:9.
The NIV reads, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare . . . " The
KJV: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation,
a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth."
Here is a conjunction (I'm using a term
of English grammar), a conjunction, that begin a purpose clause and it is
critical that we understand our biblical purpose for living. It is the
word, "that," meaning "in order that," or "with the
purpose that." This word introduces part of the purpose for our existence
on earth. Why are we here? Briefly, your purposes for being on
earth are
To "declare his praises" (v.
9). Elsewhere, the Scriptures give this primary purpose for the
believer is "in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might
be for the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:12). Rev. 4:11, "You
are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you
created all things, and by your will they were created and have their
being."
According to I Peter, some of what that
means is that He is the one who has . ..
Called you out of darkness. You are
to praise the one who calls all true Christians to leave their lifestyle of
darkness. What a God, who can change your dark lifestyle. Change it
into what?
You are brought into his marvellous light. What a God we serve!
He can turn the thief into a person of integrity. He takes a
swearing, cursing farmer and makes him into a person whose language
demonstrates clean and holy words. He takes the people who are into civil
religion and makes them totally committed to the King of Kings. You are
to praise the one who turns the darkness of human beings into His kind of
light. What a God who changes rebels into saints!
Also, you once you were not a people of
God, but NOW you are God's people (v. 10). Those who lived for themselves
are now members of God's people. This is our purpose in life to proclaim
what God's people are all about. I'm going to give a personal
example. I have been promoted in my employment and we are selling up in
one city and moving to
Please understand that I was not standing
face to face with this person. It was a phone conversation. I had
provided no references of my honesty and integrity. He knew I was a
Christian believer. I knew he was a person "belonging to God."
He and his wife accepted me on that basis. I don't know of any other
group in the world that would so readily accept a person with that kind of
telephone contact.
Peter
reminds us why this is so. Part of our purpose is to show that "you
are the people of God." What difference is there between this group
of Christians, who are the people of God, and the local football club?
The Rotary Club; girl guides, the CWA, etc.?
There's something else
that causes you to have the purpose of declaring his praises:
"Once you had not received mercy."
"Now you have received mercy."
We need to know the
difference between God's justice and God's mercy. As rebel sinners,
before we committed our lives to Christ, we deserved God's justice.
That's called hell, and it will be the eternal destination of all who do not
repent and seek God's forgiveness through Christ.
However, mercy is one of the
key attributes of God Himself. "God's mercy means God's
goodness toward those in misery and distress" (Grudem 1994, p. 200).
In Exodus 34:6, God revealed His name to Moses: "The LORD passed before
him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (ESV).
According to 2 Sam. 24:14, "Then David said to Gad, 'I am in great
distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but
let me not fall into the hand of man.'"
Once we believers were in
"misery and distress" because of our sin. But then God showed
his goodness to us, miserable and distressed sinners, by extending his grace to
us through Christ's death and resurrection, and making salvation available to
the unlovely. Jesus, who came through the Jewish race, extended his mercy
to us – Gentile sinners.
In our praises of God, our purpose
includes showing how once there was no mercy for us, but now we have received
mercy in Christ. Praise His Name!
Does God's mercy ever grip your heart to
praise Him?
In vv. 9-10, Peter uses the word,
"people," four times: "A chosen people"; "a people
belonging to God"; "not a people"; and "the people of
God." Peter is reflecting what God has stated elsewhere in both OT
and NT. Take Lev. 26:12, "I will walk among you and be your God, and
you will be my people" (NIV). Rev. 21:3, "And I heard a loud
voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he
will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them
and be their God." [4]
When God's people really live as a special
kind of people, the world will notice the difference.
(1) Yes, Christians are a special people; they are "a
chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to
God" (v.9).
(2)
They have a special purpose; they are to "declare the praises
of him [God]" (v. 9)
(3) But
they must demonstrate a special performance. How, then, shall we
live?
C. The special performance is through behaviour that glorifies God (vv. 11-12) |
The NIV introduces v. 11 with, "Dear
friends." That is much too weak. It is literally,
"beloved," which is based on the verb, "to love."
This implies that these persecuted believers are loved by God, loved by the
writer, Peter, and what these believers must do: love one another and love
their enemies.
Note that these are not only the
"beloved," but v. 11 calls them "aliens and strangers in the
world." These two words, aliens and strangers, are very close in
meaning. Lenski translates them as "outsiders and foreigners"
(1966, p. 105).
As
"aliens," these are people "who live in a foreign country but
who keep their own citizenship. . . They do not possess the same
privileges and rights as the citizens of the country in which they live"
(Kistemaker 1987, p. 95). You do not belong or feel at home as citizens
of this world. Why? You are aliens to this worldly system because
your new relationship with God has made you an outsider.
More than that,
Christians are "'strangers' in a world that is foreign to them; they live
on this earth for only a brief period; they know that their citizenship is in
heaven" (Kistemaker 1987, p. 95), as Phil. 3:20 tells us. We would
put it this way: "We are in the world, but not of it; children of light
for the time being, living as strangers in the darkness" (Cranfield 1950,
p. 53).
From v. 11 onwards, we are introduced "to a whole group of sections which
deal with the Christian's obedience in various relationships" (Cranfield
1950, p. 52).
How are Christians to live in
an ungodly world. Remember four words that describe the way you
are to live:
- Abstain;
- Conduct;
- Accuse;
- Glorify. [5]
1. Firstly, abstain from passions of the flesh (v. 11)
If you are to be Christian in an ungodly world, you will
need "to abstain from sinful desires." What are sinful
desires? Back in 1:14, they are called "evil desires."
Help! From what must believers abstain?
Note something about these
"evil desires" in 2:11. The NIV, KJV and ESV state that they
"war against your soul." The soul is sometimes used in this
sense of the inner being -- the person. "Evil desires" play
havoc with your inner person. They mount a warlike campaign to capture
your desires, to enslave you, and even destroy you.
It is not wrong to have desires, but it
is wrong for Christians to have "sinful/evil desires."
But what are these sinful desires that wreak havoc on your soul? In
2:1 we have already been introduced to some of these: "Rid yourselves of
all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every
kind." "Hypocrisy" is one of these evil actions, that come
from evil desires. One of the things that gets up the noses of
non-Christians is hypocritical Christians. These are people who say one
thing and do another. Get rid of all hypocrisy among you. I
Peter 4:3 in the ESV gives more examples of evil desires: "living in
sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless
idolatry." If we want a longer list, we have it in Gal. 5:19-21:
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (ESV).
Do you get the picture? All of these activities will make war on your inner being. You must abstain from them if you know and love Jesus. And if any one of you sins against another person in this way, Matt. 18:15ff tells us what to do about it and we are not to remain silent about it. Matt. 18:15-18 states:
If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector" (NIV).
I had a very
convicting experience at this point of preparation of my message. I will
not give you the specific details except to say that a few other Christians and
I were about to engage in a church-related project. The Lord so convicted
my heart that what I was doing would cause strife, dissension and division that
I withdrew from the project. If I had engaged in that project, I would
have been doing things that would pamper my "evil desires" and make
"war against my soul." I quit such thinking and action.
Brothers and sisters, do not
even start them; abstain from all "evil desires." Now there's a
positive side to your behaviour.
2. Secondly, keep your conduct honourable (v. 12)
Or, "live such good lives among the pagans" (NIV). Or, as the ESV puts it: "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable." How can you live good, honourable lives? Your conduct among non-Christians must be kalē, "morally excellent, noble, the adjective conveying the thought that it is even admirable in the eyes of those pagans who have any moral sense left" (Lenski 1966, p. 107).
In spite of your living godly, good, and honourable lives . . .
3.
Thirdly, they will accuse you of doing
wrong (v. 12)
Remember what Jesus
said, as recorded in John 15:20, "Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No
servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will
persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours
also." Also Matt. 5:16: "Let your light shine
before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in
heaven."
Throughout the history of the church, Christians have had to suffer slanders
from unbelievers. Dr. Cranfield puts it so well:
False accusation is always a favourite weapon of the Church's persecutors, and there is a long story of the slanders made against Christians, from charges of cannibalism and incest in the earliest days down to those of misusing the pulpit for political purposes, being unpatriotic, committing currency offences and espionage. But there are also the less spectacular charges that are made by those who are hostile, but can hardly be called persecutors, charges of hypocrisy, of being kill-joys, and narrow-minded. Many are the prejudices and misunderstandings, which help to keep men away from the Church (1950, p. 55).
How are we to overcome such false accusations of doing wrong? "They may see your good deeds" and what may happen? Your Christian life before them is to be of such a godly nature that something amazing will happen.
4. Fourthly, they may glorify God because of your good conduct (v. 12)
This is such an important call in the age in which we live, because Christian living is being assaulted so that the Christian's life often looks little different from the non-Christian person's.
The call is urgent:
- Abstain from living according to sinful desires;
- Live good, honourable
lives;
- So that even if they accuse you falsely, they will scrutinise your behaviour and be so convicted by your lifestyle that they will glorify God. What does it mean to "glorify God"?
To give God the glory, means to honour and acclaim God; to give him vocal reverence as the creature for the Creator and Judge (Rev. 14:7). If you give God glory, you honour his majesty and perfection (Rom. 1:23; 3:23). To glorify God is to bow before Him and acknowledge Him for all that he is.
When will these non-believers give God the glory because of the Christians' conduct? V. 12 says: "On the day he visits us" (NIV), or "in the day of visitation' (KJV, NASB, ESV) – the latter is the literal meaning of the Greek. But what does it refer to? It is
Here most probably "the visitation takes place when God looks upon a person with grace and mercy (v. 10b)" [Lenski 1966, p. 109] and the non-Christian accepts the offer of Christ's salvation and in thankfulness glorifies God. This harmonises well with Matt. 5:16, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
D. Application |
It is a
travesty to the Christian witness that our lives too often give a very
different message from Peter's exhortation. You and I may have known of
people attending the same church who do not one another, or they deal
angrily towards each other.
There is too often a competition among
Christian denominations. What about church business dealings? Some
are doubtful and questionable. This should not be.
All Christians are called upon to live
exemplary lives of godly goodness, that so impact a secular world that they
will want to serve and glorify your God.
What is your attitude towards
Christians in this congregation? Are some of you at odds with one
another? What should you do? Go speak with the other person.
Make sure that it can be said of us, "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" (v. 12).
References
Cranfield, C. E. B. 1950, The First Epistle of Peter,
SCM Press Ltd.,
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/searchview.php?id=16029 [10 August 2006].
Grudem, W. 1994, Systematic
Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Inter- Varsity Press,
Rapid,
Kistemaker, S. J. 1987,
New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Epistles of Peter and of the
Epistle of Jude, Evangelical Press, Welwyn,
Hertfordshire.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=16012
[12 August 2006].
Lenski, R. C. H. 1966, Commentary on the New Testament: The Interpretation
of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude, Hendrickson
Publishers,
Morrison, M. 2005, 'Peter Drucker's Monumental Legacy', November 14, BusinessWeekOnline, Available
from:
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/nov2005/nf20051114_2199_db042.htm
[11 August, 2006].
Notes:
[1] I am an
Australian family relationships' counselling manager, doctoral student in
biblical studies, an active Christian apologist, and may be contacted at:
[2] BusinessWeekOnline
reported:
[4] This emphasis was suggested
by Kistemaker (1987, p. 94).
[5] Outline from Kistemaker (1987, pp. 95-96).
Expository Sermons
The Challenge of Truth
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