Text: 1 Peter 2:11-12, Title: Lifestyle Evangelism, Date/Place: LSCC, 9/4/05, AM
A. Opening illustration: Deborah and Jane’s story p. 16-17 in The Unchurched Next Door
B. Background to passage: After giving these suffering Christians the definition and purpose of the church, Peter transitions back to how shall we live. Some commentators think these verses summarize the whole message of the book of 1 Peter. The specific emphasis of these two verses is that of how the life of a Christian should be a positive asset to reaching others.
C. Main thought: So, Peter gives us some key instructions for evangelizing with our lives.
Maintain credibility (v. 11)
1. Peter instructs these believers to abstain from fleshly lusts. The verb is present tense, middle voice, meaning you yourselves continually abstain. Peter knows the truth that when one is born again, and the Spirit takes up residence in their lives, that the bondage to sin is broken. Therefore the believer can abstain (resist, keep oneself back from) our own desires. However, the redeemed spirit is still abiding in an unredeemed body. It is not necessary to equate desires of the flesh with sexual sin only. In fact many sins of the body and old man are implied here. And it is not that strong desires are inherently bad. Peter knows that when Christians claim Christ and participate in sin their witness is shot. Give some statistics of Christians vs. non-Christians, and camp out on the differences that should be apparent.
2. Matt 5:16, Gal 5:19-21, 5:17, 1 John 2:15-17,
3. Aside: these sins war or fight against the spirit. So, not only do they harm your witness, they harm your walk with the Lord. You will become spiritually weak and ineffective.
4. Illustration: tradition to go out to dinner after church, what if all the church members streamed out of churches into restaurants, prayed with the servers, graciously didn’t complain, tipped well, shared Christ, and demonstrated grace in their lives, Timmy and Jessica in Maryland, one of the things that drove Brian Warner to become Marilyn Manson and lead a debased life that openly attacks Christianity is that his supposedly Christian grandfather had an addiction to hard core pornography. Tell about the Sextons who almost stopped going to church because of the behavior of a contractor church member who was also a Sunday School teacher. The Muslims refusing to kill a missionary because of his lifestyle
5. This doesn’t mean that we isolate ourselves. Do you have areas of sin in your life that would harm your witness? Are their things about your life that you would be embarrassed to share with unbelievers, or with your SS teacher? Go through the list in Galatians 5. Make sure your attitude is not holier than thou. Is your life noticeably different from your non-Christian friends? One of the keys to not fulfilling the desires of the flesh is walking in the Spirit of God. I believe that it is also important that when we fail, we acknowledge it, ask forgiveness for it, and boldly turn from it in front of non-believers.
B. Display charity (v. 12)
1. This is the positive counterpart to the previous command. Peter tells them not to do some things, but to do others. He says to have excellent or honorable behavior. The word means to be beautiful, winsome, and attractive to those that are watching. Behavior is a constant day-to-day pattern of life. Not an exhortation to plastic surgery, but instruction to live life doing things that will make the gospel of Christ in a sense beautiful to outsiders. Peter links good life and evangelism directly.
2. Phil 1:27, 2 Cor 1:12, 1 Thess 4:12,
3. Illustration: tell the story of the guy named Bill who was a wild haired college student who just got saved, walking into the stuffy legalistic church, and the deacon who came to sit beside him. Pastor: what I am about to say, you may never remember, but what you just saw, you may never forget. Radically Unchurched, p. 19-20, John Avant befriending a man named Harry on the plane, taking him to lunch, meeting with him for coffee, answering questions, and building a relationship, then sharing Christ. Robert visiting church after an accident that left his daughter in serious condition, and the man who followed up with him the next day at his office, then a week or two later in a parking lot. 51-year old Linda who gave her life to Jesus after a servant evangelism team paid for all her laundry at the laundromat.
4. We must be known for what we do, not just don’t do. Just go out of your way for people. Not just church people, but all people. Do someone near you need a helping hand? Is there a need in the life of another that you can meet? Is this your pattern? Many times, simple acts of kindness can open the door for discussion of the ultimate act of kindness. Do the good that you do without the expectation of reward, but acknowledge that you are showing the love of Christ. This is one of the ways that God shows love to people. One of the best ways to get over a feeling of depression is to begin serving others, once a day.
C. Withstand criticism (v. 12)
1. Christians were criticized back then for being cannibals, incestuous, rebellious toward the government, and many others. Peter exhorted them to stand firm and endure the criticism. Of course, certain criticisms in the first century could bring physical persecution and even death. The criticism that these Christians were facing were from people that were out to harm them.
2. Phil 2:11, Titus 2:8, Matt 5:11, 44, Rom 12:12,
3. Illustration: the story of Jeremiah Neitz as he refused to listen to criticism about his faith from Larry Ashbrook who was shooting people on a Sunday night in Wedgwood Baptist Church, Ft Worth, TX. Rachel Scott’s journal entry about losing friends and enduring their criticism one year to the day before she was killed at Columbine HS. Radically Unchurched, p. 58
4. Today we are criticized for being intolerant, narrow-minded, politically incorrect, hateful, and stupid. Unfortunately sometimes we do not endure the criticism well. Sometimes I wonder that if we are not being criticized, maybe we are not speaking loud enough with our lives. The evildoers are the ones that God wants to save—the liberal politicians, abortionists, evolutionists, atheists, drug addicts, and prostitutes. Allow your life to speak for you. And allow the Lord to be your shield and fight your battles. People will see much more of Christ in you when you endure persecution, than if everything is going well. It is critical that these evildoers see you endure well. If we must speak remember these hints: 1) a kind word turns away wrath, 2) they are assaulting Christ, not you personally, 3) use scripture, 4) display love, 5) don’t be condescending or sarcastic or angry, 6) seek the Lord’s guidance as to what you should say and strength to say it, 6) timing is everything, 7) spend time in prayer for them.
D. Share the truth (v. 12)
1. Finally the last component of lifestyle evangelism is clearly sharing the gospel. Peter speaks about these evildoers getting saved when they glorify God. There is a sense in which unbelievers will glorify God, but that is not what is represented here. And for people to be saved, they must clearly hear the gospel. It is not enough to simply live a good life, abstain from evil, do nice things for people, these things are only a bridge or means to an end. We must tell people why we do it, and how we do it. They really want to know.
2. 1 Pet 3:15,
3. Illustration: it is kind of like a doctor comforting a patient, telling them everything will be fine, but withholding the medication that will save them. Someone told me I was becoming a great ME fisherman because the bass I caught in Watchic Lake grew from six pounds to seven overnight—its as easy as getting together and telling fish stories, or stories about your children with a friend or new acquaintance. Deborah’s statement about hiding the gospel from Jane. The Unchurched Next Door p. 15-16
4. If we do all these things without giving someone the message, we have not completed our task. There are many ways to do this. You can do it through a gospel tract, through your testimony, through a learned presentation, through the computer. This also doesn’t mean that every time you meet someone, you must share the gospel immediately. Sometimes it may not be appropriate to do it immediately—in the case of a waiter or waitress, or in the case of a long-term relationship, such as a co-worker (Shoshanna). We will be doing some evangelism training this spring and we will equip you at how to share the gospel clearly and easily. Once you begin, it is really not so hard.
III. CONCLUSION
A. Closing illustration: Jim and Andy, his “Jesus Freak” college roommate, and the impeccable lifestyle and passion for the things of God that affected him, Matt the youth pastor that he played with at the tennis club at the apartment complex and sharing of the gospel, Lori his secretary that never spoke bad of anyone, didn’t complain, spoke of church and God, Bruce the new boss with a testimony of Christ, the lady on the plane, then the witnessing team from the church, p. 46-47 Radically Unchurched.
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
