Look Within
I Peter 2:11-25
1 Peter 2:11-25
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
12 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.
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority,
14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
18 Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
19 For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.
20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22 "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."
23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
(NIV)
Have you ever thought of yourself as “strange” or “alien”? What kind of images does that bring up for you? Do you consider yourself a “stranger” or an “alien”? Peter has used “stranger” to describe the Christian several times in this letter (1:1, 1:17) Jesus said we were “in the world but not of the world”. Obviously Christians cannot live like the world! The Word of God tells us to
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (I John 2:15 KJV)
When we live as Jesus would have us to live, we cut across the grain of the lifestyles of the rest of the world. It is an impossible task to live for Jesus…without His power!
E. M. Bounds put it this way: “What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men, men of prayer.”
The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power within us.
"What lies behind us
and what lies before us
are tiny matters compared to
what lies within us."
Walt Emerson
That is so true. It's what's inside you, what you believe, the size of your faith, and the hope in you that matters. Not the mistakes in the past or the mountains in front of you.
To live as a Christian, in a world that is Anti-Christian, will make you do strange things.
It is strange thing to willingly submit (vs. 13-14)
1 Peter 2:13-14
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority,
14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
(NIV)
John 13:3-9
3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
7 Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
8 "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
9 "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"
(NIV)
It is strange thing to willingly silence yourself (vs. 15)
1 Peter 2:15
15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
(NIV)
Matthew 16:21-23
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
(NIV)
It is strange thing to willingly serve (vs. 16-17)
1 Peter 2:16-17
16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
(NIV)
Once survival has become our supreme goal, we have lost our way…, the church is not called to survive history but to serve humanity. As with each individual, there is a difference between living and existing for the church…The church exists to serve as the body of Christ, and it is through this commitment to serve that we are forced to engage our culture…The serving that we are called to requires direct contact. You cannot wash the feet of a dirty world if you refuse to touch it
It is strange thing to willingly suffer (vs. 18-25)
1 Peter 2:18-25
18 Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
19 For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.
20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22 "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."
23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
(NIV)
No one wants to suffer! Especially for doing good! Yet God speaking through Peter here tells us we are called to suffer! Isn’t that strange?
Peter would discover soon after this writing what Jesus really meant when He said to Peter:
John 21:18-19
18 I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." (NIV)
John wrote that Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And that’s what happened. According to historical accounts, Peter was in Rome in 64 AD. Nero was celebrating how he had nearly burned the city down, by dipping Christians in tar, strapping them to posts, and setting them on fire. The Christians ablaze got out of control and the fire ravaged the city. Nero, being Emperor, got away with it. When He caught Peter, Nero decided it best to but him out of his misery by crucifying him. Peter had one last request: that he not be crucified like his Lord, but that he be crucified upside down!
