Living a Witness - 1 Peter 2b
July 13, 2008
Turn with me this morning to the end of your Bibles, to the book of 1 Peter, chapter 2. We want to continue on in our study of the book of 1 Peter. Remember that Peter is writing to give practical help to Christians dealing with daily problems. He starts by reminding us that we all face trials. They come in all shapes and sizes of trial. Peter says we can expect them to come; so don’t be surprised when they do come. They can be very hard to deal with, but with God’s help, we can make it through. Peter says in spite of the trials in our lives, we are to Live in Hope. Hope is not a futile wishing for a good future, rather hope is the confident expectation that God will work, based upon his character. I can have hope in the midst of trials, Peter tells me, because I am chosen of God - God loved me and elected ME! I am born of God - God not only loved me, but he made me his child. I am destined for good - I have an incorruptible inheritance waiting for me. I am shielded by God’s power - I am completely protected as I face these various trials. Therefore, I can have JOY in the midst of the trials, and I can GROW spiritually.
Because we have hope, we are called to Live in Holiness. To do that, Peter calls us to
control our minds, imitate our master, inquire of scripture, anticipate judgment, and confirm our faith. In living holy lives, we are to Live in Harmony with one another. Peter calls us to holiness - remember this word holiness is really the idea of being “different” than the world - and then he calls us to live in harmony in response to the holy life we live. We have a fond affection, a brotherly love for one another, but we go on to extend ourselves to sacrificial love, and seek to live in unity, because we are children in the same family, stones in the same building, priests in the same temple, and citizens of the same nation.
That’s a quick review of what we’ve seen so far in 1 Peter. Today, we want to look at the verses we ended with the last time. Join me as we look at 1 Peter 2:9-12. READ TEXT. PRAY.
Today is a Jerusalem Sunday - a day we set aside regularly to remind ourselves of the commands that Jesus gave us in Acts 1:8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” How do we go about being a faithful witness for Jesus Christ here in our Jerusalem, in Owosso, Corunna, Oakley, New Lothrop, Ovid, or whatever area you live in. Our call is to be a faithful witness, but often we fail to live out our call. So today, we want to talk a little about Christ’s command to us to be witnesses.
Here in our passage in 1 Peter, Peter reminds us we are a chosen people -- who are chosen - to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. We are chosen to declare. This word used here for “declare” carries with it the concept that today we would call “advertising.” As Christians, we are to “advertise” for Jesus. So thinking about that this morning, let me ask for some of your input.
Have you ever bought anything because of the advertisement for the product? Raise Hands -- How many here have ever bought a product because of the advertisement for it?
?What was it about the product’s advertisement that appealed to you so much that you wanted to buy it?
(allow time for responses)
I’ve been amazed at the ads for the Kenoki Foot pads - have you seen these? They are supposed to take all toxins out of your body. You put the pads on the soles of your feet at night, and they draw all the impurities out of your body while you sleep. You put on a white pad, and in the morning when you take the pad off it is brown with impurities. The only problem is that upon investigation I saw an experiment where the pads turned brown overnight just lying on a plate, not even on someone’s feet.
But ads that get our attention are those that show us the value of the product. There are a lot of cute commercials that are memorable, but they don’t really get us to buy the product. But good ads get us to see the value, to want to get the product.
We are called to advertise for Jesus -- and as we do, we want to do a good job of advertising for Him. So, in considering how we share this good witness, turn with me to the gospel of John, chapter 1, starting at verse 35. The gospel of John starts out by giving the record of another John, John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Christ, who lived in the wilderness and began baptizing by the Jordan. He has baptized Jesus, Jesus has gone into the wilderness to be tempted, and Jesus comes back on the scene to the area where John is still baptizing. In verse 29, we see John had declared that Jesus is the Messiah, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now look down in verse 35-36 to see how John is a witness, advertising for Jesus.
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
The first example of a witness - John the Baptist - reminds us to focus on Jesus. As a result of his witness, Andrew and John come to believe in Jesus. The reality we need to remember is that many of our friends, co-workers, relatives, neighbors would come to follow Jesus if we would just talk about him more. Far too often we talk about everything BUT Jesus. We can talk about sports or fashion or kids easy, but many of our conversations DON’T include Jesus.
If we are going to do a good job of advertising for Jesus, it starts by including Jesus in your daily conversations. Sometimes it might be asking a friend what they think of Jesus. It might be talking about how Jesus helped you. It might be talking about what Jesus means to you. But the more Jesus means to us, the more we should want to talk about him.
The first evaluation point for us to consider today is this: How much do I talk about Jesus? And I don’t just mean talking “church talk” but how much in my daily conversations do I refer to God and the help He is?
Let’s move on to look at the second advertiser in this chapter: Jesus. Look in verse 38 - Turning round, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. As a result of the witness of Jesus also, Andrew and John are saved.
So, who gets the credit for their conversion -- John the Baptist or Jesus? Remember the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 - I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
We come back to last week’s idea: we are all working together for the same cause. The Nazarene church and the Wesleyan church and the Methodist church are not our competition - we are all on the same team, working for the same purpose - to see others follow Jesus Christ. But this reminds us of the principle that it takes 7.3 contacts with Christian witnesses, on average, for an unsaved person to come to faith in Christ. Some will respond the first time they hear the gospel, others take years, but it takes several Christians advertising Jesus for the non-believer to choose to follow Christ.
Notice also the style Jesus uses. He just asks questions: What do you want? Jesus asks them about their needs and desires. And he offers them an invitation to come and find out more. The first reason that people don’t come to church is that they find it irrelevant to their lives. Because we don’t do a good enough job showing them the relevance of faith in daily life. But the second biggest reason people don’t come to church is that they aren’t invited. People say they WOULD come if someone invited them. To advertise Jesus, you don’t need to cram a 30 minute gospel presentation down everyone’s throat; you just need to give them an invitation. A second question for us to evaluate our advertising: Do I invite others? Come to church with me. Come to Bible study with me. Come to a Christian concert with me. And then just ask questions of them. What would you like God to do for you?
Let’s look at the third witness in this passage: Andrew. Verse 40 - Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.
When we see Andrew in the gospels, he is bringing people to Jesus. Here he brings Peter. Later he brings the boy with the loaves and fish. Later he brings a delegation of Greeks. He did a great job of invitation. And Andrew uses his confident personal faith in Jesus as a witness. He just tells Peter what he knows to be true. In our witness, one of the best ways to advertise for Jesus is to tell others what we know to be true about Jesus. You don’t have to memorize a lot of verses or know systematic theology -- you just need to let others see that you firmly believe what you say you believe. They want to know whether you really believe in Jesus or whether you are just religious.
The passage goes on and Jesus calls Philip, also from Bethsaida or “fish town” - the home of Peter , Andrew, James, John, and Philip. But then in verse 44 we see Philip right away going on to be an advertiser.
Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
How does Philip advertise? He uses the Scriptures as a witness. He didn’t use the Romans Road, because it wasn’t written down yet. He uses the Emmaus Road - he uses the OT, the law and prophets. The same method Jesus uses in Luke 24 to prove the Christ must suffer and die and raise again. If all you had to use in witnessing was the Old Testament, would you be able to witness for Jesus? It’s sad, but we get spoiled by the New Testament: we just want to read the gospels and the epistles, and we ignore 2/3rds of the bible.
Ask yourself this: How well can I relate the Old Testament to the gospel? If you don’t really understand it, it would do you well to take some extra study of the Old Testament. I’ll be glad to recommend some resources for you to use.
Notice also what Philip does. He doesn’t get sidetracked by arguments, but simply uses invitation. When Nathanael criticizes Nazareth, Philip refuses to argue, but gives a challenge. He uses invitation and personal testimony.
Never fear being a witness because you will be stumped by a question you don’t know. If someone asks you something you aren’t sure of, simply say, I’m not sure about that, I’ll get back to you on that, but what do you think about Jesus? Don’t let arguments get you sidetracked.
Then the next thing we see in John 2, is Jesus going to the wedding at Cana, Nathanael’s hometown. He goes with his family and his disciples who have started traveling with him. Here he does his first miraculous sign, he turns the water into wine. John 2:11 says this: This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
Now the disciples had already started following and believing. But their belief grew. We see different times in the gospels that the disciples, already following, continue to put their faith in Jesus. Often when someone becomes a Christian, God gives them faith to believe. But over time that faith grows and grows. A person doesn’t need to understand everything you do to be a Christian, they just need the simple child-like faith to believe in Jesus for their salvation. They will learn and grow over time.
When you advertise for Jesus, don’t try to get a person to change all their bad habits with one simple prayer. The Holy Spirit is the one who will bring conviction and make them a new creation. Simply share the gospel, share what Christ has done for you, and let God do the work in their hearts.
So, turn back with me to 1 Peter. In 1 Peter 3:15, we are told, But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
We are to always be prepared to advertise for Jesus. We are in “network marketing.” Did you ever know someone who sold Amway, or Shaklee, or any other type of network marketing. They use any occasion to promote their product: church suppers, family reunions, sports teams. In the same way, we as Christians are to be looking to talk about Jesus in any and every situation. We are always to be ready to advertise for Jesus.
Back to 1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
We are called to advertise - to focus on Jesus, declaring His praises, and witnessing what he has done for us.
He gives us a Destiny - he has called us from darkness to light. he has rescued us from eternal damnation and separation from God in hell, and has given us an eternal inheritance in heaven.
He gives us Identity - once we were not a people, we were not his children - we were of our father the devil - but we become his child, his heir, through faith in Jesus Christ. So many times liberal preachers talk about treating others with respect because we are all children of God -- NO! We are NOT! Only those who have been reborn become the child of God. Faith in Jesus gives us a new identity, the child of the most high God.
Jesus gives us Sympathy - where previously we were under condemnation, being given no mercy, suddenly through faith in Jesus we find mercy, we find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4 tells us, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
In advertising for Jesus, think about the common questions people have:
What will happen to me when I die? Jesus gives us a destiny.
Is there anything special about me? Jesus gives us identity.
Does anyone really care about me? Jesus gives us sympathy. He feels with us.
So, in being the witness we are called to be, we focus on Jesus, who He is and what he does. But we also share a witness by our life. 1 Peter 2;11 - Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 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.
This is the same idea of Matthew 5:16 - In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Too many Christians have good intentions be be a witness, but ruin that witness by their life, by the things they say and do. You wouldn’t buy a pill to stop smoking from a chain-smoker; you wouldn’t take a weight-loss class from a 450 teacher. You wouldn’t invest your retirement money with someone who just declared bankruptcy. You want to see a consistent example.
In the same way the unsaved in the world look at our lives and want to see a blameless example. Not sinless, because we are all sinful, but blameless -- to have a consistent example. And one of the best ways to preserve that example is when you sin and say or do something you shouldn’t, be quick to apologize and seek forgiveness of others. If you wrong someone, seek their forgiveness. Make sure you let nothing stand in the way of your being a faithful witness.
In closing today, as you think about how you can better advertise Jesus, how you can be a more-faithful witness, let me ask two questions of you. And I want us to share the answers with one another.
1. What is it YOU need to do to be better at advertising for Jesus? and
2. How can we pray specifically for your witness? We want to share with one another and pray for one another. So who will be first and share how we can pray for you.
1. What is it YOU need to do to be better at advertising for Jesus? and
2. How can we pray specifically for your witness?
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Let’s pray. --pray for specific requests made.
