Today, I want to talk about “Why Being Good Matters.” And I want to express it in such a way that rebels who repent of their sins have hope. We want to examine our purpose in living against the backdrop of life itself. Not a sanitized view of life that we find in an ivory tower, stained glass sanctuary… But against the backdrop of real life where drug addictions plague us... And sexual temptation destroys marriages… And children grow up fatherless… Today we want to give real hope for people needing strong, substantive answers for hard living.
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” (1 Peter 2:11-12)
Here’s What You Do with Today’s Message: Make a Name for God in the River Valley & Spread the Reputation of His Greatness throughout the World.
1. Adopt This Mindset
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles…” (1 Peter 2:12a). You must adopt the mindset that life itself is a trial. That is not to say that there is no joy in life. There is incredible joy in Christ Jesus. Christians are pushed aside as weirdoes. They were weirdo’s who love Jesus so much that they lived their lives and view their faith in a way that made them holy, or different, than other people. Because they would not get drunk, sleep around, or practice other religions and spiritualties — or even endorse such things by their approval— they are viewed by everyone else as basically just plain weird, and way too serious about Jesus.
Example One
A man who was baptized as an infant in a very dead church grew up as a non- Christian whose family virtually never entered church other than for weddings and funerals. Later in life, he was saved and grew quickly as a Bible-believing Christian. He married a godly woman and God blessed them with a healthy, beautiful baby boy. His non-Christian parents pressured him to have the baby baptized in the church they never attended as a sort of superstitious rite. They wrongly believed that by baptizing the baby he would automatically go to heaven if he died as an infant. The man lovingly tried to explain to his parents that he would do no such thing because it was not his church and he did not share their beliefs. Eventually, the entire extended family formed something of an alliance against him, as each of them had had their own children baptized in the parents’ church even though none of them was living as a Christian. He lovingly and graciously held his ground but was in many ways ostracized by his entire family and his deeply hurt parents even threatened to cut him out of his inheritance for dishonoring them.
Example Two
Brit Hume was the Washington managing editor at Fox News and was one of the best at his business. He retired from his position. Starting this year, he has become senior political analyst and works 100 days in the year. When asked why he is retiring, Hume said: “I certainly want to pursue my faith more ardently than I have done. I’m not claiming it’s impossible to do when you work in this business. I was kind of a nominal Christian for the longest time. When my son died (by suicide in 1998), I came to Christ in a way that was very meaningful to me. If a person is a Christian and tries to face up to the implications of what you say you believe, it’s a pretty big thing. If you do it part time, you’re not really living it.” From another interview: “And since my son died, I have been, really, I felt rescued by God and by Christ. I have an intense desire to pursue that more ardently and have it be a bigger part of my life than it has been.” When asked how that will translate, Hume responded, "It’ll translate into Bible study.”
For many Christians today, there is a real pressure to keep your faith private. We see examples where Christians are the butt of jokes in late night talk shows and we’re tired of being seen as outcasts.
2. Fight This War
During WWII, Americans spoke about fighting a war on two fronts: There was the war in Europe against the spread of Nazis and then there was the war in the Pacific Theater against Imperial Japan. But I have heard many people who were members of the Greatest Generation speak of fighting the war on the Home Front. These were the people like “Rosy the Riveter” who worked in factories and those who endured rationing and blackouts. In our spiritual war, we battle on two fronts as well: The world is our external foe; our the passions of the flesh is our internal foe: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11).
The Greek poet, Homer, wrote the thrilling tale of how the Greek armies launched a thousand ships to rescue the beautiful Helen from Troy. Helen was the woman whose face launched a thousands ships. For ten years, the Greek armies tried to capture Troy, but they were turned back repeatedly. Finally Odysseus came up with an ingenious plan. They built a large wooden horse that was hollow within. This famous horse was called the Trojan horse. Several mighty Greek warriors hid inside the horse, and then all the other Greek soldiers got on their ships and sailed away. The residents of Troy assumed they surrendered, and the horse was an offering of peace. So they brought the Trojan horse inside their gates, and that night they partied to celebrate their victory. While they were sleeping in a drunken stupor, the Greek soldiers slipped out of the wooden horse killed the sentries and opened the gates to the army. That led to the fall of Troy. Troy fell from within.
Listen to Peter’s words: “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:13-16).
It is so easy for Christians to get out of the fairway and into the rough. Look at just some of the examples in Scripture - Noah got drunk and was indecently exposed after the flood. David, the man after God’s heart, was probably in his early fifties when he fell into sin with Bathsheba. Elijah’s faith wavered after years of boldly proclaiming God’s Word to the wicked Ahab and Jezebel. Hezekiah, a godly king who brought great reform, late in his life fell into the sin of pride. As long as we live in this body, we must be vigilant and fight against these inward desires to go our own way. We must be vigilant and fight against gratifying ourselves in opposition to the will of God.
A College student is weary of being mocked by their professors for being Bible-believing Christians. Husbands are mocked for not looking at porn or partying with their buddies; Wives forego a professional career to stay at home and be a wife and mother; Singles are the butt of jokes at the office for waiting until marriage to have sex.
3. Display Good Deeds
Your Behavior is to create questions for people. “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12). Most people are convinced that we come to church to improve ourselves. We are here to make ourselves betters morally. You probably think that we are to do good but if we are not good then God gives us a bad grade. Be motivated to be good because you want to go to heaven and enjoy the streets of gold and the absence of pain. But Peter gives us another reason altogether to be good. If you are a follower of heaven, you are to be good in order to Make a Name for God in the River Valley.
Note that the pagans (“Gentiles”) observe our good deeds. This word only occurs here and in 3:2. It has the nuance of long-term, reflective observation. Even if you’re not aware of it, unbelievers are watching your life. Missionaries who have gone to primitive cultures tell of how the natives will often come and stand at their open windows, watching everything they do to see how they do it. Nonbelievers in America may not be so obvious. Yet, they are watching you as an alien and stranger. Cal Thomas, a committed Christian who is a syndicated newspaper columnist, wrote: “I got a letter from an editor of a newspaper that recently started carrying my column. He said, ‘I’m so frustrated because I’m the only believer on the entire editorial staff.’ I wrote back and said, ‘Let’s say that you weren’t on the newspaper staff but that you were a CIA plant in the politburo of the Soviet Union. Would you be complaining that you were the only one there? You would be rejoicing that your government had placed you in such a strategic position.’ That is the attitude we ought to have. God has placed us in strategic positions no matter what our job is, whether we are employed or not. If we can catch that vision, if we can see ourselves as the spiritual equivalent of CIA plants and the world as the politburo, then I think we can get on fire for God and really do something significant.”
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27).
It’s so easy to get caught up in the American lifestyle – to live for yourself, or perhaps for yourself and your family. Without even trying, you begin pursuing personal pleasure and affluence as the goals of your life. You want to get a little nicer house, a newer car, and a few more trinkets to make life more enjoyable. And God? The church? If God and church can help us fit into that scheme of the American Dream and help you reach those goals, you get involved. But in the final analysis, you’re living for the same thing as everyone else in this world: Self-fulfillment and personal happiness: “… the enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the [best vacation] here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the [real thing]. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun… Why should we labor for, or set our hearts on any thing else, but … true happiness?”
“the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:21)
What Peter is saying here is that when people look at you, what they see expressed in your actions is what you hope in. So they see a certain way of acting—some humble act of love (Galatians 5:6) or some righteous act of courage (Hebrews 10:34) or some self-denying act of generosity (2 Corinthians 8:1-2). And they notice that you must not be hoping in what people usually hope in — self-exaltation, safety, money —and they are puzzled as to where your hope is. So they ask about your hope: where do you get your confidence, your contentment, your satisfaction when you act that way?
4. Remember This Day
By my count, Peter mentions the day of judgment at least three times in this letter.
“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12)
“And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile…”
(1 Peter 1:17).
“With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:4-5).
