Why Should We Live A Godly Life? Series

Why Should we live a Godly Life?

1 Peter 2:11-12

Introduction

We live in a day and time when the flesh or the sinful nature is exalted and evil desires are honored. In our day and time a person’s value or worth and image are so often determined by how they posses, by how much money they have, how much power they have, how many vacations they can go on, how famous they become, so often a young single man’s image in built on how many women he can go to bed with.

We live in a day and time when the murder of innocent babies is a norm and perfectly legal. We live in a day and time where homosexuality is looked at as a normal relationship. Where lying to simply climb the ladder of success is okay, no matter how many people you destroy in the process.

I wish I could stand up here and say this is the way of life in the world only; however some of these attitudes have infiltrated the church as well. We view success in the church by how many people attend our services, or how many people come to Sunday school. Many pastors or asked to resign because church lay leaders think that the pastor is a failure because there are so many empty pews, or because baptism numbers are lower than they were in the past.

We tend to compromise on our biblical stands because we are afraid to offend the lost world. It saddens me when church leaders refuse to call sin what it is sin. When church leaders call homosexuality just an alternative life style. When church leaders say that abortion is not our problem, women have a right to choose, well what about that innocent babies right to life.

Today from this passage of scripture the apostle Peter will outline for us in a very passionate plea to live a Godly life, and from this passage will see three reasons why we should live a Godly life.

Read Scriptures: 1 Peter 2:11-12

I. We Should live a Godly life because, we are aliens and strangers on earth.

Vs. 11 “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.”

This has become a kind of a sub theme for this book, we have seen this topic come up a few times already as we have been going through this book, the fact that as believers we are only strangers or aliens living in this world.

The use of the word alien in this passage gives us a more temporary idea than a stranger. The word alien means that we are staying for just a little while, but not long enough to lease a house.

The point is as a believer I am only passing through earth on my way to home in heaven. I am to live with my thoughts on home.

It is kind of like last weekend when lynn and Hunter and I were out of town, our thoughts were not focused on where we were, we were more or less focused on home and what was going on here.

As we live out our lives here on this earth our minds and hearts are always on heaven which is our permanent home. This means that we don’t get caught up or entangled with the world and its lifestyle and custom, we do not practice these lifestyles but we practice the lifestyle of heaven.

The word stranger literally means someone who lives alongside or is exiled, but his home is somewhere else. What Peter is saying to us is live your life as a believer with the understanding that you are only an alien or a stranger, meaning your only here for a short time, you are a resident but not a citizen your real home is in heaven so live to please the Lord Jesus is Christ.

II. We Should live a Godly life because, sin war against our souls.

Vs. 11 “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.”

Every person who lives long enough to reach the age of accountability, meaning that age when you consciously know right from wrong, knows what the desires of the sinful nature is like.

The flesh or our sinful desire is strong and very difficult to control on our own, and it never lets up its assault. What are the acts of the sinful nature or the flesh, they are laid out for us in the book of Galatians 5:19-21 “Sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery (filthiness, or indecency), Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies.