1 Peter 3:1-7 Serve In Love!

1 Peter 3:1-7  Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.  Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.  Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.  For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves.  They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.  Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. 

We have developed a world of throw-a-ways, of items to use and then discard.  Even in relationships, we consider them temporary, useful as long as they benefit us.  As with material items, we often abandon our relationships too quickly, feeling they do not provide enough pleasure in our go-around-once lives.  In our modern era, we function in a world of plastic, things created for momentary enjoyment. Sadly this attitude infiltrates our identities and relationships.  We quickly jettison objects, ideas, relationships if we decide they no longer contribute to our needs.  As with physical items, our social constructs and personalities are often artificial, plastic, temporary; even in our attire and makeup.  We build on the idea of not being us, who we really are, not finding satisfaction as an ordinary human being.  Our social media pages ask us to do something unique: to be social media stars.  Maybe millions will hit our blog if we are insanely different from all other humans.  Along with the idea of being different, comes the contrary spirit of conformity to society’s demands for acceptance.  They are opposite sides of the same coin.  Different becomes just another way of conforming to what society wants us to be.  Society obligates our young people, our teenagers, by pressuring them to wear masks, hiding their own identities, their own personalities, behind these facades.  Acceptability comes with being like the crowd, identifying with what is the current style—neat, cool, and the like.  While these youthful desires for acceptance have always been part of growing up, the current pressures of social media and media in general to conform to the constructs of others presents a much greater push for conformity than in of the past.  Relationships, physical and social, are scrutinized and evaluated 24-hours a day.  No teenager can get very far from someone’s comments about who he or she is and whether he or she fits into someone else’s expectations.  Some of these comments cut to the core, deflating self-esteem, even leading to suicidal thoughts.  Teenagers are more susceptible to what is in and what is out, but because of social media, everyone is pushed and pulled to get the most out of life.  Adults are deciding every day what pill or substance will make their lives easier, more at peace, more enjoyable.  The world is experiencing a condition of drug-overdosing.  Alcohol remains the favorite drug for most people for excessive self-medication.  As with all drugs, consumption of alcohol gives moments when people can leave the responsibilities of life to fall back into thinking only about eating, drinking, and being merry.  However, living a lifestyle only for self and its gratifications leads nowhere spiritually.  An artificial and self-created life is foreign to a meaningful everyday life.  Wanting satisfying, orderly, and productive lives for Christians, Peter begins today’s passage with, Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands.  Paul told the men, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.  (Ephesians 5:25)  Otherwise, consider the fundamentals on which you base your Christian life.  As with all humans, you were like sheep going astray.  Now, bring structure to your lives by allowing God to direct you in everything, for God is the  Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.  (See 1 Peter 2:25)  Trust that his ways are best for you to avoid an artificial and meaningless life.  SUBMISSION to each other and to God is best for you and your family.  Your family is an organization with God as the head.  Let God bring peace and order to your homes.

Submission to others sustains life, but self-willed rebellion causes peaceful life to cease not only in your inner being but in society as a whole.  In countries with the most prosperity and self-gratification in lifestyle, people are making choices that will not perpetuate their numbers.  To sustain a population, to keep a group of people from going out of existence, an average of 2.3 babies need to be born to every couple.  In these advanced countries, a going-around-once-in-life attitude prevails, and the idea of having children has declined.  The idea of having two or three cars is more important to many young married couples than having babies.  A bigger, fancier house often wins out over children.  Having leisure time and great vacations can obliterate the idea of a baby in the house.  Many times when a couple wants you to see their dearly loved baby, it is a dog or cat.  Recently, some people behind us at the grocery store were talking, and we heard a woman say, “He is a little shy around strangers.  He’s a mama’s boy.”  Looking around, expecting to see a cute little boy, I saw a woman holding a dog, a dog that should not be in the store, I might add.  I was so irritated by the whole exchange.  Sure, love your pets, but keep things in perspective.  Of course, a pet is much easier to integrate into a busy, self-serving lifestyle and gives affection if we feed and pet it daily, but a dog should not be seen as our child.  That is a sad reflection on one of God’s greatest gifts—a precious baby.  But pets offer an escape just as our movies and other entertainment provide sensuous flights for the imagination, designed to take us outside the everyday grind of real life.  We do not find exciting fantasy or super heroes on the job, in the home, or while doing chores.  Do we look for an escape?  In the above focus, Peter addresses the reality of life on this planet where we see the necessity of interacting in a harmonious way.  Peter says the Holy Spirit wants us to accept people as they are, not by how they look or the fashions they follow.  Peter tells us there must be order, submission, direction, and harmony within society.  When considering Peter and Paul’s comments about submission to higher authority or organizational authority, such as in the church or the family, people often concentrate on the condition of wives and slaves submitting to others.  We forget that according to Christian dogma, all of us are to submit to authority and to one another.  Christians are taught to place others above their own needs and wants.  Christians do not place ourselves above others because of earthly positions or roles, but we submit to others—wives to husbands, husbands to wives.  Christ came as a servant; we are to be servants to each other.  You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.  (Galatians 5:13) 

Order and structure are important in every situation, but the Holy Spirit has brought absolute equality to women, for He fell on them, just as He did upon men.  In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.  (Acts 2:17)  There are no second-class citizens in the kingdom of God.  All are equally important; all are to come under his guidance and authority.  No one should wear a mask or pretend he or she is someone or something other than the unique person God created.  God’s kingdom is not artificial or made up under the conventions or restraints of human beings.  We are free to be who God wants us to be.  We do not base our worth on our personal attractiveness or our roles or responsibilities in this world.  Our attraction to each other, men and women alike, should be based on our inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.  Christians are slaves to Christ.  Paul writes to us all, Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  (Ephesians 4:2-3)  Men are physically stronger—bigger and more muscular than women, built to defend the community, family, individuals.  They are built to fight, to protect others.  This is a role God has given them.  They are to be leaders in this role.  They also are to have a primary role of sustaining the health and protection of the family.  Women are to provide additional strength and knowledge to support and nurture the direction of the family. These roles in the family are unique and different, and at times they cross over.  But each person functions together to bring harmony to a family.  If the roles are not coordinated as one, as man and wife are one when joined in marriage, a double standard of direction will bring chaos into a family, culminating in a duplicitous environment.  Children do not thrive well in situations of unrest, disputes, and anger.  A child needs a peaceful journey through the developing years.  So now we get to submission.  Yes, wives,  submit yourselves to your own husbands; yes, husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church, but in all this activity, no matter the role in the family, submission to the Holy Spirit’s attributes is paramount: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  If you do not, you are out of order, and you will not live victoriously with God for he is a God of order, harmony, and love.  

1 Peter 2:18-25 Return to the Shepherd!

1 Peter 2:18-25  Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.  For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.  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.  To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth.”  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.  “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”  For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 

If the world is your home and everything you do is your oyster, beware, for your life is on the wrong foundation.  Today, Peter addresses the slaves in bondage, suffering not being free to do what they desire in this world.  As with all humans, they will go around only once in this world, but sadly their status in life will be as those who have no possibility of doing their own will, living as they desire in all situations.  They will bow down to the wishes and controls of others.  Peter asks these enslaved people not only to submit themselves willingly to good and considerate masters, but also to the harsh and cruel masters.  Is Peter validating slavery and its tyrannies in this passage?  No, Peter is expressing a truth of Christianity.  This world and everything in it is not to be your oyster: what you are living for.  Whether free or in slavery, we are not to live our lives as our flesh wishes but as God’s servants.  Whether we agree or not, we are not independent of all authority.  Jesus said there are two authorities in this world; we either have the devil as our father and master or God as our father and master.  Jesus also said, No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  (Matthew 6:24)  No man can live a double-minded life successfully.  Since our nature is Adamic from our birth, we easily fall into the camp of fleshly desires and sinful pursuits, not in the camp of God’s will with the attributes of the Holy Spirit.  Peter addresses which camp the slaves should be functioning in by talking about submission to good or bad masters.  The good master is easy to serve; the harsh master is hard to serve.  But submitting to the latter reveals the nature of God, while submitting to the good master is a matter of course for the flesh.  Submitting to a harsh master reveals commitment to the Lord, for He went to the cross for his enemies, those who desired to humiliate, hurt, and kill him.  Peter tells the slaves, if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.  To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.  By suffering though the horrible conditions of a cruel master, the slave radiates light to the world and to his master.  Such light might bring his master to God.  If the slave strikes back passively or aggressively, his master will assess this action as typical of all humans.  No divine light of God will shine in that situation.

In our times, we probably find Peter’s position on slavery rather disconcerting.  Instead of telling slaves how to behave, why not come out against slavery?  But in Peter’s world, two-thirds of the people in the Roman society were enslaved.  Some of the slaves were the result of wars.  Ending up on the losing side of a war caused people to become the property of the victors.  Other individuals be0came slaves because of economic hardships.  To survive, people sometimes sold themselves into slavery.  Many were born into slavery, part of their family’s inheritance.  Paul expresses this matter-of-fact social and economic reality of his time by saying to the Corinthians: Were you a slave when you were called?  Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so.  For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.  You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings.  Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.  (1 Corinthians 7:21-24)  In this statement, he merely tells them that the reality of bondage is not the most important aspect in their lives.  What is really important to the Christian is that he or she is free from the captivity of sin.  Don’t let it trouble you if you are a slave.  Don’t let your bondage to others be a major concern in your life in comparison to what you have been given IN CHRIST: eternal life.  However, if you can gain your freedom, do so.  With freedom to do what you desire, your life as a Christian, as a light in the world, may have more impact.  You will not be restrained to a household or restricted to a parcel of land—you will express your life as a Christian to other families and other communities.  Surely, Paul desired freedom for all people to spread the Good News, to travel freely and share God’s goodness with all people.  He told the Corinthians to be content with their lives, not striving to be different, but to express God wherever they were and in whatever physical surroundings they found themselves.  He did not want them to be slaves to men’s desires and activities.  Even though slaves, they should not be enslaved by sinfulness.  He wanted them to remember Christ purchased their freedom from sin at a price.  The victorious life IN CHRIST is one of slavery to God.  Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.  When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.  What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?  Those things result in death!  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:19-23)  Peter and Paul were not sharing the good news of being delivered from the physical slavery of this world; they were bringing the good news of deliverance from the slavery of sin.  They were not overly concerned about the condition or position of people in the world.  They were concerned about the condition of the soul because eternal life was at stake.  Gaining eternal life was much more important to them than gaining freedom from bondage to men.

By Christ wounds we have been healed from the finality of death.  His suffering, his death, brought life to us.  He bore our sins, bringing life and righteousness to us through the cross.  In today’s focus, Peter tells the slave, who has a difficult master, to emulate Christ, to particulate in Christ’s suffering by enduring the wickedness of a froward master.  By going though this difficult life with love and caring for even his master, the slave portrays the work of Christ on the cross.  All of us IN CHRIST are slaves; none of us are the master.  None of us has the right to live life as we desire.  If we try to do that, Christ is not in control at those times.  We should not function independent of God’s authority.  When we become Christians, we repent of our old lives.  We begin our new lives with Christ in the driver’s seat.  Consequently, slavery in the flesh was no big thing to Peter and Paul, for they saw their lives as slaves to God.  We too who name the name of Christ as our Lord are no longer to live our lives as we desire in the flesh.  We live our lives as Christ desires.  If we are trying to live a double-minded life; sometimes doing Christ’s will and sometimes doing our own will, we will fail as bright shining lights.  No one wants to follow a double-minded person, sometimes earthly minded and other times heavenly minded.  When we operate in the flesh, we want the things of this world: power, position, and money.  Paul warned Timothy against seeking riches and said, But godliness with contentment is great gain.  (Timothy 6:6)  We cannot make this world our home, seeking worldly treasure, and remain happy in Jesus.  We will not endure hardship with a contented heart if we are caught up with carnal thinking.  Jesus said not to save up things on this earth, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  (Matthew 6:21)  If we are earthly minded, we will not have sacrificed our lives, our freedom for others.  We will not have displayed the attributes of the Holy Spirit by loving others unconditionally.  If we try to have this world and Christ, we will lose everything.  There is no other life than to be a slave to the Master.  As Peter wrote in today’s verses, Jesus was sinless and without deceit.  When He was insulted, He did not answer back.  When He was suffering, He did not make threats against others.  He trusted himself to his Father who judges fairly, and then He took our sins to the cross.  We had all gone astray like wandering sheep, but now we can return to our good shepherd.  Have you entrusted yourself to the one who judges justly?  This means being content in all situations, for God will have the last word.  No one will mistreat you and get away with it!  No one will abuse you and escape God’s justice!  God is just, God is holy.  He will judge all things that were not righteous or good in this world.  He will make everything whole.  Slaves IN CHRIST, live as He would desire you to live.  For once we were sheep with no one to care for us, all of us going our own way, but now we have a Shepherd, the Overseer of our souls, the Master of eternal life.  Seek him!  

1 Peter 2:11-17 Live as Free People!

1 Peter 2:11-17  Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage 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.  Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.  For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.  Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.  Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.  

Jesus was asked about honoring rulers and those with political control.  A hard question, for evil rulers will always exist, rulers who want to put people into bondage.  Maybe not emperors, but people around us daily attempt to manipulate us into following their will, not ours.  But Jesus puts secular authority in perspective with his answer: Teacher, they said, “We know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.  You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.  Tell us then, what is your opinion?  Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”  But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?  Show me the coin used for paying the tax.”  They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”  “Caesar’s,” they replied.  Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”  When they heard this, they were amazed.  So they left him and went away.  (Matthew 22:16-22)  In the areas of man’s authority, where obedience usually brings order, we are to be submissive to this power, but in the areas of God’s domain, where following his will brings eternal peace, eternal life, we are to be submissive to God above all else.  We are not to fear those who can take our temporal lives but God who can take away eternal life with him.  God’s eminent authority surpasses all temporal authority on Earth.  Jesus relates to them that Caesar owns the coin; therefore, in that realm they should function properly.  If they use Caesar’s coins for commerce, they should comply with his directions and laws.  Jesus did not come to overthrow the authorities of the secular world: He came to free people from the prince of the air who has imprisoned all mankind in a state of rebellion, leading to eternal damnation.  Christ’s quarrel was not with men, but with the powers of darkness that inhabit the ethereal world of the spirits.  Previous to his teaching about Caesar’s authority, Jesus entered the temple, God’s holy domain and place of authority, where the Jewish people worshipped him.  Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”  (Matthew 21:12-13)  Here we see another economy, functioning at the behest of the priests.  Business entrepreneurs were in the temple facilitating the buying and selling of birds for sacrifices.  People from foreign lands, wanting to perform these sacrifices, could exchange their money to buy doves with the right currency.  These convenient  transactions, exchanging money and buying doves, offered an orderly, efficient process under the auspices of the priests.  Jesus rejects this commerce, for the coin of the realm in God’s house is not money, but a heart to serve God.  The Temple is a place for spiritual activity, dedicating oneself to God, not temporal transactions contaminating the holy purposes of the Temple.  In this situation, Jesus does not honor the administration of the priests.  Instead, He rebells against this hierarchical authority, for the purpose of the God’s house is to honor the Creator of all things.  The Temple was consecrated to prayer, service, and holy sacrifices to the God of Israel.  Jesus’ anger towards the commercial activity in the Temple reflects  the difference between honoring secular authority and God’s authority.  Temporal power is finite, a way of organizing societies, but God’s power is infinite.  Obeying and honoring him brings eternal life.

Our obedience to secular powers remains important, for such compliance is in contrast to the prevalent nature of humans: rebellion.  The Bible says that we have all gone astray, doing our own thing, moving away from God and others to seek what we think is best for ourselves. The sensuous nature of man commonly becomes the captain of our souls.  Our desires to eat, drink, and be merry, to prefer ourselves above others, functions innate within all of us.  Peter compels us as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage 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.  He tells Christians to fight the natural inclinations of the secular man by putting our lives under God’s control and doing what we know is right.  Even if it chafes us, we must fight the good fight, so the God within us might be honored.  If we live a disciplined, circumspect life, God will be glorified, but if we live in this foreign, alien world for ourselves, God will not be honored.  We will be hypocrites, honoring ourselves over God.  This kind of life is like a ship on rough waters—life will never settle down.  A double-minded man will never receive anything from God, especially peace or victory over sin.  James calls this kind of life, caught in-between serving God wholeheartedly and the world’s desires, as adulterous.  What causes fights and quarrels among you?  Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?  You desire but do not have, so you kill.  You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.  You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?  (James 4:1-4)  A life caught in the middle between God and the flesh will not receive anything from God.  If we love this world more than we love God, our flesh will always ask amiss, always with SELF in the middle of our request.  How do we know that we do not love this world more than we love God?  If we are not submissive to authority, if we try to get out from underneath serving others, using our freedom IN CHRIST as a reason not to be obedient to anyone, especially the world’s laws and obligations, we are in the midst of loving ourselves more than God.  This selfish state reflects the spirit of disobedience endemic to all of us.  When we begin to love the unlovely, to wash the feet of others, to lay our lives down for the sake of the gospel, then we know the world and its attractions have no part in us.  As you live freely in the Lord, Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. 

Often, our flesh is tempted to go back into the world in attitude and activity.  We can so easily choose not to obey rulers, authorities, people who seek to have control over us.  Why not reject or strike back at friends, neighbors, family members who demand so much from us, wanting us to meet their desires, ignoring our wills and desires?  Why should we allow people to sculpt our lives, shaping us as they desire, trying to control our individuality, our uniqueness?  We go around this world only once; why bow to the authority of others, ignoring what is best for us?  Why not just launch out on our own, live separate lives, free from entanglements, free for our flesh to do what it desires?  Why should we control the rebellion inside of us?  Are we not free?  Did not Jesus come to set us free?  So what if I am a little rebellious to authority and other people’s influence: the Bible says God’s grace is sufficient for me.  Wait a minute!  We cannot pick and choose scripture to justify our selfishness when serving God.  He is the justifier of our lives!  And He will not let us off the hook of being obligated to others.  Jesus said to take up the cross and follow him.  Our lives are not our own.  We have been bought with a high price: the blood of Jesus Christ.  We do his will for his benefit, not ours.  God is light; we are lights in a dark world.  Our will, our way of thinking in the flesh, is darkness.  That kind of thinking leads to fights, wars, corruption, death.  No good will come out of fleshly thinking or rebellion.  Harmony with God’s will for our lives brings peace and love.  In all things we must follow God in obedience to his will and authority.  As we grow in grace, we learn to follow God’s Spirit in all things.  We are new creatures.  Definitely, we function in an alien world where we obey the laws of the land and live in peace with others to the best of our abilities.  However, the world will always dislike our Christian lifestyle, for the Bible says they love darkness over light and hide there because of their evil deeds.  Yet we can let our lights shine before people, so they can see Jesus in us.  The Bible says, You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.  (Ephesians 2:1-4)  We used to live in this darkness; we were dead in our transgressions and sins.  We are no longer there; we are alive IN CHRIST forevermore.  Let us reveal light rather than self, rather than flesh, rather than darkness.  Walk in the light as He is in the light, living as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.  

2 Peter 9:10 A Special Possession

2 Peter 9:10  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, 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.

What a wonderful salvation has been given to us!  We are God’s special possession.  Once we were in an untenable position, far away from God, without eternal life.  We were self-oriented, performing our wills, not God’s will.  We were as evil as in Noah’s time when God decided to kill all humans except for his chosen Noah and family.  Now because of the cross, we have been led out of darkness into his wonderful light.  We are a chosen people of God.  As born again believers, we have been placed into the body of Christ, into the family of God.  All of this wonderful inheritance has come through God’s mercy, his grace to us, undeserving as we are.  The Bible says, Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.  (Romans 5:20) The penalty for being opposite of God is death.  Outside of Christ, we have that penalty in our future.  How could we so marvelously change from sources of darkness to sources of light?  Of course, first we needed a complete transformation from the lost to the saved.  This comes through faith in Christ’s work.  But being born again in the eyes of God does not mean our flesh is always obedient to God, always perfect in actions or thoughts.  In God’s eyes, we are perfect because Christ is perfect, and we are hidden in him.  But we still walk in the flesh.  How do we become lights in a world of darkness?  Jesus stated that his followers are lights.  You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.   Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:14-16)  Let your light shine is Jesus’ request.  When Jesus went back to his hometown in Nazareth, they rejected him, for they saw him as just one of them—not a person of light.  They knew him from his childhood to his adulthood.  They questioned how this son of Joseph and Mary could be anything other than a man of flesh?  But Jesus claimed more than a fleshly life: he claimed to be a special messenger from God.  The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.  (Luke 4:18-19)  How could this carpenter claim such a high position with God?  His messenger?  But Jesus had been baptized in water for repentance and blessed by a dove from heaven: filled with the Holy Spirit.  He had been elevated from the work of a carpenter to God’s work by the Holy Spirit.  As a source of good, He traveled around Israel, revealing the light of God.  Now God transforms believers by the power of the Holy Spirit within us.  We are not the Son of God, but we definitely are his lights in the darkness He came to dispel.

Yes, the world is dark, and people without a loving relationship with Jesus are not the friends of God, but enemies of God.  We see the people in Nazareth, even some acquaintances and apparent friends of Jesus try to destroy him when Jesus states that they will not accept the fact that He is a messenger of God.  In that incident, Jesus escapes from their intensions to destroy him.  Even in his hometown, the darkness in men’s hearts rallied to snuff out the Light from God.  Jesus recognized that He was in an alien world, one that would not display God and his goodness.  When He sends out his disciples to minister He warns them, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.  Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.  (Matthew 10:16)  The world is not accepting to the gospel of Good News.  For the gospel demands repentance of sins and a wholehearted turning towards God.  The gospel demands a recognition that a person's natural inclinations are not always godlike.  And because God is perfect, his will, his nature, must always be displayed in our beings.  We cannot vary, for He is holy; therefore, we are holy or perfect in Christ Jesus.  So the world will always reject this message of loving and knowing God, no matter how we present the gospel to them.  To what can I compare this generation?  They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:  “We played the pipe for you and you did not dance, we sang a dirge and you did not mourn.”  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “ e has a demon."  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “there is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.  (Matthew 11:17-19)  No matter what our approach is, people will resist turning to God.  In our churches we have loving people, we have great music, strong preachers; but few, unless in deep trouble in their personal lives, will enter through their doors.  Nonetheless, God’s continually extends his mercy and grace to all who will turn from their own ways and accept the Christ who died for them.  Whosoever will can enter through those doors and find salvation from their sins, freedom from their darkness.  They can say with the blind man, “One thing I do know.  I was blind but now I see.”  (John 9:25)  They can know for eternity, “I was lost but now I am found.”        

As lights, we should not merely sit in the pews, waiting for people to enter our sanctuaries.  We must go forth with the Good News that Jesus died on the cross to set captives free, that eternal life comes to all who put their trust in Jesus.  We should be sources of light, the opposite of the world’s darkness.  We are testimonies of Jesus Christ’s work in our hearts.  The people in Nazareth did not understand that God’s power, the Holy Spirit, was resident in Jesus.  Jesus told them the truth: the Spirit of the Lord was upon him.  He was not the carpenter; He was the LIGHT.  As believers, we are lights when the Holy Spirit is upon us.  We cannot come in our own names because of our own positions in our families or communities and convince people that they should turn from their wicked ways and accept Jesus.  They will not view us as anything other than people, playing roles with just another message that does not satisfy.  We will be as the carpenter’s son, without respect, another person from Nazareth.  People must see us as believers, new creatures made by God’s hand, through the work of Jesus Christ.  We are God’s chosen priesthood, his nation of believers.  The source of power to change the world is within us.  “In the last days,” God says, "I WILL pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters WILL prophesy, your young men WILL see visions, your old men WILL dream dreams.”  (Acts 2:17)  Your sons and daughters will tell of the glory of God.  Their lives will illustrate God’s nature.  Your old men will see things that they could never imagine when they were young.  All of God’s people, young and old will reveal God to the world.  This only happens when the Holy Spirit is present.  This scripture does not say that they might do these things, but it says they WILL perform the works of God.  We must be sensitive to that WILL—God’s promise.  The Holy Spirit wants you to demonstrate God in your language and activities.  When you leave from talking to someone can you say, God’s promise was primary in your talk?  As you leave a person or people, can you hear in your ears the Lord saying, “I have given you those words.  They were mine.  You prophesied.”  To you the words may have seemed mundane, very ordinary, but to God they were prophesies for the Spirit motivated them.  Saying a simple, “I hope you have a great breakfast and enjoy your day,” to the people next to you at a restaurant can be a blessing from God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  (Galatians 5:22-25)  As we keep in step with the Holy Spirit wherever we go, people will see and hear the Good News, the prophetic word of God’s redemption to all people.  The message may be indirect at times, but through our everyday words and actions, they will see Jesus.  Our families, friends, acquaintances, strangers should see the fulfillment of God’s will in us.  Believers, who are filled with the Holy Spirit, WILL express the prophetic word through their daily lives.  A waitress once said to us, “I knew you were Christians just by how you acted, even before I saw you pray over your food.”  Dear friends, walk in his wonderful light today!


  

1 Peter 2:1-8 Precious Cornerstone

1 Peter 2:1-8  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.  As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  For in Scripture it says:  “See, I lay a stone in Zion a chosen and precious cornerstone and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.  But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the  cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”  They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

Peter writes that since we have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:23), we should rid ourselves of immature fleshly behavior such as malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander.  Because the Lord has redeemed our finite lives, giving us eternal lives, we should function as new creatures, giving ourselves up as spiritual offerings.  Our lives should be living sacrifices, revealing God in everything we do.  As Paul would say, we must consider the old man as dead, moving on in our lives to new beginnings: Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you.  (Philippians 4:4-9)  The fleshly ways of our former lives should be avoided as much as possible.  But often we feel as if we are fish swimming upstream, attempting to be good, to be holy, to never displease God.  Yet condemnation and disappointment often trouble our minds because we see ourselves as not always doing the will of God.  Maturity seems to slip from our grasp.  To survive as Christians, many believers constantly go back to the fundamentals of becoming a Christian: repenting of sins, accepting Jesus as Savior; receiving baptism in water and Spirit, and acknowledging they will be raised from the grave.  Returning to the rudimentary elements of Christianity is not bad unless that is where the believer wants to abide, refusing to go deeper in the things of God.  Immaturity leads to seeking pastors who preach only the elementary teachings of Christ, preaching that provides comfort rather than challenge because the people have already fulfilled the initial requirements of salvation.  But the writer of Hebrews desires believers to move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,  instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  And God permitting, we will do so.  (Hebrew 6:1-3)  Fundamentals have their place and should not be ignored, but they represent spiritual pablum to one alive IN CHRIST.  As spiritual men and women seeking maturity, we should desire pure spiritual milk so that we may grow up in our salvation, walking in the full knowledge of who we are IN CHRIST.  We do not need to continually discover salvation; we need to come alive in the Spirit in our salvation.  Of course, our spiritual maturation will culminate in the future when we see Jesus on the other side of this life.  At that time, we and all of creation will know who we really are as adopted daughters and sons in the household of God.  The angels and all of creation will rejoice, for no longer will creation be under the burden of sin.  Consequently, dear brethren around this devotional table this morning: Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Salvation is yours!  The fundamentals are completed!  Appreciate that you have been made complete, perfect, through the works of the cross.

What is it to go deeper in the Lord?  How do we know that we are treading on a deeper landscape than the flat meadows of elementary teaching?  See, I lay a stone in Zion a chosen and precious cornerstone and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.  But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the  cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”  We must believe that the cross and its works are always with us, that we will never be put to shame.  We do not have to repeat the elementary works of salvation to know that we are complete in the Lord.  He is our cornerstone for sure; we build our lives on his teachings, on his life by faith.  But Jesus is also the touchstone in our lives.  He is the perfect God.  He is without end, always the same, exactly perfect in every way.  As the Bible says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  (Hebrews 13:8)  With Christ as the touchstone, we cannot vary at all from that perfection if we are going to reside with God.  Do we believe that fact?  Or are we trying to live that perfect life in ourselves?  Are we the fish that is always swimming upstream, but never making it to the top of the rapids?  Are we the one who is bruised by every rock on the way, often pushed underneath the current, hardly surviving in our journey?  Are the rudimentary tenets of Christianity what keeps us moving and alive as Christians?  Does the unending struggle seem too much?  If so, we are still battling life with the milk designed for babies, that which will never give us enough energy to bolster our spiritual lives forever.  The rocks, the obstacles in life, will hinder our struggle to find security in the Lord.  James adds to this insecurity by informing us of the error of trying to find our way to God by obeying the law: For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.  For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.”  If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.”  (James 2:10-11)  James points out that any sin, no matter how insignificant, makes us guilty of not being acceptable to God.  If we sin, we are not perfect, and God is perfect.  What is our hope of security, our hope of reaching the top of the waterfalls?  Trust completely in the works of Christ.  He is the touchstone, the gold standard of life.  He is the way to life eternal.  Faith in God’s work will bring us security.  When we fail, we know for sure that we are still in the household of God, for Jesus paid the price for failures.  His efficacious work is continuously providing for every failure, every weakness.  We and the Touchstone are one, for we are IN THE TOUCHSTONE!  We are IN CHRIST.

What is the deeper work of Christ?  What is a life that is mature in Christ, that is seated in heavenly places with Christ?  If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.  (James 2:8)  Actively loving people as you love yourself, represents a deeper work.  When God’s love takes over, salvation is not all about yourself: how you get to heaven; how you please God.  Milk for baby believers is oriented towards self-survival in the kingdom of God.  However, for mature Christians, the life you live in the flesh is not for personal survival, but for the survival of others.  Your life becomes one of a servant.  You are not concentrating on what God can do for you; instead, you are asking God what you can do for others.  A mature believer makes his or her life available for God’s mission on Earth rather than following a personal mission.  Paul wrote: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  (Galatians 2:20)  The Bible says, God is love.  His great patience with this world signifies his love for the world.  Outside of God’s love, we are a cancer on existence, enemies of God.  Yet while we are and were in this state, God sent his Son for our survival.  He not only willingly redeemed us, but He placed us in his household, glorifying us.  He made us as He is, complete, perfect, exact.  We do not have to live in a state of wondering if we will meet God’s standard for eternal life.  We exist in the ETERNAL ONE: JESUS CHRIST.  Believers do not need to fight the battle of finding salvation or defeating sin.  God has defeated sin through the One in whom we have placed our trust, Jesus Christ.  We who trust in him have died with him and are now presently alive forevermore with him.  That battle is over.  Now the struggle we might be experiencing as mature Christians is to love others as God loves them.  This is a daily struggle for all Christians.  Christians no longer need to swim upstream for security in Christ, but what we must be willing to do daily is to love the people of the world as Jesus loves them.  Beloved friends, inventory your love.  Do you love others who are not like you, those who are not in your ethnic group, your culture group?  Do you care for those unappreciated by society, those who struggle with addiction and poverty?  To what level does the dipstick in your love reservoir rise?  The battle to love others is a war for all of us, no matter where we are on the ladder of supposed maturity in Christ.  Jesus said, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:44-45)   Why?  Because God loves them, and we are to reflect God’s image to the world.  Are we reflecting him or are we reflecting the natural man’s parsimonious love for others?  Go forth today as living stones, the children of God with the attributes of God, loving one another deeply from your hearts.