An Honourable Life

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Promontory Community Church exists to make disciples of Jesus who know, live, and share the gospel for the glory of God.

Well, good morning everyone. It is good to be here with you all. If you have a Bible, let me invite you to open to the book of First Peter. We're gonna be in chapter 2 this morning.

In August of this past year, Forbes magazine posted a list of the top 50 earning internet creators and influencers. It was quite an interesting list to go through and to see not only just who all made this list, but the fact that it's there at all. The fact is social media influencers has gone from being non-existent about 15 years ago to now being a multi-million dollar job, at least for some. Topping the list were guys like Mr. Beast, Darman, and Stephen Bartlett, but it was fascinating to go through because so many of the people on there I had never heard of. They all get niched down into very specific genres, and if you're not familiar with that genre, you've probably never heard of them. But the reality is millions and millions of dollars is being poured out now in social media influencers.

It seems weird to say something like that, but really, if you stop and think about it for just a moment, it's really not that new of an idea. Celebrities have been endorsing things for a very long time, giving their likeness and stamp of approval on things throughout history. You go back to the 1700s — King George the Third's wife, named Charlotte, actually used her royal position in order to sell teapots. There was a Queen Charlotte teapot that you could buy. You go back even further, all the way to the Roman Empire — gladiators would actually use and license out their image to be put on olive oil and pottery in order to sell more around them. It's been around for a very long time. So while the social media part might be new, the rest really isn't. People use their influence in order to sell something.

But the question I want to start with is just why does that work? It clearly does — you follow the money and clearly it is effective, but why does it work? Many speculate it's because, unlike a generic, soulless corporation, seeing a person with their face on it adds a personal touch, and I think certainly that's true. I think part of it is also just who we are as people. We are social people, we want to be around other people, and listening to other people's experience, whether it's with a product or something else, actually does have an impact on our lives. Every one of us could say the same thing — what you do impacts those around you. So the question is not if you have an influence on other people, but what are you doing with it?

As we open our Bibles, that's really what we're going to see. God is going to call us to actually use the influence that we have in order to show people Jesus. If you have your Bibles open, let me invite you to follow along with me. It's our tradition here to stand as we read God's word. If you're able to, would you stand with me?

1 Peter chapter 2, starting in verse 11. This is God's word:

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, that they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by Him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good, for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.

You may be seated.

This passage in the book of First Peter marks a bit of a transition point in the book. If you've been with us for the past number of weeks, you'll know that Peter, as he has been talking to his audience — these churches that have been scattered all throughout modern day Turkey — has been very theological in his writing. He's been very much looking at what defines them as believers, what are they called to do, what has God placed on them. He says they are exiles on this earth — this is not where we ultimately belong, we're passing through, as it were, on our way to heaven. But he said God has a plan and a call for you. In fact, you are called to live a holy life, and he's been walking through what that all means.

Here very much is this turning point where he's going to conclude that section, but then also say, OK, now how do we actually do it? Peter, for the next number of weeks that we'll go through, is going to be sometimes uncomfortably practical about what it means to live a holy life. He begins something that we call a household code. It was familiar at the time — in fact, in other New Testament books you'll see the same pattern. He starts walking through different areas of life and saying, how do we as Christians act in these different areas? He starts with the civil life — how do we respond to authorities over us? Then he's gonna look at masters and servants, we'll talk about that next week, and then he's gonna look at husbands and wives.

But what makes Peter's walkthrough of this so unique, even amongst some of the other New Testament writings, is that Peter is almost exclusively looking at those who are under authority. It's not that the Bible never has anything to say about those who hold authority — certainly it does — but most of Peter's look is simply of those who are under authority. What does it look like to live as a believer, to live a holy life that God has called us to?

So this morning, that's really what I want us to see. I want us to see this connection that Peter has been making — that our lives are intended to reflect the character and holiness of God in how we act in all areas of life, and how we fight against sin, how we submit to authority, and even how we use our freedom — that ultimately people should hear the gospel in how we live our lives.

Let's walk through this passage. Look back at verse 11 — we call this the war of souls. Peter says:

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.

Here again, Peter is concluding what he began all the way back in chapter 1 verse 15 — this call to be holy as God is holy — reminding them that our identity has been changed. We no longer belong here, we're exiles, sojourners traveling through on our way to heaven. But because of that, because we don't ultimately belong here, we're meant to act like it. Act like God has done something in our lives — we're to be holy. So Peter now says that's going to involve some warfare. Not against other people, let's be very clear about that. No, it's a fight against the passions of our flesh. Some of your translations may even say the lusts of the body. He's talking about sexual temptation, sure, but it's not limited to it. Peter is calling them to abstain from all sinful desires — whether that be pride, gossip, slander, sexual immorality, anger, rage, laziness, cursing, overindulgence of food or alcohol or any other substance. Peter leaves this intentionally very broad because there are so many things that certainly could fit within this category.

Here's the difficult truth about living as a Christian — to live as a Christian will involve a fight. It actually involves us having to fight against some of our own passions within our own hearts at times. You will have a desire, you will want to do something you ought not to do. This almost sounds backwards from so much of what we hear in our day. We're told that wisdom is learning to live in sync with your desires, following them, or at least harnessing them for some purpose or another. Actually, we need to recognize not every desire is a good one. Some, as Peter says here, we ought to abstain from — starve them out.

I'm sure you're familiar with the old story — inside every person are two wolves, one light and one dark, and they fight. The question is which one will win? Well, it's the one you feed. There's some good wisdom there. It's true — the more that you feed into a desire, the stronger it will grow. We need to recognize this, especially in the midst of temptation. It's so easy to accept the lie that says if you just give in, it will all go away. Actually it doesn't, does it? You give in to the temptation, and actually what it does is just come back stronger and stronger each and every time, growing and building. Peter warns these desires are waging war against our soul.

But here's the question — what happens if we have a desire that is too great? What happens if we've spent our whole life feeding a desire that is ultimately going to kill us? Is it hopeless? Here's where that analogy simply breaks down, and where the gospel actually gives us such greater hope. Because we need to remember we're not called to this on our own. Peter here is addressing believers — those who have placed their trust in the work of Jesus Christ, his death and his resurrection, which has paid for our sins in full, made us right with God. Then God gives us His Holy Spirit so that in the fight we are not alone, that it's not just up to us to strive and struggle and get ourselves to work better, but rather to rely on the power of God. In fact, this is what Peter is calling us to. Paul himself says the same thing in Galatians:

But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for those are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

It is the Holy Spirit at work in our lives that actually enables us to fight against our sinful desires. God doesn't promise on this side of eternity that there will be no struggle. God in His grace does give victory — he actually does allow us to have victory over things — and yet there will still be a struggle with sin on this side of eternity. I think partly because it keeps us relying on God. Each and every day, not one of us will ever say, well I've come to a place where I don't have to rely on God anymore. No, every day we need to rely on the Holy Spirit. Romans says:

So then brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Put your sin to death by the Holy Spirit. Peter says, take up this warfare — your soul is on the line. Starve your sin by the power of the Holy Spirit that it might have no control over your life.

Here's where Peter, having in one sense concluded this whole section on the call to holiness, now adds the reason why. It's not only that we might represent God, it's not only that we might be closer to God — yes, and yes — but it's also so that others may see the power of God. Look at verse 12:

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.

Here is Peter's ultimate reason for why he's calling them to do this. Yes, so that we might be closer with God, yes, so that we might reflect him properly, but also so that those around can see God's glory at work in our lives — so that they would not only see it, but trust in Jesus and ultimately glorify Him. This is the goal, that God would be glorified in our pursuit of holiness. It's not so that we would look good. Notice he doesn't say so that you would look really good at the end of the day. No — so that God would look really good at the end of the day. That is the purpose for why we should fight against our sin. It's so that God's glory would be seen in all things.

And hear me, it means our faith needs to be seen. Sometimes as Christians we have a tendency to go into what I call a holy huddle — where we kind of just cloister ourselves off and the only people we ever see, talk to, or interact with are other Christians, and we don't look or talk or speak or interact with anyone outside of those who already think and act like us. Hear me, we need to be with other believers — it's a call of God. But we cannot be faithful to God if we isolate ourselves from everyone else. That's not what Jesus has called us to do. Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew:

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.

Peter here is just repeating what Jesus had already taught him. Our lives are meant to be seen by those around us. There's a reason that verse is on our wall. This is what Jesus has called us to do — make our faith and trust in Him visible to those around us that God might be glorified, that people might see and believe and trust in Jesus Christ.

Our faith must be seen by others. This is why Peter is calling the church to holiness. Why should we take on this warfare? Because unless our lives actually look like the message, the gospel isn't going to be heard. In a world where everyone loves their anonymity — you can go online and hide behind an online avatar, an anonymous username, or just a random number — we are called to let the transparency of our faith and life speak to the glory of God.

Now make no mistake, people are going to oppose that. The more you show Jesus, yes, we should expect opposition. Peter even says, "so that when they speak against you as evildoers" — not if, when. We should expect that opposition is going to come. In fact, later on in this book, Peter is going to write about how we actually face that kind of opposition. It's to be expected as we show Jesus, but so is the transformation that God does in people's lives.

Sometimes I think as believers we get this one a little bit backwards. We almost begin to say, you know what, I can't really share my faith — no one would ever believe me. Well, they're not trying to believe you. You're not trying to show them your amazing ability, you're trying to show them Jesus. So trust that God will be at work and show your faith in your life. Trust God. Live to honor Him and let people see your faith.

Let me suggest one of the worst things you could ever hear is what one of my friends told me at the end of my grade 6 year. They looked at me and said, "Oh, you're a Christian? I never knew that" — I had just spent a year with them. Make sure people know and can see Jesus in your life. Is that scary? Yeah, it is. It means you are going to be known and people are going to judge what Jesus is like based on you. That's a scary position — there's a reason Peter has just said to fight against your sinful desires and rely on the Holy Spirit. We're going to be in a position where we have to rely on the Holy Spirit. But that is not a bad place to be. A position where you must rely on God's power is far safer than hiding behind a mask. Masks drop all the time — God's power doesn't.

Make Jesus known in your life. And you might say, OK, but what happens when I'm at work and everyone knows I'm a Christian and I lose my cool — then what? Well, then let them see your repentance. Let them see what it looks like to go before God, ask for forgiveness, and even ask for forgiveness of others. We're not called to a fake persona of perfection, but a genuine, humble striving for holiness. Make Jesus known to those around you. Let them study your life as you rely on the Holy Spirit to wage war against your sin, so that not only your soul, but the souls of those around you would be saved. God calls us to holiness so that Jesus would be glorified.

Here's really the tipping point of this whole book. Peter's made his point, he has driven it home, given us the reason for why we should pursue after holiness — so that the name of Jesus is known, that he is glorified — and then he begins to unpack how we actually do that. I'm gonna argue he starts where almost no one else would. Peter starts by talking about submission to authority. Look back at verse 13:

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution.

Pause there — that's his opening statement on how to practically live a holy life, and I'm gonna guess that's not where anybody would have started. Be subject, be submitting yourself under human institution. He's gonna talk about government in just a moment, but really he's saying it's broader than that. He's calling believers to submit themselves under proper authority. So if you're at work, listen to your boss. If you're at school, listen to your teacher. You're on the street, submit yourself to the crosswalk attendant. Partly it's because we need to — society breaks apart if everyone does whatever they want. But the reason Peter gives this command is that we are recognizing that God is the one who orders all things, and that includes even our government.

Look at verse 13 again:

Be subject, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good.

Peter says to the church, submit yourself under the government, to the emperor or to the local governors. And it feels like, man, what a crazy shift Peter has just done in topics — he's been talking about how to live a holy life, and now we're talking about politics in barely a verse. And yet I think this is exactly what Peter is saying — actually these go hand in hand. How you talk to people about politics will either honor God or dishonor him. Why? Because God is sovereign over who is in power. Romans 13 tells us:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Paul's point in this passage is that how we respond to the authority that is over us is a reflection of how we think about God's authority. God has placed people in power and so our submission is to be a response to God — our trust in God, not necessarily even the person or the office. Look back at verse 13: "be subject for the Lord's sake." Our submission to the government is because we trust God. What Peter and Paul are both saying is that to reject the government's authority is to reject God's authority. Romans 13:

Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this, you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed.

Paul is actually saying to reject it is to bring God's wrath down on us. That is a strong statement in a culture like ours, where anti-government rhetoric is commonplace. We are called to submit because God is the one in control.

Now I can already hear somebody saying, OK, but what about really bad people? What about the people who don't deserve honor? What about the awful dictators in this world? Actually, remember who Peter is writing about. Peter is writing at the time when Emperor Nero is the one in power in Rome. If you know anything about Emperor Nero, he was quite a horrific man. At one point he got so drunk that he burned down half the city in his rage — he blamed it on the Christians and tried to say they were the ones who did it. Nero is ultimately the one who will put Peter to death. This is who Peter is writing about, and so we cannot say that just because they're bad means we get to do whatever we want.

But we also need to be clear — our submission is always first to God. Listen to what Peter himself says in Acts chapter 4, when he is put on trial:

The high priest questioned them, saying, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, and yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us." And Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men."

Same guy who is writing both of these statements. Our submission to the government is for the Lord's sake, meaning we are first submitted to Christ and his authority is always over everyone else's. So whenever any authority attempts to command something that God has forbidden, we follow God. This is why missionaries have been put to death by the thousands — because they have said, I will follow God's authority first and foremost. But please notice that wherever an authority has called us to do something God has not forbidden, we are called to submit and honor. That is to be the default expectation of the Christian life. It is not rebellion, but rather a calm recognition that God is the one in control.

Jump down to verse 17. Peter says:

Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.

Again, remember that's Emperor Nero that Peter is talking about. Notice also, Peter just put him on the same level as everyone. I'm sure Emperor Nero would not have liked that position Peter has just given him. But once again, this is exactly what Jesus teaches us:

But love your enemies and do good and lend expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Our treatment of those around us actually reflects God, and that includes those who are in political office. I know it's fashionable in our day to rant and rage against those in power. Comedians have a whole industry — their whole living is made on mocking those in office. Social media has become a dumping ground of venom spewed out against anyone who disagrees, echo chambers reinforcing and pushing rhetoric further and further against others and vilifying every action until those people who disagree are less than human. Christians, we are called to honor those in office, because we recognize God placed them there. Don't you trust God? That is where we are called to be. I don't say you have to love everything they do. I don't even say you have to vote for them. You can vote for someone else and still honor the person who holds that office, recognizing it is God who is in control.

We are called to live a holy life that actually honors everyone. So Christian, watch your tongue, watch your comments. Do they represent a trust in God's sovereignty and honor the dignity of every person created in His image? Your political speech should actually point people to hear the good news of Jesus, and where it doesn't, we ought to repent. How we submit to authority ultimately will glorify God. In a world of mockery and cutting people down, where that is the expectation, let your words shine your faith for the glory of God.

Peter did not change topics — he's calling us to live a holy life, to actually honor those who are in office. Our submission to authority is how we live this holy life, and ultimately we need to recognize it flows from our freedom in Christ. Look back at our text, verse 15:

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Peter here is still talking about submitting to authorities, and he says actually it's God's will that people would see your life, see your good works, even see and hear your speech about those who are in authority over you, and recognize that what you're doing is right. He says ultimately that will be your shield — it will put to silence people who are wanting to attack you.

I've told this story before, but I had the privilege of visiting a church in Cuba. It sat in what kind of looked like a strip mall, and the church was in the middle. On one side was the Board of Education — the communist Board of Education, famous for their very atheistic stance — and on the other side was a police department. The church in the middle should not have actually been there. I remember walking up to this church and they were blasting music out the doors, very clearly there to worship God. I talked to the pastor and said, how is it that you're here? How have you not been shut down and carted off? And he said, it's because they actually value us here. A few years earlier there had been a flood that had gone through the area and the church showed up to help — they helped this education board, helped people get out, saved all their equipment and carried boxes out for them. They just blessed them outright. In fact, the police recognized that the church is helping so many people, they didn't want to shut them down or stop them. So here they were, able to continue on. Why? Because their good works were so conspicuous that no one even wanted to silence them.

Hear me, it's the same thing for us. Our goal here in Promontory, meeting in this school, should be that our good works are so conspicuous to those around us that it puts to silence even any who want to attack. But here's the question — is there any law that is requiring this of me? I don't know of any commandment in the Bible that says thou shalt carry out boxes during a flood. No, they did that from the freedom they had in order to serve God. In fact, that's the point Peter is getting to. Verse 16:

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Hear me, Christians — you are the most free people on the face of the planet. Because of Jesus, we are free from the guilt of our sins, we are freed from shame. We have the freedom to come before God freely because he actually loves us, he has welcomed us and even adopted us as his children. There is nothing that stands between us and God. We are freed from the burden of having to prove ourselves constantly over and over to work for our salvation or acceptance. No, we can rest in the presence of God. We are freed from the chains of sin that hold us down. In Christ we have this freedom, so don't go back into sin. Don't go back into the very thing that would enslave you. But use your freedom to serve. The book of Galatians says:

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Our freedom is an opportunity to serve God and to show his love to others. But you might say, OK, but hold on — this whole time you've been talking about fighting desires, living a holy life, submitting to authorities, and those all sound like restrictions. How can you at the same time say you're free?

Let me put it this way. If I said to my kids on Christmas morning, "OK, I have some rules for you. You have to open all of your presents that are under the tree, and when we have hot chocolate, you have to have marshmallows in it" — have I laid any burden upon my children? No, it's the very thing they wanted to be doing the whole time. In fact, that is exactly the freedom we have in Christ. It is to serve God, which is what our hearts have desired most. Serving him is no restriction — it is pure freedom. That is what I have been longing for with all my heart.

Serve God out of freedom, brothers and sisters. And hear me, I know there are times where our hearts wander again. We are freed from having to prove ourselves over and over. Go back to Christ, ask him to change our hearts once again. Follow him because his yoke is easy and his burden is light. God has not called us into holiness in order to lay a burden on us, but so that our hearts might delight in what is most delightful. That we can rejoice.

Let me argue that it is your joy in freedom that will be one of the greatest witnesses to the power of God. That we can rejoice though everything around us seems to always be going wrong — we have joy that is not taken away. We are not beholden to our current circumstance for anything, but rather we have been freed from worry, guilt, fear, and shame because of Jesus Christ. Let the freedom of Christ be seen in your life that you might reflect Jesus.

God has called us to make our faith known. Live in such a way that actually influences others for the glory of God. As we fight against sin, as we live out this trust in Jesus and rely on the Holy Spirit, let our faith and trust in Christ be seen in how we treat one another, even how we speak about those in authority over us, and how we use our freedom — for His glory. Let all of our life show the goodness of Jesus that His glory is seen.

Let's pray together. Our heavenly Father, Lord, what a joy it is that we have the privilege to follow after you. Though there is a fight in this life, though there is a struggle against our sinful flesh, you have not left us on our own. Through Jesus we have forgiveness of our sins, and you have sent the Holy Spirit to live and dwell in our hearts, to empower us to follow after you. Lord, I pray that we would be known to those around us as people who rely on you and trust in Jesus. Father, I pray that even this week you would show what our faith looks like, that people around us could see it and we could have the chance to speak of your good news. Father, I pray — let us rejoice in the freedom you have given, even as we submit to what you have ordered around us. Father, I pray that we would honor you in how we speak and in how we act, that many might come to know and delight in Jesus Christ. We ask these things in your name. Amen.