CHOOSING TO BE DIFFERENT
Living
God's Way -- Part 2
I
Peter 1:13-2:2 04-22-12 Sermon
Last week
I started a series called "Living God's Way". What we're going to do over the next
several weeks is to look at the book of I Peter and see what he has to say
about how to live God's way in an ungodly world.
Before we
dig in I want to set the stage a little by reminding you of the two worlds that
the Bible refers to oftentimes using different terms. Not the two earths, the two worlds, the evil side and the
godly side. The Bible also calls
this the flesh versus the spirit, darkness versus the light, the old versus the
new. The Bible refers to this all
through Scriptures that there's something very real happening with these two
entities, these two realities. If
you are a believer, a Christian, if you've trusted Jesus as your Savior, you
have been freed from the old side.
I love the image the Bible gives of being a slave in jail to sin and
Jesus is the only one with the key and He comes along, opens the jail and you
are delivered from being a prisoner to sin if you accept His gift of salvation
and you live in the new.
There was
a little boy visiting is grandparents on their farm. And he was given a
slingshot to play with out in the woods.
He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target and,
getting a little discouraged, he headed back to dinner. As he was walking back he saw his
Grandmother’s pet duck.
Just out
of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and
killed it. He was shocked and
grieved. In a panic, he hid the
dead duck in the woodpile, only to see his older sister, Sally, watching. She had seen it all, but she said
nothing.
After
lunch that day, Grandma said, Sally,
let’s wash the dishes.” But
Sally said, Grandma, Johnny told me he
wanted to help in the kitchen.
Then Sally whispered to him, ‘Remember
the duck?’ So Johnny did the
dishes.
Later that
day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help me make
supper. But Sally just smiled
and said, Well, that’s all right because
Johnny told me he wanted to help.
She whispered to Johnny again, ‘Remember
the duck?’ So Sally went
fishing and Johnny stayed to help.
After
several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s he finally couldn’t
stand it any longer. He came to
Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, Sweetheart, I know all about the duck. You see, I was standing at the window
and saw the whole thing. But
because I love you, I forgave you, I was just wondering how long you would let
Sally make a slave of you!”
Whatever
is in our past, the devil keeps throwing it up in our faces. We need to know that Jesus was standing
at the window and saw the whole thing.
He wants us to know that we are forgiven and wonders how long we will
continue to allow the devil to make a slave of us. When the devil reminds you
of your past, you just remind him of his future!
Wouldn't
it be great when we come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, if He would
just take us to Heaven right away?
If that were to happen we wouldn't live in this tension between the old
and the new. But for some reason
God has decided to keep us here.
He's left us on earth to figure out how to live for Him in what Phil. 2
calls, "an evil and perverse generation." To live in a time that is opposing God's will, to live in a
time that is anti-God, how is it that we can live God's way in this evil and
perverse generation?
The world
system lies in the lap of the evil one who nurtures and drives this way of
thinking, cultivates evil, motivates it, and gives it nourishment. The evilness is designed to appeal to
us, to appeal to our fleshly desires, to make life easy and comfortable, and
tempt us to go the way of the old.
Basically, to seduce us away from God.
I want you
to hear and see and recognize this tension as we dig in to what Peter says in
this first chapter where he challenges Christians to be different.
1) You have been made new.
I Peter
1:14 "Don't lazily slip back into
those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do
now. As obedient children, let
yourself be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic
and blazing with holiness."
He says
don't slip into the old grooves of evil.
You know better. Peter
says, "As obedient children let
yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, energetic and
blazing with holiness." Also II Cor. 5:17 "If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new
has come." You have been
made new. If you have a
relationship with Christ, you've been made new.
Obedience
is at the very foundation of Christian living. If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must deny ourselves,
take up our cross daily and follow him.
Jesus said that the person who really loves him is the one who obeys
him.
Peter
takes it a step further and uses the word "holy". Being made new is one thing... I understood this when my first child,
Luke, was born. He came out new --
looked a little bit like E.T. -- but new, undefiled, pure, but born into a
world of wickedness. Peter adds that
not only are we made new, but now we live God's way blazing with holiness. In his second letter, Peter writes ‘You ought to live holy and godly lives’.
Holiness
is a scary word. It is a subject
often avoided by even Christian people.
For some reason, it is very uncomfortable for us to talk about being
holy. We seem to have little trouble talking about God being holy. We sing the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord, God Almighty. And yet when we want to talk about holiness in our own
lives, we often think of what none of us wants to be—a person who is holier
than thou.
But
holiness has a simpler definition-- "To be set apart." Holiness is to be set apart from the
ways of the world, from the ways of the flesh, from the ways of the wicked,
from the ways of darkness. That's
what Peter is saying, "You've been
made new, now be holy, be set apart."
Every kid
knows that you don’t eat hot dogs and potato chips on good china. Mom’s china
is reserved for special company or special occasions. Hot dogs are for paper plates and every day dishes, china is
for special events. When God is
calling us to be holy, he’s calling us to be china—something special just for
him, and as Peter emphasizes, just like him.
God says, "You've got two paths. You can run in your own direction or
you can run in the direction I've given you." Typically, we chose our direction
because it seems easier. It's more
comfortable. But the effects of
not running God’s way, of not living God’s way, have a lot more
consequences. It's more
painful. We don't get as far. Our relationships aren't as good. God says "You're made new.
Here's the way. Run this
way. Be set apart from the
old." He's saying choose
to be different.
Choosing
to be different is a discipline. It's
tough. Living God's way and
following His plan is not easy. We
have this tendency to be tempted to go back to the old.
Two extremes:
Discipline and drifter. A drifter is the opposite of discipline. This is someone who loafs, who coasts,
who does just enough with their faith to get by. Doing just enough to get "in" at the end -- like eternal
fire insurance.
Where are
you on this continuum? Are you
disciplined with your faith or are you a drifter? Discipline is tough.
Being
disciplined is tough. It's easy to
drift. To drift into the
temptation of the old, always being tempted by the old. Someone has said, "Opportunity may only knock once but temptation leans on the
doorbell." We're always
being tempted to be brought into the old, to live in the wicked, to live by the
flesh, and Peter knows this.
He tells
us 2) Prepare yourself for a
different life. This is
why he gives us such strong words in v. 13. "So roll up your
sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's
coming when Jesus arrives."
Peter
is saying, this isn't the time to take it easy, to kick back. He bears down on his pen, and says;
roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear. You are a new creation and as a new creation prepare for
battle. Get ready. Don't lazily slip back into your old
ways. Prepare for battle.
You know
that if a team goes in unprepared they're going to get wiped out. Peter's saying prepare, get ready, roll
up your sleeves, put your mind in gear.
Do you
know what the evil one is doing to those who are not prepared, to those who are
falling by the wayside, those who haven't prepared for a new life? He's circling around with no grace, no mercy,
no kindness, and he's laughing as we fall away, as we give in to the temptation
of the old. We've been made
new. Now prepare yourself for a
different life.
WHY?
3) We need to prepare for a new life because God paid
a price for you.
When you're
new, you're dealing with a new enemy.
If you wonder why you should prepare yourself. v. 18-19 "God
paid a ransom to save you from the impossible road to heaven which your fathers
tried to take, and the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver, as you very
well know. But He paid for you
with the precious life-blood of Jesus, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God."
Do
you remember the pictures of where that ship hit the bridge in Kentucky and a
whole section of the bridge dropped out?
You could drive up on that bridge but there comes a point where you've
got to stop, you can't go any further.
You can't drive your car to the other side. You can't jump, skateboard, rollerblade to the other
side. The same thing is true with
our relationship with God. You
might be going in the right direction, on the right path, but there was a
separation. God was on the other
side and we need to be reconciled to Him.
So God sent Jesus down to build a bridge. And Jesus built a bridge from one side to the other. The bridge was made out of His
cross. That cross, when Jesus died
in our place, gave us access to a relationship with God. You've been made new, prepared for a
different life. God paid a
price. It wasn't out of silver or
gold. It was His blood. Jesus died for you. That's the motivation. If you take nothing else away from here
remember that. You prepare for a
new life because Jesus paid a price.
He shed His blood so that we might live forever. Peter is saying this: God paid a price for you. You are that valuable. You are worth it. You are not dirt. You don’t wash dirt…you wash dirt off
something valuable. You are
different, now begin acting like it.
Once we
are in God’s family we are supposed to take on the family resemblance. We should begin to reflect Jesus. Others should see Jesus in us. We need to be different.
"BE
DIFFERENT BY HAVING..." 1) Discipline with your love.
v. 22 "Now you can have real love for
everyone because your souls have been cleansed from selfishness and hatred when
you trusted Christ to save you; so see to it that you really do love each other
warmly, with all your hearts."
Peter is saying that there is no better test than love. You've been made new, prepare yourself,
now he gives us an action step -- love one another.
I would
have preferred him to start off with something a little easier. Instead he goes for the jugular. Do you love other people warmly? Is love a filter that your actions go
through? Do you hold other people
up to high regard? Do you consider
them better than yourself? Do you
put them before you put yourself?
Peter is saying that love is what sets us apart. Love is the display of holiness. Love is the litmus test for
Christians. It's not the actions
of others; it's the actions that we have as Christians. Do you love others warmly and with all
your heart?
Love is at
the very center of Christian living.
In fact, love is the very character, the very essence of God. And Jesus contended that it would be by
this love that everyone would recognize his disciples. In John 13:35 He says, "Others will know that you're My followers by
the love you have for one another." Love one another and people will know that you're My
followers. Do you want to be
different, set part, holy? It
starts with love. Do you love one
another? Do you love one another
warmly?
A man who
was a pagan went to report on the early church movement. The pagan went into the compound where
a bunch of Christians were living together, intending to write something bad
about them. Instead he wrote these
6 words that had an impact on church history, "Behold, how they love one another."
I wonder
if someone from the secular world came into the Christian community today would
be able to say that or would they say "Behold,
how they judge one another.
Behold, how they criticize one another. Behold, how they fight with one another. Behold, how they hurt one
another." Being set
apart, being different, being holy is to love one another, warmly and with all
of our heart. Christianity is not
only to be believed; it must also be lived.
A pastor gave
a children's sermon. He gave the
children an opportunity to accept Christ.
A brother and sister came forward and the sister raised her hand that
she wanted to have Jesus live in her heart. The next morning the boy and girl were playing and the girl
got mad and smacked her brother good.
The brother said, "I thought
Jesus was living in your heart?"
The girl said, "He is, but
He's sleeping right now."
When
it comes to discipline, loving one another, I think sometimes we've allowed
Jesus to fall asleep, or back out, or step off the throne, or we put Him in a
closet -- our reactions don't display love. Do you love one another warmly and deeply?
BE
DIFFERENT BY HAVING..." 2) Discipline with your mouth.
"Be sure, then, you are never spiteful, or
deceitful, or hypocritical, or envious and critical of each other." I have generalized these five areas
under "mouth" but I think they have a way of displaying themselves by
the words we use and what we say to others and how we treat them. If we take care of the discipline of
love then the words that come out of our mouth tend to have a different tone,
tend to have a different direction, tend to have a different meaning. When we perform a little heart surgery
our words are displayed in a different fashion.
This isn't
my opinion, this is what Jesus said: "You
will know a person's heart by the words that come from his or her mouth." How does your heart measure up to
these? Spiteful, deceitful,
hypocritical, envious, critical of others? I think if we're being real, reality says that we may think
some of these things but maturity says that we keep them to ourselves. Reality says that these thoughts, may
come and go, maturity says we keep them to ourselves. Greater maturity says that these thoughts come up less and
less.
Mark Twain
is quoted as saying, “Most people are
bothered by those passages in the Bible which they cannot understand; but as
for me, I always notice that the passages in the Scripture which trouble me the
most are those which I do understand.” His statement is a commentary on this
passage. The question is: what are
we going to do about it?
BE
DIFFERENT BY HAVING..." 3) Discipline with your desire for God's Word.
I Peter
2:2 "Be like new born babies, always thirsty for the pure spiritual
milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up and be saved." I love that image that you're always
thirsty for spiritual milk. He's
not saying that you're spiritual babies.
He’s saying be thirsty for God's Word. The word that Peter uses means to long for or to crave that pure spiritual milk.
Some of
you have been believers for a long time.
You may be filled with God's Word from sermons and bible studies over
the years, but maybe you're not thirsty any more. Do you want to know how to live a different life, how to be
set apart, how to be holy? Consult
His guidebook. Consult the Bible,
His love letter. Some of you, you
come on Sunday morning and that's the only milk that you get all week. Discipline your desires for God's
Word. God's Word is more than a
good book, more than a best seller -- it's God's love letter that's available
to all of us, it's a gift.
In the
middle ages the Bible was chained to the pulpit. Later it was in Latin where only the educated or the priests
could understand it. But now, we
all have access to God's Word and it shows us how to be different.
Always
thirsty. Remember as a new
believer how exciting it was to tear into it? You read the Bible with the desire to learn. You had been born again, you were
new. Always thirsty. God's word directs us to be different.
God is
concerned that we grow up spiritually.
Peter uses the same word in his second letter where he concludes ‘But grow in the grace and knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’
Life begins with birth, but then birth must be followed by nurture and
growth. And just as a natural baby
requires milk in order to be nourished and to grow, so must a spiritual baby
have the milk of God’s Word in order to be nourished and to grow up in
Christ.
These
action steps are not easy action steps.
Having discipline with our love, our mouth, our desires for God's Word
-- these are not easy. Peter, the
man who wrote these words, was inspired by God. But think about Peter in his earlier years when he walked
with Jesus. Peter was a
big-mouthed, clumsy fisherman and Jesus came into his life and said "I'm going to call you Petros, the
rock." Then watch Peter's
life. He was instrumental in the
book of Acts and the early church.
He was also very real and very human. He denied Jesus three times. This gives me hope.
Not only was Peter inspired by God when he wrote these words but he was
also a fellow believer on the journey, somebody who has walked where we walk,
somebody that knew what it was like to live in the tension between the old and
the new. That gives me hope. He's saying "You've been born again, made new, begin to act like it." You live by a different set of rules, a
whole new game, when you live God's way.
Living God's way is playing a new game.
(The
military was doing a war-game exercise.
The people were split up into Side A and Side B. They weren't using real guns or knives. If you came up on somebody, caught them
off guard, you said "Bang, bang" you shot them. If you were in a battle and said
"Stab, stab" you stabbed them.
If you saw them and they didn't see you, you could say "Lob,
lob" and that would be a grenade and you blew them up. Somebody from Side B sneaks up on somebody
from Side A -- "Bang, bang", Person A turns around and starts walking
right at him. Person B,
"Bang, bang," Still
walking right at him, "Stab, stab." Still walking right at him, "Lob, lob" Person B, "You're not playing the
game right!" Person A,
"Rumble, rumble, I'm a tank.")
When
you're on God's team, when you're living a different life, when you're set
apart, pursuing holiness, the evil one's game does not affect you. Followers of God have changed the rules.
"If anyone is in Christ he or she is a new creation, the old has
passed away, behold, the new has come."
That's
good news! There's hope for those
of us left here to live God's way.
My prayer is that you, the people of God, will be challenged to be men
and women that live God's way, live in pursuit of holiness, set apart in how
they live their lives. And they
don't live life in the ways of the old but walk in the ways of the new.
Let
us pray: Would you pray in your
own heart…
Holy
Father, forgive me for my sin. Not
just my blatant sins, but my willingness to dabble in things that are not holy,
to flirt with things that are spiritually dangerous, and to expose myself to
things that leave a residue of Satan’s world on my life. Give me strength to say no to the things
that distract me from you and to embrace with passion those things that make me
more like you. Through Jesus, our
Lord, I pray, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment