Fanning the Flames

Studies in First Peter Part 13

“¹²Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.  ¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, ¹⁴or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.  ¹⁵For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men” (I Peter 2:12-15).

Maintaining a good reputation with unbelievers is not religious posturing or people pleasing.  It is just a natural part of righteous living, a natural flow of “keeping our behavior excellent” among our unbelieving friends and family.  I also believe our gospel message reaches a more receptive audience when accompanied by kind, joyful, and caring behavior.

As we proclaim the gospel message of Jesus calling us out of the darkness and into the light, we need to remember that coming into the light made us little lights.  We are the light of the world (Matthew 5:16).  When folks look at us, what kind of light do they see?  It should be the warm and inviting light of Jesus shining out from us.  Our winsome witness to the message of the gospel is to be a “truth balm” not a “truth bomb” as our friend Kerstan Cantrell writes in this group.

Paul included this aspect of our Christian walk in his requirements for those appointed as elders.  “And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (I Timothy 3:7).  Falling into reproach, being a bad actor, clouds our message of hope and life.

May the unbelievers in your circle think back to your kindness and joy and witness to the truth in their “day of visitation,” i.e. the day God visits them with the gospel message.  And may they receive and believe and give glory to God.

One way we “keep our behavior excellent” and “silence the ignorance of foolish men” is to be good citizens as fits the situations we find ourselves in.  It is easy to get drawn into political arguments and grievances and complaints.  But do not let those involvements detract from the gospel message we preach; salvation in Christ alone and freedom in what He has accomplished for us.

Let me give you an example of how this can go haywire.  Let’s say you stop paying your Federal Income Tax over a grievance (and I have seen this in person from both the liberal and conservative side).  Then the IRS comes to your home and carries off your furniture.  Are you being persecuted for being a Christian?  No, you are being punished for not paying your taxes.  It is that simple.

And because I have been involved in these cases more than once, I can say with confidence that this kind of protest does not enhance our gospel witness.  Please let me say it again, maintaining a good reputation with our unbelieving friends and family is not religious posturing or people pleasing.  It is righteousness, flowing from Christ in us.

Studies in First Peter Part 12

“¹¹Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul” (I Peter 2:11).

Why would chosen, royal, holy people who possess a new heart and a new nature need to be urged to “abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul”?  Isn’t the war over?  Didn’t the war end when we became new creations?  Yes and no.

First the “Yes”.  The war is over.  You do not have two competing natures, a sin nature and a godly nature, waging war inside you.  Your old self died with Christ and you have been set free, released, from the power of sin.  “Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Romans 6:6-7).

The idea that we have an angel on one shoulder and a demon on the other whispering in our ears either encouraging us to godliness or enticing us to sin is just not true.  Sin and evil and the devil were defeated at the cross and defeated in your life when you believed the gospel of Jesus Christ.  You do not have competing good and bad natures.  You have one nature; righteousness.

But there is also a “No”.  Why?  Because sin still dwells in us, in what the Bible calls “the flesh.”  And the flesh is at war with God’s Spirit inside.  “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.  For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another” (Galatians 5:16-17).

The flesh is the temptation to go back to living as the natural man, your old self prior to Christ.  The flesh is the temptation to live, to act, to think like the natural man; the man without Christ.  And Satan seeks to energize the flesh by using your past actions or current temptations to challenge your identity as a new creation.  But Satan is lying.

You are a new creation.  There are not two equal strength sides in this battle.  Sin is no longer you master, having been soundly defeated at the cross.  Sin has been removed from the throne in your life.  You have what it takes to say “no” to the flesh by virtue of all the new in you.

The Greek word translated “abstain” in “abstain from fleshly lusts” literally means to “stand at a distance from.”  This is similar to Paul’s warning to Timothy, “Flee from youthful lusts” (II Timothy 2:22).  To run away from sin is not legalism.  To stand as far away from sin as you can is not rule-keeping.  It is just the wisdom of God to stay away from the things and situations that tempt you.  We all have unique areas where the flesh seeks to tempt us to sin.  And it is wise to flee, to run away, from those places.

Last time, we talked about being called out of darkness and into the light.  Peter. Paul, all the New Testament writers would say to us, “Now, live as children of light.”  “For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord.  Walk as children of Light for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:8-9).

Studies in First Peter Part 11

“⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ¹⁰for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (I Peter 2:9-10).

Don’t you love these descriptors of who we are as living stones in God’s spiritual house?  “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.”  We are chosen; you raised your hand and God chose you.  We are royals; children of the King of Kings.  We are holy; God made you holy when you believed His gospel message.  And we are a “people for God’s own possession.”  We can’t get any closer to God than His own possession.

You were bought with a price, the invaluable blood of Jesus.  “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (I Peter 1:18-19).

And now you belong to Jesus.  “Our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:13-14).

As chosen, royal, holy people for God’s possession, we have been created for good deeds, created for righteousness.  And we have been given a mission to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  Please look carefully at this message we are to proclaim.

It is a message of the excellencies of Jesus.  It is the message of Jesus.  No additives, no religion, no lists of do and don’ts, no condemnation, no clean up before we come to Him, no behavior modification, no sin management… just the excellence of Jesus and what He – not we – accomplished.  And this is His number one accomplishment.  He transferred us from “darkness into His marvelous light.” 

He transferred us from lost to saved, from “in Adam” to “in Christ,” from unbeliever to believer, from outsider to child of God, from death to life, from darkness to light.  “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).  We have been “rescued and transferred” from the “domain of darkness” to the light; “the kingdom of His beloved Son.”

Our message to the world is not a message of judgment.  It is a message of invitation.  Jesus is inviting you to join this transfer train from death to life, from darkness to light.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).  The invitation is for you to cross to the other side, cross from death to life.  Jesus is waiting there to welcome you home.

Studies in First Peter Part 10

“⁴And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, ⁵you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  ⁶For this is contained in Scripture: ‘Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.’  ⁷This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone,’ ⁸and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’  For they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed” (I Peter 2:4-8).

Jesus is the “living stone”, our cornerstone, who was “rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God.”  If Jesus is the cornerstone, where is the building built upon Him?  The building is us.  We are the temple built upon the cornerstone.  The church, the bride of Christ, you and I, are His “spiritual house” today.  We are called “living stones” (vs 5) just like Jesus is a “living stone” (vs 4) because we are “in Jesus.”  These stones are alive in Jesus.

Jesus, our cornerstone, was foretold in the Old Testament.  Verse 6 is a quote from the book of Isaiah, “Therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.  He who believes in it will not be disturbed’ “ (Isaiah 28:16).

The last word translated “disturbed” literally means “in a hurry or frenzy.”  “He who believes” in the “costly cornerstone” will be at peace.  Jesus fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah chapter 28, not only by being the costly cornerstone, by also by giving us His promise of peace.  “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (John 14:27).

I cannot emphasize enough that this precious cornerstone, Jesus, is “for us who believe.”  It is not just a Bible answer to the question of who is this cornerstone.  It is not an intellectual answer about the church.  He is OUR cornerstone.  He is the foundation of our building, the community of His children.

For the unbeliever, Jesus has become “the stone which the builders rejected,” cast aside, and now “a stumbling block and rock of offense.”  Those who reject the cornerstone, Jesus, are “disobedient to the word” having rejected the gospel, and their doom is sure.

These final quotes in verses 7 and 8 are also fulfillments of Old Testament prophesies regarding Jesus, our cornerstone.  “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22).  And, “Then He shall become a sanctuary; but to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over” (Isaiah 8:14).

First century Israel rejected the cornerstone, rejected their Messiah.  And even today, Jesus is still a stumbling block “for those who disbelieve.”  Jesus is the rock upon which the whole world must decide.  “Am I going to embrace the gospel message of Jesus, accept His death in my place upon a cross, OR am I going to reject the gift of His sacrifice, the gift of His salvation?”

Choose Jesus.  Choose life.  Choose peace, peace in your heart and peace with God.  “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).  Choose your cornerstone.  Choose Jesus.

Studies in First Peter Part 9

“¹Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, ²like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, ³if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord” ( Peter 2:1-3).

Here the apostle Peter follows another pattern that is common in so many of the New Testament letters; the idea of putting off the bad stuff and putting on the good.  For example …

• “Let us lay aside the deeds of darkness…and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12).
• “In reference to your former way of life, lay aside the old self…and put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:22,24).
• “Since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices; anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, and lying…and have put on the new self” (Colossians 3:8,10).
• ”Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other” (Colossians 3:12-13).
• “Putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness…receive the word implanted which is able to deliver your souls” (James 1:21).
• “Flee from youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace” (II Timothy 2:22).
• “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ…and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Romans 13:14).
• “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

And finally our passage, “Putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander…long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to your salvation” (I Peter 2:1-2).  Lay aside the sin that does not fit your new identity.  It is not who you are.

Instead, long for the nourishment that comes from the word.  This nourishment will cause you to “grow”.  Newborns grow with a diet of one ingredient; milk.  Likewise, as new members of God’s family, “long for the pure milk of the word.”  Now it is fascinating to me that this “grow” is not in respect to being a better person, knowing more of the Bible, or learning spiritual disciplines.  It is “grow in respect to salvation.”  How do we “grow in respect to salvation?”

I think it is growing in respect to understanding our salvation.  It is growing to learn all that was accomplished at our salvation.  It is growing into who we became at our salvation; new creations with a new identity and new nature and new heart and new Spirit and new self and a whole lot more.

“If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord” is the kind of “if” that can be translated as “since”.  It is not “if” in the sense of you may or may not taste the kindness of the Lord.  It is “if” in the sense of since you tasted the kindness of the Lord, now long for His nourishment.

The nourishment of His word may come in the form of Jesus and His message, or the Holy Spirit speaking to you, or the message of God’s Scripture.  In all its forms, His word is designed to help you “grow in respect to salvation.”