Good morning everyone.
It's a pleasure to be back here at St Paul's bringing the Word of God this morning and to have been asked to share with you.
My wife Vanessa and I are here from Africa for roughly two to three months and we'd love to catch up with you during that time.
Vanessa arrives tonight, late tonight on a plane from Perth and we'll probably be having a rest for a few days but after that we'd love to catch up with any and all of you.
Now the epistle of Peter, the first epistle of Peter is an epistle that Peter has written to Christians who are scattered throughout a pagan society.
And it is a letter written to Christians who in their context will be undergoing suffering and persecution and where the values of the society around them are putting a pressure upon them to live a particular way.
And so it's in this context that we look at the passage here today.
It's quite applicable this passage really in that light for us here in Sydney and the church in Sydney.
And although persecution here is not as overt as it was in the Roman Empire, it is nonetheless it is there and it is underlying a lot of the fabric of our society.
And you will hear Christians and the Christian faith openly mocked on television or on the radio.
There is so much media coming through with anti-God values.
And so in that way our society in Sydney has a lot of things that are similar to the society back in the days of the Roman Empire.
And of course they had gladiator events, then we have the rugby league.
But there's a lot of similarities there and there is nonetheless a pressure on us as Christians to be living and responding a certain way when confronted and surrounded by people from a pagan society.
So when this passage opens, we see it says,
Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires which 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.
These desires actually wage war against our soul.
And in the passage, I don't actually think Peter is so much talking about the sinful desires of the flesh
or about anger or greed or coveting as much as I think he is talking about things simply like submitting to authorities,
respecting one another, respecting one another, loving one another, and honouring the king, fearing God.
These are all temptations that with the pressure of the society around them, acting upon them,
it is a temptation not to do these things.
Not only are these things waging war against our soul and against their soul,
but we have an enemy, as Sam points out, we are in a war against an enemy who roams around like a roaring lion
waiting for someone to devour.
And you see, the devil knows that Christians have a righteousness that is by faith.
Our righteousness is because we believe that Jesus has died for our sins,
and because of that, we are made completely righteous before God.
And that is based on what we believe.
And so the devil knows that while ever we believe that,
and while ever our faith is at this level,
then the life we live will accordingly be at an equal level.
And so the devil's main aim is to get us to doubt,
to get us to not believe that Jesus has paid the full penalty,
not just for our sins, but for all our brothers' and sisters' sins.
He does this through our conscience.
That is the main weapon he uses, is our conscience.
You know, Peter says later in the passage,
he talks about not using our freedom as a cloak for evil,
to hide sin.
It is very easy in that society and in our society
to compromise our values as Christians,
to compromise our walk with God,
and actually say, well, that's okay, I'm under grace.
I'm under grace, so I'm under freedom,
so it doesn't really matter what I do so much.
But, you see, because we have an enemy,
and that enemy will use a pure conscience,
and he will come to someone with a pure conscience,
and he will try and get them to stop believing
they are righteous because of what Christ has done,
let alone if we go forward with an impure conscience.
If we go forward and go forward willingly in sin,
then the devil will use the fact that our conscience is muddied,
he will use that to get us to doubt
that we are righteous before God,
and that we are completely forgiven
because he knows that our walk
will be always equivalent with what we believe.
In 2 Peter 1, verses 5 to 9, it says,
for this very reason, make every effort
to add to your faith goodness,
and to goodness knowledge,
and to knowledge self-control,
and to self-control perseverance,
and to perseverance godliness,
and to godliness brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness love.
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure,
they will keep you from being ineffective
and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But if anyone does not have them,
he is nearsighted and blind,
and has forgotten that he has been cleansed
from his past sins.
You see, the problem with a backslidden Christian
is not primarily about what he is doing.
The problem with the backslidden Christian
is about what they have started to believe.
And what they have started to believe,
their faith will naturally come out in what they do.
If we are living lives
where our conscience gets seared,
we will start forgetting
that we have been cleansed from our past sins,
because that is what the devil will be helping us do
by saying,
you're guilty,
you're not forgiven.
And we will forget
we have been cleansed from past sins,
and as a result,
we will live accordingly to that.
Our faith has to issue itself in action.
What we believe
will always be demonstrated by what we do.
And in a context
where the society's values have decayed,
and Christians are suffering
and are being persecuted,
the threat of Christians
using the freedom they have in Christ
as a cover-up for evil,
and subsequently forgetting
their cleansing from past sins,
was a very real one to Peter.
So when Peter goes through this passage,
there are really primarily three things
that he is on about,
and the first thing he is on about,
it is God's will that by doing good,
you should silence the ignorant talk
of foolish men.
That is the first thing
in this passage he is addressing.
The Christians are in a context
where for the Lord's sake,
they need to submit to all those authorities,
and we need to submit authorities
always anyway,
but especially in this pagan world
where they are under such scrutiny.
See, the unbelieving world
watches us like a hawk.
They watch us so carefully
and try and find where we slip up.
And so what Peter is saying
is that we have to live such blameless lives
in that world
by submitting to authorities,
by honouring the king,
by fearing God,
by loving one another,
that they have absolutely no substance
to any of the foolish accusations
that they make
against the people of God.
And so that those accusations
have no substance.
We might remember back in Genesis chapter 41
when we saw Joseph,
and he was in Egypt,
and he was there
with a pagan king
and a pagan society,
and yet this pharaoh
was able to say,
can we find anyone
like this man,
one in whom
is the Spirit of God?
A pagan pharaoh.
And back then, of course,
there was no, you know,
no one really
officially knew
the Holy Spirit
in that way.
But see,
the pharaoh could look at Joseph
and he could see
that inside that man
was something different,
and he could tell
by the way he conducted himself,
by the insight he was given,
and by the man that he was,
he could tell
that in that society
this was someone
who stood out,
and he could tell
that within him,
even though being a pagan,
he could tell
that within him
was a holy God,
was a Holy Spirit.
And similarly,
in Babylon,
when Daniel had been
taken into captivity
with the rest of Israel,
King Nebuchadnezzar
said of Daniel,
he had named him
Belteshazzar
after the name
of his God,
and he said,
he is called Belteshazzar
after the name
of my God,
and the Spirit
of the Holy Gods
is in him.
This is coming
from a king
who made giant golden statues
and asked people
to come and bow down
to them,
or he was going
to chuck them
into a furnace.
This is a pagan king,
and yet he was able
to look at Daniel
and say,
the Spirit
of the Holy God
is in him.
You are the light
of the world.
A city 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 men
that they may see
your good deeds,
and praise your Father
in heaven.
It brings God glory
when the people of God
are living in such a way
that the pagan world
looks at them
as blameless,
and that when they are
making their accusations,
everyone can see
that they've got
no substance to it.
That brings glory
to God.
Similarly,
it brings slander
and blasphemy
to the way
of Christians
and to Christ himself
if we are living
in society
and we are walking
forward in sin.
And so,
part of that,
and what Peter
is saying,
is that to silence
the talk of foolish men,
we need to submit
to the authorities
that have been put
in place.
And of course,
we learn in Romans 13,
verses 1 to 3,
everyone must submit
himself to the
governing authorities,
for there is no authority
except that which God
has established,
and the authorities
that exist
have been established
by God.
Consequently,
he who rebels
against the authority
is rebelling
against what God
has instituted,
and those who do so
will bring judgment
on themselves.
I mean,
it's pretty straightforward.
Unfortunately,
as Aussies,
we come from
originally
a settlement
of convicts,
so we have a bit
of an attitude
to authority,
which works
a little bit like this.
I figured it out
from being,
well,
it's not that hard
to figure out,
actually,
but you see it
very clearly
when you're living
in another culture
where submission
to authority
is a very,
very different thing.
So,
the way our thinking
works is like this.
This man is in authority.
What's he doing?
What's he saying?
And so,
we sort of judge
and rate what he is doing
and saying,
and then determine
from our judgment
and our rating
as to whether
we should submit
to his authority
or not.
Now,
in Africa,
submission to authority
can be authorities
who are treating them
very badly,
but they will always
submit to the authority
because submission
to authority
is not about
what the person
in authority
does or says,
it is about
his position.
Completely unconditional.
It is about
his position.
It is a position
that we know
that God
has given
to that person
and so,
like they do
in Africa,
we should submit
to the authorities
that have been
put in place
simply because
of the position
they have been
given
by God.
And in so doing,
we are acknowledging
that it is God
who put them there
and we are confirming
that the word of God
is true.
And so,
it is for the Lord's
sake that we do this.
Now,
the second point
that Peter is making
here is suffering
for doing good
is commendable.
Suffering for doing
good is commendable.
And I am sure
at this stage,
Peter was recalling
Jesus' words
in Luke chapter 6
which are also
recorded in Matthew
chapter 5.
He says,
But I tell you
who hear me,
love your enemies,
do good to those
who hate you,
bless those
who curse you,
pray for those
who mistreat you.
If someone
strikes you
on one cheek,
turn to him
the other also.
And if someone
takes your cloak,
do not stop him
from taking your tunic.
Give to everyone
who asks you
and if anyone
takes what belongs
to you,
do not demand it back.
Do to others
as you would have
them do to you.
If you love
those who love
you,
what credit
is that to you?
If you just
love those
who love you?
Even sinners
love those
who love them
and if you do
good to those
who are good
to you,
what credit
is that to you?
Even sinners
do that.
And if you lend
to those
from you
what credit
is that to you?
Even sinners
lend to sinners
expecting
to be repaid
in full
but love your
enemies,
do good to
them and lend
to them
without expecting to get anything back.
Then your reward will be great
and you'll be sons of the Most High
because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Be merciful just as your father is merciful.
And so it is only in the light of being mistreated
and being harshly spoken to
and being unfairly done by,
it is only in the light of our response to that
that people will see that we are in actual fact different
and the one that is in us
is different to the one that is in the world.
Otherwise we're just doing what the world does.
We just, I mean, we can be Christians
and we can be really nice people
who are really nice to the people who are really nice to us.
But let me ask you a question.
Is there anyone on your heart
who you do not look at as absolutely righteous
and spotless before God?
Is there another human being in your heart,
in your mind,
who you do not look at as absolutely spotless?
And if they don't know Christ,
that they potentially could
and therefore that you should still treat them in that light.
Or are we storing up all the faults that people have,
all the things they've said wrong against us,
all the times they've ticked us off a bit?
You see, Jesus has wiped our slate completely clean
and we have got to do that right now
with anyone we are storing things up about
that we should not be storing up about.
Because in God's sight,
they are completely holy and righteous.
In God's sight,
they are completely holy and righteous.
So if there's anyone in the body of believers
that we have got a problem with,
then we are really having a problem with God
because God has declared them innocent.
God has declared them righteous.
God has declared them pure and faultless.
And that's how we have to treat them
and that's how God expects us to treat them.
So if your enemy is hungry,
give him food to eat.
If he is thirsty,
give him water to drink.
And in doing this,
you will heap burning coals on his head
and the Lord will reward you.
And doing this is a powerful testimony
to the one we worship
and is a form of spiritual warfare.
I think in 2 Corinthians 10,
verses 3 to 4,
it says,
For though we live in the world,
we do not wage war as the world does.
The weapons we fight with
are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary,
they have divine power
to demolish strongholds.
And we can be very spiritual
and we can say,
well, that's the prayers of the saints.
And I think it definitely includes that.
But I tell you,
when you turn the other cheek
when someone strikes you,
it demolishes strongholds.
When you love those who hate you,
when you bless those who curse you,
when you pray for those who persecute you,
you demolish strongholds.
It is a form of warfare.
Jesus didn't say these things
without demonstrating them in his life.
He demonstrated all these principles
through what he did.
And we might remember
in Matthew chapter 27,
verses 12 to 14,
when he was accused by the chief priests
and the elders,
he gave no answer.
Then Pilate asked him,
Don't you hear the testimony
they are bringing against you?
But Jesus made no reply,
not even to a single charge,
to the great amazement of the governor.
I don't know about you,
but if I was Jesus
and I had people saying to me,
are you the king of the Jews?
I'd start pointing them
to all the miracles I'd done.
I'd start saying,
am I the king?
I mean, have a look.
I walked on water.
I mean, I made the lame walk.
I made the blind see.
I cast demons out of men.
But he doesn't do any of that.
He just says, so you say.
You see, the powers of darkness
are baffled
when we do not wage war
on the same terms
and in the same fashion
that they wage war.
That's what confuses them.
And Jesus said to his disciples,
if anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself,
take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life
will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me
will find it.
Whoever loses his life for me
will find it.
Are we prepared to do that?
Are we prepared,
just as Jesus set us an example
and going before us,
are we prepared
to follow in that example
and lose our lives
for Christ's sake?
Are we prepared
to suffer ridicule
and meet it with love?
Are we prepared
to bless those who persecute us
and pray for those
who are bad to us?
Are we prepared
if our enemy is hungry
to feed him
or if he is thirsty
to give him a drink?
You see,
as Brian said earlier,
we are in a war.
We are in a war
and the people of this world
are suffering
because they are under
the power of slavery
to fear of death.
And the powers of darkness
use the fact
that there are
handwritten requirements
of the law
which are built up
in their conscience
against them
and they know
that the handwritten
requirements of the law,
the wages of those requirements
is death.
Everyone knows it.
You might have people
saying,
I'm an atheist,
but they know it.
They know it.
We all know
because in our conscience
we know
when we've done
something wrong.
And those things
build up and up
and up and up
and up
and the powers
of darkness
use those things
and constantly
hold them up
to people
to show them
you're going to die,
you're under sin,
you're going to hell
and it keeps them
in that guilt
and it keeps them
pinned down
in a sinful lifestyle.
And the way
to battle it
is to proclaim
that those powers
have been defeated
at the cross of Christ.
That's the irony
is we defeat
those powers
by proclaiming
that they have
been defeated.
It says that
Christ paraded them
and he took
that handwritten
requirements,
that list of
handwritten requirements
and he nailed it
to the cross.
Taking us up
with him
into that cross
and purging us
of all our sin,
all our judgment,
all our guilt.
so that we are
completely pure.
So that we can
live a godly life.
Because the grace
of God
that brings salvation
has appeared
to all men
and it teaches us
to say no
to ungodliness
and worldly passions
while we wait
for the blessed hope,
the glorious appearing
of our great God
and Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
So my friends,
surrounded by a similar
world that the Christians
were surrounded in then,
there's not as much
overt violence
in our society,
but given the right
pressures,
there would be.
But surrounded
by a pagan society,
we have to be those
whose goodness
is shining out of us,
who are shining
the light of Christ
to a dark
and sinful world.
God bless you.