And welcome on everyone here this morning if you would please turn your supplements to page number 104 that’ll be our first song uh page number 104 um get a chance wish Mom a happy birthday and Kaylee a happy birthday today very good day for
Him I know Tate is he had to go in at 6 this morning so he’s in doing rotation and at the hospital emergency room is he still so um he’s there um so I know that’s where he is um that’s about most of the announcements and we’ll have more here coming
Up page number 104 we’ll sing uh two songs this morning and then um Ed will have our scripture reading and opening prayer if there is a scripture Reading I up Up oh my God my God I TR [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] enh oh my God oh my God I trust [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] in the of my you the [Applause] you you you oh my [Applause] God en You would turn to page number 19 Sanctuary page number 1 n [Applause] Thanksg sctu for you Lord teach your children [Applause] [Applause] The together together [Applause] foru for you you are the [Applause] [Applause] it is you knows our [Applause] we us your forare S andly and true with thanksgiv I’ll be [Applause] livu For turn over to Ed scripture reading this morning would be out of the Book of Matthew Chapter 5 vers 13- 16 again that’s Matthew 5: 13- 16 you are the salt of the earth but if the salt has become tasteless how can it be made made salty again it is no longer
Good for anything except be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men you are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket but on the lampstand and gives light to
All who are in the house let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify the father who is in heaven shall we pray Our Father heart in heaven H be Hallowed Be Your Name we thank you for this first
Day of the week you have blessed us with a day where we gather with our Christian family to remember the sacrifice of your son it’s so easy to become focused on other things in our lives but we pray that when we are here we are reminded of
What is truly important and that is living by Your Word we pray also that we may be strengthened by being here with other Christians and studying the scriptures for there are many things in this world that challenge and tempt us you bless us in more ways that we can
Count and we pray that we may never fail to be thankful for what you have done for us please help us now to be focused on what you have done for us through your son and the lessons and classes that have been prepared for us in Jesus name we pray amen amen
Good morning morning if you want to turn your Bibles to First Peter chapter 2 First Peter chapter 2 I am doing something different today that I may continue doing but the bulletin has a some questions from the sermon this morning if you or someone in your family wants more than one bulletin please
Raise your hand and I think Larry’s going to hand some out so the bulletin has some questions to help some follow along and hopefully by the end of the sermon you can fill out your whole sheet if I do my job right let’s read First Peter chapter 2 starting in verse 11 I’ll
Let let’s read 1 Peter 211 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 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 it 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 coverup for evil but living as Servants of God honor everyone love the Brotherhood fear God honor the emperor I want us to look at the
Reputation of Christians what what kind of reputation Christians are supposed to have in this world and how we achieve that kind of good reputation as we start out I want to look at the people that Peter’s addressing first off he calls them beloved that can be something that we often glance over
But he stops and he thinks about the people he’s addressing and he says beloved like this term of endearment that he loves them um you know working in the corporate setting it can be a it can be rather common at least in my experience when there’s someone higher
Up who just issues commands and has no relationship with those under him Peter here is an apostle and he’s an elder and he’s telling the people I love you there’s also the possibility that he’s saying you’re not just beloved by me you’re also beloved by God I think it’s Christians need to
Think about how we address each other and how we think to each other one of the I guess the uh salutations I try to use as good brother I actually have a friend who uses beloved and personally I think it’s a little awkward um just he would say
Beloved he won’t ever say it to me but he’ll write it in email and I’m like that’s a tad bit odd but how do we address people do we know that this church and other Christians that we loved and that we are our community that we have this
Collegiality among each other that we are loved by God Peter also acknowledges that these are sojourners they’re sojourners and Exiles and we’ve been talking about this and he’s writing to five areas there in South Asia he’s saying yes you used to wake up in the morning perhaps
You’d I’m not sure if they had coffee where they go get coffee in the morning but you’d work all day you’d come home at night and you would have Community with your people there and when you became a Christian people started to view you differently I know you’re Exiles I know you’re
Sojourners people aren’t accepting you as they once did out of your obedience to one another and he also also talks about them being among the Gentiles these Christians in these areas are not people who isolate themselves and withdraw and keep the world outside these Christians are sojourners but they are living among
Gentiles he says keep your conduct honorable or beautiful is the actual word keep keep your character beautiful as you live among these people just as Israel we talked about last time how he talks about them as a chosen or a royal race he’s calling up imagery from Israel
Israel lived among the Gentiles at least in the surrounding areas you’re living among them them day in day out and there’s a call there for Christians to be among others even though we feel isolated we don’t feel like we belong we do live along others and the last thing I want to
Notice as he is referencing his audience or the recipients of this letter and this is the one thing that I want to slow down and think about for a second those who speak evil against against you as o as uh those who speak evil those who speak against you as
Evildoers they’re living in a setting where other people are accusing them of evil you think about what would this be and I want to just this is I think the first question in the sheet um this is not in the text I’m just from what I know about some history
From the first second third Century what were Christians generally accused of there was three things if you read in any church history book if you go back to the um the martyrs as they call the early uh Christians what were Martyrs generally accused of number one was atheism number two two was
Cannibalism and number three was incest it’s like Sam like why would these people be accused of atheism cannibalism or incest Christians often had to defend themselves so there’s one um One Source Octavian a second or third Century writer is being accused of Christians drinking infants blood in their houses
Um as they’re eating their young at least they’re being accused of it oh horror they lick up blood eagerly they divide its limbs by this victim they are pledged together this uh with this consciousness of wickedness they are covenanted to Mutual silence why are Christians being accused of these
Horrible things you may know first off with atheism they’re not worshiping our gods they don’t believe in our gods they have one God and they’re not going to the temples with us they’re atheists cannibalism what did Jesus say eat my body and drink my blood there these people that meet together
And they talk about eating bodies and and drinking blood they’re odd people they’re eating people and then incest what do they call each other all the time brothers and sisters you know they have love Feast if you go to Jude 12 they have these love feasts it’s very weird these Christian
People and they’re constantly being accused of things that they’re not guilty of but guess what the people around them hate them and I want to just step back for a second and think about people in this world that may be accusing you of things are you atheists today atheist to the gods of
America um I’m going to say some things that I’m I think is kind of blunt and I um I hope that you listen and make your own judgments I have a good preacher friend who is probably the most opinion opinionated person I know but everyone knows he
Loves people so they don’t take it you know hard but he just tells people what he thinks but he loves people and I hope that as I say some of these things that I’m going to be pretty critical of that you say this is Sam’s opinions and I think through this um and
I would encourage men to talk to their families about these things what about the God of sports right now how many families will skip services for the sake of going to the games what are we worshiping do people know Christians as being bad Sportsmen they don’t show up to practice
Ice they’re they’re they’re not atheists they’re just they don’t care about the team what about the God of career you know there were times um yeah you have to skip Services uh because your job requires some kind of conference on Wednesday night or or on Sunday um again
At times I want to say yeah within Health Care there’s certain certain licenses but just think about it what are you sacrificing where people are saying yeah this they don’t even care about their job they don’t show up what about school um have you heard of idolatry you
Have to get all A’s I was into this for a while you have to get A’s you have to get A’s and if if you you have a test on whatever Thursday morning yes you just stay back and you study because you have to get good grades it’s
Like what is life about what are we sacrificing um yeah I there’s a time at a a previous Church where we had a a guy who would skip services for studying at times and um perhaps I’m not as anymore but I would call him up and I’d say hey how you
Doing are you doing okay I noticed you weren’t there on Sunday yes Sam you know so I’m so thankful you called my mind’s not straight I got a big test coming up and I’m I was stressed I said yeah I know are you doing okay the world has opportunities to criticize
Christians when they stand up up now after this sermon if you want to say hey Sam when it comes down to Career when it comes down to sports when it comes down to uh school I think you’re a little bit severe and let’s talk about
It but I think that there are Idols in the culture today and I I’m not sure if we stand up and you may say well Sam you it’s easy for you being a preacher you know the church isn’t calling you to go do stuff um on Sunday night or on Sunday
Morning which is not true I’m actually working today um so I understand that um to me it can be an easier issue but I I want us as Christians and I want fathers to talk to their children about what it looks like to sell your soul for something else than God
And you you have a few options you could buy a few books on Amazon and give it to your kids I suspect there’s very very good books on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or uh books a million you can go buy those I suspect they’re less than $20
And hand them to your child and tell them to read them I suspect there are some courses online and you could say Hey you know they hey son or hey daughter uh we need to think about our priorities and I want you to go through this
Course I’m not too big on any of these Solutions I I think that families need to get together and talk about the things that we’re we’re doing um that we talk about being accused of idol of of not idolatry of atheism being accused of having a fraternity or having a A
Brotherhood or or a sorority a Sisterhood that’s very committed to each other you know definitely been accused of being a cult not sure if you’ve been accused of that Christians will be accused at times of things that are not right they’re not fair the first century church I don’t know exactly what
The church here was being accused of when we go to it all I know is they’re being accused of evildoers and again families we need to talk about are we going to stand up and talk speak truth are we talking to our kids about how do we go about talking about transgender equality
Because our kids are being taught this and they’re going to be accused of being bigots they’re going to be accused of being bigots are we talking to them are we getting together and having a game plan about whether we’re using the right pronouns because we’re going to be called
Intolerant I’m not sure if you’re keeping with the news I just talked to a somebody this week and he showed me it there’s a pretty popular preacher in um the UK who pretty much said to one grandmother who has a I think a a lesbian
Daughter and she said should I go to her wedding this preacher is very well known I think he’s actually being played in De Mo on the radio um what he advised this grandmother to go to this wedding night he says he had a lot of caveats by the way
I don’t want to just throw this guy on the bus he says I think you should go and bring a gift but he was saying stand for the truth but you can go and Julie has a friend down in Mississippi I don’t mean to go into this
Too much but has a friend in Mississippi who’s on the radio and his session just got bumped up because this preacher was canceled you know this preacher is no longer on air because he’s not sticking for speaking truth and not going to these same-sex marriages and
Standing we as families need to talk to our families about whether we like two boys getting together on Facebook or two girls getting together on Facebook or a marriage on Facebook like how do we go about living among Gentiles but you don’t like something on Facebook you don’t love it you don’t say
I’m so happy for you oh people know what I think anyways they all know where I’m coming from I’m just saying I’m just being kind to them there needs to be some kind of standard where we need to stand for it the first century Christians were being accused of as
Evildoers that’s the first point I I make they had a bad reputation but what does Paul what does Peter say how do we overcome that well he says keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable this is the second Point first off we’re going to be slandered the second point is how do we
Overcome that we overcome it by keeping our conduct honorable or or subjecting ourselves subordinating ourselves to the Lord to the to the government human institutions out of our love for god um by the way just to let you know as we look at First Peter the structure
He’s about to list off certain roles and is going to tell the audience how to navigate those roles so you see at the end of verse it it’s actually all of verse 17 this is the general summation honor everyone love the Brotherhood fear God honor the emperor look at Verse 18
The first word at least in my Bible servants look down at verse or chapter 3 verse 1 wives he’s going to tell wives how to act honorable and then you have husbands in verse seven and then you have in verse eight all of you Peter’s about to we’re not
Doing in this sermon Peter’s about to say Hey you civilians citizens this is how you keep your a how your keep your conduct Honorable in the government wives this is how you keep your conduct honorable or beautiful husbands this is how you do it
All of you this is how you do it so we’re about to read these things but all I want to see uh talk about right now is not giving in to passions of the flesh he first talks about uh passions of the Flesh and then he goes into subjecting yourself to
Um uh a government the government there um first off brothers and sisters I know you’re going to be accused of things but don’t give into the flesh don’t give into the flesh don’t give into the bodily desires Christians this is the vision of Christians Christians are to be these
People in culture where they don’t they’re not conforming and it bothers people and they start accusing them of of things that have no Foundation or warrant but they are a a very moral people like these Christians they’re just moral exemplars these Christians they’re thoughtful they they think well they
They’re great students when they’re when they’re in class at college or in school they’re good thinkers they care about God’s world uh world they’re also good students of the Bible when you talk to them they have a reason of why they do why they believe the things they
Do also these Christians they’re good thinkers but and they disagree they’re civil about it a a kind of Civility that you don’t see on Facebook they disagree and they’re honest about it but they’re very civil they’re they’re nice about their disagreements when it comes down to sexual restraint they hold themselves
Well not like the guys of the world when it comes down to eating they eat proportionally to their day to their daily needs when it comes to their budget they’re not Christians aren’t the kind of people who extend themselves beyond their means they live a quiet life they live within their
Means they endure Suffering The Suffering associated with time they’re just very patient they’re very patient they they they’re slow they live slowly the these Christians they’re very loyal to their Church like if you this Christian over here I know them like if their church is doing something together they’re going to be
There and they love it they’re very loyal and here’s the thing they don’t do it just for the sake of morality they don’t do it just to they don’t seem like they do it because they’re trying to get Honor by other people they don’t display themselves so
That other people see their goodness in order to toot their horn they do it for God they’re always giving God the glory that’s the vision here yes Christians people are going to disagree with us and we’re going to State it but there’s this character about them
That what does he say it’s G to silence fools fools are going to want to say stupid stuff about you when they see you and they see the nobility the character the moral Beauty they can barely get anything on you and what is the result that Peter says he says you will glorify
God look at verse 12 at the end of it so that when when they speak against you as evildoers they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation or on the day day of appearance when they reveal the when when when God comes back and reveals
Himself as Christians live with a reputation that is respectable though they are very non-conformists uh they glorify God and let me say that there’s two ways to glor God’s glorified here first off there’s a possibility that God’s going to be glorified because these Christians actually converted pagans or Gentiles by their
Character that’s a possibility how is God glorified by your good reputation because people are being converted because of it and I’m saying that because in verse one of chapter 3 when a wife acts submissively to her husband who is not a Believer the wife can win we’re going to
Talk about it but the wife can win the husband without a word you can glorify God by your character and it’s possible that some are going to be converted because of it it’s also possible I would say likely that God’s going to be glorified in his day of
Visitation when he comes back and Christians are going to be redeemed for the way they lived despite them being rejected Philippians 210 and 11 so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father in The Last Day Jesus will be shown to be Lord and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess so there’s two ways that Christians character their their their uh moral Beauty that’s the
Word I like to use the moral beauty is glorifying God first off it can convert people secondly in the last day they’re going to see what’s what’s true and they’re going to know that um Christians um were were submitting to the right person those are the two points the first point is simply
This you’re going to be accused of things just know it it’s coming know it that’s the first thing you’re going to have because of your non-conformity people are going to be mad at you and they’re going to accuse you of um some evil the second thing is make
Sure that you live in such a way that you abstain from the flesh that you submit to the government that no one can um for lack of a better term poo poo your reputation so people don’t look down on your reputation why are you doing
This this is where I want to end the the message look at verse 13 for whose sake be I think it’s up here maybe be subject for the Lord’s sake to every Human Institution whether it is whether it be the Emperor as supreme or to Governors as sent by him
To punish those who do evil and praise those who do good first off just notice he kind of emphasizes this idea of human what kind of Institutions these are human institutions if you do a little bit of background history work you find out the Roman Empire how do they treat the
Emperor as a god what if our president would view as a God I think some Christians would say Sam or talk to the elders hey you know Larry I I don’t know if I can obey him because people think he’s a deity and I know that’s not
Right he says no no these are human institutions we know they’re human in institutions submit to them this was a very popular in this time among the Roman Empire they were called uh Emperor Cults worshiping the emperor how does he get his authority it’s given him by God God why do you do
It because when you obey him you are obeying God that’s the simple part of it when you obey this Emperor you are not obeying him really he only has uh I don’t know what you would call it uh delegated authority or or derivative Authority he has nothing
Except that God has given it to him in some way obviously Christians do not disobey God in order to obey the emperor I think we all know that in this room let me ask you a question why do you obey God I want to kind of make a big deal
Out of this so please stay with me why do you obey God for whose sake is it Sam that’s a silly question we do it because God has Authority okay let’s just think about that for a second we obey God because he said so that’s it that’s that that’s where our that’s that’s
Decisive When God Says X hey Sam you shall do X it’s like I don’t need Psychology I don’t need sociology I don’t need any other reason to get me to do X hey if God says it that is decisive for me some Christians and we’re going to talk about
This maybe the third hour they hold out and they make sure they see it work like they they want to see psychology they want to see sociology or how things work in order to actually give God their allegiance it’s like that’s not obedience um what if I told May hey
May go clean your room uh why may clean your room oh what’s in it for me hey may go clean your room hey Daddy could you like persuade me in some way like could you just say like a a really profound Parable or could you uh pay me some money um you
Know may go clean your room there are times where we might hold out because we want to see whether it actually does work Christians do not need that Christians do not need when this is the basic Point When God Says something that is decisive you know there’s sometimes um
You know and I don’t think it’s bad it should you feel bad if you find out that God’s way works no no no no that’s fine I think it’s okay for a preacher to get up and say hey brothers and Brothers and Sisters in Christ God says do this
Let us get busy doing it but let me also say this because Peter’s actually kind of saying this right now you’re going to be slandered but guess what do good why because God says so but also do good because it’s possible that foolish people are going to be silenced because
Of it there’s also other reasons but for the Christian God’s word must be decisive again what emperor who tells his Herald to go to some Village and say hey we’re going to have an event here and all the villagers say okay we’re not really sure whether we’re
Going to do that why don’t you convince us please I don’t think they get it the emperor said it and we better get busy doing it um I uh I when it comes down to some topics Christians can struggle in in my brief experience uh I’m young I have heard some
Christians talk about this Fellowship when a when someone is in sin and has stayed in willful sin and then the community gets together and they needs to say you are excommunicated you we are no longer going to eat with you you’re out we want you back some Christians generally will
Say that just doesn’t work it just doesn’t work because X or if preachers are trying to preach on it maybe they’re going to pull in some sociology hey hey in other ways this does actually does work to try to convince people it’s like hold up if God says something we just do it
I mean yes God has good reasons for what he says but at times we’re not going to know him and again as a as a father I get worried I mean I I probably air on this side more than I probably should but why Daddy hey dear my word should be
Sufficient as of right now maybe one day I’ll tell you um but it should be sufficient right now and again the whole idea is is and I’ve said this before how children treat parents is how children are going to treat every authority figure even god
Um I want to ask a well I mean this is the point this is I guess the point of the sermon is to th false accusations by abstaining from fleshly desires and by subordinating yourself to human authorities at times I’m not as clear as
I should be in a sermon if you don’t get anything from this sermon this is the screen maybe you should see I didn’t bring up the bulletin I hope I filled up the bulletin please tell me if I didn’t and I’ll make sure maybe in this next hour
Uh i’ go through the questions better I want to end off with a a few statements I wonder if you can say I can say that just think to yourself can you say this people often disagree with me and are offended by my stances can you say that are you among the
World are you speaking up you’re it’s going to be offensive again to the last sermon Christians are living stones being built as uh a spiritual house but those stones are being stumbled over just as people stumbled over the Cornerstone we are going to be offensive
To the world no one wants to hear be saved from this wicked generation but we’re saying it could you say I’m not embarrassed by how I represent Christ to others and what I mean by that is when you look everyone at work how they view you are you this upstanding
Individual where people just know you are you know you you have a balanced budget you you don’t live on crazy debt you you eat well you you don’t talk about girls in a in a vulgar way um you’re very thoughtful like generally do you are you ever embarrassed by how you represent
Christ to others I want us to think through this I don’t need to be convinced to do God’s will you shall is good enough for me again it’s fine when a preacher says hey by the way in history this actually has worked God God has wisdom behind
This that’s fine but if that’s what you need something’s really wrong something is very wrong that means you’re not obeying God you’re obeying your own reason you know if may only does things when I convince her she’s never convin I’m she’s never doing it because of me she’s doing it because she’s following
Reason um we’re going to be in the world people are going to be offended by us let’s keep our character up and let us obey the human institutions to keep that reputation up thank you for your attention
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