Holy Strangers, Wholly Good

Today, we're gonna be talking about strangers as well, but not strangers in the night. Strangers in this world. And those strangers are us, as Christians. We are strangers in the world. And this morning, we're going to be looking at the title for today's talk is holy strangers, holy good.

I'm pretty proud of myself that I came up with a creative clever line like that, holy strangers, holy, it's a play on words, good. Every now and then, I can be creative. It's very rare, but sometimes I can be. And I think that is getting at the crux of this passage. We're gonna look at one Peter chapter two.

One Peter chapter two, and we are gonna read from verse one. The apostle Peter writes to the church, put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander. Some of the very things we already heard and talked about from Paul in Colossians. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honour is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, quote, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and another quote, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. And then this is the start of the passage we're gonna be focusing on, verse 11. 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 honourable, 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 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. Honour everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.

Honour the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrow while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. So far, our reading. So far, we've read in this chapter, Peter saying that we are living stones. We are living stones. These living stones have been taken by God and have been mortared together like bricks, stuck together like bricks to build something called the church.

Peter then says, but there is a cornerstone in this building. That cornerstone is Jesus Christ. He is the most important stone in this building, the foundation of this new community. And it's because Jesus loves the church that he has become the first and primary stone of these living stones. Peter concludes that there was nothing normal about this community and how it came together.

Once, we were not a people. Once, we were not a community, but now we have become the people of God. We are a community who once did not know mercy, but now we've received incredible mercy in Jesus Christ. But Peter goes a step further with this metaphor, and he says these living stones have not been built simply into some sort of home or office, it's been turned into a temple of God, a spiritual house, he says. And for Jewish Christians who Peter was writing to, this is a massive statement.

God is establishing a new temple. When for Jewish people, there was only one temple. The one that was in Jerusalem. They also know in their understanding, theology, that God resides in that temple. But now Peter is saying that God is dwelling in his church.

He's dwelling in the lives of Christians. Every Christian, every living stone has the spirit of God. So this is some massive statements that Peter is making, massive revelations that these Christians are hearing. But Peter is now wanting to move beyond that, and he wants to say, this is how we live in response to these huge statements, these huge truths. And that is going to be our focus this morning.

That we are holy strangers, he says, meant to be wholly good. Well, the first thing we see is the way that we fit with God, this God who lives in his temple, dwells among his people, the way we fit with God is by not fitting with the world. Peter begins by saying that the only way we beat them is not to join them. Verse 11, he begins, beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, another way of saying sin, which wage war against your soul. Peter expresses a truth that every Christian will instinctively recognise if they've been a Christian for longer than five minutes.

We don't fit in. We are weird. As people who have been brought into a living temple, a community where God dwells, you are like a refugee in this world. Some of us are immigrants, some of us understand what it means to be outside for a little while. Peter is saying we are perpetual immigrants, perpetual exiles.

We will never fit in. But then he says, because you are outsiders, don't try to fit in. This is the mistake we make as Christians sometimes. Notice the language. Peter says, sin, the thing that is anti God, the thing that is rebellion against God, wages war against us now.

For those who have tried living a good and godly life, you understand exactly what that language means, what it feels like to have sin wage war against us. We are in a battle. This power called sin is like being in a war against our souls. It seeks to devour us, the Bible says. But because of Jesus, Christians now have a holy and good God living inside of us.

Because we are now these living temples to God, the God who is holy and good himself is not satisfied with an unclean temple. So the power that is in us is the one that is wanting to produce a worthy temple. That is the frustration that we feel. That is why we want to resist. God is not happy with a temple that doesn't shine with his glory.

The only reason, therefore, that we know that sin's effort is like a war against us is because somewhere along the line, we've become aware that sin is bad. Somewhere, we've become aware of that. Before we were Christians, there is no awareness. Before Christ, the Bible says we were consumed by it, and we were blind to it. A few months ago, I read a really horrible story of a lady in India who had been swallowed by a python.

There was a photo, and this massive python, it was really bad. They speculated why it happened, and they said, well, she had decided to fall asleep outside. And during the night, she would never have known it, she was strangled by this python and then swallowed. This is the sort of horrible thought that comes to me when we think about what sin does to us before we are Christians. We are consumed in our sleep.

We are so blinded to it, we are unaware of what it is doing to us. But now, Peter says, as Christians, we realise we're actually fighting this snake. We are at war against it. What do we do when we are in a war? We fight.

You keep your eyes on that horizon, on that sea to see the enemy coming. So the first question I wanna ask us is, how disciplined are we in thinking about this war that we're in? Are we fighting or is our guard down? Do we see it as a battle? I once watched a documentary of the lives of Roman gladiators.

It was fascinating. Men who had been built to fight to the death. They were ruthless warriors. But I was amazed to hear how disciplined they lived their lives. I always thought that gladiators were sort of like Russell Crowe, you know, like kind of just brawlers and people that would get into fights because they just like to get into fights and so on.

No. The evidence is quite the contrary. These were athletes, disciplined men. They would train every day. The gladiators of the Roman times were all vegetarians.

Funnily enough, they ate a special mixture of barley and lentils in order to gain protein and muscle mass. After every training, listen to this, if we think protein shakes are a new thing, they would drink these drinks of ash, vegetable ash, they called it. They don't know exactly what these are, but they could determine that it was some sort of ash, which had calcium and magnesium that strengthened their bones, so that when the archaeologist dug up these bones and tested the strength of those bones, it was incredibly strong, incredibly thick. Why? Well, it's because they needed to survive.

If they got a blow to the knee or to the arm, they could carry on. Everything about them was geared towards surviving in battle. If we are Christians living a life where sin wages war against our soul, we need to be training. We need to be training. A gladiator fights every battle because it might be his last.

So they don't skip a training here and there. They don't forgo that extra meal to strengthen their muscles. They drink that chalky, ashy, unappetising calcium drink, whatever it was, to strengthen those bones. Because they need to win. They need to win.

We so easily let sin take a foothold in our lives. We so easily let it slide. We treat our battles with sin like our gym membership. We'll skip a few weeks. You know, if I do one run every month or so, it's probably good.

We're like those blokes who sometimes are so focused on doing well in one part of our life, you know, that we're under control in this part, and don't focus on the other parts that need training. We're like those blokes that just train bench press all the time and skip leg day. That can also be our problem. So we might train some areas, but not all the areas. Like the gladiators of Rome, however, we need to harden those bones.

We need to we need to train because we are aware of the fight. So the first thing is that we no longer fit into this world. We are like exiles. We are like people that don't fit in, and we are in this battle that is going on around us. The second thing we see from this passage is that there is an attractiveness in this way of living, an attractiveness to a holy life.

We may ask then, if we don't fit in here, if we are like strangers and exiles, if we belong to God and not to this place, why are we still in this place? Why are we still here? Why doesn't God just whisk us away? Or why doesn't He just come and establish that kingdom? Well, Peter assumes this answer because God is still busy building that kingdom.

God is still busy expanding that kingdom. We don't always see it, however. We don't always realise it. But every day, we believe this, we must believe this, every day, there are more and more people entering that kingdom. Every day, it is growing.

God has a holy number in mind for the elect, and he is just waiting until that day arrives. That is why we're still here. But the reason we are called living stones is because there's living power in us. We are not passive. There is dynamic power in us.

Verse 12 hints at this when Peter says, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. That day of visitation refers to the day where God comes and he establishes the kingdom once and for all. Where God says, enough, my kingdom has fully arrived. And yet, as living stones in this kingdom, Peter says, there's an attractiveness to good holy lives that is part of the process of drawing people in. Contrary to what people might tell you, our non Christian friends are intrigued by holy lives.

They are intrigued by good lives. In fact, if we in this church have Christians that have become Christians through this process, Brian, young Brian, Kylos Brian, became a Christian last year. And his testimony that he shared when he was baptised here last year was, first, he didn't want anything to do with Christians. Then after a while, he was intrigued by the Christian life, and he thought, well, maybe I don't want to be a Christian, but definitely when my kids are around, I want to have them grow up with Christian morals. You know, I'll send them to Christian schools, but I won't be a Christian.

Then he became, well, maybe I can apply Christian morals, but just not be a Christian myself. And then one day he found himself in this church, and he became a Christian. He'll say that that was the process. He was drawn to the Christian life. Live such good lives among unbelievers, Peter says, that though they might accuse you of all sorts of bad things, and it can be things like you're an arrogant person.

How dare you? How dare you behave this way when we want you to behave this way? Or, you are such a boring person. Though they accuse you of all sorts of evil things, don't give up. Because one day, they may be standing next to you, glorifying God when he comes and establishes his kingdom.

There is an attractive power to the lives of holy Christians. And then in the final section, verses 13 to 25, Peter begins to explain what some of these holy lives can look like. And I sum it up with this heading, Peter is saying, the gospel not only saves us, it transforms us. You see, the reality of our life is that we may remain strong in our battle against sin only if we remain steadfast in living and projecting the gospel and what it has done to us. I mean, it's being hinted here when Peter says, although they accuse you of doing wrong, people are therefore aware of something being dissonant with what they believe.

But even if they think that you're the wrong one, you are already projecting a transformation. You are already living a different set of values. Now Peter begins to explain very clearly how we can respond to that sort of accusation of being weird or doing evil. Peter says it boils down to this, keep being good just all the more. Just keep being good all the time.

Peter explains this with some breathtaking situations and context. In verses 13 to 17, Peter talks about being good people even at the most influential levels, how we live as citizens, and how we treat our leaders. The first thing Peter says is, we honour our political leaders. Who had an election party last night? Who tuned in to see what their electorate and, you know, the who their local member was going to be?

Who was enthusiastic about who their local member was going to be? This is the real genuineness of our faith, Peter says. How willing are you to honour your newly reelected premier? Aussies, us Aussies, are famously cynical about our politicians, famously so. As Christians, will we buck the trend by humbly submitting and honouring them?

Over and over again, the Bible tells us that it is God who gives power. It is God who gives authority to whoever he chooses. And so it becomes for us an act of faith in the sovereignty of God, and we live in submission to him as our ultimate authority. And God is the one who raises those leaders, and he brings them down when he wants to bring them down as well. And despite what we may think of those governments or the laws of the country, Peter says, we abstain from sin that wages against our soul by submitting ourselves to authority.

This is why Peter says in verse 16, live as people who are free, not using that freedom as a cover up for evil. Live as servants of God. In other words, he's saying, you are free. You have been set free from slavery, and therefore, now you will choose to live a life different to those who are still in captivity. And the reason or the way you do that is by being excellent citizens.

That's revolutionary. It's God's prerogative to judge each leader. That is God's job, and he will hold them accountable sooner or later. All we are called to do is verse 15, do such good that you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Now, I'm sure this is debatable, and I'm sure my friends will debate me on this.

But if Donald Trump doesn't win in two or three weeks at a day's time, do you think Christians will be excellent witnesses to honour the new president if the polls are correct and Biden wins? Will Christians respond with honour and respect? Or will they respond the same way as everyone else does when their guy doesn't win? When Miss Palaszczuk won last night, did you pray for her? Did you lift her up to God?

At the end of the day, Australia or The US will never adopt a godly heart, even when godly principles come down from above. Society is never changed from the top down, we know that. Sin is always ready to devour sleeping people. The mission of God's people is to change that society from the bottom up. The Bible says, by honouring those in authority over us, you are silencing the ignorant talk of foolish people.

And it makes perfect sense. Imagine if Christians were seen to be cleaning the graffiti on their MP's offices. Imagine if they were writing to their local members saying, we appreciate you and we pray for you. That's a massive change to what I see some of my Christian friends write on their social media. Peter gives three quick imperatives then at the end of that section in verse 17, and these sort of statements would make awesome slogans for Christian bikers to have on their leather jackets.

This is what he says, verse 17. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. That could just fit really nicely under a black jacket. Love the brotherhood.

Fear God. Honour the king. Peter then moves on, and he starts talking about another power dynamic between masters and slaves. And Peter specifically writes to slaves because in this time, many slaves were coming to Christianity. We don't really understand today the plight of slaves, we don't really live in that same context, although it still exists. In some way, I've heard commentators say that there could be some principles here for how we relate to bosses.

Although it won't be perfectly relatable because we can always quit. We can always leave. But we've probably all experienced something of being misused in the workplace, and this is what Peter is getting to the heart of. We've been treated unfairly by bosses. And even here, Peter says, we submit ourselves to our masters with all respect.

He says, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. He says, it is a gracious thing for a Christian to remain humble in the face of injustice for the work that you're doing. If you suffer for being good, doing good, and if you endure it, Peter says, this is commended by God. Who wants to be commended by God? I want to hear him say, well done.

God commends Christians who endure suffering even when they are doing good. Again, imagine what a witness it would be if Christians didn't complain like everyone else for working one extra hour. Imagine what it would look like if you refused to speak badly about your boss at the lunch table. What if people saw you being treated poorly and yet you gave a 110% of your effort to your boss. Those things make massive statements.

Those things are weirdly attractional. They reflect that there is something different to the norm that is inside of you. These are holy lives in action. But coming to the end of the passage, how is all of this possible? And Peter also gives us that.

He gives us not only what we are to do, but how we are to do that. How can we genuinely and willingly live this way? And Peter comes to the end of that chapter and he explains the reason. He says, how we can be submissive to those in authority over us, even if they make decisions that hurt or offend us. The reason is because Jesus has been the ultimate example of submission.

In Jesus, we see that although he had every right to retaliate, although he was the only truly good person there is, Jesus doesn't retaliate. The motivation to live good lives as strangers and exiles is because Jesus Christ has ultimately made it possible for us to live good lives. Verse 24, this is how he did it. He himself has borne our sins, those sins that wage war against our souls. He has borne our sins on his body on that tree, so that we might die to sin, and we may live to righteousness.

That's a beautiful verse to memorise. That is that holy transaction that took place, my sin on him, his righteousness on me. This is why we can submit our lives because Jesus Christ has submitted his life for us. This is why we can abstain from the sin that wages war against our souls because Jesus Christ has crushed the power of that sin. And when he rises from the dead, he shows us that he is stronger than death, even eternal death and suffering.

And he says, through my spirit that life is being given to you, so that you may be living stones, holy and pleasing to God. So friends, in conclusion, we have work to do in a world that is visibly straining under the weight of sin. We live as free people. Free people, unshackled from that sin. And so we won't fit in with that world.

We will look so different to that world. But let's fit in with God. Let's stop trying to fit in with those things around us. Let us turn our faces towards Jesus. Let us love the brotherhood.

Let us fear God. And let us honour the kings and the queens that have been placed over us. Let's pray. Lord God, we see this morning again, we are reminded of we desire for us to be holy strangers who are wholly good. And we ask God for the strength and the conviction to be disciplined in this war, in this battle.

We pray, Lord, for wonderful examples of victory over areas that we know that we are weak in. We thank you, God, that you are inside of us, that we are part of your holy temple, and that you are the driving force that gives us a desire to be so pure and so holy that we shine the glory of you. Father, for those of us who are struggling with bosses that are very harsh or or even families that are subjected to harsh leadership, whether that is a father or a brother or a dad or a husband rather. We pray, Lord, that you will give us the humble respect. And father, through incredible grace, incredible patience, that people may see and recognise that we are in this way holy because you are holy.

And that in some way, God, they may be drawn into the kingdom. We know, Lord, that that gospel must still be shared, that need must still be bent to acknowledge Jesus Christ as saviour. But in some way, may they be drawn into the kingdom, into the people of your kingdom. And that they may one day also proclaim Jesus Christ as their saviour and as their king. Lord, we pray this morning especially for our government, our new state government.

We pray, Lord, that you will do what you have planned for this government, for our premier, for our MPs. We pray, God, that you will use them for your purposes, that you will shine your power, strength to them, through them as well. And father, that you'll continue to protect your church, even as we walk that high rope, that balancing rope of being good citizens, Lord, and being faithful to you. Thank you, Lord, for the freedoms that we do have in this country. We do not take them for granted even now.

We do pray for those brothers and sisters who are in totalitarian states, where there is no option for meeting, where there is no option for being a Christian. And we pray, Lord, for an end to that suffering as well. Father, we praise you, we commit our lives to you, shine out of us, Lord, even as we glory in you. In Jesus' name. Amen.