Revealed Will for Christian Servants #3

Introduction and Reading of 1 Peter 2:11-25

0:04 Now let us turn together in our Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2. For those visiting with us, we have for a number of months been studying verse by verse through this first letter of the Apostle Peter to a group of Christians in what is now the land of Turkey, then called Asia Minor, on the far reaches of the then existing Roman Empire. And most likely from the city of Rome a short while before his own martyrdom, Peter is guided by the Holy Spirit to fulfill this pastoral passion and concern for these believers and writes the letter that we now read together. And I shall read in your hearing verses 11 through 25 of chapter 2. 1 Peter 2 and verse 11. Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims. To abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your behavior honorable or proper among the Gentiles, that wherein they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they behold glorify God in the day of visitation.

1:23 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or unto governors as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to them that do well. For so is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bond-servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood.

1:59 Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the crooked or the perverse. For this is acceptable, if for conscience towards God a man endures griefs, suffering wrongfully.

2:25 For what glory is it, if when you sin and are buffeted, you shall take it patiently, but if when you do well and suffer, you shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For hereunto were you called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, threaten not.

3:01 But when he suffered, threaten not. But committed himself to him that judges righteously, who his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness. By whose stripes you were healed, for you were going astray like sheep, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. It is a very grievous and terrible sin.

The Trivialization of God's Name

3:34 It is a terrifying thing when men openly, shamelessly, and defiantly blaspheme the name and being of God. Have you ever heard anyone shamelessly, openly, defiantly blaspheme God to do something akin to what is recorded in Revelation 16.11, where God is describing how he will send plagues upon men, and it says that they will be slain. They will blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains.

4:11 In the midst of God's judgments, they will openly, shamelessly, and defiantly clench their fists in the face of God and blaspheme God for bringing these plagues upon them.

4:27 I have occasionally heard someone openly, defiantly, and shamelessly blaspheme God, and it is a very grievous and terrible sin. It is a terrifying thing. You wonder at the patience of God. However, it is even more grievous and more terrifying when the name and being of God are trivialized.

4:58 You say, Pastor, what in the world are you talking about? Just this.

5:04 Tune in to a game show, and when someone who is a contestant on the game show wins a prize that they didn't expect to win. Nine times out of ten, what are the words that come out of their mouths? Oh, my God. Oh, God.

5:22 While they giggle and clap their hands, the name of God is on their lips. Not in open, defiant, willful blasphemy, but in the use of God's name that shows that God has been trivialized.

5:42 Watch the Antique Roadshow, one of the few programs that I can watch. Watch with a good conscience. No rotten commercials. Just old people carrying old stuff around to have it appraised.

5:55 But almost invariably, when someone who picked up a little 50-cent item in a garage sale finds out it's worth $10,000, what are the first words that come out of their mouth? Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I didn't realize.

6:14 But you say, Pastor, they don't mean anything by it. Yeah, that's just the point. They don't. God has been so trivialized that unlike the blasphemer, he means something when he says, God, why did you bring these plagues upon me?

6:30 I defy you. The term God has meaning to him, but not to that middle-aged person on the Antique Roadshow. He says, oh, my God.

6:42 And to the contestants on the game show. Or if you were watching one of these silly awards things, and I don't watch them, but occasionally. I have seen a glimpse of one or two to know whereof I speak, and some immoral man or woman being praised by fellow immoral men and women, often women dressed in the most crass expressions of immodesty, being praised for that which promotes lawlessness, will at the end of accepting their rewards say, and I thank God, or God bless you. Well, God is trivialized and marginalized, pushed to the periphery of issues, to where his name can be spoken without any thought.

7:42 You say, what in the world does that have to do with 1 Peter? Or is that just something you had in your gut and you had to get out? No, it has everything to do with 1 Peter. Because in the section that we're about to come to this morning, in which Peter's seeking to give incentives to these house slaves to live a life of exemplary submission even to their irascible, unreasonable, unrighteous masters, he brings front and center the issue of the bullying and the claims of their God.

Context and Overview of 1 Peter's Imperatives

8:22 And far from being trivialized, Peter assumes, that God to these humble slaves, with unreasonable, unrighteous masters, would find the reality of God to be the sheet anchor to their stability in the midst of their suffering for righteousness' sake. And we're going to see that in verses 19 and 20. But before we open up those verses, realizing we have some who have not been with us in the continuity of the answer. Let me take just three or four minutes to give you a very brief overview of how these verses fit in the unfolding of the letter. Peter, in his burden to help these believers, knowing their background, knowing their present circumstances, circumstances in which suffering has become part of their everyday experience. And Peter knows that more suffering is yet coming. He writes about it in chapter 4, verses 12 and following.

9:26 He is concerned from a pastoral perspective. He writes to them that they might be stable through the storms and the battering of their present and their even future intensified sufferings. And so what he does in this letter, as we have seen again and again, and I hope when we're done it will be one of the things you'll remember, Peter writes to them, giving them, up till now, two basic categories of instruction. He lays out their wonderful privileges as believers in Christ.

9:58 And then follows that display of their privileges with some of the gospel duties that flow out of the privileges. I've called those the gospel indicatives, the statement of what is, followed by gospel imperatives, statements of what ought to be. And here in this section, we are in the second cycle of the gospel imperatives, those gracious duties which the Spirit of God lays upon believers in the life of Christ. And then he says, And so as he begins this section, and that's why I began the reading at verse 11, he is exhorting them to abstain from fleshly lust, to have their behavior honorable, proper, and good among the Gentiles, that their lifestyle might validate the gospel. But like any good preacher, he's not content to simply say, live a life that commends the gospel. He's going to get specific.

11:07 And the first area upon which he concentrates is this matter of the Christian's relationship to existing structures of authority. And he gives the directive, in a general sense, in verse 13, be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Would you live a life that will validate in the life of the Gentiles, in the life of the Gentiles, that they can livefold to each and every one of the Gentiles, that you are the real thing, so that in the day when God visits them, there would be the recognition that's what the gospel does? I saw it.

11:40 I experienced it in the presence of that particular Christian. Peter says, Then you learn how to embrace from the heart your place ranged under every framework of constituted authority. And then he gets specific. The citizen to the civil authority, verses 13b through 17.

12:04 Verses 18 to 25, the servant to his master. Chapter 3, verses 1 to 6, the wife to her husband. Now that's a very quick, brief overview. Now we come to this second area that we've begun to examine, verses 18 to 25.

12:22 And last week we noted that the structure of the passage is very clear. Verse 18 is like the apex of a pyramid. That's the clear directive given to servants. Everything else in verses 18 to 25 is the base of the pyramid, incentives or motives to keep the directive.

12:41 Peter recognized this was not an easy thing. To be a servant in subjection to a master, and not only to be obligated to be in subjection to the good and the gentle, but also to the crooked and the poor. And so Peter, having given that directive, draws alongside and by a ratio of 6 or 7 to 1, gives incentives and motives to keep that directive. Now last Lord's Day we had time only to look at the directive.

Review of the Directive to Servants (1 Peter 2:18)

13:13 And when we did, we asked the text four simple questions. First, precisely who is addressed in the text? Servants. We saw in studying the passage, these are housewives.

13:26 These are household slaves. They are not people who signed a contract and can break it or serve due notice. They are people who are the property of their masters. It is slaves who are addressed.

13:41 And I don't have time to re-preach what was preached last week and taught. The tape is available for any who are interested. Second question, precisely what are they commanded to do? And the text is clear.

13:54 Servants, be in subjection. Be in subjection to your masters. They are commanded to embrace from the heart their place as household slaves in relationship to the authority, the directives of their masters. Question three, precisely how are they to do this?

14:12 In what spirit are they to do it? Our text says, with all fear. Literally, in all fear. In a context of the fear of God.

14:23 In the context in which they see beyond the master. To the eye of their God who has saved them through Jesus Christ. And fourth question was precisely to what kind of masters are they to render this obedience? And look at the text.

14:40 It's clear. Not only to the good and the gentle, but also to the crooked, to the perverse, to the unreasonable. They are to render this obedience to masters that make it easy and masters that make it hard. Well, that's about an hour and a half.

The Incentives for Obedience (1 Peter 2:19-25)

14:56 Well, that's about an hour and a half's worth of exposition in five minutes. Now then, it's as though someone backs up and says, but now wait a minute, Peter. Surely you know that this is not going to go down easily. And there's no spoonful of sugar that's going to make it go down easy.

15:17 What is it that, if understood by these household slaves, will, with the blessing of God, enable them to take that directive? And make it the rule of their life? What is it, if understood with the mind? What is it, if embraced in faith and obedience from the heart?

15:40 What is it, Peter, if internalized into the very texture of the soul by the power of the Holy Spirit, will enable these household slaves to do exactly what God says is their gospel privilege and obligation? Well, that's what verses 19 to 25 are all about. You say, big deal. Interesting bit of historical knowledge.

16:07 Well, let me put the question this way. What is it that you need to understand up here? What is it that you and I need to embrace in faith and obedience? What is it that you and I need to have internalized by the Spirit of God until these things become part of the texture of our souls?

16:28 To help you go back to that office tomorrow morning with that unreasonable boss and render due obedience and respect to him? To go back into that classroom with that less than epitome of patience in your teacher and render to him or her the respect and submission demanded by the Word of God? Listen to me, kids. What will enable you to go home today?

16:58 And be submissive and obedient to a mom and dad who sometimes are not perfect in their attitudes to you? And perfectly reasonable in their requirements of you? Now is it getting relevant? What do you need to know?

17:17 What do you need to embrace in faith and obedience? And internalize, and I don't leave out that third strand, internalize by the power of the Spirit until it becomes a part of the texture of your soul. Verses 19 to 25 are the answer. Here are the incentives.

17:39 Here are the motives. And so we're not coming to just have a little historical study about what Peter said to household slaves to help them do what they ought to do. We're coming that God might teach us and God might by His Word and Spirit enable us. Well, as you look at the passage, do you see any connection between the various things?

18:03 What are the motives? Well, according to my present life, we'll eventually study three of those motives, incentives, that Peter gives. The first, this morning, 19 and 20, briefly stated is, such a lifestyle is acceptable to God. What does that slave need to know?

18:22 What do you and I need to know in parallel situations? We need to know that slave. So forevermore, to watch a work, let you know, a platform for slaves, means wanting to have the support of the Creator upon whom God will provide, this is the time. Let me tell you from the very beginning, here is the name of the word, and so how can one consume this kind of material existence?

18:50 Because you have to be prepared to be given to God totally, if only so that the �� can clear out again something, and that your prayers remain. That's what is called the servant's bond. For A, it is consistent with our calling to be like Christ. It is consistent with our calling to be like Christ.

19:11 And you notice that's the emphasis. For here unto were you called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example. And then it's my present understanding that 24b and 25 tell us it is the validation of the reality of our conversion. For you were a sheep going astray, but you're now returned to the shepherd and bishop of your souls.

19:33 I write to you as an apostle of Jesus Christ, and I tell you in Christ's name and in Christ's authority, be subject to your masters, even the nasty ones. Well, why, Peter? Because your shepherd and bishop to whom you've been returned in converting grace, he requires it of you. You want to validate that you're truly converted?

19:54 Do what your shepherd and bishop tells you. And so you have three categories of motivation. If one of them would do it, the Holy Ghost wouldn't have given us three. But if three don't do it, most likely you're deader than the dodo.

20:09 And ten wouldn't do it. All right?

Explanation of the First Incentive: Acceptable to God (1 Peter 2:19-20)

20:12 Now that's giving you in 15 minutes the fruit of countless hours of pondering the passage. I hope I've persuaded you that we're treading within the boundaries of the mind of the Spirit of God and the overriding thrust of the passage. Now let's park on verses 19 and 20. What is the key to this first motivation, this first incentive?

20:37 Listen as I read the verses. For this is acceptable. If for conscience toward God a man endures grief, suffering wrongfully, for what glory is it if when you sin and abuffet it you take it patiently, but if when you do well and suffer you take it patiently, this is acceptable. With God.

21:01 Do you see the central emphasis? On the front end, this is acceptable. And as we shall see, that acceptable has a Godward reference. If for conscience or consciousness of God.

21:16 And the passage ends this section, this is acceptable with God. That's the key to this first incentive to obedience. And as I attempt to open it up, we'll do so under these two simple headings. A basic explanation of the text, and then some crucial applications of the text.

21:37 Basic explanation of the text.

21:41 There's an assertion made, a question raised, and then an assertion reinforced. As you think through the passage, an assertion is made. Look at it. This is acceptable.

21:54 This is acceptable. That is, an assertion. A statement made in a very positive and assured manner, a declaration. That's what an assertion is.

22:05 And Peter asserts, this is acceptable. And he goes on to say, If for conscience toward God, a man endures grief, suffering wrongfully. Well, obviously, the key words are acceptable and conscience toward God. Now, the word acceptable is the standard Greek word for grace.

22:26 And it has a number of usages in the New Testament. And some linguists and commentators would say, Well, it ought to be translated, this is grace. In other words, if you act this way, this is a manifestation that the grace of God is working in you. And that would not be an untruth, and it would not be a twisting of the word used here in verse 19.

22:50 Some say, no, that is a gift of grace. It's not so much a mark of grace, but this is grace. That is, it is a gift of grace. You can act this way only when, God imparts the ability to do so.

23:06 Now, the problem with translating it grace is twofold. Because exactly the same word is used at the end of verse 20. This is karis. This is grace, not from God, but para, alongside of or in the presence of God.

23:24 That doesn't make sense. This is grace in the presence of God? No. So if we render it, as the 1901 does, this is, This is acceptable with God, it makes sense.

23:38 And furthermore, the parallel idea in verse 20a is this. What glory is it? A word used only here in the New Testament. What is there that is praiseworthy and honorable?

23:50 And it's a parallel to being acceptable. And so Peter is saying essentially what our Lord says by the use of this word in a similar context in Luke chapter 6. He said, If you just greet your friends and not your enemies, what kind have you? There's the word, karis.

24:11 What is there praiseworthy and acceptable to God if you only show kindness to your friends? Three times it's used that way. And it could well be that that usage was there in Peter's mind that when he sat down to wrote, the Spirit of God brought it up out of the well of his hearing those very words from the Lord Jesus. And so it refers, then, to good action or action that is worthy of praise and approval.

24:39 And so I will be rendering it as the 1901 does. What? I'm sorry, this is acceptable. Acceptable to whom?

24:48 Acceptable to God. It is worthy of praise and approval from God himself. Now the little phrase, if the conscience toward God. What's that mean?

24:59 Well, again, the standard word in the New Testament for conscience. Conscience is used here. And etymologically and in its ordinary usage, the word means the mind reflecting upon itself. Conscience is that ability God has given us as moral creatures to reflect upon ourselves, particularly with reference to what we know of the law of God.

25:24 And in reflecting, in the language of Romans 2, we either accuse or conscience either accuses us or excuses us for what we are doing. And because of that, because that's the ordinary use of this word, many translations render it, if for conscience toward God. But now there's a problem. In the original, the language is not if for conscience toward God, that's a, you great students, a genitive.

25:49 If for conscience of God. Now what would that mean, if for conscience of God? And some say, well, it's a kind of genitive that means conscience that has its reference point in God. And that would be a truth taught in the Bible.

26:03 Paul says, I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense towards God. And there the language in the original is very clear. It is a conscience towards in the direction of God. So it would not be heretic.

26:20 But on the other hand, we say we believe in plenary verbal inspiration. That's the burden that's on us as preachers. You might never know if I just, that's not the issue, I know. And I've got to go home to the good conscience that I've handled.

26:35 That's the word of God accurately. What would it mean, conscience of God? Well, there is one usage of this word in the New Testament where consciousness is the only meaning we can put on the same Greek word. In Hebrews chapter 10, it speaks of those having a consciousness of sin.

26:52 And I'm persuaded in my present understanding that that's the sense in which Peter is using it here. So we should render it, look at the text again, for this is acceptable if for conscience of God. And you see what it does? It goes a step beyond the mere function of conscience, which is present even in the unconverted.

27:16 Romans chapter 2. And this is picturing that slave who has been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, who is walking in the fear of God, which means what? God's smile is my greatest delight. His frown is my greatest dread.

27:34 If for conscience, consciousness of God in the midst of taking orders from that unreasonable master, feeling him cuff you on the side of the head, if he says you slaves can continue to be conscious, you are God's child. You are in Christ. God's heart is toward you as a father. God's providence has put you in your present circumstances.

28:03 God's revealed will calls you. To the path of suffering in the way of righteousness is for consciousness of God.

28:14 The New English Bible, I believe, captures the essence of the text. It is a fine thing if a man endures the pain of undeserved suffering because God is in his thoughts. That, I believe, is the essence of the meaning of the words in this part of the text. Now look at the rest of the assertion.

28:36 For this is acceptable. This is praiseworthy in the presence of God if out of consciousness of God a man endures, that is, is bearing up patiently, experiencing grief while suffering,

29:00 and the word that is used means unrighteously.

29:06 He's got grief. Why? Because he's suffering. And why is he suffering?

29:09 Because a master is unrighteous. He makes unrighteous demands. And when the slave can't fill them, he still punishes him. He may make righteous demands, but when the slave fulfills them, he does not give him praise, but he cuffs him.

29:26 In other words, the grief that he is experiencing, deriving from his suffering, is all precipitated by unrighteousness. And Peter asserts and affirms that these slaves need to grasp the reality. This is acceptable. If because of that consciousness of God, as he is a God to you in Christ, you're prepared not merely to bite your lip and grin and bear it, but endure patiently this grief that comes from suffering precipitated by unrighteousness, this, he says, is acceptable.

30:11 And seeking to state the essence of this assertion, let me just quote from one of the old writers who's been a great help to me in my preparation.

30:23 The statement is not that the slave suffers wrongfully for conscience toward God, but for conscience toward God, that is, out of consciousness of God, he endures. He patiently suffers grief. He submits patiently to suffering from an enlightened regard to the character and will of God. He believes he's in his present circumstances by the providence of God.

30:47 He knows God requires him to bear the evils he is subject to with fortitude and patience. He believes God will support him under them and in due time deliver him from them and make them work for his good. Therefore, he endures them. Such a servant's obedience is not pinned to the goodness and equity of his master.

31:09 But when that fails, will it subsist on its own inwardly? This is the thing that makes sure and constant walking. It makes a man step evenly in the ways of God. When I am living my life in the consciousness of God, His grace, His claims, His rule, there is a constancy and an evenness.

31:39 And this is what Peter is giving, remember now, not to PhDs, but to people who are nobodies in the eyes of society. And he's saying, this is what you need to know. This is what you need to embrace in faith and obedience. This is what you need to pray in until the Holy Ghost makes it a part of the texture of your soul.

32:01 And then you'll do alright in living with those unjust masters. Another writes, men may count you a mean-spirited person. We'd say today a wimp. Holy wimp!

32:14 Respond that way. Men may count you a wimp in submitting to such usage. God, who's infinitely wise and whose approval is more important than that of the whole universe of created beings, approves your conduct, counts your meekness true glory, and regards you with affectionate delight. His eye rests favorably on you.

Question Raised: What Glory in Suffering for Sin?

32:38 That far more than counterbalances the sour looks and the harsh language and the unkind treatment of the crooked master. That's the assertion made. Now, much more briefly, note the question raised. For it is acceptable if, for consciousness of God, a man endures grief, suffering wrongfully, for, here's a question raised, what glory is it if, when you sin and are buffeted, the for it are in italics in some of the better rent translations.

33:13 They're not in the original, so I'm leaving them out. When you sin and are buffeted, you shall take it patiently. But if, doing well and suffering, two participles, you shall take it patiently, the same future use of the word, so you have two participles in the future, two participles in the future. If, he says, here's the question, what glory is it if, when sinning and being buffeted, you take it patiently?

33:39 Now, can you relate to that question? What glory is it? The word glory used here. Is a word that means earned reputation derived from an acknowledgement of some virtue or something that is honorable.

33:55 Again, used only here in the New Testament. And so the question that Peter raises with these, he says, sit down, you slaves, and I want you to think. A question forces us to reflect upon ourselves or upon the issue at hand. He said, now I want you people to ask this question of yourselves and then answer it in the theater of your conscience.

34:15 When does one of you go around and start a buzzword among your fellow slaves? Hey, did you see the way so-and-so took that treatment from the master? He was out working all day. He put in overtime.

34:27 He did more than the master asked. Then you get praise. But if the slave came in and he'd been goofing off, fell short of a reasonable quota, was found out just shooting the breeze in the middle of the day instead of working, and he gets cuffed in the side of the head, does the buzzword go around, hey, did you see how so-and-so took that so patiently? He said, what glory is it?

34:52 What honor do you get to yourself if sinning, if sinning, you are buffeted, cuffed for it, literally. It's the word used of them beating our Lord with fists or striking him with blows. If when you do that and you're cuffed for it, you take it patiently, what glory is it? Can I bring it into the 20th century?

35:12 If you're supposed to be crunching out numbers for a projected project at work, and the boss comes in and finds you goofing off at the computer, fooling around on the internet, trying to secure the best bargain price for a vacation in the Bahamas, and the company loses a contract because you goofed off using company time to plan your vacation, and the boss, he lets you have it in lavender. And you go off with your tail between your legs. Is that anything praiseworthy? You goofed off.

35:43 You blew it. You violated your responsibilities, and you're getting what you deserve. Now it would be different if the boss were a Christian. He wouldn't use the same blue language.

35:53 He might be a little more restrained, and he would prove you. But at the end of the day, nobody's going to make you a hero for taking patiently, for getting what you deserve. That's the question that is raised. And I think all of us say, it carries my judgment.

36:08 You don't need to be a Ph.D. You don't need to know a word of Greek. That's quite plain.

Assertion Reinforced: Glory in Suffering for Doing Well

36:12 And Peter wants us to know. So then he comes along in the third strand of our text, and the assertion is reinforced. Look how he reinforces it. Verse 20b.

36:24 But if, when you do well, more literally rendered, if doing well and suffering. See, you had goofing off and getting cuffed. Now said against that is doing well. Doing what is right.

36:42 You are obeying the master's orders. You are going beyond the mere letter of your duty. And furthermore, while you're doing it, as the Scripture says, whatever your hand finds to do, you're doing with all your might, as unto the Lord and not unto men. Your master in heaven is in your eye.

37:01 And you're putting out 110%. You're doing well. And yet that scoundrel comes in, and he rips you up one side and down the other, and he cuffs you on the side of the head, and by the grace of God, you patiently bear it. That is the result.

37:21 That is the result. Look at the text. But if, in suffering, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. This is acceptable with God.

37:41 You may never be able to please your boss, capital B, but you're pleasing the only boss, I mean lowercase b, but you're pleasing the only boss, capital B, who counts.

37:55 That applies to your parents. Your obedience is not predicated upon mom and dad being the most righteous, sweet and loving parents. If they are not sweet and not loving and not righteous, God will judge them and deal with them for their sin. But when you smart mouth them, and you don't obey them, sure that they're asking you to do something that's sin, you name the name of Christ, you're sinning.

38:21 To do anything other than obey your parents, that's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible says.

38:35 No, the Bible says it.

38:38 You want God to smile? This is acceptable for God. You've done your homework. You've made your bed.

38:46 You've done all your chores. And believe it or not, you did them all with a smile. And your father and mother comes in and grouses.

38:55 You did well!

38:59 And yet you suffer.

39:01 What are you to do? You take it patiently.

39:05 That's acceptable to God. Folks, that's my Bible. Now, that's what God says. And let God be true.

39:15 And every social worker and every diocese representative be a liar.

39:22 This is what the Bible says. Not only speaking to slaves, but it speaks to you and to me. Well, I've tried to give a simple, straightforward explanation of the meaning of the text, the assertion made, the question raised, the assertion reinforced. Now, in the time that remains, some crucial observations and applications of the text.

Crucial Observations and Applications: God-Centeredness

39:46 Why do we go here? Because the Scripture says, 2 Timothy 3.16, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching. But don't stop there.

39:57 There are many people. Love and expository ministry. So long as it stops with teaching.

40:04 I've given you the teaching. I've sneaked in a little application here or there. It leaks out. But the next part of the verse says, For reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

40:16 And I want to say, we'll do a little correction and training in righteousness and perhaps a word of reproof.

40:25 Observation number one. Note, first of all, the God-centeredness of this first incentive. Note the God-centeredness of this first incentive. As Peter is seeking to give fuel to these slaves to drive the wheels of their lives down the track that he laid in verse 18.

40:48 And that's what he's doing. Verse 18 lays the tracks. Servants, be obedient, be submissive to your masters. Not only those who make it easy, the good and the gentle, but those that make it hard, the crooked.

41:01 Now he wants to put steam into that engine to drive them down those wheels. And where does he start? He does not start with their well-being or their peace. He doesn't start with their rights.

41:16 He starts with God. And their lives in the presence of God. The God-centeredness of this incentive is patent in the text. It begins and ends with that emphasis.

41:32 This is acceptable to whom or to what? He tells us at the end, using the same word, this is acceptable, this is codied with reference to God. Alongside of and in the presence of God, you slaves, what you need, is to be preoccupied with God. Then you'll be able to live as you ought in these less than ideal circumstances.

41:59 You Christian children, what you need to live with your less than perfectly righteous parents is this God-centeredness. Look beyond your circumstances. Yes, you slaves are regarded legally as property. That's reality.

42:17 But look beyond that. Look beyond that. Look beyond your master and all the reality of his unreasonableness and his incorrigibleness and unrighteous treatment of you. Look beyond your fellow slaves and look beyond the free men who sit with you in church and stop envying them.

42:37 And look up and know that the God who's reached down in mercy and done for you what's described in chapter 1, verses 3 to 13 and in chapter 2, verses 4 to 10, you slaves don't forget what God has done. He's brought you to a living hope by the resurrection of Christ. He's washed you from your sins. You've purified your souls.

43:06 You've been begotten again. You've been made living stones in God's eternal spiritual temple. You can offer spiritual sacrifices to God. You are God's elect race, his chosen nation, a people for his possession.

43:21 You slaves remember God out of consciousness of God. Remember what is acceptable to God. That's to be the great motivation. Now, in my mind, that raises two very burning questions.

Why God-Centeredness is Foundational and How it's Achieved

43:40 First one is this. Why did Peter make this the first and foundational incentive? Why did he not start with the incentive this is consistent with your calling to be like Christ? Or, this will validate your conversion.

43:57 Why did he start with this? Well, there may be many reasons. But I think the basic principle exemplified is you start anywhere else and you're going to end up wrong. Where's your Bible starter?

44:19 And in every issue of life, that's where you and I must start. In the beginning, God. And that's where Peter starts. Now, the second question is, assuming that this would really get to them, how did they get this way?

44:38 How did these slaves get into such a place where when a letter comes saying, look, I'm calling upon you in the name of Christ and by the will of Christ as an apostle of Christ to do something that is absolutely contrary to nature and contrary to common consensus. But I know, if I can plant before the eyeballs of your soul that it's acceptable to God, and if out of consciousness, the righteousness of God, you do this, it brings the smile of God. Peter says, I know I've got you. How did they get in such a way that the thought of God would get them?

45:18 They weren't that way by nature. You want to know what they were like by nature? Look at chapter 4. It's not very flattering.

45:29 Chapter 4 and verse 1. For as much as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same mind. For he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. You should no longer live the rest of your time, in the flesh, to the lust of men, but to the will of God.

45:42 For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles to have walked in lasciviousness, lawlessness, lust, wine-bivvying, rebellions, carousing, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange you don't run with them into the same excessive riot, speaking evil of you. He said, that's what you once were. You were running with them. Where?

46:04 Down every track of vile, wretched, worldly power. Down every track of vile, wretched, worldly power. Down every track of vile, wretched, worldly power. God's thou shalt and God's thou shalt not didn't mean diddly to them.

46:15 Well, how did they get to the place where Peter knows all he needs to say is this will please God and he's got it. How'd they get that way? How'd they get that way? And that question rises in my mind.

46:31 How'd they get that way? Did they go off for a weekend seminar on how to get your act together and be sold a bunch of new age, self-help, personal save yourself nonsense? No. You know how they got that way?

46:48 The Gospel came into their ears and the Holy Ghost impressed it on their hearts and they were born of the Spirit of God. And they were born of the Spirit of God. You say, how do you know that? Well, it just tells it. Look at chapter 1.

47:03 That's not my opinion. Peter writing to these says in verse 12, speaking of the prophets to whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto you did they minister these things which have been announced unto you through them that preach the Gospel unto you. He said these glorious things of Christ and His sufferings and His provisions they have been preached in the Gospel. They heard about sin and damnation and wrath and the love and the mercy of God and the death and resurrection of Christ and they heard the call to repent and believe but they not only had something come into their ears notice what Peter says been announced unto you through them they preached the Gospel by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven they knew the power of the Spirit of God attending the Gospel and as a result of that look at the end of chapter 1 verse 22 and 3 seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth verse 23 having been begotten again you see how they got that way they heard the Gospel and the Holy Ghost attended it with power and they obeyed it and they purified their souls having been born from above oh dear poor lost confused man or woman, boy or girl I know it's humbling to your pride

48:30 but that's the only way you'll get to be a God centered young man or woman man or woman, boy or girl this message that announces God's mercy in Christ got to come to the outer ear got to get down here and it's got to be embraced it's the only way that's what happened to them and because Peter had confidence that the Gospel had done its work he knows that to these slaves when he said the word this is acceptable with God if for consciousness of God the word God did not bring to their minds some nondescript ephemeral woozy notion of some power above me beyond the outside of me it's the God of this very letter go back to it go through as I suggested two weeks ago and see everything that is said of God in the first two chapters of this letter he's the God and Father of the Lord Jesus he's the God who begets sinners to a living hope he's the God who has a heaven reserved for his own he's the God who was inspiring the prophets the God who has shown his mercy just go all the way through so when Peter says this is acceptable with God so then you see it's not like living before the face of God it's not like living before the face of God was for many of us for many years

49:58 I referred to this a week ago Sunday night in Sunday night I never had a time when I wasn't conscious of God but the thought of God brought terror to my soul why? I didn't know God in Christ I knew him as a ubiquitous eyeball who saw everything I did that's all God was to me was an eyeball and a judge on a throne and I tell you if that's all you know of God you're a witness the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good I never doubted that I never doubted what the Bible said he will bring every work into judgement but I tell you I don't want to live before the face of a God like that you want to do what Adam did he ran from God when all he knew God as is the big eyeball and the judge and that's what you'll do that's what these slaves were doing that's why they ran into their sins to try to find some way to fill up the empty ache of a human soul but when they heard the gospel and it came with power and they were born of the spirit they said this is the God whose heart is poured out to us in Jesus Christ who yearns over us in saving mercy who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son who promises if I believe upon him he'll forgive me if I cast myself upon him he'll make me a new creature and then Peter writes the word God

Heart-Searchingness and Instructiveness of the Incentive

51:27 that's what they filled it up with not with their notions of this is the kind of God I would like to have I get so tired of people saying my God is not like that my friend you make your own God you'll go to hell with your own God you need to ask what is the God of the Bible like according to his own self revelation so when Peter writes to them and begins with this God centered incentive he does so because he's confident that the gospel has done its work second observation is this note not only the God centeredness of this first incentive but the heart searchingness of this first incentive the heart searchingness as we listen in to Peter writing to real household slaves who were just the property of their masters asking them to do what he did in verse 18 but confident that this would get them let me ask you something if Peter spent a week with you and you really let down the walls I mean you didn't play games to project an image something we're all very clever at doing but you really let Peter know who you were what really made you tick what your first thoughts were when you got up in the morning what your thoughts were when you took a shower and for you men who shaved

52:57 or trimmed your beards and you got in the car cost a 703 to go down to Hoboken went about your housework off to your place of work and you really let Peter know who you were that's the issue that's the issue would he be able to believe you and after observing certain areas of your life where he felt you needed to get your act together could he send you an apostolic letter saying my dear brother or sister in the name of Christ I exhort you you fill in the blank could he then give us the first motive to let him know he really got you these God centered perspectives could he would all he have to do to get into the stuff of your soul is say look look I know what I'm telling you to do is difficult it's contrary to your flesh it's contrary to prevailing societal perspectives and attitudes and actions but it's the will of God and my dear brother or sister I want to give you this incentive if you do what I tell you it's acceptable if you do it out of consciousness of God it will be acceptable to God would Peter have confidence he'd get you I know some of you don't like that kind of question

54:22 you don't like that kind of preaching that's forcing conscience to do his work it's forcing you to make reflections on yourself but my friend you better make them now because no conscience will slumber or deceive in the day of judgment would this not perfectly not evenly at all times to the same degree I know my own heart my friend if it doesn't get you when you read your bible if you read it and it doesn't get you when the bible's preached what makes you think it would get you simply because Peter wrote you a letter that's searching I have been searched through and through as I've poured over this passage and I bless God to be able to say Lord with all my sins with all my failures with all that's about me with all that I wish were different I thank you Lord the thought that it pleases you gets me gets me right here at the deepest recesses of who and what I am and then I say Lord that in the way I came out of my mama's womb the gospel has come and the Holy Spirit has attended it with power and you've planted me new life my friend can you say that

55:49 can you say that if you can't you're in a frightening position the wrath of God's still hangs over your head you know nothing of the saving power of the gospel my final application is brief we've looked at the God centeredness of this first incentive the heart searchingness of this incentive thirdly the great instructiveness of this passage and it has all kinds of instructiveness but I want to focus on just one and it's this what did the apostolic gospel do to these slaves it made them God centered and what is Peter trying to reinforce in writing to them as Christians to make them more God centered so what do we learn from that the end of all true preaching is to make people God centered that's it this is life eternal Jesus said that they may know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent and when we evaluate so much preaching in our day it isn't remotely concerned with making people God centered it's trying to help people to find the quickest route to some psychological experience that will make them feel better about themselves

57:15 if you have a problem with self esteem look to the cross it's God's great affirmation of your self worth nonsense the cross is the indictment of your wretched sin promise and the revelation of the amazing mercy of God to hell deserving vile sinners you see there are thousands of churches in our land today where the last goal of the worship leader that's what they call it and the bible facilitator that's what they call me the last thought is to make people God centered user friendly i.e. find people's natural hurt and heal it find their itch and stress it laboring over the passage and understand the grammar and labor to make it come alive to people that you might get them in direct contact with the word of God saunter onto the platform find a theme that everybody is excited about and then slip in a little bit of Jesus what an indictment Peter has enough confidence in the gospel

58:40 that he takes it into the room of the household slaves and says that gospel that made you God centered I now reinforce with those very perspectives that grow out of the gospel and I seek to make you grow in them dear people God may be pleased in days to come to grant a measure of the outpouring of his spirit that will enable people to ride above the tug and the pull of the climate of our society and no one would feel more humbled and grateful if God were to do this than the man standing in front of you but listen to me barring such a movement of God some of you, maybe not some of us we may be in the grave and our spirits in a better place if things are not reversed by a mighty movement of the spirit of God and this proof that remains true to these perspectives we have to shut this auditorium down and meet in half the social hall this generation has no gut for this it wants religion it's obsession with self when Jesus came to put self upon a cross that God may be all in all may the Lord help us

Call to the Unconverted and Concluding Prayer

60:07 that these God centered perspectives will always get us and when they cease to get you and get me it's time to go down on our knees and ask God to have mercy upon us if you're an unconverted man or woman boy or girl I hope the spirit of God has helped you to see that you are not a little problem you are something else is your God then Christ came to reverse all of that by his perfect life in death upon the cross to provide a righteous basis upon which God can receive you to himself that he may be all in all to you Peter will go on to say he died just for the unjust that he might bring us to death 1 Peter 3.18 I'm not imposing something on the text it's all the way through the book to bring us to death if you lay hold of Christ crucified it will be you might come to God if God may be to you all that he wants to be and deserves to be to his creatures well let's pray and ask God to bless his word our Father our shriveled souls

61:35 can only begin to take in the wonder that you are we confess with shame the constricted thoughts of you we confess we who are your children that the thought of pleasing you does not burn within our breast as intensely as it ought but we thank you we can say it burns O Lord blow upon that fire make it to be a holy raging consuming fire licking up all of our remaining self-centeredness our pandering to our own itches and urges until by your grace we are one internal passion after yourself we pray for those who know you not O God take your word and make it effectual to their salvation thank you again for this portion of the word thank you for the wisdom given by the spirit to Peter and for the relevance of those things to us help us O God we pray as we commit ourselves and the word of God to your safe keeping in Jesus name Amen