Beloved
1 Peter • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me 1 Peter 2. If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word:
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!
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Dear friends… I love that greeting. It feels so warm and appreciative. I like to think about the relationships Peter has with the people in these churches throughout Asia Minor. No doubt Peter has a relationship with a good number of the people who would read this letter.
God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia would know Peter, by reputation, if nothing else. Peter would have interacted with these believers (some of them at least) as he traveled around and through Asia Minor on his missionary ventures.
Dear friends…I really do like that greeting. I feel the same way about the people in the churches I’ve served. The relationships built amongst the people who make up the church are some of the most significant and meaningful relationships in my life.
Dear friends…that’s a really good way to start this new section of his letter.
But “dear friends” doesn’t really capture the full meaning of the word. A handful of Bible translations use “dear friends”, where others use the word beloved.
The KJV uses “dearly beloved”, i.e. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today...”
Beloved is the full sense of this word. It’s the word Ἀγαπητοί, a form of the word αγαπαω = love.
Of course, one’s friends are beloved. We love our friends, our friends are dear to us. Of course that’s true, but this word is deeper still.
Peter is quite fond of this designation: beloved. He uses the word several times in his two letters, twice in 1 Peter and 6 times in 2 Peter. These people are more than Peter’s dear friends (though they certainly aren’t less than his dear friends).
These people are beloved. We can’t discount the fact that Peter has a love for the people to whom he’s writing. But beloved indicates more: they are beloved by God, having been chosen to be His people.
Think back through what Peter has just written to them: that they’ve been born again into a living hope, to them belongs an inheritance that will never perish, spoil, or fade, that they are the recipients of God’s prophetic promises. They are, Peter just wrote, the chosen people of God, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.
Hear all of that, and now hear yourself, Christian, addressed as beloved.
These believers in Asia Minor “were God’s beloved. Beloved is precisely how they felt. This particular word, and it alone, captures the ascendant affections now rising within the hearts of Peter’s audience. Beloved is the honored title that accompanies everyone whose spiritual identity and eternal destination are wrapped up in Christ.” -David R. Helm
You, Christians, all y’all who go by His name are beloved by God. Your spiritual identity is all wrapped up in Christ. Beloved. Some of you—probably all of us—need to hear that this morning.
You are His beloved. In Christ, that’s true for all of us, corporately and individually, by His good grace and pleasure.
Beloved. Think about Peter calling his friends that and what that would mean coming from Peter—a man who is undeservedly beloved Himself.
Peter is that poor dolt who took three times to get anything right, the fella who stuck his foot in his mouth so often he'd be a shoo-in for political office. Peter—impulsive, foolish, sinful—Peter who denied Jesus and deserted Jesus—that Peter knows full-well what it is to be loved by God, loved by Jesus; to be beloved when nothing in him deserved anything of the sort.
Peter was beloved only because Jesus loved Peter with a love that wouldn’t let go. The Resurrected Jesus made breakfast for His friends and asked Peter in John 21:
“Simon, do you love me?”
“You know that I love you.”
“Do you love me?”
“You know that I love you.”
“Do you love me?”
“Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Peter, of all people, knows what it is to be beloved by God. The LORD Jesus reinstated Peter after Peter denied him three times. Peter, himself beloved by God, understands that all who belong to God by faith in Jesus are also beloved.
Peter’s writing to those who are God’s beloved, and urges them to behave as such. Verses 11-12 “clearly form an exhortation to good and honorable gospel living.”
These two verses form an important introduction to this theme which will be expressed in different contexts: Society and Government (1 Peter 2:13-17), Employment (1 Peter 2:18-25), and Marriage (1 Peter 3:1-7). But those are the next few sermons.
For this morning, we’re just going to look at these two verses, 1 Peter 2:11-12 and what it looks like for God’s beloved church to stand firm while we live far from our heavenly home.
We are, after all, foreigners and exiles here.
These verses serve as a good introduction to the next several sections of Peter’s letter and are well organized. Verse 11 gives the negative statement, and verse 12 gives the positive: Refrain from this. Give yourself to that.
Sometimes we need to hear, “Don’t do that; do this.” It’s helpful to have both.
As a people marked by the grace of God, we must refrain from some things, while at the same time giving ourselves to other other things.
True and gracious Christian living means that we will become men and women who are known for being this and not that kind of people.
Beloved, Don’t Give In; Fight! (v. 11)
Beloved, Don’t Give In; Fight! (v. 11)
Dear friends/beloved, I urge you…to abstain from sinful desires. To live in this world as citizens worthy of all the wonders and relationships belonging to the next, we have to keep ourselves from sinful desires and passions of the flesh.
Look back to 1 Peter 1:14, and consider what Peter said there. “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.” These evil desires are listed in 1 Peter 2:1 “all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”
This is what the Christian is to put away, to turn from; we abstain from these things: attitudes and actions of our former life/our way of life before Christ. These are the things we were prone to do before we had the Holy Spirit within us, giving us the ability to resist.
Later in 1 Peter, he’ll write:
1 Peter 4:2–3 (NIV)
For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
These are the activities we participated in when we still belonged to the world. Sinful desires, or more literally desires of the flesh—the natural human desires apart from the work of the Spirit.
Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires.
As foreigners and exiles here—Peter’s reminding us of how we are to relate to the world—as foreigners and exiles we are called upon to conquer evil desires.
A foreigner “is someone living as a resident outside the country of their birth and enjoying some of the same rights and privileges as a full citizen.”
An exile “is someone passing through a country without intending to become a permanent resident.”
Peter uses these terms together without making too much distinction between the two.
Christians, both now and in Peter’s time have no permanent home in this world. The psalmist understood his life in the same way:
“Hear my prayer, Lord, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were.
We have no permanent home here. We are not citizens of this temporary kingdom; our citizenship is in heaven. We may not be literal foreigners and exiles, but we are spiritual foreigners and exiles here because of our allegiance to Jesus Christ.
Don’t get too comfy here, Christian. You shouldn’t be too at home in this world. Don’t tie your hopes and affections to this country. Don’t sell your birthright for a bowl of political stew or whatever porridge the world might offer you.
It’s because we are foreigners and exiles here that we are to live a certain way as foreigners and exiles would.
We weren’t made for this world, so why would we live and operate and conduct our lives in the way the world does?
This is why Peter includes the reminder of our status as foreigners and exiles in his exhortation to abstain from our sinful desires.
Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires.
These sinful desires are not confined to sexual sins or sins of the physical body. Sinful desires include those, to be sure, but also include social sins like slander and envy. All manner of sinful desires war against your soul.
That’s how strong these sinful desires are. They’re described in terms of warfare, as an enemy that attempts to conquer believers.
The Christian life is not passive. We don’t set back and utter pithy, quasi-Christian cliches like: “Let go and let God.”
NO! We must not give in; we must fight! We’re in a battle at a soul level. The soul is the inner self; it includes one’s mind, thoughts, feelings, heart, and being. It’s the whole person in view when the word soul is used.
Against these sinful desires, we fight. We engage in battle. We do everything we can, with the strength God provides, to fight.
How do we battle these sinful desires which wage war against us? We fight temptation the same way Jesus did: with God’s help and God’s Word.
When the tempter tempted Jesus, Jesus replied to each temptation presented to Him with a quote from Deuteronomy, with God’s truth.
When faced with temptation, when sinful desires creep up, we remember what God’s Word tells us: that slander and envy and gossip and sexual immorality are out-of-line with the Christian life. We remember that we are God’s beloved, and that He has something more for us than this world offers.
We remember that the One who is in [us] is greater than the one who is in the world.
As citizens of God’s Kingdom, as His people, a holy nation unto Him, we dare not conform to the wicked conduct of the world in which we live.
We abstain from these sinful desires. We keep away from them. We fight with renewed minds, disciplined tongues, and controlled bodies, entrusting ourselves to the One who fights for us. The same God who fought for His people then, fights for us now.
Peter urges Christians to abstain from sinful desires, to battle these things that wage war against us. Beloved, Don’t Give In! Fight!
Beloved, Watch Your Lives and Witness. (v. 12)
Beloved, Watch Your Lives and Witness. (v. 12)
Believers—beloved by God, foreigners and strangers here—are to live such good lives among the pagans that all their accusations of wrongdoing will be contradicted by the believers’ good works.
What Peter speaks of here is our conduct. He has used this word before and he’ll use it again, though it’s translated differently depending on how it’s used.
1 Peter 1:15 (NIV)
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
1 Peter 1:18 (NIV)
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,
1 Peter 3:1–2 (NIV)
Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
1 Peter 3:16 (NIV)
keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
This is Peter’s way of designating the new way of life demanded of Christians, those who go by the name of Christ.
Our good lives/good conduct/good behavior will appear beautiful to the Gentiles/pagans.
Using the term “Gentiles” for those who don’t believe indicates that all the terminology of Israel is now applied to Christ’s church which is here, in Asia Minor, made up mostly of Gentiles.
As a result of believers living such good lives among unbelievers, something amazing happens.
Those who don’t believe, those who are hostile toward Christians, those who have a problem with the church will make all kinds of accusations against Christ’s church.
Throughout the ages, Christians have been accused of any number of things: treason, sedition, cannibalism (a wild misunderstanding of what takes place during the Lord’s Supper). Some 1 Peter scholars believe formal, legal charges were made against these Christians in Asia Minor.
More than anything, there was widespread cultural opposition to the Christian way of life. There certainly were legal charges, but the world’s accusations weren’t limited to that.
Unbelievers viewed Christians with suspicion and hostility because Christians did not conform to the world’s way of doing things. Peter says later in his letter: 1 Peter 4:4 “They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.”
Those who believe in the LORD and who strive, in the strength He provides, to live good lives and conduct ourselves according to the Word of God are treated with contempt because we don’t join them.
The goal of the world is to shame Christians, to pressure Christians to the point of giving in and going along. I don’t have to enumerate the ways in which this happens; you are likely aware anyhow.
Tom Schreiner writes about the Christians in Peter’s day: “Since believers did not honor the typical gods of the community, they were naturally viewed as subversive and evil in that social context.”
Here’s what I think about Christians trying to live according to God’s Word today: “Since believers won’t give in to cultural pressure to affirm and celebrate sin, since believers won’t bow the knee to the gods of tolerance and acceptance, we are viewed as narrow-minded and horrible people in our social context.”
Our situation and our place in the world differs hardly at all from the time in which Peter was writing. What he wrote then is for us, beloved. Watch your lives and your witness.
1 Peter 2:12 “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
Notice what Peter doesn’t say. Peter does not tell his readers to stand-up and verbally defend themselves. We’re not to take out an ad in the newspaper or jump on Facebook and rip into the other side.
Peter urges those who believe in Jesus Christ, we who go by His name, to pursue virtue and goodness so that God’s goodness would be apparent.
Our behavior will, in time, contradict the false accusations circulating in society. Regardless of what’s said about us, we don’t return slander for slander. Regardless of what’s done to us, we don’t return injury for injury. Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek. We let them say whatever they will, and prove with our lives that they’re wrong.
And when we do this, Peter says something will take place. As a result of believers living such good lives among unbelievers, something amazing happens.
As we live our lives to please God, conducting ourselves rightly, unbelievers will see [our] good deed and glorify God.
Peter is almost certainly making reference to something he heard Jesus say many years prior:
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Jesus Himself taught that there’s a connection between seeing [our] good deeds and others glorify[ing] [our] Father in heaven.
Peter’s merely echoing the teaching of our LORD and Savior, to teach us that we are to live good, honorable lives that have been impacted by the gospel. We live this way not for our own sake, but for those who don’t believe, and ultimately for the glory of God.
The way we live our lives, and certainly the words we speak, are a witness to those around us.
Beloved, watch your lives and witness.
We live as foreigners and exiles, as God’s beloved children, conducting ourselves in such a way that no matter what is said about us or done to us, people will look at our lives and say,
“Something’s different. Look at them! Look at the way they live!” And that—their recognition of our good deeds—would cause them to give glory to God.
Some unbelievers will be drawn by God to repent of their sin and believe in Jesus, because of what they see in us.
What they see in us needs to be a clear reflection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. If we carry His name around, our lives better look like His.
This is why we don’t give into our sinful desires. This is why we fight. This is why we watch our lives. This is why we watch our witness:
That they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
That they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
Beloved, don’t give in; keep fighting your sin! Watch your life and witness, beloved. Others will see your life, your life will be a powerful witness to God.