1 Peter: When Exiles Are To Fight (1 Peter 2:11-25, Jeff Kliewer)

Exiles, Expository Preaching, and the Coming Election

All right, let's pray. Father, thank you again for this incredible privilege that we have to stand before you, to be in your presence, to know the one true God. Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice for us.

Now, as we've taken that bread and we've drunk the wine, the juice, Lord, help us now to open the bread of your word and to receive nourishment from your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Well, I almost made it. Two days from now is, of course, the presidential election. And you'll notice that I haven't spoken about politics in all these weeks leading up. And this is due to the fact that I'm committed to expository Bible preaching.

I want to go through the text and allow the concern of the text to be my concern and to talk about whatever is in the Bible. Now, here's my problem. When we get to 1 Peter 2, we find that the text is talking about the relationship of the believer and the government.

So there's a song called God Moves in Mysterious Ways. It was written by William Cowper. And one of the lines in it is one of my favorites. It says that behind a frowning providence, God hides a smiling face.

I wonder if God has a sense of humor that today, just two days from the election, where we'll have to choose as a nation between Trump and Clinton, that there would be a passage about honoring the emperor and honoring government and how we are to relate to government.

I see a sense of humor in that. I think God is smiling. But for me, it's almost like a dark providence that I would have to address this only days before what is a very controversial election. So I will speak little about the actual candidates and much about the text.

That's worked well for us, hasn't it? As a people, as Christians, I think if we major on the text of scripture and we camp out here, that everything else is informed by that. And we don't have to bring in our own private opinions.

But I was so close. And yet, here we are. So let's review where we've been in 1 Peter. If you'll turn with me into that book, which is an amazing book. Have you found it to be just amazingly rich? I know in my study of it, it brings me to life.

It brings me joy to look into this text. But as we look at the first verse, we see that it was written to elect exiles. First thing to notice today, the book was written to elect exiles, those who were chosen to be exiles.

An exile is someone who's away from their homeland. They're a foreigner in a country that's not their own. They're dwelling where they don't belong. And that is us. We are the elect exiles in this book.

And notice, though, that the first thing that the apostle Peter writes to the elect exile is really a praise to God. Look at the third verse. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And from that moment on, he begins to praise and exalt and delight in God and celebrate the salvation we have.

We have been born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have an inheritance in heaven, we're told. And though we face trials, we still have joy because of this. Prophets and angels, even, long to look into this in verses 10 through 12.

And then there's a key word in verse 13 where the celebration of salvation now gives way to an exhortation. And Peter begins to say, so what? You know, you've celebrated here. Now what are you to do? Therefore, verse 13, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So here now we begin to get instruction about what we're to do. And the first thing is to give ourselves entirely, fully to this gospel, to Christ. Verse 14, we're to be obedient children. And through the 21st verse, we have reasons why we should obey.

Things like God commanding us to obey. The fear of the Lord, which should guide us. But preeminently, as we just took communion, notice verse 19.

Why obey?

Look at verse 19. We have been purchased from our futile ways with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. We are to obey God and be holy and be pure because of the blood of Jesus, which is so much better than anything else this world offers.

Verse 22 and following, we get the next movement in the text, and here we not only have a motivation to obey, but we have some help in how to do that. How are we to obey? Where does our obedience come from?

By what means can we obey God? And the answer is simple, the word of God. It's the word of God that makes us pure in verse 22. And it's also by the word of God, our obedience to the truth, that we love one another.

So the word brings purity and it brings love. Notice in verse 23 through chapter two, verse two, that we're born again by the word. So we're regenerated by the word. The imperishable seed of the word is what gives the new birth.

But we don't stop there. Chapter two, verse two, once born again, what do we do?

We grow up, we grow up.

So we need this pure spiritual milk. We need the word of God to continue to feed us. Just like we were born again by hearing the word of God, now we need to hear the word of God, like receiving pure spiritual milk so we can grow up.

Verses four through eight, we see that the word of God, as it comes, the message of Jesus Christ brings joy to his people and he becomes the cornerstone of our lives, but it becomes a stumbling block to those who won't believe.

So the word of God brings joy and judgment. And finally, in verses nine and 10, we saw that the word of God makes us a people. To do what? To preach, to proclaim the word of God. So it comes full circle and if you'll notice, verse nine of chapter two, we are chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.

Why?

That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So we first of all are born by the word, we grow up and before long we're talking. These babies are no longer just crying.

We're mature and we've grown up and we're talking. And what are we talking about? The excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. So the word grows us up and sends us forth, preaching the word, more word, more word.

So this is the means by which the church matures, the means by which we grow. And that brings us to today's text. So we're in first Peter chapter two and we're at verse 11. What's the main idea here? There are things that Christians are called to fight, but it usually isn't the government.

Why do I say that? Because the big idea that we're tracking with is that we are called to be elect exiles, sojourners in a foreign land. But in this land, we are not fighting those under whom we live.

Yet we are fighting.

There is a struggle. We're gonna learn about that next. It's a fight against our own flesh. That becomes the priority. And yet we subject ourselves even to those who oppress us. This is a hard teaching, but it's a good teaching and something very important.

Fighting the Passions of the Flesh

So let's begin now with that first point, chapter two, verses 11 and 12. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

So here in these verses, we're introduced to a fight, aren't we? We are called to fight our own flesh.

Why?

Because we don't belong here. Fight your flesh because you do not belong in this world. The world in which you live will throw temptations at you all day long. And your flesh will be attracted to those things.

And this calls for war. Notice that in verse 11. I urge you as sojourners and exiles. That's the key words. You're an exile here in the world in which you live. You don't belong here. You're from a different kingdom.

Been born into a different kingdom. And so you are to abstain from the passions of the flesh. That word passions, if you look back at chapter one, verse 14, as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

So Peter here is reiterating something he's already said. You're to be an obedient child. You're to be holy as God is holy. You're called to obedience. Don't let the passions of your flesh pull you away.

Your flesh in verse 24 of chapter one. Chapter one, verse 24, for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.

So you're born again of the spirit. You have this imperishable seed in you and this new spiritual life inside of you. And yet you remain during this exile, during this time in the flesh, in a body. Now the flesh here doesn't just refer to your physical body, but it's the desires of your body for things that are contrary to the word of God.

The things of the world. The pull that is within us to do things that we know we shouldn't do. Our flesh is the desires and the passions to do things that don't please God. And this body, this flesh that goes after these things is passing away.

It's not eternal. But for this period of time, during your exile, this battle is real. You are in a struggle. You are in a fight. Because these passions, notice what the text says in verse 11. They wage war against your soul.

So you who have been born again, you have the seed of the word of God. You have this new life. But this new life is under attack. And it's coming from within yourself. The world is prompting you to do things that aren't right.

But your own flesh is going for those things. So how do you defeat the flesh? Is the Christian life a cruise ship or a warship? It's a warship, not a cruise ship. So often we live our Christian lives like we're on a cruise.

We wake up, we stretch out, we do a little exercise and enjoy a nice breakfast and we go through our day. Very few times during that period of time do we recognize that we're at war. Now if you're in the middle of a battle, you wake up and you pray that God will save you that day from the enemy.

When the bullets are flying over our heads, there's no atheists in foxholes, right?

We begin to pray.

Recognize this, there is an enemy that's waging war against your spiritual life and that enemy is within yourself. This is the war he's talking about. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

So now we're in verse 12 and we know that the war is coming from within, but these who are called evildoers, who are calling us evildoers are from without. Follow me here. The battle is within and yet we have enemies from without who are piling on and who are opposed to us and who desire to see us fail.

Notice this, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable. If you'll notice a few verses up in verse nine, we've been called a royal priesthood, a chosen race, a holy nation. This is using language of Israel, the chosen people of God, living among the Gentiles.

Now the church is the chosen, the holy, those who are called out to belong to God and so the Gentiles here figuratively speaks to anyone who doesn't believe in Christ. That's the meaning of Gentiles in this context.

They will speak against you as evildoers. The world around us will speak against you as an evildoer because they'll genuinely believe that you are evil. I was given a book to read and this last week I flew down to my uncle's funeral in Florida and on the flight back I opened up that book that I'd been meaning to read.

It was by Rosaria Butterfield and her book is called Openness Unhindered. As I began to read this book, I was captivated by it because she tells her story of conversion to Christ and she talks about how coming up through a Catholic school with liberal professors where she was, she had a worldview instilled in her and then as she went off to college, she actually got her PhD in English and became a professor and she moved and in that kind of more liberal circle where she was supported and supporting a worldview that homosexuality was good and fine and not different than what God has intended for men and women in marriage.

And her story is very interesting because Rosaria Butterfield talks about how when she would think about Christians, she would think of us as being evil and when she would think about her own lifestyle that she then moved into in a relationship for about 10 years with a woman, she thought that it was good and virtuous.

She considered her own lifestyle, her own activities as being good and in fact enlightened and better than those who would be narrow and intolerant and not affirming of others. In her mind, what was good was evil and what was evil was good.

She genuinely did not feel bad about the lifestyle that she was in and it was her worldview. It was what she truly believed and when she spoke about Christians, she saw Christians as evildoers. All of that got turned upside down because she began to read the Bible and she began to read large chunks of the Bible and read through the Bible over and over again and ultimately what came to the front was a conflict in her between what she truly and genuinely felt from her worldview and what the Bible presented as an alternative worldview.

And she began to see the truth of the word of God. She came to faith in Christ by reading the word of God. And she was delivered and came out from a homosexual lifestyle through the power of the word of God.

But the reason I bring up her story right now is to highlight the fact that those who are outside of Christ genuinely look at believers as being evildoers, as being intolerant and being bigoted and being extremists and hateful.

They genuinely hear this language, even what I would be speaking right now, as hate speech when in fact it's motivated by love. Rosaria Butterfield was transformed by the power of the word, but it was a collision of two worlds that came together.

Notice in the text, this is what the Bible told us to expect. What do we expect as exiles in a country that's not our own? Look at verse 12. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, it says when, not if.

This is to be expected. They may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. It is so important that Christians not be hypocritical and sleeping around or sinning sexually, what's in view here, the passions of the flesh, giving in to those passions of the flesh and yet condemning others for sin.

We are called to be exiles in a world where we then represent what truth looks like and what the real Christian life is all about and it's marked by love and it's marked by consistency and it's marked by overcoming the temptations of the flesh.

Guys, it's important. It's important that we be pure. What does it mean they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation? The world around us, this is important, the world around us is watching us all the time.

They see every attitude of our hearts. They look for inconsistency in our lives. They see what we do even as they listen to what we say. But notice there's coming a day of visitation. We are to glorify God as they see our good deeds, they will glorify God on the day of visitation.

What is this day of visitation? I'd like to explain it this way. We live in a world where evil is called good and good is called evil and everything is upside down and turned around. But the day of visitation is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Savior is coming back to this world. I know it's been a long time. Peter will talk about that in his second letter. That's to be expected that it would take a while. A day is like a thousand years according to Peter.

But Jesus is coming back to visit this world. And when he comes, this upside down world is going to be turned right side up. And there's a lot of scripture that tells us what that looks like. It's like Lazarus and the rich man.

The rich man who lived for himself and had no interest in the things of God and poor Lazarus who dogs were licking his wounds and begged for any scraps that could fall from the rich man's table but the rich man had no mercy.

In the end, it's the rich man who is burning in hell and Lazarus who's comforted in the bosom of Abraham. A great reversal is coming. Picture the story of Esther where wicked Haman plots against Mordecai.

For what?

For being a God lover. And the true evildoer was Haman and everything was coming together according to his plan until the God of heaven intervened and the plot was exposed and Haman gets crucified or hung upon the gallows that he himself made for Mordecai.

A great reversal. It's what Jesus spoke about in Mark chapter eight that if you wanna come after me and follow me, you gotta take up your cross. And whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

It's a great reversal. You give up everything now and live as an exile and not for this world and not a part of this world and you gain everything later. You put your treasure in heaven rather than taking what the world has to offer now.

It's a great reversal. And the greatest reversal of all was the lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the innocent one, hung up on a cross and Satan mocking and laughing and rejoicing and what he thought was a victory but the victory belonged to Christ because as Satan struck Jesus in the heel, it was Jesus' heel that crushed Satan's head.

He conquered Satan in the cross. A great reversal. And the wicked scheming of the enemy was brought to nothing and our savior was vindicated in the spirit. Jesus, the savior, conquered evil on the cross.

This is what it refers to, a second coming. The first coming was a great reversal and it took away our sin. Satan seeking to destroy us instead, in that death wound, Christ delivers us and heals us. Well, the second coming, the day of visitation, will turn this world on its head and all the wicked thinking of evildoers will be exposed for what it is and God will be glorified and we have some part in that.

Do you see that in verse 12? Your good deeds will be shown for what they are. Everything will be made right in that day. So this is how we live. Second point. So this is what we fight in the first point.

We fight our own flesh so that we can live consistently as exiles here but we live under a government, don't we? So here's where we talk about politics or we talk about government and it's not too much fun.

Submission to Government for the Lord’s Sake

What Peter says, look at 13 through 17. 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.

Did you catch that?

That means within two days we are to be subject to either candidate A or to candidate B. We are to submit and be subject to them 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. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. This is our position before the government in which we live.

We are to live as if we do belong here. Praying for government, supporting government, living under the rules and the laws of the land. This is not our fight, that's the point. Our fight is within, our fight is for holiness, for purity but we don't have to fight the government under which we live.

Now just consider this. When Peter writes these words Nero is the emperor. Remember when we set the context for the book of First Peter? We studied and we talked about what Nero was really like. This was one of the most wicked evil men in the history of the world.

Comparable to Hitler. He killed his own wife, he killed his own kids. He was a psycho. Horrible person. And the very next year after this was written or some scholars think it had already begun or already happened.

In about 64 A .D. Nero will burn down the entire city of Rome or a large portion of it. And he will blame Christians for it. He will use Christians as human torches and throw them to the lions and use them for sport in the Colosseum.

He'll blame Christians for the fire when it was himself who lit the fire and sat back and laughed and hummed and sang while Rome burned. And yet Peter writes 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. The first clue we get as to how to do that or why to do that comes in verse 15. For this is the will of God. What's the will of God?

That by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. See the will of God has two senses in the New Testament. The will of God is sometimes like this verse where it's something prescribed for us to do.

It's the revealed will of God. You see this again if you'll turn to chapter four verse two. So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. The will of God here refers to what God has revealed that we're to obey.

We're being told to do something. But I want you to notice two other verses from Peter. 317 and 419. Here the will of God is not revealed and prescribed as something for us to do. But it refers to God being in control and having a secret decree.

It's the secret will of God. The plan of God, the decree of God. In 317, for it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will than for doing evil. And finally in 419, therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.

Here's the point. It's just like first Peter 1 .6 where we're told we'll have to endure various trials if necessary. The if necessary points to the will of God. That God has a plan, he has a decree. The will of God in this sense means that God is in control.

And if there's an emperor like Nero on the throne or candidate A or candidate B in our country, ultimately it's God who's in control. Nothing is going to happen apart from his will and his plan. God not only knew this ahead of time by learning, he didn't learn anything, he knew and planned that we would live in the world in which we do.

That's comforting. When you see that the will of God doesn't only mean what you have to go and do, but means that God in this sense has a plan and a decree, you can rest in that. Otherwise you just might go crazy, especially this election cycle.

But to know that God is still on his throne, it's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. Couple more points out of that section. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. It's a hard command, isn't it?

I only have a few minutes, but I will share just something on my heart. When I see presidents who I see as dishonorable, it's hard for me to obey this command. If for example there's a president who argues on a state senate floor that babies who are born after a botched abortion should be left to die, it is very hard for me to ever honor that person.

And some people say, well, you know, that's just one issue. But I say, that's 58 ,846 ,247 issues since R .V. Wade. And every issue, every issue in this case is a child. And if we believe that God makes human beings in the image of God, these children, these babies still in the womb have inherent value.

And their blood, which is already coursing in their body is innocent blood. And if there's anyone who should uphold and protect innocent blood, it's those of us who know a savior who gave innocent blood to take away our sin.

All the way back to the Garden of Eden where innocent blood is shed to make a covering for sin. To the Passover lamb, to the lamb of God himself, innocent blood shed to atone for sin. If there's anyone that should speak up for the voiceless, it's the voice of Christians who understand innocent blood.

So I read these verses and I say, I'm to honor the emperor. Or in our case, honor the president. How do I do that? And so I looked in the text and I thought, what does honor mean here? We get that in the last section.

Where Jesus, when reviled, doesn't revile. When cursed, he doesn't curse. When threatened, he doesn't threaten. And I say, okay, there's something there for me. It means although I don't agree, I don't curse.

I don't fight, I don't take up the sword like Peter at first tried to do when Jesus was under attack. He drew the sword and Jesus said, put it away. That's the authority that he honored. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.

So in the basis sense, it means to honor means we're not picking up swords and we're not storming the capital.

To fight.

But there's something even deeper here that really helped me and I hope it helps you. It says, for the Lord's sake, in verse 13.

You see that?

Be subject for the Lord's sake. So when I honor the emperor, when I submit to the government of this land, it's not for the sake of the government of this land. It's for the Lord's sake. We submit to them only because our Lord, to whom we are given over, tells us to.

And so we do. And so the honor is to him. And we represent him in that submission. We're gonna fly through the last verses here, but it just draws, it kind of pulls everything together. 18 through 25 just makes Jesus the example of this.

Of how he fought and how he submitted. Look, 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, there's the Lord's sake again.

You're submitting because your mind is set on Christ. One endures sorrows 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. Here it is, leaving you an example. Jesus is our example of this. 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 that last point is simply that we fight the flesh and we submit to authorities because Jesus did. Because his example set for us calls us to do that. Jesus is that great example. And so in closing, I wanna ask you this question.

What does it mean to be a mature Christian? The answer I think is found in verse 19. This is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. Maturity is suffering well.

Whether it be from government or from an employer, you're a servant in that sense. When you are unjustly treated and you bless and you love and you forgive, you represent Christ. Maturity is when all the circumstances of life, here they're under persecution.

Here most of them are slaves. Servant here actually means do lost. They're under a very unjust system. The circumstances of their lives are piling in on them and yet these are to be joyful people. These are mature Christians because when suffering comes, they endure.

And they follow the example of Christ. Brothers and sisters, we will suffer at the hands of government and it might get worse. They say that now one third of those under the age of 30 are what are called nuns.

They have no religious identification at all. And of the 70 beyond that, many of them are not Christians. By contrast, one out of 10 people over 65 identify that way. So this country probably used to have a lot more Christians than it will in the future.

And who knows what suffering could come? But don't fret. And there's an election day in two days. Trust God. Vote according to how the Holy Spirit leads you as you're informed by the scriptures. But know this, that God turns the hearts of kings like a water course.

He is in control, he is sovereign. So don't freak out if the one that you're against gets into the presidency. And don't celebrate if the one you love gets into the presidency. Because he could be or she could be just as wicked as the other.

Vote according to the word of God. But know this, that we have a God who we can trust and serve. Don't come undone. Let the world see that your kingdom is not this one. Your world is a better one. You're in exile here.

Do make war, but it needs to be against the flesh. We can't be immature Christians who are giving in and looking like hypocrites. Because to be honest, often people say the church is full of hypocrites because we are.

Let's live as exiles here and represent Christ well. Let's pray, and we'll call on the worship team to come on up. Father, thank you so much for this word. It's so challenging to us because you're calling us not to fight.

And many of us are fighters. We don't like to be subject, especially when unjust things are happening. We don't like to be subject to masters. We don't like when circumstances in this world turn against us.

It's so easy for us to come undone. But we trust the will of God that you only give us what is necessary, even if that's judgment on a nation. You give us what refines and purifies us, what sanctifies us.

And so, Lord, I do right now wanna pray for our country. Lord, I do pray that there would be a turning to Christ and that more and more people would be saved. And I pray that you would bring into office a president who would uphold justice.

And Lord, my heart is especially for the unborn. Lord, an end to abortion. God, my prayer is that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We trust you with this, and we ask, Lord, that even as we have been one body through this election, that we would remain that way, God, and that the world looking in at this church would see a people that rise above the circumstances around us, that we would be a people that trusts in the one true and living God, that we would be exiles in this land, fighting the flesh, joyful in trials.

In Jesus' name, amen.