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Proverbs 6:12-23
12 A worthless person, a wicked man, Walks with
a perverse mouth;
13 He winks with his eyes, He shuffles his feet,
He points with his fingers;
14 Perversity is in his heart, He devises evil continually, He sows discord.
15 Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly;
Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.
16 These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed
innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that
are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.
20 My son, keep your father's command, And do
not forsake the law of your mother.
21 Bind them continually upon your heart; Tie
them around your neck.
22 When you roam, they will lead you; When you
sleep, they will keep you; And when
you awake, they will speak with you.
23 For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
Father God, open our eyes, mind, and heart to your Gospel.
Reveal to us our sinfulness and self sufficiency so that we can repent and come
to you, our Good Sheppard. In
Jesus
name we pray, Amen!
Book of I Peter 2:18-25
NKJV
This week’s lesson moves from
respecting government authority to servants being obedient to their masters.
Servants were very common in Peter’s day and no doubt formed a class of people,
and of course with masters being human with the inherited sin nature, some were
cruel to their servants. So Peter points out to his audience the proper conduct
a servant is to have toward their master regardless of his actions.
18 Servants,
be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only
to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
Servants; This term servant covers many
different people like; assistant, attendant, cleaning person, dependant,
helper, hireling, server, slave, etc. We know there were slaves in Peter’s
time, but with the synonyms listed what Peter has to say pertains to us also.
We could add to the list employees because if you work for someone or some
business we are classified as a hireling, assistant, attendant, or helper.
Be
submissive to your masters with
all fear; We are
called to be obedient to our supervisors just like a slave is to be obedient to
their master, or like a Christian is to be obedient to God. As servants whether
slave, employee, or child of God, we should have a reverent fear of offending
those in control. They have authority over us, and we should be afraid to incur
their displeasure.
We have all seen people in the workplace that are
disrespectful of supervisors. These people will argue and disagree with
everything management sets forth. Some will complain in meetings, some
constantly complain all day about anything and everything, some will be silent
during meetings but as soon as the meeting is over they get whoever will
listen, huddled up and then run down the management. Peter is telling us to be
submissive to authority. I truly believe a Born Again Christian makes a good
employee because of what the Bible teaches and they try with their heart to
obey what the Word of God teaches.
Not only to the good and gentle, but
also to the harsh; Peter
is stating something here that our human nature finds hard to swallow. It is
easy to obey the good and gentle authority but the cruel and inconsiderate
authority is another story because of the sin nature within us. Anyone who is a
servant or employed by a harsh master/employer is to perform their duty with
fidelity no matter what the character is of the master as long as the
relationship continues. We are to conduct ourselves as Christians if we call
ourselves Christians no matter what the character is of the authority in
charge.
Does
this mean that we are to obey without complaining even if the rules command us
to do unsafe tasks. No, if situations arise of this nature then the person or a
group of people need to discuss the situation with supervisors, but in a
respectful way. A demonstration of the hazard may need to be done without
anyone getting hurt to get the point across. One thing to keep in mind and that
is, you agreed to the terms of employment when you accepted the offer of the
employer. You are to abide by the company rules and regulations. If you find
that you can’t abide by the policies or immoral things are transpiring, then it
is up to you to remove yourself from that employment.
19 For this is commendable, if because of
conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.
Let’s
rephrase this a little; For God is pleased with you when you do what you know
is right and patiently endure unfair treatment.
For this is commendable; Why
would this be commendable? It would be commendable because a person that
conducts their life in a Christlike manner glorifies the Father.
If because of conscience toward God
one endures grief, suffering wrongfully; Take this phrase and think of Jesus when He was taken
custody and stood before Caiaphas the high priest and then before Pilate. He
was submissive, humble, non-argumentative, with those before Him. He was
obedient to His Father and conducted His actions in a holy manner.
Put
yourself in Jesus place, could you conduct yourself as He did? Stop and ponder
this and then think, has there been situations in your life where you feel you
were treated unfairly by your supervisor or the management; were false
accusations brought before you; did you have to suffer some type of
consequences like no pay increase, if so, did you conduct yourself like Jesus
or a little child? Yes things like this in our life come up from time to time
and is very difficult, but view it as something that God is teaching you to
make you a better person. If we call ourselves a child of God, we are to endure
wrongful suffering like Jesus did, then we will shine in God’s eyes and we will
also be a Jesus beacon to those around us.
20 For what
credit is it if, when you are
beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer,
if you take it patiently, this is
commendable before God.
For
what credit is it if, when you
are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently; We are to stand up and accept
punishment for our wrong doing. This seems to be a difficult thing to do,
because usually as soon as someone is accused of something, there is an excuse
and blame is shifted elsewhere. It is our sin nature that causes this because
each of us view ourselves as a good person, always knowing what to do. When we
endure punishment for our mistakes, we need to accept it with a mindset of
patience and a learning experience. Look at Adam he shifted the blame to Eve
when God confronted him about eating the fruit. As soon as they ate of the
fruit the sin nature kicked in. Genesis
3:6-12 So when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a
tree desirable to make one
wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and
he ate. 7
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves coverings. 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in
the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the
LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 So he said, "I heard Your voice in the
garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." 11 And He
said, "Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should
not eat?" 12
Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."As a true Christian aren’t we suppose
to be honest, does actions of shifting blame promote trustworthiness?
But when you do good and suffer, if
you take it patiently, this is
commendable before God; What
Peter is telling his listeners and us is that if we are falsely accused of
wrong doing and suffer punishment, then we are to accept it in a patient
manner.
Have
you ever been with a group of people doing something that would result in some
type of punishment if caught, or in your place of employment and some employee
does something that causes the management to change or institute a new rule and
all have to abide? This is what Peter is talking about, even though you may not
have been involved in the incident or to blame, but you have to suffer the
consequences of an individual’s actions. When this happens we are to accept the
change in policy or punishment graciously and not grumble and murmur about it.
By doing this we are commendable before God and modeling His Son Jesus.
21 For to
this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example, that you should follow His steps:
For to this you were called; God called us out of the world and
when this happened, we, as Born Again believers are commissioned to go proclaim
the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. By conducting our lifestyle modeled
after Jesus, the unsaved will notice and possibly come to the foot of the
Cross.
Because Christ also suffered for us; Jesus suffered and died a terrible
death for us and never complained one time. He was innocent, pure and spotless,
yet died in our place to defeat the sin nature so that we can place our faith
in His sacrifice and resurrection to break the bondage of the sin nature that
binds us.
Leaving us an example, that you should
follow His steps; Jesus
footsteps are our example to follow, even when suffering punishment unjustly.
22 "WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS DECEIT
FOUND IN HIS MOUTH";
"WHO
COMMITTED NO SIN; Was it possible for Jesus to sin? This question has raged
from the time of Christ unto the present. However, the Scripture makes it very
clear that Christ came as the “Last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it
is written, "THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING." The last Adam
became a life-giving spirit.). That
being the case, He had to have the same potential to sin as the first Adam, or
He could not have been the proper fulfillment and Saviour for us.
He
could have sinned, but the facts are, despite all of Satan’s temptations, He
didn’t sin. What the first Adam failed to do, the Last Adam did do—render
perfect obedience to God. What the first Adam did do, the Last Adam did not
do—sin.
NOR WAS DECEIT FOUND IN HIS
MOUTH"; The KJV uses the word guile instead of deceit. Guile refers
to craftiness or trickery, there was none found in His mouth.
23 who, when
He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not
threaten, but committed Himself
to Him who judges righteously;
Who,
when He was reviled, did not revile in return; Jesus was reviled; accused of being a
rebellious man; spoken of as a deceiver; charged with being in league with
Beelzebub, the “prince of the devils” and condemned as a blasphemer against
God. he did not revile those who
had reproached him. He asked that justice might be done. He demanded that if He
had spoken evil, they should bear witness of the evil and that is where He
stopped. He used no harsh language. He showed no anger. He called for no
revenge. He prayed that they might be forgiven. He calmly stood and bore it
all, for he came to endure all kinds of suffering in order that he might be an
example for us, and to make atonement for our sins.
When
He suffered, He did not threaten; When
he suffered injustice from others in his trial and in his death, he did not
threaten punishment. He did not call down the wrath of heaven. He did not even
predict that they would be punished; he expressed no wish that they should be,
but asked the Father to forgive them fore they knew not what they were doing.
But
committed Himself to Him who
judges righteously; Jesus
was obedient to our Heavenly Father and committed Himself to the Fathers will.
He may have had some other thoughts and desires, but fully committed Himself to
God’s will and not His. Matthew
26:39 He went a little farther and
fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My
Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I
will, but as You will."
This
is another example we must strive to do and that is God’s will and not our
wants and desires.
24 who
Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to
sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
Who
Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree; Who Himself refers to Jesus. He bore
our sins on the Cross, no one else sacrificed their life for us as atonement for
our sins. Hebrews 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of
His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
That we, having died to sins, might
live for righteousness; When
we have a Spiritual Birth we become dead to sin because the Holy Spirit takes
up residence within our heart. With the help of the Holy Spirit we have the capability
of resisting sin. Just as Jesus died on the Cross, our old nature dies when we
are saved and we start a new spiritual driven life abiding in Jesus just as His
resurrection gave Him a new spiritual life, which guarantees us a perfect,
spotless righteousness life in God’s eyes. Romans 6:3–5
By whose stripes you were healed; The thought is that Jesus was scourged
or whipped in our place to bring about spiritual healing for us because our
faults. By faith we see the bruises inflicted on him, the black and blue spots
made by beating; we remember that they were on account of our sins, and not for
his; and the effect in reclaiming us is the same as if they had been inflicted
on us.
This
sacrifice Jesus did for us made it possible for us to be healed spiritually by placing
our faith in the Cross of Christ and being Born Again.
25 For you
were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and
Overseer of your souls.
This
verse is referring to a life we all live prior to being Born Again. It is a life
of depending on self and not Jesus our Saviour. We were lost but have found eternal
life through Jesus our Saviour.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created
that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All
things were created through Him and for Him.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God."
The
Lighthouse Full Gospel Church
Sinners Prayer; Pray this, and if you
believe it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord
Jesus I know I am a sinner. I confess my
sins to you; I am sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a
sinful lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness. I believe that only you can forgive sin. I commit my life to you and ask you to come
into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from my
sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and right
now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are the Son
of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my Savior.” I believe this and have faith you will make a
new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my heart and lead
me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.”
(John 3:16,17; Romans
3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians
2:8-10; 1 John 5:11-14; 1:6-10)
(Sin: Rom. 1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph.
5:3-7)
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