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Proverbs
6:1-11
1 My son, if you become surety for your friend,
If you have shaken hands in
pledge for a stranger,
2 You are snared by the words of your mouth;
You are taken by the words of your mouth.
3 So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For
you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; Plead with
your friend.
4 Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to
your eyelids.
5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand
of the hunter, And like a bird
from the hand of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her
ways and be wise,
7 Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler,
8 Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.
9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When
will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little
folding of the hands to sleep—
11 So shall
your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.
Father God, give us strength in these perilous times to
remain faithful to your will and not ours, in Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Book of I Peter 2:11-17
NKJV
This week’s lesson is about Godly
living in verses 11 and 12 and verses 13-17 are pertaining to submission to
Rulers, Kings, and Presidents, in other words government authority. We are in a
time of not respecting authority whether it be law enforcement, government
officials, rulers, etc. It seems where discord is with authority, there are
demonstrations and some demonstrations have eventually overthrown government
officials or turned violent. Is this how we are to act as a believer of Jesus
Christ? Scripture tells us this will happen as we come closer to the return of
Jesus.
11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which
war against the soul,
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims; This phrase of this verse reinforces
what the introduction stated that Peter’s letter is to Jewish brethren that are
scattered throughout Asia Minor or Turkey. “Beloved”, when used in the Bible in
most cases refers to believers and since the next verse talks about Gentiles we
know Peter is addressing Jewish believers. These brethren are new to the area
of Asia Minor therefore Peter refers to them as sojourners meaning a temporary
residence. Some of the people escaping the persecution that was taking place in
Jerusalem would travel and stop here and there for a short period of time. Some
would set up a permanent residence therefore being referred to as pilgrims. When
America was discovered and people started coming here they were referred to as
pilgrims because they were strangers in a strange land. Many times when the
term pilgrim is used it denotes someone in a new land in order to practice
religion freely, and that is exactly what these people were doing.
It
is also very possible that Peter referred to them as sojourners because they
were followers of Christ and that their true home was not here on earth. We are
sojourners here on earth. This isn’t our true home, Heaven is our true home. We
are here for only a short part of our life, a part of our life that will
determine where we will spend eternity.
Abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul; Why would Peter give this warning of
abstaining from fleshly lusts? Well it doesn’t matter whether it is 4,000 years
ago or today. When a person relocates to a new place it is easy to get caught
up in different cultures, religions, and lifestyles. Just take a look at some
of the things that took place in the OT. The Israelites got swayed into
allowing some of the people that God said to kill to live, as a result some of
them started worshipping foreign idols. These are the things that war against
the soul and turn into fleshly lust. Some of the people of the OT were told not
to marry with gentiles but they did because of fleshly lust. Another example of
worldly lust this time of year is when teenagers go off to college for their
first year. They are in a strange surrounding and the lust of the world pulls
them into doing things they wouldn’t do at home. The world pulls and tugs at
our soul when we are in a different environment. So we have to abstain and have
our guard up at all times to ward off the darts of the Devil. Romans 13:4 For he is God's minister to you for good. But if
you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's
minister, an avenger to execute
wrath on him who practices evil. 2 Timothy 2:22
Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with
those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Titus
2:12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.
One other thing this verse
tells us is that the sin nature is still present within a Born Again Christian,
even though they are dead to it, it is still there and will cause a believer to
sin from time to time. Romans
6:11-12 Likewise you also, reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our
Lord. 12
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in
its lusts.
12 having your conduct honorable among the
Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe,
glorify God in the day of visitation.
This verse sounds like Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in
heaven.
Having your conduct honorable among
the Gentiles; This
phrase is referring to two things; the first is honorable conduct meaning
lifestyle; a Godly lifestyle. The second thing is who is being referred to with
the term Gentiles. This isn’t referring to Jew and non-Jew distinction, but to
believers and non-believers.
As
Matthew 5:16 above states we are to live a lifestyle modeled after Jesus so
that we are an example to those around us that are not saved. This type of
lifestyle is a testimony to others what Jesus has done in our life. Gracious,
godly, and pleasant behavior on the part of Christians could win some of the
unsaved critics to the Lord.
That when they speak against you as
evildoers; The
non-believers of Peter’s time, and today, spread vicious lies about Christians.
The non-believing Jews and Gentiles did not think highly of believers resulting
in slanderous persecution and sometimes death. Believers were considered evildoers.
Times
haven’t changed much in 2,000 years, even today when a believer speaks of the
Gospel people are turned off and what goes on in their mind is this person is a
Jesus fanatic. If we knew the true news around the world, a believer of Jesus
is probably killed each day for their faith.
They may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of
visitation; At some
point in time a non-believer may come to you and want to know why you act the
way you do; or ask what do you have that I don’t have; or you are different
than other people. This inquiry is because the light of Jesus beams from a Born
Again Christian through their actions and speech, and at that point the Holy
Spirit has opened the door for the Christian to share the message of the Cross
with them. Don't write off people because they misunderstand Christianity;
instead, show them Christ by your life. The day may come when those who
criticize you will praise God with you.
The
day of visitation is referring to the Church Age which is what we are living in
presently.
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him
for the punishment of evildoers and for
the praise of those who do good.
Therefore submit yourselves to every
ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme; Verse 13 and the first part of 14 is
telling us that we are to submit ourselves to civil laws that are instituted by
government whether it be Federal, State, County, Township, City, etc. This
isn’t the only place in the NT that we are commanded to submit to authority.
Jesus first stated it in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke; Paul preached
it in Romans, and it is also recorded in Titus. Matthew
22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:25; Romans
13:1-7; Titus 3:1
So
with what is going on in the world today are we to submit and support laws that
go against God’s Word, like murdering babies and same sex marriage? Absolutely
not! If government institutes immoral laws and votes them in, we don’t abide by
them, in fact we as the church need to voice our opinion to our Congressman/woman
that it is wrong and not to support such laws. If everyone that calls
themselves Christians would flood Washington D.C. and State government with
letters opposing the murdering of babies (abortion) and same sex marriage,
maybe these immoral laws would not become law. Do you write, email, or call
your Congressman opposing bills before they become law? If not, are you a true
child of God or just go with the flow of the world?
In
Peter’s time thousands of Christians laid down their lives, with Peter even
being one of them, simply because they refused to say that “Caesar is Lord.” As stated, if laws are passed which violate the
Word of God, the Christian cannot obey such laws; however, in such a case, we
must be prepared to pay the price, even as the Early Christians did.
So
what do we submit to? It is things like taxes, traffic ordinances, police
officers, court rulings, etc. What about religious denominational hierarchy?
Have you ever noticed in the NT that there was no hierarchy in the early church?
Churches were established by Paul and other disciples and they guided them
along spiritually through letters, but there was no rank. Sure the people
appealed to the Apostles for guidance, but each church stood alone. So what
Peter is referring to when he states to submit to “every ordinance of man” is
civil laws. Verse 17 tells us what to do pertaining to the Church.
Or to governors; Governors meaning subordinate officers appointed by the chief
magistrate over provinces.
To those who are sent by him for the
punishment of evildoers; This
is referring to the King sending out his servants to uphold the law and punish
evildoers. In Peter’s time this is referring to the Roman government. It is the
duty of a good and vigilant ruler to see that his province be peaceable and
quiet. He should to make diligent searches for sacrilegious persons, robbers,
man-stealers, and thieves, and to punish everyone according to their guilt.
And for the praise of those who do good; Just as it is a ruler’s duty in any
governing body to seek out evil doers, he also has the duty to give thanks to
those that are law abiding citizen.
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good
you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—
For this is the will of God, that by
doing good; The will
of God is to do good if one is a child of His. God commands us to love our
neighbor, forgive when we are offended, be helpful with good works, etc. We are
to live a life of uprightness and benevolence to be an example to those around
us. By living according to the will of God, a Christian is an asset to any
country and community.
You may put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men; Peter
uses the term “ignorance of foolish men”. In Peter’s day non-believers would
bring the Christian believers before courts charging them with untrue charges
just like they did with Jesus. They would make up charges out of Christianity
ignorance because they didn’t understand the change a person would go through
being Born Again. So what Peter is telling us here is the best way to combat
Christianity ignorance is to do good in speech and actions so as to not cause a
non-believer to speak evil of you.
To
put this into perspective lets use a so called peaceful demonstration that goes
wrong. In these demonstrations many would claim to be Christian, but in words
only. The demonstration starts out fine, but something may happen or someone
may start getting the people all fired up by saying things that may or may not
be true and the next thing you know the demonstration is out of control and
property is being damaged or destroyed, fighting occurs, rocks and bricks being
thrown, etc. This is not the will of God to conduct our lives like this; this
is not being a Christian. If a true Christian participates in something like
this, then how can they put to silence the foolish men? Titus 2:7-8 in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in
doctrine showing integrity,
reverence, incorruptibility, 8 sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who
is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.
16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for
vice, but as bondservants of God.
As free; Peter is referring to the freedom a
believer experiences that comes with salvation.
Yet
not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God; This is referring to salvation also
meaning that some in Peters day and also current times believe as long as they
are saved they are free to do as they please, and use their liberty as a cloak
for sin. Many times people think that as long as they said a prayer and went
through some type of ritual they are saved. These people only repented with
their mind and not their heart, and no change was found in them so they go on
living as usual. We are to be servants of God doing good. Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How
shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
17 Honor all
people. Love the brotherhood.
Fear God. Honor the king.
Honor all people; Show
them the respect if honor is due to them according to their personal worth, and
to the rank and office which they hold.
Love the brotherhood; Pertains to the whole group of
Christians; true believers. If we truly love God we will love our brothers and
sisters.
Fear God; Meaning in a reverent way. Anyone that
fears God will not dishonor their brethren or civil authority.
Honor the king; Meaning respecting the office whether
it be King, Ruler, President, etc. It does not mean to worship, only Jesus
deserves our worship.
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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