Contrary to what you are led to believe by listening to the media, or surfing the net, the greatest war today is not financial in nature. The greatest threat to you is not recession or a plummeting stock market or the devaluation of your home. The greatest battle in which you are personally engaged is not the war against Islamic terrorism. These are ultimately inconsequential inconveniences in comparison with the greatest battle you face.
The greatest threat is not the spread of swine flu. As scary as it might seem, the most it can do is make you very sick and perhaps take your physical life. But that is nothing in comparison to the war that is being waged against the spiritual welfare and eternal destiny of your soul.
When was the last time Larry King Live was devoted to the subject of the war against your soul? When was the last time that Oprah devoted her show or even an article in her magazine to the battle being waged against the spiritual health of the soul? When was the last time President Obama or President Bush before him or the Congress of the U.S. paused to acknowledge the war that is being waged by fleshly passions against the soul of a man or woman? The answer, of course, is never!
But even the welfare of our souls is not ultimate. There is something greater still. There is something for which the life of the soul is created, something to which the life of the soul ought to be dedicated. That, of course, is God’s glory!
You see, the world is devoted to two fundamental realities: self-indulgence and self-promotion. And when I say the “world,” it grieves me to say that all too often this includes the so-called Christian world as well. Self indulgence and self promotion are the enemies we face.
Peter’s appeal to you and me, here in 2:11-12, is for precisely the opposite. Never were more relevant words spoken. Contrary to everything you hear in our society, self indulgence and self promotion are not virtues. They are utterly antithetical to everything for which we have been created. Cutting across the grain not only of the prevailing mindset of his own day but undoubtedly of ours as well, Peter urges us to resist the temptation to give in to the promptings of our flesh and appeals to us that we live in such a way that God is glorified.
Can you imagine what our world would be like if it acknowledged and embraced what Peter says in this passage? The impact on what recording artists sing and what journalists write and what politicians labor to achieve would be indescribably different from what they currently are.
Peter, to come straight to the point, is gripped by two concerns: the welfare of your soul and the worship of your Savior. He is passionately concerned lest your soul be conquered by sinful desires and the glory of God be belittled by our bad behavior.
Do you think much at all about those two issues? Seriously. Do you? Are you consciously aware of the war that is being waged by sinful passions against the purity and survival of your very soul? Are you in touch with the eternal importance of living in such a way that the non-Christian world couldn’t help but take notice and in doing so eventually glorify God by coming to faith in Christ?
My message to you today is the same message Peter had for the people of his day. There are only two points to it, so it shouldn’t be hard for you to follow. Peter says two things: first, “abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul” (v. 11), and second, “keep your conduct . . . honorable so that” God might be glorified (v. 12).
Let’s look at each of these in turn.
(1) Abstain from fleshly passions (v. 11).
It’s a short verse and is quite straightforward, but several things are worthy of note.
First, such a command implies that inward desires are not beyond our control, are not simply “who we are” or something to which we must acquiesce and yield but are in fact to be consciously controlled. Such desires are not simply a given. To say such desires are inherently immoral and bad therefore is entirely biblical.
Peter clearly believed that one can exercise control over one’s desires. One need not slavishly and passively yield to them. Note well: Peter does not say that we should refrain merely from the outward expression of those desires (although that is surely included in v. 12). Rather, we are exhorted to abstain from and even to kill the desire itself. Put to death passion. Put to death evil desire. Put to death covetousness.
Secular theorists find this untenable because they don’t believe a person has any power on which to rely other than the strength of one’s own will. One simply cannot resolve or determine or will oneself to cease desiring. This is especially relevant given the current debate over homosexuality. Many argue that a person is powerless over his/her “sexual orientation.” Such desires, they say, are a given of human nature and cannot be altered or overcome.
But Peter’s counsel is based on his belief that the Christian is energized, animated, and empowered by the Holy Spirit (cf. Col. 1:29)! No desire or passion or urge is so entrenched in the human soul that a person indwelt by the Spirit cannot conquer it.
Many contend that you can’t simply choose to suppress certain passions. In fact, they argue that it is psychologically dangerous to attempt any such thing. Venting our desires, giving them full and fetterless freedom, is the counsel we most often hear. “Be yourself! Embrace your longings!” And above all else, never judge or condemn someone for their expression or attempt to find fulfillment of these inward urges.
I’m speaking only for myself when I say that I don’t want to “be myself”! I want to be like Christ. When I look within myself I see evil passions and uncleanness and covetousness and I want nothing of them. These are violations of my true self. These are invasive enemies from which I long to be delivered by the grace of God. I have no desire to affirm all that is within me. I rather choose to oppose it, defeat it, and live in true freedom from its enslaving power.
Second, Christians, although indwelt by the Spirit, are not exempt from fleshly desires. If you are in depression or perhaps doubting your salvation because you still have what Peter calls “passions of the flesh,” don’t be! Don’t give up in despair. But neither should you walk away in denial. Be honest enough to admit there’s a battle raging for the allegiance and loyalty and affections of your soul and fight in the power that God has put at your disposal.
Third, what exactly does Peter have in mind when he speaks of “passions of the flesh”? Almost immediately, most people think of sexual sins. And yes, they are certainly involved. But don’t limit it to that. This is more than lust and drunkenness. Back in 2:1 Peter referred to such things as malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander. One of the fleshly desires may in fact be the yearning to be accepted and honored by pagan society and thus the temptation to compromise.
See Galatians 5:19-21.
In Ephesians 4:22 Paul referred to this as “deceitful desires.” These “passions” or “desires” that Peter mentions will always lie to you. They will try to deceive you into believing that by indulging them and giving them sway in your life and by making room for them in your experience that you will find real and lasting joy. Don’t believe them! They lie! They are “deceitful” desires. Fight them with reminders of truth. Fight them by laying hold of the truth of Psalm 16:11.
Fourth, how do these passions wage war against our souls? What is the nature of this battle? There are no bullets or smart bombs or tanks or missiles. So what would victory look like for sinful passions? How might we know if those passions are winning and our soul is losing?
You know these “passions” are winning when your soul, your inner being, that place of spiritual intimacy and communion with Christ, becomes hardened and indifferent to the things of God. We become more concerned with self promotion than with the exaltation of Christ. We are more concerned about our reputation than we are with his. Our external behavior becomes indistinguishable from that of non-Christians. We find ourselves seeking satisfaction in stuff and money and praise of men rather than in the all-sufficiency of Christ.
Fleshly passions have a way of inducing spiritual blindness. Your physical eyes are fine. This isn’t the sort of blindness that requires a visit to an ophthalmologist or optometrist. You actually think yourself to be more enlightened, but in fact you can’t sense or see the beauty of Jesus. He becomes average in your estimation, not as worthy of your whole-hearted devotion as he once used to be. The luster and shine and brilliance of his personality become progressively more hazy and blurry and you begin to lose your energy for following him and your incentive for loving him.
In a word, these passions are waging war to try to usurp the Lordship of Christ over your soul.
Fifth, so how do we fight them? Peter doesn’t go into that here, but he does give one hint, one suggestion. Did you see it? It’s right there in the first half of v. 11. It’s in your identity: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles . . .” We might even translate this: “because you are sojourners and exiles” on this earth.
This is the third time Peter has drawn attention to this. Read 1:1, 17. Peter’s point is that we should draw strength to say No to fleshly passions because they belong to this world and we don’t! We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom that operates under the Lordship of Christ. The culture of heaven is governed by a different ethic, a different spirit, a different morality. So remind yourself often of where you belong. We belong to the Lord Jesus, not to this world, so take your cues from him, not it.
John Piper put it best when he said that “we must cultivate the mindset of exiles.” What this does mainly is sober us up and wake us up so that we don't drift with the world and take for granted that the way the world thinks and acts is the best way. We don't assume that what is on TV is helpful to the soul; we don't assume that the priorities of advertisers are helpful to the soul; we don't assume that the strategies and values of business and industry are helpful to the soul. We don't assume that any of this glorifies God. We stop and we think and we consult the Wisdom of our own country, heaven, and we don't assume that the conventional wisdom of this age is God's wisdom. We get our bearings from God in his Word.”
Peter is not saying that because we are “sojourners and exiles” on the earth that we are to run and hide or that we are to circle the wagons, hunker down, and wait for the Rapture! Nowhere does he advocate cultural isolation. In fact, as v. 12 will soon make clear, it is precisely as we live in this world and encounter the non-Christian community that our lives will in God’s grace have a transforming effect on them, all to the glory of God.
Sixth, just how important is this battle? Is it a minor skirmish, a momentary tussle, an inconsequential conflict? Am I blowing this whole thing out of proportion? See Matthew 16:26.
So, how do we fight in this battle? With what weapons do we go to war? The only way to defeat one passion is with the superior power of another. Fill your mind with things that display the superior beauty of God. Meditate on things that exhibit the superior greatness of Christ. Resist the allure of fleshly passions by flooding your soul with godly ones. Study God. Sing about Christ. Rely on the Spirit. Read the Word. And be absolutely ruthless to amputate from your life anything that draws you away from God or dulls your appetite for him.
Now, it doesn’t stop there. To this point Peter has been concentrating on the inner battle each of us must face. But the Christian life is not merely a private struggle. It is more than a purely personal war. It has a public dimension. We have a broader responsibility. This brings us to Peter’s second exhortation. Here’s how he says it in v. 12.
(2) Keep your conduct honorable (v. 12).
Peter makes it clear that what happens in our souls will eventually spill out into the broader social arena. Our desires and passions and the inclination of our wills have a public face. There’s simply no other way to say it: our conduct has a missional or outward focus! The passions that we feel within and the lives we lead behind these walls must ultimately go out and be seen and heard by those who don’t know Jesus.
As one commentator put it, “Peter is clearly passionate about earthing his theology; he is not interested in a piety which is disconnected from the world” (Macleay).
This is the same pattern we saw in 1:14–15. "Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but . . . be holy in all your conduct." Fight first at the level of desires and then at the level of conduct.
When Peter exhorts us to keep our conduct “honorable” he doesn’t use the normal Greek word for “good”. Gk. kalos, not agathos. The former goes beyond the idea of moral goodness or ethical righteousness and includes the element of aesthetic worth and beauty; hence, a goodness that commends itself to the beholder by its nobility and attractiveness.
Before we go any further, let’s be certain that we have come to grips with the fact that, as Peter says, people will speak against us. They will portray us as “evildoers”.
In the first century Christians were accused of: (1) sedition against the state (because they refused to worship the Emperor; secret meetings at night created suspicion); (2) inciting civil and economic upheaval (because of the gospel’s appeal to the lower classes; they put an end to the production and sale of idols); (3) immorality and incest (they called each other “brother” and “sister” and engaged in “love” feasts, i.e., agape feasts); (4) cannibalism (they ate and drank the “flesh and blood” of Jesus in the Lord’s supper).
In our day the slander will be different, but still real: (1) intolerance (because we dare to say that people are wrong or immoral for certain beliefs and behavior); (2) arrogant and elitist (because we refuse to join with them in their activities); (3) exclusivistic (because we insist that Jesus is the only way to God); (4) old-fashioned and out of date (because we embrace a morality that traces its roots to a centuries old book); (5) unloving (because you seem to care more about an unborn child who has no name than you do the financial burden or inconvenience it will bring to its mother); and the list could go on.
The non-Christian world as a whole will always despise us. The church is to be the church and not be concerned with winning cultural approval. We do not seek the praise of our society. But we are to live in such a way that they are inevitably influenced by us.
How does this work? What is it that Peter is telling us happens when the inward life of purity and godliness makes itself known in public behavior? Let me answer that by trying to sketch a scenario. It won’t apply directly to all of you, but you can take the idea of it or the principles of it and make sense of it in your own situation.
In the absence of your employer, people loaf, play around, squander time; while you work just as hard and efficiently in his absence as you do in his presence (it may initially provoke them; they call you a “do-gooder” or “holier-than-thou”, but in some cases, says Peter, it will have a redemptive effect).
After the Thunder game your friends decide to go to a strip club; you decline: “No thanks. My wife is waiting up for me, and I really can’t bear the thought of going another hour without seeing her.”
At a ladies luncheon, conversation turns to gossip, as vicious and unsubstantiated things are said about one person who isn’t there. You speak up: “Perhaps we shouldn’t talk this way about Jane when she isn’t here to defend herself. The fact is, I love and appreciate her and find it hard to believe what you’re saying. Maybe we should stop for a minute and pray for her.”
Or it’s May 15th, one month after the tax deadline, and you call your accountant to tell him that you failed to report some taxable income for which there is no paper trail; income that it would be impossible for the IRS to track. And you leave him wondering, “Why?”
Or we’re back at the office again and you never seem to join in when others make fun of a particularly unattractive co-worker. And you’re the only one who goes out of the way to eat lunch with her or offer to drive her to the company Christmas party. You actually treat her as if she’s important and valuable.
They watch, they observe, they listen. At first, they mock you. They laugh. “You’re a fool,” someone says. They exclude you from the group. You feel alone.
But your conduct begins to weigh heavily on a few hearts. They can’t figure you out. They can’t understand what kind of person would act this way? Why would you endure such ridicule when you could easily avoid it?
The wonder to themselves:
“You don’t seem to need the approval and praise of your co-workers, like I do. Why?”
“You aren’t desperate to get ahead or make more money like the rest of us are. Why?”
“Your hope and confidence and trust appear to be in something other than safety and comfort and wealth and promotion. How do you do it?”
“You seem so peaceful and calm when things happen that drive the rest of us nuts.”
“You’re willing to suffer financial loss for the sake of doing what is right when doing what is wrong is so easy and the reward is seemingly so great.”
“You never seem to retaliate when others lie about you. Why? Where does that come from?”
As they watch and listen to you, they quietly say to themselves: “I like what I see. I’m afraid to admit it. But there’s something alluring in the way that person handles hardship. There’s something special in the way that person responds to criticism and slander. That man’s honesty is unnerving to me. That woman’s devotion to her husband is stunning.”
It won’t always be that way. Many, many times the ridicule and calloused rejection will only intensify. But occasionally, says Peter, the Spirit will use your “honorable” and appealing conduct to pierce the hardened heart and bring light to the darkened soul. And in some cases those who were formerly “Gentiles” or unbelievers will come to see the beauty and splendor and sufficiency of the God whom you profess and they will embrace Christ and thereby “glorify God” as Peter says at the close of v. 12.
Some believe that the “day of visitation” in v. 12 is the day of judgment when the non-Christian world will be compelled to acknowledge the truth of the gospel and the virtue of your life and therein will bring glory to God. If so, Peter is then telling us that non-Christians will be forced to admit the presence of God in believers as the only explanation of their behavior. But I’m inclined to believe that the “visitation” is of the Holy Spirit in bringing salvation.
See Matthew 5:14-16.
To what extent do our lives direct people’s attention away from ourselves and to the glory of God? Are you little more than an echo of a Christ-belittling culture or are you a loud and ear-piercing, counter-cultural, voice that lets it be known that there is a better way?
So what we have here is a clear statement of how we at Bridgeway we can fulfill our purpose as a church. Our calling, our aim, our goal in all we do is to make a name for Jesus Christ in this city, to live in such a way that the passions of our soul and the beauty of our conduct reflect the greatness and glory of God. As we saw in 1 Peter 2:9, our purpose is to declare the excellencies of the character and conduct of this God, the only God, who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. And here in vv. 11-12 we’ve just been told one way in which to do it.