back to indexBerean Community Church Wednesday 3/16/2022 1 Peter 2:13-20
00:00:31.660 |
♪ Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true ♪ 00:02:45.960 |
- Oh, like repeat it first verse and then chorus? 00:02:51.200 |
- Yeah, like verse one, verse one, verse two, verse two. 00:04:23.620 |
Are you using my sheet music or your sheet music? 00:06:29.200 |
♪ Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true ♪ 00:08:42.200 |
- Yeah, three times at the end is kind of a lot. 00:18:36.780 |
We're gonna go ahead and get started with Bible study. 00:18:39.380 |
How about we just take some time to just quiet our hearts 00:19:36.580 |
Father, we thank you for gathering us here tonight 00:19:41.580 |
We thank you so much for being a God that is sovereign, 00:19:45.580 |
that is always in control of each and every situation 00:19:48.580 |
of our lives, and that your will is far greater than our will. 00:19:54.580 |
When we're anxious, we know that you are our comfort 00:20:04.580 |
that we would really seek to learn more about you, 00:20:21.580 |
We pray for this time of praise that you'd be honored, 00:20:31.580 |
but you would receive all the praise and all the glory. 00:27:06.580 |
♪ Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true ♪ 00:29:10.580 |
and then we'll get our discussion time started. 00:29:14.580 |
Lord, we are very thankful that you provide for us 00:29:20.580 |
in our week where we can study your word in safety 00:29:33.580 |
but truly to take advantage of all the opportunities 00:29:35.580 |
that we've been given and really seek to be faithful, 00:29:42.580 |
And Lord, in turn, help us just to be good stewards 00:29:53.580 |
And I pray for just a good time of Bible study tonight 00:30:17.580 |
and we pray for your spirits leading and guiding tonight. 00:30:22.580 |
I'm gonna read the eight verses for today's passage, 00:30:51.580 |
"Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, 00:30:55.580 |
"so that in the thing in which they slander you 00:30:57.580 |
"as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, 00:31:24.580 |
"Act as free men, and do not use your freedom 00:31:56.580 |
"and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? 01:33:20.580 |
Can we get the middle to sync with the sides? 01:33:44.260 |
so we can kind of figure out how to look at this. 01:33:48.340 |
So I tinkered with this quite a bit, all right? 01:34:00.180 |
And there's one big one, and then there's a few minor ones. 01:34:15.820 |
there's this attitude that we have before God, 01:34:20.780 |
For the Lord's sake, will of God, bondslays of God, 01:34:30.900 |
are you fearing the master, or are you fearing God? 01:34:34.340 |
The word is phobos, phobos, same word for fear. 01:34:50.620 |
makes it completely like in reference to God. 01:34:53.540 |
The other translations, you can just naturally read it 01:34:56.540 |
as like, oh, respect your master with some fear, 01:35:00.780 |
But I also included that as an attitude before God. 01:35:04.420 |
All the institutions, I just underlined them. 01:35:11.540 |
King, governor, men, foolish men, people, brotherhood, 01:35:18.820 |
And then I also included chapter three, verse one, 01:35:24.820 |
which is about the wives and the husbands as well, 01:35:27.180 |
because I want us to see this theme and this pattern, okay? 01:35:30.540 |
The red bolded words are the key words and phrases. 01:35:39.900 |
And verse 15, for the for such, is very important, 01:35:53.220 |
like this is the will of God, like what part of this, right? 01:36:03.860 |
The blue bold, I discovered in my observation 01:36:17.940 |
And then I noticed that all the other submits 01:36:28.540 |
So there is this overarching theme of being submissive 01:36:39.700 |
being submissive here, being submissive here. 01:36:44.020 |
And then yellow is the stuff that God gives me. 01:36:59.740 |
Is it something I receive on this side of eternity, 01:37:04.860 |
or kingdom-like points, and I get extra square footage 01:37:10.880 |
And this is all important because I'm thinking, 01:37:21.700 |
If, because they've hated me, they're gonna hate you. 01:37:25.100 |
2 Timothy 3, 12, all who desire to live a godly life 01:37:39.780 |
So these are important questions, but I highlight that, 01:37:44.380 |
And my fleshly response is, well, that's not that worthy, 01:37:47.540 |
like going through all of the suffering for that? 01:37:57.220 |
the first section, it's all about the submission. 01:38:01.580 |
And there are kind of, I saw four categories. 01:38:05.080 |
The second section is all the folks, all the people 01:38:20.340 |
what's the important stuff that I'm gonna be looking at 01:38:23.140 |
the next three weeks, the next four weeks, right? 01:38:35.980 |
And this is why I usually like to memorize a book 01:38:39.420 |
before I teach it, so that I already, I know what's coming, 01:38:45.420 |
And so that outline, hopefully, it's gonna help hedge in 01:38:50.780 |
a lot of the thoughts that we have and the observations. 01:38:58.260 |
Exegesis is, we're trying to find what does God intend 01:39:11.060 |
Exegesis is, well, I like this, so I'm gonna apply this. 01:39:15.820 |
I don't like this, so I'm not gonna apply this. 01:39:27.140 |
It's truth, it's unchanging, I need to change. 01:39:30.020 |
Exegesis says, I will change God's word to fit 01:39:45.540 |
Because if you're like me, when you're reading this, 01:40:07.820 |
If in the future, my daughter is in the workplace 01:40:13.020 |
and making advances toward her, what do I say to her? 01:40:15.620 |
Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every institution. 01:40:35.620 |
And my hypotheticals, my mind will even drift to, 01:40:40.440 |
if I'm a Russian soldier, right now I'm a Christian, 01:40:45.380 |
that goes up against my conscience, what do I do? 01:41:04.700 |
and you have to acknowledge what the differences 01:41:20.420 |
but we just need to make sure we're doing it right. 01:41:39.540 |
and you're gonna discover that these general principles 01:42:01.800 |
Well, if for the sake of conscience before the Lord, 01:42:05.460 |
you decide to stick, that is honorable before God. 01:42:14.020 |
when it comes to like, if we're living under a king, 01:42:20.820 |
But in a democracy where we actually can impact laws, 01:42:27.060 |
That's where we do have to exercise some wisdom. 01:42:49.540 |
Which means a descriptive passage is this happened. 01:42:58.060 |
Prescriptive tells me to kind of do the same thing. 01:43:04.540 |
I'm not reading that as a prescriptive passage. 01:43:07.140 |
Well, I go to my animals at home and be like, 01:43:13.220 |
So, but in this passage, sometimes we can confuse, 01:43:16.600 |
this is supposed to be a description of a Christian. 01:43:20.200 |
And then I try to like find ways to kind of fit 01:43:30.320 |
And there's a natural tendency in your heart to isogee. 01:43:36.200 |
not to swing the pendulum too much over here, 01:43:42.720 |
or too much on this side where you're saying, 01:43:49.840 |
Hard, fast rules, you need to be very careful to make. 01:44:02.320 |
I wanna just kind of walk through a little bit of 01:44:11.040 |
This will all be available to you on the slide 01:44:43.260 |
So here's the thing with Christians that were easy targets. 01:44:59.540 |
And there's a lot of assumptions on how cults work. 01:45:04.320 |
they had misassumptions of what Christians did 01:45:09.940 |
They thought Christians practiced homosexuality 01:45:13.420 |
because of the Philadelphia, they practice in brotherly love. 01:45:22.700 |
The Roman world also assumed the Christians did 01:45:34.120 |
because they were eating blood or drinking blood 01:45:39.620 |
So if you're not part of it, you have assumptions. 01:45:51.060 |
We believe in one God, and the emperor's not him. 01:45:57.700 |
So the Roman world hated the Jews and the Greeks. 01:46:03.400 |
All right, sorry, the Jews and the Christians. 01:46:20.060 |
So in AD 67, Rome actually declares war on Israel. 01:46:25.060 |
150,000 Jewish inhabitants in Judea and Galilee 01:46:35.220 |
because somewhere in there is the context of 1 Peter. 01:46:41.820 |
And I wanna turn your attention over to your right, 01:46:45.700 |
Nero launches an imperial persecution against Christians 01:46:54.200 |
This proves to be the first and most intense persecution 01:46:58.740 |
Some are covered with the skins of wild beasts 01:47:05.360 |
Many others are burned, their bodies first clothed 01:47:09.940 |
and then fastened to stakes through their throats. 01:47:12.740 |
At night, their bodies are lit up as torches to give light, 01:47:26.740 |
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, 01:47:38.500 |
And also, we are also looking at bond slaves today. 01:47:57.140 |
And they translate it all differently, but crooked. 01:48:08.340 |
So Seneca stayed with Nero for most of his life. 01:48:27.300 |
This is actually him saying, let's not do this, guys. 01:48:32.700 |
You may take a slave in chains and at your pleasure 01:48:38.620 |
And that's the, he's allowing for that exception. 01:48:47.060 |
or left a sinew fastened in the very teeth it has broken. 01:48:51.100 |
Anger has left many a man crippled, many disabled, 01:49:15.900 |
So when it comes to our response to the government, 01:49:30.260 |
I think 90% of the situations, you'll know what to do. 01:49:41.720 |
in World War II, it's a lot of Christians hid the Jews 01:49:48.900 |
and they straight up lied to soldiers that were coming by 01:49:56.980 |
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, actually one of the early pastor, 01:49:59.740 |
he even said, you know what, if I have a chance, 01:50:10.260 |
when the government is demanding ridiculous things. 01:50:17.980 |
And that's where it's difficult for us to say, 01:50:34.100 |
and response to a government mandate or my bad employer? 01:50:50.820 |
So what does First Peter two have to say to all of this? 01:50:57.580 |
Because sometimes my problem is not my knowledge. 01:51:00.020 |
Knowledge sometimes leads people to being fools 01:51:04.180 |
'cause they think they're smarter than they actually are. 01:51:07.180 |
I need more wisdom from God in these situations 01:51:16.700 |
Our problem is we have a bunch of people who are dumb, 01:51:21.780 |
Okay, so what does First Peter two have to say? 01:51:26.100 |
What does the whole of the epistle of the First Peter 01:51:31.580 |
And we looked at a little bit of this in Titus. 01:51:41.140 |
Okay, now I'm gonna do only one step for you. 01:51:51.740 |
One, you're protected by the perfect power of God. 01:51:58.480 |
The only one you need to really fear is God, amen? 01:52:03.580 |
You will suffer as a Christian for the name of Christ, 01:52:11.220 |
The form, I can't predict, but you will suffer. 01:52:20.700 |
But we're protected by the power of God for salvation 01:52:33.820 |
But a believer, prescriptive and descriptive, 01:52:49.840 |
The word phobos is translated in different ways 01:52:54.580 |
in First Peter, depending on the translation. 01:52:56.820 |
But it's the same word in the Greek, phobos, phobos, 01:53:02.120 |
But we're supposed to fear God, phobos God, not men. 01:53:05.040 |
Believers are loving, especially toward other believers. 01:53:16.660 |
if you guys remember from a couple weeks back. 01:53:24.300 |
We don't use freedom in Christ as a license to sin. 01:53:38.620 |
your chances are you're walking in the flesh. 01:53:53.340 |
And when you don't have the mind or the spirit, 01:53:55.620 |
your reaction toward the governing authorities, 01:53:58.020 |
your reaction toward your unbelieving husband, 01:54:02.460 |
your reaction to your crooked boss is gonna be fleshly. 01:54:05.740 |
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons 01:54:13.100 |
of the world, 2 Corinthians 10, three and four, 01:54:15.760 |
but they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 01:54:29.480 |
Today's Christendom has a lot of social justice warriors. 01:54:36.040 |
You have a lot of people for seemingly Christian causes 01:54:42.840 |
slandering leadership, slandering all of, it just, 01:54:50.700 |
the basic foundation of who you're supposed to be. 01:55:08.820 |
to engage people online, but you don't need more facts 01:55:17.060 |
You need to be led by the spirit, not by the flesh. 01:55:48.300 |
If someone were to intrude into my house, what would I do? 01:56:10.060 |
So if these are not in place in the Christian life, 01:56:12.980 |
the God-honoring attitude toward human institutions 01:56:17.020 |
and the word corrupt appears again and again in 1 Peter. 01:56:23.380 |
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 01:56:27.620 |
has caused to be born again to a living hope, right? 01:56:31.100 |
And then verse four talks about our inheritance, 01:56:45.580 |
and Peter himself wraps it up with a to sum up. 01:56:53.900 |
in the same way, in the same way, in the same way, 01:57:00.760 |
All of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, 01:57:10.540 |
While you're trying to sort out what is God's will for me 01:57:15.080 |
in this particular situation, at my work, in my government, 01:57:20.920 |
Not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, 01:57:35.760 |
For the one who desires life, to love and see good days, 01:57:49.360 |
For the eyes of the Lord are on the, toward the righteous, 01:57:53.920 |
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 01:57:57.320 |
How much damage is being done in the name of Christ 01:58:00.680 |
by fleshly church people saying all kinds of stuff 01:58:13.000 |
Remember, our minds will go to the hypotheticals. 01:58:19.680 |
But the application and the energy for us to seek 01:58:23.200 |
to submit ourselves, hipotasso, to the word of God, 01:58:39.260 |
Whether you eat or drink, whether you suffer or laugh, 01:59:01.460 |
For the Lord's sake, this is the will of God. 01:59:17.480 |
Now, I have all kinds of questions on what charis is. 01:59:21.160 |
That's my daughter's name, so I like that word. 01:59:22.840 |
But I'm like, is this like something I get later? 01:59:26.920 |
Or is this special protection on this side of eternity? 01:59:41.080 |
you should be the same person, inside and out. 02:00:11.160 |
And so, pray for them over the course of the next week. 02:00:16.220 |
This is for the following Wednesday, March 30th. 02:00:20.200 |
The last question is the one that's different. 02:00:30.880 |
leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. 02:00:45.980 |
Is it merely a suggestion or a theological point of study? 02:00:52.420 |
And so, that's the part that my encouragement is, 02:00:57.140 |
filter your application toward question number five. 02:01:01.620 |
And then, tonight, this is what you're gonna be discussing. 02:01:08.060 |
to the various human institutions in your life 02:01:25.660 |
what are the heart attitudes that were adjusted 02:01:28.140 |
and affected through the study of this passage? 02:01:38.140 |
And I think the immediate application for you guys, 02:01:48.820 |
you can immediately apply, right, the context. 02:01:58.660 |
And in the areas in which we minister as salt and light. 02:02:23.780 |
even in your own way, perhaps at your work, right? 02:02:48.620 |
that the fear of Yahweh, the fear of the Lord, 02:02:59.420 |
In our lives, I pray that you would take center stage. 02:03:16.680 |
but help us really to be obedient through and through. 02:03:19.900 |
And that is not something that we can do in our own strength. 02:03:30.480 |
Help us not to be so entangled with this world 02:03:36.120 |
that the hunger for your word gets quenched out. 02:03:45.760 |
I'm gonna pray all these things in Jesus' name.