1 Peter 2:11-12—Live with moral and ethical excellence
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:11-12
Beloved…
What a comforting, inclusive name for a man of God to use in addressing believers. This is not a term of aggressive intolerance or religious bigotry. Even when this term of endearment is used in correction or warning, it indicates a depth of affection that desires nothing but the best for those to whom it refers.
I urge you…
Be alert. What is about to be said is of utmost importance. Take heed; prepare to take appropriate action.
… as aliens and strangers…
Remember who you are. You are in the world, but you are not of the world. You have your citizenship in Heaven and ultimately answer to God.
… abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
Your job is to stay away from and restrain yourself from indulging in fleshly cravings. You’ll recognize them because they arise in a fierce opposition to the stability and purposeful godly devotion of your mind, will, and emotions. Carnal lusts seek to control your thoughts, decisions, and behaviors with a warlike persistence.
Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles…
You never know who’s watching what you’re doing. There’s a good chance that among your acquaintances, co-workers, relatives, neighbors, and friends is someone who will only see the gospel through your life. You are a carrier of the presence of God; you are an ambassador of Jesus Christ; you are a letter from God read by men.
Again. You never know who’s watching. When I was a young believer, not even a year old in the Lord, I was returning to my dorm from the attached men’s dorm right after my first love broke up with me. Heartbroken, I walked across the lobby of the men’s dorm, lost in pain and unaware of any eyes upon me. A year later I ran into a young man who lived in that dorm, now saved and living for Jesus. He told me something that revolutionized the way I viewed the impact of my day-to-day life.
He told me, “A year ago, I was sitting at the front desk of the dorm when you walked across the lobby, heading toward the women’s dorm. The light streamed in from the windows above the door and landed on you. I knew you had recently become a Christian—everyone in the dorm knew when your life changed—and it hit me: I needed what you had—a relationship with God. I prayed, and here I am—serving Jesus!”
…so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers…
Note: Peter did not write “If they slander you”; he said they would slander you. Why? Because they don’t understand the light of Christ that shines from your life and choices. Very likely, your life makes them uncomfortable, therefore they feel compelled to put you down; they feel obligated to find your flaws; they feel driven to search for inconsistencies in your life.
… they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them…
How you live your life and what you choose to do with your day-to-day behaviors is huge. People watch you, especially if they know you are a Christian. Do they see excellence in your moral choices and integrity? Do they observe the fruit of the Spirit manifested in your interactions with others? What do people see and hear emanating from you when you aren’t thinking about your “witness”? Are you consistent in character whether you think someone is watching you or not?
… glorify God in the day of visitation.
Who will glorify God in the day of visitation? Those who, because of your life, got hungry and thirsty enough for Christ. Those who, because of the goodness they observed in your behavior, decided they wanted in on a relationship with God. This is your calling: Live your life for Christ; live every minute as a man or woman of God; live knowing that conviction may be touching someone right now just because of the way you live your life—on purpose and tuned in to the Holy Spirit.
Dorothy
You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men…2 Corinthians 3:2
© 2015, Dorothy Frick
Read More1 Peter 2:9-10—Your high calling
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10, KJV
This portion of Peter’s letter is one of the most stirring descriptions of the Church found in Scripture. Whenever I read it, I love to savor each phrase, one chunk at a time.
But ye are a chosen generation…
As a teacher, I taught my students that writing conventions frowned upon beginning a sentence with “BUT”. However, here, in this wonderful description of the Church founded on the Rock, “BUT” is aptly placed as a neon sign. It declares, “Some will follow their own conceits all the way to their doom, BUT you, believer in Jesus, will enjoy an entirely different outcome in life.”
You are a chosen generation. Peter wrote to the first generation to trust in Christ. They were chosen out of their generation, and together, they formed their own generation. You and I are likewise members of that chosen generation—the only generation that spans decades, centuries, and even a millennium or two! Together, all of us in Christ present a formidable obstacle to the forces of darkness that have sought to run the show here on earth since the days of Adam and Eve; but even individually, each one of us—chosen by God and made new in Christ—threaten the agenda of the evil one.
… a royal priesthood…
You are part of a royal priesthood. You are a priest because as a Christian you are called to stand before men on behalf of God and to stand before God on behalf of men. You are royal because of your new parentage—you’ve been adopted as a son or daughter by the King of kings and Lord of lords. Hold your head high. Your Father is the King.
Think of that next time you pray. You approach God—not as some distant, uninterested Being—but as your Father—your loving Daddy. If that’s hard to imagine because of an absent, abusive or coldly distant father, picture this:
Among the hundreds of photos from John F. Kennedy’s presidency is a series that captured my heart. Present in the Oval Office were his pre-school children Caroline and John John, happily playing, doing somersaults, and hiding under his desk. As their father worked, conducting the business of the nation, he fondly glanced their way, bending to ruffle their hair and beaming with love and delight at their antics. You go before God not only to conduct Kingdom business, but also to just spend time in His presence as He goes about His task of being God. Your heavenly Father, even more than JFK with his kids, beams with love at you, His royal priest and His precious child. Bask in it!
… a holy nation…
Together, you, I, and all the believers to ever live, comprise a holy nation. We live under the governmental laws of the Kingdom of God and we pledge our love and allegiance to our Sovereign, the Lord God Almighty. The boundaries of our land is the border between Light and darkness. We dwell in the Light; we reach out into the darkness as ambassadors of the Light to rescue those who are snared by its shackles. We no longer live under the laws of that dark land for our Father rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).
… a peculiar people…
I love that the KJV translates this phrase like this—we are peculiar. We are non-conformists; we are those who resist being manipulated by the whims of culture or the fear of man. In the sea of identity politics, you and I can boldly proclaim, “I identify as peculiar.” Hot diggity dog!
The reason we are peculiar people is revealed in the Greek word peripoiēsis from which “peculiar” was translated. It means, more exactly, “a preserving” and “a possession” (see Blue Letter Bible. com). You and I have been pulled out of darkness to be preserved for God’s own possession. And yes, that does make us peculiar—and I love it!
…that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light…
What has transpired for you and me is no small thing. We were born into darkness, destined to live there, and die, only to face an eternity of everlasting, ever-deepening darkness. But God had a plan, conceived before the foundation of the earth, to launch a rescue mission on behalf of the doomed human race. Through Jesus, God delivered you from that enslaving darkness and transferred you to the Kingdom of His marvelous light.
For that, I am awed. Because of the rescue mission successfully conducted on my behalf, I will indeed show forth the praises of my Deliverer. Praise You, Jesus! Thank You!
… which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God…
In times past, men and women were scattered throughout the world, indelibly separated from one another by nationality, tribe, race, religion, and most of all, fear. Although this paradigm still exists, for those of us in Christ, such barriers have been abolished. The Bible states, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28). Ephesians 2:14 reads, “For He Himself is our peace…and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall…”
If you’re like me, you experience the following phenomenon as normal: You have far more in common with Christians of different races and backgrounds than you do with those who look just like you but don’t know Christ. Your people are truly the people of God.
…which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
The mercy of God has always been zeroed in on you. However, it was not until you responded to His kindness which leads to repentance that you obtained that mercy as a living reality in your life. Before you received Christ, you groped in darkness for some hint of mercy from the universe; now you have obtained mercy from the One who created the universe.
This is your calling and this is your privilege. Feast on it and let it inform every move you make.
Dorothy
© 2015, Dorothy Frick
Read More1 Peter 2:7-8—Rejecters of the Stone
This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,” and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 1 Peter 2:7-8
This precious value, then, is for you who believe…
You who believe have received an enormously precious value. Because of your faith in Christ, you will not be disappointed—the living Stone is your personal Rock of refuge.
… but for those who disbelieve…
In stark contrast to men and women of faith are those who disbelieve. Disbelievers are not merely those who struggle with unbelief; they are a category of their own. Disbelievers are those who are religiously dogmatic about their disbelief; they pride themselves on their intellectual rejection of the claims of Christ.
“The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,”
Chief among the disbelievers were builders: Leaders of men. Rulers over others. Those in authority. False shepherds.
And those who were entrusted with stewardship over the lives and well-being of hundreds of thousands of souls rejected the living Stone from God. They wanted nothing to do with that Man but to discredit Him, to silence Him, and to snuff Him out.
It seems as if many of those builders are still alive in our day.
Yet this Stone, this Rock of great value, could not be diminished by the deception and ruthlessness of disbelievers. Indeed, the rejected Stone—cast aside as abhorrent by the builders themselves—was chosen before the foundation of the world to be set as Cornerstone of God’s new Construction, the Church.
“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”
The builders were entrusted with this Stone of precious value to cleanse themselves and to empower them to shepherd the sheep with wisdom and humble integrity. Instead, they stumbled over Him in their vehement rejection and were offended by Him due to their unwavering disbelief.
… for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word…
It wasn’t their intellectual acuity or their highly-evolved spirituality that led them to reject the living Stone. No, the bottom line was this: they refused to obey the Word.
… and to this doom they were also appointed.
It is no small thing to “do your own thing” in regard to the Truth, figuring that embracing the Word of God belongs to narrow souls, not to open-minded individuals such as yourself. However, Jesus, the Stone rejected by those who should have known better, noted long ago, “The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14).
So they chose their own path, you may suggest. What could that possibly hurt? And what is this doom? Why are they appointed to it?
The doom that awaits disbelievers and Stone-rejecters is simply this: They will receive their preference—an eternity without Christ, separated from all that is His—and could have been theirs for the asking.
Why are they appointed to doom? They made the appointment via their disbelief; they secured their appointment by choosing to be offended by the only One who could save them.
Matthew Henry’s Commentary refers to such souls this way: “All those who are disobedient take offense at the Word of God; they are offended with Christ Himself, and with His doctrine and the purity of His precepts…at the meanness [unimpressiveness] of His appearance and the proposal of trusting only to Him for their justification before God” [Note: Mr. Henry passed away in 1714 before he finished his commentary on the epistles and Revelation. The commentary on 1 Peter was written from Mr. Henry’s notes by Mr. Zechariah Merrill.]
What does it profit a man to gain the world only to forfeit his soul? And what precious value awaits the one who forfeits the ways of the world to gain Christ?
Dorothy
But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Hebrews 10:39
© 2015, Dorothy Frick
Read More1 Peter 2:6—Believe in the Stone
For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 1 Peter 2:6
For this is contained in Scripture:
I picture Jewish believers in that day straining to hear every shadow, type, and prophetic depiction of their Messiah—the One who came during their time and on their turf to save the whole world. When Peter, writing of Jesus, declared, “For this is contained in Scripture,” I can just envision them sitting up a tad straighter and leaning in a bit closer to learn this new thing from Scripture—the thing which would reveal more to them about their Friend and Savior, Jesus.
“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone…”
Peter was quoting the prophet Isaiah who was seeking to turn the backslidden rulers of Jerusalem away from their arrogant, scornful approach to prophetic warnings of God’s impending judgment. Isaiah had contrasted their attitude of “We have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception” (Isaiah 28:15) to the security of submitted, humble faith in God.
Isaiah had been adamant. That which the leadership had mocked was detailed by the prophet: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed” (Isaiah 28:16). The choice before them was plain: Trust in God’s tested, secure foundation in Zion and submit to His plan OR trust in the false premise that judgment talk was for Chicken Little alarmists, boasting that nothing would touch them; after all, they were the toast of Jerusalem.
Surely the Jews to whom Peter wrote knew this blotted history of their fathers. So many had chosen foolishly; but these disciples had made up their minds—they would follow Christ wherever He would lead.
The revelation of Jesus as the precious cornerstone of the foundation, chosen from before time began, not only made total sense to them, but surely must have thrilled their hearts as well.
“… And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
The tested, precious cornerstone is none other than Jesus Christ, the foundation upon which all faith is built and made secure. And to that revelation, Peter added this prophetic insight: He who believes in Him will not be disappointed.
Do you believe in Him? Then you will not be disappointed—at the end of your life here, you will have an eternal home waiting for you in the presence of God.
Without faith in Him, all bets are off; but because of your faith in Christ, you not only have eternal life, but you also have 24/7 access to the Creator, Physician, Deliverer, Counselor, and Lover of your soul.
But even if details in your life haven’t turn out as you had hoped, you are overshadowed and indwelt by the One who promises to cause those things to work together for your good. Why? Simply because you love Him and are called according to His purpose! (See Romans 8:28.)
Despite the instability of this world, your faith in Jesus is the cornerstone and bedrock foundation of your life.
And you—a believer in Him—will not be disappointed.
Dorothy
© 2015, Dorothy Frick
Read More1 Peter 2:4-5—Living stones and a holy priesthood
And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5
And coming to Him as to a living stone… choice and precious in the sight of God…
Like Father, like Son. Deuteronomy 32:4 declares emphatically that God is the Rock. Jesus— according to Peter—is the living Stone.
This Stone was chosen of God. This Stone was prized and held in honor. And this Stone was very much alive—and will be forever.
… which has been rejected by men…
When I think about the Stone that is precious and alive, I think of a strong tower to which I can run and be safe. I think about a refuge to which I can retreat in times of trouble. I think about an unshakable foundation under my feet looming up to thwart any foe that would seek to do me harm.
What I don’t think about is rejection. And yet, of all the Scriptures about Christ as a Stone, the majority of them emphasize that He—the immovable, unshakable Rock of Ages—was rejected by men. This absolutely baffles me…but more about that later in verses 7 and 8.
… you also, as living stones…
Not only is your Lord a living Stone, but you are a living stone as well. You reflect Him to the people around you; in your faith, they sense a stability which—although they may not understand or even believe it—makes them feel safe.
…you…are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood…
1 Corinthians 12:27 declares, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (NLT). Together, each believer is joined as the Body of Christ. All by yourself, you are still a part of that Body…a very vital part—a living stone.
God builds the Church; we don’t. We are living components of His Body which He fits together as He desires. Through us, He forms a beautiful house for the job we’ve been given—the job to which He’s called us.
That job to which you and I have been called is priesthood—a holy priesthood. Simply put, your job is to stand before men on behalf of God—and to stand before God on behalf of men.
… to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
In your calling as a priest before God, you offer sacrifices. The Old Covenant priests offered up bulls and goats; you offer up spiritual sacrifices.
Five of the sacrifices you present to God are:
- Your body.
- Your love walk.
- Your finances directed toward the Gospel.
- Your praise and thanksgiving.
- Your good works and acts of sharing with others.
The following Scriptures reveal these spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Romans 12:1-2. Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Your body itself—and therefore what you do in it and with it—is a living and holy sacrifice which is acceptable to God.
Ephesians 5:2. …and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
The ultimate act of love was accomplished by Jesus when He laid down His life in your place—an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. You are to follow His lead and walk in love yourself. This sacrifice—your willingness to walk in love toward others—is a fragrant aroma to God.
Philippians 4:18. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
Whenever you give into the Gospel—whether it is to your church, a special ministry, or to an individual believer involved in furthering the cause of Christ—you have offered up an acceptable sacrifice which is well-pleasing to God.
Hebrews 13:15. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
When you praise God and give Him thanks, you are offering up sacrifice to Him. You have ceased from using your words in everyday, common chitchat and have offered up the fruit of your lips to Him as a spiritual sacrifice. And this sacrifice is to continue on an ongoing basis.
Hebrews 13:16. And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Every time you do good to someone and every time you share what you have with another, God counts this as a pleasing sacrifice to Him.
As a living stone, you are a member of the Body of Christ and part of a holy priesthood, called to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Dorothy
© 2015, Dorothy Frick