Introduction

Our scripture for today is 1 Peter 2:11-12. Please turn there in your Bibles and read along with me.

Scripture:

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:11-12

Right now in the news, there is a great deal of talk about the most important issues in our country. In a recent Rasmussen pole, they reported that the number 1 issue in the minds of American voters for the last year, is the economy. It’s been the #1 issue since before the last presidential election. That’s no surprise.

Rasmussen then reported that the other top issues for Americans are the health care, job creation, government spending, government ethics/corruption, social security, education, taxes, and immigration.

What is missing from this list is not really surprising either. There is no mention here about the issues that matter most to God and should matter the most to His people.

What the two verses we read before bring to light is that there are two issues in the world that are of the highest importance to God but they never make the news headlines at all. Our modern media outlets totally neglect of these issues and by doing so, their neglect reminds believers that they are strangers in this world.

If these two issues were important at all to our society, the blogs, facebook, television, university classes, popular music and business mission statements would look and sound very different than they do. However, it is proven over and over again that we live in a world whose priorities, values, commitments, standards, preoccupations and pleasures do not reflect the issues which are most important to the heart of God.

The two  most important issues in the mind of God is: 1. The salvation of the human soul and 2. the glory of God.

Today we are going to focus on the first of those two issues and answer this question: how do we fight the battle against the desires that would destroy our soul?

With a laser-focus on verse 11, Peter starts this passage using strong language as to persuade us. The word translated “urge” in the ESV is the Greek word parakaleō and it means to beg, to instruct, to exhort, to summon or to encourage.

“11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” 1 Peter 2:11

He “begs” us as sojourners or exiles. Let me explain what Peter means by using this illustration:

Understanding our position as a sojourner or exile

Mexico Illustration:

Growing up in San Diego, I’ve had the opportunity to visit Mexico on several occasions. Downtown Tijuana looks like this. Whenever I’ve been in Mexico, I am constantly reminded that I am a visitor there. The language is strange to me. The food tastes different. The water does not agree with me. There are unusual smells in the air. The houses seem like strange places to live. The customs are different. The morality and even the laws are different. When I’m there, I’m constantly reminded that I’m only a visitor just passing through. Mexico in not my home.

When Peter calls us aliens or pilgrims or exiles or strangers or sojourners (depending on your translation), he means that we don’t belong to this world. We are pilgrims just passing through. Let’s look back at our text.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11

In other words, our primary citizenship is in heaven, not in the United States. Peter was living under the authority of one of the most ruthless governments in history. In that context, Peter instructs us in verse 13 to “be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution. IN verse 17, he tells us to love God and honor the emporer.

Paul tells us in Romans 13 that there is no authority except from God and those (governing authorities) that exist have been instituted by God.

It honors God when we respect people in authority, because God put them in authority. He’s sovereign over the appointment of rulers. It is also crystal clear that our ultimate, sovereign leader is Jesus Christ and not our president or our governor or any other man.

Going back a couple of verses to verse 9, look at what Peter says about our primary identity as believers:

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

We are like travelers in a foreign land. The language and practices and expectations of this fallen world should feel foreign to followers of Christ.

Conversations that are focused on Christ and His Kingdom should sound out of place in a secular culture that intentionally rejects Christ. Hope in eternal heavenly things should be an alien concept to those lost without hope. It’s ok that its strange. It should bother us if it didn’t sound strange to a world lost without Christ. We are strangers here…just passing through

We do not belong to America. Our citizenship is in God’s eternal kingdom. We are the possession of God Almighty: …a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession…

As God’s people, Disciples live to proclaim God’s excellencies and to carry out His agenda. (2 Peter 2:9) (not Bush or Obama or Republican or Democrat or Tea Party or Libertarian)

I has a conversation a couple years ago with an individual who held the constitution in as high of regard as scripture itself. I challenged his belief. We should respect the laws on the land whenever possible, but God’s Word and the US constitution are not on par with each other.

We don’t receive our marching orders from the constitution, from Fox News, from CNN, from news commentators, from political parties or from the popular culture. We learn how to live for God and how to please God from his Word and ONLY from His word.

Application

Therefore, the Bible urges us to cultivate the mindset of exiles. What I mean is that we are brought to the shocking reality that the messages originated in the world are at war with our souls.   … abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul…(1 Peter 2:11) We are sojourners – a people who are the possession the living God – who are simply passing through.

Disciples are called out by God to be a people who are not entangled in or swayed by the world’s affairs. (2 Peter 2:11) Peter is giving us a warning here so that you and I won’t drift.

  • We cannot assume that the way the world acts and thinks is the best way to act or to think.
  • We cannot assume that the message on the television is helpful to our spiritual growth.
  • We cannot assume that the strategies and values of the business community hold any value for eternity.
  • We cannot assume that the advertisers flattering words and promises are at all truthful.

The prevailing “wisdom” of this age is not God’s wisdom. Christians gather our wisdom from a much purer source. God’s people get their commands from God’s Word, not from this fallen world. (Psalm 119:9-16, 37)

As children of the King, our hearts cry out with the psalmist when he asks, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” and then he declares in Psalm 119:9:

“…By guarding it according to your word.
Then verse 37

37  Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways.

Worthless things in the Bible are often those things that are coveted most by our culture. The Bible calls those things the “passion of the flesh.” The word for passion is the Greek word epithymia (e-pē-thü-mē’-ä). It is sometimes translated “lust” and it can refer to an ungodly sexual desire. It can also be referring to any desire that is a longing for what God has forbidden. Peter warns us that those passions are at war with our souls. 1 Peter 2:11 reads, “ Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”

Let me give you an illustration that might be helpful in understanding how this battle takes place…

How Passions of the Flesh wage war against your soul

Rock Climbing Illustration

I’m fascinated by rock climbers. It intrigues me that someone could stand and look at cliff that common sense would tell you to avoid (or to go around) and they decide instead to climb right up the front of it. Even more, they go out of their way to find the most severe and dangerous rocks faces in the world and are internally compelled with an all-consuming passion to conquer those challenges.

I’ve tried rock climbing a couple of times. I’m terrified by it.

Take a look at this picture. This guy is faced with a couple of choices here. Either he is going to pull himself up or he’s going to let go and suffer some kind of injury, but regardless of the choice he makes, he’s not going to stay in the position for very long.

I learned a couple of things from my experience. First, rock climbing is not a passive sport. Nobody accidentally gets to the top without considerable effort. Second, we were not made to live on the rock face. When climbing, you either battle your way up to the top or you descend back down to the bottom, but no-one, who is hanging on by their fingertips, is going to camp out in that position. A moment of inattention – a drift away from the reality of the rock face – can result in injury or even death. It’s a risky sport.

Just like the climber struggling up the rock face, Peter exhorts us not to drift in our spiritual lives, but to climb – to fight to the finish! He tells us to prove our salvation by the way we war against the desires of our flesh.

One of the most critical issues in the world is the salvation of the human soul. If our soul is lost, it cannot be renegotiated. This issue affects everyone without exception, it affects everyone forever AND it affects everyone in a very serious way. I’m proclaiming this truth to you today because the weightiness of this message has been lost in American culture.

Our world does not pay much attention to the salvation of the soul. Our world is massively preoccupied with things that don’t hold eternal value. We are taught how to fight against AIDS and obesity and cancer and crime and allergies and drunk driving and crabgrass and pack rats. Solving any of these issues may lead to 80 years of relative comfort, but they fail to address the next 80 trillion years after we die. Our world gives no counsel on how to fight for the eternal life of your soul.

Biblical References

In Matthew 10:28 Jesus says, “28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Six chapters later in Matthew 16:26, Jesus says, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

Explanation

What Jesus is saying is that if the soul is lost, the person is lost. There is no way to get it back.   When this war against the soul is over, it’s over. If the forces that wage war against your soul prevail, then your soul is lost forever.

Just like the constant pull of gravity on the rock climber, the world has a constant pull on our souls. It is waging war against our souls and God calls us to persevere. He promises that those who are called to salvation will persevere to the end. Romans 8:39 proclaims that nothing on this earth is able to separate us from God. The man who perseveres through the trials and past the fleshly desires to the end will prove his salvation and will win God’s blessing. (Ps 119:2-3)

Jesus says in Luke 21:

“17  You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.” The word translated “lives” in Luke is the same word in the Greek that is translated “soul” in 1 Peter.

Life Application

To be a Christian in this world is like climbing against the pull of gravity. If we drift, if we let go, if we camp out, we’ll succumb to the pull of this dark and fallen world. We’ll drift into our fleshly desires and according to this passage, those desires can destroy us for eternity.

I’m not saying that we can loose our salvation. I am saying that our fight against the schemes of this fallen world prove our salvation. (2 Peter 2:5-10) Turn in your Bibles just a couple pages to the right to 2 Peter chapter 1….Verse 5

2 Peter 1 says, “5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” Skipping to verse 10 “10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.”

I’m also saying that a person who has fallen in love with this present world has no proof of saving faith – regardless of decisions that they made in the past. There is the aweful example of Demas in the Scripture.   Paul said that he was “in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” 1 Tim 4:10

The Bible makes the same charge to the person who is a believer living in rebellion and to the person who has never decided to follow Christ: REPENT. Turn from your sins and proclaim the Jesus is Lord in your life!

If we are diligent in fighting for our faith, we’ll prove our election – we’ll prove that we’re saved and that we are children of the King and citizens in a heavenly kingdom.

 

 Teaching Outline

 

The 2 most important issues in the mind of God is:

  1. The salvation of the human soul
  2. The glory of God.

Understanding our position as a sojourner or exile

Disciples live to proclaim God’s excellencies and to carry out His agenda (2 Peter 2:9)

Disciples are called out by God to be a people who are not entangled in or swayed by the world’s affairs (2 Peter 2:11)

God’s people get their commands from God’s Word, not from this fallen world. (Psalm 119:9-16, 37)

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:9, 37

How Passions of the Flesh wage war against your soul

One of the most critical issues in the world is the salvation of the human soul.

Our world is massively preoccupied with things that don’t hold eternal value.

“28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” Matthew 16:26

The man who perseveres through the trials and past the fleshly desires to the end will prove his salvation and will win God’s blessing.   (Psalm 119:2-3, Romans 8:39)

“17  You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.”   Luke 21:17