Keep Your Conduct Honorable

In the summer of 2008, I spent two months in the nation of Thailand on a short-term mission trip. And while I was there, I learned that the American consulate in Chiang Mai, in the northern part of the country, hosts various events and parties for American ex-pats throughout the year… especially on holidays.

So, since I was going to be there over the Fourth of July… me and a few friends decided to go to the American consulate for Independence Day.

While we were there, I ended up talking to one of the consulate employees for a while. He told me a bunch about Thailand… things about the culture, politics, history, it was great… he told me about restaurants and fun things to do. It was awesome.

But he also felt the need to warn me about the various temptations and pitfalls that exist there in Thailand, and he told me about many of the scams that he had seen many Americans fall victim to. He sort of went on and on about various things. It was somewhat interesting.

But eventually he said something that I’ve never forgotten… he said to me… “Don’t forgot, you’re not Thai. You’re in this country, but don’t forget, you’re not one of them. If you do something stupid, you’re not going to get the benefit of the doubt. A lot of Americans come over here, and they forget that, and that gets them in trouble.”

I think the sentiment from that man at the American consulate that day… is not all that different from the sentiment we get from the apostle Peter here in this letter.

The man at the consulate was saying, in essence, the knowledge of your real citizenship should inform how you live abroad. And that’s what Peter is saying too. The knowledge of your real heavenly citizenship should inform how you live now, in this age.

The apostle Peter is talking to the Christians and he’s saying… don’t forget you’re an exile… you are a sojourner… you are not one of them… don’t behave like them.

You may live in the land, but don’t forget, you’re not a citizen of the city of man, you are a citizen of the city of God. That’s what Peter has been saying here.

Lessons from the Apostle Peter

As we read this letter, from Peter, he reminds us that we are elect exiles. We have a living hope, and we can be confident in this because we know that we were foreknown by God, chosen by him in eternity past. It was God that caused us to be born again, as Pastor Jonathan said a few weeks ago, we had as much to do with our spiritual birth as we did with our physical birth.

Peter has also told us that we are now a holy priesthood.

And, as Pastor Ryan said last week, we get to be the ones that God uses to mediate his blessings to the world. We get to be the ones that declare the excellencies of Christ.

Like that man in Thailand, Peter is saying, in essence: “Hey, don’t forget your citizenship. Don’t forget your identity. If you do, that’ll get you in trouble.”

In this letter, we’ve been reminded by Peter of some great truths. Now, in light of these great truths… Peter gives us several exhortations. That’s where we pick up this morning.

If you have your bibles, grab them or turn them on, whichever is your preference… and flip over, or scroll over to 1 Peter 2:11.

Abstain from the Passions of the Flesh

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh…”

That’s the first exhortation from Peter: Loved ones, beloved: Abstain from the passions of the flesh.

Pretty straightforward.

Then Peter describes the passions of the flesh, look at the second half of verse 11… he says they “wage war against your soul.” The passions of the flesh are waging war… they are proactively and strategically looking for ways destroy you.

In Genesis 4:7, God says this: “sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you.”

Sin is crouching at your door.

When I hear the word “crouching” it makes me think of a lion crouching in the plains of Africa, sneaking up on an unsuspecting gazelle, ready to pounce. That’s what sin is like. And so many Christians are like the unsuspecting gazelle, just enjoying the moment, drinking at the water hole, as if there’s no threat.

Friends, the passions of the flesh are waging war against you.

Act accordingly.

Friends, sin is not passive. Sin is proactive in its quest to destroy you. You better be proactive in your quest to destroy sin.

That’s why the writer of the book of Hebrews give us this exhortation: “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” Another English translation says it this way… the sin that “clings so closely.” So, that’s the first exhortation here in this section from Peter… abstain from the passions of the flesh.

Live Honorably

The next exhortation from Peter here is this… behave honorably. Look at verse 12 with me:

“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.” Peter is alluding to the fact that…. in this world, people are going to mock you. People are going to speak ill of you. People will attack you. People will treat you unfairly.

But, Peter says here, even when they do, keep your conduct honorable, and trust that God will use your honorable behavior as the means of declaring his own glory to unbelievers.

So those are the first two exhortations from Peter.

#1- Abstain from the passions of the flesh.

#2- Keep your conduct honorable.

Let’s look at the next one.

The Value of Submission

Look at verse 13… Peter says, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution… whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him.”

Submit to the human institutions. So, let’s pause there, and ask: What are “human institutions” in our context? Well, that’s:

The president.
The governor.
The mayor.
Police officers and other members of law enforcement.
If you’re a college student, your professors.
At your job, it’s your boss.
If you live in a neighborhood, like my wife and I do, with an HOA, like it or not, the HOA is an institution with authority.
These are just a few examples.
These are the power structures that we are submit to.

Now, let’s be honest, many of us don’t like the word submit, right Submission is not exactly a very “American” word. We live in a culture that values autonomy and rugged individualism and freedom and absolute egalitarianism.

So many people in our society want to be able to do whatever they want, with no accountability. We live in a society where people say things like, “You do you boo!”

This drive for autonomy is very dangerous.

I could give you plenty of examples, but we don’t need to look much further than the first few pages of the Bible. This drive for autonomy is precisely what got Adam and Eve in trouble way back in the Garden of Eden. God said you can eat from every tree in the garden, but there is just one tree you may not eat from.

But Satan says to the woman, in Genesis 3:5, he says, you know why God gave you that restriction, because, and here’s the quote, because “God knows that when you [do] eat of [the fruit], your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.”

You see, the temptation here was: Don’t submit to what God says… instead… find a way to become like God. Why be dependent upon God… when you can become like God? Don’t submit to the divine, instead, pursue your own divinity. In your striving for independence, be careful that you don’t end up pursuing your own divinity.

Submission to authority helps to temper that drive for autonomy. Submission, and the accountability that comes with it, humbles us, and keeps us in check. Submission to authority is good for us, it is an instrument of sanctification in our lives.

Silencing the Critics

Peter then begins to connect our honorable conduct to silencing those that would attack you. Backtrack with me for a second, look back in verse 12. Peter told us that there would be people who “speak against you as evildoers.”

Okay, now look at verse 15: “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”

This is God’s will: to silence people with our honorable conduct. People who speak ill of you, you shut them up, not by fighting back or attacking them, no, but with honorable conduct.

Let me give you example.

Several years ago, I was a youth and young adult pastor in Orlando, FL. One of the young adult ladies in our church and her roommates were moving across town.

So, she recruited some guys, about 10 of us, to help them move. Interesting thing, she lived with two other young women who were not Christians.

As soon as I arrived at the apartment, one of her roommates was wearing a t-shirt that made it clear to me, that… she and I did not share the same theological opinions, particularly around sexual ethics. It was interesting. So, anyways, we loaded up the truck and moved them across town. All went well.

Afterwards, when we were done, before I left, I had to use the restroom. So, I headed toward the bathroom in their new apartment, and as I walked down the hall, I could hear the young woman—the one who had been wearing the interesting t-shirt—I could hear her on the phone with her mother.

I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop; it was just sort of unavoidable. I heard her say, “Yeah mom, these Christians came over and helped me. Can you believe it? Yea, me. They helped me. Isn’t that nuts?” Then there was a brief silence, and based on the young lady’s response, it appears that her mom had asked her why she was so surprised. The girl responded… “Well… you know… because they hate gays and stuff. But mom, these guys were no nice.”

Church, when our behavior is honorable, regardless of the stereotypes, regardless of the disdain they might have for us, our honorable behavior shows them who we really are… and… more importantly… our honorable behavior shows them who our God truly is.

Listen, those of us who believe the Bible, we’re going to be mocked. Those of us who say that Adam and Eve were real and we refuse to embrace the idea that we all evolved from a single-cell organism by accident, or those of us that hold to Biblical sexual ethics, or those of us that believe that Noah was real, and the flood was real, and Moses was real, and that God really did part the Red Sea, they are going to say to us: You people are bigots. They’re going to say you’re oppressive, or backwards, or anti-intellectual. They’re going to say we’re on the wrong side of history and that we’re impeding progress.

But we put them to silence, not by fighting back. No. We put them to silence with honorable conduct.

The Weapons of Our Warfare

Peter then follows this up with four simple exhortations. Look at verse 17 with me: “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”

Listen church, because you know the attacks are coming, here’s how to respond to those attacks:

Honor everyone. We honor all, not just those that honor us in return.

Love the brotherhood, we choose to love the believers, the family of God, even when we seemingly have legit reason to be frustrated, we choose grace and unity.

Fear God and honor the emperor.

Notice, we fear God, we do not fear government. We respect government, but we do not fear them, not in the same way we fear God.

That’s how we respond when we are attacked. These are the weapons of our warfare, the tools in our toolbelt.

We fight back with by being fiercely committed to doing these four things:

Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Disagreeing with Government

Side Note: Honoring the emperor does not mean that you have to agree with the emperor. It is okay to disagree with the government. But there is a right way to do it, and a wrong way.

And I have seen so many Christians on social media… just being mean when they talk about the government or politicians or law enforcement… they don’t seem any different from my unbelieving friends. I expect it from unbelievers, but from Christians?

Church, the way we speak about politicians and the government and law enforcement should be noticeably different than how unbelievers talk about them.

Furthermore, I’d say this, maybe you’ve never said anything publicly about the government or against a leader or against the cops, but what about in your heart? What’s going on the inside God knows, he can see it. Are you harboring anger or bitterness against a leader or politician or a boss?

Church, let’s be honorable to the leaders above us, outwardly and inwardly, even when we don’t like those leaders.

Disobeying Government

Side Note #2: We need to address this: our call to honor the government does not mean that we never disobey the government. No.

When the laws of man and the laws of God collide, when they are at odds, we must obey Jesus over government.

This happened to Peter himself actually, we see it in the book of Acts. Multiple times he was arrested, and beaten, and was commanded to stop preaching.

In Acts 5, Peter is arrested again by the authorities, along with the apostle John, and the authorities say, “Didn’t we tell you to stop?” Peter and John respond, “We must obey God rather than human beings.” So, there is biblical precedent.

And we see other examples of this in the Bible too. Pastor Joe preached about this during our Exodus series back in the fall 2019. Pharoah had given a command: Every Hebrew son was to be killed. But two midwives—Shiphrah and Puah—they disobeyed Pharoah’s orders, they did not kill the Hebrew sons, and in doing so, they honored God.

And there are plenty of other biblical examples. But in these examples, what you don’t ever see, you don’t see anyone with a “You do you” type of attitude. In those examples, there are clear God-honoring motivations. So, yes there comes a time when we disobey the government.

But, we need to be careful… very careful!

That ought not be our first instinct.

If my instinct is to figure out a way to skirt the system or avoid accountability, I need to seriously reconsider what is going on in my heart.

If your strongest inclination is to fight against authority, if you don’t like submitting yourself to leaders and refuse to do so… well… you’re not being like Peter and John, you’re being more like Adam and Eve.

More About Submission to Leaders

Peter continues with this same sentiment, look at verse 18: “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.” Church, we don’t only submit ourselves to the good leaders.

When I have a boss that I like or there’s a president in office I voted for, it’s easy to submit in those cases, that’s easy. Everyone does that. That’s not hard to do. But when there’s a politician you don’t like, when there’s a leader, that you’re not a fan of, well, how do you respond to that?

What do you do when you think the leader is irrational or incompetent or crass or boisterous or Marxist, how do you respond to those leaders? That’s the real test.

Do you respond with grace and kindness? Or with something else? And, church, I promise you, there will be moments when we are treated unfairly by leaders. We will all have a boss or leader that is not fair. If someone mistreats you, but you endure it well, and you are still honorable in your conduct, even though you have might have a legitimate grievance, that is pleasing to God.

It’s All About Jesus

Okay, let’s recap Peter’s exhortations to us:

Abstain from the passions of the flesh.
Keep your conduct honorable.
Be willing to submit.
Honor everyone.
Love the brotherhood.
Fear God.
Honor the emperor.

And, he then tells us why we ought to live this way, and he ties it to Jesus. The reason we behave honorably, even when we are treated unfairly, is because Jesus behaved honorably, even when he was treated unfairly.

Look at verse 21 with me: “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

Jesus is our example.

Even while he was being mistreated, he never lied or slandered.

He never promised revenge. He never made threats. He never said #notmyemperor.

Jesus was reviled, but he did not revile in return.

When we emulate Jesus in this way, it demonstrates that we truly trust God.

The God Who Judges Justly

Look at the final part of verse 23: It says that Jesus entrusted “himself to [the one] who judges justly.” God judges justly. When he deals with us, he is never unfair. Sometimes human leaders judge unjustly, but ultimately, our trust isn’t in them. We trust that one that who always judges justly—God.

But you see, if you believe your fate is in the hands of that human leader, then you must fight when the leader is wrong. If the leader has ultimate power and he’s the final decision maker, then fighting against the leader is the only hope you have.

But, we know that the leaders of this world don’t determine our destinies. They don’t have the final word. So, we don’t need to feel an obligation to fight them. I can subject myself to them, willingly, with joy, because I know who’s really in control.

And, that’s exactly what Jesus did, when standing before Pontus Pilate. Pilate says to Jesus, in John 19: “Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus responds, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” Jesus is like (and this is my paraphrase): “I know you think you call the shots here, Pilate. But there’s someone above you. I’m listening to him.”

Jesus is making it clear, I’m not here because of how powerful you are, Pilate. I’m here because of how powerful God is, and God has a clear purpose for me being here.

God’s Purpose in Submission

Of course, we know God’s purpose, we know why God sovereignly orchestrated this moment: For the redemption of God’s people—those persons foreknown by the Father. Jesus submitted and humbled himself, which led to the fulfillment of God’s purpose, the salvation of God’s people. This leads us right into the last two verses for this morning, verses 24-25:

“[Jesus] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul.”

We were once, far away from God, but now we are close to him, because of what Christ has done. Christ took on our sins, in his body, so that we could be reconciled back to God.

We were God’s enemies. We were on God’s bad side. We were on the naughty list. We were rightly headed for hell.

And yet, God loved us. He loved us so much that he sent his Son to die for us.

Jesus came and he suffered wounds, so that the brokenness between us and God could be healed.

And this brings us to the table.

The Table

Every single week we come to this table, and we do this to remember what Christ has done for us—Jesus Christ, the man of sorrows, God incarnate, loved us and died for us.

As we partake in this meal this morning, remember what Christ did for you. And may it inspire you follow in his footsteps.

In just a moment, our pastors are going to come and they’re going to pass out these elements—the bread and the juice—the symbols of the body and blood of Christ.

This meal is open to all believers. If you believe in Jesus, this is for you. However, if you are here this morning and you are not a Christian, or if you’re not sure that you’re a genuine follower of Christ, then please just let elements pass.

And instead of taking this meal with us this morning, I encourage you, I implore you, take Christ instead. If you have any questions about that means or what it means to be a Christian, please come up after the service, we’d love to talk to you about it.

Church, fellow exiles, sojourners, fellow citizens of the city of God, we invite you to partake.

His body is the true bread. His blood is the true drink. Let us serve you.