Message summary
What was preached
The message picked up where the previous Sunday’s text ended. God’s people are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9, NIV). Every blessing we receive has that purpose. The Christian life receives much from God, and for that very reason it is called to responsibility.
The first step in that response is recognizing that there is a war to be won, and it begins inside us. In verse 11, Peter urges his dear friends, foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Sin is not described as an inconvenient habit, but as war. Quoting John Calvin, the sermon pointed out that these desires go beyond the body: pride, envy, greed, bitterness, the need for applause, the desire for revenge, everything that tries to take the place in the heart that belongs to God.
The second step is exemplary conduct among the pagans (v. 12). People watch how we work, how we treat our families, how we react when we are opposed and even treated unjustly. And that conduct is a form of evangelism: seeing our good deeds, those who accuse us today may come to glorify God on the day he visits us. Our example, in the circumstances of life, speaks louder than words.
The third step is the example of Christ himself (vv. 21-25). When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats, but entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He bore our sins on the cross so that, dead to sin, we might live for righteousness. Suffering for doing good, with a conscience turned toward God, is following in his steps.
Two stories shed light on the call. John Calvin, driven out of France for his faith, transformed Geneva as an immigrant, and the church is full of “John Calvins”: God brought each one to this country to be used here. And the story of Brazilian neighbors praised by an American was a reminder that the good conduct of God’s people draws admiration and opens doors for the gospel.
The service also celebrated answers to prayer within the church itself, such as the approval of an immigration case that had been awaited for seven years, and it ended with a reminder: God does not need shortcuts. He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power at work within us.
“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
1 Peter 2:12 (NIV)
This summary is prepared from the service transcript, with the help of artificial intelligence. The full sermon is in the video.
