Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - In the World But Not of It | New Testament | 1 Peter 2

Episode Date: February 17, 2023

Should Christians be impacted by the culture around them? How should you interact with the world? What's destroying your relationship with God? In today's episode, Keith looks at 1 Peter 2 to discuss how to interact with the culture around you. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Peter 2

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Hey, let's start our time together with the quiz. Here's the first question. The Pledge of Allegiance, was it ever changed or what we say today, is that the original version? Well, the Pledge of Allegiance was changed a couple of different times. The last time it was changed was in 1954 when the phrase, under God, was added.

All right, second question. what's the motto of the United States? Well, the motto of the United States is in God we trust, but it only became the official motto in 1956. Okay, here's the third question. Are you familiar with the national prayer breakfast when the president appears each year at this big event with all these religious leaders

and they kind of pray for our country or at least talk about it? When did that begin to be a thing? 1953. Okay, so are you noticing the same thing? theme I am? In the not too distant past of the 1950s, white Christians felt comfortable in America, like they felt at home in our country, and that's because they had cultural power. Their faith was respected. Now, I say white Christians, not to be controversial, but just to remember that in the 1950s, black Americans didn't have full access to vote. So now compare the vibe of the 1950s

toward Christianity with today's vibe toward the faith. To quote Dorothy, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore. I mean, the culture has changed a lot, hasn't it? This isn't the 1950s? Christians of every race often feel like they're in the minority in a culture that is sometimes against them, in a culture that for sure doesn't understand or respect their faith. But Christians don't have to be respected by the culture to follow Jesus. The Bible is full of resources for how to follow Jesus in a world that doesn't share your faith. That's because most of the Bible was written by people and four people who are living in cultures that were hostile to their faith. Now, when you're in the minority, in other words, when you are a Christian in a culture that

doesn't follow Christ, you're going to feel pressure in one of two directions. You're either going to feel the pressure to accommodate or separate from the culture. People who accommodate their faith to the culture are usually a little bit embarrassed by their faith. They feel like they need to apologize for what the Bible teaches. They want to update the faith so they can be on the right side of history. Because we want the respect of other people, because we want to fit in, we are tempted to compromise our faith to accommodate it to the culture. Now, the other temptation that people feel is the temptation to separate from the culture. These people are so afraid of spiritual compromise that they withdraw to stay pure. Maybe this looks like

forming your own cliques or trying to avoid worldly contamination. Unfortunately, the sinful desires that we're afraid of are inside of us, not outside of us. Jesus, though, doesn't call us to accommodate or separate. Instead, he calls us to navigate. In John 17, you can sum up Jesus' teaching with the phrase, in the world, but not of the world. See, we're in the world, so we're not separating, but we're not of the world, so we're not accommodating.

That brings this to 1st Peter chapter 2, verses 10 and 11. Here's what the Apostle Peter writes. Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul. 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. Now, notice that Peter starts by calling them foreigners and exiles. He's reminding them that this isn't their home. you are citizens of another kingdom or as paul says in philippians your citizenship as a christian is in heaven

because of that you're going to live differently than the people around you and the difference that peter calls for here is that we abstain from the sinful desires which wage war against our soul according to peter there's a war going on according to peter you can't take sin lightly later in chapter five of this book, Peter says that Satan is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Sin's desire is to destroy your soul, to steal your desire for God, to harden your heart toward God's will in your life. If you look at sin as not that big of a deal, you are fooling yourself. But isn't that what our sinful nature and our culture around us always does, doesn't it minimize sin? It's hard to heed the call to fight sin when you live.

in a culture that minimizes sin. Another thing worth noticing is that Peter tells us that our primary enemy is inside of us, not outside of us. Remember that he says we are exiles living in a foreign land. So you might expect Peter to say to fight against those in our culture who disrespect or mock your faith, but he doesn't. He says that the enemy we need to watch out for is our sinful desires. Now, unfortunately, a lot of us Christians are.

are more bothered by the sins of the culture than we are bothered by our own personal sins. We tend to confess the sins of the culture while making peace with our own sin. Peter doesn't direct us to fight in the culture war, but instead urges us to fight for personal holiness. Let me read those verses again. He says, Dear friends, I urge you, and others I beg you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul. live such good lives among the pagans that though they may accuse you of doing wrong, they see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits you.

The early Christians understood exactly what Peter was driving at here. This is how they lived their life. Like this world is not their home. They belong to Jesus. They are citizens of heaven living out their life here in this world as exiles. The attitude the early Christians had is found in an anonymous letter. called the letter to Diagnitas. It dates to around 130 AD, so this is soon after the Bible had been finished being written.

I just want to close our time by me reading it and listen to how the Christians then thought about their life, what they were known for. It says this, for Christians are not differentiated from other people by country, language, or customs. You see, they do not live in cities of their own or speak some strange dialects, or have some peculiar lifestyle. So time out for one second. You see what he's saying is that Christians are at home in every culture. They speak the normal language. They have the normal customs.

They live in the cities just like everybody else does. So they're in the world. But they're not of it. Okay, back to the letter. This teaching of theirs has not been contrived by the invention and speculation of inquisitive men, nor are they propagating mere human teaching as some people do. They live in both Greek and foreign cities, wherever chances put them. They follow local customs and clothing food and other aspects of life.

But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the wonderful and certainly unusual form of their own citizenship. So again, you hear, they live in the city where God has put them. They follow all the local customs. And yet, they aren't citizens of that world. They are primarily citizens of heaven. All right, back to the letter. They live in their own native lands, but as aliens. As citizens, they share all things with others, but like aliens, they suffer all things.

Every foreign country is to them as their native country, and every native land as a foreign country. So wherever they are, they're not quite at home, because again, their home is in heaven. They marry and have children, just like everyone else, but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are present in the flesh, but they do not live according to the flesh. They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the appointed laws and go beyond the laws in their own lives.

They love everyone, but are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned. They are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are short of everything and have plenty of all things. They are dishonored and yet gain glory through dishonor. Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully toward

others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers. When punished, they rejoice as if being given new life. They are attacked by Jews as aliens and are persecuted by Greeks. Yet those who hate them cannot give a reason for their hostility. To put it simply, the soul is to the body as Christians are to the world. The soul is spread throughout all parts of the body and Christians throughout all parts of the world. The soul is in the body, but is not of the body. Christians are in the world, but not of the world. May that be true of us today. May we be in the world, but not of it. May we be citizens of heaven who live righteous, obedient lives so that the world will see our life and be drawn to our Savior. Amen. Hey, thanks for listening. If you want to go deeper, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talk

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