Quieting the Critics, Part 2a

Knowing our God is life's most important pursuit. And Peter would say in 2 Peter chapter 3, verse number 18, that we are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter was concerned that the people he write to know their God, and they grow in the knowledge of their God. And last week we told you as we began our time in 1st Peter, by looking at 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 that the reason we are to know God is because people are looking at us and reading us as living epistles. As they look at our lives, they are able to read what it is we believe.

And Paul would address that in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3. But before he did that, in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2, he said, not only is it important that you be read properly, it's important that you smell properly. properly. Did you know that? You know, God expects you to smell good. Most people don't look at Christianity as something you smell, but it is.

Listen to what Paul says in 2nd, Corinthians chapter 2, verse number 14. But thanks be to God who always leads us in his triumph in Christ and manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? Paul says that the Christian becomes a sweet fragrance.

People are smelling your life. And, you know, we are able to turn people on or turn them off to Christ by how we smell. Paul says that our life gives off an odor. And that odor to some is going to be refreshing. To others, it's going to be like a stench. To those who are believing, it's a sweet fragrance to those who are perishing. It is a awful stench. The point being is that our lives smell a certain way. And the way we smell comes from how we know our God. The more we know God, the sweet and we smell.

The less we know God, the more sour we smell. And as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord, then we are able to give off this sweet fragrance that attracts people to the Lord. You know, when I was growing up, I wanted to give my mom some flowers. I was just a young kid at the time. I recall this very clearly in my mind. And so one day I went in the backyard, and I picked about 15 different dandelions from my backyard because I thought they were yellow flowers. See, my mom was born and raised in Kansas.

the flower for Kansas is the sunflower. Did you know that? Aren't you glad you came tonight? Kansas is the home of beautiful women. Did you know that? When you drive into Kansas, there's a sign that says, Welcome to Kansas, home of beautiful women. You didn't know that, did you? Well, my mom was born and raised in Kansas. And one day, I decided to get my mom some flowers. And I thought, man, these were beautiful yellow flowers that were fabulous. So I picked a whole bunch of these things, walked into the house, had them behind my back, and said, Mom, I got you some flowers.

She said, you did. I said, I did. And here, I just want to give them to you because I love you so much. And I want you to have them, you know. They were dandelions. I thought they were sunflowers. But I gave them to her. And my mom took those, those denny lions. She says, you know, I have a vase. How about we put them in a vase on the kitchen table? I said, oh, that's a great idea. So she went over and got a vase and filled it full of water, put those dany lions on there. And then they were, and I was so proud of myself.

I think, man, this was great, man. I did something really good for my mom. And so we sat down at dinner that night, and there were those flowers, and there was my sister and my mom and my dad were eating dinner. And as we're eating dinner, mom is just sneezing her head off. Her eyes are watering. Her face begins to swell with red blotches. And I'm thinking, boy, mom's not looking so good tonight. And she went right through dinners, sneezing, scratching, wiping her eyes, becoming more and more red as the dinner went on.

And I didn't think anything about it. And woke up the next day, and mom was still, sneezing. She wasn't as swollen in the face as she was the night before, but she was still sneezing. And I didn't know that my mom was allergic to Daniel lions. How would I know? I didn't know that. But those Daniel lions remained on the table for three days. You see, when I took the denny lions out of the backyard and smelled them, they were sweet to me. But to my mom, I mean, delightful to me, deadly to her. See?

And one of the things that I remember most about my mom is that in spite of the fact that she was allergic to them, she kept them right there. And I was thinking about that today and realizing that, you know, that we're like those flowers. I guess they're really not flowers, they're weeds, I guess. Then they'll answer weeds, but, you know, we give off a certain odor. And to some people, it's a delight to others. others, it's quite deadly. But the point is, we all give off a fragrance. And it's important that we understand that.

You ever walk by somebody and you smell them and they smell good? You've walked by somebody and they don't smell so good? You know, I pick up my son for football practice sometimes and say, you know, son, you guys sit in the back because you're not doing me any good right now, so you've got to go to the back because you stink. You know, and they smell. And you don't want to be around something that stinks. You want to be around something that smells really, really good. The Christian is that person that gives off a certain fragrance because he knows his God.

And there are some who will look at that fragrance and not like it because they are perishing. They're the unbeliever. And yet that unbeliever needs to understand that that fragrance is going to either. attract them to the Lord or move them further away from the Lord. There was one man who was able to smell the fragrance of an individual. And the smell of that individual affected him to some degree. I believe so. And I want to show it to you. If you have your Bible turned in with me to Acts chapter 7.

Acts chapter 7. We're going to get to 1st Peter, but we've got to get to Acts 7 first. Stephen begins to preach in Acts 7, an evangelistic message. It's a powerful message. It is a great message. And in verse number 51 of Acts chapter 7, he begins to draw everything to a conclusion. Listen to what he says. You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit, you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, you who receive the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick. And they began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven. saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, behold, I see the heavens opened up and the son of man standing at the right hand of God.

But they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and they rushed upon him with one impulse. And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him. And the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they went on stoning Stephen As he called upon the Lord and said Lord Jesus received my spirit And falling on his knees he cried out with the loud voice Lord do not hold this sin against them And having said this he fell asleep And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him To death On this day in Israel, you have the first martyr of the church, a man named Stephen.

He's stoned to death. And everyone lays their robes at the feet of a man named Saul. He witnessed everything Stephen did. He was able to see and hear his message. He was able to see and hear his response. He was able to watch as they seized him and drove him out of the city and stoned him. And the text says that he was in hearty agreement as to what was happening with Stephen. And Saul, of course, was the great persecutor of the church. And although the text doesn't say anything about Paul's positive reaction to the sweet aroma of one martyred man by the name of Stephen, we know that this day had a great effect in his life.

How do we know? Because at the end of his life, that is the Apostle Paul's life, he was Saul before he was Paul, he said these words. He said in verse number 14 of 2nd Timothy 4, Alexander the Coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be unguard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching at my first defense.

no one supported me, but all deserted me, may it not be counted against them. At the end of Paul's life, on all throughout his life, Paul was a man of great forgiveness. You know why? Well, we know why, because he was forgiven by our Lord, but he had a classic example in Stephen. When Stephen would say, Lord, hold not this sin against them. He would hear those words. He would see this man, and he would see this man die. And yet it had a profound effect on Paul's life. Because at the end of his ministry, he would realize he needed to be a forgiving man.

That is a sweet aroma. That's a sweet fragrance that comes from the believer that adds a, a, a, a, a, a great savor in the nostrils of those who are able to brush by you. And that's what needs to happen in everybody's life as Christians. And Peter's concerned about that. So he begins to help us to understand that we need to live a godly life. So he says, I urge you, I beg you that as aliens and strength, strangers as sojourners in this land, you abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against your soul.

He says, keep your behavior honorable, excellent, beautiful, lovely. Make your behavior such a way that it smells so lovely that the fragrance it gives off is so profound that it even makes your enemies wonder. at your God. In fact, he says it this way. When you keep your behavior excellent before the Gentiles, he says that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. You know, we spend a lot of time training people in evangelism at our church because we believe that people need to know how to present the gospel.

We believe that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of the Lord. So we need people to be able to share their faith yet. You've got to realize so many times that it's very easy to discredit what we say by how we live. Is that not true? The most powerful force in Christianity is a clean and holy life. It's a powerful force. It can't be refuted. You can speak the words but live differently than they label you a hypocrite. You can speak the words, you can live the words, and what are they going to say now?

For the thing in which they slander you in, and these people that Peter was writing to were being slandered. As I went back and did some study, I realized that these people were accused of all sorts of things. Number one, they were accused of being disloyal to Caesar, but they weren't.

They were accused of cannibalism. That is, they were accused of eating children during the Lord's Supper. But they didn't do that. They were accused of immorality. They were accused of incest because they had these, what they termed love feasts, these great suppers of feast. And because in the pagan culture, they were all filled with sexual innuendos and orgies. They attributed that to the believers as well. and accused them of incest and immorality. They were accused of wrecking homes because when someone came to Christ, they had a different loyalty.

They had a different set of rules. They went a different way, and so they were accused of dividing homes. And yet, the only division that came was because the unbeliever didn't like the way the believer now was living. And these people having to face all these circumstances, chances, Peter says, look, they're going to accuse you of all kinds of things, and yet you need to make sure that your behavior is lovely, honorable, excellent, so that the thing in which they accuse you of will be proven false, because your lifestyle speaks differently.

Peter, well, in time, as we get there, will tell you how the believing wife is to live with the unbelieving husband. There was a certain adornment that the unbelieving wife is, and the unbelieving wife is to have. He will go on and talk about the believing husband with the unbelieving wife in verse number seven because Peter's concerned that we as Christians live a holy, pure, and clean life. That the things we do don't devalue the things that we say, but that how we live proves the fact that what we say is true, especially to the unbeliever, as they observe our conduct in light of what we say.

And so Peter says, I plead with you to live a certain way. After that, we talked about some principles. We won't go over them, but if you weren't here last week, I would encourage you to get the tape because the principles for godly conduct are very important. What are some of those biblical principles that help us understand what it means to live a godly life? And then Peter says, okay, we're going to give you the opportunity to put those principles into practice. And that is our third point, the practice of God and conduct.

And the very first element he hits on is our relationship to government, our relationship to civil authority.

He will move from there to talk about next time our relationship to our boss in the marketplace, the unbelieving boss. And then I'll move from there and talk about the home and how we're to live in our own homes. So four things I want to cover with you under the practice of Godiconda. And that is number one, the mandate.

Number two, the measure. Number three, the motive. Number four, the mission. There we go. I knew it was there someplace. But number one, the mandate.

Verse number 13. Submit yourselves, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution. That's the mandate. submit to every human instant institution. Now, he's already told them that they're sojourners, they're aliens, they're pilgrims, they're strangers on this earth, and yet they are not to live outside the rules on the earth. Just because they are part-time occupants doesn't mean they can live in rebellion to those in authority of them. In fact, down in verse number 16, he says, act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God.

You're free to do what you want, but you're slaves to God. So therefore you must submit to what God says you are to do, for this is the will of God.

Now, remember Christ when he was on earth, He would tell them that they were to pay tribute to Caesar, rented to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are gods. And so our Lord was into submitting to earthly authorities. In fact, over in Romans chapter 13, it says this in verse number one.

It says, let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. therefore he who resist authority has opposed the ordinances of God and they who have opposed the ordinances of God and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves for rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior but for evil do you want to have no fear of authority do what is good and you will have praise from the same for it is a minister of God to you for good.

But if you do what is evil, be afraid. For it does not bear the sword for nothing, for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil. Wherefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience sake. For because of this, you also pay taxes. For rulers are servants of God devoting themselves to this very thing. Rended to all what is due to them, tax to whom taxes do. custom to whom, custom, fear, to whom fear, honor, to whom honor.

Paul would say over in 1st, Timothy 2, verses 1 to 2, that we are to pray for those in authority over us and be in subjection to them, that we might live a peaceful and quiet life. Titus chapter 3, verse number 1, Paul says the same thing, remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities that they might obey them. So Paul says, we are to submit the word Hupertaso is the word that. that means to line up under, it's a military term, to line up in rank under your commander. There's an aspect of our lives that we are to submit to.

Now, Peter is no stranger to this. Peter live this. Peter isn't asking these people to do something that he never himself did. He lived this. Turn back with me, if you would, to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4, verse number 13, says this. Now, as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated trained men, they were marveling and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. Now, remember, the religious leaders marveled at Peter and John because they were able to see something about their lives.

Their lives gave off a certain kind of fragrance. Their lives were like living epistles. They knew that these men had been with Jesus. They knew that because Jesus had affected their lives. And it changed these uneducated men into supernatural individuals. And it says in verse number 14, in seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say and reply. But when they had ordered them to go outside of the council, they began to confer with one another, saying, what shall we do with these men?

The fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may not spread any further along the people, let us warn them to speak no more to any man in his name. And when they ensummed them, they commended them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge. For we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard.

And when they had threatened them further, they let them go, finding no basis on which they might punish them, on account of the people because they were all glorifying God for what had happened. For the man was more than 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. Peter was subject to the governing authorities. They said, we don't want you to speak any more in the name of Jesus. And Peter said, well, we can't do that. You know, we've got to tell people about Jesus. And when you come to Acts chapter 5, they are pretty upset with them.

And they say, we told you not to do this. You didn't listen. So what are we going to do? Well, they wanted to kill them, but they didn't. So they just flogged them. They beat them 40 different times, 30 times on the back, nine times in the front. They flogged them. It says this. in verse number 41. So they went on their way from the presence of the counselor, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer, shame for his name. And every day in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Now, understand something. The key to submission is that they submitted to the punishment of the government. because there was a certain punishment prescribed if they didn't obey. God said preach, they did. They said if you preach, you'd go to jail. They went to jail. And I want you to notice something.

That you never read in the book of Acts when someone was arrested about them going limp and have to be dragged from where they were to preach. prison. You never read in the book of Acts about how they carried signs about what they should be doing against the government. You'll soon find out that those who carry signs don't comprehend the sovereignty of God. Those who comprehend the sovereignty of God never have to carry a sign to fight for anything because they believe that God's in control of all things.

And so you never read in the book of acts of these guys going to you never read in the book of acts of them ever resisting arrest they realized that the government had a set of rules they had to follow and if they didn't follow them they'd be punished into prison they would be beaten in fact when they were beaten what did they do they rejoiced that they had been somehow kind worthy to suffer for the name of jesus and then what do they do they went right back out doing the same thing they always did because God said preach and they did and they were willing to submit to the government in whatever punishment that would be inflicted upon them Thank you.