Third Sunday after Easter
May 7, 2006
Scripture Readings: Exodus 15:1-19; John 16:16-22
Hymns: 204; 417; 320; 755; 205
Grace to you and peace be multiplied unto you, through the eternal working of God the Father. Amen. The word of God taken for our instruction in righteousness this morning comes from the first letter of the apostle Peter chapter two, verses eleven through twenty:
11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. 13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. 18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. 19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.
Theme: Walking in Newness of Life
In the name of our resurrected and ever-living Savior, Jesus Christ, Dear Fellow Redeemed,
Over the past few weeks we have been celebrating the victory of our Savior over sin and death through His resurrection from the grave. We have seen some of the many blessings which have become ours because of His victory over death – the promise of our own resurrection from the dead and eternal life in heaven; peace in knowing our sins are forgiven; comfort from the risen Good Shepherd who continues to lead and guide us; and so much more. The apostle Paul speaks of another result of Jesus’ resurrection in his letter to the Romans: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Christ’s death and resurrection are also symbolic of the Christian’s death to sin, and resurrection to a new life in Christ. This morning another apostle – Peter – discusses what walking in newness of life is all about. He tells us what that walk involves, why it is necessary, and where we get the strength to complete that walk. May our Risen Lord sanctify us through His Word of Truth. Amen!
Did you notice anything unusual about our verses of our sermon text for this morning? As we read through those verses just a minute ago did anything strike you as being different than usual? As I was studying these verses, preparing for the sermon this past week they stuck me as unusual, and I almost decided to pick one of the other readings for our sermons text instead of this one. So this morning, as we consider these words of the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter, I’d like you to think about what is so unusual about these verses! We just heard Paul’s words to the Romans saying, “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Through the results of His death and resurrection, we have been given new life. It is ours. Paul tells us that, having been brought to know what Jesus has done for us, how He suffered, died and was raised again as the full payment for our sins, we ought to walk in that new life. Here in these verses, Peter explains what walking in newness of life is all about. First let’s look at what that walk involves.
Peter begins: “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts.” What are fleshly lusts? Fleshly lusts are any worldly desires that we have which lead us to sin. Paul gives us a beginning list of fleshly lusts: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like” (Galatians 5:19-21). Stay away from things that will only lead you into sin!
Why is this important? Peter says that such lusts “war against the soul.” We have temptations to sin all around us - and those temptations are only becoming more varied as the world continues. Satan uses fleshly lusts which are perishable (1 Peter 1:7) to tickle our flesh, with the purpose of causing us to give up that which is most important - our faith in Christ, our soul.
Notice how Peter describes his readers, “sojourners and pilgrims.” It is so easy for us to become comfortable here in this life. It’s helpful if we remember that we are just travelers passing through this life and looking forward to our real home in heaven. As redeemed children of God, we need to focus on the long term. Fleshly lusts offer only immediate gratification, trying to hide their consequences. We also are sojourners and pilgrims. Beware of the dangerous mind set which wants us to believe that we belong here, and abstain from such fleshly lusts.
Next, our walk involves conducting ourselves honorably among unbelievers. The applications of this one verse are endless in our lives today. Each of us send a message to those around us, simply by our actions. What do those actions say? Do our co-workers see us as a lazy employee or a thief? Do our neighbors see us as unkind, or careless, or loud and unruly. What about our family members? Our lives are opportunities to witness to the unbelievers – and even the complacent believers – around us.
In the following chapter Peter says, “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). Are we ready to do that? More importantly, do we do that, with our lives, and with our words? We should! We should conduct ourselves honorably before unbelievers so that “they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” That is what our Christian lives here on this earth is all about - being a witness to our living Savior! May the Holy Spirit use us to lead unbelievers to know Jesus as their Savior and glorify God with us!
Our walking in newness of life also includes submitting “to every ordinance of man... whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.” This deals with our relationship to governmental authorities: President, Congressmen, Legislators, Policemen, Firemen, Judges, etc. Sometimes it is hard for us to submit to a government which allows and in some cases even supports many things that we don’t agree with as Christians. But there is no human government that we as Christians would be able to agree with 100%. Think of the government authorities that were in power during the time of Peter. One government leader of that time had killed John the Baptist, another one had killed the apostle James. The Roman empire which was in power during the time of Peter, was ruled by many emperors who persecuted Christians, and who later would martyr both Peter and Paul. Yet, Peter does not say that such injustice gives us a right to rebel against our leaders. Instead he encourages these persecuted believers to submit to those authorities!
Why should we do this? “...for the Lord's sake” and because “this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” We don’t do this for ourselves – we do it for our Lord, because it is the will of our Father in heaven who has established the government for the punishment of evil and the praise of those who do good. By willingly fulfilling our responsibilities to our government, we are again witnesses of our Savior, putting to silence mocking unbelievers - not giving them an opportunity to say anything bad against us or our Savior.
As we were reminded before, our walk extends also into the workplace. Peter continues: “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.” These verses again remind us of what Peter said about our walk in connection with the government. Just because we have a bad boss doesn’t give us the right to slack off and not do what is required of us. In fact that should be all the more incentive to do an even better job. That is what makes Christians and their attitudes stand out. If you have a boss who treats you poorly, the God who says, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” (Romans 12:19) He sees, He knows.
In our walk of newness of life three principles apply: Honor, Love and Fear (respect). “Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” Walking in newness of life involves our relationships with God and our fellow human beings; believers and unbelievers; family, work and government. In short it covers every aspect of our life, and every person we are around.
And how should we carry this out? “As free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.” We often speak of our Christian liberty. We are free in Christ, not burdened by ceremonial regulations as the people of the Old Testament were, yet we should not use our liberty as an excuse to do something that we should not do. I have often heard Christians evoke their so called Christian liberty when talking to others about “gray areas” in Scripture. Instead of trying to defend our fleshly lusts, claiming Christian liberty, we would do better to remember our witness to the world around us and take up the sentiment of Paul, “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more” (1 Corinthians 9:19).
Our walk in newness of life serves to preserve our soul, and to be a witness to the world around us leading them to glorify God, and to silence the ignorant. All this we do for the Lord’s sake, and as servants of God and servants to our fellow men. May the Holy Spirit strengthen each of us through the Word so that we may walk the rest of our lives in that newness of life!
Now let’s back up. Earlier I mentioned that there was something unusual about our text this morning. Did you notice what was unusual? Our text lacked something that we usually find in our sermon texts: Gospel. You may have noticed that the name of Jesus is not found anywhere in these ten verses, and they all focus on our duty toward God, instead of what God has done for us. Texts like this one have often been abused, used to support work-righteousness. But while we need to hear the Gospel, we also need to realize that God’s law was also given to us for good reason. Even we as Christians need to be reminded of God’s law and what He requires of us – what He wants to bring about in us. This section of Scripture deals with what we call Sanctification – that is the Christian life, what we as Christians do as a result of our being delivered from our sins and eternal death in hell.
We are constantly being reminded of the proper role of sanctification in our lives as Christians, and we don’t have to go very far in this epistle of Peter’s to find the necessary Gospel motivation. The verses immediately before and after our text point to the work of Jesus as our Savior from sin, emphasizing the reason for and the source of our walk in newness of life. In the opening verses of this letter Peter lays the proper foundation for sanctification saying, “conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:17-21).
May we continue to look to our risen Savior for strength to continue walking in newness of life. He who shed His precious blood to redeem us from our fleshly lusts offers us that strength through His Word and Sacrament. Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so may we also walk in newness of life! Amen.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 Amen.
Pastor Nathanael Mayhew