Living That Glorifies God

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"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

Main Readings: Philippians 1 & Matthew 25:14-46

Supporting Readings: Psalm 96 & 1 Peter 2

The Royal family has a name to uphold, doesn’t it? What our nation expects of the Royal family is the high standards of decorum and conduct consistent with their position.

But recent revelations involving the king’s brother Andrew, for example, have served to undermine those standards.

It’s not the first time that’s happened, and it probably won’t be the last.

Whether the inferences and deductions are true or not, even Andrewrecognises that the closeness of his association with Jefferey Epstein has damaged the image of the Royal family.

The reason that this is so, is that there is a close connection between bearing a family name and honouring that name.

If you bear the name ‘Windsor’ you should conduct yourself in a manner worthy of that name. And in a manner that serves to promotethat name, not undermine it.

That’s a concept we all understand. We understand it so well in fact, that when someone fails in their duty to promote the Royal family name, it makes national headlines!

And it’s that link between family name and family-honour that is now at the forefront of Peter’s mind.

The Christian life is not a clandestine life. What do I mean? I mean it’s not a life lived in the shadows. Just as the Royal life is not a clandestine life.

There is only one Royal family, and they are conspicuous by their birth right.

The Christian is the same.

They are not just royal, but divinely royal. Remember last time? Christians are God’s chosen people. They are a royal priesthood. They are a holy nation – God’s special possession.

And therefore, this birthright is out there.

In a world of sinners, Christians are known for their Royal name.

And just like with the royal family, when the world watches on for the next sensation – the next Royal slip up – so the world watches Christians looking to see what they will do.

‘Will they live up to their Royal name or not?’

Peter’s exhortation here is: we must live up to our Royal name. Nothing less than the glory of God’s name is at stake.

Everything we are – that Peter just listed – must promote the name of God.

And he calls this promotion of God – ‘glorifying him’. It means to make him look really really good. Just like he really is. The Psalmist said this morning: ‘worthy of praise’.

So, last time, Peter was at pains to tell us who we are. This time, he’s at pains to tell us where we are.

We are in the world – not as citizens of the world, but as foreigners in it. And as exiles from heaven. Heaven, is like the Royal palace and we’re on ‘world tour’ promoting the name of the King.

The Royal family do not stay at home do they? They go out into the wider world and promote the kingdom of Great Britain.

So it is with Christians. We are in the world at-large bearing the name of the Royal King of heaven and promoting his kingdom.

And to show what that looks like for us as Christians, Peter gives us 5 movements in these 2 verses.

Movement 1 is, Abstain from evil desires.

Movement 2, Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of who you are.

Movement 3, never forget the world around you is watching.

Movement 4, some will come to believe in the very king you believe in.

And Movement 5, when Christ returns, people from the world around you will give glory to God.

Which is the ultimate aim.

The first four movements are serving this main aim.

So that’s where we’re going with Peter. But before we unpack each movement, I just want to issue a word of warning.

The devil wants you to fall into a trap this morning. He wants you to be switched off by the fact that the main goal of Peter’s writing is that Godbe glorified.

Apart from the fact that that is absolutely enough in itself. And right! I mean there is a factual reality that God really is worthy of all the glory.

He made us for his glory. ‘Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth – everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory’.

But putting that aside. There is another answer. And it is one that I would love you all to remember and know for the rest of your lives.

It is, that the bible teaches, that God’s glory is also our greatest good!

The benefits that accrue to us would not be complete unless God was seen as glorious.

Our soul’s greatest good is God’s glory. Our souls cannot be satisfied fully, unless God is glorified fully.

The Psalmist, for example, connects our fullest joy (in Psalm 16) with the very presence of God – which is of course a glorious presence.

Outside of his glorious presence, there is less than fullness of joy.

Jesus wanted his people to be with him in glory. Why? To see his glory – the glory the Father gave him before the creation of the world.

Does Jesus want anything less than the greatest good for his people? No!

So, Jesus connects our greatest good with his greatest glory.

The Apostle Paul was onto this as well. He said that ‘as we contemplate (that’s a pertinent word this morning) the Lord’s glory weare being transformed into his likeness with every increasing glory’.

So, our glorious transformation is a transformation that comes from beholding the glory of Christ.

Therefore, the glory of God, which is the goal of Peter’s exhortation this morning is categorially not at our expense. It is precisely for our goodthat his glory be seen.

Because of his glory, we will be transformed into the likeness of Christ. Because of his glory, we will enter into the glory of Christ forever. Because of his glory, we will have fulness of joy there.

And there are more ways that his glory works to establish our greatest good which I don’t have time for here.

So, I really want you to keep that in mind as we proceed. This goal is working immeasurable benefits for us.

Seeking your satisfaction in his glory is the most divinely honouringthing you can do with your life.

Him calling you to glorify him is the greatest thing and most honouring thing he can possibly ask of his servants.

So with that in mind, then, it is exceedingly good that Peter make the glory of God the goal of this passage which is before us this morning.

And he is urging us in this path. ‘Dear friends’ he says. It is precisely because they are so dear to him that he urges them in these things – even these hard things. He wants the best for us.

Because let’s face it, when life is under the spotlight and the onus is on you to honour the family name, that could feel like a peculiar burden.

It’s not meant to feel like a burden. It’s meant to feel like a privilege.

The reason it is not meant to feel like a burden is not because Peter consistently reminds us that we can’t do it in our own strength, but only in the strength of the Lord (though that is true).

It’s not because Peter consistently reminds us that we will be given everything we need to accomplish it (though that is true also).

It is because, he has front-loaded his letter with layer upon layer of truth as to who we are!

It is with the power of the identity we have and the faith that comes through the belonging that is ours, that these exhortations do not feel burdensome.

The knowledge of our place in the family of God gives us confidenceto walk in the path Peter is setting out for us.

So, we mustn’t forget all that he’s said before, now that we come to this section of extended exhortation.

And yes, Peter eventually does remind us, in his letter, that ‘whoever serves, serves by the strength that God supplies’ – and interestingly – ‘so that God may get the glory’ (chapter 4, verse 11).

And, ‘He will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you’, (chapter 5, verse 10).

Ok, so the first movement Peter makes, then, is to exhort us to ‘abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul’.

I want you to notice, straight away, that we’re operating here in the realm of the heart, not in the realm of actions. Peter hasn’t got to conduct yet -things that can be observed by others.

The warning here pertains to ‘desires’. Which are a matter of the soul. Desires like greed, lust, jealousy, anxiety, hatred. These are in the heart.

And according to Peter, if we allow them to take up home again there, then they are going to wage war for our souls.

The soul that has rested on Jesus, has been born again to a new set of desires though. Righteous desires like love, peace, patience, kindness, self-control.

These are the desires that come from the Spirit of God who dwells within us.

Peter wants us to recognise that at conversion the war is not over. In fact, it has just begun!

The outcome is totally guaranteed because of Christ. But the war starts at conversion and continues the whole Christian life.

Peter also wants us to know that we are not passive in this war, but active combatants who must strive to counter and conquer old desires. The word he uses here is ‘abstain’.

Peter also wants us to know that, if we make peace with those old desires, we are giving the enemy the foothold in our lives and are placing our very souls in peril.

So, there is a real war going on in our lives. And of course, these sinful desires, although they can’t be seen, are the very same desires that run riot in the souls of the people of the world we are called to live in.

Peter has already reminded us that we are foreigners and exiles here in this world.

If we think like that world. If we embrace the sinful desires of that world. We will be like that world. We will not look like the foreigners and exiles we are meant to be.

Let me tell you this, ‘guard your heart, because everything you doflows from it’ (that what Proverbs 4:23 says).

Let me suggest to you how we can guard the heart against evil desires.

Peter said to us in chapter 1, verse 13, ‘with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conformto the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance’.

I suggest that it's a mind change that results in non-conformity to ‘evil desires’ – here in chapter 2, verse 11 Peter uses the similar phrase: ‘sinful desires’.

Meditate, then, with your minds on who God is.

Who is the head of this family you have been brought into?

Meditate on his character, his ways, his thoughts, his speech.

Meditate through the revelation of his Word, continuously. Because that mind-set which is influenced by the head of the family will be shaped into a family likeness. That’s the key!

And the passions that rise up out of knowing who you are, and whatthis family stands for, will be passions that align with your true identity.

Listen. Every single sinful desire makes a stunning promise of happiness to our soul. Every single one. And every single one of those promises is a lie!

God makes promises too. And all his promises are true, and all his promises outstrip the empty happiness offered by sinful desires.

Therefore, as you know the God behind the promises, and you knowthe promises themselves – all out of God’s Word – then you can tellsinful desires where to go.

‘Be gone sinful desire! I will not make peace with you. For I have a superior desire with a superior promise!’

That Word of God is power in your hand to slay the evil desires of ignorance.

This is: waging war against sinful desires.

And it matters so so much! It matters because, righteous desires are going to result in righteous actions.

Actions which confirm your identity in front of others.

But also, because, succumbing to evil desires is a falling short of the glory of God.

Why? Because every embrace of an evil desire is the embrace of an alternative glory – which is really no glory at all!

We don’t want to exchange the glory of God for manufactured glories. If we do, we’ll fall short of the glory of God.

In other words, we’ll let the family name down. And we don’t want to do that!

So, our soul’s spiritual health is on the line here and the glory of God is on the line here.

And, like I said before, they are intertwined.

We must learn increasingly to think like a royal priesthood. To desirelike a holy people.

Anything less, and we will not be living up to the family name.

Christ did not send his Spirit into our hearts for nothing. We know when a desire is evil. And we know when we are about to make peace with it.

Do not quench the Spirit. But by the Spirit put the evil desire to death.

That’s what Peter is calling us to do.

Now, the second movement Peter has in mind, flows out of the first because our hands follow the impulse of our hearts.

So, now Peter says, ‘Live such good lives amongst the pagans’.

What’s a Pagan? My definition of a pagan is: a person who is without God and without hope in the world. But who is wedded to a pantheon of gods that are really no gods at all.

So, by that definition, we live amongst Pagans also.

What do these Pagans do? Well, they object to Christianity and so falsely ‘accuse you of doing wrong’.

Evidently that had been happening in the provinces where Peter’s readers lived. But it’s not something we experience very much. Though in the future we could.

Nevertheless, the world does want to catch us out. It wants to show that deep down, we’re just self-righteous bigots.

I remember, when I started work in architecture. When they found out I was a Christian, they made it their game to see how long it would take for me to join in the lying and swearing that was normal in the office.

But, no matter how much they seek to undermine our witness. And no matter how much they look for opportunities to catch us out. We mustremain resolute, Peter says, in ‘good living’.

‘Live beautiful lives amongst these unbelievers’.

A beautiful life is not one that ignores our detractors. It’s a life that seeks to do good to our detractors.

We don’t return insult for insult or evil for evil because that wouldn’t reflect the family name. Peter says that in chapter 3, verse 9.

Jesus did not open his mouth to defend himself when faced with false accusations. He was like a lamb is silent before its shearers.

Though it hurt us. Though we take a tonne of flak, we do not live lives that fit neatly in with the prevailing behaviour.

We live radially righteous lives which declare the glories of God.

Peter’s point is, no one will see the glories of God if you don’t displaythem in your conduct. And they must see the glory of God if they are going to believe.

We are like the Royal family out in the world promoting the United Kingdom.

By their conduct they are meant to show that Britain is great and worthy of investment.

We are meant to show that God is great and worthy of attention, and worship, and faith.

Notice, Peter makes no provision for hermit-like Christianity here. No, he says, go and show your Christianity.

There is a way to behave like a 13^th century Monk without actually being one – and you don’t need a cloak with a hood either! Jesus called it ‘hiding your light under a basket’.

It’s an exhortation not to feel so pressured to conform to the worldbecause of the push back you might get, that your conduct doesn’t have the aroma of Christ about it. Don’t let that happen. Let your Christianity be seen.

And that’s exactly Peter’s third movement. He says, ‘that they may seeyour good deeds’.

We should expect accusation. But also, observation. More is going on than meets the eye!

‘Live such good lives, that far from being able to accuse us of wrongdoing, they actually find themselves drawn to the God you profess because of the flavour of him that comes across in your conduct’.

Just go out of your way, maybe, to bless a complete unbeliever who you know. Don’t expect anything back. Don’t ask for anything. Just give in a Christ-like way so that, because they know you follow Christ, Christ smells attractive to them.

What that kind of behaviour has the power to do, is to ‘silence ignorant talk’.

See verse 15. ‘It is God’s will that by doing good you should silencethe ignorant talk of foolish people’.

And when they are silenced like that, it’s a humbling experience. And, you know what? In that kind humiliation, there is fertile ground for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In other words, through this kind of conduct, people can be saved. Peter calls it ‘glorifying God’.

And this, then, is movement number 4.

Even Pagans who mock you for your Christian faith can see the goodness and the glory of God in his people, as they live out good lives that reflect his goodness, and so be saved.

This is a massively surprising outcome. It turns everything on its head! They came to ridicule, and they went away rejoicing - in God.

Not everyone who sees your good deeds will be saved. But some will.

Not everyone who is saved because of your good deeds, you will knowabout – some you might.

That’s not the point. The point is that new people are saved unto the glory of God. That’s what this is all about.

And even the ones who are not saved, will be held accountable for what they did see and yet continued to refuse.

And in their just judgment God will be glorified also. Because he is not only glorified by his grace, but also by his justice.

But here Peter wants us to know that there is power, even unto salvation, through the witness of good Christian conduct.

None of this is moralism by the way.

It is the outworking of a new life that loves God and wants to show him off to the world. So that, others may share in the joy that is ours.

Do you think like that about people being saved?

The most exquisite reality in your life, is your personal relationship with God. From which you derive all your joy. Do you now want others to share in your happiness? God does!

He will say, ‘well done good and faithful servant come and share in your master’s happiness’. That should be our impulse too.

The final movement Peter makes is to say, ‘when’ the climax of this glorification of God happens.

And there is some debate about whether Peter has in mind the day that Christ visits us with his salvation, or the day he comes in his glory.

I think it’s the second. Apart from anything else, it seems to me that he would say ‘on the day he visits them’ rather than ‘us’ if he had salvation in mind. Yet he says ‘us’. And so, I think he has the second coming in mind.

Of course, there is glory received by God when someone becomes a believer. And there are ongoing expressions of that glory all the days of their lives too.

But the expression of the believers gathered together on the day Christ returns will be unmatched.

And you know what? On that day you will know the full extent of what your Christian witness actually worked in the lives of more people than you could possibly have known about.

That will be part of the glorious harmony that rises to Jesus on that day.

We praise him for the way he transformed our lives from sinful desires to righteous desires. The way those desires resulted in righteous conduct; that resulted in pagans seeing; that resulted in pagans being saved and giving glory to God.

And those very pagans will be there, giving praise to God for bringing you into their lives - whereby they were saved.

And we’ll all be saying ‘it was all of you, O Lord and it was all for you. Holy is your name!’

What a day or rejoicing that will be!

Every single movement of Peter’s here is necessary to arrive at that day. Every application is purposeful for our lives, for the salvation of souls, and for the glory of God.

So, we can’t dismiss this word lightly. We’ve got take it a run with it. We’ve got to practice these things in our lives.

For, in this way, our souls are guarded; others are saved; and God is glorified!