How to Live as Christians In a World that Is Not Our Home (1 Peter 2:11-17)

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How to Live as Christians In a World that Is Not Our Home (1 Peter 2:11-17)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, July 6, 2025

Two days ago, we celebrated another American Independence Day. As you know, I love history. I am enraptured when I study history. I have read extensively about American history. I have studied it at the college level, and I have also read numerous books on American history. In the past, I have preached about God’s sovereignty in American history. I believe in God’s sovereignty in all the nations. I can substantiate that from the Bible. I believe God worked through our founding fathers, though I believe our founding fathers were not perfect. I believe that our constitution is an amazing work. I also believe we should never have been able to defeat the British during the Revolutionary War. Let’s think about Washington:

Washington should not have survived. He had incidence when he was 23 years old that should have killed him and then Medved writes: Washington’s successful defiance of danger became a notable feature of his leadership during his eight years of service in the Revolutionary War. The general in chief frequently and fearlessly exposed himself to enemy fire, rallying his troops on many occasions by his own incomparable example. At the Battle of Princeton in January 1777, he rode at the head of his troops on a huge white horse as they marched directly on a well-formed British line. When the Americans came within range, both sides fired, and smoke from their rifles temporarily obscured Washington, who rode forward halfway between them. His aide, Richard Fitzgerald, covered his face with his hat in order to avoid watching the inevitable death of his beloved commander. But as the air cleared and he lowered his hat, he saw men on both sides who were dead and dying while Washington, unscathed, rose in his stirrups and urged his men forward against the shattered British line. “It’s a fine fox chase, my boys!” he shouted. A year and half later, in June 1778, the Marquis de Lafayette, the aristocratic Frenchman who became an esteemed general in the Continental Army, recalled the great man at the Battle of Monmouth, where “General Washington seemed to arrest fortune with one glance….His presence stopped the retreat….His graceful bearing on horseback, his calm and deportment which still retained a trace of displeasure…were all calculated to inspire the highest degree of enthusiasm….I thought then as now that I had never beheld so superb a man.”

On September 8, 1779, Washington was spared because a marksman would not shoot someone in the back.[1]

I am sure you have heard the stories that Washington shook bullets out of his jacket. He had horses shot out from under him. Three years ago, I listened to an extensive 1000+ page biography of Washington, and I think he was God’s man for the time. That is God’s purposeful sovereignty.

Chernow writes: In the end, he [Washington] had managed to foil the best professional generals that a chastened Great Britain could throw at him. As Benjamin Franklin told an English friend after the war, “An American planter was chosen by us to command our troops and continued during the whole war. This man sent home to you, one after another, five of your best generals, baffled, their heads bare of laurels, disgraced even in the opinion of their employers.”[2]

Our founders were not all Christians, though some were, and all held to Judeo-Christian values. Even Jefferson, a deist, believed the Bible should be taught in schools.

That being said, we are not God’s chosen people, and America is not a Christian nation. We were clearly founded on Judeo-Christian values, but we are not a Christian nation. I have preached on that subject before.

So, how shall we live?

My theme:

Peter exhorts us to do good, and by doing so, we silence accusers.

Let’s look at 1 Peter 2:11-17

  1. Context:
    1. Peter is writing this short epistle to primarily Gentile believers in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, western Asia Minor and Bithynia.[3]
    2. He is writing this between AD 60 and 64.
    3. Peter gives God’s encouragement to those suffering persecution for their allegiance to Jesus to live exemplary lives within their culture.[4]
    4. The NIV SB calls 1 Peter 2:11-4:19: Winsome Witness in Society (2:11–4:19)[5]
    5. We will pick up in this section.
  2. The Christian life as a witness (1 Peter 2:11-12)
    1. Before I really get into this section, it is important to note that they were going through real persecution. We are not.
    2. The connection between us and this passage is that we are also aliens and exiles, just as they were. This world is not our home.
    3. 1 Peter 2:11–12 (ESV)
    4. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
    5. Peter calls them sojourners and exiles.
    6. Peter exhorts them to abstain from the passions of the flesh.
    7. Peter urges them.
    8. Bodily desires are not wrong in and of themselves.
    9. Sproul shares:
    10. The behavior of fallen people should never become the standard of right and wrong. A big problem in the church today is that even after people are converted to Christ, they still take their marching orders from what is acceptable and expected in the culture. We must remember that we do not belong to the culture. As Paul wrote, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). The way to get a new mind is not by paying attention to Gallup polls but by paying attention to the mind of Christ, so that we begin to think like Jesus. No matter what everyone else does or approves, if Jesus does not approve, then we cannot. We need to remember who we are—citizens of heaven—and our lives are supposed to demonstrate that as we take our cue not from this world but from heaven itself.
    11. Peter is referring to immoral desires.
    12. Fleshly lusts are personified as if they were an army of rebels or guerrillas who incessantly search out and try to destroy the Christian’s joy, peace and usefulness (cf. 4:2, 3).[6]
    13. When we are giving in to these fleshly desires, they war against our souls.
    14. They threaten to shipwreck our faith (1 Tim. 1:19).
    15. Verse 12:
    16. Now, he addresses their conduct.
    17. I like how the ESV SB reads: Peter refers to unbelievers as Gentiles, which is in keeping with his understanding of believers being a new Israel.[7]
    18. The rest of the verse is about their witness. They speak against them as evildoers… but there is no credibility.
    19. This came to be true.
    20. Christians were a witness because of how we were such good citizens.
    21. Tom Holland writes:
    22. [Quoting Emperor Julian] ‘How apparent to everyone it is, and how shameful, that our own people lack support from us, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galileans support not only their own poor, but ours as well.’ Julian could not but be painfully aware of this. The roots of Christian charity ran deep. The apostles, obedient to Jewish tradition as well as to the teachings of their master, had laid it as a solemn charge upon new churches always ‘to remember the poor’. Generation after generation, Christians had held true to this injunction. Every week, in churches across the Roman world, collections for orphans and widows, for the imprisoned, and the shipwrecked, and the sick had been raised. Over time, as congregations swelled, and ever more of the wealthy were brought to baptism, the funds available for poor relief had grown as well. Entire systems of social security had begun to emerge.[8]
    23. We are witnesses based on our concerns and care for others.
    24. Peter writes that they see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
    25. That could be the day that they are saved, or their testimony at judgment day.
  3. Doing good is a witness (1 Peter 2:13-17)
    1. 1 Peter 2:13–17 (ESV)
    2. 13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
    3. Peter writes “be subject” or “submit.”
    4. They are to submit “for the Lord’s sake.”
    5. The point is that they are first submitting to the Lord.
    6. They are first honoring the Lord.
    7. Then, we must ask, does this also apply to us?
    8. This passage was first addressed to the people to whom Peter was writing.
    9. They were dealing with a really corrupt emperor.
    10. Peter would later be crucified upside down after watching his wife be crucified.
    11. Caesar Nero was persecuting Christians in Rome. He set fire to Rome to burn the slums.
    12. The wind shifted, and it burned other parts of Rome. Nero wanted someone to blame, so he blamed Christians.
    13. Peter is writing to them.
    14. However, these instructions also apply to us.
    15. They are not specific to them. They are inspired by God and written to us as well.
    16. Peter writes to “be subject to every human institution.”
    17. He then gets specific.
    18. Be subject to the emperor. The emperor is supreme. In other words, he is the highest of human institutions. Notice, these are “human” institutions.
    19. Be subject to the governors.
    20. The governors are sent by “him.” That is, the governors are sent by the emperor to affirm those doing good and punish those who do not do good.
    21. Verse 15 begins with “this is the will of God.”
    22. This is really important.
    23. By doing good, you put to silence these people.
    24. The ignorant and foolish people are those making accusations in verse 12.
    25. When we do good, they do not have as much to criticize. Or their accusations fall flat.
    26. Verse 16: We are free, live as free people.
    27. This could mean that we are free in Christ, and that would be true.
    28. We serve Christ.
    29. When we submit to human authorities, we do that only to serve Christ ultimately.
    30. We are free, but not to cover up evil, but as servants of Christ.
    31. Verse 17 is composed of rapid-fire commands-
    32. Honor everyone. We are to honor everyone as created in the image of God.
    33. Love the brotherhood. This applies to sisters as well.
    34. Fear God. This is most important.

James 4:4 teaches that there is a dichotomy between Christ and culture.

How are we to live?

We must be the best citizens. By doing so, we change the world.

Do we realize that is what happened in the early church? Christians were such great citizens that the gospel spread. Christians took care of people. When others ran away from the plagues, Christians ran into Rome to care for the sick.

In this passage Peter is saying that as we are good citizens, we are witnesses. This is how Christians live.

By the way, when there is a conflict between two authorities, always obey the highest authority, that is obey God (Acts 4:19).

Prayer.

[1] Medved, Michael. The American Miracle (pp. 82- 83). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[2] Chernow, Ron. Washington (p. 460). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[3] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 2187.

[4] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 2187.

[5] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 2190.

[6] John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), 1 Pe 2:11.

[7] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2408.

[8] Holland, Tom. Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World (p. 139). (Function). Kindle Edition.

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