1 Peter 2:11-12

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.  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.

Heaven is our true home, so as long as we are on earth, we are sojourners and exiles.  Peter is writing to Jewish believers who have also been displaced from their homes by persecution from their Jewish heritage.  It is not an easy thing to face suffering and persecution from one’s own family.  That reality can create a situation where we begin to crave comfort and stability in some form that can leave us vulnerable to temptations.  Peter point to two truths to remember when we face this kind of temptation. 

PASSIONS OF THE FLESH WAGE WAR ON THE SOUL: Peter calls on his brothers and sisters in Christ to live on this earth as a stranger.  We are in this world but there should be a certain discomfort to being here as our true home is in heaven with the Lord.  The way we speak, think, act, and our culture should be different from the unbelievers we live around.  We should have more in common with a believer on a different continent then with an unbeliever from our hometown.  Every person on earth has a physical body as well as passions of the flesh.  Unbelievers are enslaved to these passions and live to fulfill these passions.  Every person on earth has a soul that is where we develop a relationship with and worship God.  These passions of the flesh wage war on our walk with God.  Believer have been set free from their slavery to these passions so should strive to abstain from them.  Living in a world where most people are slaves of their own passions should feel strange to those of us who desire are free to follow Christ and desire to do so. 

HONORABLE CODUCT GLORIFIES GOD IN HEAVEN: Honorable conduct is the exact opposite of being a slave to the passions of the flesh.  It is obedience to the will and Word of God.  This includes keeping God’s moral law but goes beyond that to loving the others and following the example of Jesus.  We may be strangers in a fallen world but that does not mean that we need to be strange or hostile to the world.  We are called to bless our neighbors and the nations as we proclaim the Gospel and demonstrate God’s grace and mercy to a fallen world that desperately needs it.  Our Christ likeness results in the world speaking evil of us and glorifying God.  That statement makes no sense at first glance.  How can our persecutors glorify God?  That is exactly the goal.  Those who do not know or have rejected God will respond with hostility to those who follow and exemplify Christ.  However, God is on mission to bring them to Himself just as He brought us to Himself and transformed our lives.  When unbelievers observe us loving them in response to their hatred; God may use our testimony to draw them to Himself.  They will bring glory to Him on the day of visitation.  That expression means God’s intervention into the affairs of human history.  He does that every time He draws and unbeliever to Himself and an idolator becomes a worshiper of the one true God.  He will also do that in the future when He intervenes at the return of Christ when He comes to judge the earth and establish His kingdom.  On that day every knee will bow before Him.  Either way, we have the privilege of participating in His mission through our Christlikeness.

APPLICATION: Be intentional to wage war on the passions of our flesh because they are waging war against our soul.  We must never be pacifists when it comes to the war between the passions of our flesh to sin and the affections of our souls to worship the Lord.  Expect persecution from the fallen world as the natural response to Christ likeness.  Remember God is on mission to recue them as He rescued us and give us the privilege of joining Him on that mission.