Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Sunday September 27, 2009

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Holy Huddle

1 Peter 2:11-12

I urge you - this is one of the great reasons for gathering together – to remind you of what the Lord is calling you to.  Think of church like a football huddle between each play.  W/o the huddle, the team would go their own ways.  Coach gets plays to me, the ¼ back.  “OK, remember, you’re strangers/aliens.  Watch out for those fleshly lusts.  You’re going out among people who don’t follow Jesus and they’re watching your every step and you need to be careful not to trip up…Remember the Holy Spirit and live for Jesus one more week!

You are an alien/stranger – you’re not from around here.

You’re an alien because you were born somewhere else and a stranger because you don’t know the customs of the land.  It’s one thing to be an alien in a foreign land, it’s quite another to be an alien in your native land.  Most foreigners have to learn our ways – we unlearn them.

What if I wanted to shed my Caucasian-American middle class life and become an Indian?  Dress w/ flowing clothes/eat curry/learn Hindi/arranged marriage/sitar music!  I couldn’t go where I used to go (McDonald’s/Burger King/Jack-in-the-Box) – I would have to go to Indian restaurants.  Here’s my point – I would have to reroute my life.  Unlearn/learn in my native land where I am surrounded by Caucasian-American middle class ways.

1:14-16  Holiness is alien to our culture.  You are to let holiness dictate your dress/entertainment/relationships/activities/thoughts/ speech…

Fleshly lusts wage war against your soul.

Fleshly lusts are desires that arise from the part of you that loves sin.  What you were will fight against what you are.  As an Indian convert, I would still love ¼ pounders/fries, but I would have to discipline myself - realize that there will be a struggle.

There is a war going on inside every believer.  Purpose of a war is to defeat enemy/expand territory/limit influence of your opponent.  My sinful desires will be pulling me back to my familiar way of life. Peter doesn’t say that you will be defeated if you have fleshly desires, it is a defeat you indulge them.

There was a certain bishop, in the horse and buggy days, who had two horses named Pride and Prejudice. He said on one occasion that people thought it was awful that a bishop should be drawn hither and thither by Pride and Prejudice, but he reassured them that it was a wonderful thing that a Bishop would have Pride and Prejudice under control.

When you indulge fleshly lusts, you damage your own soul.

When I indulge my American cultural habits, I begin to erase my new Indian identity.  If I binge for a week on Sourdough Jacks and Denney’s breakfast skillets it’s going to be hard to go back to curry chicken.  If I take on an Indian name (Murali – flute/Raj – kingdom) and then begin to respond to Tim again, I will distance myself from my Indian character/mindset.

Your soul (mind/will/emotions) is connected to Christ and fleshly lusts seek to break that connection.  You no longer think godly thoughts, desire godly things, make godly decisions.  You won’t respond to God the way you should.  A fleshly lust is like a cannonball slamming into a castle wall.  Though the wall stands, there’s a weak spot vulnerable to further onslaught.

Keep behavior excellent: You are to live an exemplary life in the world.

A good fruit is one from which you want another bite.  What would happen if we were to bite into your life?  Ever bitten into a piece of rotten fruit?  Spit it out/rinse out your mouth/throw it out.  The sweetness of a fruit comes from the inside and not its appearance.  Follow Jesus, don’t appear to follow Jesus.

Telemachus was a monk who lived in the 5th century. He felt God saying to him, "Go to Rome." He was in an isolated monastery but he packed his sack and set out for Rome. When he arrived in the city, people were thronging in the streets. He asked about the excitement and was told that this was the day that the gladiators would be fighting in the coliseum, the day of the games, the circus.  He thought to himself, "Four centuries after Christ and they are still killing each other, for enjoyment?" He ran to the coliseum and heard the gladiators saying, "Hail to Caesar, we die for Caesar" and he thought, "This isn't right." He jumped over the railing and went out into the middle of the field, got between two gladiators, and tried to stop them. The crowd became enraged and stoned the peacemaker to death.  When the Emperor of Rome, Honorius, heard about the monk he declared him a Christian martyr and put an end to the games. Legend has it that the very last Gladiatorial game was the one in which Telemachus died.

And just as Jesus did, Telemachus took his stand between the people and their sin and called them to righteousness.  He was killed for it, just as our Lord was, but from the blood he sowed in the Coliseum floor that day came mercy and repentance.

You will be slandered.

Charges against Christians made in Peter's time: Disloyalty to the state or Caesar (Jn 19:12)/upsetting trade and religion (Ac 16:16ff)/not participating in festivals (Col 2:16)/scoffing because Christians not approving behavior of the world (1P4:4).  Roman historian Tacitus writes that Christian were ‘loathed because of their abominations.’  Another author, Suetonius, approved of Nero’s persecution of Christians, ‘a class of people animated by a novel and mischievous superstition.’  Clowney in 1 Peter

If I were to attempt to live an Indian life, many would mock me – Indians as well as you!

We are told by atheists that our faith is silly and our God is a figment of our imagination.  We are told by liberal theological scholarship that the Bible is not to be trusted.  We are told by religious philosophers that we are intolerant to insist that Jesus is the only way to heaven.  We are told by the cultural watchdogs that we are bigoted to regard certain behaviors as being sinful.  We are told by many that we are merely irrelevant.  You will be slandered/ marginalized/dismissed.  Holz’s review of Dan Merchant’s film.

A day of visitation is coming.

2nd coming of Jesus or visitation of the Holy Spirit inviting people to salvation?  At 2nd coming of Jesus there is judgment, not salvation.  There will be no glorifying God by unbelievers then.  This means that when the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin upon someone, the good life lived by you will be a part of what the Spirit uses.  

A certain businessman had his shoes shined by the same little boy every day. He did such a good job that one day the businessman asked him, “Son, how come you are so conscientious about your work?” He looked up to the man, and said, “Mister, I’m a Christian and I try to shine every pair of shoes as if Jesus Christ were wearing them.”  The businessman saw something genuine in the shoeshine boy. Soon after that he began reading his Bible. When he decided to be a Christian himself, he credited his decision to the little boy who shined every pair of shoes “as if Jesus Christ were wearing them.”

Your exemplary life will change the slander to praise.  We are told that many Muslims are coming to Christ because of the love they see in believers.

11   Private | 12   Public - If you don’t do v11, it will be tough to do v12.  If you don’t do v11, v12 will be a role you play and not a life you live.  If v12 is a role you play and not a life you live when people bite into your life, they will have a bitter taste in their mouths. 

So, here we are in our weekly huddle – make sure you abstain from sinful desires, live an exemplary life, you’re going to be pummeled by slander – so watch out for the blitz.  Your life can make an impact for the kingdom of God.  Whether you do something dramatic like Telemachus and jump into the gladiatorial ring or as something as mundane as give a good shoe shine, your life can make an impact for the kingdom of God.