Marching
Orders For Strangers and Pilgrims
1 Peter 2:11 “Dearly beloved, I beseech
you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lusts, which war against the soul;
12
Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles:
that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers,
they may by your good works, which they shall
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Submit yourselves to every
ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be
to the king, as supreme;
14 Or
unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him
for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise
of them that do well.
15 For so
is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put
to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16 As free, and not using your
liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the
servants of God.
17 Honour all
men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the
king.
18 Servants, be subject to
your masters with all fear; not only to the good and
gentle, but also to the froward.”
1. Keep Your Testimony
2. Submit
Yourselves
3. Limit Your Liberty
4. Honor
Others
5. Serve Others
6. Fear God
7. Love
The Brethren
We [the true Christians] are just strangers passing through this old world.
We are here only for a short time.
We do not belong here!
Yet, while we are here [sojourning], we need to obey our marching orders given implicitly by our LORD Jesus Christ.
1. Keep Your Testimony
Verse twelve: “Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Here [in this passage] is where our WORKS come into play. Are you ready for this?
The Gentiles need to see your GOOD WORKS in order to glorify God “in the day of visitation”.
Your “good works” should be part and parcel of your CONVERSATION. “What is this conversation” you say? Here it is.
The “conversation” of a person … is the “walk” of a person. Have you not heard this said before? He doesn’t walk the talk! It means that a person’s words [or what he professes] do not match what he does [his works].
Now, may I remind you of something? We are to “walk the talk” just as the Apostle Paul by the Holy Ghost commanded us … in Colossians chapter one, verse ten: "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;" [Colossians 1:10]. We are to walk worthy. [Remember, WORTHY is Lamb!]
From the very first moment that a person is re-born, or made alive, [or quickened] he or she is beginning a NEW LIFE.
This new life involves walking in a new direction.
Things are no longer the same for that person. Yea, this is what Second Corinthians chapter five verse seventeen is talking about … a NEW CREATURE. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” [2 Corinthians 5:17]
The believer in Jesus Christ has a new “conversation”!
He has a new “walk”!
The Bible is no longer the dead book to that person.
All of a sudden the BOOK has become alive, and as a result, he or she displays a new walk or a new conversation “as it becometh the gospel of Christ.” This is in the book of the Philippians. “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;" [Philippians 1:27].
2. Submit Yourselves
Verse thirteen and fourteen: “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.”
The Christian’s conversation [his walk] will show an attitude of submission to the governmental authority.
How does this happen? The Spirit of God dwelling inside the believer produces a meekness of spirit that results in a deep respect for the laws and for the ordinances of a nation.
Yea, it will get better than that! It will result in the believer even making intercession by prayer for those who are making and enforcing the very the laws and the ordinances for the whole nation.
He will pray for all those in authority. The Bible tells us that this is so … in First Timothy chapter two, in verses one and two: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” [1 Timothy 2:1-2]
In other words, a Christian will be the model citizen all the while he or she is sojourning here on the earth.
3. Limit Your Liberty
Verse fifteen: “As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.”
Verse fifteen here is complimented and buttressed by what the Spirit of God says in Galatians five in verse thirteen: “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” [Galatians 5:13]
There is something else that we need to see here.
The Christian’s conversation is to show an attitude of carefulness towards others. We are actively to CARE for each other in the body of Christ [which is the church].
This is what it says in First Corinthians chapter twelve verse twenty-five: “That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.” [1 Corinthians 12:25] Brother and sister, we need to LIMIT our liberty sometimes in order to not offend nor hurt another believer in Jesus Christ.
Now, remember what the BOOK says on this subject, my friend, in the whole chapter of Romans chapter fourteen.
Then, in Romans chapter fifteen verses one and two, it sums up [chapter fourteen] with this: “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.” [Romans 15:1-2]
4. Honor Others
Part of verse seventeen: “Honour all men. … Honour the king.”
What makes the believer really standout in this day and age … is how respects and honors others around him.
Remember it is really all about others. May I remind you that we are the ambassadors of Jesus Christ … to a lost and dying world according to Second Corinthians chapter five, verse twenty? “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,” [2 Corinthians 5:20].
Ambassadors honor those whom they are pleading with to get saved. The command to the true Christian is to DO the right thing to others. We are to respect them and to honor them wherever we possibly can.
The bottom line is this. While we are sojourning as strangers and pilgrims on this earth, we are to: “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.” [Romans 13:7]
5. Serve Others
Verse eighteen: “Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.”
We all serve somebody, and as I have said it before, for the believer in Jesus Christ, it is all about others! It is NOT about us.
Whether we are the literal servant to a master or an employee to a boss on the job, it does not matter, we need serve with a true heart and give them our best “as unto Christ”. “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;” [Ephesians 6:5-6]
The only caution I can place here, brethren, is that we are not serve men by serving men but we are to serve God while serving men.
There is a difference here. Do you see it? First Corinthians chapter seven, verse twenty-three will clear it up. Ready? “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.” [1 Corinthians 7:23]
The way we serve men is “as unto Christ;” as it says in verse five, and again, we serve men “as the servants of Christ” as it says in verse six.
6. Fear God
Part of verse seventeen: “Fear God.”
The fear of God is a good thing. Why? This is because the fear of God is HEALTH to the believer of Jesus Christ.
Proverbs says it this way. “It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.” [Proverbs 3:8]
This is one of the basic truths of life. The best thing for man is to have a good dose of the fear of God.
In Ecclesiastes it says this: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” [Ecclesiastes 12:13]
7. Love The Brethren
Part of verse seventeen: “Love the brotherhood.”
We need this so much … because in the last days, the love of many has already waxed cold.
This is at it was prophesied in your King James Bible in Matthew twenty-four in verse twelve: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” [Matthew 24:12]
This is certainly true today. Do you not agree?
We need to love the brethren … our fellow believers in Jesus Christ.
Take note, this is one the marks of a true believer in Jesus Christ. [1 John 3:14-15] “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
Furthermore, we need to love the brethren … our fellow believers in Jesus Christ even to the point of being willing to die for them.
Wow! Willing to die for them! Look at it. This located right here in the next verse [verse sixteen] “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” [1 John 3:16]
What can I say more? I can say nothing but amen!
We are just strangers and pilgrims passing through this old world.
We are here only for a short time.
While we are here on this earth, we need to “abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”
These fleshly lusts will only hurt our “conversation” before the world.
These freshly lusts will only take away from the glory of God “in the day of visitation.”