1 Peter 2:11-14

In 1 Peter 2:11-14 he charges us to abstain from fleshly lusts as we live as sojourners and pilgrims, as people who recognize that this world is not their home, and that they have a home and a citizenship in heaven. “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” The battle ground is clear – it is our fleshly passions so we must fight against the lusts of the flesh, and realize the battle continues as long as we live in this flesh. This kind of godly living makes our conduct honorable among those who don’t know God yet.

We can expect people will speak against us as evildoers, but they can still be brought to glorify God by seeing our godly conduct. “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.” Christians were falsely accused of great crimes in the early church. But over time, it was clear that Christians were not immoral people – and it was shown by their lives. Barclay wrote “The striking fact of history is that by their lives the Christians actually did defeat the slanders of the heathen.”

There is a day coming when all of us will stand before God. Peter refers to this ultimate meeting with God, either when they go to meet Him or when He comes to meet them. The idea is that the Gentiles might be persuaded to become Christians by seeing the lives of other Christians, and that they would glorify God when they meet Him instead of cowering before His holy judgment. Part of living a life that brings glory to God is how we act as citizens. As Christians we should be good citizens, submitting to government. This was very different from those zealous Jews in Peter’s day who recognized no king but God and paid taxes to no one except God.

“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.” Peter wrote this in the days of the Roman Empire, which was not a democracy and no special friend to Christians. Yet he still recognized the legitimate authority of the Roman government. Clarke wrote “God, as their supreme governor, shows them that it is his will that they should act uprightly and obediently at all times, and thus confound the ignorance of foolish men, who were ready enough to assert that their religion made them bad subjects.” It is a question of whether we agree with the government. It is a matter of submission to their authority.

“Portions of this blog post have been taken from the Enduring Word commentary, (c) 2023 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – ewm@enduringword.com“

“Scripture (bold and italicized) has been taken from the English Standard Version, © ESV.org – www.esv.org”

2 Timothy 2:16-20

In 2 Timothy 2:16-20 Paul continues to guide Timothy in how he should lead and serve the church. He again tells him to stay away from the useless discussions. “But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.” Man’s opinions, man’s teachings, man’s opinion polls, man’s stories, man’s programs, are all profane and irreverent babble compared to the simple Word of God. When these things become the focus of the message from the pulpit, it will increase more ungodliness. That message will spread quickly and be like cancer to the church.

Paul gets personal and calls out two guys – Hymenaeus and Philetus – as examples of men who had gone off the rails and left the truth. They were teaching that the resurrection had already happened which was far from the truth. “Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.” Paul said, they overthrow the faith of some. We shouldn’t require that everyone be led astray by a teacher before we avoid them; even if some are having their faith overthrown, it is bad enough.

No matter what any man or group may try and do, God’s Kingdom stands. People may make dangerous attacks against the church and those who worship there, but God’s foundation is solid and will stand the test of time. “But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” We don’t always know those who are His. We can know for ourselves though. God knows those who are His; and He calls those who are His to leave their sin behind, follow Him and live according to His Word.

God likens His church to a great house. “Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.” Guzik wrote it is a great house….

• “It is a great house because of who it belongs to. The house of our great God is certainly a great house.
• It is a great house because it is planned and designed on a great scale. It has the most brilliant Architect and houses a great multitude of the greatest people to ever walk the earth.
• It is a great house because of the great cost it took to build it. This is a mansion far more valuable than any real estate on earth, built by the great work of Jesus on the cross.
• It is a great house because of its importance. This house and what happens in it is at the center of God’s plan of the ages. The business of this house is more important than any of the trivia most of the world is interested it.”

We are called to stop our sinning and become a useful vessel in service to Him!

“Portions of this blog post have been taken from the Enduring Word commentary, (c) 2023 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – ewm@enduringword.com“

“Scripture (bold and italicized) has been taken from the English Standard Version, © ESV.org – www.esv.org”

2 Timothy 2:20-21

In 2 Timothy 2:20-21 Paul uses a picture of God’s building calling it a great house. “Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.” Guzik wrote “The church of God is indeed a great house:

• It is a great house because of who it belongs to. The house of our great God is certainly a great house.
• It is a great house because it is planned and designed on a great scale. It has the most brilliant Architect and houses a great multitude of the greatest people to ever walk the earth.
• It is a great house because of the great cost it took to build it. This is a mansion far more valuable than any real estate on earth, built by the great work of Jesus on the cross.
• It is a great house because of its importance. This house and what happens in it is at the center of God’s plan of the ages. The business of this house is more important than any of the trivia most of the world is interested it.”

The vessels within God’s house are made of different things depending on their use. Something that might be used for dishonor might include a trash can or ash tray for example. But there is hope even for things that might be called dishonorable. “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” We have the opportunity to cleanse ourselves and become set apart and holy and as such, become useful to God and an instrument to be used in His good work.

Guzik explained “Paul spoke about a cleansing that isn’t just something God does for us as we sit passively. This is a self-cleansing for service that goes beyond a general cleansing for sin. There is a main aspect of cleansing which comes to us as we trust in Jesus and His work on our behalf. This work of cleansing is really God’s work in us and not our work. But there is another aspect of cleansing which God looks for us to do with the participation of our own will and effort. Not that it is our work apart from God, but it is a work that awaits our will and effort: If anyone cleanses himself. This aspect of cleansing is mostly connected with usefulness for service, and closeness to God.”

Why is this so important. God wants us to be holy or sanctified – set apart and useful to God. It’s not that some Christ Followers are better than others or have achieved some super spiritual place. But it is that some Christ Followers are more able to be used by God because they have cleansed themselves and are available for God to use. It is God’s design to use us to serve His church doing every good work therein. Our conduct – clean or unclean; set apart to God or not set apart to God; useful to Jesus or not useful to Jesus – really matters. It greatly effects how God can use us and will use us to touch the lives of others.