I Peter 2:11-12

Living the New Life – Your Attitude

“Would you open your Bibles with me to...”

1Pet. 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,

1Pet. 2:12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Prayer

Did you know that you're a pilgrim?

√ Now, I'm not talking about Thanksgiving - funny hats and turkeys.

Seriously, if you're a Christian here this morning then you are a pilgrim.

Some of you are sitting here thinking to yourself, "Paul, my family's lived in the USA for four generations. Why I got a ranch been here since before the railroad came through! I got roots, I'm no pilgrim."

However, now that we are born again to a new life in Christ Peter tells us that regarding our new attitude in life we must see ourselves as…

…pilgrims!

√ If you're a follower of Jesus Christ then you don't belong to this world any longer, you're just passing through.

Def: according to Webster's a pilgrim is...

"a person who journeys, esp. a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion. A traveler or wanderer, esp. in a foreign place."

Maybe you're a local, born and raised in the Mid-South - or even in Missouri and you're saying to yourself "show me" some scripture.

Jesus said to His disciples (Christians) in John 15:19

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

Ap. So then, you and I don't belong to this world anymore; rather Jesus has called us out of it to be His own special people for which He is preparing a Kingdom!

Now that may be very exciting to you, or it may make you feel very insecure depending on your perspective.

Ex. If you found yourself in Maui, you may not really be interested in moving from there, you may wish to put out of your mind that you're just passing through.

However, if you found yourself in Shamrock...

Shamrock, Texas - GIVE DISCLAIMER!

Our restaurant experience.

The point - I was glad to be just passing through, a pilgrim looking for a better place!

The spiritual application, Peter tells us that in view of the new life we have in Christ…

…we're called to have a new attitude - a new perspective regarding this world and how it is that we think of ourselves in it.

√ Some observations

As I've studied Peter's thoughts here I've found that this idea that God's people are pilgrims on this earth is really a theme we find throughout the Scripture.

I'd like to share some of those observations with you in the hope that you'll see yourself in this same light and in that find a greater freedom to serve the Lord.

Observations

√ As Christians our perspective of who we are is important to how we live.

Foundational truth for the rest of Peter's comments about how we are to live in this world.

You see as I've already pointed out, Jesus said that we don't belong here, we're just passing through, the problem is that most of us live like this is our home!

Peter can't begin to speak to us about our behavior, until he lays the foundation for our new attitude in life.

No doubt you're familiar with the passage in Hebrews 11:13-16 that describes those great saints who lived with the same perspective Peter speaks of.

HEB 11:13 "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

HEB 11:14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

HEB 11:15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.

HEB 11:16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Or…

Psalm 84:3 Even the sparrow has found a home, And the swallow a nest for herself, Where she may lay her young--Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, My King and my God.

Psalm 84:4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; They will still be praising You. Selah

Psalm 84:5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.

How do we live like that?

√ Specifically

How does a person cultivate the cry of the psalmist's heart…

"...who's soul longed for, yes, even fainted For the courts of the LORD; who's heart and flesh cried out for the living God. Who's heart was set on pilgrimage!"

1) We must live by faith

Putting our hope in what God has promised us.

That is, we must open our eyes and our mind and look beyond the material world and by faith believe that God is in fact preparing a better place for us.

Faith puts stock in what it cannot see.

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Ex. Abraham was a pilgrim, Lot was a settler.

Abraham was a man of faith, Lot was a man of sight.

Remember the story of Genesis 13? How Abraham and Lot separated?

Gen 13:10 And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar.

Gen 13:11 Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.

No thought for God, no prayer to God, he just lifted his eyes and went for the best thing that he could see. He "chose for himself" rather than let God do the choosing.

Abraham mean while was a man who lived by faith, not by sight. Hebrews tells us in 11: 8-10

Heb. 11:8 "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Heb. 11:9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;

Heb. 11:10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

The tragic results of Lot's decision are recorded for us in Genesis 19. He lost...

All of his possessions - home, flocks, riches

All of his family except two of his daughters

Then he disappears from the scripture record. His mind was so set upon this world that vs. 16 tells us that the angels had to literally drag him out of Sodom so that he would not be destroyed with it!

Contrast

Abraham on the other hand set his mind on God and was blessed beyond comprehension!

The son of promise

Possessions beyond counting

Esteemed by almost of third of the population of Earth

Why? Because he sought the Lord and His reward, not the things of this world.

I believe that God was able to bless him with all these things became He knew that possessions did not have a hold on Abraham's heart.

Ap. Like Abraham, you and I must look to the city whose builder and maker is God.

2) To live like a pilgrim we must model our life after the hero's of the faith recorded in Hebrews 11.

Because they recognized that they were just passing through this world they didn't settle down, or get comfortable in the ways of the world they didn't put their hope in, or seek fulfillment in material things...

Houses

Possessions - cars, boats etc.

Riches

Relationships

Titles

Accomplishments

Now, because they lived like that everyone knew that they were "strangers". They didn't belong to the world.

Ex. When my friend Steve and I went to Uganda the African's called us Muzugu's - everyone knew we were just visiting!

In the same way when we live for Jesus and seek the eternal rewards of heaven then it will be evident to all that see us that we're just visiting!

3) Third, they were always looking forward, never back.

Luk 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

Look at...

Luk 17:30 "Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

Luk 17:31 "In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.

Luk 17:32 "Remember Lot's wife.

Luk 17:33 "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Ex. Bicycle racing - if you look back you're in 2nd place!

Ap. In America there are many looking back...reveals their heart and where their treasure is.

Takes a conscious effort to fight against the tide of advertising etc., that tell you to fill you life with things that will only serve to hold you back in the world and keep you from pursuing God's call upon your life.

Ex. Hudson Taylor and "the brother of Hudson Taylor".

4) They traveled light, and they looked ahead.

They lived in tents - not in ornate mansions.

They built memorials to God rather than themselves

Their goal was to posses God, not possessions

And best of all - this made them FREE of the cares of this world.

Heb 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Heb 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Ex. Marathon runners vs. sprinters - they run light!

Does this description match your life?

√ Are you like Abraham free to serve God, or like Lot lingering in the world?

Test yourself this morning; you can determine whether you're an Abraham or a Lot by the location of your heart.

Is it set on pilgrimage, or on settling in the world?

It's revealed by where you put your treasures. Only you can answer this honestly before the Lord.

Ask yourself this question. What do you pour your life into?

Time

Talents

Treasures

It will become immediately clear if you're honest in your evaluation of your life where their heart is.

Ex. When I got saved I hung up by wheels because I was investing all of my time, talent and money into ME.

I realized that I had to make a choice - would I serve Jesus or myself?

Ap. I encourage you this morning, if your heart and your treasure is in this world give it up today.

Why? You might ask...

"What's in it for me?"

Happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment, the abundant life are all found in a life of pilgrimage.

Once you begin to live like the person you are meant to be, you'll find yourself free of this world, it's sin, it's pull, and it's worry.

You'll be able to live a life of true joy independent of the circumstances of this world as you long for the courts of the Lord.

√ The life of pilgrimage is an exciting one when Jesus is your guide.

If you're a Christian and what I've said this morning makes you feel insecure then go to Jesus and ask Him to change your heart to be like the Psalmist.

To have the same attitude toward life that Peter calls us too.

If you're not a Christian and you want to be free of this world, and want the promise of a better life then please come forward after the service so that we can pray with you.

Psalm 84:5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.