Sermon
The Nature and Function of the Christian Church
November 6, 2005
Pastor Donald Sheley

Take your Bible. Join with me in the Book of First Peter. We started our series, and as you know we just kind of move slowly through a book, sometimes verse by verse, sometimes word by word, we're just anxious to find as much as we can as far as eternal truth is concerned in the Word. And we've learned some things about this letter that Peter wrote.

Most historians, or most Bibles you'll have it marked in your introduction to Peter that it was written in Rome in the year of 67 A.D. Now the question is how did Peter, or what was the reason for Peter going to Rome? Historians suggest that earlier in the ministry Peter and Paul had a falling out. Great men of the Scriptures, human beings, but they had a falling out and it's recorded for us in the Book of Galatians chapter 2. Paul is up in Antioch and Peter is there with him, and Peter is being very generous with his Christian expression. He is participating in eating with the Gentiles and he has forgotten for a moment all of his Jewishness, and then some folks arrive from the church down in Jerusalem and Peter all of a sudden pulls himself away from the Gentiles and will not eat with them. Old Paul calls him to task right there in front of the church, and he calls him a hypocrite, and Paul explains, listen, he said, when we're here together you were eating with us, why do you separate from us?

Well historians suggest that this might have been a dividing moment for these two great men because when we study of the Book of Acts the first 12 or 13 chapters it's all about Peter, and then Peter fades from the scene and Paul takes prominence in the rest of the Book of Acts. And so historians suggest that their ministries were apart for many, many years and then Peter learned that Paul is in prison in Rome and he's about ready to give his life. And there is that effort, and this again, this is conjecture by historians, that Peter travels to Rome to meet with Paul, but he arrives late and Paul has already been beheaded by the soldiers of Nero. And it's there that Peter picks up the torch of Paul and continues on in his ministry.

Now other things surround this letter of Peter. When Peter arrives in Rome of course persecution is already underway. What had happened, on July 19 A.D. 64, Nero who was the emperor decides I'd like to start a building project. But there's no place to build so I'll have to burn down some of the city, and so he lit Rome afire. And this city, this ancient city, made out of timbers, houses made out of timbers with narrow streets, I mean, for three and a half days it burned. And people tried to put out the fire, but Nero had arranged for others to start other fires and so the fire continued day after day until much of the city of Rome is destroyed. And now Nero has the opportunity to start his building project.

But he's got so much anger in the people of Rome against him, he knows he's got to bring that anger to a halt, and what he does is he finds a scapegoat to blame for this fire - and it was the Christians. Now it's interesting when you study the history that up until that point Rome was very lenient towards the Christians, and the reason for that was because they considered the Christians a part of Judaism and in that Judaism was a free religion in the Roman Emperor Empire, and that is they were allowed to practice their religion. The Christians, as far as the Romans were concerned, were part of the Jewish people and thus they didn't have any persecution until Nero decides I'm going to blame the Christians, and as a result, persecution settles in and thousands of people are being chased out of the city.

And you'll notice that Peter addresses this letter in the opening, he says, To the pilgrims of Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, which of course today is modern Turkey. And so Peter is addressing his letter to those Christians who are being chased, being persecuted, some of them giving their lives. And the reason behind this letter was that it was written to be a letter of encouragement to those Christians suffering persecution. So as we read the letter you have to read into it, it's very clear, but when you have that thought in mind you understand why Peter addresses certain matters and certain theological issues as he does.

You'll notice if you read through the five chapters he focuses the attention of those persecuted Christians on the eternal, and he removes the focus away from the transient. And there's another interesting thing about the book. If we had time to read all the chapters you'll notice that the primary concern or one of the major topics that Peter is discussing is the second coming of Christ. It appears frequently. So when we go through the Book of Peter you'll find that he's writing this letter to encourage Christians who are suffering persecution. And you'll find something else very interesting; he keeps going back to five major points. Why?

Well, again, if we read through the first 12 or 13 chapters of Acts and we observe the sermons that Peter preaches, and some that even Paul preached in the other remaining epistles, you'll find that there were five major truths that always became a part of the early Christian sermon. In other words, if you went to church 2000 years ago you pretty well knew the five points that the pastor was going to talk about. Of course he would enlarge upon them, I would go back into the Old Testament to pick out text that would prove his point, but there were five major basic truths always involved in those early Christian sermons, and Peter set the pace.

Number one, the age of the fulfillment has dawned, the messianic age has begun, this is God's last word. In other words the Jewish people had an anticipation that they wanted...they were waiting for their Messiah. And the proclamation of the church was Jesus Christ is the Messiah; He's come!

We all know according to history that the Jewish nation rejected Jesus Christ, and to this day they are still anticipating and looking for the coming of their Messiah. Well those early Christian preachers made it very clear; the prophecies of the Old Testament had been fulfilled. Jesus Christ is that Messiah that was prophesied by those ancient prophets.

Secondly, this new age has come through the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, all of which are in direct fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and therefore the result of the determined and counsel and foreknowledge of God. You'll find that in those early sermons there is the fact of Christ's life and His death and His resurrection, and it's very clear they wanted it to be known that it was according to God's plan.

Listen to old Peter as he preaches. He says, "Let it be known and understood by all of you, and by the whole house of Israel, that in the name and through the power and authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified, [but] Whom God raised from the dead, in Him and by means of Him this man is standing here before you well and sound in body. This [Jesus] is the Stone which was despised and rejected by you, the builders, but which has become the Head of the corner [the Cornerstone]. And there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved."

And thus, the declaration was this, Calvary wasn't just a mishap in history; it was something that was planned in the heart of God from the very creation of time in eternity's past from the very foundation of the world Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain. And thus he wants them to know they did...it was with cruel hands and wicked hearts...they nailed the Messiah to that cross, but they did it in the knowledge, the foreknowledge and the planned program of God Almighty.

Thirdly, by virtue of the resurrection, Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of God and is the messianic head of the new Israel. You understand if you were Jewish that you would believe with all of your heart you were the selected chosen nation by God, and God had given the nation of Israel very special promises and very special blessings. But in that Israel rejected Jesus Christ, those new testament preachers believed that there was a transference from the blessings from the nation to the nation which was now called the holy nation, the church, the new Israel. And thus they preach that Christ rose from the dead and He's exalted and He is seated on the right hand of God, and He is head of His kingdom, the kingdom of God.

Fourthly, the messianic events would shortly reach their consummation in the return of Christ in glory, and the judgment of the living and the dead would take place. There was this urgent conviction in these early Christians that Christ would come very, very soon. And they knew that the angel made the statement there on the Mount of Ascension, this same Jesus which you've seen being taken from you will so come again in like manner as you have seen Him go. And so vibrating in the spirit of those early Christians was maybe this is the day that Christ will come. There was this sense of urgency and so they preached the return of Jesus Christ.

In fact, some of those early Christians took it so much to heart they decided, well, if He's coming, let's quit working. So Paul writes to the Thessalonians and says get back to work; work till He comes. But they had this deep conviction of the second coming of Christ and it radiated in their preaching. Isn't it sad that that glorious truth, which we believe in with all our hearts as Christians that Jesus will come again, is almost an absence subject today in the pulpit. But it was a vibrant part of that early Christian preaching and teaching - Jesus is the fulfillment of the Messiah, and by His death and by His resurrection He has ascended into heaven, He is the head of the Church, and as the result, He went away, but He's coming back again.

The fifth point that you would find in those sermons was this: these facts are made the grounds for an appeal for repentance. In other words, it's true, the promise has been fulfilled. Christ is that Messiah. He now is in the heavens. He has gone but He is coming again and therefore repent! Turn from your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And thus you will find at the end of their sermons was the call to repentance. Peter preaches on that day of Pentecost in Acts 2:38 and they say, what shall we do? And he says, repent! Repent from your sins and be baptized. And thus a great message...you'll find it throughout the epistles, is this matter of repentance.

So those five points, Peter will constantly go back to them over and over again. Just open your Bible and follow along. Let me show you just a few verses. Let's go to verse 2 of chapter 1: the "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood." A reference to the death of Christ. Verse 3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection." And thus the theme of the resurrection from the dead. Verse 4, "to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." And again, the last time is the reference to His return.

So Peter takes all the way through this wonderful letter and weaves in these beautiful great truths, these great doctrines of our Christian faith. Now we've moved through chapter 1. He talked about Jesus Christ redeeming us not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but, verse 19, "but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot," and thus, he speaks of the source of our cleansing from all of our transgression and all of our sins.

And then verse 22 he says, now "Since you have purified," that is souls, our souls cleansed by the blood of Jesus. He said, now that you put your trust in Christ and now that your souls have been purified through the obeying of truth through the Spirit, there should be a love that's demonstrated within the body of Christ. And he talks about a love that is fervent, a love that is pure, and thus he comes to that great theme of Jesus in His prayer when Jesus prayed that we would be one. Jesus said all men shall know you are My disciples because you love one another. So Peter has talked about redemption, he's talked about cleansing, and he's talked about the characteristic that should mark us as Christians - a love, intense, for one another.

Now he moves to the subject of repentance. Now repentance simply is this folks, it simply means I live this way out of the will of God, walking away from the will of God, I come to that moment when Christ confronts me with truth and I receive Christ and my life is turned around, and the things I used to do I don't do anymore or I seek not to do them because now I live to fulfill the will of God in my life. Repentance is the moment that we change. And repentance is something that Paul talks much about and here Peter comes to that point of repentance, he says, now because of all of these things, therefore - I'm at chapter 2 - he said, therefore, because of all that I've told you, I want you to lay aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.

Now Peter moves into a subject that would violate much of the preaching, I mean, that many preachers today down in the southlands would not feel comfortable if Peter was preaching. Because they preach all you have to do is acknowledge Jesus that He died, that He lived 2000 years ago, He died on a cross, and He rose from the dead and He's back in heaven, yes, and He's God - now where do you want me to sign. And then they're baptized and now they are saved, and as far as they are concerned they don't have to worry about anything else. They can live as they want to live.

It's called no lordship salvation. They would disagree with Peter because Peter is saying, no, no, once we come to Christ and there has been a dramatic change where our lives have been made new in Christ there are certain things we do as Christians. And these no Lord salvationists say, oh no, you add works and you've messed up this whole matter of grace. But you say, now just a minute, we've been to Christ, the Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world. He's cleansed us. He's purified our soul. Now there are things that we do as Christians; he says you lay aside, and then he lists the things we lay aside.

It's an interesting word. Lay aside is simply take off, discard it, get rid of it, get it out of your life - lay it aside! And it's an act of our will. It's something we do because we know that to do certain things is not Christlike, it's not godly, and so as an act of our own will we say, I'm not going to do that because it doesn't bring honor to Christ. So Peter uses the word laying aside. Now in Hebrews chapter 12 it says, lay aside that sin which so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

Let Paul say it in a different way. Go with me to Ephesians 4:17. It's page 618 in your Bible. And Paul will say the same thing that Peter is saying in our text. Verse 17, here is what Paul writes, Ephesians 4:17, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk." That's comparing the Gentiles with pagans. You shouldn't live like a pagan anymore "in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." That's the description of us outside of Christ. That's the description of a sinner.

But Paul goes on, "But," he says, verse 20, "you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus." Paul is saying, listen, when you have come to Christ you are confronted by His claims, and your life is affected by Him; you've learned that life now is going to be different. It's not going to be like it was before. The old is passed away; we've become new creations in Christ Jesus. So Paul said what is going to take place.

Look at verse 22: "that you put off." It's the same thing that Peter said. Set aside, lay it aside. Paul says "you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." The put off is an act of the will. It's something I do because I know it's right, and some things I don't do because I know they are wrong.

Well what's wrong? Well look what he says, verse 25, Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. "Be angry, but don't lose control of your anger." Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer. A thief can't have a Christian heart. But rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to put in the bank. No, no; it doesn't say that. So that he may have something to give to him who has need.

Why does God give us resources? To give away to bless other lives. So a Christian's life now is minus covetousness and is filled with the joy of giving, because he labors so he has something to give.

Let's go on - "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice." It kind of looks that Peter and Paul are in agreement here, doesn't it? Almost the same things we are supposed to get rid of. "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

So it's very clear. When we become Christians we should have that desire to please God, to get rid of those things in our lives that are not Christlike, and to ask Him by His Spirit to give us a tender heart, a forgiving heart, and love for one another.

Now let's go back to our Peter text again. What does he say? Therefore laying aside all malice. What's malice? It's not a word we are too familiar with today. We don't use it. So I went to the dictionary and found that malice is deep-seated feelings against a person. It's hatred that lasts on and on; intense and long lasting bitterness against a person. It means ill will, actually wishing that something bad would happen to a person. It means to be vicious, spiteful, and hold a grudge. It means that a person has turned his heart over to evil actions. And in the Greek it's just one word - wickedness.

Now here's Peter's admonition, remember now, he's writing this to Christians who are running...are on the run. They are fleeing because of persecution. What he is saying is if the heart isn't right, if there are evil things in your heart and grudges you've not set aside, not forgiven, relationships you've not healed, you're going to have a terrible time in a world that has all of its frustrations out here because you've got a war going on on the inside of you, and here's a war going on outside of you, and I'll tell you when that's the case life gets very rough.

You and I know that if we, say in our home, say in the early morning we are having breakfast and there's a disagreement at the breakfast table and there are hard feelings and not nice words - we go out the door angry. That anger affects all that we do during that day, because it's there, right? If you've got a war going on here (inside you) and a war going on out there, what peter is saying, you're going to have a rough time.

So here's his practical advice, and I really believe this is at the heart of it. Remember, because if he's writing to discouraged Christians that are on the run being persecuted, here's what he is saying: lay aside anything that would rob you of your peace with God. Have a heart that's at peace with God, and then you can handle the issues of life. You can handle the misunderstandings. You can handle the temptations. Just remember, you handle it with a heart that is at peace with God. You put aside malice; you put aside ill feelings. He says you put aside deceit and hypocrisy. You're going to be honest; you're going to be straightforward; you're not going to envy somebody else. You're going to watch your words so that your words are Christlike. And I think that's very, very wonderful practical advice folks. Peter is telling us that if you've got a war going on inside you, you're going to have a rough time having peace in the world.

You know I've learned something in my ministry that I've got to make sure in the early part of the day that there's nothing inside me that's going to disturb the peace that's there, and I find time to be with God, as many of you folks do, so that I want to start my day when I sit down to my cup of coffee and my doughnut - I want to have a peace of heart and I know as soon as I get back to the church I'm going to maybe hear something that I didn't want to hear and hear of a problem, but if I've got a heart that's at peace and fed by the Word of God...did you notice what peter said? And desire the Word of God. So you set those aside then you fill your heart with the Word of God. He said and you desire just like a newborn baby desires milk.

Now I've been babysitting recently my little one-year-old granddaughter. And when she sees mama fixing the bottle she just starts shaking. She gets so excited. It's nourishment time. Peter said we should have the same excitement about the Word of God, and if we take the necessary effort to say that's no longer going to be a part of my life; with God's help that's gone and I'm going to pray that my life reflects the life of Christ, and I'm going to find that reflection as I feed from His Word.

So Peter is saying, while you're running, while they're chasing you, while they may be preparing the gallows, make sure your heart is at peace with God and you know what the Word of God says. It's good advice, isn't it? Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for Your word. I thank you for Peter who is so practical about Christian faith, and the instructions that he gives us today are very clear. We can't have a corrupt heart and a peaceful life, or a successful life.

Father, some of us sitting here today need you to help us because we've held some bitterness or some grudges. We have not reflected Your character in many situations. So would you forgive us Jesus? And help us to live our lives with a deep-seated peace that all is well between us, Almighty God. That we truly can say it is well, it is well with my soul. That's our prayer, and we pray it in Jesus' name, amen. God bless you.