Essentials of Christian Living (Part 1 of 2)

When we live our lives according to God's design, we're not the only ones who are blessed in the process. Today on Truth for Life, we'll learn how living a Christian life will commend the gospel and attract others to Jesus, maybe bringing some to salvation.

Alistair Begg points out essential characteristics that should flow from the lives of God's people. We need be in no doubt as to Peter's objective in writing this letter. He tells us in the twelfth verse of chapter 5 that he has written briefly, encouraging us and testifying that what he has been writing is the true grace of God and exhorting us to stand fast in it. We have reminded ourselves as we've gone through that Peter was not writing in a time of tranquility, but rather he was writing in a period of persecution, which makes his call to submission all the more telling. As I studied this week in 1 Peter, I just stood back from it all again in the way that I'd done in prefacing the studies to remind myself that here I was studying a book written under the guidance of the Holy Spirit by a Galilean fisherman from two thousand years ago. And as I sat there with the Bible before me, I said to myself, My, my, this is almost unbelievable, that we should be here opening the pages of Scripture and paying attention to such a one as Peter.

And it was a great encouragement to me, and I pass it on to you insofar as it reminded me of this truth—that God sets his hand upon some of the most unlikely people to do his work. Peter does not necessarily stand before us as a classic example of somebody whom God would choose to use. Even as he went about the business of his routine life, along with his brother and in the family business, Jesus came and arrested him on the seashore with a very simple word of command.

Follow me, and I will make you, Peter, a fisher of men. His name was Simon. His name actually meant shaky. And by the grace of God, his name became Peter, which meant rocklike. And so the shaky one, by God's goodness, became rocklike and was given the responsibility of strengthening the brethren. And so it is to this shaky, now rocklike character that we turn our attention as he writes these words and as he draws this whole section to a clause in the eighth verse of chapter 3. You will notice that this section had begun at the eleventh verse of chapter 2, where he had said, Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world. So he had issued a very generic word to those who were his readers. And then he has proceeded in the section which follows to address specific groups and particular individuals.

Having done so, he now returns once again to his general scope as he draws this whole section to a clause. And you find him saying in chapter 3, Finally, all of you—I've said a word to those of you in employment, I've said a word to those of you in specific responsibilities in civil jurisdiction, I've spoken to husbands, I've spoken to wives, and now he says, I want to speak to all of you once again. It may even be that with the help of Silas, he has the scroll before him which contains Psalm 34.

Because from verse 10 to verse 12, that is exactly where he's quoting from. And in this, he gives us a kind of graphic portrayal of the unity of Scripture. If you think about it for a wee minute, here is an apostle commissioned by Christ to a peculiar task, and the apostle takes the Word of God in his hands—namely, in the Samos words—and with the Word of his Master in his heart, he brings the Old Testament and the New Testament, the gospel records, together, and in his apostolic instruction, he shows the great clarity and unity of the Bible.

And for those of us who are tempted to come with a great cleaver and destroy our Scriptures and chop them up into sections, some of which are applicable and others which are not, we find that the apostles had no such interest. Rather, here he is, with an Old Testament book, with the words of Christ from the Gospels, and with the fullness of the Spirit in his own life, giving instruction concerning how to live. It has been suggested that Psalm 34 may well have been used as a catechism in the early church. It may have been that it was used as a kind of discipleship manual. It's also possible that Psalm 34, indeed more than likely, was sung as a hymn in the early church. So if we'd been gathering with some of those in Cappadocia or Bithynia, to whom Peter wrote, when they receive Peter's letter and he quotes from the thirty-fourth psalm, they don't have a problem to go back scurrying to find it out, because they've been singing it frequently, and also they have been studying it carefully. And it may well be that it was given a title such as Recipe for a Happy Life, or Recipe for a Fulfilled Life. Because as you take the thirty-fourth psalm and read it, it provides for as the answer, How can I enjoy a satisfying and a worthwhile life?

And in it—and Peter only quotes from part of it—general guidelines are set down which may be applied to our benefit. And the picture which is created for us here is in direct contrast to what we discovered when we studied Ecclesiastes together and the conclusion of the writer of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 2.17, So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun is grievous to me, all of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Well, that was Ecclesiastes. What does the psalmist have to say? The psalmist says, Here in the fullness of the LORD's purposes I can trace my way through life, and I can live in a way that pleases him. We ought not to press the psalmist's poetry into categorical statements.

Neither Scripture nor human experience would allow us to do so. If we were to press the thirty-fourth psalm into wooden application, then we would have a problem explaining, in my case, why it was that my mother died at the age of forty-six in a completely out-of-the-ordinary, unexpected reality. Why would that be in light of Psalm 34?

Was there something wrong? No, it was this—that in Psalm 34 we have general guidelines of truth, not categorical statements of actuality which may be pressed to unorthodox conclusions. Rather, what he is saying is that when we engage in active goodness, that is a fairly efficient way of avoiding evil. And when we engage in goodness and we avoid evil, there is blessing which attends such an approach.

If you put your hand on the stove and it's on, you burn your fingers. If you live your life on the broad road that leads to destruction, you get burned. But there is a road which leads unto life, and few there be that find it. The psalmist, the same psalmist, says, Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He doesn't stand in the way of sinners. He doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful.

Those who do are like the chaff which are blown away. But those who walk in the paths of righteousness are like trees flourishing by riverbanks. There is blessing which attends, doing it God's way. And Peter, quoting from the Old Testament, drives this home as he applies these final truths to those who were his readers.

Here we see Peter, the Bible teacher, at work. And there is benefit which accrues, he says, to those who live their lives in this way. But there is also implicit in it an obligation that we must face, and there is also contained in it an opportunity that we can find. The obligation is found in the fact that the things we're going to look at now are not optional extras. They are essentials of Christian living. And when Peter says, God's people, the chosen ones, live in this way, fulfill these obligations, then we provide a tremendous opportunity for the gospel. Then we're beginning to live in a naturally supernatural way.

Then we're beginning to display before the world a dimension of life which will make inquirers of our friends and neighbors. You see, the real question for these early readers was, how are we going to create a right impression in a hostile world? How can we live in such a way, in this environment of Roman persecution, where to be a Christian is to be involved in the craziest group of people ever, where all kinds of things are unleashed against us? How, Peter, can we live in a way that would commend the gospel? Well, notice what Peter doesn't say.

Peter does not say, Go out and make a jolly nuisance of yourselves. Go out and aggravate your community. Go out and take the warfare and the weapons of your society and just do what they do.

No! Peter actually says, Do the reverse of that. He says, Live in such a way that the world will say, I don't know why these people do what they do.

Live in an inexplicable fashion. Now, as we come to these factors, and you find them in verses 8 and 9, which is where we spend the remainder of our time, we discover that Peter is referring to a quality of life which is God-produced. It is, if you like—the only way you can understand this is by cross-referencing it with Philippians 2.13, where we're called to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling—that's our part—because it is God who is at work in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure—that's his part. In other words, as we go through this, if ever you find yourself thinking that Peter is calling us as his readers to some self-righteous, legalistic activity whereby we attempt to score points for heaven, we are absolutely wrong.

Okay? These are not six things that earn heaven. This is not six things we're supposed to pull our socks up. Oh, the pastor at a sermon this morning said, You're supposed to do this, and if you do this, then you will be okay.

No, no. What the Word of God is saying is this. You are chosen. You are called. You are empowered by the Spirit. You have been born anew by a living hope. You are purifying yourselves by obedience to the truth.

You are walking in the light. You are filled with the Spirit. Now, says Peter, because all of that is true, here are the essential characteristics which will flow from lives like that. That is vitally important. Otherwise, what I now share with myself and with you is really just a chronicle of despair.

Because by nature, we cannot do what Peter is about to ask us to do. These qualities are supernatural in their exposure. Let's go through them then.

I think there's six. Number one, harmony. Harmony. Finally, all of you live in harmony. Essential characteristic of Christian living amongst the family of God is that we are of one mind. The literal translation is, Be like-minded. This should be no surprise to us, because if you turn to John 17, you discover that is exactly what Jesus prayed for those who were his own in his high priestly prayer.

You'll find it in verse 21 and following. I'm praying, Father, that all of them may be one. Well, could you explain that a little more? How one?

How much one? Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Now, that's close, right? Whatever else it is, that's close. So the like-mindedness which Peter says should characterize those who are the chosen ones of Christ is something for which Jesus prayed. Secondly, it is something which the early church displayed. Acts chapter 4 and verse 32.

Look at what it says. And all the believers were in one heart and mind. They weren't a ragbag of opinions. They weren't a group of people who believed everything and anything.

They were not united around some osmosis-type experience. No, they were brought together under Christ to a like-mindedness which the world said is incredible. And this, says Peter, is exactly to be the experience of those who are in the church. So it was prayed for by Jesus, John 17. It was displayed by the early church, Acts chapter 4. And before the early church had gone very far, it was the desperate and daily need of those who were God's people. Romans chapter 12. We read part of it already.

Verse 4, and then verse 16. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member noted belongs to all the others. Now, I'm not sure that we have fully understood this as a church family in terms of body life. Or if we've understood it, I must suppose that we have decided to ignore it. When your body moves from the kitchen to the bathroom, how much of it moves?

All of it. When God speaks about the family that he brings together, he presupposes a like-minded unity. He presupposes that when he says, for example, concerning the Lord's Supper, Do this in remembrance of me, he might safely assume that those who are under the authoritative headship of Christ, who are his body, will do what the head says, no matter how brightly the sun shines, no matter how many demands come across our path.

Why? Because we are brought under Christ to a harmony which is as God ordained. If it was needed in the Roman church, it was certainly needed in the Corinthian church. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10. He says, I'm writing to you, so that all of you agree with one another, so that there may be no divisions among you, and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. Now, don't let's start explaining this away yet, okay?

Press all those buttons that are going off in your head that are going, but, but, but, but. Let's just allow it to say what it says. This is what the Bible says. Perfectly united in mind and in thought. Okay, let's set ourselves against that standard.

How are we doing? Here's the question. How can such a diversified group of people, as those to whom Peter wrote and continues through the centuries to write, ever come to a united common interest and outlook?

Well, the answer is actually very, very simple. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 13. Ephesians 4 13. The only way that men and women in our day amongst the family of God can ever come together in this harmony will not be upon the basis of a human agenda but will be upon the foundation of divine authority.

Verse 13 of Ephesians 4, he's talked about the responsibility of the various functions within the church to evangelize and to edify. And he says, when this begins to happen, when the Word of God is communicated in truth and is brought home by the Spirit, then he says, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. So we need be in no doubt as how we come to this harmony. We come to this harmony under the headship and authority of Jesus. The unity to which we come is not uniformity.

It is not the negation of diversity either of gift or of background or of outlook. It is a unity which takes all of that diversity, recognizes it, and brings ourselves under the truth of the Word. Then he says, and only then, verse 14, we will no longer be infants. But until then, we will always be infants. Until a church family gets about the part of harmony in this way, we can continue to be tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there by every wind of teaching, and we will be susceptible to the cunning and craftiness of man in their deceitful scheming.

It's just a fact, he says. Unless you come to this like-minded commitment to Christ and to his Word, you will be up for anything. But when you do, when you, verse 15, speak the truth in love, then you will in all things grow up into him who is the head.

That is Christ. And from him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. Okay? Second word, sympathy.

Spent too long on the first one, but you're used to that. Sympathy. Be sympathetic. It doesn't say, Be pathetic.

It says, Be sympathetic. In other words, we should be sensitive to the same spiritual emotions. If we have the same common mind, then presumably we will be stirred by the same things.

Unless, of course, we're out of our minds, right? But when we have the mind of Christ, Philippians 2.5, then if all these people, all of the mind of Christ, and they're all submitting to the same head, then presumably there will be a stirring in the heart which is shared. That's why, you see, that the singing of God's praise should produce fervor.

Why? Because we're sympathetic with one another. You hear the guy singing next to you, you understand what this phrase really means, huh? I've got to be sympathetic to it. If he hadn't come here, we could have used him as a foghorn, but bless his heart, there he is.

That's okay. But far and beyond that, what is this? That when we take a hymn that extols Christ, Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, thou fount of life, thou light of men, from the best bliss that earthen parts, I turn unfilled to thee again. Jesus, thy truth hath ever stood, thou savest those that on thee call, to them that seekest thou art good, to them that find thee all in all, and suddenly beg is going on the hymn, but he's not alone, because his brothers and sisters around him are saying, That's right! Amazing grace! That's why we don't do all our things alone.

That's why there is value in coming together. I can go sing in the park, sure, and so can you. But I want to sing with you. I want to hear you sing. I want you to sing out and sing up, and I want my heart to be warmed and stirred as sympathetically I bow beneath the same truth.

You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. As we saw in today's passage when we live our lives according to God's design, people notice both people inside and outside our homes. Here at Truth for Life, we routinely hear from parents and grandparents who tell us how much they value biblically sound books they can read to their children to point them to Jesus and his kingdom. So today if you're starting to look ahead to Christmas, let me encourage you to add the children's book, Jesus Stories, a family parable devotional to your shopping cart. This is a book that teaches children ages 6 and up 22 parables that Jesus taught.

The book retells the stories like the wedding feast, the workers in the vineyard, the sower and the seeds, just to name a few. Purchase the family devotional Jesus Stories for our cost of only $5. You'll find it along with other gift ideas for all ages in our online store at truthforlife.org slash gifts. And don't forget, if you add a donation to your purchase, you can request Alistair's newly released book, Let Earth Receive Her King, an Advent devotional that will help you stay focused on Jesus throughout the Christmas season. Ask for your copy of Let Earth Receive Her King today. When you donate to support the gospel teaching ministry of Truth for Life, go to truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. Thanks for joining us today. Tomorrow, we'll learn how we can be a huge blessing even to those who might hate or slander us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.