Manner of life (1 Peter 1)

… It has often been suggested, and I think with truth, that the Epistles of Peter are very largely the outcome of the Lord's two-fold commission to Peter, as we have it in the Gospels in Luke 22 and again in John 21. May I perhaps by way of introduction remind you of those commissions, to remember how the Lord Jesus said to Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, or a better word, restored, or he was already converted, when thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren, strengthen thy brethren. Peter, of course, protested that he was ready to go to prison and to death with the Lord. Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, I tell you, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. Then later, after the denial, and you have it in verse 61 of that chapter, Luke 22, the Lord turned and he looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the Lord's words, and he remembered that look, of that I am certain. And he went out and he wept bitterly. He had denied his Lord, despite his protestations. But he also remembered the Lord's other words. When thou art restored, for the Lord looked beyond the failure to the restoration, when thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren, strengthen thy brethren. Then the conversation, you remember, that the Lord had with Peter, recorded in John 21, verse 15. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these, indicating the other disciples? And the Lord used a word expressive of deep love. And Peter could not respond in kind. And the word that he used for love was not the same as the word that the Lord used. He said, in effect, Lord, thou knowest that I have affection for thee. He couldn't use the word that the Lord used. And the Lord said, feed my lambs. And again, Jesus said to him, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And again, the Lord uses the strong word for love. And Peter again cannot respond in exactly the same way. And again he says, Lord, thou knowest that I have affection for thee. Thou knowest that I am fond of thee. And the third time Jesus speaks and says, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And this time the Lord uses the weaker word that Peter had used. And Peter again responded, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee, for I have affection for thee. At least Peter there was honest. And then the Lord's request again, each time, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. So Peter is restored. He is restored and he's commissioned again. Now clearly the Lord teaches the lesson for Peter and surely for ourselves too. First, love for the Lord, love for the Lord. And then a loving concern for all his people. That they might be strengthened, yes, strengthened in their faith. And that they might be fed, fed with the truth of God's word. And I'm sure that I don't say something wrong when I say that that is the precise purpose of these meetings. That the people of God might be strengthened in their faith. And that they might be fed with all the truth of the word of God. Well, I believe, you know, that this love for the Lord should be the motive spring for all our ministry. There's no doubt that Peter did love the Lord, no question about that, despite his failure. But I believe that this love, this love for the Lord, without this love motivating us, the things of which we speak, have little meaning brethren. They have little meaning unless we do have this loving devotion to our Lord, who loved us even unto death. Our answering love to the Lord. Worship for instance, worship is not just a matter of meeting together in a scriptural fashion, important though that is. It is rather the loving response of our hearts to the love of the Father and of the Son. There is this word that's used several times in the two epistles of Peter, translated in the authorised version as conversation. And it really means manner of life or way of life. And that's how I'd like to use the word this afternoon. Now Peter introduces this expression in verse 15, as you will have seen in our reading of the first chapter of the first epistle. I'll read it again. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of life. Now he'd already sought, and we read the words, didn't we? He'd already sought to comfort their hearts in view of the trials, the tribulations, the persecutions that they were suffering, by reminding them of some of the precious truths of their precious faith. Peter, you know, loves that word precious. He uses it many, many times. And these things were precious to him, and he knew that they were precious to these dear souls to whom he was writing. But here he's talking about holiness. And this is how he summarises beforehand so much, I think, that is upon his mind. You know, brethren, we mustn't think of holiness as being sanctimonious. Oh, it isn't that at all. To be sanctimonious can be really horrible. But it's something quite different to that. I believe that holiness is essentially practical. Essentially practical. And we're not reading the epistle to the Hebrews, isn't it? Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. What an important scripture that is. And how important is the subject of holiness to each one of us. But love is practical too, isn't it? And so Peter is practical as he seeks to carry out the Lord's words. Feed my lambs, feed my sheep, strengthen my brethren. And then we get the first of six occasions where he uses this word, conversation or manner of life. The first one I'd like to refer to is verse 18. Very well known to us all. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Now Peter was writing to converted Jews of the dispersion, scattered abroad as they were, and the vain manner of life was Judaism that he was referring to. Judaism received, as he said, by tradition from their fathers. Now those dear believers had to learn that the Old Testament Judaism had come to an end in Christ, who had both kept and fulfilled the law completely. In fact, do we not read of the Lord Jesus in the 42nd of Isaiah, where we read of the perfect servant of Jehovah, that he magnified the law, magnified the law and made it honorable. Only one person has ever done that, and that person our Lord Jesus. Now these dear folk are a new ground, a new relationship. See that from verse 17. If you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, past the time of your sojourning here in fear. Reminds us too of the Lord's words, doesn't it, to Mary after the resurrection. Go to my brethren, he said, go to my brethren and say, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. That's a new blessed relationship into which we've all been brought, not only these Jewish believers, but you and I too, by his grace. We know God as our Father. We didn't know that, we didn't know it in Old Testament days, but since Jesus came, he has revealed the Father, and we have this new relationship. In verse 18 speaks of tradition, tradition. Now undoubtedly there's some good traditions, and there are some traditions that are very, very bad, unquestionably. But the point is that no religious tradition can either save the soul, or preserve us in the life of faith. Tradition can't do that. The Word of God can. The Holy Spirit can, through the Holy Word. Then again we don't usually think, do we, of silver and gold as being corruptible things. Indeed, even in Scripture itself, we have it, don't we, isn't it? 1 Corinthians 3, in connection with the judgment seat of Christ, where the Lord Jesus contrasts the gold and silver and precious stones with the wood, hay and stubble. The gold and silver is that which is precious to him, of great value to him. But you see, the point is that anything, anything, however precious, is corruptible by comparison with the precious blood of Christ. Can we estimate the value of that precious blood of our Savior? No, indeed. We're not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot. I believe that the vain manner of life we read of here is anything, and I mean anything, anything religious which is not of God. Anything religious which is not of God. And it's my observation that there's plenty of that kind of religion in this world today. Oh yes, it all sounds very fine, but so often when you examine it, it's not truly of God at all. Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, didn't he, you've made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. The things that they had introduced and added by their tradition, they made of none effect the word of God. He says, you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and platter, but your inward part is full of wickedness. Tradition, no, tradition of itself cannot save the soul, and tradition cannot help us in our Christian lives. We don't do things just simply for tradition. We do things and we say things because they are there in the word of God. They can be a blessing to our souls. I would say that tradition is not necessarily hypocritical. It can be, but it's not necessarily so. But you see, we can be beguiled from the simplicity that is in Christ to such a degree that we, so that if we become cold, cold in our affections, formerly traditional, instead of being warm and fresh with a love of Christ. Ah, there's a danger in that. There's a danger too, you know, sometimes I believe in, this I think may well be true of some of us, in many years past, there's a danger of doing things in a certain way because we've always done it that way. Instead of doing it because it's according to the scriptures and arising, let me emphasize the point again, out of love for Christ, out of love for our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we should be doing all the things that we do in worship and in service, arising from this motive spring, love for our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the next reference is in chapter 2 and verse 11. We'll just look at that. Chapter 2 and verse 11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your manner of life 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. Good, honest manner of life. Honest manner of life. He speaks to them as strangers and pilgrims. Now what does that mean? It means that they were aliens. And you know, dear friends, that's what we are in this world. We don't belong here. We're aliens and we're pilgrims. Temporary residents. That's what we are. Or we might have a bit of freehold poverty, temporary residents. Well, a stranger or a sojourner is someone who is away from home. Well, where's our home? Well, it isn't here. I was going to say it's up there. It's in the Father's house. That's our home. It's where Jesus is. That's our home. And we're going there. We're on our way there. Don't we have the Lord's own words about it? I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. He wants us to be there. And we want to be there, don't we? Oh, indeed we do. Then a pilgrim is on a journey. So as aliens or temporary residents, we're on our journey home. But all this, you see, is bound up with honest manner of life. Now, what does that word honest mean? Now, I'm very interested to discover that it has a double meaning. It does include honesty or being honourable, in the usual sense that we use that word. But it also means being comely, becoming as a child of God in this world. It has to do with all our behaviour. So that if we walk in a comely way, in a seemly way, all that we do in our walk and in our talk and in our appearance and in our dress and the way we do our hair. I think of some of the fantastic hairstyles one sees today. Not that I could ever copy them. But you see, dear friends, this is what characterises a Christian. He is one who commends the things of God by his very appearance, by what he says or by whatever she says or what she does, her dress, her behaviour, her whole appearance, her whole behaviour in life. Interesting, isn't it? This word has this double meaning. It does mean to be honest in the strict sense of that word but also to be becoming in a way that is commendable to our God. And, of course, to be honest and honourable means to be straightforward, doesn't it? Not to be devious. Believers should never be devious. If you're yay, be yay and you're nay, be nay, if we say something we should mean it and not say something one day and say something quite different on another day. That's being devious. But not being sidetracked. Not being sidetracked for the purpose that God has put before us in his word. Maybe given us something to do that he wants us to do for him. Well, let's keep to that purpose. How true this was of the Apostle Paul, wasn't it? In Acts 20, you remember, when he spoke to the Ephesian elders, he talked along these lines. He said, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing what shall befall me there. But, he said, none of these things move me. None of these things move me. Why? Why, Paul was a pilgrim. He was indeed a pilgrim. And so he adds, none of these things move me. None of these things move me. So that I might finish my course with joy. That was his great aspiration, wasn't it? To be pleasing to the Lord. Now, clearly this involves this honest or comely manner of life. Abstaining, as verse 11 says, from fleshly lusts. Well, dishonesty is unquestionably a fleshly lust. There's no denying that. Widely practiced in the world around us indeed. Indeed, I find in the world that if men are dishonest and get away with something, they think they've been rather clever. But that isn't the line for a Christian. That isn't your line, young brother or young sister. No, be honest in all your dealings. Indeed, no, says Peter here, having your manner of life honest and comely among the Gentiles. You see the end of verse 12. Whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God. Glorify God in the day of visitation. The world takes note of us. And we do that which they feel to be comely in a Christian. They note it. And if we do things or say things that they don't feel to be comely, they note that as well. So let's be careful. All of us, let's be careful in our lives. This sense of being honest, an honest manner of life. In Romans 12, of course, we read important words. Recompense to no man. Evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Then in chapter 3 in verses 1 and 2, we have another thought. He talks to the wives. Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word or apart from the word be won by the conversation or the manner of life of the wives, whilst they behold your chaste or pure conversation or manner of life with fear. Now Peter is speaking particularly here, I think, to husbands who are unconverted. And I think the difficult circumstances that some dear sisters do have do call for great understanding on our part. It may not necessarily be wives who have this difficulty with a husband who is unconverted. It might have to do with a young girl or a young brother in an unconverted home. And we should be very, very understanding and try to be very, very helpful where they're concerned so that their witness, their testimony, according to the word of God, can be a very real blessing to them. He refers, you see, in verse 1, to husbands who obey not the word. They obey not the word. Now it doesn't mean that the word is powerless to touch such a man. They may refuse to hear it, as many refuse to hear the word of God today. But the point is that the moral weight, the moral weight of the woman's chaste life, her pure life, is more effective than preaching at him. And that's the lesson that we'll learn from this scripture. Yes, it's the life that counts, isn't it? It's what we really are that shows. It's clear from verses 3 and 4. It shows again it's what we are inside. It counts more than the outward appearance. I know I've spoken of the outward appearance and that's important, but this is the inner life. Remember that James, he's a very practical James, isn't he, speaks of the wisdom that is above. And he says it's first pure, first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated. But it's first pure. How important this is. Chastity, in a specific sense, it seems to me is largely and unashamedly abandoned in the world today. Oh, how sad it is. You see it in this country. It makes my heart bleed to see it. The blatant wickedness and immorality, the lack of this chastity, it's abandoned. It is abandoned. And people are quite unashamed about it. But that's not the path for the Christian. No, no. Your chaste manner of life, your pure manner of life can have its effect, tremendous effect, and can lead to the conversion of precious souls if we're faithful to our Lord. Moral decline, I fear, leads to decline in every other sort of way in a nation's affairs. Isn't it Solomon who says in the Proverbs, Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin, sin is a reproach to any people. It is a chaste manner of life. And then in verse 16 of chapter 3, we have another expression. Verse 16. Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation or good manner of life. Have you noticed how often the word good occurs here? You have it in verse 10. You've got it again in verse 11. You have it in verse 13. And you've got it in this verse, 16. How goodness is emphasised here. Not thought much of in the world, is it, goodness? Here I believe the basic thought is our speech, our talk. So that really the word conversation is not inappropriate, is it? What kind of language do we use in our conversation? A man's speech will often reflect his manner of life, will it not? It will indeed. Verse 10. If we would see good days, refrain the tongue from evil and the lips from speaking guile. That's a quotation from Psalm 34. The psalmist saw the truth of that and Peter takes it up. If you would see good days, refrain the tongue from evil and the lips from speaking guile. Well, the word guile has connotations, doesn't it, of deceit, craftiness or again being devious, if you will. Remember the Lord's words concerning Nathanael. Behold, he said, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile, no guile. Now he didn't mean that Nathanael was without sin. He simply meant that he was a man who didn't practice deceit or deviousness or any of these things. He was a man without guile. What, of course, this entails, if we observe this truly, being faithful and we have to speak out if something really is wrong, judgment must begin at the house of God. There is such a thing as discipline, you know, dear brother. I remember giving an address at our quarterly fellowship meeting on a matter of discipline. It is important among the people of God, tremendously important. It means speaking out if there is something really wrong amongst God's people. The point is don't let it go on. If it goes on, it only gets worse. It gets worse instead of better. To sweep it under the carpet or to try to cover it up is no good at all. It must be dealt with. And the sooner it's dealt with, the better, brethren. Yes, let's be without guile. The safeguard, of course, I believe, in all these things is, as in Scripture, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt. Seasoned with salt. We must speak in grace to one another. That's essential. But it has to be seasoned with salt. Now, salt is a great preservative, isn't it? It keeps corruption away. Yes, let your speech be always with grace. How important also, dear brethren, is our speech before God. God is in heaven, thou art upon earth, therefore let thy words be few. I think that that is a good Scripture for short prayers, don't you? God is in heaven, thou art upon earth, therefore let thy words be few. God notes our sincerity. I think that's the point, you know. When we pray, let's be sincere in our prayers toward God. I'm reminded of a man, a story of a brother in the Lord. He was, without a doubt, I didn't know him personally, but he was conscious of things that he'd allowed in his life which were such a hindrance to him that he felt that they were like cobwebs. Cobwebs in his life, cluttering up his life and spoiling his witness and testimony for the Lord. And he used to pray about it. Well, it was a good thing to pray about it. And he used to pray, Lord, sweep the cobwebs out of my life. And he prayed it privately and then he started praying it publicly in the prayer meeting. Lord, sweep the cobwebs out of my life. And it got to about the third occasion when he prayed it when a mother brother in the meeting interjected, not just the cobwebs, Lord, kill the spider. Kill the spider. Ah, that's where the trouble lies, isn't it? The spider itself. Kill the spider. Speech. Our speech to our fellow man. Our speech before God. To be sincere in our prayers. Really mean what we say. Now in the second epistle and chapter two and we come on to a scripture, brethren, that is highly relevant to the present day. In 2 Peter 2, verse 7, we read that God delivered just Lot vexed with a filthy manner of life of the wicked. The sad story of Lot teaches us that it's much easier to get into a godless worldly association than it is to get out of it. Oh, it's so easy to slip into it. So difficult, having got in, to be able to get out again. If he'd only had a little more sanctified common sense he would have stayed a little nearer to his uncle Abraham and that, I think, would have saved him an awful lot of heartache and a very bad testimony that he showed. He had worldly ambition and he wanted so much to get on. Well, that's not wrong, dear young brother or sister, it's not wrong to have ambition but keep it within the scope of scripture and keep it within the mind of the Lord where you are concerned. He had ambition. We read in Genesis 30 he pitched his tent towards Sodom and then he entered Sodom and then he lived in Sodom and Sodom speaks of worldliness and worldliness in a particularly nasty way. Well, he was taken prisoner. If you read the story, it's a wonderful story, he was taken prisoner by one of those kings by a church, Leomar was his name and you know that was really God's goodness to him. And he was rescued from that situation by Abraham and then what did he do? He went back to Sodom. Oh foolish man, went back to that place, that terrible place where his righteous soul had been vexed with a filthy conversation, the filthy, yes, very often it was conversation but the filthy manner of life. And he went back to Sodom and then we find he's sitting in the gate. Now what does that mean? It means that he was involved in all that went on in that wicked city, became involved in all the organization that went with it. Oh, what a sad thing to happen to a man of God. But his testimony as a man of God as a result was gone, wasn't it? And when he did speak, the scripture says he was as one that mocked because it didn't ring true. It couldn't ring true because he got so involved in that wicked city. Now dear brethren, you don't need me to spell out the particular wickedness of Sodom. I don't intend to do so. But the media daily reminds us that that sin has become the greatest threat to public health and decency in our age. Does anyone challenge that statement? Oh, there are many who would challenge it. Not in Wildfield Hall perhaps at the moment but even so-called ministers of the gospel would challenge it. They say that it's something we must allow if they feel that way. Oh friends, it's a dreadful thing. How does God describe it in Genesis? He said their sin is grievous. In fact, he said it is very grievous. And here it's described and I notice that the same word is used in the NIV as well as in the AV. It's a filthy manner of life. This is what the word of God says. Well, Lot's good point was that his righteous soul was vexed. It was vexed with a filthy manner of life of the wicked. This insolent disregard for decency. Thank God for verse 9. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly. Ah yes. And he delivered Lot. Lot was delivered out of Sodom before Sodom was destroyed with Gomorrah. All this is recorded as a warning for men and women in this world today. The scripture makes that abundantly clear. Oh, that men would heed God's warnings in his word. Well, what's the great lesson? Oh, the great lesson is this. Don't let ambition rule your life. If you let ambition rule your life, young brother, young sister, it could ruin your testimony. Don't let it take over. Don't let it take control. Keep it in check. Seekest thou great things for thyself? These are the words of Jeremiah, you know, to his servant Baruch. Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Seek them not. Well, that was Baruch's idea. And dear godly Jeremiah, oh, he was a man of God if ever there was one, although he wasn't very popular and was called the dismal prophet. Seek not great things. Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Ah, dear friends, a good mixer in this world's affairs cannot be a good witness for God. I don't hesitate to say that. If you're going to be a good mixer with the world, with all its filthy works, you can't be a good witness for God at the same time. We are separate from the world. May God enable us to show that separation by our witness, by our testimony, by the way in which we live. Now again we come to the last one of the six instances in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verses 10 and 11 particularly. I'd like to draw your attention to the apostle says, but the day of the Lord, now may I make this clear right at the beginning, the day of the Lord is not the day when the Lord Jesus comes for his own. Don't get them mixed up. Whatever you do, you'll never understand scripture if you do. The day of the Lord is not the rapture. It's not the day when Jesus comes for his own. It's the day of judgment. It's the day of judgment that follows the home call of the saints of God. After the rapture, Peter doesn't feel particularly led to talk about the rapture. He leaves that to the apostle Paul. That was his particular concern. But we read here in verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. The Lord doesn't come for us as a thief in the night. It's quite different to that. Quite different. We're not looking for a thief. We're looking for a blessed Lord. Of course we are. In the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. This is what's going to happen. This world's going to be burnt up and all that it contains. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy manner of life and godliness? You see, this last appeal comes in the form of a question. Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be? Well, it happens of course after we've gone. Don't worry, you won't lose your house and your home whilst you're here. But after we've gone, these things will happen. Someone has suggested you know, that we might make an inventory of all our prized possessions and right over the top of that inventory all these things shall be dissolved. If all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be? Oh well. Think of all your prized possessions, oh dear brethren. Won't we be glad to leave them for the harvest house? We've got something infinitely better. Infinitely better. Then he adds, nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth. You see, when it happens it won't bother us. It won't bother us that our prized possessions are gone. We've got something, as I say, infinitely better. We often say about the departed saint of God that they're with Christ which is far better. We shall then be with Christ, which is indeed far better. Far better for us and for all our loved ones too. We shall all be with the Lord. But he says, because we look for better things, be diligent. Be diligent, verse 14, and be found of him in peace without spot or blameless. In other words be holy. He comes back to where he began, you see. Be holy in all manner of life. Vessels unto honour, sanctify, meet for the master's use. Verse 17 reminds us we know these things beforehand. We do know them because God, you see, has lifted the veil. He's told us things that are going to happen after we've gone. And the day of the Lord will take place. This should make us earnest in the gospel, shouldn't it? The Lord is not slack, concerning his promise. As some men count slackness, but is long suffering, not willing that any should perish. That's why we preach the gospel. And brethren, don't give up preaching the gospel, whatever you do. It's our bounden responsibility to do so. To preach the word in season or out of season. Yes. The coming of the day of the Lord. And that, of course, is followed by the day of God. We know the Lord is long-suffering, and this means salvation to all who believe. But we know that before that day, Jesus will come for his own. It means, doesn't it, that we may not have much longer to serve the Lord. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. That's true. And it applies to you, and it applies to me. Our dear friends, there's a life, there's a manner of life to avoid. And there's a manner of life to cultivate. And that's what Peter had on his mind, that those dear souls to whom he wrote, might indeed cultivate that good life. That good life, which keeps us close to our blessed Lord, and enables us to serve him in godly fear. A fear that arises primarily from our love to the Lord, and reverence for the things of God. We might well say, as the Apostle exclaims in Corinthians, doesn't he, the second letter, who is sufficient for these things? Who is sufficient for these things? Well, Scripture poses the question, but Scripture also gives the answer, doesn't it? The Lord knoweth. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation. And as we seek to hasten, as it says in verse 12, we seek to hasten the coming of the day of God, that wonderful day way ahead. The coming of the day of God. And realize the truth of that lovely hymn by J.G. Dett, one verse of which always impresses me so deeply. When that time comes, when all taint of sin shall be removed, all evil done away, and we shall dwell with God's beloved in God's eternal day. May we be in the good of that for his name's sake. …