Living as Exiles

I was a stranger in a strange land. It felt all wrong. I was surrounded by people of a different culture, different values, different clothes and different customs. Now, In fairness, that experience may not be quite as exotic as it first sounds. I was a senior in high school and I was looking at college campuses and I found myself in Gainesville on campus at the University of Florida. Now, a lot of you know, I was raised a Georgia fan and you know that I'm telling the truth because I wouldn't say that publicly after losing to Vanderbilt. But we did. I was raised a Georgia fan. And so I was in enemy territory. I was surrounded by orange and blue. I was struggling to fathom how I could even consider spending the next four years of my life in this place. Most of you know, I went to Florida State, so we at least had a common enemy and I say all that this morning to just to catch a glimpse, that's maybe as close as I've been to really feeling like a foreigner or like an outcast. A lot of you have had a lot more real experiences of being a foreigner, being in another country, being out of place. And some of you here this morning even are foreigners and we welcome you with us. We're glad that you're here to worship with us this morning. It's this idea of being foreigners, being aliens, that we want to think about this morning as we continue to study through 1 Peter. I've been preaching periodically through the book of 1 Peter over the last year. This morning we'll be in chapter 2, just looking at verses 11 and 12. So we're going to do a shorter section than what's printed there in the bulletin. 11 through 12 of 1 Peter chapter 2. If you want to use one of the pew Bibles in front of you, if you don't have a Bible, it's on page 1015. And if you don't have a Bible, please take that with you. Let that be a gift. from us this morning so first Peter 2 11 through 12 as You're turning there. Let me get us up to speed since we haven't been in the book regularly. We are Studying through first Peter Peter is writing to Christians in Asia Minor. What is now Turkey? He begins the letter with a call for them to rejoice in the salvation that God has won for them through Jesus Christ. I He calls them to live lives of hope and of holiness because of the salvation that's coming on the day when Christ returns and is revealed. Last time we saw how he called Christians to live together lives of love toward each other because God had first loved them in Christ. And in the section we looked at last time in verse nine, we get to catch a glimpse of of what we're going to be thinking about this morning as we as the call turns outward, how do Christians think about the world around them? We see that God called them. that they may proclaim the excellencies of the one who called him out of darkness and into his marvelous light. So we're going to be thinking this morning about how Christians relate to the world, and that will be a series that we'll do over the next few times that I preach what I want us to see from the text this morning. Christians are called to live in such a way that the world sees the glory of God in their lives. Christians are called to live in such a way that the world sees the glory of God in their lives. Let's look at first Peter to eleven to twelve. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 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. Well, as I as I already alluded to, our passage begins with Peter reminding these Christians of their new identity. First, he says that we are beloved. We are God's loved ones. We are his chosen ones. God has set his love on a particular people. He's made them his. He's given them life through Jesus's resurrection from the dead. They have been called into his marvelous light. And because of that, because God has set his love upon them and made him hit their his God has made them his. They are now sojourners and exiles. They are foreigners. This world that they live in is no longer their home. Their home is another place. They take their cues, their values from somewhere else. They've been set apart for God by the Holy Spirit, sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ for obedience to him. They've been established as God's holy nation. So they are the people of God. And because of this, no other nation can claim them any longer. Their identity is heavenly. And so it's true for us. Peter's readers, they weren't necessarily political aliens. It wasn't that they were out of place in Pontus Glacier, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia. It wasn't that that very well may have been their home, but they were now out of place because of what Christ had done for them. Because their identity in Christ has taken on a central place in their lives, this world was no longer their home. They were alienated from the people around them because of their allegiance to Jesus Christ. And the same is true for us here this morning. We are no longer at home and any nation on this world. America is no longer our primary citizenship. Those of us who are Americans here this morning, our allegiance lies first and foremost to our Savior and our King, Jesus Christ. And that we find ourselves here, we know from this text that this world is not finally our home. Now, even more, we know that we are actually exiles in enemy territory and hostile country. We live in a kingdom that is opposed to the kingdom of our Lord. The ruler of this world is leading a rebellion against the God of the universe, and we are caught up right in the middle of it. We just sang that about that a few minutes ago. The outcome is secure. Christ will have the prize for which he died, and because of that, because we know the outcome is secure, that fuels us, that motivates us as Christians to fight. So I want us to think this morning what it looks like for us to live as sojourners and exiles as we see this call in 1 Peter. So two points this morning that I want us to consider. First, the call to war. The call to war, we see that in verse 11. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your souls. This this call focuses on the internal battle as citizens of God's kingdom, we are to abstain from the passions that wage war against our souls. The passions of the flesh are the desires that we have naturally as sinful men and women. They spring from a nature in us that is in rebellion against God. These passions, Peter says, are seeking to destroy us. They wage war against our souls. So it's important this morning, this is a sobering text. Right off the bat, we see that this is a matter of eternal life and death that we're dealing with. Think about this, the world around us, who else is talking about that? Where else do you hear the seriousness of the eternal consequences of what's at stake? The world around us distracts us. It calls us to be consumed with things here and now, with materialism, with comfort, with pleasure, just to sort of lull us to sleep, to numb us to the things that are going on around us. Or things like politics and sports and hobbies and those things just consume us to where they distract us from what's real and eternal and valuable. The world, the flesh and the devil are at war against us and they seek nothing less than our destruction. Friends, the enemy doesn't care how he gets us. He doesn't care what it is that that gets us as long as he gets us. And so there's a sense of urgency that everyone here needs to hear this morning. There's a call to sobriety that we don't forsake eternal matters for things here and now. The desires of the flesh are at war within each one of us, and they will take every one of us who does not overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Peter is talking to Christians. Even though God has created us anew in Christ, the flesh still rages within us and against us. The desires of the flesh are set against the spirit born desires given to us by God. And even as Christians, the power and the presence of sin still remains in us. And so at one level this morning, Christian, I want you to see if you're here this morning, that having struggles Having struggles with the flesh is not the problem. That's not the problem. Some of us can slip into the mindset that that conversion brings about sort of instant sanctification, that when God calls us his, he suddenly removes all of those desires. He suddenly transforms us completely to where we are no longer anything like the person we used to be, that we're sort of all of a sudden freed from sin in every dimension. But that's not the case. That's not the case. Before Christ, we were mastered by sin. Sin owned us. It had absolute claim, absolute authority over our lives, and we were helpless to do anything about it. But now, in Christ, little by little, we're able to grow. We're able to resist sin. We're able to stand up against it. So, Christian, as you see indwelling sin in your life, at one level, I want you to take heart. I want you to be strengthened as you hear Christ call to put sin to death. Understand that when he tells you to do that, he also provides you the strength and the ability to do it. He gives you strong armor to resist the onslaught of the world's passions, and he provides you powerful weapons to fight against it. The passions of the flesh are at war against us, and the call for us is to make war against them by abstaining. I hope you see that's not a call to passivity. That's not a let go and let God work on your behalf. The passions are at war and we abstain by responding with active resistance. So let me just ask this morning, what passions in your life are you actively resisting? Where do you see this war taking place in your life where you're resisting the pull of the flesh? Is there any war at all? Or are you here this morning enslaved to sin? You see how you how you answer that question really says a lot about your identity. If you claim to be a Christian and yet your life is virtually indistinguishable from the world around you, you very, very well may be deceived. It could be that you've just misunderstood what it means to be a Christian. See, we don't earn our way into God's kingdom. But God's work in our life does transform us. It does change us when he's really there. He is working for sanctification. It's a sanctifying love that God loves us with. So he comes to us as sinners, but he transforms us into saints. So if you're here this morning and you think you're a Christian because of some transaction that took place in your life because of a prayer that you prayed or an aisle that you walked some time ago, and yet that hasn't really made any difference in your life, it hasn't changed at all who you are. You're probably deceived. You're probably not a Christian. God's call upon us is to repent, which leads us to make war against our sin. It could be that you're here this morning, though, and you are a Christian, but you're weighed down by sin, you feel its effects. And if you are here this morning and you feel the battle taking place, you feel sin destroying you. I want you to take heart. I want you to take heart this morning because Jesus is for you. Jesus is for you. He came to earth. He spilled his blood for you He was raised so that you could have new life He didn't do all that he didn't come to earth to die for sinners raised to intercede for us He hasn't gone through all that to merely abandon us to leave us on the battlefield So Christians take heart look to Jesus set your hope on the grace that's coming to you at his return. I Focus on him, focus on his love for you, focus on what he's done for you and find there the strength to fight. Take up the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and begin to wield it, even if you're on your back, if you're laid out by sin, just pick up the sword and swing it to keep condemnation at bay and then find there the strength to fight, to stand up and to continue to put sin to death. As we think about this, this war imagery that Peter's using, I want us to draw out a few implications. If we really are at war this morning with our sin, a few things we should consider. First, war is not over until it's over. So, in other words, we set our expectations as Christians accordingly. The battle will go on until God calls us home. And so we take a big picture of you. We understand the long view of what's taking place. We don't expect to be sanctified when we wake up in the morning. We understand that this is going to be a process. We're not going to be sanctified completely until we're at home with Christ. And so we make up our minds to fight and to fight and to fight and to keep fighting until God calls us home or until Christ comes to get us. If we're at war, it also means that we're always on guard. We're never off duty. We're never on leave. We don't clock out. Peter says later we have an active enemy who's prowling around like a roaring lion seeking somebody to devour. He's looking for opportunities. He's looking for weaknesses to exploit. And so we are always on guard. We don't know how he's going to attack. We don't know when or where. So we must always be ready. We must always be on guard. Another implication of that is if Satan is actively looking to destroy us, we should be proactive. We should look for weaknesses. We should look for areas of vulnerability in our own lives. We should see where we might be susceptible to an attack and strengthen those areas that we'd be vulnerable. Next, we should be strategic. You think about war, different settings, different terrains require different tactics. So think about your life and its different dimensions and areas. What are the areas where you might be tempted? What are the places that you might be tempted to think about the different parts of your life as a family member, as an employee or an employer, as a citizen, as a neighbor, as a member of this church? Each of those roles that you have require different tactics, different levels, different ways that Satan may tempt you. So be proactive in planning and preparing strategies to fight. Identify scriptures that deal with certain aspects of your life. Memorize them. Use them to fight. Finally, on this point, enlist help. Enlist help. It is foolish to go to war by yourself. Local churches exist for believers to come together to fight alongside of each other. There are places where we remind each other of the truths that I've been talking about. There are places where we share strategies and tactics that have been effective in fighting sin. There are places where we administer first aid to each other on the front lines when we get nicked up in battle. There are places where we come together for briefings like this on Sunday morning, and then we develop partnerships that we take into the trenches of everyday life. Each of us needs help and each of us has help to offer to others. So enlist help. Peter's exhortations means that Christians must be different from the world by actively resisting the passions of the flesh. The second thing I want us to see this morning is a call to witness. So we heard the call to war. The next thing is the call to witness in verse 12. Keep your conduct honorable among the Gentiles. So that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. So not only are we called to wage war against sin against the flesh, but we're also called to actively witness to the world around us. Peter tells us to keep our conduct honorable, so we we abstain from the passions of the flesh. We replace them with godly passions. Those passions result in our proactively, intentionally demonstrating good behavior. Conduct is actually something Peter has already talked about a couple of times. Just as our Heavenly Father is holy, so we, his children, are to be holy in all of our conduct. He tells us we've been ransomed from the futile conduct of our forefathers. Our behavior is to be different. It's to be set apart from the world as the world is ruled by sinful passions. It's to be honorable, which means that it's to be in line with God, with his character, with his values to be noble. Notice that Peter says our conduct is is among the Gentiles. That's a point that I think could be easy for us to just kind of gloss over. Remember, he's writing to churches, to Christians in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. In other words, people who are not ethnically Jewish. And yet, because of Christ, they are Israel. They are God's chosen people. The line that divides all humanity for the Old Testament, it was the bloodline of Abraham. It was those who were descendants of Abraham and those who weren't Gentiles. Now it's the blood of Christ. Now all of those who who have been identified with Christ by faith are Israel. They are the true Jews and the Gentiles are the non-Christians. That's an amazing transformation that's taken place. And so we, too, here this morning, we are an almost exclusively Gentile congregation. And yet spiritually, we are Israel. Our nationality is secondary to God's identity of us in Christ. We have more in common with Christians in China and Iran and Afghanistan and Ethiopia and Argentina and all around the world than we do the neighbors and friends and co-workers and even family members around us who are apart from Christ. And that identity changes how we act, it changes how we interact with the people around us. The purpose of this honorable conduct, Peter is talking about, is evangelistic. When the world sees Christians, it's tempted to call them evildoers. But our other worldly conduct, that the conduct of Israel, the conduct of heaven causes them to glorify God on the day of visitation. So let's just let's unpack that a little bit to see what Peter is saying. Christianity at the time is growing throughout the Roman Empire. People are being converted and they now worship Jesus exclusively. And so they no longer participate in the kind of cultic worship ceremonies where people would come together to a temple to worship a particular god or goddess and they would come together in the name of that person. They would come to worship and to celebrate and to indulge in all sorts of immorality. So the early Christians stopped doing that. That was obviously sinful. It was a false worship and it was evil behavior. Keith talked about a couple weeks ago about how Christians were accused of things in the first century like cannibalism because of their practice of taking the Lord's Supper. There was confusion. There was skepticism around Christianity. And so there was a fear culturally that Christianity was evil and maybe even subversive. And I think that still happens today at some level, doesn't it? Even in America, those of us who were converted from a worldly lifestyle, who were older and had lived a certain way, when we were converted, didn't your friends sort of think that you had lost your mind? Didn't they think you were committing at least a social evil? You know, that sort of phrase that we have, oh, you know, he found religion. You know, that idea that he's betrayed us, he's turned away from us. The world speaks against us as evildoers, and we even see this in First Peter, chapter four, verses three and four. He says the time is past. The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do. Living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you. So you see there, that's the kind of thing Christians were experiencing. They had been there at the party scene. They had been there with them, worshiping false gods, and they've withdrawn from that. They've stopped doing those practices, and now they're maligned. People watch strangers, don't they? A human nature. We're generally skeptical toward outsiders, people who are different from us, at least curious. But Peter says that as people observe Christians, as they get to see them in actions, they see them objectively, they should begin to see that what Christians do is actually good. I think this should be happening in our lives and particularly in our culture, as as we move further and further away from a culture that's grounded in a historic Christian faith, we should expect that we're going to encounter skepticism about what it means to be a Christian. People may accuse us of being backward, of being old fashioned, being irrelevant. They may not understand. They may be confused about what we do and why we do it. They may even accuse us of being evil. But the point is that over time, as we continue and persevere in those relationships, they should begin to see that our conduct is actually good, that our way of life is commendable and even beautiful. Ultimately, What Peter says is that they glorify God on the day of visitation. Now, I think that that day of visitation, that idea really has two dimensions. First, the hope is that our conduct is evangelistic, that as people become more and more familiar with Christians, they start to see that they've actually misunderstood Christianity. They thought Christians were evildoers, but upon closer examination, they actually begin to see the commendable nature of their lives. And in that sense, the day of visitation comes when God's spirit visits an individual and illuminates him, changes the person's heart, removes the veil over his eyes and gives him the ability to see the glory and the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to repent of his sins and to turn to Christ in faith. And every one of us who has done that gives glory to God that day and every day forward on that day. That is the day of visitation. We give God glory for being holy and just. but also merciful and gracious. So one level that's that's our hope for our conduct is that our faith gives us the opportunity to tell the gospel, we can make a claim for its truth as people see it working its way out in our lives in various ways. In a second sense, the day of visitation looks forward to the last day, the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ as king. Peter's already talked about this day for the Christian. This is a day of salvation. It's the day when Christ comes to usher his people into his kingdom to give them the imperishable and undefiled and unfading inheritance. It's when we finally see the one whom we love, Jesus. But for the non-Christian, it's a day of shame and a day of judgment. They rejected the one whom God had appointed king over all. They will glorify God on that day, but not as beloved children, as defeated rebels. When Christ is revealed, he will be exalted and his people will be vindicated. The holy conduct, though it was scoffed at in this life, though it was called evil in this present age, it will be revealed as what is good and what is right. Now, I want us to think a little bit this morning about good and evil. Our day is a day of increasing moral confusion. Two issues in our culture now, particularly, expose this confusion of good and evil, issues surrounding abortion and just sexuality, homosexuality, gender identity, all those kind of things. Those issues are front and center in our culture right now. And our culture tells us that human autonomy, that personal choice, and freedom, those things are absolute goods and that any restriction upon them would be evil. I don't want to get into the details of everything this morning, but what I want us to see is that good and evil are something that come from God. God defines what is ultimately good and what is ultimately evil. So our goal as Christians is not to just sort of be aligned with the conservatives. We're not trying to preserve something historic in society. Our goal is to reflect God's heart. While we hope and we pray and we work so that our evangelistic efforts have that effect in people's lives, that we convince them that God is right, that his ways are best, we work to see that have its effect in our culture, to see those things preserved. But we realize we're not guaranteed that result in this life. It shouldn't surprise us when we stand for Christ and we're called unloving or intolerant or evil. Now, we need to wash our hearts. We need to make sure that those things aren't true of us, that we aren't becoming hateful towards other people, that we're not unloving or intolerant. But we also need to stand firm on the things on which God has spoken clearly. We don't live to be vindicated in this life. We don't live for commendation from man here and now. We live for the day when God is glorified, when he reveals Jesus as his King. When every knee on heaven and earth bows and every tongue confesses Jesus is Lord, God's king will be exalted. And on that day, his people will be vindicated. And Christians, I just want you to see how that motivates us to persevere in this life. It doesn't matter if people disagree with us now. We don't have to prove that we're right. God will do that convincingly and overwhelmingly on the last day. Our call is to be faithful, to stand for his truth and to proclaim his excellencies to the world. For Christians, God's glory is ultimately what motivates us. We've been rescued from our sin. We've been made his people so that we can proclaim his excellencies. That's why he's called us is to proclaim him. And as Christians, our greatest desire in our lives is to see God glorified and exalted. Our lives as Christians are significant to the degree that they point other people to God. One of the ways that we do that is by living our lives in such a way that the gospel is commended to people around us. We don't have control over the way people respond to us. The day of visitation comes in God's way, not in ours. Our goal is to be faithful, to represent God, to proclaim Christ to the world. Because of that, Peter calls us to be intentionally outwardly focused. Christians don't proclaim the gospel to the world if they withdraw from the world, if they go into their own sort of circles and holy huddles and never come out, the world must see our good deeds. We are sent out into the world with a purpose. And so Peter's exhortation here follows closely Jesus's words in Matthew. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. So we should be noticeably different from the world around us for the purpose of evangelism. So if you're here this morning, we've already kind of dealt with, are you different from the world around you? The second question really is, is do people know why you're different from the world around you? Do the people in your life think that you're just kind of a good person, you're just moral, you're just nice? Or do they see that your difference, your different conduct, your good works, are motivated by desire to live as an obedient child of God. The call on us is to be proactive in displaying works that glorify God, which means we have to be more than just good people or moral people, hardworking employees, nice families, happy marriages. All those things are fine, but they're a starting point. They're not the goal. We can't be less than those things, but we have to be more. We have to live in such a way that the gospel power of Christ is evident in our lives. So let's think just a few ways about what that might look like. A few things that would characterize people who have been transformed by the gospel. First, generosity. Generosity that flows from having experienced the riches of Christ. So Second Corinthians eight, nine, for, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you, by his poverty, might become rich. See, when we experience the overwhelming, lavish generosity of the gospel, it frees us from the things of this world, it frees us from materialism and consumerism that says we find our pleasure in the things we can get in this life. It frees us to be generous with our resources. It allows us to live with a compelling simplicity in this life. We don't have to have stuff to make us happy. We know we have an inheritance in heaven. We know that Christ will be ours. And that's what motivates us. So we can be generous with our stuff. Another thing, sacrificial love. So Ephesians five husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. So when we see that Christ has given himself for up for us, it frees us to then give ourselves up for others. It gives us enduring patience in relationships. We can sacrifice and spend ourselves because Christ has spent himself for us. We can work for change in others lives. We can work for good in others lives at our own expense, because that's what Christ has done for us. Third, we should exhibit radical love, Romans 5, 8. God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. When we experience the love of God, when we were unlovely, it allows us to go out to seek out those who are unlovely and love them. It allows us to pursue those we wouldn't naturally love or pursue those who are not naturally lovely and love them anyway. For humble service. Philippians 2 being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. When we see the one who emptied himself, who made himself nothing for our sake, we are then free to make ourselves nothing for his sake in this world. Nothing is below us as Christians. Fifth, courage, Romans 8, 31 to 32, what shall we say to these things if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? So as Christians, we can be courageous because we know that our future is absolutely secure. God holds us in his hand, and so we're free to take risks in this life. We can put ourselves out there because we know ultimately our lives are secure. And I'm sure we could we could come up with a lot more ways the gospel working itself out allows us to proclaim God's glory to the world. And I'm sure we could do that. That would be a good thing to think about this week. We're actually we'll see as Peter unpacks the next few verses as it relates to government, as it relates to work, as it relates to family, how we do this as Christians. Also, I want to say this is one of the reasons that we're seeking to bring Ben on as the pastor of outreach in this church. One of the big things that we're thinking about, it's the desire of the elders to see our church growing in this and thinking about how we can proactively go out into the world to display Christ's glory. We're not hiring Ben to be our evangelist. We're not bringing him on to do evangelism for us. What we want him to do is lead us in thinking about how we can do this better, how we can better proclaim the excellencies of the one who called us into his light. We want him to help us think about how we can create opportunities like this and equip the church to do this better here in Charlottesville. So let's just continue praying to see if this is in fact how God is leading us so we can do this more faithfully. Maybe you're here this morning and you're not a Christian. Maybe you're here and you're not even sure what to think about Christians. What? Well, first of all, let me say this. We're glad that you're here. We want non-Christians to come. We want non-Christians to think about Christianity with Christians. We think that's a good thing. But maybe maybe what I'm describing this morning, this excellent conduct that makes God so desirable, so valuable, so worthy is just not something that you're familiar with. Maybe maybe as I'm talking about Christians, all you can think of is hypocrisy. I just want to say, first of all, that it very well could be that the people that you think of that call themselves Christians that don't live in line with what this text is saying just may not be Christians. That certainly is possible. That's clearly outside of what the Bible is calling a Christian, so I hope that you'll at least give us a fair hearing here this morning. But even more, I want you to understand what it actually means to be a Christian. To be a Christian is not fundamentally to be a good or honorable person. And in fact, to be a Christian, you have to start by realizing that you are not fundamentally a good and honorable person. Christians are people who first and foremost recognize that they are spiritually and morally bankrupt, that they have have nothing to offer. In fact, they've rebelled against a holy God who requires perfection from them as creatures who have sinned against an eternal God. We owe him eternal suffering. We owe him payment for our sin. But God, according to his great mercy, sent his son into the world as a human being to live the life that we owe to God, to die the death that we deserve for our sins so that God's eternal wrath could be satisfied by the death of his eternal son and that Jesus is perfect. Righteousness could be applied to all who repent of their sins and believe in him. So as a result, we are declared righteous before God. We are forgiven of our sins. We are made his children adopted into his family. That's what the message of the gospel is, and the call is to repent of your sins and to believe in Christ. So if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, I would love to talk to you more about that. If you came with somebody, they would love to talk to you more about that after the service. True Christians work then not to earn something from God. True Christians work as the loving response of the natural overflow of a forgiven sinner who's been made a child of God. We take on the characteristics of his heart. We and that works itself out in all sorts of ways in our lives. We love him and we want others to love him as well. Do we do that perfectly as Christians? Of course we don't. Of course we don't. That's why this text is here. That's why Peter is instructing us to abstain from the passions of the flesh, to live lives that are commendable to the outside. But as we're transformed by God's grace, our deepest desire is increasingly to reflect the character of our heavenly father. and to see his name proclaimed and glorified and magnified in the world. So may we continue to look to him, look to Christ, to his great mercy and wage war against our sin and witness to his grace. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, Lord, we thank you again this morning that you have made us your people. We acknowledge that we have no claim from you or nothing. From which to plead. Before you. And yet we thank you and praise you that through Christ, you have done that his blood speaks on our behalf. We pray that you would help us to know that more deeply or to see the gospel more and more for the glory and the beauty that it is. We pray that you would give us a desire for you that drowns out, that takes away the passions of the flesh and replaces them with passions for you. We pray that we would long to see you glorified in our lives, to spend ourselves, to see you made known because Jesus made himself nothing for us. He spent himself for us. So, Lord, may we spend ourselves for him and his glory in this world. Pray that you would do this for his sake. Amen.