Weekly Sermons

Honor All, Worship One                  I Peter 2:13-17

What are these Christians all about?

Christians are called to be among their nation’s best ___________                                                                                            V. 13-15

The word for submit means to _________________ oneself according to a given relationship. It’s a military term meaning to arrange oneself under the commander.

All human government manifests imperfection, but without its restraints, society would be shipwrecked and anarchy would prevail. In principle, all constituted authority is intended to prevent crime and encourage honesty and good living.                              –H.A. Ironside, 68

“You’ll never be over what God wants you over until you are under what God wants you under.”                  -Adrian Rogers

We are called to submit to them for the Lord’s sake, because He Himself said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” But if they command something which is not God’s will we must not obey them.     -Andreas, 7^th century monk

Christians are secure enough to ______________ their fellow man                                                                                            V. 16  

Here Peter demolishes __________________ men make to keep others down and undignified! The gospel does that (see Galatians 3:28)

Ephesians 5:21            I Timothy 2:1-4

Christians honor all people but they only worship God   V. 17

The fear of God must come first and govern all the rest!                                                        -Didymus the Blind of Alexandria, Egypt (313-398)

Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell. -Matthew 10:28

5 G Living – Do all you do…

Letter to Diognetus (2^nd or 3^rd century)

Chapter 5

Christians are not distinguished from other men by country, language, nor by the customs which they observe. They do not inhabit cities of their own, use a particular way of speaking, nor lead a life marked out by any curiosity. The course of conduct they follow has not been devised by the speculation and deliberation of inquisitive men. The do not, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of merely human doctrines.

Instead, they inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities, however things have fallen to each of them. And it is while following the customs of the natives in clothing, food, and the rest of ordinary life that they display to us their wonderful and admittedly striking way of life.

They live in their own countries, but they do so as those who are just passing through. As citizens they participate in everything with others, yet they endure everything as if they were foreigners. Every foreign land is like their homeland to them, and every land of their birth is like a land of strangers.

They marry, like everyone else, and they have children, but they do not destroy their offspring. They share a common table, but not a common bed.

They exist in the flesh, but they do not live by the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, all the while surpassing the laws by their lives.

They love all men and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned. They are put to death and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich. They lack everything, yet they overflow in everything.

They are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor they are glorified; they are spoken ill of and yet are justified; they are reviled but bless; they are insulted and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if raised from the dead. They are assailed by the Jews as barbarians; they are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to give any reason for their hatred.

To sum it all up in one word, what the soul is in the body, that is what Christians are in the world.