We ask for those who are recovering from surgery that you would help them, that those who are in pain, that you would take care of them. Give them the treatments they need to be healed. We ask that you would help us all today to hear and honor and glorify your name. And we ask you this for the sake of Christ in whose name we pray. Amen. Good morning, everyone. I'm glad you are all here today. But my question to you is you might be present, but are you present? You might be here, but are you here? Where's your heart and your mind today? Take a moment to consider that. Take a moment to consider that every day when you approach scripture, when you approach life, when you approach hardship or just routine that seems like, ugh, can I do anything else? Are you present? Because if you're not present, you don't experience any of the benefit of being where you are. If you're not present in your relationships, not present in your job, not present in your goals, your vision, your body, you lose. You lose so much. So the Scripture talks about rest. The Scripture uses rest as an equivocal metaphor of faith, of salvation, of redemption, of adoption, of birth, hope, peace, success, prosperity. It's all about rest. It's all about being at the feet of the Lord. It's all about being at the bottom of the boat asleep in the midst of a storm. It's all about knowing who God is and who you are And what you need is supplied in all of His riches. I didn't finish my message from last week. It was too much there. So in an attempt to segue this week and last week, I just want to say that there are a few things that I was getting to in the context of how we see ourselves in the world. How we see ourselves before God. Because beloved, let me tell you something about life. As believers, every ounce of life, every second of life has everything to do with who we are. Our identity inside of our minds and inside of our hearts. 100%. Because if that's out of place, everything will be skewed. We will have haughtiness, arrogance, or we will have brokenness and deprecation, neither of which are fruits of the Spirit of God. We live in a day and age, as you've heard me say many times from this platform, where it is almost a badge of honor to be a worm. Because the Bible says that we should be lowly. Well, that's not lowly, that's disgusting. And the Bible doesn't prescribe us to see ourselves that way. The Bible calls us the righteousness of God. Yeah, but I know I'm not righteous, but you are by the declaration of God alone through Jesus Christ and his life and his death and his resurrection from the dead. You are the righteousness of God. So do not make Christ's death in vain for our badge of honor and deprecation. See yourself as God sees you. Not as a worm he did not crush, but as a precious child he saved by crushing the righteousness of God. And I know it may seem nuanced, it may just seem this little, oh, little tongue-in-cheek, it may just seem a little, you know, oh, it's just perception. No, it's absolute truth and error. It's truth and error. Because the reason, and I've tried to figure this out, I do not comprehend maliciousness. I can't understand it. I don't get it. I don't understand what that's like on the inside. I just... Have I been angry? Yes. Have I hated people? Absolutely. I've learned to admit that over the last few years. But that hate does not breed an intention of wanting to destroy someone or hurt someone or make someone feel bad. The very people in my life who have tried to destroy me, when I've lashed out, I feel so bad. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have done that. No longer do I blame me for their actions, but I will tell you this, knowing who I am securely in Christ, knowing who you are securely in Christ will inform how you respond, react, and feel about the world in which we live. And the irony behind it is that so often, right now especially in our day, how fitting 1 Peter is. Because I believe that true believers who are trying to live a simple life of submission, and honor, and love, and compassion, and minding their own affairs, and doing what's right, and loving their enemies, and loving their neighbors, and loving themselves so that they can love others as they love themselves. You know if you hate yourself, you cannot love your neighbor? You're a worthless lover. Because you do it out of obligation, you do it out of fear. The people that live like that, we are in a dispersion. We are in a foreign land. And this is the call of the people of Christ. This is the call of God. I test things. I test things in the world, I test things in the air a little more wisely and a little more cautiously than I used to. But I get what I want. I prove the point that I feel, or I disprove the point that I think may be the case. Little experiments, social media experiments, conversations with people. Do you have conversations with people? Do you look and engage in such a way that you're curious? Do you think, how can I invest in this person's life? Are you naturally, is everything that you do a natural outflow of who you are in Christ? Or is it contrived? You try to put it into a compartment. You try to make sure you put that on. If you're trying to put that on, it's because you've not been rooted in understanding who you are. And you're not living out of a core value that is derived from the center of your absolute true self in Christ. And the New Testament is written to that end, so that we may know this, we may know Christ, we may know ourselves in Him, and we may live according to how He lived with His mind, which is already ours, guaranteed by the Spirit of God, because of Christ. The question is, are we filtering the life around us in this dispersion, in this frustration, in this world that is wrought with fear, wrought with damage, wrought with false truths, lies, deception, anxiety. Are we secure? Are we at rest? Or are we in turmoil? And I believe that the scripture, Peter specifically, is showing these Christians, they may be Jewish by birth, but they're Christians now by rebirth. And those are completely different things. They are not one and the same. They are not equivocal. You are American by birth, but you are Christian by rebirth. And the irony, I was going to say this a minute ago, the irony behind what so many people in America think is Christian living, if it's Christian living, but nobody else in the world can live like that or deal with these issues, then it's not Christian prescription. If there's such a thing as Christian politics, And if you're a real believer, then you'll follow a specific set of politics, then someone who doesn't live in a free nation cannot live as a Christian. If that's a prescription. But what is the prescription? No matter who it is, whether it's the emperor as honorable, the governor, or your master as a slave. Do it unto Christ. See, that's the attitude. That's where we left off last week. The humility. And though we may need to, and next week I'll talk a little bit more about this, we need to talk about things, we need to call about what injustices are, but it's not our mission, it's just part of our lives as people who understand the righteousness of God. So there's a manner in which we do it, but it's not ultimate, even though it may be important. That's why Christian nationalism is Antichrist. That's why social justice in and of itself is Antichrist. When it becomes our identity, we've lost our identity. We've just merged into another philosophy of men. These Jewish people, in the dispersion that Peter's writing to in his letters, lost their national identity because they found an eternal one. Or better yet, it found them. So I believe the Scripture teaches us a better way. A better way. holistic application of understanding who we are, based out of the teaching of the New Testament, based out of what we've learned already, that we are a holy nation, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people after his own possession, we are the beloved, we are the object of his desire, we are the redeemed, we are the blessed, we are elect, I mean, what else do you need? I mean, how many more stars by your name do you need before you feel good? You notice what I didn't say, you and because of who you are inside of you, that's really where your power is. No, where our power rests is in the sufficiency of knowing that who we are right now is enough for God to love us. And in Christ, he loved us in such a way that it's not just how he feels, it's what he did. He accomplished redemption. So I can look in the mirror of my soul and say, James, you are the beloved of the Almighty Creator of the cosmos. You are the child of the King. You are the Most High. And because of that, no matter how frail or weak or frivolous or foolish that you may be, nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No matter who hates you, nothing can tear down the absolute temple that God has put you in and secured you. Who by faith, they're being guarded for this precious, precious, precious inheritance that cannot be taken away. Is this not what Peter's saying? Am I imposing on this text something that's not there? Absolutely not. It is not there. If it's not there, then what I just said was a lie. Holistically, we read the Bible in its context, we understand what the Old Testament stories show us by what the New Testament letters teach us about how we ought to live in light of this knowledge of what took place throughout antiquity. And Peter has called his people, he's called the people of God, God's people, to a higher identity. Where this fits for you, you need to put the shoes on and stand. And I don't care where you are and we're in a political situation right now that it's become vitriol. I cannot tell you the number of people just in inference and assumption who have divorced themselves from my life after decades of friendship just because of what they think I believe politically. And according to God, that mindset is an abomination. I read Paul, I read out of 2 Timothy 3 this morning at the beginning of our service. Peoples will be lover of selves, lover of this, all this list of things. And then he goes back and he talks to Timothy and he says, but you, You're not like this. You're somebody else. You don't have an identity in the culture. You don't have an identity in the religious culture. You don't have an identity as an American Christian. You don't have an identity in the Church of America, or evangelicalism, or Protestantism, or Catholicism. or reformed tradition. That's not your identity. Those are the things that you've come along and done as hobbies. Those are little, like, clubs that you've started. Your identity is in the rootedness, the groundedness, the depths of the gospel of grace through the Word of God, the revelation of God Himself, that you know whose you are to such a place that nothing can cause you to stumble. But you're not like that. Because you're listening. You're sober-minded. You've put away malice. You've put away deceit. You've put away hypocrisy. You've put away all slander and all envy. You're like a newborn infant that longs for pure spiritual milk, and you dive into the reality of intimacy with Christ by the Spirit through the Word, and that Word is the glue that holds your person together, that holds your mind at peace. And it's not inductive Bible study with 25 colors. It's not linguistic endeavors. It's not reading the dots and in between the margins to find some hidden mystery. It's literally just being at rest with the Word that God the Spirit will teach us in time. Peter calls these people to a higher identity. Thus, the Scriptures are calling us to a higher identity. By urging us to live as strangers, Not isolated, but strangers. I mean, think about it for a second. You ever been invited over to somebody's house for the first time? You usually dress a little different. You make sure the kids don't have like jelly on their face. You make sure you don't stink. You take a shower and dress a little, you know. You don't know these people, you're just going over to visit for the first time, maybe you've had some social interaction, we're gonna have a cookout at the house, wow, you come over, you might bring a gift, you might bring some sodas, you might bring some whatever. You're like, yeah, here we go, we're gonna have a good time, what can I have, can I bring the meat, can I bring the drink, can I bring the desserts? And you show up and you behave a little different. Now you might get into your house and tear all your clothes off, put your feet up on the couch and pick your toenails, but you don't do that when you visit somebody for the first time. You're a stranger in that house, even though you're welcome. That's not where you belong, so you gotta act in a manner that fits the setting. Beloved, we're strangers in the world. The difference is we're not putting on an act when we sit and rest and live quietly and stand for justice and all these different things. You gotta understand, from stimuli to response is wisdom. From stimuli to reaction is stupidity. So there are things in our lives that are going to upset us. There are things in our lives that are going to trigger us because of trauma. There are things in our lives that are going to upset us because we have convictions. Imagine these people having to leave their homes. Imagine these people traveling the world. Imagine as strangers. exiles. This is a higher identity. You haven't lost anything, you've gained everything. See, the Bible says when we lose what we feel that we have a grounding in this life, the problem, like for me, I lost everything. My total image, everything that I ever was for anybody, I lost it. But I gained everything. And so did you. So did you. Because what they think, what you think, what I think is irrelevant when what God knows and declares is on the table. And so we get upset, we see things that are not good, we see things that are not right, we see people, because we're in a strange place. I remember going and visiting friends, you know, so-and-so put their ketchup on the counter, not the refrigerator, how gross. It's not gross, it's different, it's okay. There's so much vinegar and garbage in that, it never rots. It just separates, you have to shake it. Some people let their cats lick them in the mouth. That's gross, but that's, to me, I'm not gonna do that, but to you, that's okay. It's not wrong, it's just different. Some people have ideologies that don't fit with our ideologies. It's sometimes mostly different. And sometimes their ideologies are absolutely heretical or purely evil in the context of the flesh, in the view of the law and the righteousness of God. But it's none of our business. You see? It's none of our business. We're not called to fix the lives of people. Peter says, to walk in a manner that's worthy to the conduct among unbelievers. And he says Gentiles here, he doesn't mean non-Jewish people. He means unbelievers, honorable. This is a reminder that our true citizenship is in the kingdom of God. And there is nothing in the Bible that teaches us holistically that the kingdom of God starts on earth. The kingdom of God lives on earth. But God's not trying to establish a kingdom on earth. And it certainly isn't tied to the United States. Nor Israel. Nor any Asian country. Nor any African country. Nor any South American country. And so on and so forth. So if we think about being a nation, and we think about being Christians, sometimes, and we hear a lot of this, what is Christian nationalism? Well, it merges a national identity that you're born into with your Christian faith. Claiming that a nation is inherently Christian. which is not true, historically. Evidentiary, it's not true. There's no evidence of that whatsoever, except people assert it, and you can assert all you want. It doesn't make it true, even though everybody believes it. And further, Christian nationalism would say that not only is this nation inherently Christian, it should enforce Christian values through its government, which is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of our laws. And if you do that, you are a criminal, a criminal under the laws of the United States to impose religious ideologies into the laws of behavior, morality, or ethics, or business, or anything of that nature. And it is actually treasonous for anyone in government to impose such things. It is a capital crime, and you should have your head lopped off. So Christian nationalism doesn't fit the laws. You can argue it all you want, but go to the legal standings, not the barbershop standings, which is where most theologians live, in the dustbin of the swept-up hair in the barbershops. That's their power, you know? That's their credibility. So I view Christian nationalism in the context of what scripture teaches that would then teach Jesus saying and doing and being something that he's not as against who he is. So I would say, according to John, that it's antichrist because it's not of Christ. Christian nationalism is antichrist because it replaces the gospel of Christ with a gospel-centered, what is it, exclusion that elevates national allegiance to what? To the call of love, to the call of service, and to the call of worship. And I'll talk about idolatry in a minute. The kingdom of God versus Christian nationalism. Jesus made it clear his kingdom is not of this world. He called his followers to embody that which is not of this world. To embody it. You know what that means to embody it? Make it part of your daily body. If you embody health, You eat healthy, you work out, you consider how you feel, you rest, you manage your time, you grow your mind. You can say, well, I believe in health, and then you do all the opposite of that, then you've not embodied health, though you may have somewhere written down somewhere from your childhood that you were healthy. That's not healthy. Spiritually speaking, it's not healthy to embrace Christian nationalism. Jesus calls us to embody love, and humility, and justice, which is in stark contrast to the self-interest and exclusionism found in nationalistic pride of any nation, much less when you try to marry the Lord and the gospel into it. And then the idea of liberty, liberal, liberalism, when did that become political? You know, somebody told me the other day that because I don't believe that Genesis was written to prove scientific data, that I am lost. And I just smiled and I thought, I'm not the lost guy here. And I'm not saying that guy's not born again, but he's definitely lost. Moses wasn't prompted by the Spirit of God to give a science lesson. So all these science ministries are not forwarding the cause of Christ in the world. They're creating further exclusion. Now make that national. Make that a national identity. Liberalism. The very idea of being free reflects Christ-like virtues, if you understand. Define the terms. What is liberty? Openness, committing to justice, prioritizing the common good. You know, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that didn't even apply, but to about a fourth of the population when it was written, but now does. But how about in the Gospel? It applies to all. unbelievers, reprobates, elect, young, old, rich, poor, ugly, pretty, and pretty ugly. Whatever it may be, it applies. So the idea of freedom, the idea of investing, the idea of caring, when someone says, when I say liberty, when I say liberal, this is what we mean. But if you know, when you say liberal, because of the way we have framed our world in the last 80 years, you automatically think political, which proves my point. We have to reject this. We are to reject the false gospel of nationalism and embrace the true freedom that's found in Christ that empowers us to live out the values of righteousness, love, justice, and service. So let's get into this. That was my segue from last week. Probably better for me to do it in a little short introduction today than where I was at the end of my sermon last week. So we have a higher calling. We have a higher calling, a higher allegiance to the kingdom of Christ that's characterized by love, humility, service. We've learned that now over the first two chapters of 1 Peter, right? And it's not just there, it's everywhere. It's everywhere. It's in Romans, it's in Galatians, it's in 1st, 2nd, 3rd John. It's in the narratives of the gospel, and so on and so forth. Now there are a lot of proof texts that try to refute these types of holistic teachings. But there again, if I take the baking powder out of the recipe, what can you make of it? Anti-burp seltzer water? I don't know. That's about it. So we're citizens, first, the kingdom of God, our true citizenship, we are citizens of heaven. We've been guarded by power through salvation to be revealed the last time. This is kept in heaven. Heaven is the abode of God, okay? It's not something we need to parse out and figure out, well, where is it? How big is it? Where does it stand? Is there another dimension? Yes, it's another dimension. It's outside of creation, and even in and of itself, as we know it in the context of physics, it is also something created, but it's outside of this creation that is infinite. Uh-huh! Don't go there, because it will not suit you, unless you just want to deal with the math of it, which is not my thing. So what are we to do here? Philippians 3.20, but our citizenship is in heaven. Now see, there's a problem sometimes with this. From heaven we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the Savior is coming from heaven, the true kingdom, and what does the Scripture teach us? That He will make the world right, that it will be a dwelling place, like the tabernacle of Eden, the imagery and the metaphor of Eden. A temporal place on purpose. Think about that. So we have to be careful not to think, well, I can't wait to get out of here. That's not a bad thing as a believer. We are leaving this world, we are leaving these problems, but we're coming back to a world that is suitable, that is perfect. Without walls, without boundaries, without nations, without laws. Except the law of grace and the law of love. So we're citizens primarily of the kingdom of heaven. But just like with Paul, we see this played out, right? Paul was a citizen of the Sanhedrin. He was a citizen of Israel. He was a citizen of Rome. He was a citizen of Judaism. in a way of identity, not, well, there's no citizenship in Judaism, but you know what I mean. He found an identity there, but he was a citizen of Israel. He was a citizen of Rome. But his Roman citizenship was only vital to him when it gave him the ability to exercise the liberty that he found in Christ and he erased, he threw all of his other identity in the trash. Hey, you've beaten a Roman citizen. Oh, hey, come here, Paul. Come out the back door. Kick him out the back door so nobody would see it. Why? Because they could have gotten in trouble and been beaten, too. You don't beat Roman citizens the way they beat him. And then he's like, well, you know what? I've been accused of this crime. I feel in my spirit the Lord telling me I need to go tell Caesar. He's not the Lord of all things. and tell him who the real Lord is. So he was free to go, but he appealed to Caesar. So for two years, Paul stayed incarcerated while he waited for his appeal. But he was a free man before. Why? Because he used his Roman citizenship to establish God's purpose for Caesar to see the gospel and to tell Paul, Paul, you're not the guy that's going to make all this work, I am. You're the tool in my hands, and I will put you, I will bring you out of the tool bag when I'm ready. That's how we live. So we're primary citizens of God's kingdom. And this heavenly citizenship shapes our values, shapes our priorities, and most of all, and most importantly, in the context of 1 Peter, with our conduct and everything else, being subject, being servants, is to what? Shape our actions. Which includes what we say with our mouth, or our fingers, lifestyle. So our focus should be living out the principles of righteousness before the world, not trying to transform the world into the principles of righteousness. Evangelicalism by and large would see missions as going out to a people and telling them how to live, how to dress, how to talk, and how to act like Christians whether they know the gospel or not. One of the most condemning statements that's ever been said in my presence is that when we go to native people and primitive people, that the best thing we could do for them is to teach them how to wear Western clothes so they're not an abomination to God. No, that's not right. We don't need power and influence within earthly nations. We have all power and all authority and all influence. Paul tells Timothy, remind them of these things and teach these things with all authority, with complete patience and with absolute love by teaching. You rebuke by teaching, you correct by teaching, you admonish by teaching, you train in righteousness by teaching. I mean, have you ever gone to an algebra class and people aren't getting it? Well, maybe. But people aren't getting it. Is the teacher really effective? Like, you idiot! It's X, X, X. No. Throwing erasers. I had a history teacher that used to throw erasers. Had a band director that used to throw stools. They didn't last long. They didn't last long. Nobody learned. But the true teacher says, hey, you know what? I see what you're saying. I see where you're coming from. Let's look and see what the scripture says. Let's look and see what Jesus says. Let's look and see why we, what's the wise thing? What's the prudent? Number one, why is this so important to you? What's got you all upset? Why do you think this is so important to God? Is God upset? God's at rest, y'all. I mean, I understand that the Puritans wrote a lot of poetic sermons. It would scare Jesus himself into thinking he needed to walk an aisle and accept himself. But it doesn't make it right. We're to seek first the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 6, 33. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. There's a context there of what these people are lacking nothing. So we don't pursue money, we don't pursue wealth, we don't pursue fame, we don't have a drive every day to go out and influence people. We can't become famous, we don't create a brand as Christians. It doesn't mean we don't have a logo. Doesn't mean we don't say the right things. Doesn't mean we don't consider when we're in the workplace and when we're in the community how we present ourselves. We have knowledge and logic and reason for a reason that we may present ourselves in such a way that makes sense to the people. Dogma and banging on a pulpit and stomping our feet and screaming has never changed anyone. All it does is gather the echo chamber and make it even bigger. And all these people thinking that they've got a divine right to change the government. I'd hate to see the drones. Our true citizenship is in heaven. There's also a way here, a universal ethic. I mean, listen to this. I don't have to read all this again. I hope y'all read this stuff every day. You think about it. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable. Be subject to every institution for the Lord's sake. Live as people who are free, verse 16 of 2. Don't use your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but live as slaves of God. Honor everyone. Love the brothers. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Slaves, be subject to your masters. Be mindful of God in your suffering, even when it's unjust, because you get credit. Don't know what that looks? You don't get credit for suffering because you've done bad, but there's honor in suffering when you've done right. But then as Christians with a government like we have, we have the liberty to say, hey, that's not just. And for those who say, well, I'm a Christian, and then we can say, okay, if you follow Christ, then you see the injustice in this. Oh, governor, you ever sat down with a congressman? and confronted him with his faith, it's not a pleasant situation when they take offense at it. So the way of life, there's a universal ethic. And what is it? What is it? Love. It's love. Let's boil it down. And He said to them, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And this is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like you shall love your neighbor as yourself. All these two commandments depend on all the law and the prophets. Now consider that for a second. And you've heard me, how do I say it from this pulpit? I say it this way, until we get this down and it becomes authentically evident in our lives, we ought not be concerning ourselves with so many of the other things. With so many of the other things that we think need to be dealt with. Let's get this. My little joke, the reason so many people we see have so many specks in their eyes is because it's the kindling flying off the logs in hours. And they get around us and then they start doing like this, oh my gosh. Cause it's the wind blowing in our tree. Blowing it out of our eyes into theirs. I really believe that that's the way of Christianity in American culture. And it's why people have a right to be upset. It's why people have a right to be frustrated. People have a right to mock it. Cause they're not mocking the true Christ, they're mocking the representation of what Christ is being portrayed as in the culture. And when someone mocks the true Christ, it's not an affront to us. Because He said, it's coming, and then they're going to mock you too. And that's okay. This is part of my plan. Let them. There's really not an attack in America on true Christianity. There's a call by unbelievers in America to say, where is this Jesus? I think that's what God's doing. When you say God is working, God's working. like that. But what do we do as a culture? Oh, that mass murderer that chopped up all them puppy dogs and fed them to them grasshoppers? He said the name of Jesus yesterday on his interview in court. The Lord is at work. Jesus is a common name in every language. Just because someone quotes the Bible or says, I thank God, doesn't mean that they belong to him. Just because somebody parses out all the doctrines of grace with great exquisite accuracy doesn't mean that they're born of God. If you're born of God, it's because you have the Spirit of God. If you have the Spirit of God, the fruit of that Spirit will be evident in your life when you're called to the carpet and admonished to say that this isn't Christ-like and you go, well, I'm going to be the Jesus I know. Okay, you just be that Jesus then with all the right stickers and all the right banners. If you don't think the Pharisees didn't have the right bumper stickers on their car and eat at the right chicken place and shop at the right Walmart, You're not understanding it. They did it all right, but they hated everybody who wasn't exactly like them. And they made it very clear. And they whipped the chains of oppression and morality and ethics over the backs of every beloved person who was bound by law to be in front of them and give them money and alms. You're never good enough. It's the most massive incarceration of a free people in the history of the world that didn't know they were in chains. So Paul says, I'm in chains now, but the word of God is free, but before he was free, but he was really in chains. Love. Love is the central ethic of Christian life. Oh, here's the rebuttal though. Well, I am loving to tell my neighbor they're going to hell because they wear red mascara, purple lipstick. What is this? Clownery? Well, they are a clown for a living. Blasphemy. The joy of the Lord is my strength, not laughing jugglers. I mean, you know, and I'm being silly for a reason because this is Triggering for a lot of people. Why? Because there's nothing more triggering than someone attacking the very core of who you think you are. When you find your identity. One of my core values is to be authentically kind and concerned. And when people have accused me of being malicious, it literally makes me angry and vengeful. Proves that I'm not kind. And then the guilt that comes from that puts me in a place of despair. And then I hide from God. You see? And then I hide from God. Will I hide from God? I must not be His. And then everybody else proves that. Because you know, like Job's friends, they had a lot of nice things to say about him. And it's just a cycle. Versus standing up and going, oh yeah, I own that. Man, I'm weak in that area. My gosh, I'm an infant in that area. I'm a teensy-weensy baby boy in that area. I'm glad that's not my identity. We've got to love as the Bible calls us to love. Humbly. There's no such thing as calling out sin and saying that's going to be the case. Hit some microphone. Okay, yeah, right, we get it. It's a hand! And I don't think all people that I'm talking about are just rednecks. I'm naturally a redneck, so that's the voice I use when I'm being funny. Okay, we know that it's a hand, all right, we get it. That's wrong, okay, great. Show us the right way. Show us the right way. Work through it. How about we see where you're going and the joy you have, God might just use that to help me follow. That's nonsense. No, it's not nonsense. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they will see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. That means they'll be there. There's nothing more evangelistic than being grumpy, angry, fearful, anxious, hateful, and telling everybody else you hate them. That's, I'm telling you, if you ever want to start a business, make that your model. I promise you, you'll go bankrupt. And that's why the church, by and large, as it's called, is spiritually bankrupt in America. The way of love. The parable of the Good Samaritan. See, love is the ethic, the centrality of the gospel. Accomplishing love for God and love for our neighbor. This love extends beyond national or cultural boundaries. This love is a call for us to care for our people regardless of where they are, where they come from, where they're going, or what they're doing. Don't even get me started on immigration. Show me the evidence that the reason you're so scared is real. The Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10, 25, and 32-37. I don't want to read it all here, you know it. The Good Samaritan, a cultural outsider, a social pariah, the very person that would not even be allowed to be on the same side of the street, stops and cares for the Jewish man who'd been mugged true love, cross-centered, Christ-centered, God-centered love crosses every barrier of race, of nation, of religion, of economics, of odor. And I use that because that's a big deal. People who aren't clean, for a lot of people, aren't human. Of intellect, of worthiness. This is directly, I mean it's in direct contrast to the tendencies of nationalism which is isolationism and exclusionism. We have a call. We are the kingdom. Our true citizenship is in heaven. We have a way. It's a universal ethic of love. We have a call to humility and servitude. Philippians 2, have this mind among you. I've already mentioned it twice today. Have this mind among you, which is yours in Christ Jesus. See, we're called to emulate Christ's humility. Just emulate it. He committed no sin, verse 22 of chapter 2 of 1 Peter. Neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued to entrust himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on that tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Living to righteousness is not being exclusive. But the very word inclusive now is political. The very word toleration is political. The very word liberty is political. And most of Christian culture is straying like sheep and needs to return to their one true shepherd. We need to have a servant's heart. We reject the pursuit of power, we reject the pursuit of influence, we reject these things and seek to serve others selflessly But in a nationalistic framework, power and dominance are emphasized. Control. The way of Christ calls us to radically stand in a different way, a different posture, one of humility, one of love, one of service, one of feeling the truth of how other people are hurting by those who claim the name of Christ. But yet we're not weak in that, we stand firm and strong. Jesus Christ stood on the hill and he looked out over Jerusalem and he wept. Jesus Christ on the cross said to the Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. It would be the most boring Marvel movie of the world if Jesus were the center hero. Come on, Hulk, just calm down, your anger produces nothing. Just sit down here at my feet and let's talk about it. Come on, Doc. Sit down, Doc. Iron Man, turn off your laser beams. Turn off your jets. Spider-Man, chill out for a minute. You ain't even old enough to vote. Why are you all upset? You ain't even ever paid taxes trying to take over the government. Nah, Jesus would be a boring hero, but he's the strongest man that ever walked the ground. of this globe, of this round globe. And He calls us to have that same strength. Greatness in the Kingdom of God is defined by our humility, our service, not by dominance and control. So people who are calling for Christians to control the world, it's anti-Christ. It's against the teaching of Christ. We are to be about the pursuit of peace and justice. I'm gonna talk more about this as the weeks unfold, as we get over into, before we get into chapter three, there's two or three more things I really wanna unpack. Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God, the children of God. Christians are called to be peacemakers. We're actively supposed to be working for reconciliation and interpersonal relationships that promote justice, This involves standing against systems of oppression and violence. How? You told us not, no, I didn't tell y'all not to stand up against things like this. We have the authority under the law to do such, but the answer to that is not let's control everybody to make them Christian. The answer to that, that's wrong. We have a legal system that can establish this justice. The crazy thing is that I've learned at 50, growing up in a family of law enforcement, is that everybody wants justice until it knocks on their door. Then they want leniency. Then they want loopholes. Then they want a defense so they can get away with what they know they've done. We have to be able to say, this is the way of Christ, so this is not the way of Christ. Now let me walk in the way of Christ. Let me show the way of Christ. Let me teach the way of Christ. You notice that Paul, when I read 2 Timothy today, he uses these guys as examples. Talks about all the stuff that people will do in the last days and all these other things. I mean, listen to this list. He says, understand this, that in the last days, there'll be times of difficulty. People will be lovers of self, lovers of money. They'll be proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure. having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Avoid such people. Friends, I just quoted the moniker for almost every evangelical I know in the world that's on television. And if we're not careful, we'll put that name tag on too. He's not talking about unbelievers here. He's saying people who are walking in the way of saying, I'm a part of the gospel. I'm a part of the church. I'm a part of this. I'm part of the beloved. But they have an appearance of godliness, but they deny its power. Why? Because they're not humble. They're not serviced. They're not quiet. They're not praying. They're not trusting in the Lord. They're not taking care of the sick, the marginalized, the afflicted, the orphans, the widows. They ought to get another job. I got some friends that I've talked to on an ongoing basis that work three and four jobs. Most of the people who fuss about these types of people could not do one shift of the 17 hours a day that these people work on their feet with their bodies and brains. I'm willing to bet most people couldn't even hardly run around a block three times, much less work these jobs. It's not the heart of Christ. And what they're doing is they're creeping into households, they're creeping into churches, they're taking advantage of people. And the imagery there of like capturing women who can't defend themselves because they're not strong enough, person puts the sack over their head and drags them out. It's not about agency or ability or intelligence, it's just the image. Nobody comes in and kidnaps a 400 pound man that picks up trucks for a living. They'd have to shoot him from afar, because if they come to that house, they're going to have some problems. But they can grab a 90-pound woman, kicking and screaming, and there's not a lot you can do about it. It's not misogynistic. It's an image. It's a picture. And then Paul talks about two of these guys who oppose Moses as an example. He said, these people are disqualified. They won't get very far. Eventually, who they are will be plain to see. Why? Because when we're all walking this way in the way of Christ, and all these knuckleheads start walking the other direction, people are gonna say, wait a minute, where's the division here? There's got to be a delineation. And the delineation is how we relate to the world, and we find our identity, and how we walk in the world, so that people go, wow, if I gotta follow somebody, I'm following these guys. I'm going where they're going. I'm not going where these people are yelling for me to be. Justice and mercy. We have to be peacemakers. Seek reconciliation. Speak out against oppression and violence. Always speak out against violence. There's never a time. What is violence? Violence is screaming. Violence is name-calling. Violence is online attacks. Violence is pejorative ideas and words. Violence is going to the Capitol. Violence is going into the streets. Violence is blowing up cars and busting out windows and hitting people and threatening people and accusing people. You know what violence is. Violence. Ask a three-year-old, is this violence or is this violence? Show them a face. Is this violence or is this violence? They know. Well, Hulk is violent. Because look at his face. We seek justice and mercy. We're committed to what is right, committed to mercy. Do you know humility and mercy is part of justice? This requires that we challenge things that perpetuate injustice, like the contemporary evangelical culture of America. How do we do it? We're doing it right now. And we continue to teach the truth. We don't have to have any more sermons about this once we get out of 1 Peter until four years. And then we just bring it back up again, briefly. Our mission is to be witnesses to the kingdom. We're ambassadors for Christ. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, 2 Corinthians 5.20. God making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. We are the salt and light of the earth. We are the light of the world, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. So we embody the values of a kingdom that's not of this world. The next question that most people have, and we'll talk about this more next week, living as people who are free. People say, man, we're going to lose our freedoms. No, we won't. We will not lose our freedoms. Beloved, we will never lose our freedoms. Ever. Ever. Because those freedoms are secure in Christ. They're secure in Christ. We have liberty in Christ, true freedom defined. Galatians 5.1, for freedom Christ has set us free. So stand therefore. We have freedom through the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There is freedom. It can't be taken away. We have freedom against a false identity and a bondage to nationalism. You shall have no other gods before me. If you love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength, then you have no other gods before Him. So how's nationalism look for that? How's cultural political ideologies look at that? Our hope is in the Lord God Almighty. And everything that He wants, He gets. And everything that He gets is for His glory. And everything that glorifies Him is for the good of His people. Are you His people? Rest. There is no identity outside of Christ that should ever come before Him. Paul says it, but whatever I gained, whatever I had, I counted it as trash. I count it as garbage for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of Christ and knowing Him, Jesus, who is my Lord. For His sake, I have suffered the loss of everything, and I count it as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ." You gain everything when you lose everything. I hate that in my flesh, but I rest in my flesh. by the Spirit in that truth. And I need you, church, to remind me of that. Because just before I stood up here today, I'm in this brainwash of 40 to 50 things that I need to pursue tomorrow morning, things that I need to lay out. And you have to take time to put that stuff down and then teach it to somebody else so they can stop being silly. Right? Because there's a little bit of trepidation. Oh, what about this? The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing in everything through prayer and supplication. Make your requests known to God. He will grant you these things and the peace of mind that surpasses all understanding shall be yours, beloved. What? Okay. Think about it. Christian freedom is superior to every type of liberty. All bondage. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ from the law of sin and death. Cannot be taken away from us. We are free in the superiority of Christian liberty to live under the law of love without fear of condemnation. You recall the freedom But don't use your freedom as an opportunity to what? Hide evil or for the flesh. But as Paul says to the Galatians, I think, to love one another and to serve one another because the whole law is fulfilled in one word. He says, quote, love your neighbor as yourself. So we're living out this freedom in such a way that it's a call to reject the bondage of the world. If you abide in my word, Jesus says, you are truly my disciples. And you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. Friends, that is so far reaching in the implication, so far beyond your new birth, that we miss it when we try to steer it back through the eye of a needle, making it just about redemption. Redemption is absolutely eternal, heavenly, but it has everything to do with everything that we're doing now as people. So embrace this freedom. Paul tells the church of Colossae this, in closing. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head and rule of authority, and authority of all. So we must be vigilant against philosophy and ideology. And this is where we get the rub, right? Wait a minute. I've been doing that, but you're like attacking the very thing. I'm not attacking, I'm guiding. Because the root of where a lot of this stuff that triggers us comes from is not of Christ. Our identity and freedom are fully realized in Christ, who is the head and rule of all authority. Everything, everything that's happening in the world is His purpose and plan. So we reject the false form of bondage, thinking that we have to control this. Control is not freedom. Nothing lives and grows if it's in captivity. We are free. And we have to accept the reality that God has permitted and purposed all sorts of things, all manner of things that we don't understand, we don't know how to approach, we don't know where to go, we don't know how to embrace, we don't know how to love, but we can stand on the sufficiency of Christ and what He has accomplished so that we can be a people that the world will be puzzled by. And more importantly, that you will be free. We give too much space in our lives, our times, our conversation, thus our intimacy. Our intimacy shouldn't be spent on these conversations. It should be spent on things that build and grow and bring joy. Letting God guide us and direct us as to His path according to His gospel. Let's pray. Father, as we come to the end of this, I thank you that your word is sufficient. My commentary is not needed, but sometimes we put too much stock, even in our teaching, our thoughts, our ideas. So, Lord, help us to just be at rest. Help us to learn from these texts all the implications of how we ought to live. Lord, there's so many things. So many things. And it's a scary thing for me because there are things in this world that do need to be dealt with. There are things in our lives that need to be confronted. But there's a manner in which these things must be handled. And Lord, we need wisdom. You tell us through James that if we just ask, you'll give it. So we ask for wisdom. How do we handle these things? How do we navigate the world and all the things? How do we navigate abuse? How do we navigate this? How do we seek justice? while still being true to our calling. Because Lord, we know that we can't ignore stuff. We know that we're not supposed to pretend as though it doesn't affect other people. That's not the case. But Lord, we need to know our call and the effectiveness of your sovereignty in it. So give us this wisdom. Help us to grow, to reach a community for your sake. to embrace people, Lord, who are desperate to find the truth of Christ, so that You can grow us each together, individually, that we may become a people that truly shine as a light for Your glory in a world that is covered in darkness. And we pray these things in the name of Christ our King. Amen.