“For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men – as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” 1 Peter 2:15-17.
By doing good the Christian silences those who will complain about anything that Christians do. I do not need to explain this last statement, all Christians have heard or read of the constant complaints spewed out by those who want to find fault, whether it is legitimate or not.
Doing good also draws many unbelievers to Christ, often without a word. Yet there are Christians who have an in-your-face attitude about their Christian morality.
They have taken on the world’s stick it in your ear if you do not agree with me attitude of the unbeliever. As a result, they are seen as hypocrites even though they were not being hypocritical, while at the same time they were being insensitive.
Here is an example. There are two young women who are intelligent, and brought up in Christian homes, all their lives.
Both have boyfriends, both say that they are virgins, yet both spend the night at their boyfriend’s home, both will travel for days with their boyfriends on vacation, and both get angry and defensive when people question their virginity.
Is it anyone’s business? No it is not for anyone other than the parents of the girls.
Do these girls have the right to get angry with anyone who questions whether they are having sex or not? No they do not; it is they who are flaunting their behavior.
Can they go up to anyone who knows them and tell them that they need to trust Jesus Christ to save them from sin. They most surely can, but it is doubtful that they would be received very well considering their own apparent sinful living conditions.
Perhaps the unbeliever would quote this verse to them.
“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” Luke 6:41-42.
It does not matter what the truth is, it is the perception that the world has of their actions. Well, the Christian can tell the world to stick their perceptions where the sun don’t shine, but is that what holy and blameless children of God are supposed to do?
“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17.
Scripture tells us that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. If you have read the four gospels you will have noticed that Jesus never sinned, nor did He ever act in an improper manner before men.
Neither was He out of men’s sight for any extended period of time during His ministry. Jesus was constantly watched not only by His disciples, but by His enemies, if He did any wrong, it would have been shouted from the rooftops.
In fact, in the end the only thing His enemies could convict Him of was blasphemy, which was false since He really is God the Son.
“Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” John 8:46.
Who among us can make a statement like that publicly without becoming a laughingstock before everyone who hears it?
Out of everyone who had Jesus as a guest and of all those who constantly watched Him, not one came forward and said, He made a pass at my wife, He stole change off of my dresser, or I found Him drunk, not one!
As the Master is, so should the servant be. We all get angry, we all say stupid and inappropriate things, we all linger over wrong thoughts of another person, but we are not to flaunt it, and we are to make amends where damage has been done to the reputation of Christ.
The average individual can usually tell the difference between a hypocrite and a sincere Christian. The reputation we maintain before men gives weight to the words we speak to them.
“Abstain from every form of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:22.
The word of God actually tells us to abstain from every form, or appearance of evil. The primary reason for this is the one that has been expounded upon throughout this post; people do judge a book by its cover, one look and the book is passed up.
Two reasons Christians are not just snatched away to heaven when they are saved from their sins are that we are left here to become conformed to the image of God’s Son, making us good citizens of heaven.
The other is that we are to reach others with the good news of salvation in Christ Jesus. We accomplish neither when we just go on acting like the citizens of the world; we are no different from everyone else.
Where is the beauty, where is the sweet aroma, where is the attraction of the peace in Jesus that the Christian has?
“But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works.” Psalm 73:28.
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16.
“…having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” 1 Peter 2:12.
The massacre of 49 homosexuals in Orlando, Florida by a Muslim jihadist terrorist a few years back brings out another aspect of the Christian witness.
“Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” 1 Peter 2:17.
Islam honors only Islam, and often their own people are killed by their actions. They do not love the brotherhood of Christ, or any other religion. They fear Allah, not the Creator God the Father. Nor do they honor any king in any country they are in.
This brings us to the massacre and Islam, immediately after the senseless murder of these 49 human beings a so-called Christian Baptist, pastor, said publicly that the shooter should have continued shooting until he killed them all.
This pastor, with his bitter words put all of Christianity on the same level as Islam. This man who is steeped in bile ignored the admonition to, “Honor all people.”
Not one of us should excuse homosexuality as anything less than sin, as is adultery, fornication, and pedophilia.
Nevertheless, both the 49 dead and those wounded are folks that Christ died for on the cross, giving both them and every other sinner on earth an infinite value.
It is not for the Christian to kill any man except in self-defense or while protecting the life of another.
Like many other folks, this pastor may have been raped, or molested as a child by a homosexual, or harassed by one or more.
These are not fey little victims as the media likes to present them, they are men and women with a sin nature like the rest of us, and capable of just as great an evil as any of us.
Whatever this pastor’s problem with homosexuals, and if we heard his story we might say, wow, I don’t blame you, whatever the problem, it is between him and Jesus.
But when he speaks out as a member of the church, he defames all Christians and the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32.
All Christians must keep a guard upon their lips to keep from bringing shame upon the brotherhood of believers and upon the name of Jesus our Savior.
“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” Ephesians 4:29.
“Honor the king.” Many folks today from sports figures to Hollywood stars and the rest of the media continually and relentlessly hurl abuse and the vilest accusations against our 45th President, 2017 to 2021. Even now that he is out of office they continue to harass him.
Both congress and the senate, who should know better, called for his impeachment, for which they had and have no criminal charges. They do all of this as they ignore their own oath of office to serve the citizens of this country.
Not just accusations but many call for his assassination without fear of being arrested for the crime of sedition. The rebels in our government have also called for the harassment of those who support the president.
Christians whether they like the president or not have no right to treat him like dirt or speak rebellion against him because God has put him where he is for His own purposes.
“Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.” 1 Peter 2:13-14.
The people of this country have a wonderful privilege given to us by God; we are free to reject the rebellious evildoers in our government and elect righteous men and women.
If every Christian does not go out and vote on Election Day we will be spitting on a gift from God, treating it as so much rubbish which good men and women have voted for with their lives.
Do not complain that you will not vote for the lesser of two evils, because if you do not vote, we will definitely get the worst of two evils. And a graft ridden, politically correct socialist government will come and take away all of our Christian rights.
This flood of illegal aliens (they are not migrants) is allowed on purpose to destroy the country. The influx of homelessness was created by government meddling. High fuel prices were purposely caused by executive order.
Pedophilia and child sex trafficking are ignored purposely. Climate change is a hoax invented to create a sense of foreboding and panic making an excuse to pour tax money into an empty hole.
“See then that you walk circumspectly [cautiously with watchfulness], not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Ephesians 5:15-17.
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Matthew 10:16.
Christian Morality, Part 2, Good taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 6-19-16 updated on 10-3-23.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.