Published: September 28, 2025 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: 1 Peter - Part 19 | Scripture: 1 Peter 2:17
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before your throne this morning that we may sing, that we may pray, that we may hear your word read and preach, that we may declare may declare the wonders that you have made and
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declare the greatness of your name. We ask that you would do these things in the building up of your church for your glory. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
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I invite you to stand as we turn in our himnels to hymn number 52.
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High in the heavens, eternal God, thy goodness in full glory shines. Thy truth shall break through every
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cloud that fails and arens thy designs.
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Forever firm thy justice stands as mountains there foundations
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keep. Wise are the wonderers of thy hands. Thy judments are a mighty
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is kind and large. Both men and beasts thy bounty share. The whole creation is thy charge, but saints are thy
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care. My God, how excellent thy grace thy grace when all when all hope and comfort
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spring. The sons of Adam
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lie to the shadow of my wings. From the proisions of thy house we shall be fed with sweet
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pass. Their mercy light. The river flows and brings salvation
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to our taste. Life like a fountain, rich and free, springs from the presence
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of my Lord. And in my life our soul shall see the
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proise in thy word.
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My heart is firmly fixed to God my song I raise. Awake oh harp in joyful straight. Awake
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my soul to praise among the nations. Lord, to you my song will rise.
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Your faithfulness Your faithfulness outshines the heaven. Your mercies reach the skies.
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the skies. How great your love, oh Lord. We praise your matchless word.
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in our prayer. our prayer. And let your own beloved ones. Your great salvation
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share. God speaks. All lands are mine to serve me and oy.
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My people and their foes will serve my glory day by day.
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Oh, who will lead us on in triump on this day?
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Lord, why do you reject your own and turn your face away?
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[Applause] And aries help is vain to God for help. We plead
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with God. We shall do valantly. With God we shall succeed.
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>> Good morning everyone. Welcome to Fellowship Bible Church. We're continuing to read in 1 Corinthians and read chapter 4. Um, it's a tough chapter. It seems like Paul is using
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sarcasm uh against the Corinthians. Yet, we know he loved them and I think he was challenging the strength that they thought they had. And at the same time, he was very sad that it was a
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hollow strength. So, let's um let's pay close attention to this chapter. It's it's tough. it's tough. Let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the
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mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me, it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you or by any human
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court. In fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself. Yet I am not by this acquitted. But the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore, do not go on
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passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden, the darkness, and disclose the motives of men's hearts. And then each man's praise
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will come to him from God. Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no
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one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as
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if you had not received it? You are already filled and have become rich. You have become kings without us. And indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we also might reign with
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you. For I think God has exi exhibited us apostles last of all as men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels
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and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this
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present hour, we are both hungry and thirsty and are poorly clothed and are roughly treated and are homeless. And we toil, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless. When we are
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persecuted, we endure. When we are slandered, we try to consiliate. We have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. I
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do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you have, if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers. For in
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Christ Jesus, I became your father through the gospel. Therefore, I exhort you, be imitators of me. For this reason, I have sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the
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Lord. And he will remind you of my ways, which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. Now, some have become arrogant, as though I were
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not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out not the words of those who are arrogant, but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power. What do you desire?
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Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness? Let's continue to worship.
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[Music] The Lord reigns from his throne on high. Let all the nations sway.
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He sits between the chair of him. Let the holers shake.
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Praise the Lord on Zion's hill. Exalted over all.
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over all. Upon his great and holy name, let all the nations fall.
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The king loves truth and equity has established has established by his mind.
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In Jacob, you have done for us all that is just and right.
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Exalt the Lord our God with us. Let all the world abroad
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before his foot to worship him for holy is the Lord. Moses and were his priests. Samuel called on his
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name. They called upon the Lord their God and he replied to them.
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He spoke to him and gave his law out of the cloud from heaven.
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They kept the statutes and decrees which he to them had.
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Oh Lord our God, you answered them. You were to Israel, a loving and forgiving
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and forgiving God, but judge their sins as well. Exalt and praise the Lord our God. Come
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worship him alone.
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The Lord God on the holy mountain. He is the holy one.
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[Music] Come ye souls by sin afflicted bound with fruitless
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sorrow down sorrow down by the broken lock convicted lock convicted through the cross.
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Behold the crown. Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus.
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Look to Jesus. Mercy flows through him alone.
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Take is easy. You can wear it. Love will make your obedience sweet. Christ will give you
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strength to bear it while his [Music] guides your feet. Save to glory.
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Save to glory. Save to glory where his ransom captives me.
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Blessed are the eyes that see him. Bless the ears that hear his voice.
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Blessed are the souls that trust him and in him alone rejoice.
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alone rejoice. His commandments, His commandments, his commandments, his commandments, his commandments his commandments that become their happy choice,
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[Music] sweet as home to pilgrims we
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to open eyes. open eyes. Wonderful springs in deserts. We deserts. We gives the rest
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the cross of life. [Music] All who tasted all who tasted.
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All who tasted
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Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus. Mercy flows through him alone.
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>> Let's lead the body corporately in in prayer, some of you please. And then um I ask that you would grant to your church what Peter
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by your inspiration promise times of refreshing from your throne. As we live in a very contentious age,
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we ask that you would strengthen our souls and plant our feet firmly upon your word. that we might have that bold confidence and that comfort that Paul
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had that we might know in whom we have believed and be persuaded that he is able to keep that which we have entrusted to him
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against that day even our souls
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Father, I make my appeal to you that you would strengthen what is lacking as you have promised to give life to our mortal bodies mortal bodies as assuredly as you have planted your spirit in us.
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I ask that you would fill up that that joy in our number we talked about this morning that as we
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labor and hope steadfastly and in faith you would grant us to see the fruit of our labors in joy in your spirit.
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you would preserve us to to the day of of seeing those things. You would give it to us, that you would give us willingness. You said that you would make your people
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willing on the day of your power. I pray that you kn us together, fill up what is lacking, strengthen, strengthen us even as we know that we are from
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scripture to strengthen what remains and that what is lame may not be put out of
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We ask that you help us to sound out these things in wisdom and to have the willingness to work at it as we have been taught. been taught. Thanking you for Jesus who has assuredly worked at everything and done all things
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well in the same afflictions as we s Thank you in Jesus name.
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Heavenly Father, we are blessed to gather freely gather freely in this house of worship be called and be called by your name without fear of retribution. I think as as we sang, blessed are the
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eyes that see you, we are told that we are blessed having not seen and yet believing. And we know that is from you. We also know as is written and spoken by
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your servant that uh though we die, we will see you in our flesh and rejoice. And we look forward to that day, whether it be
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it be after our life has passed or you come quickly. We look forward and we say marinatha. Lift up the body today as we sit under the preaching of the word that those who
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are in you would be blessed, refreshed as has been said that the spirit would strengthen us. We would be built up. Pray that any here who hear the words
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from you but do not have a heart to believe that that heart would be changed. Christ's name I pray. Amen.
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I invite you to stand as we turn to hymn number one.
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All people that on earth do you dwell sing to the Lord with cheerful
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him with fear his praise for
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Without our aid he dare us make. We are his focus.
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[Music] his gaze with praise, approach with joy his courts unto.
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for it is seemingly so to do. Oh why the Lord our God is good. His mercy is forever
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sure. is truth that all times firmly stood and shall from age to age.
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listening after that because I didn't mention the beautiful
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Some of you know what you think that is, but taking another risk of mentioning uh baseball reference. Um, I was going to say we're in 1 Peter chapter 2, which
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we are, but um, and this is not exactly a curveball. This is more like a a slider. We're going to slide over to Second Timothy chapter 2 briefly this
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morning. And so I'm going to read, it's a rather lengthy passage, but I invite you to listen to Second Timothy chapter 2, starting at verse 11.
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It is a trustworthy statement. For if we died with him, we shall also live with him. For if we endure, we shall also reign with him. If we deny
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him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in
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the presence of God not to wrangle about words which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a
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workman who does not need to be ashamed handling accurately the word of truth. But avoid worldly and empty chatter for it will lead to further ungodliness and
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their talk will spread like gang green. Among them are Himmonius and Fileitus, men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already
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taken place, and thus they upset the faith of some. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, the Lord knows
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those who are his, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness. Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels but also vessels
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of wood and of earth and wear and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore if a man cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified,
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useful to the master, prepared for every good work. good work. Now flee from youthful lust and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a
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pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. And the Lord's bondervant must not be quarrelome, but
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be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wrong, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading
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to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. Let us
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pray. Our pray. Our father, we do again ask that by your holy spirit you would you would speak to each one of us. You would proclaim your
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word and that we might not only understand but we would gain wisdom and we would gain faith. We would
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gain insight into how we ought to live to please you in this world. but also among believers.
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And Father, we we ask that it would all be for your glory and your honor. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
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In 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 17, Peter writes, "Honor all men or honor
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But what does it mean to honor someone? To whom should we give honor? The submission talked about in verse 13 is not the same as the honor talked
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about in verse 17. I think there is a there is a difference in the uh the Greek and the meaning.
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Submission, as we've said, is to arrange one's life under the authority or guidance of another. Peter's admonition is submission to
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people, people created in the image of God who've been given roles to fill by God's appointment. We recognize them as
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as creatures as creatures to whom honor and respect is due. subjection as he begins in verses 13 and
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beyond to human authority is part of God's will God's will to do what he says ought to happen in verse 15 verse 15 that you may silence the ignorance of
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foolish men. foolish men. Honor means to value someone highly. the the picture is a a lifting up of that person to value and esteem them.
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And the idea of honoring, of course, is throughout the scriptures. Um, we're told in Romans 13 that it represents
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God's ultimate authority bestowed on someone. For there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are established by God.
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Christians must honor those whom God has placed over us through our demonstration of esteem. of esteem. To do otherwise is to dishonor God.
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Some say that honor is the same as respect. But I think there is a difference. Respect is a feeling of admiration for someone based on their qualities or
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achievements. Honor is a recognition of someone's worth or value. Perhaps, as some say, tied to moral
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integrity. Respect is earned, but at least as Peter sees it, honor is given. We respect people for what they do.
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But honor, But honor, again, as I see it in Peter, is a necessity, a requirement we give to an office, to a position. You may not
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respect the person. You may not respect their their beliefs, their ideas, or their expectations, their expectations, but if they have authority, they deserve
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honor. They deserve to be treated as valuable. And again, I believe that Peter shows us that when you honor a person, you serve
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them, you value them, you encourage them. honor? Well, I think our first honor is to God
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himself. Proverbs 3 says, "Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce." Honoring God with our resources
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acknowledges his sovereignty and expresses our gratitude for his
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In Exodus 20, we're told to honor our parents. Honor your father and mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord gives you. We're to honor as I said from Romans 13.
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Honor those in authority. Render to all what is due them. Tax to whom tax is due. Custom to whom custom. Fear to whom fear. Honor to whom honor.
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We're even told to honor the aged, those who are older. Leviticus 19, you shall rise up before the gay-headed and honor the aged.
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the aged. And we're to honor our fellow believers. Romans 12. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Give preference to one another in honor.
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But Paul told Timothy that in God's house, and I believe that is how we are to take it, the great house is the church. And in that house,
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he says, there are some vessels of honor and some of dishonor.
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So the question arises, what if the person we are supposed to honor is dishonorable?
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Your father or your mother, your spouse, your spouse, your teachers, your elders, your boss,
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your boss, your co-workers. But especially what if the dishonorable is a professing believer,
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someone that you see in church or someone who has confessed that they are a Christian, a Christian, your friend in Christ,
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practicing things contrary to scripture. And I don't pretend that I know all of the dishonor that you have seen in your
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life, the abuse you may have taken as a child or as an employee. I've been blessed. Uh yes, I've sat in meetings, mixed meetings where my boss
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has has dropped loads of fbombs and denigrated women in front of women. I' I've been I've seen dishonoring, but I don't pretend that I know all of
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the things that some of you may have gone through, things that the scripture says or things that ought not to be mentioned
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among the saints.
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And again, the question is, does God supply a qualifier when it comes to honor? One blogger that I read said, quote, he, meaning God through Peter, does not tell
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us to honor them only if they are honorable or only if we are happy with them or agree with them. My first response was what about John chapter 5
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chapter 5 where Jesus says for not even the father judges anyone but he has given all judgment to the son so that all will honor the son even as they honor the father. He who does not honor the son
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does not honor the father who sent him. Does that dishonorable person if if they're not honoring Christ, they're not honoring God Almighty?
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What do we do? In Mark chapter 6, it says that Jesus couldn't do many mighty works in his hometown of
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Nazareth. And I don't think that the problem was the people in his hometown, none of them believed in God. I think the problem is they did not honor Jesus himself.
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And what about Jesus response to the people that we would consider dishonorable? The Pharisees came to him, Luke chapter 13, I believe, and they said, "Herod wants to kill you." And
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what was Jesus' response? Go tell that But he told them, "Go tell that fox to see the works that I am doing, the
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miracles I'm performing, the people who are cured, and those who are coming to him to honor him."
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I believe that Paul is distinguishing the different vessels in this great house is the church. In verses 14 through 19 in the passage that I read, Timothy is in the in the
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words of Richard Lensky, uh he says he is to cut the word straight to deal with the false teachers like Himaeus and Phitus.
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But in verses 20- 26, he is told to distinguish the different vessels in order to deal gently with those church members who are in great danger of being
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Two classes of vessels based on how precious they are in the household, things of highest value. When he said vessels for honor, they will always be prized. They will be kept and
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never thrown away. For dishonor means unprized and eventually discarded as junk. It's not that there are some vessels that these
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are for the dirty jobs, these are for those unmentionable things. I don't think that Paul takes us there. I think he takes us to the visible church and he
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says in this church there are vessels of honor and there are some who are behaving dishonorably
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but he doesn't say that he is going to throw them out. The implication is there may be false teachers. That's verse 18. And there may be worldly chatterers and
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ungodly people. That's verse 16. in the Christian community Christian community and their activities indicate that they are behaving dishonorably.
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As Patrick Fairband wrote in his commentary, "As a rule, they do much of disservice in the battle of good and evil. God does not receive from them the honor which he is entitled. They must be
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treated by him with dishonor." those who do not honor him by being in fellowship, those who dishonor him by practicing despicable things and wanting
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other people to approve of their activities. George Knight wrote in his commentary, "They are held captive by the devil's snare, and the desire is to break them
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out of the devil's intoxicating effect that they may come to their senses." And that approaches what I think is the the condition of expectation here for
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Paul to Timothy. And I think by saying Timothy, I think he's meaning church, the church, the members of the church.
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If anyone keeps himself clean, verse 21, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work. It is predicated on those within the
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church. Keep clean in the word. Be kept clean by sanctification which comes from the Lord. Useful to the master means he can use us
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well. He will not throw us away. will be prepared as he says for every good work having been and the idea is
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and remaining and remaining prepared and ready for every good work. I see the task given to Timothy by Paul
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and again I think extension to everyone in the church. Verse 24, be kind to all, able to teach,
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patient when wronged, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, and that they may come to
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their senses. their senses. Be kind, able to teach, patient in forebearing. The outcome
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is correcting those in opposition, those who give offense and are dishonorable. the the verbs used here teaching or in
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some versions instructing them in verse 24 and then correcting in verse 25 means practicing some sort of discipline.
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Knowledge of the truth and that they may come to their senses implies instruction teaching. And since they're in opposition
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and the desire is verse 25, that God may grant them repentance, that means some sort of correction. Instruction and correction, I believe,
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are the heart of honoring the dishonorable. Ephesians 4:E1 15 I think is a concrete example of that combination
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speaking the truth in love correction with the hope that God may grant a change of mind that's repentance
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with regard to their erroneous ideas or to their abuse or to their dishonoring of their confession
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and that they may be indeed a vessel sanctified for honor. In a house where there are these vessels, you can't change a wooden
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vessel into gold or silver. But in God's house, in the church, that can happen.
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So, how do we then honor the dishonorable? As one commentator said, "The first step is realizing that honor is about what you decide, not what they deserve."
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God did not give us what we deserved. That's called mercy. But God did give us what we didn't deserve. That's called grace.
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Honor means to value something. When you treat someone as common, you're dishonoring them. dishonoring them. So, we have to begin by seeing everyone including that parent, that family member, that
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co-orker as valuable. When we choose to honor others, even the dishonorable, we are choosing to honor
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We've all been hurt. Some of you more than others, mistreated, but showing dishonor gives that person ammunition to use against us as well as
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the God we serve. And I experienced that as a young believer, not honoring the boss who was very tyrannical.
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very tyrannical. And I'm sure that when I left in tears and a huff, quit the job without giving him even a day's notice, he had plenty
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of ammunition of ammunition against the God that I claimed to serve.
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But true honor requires what Peter says here in chapter two that we act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil but use it as bondervants
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because he says in the verse ahead of that such is the will of God that we would be would be and have the heart of a servant.
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We lift others up in humility and love even those we disagree with, even those who hurt us.
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Honor, and I think it comes out in Peter, honor is more about you and your heart about the person than it is the one you're honoring.
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With the heart of a bondervant, you are able to honor every person you cross paths with. We don't have to agree with someone to show them love and esteem.
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How do we emulate God's or Christ when we're confronted with evil? We reject evil. How do we follow ge follow Jesus when someone commands us to sin?
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We defy the wicked authorities. How do we honor the spirit of truth when we're pressured to lie? We speak truth boldly.
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Paul tells Timothy, "Set before them the pure teaching of the word. Set before them the good order of Christ's kingdom
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Christ's kingdom and of his righteousness. How to be a godly parent. how to be a godly boss, how to be a godly co-worker. We see those things in scripture and
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Peter's going to tell us some
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Proverbs 20, I think, is a good reminder of us when we're tempted to say, "I have no wisdom." A plan in the heart of man is
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like deep water. But a man of understanding draws it out. Part of our honoring other people is to understand other people
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and to see the dishonor and meet it with scripture.
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In 1 Corinthians 3, we're encouraged to be employed in the sewing and watering, knowing that God is the one who gives the increase.
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I don't usually end a sermon with the practical applications. practical applications. What is the the modern word for it is okay, you haven't listened up to this point, but now I'm going to give you the
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takeaways. But I came across this uh blog post. U the man is is named uh Tom Chalis. He's uh an elder at Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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And he used uh the word distinguish as a way to give a practical way to think these things through. And it helped me. And I know that we're going a
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little bit long, but I I I think sometimes we need some help. What does it mean on a practical level?
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what he writes is his own but I have taken some of the comments and tried to apply them to our situation. His first practical application is distinguish between honor and obedience.
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When parents or authorities demand what God forbids, we must defer to the higher authority of God or to government. And here again, rather than exploding in
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anger and making a great show of defiance, we can respond with dignity, calmness, and respect, yet with iron resolve
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to distinguish between the person and the position. And we've talked about this before, but we can learn how God describes God's his design for parents
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or bosses or bosses and determine that we will only speak well of them. Avoid speaking evil of them and speak well of parenting and mentoring, for
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example. But perhaps sometimes the best you can do to honor God in some situations is not to dishonor that person.
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Honoring God may mean honestly facing the trauma, leaving vengeance in his hand and acknowledging before God that he made no mistakes about your parents or your boss or your co-workers.
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Honoring may mean telling your abusive parents that they cannot see cannot see their grandchildren their grandchildren or children.
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We must distinguish Charlie's rights between honor and relationship. In some cases, past action may be so utterly deplorable that a person must break from the the offender.
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Alerting authorities and getting some help for the offender is, I think, a way to honor them.
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agreement. Some children are concerned with honoring parents means agreement with odious positions they may hold. for example, racism.
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example, racism. Yet, honor can be extended in such a way that it is genuine but still resolute. Honoring our parents does not necessarily mean approval of everything they have done and everything they
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believe. Martha and I were pressured by my parents to join the Lutheran church after we married. But we honored my parents by sitting down with their pastor and explaining to
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them why we could not hold to pedo baptism and some other things that the Lutheran church teaches. We honored my parents by doing as they asked and yet were
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resolute in what we understood the scriptures to say.
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enabling. Honoring does not mean enabling sin or sinful patterns. It does not mean covering up what someone did or continues to do or hiding it from civil
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authorities. Those who were abused will do no dishonor to the offender if they make that abuse known and seek to have them prosecuted. It may sound strange, but I think that
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is honor. Chalie's ended his blog post by saying, "Yet we must be aware
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that honoring in this way could also prove dangerous." God asks people to do things that would be impossible without his aid.
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Impossible without his presence, with his wisdom, his power. In hard cases, he wrote, "Giving honor to an offender may seem impossible, but
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still the call goes out, give honor to whom honor is due." For many people,
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this is the deepest kind of challenge, but certainly for all of us, it is a challenge for which we would desperately need. He writes the grace of God.
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But how have you remember that we're in first Peter first Peter and he tells us who we are. We are resident aliens. resident aliens. We live by a different code. We live by a different mindset.
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Daniel Doriani in his commentary wrote, quote, "We should remember that the greatest forces are not political and economic, but personal, mental and spiritual.
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The church of Christ is a force in this world. We are a force precisely because we have dual citizenship.
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We live in this world. We live in a world where there are dishonorable people. But we no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died for us, while we ourselves were yet sinners. Let us pray.
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Our father, we do again ask that you would teach us, that you would have us meditate upon these things. We might see we might see the outcome the expectation
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that you have that all in your church would be vessels of honor set apart for your use that we would be
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prized by you. we'd be honored by you and we would be useful to you and that we would be vessels given for
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honor and the glory of Christ. In his name we pray. Amen. You please rise for the duxology
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from Revelations chapter 4. Worthy art thou, O Lord, and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for
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thou did create all things, and because of thy will, they existed and were created. Amen.