How to Win Your Culture

Morning. Good morning. Welcome. We’re also trying to coordinate with Mother’s Day. We’re also trying to coordinate like a five plane jet fly over to, you know, summarize our service for your mom’s. We want to honor your mom’s. It’s epic work you all are doing at home. And so thank you for coming. We are just orient you. We are in weak, weak. Four of our first peter series are real ID series. Looking at our identity we have in christ I think we’ll be finishing this series if all goes well sometime in june as a church. So it’s been really good. I I like to look at a question attention. Some of you probably have seen heard felt or tasted as a christian here in Lincoln Nebraska. Many of you have heard the questions or thoughts out there. Maybe even in here in this room of the bible is a dead archaic, out of touch book that has no relevance in our lives. It’s racist, it’s sexist, it’s an angry ancient literature that is oppressive in nature. You might have heard that, or for my kids, you might have heard things like how can you read this? This doesn’t have any pictures, you know? So it’s it’s an interesting, interesting argument to tee up and so I know our culture today is dealing with a lot of things that the culture in the day. Peter wrote to the audience of the target audience of churches in the area of Kansas in Nebraska, that that demographic area spread out over those are two state region here. There’s a network of churches that Peter wrote this letter to And this letter was read to the churches when they gather and it was circulated among those churches. And in first Peter 16 that talks about how the church is. The believers are grieved with trials of various kinds and the trials that we’ve just remind you of the trials that they’re grieved with. The trials they’re dealing with is racial, political, economic social. There is quite a similarity to what the Peter is writing to and who we are living through as christians here in Lincoln Nebraska. There’s a lot of carry over between between those two worlds, colliding. Um, the Bible is a timeless book that speaks to all times, especially this time that we’re living in its Christians. There’s passages and those principles that speak to us as believers living in Lincoln Nebraska in the year 2021 that do have a high degree of relativity and impact into our life, into what we’re hearing from our culture today. I am encouraged looking through this, but I do feel like the trials that we face of many is kind of various kinds. It’s one thing to have external public trials, doesn’t think nothing of an internal private trial. And I it feels like this christian walk, it doesn’t feel like a casual strolls on the beach when things are tough, God carried me. You know, it doesn’t feel like that, like some of you might have seen that bookmark as a kid, none of you have seen that bookmark as a kid, it seems like from your faces, but it doesn’t feel like a casual stroll on a sunny day. My christian life feels like a UFC fight. One corner is me, the other corner is everything else. And sometimes the external big public trials, they hit you, you take some blows, you drop a few, but you get your butt kicked basically. But the internal private trials on top of that, and you feel like you get your head clock, do you feel like you got rings, you lost your balance, you lost your spiritual wind and you sit down in your corner and you catch your breath, drink a little bit of water. You have to go back out again day after day and as time goes on, life goes on and we get pounded as christians are walk of God feels like a UFC cage fighting. So it could be a good round, it could be a bad round. I don’t know what your last week was like, but I do think this is sage timely words from peter to the first century church which apply to this church here in Lincoln Nebraska. I think it’s uncanny. The similarities this timeless book of God, written to all people of all times for all problems that they faced. Different centuries, same problems, different century, different trials, but same trials and the word of God is timeless and it speaks to us in our context today. So let’s pray, let’s dive in as a church. God, thank you for thank you for the words of Peter, our brother who can meet in heaven someday. Thank you for the christians he’s writing to as they discern their id, they had their heavenly, their heavenly identity. They had Lord I thank you for the main themes we’re going to look at in today’s passage. God, I ask that you just really helped us to be applicable to our lives. So this to be biblically sound and helped us to be very encouraging and instructing to our souls as you go back out there as well as the bench gets pulled off below us and we have to stand up and you hear the Ding Ding ding and we go back out into another weekend. I prayed this would really ground our faith on the word of God, which is timeless. We just commit this to you, jesus, glorify your name in this time, in jesus name, we pray amen. So to work through a passage like this with many different topics, the pastors, we picked this passage because we thought it’s a very emotionally charged culture, a lot of weight problems in God’s timeless words, speaks to every single one of those problems and it’s very reassuring to us as pastors. And so that’s why we picked first peter. But so just kind of wrap your arms around this section of scripture. We’re gonna look at, there’s these three main questions we got for you. How do you engage your real id as a christian? How do you engage your culture and how do you engage Your employer? That’s how I’m dissecting this passage. You can do it your own way at your own community group. But that’s how I’m going to work through this passage. That’s how it makes sense in my mind. And so let’s jump in first Peter 2 11. It says this dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against your soul. Our first main, our first main question we’re looking at today, we’ve really been covering the last couple of weeks with Zain and Ben. And so it’s our thought that I’m going to really briefly touch on this. Um, just to wrap your arms around this first man. You know, if you want more here, you want to double click on this point, go back last week and listen to those sermons. But how do you live out your real I. D. As a christian? Um, just a little background that you might not know remember those t shirts that existed back in the day. They had those t shirts like maybe like last summer’s like straight out of Brooklyn straight to complement its compton, straight out of Lincoln. Remember those t shirts straight out of somewhere. Yes. And so we’re about those, the people, the target audience of people, Peter’s day and age were strangers, exile, sojourners and foreigners. There were there were minimum that did not live in that area. They were at half half of the context of the people that lived in Peter’s Day, half of them were from other cities. So there’s what said straight out of Greece, straight out of Egypt, straight out of Turkey, straight out of the Middle East. There were there were people that were conquered by the roman empire and transplanted to where they were over half of the people that lived in the context of those cities. We’re not from that city. So when Peter writes as strangers as exiles, as foreigners that don’t, you know, that meant something to them that falls on deaf ears in our context. Because if you raise your hands, you all would, I’m from Nebraska, I’m from America, I’m from the midwest, I’m from from Iowa. You know, you’re from somewhere and it’s not like you’re from another country who you’re, you know, the roman empire conquered your country and as a child, you got transported to this random city that Peter’s Ryan Leonard too. And so as you hear, strangers exiled soldiers, foreigners, depending on your translations, we can relate to that though, because we are are meant for a greater kingdom and greater city of greater work were meant for a nation even greater than the american nation. We’re meant to be in a heavily nation where jesus, the king of that nation and his reign and rule will never end. We’re destined to go to heaven. Those who have faith in jesus christ were destined to go in heaven where we can, we can learn, discover advanced technology, we can eat, knock it fat, we can talk and never be misunderstood. We can have friendship, we could have connection to people, we can, we can discover strange new worlds and all kinds of cool things. It’s a big galaxy, there’s a lot of cool stuff we can do and it’s not like we’re gonna be floating around in harps and diapers, singing a bunch of lullabies, that is not what heaven is going to be like. And so as you, as you listen, this passage that Peter writes, dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against your soul. Your real ideas, you meant for a better kingdom, but your real I. D. That better kingdom. You are required to be reminded that when you see a a world that is not your preferred world, like these exile saw, you need to see that world and be like I meant for somewhere else. But instead of being hopeless, like we’re prone to becoming hopeless and given to sexual morality like he warns them against, we should be reminded of our one hope in christ in his future kingdom and I’m gonna move on because I’d like to really drill down on the second two main points for making this morning. But the christians in Peter’s days are longing to go home and to be satisfied by their old home, but this world will never satisfy you. Christians C. S. Lewis writes this. If you find in yourself a longing for this world that can never meet, can never meet, it means you are made for another world. When you live out your real ID christians, you’re meant for another world. You’re meant for a heavenly kingdom of heavenly stock options and a heavenly network and a heavenly passport where there is no sickness, there’s no disease, there’s nothing, nothing, it’s perfect, it’s paradise. God has been working on it for thousands of years and it is significantly better than the world we live in today. So Peter tells them in light of oblique hopelessness and you don’t belong and you can relate to that you don’t belong and it’s bleak and hopeless around you don’t don’t give into Unholy nous live as holy men and women. It has exiles. So the second main question, how do you engage your culture? I think Peter really tactfully, when simply does this for us as a church for us to learn from how do you engage your culture church? I went to my first pastors conference about 10 years ago before I was raised up as a pastor and the pastor that was leading the time he talked about this little quote from what I wrote down, he says pastors need to accept the reality of our limited impact on range in the world. And some of you are like Your face is just got contoured. Like what do you mean? You’re a quitter Mike. You don’t know when I was 25. I had my face did that too. But as time went on, I realized that my impact is limited in what I can see on this side of having a wrench in the world. And I propose to you that reaching the culture is a big thing to wrap your arms around your like, we’re supposed to reach the husker nation mike. Well, where does that start? Where does that stop? Is it just over there nine blocks or is it like in different states? Is it or is it supposed to reach the whole american culture versus just the Nebraska nation? But the american nation, you know, where does that stop? Where does that start? And if it’s too big of a thing, I think you check out, so I’m gonna rewrite, I’m gonna respect that. Reaching your culture to reach in your city. I think this makes it more realistic. How do we reach Lincoln Nebraska? If you see significant change and you realistically see goals and a worthy endeavor to throw yourself after, It’s like that’s not just some high level idea that really just nice smooth talk from the top and none of us can do anything about changing the american nation. I think if it’s Lincoln you get very specific, you get very practical and you actually kind of practical steps you can take as a christian, It’s a worthy endeavor. Reaching your city, just throw yourself into it verse 12, conduct yourselves honorably among the gentiles, the non believers so that when they slander you as evil doers, they will observe your good works and glorify God. On the day he visits our culture, does not want to know what we know. Our culture does not believe, what we believe. Our culture does not want what we want. We say we have, but our culture does want our love, our friendships, our brotherhood, they see things in us. They want it. I think there’s a great picture of this with our church has some softball leagues. The sewer throwers and if you guys in the room one of you, 23 there’s three of you first service. They were just, they’re everywhere and so sober throwers and so they’re like their church softball league rolling with the city of Lincoln’s parks and rec and so I don’t know, but I think I went last week for the first time in a while and they banned me from being on that team because I about broke my ankle a couple years ago, first base jumped up and trip me. And so it was it was ugly, it was luckily saying it was luckily living it. And so anyways, so they let me back to just watch and the solar thrower softball team is a lot of fun and there’s three of them and they’re actually really good and so they’re just rolling and it’s fun and there’s like people cheering for them, their snacks, there’s kids there just talking and hanging out and there’s a real light and life that those people hanging out together and when I look around the other, it’s a baseball diamond, there’s like four of them out at Mahoney Park. 5 15, 6 15, 7 15, 8, 15 I believe. And they take up three of those slots most weeks and so you show up, but there’s like 50 people from church at least there was last week and it was fun. It was a lot of fun to go and hang out and there’s there’s just so different, there’s a friendship there cheering for each other, No one’s throwing stuff at each other. I mean, there’s a brotherhood of love, it’s fun and I’m gonna go again this week. It was fine to watch it, but that really so different than the rest of the people’s experience. The rest of it’s just it’s just a visual representation of what we got versus what is out there in the culture. I I know my wife was telling me something about some moms group. She’s going on Facebook at some 30 year old mom of a newborn is like how do you make friends in this city? And and he saw it and there’s like 30 some post afterwards of these other moms saying, yeah, it’s really hard. You feel disconnected. It’s very lonely and they just just talked about how difficult it is to be actually connected into other meaningful relationship ships of other people. Peter is telling his churches. I think he would tell this church if he was a guest speaker. He says your life should be compelling to the city, the place you’re placed in so much that the city sees your life, your honorable life you’re leading. And they feel compelled to ask you, what makes you you how do you do that? Why is your marriage like that? Why are your friends treat you that way? How do you have all these people help you move? You had a baby and there’s this huge meal train that never ends. It feels like, you know, how do you get friends like this? It should be so compelling. It should be so compelling your life compared to the life of everyone else’s life around you. That those city you’re placed in once in. They want that life, they want what you got going on. I had an acquaintance text me late at night and people don’t usually text the pastor late at night unless there’s a big problem in their life. And he’s like, what are you doing? Let’s hang out. And I’m like, it’s 5 30. I have a couple of walking up the driveway. This is a texting conversation, walking up the driveway to do marriage counseling. He’s like, okay, what are you doing tomorrow night? And I was like, what you do after they leave? I’m glad. I think we’re gonna be here for a while. I was like, what are you doing tomorrow night? I got something else playing with people finally got him on my calendar. He’s a wealthy, successful local businessman, wildly successful, wildly driven and accomplished a ton. His wife and kids and his kids, kids are all set up for life. He pairs his huge debt of his company. He’s got everything he wants. And he said he feels like all of his friends that they grew up with were all about to get divorces. He’s 40. And he said, his wife said to make a list of the most genuine people, you know, and go talk to them and ask them questions. For some reason, I made his list because like if you’re thinking of my wife, she’s really genuinely thinking of Annie. But what makes you you and does the watching city, you’re watching network, see you and think that is so different. I want that. I want in, I want what they got going on. Men and women, men and women. The main question, how do you engage your city? How do you arrange Lincoln Nebraska your time? You have to engage your city is incredibly limited. So we have to be very strategic at what you do. God gives each of you influence in certain areas of Lincoln that I don’t have. You are able to range people on this side of the room that this side of the room won’t even ever meet. And you can range people that only you guys can range and you guys can reach more than you realize. Men and women. There’s people in this city, you have networks that you’re placed in with people around you that God has called you have influence and God has called you to love and lead to jesus. And just a warning. There are christians in this room that will limit the advancement of the Gospel of jesus going into their networks because they lack honor. They, when you lack honor in your city, you lose influence in your city, you lose influence in your friend groups. Some people will never engage in the Gospel unless someone invests in their life first in upfront with no strings attached. Just a friend. And you can create a relationship with people with many different strategies. And many of you are doing many of these things, I just want to rattle through a list here. Many of you are using a lunch hours to build friendships with non christians. Many of you are drinking coffee for christ and that’s lame. I know, but you’re drinking coffee for christ the people that don’t know christ many of you are using play dates to get to know people and grow friendships. Many of you are working out with people to build friendships and bridges for jesus to walk across. Many of you are doing fantasy football and softball legs and hobbies and all sorts of things to make relationships and friendships with people that don’t know, jesus christ in this city, people want to be friend and have a friend of no strings attached and you many of you are finding common ground and you’re giving honor to people by giving them your attention and becoming friends for them. And many of you are praying for many people and many of you are telling people I’m praying for you. I don’t even know, jesus, I’m praying for you, anything I pray for you about and people love to be prayed for. Which brings me to the two things I like to point out for you. Many of your small groups are gonna be rolling this out to you in the coming weeks, but you can grab a stack this week. It’s a, we prayed for you. You can write a note mike and Annie, we prayed for you and you can hang it with like your phone number for your few four or five neighbors around your house. You can hang this. It’s a covid approved little way to let people know you’re praying for them, You’re thinking of them. People love to be prayed for and many of you have these, we have a stack of them in the hallway. On the way out. On one side are three. Our strategic objectives are praying that God will move and do this and accomplish this side of the card. And on this side of the card, it’s five names of five people that you’re praying, that you can be a part of drawing them closer to jesus through what you’re saying, what you do, praying for people. If you are praying church, you’re prioritizing church and telling people you’re praying for them is powerful. But loving people and being reminded of people in your time of God and praying for the people in the city that God has given you to have influence on men and women. Two simple tools, but just an illustration to go back to the text and illustration that I think Peter would use if he was a pastor today. When I was in college, I was taking this athletic director class because I was supposed to be a coach, high school history coach and I was taking an athletic director class and it was talking about a DS athletic directors. They need to be like a social chameleon. They needed to go and talk to rich business owners, they need to go talk to the boosters, they need to go talk to like kids are trying to recruit to come to their school, the parents of kids, you know, the school bus driver, faculty and staff at the school, they need to be a liaison ambassador, being salt in life for the God of sports. Yeah. For all these different people that make up around the city, If an athletic director can be salt and light on behalf of the sports and a school, we christians can be salt and light on behalf of the church and jesus in the gospel. And if an A. D. Can curry influence and gain favor and honor and respect and work this room, work a city for their school. We can work a city for jesus. Work a city for jesus. That sounds bad, sorry online people, but we are called to serve and be light and life to our city. And if we lose this thing honor, which is a repeated theme this weekend the next week, honor and we don’t honor the people we don’t that don’t know jesus that are far from God theology, far from God. Worldview fall from God actions. If they see us and write us off as a non honorable, we lose our influence, we lose or lose our platform to speak to people. We need to enter the world’s and operate in their people’s worlds outside of this room. Care for them. You’re called to serve the people in this city are called arrange the people in this city, show them honor, love, learn and listen to people from all walks of life. If people can do it for sports we can do it for jesus church. Honor opens the door into the city. Honor gives you influence to speak into the city. There’s no honor, You have no influence, you have no honor, you lose respect of your city. How do you engage your culture? So that’s me trying to be positive and I’m going to flip gears and be negative. How do you engage your culture? Here’s a negative spin on everything. So I have facebook like everyone, I think I have facebook and back in college as an R. And R. D. I was required to be framed like 500,000 freshman every year I felt like. And so the last couple of years I was in R. And then an Rd at Creighton University. I had 3500 friends on facebook. I was like this is, yeah, I’m like, I’m like, yeah, I know. And I thought my wife and I were having her first baby. I’m like, I don’t want to post a photo of my kid, I don’t know who these people are. So this is like taboo. But I got to laptops up and I unfriended people because he had one laptop took too long cause I thought about letting your friend go. So I unfriended people several days, several hours I went from 3500 friends that I didn’t really know who they were down to 350. Some friends, a lot of them are in this room, in the last room there in the Lincoln for the Lincoln market. That’s what I’ve shrunk my world down to. But I thought this is just, this is madness. Um, and so you’re like, mike, our world is all about influence and whoever has the most followers, the most influence has the biggest social media stick and you can whack your enemies with it. What you do. Mike, what do you do? Well call me small faith mike, you know, like, like you need more faith. I’m not an instagram social media influencer. Sorry, if you want that got to go somewhere else guys, But I shrunk my world down to something. I can wrap my arms around that actually know who the people are that are popping up on my feet say like, where are you going Mike, Where am I going? Let’s look at this. But when you engage your culture, I think we need to be really wise. Why is it how we engage our culture online? Because I don’t think we think about online, like people think about online, there’s, there’s this concept of rose circles and tables, you’re sitting in rows and the way we communicate in large groups setting is a little more careful when more polished. And I’m not just crass flying off the topics, talking about stuff. I’m trying to be smart about what I say and how I say it because a large audience is listening. When you go to your small groups, they’re in circles, most of them. I’m assuming that’s like 12 ish people and you can talk a little more transparency with, you know, a little more careful about not as careful about what you say and then your dining room table, you’re all going to go home and eat dinner, let’s say this afternoon, you know the way you talk at your table has got to be different than the way you talk on facebook because facebook communication is like row communication, it’s like sunday morning lights on, it’s getting posted to the world and grandma and some person you don’t even know from five friends ago, you know, we’ll see what you wrote. I just think we need to be savvy and wise and how we engage online and if your motto is if in doubt posted out, that’s probably a dumb motto. You need to grow up a little bit more mature. You represent, jesus represent this church, represent christ, you should probably more savvy and giving honor to people about how you deal with your rose circles and tables, There’s gotta be a way to engage with this culture that is winsome and not dumb. And we lose in this culture, the way we communicate as Christianity. I know we’re all perfect, I’m joking, but were great, you know? But in other churches, other church circles, people aren’t as smart, I’m being, you know, I’m not, we need to be, you know, we should live as as what’s the thing as sheep among wolves, wolves among sheep. That analogy DCs, we need to be very smart about how we communicate this culture, this culture is a post christian culture and anti jesus, anti bible culture. This culture is not our friends and what we say, what you’re hearing, what you read is an anti culture message. And so how you engage that culture, you need to have a foundation of honor as you engage that culture. Let’s keep going verse 12 conduct yourselves honorably among the gentiles so that when they slander you as evil doers, they will observe your good works and glorify God. On the day he visits, I fully expect That as I grow older, they’ll be more hostility and animosity to me being a pastor than my father engaged with when he was a 40 year old man, I’m 36, but when he’s, when he’s a young man starting his church services and stuff, I’m fully expected to be more harder as our culture in America. I’m a positive guy, I’ve said in the past, but I don’t expect roses and butterflies. Looking into the culture of America. The prestige prominence place the church once had is not, is not is not going to probably in the future I’m assuming. So I think we need to be very honorable and how you conduct yourselves among other outsiders in the spirit of honor. Sometimes you are not honorable, like we think we should be. And so I, I went to the Spirit of Honor, went to get my shot, my first shot and get my next shot next week and I was standing side pinnacle Bank Arena and I didn’t play in my life that well. And so I had two kids with me, my kids, I had my kids with me and my wife was over there a few rows away holding two other kids hands and this kid was in my hand because he had to go to the bathroom and this kid was with me because he needed to be with me and if and I’ll whispering to my kids because everyone’s wearing mask, everyone spread out and like I’m whispering because I’m self conscious that everyone can hear what my kids are saying and kids are saying stuff that I don’t want them to say in public. They’re saying interesting things. But behind me like 400 500 people and you didn’t know it without turning around. It was so quiet and so you know what I do? I do. Uh whatever your normal person would do, I say go big graph. Yeah it was painful. I did not engage my culture in an honorable way. I just totally botched it. And so many of us sometimes we bought it. We didn’t read the crowd, we didn’t read the room, we mess up and God gives us, God gives us repentance and restoration. You know our culture doesn’t give us repentance. That we have a culture of no repentance, no restoration. But regardless. Peter’s vision here for christians is your life should be so compelling to your city. Your placed in that they want in. They wonder if they want friends like you, they want a family like you, they want peace like you joy like you hope like you they want what you have because your life is so compelling if we’re honest with ourselves, our friends and if our friends were honest with us and told us this christians in America have not been honorable online and the city is watching christians in America have not been posting online things without a watching world. Wants to see that does not glorify God online. We have all seen cringeworthy post from prominent christians in their in their online world and it just embarrass us all. So let’s continue how to engage your city. We see this in verse 13 or 14 so I expanded thoughts on this cement to every human authority because the Lord because of the Lord whether to the emperor or the supreme authority or two governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good for. It is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. I know times are great for christians and they’re probably going to grow worse. But remember the context where we cover the last couple of weeks, the context of the christians that Paula peter wrote to the roman government, Is there in charge of them in rumor? Just a reminder, narrow, narrow. You can google this like I did narrow, dressed up like an animal and attacked naked Children. Narrow crucified Peter and his wife upside down. Narrow kicked his wife and baby to death narrow was a psychopath. A pedophile er who burned christians to light his party’s he had at night who’s a satanically inspired, wicked ruler of Rome. History is brutal of narrow. He was a corrupt evil man. Far wicked er than our government that we elect. Far wicked er than what has happened in our country the last year. God is sovereign over the secular is what you’ll see in those last three versus the red. And I’m not a big fan of this president and I wasn’t a big fan of the last president, but I’d rather have an elected president than narrow every four years. Of course, of course I’d rather have a narrow is a nightmare Verse 15. So we’re church, we’re supposed to position ourselves in a way with the local authorities, the local government, The people in position of authority uh, that were known by our good deeds is what Peter says in verse 15 when I, when I ran a college group at you and it was the largest college group at the University of Nebraska Omaha. And I thought we got a big target on our back. We’re going to be really honorable. We’re gonna be salt and light to the administration that’s in charge of all these student organizations. And so like we did a little uh, savviness maybe to our own good. But many of you that were with me back then we did this. And so we like brought yarn to the lady who like knitted stuff was in charge of all the registered student organizations. We volunteered to pick up trash. We volunteered to do any job that no one wanted to do. Sign us up. We’ll serve the school and they view this as an asset, not a liability. Our job is to position ourselves with the local city. Like that College group, position themselves to the local school administration is viewed as an asset of blessing help because they bring in so much good into the city. Homes in our city are falling apart. They have been for centuries, the last century and a half, especially homes in America is the nucleus of the strength of our country. And when the father is statistically not christian stats, I mean, just secular stats. When the father is not in a home, there’s a huge drop off on all indicators of health and thriving for those Children and the wife. And just when the fatherless homes is a huge indicator of all of our social, you know, social services, all the exterior things. Our government does support a father’s home. It’s been putting band AIDS on the problem that the father is not there and when and when we are viewed as an ally and loving and caring for this city. In this part of the town, God has placed us were viewed as an asset to help support the local, local authorities. And we’ve rallied every like four months. We all try to rally and do stuff. It’s plant trees. If it’s getting diaper drives, food drives, adopting families from the local school, I’m forgetting we’ve done it. We’ve done something every quarter for a couple of years. I think we’re just gonna keep doing that. But what organization can have 100 200 people show up to serve the city and they’re part of the city. That is an amazing asset. We have a testimony now that God has been growing because of your good works and your faith. Me and Zain are on these phone calls, these phone calls with like civic council members, neighborhood leaders and they get so our church on there and we’re talking with like school board people and business people and collected government people and you know, social services about how to do stuff in this part of the town. And they wanted us on the call because of your love and your good works and your honor church. There’s a way you should position yourself in this city that God called you to range. So next action step next time we do something and that’s cooking. Zain is on the call. He’s organizing it. Next time we do something show up. I don’t know whether organization can have 200 people show up on the drop of a hat. Men and women Verse 16 submit as free people, not using your freedom as a covering up for evil, but as God’s slaves. Honor everyone. Honor everyone. Love Brothers and sisters Fear God honor the emperor. So how do you engage your city? Honor everyone. It’s an honor to teach today and you should be praying for your pastors as we preach through these passages, Peters a heavy hitting doesn’t dance around. Peter goes, he’s like he was in the bible says a lot of strong things. He writes a lot of strong things. Peter works through a lot of stuff. So we’re working through some very emotionally charged topics. We want to answer questions that you’re actually asking as a church and the bible does that for us. Peter tells us that are perfect. God works through imperfect authority and that God uses manmade structures and systems that are not perfect and they are imperfect, made by imperfect people. That just makes sense. But how do you engage your city, Peter says to honor everyone and he singles out honor our authority figures. Next week we’re looking at honor in the home, which is fitting for Mother’s Day and I’m grateful for that how that lines up. But Peter is talking about this, this greek structure of philosophy that also Judaism had this perspective that you’ve heard the lame joke, Happy wife, Happy life. You’ve heard that lame joke. The thought is like happy home, happy hometown. If the home is healthy, the city is healthy. Peter wants to redeem that cultural worldview of starting at home and then expanding to the city and then expanding beyond that, giving a gospel lens a gospel perspective on that, he says, to honor your government, honor people in position of authority. So I’m going to take this in the Gauss and do honor your employer like mike. That’s a cop out. Well, no, let me keep going here. I’ll explain. I’m not copping out. But those of us who are authority figures at work, who’s under your authority, who you’re in charge of leading? Are you a good boss? Are you a good employer? Are you fair if your employees, are you fair of how you pay them and how you treat them? What you require of them? Are you generous of how you handle your employees? Those you have people you work for, you’re under authority of people. You work for people. Do you honor them? And you’re dealing your quotes, your trade, your markup. Those who do sales, You have clients, suppliers, your students with a teacher or your teacher or students. You have patience or customers? Is your reputation for being a jerk or your reputation for being an honorable man or woman jerks have trouble leading people to jesus. Men and women. We’re called to be honorable from positions of authority or positions of being under authority. Were called to live an honorable life to people. They’re like, I’m mike, you’re mentioning, Jesus has described as gentle and lowly, but she’s also flipped tables mike, I’m a table flipper online on facebook, your table flipper, but in small groups you’re asleep, you’re gentle and lowly, Jesus don’t have averse to share if your group of people, but online you’re a monster. You’re amazing. I mean, yes, but men and women, we need to flip those around in, person needs to be better than your online person. Do you honor everyone christians? Do you honor offensive people christians? Anyone could be nice to people that are nice to them. I mean that doesn’t take any spiritual help to be nice to people that are nice to you, that’s called the way the world works. Do you honor mean spirited people christians that is tough or call the honor people that are mean spirited to us. If you only honor people who honor you, that’s how natural people work. If you only honor people who agree with you don’t act like that’s Christianity. That’s that’s just that’s easy. Hor doesn’t mean you agree with your city’s culture, you could disrespect with your city in a district agreeable way. You don’t just be a jerk about it. You can disagree if people agreeably emotionally mature people know how to disagree if people disagree. A ble I have Children, one of my Children used to be a toddler and all my kids used to throw tantrums. Yeah the pastor’s kids threw tantrums and their little too, they’re just growing up, you know? But adult tantrums are trolls online. That’s adult tantrums. That’s that’s how we we instead of talking to someone face to face like Matthew 18 says we go at them online their their digital self because they’re too afraid to look at them in the eye and their physical self toddlers, very mature adults can be immature. We got to learn how to disagree with our culture and agreeable way the mature ones in the room will the more emotionally mature folks just fall into name calling. And I was a good name caller to. I was a younger sibling and we just got quick tongue, so much little kids in our family, we had bigger older siblings that were bigger so we just got, got a bigger tongue. But think of our identity politics modeled by senior leaders of the entire United States of America, our last president and our current president. Both of them spoke about each other very dishonorably like mike, ask your parents about how presidents used to talk to each other from conflicting parties as your grandparents were devolving and how we communicate from the top level leadership in our country to our city, to our neighborhoods. We’re trolling jerry springer culture. Yeah. Like jerry springer. No one knows who that is. Does anyone know Jerry Springer is first service left behind dry. Okay, well I didn’t have time to think of a better analogy, but minimum in we got to we got to show honor to the people in our city. If you lose honor, you lose respect, you lose influence. Men and women. We need to set the tone up, showing respectful disagreement of people that aren’t christians. We saw a little honor. We saw little honor in the in the, in the culture and in our church and churches in America. When we saw people grieving from different ethnicities, we asked our people in our church to listen, love and learn and in Christianity outside of our church. There’s a lot of lectures and lobbying and fires lit in the church and of the church. Men, women. We’ve got to learn how to listen to people, learn from people and love people that have a different background than us. We got to grow in this area as a church. Every church has to grow in this area. Social media breeze and feeds dishonor to women, to our culture, to people who disagree with you, dishonors, people who are made in the image of God. The bible says, we need to honor people who remain the image of God. If I weren’t a pastor, I wouldn’t be online, but I am a pastor. So I need to be available to people. Now. If those topics aren’t fun enough, we’re going to continue on our topic to the next passage here verse 18. It gets even easier joking verse 18, It says, household slaves submit your masters with all reverence not only to the good and gentle ones, but also to the cruel. For it brings favor if because of a conscience of God. Someone endures grief From suffering. Unjustly verse 20. For what credit is there? If when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it. But when you do what is good and suffer? If you endure it, this brings favor to God. So how do you engage your employer? You like your employer mike. Let me half of people in the roman empire weren’t roman. They’re part of three different slave demographics. The first one is what we saw here in America, where we went to Africa, kidnapped slaves, Hall of New America and transplant them. That’s slave category number one. What we’re aware of from our history. Slave number two categories. Indentured servants or bond servants. We had this in the american colonies at the beginning. If you’re an unskilled labor of a man or woman, you can become an indentured servant to someone else. They would house, you, feed you, clothe you. If you got married and you had kids that house and close them. And then after the age of 30 they would give you a skilled trade and they release you. It was like the modern day some modern day school. They don’t learn how to code because this is how you code. They don’t how to code, They learn how to do blacksmithing and all those other trades. And there was an indentured servant thing where they had to care for you. Then they’d launched as a franchise or another business and you go out and you just moved another city and start your own world. You’d be a master master craftsman of some sort of craft and category three as someone who was, They conquered the romans conquered the city and then they took the women and the Children and some men, but usually women and Children. They usually killed the men and they would haul them back and you grew up as a foreigner among those cities. So it’s not all the way we view slavery in America. There’s three different demographics how they broke out slavery. But the bible does not endorse slavery, but the bible speaks to cultures that did endorse slavery. You can understand that we’re with worth the bible. Scholars say that all people are created the image of God and bearing equal image and likeness of God. That is different than the evolutionary worldview that says this is this race is better than this. Race is better in this race. That is crazy, demonically inspired anti Gospel, anti God worldview. All people are made in the image of God. There’s no such thing in the bible’s view of mankind, where this race is more severe than this race, you understand? I’m saying that is that is a diabolical evil lie. That’s an evolutionary line, the bible says In the beginning, God created a man and woman in the image of God. They were created. The bible starts off very radical and amazing. The very first versus the very first chapter, The very first book of the bible. The second main concept is the bible says that there’s one race and it’s called mankind’s and makes up all nations in all cultures and all of our fathers and mothers as Adam and Eve. We all come from one line. The third. The third main cloud claim, the bible says, is that every person is a sinner and every system or structure made by men is marred by sin. Yeah, we didn’t do everything perfect and our kids are gonna do everything perfect either. But this this posture of repentance is a biblical worldview. When we see failure and send, we repent and try to make it better. That’s a biblical review. Our culture has a posture of tolerance where you need to accept people and if you don’t accept them and that means you dishonor them and you’re ostracized, demonized and marginalized. And I love how this one pastor put it. Non christians diagnosed problems. But juice is the only solution to all of our problems. The bible says, God establishes law Rule in order to provide equality for all. This is a wild idea was implemented and you see it in the old testament law. You see us in the new testament church, the poor, the marginalized, the minorities women, they were cared for us and the structures and the laws of what God set up in the jewish culture. The 5th thing, the Bible says, God’s Kingdom is supposed to be a pattern of justice and social order for those in and under authority. We see this in vs 18 and 19. The bible acknowledges that we live in an unjust world that is marred by sin. The six main thing, the bible says, God’s people are a new family called to be a chosen race set apart wholly different than what is in their culture. We’re supposed to look and feel different as people of God in the city that does not know God, we’re supposed to look and feel different. We see on the very first verse we looked at today is supposed to be known by our holy lives as soldiers, as foreigners as exiles, living in a place that’s not our home, but we’ve come together because we’re brothers and sisters and you will be with me in heaven as brothers and sisters. The seventh thing the bible says, leadership is supposed to be based on when you do it right. It’s supposed to be based on character, not competencies, not all the social factors of he’s got a tom brady chin, he’s tall, dark, rich guy. You know, whatever the social factors are, what is more important than other people, it’s supposed to based on character. The character of a person should be leading, not what they look like on the outside. And the eighth thing, scholars point out that Christianity is the most ethnically diverse movement on the planet and the history of all movements. It’s a global enterprise of chapters around the world in every culture hindu is very specific to the hindu. Culture. Buddhist is very specific to a buddhist culture. Do you get what I’m saying? Islam is very specific to the Islamic region, Christianity spans the globe and it permeates different cultures, different different languages, different ethnicities. I was very encouraged this last week, being reminded of the pedigree of brothers and sisters who changed their culture when they saw a deficit in their culture. ST Patrick and Ireland was prominent, leading against anti slavery. William. Wilberforce was prominent in great Britain at turning that culture nelson. Mandela was prominent in South Africa and teeing up against slavery. Two thirds of american abolitionists were christians. Abraham Lincoln died a martyr because of his anti slavery stance from people that did not like his stance. Rosa parks, Jackie Robinson, martin Luther king. There are problems in every society and God’s people have always remembered their real identity and they’ve always been part of addressing the reality of the problems of the society with the solutions the main solution of jesus christ. We’re not gonna mission drift. It’s a both and conversation. I mean I’m big enough of a boy, you’re big enough of a boy or girl to not miss it. If you can do both and it’s not like take social cause a drop it in here. Save the planet. I’m sorry save the planet. Plant some trees. We can do that and help point people to jesus again, kind of Christianity. You get what I’m saying, Take another topic that our culture is talking about. Drop it in here, try to redeem what we can and deal with it. Does that make sense? We can do both. And it’s not either or it’s like I’m going to preach the gospel and I’m gonna completely ignore stuff that I can tangible things we can do. Many of you give to fight modern day sex trafficking in our church, to help fight sex trafficking in our church is a local Lincoln based love justice organization. We’re partnering for sponsoring a city as a church because you give that’s modern day slavery. I mean, instead of ships across the atlantic, that’s cargo containers across their interstates, men and women, that’s a tangible real thing. But we’re not gonna mission drift just into that as a church, we’re going to bring them to the best thing we have of jesus christ in the Gospel. We can do both ends. There’s, there’s things we got to just reject obviously, obviously, but there’s, but there’s a winsome, honorable way. You can engage and not lose your influence with the city, men or women. We need to help here now like we have been and help then and there because if someone, someone gets a fuel efficient car and they go to hell, that’s that’s not helping anyone. We need to address tangible needs here now and put them to their ultimate need of jesus and the sin and God’s plan for their life to save them from hell and help them make a disciple who makes the disciple who makes a disciple remember the context? Half of the audience listening to this that Peter wrote is labeled slaves and they’re not from the city, their transfer, their transferred into that city. The Bible is nuanced and it’s writing specific Christians living in specific culture. The Bible does not endorse slavery and calls it a sin in first Timothy 19 and 11 and elsewhere. How do you engage as an employer? How do you engage your culture? How do you engage your city? Look at verse 21. This is a good way to summarize this message. This passage, verse 21 for you were called to this because christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He did not commit sin and no deceit was found in his mouth when he was insulted. He did not insult in return. When he suffered. He did not threaten, but trusted himself to the one who judges. Justly, he himself bore our sins on his body, on the tree across so that having died to sin, he might live for righteousness by his wounds. You have been healed for you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your soul. How do you engage yourself? How do you engage your city? How do you engage your employer? You have to have this mantle of suffering that you take on. We’re unworthy servants is where itself elsewhere. In the new testament, who have just done our duty, Jesus was the ultimate servant who suffered for you and I, he suffered unjustly. He had a smear campaign, He had a lie campaign. He suffered more than interview will ever suffer in your life. And he walked through sufferings who can help you walk through suffering when you do everything right in the sight of God, you will suffer in the sight of men who do not live for the sight of God, you’re like objection mike, I feel like a call to live a comfortable life, blessed life, health, wealth, vacations and influence online. I don’t know where you’re coming at, mike, That’s not my calling. I don’t feel that calling in life. Uh, oh hashtag the rest of us are blessed by us. You know, just, I just want to tell you mike, I don’t see that call anywhere in the bible. I don’t, jesus says to pick up your cross daily and follow him and follow his example of suffering, serving and dying for the people around you. You are called to suffer and serve and die to yourself and die for people that God has put in your life. This world is not our paradise, paradise bubble you might have in your head. This world is not our paradise were called to live for heaven, a future kingdom and just suffering makes you grateful for jesus. I was having a breakfast of some pastors last week in the city and we’re talking about life liberty and the pursuit of holiness. I’m joking. We’re just talking. Um, and we all were sharing stuff. They work through painful things that happen at their health, of their wife and kids, not like this is depressing. And so I didn’t say anything encouraging. And I said, why is there this trend? Why is there this theme of all of us having hard health things that happen to our families? And I just kind of made the whole lunch breakfast things lame all of sudden. And then this other guy who brought something more helpful to the table. He talked about the theology of suffering. He thought he’s like, what helps you grow in Grace helps you grow an empathy, helps you sympathize with people in your church who are suffering, helps you sympathize of saints in your church. We’re going through hard times because you’ve gone to them yourself. That’s what Peter is doing. He’s pointing us to jesus. He suffered more than anyone is going to suffer in his room. He’s lived bled and died. His body was ripped apart and he strung up naked on a cross, died a shameful death, Unjustly smear campaigns and took it out by his enemies for you. He suffered more than any of you will ever suffer your entire life and jesus models away for us and how to live. He can sympathize with you and your suffering, jesus suffering makes you like, jesus, if you suffer well, the mature ones in the room will learn how to suffer well. The immature ones will learn that they’re mature, they need to grow in their faith, but we will suffer as christians, part of being a christian is being willing and able to suffer. Well, Peter is saying, as we conclude, Peter’s saying, there’s cultural forces, there’s political forces that are beyond your control. Church, engage locally and let that grow to globally. If you can’t this whole principle, you can’t change your home. Don’t try to change your church, you can’t leave your home, don’t try to lead a church. We see that here. If you can’t change your city, how can you change the world? If you can’t change your city with the Gospel? How you change your region with the Gospel. If you can’t change your region of the Gospel, how can you change the nation of the Gospel? If you can’t change your nation of the Gospel, how can you act like you’re going to change a different nation with the Gospel? We see the same pattern in the Book of Acts. If the churches grew in influence of growing rings of influence, from Jerusalem to judea, to samaria, to the ends of the world, there’s this local focus that gives you global street cred church. We need to be a church that’s focused at winning at home, that’s next week and focus that winning at our work, winning in our main relationships in the context of our city. So I don’t want you just to What’s the purpose you came here? What’s the purpose? Well, two things I showed you earlier have to prop remember they’re both in the middle. As you walk out, grab one of these, grab one of these and grabbed five of these hand these out system, people that you know, when you pray for in your neighborhood and pray for five people, those are tangible things. We don’t want to be christians that you know, doing is more powerful than simply hearing. Remember a couple weeks ago I made the comment about, we don’t want to, you know, lick the stake of God’s word, walked away and change. I’m gonna actually do something with God’s word. Do something, learn how to show honor to people as a result of being in the room, do something as you walk out of the room. Let’s pray God, I thank you for today. I thank you for this time of these men and women. I thank you for what you’re doing in their lives. I said you just give us wisdom how to live in this day in this age and were called with the Gospel to reach this city if it likes us or not, if it endorses us or not, if we’re viewed as highly or lowly in the eyes of the city, we’re called to walk as ambassadors, as servants, as suffering servants, to be salt and light to the city. Just help us to learn as we honor and love. People just grow us jesus to gross maturity as a church. We