Memorial Day 2024 - Doing Good
Message Description
What does it mean to "do good" and what value does it ultimately bring to our world? In this Memorial Day message, we take a look at Peter's exhortation to the church "do good" as we consider what it is that God considers good and how it makes an eternal difference.
Message Transcript
This morning, we are taking a short break from our recent study The Stories Jesus Told as we've been looking at the parables over the past few weeks. We'll pick up that series again next week. But this morning I want to speak and teach from First Peter. I want to begin just by reading chapter two verses 13 through 17. It says, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.”
Let's pray before we begin. Father, we thank you again for the opportunity to submit to your word and to listen. And we pray that as we study this text and this writing, that we will grow closer to you, love you more, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, I was struck recently by reading an article from this gentleman. I don't think he wrote it, but it was recapping the story of this gentleman named Steven Wowwk, who is a Vietnam veteran. In 1969, as a 21-year-old, he went off to war ready to serve his country and ended up severely wounded in the process to the point where he was going to be returning home. And as he was coming home, he didn't really know what to expect.
You know, looking back at the Vietnam War was a polarizing time in our country. And unlike wars before, where large units and large groups of soldiers return all at the same time to a big welcoming reception, men and women who were returning from the Vietnam War were often coming in smaller groups to not much of a reception at all.
And we see that this gentleman, as he returned home and got on a bus, he noticed that there were a few bystanders who were watching and didn't really know how to interact. So, we just threw up the peace sign to which the gentleman watching returned with the middle finger. And again, I know that that was a polarizing time in our country, and that's not really the point that I want to get into.
But I was struck again by reading that story and thinking that here was this young man, 21, who believed that he was doing good, pursuing a noble calling to give his life to serve and honor his country, only to find out as he returned that it was not perceived as good by everyone. In fact, many people thought it was evil to be a part of or insignificant on his part.
I have to say, there are few things in life that are more confusing and heartbreaking than having your good intentions, your good acts being received as evil. And we have all experienced that in our relationships to some degree, where we thought we were doing the right thing and serving someone or doing a good act, only for it to be perceived as something selfish or having an ulterior motive. And it is heartbreaking.
In our world today it is clear that what it means to do good varies depending on who you ask. You could go and interview ten different people, and you will get ten different responses about what it means to live a good life or to do good in our society. So that leads us as people of faith, as people who have this command and instruction from Peter to do good so that you will put to silence those who are ignorant and foolish. It makes it very difficult in this day. How can we do good when nobody agrees on what is really good? What does it mean to do good? This is not new. I think that is comforting for me to realize that this is not something that as believers, we must figure out something new to deal with. It is actually similar context of First Peter.
So, when Peter's writing, it's interesting. He addresses his audience as the elect exiles in chapter one. He's writing at this time to scattered churches across Asia minor who some of them were literal exiles in that they had been displaced from their homes and in new territory. They are foreigners or maybe resident aliens where they are living. But many people were in the place where they grew up, the communities that they would call home. And yet Peter recognizes that to be a Christian in this age before the return of the Lord is to not be at home as a follower of Jesus. Our home is where Jesus is, and until that time that we can be with him, there is a part of us that just does not feel at home in this life.
And so, throughout this letter, Peter is instructing several points for his audience to do good. It may not feel good in the moment. It might have backlash. It might be perceived as evil but continue doing good to demonstrate who you are in Christ. What I want to do this morning is look at a passage from First Peter and answer the question What does it mean to do good? How can we, as people of faith, do good in our community in this age?
I will start with this. To do good first means to be holy. To do good means to be holy. In First Peter, chapter 1, verse 14, he says, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
So, first we see that to do good is to be holy. And I don't know about you, but years ago, when I would read that command, I would kind of cringe a little bit because I know that this term, holy or holiness or this command to be holy, it means to live a life of moral purity, which I am well aware that I fall short of.
Also, I have this picture that to be holy means to set apart from everyday use for a sacred purpose. So, in my mind, when I read this command to be holy, I have this picture of moving to a monastery and spending my life in silence and contemplation and really separating myself from enjoying any pleasurable experience in life.
And yet, it is important for us to understand God, that this command to be holy is not so much about being distant and living a life that's kind of abstract, but it's really about being different and living a life that is attractive. Not about distant and being abstract, but it is about being different and attractive. This is God's call even to his people.
In the Old Testament, we see Peter uses the verse here that he is quoting, and it is from Leviticus, where God is making a covenant with his people. His people are meant to be a kingdom of priests, that they are to kind of be the center of the world, an example for every nation to look at. And the law that God gave, at times if you've been reading through the Bible and you come to Leviticus, some of the laws just seem so foreign to our concept. But in that day and time, they were really cutting edge in the sense that they called for God's people to care for the poor, to establish an environment where justice was maintained, and to create and maintain a high sexual ethic in their lives. And as they obeyed this, they would experience the blessing of God upon their life as a nation, as a testimony to all the other nations, that God's way of living is good.
We see this played out in the life of Solomon, and we see he is one who has this desire for wisdom. But it is more so if you read in the Hebrew. It is this desire for a listening and obedient heart to God's command. And as Solomon walks in that the nation prospers. There is peace, there is prosperity, there is goodness experienced all throughout the land, to the point where we even see nations are looking on at their experience, and they are in awe of God's goodness to them. At one point, the Queen of Sheba even travels to see the wisdom and the fame and the fortune of Solomon. And her response is the half hasn't even been told.
Now, unfortunately, what we learn from the life of Solomon and Israel, generally, is that it is impossible to take something pure and to place it in something impure, and for them to maintain purity. For example, when I was in youth ministry in Arkansas, after you did an event with youth ministry, you went to a Mexican place. That's what you did because we were in the South and after every event that's where we went. We had been serving that day, and it was a long day, so we went to a Mexican restaurant.
We had ordered a cheese dip for all the students that were helping us that day. And we were all enjoying this until I saw one young man who is sweet, worked hard, and he gets some chips and dips it in the cheese. I notice that he has got cheese on his fingers. I mean he is a sweet kid but just no awareness for what is clean. He begins to lick his fingers, and then he proceeds to pick up another chip and dip his chip with his fingers into the cheese dip. And at that point, that is his. I'm good. I don't need it anymore.
And at that moment, what I knew was that that good moral holy cheese did not make his fingers clean. The opposite happened. And so, what we see in the Old Testament to God's holy law, when it was given to an impure, unholy people, they all of a sudden didn't become holy. They made everything unholy. And this is where Jesus comes in.
The writer of Hebrews says this in chapter 10, verse 10. He says, “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” That holiness is not something that we develop on our own. It is not necessarily for those super religious, who are pious in their life. That for the believer and follower of Jesus Christ is to have God take away your unholiness and in exchange give you the holiness and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That we have not become holy because we have learned how to be holy. We have been made holy. And so, when Peter gives us this command and his letter saying, be holy as God is holy, this is not necessarily something that we are called to develop. This is something that we are called to put into practice what has already been given to us.
Dr. Barry Jones, who in his book Dwell, says that this way. He says, “It's important that we understand that becoming like Jesus does not merely mean becoming holy in the narrow ways that term is often understood. It isn't just a matter of moral purity, of being unspoiled by the world. Becoming like Jesus means learning increasingly to imitate His incarnate life. If we are to become like Jesus, we need a clear vision of what He was like.”
Dallas Willard, in his book, The Spirit of the Disciplines, echoes this exact thought. He points to the fact that if we want to live a holy life, it's again not doing something new. It's about putting into practice the same spiritual exercises and rhythms that Jesus himself practiced. Things like silence, solitude, prayer, studying the scriptures, serving others, fasting, and worship. That what happens is when we begin to exercise the same way that Jesus exercised, that we begin to become like Jesus in the ways He lived. And what we see is that when we simplify our lives to what matters most, it leads to a fruitful life that is so attractive to those who are desperate for something that will nourish and sustain them. To do good is to be holy.
To do good, second, is also to live reverently. In looking at First Peter chapter 1 verse 17. It says, “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.” Again, kind of like holiness. The term reverence isn't necessarily something that immediately excites me. I tend to think of moments that we just have. Moments that are important and necessary, but moments that are typically reserved for just short times of contemplation, reflection, or seriousness as if those moments are reverent and every other part of our life is irreverent.
Yet, that's not what reverence means at all. Reverence, by definition, is to have the appropriate respect and value of circumstances and people that you're experiencing. And so, reverence is certainly about having moments of seriousness, contemplation, and reflection, but it is not reserved for those moments. Reverence, I would submit to you, is really just this idea of recognizing that God is God and that we are not. Recognizing that God is God, and as creator, he has established creation, and that created order is good. That governing bodies, marriage, and work as we know it, were created as good things and that when leveraged well, lead to experiencing goodness in the human experience. That is what it means to live a life of reverence.
Peter, later on in chapter 3, verse 15 and 16, he says this. “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” So, that phrase, in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord.
You know, the early church in the first and second century, they lived by this anthem proclaiming Christ the Lord. Now, that is a phrase we are fairly familiar with, but in that day that was revolutionary, especially in the society that they were living in, because it was a very polytheistic environment. And Rome at that time had this ingenious model to allow different community tiers and cultures to maintain their religious devotions, with one exception, that you recognize that Caesar is the ultimate Lord.
And the Christians of that day, Peter, was like, hey, honor the emperor, and we will honor the emperor, but we are going to recognize the truth that there is ultimately an authority above Caesar. And anything that is commanded of us, that begins to contradict Jesus's command to us, we are not going to obey. And that was threatening. That was dangerous. They had this reverence for the Lord. What we see is that holiness can be more about our personal lives, whereas living reverently is about living out your faith in the public domain, recognizing that Jesus isn't just Lord of my life, but He's Lord overall. In other words, your faith is certainly personal, but it is in no way private.
See again, Dr. Barry Jones, who I quoted earlier, was really intentional about studying certain monastic traditions, who really set their lives around the order of the 16th century rule of Saint Benedict. In this monastic tradition, they have got monasteries throughout the world. And this doctor, Barry Jones, went to visit one of them with his family at one point. At the time, their infant daughter was with them. They walk, enjoy the beautiful architecture, and it was just a very serene location. But it came to the point where those who served there were gathering for their midday time of prayer, and it became very solemn and quiet. They were invited to stay, but they wanted to be quiet and honor what was going on.
And of course, at that time, in the midst of the silence, their infant daughter just began to make all these loud, confident infant sounds. And Barry Jones was kind of insecure. He's thinking they're going to be upset, and they're going to frown. When all of a sudden, the leader who was leading that time of prayer just looked out and grinned. A lot of people think of those kinds of traditions as being very serious, out of touch, or lacking joy. But their pursuit of personal holiness had led them to a place where they valued what God values. They valued that life was there and present.
In his research of that tradition, he learned that monastic tradition is responsible for education as we know it. For the health care system. They are responsible for putting in the world's first hotels to care for weary travelers so that they can have a good place to sleep and find food. They have also made a lot of contributions to art, literature, and architecture that we know today. That living a life of personal holiness in the public sphere leads to making the world a better place.
Unfortunately, many people today associate this with political positions and policies that when we want to make the world a better place, we just need to get the right politicians or policies in place. For example, abortion is a very common, complicated issue, and if you were to ask the random person, what would the church, what Christian's goal for abortion is, a lot of people respond that Christian's goal is to have abortion made illegal, to have it banned. And my response is that is a very small goal. As followers of Christ, our goal is not just to see abortion made illegal or banned, but we want to create a world where it's not even considered. We want to create an environment where life is considered so sacred, precious, and good.
We want to create an environment that where every reason why someone might want to have an abortion, such as lack of family support, lack of resources, professional demands, rape, incest, where those things no longer existed. That is what we want. We want a world that begins to resemble the kingdom that Jesus is bringing. You might hear that and think that is a nice dream, but we are far from that experience. Reality is that we are. But there is one place where that should be our experience.
That leads us to our third point, that to do good means to love sincerely. In First Peter, chapter 1, verse 22, he says this. “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.” That’s a command to love one another. Yes, it's a command for us as followers of Christ to love everyone. But the New Testament writers go to great lengths to tell us and inform us that we should have some level of preference for our local community of faith.
The Apostle Paul says that this way in Galatians chapter six, he says this in verses 9 through 10. He says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” And again, as followers of Christ, we are called to love everyone as best we can. We are to love our enemies. We are to love our neighbors. We are to love everyone we come into contact with.
But there is a preference given to the Body of Christ, the people that we live in community with. Why is that? Well, the Bible gives us a couple of reasons. One, we see that for the believer, the person who is in Christ, it is said that Jesus Christ is so intimately involved with that person that to love and serve a fellow believer is the equivalent of loving and serving Jesus Christ Himself.
Second, we see that there is a long list of commands called “the one another's” throughout the New Testament. Love one another, greet one another, care for one another, bear one another's burdens, forgive one another, and be hospitable to one another. And that if we are going to be obedient to those commands as Christ's followers, that can't be random acts of kindness to people we just come into contact randomly. We need a community and a context to practice those things and demonstrate those things consistently. It is only then that we begin to show the world what it means and looks like to love and live as Jesus loved and lived.
One early church father made this statement. He says when the church is the church, it becomes a safe harbor and refuge for those who are out on a storm-tossed sea. And if we want to do good in our community and our world, it starts by doing good in the church. Unfortunately, this isn't the experience consistently throughout the church.
I remember reading a book called What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey. He opens with this story that one of his good friends was involved with some really heavy ministry, just boots on the ground, works with people who are in struggling places and situations. He came across this young woman who was a prostitute, and throughout her life, she began to even prostitute her own daughter so that she could gain money. She was a wreck. She hated herself and her life. And this gentleman was trying to minister to her, and he just asked the question, have you tried going to church?
Her response was just shock. And she said, I feel bad enough about myself. No way am I going to church. The church should be a place where grace and truth are so consistently lived that it would not be the place that people would run away from, but it would be the place that people run to. This is the place where goodness happens. This is a place where hope is communicated and shared.
I mentioned that Peter addresses those who received his letters as elect exiles. You know, in the Old Testament, that Israel at one point because of their disobedience, they were forced to go into exile in Babylon. And God told them, hey, this is the consequence. I told you; this is what's going to happen. I'm a good father. I'm going to follow through with what I told you.
And there were three common reactions to going into exile that people in Israel demonstrated. Some were really angry. They just wanted to rebel and revolt. And they fought against exile and Babylon with everything they had. Others just wanted to isolate themselves completely. They didn't want to get comfortable there. They stayed in temporary dwelling places because in their mind, exile is not where God wants us. This is an unholy place. He's going to rescue us any day and bring us back to himself and to his nation and the temple. Then other people, they were like, well, this is who we are now. We're just Babylonians. And they became so immersed in the Babylonian culture that they completely forsook their Jewish identity.
But through the Prophet Jeremiah, God gives the nation this instruction. He tells them, settle in, get comfortable, build homes, get married, have children, and bless the nation you are a part of, even when it does not reflect my values at all. Do good where you are at. It's a church, in this age, to do good. I tell you the context of the local church is where we begin to see what holiness is as we watch those who are a little step ahead of us in faith. This is where our good efforts are multiplied in our community. This is the place where goodness dwells.
Ultimately, doing good is not easy. It is often not met with, not received well by those we try to do good to. We don't do good because it feels good. We as followers of Christ commit ourselves to doing good because God has been so good to us. He's been good to us through Jesus Christ who came and took on our sin, our shame, and received in himself the punishment that we deserved. And we do good because God has promised more goodness to us than we could ever imagine.
As Peter opens up his letter, he starts with these words. He says in verse 13, “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.” How do we continue to do good? How do we keep doing good and not grow weary and doing good to one another?
We keep our minds focused on the truth that God's goodness is going to come in His fullness, and it will fill the whole world. And as we do good, we get to model who Jesus was and His life and sacrifice. And we get to point to a day where God's goodness fills the whole earth. That is what doing good looks like.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a good God. The Psalmist says you are good, and you do good. Father, we confess that often we grow weary in doing good in our lives, work, marriages, and different relationships. I pray that the truth of your goodness to us would increase in our hearts, and we would begin to show that on a consistent basis to those that we love and interact with. And that this church, Orchard Hill, would be a place where goodness is shared with others, and many more would come to know the goodness that you have shown us in Jesus Christ. It is in His name we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for being here, and I hope you have a blessed Memorial Day.
