- God's Pilgrims abstain from the passions of the flesh
- God's Pilgrims indulge in a life of good works
Summary: This week we held the gospel "diamond" up to the light, turned it, and gazed at its beauty from 1 Peter 2:11-12. Here Peter again draws on the Old Testament and applies it to the blood-bought, Jesus-trusting, new covenant people of God. To be God's holy people, set apart and marked out from the unbelieving world makes us sojourners and exiles, a pilgrim people who live in a place that is not their home. And, as pilgrims, Christ-followers are called to abstain from the things that will do harm to their souls and to indulge in a life of good works. This holy abstinence and indulgence is motivated by a desire for unbelievers to come to know Jesus Christ.
Main Point: We are God's pilgrim people called win the lost by living holy lives.
Main Point: We are God's pilgrim people called win the lost by living holy lives.
Discussion Questions:
- What is a sojourner?
- What does Peter mean by the phrase "the passions of the flesh"?
- Why is it so important to abstain from rather than indulge in the passions of the flesh?
- Why is it so important to fight sin at the desire level?
- What is the relationship between "abstaining from the passions of the flesh might cause an unbeliever to scratch their heads but indulging in good works."
Application Questions:
- How does it make you feel to know that you are God's pilgrim?
- What passions of the flesh am I most tempted to indulge in and what efforts and I making to abstain?
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How much does the salvation of unbelievers in my life serve to motivate my own efforts to grow in holiness?
- Confess to God ways you have been indulging instead of abstaining from the sinful cravings
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Praise God for sending Jesus, the ultimate Pilgrim, who would abstain where we indulged and indulge where we abstained so that he could die for our sins and bring us to God (1 Peter 2:23; 3:18)
- Ask God to help you to live a holy, set apart lifestyle so that unbelievers might see your good works and come to faith in Jesus Christ.
