Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Into the hard parts of 1 Peter Are you willing?
Good Morning. Good Morning my brothers and my sisters. We are back after a crazy week to delve back into the hard, but simple teaching of Peter in his first Epistle.
Language is the power of culture – to control the language is to control the culture. We take a good look at this concept today as we examine descriptive text, prescriptive text – and the willful submission of the human heart unto Christ our Savior.
I pray that this truly challenges you to go beyond your “usual” way of examining scripture and provides an avenue to deeper understanding and growth.
God bless you.
This is a video recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Watch here via the YouTube link!
This is an audio recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Listen here or through your favorite podcast app!
This is a transcript from the audio of this episode of Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Good morning, good morning, my brothers and my sisters. Welcome to Tuesday, January something, 2025. I tell you, I have had a week that I don’t even really want to describe. I’m back to about where I was last Tuesday. If you remember me coughing and just telling you I had the coughs since I was outside all day Monday. Well, that went down a very, very dark rabbit hole. And I am out of that rabbit hole right now. Last evening was the first evening I can remember sleeping. Can you say that? Remember sleeping? I slept with minimal coughing. Good morning. It was quite the week. And now I am working on slowly but surely giving back on my feet, getting some energy back. I’m speaking very softly because I’m going to do a little bit of coughing today. There’s no doubt about it. But I wanted to join you today as we are trying to get back in the swing of things. It’s as much for me as anything else because I need to get normal. I need to get normal. So here we are at the church. I know I’m swinging you around. It looks like the earth is shifting. We’re here this morning talking about a variety of different things. Good morning, everybody. And we’re praying to the Lord. Thank you, first of all, for life. Thank you for health. Thank you for being able to be here today, Lord. We pray that your word will go out. Your word will touch hearts and minds. Your kingdom will grow. In Jesus name. Amen. Yeah. Everything got flip flopped on the weekend. I made the call on Friday that I wasn’t going to do church on Sunday. I just, it just, I couldn’t do anything. Saturday got worse. And I should have listened to my wife and gone and sought medical help on Saturday. But of course I didn’t. First thing Sunday morning, I was seeking medical help. The only time they ever asked a doctor to please put me in the hospital to take care of me. And he said, I don’t think we need to do that. And I was like, oh. But he was right. He was right. So the medicines are on board and they’re working. And I’m back to, like I said, about where I was last Tuesday with a little bit of coughing and. Pretty much feeling okay overall, you know, better. I’m 59. I’ve never been that sick. That was something new for me. So we flip flopped the services. We were supposed to have a service of the ordinance on Sunday. And council took over. The church took over. And they had a wonderful service of music and reading and still in First Peter, learning all of the things about First Peter read through First Peter. Which is something that I’ve talked about here and I’ve talked about at the church, reading the letters as they were read. To the churches. And I think that is something that we’ve now officially started. Because it was a suggestion that to the congregation the week before that they read a certain portion without any chapter breaks or chapter subheadings. And then just followed through with that idea and read all of First Peter. And it just hit the way it should hit. The way it did hit. Right. Well, not necessarily the way it did hit because the context has changed. But I thought it was a great idea. So we’re going to go back to the service of the ordinances. This weekend, we’re going to be looking to. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Dale. Good morning, Barb. Good morning, Mama Dee. Good morning, Barry, Liz, everybody. It’s so good to be here, Rick. And. For all my friends at Round Knob, I hope that last Tuesday’s was a good Bible study for you. A good portion of First Peter. I’m going to move forward in First Peter, although this week at Church Town, we’re going to go back to where we were, shall we say, last Tuesday, if that makes any sense. We flip flop the services. But we’re into the parts of these letters. That are more difficult to teach and preach. As time goes on and context of societies change and. The context of words change. Words, if you can control the language, you can control the culture. It’s good to be here. Believe me. Last night was the first night. Since last Tuesday that I. Slept. It was great. And that’s what we experience a lot when you experience the quote unquote progressive Christian church or church cults, such Christian cults, such as Mormonism and Seventh Day Adventism and all these different things. You take the language and you manipulate it and you change it. And then you sell it. And if you can control that language, people have known this forever. Today, we call it controlling the narrative. Everybody wants to control their own narrative because you have an opportunity to control your own narrative. You have social media and all these different things. But we’ve known forever that if you can control the language, you can control the culture. Let me give you a great example. The word gender, we throw it around. Like it means something that it doesn’t mean. Back in the 90s, the homosexual movement that was infiltrating and had infiltrated the Catholic Church and was working into the mainstream denominations and mainstream culture began manipulating the language instead of talking about biological sex and men wanting to have sex with men and women having sex with women. They started talking about this fluidity of gender and they began to conflate the word gender with sex. Because you absolutely cannot alter your biological sex. You can have every operation under the sun. You can remove every body part or add any other body part that you want to, but you can absolutely not alter your biological sex. Gender, however, is a grammatical term, not a sexual term. And when you gender a word, many languages are gendered. Latin, French, Spanish, male or female, la, le, all these different things. When you gender a term, it absolutely does depend on the context. It actually, it absolutely is a construct, a human construct to determine the gender of a word. And taking that concept and moving it over to human biology was quite the feat and took a long time. But now we say there are only two genders. No. There can be a billion genders because those who constructed that little piece of logic are absolutely true. Gender can be fluid. Gender can be a construct of what is around you. Gender can be a construct of your own mind or a society or whatever. Gender can be all of those things. Biological sex cannot. You are a man or a woman. But once you grasp hold of that language and you get everybody conflating the term gender with sex, all bets are off. Because now we who are even recognizing that, we get caught up in the gender debate and there is no debate. The people who are presenting that as truth are right. The thing is, they’ve sucked us into this sort of fault, what’s called a false dichotomy. Equating gender, the fluidity and construct of gender with the absolute reality and concrete biological reality of sex. Change the language. Right? Control the language. Control the culture. Now we’re all running around arguing about gender. Perfect. That’s exactly that is exactly what the goal was. Recognizing that it’s not going to go away and steering us clear from truth. Steering us clear from the truth of the biological reality of male and female and into the murky waters of this great gender debate. As long as we’re not looking over there at the truth and we’re wrapped up in this inane but truthful. Real debate. What makes up your gender? What can be whatever I want it to be? Well, considering the nature of the word gender, you’re right. But what you can’t do is at any level, right down to the atomic level, alter your biological sex. So throughout history, when the Bible has been interpreted, no, I won’t use the word interpreted, translated. We have had to be very, very careful, very, very thoughtful, very, very prayerful. And this is why it is important to look at your translation, the translation that you are using research, the translation that you’re. That’s what I said this morning, the magical chicken Popeye, it just was incredible. Because they have weeded themselves out to be the better translations from the new international version, new Revised Standard version, if you want to go with a concept for concept, the New Living Translation does a good job of concept for concept. But it’s not a great study Bible, etc, etc. Because language changes. I’m leading you all into this because we’re getting into a part of first Peter. In which Peter is going to be talking using words like submit. We’re going to be talking about the descriptive nature of Peter’s writing about slavery, marriage, submission, these words that to our modern ear can be a little harsh or a little eye opening. When we believe what we believe that these words may mean or how they have altered in their meaning. But remember, our theological premise here on turning on the lights. Scripture informs scripture. Peter does not write these things in a vacuum, nor does God’s Holy Spirit present them to his beloved to his saints in a vacuum. Paul writes about them. Peter writes about them. John writes about them. Understand, again, remember that the writing of the time is both descriptive you the writers of the epistles had no other choice. But to write in the context of their culture, which included aspects of culture that we don’t have today and or would find a whoring today. And some of it is prescriptive, which is God’s Holy Spirit teaching us things about God and thus about ourselves and about our behavior as his children. So let’s get into it. And hopefully some of it will make sense as we go through it. But I want to go to first Peter chapter three, and we were talking about at the end of chapter two. Let’s start with the end of chapter two, because it’s going to reinforce what I’ve just said. And we talked last Tuesday about order, structure and obedience. And are we willing to listen to scripture? Even though it may describe aspects of a culture that we do not adhere to anymore. Are we willing to listen to scripture? glean from scripture, the meta narrative, the big picture, the big teaching, will we read the parts that we don’t like to read, or don’t necessarily want to hear or don’t think apply to us? Because they don’t describe our culture today, such as this. You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters with all respect, do what they tell you, not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel, for God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. Of course you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong, but if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you, for God called you to do good, even if it means suffering just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. That is a hard teaching, even if you are a slave, and you are reading that that is a harsh teaching, let alone reading it in our modern culture which of course we all know that slavery still exists and all of that. And we’re going through a lot of that right now politically and socio politically, trying to round up human traffickers all these different things so it’s in the it’s it’s back up in the forefront of our consciousness. But even a slave reading that letters like what. But once again, this is the power of the simple words of Peter. God is greater than any human master. Can you accept that. Will you live by the tenets of Scripture by his teaching, will you live by the power of his Holy Spirit and adhere to the rule of love, even though your physical human master may be cruel and beating you, even though you are doing good. That seems. It’s very, it’s very hard to describe, especially in our modern vernacular, do we have words to describe that. I guess. But the simple powerful teaching of Peter is you are beyond that. That is not your master, God is your master. You are a slave of righteousness. And whatever you endure here on earth is just what you endure here on earth, even as a slave. Will you be obedient to God. Will you maintain the order of master slave, will you be obedient to God, will your faith be in him and him alone. When you put that in the context of what we’re reading here, the power of those words, because the reality is, by the power of God, you can. You can endure even that. By the power of God, you can endure anything. And again, Peter doesn’t go on and on and on and on, he just says, this is the reality slaves submit to your earthly masters. Because you know that if you are, if you’ve given your life to Christ, if you have submitted to his will, if his Holy Spirit indwells you, then that earthly master is not your master at all. Do what they tell you to do. Live a righteous life as a slave. If they beat you, they beat you. But your heavenly reward awaits you. Now, that’s a reality of their culture. And again, Peter, the framing of that passage is descriptive, descriptive of the culture. The meta narrative of that passage is prescriptive to all who will believe. Does that make sense? Those two words are very important to understand when you delve into the context of any of the epistles. You have to be able to discern between the two and understand that embedded in the descriptive very well may be the prescriptive. Can we take anything away from that teaching of slave to master? Absolutely. Look what Paul talks about. I will use the terms of slavery because this is something that you know about. He directly says it. And then he uses those terms. Do not be a slave to sin. Be a slave to righteousness. For you will be a slave to someone or something. You will give yourself over. It’s the way that you are made. Give yourself over. Make yourself a bond servant. Attach yourself willingly to the righteousness of the Lord. Paul talks about that as well. Paul talks about it in Ephesians five when he talks about submission. Submission is not oppression. And people would always say, well, I think it’s right here. Here. Once again, I’m back to where I was about last Tuesday, trying to speak softly. So don’t cough that much. I’m looking forward to a semi normal day. And I’m very grateful for all of your prayers and take this week to rest, recover, regain my strength. I might say I had some good food last night. First good food I’ve had in one hundred and sixty eight hours. So here I am. And I’m exactly right. Of course, we know that right now. Exactly right. In the same way you wives accept the authority of your husbands, then even if some refuse to obey the good news, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent hearts. The new international version uses the word the word wives in the same way. Submit yourselves to your own husbands so that if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. Small L. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give away, give way to fear. Husbands in the same way, be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you and the gracious gift of life. So that nothing will hinder your prayers. You say weaker, weaker, submit. I am not any sort of a second class citizen. And here’s where language gets us in trouble. Scripture doesn’t say that. When we go to Paul’s teaching, when we go to Ephesians five, when we go to First Peter and we read that, what we see is that in Christian marriage, which predates the fall, by the way, it is a powerful cornerstone institution. The submission occurs by both party unto the Lord. Nothing’s going to work if the man is not submitted to the Lord. Through salvation, through Jesus Christ, nothing is going to work if the woman is not submitted to the Lord by salvation through Jesus Christ. First and foremost. The spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells within the man and the woman. Now they turn to each other and they give their lives to each other. Each with the distinct role to play. Each with the very aspects of womanhood and manhood that come together as husband and wife and recreate the Adam. The human. It’s a beautiful picture. And it’s not one of oppression. It’s not one of dominance. Did you hear the words submission? Submission is an act of your own will. You willfully submit. I willfully submit to my wife. My wife willfully submits to me. I willfully submit to the roles that she plays in our marriage. And there are many and she willfully submits to the roles that I play in our marriage. And there are many. Together, we are submitted to the Lord and focused on his will for us in our lives and for our family. Willful submission. Not forceful oppression. Did you hear the other word there? Gentleness, kindness of spirit and respect. These don’t sound like horrible words to me. This doesn’t sound like a very horrible way to live to me. But when you look at all of the secular progressive movements over the course of time. They’ve taken these words. They’ve taken this teaching, this meta narrative. Right. The idea of respectful, willful submission to one to the other. Recognition of womanhood. Recognition of manhood. Recognition of structure. Obedience. Right. And so and submission, structure, obedience and following the order. And twisted it and reshaped it into something and represented it as something awful. That Christianity is just an ancient way of men being able to control women. It is an ancient way of oppression. It’s an ancient way of promoting. Slavery. It’s an ancient way. All of those things, none of which is true. So you have to look at the language that is being used today in secular progressive culture and the way that it is being used to twist and scripture and present scripture and the holy teachings of scripture as something that they’re not. Right. Ephesians five when it talks about husbands and wives, it begins with the very concept of husband and wife submitting to the Lord. Then it begins to talk about the wife and it begins to talk about the husband. And in it, nowhere. Nowhere does it talk about some sort of domination. Finally, all of you should be of one mind talking about all Christians, and this is where we’ll end for today. Sympathize with each other. Are you there? There’s no distinction when we are. There’s no distinctions being made here. There’s no racial lines being drawn. There’s no previous ethnic lines being drawn. There’s no geographical lines being drawn. There are only two kinds of people in the world. Those who dwell within the kingdom of God and those who do not. Peter is writing to those who are dwelling within the kingdom of God with no distinction, no respecter of person. Right. Do not think more highly of yourself than you should. That sort of thing. We gloss over this. But again, I’m going to beat this horse one more time. Here is where the secular progressive language clashes with the true teaching of Scripture. Because if we were to listen to the secular progressive language, Christianity is some sort of exclusive club that only a few people can get into. And it excludes every type other type of person, race, gender, etc. It is oppressive to women. It is oppressive. All those different things. When in fact. It is the most radically inclusive. Religious structure, if you will, religion. Can we use that word? The most radically inclusive belief system. The most radically inclusive religion. In the world. The Lord opens his arms and says, come to me. Let me cleanse you of your sin. Much of the world says, no, I would like to come to you. But I would very much like to keep my sin. And there we say it’s a religion of hate. It’s a religion of hate because when the Lord says come to me and let me cleanse you of your sin. And the world says human beings say I would very much like to come to you, but you can’t. I will not relinquish my sin. And then we say, well, that’s not the way it works because. And there we go. We are hateful. We will not simply because God loves everyone. Yes, he loves them so much that he gave his only begotten son that whomsoever shall believe in him will not perish, but have eternal life. Your sins will be cleansed. All that is dirty in your life will be made for good. And you will serve the Lord in his kingdom will grow. But you are not willfully submitting to the Lord. So he’s talking to everybody. All of you should be of one mind, sympathize with each other, love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tender hearted and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do. He will bless you for it. For the scriptures say if you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace and work to maintain it. The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil. Boy, that’s awful. It sounds just like an awful way of being. Sarcasm. If you’re listening on the podcast, hopefully you can pick up on that sarcasm. So we. A running parallel lines here between the secular language that is trying to twist and destroy. The prescriptive teachings of scripture. By using oftentimes the descriptive. Teaching a scripture. Using the context of scripture, also by using as often as not language that has been co-opted. Right. Religious language, Christian language, religious principles, Christian principles, co-opted by secular progressivism. Twisted. And turned against Christianity. It’s not an inclusive religion. It’s an exclusive religion because you will not accept me and all of my sin. Hateful people. So Peter’s simple teaching, we know that it is simple and powerful and true. Because of the violent pushback against it. So take that with you. Think about those terms of willful submission. Respect. Think about the institution of marriage as it is described. Think about those words, descriptive and prescriptive and the word metanarrative, which is the big picture, the big teaching. It extends from passage to letter all the way to the entire metanarrative of scripture. And don’t be afraid to go through the hard parts of the gospels. The hard parts of all of scripture, actually. Don’t be afraid. Remember, the first question we ask is, Lord, we know that this is the divinely inspired, infallible word of God. Why is this here? Open my eyes, Lord. Teach me. And then we turn to scripture to inform scripture before we go anywhere else. Father, we pray that this will occur in the hearts and minds of every Christian. And in so doing, we will be more capable of serving you, sharing your word. And expanding the kingdom of God. In Jesus mighty name. Amen. My prayers that you have an amazing week. I would appreciate your prayers for me to continue. And good Lord willing, in the river don’t rise and I don’t get double pneumonia again. I’ll see you Thursday for turning on the lights.
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