Good morning, today is Thursday, May 7, 2020. My name is Keith and I am one of the pastors at Green Acres Baptist Church in Athens, GA.

Peter, continuing the idea that we are a new group of priests who live with Jesus and his forgiveness as our Cornerstone continues giving his instructions for holy living, or living lives that are being made whole.

1 Peter 2:11-17

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

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.

Peter is continuing to use rich metaphors to help us understand our place in this world and as a new people whom God has called out. In verse 11 Peter gives one of my favorite metaphors when he calls us “foreigners and exiles,” or, those who are not part of this world, simply traveling through.

So, this morning, remind yourself that you are a foreigner and an exile. Feel the deep longing inside of you that we all have to return to a home we have never been to. Let this truth guide you as you seek to abstain from sinful desires and seek to do right. Let this truth that you are not a slave to this land, rather you are free to travel through life’s journey; let this remind you that we are those who follow Jesus in that traveling. And in following Jesus, we do not allow ourselves to become bound to sin.

Let’s pray.