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NT

1 Peter 2:12

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12 k Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable , so that when they speak against you as evildoers, l they may see your good deeds and glorify God on m the day of visitation .

1 Peter 2:15

15 For this is the will of God, q that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people .

1 Peter 3:16

16 j having a good conscience , so that, k when you are slandered , those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

1 Peter 4:3-4

3 For the time that is past h suffices i for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality , passions , drunkenness , orgies , drinking parties, and lawless idolatry . 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of j debauchery , and k they malign you;

James 1:27

27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: s to visit t orphans and widows in their affliction, and u to keep oneself v unstained from the world .

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Notes

Study Notes Refer to http://www.desiringgod.org/labs/show-the-world-a-life-worth-living The Landscape: I appreciate the LABs for little lessons in reading the Bible. Like this LAB where we are encouraged to take a broader view of the landscape of the book of 1 Peter. We do so by reading the whole letter in one sitting, and repeating this where helpful. By doing so, we begin to see patterns, related words and ideas. This helps in understand what the text is telling us. Observation: In the Look-up section above: Peter repeats the call to do good deeds (see blue highlights) There is also the call to not join in sinful acts (pink highlights) Both this positive doing good, and negative no joining in with sin is well encapsulated in James 1:27 Questions: 1. Have you ever been criticized or rejected for not participating in the sins you once did? How did you respond? Yes. When I was younger and more inexperienced, I responded by caving in. I joined in. Now I am more able to respond with fewer insecurities, by the grace of God. At better moments, I am able to also either remain silent, or respond firmly and graciously. 2. Peter does not merely call us to separate ourselves from the world and its behavior. What else has Peter called believers to in the letter so far? See 1 Peter 2:12 , 15 ; 3:16 . We are called also to do good deeds. 3. The Christian life entails separating from the world’s sinful ways and doing good. Which is more of a struggle for you — to separate from sin or proactively do good? What practical steps can you take to grow? I struggle equally in both. For to separate from sin means to be thought of badly which I do not enjoy. And to proactively do good means is inexhaustible, which I also find very difficult. To help with separating from sin, I would like to increase my affection for God by starting out any time with God in seeking first to find satisfaction and joy in His presence. Something I just learned recently that George Muller did: I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished.… I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it. GEORGE MÜLLER OF BRISTOL pg. 142 Desiring God To help with proactively doing good, I would like to prayerfully plan what activities to do, so that things are better organised, and I have a better sense of what I am able to do reasonably.

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