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[3541.00 --> 3543.62] in Jesus or in the power of the Spirit.
[3545.06 --> 3547.24] Or we could become indifferent,
[3548.24 --> 3550.52] believing that they're not really that bad,
[3551.02 --> 3553.92] that it's just okay, it's who I am,
[3553.92 --> 3556.16] and really, what's wrong with me being who I am?
[3560.80 --> 3561.94] This is a war
[3561.94 --> 3564.84] for your identity
[3564.84 --> 3566.76] and your soul.
[3568.04 --> 3569.58] And into that context,
[3569.74 --> 3570.40] Peter says,
[3570.40 --> 3570.96] instead,
[3571.96 --> 3574.16] live such good lives
[3574.16 --> 3575.28] among the pagans
[3575.28 --> 3577.66] that though they accuse you of doing wrong,
[3578.24 --> 3579.74] they may see your good deeds
[3579.74 --> 3582.08] and glorify God on the day he visits.
[3583.08 --> 3584.86] Live such good lives,
[3585.56 --> 3586.04] Peter says.
[3586.58 --> 3586.72] Right?
[3586.78 --> 3587.10] Peter says,
[3587.20 --> 3588.10] resist evil
[3588.10 --> 3589.10] and do good.
[3589.10 --> 3590.76] Stop doing those things
[3590.76 --> 3592.74] that define you apart or before Jesus
[3592.74 --> 3595.18] and start doing or doing more of
[3595.18 --> 3597.30] the sorts of things that define you
[3597.30 --> 3598.46] in Jesus.
[3599.04 --> 3599.14] Right?
[3599.18 --> 3602.26] They're two sides of the same identity coin,
[3602.38 --> 3603.84] two sides of being beloved
[3603.84 --> 3605.78] and foreigners and exiles.
[3606.56 --> 3607.54] This is what it means
[3607.54 --> 3609.80] to be born again into a living hope,
[3609.80 --> 3611.42] and this is how being born again
[3611.42 --> 3612.26] into a living hope
[3612.26 --> 3613.74] changes you.
[3615.32 --> 3616.80] Live such good lives
[3617.52 --> 3619.24] among the pagans.
[3620.12 --> 3620.92] Now, really quick,
[3621.02 --> 3621.44] two things.
[3622.22 --> 3622.70] Here, first,
[3623.32 --> 3624.42] pagans is,
[3624.58 --> 3625.06] again,
[3625.14 --> 3626.06] it's another Greek word
[3626.06 --> 3627.72] and it's the Greek word ethnos.
[3627.92 --> 3630.12] It's from which we get the word ethnicity.
[3631.50 --> 3631.66] Right?
[3631.70 --> 3632.26] And it means,
[3632.34 --> 3632.78] simply,
[3632.98 --> 3635.22] nations or people of the world.
[3635.72 --> 3636.44] Now, in the Bible,
[3636.66 --> 3637.34] when it's used,
[3637.62 --> 3639.66] it refers to nations or people
[3639.66 --> 3641.14] who don't believe
[3641.14 --> 3643.72] in the Judeo-Christian God.
[3644.78 --> 3645.38] And so here,
[3645.52 --> 3646.30] in this use,
[3646.70 --> 3648.26] pagans doesn't have that same
[3648.26 --> 3650.26] sort of like naturalist,
[3650.48 --> 3652.02] religious connotations
[3652.02 --> 3653.06] that it might have
[3653.06 --> 3654.74] for some of us here this morning.
[3655.30 --> 3656.14] But notice,
[3657.34 --> 3660.50] it is still a religious term.
[3660.86 --> 3660.98] Right?
[3661.00 --> 3662.46] It is about who you believe in
[3662.46 --> 3663.82] or don't believe in.
[3664.06 --> 3666.62] The context is life lived,
[3666.78 --> 3668.68] engaging in and with a society
[3668.68 --> 3670.16] of all sorts of people,
[3670.36 --> 3671.72] of all sorts of worldviews,
[3671.76 --> 3673.08] a society of all sorts of
[3673.08 --> 3674.54] religious ideas
[3674.54 --> 3675.62] and identities,
[3676.08 --> 3676.80] a society
[3676.80 --> 3679.60] very much like ours.
[3681.46 --> 3682.30] And then second,
[3682.50 --> 3683.04] notice this.
[3684.54 --> 3685.00] Peter says,
[3685.12 --> 3687.32] to live such good lives
[3687.32 --> 3688.92] among
[3688.92 --> 3690.78] the pagans.
[3690.78 --> 3695.44] the proper Christian expectation
[3695.44 --> 3697.38] is that you will be
[3697.38 --> 3698.88] in the world.
[3699.70 --> 3701.38] We live in the midst
[3701.38 --> 3702.22] of it all.
[3702.36 --> 3702.40] Right?
[3702.40 --> 3703.08] We don't run.
[3703.22 --> 3703.90] We don't hide.
[3704.18 --> 3705.04] We don't pull away.
[3705.14 --> 3706.16] We don't get all sectarian.
[3706.40 --> 3707.60] We aren't living in secluded
[3707.60 --> 3708.88] coisters behind walls
[3708.88 --> 3709.44] of division
[3709.44 --> 3710.70] and hostility.
[3711.56 --> 3712.00] Instead,
[3713.00 --> 3714.82] the model that the Bible
[3714.82 --> 3715.50] gets us,
[3715.66 --> 3716.38] the model that Peter