Third term CRS for SS1
CHRISTIAN LIVING IN THE COMMUNITY
i. Living a life of witnessing to Christ (1Peter 1:13 – 17, 2: 9-25, 4:1-19)
When we ghive our lives to Christ, we are not expected to separate or exclude ourselves from other people living in the world. Rather we are expected to represent Christ on earth. We are expected to show the light of God to this dark world. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus says, ‘Ye are the salt of the earth’, which means we are expected to preserve the earth and also in verse 14, He says, we are the light of the world. This indicate that we will amongst people but we must be an example to them.
In 1 Peter 1: 13 – 17, Peter teaches that we should prepare our minds and keep our hope in Christ alive. We should be obedient to all the teachings of Christ and forsake our former ways of life which is prevalent in the community where we live. We should live our lives in the same pattern which Christ has lived. He admonishes us to be holy just as God, our Father is holy. He states that God, who is our Father is a righteous God who is not partial in everything He does and so we should serve Him in that consciousness, which is in the fear of God.
In 1 Peter 2:9 – 25, Peter teaches that we are a special kind of people. The reason why God has chosen us is that we should show forth His praise, who has brought us out of darkness into His marvellous light. He further admonishes us to:
(a) abstain from wordly pleasures and lust of the flesh
(b) behave honourably among unbelievers so that they may glorify God through us
(c) be law abiding 1Peter 2:13
(d) respect all constituted authorities because God has a reason for putting them there 1Peter 2:14
(e) use our freedom in Christ to do only what is right – 1 Peter 2:16
(f) honour all people and show broitherly love
(g) do our work with fear of God not with eye service, serving all man equally
(h) show hospitality to all – 1Peter 4:9
(i) endure persecution and not suffer as a sinner – 1 Peter 4:14-16
(j) be a God-figure among all men doing all things that will give glory to God – 1 Peter 4:11
ii. Pauls Statement on children of light (Romans 13: 11- 14)
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ who was converted made reference to Jesus teaching in Matthew 5:14, that we are the light of the world. He compared our former sonful life to night and now that we have given our life to Christ, we are now in the light.
He advises us to walk in the consciousness of the fact we are in Christ Jesus and we must walk properly as Jesus walked while on earth. We should not walk the way the unbelieveres walk and live in the world.
Unprecedented 