1Pe 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
We read much about discrimination in our world these days. Most of it is made up. Evolution is a great promoter of discrimination. The Bible does not refer to people by “race”. The Bible refers to people by “nations” and “peoples” and “tongues”. Evolution suggests that man came from the monkey and it teaches that the darker skinned people are closer to the monkey than the whiter skinned people. Hitler was well trained in evolution and thus he believed that the white people were of a purer nature.
Godly people recognize that skin colour does not matter. We do not talk of people as black or white or whatever. We talk of people who came from Europe or China or India, etc.
God directed Peter to remind the saints to honour all men. All men are descendants of Adam and Eve. All people are born as lost sinners. As lost sinners many choose to develop their own religion. Catholicism is a very common form of religion across the world. Catholicism worked together with Islam during the time of Hitler to try to wipe out the Jewish people. Both of those groups hate the Jews and they also hate true Christians.
The Catholics have taught for years that they are the replacement people for the Jews. They have tried to claim the promises given to Israel and up until 1948 they had some success making that claim. Many professing Christians were very ignorant of the Bible and they did not believe that Israel was a distinct people that would never be destroyed.
When the Lord brought the Jews back to part of the land of Israel as their homeland at the end of WWII, the Catholics were in trouble. If you go to Israel today, you will find that the Catholics own quite a few of the sites that the Bible speaks of. They charge a fee to visit those sites. They have come to realize, at least in part, that they cannot overthrow Israel, so they have used other more subtle means to try to “befriend” them but always with the goal of wiping out the Jews.
Born again Christians honour all men. We reject false religion, but we honour all men. We do not try to wipe out a certain group of people. We seek to help people to see the need to repent and be saved. However, true Christians do not take up swords and guns to force people to believe the truth. The “Crusades” of former years were run by false religions that tried to force their beliefs on others.
Not only do Christians honour all men, they also love the brotherhood. The brotherhood consists of those who are born again. God’s people have a special relationship with one another. The unifying bond is the love of God which is shed abroad in the hearts of the saved. The world needs to see the unity that comes from people of all nationalities through His gift of salvation. That is why we do not need a Jewish church in any part of Canada. We do not need a Filipino church in any part of Canada. We do not need a Ukrainian church or any other nationality making up their own religious group, if they are truly born again. There can be language barriers at times, but people moving to Canada should understand the need to learn the main language of Canada which is English. I know there will be some who will take offence to that and claim we have two official languages. That is actually not true. If you pay attention to the news, you will know that the French people in Quebec believe they are superior to the rest of this country. In fact, the Liberals in particular, treat the French as if they are a superior people.
I come from a German background. We spoke German at home. We did not insist that businesses cater to our language in order for us to do business with them. In Canada people need to learn the language of the land. If they want to keep their “mother tongue” alive, they can do that in their homes. If they want to benefit from the greater freedoms our country used to have, they need to become a part of this country. Those that are saved will always be separated from the rest of the nation; however, in the work world, we need to speak the language of the nation. We cannot be a witness to others if we want to isolate ourselves from others.
We are also to fear God. That is essential to true salvation. One of the ways to notice the many fraudulent Christians is the lack of the fear of God in their lives. No Christian is without sin. However, no true Christian taunts the Lord Who saved them. To openly defy the truth and insist that sin is good and acceptable is a clear demonstration of the lack of the fear of God. True saints need to walk soberly with the Lord. The true child of God enjoys fellowship with the God of heaven and with the Lord Jesus Christ. The fraud tries to manufacture this fellowship but he has to ignore the truth in order to do so. In the end, many will be shocked.
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
It is extremely unwise to play around with the grace of God. The Calvinist definition of grace is foreign to the Word of God. Many people who know nothing about Calvinism, follow that false definition. God’s grace does not mean that He overlooks sin. It does not mean that He accepts sin. It does not mean that He has a ranking of sin.
As Peter stated, true saints need to fear God. They also need to honour the king. We already looked at that in the previous verses. Honouring the king does not mean blindly following him. The king is appointed by God. Even in our corrupt governmental system, our P.M. is appointed by God. We are being punished as a nation for the wickedness that permeates the hearts of the majority of the people. We are not Israel and we are not a replacement for Israel. The Bible declares:
Daniel 2:21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
Even wicked king Nebuchadnezzar was set up by God. God would use him to punish Israel and He would also teach him the fear of the Lord. Daniel honoured the king in listening to his requests and in answering him honestly. Daniel served the king faithfully according to the will of God, not the whims of the king. When king Darius signed a foolish decree, Daniel continued to honour God and he ended up in the lions’ den. He did nothing wrong. The king did wrong. When king Darius came to that den in the morning, Daniel honoured him with his answer. He showed the king that His God was able to deliver him from the lions and from an ungodly decree.
We have stated before that our P.M. is an antichrist. That is not dishonouring him. That is simply stating the facts. To dishonour him would be to slander him. He is still the head of our country and he will answer to God for his defiance of the God of heaven.
Pastor Bartel
