“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” – 1 Peter 2:9-12
I have been faithful to my New Year resolution, thirty-six days and counting. No diet soda, no sugar, a low salt diet and going to the gym four times a week. The gym is an interesting place, you see a vast host of different individuals there, a wonderful opportunity to speak with people from different walks of life. There are the busy professionals, trying to get a good sweat during their lunch break, there are the elderly who try so desperately to turn back time and there are the “watchers” or the “scammers” who come to check out the crowd but the most intriguing are the “gym rats,” those guys who seem to be there every time you go. I wonder if they have a life outside of the gym. They practically live there. And some of those guys are yoked, I mean massive, muscles bulging from everywhere.
But one thing I also notice about them is that while their upper body is massive, their lower body is often neglected. They mostly have “chicken legs.” I am sure it is because the arms, “guns” are the most distinctive and surely makes the greatest impression on others. But what some may not realize is that to have large “guns,” the key lies in the tricep muscle not the bicep. People who want impressive arms may initially try to enlarge the frontal muscle, the bicep, but to have massive “guns,” the tricep is the larger of the two muscles.
What does having “big guns” have to do with Christianity? Quite simply this… just as one would develop the tricep muscle to enlarge your arms, the same holds true to a Christian’s life in terms of attracting people not to your arms but to Christ. The tricep develops by one “pushing” weights away from the body whereas the bicep develops by “pulling” weights to the body. For a Christian to be the light and salt of the earth, he must first push sins away before he can pull sinners to Christ. That is what the Apostle Peter writes, “I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles” If we have not yet abstained from our sins (pushing the sins away), then we have disqualified ourselves from the ministry, “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” You have been saved from your sins because “but now you have received mercy“ and now we are called not to continue in our sins but to do good works so that “they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God.”
So I ask you, “How big are your guns?” Are you still focusing on “pulling” people to Christ without first “pushing” away the sins of your life? If so, you have pretty underdeveloped arms and never strong enough for the task set forth by our Lord. “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent… so that they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God.” Keep pumping the weights and build your guns for the Lord. May the Lord be pleased in all your ministries in His holy name. God bless you.
Pastor Sung