1 Peter 2:1-12 - Work as Witness

In our series on work, as we've been walking through the Bible, we've learned that work reflects God, is often toil, requires a rhythm of rest, is validated by Jesus, and is a form of worship. Today, drawing from 1 Peter 2:1–12, we'll discover that work not only reflects God’s design and redemption but also proclaims His glory to the world.This letter was written by the apostle Peter to Christians scattered across Asia Minor in the early 60s AD under Nero. These brothers and sisters were trying to stay faithful to Christ in a culture that wanted nothing to do with their faith. They lived as sojourners and exiles, surrounded by neighbors who didn’t share their hope. Because of that, they were tempted to blend in and live like everyone else.

And honestly, not much has changed. We may not face lions or torches, but we still face pressures to live like the world, especially at work. We can be misunderstood, ignored, or even opposed for following Christ, and in those moments it’s easy to stay quiet or hide our faith.

But what if, by doing our daily work for the Lord rather than for ourselves, we could bear witness in such a way that others see God’s goodness in us and come to glorify Him?

This is the opportunity before us today. Let’s listen carefully then to 1 Peter 2:1–12.

1 Peter 2:1–12 ESV

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

This passage teaches us that as His children…

God issues us temporary work visas

I remember vividly a question a new believer asked me over a decade ago: “Why doesn’t God just bring us to heaven when we’re born again?” I told him, “Because God’s got work for us to do.”

I didn’t have the language for it then, but that’s exactly what Peter teaches here…God’s issued us a temporary work visa.

But why? Because we have a new identity, a new community, a new nationality, and a new mission.

In 1:22–2:3, Peter reminds us that our work begins with our new identity. We’ve been born again through God’s Word, Jesus Christ. So now our passport reads, “Son or daughter of God, Citizen of Heaven.” And just like we long for a home-cooked meal when we’ve been away from home, we long for the food of our true home…Jesus, the Bread of Life, who comes to us through His Word and Spirit, feeding us to grow in His likeness. We’ve tasted Christ’s goodness…the Lord of Psalm 34…so we live remembering where we come from, even while we’re here on our temporary work visas.

In verses 4-10, Peter says our new identity places us in a new community with a new nationality. We’re living stones, part of God’s spiritual house, a holy priesthood. who were “not a people,” but now we are God’s people…His possession, His light in the world.

And in verses 9–12, Peter describes our new mission. God hasn’t taken us out of this world. He’s authorized us to live here as heavenly citizens, so that through our good and honorable work, others might see what God is like and glorify Him…either as fellow citizens now or one day when every knee bows before Him.

That’s the purpose of our temporary work visa: “To glorify God by proclaiming His excellencies.” That’s our divine assignment. It’s not busywork…it’s kingdom work, given by our Father for His glory.

But there is a very big problem…

We live like we're on a tourist visa

Tourist visas are usually fun. Why? Because we get to enjoy the pleasures of local life without the work. We experience comfort without commitment. Isn’t that what our flesh longs for?

This is what Peter warns against in verse 1...adopting local vices of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. In doing so, these believers were hiding their “foreign passports” to avoid rejection…the same rejection Jesus faced, as Peter says in verses 4–8. They were violating their work visas by indulging the passions of the flesh instead of waging war against them, as verse 11 describes. Peter reminds us that our biggest battles aren’t only with the world around us but with the desires within us. And as verse 12 makes clear, they were blending in with the locals rather than living as citizens of another kingdom and proclaiming their King’s excellencies.

Their root problem was shame. They were embarrassed by their heavenly passport and afraid of those who might try to revoke their temporary work visas. They feared rejection more than they trusted their Redeemer.

Are we that different?

Picture a team meeting where a new project promises visibility and maybe even a promotion. Everyone starts jockeying for position to get noticed. You feel that same pull. Instead of honoring your coworker’s good idea, you talk over them. You stay late, not to serve, but to make sure your name is on the success. When someone wrongs you, you quietly make sure others hear about it.

In those moments, we’re not living as citizens of heaven but as citizens of earth, fighting for name, power, and advancement.

We are like tourists who do not care about how others think about our home country. We forget we were sent here on assignment to represent God’s excellencies. Our fighting for name, power, and advancement misrepresents the One for whom we are a witness in the workplace.

Why? Because we forget what our passport says:

• “Adopted into God’s covenant family.”
• “Called to live with a redemptive perspective as kingdom disciples.”
• “Depending on God alone.”
• “Worshippers of the Triune God.”

And so, instead of our work being God-worship and God-witness, it becomes self-worship and self-witness.

What can enable us to work as a witness to our heavenly citizenship? It isn’t a what, but a who...

Jesus willingly took an earthly work visa to issue us a heavenly passport

The Gospels clearly show us what Jesus’ earthly work visa looked like and why He came.
His visa had one purpose: to love the Father with all His being and His neighbor as Himself by accomplishing the Father’s redemptive plan through suffering and dying on the cross as the Rock of Offense.

He was the Rock the world stumbled over…rejected, condemned, and nailed to the cross, where He endured both man’s hatred and God’s wrath for our sake.

He was the Chief Worker who perfectly fulfilled His assignment, taking our rebellion and wickedness upon Himself and giving us, in exchange, the passport of His perfect righteousness. Where Adam failed his assignment and Israel defiled her calling, Jesus perfectly fulfilled His.

Jesus was the true Sojourner…exiled on the cross because of the passions of our flesh. There He waged war against our sin, bearing it and defeating it, so that we might receive the honor of being called sons and daughters of God, partaking of Him as our heavenly food at the Lord’s Table forever.

He bore the shame of being ‘not My people’ so that we might hear the Father say, ‘You are My people,’ and never again doubt His welcome.

When we look at our lives through the lens of the cross, the very requirement of Jesus’ earthly work visa, and realize that He, along with the Father and the Spirit, willingly fulfilled that requirement for our sake because we had violated ours, it changes everything about how we see work.

But it isn’t just what He accomplished for us on the cross. At His resurrection, Jesus received the Spirit to give to us…to empower us for the work He’s called us to so that…

We use our temporary work visas to help others get their heavenly passports

Having received mercy and seeing how our Savior used His work visa for our sake, we no longer live as tourists seeking self-preservation or comfort.

Our purpose is now to glorify God and proclaim His excellencies…the very thing written on our temporary work visa. We long to see others come to glorify God with us and receive their own heavenly passports so that they too might glorify God when He visits them with mercy.

By the Spirit, we begin to desire what God desires.

Because of this, our daily work is now motivated by grace…to display to the world the excellencies of our great God.

It’s a complete reversal of the old way of the flesh, which tried to display our own.

We no longer work for self-centered accomplishments, deceitful gain, or to fit the world’s cultural values.
Instead, we remember that we are God’s chosen people…a royal priesthood, a holy nation, those who have received mercy.

Through the sanctifying power of the Spirit, our old sinful ways are put to death, so that through our work and our words we can clearly and boldly proclaim His excellencies as His royal priests in the world.

What might this look like?

When a colleague, threatened by your integrity and competence, tries to sabotage you with lies, the natural response is to fight back.

But led by the Spirit, you choose a different path. Instead of returning evil for evil, you respond with integrity and grace…even seeking to do good to your accuser.

Your goal isn’t to save your job or reputation but to reflect the character of Jesus.

He absorbed evil for the sake of others, and because you belong to Him, you are empowered to do the same, trusting that your life is secure in His care.

The same is true when you’re tempted toward small acts of dishonesty at work…fudging a timesheet, embellishing a report, or taking credit that isn’t yours.

The Spirit reminds you that you don’t need to craft an image of perfection, because Jesus is your perfect record.

He willingly had His passport stamped “earth,” and bled and died on His work visa, so that you might live in His light and as His light.

In both of these cases, we are honest and honorable in all our conduct. Empowered by the Spirit, we use our own temporary work visas to witness to others so they might receive their heavenly passports.

Friends, if you’ve heard this message and aren’t sure which country your passport belongs to, heaven or earth, and you’ve been living like a tourist, hear this warning in love: Unless your passport lists your citizenship as “The Kingdom of God” and your name as “Son or Daughter of God,” you are in grave danger.

If you die without that passport, the day of His visitation, the final judgment, will not be a visitation of mercy, salvation, but judgment. You will face the eternal wrath of God in the lake of fire, the second death, separated forever from His goodness.

But today, that same God offers you mercy.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for sinners, was buried, and rose again on the third day, He will issue you a new passport, stamped “Heaven,” signed in the blood of His Son, and sealed by His Spirit.

And for those who already hold that passport, let me encourage you: live as the citizens of heaven you are.

Work with all your might to glorify God. Don’t live as tourists chasing comfort, but as witnesses who display His excellencies.

Remember, church, work isn’t only our witness…it’s also our way of imaging the Chief Worker who made us. Work still bears the marks of toil because of the fall, yet it belongs within God’s rhythm of work and rest. It’s validated by the hands of Jesus the Carpenter, and it’s done to and for the Lord. And when we live that way by the Spirit, our work becomes both worship and witness through Christ until the day we are brought to our true heavenly home to glorify the Father forever.