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notes 1452680587292 Disclaimer This page was automatically converted from a module that was shared prior to the release of Published Pages. Additionally, the arc below was auto-converted from the arc created by the author (which used the old module), and so it is possible there are misplaced logical relationships.

Notes

2009-12-27 18:46:37

2011-04-19 10:15:33

Text : 1 Peter 1:1-2 Title : Chosen Exiles Theme : The nature of election and its bearing on our view of God and of the world Kernel : Although we as believers are strangers in what should be a strange land, we have been chosen by God the Father. In this choosing, we see how He relates to us, and how we should thus relate to the world. Proposition: The Trinity has a part in our whole salvation, described here as election. Introduction : You ever have a relationship where you just didn’t know quite what to do? You know, that person who you just weren’t sure how you should relate. You pass them in the hallway, and exchange glances, maybe nod at each other. But there’s just an awkwardness there. Say at some point, the other person greets you and uses your name. And you wonder, how do they know me? Slowly, the awkwardness begins to fade away as you find out their name, and soon you’re fast friends. In some ways, this mimics our relationship with the Lord, with a key difference: He knows everything about us from the get go, and we know very little about him. Accordingly, as He begins to show how much He knows us, it behooves us to know Him in return. The Apostle Peter, writing here in his first epistle, shows us that knowing God and knowing what He’s done in our lives is the fuel for the Christian life. He doesn’t ask us to believe something blindly and then demand that we live our lives a certain way without good grounds; He tells us to ponder what He has done on our behalf. And in doing so, we’ll find out motivation to live as proof that He exists. OUTLINE I. Introduction II. What does it mean? A. The Description of the Christians (1:1) 1. Elect by God (1:1a) 2. Exiles in the dispersion (1:1b) B. The Nature of the Election (1:2) 1. God the Father foreknew us in a causal way (1:2a) 2. God the Spirit sets us apart for God’s holy service (1:2b) 3. God the Son has been provided as the object of obedience and the provision for the New Covenant (1:2c) III. What is a good illustration of these truths? A. The American church that feels that we should snuggle up real close to the world, instead of realizing that we are exiles B. The life of the Apostle Peter – chosen by God, set apart by Spirit, directed obedience at Christ IV. What does it mean for us today? A. Because we are exiles in the world, we should live as if we’re on our way home. B. Because we have been chosen by God the Father, we shouldn’t boast in our salvation, but instead in Him. C. Because we have been set apart by God’s Spirit, we should live set apart lives. D. Because we have been given a purpose through God the Son’s blood, we should live lives that aim to obey God V. Conclusion BODY OF SERMON I. What does it mean? A. The Description of the Christians Today, when we call each other Christians, we’re actually using a word that was originally meant as a slang word, a slander even for our faith. The earliest Christians called the faith “The Way”… and after the secular world adopted the word 1. Elect by God (1:1a) Peter’s readers are first described as elect… the word means chosen. The Christians that Peter writes to are described as chosen by God. In what way? Do you balk at this… that God has chosen you to be a Christian? Do you bristle against this? And yet, here it is in the Scripture, and no amount of loud preaching about how God chooses everyone will make this verse less powerful. Peter doesn’t want his readers to think of this choosing in this way; he tells them they’re chosen... why? To encourage them in the midst of their trials and persecution. To help them realize that they didn’t pursue God, but instead God pursued them. Think about this… in the midst of a religious culture where every other religion tells you that you must pursue God… here is Christianity, which stands on the shoulders of Judaism… both of which fully affirm that God chooses to save men. Does this election, this choosing, mean that man just needs to sit back and let God do everything in salvation? No… not at all. Here, throughout this book, Peter is going to tell his readers what they, as recipients of God’s amazing grace, should be doing. Nor does this election create a theological battle axe by which many people today do battle in the name of Christ. No, this election is an encouragement, an exhortation to them. Notice the next word… 2. Exiles in the dispersion (1:1b) The next adjective that describes Peter’s readers stands in stark contrast with the first adjective. They’re chosen… strangers? Aliens? Foreigners is probably the best way of looking at this. The word is used for those who are in a place outside of their native birth, or outside of their citizenship. In being chosen by God, our citizenship is transferred from being part of this world to being part of another world… heaven. His readers are from different provinces on the fringes of Roman society in what is modern day Turkey. The use of the word “dispersion” may indicate that Peter’s readers are Jewish. When the Jews were taken into captivity in after the destruction of the first temple in 586 BC, they were scattered across the known world by the Babylonians, either through exile or war. But, as we looked at briefly in our introduction to the book last week, there are a great many more clues that the recipients of this letter are Gentile Christians. Think about the implications of this. Before becoming Christians, these people were integrated with the culture surrounding them. There was no difference, and these provinces were the only home they knew. But when the Gospel reached them, and God saved them through the transfer of righteousness through faith, these people’s homeland was changed. But they stayed in their previous homes! I mean, wouldn’t it be great if the moment any Christian was saved, they’d be taken away to heaven? But what about all those left behind without the knowledge who God was and what He wanted? What about God’s glory being displayed in this world? It is not enough just that God is God… He must be shown to be God to a watching world. And that’s where Christians come in. That’s why we’re chosen exiles. So as exiles, we live in a foreign land, waiting for the time when we will finally go back to the land that is our home. America is not the place the we should be chiefly calling our homeland. We should be looking beyond American, Mexican, Canadian, European, those kinds of distinctions. As God’s people, there are two people groups: those who are God’s, and those who aren’t. And as His people, we’re called to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection for our sins, to a dying world. B. The Nature of the Election (1:2) But Peter doesn’t just leave off by telling them “God has chosen you”… he goes on to describe that choosing, and what part each of the members of Trinity play in our election. To go back to our original analogy, what would knowing that the God of the universe was intimately and totally involved and committed to your salvation do to you? Often times we just live life as if God in no way had a vested interest in us. Others tell us that God is so interested in us that He is going to fulfill our plans, and make us wealthy and successful. But Peter tells us that God does have a universal, eternal interest in people… for His own glory and fame on the earth, and for their own eternal survival. The whole Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit is involved in this. The according to introduces all three members of the Trinity, and explains the manner in which we were elected. We see the source of our election, God the Father, the method of our election, through the Spirit, and the purpose of our election, for obedience to Christ and for sprinkling with His blood. 1. The source of election: God the Father foreknew us in a causal way (1:2a) First, we’re told that our election is according to the foreknowledge of God. Our salvation is sourced in God’s mind. It proceeds from God; the choice is his. Some will argue that the word “foreknowledge” only implies that God knew beforehand that we would choose Him, and that through the tunnel of time, as God looked forward, He saw who would choose Him, and so decided to elect them. To determine what the verse is talking about, we need to look at other uses of this word in the New Testament. In close proximity to this verse is another verse that uses the exact same word: look at verse 20 of this same chapter. The exact same word is used, but to describe God the Father’s relationship with the Son, Christ. Here, the translators of the KJV chose the word “foreordained” for the exact same word in Greek. Did God simply “foreknow” Jesus? No, there was definite intent in God the Father and God the Son for our sake. God didn’t just have a clue that the Son was intending on dying for us… it was their definite plan. In the same way, your salvation wasn’t just God feebly waiting for you to choose Him. No, as we discussed last week, this is the first building block for Peter’s initial argument: your salvation, from beginning to end, is all of God. His foreknowledge is not just passive information that He took in; His foreknowledge is an action, a deliberate choice on His part. What is the basis of His foreknowledge? Well, quite simply, we don’t know. Romans 8 gives us an order that proceeds backwards from our justification… *EXPAND WITH ORDO SOLUTUS*. But we’re not told what lies behind this foreknowledge. We know that this is a choice to know us… but we’re not told what’s beyond that. Your salvation, finally, ultimately has to do with *NEED TO SUMMARIZE* ^^^ 2. The method of election: God the Spirit sets us apart for God’s holy service (1:2b) Now that we’ve seen the source of our election, of our salvation, the next thing is the method by which we’ll be saved: through (in) the sanctification of the Spirit. There’s really two ways of looking at this word sanctification : sanctification can either mean a gradual process by which believer’s are made more holy, which we call progressive sanctification. or it can mean a one-time separation from the world and setting apart to God’s services. In this way, when I say something is sanctified , I mean something that is separated. I believe what Peter is talking about here is the second of the two options: the way in which God has expressed election is by an initial setting apart for His own purposes and pleasure. So God formulated in His mind a plan to save a people for Himself, and He did so by removing those people from the ground zero of His wrath. I’ve said it before, even in this pulpit… you are saved by God from God for God. Think about this… God set you apart for Himself. I remember watching my Mom separate cream off the top of fresh milk, and setting it apart for a separate use apart from the milk. This is the picture of sanctification here. So first, God the Father had this idea of our salvation in His mind, than he enacted it by setting us apart for Himself through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, by coming into your heart at salvation has set you apart from the world and thus the wrath of God. But why? For what purpose have you been set apart? 3. The purpose of election: God the Son has been provided as the object of obedience and the provision for the New Covenant (1:2c) Each of us has been chosen by God, which has in turn been accomplished at our salvation by the Spirit setting us apart for God’s purposes. As we’ll see as we continue in the book, God sees the Church much in the same way that He saw Israel, in that the church fulfills the same role as Israel did in the Old Testament. And what was that role? Two things are mentioned here, both relating to Jesus Christ, the final member of the Trinity. God has set us apart to be obedient to Him and to be in a covenant relationship with Him. The first is explicit in the Greek text… the object of obedience is Jesus Christ. You have been saved for obedience to the words of Jesus Christ found in Holy Scripture. The second phrase here, unto the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, sounds a little odd at first. Peter references the Old Testament numerous times throughout this letter, and I believe that this is the first such reference. Turn back to Exodus 24. Here God confirms the covenant between Himself and Israel at Sinai, and the moment that His covenant is confirmed with Israel is when Moses sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the people. This is probably a reference to the same thing, only with the new covenant. Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25 tell us that Christ’s sacrificial death on the Cross, as signified by His blood, is poured out for us that we might be partakers of the New Covenant. And Hebrews 12:22 tells us that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant through His own sprinkled blood. As such, this phrase means that we’re set aside to obedience to Christ through the New Covenant at the Cross. VI. What is a good illustration of these truths? A. The American church that feels that we should snuggle up real close to the world, instead of realizing that we are exiles In various ways, the church in America seems content to make something besides heaven their homeland, and make something besides the glorious news of the Gospel their message. Thus, there is on the conservative sire The Purpose Driven Life , Your Best Life Now, and The Prayer of Jabez, which speak to finding temporal prosperity in this life for yourself. But curiously absent in each of these is a solid focus on the Gospel as the lifeline for the Christian life. *DEETS* In short, the most popular books from “Christian” authors tell the Christian that they should be pursuing the same thing the world is: significance through prosperity. *LOUD BUZZER NOISE* Wrong. The Church was never, ever designed to mimic the world. Instead, they, we have been called to be separate from the world in our objectives. What are our objectives? Our goals? How do we spend our time and money? Do we have Gospel objectives, goals that relate to glorifying God and highlighting that our lives have been redeemed, or do we have goals that are purely self-serving. B. The life of the Apostle Peter – chosen by God, set apart by Spirit, directed obedience at Christ A few weeks ago, we looked at the life of Peter… and isn’t it true that this looks like his life? In Matthew 4, Peter was called by Jesus Christ into the service of God, along with his brother Andrew. We saw that throughout his time with our Lord, he was seen as a leader among the other apostles. But he was also the first to get his foot stuck in his mouth. In Matthew 16, we find that Peter is the one who declares that Jesus is the Christ. But later in that exact same chapter, Peter is told he’ll deny this same man who he just declared was the Christ. And indeed, this is what happens. Jesus Christ would have had every right to sever Himself from Peter, just as Matthew 10:33 tells us. But instead, what did we find? Jesus restores and reaffirms Peter’s calling in John 22, asking him three times if Peter loves Him. Each time Peter affirms his love, and what is Christ’s response? He tells Peter to feed Christ’s sheep. And this is exactly what Peter does for the rest of his mortal life. Look now at Acts 2… where Peter is set apart by the Holy Spirit for the work of the ministry… for obedience to the commands of Christ. After Pentecost, Peter speaks, empowered by the Spirit. And 3000 people genuinely come to Christ. This isn’t the altar-call mentality where some people mean it and some don’t, and you’ll have to wait and see who was legit and who wasn’t. 3000 people, because Peter was set aside to for obedience to Jesus Christ’s commands. The last couple of times that Peter is mentioned in Scripture shows that he was still obedient to His Lord’s call, and was active in showing others the New Covenant that Jesus created with His blood. In Acts 15, Peter stands at the council of Jerusalem and affirms that in Jesus Christ there is no difference between Gentiles and Jews. Can you imagine what this would be like? Peter, at a crucial point in Church history, steps up and affirms that God has torn down a 1500 year-old wall, reinforcing the unity of God’s one people. And then, throughout his life, he is involved in feeding and bringing the sheep of Christ from the Jews into God’s fold, fulfilling what Christ foretold when He reaffirmed Peter’s faith and gave him the command for his life. *REFINE THIS PARAGRAPH VII. What does it mean for us today? A. Because we are exiles in the world, we should live as if we’re on our way home. I’ve lived in some awesome places that aren’t home. For instance, I really love the city, but it would take quite a bit for it to feel like home to me. Others love the hustle-and-bustle of suburbia, and couldn’t imagine living in a place where they had to travel more than 15 minutes for groceries. In a similar vein, we should be disenchanted with this world when we reflect on Who God is. Why? Because heaven is where God lives, and our utmost joy should be to see Him, because then we will be like Him. Does this mean we disengage from the world and refuse to interact with them? No, we want them to come with us! We are chosen exiles, and we want others to walk with us as exiles, not so that they will be with us, but so that God, who is worthy of the whole world’s worship, may receive the same! What it does mean is that we shouldn’t bank on politics , or social reform, or anything else to save us. The world trusts in these things, because they suppose that their abiding home is here. But we know where our home is, and that this whole world is not destined to be a utopia that man will create, but it is instead reserved for fire! Although the church should partake in the things that protect life and uphold marriage, we should not look to the government as what will save us, in the times when an administration you like or when an administration you dislike is in power. Only Christ will save us. B. Because we have been chosen by God the Father, we shouldn’t boast in our salvation, but instead in Him. A distinction of our fallen human nature is that we boast in ourselves. Our possessions. Our achievements. Who we know. Farthest from the unsaved mind is boasting in God at all… and most certainly they don’t think of boasting in God alone. The next time you have a conversation about the things of God, listen to the pronouns that you and others toss around. Do you hear a lot of first-person pronouns? A lot of “I”, “me”, etc? When you talk about the moment in which you accepted Christ, do you speak as if He was the one that saved you, or as though your decision was what saved you? Or… do you notice that you don’t talk about God very much? Is it all about what you or others are doing, have done, think, without reference to God or what He’s said? At work … what or whom do you boast in? The world tells us that we’re to take pride in our achievements. While it’s true that we should take satisfaction in a job well done, it should be satisfaction with God in mind. In the way you talk to your coworkers, are you showing them that your life is just like theirs in finding satisfaction in your work, or other people, or things? Or are you showing them that your life is massively different by displaying that you really do find satisfaction in knowing and loving God? C. Because we have been set apart by God’s Spirit, we should live set apart lives. Think of it this way: what is so essential to something that, if it doesn’t have that thing, it isn’t that thing? Let me rephrase that… if a cat doesn’t meow, is it a cat? No, because a cat can be defective, and some of us think that all cats are defective. But if it lacks a tail, teeth, meow, fur, paws, etc… how can you tell that it’s a cat? In the same way, for someone to say that they are a Christian, there is a bark and bite to the Christian walk. It’s called holiness, and it consists of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, patience, kindness, all those things found in the list in Galatians 5. It’s all the things that God is. These things set God apart from the world, and they should be what sets the Church apart from the world. This is probably most apparent among our teenagers and those in their younger 20s. You know this, as I speak to you… the pull of the world, with its glitz and glam is alluring. For those of us who have been around a few years, our peers are not all rushing head long into the world. But for you, we know that seemingly all your peers or those you look out on are interested in those things that fulfill the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of possessions. But God says that if He’s set us apart, we’ll have a least a competing desire to serve him with our whole hearts. We’ll touch on another point of application in a moment. In a crowd this size I can only assume that some of you do not know Christ. For those of you who do not know Christ … Jesus Christ has promised to all those who will come that He will take them and set them apart unto Himself. How can this be? Christ, in dying on the Cross, offers a pardon to any and all who will come to Him, repenting of their sin and rebellion towards Him and believing in Him alone as the only way of eternal salvation. Don’t think you need a pardon? Examine Romans 1, or Romans 3:10-12. All people are under God’s just condemnation; today you have been offered this pardon that the Bible tells us is like being born again. Read John 3… Jesus said unless a man be born again, born spiritually through faith and repentance, they will never see the kingdom of God! Never! Christ calls out to you, as I do now… repent and believe. Come to Christ. Join us in being set apart from the world and set apart for a purpose… obedience to Christ, which is our final point of application. D. Because we have been given a purpose through God the Son’s blood, we should live lives that aims to obey God What is the aim of your life? Do you seek to obey God as something you plan doing while you pursue other things? Is godliness just something you want so that you look good and acceptable in front of other church people? But then there are those who claim the name of Christ who have this utterly haunting ability to spend days, weeks, months living, talking, acting, thinking as if God had no say in their individual lives. Is this the way Christians should be acting? Spurgeon said it best: if you would rejoice in Christ’s glory then, He must be glorious in your sight now. If you’re not looking forward to it now, you won’t be happy when it arrives. To those teens , and young people who are here today… we want to do more than pray for you… we want to help you get through it, so that you won’t have to face the truth of Ecclesiastes 11:9 in your last day. Solomon writes in a way that you’ll probably say “YES” to… 9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. I remember cranking the Linkin Park and John Mayer in high school literally to forget God and drown out whatever emotions I was having at that moment with either anger or sorrow. And those moments… I will be held accountable for. This goes equally for parent and child, husband and wife, pastor and layman. I will someday stand before my Maker, and must give account for what I’ve done. This should be an encouragement for us to live with heaven in view. Conclusion : We, as Christians, have been pulled out of our native lands, and though we still live in those lands, we have a homeland where God resides. That is our final, and true home. Do you think about it that way? Do you live as if there’s another home waiting for you? And then, do you live as if God’s action in saving you has any application on your life? Do you practically deny the Lord who foreknew you, who set you apart for himself, who died for you? He didn’t just do this for no reason: He did this to bring you into a covenant, a contract with Him. One that requires your obedience. This is the purpose for which you’ve been saved… for Him, not just from Hell. Do you realize this? Do you rejoice in this? That you get to obey God, instead of being consumed by Him, as you deserved? He hasn’t designed you to live life at arm’s length. He wants you to know Him, not just passing him in the hallway. And as we study Peter, we’re going to discover Who our God truly is, while peeling away what is commonly believed about him but contrary to the Scriptures. And in doing so, I pray that the desire that He placed into your heart at salvation would come to the surface. Next week, we’ll examine the unbridled desire that these Christians had towards their God. Exegetical items to address: 1) clarification of Gentile/Jew audience, 2) clarification of the diaspora and the Roman provinces, 3) clarification of each of the Trinity’s work, 4) clarification of “elect” in light of recent church issues; steer from controversy and towards the text. Expositional items to address: 1) impress upon the congregation the seriousness of our friendship with the world, 2) illustrate this by using an illustration similar to what was used in the intro: i.e. a person who wants to get to know you and become friends with you, and you do so to try to change them. But in the end, they end up changing you, 3) clarify that this doesn’t mean we don’t engage the world. It means that we shouldn’t be conformed to it. 4) In general, speak about how each of these things will be expanded upon by Peter Himself later in the text.

10000000019955 19955 Notes 2009-12-27 18:46:37 2011-04-19 10:15:33 Text : 1 Peter 1:1-2 Title : Chosen Exiles Theme : The nature of election and its bearing on our view of God and of the world Kernel : Although we as believers are strangers in what should be a strange land, we have been chosen by God the Father. In this choosing, we see how He relates to us, and how we should thus relate to the world. Proposition: The Trinity has a part in our whole salvation, described here as election. Introduction : You ever have a relationship where you just didn’t know quite what to do? You know, that person who you just weren’t sure how you should relate. You pass them in the hallway, and exchange glances, maybe nod at each other. But there’s just an awkwardness there. Say at some point, the other person greets you and uses your name. And you wonder, how do they know me? Slowly, the awkwardness begins to fade away as you find out their name, and soon you’re fast friends. In some ways, this mimics our relationship with the Lord, with a key difference: He knows everything about us from the get go, and we know very little about him. Accordingly, as He begins to show how much He knows us, it behooves us to know Him in return. The Apostle Peter, writing here in his first epistle, shows us that knowing God and knowing what He’s done in our lives is the fuel for the Christian life. He doesn’t ask us to believe something blindly and then demand that we live our lives a certain way without good grounds; He tells us to ponder what He has done on our behalf. And in doing so, we’ll find out motivation to live as proof that He exists. OUTLINE I. Introduction II. What does it mean? A. The Description of the Christians (1:1) 1. Elect by God (1:1a) 2. Exiles in the dispersion (1:1b) B. The Nature of the Election (1:2) 1. God the Father foreknew us in a causal way (1:2a) 2. God the Spirit sets us apart for God’s holy service (1:2b) 3. God the Son has been provided as the object of obedience and the provision for the New Covenant (1:2c) III. What is a good illustration of these truths? A. The American church that feels that we should snuggle up real close to the world, instead of realizing that we are exiles B. The life of the Apostle Peter – chosen by God, set apart by Spirit, directed obedience at Christ IV. What does it mean for us today? A. Because we are exiles in the world, we should live as if we’re on our way home. B. Because we have been chosen by God the Father, we shouldn’t boast in our salvation, but instead in Him. C. Because we have been set apart by God’s Spirit, we should live set apart lives. D. Because we have been given a purpose through God the Son’s blood, we should live lives that aim to obey God V. Conclusion BODY OF SERMON I. What does it mean? A. The Description of the Christians Today, when we call each other Christians, we’re actually using a word that was originally meant as a slang word, a slander even for our faith. The earliest Christians called the faith “The Way”… and after the secular world adopted the word 1. Elect by God (1:1a) Peter’s readers are first described as elect… the word means chosen. The Christians that Peter writes to are described as chosen by God. In what way? Do you balk at this… that God has chosen you to be a Christian? Do you bristle against this? And yet, here it is in the Scripture, and no amount of loud preaching about how God chooses everyone will make this verse less powerful. Peter doesn’t want his readers to think of this choosing in this way; he tells them they’re chosen... why? To encourage them in the midst of their trials and persecution. To help them realize that they didn’t pursue God, but instead God pursued them. Think about this… in the midst of a religious culture where every other religion tells you that you must pursue God… here is Christianity, which stands on the shoulders of Judaism… both of which fully affirm that God chooses to save men. Does this election, this choosing, mean that man just needs to sit back and let God do everything in salvation? No… not at all. Here, throughout this book, Peter is going to tell his readers what they, as recipients of God’s amazing grace, should be doing. Nor does this election create a theological battle axe by which many people today do battle in the name of Christ. No, this election is an encouragement, an exhortation to them. Notice the next word… 2. Exiles in the dispersion (1:1b) The next adjective that describes Peter’s readers stands in stark contrast with the first adjective. They’re chosen… strangers? Aliens? Foreigners is probably the best way of looking at this. The word is used for those who are in a place outside of their native birth, or outside of their citizenship. In being chosen by God, our citizenship is transferred from being part of this world to being part of another world… heaven. His readers are from different provinces on the fringes of Roman society in what is modern day Turkey. The use of the word “dispersion” may indicate that Peter’s readers are Jewish. When the Jews were taken into captivity in after the destruction of the first temple in 586 BC, they were scattered across the known world by the Babylonians, either through exile or war. But, as we looked at briefly in our introduction to the book last week, there are a great many more clues that the recipients of this letter are Gentile Christians. Think about the implications of this. Before becoming Christians, these people were integrated with the culture surrounding them. There was no difference, and these provinces were the only home they knew. But when the Gospel reached them, and God saved them through the transfer of righteousness through faith, these people’s homeland was changed. But they stayed in their previous homes! I mean, wouldn’t it be great if the moment any Christian was saved, they’d be taken away to heaven? But what about all those left behind without the knowledge who God was and what He wanted? What about God’s glory being displayed in this world? It is not enough just that God is God… He must be shown to be God to a watching world. And that’s where Christians come in. That’s why we’re chosen exiles. So as exiles, we live in a foreign land, waiting for the time when we will finally go back to the land that is our home. America is not the place the we should be chiefly calling our homeland. We should be looking beyond American, Mexican, Canadian, European, those kinds of distinctions. As God’s people, there are two people groups: those who are God’s, and those who aren’t. And as His people, we’re called to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection for our sins, to a dying world. B. The Nature of the Election (1:2) But Peter doesn’t just leave off by telling them “God has chosen you”… he goes on to describe that choosing, and what part each of the members of Trinity play in our election. To go back to our original analogy, what would knowing that the God of the universe was intimately and totally involved and committed to your salvation do to you? Often times we just live life as if God in no way had a vested interest in us. Others tell us that God is so interested in us that He is going to fulfill our plans, and make us wealthy and successful. But Peter tells us that God does have a universal, eternal interest in people… for His own glory and fame on the earth, and for their own eternal survival. The whole Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit is involved in this. The according to introduces all three members of the Trinity, and explains the manner in which we were elected. We see the source of our election, God the Father, the method of our election, through the Spirit, and the purpose of our election, for obedience to Christ and for sprinkling with His blood. 1. The source of election: God the Father foreknew us in a causal way (1:2a) First, we’re told that our election is according to the foreknowledge of God. Our salvation is sourced in God’s mind. It proceeds from God; the choice is his. Some will argue that the word “foreknowledge” only implies that God knew beforehand that we would choose Him, and that through the tunnel of time, as God looked forward, He saw who would choose Him, and so decided to elect them. To determine what the verse is talking about, we need to look at other uses of this word in the New Testament. In close proximity to this verse is another verse that uses the exact same word: look at verse 20 of this same chapter. The exact same word is used, but to describe God the Father’s relationship with the Son, Christ. Here, the translators of the KJV chose the word “foreordained” for the exact same word in Greek. Did God simply “foreknow” Jesus? No, there was definite intent in God the Father and God the Son for our sake. God didn’t just have a clue that the Son was intending on dying for us… it was their definite plan. In the same way, your salvation wasn’t just God feebly waiting for you to choose Him. No, as we discussed last week, this is the first building block for Peter’s initial argument: your salvation, from beginning to end, is all of God. His foreknowledge is not just passive information that He took in; His foreknowledge is an action, a deliberate choice on His part. What is the basis of His foreknowledge? Well, quite simply, we don’t know. Romans 8 gives us an order that proceeds backwards from our justification… *EXPAND WITH ORDO SOLUTUS*. But we’re not told what lies behind this foreknowledge. We know that this is a choice to know us… but we’re not told what’s beyond that. Your salvation, finally, ultimately has to do with *NEED TO SUMMARIZE* ^^^ 2. The method of election: God the Spirit sets us apart for God’s holy service (1:2b) Now that we’ve seen the source of our election, of our salvation, the next thing is the method by which we’ll be saved: through (in) the sanctification of the Spirit. There’s really two ways of looking at this word sanctification : sanctification can either mean a gradual process by which believer’s are made more holy, which we call progressive sanctification. or it can mean a one-time separation from the world and setting apart to God’s services. In this way, when I say something is sanctified , I mean something that is separated. I believe what Peter is talking about here is the second of the two options: the way in which God has expressed election is by an initial setting apart for His own purposes and pleasure. So God formulated in His mind a plan to save a people for Himself, and He did so by removing those people from the ground zero of His wrath. I’ve said it before, even in this pulpit… you are saved by God from God for God. Think about this… God set you apart for Himself. I remember watching my Mom separate cream off the top of fresh milk, and setting it apart for a separate use apart from the milk. This is the picture of sanctification here. So first, God the Father had this idea of our salvation in His mind, than he enacted it by setting us apart for Himself through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, by coming into your heart at salvation has set you apart from the world and thus the wrath of God. But why? For what purpose have you been set apart? 3. The purpose of election: God the Son has been provided as the object of obedience and the provision for the New Covenant (1:2c) Each of us has been chosen by God, which has in turn been accomplished at our salvation by the Spirit setting us apart for God’s purposes. As we’ll see as we continue in the book, God sees the Church much in the same way that He saw Israel, in that the church fulfills the same role as Israel did in the Old Testament. And what was that role? Two things are mentioned here, both relating to Jesus Christ, the final member of the Trinity. God has set us apart to be obedient to Him and to be in a covenant relationship with Him. The first is explicit in the Greek text… the object of obedience is Jesus Christ. You have been saved for obedience to the words of Jesus Christ found in Holy Scripture. The second phrase here, unto the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, sounds a little odd at first. Peter references the Old Testament numerous times throughout this letter, and I believe that this is the first such reference. Turn back to Exodus 24. Here God confirms the covenant between Himself and Israel at Sinai, and the moment that His covenant is confirmed with Israel is when Moses sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the people. This is probably a reference to the same thing, only with the new covenant. Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25 tell us that Christ’s sacrificial death on the Cross, as signified by His blood, is poured out for us that we might be partakers of the New Covenant. And Hebrews 12:22 tells us that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant through His own sprinkled blood. As such, this phrase means that we’re set aside to obedience to Christ through the New Covenant at the Cross. VI. What is a good illustration of these truths? A. The American church that feels that we should snuggle up real close to the world, instead of realizing that we are exiles In various ways, the church in America seems content to make something besides heaven their homeland, and make something besides the glorious news of the Gospel their message. Thus, there is on the conservative sire The Purpose Driven Life , Your Best Life Now, and The Prayer of Jabez, which speak to finding temporal prosperity in this life for yourself. But curiously absent in each of these is a solid focus on the Gospel as the lifeline for the Christian life. *DEETS* In short, the most popular books from “Christian” authors tell the Christian that they should be pursuing the same thing the world is: significance through prosperity. *LOUD BUZZER NOISE* Wrong. The Church was never, ever designed to mimic the world. Instead, they, we have been called to be separate from the world in our objectives. What are our objectives? Our goals? How do we spend our time and money? Do we have Gospel objectives, goals that relate to glorifying God and highlighting that our lives have been redeemed, or do we have goals that are purely self-serving. B. The life of the Apostle Peter – chosen by God, set apart by Spirit, directed obedience at Christ A few weeks ago, we looked at the life of Peter… and isn’t it true that this looks like his life? In Matthew 4, Peter was called by Jesus Christ into the service of God, along with his brother Andrew. We saw that throughout his time with our Lord, he was seen as a leader among the other apostles. But he was also the first to get his foot stuck in his mouth. In Matthew 16, we find that Peter is the one who declares that Jesus is the Christ. But later in that exact same chapter, Peter is told he’ll deny this same man who he just declared was the Christ. And indeed, this is what happens. Jesus Christ would have had every right to sever Himself from Peter, just as Matthew 10:33 tells us. But instead, what did we find? Jesus restores and reaffirms Peter’s calling in John 22, asking him three times if Peter loves Him. Each time Peter affirms his love, and what is Christ’s response? He tells Peter to feed Christ’s sheep. And this is exactly what Peter does for the rest of his mortal life. Look now at Acts 2… where Peter is set apart by the Holy Spirit for the work of the ministry… for obedience to the commands of Christ. After Pentecost, Peter speaks, empowered by the Spirit. And 3000 people genuinely come to Christ. This isn’t the altar-call mentality where some people mean it and some don’t, and you’ll have to wait and see who was legit and who wasn’t. 3000 people, because Peter was set aside to for obedience to Jesus Christ’s commands. The last couple of times that Peter is mentioned in Scripture shows that he was still obedient to His Lord’s call, and was active in showing others the New Covenant that Jesus created with His blood. In Acts 15, Peter stands at the council of Jerusalem and affirms that in Jesus Christ there is no difference between Gentiles and Jews. Can you imagine what this would be like? Peter, at a crucial point in Church history, steps up and affirms that God has torn down a 1500 year-old wall, reinforcing the unity of God’s one people. And then, throughout his life, he is involved in feeding and bringing the sheep of Christ from the Jews into God’s fold, fulfilling what Christ foretold when He reaffirmed Peter’s faith and gave him the command for his life. *REFINE THIS PARAGRAPH VII. What does it mean for us today? A. Because we are exiles in the world, we should live as if we’re on our way home. I’ve lived in some awesome places that aren’t home. For instance, I really love the city, but it would take quite a bit for it to feel like home to me. Others love the hustle-and-bustle of suburbia, and couldn’t imagine living in a place where they had to travel more than 15 minutes for groceries. In a similar vein, we should be disenchanted with this world when we reflect on Who God is. Why? Because heaven is where God lives, and our utmost joy should be to see Him, because then we will be like Him. Does this mean we disengage from the world and refuse to interact with them? No, we want them to come with us! We are chosen exiles, and we want others to walk with us as exiles, not so that they will be with us, but so that God, who is worthy of the whole world’s worship, may receive the same! What it does mean is that we shouldn’t bank on politics , or social reform, or anything else to save us. The world trusts in these things, because they suppose that their abiding home is here. But we know where our home is, and that this whole world is not destined to be a utopia that man will create, but it is instead reserved for fire! Although the church should partake in the things that protect life and uphold marriage, we should not look to the government as what will save us, in the times when an administration you like or when an administration you dislike is in power. Only Christ will save us. B. Because we have been chosen by God the Father, we shouldn’t boast in our salvation, but instead in Him. A distinction of our fallen human nature is that we boast in ourselves. Our possessions. Our achievements. Who we know. Farthest from the unsaved mind is boasting in God at all… and most certainly they don’t think of boasting in God alone. The next time you have a conversation about the things of God, listen to the pronouns that you and others toss around. Do you hear a lot of first-person pronouns? A lot of “I”, “me”, etc? When you talk about the moment in which you accepted Christ, do you speak as if He was the one that saved you, or as though your decision was what saved you? Or… do you notice that you don’t talk about God very much? Is it all about what you or others are doing, have done, think, without reference to God or what He’s said? At work … what or whom do you boast in? The world tells us that we’re to take pride in our achievements. While it’s true that we should take satisfaction in a job well done, it should be satisfaction with God in mind. In the way you talk to your coworkers, are you showing them that your life is just like theirs in finding satisfaction in your work, or other people, or things? Or are you showing them that your life is massively different by displaying that you really do find satisfaction in knowing and loving God? C. Because we have been set apart by God’s Spirit, we should live set apart lives. Think of it this way: what is so essential to something that, if it doesn’t have that thing, it isn’t that thing? Let me rephrase that… if a cat doesn’t meow, is it a cat? No, because a cat can be defective, and some of us think that all cats are defective. But if it lacks a tail, teeth, meow, fur, paws, etc… how can you tell that it’s a cat? In the same way, for someone to say that they are a Christian, there is a bark and bite to the Christian walk. It’s called holiness, and it consists of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, patience, kindness, all those things found in the list in Galatians 5. It’s all the things that God is. These things set God apart from the world, and they should be what sets the Church apart from the world. This is probably most apparent among our teenagers and those in their younger 20s. You know this, as I speak to you… the pull of the world, with its glitz and glam is alluring. For those of us who have been around a few years, our peers are not all rushing head long into the world. But for you, we know that seemingly all your peers or those you look out on are interested in those things that fulfill the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of possessions. But God says that if He’s set us apart, we’ll have a least a competing desire to serve him with our whole hearts. We’ll touch on another point of application in a moment. In a crowd this size I can only assume that some of you do not know Christ. For those of you who do not know Christ … Jesus Christ has promised to all those who will come that He will take them and set them apart unto Himself. How can this be? Christ, in dying on the Cross, offers a pardon to any and all who will come to Him, repenting of their sin and rebellion towards Him and believing in Him alone as the only way of eternal salvation. Don’t think you need a pardon? Examine Romans 1, or Romans 3:10-12. All people are under God’s just condemnation; today you have been offered this pardon that the Bible tells us is like being born again. Read John 3… Jesus said unless a man be born again, born spiritually through faith and repentance, they will never see the kingdom of God! Never! Christ calls out to you, as I do now… repent and believe. Come to Christ. Join us in being set apart from the world and set apart for a purpose… obedience to Christ, which is our final point of application. D. Because we have been given a purpose through God the Son’s blood, we should live lives that aims to obey God What is the aim of your life? Do you seek to obey God as something you plan doing while you pursue other things? Is godliness just something you want so that you look good and acceptable in front of other church people? But then there are those who claim the name of Christ who have this utterly haunting ability to spend days, weeks, months living, talking, acting, thinking as if God had no say in their individual lives. Is this the way Christians should be acting? Spurgeon said it best: if you would rejoice in Christ’s glory then, He must be glorious in your sight now. If you’re not looking forward to it now, you won’t be happy when it arrives. To those teens , and young people who are here today… we want to do more than pray for you… we want to help you get through it, so that you won’t have to face the truth of Ecclesiastes 11:9 in your last day. Solomon writes in a way that you’ll probably say “YES” to… 9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. I remember cranking the Linkin Park and John Mayer in high school literally to forget God and drown out whatever emotions I was having at that moment with either anger or sorrow. And those moments… I will be held accountable for. This goes equally for parent and child, husband and wife, pastor and layman. I will someday stand before my Maker, and must give account for what I’ve done. This should be an encouragement for us to live with heaven in view. Conclusion : We, as Christians, have been pulled out of our native lands, and though we still live in those lands, we have a homeland where God resides. That is our final, and true home. Do you think about it that way? Do you live as if there’s another home waiting for you? And then, do you live as if God’s action in saving you has any application on your life? Do you practically deny the Lord who foreknew you, who set you apart for himself, who died for you? He didn’t just do this for no reason: He did this to bring you into a covenant, a contract with Him. One that requires your obedience. This is the purpose for which you’ve been saved… for Him, not just from Hell. Do you realize this? Do you rejoice in this? That you get to obey God, instead of being consumed by Him, as you deserved? He hasn’t designed you to live life at arm’s length. He wants you to know Him, not just passing him in the hallway. And as we study Peter, we’re going to discover Who our God truly is, while peeling away what is commonly believed about him but contrary to the Scriptures. And in doing so, I pray that the desire that He placed into your heart at salvation would come to the surface. Next week, we’ll examine the unbridled desire that these Christians had towards their God. Exegetical items to address: 1) clarification of Gentile/Jew audience, 2) clarification of the diaspora and the Roman provinces, 3) clarification of each of the Trinity’s work, 4) clarification of “elect” in light of recent church issues; steer from controversy and towards the text. Expositional items to address: 1) impress upon the congregation the seriousness of our friendship with the world, 2) illustrate this by using an illustration similar to what was used in the intro: i.e. a person who wants to get to know you and become friends with you, and you do so to try to change them. But in the end, they end up changing you, 3) clarify that this doesn’t mean we don’t engage the world. It means that we shouldn’t be conformed to it. 4) In general, speak about how each of these things will be expanded upon by Peter Himself later in the text. notes

Arc

2009-12-27 18:46:37

2011-04-19 10:15:33

editing

1 Peter

1 Peter 1:1-2

NT

tisch

esv

Πέτρος ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκλεκτοῖς παρεπιδήμοις διασπορᾶς Πόντου, Γαλατίας, Καππαδοκίας, Ἀσίας, καὶ Βιθυνίας,

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

κατὰ πρόγνωσιν θεοῦ πατρός,

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,

ἐν ἁγιασμῷ πνεύματος,

in the sanctification of the Spirit,

actionmanner

εἰς ὑπακοὴν καὶ ῥαντισμὸν αἵματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ·

for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

progression

ground

χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη πληθυνθείη.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

discourse

10000000019955 19955 Arc 2009-12-27 18:46:37 2011-04-19 10:15:33 editing 1 Peter 1 1 1 2 1 Peter 1:1-2 60 NT tisch esv i425961 i425962 i425956 Πέτρος ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκλεκτοῖς παρεπιδήμοις διασπορᾶς Πόντου, Γαλατίας, Καππαδοκίας, Ἀσίας, καὶ Βιθυνίας, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, i425963 i425964 i425957 κατὰ πρόγνωσιν θεοῦ πατρός, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, i425958 ἐν ἁγιασμῷ πνεύματος, in the sanctification of the Spirit, actionmanner 1 i425959 εἰς ὑπακοὴν καὶ ῥαντισμὸν αἵματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: progression ground 1 i425960 χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη πληθυνθείη. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 1 1 1 tisch 25 esv 25 a 50 discourse