The Basics, part 2: The Family of God
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Intro:
Intro:
Last week we discussed the background of Peter’s letter to these scattered resident aliens throughout the region of Asia Minor who were in the midst of horrible persecution, governmental turmoil, and societal upheaval. As a matter of a quick refresher, and for those who asked for notes, we talked about:
The call to return to the basics is for all believers
The call to return to the basics is for all believers
Peter was not writing to new converts (alone) 1 Peter 1:1-3 -
This was proven by the testimony of their faith 1 Peter 1:6-9 -
True faith will be tested
Faith that is never practiced is merely theoretical, not practical
Peter was writing to fellow soldiers Acts 5:29-31 - Peter and the disciple’s experience before the Sadducees and Pharisees experiencing persecution
Peter was not writing to new converts (alone) 1 Peter 1:1-3 -
This was proven by the testimony of their faith 1 Peter 1:6-9 -
True faith will be tested
Faith that is never practiced is merely theoretical, not practical
Peter was writing to fellow soldiers Acts 5:29-31 - Peter and the disciple’s experience before the Sadducees and Pharisees experiencing persecution
The call to return to the basics is for all parts of life
The call to return to the basics is for all parts of life
The world has a distorted diet 1 Peter 2:1; Galatians 5:19-21;
Our call to mortify the flesh
Our response to a world calling for validation
The Lord has a divine diet 1 Peter 2:2-3 -
Desire to eat indicates life
We need food, but we nosh on junk
Junk ‘food’ isn’t always obvious as it should be
Some junk is very obvious
But some junk food is cleverly disguised as good stuff. 1 John 4:1-6 -
Some food has good content, but isn’t sufficient for sustenance
The world has a distorted diet 1 Peter 2:1; Galatians 5:19-21;
Our call to mortify the flesh
Our response to a world calling for validation
The Lord has a divine diet 1 Peter 2:2-3 -
Desire to eat indicates life
We need food, but we nosh on junk
Junk ‘food’ isn’t always obvious as it should be
Some junk is very obvious
But some junk food is cleverly disguised as good stuff. 1 John 4:1-6 -
Some food has good content, but isn’t sufficient for sustenance
The call to return to the basics has a prerequisite 1 Peter 2:3 (Application)
The call to return to the basics has a prerequisite 1 Peter 2:3 (Application)
Do I desire the word of God? Do I hunger for it?
Do I guard and protect a time in the word and when I don’t get it, is there a hole, a missing part of my day; a sense of starvation inside me?
Do I hunger for the things of this world more than I hunger for the things of Christ? Where do my affections lie?
Do I desire the word of God? Do I hunger for it?
Do I guard and protect a time in the word and when I don’t get it, is there a hole, a missing part of my day; a sense of starvation inside me?
Do I hunger for the things of this world more than I hunger for the things of Christ? Where do my affections lie?
I. Part of the Family
I. Part of the Family
Of all the things mentioned about Peter in the gospels, of all the things we have come to know about him, one thing I think that gets most overlooked is his understanding and application of Old Testament scriptures. Tonight, as we continue to look at Peter’s encouragement to the church, we are going to take a ride through the old testament seeing God’s truths for believers has not changed, but, in fact, has been fulfilled by Christ and is still relevant for us today. Don’t let anyone fool you by saying that the Old Testament has no value for today because, as we will see through the next several verses, Peter shows us just how intertwined the gospel is throughout the Old Testament narrative and how, in light of Christ, we can understand it in its intended context, looking back and seeing the very nature of God through His will revealed and fulfilled for us all.
Let’s look then at our scripture tonight: 1 Peter 2:4-12
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.
Peter here continues on in his encouragement of the persecuted church by using the promises of the Old Testament as a “welcome” to the family.
Welcome to the Family (1 Peter 2:4-5)
Welcome to the Family - 1 Peter 2:4-5 -
—Psalm 118:22
—Isaiah 28:16
As we look into the passage of scripture, notice how Peter craftily showcases Christ as the main character throughout the old testament. The imagery Peter is using here would be familiar to Jewish converts at the time.
We see this in the Psalms, specifically, Psalm 118:22
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
Here in this Psalm, the congregation would have repeated this line and used it during the Passover celebration as a part of a collection of Psalms 113-Psalm 118 - known as the Egyptian Hallel, specifically praising God and used primarily to commemorate the Passover.
It was a call to remembrance of who God is as the top, the capstone, of our spiritual house.
Look also at Isaiah 28:16
therefore thus says the Lord God,
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
In this passage, again, familiar to the Jewish converts, God is dealing with those who have turned from Him, making a covenant with death, and is assuring all that He, that is God, has a redemptive plan through the promised Messiah that will endure no matter what.
God has made a way, God has made it happen, and no matter what rejection or turning from God anyone tries to do, it does no damage, it cannot alter, it will not stop God’s plan for redemption! And it didn’t.
As a side note, one of the funny things we have been discussing in our Sunday School class is the fact that the Muslims have walled up the Eastern Gate going into Jerusalem and have put a graveyard just outside its walls. Why? Because they hear that Jesus, upon His return, will be coming through there and since Jewish people can’t be around dead things, they are going to stop Him. And if he manages to get through the graveyard, well good luck, Maker of all heaven and earth, getting through our concrete and stone! That’ll show you. It’s preposterous!
I say it is preposterous, but in all truth, we do the same thing. We are just as guilty. Jesus know’s my every thought, He sees the most inward part of man…but not while I’m hiding in the dark with my sin! Not if no church members are around as a witness! We know! WE KNOW that God is at work in, through, and around us, He sees us as we are, yet we still run back to our sin thinking in some human way we can hide them from the Almighty. But that is another sermon for another time.
But God still works His plan through, and in spite of, we the sinners in His charge. Praise God that it isn’t up to me! If it were, we would all be lost! But God, in His infinite wisdom, laid out a plan of redemption from the very foundations of time and set it into motion to fulfill His purposes in your heart and in mine. God’s plan, from the beginning was Christ as the capstone, the cornerstone, the one in whom the entire building of faith relies upon! And this would have been perfectly clear to the Jewish believers of this time. They knew it! They saw it, and they worshipped God because of it.
But for those who were not students of the Torah, who did not know the writings of the prophets, and who did not sing the songs of Jewish traditions, this was a way of including them in. It was a new concept that they would easily be able to accept, even without the rich history and understanding of Jewish tradition. What they would know, or would have been taught, is that Jesus, Himself, referenced this imagery and the corresponding verses.
In the synoptic Gospels (Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10-11, Luke 20:17), Jesus refers to this passage from Isaiah, the same one Peter references in our text, after giving the parable of the tenants. If you are not familiar with that parable, Jesus is telling the pharisees about a landowner who sends out two sets of servants to the tenants he leased his vineyard to, and the tenants killed them. So the landowner sends his son thinking, “they will honor my son”, but when the see him they throw him out and kill him as well. Then Jesus asks the question to the Pharisees, “what will the landowner do to the tenants when he returns?” The pharisees say that the landowner will surly put them to death for all the evil they have done and lease the vineyard to those who will give him the fruit in their season.
Do you see what Jesus is doing here? If you do, you are a step ahead of the Jewish leaders of that day! He’s telling them exactly what they have done (killing the prophets), what they are doing (rejecting Jesus, plotting His demise), and what they will do (set Jesus up to be crucified)! Then, as he continues in the latter part of those verses, He calls back to this particular reference in the Old Testament and questions them saying “Have you not heard?”
The signs throughout the Old Testament were evident that Jesus was the coming Messiah. He is the stone that the builders, the Pharisees, the people of God, the Jewish nation, the “tenants” if you will, had rejected, threw out, and had crucified!
For the gentile Christians of this time, they would have understood about Jesus being the Messiah, but may not have fully grasped its full concept or the full context of what that means or meant to someone who had been raised in the Jewish tradition.
This marks the stark difference between understanding there was a Jesus and just exactly who Jesus was and is.
For the believers in these congregations, scattered and persecuted, there would have been no better encouragement than to understand that Jesus was the stone that the builders rejected, the one promised of God. The one whom others failed to see, cast Him off, and despised Him, only to be placed at the top of the house of God as the capstone, the head of the corner, the most integral part of the building.
This was truly a welcoming into the family of God. His own rejected Him, but you have received Him to your blessing.
See 1 Peter 2:6
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.”
Those who believed in Jesus will not be put to shame. He is the head, He is their hope, He is the joy in their suffering! And they, like living stones, are now being built up into HIS house. They have their part with Him forever!
The honor was for them! They believed! Look at 1 Peter 2:7
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,”
Old and New Testament, the Prophets telling about the Messiah, who then refers to those prophets to tell of Himself.
Truly this was a blessed welcome for all of those who, at one point, would have been shunned from the faith, for those who, now because of their faith, have been tossed aside. Here a group of people who were scattered aliens in the region, for all intents and purposes homeless, they are being told that they have a true home built specifically for them and in it, they are to be a home for the homeless. It is as if Peter is telling them “Welcome into the Family!”
Warning to the Faithless
Warning to the Faithless - 1 Peter 2:7-8
But not only is this a welcome to the family, an encouragement for all who believe, both Jew and Gentile, but it is also a Warning to the Faithless. 1 Peter 2:7-8
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.
The honor was for those who believe and they were to be encouraged by that, but for those outside of the faith, those who rejected the Messiah, He would forever be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
—The honor was for those who believe; but for those outside of the faith, the Messiah would forever be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
I read that it was Chuck Norris’ 84th birthday on Sunday. 84! I couldn’t believe it. And in that reading I found that he had written a book about all the funny sayings about him over the years. His personal favorite about his birth was that “Chuck Norris was born in a log cabin that he built with his own hands.” That one was pretty good. So I looked up the book and I was reading the reviews and found this to be pretty interesting. Most of the reviews of the book were good, but what most people had a problem with was the amount of “bible thumping” and “Jesus stuff” that Chuck put into his book. You seek Chuck Norris is an outspoken believer in Christ. Now, I don’t claim to know of what persuasion he might be, but what I did find interesting is that the one thing that people found “offensive” was Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:18
For the lost and defiant in this world, they can only tolerate Christ so much as they can control Him. That has never changed, and most likely never will. 1 Cor. 1:18
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For those who are perishing, without Christ, without hope, the preaching of the Cross is foolishness. They can’t understand it. It makes no sense. But for us who are being saved, who are being built up into a spiritual household of faith, to us it is the power of God. It was the same for the Jews at this time. They were so locked in to their tradition and their works that the thought of salvation through a crucified Christ was unthinkable to them. Look with me at:
Romans 9:30-33
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
The Jews in Jesus’ day were looking for salvation because of their good works. They expected a reward for their own piety and self-righteousness. Today, the lost in this world are constantly searching and striving to gain their own salvation through the work of their hands, through their deeds, as if it is something that can be obtained. Here in our passage and made clear in Romans 9:32-33, we see that the world is constantly at odds with scripture because they do not come to the cross broken and helpless, in need, but rather they come to the cross with their works as if it were owed to them, haughty and expecting everything for literally nothing.
And because of this, the cross of Christ causes them to stumble, it offends them. They cannot reconcile their works and the need for faith in God and belief upon His Son, the sacrificial lamb that takes away the sins of the world!
So here, in verses 6-8, we have seen that Peter is using old testament truths to encourage and include new testament believers. He’s echoing the words of Jesus and including them in the family of faith, bringing them into the centuries of tradition with a more complete understanding of who God is and what His redemptive plan for them has been all along. And now, as he continues in his encouragement to the believers in the midst of their persecution, he begins to explain to them that because of God’s plan and His redemption of them, who exactly they are. Peter tells them that not only are they part of the family, but with that comes the fullness of the pedigree associated with that wonderful inclusion.
II. Pedigree of the Family
II. Pedigree of the Family
Chosen by God
Chosen by God - 1 Peter 2: 4b, 9a
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
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.
If you thought the ride through the Old Testament was over, tighten your seatbelts, because it is just beginning.
Back up in v.4, Peter, referring to Jesus, mentioning that He is “the living stone”, “chosen and precious”, and then here, in v.9, Peter is using the same language to encourage the believers that they, too, are chosen by God.
The truth of being chosen by God is one that should encourage the very heart of every believer, but in truth, it is not easily grasped. Look at:
The truth of being chosen by God is one that should encourage every believer
—Deuteronomy 10:14-15
Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.
Think about that for a moment: The God who owns all of heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the earth and ALL that is in it. Is there anything left out? Is there anything that God needs or desires or has lack of? NO! God has it all, but, and I love this word, “YET”, Yet the Lord has set His heart on you! Peter is giving the biggest ego boost anyone could imagine as he continues to weave these New Testament believers into these Old Testament truths! What more could you ask for than to be loved by the God who could literally choose anything else in this world to set His affections on?
Let this truth sink in:
God doesn’t “need” us. God “wants” us!
This always reminds me of middle school gym. You remember those days? Picking teams for basketball, watching everyone else get picked, all the athletes, the tall kids, the foreign exchange student that has never seen a basketball, the girls, that one kid on crutches… and then finally, they get to the last pick and they are left with the scrawny kid who couldn’t dribble, me! I showed them though, now I’m fat and can’t dribble. Take that, middle school gym class!
But God doesn’t see us that way. He doesn’t look at us and say, “OH, that one has great potential” “That one is smart” “That one is funny”, NO! He chooses us based on what He wants, who He wants, for His purposes and His purposes alone. Let me reassure you that you and I have absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing that God would want or desire in and of ourselves. There is nothing particularly special or super about us as we were apart from Christ. We were sinners! We were lost. We were God’s enemy! Yet, Romans 5:8 -
—Romans 5:8
—Ephesians 2:8-9
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
We have no claim on our salvation aside from the fact that God loved us and CHOSE us. We are, if you remember the prerequisite from last week in 1 Peter 2:3 “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” , nothing without Christ!
The truth of being chosen by God is one that should not be taken lightly
The truth of being chosen by God is one that should not be taken lightly
There is a required response, rather and expected response to being chosen by God. Look back again at the passage in Deuteronomy 10, but lets look just a couple verses further:
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.
While I understand that this may be sensitive language for today, for the readers of Deuteronomy, it was clearly understood! This is a covenantal response. Remove that stubbornness and cast it far from you! Being chosen by God, what other response should we have? We should fall down on our faces before Him and live our lives as an offering of thankfulness, as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2) because it is our reasonable act of worship. It is the only reasonable response we have!
Though still, we see that even believers in the New Testament struggled with this concept. Acts 7:51
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must understand the gravity of being chosen by the God of all creation. It should draw us to repentance and rejoicing in His name and for His glory.
As much as I would like for us to stay here and camp out on this magnificent concept, we must move on, but we should do so with the understanding that THAT very understanding drives the rest of what we see here in v. 9. We looked at believers being chosen by God, now Peter is telling them that they have also been commissioned by God. Look again at 1 Peter 2:9
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.
Commissioned by God
Commissioned by God 1 Peter 2:9b -
Here, the believers are hearing what can seem to be an oxymoron, two words that don’t seem like they should go together, like Jumbo Shrimp, Virtual Reality, or Government Organization (Military intelligence) the list goes on. In this context, the reader would see both the word “Royal”, or rather, the original form “Kingdom” and would have understood it as the highest station, but then juxtaposed to the word “Priesthood” who, by definition in 1 Chronicles 23:24-32, were to be servants of the house of God.
So how then are they to be both royal by station, and servants by nature? Isaiah answers that in Isaiah 61:5-7
Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
Isaiah 61:5-7
In this sense, God is telling the people, and Peter, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that they have been called by God to be His royal envoy, proclaiming His name.
They, and we by our common connection and call in Christ, have been given a royal seal to carry with us. We have the duty of preaching and teaching the word of God, but not in our own power and cleverness, not in our own strength, but with the backing and authority of God Himself!
We are commissioned for the task of being the royal priesthood of God, even in the midst of dangerous trials, dire consequences, and dramatic circumstances.
Our commission never ends, it is never revoked, and we are never at liberty to retire until we are called home by the master. Friends, we may be able to retire for our profession, from our position, but never from our priestly calling. If we are named with the name of Christ, we are a royal priesthood, backed by the King of Kings, to proclaim His kingdom until He comes. May we be found faithful to that calling.
But that calling is not a calling of isolation. As we see here in the next section of our verse, we are not only Chosen by God and Commissioned by God, but we are also a part of the Community of God:
Community of God - 1 Peter 2:9c
Community of God
This is the second time in this short passage that Peter has reassured them that they were not alone. Back up in the first part of our chapter Peter tells them that they are all being built up into a spiritual house.
This need for encouragement is a natural tendency for all who face opposition or persecution, and often, it is just good to hear that we are not alone.
In 1 Kings 19, Elijah had defeated the prophets of Baal, mocked them, and slew them all with the sword. But then the woman, Jezebel, finds out and comes after him and he runs and hides, afraid for his life. I’ll leave that part alone…But in chapter 19, Elijah is hiding in a cave, fearing for his life, and when God asks him what he is doing, he tells God in v. 14: 1 Kings 19:14
He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
In the midst of persecution, surely the persecution that the believers in Asia Minor must have endured, there is a temptation to feel and to think that you are all alone. No one is doing for God what you are doing. but the truth is something quite different. If you continue reading those verses in 1 Kings you will see that Elijah, no matter how he felt, or how it seemed, was not at all alone. In fact, God names 3 guys who would set up and defend Elijah, Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha, and then God tells him that he will spare all of those, the seven-thousand that have not bowed their knee to Baal or kissed him.
Elijah was never alone, God had seven-thousand more who had not bowed their knee, who had not turned away from serving Him, still working and sacrificing for the Lord.
We get so enraptured with being the hero of our own story sometimes that we forget that we are a part of a community of believers who are working and serving the Lord alongside us, praying with us, praying for us. We are truly a holy nation of believers before the Lord.
But the enemy wants to blind us from that with division and enmity and strife. Conflict among the brethren because if we truly, finally realize who we are and to whom we belong, there can be no stopping us.
And in this community of God, if we stop and take a look at ourselves, we will find that we are to have the:
Characteristic of God 1 Peter 2:9d -
Characteristic of God
I learned this passage of scripture, memorized it, in the King James Version, so I’m not ashamed to say that in this particular instance, I really like the wording that is used here:
“…a peculiar people,” - Peculiar. What a wonderfully apt word to describe the people of God! The word means: “Strange, odd, or unusual” If you don’t believe that fits the kingdom of God, just take a minute to look around this room! Go ahead, I’ll wait. It won’t take you long. Just please refrain from finger pointing and elbow jabbing…
All kidding aside, to the outside world, if we are displaying the very characteristics of God, we portray what we are, what we are called, “Little Christs”, as the term Christian was coined in the book of Acts, we will be vastly different than they are and to them, yes, a bit peculiar.
Consider these believers here in Asia Minor that Peter is writing to: They were misunderstood, misrepresented, and mocked and some even martyred for their faith. The world did not and could not understand them.
If we are to be named with Christ, we will be distinctively different from the world. Look at John 15:19, Jesus is speaking to the disciples and reassures them that:
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
John 15:19
We are not called to be friends with the world. We are not called to conform to this world, in fact, we are called NOT to conform to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:1-2).
So being peculiar is a distinctive that should be named among Christians, but not for peculiarities sake, but for the name of Christ. If you are peculiar just because you are odd, that is all on you.
So, now that we know where we belong as a Part of the Family, and who we are in our Pedigree of the Family, we have to ask, Why? What purpose are we called for these things? What should we be doing? Which brings us to our application this evening:
III. Purpose of the Family
III. Purpose of the Family
Peter just comes out and tells them. He holds nothing back. If they haven’t gotten fired up about where they belong and who they are to this point, their wood is soaking wet.
Peter answers the questions in v. 9,
why are we here: To show forth the praises of Him!
Him Who? “Who has called you out of darkness”
Where did He call us to? “Into His marvelous light!”
Peter answers the questions in v. 9,
Why are we here: “To show forth the praises of Him! “
Him Who? “Who has called you out of darkness”
Where did He call us to? “Into His marvelous light!”
This preaches itself! It is plain! There is no need for me to pontificate on this! This is who you are, believer, this is what you are to be doing, why? Because God Himself is worthy of all blessing and honor and glory, He is worthy of all praise because He, through no good of your own, called us, while we were still sinners bound for hell, enemies of God, He called us for His purposes to build us up into a spiritual house, held together by His Son, the capstone, our very Savior Jesus Christ.
Hosea 2
If that alone doesn’t give us the unction to praise Him, if it doesn’t stir something inside of us it is because we have forgotten, we’ve missed it. In that case, Peter, as he craftily does, reminds us, again of Old Testament scripture in verse 10, calling back to Hosea 2 where God says once you did not obtain Mercy (lo-ruhama), but now I will show you mercy (ruhama), once you were not a people (lo-ammi) but now you are a people (ammi). If you are unfamiliar with the Old Testament book Hosea, I encourage you to read it all the way through as it is a powerful depiction of the anguish caused by our sin and how God restores us. It is a picture of our sinful hearts, like Gomer, and how we run from God, as represented by Hosea, back to our sin.
Peter is telling the believers here in Asian Minor, and through the work of the Holy Spirit, us today, that our cause for joy, our cause to endure, our cause to praise is found expressly in the fact that once we, like the children of Gomer, had not obtained mercy, we were lost and dying in our sins and therefore were not a people of God. We were Lo-ruhama, and Lo-ammi, but now, in Christ we have found ruhama (Mercy), and we are ammi (the people of God).
This truth should carry us through whatever hardship, whatever circumstance whatever call we have on our lives because our God and King has redeemed us for His glory and honor.
As we look further down in verses 11-12, Peter again calls the reader, those persecuted and exiled believers in Asia Minor, and us to the Old Testament scriptures in Isaiah 10:3 -
Before we see that scripture, however, look at what Peter is telling the reader:
He isn’t telling them wage war against your oppressors,
He isn’t saying, this will all pass away. NO! Look at what He says: 1 Peter 2:11 “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
They aren’t waring against the people wanting to kill them and who mock them. But rather their own flesh is betraying them, waging war against them.
Peter tells them to abstain! Cast it off! Don’t give into it! The flesh is our greatest enemy.
What should we do then, Peter, about those surrounding us? 1 Peter 2:12 “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.”
Do what is right! Keep your conduct honorable. Don’t lash out!
Listen, it is understandable that, in the flesh we want to repay evil for evil but we mustn’t do so!
Peter tells the readers here keep your conduct honorable. Why?
Because there will be a reckoning.
All the evil done to you, all the mockery, and all the persecution endured for His name’s sake, it will all come back on them in the day of visitation and they will have no other choice but to glorify God in their judgement.
In Isaiah 10 the prophet gives a pretty scathing description of what will happen on that day and asks them “What will you do?”
What will you do on the day of punishment,
in the ruin that will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?
There is no escape from judgement for those who have rejected Christ apart from Christ alone. And in those days when they stand before a holy God and account for their sins, the best they will be able to do is to glorify God because they saw true faith worked out among His people and yet, they still remained dead in their sins.
Here, Peter is encouraging the believers that, if for no other purpose, in the midst of your persecution, on the most difficult of days, comfort yourselves with the fact that even through the judgement of your oppressors, God will receive glory. And that, above all else, is our purpose.
So tonight, as we wrap up, let me leave you with a couple of points of application:
Application
Application
Do you know where you belong?
Are you a part of the family of God, have you been welcomed in as one of His children? If not, let me say to you that right now, that God, creator of the universe, owner of Heavens and the Heavens of heavens, wants you, He’s calling you to come to Him, to be His people, called for His purpose, into a new hope and a new life. If that is you, no matter what people think, no matter what history you have or station you have enjoyed, God wants you to leave it all behind and come to HIm. He is worthy.
On this topic of election, it is said that a lady approached Charles Spurgeon after one of his sermons on the subject and questioned him asking, “How can I know if I am of the elect?”, to which he replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Then you are part of the elect.”
It is as simple as that. If you have never tasted that the Lord is good, the call is to you, God will draw you to Himself. If you have any inkling of a desire to submit to Him, that is not of yourself, it is of God, for we have nothing in us that desires anything but our own sinful nature. God calls, God draws, if that is you, heed His call.
Maybe you are here and you are facing a battle, you feel all alone, like you are the only one standing for Christ. Maybe you are weary from the work well done for the Lord. Let me reassure you, there is an entire family of faith ready to link arms with you in practice and in prayer as we show forth the praises of our God and King. You are not alone. And as a part of this family, we want to stand with you, to lift up your arms, to join with you in the fight, to strengthen an encourage you. Don’t rob us of the blessing of the opportunity to do so.
Finally, if it has been a long time since you have been encouraged by the word of God, the work of God, or your walk with God, go back over this encouragement from 1 Peter, claim it for yourself, and begin to live encouraged even in the midst of great tribulation. Get back to the basics of our faith, desiring the word, and living as God has called you, chosen for you to live.
Are you a part of the family of God, have you been welcomed in as one of His children?
Are you facing a battle, feeling alone in your walk like you are the only one serving?
Are you in need of encouragement from God’s word, in His work, or in your walk?