Chosen and Set Apart: Embracing Our Identity in Christ
Notes
Transcript
Handout
This morning we are beginning a study of the first letter of Peter.
Before we look at the first two verses, let’s look at some background of the letter.
We will look at three aspects of this letter to start.
1. Background
The majority accept this letter as being written by the Apostle Peter.
Some claim the Greek wasn’t what Peter would have been capable of writing but that doesn’t mean the letter isn’t from Peter. It was common to have a secretary for these letters. We see this in the Pauline epistles as well. Using a secretary easily explains why the Greek is more that what you would expect from a Galilean fisherman.
While some argue that this could not have been written by Peter for several reasons. None of those reasons are really strong enough to say it was by someone else writing in Peter’s name. Silvanus, who we read about later in the letter, is considered to be the person who carried this personal letter to the recipient churches. If he did in fact carry this letter, how would he hand it over to the people without telling them it wasn’t written by Peter, as the letter claims.
The date of the letter would be between 57 AD and 67 AD.
Scholars are pretty sure that Peter was not in Rome in 57. However, Peter was put to death in Rome in 65 to 67 AD. If Peter wasn’t in Rome in 57 AD but was there in 65, it is certain this letter would have been written between those dates. Actually earlier that 65 since we have a second letter from Peter written after the first and this second letter would have to be prior to his death.
Why do we say Rome is where he was when writing the letter?
The main reason we think it was written in Rome is because of the ending of the letter; specifically verse 13. Peter writes about being in Babylon with Mark. This is considered to be a way of identifying where he was without actually stating that he was in Rome.
With this background in mind. let’s read the opening to Peter’s letter.
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as strangers, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
2. Chosen and Strangers
Peter starts out acknowledging our dual identity.
We are both chosen by God as well as foreigners or strangers in this world. The word used for “strangers” means a person from a foreign land who enters another country to reside with those people on a temporary basis.
Those who are scattered were the Jews who were scattered out of Israel into foreign lands. Specifically these lands were in the northern part of what is now Turkey. Clearly these people are not in their own land and therefore can be considered strangers.
But there are also people from this area who were in these early churches. Their birthplace might have been in those lands but those were no longer their homes.
Just like Peter’s ending in the letter, those in the church were in Babylon and not in their permanent homes which will be heaven.
Why does this matter to us? Because we too are living in Babylon and not in our homeland. If you ask a kid in the military where they are from, they typically ask what you mean. Do you mean their home of record, where they were born, where the moved from or what. Military kids move a lot and home means different things at different times.
If I were to ask you where you were from, you would most likely tell me Johnson City. You might tell someone else that you were from TN. If you were traveling out of country, you might tell someone from the US, though your accent would most likely have given that away.
However, if we were to be truthful, our home is in heaven with God since we have been chosen by Him to be His people, His children. We might reside here but this is just temporary because one day we will be home.
We are both chosen and strangers at the same time.
3. Foreknown and Sanctified
And we were chosen by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The text says we are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Foreknowledge is often misunderstood or misused.
We tend to rely upon English in understanding this word. Typically “foreknowledge” means that that knowledge was known before it ever happened. When we apply it this way to God, we are saying that God knew what we would do before we ever did it. While that is perfectly true, it does not apply when we are talking about our salvation.
If we use foreknowledge in this manner, we would explain that God chose us because He knew that in the future we would choose Him. In other words, Him choosing us was dependent on us choosing Him. Our being chosen has nothing to do with us choosing or seeking God.
God chose us based upon His eternal wisdom, His mercy and His righteousness. If we are asked why we are Christian and we start to answer with the statement, “Because I” or something similar, we are wrong. We are not Christian because of anything we have done. We are Christian because of the mercy of the righteous and sovereign God. The only answer about us being saved must always start off with, “Because God chose me.”
Our salvation starts with God’s choice and then moves to the Spirit’s work. This process is what we refer to as sanctification. Sanctification is also God’s work. It is the Holy Spirit working in us, making us holy, making us more Christ-like.
If you have ever baked a cake and then fed it to company. No one there would say that cake baked itself. That may sound silly to you but think about it. Have you ever seen a cake mix itself, turn on the oven and then bake itself after which is then puts the frosting on itself? It is impossible.
Sanctification is a process that is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit works in our lives to separate us from our old life, from our old ways, make us holy to God so that we learn to obey Christ better.
Peter gives us a couple of reasons why God chose us. One is to serve Him. That means we have to become obedient to Him. How do we know what we must do to obey Him? The Spirit helps us to learn about Christ and then know what Christ calls us to do.
Another reason is to “be sprinkled with His blood.” Being sprinkled by His blood would bring three things to their minds. First, when Moses sprinkled the Hebrew people to be the covenant people belonging to God. Second when Aaron and his sons were sprinkled to be the priests of Israel. Third was when a leper had been cleansed, they were sprinkled with blood to show they had been cleansed.
Why are we Christians? Why does being in Christ really mean so much?
I think it is has so much meaning because it says that the sovereign God chose us. God wanted us and out of His mercy and love He chose us to be His. He then gave us His Spirit so that we could be made holy, set apart for a life different than the fallen world. He gave us His Spirit to work in us to do the work that we cannot do ourselves.
In setting us apart, we are to be obedient to Christ and we have been sprinkled with His blood to show we are set apart, that we have been cleansed, made right with God.
Being obedient to Christ means we follow God and not the world. Our ways are to be guided by the life Christ lived, the law and teaching the Bible gives us. And this teaching is vastly different than anything the world teaches.
Our invitation hymn will be “Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound.” It is this amazing grace that allows us to live, that allows us to be foreigners in this foreign and fallen land, waiting till we have been at home for 10,000 years.
Let’s pray.
