All the Difference in the World

I wonder what people think / say when you tell them you go to church?

Because you’re religious.

Family religious - so followed them.

Or came to it later in life.

It’s just what you do - like going to the football, crafting, going out for coffee with friends - a ritual.

It’s where your friends are.

A good place to connect with people - a social club.

Where you find your emotional support from people.

Grain of truth in all of these, but miss what NT says church is all about.

Problem is - if we are not clear on what church is all about, and why we are here - then we drift into the world’s view of the church.

Those of us with a car, or maybe a gas boiler, will ensure they are regularly serviced, so anything that is starting to go wrong can be put right.

In the same way, because we can easily forget our basic identity as Christians, we need to remind ourselves frequently, seriously, and thoroughly who we really are.

If not, what they world says about us will eat away at the church like rust eats away at our car.

Peter writes to small groups of Christians scattered across ancient Turkey.

As he begins letter, he wants them to be clear about what it means to be the church:

1 Peter 1:1-2

1 Peter 1:1–2 NLT

This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.

MESSAGE NOTES

They are God’s chosen people

1 Peter 1:1 NLT

This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

Peter wants to encourage the church.

They are God’s chosen people.

He loves them.

2,000 or so years later, we should understand this.

But at the time, this would have been astonishing.

Israel was God’s chosen people.

Peter is primarily writing to Gentiles - those who were not part of the chosen people of God.

How could they be God’s chosen people?

The answer: Jesus.

Jesus had shown Peter that everyone who belonged to the Messiah, the Son of God, were chosen as God’s people.

God had known them from all eternity, just as he knew the Jews.

Their inclusion as the chosen people of God wasn’t Plan B, it was Plan A.

It was God’s purpose from the beginning.

They received the same salvation, same Holy Spirit’s power.

This is not something for the church to wave under the noses of those who don’t yet know God.

“We’re chosen, you’re not”.

It is to bring the church comfort.

This is to assure believers of God’s steadfast love for them.

We can represent this visually through some red dots

Slide: Dots Gathered

Red dots show the church in UK.

Around 6 percent. of people worship in a Christian church once a month or more.

Not many, but significant.

When we gather in worship like this, we do so to remind ourselves who we are and what we believe.

We believe the world is God’s - he created it.

We believe it’s broken - because of sin.

We believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection means new life is possible.

We believe that one day, everything will be transformed.

That is a distinct story about the world that those around us do not believe.

We are red dots.

And we gather to strengthen and encourage each other to be who we are:

God’s chosen people.

They are living as foreigners

1 Peter 1:1 NLT

This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

Peter is not saying they are living where they are against their will, as the word exiles used in some translations might suggest.

Greek word - parepidemois (para-pee-demos) = those living temporarily in a foreign land.

They are living in the world as foreigners because their real home is in heaven.

They are only on earth temporarily.

Mum / certain age! / Jim Reeves:

This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue; The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

As the church in Jerusalem began to be persecuted, so Christians scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, and then beyond.

And as they scattered, they preached the Word wherever they went, resulting in Jews and Gentiles all over the world hearing and believing the message.

And as a result of their relationship with God through faith in Christ, they remained outside of everything in this world.

That’s where we find ourselves:

At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all of the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in. (C.S. Lewis)

We are also scattered, living as foreigners wherever we find ourselves this time tomorrow - amongst the grey dots

Slide: Dots Scattered

We don’t spend all of our time together.

We don’t spend all of our time with fellow Christians.

We may be the only disciples of Jesus at home, work, in our class, amongst our friends, in our neighbourhood, in the places we socialise.

Now our red dots are scattered.

These are the places we are called to shine:

Philippians 2:14–16 NLT

Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.

These are our frontlines.

The everyday places where we live, work, study, or play.

And it’s these places where we are likely to connect with people who aren’t Christians.

We are all the scattered people of God.

We all have frontlines.

The most important thing we can do on our frontline is to obey God

1 Peter 1:2 NLT

God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.

Slide: Dots Scattered

As you look at picture, it’s obvious It is absolutely vital that we don’t grey out.

Lights don’t dim.

Don’t lose saltiness.

Don’t lose our distinctiveness.

Don’t become the same as the surrounding culture.

We should ensure we are obeying God by regarding the pursuits of this world as foreign to us.

The need for more and more possessions.

The quest for achievements and wordly success.

The pursuit of sinful pleasure.

We are just passing through.

We must live as foreigners in a world of rebels against God.

We are the people of God in the world.

Because we are chosen by God, cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and made holy by the Holy Spirit, our lives are to be radically different to those around us.

The people on your frontlines - in your homes, amongst your friends, your work colleagues, your school and college friends, your neighbours, and your social contacts should all recognise you are a Christian and a Salvationist by your different lifestyle.

Over the next couple of months, we will explore what that means for us wherever we are, whatever we do, and whoever we are.

Slide: Dots Scattered and Gathered

We are red dots that gather together like this to strengthen one another as a distinct people.

We are red dots that scatter - to many different places with many different people.

We are God’s chosen people, living as foreigners in the world.

And we can make all the difference in the world.

Video - FS Service 1 - Subtitled

Video - FS Service 1 - Subtitled | 1:00