Flyover
Notes
Transcript
Flyover
Flyover
Introduction
From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those temporarily residing abroad (in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, and Bithynia) who are chosen
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by being set apart by the Spirit for obedience and for sprinkling with Jesus Christ’s blood. May grace and peace be yours in full measure!
Flyover State
In our Tuesday night bible study, we’ve been looking at all of the letters of the New Testament, and breaking them down into their individual parts, and then comparing them to each other. So we’re looking at the opening greeting in Romans, and comparing it with what the opening greeting of 1 Corinthians, and 1 peter, and 2 peter.
And what we’re discovering as we do this, is that you can learn a lot from these opening sections of letters
A lot of times, we tend to just breeze right over them, but there’s a lot to be learned from even reading just the flyover passages.
If you want to learn more about that, come by our Tuesday night bible study.
If Tuesday night doesn’t work for you, and you’re interested in starting your own small group bible study at your house come find me because I will put together materials for you facilitate bible studies at your home. And my hope is that you’ll invite your friends and family so that your home becomes an extension of the church.
If you don’t want to study that, let me know, and I’ll set you up.
Transition
If you have your bibles, turn with me to 1 peter, chapter 1. Verses 1 and 2
We’re jumping back in to our series on the book of 1st peter we’re calling “Scattered” How God’s people survive and thrive in exile.
And last week we spent some time talking about this concept of being a “scattered church”
God’s people are specifically scattered around the world, both geographically, and spiritually. We’re living in a world that it not our home. A world that is under the dominion of evil
And we’re here for the purpose of gathering people to Christ.
The church was meant to operate as an insurgent group, operating behind enemy lines. That’s what it means to be a “scattered church” living in the world.
And as we continue on our series this morning, I want to look a little more closely verses 1 and 2 again as peter opens up his letter to the churches.
Because peter packs a lot into these 2 verses.
We’re going to spend the entire time this morning breaking down these two verses. If you have
I want to read it to you in the NET translation, which is what i typically use to preach from. It words it a little bit differently, but it also brings out quite a bit from the passage.
From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those temporarily residing abroad (in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, and Bithynia) who are chosen
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by being set apart by the Spirit for obedience and for sprinkling with Jesus Christ’s blood. May grace and peace be yours in full measure!
Roadmap
There’s 5 things I want you to notice about how peter describes the people he’s writing this letter to
He describes them as being chosen
Your translation might say Elect
And we’re going to talk this morning about what exactly that means
He describes their status as being done “According to the foreknowledge of God”
Set apart by the Holy Spirit.
A lot of translations say something like “sanctified” by the HS, or through the “sanctification” of the Holy Spirit
Sanctification is a big fancy church word.
And we’re going to talk about that
we’re set apart specifically to be obedient to Jesus
We’re sprinkled by his blood
And we’re going to talk about what that means.
Point
Statement
From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those temporarily residing abroad (in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, and Bithynia) who are chosen
...who are chosen...
Explanation
Your Bible translation might say “to the elect”
NRSV says to those who are “chosen and destined”
NLT says God “knew you you and chose you”
You are, as Christians, Chosen by God.
In other words, they would say, God decides who is going to be a follower, and who is not.
Two things,
Number 1,
That is not my position, it’s not my understanding of the text
That’s not the position of the elders of this church
Number 2, I don’t look down on anyone who looks at this verse and comes to that conclusion
It’s not a test of faith, you aren’t required to believe our particular interpretation of what peter means by “chosen” or “elect” here.
Your salvation doesn’t depend on how you interpret this passage of scripture.
Argumentation
But I would say, one of the things that we take very seriously here at ACC is that we don’t decide what we believe from just one Bible Verse in isolation
We try really hard to take in to account the entire bible, we try really hard to understand the Bible in it’s context
We ask ourselves the question: is that what peter was trying to say in the original context that the letter was written. Is that how the churches in pontus, galatia, capadocia, asia and bithynia would have understood peter’s words here.
Illustration
One of the things we can do, here, is read this in the context how Peter would have understood the term “chosen”
The old testament uses this term to describe not individual people that God chose, but specifically it’s used to describe the nation of Israel
The wild animals honor me, the jackals and ostriches, because I put water in the wilderness and streams in the wastelands, to quench the thirst of my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself, so they might praise me.
Recall the miraculous deeds he performed, his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed, O children of Abraham, God’s servant, you descendants of Jacob, God’s chosen ones.
Application
Peter is making the point here that the church, those who make a decision to follow Christ
Something Peter himself tells people to do multiple times in the book of Acts
Christians are not God’s chosen people
If you are a follower of Jesus, you are part of an exclusive club.
And we ought to act in such a way that reflects that.
We don’t take it for granted, we don’t
Transition
One or two sentences to smoothly shift to the next part
Point
Statement
...according to the foreknowledge of God the Father...
This ideas so important to the churches that peter was writing to because they were going through a lot of hardship- persecution, prejudice, trials
Everything that has ever happened, everything that ever will happen, everything that is happening right now, God knew in advance, and planned for it.
Argumentation
And I think this is worth talking about, because the next logical question people ask is,
Well if God knows everything that’s going to happen. He knows when I’m going to be happy, he knows when I’ll be sad he know’s what I’m going to do before I even know I’m going to do
Doesn’t that mean that my whole life is already pre-determined?
Doesn’t that mean that my whole life, God decided what I would do?
Doesn’t that mean, that at the end of the day, I don’t have free will?
That can give us a lot of heartburn.
That can be a little bit un-nerving
And it’s not just this passage
because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
If you have no desire to worship the Lord, then choose today whom you will worship, whether it be the gods whom your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family will worship the Lord”
“Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.
What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are about to possess.
But then we’re told in scripture, God knows in advance what we’re going to do anyway?
Illustration
What do we do with that?
Who plays chess?
I play a lot of chess. I’m not very good at it, but I enjoy playing it.
Each player has 16 pieces, laid out on an 8x8 board, so 64 squares total
And they say that the best chess players are always able to think 2 or 3 moves ahead.
So they’re not just thinking about their move, but also their opponents next move, and then their next move, and their opponents next move.
They say if you want to be really good, you have to be able to plan out at least 2 or 3 moves ahead.
Now here’s what’s fascinating
At the very beginning of a chess game, there are about 400 different possible positions that the pieces can be in after the first move.
After the second move, there’s about 72,000 possible positions that the pieces can be in. A lot of those are really bad moves, and a good player can factor that into their calculations
After 3 moves there are 9 million different possiblities
And after 4 moves that number jumps to 288 Billion possiblities.
Even the greatest chess player can’t fathom every possible scenario any more than 2 or 3 moves at most.
Now as silly as it may seem, imagine God sitting down across from you to play a game of chess.
the infinite, all knowing, all powerful, creator of the universe.
before you can even make your first move, has already calculated every single move you could possibly make, every single move he is going to make in response.
For an entire chess game, that’s more possiblities than there are atoms in the entire universe.
You’re making your moves, God’s not controlling which moves you make
And it’s not pre-determined which moves you’re going to make.
Application
Our actions do matter. the decisions we make absolutely matter
When we choose to sin, we are choosing to sing on our own accord, and we are held responsible for that.
When we choose to Make Jesus Christ our Lord, we are freely choosing that on our own accord
But at the same time, we should never think to ourselves that we could do anything that God wouldn’t expect.
We can’t “mess up God’s plans” it doesn’t work that way.
Transition
We as the church, we are God’s chosen people, according to the foreknowledge of God the father.
Point
Statement
...by being set apart by the Spirit ...
Explanation
Your Bible might say “Through the sanctifying work” of the spirit
or Being “sanctified” by the spirit.
“sanctified” is a church word. It’s one of those words that just gets repeated in churches again and again, and I don’t like using church words
Because I think when we start using words like “sanctified” again and again, they start to lose their meaning
I like using words that everyone understands
The word “Sanctification” is a big fancy church word that simply means “The process of being made holy”
The word “holy” is a small fancy church word
That simply means “being set apart.” to be set aside to be different.
Illustration
Does anybody here have plates and bowls and silverware that only get used on holidays? like for thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner?
We had those dishes growing up, my mom had a set of glass plates and bowls, I think they had pinecone designs printed in them.
And the number one rule of those plates was that you did not use those plates.
it didn’t matter how hungry you were, it didn’t matter if they were the only clean dishes in the house, it didn’t matter if all the other plates fell on the floor and shattered
You did not use the fancy plates unless it was thanksgiving or Christmas
They were set aside for special occasions only.
And because of that, we knew that when the fancy plates got brought out, it was a big deal.
Because they were set apart.
They were unique.
They weren’t like all of the other plates in the house.
You knew those were the plates that had been set apart from all the rest.
Argumentation
As God’s people, we are called to be set apart
And the metaphor kind of breaks down. Because we’re not supposed to be “isolated”
my mom’s fancy plates were set aside and isolated from all of the rest of the plates
So the metaphor stops working
Application
But we are supposed to be different.
Our series title: How God’s people survive and thrive in exile
The way we survive and thrive in the world is by not looking like the rest of the world in the way we act, in the way we love, in the way we treat people.
Because let’s be honest, being a Christian is hard work
Set aside for a minute, our morals and ethics, and the fact that as Christians we have a standard of behavior
Just the pure act of all of the little things that make up being a Christian
We’re supposed to read and understand this giant book that was written thousands of years ago in a language that we don’t speak
We’re supposed to get up early on our day off and drive to some building
We’re supposed to sing songs together that most of us are probably not comfortable doing
we’re supposed to meet together and put in time on our days off doing ministry and service projects
To the average person on the street, it’s a big ask
If there was a club that expected it’s members to do all of those things, most people wouldn’t join. Most people wouldn’t want to sign up for that club.
If I walked in here off the street, and I looked around, and I saw that the people in the church looked no different than anybody else. There is no way that I’m signing up for that.
Why would you. If Christians are no better than someone’s drinking buddys at the bar, then we have nothing to offer.
We should be set apart.
Transition
And specifically he says we are to be set apart for
Statement
...for obedience...
Explanation
God’s chosen people are marked by their radical obedience to the teachings of Jesus
Illustration
In the roman world, when peter was writing this letter, the roman pagan religion was baked in to every facet of society
in order to operate in society you were expected to be obedient to the roman religion
you were expected to show up at the religious festivals with sacrifieces
you were expected to have idols in your homes
you were expected to say “Caesar is Lord”
A big part of the reason why Peter had to write this letter is because the early Christians were very quickly marked out as being disobedient to caesar and the roman religion
and being radically obedient to Christ
Now this is a metaphor, so don’t take the metaphor too far, and misunderstand what I’m saying here. and don’t read into it political stuff, because that’s not the point I’m trying to make...
But When you go to a baseball game, when you go to a race down at the race track, when you go to a high school football game, and the national anthem plays
You are expected to stand, remove your hat, and place your hand over your heart
That’s just baked into our culture
And if you don’t, if you don’t stand, if you don’t salute the colors,
You will very quickly be singled out.
In roman society, religion and the culture were so interwoven, that that level of obedience was expected, not just to the roman empire, but to the roman religion.
How long do you think it took for the early christians to stat having targets on their back?
Because of their radical obedience to Jesus?
As we get farther in to the book of 1 Peter, he’s going to tell the churches about the importance of being a good citizen in society. He’s going to tell them, give the emperor his proper level of honor and respect
Act in ways that are in keeping with good society
We should be obedient to the laws and customs of our culture
right up until the point that the laws and customs of our culture go against the teachings of Scripture
We ought to take time and study God’s word, so that we can be confident enough to know exactly where that line is.
We maintain radical obedience to Scripture
I don’t care what the consequences are, you can throw me in jail, you can close down my business, you can fine me and take everything I own
I worship one king, and one king alone.
And his name is Jesus.
followers of Christ are set apart for obedience and for
Statement
...and for sprinkling with Jesus Christ’s blood.
Explanation
There’s two different images from the old testament that peter is drawing on here.
The first one comes from Leviticus 16 .
On the day of atonement, once per year, the priests would enter into the tabernacle, and they would sprinkle blood on the tabernacle.
And the idea was that they were cleansing the tabernacle from all of the sin that had accumulated over the past year
It was a ritual act to make things that were spiritualy dirty clean again.
And the second one comes from Exodus When moses gave the law to the people
When he gave them the word of God that set up an eternal covenant with God.
A declaration that they would be in a relationship with God
to ratify that covenant, God had moses sprinkle blood on all of the people as a sign that they had sealed the deal. That they were hence forth in Covenant relationship with God.
Illustration
First of all, we need to discuss the fact that we look at that and we’re like eww. That’s gross.
In our culture, blood is seen as something dirty. If you see blood, it could have diseases, it could be contaminated, don’t touch it, don’t look at it.
But in the ancient culture Blood was viewed as the exact opposite
Blood represented life, it represented things being clean. It was viewed as being the only thing that could undo the effects of sin and death.
And we have to remember to put aside our modern ideas of what things mean, and look at things from their point of view.
We, as Christians, are set aside for the sprinkling of the blood of the perfect lamb
We’re made clean. All of our sin, all of the death and yuck that we bring into the world, Jesus Christ cleanses all of it. He gives us life when all we have to offer is death.
And we are made to be in a covenant relationship with God.
On the night jesus was betrayed, jesus took the cup and said this is the blood of the covenant, do this in remembrance of me.
And that’s something that is more valuable than anything that this world has to offer.
Conclusion
This is a lot. Peter gives us a lot to chew on in just these two verses.
It’s honestly almost too much to chew on in one 30 minute sermon.
We could have had five seperate sermons on just these two verses.
What I want you to do, this week, I want you to read these two verses every single night. And every night I want you to focus on one of these five elements.
I want you to spend an entire evening in your bible study, or morning, or whenever you sit down to study God’s word.
spend the entire time one day focusing on what it means for you to be part of God’s chosen people
What are the implications on your life from being part of a chosen people.
Spend another entire day studying and reflecting on what it means for God to know all things. To have foreknowledge of every aspect of his creation
How does that change your relationship with Him? What does it mean for the uncertainties that you have in your life?
Spend an entire day focusing on what it means to be set apart by the spirit, to be made holy, to be different in the world.
An entire day on the importance of radical obedience to Christ.
An entire day on what it means to be sprinkled by the blood of Christ, to be made clean, to be in a permanent covenant relationship with him.
If we are going to be the scattered church, if we’re going to exist in the world to gather the lost and care for the downtrodden, to build up his kingdom, we ought to have a firm grasp on our identity as his chosen people.
How does that make us act differently, love differently, serve differently.
Because everything that peter is going to say in this letter, everything that we as the scattered church are supposed to do in the world, hinges on the importance of understanding our identity in Christ.
pray
