The Recipients

Find a letter and know that it is from a young man. The letter reads something like this: I’ll always remember the sweetness of your smile; how I felt when I touched you for the first time. I know that I will never love anyone more than I love you.

It makes a difference who that letter is for: if later you find out it was for his wife of just a short time and he has shipped out for war; it conveys one thing. If later you find out that it was for his newborn daughter and he has been sent somewhere on a dangerous assignment, it conveys another. If later you find out, it was written after his first date at the end of a summer vacation, it conveys something…but very little.

Important to know who a letter is for. In NT Bible study, every book was written with an intended audience…most of them are letters sent specifically to an individual or to churches. Know their situation; know more about what is being said; can apply it more accurately to things of faith that we encounter.

The Recipients

1 Peter 1:1-2

Who they were in the world

A relative identity-

Not in a place they were from; could feel their strangeness…but then they could begin to fit in. Never go there. Temporary residents here – heaven is the place of our loyalty. Patriotism is a good thing; loyalty to our country is an important thing; but ultimately we need to remember: our hearts belong to another place.

Paul said it this way: They are focused on earthly things, 20 but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Php 3:19-20

An identity of purpose

Diapsora – Jewish link. the technical name for the Jews scattered in exile in all the countries outside the bounds of Palestine

But now the real Diaspora is not the Jewish nation; it is the Christian Church scattered abroad throughout the provinces of the Roman Empire and the nations of the world. Once the people who had been different from others were the Jews; now the people who are different are the Christians

Know a little about living in the Diaspora. Living in a dispersed place can make you feel abandoned. Who knows where I am.

Learn to live in trust for God’s choices in our lives:

God always gives his very best to those who leave the choice with him.

James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905)

Where they were in the world

Some people have no idea about the world:

While looking at a house, my brother asked the real estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, "Does the sun rise in the north?" When my brother explained that the sun rises in the east, and has for sometime. She shook her head and said, "Oh, I don't keep up with that stuff."

Modern day Turkey….northern part. Current capital, Anakara is in this area. The great city Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, was in this area. The town of Nicea, where the early church met to discuss matters of theology was in this region. Outside of Paul’s church planting territory-tried to go into Bithinia, but was stopped by the Holy Spirit and not allowed to enter.

Geography is the least important factor in the plan of God.

Who they were in the plan of God

Key word: eklekTOS.

Chief reason for the word: “intends to strengthen the Christians in the midst of an environment which is at least partially hostile.”

chosen for the individual: never meant to have application beyond yourself. You are chosen. Word “foreknowledge” in this case means more than just to know; implies care. We get the word “prognosis” as a direct transliteration of this Greek word. Doctor gives you a prognosis based on his study of your condition. In His prognosis, God’s attention was directed toward you with the purpose of bringing you to Himself. Talk with believers…know the hand of the Lord was in their lives even prior to their salvation. Know his care in bringing us to Him, despite our difficulty in accepting Him.

BUT Chosen here is more for the group: in the same way that Israel had known its special role in the world, the chosen people, God’s people are to understand our chosen nature.

Includes us, the Gentiles: Once it had been said that “God created the Gentiles to be fuel for the fires of Hell.” Once it had been said that, just as the best of the snakes must be crushed, so even the best of the Gentiles must be destroyed. Once it had been said that God loved only Israel of all nations upon the earth. Now there is equality of choice…. We have been chosen.

Where they were in the plan of God

set apart –

other versions: in sanctification of the Spirit (American Standard), through sanctification of the Spirit (KJV); through the sanctifying work of the Spirit (NIV)

hard to communicate with a word or phrase: The Spirit of God through an operation of His power has made us positionally holy God’s purpose. In terms of position, you are as holy as you’re going to get.

by the Spirit for obedience- the purpose of setting us apart; giving us positional holiness is to bring us to obedience.

God regenerates us and puts us in contact with all his divine resources, but he cannot make us walk according to his will.

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

We learn obedience.

sprinkling with blood

(a) When a leper had been healed, he was sprinkled with the blood of a bird (Leviticus 14:1–7). Sprinkling with blood is, therefore, the symbol of cleansing. By the sacrifice of Christ, the Christian is cleansed from sin.

(b) Sprinkling with blood was part of the ritual of the setting apart of Aaron and the priests (Exodus 29:20–21; Leviticus 8:30). It was the sign of setting apart for the service of God. The Christian is specially set apart for the service of God, not only within the Temple, but also within the world.

(c) The great picture of the sprinkling comes from the covenant relationship between Israel and God. In the covenant, God, of his own gracious will, approached Israel that they might be his people and that he might be their God. But that relationship depended on the Israelites accepting the conditions of the covenant and obeying the law. Obedience was a necessary condition of the covenant, and failure in obedience meant failure of the covenant relationship between God and Israel. So the book of the covenant was read to Israel and the people pledged themselves: “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do.” As a token of this relationship of obedience between the people and God, Moses took half the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkled it on the altar, and half the blood of the

sacrifice and sprinkled it on the people (Exodus 24:1–8). Sprinkling was for obedience.

God’s New Covenant is the covenant of Christ’s blood. Purpose of that blood is, hear me, obedience.

Reason that hell-fire, damnation doesn’t work is that it doesn’t make sense. God is a gracious God. Sometimes snatches someone as they stand on the brink of eternity. Purpose of what Christ has done is not merely to protect you from hell’s pain; purpose is change. Heart change; life change. Purpose is to bring you into obedience.