God's Elect
Notes
Transcript
When someone asks, “Who are you?”, how do you respond? Usually we give our name, or maybe whose family we belong to. Sometimes we might say, “I’m a teacher”, or “I sell shoes”, or “I take care of my children”. Do these things really say who we are though? Our name is just a label, and our occupation tells what we do, but they don’t really describe who we are. I’ve heard adults say they still don’t know who they are. It’s important for us to know our identity, not just in the worldly sense but our spiritual identity.
Peter begins this letter by reminding them, and us, of who we are:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
After the resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days with the disciples, continuing to teach them and preparing them to carry on the work the kingdom after He left them. As He had said earlier, Peter would play an important part in that work. Near the end of his life, before being martyred in Rome, Peter writes this letter to Christians scattered around the area of what is mostly now Turkey. He is writing as an apostle, someone who has authority given by God and whose words are inspired by God and we should receive them as such. He has heard that they are experiencing persecution and is writing to encourage them.
These words describe all who are disciples of Jesus Christ, today as well as in the first century.
Strangers in the world
Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20).
In but not of the world
This world is not our home, we are like resident aliens and should not get too comfortable with our culture’s priorities or ways of life. For the moment we live and work here, but our hearts and minds are to be set on things above. However much we are rejected, wherever we are living on earth, we do belong somewhere, a place prepared for us!
The people
The people
Elect – specially chosen for inclusion among God’s people. The intimate term most often used to speak of those whom God loves.
There was a boy who did not have much athletic ability. Every time he and his friends would play some game he was always the last to be chosen. One day two new fellows came to play with them and were allowed to be team captains because they were older. The first team captain chose the boy who had always been chosen last before. Why? Because they were brothers, and he loved his brother.
So it is with God. He chose us not because of our abilities, but because he loves us
Before the creation of the world
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
To be saved
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
To be holy and blameless
To do good works
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
The Plan
The Plan
Begins with God the Father – in eternity past
According to God’s foreknowledge - it contains the idea of “having regard for” or “centering one’s attention on”.
What did God foreknow?
If God’s foreknowledge was just knowing ahead of time that we would choose to believe, that we would come to faith in Christ, then our salvation really depends entirely on us.
If God’s foreknowledge was knowing us as individuals, loving us regardless of anything seen in us, then our salvation is entirely God’s work.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
The Process
The Process
Carried out by God the Holy Spirit – ongoing in the present. We now live in sthe Spirit as He lives in us.
Being sanctified – set apart as being God’s people
By the work of the Holy Spirit – Bringing God’s choice into effect, working to fulfill His purpose.
The Purpose
The Purpose
Made possible by God the Son – and brought to completion at the end of the age.
For obedience to Jesus Christ
Sprinkling by His blood – a reminder of the new covenant, making believers God’s people, and the sacrifice Jesus made to establish it. The daily cleansing from sin and forgiveness which we need.
All this was to tell Peter’s audience, and us, that believer’s are God’s people, not based on our own goodness or abilities but on God’s gracious choice, and that God is working out His purpose for us through the Holy Spirit’s work in us.
This is our identity in Christ then: we are God’s people, His family, chosen by grace before the world was created, cleansed and forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit who is setting us apart and helping us to become the people God has called us to be.
Therefore we can persevere through any trials we may face, knowing that God is faithful and will bring to completion the work He has started in us.
With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.