In this sermon Pastor Lani speaks about living lives as Christians that win over non-believers.

I’m excited for what’s been happening in church life. Haberfield is slowly growing, it seems each week someone new comes to join us. We also have baptisms coming up next week which I’m excited  to do for one of our YA. Which I would love to encourage you, if you or anyone you know that wants to get baptised. I love baptisms because it’s all about dying to your old self/and symbolically dying with Christ and coming alive in Christ and with him. He paid sin’s penalty, so for us the power of sin is broken. He was righteousness imputed, which has imparted righteousness to us. Jesus was justified through the fulfilment of the law and now we are being sanctified to live out our lives like him. This really speaks into what we’re going to look at today in 1 Peter 2:11-12 which is about living good lives among unbelievers. These two verses carry so much power that ultimately impact our spiritual upkeep/sanctification, and just as importantly the salvation of those around us. These verses explain how our godly living will reflect God himself to those around us wherever we might be. 

Peter writes: 

“Dear friends, I warn you as ‘temporary residents and foreigners’ to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbours. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honourable behaviour, and they will give honour to God when he judges the world.” 

Even though verse 11 reiterates the opening verses in 1 Peter that we are foreigners and exiles in this world, it really connects back to verse 9 by giving us the reason why we are foreigners. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” It explains why we are to live as we do, and the resulting effect on the unbelieving world in which we live.

The purpose of this is to represent God (as his ambassadors) and to reflect his character and message to an unsaved world so that they may know him. A key to this is for us to live godly lives by abstaining from and resisting worldly desires, as some versions say, desires of the flesh. We immediately think of sexual sin but it refers to any strong desire that is inconsistent with godly character and behaviour. These things wage war against our spiritual well-being. They hinder our relationship with God and deter spiritual growth. 

If we don’t abstain from the things that war against our souls we may find an acceptance from some things in the world, we start to justify our behaviour which can be seen by others as hypocritical and could drive people away from God because we say we believe one thing but do another. Now, we know we are not perfect, but by the power of the word and Spirit we try to live godly lives, as part of our sanctification.

If you saw these warning signs what would you do?

(Show “shark sighted, enter water at own risk” sign). Some of you probably would still go in…but maybe if you saw these ones, you’d think again. (Show Cairns crocodile sign). They’re there to protect us. We need to take note of them because we could get severely injured or worse. 

Likewise, we must take heed to what Peter is warning us about because it’s for our own protection, and we could do damage to ourselves and those around us through wrongful action. 

This passage pretty much speaks for itself. But I want to focus on 3 things. Firstly:

1. As God’s chosen people we are foreigners in this world and therefore should not live like the world does.

Just as the previous verses in this chapter say, we now have a new identity in Christ, which means we are citizens of heaven, and we are called to live according to the ways of Jesus. This isn’t an easy task because as Peter describes, the worldly desires are waging war against our souls, that’s pretty strong imagery. If we look at Ephesians 6:12 it talks about this spiritual realm which our souls are at war with and that we are to put on the full spiritual armour. It says,“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

There has long been this spiritual contention between fully living for God, and living in the world that opposes Him. Peter is saying, even if you dabble in those desires that aren’t from God, you will do damage because of the consequences that sin has. What’s that saying? “If you play with fire, you will get burnt.” 

If we look at the text, the worldly desires back then would have been paganism, polygamous worship, sexual immorality etc, and this was condoned by the government and deemed as normal, making it quite the battle to remain holy. In the OT there were many times that God’s people ended up offering sacrifices to other gods because that’s what the majority of people were doing around them. 

So today, I wonder if we can fall into worldly desires that can be very obvious or slightly more hidden. The love of money, coveting, jealousy or lust. When Jesus says “even if you look at another woman lustfully, you’ve already committed adultery in your heart”. Jesus calls us to a greater level of self-awareness, as it’s not just about our actions, but the state of our heart. 

1 Corinthians 10:13 “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are being tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” 

Thank God he will show us a way out of temptation, and thank God we have the help of his word and Holy Spirit to empower us to remain steadfast in Christ and allow the fruit of self-control to take root in our lives. 

We’ve been going through the fruits of the Spirit at youth, and the other week they were looking at patience and self-control. They did an exercise that would test their ability to practise these fruits which was- if they could hold off from eating their one piece of chocolate until the end of the night, they would be given more chocolate as a reward. So each person was given chocolate, and even before the full explanation of activity, some of them had already eaten the chocolate. But, after they found out the reward of a greater portion if they resisted the temptation to eat it, they waited, practising patience and self-control until the end. 

Likewise, we can see this metaphorically that we need to keep in mind that we are here but for a moment, because there is a greater destination and reward that awaits us in heaven. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we will be able to get through the temptations of this world that wage war against our souls.  Remember Ephesians 6…Therefore, put on the full armour of God, so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”

So that’s the first element that speaks to our spiritual upkeep and sanctification, and the next point moves into remaining steadfast in the way you live, especially among unbelievers. 

2. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbours.

This is another caution here, Peter is saying “be careful” to live properly among your unbelieving neighbours. Who here knows that you can become a product of your environment? 

It’s very true that the attitudes and behaviours of who we spend our time with can rub off on us and we find ourselves doing similar things. I remember when I was little and my mum wouldn’t let me hang out with certain friends or have sleepovers at their place because she could see that they were disobedient, swore, or started smoking and she didn’t want me to partake in that. 

Likewise, if we surround ourselves with people who are well mannered, are in motion towards a great destination then we too are more inclined to be well mannered and in motion towards a great destination. Jim Rhon (an entrepreneur and motivational speaker like Anthony Robins) said ‘You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.’ 

Yet we live in a world where Christians only make up 31 percent. So, we’re not the majority, and we cannot always control who we’re surrounded by. This means that for our unbelieving neighbours that make up 69 percent of the population we will hopefully be remaining in our call to live properly amongst them.

You know just this past week I was up at the Christian Surfers camp in Scotts Head, and the local community has a very distinct, Australian accent and because we had international friends join us it was even more noticeable. After just 4 days, I found myself saying things like, “just chuck ‘em”, and “Na, don’t matter”. I didn’t know myself, my mum raised me to answer the phone like a receptionist “Hello, may I ask who’s calling please?” She would be appalled if she heard me. 

I know we can be like that too when some might be gossiping and you just find yourself in a situation that if you part-take is not honouring God and stepping back into the world. See when you become one with Christ you’re now His ambassador, God’s very representatives here on earth as 2 Corinthians 5:20 tells us.  

This caution calls for believers to remain steadfast in their faith amongst a people of the world that is ever changing and opposing God. Steadfast means to be fixed, or firm in a direction, unwavering. The word for steadfast in the original Hebrew is chesed, and it refers to God’s devout loving kindness, mercy and faithfulness at the very core of his character and actions. 

As God’s image bearers do we reflect that same loving kindness, mercy and faithfulness in a faithless world? 

Lastly, 

3. Through your honourable behaviour God will be glorified and honoured. 

The last part of this passage is so powerful, Peter writes, even if your unbelieving neighbours accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honourable behaviour, and they will give honour to God when he judges the world. 

The notion of doing wrong here speaks to the ways in which our world no longer accepts the Christian morals as being right, but instead views it as being very backwards and closed minded. Yet through our behaviour, in being examples of Christ they will be able to taste and see God in us and will give honour to Him.  

Looking back on our stats of being one third of the population following Jesus, and if living in Christ is living in the light, and living in the world is living in darkness, then our light should be standing out wherever we are. A light really is only made visible amongst the darkness. Just as Matthew 5:13-16 says  “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world- like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

I love this quote from Dietrich Bonhoffer, who was a German theologian and pastor, and was one of the most influential Protestant thinkers of the twentieth century. You should read some of his books they’re incredible. He was well known for opposing Adolf Hitler in his euthanasia schemes and genocidal persecution of the Jews. He continued to be a voice for the oppressed and advocated that every life matters because of his Christian belief that everyone is made in the image of God and therefore has inherent value. You didn’t see many Germans standing up for the Jewish people during this time, and if there were it was very much under the radar. He was accused of being associated with a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and thrown into prison. Whilst in prison he wrote a book called ‘Letters and Papers from Prison’. I love that his faith is strong, and rather than blaming God for his imprisonment, he found it worthwhile to continue in writing insights on Christianity and encourage others to not give up no matter what is happening around you. In this book he says, “Your life as a Christian should make nonbelievers question their disbelief in God.” 

He considered it even more significant to live out his Christian life in a society that was doing the exact opposite. He was thrown in prison in 1943, and he was executed in 1945 in Nazi campgrounds. Yet, his theological writings have impacted generations and will strengthen you in your faith and call you into living a life that is worthy of praise to God.   

I wonder how our behaviour impacts those around us who don’t yet know Christ?

Example of my friend Em coming to know Jesus through being surrounded by Christian friends. 

I love this scripture in 1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen me; if you love one another, I abide in you and my love is perfected in you.

Let’s live a life that reflects the love, mercy, kindness, justice, and forgiveness of God so that our unbelieving neighbours might come to know Him and give glory to God. 

Verse 12 ends by saying “when he judges the world” other versions say “on the day of visitation”. This can be taken two ways. Firstly, what will unbelievers say when the Lord returns and they stand in judgement. Will they say that the Christians they have encountered have been a positive influence or a negative one? Or the alternate version would mean that at any time in an unbelievers’ life God can manifest his presence. The unbeliever may be going through some difficult situation and God turns up. Will they be encouraged to believe because of the lifestyle of the Christians they know or will they reject his presence because of them? Them being you and me.

OK, We are looking at Peter’s letter to these churches that had emerged through the early missionary work of the Apostles… 

• That is, people like Peter who had been with Jesus and were sent to tell the good news of the gospel…
• Peter greeted the churches at the start of the letter with “grace and peace be yours in abundance.”
• This was his story… he had been called by Jesus to be the rock upon which the church would be built…

And despite some wobbles… he had been filled with the Holy Spirit after the resurrection

• And became an Apostle of grace and peace to the cities of the world. 
• So this letter is written to churches that had been established in 5 different provinces of the Roman Empire. 
• Amazing to think just how far and wide the church grew within that first generation of eye witness who had been with Jesus and went out to share the good news!

So last week he told them to grow up in their salvation.

• Good old straight shooting… grow up!
• Verse 3; “Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good”, verse 2, “crave pure spiritual milk so that by it, you may grow up in your salvation…”
• And that is part of why we do these next steps Sundays… because between your baptism and your death… we need to keep growing… 
• Keep serving, keep in community, keep growing as disciples… ok?
• And now Peter describes how the church grows with Jesus as the cornerstone and us as living stones, becoming a spiritual house…

Read 1 Peter 2:4-8 (Sydney Smith)

4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 

8 and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

So 3 things today…

1.  Jesus is the cornerstone of the church – our foundation.
2. We are living stones being built into a spiritual house.
3. Our purpose is to be a holy priesthood who offer our lives to God and mediate his blessings to the world. 

So firstly, Jesus is the cornerstone of the church, our foundation. 

• He is described in verse 4 as THE Living Stone
• He is described in verse 6 as a chosen and precious cornerstone
• He is described in verse 7 as the stone the builders rejected that has become the cornerstone. 

Now what is this all about?

• We sing this in that belter of a song Cornerstone…
• My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness…”
• “Christ alone… cornerstone.”
• And I assume in our minds, we all understand this to be saying something about Jesus being the rock, or stone upon which we build our lives?
• But, this idea in building a house or a temple or a church, is that there is a foundational stone that is key to everything else that is to be built upon it!
• It sets the design and direction of the building and everything is built on top and around this cornerstone!
• It is laid first… then the builder adds to it!

Well for Peter this idea of Jesus being a cornerstone upon which the church and indeed our lives are built was a recurring theme through his ministry.

• Indeed he is quoting here from the Psalms and Isaiah, this idea that a messiah would come who many would reject, but who would be God’s true cornerstone. 
• Jesus in Matthew 21 actually quotes this same Psalm – Psalm 118 to talk about his own life and ministry…
• Mathew 21:42 Jesus says; “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”
• And then Peter in the Book of Acts… again trying to make sense of why many rejected Jesus and crucified him… he preaches this amazing sermon… and he quote Psalm 118.
• So Acts 4:10-12 Peter says; “know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else.”

And now, 30 years later, the same Peter who preached at Pentecost is still on the same theme…

• Jesus is the cornerstone of the church and foundation upon which we build our new lives. 
• He binds the whole church together. 
• He is described by Peter as chosen by the Father, precious and raised from the dead in victory!
• But this prophecy from Psalm 118 that Jesus fulfilled also makes clear that he was not the kind of messiah the people were expecting so they stumbled over him. 
• Of course people still stumble over Jesus today. Some receive him, but many reject him. 

Peter’s mate Paul kind of picks up on this in 1 Corinthians 1:18, then 22-24

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

So there is the contrast… foolishness to some… but to us who God has saved, this Jesus is the wisdom and power of God. 

• You know, I think of two famous brothers… both intellectuals in the public sphere…
• Christopher Hitchens and Peter Hitchens…
• Christopher Hitchens famously ridiculed the Christian faith and debated Christian thinkers, trying to argue that religion poisons everything…
• He thought the Christian faith was foolish and took every opportunity as a journalist, author and speaker to trash Jesus and the church.
• He famously said “Jesus is Santa Clause for adults.” 
• Actually that is probably one of the more mild things he said. 

But then his brother Peter Hitchens who also is a journalist, an author and a speaker went in a very different direction to his brother. 

• He too was an atheist, but then converted to Christianity… 
• In his book “The Rage Against God” he defends the faith against its detractors and critiques the straw men arguments of the New Atheists like his brother.
• I remember watching Q&A on the ABC a few years ago and it was during the festival of dangerous ideas… 

An audience member asked what dangerous idea if implemented would change the world for the better.

• One idiot panel member responded with forced population control for the next 30 years….
• Then Peter Hitchens was asked the same question…
• He said this “The most dangerous idea in human history remains the belief that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and rose from the dead.”
• Pressed on why he responded “It alters the whole of human behaviour and all our responsibilities and turns the universe from a meaningless chaos into a designed place where there is justice and there is hope.”

So to one brother… Christ is foolishness and weakness, but to the other Jesus is the wisdom and power of God.

• To one a stumbling block
• To the other the cornerstone 
• Amen? Who is Jesus to you?

OK, moving on, despite opposition, remember Jesus said in Matt 16:18 “I will build my church” 

• And every time someone like you and I comes to faith in Jesus another living stone is quarried out of sin and darkness by love and grace and added into this spiritual house, which God is building out of people. 
• What a privilege to be a part of his church 
• We could be described as a habitation of God through his Spirit.

So how does Jesus build his church – well he does it with living stones. 

• With people like you and me who are filled with the Spirit of God.
• We are dead in our sins, and then through faith in Jesus we become alive in Christ. 
• Verse 5 “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.”

Now… I love this building… and I love church buildings in general.

• They are very pretty… high ceilings, stained glass windows, big maintenance bills…
• But seriously, I do think they often are sacred places in the midst of our culture and world…
• Years of prayer and bible reading, and preaching, and conversions and baptisms…
• They become almost like thin places between heaven and earth….

But the first Christians didn’t get their own buildings to what year? Any guesses?

• Well the first purpose built church was built in Jordan around the year 293.
• And then serious church building only really got started after 330…
• So 300 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection….
• So when Jesus said he would build his church, clearly he wasn’t thinking about a building campaign… 
• Clearly the intention of Jesus building his church was to be with people. With living stones!

So this thing God is building… is the church… but it is not made of clay bricks… but spirit filled disciples… 

• You’ve been made alive by the Holy Spirit, rebirthed, and are now a building block of the church God is building.
• That is why I really don’t think there is any such thing as solo Christianity. 
• It is a team sport… we are in this together, being built together into something useful by God. 
• Just as Jesus is described as precious and chosen.
• You are precious and chosen by God to be a part of what he is building. 

And the idea is that just as people would meet God in the Old Testament at the temple…

• That God would use you and I as a place where people will encounter his presence. 
• In the Old Testament, his glory dwelt in the temple… in the stones… in the building…
• Now his glory dwells by his Holy Spirit in you and me.
• And so the only way the world will know God is through his people, his living stones…
• We are a display of his glory. 
• Right? His glory was in the temple. His glory was in Jesus. Now his glory lives in you and me. 

Now to me, that strikes right to the heart of why we should gather… 

• Because surely if we are living stones, then God is here.
• And that is where I want to be. 

There is this great scene with Peter in the Book of Acts, chapter 4… in fact it is the same passage that we looked at before when Peter quotes Psalm 118 about Jesus being the cornerstone.

• Anyhow, that happens in a sermon Peter gives in response to being seized and put in jail.
• Why? Because he had preached about Jesus, and then healed a lame man who had got up and walked.
• Anyhow eventually he goes back to the other believers when they release him.
• And this is what happens…
• Verse 31 “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”
• Next we read they shared their possessions so that no one was needy. 

Right?

• This is what happens when living stones get together…
• God moves! People come to faith. The word is preached boldly. 
• People get healed. People are moved in compassion towards acts of generosity.
• This is the church that Jesus promised that he would build. 

You know this physical church has got some bits that are falling apart that we need to get fixed…

• Just on Friday I was up on a ladder in here looking at some decaying bits… Todd thought the whole thing was very funny…
• And God’s church (his living stones) is far from perfect too and has bits that are falling apart…
• But be under know illusions… God will build his church!
• There is 2.3 billion of us alive today… we’re in every country on earth…
• We may be struggling a bit in the West… but be under no illusions… the church is growing
• A mighty spiritual house is arising!

Finally, our purpose as living stones is to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices… 

• Verse 5 “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
• So what does this mean that all of us are a holy priesthood?

Well in the Old Testament the priesthood mediated the covenant and blessings of God… 

• They acted in between God and the rest of us…
• Now I really should do a whole sermon on this… and I probably will when I get back from Byron… 
• But even in Exodus 19:6 God says to his people; “the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
• So the purpose of his people was to mediate his blessing to godless nations

Think Gen 12:2-3 and God’s call on to Abraham about who his family will be…

• The Lord God says to Abraham…

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

This whole story that we have been swept up into as living stones is about being blessed by God in order to bless all peoples on earth through us. 

• Now that sounds grandiose… but friends that is the whole point of this whole Jesus thing
• That we might become part of God’s people and then mediate the blessing we have received to the rest of the world. 
• Now in the Old Testament they got corrupted by the nations around them… 
• And ended up like the nations around them…
• And the problem can be the same for us too… 
• We need contact without contamination. 
• We need to be a holy priesthood who mediate the blessings of God
• Without being shaped more by the world than our shaping of the world. 

Now I have to finish there because its school holidays and the kids are in…

• But guys, each ministry we serve in for his glory is a service to God. 
• It’s a spiritual sacrifice.
• Every resource we give to the church and the poor is a spiritual sacrifice to God…
• When we use our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit rather than given in to whatever desires… that is a spiritual sacrifice… 
• When we choose the way of loving each other deeply, that is our spiritual sacrifice… 
• When we worship with real devotion… you get the idea…

So let’s do this Manly Life

• Our church built on the cornerstone of Jesus…
• Becoming living stones that are filled with the glory of God
• We become like priests, mediating the blessings of God to a dying world around us…
• So what is your next steps?
• Go through the form and my hopes…

In this sermon, Pastor Tim looks at some of the responses to the gift of our salvation. Because of what Christ has done, primarily we are called to love one another deeply from the heart. But what does that look like?

Lets read todays passage – 1 Peter 1:22-25

 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,

“All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.” 

And this is the word that was preached to you.

We are looking at Peter’s letter to these churches that had emerged through the early missionary work of the Apostles… 

• That is, people like Peter who had been with Jesus and were sent to tell the good news…
• Good news that all can become children of God because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
• Peter greeted the churches at the start of the letter with grace and peace in abundance…
• This was his story… he had been called by Jesus to be the rock upon which the church would be built…
• Only to drop the ball by denying Jesus at his moment of arrest and trial…

But this Peter had been lovingly reinstated by Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to preach the good news. 

• He knew grace. He knew peace!
• And this was the new story of all of God’s children who by faith had come to know grace and peace with God. 

And what is interesting in this first chapter of his letter is the way that all we are called to do is in response to what God has already done!

• Think about it… it is all through chapter 1.
• Verse 3 “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”
• Verse 13 is the hinge… “Therefore…” 
• Verse 14 “do not conform to the evil desires you once had… but be holy in all you do.
• Even the next bit states this most obviously… “be holy, because I am holy”

Again… verse 17… “Since”… so again… Peter’s argument is in relation to what has been done…

• Since (your salvation) “live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.”
• And then today…
• Verse 22 “Now that”… so again in response to all that has happened…
• Peter says “now that” – “have sincere love for one another.”

And I think that all of this is really important… This section is about what happens now that we have received salvation.

• Our new life is a response to what God has done through Jesus. 
• Does that make sense?
• Our new life is a therefore… a since, a now that…
• And the reason it is important is that very little lasting good in your life can happen if it is done through sheer will and not in response to something you have received or experienced.
• As it says in 1 John “we love because he first loved us!”

I know we are banging on a bit about HOHI today and this dinner and caring about something beyond ourselves…

• But the reality is that unless you have experienced great dignity and love and mercy from God…
• It is hard to expect that you would care about using your time and resources to bestow great dignity, love and mercy upon others…
• We give from what has been poured into us… 
• God saw you with dignity… therefore… our hearts break for those who have no dignity. 
• We are rescued and redeemed spiritually, but in response we also want to see people rescued and redeemed physically. 
• Therefore… since… now that… because…

When I became a Christian, one of the stories that struck me and resonated with me was Les Misérables… 

• And if it is ok, I would like to sing you a few of my favourites from the musical adaptation… 
• No, that would be a terrible, terrible idea. 
• But I do remember in my early 20’s reading the abridged book, watching the movie and then seeing the musical on the West End in London.
• Let’s just say I was a super fan!
• And then a second movie of the story came out which was a musical with Hugh Jackman… be still my beating heart!

But it tells the story of the former convict Jean Valjean who as a recipient of undeserved mercy goes on to live an exemplary life. 

• The French author Victor Hugo actually explains the meaning of his work later in the book when he says…
• “The book from one end to the other details a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from corruption to life, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God”!
• Amen.

At the beginning of the story, Jean Valjean, just released from 19 years imprisonment for stealing loaves of bread

• Is turned away by innkeepers as a former convict and ends up bitter and angry on the streets. 
• Finally a kind Bishop gives him shelter, but when night falls, Jean Valjean steals the Bishops silverware.
• He is caught and returned by police to the Bishop, and at his word, is facing life imprisonment. What a scene…
• And then the Bishop, does something remarkable, something surprising, something that shocks the criminal Jean Valjean… 
• The Bishop pretends that he had given the silverware to Jean Valjean, and presses him to take two silver candlesticks. 
• The police accept the Bishop’s explanation and leave. 

The Bishop tells Jean Valjean that his life has been spared for God and that he should use the money from the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself. 

• And so as the recipient of the scandal of grace… the question becomes, what path will Jean Valjean decide to embark on?
• With this get out of jail card will he then go back to his dark ways…
• Or can he see this act of mercy as the changing point of his life. 
• What kind of a human being is he going to be?

Well I won’t totally ruin the story for the 3 remaining people in the world who don’t know this amazing tale…

• But needless to say, Jean Valjean ends up living a transformed life of kindness.
• He ends up becoming mayor of a city and in turn transforming the lives of the destitute that he encounters. 
• But the reason I think the story resonated with me… is it goes to the questions all us Christians must ask…
• Saved by grace… what kind of life am I now called to live?
• What is my therefore, what is my since… what is my “now that”?

Well in todays passage I see 3 quick responses to the gift of our salvation and receipt of grace and peace. 

• A new Life is marked by 3 realities… three things we find out in response to our salvation… 
• That we are called to love each other deeply
• That we will base our life on the enduring word of God
• And that we will gain perspective about the transience and vanity of life. 

So just working backwards… Firstly we gain perspective about what is important and lasts and what does not.

Verse 24 For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall.”

• Now this is a quote from the prophet Isaiah in chapter 40 which for tells the coming of the Messiah.
• And a big part of it is contrasting the Word of God which as we will see endures…
• With our own human frailty, vanity and transience. 
• People are like flowers and flowers fall!
• Maybe this point could be titled beware botox and biceps…
• Not there is anything wrong with health or beauty… but it does not last… so do not get swept up in trying to stay eternally young!
• Now that you are saved you can focus on more important things…

Guys this is such a big thing on the Northern Beaches… we are obsessed with youth and beauty. 

• Flowers fall, grass withers… 
• The most beautiful girl on the beach in the 1970’s is now probably in a nursing home…
• How could the money that is spent on trying to stay young be better directed towards generosity and the poor. 
• Wake up Manly Life… don’t get caught up in the culture around you.
• If you want to be happy, invest in people, in church, in your family… 

So what should we focus on, now that we are saved if we want to be holy and live worthy and good lives?

• Verse 25 “but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
• So if our beauty and indeed our lives come and go… build your life around the eternal, life giving, Word of God and his truth!
• Don’t eat beauty supplements….
• Eat this book! Get it into you… 

It is funny thinking about this cultural moment and the fads and ideologies and crazes that come and go…

• But Jesus and his truth endure. And they are the key to an abundant life and life eternal.
• So, now that you are saved by grace, build your life on the truth!
• Now we say things like this… but the reality is that we regularly need to be reading the word and sitting under good bible teaching…
• In my prayer hour… refreshing to open the Word with no agenda than just being with God.
• We need to spend more time in the Word than concerning ourselves with our appearance or what others think of us. 
• So get the Word of God into you…

Netflix show… Blue Zone. Findings…

• Moist relevant or relatable community was a Seventh Day Adventist community in America. 
• Beyond diet and exercise which had some bearing, what the guy found most keys was;
• Faith, purpose, connection, generations
• All the things that the Word of truth basically encourage us in…
• 7 years longer life span and healthier and happier lives… 
• Flowers fall, grass withers… but the Word of the Lord endures…

Well finally, now that we are saved… now that we have perspective that orients us away from vanity and towards the enduring Word of God. 

• What should we focus our lives on doing well?
• Well I don’t think it is any surprise if you know Jesus… it is the call to love one another deeply. 
• Verse 22 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.” 

Well what can you say about love that isn’t cliché?

• The Beatles… all you need is love… da da da da da…
• You can read about Christian love in 1 Corinthians 13… 
• And it is amazing, it is practical, it is profound…
• Brilliant things about love like it not keeping records of wrongs, that love is patient… it is kind and so on…
• And we need to read the Gospels and look at how Jesus loved people… how he saw them in their need and responded…
• We need to study 1 Corinthians 13… and learn the way of Christian love
• We need to study 1 John and hear the hard truths of if we don’t love, we do not know God…

But here is the thing I thought I would finish on… 

• Anyone can love from a distance. But if we truly want to love one another deeply, and from the heart… it starts with the people we are in closest proximity to.
• And that friends is the hardest! Haha… 
• In the church with people you are in community with… 
• If you are at home I guess that might be siblings or with your parents.
• If you are married it would be with your spouse.
• If you live out of home, maybe it is with you flatmates…
• It is easy to have a Christian persona that projects kindness… what is hard is to love the people we rub up against on a daily basis. 
• Peter says, love one another deeply… from the heart!

Victoria and I were listening to a podcast a year or so ago on parenting…

• And one of the asides was on why do we sometimes end up treating the person we love the most, the worst…
• Right? Sometimes we might say things or do things to our husband or wife, that we would never say or do to anyone else.
• I can do it, and I see you guys do it… you take bites out of each other…
• You undermine each other in public… you have goes at each other at home…
• You love them, but to be honest you treat each other like crap.

And the reason, they suggested in the podcast was because in the safest of relationships, such as a marriage, we let ourselves go without restraint. 

• Right, we say things we’d never dare say to other people… 
• And so we can wrong each other… and if we keep a record of all these wrongs… well who can remember who started what… 
• But relationships can get difficult. Each holding on to a series of comments or actions or slights… that begin to hurt.
• It adds up, what might have started healthy and hot, grows toxic and cold…

And into this we need the circuit breaker of love and forgiveness. 

• We need to heed Peter who says our response to our salvation is a life of loving each other deeply!
• This is our response…
• Let your faith and the presence of Jesus in your hearts and minds change you…
• Change how you respond, how you forgive, how you serve one another… how you speak to one another… 
• Friends, in one sense, invite Jesus in… who models this unconditional love and forgiveness… who keeps no record of wrongs with us!
• Because we are loved first… we love too… 

Well let’s finish with that! We all want to love and be loved… 

• Therefore, now that, since, because…
• What a life we now get to live!
• Shall we stand and respond… 

In this sermon Peter explore the new way of life that we have been redeemed into through Jesus Christ. As the children of God we find ourselves as foreigners in the culture that surrounds us and drawn to a new way of living.

We are continuing our series in Peter and I’m sure like me you will be challenged by today’s passage of scripture. Firstly some background.

As Christians, we believe in two main things that unite all humans: first, that we are all created in the image of God and worthy of dignity and respect, and secondly, that we are all sinners, rebels against a holy God, out of step with His design for us and in need of salvation. 

Perhaps you don’t agree with either of these statements. This would not surprise me.

I have numerous friends and acquaintances who would conclude in relation to the first statement

Actually we are not made in the image of God because there is no God and we are basically created by chance and a series of random events that evolved us into who we are.

In relation to the second statement interestingly they would conclude that we are all basically good and would say as I saw quoted recently “The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature and evil by nature. Every man is divine and strong in his real nature.” 

One set of statements acknowledges the one true God and the sinfulness of mankind whilst the second set puts self above God , creates a Divine being namely man and says that he is basically made in his own image and is basically good.

 As I reflected on this recently I was reminded of  one of the most powerful stories I have ever heard regarding the fact that we are all sinners.It was something I heard in a Tim Keller sermon. 

In 1983, Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes interviewed a man named Yehiel [You He] De-Nur, a survivor of Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp. 

Twenty-two years earlier, in 1961, De-Nur had testified at the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the men primarily responsible for the holocaust. When De-Nur had entered the courtroom to testify against Eichmann, he had started to sob uncontrollably before collapsing. The judge had to restore order in the court after the commotion that ensued.

In the 60 Minutes interview, Wallace asked De-Nur what he had been feeling there in the court. Was it post-traumatic stress? Rage? Trauma which overcame him?

De-Nur answered by saying that when he walked in and saw Eichmann, he suddenly realized that he was no demon. He was not a superman either. He was an ordinary human being, exactly like De-Nur. And suddenly De-Nur became terrified about himself. He told Wallace that he realized that he was capable of doing the exact same things as Eichmann

I wonder whether you were ever involved in World War Loos. 

This picture was taken on the 4^th April 2020

I had just achieved an amazing feat. I had captured the only remaining toilet paper in a Supermarket in Top Ryde and was returning home to the northern Beaches triumphant.

This was Tim Giovanelli and a friend celebrating the same sort of achievement

Sadly Pictures like the next one were more common place amongst our fellow human beings.

Pictures of fights between shoppers.

People were actually charged over fighting for toilet paper.

Of course, not you or I but other people who were desperate to provide for their families and let underlying rage take them over.

Who would have thought that possible.

Let’s be honest we quickly move from feeling indignation when we see rage in another car driver towards another human being to passionate rage ourselves when someone merges ahead of us on the spit bridge or wherever we are.

Ladies and Gentleman , Brothers and Sisters Without a God perspective we are lost in self-indulgence thinking that we are doing OK and kidding ourselves that we are actually quite good when in reality anger and sinfulness and self-indulgence lie just below the surface.

With this as a backdrop Let me read you our passage for this morning putting it  in context with the verses Kirrilie excellently preached on last week.

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”^[a]

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Let’s Pray.

This morning for a few minutes I want to remind us of  a number of things that will help us build a significant life as we  head for Glory.

This will apply whether you are a father , a mother , an aunty, an uncle, single ,divorced etc etc etc.

This is a message for everyone and has eternal consequences.

So 4 reminders FOR US 

1] Firstly I want to remind us that We are not Ignorant

We are not ignorant

I want to show you a humorous video

@joewongstandup

Have you met out Lord and Savior? #fyp #standup #religion

♬ original sound – JoeWongStandUp

I have good news for you this morning if you are a believer in Christ.

You are no longer ignorant.

You know the ultimate secret. Your eyes have been opened to reality.

 2 Corinthians 4v 4 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.But  God, v 6 who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.’

If you are a Christian this morning you have God’s Glory shining in you and through you.

You know the truth. You know the God who made you, You know the saviour who saved you . You know the Holy Spirit who keeps you.

You are no longer ignorant.

You walk with God now .

You live for God now.

For billions around the world the Bible says in  1 Corinthians 1 v18 “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us  who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Waking up to the reality of who God is amazing.

Knowing What Jesus sacrifice means.

Knowing the God of the Universe as a friend.

Knowing you are going to live forever with the most glorious and wonderful person.

You know that your  Life has purpose, It’s not empty. It’s not Random.

You and I are not just some random result of life coming together from one cell which was formed out of the chaos and disorder of the primordial soup which just happened to exist. Or that there was a superdense ball of matter that exploded and out of that Big Bang the order of the Universe came into being with No God to be seen.

The truth is In the beginning God.

And God formed you and He formed me and gave us a soul that will last forever.

You and I are not ignorant of these facts.

This is amazing news but can I remind you it’s also challenging news  

Here is the challenge 

You are not ignorant so don’t waste your life!!!!

How could you waste your life?

Well Live for yourself.

Live an ungodly Life

Live in the Fear of Men and not  the fear of God

Put other Gods before the one true God like pleasure and money and power.

Live devoted largely to self and not to God and Others.

This is what God would say to you and I this morning 

And JESUS  answered, ^s“You shall love the Lord your God with all your

 Heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and ^tyour neigbor as yourself.”

Am I doing that? God help me.I don’t want to live distracted. I want to live for you . Devoted to You.I want to be a worshipper of God and a deliverer of men and women.

John Piper in his provocative book entitled “Don’t waste your life”which I have been reading  says 

“If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full”

Church you are not Ignorant.

Hallajuhah . The secret of the Universe has been revealed to you . You have found priceless buried treasure. Take advantage of it and live accordingly 

2] So Firstly WE are not Ignorant’

Secondly We are  Foreigners

The comedian in our video knew he was living as a foreigner in the USA from China.

He knew he was different . The culture was not his.

I have always been incredibly challenged by these verses 

Romans 1 The Message Paul writing under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit

1 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

2 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

Hallujahah.

A mature person is focused on pleasing God not on pleasing men and women and fitting into the culture around you.

Jesus said You are in the world but not of it. In the world but not of it.

Christian there are times you are not going to be liked because you serve the Master not Men.

Peter gives us 2 motivations to live like this which we will cover in a moment.

For now I want to challenge You and I want to challenge me.

Here’s THE THING

“If you never feel like you are a foreigner on the earth than there is something wrong.” 

Be careful when everyone speaks well of you.

Luke 6 v 26 “Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

If you feel totally at home in the culture and society you live in it may be time to ask yourself some questions.

Do you know where I feel most deeply at home . 

Worshipping with my sisters and brothers.

Praying in my connect group . Discussing how we are going to impact our world for Christ.

Do you know where I don’t feel at home? Around people who are harsh with each other, Around politicians who lie, Around crude humour, Around arrogance, Around abuse, Around fathers who ridicule their children and husbands who denigrate their wives. Around children who don’t honour their father and mother. Around people who shape their values with no reference to the God who made them in His image.

I don’t feel at home around injustice, I don’t feel at home around self centredness and selfishness, I don’t feel at home around inequality.I don’t feel at home around violence and unrighteous anger.

Be careful if you feel at home when you shouldn’t. Don’t become so well adjusted to the culture around you that you fit into it without even thinking.

Church we should be thinkers. It’s so easy to get sucked into opinions when they have no basis of truth. Don’t just accept a narrative that sells papers or comes from the mouth of an uninformed influencer. You have a personal connection with the greatest influencer who exists. The God of the Universe.

Speak with Him. Ask his opinion.

Perhaps you just need to say 

Lord I think I am I living more like a non thinking cultural complier and less like a foreigner. Lord help me. What adjustments should I make.

Please pin point any area where I need to change. Go will help you and he will help me 

Remember Jesus he said I don’t take you out of this world. Jesus wants you to be in this world living for him.

So  We are not Ignorant.

We are foreigners

Are you with me?

Third thing which we help us to live rights is to remember that 

Thirdly 

3] We live in reverent fear 

The scripture we read states Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

The bible talks much about the fear of the Lord as well as it does the love of the Lord

It is important that if you are to grow as a Christian that you don’t just embrace truth that you like and are familiar with but that also embrace truth that will ultimately challenge you to live counter culturally and will cultivate purity.

Here’s a question for us. Why should we live in the fear of the Lord.

Well Peter answers that question for us and provides us with 2 amazing motivations which I previously said I would get to .

First motivation We will be Judged

“Since you call on a father who judges , live in Reverent Fear”

I manage a team of school counsellors and every few weeks I need to book in my supervision. My boss says to myself and my colleagues.

Please book in your supervision.

Last Thursday week  I booked in supervision. It’s a time for me to ask for help and to receive feedback. As one of my friends always says to me Feedback is a gift. I feel supervision is important for me. It keeps me on track. I have monthly supervision and I have annual reviews. I’m sure many of you would have them as well.They also provide feedback.

Can I say with absolute certainty that there is a day coming when you will receive the ultimate feedback from the Ultimate boss and Judge.

It’s not about keeping you on track because that track will be finished. It’s not monthly  supervision or even you annual review it’s the ultimate review.

You won’t book it in.

He has already booked it in for you.

It will either be at the time of your death or when he comes again.

On that day you will not be asking question about your performance or offering excuses. Further He will not be giving generalised feedback to a group of you.

This will not be under 8’s soccer at the end of the came when the coach says to the boys or girls or both. Well done everybody ,You all tried really hard. You did your best and that’s all we can ask.Sure we lost 20 nil but we don’t count the score. We are all winners.

Brothers and Sisters

This is you and me staring into the burning eyes of Christ on our own.

On that day an assessment will be made.

Perhaps you have no real knowledge of this. Ignorance will not help you here. It will happen and I want to help you to know what awaits.

This assessment is not about your salvation it’s really about a judgement concerning how you lived your life as a Christianand what reward you will receive.

2 Corinthians 5:10 says for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, either good or bad. When we pass from these bodies, to the world beyond (and our resurrection bodies), we must each give an account according to what we have done, whether good or bad. That’s exactly what 2 Corinthians 5:10 says.

At the judgment seat of Christ, what we have done or not done, will be judged, but not only that.  Also, our motives for what we have done will be judged. Paul presents this  in 1 Corinthians 3:12, He makes it clear under the inspiration of the holy Spirit that what we have done and our motive for doing it will be tested by fire and the purifying fire of God will burn up everything that was not of Him.

You and I don’t want to be left with nothing on that day.

I remember preaching once at a wedding.

I was given this rather obscure passage to preach on in the Old Testament and I worked really hard to abstract some marriage advice out of it.

At the end I thought it had gone really well. I was really quite proud of myself that I’d managed to extract such wonderful advice from something so obsure.

I thought that went really well. People were laughing and there was a real buzz.

I went up to the couple after the service and I said. How do you think it all went.

And they said WELL we are having a great time but why did you preach on that passage of scripture . We told you CH 5 v7 not Ch 7 v 5.

OH What a disaster. 

I did something that they never asked me to do and I did it largely for myself.

I wonder what you think matters to God.

What’s really going to count on that day?

What’s going to make it on that day?

Is it being in full-time ministry.

Is it being on Christian Platforms?

Is it looking good in front of others.

Look at me Look at Me Look at me .

Do you know what’s going to ultimately Count

Being Obedient to Christ

Being Responsive to Christ

Doing what He asks you to do whatever that may be . Big or very small.

Do you know what’s going to count

Loving God and Loving Others

Being Obedient to Him and Being a Worshipper 

It’s fathers day? 

Dad’s Be a great dad. 

Just one verse to follow 

Ephesians 6:4: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

If you do that ,there will be much reward for you.

If you are married Be a loving husband

Love your wife like Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.

If you are a boss a great boss to your employees. 

If you are an employee Be a diligent employee.

God see’s the things that no one else sees.

All of us we are called to Love others, To 

Extend compassion to the poor, to lift up the broken, To reach out to the lonely and hurting. 

In all these areas you are being obedient to Christs command Go into all the world and make disciples.

There is coming a Day, Not supervision ,Not you annual review . This is your Life Review.

On that day you want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21, 23).

God has much reward for you on that day . Don’t waste your life. Live for him , Live in Reverent Fear experiencing His love daily and serving Him with Gladness knowing that a review from the Ultimate Judge Awaits.

So knowing this motivates us but the other thing that motivates us is 

Final Point Number 4

4] Knowing We have been bought with the Ultimate Price

The bible says ¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 

God paid the ultimate price for your future and my future , His very precious blood. The blood of God’s only son was the only way through for you and I and Jesus for the joy set before Him namely  You and I was willing to pour it out. 

That Peter is saying should motivate us to live right 

Do you know Jesus is the most glorious person. 

He is praying everyday for you. Interceding for you that you will be an overcomer in this life.

He is filled with love for you and sings over you with songs of joy daily.

The moment you see him you will be overwhelmed with love and joy and peace. You will be captivated by the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom. 

HE has given his very body and blood so that one day you will be with him forever.

He died for us so and we now can  live for Him with faith and hope in our hearts.

We don’t live for ourselves anymore.

We don’t even live for our families or our loved ones primarily.

We live for Him

He gave the ultimate sacrifice that you and I don’t have to live an empty way of life.

It’s not smells and bells.

It’s not do this, don’t do this, It’s not obey these hundreds of laws

It’s grace ,It’s being filled with the Holy Spirit

It’s beholding him every day and being changed by him.

It’s knowing you are not your own any more.

It’s not about you anymore it’s about Him

It’s living devoted to Him because you know one day you will see Him face to face and you want to hear him say.

Margaret well done good and faithful servant

Robert well done good and faithful servant

Grace well done good and faithful servant

Church a Few Reminders this morning

1] We are not Ignorant

2] We are Foreigners

3] We live in Reverent Fear and Will be judged.

4] We have been bought with the Ultimate Price

Let’s stand and worship  Him with ALL OUR HEARTS

HOLINESS IS TO BE WHOLLY GODS

1 Peter 1:13-16 NLT – A Call to Holy Living

13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”[a]

A more popular message is around the Lord’s grace. Pursuing holiness and living consecrated might feel jarring, unattainable, overwhelming, and what does it even mean? But here it is – not a suggestion, or an offering, but a command: “You must be holy because I am holy.”

It’s not about choosing between receiving the unconditional grace Jesus offers and pursuing the holiness he commands us to, it’s about living in the harmony of both – the receipt of grace and the pursuit of holiness together.

It’s a tension we might need to sit in as we consider the possibility of grace and holiness working together in our lives—because it’s essential to living a life of holiness.

Rather than being people who are slowly becoming likened to the status quo of the world that surrounds us, grasping grace and standing our holy ground enables us to be effective christians who can bring change in and to the world—not be changed by the world.

From the past weeks of studying 1 Peter, we know that knowing Christ personally and what he’s done for us is the hope and foundation we need to not only handle pain and suffering, but be refined by it.

How we can live in such a way that the troubles and suffering that inevitably come into our lives would not crush us or make us weaker but make us stronger, refine our character and turn us into great people. 

Me – when I had an overgrown blood vessel on the inside of my eyelid that the doctor had to cut off. Anyone who has sat in a surgery of any type that is reliant on the surgeon’s steady hand will know that it’s as much about the skill of the surgeon as it is about the stillness of the patient because the same blade that could refine my vision and heal me, could destroy my vision and cause damage to me.

If the surgical tools the Lord uses to refine us are pains and trials, it’s also about how we position ourselves through them. How do we live in such a condition that the surgical tools the Lord uses (the trials of life) don’t destroy you but actually heal you?

The key point of this passage is “You must be holy because I am holy”

What does it mean to sit still on the surgical bed of life?

What does it mean to sit still under the blade of the troubles of life?

That you’re helped and refined by them and not destroyed?

Being holy…

“Therefore” it says:

• prepare your minds for action
• exercise self-control
• Put your hope in eternal life with Christ, not in something else 
• Live as God’s obedient children
• Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires
• Be holy in everything you do

In the Greek, it literally says “gird up the loins of your mind” which is an unfortunately picturesque statement. 

Men and women of those days didn’t wear what we wear today. They wore flowing robes not conducive to strenuous action – so preparing for action meant pulling together the flowing robes and putting them into a belt that girded them – so bare legs were free to run – the moral of the story is that holy living is all about wearing the right underwear! ready for action.

Paul is basically saying if you want to live ready to be refined by life, and not swallowed by it, you better be positioned – focussed – not distracted (consumed with thoughts about a lot of things- goals/relationships/whatever) so you only have a corner of your mind seeking God and attending to the pursuit of God.

Peter says you’ve got to gird up your loins, give your total focus to seeking God, pursuing God, living ready for action.

The pursuit of holiness is not a hobby, it’s a lifestyle decision, pursuing holiness is to be wholly Gods. 

Be holy for I am holy… here are 2 principles:

1/ The Lord is holy

Peter quotes five times out of Leviticus, “be holy for I am holy”. The word holy in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word “kadosh” which actually means to be separate, cut off ‘kadosh’, cut loose.

If we want to see God as holy we have to see him as infinitely above and beyond you and me.

The bible tells us that what makes him God is not that he’s powerful, not that he’s wise, not that he’s loving but that his power is holy power, his love is holy love, his wisdom is holy wisdom. As soon as you put the word holy on God, what that means is God is off the scale. 

Whenever God wants to rebuke people in the Old Testament he says things like “you thought I was one like yourself“. It can be confusing because there are metaphors to describe God like “father”, shepherd” etc yet inside all of those metaphors, he is infinitely above and beyond us – not at the top end of scale but infinitely above, off the scale.

What does it mean to honour him as holy? 

• He is transcendently unique (Ex 15:11) “Who is like unto thee?”… This is rhetorical. Noone is.
• Isaiah 55, “My thoughts, not your thoughts”. We worry because we compare ourselves to him and think he isn’t handling this very well, or we could run it better. But the reason we are worrying is because we’re not sanctifying him as holy. When we sanctify him as holy, as the passage continues, ‘we will be led forth in peace’.
• An example, if I had a bad father, or male authority figure, I can’t comprehend God as a loving Father. He is a holy father. Not the best version of a natural father. He is off the scale, infinitely above, his love unending, pure, unconditional, perfect. Until/unless you sanctify him as holy you ‘re never going to understand or be comforted by his fatherly love.
• Take seriously that he is holy, reflect on it, read what Jesus said about his holiness.
• His love and wisdom is beyond anything we know, or could ask or think or imagine.
• We will never have peace and really relax until we receive who he is and what he’s done.
• My process of salvation – receiving Christ – his grace, his presence, his peace. Later, experienced his holiness – a miracle in our family – revelation of the holiness of God.

2/ We must be holy 

Holiness is different when applied to the ‘creatures’ and the creator. We are not of infinite holiness, but we are called to be set apart.

In the Old Testament, there were a lot of inanimate objects set apart for the exclusive use of the tabernacle that were holy.

To be holy means to be wholly Gods. 

No area doesn’t belong to him. 

No part of our heart does not belong to him. 

Why is tithe holy? Because it’s completely used for God’s work, totally at God’s disposal

None of us can be completely holy or perfectly holy but it’s what we’re aiming at and called to pursue. 

God hasn’t called us to be something we can’t possibly be. 

The Holy Spirit empowers us to live Holy.

OT story which shows us perfectly what it is to be called to be holy 

2 Sam 23:13-17 

13 Once during the harvest, when David was at the cave of Adullam, the Philistine army was camped in the valley of Rephaim. The Three (who were among the Thirty—an elite group among David’s fighting men) went down to meet him there. 14 David was staying in the stronghold at the time, and a Philistine detachment had occupied the town of Bethlehem.

15 David remarked longingly to his men, “Oh, how I would love some of that good water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem.” 16 So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew some water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to the Lord. 17 “The Lordforbid that I should drink this!” he exclaimed. “This water is as precious as the blood of these men[a] who risked their lives to bring it to me.” So David did not drink it. These are examples of the exploits of the Three.

David murmured…“Oh, how I would love some of that good water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem.”

He was hot, discouraged and tired. He was likely thinking, “Will I ever be able to resist the Philistines?”, “Will the Lord ever give Israel back into my hands? Or Bethlehem?” 

He would have had a well there. He had to have had a well there or he wouldn’t have been able to have a camp. This was a yearning for water from that well. It had tasty water, with sweet minerals in it. Perhaps he was mostly yearning for the day he’d have Bethlehem back and he was anxious and wrestling with the idea… “Will God protect me, honour me, help me, aid me?”

He wasn’t giving anyone a command, or asking for help, or even talking to anyone, just sighing deeply and expressing a desire.

Three warriors overheard his wish – they looked at each other – said nothing – belted on their swords – picked up a water pitcher – went to Bethlehem – fought their way into Bethlehem – fought their way up a hill through the scores of Philistine soldiers – perhaps fight their way in the gate because we know the well was inside the city. They probably had to fight people off whilst they were filling the jug – then fight their way out – then go through the desert carrying the water instead of drinking it. Finally, they came into the presence of their King David and said, “Here’s the water that you desired”.

David was thunderstruck – looked at water and refused to drink it – instead he poured it on the ground before the Lord and poured it out on the ground before the Lord saying, “The Lord forbid that I should drink this!” he exclaimed. “This water is as precious as the blood of these men who risked their lives to bring it to me.” So David did not drink it. 

What do we learn about holiness / total devotion in this passage?

A/ The nature of total devotion is that the difference between a command, a request and a sigh is nonexistent.

When we are devoted to our King, His wish is our command.

Total holiness goes way beyond the rules. It’s a whole orientation of the heart that goes way beyond God’s commands and requests and stretches us to see anything that God prefers and wants, his wish is our command.

It’s not ‘how much do I have to do/change/give?’, it’s pouring out all we have to fulfil the desires of his heart? 

How did those guys feel when David poured out that water they risked their lives for? 

On the one hand, the men’s attitude toward David is wonderful because that’s how we should all be loving each other. The bible says “be devoted to each other” – we should be watching, listening for each other and serving one another in love. 

But David poured it out because he said he didn’t feel he had the right to this level of devotion. Maybe you’ve given your total devotion to people who haven’t have the theological smarts and godliness to pour it out on the ground like David, but they’ve taken it from you.

The only object of total devotion to which we should be separated is Jesus. 

We don’t just see Jesus in David, but in the mighty men. He is a warrior king. He broke through enemy lines to bring the water of life. He looks at us and says John 17 “for their sakes I sanctify myself”. This means he’s wholly focussed and wholly devoted to us. He’s the warrior King, he hears our sighs and goes up the hill and fights through enemy lines to bring us the water of life. And this came at the price of his life.

In this sermon from 1 Peter 1:6-9 Pastor Tim looks at the now and not yet of the Kingdom through the lens of inaugurated eschatology! We live in the age of trials and suffering, but also inexpressible and glorious joy! How can that be?

Well we are 3 weeks into our series on 1 Peter and already there has been so much rich teaching from this letter.

• We started by looking at the story of Peter and how that related to his greeting the churches with grace and peace.
• This had been his story… a recipient of grace and peace!
• Called by Jesus and there through his 3 years of ministry…
• And then reinstated after disowning Jesus at his crucifixion…
• This Peter is the rock upon which Jesus chose to build his church!
• And then last week his praise to God for the inheritance we receive as the children of God…
• New birth and the living hope of the resurrection…
• So today is in one sense about what it is like to live here on earth as Christians, while awaiting this future hope.

So let’s continue reading this letter. 1 Peter 1:6-9

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Well as I was reading this section of Peter’s letter this week…

• I started thinking about the phrase “a sign of the times.”
• It’s a phrase used to describe the things that are going on in the age that we live in…
• I also discovered that it was the title of Harry Styles hit single in 2017
• Which included these profound lyrics…

Just stop your crying, It’s a sign of the times
Welcome to the final show, Hope you’re wearing your best clothes
You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky
You look pretty good down here, But you ain’t really good

That is profound… I think… actually I have no idea what he is talking about…

But actually knowing the signs of the times is a very profound thing for us Christians

• What in this present age marks the life of the children of God?
• And obviously that is going to be very different if you are a Christian living under persecution in Iran…
• Or you are a Christian living in poverty in sub-Sahara Africa…
• Or you are a Christian living on the Northern Beaches of Sydney…
• But whatever your experience of following Jesus is, you live in a period of history that is marked by certain things…

So we may say the sign of the times, or the age we live in is marked by technological progress…

• I walk around with a computer in my pocket which can call anyone in the world at any time…
• Or we may say it is marked by globalism and connectedness… we travel the world and the things we consume come from every corner of earth…
• But we might also say we live in an age of unprecedented isolation and disconnection…
• Where people through history have always lived as intergenerational families and communities, now we live increasingly alone.

But actually as Christians we also live in a particular theological age…

• We Christians believe there is another story for what time we live in…
• So, we live in between Jesus first and second coming… between his life, death and resurrection…
• And then before his glorious return when all things will be made new…
• And that could be described as the now and the not yet of the Kingdom…

What on earth do I mean by that?

• Well fundamentally we believe that into the brokenness of humanity and this creation, God has acted through Jesus Christ.
• And he has initiated the Kingdom of God where the lost are found and made new. 
• Right? Mark 1:14-15 “Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come’ he said, ‘the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.’”
• And as we see in the gospel, Jesus goes around healing and casting out evil and restoring the lost… and it continues in Acts and church history…
• The now of the Kingdom means because of Jesus and his work on the cross and resurrection, we can have peace with God….
• It is the definitive moment in human history and splitter of ages!

But we also believe in the not yet of the kingdom…

• Clearly as we look around we see that the world is still a mess…
• That even as Christians we experience brokenness and sickness and death.
• The Kingdom advances, and Jesus teaches us to pray “your kingdom come.” But we do not see it in full… which is why we keep praying for it to break in!
• Sometimes it advances only to decline again… moves of God where whole nations come to faith…
• And periods of darkness when the church goes to sleep…

And then there is this promise that Jesus will return again, and our living hope of resurrection.

• Todays passage, (verse 7) talks about when Jesus is revealed. 
• The Book of Revelation paints a picture of the future where there will be no more sickness or pain, no more tears or death…
• Where God’s presence will be fully with humanity and behold all things are made new!
• Yes, those who do not know Christ will be eternally separated, but for us who have faith in Christ, we will enjoy life everlasting!

So we live in an age don’t we? An age marked by living in between the Kingdom initiated by Jesus….

• And an age where his kingdom will fully come. 
• Jesus and his Kingdom is now, but it is not yet! (SLIDE)
• It is experienced, but not fully realized. That’s the sign of the times we live in. 
• And it is so key to understanding our lived experience as Christians in a fallen and broken world. 
• We do see healing, but not always… so keep hoping…
• We experience change and transformation, but not fully… 
• And as Peter’s letter will explain today… we experience trials and refinement, but also inexpressible and glorious joy!

Now I want to say this framework for understanding the Kingdom or the sign of the times… 

• It is so key to living well and making sense of our lives!
• Right? 
• I mean it can be confusing that so much good and so much difficulty can be experienced at the same time…
• Or we have seasons of breakthroughs and abundant life…
• And seasons of sickness, intense trials and grief. 

Because we are not always good at living in the tensions of the Christian faith.

• If we think its all “plate on the cake while we wait” it will lead to disappointment with God.
• But also if we just think it is only pie in the sky when we die… then similarly, that’s not the promise of abundant life from Jesus!
• So how much of our faith is cake on the plate while we wait… and how much is pie in the sky when we die?
• Because you’re missing out if your understand of being a child of God is all future reward.
• But then again you certainly cant understand being a child of God as all earthly fulfilment and abundant life… 
• Yes, salvation has begun in the experience of those who have put their faith in Christ
• But its full character and wonder will only be experienced in the crowning day when we enter heaven or Jesus comes again! 

Just quickly before we get into this section of 1 Peter, I think the Apostle Paul actually sums it up best when he says in Philippians 3:10…

• “I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings.”
• Right, there is that tension… to know Christ in this age has both edges…
• Knowing the power of his resurrection… so that is going to involve healing and reconciliation and transformation… that’s a big part of knowing Christ….
• But then also participation in his sufferings… so that is the reality of trials and sickness and unjust circumstances… 
• But it is both working together, sometimes in different seasons, sometimes at the same time, that makes us really know Christ and be transformed into his image!

So, that was the longest introduction ever…

• If you want to understand this more, theologically it is called inaugurated eschatology… 
• So let’s quickly look at this passage and this tension as brought out by Peter…
• In this passage its emphasized and marked by trials and refinement, and glorious and inexpressible joy!
• Yes? Helpful? 
• I mean think about even what we have seen in the first few verses of this letter…

Peter says to the churches that he is writing this letter to…

• Positive: you’ve received mercy, grace and peace
• Negative: you are now living as exiles
• Positive: you’ve received new birth and living hope.
• Negative: You’ll experience trials and refining…
• Positive: your filled with inexpressible and glorious joy…

I reckon that sounds like life! That is a true reflection of being alive.

• I know as a Christian I am loved…
• But I also know I don’t really fit in with the culture around me…
• I know that I am born again into this amazing new family and have the hope of eternal life
• I know that sometimes life just feels really hard and I’m being refined…
• I know that even within that, God has placed joy in my heart…
• We live in tensions… 

So if that is the case Peter wants us to hold the tension of this lived Christian life. 

• From todays passage you would say there are two big things he would call the sign of the times, or the markers of the age we live in 
• Firstly, trials and refinement and secondly, inexpressible and glorious Joy.

So firstly, the trials and refinement…

Verse 6; In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire.

So Peter reminds the early churches that trials and refinement is a part of the age we live in.

• We are not immune from suffering grief, going through trials and being refined as like gold in fire!
• Now that is not to say we go looking for this… 
• But I don’t know any Christians who don’t somehow find this to be true, particularly if they are seeking to be faithful in their following of Christ.
• Right? 
• And I think particularly it is talking about the kinds of trial that Christians face for following the way of Jesus and believing in the truth of Jesus!

The image here is of a big chunk of rock… or ore that contains gold in it…

• But if you want to get the gold out in a pure form…
• It only comes through crushing, and the fires of refinement. It burns away the impurities and leaves only what is precious. 

And Peter seems to bring in the idea of redemptive suffering or redemptive trials.

• Indeed it says it leads to praise, glory and honour!
• The genuiness of your faith, which he compares to gold, the most precious thing in the world…
• Is only proven as it is refined by this kind of fire… through trials and grief.
• I am not saying it is fun thing to go through… but it is the only way to show your faith in Christ is genuine….

I remember when I flew back from London with my Minister from my church with the idea of planting a church in Sydney.

• And he was someone I greatly admired and more mature and seasoned in his faith. And he’d had some serious trials in life…
• And he asked me, a 27 year old bloke at the time, “what is the hardest thing you have been through.”
• And I remember at the time thinking “not much, really.”
• Now of course since then (and I get this stuff is all relative to others experiences) I have had a fair share of trials…
• Of actual grief, of the serious sickness of a spouse, of difficulties in my work life…
• Fortunately leading a church presents you with no shortage of opportunities to be refined… 

But what he was getting at was that it is only really through trials that we can grow!

• The reality is that people who have life handed to them on a plate, or who have been untested by serious trials can often be quite unformed people… 
• Paul says in Romans that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character and character produces hope…
• Right?
• The only way to get character in your life is the path of suffering!
• That might seem harsh, but it is true!

That is why James says in his letter to the churches “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

• There is a redemptive nature to our suffering and trials that produces gold. 
• Now hear me, I am not saying that when you are going through awful times, when you are betrayed or sick or alone…
• That you should just keep your chin up and smile…
• Because the reality of refinement is painful and hard! And we need to carry each other and be in a church community of love!
• But we have an eternal perspective… and it is producing something within us now.

And the Apostle Paul and Peter experienced this… it wasn’t theoretical to them.

• They were imprisoned, beaten and betrayed at different times. 
• In fact if they didn’t have the living hope that we talked about last week of the resurrection, I am sure they would have given in, or walked away.
• But they had seen Jesus risen from the dead and believed and experienced his promises of new life and eternal life!
• And as Peter says here, the genuiness of their faith was proven.

Well that brings us to the last thing and that is Verse 8-9: the reward of knowing Christ both now and forevermore…

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

In may seem paradoxical after all that Peter has been saying that he then talks about experiencing a filling of inexpressible and glorious joy!

• But there is a confidence and again a lived reality to what he is saying here. 
• To be a child of God is to know a joy that the world as it seeks after temporal pleasures and things… can not!
• As we sing in that song Firm Foundation “I still got joy in chaos”!
• Partly this is a present enjoyment of the future salvation we hope for in the present age….
• But it is more than that. 
• It is being filled with the deep and glorious joy of knowing Jesus. 

In Jesus parable of the Great Treasure that he likens to someone finding his kingdom, he says their experience is great joy!

• Joy is what we are told Jesus experiences when he sees his disciples returning from mission.
• We are told joy is what the women experienced when they encountered the empty tomb!
• Romans 14 says the kingdom of God is a matter of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 
• When Paul prays for the Philippians it says he always prays with joy!
• In 1 Thessalonians it says they were given joy by the Holy Spirt in the midst of much suffering
• And of course joy is one of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5… in other words the fruit or what is produced by having the Holy Spirit in you… is joy!

It is of course crazy what we chase after in this world thinking it will fulfil us or make us happy…

• We trade lasting, deep, inexpressible and glorious joy for momentary pleasure.
• We confuse accumulating things and stuff with the fulfilment and joy of knowing Christ and being a part of his people. 
• How many times when I am feeling empty or flat do I start doing a little online shopping
• Or look up another diet. Or I start scrolling Luxury Escapes…

Now listen… this is modern life… I am not saying we can’t enjoy the good gifts of life and the blessings of where we live!

• But listen to CS Lewis because I think he is spot on…. He once said;
• “Joy bursts in our lives when we go about doing the good at hand and not trying to manipulate things and times to achieve joy.”
• Can I get an amen?

You see we all want joy… which is a state much more fulfilling than happiness… which is fleeting….

• But as CS Lewis says we cant manipulate it, we cant achieve it… we certainly cant buy it…
• But when we focus on Christ… his kingdom and the good at hand that we are called to do….
• Joy bursts forth!

Let me finish with this thought!

• It is interesting how often in the bible, joy is linked to the Holy Spirit and praise… 
• And I think that is because being filled with God is the ultimate experience of joy.
• And we are made to praise God and enjoy his presence!
• I had that last Sunday in worship… in the last song I started uncontrollably laughing…
• It is not something that happens all the time to me, but it is a well known experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
• There was a line about Jesus, I cant even remember what it was but it just sparked laughter and joy in me. 
• Contagious… Lani then got filled with the Spirit and started laughing…

Now I had had a rough day, I was feeling flat and to be honest a bit over leading a church… 

• But then the Holy Spirit filled me and joy was back!

Shall we praise God together? 

• Knowing the age we live in, the sign of the times 
• The Kingdom has come, the kingdom is still to come!
• Let’s praise God for our salvation and experience the inexpressible and glorious joy of the Lord!

In this sermon Pastor Tim looks at 1 Peter 1:3-5 and the living hope of the resurrection.

Well we looked at the story of Peter last weekend and how that related to his greeting the churches with grace and peace.

• This had been his story…
• Called by Jesus and there through his 3 years of ministry…
• And then reinstated after disowning Jesus at his crucifixion…
• This Peter is the rock upon which Jesus chose to build his church!
• So he writes this letter from Rome around the year 62 AD to the newly formed churches in what is northern Turkey today.

But I had a good laugh at this video because after all something happened… haha!

• Something that gave these first disciple of Jesus a fearless authority in the face of trials and persecution 
• To witness to what they had seen and experienced. 
• And as we will read, that was the resurrection of Jesus that gave them a living hope.
• And an inheritance that could never perish, spoil or fade. 
• Jesus had become their hope for salvation in a world that no longer felt like home!

So let’s continue reading this letter. 1 Peter 1:3-5

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Well Peter starts his letter giving praise to God for what he has done through Jesus Christ.

• Peter writes this letter to the churches, full of faith and thanksgiving for what they have all commonly received and become because of Jesus.
• They have received mercy
• They have new birth
• They have a living hope
• They have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade!
• Because Jesus has risen from the dead, their hope and our sure hope and destiny is heaven and eternal life.

It can be a bit of a morbid thing to think about inheritances.

• But the Greek word here Kleromonia which we translate inheritance is about what as Christians have our hope in receiving…
• So as we know, an inheritance is the portion of an estate you receive by virtue of birth or a special gift…
• One day… hopefully a long way away… my kids will receive an inheritance from Victoria and I. What we own, will go to them.
• And currently they must be thrilled to think about all of the faded V-neck Country Road t-shirts and scratched sun glasses that are heading their way!
• But more seriously, assuming we haven’t Ski’d too much… you know “spent the kids inheritance”
• They will get whatever Victoria and I have accumulated as a gift for being our children.
• Because they belong to the family, what is ours will be there’s…

Well Peter gives thanks to God for our salvation in this section and it relates to the inheritance that belongs to all of the children of God!

• So since you came to believe that Jesus is Lord, there are a whole bunch of things we inherit both now and at death.

Firstly, right now, our inheritance includes new birth, according to God’s great mercy!

• This, like the inheritance language is about family. 
• Just as we all get born into a human, earthly family…
• What Peter believed is that through the mercy of God, we have been born again into God’s family. 
• So as my last name is Giovanelli, showing which family I belong to…
• But now I am called a Christian, a child of God. 

This new birth language in 1 Peter reminds me of Jesus conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. 

• Do you know the one?
• Jesus says to him, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
• He goes on to say; “flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit.”
• What Jesus is saying is that you don’t get born into God’s family… instead you enter into the family by being born again. 

In other words, when we come to believe that Jesus is Lord, we get the right to be called the children of God. 

• Right?
• John 1:21 “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
• Through repentance and faith… we now belong to God’s family and that comes with this inheritance Peter will speak about. 
• But you get to get born again!

I remember when I lived in London, I gave a Message version of the New Testament to one of the ladies I worked with…

• And she said no thanks, I don’t want that…  and I’ll never forget her reason. She said “my family are Church of England.”
• And obviously she wasn’t a Christian or a church goer…
• But she thought because she had been born into the faith and her parents had baptized her, she thought that was enough…
• And I remember thinking… ok… but being born into a Christian family doesn’t make you a Christian 
• Right what’s the old joke? Being born at a McDonalds doesn’t make you a hamburger… 

So in order to get this amazing inheritance as a child of God, we got to get born again!

• And that is the new birth into a living hope that Peter talks about!

I was thinking this week about one of my best mates Aaron.

• He came from a pretty dysfunctional family. His dad sadly drunk himself to an early death.
• All his siblings were rough and followed the family into dysfunctional relationships and lives…
• So really that was his inheritance. Right?
• But then something remarkable happened, Aaron became a Christian.
• And I love it when Aaron talks about getting saved… because he really did get born again into a new family!
• When Aaron talks about getting saved he talks about the mercy he received and his hope of eternal life… but he also talks about getting saved…
• Saved out of dysfunction and alcoholism and relationship breakdown. 
• You know he was the first in his family to go to university, to have a stable marriage and family!
• That’s the inheritance of the children of God… new birth. 

Well the next bit of the inheritance Peter talks about is “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

• And I just want to make this clear…
• Because what Christian believe is that because Jesus rose from the dead
• We who are the children of God will also rise again into eternal life.
• Although we die, we believe we will live. 
• This is our inheritance… our living hope…

We had a bit of fun with that video… but it actually makes a good point…

• Because only the resurrection of Jesus makes sense of the birth of the church
• And only the resurrection could have changed the world like it has. 
• You see what gave Peter hope was the historical fact that Jesus had been raised from the dead…
• That they had witnessed it…
• That they were the recipients of it’s blessings…
• And they became the witnesses of this amazing good news in Jerusalem, Samaria and the ends of the earth!
• What but the actual, physical, witnessed resurrection of Jesus could have turned the world upside down?

I find Charles Colson, one of Nixon’s special counsel who went to jail for his involvement in Watergate interesting on this…

• He became a Christian in jail and went on to be a defender of the Christian faith for 50 years.
• The lesson of Watergate he says, is that a lie cannot live for long…
• He says; “Take it from one who was involved in conspiracy, who saw the frailty of man firsthand,” he declared, 
• “there is no way the 11 apostles, who were with Jesus at the time of the resurrection, could ever have gone around for 40 years proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection unless it were true.”

If the apostles’ story about the resurrection had begun to unravel, as the Watergate cover-up did, Colson said: “The apostles would have sold out to save their skins.”

• He concludes, “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. 
• They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”

So what happened?

• Well we are told… Mark 16:5-6 that 3 days after Jesus was crucified his disciples approached the tomb. We read…
• “As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here.”

A week later after Jesus had appeared in the flesh to his disciples, there was still one who had missed these resurrection appearances. John 20 picks up the story…

24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

This eventually leads the disciples to go into the world at great personal cost to testify about what has happened

• Acts 4:32 it says; “with great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
• So this was there message… 

And then of course It launched something into the world – and with power!

• It was a message that could not be contained. And everywhere it went, miracles started occurring as it was proclaimed. 
• Of course the resurrection is the greatest miracle… but all of a sudden, verifiable miracles in front of large crowds like the lame walking and the blind seeing began to occur.
• Lives got turned upside down and restored. 
• And the same people who testified to having met with the risen Jesus never faltered in proclaiming what they had seen as true.

But why is it called by Peter “Living Hope?”

Well beyond it being a remarkable story, Christians believe that the death and resurrection of Jesus were the decisive moments in human history.

• What gets dealt with in one weekend, is no less remarkable than the problems of sin and the finality of death. 
• And what Christians believe is that without sin dealt with, we face eternal separation from the God who created us. 
• In the cross and resurrection, sin gets dealt with and death gets defeated. 

You know I thought I had a big weekend putting on a 10^th birthday party…

• My main achievements were going to Bunnings, coaching a soccer game 
• And getting a sermon written…
• Not quite as monumental I will admit as what we are talking about here!

One of my favourite authors, Leslie Newbigin puts it this way; (SLOW)

“The resurrection is the revelation… that Jesus who died on the cross is indeed king – conqueror of death and sin, Lord and Savior of all. The resurrection is not the reversal of a defeat but the proclamation of a victory.” 

What he is saying is that Easter is not the story of a defeated King who makes a great comeback.

• What he is saying, is that the conqueror of death and sin did it through laying down his life as an offering of peace
• And that in the resurrection that victory is proclaimed to the world.
• For all that is evil and broken and wrong in this world threw its weight at Jesus on Good Friday
• But it could not hold him down.
• Because Jesus has risen from the dead, our inheritance as his children is that we will rise to eternal life too!

The great British preacher Spurgeon said; 

“Our first birth brought us into sin and sorrow, but our second birth brings us into purity and joy. We were born to die; now are we born never to die, “born again” unto a life that shall remain in us for evermore, a life which shall even penetrate these mortal bodies, and make them immortal.”

Well, I just want to finish briefly how Peter started this passage and indeed this letter. 

• Verse 3; “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
• Peter who had been with Jesus and who had witnessed the resurrection never lost his sense of awe and wonder and praise!
• Like the Psalmist before, Peter begins with the deeply felt and deeply resounding note of praise. 
• “Bless the Lord oh my soul, and let all that is in me praise him!” 

One of the best nights I have had in a long time was on Thursday at the One Body combined young adults worship night…

• It was cool actually, Kirrily, Anja and I snuck in as old folk…
• But there was well over 200 young people here at Manly Life worshiping and praising God. 
• I think these young guys sung for about 2 hours…
• No real agenda accept to praise God for who He is and what he has done. 
• And there is something in that atmosphere of worship and praise that changes us…
• It takes our eyes off ourselves and up to heaven 
• And on to Jesus and the inheritance that belongs to us through faith

I remember many years ago a Minister said to me “Tim do you ever get a bit tired of worship?”

• And I remember thinking and saying no…
• I know heaven is more than this… but it is certainly never less than this…
• It will be joining in with the saints and angels and people from every tribe, nation and tongue…
• And it will be worshipful! And I want to join Peter in starting now and continuing on into eternity…
• Praise be to God!

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still, my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before, O my soul
I’ll worship Your holy name

In this sermon, Pastor Tim opens our new series in the Book of 1 Peter be tracing the story of Peter through the New Testament and his greeting to the church of grace and peace in abundance!

OK, I want to read 1 Peter 1:1-2

• Let’s dive in… grab your bibles… you will find this Book towards the end of the NT
• Basically you get the 4 accounts of Jesus’ life, then the story of the early church in the Book of Acts…
• Then all of Paul’s letters to the early church, Hebrews, James and then Peter’s letters…
• So… let’s go!

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Well, I really think this is going to be a great series… we are going to particularly focus in on the first 2 chapters

• And this is a letter from Peter whom we know so well from the gospels and the Book of Acts.
• We will get to his story in a second, but we are told at the beginning that it is from Peter and then at the end that Silas helped him write it too. 
• The purpose being that they may “stand fast in the grace of God.”
• And we are told it was written to the exiles scattered through the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.
• This phrase exiles will come up again….
• But basically Peter saw those who belonged to Jesus as belonging to another kingdom…
• So they are currently living in those cities under Roman, or worldly rule… but their true citizenship is with King Jesus.

And I think that idea of God’s elect being exiles is really pertinent to the times that we live in now.

• Active, professing Christians who are trying to faithfully follow Christ and his Way…
• Because we are not the majority of Sydney… 
• Indeed we find ourselves in a pretty similar situation to the first Christians…
• Maybe not facing the strenuous persecution that we will look at in coming weeks of the early church…
• But we definitely find ourselves as outsiders… swimming against the tide…
• Our obedience to Christ as it says in verse 2… means there is an unease.
• We are in this world, but no longer of this world…

There is a great CS Lewis quote in Mere Christianity where he says…

• “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
• Well that is what the early Christians experienced… 
• They were exiles because the world they found themselves in could no longer satisfy their new desires for Jesus, for holiness and for heaven!
• Maybe you sense that disorientation… as you have come to follow Jesus.
• As much as you love talking about property, schools and overseas holidays…
• Actually you are more interested now in the plight of the poor or the trafficked…
• As much as you love a good red wine, you are actually more interested in your friends knowing Jesus and living in the kingdom of light?

So that was who Peter was writing to… probably around the year 62 AD… with the persecution by Nero just beginning… 

• You know the one… while Rome burned Nero played the fiddle… well anyhow, finding an easy scapegoat, he blamed Christians and started persecuting this new community.
• And these early Christians of course were surrounded with the immorality of pagan culture
• Where women had no value, slaves were treated like objects, foreigners were completely ostracized 
• And contemporary pagan temple worship involved sleeping with prostitutes and trying to appease the gods…
• So with increasing opposition and feeling disoriented in a world that no longer felt like home…
• They lived as exiles of heaven… on earth… their destination secure, but their current lives still located in this world!

And in the midst of all that, Peter greets these exiles… these churches… these Jesus followers

• By saying Grace and Peace be yours in abundance. 
• How good is that!
• No matter what they are facing… this is what God wants to keep pouring out and into the children of God.

Well as we start this series… I want to learn deeply from Peter and his letter to the churches.

Before I became a Baptist Minister I worked in the corporate world

• And to prepare for that I studied Business at UTS… 
• I met a young adult last week who is doing the same degree… I said watch out… you may end up becoming a Minister!
• I thought that was funny!
• Anyhow it was an ok degree… I probably spent a bit too much time at Toga parties… 

Anyhow the absolute best subject I ever did was the wrongly named course called Accounting for Small Businesses…

• I remember week one and this accountanty looking bloke walked to the front of the class…
• And I remember thinking… oh my, this is going to be sooooo boring.
• Anyhow he introduced himself and told a bit of his story….
• He had been an accountant…. But then one day at his son’s soccer game an electrician walked up to him and said I think I have invented something…
• Well long story short, he had, and they went into a partnership together and the thing took off…
• And so they made so much money, multiple millions of dollars, that he basically taught as he now didn’t have much to do….

And so the course was actually about entrepreneurship and how to start and manage and grow a business…

• Now why do I tell that story?
• Well we hung on his every word… I don’t think I have ever taken so many notes in a class…
• And why?
• Because here was a guy who wasn’t teaching by being one week ahead of the class…
• Here was someone who had done it… had experienced it… who spoke with the authority of an accomplished practitioner….
• And just a side note, I remember finding out he was also a Christian.

Well when Peter greets the people of God with grace and peace in abundance…

• I am going to listen…
• In fact this whole letter is soaked in the experience of someone who had been with Jesus, who had seen him crucified and risen from the dead…
• And someone who had experience the joy of the Holy Spirit and been involved in the growth of the church
• He had seen grace and peace spread through the ancient world… to the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia
• But he also knew what it was like to suffer and model Christ in the midst of this. 
• This Peter is a great teacher… and we want to learn what it means to be exiles 
• Citizens of heaven in the actual world where we dwell and live…

You know the story of Peter… it’s an amazing one…

• He was fishing one day with his brother Andrew when Jesus walked beside the sea of Galilee.
• This Jesus we hear had begun to preach repentance, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.
• And he called out to Peter who was going by his Greek name Simon at the time.
• “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.”
• Well I don’t know if it was a supernatural tug on the heart or what was going on, but we read that he and his brother left their nets and followed him.
• Immediately in Matthew’s gospel we read that he would have observed Jesus teaching, healing, casting out evil spirits and huge crowds following him!
• I mean talk about your life being turned upside down!

Well for the next 3 years, Peter travelled with Jesus and was even given authority to do the same things…

• And there are lots of famous stories about Peter…
• He is the one whose mother-in-law Jesus heals by touching her hand…
• He would have been there when Jesus said “come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”
• He was the one who Jesus invited to get out of the boat and join him walking on water. Of course it ends up being a lesson in faith and failure and trust!
• He was would have sat and listened to the sermon on the mount and all of the parables…
• He was the one who almost impetuously declared “Jesus, you are Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 
• And he gets renamed from Simon to the Hebrew name Peter which means rock…
• This is the original Rocky!
• And Jesus says to him “on you, I will build my church.”

But this Peter who will greet the people of God with grace and peace in abundance knew what it was like to deny Jesus and be lovingly reinstated. 

• In Matthew 26 Peter says to Jesus “I will never leave you.” 
• But then, just as Jesus had said would happen, Peter disowns Jesus after he has seen him arrested and betrayed. 
• “I” says Peter, “don’t know the man.” It happens 3 times… 
• Then remembering Jesus predicting this and hearing the rooster crow… 
• It says Peter went outside and wept bitterly. 

Well it is pretty rough from there… at a distance he watches Jesus trial and the crowds shouting “crucify him”

• Then he watches Jesus be killed as a common criminal on a cross…
• A spear thrust into his side… Jesus saying “it is finished” and giving up his Spirit. 
• I can only imagine the sense of self loathing at his act of betrayal and utter helplessness at seeing Jesus whom he had followed for 3 years, now being crucified.
• It must have felt over…

(pause)

Well just three days later, Mary comes to Peter with the news that the tomb is empty and the stone is rolled away!

• Peter runs! Now I get a real fondness for Peter at this stage because it says the other disciple out ran him and got there first… haha!
• I could play Peter in the movie… terrible runners unite!
• But he finds the tomb empty and the strips of linen that had wrapped Jesus just lying there
• Later that day, it’s his turn. Mary has already seen him… but now in the Upper Room
• Most likely the one where Jesus had washed Peter’s feet in the days before these events…
• Jesus stands among them, risen from the dead, and breathes on them the Holy Spirit and gives them his peace!

Well the in the next few days, Peter finds himself back fishing and Jesus appears again to them.

• This time Peter jumps out of the boat, into the water and goes ashore!
• It is obviously the excitement of seeing Jesus alive!
• But I can’t help but wonder if in his impetuous nature did thoughts then creep across his mind about his own denial of ever knowing Jesus!
• What kind of a reaction is he going to get from his Lord?
• Well I think it is a very tender moment… he is not judged or condemned. But he is asked by Jesus to feed his sheep….
• A reference to looking after the children of God… much like a shepherd looks after his flock…
• And in a moment reminiscent of their first encounter Jesus says to Peter; “Follow me.”

Well from there the story really heats up. 

• Because just like Jesus had promised… the Holy Spirit, the presence, power and authority of Jesus is poured out on Peter and the disciples at Pentecost. 
• Tongues of fire come to rest on his head and to outsiders it looks like they are drunk….
• But it’s something very profound is occurring. They are being filled with power in order that they may be Jesus’ witnesses in the whole world.

Well Peter gets up in front of a huge crowd. Same dude who had denied Jesus now fearless and filled with authority…

• He preaches an unbelievable sermon (you can read it in Acts 2) and it says 3,000 people become followers of Jesus that day.
• The church is born… the promise of Jesus to make him a fisher of men and a rock upon which he would build his church is being fulfilled. 
• Next, Peter declaring the powerful name of Jesus over a lame beggar, a miraculous healing occurs. The guy gets up and walks…
• The same things Jesus did are now being done by Peter in the name of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Well what else, what else… I told you it was a rollicking tale…

• Well Peter does more preaching, there are more healings, he gets thrown in jail… he miraculously escapes… 
• I mean it is just amazing…
• There’s the story of the gentile Cornelius’ conversion and receiving of the Holy Spirit under Peter’s ministry, that kind of blows open the doors to ministry to all the world…

And really what happens is Peter becomes the leader of the church in Jerusalem

• And then after Paul gets converted out of his persecuting, violent ways, Paul starts to take the gospel on these missionary journeys to the gentiles…
• And Peter kind holds down the home base.
• Well by Acts 13 the story moves on to following Paul… 
• And we only hear of Peter one more time… where he graciously makes sure the church is a place of grace for all, both Jews and Gentiles in Acts 15…

So then we get this letter in our bibles, written around 30 years after these events from an older, wiser, weathered Peter…

• By now according to the letter, he has relocated to “Babylon”, which is code for Rome… 
• And he greets them with grace and peace in abundance
• Man I love that… 
• Hey… I walked with Jesus… I disowned Jesus… I was lovingly reinstated into my calling by Jesus. This is my story!
• And I saw his grace and peace spread through the world…
• Hey church… grace and peace be yours in abundance!
• Hey exiles… scattered in a world that no longer feels like home… grace and peace be yours in abundance!
• Grace… peace!

Well let’s finish with that greeting!

• As I said, I want to learn from people who are seasoned and experienced in what they teach.
• I really did love that business course because the teacher had done it… not just talked about it.
• Well as I said, this greeting is deeply soaked in the lived experience and reality of the writer!
• This greeting is Peter’s life.

Grace is the Greek word charis from which we then get words like charismatic…

• But in its simplest it just means gift! The undeserved, lavished gift of God at work in our lives…
• Peter greets them with this grace.
• It has been their common experience of the lavish love of God and forgiveness won by Christ on the cross that unites them.
• We will get to this verse next week, but he reminds them in verse 3;
• “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
• It is the gift (the charis) of Jesus’ mercy that gives us our living hope!

And then the Greek word for peace which is Eirene which is a translation of the Hebrew word shalom….

• This denotes not just an absence of war or division or trouble…
• But the actual presence of wholeness and reconciliation… 
• This greeting, of which Peter wants them to know exists for them in abundance, again comes through the saving work of Christ in their lives…
• Peter who must have felt so broken and separated from Christ at his disowning
• Had been put back together by Jesus and reinstated into his calling to fish for men and women and be the rock upon which the church was built.

From his experience he greets them… charis and eirene… grace and peace be yours!

I don’t know about you, but often I think of Peter and at least personally I can relate to this guy

• Maybe you blow a bit hot and cold in your faith…
• Maybe you know you have a calling upon your life for all kinds of different things
• But maybe you also feel like you let Jesus down
• Peter wants you to know that what comes from God is an undeserved gift of mercy and a life that gets put back together and made whole.
• No matter how far the drift, no matter how far we don’t live up to our calling.

Well as we start this series in 1 Peter, I want to extend that offer of grace and peace to you today!

• When Jesus called Peter who was fishing he responded by following him
• When Jesus got reinstated, Jesus reminded him to “follow me.”
• When Peter preached it says they were cut to the heart and asked what shall we do….
• Peter responded “repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…”
• We respond, and we receive… 

Ministry…