Sermons May - June
Following on from my last sermon i want to explain why we need to:
Leave the Transient to Live the Definitive Luke 24:13-21 “And behold, the same day two of them were going to a village six miles from Jerusalem, whose name was Emmaus. 14 And they were talking among themselves about all that had happened. 15 And it came to pass, as they were talking among themselves, and asking questions of one another, that Jesus himself approached, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were closed, so that they did not know him. 17 And he said to them: What are these words that you exchange among yourselves as you walk, and why are you sad? 18 And one, whose name was Cleopas, answered and said unto him, Art thou only a sojourner in Jerusalem, and knowest not the things that have happened there these days? 19 And he asked them: Which ones? And they said to him: Those concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; 20 And how the chief priests and our princes handed him over to death, and crucified him. 21 And we hoped that he would be the one who redeemed Israel; but now, above all this, today is the third day since these things happened.”
2 Cor 4:18 “we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for those which are seen are temporal, and those which are unseen are eternal.” Transient: Everything that lasts a short time; passenger, brief. We are living in a world where people are unaware of and/or despise the eternal, the perennial, the definitive.
What is on the rise is the momentary, the transitory, the immediate, eternal while it lasts. Everything changes, everything passes, nothing is seen as lasting forever. May it be eternal while it lasts. This malignancy has often affected our faith, we begin to conform to this pattern of behaviour and without realizing it we fall into a climate of pessimism and defeatism, as happened with Abraham.
To live God's promises it is necessary: GO OUTSIDE! Gen 15:3, 5-6 “And Abram said, Thou hast granted me no seed, and a servant born in my house shall be my heir. 5 Then he led him outside and said, Look at the heavens and count the stars, if you can. And he said unto him, So shall thy posterity be. 6 He believed in the LORD, and it was counted to him for righteousness.”
Going out means: You literally break away from everything that was the limitations, divisions and malignancies of your past. We need to have the resurrection acting powerfully within us to get out of our cave. To do this, we need to understand that what we are experiencing is just a passage to God's ultimate thing that will happen in our lives. Abraham was inside the tent worried, sad and resigned, but all of that was a passage to the final. Do you know what will be definitive? You will be the father of many nations. This is definitive!
WHAT CAN PREVENT US FROM LEAVING THE TRANSIENT TO EXPERIENCE THE DEFINITIVE: 1. LACK OF VISION – When we cannot see that the Lord has already ACCOMPLISHED HIS WILL. Luke 24:14-16 “14 And they were talking among themselves about all that had happened. 15 And it came to pass, as they were talking among themselves, and asking questions of one another, that Jesus himself approached, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were closed, so that they did not know him.”
After the crucifixion of Christ, there was discouragement in Jerusalem and some disciples were returning to their homes. Two of them on the road to Emmaus were asking: Why? Did the Lord say he would rise again? Did the Lord say he was going to do a great work? And now there's nothing left? They could not see that Jesus had risen. They couldn't see that it was just a passage. Something greater from God was happening, that was the third day. Jesus, following the example of Abraham, went outside. He left for the definitive... He left for the resurrected... He left for the promise... He left for that which no one else can destroy, that no one else can end.
The Power of resurrection is coming into your life today for you to live the ultimate.
2. SADNESS – AFTER WE EXPERIENCE A SUCCESSION OF DIFFICULT SITUATIONS. Luke 24:17 “And he said unto them, What are these words which ye pass among yourselves as you walk, and why are ye sorrowful?”
The disciples of Emmaus could not see Jesus, they were sad, without hope. They felt something different along the way, their hearts were burning, but the sadness was greater. When we think that Jesus is not around to help us, we lose peace, trust, our face falls and then sadness sets in.
Abraham let himself be overcome by the sadness of not having an heir for a moment. He was discouraged inside his tent, but the Lord called him out of the tent. There are people who truly need today to blow away the stone from this grave of pain and sadness, and go out to see the Lord and live God's promises. The Stone will explode and you will come out in the name of Jesus!
3. LACK OF FAITH – When we look at difficulties and forget the promises. Lk15:21 “And we hoped that he would be the one who redeemed Israel; but now, above all this, today is the third day since these things happened.” When we are worried about our problems, we always fix our eyes on them and it seems that we are stuck in a circle without solutions, thus becoming increasingly frustrated. When you look too much at your problems, you lose peace due to the pressure of circumstances. When you look too much at your problems, you lose awareness of the presence of Jesus. Distrust enters because you begin to lose your certainty about the person of Jesus. You lose sensitivity in listening. Many people have witnessed what Jesus has done in their lives, and you think Jesus won't do it in yours. We need to see that the Lord has already gone out to win.
WHEN WE LEAVE THE TRANSIENT TO EXPERIENCE THE DEFINITIVE: • I RECEIVE FULL POWER FROM MY CONSTITUTION. • MY FLESH AND MY SOUL NO LONGER DOMINATE ME. • SHAME IS TAKEN AWAY BECAUSE MY REALITY HAS CHANGED. • MY EYES ARE OPENED TO SEE THE LORD IN EVERYTHING. • I PLACE MYSELF IN THE PLACE WHERE JESUS WILL COMPLETE HIS PROMISES.
Seeing the Greatness of God Gen 15.1-5 Ge 15:1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, s Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. Ge 15:2 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, v what can you give me since I remain childless w and the one who will inherit 73 my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? Ge 15:3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant y in my household will be my heir.” 5:4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir. He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars b if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Ge 15:6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness
Here we see God’s revelation
of Himself as our shield and reward. Believe and the Lord our God will credit
you with righteousness.
Today
I want to talk about “Going Out to live the promises of God”. Our God is a God
who opens a path where we could not imagine it existing. Because every time a
situation arises that seems to be the end of the line, where everything is
denigrated, there are no perspectives, there are no possibilities and human
strength is running out, at that moment God opens a “passageway”, a new
perspective, and a new vision.
In
this experience, the Lord's objective is to place us at a higher level of
Anointing. God wants to mark us and that these marks are representative of what
He will give us. Here we have the case of Abraham, who had a promise, as we do
too, but we see Abraham discouraged and questioning the word he had received.
Perhaps
you have prayed and have often asked, “Where is my promise?” Perhaps you were
looking for a blessing and said, “Where is my blessing?” We all go through it!
Because our heart often leads us to understand that there is no possibility
that what was promised will come true.
But
God works in all areas. Abraham had promises, and he was inside his tent,
perhaps depressed, and depression is nothing more than an attribute of one who
often lets his flesh be greater than the strength of the promise itself.
We
can imagine that Abraham stayed in the tent all day and at night he continued there
with his inner questions: “Where is the one God promised me? How can I
understand that something is going to happen, because God promised me a great
nation?”
Today,
if your reality is contrary to the promise, know that the word of God does not
change. Don't allow the devil to turn this reality, this “moment” into a
misfortune, because God has a way out, a door that you don't know about.
That
is why it is necessary to “go out” and see the greatness of God. The Lord wants
and will change the story of your life. God said to Abraham: “Look at the stars
of the heavens, the miracle comes from the heavens! Look at the sand on the
beach, the miracle is fulfilled on earth!” God tells you: You will not die
before living all the promises and all the miracles of the Lord, released in
your life, in the name of Jesus.
That's
why you should say: I'm coming out! When God tells you to go outside. He is
saying: I am inaugurating a new era in your life. And today we will see the
greatness of God, the Lord will make you see the infinite possibilities that He
has for your life, you will see your miracle, you will see healing and
salvation for your entire family, you will see God using it powerfully at this
time in the name of Jesus.
That
is why you will leave the smallness, the distorted and limited vision of your
flesh, you will leave the lies of hell and contemplate the truth of the
almighty God for your life and you will see the greatness of God.
WE
SEE THE GREATNESS OF GOD WHEN: 1) LIKE MOSES: GET AWAY FROM DESERT CONDITION –
NO LONGER RUN AWAY FROM SITUATIONS Ex 2:15,21 “Informed of this case, Pharaoh
sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of
Midian; and sat down by a well. 21 Moses consented to live with that man; and
he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah,”
Upon
fleeing into the desert, after killing the Egyptian soldier, he hides in
Jethro's house and there, he will spend a period of 40 years, where the plan to
be a great liberator no longer existed. But God calls him and says: The time
for your flight is over, the time for your fear is over, the time for
accusations is over. Get out! Ex 3:10 So now, go. I am sending k you to Portslade to bring my people out of the
bondage of sin.
2)
LIKE ELIJAH: I EXIT THE CONDITION OF SPIRITUAL BANKRUPTCY – NO LONGER
CANCELLING GOD’S CALL
1 Kings 19:4,9 “But he himself went into the wilderness, a day's journey, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he asked for death and said: It is enough; Take now, O LORD, my soul, for I am no better than my fathers. 9 There he entered a cave, where he spent the night; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?” God goes to Elijah and says: What are you doing there?
Get
out there, because I have many things to accomplish in your life. We cannot be stuck with false conclusions. Like Elijah, go out, because God has twice
as much to accomplish in your life.
3)
LIKE DAVID: LEAVE THE PLACE OF COMFORT - NO LONGER CONFORMING TO THE SITUATIONS
AROUND YOU. 1 Sam 22.1, 4-5 “David withdrew from there and took refuge in the
cave of Adullam; When his brothers and all his father's house heard this,
they went down to him. 4 He brought them before the king of Moab, and they
lived with him as long as David was in this safe place. 5 But the prophet Gad said to David, Do
not stay in this safe place; go and enter the land of Judah. So David left and went
to the forest of Hereth.” The time for you to stay hidden is over. Go expose yourself, get out. Get out there because your time is over
and the Lord has bigger things to accomplish.
4) LIKE JOSEPH: GET OUT OF OPPRESSION – NO LONGER REMAINING INJUSTICE, CRISIS AND INTERNAL PRISONS. Gen 37:23-24 “But as soon as Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic, the long-sleeved tunic he was wearing. 24 And taking him, they threw him into the empty cistern without water.” God had a tremendous plan for Joseph, he got out of that apparent misfortune. It could have been the end of the line for Joseph, but he heard the voice of the Spirit within him and walked in a glorious time.
WHEN WE SEE THE GREATNESS OF GOD: WE EXERCISE OUR CALLING IN ALL ITS EXTENT; GOD CHANGES THE HISTORY OF OUR LIVES WITH POWER; GOD DOES AMAZING THINGS (I Cor 2:9); WE GO MUCH BEYOND THAN WE COULD; WE RECEIVE THE TRUTH THAT THE MIRACLE COMES FROM THE HEAVENS.
1 Peter (3) GREATER THAN GOLD 1 Peter 1:6 - 12
In this you greatly
rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all
kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than
gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may
result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 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, for you
are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Concerning this
salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you,
searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and
circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he
predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was
revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke
of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel
to you by the Holy Spirit
sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
It wasn't easy being a Christian in Asia Minor in Peter's day, there was pressure on your life from every direction. You swam against the political tide where the Emperor was God and you were expected to worship him. Because Christians refused to worship the Emperor they were seen as being political traitors. You swam against the economic tide which was tightly linked to the pagan temples. The pagan temples in Peter's day were huge money making enterprises so if people became Christians they stopped putting their money into the temples and local businesses felt the pinch. You swam against current ideology which was the worship of self, conquest and power. The Christian ideals of self-sacrifice, giving, the loving of your neighbour made you look foolish. And then of course you swam against the morality of the time. Trying to live a life of holiness was like trying to keep yourself clean while swimming in an oil slick.
It wasn't easy being a Christian in Asia Minor in Peter's day and although our culture is different in some ways it is the same. It's hard being a Christian in a society where self and power still count in the eyes of many, it's hard being a good steward of resources in a materialistic age, and we still feel odd trying to live holy lives in the oil slick of our current age's morality. It's made harder too when we get confusing messages from so called Christian leaders about what is acceptable morality and what is not. It's a strange scenario when Peter says in v.6 "in this (pressurised situation) you greatly rejoice!" Hold on Peter - are you going daft? We know that there will be rejoicing in the future when we are finally released from this world, but are you saying that there is rejoicing for us now even in the midst of this world and the testing and suffering? Yes, that's what he is saying, Peter's going to say a number of things about the Christian life, and the first thing he's going to say in vv 6,7 is that the Christian life is one of rejoicing during the difficulties.
1. A life of rejoicing during the difficulties (vv 6,7)
Vv 6 and 7 are clearly about trials. In the ancient world trials were seen as being natural disasters, something you can do nothing about, or more usually a punishment from the gods. But Peter is not talking about believers being on the receiving end of natural disasters or punishment from the gods, he's defining a trial as the response of an unbelieving world to the people of faith. Trials are the friction caused by unbelieving people and an unbelieving world when Christianity and Christian people are rubbed up against it. We learn in Romans 5:3,4 that these trials produce our Christian character. Paul says: "we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." James makes the same point in James 1:2,3 where he says "consider it pure joy...whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance."
Now from 1 Peter 1:6,7 we learn four important points about the whole meaning of trials and suffering:
(1) In this world there is suffering. Life although good is not always a party. Life although good has some hard and painful moments in it. Although suffering will come to different people in different ways, it will come to everyone. This to some extent answers the "why me?" question, the answer is because part of being human in a fallen world is suffering.
(2) Suffering is not permanent. Peter says in v.6 that it comes only for a little while. This is of course difficult to believe when we are in great pain, but it is only a speck compared to the eternal duration of salvation. Peter repeats this point in 5:10 where he says "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
(3) Suffering has purpose. Peter speaks about "trials" and uses an ambiguous Greek word which can be translated as either a trial or a temptation. A trial is a test to see if something can stand up to the strain. The great Clyde built ocean liners had their speed trials around our coasts to see if they would stand the strain or shake to pieces, the goal of the trial is success, if a weakness is found it will be strengthened. The goal of a temptation however is to destroy something. In the bible the goal of a temptation is to lead us to yield to some specific sin so that it will take root and destroy us. The temptation facing Peter's readers was that the tide they were swimming against was too strong they might do better swimming with it - the temptation was to give up on their faith and thus to stop the ridicule and the physical threats.
Peter concedes that the pressures upon his readers are evil, they are causing grief and distress. There is no rejoicing in the difficulties themselves. But these people can still rejoice because God is turning this evil on its head and using it for the benefit and not for the destruction of his people, yes their faith is being tested, but rejoice! - the fire will prove their faith to be genuine and it will come out with greater worth than gold.
Peter has in mind the melting pot crucible of the goldsmith who would start off with a lump of metal which would contain gold but other metals too such as lead and silver. When the metal was heated the gold would sink to the bottom and the other metals could be scraped off the surface, the goldsmith would then be left with pure gold. So too when we become Christians our faith is often mixed up with sinful human elements, there's our background, our personalities, our wrong thinking, our own sinfulness, so God uses the very tests with which this world and its evil systems plan to destroy us to build us up. What a gracious God we have who would take the worst thing that could be thrown at us and yet do the best thing for us through it. What a gracious God we have who would take our very worst mistake and somehow let us come out of it stronger. Sure refining is painful, sure the heat of the fire hurts, sure these tests are unpleasant, but sure God is good. Our faith is being proved genuine and it will result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed (v7).
This means that He will be glorified on that last great day when he is surrounded by Christian people who have proved their faith by coming through the trials, he will be surrounded by Christian people who will discover that their decision to become and stay Christians was worth it. Knowing what God is doing NOW through our struggles, and knowing what he will do it with it THEN means that the Christian can rejoice during the difficulties.
2. A life of believing during the disadvantage (vv 8,9)
Peter had one advantage over his readers - he had seen Jesus Christ as a living person, his readers thus had a disadvantage which he describes is v.8 "though you have not yet seen him." The insertion of the word "yet" is of crucial importance, it tells us that our disadvantage is only temporary, the goal of our faith, our future hope is to see Jesus Christ. Right now we get glimpses of what he is like through the word of God, through worship, through other Christians, but there is coming a day when we will see him. When I will be able to see Jesus like I can see you.
Despite the fact that they had not seen Jesus in the flesh they love him, they like us were in a personal relationship with him. Though they had not seen him they knew him as a real person, but their faith was not based on the fact that they loved him, nor that they hoped to see him face to face one day, their faith was grounded and rooted in the fact that they believed in him now, and that belief filled them with an inexpressible and glorious joy. That personal belief in Jesus, who he was and what they had done for them opened up to them the doors of heaven. As a result of this they were saved from the moment they believed, they continued to receive this salvation and they looked forward to its completion on the day that they saw Jesus for themselves.
This life then is clearly not the only life that there is, there is a life to come in which if we believe in Jesus now we shall see him and then and be with him eternally. It's difficult to grasp what this next life will be like which is why Peter uses a word like inexpressible. It shall however be free from the trials of this life which is why Peter uses a word like joy! Yes in this life we live at a disadvantage, but it's temporary - one day we shall see him!
3. A life of grace during the delay (vv 10 - 12)
1 Peter 1:10 - 12 are theologically very important verses for they show us how the first Christians took the OT, a Jewish book, and made it their own. What Peter does is he says in v.10 that the OT prophets and their writings although having a relevance to their own day pointed towards a particular point in the future - they predict the time when the grace of God will be fully revealed in the sufferings of Christ and the glories which were to follow. The OT sees the grace of God, predicts the person of Christ but there is a delay between the time when the prophecies were spoken and written and their fulfilment in Christ. In other words the OT prophets were not just ministering to their own generation, but also to the generation of Peter's readers. V.12 says "it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you."
From this we learn the following three important points about the bible and the connection between the OT and the NT:
(1) What the first Christians preached was the OT scriptures and how they were fulfilled in Christ. Nowhere is that made clearer than in 1 Corinthians 15:3 -5 where Paul says "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES."
(2) How these first Christians knew that they were interpreting these OT scriptures correctly was by the fact that they inspired by the same Holy Spirit who had inspired the OT prophets in the first place. It is the Spirit coming upon the church at Pentecost who gives us the continuity between the OT and the NT. Despite the delay in time the grace of God and the promises of the OT belonged to Peter's readers and to us today.
(3) When Peter uses the word "you" in v.10 in the phrase "the grace that was to come to you" he includes his non-Jewish readers. God's grace in the OT prophecies were not just for the Jewish people but for all in time who would embrace God as Saviour.
We started off considering that Christian people may be the most unfortunate people on earth swimming against a tide of pressure and trials which threatened to drown them. By the time we reach the end of these seven short verses the tide is reversed, we are instead the most fortunate of people. We know who the OT prophets were pointing to. We know where salvation is to be found. We are even more fortunate than the angels (v.12) whom it appears are ignorant of some of the teachings and implications of salvation, even the angels long to know some of the things we know!
It is in some ways a mysterious remark and deserves a sermon by itself, but it underlines how fortunate we are to be living in the experience of the fulfilment of OT prophecies in Christ. Sure we long for the fulfilment now, but while there is a delay there is grace for us.
We need to go from here our hearts not focused on our trials,
but in the possibilities of what God can do with them. We need to go from this
place not dispirited by the fact that we have not yet seen Jesus but filled
with hope that one day we shall, and while we are in this period of delay
between the giving of salvation and its final fulfilment we need to remember
that God will give us such grace that we shall indeed swim against the tide and
reach that final shore.
1 Peter (4) OBEDIENCE 1 Peter 1:13 - 21
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 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 forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
1 Peter 1:13 -21 is one of those passages which draws our attention to the reality of the Christian life. It looks back to a great moment in the past which worked out well - Christ coming and dying for us and our becoming Christians, and it looks forward to a great moment in the future when this same Christ will return and we will know grace in all its fullness. It's tremendous to know that Jesus has got the past and the future all sewn up. But then Peter faces the hard reality of the mess that we make in the middle between the day that Jesus saved us and the day that he shall return. He points out all kinds of pitfalls and says that the way out is obedience and holiness. What we're going to learn from this passage is how to make less of a mess in the present, so that our Christian lives can look more like they did the day that we were saved and more like what they will become on that great last day.
Every so often we hear stories in the news about people who go out in expeditions unprepared. Suddenly the weather turns for the worse, their canoes capsize, the blizzards blind their paths and at best they get lost for a while, at worst some tragically lose their lives. "If only I had gone better prepared," "If only they had had better instruction. " Hindsight becomes a wonderful teacher.
What we have in 1 Peter 1:13f is not so much hindsight doing the teaching but rather foresight. Peter has spent the first twelve verses of Chapter 1 outlining the wonderful truths of the gospel - in his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. These are great words, but Peter knows that they will have great implications, foresight tells him that these Christians he is writing to will have times of struggle when the spiritual "weather" will suddenly turn against them. Will they be prepared? Will they have the internal spiritual resources they need in order to survive? Will they be able to remain obedient to the gospel when disobedience will be the easier option? These questions remain as relevant to the 20th century Christian as they do to Peter's audience living in the first.
How do we remain obedient - Peter gives three clues:
1. Preparation and anticipation (v.13)
2. Separation and sanctification (vv 14 - 16)
3. Declaration and reclamation vv 17 - 21)
1. Preparation and anticipation (v.13):
Whenever you come across a word like "therefore" as we do in v.13 it is a clue that what is about to follow links to what has come before. Up until v.12 has been an outline of the gospel, now begins a section which will run to 2:10 dealing with the characteristics of how a Christian should live in response to the gospel.
The first response it appears is preparation, but preparation for what? The answer given in the same verse is the return of Jesus Christ - when Jesus Christ is revealed. In other words Peter is saying that the Christian should be living in the expectant tension of Christ's return, the thought that he will return ought to be a primary motivation for obedience.
Notice that we begin with our minds. The Greek means literally "Gird up your loins" referring to the practice of tucking your outer garments into the belt around your waist leaving your legs free for action. It's interesting to note the kind of people who would do this. The traveller would do it, reminding us that Christianity is always a moving journey, the race track athlete would do it, reminding us of the teachings of Hebrews 12:1f paralleling being a believer with being in a race in the Olympic games, the warrior would do it reminding us of Ephesians 6 and the whole notion of being in a spiritual battle and the workman would do it reminding us of the need to be diligent. The Christian is the unique combination of the traveller, the athlete, the warrior and the workman.
Indeed the word "prepare" might be too bland a translation, and perhaps Eugene H. Peterson in his brilliant interpretation of the NT has it right when the translates the same verse as "so roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear." The language in fact goes all the way back to Exodus 12:11 when the Lord instructed Moses and the Israelites to eat the Passover quickly before leaving Israel with their cloaks tucked into their belts, their sandals on their feet and their staffs in their hands. When God calls us to preparation it is always preparation for a task, a ministry, for a blessing.
Why the mind, why not prepare your hearts for action? The clue was is the type of people who tuck their cloaks into their belts. No traveller would set out without working out in his mind the best route, no athlete runs a race without a strong psychological game plan, no warrior goes into battle without concentrating on the battle plan and the enemy's movements, and no workman would build anything of worth without working it out in his mind first. God calls us to have a thoughtful and considered response to his word. A rush of emotional enthusiasm will not see us through, only the mental decision based on biblical truth will stand the pressure.
So minds are to be prepared, and Christians are to be self-controlled, in the Greek meaning "sober." It is a contrast to what we find in 1 Peter 4:3,4 which describes the ways of the pagan "For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do - living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you." Peter certainly equates drunkenness with disobedience to God, and some would even want to argue that there is enough evidence in these verses to suggest that alcohol and the Christian ought not to be found together, Howard Marshall certainly takes that tack in his commentary on 1 Peter.
But it is probably a mistake to pick on alcohol, there are many other things which cause us to lose our self-control and make bad judgements. We need to take from this verse the thought that if there is anything in our lives which is likely to cloud our Christian judgement then it ought not to be there. Preparation for some of us may simply mean saying "NO" to that television programme, to that relationship, to that place, to that person.
How we do that is by keeping our lives in focus. What matters is not now, what matters is the grace to be given us when Jesus Christ is revealed. In other words obedience is easier when we set our hearts on what is to come rather than what is in front of us today. When we see what others have it is easy to become jealous and envious, it is easy to begin to think that life would be simpler if we jacked in this Christian thing, but no don't focus on now, says Peter, focus on what is to come. There will grace for you then that people who live for today will never, in fact can never, experience. Be prepared in your mind, be self controlled in your life, focus on what is to come.
2. Separation and sanctification (vv 14 - 16)
The call in vv 14 - 16 is for these early Christians to separate themselves from what they once were so that they can become what they ought to be. The Greek word translated "as" in v.14 carries the meaning "Since you ought to be...obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance."
There is first of all the negative - these early Christians, like us, did once have a time in their lives when they did not know God as their Father and lived in ignorance. But now there is the positive - they are now God's children and have a model to follow. There is no need for ignorance, God himself, Jesus himself, the Spirit himself, and the Word itself has been made known to them, and what is pointed out in particular here is that the revelation is of a Holy God. Now that they know God is holy, Christians ought to be using God's holiness both as an example and as the reason for their own holiness.
But holiness is not possible unless God calls us to it, and so the word "call" is referred to in v.15. Call is an interesting word and carries a number of meanings:
1) To call out from a lower state. God called his people out of the lowly state of slavery in Egypt and into the freedom of their own land. When God calls us it is always to lift us onto higher ground. When we sense God asking us to do something, and we resist because we're not sure if we're going to lose out then we can have the confidence of knowing that is a lie, God's call is always to lift from the lower to the higher. There is no losing out when God calls.
2) To invite to a feast. Jesus calls, invites us, to his table. In Matthew 26:27 - 29 he makes it clear that a communion service now is only a taste of a greater supper which is to come when we join him in his kingdom. It was the most intimate thing in the ancient world to be invited to sit down and eat with someone. So this calling is intimate and it is privileged, it is also personal, we are invited individually.
3) To summon to a duty. The Emperor would summon his people to pay their taxes, and to take up arms. When he called there was no choice. So when God calls us to holiness it is not meant to be an optional extra for the willing and the enthusiastic, it is a call to us all. It is a responsibility of every Christian to seek to live a set apart, called out, holy life.
4) To give a name describing a characteristic. I have decided that when I next get a dog I'm going to call it "Brendan" because the name apparently means "Stinking hair!" In the ancient world your name meant something, so Jesus was deliberately given this name because it meant "Saviour." So the name that God wants to place upon our lives is "Holy" that name describing our characteristics now that we've become Christians. It's sad therefore if our reputation is different and our names are "She who sings badly in the choir" or "He who causes arguments in the Church Meeting" or "He who prays too long and doesn't let anybody else in!" God calls us to the reputation of holiness not to the disrepute of other things.
Peter goes on to quote Lev 11:44 which was a call for the people to be holy because He was holy. The command was given to the people on their way to the promised land, the Israelites would be known as God's people in the new land because they kept that command. What Peter is making clear in vv 15 and 16 is that the command is still be kept, but what is different is how it is to be kept. In the OT the Israelites were to keep themselves holy by keeping the law and observing the sacrificial system, now holiness comes through the sacrifice of another who calls us to live in response to his sacrifice. We are to be holy in all that we do, the Greek would be better translated as "be holy in all your conduct," in other words holiness is not shown up by occasional mere outward observances, but by consistent lifestyle.
So for the Christian his obedience is shown by his separation, separation from his past, and separation from this world in the sense of living in it, as we all must do, but living differently. Living as called out people who aim for higher things than this world can offer.
3. Declaration and reclamation (vv 17 - 21)
Separation was based on God's call on us, Peter now moves on in vv 17 - 21 to deal with our call on God, our declaration of him. There are a few key words in v.17, they are Father, judges and reverent fear. It is easy in the English versions to make the mistake that reverent fear is the proper response to God as judge, after all who in their right mind would mess around with a judge? But in the Green reverent fear is linked to God being Father. Reverence for fathers is not something which carries much weight today, but in biblical times Fatherhood was a key issue. It was one of they teachings of Jesus who taught us that God was father, that he and the father were one and to pray "Our Father in Heaven." It is the unique declaration of the Christian that through Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead that we can call God "Our Father."
As father, Peter says that God judges each man's work impartially. It's a reminder again that obedience now will count then in the future for each man will have to make an individual account for what he has done. We are not in the position that it doesn't matter how we live or what we do, we can't say that we can do what we like now for it will all be forgiven and forgotten at the last judgement, instead we should live in awe of God now, resisting the temptations of this world, in the knowledge that God as Father will judge what we have done.
That fear of judgement is one motive for obedient living. Peter then goes on in v.18f to introduce us to a higher and deeper motive for obedience, the truth of redemption through the blood of Christ.
He starts by reminding his readers what they have been saved from. They were once in bondage to an empty way of life which had been handed down to them from their forefathers (v.18). In ancient cultures, especially Roman, ancestors were held high as great models to follow. Peter slashes through this culture clash between the world in which these Christians lived and Christian culture. The old way was empty he says, and they needed to be redeemed from it.
Now in ancient times it was quite common to put even members of your own family into slavery in times of financial hardship. In time these people could be bought back for a price, the redemption price, would be paid as Peter describes it in v.18 with perishable things such as silver or gold. But here in v.19 Peter makes it plain that we were bought back with the most valuable thing of all - the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
There is a clear theological reference to sacrifice here meaning that Christ's death on the cross was sacrificial. The parallel which Peter wants to draw is with the Passover Lamb who was slain for the sins of Israel at the Passover Festival. God didn't take the blood of the people, he took the blood of the lamb instead. This lamb when slain brought the people back to oneness with their God, what we call atonement.
Now in OT times the lamb would be slain for another, it would give its life unwillingly and the sacrifice would be performed by a priest. Here Christ is both the priest representing man to God and the sacrifice putting men back into a right relationship with God. And on top of that this he did willingly.
More than that however comes out in v.20. At the Passover the High Priest would choose the very best lamb that he could find, but even the very best lamb would fall short of being perfect. Here in Christ was a perfect sacrifice - a lamb without blemish or defect - chosen not by the high priest but God himself. Chosen before the creation of the world, in other words before the world was made, before man was created, before man sinned, God knew what would happen and had already prepared a plan in Christ. God's choice of Christ has only been revealed in all its fullness since Christ's time on earth, so if we want to get ourselves right with God we too must choose Christ which is why Peter says in v.21 "Through him you believed in God, who raised him from the dead, and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God."
It's a tremendous revelation - this was done for your sake, for my sake. It's a tremendous truth to know that God planned our salvation knowing what we would do, with him, with his son, with our lives. It's an insight into the nature of God that having made this choice he sticks with it despite all that we have done to ruin our lives. When God might have washed his hands of us because of our sin, God planned to wash us clean despite our sin.
What's our response? It's obedience. It's obedience to the call of the gospel to come to Christ, its obedience to the call of the gospel to live like Christ. "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to given you when Jesus Christ is revealed."
1 Peter (5) CHANGE FOR THE BETTER 1 Peter 1:22 - 2:3
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like new-born babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
A few weeks ago I read a penetrating quote from James Philip who argued that one of the biggest tragedies a person could face is in not having a real life changing experience of the gospel at all but merely turning from one kind of outwardly unacceptable form of sinning to a more hidden, and therefore seemingly more acceptable form of sinning. This obviously can happen, people can clean up their act on the outside but fail to clean up their act on the inside.
In this section of 1 Peter running from verse 22 of chapter 1 to verse 3 of chapter 2 Peter deals with this very issue. How can you tell those who have had a real experience of Christ? How can you tell if it is the Holy Spirit who is making the changes in your life and that what is happening in your life is more than the willpower we all have to give up bad habits?
Let me draw out from these verses 5 evidences which will help us see whether or not we have become Christians and as I do this I hope that they will encourage us. My intention is not for us to feel beaten down by this list fearing that we haven't experienced these things sufficiently, rather I hope that we will see signs of growth in all of these five areas, and if we haven't any growth to be encouraged to open up our hearts afresh to the Lord so that he can have a genuine chance to change us from the inside out, to change us for the better.
1. A new purity (v.22)
What we have to remember about the bible's teaching on purity is that we need it. Right from the opening chapters of Genesis the bible makes it plain that the human condition is not noble and pure, it is instead fallen and evil. There is inside of all of us an evil which lurks and which needs to be dealt with. This evil manifests itself in many ways, we see the violence, the cruelty, the prejudices which are prevalent in our world today. This evil is what the bible calls sin, and one of the definitions of sin is to fall short of the mark. The term comes from archery, the archer points his arrow at the bullseye, but hits off centre instead, however hard he tries he keeps missing the mark. That is what sin does to us, we want to be the best father, husband, wife, mother, teacher, friend, pastor, neighbour but we fail to reach our own hopes and expectations for ourselves never mind God's. We can all think of areas in our lives where we have missed the mark. These areas remind us that we are fallen and sinful, that there is evil inside of us and that it needs to be dealt with.
In the OT the people of God dealt with their sin and impurity through the sacrificial system. Knowing they had sinned they made sacrificial offerings to God. In the NT the revelation is that God himself in the person of his own son Jesus Christ has made a once and for all offering for sin. Jesus has dealt with our sin and evil on the cross, there is no need for us to make any more sacrifices.
But there is something we have to do in response to Jesus's sacrifice for us - and that is to obey the truth. The truth is the bible message about Jesus Christ, his death on the cross for us and his call to us to turn from our sinful living and to trust him for forgiveness. When we obey the word of God it cleanses us and liberates us. Now we must be sure about this - the word cleanses and liberates us every time we obey it, not just the first time when we ask for salvation. Every time we hear the word of God and respond to it we get that bit cleaner on the inside. When wanting to deal with a sin it is obeying what the word of God says which will clean and liberate us from it. Obeying the truth means that we believe and trust the gospel, both its promises and its demands. To be a Christian is to make the choice not just to believe the message but also to live by it.
Now I'm not convinced that Christian people always feel pure, although there are times in my life when I have felt God has really cleaned me on the inside. More often than not because I am a Christian I am more aware of the sin in my life and as a result I don't feel very pure. But that sense of impurity doesn't drive me away from God instead it drives me to the word of God for cleansing, and that obedience to that word cleanses me, liberates me, and gives me a new purity.
If you're struggling with a sin today then let me make it clear to you, especially if you are a Christian, that what you are struggling with is your obedience to the word of God. You probably know what you should do but you feel that you can not do it. The Christian makes the choice that even though he or she may feel like taking another course he chooses obedience and he finds that very obedience is what God uses to cleanse and liberate.
2. A new love (v.22)
One of the first fruits of seeking after personal purity is a sincere love for others in the church. The Greek word for love which Peter uses here is philadelphia meaning the mutual love between a group of people. We might have expected him to use the Greek word agape which is the self-giving love which doesn't expect anything in return, but love in the church is expected to be shown and returned so philadelphia is the right word. A Christian grows not only when he received the love of Christ through others but also when he releases the love of Christ inside of him to others.
Peter says that this love has to be sincere and deep. The word sincere reminds us that our love for each other not to be genuine and not faked, and the word deep indicates that this love ought to be strenuous and persistent. It's not a switch on and off kind of love, it's not a love which gives when it's getting what it wants and then withdraws when it doesn't like what's happening.
Christian love ought to move away from the superficial into a realm which can not be found outside of the church. It's not a love which demands its own way and puts others down. It's not a love which seeks for self, it's a love which wants the best for the other person.
I have to say as a Pastor however that people have difficulty handling this kind of love. There are those who were not brought up in homes where much love was shown and we find it hard to show our feelings. There are those of us who would do anything for anyone but couldn't accept the love of another. Then there is even more sinister territory, there are Christian people who experience the love that Christ gives them for another but begin to confuse that love with romantic and sometimes even sexual love. What Christ gave us as a good gift sin distorts inside of us and it becomes a bomb. Agape can too easily become Eros, it's one of Satan's best tactics in the church.
That's why the love which Peter is describing here is philadelphia - mutual love in a community of believers. This is not people getting together in little pairs pouring all their love into each other, this is the loving community, the loving group that sweeps in the marrieds, the singles, the lonely, the busy. This I guess is the fellowship of believers, you love your local church and the people God has placed you with. If you know what I'm talking about then you can be sure that the Holy Spirit is working in your heart.
3. A new life (vv 23,24)
In these verses Peter compares the old life without Christ to the new life as Christians, but here the comparison is not so much the qualities and characteristics that new life brings out in us, here the emphasis is on the duration of the new life.
Our first birth is by the perishable seed of our parents. All of us as humans are born to die, this again is a result of our fallen, sinful condition.
Our second birth, when we are born again, is by an imperishable seed- the living and enduring word of God. Our new life has an eternal aspect to it.
Peter goes on to emphasise this point by quoting from Isaiah 40:6-8 reminding his readers and us that everything we have in this life, our possessions, our accomplishments, our relationships are one day going to disappear. There is only one permanent thing in this life and that is the word of God and the eternal life it gives us in Christ.
This means that one of the marks of being a Christian is that we cling less tightly to this life than a non-Christian might do. It means that a mark of being a Christian is that we invest our time and resources into what is really lasting - the word of God and the work of Christ here in a local church as well as national and international mission.
That is not to say that man can do not great things in this life. Of course he can, but that great thing is only like a beautiful flower in a meadow full of grass, it will stand out for a time but it will eventually wither away. The only way to make a man last forever is to put the eternal God inside of him, and the only way to make his works last forever is if these works are for the eternal God.
So are we aware that there is more to life than this? Are we investing time, love, prayer, money, talents into the kingdom? The mark of the new life is an awareness that we are going to live eternally with Christ, our deaths will not be an end they will be a beginning.
4. A new wardrobe (2:1)
The word which Peter uses for "rid" in 2:1 means to strip off old clothes. This means that part of the new life is the deliberate act on our part to challenge certain parts of the clothing of our old life and to strip them off. In the Greek the verb means a once and for all act, the clothes are to stripped off and thrown away, they are not to be hung up in the wardrobe ready for day when we want to wear malice or envy again. All the same the Greek also implies a constant repeating command, we have to challenge malice, envy and so on many times in our lives.
The point is however that we strip off the clothes and clear the wardrobes so that room can be made for the new clothes. In other words it's only when we put aside our evil desires that we start growing as Christians. Growth will come to us when we deliberately prune off the dead end stalks of our lives and nourish the root with the right food which will be our next point.
I feel no need to define or explain the words malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. We know what they are. These old clothes are to be stripped off us and in their place is to be put on the kind of love Peter has already spoken about.
5. A new hunger (vv 2,3)
I have said many times from this pulpit that Christian growth is connected to appetite for the word of God. We have that point right before us in vv 2,3. Baby's don't need to be taught that they have a need for milk, they cry until they get it! So too one of the signs of a genuine Christian experience is a hunger for the word of God, a knowledge like the baby has that if it doesn't get fed it will starve and die.
It's important that we note that Peter is not seeking to make the contrast that Paul makes in 1 Cor 3:2 between the basic teachings of the gospel which he calls milk and the more detailed teaching which he calls solid food. This same contrast is brought out in Hebrews 5:12,13 when the writer complains that the Hebrews have not moved on from milk to solid food. What Peter is saying here is that Christians receive nourishment from Christian teaching and that every moment spent learning from God's word is an investment in our growth.
We are meant, as Peter says, to grow up in our salvation, and the good news is that Christian growth is what is called organic, if you grow in one area then growth comes in other areas too. Growing in hunger for the word of God will lead to a growth in the kind of spiritual clothes we wear, to growth in our awareness of the eternal nature of life, to growth in our relationships with each other and growth in our purity. There is no need for anyone here to be stagnant, if we crave spiritual milk then we shall grow. If we put off evil in our relationships with others then we shall grow and so on.
Why do this - because in Jesus we have had a taste of
heaven. The great news is that the Christian life now is but one of those
little taster samplers they offer you in supermarkets. The full meal is yet to
come!
Have you tasted that the Lord is good? If you haven't then he offers you new life this morning. If you have, then let your taste become a craving and a hunger. Leave the old life behind, stop dining on the pig swill of life, taste and see that the Lord is good!
1 Peter (6) FROM NOTHING TO SOMETHING 1 Peter 2:4 - 10
As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- 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. 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."
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Life would be easy if it weren't for choices. My life can come to a paralysed halt when I slide open the roof the ice cream cabinet and try and decide whether I want an ice cream mars bar or a white magnum. Tonight we look at a passage which calls us to choice, there will be a good choice and a bad choice, the worst choice is to do nothing. We start however with God's choice.
1. The chosen stone (vv 4 and 6).
We've learned already that one of the things which Peter does in his letter is to take OT concepts and apply them to Jesus Christ. Here is v.4 he calls Jesus the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him, he then goes on in v.6 to underline this teaching about Jesus being the chosen stone by quoting from OT scripture.
There are various Greek words for stone but the one which Peter uses is lithos which is a piece of stone which has been hewn into shape for building purposes. We're not talking about a huge irregular boulder, we're talking about a piece of stone which the mason has seen is suitable for the task and which has been cut to shape.
So what Peter does here is he takes an OT scripture, Ps 118:22 and he applies it to Jesus. Jesus is the living stone - a reference to the resurrection - men have rejected it, but God has chosen it. The builders looked at the stone and thought that it wasn't suitable, they failed to see that it was the right stone. But they were wrong, the architect God himself had already made his choice which is what verse 6 is about where Peter quotes from Isaiah 28:16.
Now Isaiah 28:16 is contained in a passage where God speaks against Jerusalem's rulers who are busy ignoring God and thinking that they can get away with it by forming political alliances with their neighbours. God says to them that because of their sin in turning away from him he is going to lay a new building in Zion (which is Jerusalem). That new building will be built around a foundation stone which will be of God's own choice and of the highest quality. Isaiah then goes on to say that on top of that foundation stone will be built renewed qualities of righteousness and justice and that anybody who stands upon this new building will be like a builder who built wisely.
What Peter does here in vv 4 and 6 is that he takes these OT verses in Psalm 18 and Isaiah 28 and says that what God was doing in the time of Isaiah was a forerunner of what he is now doing in Christ in their own time. Whatever the world may think of him, Jesus Christ is God's choice. Jesus is the foundation stone upon which all of life should be built, he is the one who gives the building of our lives their shape and their stability. Anybody who builds his life upon Jesus will never be put to shame.
He then moves on to talk about those who have put their trust in Jesus in v.5.
2. The living stones (v.5)
What Peter is saying in v.5 is that the moment you become a Christian you get built into the walls of God's building. It's a reminder that the moment you come to Christ you at the same time come into the church. It seems to me that God's qualification for church membership is that you are a Christian, the rest comes second to this. We'll learn later that as a church member there are responsibilities, but for now if you are a Christian then you are a member of Christ's church and that ought to be expressed by being a member of a local church.
Peter says that Christians are being built into a spiritual house. This term "house" can be understood in one or both of two ways. It can mean the building in which the household or family lives, we find this idea developed in 2 Tim 2:20,21. This emphasises that being a Christian means being part of a body, part of a group or family. It means that Christians live their lives together in community with God as their father and duties and responsibilities towards each other. This thought is in the background when Peter calls us a spiritual house.
What is in the foreground, however, is the biblical idea that a house can be a temple when it becomes the place where God lives. The Jews often called their temple "the house of God" and we sometimes use the same term when we describe the church today. Their temple was the house of God, not in the sense that God lived there and nowhere else, but in the sense that he was present there with them but was not confined by the walls. The temple was the appropriate place where God would speak with his people, hear their prayers, receive their gifts and sacrifices.
In the NT however the building is clearly the people. This building is not Portslade Baptist Church it is the place where Portslade Baptist Church meets. The people whom God has drawn together and who worship here together are the building, we are the living stones who make this local church. But we are more than the stones, we are also the priests, for Peter makes it plain that it is up to each one of us to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
This is important stuff and we have to go carefully here to that we get it right.
1. What is a holy priesthood?
We need to link v.5 with v.9 where Peter adds that we are not just a holy priesthood but also a royal priesthood. Our priesthood is royal and holy in that we are set apart to be priests to the king, indeed the king of kings, Jesus himself. Our primary task as Christians is to minister to Jesus, and to minister in the name of Jesus.
In the OT priestly duties were restricted to only one of the ten tribes, the Levites - here Peter is making it clear that priestly work of ministering to God and to others in God's name is extended to every person who is a Christian. Every Christian has in Christ the right of direct access to God, we have no need of any other mediator. We therefore do wrong when we set apart men and call them priests and suggest that they have an access to God which we don't have. If Christians are to be set apart and given particular functions in the church as ministers then they are not to be regarded as different to other Christians.
It is also important to see that one of the important duties of the OT High Priest is no longer ours to do. In the OT the High Priest would offer once a year an atoning sacrifice for all the people of Israel to deal with their sin and to bring them back into a right relationship with God. That is no longer necessary, it has been done once and for all by our own High Priest, Jesus Christ. It is the purpose of our ministry to point people to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and cleansing, we do not have that power in ourselves.
If you are a Christian then you have already been set apart by Jesus to minister to him, and to minister for him. If you're struggling in your Christian faith then it's probably because you're failing in one or both of these areas.
God does not want, expect or call you to be passive. Worship! Pray! Care! That is your calling and your duty.
2. What is an acceptable spiritual sacrifice?
It's important that we get this right because this is the primary thing we are meant to do as set apart royal priests. Looking elsewhere in the NT it becomes clear that a spiritual sacrifice is an offering up of self (Rom 12:1) expressed in praise, thanksgiving, doing good and holy living (Heb 13:15,16, Rom 15:16).
The key however is that we must be willing to offer up to God sacrifices which he is willing to receive and you can't do that unless you are in a loving relationship with him. I know for example because I have a loving relationship with my wife if I came home with an offering of washing powder and floor polish on her birthday she wouldn't think much of it. Come home however with flowers and tickets for a good concert and I would be in the good books for weeks.
God too knows what he likes and dislikes, because we are in a loving relationship with him we should know him and offer up to him sacrifices which will please him. He is not pleased by sacrifices which are offered up to him from wrong motives, or given to him in the wrong attitude, Micah 6:6-8 makes that very clear.
How then do I make my offering correctly so that I will know that God is pleased with it? Peter says in v.5 that it is simple, make it through Jesus Christ. Now this is more than adding that phrase at the end of a prayer, it means that if we know Jesus and are in relationship with him then we will know God and we will know what is pleasing to him.
It's important too to know that these offerings are no longer for sin. The sin offering has been made once and for all by Jesus. We don't offer two weeks service to the church as an offering for our sin, we don't have to say a prayer a hundred times over as an offering for sin, sin has been dealt with by Jesus, and isn't dealt with by our service and prayers. No our offerings are more like the OT grain and fellowship offerings described in Leviticus 1 and 2, ours is the sacrifice of praise, thanksgiving, worship.
3. The stumbling stone (vv 7,8)
In vv 7 and 8 Peter draws out the contrast between those who believe in Jesus and those who don't. Peter's readers have got it right he says, they have believed correctly that Jesus is the Messiah and have built their lives around him.
But if you don't believe the stone doesn't go away, it becomes instead a stumbling stone and Peter quotes from Ps 118:22 and Is 8:14. He does this deliberately to make it clear that what was happening in his own day, and still happens today, was foretold in the OT. You see people were saying then, and are still saying now, if Jesus really is the Messiah why doesn't everybody believe in him? If Christianity really is the only way to God why doesn't everybody see it, and thus everybody become a Christian?
Peter makes it clear that it is all a matter of obedience or disobedience. Two people can hear the same message about Jesus Christ. One may choose to believe it and in obedience give his life to Jesus. In that act of obedience Jesus will become the capstone of his life, and everything else will be built upon it. The other may choose to reject it, and in so doing will stumble over the gospel and ruin himself. Peter says that this is what they were destined for in v.8 but this is not, as some take it, a statement of what is called double predestination, namely that God has foreordained some to life and the rest to destruction, what God has destined is that if people reject the message of Jesus then it will be their destruction. Peter makes it clear in 2 Peter 3:9 that God's first choice is to be patient, he doesn't want anyone to perish but wishes all to come to repentance, but his decision is clear - accept Jesus and be saved, reject Jesus and be lost. Which is your choice?
The passage closes not with the lot of those who are being lost, but with the lot, the life and the ministry of those who are being saved. It's a collage of OT scriptures and themes mainly from Isaiah and Hosea. What's happening now says Peter is exactly what the OT said would happen, some would stumble over the stone and be dashed to nothing, others would embrace the stone and everything would be different. Eugene Peterson translates vv 9 and 10 as:
But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy nation, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night and day difference he made for you- from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
So there we have it. Which is Jesus to you. The stumbling stone or the standing stone upon which your life is built. One is the way to death and misery, the other the way to life and ministry. Make your choice.