Tawa Baptist

Winsome

Scripture: 1st Peter 2:11-12

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Soul Wars
  • Brace your soul
  • Winsome Witness
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

You may have noticed our church carpark has some potholes. For some reason fixing church carparks did not really come up when I was studying theology. Fortunately, we have a roading expert in our congregation who is able to help us with this. Apparently the base course, underneath the tar seal, has disintegrated in places.

Base course is a kind of pebbly gravel that can be compacted down to provide a hard base, while at the same time allowing drainage. The base course is like the foundation for the car park. The tar seal sits on top of the base course. Apparently, it is not as simple as filling the potholes with more tar. We need to re-lay the base course and get the foundation right first.

The other thing I’ve learned about car parks, in this process, is that tar seal does not cope very well with water. If there is a crack or a leaky join in the tar seal and water gets underneath, you end up with another hole.

Why am I telling you this? Well, partly to make you aware of the health & safety risk. Please watch your step in the car park. But also as an illustration for the sermon. Our lives are a little bit like a car park. Just as a carpark has an inside and an outside (or an underneath and a surface), so too we have an inner life (a base course) and an outer life (the tar seal on top),

The quality of the surface (what we present to the world on the outside) depends very much on the what’s going on underneath. If our base course has eroded, if we have lost our inner foundation, then pot holes will appear in our life.

Today we continue our series in the New Testament letter of first Peter, focusing on chapter 2, verses 11-12. In today’s two verses Peter talks about taking care of our inner life (the foundation) so that we can relate to the world (out there) in a way that gives a winsome witness.

From 1st Peter chapter 2, verse 11, we read…      

11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles,to abstain from sinful desires,which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deedsand glorify Godon the day he visits us.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Soul Wars

Peter addresses his readers as ‘Dear friends’ in verse 11. This is literally beloved. There is a tenderness from Peter here. He is not writing to tell anyone off or set anyone straight. He is writing to encourage and empower. Peter also addresses his readers as foreigners and exiles, which signals that he is going to talk about their relationship to the world.

Those who have been listening to this sermon series on-line will know how Peter has been using the Jewish exile as a metaphor for his first century readers’ situation. Just as ethnic Israel was separated from its homeland and scattered throughout the world in a hostile environment, so too the early Christian church was separated from the heavenly Jerusalem, scattered throughout the Roman empire.

As Karen Jobes observes, Peter is calling his readers to recognise they are living in an alien place that has different values and practices than those appropriate for the people of God’s holy nation. Visiting strangers and resident aliens respect, appreciate and value their host land but, at the same time, maintain their own distinct identity within it. [1]     

Peter’s instruction to his readers is to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. This is clearly about one’s inner life, the base course underneath the tar seal. If we harbour sinful desires, they cause moral erosion and potholes.

To ‘abstain’ means to distance oneself. Peter is not telling us to distance ourselves from the world, no. Rather he is saying, distance yourself from sinful desires. The real enemy is not out there. The real enemy is inside of us.   

We notice here the influence of Jesus’ teaching on Peter. Jesus taught his disciples to be salt & light in the world. And in the same sermon (in Matthew 5 & 6) he went on to warn against sinful desires. (And I paraphrase here…)

Don’t harbour anger or resentment against your brother or sister because that leads to murder.

Don’t look at anyone lustfully, because that leads to adultery.

Don’t swear an oath, because actually you cannot change a hair on your own head. Just let your yes be yes and no be no.

‘Sinful desires’ is more literally desires of the flesh. The flesh is the human nature apart from God. Desires of the flesh are not limited to sins of the physical body like drunkenness or sexual immorality. Sins of the flesh may also include social sins like slander and envy.

When you are excluded and alienated and misunderstood by your neighbours, as Peter’s readers were, temptation may come in the form of a desire to be accepted or liked by others. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be liked unless it leads us to compromise our values and morals; then it becomes sinful.

Peter says these sinful desires war against our soul. A war is something more serious and more prolonged than an isolated conflict or a random fight. A war is messy and painful and it is constant, relentless.

With modern warfare it is not clear who the enemy is. You cannot always see the enemy. Likewise, we cannot always see our sinful desires until they are on top of us. Not all our desires are sinful but some are. We might think a desire is wrong when actually it is friendly. Or we might think a desire is innocent enough, until it opens fire on our soul.

This war is against our soul. In the Bible the human soul can have more than one meaning. Your soul can refer to your life force, your true inner self, that vitality which flows through your veins like blood. But the soul can also refer to a person’s whole self – including your body, mind and personality.

The two definitions are related. Anything that harms your life force is going to harm your whole self. In verse 11 Peter is essentially urging his readers to practice self-control.

Brace your soul

Sometime in the next several months we hope to install some steel bracing on the side walls of this auditorium. We have to wait for it to come from overseas. The bracing will give the building greater support and strength in an earthquake. The human soul is little bit like a building. It needs bracing and support, to stand firm through the storms and earthquakes of life.

There are five basic things we can do to brace our soul in the war it faces against sinful desires. To help us remember these five things I’ve come up with an acrostic which spells the word brace. Boundaries. Rhythm. Awareness. Commitment. And Enjoyment.

Firstly, to strengthen our soul in the fight, we need to have good boundaries. This means putting a fence at the top of the cliff and not looking over it. Stay as far away from the cliff edge of sinful desire as you can.

The sorts of boundaries one puts in place will differ depending on the situation. If alcohol is a problem for you then you may have the boundary of not going to the pub or avoiding social occasions that could involve lots of drinking.

When it comes to relating with people of the opposite sex standard boundaries might include avoiding secret meetings, being careful not to speak in innuendo and not to make comments which might give the wrong idea. Best to keep things professional and above board.

One boundary, which is often neglected these days, is the Sabbath boundary. We seem to have lost our understanding of sacred time – a day set apart for God and rest. We get sucked in by the illusion that working harder will make us more secure, but work is a bottomless pit. You never get ahead by working on your day off. It’s called the law of diminishing returns. The longer you work the less value you get for the overtime. Not respecting the boundary of a Sabbath usually leads to the sin of resentment, among other things.       

Rhythm is the R in our brace acrostic. Rhythm and routine support the energy of your soul. Rhythm provides a sense of security and momentum. One of the detrimental effects of Covid has been the disruption to people’s natural rhythms. Many people feel more tired because Covid has derailed their rhythm.

Important daily rhythms include sleeping and eating and working at regular times. Sunday worship is an important weekly rhythm for Christians, one which (in recent years) has been disturbed by things like Sunday trading and sports. We also have rhythms in the church calendar with the celebration of communion, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and ordinary time.

Boundaries and rhythms naturally complement each other. The Sabbath boundary is also a sacred rhythm.

The A in the brace for your soul stands for awareness. Self-control requires self-awareness. Each of us is vulnerable but not in the same way. You have to understand where the chinks are in your armour and take care to guard your heart. When you know how you are wired, where you are strong and where you are weak, you are better equipped to give your soul what it needs.

If you are an introvert, then you know that being alone is what recharges your emotional batteries. So after a busy week working with people you take care of yourself by planning a quiet weekend. By the same token, too much time on your own is not good for you either. Even introverts need social interaction.

Sometimes our weaknesses hide within our strengths. People who are strong on empathy can become super sensitive to what others say when they are under stress. Likewise, people who are strong analytical thinkers can become quite rude and insensitive when they are under pressure.

It is helpful to be aware of when your soul is entering the red zone, because that is often when you are especially vulnerable to sinful desires. Just slow down. Take care of yourself. Allow time to restore the balance. 

One also needs an awareness of others and the time and place in which we live. Being a Christian is not as easy or socially acceptable as it was 30 or 40 years ago. Being a Christian can sometimes feel like picking your way through a mind field. You have to be aware of where the unexploded ordinances are. We have to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.  

Awareness is essentially about being present in the moment. Not second guessing that conversation you had with someone yesterday and not getting three steps ahead of yourself about what might happen tomorrow. But staying present to your environment, present to others and present to your own feelings.

The C in brace is for commitment. If we are to win the war which constantly wages against our soul, we need to be committed over the long haul. The war we are in is a marathon, not a sprint.

Commitment to God, protects your soul from the sin of idolatry. Commitment to your husband or wife protects your marriage and your family. Commitment to other Christian believers protects our collective identity and our sense of belonging. Commitment to our neighbour’s well-being protects the wider community and our reputation.

We cannot commit to everything. Commitment is about making a decision which is in line with our core values and staying true to that, win or lose. Commitment requires courage.

The E in our brace acrostic stands for enjoyment. Every soldier needs some R&R. You cannot function on high alert all the time.

There is an old Proverb which says: ‘Do you have honey? Eat as much as is good for you.’ Abstaining from sinful desires does not mean abstaining from all pleasure or enjoyment. Not all desires are bad. God wants us to enjoy life. If we are to abstain from sinful desires, then we need to nourish our souls with wholesome things.

Find enjoyment in simple things. Maybe your honey (your enjoyment) is found by spending time in your garden. Or maybe you get satisfaction from baking or working with wood. Maybe you enjoy walking on the beach or in the mountains or watching the sunrise. Treat yourself and your husband or wife to a nice meal out occasionally. There is nothing sinful about these sorts of things. 

Now obviously with each of the words in our brace acrostic we want to avoid extremes. Jesus always observed moral boundaries but there were times when he crossed social and cultural boundaries for the sake of others. Our rhythms and routines sometimes need to be interrupted. Too much routine puts you in a rut. Likewise, too much self-awareness can become self-absorption, just as too much enjoyment can turn life rotten. And some commitments can become harmful, if overdone, and may need to be dialled down or let go of altogether.

The point is you need to be on your own side if you want to win the war against the flesh. And you do that by bracing your soul with good boundaries, healthy rhythms, awareness of yourself and others, commitment to well-being and enjoyment of simple things. 

Winsome witness:

Having addressed his readers’ soul wars, in verse 11, Peter then encourages us to winsome witness.

In verse 12 Peter writes: Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deedsand glorify Godon the day he visits us.

If verse 11 is about our inner life, then verse 12 is about our outer life – our witness to the world.

Unbelievers in the first century, viewed Christians with suspicion and hostility because Christians were different and did not conform to their ways. Since believers did not honour the typical Roman or Greek gods, the general population saw them as evil and a threat. [2] Consequently, Christians of the first century were falsely accused of doing wrong.

Despite the prejudice Christians faced, Peter is not thinking in binary categories that characterise society as evil and the Christian community as good. [3] Real life is more dynamic than that. 

By instructing his readers to live good lives among their pagan neighbours Peter is recognising that non-Christian values overlap in some ways with the values of Christian faith. We (the church) are in agreement with the world on some things. Peter believes there is enough light in non-Christians for them to see the goodness of Christ in us.  

Therefore, Peter’s advice is not to withdraw from the world, nor to conform to the world’s expectations. Rather we are to let our good deeds do the talking. Show the world, by our example, that their prejudice is misplaced and the very people who once maligned us will glorify God on the day he visits.

The day of God’s visitation could refer to the day of judgment when Christ returns. Or, it could refer to the day of salvation when those who are not yet believers put their faith in Jesus.      

The main point here is that we are to be a winsome witness. Winsome is a word we do not hear that much these days. To be winsome is to be attractive or charming or appealing in a fresh and innocent way.

Winsomeness is not loud or self-conscious. Winsomeness is pure and authentic. Winsomeness can be easily overlooked because it is not self-promoting. It is beautiful to those who have the eyes to see it.

When Joseph’s brothers came to him for forgiveness, Joseph said: ‘Am I in the place of God. What you intended for harm God used for good.’ Joseph’s grace for his brothers was winsome.  

When Naomi left Moab to return to Bethlehem, Ruth said: ‘Wherever you go I will go there with you.’ Ruth’s loyal love for her mother-in-law was winsome.

When an angry crowd brought a woman caught in adultery before Jesus, the Lord said: ‘Whoever is without sin can throw the first stone.’ And the crowd left one by one. Jesus’ wisdom in handling that situation was winsome.

When Robyn was pregnant with one of our daughters a boy in her class lost the plot and punched her in the stomach. When I heard what had happened I was livid. But Robyn’s response was to show kindness to the boy. She had no problems with him after that. Robyn’s gentleness with that child was winsome.  

Recently we were invited to a friend’s house for lunch. I was admiring my friend’s handiwork in the garden and he showed me some small kowhai plants. He had grown those plants from seeds I had given him the Christmas before. My friend’s patience in growing the kowhai plants from seed was winsome. It encourages me to think he carries those qualities of care and nurture and winsomeness into the men’s Bible study he leads.

Last year I was lucky enough to perform a dedication ceremony for a two year old child. At the end of the dedication, when I was giving the blessing, the child spontaneously threw her arms around my neck and gave me a hug. It touched my heart. Her innocence in giving me a hug was winsome.

There is a man in our community who visits his wife in the local rest home twice a day. You often see him walking to and from the home. This man said to me once, ‘I have learned what it means to cherish my wife’. His faithfulness in visiting his wife is winsome.

I could go on but you get the point. Actions speak louder than words. We are not to be self-promoting. We are to be a winsome witness to the world. Our deeds are to be attractive, appealing, fresh and innocent. In this way we glorify God.   

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard about taking care of our inner life (the foundation of our soul) so that we can relate to the world in a way that provides a winsome witness.

This is not easy. In fact, Peter likens it to a war. Not a war against society but rather a war against our own sinful desires for the sake of society.

There may be times during this war when we lose the odd battle. There may be times when we give in to temptation, when sin (in whatever form) gets the better of us. Do not be discouraged. We have a Saviour who understands and who cares for us and who is ready to forgive. God’s grace is sufficient for you. Ultimately, those who are in Christ are on the winning side.

In relation to this life’s struggle, I like what Winston Churchill (who struggled with depression) said: “Success is never found. Failure is never fatal. Courage is the only thing.”

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • In what ways do we recognise Jesus’ teaching in Peter’s words in verses 11-12?
  • How is the base course (the foundation) of your life at present? Are there any particular ‘desires of the flesh’ that you feel more vulnerable to? What strategies do you have for guarding your soul against these? If you don’t have any strategies is there someone you trust who could suggest some helpful strategies?  
  • What do you think Peter means by the human soul?
  • Thinking of the BRACE acrostic (Boundaries, Rhythm, Awareness, Commitment and Enjoyment), which aspects are you relatively strong in? Which aspects could do with some work?  (You might want to ask someone who knows you well to see if they agree with your self-assessment.) 
  • Can you think of an example of someone being a winsome witness, either from Scripture or your own experience?

[1] Refer Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1st Peter, pages 165-166.

[2] Refer T.R. Schriener’s commentary on 1st Peter, page 122.

[3] Refer Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1st Peter, pages 170-171.

Tawa Baptist

Special

Scripture: 1st Peter 2:9-10

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

In Maori culture, when someone is introducing themselves, formally to a group, they often give their pepeha. A pepeha tells the story of the people and places you are connected to. It is like weaving, except with words and history.

In giving your pepeha you say where you come from – your maunga (which is your mountain, the place you hold to), your awa (which is your river) and your marae (which is the place where you belong). You also create connections with people by talking about your iwi (which is your tribe), your whanau (or family) including your kaumatua (who are your grandparents), and your matua (or parents). The last thing you tell people is your name.

By introducing yourself in this way you reveal something of your collective identity. Not only do you show people what is important to you but you also create connections with your listeners. Maybe you both share a place or a person in common.

The point is, we are who we are in relationship with others. Identity is not just an individual or personal thing. Identity is a collective thing. As human beings we are connected to a particular people, a particular history and a particular place.  Most importantly our identity is found in God, our creator. The Lord defines us.

Today we continue our series in first Peter. Last week we heard how we are connected to Christ and each other as living stones in God’s temple. This week, in verses 9-10 of chapter 2, Peter gives further attention to our collective identity as God’s special people. It’s like Peter is reminding his readers of those aspects of their pepeha which they share in common.  

From 1st Peter, chapter 2, verses 9-10, we read…

9 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. 10 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.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Peter’s readers got a hard time for believing in Jesus. They were not treated well by the society they lived in because they followed Christ. One of the things we need if we are suffering for our beliefs is a strong sense of identity. Peter’s readers were being treated like dirt and needed to be reassured that they were not dirt. To the contrary, collectively they (and we) are God’s special people.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

To draw out what Peter is saying here, I have come up with an acrostic which spells the word S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

S is for sacred, P is for priests, E is for elected, C is for called, I stands for included, A is for access and L is for loved.

The church is sacred to God.

The church is a kingdom of God’s priests.

The church is elected by God.

The church is called to declare God’s praise.   

The church is included by God.

The church has access to God.

And the church is loved by God.

Some of you may collect stamps. One of the characteristics that makes a stamp valuable is its age. Usually the older and rarer the stamp the greater its price. Also, the condition of the stamp. If a stamp has been cared for so it is not faded or torn, still whole and not attached to anything, it will usually be worth more.

Ironically those stamps with an error or mistake on them are sought after. So, if something went wrong in the printing of a stamp, then the stamp with the mistake will fetch more than the same kind of stamp from a normal issue.

The valuing of stamps is counter cultural in a way. Generally speaking, our society values what is young and new and fast and perfect. But stamp collectors go against the flow. Stamps represent what is slow – snail mail as they say. Stamp collectors value what is old and imperfect but still cared for.

It seems to me most people who collect stamps are not in it for financial gain. They are conservationists at heart. Most stamp collectors feel a certain connection with history through postage. Their stamp collections are a sacred thing – a special possession.  

If you cannot relate with stamps as a taonga (a treasure), then perhaps you have a watch or a ring or a wedding dress or family photos or your grandfather’s war medals passed down to you, which you hold sacred, as a special possession.

In verse 9 Peter tells his readers they are a holy nation. Holy, as we know, means set apart for a special purpose. Another word for holyis sacred. The Christian church is a sacred nation. The church (collectively) is set apart for God as his special possession. The church belongs to God in a unique way.

That phrase holy nation comes from Exodus chapter 19. In Exodus 19 the people of Israel are in the wilderness after having left their slavery in Egypt. God is about to make a covenant with the people – he is about to give them the 10 commandments – and the Lord instructs Moses to tell the Israelites, they are a holy nation, a royal priesthood, his special possession.    

In saying these things God is ascribing value & identity to the nation of Israel. He is remembering his history, his connection, with Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. Israel is like a book of rare, old, imperfect but still cared for stamps in God’s collection. In the same way, the Christian church is like Israel, sacred to God.

And, like Israel, the church, collectively as a whole, is a royal priesthood. Or more literally, a kingdom of God’s priests to all peoples of the world.

A priest is a person who serves God and has access to him. In the Old Testament priests gained access to God through the blood of a sacrificial animal. We do not need to do that anymore because, in sacrificing himself on the cross, Jesus has atoned for the sin of humanity once and for all. Through Jesus’ blood we have access to God the Father.

William Barclay observes how the Latin word for priest is Pontifix which means bridge builder.[1] A bridge provides access. A priest is supposed to provide a bridge between God and humankind. Or said another way, a priest is like a mediator or intermediary between God and people. A priest is a go between.

Sign language is one of the official languages of New Zealand. Whenever there is a Covid announcement on TV we usually see a sign language interpreter beside Jacinda or Ashley, facilitating communication with the deaf community; translating the officials’ words for those who cannot otherwise hear.

Those sign language interpreters are like priests or intermediaries. They serve the government and the deaf community. They have special access to the Prime Minister, which the rest of us do not have, and they use their access to get the message out.

The church is like a team of sign language interpreters. We are a community of priests. As priests we have special access to God (we have a back stage pass) through faith in Jesus. We are to use our access to intercede with God for the world.

In other words, our job is to show and tell the world about God’s love in Christ. But the communication goes both ways. As well as showing the world God’s love, we are to tell God about the world’s needs. We are to bring the world before God in prayer. We call this intercessory prayer.

I always like to include an intercessory prayer in our services of worship because, collectively, we Christians are God’s priests and interceding for people is our job. Obviously intercessory prayers are not limited to Sunday worship services. We can intercede for people in the world at any time. 

Last Wednesday Daryl and I had just hopped in the car to go to a pastors’ meeting together. As we did we noticed some yelling from across the street. A woman was yelling at a man. There was no physical violence but strong words were exchanged.

We were already running late for the meeting but, in that moment, what was happening on the church’s doorstep seemed more important. The first thing we did was pray for God’s peace in the situation. Then we walked across the road to see if we could help. As it turned out our help was not needed. This woman was able to help herself.

Now I’m not suggesting we should always intervene in a situation like that. Sometimes it is wiser to stay out of it. But we can always pray. As God’s royal priests we have special access to God, through Jesus. We are God’s servants, his translators, his intermediaries, in this world. Martin Luther called this the priesthood of all believers.

You may have noticed I am mixing up the letters of my special acrostic. We, the church collectively, are sacred (or holy) to God. We are priests of God, with direct access to him, so we have a duty to intercede for the world.

Verse 9 of 1st Peter chapter 2 also tells us we (the church) are a chosen people. When God chooses people, we call that election. The kingdom of God is not a democracy, where everyone gets to vote. The kingdom of God is a theocracy, where God gets all the votes. Having said that, God votes in a just and compassionate way. In a way that serves the well-being of all, both collectively and individually.  

God elected or chose to bless Abraham and make him a blessing to the nations. Just like God elected or chose Israel to be his people (his special possession). Likewise, God elected or chose the church to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood. The ‘E’ in special stands for election – God’s vote, His choice.

In some ways it goes the against the grain of Kiwi culture to think of ourselves as specially chosen or elected. But we need to value ourselves properly if we are to declare God’s praises and relate with others in a right way. Without a strong sense of identity and connection, we will end up compromising who we are. We will lose our saltiness.

If you feel uncomfortable with being set apart as special, then it may help to remember God’s election is by grace. In other words, God does not necessarily chose people based on how good they are or how likely they are to succeed. If anything God is more inclined to elect those who no one else would choose. So being special does not make us better than others.

In any case, the specialness is not attached to us as individuals. The specialness is attached to Jesus specifically and to the church collectively.

When Peter says, ‘you are a chosen people’, or an elect people, he is making a connection with Israel’s past, when they were exiles in Babylon. There are two great journeys of redemption in Israel’s history. The first was the exodus, when God led the people out of slavery in Egypt. And the second was when God brought the Jewish exiles out of Babylon, back to Jerusalem.

In Isaiah 43:20 we read about God bringing the exiles home: See, I am doing a new thing… I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland… to give drink to my chosen people. [My elect people.]

The way in the desert is the way out of exile – the way home from Babylon to Jerusalem. When Jesus said, I am the way, that’s partly what he meant. Jesus is the way out of exile.

You will remember that Peter is addressing his First Century Christian readers as exiles and sojourners. As Christians, Israel’s heritage is woven into our pepeha too. Our journey through the wasteland of this world may seem long and hard but it is not dry. God has provided streams in the desert for us – he has given us his Holy Spirit.

The church is sacred to God. The church is a kingdom of God’s priests with access to God, through Christ. The church is elected by God and the church is called to declare God’s praise. The ‘C’ in God’s special people stands for called. 

Returning to 1st Peter, chapter 2. In the second part of verse 9 Peter describes the purpose of the church. Collectively, we are to declare the praises of God who has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.  

Once again this connects with Isaiah 43, where God calls his people out of the darkness of exile that they may proclaim His praise.

The image of being called out of darkness and into God’s wonderful light is a metaphor for conversion. When the designers of the Billy Graham Center in the USA, sought to provide an architectural parable of conversion, they planned a passageway through darkness into a room walled with brilliant light. [2] 

Last Friday’s weather was a real transformation from darkness to light. All grey and wet and windy in the morning, then blue sky, sunshine and calm in the afternoon.  

God’s calling of us implies conversion. What we notice about this image of conversion is that it is from one state of being to another. It is from darkness to light. When God called Israel out of Egypt, the nation went from a state of slavery to a state of being free to serve God. Likewise, when God called his people out of exile in Babylon, the people went from having the status of immigrants to being citizens, free to worship God.

Conversion is a bit like being transferred from one Covid level to a better, less restricted, level. When we move from level 2 to level 1 (hopefully this week), we will have a greater freedom to worship and praise God together.

Of course, being called to declare God’s praises is not limited to singing songs heavenward in church on a Sunday. Telling others about the good things God has done for us is another way of declaring his praise. Likewise, we may cause others to declare God’s praise when we live and act in a way that helps and blesses others.

There are two more letters in our special acrostic – I and L. The church is included by God and loved by God. In verse 10 of chapter 2, Peter writes: 

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.

Peter is quoting from the book of Hosea here. Hosea was an Old Testament prophet who had the unenviable task of telling the people of Israel they had been unfaithful to God and so judgement was coming.

As a sign of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God called Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman. So Hosea married Gomer. When Gomer gave birth to a daughter, God instructed Hosea to name the child, Lo-Ruhamah, which means, not loved (or not shown mercy). And when Gomer gave birth to a son, God told Hosea to name the boy Lo-Ammi, which means, not my people. The names of Hosea’s children were a parable of what was happening in Israel’s relationship with the Lord.

But God’s judgement is followed by a message of hope. Speaking about a time after the exile, God says through Hosea: I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people’, ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ [3]

As Edmund Clowney puts it: “If Israel, through sin, had become no people… then the grace that can restore Israel… can equally bring Gentiles into the intimacy of fellowship with God.” [4]

Peter’s words (in verse 10) about God’s inclusion and merciful love also connect with Isaiah 19:23-25. Historically Assyria and Egypt had oppressed Israel – they were Israel’s enemies. But Isaiah foresees a time when the people of Assyria and Egypt will be included by God, so they worship the Lord alongside the people of Israel.   

From Isaiah 19:23 we read: In that day there will be a highwayfrom Egypt to Assyria.The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 24 In that dayIsrael will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will blessthem, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

Some of Peter’s readers were Jewish and some were Gentile. Either way, through Jesus, they were now included by God and loved by him – as Isaiah had predicted.

Conclusion:

The Maori language has a beautiful poetry to it. Take the word maunga for example (maunga means mountain). The first syllable of the word maunga is mau (m a u). Mau means hold. So, a mountain is a place you hold to – it is like an anchor or a reliable point of reference. The word, maunga, is poetic – it is a symbol of stability and security.

Many of Peter’s readers needed stability – they needed something secure to hold to. Because of their faith in Christ they had lost a lot of the things one might ordinarily hold to or find security in. Some had been cut off from their biological families, others would have lost their land and business contacts. Certainly, the Roman empire looked at Christians with suspicion. To Roman society Christianity seemed like a relatively new religion.

By creating all these connections with Israel’s heritage of faith, Peter was giving his readers something secure to hold to. The roots of Christianity go a long way back. Through faith, Jesus is their maunga (their mountain) and he is a mountain for us to hold to as well.

The church (collectively) is special to God. We are sacred to God. We are priests of God, elected by God, called by God to declare his praise. We are included by God, with special access to him. And, we are loved by God. This is woven into our pepeha of faith. Our identity and belonging are in Christ.     

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

Give your pepeha (in Maori or English) to those in your group or write it on a piece of paper if you are on your own. How do you feel talking/writing about the places and people who are important to you?  

Listen to someone else’s pepeha. Did this create any connections with your own story?

Do you have a special possession? Why is this special to you? In what sense is the church God’s special possession?

What is a priest? What do priests do? How might we carry out our responsibility as God’s priests in this world?

Discuss / reflect on the image of moving from darkness to light, as a metaphor for conversion? What does it mean to declare God’s praises? How might we do this?

In what sense is Jesus our maunga (a mountain to hold to)?

Why do you think Peter takes the time to remind his readers of how special they are to God? 

[1] Refer William Barclay’s commentary on 1st Peter, page 232.

[2] Refer Edmund Clowney’s commentary on 1st Peter, page 97.

[3] Hosea 2:23

[4] Refer Edmund Clowney’s commentary on 1st Peter, page 90.

Tawa Baptist

Stones

Scripture: 1st Peter 2:4-8

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Cornerstone
  • Living Stones
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

When our kids were younger, and we were on a road trip somewhere, we often played the word association game. With the word association game one person starts by saying a word and the next person has to say another word which is related to the previous word and so on. The idea is to keep it going as long as you can without repeating any words. 

So, for example, I might start with the word Milk and then you might say Cow and someone else would say Pasture. Green. Spinach. Dinner. Dessert. Ice-Cream. Sundae. Church. Chocolate fish. Birthday. Party… You get the idea.

Today we continue our series in 1st Peter, focusing on chapter 2, verses 4-8. Over the last couple of weeks, we have heard about the Christian believer’s personal relationship with God and other believers. This morning’s passage focuses on the church’s collective relationship with God.

One of the things we notice about today’s reading is the abundance of Old Testament references. It’s like Peter is playing a word association game, using only words and ideas from the Hebrew Bible. Peter associates Christian believers (collectively) with God, with the temple, with the Messiah, with Israel and with the priesthood. From 1st Peter chapter 2, verses 4-8 we read,  

4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by Godand precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being builtinto a spiritual houseto 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.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Peter’s writing here has more layers than your nan’s trifle. As usual, there is so much going on. Two handles, to give structure to the message:

Firstly, Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s new temple

And secondly, Christian believers, collectively, are living stones in God’s house

First, let us consider Jesus, the cornerstone of God’s new temple.

Cornerstone:

When you hear the phrase, “You are such a brick”, what do you think of?

“You are such a brick” reminds me of The Famous Five stories by Enid Blyton. I’m not sure if that phrase was actually used in the original Famous Five books but for some reason I associate it with them. “You are such a brick Julian”.

“You are such a brick” is a compliment. It’s a way of saying you are solid and reliable. A person of integrity and strength.

Possibly the saying originated from king Lycurgus of Sparta. The story goes that king Lycurgus was boasting to a visiting monarch about the walls of Sparta. When the visiting monarch looked around and saw no walls, he said to the Spartan king, “Where are these walls then?” And king Lycurgus pointed at his soldiers. “These are the walls of Sparta. Every man a brick.” [1]      

This morning’s reading begins with Peter referring to the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by Godand precious to him.

Then, in verses 6, 7 & 8 Peter continues his stone theme with three quotes from the Old Testament. The first quote comes from Isaiah 28:16 where the prophet 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.”

Before the time of Jesus, the stones in these Old Testament passages were understood by the Jews to be a reference to the Messiah. So when God says through prophet, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, he means, the Messiah is coming.

Peter picks up this stone metaphor. The living Stone, the cornerstone, is Jesus the Messiah, the Christ. Unlike an actual stone Jesus is living, for God has raised Jesus from the dead.

A rock or a stone is not a perishable thing. A stone is imperishable, lasting, permanent. To say that Jesus is the living Stone, implies his permanence. The life of Jesus is a resilient life; a life everlasting.

As well as being the living stone, Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s new temple. In ancient times the cornerstone was the very first foundation stone to be put in place. The cornerstone set the profile for the whole building. The angle and course of the walls was taken from the cornerstone. So it was important that the cornerstone was square and true, otherwise the building would not be level. [2]

If we read on into verse 17 of Isaiah 28, the Lord says, I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line.

In other words, the Messiah (the cornerstone of God’s new temple) will be square and true. There will be no crocked-ness, no injustice in God’s holy house.

Jesus, the cornerstone, is described as precious to God and to those who believe. The word translated as precious comes from the Greek word for honour. [3] If we put our trust in Jesus, we will not be put to shame at the final judgement. In fact, we will share in Jesus’ honour.

As a result of becoming Christians many of Peter’s readers had suffered a loss in social status, a loss in honour, a loss of face. What an encouragement to them to be reminded that in God’s kingdom the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Those who suffer shame for Christ now, will one day share in his honour.

In verse 4 and verse 7 Peter faces the fact that Jesus (the Messiah) has been rejected by men but chosen (or elected) by God. In verse 7 Peter quotes from Psalm 118:22, which reads: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”.

The builders, in this context, are the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. The Jewish religious leaders believed they were building God’s temple, but ironically they discarded the most important building block of all. They rejected Jesus. But God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead and making him a living stone, the cornerstone of His new house, a temple not made with hands.       

In verse 8 Peter goes on to retrieve another stone quote, this time from Isaiah 8:14. To those who do not believe, [Jesus is] “a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall”.

The point here is that there is no sitting on the fence with Jesus. You cannot be neutral when it comes Jesus. Jesus will either be a firm foundation on which you build your life or he will be a stone that trips you up.

In 1st Peter 2:8 the apostle writes: They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

This does not mean that God has predestined some people to disobey and fall. No. God wants everyone to be saved. If it was up to God, no one would stumble and fall. But God has given us freewill. And the choices we make come with consequences.   

The parable of the two builders (in Matthew 7:24-27) informs our understanding here. If we build our house on the firm foundation stone of Jesus’ teaching. If we trust and obey Jesus, then our house will stand through the storm. We will not be ashamed on judgement day.

But if someone builds their house on the shifting sands of popular opinion. If they reject Jesus’ teaching, then their house will fall. Not because God decided for them, but because of what they have decided for themselves.

A number of commentators make the observation that Peter does not refer to himself as the foundation (or cornerstone) of God’s new temple. In fact, Peter does not give himself any sort of special place in these verses. This is interesting, especially when we remember what Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:18.

After Peter makes his confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, Jesus says to Peter: Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

In this gospel story, Jesus gives Simon a new name, Peter; which means rock or stone. It’s sort of like Jesus is saying, “You are such a brick Simon”.

Because of tradition we tend to understand Jesus’ words to mean that he will build the church on Simon Peter. But I’m not sure that is how Peter understood it. Otherwise he might have named himself as the cornerstone of the church. It seems that Peter understood Jesus to be saying that the Lord will build the church on Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.[4]     

If this is the case, then the rock on which the church is built is not Peter. The rock on which the church is built is the confession that Jesus is the Messiah. As people profess their faith in Jesus the church is built.

And that brings us to the second main point in our message today: Christian believers, collectively, are living stones in God’s temple. Jesus is the cornerstone and we, who believe in Jesus, are living stones aligned with him.

Living stones:

Let me tell you a story about a girl named Lucy. In fact, it’s probably better if I let Lucy tell you in her own words. Lucy says…

When I was a child I went to the local diocesan school for girls. It was a church school with borders and daygirls. I was a day girl. Being a church school, we started each morning with a chapel service. Nothing too fancy. Just two or three hymns, a couple of prayers and a Bible reading.

It was a nice way to begin the day. Some of the girls complained about religion being stuffed down their throat but it wasn’t like that. Actually the rhythm of daily worship was comforting, like sitting in a rocking chair.

The chapel services were led by the school’s chaplain, who also taught us religious instruction and coached hockey. He was married to Mrs Barry who taught home economics. They lived on site, so they would be available for the girls at any time.

Chaplain was a lovely guy and quite a practical man. He invited any of us who were interested, to help him during lunchtime, to make bricks for an extension to the chapel. 

Making bricks was a bit like baking, except we did not cook them in an oven. Instead we had these wooden frames which formed the moulds for the bricks. The wooden moulds were oiled up (sort of like greasing a cake tin) so the bricks would slide out easier afterwards.

We shoveled cement and aggregate into a concrete mixer, added some water and let the mixer do the rest. When it was ready we poured the slurry into the moulds and let it set for a few days before releasing the bricks from the frames.

It was satisfying work. You saw something permanent for your efforts. We broke a few finger nails in the process but we also discovered meaning in doing something good for someone else.

Brick making is a slow process. I was at that school for six years. For the first five years we made bricks. It was only in the last year those bricks were used to build the extension to the chapel.

Although he had every opportunity, Chaplain did not try to draw out some life lesson from the making of the bricks. He let the experience speak for itself and it did, but not till many years later.

As I reflect back on my time as a brick maker (now a woman in my forties with a family of my own) I realise how God has formed us as living bricks in his house.

The concrete mixer has become a symbol to me of the rough and tumble of life. Life is not easy. Suffering turns us upside down and inside out, but the mixing process is necessary to build integrity and resilience.    

I am thankful for the daily rhythm of chapel services. This pattern, of starting each morning by focusing on God, was like a mould holding me together until my faith firmed up. I still start each day with a devotion. It comforts me and sets my mind on a good path. 

Now, in talking about brick moulds, I do not mean to imply that all Christians are the same. Yes, we come from the same tradition of faith, we believe in the same Jesus, but each of us emerges from that mould with our own unique imprint. What’s more, each of us is given a different place to serve in God’s house.  

And then there is the silent work of time. Just as the bricks needed time to cure and to strengthen in the fresh air, so too my faith has cured over time. When we are young we are often in a rush to experience everything all at once. And in our hurry to prove ourselves, we grow up too fast. Usually we are better served by slowing down. Some things can only be properly appreciated with age and time.

Perhaps the most significant learning from my brick making though, was the day I dropped a brick, fresh out of the mould. It broke clean in two. I felt terrible and thought briefly about hiding what I had done, but in the end decided to confess my sin to Chaplain. Actually I didn’t say anything; I just showed him the broken pieces, one in each hand.

To my surprise, he was not cross. He smiled and said, “Don’t throw those away Lucy. Give them to me. I know just the place for them.”

In this way, Chaplain showed me that God is not angry. To the contrary, there is value in my mistakes. God does not waste anything. He can use my mishaps and my broken pieces in building his house. Nothing is too difficult for Him.   

Returning to 1st Peter chapter 2. In verses 4 & 5 Peter tells us: As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by Godand 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.   

We come to Jesus by faith, by believing in his resurrection from the dead. We become what we believe in. The pattern of Jesus’ life is the mould for the slurry of our faith. Just as Jesus is the living Stone, rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him, so too we become living stones precious to God. Collectively, we become solid and reliable, a people of integrity and strength.

We may suffer rejection in the concrete mixer of this world but that is only for a time. We need to keep the bigger picture in mind and remember that we are precious to God.   

It may take some time for our faith to cure but one day we will share in Jesus’ resurrection to eternal life. We stand to inherit Jesus’ resilient life; life everlasting.  In the meantime, our job, collectively, is to be living stones bearing witness to the reality of God’s presence in the world. Like the soldiers of Sparta, every woman, every man a brick.     

Verse 5 says we are being built into a spiritual house, or a temple in other words. The word house has a double meaning. It can mean both a building as well as a household. [5]

Peter is not thinking of a literal temple building here but rather a group of people holding God’s presence in common. A holy priesthood, like the household of Aaron in the Old Testament.   

Peter calls this household of God, a spiritual house. Last week heard about the Greek word logikos, which is translated in English as spiritual. In verse 2 of chapter 2, Peter says we are to crave spiritual milk. That is, we are to feed on that which is true to our real nature as children of God.

However, the Greek language has more than one word for spiritual and the word translated as spiritual in verse 5 (as in spiritual house and spiritual sacrifices) is not logikos but pneumatikos. Pneuma means air in motion, breath or wind. The Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to as the pneuma or the wind or breath of God.

Spiritual, in the sense of pneumatikos, refers to something that we cannot see but is still very real. We cannot see oxygen but that does not make the air any less real. We can feel the wind on our face, for example, and we certainly notice when the air is removed from our lungs. Likewise, we cannot normally see the Holy Spirit, but we can learn to be are aware of His presence.

So the spiritual house (in 1st Peter chapter 2) is the community of Christian believers who, collectively, form a household filled with the Holy Spirit.

Likewise, spiritual sacrifices are not literal animal sacrifices, as Peter’s first century readers would have been familiar with. Rather ‘spiritual sacrifices’ refer to the many sacrifices (large and small) of a life lived in holiness and obedience to God, with the help of the Holy Spirit.             

Reflecting on Peter’s spiritual house metaphor; we in the 21st Century western world, have a tendency to think individually. In contrast, Peter’s household metaphor represents collective thinking. So, in the context of 1st Peter, it is not that each of us, individually, is a house or temple of God. Rather it is that collectively we are God’s household. 

Another implication of Peter’s words here is that we do not need to travel all the way to Jerusalem to meet God in his temple. We simply need to meet with one or two other Christian believers.

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard how Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s house,

while Christian believers, collectively, are living stones in God’s house.

What Peter is getting at here is our identity and belonging in Christ.

We are not defined by the world around us. We are defined by God.

We are precious to God and acceptable to Him through faith in Jesus. 

As living stones, joined to Jesus, we have a certain solidarity with one another.

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

Play the word association game with those with you, starting with the word ‘Stone’. 

What does it mean that Jesus is the living Stone and the cornerstone?

Many of Peter’s first century readers had suffered rejection and a loss of status for their faith in Jesus. How would Peter’s words, in these verses (2:4-8), have encouraged them? What encouragement do you take from Peter here?

Why do you think Peter makes no special mention of himself when talking about the building of God’s house? How does this help us to interpret Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:18?

What life (or faith) lesson(s) do you draw from Lucy’s brick making story?

What does Peter mean by ‘spiritual house’?

Take some time this week to reflect on our collective identity and belonging in Christ?

[1] Refer William Barclay’s commentary on 1st Peter, page 231.

[2] Refer Edmund Clowney’s commentary on 1st Peter, page 84. 

[3] Refer Thomas R. Schreiner’s commentary on 1st Peter, page 110.

[4] Refer Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1st Peter, page 151.

[5] Refer Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1st Peter, page 150.

Tawa Baptist

Milk

Scripture: 1st Peter 1:22-2:3

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Converted to love
  • Born to last
  • Feed on God
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

When I was in my teens I was asked by a mate to do some hay making. Being a city boy I didn’t realise what I was in for. I started the day with breakfast of a couple of Weetbix and a piece toast, before heading off to work in the field.

Unfortunately, it had rained a little the night before so the hay was a bit damp. And lifting a wet bale of hay onto the back of a truck takes more energy. By lunchtime I was feeling a bit depleted. My breakfast of two Weetbix and one piece of toast was not enough to sustain me for the heavy lifting of the whole day. I needed a more substantial breakfast.

Today we continue our series in the letter of 1st Peter. Last week we heard how the Christian believer is to relate with God – that is with holiness and reverent fear. Today’s passage shifts the focus to living in right relationship with other Christian believers. From 1st Peter, chapter 1, verse 22 through to chapter 2, verse 3, we read…

22 Now that you have purifiedyourselves by obeyingthe 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, 25but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.

2 Therefore, rid yourselvesof all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slanderof every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk,so that by it you may grow upin your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.    

In a nutshell, Peter is saying here: you have been converted to love and born to last, therefore feed on the goodness of God.

You see, loving people can be hard yacker. Like hay making it involves heavy lifting. It is only by feeding on the goodness of God that the work of love is sustained over a lifetime.    

Converted to love:

Imagine you are walking in the wilderness, through native bush. This is not just a casual day walk. This is one of the great walks, lasting nearly a week. Two days into the journey, someone steels your food and your tent. So, by day three, you have not eaten for a while and you’ve been sleeping rough. Now you are tired and hungry.

As you follow the path you come to a river. There is no bridge. If you continue on the path you are on, it will lead you beside the river to who knows where. (They stole your map and compass as well.)  Just then you see people on the other side of the river, cooking sausages. You have a choice. Either you stay on your side and carry on walking beside the river until you reach the sea, or you cross over to join the people for dinner.

Crossing the river would not be easy. It would take some effort and involve risk. The water is cold, the current is swift and the river is deep, so you would have to ditch your pack and swim.

Someone on the far bank of the river sees you and calls out for you to come over. You catch a whiff of the sausages and decide to take the plunge. What have you got to lose? Except your pack, which is kind of pointless now your food and tent have been stolen.

A couple of minutes later you are on the other side, dripping wet and shivering. The small group of trampers welcome you with a hot Milo and a dry towel. You have never met them before but they are friendly and kind and they are headed in the right direction. They know the way back to civilization.   

This little story is an allegory to Christian conversion. Christian conversion is both an event and a process. Conversion is an event that happens at a particular point in time, when we make a conscious decision, but it is also a process that happens over time.

The conversion event in my story was when the tramper crossed the river. He made a conscious decision to leave the path he was on and go in a different direction. He did this because he saw people on the other side calling him over. Crossing the river was not easy. It required him to leave his pack behind.

But the weary tramper did not convert into nothing. He converted into a community that cared for and accepted him.

Of course, the story of conversion does not end there. The trampers were on a journey out of the wilderness. The process of conversion was not complete until they had finished the journey and made it back home to civilization.     

In verse 22, when Peter writes, you have purifiedyourselves by obeyingthe truth, he is talking about Christian conversion. The ‘truth’ Peter’s readers have obeyed here is the gospel truth concerning Jesus. Peter’s readers have heard the good news about Jesus preached and they have believed it. Someone has called to them from across the river and they have left the old path they were on, ditched their baggage and crossed over to the other side. They have accepted Jesus as their Saviour and Lord and joined the camp of his people.

Conversion may refer to the transition from one religion to another, but it can also refer to moving deeper into one’s own religion. I expect most of Peter’s Gentile readers would have converted from paganism to Christianity. While his Jewish readers had moved more deeply into their own religion. Because Jesus, the Messiah, is Jewish. He is at the heart of Jewish faith.

Some of you may have converted to Christianity from another religion. While others may have become Christians without having any sort of religious background.

Many of you have grown up in a Christian home and gone to church with your parents since you were a child. You may find it hard to identify a particular point in time (a conversion event as such) because you grew up immersed in the church. Nevertheless, there is probably a point in your journey where the Christian faith deepened from being something you went along with, because that’s what your parents believed, to something you owned for yourself and integrated into your life. That moving deeper is an event within the process of Christian conversion.

The point Peter is making in verse 22 is that we are converted to love one another. Christian conversion is not just that point in time when we admit intellectual agreement with certain doctrines (although it does include that). Christian conversion is the process of growing in our love for God and his people.

The kind of love Peter has in mind here is genuine, sincere, unpretentious love. Deep love, from the heart. Love from the core of our being, from the inside out. This kind of love is not just a warm fuzzy feeling (although it may sometimes include pleasant feelings). The love in view here is expressed in righteous relationships based on God’s character. Christian love is very much an action as well as an attitude. An action informed by the way God loves us in Christ.

To put it more plainly loving one another requires the heavy lifting of self-control and patience and forgiveness and turning the other cheek and that sort of stuff.    

Those who have been on the journey for a while will know that the process of conversion often involves a number of events (or river crossings) as we move to a deeper love of God and his people. With each crossing we must leave something behind but we also hopefully find a warm cup of Milo waiting for us on the other side.

We are converted to love and we are born to last.

Born to last:

Tuesday, the 1st of September, marked the beginning of the season of spring. Some of you may have daffodils popping up and coming to flower in your garden. Many kowhai trees around Tawa are in full glory. The intense yellows are a beautiful distraction.

As much as I enjoy the visual symphony of spring, I am also aware that every daffodil and kowhai flower and cherry blossom is pregnant with sadness. They only last a few brief weeks, perhaps less if the wind picks up, and then they are gone.  

In verse 24 of chapter 1, Peter quotes from the prophet Isaiah: “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

This quotation comes from Isaiah chapter 40. It was originally intended as a message of comfort and encouragement to the Jews living in exile, following the fall of Jerusalem in the sixth century BC.

These Jews of the diaspora, these sojourners living in a foreign land, were disheartened and wondering where they stood with God. Did his covenant promises still hold true?

You see, the kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon and other places the exiles were scattered, seemed invincible but they were actually like grass. Their glory was like the flowers of the field. Here today and gone next week. Yes, they looked spectacular now but they were pregnant with sadness. They would not last.

By contrast, God’s word (his promises to his people) would endure forever. And so Isaiah’s message to the exiles was good news. ‘Yes, the promises of God’s word do hold true. You are not forgotten in your loneliness and alienation. Despite the way things appear you still belong to God.’ 

Peter piggy backs off Isaiah. He appropriates Isaiah’s message and applies it to his readers. Peter addresses the Christians of the first century AD as exiles. As followers of Christ they have been oppressed and given a rough deal. But the Roman empire (as glorious and as mighty as it seemed at the time) was like grass. Here today, gone tomorrow.    

With this is mind Peter could say with confidence (in verse 23) that his readers have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

In other words, they were born to last. Born for eternal life.

Jesus referred to the word of God as a seed in his teaching. Notice the imagery of the seed here. A seed is something small and ordinary looking. A seed is often hidden and covered in dirt. A seed does not look like much but it is full of potential. Just as a seed carries the DNA of the plant, and a sperm carries the DNA of the father, so too the word of God carries the characteristics of God the Father. God is eternal and God is love. That is what the Christian convert is born to.

If we believe in Jesus, then we have been converted to love and born to last therefore, to sustain our life and our love, we must feed on the goodness of God.

Feed on God:          

Have you ever noticed the way nothing in God’s creation clashes? His colour schemes are constantly changing but they always fit. They always make sense. Whether it is a sunrise over the sea or sheep in the high country or flowers in spring or the moonlight over Wellington harbour, it always goes together.

There is a logic to the way God does things. That logic is not always evident at first but it reveals itself to those who are pure in heart and patient enough.

In verse 1 of chapter 2, Peter says: Therefore, rid yourselvesof all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slanderof every kind.   

We notice here that three of these five vices are about sustaining what is false. Deceit, hypocrisy and slander are enemies of the truth and therefore they undermine the genuine, sincere, unpretentious love Peter was just talking about in verse 22.   

Clearly all five vices do not fit people who have been converted to love. They actually work against loving one another. Likewise, these vices do not follow logically (they do not make sense) for those who have been born again through the living and enduring word of God.  We need to rid ourselves of them – cast them aside like leaving the old pack behind before crossing the river.

From verse 2 of chapter 2, Peter writes: Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk,so that by it you may grow upin your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The main idea here is that Christian believers need to feed on the goodness of God. It is by feeding on the goodness of God that we gain the nourishment and strength to grow in our love for one another. 

Now there are a couple of things to clarify here. Firstly, Peter is not meaning to suggest that his readers are immature in their faith. There is no criticism here. Some of his readers may have been new converts but a lot of them would have been Christians for a while. In the same way that people of all ages drink milk, so too Christians at all stages of faith can feed on the goodness of God.

Although, elsewhere in the New Testament, milk is used as a metaphor for teachings suitable for immature Christians (e.g. Hebrews 5:12), no such negative connotation is found here. Rather, Peter sees milk as that which all Christians need in order to nurture and sustain their faith. [1]

The emphasis in the text is on craving God’s goodness.

We also need to clarify what is meant by milk? Many modern commentators take the view that milk is a metaphor for God’s word, as found in the Bible. But that is quite a narrow understanding.

Yes, reading the Bible and listening to sermons and going to Bible studies can and does nourish our faith & love but it is not the only way our faith & love is nourished. For example, your soul may be nourished by noticing the ways God has worked his purpose for good in your life and thanking Him for that. Spending time in nature, reflecting on the way God fits everything together, can also be milk to your soul.   

Verse 3 makes it clear that the spiritual milk Peter has in mind here is the milk of God’s goodness or kindness.

Verse 3 connects with Psalm 34:8 where the psalmist says: Taste and see that the Lord is God. Blessed is the person who takes refuge in him.

That word spiritual is also worth a closer look. What does it mean that the milk is spiritual? In the original Greek version of the New Testament the word spiritual is actually logikos. In ancient Greek literature logikos was normally translated as rational or reasonable; that is, fitting or making sense.      

This is quite different from the way we tend to think of the word spiritual. Many people today hold a false dichotomy when it comes to spiritual things. We tend to think that ‘spiritual’ means the opposite of physical. Something non-material and therefore not scientific or rational or understandable.

But that is not what the Bible means by spiritual. To be logikos or spiritual, in the New Testament, is to be ‘true to the real nature’ of something. [2]

It is logikos, or ‘true to the real nature’ of an apple tree to produce apples. 

It is logikos, or ‘true to the real nature’ of a carpenter to measure twice and count once.

It is logikos, or ‘true to the real nature’ of an accountant to reconcile and balance the books.

It is logikos, or ‘true to the real nature’ of a citizen to pay their taxes and abide by the laws of the land.

It is logikos, or ‘true to the real nature’ of a baby to crave its mother’s milk.

It is logikos, or ‘true to the real nature’ of a father to protect and provide for his children.    

It is logikos, or ‘true to the real nature’ of a Christian to copy Jesus by loving God and loving your neighbour.   

This means that being spiritual (or logikos) is about fulfilling the purpose for which God created us.

If God created you to be a teacher, then teaching is spiritual.

If God created you to be a stay at home mum or dad, then looking after kids, changing nappies, doing the washing and baking biscuits is spiritual.

If God created you to make music, then playing the guitar or the piano or the viola or the bass, for his glory and other people’s enjoyment, is spiritual.

If God created you to work with your hands, then making beautiful kitchens or wiring someone’s house or unblocking someone’s drain is spiritual.

If God created you to be a manager, then treating your staff with kindness and fairness is spiritual.

I could go on but you get the point. Being spiritual is not an aesthetic, it is not about appearances. Being spiritual is about being true to our real nature – the way God has made us.

In the gospels Jesus got upset with the religious leaders of his day because they were not logikos. They were not spiritual. They were not behaving in ways that were true to the spirit of God’s law. The opposite of logikos, the opposite of being spiritual, is being a hypocrite. A hypocrite is an actor; someone who is pretending to be what they are not.

In Romans 12:1 the apostle Paul tells the Christians in Rome that presenting their bodies as living sacrifices is their logikos worship (their spiritual worship). It is worship that is true and reasonable and fits with the new reality to which they have converted.

Conclusion:

So when Peter instructs us to crave pure spiritual milk he means, fill your boots with that which is fitting for a child of God to feed on. And what is fitting for a child of God to feed on? The goodness of God.          

If we feed on deceit. If we feed on malice or evil. If we feed on gossip and slander. If we pretend to be something we are not. If we keep replaying in our mind the hurtful things that people have said or done to us. Then we will be quickly drained of the strength we need to love one another.

But if we feed on what is true. If we feed on kindness and goodness. If we shut down gossip and slander. If we learn to be ourselves and live in our own soul. If we let go of our hurt and instead replay in our mind the many facets of God’s grace for us. Then we will be nourished and strengthened to grow in our love for one another. 

We have been converted to love and born to last therefore, to grow and sustain our life and our love, we must feed on the goodness of God.

May grace and peace be yours in abundance. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What do you normally eat for breakfast? Is this enough to sustain you for the day?
  • Reflecting on your own experience, what have been the significant events in the process of conversion for you?
  • What does Peter mean by love? How does this quality of love find expression in your community of faith?
  • Why does Peter quote from Isaiah 40? (in 1st Peter 1:24) How was Isaiah 40 relevant to Peter’s readers? Does Isaiah 40 resonate with you? If so, why?
  • What does the word logikos (spiritual) mean in the context of the New Testament? What does Peter mean by pure spiritual milk?
  • Take some time this week to feed on the goodness of God.

[1] Refer Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1st Peter, page 132.

[2] Ibid, page 136.

Tawa Baptist

Redeemed

Scripture: 1st Peter 1:13-21

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Holy Hope
  • Reverent Fear
  • Costly Redemption
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

If someone says, “You are a chip off the old block” or “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, what they mean is: you are very similar in character to your father or mother. You are like your parents, in other words.

Today we continue our series in the New Testament letter of 1st Peter, taking a closer look at chapter 1, verses 13-21. In this passage Peter focuses on his readers’ personal relationship with God the Father. Because God has given us new birth into a living hope (1:3) we are now his children. And as his children, we need to ensure we are a ‘chip off the old block’ (no disrespect intended). If God is the tree, then we are to be the apple that doesn’t fall far from the tree. In other words, our character should be like that of God our Father. Holy. From 1st Peter, chapter 1, verses 13-21 we read…

13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope on the grace to be brought to youwhen Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedientchildren, 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.”

17 Since you call on a Fatherwho judges each person’s workimpartially, live out your time as foreignershere in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemedfrom the empty way of lifehanded down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious bloodof Christ, a lambwithout 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.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

There are three main ideas I want to draw out of today’s reading: Holy hope, reverent fear and costly redemption. First let us consider the holy hope to which we are called.

Holy hope:

Last week we heard about hope. Hope is the capacity to imagine a good future. Hope is like a rope connecting the future to the present. When we are struggling to keep our head above water, hope connects us – it keeps us afloat and allows us to imagine things will turn out well in the end.

Christian hope is not a long shot. Christian hope is a sure thing because it is based on something that has already happened – the resurrection of Jesus.

Christian hope is also a holy kind of hope. It is the expectation that we will become like Christ – a genuine chip off the old block.

In verses 13-16, of chapter 1, Peter makes a connection between hope and holiness. To clarify what Peter is saying here I’ve come up with an acrostic which spells the word H.O.P.E.

H stands for the holiness of hope

O is for the obedience of hope

P stands for the preparedness of hope, and…

E is the expectation of hope

We’ll start with the expectation of hope and work backwards from there.

In verse 13 Peter instructs his readers to set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.

The expectation of Christian hope is that we will receive grace (and not punishment or wrath) when Jesus returns in glory. To expect grace is look forward in anticipation of receiving something good.

When I was in standard 1 (Year 3 by today’s terms) I was called out of class to meet the headmaster in the gym. As I entered the gym I saw other kids of all ages throughout the school gathered too. I had no idea why we were there. The headmaster stood up and explained that each of us were going to receive an award at the end of year prize giving.

I was not told what prize I was going to get, just that I had to sit up on the stage and come to the front when my name was called. From that moment on I waited in eager expectation that something good was coming my way. When my name was called I received a certificate for most improved student and a picture book, which I still have.

It’s a bit like that with being a Christian. We have been selected to receive a prize, not because of anything we’ve done necessarily, but because God is gracious. We don’t know what the prize will be but we do know it is something good to look forward to in eager expectation.      

The E of Christian hope stands for expectation and the P stands for preparedness.

Verse 13 of chapter 1 begins with Peter saying: Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you… 

The reason they called us to the gym before the prize-giving is so we would be prepared. They wanted us to be there on time, in the right place and dressed appropriately, in our full uniforms. They also wanted us to be on our best behaviour, to be self-controlled, since we were going to be on the stage for everyone to see.

When Peter says, prepare your minds for action, he means, ‘gird up the loins of your mind’. To gird up the loins is an Old Testament phrase. In the ancient near east men wore long robes (sort of like Jedi knights). If they needed to make haste or do some manual labour they would hitch their robe up into their belt so they could move more freely. These days we might say, ‘Roll up your sleeves’ or ‘Get stuck into it’.

Christian hope is not a lazy or dreamy thing. Christian hope means rolling up the sleeves of your mind, getting your brain into gear and being mentally prepared.      

Karen Jobes notes how “Girding up the loins” may be an allusion to Exodus 12:11, where the Lord instructs his people to prepare for the exodus by eating their final meal in Egypt with their sandals on and their loins girded”. [1] That is, prepared and ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Returning to 1st Peter 1:13, the word translated as self-controlled is literally ‘be sober’. People who have no hope might drown their sorrows (they might get drunk). But Christians have real hope and so we have no need to find comfort in a bottle.

Like a batsman in cricket, facing a fast bowler, we must be mentally prepared and self-controlled with each ball that comes our way. We don’t want to nick ourselves out or miss the opportunity to put away a bad delivery.

The O in Christian hope stands for obedience. In verse 14 Peter writes: As obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

God’s grace does not give us a license to do whatever we want. Christian freedom comes with the responsibility to obey God. Indeed, the fruit of Christian faith is obedience. The kingdom of heaven is a place where God’s will is done perfectly. This means heaven is a place where God is obeyed, willingly and with love.

If our hope includes heaven then we need to get some practice in and obey God now, in this life. Obedience can feel difficult in this world, because there are forces within us (and around us) that work against God’s will. But part of our hope, part of the grace we look forward to with eager expectation, is that obedience in the kingdom of heaven will come more naturally, more easily.   

The H of Christian hope stands for holiness. In verse 15 Peter says: But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;  

To be holy is to be set apart for a special or sacred purpose. As I’ve said on other occasions, your tooth brush is holy, set apart for your mouth. You don’t use your toothbrush to clean the toilet. A table is set apart for food. You don’t put your bottom on the dinner table.

Holiness is about moral purity and integrity. Holiness is about living in a distinctive way from the society and culture around you. To be holy is to be light in the darkness.  

We note too that we are to be holy in all we do. Our hope is to be fully set on the grace to be given us. Holiness is not a half-hearted thing. Holiness speaks of wholeness or fullness. Oneness. Last week I used the analogy of hope as a rope or a life-line. If you are drowning and someone throws you a life-line, you hold onto that rope of hope fully, with both hands and with all your strength, because it is your salvation.

In verse 16 Peter quotes from the Old Testament book of Leviticus where God says to Israel: “Be holy, because I am holy.” God’s people are to reflect God’s holy character, even though this makes them strangers in this world.

Christian hope is characterised by holy living, obedience to God the Father, preparedness for action and expectation of grace when Jesus returns.

Reverent fear:

The second idea I want to draw your attention to this morning is that of reverent fear. In verse 17 Peter writes: Since you call on a Fatherwho judges each person’s workimpartially, live out your time as foreignershere in reverent fear.

In verse 13 Peter had just talked about setting our hope on the grace to be given us when Jesus is revealed. Now, in verse 17, he talks about God’s judgement. These two ideas, judgement and grace, may appear to be at odds with each other. But they actually work together like two cogs in a clock which, although moving in opposite directions, actually function in harmony to keep the clock in time.

Or to use another analogy, our faith in God is like a guitar string, held in tension. One end of the string is anchored to the bridge, on the body of the guitar, and the other end is tied to the tuning keys on the head of the guitar. If the string is too loose it makes a dead, limp sort of sound. And if it is too tight it sounds out of tune and is at risk of breaking.

As Christian believers we need to hold the judgement of God at just the right tension with the grace of God. If the string of our faith is too tight – if we only ever think of God as a stern dispassionate judge – then our faith will sound highly strung and is at risk of snapping. But if we go to the other extreme of thinking that God is an over indulgent Father, who will forgive us without requiring confession or repentance, then our faith will make a dead, limp sound.

Yes, God is a loving Father who longs to show grace to his human children. But at the same time he is also an impartial judge who must be true to his own character and carry out justice. God’s grace and judgement are not separate. They are one – part of the same instrument. But they need to be held in the right tension, by faith, if we are to be in tune with God.           

So what is reverent fear? Well, reverent fear is the note that sounds when grace and judgement are held in tune.

Reverent fear is not so much the fear of being punished if you do something wrong. That would be a denial of our hope of grace. Perfect love drives out the fear of punishment. Reverent fear is the fear of not giving glory to God by the way we live our lives.

Reverent fear is like when someone represents their country in sport. The sports-person feels a great honour in representing their country and does not want to let their team down. The fear is not of being punished but rather of disgracing yourself by dropping the ball.

As Christians we have been given a great honour in representing God. Our greatest fear is not punishment. No, our greatest fear is failing to give our best for God. We don’t want to look back at our life, from the vantage point of eternity, and feel ashamed or have regrets. That’s the fear.       

Reverent fear is often the attitude of fathers as they drive their wife and new born baby home from the hospital. A man never drives as carefully as when he has his children in his car. It’s not that he is afraid of getting a speeding ticket. He drives with reverent fear because he wants to protect the precious life on board. Reverent fear is not about punishment. It’s about care and respect.  

When Robyn and I were married, a friend of ours (Geoff) made a metal stand for our wedding cake. Geoff had a degree in physics and he was a welder. The two tiers of the cake stand were welded together by a rod of steel, in the shape of a spiral.

Geoff made that cake stand in reverent fear. By which I mean he took great care in his work to ensure the welding was sound and the cake stand stable. Geoff was not fearful of being punished if the welding did not stick. Rather he was more concerned that our wedding cake not be ruined by faulty workmanship. Geoff did a good job. His workmanship was vindicated. The stand stood.

The main purpose of God’s judgement (at the end of time) is to vindicate God. Judgement day is a day when God’s workmanship (His justice and goodness) are revealed and people see that God’s work was sound and true all along.

Holy hope, reverent fear and costly redemption.

Costly redemption:

In 1998 the film Saving Private Ryan was released in New Zealand. The premise of the movie is that Private James Ryan is one of four sons serving in active combat during the Second World War. Each of his three brothers have been killed in combat and so James is the sole survivor. To prevent the family from losing all their boys, Captain John Millar and his platoon are assigned the task of searching for and redeeming the life of Private Ryan, who is somewhere in France behind enemy lines.

Although the movie is fictional it draws on the story of a real life soldier called Fritz Niland. I’m not sure of the details of Fritz’ story but Private Ryan’s redemption was a costly one indeed. While James Ryan was rescued and went on to live a long and full life, only one member of John Miller’s platoon survived. Private Ryan was redeemed by the blood of his fellow soldiers.   

From verse 18 of chapter 1 Peter writes: For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemedfrom the empty way of lifehanded down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious bloodof Christ, a lambwithout blemish or defect.  

Peter is talking here about costly redemption. So what is redemption?

Redemption is being released from one state of being into another better state of being.  Private Ryan was rescued from behind enemy lines and released from active duty. He was taken out of a combat zone and allowed to return home.

In the ancient world of the first century, slaves could be redeemed when someone paid money to buy their freedom. Once they had been redeemed the person was a slave no longer. Their status changed from slave to freeman.

God redeemed the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. That is, God set his people free. He did not do this by paying a fee to Pharaoh. He did it by his mighty power. The people of Israel went from living in a foreign land under a state of oppression to (eventually) entering the Promised Land where they were free to serve the Lord God and not Pharaoh.

In some ways the kind of world we live in today (a world organised against God) is a state of oppression. God is redeeming us (or releasing us) from the kingdom of this world and into the kingdom of heaven where we are truly free to do his will.

Another Old Testament reference to redemption relates to the exile. In Isaiah 52:2-3 the prophet says: Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion. For this is what the Lord says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”

Isaiah is talking here about the redemption (or setting free) of the Jews scattered in exile throughout Babylon and Assyria. It is a message of holy hope. God is going to open the door for the exiles to return home to Jerusalem.

Picking up this metaphor of the people of God as exiles and strangers, Peter addresses the Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor as strangers or sojourners. God is redeeming those who believe in Jesus, from their long exile in this world, and bringing them home to the heavenly Jerusalem.      

This redemption is achieved not with money but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. There is nothing more precious in all of creation than a human life. And there is no human being more perfect than Jesus. The Lord’s costly redemption reveals the depth of God’s love. 

Peter is stressing the costliness of our redemption here. Jesus is the unblemished sacrificial lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus’ blood shed on the cross seals the deal, releasing us from the oppressive power of sin and death into a state of righteousness and eternal life.

In verse 20 Peter explains how Jesus, the Christ, was chosen before the creation of the world but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

This speaks of God’s foreknowledge. It tells us that God had a plan to redeem his creation even before he made the world.

It is through Jesus that we are able to believe in God. It’s not just that Jesus makes us aware that God’s exists. Nature does that. It’s more that Jesus shows us what it means to be truly human, made in the image of God.

When you are renovating your house it is helpful to have a picture in mind (a vision) of what you want your house to look like when it is finished. Same thing when cooking a meal. If you are following a recipe it helps to have a picture of what the meal is supposed to look like when it is ready. Jesus is the picture of what humanity is supposed to look like after our redemption is complete.

It is because God redeemed us with the blood of his own son that we can believe that he loves us. Furthermore, it is because God has raised Jesus from the dead that we can believe God will raise us also and make us truly human like Jesus. So your faith and hope are in God.

Jesus is the bridge. He is the pathway on which we walk by faith out of slavery to the Promised Land. Out of our exile, in the Babylon of this world, and into the heavenly Jerusalem.  

The thing we need to understand about being redeemed is that we are not set free to do whatever we want. We now belong to the one who redeemed us. We belong to God the Father in other words.  

So if we are not free to do what we want, what are we free to do?

We are free to call God our Father.

We are free from the emptiness and spiritual ignorance of our past.

And we are free to emulate (or to copy) God’s holiness.  

Conclusion:

Not only does God’s costly redemption make holiness possible, it also makes God’s love visible.

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What is the expectation of Christian hope?
  • How might we prepare our minds for action?
  • What does holiness look like for you personally? How do we live a holy life?
  • Why do we need to hold God’s judgment in tension with his grace? How well tuned is the string of your faith? Is it too highly strung (overly weighted towards God’s judgement)? Or is it too limp (biased towards God’s grace)?
  • What does it mean to live in reverent fear?  How is this different from living in fear of punishment?
  • What does Peter mean by redemption?
  • How do you feel when you consider the costliness of your redemption?  

[1] Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1st Peter, page 111.

Tawa Baptist

Secure

Scripture: 1st Peter 1:3-12

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Salvation secured
  • Faith tested
  • Prophecy revealed
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

When you find yourself on holiday, browsing through a book store for that perfect summer read, you might look at the dust cover of a book to get an idea of what the story is about. The brief blurb does not tell you the whole story and it certainly won’t give away the ending, but it’s designed to whet your appetite and get you interested in reading further.

It’s similar with movies. Before the feature movie starts they usually play trailers advertising other movies. Just a small taster to sow a seed and invite your imagination in.

When you go to a friend’s home for dinner they normally greet you at the door with a warm welcome, a hug or a handshake and they offer you something to drink and some snacks before the full meal is served. The host wants to put you at ease and make you feel good about being there. That way you will let your defences down and simply enjoy the evening. 

Today we continue our new series (started last week) in the letter of 1st Peter. Today’s reading, from chapter 1, verses 3-12, is one long sentence in the original Greek. This passage is like the dust cover of the book, or the trailer of a movie, in that it gives you an idea of what’s in store in the rest of the letter. It whets your appetite and invites your imagination in.

Today’s reading is also like the warm welcome you receive when you go to a friend’s house for dinner, in that it puts you at ease. It’s like Peter is saying to his readers, ‘I know you. I understand your situation. I get where you’ve come from. We are friends.’ In this way Peter helps his readers to feel comfortable, so they will lower their defences and allow his words in. From 1st Peter chapter 1, verses 3-12, we read… 

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!In his great mercyhe has given us new birthinto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritancethat 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.

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— may result in praise, glory and honorwhen 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.

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you,searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christin them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 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.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

There’s a lot going on in these verses. It is the theological equivalent of a Christmas cake – rich and thick. To help provide some clarity, I see this one long sentence in three parts:

Verses 3-5 are talking about salvation secured,

Verses 6-9 are about faith tested

And verses 10-12 touch on prophecy revealed.

First let’s consider the security of our salvation.  

Salvation secured:

Imagine you are driving your car along a country road in the rain. It’s been pouring for days and the paddocks either side of the road are flooded. You come round a bend and see the road in front of you is underwater. You stop for a moment to consider what to do.

You have been driving for hours and are in the middle of nowhere. If you go back the way you came you might run out of petrol, or find that the road you’ve just travelled has become impassable. But if you go forward you risk stalling the car and getting stuck underwater.

You decide to risk it and very carefully drive forward, hoping the water doesn’t get too deep. Your car handles the first 50 metres well enough but then there is a dip in the road, the car bonnet is submerged and the air intake starts sucking water. The engine cuts out and won’t start again. You are stranded.

Water is filling your car quickly now and as the tide rises, so does the feeling of panic. You climb out the window and on to the roof. There is no cell-phone reception. You are wet, cold and alone. It’s just a matter of time before the whole car goes under, so you try to swim to higher ground, but the current is too strong and sweeps you away. It’s all you can do to keep your head above water.

The torrent carries you downstream for some miles – you can’t be sure how far. By this stage you are exhausted and thinking, ‘so this is how it ends’. Then, in the distance, you see a bridge with people standing on it. Hope flickers in you like a distant star. You wave out to them. Maybe they can help.

The people on the bridge see you. One of them runs away only to return moments later with something. What is it? As the current carries you closer you recognise it is a rope. They are lowering a rope to you and yelling for you to grab hold of it as you float past.

You manage to get a hand on the rope and find they have conveniently made a loop in the end, so the rope will hold you like a harness. You feel the rope snapping tight and realise the people up on the bridge are pulling on it. All you have to do now is hold on. You hope the rope will hold your weight. You hope your rescuers are strong enough.

After the two longest minutes in your life your rescuers have you out of the water and on the bridge with them. You look round and see the rope was tied to a four-wheel drive all along. A four-wheel drive with a snorkel. That’s how they roll in the country. You are still cold and tired but you are not alone. You were as good as dead but now you live again. It’s going to be alright.

Hope is the belief that something good is waiting for us in the future. Or said another way, hope is the ability to imagine a good future. The rope lowered from the bridge symbolises hope. Hope is like a rope connecting the future to the present. Hope gives us something to hold onto in the present moment. When we are struggling to keep our head above water, hope connects us – it keeps us afloat and allows us to imagine a future with a good outcome.

In verse 3 of chapter 1, Peter praises God for his great mercy in giving us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. God (Father, Son & Spirit) is like the people on the bridge who threw you the rope. You were as good as dead and powerless to save yourself but God, in his mercy, threw you a life line. God saved you. He gave you new birth.

Jesus talked about this new birth in John 3, when Nicodemus came to see him at night. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again… Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 

Peter says we are born again into a living hope. If the people on the bridge had thrown a rope that was too short to reach, or too rotten to carry your weight, then that would be a dead hope. But the rope they threw you was long enough and strong enough and so it is a living hope. Meaning it is a hope that is sure and certain and secure. It is not a long shot, like winning Lotto. The rope of hope that God offers is a hope that will not disappoint.    

The thing that makes Christian hope living and sure is the resurrection of Jesus. Whenever Peter preaches in the book of Acts he talks about the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ resurrection was front and centre of the Christian message in the first century. Jesus’ resurrection is the anchor of Christian hope. Our hope of salvation is tied to the resurrection of Christ like the rope (in my story) was tied to the four-wheel drive. It is because Jesus has been raised from the dead to eternal life that our hope of eternal life is not just wishful thinking.

In verse 4 Peter goes on to say that our new birth is also into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – an inheritance kept in heaven for you.  

Just as people receive their ethnic identity, their citizenship, their socio-economic class (and so on) from their biological parents, Christians receive a new identity and a new citizenship from God (their heavenly Father) when they are born again. The new birth that God gives redefines the believers’ relationship with society and transforms their identity and character. [1]      

There’s a line in that great hymn Be Thou my Vision which reads: “Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise. Be thou my inheritance now and always.”

The most common form of inheritance in the Middle East, of the first century, was land. In the context of this world, land represents security.

Some of Peter’s listeners had likely been disinherited for choosing to follow Jesus. Others may have been driven from their homeland by persecution, due to their Christian faith. So they had essentially lost their inheritance in this world. They had lost their physical and material security.

What an affirmation and an encouragement it would have been to have Peter, a hero and an icon in the early church, saying they have a heavenly inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. An inheritance which is immortal, pure and beautiful – and therefore more secure, more valuable, than land.

Again we hear the echo of Jesus’ words, where the Lord says (in Matthew 6:19-21) 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,where moths and vermin destroy,and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus is talking about eternal security here. The most valuable part of our inheritance is Jesus himself. We want to be building a quality relationship with Jesus now (in this world) that will serve us well for all eternity. 

In verse 5 of chapter 1, Peter talks about the Christian believer being shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

The salvation Peter has in mind here is a deliverance from this world (which is hostile to God) and into God’s kingdom – a place where God’s will is done perfectly. For Peter, salvation is the coming inheritance, to which Christian believers are now fully entitled but do not yet fully possess. [2]   

Okay, so our salvation, our hope of eternal life, our inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, is secure. The next thing I want to highlight is the way Christian faith is tested, as Peter describes in verses 6-9.

Faith tested:

Roald Dahl wrote a book called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It’s about a boy called Charlie who wins a golden ticket for a tour through Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Charlie and his family are very poor and so the abundance of Mr Wonka’s chocolate factory fills young Charlie with awe and wonder.

Other children win tickets too and are allowed to take one adult with them on the tour. Little do they realise but Mr Wonka is trying to find someone to inherit his chocolate kingdom. He wants to give it all away to someone he can trust; someone who will trust him.

As the children make their way through the factory, one by one, they get themselves into trouble so they cannot finish the tour. It’s not that Mr Wonka is trying to catch them out. It’s just that in a chocolate factory trials and temptations are inevitable.

In the end, only Charlie and his Grandpa Joe are left. But they are disqualified for stealing fizzy lifting drink. Charlie proves himself faithful by handing the everlasting gob stopper back to Mr Wonka. ‘So shines a good deed in a weary world.’  

The analogy is not perfect, and should not be pressed too far, but in some ways God is a bit like Mr Wonka, wanting to share his kingdom with humanity. Likewise, Peter’s listeners are like Charlie, poor in material wealth but rich in genuine faith.

From verse 6 Peter writes: 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 honorwhen Jesus Christ is revealed.  

Gold, in the ancient world, was the most valuable material there was and one of the most durable too. Peter is comparing Christian faith to gold. He is saying genuine faith in Jesus is more valuable and more resilient than gold.

The grief and trials his readers have had to suffer are not cause for shame or disgrace. They should not think of their hardship as a punishment from God. Suffering does not mean God is unhappy with you. Nor is God going out of his way to make life difficult for people.

As one commentator put it, this life is not an obstacle course that we must get through in order to make it into heaven. Rather, suffering in a world that is opposed to the ways of God is inevitable and serves to prove the true value of your faith.

Now, we may not suffer in the same way that Christians did in the first century. While NZ society has (generally speaking) become less friendly to the church, we are not yet openly persecuted for our faith in Jesus. But we do still suffer. This life is difficult and being a Christian does not make one immune from trials and grief.  

Part of Peter’s message to us is that suffering provides an opportunity to test and prove genuine faith. Why are you a Christian? Is it just for the perks of forgiveness and grace? Is it just so you can get into heaven when you die? Or is it because you love and trust Jesus as your Lord and friend.    

Peter shows us that suffering can be a positive thing. Suffering for Christ leads to glory with Christ. For this reason, Christians can find nuggets of joy in the gravel of suffering.

Now the thing about faith and hope is that one trusts in what one cannot see. When Charlie handed the everlasting gob stopper back to Mr Wonka he could not see how that was going to play out. Charlie was simply doing what he believed to be right, in faith, that things would work out in the end. Likewise, when a person who is drowning is thrown a rope, they take hold of it in faith that it will hold their weight and save them. 

In verse 8 Peter admires his readers saying they love Jesus and believe in him even though they have never seen him. In some ways, their faith (and ours) is greater than Peter’s own faith, for Peter had seen Jesus, whereas his readers have not. As the risen Jesus said to Thomas, in John 20:29, Blessed are those who do not see [me] and believe. Peter’s readers are truly walking by faith and not by sight.

The inheritance of our salvation is secure and the presence of suffering is cause for joy because it tests and proves genuine faith. Which brings us to the third point of today’s message: Peter’s readers live at a time in history when the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus (the Messiah) have been revealed.  

Prophecy revealed:

Throughout this year, the government in New Zealand have based their COVID management decisions on scientific evidence. No one can predict the exact timing or circumstances in which a virus cluster might arise but, through contact tracing and community testing, we can gain some understanding of the patterns of the virus and when it is prudent to move up or down levels.

Modern science is also working hard to find a vaccine against the virus, so we do not have to keep running and hiding every time a cluster flares up. 

In many ways we are privileged to live at a time in history when science is able to reveal so much about the virus. When the bubonic plague broke out nearly 700 years ago, people simply did not have the technology to accurately identify it, let alone create a vaccine for it.   

In verses 8-9 Peter applauds his readers for believing in Jesus, even though they have not seen him. Although there is an element of not being able to see with faith, this does not imply there is no evidence for Christian faith. Faith in Jesus is based (in part) on the evidence of the Old Testament prophets.       

Peter observes how the prophets (people like Isaiah and Jeremiah and others) were able to predict the pattern that the Messiah would suffer and then be glorified. But they did not know the time and circumstances in which the things they predicted would take place.

Like the scientists of today, who are searching for a vaccine for COVID, the prophets of long ago searched intently and with greatest care to determine when and where the Messiah would turn up, but this was not revealed to them. It has however been revealed to us.

By recognising the Old Testament prophets in this way, Peter accomplishes a number of things at the same time. Firstly, Peter shows there is a continuity between the Old & New Testaments. The same Holy Spirit who empowered Christ and was poured out at Pentecost, is the same Spirit who pointed the prophets of old to the pattern of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection.

This pattern was not an accident of history but was in fact designed and planned for, by God, all along. Despite the way things may appear, God is still in control and his purpose will be achieved in the end.  

Secondly, Peter is providing objective evidence for those believers who may have been struggling with doubts and thinking about chucking their faith away. The fact the Old Testament prophets predicted the pattern of Jesus’ suffering, death and glorification, confirms that Jesus is the Messiah and so their faith in Jesus is well placed. Not only that, but their current suffering confirms they stand in solidarity with Jesus – so they can take comfort in knowing they are on the right track.

Thirdly, for those who may be tempted to self-pity (due to their trials and grief), Peter points out how privileged they are; for they live at a time in history when the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus have been revealed. Something even angels long to look into.   

Conclusion:

The things Peter touches on here, at the beginning of his letter, whet our appetite and invite our imagination in. Verses 3-12, of chapter 1, show that Peter understands his readers. He knows where they have come from and where they are headed. 

The hope of our salvation is secure through Jesus’ resurrection.

The true value of our faith is tested and proved through suffering.

And we are privileged to live at a time in history when the ancient prophecy concerning Jesus, the Messiah, has been revealed.

Peter will develop these three ideas in the rest of his letter. 

What is the take away for you today?

Are you weary with grief and trials? Are you struggling to keep your head above water? Hold on to the rope of hope. Jesus is standing on the bridge holding the other end. He’s got you.

Suffering is not a sign that God has abandoned you. Suffering provides an opportunity for the refining of our faith. It is an opportunity to show God that you love him for who he is and not just what he gives.

We don’t know how lucky we are to live at this time in history.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

 Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

Peter says God has given us ‘new birth’. What are we born again into? What are the implications of this new birth for us?

What is hope? In what sense is hope like a rope? Where is your hope placed? (What rope are you holding onto?) Why is Jesus’ resurrection important to Christian hope?

Peter talks about an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. What does he mean by ‘inheritance’?

What purpose/meaning does Peter give to suffering? How might this inform (or transform) the way we interpret our own suffering? Why are you a Christian?

What three things may we glean from Peter’s reference to the prophets in verses 10-12? 

Take some time this week to reflect on (and give thanks for) the privileges we enjoy at this time in history.  

[1] Refer Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1st Peter, page 81.

[2] Refer Karen Jobes, page 88.

Tawa Baptist

Known

Scripture: 1st Peter 1:1-2

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Sender
  • Receivers
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

If you want your cooking to taste really good, you might add some stock.

Stock can be made in a variety of ways. For example, you might put a chicken carcass (bones and all) in a pot of water with some vegetables and salt and let it simmer for several hours.

During that process lots of flavour and goodness (like iron and marrow from the bones) is infused in the water. Once the simmering is finished you strain the bones and vegetables out and are left with the stock. Of course, that takes a long time, so we tend to use an Oxo cube instead.

Today we begin a new sermon series in the New Testament letter of 1st Peter.

Our focus this morning is on the first two verses. It might not seem like a lot but these two verses (and indeed the rest of the letter) are like homemade stock – not sweet, but rich in goodness, giving a depth of flavour and meaning.

From 1st Peter chapter 1, verses 1-2, we read…

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

There are two parts to today’s message. First we’ll look at the sender of the letter, Peter. And then we’ll consider the recipients – who were they, where were they, and why were they.

Sender

You may have heard me say on other occasions, that power is the ability to do something, while authority is the right to do it. For example, you may have the ability to drive a car but without a driver’s license you don’t have the right (or authority) to drive. Of course, having a license doesn’t give you authority to break the speed limit. Even those with authority must still submit to a higher authority, otherwise they lose their license.

Authority is not something that can be assumed or taken lightly. Authority is a weighty thing – it has to be earned. You do not have the authority to call yourself a doctor unless you have spent 7 or 8 years at university studying and passing exams to earn your degrees. Likewise, you don’t have the authority to teach others unless you have done the hard yards gaining some mastery of the subject yourself. Authority usually comes from personal experience. You can’t really tell others to recycle if you are not recycling.

The story is told of a mother who brought her son to Ghandi. She asked Ghandi if he could get her son to stop eating sugar. Ghandi told her to come back in a week’s time. So the woman went away and came back again with her son a week later. Then Ghandi simply said to the boy, ‘Stop eating sugar’. The mother was puzzled by this and asked why Ghandi had sent her away a week earlier? Why didn’t he just tell her son to stop eating sugar the first time she came? It would have saved her the trouble of going back and forth. Ghandi replied, ‘Before I can tell anyone to stop eating sugar I must first stop eating sugar myself.’ That’s authority you see.

The opening verse of 1st Peter tells us this letter was written by Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament sense of the word, an ‘apostle’ is a messenger sent with authority. By calling himself an ‘apostle of Jesus Christ’, Peter was claiming a special sort of authority. Peter’s authority came from Jesus himself and it came from Peter’s experience of Jesus.

This is the same Simon Peter who left his fishing business to follow Jesus around Galilee and Judea, listening to his teaching and seeing his miracles first hand. The same Peter who witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration, suffering and death. The same Peter who denied Jesus before the cock crowed. The same Peter who met the risen Jesus and was restored a few days later.  The same Peter who spoke to the crowds in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given. The same Peter who had once refused to set foot in the house of a Gentile but then later, under the guidance of the Spirit of Jesus, ate a meal and stayed the night with the Roman Centurion, Cornelius. 

Peter’s words in this letter, are not something to be taken lightly. Peter’s words carry weight – they have authority because Peter had walked with Jesus in person. Peter could talk about forgiveness because he had failed Jesus and been forgiven himself. Peter could preach with authority about the resurrection of Christ because he had seen Jesus die and raised to life three days later. Likewise, he had authority to speak to both Jews and Gentiles because he had obeyed Jesus by accepting Cornelius’ hospitality. Peter’s personal experience of Jesus, together with Jesus’ mandate to Peter (to feed my sheep), made Peter well qualified to encourage and teach the Christian church.

The name ‘Peter’ means rock or stone. Jesus gave Peter this name in Matthew 16. When Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied,

Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Talk about authority.       

Eugene Peterson makes the observation that Peter’s influence in the early church was enormous. He was easily the most powerful figure in the Christian community. The truly impressive thing about Peter, the thing that confirms his authority, is the way he handled himself in that position of power. He stayed out of the centre and maintained his submission to Jesus. Given his position Peter could have taken over, using his association with Jesus to promote himself. But he did not do that. [1] Peter kept Jesus at the centre. He pointed people to Christ and so we can trust him.  

Okay, so Peter is the sender of the letter. And he’s not just any old sender. He writes with Christ given authority and humility.

Recipients

What about the recipients? Who were they? Well, the rest of verse 1 tells us they are God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.

This tells us that Peter’s letter is a circular letter. It’s not a letter written to a specific church in order to address some problem in that church. It is a letter to be circulated among the various house churches in that particular geographic region (what we know today as modern Turkey). So Peter wrote the letter, probably from Rome, and then had another Christian believer travel around Turkey taking the letter to the various congregations in Asia Minor.

Most likely Peter’s letter was read out loud in their gathered worship (sort of like a sermon) and those house churches (who could afford it) probably made careful copies so they could refer to it again. 

Do you know what a horologist is? I’ll give you a moment to think, without using Google. [Wait]

That’s right a horologist is someone who makes and fixes clocks and watches.

A few weeks ago I mentioned the TV programme, The Repair Shop. It turns out I’m not alone in liking that show. Unfortunately, the very week after I mentioned it the series came to an end. Hopefully they make another one.

For those who have not seen The Repair Shop, the idea is, people bring in their beloved family belongings to a workshop of craftspeople who go about restoring the item to make it functional again.

The Repair Shop has a resident horologist as part of the team. His name is Steve. Several times someone has brought in an old clock to be repaired and Steve has taken it apart completely, put the various brass components in a special cleaning solution, fixed any broken pieces and then reassembled the clock, making it functional again. Incredible skill. I don’t know how he remembers where everything goes, especially when the clock comes to him already in pieces.

Peter describes the Christians he is writing to as God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered…

In some ways the recipients of Peter’s letter are a bit like the pieces of a disassembled clock – scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.    

If this world is like God’s repair shop, then Christian believers are strangers in this world. The repair shop is not our permanent home. It’s a temporary place, where we are sanctified, before we are returned to our proper home, which is the kingdom of heaven.

To be sanctified is to be made holy – as in whole and functional. If we think of the church as a clock, then the Holy Spirit is like a horologist. The Holy Spirit sanctifies the clock of the church. He strips us down, removing all the corrosion by baptising or immersing our metal in the special cleaning fluid of God’s word. He fixes any broken parts and reassembles the clock.

Now we should not press the clock analogy too far. I’m not suggesting God is like a divine clock maker who winds up the world and walks away to let it tick by on its own. Nor am I suggesting that you are just a cog in God’s machine. You are far more valuable to God than brass. And unlike metal, we human beings feel things.

The point is, this world is not our home. This world is like a repair shop. It is a place of disorientation for us. The sanctifying work of the Spirit is not an easy process. It is strange and difficult and confusing for Christian believers to be taken apart in this world.

The recipients of Peter’s letter were suffering. Because of their faith in Jesus they were being given a hard time, socially ostracised. Slander and malicious talk undermined their relationships in the community. [2] Many scholars think that Peter wrote his letter sometime between 62 and 64 AD, during the reign of the Roman Emperor, Nero. Nero was the one who famously fiddled while Rome burned and then blamed Christians for the fire he started.

Peter is writing to encourage his fellow believers. It’s like he’s saying, “You are in the repair shop. You are being treated unfairly by the society you live in. You are misunderstood and maligned. It might feel like you are being taken apart right now but you need to remember who you are, where you are and why you are. Your time in the repair shop of this world is temporary. You will be restored whole and new again to your proper home, in the Kingdom of heaven.”

The word translated as ‘strangers’, in verse 1, can also be translated as sojourners or resident aliens or refugees. Abraham was a sojourner. I know that some of you, who are listening to this, have immigrated from different parts of the world, so you know what it is to be a sojourner. But all believers, whether they are born in the country they live in or shifted there, are sojourners in this world.

The word translated as ‘scattered’ is diaspora (as in dispersion). It is the term commonly used to describe Jews who were scattered through the world after the exile of 587 BC.

The intriguing thing here is that Peter uses typically Jewish terms to describe the recipients of his letter, even though they are not all Jewish. Some of them were Jews but a good proportion were Gentile. Peter (who was Jewish) is saying that Gentiles are now included in the people of God (they now belong) through faith in Jesus the Messiah.

Peter has come a long way in his thinking. He has gone from being a Jew who refused to associate with Gentiles to one who accepted people of all nations. Peter learned that Jesus is the key to belonging to the people of God.

The thing about being a stranger or a sojourner is that people don’t know you or understand your ways. It is difficult, lonely and isolating to be not known and misunderstood by your neighbours. And so, in verse 2, Peter says you have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.  

The idea here is that even though their neighbours may not know them or understand their ways; even though their neighbours may in fact be spreading malicious rumours about them, God the Father knows them. He knows the difficult situation the followers of Jesus are in and he cares for them.

Returning to our analogy of the clock in the repair shop – God knows where every piece of the clock is scattered. He knows how long it needs to stay in the cleaning solution and where it fits when the clock is put back together.

But it’s not just that God knows certain facts about believers. God knows us with a personal, loving, fatherly knowledge.

In Psalm 139 David praises God for his personal foreknowledge saying:

You have searched me,Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughtsfrom afar. 3 You discern my going outand my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

As any parent understands, knowing your children goes hand in hand with caring for them. In fact, you can’t really provide care for someone without knowing them. If you are preparing meals for people and you don’t know they have an allergy to peanuts, for example, care becomes harm. 

There is one person in our house (who shall remain nameless) who cannot stand bananas. Possibly she had a bad experience with a banana sandwich when she was young and now she almost gags at the smell of a banana. If I did not know her I might bake a banana cake for her, thinking I was doing something kind. But my kindness would not be received. It would probably end up on the floor. Knowing her I would be better to offer a bag of chips.

Some of you may have picked up the reference to the Trinity in verse 2, where Peter talks about the foreknowledge of God the Father, the sanctifying work of the Spirit and the blood of Christ.

Peter says his readers are ‘sprinkled with the blood of Christ’. This is another Old Testament, Jewish stock like, reference. It is rich with meaning. When God made a covenant with the people of Israel in the wilderness, Moses sprinkled the people with blood. Therefore, Jesus’ blood (shed on the cross) makes us one with the people of God.

Likewise, Jewish priests were sprinkled with blood as a way of consecrating them in service to God and his people. Therefore, Jesus’ blood sets Christian believers apart as a royal priesthood. We have a special role in interceding for the world.    

In a similar vein, when a leper was declared cleansed of their leprosy the priest sprinkled the person with blood. So too Jesus’ blood cleanses us from sin so that we are able to participate in worship.        

In verse 2 Peter spells out quite clearly why God has chosen the recipients of his letter: for obedience to Christ.  Our purpose is to obey Jesus – to follow his teaching and his call on our lives.  

Conclusion:

Some people might think that because Peter was a fisherman he wasn’t that intellectual or cerebral. But that is a prejudice against fishermen and others who earn a living with their hands. Peter shows a real depth of wisdom in these two verses.

He knows he is writing to people who are scattered and doing life hard, through no fault of their own. What they need is to be reminded of who they are, where they are and why they are.

Who are they? That’s a question about identity. They are the God’s special people, known personally by him.

Where are they? That’s a question about belonging. They are not at home. They are in the repair shop of this world, temporarily. The kingdom of heaven is where they really belong.

Why are they? That’s a question about purpose. Their reason for being is to obey Jesus.

Last Wednesday Auckland went back to level 3, under COVID restrictions, and the rest of the country went to level 2. Consequently, we are not able to gather for Sunday worship. We are scattered in our house churches.

This raises a mixture of feelings for people. Some are thankful that the government have acted swiftly to prevent the spread of the virus. Others may feel frustrated or anxious or simply tired.

Whatever you are feeling, remember these three things:

Remember who you are. You are a child of God. We are the people of God.   

Remember where you are and where you belong. You are a sojourner in this world but your home is with God in the kingdom of heaven.

And remember why you are. Your purpose is to obey Jesus, to be sanctified and made whole by the Holy Spirit.   

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

What is authority and where does it come from? Where did Peter’s authority come from? How did Peter use his authority?

Who were the recipients of Peter’s letter? What was there situation?

What is meant by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit?

What does it mean to be a stranger (sojourner) in this world? Where does the Christian believer belong? Where is our home?

What is the meaning/significance of being sprinkled with the blood of Christ?

Why are we? What is our purpose as the people of God?

Take some time this week to reflect on who you are, where you are and why you are? What implications does this have for your life?

[1] Refer Eugene Peterson’s introduction to 1-2 Peter in the Message Bible, page 2209.

[2] Refer Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1 Peter, page 58.

Tawa Baptist

Playing God

Scripture: Genesis 9:1-17

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s blessing
  • Ethical considerations
  • God’s covenant
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

The New Zealander, Glenn Colquhoun, wrote a poem called ‘Playing God’. The first verse goes like this…

If you play God, play God at tennis.

A strict code of conduct is expected.

Clear lines must be drawn in the sand.

The ball will be either in or out.

At times there is talk of love.

To give some context, Glenn Colquhoun is a medical doctor. When practicing medicine, it is not always clear where the lines are drawn. Sometimes it is tempting to play God in the sense of making God’s decisions for him. But it’s best not to play God with medicine. Instead, play God at tennis. Have a conversation with him – back and forth over the net.

Today we conclude our series on Noah and the great flood. Over the past several weeks we have heard how humanity tried to play God; they crossed boundaries and lost. This morning we hear what happens after the flood.

From Genesis 9:1-17 we read…

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds of the air, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you.Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal.And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

6 “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made humankind.

7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with youand with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenantwith you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbowappears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenantbetween me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbowappears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenantbetween God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenantI have established between me and all life on the earth.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Today’s reading falls neatly into two parts. Verses 1-7 deal with God’s blessing and verses 8-17 look at God’s covenant. First let’s consider God’s blessing.

God’s blessing:

To bless someone is to give them something which is good for their well-being. A blessing leads to happiness.

The blessing may come in the form of words, like when someone says something encouraging to you which gives your spirit a lift. Or, a blessing could be demonstrated in deed. For example, if you need work and someone offers you paid employment, they are blessing you. The job will provide you with things that will promote your well-being and happiness.

By the same token, if you are overworked and in need of a holiday, then having someone cover for you at work blesses you. It supports your well-being and enhances your happiness.   

You might bless your wife by doing the washing or you might bless your children by spending time having fun with them. Some of you blessed your (over 70 year-old) parents by organizing groceries for them while we were in lockdown recently.

Genesis chapter 9 begins with God blessing Noah and his family. There are essentially three aspects to God’s blessing here: procreation, provision and protection.

The second verse of Glenn Colquhoun’s poem Playing God reads…

If you play God, play God at chess.

All decisions must be black or white.

There are ways for him to be kept in check.

Bishops are available for consultation.

There is the possibility of mating.

Glenn is using irony to humorous effect in this verse. Theological decisions are seldom black or white and ultimately God will not be kept in check, but the Bible does seem to mention mating a fair bit, especially in Genesis. 

In verses 1 & 7 of Genesis 9, God blesses Noah’s family with the words, Be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth. This is the procreation aspect of God’s blessing. It echoes the sixth day of creation in Genesis 1:28, where God says the same thing.

God’s word of blessing isn’t just a nice sentiment – it carries significant weight and translates to real positive outcomes in a person’s life. So when God says, be fruitful and multiply, that results in Noah having lots of descendants.  

Of course, the blessing isn’t automatic. It requires some participation by the one’s being blessed. Noah’s sons and daughters-in-law needed to do their part too. But the main point is, life is a gift from God. Life is sacred because life belongs to God. Life is God’s to give and take as he chooses. Life comes from God and life returns to God.

We see the provision aspect of God’s blessing in verse 3 where God says, ‘Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you green plants, I now give you everything. In Genesis 1:29, on the sixth day of creation, God gave human beings every seed bearing plant on the face of the earth and every tree that bears fruit for food. Now, after the flood, God says people can eat meat as well as fruit and veges.

However, God also places some limits on eating animals. Namely, the animal must be living. So we can’t eat road kill or something that is already dead. The other limit is we cannot eat meat with its life-blood still in it. This does not mean we can never have a rare steak. It means the blood should be drained from the animal before the meat is cooked.

You see, in the ancient world people believed the life force (or the soul) of a creature was in its blood. As John Walton explains, “Ritually speaking, the draining of blood before eating the meat was a way of returning the life force of the animal to God who gave it life”. [1] This recognizes the life of the animal is a gift from God. The blood of a creature is sacred because life is in the blood and life belongs to God. Life comes from God and life returns to God.

Having said that animal life is sacred, there is a divinely ordained hierarchy in creation. Although there is an inter-dependence in nature, that should not be taken for granted, human beings are more sacred than animals or plant life.

Verses 5-6 of Genesis 9 read: And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal.And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made humankind.

You may be thinking, how does this fit with God’s blessing? Well, this is the protection aspect of God’s blessing. You will remember that prior to the flood both animals and humans had corrupted their ways and become violent. In other words, animals were killing people and people were killing each other. People were playing God by crossing all sorts of boundaries and undoing God’s order. It was moral chaos. That’s why God sent the flood to start again.   

God is making it clear that he does not want a repeat of that. Killing people is not okay. It’s not allowed for a number of reasons. Chief among those reasons is that people are made in the image of God. Therefore, human life is especially sacred. ‘You can’t touch this.’ To kill a human being is to deface or assault the image of God. It is an insult to the Lord. Not only that but taking another human life, is to put oneself in the place of God. Life and death are God’s business not ours. We must not cross that line, without God’s permission. If you are going to play God, play him at tennis or chess.

Ethical considerations:

Verses 5 & 6 raise a web of ethical considerations. Most obviously there is the issue of capital punishment. Genesis 9 seems to be mandating the death penalty for murder. It is saying that human societies have an obligation to take a life for a life. So the general rule is that killing people is not allowed, except where someone kills another person.

The Law of Moses is similar. While it disallows murder, it does allow the death penalty for a number of crimes. However, there had to be two or three witnesses to the crime and if the killing was accidental the one guilty of manslaughter could flee to a city of refuge. So Israel’s law made room for situational ethics.

Looking at the New Testament, the apostle Paul went along with capital punishment in Romans 13:4, where he talks about the government being God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong doer. Paul’s comment here is a generalization. Sometimes the authorities get it wrong. The Jewish and Roman justice systems got it spectacularly wrong with Jesus’ execution. But God used it for good.  

Justice is not a one size fits all thing. There are times when the specific circumstances of the crime call for an exception to be made to the rule. For example, in John 8, Jesus saves a woman caught in adultery from being stoned to death, not because he was against capital punishment per se, but because the situation required it. The woman had been set up to trap Jesus and besides, the letter of the law required the man to be stoned as well, but he was missing. While the woman was guilty of adultery, it would have been a travesty of justice to allow her to be stoned. Jesus wisely applied situational ethics.

As Christians, the gospel holds up the ideal of grace and forgiveness and reconciliation. But Christian forgiveness is not automatic or unconditional. For forgiveness to stick and for reconciliation to be real, there needs to be honest confession and genuine repentance.

One of the risks of not having the death penalty is that dangerous criminals may reoffend taking even more life. This has happened before. But there are risks in keeping capital punishment as well. What if an innocent person is sent for a lethal injection? The justice system does not always get it right.     

Some countries these days still have the death penalty, although it is not always carried out or it may be delayed. New Zealand abolished the death penalty in 1961. Some say this was due, in part, to the 1957 case of Walter Bolton, the last person in New Zealand to be executed for murder. 

Walter was convicted of poisoning his wife Beatrice. Traces of arsenic had been found in small doses in Beatrice’s tea. The quantity consumed over the best part of a year was enough to kill her. Water on the Bolton’s farm was tested and found to contain arsenic, and traces of arsenic were also found in Walter himself and one of his daughters. The defence argued that sheep dip had inadvertently got into the farm’s water supply, so Beatrice’s poisoning was unintentional. No one in the family knew their water had arsenic in it. 

However, the prosecution’s case was strengthened by evidence that Bolton had admitted to having had an affair with his wife’s sister, Florence. The idea that Beatrice’s death was a result of accidental poisoning then lost credibility. After deliberating for two hours and ten minutes, the jury returned a guilty verdict.

When the judge asked Bolton why there was any reason he should not pronounce the death sentence, Walter Bolton replied, ‘I plead not guilty, sir.’

A newspaper story later claimed that Bolton’s execution had gone horribly wrong, so that he suffered in the process. Some still claim that Bolton was an innocent man. What if an innocent man had been killed on behalf of the people of New Zealand?  [2]

We have to be able to live with the choices we make. If a society is going to have capital punishment then, for justice to be done consistently, that society also needs to have no racism, no discrimination and no corruption in the justice system. What’s more they need to be absolutely sure before passing the guilty verdict, because there is no room for error with the death penalty. 

These days the sentence for murder in NZ is a minimum of 10 years in prison, followed by life on parole. 

Whatever your view on capital punishment it is clear, from Genesis 9, that God’s purpose is to bless his creation by reducing violence and upholding the value of human life. The two key Biblical principles here are divine sovereignty and human dignity.

By human dignity we mean human life is inherently valuable and sacred because we are made in the image of God.      

And by divine sovereignty we mean God is in charge of life and death. The taking of human life is a divine prerogative which is permitted to human beings only by specific mandate. [3] It is not our place to play God. It is not our place to take the power of God into our own hands. That’s like saying ‘I can do without God. I can decide myself.’ That sort of thinking is the very essence of sin.

Following this train of thought, another one of the ethical considerations relating to Genesis 9 is the issue of euthanasia. While voluntary euthanasia is not the same as murder (in that the person being killed wants to die), euthanasia is still intentional killing. Whether voluntary or involuntary, euthanasia is deliberately introducing death into a situation in which it did not previously exist or is not imminently present. [4]

Because God is sovereign over life and death, because it is not our place to take the power of God in our own hands, we do not have a mandate to decide when we die.

By the same token we do not have a mandate to play God by intervening to prolong the process of dying. There is a fundamental difference between causing somebody to die (which is euthanasia) and allowing them to die (which is not euthanasia). If someone is already in the process of dying, our responsibility is to be present for them and make them as comfortable as possible. In that situation, providing quality palliative care is the compassionate thing to do. Giving pain killers to a dying patient in order to relieve their suffering may (in some cases) bring death on more quickly, but it is not euthanasia because death is already imminently present.  

As a minister I have sat by the bedside of a number of people as they have died. I think there is some valuable learning in watching someone die, especially for the family and friends of the one who is dying.

Much of the learning is unique and specific to the individual but, in a general sense, we have the opportunity to learn acceptance. Acceptance of the loss we are experiencing. Acceptance of our own mortality. Acceptance of weakness and vulnerability. Acceptance that we cannot control everything and therefore we must learn to trust if we are going to live well.

There are other things we could say about euthanasia but we don’t have time to explore it all this morning. If you are interested in hearing more on this topic, then I encourage you to attend the seminar on ‘Euthanasia and Christian Faith’ to be held at Karori Baptist next Saturday 15 August from 4:30-6:30pm.

Returning to Genesis 9. After blessing Noah’s family in verses 1-7, God then goes on to make a covenant with all of creation in verses 8-17.

God’s covenant:

A covenant is a sacred commitment or agreement that should never be broken. It is stronger than a contract.

Three things we note about God’s covenant in Genesis 9:

It is inclusive in its scope, embracing every living creature, not just humans.

It is permanent, lasting for all time, as long as the earth exists.

And it is generous, God’s covenant is unconditional and undeserved.

Normally with a covenant there are obligations on both parties. The remarkable thing about God’s covenant in Genesis 9 is that it is entirely one sided. That is, God takes all the obligation on himself, without asking anything of his creation.    

In verse 11 God says: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.

By committing himself to not destroy the earth by flood again, no matter how badly his creation may behave, God is showing considerable faith in his creation to do the right thing. This covenant is pure grace on God’s part.

Now it is important to understand what God is not promising as well. For example, God is not promising there will never be any localized flooding. And he is not promising to prevent man-made disasters (like global warming) either. Nor is he saying there won’t be other consequences if his creation misbehaves. (The final judgement is still coming and we need to be ready to give an account for how we have lived our lives.) God is simply saying he won’t send another flood on that scale to destroy the earth again.

Verses 12-16 talk about the sign of God’s covenant. The sign of a covenant is like the seal of authenticity. The sign of God’s covenant with Abraham is circumcision. The sign of God’s covenant with Israel at Sinai is the Sabbath day. The sign of the new covenant, established by Jesus, is communion.

The sign of God’s covenant with all of creation is the rainbow in the clouds. The rainbow is a seal guaranteeing the integrity of God’s covenant not to destroy the earth by flood again. The rainbow provides reassurance to all creation that life will go on. Therefore, we have hope. We do not need to be afraid.  

The Hebrew word we translate as ‘rainbow’ is simply bow, ‘as in bow and arrow’, a weapon of war. [5] The image of a bow in the sky (relaxed and pointing away from the earth) suggests that God has hung up his bow. He has put his weapon away and won’t fire the arrows of a flood like this again.  

Conclusion:     

Derek Kidner makes the observation that the rainbow is out of human reach. [6] No matter how much you try you can never get close enough to touch a rainbow. It keeps moving away as you walk toward it.

This is quite different from the sign of the new covenant established by Jesus. Communion (the bread and the cup) are things we can touch and taste and take into ourselves.

In Genesis 9, the sign of God’s covenant is distant, remote, out of reach. Now, through Jesus, God draws near in a very real and intimate way. The message is clear. We cannot approach God in our own strength or goodness. Thankfully God, in his grace, comes to us in Christ to bless and sustain and renew.        

Let us pray…

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What does it mean to bless someone? How have you been blessed lately? Who can you be a blessing to?
  • Why is life (particularly human life) sacred? Why does God demand an accounting for the killing of human beings?  What is wrong with killing people?
  • How do the Biblical principles of divine sovereignty and human dignity guide our thinking on ethical issues like capital punishment and euthanasia?  How might we use the whole of Scripture to help us navigate these ethical issues? 
  • Have you sat by the bedside of a friend or family member as they were dying? What happened for you in that process? What opportunity did this allow you?
  • What are the three distinctive characteristics of God’s covenant in Genesis 9?
  • Discuss / reflect on the significance of the rainbow as the sign of God’s covenant with creation. How is the sign of the new covenant (i.e. communion) different from the rainbow?

[1] John Walton, NIVAC Genesis, page 343.

[2] https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/the-death-penalty/the-last-execution

[3] Refer John Stott’s book, ‘New Issues facing Christians today’, pages 345-346.

[4] Ibid, page 376.

[5] Refer John Walton, NIVAC Genesis, page 345.

[6] Refer Derek Kidner’s commentary on Genesis, pages 100-102.

Tawa Baptist

God’s Commitment

Scripture: Genesis 8:20-22 and Matthew 13:24-30

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Noah’s worship
  • God’s commitment
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Let me tell you a story. Once there was an artist, a painter. He had an eye for light, the way it falls differently depending on the time of year and the time of day. Although he worked hard trying to capture the nuance of the light on his subject, he never felt like he quite did justice to the picture in his mind’s eye. But at the same time he wasn’t able to give it up. The pursuit of beauty made him even more determined.

One day the artist was asked to paint a mural on a wall for the town. He took this project seriously. After months of thinking and sketching he started painting. The scale of the mural was large but he had it finished in a week. He wouldn’t admit to it being perfect but it was certainly very good – it suited the space. Many passers-by stopped to admire the mural’s grace and message.     

Sadly, one night, some vandals came and defaced the mural. The artist was deeply hurt by this. Not only had the vandals undone the time and effort he had put into the painting, they had shown contempt for him and contempt for the light. The only part of the mural not damaged was a corner where his name was. It was like the culprits wanted to mar his reputation.  

The artist could not stand to look at the now grotesque image. He set to work removing the graffiti but the spray paint they had used was stubborn; it wouldn’t wash off without damaging the art work underneath. There was no way to clean the mess without destroying the mural. Only the corner with his name on it was able to be saved.

Once the wall had been washed, the artist went about repainting the mural. In doing this he knew he was making himself vulnerable to getting hurt all over again. The vandals would likely come back to ruin the new art work too. But the artist refused to be silenced. He was determined that light and beauty would prevail in the end.    

Today we continue our series on Noah and the great flood. In some ways God is like the painter in the story and his creation is like the mural. Although the world God created was good, some vandals defaced it and God had little choice but to start again with Noah, the only one not tagged by evil.

Last week we heard how God remembered Noah, while Noah waited patiently for the Lord as the flood waters receded. This morning Noah and the animals are finally released from the ark. From Genesis 8, verses 20-22, we read…

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offeringson it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aromaand said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the groundbecause of humans, even thoughevery inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.And never again will I destroyall living creatures, as I have done. 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

In this passage we see Noah’s worship of the Lord and God’s commitment to repaint the mural of his creation.

Noah’s worship:

Can anyone tell me what happened on Tuesday the 28th April this year? [Wait]

That’s right, New Zealand moved from level 4 lockdown to level 3, under COVID restrictions. This meant that around 400,000 people returned to work and some restaurants opened for takeaways. I remember watching the evening news and seeing really long queues of cars snaking down the road as people waited in the drive-thru for their first taste of McDonalds in over a month.

After over a year in the ark God tells Noah he can leave; his lockdown is over. And the first thing we read that Noah does was worship God. Noah built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed some of the clean animals and birds on it. 

We know from the beginning of Genesis 7 that God instructed Noah to take seven pairs of clean animals and one pair of every unclean animal. So in sacrificing some of the clean animals Noah wasn’t wiping out the species, he had spares.

We can’t be sure what constituted a clean animal or bird in Noah’s day. The Law of Moses, which defines what is clean and unclean, was not introduced until centuries after Noah so we don’t know what animals Noah sacrificed. But that is beside the point. The main thing here is that Noah’s first thought was not a Maccas run or going back to the office or anything mundane like that. His first thought was worshipping God. Noah puts God first.

Verse 21 of Genesis 8 indicates that God was pleased with Noah’s sacrifice. While Genesis 8 doesn’t explain why God was pleased, we know from elsewhere in Scripture the sorts of things God is looking for in worship.

For our worship to be pleasing to God it needs to be true. We can’t fake it with God. True worship comes from the inside out. In other words, it has its roots in our heart and its fruit in our obedient actions.

In Isaiah 29, verse 13, God criticizes the people of Isaiah’s day saying: These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.

Jesus had a similar complaint about many of the religious leaders of his day. Jesus described them as ‘white washed tombs’ – looking good on the outside but full of decay and corruption on the inside.

In John 4, verse 24, while speaking to the Samaritan woman by the well, Jesus made it clear what kind of worship God requires saying: God is Spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

Obeying God in faith is the litmus test of true, heartfelt worship. Like the prophet Micah famously said: Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstbornfor my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humblywith your God.         

And that is probably why God was pleased with Noah’s sacrifice of worship, because Noah obeyed God. Not just for show, when people were looking, but from the heart when it was him alone with God.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross has done away with the need for animal sacrifice. We don’t need to approach God by killing a lamb or a dove. We are able to approach God through faith in Jesus.

This is not to say that our worship is without sacrifice. Our sacrificial worship of God may come in a variety of forms these days, including the money we give to the poor and to the church, as well as the time we volunteer in service to God and his people.

If you are in business, then part of your worship may cost you trade if you choose not to do business on a Sunday. I am mindful too of the way this church (Tawa Baptist) has often offered its best and brightest people to serve in church and mission work both here in NZ and overseas. The people are a church’s life blood. It is a costly sacrifice training up interns and then sending them off to be a blessing for someone else.  

Noah’s worship was pleasing to God because it was true. Noah’s worship came from the inside out. It had its roots in Noah’s heart and its fruit in Noah’s obedient actions. Noah put God first, before his stomach and before his career.

God’s commitment:

It appears that Noah’s worship touched God’s heart. In verse 21, of Genesis 8, we read, The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma [of Noah’s sacrifice] and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even thoughevery inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.And never again will I destroyall living creatures, as I have done…”

The reference to cursing the ground connects with Genesis 3, after the fall of humankind, when God cursed the ground making it harder for people to grow food. God will not curse the ground again because of humans.

But the more interesting thing here is God’s commitment to the human race. In Genesis 6:5, before the flood, we read how …every inclination of the human heart was only evil all the time. Now, after the flood in Genesis 8:21, we read that …every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. This shows us the flood has not changed the human heart. Noah’s heart may be better than most but God can see that, in time, his creation will degenerate again.

God is a bit like the artist who painted the mural on the wall. Even though the human heart has not changed, even though God knows the vandals will return to deface his image, the Lord resolves to persevere with his creation. He is determined that the beauty of his grace will prevail in the end. The implication here is that God is committing himself to suffering with his creation. God is leaving himself open to more grief so that we may be saved. 

Let me tell you another story. Once there was a writer. She wrote all sorts of things, from poems to short stories, to novels and even the occasional play. She was always looking for the right words to express the truth of something but often felt like her words didn’t quite do justice to the truth. Still, she couldn’t help writing. The pursuit of truth made her even more determined. 

One day she wrote a play. Actually it brewed in her mind for years before pouring out on her keyboard over the course of a week. She wouldn’t admit to it being perfect but it was certainly very good – a masterpiece. Handing her play over to the cast of actors felt like handing a child over to strangers. It was an act of trust. She hoped they would look after her baby.

Some months passed while the actors rehearsed the script and the prop builders constructed the set. Finally, the opening night came. The play started well but before long it became apparent the actors didn’t know their lines. In fact, the cast had made some pretty big changes to the script and it wasn’t recognizable as her story anymore.

The writer sat in the audience heart broken. Most of the cast of the play had completely misunderstood their parts. They had taken her magnum opus and turned it into a farce. Only one actor nailed it. The play-write felt betrayed. She wanted to stand up and stop the whole show. But instead she sat through it, even though it was torture, both for her and the rest of the audience.        

In some ways, God is like the writer of the play and humanity is like the cast who have forgotten their lines, misunderstood their parts and changed the script.  

Returning to Genesis 8. When God resolved not to destroy humanity he was essentially making a commitment to persevere with our imperfection, at least for a period of time (although not forever). Ultimately God’s plan is to redeem his creation – to make it new and perfect again.

The kingdom of heaven is a place where all the actors understand their parts and know their lines by heart. It is a place where God’s will is done; where his script is followed and the story of our lives are given coherence and meaning.

In Ezekiel 36:26, God says through the prophet: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

In other words, God intends to give humanity a heart transplant; to remove our hard unfeeling heart (our dead heart) and give us a heart which is alive and beats for him. A heart which feels and is grieved by evil, as God’s heart is.

In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the weeds. An enemy sows weeds among the wheat but the farmer does not uproot the weeds in case this disturbs the wheat. He allows the weeds to grow alongside the wheat until the harvest. Then at the harvest the workers separate the weeds from the wheat. The weeds are destroyed and the wheat is saved.

The parable of the wheat and the weeds is an allegory about the final judgement – the harvest represents judgement day. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of God’s kingdom, while the weeds are the people of the evil one.

There is a point of connection between this parable and God’s attitude after the flood. Namely that God is committed to redeeming what is good in his creation, even though that involves persevering with the weeds of evil for a certain period of time.

Conclusion:

The world we live in is not perfect but the good news is: this world is not all there is. God has chosen to suffer with his creation in order to redeem it. In the end, the light of God’s truth and the beauty of God’s grace will prevail.

In the meantime, God makes this commitment: 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

What connections do you see between the story of the artist who painted the mural and the story God who created the earth?

Why do you think God was pleased with Noah’s sacrifice? What makes our worship pleasing to God?

What are the implications of God’s commitment to persevere with human beings, even though the human heart is bent toward evil?     

What connections do you see between the story of the writer who penned the play and the story of God who created history?

What connections do you see between God’s attitude after the flood (in Genesis 8:21) and the parable of the wheat & weeds (in Matthew 13)?

Although this world/life is not perfect, the hope of God’s kingdom gives us something to look forward to. What can we look forward to in the fullness of God’s kingdom?

Tawa Baptist

God Remembers

Scripture: Genesis 8:1-19

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God remembers
  • Noah waits
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Can anyone tell me, what is the word we use to describe the point at which a seesaw balances? I’ll give you a couple of seconds. [Wait]

That’s right, the point at which a seesaw balances, is called a fulcrum  

We find fulcrums everywhere. The hinge in a door is a fulcrum. Likewise, your hip, knee and shoulder joints act as fulcrums for your bones. A fulcrum allows movement and change.

The word ‘fulcrum’ can also be used metaphorically to refer to a person or thing that plays an essential (or pivotal) role in an activity or situation. For example, a teacher may be described as a fulcrum for a student’s learning or a common love of fishing might be the fulcrum for a friendship. This microphone is a fulcrum for my voice.  

Today we continue our series on the story of Noah and the great flood.

Last Sunday we heard how God instructed Noah to enter the ark, with the animals, and then the flood came.  This morning’s passage (Genesis 8) is a fulcrum passage – the rain stops and the flood waters recede. Everything pivots on God remembering Noah.

From Genesis chapter 8, verses 1-19, we read…

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth,and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavenshad been closed, and the rainhad stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty daysthe water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh monththe ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven,and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

13 By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second monththe earth was completely dry.

15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”

18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

There are two things I want to highlight from this morning’s Bible reading: God’s remembering and Noah’s waiting. First let’s consider God’s remembering. God’s remembering is the fulcrum which changes things for the better.

God remembers:

There’s a programme on TV 1 called The Repair Shop. In this programme people bring along a family heirloom or some other beloved belonging that has seen better days and leave it with a group of craftspeople who restore the old item to something close to its former glory.

It might be an antique bicycle or a teddy bear or a doll or a clock and the workers at the repair shop re-member it – they literally put it back together the way it used to be. The show normally ends with the grateful owner looking at their treasured object, with tears in their eyes, amazed at the wonderful work that has been done in restoring it.

When reading the Bible, we need to keep in mind that the words we read (in English) are a translation and something of the meaning is often lost in the process of translation. The word remember is a classic example.

We tend to equate remembering with recalling a thought we had previously forgotten. For us, remembering is generally a mental exercise and nothing more. But for the ancient Hebrew people (who wrote the Old Testament) remembering was far more than recalling something in your head. Remembering involved actually doing something practical. Remembering may start in your mind but it’s supposed to find expression in your hands and feet.

In the Old Testament remembering is more akin to repairing, restoring, regathering, repenting and renewing. Putting things back together again, the way they are supposed to be – sort of like they do in The Repair Shop.

To use another example, if you cut your finger off, then you literally re-member your finger by having a surgeon sew it back on your hand.

When God gave Moses the 10 commandments, the Lord framed the fourth commandment by saying: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy…”

Remembering here doesn’t just mean recalling something in your head. Remembering is an act of obedience; ceasing work to allow your body, soul and relationships to be restored or repaired. The Sabbath is a kind of Repair Shop for the human soul. On the Sabbath, we re-member what’s important. We put our perspective and priorities and relationships back together in the right place.

The Old Testament concept of remembering isn’t totally foreign to us though. To some extent we still remember in the way the ancients used to.

If someone in your family has a birthday, you remember them by buying them a present or baking them a cake.

Or if one of your friends ends up in hospital, you remember them by visiting and cheering them up.

Or you might remember the poor by sponsoring a child through World Vision or donating to a food bank.

We remember the environment by recycling and reducing our carbon footprint.

And you remember your marriage vows by staying faithful to your partner in marriage.

The establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975 was one way the NZ government sought to practically remember the Treaty; by providing a means for Maori to find resolution for Treaty grievances.

During lockdown we remembered our neighbours by observing physical distancing and phoning people to check up on them.        

Later in the service today we will share communion together. When Jesus instituted communion he said, ‘Do this to remember me’. By remember me he didn’t just mean, ‘think about me in your head’. He meant re-member my body, the church. As in, come back together (regather) as a community of faith. The fact that we actually do something physical when we share communion (like eating and drinking) shows that Biblical remembering is more than just a mental exercise.  

Communion is the sign of the new covenant with God, established by Jesus. Therefore, to remember Jesus is to keep the new covenant. It is to maintain our obedience of faith in Jesus. And where we have messed up, remembering means repenting and putting things right. To remember Jesus is to ensure he remains in his proper place as Lord of our lives.

Genesis 8, verse 1, is the fulcrum verse in the account of Noah and the flood.

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth,and the waters receded.

This is the pivotal verse. It is God’s remembering that changes the situation. From this point onwards the destruction of God’s judgement swings the other way toward renewal and a fresh start for creation.

It’s not that God had forgotten about Noah and the animals in the ark. God was mindful of them the whole time. As Derek Kidner observes, God’s remembering combines the ideas of faithful love and timely intervention. [1]

God’s remembering of Noah is expressed in a real and physical way by his stopping the rain and sending a wind to dry up the waters. Those of you who are familiar with the creation account in Genesis 1 will recognise the parallels. Verse 2 of Genesis 1 tells us that in the beginning, the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit (or wind) of God was hovering over the waters. The flood waters represent chaos. God’s remembering of his creation restores order to the chaos. Noah is the new Adam. 

There are other parallels with Genesis 1 as well, but I’ll let you figure those out for yourself. 

One of the things we notice about God’s remembering here is that it is a process. God’s remembering doesn’t necessarily produce instantaneous results. It’s not like God clicked his fingers and, voila, the water instantly disappeared. No. It took months for the water to steadily recede, for the land to dry out and the vegetation to regrow. In the meantime, Noah had to wait.

Noah waits:

What we notice about Noah’s waiting is that it is purposeful and not passive. Noah isn’t just sitting there in the ark, with the animals, twiddling his thumbs. He’s not just waiting for the water to go down. Noah is waiting for God to give him the green light to leave. Noah’s waiting is purposeful, not passive.

You may have heard of the marshmallow experiments, conducted by Stanford University in the 1970’s. In these experiments a child was put in a room with a marshmallow in front of them and told that if they waited until the grown up came back they could have a second marshmallow. So, it was either one now or two later.

Subsequent marshmallow studies showed that trust was one of the main reasons children would wait for a second marshmallow. If the child was led to mistrust the adult doing the experiment, they would grab the marshmallow sooner. But if they were led to trust the adult they were more likely to wait. 

Noah may have been like one of those kids who could wait long enough for the extra marshmallow. Noah was able to wait because he trusted God. He knew God was reliable and would deliver.    

Noah’s waiting was purposeful, not passive. It was resourceful, not resentful. He demonstrated patience and meekness in waiting. His heart is to trust and obey God.

I’ve spoken about meekness before. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is power under control. In fact, meekness requires great strength of character as it combines gentleness with self-control. And we know what Jesus said about the meek: they shall inherit the earth. In other words, they get the marshmallow in the end. Noah certainly inherited the earth.

Although Noah had many opportunities to leave the ark, he waited until God said it was okay to leave.

When the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, in the Lake Van region of Eastern Turkey, Noah had been on board for about 150 days, which is around 5 months. That’s a long time to wait in cramped and smelly conditions. As the water receded and land became visible, it would have been tempting for Noah to get out for some fresh air and to stretch his legs but he doesn’t. Instead Noah waits for God, for another 150 days.

Like I keep saying, Noah’s waiting was not passive. Noah’s waiting was purposeful and active. Noah looked forward in hope and anticipation to the time when God would set the captives free from the darkness of the ark.

We see Noah’s hopeful anticipation in what he does while he waits. Noah does three things: he opens a window, he sends out birds to test the waters and he takes the roof off.

Studies have shown how prisoners, with a window in their cell, tend to maintain better mental health than prisoners who have no window.    

Verse 6 of Genesis 8 tells how Noah opens the window he had made in the ark. Sometimes we might feel like God has forgotten us. Sometimes the winter of our discontent seems to drag on and on. Sometimes our prayers seem to go unanswered and our faithfulness unrewarded. We may feel like God is absent and we are in the dark. When it feels like that, open a window. Let some light in so you can see. Let some air flow through so you can breathe. Slow down. Let yourself look at the mountain tops. Dream a little. Recover a sense of the bigger picture. Let your perspective return.    

Verses 7-11 describe how Noah sends out first a raven and then a dove to do some recon-nascence for him. The raven doesn’t bring him any good news, so he sends out a dove. In verse 9 we read: But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark.

That last sentence there shows us something of Noah’s gentleness with the dove; reaching out his hand to bring the dove back into the ark. It provides a beautiful picture of a man who cares about God’s creatures in a personal way. Noah is a greeny – perhaps a bit like the character Cooch, in Murray Ball’s cartoon Footrot Flats.

Seven days later Noah sends the dove out a second time. This time it returns with an olive leaf in its beak. Olive trees are very hardy – they are difficult to kill. They are the kind of tree that survives a flood. The fresh foliage is a sign that the vegetation is recovering, so the animals will have something to eat.

A week later when Noah sent the dove out it did not return, which showed that God’s renewal of the land was almost complete. But still Noah waits for God’s word.

The dove over the flood waters reminds us of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus over the waters of the Jordan river, after Jesus’ baptism. [2] Just as Noah’s dove proves itself sensitive and discerning, a guide to those waiting for God’s new creation, so too the Holy Spirit is like a dove to us; sensitive and discerning, gently guiding us as we wait for the new creation Jesus brings.

The third thing Noah does, as he waits in hopeful expectation of God’s renewal, is he removes the covering of the ark. He takes the roof off in other words. This is a quiet act of courageous faith on Noah’s part. To remove the covering is to take a risk and make oneself vulnerable. What if the rain started again? Removing the roof is a statement that Noah believes the storm will not return.

Taking off the roof also allows Noah to get a broader view of the situation than his little window afforded him. Even though Noah could see the ground was dry, he still does not disembark. Noah continues to wait for the word of the Lord and finally God says to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark and let the animals out too…’ and Noah obeyed God.

Conclusion:

You know, in some ways, our experience of lockdown was similar to Noah’s experience as he waited in the ark. Like Noah, our waiting was purposeful, not passive. We weren’t as restricted as Noah was of course, but we did have our wings clipped. Our recent experience gives us some understanding for Noah’s situation and his waiting.

While I don’t want to talk too soon, it seems that God has remembered us here in New Zealand. Relative to the rest of the world we have much to be thankful for.

Globally though, the world is still in a time of waiting for the ‘flood’ of new COVID cases to recede. We pray for the fulcrum of God’s mercy.     

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

What does the Bible mean by remembering? How is this different from the way we (today) tend to think of remembering?

What happened as a result of God remembering Noah and the animals in the ark?   

What parallels do we notice between the account of creation in Genesis 1 and the renewal of creation in Genesis 8?

How do you feel about waiting? Is it something you find easy or hard? Why is that do you think?

What helped Noah in his waiting? (What did he do?) What might help us in our waiting? For example; when we feel trapped in a dark place, how might we open a window to the let the light and air in?

In what ways does Noah’s dove point to the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ baptism?

Is there someone or something you need to remember, in the Biblical sense of that word? What might this mean you need to do?

[1] Refer Derek Kidner’s commentary on Genesis, page 92. 

[2] Refer to Luke 3:22 for an account of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus at his baptism.