WEBVTT 00:00:00.220 --> 00:00:03.450 If you brought a Bible with you, I'm going to invite you to turn to the book of 1 Peter. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:05.180 We're in 1 Peter 2 together. 00:00:06.060 --> 00:00:07.720 This is a beautiful passage of scripture. 00:00:07.720 --> 00:00:14.760 We started this as a church family when coronavirus started because if you're familiar with 1 Peter at all, 1 Peter is 00:00:14.760 --> 00:00:19.400 a book during challenging times with the early church in the first century. 00:00:19.680 --> 00:00:20.690 They're facing hardship. 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:27.920 Peter addresses this letter to the church that's in modern day Turkey and they're about to go through and chat through 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:29.150 some challenging experiences. 00:00:29.860 --> 00:00:37.000 And Peter himself is familiar with that sort of scenario in his own life, because, Peter has been faced persecution 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:38.660 not too long after he writes this letter. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:46.340 He's about to be crucified upside down and just before he's crucified, history tells us that his wife is also martyred for her faith 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:47.320 in the Lord. 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:51.280 Peter is certainly an individual that's familiar with suffering. 00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:55.050 And I'm going to move around just a little bit cause I feel like my head gets cut off for some of you guys. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:56.230 So I want you to be able to see me. 00:00:57.140 --> 00:01:03.300 1 Peter 2 is where we are together and this is such an encouraging passage to think about how we can be used. 00:01:03.440 --> 00:01:07.640 The Lord, despite any circumstance, God can use us. 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:14.820 And not knowing how things might look for us moving forward and not even knowing the circumstances of how the economy might 00:01:14.820 --> 00:01:20.910 affect us or how this virus could impact lives that we would be going through together. 00:01:21.780 --> 00:01:28.940 This book is a great reminder really, if you feel like you face a very little hardship in life, that there is 00:01:28.940 --> 00:01:34.700 a reason to still get up and rejoice and even you feel like you faced just a season of difficulty. 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:37.370 There's a reason for us to get up in rejoice. 00:01:37.800 --> 00:01:42.420 And not just that, to recognize that God can use those moments to make his people stronger. 00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:48.160 When you read scripture, you'll see stories of individuals that accomplish great things for the Lord. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:53.760 But the time in which they are refined for God is when they've faced adversity in their lives. 00:01:54.180 --> 00:02:01.240 That God uses them in those seasons of waiting and those seasons of challenges to do a work within them for the 00:02:01.240 --> 00:02:05.000 next journey that God is going to call them to as a way of preparing their lives. 00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:12.360 When you think of individuals like Moses who for 40 years under Pharaoh has to run and spend 40 years in 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:13.110 the desert. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:15.440 Or Elijah who goes through a famine. 00:02:15.740 --> 00:02:18.110 Or Esther who is about to watch her people be slaughtered. 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:22.800 Or even Noah who has to spend a hundred years building an ark, while people may point fingers at him. 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:26.280 God uses that season to refine them for something great. 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:30.030 And I think the same thing is true in our own lives. 00:02:30.100 --> 00:02:37.180 And Peter writes this letter to the early church to help them recognize how important it is to just be sensitive to the way that God is 00:02:37.180 --> 00:02:39.750 using us through seasons of adversity. 00:02:40.100 --> 00:02:46.000 It's not about hitting the pause button to wait for everything to get back to perfection before we start serving him. 00:02:46.060 --> 00:02:52.020 But to understand in the midst of the trial is where God meets us and where God wants to use us. 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:55.600 That God is always fighting a battle for us. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:03.080 So as we think about 1 Peter, I'm going to just jump into Genesis for just a minute to lead into what 1 Peter 2 talks about. 00:03:03.100 --> 00:03:10.140 Because when God designed you, everything that God intended in your design, Peter highlights as he describes 00:03:10.140 --> 00:03:13.300 the way that the Lord wants to work in our lives in 1 Peter 2. 00:03:13.720 --> 00:03:16.560 So if you start in Genesis one let me just throw this picture out for us. 00:03:16.600 --> 00:03:20.160 I'm just gonna look at two verses in Genesis 1, if you want to follow along. 00:03:20.340 --> 00:03:27.620 If you have notes, I'm going to give you just the first blank in the notes that we've got printed at the resource table and that's for us to recognize that God 00:03:27.620 --> 00:03:29.780 calls his people to rule. 00:03:31.040 --> 00:03:31.920 You rule. 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:33.800 God calls you to rule. 00:03:33.860 --> 00:03:40.100 Now, before you start banging on your chest and declaring yourself the king of the jungle, I think just leave that for Tarzan for today. 00:03:40.140 --> 00:03:42.760 I'm going to describe a little bit more about what ruling looks like. 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:50.400 But when God created you in the very beginning, Genesis 1:26 he makes it known that he creates his people to rule. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.480 Let us make man in our image. 00:03:52.480 --> 00:03:59.660 So the triunity of God; Father, Son, and Spirit discussing here, let us make man in our image according to our likeness 00:03:59.660 --> 00:04:06.820 and let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and over the cattle and over all the earth, and get this, and 00:04:06.820 --> 00:04:08.720 over every creeping thing. 00:04:09.500 --> 00:04:14.460 So when you're out in your yard mowing today, if you see a snake, just say in Jesus name, you know I rebuke you. 00:04:14.740 --> 00:04:16.640 You rule over everything. 00:04:16.700 --> 00:04:17.649 Don't be afraid of spiders. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:22.740 God calls you to rule over everything and have dominion over everything. 00:04:23.320 --> 00:04:30.410 And when you consider just the idea of that rule, here's the beautiful thing that God is saying to us as his creatures made in his image. 00:04:30.820 --> 00:04:36.680 That the primary way God wants to make his glory known in this world is through his people made in his image. 00:04:37.640 --> 00:04:38.760 You want to see God work? 00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:40.380 God works through his people. 00:04:41.260 --> 00:04:44.440 And that's what this beginning of the idea of ruling starts to shape for us. 00:04:44.440 --> 00:04:50.020 In fact, in Psalm 8:3, the psalmist describes the beauty of God's creation. 00:04:50.100 --> 00:04:52.610 This is a wonderful Psalm to read as we're outdoors today. 00:04:53.260 --> 00:04:57.760 Just Psalm 8 and allow that psalm to just fill our spirit. 00:04:57.760 --> 00:05:04.960 But in verse three it says this, when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you 00:05:04.960 --> 00:05:09.680 have ordained, what is man that you take thought of him? 00:05:11.020 --> 00:05:13.840 And the son of man that you care for him? 00:05:14.940 --> 00:05:20.440 Yet you have made him a little lower than God and you crown him with glory and majesty. 00:05:21.440 --> 00:05:27.830 You make him to rule over the works of your hands and you have put all things under his feet. 00:05:28.860 --> 00:05:34.000 The psalmist thinks about who God is and the beauty of all that he's made. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:41.040 And then he looks to us and thinkings, but who are we God, that you would even give us opportunity to demonstrate the goodness of 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:42.360 who you are in this world? 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:51.300 What a privilege that is to think that God would even consider us in such a way as to demonstrate his goodness 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:53.320 being made in his image. 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:57.970 Now with power comes responsibility. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:04.880 And in Genesis 1:28, God gives a little more thought to what it means being made in his image, or a little more clarity. 00:06:05.700 --> 00:06:12.920 He says, and God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:13.420 rule. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:19.460 Now, I think the concise way that we could say this, and this is in your blank, that God calls us to bless. 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:22.420 That's the next blank in this message that God calls us to bless. 00:06:23.180 --> 00:06:26.920 Meaning in verse 28 you see that God's certainly blessed us, right? 00:06:26.960 --> 00:06:30.880 God blessed us and gives us opportunity to reflect his goodness in this world. 00:06:31.100 --> 00:06:34.320 To make the glory of God made known in our lives as we surrender to him. 00:06:35.020 --> 00:06:37.480 And we give evidence to his image on us. 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:44.960 Whether you acknowledge God or not, we are creatures that give evidence to the image of God because we all desire things that are good and some, 00:06:45.180 --> 00:06:46.220 some degree, though it's distorted. 00:06:46.400 --> 00:06:50.180 We look for justice and mercy and love. 00:06:50.180 --> 00:06:52.300 We all bear God's image in some way or another. 00:06:53.380 --> 00:06:59.420 But God blessed us and in so doing he creates us then to bless. 00:07:00.260 --> 00:07:03.800 And he describes rather than just say, go bless, he describes what that looks like. 00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:06.120 Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:08.960 But scripture makes it evident that we are to be a people that are a blessing. 00:07:10.400 --> 00:07:17.520 In Luke chapter 6:28 and in Romans 12:14, it says this in both passages, bless those who curse you, 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:18.640 in Luke 6. 00:07:18.640 --> 00:07:20.700 And Romans 12, bless those who persecute you. 00:07:21.580 --> 00:07:22.770 That we are to be a people that blessed. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:30.090 It's like this: if you have an idea of what it means to reflect God's image in this world, rather than be sort of a culdesac, 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:31.750 God calls you to be a conduit. 00:07:33.320 --> 00:07:36.400 That you become this outflow of his blessing in this world. 00:07:36.400 --> 00:07:43.400 I know people sometimes pray that God would bless them without understanding that when God blesses us, it's for the intentions of purpose, that we could bless others 00:07:43.400 --> 00:07:45.640 through the way that God has blessed our own lives. 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:47.640 Sometimes I like to use this illustration. 00:07:47.960 --> 00:07:50.800 I think it's fitting for where we are in proximity in this park. 00:07:51.180 --> 00:07:52.990 That just up the street is the Jordan River. 00:07:53.980 --> 00:07:58.940 We got the Utah Lake down here to the south and the Great Salt Lake to the north. 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:03.740 And when you go to the Utah Lake, though some of the life in the lake may be sketchy. 00:08:04.020 --> 00:08:07.160 He may catch a fish with three eyes, there is life in the lake. 00:08:07.940 --> 00:08:09.180 And why is there life in the lake? 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:16.060 Because the lake has a way to flow out, just has an outflow, a source of water that comes through it and out of it. 00:08:16.940 --> 00:08:18.800 But when you get to the Salt Lake, what's on the Salt Lake? 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:22.140 Gross flies on the outside. 00:08:22.540 --> 00:08:26.660 And I heard there are sea monkeys, but I can never get close enough to tell because the flies kill you before you get there. 00:08:26.820 --> 00:08:28.680 But it's virtually dead. 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:31.080 And why is it dead? 00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:33.980 There's no way for the water to flow out. 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:36.240 Once it gets there at dies. 00:08:37.640 --> 00:08:38.679 And the same thing's true for us. 00:08:40.419 --> 00:08:43.520 You're created to let the glory of God be made known in your life. 00:08:44.920 --> 00:08:52.420 And when we let it just end with us, the power of God's spirit intended to flow through us and make his glory known, it diminishes. 00:08:53.860 --> 00:08:56.770 And that's what happened with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. 00:08:58.260 --> 00:09:03.460 What you see it in this story is they reject God's authority and your next blank says this. 00:09:03.560 --> 00:09:07.020 We distort our rule by rejecting God's rule. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:08.750 But here's the good news. 00:09:10.040 --> 00:09:11.620 Jesus invites us to return to him. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:20.380 We distort our rule by rejecting God's rule over our lives. 00:09:21.740 --> 00:09:25.860 And that begins to help us understand what exactly it means when God creates us to rule. 00:09:26.760 --> 00:09:31.760 It's not about dominating people or putting them under our thumb or telling them how great we are. 00:09:31.760 --> 00:09:38.340 That's not the picture of what it means according to what God says when he creates us to rule in his image. 00:09:39.020 --> 00:09:43.440 In fact, Jesus gave us this illustration in Matthew 20:25-27. 00:09:43.680 --> 00:09:49.960 You remember the story where James and John come to Jesus and they say to him, Jesus, make us the top people. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.880 I want to be vice president in your kingdom. 00:09:52.900 --> 00:09:54.800 I want to rule just right under you. 00:09:54.800 --> 00:09:56.070 You be King and I'll be Prince. 00:09:57.020 --> 00:10:00.240 And Jesus gives them this beautiful illustration of what it means to rule. 00:10:00.520 --> 00:10:09.160 He says, the Gentiles, lord it over others, but he wants to be great in my kingdom must 00:10:09.160 --> 00:10:10.040 become a servant. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:13.980 God makes us strong. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:24.140 And when we use our strength for our glory, the result of that is we treat other people as tools or as instruments to leverage for 00:10:24.140 --> 00:10:27.070 our own power, our own image, our own display. 00:10:27.480 --> 00:10:28.600 Everything becomes about us. 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:36.540 But rather than live life for our glory, when we live it for his glory, it becomes a blessing to everyone around us. 00:10:37.760 --> 00:10:41.480 Said this way, when I live selfishly, it harms others. 00:10:41.500 --> 00:10:46.320 When I live selflessly, it becomes a blessing to others when it's for God's glory. 00:10:47.760 --> 00:10:49.030 It works sort of like this. 00:10:49.280 --> 00:10:54.060 This past week I went to get my car fixed and I pull in and they tell me I have a problem. 00:10:55.580 --> 00:10:58.800 My tires are wearing thin on one side and not the other. 00:11:00.400 --> 00:11:01.040 I had an option. 00:11:02.300 --> 00:11:03.850 I could just replace my tires. 00:11:05.280 --> 00:11:06.320 But you know what that's like. 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:08.520 You just replaced your tires. 00:11:08.520 --> 00:11:14.420 When one side of your tire wears out, not the other, you're just wasting money because the problem really isn't the tire. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:17.860 The problem is that your car is out of alignment. 00:11:19.260 --> 00:11:24.040 When your car is out of alignment, it destroys your tires at a much more rapid rate. 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:26.360 And the same thing's true with us. 00:11:27.760 --> 00:11:32.000 We're called to be in alignment and that authority is with God. 00:11:33.320 --> 00:11:39.360 When we align our authority under his authority rather than waste things, we bless things. 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:48.180 I think as a young guy, before I moved out here, fresh out of college, I was a part of an organization that worked with young people in order to help them 00:11:48.180 --> 00:11:52.920 really rehabilitate through some traumatic experiences they had in life. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:58.840 And one of the first scenarios I was asked to go help was with a young kid who witnessed in the inner city. 00:11:58.860 --> 00:12:04.260 He witnessed a murder on the backstairs of his house and they needed him to testify in court. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:06.580 And he wasn't stable in a place where he could do that. 00:12:06.940 --> 00:12:14.120 And so I had the assignment of meeting with this kid and spending some time with him until he got to a place where he was able to finally testify. 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:23.260 And the unfortunate place and circumstance in which he lived, that when he lived, first day I pulled in 00:12:23.260 --> 00:12:29.800 to pick him up and walk across the street as I meet the parents and we get back in the car and we're getting ready to drive down the road. 00:12:29.860 --> 00:12:33.640 As we crossed the street in that short period of time, I'm on the other side of the street. 00:12:34.300 --> 00:12:41.300 The police showed up in these massive amounts, this large group of police, and they all of a sudden just jump out of the 00:12:41.300 --> 00:12:47.760 car while we're crossing the street, loaded with all sorts of weapons, charging a house for a drug raid. 00:12:49.380 --> 00:12:56.520 And here I am with a young kid, elementary age, thinking about what it means 00:12:56.520 --> 00:12:59.620 to care for his soul in those moments I've seen such destruction. 00:12:59.800 --> 00:13:03.080 When people take the strength that God's given them and use it for their glory. 00:13:03.780 --> 00:13:10.880 And as we're crossing the street trying to figure out how to care for him, I come across the street and we experienced another traumatic event as 00:13:10.880 --> 00:13:12.980 police are rating this house. 00:13:14.940 --> 00:13:17.040 Men, can I just say to us, especially. 00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:26.300 That when we use our strength for ourselves, it is detrimental to the women and children in this world. 00:13:28.100 --> 00:13:30.420 But I think it's important for us to understand. 00:13:30.620 --> 00:13:37.680 I know this works for all of us, that to understand who we are in light of who God is and to align ourselves with what 00:13:37.680 --> 00:13:38.960 he has called us to in him. 00:13:39.760 --> 00:13:42.270 And this is exactly where first Peter is, right? 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:46.320 In all the challenges of life, you got to think these believers, they feel discouraged. 00:13:47.260 --> 00:13:54.140 They're looking at the challenges in front of them thinking it could even cost them their lives and they can't wait for things to get back to normal so they go back to serving God. 00:13:54.420 --> 00:14:01.520 And this is exactly where Peter writes this letter to them and he wants them to understand who they are in God's image because the Lord can work even in 00:14:01.520 --> 00:14:02.520 the most darkest of days. 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:05.340 In fact, in the darkest days, his light shines the brightest. 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:08.140 And that's how this story begins, right? 00:14:08.140 --> 00:14:11.560 Peter is, Peter talks about the declaration of Jesus and his resurrection. 00:14:11.560 --> 00:14:13.360 That's the beginning of 1 Peter. 00:14:13.520 --> 00:14:18.780 That in the darkest of days, Jesus triumphs with the greatest of light and he overcomes the grave. 00:14:19.080 --> 00:14:25.600 And if Jesus does this for us, we put our faith in him that God can work in any challenge that we experienced in our lives as well. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:27.610 That his light could be made known. 00:14:27.820 --> 00:14:31.530 And so in 1 Peter 1:15, he calls us to be holy. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:37.380 And at the end of the chapter, holiness means, separate from the world and to see ourselves aligned with God. 00:14:37.620 --> 00:14:39.880 It doesn't just mean don't sin or be good. 00:14:40.140 --> 00:14:43.580 It's to see an identity as it relates to God that's apart from this world. 00:14:43.860 --> 00:14:47.280 And then at the end of this chapter, he says, dive into God's word, in the beginning of chapter two. 00:14:47.460 --> 00:14:49.800 It's the nourishment for your soul. 00:14:49.800 --> 00:14:53.460 And to love one another because this was a community of which we accomplished this together. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:58.540 That God calls all of us as his group, his tribe to live for his glory. 00:14:58.540 --> 00:14:59.000 In this world. 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:01.870 If it doesn't happen here, then where else does it happen? 00:15:02.780 --> 00:15:07.410 In first Peter, 2:9, this is where we dive into the text and I'm just going to move through this quickly. 00:15:07.780 --> 00:15:10.070 We've read this together, that he gives us this identity. 00:15:10.380 --> 00:15:17.220 You might remember, you are a chosen race, a Royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. 00:15:17.420 --> 00:15:21.600 This is our identity in the midst of adversity that he calls us to live in. 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:25.080 Then listen to this second half, I want to highlight this more today. 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:31.460 So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 00:15:32.640 --> 00:15:39.260 A couple of great things there, but even though we reject God, that God calls us back into him from darkness to light. 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:44.380 That God forgives, that Christ died for us, that we could be made new. 00:15:44.380 --> 00:15:49.400 That our sins can be washed clean in Jesus, and that God gives us this new identity. 00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:51.480 Called from darkness into light. 00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:53.860 It's not about us making us more lovable to him. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:55.620 It's about his love for us. 00:15:55.620 --> 00:15:58.110 He died for us while we were still sinners. 00:15:58.340 --> 00:16:00.400 Incredible love that sets us free. 00:16:00.400 --> 00:16:03.700 Then he says this, that you then in that can proclaim his excellencies. 00:16:05.540 --> 00:16:07.660 What does that look like in adversity? 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:12.700 We talked a little bit about it last week. 00:16:12.700 --> 00:16:14.140 We're going to talk more about it next week. 00:16:14.160 --> 00:16:21.380 We're going to look at specifically as it relates to marriage and the family next week, but Peter continues on in this story and so your next blank 00:16:21.380 --> 00:16:25.850 in your notes if you have them, is how do we live out our identity. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.690 That's the question we'll ask how do we live out our identity? 00:16:29.160 --> 00:16:36.400 And in first Peter 2:16, he gives this response, he says, because 00:16:36.400 --> 00:16:43.500 of Jesus, now act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use 00:16:43.500 --> 00:16:45.020 it as bond slaves of God. 00:16:46.560 --> 00:16:48.680 So Christ has set you free. 00:16:49.220 --> 00:16:54.260 And as Americans, this is Memorial Day, so thank you to everyone that's served our country. 00:16:54.260 --> 00:17:01.320 We appreciate those freedoms, and this is thinking further than just American freedom, and though we need to be thankful for that, this 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:03.320 is thinking about freedom in Christ. 00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:07.280 Now, here's the challenge that Peter is addressing for the believers in this period. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:11.880 The believers understand that their main identity is for the kingdom of God. 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:13.980 His glory, his goodness in this world. 00:17:15.140 --> 00:17:21.180 And so because of that, they say, okay, we reject all other authority in our lives, that we live for one King and we don't care what you think. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:25.220 And what Peter is saying here is no, Jesus has set you free. 00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:32.340 Not so that you can look down at other people, not see they can cast them away, not so that you can tell them that you serve a different King and you don't care about them, but he's 00:17:32.340 --> 00:17:37.540 given you this freedom so that you can pursue them and they can find the same freedom that you discovered in Jesus. 00:17:39.560 --> 00:17:43.400 So freedom isn't about doing what you want whenever you want. 00:17:43.900 --> 00:17:44.700 That's not true freedom. 00:17:45.540 --> 00:17:47.670 Freedom is to understand the gift that you've been given. 00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:52.720 And because of that, you then use your freedom to serve others so that they can find freedom as well. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:56.440 And that's exactly what Peter is saying in verse 16. 00:17:57.080 --> 00:18:02.900 Act as free men and don't use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves for God. 00:18:03.760 --> 00:18:08.160 Understand that it's to call you into this alignment with the Lord because before you weren't able to. 00:18:09.040 --> 00:18:11.420 You were an alien to him, opposed to him in sin. 00:18:11.700 --> 00:18:14.520 But now because of Jesus, he has, he has set you free. 00:18:15.560 --> 00:18:22.800 This freedom now gives you opportunity to just like Psalm 8 has said, to declare his glory in this world of which previous to this you weren't able to do because you were in rebellion 00:18:22.800 --> 00:18:23.800 to God in sin. 00:18:26.860 --> 00:18:29.360 But in faith to Christ because of what he's done on the cross. 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:31.820 You have been set free. 00:18:33.300 --> 00:18:40.540 And what he's saying to us, if you don't like your circumstance, your environment, some of the relationships 00:18:40.540 --> 00:18:42.820 seem like it's tense around you. 00:18:42.840 --> 00:18:44.800 You have a place to do something about it. 00:18:44.920 --> 00:18:45.900 And where does it come from? 00:18:47.280 --> 00:18:51.560 Not from the power of the circumstance, from the power of your Lord. 00:18:53.600 --> 00:19:00.700 Because in the midst of our sin, his freedom becoming a servant for us, that's 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:01.420 transformed our lives. 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:04.780 So now you have opportunity to do the same. 00:19:06.740 --> 00:19:14.000 And so in verse 18 he says this, he says, servants, be submissive to your masters with 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:19.450 all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but listen to this, but also to those who are unreasonable. 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:22.500 And this word means crooked. 00:19:23.860 --> 00:19:28.860 So he's saying, look, I'm not telling you to be free to act for God's glory when things are well. 00:19:29.100 --> 00:19:36.120 I'm also telling you when you face adversity in relationship around you, that is still the season to live out the goodness of God in your life and 00:19:36.120 --> 00:19:36.980 maybe even more so. 00:19:38.460 --> 00:19:42.740 So he uses these words to describe what it means with a master. 00:19:42.740 --> 00:19:44.900 He talks about servant in submission. 00:19:46.120 --> 00:19:46.980 Servant in submission. 00:19:46.980 --> 00:19:48.500 This word literally means slave. 00:19:49.940 --> 00:19:57.060 Now, I know in our culture today when we read a word like that, we want to immediately say, okay, Peter, now tell us why slavery is wrong and why we need to stand up 00:19:57.060 --> 00:19:57.920 and do something about it. 00:19:58.320 --> 00:20:02.060 And I think there are Bible passages that talk about being against slavery. 00:20:02.120 --> 00:20:08.420 There's passages that talk about in 1 Timothy 1:8 that enslaving people is wrong. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:13.730 In 1 Corinthians 7:21-23 that you are not to be enslaved or become a slave. 00:20:14.500 --> 00:20:16.560 But here's what's interesting about this passage. 00:20:17.860 --> 00:20:22.540 In this passage he's not arguing against slavery, though we certainly think it's wrong. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.240 But rather what he's doing is he's looking at as an individual that might find themselves in bondage. 00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:35.080 And he's still saying, even in that bondage, there is a place to let the glory of God made known 00:20:35.080 --> 00:20:37.420 and the freedom for what you have in Jesus. 00:20:38.420 --> 00:20:45.940 What Peter is saying is he wants any person in this world regardless of where they might find themselves to still understand they have a place to 00:20:45.940 --> 00:20:47.600 make the goodness of God made known. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:52.700 And when that goodness of God is made known, there's always possibility of transformation of the hearts of others. 00:20:53.180 --> 00:20:53.920 And how does it look? 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:01.660 Not by maligning, but by living for this King because of living for this King, you bless. 00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:10.320 When you're in relationship with people that might be a little bit prickly, let's say on the outside. 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:19.880 Even though they may be rough around the edges when they encounter you and know that you're full of the grace of God, even if you don't agree with everything 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:21.360 they do when they know that you're for them. 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:28.620 Maybe not for what they do, but for them as a person, you'll have a place to speak into their lives. 00:21:30.800 --> 00:21:34.120 And this is what Peter is saying in the adversity that the people are going through. 00:21:35.940 --> 00:21:40.180 Use the position for which God has given you to leverage for his goodness and glory. 00:21:41.900 --> 00:21:47.880 And he says this in verse 19, for this finds favor. 00:21:50.800 --> 00:21:55.380 Have the platform that God has given you to make a difference in this world, for this finds favor. 00:21:57.180 --> 00:22:04.780 If for the sake of consciousness towards God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly, this 00:22:04.940 --> 00:22:05.200 finds favor. 00:22:07.260 --> 00:22:14.520 Peter uses a word here in verse 19 that he uses more than any other author in both Old 00:22:14.520 --> 00:22:15.200 and New Testament. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:17.040 And this is a powerful word. 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:22.140 If you've got your Bible, I think it's worth circling or if you've got notes, it's worth circling, but it's this word suffering. 00:22:24.320 --> 00:22:25.380 More than any other book. 00:22:25.420 --> 00:22:30.060 In fact, sometimes more than twice more than any other book, Peter uses this word suffering. 00:22:32.820 --> 00:22:39.860 Because he wants us to identify even in the most difficult of circumstances, there is a way and 00:22:39.860 --> 00:22:43.700 a place to let God's glory made known. 00:22:44.940 --> 00:22:47.360 It's not about waiting for things to get to normal. 00:22:47.360 --> 00:22:51.890 It's not just about working with circumstances that are easiest or people that are the easiest. 00:22:52.220 --> 00:22:59.580 It's about using the opportunities where God has you for his glory and to remind us for this finds favor 00:22:59.580 --> 00:23:01.100 in the Lord. 00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:04.480 Verse 20: What credit is there? 00:23:05.780 --> 00:23:10.540 When you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience. 00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:17.000 But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:20.480 This finds favor with God. 00:23:22.560 --> 00:23:24.360 I want to be clear in saying this. 00:23:26.280 --> 00:23:31.080 I'm not trying to help us understand how to manipulate everyone else in order to get what you want. 00:23:33.280 --> 00:23:39.270 Because what our hearts should ultimately be settled in is living our lives for an audience of one. 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:48.380 Meaning I'm going to be who God calls me to be, regardless of other people around me do, or at least that's my goal most days. 00:23:50.980 --> 00:23:53.640 But it's not because I want to manipulate someone else. 00:23:55.260 --> 00:23:59.730 It's because I understand the position for which I have been set free and the King that I ultimately want to honor. 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:02.860 This finds favor with him. 00:24:04.360 --> 00:24:08.140 Remember last week we looked starting in verse 13 where he tells us to submit to government authorities. 00:24:09.520 --> 00:24:10.600 Why would he tell us to do that? 00:24:12.040 --> 00:24:13.320 Because it's what's pleasing to the Lord. 00:24:13.320 --> 00:24:14.980 It says for the Lord's sake. 00:24:15.860 --> 00:24:19.720 It's interesting when Peter is writing to people and he says, look, I want you to go make a difference in this world. 00:24:20.260 --> 00:24:22.580 And they can say back, okay, Peter, now how are we going to do this? 00:24:22.600 --> 00:24:29.780 And he starts to tell us in 1 Peter 2 and the example is he starts to draw from, are to tell us where you're leveraged above 00:24:29.780 --> 00:24:30.720 other people. 00:24:31.100 --> 00:24:38.120 But rather to start with the idea of, look, even if you find yourself suppressed under people, here's still a 00:24:38.260 --> 00:24:39.820 place for God's people to make a difference. 00:24:41.220 --> 00:24:42.070 And where does it start? 00:24:43.140 --> 00:24:43.680 Not with them. 00:24:45.460 --> 00:24:46.280 It starts in your own heart. 00:24:47.980 --> 00:24:54.940 Because the true battle we always face as people really we like to blame others, but you're responsible for you. 00:24:56.560 --> 00:24:57.960 It's in our heart. 00:24:57.960 --> 00:24:59.450 And this is what verse 20 is telling us. 00:24:59.580 --> 00:25:03.520 What credit is it, if when you sin and are harshly treated you endure it with patience. 00:25:03.780 --> 00:25:09.440 But when you do what is right and suffer for it and you patiently endured this finds favor with God. 00:25:10.260 --> 00:25:14.250 So anytime we face a moment of adversity, there's a fork in the road to make the decision. 00:25:14.420 --> 00:25:21.440 Okay, am I going to use my authority and my freedom for my glory to get what I want and to put other people under me and 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.250 to tell them to get in their place? 00:25:23.460 --> 00:25:30.840 Or am I going to use it for God's glory and God's goodness in this world to use my position to become a servant to leverage before their benefit, 00:25:31.060 --> 00:25:32.020 but for the Lord. 00:25:33.260 --> 00:25:37.480 In verse 21 how do we know this works? 00:25:39.740 --> 00:25:48.480 Verse 21 he says this, you have been called for this purpose. 00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:51.180 Church, you want to know your calling in this world? 00:25:53.320 --> 00:25:54.760 It's to be a light in the midst of darkness. 00:25:57.220 --> 00:26:00.580 To be the hands and feet of Jesus as he has called us to rule. 00:26:01.620 --> 00:26:08.740 To understand that ruling as the Gentiles, as Jesus said in Matthew 20 isn't about suppressing people or telling people we're on the top, but it's to 00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:12.620 emulate our King of Kings who became the servant of servants, which he's about to say in just a moment. 00:26:14.060 --> 00:26:18.580 But in verse 21 he says, you have been called for this purpose, and he goes on. 00:26:18.580 --> 00:26:25.580 Look at the rest of this verse, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, 00:26:25.620 --> 00:26:33.060 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, and while being reviled, he did not revile in return while suffering, 00:26:33.320 --> 00:26:39.120 he uttered no threats but kept entrusting himself to him who judges rise righteously. 00:26:39.580 --> 00:26:46.580 Now listen to this, verse 24 and 25, and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to 00:26:46.580 --> 00:26:51.220 sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds you were healed. 00:26:52.320 --> 00:26:57.460 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you've returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. 00:26:59.900 --> 00:27:07.080 Maybe in your life, you can think in the model of Jesus is great, but maybe in your life you've even had an individual who has modeled the 00:27:07.140 --> 00:27:08.180 goodness of Jesus to you. 00:27:09.900 --> 00:27:14.400 Maybe you can think of a time where it wasn't the best place for you in your life. 00:27:15.940 --> 00:27:20.880 And someone that loved the Lord showed up and they showed you grace when you didn't deserve it. 00:27:23.900 --> 00:27:26.360 It's hard to hate people when they love you that way, isn't it? 00:27:27.460 --> 00:27:32.950 No matter how much you want to fight them, they only returned with love and grace towards you. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:42.200 And God uses that, I think to change us, to begin to work on our hearts that may be hard 00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:45.620 to make us more sensitive to the goodness of who he is. 00:27:47.660 --> 00:27:50.200 And the reason I say that is because I know that happened to me. 00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:56.540 I remember what it was like to be a 14, 15, 16 year old kid running on the streets, being a punk. 00:27:57.740 --> 00:28:00.580 And I remember my first encounter with a Christian, 60 some years old. 00:28:02.500 --> 00:28:06.220 In the middle of a scenario that wasn't good with a bunch of kids that weren't good. 00:28:07.520 --> 00:28:10.480 And this old military guy comes up to me in the street, toe to toe. 00:28:10.500 --> 00:28:11.560 I've never had a man do that. 00:28:13.760 --> 00:28:15.080 And he tells me all about his Jesus. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:17.440 And he wouldn't quit. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:21.880 And it took a few years because I'm stubborn, as my mom says. 00:28:24.550 --> 00:28:25.680 But God used that. 00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:32.720 I think years later in college, realizing I had just made a mess of my life and it was heading nowhere fast. 00:28:33.900 --> 00:28:40.900 And in my mind, trying to think, if there is a God and there's gotta be a purpose to life, where can I go to figure out that 00:28:40.900 --> 00:28:41.140 purpose? 00:28:42.940 --> 00:28:50.240 And then I remember, as a teenage kid being a punk, running into some Christians and 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:51.340 then going back to them. 00:28:52.620 --> 00:28:53.180 God used that. 00:28:55.300 --> 00:28:58.040 And verse 24 shows us, that illustration. 00:28:59.180 --> 00:29:06.420 That Jesus took on the form of a servant to serve us and by him 00:29:06.420 --> 00:29:07.360 were healed. 00:29:08.560 --> 00:29:16.060 And in verse 25 while we're astray, he leads us and he really guards our souls, which 00:29:16.060 --> 00:29:18.150 is ultimately what we want to point people to. 00:29:19.900 --> 00:29:24.810 There is a story in the book of Numbers 12:3, it's a funny verse in the Bible. 00:29:26.800 --> 00:29:29.220 What makes it funny is that Moses wrote the book of Numbers. 00:29:29.300 --> 00:29:32.400 And in verse three he calls himself the meekest man on the earth. 00:29:33.660 --> 00:29:35.170 If I were in charge of writing my story. 00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:42.920 He calls himself the meekest man on earth, which is kind of odd because when you think about being strong, 00:29:43.980 --> 00:29:47.820 one of the characteristics that you would probably rarely put with strength is meekness. 00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:54.480 But when you think about who Moses was, he was the one that God used to come before Pharaoh. 00:29:55.820 --> 00:30:03.800 The leader that stood before the sea, while the army of the Egyptians were chasing after Israel and he parted the sea with God's authority, and 00:30:03.800 --> 00:30:04.920 yet he's described as meek. 00:30:06.280 --> 00:30:12.420 If you ask the Jews today, who is the greatest leader in all of Israel, they would highly favor Moses. 00:30:13.040 --> 00:30:13.880 He was the leader of leaders. 00:30:15.180 --> 00:30:17.300 And yet the leader of leaders, what is he described as? 00:30:17.360 --> 00:30:18.740 He's described as meek. 00:30:20.300 --> 00:30:26.300 I just want to say this to us, meekness in our lives should never be mistaken as weakness. 00:30:28.300 --> 00:30:33.460 But rather what meekness is in the life of a believer is confidence in who you already are in the image of God. 00:30:35.140 --> 00:30:41.860 You don't need someone else to validate you because you've already been given incredible position by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 00:30:41.940 --> 00:30:44.200 And only because of that are you able to be a servant. 00:30:45.960 --> 00:30:49.280 When you're in the eyes of God, understand who you are. 00:30:50.340 --> 00:30:52.150 You don't run to people for that validation. 00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:53.460 You don't need it. 00:30:55.180 --> 00:30:57.920 Because you already understand the position for which you have been given in Christ. 00:30:59.420 --> 00:31:06.840 It is only those that are bold in Jesus that can take the form of a servant and truly serve for godly purpose, 00:31:07.800 --> 00:31:11.660 not for the validation of others, but for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 00:31:13.280 --> 00:31:21.320 Sometimes we look at adversity in our lives and we think that in that season we just have to sit there until God brings the 00:31:21.320 --> 00:31:21.960 rain again. 00:31:23.520 --> 00:31:30.780 But when you look at scripture, you truly see that those moments of adversity are oftentimes the greatest place that God uses 00:31:30.780 --> 00:31:32.380 for his glory and his people. 00:31:34.300 --> 00:31:36.420 Peter wants us to recognize how does that happen? 00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:41.640 It's when the heart of a servant sees truly his position before God. 00:31:42.700 --> 00:31:49.780 As Jesus has forgiven us for the cross and by faith we put our place in him and in that we're able to serve the King of Kings 00:31:49.780 --> 00:31:53.000 and Lord of Lords, not by our strength, but because of his glory.