WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.080 We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christ Church. 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:15.280 This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christ Church. 00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:22.640 Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org. 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:29.839 First letter of Peter, starting on verse 22. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:39.719 Now that you've purified yourself by obeying the truth, so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply from the heart. 00:00:40.439 --> 00:00:47.460 For you have been born again, not by perishable seed, but by imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:54.799 Therefore rid yourself of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 00:00:54.799 --> 00:01:05.079 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:07.340 Now that you've tasted the Lord is good. 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:14.480 As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him, 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:21.019 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:25.900 offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 00:01:25.900 --> 00:01:28.040 For in scripture it says, 00:01:28.040 --> 00:01:36.200 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. 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:39.780 Now, to you who believe, this stone is precious. 00:01:40.659 --> 00:01:45.540 But to those who do not believe, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 00:01:46.140 --> 00:01:50.719 And the stone that causes people to stumble, and a rock that makes them fall, 00:01:51.420 --> 00:01:56.100 they stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. 00:01:56.620 --> 00:02:02.500 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:08.219 that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 00:02:09.060 --> 00:02:12.539 Once you were not a people, but now you are a people of God. 00:02:13.219 --> 00:02:17.180 Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:23.080 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:25.400 which weighs war against your soul. 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:31.060 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:36.439 they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:38.000 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:38.599 --> 00:02:39.560 Thanks be to God. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:44.500 Good morning, Christ Church. 00:02:46.020 --> 00:02:53.719 The week before last, Andrew and Catherine and I had the opportunity to go to New York City together, 00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:57.080 and we hope that maybe Chelsea can join us next time. 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:05.380 But we enjoyed having conversations there with different pastors and professors and practitioners 00:03:05.380 --> 00:03:13.980 from all over the country, New York, Chicago, D.C., L.A., the United Kingdom. 00:03:14.540 --> 00:03:17.980 And we were…one of the questions we were wrestling with together was, 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:24.180 how do we communicate the gospel effectively in our post-Christian context? 00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:29.379 How do we communicate the gospel effectively in our post-Christian context? 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:35.280 And one of the shared assumptions in those conversations is that we need stronger churches 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:41.040 in order to be able to do that, that we need congregations that are full of men and women 00:03:41.040 --> 00:03:46.500 who really believe the gospel and are living by the gospel 00:03:46.500 --> 00:03:49.360 and are embodying the gospel in their life together, 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:55.260 and that the best way for people to hear the gospel is to do so within the context 00:03:55.260 --> 00:04:01.720 of a gospel-saturated church community that's really clear about her identity 00:04:01.720 --> 00:04:06.000 and her mission and the source of her power. 00:04:06.540 --> 00:04:09.820 And so, as I think about those conversations we've been having 00:04:09.820 --> 00:04:12.320 and as I come to this text again in 1 Peter, 00:04:13.260 --> 00:04:16.939 these three questions emerge for me along these lines. 00:04:16.939 --> 00:04:20.160 The first question is just, what is the church? 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:23.420 What in the world is the church? 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.660 Secondly, how do we relate to our culture? 00:04:28.219 --> 00:04:32.160 How should the church relate to our broader culture? 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:37.279 And then thirdly, how do we get the power to live like Christ? 00:04:37.379 --> 00:04:39.939 How does power come into the church? 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:43.120 So those are the three questions I want to explore this morning. 00:04:43.259 --> 00:04:44.079 What is the church? 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:48.639 How do we relate to our culture and where do we get the power to live like Christ? 00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:51.079 So first of all, what is the church? 00:04:51.139 --> 00:04:55.319 And I think this is important because many Christians in North America today 00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:57.879 are increasingly ambivalent about the church. 00:04:58.159 --> 00:04:59.819 They could kind of take or leave the church. 00:04:59.919 --> 00:05:03.719 Many have chosen to leave the church in what's been called the great de-churching. 00:05:04.379 --> 00:05:08.039 Others have decided to stay in the church but sort of sit loose to it 00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:10.819 and participate at their own convenience. 00:05:11.220 --> 00:05:15.600 And we could trot out many, many examples of how the church today is being reshaped 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:18.520 by forces of individualism and consumerism 00:05:18.520 --> 00:05:21.740 in what I would say are very negative patterns. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:27.800 But I want to think about Peter because Peter was there in that moment 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:32.480 in Matthew chapter 16 where Jesus said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:37.400 he said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. 00:05:37.980 --> 00:05:39.120 It's a very strong statement. 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:40.700 Peter heard it directly. 00:05:40.840 --> 00:05:45.780 I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against my church. 00:05:45.860 --> 00:05:49.480 And that made a deep impression not only on Peter but upon all the apostles. 00:05:50.620 --> 00:05:56.000 And so in their writings we get these metaphors of how important the church is to Jesus Christ. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:01.120 They say that the church is the body and Christ is the head. 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:05.600 The church is the bride and Christ is the groom. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:08.959 The church is the flock and Christ is the shepherd. 00:06:09.980 --> 00:06:14.920 And Peter adds into this mix of metaphors just three more today 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:16.860 to tell us about the importance of the church. 00:06:16.980 --> 00:06:19.860 And we're not going to have time to fully explore them in depth 00:06:19.860 --> 00:06:21.779 but I do want to just put them before you 00:06:21.779 --> 00:06:27.659 because I want to suggest that if we come to embrace this really high vision 00:06:27.659 --> 00:06:30.779 of what the church is in the eyes of Christ 00:06:30.779 --> 00:06:36.759 then we'll be much more equipped to sort of reverse the forces of individualism 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:40.139 and consumerism that are at work on and in the church today. 00:06:41.059 --> 00:06:42.599 And what Peter says first of all, he says, 00:06:43.359 --> 00:06:46.379 if you're part of the church you belong to the new family. 00:06:47.339 --> 00:06:49.839 You belong to the new family of God. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:53.659 Look at verse 22 of chapter 1. 00:06:54.859 --> 00:06:55.159 He says, 00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:57.500 Now that you've purified yourselves by obeying the truth 00:06:57.500 --> 00:07:00.060 so that you have sincere love for each other 00:07:00.060 --> 00:07:02.679 love one another deeply from the heart. 00:07:03.719 --> 00:07:05.560 And then in verse 2 of the next chapter he says, 00:07:05.739 --> 00:07:08.759 Like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:11.759 so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:17.199 And we recognize here the kind of things we expect to find in families. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:20.539 Newborn babies who are crying out for food. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:26.159 Brothers and sisters who are learning how to love each other from the heart. 00:07:27.099 --> 00:07:30.680 And how do these babies, how do these brothers and sisters in this family 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:33.399 become part of the family in the first place? 00:07:33.599 --> 00:07:37.219 Well, Peter says in verse 23 that they're born again of God the Father. 00:07:37.220 --> 00:07:42.840 They're born again by the imperishable seed of the word of the gospel. 00:07:44.440 --> 00:07:49.980 You can't be in this family of the Father without being born again, Peter says. 00:07:51.020 --> 00:07:53.440 And he says this at the very beginning of the letter. 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:57.220 Praise be to God the Father who's given us new birth 00:07:57.220 --> 00:07:59.840 into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:05.639 So I say this because many people go to church and attend Sunday services 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:08.239 but they've not yet experienced the new birth. 00:08:08.339 --> 00:08:10.279 They've not yet been born again. 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:16.399 And how do you know whether or not the Father has begotten you into his family? 00:08:16.539 --> 00:08:18.000 Well, Peter says here's a test. 00:08:19.139 --> 00:08:24.779 Are you like a baby who longs for the spiritual milk of God's grace and God's truth? 00:08:25.620 --> 00:08:27.959 That's kind of one way you know that you're part of this family. 00:08:27.959 --> 00:08:34.500 Or are you like a brother or a sister who loves the rest of the family sincerely 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:36.699 and earnestly and from the heart? 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:40.620 That's another test to know whether or not you're part of the family of God. 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:43.659 But Peter says not only if you're part of the church, 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:45.539 you're not only part of this new family. 00:08:45.799 --> 00:08:48.100 He goes on and he says you're part of the new temple. 00:08:49.100 --> 00:08:50.199 You're part of the new temple. 00:08:50.460 --> 00:08:54.639 Now he changes metaphors quickly so you've got to kind of be an agile reader. 00:08:55.259 --> 00:08:57.199 But he says in verse 5, he says, 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:03.600 You also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, 00:09:04.180 --> 00:09:07.960 offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 00:09:09.180 --> 00:09:14.200 Now we all know that the material house of God that was built with inanimate stones 00:09:14.200 --> 00:09:18.200 was that great temple in the heart of Jerusalem. 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:23.080 And what Peter is saying here is that God is actually building a new temple. 00:09:24.180 --> 00:09:28.340 He's building a spiritual house where the Holy Spirit can dwell. 00:09:29.379 --> 00:09:32.800 And he says that you are the animated stones. 00:09:32.920 --> 00:09:37.960 You are the living stones that are being built into this house 00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:41.480 in some kind of interlocking interdependence with one another. 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:46.440 And what Peter is telling us here is that the church is not merely a building 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:48.860 where we go on a Sunday morning, 00:09:48.940 --> 00:09:53.980 but the church is rather this 24-7 community of living and breathing stones. 00:09:55.259 --> 00:09:59.539 And that within this spiritual house of the Holy Spirit, 00:10:00.259 --> 00:10:03.159 there's a holy priesthood that exists. 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:06.539 And that every Christian is a priest, 00:10:07.620 --> 00:10:11.879 offering not the physical sacrifices of lambs and goats and whatnot, 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:15.199 but offering spiritual sacrifices of ourselves, 00:10:16.419 --> 00:10:21.559 of our lives, of our time and our energy and our resources, 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:26.259 not just on Sundays, but Monday through Saturday and all that we do. 00:10:27.459 --> 00:10:28.019 You're following. 00:10:28.179 --> 00:10:30.539 Peter says if you're part of the church, you're part of this new family, 00:10:30.699 --> 00:10:31.839 you're part of the new temple. 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:36.340 And then he goes on and he says you belong to the new Israel. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:38.940 You belong to the new Israel. 00:10:39.040 --> 00:10:41.379 Verse 9, he says this. 00:10:41.500 --> 00:10:41.860 He says, 00:10:42.920 --> 00:10:46.920 But you're a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 00:10:47.060 --> 00:10:48.840 God's special possession. 00:10:49.940 --> 00:10:51.820 Now, Peter, of course, is a Jewish Christian, 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:57.440 and this passage is just saturated with the largest collection of Old Testament images 00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:58.660 anywhere in the New Testament, 00:10:58.659 --> 00:11:06.259 and he's just piling up title upon title upon title that was given to Israel in the books of Exodus, 00:11:06.500 --> 00:11:10.379 Psalms, Isaiah, Hosea, and he's actually applying them to us. 00:11:11.219 --> 00:11:11.919 And he says, 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:14.360 You all are a chosen people. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:18.860 You've been elected by God to showcase his salvation to the world. 00:11:18.860 --> 00:11:21.240 And then he says, 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:22.759 You're a royal priesthood, 00:11:22.800 --> 00:11:28.560 and that means that the king of the universe wants to use you to bring people into his presence, 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:33.120 and that the sovereign Lord wants to, through you, 00:11:33.300 --> 00:11:37.980 mediate his blessings and his glory to all the peoples of the earth. 00:11:37.980 --> 00:11:40.100 He says, 00:11:40.180 --> 00:11:41.240 You're a holy nation. 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:44.480 And we talked about that word holy a couple weeks ago, 00:11:44.539 --> 00:11:47.100 that you're a set-apart culture, 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:54.019 set-apart to reflect the moral beauty and the character of God's excellence in your life together. 00:11:55.139 --> 00:11:55.879 And then he says, 00:11:55.940 --> 00:11:57.200 You're God's special possession. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:11:59.720 In the ancient Near East, the kings, 00:12:00.340 --> 00:12:01.560 they had their own, 00:12:01.700 --> 00:12:02.740 they had a bunch of wealth, 00:12:02.820 --> 00:12:04.180 and then they had their own private wealth. 00:12:04.179 --> 00:12:06.539 They had these special objects of beauty, 00:12:06.739 --> 00:12:09.679 these treasures that they would keep in their palace, 00:12:10.199 --> 00:12:13.519 and that they delighted in in a special and a higher way. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:14.500 And Peter says, 00:12:14.599 --> 00:12:16.819 That's what you are to God. 00:12:18.839 --> 00:12:22.599 And so what is the primary task of this new Israel? 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:24.759 If you've been called to be part of the new Israel, 00:12:24.859 --> 00:12:28.259 what is the primary task of the people of God? 00:12:28.339 --> 00:12:29.179 What are we here for? 00:12:29.799 --> 00:12:30.979 What are we supposed to do? 00:12:30.980 --> 00:12:36.080 Well, Peter interestingly says that our doing flows out of our being. 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:42.300 That what we do flows out of who we are and what God has made it possible for us to be. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:44.519 And he says this in verse 9. 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:48.740 He says, 00:12:49.539 --> 00:12:52.820 You've been made all these things that you may declare the praises of Him 00:12:52.820 --> 00:12:56.639 who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:04.519 Of course, we can only do that if we've been actually called by the gracious Lord. 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:06.759 Just as He called Lazarus out of His tomb, 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:11.399 and Lazarus walked out of the darkness of His grave into the light of day, 00:13:12.059 --> 00:13:15.759 so He must call us out of the darkness of death and into the light of life. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:19.059 But if you have received that call of God, 00:13:19.059 --> 00:13:23.919 then our primary task as the new Israel, the new people of God, 00:13:23.979 --> 00:13:25.419 is one of declaration. 00:13:25.839 --> 00:13:28.719 As Andrew said earlier, we're to be declaring the praises, 00:13:29.059 --> 00:13:35.500 declaring the excellencies of who God is and what God has done. 00:13:36.439 --> 00:13:39.139 And what that means is that the primary task of the church 00:13:39.139 --> 00:13:43.599 is for us to be telling our family, our friends, our neighbors, and our coworkers 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:47.259 about this amazing God 00:13:47.259 --> 00:13:51.899 and what He's done to make it possible for us to be included in 00:13:51.899 --> 00:13:55.759 and to belong to His chosen people 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:58.899 and His royal priesthood and His holy nation 00:13:58.899 --> 00:14:02.759 and His treasured possession through His Son, Jesus Christ. 00:14:04.060 --> 00:14:05.360 So, what is the church? 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:08.420 If you've fallen asleep, this is the time to wake up. 00:14:08.940 --> 00:14:09.720 What is the church? 00:14:10.019 --> 00:14:11.480 The church is the new family 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:13.940 where people are being born again as babies 00:14:13.940 --> 00:14:15.899 who crave the gospel of grace 00:14:15.899 --> 00:14:18.320 and who are growing up within that family 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:22.759 to love their brothers and sisters like God the Father loves us. 00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:27.039 And the church is this new temple, 00:14:27.220 --> 00:14:30.800 this spiritual house of the Holy Spirit with living stones 00:14:30.800 --> 00:14:35.420 and a priestly community that offers 24-7, Sunday to Saturday, 00:14:36.100 --> 00:14:38.920 spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable and pleasing to God. 00:14:38.919 --> 00:14:42.719 And the church is this new Israel whose primary task 00:14:42.719 --> 00:14:46.620 is to evangelize our neighborhoods and our networks 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:48.519 by declaring the praises of the One 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:51.679 who called us out of the darkness and into His marvelous light. 00:14:51.740 --> 00:14:54.659 Now, that is not a low view of the church. 00:14:55.319 --> 00:14:59.019 That's an exceedingly high, high, high view of the church. 00:14:59.099 --> 00:15:01.740 And the question for us is, do we share that vision? 00:15:01.740 --> 00:15:09.100 And are we committing ourselves to embodying that amazing vision of the church? 00:15:10.259 --> 00:15:11.100 So that's question one. 00:15:11.180 --> 00:15:11.720 What is the church? 00:15:11.799 --> 00:15:16.680 Question two is, how do we as a church relate to our culture? 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:20.440 How should the church relate to our culture? 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:24.940 Now, again, Peter is sharing with us not just his own ideas. 00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:29.600 He's sharing with us the vision that Jesus gave to him and the other apostles 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:36.800 that the church is meant to be this nonconformist counterculture 00:15:36.800 --> 00:15:41.379 that seeks a missionary encounter with our culture. 00:15:42.620 --> 00:15:44.639 And here's where I get that in verse 11. 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:46.560 Peter says, 00:15:47.060 --> 00:15:51.080 Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles 00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:54.240 to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:59.740 Now, the controlling theme of this whole letter is that we are Christians, 00:16:00.100 --> 00:16:01.879 are exiles who are scattered. 00:16:02.019 --> 00:16:03.680 That's the very first line of the letter. 00:16:04.580 --> 00:16:06.740 Peter says in chapter 1, verse 17, 00:16:06.899 --> 00:16:09.799 that we're to live our time as foreigners in reverent fear. 00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:13.259 And he says at the end of the letter that he's writing from Babylon, 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:15.680 the place of exile par excellence. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:17.899 That Peter's saying, I'm in exile, you're in exile. 00:16:18.259 --> 00:16:22.279 And if the church's basic identity is that we are the exiled people of God, 00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:28.419 then how is it that we should live as resident aliens in a culture that's not our own? 00:16:29.620 --> 00:16:34.120 How are we to engage with the values and the practices of our culture? 00:16:35.079 --> 00:16:36.899 Now, I think we have a slide. 00:16:37.079 --> 00:16:38.779 If we can pull that up. 00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:43.740 This is something that I told you about the very first week we introduced this series. 00:16:44.500 --> 00:16:48.360 And perhaps maybe one of you forgot what I said. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:49.600 Maybe one of you wasn't here. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:54.340 So I'm going to remind you too that we can find many churches and Christians today who, 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:56.759 their goal is to transform our culture. 00:16:57.680 --> 00:16:59.279 They see that our culture is in decline. 00:16:59.620 --> 00:17:02.279 And so they say, let's seek political power. 00:17:02.420 --> 00:17:08.120 Let's rectify this decline by imposing Christian beliefs and practices on an unwilling populace. 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:12.000 And then other Christians and churches say, well, no, let's not transform the culture. 00:17:12.120 --> 00:17:14.140 Let's seek to assimilate to the culture. 00:17:14.140 --> 00:17:22.259 Let's align ourselves with different movements of justice and liberation movements so that we can be seen to be on the right side of history. 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:27.360 Other people say, well, let's not try to transform the culture or assimilate to the culture. 00:17:27.360 --> 00:17:38.600 But let's just withdraw from our culture and retreat into this strong, tight-knit, sheltered community with very little connection to the rest of our society so that we can avoid being polluted by it. 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:51.759 And then other Christians and churches say, well, no, let's just ignore culture altogether and let's just build up the church and win people to Jesus and leave the culture to just take care of itself and stew in its own juices. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:18:04.519 Now, Peter wrote this letter in order to help the church avoid all of these unbalanced excesses that we might be prone to. 00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:10.720 Being defensive against, being relevant to, being purified from, being unconcerned about our culture. 00:18:10.859 --> 00:18:19.039 And rather what Peter's encouraging us to do is to be Christian exiles who are distinctively and faithfully present within our culture. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:28.740 That just as God in Jesus Christ became fully and faithfully present among us and offered His life to us, that's what the church is to do for the world. 00:18:30.639 --> 00:18:34.539 And I want to show you this missionary dynamic in our text. 00:18:34.619 --> 00:18:37.279 If you'll look at verse 11, Peter says, 00:18:37.379 --> 00:18:44.440 Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul. 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:52.620 He says, look at all those sinful desires and all those passions of the flesh that are inside of you and on display all around you. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:19:01.539 Think about the greed for more money or the lust for more sex or pride in the pursuit of more power. 00:19:03.600 --> 00:19:07.240 He says, do you see yourself in a battle with these things? 00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:19.240 Do you see yourself as someone who has spiritual powers that are waging war against your soul and seeking to gain your allegiance, seeking dominion over you? 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:23.559 Are you tempted to assimilate to all those sinful desires of our culture? 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:30.380 Are you tempted to just go with the flow and fit in with the crowd and win people's approval? 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.680 And if that's you, Peter says, you need to abstain. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:42.880 You as the people of God, this holy nation, this chosen people, this royal priesthood, you need to learn how to practice self-control. 00:19:44.080 --> 00:19:48.460 And to say this two-letter sentence, N-O. 00:19:50.340 --> 00:19:50.900 No. 00:19:52.360 --> 00:19:53.640 Greed, no. 00:19:54.060 --> 00:19:55.180 Lust, no. 00:19:55.500 --> 00:19:56.940 Pride, no. 00:19:58.019 --> 00:20:02.500 But, Peter says, abstaining is only one part of our missionary dynamic. 00:20:02.500 --> 00:20:10.779 And don't misinterpret not assimilating with our culture, with this posture of withdrawing from and ignoring our culture. 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:12.940 Because Peter goes on in verse 12 and he says, 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:21.440 Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:28.680 He's saying you, the church, need to stay connected with all of your unbelieving coworkers and friends and neighbors. 00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:42.860 And you need to be faithfully present to them, living as salt and light among them, getting close enough to them to live out before them an authentic and genuine human life that God has called us to live. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:49.779 And when you do that, both individually and collectively, you're going to be both offensive and attractive. 00:20:49.779 --> 00:20:55.619 Because when you abstain, as verse 11 says, you're going to offend people. 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:00.960 And when you do good deeds, as verse 12 says, you're going to attract people. 00:21:01.779 --> 00:21:04.599 And people basically just won't know what to do with you. 00:21:05.379 --> 00:21:07.000 You will defy their categories. 00:21:07.139 --> 00:21:11.079 They're going to look upon you with suspicion and say, you're like a foreigner to us. 00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:13.859 Why don't you adopt our values? 00:21:14.059 --> 00:21:16.419 Why don't you adopt our customs and our practices? 00:21:16.679 --> 00:21:24.119 But other people are going to look at you and they're going to be won over because they see in your deeds integrity and consistency. 00:21:25.099 --> 00:21:27.039 And they're going to find that incredibly attractive. 00:21:28.460 --> 00:21:30.879 Now what, oh man, I'm running out of time. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:38.559 What are the lives, what are the good lives that Peter imagines the church living out in front of our pagan neighbors? 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:42.579 Well, I just finished a great book by a scholar named Larry Hurtado. 00:21:43.559 --> 00:21:46.000 And he wrote this right before he died in 2016. 00:21:46.299 --> 00:21:50.819 It's called Destroyer of the Gods, Early Christian Distinctives in the Roman World. 00:21:51.679 --> 00:21:55.980 And basically he says there that the early church engaged in a Christian social project. 00:21:56.159 --> 00:22:00.559 They were seeking to be this unique kind of human community that defied categories. 00:22:01.639 --> 00:22:06.559 And that project had at least five elements that they considered good lives among the pagans. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:13.059 The first element was multi-ethnicity and equality between the races. 00:22:14.220 --> 00:22:19.659 They said, well, we have this common identity in Jesus Christ that's more fundamental to our racial identities. 00:22:19.899 --> 00:22:24.599 Those are important, but they've all been relativized by the fact that we're one in Jesus Christ. 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:30.500 The second aspect of this social project is that they were unusually generous with their money. 00:22:31.399 --> 00:22:36.579 They were highly committed to caring for the weak and the poor and the marginalized. 00:22:36.859 --> 00:22:40.099 Not just of their own group, but of all peoples of all backgrounds. 00:22:40.859 --> 00:22:43.799 And they were giving their money away to do this. 00:22:44.699 --> 00:22:48.980 The third thing about this social project is that they were non-retaliatory. 00:22:48.980 --> 00:22:52.500 They were marked by a commitment to forgiveness. 00:22:53.539 --> 00:22:56.819 Especially toward the people who were criticizing them and excluding them. 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:00.180 They committed to be bridge builders and peacemakers. 00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:08.559 The fourth aspect of this Christian social project is that they were strongly and practically against the discarding of unwanted babies. 00:23:09.140 --> 00:23:12.940 Either through abortion or more likely through infant exposure. 00:23:12.940 --> 00:23:20.180 Mostly kids, but mostly girls were thrown out in these garbage heaps and left to die or taken into slavery and prostitution. 00:23:20.620 --> 00:23:23.580 And the Christian said, no, let's rescue them and bring them into our church family. 00:23:24.900 --> 00:23:31.019 And the fifth aspect of their social project is that they were revolutionary regarding the ethics of sex. 00:23:31.160 --> 00:23:36.220 And that they prohibited all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman. 00:23:36.220 --> 00:23:41.900 And they basically said to themselves and to their culture that sex is not an irresistible appetite. 00:23:42.660 --> 00:23:46.980 But it's a way to imitate the God who gave himself to us in Jesus Christ. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:55.339 Now each of these five practices that they considered good lives among the pagans in the first, second, and third centuries. 00:23:55.339 --> 00:24:01.000 Were there because the Christians had a high view of the Bible's authority and the lordship of Jesus. 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:09.299 And the first two of those practices, ethnic diversity and caring for the poor, they sound kind of like liberal emphases, don't they? 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:16.940 And then the last two of those practices, sanctity of life and sexual ethics, sound kind of like conservative emphases, don't they? 00:24:18.019 --> 00:24:24.099 But then the third practice of non-retaliation and forgiveness sounds like no particular party on offer today. 00:24:24.099 --> 00:24:38.119 And you may be aware that churches are under enormous pressure today to jettison either the first two or the last two of these practices. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:40.500 And not to keep them all. 00:24:41.619 --> 00:24:47.719 And yet to give up on any one of these would make Christianity the handmaid of a particular political program. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:52.599 And would undermine our missionary encounter with our culture. 00:24:52.599 --> 00:25:03.699 And so what Peter's telling us in verses 11 to 12, he's giving us a summary of the original missionary dynamic that's both offensive and attractive. 00:25:04.679 --> 00:25:13.119 Where some people outside of the church are going to accuse Christians of you're doing wrong, you're actually doing evil with these practices. 00:25:14.019 --> 00:25:20.759 And yet some people are going to look at the church and say, well I see your good deeds and I think I'm going to start glorifying God. 00:25:20.759 --> 00:25:33.359 You see earliest Christians were widely ridiculed as a threat to the social order because they just didn't honor all the deities and all the identities that were on offer to them. 00:25:33.460 --> 00:25:36.799 They were seen as exclusive, as narrow, as strange. 00:25:38.099 --> 00:25:40.019 And yet people were flocking to the church. 00:25:40.859 --> 00:25:45.879 People especially in the urban centers of the Roman Empire were like, we've never seen anything like this. 00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:59.480 And I just want to encourage us that if we were to commit ourselves to these same category defying, dogged adherence to the biblical gospel in all of its fullness. 00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:09.220 That we too, in our own day, would be this distinctively and faithfully present church within our culture. 00:26:09.819 --> 00:26:11.980 The salt that our culture needs. 00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:14.360 The light that our culture needs. 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:21.460 And it's my personal and pastoral experience that everything I just told you is extremely hard to do. 00:26:21.460 --> 00:26:27.340 It's very, very hard to hold this tension and to walk this line. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:30.900 And so where do we get the power to do it? 00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:31.900 It's my last point. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.960 Do I have a little permission to go a little longer? 00:26:34.420 --> 00:26:34.640 Okay. 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:36.620 So what is the church? 00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:39.279 How do we relate to our culture? 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:47.940 But then finally, if we're to do, have this basically almost impossible missionary posture and missionary encounter with our culture, 00:26:48.200 --> 00:26:49.640 where do we get the power to do it? 00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:52.860 Where do we get the power to live like Christ? 00:26:54.280 --> 00:26:57.140 Well, Peter says in verse 4, he says, 00:26:57.840 --> 00:27:04.920 Come to Him, the living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to Him. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:07.300 And then in verse 6 he says, 00:27:07.420 --> 00:27:08.360 For in Scripture it says, 00:27:08.360 --> 00:27:15.640 See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious stone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame. 00:27:15.640 --> 00:27:21.040 One of the largest building blocks in the world is called the Western Stone. 00:27:21.360 --> 00:27:22.940 Some of us have been to see it. 00:27:24.259 --> 00:27:29.840 It's part of the foundation in the temple in Jerusalem, one of the great wonders of the ancient world. 00:27:30.100 --> 00:27:36.460 And this stone is 45 feet long, 11 feet high, and 8 feet wide. 00:27:36.580 --> 00:27:38.320 It weighs over 300 tons. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:40.480 So just imagine a shipping container. 00:27:41.099 --> 00:27:42.619 That's the size of the stone. 00:27:43.779 --> 00:27:49.599 And in the Old Testament, God was often called the stone of Israel, the rock of Israel. 00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:55.359 And so why is Peter bringing up this massive, magnificent stone for us? 00:27:55.359 --> 00:28:11.219 Why is he telling these suffering Christians who are in circumstances that are incredibly insecure and unstable and unshaky about this solid rock and this immovable cornerstone? 00:28:12.459 --> 00:28:18.899 Why is he telling these Christians who are being dishonored and rejected because they're following the way of Jesus, 00:28:18.900 --> 00:28:24.680 why is he telling them about this stone that's rejected by people in their building projects, 00:28:25.540 --> 00:28:29.800 but is actually chosen and precious and honored by God in His building project? 00:28:31.080 --> 00:28:35.080 And why is Peter telling these Christians who, as he says in chapter 1 verse 6, 00:28:35.160 --> 00:28:40.640 they're suffering grief and all kinds of trials because of their commitment to Jesus and the way of Jesus? 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:49.140 Why is he telling these Christians who are facing the prospect of alienation and exclusion and persecution and even death, 00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:52.759 that this stone is not a dead stone but a living stone? 00:28:53.700 --> 00:28:57.640 And that this stone is not dead, he's full of abundant life, 00:28:59.060 --> 00:29:04.640 as if any other stone that touches this living stone will itself become fully and forever alive. 00:29:05.460 --> 00:29:09.420 Why does Peter want us to know about this living stone? 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:14.080 And why does he want us to build our lives on this living stone? 00:29:15.660 --> 00:29:20.060 Peter's essentially saying, look, everybody is involved in a building project. 00:29:21.020 --> 00:29:23.860 Everybody you meet is building their life, they're building their identity, 00:29:24.080 --> 00:29:26.560 they're building their future, they're building their family, 00:29:26.700 --> 00:29:29.980 they're building their community on some kind of cornerstone. 00:29:31.080 --> 00:29:34.840 And Peter's saying that when Jesus was evaluated by people 00:29:34.840 --> 00:29:39.160 as a potential cornerstone upon which to build their lives, 00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:43.060 he was judged unworthy and unwanted. 00:29:44.740 --> 00:29:49.340 People said, nah, we'd rather build on a different stone, a different foundation. 00:29:51.140 --> 00:29:53.240 Jesus was put to shame, Peter says. 00:29:53.360 --> 00:29:55.320 Jesus was dishonored. 00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:59.220 He was deemed as not precious and rejected. 00:29:59.220 --> 00:30:04.339 And we shouldn't be surprised that the same thing is happening today. 00:30:04.339 --> 00:30:10.139 That people are saying, you know, I'd rather build my life on my work 00:30:10.139 --> 00:30:13.319 and career success and my professional status. 00:30:14.259 --> 00:30:19.019 I'd rather build my life on my body and my lifestyle preferences and well-being. 00:30:19.459 --> 00:30:24.240 I'd rather build my life on my romance and a sense of adventure, travel the world. 00:30:24.359 --> 00:30:29.679 I'd rather live my life and build my life upon my family and the accomplishments of my children. 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:32.480 And I think if Peter were here today, he'd say, 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:40.680 that is a terribly insecure and unstable and shaky building project that you're working on there. 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:46.240 But he would say, I want you to look at how God the Father chose to build. 00:30:47.460 --> 00:30:50.420 Because when God the Father wanted to build a new creation, 00:30:50.560 --> 00:30:52.220 when He wanted to build a new humanity, 00:30:53.460 --> 00:30:58.100 when He set about to build a new family and a new temple and a new Israel, 00:30:58.099 --> 00:31:00.839 He looked at His Son Jesus and He said, 00:31:01.500 --> 00:31:01.980 this is it. 00:31:03.319 --> 00:31:05.639 This is the cornerstone. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:07.099 This is the foundation stone. 00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:10.480 And God said, I choose Him. 00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:16.059 I honor Him as most precious and most valuable to me. 00:31:17.079 --> 00:31:18.519 Yes, He will be rejected. 00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:20.179 Yes, He will be dishonored. 00:31:20.359 --> 00:31:21.779 Yes, He will be humiliated. 00:31:21.959 --> 00:31:24.419 And He will be put to shame on His cross. 00:31:25.399 --> 00:31:28.000 He'll be treated like an exile and a foreigner. 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:33.319 He will suffer grief and all kinds of trials because of His faithfulness to God. 00:31:33.980 --> 00:31:38.599 He will go through the fiery furnace of being rejected by His culture. 00:31:39.859 --> 00:31:42.240 But I'm going to raise Him up, the Father says. 00:31:43.019 --> 00:31:45.779 I'm going to give Him victory over sin and death. 00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:49.139 I'm going to make Him that resurrected and living stone. 00:31:49.140 --> 00:31:56.120 I'm going to give to Jesus imperishable life, indestructible life, everlasting life. 00:31:56.259 --> 00:32:02.500 And He will be the living foundation of the new creation and the new humanity. 00:32:02.500 --> 00:32:07.880 And everyone who builds on Him will come alive. 00:32:09.420 --> 00:32:13.099 All who trust in Him will be like living stones. 00:32:14.059 --> 00:32:15.680 And they'll never be put to shame. 00:32:15.900 --> 00:32:17.980 In fact, the exact opposite will happen to them. 00:32:18.140 --> 00:32:21.579 Their rejection will turn into vindication. 00:32:21.579 --> 00:32:26.000 Just as Jesus' rejection turn into vindication. 00:32:27.720 --> 00:32:32.139 Friends, if your life is built on this living stone, 00:32:32.679 --> 00:32:36.500 then death can only do to you what it did to Jesus. 00:32:36.500 --> 00:32:40.339 And if your life is built on this living stone, 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:43.680 then you can only be shaken as much as Jesus was shaken. 00:32:45.259 --> 00:32:48.539 And if Jesus was not ultimately put to shame, 00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:52.700 but was in fact put in the most honored place, 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:56.259 then so it will be for you 00:32:56.259 --> 00:32:59.920 and for all those who build their lives on Him. 00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:03.039 So Peter says in verse 4, 00:33:03.740 --> 00:33:05.160 come to Jesus. 00:33:06.140 --> 00:33:07.580 He says in verse 6, 00:33:07.700 --> 00:33:09.440 trust in Jesus. 00:33:10.660 --> 00:33:13.120 Build your life on Jesus. 00:33:14.039 --> 00:33:15.180 In union with Jesus. 00:33:16.019 --> 00:33:17.140 Join to Jesus. 00:33:17.900 --> 00:33:19.460 Spending time with Jesus. 00:33:20.560 --> 00:33:23.000 Let Jesus become as precious to you 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:25.640 as He is precious to God the Father. 00:33:27.080 --> 00:33:29.400 And let the life of this living stone 00:33:29.400 --> 00:33:31.380 flow into you. 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:35.060 And let the strength and the substance of Jesus 00:33:35.060 --> 00:33:37.880 become your strength and your substance. 00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:41.680 And Peter says if you do this, 00:33:43.060 --> 00:33:44.580 if you build your life this way, 00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:48.040 you'll share in the chosenness of Jesus. 00:33:49.080 --> 00:33:51.900 You'll share in His preciousness before God. 00:33:52.860 --> 00:33:56.140 You'll share in the eternal stability and honor 00:33:56.140 --> 00:33:57.940 that's been given to Jesus. 00:33:59.400 --> 00:34:00.160 So friends, 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:01.060 do you want to be a part 00:34:01.060 --> 00:34:05.480 of God's grand building project here on earth 00:34:05.480 --> 00:34:09.059 that is going to endure beyond death 00:34:09.059 --> 00:34:11.160 and on into eternity? 00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:14.500 Do you want to be a part of that? 00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:17.300 The Apostle Peter says, 00:34:18.300 --> 00:34:19.019 come to Jesus. 00:34:20.340 --> 00:34:21.440 Trust in Jesus. 00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:24.300 Become a living stone built 00:34:24.300 --> 00:34:26.400 on the living cornerstone 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:28.280 that is Jesus. 00:34:29.580 --> 00:34:30.620 In the name of the Father, 00:34:30.740 --> 00:34:31.620 Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:34:32.600 --> 00:34:32.820 Amen. 00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:33.200 Amen. 00:34:33.300 --> 00:34:33.660 Amen. 00:34:34.060 --> 00:34:34.580 Amen. 00:34:34.700 --> 00:34:35.060 Amen. 00:34:35.560 --> 00:34:36.100 Amen. 00:34:36.100 --> 00:34:36.440 Amen. 00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:37.140 Amen. 00:34:37.140 --> 00:34:37.300 Amen. 00:34:37.300 --> 00:34:37.519 Amen. 00:34:40.200 --> 00:34:42.000 Amen. 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:42.320 Amen. 00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:43.640 Amen. 00:34:43.640 --> 00:34:45.320 Amen. 00:34:45.320 --> 00:34:45.780 Amen. 00:34:46.360 --> 00:34:46.400 Amen. 00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:47.320 Amen. 00:34:47.320 --> 00:34:49.360 Amen. 00:34:49.360 --> 00:34:49.880 Amen. 00:34:49.880 --> 00:34:50.840 Amen. 00:34:50.840 --> 00:34:51.900 Amen. 00:34:51.900 --> 00:34:53.019 Amen. 00:34:53.120 --> 00:34:54.019 Amen.