1 Peter 2:9-11 – Session 2 – Weekend Away 2023

So the reading for this session is 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9 to 1.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Beloved, I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul, and so reads God's word.

Folks, we have a living hope that is found in the Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

So what's really interesting is Peter's writing to these churches in Asia Minor, he reminds them of their hope.

Then in chapter two, just before what we've at the end of chapter one into chapter two, what we see is that the reality of this situation, and I touched on this before, is that they are trying to build their lives on Jesus, but Jesus is an offense to the culture that they're living in.

He's a stumbling block.

Now, now we take hope in what Christ has done for us, but we also take hope in the fact that we are being built upon the cornerstone.

So a cornerstone is the most important stone in any building.

The building starts there.

So if you haven't got the cornerstone, right, if the if there isn't a cornerstone, the building's not going to hold fast.

And what's interesting is that what Peter says to the Christians, and what we know is true of us, is that there is no requirement for a temple anymore for God's presence to dwell amongst his people.

That we are living stones built upon him.

Jesus, the cornerstone, and the presence of God is filled fills us, and we we carry, want of a better phrase, we live out the presence of God in the midst of where we find ourselves.

It's not that people have to come somewhere, it's that God has visited his people.

So we are living stones built upon Jesus, who is the cornerstone.

The problem is the foundation stone for our lives is an offense to those who aren't Christian, who are Christians and around us.

But Peter doesn't say to them, okay, so in light of that difficulty, I want you to huddle up.

No, what he says is, you are a chosen generation, you are a royal priesthood, you are a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

No, you are the people of God for this purpose, to proclaim the excellencies of him to this hostile world that are offended by him.

Wow.

It's a big deal, isn't it?

That's a big deal, folks.

So there's three things.

I've got 20 minutes, I've got 18 minutes now.

It's counting down.

Alright, okay.

My sermons go for 50 minutes on a Sunday.

All right, and I have to cut them back as well.

So so I'm really trying hard here.

So what I want to do, I want to give you just three things, and and three, just three things to think about.

And on the last point, I'm gonna give you some peas.

I'll share a few little stories to help you think.

So the three things that we need to be thinking about as we live out this reality of hope in the midst of a culture that God says, I want you to proclaim my excellencies too.

So these are the people that you're doing life with.

I want you to, from this passage, to be reminded again of who we are.

So we have this living hope, but it's not just some hope.

We've actually been transformed.

It's interesting.

We sang that song.

I've never heard it before.

It's based on Augustine's, Augustine's um You're restless till you find your rest in him.

It says, You never change, but you change everything.

So that's the reality of the gospel.

The the word that I like to think when when we be we've been transformed.

Do not be conformed to the things of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

There's transformation that occurs.

We go from darkness to life, from hopelessness to hope.

Um we we move in that direction.

So Peter's reminding them this is who you are, folks.

And what he does is he pretty much takes it a complete quote from Exodus 19.

So God's people have come to Mount Sinai, they've come, they've been, they've been saved, they've been rescued.

That was that that salvation from Egypt has happened, and they come to the mountain, and God says this to them I've lifted you up, I've raised you up like on eagle's wings, I've picked you up, bang, I've picked you up, saved you.

Not of yourself.

If you obey my commandments, you will be my chosen generation, a royal priesthood.

That's what he says, if you obey.

Now, what's interesting is it's nothing to do with us obeying the law anymore.

Christ has fulfilled the law and he has done everything in order.

So we don't have to do things to be who we are.

So what you see here is that you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.

So very quickly, you are chosen.

First and foremost, nothing to do with you.

God's sovereign choice.

He has chosen you and chosen us.

And what I love about this room, folks, because this is, I thought our church was international.

Oh my word, this is like gonna be like what you know when John saw the throne room of heaven.

I bet you it was a bit like this.

Tribe, Tommy, and nation in this room.

This is wonderful.

This is a picture of the new creation.

This is a beautiful thing.

God saves us from all different cultures, all different backgrounds.

We are chosen for him.

And he loves us not because of our might, not because of our power, not because of anything that we bring.

He loves us because he loves us.

He loves us because he's a God who that before the foundation of the world set his affection upon you.

That's a that's wonderful, isn't it?

It's wonderful.

So we are chosen and we're a chosen generation.

There is something about people looking in to see how we function one with another.

This race, there's another word that's used in the Bible, chosen race, how we function.

The culture that is created amongst God's people, is there's something that is inviting, something that's wincing, there's something that's beautiful to the world.

Even though we think, well, and they are hostile towards us, there is something that makes sense about God's people.

There is.

So we're chosen, verse 9.

We are, I'm flying through a long sermon, folks, a royal priesthood.

A royal priesthood.

So we are royalty, we are we are children of the living God.

We are we are co-heirs with Christ.

We're we're we're we're royalty, but we're also a royal priesthood, and the work of the priests was to represent God to the people and the people to God.

So we as God's people are to be priestly in what it looks like to present the wonder of God in Jesus Christ to the world that we're living in.

People should look at the church and go, I can make sense of who God is by looking at the church.

Because the church is the manifold wisdom of God.

Manifold, all the aspects of the wisdom of God should be found in the midst of how we live as the church.

We are a royal priesthood.

So we have a responsibility.

We've been chosen, we're royalty, we have a responsibility to represent God's people to the world, and we are a holy nation.

We are set apart.

So the way that we live should be different.

Now, holy, um be holy as I am holy, God said.

So we are those who represent God.

So part of representation of God is that he is holy, he is set apart.

So that we are to live lives that fall in line with the wonder of his words, that fall in line for what he says that is good for us as his people.

We're a holy nation.

We are a people for his own possession.

Other versions will say you are his treasured possession.

You know what's wonderful about this?

A king in ancient time, a king that maybe owned everything.

His treasured possession was the thing that he held with him all the time.

For you, it'll be your phone, all right?

You all know where your phone is, don't you?

Yeah?

Yeah, yes, you all know where your phone is.

And when you don't know where your phone is, it's like, oh, panic stations.

You know what I mean?

My kids are like, I haven't got my phone.

I'm like, everybody that texts you is with you.

You know what I mean?

It's like, but that's that that's the we are God's treasure possession.

So he says, he says to Egypt, all the he says, sorry, to the Israel in Exodus, before he says you are my chosen, he says, all the world is mine.

You are my treasure possession.

I own all of this, but you're the you're the ones I'm keeping close.

That's wonderful, isn't it?

You may not be the treasure possession of anybody else.

But in Christ, you're the treasure possession of the one that matters.

That's wonderful.

Wonderful, that's who we are, folks.

A people for his own possession.

You need to know who you are.

That doesn't encourage you, stir you, even in the midst of loneliness, in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of hostility.

I know who I am, and who I am is somebody that has a living hope and a host, somebody that has something to do for the glory of God with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

That's why we don't huddle up and wait till Jesus comes back.

That's why we need to be out there proclaiming his excellencies.

That's the first one.

Know who we are.

We need to know, number two, the reality of where we are.

So verse 11, verse 11, it says there uh beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh.

We'll talk about a little bit more of that later on.

But we're sojourners, that means we are foreigners, we are passing through.

Now I appreciate in this room there are people from lots of other nations.

Dublin is not your home for many of you.

You do feel like strangers, you do feel like somebody that's passing through, you do feel those things.

So a number of you understand that concept.

That is true for all of us in the reality of where we find ourselves.

So we need to know the reality of where we are, that this is not our home.

As soon as we start to think that this is our this is our home, this is it, this is where I'm comfortable, this is where I'm rested, this is what it's all about, that's when it becomes dangerous.

That's when it becomes that's when the hostility of the culture that is coming in infiltrates through our eyes, through our ears, through our thoughts, through our minds.

That's when the the the shine of what the world offers but can't deliver on becomes brighter than the gospel at certain times.

This is not our home.

We've got to pass through all the time.

I find myself when we're traveling in different places, I'm like, oh, I could live here.

Then I have to like watch myself and go, no, I am a Scouser from Liverpool.

No, I'm not going anywhere.

You know what I mean?

So this is not our home, folks.

We also got to recognise, and touching on verse 6, chapter 1 again, we live in a broken world with broken people.

And we are also broken people that have been made new by Jesus.

We are jars of play, so we understand that, but we live in a broken world, and we will all experience that in different ways.

Now, the brokenness for our experience is acutely being experienced through health issues with our children, but it's been experienced in lots of different ways in all different difficulties.

Some of you will have your own issues that are occurring.

It could be difficulties with issues with relationships or uh sexual desires or or other sins or issues with money or addiction or anything, it could be the fact that you're just experiencing the brokenness.

Now, even those who think certain ways of living and ideas are the best thing for humanity, they are making those judgments with real sincerity, but their thoughts are broken, the culture is broken.

So we've got to see the reality of that, but sincerely love them in the midst of that.

You hear me on that?

So, part of knowing who we are is also important of where we are, we're in a broken will, we're broken people.

We also need to reckon that we live in in space and time.

So if you didn't realize time is a created thing, time's a created thing.

That helps you understand books like Daniel, things like that, towards the end.

You're gonna read Daniel later, apparently.

So the to the books of Daniel.

Daniel sees one coming on a clown presented towards the eighth of days.

My conviction is he sees the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So how does he see the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ when that's gonna happen in years to come?

How does he see that?

Because time is an invented thing, God has created time, and time is limited.

So that means, as those who are God's people, need to recognize that there is an urgency in the proclamation of the gospel as his people.

If people don't hear about Jesus, they are going to hell for an eternity.

One out of one will die, nobody gets out of this life alive.

We have the wonder and wonderful news, and we have been called to proclaim those excellencies.

We need to know that life is short, death is certain, and the length of the next life is a long time.

We want to make sure there's many people come with us.

Amen.

Many.

And we also need to recognize where God has us.

I happen to lead a church in Liverpool.

You happen to be working and studying and living in Dublin, Island.

That might change in a year.

But where God has you now is where He wants you to save.

And the problem is with our lives, the problem is with our lives, we we we we're on this like conveyor belt that we find ourselves in, and we think that you know, we leave school and we think, when I get to university, everything will be fine.

It'll be great when I jump into university and you jump into university and you get there, and then you're like, oh, mommy.

Especially if you're a lad.

I've got to wash my clothes, I've got to do things, and then you realize, oh no, oh no.

Well, when I graduate and get a job, boom, then you've got to start paying tax like all over the rest of us.

And then it's like, oh, yeah, and we look and we think the next thing is always gonna be the best thing.

The next thing, and the reality is this, we miss the present where God has us in the moment.

I say to my staff all the time, staff and I said, I don't care if you're here a year or you're gonna hear here till Jesus takes you home in the next 50 years.

I want you to have a 30-minute year mindset with your bags packed at the door.

God can move you at any moment, but I want you to live every day as though he's gonna keep you here.

That changes how you engage, it changes how you view your neighbors.

Because the reality is if you're moving year on year, which is fine, I'm not saying that's wrong, but if you're moving, come Christmas, if you work in the academic year, you're thinking about where you're going next.

And you're focused on that rather than when God has you now.

You might not get till tomorrow.

So, what can you do for him as his people in this moment?

You've got the reality of where we are, and I've got so much more to say about that, but I haven't got time.

And the third one is this you need to know the reality of who we are reaching, the reality of who we are, the reality of where we are, and the reality of who we are reaching.

The people who you are reaching are the people that God has you in the midst of.

Colleagues, friends, neighbours, housemates.

For some of you, spouses, children, grandchildren.

Maybe.

People that you're in lecture halls with, people that you're in the booth with, people that you may travel to work with, people that you walk your dog with.

So I want to encourage you.

What does it look like for us in the everyday of our lives to proclaim the excellencies of him?

And I've got a few P's for you that I want you to write down, and in your time of reflection, I've got six minutes to share this with you.

In your time of reflection, what I want is for you to go away and go, Okay, I know who I am, I know the reality of where I am, because in the cold light of there, you know that.

Okay, where who has God put me amongst, and how can I live these out?

So the first one is this what does it look like for you to be present?

What does it look like for you to be present amongst the people that God has you because they're the people he wants you to reach?

What does that look like?

It's interesting.

Peter later on says, be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you.

The assumption is that they are living as the church and as believers amongst non-Christians.

There's an assumption that they're present amongst non-Christians.

Do you have any non-Christian friends?

Great! Some of you won't.

Are you present with them?

So what does it look like to be present?

What does it look like to be persistent?

So the guy who cuts my hair, right, has cut my hair since I was 16 and he was 18.

So for about 10 years or so.

For nearly 30 years.

And he's expensive.

So he's ri he's gone, yeah, you know what I mean.

You know, I wouldn't go to anybody for this meme.

But he don't you laugh.

You wish for the joking.

I'm joking, I've joking, I've joking, I'm with it.

So so and he and and the reason why I go, Sean would love me to go somewhere else because it would be cheaper.

But the reason why I go is is because for 30 years we've done life together.

For 30 years I've sat and spoke to him through a mirror.

We went for a we went for a coffee once.

We went for a coffee once, and we were face to face, and that was really strange.

So I just turned around and had my phone as told for 30 years, but that's but why am I?

Because Ian knows everything about my life.

He's followed it right through before Sean and I even got together.

I used to be a policeman, I work for a charity, I'm now a pastor.

He's followed it through.

He knows all about the church building.

I've shared the gospel with him several times.

I know everything about his life.

Why do I go and get my haircut there every year?

Because I'm telling you, it would save us a lot of money.

Why?

Because I want Ian Harold to come to know Jesus.

I'm gonna go every day.

What does that look like for you?

Persistent.

It may be, it might be something that you just same coffee shop all the time, same coffee shop.

And the coffee might be terrible, but if you've got a relationship, that's the cost that you can bear for Jesus, okay?

But if you're building a relationship, go be persistent.

All right, where can you be patient?

This is the big one for our culture, folks.

This is the big one.

We think that we can go in, we'll do a Christianity explored or an alpha course, and they don't become a Christian.

Oh, well, it didn't work.

No.

Be patient.

Patient.

Sean was a teacher for 21 years, for 15 of those years, something like that.

We we prayed, and Sean particularly had friends with non-Christian people.

She had friends with with um a number of ladies, and she and she shared the gospel, and one of these ladies was a name, a lady called Nikki.

And one of the stumbling blocks for Nikki in terms of anything to do with the gospel was this if God is good, how does why does he allow bad things to happen to good people, especially children?

How does that happen?

And that was always a stumbling block in conversation, lovely, not a problem, but always like she couldn't get past that.

And then we found out about Ella.

And we're like, alright, okay.

You know, that's it.

Even the people that love God, even the people that want to follow God, this is happening to their child.

What was really interesting over the course of time, Nikki observed, especially how Sean lived out the reality of her living hope in the midst of that suffering.

Then a few months, a few years later, her nephew got cancer, and we thought that's the nail in the coffin.

She rang Sean and said, Could you pray?

All right, could you pray?

And through that, we were able to pray.

We were able to why?

Because there was something that was seen in the way that Sean especially lived out the living hope of Jesus.

But the patience and just living that out, prayer, considering that, thinking that through, there was something there in terms of the proclamation of the excellencies of Christ that meant that Nikki was warm into the gospel.

And last year, Sean baptized Nikki.

Praise the Lord.

Thank you.

I like that.

Praise the Lord for that, folks.

Be patient.

For some of you, it might be siblings, it might be friends, it might be mums, dads, it might be children.

Be patient.

It's in the Lord's timing.

Your job is to love them and represent Christ.

It is not your job to save them.

But be patient.

Where can you be patient?

Where do you need to be patient?

Where are you prepared?

Are you prepared?

So when you are like in the situation and somebody asks you, maybe that table, and you give it what you think, and someone goes, Well, why is that?

Are you prepared to walk that through lovingly and graciously and kind and caring and winsome?

Are you prepared?

Do you know the truth of why you believe what you believe?

My neighbour Freddie, something happened.

Issue was with Sean, and I was walking the dog, and I was it wasn't Sean, it was something to do with Ellie.

She had a cancelled operation uh last minute.

Anyway, we ended up um walking the dog.

I walked walked the dog.

I had some time off because it was brutal.

It was a brutal time.

Ended up walking the dog with Freddie, uh, one of my neighbours that I would just got to know.

Anyway, every day we walked the dogs together, talked about being a pastor, shared the gospel, and and and Freddie ended up coming to our house on a Friday night, which is date night in our house.

Nothing gets involved in that, but you know what I mean?

But anyway, he turned up on a Friday night.

Long story short, he came and just shared all about his anxiety, became a Christian.

I'm telling you now, the last thing that I wanted to do, both when I was walking the dog, and the last thing I wanted to do on a Friday night in the midst of a difficult season was share the gospel with Freddy.

I'll be honest.

But God, in his kindness, use that time to see Freddie come to know the Lord Jesus.

His now future wife has become a Christian and praise the Lord for that.

Are you prepared, folks?

Are you prepared that the neighbor over the road that you've never spoken to might be the next person that you get to share the gospel with?

Are you ready for that?

Are you prepared the person that may be hostile to you, maybe the person that you lead to the Lord Jesus?

Are you prepared for that?

Where do you need to be prepared?

And number three, are you praying?

Because it's not you who does it, it's God.

Are you praying?

Jesus saves.

It's his sovereign work.

And can I say this?

His word will never return void, and your labor for him is not in vain.

Now, what's really interesting when you I share things like this, and when people think these things, the default for all of us is we feel guilty because we're not doing those things sometimes, or we run away from those things.

I want to encourage you.

God is pleased with you.

He's totally pleased with you, and you can never let him down.

Even if you don't share anything, even if you're quiet, even if you fail to, he's not he's not up there like some tyrant going, What a waste of space.

Why did I choose you?

No, no.

He's pleased with you.

Before the Lord Jesus did any ministry, he was baptized, and the Father said, As the Spirit came on, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

And because we're in him, this is my beloved son, this is my beloved daughter, in whom I'm well pleased.

Doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter.

But the reality is this we should want to tell people about that wonderful father that we have in Christ Jesus.

We should want to do that.

So that should be our response.

So what I'd love you to do, and Duncan's just going to wrap us up now before you go, before we're going to have lunch, go and spend some time, think about those peas.

Where can I be present?

Where do I need to be persistent?

Where do I ask to ask the Lord for patience?

Do I need to be more prepared and think through what that could look like for you?

It might be that you need to study the Bible more or think things through.

Okay.

And then ask your questions: are you praying that Jesus would save the people that you say that you love?

Because it's only the work of the Spirit that's going to bring them to the Lord, to the Lord.

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