Bridge Church Vancouver

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 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.

MESSAGE:  GOD WANTS THE WORLD TO GLORIFY HIM (demonstrate His presence and goodness) & HE WANTS TO USE OUR LIVES TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

Perspective is so important - to have a clear picture of myself and what is going on around me is so important.  Perspective is how I perceive and understand my world, to have a clear picture of what is going on and how I fit into it, or how it affects me. 

Peter is giving us a crystal clear perspective of who we are as Christians and how we fit into what God is doing and the world around us. 

This passage helps us see our Make up - who we are

Then our Mission - how we fit into what God is doing

Then our Motive - Why we do the things we do

I.                    OUR MAKE-UP  -  our condition - who & what we are

1.       Living Stones of a spiritual house

God is building us into a spiritual house, a temple, where He will dwell.  Where we can come to God to hear from him, make sacrifices, pray, worship.

2.       Royal Priest of a new temple

As part of the temple, that Christ's spirit dwells within, we do not need someone else to intercede, but instead we are priests ourselves

Privilege that carries responsibility

We are each priests, individually and for one another

We are to intercede for one another, our country, the lost, others

We offer spiritual sacrifices -

      Our lives for God's service - Rom 12:1

      Our hearts ready to spread the gospel - Rom 15:16

      Our praise - Heb 13:15

      Our actions of doing good and sharing possessions - Heb 13:16

3.       A chosen race

Deut. 7:6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Deut. 7:7   "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,  8 but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

God has chosen a new race of people, Christians, who have obtained membership into this new ‘chosen race' not be physical descent from Abraham but by coming to Christ (v4) and believing in him (vv 6-7)

4.       A Holy Nation - Set apart

Ex. 19:6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."

5.       People for His own possession  - A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION (NASV)

Ever noticed that when someone important has owned something how it instantly goes up in value.

            Napoleon's toothbrush - $21K

            Hitler's car - $150K

            Desk of Winston Churchill - Priceless

You are a people that God owns

1 Cor 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

II.  OUR MISSION - What are we about

that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

We were made to praise God - to live in a way that He is made known; his goodness, his love, his right ways

We were made to live differently and to demonstrate that difference - the difference between light and darkness

III. Our Motivation - why we are to do our mission

People who have received mercy

10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

WE HAVE EXPERIENCED THE GOODNESS OF GOD

Do not forget what it was like to live as a lost person, to have not received mercy - you were once not worth mentioning - you were like all the other people who have lived on earth,  but now you have received mercy and have become a different person.  God's mercy has made a difference in the way you live.

Now - Because you know who you are, (the temple of God, royal priests, chosen, holy people)

Now - Because you know what you are about (as people who are to bring praise to God in the way we live)  

and Now - Because you know why you are to live this way, (have received mercy) -

He brings us back to our mission more specifically:

1Pet. 2:11        Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Your live will be the reason people will begin to worship and praise God.  Do not think that it doesn't matter how you and I live.

4 things to live out our mission:

1.       Live a clean life - abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

Do not think that it doesn't matter to a non-Christian how a Christian lives.  Many non-Xn are watching Xns to determine if the truth of Christianity is real - does it show up in their lives - do they live any differently then I do

Peter says do something then that they themselves will not do

      Abstain from fleshly lusts

2.       Leave the lost no room for slander  - though they accuse you of doing wrong,

Plato - a man was making slanderous charges against Plato who responded "I will live in such a way that no one will believe what he says"

David: Psa. 26:1     Vindicate me, O LORD,

                  for I have led a blameless life;

      I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

Peter undoubtedly heard Jesus teach (from the sermon on the mount)

Matt. 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

3.       Seek to do good among unbelievers -  "they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

Luke 6:27         "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

Luke 6:33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners' do that.

Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Christians can become tunnel- visioned and only relate to other Xns, only serve other Xn

nXn do not listen to our words as much they watch our lives, they listen with their eyes - what we see is real

when they see good deeds that they would not be able to do and they can directly tie them to the work - and hand of God - then they see God's truth at work and can turn to it.

4.  Never forget we are being watched. -   "they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us".

MESSAGE:  GOD WANTS THE WORLD TO GLORIFY HIM (demonstrate His presence and goodness) & HE WANTS TO USE OUR LIVES TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

The next several weeks we have prime opportunities to live this out.  The Sports Camp and then the Bible Camp 2 weeks later.  People will be watching us.  We desire to see people who do not have a relationship with Jesus discover a life they only dreamed of and we desire them to begin to worship the God who made them. 

To do this we will need to openly live our own relationships with Jesus.  People want to see that what you say you have is real and is making a difference in your life. 

We have to engage and live it out.  As "living stones" of an entirely new temple, where we are acting like royal priests who are interfacing with the living God with various kinds of sacrifices.  We must live as a chosen and holy people remembering the mercy we are experiencing. 

We must purposefully live clean lives and that means making and keeping it clean, both between us and God and also between one another.

We can live in such a way that no one would believe slanderous accusations, even if they were made

We can do good to others at every opportunity - where it is becoming a lifestyle realizing we are being watched.