Honorable exiles and government (1 Peter 2:13-17).
Discussion Questions:
What is your flesh passionate about? What does the war feel like? How does God enable you to abstain?
When people think of you, what comes to mind? When people think of the American church, what comes to mind? How is Jesus different and better? How can we help people think of Jesus instead of us?
What good deeds (Verse 12) would you like our church to be known for as a way of bringing glory to God? What beautiful behavior would direct attention to our beautiful Savior?
This is the 6th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
How does the idea that we are not self-defined challenge your thinking about your life and identity? How does it comfort you?
When God reveals his divine and personal name to us, it is an invitation to rest in Him. How might meditating on this truth help you in practical ways this week?
Living Stones and a Spiritual House (1 Peter 2:1-10)
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Our individual responsibility (1 Peter 2:1-3).
Our corporate identity (1 Peter 2:4-6).
A universal reality (1 Peter 2:7-8).
An overwhelming beauty (1 Peter 2:9-10).
Discussion Questions:
What are the things that narrow your gaze or focus? What desires/hopes cloud your mind from seeing Jesus? How does hope in the Gospel broaden your gaze? Or, how is Jesus better?
God’s kindness leads to repentance (not the reverse) and our salvation fuels our obedience (not the reverse). Why are we so tempted to switch the order of those statements?
Finish the sentence: In my life, greater holiness looks like… (Hint: It looks more like Jesus!)
This is the 5th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
What are the things that narrow your gaze or focus? What desires/hopes cloud your mind from seeing Jesus? How does hope in the Gospel broaden your gaze? Or, how is Jesus better?
God’s kindness leads to repentance (not the reverse) and our salvation fuels our obedience (not the reverse). Why are we so tempted to switch the order of those statements?
Finish the sentence: In my life, greater holiness looks like… (Hint: It looks more like Jesus!)
This is the 4th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
A salvation worthy of celebrating (1 Peter 1:3-5).
A reason to rejoice, even amidst suffering (1 Peter 1:6-9).
A reminder to understand the times we live in (1 Peter 1:10-12).
Notable Quotes:
“A very strong proof of this destruction of death and its conquest by the cross is supplied by a present fact, namely this. All the disciples of Christ despise death; they take the offensive against it and, instead of fearing it, by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ trample on it as on something dead. Before the divine sojourn of the Saviour, even the holiest of men were afraid of death, and mourned the dead as those who perish. But now that the Saviour has raised His body, death is no longer terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it underfoot as nothing, and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die they do not perish, but live indeed, and become incorruptible through the resurrection…Death has become like a tyrant who has been completely conquered by the legitimate monarch; bound hand and foot the passers-by jeer at him, hitting him and abusing him, no longer afraid of his cruelty and rage, because of the king who has conquered him. So has death been conquered and branded for what it is by the Saviour on the cross. It is bound hand and foot, all who are in Christ trample it as they pass and as witnesses to Him deride it, scoffing and saying, ‘O Death, where is thy victory? O Grave, where is thy sting? (1 Cor. 15:55)’” —-St. Athanasius
“If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?” —John Piper
Discussion Questions:
What do you hope for (or hope in)? What preferred future are you telling yourself is just around the corner? Is it eternal? Perfect? Does it diminish over time? Be honest…
If you are a follower of Jesus, how often do you reflect on your salvation? How might that impact how you view times of suffering?
This is the 3rd sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile. Unfortunately, the audio was not recorded.
Elect and Exiled, Chosen and Homeless (1 Peter 1:1-2)
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Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ… (1 Peter 1:1a)
To those who are elect exiles… (1 Peter 1:1b)
Know that… (1 Peter 1:2)
Discussion Questions:
What are some examples of how the American church has struggled to remember we are exiles? How does living as if this is our home negatively impact our ability to live for Jesus?
What does it feel like to not belong in a culture you are immersed in? How does knowing God chose you change those feelings?
Are there any areas of your life that you might be living as if you belong in this world, rather than you are an exile?
This is the 2nd sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Evil is real, God is good, and that’s not a contradiction.
It turns out, we aren’t the first ones to suffer…
Could something bigger be going on behind our suffering?
Discussion Questions:
When in your life did you grow the most as a follower of Christ? How did God grow you?
Have you ever felt that the existence of evil is a barrier to trusting Jesus? How do the verses we read today about Jesus suffering help deal with that barrier?
What is hard in your life right now? What would it look/feel like to experience Jesus’ presence in that?
This is the 1st sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
“Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter. Wordsworth’s expedient was to identify it with certain moments in his own past. But all this is a cheat. If Wordsworth had gone back to those moments in the past, he would not have found the thing itself, but only the reminder of it; what he remembered would turn out to be itself a remembering. The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” —C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
Discussion Questions:
In what ways do you feel “homeless?” What longings do you have? How is God your dwelling place?
How does your heart respond to the Psalm’s reminder that we are temporary, that death is inevitable? How does Jesus tasting death for us change your heart’s response?
Which of the 6 prayers in Vv. 12-17 stand out to you the most? Why? How will you pray each of those this coming week?
1) How are you coming into the New Year? Do you feel refreshed and motivated to step into 2023?
2) How does this passage help us take the focus off of ourselves and how we’re performing? How can that reality help our energy level and hope for the New Year?
3) Where is a space you can step into in the ministry of Reconciliation? If there anyone in your relational circles or DC with whom you could work together?
