1 Peter 1:3-12...After the thesis statement comes the body of the term paper...

 



This Sunday I started off my sermon talking about term papers.  Not my favorite thing to do but knowing the parts of a term paper make it more manageable to accomplish.  You have a thesis statement at the start and then the body of the paper and then a concluding statement at the end.  I feel we have seen Peter's thesis' statement in 1 Peter 1:1,2 and he is emphasizing 3 main points to be fleshed out in the body of his letter.  

1.  He wants his readers to know about the Trinity (The Father and The Son and The Holy Spirit).

2.  He wants his readers to know more about their salvation (born again) in connection to the Trinity.  (God planned, Jesus purchased, Spirit polishes)

3.  He wants his readers to know how to live (reside) as "born againers" in a hostile world.

Peter dives into the body of his letter by focusing deeper on point 2.

  • We have a "living hope" because Jesus rose from the dead.
  • We have an inheritance that is like no other (imperishable, undefiled, unfading and kept/guarded in heaven).
  • Our faith is protected by God's power while we are here.
  • Our salvation is ready now to be revealed in its fullest sense in the last day.
  • We have a faith more precious than gold and it doesn't perish.
  • We can experience now a love of and a belief in and a rejoicing to God.
  • Our salvation was proclaimed by the prophets of old and from the eye witness apostles being led by the same Holy Spirit.
  • Our salvation gets the attention of the angels in heaven (they turn to and stoop down).
One question I ended with was this, "What on your plate needs the knowledge of your salvation added to it so you respond differently, a way that results in the praise, glory, and honor of Jesus Christ?"

All these "whereas" bullets will lead into the "therefore" of verse 13 and following next week.  

But, I would like to share one last verse with you that come up in my study last week.  I use the 3 circles diagram to explain what the Bible says about God's salvation.  

God created a perfect world but we live in a broken world because of sin and our rebellion against and running from God.  

God so loved this broken world that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ to come, to die, and to rise again as the way of escape and we respond with submission to Jesus as Lord and Christ and now we run to God with repentance.  

We are then restored to His perfect kingdom and now share in the gift of eternal life.  The Holy Spirit is at work in us so we grow in Christlikeness and we go, retooled, back into the broken world to tell others of the way of escape.

Romans 6:22 (LSB) says,

"But now having been freed from sin (rebellion against, running from) and enslaved to God (submission to, running to with repentance), you have your benefit (share, restored to), leading to sanctification (grow and go), and the end, eternal life." (parenthesis mine)

I pray you have a great week with God and His Word.

Adam



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlie...
Read more

God gave us a good weather window to travel...yeah God!!!

Image
  Berthoud Pass Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass.  It was a whirlwind week to conduct a " hand off " service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24.  We give God all the glory for this happening.  So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog.  One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service.  I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks.   I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months.  I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years.  It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin. This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip.  No " hiccups " except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas.  Of course e...
Read more

Resurrection Sunday in a new space...Matthew 27.62-28.20

Image
  Resurrection Sunday has come and gone but it was a sweet day to be with the gathered saints of the Stillwater Community Chapel .  We are venturing through the Gospel of Matthew and this Sunday will take us back to Matthew 1.1 but last Sunday we were in Matthew 27.62-28.20.  It was a lot to cover so the white board was truly a help to keep me on track.  This year in my Resurrection Sunday message, I focused on the contrast of the cover-up story of the disciples stealing the body of Jesus fueled by a bride and the commission of speaking of a risen Lord fueled by boldness . After the service upstairs, we ventured downstairs to the lower level and had a great meal together.  The conversations around the tables allowed us to continue to talk about the passage of Scripture we covered upstairs.  Maybe this is a very informal picture of what happens at the  Waushara Community Church called the " Going Deeper " classes of the Come For More hour following t...
Read more