“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance” (1 Peter 1:1-2)

Who are you? What is your purpose?

In these two short verses God tells us much about who we are and what our purpose is.

Who does God say we are?

• Apostle
  • Apostle literally means “one sent on a mission”
  • There is a particular life and purpose God sends us out for
  • Who has sent us? Jesus Christ is the one who sends us
• Exiles
  • This world is not our home. We are created to live forever in God’s presence
  • Our investment in life ought to demonstrate the reality that our aim is to prepare all people for eternity with Christ
  • Invest well. Spend what you need for the journey here, but spend everything else – our money, time, talents – to invest in our eternal home
• Chosen and Destined
  • God chose us. Because God chose us, God was willing to pay the ultimate price for us by sending his Son to die and rise again for us
  • God saves us for a purpose. We are not to live aimlessly but live lives that are destined
  • We are chosen and destined to be sent out as apostles to a world that needs what only God offers in Jesus Christ
  • Jesus is the only hope for our world
• Sanctified
  • God continues to shape and change us to be more like him
  • The more we grow in our love and understanding of who God is and what God has called us for, the more we become more like Christ
  • The more we become like Christ in our character, hope, and our life the more God uses sanctified ones to establish his kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven
• Obedient
  • What is the chief characteristic of apostles, exiles, chosen and destined, sanctified ones? Obedience
  • Through our acts of obedience God begins to carve out strongholds of the Kingdom in enemy territory

That’s an awesome list!

Wow! You’re all pretty amazing people!

When we live into our calling as Christ’s apostles, grace and peace is ours in abundance even in a world characterized by suffering and darkness. Each time we live into our calling, Christ’s light and hope pushes back the darkness of this world.

That’s awesome!

Wow! You’re all pretty amazing people!!!

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21)

There are appropriate times to express anger. Jesus confronted the money changers and those selling animals at the Temple in Jerusalem by making a whip to drive them out and overturning the tables from where they were conducting business (John 2:13-17).

When faced with atrocity and injustice it is not only appropriate to express anger, but it is right to do so.

But eventually, there has to be more than displays of anger. Eventually, you have to start building – building people, building just systems, building a better society, building a society that values all people.

And when it comes to building, you can’t fight evil with evil. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

That’s the role of the church. That’s what you and I are called to be and do. That’s how Christ’s light shines.

Church, more than ever our world needs the light of Christ.

Be the church. Church has never been about the building. Church has always been the called out ones sent into the world to be Christ’s light.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13)

Hope? Seriously? Now?

Do you even know what’s happening in our world? Have you seen the news? Have you read the papers? There’s a worldwide pandemic and there are protests all over the world.

Hope? Seriously? Now?

God’s answer – ABSOLUTELY!!!

The hope, joy, and peace God is talking about is not the absence of bad, evil, and suffering. What God offers in Jesus Christ is hope, joy, and peace in the midst of the bad, evil, and suffering.

• One day, there will be a day when all evil and suffering comes to an end. But we are not there yet.
• There once was a day when all there was no way to escape evil, suffering, and death.

Where we are is somewhere in between these two times.

The Kingdom of God has been ushered in by Jesus Christ, but the fullness of that Kingdom is yet to be realized. We live in the in between period. And as long as we live in this in between period, what we need is a hope, joy, and a peace in the midst of the bad, evil, and suffering. We need this kind of hope because this is the world we live in.

The psalmist wrote about this hope: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult” (Psalm 46:1-3).

God is our refuge and strength and a very present help in what? Trouble.

Therefore we will not fear when? The earth should change, the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, the waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble.

The hope, joy, and peace God offers us is not the absence of evil and suffering. It’s the ability to live in hope, joy, and peace even in the midst of evil and suffering.

How can this happen? Because we know in Jesus Christ evil and suffering never get the last word. Hope. Joy. Peace. That’s our reality. And there is no storm, protest, suffering, violence, pandemic that can take that away from those who belong to Jesus Christ.

Live in this hope today!

Hope? Seriously? Now?

ABSOLUTELY!!!