Specifically Chosen for Special Assignment I Peter 1:1 2 Rev. Lynn Downing February 8, 2015 Morning Sermon I Peter 1:1 2 will be part of the Word that we use for our study today. I Peter 1:1 2 says [1] Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, [2] according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. May God bless our reading and now the preaching of His Word. The title of this message is Specifically Chosen for a Special Assignment and I hope to unfold in the study of God s Word a message that will speak to each one of us as individuals and speak also to the need of the strengthening and building of the church and as we do all of that, we contribute in the power of the Lord to the completion of the Kingdom. I want to read this passage from I Peter again in light of the fact that I just gave you the title and hear it in light of the title, specifically chosen for a special assignment. I Peter 1:1 2 says [1] Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, [2] according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. I will probably use the wording of the title a time or two again in the process of this study. I want to begin with the first word of the passage, Peter. I want to call your attention to his reputation over the years by preachers and others who have recognized his promptness to speak and getting himself from time to time in trouble. I say this to get your attention to this quote, Would you look at Peter! What it really means is that would you look at Peter now and see the difference between who and what he was and what he is now. From self-assertive, I know better, rough around the edges Peter, who always had to have the last word, even though he was the only one who didn t realize that he might be wrong to look at him now. Look at the difference for he is so knowledgeable in the truth, full of understanding, so humbly compassionate and well expressed in clear communication of true truth. The difference is so distinct and observable that the rest of this quote will be on the basis of that. Some who have studied his writings and ministry have said after the ascension of Christ, the difference in him is so vividly obvious that some who have missed the effect of Gospel truth in Peter have even said the writer of this letter could not be the same man whom Christ called from the fishing boats just a few years earlier, but he is the same man specifically chosen for a special assignment. He is changed and made effective by the calling, forgiving, refining grace of Jesus Christ and there s the answer. As Peter spoke to the people who were dispersed to all these places because of persecution, through this letter he was writing he was also expressing in the letter that he is carrying out in his own life specific chosenness by God, for special assignment by God which he wants all of his readers, even today, that this assignment, this choice, was not only for him and the people of that day, but it is for every individual even today even
though he didn t know these people since and to this day. It s like Jesus praying for His Disciples in His High Priestly prayer in John 17. I pray not only for these He said, but for those who will come to know Me through them down to this very day. I want to pick up on the wording of the passage and pick up on the language and dissect a little of what is being said here in order to get the theme and content of the message. First of all is the word chosen. The way chosen is referred here is to elect exiles. I like the word chosen here but it has been problematic over the years. There have been people who have had trouble with it. There are those who can t quite figure out how it works. Once however the person comes to grips and the reconciliation with the reality that if God is not one hundred percent sovereign He is not God at all and the meaning of the word chosen by Him, and you accept this you begin seeing it all over the Bible. It just pops up and out everywhere. That s the way we need to think about the word chosen. The problem is not with that word or idea but the problem is with our limitation that can only be overcome as we give our hearts and minds over to the Holy Spirit by faith in Christ and ask Him to teach us. Then it goes further in the passage when it says chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. What does foreknowledge mean? That is the key to the understanding here. The foreknowledge of God is not just God looking down through history and seeing who would be His and picking them for then man would be in charge here, but God is in charge. How is it that He is in charge through this foreknowledge? We have tendency to think, knowing ahead of time and making a determination based on the information we already know that, that is not the meaning of the word. The real meaning of the word foreknowledge in the Scripture is to be possessed by God beforehand, be owned by God beforehand. The word know is the same word used in some cases in the Scriptures for knowing a husband or wife on an intimate basis so that there is a possession there and an ownership that is very intense and intimate. That s the idea in God s ownership of us and it s before we ever came to be. So it is possessed by Him beforehand. Now we go further in the passage and I want you to begin to see the work of Christ on the cross, the resulting justification and the resulting sanctification that is implied in what is said here. It is that you may be sprinkled with His blood by the sanctifying work of the Spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ (by faith). Justification comes out of the work of Christ on the cross. It results in the fact that there is no indictability against us because the work of justification by Christ is absolutely perfect. It s by the sprinkling, washing, cleansing of His blood that leads to the sanctification that takes place in our life installed by the Holy Spirit but it s the Gospel that provides justification and sanctification. For instance as we look to the sanctification process we look to those elements in the Gospel that says redemption. What is redemption? It is that ransom payment that Christ made on the cross by which He delivered us out from under the dominance, bondage and power of sin so that we don t any longer have the right to say I can t for we have the liberty, the privilege and blessing to say I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That s the idea we can use as we pursue through the use and means of grace the sanctifying work so that the outcome is that we can obey Christ. Will we always obey Christ? No, we won t but we can and that s why the wording is as it is here. So that you may be sprinkled with His blood by the sanctifying work of the Spirit
that you may obey Jesus Christ. Those are the words Peter used under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to identify the power and content of execution of the carrying out of his calling. It also describes the same for you and me as well. The next point is that when the special assignment is done we ll return to the Homeland. I will get to what the special assignment is a little later. When this specific call that gives us a special assignment is accomplished then we ll return to the Homeland. What is that talking about? I ve already mentioned that in this passage we have addressed people who were driven out of their homes, neighborhoods, towns and cities. They received this treatment because they belonged to Christ. So that s the reason they are referred to as aliens and exiles in the different translations. They are not at home as far as the emotional preferential place they would like to be to eat meals, sleep and continue their family relationships in the activities of their life. The reality that is being portrayed there is that nobody is home as far as being in this world post Genesis 3. The Lord put us here to be here so in a sense were at home because He put here but our real home is to anticipate when we have completed our assignment. We are those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in our own Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. We might pronounce it Alabama, Mississippi, New Jersey or wherever, but it s the same idea. We re here and home in a sense because we live with a certain address but not really. So while we re here, what is the assignment? I want to make sure that this idea, this point, is riveted into our minds. We are specifically chosen for a special assignment. The assignment is the building of the churches and the church and the completion of the Kingdom. Why do I word it like that? The building of the churches is the referring to local congregations. The church is the invisible church, the church triumphant. The reason I clarify this of churches and the church, is because I have run across many today who when calling them to become a part of the church body they say I m a member of the true church, the church of Jesus Christ for I don t think I need to be a member of a local congregation. The problem with that is that the Scripture doesn t support that and it actively speaks in the other direction. All the letters or almost all letters in the New Testament are written to local congregations in order to instruct the individuals in those congregations as to how to function in that local body for the spread of the Gospel for the building of other local churches concentrically to the ends of the earth. Local churches are the components of the church. So it is the building of the churches and the church out of which comes the completion of the Kingdom of God. That s the first part of the difficulty we re addressing in this message. Here is the second part. In Matthew 28:19 20 you have what you see a lot of insinuation and completion when you do mission s conferences but if I were to tell you the relationship between this passage and Matthew 16 would you know how to do it? The relationship between those two passages is so strong that I have included in my own mind, life and ministry that when I have the choice of doing so I will very rarely ever read the Great Commission passage again without pre-reading Matthew 16. I will summarize it for you for purposes of time here. Caesarea Philippi is the location. You see an orchestration of Christ going on here. He asked His Disciples Who do men say that I am? They start giving various answers. Then Jesus said But who do you say that I am? Peter answers for the group
customarily, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus complements him by saying You re right, but you didn t come up with it for the Father revealed it to you. Then He makes an extremely important declaration. He said You re Peter and on this rock (declaration) I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Here s the problem. We have lots of disciple making on an individual basis, in churches, in para-church organizations and we have an emphasis at large that is more than likely the pre-dominant position that our responsibility is to see individual conversions and make individual disciples who can live out their lives in relationship to Christ and lift Him up in their individual living. That s true but not enough. If you look at what I Peter 1 says and the teaching of Christ was in that strong declaration in Matthew 16, you ll understand that the relationship between Matthew 16 and Matthew 28 is I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and Matthew 28 is how this will be accomplished. As you accomplish Matthew 28 you must have a preoccupation, a conscious understanding that you re fulfilling the declaration of Christ I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I think that is lost, not entirely but too much. So what you have in the evangelical believers and reformed world is a high percentage of a spiritual individualism where it s Jesus and me. I want to share with you some of my own personal discoveries. It hurts me somewhat to have to say this because I have such respect for the people who taught me in my growing years. The first is somewhere this side of the Protestant Reformation we stopped teaching people the Biblical content of the necessity to belong to Christ under His headship, in His body, the church. I m not sure exactly where it was started although I have a couple of opinions but I m not going to share them here. I came to realize through my teaching in which these people did not intend to withhold this from me for it was lost somewhat before them, and that was that I was never taught that my relationship with Christ was much more as far as the church was concerned, than personal. It didn t mean that they didn t promote the church. I was taught you need to be a member of the church and a person who works in the church but they didn t define very clearly and certainly not from an evangelistic point of view what that work was. Secondly, I was never taught that my personal agenda must never be allowed to compete with the welfare of His body, the church. Thirdly, I was never taught that it was actually sinful to think that I can have a personal agenda which competes with the church and therefore with its head Jesus Christ. I was never taught that my true welfare in Christ is impossible with my fitting into His body under His headship. Fifthly, I was never taught that if I do attempt to live in such an exclusive manner I actually quench the Spirit in my own life by at the same time quenching Him in the church. There is the dilemma. The special assignment is to win people to Christ and see them discipled in the church. In Acts it says so many were converted and added to the church for there is no such thing as being para church as far as an individual is concerned and I m talking about para as far as parallel close enough to come in when needed but close enough to leave when desired. So that the church has become in the minds of way too many people, entirely optional and the Scripture will not have that. What does this mean? As we are in our non-homeland we refer to it as in the meantime. In the meantime we have everything we need. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. I have three passages I want to refer to here. The first is in II Corinthians and this is Paul asking God to deliver him from some problem he had. We
don t know what it was. II Corinthians 12:8 10 says [8] Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. [9] But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (this is not calling on us to pursue weakness but in weaknesses that He allows in our life, we should look at those as opportunities to experience a special kind of grace, in order to learn things that we would not learn) [10] For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. The second is in Philippians 4 and this is one of my favorite passages due to my formative years. Philippians 4:12 13 says [12] I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. [13] I can do all things through him who strengthens me. The final passage is II Peter 1 and it s one of these astounding passages that when you read it you say could it be? and yes it is. II Peter 1:3 4 says [3] His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. Those are three passages that are very reinforcing, encouraging and equipping but then we have something else. We have His name, therefore we must guard against focusing only or even primarily, on His signature. What does that mean? What is the difference between Christ s name and His signature? If I know any of you and I call you by name I don t spell your name. When I say your name I don t think of the spelling of your name. I think of you, your character, your nature and the things that I know that make up who you are. When God was giving Moses his special assignment Moses said Who shall I say is sending me? God gave an unusual answer when He said I Am is calling you. What did that mean? It meant everything about Him. It meant His whole being, His nature, His character and all of the characteristics/attributes that make Him up. In other words, God was behind this. So that has to do with Christ s name. What is His signature? A signature is something that we use to grant permission or give a reference or to give benefit which is the primary idea of this. We are benefit oriented people. We will have more of a tendency to use the name of Christ as a signature to gain benefit than we will to use it to look into His name, His nature, His being, His character and all that He is in and of Himself. When Jesus said to us as He ascended into heaven, I will be with you always you look then over to the Ephesians 1 and you see it says the power that is given to us in the being and nature of Christ the Son of God is nothing less than the same power He used to raise Him from the dead. It is the difference in referring to the name, nature, being and power of God and a signature that we might look as a signature on a check that gives us benefit. Do we need benefits from God? Obviously we do. Do we have benefits? Yes we do. Should we decry that benefit? No, we shouldn t but we shouldn t be satisfied just to that point and not get to know Him but understanding Him as the being of His Name. When it says seek the name of the Lord it means seek Him. The wonderful thing I m trying to point out here is we have access to Him. We are His. We are children of God,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ and we have all of that authority and power that we can spiritually, constructively use to accomplish this major assignment, of seeing people converted, added to the church, discipled, in the context of the church and then see this over and over for the building of the church, the churches and the completion of Kingdom. Colossians 3:17 is what I now want to draw your attention to so that you can the verification of what I was saying about name. Colossians 3:17 says [17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. This is one of the major passages that is the foundation for a Biblical world and life view. Whatever you do means everything. In word or deed means everything even in your thought life. Do everything in the name that is according to the nature, character, and content of the being of Christ and if you can t do or pray according to the nature and character of the being of Christ then don t do it or pray it. That is the benefit we have that we are able to delineate and understand in that way. I d like to conclude by saying we are specifically chosen for a special assignment. I know that from time to time people ask this question and it s a legitimate question; what is the will of God for life? I m giving you the overarching will of God for your life and it s to find your place in the building of the churches, the building of the church and the completion of the Kingdom which is what we ll be focusing upon in this upcoming mission s conference. The interesting and delightful thing is every single one of you that truly does belong to Christ, have been given a gift or gifts that are intended for your use in this special assignment. You can also find out what they are and I would urge you to look into that. If you want help from the leadership of this congregation, we would be glad to help you but don t be uninformed as to how the Lord has gifted you to accomplish this chosen-ness for this special assignment that has been placed upon you. So we are specifically chosen for a special assignment and there are opportunities for faithfulness every day and there are also occasional opportunities that are huge, big and this upcoming mission s conferences is one of them. I didn t just preach this sermon to advertise this mission s conference but I certainly intended to highlight this opportunity. Why? It is because missions is about what I have just preached on in this study. It s not just for people out there though, but it s for me and you on an individual basis to recognize our giftedness, to accept our chosen-ness for the special assignment that we individually and collectively have upon us, as this church along with other churches in the denomination and along with other denominations, for the reaching of the world concentrically speaking for the bringing in of the Kingdom. By the way this is the 50 th mission s conference for Briarwood and there is some jaw dropping information that is going to be shared during this conference. I saw some of it the other day and I could hardly believe my eyes. You ll want to come just to find out what it is. I m not going to tell you but you ll hear and see some information that is humbling as to how the Lord has used by His grace and mercy this church over the course of the years to reach Birmingham, to reach the world for Christ. Finally, God has determined our identity, location and circumstances and will fulfill His design for us. Let s not resist it. Let s do this obedience that is talked about in this passage from I Peter 1. In intimacy with Christ, in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit let s take up our assignment and get it done. We need to think prayerfully but we
need to think and either begin or continue to trust in and obey Christ on the basis of His individual, local and corporate commission to us. Let s pray. Prayer: Father, we pray for any reading this that have not yet come to know their Savior and we pray that You will cause them now to understand that these benefits, blessings and this high calling that we have been talking about are available to any who will come to Jesus Christ and confess and repent of sin and trust in Him to be Savior and Master. Then they too can have the high privilege of being specifically chosen for special assignment in this design that You have Lord Jesus of building Your church that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. For those of us who do know You, we pray that You ll help us take down any and all barriers and if we don t know what they are, help us to know what they are. So that we can take them down and respond to You with eagerness to be faithful and fruitful in your choosing us and giving us special assignment in Christ, in whose Name we worshipfully, thankfully pray, Amen. See Power Point below:
I PETER 1: 1 2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.
SPECIFICALLY CHOSEN FOR SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT I PETER 1:1 2
Would you look at Peter! From self assertive, I know better, rough around the edges Peter, who always had to have the last word, even though he was the only one who didn t realize that he was usually wrong. But look at him now so knowledgeable in the truth, so full of understanding, so humbly compassionate, and so well expressed in clear communication of the True Truth.
Would you look at Peter! Some, who have obviously missed the truth in Peter s case, have even said that the writer of this letter could not be the same man whom Christ called from the fishing boats years earlier. But he is the same man, Specifically Chosen for Special Assignment, changed and made effective by the calling, forgiving, refining GRACE OF JESUS.
We, too are on special assignment. chosen chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father... that you may...be sprinkled with His blood... by the sanctifying work of the Spirit... that you may obey Jesus Christ...
When the work is done we ll return to the Homeland....to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
When the work is done we ll return to the Homeland. The work is Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
When the work is done we ll return to the Homeland. 2 And some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. Therefore, those who had been scattered 4 went about preaching the word. Acts 1
In the meantime, we have everything we need. May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
In the meantime, we have everything we need. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. II Cor. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the
In the meantime, we have everything we need. secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. 19 And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4
CONCLUSION God has determined our identity, location, and circumstances, and will fulfill His design for us. Let us not resist, but obey. Think prayerfully about this, and begin to trust and obey Christ today.