For NIV reading click here 1 Peter 2:4-10
Peter gives additional clarity about our identity as 'those who believe' in contrast to 'those who do not believe.' Peter spends a little more time defining believers and describes them as the Israel God intended, those who received God's mercy and therefore declare His praises.
How do you think the Christian community, our churches, we as individual Christians are grabbing hold of this identity and declaring God's praises in our places of darkness?
" Those who trust in Him will never be put to shame " . What is it about that verse that speaks to me ? I'm banking on that , I'm putting all my hope in that . Why is it I sometimes feel that i would rather endure pain or even death than shame?
ReplyDelete"grabbing hold of this identity and declaring God's praises in our places of darkness?"
Man , that is so tough to do . Probably a mark of spiritual maturity to have developed the ability to praise in times of darkness. Lesson here from Job who fell to his knees in worship at his darkest moment .
Is belief a matter of degrees ? Do some believe more than others ?Do some doubt less or less often ?
" 9But 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. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God."
ReplyDeleteThis looks fairly clear cut . We have been chosen ,and we are called to declare God's praises . I guess we should all be doing just that , no ?
You help me remember that's why were here and I'll help you ; fair enough ?
Some last thoughts on this section:
ReplyDelete(1) The connection between these verses and what came before seems to be growth/maturity and 'household of God.' So, Peter can move from talking about Christians as newborns craving nourishment to 'grow' and being 'built up' as God's house or temple.
(2) An often passed over theological truth is that what God values as precious and useful and chosen, others people including 'Christians' are view them as unimportant and therefore to be rejected. This was the case, of course with Jesus Himself - God's chosen one, yet rejected by most. I suspect that is often true today, still. In fact, the word 'reject' is in the Greek 'perfect' tense which implies it is still going on.
(3) 2:1-3 help us understand this section - it seems 'crave' in v. 2 also means 'come to him' in v. 4 and 'grow' in v. 2 also means 'being built' in v. 5. We come/crave and then grow by God building us up, if our blueprint has Jesus as it's focal point.
(4) All believers are priests - there is no division of purpose within the church, only difference in roles: pastors, helpers, teachers, etc. But we're all priests serving in the 'temple' or serving as the temple by offering sacrifices of worship.
(5) The spiritual sacrifices probably mean praises moreso than some sort of atonement offering on behalf of the world...Jesus has already accomplished that once for all (Hebrews).
(6) Those who trust in Jesus will not be shamed - this doesn't mean 'ashamed' in the sense of feeling shame for doing wrong. It means vindicated or proved right all along. Trusting in Jesus will prove to be what is most certain and effective.
(7) Jesus becomes 'precious' based on trust/belief in Him - we see Him as that which enables everything good, including our being built up. For those who do not trust/believe, Jesus is simply a scandal or stumbling stone. Notice too that those who reject Him have their own building projects - they are called 'builders' in v. 7, probably from Psalm 118:22.
(8) All this points to our calling which is to 'declare God's praises' not just with our singing, but with our whole lives - our conversations, our way of forgiving, our giving, our serving, our holiness, etc. all become ways of announcing all that is praiseworthy about God and what is accomplished for us in Jesus!
(5)" The spiritual sacrifices probably mean praises moreso than some sort of atonement offering on behalf of the world...Jesus has already accomplished that once for all (Hebrews)."
ReplyDeleteI don't know ; I recently became convinced that we should take what is absolutely most precious to us and burn it up completely . Now that's worship !
8." All this points to our calling which is to 'declare God's praises' not just with our singing, but with our whole lives - our conversations, our way of forgiving, our giving, our serving, our holiness, etc. all become ways of announcing all that is praiseworthy about God and what is accomplished for us in Jesus!"
That's what I picture Paul talking about in Romans . Giving our bodies as living sacrifices .Make everything we do an act of worship .How exciting !