I love the Lord, because God has heard my voice and my supplications.
Because you inclined your ear to me, therefore I will call on you as long as I live.
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.
From Psalm 116
Confession:
Almighty God, in raising Jesus from the grave,
you shattered the power of sin and death.
We confess that we remain captive to doubt and fear,
bound by the ways that lead to death.
Forgive us, God of mercy.
Help us to trust your power to change our lives and make us new,
that we may know the joy of life abundant given through Jesus Christ, tour risen Lord. Amen
Hear the Good News from our passage today:
“You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver. You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death.”
Knowing that Christ has paid for your sins, be assured that you are forgiven, and be at peace.
! Peter 1:17-23
17 You pray to God and call him Father, but he will judge everyone the same way—by what they do. So while you are visiting here on earth, you should live with respect for God. 18 You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver. 19 You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for you. 21 You believe in God through Christ. God is the one who raised him from death and gave honor to him. So your faith and your hope are in God.
22 You have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. Now you can have true love for your brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply—with all your heart. 23 You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies. It came from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s life-giving message that lasts forever.
Wow! This letter from Peter get’s pretty deep, pretty fast. I want you to be reminded of its context to understand it better. The Jews and Christians had been dispersed from Jerusalem and Israel, and were living in other polytheistic settings. Their claims of a single God to whom they owed worship was seen by those in new settings to be an affront and challenge. They were marginalized at best, and later would be killed for those beliefs.
As this letter was written, it was written as an encouragement to this group of Christians. In some ways, in today’s secular world, we need the same encouragement. We aren’t persecuted as they were, but we are looked upon as “old fashioned,” at best. How can the message of Jesus Christ be relevant to the 21st Century.
Let’s take the passage apart and look at it section by section so we don’t get lost. First we have:
17 You pray to God and call him Father, but he will judge everyone the same way—by what they do. So while you are visiting here on earth, you should live with respect for God. 18 You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living.
I love this passage, because it is one of those “rubber meets the road” moments. You call God Father (that is great), but calling him Father doesn’t mean you are acting like you belong to him. The image we often use is the one about the car and the garage. Just because you are sitting in church doesn’t make you a Christian, any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car.
And he tells us, while we are “visiting” here on earth, we need to live with respect for God. Wait? Visiting? Yep! Earth is not our home.
I used a passage from CS Lewis in our online daily devotions this week, from Mere Christianity. I would like to share the context for another famous quote from CS Lewis in Mere Christianity as we talk about earth not being our home.
“The Christian says, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.”
What Peter (and CS Lewis) are talking about is that our home is something more than the world we live in today. Just as Jesus came from the outside to the inside, with his death and resurrection, he invites us to the world he came from, the world we call heaven.
Peter goes on with these words:
You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver. 19 You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for you. 21 You believe in God through Christ. God is the one who raised him from death and gave honor to him. So your faith and your hope are in God.
One of the most common things I have heard over the last couple of months is that people are re-evaluating what is important to them. For most, it is their family and loved ones. Like families hit by tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes, there is a sense that things don’t matter, as long as we are all safe.
But there is also the treasuring of that which we miss. We miss hugs. We miss being with one another. We miss the awesomeness of what we took for granted.
Something else about this portion of our passage involves being “bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death.”
I think many of you have heard that the Red Cross and other organizations are calling for blood and plasma donations. First of all, our blood has the ability to restore those who need it. Second, those who have had CoVid19 have antibodies in their blood that can help the most critically ill to recover.
Which reminded me of a story I heard many years ago. It was the story of a little boy during the Spanish Flu Pandemic, who had had the flu and recovered. Now his sister was critically ill. His parents asked him if he would be willing to give his sister blood to save her.
He looked very sad, but since he loved his sister, and it was her only hope, he said yes. As he laid down on the table, tears flowed from his eyes, but he held out his arm and watched as his blood flowed into he bag at his side. Finally, he looked up at his parents and asked, “When do I die?”
Not knowing they only needed a small amount of his blood, he thought they were asking for all of it. But he was willing to die so that his sister could live.
In a way, that is what Peter is saying here. We always belonged to God, he didn’t have to pay for us. But we did need to have the virus of sin removed, and it was through the blood of Jesus that this happened.
But the passage goes on, asking ourselves, that if Jesus did that for us, what is next?
22 You have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. Now you can have true love for your brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply—with all your heart. 23 You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies. It came from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s life-giving message that lasts forever.
We made ourselves “pure” by obeying the truth. Just as we stayed safe by being separate during this time, pure meaning disease free.
But Peter says that now we can have true love for our brothers and sisters. We are to love each other deeply from the heart.
God loves us, and by accepting that, we can love one another. God’s love for us will never die. God’s care for us will never end. God’s life giving message lasts forever. And in this life giving message, we are free to love and be loved.
We might be missing hugs, but we are not missing love. Love comes from God and is forever.
Let us join together in the affirmation of that faith, the Apostles Creed:
Apostles Creed
I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the
Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose
again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right
hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion
of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
Benediction
And now, go in peace, loving God with all of your heart, and soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Because you inclined your ear to me, therefore I will call on you as long as I live.
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.
From Psalm 116
Confession:
Almighty God, in raising Jesus from the grave,
you shattered the power of sin and death.
We confess that we remain captive to doubt and fear,
bound by the ways that lead to death.
Forgive us, God of mercy.
Help us to trust your power to change our lives and make us new,
that we may know the joy of life abundant given through Jesus Christ, tour risen Lord. Amen
Hear the Good News from our passage today:
“You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver. You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death.”
Knowing that Christ has paid for your sins, be assured that you are forgiven, and be at peace.
! Peter 1:17-23
17 You pray to God and call him Father, but he will judge everyone the same way—by what they do. So while you are visiting here on earth, you should live with respect for God. 18 You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver. 19 You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for you. 21 You believe in God through Christ. God is the one who raised him from death and gave honor to him. So your faith and your hope are in God.
22 You have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. Now you can have true love for your brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply—with all your heart. 23 You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies. It came from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s life-giving message that lasts forever.
Wow! This letter from Peter get’s pretty deep, pretty fast. I want you to be reminded of its context to understand it better. The Jews and Christians had been dispersed from Jerusalem and Israel, and were living in other polytheistic settings. Their claims of a single God to whom they owed worship was seen by those in new settings to be an affront and challenge. They were marginalized at best, and later would be killed for those beliefs.
As this letter was written, it was written as an encouragement to this group of Christians. In some ways, in today’s secular world, we need the same encouragement. We aren’t persecuted as they were, but we are looked upon as “old fashioned,” at best. How can the message of Jesus Christ be relevant to the 21st Century.
Let’s take the passage apart and look at it section by section so we don’t get lost. First we have:
17 You pray to God and call him Father, but he will judge everyone the same way—by what they do. So while you are visiting here on earth, you should live with respect for God. 18 You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living.
I love this passage, because it is one of those “rubber meets the road” moments. You call God Father (that is great), but calling him Father doesn’t mean you are acting like you belong to him. The image we often use is the one about the car and the garage. Just because you are sitting in church doesn’t make you a Christian, any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car.
And he tells us, while we are “visiting” here on earth, we need to live with respect for God. Wait? Visiting? Yep! Earth is not our home.
I used a passage from CS Lewis in our online daily devotions this week, from Mere Christianity. I would like to share the context for another famous quote from CS Lewis in Mere Christianity as we talk about earth not being our home.
“The Christian says, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.”
What Peter (and CS Lewis) are talking about is that our home is something more than the world we live in today. Just as Jesus came from the outside to the inside, with his death and resurrection, he invites us to the world he came from, the world we call heaven.
Peter goes on with these words:
You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver. 19 You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for you. 21 You believe in God through Christ. God is the one who raised him from death and gave honor to him. So your faith and your hope are in God.
One of the most common things I have heard over the last couple of months is that people are re-evaluating what is important to them. For most, it is their family and loved ones. Like families hit by tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes, there is a sense that things don’t matter, as long as we are all safe.
But there is also the treasuring of that which we miss. We miss hugs. We miss being with one another. We miss the awesomeness of what we took for granted.
Something else about this portion of our passage involves being “bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death.”
I think many of you have heard that the Red Cross and other organizations are calling for blood and plasma donations. First of all, our blood has the ability to restore those who need it. Second, those who have had CoVid19 have antibodies in their blood that can help the most critically ill to recover.
Which reminded me of a story I heard many years ago. It was the story of a little boy during the Spanish Flu Pandemic, who had had the flu and recovered. Now his sister was critically ill. His parents asked him if he would be willing to give his sister blood to save her.
He looked very sad, but since he loved his sister, and it was her only hope, he said yes. As he laid down on the table, tears flowed from his eyes, but he held out his arm and watched as his blood flowed into he bag at his side. Finally, he looked up at his parents and asked, “When do I die?”
Not knowing they only needed a small amount of his blood, he thought they were asking for all of it. But he was willing to die so that his sister could live.
In a way, that is what Peter is saying here. We always belonged to God, he didn’t have to pay for us. But we did need to have the virus of sin removed, and it was through the blood of Jesus that this happened.
But the passage goes on, asking ourselves, that if Jesus did that for us, what is next?
22 You have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. Now you can have true love for your brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply—with all your heart. 23 You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies. It came from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s life-giving message that lasts forever.
We made ourselves “pure” by obeying the truth. Just as we stayed safe by being separate during this time, pure meaning disease free.
But Peter says that now we can have true love for our brothers and sisters. We are to love each other deeply from the heart.
God loves us, and by accepting that, we can love one another. God’s love for us will never die. God’s care for us will never end. God’s life giving message lasts forever. And in this life giving message, we are free to love and be loved.
We might be missing hugs, but we are not missing love. Love comes from God and is forever.
Let us join together in the affirmation of that faith, the Apostles Creed:
Apostles Creed
I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the
Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose
again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right
hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion
of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
Benediction
And now, go in peace, loving God with all of your heart, and soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.