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00:02 Um, as you can see, it's a it's a very large chunk of scripture uh uh that
00:07 we're going through this morning. But I've got u two news for you. One is a good news and one is a bad news. Um the
00:13 good news is that um I'm really trying to keep this within 35 minutes. The bad
00:18 news is I think I'm going to fail. Um um I I I really try to to cut it to the uh
00:25 to the bare minimum uh as I can but uh in my preparation I realized that there's so much good things to talk
00:31 about in this chapter. So uh before we start let me just start with a word of prayer and then we dig right into it. So
00:37 I have more time. Um let me pray. Um father lord we just thank you this
00:44 morning. Thank you that we able to be here. Uh, Father, as we uh come right now to prepare our hearts to hear your
00:51 word, uh, Father, just um take away all these fleshly desires, anything that that keeps from distracting us. Um, take
00:58 away pride from me, take away um everything um that is not of you. Uh,
01:03 Father, we uh thank you that uh for this word in uh second Peter and we ask we go
01:09 through it right now that you may convict our hearts. And I pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.
01:16 So today what I'm trying to do is go through uh this chapter and um um I I was reflecting on this chapter and I was
01:22 thinking on um what is this chapter all about? And it really spoke to me as it's a a a definition of what a Christian
01:28 really is, what a Christian lifestyle should really be. And that's why I came up with the title of royal submission.
01:36 Um that our Christian life is like a royal submission. So, so what we're going to do is we're going to go through five points uh uh today. And the five
01:43 points are this. Chosen for change, chosen for an identity, chosen for a
01:49 purpose, chosen for a lifestyle, and chosen for suffering. And um let me dive
01:55 right into the first point. Chosen to change. Um when when you're chosen to
02:01 change, it means that you were something that you're no longer supposed to be and you're supposed to activate that change.
02:07 And and this is kind of what Peter uh says here. Says, "So put away all malice
02:13 and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants,
02:18 long for that pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation, if
02:23 indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." So, so there's these these things
02:29 that we used to be, right? Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander. So
02:36 this is all part of us. This is all something that we used to be. Why? Why do I say Peter says that's what something we used to be? Because he says
02:42 put it away. That means we used to have it. And he's talking to Christians. He's
02:49 not talking to non-Christians because he at the end he says if you indeed have tasted that the Lord is good, you're
02:54 able to put these things away. So you still have them as you're tasting that the Lord is good. But to be able to do
03:03 that, you need a change agent, right? You need to change and that helps you change and that changes is that good
03:10 spiritual milk that pure spiritual milk. Now every time we think of that that the
03:16 word spiritual milk um we think of that's what you know young Christians need. We mature Christians we need solid
03:23 food. We need stakes. Um but this is this is not what what what Peter is talking about here. He's talking about
03:28 pure spiritual need. That is the life sustenance of infants. So we are all
03:34 whether mature, immature, new Christian, uh uh old Christian, we are all like infants who who who need that pure
03:42 spiritual milk. And that spiritual milk is the word of God. And if we truly have tasted that the Lord of that the Lord is
03:49 good by drinking that that milk, we will long for it and we will crave for it. And as we long for it and crave for it
03:55 and and continue reading it and and soak in it and soak in it, what will happen is we will continue to taste that the
04:01 Lord is good. will help us to change and put away that malice, that deceit, that hypo hypocrisy. Um, so and we are being
04:09 changed slowly. So what are we being changed to? Well,
04:15 the the passage continues to say as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, um, just quickly, the living stone
04:21 rejected by men is Jesus. And uh later on in in a couple verses we're not going to talk about today uh he gives an old
04:27 testament passages just to refer to make make sure that you understand that the rejected living stone is Jesus. So as we
04:34 come to him, as we come to Jesus, we're being changed into little living stones,
04:40 right? You you yourself like living stones are being built up as a spiritual
04:46 house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God
04:51 through Jesus Christ. What he's saying is that we are becoming a temple. You
04:57 see, he he you you yourself like living stones. your little stones, little Jesus's and you come together and you're
05:02 being built out into a being built up into a spiritual house. It's an imagery
05:08 of a temple. So that's us, right? We are we are a whole bunch of people coming together and we we are being built up
05:13 into a church. And as Peter was meditating on on what it means to to be
05:19 a church or a temple, he he kind of starts to mix metaphors, right? First he says we are we are the temple, then he
05:25 says we are the priests and and we do spiritual sacrifices. That's why it says here, right? We are being built up as a
05:31 spiritual house uh to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices because that's what happened
05:37 in the temple, right? You come and you give sacrifices. So you may ask, what are these spiritual sacrifices that we
05:44 put on the altar? Well, that's the deceit and that's the malice and that's the um uh hypocrisy and the envy that we
05:52 put in there. We and as we we put them on the altar and as we offer them as our spiritual sacrifices, they alter us,
05:57 right? and and malice turns into love and and deceit and and hypocrisy turns into truthfulness and honesty and and
06:04 envy turns into pure joy for our brother sisters success.
06:10 But it's not easy. I it's it's difficult to put those things on the altar, right? It's
06:16 difficult to to put those things because because this is part of us. It's it's part of the flesh. And and that's kind
06:21 of what what Peter says a bit lower in in in verse 11. He says, "Beloved, I urge you as souljourers and as exiles to
06:28 abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul." It's
06:33 so so putting those sacrifices is like waging war. We wage war against our
06:39 flesh. And just a little application here, we don't wage war alone, right? We we do it
06:44 in community. We get people to help us out. We get people to hold us accountable. And we do it together as a
06:51 church. So as we as we come and we we wage war and we we put our sacrifices
06:58 uh uh as priests on the table and we we sometimes feel inadequate. We're saying,
07:03 "Hey, I I I've been trying for so long to do it and and yet I'm not able to do
07:09 it completely now. I want to change. I'm I'm drinking of that spiritual milk, but it's it's not changing me completely. I
07:15 still have a bit of malice in me. not able to purely perfectly put that spiritual sacrifice there.
07:23 Well, the whole point he's saying here is that you're supposed to do it, but you don't have to worry. You don't have
07:30 to be perfect. As long as you're doing it, know that it's being made acceptable
07:36 through Jesus. So, whatever you bring, as long as you're bringing, as long as you continue
07:42 putting and and doing those spiritual sacrifices, we're not saying we don't have to do it. have to do it.
07:48 But he knows that we are imperfect people and we can't do it perfectly. So there's still some malice left. But it's
07:53 okay as long as we continue doing it. It's being made acceptable through Jesus.
08:01 So that's the the change that goes on in us. And as we are waring and we are battling and we're putting those
08:06 sacrifices there, we adopt a new identity. And that brings us to point
08:12 two. chosen for an identity. Now, if you go into the social medias
08:19 and everybody's telling you who you want to be and who you should be, Facebook, Twitter, uh Instagram, uh websites,
08:27 YouTube, they're all telling you what kind of identity the world wants you to have. Peter has a completely different
08:34 view of of who you should be. And when he thinks about what is the Christian identity, what is the identity that we
08:39 are being saved into, things come to his mind. Actually, there
08:45 are nine things that come to his mind, but we're only going to focus on the major three today. A chosen race, a
08:53 royal priesthood, a holy nation. So, we as Christians, we are a chosen
08:59 race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation. So, what does it mean? Well, a
09:05 chosen race. I I I put this picture up here uh because that's that's us as a church,
09:10 right? And we can see we have many different colors,
09:16 right? This doesn't mean that there's a particular race which is chosen. It means that everybody as we become Christian, we are the chosen race. It's
09:24 a new race. Not that the old races cease to exist, but that new race identity is
09:31 10,000 times more important. And the fact that you're chosen, it's a beautiful thing. If you're one of those
09:38 people who was never chosen for anything, well, know that God chose you. He chose you to be part of his race.
09:48 The second thing is we are a royal priesthood. And as Baptist, you know, we really believe in the royal priesthood,
09:54 right? I mean, it's it's why we have a congregational setup because we believe in the priesthood of believers.
10:01 It means two things though. It means firstly that we are royal. Royal means that we have the blue blood
10:08 of Jesus flowing through our veins. We have been adopted by the king of kings
10:14 and now we live in his kingdom in co-airs with Christ.
10:19 So that that royalty gives us dignity. We we are somebody in Christ. We are
10:25 royalty. But it also gives us form and function as the priesthood.
10:31 What does it mean to be a priest? And it's not just for full-time workers is everyone here who is in Christ is a
10:38 priest. And therefore, you have a function. That function is to help connect people with
10:44 God. That's what priests do. So that's what
10:49 they're supposed to do. They're supposed to help people connect with God. So how do they do it? Of course, they lay spiritual sacrifices. They encourage
10:56 each other. They pray for another. They talk about the good news. They do whatever they can to help somebody get
11:02 to know God and help them build that relationship with God. And that's the duty of every believer.
11:11 Now, if the royalty was the definition of of our our dignity, then holy nation,
11:19 the word holy describes our purity. In that identity, we are pure.
11:28 And just to go on with the word nation, it's interesting. The Greek word here is ethnos.
11:34 It's a holy ethnicity. It's a a new ethnicity.
11:41 We are we are made new and and the old is no more. And and and our new ethnicity transcends our old ethnicity.
11:48 Not saying that our unique ethnicities are not great. They they they're wonderful. There there are many beautiful things that we can learn from
11:54 each other's ethnicities. We can see different facets of God through every single ethnicity that we could not see
12:00 if we wouldn't exist in that ethnicity. But now we have a a new ethnicity that
12:06 that that goes above it, which is the ethnicity of Christ, a a
12:13 God ethnicity. So we are all set apart in that new
12:21 ethnicity. So we are a a a chosen people, a royal people, a holy people,
12:27 and we are priests in a new ethnicity. Now, now hearing
12:34 those words, it can lead us to be very boastful of ourselves, you know, because hey, hey, I'm I'm a priest. I'm royal.
12:42 Um, but but Peter makes sure that we we we can't do that. He immediately says this, once you were not a people, but
12:48 now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. You did not become
12:55 royalty because you're awesome. You became royalty because he is awesome.
13:01 And he came and he lavished mercy upon us, giving us that new identity and that
13:07 new um being this new ethnicity and being priests all because of his mercy.
13:14 And therefore we are his prized possession. We as his own possession and
13:20 we are God's people. Now with that identity knowing who we
13:26 are comes what comes a purpose and we have been chosen for a purpose.
13:35 Now the purpose is is a is a two-fold purpose we have here.
13:40 Um the first one we see in verse 9 right after. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
13:47 people for his own possession. Why? For what? That you may proclaim the
13:52 excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light.
13:59 The purpose, our purpose is to proclaim his excellencies,
14:04 to talk, to speak, to live out everything that proclaims the excellencies of God. Whatever you think
14:11 is excellent about God. And let me just dare say everything, we proclaim that and we we do it in
14:19 speech and we do it in action and and to make sure it's not just a verbal proclamation. You can see the the other
14:24 part of our purpose in verse 12 and it says, "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable." Now, the word
14:31 honorable in the Greek, you can also translate to beautiful. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles
14:37 beautiful. so that they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation
14:45 to behave in such a way that people see goodness in you and therefore glorify
14:51 God. That's our purpose to proclaim his excellencies and live lives that glorify
14:59 God. So with that with being changed and
15:05 having that new identity, we have this purpose. And if we want to live out this purpose, it requires us to really
15:13 drastically change our lifestyle. This this kind of purpose must come with
15:22 a new lifestyle. And therefore, we're chosen for a lifestyle.
15:30 Now we're already on point three and and I think I'm doing fantastic on time. Uh
15:36 um so let me slow down a bit. I got lots to say actually. I skipped through a lot.
15:42 Um but um um when I when I was going through this this this this section on
15:48 lifestyle um I I I I actually struggled. I you guys see it was first Peter 2, right?
15:55 And I didn't want to talk about first Peter 3 1-8. The reason why it says submit to your roles in marriage. Uh um
16:02 I just didn't want to talk about it. Um I thought it was difficult to talk about. Uh but I've repented of that and
16:08 I included it. Uh um I think it must be said I I think it it fits so well into
16:15 how we must live out our lives. And there's three points I want to make
16:21 under the um how chosen for our lifestyle is that we must submit to
16:26 worldly authorities which we see in this section in 1st Peter 2:13-17. Submit to your masters in 1 Peter
16:34 2:18-22 and submit to your roles in marriage. And I I worded that very carefully
16:40 and we will go through that. Um the first one submit to your worldly
16:46 authority. Now, the text says this, be subject. So, so what I'm going to do here, actually,
16:52 I'm going to do a twofold thing. We're going to look at what we're supposed to do and then the why. Why are we doing
16:60 it? And that why must always tie back in to the purpose of the lifestyle. So, the
17:05 why always defines back the purpose to proclaim its excellencies. And the how talks about how we do it. So, the yellow
17:12 sections that you see is the how and the purple sections are the wise. um be subject for the Lord's sake to
17:19 every human institution whether it be to the emperor as supreme
17:25 or to the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. Now now we don't have
17:33 an emperor thankfully. Um so um that emperor back then was
17:40 supreme and he couldn't be toppled. um um our supreme leader, we have a democratic system and and and and we
17:47 allowed to exercise that within the governing law. So So it's not talking about vote the same party all the time.
17:52 This is not what it says, okay? It says stay within the legal means of what you can what you what the government allows
17:58 you to do and and we have a democratic system. So we we're allowed to do a lot, right? But what it's really talking
18:04 about here is pay your taxes. It's talking about live as moral
18:11 citizens. Don't give anybody reasons to talk bad about you. So therefore making Christ
18:18 and Jesus look bad. All right. So so that's that's that's
18:23 the main point that is driving home here to be model citizens. People who pay
18:29 their taxes, people who don't speed, people who don't are not are not corrupted, people who don't embezzle.
18:36 And why so? For this is the will of God that by doing good so our good deeds, you should
18:44 put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. And there are a lot of foolish
18:50 people who want to talk bad about Christians already. We don't need your deeds to add to it,
18:56 right? Like like like churches who embezzle money. We don't need that. We
19:02 have enough people wanting to talk evil about us. So, so what I'm saying here is the the whole point he's driving home is
19:08 be a good model citizen so that when people look at your life, it glorifies
19:14 God and your lifestyle proclaim his excellencies. The second point is uh be a good servant
19:21 to your master. Um now it a lot of people think it talks
19:27 about slavery and and and and it does to a certain extent but you must understand slavery during that time. Um um it was
19:34 not a racial thing. It was not that there was white people uh having black slaves that that was not the situation.
19:40 It was the situation that anybody who was going bankrupt
19:45 well there was this no there was no bankruptcy filing back then right? So you had debts that you had to pay. So
19:52 regardless of who you were, if you had no financial ability to pay yourself out
19:57 of the debts, what you will do is you will sell yourself into slavery, yourself and your family. So back then
20:03 you had Italian slaves, British slaves, African slaves, every kind of slave. You
20:09 had African noblemen, Italian noblemen, British noblemen. It was not a racial thing. It was just because you were not
20:16 able to finance your own life or you had a bad business dealing and you had to sell yourself into slavery. So to forget
20:23 period of time it says this servants be subject to your masters with all respect
20:28 not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. Why? For this is a
20:34 gracious thing when mindful of God. So so keeping God in mind one endures
20:40 sorrow while suffering unjustly. Now, the reason why why I talked about
20:47 how how slavery worked back then is is to show you that it's it's it's a good thing. We can easily translated to our
20:53 lives today as employees and employers, right? And and and many of us slave away
20:59 at our jobs. Now, what this passage is saying is and the ground thing is be a model employee.
21:07 Work in such a way that nobody can say anything bad about you. And even if your
21:13 boss is unjust and unfair and many of us have unfair and unjust bosses,
21:18 even then suffer through it quietly and and do good
21:25 because it bears witness. It bears witness to other people. But it says
21:31 don't don't become a person who's not mindful of God suddenly. Don't do the things which which you're not supposed
21:38 to do. Stay godly. So even if your boss asks you to do
21:43 ungodly things, you stay mindful of God and that may cause you to suffer.
21:52 But that suffering glorifies God and and it glorifies his name. It proclaims his excellencies.
22:03 It's not suffering because you're lazy. like you you have to stay late at work
22:09 until 2 o'clock in the morning because you didn't do a good job and you're inefficient. That's not the suffering we're talking about. And and Peter makes
22:15 it very clear because says for what credit is it if you sin and are beaten for it, you endure it. So there's no
22:22 good in suffering and and saying, "Oh, I'm doing it for Jesus." But actually, it's because you're you're a royal bum, not a royal priest.
22:28 Yeah. So we we're not talking about that. We're talking about if you when you do good and you suffer and endure
22:36 it, this is a gracious thing. It produces grace. It shows grace. It makes grace when you suffer through it even
22:43 though your bosses, your masters are unjust.
22:48 So again, we we can see how we're supposed to live our lives and why to proclaim his excellencies and through
22:55 our good behavior bring glory to God. The last one is a difficult one. Um it
23:03 says submit to your roles in marriage. And we talked to the um first part to the wives. It says likewise. So
23:11 submission be subject to your own husbands so that when if all the male
23:19 chauvinist says amen. Okay. uh so that even if some do not obey the word, they
23:25 may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives. Before we talk about
23:30 submitting, let's let's look at the why. Why this whole segment is written so that the a wife who's a Christian and a
23:37 husband who's not a Christian that the not a Christian can see God through the
23:43 wife's behavior. That's the that's that's the context of
23:48 this statement here. And now now why do wives submit and and and and and man and and how does that
23:56 whole work? It's because God has instituted marriage to resemble Christ and the church. So we as the church, we
24:03 are the bride and and Christ is the groom and and he loves us sacrificially unto death, right? And return the church
24:11 submits to Christ and gives him the authority. So that's that's the image of
24:17 of the church and that's the image of marriage. So what this passage is
24:22 telling you to do is is submit to the role that you've been asked to do as the bride
24:29 so that as you proclaim his excellencies in doing that your husband can be one
24:34 for the gospel. It says further here you don't do that
24:40 by by putting on makeup and looking pretty. You don't you don't win your your husband for the gospel if when they
24:47 see uh when you do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of the hair and putting on gold jewelry or clothing
24:54 you wear. But let your adorning be in the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and
25:00 quiet spirit which in God's sight is very precious. You see, when when your
25:06 husband sees that you have respectful and pure conduct, then he's being one for the gospel. And that's an
25:12 unparishable beauty. I I I can testify that from from my
25:18 family. My my my mother was a Christian, my father was not. And and so my mom was always going to
25:24 church. And um uh what happened one day is our house in Germany was snowed in. So uh she couldn't drive to church. Um
25:31 so she said, "Okay, never mind. I won't go to church." My father's like, "No, no, no, no. I I'll shovel away the snow." And he he shoveled away the snow
25:38 and made her a cup of tea. And then he drove her to church on the icy roads. And my mom, why my dad was doing, "Why?
25:44 Why are you doing that? You're not even a Christian." He says, "Because you're just a much much better person when you
25:49 come back from church."
25:55 So you see how how her behavior proclaimed the excellencies of God.
26:01 Yeah. It works, you know. And my father's a Christian now. She won him for the gospel. Praise the Lord. Yeah.
26:13 Let's go to the husbands. So the the big word here is um oops
26:20 likewise. Likewise. So likewise means just as the wives are submitting.
26:27 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding
26:32 way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel since they are hes with you of
26:40 the grace of life so that your prayers may not be hindered. Um the weaker
26:45 vessel just doesn't mean anything else but physical strength. Yeah, that that's that's what it means. As they are
26:50 physically weaker, don't abuse them. Don't beat them. That's that's what it means. Honor them. All right. So honor
26:57 them. Why? Because as you honor your wife and as you are respectful and understanding of her, you show grace.
27:06 You give her an experience of grace that she shares with you. And that again
27:13 proclaims the glory of his excellencies and the goodness of him.
27:20 So, so what's the whole point? So, and again we do that so that people can witness to the gospel.
27:26 So all three points we we behave in a certain lifestyle always to declare back
27:32 our purpose to proclaim his excellencies and to live out our lives that glorify
27:38 God. Let me tell you two stories. Um the
27:43 person in the um jet fighter plane is um Butch O'Hare.
27:50 He was in the um second world war and he was uh sent to uh the South Pacific Sea
27:57 um with his plane to to go missions from there and to do uh uh flying missions from there. And one morning he he he
28:04 flew out with his with his unit. And um as they were flying they realized that
28:09 his his plane was not fueled. So much to his regret he had to turn back halfway.
28:15 He he couldn't continue with the mission. and and so he went back to his uh he was on a air Afric carrier. He was
28:21 on an Afric carrier from there they left the mission. So he was on the way back to the Afric carrier and on the way back
28:28 suddenly he saw a whole bunch of Japanese fighter planes coming. So he was too far away from his unit to
28:35 to call them and get them to help him to fight them and he was too far away from the air carrier to go down and warn
28:41 them. So he only had one option and because he
28:46 knew who he was. He was a soldier and because he understood his purpose to
28:52 defend his people, he went and he started to battle them by
28:57 himself. One man against a whole unit of Japanese air uh airplanes.
29:04 What happened was he he he loaded unloaded all his ammunition on them and he was able to shoot some down
29:12 and then he had no more ammo but they were still planes. So he said, "Okay, what I'm going to do, I'm just going to
29:18 fly in such a way I'm going to try to nip off one of their wings and I'm going to nip off one of their engines and and
29:23 I'm going to try my best to get as little as possible planes to attack the Africa carrier." So as he was doing it,
29:31 suddenly the Japanese retreated. I was thinking crazy American.
29:37 So, so, so, so, so they retreated and he was able to to limp his plane back to the air carrier and he had cameras on
29:44 his plane were witness to his heroic action and what happened he was decorated and he was able to save all
29:51 these people that day and that's why Chicago airport is called O'Hare airport.
29:57 Yeah, it's a it's a true story. Let me tell you. So he was able to do it
30:03 because he he knew who he was and his identity and he knew his purpose and he was able to carry it out. Let me tell
30:10 you a second story. This is Easy Eddie. Easy Eddie is not the guy with the hat.
30:15 Uh that's the guy with the hat is Al Capone. Um he was a notorious mobster during the
30:22 20th century. And Easy Eddie was his lawyer. Um, and he was Alapone's lawyer because
30:29 he was a very good lawyer. He was able to keep Al Capone out of jail for a very
30:34 long time. He knew how to maneuver the legal systems and he was greatly
30:40 rewarded by it by Al Capone. He he got great riches, right? He got he got a fantastic mansion. He got lots of money.
30:47 He got bodyguards. He got the car he wanted. He got everything he desired.
30:53 But Easy Eddie had a weakness. And his weakness was his son. He really loved his son.
30:60 He would do anything for his son. He gave his son the best education
31:06 and he even want to bring up his son in the best moral way possible. And he was
31:12 able to do quite good. But there was two things he was never able to do.
31:18 He was not able to give his son a good name because his name was dragged
31:24 through the drain by being Alapone's lawyer. And he was not able to give his son a good example.
31:31 Whatever wealth he had, whatever things he could lavish on his son, these two
31:36 things he could never do. And he had these two identities that were fighting
31:41 against each other. On one side he was Al Capone's lawyer and the other side he
31:47 was a father who loved his son and it worked at him and and and years
31:52 went by and finally this this identity of the father won over the other identity
31:59 and now because he was this new person again he he really understood what he meant to be a father he had a new purpose and his purpose was to to leave
32:06 a good name for his son and to be a good role model good example for his son.
32:12 So he knew what he had to do because with that new purpose came a new lifestyle
32:17 and that lifestyle asked him to submit to the authorities which he did. He submitted to the
32:24 authorities and he became the star witness on the Capone trial.
32:30 He did that so he can give his son the two most precious things ever that money
32:36 can't buy. A good name and a good example.
32:41 and he paid dearly because soon after he was gunned down
32:47 and he died. But his son had those two things. Now
32:53 you might ask me why am I telling you these two stories? How are they connected? Well, you must know Butch is
33:01 Eddie's son. It's Eddie. Easy. Eddie is Eddie O'Hare
33:09 and his son is Butch O'Hare. What values he passed down to his son
33:15 for the action he did ended up saving many many lives.
33:23 See, he knew what it means to live as a person who is free.
33:30 And and that's the problem, right? in our faith. We think that when we come to Christ, there's a whole bunch of rules
33:36 and regulations and law and we don't understand that there's freedom in it. I
33:41 mean, it says live as people who are free and then it says living as servants of God. So, it seems kind of
33:48 contradictory, right? Free and servant. But let me first tell you this. There
33:54 are many many people in jail right now who would love to be free to observe
33:59 some laws. So freedom and observing laws can work
34:05 together. Or let me tell you differently. Let me tell you about this girl. This is a a
34:12 girl. It was in uh she was a slave girl in in a time in America where there was still slavery going on in the south. and
34:19 uh she was being auctioned off and there was this northern America somebody from North America who came and he found
34:24 mercy on her. So he went and and he bought her
34:30 and he brought her to the north and and as they arrived, she said to the girl, "You are free."
34:38 And she's like, "What do you mean?" Like, "You're free. You're complete. I I I bought your freedom. Does Does that
34:46 mean I can I can be whoever I want to be?" Yes. Yes, you can be whoever you want to be. Does it mean I can I can
34:52 think whatever I want to think? Yes, you can think whatever you want to think.
34:58 Does it mean I can I can do whatever I want to do? Yes, you can do whatever you want to do. You're free to do whatever
35:04 you want to do. Does it mean I am I'm free to go wherever I want to go.
35:12 He said, "Yes, you're free to go wherever you want to go."
35:17 So the girl looked at the man and said, "Then I want to go with you."
35:25 And that's kind of like our life as Christians. When we understand who who paid the
35:30 price for us, we have that desire to follow. We have
35:36 that desire to obey. We have that desire to submit.
35:42 But sometimes it does come with sufferings. That's what the text says. That brings me to my
35:51 last point. Chosen for suffering. You see, the passage says this. For this
35:57 you have been called. For this you have been chosen because Christ also suffered for you
36:04 leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.
36:11 We are little living stones. We are little Jesus's. We are little Christs. We are supposed to follow in his steps.
36:19 The tech the text now tells us the steps. He says he committed no sin.
36:25 Neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile
36:31 in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He
36:38 himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live
36:44 live a lifestyle of righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed for
36:51 you are straying like sheep but have now returned to the shepherd. You have changed
36:57 an overseer of your souls. See Christ did not die on the cross
37:04 that we may not suffer much. He died on the cross so that as we share
37:10 in his sufferings, we make much of him. And you ask me how how can suffering
37:18 bring glory to God. Now I I don't have it here, but in 1 Peter 3:15, it's a
37:24 very famous passage. It always talks about apologetics and always having a reason for the hope that we have.
37:30 It that context is is put in a passage. Treat that passage in 1 Peter 3 in a context of suffering for righteousness.
37:41 When you hear the gospel, when you hear that that God loved his son so much and
37:47 sent him to suffer on the cross for you, you fall in love with him.
37:54 And trust me, as as people see you suffer for the cross,
38:01 they want to know about that God. And yes, we are chosen for suffering.
38:08 And as I asked the worship team to come up, let me let me just put the five points back together.
38:15 We are chosen. We are chosen for change. There's this old part of us which needs to be
38:22 changed. And we have that change agent which is a spiritual milk. We we drink
38:27 of that milk. We savor that milk so we can taste that the Lord is good.
38:32 And we are changed into this new identity of a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a chosen race. And as priests,
38:41 we have a new purpose. And we have been chosen for a purpose. That purpose is to proclaim his excellencies
38:47 and live lives that glorify his name. And that brings a lifestyle of
38:54 submission to us. Submitting to our workplaces in such a way that we are model employees. Submitting to our
39:01 community in our society so that we are model citizens. Submitting to our wives and husbands to
39:08 be model spouses so that we can through that lifestyle proclaim his excellencies. And sometimes
39:16 it will cause us to suffer. But those sufferings also proclaim his
39:23 glory. That is the Christian life. It is truly a royal submission. Let me
39:31 pray. Father Lord, we
39:38 we thank you for regenerating our hearts, helping us
39:44 change change from depravity to royalty.
39:50 Lord, we we take on this new identity as a holy
39:55 nation, as a royal priest with dignity and purity,
40:01 as we lay our spiritual sacrifices before you. And Lord, we we are
40:07 imperfect people. We are we are never able to do it perfectly, but through Christ, they are made acceptable.
40:14 So, we continue in this battle. We wage war against our soul and through your strength we overcome
40:22 and we take on this new purpose to to proclaim to talk about your excellencies
40:28 and to live lives that glorify your name. As we submit in our workplaces,
40:37 as we suffer unjustly, as we show grace to our spouses,
40:44 as we show grace in our community
40:51 and Lord, as we take on sufferings, Lord, we we know that we are able to go
40:56 through it because of you. In you, we have hope.
41:02 Our hope is not some some wishful thinking. Our hope is a certainty of a
41:08 Christ that will come back and we will rise with him. Lord, in in you we have victory.
41:17 Thank you for changing us. Amen.
41:23 [Music]
