Peter tells his
churches, who feel like they are cultural exiles, there is a kind of feeling
of belonging that is possible through loving non-conformity. Forming
a community of deep belonging starts with thinking differently. Peter
says in 1 Peter 1:13 as people with tightened mental belts,
disciplined, completely set your hope on the grace being carried to you through
the revealing of Jesus Christ.
After the race, Sea Biscuit’s trainer and owner asked Pollard, what happened to the plan? Pollard’s response was—“He cut me off, what was I supposed to do—let him get away with it?”
“But we had a plan,” the trainer insisted. Pollard again couldn’t focus on the issue. He could only focus on—“he cut me off.” And because of his inability to focus on anything but the injustice of being cut off, he lost the race. In the race of life people are going to cut us off. Forces that do not want people to come to faith and hope will be relentlessly active in trying to get you mentally distracted from what is the real issue of your spiritual growth. Christian reflection is not free association, it disciplines the emotions so that you can keep the main thing the main thing. The devil would like nothing more than to have you bouncing around from one injustice to perceived injustice after another. But the injustices are not the issue. The issue is that there is a reason you will let yourself be distracted by an infinite number of squirrel moments rather than focusing on the fact that Christ has ushered you into the grace of glory and that he will continue to do so until Christ’s final unveiling when the undying New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God. The central theological assertion of 1 Peter 1:13-25 is that believers have been born of an imperishable seed. Verse 23 says, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” The whole of a plant and its destiny is contained within the germinating power of a seed. Thus, all the future expressions of the undying kind of life are present within the reborn in seminal form. In a world of distractions we are to have the discipline of mind to stay focused on such a saving reality rather than to be conformed to the patterns of this world. Holiness requires a kind of separation and distinction from the dying culture around the reborn. What makes us truly alive comes from another dimension. Americans are often shocked by what Peter thinks conformity looks like. For Peter, worldly conformity involves being conformed to the preferential treatment we give to potential consumers and marketers of our idols. By contrast, in coming up out of the baptistery we cry “Abba Father” and receive the Spirit’s testimony with our own spirit. And so Peter insists in verse 17 that in the new birth we have all called on the same impartial father and are called to an impartial life—one that loves sacrificially rather than preferentially. The concept of redemption is one where a slave is purchased out of slavery and generally adopted into a family. In verse 18 we learn that freedom and belonging in the born-again sense is not gained by ordinary financial means but it is procured by Jesus blood, shed not preferentially for those who could do for him, but graciously for all. In verse 22 we understand that those who have passed through the purification ritual --having obeyed the truth—have thus been ushered eis (into) a community of sincere brotherly affection. Having called on an impartial father, having been redeemed through a transcendent grace offered graciously to all, having been joined into an adoptive family that is eternally alive—the reborn become focused on sacrificially and impartially loving others deeply. In this lesson I explore the kind of belonging we feel as a result of the baptismal life which passes into us from eternity. I contrast it with the temporary and dying forms of belonging often offered by the wider culture. Here's the link to the whole sermon: Born into Loving Non-Cnformity
After the race, Sea Biscuit’s trainer and owner asked Pollard, what happened to the plan? Pollard’s response was—“He cut me off, what was I supposed to do—let him get away with it?”
“But we had a plan,” the trainer insisted. Pollard again couldn’t focus on the issue. He could only focus on—“he cut me off.” And because of his inability to focus on anything but the injustice of being cut off, he lost the race. In the race of life people are going to cut us off. Forces that do not want people to come to faith and hope will be relentlessly active in trying to get you mentally distracted from what is the real issue of your spiritual growth. Christian reflection is not free association, it disciplines the emotions so that you can keep the main thing the main thing. The devil would like nothing more than to have you bouncing around from one injustice to perceived injustice after another. But the injustices are not the issue. The issue is that there is a reason you will let yourself be distracted by an infinite number of squirrel moments rather than focusing on the fact that Christ has ushered you into the grace of glory and that he will continue to do so until Christ’s final unveiling when the undying New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God. The central theological assertion of 1 Peter 1:13-25 is that believers have been born of an imperishable seed. Verse 23 says, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” The whole of a plant and its destiny is contained within the germinating power of a seed. Thus, all the future expressions of the undying kind of life are present within the reborn in seminal form. In a world of distractions we are to have the discipline of mind to stay focused on such a saving reality rather than to be conformed to the patterns of this world. Holiness requires a kind of separation and distinction from the dying culture around the reborn. What makes us truly alive comes from another dimension. Americans are often shocked by what Peter thinks conformity looks like. For Peter, worldly conformity involves being conformed to the preferential treatment we give to potential consumers and marketers of our idols. By contrast, in coming up out of the baptistery we cry “Abba Father” and receive the Spirit’s testimony with our own spirit. And so Peter insists in verse 17 that in the new birth we have all called on the same impartial father and are called to an impartial life—one that loves sacrificially rather than preferentially. The concept of redemption is one where a slave is purchased out of slavery and generally adopted into a family. In verse 18 we learn that freedom and belonging in the born-again sense is not gained by ordinary financial means but it is procured by Jesus blood, shed not preferentially for those who could do for him, but graciously for all. In verse 22 we understand that those who have passed through the purification ritual --having obeyed the truth—have thus been ushered eis (into) a community of sincere brotherly affection. Having called on an impartial father, having been redeemed through a transcendent grace offered graciously to all, having been joined into an adoptive family that is eternally alive—the reborn become focused on sacrificially and impartially loving others deeply. In this lesson I explore the kind of belonging we feel as a result of the baptismal life which passes into us from eternity. I contrast it with the temporary and dying forms of belonging often offered by the wider culture. Here's the link to the whole sermon: Born into Loving Non-Cnformity
