Called Out

1 Peter 2:9-12

With so many leaving it’s easy to get distracted.  It’s easy to feel like we are doing something wrong.  Certainly, self-inspection is never a bad thing; we can always grow.  However, the truth is a church can be faithful to her mission and still decrease numerically.  We must remember that numerical increase is not God’s standard for success; rather making disciples is.

Also, we must remember that God has called us.  Sometimes, this is the only thing we have to hold on to; but it is no small thing.  Almost everyone who is a part of TRF, God has called since we’ve arrived.  I didn’t work for you; God called you out and brought you here.  And just last weekend God reminded me how He moved heaven and earth to get us to La Crosse.  Others believe God has called me, that God has called you, and that God is calling us to be his church.

This leads me to conclude one thing:  God has others He wants to call out.  On Thursday, May 4th I stopped at Walmart on my way into work and I was thinking about all this.  When I got done shopping and got back into my car I emailed myself these thoughts:

You have called us here.  You have brought your people to us.  Continue to call Your people.  Bring them to us.  Call Your people out.  Bring them to Your church.  Help us to be the church You have called us to be.  Help us to sit back and watch you work.  Help us to be faithful.

Jesus Picked You On Purpose (9-10)

Jesus wants you in his family (9a & 10)
We are God's chosen family; God’s possession.  By His mercy, we are saved.  

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9)

For Peter, salvation is according to God's great mercy based on the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Happy Easter!).  For Peter, salvation is synonymous with being "born again" and is something we enter into by faith alone.  Peter also uses the term "inheritance" to describe our salvation.  When God saves us He bring us into his family and we are heirs to His inheritance (i.e. salvation).

In Romans 8:15-17 Paul uses the word adoption to describe how Jesus wants you in His family.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

The point is this:  when we bend our knee to follow King Jesus we enter into His family - the church.

Jesus picked You for a purpose (9b)
Sandwiched between 9a & 10 is the purpose of our calling.  

so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (9b)

The NLT says  “show others the goodness of God; the NASB says “proclaim the excellencies of Him".  So which is right?  Show (actions) or proclaim (speak)?  Yes; both/and not either/or.  Also, we must keep our roles straight.  We show and proclaim the goodness of God; God calls.  Our job is to pray that the Lord calls out his church.

How You Get There Matters (11-12)

We have a mission.  A goal.  A desired outcome.  A destination we are trying to reach.  Namely, that others might be saved and glorify God.  We must remember, how we get there matters.

Bad character damages your soul (v11)

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul (v11)

Abstain means to hold back or restrain.  These fleshly lusts wage war for your soul.  This is a military term (cf. John 10:10).  If you need a list or fleshly lusts see 4:3.

I met Father Adam in 2008.  I was working at Starbucks and he frequently came in for a tall decaf Americano.  I learned that Father Adam was a monk.  I also learned he was on Facebook.  In a conversation on day I asked him if he watched TV.  Here was his reply:

Tay-Vay!  No I don't watch TV.  Turn on the TV, turn off your soul.

His words have haunted me ever since.  There is a war waging for my soul.  Have my desires been so reduced to only desire trivial entertainment?  Have I forgot what it means to desire Christ?

Sometimes we don't have a choice to abstain.  Bunyan was a pastor in the 1600s who was imprisoned for 12 years for preaching the Gospel of Jesus.  He spent 12 years away from his wife and 4 children because he wouldn't agree to stop preaching.  For 12 years he was forced to restrain himself from everything - good and bad.  Here's what Bunyan had to say:

By this scripture I was made to see that if ever I would suffer rightly, I must first pass a sentence of death upon everything that can be properly called a thing in this life, even to reckon myself, my wife, my children, my health, my enjoyment, and all, as dead to me, and myself as dead to them (42-3).

I found Bunyan's words in Piper's book The Hidden Smile of God.  Here's Piper's comments on Bunyan:

Oh, how we need Bunyan!  We are soft and thin-skinned.  We are worldly; we fit far too well into our God-ignoring culture.  We are fearful and anxious and easily discouraged.  We have taken our eyes off the Celestial City and the deep pleasures of knowing God and denying ourselves the lesser things that titillate for a moment but the shrink our capacities for great joy (166).

Bad character destroys your witness (12)

Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. (v12)

There is the part of you that people don’t see; shaped by fellowship with God and other believers.  But there is a part people do see. Bad character damages your soul, and it also destroys your witness.

Peter says we should stand out!  He says keep behavior excellent.  This word means good, precious, surpassing, commendable, admirable, beautiful to look at.  It implies visibility and comparison.  Followers of Jesus should stand out!  We should lead the way in how we server our community.  As employees we shouldn't complain, but be a part of the solution.  We should be encouraging to be around; we should actually be happy at work.  We should be the best neighbors on our street; not waiting for neighbors to come to us.

Conclusion

God has called us out.  He has called us into his family and for a purpose.  How we get there matters.

How do we keep from wounding our soul?  How do we maintain purity?  How do we restrain?  Together…

1.  Grow together.  1 Peter 2:1-5

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.  And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

2.  Authentic Community 4:7-11

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.

We should pray together, love one another, be hospitable to one another, and share gifts with one another.