Sermons / Talks

Dan Rowe - Sunday, 13 August 2023

From Where Do We Get Our Identity?

Swimming in the waters of our society, we can often forget from where we get our identity and what defines us as believers of Jesus. Peter, speaking to temporary residents scattered throughout Asia Minor and dispersed throughout North West NSW, seeks to remind them where their identity comes from. If we have tasted that the Lord is good, we should crave after the word (2:2-3), already mentioned in 1:25. Peter shows what the reality of drawing near to God looks like. That just as Jesus was the bodily dwelling of God, when we believe in Him we are joined to Him. This joining produces the glorious living and expanding temple of God, His Church. We are a part of God’s building plan, honoured by Him for believing. As such, we are to be distinctive in the world as we show Who is our identity. As wonderful as this is, Peter foreshadows the implication of following one already continually rejected by the world. In this, Peter wants to bring comfort and assurance to his readers that the one who follows Jesus will not be put to shame and that they are His treasured possession.

Scripture References: 1 Peter 2:1-10, Psalms 34:1-22, Acts 4:8-12

Related Topics: Identity | More Messages from Dan Rowe | Download Audio

From Series: "1 Peter"

Peter is the apostle I most identify with. He is the right-hand man of Jesus who often gets it—and commonly stumbles. He takes, in my reckoning, close to 15 years to truly understand the grace of Jesus. And, when he does, he writes a letter like 1 Peter—follow Jesus, where you are—He is the cause and template of your life as God’s mob. The context is that of God’s mob scattered, right throughout Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). They are regarded as strange and different, misfits in a Roman Empire that ‘killed’ their Lord! And Peter exhorts them: ‘this is the true grace of God. Take your stand in it!’ (1 Peter 5:12)

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