Dan Rowe - Sunday, 13 August 2023
From Where Do We Get Our Identity?
Scripture References: 1 Peter 2:1-10, Psalms 34:1-22, Acts 4:8-12
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CloseSwimming 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
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The Department of Home Affairs has an Australian Values Statement on its website. Visa applicants for residency/citizenship must sign this. And one of its key principles is that we are a ‘fair-go’ country. We would all agree with that. I suspect, too, that we would summarise our ‘fair go’ culture by stating that ‘you get what you deserve/what you work for’. In fact, many of us have established our relational, social and work ethics on this very principle. But is that what the ‘kingdom of heaven is like’? What is its value statement? What is the hallmark of such a kingdom, and its ruler, even its citizenship? Today, after Jesus has assured his disciples that the dependent will be provided for by their king, he now uses the same ideas to issue with them a warning not to abuse, misuse, ignore or become entitled in the face of the kingdom of heaven hallmark—which is grace.
Jesus deals with the question of ‘Who belongs in the kingdom?’ Is it children? Is it the good? Is it the godly? And, how and what does this look like? This question of ‘belonging’ is one that is constant in our lives – where do I belong, do I belong, what does belonging look like? And Jesus is very clear: the kingdom of heaven is made up of the dependent, the reliant, the weak – just like children.
The book of Esther recounts a period where God's people are in exile, aliens in a foreign land. Sounds like our time doesn't it? Even when God seems absent, He is at work. The great reversal of power at the heart of the universe has already taken place. Jesus won victory over death on the cross and in His resurrection. Satan the great enemy of God and His people, has been defeated. We wait in the now but not yet. Waiting for the Lord Jesus to return and give His people relief and rest. But as we wait, we share the good news of the gospel, call people to faith in Jesus, faithfully endure persecution, knowing that our deliverance is assured.
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