Message: “Trusting Jesus despite Opposition” from Tim Baxter

Sunday, 12 November 2017 by

Bernard Gabbott - Sunday, 6 August 2023

A Rejoicing Mob Looks Like?

Perhaps the most important word in today’s passage is ‘therefore’. It seems strange to say, but it helps us understand the context and purpose of verses 13-25. Without the ‘therefore’, these four commands reek of good deeds and self-improvement. With the ‘therefore’, we understand that these four commands emerge from what God has already done for us, in His ‘great mercy’ (vs.3). With the ‘therefore’, we see these four commands as outlining the ‘rejoicing’ life of a people who are temporary residents. With the ‘therefore’, we understand these four commands as helping us as God’s mob to reflect Him to the world.

Scripture References: 1 Peter 1:13-25, Psalms 29:1-11, Leviticus 11:44-47

Related Topics: Rejoice | More Messages from Bernard Gabbott | 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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