(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see how)
Focus Question:
What kind of reverence is proper?
Intro:
Did you know that a secular study just last year by the British government shows that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world?
1 Peter is a call to the church — both in terms of living and duty. You see, he was writing to a church enduring persecution and oppression. But ‘round these parts we’re all about hope, I love that Peter’s explicit about calling us to a living hope.
Two things as we get rolling. First, pay attention today to the call to be holy — that’ll be a theme we’ll touch on in tomorrow’s Sunday Reflection. And two, today’s focus question is, “What kind of reverence is proper?”
New Testament segment:
Passage: 1 Peter 1-2:3
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 28
Words: ~637
So what kind of reverence is proper?
In 1:17–21 Peter indicated that a proper reverence for God and an appreciation of the high cost of redemption demanded holy living. The readers would understand redemption as the freeing of a slave by paying a price. The payment that released Christians from an “empty way of life” was the “blood of Christ.” Peter noted that God had determined the performance of this work of Christ before the beginning of time. He had only recently made His plan evident in the incarnation, passion, and resurrection of Jesus (v. 20).(1)
Got that? Holy living. And how? Desiring the pure milk of God’s word and, by the power of the Spirit living in you that you put away deceit and slander and envy and…and…and
…and speaking of righteousness. In today’s section in Jeremiah you’ll hear a bunch of Jeremiah calling out various kings and rulers, but hang with me to the end, because we’ll get to one of the most explicitly Messianic passages in all the OT.
OLD Testament segment:
Passage: Jeremiah 21-23:8
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 52
Words: ~1541
The bottom line:
So you keep hearing the kings and wealthy getting called out for their failure to administer justice…and the promise God promises to keep is that they’ll come back to their own land and dwell in peace. WE now have the gift of hindsight and now know that the promise is for the new heavens and the new earth — and that we were going to need that Righteous Branch of Jesse, Jesus, to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
So what kind of reverence is proper? Nothing short of holy living. Do make sure you catch tomorrow’s Sunday Reflection.
Love you!
Roger
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) David S. Dockery, ed., Holman Bible Handbook (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992), 764.