If you're going to live well in this generation,
you need to be living out of your new identity in Christ.
You need to know who you are and in knowing who you are,
know what you've been given in Christ.
I'm excited about this year we're going to spend together
doing the gospel, one chapter at a time.
This year we're going to spend in 1 Peter.
And I just love, love 1 Peter.
I mean, I actually love the whole Bible,
but there's something particularly sweet and important
about this passage of scripture
for our generation of believers.
Maybe I'll say it this way,
I am absolutely convinced you will find yourself
in 1 Peter, you'll find your questions in 1 Peter,
you'll find your struggles in 1 Peter.
You'll find some riches that maybe you didn't know
were yours in 1 Peter.
In many ways, I think that this little letter,
is a very modern contemporary, here's why.
Peter's writing to Gentiles.
Gentiles living in regions, that if you put them together,
are now what we would call Turkey.
And these Christians are suffering.
There's no evidence that they're suffering
government decreed persecution,
or persecution that's physical,
but they're in a place,
in a culture where their faith is misunderstood,
where they're facing religious discrimination
feeling under threat,
mocked and verbally abused.
And I think that's much like the conditions
we're living in now,
where Christianity is largely misunderstood,
not respected,
and it feels like it's under threat.
And in that kind of culture,
Peter's addressing the question,
what is the most dangerous thing for a Christian
living in this kind of culture?
And you would think his answer would be,
well, it's an increasing threat against Christianity.
That's not his answer.
His answer is the most dangerous thing is identity amnesia,
the most dangerous thing for a Christian
living in that kind of culture,
the one that we're living in,
is that you would forget who you are in Christ
and forget what you've been given in Christ.
Because you haven't just been forgiven,
you've been given a brand new identity.
And so, Peter wants you to understand the value,
the importance, the radical transforming power,
of understanding your identity in Christ.
And so, this little letter is marked
by 10 identity statements.
Elect exiles, living stones, holy priesthoods,
spiritual house, chosen race, royal priesthood,
holy nation, people for God's possession, sojourners,
Christians, and then in Christ.
Now, if you want to understand the importance of those,
well, 2 Peter chapter one really tells you,
Peter is asking the question,
why are people ineffective and unproductive
in their knowledge of the Lord, Just Christ?
Why don't believers have the full harvest
of the fruit of faith in their lives?
And his answer is, these are interesting words,
because they're nearsighted and blind,
having forgotten that they've been cleansed
from their past sins.
Peter says they're not producing fruit
that you would expect to be in the life of a believer
because they've forgotten who they are.
If you're going to live well in this generation,
you need to be living out of your new identity in Christ.
You need to know who you are.
And in knowing who you are,
know what you been given in Christ.
I think it's terribly, terribly important.
And I'm so excited that we can go through
this portion of scripture that has as a central theme,
this issue of this new identity,
that is ours in Christ.
Peter has a whole lot of other things to say to us,
but they're all connected to this is who you are
as a child of God.
I hope you'll hang in with me for this next year.
As we work our way through the treasures
that are in this little letter.