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Jul 12, 2020

Strange Conduct

Strange Conduct

Passage: 1 Peter 2:9-12

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Strange Faith

The greatest argument for the truth of Christianity is your own life. Scary, no? But how you understand your identity and purpose, the boundless mercies of God, and the freedom and potency of godliness are all of greater persuasiveness than the most eloquent or intellectual defense.

7.12.20 GMR Online Service from Graceworks Media on Vimeo.

Order of Worship

CALL TO WORSHIP: Romans 12:1-2,21
CONFESSION & ASSURANCE
OLD TESTAMENT READING: Isaiah 6:1-9
CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Peter 2:9-12 ESV
MESSAGE: Strange Conduct
BENEDICTION: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Readings & Scripture

CALL TO WORSHIP: Romans 12:1-2,21
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Confession of Sin: (St. Ambrose of Milan)
ALL: O Lord, who hast mercy upon all. Take away my sins, and mercifully work in me a daily renewal by your Spirit. Taking away my heart of stone, and giving me a heart of flesh, a heart to love and adore Thee, a heart to delight in Thee, to follow and to enjoy Thee, for Christ's sake.

Assurance of Pardon: Romans 5:1
LEADER: Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Isaiah 6:1-9
LEADER: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 ‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’ 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ 9 He said, ‘Go and tell this people: ‘“Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.

CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Peter 2:9-12 ESV
LEADER: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

BENEDICTION: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Related Scriptures

  • Psalm 37
  • Isaiah 6:1-9
  • Matthew 5:16
  • Mark 10:18
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:22
  • 1 Peter 3:1, 15

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

 

  1. What reputation did you have when you were younger--a rule-breaker or a rule-follower? What were some of the motivations beneath either inclination? 
  2. What are several reasons one might choose to act in a moral way--even “honorably” as Peter recommends? Which of those reasons could be defective in some way, and why? What reasons do you find in this passage to justify honorable conduct?
  3. Have you ever been ridiculed--or worse--for doing what was right? What happened? How did you feel? How did you respond? 
  4. Why do you think Peter reiterates how these believers are “exiles and sojourners” as a reason for calling them to honorable conduct?
  5. Why might the honorable conduct of the believers Peter is writing to provoke claims of “evildoing” by those outside the church? 
  6. Why would this honorable conduct have the potential to be persuasive among those who at first thought that conduct not just out of step, but wrong? Have you ever had an experience when someone was at first put off by your conduct, and then later impressed by it? 
  7. (related to question 2) How is believing you’ve been shown mercy by God to now belong to God, without qualification, essential to living into honorable conduct? How would the quality of that conduct be different if you thought you had to do something to gain mercy from God?

Quotes

 

  • If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  • We live with the undertow of sadness and dread. We are braced for that feeling, like seeing callous hands rummaging in a private drawer where a delicate, tangled identity is stored and pulling at the threads. It feels like exile. Rafael Behr
  • The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians--when they are sombre and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths. But, though it is just to condemn some Christians for these things, perhaps, after all, it is not just, though very easy, to condemn Christianity itself for them. Indeed, there are impressive indications that the positive quality of joy is in Christianity--and possibly nowhere else. If that were certain, it would be proof of a very high order. Sheldon Vanauken
  • It's prevalent now for Americans to narrate life as if everything is against them & they are the hero who must throw off every hater, challenger, critic, & negative naysayer. This is absurd, but it's disturbing to see some preachers distort Xianity to go along w/ this narrative. Derek Radney
  • So far from being able to answer for my sins, I cannot even answer for my righteousness. Bernard of Clairvaux
  • . . .true virtue must chiefly consist in love to God; the Being of all beings, infinitely the greatest and best. Jonathan Edwards

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