SOAP

A Living House

/ Craig / Leave a comment

Scripture:  1 Peter 2:4-5

4As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Observations:

Jesus is the “living stone” rejected by people.

Jesus is chose and precious to God.

Now you all, the Church are like living stones…

You all are being built up as a spiritual house.

You all are being built up to be a holy priesthood.

You all are being built up to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Application:

If our Lord Jesus who is the cornerstone of our faith and our life together was rejected by people it should not surprise us that the spirit of our age is to also reject His church.

But now just as precious as Jesus is the Heavenly Father so is the church precious to Him.  And, He is building us, adding to us, and occupying our life together.

We are being built by Jesus to be a spiritual house.  As such a house we are co-creators with Jesus to develop the environments in which God is honoured and people are healed.  Together we offer our lives as spiritual sacrifices to God (See Romans 12:1-4).  Our primary purpose is not to occupy buildings or even to build them.  Our primary purpose is to venture into the world as His people and participate in His occupation of human hearts.  As we are laying down our lives for His Kingdom He is building us up.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, please send your Spirit and build the church of Jesus here so that a people are prepared for your Kingdom.  AMEN.

 

Ruined Appetite

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Scripture:  1 Peter 2:1-3

1So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Observations:

“So” — Why is the “so” there?  The “So” links the Gospel work of Jesus in my life through God’s Word (1:23-25) to make me more loving with some not so loving actions that must be cast away.

Attitudes and related actions to set aside from my life:

Malice–the intent to harm another person.

Deceit–the intent to trick another person in order to get something I want.

Hypocrisy–the often automated approach to life in which we pretend we are something when we are not in order to hide the truth from another person.

Envy–the burning desire to have what other people have; often accompanied by a self-righteous judgment of the person who has what we want.

Slander–the intent to harm another person’s reputation in order to elevate ourselves over them.

Like a newborn crave milk, so that you can grow up in your salvation.  Since you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Application:

It seems mom was right.  Candy before dinner ruins your appetite for the really good stuff that provides the most excellent nutrients for growth.  And yes there are attitudes and actions that ruin my appetite for Jesus and the “simple” truths of His Word.

The problem with malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander is that they are terribly addictive!  They will cover up the true appetite for Jesus and His Word fueled the Holy Spirit’s work in our life.  They seem like powerful tools for getting what we want; but they are actually terrible tyrants.

The first step in setting them aside is to recognize their presence in our lives.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father thank you for the grace of knowing you.  Show me today how I ruin my appetite for you by letting these attitudes and actions so opposed to the love and holiness of Jesus reside in my heart.  I repent of them and ask your Spirit to generate a renewed delight in you.  You are good.  AMEN.

The Acorn and The Promise

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Scripture:  1 Peter 1:23-25

22Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24for

“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Observations:

The capacity to love come from the new birth we experience in Jesus.

The Word of God is not a perishable seed, it is an everlasting seed.  It is a living and abiding–taking up residence in our lives kind of seed.

The flesh withers like grass and its beauty fades.

BUT, the word of the Lord remains forever.  The Good News is the word preached, and it lasts forever.

Application:

A seed has incredible promise.  Right now I’m carrying around an acorn.  I’m able to look out my window and see the kind of tree it produces.  One seed. Over time. A massive tree–producing thousands of new seeds!  Years ago during university, my friends Jeff and Malea Glenn gave me an acorn as a reminder of what God and His Word can do in our lives.  I carried it around in my coat pocket for years.  Their simple gift gave me courage and hope to keep on trusting God and applying His Word in my life.

Life is short.  But the word of the Lord remains forever and what the Good News does in our lives lasts forever.  And here’s the amazing thing… the Word of God through Jesus is producing love in our relationships where we live, work, and play.

Life is short, so feed on the Word of God.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for this body, that is able to carrying around in it the new life secured for me at Jesus’ great expense!  Now may your Word produce the life of love you intended.  Thank you for the eternal life I have with you now.  Please give me wisdom to prioritize the passing demands of life with the eternal glory of life with you.  AMEN.

Trust and Love

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Scripture:     Read 1 Peter 1:21-22

21Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

22You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
Observation:

Jesus and the Gospel restores and makes it possible for our trust in God to grow.

Responding to Jesus and the Gospel is a form of obedience that cleanses us from sin; sin impacts our relationships.  Sin complicates life such that its difficult to love.  But now in Christ we can love sincerely and deeply.

Application:

Two things I know that need to keep happening in my life.  1.  To keep trusting God.  Jesus is making this possible.  He has shown how trust worthy God is.  And 2.  To keep letting Jesus cleanse me of sin so that my love capacities grow.

Without these two works of God’s grace I will use people rather than love them.  And I will get stuck in patterns of unbelief, not trusting God with my life, being independent from Him and having a low tolerance for the stressors of life, easily adopting lust, gluttony, anger, impatience, prejudice, and self-righteousness as the go-to positions of my heart.

Prayer:     Heavenly Father thank you so much for giving me the grace to trust you.  Forgive me, cleanse me for the unbelief that lurks in my heart.  That unbelief is so destructive!  Cleanse me and give me the grace to love sincerely.  Give me the courage to take off the masks that keep me from loving and being loved.  Cause the love of our church to grow so that we can “love each other deeply with all our hearts.”  AMEN.

 

Awesome God!

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Scripture:     1 Peter 1:17-20 NLT

17And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” 18For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

Observation:

The fact that God, our heavenly Father, judges our lives, creates a most awesome love for Him.  — reverent fear — generated by a new awareness that He has sacrificially paid the ransom for our souls through Jesus.

Observations on this question:  What does this passage reveal about God?
God is our heavenly Father.
God hears our prayers.
God judges our lives.
God rewards us according to the manner of our lives.
God has paid the ransom to bring us into a meaningful life rather than an empty life.
God paid the ransom with the blood of Jesus.
Jesus is the sinless, spotless, Lamb of God.
God chose Jesus as our ransom before the world began.
God reveals Jesus the ransom to those He is calling out.

Application:

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, Grace is not cheap:  “cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”

The Gospel of Jesus’ grace and the forgiveness His gives me, makes me fully alive to the reality of God and creates a thoughtful, love-generated, awe of God.  God is awesome!

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, you are awesome!  Thank you for the grace of knowing you.  I’m amazed that you paid the price for my freedom.  Thank you for revealing Jesus to me and ushering me into a meaningful and full life.  Give me wisdom for living today.  I give you my life so that you may reveal Jesus to others and give this grace to them.  AMEN.