As the days rapidly countdown to Christmas Day, the waiting to celebrate is almost over. Soon gifts will be opened, meals shared, and memories created all around the world. For now, though, we wait. There’s something about that- the waiting- that seems to be a baked into all the things we love the most. It also happens to be a big part of the things we dread the most. Why does God make us wait? What do we have to endure pain, suffering, and darkness? There may be a lot of reasons God chooses to work this way that will never know, but we do know one reason why- joy. Whatever else waiting does to us, in the end, it is often the most important tool God uses to increase our joy- and there are no shortcuts.
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Tidings of comfort and joy- There are few things more “Christmasy” than that. Yet when we read the actual Christmas story, there is almost no comfort and joy can be hard to find. So how did these two ideas become so deeply associated with Christmas? After all, in a broken world, isn’t it dismissive and calloused to sing about “comfort and joy” or “joy to the world?” To answer that question, you have to know that the Christmas story is just one chapter in a much bigger story.
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The songs we sing at Christmas teach us a lot about what we’re looking for during this season. The theme of “joy” is one that is prominent in our songs, but how did we get there? What is it in the stories that teach us how to be joyful? Surprising little in these familiar Christmas stories provokes joy, but when you look at the fuller story- the source of our joy becomes much clearer.
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Follow the leader is a simple game. The leader does something, everyone else should do the same. Simple. Yet when Jesus is our leader- the last thing we really want to do is play that game. Because following the leader, when the leader is Jesus, means following him into some very hard places. The beauty of the gospel, though, is that He gives us a safe place to hide in the midst of the path that He walked.
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Suffering is disorienting. Persecution can make you doubt what you know is true. Our instinct is to fight back or run away from the things that harm us. However, Peter calls us to a different way. In an unexpected (and often unwanted) set of instructions, Peter tells us the way forward is through careful, strategic submission. While this idea feels unnatural and unhelpful, a quick study of Peter’s life and Jesus’s teaching show us why this is such a powerful position- even when it doesn’t feel that way.
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Submission is a word that makes us all bristle. Start talking about gender and marital relationships and the idea of submission and you have a recipe for a fight. Is this inevitable? Do we have to choose between some outdated model of marriage or a modern definition that seems to dismiss the bible as an authority? Careful study of Peter’s words and the people he is writing to can help open up our understanding of what he intended for the wives in the churches then as well as how we should live today.
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As Christians, how are we to position ourselves to an outside world? There is no shortage of culture wars to fight or causes to support, but what is our role? As Peter gives instruction to the Christians undergoing persecution, his advice might surprise many. His advice is not to look for a battle to fight, but for feet to wash. Why? Because that’s exactly what Jesus did.
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By asking “who touched me?”, Jesus invites us in to admit who we truly are and to enter into a life-changing relationship with Him instead of a superficial one. He sees into our shame, isolation, and desperation and gives us new names – sons and daughters of the King.
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You might not think you have much in common with the priests we encounter in the Bible. Offering incense, sacrificing animals, and serving in a temple rarely resonate with Christians today – and for good reason. But if Jesus is our Great High Priest (and He is) and if we’re called to be like Jesus (we are) then we need to know what it means to be priestly as we go throughout this life.
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Why do we study theology? Why does Peter spend so much time laying out the details of our salvation? For Peter, salvation is not some abstract theological idea. It is the foundation for how we live our lives. Our salvation should lead to lives that are full of hope and living out the truth of the theology we confess.
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The Christian faith gets a reputation as being uptight, stodgy, and boring. In an effort to “fix” this problem, American Christianity has turned to Nashville record labels and marketing agencies to rebrand our faith. As a result, we have walked away from the deep wells God has provided for us to drink from. As Peter considers our faith, he doesn’t see something boring or something that needs to be fixed, but instead, he sees something that makes even the angels marvel.
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Sometimes church words can be confusing. We use words and assume their meaning, but we don’t always mean the same thing when we use those words. Peter takes a concept that we talk about a lot- salvation- and defines it for us. Not only that, but he also teaches us why it is so important that we know the depth of this great salvation that we have been given.
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In a world marked with suffering and brokenness, how are we to live? What’s the path forward for a Christian, when that path is fraught with pain and persecution? Peter answers those questions with resounding confidence in the Gospel. Each part of that Gospel serves to sustain and empower us, even when we are collapsing and powerless. In his opening words, a simple greeting, he shows us the work of the Trinity and the hope of our election.
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We’ve spent the summer talking about the things we do when we gather as a church. We finish this series by asking the question, “To what end?” What’s the purpose of all of these things? Why are we gathered together in the first place? It is the glory of God and the worship of the only one worthy that draws us together. It is why we sing, study, pray, and gather.
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Ten years ago Providence Church gathered in the middle school auditorium and we asked this question, “Can These Bones Live?” Our answer then was the same as Ezekiel’s: “God, you know.” Ten years later we are celebrating Providence’s 10th birthday. We look back on the questions we asked on that Sunday ten years ago and find that while much has changed, much is still the same.
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