I Peter 2: 1-12
ICE BREAKER
Queen Elizabeth’s story illustrates an important point about identity. As a child her Dad was the king and she was the princess. She marries prince Philip. She is on a trip when her father dies. She, along with her husband, Phillip, return by plane to England. She is told that she is now the queen.
In one sense nothing has really changed but in another sense everything has changed. Because of this new identity as the queen certain formalities instantly take place. One such formality occurs when she steps off the plane with her husband. The aids step in immediately and moves him back so that he walks behind her. He is no longer allowed to walk beside her because she is now the queen. This all changes based on her new identity as the queen.
All has changed whether she feels it or not and she must behave in the traditions that accompany the new identity.
So too as believers everything has changed.
We are a new creation in Christ Jesus. We have been crucified with Christ and the life we now live is Christ who lives in us. Everything has changed. Everything.
This new identity empowers us to live differently. When we become Christ followers EVERYTHING changes but we can see that our behaviors don’t all change. So, we can observe that we believe one thing yet we live out something different.
Share with the group an area you observe in your life where you believe one thing but you live out something different.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- In I Peter I:13 God tells us, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”This verse focuses on our thinking. To be sober-minded is to take our thinking seriously. Be thoughtful about how you think. So, to live well we prepare our minds.Part of preparing our minds and being sober-minded is to think with clarity about our sin. To do this, spend some time prayerfully reflecting on the following two phrases and then share your thoughts with the group:
My sin pattern is:_________________________________________________________. I should put away: _______________________________________________________________.
- The putting away of our sin is very purposeful, We do this purposeful putting away of our sin through the process of an ever increasing awareness of our thinking. Our sin is a symptom of something deeper in us. A sin pattern is a way that we manipulate life.One very subtle but important area of our thinking has to do with the thought patterns we have that tend to justify our sin. We do this often to justify bad behavior. Peter clarifies this for us and he tells us there is choice.To choose well begins with being honest about my sin pattern.
So, for example, my child does something wrong so I get mad at him. As Dad’s we can have a sin pattern woven into how we parent. The sin pattern that may be going on deeper in my heart as a Dad is disappointment in my childs’ behavior. If we don’t name this disappointment we will tend to justify our angry relating style by focusing only on the disobedience of our child.
Another example is marriage. You may be wounded by your spouse and be quite disappointed. So, when your spouse does something you feel justified in treating your spouse in a poor way. Take some time to examine a couple of your closest relationships. Reflect on the area(s) in which you are hurt or disappointed or the areas where it is difficult to relate with this person. Next examine how you relate to them in response to this disappointment. Ask the Spirit to help you see any attitudes or thoughts that tend to justify your negative style of relating. It is crucial to see our pointing fingers and to acknowledge we are without excuse when we bypass ownership of our sin. Share with the group any current patterns you are beginning to see. Also share about a time in the past where the Spirit helped you to see your “justified” pointed finger.
- We have good intentions but at times do not follow through. One example is going on a diet. We may be successful for months or a year or two but usually we drift back quickly. Why? Because we have had a pattern of thinking about food that has not changed.The same is true of our spiritual walk. Every day we need to prepare our minds. Talk about a story in your life where God enabled you, through your renewed mind, to put an end to a sin pattern. Then share with the group what helped you change. Try to be as specific as you can so that everyone in the group can get a sense of the change of thinking that accompanied the change in behavior. God may have used a verse, a book, a movie or the challenge from a friend to “reset” your mind.
NOTES AND QUOTES
The battle is internal and the key toward winning the battle is in our minds. We cannot live the christian life by emotions or good intentions. We must be renewed in our thinking.
We must understand what our pattern of sin is.
We must name it so we can put it away.
Peter wants to help us to know our sin pattern. He wants us to look at our behaviors and take a deeper look at what drives those behaviors.
To be clear: what we believe about the world and about ourselves is what fuels the behaviors.
What you do is not who you are. There is a deeper reality about who you are: Almighty God has created You.
In I Peter 2:9-10 Peter tells us who we really are:
“…a living stone ….you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession….but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Peter is saying: know who you are. When you really believe who you are it will change how you live.
As we embrace our true identity we are empowered to live it out.
Living stone: Stones are a vivid metaphor in ancient times in the middle east. So much was built out of stone.
Herod the Great loved to build things to glorify his own name.
Jesus did not use stone. We can’t find one thing Jesus built. Rather, Jesus builds with people. Jesus’ temple is “living stone”.
I am a living stone. I, as a living stone, then worship my creator.
Our identity is a holy priesthood.
The high priest communed with God on behalf of the people. He wore a specific purification outfit. The entire outfit symbolizes Christ.
Instead of a garment we, as believers, receive the righteousness of Christ.
We all have equal and full access to God.
Each believer now mediates the spiritual to the temporal. A priest to go between the believer and God is no longer needed.
Our identity is a chosen race.
When you come to Christ only ONE association matters.
Our identity in Christ is prior to all other commitments.
Hold all other associations loosely.
If my anger toward someone is driven by envy then the remedy for this is to embrace more deeply my identity in Christ. As I embrace my identity in Christ I can bless the person that I envy and I can pour into him instead
I am a priest, a living stone. The more we cultivate this we have more power to escape the grip of sin patterns.
Breaking these sin patterns takes cultivating our identity daily.
