Key Truth: We are called to cultivate unity in our salvation in Christ so as to serve together as a missional royal priesthood displaying the glory of God for the salvation of others.  

Introduction:

What is worth ending a friendship, relationship, or affiliation over? What is worth fighting for to maintain or keep?

The Call to Cultivate Unity in Salvation:

1 Peter 2:1-3

“Longing to grow spiritually comes from a taste of the beauty of the Lord, an experience of his kindness and goodness. Those who pursue God ardently have tasted his sweetness. Christian growth for Peter is not a mere call to duty or an alien moralism. The desire to grow springs from an experience with the Lord’s kindness, an experience that leaves believers desiring more.”

Thomas Schriener, The New American Commentary: 1, 2 Peter, Jude

What are some ways that you are working to actively cultivate unity at CCC? What are some ways that you are cultivating and longing for the pure milk of God’s word so as to grow and mature?

The Call to Fulfill the Royal Priesthood:

1 Peter 2:4-10

“God’s regathered royal priesthood and holy nation—his newly chosen race, according to Peter—would be those who had been reborn as the children, not of Abraham, but of God the Father himself through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Christian community declares by its existence, by its liturgy and worship, by the daily lives of its members the mighty deeds of Christ’s resurrection, which reveals the praiseworthy character of God.”

Karen H. Jobes, 1 Peter

What are some ways that you are actively cultivating the building up of the church so that our spiritual sacrifices (i.e. worship and service) would be acceptable to God in Christ? What are some ways that you are proclaiming in a fallen world the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light?

The Missional Results of Living as Elect Exiles:

1 Peter 2:11-12

“We submit ourselves for the world’s sake so that our good deeds may be a witness to them or a testimony against them. We submit ourselves for our fellow-Christians’ sake out of sacrificial love for them. We submit ourselves for God’s sake because we honour his image in our fellow-creatures, and because we respect his ordering of our lives, but especially because we gratefully seek to take up our cross and follow Jesus Christ.”

Edmund Clowney, The Message of 1 Peter: The Way of the Cross

What results do you hope for from your life?

Application:

1 Peter 2:1-12 teaches us that we are called to:
-cultivate unity in our salvation in Christ
-serve as a missional royal priesthood as Christ
-display the glory of God in our daily lives for the salvation of others

Benediction: 

1 Peter 5:6-11