'christian Togetherness'

SERMON OUTLINE:

(1). We are children in the same family (1:22-2:3).

(2). We are stones in the same building (2:4-8).

(3). We are priests in the same temple (2:5&9).

(4). We are citizens in the same nation (2:9-10).

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• LEGO or 'Automatic Binding Bricks' as they were known in 1949,

• When their manufacturing began,

• Are without a doubt are the most famous kids (and adults) toys ever made.

• When you came in you received a Lego building block,

• I’ve got a challenge for you;

• I want you to build something with your Lego blocks but there is one condition,

• You cannot use anybody else’s Lego block.

• Question: Now what can you build with one Lego block?

• The answer is nothing!

• TRANSITION: This is how it is in the church.

• On our own we cannot build anything for God that will last,

• But when we all work together that we can be effective and enduring,

• When we together use the gifts, talents and time that God has given us.

Ill: 2 corny Lego jokes:

• A lorry carrying LEGO bricks overturned on the motorway.

• The police say they don't know what to make of it!

• What do I have if I have 8 red LEGO bricks in one hand,

• And 16 blue LEGO bricks in the other hand?

Answer: The answer of course is, really big hands!

• TRANSITION: Probably the first thing you ever built with Lego was a wall,

• You click the pieces into place and it’s kind of happens naturally without thinking.

• Sadly, the world in which we live builds walls (not talking now about Lego or brick),

• And these walls are built to separate us from one another,

• e.g., social walls, economic walls, racial walls.

• As Christians we are called to build bridges and not walls!

• We are to make sure walls of division that divide us stay down.

Ill:

• The German philosopher Schopenhauer compared the human race,

• To a bunch of porcupines huddling together on a cold winter’s night.

• He said,

“The colder it gets outside, the more we huddle together for warmth; but the closer we get to one another, the more we hurt one another with our sharp quills.”

• TRANISTION: God has showed us, and he empowers us to not only huddle together,

• But also, to deal with those sharp quills that can easily hurt one another.

Note: So far in our studies in 1 Peter, the teaching has been,

• Walk in hope (vs 1-12)

• Walk in holiness (vs 13-21)

• Today, will be, walk in harmony/unity (1:22 to 2:10)

• These verses show to us four pictures of the Church,

• And they are four pictures of unity among God’s people.

(1). We are children in the same family (1:22-2:3).

Quote:

“To dwell above with saints we love, my won’t that be glory, but to dwell below with saints we know, now that’s another story!”

Quote:

“You can choose your friends, but you are stuck with your family!”

• TRANSITION: God does not want for us to just be stuck together,

• Or even to put up with one another,

• His command goes deeper, we are to love one another!

• Remember from previous studies we have learnt,

• These Christians were hurting.

• They were scattered, forced out of their homes,

• They needed to leave their towns and villages (1:1).

• They were going through a variety of tough trials (1:6)

• Some were tempted to conform, compromise, or give up altogether (1:14-15)

• To survive these tough times, these Christians needed to support one another,

• They needed a community where they could find genuine love.

(A). We have all experienced the same birth (1:22-23)

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

Ill:

• When I had my bookstall selling Christian books and Bibles at Fareham Market

• Another trader came over to speak to me and soon realised what I was selling,

• He was from New Zealand and he said to me, “Are you one of those reborn Christians?”

• So, I explained to him in the UK we tend to use the expression,

• “Born again Christian”.

• To be born again, refers to a "spiritual rebirth",

• Or a regeneration of the human spirit from the Holy Spirit,

• We all had a physical birth, a time when we entered this world,

• Jesus used that idea in his teaching (John chapter 3),