Released to Purpose Series III HOTL 2011
Recap Series:
Gathering the lost and broken to Christ
Restoring Wholeness
Releasing to Purpose
It’s frustrating in life to walk without knowing your purpose. Good news is that God does not want to keep you in the dark!
Peter has already written that we were “chosen to obey”…Obedience is an amazing door that opens up the divine influence, resources, direction of God into our lives as believers…
Peter has addressed that “we as living stones are being built into a spiritual house”…
Peter then addresses our conduct, towards authority & government, conduct between wives & husbands & each other…
1 Peter 3:8-12 (NKJV)
8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;
9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
10 For “He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit.
11 Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Vs 8&9 are ironic considering Peter’s previous conduct…
Man of extremes; drew his sword in the garden, rebelling against authority and Jesus must have thought it was evil as he healed/replaced the guard’s ear…
(We can CUT each other, thinking it’s righteous!)
But here is Peter now, he who had rebelled, been a violent man…
Writing to us of how to conduct ourselves…
But back to “purpose”…
Sometimes when we think of “purpose”, we have glorious images in our minds, dreams in our spirit and heart and those things are real; but not appropriated!
Why?
Part of the reason I believe is the individualism of our culture. Peter writes though that we are “living stones” set into a “spiritual house”…
We lose or have lost the significance of impact of the “house”….
Peter writes of us being living stones set into a spiritual house….
In the book of Revelation, it was not individuals that were addressed, but the seven CHURCHES!
When you think of house, you don’t think of just a room….you think of a collection of living space, kitchen, rooms, utility closets etc…
No one says they build a “room” on a nice lot…
Why so many letters and instruction from early church apostles to the church, to the body of Christ on how to treat each other?
Why are there different levels of impact in local tribes (churches)?
Why is there so much of scripture in the New Testament that is directive to conduct, and relational issues between the brethren?
Impact, penetration of a local church in a community, region and beyond does not happen without unity and just simply treating each other in a right way!
Readers Digest Article “What Good is a Tree”
Tree’s can compete for nutrients, water etc. But when their roots come into contact there is a certain type of substance (fungus) that grows and enables even dissimilar species to SHARE nutrients…eliminates the individual competition for life…
1 Peter 3:9 speaks of us being a blessing….part of our purpose…we were called to this…
God spoke this to Abram…
Genesis 12:3 (NKJV)
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God spoke this to Jacob…
Genesis 28:14 (NKJV)
14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
God spoke this through Peter…
1 Peter 3:9 (NKJV)
9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
Most believers if asked “what is your purpose, what have you been called to”….
Would not say “my calling is to bless”….instead maybe (build bible colleges, raise the dead, heal the sick, preach to the masses….Africa!)
Define blessing:
Barak= to speak well of: Do you speak well of people, favor people?
Barawkaw= impart prosperity/material benefits Are we generous?
Makerious= Greek word found in the beatitudes…..means happy
1 Peter 3:10
Speaks of “he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit”.
Vs 10-12 are part of the Psalm 34 passage…
I believe it is an antidote of sorts to some of the struggles we have in walking in Godly purpose for our lives…
Two things really stand out to me regarding Peters’ address to us in regards to identifying purpose in our lives….
To proclaim the praises/excellencies of He who has saved us (opposite of evil/deceit)
To be a blessing
Peter used in his passage Psalm 34 when he spoke of “He who would love life and see good days”
I think there is an amazing key we can apply with vs 1 of that Psalm 34
Psalm 34:1 (NKJV)
1 I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
(David wrote this after pretending to be mad before King Abimilech
I believe it helped him regain his course, heart etc)
I believe that if we adopt a lifestyle of blessing the Lord, praising God that there is a divine and powerful principle that is released into our lives continually…
This mode of life, living is constantly aligning our hearts with God’s heart…
It straightens stuff out.. It navigates us through bitterness,
It ensures we inherit blessing and in the alignment of our hearts, our purpose is released.
I believe our purpose is truly released as being part of the spiritual house.
Next week we’ll teach on being of one mind, having compassion, loving as brothers, being tenderhearted and courteous…
These are things that are written by many of the early church leaders to ensure that the spiritual house that God is building, is truly fulfilling the purpose.
Invitation
