S.o.s. - Salvation To Obedience To Sanctification (Transformation)

1 Peter 1:1-2; John 21:15-19

Theme: Our Identity

Title: Christianity’s SOS – Salvation, Obedience, Sanctification

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel of John chapter 21, we have the story of Jesus and Peter engaging in this deep conversation concerning Peter’s commitment to Jesus. Jesus asks him over and over to state the depth of His love – does Peter love Jesus with all his heart, mind and soul or does he just love Jesus with a more superficial love?

With each response, Jesus reminds Peter of the mission that has been set out for him by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – feed the young sheep, feed the mature sheep and help all of them grow in grace, mercy and love.

Peter spent the rest of his life doing just that – helping people come to faith, grow in faith and experience the best life they could on God’s Good Earth.

Our passage ( 1 Peter 1:1-2) this morning comes from the heart and mind of this man we call Simon Peter.

+A man whose life was radically transformed by Christ Jesus.

+A man who was elected by Christ to be a disciple.

+A man who became a part of the inner three – Peter, James and John.

+A man who at times said and did the most amazing things and yet also did the most foolish of things.

+A man who was able to walk on water and yet on one occasion Jesus calls him a devil.

+A man who witnessed the Transfiguration and yet denied Jesus three times even to the point of cursing Jesus’ name.

+A man who was able to preach one of the greatest sermons of all times on Pentecost and yet had to be called out by the Apostle Paul for acts of racism, hypocrisy and snobbery.

Peter was a complicated man. But then again, how many of us have experienced those wonderful moments when it seems like we could immediately be ushered into heaven only to experience those other moments when we wondered why we had not already been cast into hell.

In our passage Simon Peter is writing to a group of house churches that were located in Asia Minor or modern day Turkey. They were a mixed group of people. Some had grown up in the area, others were there because of political reasons while still others had been brought there as slaves. Some were Jews, others were Gentiles, and a few were mixed; both Jew and Gentile. Most of them were hard-working blue-collar types but there were some who were quite rich while others who hardly had enough bread to eat each day.

In other words, they were like people that today we find all over the world.

Peter writes to them from Rome to help them grow in Christ. We don’t know if, like Paul, he is under house arrest, but we do know that less than five years after he wrote this letter that Simon Peter was murdered by the Roman Government for his faith. He was crucified upside down.

Peter’s goal was for the different house churches to read his words, copy them and then pass them along for others to read. He wanted them to study them, to think about them and to see if what he wrote can help them understand Jesus better, the mission of the Church better and be able to live a better life.

I believe that if we take the time to read this little letter that it can help us as well. We may not all be in the same position as those who first read the letter but if we listen to what Peter wants to share with us, I believe even though he has been gone for almost 2,000 years, he still has something vital to say to the Church today.

Let’s look at just three of those things that we find in the first two verses of his letter.

I. At the Very Core of Christianity is the Story of Salvation

If you want to know what is at the very core of Christianity, it is the Story of Salvation.

+It was for Salvation that Jesus came to our Earth.

“18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:18-21