Sermon: A Case of Corporate Honor
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Duration: 31:50
Size: 14.5 MB
New Life In The Same Old Place
“A Case of Corporate Honor”
1 Peter 2:4-10
I. Surrounded by Corporate Dishonor
The fact is we are becoming less and sell surprised by instances of corporate dishonor.
It is a case of corporate honor that is unparalleled, not only in American history, but in the entire history of the universe..
II. A People of Spiritual Worship (2:4-5)
This coming of Christ is not a one time event. It is a habit. It is a continual practice.
But the word corporate, at its root, is related to the Latin word for “body“.
All of these images paint for us a picture of spiritual worship, don’t they?
III. A People of Foretold Honor (2:6-8)
What Peter has given us here is three Old Testament quotations all connected by the term “stone“.
If we believe that Jesus is the “cornerstone“, foretold by the Hebrews prophets, that His is the only foundation that really matters in this life, we read here that we “will not be put to shame”.
What’s clear is that Peter wants to encourage his readers by reminding them that God is in control, even in the midst of persecution.
IV. A People of Grateful Proclamation (2:9-10)
If their enemies wanted to make them people of shame, Peter wants to remind them that they are, in fact, a people of honor.
We live for His honor and the glory of God.
Because God is so merciful, because of the mercy we now know in Jesus Christ, we have become a people of God.
V. The People of God’s Eternal Purposes
There is something about this passage that takes all of these descriptions of our corporate identity and reveals how big and deep each description really is.
The majority of them are not Jewish, and yet Peter, who is Jewish, is speaking to them as if the were Israel.
So what Peter knows is that through Jesus Christ, through His death on the cross, the title “God’s people” has been broadened to include all those who came in faith, Jew and Gentile.
He wants their identity, he wants our identity, our corporate identity, to be grounded in the reality that we are THE people of God’s eternal purposes.
We worship God in spirit and truth, and then tell the world why they should worship him as well;
And is that identity shaped first and foremost by the reality that we are THE people of God’s eternal purposes.
Next Week
“Separate But Shining”
1 Peter 2:11-12