New Life In The Same Old Place
“Your Take On Time”
1 Peter 1:3-12

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”
Albert Einstein

We are “elect exiles”, we have been chosen by God so that we might belong to Him through Jesus, we no longer belong to the world; because of that we are spiritual strangers, appointed aliens, hand-picked pilgrims, refugees, exiles.

1. Hope in Light of the Future (1:3-5)
   God’s choice of them was made real when they experienced a new birth.

   Jesus beat death. He didn’t cheat death; He beat it. He did die, but death could not hold Him. Jesus is alive.

   I think we worry about the future so often because we live in such an uncertain world that is changing all the time.

2. Joy in Light of the Present (1:6-9)
   He first acknowledges and encourages them in the fact that their future reward is in fact bringing them joy in the present.

   Their future might be all about their identity as a chosen child of the King, but their present is consumed by the difficulty of being a foreigner in a hostile land.

   When we struggle, we must always encourage one another to see our present circumstances as more than just painful; we need to see them as purposeful.

   When our perspective on our present is shaped by genuine faith, it is marked by an unquenchable, unabashed love for Jesus.

   Right now is your perspective shaped by the love and joy that can only come from new life?

3. Humility in Light of the Past (1:10-12)
   While all of us are shaped by what we’ve done and where we’ve been and what we’ve seen, for some of us, there are things in our past that cast a long shadow over our present.

   If you are truly a Christian is the moment you heard and believed the gospel, the most defining moment of your life.

   The past should fill us with a sense of humility in light of the privilege we have as heirs of such a salvation.

   Don’t let your family, or your circumstances, or your station in life, define you. Rather, let that new birth into God’s family shape your perspective on the past.

Time and Trust
If you’re trying to live out new life in this same old place, what’s your take on time?

If you were to tell someone else the story of your life, would it be absolutely clear that the hero of the story was Jesus Christ?

Faith allows you to see that your life is not merely a collection of decisions ultimately made pointless by chance and death.

You are saved from the penalty of sin, being saved from the power of sin, and one day, saved from the very presence of sin.

Next Week
“Hope Fully Set”
I Peter 1:13-21