April 22, 2007
Can we read a few familiar verses in Philippians 2, starting at v. 6; this is speaking about the Lord: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: robbery to be equal with God: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (vv. 6–11). I just wanted to draw attention to the words at the end of v. 8: “obedient unto death,” and beginning of v. 9: “God also hath highly exalted him.” Our Saviour was obedient unto death, and is now glorified in Heaven.
EG Hymn 341 – Jesus bids us shine, Prayer • Today I want to begin looking at “God is light.” Let’s start by turning to John 1:4–5. Comprehend means understand; the darkness—or people of the world—didn’t understand its condition before God. God is sinless; He is like white light. In school I did an experiment in which you would shine a beam of white light through a prism. It would come out on the other side as seven different colours. We could think of that as seven virtues of God. But have you ever seen smog? Smog blocks the light from coming through, just as our hearts will if they are in darkness. I John 1:5 says there is no darkness in God’s light. God like includes three things: 1) understanding, 2 knowledge, and 3) wisdom. Realize that these mean spiritually (e.g. spiritual understanding, and so on). When you are saved, God has washed you clean and now sees you as sinless, just like He is. That doesn’t mean we don’t sin, it means we should be dead to sin. Since we are dead to that darkness, we should do something different. I John 1:7 tells us what that is: we should walk in the light. Our walk is our way of life; we should live according to the spiritual understanding, knowledge, and wisdom God gave us at salvation. Here are a few things we will do if we are walking in the light.
|I Peter 2:9 |Worship in the Light | |Romans 13:12 & 13 |Warring in the Light | |John 3:20 |Working in the Light | |John 11:9 & 10 |Watching in the Light | |Philippians 2:15 & 16 |Witnessing in the Light | |Luke 12:35–37 |Waiting in the Light |
• So there is a little introduction to God is light. Next time, Lord Willing, I would like to speak about darkness, in contrast to light.
I Peter 1:1–25 • As we know, Peter is the apostle to the Jews; but the areas mentioned at the beginning of his first epistle are modern Turkey; these are Gentile grounds. But the people he is writing to are “strangers,” Jews who had left Jerusalem, mostly because of persecution we read about in Acts. In order to connect with what we will read here, we should ask ourselves, can we identify with them as being strangers as well? We may not have persecution—or at least as hard as they did—but we are still not in our true home. The subject of strangers comes up again in ch. 2:11, where we are also called “pilgrims.” Strangers are those who are not at home; pilgrims are those who are on their way home. What about the Lord, when He was here on earth? He was a stranger, having nowhere even to lay His head. There is a message here: this is not the place we should be settling down into; Heaven is our home. We each have birth certificates that say where and when we were born, but those don’t matter nearly as much as our “born again” certificate. We are “called from above, and heavenly men by birth.” Although the Lord was a stranger to all the wickedness here on earth, he was always ready to reach out in grace to those that needed it, a perfect balance of holiness and grace. We should be so too: “Be ye holy, for I am holy,” and “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” In Numbers, we see the children of Israel as pilgrims. They had been strangers in Egypt, even though most of them had been born there. God redeemed them out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness, and finally to Canaan. We use this picture all the time as a type. But now, in Peter, they were persecuted out of Jerusalem and Israel and are again strangers, looking for another hope. And we will read about that hope, Lord willing. Not only were they strangers, but they were scattered. This too contrasts the time that we will all be together in heaven. This epistle is definitely hortative, but it is also encouraging. These people were suffering for their faith, and Peter encourages them to go on for a precious reward. EG Hymn 226 – I once was a stranger to grace and to God, Prayer