Do you typically by default think I or we?
Individualist and collectivist cultures – defined by
relationships, groups?
Top 3 individualist countries: USA, Australia, UK
Church – God saves people into a gathered church
(1) God is building a new temple (v4), a spiritual house
Forget about the temple in Jerusalem
Eph 2 – the people are the temple
Living stones, people
God presences himself, meets with his people
Also a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifice – whole
life offered in worship to God
God is all about relationship, dwelling with his people,
present to them, living with them
People come into this new temple through Jesus v4
People come to see Jesus as God sees him and to view him as
precious and trust in him
But others reject Jesus as useless rubbish – reversal –
rejection to exaltation
How people respond to Jesus and to the message / word cf. Ch
1: the word that was preached to you, the word about J
The gospel does not just result in saved people, it results
in a saved people: it creates the church, churches, a temple
Cf. Belonging and believing – it is by believing we belong –
individual to collective, not automatic or by association or osmosis – personal
trust essential – to the one who believes
Not just a matter of background / upbringing
Belonging before believing? Evangelistic and apologetic
power in non-Xians interacting with Xians, but you can’t belong without
believing
If you believe, you belong – church membership is not
optional – belong to J, belong to his church
Distinguish faith in Jesus and church-going nominalism – but
church essential – joining the church is integral to conversion
Eph 2 – in X you are part of the new humanity
1 Cor 12 – baptised by the Spirit into one body
We come to faith as individuals and no one can believe for
us, but faith is not purely vertical or private
Church is more than useful / helpful
Conversion results in a new corporate identity – a building,
founded on J, not just a whole load of stones!
Xianity is not just a you and J thing
We should define ourselves not just in distinction to others
but in relationship with them
God dwells amongst us as a people not just privately in my
heart
(2) God is gathering a new people through Jesus (v9)
The language of Ex 19 – redemption, treasured possession,
kingdom of priests, holy nation
Church as new Israel, new people of God – “replacement
theology”, fulfilment, transformation, multi-ethnic people of God through J
Unique privilege, access to God, treasured, valuable to God
Holy, distinguished from the dark world, set apart,
foreigners and exiles, not belonging to the world
Changed, transformed
Recipients of mercy
Corporate identity, united, brought together
Covenant promise: I will be your God and you will be my
people
Implications for our view of church:
Challenges a functional view of church – church not just a tool,
what it does, a means – not merely utilitarian – the collective nature of the
church is not accidental or pragmatic but essential
USA: drive in church
Listening to sermons online not the same as church!
Church not just meetings I go to for the sake of my
relationship with God – church more than a filling station
Not just in and out – drive through church without the car!
The homogeneous unit principle a functional view of church,
merely pragmatic means to an end?
Who we are not just what we do
Families do things but they are not just means – they are a
thing!
Francis Shaffer – we need an orthodoxy of doctrine and of
community, and understanding of who we are as God’s people and how it is lived
out
Church as more than good meetings
What is the mission / goal of the church? What is the aim
here in 1 Pt?
God wants a chosen and treasured people who belong to him
and proclaim him and live as his people
God sent Jesus so there could be church! The story of the
Bible is the story of gathering of the church. Fall, loss of church. Promise of
church. Model of church. Fulfilment of church. Future church.
Church is not only the agent but the goal.
Philip Jensen: what if God doesn’t have a purpose for the
church? What if the church is the goal not the instrument, more like a diamond
than a hammer it exists for the pleasure and glory of its owner not as a tool
for another end.
Obviously the church still does stuff!
Eph 4 – the body grows and builds itself up. The goal is a
mature body suitable for Christ.
Or the perfecting of the bride for X.
I and we, of course. Trinity. I trust in Jesus and then we! So
we. I belong to the people of God. That defines me. I belong to God’s temple,
people, nation, family.
Church not just a priority over TV & sport but how
people think of themselves.
When we serve the church, we are about God’s mission. God
sent Jesus so there could be church. The future is church.
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