Group Guide
Ice-Breaker:
- What kind of church or denomination did you grow up in, if any?
Scripture
1 Peter 1
This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 2 God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
May God give you more and more grace and peace.
This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 2 God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
May God give you more and more grace and peace.
Discussion Questions:
- The book of 1 Peter was written by Peter, the disciple of Jesus. As you know, Peter started as a fisherman named Simon, but meeting and following Jesus eventually meant a name change, status change and heart change. Even though there were many times that he fell short, or acted impulsively, or said the wrong thing at the wrong time, God still transformed Peter used him in unbelievable ways. How does Peter's story remind you of your own? How has God transformed YOUR life? How has He continued to use you for His glory despite your shortcomings?
- Peter opens up his letter by calling Christians in his audience "chosen." Other translations use the phrase "ELECT exiles." Election/predestination can be difficult to understand and cause conflict among believers, though it shouldn't. Clayton spent some time explaining the theological positions of both the Calvinist and the Arminian. The Calvinist position would be considered UNCONDITIONAL election, that He foreknew who would be chosen because he predestined it, that God's election is based on God's choice before creation. The Arminian position would be CONDITIONAL election, that those He foreknew would come to faith in Christ were the ones he predestined. In other words, God's election is based on the person's future choice. Both positions believe God knows the outcome. But Calvinists claim that if it's all up to our free will, then we are denying God's sovereignty. And Arminians believe that if God is in control of who is saved and who isn't, then there really is no such thing as free will. Based on Scripture, you can make a case for both sides. Anyone who feels otherwise is way too confident and probably hasn't really studied both sides completely. Most people lean one way or the other. Others hold more extreme views. What were you raised to believe about election/predestination? What is your leaning? Why?
- So, is it God's election or man's volition? Did I choose God or did God choose me? If you have to lean one direction, it's clearly God's choice that enables our choice. But you can't completely reconcile them... you must affirm BOTH. And no matter which way you lean, Scripture is clear that God's SOVEREIGNTY doesn't nullify man's RESPONSIBILITY. We WILL absolutely stand before God one day and be held accountable for our decisions. And in the meantime we are called to preach the Gospel to a lost and dying world. We serve such a big God, why do you think we find it so difficult to accept the fact that we will never be able to totally explain or reconcile His ways?
- We are elect, but we are also EXILES. We are foreigners in this land. The term exile always refers to a temporary resident in a foreign place. So, this isn't our home! We serve a different King, we live for a different Kingdom, we belong to a different family, we have a different purpose, we speak a different language... we are heading for a different home. If we truly believed this truth, and lived accordingly, how would our lives look differently than they do now? How can we know we are living as exiles in a foreign land?
- The big idea from Sunday was that we LIVE IN this world, but we are NOT OF this world, so we don't LIVE FOR this world. This is who we are. This is our identity in Christ. We are BOTH elect AND exiles. We are elect, so we should be secure in our foundation built on Christ.. but we will also never feel settled in this world. We are tempted and pulled towards this world, and sometimes we mess up and give in... and yet being His elect means we stand before God perfect and blameless, completely secure in our standing. And while everything around us seems to be passing away and breaking down, we have received a Kingdom that will never end and never pass away. How do we live in this tension? What has been the most eye-opening truth you've discovered through these verses? What is God asking you to do with it?
Prayer Topics:
- That we would live IN the world but not OF it.
- That we would stand secure in our salvation.
- That we would learn to trust God in His sovereignty.
No Comments