November 10, 2019 - FIRST PETER SERIES, Subversive Submission

NOVEMBER 10, 2019 The smaller groups in our church community are inside our homes where we go deeper, build friendships, and walk out the Christian life with each other. HOME CHURCH GUIDE + “Breaking the Ice” question (group facilitator) + CHECK-INS: Introduce, check-in + CARE: Needs in the group + COMPASSION: What is the group planning? Are you inviting your neighbours to join in? + GROUP ANNOUNCEMENTS Church-wide, group-only + DIG IN: Discuss questions as a group + END AND HOMEWORK: Final questions, prayer huddles for personal requests. Consider breaking into small groups (huddles) of 2-4, by gender, if large enough. DISCUSSION questions: 1. Do you think the church is too political or not political enough? What do you mean by political? What are the potential up and downsides of political engagement? 2. Do you see Justin Trudeau as “God’s man” or that God can use whoever is in office? 3. What are some ways we can show respect for governments and rulers even when we think they are wrong? 4. Peter says God’s people should do good and behave well to silence their critics. In what concrete ways should we be acting to silence the critics of the church? 5. Respect does not mean blind agreement nor blind obedience to any decree or law. What are the ways you can respect and show disagreement with someone? Suffering seems to be expected by Peter for followers of Jesus, not seeking it out but realizing it comes in various forms. How does Jesus’ example guide us according to Peter? 6. How do you tend to react when others speak badly about you, hurt you, or mistreat you? 7. When are you most tempted to retaliate? 8. What does non-retaliation look like to you? 9. NT Wright states, “Putting up with unjust suffering looks, to us, very much like colluding with wickedness...the crucifixion of the Messiah [Jesus] was the most unjust and wicked act the world had ever seen...Peter isn’t simply recommending that people remain passive while suffering violence...He is urging them to realize that somehow, strangely, the sufferings of the Messiah are not only means by which we ourselves are rescued from sin. They are the means when extended through the life of his people, which the world itself may be brought to a new place.” Discuss! 10. In what ways should we look to work to relieve suffering and injustice? Prayer Requests: Does the Bible call for sheep-like submission to authorities? Is there something revolutionary to responding in submissive ways, loving and breaking cycles of hate? When we respond to the oppressor with hatred we internalize the very evil that is/was oppressing us and become as evil as those we hate. There is another way to live in response to injustice, a third way, a loving subversive submission. There is submission that honours the image of God even in the hardest of people but does not surrender or turn violent. KEY VERSE: 1 Peter 2:11-25 (NET) THE BIG IDEA 2:11-17 2:11-12 Christian Witness Through Self-Denial 2:13-17 Christians Witness by Respecting Secular Authorities 2:18-25 2:18A Slaves Must Submit to Their Masters 2:18B-20 The Reaction of Slaves to Unjust Suffering 2:21-25 The Example of Jesus THROUGH THE BIBLE PASSAGE 2:11-12 - Lifestyle Evangelism/Alien Life 2:13-17 Submission (And Subversion). Respect Does Not Mean Revere 2:18-25 The Slave as Example “Today, unbelievers would be offended if Christians would argue for a literal slavery-form submission based on the submission lists, although Christians clearly did so in the past. In our context, the continued practice of slavery-type submission no longer achieves the stated purpose of winning others to Christ. At this point, we need to stop and ponder the text’s stated purpose statement. When we jeopardize Christian mission by continuing to perform a text, which was originally designed to enhance Christian mission, we may well have stumbled upon a text with a significant cultural component” (William Webb, Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals 106). 2:18A Slaves Must Submit to Their Masters 2:18B-20 The Reaction of Slaves to Unjust Suffering “We cannot know for sure why the NT writers did not address the issue [of slavery] in a way that we might desire, but we do know that they laid the groundwork for abolition. Moyer V. Hubbard Concludes: ‘...modern Christians are right to be concerned that slavery was not ‘pinged’ by the moral radar of the earliest Christians. Yet there are also clear indicators that the Christian faith as articulated by Paul and other NT writers could not coexist with the institution of slavery’” (Dennis Edwards, 1 Peter, 122). 2:21-25 The Example of Jesus TAKE OUTS