The Trinity . . . At Work

``It is the conscious awareness by means of a relationship with God that the peace treaty has been signed. We're not in conflict with him, and he's in charge of the conflict we face. And the grace that Peter has in mind isn't good luck. It's living with eyes clearly seeing the fact that God in his providence is lavishing us, is demonstrating to us enough grace to get through today, and we have no way of calculating how much it took to get through today. We just had it. Even hardships have the purposes of God behind them, the one who foreknew and for loved us. And Peter, by the way, wants it to be multiplied. Did you notice that? Not just a little, you know, a little shake of the salt shaker. I want I want I want the truck to back up and unload. Grace and peace. [00:34:52] (66 seconds)  #GraceOverflowToday

If you're thinking, man, this okay, this staggers my thinking, then I think now we're on the right path. And I think it's consistent with scripture. God the father chose you and me in a way that is beyond our comprehension. God the son paid the penalty for our sin in a way that is beyond our comprehension. I mean, how did he do that? How did he pay the penalty for a sin nearly two thousand years ago that you're gonna commit two weeks from tomorrow? You figure that one out? And while we're at it, the Holy Spirit indwells us in a way that is beyond our comprehension. He, an eternal person of the Godhead, indwells us. Well, that's understandable. [00:14:25] (49 seconds)  #ChosenAndIndwelt

Peter here has has written, you know, a truckload of truth, hadn't he? But the point of his declaration is again simply this, every member of the Godhead is involved in the salvation of every member of God's family. And we don't tend to think of all three members of the Godhead at work on our behalf. It's how much he foreknew and for loved you. You are chosen by God the father. You are inhabited by God the spirit. You are under orders and constantly cleansed by God the son. Salvation comes to us through the trinity. It happens through the trinity. It will one day bring us home to the trinity where we will worship our true and living God, the father, son, and spirit. [00:32:02] (50 seconds)  #SalvationThroughTheTrinity

Wishing grace in the first century was kinda like saying good luck. You know, hope your hope your day goes great. No. Best wishes. Wishing peace or shalom was really nothing more than than sort of saying, hey, I hope everything's peaceful. Hope everything's smooth in your life today. Hope everything's, you know, rose petal covered. Peter uses those and gives them deeper meaning. The peace that Peter has in mind isn't the lack of conflict or trouble. He's writing the people who are in trouble. For the believer, peace is internal. [00:34:13] (40 seconds)  #InnerPeaceInChrist

Like seed from the hand of the gardener, you haven't just been scattered. Peter wants to reinforce the concept that you have been planted according to the foreknowledge of God the father. His for loving, for planning, predetermining, counsel in eternity past puts you here right now in that seat going through whatever you're going through. And in that then you find in him your refuge. [00:17:01] (37 seconds)  #PlantedByGod

But all of Christianity, the beginning and the middle and the end of the Christian life is the work of the holy spirit of God. Now now there are two different ways to think about the fact that he's always present. And you can say it with just a little different emphasis and you can catch what I mean by by that. You you can say it one of two ways. You can say, god's spirit never leaves us alone. Or you can say, god's spirit never leaves us alone. Both are true. [00:20:40] (38 seconds)  #SpiritNeverLeavesUs

So we really have to move beyond what seems reasonable into the depths of eternity past and things we can't quite understand. When Peter used the word here for foreknowledge, prognosis in verse two, he wasn't simply talking about God knowing in advance what would happen. That word refers to God planning, predetermining by his loving and saving intention to redeem his beloved. [00:12:36] (34 seconds)  #ForeknownAndPlannedByGod

The Holy Spirit fuels, genuine worship. You know, what makes good worship isn't necessarily, well, I like those songs and that choir number and and the people were nice around me, boy, that was great worship. And what makes good worship is the indwelling work of the spirit of God. That even even if you didn't have a 45 piece orchestra and a wonderful choir and people who were smiling around you, you could leave the assembly saying, that was a great worship service. [00:19:44] (28 seconds)  #WorshipPoweredBySpirit

And it is more than that. In fact, when you read on at the end of verse two, you discover that on that basis, that is of each member of the triune God investing and redeeming and sanctifying and cleansing us. The believer then in any generation, in any country, under any government, at any given time, through any season of life, in the first century all the way to this twenty first century, grace and peace can be multiplied to you in the fullest measure. So it doesn't end with a sour wait. So I guess we just pack up and go hide. No. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the fullest measure. [00:07:52] (44 seconds)  #GraceAndPeaceForAllGenerations

The point of his declaration is again simply this, every member of the Godhead is involved in the salvation of every member of God's family. You are chosen by God the father. You are inhabited by God the spirit. You are under orders and constantly cleansed by God Salvation comes to us through the trinity. It happens through the trinity. It will one day bring us home to the trinity, the father, son and spirit. [00:00:39] (39 seconds)  #TrinityAtWorkInYou

But the greater point for the believer isn't so much how the darkness has grown, but how do we demonstrate the light. Right? How do you live as a believer in a world that is returning to the times of the apostles? When they wrote, they were writing to disenfranchised believers, marginalized followers of Christ who had lost many of them their careers, their credibility, any semblance of compassion from their world around them. They were simply no longer wanted. [00:03:44] (37 seconds)  #BeLightInDarkness

Because, alright. We're cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who happens to run it. Disregard God and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded as it were with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. [00:06:06] (21 seconds)  #GodGivesDirection

In fact, one of our biggest mistakes is to think that we can somehow get through today, much less life, without the indwelling sanctifying spirit of God who gratefully doesn't leave us alone. Like, one of the tragic mistakes of the church is to think that our programs and our plans and our strategies can produce lasting fruit independently of the work of the holy spirit. [00:21:18] (25 seconds)  #DependOnTheSpirit

It's all according to the plan of God from eternity past. Nothing could ever happen in your life where God says, I didn't see that happening. And now what are we gonna do? Let's come up with plan b. Listen. If before the creation of the world, God chose you, he isn't about to lose sight of you now. [00:16:38] (23 seconds)  #ChosenBeforeCreation

You can just as easily understand Peter to be saying here in verse two, you have been chosen by God to not only be saved, but to be scattered. Don't miss that. To these scattered, like, ones, that's all by means of the foreknowledge, foreplanning, foreloving of God the father. [00:16:13] (25 seconds)  #ScatteredByDesign

And I put it that way because it's important to understand that foreknowing in the bible carries much more than mental awareness. It involves a deep, intimate love for God to foreknow us is for God to forelove us. Redemption isn't some cold contract. It is a love relationship. [00:10:24] (24 seconds)  #ForeknownIsForeloved

To these Christians who are foreigners, who are in their own country but now lost, they're marginalized, they're maligned, they're unloved, they're unwanted. Here's where they could breathe a deep breath of hope and really? Peter is telling them that the foreknowledge of God, the father, doesn't just relate to their salvation but to their situation. [00:15:49] (25 seconds)  #ForeknownInOurCircumstances

Feeling more like a foreigner these days? If you feel more separated and different from your world, guess what? It is the spirit of God at work reminding you that you belong not to the kingdoms of earth but to the kingdom of heaven. [00:24:39] (19 seconds)  #CitizensOfHeaven

To obey Jesus Christ, the word used here conveys the the picture of listening to and coming under submitting to that which is revealed. It refers to daily practice though imperfect of reversing by the way the attitude that characterizes the unbeliever who doesn't care what God says. [00:25:45] (23 seconds)  #DailyObedienceToJesus

I don't care what God says. They would say to you. Well, God says this. Well, I don't care what God says. See, that is the characteristic of the unbeliever. They are in rebellion to what they hear from God. This is the reversing of that. You are in submission to what you hear from God. That's why the word of God is so precious to you. We care. [00:26:08] (26 seconds)  #FromRebellionToSubmission