AUG 7 2016 | 1 Peter 1:15-23

Sea Change Church · "1 Peter 1:15-23" · Dr. James Smith III · August 7, 2016
1 Peter 1:15-23
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

This is from 1 Peter 1, verses 15 through 23. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. And if you call him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. It's always a privilege to be able to share in the Lord's worship and in the Lord's word. I appreciate this opportunity. I was going to say it was dampened a little bit when I looked and saw you were gone, but I appreciate your being here.

That's the red light special. That means I'm supposed to stop. Okay. Well, great. It's been good. I'm limited to two words this morning, right? They are from the last message that I gave from the book of Proverbs, and those words are, Yare Yahweh. Yare Yahweh, which means, Our God is awesome. Little Hebrew on a Sunday morning. Our God is awesome. We are committed here at La Jolla Christian Fellowship to a healthy diet from God's word.

Old Testament, New Testament topics. We're in a series on the book of Acts, and when I was invited, having been interim pastor here, to stay and to be an outrigger on the canoe of what we're doing here, then part of what we talked about was my preaching periodically, and I asked if we could do the book of Proverbs Proverbs, because Proverbs is about wisdom, and we want wisdom to be a part of the life of this church.

We want this to be a wise church, and so many of us know this morning, there's a difference between smarts and wisdom, right? There are people that can be very, very smart, very, very intelligent, but felony stupid. Isn't that right? Isn't that right? Okay. So we don't want that. What we want is to grow in grace, in the knowledge, in the wisdom of our Lord, and that's why periodically we're in the book of Proverbs.

We've been doing this for a couple years, intermittently. We're up to chapter 22, and what comes after 22, of course, is what? Good. Okay. So we're there, and I was all ready to move in that direction early in the week, and the Lord said no. Have you ever had a plan that you were going to kind of chase after? It kind of flows, kind of natural, and you hear this, no, and you realize, you realize that you're not supposed to do that.

Anybody know what I'm talking about here? Right. Okay. And with that in mind, I thought to myself, all right, Lord, do we get out of Proverbs? And again, it's no. So anyway, then you've got to pray more. So let me explain then. I said, all right, this is a communion Sunday. At any point in this message, feel free to tune me out. If you, it means you focus more fully on what Christ has done for us.

Mm-hmm. Right? The object of this message is not so you can listen to me. I've been listened to several times in my life. That's not the goal. The goal is that we might discern the uniqueness of our Lord and give our heart and soul and mind and strength in response to our Lord's gift in a fresh way today. Can I get an amen for that? Yeah, that's what we're looking for.

So if you want to focus on the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away, focus on the cross this morning and just say, thank you, Lord. Can I do it again for loving me this much? Right? If it's looking at Jesus, the shepherd, and say, boy, could I use a shepherd and the voice comes back from the Lord's word and spirit and says, you got one.

You got one. I was going to say, I'm your huckleberry. I saw a tombstone earlier in the week. But maybe the Lord even would say that, right? I'm your huckleberry. I'm your shepherd. Right? So come unto me. I'll lead you in paths of righteousness, lead you beside green pastures and still waters, and even though things get deadly, I will not fear evil, says the person in cradled in Jesus' arms, because I'm with him.

We're with him. All right? So this is a simple permission to say, if you want to tune me totally out and just focus in on whatever the Lord wants to utilize, including one or another of these points of the message, you do it, because the purpose is, in a little while, we're going to be invited to share together and celebrate at the Lord's table. And that's the goal of this.

All right? So I was led to the New Testament. And I asked the question, don't you love to learn new things? I asked the question, I wonder, which of the New Testament writers most used the book of Proverbs? I wonder, which of the New Testament writers spent the most time referring back to this wisdom book? In other words, took some time to wise up and to grow in their understanding.

And I thought, it'll be Paul, but you know what? It wasn't. He had plenty to say and it was all inspired by the Lord himself, but it wasn't Paul and it wasn't John who wrote the gospel in three letters. It wasn't any, it was Peter. And I thought to myself, I never knew that before. Anybody else know that in this sanctuary, that it's Peter who spent more time than any other New Testament writer referring to Proverbs?

No, but it's Peter. Now, Peter's an amazing individual. That passage that our dear brother Elliot has read with feeling this morning with affection, that passage, if you want to dwell on that leading you to the table, tune me out, go there. Because when we say, Yare Yahweh, the fear of the Lord, the reverent awe of the Lord is the beginning of what? Wisdom. Wisdom's knowing what best to do with what you got.

What do I do with this situation? What do I do with this gift or this limitation? What do I do with this? God says, I have wisdom for you. In that, Yare Yahweh, fear the Lord, the beginning of wisdom, Peter picks up on that in the passage that's just been read. You see it there in your notes. Since you call on a father who judges to each impartially, live your lives here as strangers in reverent fear, in awe, Yare, you know you were not redeemed with perishable things, but with the precious blood of Christ.

So Peter, Peter is the one who looks back and he says, I need some wisdom. Now, that confession that we just looked at, and maybe some of you are continuing to look at because you indeed have tuned me out. Bless you. That confession there echoes in a sense Peter who confesses in what? Matthew 16, where everybody's kind of going, trying to figure out who Jesus is and what he's about and going, bitty, bitty, bitty, bitty, and Jesus says, who do you say I am?

And Peter goes, he gets one right, correct? He says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus says, bingo. He didn't say bingo. But flesh and blood has not revealed it to you. This has come from above. You get it. So the confession of Peter in Matthew 16, you are the Christ, the son of the living God, is echoed here in 1 Peter, for example, in this passage.

But Peter also was a mess up a lot of times in the Gospels. Do you remember some of those times? You know, Peter really stepped in things. And so as a result, at the Mount of Transfiguration, here we go, Mount of Transfiguration, there is this tremendous encounter the apostles have, and there before them are the presence of Jesus and two of the prophets, and Peter, it says, they were afraid, didn't know what to say, so Peter said something, right?

He goes, you know what, I think it'd be great. Let's have a building project. Let's build one monument over here, one monument over here. How about over there? And the sound comes from heaven, and that's about it. Jesus never even answers him because, no, we don't need a building project. How about just a worship? How about just a celebration? Peter missed the ball.

Missed the ball. Well, maybe he got it right over here when he's walking on water. Well, he got it half right. Jesus is walking, and Jesus says, well, come if you really want to come, and Peter comes, and he starts, what? Sinking. Right. So, strike two. So, there he's going down. Peter with his limitations showing all too readily. Then there's the foot washing service in John 13 where Jesus wants to wash their feet, and what does Peter say?

No, you're not going to wash my feet. You know, ritual outrage, right? No, you're not going to wash my feet. You know, either I'm too good for you, or you're too good for me, or I can't remember which one it is, but you're not going to, and Jesus says, you know, if I don't wash you, your feet is a sign of humility. When I came to serve, you really have no part in me.

So, what does Peter say? Does he say, okay? No. Peter says, well, then why don't you wash all of me? And Jesus goes, no. And so, you know, because Peter's arguing, arguing, arguing. We get the picture, right? There's more. Who denies Jesus three times as he approaches the cross? Peter. Peter. Who is it that in fact, after the resurrection, when Jesus says to Peter, feed my lambs, says, well, what about him?

What's John going to do? I want to see if he gets a better deal from the cards than I do. Right? Peter. But he grew up. He grew up. Peter grew up. Peter wised up. Peter didn't stay there. Have you ever thought to yourself, as I have, boy, any point in my life at which there's a turning of the corner, at which there's a looking up, in which there's a next level being approached by God's grace, any starting point is a fair starting point, but I don't want to stay there.

Right? So if I'm angry, is that a fair starting point for me then to discover God's moving me forward? Is it? Yeah. If I've got an attitude, is that a fair starting point? Yeah. How about all those other things that are issues? What about lust? What about profanity? I lose the car keys and all of a sudden I'm doing profanity. Anybody else ever done that here?

No, nobody has. What a holy congregation. I am so glad I'm at La Jolla Christian Fellowship. Only me. Only you. Yeah, okay, so anyway, that's terrific. I appreciate that. So, it's good to know that at least I stand out for something. Look, Peter needed to wise up and that's why he went to the book of Proverbs and that's why the apostle Peter who needed wisdom, was he big enough?

Yeah, the guy could pull two million fish up to shore by himself. Right? Not that many, but you get the idea. Gospel of John, is he beefy? Oh yeah. You know? Is he, articulate many times, but he needs wisdom and so do we as we come to the Lord's table this morning. So, with that in mind, what we see here is this kind of reflection. We find a situation in which, after that citation of scripture in your worship notes, Peter references the book of Proverbs more than any New Testament writer.

The gospel reveal his struggles with pride and doubt and impulse and denial. And yet, his character was what? Refined. His character was refined. How do we know he saw it that way? Because in 1 Peter 1, 7, he quotes Proverbs chapter 17 and verse 3 and talks about how the Lord refines us. The Lord purifies us. The Lord gets us in condition and in shape and he cleanses us.

I don't know how many of you have been backpacking over the years. Came to a beautiful source of water except the water was like either yellow or green. Anybody know what I'm talking about? And you say to yourself, I don't want to drink that. Thanks so much. I need to put some pellets in there or I need to boil it or I need to do something to it. Right? Okay?

That's really what's happening in Peter's life. There is a refining. 1 Peter 1, 7, reflecting Proverbs 17, 3. Peter says, I've been under refinement for these years and so here's what I know and here's what I want to share with all of you in this place. Peter learned. Peter wised up. And there are these four very simple things this morning that lead us to the table.

Peter says, first of all, submission. Secondly, affection. Thirdly, attention. And finally, confession. Four very simple points this morning. The first one. As Peter calls out to us as one who grew up and says to us the first point. Proverbs chapter 3, verses 34, reflected in 1 Peter 5, 5. Here is his word to us, all of us, this morning. All of you, clothe yourselves in humility toward one another because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Peter says, I needed that. Thanks. I needed that. God gives grace to the humble. Now, Peter had been through a lot during his time. Humility was something that was vital to him. Not to be in a hurry, not to talk back, not to argue, not to despair, even when he goes out and weeps after the denial. But to come back and to say, Lord, humble me because in the wisdom literature, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and what?

He will lift you up at the proper time. Peter here says, humble yourselves to one another, toward one another. Now, that word humility, sometimes that's utilized even in some Christian literature to talk about what one of my buddies has called a worm theology. And that means, kind of, anybody know Eeyore, right? Oh, I'm not much. I don't think I'm worth a whole lot.

God doesn't have much going when he's got me. You know, right? I'm sorry. This is wave number three of grandkids this week. This is the two and four-year-old with us with our daughter from Minnesota. That's right. We'll get back to that. In any case, I'm doing Eeyore and all kinds of buggy things and doing snail races, you know, and you get the idea. So, in any case, this is not worm theology.

Submission is not, I don't have much going, I'm not worth much. This is simply a humility. At the root of the word humility is the word humus, H-U-M-U-S. It's a Latin word. It means earth. And humility means we finally get our feet on the ground. Okay? We're getting real about what is and about what God wants to do with it. Humility is being down to earth.

It's feet on the ground. It's operating at field level, so to speak. I happen to be a baseball fan. Some of you know that. In addition to teaching church history at Bethel Seminary, I love to write baseball history. And we were in another game this past week, and I thought of all the things that get shouted from the stands. It's one thing to shout advice or be a critic or a commentator.

It's another thing to play the game at field level. Isn't that right? Yeah. Right there on the field. We can always give two bits worth of advice as to how you should do this better. Hey, why don't you, you know, go, go. But field level, that's where you face it. Humility. My feet are on the ground. I'm doing this at field level. My head isn't spaced out. And I'm down to earth, and I welcome, then, the companionship of other teammates, of other people in the body of Christ, in others, in the family.

That's what I celebrate. That's Peter. He said, you know what? One point in my life, Jesus said, I'm going to build my church on this rock, this rock of the confession, the rock of you confessing, the rock of leadership need. I'm going to do that. And maybe that even inflated Peter up a few sizes extra. But he said, when it's all said and done, it's a team.

It's a family. And we welcome one another. Isn't it wonderful that when we come to this table, we haven't sold box seats here and bleachers? It's not, you can come up early if you're more righteous or if you're richer or better looking or taller or whatever else. And otherwise, you can sit in the bleachers back there and come up when you want. This is all on level ground.

We come to the cross. We come to the table on level ground. God does not play favorites. God does not do, ah, winners, losers, gotcha. Jesus isn't playing games. And so it's level ground when we come to this table. Red, brown, yellow, black, and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. And that's ethnicity, that's gender, that's social class, that's educational background, that's how tall, how short, whatever else it is.

This is the great leveler because we come in need. And Peter saw it. He got it. He wised up. He loved Proverbs. That's number one. And if we need help today, saying, Lord, I need to submit to you, not to become a worm, but to become your child and look to you with an open face and an eager mind and say, what does the Lord say to his servants? If I find myself cradled along with others, I'm not jealous of their strengths.

I'm not in, I'm not disgusted with their weaknesses. We're just coming together to the table. That submission will make us then prepared and receptive to what it means to follow our Lord at ground level. There's number two for Peter. By the way, may I say it this way too? We've got, in my background, my side of the family, we've got some problem drinkers. They drank a little, anything, right?

And with that, there were some people who deeply needed AA, but as far as I know, none of them really wanted to go into AA. That also just told me wisdom was to not drink. That's just me, right? So, it's that simple. It's not a big, you know, simple and easy are different things. Let's start with simple, and then by God's grace, it becomes easier to do what you ought.

But there is an AA, and I've got lots of friends who have gone through the process with AA, NA, and other recovery groups. You begin by saying, I'm an alcoholic, right? I want to say, every one of us this morning, our humility, as we come on level ground before the cross, before this table, is I am a sinner. Saved by grace. I'm not going for an Oscar to show you how good I can look.

I'm a sinner. Saved by grace. And that's the good news this morning. We're coming to the table. Number two, Peter, again, quoting Proverbs chapter 10, says, Be clear-minded and self-controlled so you can pray and above all, love. Love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins. That's the affection. And one of the great exercises in life is to ask ourselves a question, I think, when we see someone, what do I see that's lovable in that person?

What do I see that awakens my sense of common ground that looks oh so precious in the Lord's sight that shows they're a child of God or reveals a need or whatever else it might be? Lord, give me a love. The Greek word, you know what it is there, agape. Right? An unconditional desire for the best for this person. Can I try that again? An unconditional desire for the best for this person.

What does that mean? Lord, give me that kind of love. Peter says it. Love covers a multitude of sins. What does that say? What does the Greek suggest to it? That love covers up? That love kind of fakes it? No. It says that there is love that surpasses whatever offense is in that situation. I'm going to be tactless this morning. Why not? Any of you ever talked to somebody who came up about six inches from you and spoke to you articulately?

That was a challenge enough. And they had like elk breath. They had really bad breath. Anybody know what I'm talking about here? I mean, it's like, he shall be slain with the breath of his mouth. You know, that's not God. That's this guy, right? So, if you've had that, what do you do then? Do you kind of go, meh, and you back off a little, you know, well, maybe. You know what I'm talking about, right?

Our daughter's in town and there's this guy that showed up. We lived down on Mission Boulevard for 13 years, right? All our kids went to Mission Bay and we lived up at the north end of Mission Boulevard where the bars and hotels run out, you know, Baja La Jolla. Right? So, so, right? Yeah, that's what we called ourselves. We were Baja La Jolla. So, so anyway, so we lived down there and this guy, this guy staggered up on our front deck one day.

You know, the guy obviously had, you know, had a few too many, like 15 or 20 too many. Guy staggers up, he's yarfing and he winds up in a chair on our front, front deck. So, I go, okay, Lord, what do we do with this? Well, what are we called to do? Love him. He's made in the image of God. You've got to cut through some stuff to get to the image, but there it is, right?

So, we went out there, we went out there and I, actually, I went out there, I asked Linda, we did a quick voice, she says, I'm not going. So, anyway, so I said, bless you. So, I went out there because I'm, you know, and I said, I got in conversation with this guy. Terrific. Are you having a good evening? Wonderful. There were tough moments. So, anyway, so I said, what drew you to this house?

And the worst words I had ever heard to that date was, Rebecca. I thought, this guy, who's totally sauced, he knows that our daughter lives here. What's next? We had pesticides, but, I thought, okay, what would, what would Jesus do? Or in this case, what would Peter do? To love deeply. Wisdom. Well, so I began talking to the guy. We laid him out there. I said, you want me to call?

I almost wanted to imitate him. You ever done that? You know, but, so I said, I said, what are you, what are you doing in the area? I said, I'm on board of a ship. And I thought it wasn't an obscenity. I thought he was on board ship. And he was. And so, ultimately, we found out this was a hanger-on with a friend of our daughter, Becca's, who happened to know this was there.

And later on, this was instrumental in someone coming to faith. Because they saw, you know what? I've got a terrible choice in that moment. Do we pray for the guy? Uh-huh. I'm not sure where he is. Lord, this is not just an illustration. Wherever that guy is, please draw him toward yourself. Please help there be a word for him that draws him toward you. Thank you.

Thank you. When somebody else found out that this was the kind of guy he was, he was AWOL and drunk, not at all like the awesome people that by and large serve in our military. This guy was, you know, the person themselves emotionally sobered up. The person who was dating this guy and said, I think I better get out of this relationship and I think I better examine what I'm living for and what principles I'm living by and that was a precursor to faith.

God used it. Now, if I just called 9-11 and had the guy put in a sack and carried out, that maybe doesn't happen. But we gave the guy a place and there we were. Love, Peter says, covers a multitude of offenses. Bad breath, strange guess, exotic weirdness, you know, the fact that we meant well but it went wide of the mark, right? Peter says that. He knows this from experience.

He wised up. Number three, if you would. Peter says, it's time for judgments to begin with God's family. If it's hard for the righteous to be saved, what of the ungodly and sinners? It's time for judgments to begin with God's family. Now, we all know there is an ultimate judgment coming, but I want you to pay attention, please, to the Greek word here. The Greek word is krema.

You see it there in print in your notes. What English word do we get in the judicial system from the word krema? Crime. Exactly. That's where the word comes from. It means a verdict. The invitation from Peter is this. Look at the way you're living your life. And if there is a verdict that's required over some way that you're living life, pronounce the verdict and get on with something better.

May I put it that way? In other words, there needs to be a particular movement, a verdict that says, I'm not going to try and shortcut this. I'm not going to play it down. I'm not going to shrug and say everybody's human as if that's my free pass. I'm not going to do that anymore. One of the amazing things about being in a congregation like this is that I can look around in a way that Pastor Adam from a much higher view can look around and I can see people and it's been a privilege to pray for you.

It's been a privilege to be invited in to hear part of your story and to look for God's grace. It's been a privilege to walk some of the path with you in moments where maybe you rendered a verdict and said, I don't think I want to see my values this way anymore. I don't think I want that attitude to be the tail that wags the dog. I don't think that my marriage was meant to be lived this way.

There's a higher ground and there's a grace-filled relationship here. And that applies to children or some of us raising other people's children. It's a joy to see how the Lord has worked. Do we name names in the front? No. No, no, no, no. It's confidentiality. But what a joy it is. I want a number of you to know that here to pray for you and with you even as I ask you to pray for me.

There are times when a verdict needs to be pronounced that says no more business as usual. I'm going to turn the corner by God's grace. And this is what this is. This is not just an individual thing. This is high stakes. Why? Because the church is called to be prophetic. One of the things I appreciate, brother, about your preaching through the book of Acts is that you have sketched out to us a higher ground that God's word calls us to.

I mean that. And let me go off the phrase you talked a couple weeks ago not about the new Adam but the what? The true Adam. Everybody get that? This is not the new Adam. This is the true Adam. This is the one who's refined. This is the one who receives wisdom. This is the one who grows in grace and knowledge. I celebrate that if I may in you. And I cherish that for all of us together.

Myself included. We'll continue to find our true selves, our best selves. by pronouncing verdict over some things that just need to end, need to be tabled, need to be put somewhere else in favor of a new path revealed to us. That is, we need to be attentive. There is accountability there. This is high stakes because in a needy society like ours, the words are well taken that often we have lived in a half-staff culture.

The flag is at half-staff. There's enough mess up, enough tragedy, enough peril to go around and just depress anybody who's paying attention. Well, we can pay attention but still believe in our God who is at work to redeem. But part of the challenge is for the church to be prophetic, to provide a holy, righteous, in-touch, capable alternative to a lot of the stuff that's recommended out there.

That's what Peter was about. Peter's about to go in a few years give his life in Rome as a martyr. But meanwhile, Roman Empire, it's gone. The cause of Christ, the kingdom, it's going forward. Right? So this gospel, by this guy who's about to become a martyr, the verdict is, Peter says, I'm going to live the way God calls me to live and that will be prophetic.

And it is. It was. It remains so. High stakes as we share. So let's be attentive in these kinds of ways. And finally, confession. This is an opportunity for each one of us in this room to say in a fresh way as the word, as we've said before, the very word sacrament, sacramentum, in Latin, means what? A vow of loyalty. That's what this is. This is an invitation to every one of us in this room to say, you know what?

If I've been on this level, Lord, I want to be loyal to you. I might call him a shepherd. I might call him a coach. I might call the Lord my commander-in-chief. I might call the Lord my sovereign example. Whatever other images, many of them are in the scriptures. But Lord, I want to be loyal to you. I'm tired of running a life with broken plays. And even in moments in which, you know, I'm getting it right, Lord, refine that.

Help me to be even more attuned, more faithful, more life-giving in this situation. And this is a time then, in me personally, for the first time, I think, since I've been at this church, I'm going to stand in line and receive the Lord's Supper this morning. Pastor Adam, in a moment, is going to come and lead us in the celebration, along with brothers and sisters who are going to be serving.

I'm just going to find my happy place in line. And as a person who is a recovering sinner, I'm going to come and confess my need for grace, my submission, my desire to love other people, my sense of being attentive to the verdicts that need to be pronounced in my life. That doesn't mean I run around pronouncing verdicts on everybody else. That Lord will convict.

Take care of me. And then confess that, knowing 1 John 1, 9, that if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, I confess, I had a fresh breakout of guilt this morning out in the back in the back when Pastor Adams said that somewhere up at that camp there was a 30 scoop ice cream treat adventure mountain.

Envy. Envy. Envy. I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands. You know, it would cause a gust of wind all the hands going up. You know, envy. But I'm over it now. I've confessed that. All right? I've confessed a few other things. We have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old with us this week from Minnesota. and part of that time they're just cute as bugs. I told my wife, Linda, I feel simultaneously older and younger.

I don't know how that works but you figure it out. Right? I've got to tell you the truth and I've confessed this to the Lord. Sometimes I act like a 2-year-old. What's the word that goes before 2's? Terrible. Right. Cute as anything. Beautiful. Gifted. Unique. Little guy. 2-year-old. Different from his 4-year-old sister who is an Olympic sprinter when we go to the San Diego Zoo.

I'm running after her trying to keep her from, you know, anyway. Long story. Any of you ever, you know what I'm talking about? Lord, I'm acting like a 2-year-old. I've got a little hissy fit going here. You know, I've got a hangnail and I think I'm Job. You know? Right? Lord, forgive me. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me. Do not cast me ever from your presence.

May your Holy Spirit never be estranged but restore to me the joy of your salvation. And uphold me with a spirit of freedom and then I will be able to teach those who've stepped over the line your ways. And those who are lost in sin will be converted to you. That's my heart's desire in all this. And so confession is part of this and we share together. One last word.

Peter, and that is that we find there's a book we've been talking about Peter, how he wised up his use of the book of Proverbs and as always for each of us who preach, take the notes, maybe return to them during the week, look at more of the word, go more in depth, whatever it might be. There was a book came out in the late 60s called The Peter Principle. Any of you hear of that?

Yeah. And it's been reprinted several times too. And the Peter Principle, the guy's last name was Peter, it's in the notes, the Peter Principle supposedly was this, kind of like this look at organization, at groups, and he says, we all kind of rise to the level of our incompetence and then we're done. So if I'm somewhere, whether it's in a business or in the body of Christ and somebody's risen to a level and they're not quite sure how to grow further or go further, well then I just, in Peter Principle, I just quit on them.

I just say, you found your place, nice puppy, and I go on to my next strategy in trying to make something happen. May I say, that's not biblical. Okay? What is biblical is St. Peter's Principle that says, as every one of you has received a gift, so use it to serve others as a full-on expression. of the grace of our Lord. This is about continuing to grow, to grow up.

Whatever age we think we're at, whatever station it might be, let's continue in that. Peter, he's the guy that loved the book of Proverbs most of all in his quotations. He messed up a lot, but he got wisdom, and so may it be for us as we continue and as we come to this table. we bow. Lord Jesus, thank you that as it says in 1 Corinthians, you are indeed the very wisdom of God.

Only you have perfectly lived out what humanity is called to be. Help us in this renewal of our vows before you. And for anyone who here might say yes to you for the first time, the distance between where they're sitting and this place might be a changed life in a new family. Lord, we pray your grace will overcome all and show us what it means to walk with you to your glory for our good in Jesus' name.

Amen.