Paula Gooder - Talking Jesus conference

Mission, Community and hope:

1 Peter 1:1 - the introduction

Circular letter around Asia Minor (turkey). There was a proud remembered past among the people who lived in that part of the world. There was a strong emphasis on fitting in and belonging.

Peter addresses the letter to:

• Parepediemos = aliens and strangers / refugees. People with temporary visitor status in a society.
• Paraoikos = someone outside of a home ie homeless. 

These were people who were homeless and without roots. What does that mean? It means either that these were literally homeless and rootless. Or that as a result of there faith they were now rootless. They didn't feel like they belonged.

A lot of people identify with that idea. We all feel to some degree like we are outsiders and all have an idea of who are the insiders.

The community of 1 Peter are therefore a people in need of security and reassurance.

Images of belonging within 1 Peter:

In Christ: Now things are different. The rest of the epistle is then about how things are different.

He begins with an abstract 'that things are different' type statement and then moves on to apply the theology and show how it makes a difference in people's lives.

The three images of belonging:

• babies
• house
• nation

Peter, like other NT writers, loves to mix his metaphors and dip in and out of them and tangle them together as often as he can. 

Babies/Family:

Family means something to us that it didn't mean to people in Paul's society. For most westerners it means the small nuclear core in the home. This isn't in Paul's mind. He thinks in terms of households. In that case it could conceivably be a household of 150 people. A large network of relationships is more in Paul's mind. 

Quoting Stark: Christianity saved the Roman Empire.

The empire was on its knees and was about to fall. AD69 the year of four Roman emperors. The society was constructed around vertical hierarchical relationships and as such wasn't particularly 'sticky'. Christianity provided a glue to piece together a fragmenting society.

Household:

Having addresses people who are 'paraoikos' (homeless) he now uses the metaphor of God's house. That they are, we are, building a spiritual house. There is no reason why we should feel homeless because in Christ there is an automatic home. 

He uses the word for stone that means a 'dressed' or prepare stone. The church then is made up of prepared and cut stones.

Nation:

Peter goes big and discusses how people relate to one another on a national level. He is talking to gentile Christians and uses thoroughly Jewish/OT metaphors and ideas: Is. 43:20 & Exodus 19.

He is giving them a new history. Again, we're reminded of the introduction that Peter is writing to rootless people and telling them 'these are your roots'.

Challenge: We've lost our Old Testament in our churches and rarely teach from it. This is an issue because we need to know our roots and history.

We must become good story tellers. 

Peter writes to a group of people who haven't got a sense of belonging and identity - and he tells them a story about who they are. 

Lifestyle Evangelism:

Out of these roots, how do we live as Christians.

When we think about identity we think about 'I' but in the NT it is always communally, 'we'.

• Abstain from the desires of the flesh 
• Live a noble lifestyle

Fear evangelism should be replaced with hop evangelism. Instead of 'you should tell people!' how about 'I've got some great news to tell you.' 

Make Christ your Lord rather than fear. If Christ is the Lord in your heart, then fear cannot be. 

The heart:

Peter and Paul used the theme of 'heart' and see it as the place you think from and feel from. We often say 'let this go from your head to your heart' which is an unbiblical way of thinking. 

Hope:

Dialects of sign language. The normal expression for hope is a hand outstretched wavering from side to side. The theological sign for hope however is one hand placed in the shape of a rock on top of the other hand.