Good morning, today is Tuesday, May 12, 2020. My name is Keith and I am one of the pastors at Green Acres Baptist Church in Athens, GA.

1 Peter 3:1-12

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For,

“Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
and their lips from deceitful speech.
They must turn from evil and do good;
they must seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

There is a lot in these verses, but keep in mind that we have moved into the main body of Peter’s letter where he is encouraging the Christians to whom he is writing to stay faithful to the teachings of Jesus, even in the midst of persecution. Peter has used so many great metaphors and word pictures to help us understand our identity, who we are, in the pervious verses, but then we are reminded that we are these things in exile. We are sojourners and strangers, people who are whole and being made whole in a world that is broken.

We respond to this deep brokenness in the world, often seen in the most intimate relationships, as an opportunity to live out Christ’s teachings of radical love and self-sacrificing service. We as Christians have been liberated from the slavery of sin, the world, and the Satan himself in order to love those who persecute us.

As Christians we need to remember that our King is a different kind of ruler than the rulers of this world. And as people who are different we should not be surprised when those around us don’t understand and we even face some sort of persecution for it. And, what I think is wort pointing out is Jesus’ words to love and serve those who persecute us. 

This is the same new way of living, a radically different way of living, that Jesus talked about in his teachings. Being a follower of Jesus means that we follow his teachings to be and act like radically different people. Our values are love, peace, service, and humbleness — to love God and our neighbors; not trying to be the loudest voice, the most powerful person, or the most important figure. It is actually in this way of living that others will come to know Jesus through us.

1 Peter 2:18-25

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

I want to point out some of the parallels we actually have been going over in our services. Peter is remembering back to what Jesus told him and the rest of the disciples and now telling us. Jesus used Isaiah’s prophetic word that explain that we as humans would be healed by his suffering and now Peter is quoting Jesus quoting Isaiah. It is actually because Christ suffered and brought healing to our souls that Peter finds meaning in the suffering he and other Christians are experiencing. Jesus endured his suffering and death on the cross so that we could die to our selves and now live new lives of being right with God. This is the healing of our souls that Jesus offers.

Finally, Peter draws on that metaphor we have been familiarizing ourselves with, of Jesus as our Great Shepherd. Remember, John 10 tells us we know the Good Shepherd because He is the one who lays down his life for his sheep. Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross is the means to our soul’s healing and being made right with God, the example by which we find meaning in our own suffering, and finally Jesus’ suffering and death is actually him calling out to us as our Good Shepherd to return to Him, the overseer of our souls.

So, this morning, that is the call. Return to the one who suffered and died for you. Find meaning his life life and death, and accept his invitation to live a new life.

Good morning, today is Friday, May 8, 2020. My name is Keith and I am one of the pastors at Green Acres Baptist Church in Athens, GA.

Well, we are reading through the books of 1 and 2 Peter this month during the season of Eastertide, but today I wanted to do something a little special. One of my favorite living poets, Malcolm Guite, is starting a new series on the Psalms that I wanted to share with you all today. I use his poetry in my own spiritual formation and I wanted to share his work today with you. 

The Psalms have been foundational for my own spiritual development, but they have also been a foundation to my own academic study on the topic of worship as well. As a Worship Pastor and someone who cares deeply about the act of gathered and scattered worship, I don’t know that there is anything more important that we can do than read the Psalms over and over again and let them mess with our understanding of the world.

We read the Psalms as poetry developed in the history of the Hebrew people, a heritage that is not what most would claim to be own birth heritage. So, we read them with an “out there and back then” mentality, but also with some sort of “in here and right now” understanding because of the Holy Spirit’s continual shaping of our prayer language by these Psalms.

Our prayers should be shaped by the Psalms, by the actual metaphors and images used. The world the Psalms paint for the reader through its poetic language is the world we as Christian’s are being invited in to.

And praying with the language of the Psalms is somewhat intuitive. We can pray the actual Psalms, sort of like set prayers, or we can adopt the imagery and metaphors the Psalms give us to pray our own prayers.

The Psalms shaped the spiritual life of Christ himself and have been the foundation in both Jewish and Christian worship for thousands of years. I believe that in our moving to the heart of God and living out of our belonging to Him the Psalms are what actually give us the worldview to live according to the life that Jesus is offering.

So, today I am going to read Psalm 1 and then play the audio of Malcolm Guite’s poem as a reflection on Psalm 1. I have linked Guite’s website in the show notes and I highly encourage you to go and read the poem yourself from him when you get a chance. Remember, Psalm 1 works sort of like how an introduction chapter in any book would work. Psalm 1 stands on its own, but it also gives us the guide by which to actually read the whole rest of the book of Psalms.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Find Malcolm Guite’s work and this poem here!

https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/2020/05/07/beatus-vir-a-reflection-on-psalm-1/

Good morning, today is Thursday, May 7, 2020. My name is Keith and I am one of the pastors at Green Acres Baptist Church in Athens, GA.

Peter, continuing the idea that we are a new group of priests who live with Jesus and his forgiveness as our Cornerstone continues giving his instructions for holy living, or living lives that are being made whole.

1 Peter 2:11-17

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

Peter is continuing to use rich metaphors to help us understand our place in this world and as a new people whom God has called out. In verse 11 Peter gives one of my favorite metaphors when he calls us “foreigners and exiles,” or, those who are not part of this world, simply traveling through.

So, this morning, remind yourself that you are a foreigner and an exile. Feel the deep longing inside of you that we all have to return to a home we have never been to. Let this truth guide you as you seek to abstain from sinful desires and seek to do right. Let this truth that you are not a slave to this land, rather you are free to travel through life’s journey; let this remind you that we are those who follow Jesus in that traveling. And in following Jesus, we do not allow ourselves to become bound to sin.

Let’s pray.

1 Peter 2:4-10

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”

and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Peter, continuing to use metaphors to describe new life with Christ, uses the idea of building a house to help us understand new life. Jesus is the “Living Stone” and the “Precious Cornerstone” on which all of Israel’s hopes was built.

The Jewish leaders and people rejected Jesus as their cornerstone and they stumble as a result. But, for those of us who have been called out of the darkness and into life, Jesus has become the foundation, our cornerstone, in new life.

Jesus as our cornerstone is a well known metaphor, but still a helpful one. Jesus and his message of forgiveness is our foundation as we seek to live as a new kind of priest. As people who share the mercy that God has shown us with the world.

Let’s pray.

We have been reading through parts of 1 Peter in our services the past few weeks and this week we will continue on and finish 1 Peter. Remember, we are continuing to reflect on what it means to live according to the new life that Jesus offers us.

1 Peter 1:13-25

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,

“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.

Peter, writing to a group of Jesus followers who are scattered all through the Roman Empire, encourages us to live out of this core, deep place of love for each other.

Peter’s encouragement to his readers, and to us today, is to live holy lives, or lives that are made whole because of the love Christ showed us in his death. He uses the well known sacrificial system as a metaphor to talk about the significance of Jesus’ sacrifice. Just like the Hebrews had to make sacrifices because of their sin in order to commune with God in the Temple, Jesus’s blood redeemed us from death and brokenness and now, as a resurrected Savior, we have a living hope. Now, our brokenness can be made whole and we can live new, holy lives.

But what does this purified living, this holy living, look like? It looks like having sincere love for each other. To love one another deeply from the heart.

I’m going to pray, but I encourage you to think today about what that means, to live out of a place of deep love for one another, today.

To help finish our reflection on the hope we have for new life with Christ because of Christ’s life and death lets read Psalm 103 together.

Psalm 103

Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children—
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the Lord, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
Praise the Lord, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Christ Our Hope In Life And Death

Verse 1

What is our hope in life and death
Christ alone Christ alone
What is our only confidence
That our souls to Him belong
What holds our days within His hand
What comes apart from His command
And what will keep us to the end
The love of Christ in which we stand

Chorus

O sing hallelujah
Our hope springs eternal
O sing hallelujah
Now and ever we confess
Christ our hope in life and death

Verse 2

What truth can calm the troubled soul
God is good God is good
Where is His grace and goodness known
In our great Redeemer's blood
Who holds our faith when fears arise
Who stands above the stormy trial
Who sends the waves that bring us nigh
Unto the shore the rock of Christ

Verse 3

Unto the grave what shall we sing
Christ He lives Christ He lives
And what reward will heaven bring
Everlasting life with Him
There we will rise to meet the Lord
Then sin and death will be destroyed
And we will feast in endless joy
When Christ is ours forevermore

We are returning to the theme of hope this week. Hope has been a key idea for us the past 6 months since Advent and this week we are noting that hope finds its fulfillment in the resurrection and assertion of Jesus. We can have that hope because Jesus, as the hope of the world, came and offers us the hope of new life.

If you were to stop and examine your life, or maybe just this past week so far, what do you think you have been holding on too for hope? Has it been the promise or pursuit of a pay check? Enough groceries to hold out long enough to survive this pandemic? We are presented with opportunities daily to place our hope in something. So ask yourself, what you hoping in?

Easter gives us an opportunity to question what our hope is in. And it gives us this challenge to, like Jesus’ disciples, hope in the resurrection. The find hope in new life with Christ. I don’t know exactly what this would look like for you or what it might change in your life, but I encourage you to think about that today.

Well, I said yesterday that today we would talk more about the Heidelberg Catechism. A catechism is simply a set of questions and answers that are intended to teach. We actually use a catechism in our children’s ministry. The song we have been learning, Christ Our Hope in Life and Death, is actually written as a question and response, like a catechism would do. And it is actually written to put into song the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism. 

The question is “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” 

The answer is “That I am not my own, but belong— body and soul, in life and in death— to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”

And the song we are learning gives us many additional questions that come from this one. Each verse has its own set of questions and answers meant to draw the listener into a unifying theme. And then each verse ends with an expressive chorus meant to lift the singer and remind them of the ultimate hope we have in Christ.

Christ Our Hope In Life And Death

Verse 1

What is our hope in life and death
Christ alone Christ alone
What is our only confidence
That our souls to Him belong
What holds our days within His hand
What comes apart from His command
And what will keep us to the end
The love of Christ in which we stand

Chorus

O sing hallelujah
Our hope springs eternal
O sing hallelujah
Now and ever we confess
Christ our hope in life and death

Verse 2

What truth can calm the troubled soul
God is good God is good
Where is His grace and goodness known
In our great Redeemer's blood
Who holds our faith when fears arise
Who stands above the stormy trial
Who sends the waves that bring us nigh
Unto the shore the rock of Christ

Verse 3

Unto the grave what shall we sing
Christ He lives Christ He lives
And what reward will heaven bring
Everlasting life with Him
There we will rise to meet the Lord
Then sin and death will be destroyed
And we will feast in endless joy
When Christ is ours forevermore

Good morning, today is Tuesday, April 28, 2020. My name is Keith and I am the Worship Pastor at Green Acres Baptist Church in Athens, GA.

I hope your Easter and spring season has been going as well as it can so far. Yesterday I introduced a new song that we will continue to learn this week called Christ Our Hope in Life and Death.

Hope has been one of the major themes we have been exploring since this whole quarantine life started. And really, we have been talking a lot about the idea of having hope since Advent this past year. We began the church calendar that we have been following this year by lighting the candle of hope during Advent and reminding ourselves that we have hope because hope was given to us in the birth of baby Jesus. The hope of the world had come and now we can have hope when we place our trust in Jesus.

We now end the church calendar this Easter season reminding ourselves that Jesus’ life, his death, and now his new life helps gives us a more robust understanding of what it is and who it is that we can hope in. Jesus’ new life is the new life he now offers us, his life that we have been exploring since Advent. As we die to ourselves and find new life in Christ, we end up finding hope.

This is a story that is different than what you hear in the world. It isn’t in money, health care, a nice house, good friends, or even lots of toilet paper that we find hope for this current moment, it is in Jesus.

The Heidelberg Catechism begins with this first question: “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” Its answer is: “That I am not my own, but belong— body and soul, in life and in death— to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.” It goes on to say, “He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”

We will talk more tomorrow about this question and answer, but for today know that this song we are learning comes from this particular question and answer from the Heidelberg Catechism and that it is a reminder that those of us who claim Christ do not belong to ourselves, but instead to Jesus who forgives us.

Christ Our Hope In Life And Death

Verse 1

What is our hope in life and death
Christ alone Christ alone
What is our only confidence
That our souls to Him belong
What holds our days within His hand
What comes apart from His command
And what will keep us to the end
The love of Christ in which we stand

Chorus

O sing hallelujah
Our hope springs eternal
O sing hallelujah
Now and ever we confess
Christ our hope in life and death

Verse 2

What truth can calm the troubled soul
God is good God is good
Where is His grace and goodness known
In our great Redeemer's blood
Who holds our faith when fears arise
Who stands above the stormy trial
Who sends the waves that bring us nigh
Unto the shore the rock of Christ

Good morning, today is Monday, April 27, 2020. My name is Keith and I am the Worship Pastor at Green Acres Baptist Church in Athens, GA.

I’m going to read Psalm 16 this morning. Psalm 16 is a Psalm of trust and a confession of faith and loyalty to God. The first part is a prayer of protection, the second is praise for God’s provision, and it ends with an expression of confidence in God’s provision. The Psalmist expresses purity that the God who guides his people through life will not abandon them in death.

Psalm 16

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”

As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.

The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.

You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Christ Our Hope In Life And Death

Verse 1
What is our hope in life and death
Christ alone Christ alone
What is our only confidence
That our souls to Him belong
What holds our days within His hand
What comes apart from His command
And what will keep us to the end
The love of Christ in which we stand

Chorus
O sing hallelujah
Our hope springs eternal
O sing hallelujah
Now and ever we confess
Christ our hope in life and death