To Sum Up, All of Y'all

In one paragraph

Pastor Carl worked through 1 Peter 2:13 through 3:12, with particular attention to the passage's opening and closing brackets, focusing on what it looks like for believers to live together and in the world in a way that reflects Christ's own example. Peter is writing to Christians scattered across the known world who are facing real suffering, and Pastor Carl started at the end of the passage...

Read together

1. Psalm 150 opened with 'let everything that has breath praise the Lord'
2. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, forever
3. Psalm 34 magnify the Lord with me, used as basis for offertory song
4. 1 Peter 2:13-3:12 the main passage for the sermon on submission, harmony and blessing
5. 1 Peter 3:8-12 closing bracket passage read first, summing up the series themes
6. 2 Corinthians 7 godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow, covered on New Year's Eve
7. Romans 13 God has government as an instrument in his hand
8. Ephesians 4:32 be kind to one another, cited as a different word for kind
9. Matthew 5 eye for an eye, turn the other cheek, love your enemies
10. Psalm 34:12-16 who desires life and loves length of days, keep tongue from evil, seek peace
11. 2 Chronicles eyes of the Lord seeking to and fro to show himself strong, cited with uncertainty about exact location
12. Exodus 2-3 Israel cried out in bondage, God heard and remembered his covenant and came down to deliver them
13. Isaiah 53 by his wounds you were healed, referenced in connection with Christ bearing sins on the cross
14. James 1 quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger

Talk about it

1. Pastor Carl opened with Psalm 150 and the idea that having breath is itself a reason to praise God. What does it look like in your daily life to treat ordinary breathing, ordinary existence, as something worth responding to with praise?
2. The sermon described humility as 'an inside out virtue produced by comparing ourselves to the Lord rather than to other people.' How does that standard change the way you think about the people you find it hardest to get along with?
3. Peter wrote his letter while Nero was emperor, and still told believers to honor the king. Where do you find that command hardest to apply in your own life, and what do you think Peter would say to that struggle?
4. The sermon said that Jesus not reviling in return, not returning evil for evil, is what caused the penitent thief on the cross to take notice. Can you think of a time when someone's patient, non-retaliatory response changed the way you saw a situation or a person?
5. Peter closes with 'to sum up, all of y'all, be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted and humble in spirit.' Which one of those five words is the most difficult for you personally right now, and why?