Joseph’s Testing Of His Brothers
At this point in Joseph’s story, he has become the Prime Minister in Egpyt and is in charge of food during a severe famine. Much to his surprise his brothers, who sold him into slavery, come to get food from him in Egypt. After a series of tests, we see the beauty of reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers, ultimately pointing us to our need to be reconciled to Jesus.
Joseph In Potiphars House
In the midst of hardship and being wronged, Joseph’s integrity remains. But it’s not because Joseph is righteous in and of himself, but because God is with him. As Joseph transitions from being a servant and into prison, we continually see God’s gracious presence with him.
Jacob’s Marriage To Leah & Rachel
In Genesis 29 we see Jacob arrive at his uncle Laban’s house and fall in love with Laban’s daughter Rachel. Jacob agrees to work for seven years in order have Rachel’s hand in marriage. Ironically, Jacob is the one who gets cheated in this story and wakes up to Leah in his bed the next morning. Later, he marries Rachel and this family of broken sinners shows us how our quests for love often end in hurt and disappointment, but God’s love can redeem all things.
What Have You Done?
Genesis 4 tells us the story of two brothers——Cain & Abel. We see in this story that sin often approaches without our noticing. Cain’s sin and hatred against his brother grows subtlety, starting with just mere jealousy but coming to fruitition in murderous rage. But we also see the extravegence of God’s grace in the hope of salvation as he spares Cain from judgment and marks Cain to protect him.
Rest From God
After God created the world, he stops to rest and enjoy what he’s created. Although busy-ness seems to be a cultural value, sabbath reminds us that we are more than what we produce. In Christ, we have the invitation to enter this divine rest.
Revelation and Response
What is Paul’s response to the glorious and difficult truths that he had just written to the church in Rome? Worship. So much of the time, we think that we’ve learned all there is to learn and we’re not amazed at who God is and what he’s done. But when we take a look at creation and this amazing universe God has created, we see that God is powerful, holy, and just. If this was all God revealed to us, it would be frightening, but instead, God invites us into his story of redemption. He calls us his own, makes us his children, and causes us to worship him.
Gospel Essentials: Proclamation
Talk of evangelism often makes people uncomfortable. We feel like we’re not very good at it. We feel like we don’t do it enough. We know it’s important—we have conferences and committees, missions teams and training programs—but it’s hard to actually get at calling people to respond to the Gospel. We know that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v. 13), but how will they call on Jesus if we don’t preach Him? God has given us a great opportunity; He could complete the work of evangelism on His own, but He has chosen to reveal Himself through us! Will we share the good news that has changed our lives?
Philadelphia
Jesus’ letter to the church in Philadelphia encouraged a small, weak community in their city to see His love for them. Today, this letter speaks to us, too. It cuts through our mirages to show us what life in Christ’s Kingdom really looks like. It’s a life where our strength is in our weakness. It’s a life that may not be easy, but will see us changed. It’s a life of faithful dependence on Christ. It may not be an easy life that makes the church in Philadelphia or Columbus powerful and prominent, but it’s a life where the reward is Jesus.
Sonship
Sanctification is about enjoying a relationship, not a following program of sin management. God is our Father and we are His sons; He isn’t a work supervisor constantly assessing our performance so that He can fire us. Our sonship isn’t based on our obedience, but the status that the work of Christ’s death and resurrection gained for us—that the Spirit testifies to in us—changes us more and more into the likeness of Christ, bearing His obedience, His suffering, and His glory.
A Gospel-Formed Community
Throughout this section of the text, Peter lays out a description of what the love of the church community should look like, both within the church and in the way the church interacts with the world around her. Further, all of this flows from the fact that we have seen this love displayed to us by Christ. This all sounds great: we love community, we love the church reaching out in love, and we love having all of this being informed by the Gospel. The problem for us, though, is that this love is displayed in suffering. Our good hope in Christ is revealed when people walk all over and we continue to love them, just as Christ suffered for our sins, “the righteous for the unrighteous”, and continues to love us even as we spurn Him.