There is an old formula for public speaking that has been used by preachers & speech-givers for centuries. It’s a formula that was believed to be first used by Aristotle, more recently it was promoted by Dale Carnegie (the guy who wrote “How to win friends and influence people”) and it’s been used by many pastors over the years in preparing their Sunday sermons.
And it’s pretty simple formula. There’s just three simple parts to it. Anyone can use this formula… If you ever have to write a speech or anything like that, just remember these three steps. It goes like this: And I’ll quote it directly from an ol’ southern preacher. I think he says it best. He says:
“First I tell ’em what I’m about to tell ’em,
Second I tell ’em with all my might what I said I’d tell ’em,
And third, lest they forget, I tell ‘em what I told ’em.”
It’s a pretty simply but effective formula for communication. Repeat, repeat, repeat. And it seems that maybe Peter was following that formula when he wrote the book of 1 Peter.
We’re about half-way through 1 Peter chapter two today and as I was preparing for this message, it all seemed very familiar. Much of what Peter has to say in this part of chapter two, he’s already said in some very similar ways back in chapter 1.
So it would seem that this is obviously a very important point that Peter is trying to get across to his readers since he’s repeating it several times.
You’ll recall that the over-arching theme of 1 Peter is how to live as followers of King Jesus in world that does not recognize or acknowledge his kingdom. As Christians, we are citizens of one kingdom while living in another. In that sense, all Christians are very much refugees – we are living in a world that is no longer our home – and we’re living in a world that thinks our practices and our beliefs and our values are very strange to say the least.
And quite often, throughout history we’ve seen Christians being persecuted for these differences. Because we do not belong – because we pledge allegiance to another king – many Christians have been mistreated, marginalized, looked-down upon, and sometimes even physically attacked or put to death. We see the worst of this happening in parts of our world today. Even here in Canada – while we may not yet face physical persecution at this point, there is an increasing hostility towards our Christian beliefs and values.
But this is exactly the situation that Peter is addressing this letter. How should Christians live in a world that is hostile towards their Christianity?
And Peter has already begun to answer that question in chapter 1, but he’s going to fill it out with a little more detail in the verses ahead.
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