The characters of a classic Polish comedy kept their state-of-the-art appliances locked away in a showroom upstairs, while downstairs they washed clothes in a basin by candlelight, is our Christianity not sometimes just like that? This sermon from the first letter of Peter (1 Peter 2) reminds us who we are: a chosen people and a royal priesthood, but that identity cannot end with a Sunday high. Peter shows that the greatest sermon is often not what we say, but how we work when no one is watching and how we treat people who treat us unjustly. Listen and let Jesus step out of the display case into the whole of your everyday life.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In 1 Peter 2:9-10, Peter calls believers a chosen race, a royal priesthood and a people for God's own possession. What do these titles say about the identity and calling of people who once were "not a people"?
- According to 1 Peter 2:18-25, how did Jesus respond to unjust suffering, and how was His way different from pagan slaves who stole from their masters?
- The sermon compares some Christians to the family in a comedy who kept their best appliances locked away in a showroom. In which areas of your life does the gospel most often stay "in the display case"?
- The preacher stressed that our worth comes not from performance, income or other people's opinions, but from whom we belong to. How does knowing you are God's child change the way you react to being judged at work or in relationships?
- Peter does not tell us to passively endure harm, but to guard our hearts so that someone else's evil does not change us. In a difficult relationship, how do you tell the difference between setting boundaries and repaying evil for evil?
- People may never read the Bible, but they read you. In what specific situation this week do you want to show Jesus through honesty, patience or the way you speak about people who are not present?
