Wirkworth | 26/4/26 | By Royal Appointment | Jo Hassan

Wirksworth

Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/354059/episodes/19085872-wirkworth-26-4-26-by-royal-appointment-jo-hassan.mp3

Jo continued our series looking at the fundementals of church life, reminding us that our commission comes from God himself.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Pray to Joe that you would fill her with your Holy Spirit to strengthen her voice this morning we pray in Jesus' name that she would be able to bring what she's prepared. Ask your blessing on the name in the name of Jesus. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Right, so it's just set up a little bit along because I look at those PowerPoint so I go back and I'm thinking, that's not quite how I expected it to be. Isn't the Holy Spirit absolutely amazing? If I move this, I'm worried it's gonna topple over. Can you hear me okay? Right. Yeah. Brilliant, thank you. Can everyone hear me okay? Great. So by royal appointment was the title that Neil was originally given, and um so yeah, I'm gonna I'm going to be sharing with you on it today. But what was interesting is that as I've prepared for this over this past week, what's come up is a little bit different to that front slide, and it is a remembering and a returning, and that's actually what we've been singing about today, isn't it? We've been thinking about how amazing God is, but also the fact that we just need to return to Him because He is our living water, He is the only one who can refresh us, and that wonderful picture of that woman who, yeah, I mean, life she was chasing after all sorts of things, and her life was empty, and she was still thirsty. And Jesus said that he would give her living water so she would no longer thirst again. So, by royal appointment, I am gonna go off a little bit, but I hope it will be helpful for you. But by royal appointment is an interesting title. I wonder what comes to mind when you hear that phrase. Perhaps it's something quite formal, something official, something that has been given rather than earned. Okay, slide. Now, I really struggled here. I mean, I'm I tend to have lots of visual aids, and I haven't got any this time because I feel a bit lost because I've got no visual aids. I was intending to have a whole series of items on the front, food items, with bivroyal appointment written on them. Now I had to take this um picture from the internet, which is a bottle of ketchup, mine's ketchup. Um the birroyal appointment is missing now since the Queen passed away, and so all of them have been removed. They have sort of like a bit of a grace period, I suppose, and then eventually more will come in as King Charles makes those appointments. But there's something about a royal seal, it doesn't ask permission, it simply declares what is already true. So with the king putting his royal seal, it's almost like it's personally given and intentionally renewed. So actually, I think that's quite interesting that we don't have it right now. So I always used to think that if it had the symbol on it, that it meant that it had the best ingredients and that it tasted the best. Does anyone say? Um, and I like to think that would be true of the organizations that have it as well. And perhaps that's an useful introduction of our time together this morning. By royal appointment, God seal on our lives and on the fellowship we are building here and works with. Something we're invited to remember, but perhaps return to. I think that's what our theme of this morning has already been: remembering and returning to that place. So let's turn now to the passage that we're going to look at this morning. Again, these we are laying foundations of what our fellowship stands for, and we're going to look at 1 Peter 2, verses 9 and 10. So if you want to look up in your Bibles, if you're you're there, you're there. So I've looking around, some people looking up on their phones. Okay. Steve Young a few weeks ago talked about God building a spiritual house using imperfect living stones. And the passage we're looking at today is actually the passage after that one. So Peter writes, 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, and now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, and now you have received mercy. Right at the very beginning of his letter in one Peter, Jesus addressed, and Peter addresses who he's writing to. God's chosen exiles, held by God, yet not always feeling at home where they were. They were scattered all across the known kingdom, and that's who Peter was writing to. Held by God, yet not always feeling at home where you are. And into that reality again, he says in this chapter, you are chosen, you are royal. Next slide. Shaping purpose and over time transformation rooted in God's mercy. It begins with God's initiative before it ever becomes something we actually live out. And by mercy I mean that we are met with kindness when we might expect something very, very different. Have you noticed that so often we live the other way around? We try to change, we try to become, we try to prove, hoping that that will lead to belonging. Hoping that somehow would be acceptable. But this passage turns that idea completely on its head. So what I want us to do is to take each of these statements of identity in turn. But I'm not going to talk about the obvious. I want you to really tune in to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you and say, well, actually, what does that mean for me? What does that mean for me tomorrow? What does that mean to me today? How is that impacting my identity? So the first one is a chosen people. You are chosen, not because of your performance, not because of merit, but because of love. God's love for you, for me, for us, as a fellowship here in this room. Perhaps for some of us, and certainly for me, I forget this all the time. All the time. I think of it one minute, wake up in the morning and I know, and then by the end of the day, it's completely forgotten. But this is something for us to remember again. I am chosen, you are chosen, we as a fellowship have been chosen. Next slide. Oh no, that are we okay? No, it's okay, we're on here. Jesus says, you in John 15, it says, You did not choose me, but I chose you. I've appointed you to go and to make fruit, which is what this verse says. I have chosen you. That's what Jesus says, and again and again we see this pattern right through scripture. And I haven't um sort of put down all that passage in Deuteronomy, but basically that passage is wonderful to read because it says that God is choosing that people because of love, and it's sustained by faithfulness. Covenant love, a binding promise, which means that we are held much more than we even realize. Let's look at the next identity: the royal priesthood. A royal priesthood. That's a really strange combination when you think about it. That's not casual language, as both those words hold huge meaning. Royal speaks of honour of being brought into God's household, into the king's household. That's what royal means. Not on the edges, but belonging there, in the king's household. And priesthood speaks of access, being able to draw near to God, something that historically was incredibly restricted. Back then it was just literally one tribe of Israel who could be priests. So this, where Peter is using this here, it's highly significant. We are both royal and a member of the priesthood, which were not ordinary roles. They are both of those, they are talking about being set apart, being entrusted, and it's highly significant. And Peter takes these two ideas and he applies them to ordinary people. To us, to you, to me. Not because we've earned it, but because it was given, it was appointed. People who belong to both roles draw near, who carry something of God into the everyday, not through striving, but by closeness. Closeness to the God who loves us so, so much and has for us everything that we need. Next one. I put these together because it kind of flows that way, really, rather than taking them as individual. And it's the idea of a holy nation, God's special possession. And again, these aren't hope, these aren't sort of loose sort of words, these are carefully chosen words. First of all, we've got holy. It's not a word that we use very often, it can feel a little bit distant, often intimidating, or even hard to grasp. But in scripture, it's used again and again to describe God Himself. Actually, the reference to God as love is actually quite small. But the references to God as holy, it's mentioned hundreds and hundreds of times. Didn't realise that. That was new to me. Okay, so it represents God's character, his divine nature, his purity, his perfection, his sacredness, his divine goodness. There's weight to it. There's something that sets apart entirely belonging to him. So when Peter uses this word here, he's not saying that we come by effort. He's not saying we're brought into something that already belongs to God. Holy, in its simplest sense, means we are belonging to him. We take on that nature because of him. We're not set apart in a way that isolates us, we're set apart because we are his. And it's what the Lord Jesus did for us on the cross and when he died that enables us to take on that label, that holiness. Okay, next one, nation. That's not individual language, that's a language of people, a community, of belonging together, and remember who Peter is writing to. People who are scattered, people who feel out of place, people who don't feel at home where they are. And into that he says, you're not just individuals trying to make sense of things on your own. You are a people, you belong together. Special possession. Some translations say a people belonging to God. I love that. And again, this isn't casual language. This is the language of being chosen, claimed, deeply valued. Not because of what we bring, not because of what we've achieved, but because of how God sees us. Not because we belong somewhere, but that we belong to Him. Even when life feels unfamiliar or not what we just expect, we are not outside of where we belong. We are still part of what God is forming within us as individuals and within us as a fellowship too. And we are held within this because we are His. A holy nation, God's special possession, treasured, held, known. Okay, so next slide. What do you actually do with this incredible identity? We've been looking at all those different identities. What do we do with that? What is the point? What's the purpose? And Peter continues that you may declare the praises of him who's called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light. It's because of our identity we now have a purpose. To declare, not just in words, but in the way that we live, what is seen, what is noticed, and not hidden away in the everyday. This isn't something we do to prove who we are. It's something that shines out of who we are already, what is already within. Slide 10, please. Now, we've got an Esther in the room here. So this is someone you've been named after, maybe Esther. Okay, so we see this pattern across scripture. People who found themselves in places that they didn't choose, and yet they were not outside of God's purpose. In the Old Testament, we've got three literal royal appointments. Esther, well, she won a beauty contest and was taken into the royal palace and used at just the right moment to bring protection and deliverance for her people for such a time as this. And then we have Joseph, don't we? Joseph, who found himself in Egypt through betrayal and loss, and later was placed in a position where he could influence a place of power and a time of famine. And actually was able to then help the very people who had betrayed him and had wanted to cause him so much harm. And then Daniel, another royal appointee, who was living in a culture that was not his own, yet he remained faithful while carrying wisdom and influence into his places of power. All in places they didn't choose, all in different ways, and yet not outside of God's purpose. Each perfectly placed to be used by God in incredible ways. And sometimes we too can find ourselves in places that don't feel like where we think we ought to be. Where it feels confusing, unsettling, that something has gone wrong. And yet being in an unfamiliar place doesn't mean we're outside of God's care or his placing. This really, really challenged me this week. The fact that once and then now, once we were in darkness, now we're in light, once we're not a people, and now we're a people of God. Once we were out without mercy, and now we're receiving mercy. And we actually, when we sang today about you know putting aside religion and tradition, these are often things we kind of banter around, aren't they? But I want us to really take them on board. We were once in a well, for me, I was in a complete and utter mess. Yet God had incredible compassion and love for me and actually pulls me out of that really, really dark place. And I thought I'm sure all of us here have got the same story to tell, or maybe something that has happened to us just this week, because it's an ongoing thing, isn't it? It's not just something that happens, um happens once. Once we couldn't see clearly and now we can see, when once we just did not feel like we were known and now we are fully known. Once we feel felt at a distance and now we feel like we belong. Perhaps we're carrying things, trying to hold things together, but now we're met with kindness, not with condemnation. Slide 12. Keep coming back to the need to remember and to return. I want us to pause now as we kind of just sum up what I've been sharing with you this morning and where we've been thinking about where is my identity, where is my purpose. Being totally transparent here. This isn't something that I've been thinking about in isolation over this past week. Or in preparation for this talk. I have been living this the past 18 months. I found myself in places and in situations that I never ever expected to be. There were many moments when I felt that it was just wrong. There were moments of questioning, wondering if I'd taken a wrong turn somewhere. And yet slowly I found myself coming back to this. That feeling out of place didn't mean I was outside of God's care or his purposes. And now when I look back, I do begin to see that even in those times I wasn't outside of where God had placed me. But rather I was there for such a time as this. In fact, Ruth used to keep telling me a Touch your time with this, Joe, just keep going. Um, yeah, she was constantly reminding me of that when I was doubting. Slide, next slide, please. And perhaps this is the invitation, not to try harder, but not try and figure everything out as we kind of try to, we try and think things through, but to come back to what's already been given, who we actually are, to remember and to receive again. The emblem here on our ketchup bottle is a seal, a guarantee, a hallmark. It's small and can easily be overlooked. It carries an authority, an identity, and a powerful indicator of belonging. And in scripture, we're told that the Holy Spirit is just that: a seal, a mark of belonging, even when we forget it's still there. It's a guarantee. Those lovely verses in Ephesians and 2 Corinthians. We are the Holy Spirit is someone who has been given to us. It's a quiet yet powerful reminder of who we are and whose we are. It's not based on our thinking, it's not based on our on our feelings at that moment in time, it's who we are. We are chosen. We are, by royal appointment, have this stamp on our lives. So by royal appointment, this is remembering and not and returning, not becoming something new, but coming back to what has always been true. Sweet. Some questions to think about. You might want to take a photo of them on your phone, but want us just some real questions to really ponder over this coming week. Where am I striving to become instead of receiving who I already am? Just as we have talked about, we can kind of take on board the fact that we've been chosen, that we are holy, that we are a royal priesthood, and then come this evening or come tomorrow morning if completely forgotten. So, where am I striving to become in my own strength and not accepting who I really am instead of receiving who I really am? Which is that question: where am I striving to become instead of receiving who I really am? The next one, where am I taking my cues from elsewhere and forgetting where I belong? Goes back to the woman at the well, doesn't it? Where she was looking for relationships to try and give herself meaning and belonging, that hunger in her life. She was looking at all sorts of different places other than where she would get that living water, where she would always be satisfied. Where might I already be placed? More intentionally than I realise. Not thinking about, oh yes, well, at some point I'm going to do duh. But think about where you are now. The family that you've been born into, the friendships, the relationships you have, the jobs that you currently hold, the places where you live, your neighbours. God has intentionally placed you in those places by royal appointments. It's intentional. Final slide. We are chosen. We belong. We have received mercy and we are filled by the Holy Spirit. A lot there. Let's just pray. Let's just pause. Think about our identity and the fact that we're chosen and that we belong. That we have received mercy and that we have received the incredible gift of the Holy Spirit. It's nothing that we do, it's everything that God has done. Father, we come before you not needing to prove, not needing to become, but simply as we are. Thank you that you are the one who chooses. Not because we've earned it, but because you love us. Thank you that in you we belong, that we are held, known, and called your own. We step into this week. As we step into this week, would you gently show us where we've been striving and invite us to receive instead? Would you remind us in quiet ways of who we belong to, especially in those moments when we begin to forget. And in the places we already are, in our homes, our conversations, our work, our relationships. Help us to notice where perhaps we're not there by accident, but by your gentle appointment. But to strive not to perform, but simply carry something of you and who we are and how we live. Thank you that we are chosen, that we belong, that we've received mercy, and for filling us with your incredible Holy Spirit as a guarantee of all we now are in you. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.

unknown 28:30

Thank you, Jack. Very good.