When preaching, I often feel I should bow to the congregation, like the teacher who daily bowed to his class of boys. 'I never know,' he said, 'if one day a boy might be important.' There was a boy in his class named Martin. His second name? Luther.
Do you realise that every congregation of Christian believers is a group of important and significant persons?
Let me explain. Peter was writing in the mid-first century AD to Christians living in Northern Turkey. They were probably a mix of ex-Jewish and Gentile-background believers. Some families had probably been evicted from Jerusalem generations before. Others had settled in the region and were living as ex-patriots. Some might have arrived recently, following early Christian persecution. Peter writes to alert them that greater persecution lies ahead. God's word through him is to equip them to witness in troubled times. Peter's encouragement begins in the first verses. He says, in effect: 'You are significant people.'
