1 Peter 1
Today, we start a new series. We are going to study chapter by chapter the books of I and II Peter over the next 8 weeks, a chapter per week. So, you may like to use some of your daily quiet times to read ahead or read the two books all the way through.
I struggled with where to begin today’s message. Since this is a new series, I feel like I ought to tell you a bunch of details about the author, the timing, the recipients, the geography, the themes, and … and … and. While those details are not bad things, I’m afraid that it might possibly distract us from the message and what it might say to us today, right now, and how we can apply these truths in our lives.
So, I apologize if you came in this morning looking for a history lesson. I think you’ll pick up a little history as we go along, but I’m going to skip the lecture and jump straight in to the Word of God.
One more thing I will tell you in advance. I think the first two verses of I Peter must be two of the most spiritually dense verses in the entire Bible. We could easily have a full message discussing just those two verses. So, it’s going to feel like we’re going in slow motion for a little bit, but trust me. It will be worth it because Peter is going to zoom in on who we are in Christ. So, we need to stick with him and reinforce or lay afresh some of the foundational truths about ourselves as Christians.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, I Peter 1:1
The first thing that strikes me is Peter’s introduction. This is the apostle Peter. This is the guy who was not only one of the twelve, but he was one of Jesus’ closest companions along with James and John. Jesus changed his name from Simon to Peter. Peter saw the Lord transfigured. He together with John was the first to look into the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection. After being filled with the Holy Spirit, he delivered the message at Pentecost following which 3000 people were saved. People were placed into the street so that Peter’s shadow might fall on them, and they would be healed. Peter raised Dorcas from the dead. He walked on water. We still use that phrase today to describe someone who things more of themselves than they probably should, right? Have you heard people say, “He thinks he can walk on water?”
But what does Peter say as way of introduction here. Not Peter the miracle worker. Not Peter the apostle. Not even Peter the preeminent. No just Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ. Do you catch a sense that there is a strong degree of humility here. Peter has the credentials for boasting, but that is not what he focuses on. In fact, he is not the focus at all. Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit are the focus. But, we’ll come to that in a minute.
Then, the next phrase tells us who he is writing to. To God’s elect. To God’s chosen ones. Who are the elect? Paul answers this question in verse 2. God’s elect …
who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. I Peter 1:2
Notice the three positional tenses that occur. The elect who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge (past), who have been chosen through the sanctifying work (present), and who have been chosen for obedience (future). The elect have been chosen (Ephesians 1:4 says chose before the creation of the world) and the evidence of that election is being demonstrated in the present by the evidence of sanctification and will be carried out into the future through obedience.
We are engulfed or surrounded by this election. This comes back to what we could describe as the assurance of salvation. How can we be sure? We can be sure because God said so. In John 6, Jesus said,
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:37-40
We can also be sure because we see and know God is working in our lives. If you are a Christian, you are not the same as you were. We are a new creation in Christ, the old has gone, the new has come.
We can be sure because we more and more live lives of holiness. Our choices are made in obedience to Christ and not in obedience to our selfish desires or to the world or to Satan.
Christian, we are that elect. Peter is talking to us because we are a part of that elect.
Did you think I was done with verses 1-2? We’re getting close, but I’m not quite ready to move on. I skipped over a little section in the middle.
To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
Not only are we God’s elect. At the same time, we are strangers in the world. Another translation of this word is pilgrim or sojourner. We are in the world, but just passing through. It is not our home.
Have you ever felt out of place? Not at home? Been a stranger?
I’ve had the opportunity to travel some mostly because of my work. There have been many times where I felt like a stranger in a foreign country that I was visiting. But, the most out of place I’ve ever felt was actually in Los Angeles. I had to go there on a business trip, and while I was getting my rental car, the guy at the counter looked at my driver’s license and says, “Hey, you’re Farmer John.” And I respond, “Excuse me.” At this point, he notes from my license that I’m from South Carolina and guesses that I’ve never heard of Farmer John sausage. Well, it turns out that Farmer John is the Jimmy Dean of California. If you buy a hot dog at a Dodgers game or the Staples Center, it is a Farmer John hot dog.
It also turns out that the Farmer John packaging plant is adjacent to Los Angeles in a city called Vernon. Vernon’s city motto is “Exclusively Industrial.” The city has a population of 91, and nearly all of these are employees of the city. The 10 acre Farmer John plant has about 1200 employees and was completely painted with murals starting back in 1957. So, I think, “Man, I’ve got to see this.” Here are a couple of pictures of the murals. So, when I visited, it was so big, I drove around the whole thing. Then I stopped and got out and walked around taking pictures mostly with my jaw on the ground. The guy who started the murals worked on it for 11 years, and then after he died another man continued for years. It is really something to see, not so much something to smell.
I walked around a corner, and I’m right next to the main entrance to the plant. I was wondering to myself if I should show my ID and see if they would let John Farmer in to see Farmer John. Right at that moment was shift change, and I go from being the only person on the street to standing in the middle of a crowd of several hundred people, and except for me everyone is going in the same direction, away from the plant. There was this dynamic that they all had a similar purpose. They were all moving the same way. They knew each other. They didn’t know me. They were dressed for work in a meat packing plant. I was dressed business casual. At first, I was moving sort of against them, or at least not along with them. As it became more of a wall of people, I just kind of got swept along with the crowd and then started making my way back to my car. And for that 5 or 10 minutes, I felt like a complete outsider. I was an alien. And I guess because of the suddenness and unexpectedness of it, it really stuck with me.
I relate that to this passage now because we are God’s elect. We are no longer moving in the same direction as the world. We are moving toward Christ. We are being sanctified by the Spirit. We are being made new, the old things are passing away. Just like it says there in the passage, we are God’s elect strangers. If you feel out of sync from your unbelieving friends or family, that is not a surprise. We are now strangers in this world.
When Peter originally sent this letter, it was directed to the elect in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. These regions include the middle to northern portion of Asia Minor or modern day Turkey. It is interesting to note that Paul said in Acts 16:6-7, the Spirit prevented them from preaching the gospel in Asia and the Spirit also prevented them from entering Bithynia. That would have occurred around 51-52 AD. I Peter was written around 10-12 years later about 63 AD. If Peter is writing to the elect in those regions, someone must have gone there with the gospel. We don’t know if it was Peter or if it was the first believers at Pentecost recorded in Acts 2. Acts 2 specifically mentions people from three of these regions: Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia. My reason for sharing that is to encourage you not to be concerned about Paul being prevented from preaching the gospel in those regions. Instead, God already had a plan and may have already reached many in those regions. He prevented Paul from going there in order to direct him to the areas where the gospel had not yet been preached.
Let’s go on with the end of verse 2,
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
We made it through the salutation. There are 23 more verses to go.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. I Peter 1:3-5
Okay, we can also say that any idea that Peter was an ignorant uneducated fisherman can be put aside. Well, he was uneducated and he was a fisherman, but he is definitely not ignorant. Where did this wisdom and understanding come from? Acts 4 makes it clear. Following interrogation by the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees …
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13
As a practical application point, if you are struggling with understanding or feel as if you don’t know how to handle certain situations in life. I would encourage you strongly to dive into the Word of God. Spend time in prayer. Spend time with Jesus. It will transform your life.
Today’s message title is there: a living hope. What is our hope? Our hope is eternal life an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Our hope in eternal life is living because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because he has gone before us, we can see the proof of what is to come.
Who is the inheritance kept for? Us. Those who have faith. There is an image for you in times of trial or suffering. By your faith, you are shielded by God’s power. God is protecting you all the way until you are in heaven with Him.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. I Peter 1:6-7
This is reminiscent of James 1:23. Our faith is being refined by the trials and sufferings that we encounter. Just as the inheritance cannot perish, spoil or fade our faith is of eternal value. How many of you read last week’s “homework?” It was a great example of the impact that daily Bible study and prayer can have on our earthly lives. But I think there is more impact even beyond this life. Jesus will wipe every tear from our eyes in heaven. That is true. But we will also bring praise, glory, and honor to Him. Perseverance under suffering is a key way in which we testify our trust and our love for God.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. I Peter 1:8-9
Do you see what the result of our faith and love for God brings when we persevere in the face of trials and suffering? Inexpressible and glorious joy.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. I Peter 1:10-12
Isn’t this an amazing thought? The writers in the Old Testament, those who prophesied about Christ, they didn’t fully understand what the Holy Spirit had prompted them to write about. Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea, Jonah, Micah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi and probably others recorded prophecies about Christ, and yet they did not know when or how they would come about. Wouldn’t your heart burn with desire to know the details of the prophecy? Sometimes when we pray, God will tell us to wait, or we don’t get the answer we expect. I don’t know about you, but I get a little impatient at those times. C’mon God. I’m waiting. This seems like a whole different level. These prophets have recorded prophecy, they know that it is prophecy about the Messiah, but they don’t get “the rest of the story.” Instead, God reveals to them that they are serving us, the ones who will come later. In our case, we are ones who have come much later. Angels themselves are longing, fixing their desire on looking into God’s plan. The phrase “look into” literally means to stop and bend over or stoop down to look. Isn’t that a neat picture that the angels want to stop what they are doing and look down to see what is going to happen?
Don’t be concerned for these prophets of God. Their faith was credited to them as righteousness. We will see them in heaven. It is just that following writing down prophecy by the Spirit, they really wanted to know how it was all going to turn out.
Peter is using this truth to set the stage for us here. In the first 9 verses, we have been grounded in the importance of our faith and the hope, assurance, and security that we have in Jesus Christ. Now, he tells us that those who came before us were filled with desire to know what has been plainly shown to us. The things that are known to us are precious truths. In response to our position in Christ and knowledge that we have, what should we do?
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. I Peter 1:13
Prepare is translated “gird up the loins of” in the King James. In those days, men used to wear long robes, so if you were going to do some heavy work or you were going to run. You had to take the robe and pull it up and tuck it into your belt. That way, you wouldn’t get tangled up in your robe. Today, we might say something like, “strap it on” or “lace up.” In other words, seriously prepare yourself. Don’t just take a minute and say, okay I’m ready.
Once we’ve prepared our minds for action, then what? Be self-controlled or sober. And, set your hope. Two different Psalms come to mind here:
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:11
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek. Psalm 27:8
We shouldn’t be panicky; we should be focused on Jesus.
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." I Peter 1:14-16
Melissa bought me a book at Christmas, and I have been reading it slowly. It’s called When People Are Big and God Is Small. Yesterday, morning I picked it up and read a passage which fits right to this point of obedience. The author Ed Welch was answering the question, “What Opposes the Fear of the Lord?”
The resistance is actually found in our heart (flesh), and it is influenced by the world and the Devil. Our hearts have dozens of strategies to avoid the fear of the Lord. One strategy is that we downgrade obedience – the concrete expression of the fear of the Lord – into concern about appearances. We concentrate on actions and overlook attitudes. By doing this, our sinful nature can give us the sense that we are okay. We have not killed today. We have not been adulterous. We have not stolen anything from the store. Therefore, we had a good day. Better yet, we are good. Of course, we might occasionally do bad things. We might yell too loudly, or we might pick up some pornography at the airport. In these cases, we should ask God’s forgiveness. But, on the whole, we tend to be fairly good. And if we think we are usually good, then God is usually irrelevant.
Such thinking is not advertised as good theology, but isn’t it the practical theology of most Christians? I know that it can be my own. I am a good guy – a nice guy – who occasionally does bad things. Such thinking ignores the depth of sin in my own heart, and in essence, it elevates me so that I am just a mildly flawed imitation of God rather than someone completely dependent on him. Fear of the Lord is then impossible.
[He goes on to describe examples of how “sin rides on the back of good things,” twisting the good by excess or neglect. Also, how the world takes our selfish tendencies and rationalizes them. We’re only human right? In addition, he talks about how Satan creeps in with lies and deception, “suggesting that God is holding out on us, keeping us from good things.” He conclude with…]
With such adversaries, growing in fear of the Lord will not be a smooth process. Instead, it will be the path of warfare. We must hate the evil and ungodly assumptions of the world, we must hate our own sinful nature, and we must hate Satan. To accomplish these tasks demands the most powerful resources we have: the Word, the Spirit, and the body of Christ.
We can’t be holy by our own strength. We must reject the lies of this world and constantly nourish ourselves with the truth of God. Anything less and we can (and will) get derailed. It’s not enough to do the right things for the wrong reasons, like making someone else think you are holy. True holiness is doing the right things for the right reasons. We might fool someone else, but God is not mocked.
Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. I Peter 1:17
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. I Peter 1:18-21
As added motivation, Peter appeals to how we were redeemed. It cost Jesus a horrible death on the cross and separation from the Father and carrying the wrath and penalty for the sin of all mankind. Even though his charge to us to “Be holy” seems hard or nearly impossible, we should not callously or carelessly walk away in light of what Jesus has done for us.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. I Peter 1:22
Here in this verse, we see a practical measuring stick to see if we are pursuing holiness in the right way. Sometimes, we can get off track by pursuing self-righteousness under the guise of holiness. Maybe we read the Bible or even memorize Scripture, but we focus only on the head knowledge and we harden our hearts. Or maybe we pray for a certain time or we fast regularly, but we continue in sin. In our minds, we tell ourselves that we are doing good, but instead we are puffed up and prideful. Holiness and obedience result in sincere love. If you want to know if you’re on the right track, ask yourself this question: Am I growing in love toward other believers? If not, then go back and look at your obedience to the Word and sin in your life. Are there any obstacles that you can see? If you don’t see any, ask the Lord to open your eyes. If your heart is hard toward others, are you holding a grudge that needs forgiven? Ask God to help you forgive as He has forgiven you. Since Peter has given us an imperative to love one another, then it is a choice. We must choose to do it. The next step is to look for an opportunity to express love to someone by giving them a phone call or paying them a visit or serving them in some way. Just apply the golden rule, and you’ll be just fine. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. I Peter 1:23
Again, Peter sets us some perspective. When we are asked to love others, it can sometimes be uncomfortable. We start to demand our own rights. God, it’s not fair. God, I’m not good at loving others. God, I don’t have time to waste trying to get ahold of people and connect with them.
But Peter reminds us, we have been born again. We are not perishing. Our new life is not descended from perishable seed. Our new life is imperishable through the Word. I’m telling you that loving others is also such a boost to ourselves spiritually. Just going out on the outreach times can be a great encouragement. You go to bless others, but you come back filled with joy yourself. Not only that, when you look at unsaved people, just realize …
For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." I Peter 1:24-25
We can look at others and become impressed by their status or their relationship to us. And on the contrary, we can look at others and say that we are far superior ourselves. I went through a time where I would be very impatient when waiting, especially when I took time away from work, whether it was at the post office or bank during my lunch break or a doctor’s appointment during the day. If I got behind a person who was obviously retired, I would think man there should be a line to get people who are working in and out faster than retired people. That way, I could get back to supporting the economy and somehow indirectly support the retired person’s social security or some such nonsense. Talk about a holier than thou attitude. Give me a break. I’m surprised I didn’t find myself in lines increasingly longer. At some point, the Spirit opened my eyes and I realized what I was thinking. I was thinking like one descended from perishable seed, not one who has eternal life and can stand to wait the extra five minutes.
If you look at people and then realize that everyone is like grass, it begins to put things into perspective. We shouldn’t judge others, we should have compassion on them. For apart from the grace of God, we would be living and dying as grass and the flowers of the field. We need to love others.
We can only effectively love others if we ask God fill us with the Holy Spirit, and if by obedience we allow the word of the Lord to bear fruit in our lives.
And this is the word that was preached to you. I Peter 1:25
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, thank you for the Word. Thank you that we all have Bibles. Thank you that your truth is available to us at all times. Thank you that you are the living hope. We can put our trust completely in you and never be disappointed. I pray that this chapter would strengthen our understanding of who you are and what you have done for us. I pray that by the sanctifying of the Holy Spirit, we would be holy as you are holy. All this we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Today, we start a new series. We are going to study chapter by chapter the books of I and II Peter over the next 8 weeks, a chapter per week. So, you may like to use some of your daily quiet times to read ahead or read the two books all the way through.
I struggled with where to begin today’s message. Since this is a new series, I feel like I ought to tell you a bunch of details about the author, the timing, the recipients, the geography, the themes, and … and … and. While those details are not bad things, I’m afraid that it might possibly distract us from the message and what it might say to us today, right now, and how we can apply these truths in our lives.
So, I apologize if you came in this morning looking for a history lesson. I think you’ll pick up a little history as we go along, but I’m going to skip the lecture and jump straight in to the Word of God.
One more thing I will tell you in advance. I think the first two verses of I Peter must be two of the most spiritually dense verses in the entire Bible. We could easily have a full message discussing just those two verses. So, it’s going to feel like we’re going in slow motion for a little bit, but trust me. It will be worth it because Peter is going to zoom in on who we are in Christ. So, we need to stick with him and reinforce or lay afresh some of the foundational truths about ourselves as Christians.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, I Peter 1:1
The first thing that strikes me is Peter’s introduction. This is the apostle Peter. This is the guy who was not only one of the twelve, but he was one of Jesus’ closest companions along with James and John. Jesus changed his name from Simon to Peter. Peter saw the Lord transfigured. He together with John was the first to look into the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection. After being filled with the Holy Spirit, he delivered the message at Pentecost following which 3000 people were saved. People were placed into the street so that Peter’s shadow might fall on them, and they would be healed. Peter raised Dorcas from the dead. He walked on water. We still use that phrase today to describe someone who things more of themselves than they probably should, right? Have you heard people say, “He thinks he can walk on water?”
But what does Peter say as way of introduction here. Not Peter the miracle worker. Not Peter the apostle. Not even Peter the preeminent. No just Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ. Do you catch a sense that there is a strong degree of humility here. Peter has the credentials for boasting, but that is not what he focuses on. In fact, he is not the focus at all. Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit are the focus. But, we’ll come to that in a minute.
Then, the next phrase tells us who he is writing to. To God’s elect. To God’s chosen ones. Who are the elect? Paul answers this question in verse 2. God’s elect …
who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. I Peter 1:2
Notice the three positional tenses that occur. The elect who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge (past), who have been chosen through the sanctifying work (present), and who have been chosen for obedience (future). The elect have been chosen (Ephesians 1:4 says chose before the creation of the world) and the evidence of that election is being demonstrated in the present by the evidence of sanctification and will be carried out into the future through obedience.
We are engulfed or surrounded by this election. This comes back to what we could describe as the assurance of salvation. How can we be sure? We can be sure because God said so. In John 6, Jesus said,
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:37-40
We can also be sure because we see and know God is working in our lives. If you are a Christian, you are not the same as you were. We are a new creation in Christ, the old has gone, the new has come.
We can be sure because we more and more live lives of holiness. Our choices are made in obedience to Christ and not in obedience to our selfish desires or to the world or to Satan.
Christian, we are that elect. Peter is talking to us because we are a part of that elect.
Did you think I was done with verses 1-2? We’re getting close, but I’m not quite ready to move on. I skipped over a little section in the middle.
To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
Not only are we God’s elect. At the same time, we are strangers in the world. Another translation of this word is pilgrim or sojourner. We are in the world, but just passing through. It is not our home.
Have you ever felt out of place? Not at home? Been a stranger?
I’ve had the opportunity to travel some mostly because of my work. There have been many times where I felt like a stranger in a foreign country that I was visiting. But, the most out of place I’ve ever felt was actually in Los Angeles. I had to go there on a business trip, and while I was getting my rental car, the guy at the counter looked at my driver’s license and says, “Hey, you’re Farmer John.” And I respond, “Excuse me.” At this point, he notes from my license that I’m from South Carolina and guesses that I’ve never heard of Farmer John sausage. Well, it turns out that Farmer John is the Jimmy Dean of California. If you buy a hot dog at a Dodgers game or the Staples Center, it is a Farmer John hot dog.
It also turns out that the Farmer John packaging plant is adjacent to Los Angeles in a city called Vernon. Vernon’s city motto is “Exclusively Industrial.” The city has a population of 91, and nearly all of these are employees of the city. The 10 acre Farmer John plant has about 1200 employees and was completely painted with murals starting back in 1957. So, I think, “Man, I’ve got to see this.” Here are a couple of pictures of the murals. So, when I visited, it was so big, I drove around the whole thing. Then I stopped and got out and walked around taking pictures mostly with my jaw on the ground. The guy who started the murals worked on it for 11 years, and then after he died another man continued for years. It is really something to see, not so much something to smell.
I walked around a corner, and I’m right next to the main entrance to the plant. I was wondering to myself if I should show my ID and see if they would let John Farmer in to see Farmer John. Right at that moment was shift change, and I go from being the only person on the street to standing in the middle of a crowd of several hundred people, and except for me everyone is going in the same direction, away from the plant. There was this dynamic that they all had a similar purpose. They were all moving the same way. They knew each other. They didn’t know me. They were dressed for work in a meat packing plant. I was dressed business casual. At first, I was moving sort of against them, or at least not along with them. As it became more of a wall of people, I just kind of got swept along with the crowd and then started making my way back to my car. And for that 5 or 10 minutes, I felt like a complete outsider. I was an alien. And I guess because of the suddenness and unexpectedness of it, it really stuck with me.
I relate that to this passage now because we are God’s elect. We are no longer moving in the same direction as the world. We are moving toward Christ. We are being sanctified by the Spirit. We are being made new, the old things are passing away. Just like it says there in the passage, we are God’s elect strangers. If you feel out of sync from your unbelieving friends or family, that is not a surprise. We are now strangers in this world.
When Peter originally sent this letter, it was directed to the elect in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. These regions include the middle to northern portion of Asia Minor or modern day Turkey. It is interesting to note that Paul said in Acts 16:6-7, the Spirit prevented them from preaching the gospel in Asia and the Spirit also prevented them from entering Bithynia. That would have occurred around 51-52 AD. I Peter was written around 10-12 years later about 63 AD. If Peter is writing to the elect in those regions, someone must have gone there with the gospel. We don’t know if it was Peter or if it was the first believers at Pentecost recorded in Acts 2. Acts 2 specifically mentions people from three of these regions: Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia. My reason for sharing that is to encourage you not to be concerned about Paul being prevented from preaching the gospel in those regions. Instead, God already had a plan and may have already reached many in those regions. He prevented Paul from going there in order to direct him to the areas where the gospel had not yet been preached.
Let’s go on with the end of verse 2,
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
We made it through the salutation. There are 23 more verses to go.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. I Peter 1:3-5
Okay, we can also say that any idea that Peter was an ignorant uneducated fisherman can be put aside. Well, he was uneducated and he was a fisherman, but he is definitely not ignorant. Where did this wisdom and understanding come from? Acts 4 makes it clear. Following interrogation by the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees …
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13
As a practical application point, if you are struggling with understanding or feel as if you don’t know how to handle certain situations in life. I would encourage you strongly to dive into the Word of God. Spend time in prayer. Spend time with Jesus. It will transform your life.
Today’s message title is there: a living hope. What is our hope? Our hope is eternal life an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Our hope in eternal life is living because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because he has gone before us, we can see the proof of what is to come.
Who is the inheritance kept for? Us. Those who have faith. There is an image for you in times of trial or suffering. By your faith, you are shielded by God’s power. God is protecting you all the way until you are in heaven with Him.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. I Peter 1:6-7
This is reminiscent of James 1:23. Our faith is being refined by the trials and sufferings that we encounter. Just as the inheritance cannot perish, spoil or fade our faith is of eternal value. How many of you read last week’s “homework?” It was a great example of the impact that daily Bible study and prayer can have on our earthly lives. But I think there is more impact even beyond this life. Jesus will wipe every tear from our eyes in heaven. That is true. But we will also bring praise, glory, and honor to Him. Perseverance under suffering is a key way in which we testify our trust and our love for God.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. I Peter 1:8-9
Do you see what the result of our faith and love for God brings when we persevere in the face of trials and suffering? Inexpressible and glorious joy.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. I Peter 1:10-12
Isn’t this an amazing thought? The writers in the Old Testament, those who prophesied about Christ, they didn’t fully understand what the Holy Spirit had prompted them to write about. Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea, Jonah, Micah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi and probably others recorded prophecies about Christ, and yet they did not know when or how they would come about. Wouldn’t your heart burn with desire to know the details of the prophecy? Sometimes when we pray, God will tell us to wait, or we don’t get the answer we expect. I don’t know about you, but I get a little impatient at those times. C’mon God. I’m waiting. This seems like a whole different level. These prophets have recorded prophecy, they know that it is prophecy about the Messiah, but they don’t get “the rest of the story.” Instead, God reveals to them that they are serving us, the ones who will come later. In our case, we are ones who have come much later. Angels themselves are longing, fixing their desire on looking into God’s plan. The phrase “look into” literally means to stop and bend over or stoop down to look. Isn’t that a neat picture that the angels want to stop what they are doing and look down to see what is going to happen?
Don’t be concerned for these prophets of God. Their faith was credited to them as righteousness. We will see them in heaven. It is just that following writing down prophecy by the Spirit, they really wanted to know how it was all going to turn out.
Peter is using this truth to set the stage for us here. In the first 9 verses, we have been grounded in the importance of our faith and the hope, assurance, and security that we have in Jesus Christ. Now, he tells us that those who came before us were filled with desire to know what has been plainly shown to us. The things that are known to us are precious truths. In response to our position in Christ and knowledge that we have, what should we do?
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. I Peter 1:13
Prepare is translated “gird up the loins of” in the King James. In those days, men used to wear long robes, so if you were going to do some heavy work or you were going to run. You had to take the robe and pull it up and tuck it into your belt. That way, you wouldn’t get tangled up in your robe. Today, we might say something like, “strap it on” or “lace up.” In other words, seriously prepare yourself. Don’t just take a minute and say, okay I’m ready.
Once we’ve prepared our minds for action, then what? Be self-controlled or sober. And, set your hope. Two different Psalms come to mind here:
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:11
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek. Psalm 27:8
We shouldn’t be panicky; we should be focused on Jesus.
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." I Peter 1:14-16
Melissa bought me a book at Christmas, and I have been reading it slowly. It’s called When People Are Big and God Is Small. Yesterday, morning I picked it up and read a passage which fits right to this point of obedience. The author Ed Welch was answering the question, “What Opposes the Fear of the Lord?”
The resistance is actually found in our heart (flesh), and it is influenced by the world and the Devil. Our hearts have dozens of strategies to avoid the fear of the Lord. One strategy is that we downgrade obedience – the concrete expression of the fear of the Lord – into concern about appearances. We concentrate on actions and overlook attitudes. By doing this, our sinful nature can give us the sense that we are okay. We have not killed today. We have not been adulterous. We have not stolen anything from the store. Therefore, we had a good day. Better yet, we are good. Of course, we might occasionally do bad things. We might yell too loudly, or we might pick up some pornography at the airport. In these cases, we should ask God’s forgiveness. But, on the whole, we tend to be fairly good. And if we think we are usually good, then God is usually irrelevant.
Such thinking is not advertised as good theology, but isn’t it the practical theology of most Christians? I know that it can be my own. I am a good guy – a nice guy – who occasionally does bad things. Such thinking ignores the depth of sin in my own heart, and in essence, it elevates me so that I am just a mildly flawed imitation of God rather than someone completely dependent on him. Fear of the Lord is then impossible.
[He goes on to describe examples of how “sin rides on the back of good things,” twisting the good by excess or neglect. Also, how the world takes our selfish tendencies and rationalizes them. We’re only human right? In addition, he talks about how Satan creeps in with lies and deception, “suggesting that God is holding out on us, keeping us from good things.” He conclude with…]
With such adversaries, growing in fear of the Lord will not be a smooth process. Instead, it will be the path of warfare. We must hate the evil and ungodly assumptions of the world, we must hate our own sinful nature, and we must hate Satan. To accomplish these tasks demands the most powerful resources we have: the Word, the Spirit, and the body of Christ.
We can’t be holy by our own strength. We must reject the lies of this world and constantly nourish ourselves with the truth of God. Anything less and we can (and will) get derailed. It’s not enough to do the right things for the wrong reasons, like making someone else think you are holy. True holiness is doing the right things for the right reasons. We might fool someone else, but God is not mocked.
Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. I Peter 1:17
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. I Peter 1:18-21
As added motivation, Peter appeals to how we were redeemed. It cost Jesus a horrible death on the cross and separation from the Father and carrying the wrath and penalty for the sin of all mankind. Even though his charge to us to “Be holy” seems hard or nearly impossible, we should not callously or carelessly walk away in light of what Jesus has done for us.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. I Peter 1:22
Here in this verse, we see a practical measuring stick to see if we are pursuing holiness in the right way. Sometimes, we can get off track by pursuing self-righteousness under the guise of holiness. Maybe we read the Bible or even memorize Scripture, but we focus only on the head knowledge and we harden our hearts. Or maybe we pray for a certain time or we fast regularly, but we continue in sin. In our minds, we tell ourselves that we are doing good, but instead we are puffed up and prideful. Holiness and obedience result in sincere love. If you want to know if you’re on the right track, ask yourself this question: Am I growing in love toward other believers? If not, then go back and look at your obedience to the Word and sin in your life. Are there any obstacles that you can see? If you don’t see any, ask the Lord to open your eyes. If your heart is hard toward others, are you holding a grudge that needs forgiven? Ask God to help you forgive as He has forgiven you. Since Peter has given us an imperative to love one another, then it is a choice. We must choose to do it. The next step is to look for an opportunity to express love to someone by giving them a phone call or paying them a visit or serving them in some way. Just apply the golden rule, and you’ll be just fine. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. I Peter 1:23
Again, Peter sets us some perspective. When we are asked to love others, it can sometimes be uncomfortable. We start to demand our own rights. God, it’s not fair. God, I’m not good at loving others. God, I don’t have time to waste trying to get ahold of people and connect with them.
But Peter reminds us, we have been born again. We are not perishing. Our new life is not descended from perishable seed. Our new life is imperishable through the Word. I’m telling you that loving others is also such a boost to ourselves spiritually. Just going out on the outreach times can be a great encouragement. You go to bless others, but you come back filled with joy yourself. Not only that, when you look at unsaved people, just realize …
For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." I Peter 1:24-25
We can look at others and become impressed by their status or their relationship to us. And on the contrary, we can look at others and say that we are far superior ourselves. I went through a time where I would be very impatient when waiting, especially when I took time away from work, whether it was at the post office or bank during my lunch break or a doctor’s appointment during the day. If I got behind a person who was obviously retired, I would think man there should be a line to get people who are working in and out faster than retired people. That way, I could get back to supporting the economy and somehow indirectly support the retired person’s social security or some such nonsense. Talk about a holier than thou attitude. Give me a break. I’m surprised I didn’t find myself in lines increasingly longer. At some point, the Spirit opened my eyes and I realized what I was thinking. I was thinking like one descended from perishable seed, not one who has eternal life and can stand to wait the extra five minutes.
If you look at people and then realize that everyone is like grass, it begins to put things into perspective. We shouldn’t judge others, we should have compassion on them. For apart from the grace of God, we would be living and dying as grass and the flowers of the field. We need to love others.
We can only effectively love others if we ask God fill us with the Holy Spirit, and if by obedience we allow the word of the Lord to bear fruit in our lives.
And this is the word that was preached to you. I Peter 1:25
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, thank you for the Word. Thank you that we all have Bibles. Thank you that your truth is available to us at all times. Thank you that you are the living hope. We can put our trust completely in you and never be disappointed. I pray that this chapter would strengthen our understanding of who you are and what you have done for us. I pray that by the sanctifying of the Holy Spirit, we would be holy as you are holy. All this we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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