1 Peter 4:12-5:14
Welcome! Today we finish up our look into the Book of I Peter, focusing on the end of Chapter 4 and all of Chapter 5. I will start by backing up a few verses and looking at the verses we ended with last week:
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. – I Peter 4:12-15
Last week we talked about how this letter was probably written shortly after Rome burned and Nero began to blame Christians for it. It was a time in which distrust and even hatred against Christians was sharply on the rise, and persecution would continue for many decades.
What does this passage tell us? First, it says not to be surprised if you do suffer for your faith. We talked about how in our society blatant persecution is rare, but littler things, such as being passed over for a promotion or otherwise being given a hard time at work, or losing friends, or having strained relationships with family – all these things are not so uncommon at all, especially if you are truly living out your faith in all areas of your life. The second thing this passage tells us is, as hard as it is for us to accept, is that it is a privilege to suffer for Christ, and because God sees, and because God rewards, or blesses, you should even rejoice for being given this privilege. Really, what this passage is calling on us to do is have an eternal perspective rather than being focused on the here-and-now of our troubles. And the third thing this passages does is warn us to evaluate the cause of our suffering to make sure it is truly persecution because of our faith. What else might be the cause? Our own sins. If you get a ticket for speeding, that’s not being persecuted for your faith. If you get bad reviews at work because you haven’t been a very good worker, that’s not being persecuted for your faith.
Now the Greek word for meddler is interesting. This is the only passage in the Bible where this word appears. The word is allotri-episkopos. Now, episkopos is the Greek word for overseer, one of several words used to describe an elder or pastor in the church. So what does allotri mean? It is from the word allotrios which means a stranger. An allotri-episkopos is someone who tries to oversee or rule over the lives of strangers. This is not at all true in our family, but I think of the stereotype of a mother-in-law. Society is complex, and there are unwritten rules about boundaries in every kind of relationship. The basic rule is that the more two people are strangers, the greater the boundaries. An allotri-episkopos is someone who routinely violates these boundaries.
Another way someone can be an allotri-episkopos is when they place demands on others, making them accommodate their personal Christian rules. This does not mean that you cannot humbly and gently ask about a policy, but to demand change is what this is talking about. An example might be demanding that your company’s 401k plan change its investments.
In either case, the result is that such a person is disliked by many. The point here is that if you are doing this, and are paying the price for it, that is not persecution for your faith.
However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. – I Peter 4:16-19
At the time this letter was written, the term Christian was primarily used as a put-down; it was said with a sneer. “Those people who keep muttering about Christos? Let’s call them Christianos!” Even today, even in America, there are those who use the term Christian in a derogatory way. Never be ashamed of that name. You share the name of your Savior! Praise God for such an honor, to be identified with Him.
Now the word for judgment here does not mean punishment; it means chastening, purifying, testing. We are to go through the fire so that the dross can be burned away, separated from us so that it can be kept separate from Him, for He is holy and nothing unholy can withstand His presence. And the point in these verses is that as hard as it is for us, it does not compare to the total purging, the total separation from God that will be experienced by those who do not believe in Jesus or call on Him to save them.
Persecution produces purity. Persecution produces Christlikeness. Persecution produces hearts that more fully trust, more fully love their Savior. Persecution, when it is the real thing, suffering for the fact that you follow Christ, is always for our ultimate good.
To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. – I Peter 5:1-3
There are two different words for leaders in this passage. The elders in the first verse is prebuteros, from which Presbyterians get their name. And the overseers in the second verse is episkopeo, the same root word as that which we saw in allotri-episkopos, the person who tries to force their way among strangers. The term is plural here, as it almost always is in the context of local churches. The common American model of a church with a single pastor was not what the early church was like. Elders had to be qualified, and I Timothy and Titus give the qualifications for an elder. And then elsewhere in the New Testament we see that elders were in some official sense “recognized,” declared to henceforth be elders, by other elders. And all of this the valuing of plurality, the insistence on focusing on Biblical qualifications, and a process of recognition, has been a model we have followed in this church and in our sister churches, collectively known as Great Commission Churches.
Fundamentally, what these people called to do? They are told to shepherd God’s flock that is under their care. I think the wording here is very important. Whose flock is it? God’s flock, not the elders’ flock. The flock is God’s and it is unimaginably precious to God. To me the picture that comes to mind is that of a man entrusting his lowly servant to drive and take care of his Rolls-Royce. That’s a lot of responsibility. Actually the picture falls far short. If he had to take care of his one and only child, who he loves more than anything in the world, not only to keep him safe but to help him grow in goodness and wisdom, maybe that is a better analogy. It is a scary responsibility. And likewise, shepherding God’s flock is a scary, scary responsibility.
But what does it mean to shepherd? A shepherd takes care of sheep. Now, wish I had a lot more time – I could spend an entire message just on sheep and shepherds. We know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep, meaning us, and the more we understand what sheep are like, and the more we know what shepherds are to do, the more we will understand and love our Savior.
Now remember the context a few verses back: persecution. Are sheep persecuted? Well, yes, if you call a wolf looking for some lamb chops persecution. What does a good shepherd do about this? He protects the flock. He calms down the sheep, keeps them together. In the presence of persecution (the wolf), the shepherd’s role is especially important. And in a similar way, a shepherd of people also has special responsibilities in the presence of persecution: encouraging the flock, helping them not to live in fear, keeping them together; there are a lot of parallels here, and I think Peter had persecution in mind throughout this letter, including in this discussion about shepherding.
I do want to highlight one obvious but important point about the difference between shepherds who take care of people, people-shepherds, and shepherds who take care of sheep, sheep-shepherds: sheep are just animals; people are made in the glorious image of God. A sheep-shepherd does not expect the sheep to grow in love and wisdom and godliness, but a people-shepherd expects exactly this for the people he watches over. In other words, I think it is important that we do not over-apply or misuse this word picture of sheep and shepherds. Elders/pastors are humans leading humans, not humans leading animals.
I think this is what the rest of the verses here are getting at. A people-shepherd is to be an overseer, opiskopeo. In what sense? Well, first of all, unlike sheep-shepherds, people-shepherds should never see this just as a job, a chore, something they must do. In Bible times, being a sheep-shepherd often was a pretty lowly job. The youngest child in a family might be the one forced to do this (think of David). Perhaps we could say that being a sheep-shepherd was kind of like working in fast food. Now all jobs are honorable; all work is honorable, but at least in good economic times, there are some jobs that are hard to fill because they are less desirable, and certain fast food jobs historically have been in this category. Well, in contrast to this, people-shepherds should be people-shepherds because they want to, because they know it pleases their Savior, and because they want to be like Him, laying down their lives for the brethren.
Second, it says that people-shepherds should not do it for the money; they should not do it for the pay. Again, you can imagine that when adults served as sheep-pastors, they may have often done it for the pay; maybe it didn’t pay well, and maybe it didn’t command much respect, but you got to be in the great outdoors and it was more pleasant than a number of other jobs. Now, as you know, none of the elders in this church receive any salary for serving the church; we know that it is God’s blessing that enables us to do this, and I know that I appreciate the fact that I cannot be tempted by the money (since there isn’t any). But note that the verse does not say it is wrong for pastors to accept money from the church; other passages make state this clearly. And even this passage, by bringing the issue of money up, makes it clear that the idea of paying pastors was certainly understood at this time and was likely going on at least to some degree. You don’t bring things up that aren’t going on.
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. – I Peter 4:12-15
Last week we talked about how this letter was probably written shortly after Rome burned and Nero began to blame Christians for it. It was a time in which distrust and even hatred against Christians was sharply on the rise, and persecution would continue for many decades.
What does this passage tell us? First, it says not to be surprised if you do suffer for your faith. We talked about how in our society blatant persecution is rare, but littler things, such as being passed over for a promotion or otherwise being given a hard time at work, or losing friends, or having strained relationships with family – all these things are not so uncommon at all, especially if you are truly living out your faith in all areas of your life. The second thing this passage tells us is, as hard as it is for us to accept, is that it is a privilege to suffer for Christ, and because God sees, and because God rewards, or blesses, you should even rejoice for being given this privilege. Really, what this passage is calling on us to do is have an eternal perspective rather than being focused on the here-and-now of our troubles. And the third thing this passages does is warn us to evaluate the cause of our suffering to make sure it is truly persecution because of our faith. What else might be the cause? Our own sins. If you get a ticket for speeding, that’s not being persecuted for your faith. If you get bad reviews at work because you haven’t been a very good worker, that’s not being persecuted for your faith.
Now the Greek word for meddler is interesting. This is the only passage in the Bible where this word appears. The word is allotri-episkopos. Now, episkopos is the Greek word for overseer, one of several words used to describe an elder or pastor in the church. So what does allotri mean? It is from the word allotrios which means a stranger. An allotri-episkopos is someone who tries to oversee or rule over the lives of strangers. This is not at all true in our family, but I think of the stereotype of a mother-in-law. Society is complex, and there are unwritten rules about boundaries in every kind of relationship. The basic rule is that the more two people are strangers, the greater the boundaries. An allotri-episkopos is someone who routinely violates these boundaries.
Another way someone can be an allotri-episkopos is when they place demands on others, making them accommodate their personal Christian rules. This does not mean that you cannot humbly and gently ask about a policy, but to demand change is what this is talking about. An example might be demanding that your company’s 401k plan change its investments.
In either case, the result is that such a person is disliked by many. The point here is that if you are doing this, and are paying the price for it, that is not persecution for your faith.
However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. – I Peter 4:16-19
At the time this letter was written, the term Christian was primarily used as a put-down; it was said with a sneer. “Those people who keep muttering about Christos? Let’s call them Christianos!” Even today, even in America, there are those who use the term Christian in a derogatory way. Never be ashamed of that name. You share the name of your Savior! Praise God for such an honor, to be identified with Him.
Now the word for judgment here does not mean punishment; it means chastening, purifying, testing. We are to go through the fire so that the dross can be burned away, separated from us so that it can be kept separate from Him, for He is holy and nothing unholy can withstand His presence. And the point in these verses is that as hard as it is for us, it does not compare to the total purging, the total separation from God that will be experienced by those who do not believe in Jesus or call on Him to save them.
Persecution produces purity. Persecution produces Christlikeness. Persecution produces hearts that more fully trust, more fully love their Savior. Persecution, when it is the real thing, suffering for the fact that you follow Christ, is always for our ultimate good.
To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. – I Peter 5:1-3
There are two different words for leaders in this passage. The elders in the first verse is prebuteros, from which Presbyterians get their name. And the overseers in the second verse is episkopeo, the same root word as that which we saw in allotri-episkopos, the person who tries to force their way among strangers. The term is plural here, as it almost always is in the context of local churches. The common American model of a church with a single pastor was not what the early church was like. Elders had to be qualified, and I Timothy and Titus give the qualifications for an elder. And then elsewhere in the New Testament we see that elders were in some official sense “recognized,” declared to henceforth be elders, by other elders. And all of this the valuing of plurality, the insistence on focusing on Biblical qualifications, and a process of recognition, has been a model we have followed in this church and in our sister churches, collectively known as Great Commission Churches.
Fundamentally, what these people called to do? They are told to shepherd God’s flock that is under their care. I think the wording here is very important. Whose flock is it? God’s flock, not the elders’ flock. The flock is God’s and it is unimaginably precious to God. To me the picture that comes to mind is that of a man entrusting his lowly servant to drive and take care of his Rolls-Royce. That’s a lot of responsibility. Actually the picture falls far short. If he had to take care of his one and only child, who he loves more than anything in the world, not only to keep him safe but to help him grow in goodness and wisdom, maybe that is a better analogy. It is a scary responsibility. And likewise, shepherding God’s flock is a scary, scary responsibility.
But what does it mean to shepherd? A shepherd takes care of sheep. Now, wish I had a lot more time – I could spend an entire message just on sheep and shepherds. We know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep, meaning us, and the more we understand what sheep are like, and the more we know what shepherds are to do, the more we will understand and love our Savior.
Now remember the context a few verses back: persecution. Are sheep persecuted? Well, yes, if you call a wolf looking for some lamb chops persecution. What does a good shepherd do about this? He protects the flock. He calms down the sheep, keeps them together. In the presence of persecution (the wolf), the shepherd’s role is especially important. And in a similar way, a shepherd of people also has special responsibilities in the presence of persecution: encouraging the flock, helping them not to live in fear, keeping them together; there are a lot of parallels here, and I think Peter had persecution in mind throughout this letter, including in this discussion about shepherding.
I do want to highlight one obvious but important point about the difference between shepherds who take care of people, people-shepherds, and shepherds who take care of sheep, sheep-shepherds: sheep are just animals; people are made in the glorious image of God. A sheep-shepherd does not expect the sheep to grow in love and wisdom and godliness, but a people-shepherd expects exactly this for the people he watches over. In other words, I think it is important that we do not over-apply or misuse this word picture of sheep and shepherds. Elders/pastors are humans leading humans, not humans leading animals.
I think this is what the rest of the verses here are getting at. A people-shepherd is to be an overseer, opiskopeo. In what sense? Well, first of all, unlike sheep-shepherds, people-shepherds should never see this just as a job, a chore, something they must do. In Bible times, being a sheep-shepherd often was a pretty lowly job. The youngest child in a family might be the one forced to do this (think of David). Perhaps we could say that being a sheep-shepherd was kind of like working in fast food. Now all jobs are honorable; all work is honorable, but at least in good economic times, there are some jobs that are hard to fill because they are less desirable, and certain fast food jobs historically have been in this category. Well, in contrast to this, people-shepherds should be people-shepherds because they want to, because they know it pleases their Savior, and because they want to be like Him, laying down their lives for the brethren.
Second, it says that people-shepherds should not do it for the money; they should not do it for the pay. Again, you can imagine that when adults served as sheep-pastors, they may have often done it for the pay; maybe it didn’t pay well, and maybe it didn’t command much respect, but you got to be in the great outdoors and it was more pleasant than a number of other jobs. Now, as you know, none of the elders in this church receive any salary for serving the church; we know that it is God’s blessing that enables us to do this, and I know that I appreciate the fact that I cannot be tempted by the money (since there isn’t any). But note that the verse does not say it is wrong for pastors to accept money from the church; other passages make state this clearly. And even this passage, by bringing the issue of money up, makes it clear that the idea of paying pastors was certainly understood at this time and was likely going on at least to some degree. You don’t bring things up that aren’t going on.
I have said this before, but we in no way think it is wrong to ever pay pastors, but we think it should not be the “default.” It should be done when there is a good reason for it, such as ministry responsibilities and time demands that prevent the person from taking a full-time job on top of what they are doing for the church body. So people-shepherds should not serve because of the pay, but because they are willing, willing to do as much as time allows even without pay. One reason this is so important is that otherwise a pastor might one day feel trapped by the pay in a “job” they hate. Being a pastor should never become something like this!
And the third thing this passage says is that a people-shepherd should not lord it over the others but instead be examples. Again, this is a situation in which being a sheep-shepherd was different. It is really true that sheep sometimes fall over and cannot get up. It won’t help if the sheep-shepherd falls over himself and shows the sheep how to get up; being an example will not work! Indeed, a sheep-shepherd may in fact love his sheep, and treat them kindly, but really a large component of the job is making them go where he wants them to go. He really does lord it over the sheep. Not a people-shepherd. This is not what he is to do. He is not to lead by ordering, but by doing, by demonstrating, by living out exactly what it is God wants the flock as a whole to do.
And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. – I Peter 5:4
Again, I think there is something beautiful here in the Greek. The Greek word that means never fade away is amarantinos. Literally, this word means composed of the flower amaranth. The only other verse in the Bible that uses a form of this word is I Peter 1:4, describing our inheritance in Christ that will never fade away. The amaranth was a flower slow to wilt and lose its color, and in part because of this, it symbolized eternity. The varieties common in Bible times and places were not especially pretty, and many varieties were considered weeds. But the flower was often draped on statues of the gods, woven into crowns and placed on the statues’ heads for this reason. This was an ancient tradition, deeply ingrained in the Greek and Roman culture. Homer described the funeral of Achilles by saying that the mourners all wore crowns of amaranth, and amaranth blossoms decorated Achilles’ tomb. Aesop even wrote a fable featuring the amaranth as a talking character:
And the third thing this passage says is that a people-shepherd should not lord it over the others but instead be examples. Again, this is a situation in which being a sheep-shepherd was different. It is really true that sheep sometimes fall over and cannot get up. It won’t help if the sheep-shepherd falls over himself and shows the sheep how to get up; being an example will not work! Indeed, a sheep-shepherd may in fact love his sheep, and treat them kindly, but really a large component of the job is making them go where he wants them to go. He really does lord it over the sheep. Not a people-shepherd. This is not what he is to do. He is not to lead by ordering, but by doing, by demonstrating, by living out exactly what it is God wants the flock as a whole to do.
And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. – I Peter 5:4
Again, I think there is something beautiful here in the Greek. The Greek word that means never fade away is amarantinos. Literally, this word means composed of the flower amaranth. The only other verse in the Bible that uses a form of this word is I Peter 1:4, describing our inheritance in Christ that will never fade away. The amaranth was a flower slow to wilt and lose its color, and in part because of this, it symbolized eternity. The varieties common in Bible times and places were not especially pretty, and many varieties were considered weeds. But the flower was often draped on statues of the gods, woven into crowns and placed on the statues’ heads for this reason. This was an ancient tradition, deeply ingrained in the Greek and Roman culture. Homer described the funeral of Achilles by saying that the mourners all wore crowns of amaranth, and amaranth blossoms decorated Achilles’ tomb. Aesop even wrote a fable featuring the amaranth as a talking character:
A Rose and an Amaranth blossomed side by side in a garden, and the Amaranth said to her neighbor, “How I envy you your beauty and your sweet scent! No wonder you are such a universal favorite.” But the Rose replied with a shade of sadness in her voice, “Ah, my dear friend, I bloom but for a short time; my petals soon wither and fall, and then I die. But your flowers never fade, even if they are cut, for they are everlasting.”
For me, the implications of I Peter 5:1-4 is that there may be other things a pastor could do, that I could do, that are more rose-like; instead of being a pastor, I suppose could devote more time to making money, or pursuing hobbies, or taking vacations, or watching sports on TV. These might have a temporary attraction, a temporary beauty, but I would rather do the things that have eternal fruit; I would rather receive the amaranth crown. For me, the amaranth is a powerful symbol of the choice to live for eternity rather than for the praise of men, to be willing to be seen as an ugly weed in this world for the sake of Christ and the eternal blessings to be found in Him.
Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. – I Peter 5:5-6
If you catch yourself thinking, “Oh, no, not yet another verse about humility,” I would respond that there is a reason so many verses speak of humility. And again, forgive me if this bores you, but I have to point out another Greek word, the word for clothe, enkomboomai. This word has a very specific meaning: to tie with a knot. It comes from the word enkomboma, which was a white scarf or apron required to be worn by slaves. You wore it girded up, tied with a knot, and it was meant to be a garment that was OK to get dirty. It allowed people to immediately tell which people were free men and women and which people were slaves. So Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is saying, to put on your slave garment of humility and serve one another as a slave would serve a free person.
I think of Jesus, girding himself up – probably using such a garment – and washing the disciples’ feet. This is humility defined by action, not by feeling like you are worthless, or unimpressive. It’s not really a feeling at all, but a commitment to serve, a mindset of living to serve, just as Jesus lived (and died) to serve us. So we are to clothe ourselves with the slave garment of humility toward one another, and we are to do the same under God.
How do we humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand? Well, we don’t argue with Him. I don’t mean that we don’t pray, but that we pray reverently, respectfully. Also, we wait on Him; we don’t rush and take matters into our own hands. And we trust Him, and believe Him at His word. We continue to believe in His goodness even as we go through trials. If we boast, we boast not in ourselves, but in Him. Have you ever heard the audio recording by this one speaker who keeps saying, “That’s my God!” And we do what He says to do; we follow Him. All of this is humbling ourselves under God’s mighty hand.
Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you. – I Peter 5:7
I love this verse so much I pulled it out all by itself. In the Greek, it’s not even a complete sentence, but a concluding phrase to the previous verse. What a powerful verse! What does it mean to cast something? It means to throw it. Growing up, my family sometimes went on multiple-day backpacking adventures in the California Sierra Nevada Mountains. Sometimes the vertical climb was 5000 feet or more in a short distance, and I remember the joy of casting off my pack. There was a sleeping bag on the bottom of it, so you could safely throw it and it would land on the sleeping bag. I felt so great after I had cast off that pack. Have you ever really cast of your anxieties, not just to some nebulous “somewhere else,” but on Him? Do you understand what this means? Give Him your pack! Toss it to Him! He’ll catch it, and He’ll carry it safely for you. That’s what this verse is saying.
And if you struggle with understanding God’s love, and even if you don’t, pay close attention to the second part of the verse. He cares for you! He does! He doesn’t want you lugging that pack! He wants to take it for you because He loves you! Especially when you are going through trials, when you are experiencing fear, pain, bewilderment, worry, discouragement, in short, all of your cares, cast them on Him. Not only will He carry them, but He will carry you, if He needs to do it. He is the good shepherd. He will carry His weary sheep close to His breast, because He cares, He loves His sheep.
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. – I Peter 5:8-9
Be self-controlled, that is sober-minded, clear-minded. Be alert, not sleepy, not lazy, but keep watch. If you were out camping and you knew a lion was out on the loose, I bet you would be self-controlled and alert! I bet your party would take turns keeping watch! Either that or everyone would go home. Well, going home is not an option for us. The devil is real, and he is like a lion. He is hungry for some lamb chops; he wants some sheep.
What does it mean to be self-controlled and alert? It means to watch yourself that you stay with the Good Shepherd. Don’t wander off! Don’t sin and then feel like you need to run away from the Shepherd! Instead, run to Him, confess your sin, and He will protect you. And don’t run away from fellowship, but run towards it as well. Lions like to isolate an animal from the flock because it is much easier to kill it this way. Don’t fall for this! Stay in fellowship with God and with other believers.
These verses make it clear that the devil can get close; he can get into our “space.” What are we to do then? Resist him. Stand firm in the faith. To stand firm is hold your ground. Most often, the devil gets into our heads. One of his names is the accuser. He tells us falsehood. He accuses us of being vile or worthless or unforgivable. He will take advantage of sin in your life and take the grieving of the Holy Spirit in us, which serves the good purpose of getting us to run to God and confess our sins to Him, and turn it into something that tells us to run away from God, just as Adam and Eve tried to do in the Garden of Eden. Stand firm in the faith! Reject the devil’s lies by reading and meditating and filling your mind with Scripture. So fill your mind with truth that there is no room for Satan’s lies.
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. – I Peter 5:10-11
God is the God of all grace, all unmerited favor, blessing, good gifts, in our lives. He knows what we need, and He knows what His flock needs. He is the Good Shepherd who doesn’t leave the sheep as sheep, but turns them into what God has always meant for us. Do you think you are weak, easily given to temptation? When God is finished doing His good work in you, you will be strong. And likewise, no matter what you think you are now, you will be firm and you will be steadfast, unwavering, solid, like Petros, the Rock. God will use circumstances, even trials and hardship, persecution, and the even the devil to bring us to maturity and Christlikeness, with a capacity for love that will make what we were seem like lifeless toys compared to the incredible life, the incredible aliveness, we will have in Him.
Peter finishes the letter in this way:
With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. – I Peter 5:12-14
Affection in Christ. We who are believers are more closely connected than twins who are unbelievers, for we share inside of us the one Holy Spirit, who teaches us and makes us one with one another. The relationships we have in this body do not end when someone moves away, or even when we die. These relationships have in their essence the Holy Spirit, and there is something about the fellowship between believers in the Spirit that will be eternal. It is an awesome thing to be one together in Christ. It is an awesome God we serve.
No comments:
Post a Comment