1 Peter #2 1 Peter 1:3-12
1 Peter #2 1 Peter
1:3-12
We are exploring the letter the Apostle Peter wrote to encourage
non-Jewish Christians who were facing difficult times. We can summarize last week’s lesson as a
greeting to affirm that non-Jewish Christians have been incorporated into God’s
chosen people through faith in Jesus. Non-Jewish Christians belong to the
family of Abraham. The hostility and persecution they are experiencing are not
a result of God’s disfavor, but actually, their worldly problems are because of
God’s blessings upon their lives.
In the passage, we will examine today Peter uses almost
poetic praise to introduce the three main ideas within this letter. Peter calls
to our attention that God is to be praised because He has opened the door to
everyone who desires a right relationship with Him to enter His favor, to
become part of God’s family, and to become one of His beloved children. Those
who were outsiders are now insiders, with a new Family, a new identity, and a new
Hope that all will be set right when Jesus returns. Then there is the big curve
ball. Persecution and suffering are to
be understood as a blessing because when you face hostility for your faith it
purifies; the worldly opposition requires you to cling to your faith, you grow
deep in faith, you grow up in faith and you produce the fruit of faith. Because
of difficulty. Worldly conflict, the
troubles brought on by living out your faith, deepens your relationship with
God. Peter will develop these ideas
throughout the rest of the letter.
Four things you can take home with you today. 1. There is hope for better things ahead. 2. Trials, tribulations, and hard times
strengthen your faith. 3. When times are tough be thankful for the
great gift of salvation. 4. No matter what happens, remain obedient to
God. Let's work these thoughts out of
the text.
1 Peter 1:3-12 (MSG)
What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him,
this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've
been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, 4 including a
future in heaven—and the future starts now! 5 God is keeping careful watch over
us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and
whole.
6 I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have
to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. 7 Pure gold put in
the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering
comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not
your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.
8 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see
him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. 9 Because you kept on
believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation.
10 The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of
questions about this gift of life God was preparing. 11 The Messiah's Spirit
let them in on some of it—that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed
by glory. They clamored to know who and when. 12 All they were told was that
they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for
yourselves—through the Holy Spirit—the Message of those prophecies fulfilled.
Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in
on this!
Outsiders are brought in, and become family together,
because of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. Every mess in your life is because
of sin. The root of sin is
disobedience. This disobedience is the
result of doing what you want in ways that are out of sync, out of harmony,
with God’s ways. When life is not right,
it is because of sin. Sin always deters,
damages, and or, destroys what is right. Sin prevents you from living your life
to the full. Sin separates you from God, the God who is light, who is life, who
is salvation. God desires that everyone
thrive in a right relationship with Him.
God in Jesus makes forgiveness of sin a reality. All that is required is your desire to ask
for it and your willingness to repent from it.
John Wesley said, “know your disease, know your cure.” If sin and separation from God is the
disease, then the cure is forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgiveness and
reconciliation are found in God, seek Him, and He will find you, ask to be
found by Him. When you acknowledge the self-made messes in
your life, believe that Jesus can forgive your sin, and commit yourself to
follow Jesus (John 14:6), to begin living God’s way, then God makes you an
insider (Acts 16:30).
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (NLT)
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a
new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who
brought us back to himself through Christ.
Are you ready today to exchange the old for the new? It’s your choice, your decision, and old
messes for new chances to live your life to the full. You make your choice right now. Yes, maybe later is a no.
For those who live the yes, Peter encourages you that you
have everything to live for. You get to
live your life to the full here and now.
Your adoption is into a life of love and loving others, you’ll spend the
rest of your life learning how to be a lover.
You discover that other believers accept you, giving you a place to
belong. As you mature you discover
acceptance of yourself, and you grow comfortable in your skin. In this life, you find meaning and
purpose. You are given spiritual gifts to
use to bless other people, and the use of those gifts makes a difference in the
lives of others, this makes your life significant. The character qualities of Jesus become the
dominant way you do life; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control begin to describe who you are
(Galatians 5:22-23). New goals take
over, you want to do everything that you can deepen your relationship with God
while refraining from behavior that would harm it. As you continue to experience God’s mercy and
forgiveness, you become a forgiver of those who has wronged you, setting
yourself free from the debts they owe which can never be repaid.
For those who live the yes, we have a future in heaven. What heaven is no one knows, but it surely
has to do with life beyond what we know as life now. Life continues to exist in
some form after this body dies. Heaven surely has to do with an intimate
relationship with God who because of our closeness to Him, every tear is dried
and every sorrow ended, living beyond pain and death. Heaven surely involves
existence free from the fears of life in a broken world. Slavery, oppression, prejudice, and bigotry
all come to an end. There will be a new social order where each one looks out for
the welfare of the other. You will
always have enough. Heaven is surely a
Garden in Eden type actuality, a paradise, a place that meets with all your
desires. Heaven will feel like the home
you always have longed for. Heaven is
surely a place of continued spiritual growth, free from all the distractions of
a broken world. Heaven is surely a place of worship and work, the worship is
being the person God created you to be and the work is the restoration of
planet Earth [the work is my speculation based on humanity’s task of caring for
the Garden in Eden].
For you who live the yes, you “have everything to live for,
including a future in heaven—and the future starts now!” Things are tough now, but the day is “coming
when you'll have it all—life healed and whole.” Let this God-fueled hope
empower you to keep on keeping on in a world that wants to stop you dead. Hope
creates the power to cope and when you are in the midst of every kind of
aggravation you need to cope.
In verse 7 Peter tells us that it’s these very aggravations
that compel us to seek God with all our hearts.
The challenges, difficulties, and even the tribulations and catastrophes
that the world throws at you God uses to strengthen you. Maybe you’ve
experienced a parent, a teacher, a coach, a mentor, or a drill instructor being
very hard on you. In high school, two
weeks before school started, every weekday, twice a day, football practice,
running, conditioning in the heat of summer, discipline, and being pushed to
your limits. Why? So, you can be the best you can be when the
season starts. When you a living the yes, the difficulties, the injustices, and
the storms can be used by God to make you fit for the rest of your life. One
reason the day's gone by seem like the good ole days is that you made it
through them, tomorrow is an unknown, what will happen, who knows, but you know
that God has gotten you through before when you were at wit's end when you
thought you would not survive, that God will walk with you through the next in
your face, brick wall, giant, heart-crushing event too. You may feel like giving up, but you don’t,
you may feel like you can’t take another step, but you do, because you know
somehow Jesus will make you victorious and you with the gold medal around your
neck, will be standing on the victor’s podium for all to see.
When you’re living the yes, you keep on believing. Even though you have never seen Jesus, you
are convinced that He is active in your life.
Faith trusts the unseen. No
evidence except your subjective experience.
No proof, other than the impressions left on your heart that you are
loved by God. Please notice, you keep on
keeping on with singing and laughing.
Singing and laughter even in the bad times. Wow.
Don’t you want to be there? You can sing and laugh even in the darkest
of the night because you know that full salvation is coming your way, and the
abundant life becomes life eternal.
Romans 8:18 (MSG)
That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the
present hard times and the coming good times.
2 Corinthians 4:17
These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming
good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us.
Peter reminds us that this gift of God, abundant life now,
life eternal later, total salvation, this right relationship on the inside with
God is what the prophets wrote about. A
day would come when God would take up permanent residence in the lives of those
who desire to obey Him. It’s a big
deal. Throughout the Old Testament, we
get glimpses and promises of the day when the Spirit of God would indwell
believers. Now the time has come to
enter into the favor of God. Once you’re living the yes, you can’t help but be
grateful for what has been done for you.
That gratitude is demonstrated by obedience to God's will, accomplished
God’s way. Gratitude compels you to be a
lover. Love is expressed in your obedience.
The Holy Spirit empowers you to be a lover, that’s salvation.
We’ve gleaned some encouragement from this passage.
Remember when the world is crashing in on you, you are not
alone, you are part of the family of God, ingrafted into God’s blessings upon Abraham,
living in God’s favor as you obey His law of love. You are God’s child. You are one of the
chosen. You have brothers and sisters to help. This gives you the power to endure.
Amid the tough times remember that you have been "born
again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead." This living hope convinces you that God will one day make all
things right. This gives you the power to endure.
Remember that when you are in the midst of that difficult
time, facing the unknown, dealing with hostility, when you surrender the
aggravation and the injustice, and the injury to God, God can use that pain to
refine and strengthen your faith, helping you grow spiritually, getting you
ready for the next challenge. This gives you the power to endure
Remember during your lowest moments, when you hear the “fat
lady singing,” the roadies have cleared the stage, and the lights are going out,
that God has given you the great gift of salvation. You could not earn a right relationship with
God that secures total salvation. You do
not deserve the power to live your life to the full and gain entrance into life
eternal. It is God’s love gift to
you. You win regardless. Be grateful that God is faithful and He will
see you through. This gives you the power to endure.
It's time to live the yes.
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