Power in the Pulpit | 1 Peter 1:3–12

Introduction: Thank you Leighton for being here and leading us in worship tonight. Also, I want to give a quick welcome to Beverly Skinner. Beverly supervises all the campus ministers for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. She is in the area for a conference so I invited here to join us tonight. For those of you who I may not have met, my name is Gabe and I am the campus minister for the BCM here at Gordon State. If you have a Bible with you tonight could you please turn to 1 Peter 1. We are going to be looking at verses 3-12 this evening. Almost 20 years ago now, Disney released the movie, Miracle and I was able to see it in theaters. And yes, I know, a lot of you were not even born then. I’m aware you don’t have to remind me as you so often do. Anyway, the movie is about the 1980 U.S. Men’s Hockey team that defeated the Soviet team at the olympics. It was the first time that any team had beaten the Soviets since the U.S. had won the Gold in 1960. The movie starts with the coach, Herb Brooks assembling his team. Once the team starts practicing, it goes through several scenes of him just pushing the team to the brink. I mean absolutely pushing them, but still not getting the results he wanted. Almost every time it shows that, it also shows him asking players who they are and who they play for. Each time they say their name and whatever college team they came from. The culmination of all of this is a scene where they are playing the Norwegian national team. While they are playing, the coach notices that the players seem to be focused on anything but hockey. So after the game he doesn’t let them go to the locker room. Instead he makes them start skating suicides on the ice. It gets brutal. It goes on so long, the rink manager turns the lights out on them. He won’t let them quit. The assistant coach cringes every time he’s told to blow the whistle for the next one. Finally, a players yells his name and where he is from. The coach asks him who he plays for. The player says, “I play for the United States of America,.” The coach then dismisses them. He knew until they realized what their true purpose was as a team, they would never achieve what they needed to. It’s the same way as a follower of Christ. When we look at tonight’s text we see that without a proper appreciation for the resurrection of Christ, we will not have the life that Christ intends for us to have. Since I make my youth do this, I’m going to make you do it too. Could you please stand as we honor the reading of God’s Word.

1 Peter 1:3-5.

Exposition: The passage starts in verse three where Peter writes 1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” Peter starts by speaking to believers being born again and the living hope we have as believers. The idea of being born again comes from the words of Jesus himself. In John 3, we read about Nicodemus approaching Jesus to ask about Jesus’ ministry. Jesus tells him that one would not see the kingdom of God without being born again. This birth Jesus told Nicodemus this birth is not of the flesh, but of Spirit and Water. This new birth was somebody being made new in Christ. When one has this new birth, he or she then has a living hope. A hope that does not fade or go away. But how do we experience this new birth and obtain this hope. Does Peter say that one must read his Bible a certain times a week? No, that’s not it. He doesn’t say that you must go to church with your family so many times. He doesn’t even say that it’s based on how many times you pray. No, he said it’s according to God’s great mercy. This means that it is something that we cannot obtain on our own. It means it is something we cannot obtain on our own. In the same way that a new born baby is not responsible for birthing itself, we are not responsible for being born again in Christ. So if it’s not even possible for us to obtain it through our own actions. How is it achieved. Peter tells us in verse three. He tells us when he says, “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Explanation: We so often put all of our awe and focus on the cross. And we should put a lot of awe and focus on the cross. The fact that God became man, and died a sinner’s death on a cross is something we should never lose our wonder for. We should never stop being thankful for that. But if Christ had not left the grave, then sin and death would have won. Remember, death is the consequence of sin. And if Jesus had not risen from the grave, then it would have been ultimate victory for sin. Even God Himself would have been subject to it. There would have been no victory over sin and death, but ultimate defeat. But as Paul describes so well in verse 1 Corinthians, Christ did in fact rise from the grave. He did defeat the power of sin and death. By believing that Jesus did in fact rise from the grave and making him Lord of our lives, we can be reborn and have this living hope. But when Peter says we are reborn, what are born into, he tells us in verse four. He writes in verse 4 1 Peter 1:4 “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,”

Illustration: We live in an era where nothing is really official until something is put on social media. It started when I was in high school and college where if you were dating somebody, it was like it was not really a relationship until you listed it on facebook. I don’t think y’all use facebook as much, but there are still things like that now. Now for people my age it’s baby announcements. That’s how you let the world know you are expecting. But when people have the child, especially when it’s the second child, they post a picture with both parents and both children and the caption says something like, “our first picture of a family of four,” almost like the child wasn’t even born if they didn’t post the picture. Why do they do that, because now that the child has been born, he or she has been born into that family. And a part of being a part of a family is becoming eligible for whatever inheritance one will receive from that family. When my grandfather was alive, he had all these rental houses he bought. And they were the worst. He was constantly to having to spend money on repairs in those houses. And he use to tell my cousin and me which houses were going to be ours when he died. I remember thinking, what a terrible inheritance. I will be responsible for taking care of these certain houses. And that’s an extreme example, but that is how it is with anything we inherit on this earth. At some point it loses its value. Things break, money is spent and what it’s spent on doesn’t work forever. Or the money isn’t worth what it was when the will was written. These inheritances all lose value. But the inheritance we receive from being born into the family of God never loses its value because it’s not kept on this temporary world. It’s kept in heaven with the Father who is eternal. It will never lose its value because it can’t.

Exposition: Peter goes on to say in verse 5 1 Peter 1:5 “who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Peter says it is being guarded by faith. We don’t have to put it in a safety deposit box or a vault in order for it to remain safe. No. Instead, when we have a faith that saves, it is guarded because our faith gives us that eternal hope that we are looking towards. When Peter says “for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time,” he is referring not to the salvation experience of becoming a believer. But instead he is referring to the day when Christ returns and ushers in a day when things are back to the way they are suppose to be.

Explanation: George Robinson, my evangelism professor in seminary told us that he starts every funeral he preaches by saying, “this is not the way it’s suppose to be.” Nothing reminds us how broken the world is like death. But a day is coming when that won’t be there anymore. Death will be no more. Pain will be no more. And everything will be the way God intended it to be. When we once again experience that on a new earth, that will be when our treasure is fully revealed. And that day is coming.

Transition: So we see that we have this hope because of the resurrection. Why is it so important that we keep that in mind. It’s because it helps us stay strong when things don’t seem to be going well.

1 Peter 1:6-9.

Exposition: Peter writes in verse 6, 1 Peter 1:6 “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,” The people Peter was writing to lived in the northern provinces of what was then Asia Minor which is Modern Day Turkey. The areas he was writing to were almost exclusively gentile, meaning non-Jewish. In the time period Peter was writing, state sponsored persecution against Christians had yet to break out. But there would have been persecution at the societal level. Those that were Christians in these areas either converted from the pagan religion or were children of people that converted from the pagan religion. While the state was not persecuting them, they would have been outcasts in many of their social and family circles. Many would have lost friends or been ostracized from their families. Many may have had random attacks placed on them. And many of them would have just been laughed at or made to feel different. As Peter says, they would have been experienced various trials. Grieved by those trials.

Application: The context we live in isn’t that different. There is no state sponsored persecution that we are experiencing. At least not where we are now. Literally, the president of the college and a member of the board of regents walked up to us at Bible Study the other day and told us how important what we were doing is. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t felt the pain of being left out of things because of what we believe. It doesn’t mean we haven’t experienced strained relationships because of our decision to follow Christ. But even in those times, we can rejoice. When Peter speaks of rejoicing, the word he uses means of being jubilant over a divine action. That divine action we are jubilant is our savior rising from the grave. It is him giving us an eternal hope that allows us to look past the struggles we experience right now to the day when this will all go away.

Verse 7

Why God allows these trials

Builds or faith

We receive glory when we hear good and well done my faithful servant

Verse 8

These people had never seen the risen Christ but they knew Christ and knew that they loved him.

Story of Quan

How we have the certainty we know Christ

Verse 9

Our final destination

Transition

1 Peter 1:10-12.

The prophets did not know Christ or even everything about his coming, but they searched the scriptures to know more.

Serving not themselves but you

When they predicted that the coming messiah would be there, it was hundreds of years away. While God surely saved his prophets, the experience of knowing the gospel was not something they experienced here.

When we share Jesus we do not do it for our sake, but for those who do not know the gospel.

Conclusion: As we close tonight, I want to ask you, what impact does the resurrection have on your daily life? Maybe it doesn’t, because you spend so much time trying to make yourself right with Christ. Maybe it doesn’t because your focus is on doing so many things instead of focusing on what Christ has already done. Maybe it doesn’t because you don’t look towards what God is going to do. Maybe you get so caught up in the sufferings of this world that you can’t allow yourself to look towards what is coming. Or maybe it’s because you have never known Christ in the way Peter described in verses eight and nine. If you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, do you feel that he is calling you to that. If you feel that tonight God is calling you to place your trust in Him for the very first time, come talk to me. As Peter says, you will experience a joy like you never have. Or maybe you are already a believer and you feel God calling you to something else. Maybe it’s to rededicate your life to Christ. Maybe it’s to a call to missions or ministry. If that is you, come see me either during this last song, or before you leave tonight.