1 Peter 1:22-25
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Introduction
Introduction
When Jesus taught about the last days, he said that we would be delivered over to tribulation, killed, and hated by all nations because of his name.
He said many would fall away, betray one another, and hate one another.
He said false prophets would arise and mislead many.
He said because lawlessness increased, the love of many would grow cold (Matt. 24:9-12).
Peter’s readers were experiencing some of that lawlessness. They were being persecuted and experiencing various trials as they tried to endure faithfully to the end.
Perhaps because Peter remembered the teaching of his Lord, he knew his readers would be tempted to let the their love for one another grow cold.
To head off that temptation, Peter writes…
22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.
[CONTEXT] Peter began his letter by reminding his readers of their great inheritance of salvation; a salvation that was their’s through faith in Jesus Christ; an inheritance of grace imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
Peter also reminded them of the their great privilege of revelation. The prophets longed to see the Christ revealed, but Peter’s readers saw him revealed in Jesus of Nazareth through the preaching of the Gospel.
Peter then called them to holiness. They were to be holy because their heavenly Father is holy and because their heavenly Father redeemed them from sin and death through the precious blood of his holy Son.
Added to Peter’s call to holiness, is his call to love in 1 Peter 1:22-25.
These persecuted believers were to love one another.
Q. How could persecution or other trials make it hard to love one another as we should?
It is easy to become self-centered when we suffer trials.
We might think we should be the one receiving love rather than giving love.
It could be dangerous to care for someone who is being persecuted.
If we openly care for them, their persecutors may persecute us along with them.
We might even blame other believers for the persecution we are suffering.
We might think, “If they weren’t so vocal about their faith, we wouldn’t be going through this.”
Peter is aware of the temptation to abandon love in the face of persecution.
We remember that he abandoned his love for Jesus in the face of persecution just before Jesus died on the cross.
But the grace of God in Jesus Chris that restored Peter will ensure that believers keep loving one another despite persecution and other various trials.
[TS] In 1 Peter 1:22-25, let’s look at (1) THE CALL TO LOVE, (2) THE ABILITY TO LOVE, and (3) THE DURABILITY OF LOVE.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
#1: The Call to Love (1 Pet. 1:22)
#1: The Call to Love (1 Pet. 1:22)
22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,
Q: What truth is Peter talking about in this verse?
Peter is talking about the truth about Jesus as the Christ.
He it talking about his perfect life, his death on the cross, his resurrection, his ascension, and his promised return.
In short, Peter is talking about the Gospel through which God “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Pet. 1:3).
Q: How do we obey the Gospel?
We obey the Gospel by believing on Jesus Christ for salvation and sanctification.
Peter calls this ‘obeying Jesus’ in 1 Peter 1:2, and he says that it leads to our being sprinkled or cleansed by the blood of Christ.
By believing the Gospel, our souls are cleansed by the precious blood of Christ.
Q: From what are our souls purified as we believe the Gospel?
Our souls are purified or cleansed of sin, but specifically as it relates to 1 Peter 1:22 and the call to love one another, our souls are cleansed of those self-centered sins that would keep us from loving one another.
Sins like looking to our own interests rather than the interests of others or sins like counting ourselves as more important than others.
Q: What does sincere love of the brethren look like?
Sincere love is love from the heart. it is love that takes action.
It is sacrificial.
34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
It is preferential.
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
It is continuous.
1 Let love of the brethren continue.
It is practical.
18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
Q: What does fervently mean?
“Fervently” means to stretch to the limit.
44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.
5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
In the same way that prayer must be stretched to the limit in times of hardship, our love for one another must be stretched to the limit in times of hardship.
Q: What does Peter emphasize with the phrase “from the heart” at the end of v. 22?
He emphasizes the need for sincerity in our love for one another.
Q: How might we grow the sincerity of our love for another when we are not feeling it very sincerely?
We pray for the one we are trying to love sincerely.
We remember that Jesus died to save that one we are trying to love sincerely.
We might ask God to help us forgive that one we are trying to love sincerely if they’ve wronged us in some way.
[TS] It might feel impossible to love some of our brothers and sisters especially when we are going through trials.
We may be already emotionally depleted because of the hardship we’re facing, and then we’re called to love others on top of that!
Where’s that ability to love supposed to come?
Peter answer’s that question in v. 23.
#2: The Ability to Love (1 Pet. 1:23)
#2: The Ability to Love (1 Pet. 1:23)
23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
Q: What does it mean to be born again?
To be born again means to be spiritually raised from the dead through faith in Jesus Christ.
When we rebelled against God, the author of life, we became dead in sin, but when we believed on Jesus for salvation we were raised to spiritual life.
We were, spiritually speaking, like Lazarus being raised from the tomb.
As Jesus said to Nicodemus in the context of the new birth…
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Q: What is the imperishable seed that Peter refers to in this verse?
This is the “living and enduring word of God.”
By God’s grace, this seed fell on the good soil of our hearts so that we would hear, understand, and bear fruit (Matt. 13:23).
Peter describes this seed as imperishable because it is of God who is imperishable…
…as compared to the perishable seed of sinful man.
Q: Why do you think Peter describes the word of God as living and enduring?
He describes the word of God as living because it is alive; it is active.
12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
But the word of God not only pierces but produces.
23 “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”
t's the word in us that produces fruit, and one fruit the word produces in us is love for one another.
This word is enduring because it never dies.
Our physical bodies may die from persecution, but even as we breath our last breathe, the word will still enable us to love one another to the end.
This was true of Jesus who “knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end,” (John 13:1).
[TS] Through the Gospel seed planted in our hearts, God has enabled us to love one another even in the face of persecution.
This doesn’t mean that we will always feel like loving others when we are suffering ourselves, but by the power of God’s Word living in us we are able to overcome our self-centeredness and endure in love to the end.
Look at how Peter highlights the durability of love in vv. 23-24…
#3: The Durability of Love (1 Pet. 1:23-24)
#3: The Durability of Love (1 Pet. 1:23-24)
23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off,
Q: In 1 Peter 1:7, 1:18, and 1:23 Peter contrasts what is perishable with what is imperishable. Why do you think he emphasizes this?
In light of their potential perishing here on earth, Peter wants his readers to focus on that which is imperishable or eternal.
Gold is perishable but a faith that has been tested and purified by trials is imperishable (1 Pet. 1:7).
Silver and gold are precious metals but perishable and therefore useless in forever redeeming us from sin and death (1 Pet. 1:18).
God has instead redeemed us with the imperishable blood of His sinless Son.
The seed of God’s word living in us is likewise imperishable; it will never die but endure forever, so it will always produce in us the love we should have for one another.
To make his point about the durability of God’s word, Peter quotes from Isaiah 40.
In that section of Isaiah, God is comforting his elect exiles with the promised revelation of his glory. He says…
1 “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
Then we hear a voice that sounds a lot like John the Baptist…
3 A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. 4 “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
Then the promise of glory revealed…
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
I believe this glory revealed is the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
Then in Isaiah 40 all people are called to considered their mortality in light of God’s immortality…
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
I think Peter quotes Isaiah 40 because his readers are feeling their mortality thanks to the persecution they are suffering, but living within them is the immortal word of God.
It stands forever.
It has made them immortal. It will carry them safely into eternity.
It will enable them to love one another to the end.
The Gospel we have obeyed produces in us an immortal ove for one another.
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]
