1 Peter 1:1-13

Introduction

The bible is not a mix and mash collection of unrelated books

It is telling one big story

It is the story of reality

Who God is, Who we are, what went wrong, and the hope there is and what is coming

The greatest theme repeated from cover to cover is the theme of exile and return

I have said this before but it is huge….we all know this feeling…some of us are feeling it like a crushing wave right now

In 2020 Taylor Swift released the song Exile and it debued at number 6 on the top 100

As of today it has 3/4 of a Billion streams on Spotify

Why was it so popluar?

It gave language to an ache we all have

And it used an interesting word…Exile

It is an interesting word because it is one of the greatest themes in the bible

It is a word that gives language to the human experience we all know

The video to the song is of Swift clinging to a piano in a storm tossed sea

If we are honest life has always hit us and left us feeling like that

Tossed by the storms of life…longing for things to be how they are supposed to be

Exile and our return from it is one of God’s greatest themes he gives us for life east of Eden

And life in exile…and our longing for everything sad to come untrue is the ache of all of our hearts

1 Peter is written as Instruction manual for the human experience in a world that isn’t how its supposed to be

If you want to know what 1 Peter is about it is this ….Lessons on living as exiles

And he starts it off with an important first step

Remember Who You Are Because Things Are Coming That Will Make You Doubt

1 peter 1:1-2

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ:

To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Right off the bat who is it for?

Those of us who know exile…it was written as an answer to Swifts song…this is how to live in exile so you conquer to the end

We have to remember we Were exiles

But exile is only half of the major theme of your bible

Exile is The feeling of did we get it right when it looks like the bad guys are winning

The feeling of this doesn’t seem to be making a difference in my life because suffering and trial feel so big and God seems so small

The feeling of things would be different today God if you had just done something to protect me back there

The part we need to remember is the second part…the story is about Exile and Return

We are the ones he returned for

And we are the ones he is returning like a transplanted tree to where we were always supposed to be with Him

Remember what he did in this epic of return

Verse 2- chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Before God created a thing he had set his affections on you

he knew the ache sin and the human experience would cause you

And he said I will stop at nothing to get you back

How?

He says how ….through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 13:8 says he was the lamb who was slain before the world was made

What Paul needs us to remember from the jump to live as exiles is this

God knew what would happen to you

God knew what you would do

he knew what you would be feeling today

he knew the exile you feel

And he did the most epic thing imaginable about it

SO no matter what you are facing or will face you can know that it is not happening because God doesn’t love you

We need to remember that

And we see the next part of what his return does for us in exile

If we remember grade school english class

The Difference An Adjective Can Make

1 Peter 1:3-5

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time

Why does Paul explode in this manual for life in the exile of this world?

Because if you remember that he was the lamb slain before the foundations of the world

If you have experienced his radical saving of your life

If you feel the depth of what it took to save you

You should explode with awe and worship for the author of your scandalous saving

Verse 3 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

This sentence is packed

Explosion of awe for what God has done to end our exile

And how does that apply to my feeling of exile today?

What does the gospel give me today?

he has given us new birth into a living hope

Look at the adjective of hope

living hope implies there is dead hope we can cling too

And what is the basis of it?

How do we as followers of Christ anchor our reality in it?

We believe Easter happened

it helps to read this verse backwards to apply the flow we should anchor ourselves in

It says this…Because Christ is raised and seated on the throne right now i know my hope is alive so I choose what he says to be true when i feel the lies and it makes me in awe that he saved me into this hope

Verses 4-5 tell us when we remember that we need to know that we have not lost anything

What is promised is yours

You haven’t lost anything what you long for is guarded and kept for you

no suffering can take it

no thief of time or cancer or regret can steal it or ruin it

The living king is guarding it and it is coming

The question is this in our exile

Are we clinging today to a what if or should have or if this happens i won’t make it hope?

That is a dead hope

What ever i think i should have had is dead and gone

if i keep going back there i am clinging to a dead hope

But there is a living hope we can cling too

Are you clinging to a the only living hope…or are you clinging to a dead hope?

I love Peters vulnerability and his story in the gospels

He knows what it is to feel like his hope is dead

The Great Edmund Clowney said

The Message of 1 Peter 1. God Establishes Our Hope in Christ (1:3)

Peter writes a letter of hope. The hope he proclaims is not what we call a ‘fond hope’. We cherish fond hopes because they are so fragile. We ‘hope against hope’ because we do not really expect what we hope for. But Peter writes of a sure hope, a hope that holds the future in the present because it is anchored in the past.

that is what he is longing for us to do

The Message of 1 Peter 1. God Establishes Our Hope in Christ (1:3)

That is why he anchors it for all of us in the resurrection

The resurrection of Jesus was a life-changing reality for Peter. When Jesus died on the cross, it was the end of all Peter’s hopes. He knew only bitter sorrow for his own denials. The dawn could not bring hope; with the crowing of the cock he heard the echo of his curses.

But Jesus did not stay dead

Peter knows what it is like to feel like the story you were supposed to have has failed to give you the life you thought would make you happy and whole and loved and secure

And he is saying i know a better story and I want you to know it

Because your living hope is getting you somewhere right now

The future gives us hope in the present because of what was done in the past

We see next

The Goal Of Our Faith

1 Peter 1:6-9

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls

We rejoice in what?

We rejoice in the fact we have a living hope he just said even if it is hard right now

We have joy in what is coming

Joy that is a greater weight when we place it on the scales of our suffering

But this is Not just blind praise and happiness while suffering beats our brains in

The end that is promised and is coming should give us new lenses to interpret our experiences of suffering

I should say this right now sucks

But it doesn’t get the last word

It is the daily and sometimes hourly placing of our suffering on the scales and seeing that our living hope is greater then it and has conquered it and is getting us home

he is saying your faith is being proven that you have a living hope and not clinging to a dead hope

Karen Jobes makes something clear we all need to know because there is some trash teaching out there

1 Peter b. Genuine Faith is Tested Faith (1:7)

Peter does not wish his readers to confuse the testing of their faith with the failure of their faith or to think that their distress implies they have inadequate faith

Let me put it this way…it is not the amount of your faith that gives you hope it is the object of it

Theres bad teaching out there that says god will heal or show up or save IF you have enough faith

That is a lie

The truth is that is is not the amount of faith it is the object of it that promises what you long for

And when in your life does it come?

It comes AT the revelation of Jesus Christ Peter says

So if that is so important what the heck does it mean for me in the midst of feeling the exile of a world that isn’t how its supposed to be?

Clowney again says why it matters

The Message of 1 Peter 1. God Establishes Our Hope in Christ (1:3)

Christ’s resurrection spells hope for us not just because he lives, but because, by God’s mercy, we live. In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. By the resurrection of Christ, God has given life, not only to him, but to us. We are given new birth by God; he fathers us by the resurrection of his Son. In Christ’s triumph God makes all things new, beginning with us.

Peter had this moment where Jesus went from being just a good teacher to savior

The book of Matthew Mark and Luke all record the moment it was so pivotal

Have you?

Have you had that eye opening moment where you finally saw the gospel and not religion

Have you had that revelation of Jesus in your life

Because you faith no matter how much you feel it is hanging on by a thread right now has a greater revelation coming that will make it whole

He is coming back to make everything sad come untrue

And peter is saying when the sky splits open and you see your savior king coming back you won’t care about the pain you know right now

My hope is that there is a real day coming when that is going to happen and i will play ball with my grandpa again

Where I can finally be able to look that little boy I was in the eyes and not feel shame and regret

The day is coming don’t you long for it…

That is the story of reality Peter longs for us to have

Let the future inform your present because of what happened in the past

We don’t have time to look at verses 10-12 but they are Peter saying Jesus is what the whole Old Testament is about

All of history has been moving to end your exile and it has started

Cling to it

Because the bullets of exile will start to fly and you will need this everyday…

That is what verse 13 is for

In the military you have heard of what Peter is ending this with

Commanders Intent

1 Peter 1:13

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ

Commanders intent is a military term

it's a clear, concise communication of the purpose of an operation

It is what needs done to accomplish the end result in the simplest form

We have to have it

Because it is one thing to sit in an operations briefing

It is another thing to execute the details when the bullets start flying

especially when the original plan needs to be adapted to the situation playing out in real life

So this is Peters Commanders intent

Therefore means so in light of all we have just said this is what it boils down too when exile hits

We can’t miss this order though

If we do this becomes crushing instead of life giving

The action we are supposed to take only comes after the action God has taken has captured our heart

If we try and muster up religious performance void of being born again into the gospel we are simply religious people and we will be crushed by it

Peter is saying because God has accomplished a living hope for us that is coming ….we have an action to take

And the action is hope

Hope is ready when the bullets of real life start to fly

Be ready to hope

Be ready to fix your eyes on what is coming when things seem so broken

Jobes again says

1 Peter a. Set Your Hope Fully on God’s Grace (1:13)

Peter’s point is that one sets one’s hope on future grace, not by idle wishfulness or unfounded optimism, but by a mental resolve to live in such a way as to manifest the “living hope” of the Christian believer.

1 Peter a. Set Your Hope Fully on God’s Grace (1:13)

The Christian hope is a reality to be recognized and acted upon now.

That is why he makes sure to say be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you

it is an proactive strike agains the lies we face in suffering

But we have to be self aware of the war when it is raging

Be sober minded means the lens you are interpreting life through is the gospel lens with sure hope in what is coming

it means to be realistic about what is happening

Paul Tripp says we don’t simply we experience the things we go through….we experience things the way interpret them

That is the battle ground of hope

When the exile hits will you will you hope in a living hope

Or will you cling to dead things to cope with the human experience ?

Exile doesn’t get the last word

The lamb is now the Lion

And he has won the war to end your wandering and get you home