18-3-21 Wed. PM, 1 Peter 1:1-7
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Introduction
Introduction
What are ways you have a hard time?
Relationships?
The mind?
Temptation?
Book
Book
Context
Context
Written by Peter from Rome to the churches in the region of Asia Minor in A.D. 62-63.
They were facing intensifying pressure under state-sanctioned persecution under Nero, which peaked in in A.D. 64.
What were the Christians in Asia Minor going through when Peter wrote to them?
They were facing intensifying pressure under state-sanctioned persecution under Nero, which peaked in in A.D. 64.
This pressure would have taken the form of
abuse from unbelieving family members and employers
ostracism and ridicule by neighbors and associates
hostility from a pagan world that labeled Christians intolerant because of their scriptural beliefs and lifestyles.
Isolated and suffering, the Christian diaspora gathered into churches for worship and encouragement.
In this letter, Peter gives instruction to Christians, like you and me, to remember core truths of the Christian faith so we can stand firm and live for Jesus in the midst of storms.
How does knowing who we are in Christ and what we have through Him help us to cope with our troubles?
Believers must remember our identity is based on who we are in Jesus.
Passage
Passage
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
Remember, Peter was one of the disciples of Jesus Christ.
Peter had some really cool high times.
He and his brother Andrew were the first disciples called. They were fishermen and Jesus called them to leave that and become fishers of men (-18).
He was a mixture of courage, impulsiveness, foolishness, and faithfulness all wrapped together.
He was the assumed leader of the disciples and this is seen in that he is usually the spokesman for the disciples in the gospels.
He spoke boldly and failed spectacularly
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
and then...
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
mt. 16
Whoa! But this was nothing in comparison to Peter’s three denials of Jesus after Jesus’ arrest. Jesus restored him in .
23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Mt. 16
Peter is a great person to speak to us because he shows us failure does not have to be final.
What does it mean that Peter’s life teaches us that failure does not have to be final?
In the midst of trials and persecution, Peter gives wise counsel on how to bounce back from discouragement and live strongly again for the Lord.
mt. 16:
After Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, the disciples came to be called apostles.
After Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, the disciples came to be called apostles.
Apostle means messenger or sent one; an envoy of Jesus
The letter is to Christians who are called elect. This term means a group which is chosen or selected by someone in preference to others. The idea is that those who are Christians are chosen by God.
The main thing to know is that if you are a born-again Christian, you are chosen in God’s eyes. This is important in Peter’s argument that knowing who you are in God will help you weather the storms.
He wants them to know they are adopted sons and daughters of the Father through faith in Christ.
How does it make you feel to know you are chosen by God?
They are also called exiles. An exile is someone who has temporary residence in a place which is not their home. They are aliens and strangers. This was familiar language to the Jews who were exiles in Egypt and Babylon. Jesus was an exile for a little. Remember, as Christians, our home is the kingdom of God in heaven. This world, as it is, is not our home.
How is an exile different from an immigrant or a tourist? How does Peter’s description of Christians as exiles encourage us to view this world?
Dispersion refers to the area surrounding home. For the Jews, the diaspora referred to the Jews living in places other than the Promised Land.
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia are all Roman regions throughout what is today known as Turkey.
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2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
So they are chosen by God. This is according to God the Father’s foreknowledge of them. This means that God has set His covenantal favor upon those who are saved (similarly as he did with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, etc.). It’s not as if they we a sudden rash decision.
Instead, foreknowledge implies God knew these Christians in advance and planned for their redemption.
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
This speaks to the depth of God’s love for you, and the depth of His knowledge of you.
Have you ever thought of God loving you this much to meticulously arrange for your existence and redemption so you might be with Him forever in His kingdom.
Not only do we have election and redemption by the Father’s pleasure. We are being reformed by the Holy Spirit. The word sanctified means in this passage that as the gospel is proclaimed, the Spirit sanctifies (makes clean) some by bringing them to faith, by bringing them into the realm of the holy.
We are being reformed by the Holy Spirit. The word sanctified means in this passage that as the gospel is proclaimed, the Spirit sanctifies (makes clean) some by bringing them to faith, by bringing them into the realm of the holy.
Upon faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts and makes us holy. This making us holy goes on into a lifelong process of making us Holy.
We are the broken and tattered house that a renovator purchases outright, secures the deed, and goes to work to “flip”.
The elect are foreknown, sanctified, and obedient. This is likely referring to the obedience of faith in conversion- the action of believing when the Spirit makes the gospel known to us.
This also refers to Christ’s atonement of our sin by His blood. The sprinkling of blood is from the OT days of the sacrificial worship. The background passage for this is probably when Moses ratified the covenant of God with the people by sprinkling blood from a sacrifice on the people. The new covenant in Christ which is entered into by His blood.
What do the Father, Holy Spirit, and Son do to us when we are saved?
After describing who they are in relation to God, Peter concludes the opening of the letter with a prayerful wish to the Christians whom he knows are suffering.
They are also identified as
He says to them grace- that God would pour out good heavenly things on them in their trials and
peace- that their beings would be whole and well regardless of their circumstances.
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 goes on to give praise to God the Father and then explain why God is worthy of praise.
The reason God is worthy of worship is that He has demonstrated great (remarkable) mercy (compassion) on the Christians. Not only are they special to God, they have received good things.
God the Father has caused Christians to be born again (renewed) to a new hope which is living.
This means that God has given us new life in Christ and He places a dream before us. One that is living and active. This means that the hope we have affects the way we live. We live in light of it.
Part of this dream includes resurrection from the dead for you and me. This is simply that although we may die (really, death is the fear of all people) we will not stay dead. Rather, because our sin has been taken from us, death cannot legally hold us. Therefore, we will, in physical bodies, be raised from the dead! We will have resurrected and restored bodies.
What bolsters our hope in this? Christ was raised from the dead. The Bible teaches that as Christ goes so do we.
This is not like zombies. Our bodies will be whole and lacking will be removed. You will be you. I wonder, what age will we be?
Why is Christ’s resurrection a source of hope for us?
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
Not only will we be raised, but God will have something waiting for us…an inheritance. This refers to God’s promises to His people. In the OT, it referred to the Promised Land of Israel. To Christians, it refers to the Heavenly kingdom, the New Jerusalem .
In this inheritance includes everything that you will ever want to be a whole person.
Earthly inheritances will one day pass on from us through law, treachery, or breaking down, but God’s inheritance for us will never leave us. It will be ours forever.
Our inheritance will remain undefiled and untainted. Sin and the effects of sin won’t mess it up, as it ruined the earthly Promised Land for Israel.
It will be unfading- never losing quality or beauty. It won’t lose its brightness. We will not be bored with it.
God’s inheritance for us will preserved and waiting for us.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
How is our inheritance in heaven different from new things in this world like cars, houses, iPhones, etc.
5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
This verse tells us that God is preserving our inheritance by protecting our faith and salvation. We have the confidence that if we are redeemed, elect, we will not lose this status.
Instead, the Spirit of God compels us to keep on believing and overcoming and to keep on doing what’s right.
People will throw out the idea- well, what if I go murder 100 people, will I still be saved? I would counter, if you are saved, redeemed, elect, the Holy Spirit is protecting you from wanting to do such an atrocity, so it is a moot point.
“What if I stop believing? The Holy Spirit is going to keep you from that end.
God chose you and He is not letting you go. You weren’t saved by your good deeds, you’re not going to be unsaved by your bad deeds.
What will happen is that when we pass from this world and come to in the Lord’s presence, the inheritance will be waiting for us.
Being revealed, it will be simply amazing in our sight.
If we stop believing in Jesus as Savior and Lord, have we lost our salvation?
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
Peter tells this to the Christians in order that they will have a constant attitude of joy.
They will rejoice, even when they are in the midst of all sorts of trials. When we cultivate this hope, it outshines the misery of today. The dream sustains us.
Peter pours on some perspective- life is but a vapor. It is here today, gone tomorrow. It goes really fast. Even if we suffer every day of our lives, Peter says this is “a little while” when compared to the mass of eternity.
7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Further, our sufferings are not wasted. In trials, our faith is tested and verified. We go through trials and we do not lose faith. This gives us confidence that we will certainly not lose faith. Every time we hold firm, our faith is proven real and we start to believe that we are saved and will certainly remain saved- because our faith was real in the first place.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Look
Look
Peter’s message is that the hope of the gospel can and will inspire us even when life is most bleak and the trials are severe.
Think about the trials you are going through. Break-up, drug addiction, peer pressure, a problem with pornography, a bad or abusive home situation.
Peter explains that if we trust in Jesus and take hold of Him as Savior and Lord, the thoughts of who we are in Him and what He has in store for us will help us to persevere.
Peter’s encouragement is for us to foster the dream in our minds.
How can you do that?
Read the promises for the elect, , The words of Jesus in John.
Equip yourself to daydream about heaven.
There is an old concern that says that you can be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good, but the opposite proves true. If you dwell in the Lord and His promises, there will be a welling-up desire to obey Him in the here and now.
In fact, when you come to realize that the inheritance is the end all be all, you will sacrifice much more here on earth in order to receive a greater share of that inheritance.
Took
Took
Write down each trial you are going through.
Work to identify in Scripture how the promise of the inheritance overcomes that struggle.
What trial are you going through? How do God’s promises exceed your trouble?
E.g., I am don’t fit in, but I am in God’s royal family
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
My boyfriend dumped me, but God will never let me go.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38
I am tempted to drink and use drugs at parties, but God makes me so whole that I don’t need these things.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
I don’t have money for a car or a smart phone, but God has more than I can imagine in store for me in heaven.
9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
1 Cor. 9:
9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—