Standing Together In Grace

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Friends, we have taken the journey through 1 Peter together and it has taken all of 2020 to do it. Little did I know when we started this journey entitled “Not From Around Here: The Strange and Complicated Life of a Sojourner” in January just how strange and complicated our journey would be together in 2020. I believe God led me to this series and I believe God gave us key truths during this crazy year.
The Apostle Peter wrote a group of persecuted believers who had been scattered throughout the region because of their faith. He gave truths that would empower, embolden and encourage them. Tonight as we look at the closing of this letter, we will see a fantastic summary.
Believers share the benefits of faithful brethren, the security of common election, and the Love and Peace that comes from knowing Jesus. This is the true grace of God in which we stand.

this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.

Standing With The Faithful

1 Peter 5:12 KJV
By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.
Silvanus is the full form of the name Silas, and he is almost certainly to be identified with the Silvanus of Paul’s letters and the Silas of Acts. When we gather up the references to Silas or Silvanus, we find that he was one of the pillars of the early Church.
Along with Judas Barsabas, Silvanus was sent to Antioch with the epoch-making decision of the Council of Jerusalem that the doors of the Church were to be opened to the Gentiles; and in the account of that mission Silvanus and Judas are called leading men among the Christian community (Acts 15:22, 15:27). Not only did he simply bear the message, he commended it in powerful words, for Silvanus was also a prophet (Acts 15:32).
Acts 15:22 KJV
Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
Acts 15:27 KJV
We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
Acts 15:32 KJV
And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.
During the first missionary journey, Mark left Paul and Barnabas and returned home from Pamphylia (Acts 13:13); in preparing for the second missionary journey, Paul refused to have Mark with him again; the result was that Barnabas took Mark as his companion and Paul took Silvanus (Acts 15:37–40).
From that time forward, Silvanus was for a long period Paul’s right-hand man. He was with Paul in Philippi, where he was arrested and imprisoned with him (Acts 16:19, 16:25, 16:29). He rejoined Paul in Corinth and preached the gospel there with him (Acts 18:5; 2 Corinthians 1:19). So closely was he associated with Paul that in both the letters to the Thessalonians he is joined with Paul and Timothy as the senders of the letters (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1). It is clear that Silvanus was a most notable man in the early Church.1
1 William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter, 3rd ed. fully rev. and updated., The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 317–318.

Standing With The Elect

1 Peter 5:13 KJV
The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.

This is the Literal City on the Euphrates River!

First, the fact that the word is used in a mystical sense in the Book of The Revelation, which book makes use of such figures, is no argument for the mystical use of the word in a writing of a different character.
Second, the other geographical references in First Peter have undoubtedly the literal meaning, and it would be natural to expect that Peter’s use of the name “Babylon” would be literal also.
Third, there is no reason to suppose that when this epistle was written the city of Rome was currently known among Christians as Babylon.
Fourth, The Revelation was written after the composition of Peter’s letter, and therefore he could not be following John’s use of the name.
Fifth, wherever the city of Rome is mentioned in the New Testament, with the single exception of The Revelation (and even there it is distinguished as “Babylon the Great”), it gets its usual name, Rome.
Sixth, there is very good ground for believing that at the date of the writing of Peter’s letter the Jewish, and also the pagan population of the city and its vicinity, was very considerable.1
1 Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 11 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 132–133.

God planted a church in a city that symbolized evil in the world!

Standing In Love and Peace Shared By Believers.

1 Peter 5:14 KJV
Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
1 John 3:13–14 KJV
Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
John 14:27 KJV
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
 In the fall of the year, Linda, a young woman, was traveling alone up the rutted and rugged highway from Alberta to the Yukon. Linda didn’t know you don’t travel to Whitehorse alone in a rundown Honda Civic, so she set off where only four-wheel-drives normally venture. The first evening she found a room in the mountains near a summit and asked for a 5 a.m. wakeup call so she could get an early start. She couldn’t understand why the clerk looked surprised at that request, but as she awoke to early-morning fog shrouding the mountain tops, she understood.
Not wanting to look foolish, she got up and went to breakfast. Two truckers invited Linda to join them, and since the place was so small, she felt obliged. “Where are you headed?” one of the truckers asked.
“Whitehorse.”
“In that little Civic? No way! This pass is dangerous in weather like this.”
“Well, I’m determined to try,” was Linda’s gutsy, if not very informed, response.
“Then I guess we’re just going to have to hug you,” the trucker suggested.
Linda drew back. “There’s no way I’m going to let you touch me!”
“Not like that!” The truckers chuckled. “We’ll put one truck in front of you and one in the rear. In that way, we’ll get you through the mountains.” All that foggy morning Linda followed the two red dots in front of her and had the reassurance of a big escort behind as they made their way safely through the mountains.
Caught in the fog in our dangerous passage through life, we need to be “hugged.” With fellow Christians who know the way and can lead safely ahead of us, and with others behind, gently encouraging us along, we, too, can pass safely.1
1 Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers
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