1 Peter 5.12-14
When All is Said and Done, God. . .
1 Peter 5:12-14
3/21/99
Introduction:
Often sports teams that excel will have a player that can perform under almost any circumstances. Someone that when the score is down, and things are getting tough, the coach says, “okay guys, whatever you do, just get the ball to so and so.
When I was in college, there was one of those kinds of players on the basketball team (not that I ever played). His name was David Loewer. He was tall, he was good, and he consistently delivered. He often had a big hand in pulling victory from defeat.
He got the nickname, “The Tower of Power, David Loewer.
Every team needs someone like that. Someone who can kind of take charge. Someone who will bring victory.
In the Christian life, God is that Person.
In the book we have been studying, and which we plan to conclude this evening, we see that Peter began with God and now ends with God.
Peter began the book in 1:3 by stating, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . .” and goes on to describe various things about God.
Now in the closing verses of the book, he mentions the true grace of God. This letter began with God and now ends with God.
That’s because when all is said and done in this life, God is the One Who will see to it that the Christian is brought to triumph.
Big Idea: When all is said and done it is God ensures the triumph of Christians.
1 Peter 5:12-14 (read it)
In these verses, I see that Peter gives three concluding thoughts about how God assures His children of ultimate triumph.
Three things upon which we can depend to help.
I. When all is said and done, God will give you grace.
II. When all is said and done, God will give you fellowship.
I. When all is said and done, God will give you grace. (vs. 12b)
A. Our God is the “God of all grace.” (vs. 10)
1. What this means is that God is the God who grants us favor that we do not deserve.
2. He gives us everything we need, in every situation we face to succeed in His eyes.
Just out of curiosity, I read through the book of 1 Peter again, looking for some very specific things. I wanted to see how Peter presents God in the book. I found that in his presentation of God in this epistle, Peter does a couple of things. First, Peter refers to God using several different titles and descriptions that tell us Who God is. And we want to make mention of these briefly this evening.
(For those of you taking notes, don’t feel like you have to write furiously, We have compiled a list on a sheet of paper for you to take home with you. They will be available after the service)
In:
· God is the Holy One (1:15)
· God is the impartial Judge (1:17)
· In 2:6-8, we see that Jesus Christ is the
Chief Cornerstone of the church
The Chosen Cornerstone of the church
The Precious Cornerstone of the church
The Stone the builders rejected (rejected largely by mankind)
The Stone over which the world continually stumbles (a constant reminder that without Christ, life and eternity are meaningless
· God is the “Shepherd and Bishop (Guardian) or our souls (2:25)
· God is called the “Faithful Creator.” (4:19)
· Jesus Christ is called the “Chief Shepherd.” (5:4)
· And now, in our text for this morning and evening, He is called the “God of all grace.” (5:10)
So that’s a listing of some of the titles and statements of Who God is in the book of 1 Peter. But Peter doesn’t just stop with titles. He tells us what God does for us. So I again read through Peter’s letter and wrote down some of the things that God does for us. Here are some of the things that Peter says.
· God has chosen us to be cleansed by the blood of Christ. (1:2)
· God was the catalyst of our spiritual birth (1:3)
· He has given us a living hope (1:3)
· God personally guarantees that our salvation will come to fruition. In other words He is the protector and security of our eternal destiny. He will never lose one of His children to the pits of hell. He keeps us. (1:5)
· Jesus Christ is coming to take us home one day (1:13; 5:4)
· We have been given an imperishable inheritance which is reserved in our names within the gates of the heavenly city. (1:4; 5:10)
· He is our Father (1:17)
· He is building His church universal. That is not just he church in one nation or one time period, but in the entire world and in the entire segment of history known as the church age. (2:5-10)
· Christ left us an example of how to live in this world until we reach our true and eternal home. (2:21; 4:1)
· He called us out of the darkness (2:9)
· He made us His people (2:10)
· Christ gave His life in order that we could be brought to God (2:24; 3:18)
· God gives each of us spiritual gifts so that we can use them to help build His church in this location (4:10, 11)
· God perfects and establishes and strengthens us and settles after the trials have come. (5:10)
· God is always in charge of everything that takes place in this world. Though the adversary exists and is given a certain amount of freedom, it is God Who is ultimately in charge.
So that is Who our God is and what He does, as presented in 1 Peter.
Now do you understand what Peter says when he states that God is the “God of all grace.” (5:10) There is nothing we need that has not been given us, or will not be given us at the time of the need.
God is interested in His children being well-supplied, well-prepared, well-cared for.
He’s the God of all grace! He gives us good things!
B. God is the God of true grace. Notice 5:12- Peter states that he has exhorted and testified, that “this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.”
1. I believe that Peter is referring to the writings of the entire letter. He’s saying, “look, everything I’ve been writing to you about? That’s the grace of God. What you’ve been hearing in the last five chapters, that’s the grace of God.”
2. You can make it through difficult times! This life is only a temporary journey, a short jaunt in comparison to what’s ahead.”
Paul said,
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
This present life is just a preparation for the one to come.
Illustration:
It’s like playing a baseball game. When you are the next batter, waiting while the one before you is batting, they say that you are “on deck to bat.”
You are the next one up. You are getting yourself prepared. You’ll be up to bat soon.
That’s what this life is for the Christian. We are on deck to go into the eternal riches of God.
And that’s what Peter has been saying all along. God is the God of all comfort, He has given us true grace, so that we can endure this time of earth in preparation for the time in the life to come.
So when all is said and done, you can count on one thing in this life. God will give you grace.
Application:
How do we respond to this grace? We stand in it.
The end of verse twelve could be translated as a command. “Stand in it!” Stand in what? The true grace of God. The things we have been talking about this evening. The things that Peter has been saying about God. Do not abandon your faith. Do not abandon or ignore the good things God has done for you! Do not disdain Him. Stand in His grace and goodness. He’s done a lot for you! Now stand confident in what He has done.
II. When all is said and done, God will give you fellowship. (vs. 12-14)
Notice in verses twelve through fourteen there are a number of people who gave the readers fellowship and encouragement
A. Silvanus, Peter and Mark
1. Likely refers to Paul’s traveling companion Silas. He appears to have been the bearer of this letter.
2. He was faithful. That is, trustworthy, reliable. They could trust this man. In the New Testament world of persecution, they could not trust just anyone. But they could trust Silvanus
3. Notice what Peter says that he has been doing in this letter.
a. “exhorting and testifying”
b. Something that exhorting entails is encouragement. It means to “come alongside of” To console, comfort or encourage.
c. Peter under the aid of the Holy Spirit in writing this letter was comforting and encouraging his original audience.
And I might add, that his writing has been passed on to us for our encouragement also.
4. Mark- Do you remember John Mark? What is his claim to fame?
a. He started on a missionary tour with Paul, but for some unknown reason had turned around and left Paul.
b. Paul didn’t take it lightly either. It seems to have been a failure on John Mark’s part.
c. Why would this have been an encouragement to the original audience of Peter?
d. It showed them that failure did not have to be forever. Some of them may have turned their back when the time of trials and persecution and hardship came.
Sometimes we fail in times of hardship. But both Peter (with his denial of Christ) and John Mark are examples of the fact that one failure does not have to dictate a lifetime. Sometimes the effects of sin has a lasting impact on us, but it does not have to rule us or defeat us forever.
So be encouraged, failure once does not mean failure forever.
B. The Church in Babylon. (vs. 13)
1. In the 1st century the name “Babylon” was at times used by Jews and Christians to refer to Rome.
2. It stood for the immorality and godlessness of the city.
3. The church in Rome was greeting the believers in other areas.
4. The church in Rome was in the heart of enemies territory. And yet the fact that they greeted the other believers showed their concern.
C. Christ
1. What is the significance of being in fellowship with Christ?
2. It brings peace!
And thus concludes our study of the book of 1 Peter.
God has given us many blessings that will help us in times of difficulty. In the end, it is God Who ensures that we win.
I. When all is said and done, God will give you grace.
II. When all is said and done, God will give you fellowship.
What we must do is be sure that we are standing firm in His grace. Don’t let the hard times turn us from God. Don’t let the temporary realities of this life cause us to turn from God, or make us bitter toward God.
Illustration:
There was once a fine Christina doctor who had a boy name Keith. Keith was very intellectual and graduated at the top of his class in high school. But the father noticed that there were some seeds of rebellion that were not responding to his father’s counsel.
Keith wanted his first year to be at Stanford, and since they lived in the Southwest, to go to Stanford meant that it would cost a lot of money. The father told his son that if he wanted to go to Stanford, he would have to help pay the bill. Keith reluctantly agreed and went off to college.
While there however, he did not get a job. He did however, get filled with the idea that parents and submission to parents was preposterous! And so, he went back at summer vacation, and announced to his father that he was going to leaving.
And so his dad wisely said, “Okay, son, tell you what Everything you have, I bought for you.” Keith played the violin very well, so the father said, “That Stradivarius violin, you leave in my home.” Keith gulped and blinked, and said, “Okay. . .” then the father said, “by the way, that new Chevelle that you drove to school is mine, so leave that in the garage. And the clothes in the closet, leave them also. You can have the clothes you have on, but leave the money in your pocket on the table. Let’s see if there’s anything else.” By now Keith was pretty well shook up, and said, “Dad, I think you’ve picked everything there is.” So the father said, “okay, you can leave.”
And that evening, father and son had a long talk. And the father leveled that young rebel. But the effect of that talk changed their relationship. It cleared the air and brought them together.
Sometimes we as Christians want all of the benefits that God gives us. All of the things we have listed tonight, with none of the submission. None of the trials, none of the hard things.
What we sometimes don’t realize is that to fully enjoy all God’s goodness, we must be walking with Him.
Are you standing in the grace of God tonight? Enjoying all the benefits that come from obedience?
God gives you grace: stand in it!
He gives you a way through the trials, use it!
The Presentation of God in 1 Peter
His Titles and who He is:
· God is the Holy One. (1:15)
· God is the impartial Judge. (1:17)
· In 2:6-8, we see that Jesus Christ is:
The Chief Cornerstone of the church
The Chosen Cornerstone of the church
The Precious Cornerstone of the church
The Stone the builders rejected (rejected largely by mankind)
The Stone over which the world continually stumbles (a constant reminder that without Christ, life and eternity are meaningless)
· God is the “Shepherd and Bishop (Guardian) of our souls. (2:25)
· God is called the “Faithful Creator.” (4:19)
· Jesus Christ is called the “Chief Shepherd.” (5:4)
· He is the “God of all grace.” (5:10)
What He does and has done for us:
· God has chosen us to be cleansed by the blood of Christ. (1:2)
· God was the catalyst of our spiritual birth. (1:3)
· He has given us a living hope. (1:3)
· God personally guarantees our salvation. In other words He is the protector and security of our eternal destiny. He will never lose one of His children. (1:5)
· Jesus Christ Himself is coming to take us home one day. (1:13; 5:4)
· We have been given an imperishable inheritance which is reserved in our names within the gates of the heavenly city. (1:4; 5:10)
· He is our Father. (1:17)
· He is building His church universal. That is not just the church in one nation or one time period, but in the entire world and in the entire segment of history known as the church age. (2:5-10)
· Christ left us an example of how to live in this world until we reach our true and eternal home. (2:21; 4:1)
· He called us out of the darkness. (2:9)
· He made us His people. (2:10)
· Christ gave His life in order that we could be brought to God. (2:24; 3:18)
· God gives each of us spiritual gifts so that we can use them to help build His church in this location. (4:10, 11)
· God perfects, establishes, strengthens, and settles us after the trials have come. (5:10)
· God is always in charge of everything that takes place in this world. Though the adversary exists and is given a certain amount of freedom, it is God Who is ultimately in charge.
