THE TRINITY & SALVATION (Part 1)

It is popular in today’s Christianity to emphasize the joy, the goodness, and the enjoyableness of being a Christian. We emphasize the idea that you can have your best life now. We mistakenly believe and teach that as a Christian we will never experience trials and hardships again. We are disappointed, therefore, when suffering sets in.

Like the excited college student, just beginning the semester with an enormous amount of hours, real life hits hard. There are an overwhelming amount of assignments due on what seems to be every day. The amount of time required for study boggles the mind. The hopeful college student, after only one week of school, becomes the hopeless college student. Why? Because she had an unrealistic view of college.

The Christian’s problem today is not that we are too optimistic. Christians have every reason to be optimistic. Nor is our problem that we are too pessimistic (though for some that is certainly true). Our problem is not even that we are unrealistic, our problem is that we are not biblically-minded. Our minds, in other words, are too earthly-minded. Our attitudes and values are shaped too much by this life.

What Peter will help us to see is an essential aspect of every Christ-follower. It will help keep us grounded in biblical reality. It will help us glorify, with gratitude, the wonderful salvation of the Triune God. It will prepare us for the suffering to come. It will encourage us in the midst of trials. It will remind us of our purpose here on this earth. It will reorient our ideas of relationships. It will help format our understanding of the pastor and the church. In a phrase, Peter’s letter will help us move from suffering to glory. That was the trajectory of Christ’s life; it is the trajectory of the Christian’s life.

Introduction to the Letter

Peter, the author

Who is Peter? He is one of the Lord’s 12 Disciples. He was a fisherman from Galilee, along with his brother Andrew. During what would have been an average day, this fisherman was converted by the Lord, and Peter’s life would never be the same (John 1:35-41). From that point on, Peter would travel with Jesus, watching Him as he taught, lived, and ultimately gave His life in sacrifice as the perfect Lamb of God.

Peter, as though of you who are familiar with his life, was a man of instant action and little thought. In fact, his words often got him into trouble (such as walking on water, his denial, his recommendation of building three tabernacles instead of one). From the collective account of Scripture, it seems that Peter was a hard man, a man’s man, if you will. But there is a softer side to Peter as well, no doubt due to the Lord’s working in his life.

For one, after Peter’s denial of Christ, he wept bitterly. The Lord Jesus, upon restoring Peter (see John 21: 15-19), softened this fisherman even further. In addition to all of this, Peter was married, and with his wife ministered for the Lord after His ascension (see 1 Cor. 9:5). In fact, Clement (an early church father) tells us that Peter watched his wife martyred. Peter would give his life for the Lord Jesus. In his death, which was by crucifixion, Peter asked to be crucified upside down, because he was not worthy to be crucified in the manner of his Lord. (On a side note, help us, Lord, to be like Peter!)

We should keep all of this in mind as we read Peter’s letter. But now lets briefly turn our attention to the recipients of this letter: the elect exiles in the Dispersion.

Elect Exiles, the audience

The people to whom Peter was writing were not literal exiles. No, they were believers (primarily Gentile), who, like us, are sojourning in this life until we reach the promise land of the new heaven and new earth. They were people like us, trying to life a faithful Christian life in the midst of a world that opposes the Word of God on every level. They were moms and dads, grandfathers and grandmothers, tinkers, workers, masters, slaves, rich, poor, faithful, unfaithful, and we could go on. In other words, it is a letter written to us. Which brings us to the question, Why should we study this letter? Why dedicate several months of our lives to read and apply this letter?

Present Day Benefits of studying this Letter

I see many reasons, but we will summarize them all into our series title, we are called from suffering to glory. Suffering, as uncomfortable as the word and experience are, is a part of everyone’s life, particularly the believer’s. But suffering, as in the case of the life of Jesus Christ, leads to glory. Christ shares His glory with us, but not yet. This life of suffering, however, begins with our salvation.

In other words, you will never truly experience suffering in this life (in the spiritual sense of the word), until you become a follower of Jesus Christ (cf. Gal. 5:16-18; Rom. 8:5-8). Which inevitably leads us to the eternally important, forever-life-changing question: How do I become a follower of Jesus Christ? How you answer this question is the difference between eternal torment and eternal bliss.

Interestingly, and quite unplanned, we just finished the book of Jonah. One of the key points that Jonah teaches us, is, as Jonah would proclaim, “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” (2:9)

Our salvation is wholly the work of the Triune God, to whom belongs all glory, praise, and honor for all eternity.

If salvation depended upon us on any level, no matter who significant, we would be lost. Like the mosquito frantically attempting to escape the spider’s web, our efforts to save ourselves only further entangle us in our hopeless state. Our salvation, as we shall see in the next two sermons, is wholly the work of the Triune God, to whom belongs all glory, praise, and honor for all eternity.

I. God the Father and our Salvation- 1:2a

Peter demonstrates in this verse the work of the Triune God in succinct fashion. It is remarkable in its complexity and brevity. In other words, Peter says much with little.

He deals first with God the Father. Now, we all know generally that God the Father saves, but how? We are called elect exiles, that phrase is elaborated on by Peter through this trinitarian lens. What does Peter teach us?

Our election is based in the foreknowledge of God the Father. It is the same idea of prognosis. When a doctor evaluates a patient, he diagnosis the issue and then presents his prognosis. That is, he accumulates all the pertinent facts and issues involved in the patient’s life, and then, through his knowledge of medical issues, provides a prognosis.

Now, as should be clearly evident, God’s knowledge is infinitely different than

II. God the Spirit and our Salvation- 1:2b

III. God the Son and our Salvation- 1:2c