Grace and Peace

1 Peter: Hope and Holiness "Grace and Peace" 1 Peter 1:1-2 Sunday September 19th, 2021 Pastor Thomas Heotzler Introduction: Have you ever walked through a difficult experience and felt afraid, conflicted, weak and powerless? Have you ever struggled to find peace when life does not go your way or in your favor? Well, in the short two verse introduction of 1 Peter, there are three characteristics of born-again Christians that are essential to know and believe if any confessing Christian desires to experience the grace and peace of God in troubled times. Context From the text of 1 Peter, we learn that Christians to which Peter wrote were facing difficulties and trials and some of them were suffering. We don't know exactly what sorts of trials they were experiencing but some are sure to be because of their faith in Jesus. Peter wrote this letter specifically to Jewish and Gentile Christians who were living in various regions Peter call's the Dispersion, an area we today would call Turkey. Just for comparison, the size of the location Peter's audience lives in is about the size of the section of the Northeast US from New York up to Main. If Peter wrote this letter today and in our geographical location, he might say, "to the chosen pilgrims of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Main." Peter's first letter begins in the way many of the Apostle Paul's letters begin, with an introduction including the name of the author ("Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ") and a blessing to his intended audience ("to the pilgrims of the dispersion...grace to you and peace be multiplied"). While this introduction is only two verses long and it may not seem terrible significant, it actually holds essential truths about the born-again Christian that are necessary if any Christians are to live in the grace and peace to God. These truths describe Peter's audience 2000 years ago and they describe Christians today. 1 Peter 1:1-2 was read out of the New King James Version, but I want to use a more literal translation of the text today. The difference between a literal translation and the NKJ translation and perhaps a different translation you might have is that at the beginning, the word "elect" (or "chosen" depending on your translation) is placed immediately before the word pilgrims or sojourners or exiles. Many translators have decided that God's foreknowledge modifies only the word "elect" and so they change the position of the word "elect" into the beginning of verse 2. However, the Greek is not as clear as it puts the word "elect" right before the word "pilgrim." (See side note for comparison) Here's a literal translation of verses 1 and 2: "Peter an apostle of Christ Jesus, to the chosen pilgrims of the Dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for the obedience and sprinkling of blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you." Known by God One truth that we learn from the text is that born-again Christians are known by God before they ever become Christians. Known in knowledge This truth is reflected in Psalm 139:13, 15 where the psalmist says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb...my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body." What an incredible truth this is! Before you were born, God knew all about you. He knew your hair color, your weight, the location of that bothersome mole, how much you would weigh, what your toes would look like, what your personality would be, what your voice would sound like...he knew everything! From the beginning of time, God already knew everything about you and everything that you would do and everything that would happen to you. Nothing about you is a surprise to God and in fact, He knows you far better than you even know yourself! In this way God knows everyone, but he knows his children in a much more intimate way than he knows everyone else. Known in relationship God told the prophet Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb, I know you, before you were born, I set you apart." Here, God is talking about much more that simple knowledge...he is talking about intimate relationship. God knew Jeremiah intimately as one that He had already planned to set apart as His prophet. This intimate knowing is only possible with those who have genuine saving faith in God. In contrast, there will be people who stand before Jesus to whom Jesus says, "I never knew you; depart from me you workers of evil." (Matthew 7:23) Jesus won't say, "I used to know you," or "I don't know you," but instead He will say, "I never knew you." As God, Jesus certainly knows everything about everyone, but there are only certain people He truly knows through intimate relationship, and those are the people He has chosen. Chosen by God Chosen unto salvation Being chosen by God is another truth that we learn from the text. According to Peter, the Christians in the Dispersion are chosen or elect by God. They were believers because they were known and chosen, and this truth is the same for all those who are born-again believers. The Psalmist also penned this truth in Psalm 139:16: "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before of them came to be." Believers are intimately known by God before birth because God had already made the decision that He was going to save some from the fiery judgment they purchased for themselves. Consider this...if you belong to Jesus, it's ultimately because God, for reasons we will never know, looked at you even before you were conceived and said, "I am choosing you to experience a grace you can never deserve." Because of this, when born again Christians stand before Jesus He might say, "Welcome dear child and one whom I have always known." Chosen unto situation But it is not only the fact that God has chosen us to salvation according to His perfect love and will, but He has also chosen us unto our situation. From Psalm 139, we've seen that God has worked out our days and has everything set in place, including the good works that He has prepared beforehand for us to walk in (Eph.2:10). And in His way, He has known and chosen the circumstances in which we have lived, do live, and will live in the future. This is where the literal translation of the text comes into play because we are able to see the connection between God's foreknowledge, His choosing, and the location in which His children are living. The Christians who were living in the Dispersion and who were experiencing suffering and trials are there by design, not by accident. They were the chosen pilgrims of the Dispersion according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. You are where you are by design. I am a chosen pilgrim of Blodgett Mills NY according to the foreknowledge of God. Everything about me has been known intimately by God who chose me before the foundation of the world to be who I am where I am at this exact moment and every moment. The same is true of you, and for all people who have saving faith in Jesus. Nothing happens to you that is not known and lovingly planned out by God. Why? Because His purpose is to change you into the image of His Son. Changed by God Every single person needs to be changed. Sin is a ravenous cancer that effects every part of every person ever born. There is not one part of your personality or desires or emotions or thoughts that are not infected with sin. God made each one of us and we are fearfully and wonderfully made, yet because of sin, there is much to be desired. Only through change performed by the work of the Holy Spirit can we begin to be made whole again. According to Peter, the Christians in the Dispersion were where they were and experiencing trials so that they would be changed. The actual word used is sanctification which means to be made holy. It is the process of being transformed by the Holy Spirit more and more into the image of Jesus. The Apostle Paul describes the process of change this way: "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18)." As God sanctifies or changes His children and as we become more like Jesus, we become more obedient to the word of God, and we are further purified. That's what "for the sprinkling with his blood" means, to be purified. And what does God use to change us and purify us? Trials and suffering from our situations. The testing of our faith produces steadfastness which, when having its full effect, leads to growth in Jesus and further purification as precious metals are refined through fire (James 1:1, 1 Peter 1:7). Wow! Think about that for a moment...God is working to change you to be like Himself. We frequently form attachments to people whom we admire, and we say something like, "I want to be more like him!" or "I want to be more like her!" Well, what could be better than becoming more like God in our character and holiness?? This is a supreme pleasure and gift that God has granted us access to through salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit, and its for this reason that we are able to rejoice in God even through trials and suffering because we know God is using them to change us into something so much better. Conclusion: In summary, these are the three truths about born-again believers: we are known by God in the fullest and most intimate and wonderful degree, we are chosen by God to be redeemed and to walk in the days He has established for us before we were born, and we are changed by God who uses the difficulties of life to transform us into the image of Jesus. These are all things done BY God FOR those whom He has set His heart upon. If you do not have a relationship with Jesus, God's desire is that you would believe in His Son Jesus who died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins. Turn away from your sin and turn to Jesus and become known, chosen, and changed by God. Because born-again believers are known, chosen, and changed by God, we are able to live in the grace and peace of God that is multiplied to us. Amen. 2