Honoring the Father

INTRODUCTION

Please take God’s Word and turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1

We saw last time that our response to salvation is in hope and holiness

Now Peter adds a third response - honor

Notice what he says in verses 17-21

1 Peter 1:17–21 (NASB95)

If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;

knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,

but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you

who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

There are so many reasons why we are to honor our heavenly Father

Peter has already given us two reasons

Now we see the third

This section is broken up into 4 parts and explained by 5 words: intimacy, impartiality, honor, faith and hope

LESSON

Intimacy describes how they and all Christians were addressing God and how we address Him today

Peter begins with...

1. An Intimate Address (v.17a)

1 Peter 1:17 “If you address as Father”

“If you” is better translated “since you” (NIV) but...

“The conditional construction is more forceful; it implicitly appeals to the readers to make a confirmatory evaluation of their own practice.” (D. Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1997), 98.)

The word “address” (epikaleo) is translated “call” in the KJV/NIV and means to “call on or invoke”

The entire phrase “And if ye call on the Father” could be better stated “if you are true Christians, or truly pious—piety being represented in the Scriptures as calling on God, or as the worship of God.” (Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: James to Jude, ed. Robert Frew, (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 127.)

Referring to God as “Father” was not how Israel understood God; they saw Him as the “Father” of the nation not the “Father” of individuals

But Jesus presented God as the “Father” of believers

Matthew 11:25–27 (NASB95)

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.

“Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.

“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

Matthew 6:6–9 (NASB95)

“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

“So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Paul affirmed the intimacy of calling on God as “Father”

Romans 8:15 (NASB95)

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Galatians 4:6 (NASB95)

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

If you “address”; that is a present middle indicative, that means, the verb acknowledged their personal practice of calling on God in prayer. God called them to be His children (v. 15), and they responded by calling on Him, addressing Him as Father.

If you “address”; that is a present middle indicative, that means, the verb acknowledged their personal practice of calling on God in prayer. God called them to be His children (v. 15), and they responded by calling on Him, addressing Him as Father.

D. Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1997), 98.

Not only is God the “Father” of all those who believe but He is also “the Holy One who called you” in verse 15

But Peter goes even further in verse 17 to remind his readers that God is...

2. An Impartial Judge (v.17b)

1 Peter 1:17 “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work...”

They needed to remember that God is also an impartial judge

He “judges according to each one’s work”

The word “impartially” (aprosopolemptos, adverb) is a compound of πρόσωπον (prosopon), “face, countenance,” and λαμβάνιεν (laubanien), “to take or accept,” (Lenski)

It means “to accept or take face”

God does not “accept or take face” like man does but judges the heart

When choosing the next King of Israel, God said to Samuel after he thought God chose the first born...

1 Samuel 16:7 (NASB95)

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Lincoln writes: “He is looking on, taking notice of all, whether there is integrity of purpose, intelligence of mind, and desire of heart to please Him.”

William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 2254.

God is never partial because partiality is a sin

James 2:9 (NASB95)

But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Peter says the “Father” is “the One who impartially judges” because He shows no partiality to anyone

Impartiality is God’s nature

Deuteronomy 10:17 (NASB95)

“For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.

2 Chronicles 19:7 (NASB95)

“Now then let the fear of the Lord be upon you; be very careful what you do, for the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness or partiality or the taking of a bribe.”

Job 34:19 (NASB95)

Who shows no partiality to princes Nor regards the rich above the poor, For they all are the work of His hands?

Matthew 22:16 (NASB95)

And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any.

Acts 10:34 (NASB95)

Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,

Galatians 2:6 (NASB95)

But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me.

Ephesians 6:9 (NASB95)

And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

Both believers and unbelievers will be judged by the impartial Judge

Believers will be judged at the bema seat

Romans 14:10–12 (NASB95)

But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God.”

So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

1 Corinthians 3:12–15 (NASB95)

Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.

If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

The Bema seat is the place where believers will either receive or lose rewards

2 John 8 (NASB95)

Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

Sinners will be judged at the Great White Throne

Revelation 20:11–15 (NASB95)

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Peter said judgment begins with the household of God

1 Peter 4:17 (NASB95)

For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

God commands His church to judge each other

But each one must first examine themselves

Matthew 7:1–6 (NASB95)

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.

“For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?

“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Jesus gives 4 steps in this process (church discipline):

Matthew 18:15–18 (NASB95)

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

“But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.

“If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

All of this will produce...

3. An Honorable Behavior (v.17c)

1 Peter 1:17 “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;”

Since God is an impartial Judge who “judges each one’s work,” believers are to “conduct [themselves] with an attitude of “fear”or “honor” or “respect” towards God

The word Peter uses for “conduct” (anastrepho, aor.pass.imp.) is the verbal form of the noun translated “conduct” or “behavior” in v. 15. (Hiebert)

It means to “behave or conduct oneself”

2 Corinthians 7:1 (NASB95)

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Peter commands all believers to conduct or behave in the “fear” of God

The word “fear” (phobos) is used two different ways in the Bible. It’s used in “an anticipation of a negative experience” or to “indicate a sense of awe and amazement” (Custis)

In this passage, it is used to “indicate a sense of awe and amazement”

In Acts 9:31, phobos is used for the fear of the Lord in a sense similar to the OT meaning of proper piety. (Miles Custis, Lexham Theological Wordbook, 2014.)

Acts 9:31 (NASB95)

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.

Psalm 2:11 (NASB95)

Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling.

Hebrews 12:28 (NASB95)

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;

Paul and his companions were models of this kind of behavior

1 Thessalonians 2:10–12 (NASB95)

You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers;

just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children,

so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

This fear has been defined as follows: “This fear is self-distrust; it is tenderness of conscience; it is vigilance against temptation; it is the fear which inspiration opposes to high-mindedness in the admonition, V 11, p 42 ‘be not high-minded but fear.’ It is taking heed lest we fall; it is a constant apprehension of the deceitfulness of the heart, and of the insidiousness and power of inward corruption. It is the caution and circumspection which timidly shrinks from whatever would offend and dishonor God and the Saviour”

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 11:41–42.

In the words of...

Deuteronomy 10:12 (NASB95)

“Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

Proverbs 16:6 (NASB95)

By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, And by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil.

Proverbs 23:17 (NASB95)

Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the Lord always.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NASB95)

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

“During the time of your stay on earth” refers to how you live here and now

Kenneth Wuest says, “The word “sojourning” is from a word meaning literally “to have a home alongside of,” and refers to a person living in a foreign land alongside of people who are not of his kind. Here it refers to children of God living far from their heavenly home, in foreign territory, on a planet that has a usurper, Satan, as reigning monarch, the people of which are his subjects. The Christian must always live in the consciousness of the fact that he is being watched by the unsaved, that his responsibility is to bear a clear, ringing, genuine testimony to His God and Saviour by the kind of life he lives.

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 11:41.

Peter did not want believers to forget that though they have an intimate relationship with their heavenly Father, they must conduct themselves in holiness during the time of their stay on earth because God is also the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work (1 Cor. 3:10–15; 2 Cor. 5:9–10; Heb. 12:5–6; cf. Eph. 6:9).

John F. MacArthur Jr., 1 Peter, MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004), 68.

We address God with an intimate address as “Father” but also understanding He is also an impartial Judge who judges each one according to their work

This promotes honorable behavior or holy living also because of...

4. A Foreknown Redeemer (vv.18-21)

1 Peter 1:18–21 (NASB95)

knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,

but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you

who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

“Knowing” the immense price should keep them in holy fear

Albert Barnes says, “There is no more effectual way to induce true Christians to consecrate themselves entirely to God, than to refer them to the fact that they are not their own, but have been purchased by the blood of Christ.

Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: James to Jude, ed. Robert Frew, (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 127.

The motivation for holy living is twofold: An impartial Judge and a precious redemption by a foreknown Redeemer

Jesus is the Redeemer

Matthew 20:28 (NASB95)

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

The ransom paid was costly

Redeemed is the key word in this passage. This term (lutroō) means “to purchase release by paying a ransom,” or “to deliver by the payment of a price.” To the Greeks the word was also a technical term for paying money to buy back a prisoner of war.

Here it is used of the price paid to buy the freedom of one in the bondage of sin and under the curse of the law (i.e., eternal death, cf. Gal. 3:13). The price paid to a holy God was the shed blood of His own Son (cf. Ex. 12:1–13; 15:13; Ps. 78:35; Acts 20:28; Rom. 3:24; Gal. 4:4, 5; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Titus 2:14; Heb. 9:11–17).

John F. MacArthur Jr., 1 Peter, MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004), 72.

Psalm 49:7–8 (NASB95)

No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him—

For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever—

We were redeemed by His blood

Ephesians 1:7 (NASB95)

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

God’s plan for redemption was “foreknown before the foundation of the world”

Genesis 3:15 (NASB95)

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Our redemption was predetermined

In eternity past, before Adam and Eve sinned, God planned the redemption of sinners through Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 2:23; 4:27, 28; 2 Tim. 1:9).

John MacArthur Jr., Ed., The MacArthur Study Bible, electronic ed., (Nashville, TN: Word Pub., 1997), 1941.

Acts 2:22–24 (NASB95)

“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—

this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.

We “were not redeemed with perishable things like silver and gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (vv.18-19).

God redeemed us “from [our] futile way of life inherited from [our] forefathers”

Ephesians 4:17–24 (NASB95)

So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

But you did not learn Christ in this way,

if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Titus 3:3 (NASB95)

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

This is why Jesus appeared in these last times for you

He saved us with a holy calling

It’s through Him that we “are believers in God”

D. Edmond Hiebert says, “‘Through him’ emphasizes that Christians are what they are only because of their personal experience of Christ. As they came to believe in Christ, they also believed in God. “No man can actually believe in God without believing in Christ; otherwise the God in whom he believes is not the God of revelation.” True knowledge of God is mediated to us only through Christ, the Mediator (John 14:6; 1 John 2:22–23). His redemptive work has once for all opened up man’s approach to God (3:18; Rom. 5:1). “Without Christ we should only dread God; whereas through Him we believe, and hope, and love” (Wesley).

D. Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1997), 105.

And it’s through Him that our “faith and hope are in God”

CONCLUSION

Chapter one has been a series of reminders

• 1:3–9—Reminder that hope is based on Jesus’ resurrection; new birth and subsequent inheritance will be gained when Jesus returns

• 1:6–9—Reminder that trials will come, proving faith and leading to glory

• 1:10–12—Reminder that prophets foretold salvation, suffering, and the resulting glory

• 1:13–16—Christians should control their minds to conform to holiness

• 1:17–21—Reminder that God judges impartially, Christ saves

Pierre F. Steenberg, The Lexham Bible Dictionary, 2016.

We worship God as “Father”

We also worship Him as an impartial Judge

This is a great motive for holy living

But so is the reminder of our redemption and Redeemer

It cost Jesus His life to secure of salvation

Therefore it’s through Jesus that our faith and hope are in God

They needed to remember this in their suffering and persecution

We need to remember this too when we’re suffering for Jesus

We have an intimate address, an impartial Judge, an honorable behavior, and a foreknown Redeemer

To have a relationship with God you must repent and surrender your life to Jesus Christ

The apostle John said in...

1 John 2:24 (NASB95)

As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

He also said in...

2 John 9 (NASB95)

Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

Let’s pray (Lord’s Supper)