Grace, Love, and Glory (1 Peter)
February 9, 2020
We all struggle with self-control when we are opposed or ridiculed for doing what is right. People around us may not like what we have to say or what we want to do or not do. They may even go so far as to declare us evil for doing what is good. Have we prepared ourselves for that resistance? The apostle Peter has written a letter to encourage those struggling with wicked people.
1 Peter 1:1--2 (ESV) --- 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
As Peter introduces the book, we can see that he calls Christians “elect exiles of the dispersion.” Isn’t that an odd title? If I wrote you a letter calling you the elect exiles of the dispersion, how would that make you feel? We would not enjoy being exiled from the state of Alabama. Being an exile means being kicked out or held back from the place we most want to be. It means being surrounded by people who are not like us. We are a bunch of misfits who have been chosen by God but rejected by those around us. God has left us on earth, surrounded by those who are lost. We might ask, “Why?” Why does God let us stay here on earth and go through additional suffering if he loves us?
Peter starts off his letter recognizing that we are in an unfortunate situation, but as we go through the letter, we do not feel like this is a bad thing at all. Peter wants us to understand this as an opportunity and a gift. Notice the last words of Peter’s letter.
1 Peter 5:12--14 (ESV) --- 12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. 13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
In the end, he will call our lives as elect exiles the “true grace of God.” We need to view our suffering in this life as Christians to be a gift of God and not an unfortunate thing. This will help us to “stand firm” in the faith we have.
Blessed Be The God of Grace (1:3-12)
1 Peter 1:3--9 (ESV) --- 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith---more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire---may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
This is one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture. The words are so rich with meaning as he discusses our new birth, our faith, and our living hope of praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus. The meaning of this text struck me the first time I read it. Verse 6 says that we are rejoicing while grieved by trials, which sounds exactly like James, but then he goes on to describe how enduring suffering will lead to praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus. When I first read that, I thought that Jesus was the one receiving praise, glory, and honor. But, when we look carefully, we see that our refined faith results in praise, glory, and honor. I don’t know about you, but I do not feel worthy of praise, glory, and honor.
This is exactly the reason why Peter starts this section off with, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again...” We bless our God because he has bestowed on us mercy and grace that we do not deserve. He has taken the scum of the earth and saved us to give us praise, glory, and honor that we do not deserve. The whole point of this first paragraph is to mesmerize us with the grace of God. Isn’t it wonderful? Isn’t it worth rejoicing over?
In the next paragraph, he says that even the prophets of old were looking at all the gifts that would be given to God’s elect exiles, and God would only tell them that they were serving some future generation that will inherit the blessings.
The rest of this book is about how we should live in response to such a gift. God’s desire for them is to be born again. He wants them to be a totally transformed group of people who do not fit in on this earth, but instead, shine as lights for the world to see God’s glory.
Calling Christians To Love (1:13-4:12)
The next section is the main part of the book. Throughout this section, he calls Christians to action.
1 Peter 1:13--16 (ESV) --- 13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
This is the transition statement. Notice how he goes from describing salvation to calling Christians to a life of holy conduct. He wants them to overcome the passions of the past life to be like God. Now, when we think of being holy or getting rid of passions, several things might go through our minds. Peter wants us to focus on getting rid of specific passions for a particular purpose.
Purpose (1:22-25)
1 Peter 1:22--23 (ESV) --- 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
He wants us to be holy and pure so that we can love our brethren. The passions of our past life harm our relationships. Our purpose is to show the love of Christ in our conduct. As he was pure and holy with love to bring us to God, so must we. But what specific passions do we need to overcome?
Passions (2:1-11)
1 Peter 2:1--3 (ESV) --- 1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation--- 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Peter wants us to get rid of passions to have malice, to deceive people, to be a hypocrite, to envy, and slander. Don’t we feel all of these desires inside of us as we live in a sinful world? He goes on in Chapter 2 to discuss the fact that we will be rejected just as Christ is rejected, and still, we have to “abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against our souls.” (2:11) The words of Paul in 2 Timothy are true, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12) along with the words of Jesus, “A disciple is not above his master...” (Matthew 10:24) The harder life gets for us, the more tempted we will be to give in to these passions and lash out at those who reject us.
Love (2:12-3:12)
We all realize how detrimental these passions can be toward relationships. Notice that Peter is not talking about drinking, sexual immorality, or idolatry. Those things are supposed to be removed from our lives. But he is talking about reacting to rejection with evil thoughts and evil responses instead of love. The rest of this section discusses the benefits of controlling our passions and loving people with a pure heart.
1 Peter 2:11--12 (ESV) --- 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
This verse is critical to understand the desire that is supposed to be in every Christian’s heart. We hope to live in such a way that those who are lost will see our good deeds and glorify our God. We want all of these people around us to see God’s love for them through our love for them.
In the rest of Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, we see that we can honor God and show others love by submitting to people who are unruly and unloving. We submit to our government’s authority. Slaves submit to masters. Wives submit to their husbands. Peter calls for everyone to submit and honor those who are in authority over them. If they are evil against us, we would want to react with malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. But Peter wants us to love them and honor them just as Christ did. He also calls for husbands to live with their wives in an understanding way, giving them honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life. Those who are in authority are also to avoid passions that oppose Christ.
The rest of this section reinforces what he has said thus far by telling them to pursue what is righteous with a reassurance that God is on our side.
1 Peter 3:8--12 (ESV) --- 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Devotion (3:13-4:11)
In the second half of Chapter 3, Peter tells Christians not to be troubled or afraid of those who would hurt us. That fear can bring out the passions that go against our Lord. Instead, we must “honor Christ the Lord as holy” in our hearts. What does that mean?
1 Peter 3:15--16 (ESV) --- 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
The people around us will be surprised to hear of our hope, and they will be surprised to hear that we do not follow them in their sinful life. Having Christ as Lord of our lives means being ready to share our hope with those who might hate us for it. We use our gifts from God to show love to others that they might turn from their sin and glorify God.
Sharing In Glory (4:13-5:11)
The last section of the book encourages the readers by telling them again that they can be glad when they suffer as they spread the gospel. Why? Because “the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” When we suffer while trying to glorify God, we are following in the footsteps of Christ. We all know that after Christ went through tremendous suffering, he was given a greater glory than anyone could imagine by being seated at the right hand of God.
In Chapter 5, Peter exhorts the elders in the church to set the examples for everyone else to follow, and he urges all of them to have humility.
1 Peter 5:10 (ESV) --- 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
The Question We Must Ask
This letter paints a picture of God’s people being active and ready to give testimony to others about their faith. But it also reveals the fact that they are supposed to overcome the evil inner desires or passions that come up when people are mean toward us. This leads to a question, “Is Jesus the Lord of our hearts?” As we saw in the 3:15, this means always being ready to share our faith without disrespect or returning evil for evil.
This is one of the hardest things for us to do. We struggle with stepping outside of our comfort zone to talk to people about our commitment to Christ. If we were to tell other people the truth about our beliefs, they might mock us, ridicule us, reject us, or make our lives difficult in some way. The world is becoming increasingly hostile against those who believe that repentance and serving Christ is the only way to heaven. No one wants to hear that they must change their lives to be acceptable to God. How can we overcome our fears of talking to them? Peter tells us throughout the book two things to help us with our fears.
Think Of Christ
The first thing that I noticed as I was studying this book is the number of references to Christ. There are five specific places where he points to Christ to help encourage us to overcome our passions and love our neighbor.
1. Holiness of Christ (1:18-21)
In this section, he points to the fact that Christ came down from heaven to pay the ransom price with his precious blood and save us from our sins.
2. Rejection of Christ (2:4-8)
The second section discusses Christ being the cornerstone of our salvation and to us as living stones built with him. He was rejected, and so will we as we offer spiritual sacrifices to God.
3. The Life of Christ (2:21-25)
In the third section, he specifies the rejection Christ faced and describes how he endured it without giving into the passions of the flesh. He was reviled, and he did not revile others in return. He did that to heal us and give us a new heart that would live for righteousness instead of sin.
4. The Death of Christ (3:18-4:2)
The fourth section says that Christ has suffered to the point of death to be made alive in the spirit. He died so that we could have the same way of thinking about our lives. It is better to suffer in our flesh and live for the will of God. It is better to let my body die and have a spirit that is alive.
5. The Glory of Christ (4:13)
The final statement that all of these have been building up to states the point clearly and concisely.
1 Peter 4:13 (ESV) --- 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
We are encouraged to let ourselves die so that we can share in Christ’s suffering. We are suffering for the same cause as Christ, to seek and to save those who are lost. This is why we rejoice in our suffering.
Think for a moment about Peter. He has been with Christ and witnessed the way he lived for others and not for himself. When he was at the trial of Christ, he denied Christ three times rather than sharing in his sufferings. Have we done that? Are we doing that?
Conclusion
1 Peter 4:13 also points us to the other major thought throughout this book. It is the thought we began with. If we let ourselves suffer in this life for the cause of Christ, we can also rejoice because we know that those who suffer for Christ will share in his glory when he returns. Peter describes himself as a “partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed” in 5:1, and he says that God has “called you to his eternal glory in Christ.” If our faith endures the fiery trials of this life and is refined, we have hope of praise, glory, and honor when this life is over because our God is gracious and desires all people everywhere to be to the praise of his glory.