Reference: Mike Measley at The Gospel For Real Life
Preface to Peter:
John 21:15-19
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
1 Peter (written by Peter from a true pastors heart to feed His sheep)
Peter knew these Christians were experiencing REAL life. They were experiencing suffering and trials.
They were not accepted, and alone. So, he wrote to them, to remind them of the Gospel for REAL life, and what that would look like in their situations. They were going through hard, dark things. But there was something bright, hopeful, glorious for them to fix their eyes on! God, Jesus, the Spirit were working in them and for them! There is something to hold onto in the midst of this life of suffering.
How did Peter know this? Because he experienced REAL life, suffering and glory himself! He experienced REAL life with Jesus.
Introduction
1: 1-2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father; through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
1: 1-2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father; through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
To God's elect... All through the bible the emphasis is on God's action. We are commanded to receive this grace by faith. The work that we are called to do is to believe on Jesus Christ (John 6: 29). It is a response to His work! And His work began before the creation of the world. This should humble me. I am not greater than anyone else. Why should God choose me? It was grace! His gift! Grace means undeserved. Grace means it is simply a gift He chose to give. None were worthy. None could make themselves worthy of the Son's life. God chose us to be saved, based upon what He knew to be best for His plan, for His glory. And this was before the creation of the world according to Ephesians 1:4, 2 Thessalonians 2:13 and other verses.
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit--fruit that will last-
(See notes on Strong's #1588 eklektos (elect, chosen)
[We were certainly chosen....not because we were the better choice (for ALL had sinned and fallen short of God's expectation) but because we answered His call. The Scriptures emphasize being chosen to understand that He chose us FIRST and without Him wooing us, we would not have chosen Him. We were certainly chosen for a purpose but some may come to the conclusion that we were chosen because God knew what we would contribute to His calling. But we miss the significance of this calling if we proudly conclude that we were so important to His calling....God chose to allow us to participate in His plan...He considers us co-workers. But sadly, even the chosen don't go and bear the fruit they were chosen to bear and don't always fulfill the purpose for which we were called. ]
strangers in the world...This word is used for people who didn't belong. They were living there, but were foreigners. Someone who was strange and did not fit. They were often excluded because they were different. Weird. They didn't act the same as everyone else. And hence, would be ridiculed. This is the same word used in Hebrews 11:13. These people were to be like Abraham and the others who were living in the land, but looking forward to another country!
Hebrews 11:13 NIV84
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
scattered...
These people were not all together. They probably often felt alone.
We were chosen ACCORDING to the foreknowledge of God the Father
You may feel strange and alone in the world, but you were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. He knows you thoroughly! He knew you thoroughly before, and still chose you! You may feel strange, and unaccepted, but He chose you!!! You are loved and accepted. Not because He has to, but because He wanted to!!
We were chosen THROUGH the sanctifying work of the Spirit
You and I were dirty, sinful, disobedient, undeserving people. But, the Holy Spirit has made us Holy, acceptable to God. He is at work to change us to be more and more like Jesus, and He isn't giving up! He is continuing to work in you until the day of Christ Jesus!
So God chose us ACCORDING to the foreknowledge of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. We were not called because we were qualified, He qualifies the called through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
What were chosen to do? What's the point? What's the purpose?
Obedience to Jesus! I don't have to do the same old wicked things. I can learn to do what Jesus would do so that I would go and bear lasting fruit (John 15:16)! And, I am sprinkled clean by the blood. Jesus sacrificed to pay for our sins. And just like was done with the Atonement sacrifice, He sprinkles us to show that we are His! He sprinkles us to show us we are clean in His eyes! No more guilt or shame! Let it go! He has cleansed you! Who can condemn when the Judge has cleansed you!?!
So because of this, though you may feel strange, unaccepted and alone in this world, you have
GRACE and PEACE in abundance! You don't deserve it! That's what Grace is! Praise the Lord it isn't up to you earning this! It is a gift! God loves you and chose you to be His! Now you have PEACE with Him! Nothing can separate you from Him and His love! You are never alone! He is with you!
GRACE and PEACE! What a blessing.
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit--fruit that will last-
(See notes on Strong's #1588 eklektos (elect, chosen)
[We were certainly chosen....not because we were the better choice (for ALL had sinned and fallen short of God's expectation) but because we answered His call. The Scriptures emphasize being chosen to understand that He chose us FIRST and without Him wooing us, we would not have chosen Him. We were certainly chosen for a purpose but some may come to the conclusion that we were chosen because God knew what we would contribute to His calling. But we miss the significance of this calling if we proudly conclude that we were so important to His calling....God chose to allow us to participate in His plan...He considers us co-workers. But sadly, even the chosen don't go and bear the fruit they were chosen to bear and don't always fulfill the purpose for which we were called. ]
strangers in the world...This word is used for people who didn't belong. They were living there, but were foreigners. Someone who was strange and did not fit. They were often excluded because they were different. Weird. They didn't act the same as everyone else. And hence, would be ridiculed. This is the same word used in Hebrews 11:13. These people were to be like Abraham and the others who were living in the land, but looking forward to another country!
Hebrews 11:13 NIV84
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
scattered...
These people were not all together. They probably often felt alone.
We were chosen ACCORDING to the foreknowledge of God the Father
You may feel strange and alone in the world, but you were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. He knows you thoroughly! He knew you thoroughly before, and still chose you! You may feel strange, and unaccepted, but He chose you!!! You are loved and accepted. Not because He has to, but because He wanted to!!
We were chosen THROUGH the sanctifying work of the Spirit
You and I were dirty, sinful, disobedient, undeserving people. But, the Holy Spirit has made us Holy, acceptable to God. He is at work to change us to be more and more like Jesus, and He isn't giving up! He is continuing to work in you until the day of Christ Jesus!
So God chose us ACCORDING to the foreknowledge of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. We were not called because we were qualified, He qualifies the called through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
What were chosen to do? What's the point? What's the purpose?
Obedience to Jesus! I don't have to do the same old wicked things. I can learn to do what Jesus would do so that I would go and bear lasting fruit (John 15:16)! And, I am sprinkled clean by the blood. Jesus sacrificed to pay for our sins. And just like was done with the Atonement sacrifice, He sprinkles us to show that we are His! He sprinkles us to show us we are clean in His eyes! No more guilt or shame! Let it go! He has cleansed you! Who can condemn when the Judge has cleansed you!?!
So because of this, though you may feel strange, unaccepted and alone in this world, you have
GRACE and PEACE in abundance! You don't deserve it! That's what Grace is! Praise the Lord it isn't up to you earning this! It is a gift! God loves you and chose you to be His! Now you have PEACE with Him! Nothing can separate you from Him and His love! You are never alone! He is with you!
GRACE and PEACE! What a blessing.
Foundation: the Gospel for REAL life
This letter was written to give the recipients encouragement for how to live in this world. How the Gospel is for REAL life. God does not intend our Christianity, our relationship with Him to be disassociated from REAL life and irrelevant outside of the walls of the church. It is one thing to live as a Christian when 'life is good', and another to live as a Christian in the face of REAL life struggles. I believe this letter is just as relevant to us today, and I hope we will find the Gospel for REAL
life ourselves as we study it together.
1:3-9 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, through now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. these have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now; you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
This letter was written to give the recipients encouragement for how to live in this world. How the Gospel is for REAL life. God does not intend our Christianity, our relationship with Him to be disassociated from REAL life and irrelevant outside of the walls of the church. It is one thing to live as a Christian when 'life is good', and another to live as a Christian in the face of REAL life struggles. I believe this letter is just as relevant to us today, and I hope we will find the Gospel for REAL
life ourselves as we study it together.
1:3-9 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, through now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. these have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now; you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
We have been given a new birth!
God gives us a new birth. Not one of flesh and blood, but a spiritual rebirth. Peter begins by saying, Praise God who caused us to be born again. No matter what you are going through, you have been born again. You have spiritual life within you! Praise the Lord, though the outer man is wasting away, the inner man is being renewed!! |
John 1:12-13
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self his being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. |
Through God's Mercy
We were given new birth through God's mercy! God chose us before the Creation of the world. He chose those of us who have received Christ, not because we were so good. But in spite of how sinful we were. He knew all about us, but chose us anyway! That is Mercy! How did He accomplish our salvation? By the death and burial of Jesus! He could have demanded that we pay through our death for our sins but, in His mercy, He provided Himself as atonement for our sins. |
Titus 3:5
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, |
Into a living hope!
Living? Something that is alive is growing, vibrant, productive, fresh. Our hope in Christ is living. It is growing. It brings freshness. It produces confidence in the midst of uncertainty. It produces boldness in times when we are afraid. It gives us great expectation in spite of all else. That's what this hope is. It is confident expectation. Why such living hope? Because Jesus rose from the dead! He rose, and showed us that He will do the same for us. He rose, and it is as if we already rose with him, into a new way of living! Living hope! |
Romans 6:1-14 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Because we were re-born into a Living Hope!)
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,a that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him (He is our Living Hope!) The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. |
Given an awesome inheritance!
This inheritance is also kept in heaven for you who are being shielded
In THIS you greatly rejoice EVEN THOUGH... you will suffer grief in all kinds of trials. Rejoicing is based upon what God has and is doing rather than worldly circumstances. Isn't that the opposite of what we do? Don't we choose to rejoice when our circumstances are great and complain and pray for help when our situation is dire? We need to make every effort to recognize what God is doing in our lives and REJOICE knowing this life is temporary, and even though we suffer trials, God is still shielding us through faith by His power. Trials come...
Peter commends believers for their faith. Peter knew Jesus. Peter lived, walked, talked, ate with Him but he says: "Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." This inexpressible joy is evidence that you are "receiving the goal of your faith ==> the salvation of your souls!" Your salvation (deliverance) is coming, and you will be with the One you love. You will finally see him. You will be with Him and bask in His Presence! Praise God! No matter what is going on in your life, you have new birth, new living hope, new inheritance! Praise God! |
Could Peter have been thinking of Jesus' teaching?
Matthew 6:19-34 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also... At "Just the right time".....(Ref) This is God's theme: - at Christ's birth (getting the world ready behind the scenes) - at His death (lined up with the feasts) - at His return (we can trust Him that this is known and He is ready!!! This inheritance is being shielded I recall the effort that my parents went through to protect the savings that they worked so hard for to ensure that this savings remained in-tact as our inheritance. They knew that taxes could influence what would be available to us and that tax laws could change that would also impact our inheritance. BUT our inheritance provided through Christ is shielded...laws will not change that will cause the value to decrease or be lost or require that we pay back what was provided for us. More on "Receiving the end result of your faith" |
1:10-12 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
Peter recognized that the gospel, now revealed, was spoken of...predicted...by the prophets. The prophets tried to intently understand the significance of their prophecies and when the Promise would be revealed. And they were given understanding by the same Holy Spirit to let them know that these prophecies would not be fulfilled in their time.
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Matthew 13:17
For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. Ephesians 3:10 His purpose was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, |
Call to Obey as Children
1:13 - 16 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
1:13 - 16 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Therefore....
What does it mean to "prepare"? It means to make something ready for use. What is it that we are preparing? Our minds. What is it that we are preparing for? For action! The actual Greek word used for "prepare" means to "gird up". This was a figurative term meaning to get ready to move quickly. The term was associated with the image of a person tucking their long robe into their belt so that they could run and move about freely and quickly without tripping. We are called to "gird up" our minds so that we don't stumble over challenges or trip over obstacles. And it's not just being ready at the defensive but to be on the offensive to be prepared to make the most of every opportunity. We are called to be on the ready and to take action! Do we normally prepare our minds or is our motivation based on our feelings? Feelings can be deceiving because they can be irrational and unmotivating. You also cannot command a feeling. This is why we are commanded to prepare our minds for the following actions:
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What does it mean that God is holy?
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Call to Grow in Community
2: 4-10
2: 4-10
Call to Act Properly in the World
A. Holy Submission
2:11-3:22
A. Holy Submission
2:11-3:22
A. Holy Living
4:1-5:11
4:1-5:11
vs 7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.
Peter writes that the end of all things is near, or "draws near." So, what is the right response to this awareness that the end of all things is near? Panic? Isolation? Indulgence in pleasure-seeking? Peter's answer is that the most rational response is to pray. And, that prayer requires strong and clear minds. This is yet another reason not to jump into the mindless pleasure-seeking described in prior verses. Instead, Peter writes, we must be self-controlled, or alert, or exercising sound judgment about our choices. And we should be sober-minded. In this context, "sober" means "serious." In other words, we should be careful about how we live. Our choices impact our ability to think clearly. It is better to be self-controlled, so that we can pray.
What are we praying about? We need to be self-controlled so that we can chose to be clear-minded and we can actually pray and speak with God so that He can give us direction for how we are to spend the remainder of this time.
What are we praying about? We need to be self-controlled so that we can chose to be clear-minded and we can actually pray and speak with God so that He can give us direction for how we are to spend the remainder of this time.
Closing
5: 12-14
5: 12-14