1 Peter 1:13 - Therefore

1 Peter 1:13

“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.”

Whenever you see the word, “therefore”, you need to ask, “What is it there for?” In this case, “therefore” refers to the salvation Peter just discussed and directs our attention to the way we should act in light of that salvation: we should be prepared for action, self-controlled, and set our hope on grace. Salvation is a call to action. I’m afraid we often think once we are saved, heaven is ours – the work is done. Peter tells us that the work is just beginning!

To state it another way: “To whom much has been given, of him will much be required.” – Luke 12:48. We have been given salvation – that is MUCH…

“prepare your minds for action”

I like sports. I like to play them and I like to watch them. During pregame, TV cameras will often find players in the locker room preparing for the game. Some players are seated with their headphones on, staring at the ground. Others bounce up and down/jog in place with their headphones on. Still others walk up and down the locker room nodding their head with their headphones on. Each player prepares his or her mind in their own way – though wearing headphones is apparently universal.

How do you prepare your mind for life as a Christian? How do you prepare for worship when you attend? Do you walk out the door prepared with an answer in case someone asks you about Jesus? How do your prepare for the temptation that you might face during the day? Do you think of ways to love and encourage your friends?

Peter tells us that the Christian life is a life of action. We are to love, forgive, share, teach, pray, make peace, sacrifice, preach, worship, seek, meditate, remember, hope, and glorify our God. That’s a busy life!

“be self-controlled”

Self-control. That has to be one of the least popular hyphenated words in the English language. I don’t want to control myself. I want to eat what I want to eat, I want to do what I want to do, and I want to spend my money the way I want to spend it. Human nature is heavy on self, and light on control.

God calls us to something different – and something better. He calls us to eat in moderation so that others will have food. He calls us to give some of our time to help others who need a hand. He calls us to spend less of our money so we can give to those who are in need. He calls us to consider others every bit as important as ourselves. What did Jesus say was the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.”

By the way, that last sentence gives you God’s general will for your life. You can be busy doing that as you consider God’s specific will for your life. Thankfully God gives us His Spirit to help us live His way – we could not do it on our own.

“set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

Peter says that the only thing worthy enough to be the foundational hope of our lives is the grace that will perfect us when Jesus comes again. The promise of becoming perfect like Christ, being glorified by the Father like Christ, and receiving the eternal inheritance with Christ – is where our hope should reside. We should pin our hope on the grace of Christ for two, no, three reasons.

1. The grace of Christ is the only guaranteed thing in this world. Other things may or may not happen, but the grace of Christ IS a sure thing – no doubt about it.

2. The grace of Christ is the only eternal thing to hope in. All those other things may be good, but they will fade away. Grace is forever.

3. The grace of Christ is the only thing we should hope in because that is what the bible says. Questions?

So, where is your hope? Is it in your friends or family? Your degree? Is your hope in a good job? Money? Health? Is your hope built around a relationship? A future relationship? When you shake everything out, where is your hope? If it is in something other than the grace of Christ – your hope will fail. (Sorry to end on such a downer…Jesus loves you! That is a little more hopeful!)

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” – Colossians 1:27

1 Peter 1:10-12 - Historical Perspective

1 Peter 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, (V11) 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. (V12) 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.”

Umm…yeah. Some verses are pretty easy to write about, and other verses are a little more complicated. These three verses make up one discussion detailing a historical perspective of Christ’s act of redemption. I perused about 10 commentaries to get an idea of what Peter is saying, and the following are the main points:

The first thought is the OT prophets wrote about God’s salvation at the behest and direction of the Holy Spirit; as a matter of fact, the gospel comes from the Holy Spirit (v12 - …preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit…), not man. All scripture, from Genesis to Revelation points to Jesus and his act of redemption.

The prophets were very interested in and often spoke of the coming Messiah. They intently searched the scriptures looking for signs that would point to His coming, and they didn’t understand why the victorious Christ would have to suffer. In other words, they didn’t necessarily understand what God was writing through them. On this side of the cross, we understand that God was after forgiveness of sins, not simply the salvation of Israel from her enemies. On the other side of the cross, that was impossible to imagine.

The Spirit revealed to the prophets that the Christ was coming not in their time, but in a time to come (v12 - it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you); specifically, the time of Peter’s original audience. What an amazing privilege for Peter’s audience – to live in the time of Christ!

This salvation is so incredible that even the angels are intensely interested… though they are not fallen and have no need for redemption. Does your salvation still amaze you? Or have you become so used to it, that it has become as normal as brushing your teeth?

And one final thought, verse 11 says that Christ suffered, but glories followed. By joining in Christ’s suffering, glories will also follow for the faithful. That is a great source of hope then, just as it is a great hope for you and me today. Hope is a wonderful thing!

1 Peter 1:9 - Salvation

1 Peter 1:9

“for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

What is the goal of our faith and the reason for our joy? Salvation. We are no longer doomed by sin – we are free. We are no longer lost – we have been found. We are no longer guilty – we have been forgiven. We are no longer shamed – we have been restored. We are no longer enemies with God – we are friends. Our death penalty has been replaced with life eternal in the King’s household. That is why angels rejoice when a sinner comes to know Christ! (Luke 15:10)

If you are a grammarian – and honestly, who among us isn’t – you noticed that this verse says that “you are receiving…” – that is present tense. If I accepted Christ years ago, how am I receiving salvation now? Well, there is a past, present, and future aspect in the process of salvation:

1. God HAS saved us – aka, Regeneration. The point in time when you made a decision for Christ. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” – Ephesians 2:8

2. God IS saving us – aka, Sanctification. The continual process whereby we become like Christ – we discussed this in Verse 2. “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16

3. God WILL save us – aka, Glorification. When we become like Christ as we enter eternity in God’s presence. “…who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” – 1 Peter 1:5

Peter reminds his readers that God is faithful to continue His work of salvation in our lives – even in the midst of persecution. God never stops working – He is working in your life this instant! Praise God that He loves us so much that He refuses to leave us like we are…

“After the first few steps in the Christian life we realize the everything which really needs to be done in our souls can be done only by God.” – CS Lewis

1 Peter 1:8 - Believing is Seeing

1 Peter 1:8

“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,”

There is an amazing scene in the movie Amistad. If you haven’t seen it, check it out at www.imdb.com . African prisoners await trial to see if they will be slaves or free. There is a bible in the prison and one of the men begins to look through it. He cannot read English, but he pieces the story together through the pictures. He begins to explain the story to his friend – and I’ll not spoil the scene for you. But through the pictures, this prisoner fell in love with Jesus.

How did you come to know Christ? However it happened, I bet you believed on Jesus without seeing Him. I bet you grew to love Him without laying eyes on His physical presence. If that is the case, Peter says you are blessed. As a matter of fact, Jesus says the same thing:

“Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” - John 20:29

Of course, in a different sense, we really have seen Jesus. We see Him in people all around us: in the youth worker who loved us when we were awkward and searching, in our parents who modeled Christ-like behavior every day of our lives, and in our friends who stand by us and encourage us to live the better life. And there have been moments in your life when you extended grace to another and became Christ to them.

Life is filled with these beautiful moments, moments where the Kingdom of Heaven comes to earth. That is the astonishing thing about God – not only does He save us from our horrible sins and bring us into relationship with Him – He gives us the privilege to be the hands and feet of Christ as he works in us!

I’ll let you in on a secret, the reason we do the ranch the way we do is to give you the opportunity to be Christ to the guests. And another secret, our hope is that you will do the same thing when you go home. That is our greatest prayer for you – that you will allow God to use you to bring about His Kingdom every day of your life.

As you love Jesus and believe in Him – though you have never seen Him – I pray that you will be filled with inexpressible and glorious joy!

“Joy is the serious business of heaven.” – CS Lewis

1 Peter 1:7 - Primary

1 Peter 1:7

“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.”

“Why do good things happen to bad people?” That is a question I often hear – and ask from time to time. There are several answers to that question, most deal with the concept of a fallen world and the decisions of sinful people. Since sin entered the world, that means that sin impacts everyone – believer and non-believe alike. That is a valid answer in my opinion.

Peter gives us another answer. He says that bad things happen to prove and strengthen our faith. The beauty of this explanation is that it shines God’s hope and purpose on even the worst things that can happen. It doesn’t matter why the bad things occur, whether its by God’s hand, your hand, someone else’s hand, or just bad luck – every negative can be turned into a positive by God’s grace.

For example, I had a friend in Dallas who was an excellent basketball player. One spring break he was on vacation with friends and dove off a pier and directly onto a rock – he was instantly paralyzed from the waist down. A few years later, someone asked how he felt about going from completely healthy to dependent and in a wheelchair. He responded, “It’s the best thing that even happened to me.” When asked why, he replied, “If this hadn’t happened to me, I never would have found Jesus”. And he was serious.

Your relationship with Jesus is the ABSOLUTE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE. More important than your degree, your bank account, your family and friends, and your health. That list is filled with very good things – but only one thing can be the best – and the best thing you can do in this life is cultivate your relationship with Christ because it is the only thing that is eternal.

Trials are going to come. When they come in your life will you allow God to work through those challenges so your faith – of greater worth than gold – will be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor? It is easy to have faith in the good times – how you respond in the hard times will prove the light of Christ to those around you.

1 Peter 1:6 - Rejoice

1 Peter 1:6

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”

“In this you greatly rejoice…”

In what does Peter say we rejoice? We rejoice in the things discussed in the last couple of verses: our new birth into a living hope, an inheritance kept in heaven for us, and that we are shielded by God’s power. Contemplate those rejoice-worthy gifts from God – do they bring you joy? Each of those promises are real!

Speaking of joy, one of my favorite passages is Luke 10, it speaks of when Jesus sent out his disciples to do God’s work. This is the account of their return, “ The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.’” That is a reason for joy! But look how Jesus responded, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

That last sentence is the key to joy. I want the foundation of my consciousness to be the joy of knowing that my name is written in heaven. I want my daily mood to be based not upon the weather, how I feel, how I slept, or what I’m doing – but on the unshakable truth that God loves me. How great would life be if we could live in that truth every day?

If you are a follower of Christ, your name is written in heaven. Remind yourself of that when your day is in the tank…and when your day is fantastic. That is a rock to tie your life to!

“though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials…”

The bible never diminishes pain and suffering. It accepts it as part of life and then instructs us how to deal with it. The biblical view of suffering goes something like this: if you follow Christ you will be at odds with the world and will suffer for it, like Jesus did. By being persecuted for Christ, we are honored to be considered worthy to share in His suffering. If we suffer with Christ, we will also be glorified like Christ. Suffering is hard and painful, but it is temporary – our relationship with and reward from God is eternal.

I’ll be honest, that is not my view of suffering. To me, suffering is something to be avoided at all cost. So I will stray away from things that might causes suffering – or even embarrassment: sharing my faith, speaking out for Christ or against sinful actions, or volunteering to share my life with another. By doing this, I am being self-centered instead of Christ-centered. And I wonder why I am less than joyful…

Peter acknowledges the suffering his readers are enduring, but again – he turns their focus off their problems and onto their God. As a good friend of mine says, “Too often we gaze at our problems and glance at God when we should glance at our problems and gaze at God.”

1 Peter 1:5 - Shielded

1 Peter 1:5

“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.”

The Greek word that is translated here as “shielded” means literally, “to hem in, protect – as in a garrison”. We are guarded – like living in a castle with a garrison of soldiers – by God’s power and vigilance. We may suffer wounds in battle and the pains of living in this world, but we are personally surrounded and protected by the Divine Power. No matter how bad it gets, God’s faithfulness will see us through to final deliverance from sin and death that will occur at the revelation of Christ.

All this protection and salvation come to us through faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot earn it. We cannot do anything to make it happen. God made relationship with him available; we can only receive it by faith. Receiving by faith means that you believe what God says. If God says you are saved – then you must believe He is right. If God says that His Spirit is transforming you into the image of Christ – then you must believe that is happening…even when it looks like it isn’t. “Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Peter continues to focus on things that are coming. Why? Because for the readers of this letter – right now was pretty bad, and tomorrow looked even worse.

How are things in your “right now”? Are you in pain, scared, or feeling lost? God knows your struggles, and though you may not feel His presence, He is with you and working on your behalf. Do you believe that today?

“And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” – Hebrews 11:6

One final thought, a good portion of the Christian reward is in the future. Yes, we get relationship with God now, and the Holy Spirit changing us from the inside out. We also get joy, peace, faith, hope, and love right now. But freedom from sin, perfection, and eternity are still to come – or “to be revealed at the last time” as Peter said.

Thank God for the gifts that we enjoy now and never forget that the best is yet to come!

1 Peter 1:4 - Inheritance

1 Peter 1:4

“…and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you,”

I have received one inheritance in my life. My dad’s parents died about 3 months apart from each other while I was in seminary. They had been in poor health for sometime – my grandmother had a stroke and was bedridden and my grandfather became too senile to care for himself. They had been in a nursing home in their hometown of Bartlesville, OK for about 8 years.

A couple of months after they had both passed, my dad pulled me aside, reached into his wallet and said, “Here is your portion of the inheritance from my folks,” and handed me $35. After paying for medical expenses, years in a nursing home, and funeral expenses – their remaining estate was pretty slim.

It was kind of sad; not because I wanted more money, but because my grandfather worked hard all his life – he came to Oklahoma in a covered wagon with his family when he was a child, labored in the oil fields of Texas and Oklahoma as a teenager, sold cars out of his driveway, and worked for public service as an electrician. He worked and saved for years, but what he put away for his family mostly perished, spoiled, and faded.

To have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade is an amazing promise. Even if my dad had handed me $100,000 that day – that money and the things purchased with that money, would eventually disappear. But our inheritance from God will last forever because our inheritance IS God. God is eternal, so our inheritance is eternal. God is the giver of good gifts, so our inheritance will be good. God created us, so he knows exactly what inheritance would be best for us – so it will be unbelievably good!

Peter begins his letter to the persecuted church with these promises to remind them that a better reward awaits. We can put up with a lot of pain and discomfort if we know there is something good at the end. Why do we eat bean sprouts, lift weights, and run till we drop – because we know those actions will produce a healthier version of ourselves. Peter is shining a light at the end of the tunnel to give the church something to focus on beyond the persecution. That is often the only way to make it through hard times, reminding yourself that better days are coming.

While that $35 of Bartlesville green is long gone, I’m thankful that I have another inheritance. My grandparents taught me how to ride a horse, shoot a gun, swing an axe, eat large amounts of food, appreciate homemade chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon rolls, and countless other things. I remember laughing and playing and working alongside my grandmother and grandfather – and though they have been gone for many years now – I love them still.

And that inheritance will last forever – I am a grateful heir.

1 Peter 1:3

1 Peter 1:3

“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,”

Lets start at the end of the verse and work toward the beginning. Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. Peter saw the empty tomb and the risen Christ with his own eyes. (I wonder what that must have been like…) Because Christ was dead, and now lives – those who follow Him have a living hope.

Here’s how: Death is the cause of, and payment for sin. Those who sin are doomed to die separate from the Holy God. But the perfect Christ died for the sins of all – so all now have access to forgiveness and relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus. For those who follow Christ – we have a living hope – a hope of life with Christ today and a hope for life eternal with the Father to come.

We die to the world and our old selfish and sinful ways and are reborn into a new life. A life where God is the most important thing in our lives – a life where God lives within us, transforming us into the image of Christ, a life that cares more for others than for ourselves. We cannot live this life on our own, the Spirit of God resides within us, changing us into the type of people who can live this way.

As birth into the world is a fundamental change from life in the womb, birth from the world into Christ is transforming event. At our core, we are no longer what we were: selfish, prideful, lustful, angry, hateful, and spiteful; we are new creations: loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, gentle, and self-controlled.

If you are like me, maybe you have asked, “I look a lot more like that first list than the second list…how am I a new creation?” You have been changed, but you are still human and the Spirit hasn’t completed His work of sanctification. I look at it like this: the war is over; God has triumphed and we are completely His. But the news hasn’t reached everywhere yet, so there are still battles raging.

The Spirit travels from place to place with the news: It is finished – God rules here! Some areas of your life rejoice and fall in line quickly. Others want to keep fighting God’s rule – those take longer. But when you shake out everything and get to each believer’s heart – we are God’s new creation, not the sin-wracked creations we used to be. Even if and when we sin…we are God’s children and He is working on us. He is transforming us into the image of Christ through the work of His Spirit in our lives. Praise be to God for His mercy!

No wonder Peter began his letter with those words…