We
are going to cover part of 1 Peter today. I was going to focus on chapter 4 verse
12 for the most part. I had this whole light bulb moment, revelation, enlightenment,
whatever you would like to call it, but as I began to study the text and in
wanting to be accurate in my message of the text, I found myself at the
beginning of the epistle and by the time I would have got through the
introduction I would have run out of time. There is so much in just a few short
chapters. So, I have decided to study Peter and his epistles because I realized
that I am not overly familiar with his writings. Perhaps I will go through the
whole book as time progresses. Eventually, I will get to my light bulb moment.
Don’t worry; I won’t forget it is written down! Before we start in the first
verse of chapter 1 let’s look at who Peter was, who he was writing to, what is
his main point and why did he write this epistle. Of course we can find some of
those answers in the text itself. That way we can accurately interpret the
scriptures original intent and what application, if any, it may have for us
today.
Let’s briefly look first at
who Peter was…
Joh 1:40 One of the two who heard John speak and
followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
Joh 1:41 He first found his own brother Simon and said
to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ).
Joh 1:42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him
and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You
shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter).
Peter was led to Christ by his brother Andrew. As we see
in Luke chapter 6 he became one of the twelve apostles.
Luk 6:13 And when day came, he called his disciples
and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:
Luk 6:14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his
brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew,
Luk 6:15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of
Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot,
Luk 6:16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot,
who became a traitor.
This is the same Peter who walked
with Christ. He was a fisherman who was called by Christ to join Him. His first
or original name was Simon and Christ gave him the name of Peter, which means
rock. He was given this name as a commendation for his faith and to represent
that he would be the distinguished pillar of the church. Peter was zealous for
Christ as he was the one who cut off the guard’s ear in an attempt to protect
Christ. Peter was not without his issues though; As Christ reprimanded him in
one instance to “get behind me Satan”. It was to Peter that Jesus said O you of
little faith.
Mat 14:26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the
sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried
out in fear.
Mat 14:27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."
Mat 14:28 And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is
you, command me to come to you on the water."
Mat 14:29 He said, "Come."
So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
Mat 14:30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and
beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me."
Mat 14:31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and
took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little
faith, why did you doubt?"
Peter was the one who while on the boat
saw Christ and tested the Lord and said if you are really He was also the one
to deny Christ three times shortly after His arrest. These instances of failure
only made Peter human. It helps us see that even though we make mistakes that
God can still use us for amazing things in the kingdom. Peter was still an
apostle chosen by Christ to spread the gospel and to take part in constructing,
through the Holy Spirit of course, the Bible that we have today. Even though he
was not perfect. I say all that to point
out Peter’s authority and his significance in the Bible. Unless you have walked
with Christ and penned Holy Scripture and know better than Peter, who may not
have been a scholar but learned from walking beside Christ in the flesh, than
we should heed his instruction and council.
Now that we know who he was
let’s look in chapter 1 in verse 1 we see who he was writing to…
1Pe 1:1
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the
dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1Pe 1:2 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.
This
epistle was written primarily to the converted Jews who were scattered
throughout these areas. KJV writes that they were strangers who were scattered,
but of the elect of Christ. So, I am not a converted Jew, I am a converted
Gentile, so this book does not apply to me and I can skip over it and move on
to a book that was meant for Gentiles. Not quite! I may not be a Jew but…
2Ti
3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by
God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training
in righteousness,
2Ti
3:17 that the man of God may be
competent, equipped for every good work.
We see that Peter was
specifically speaking to the elect exiles. Are we not called to be exiles of
this world? We are called to be in this world but not of this world? So we are
strangers in this land, or at least we should be.
But, I have done this myself. We spend our lives here
thinking and acting like this is it. This is all there is. We spend most all of our time improving our
temporal lives in this world and totally disregarding our eternal lives. We are
but a guest here in this world. Strangers
here but for a little while.
As I meditated on that I thought of a recent trip that I
took to visit my parents up in Maine. My youngest son and my wife and I spent
about a week with my parents. Although they are my parents and I could have had
free reign of their house and property, because I have been away from home for
so long I am now a guest of their home. It is no longer my home; I have my own
home here locally in Florida. But, because
I am a guest, I act differently than I would at my home. I would be more
considerate and make my bed a little neater, or not drink the last of the milk,
or not invite a bunch of friends over for a dinner, etc. Because it is not my
home I would do things differently. Let me give you a couple of examples.
My parents do not have a television in their home. They
choose not to have one. I visit them for about a week or so once every couple
of years. It wouldn’t make much sense or even be very polite if I went and
bought and installed a 60 inch big screen TV on their living room wall. Why
would I invest all that money for something that I am only going to watch once
every year or two? It really wouldn’t make sense if I only had a 12 inch
black and white TV at home.
I like to play
racquetball for exercise. It wouldn’t make sense for me to build a court at my
parent’s house all the way up in Maine would it? Now, on the other hand, it
could make sense for me to put a big screen TV on my living room wall in
my house if that is what I wanted. It could make sense for me to build a racquetball
court in my backyard, because I would be investing in my permanent
dwelling and not in a temporary place that I visit.
Don’t we do that very same thing? We are, or have,
invested so much of our time, our talents and our treasures on the things of
this world and nothing or very little to our permanent home. Our home is
heaven. If you are a born again, saved by the blood of Christ, believer then
you are here in this world as a stranger only for a short time. We will then go
home for an eternity to that place where Christ has gone to prepare for us. We
need to be investing in our futures!
Mat 6:19 "Do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves
break in and steal,
Mat 6:20 but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where
thieves do not break in and steal.
Mat 6:21 For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also.
So Peter didn’t have me personally in mind when this book
was penned but can we see that it still applies to us? Elect Gentiles in a
strange land. Peter may not have had me personally in mind when this was penned
but God certainly did.
Peter wrote this epistle to people
just like you and I; people who are servants of God, who have believed in Jesus
and are in this world, perhaps enduring hardships, feeling like a stranger, but
looking forward to a mansion just over the hilltop. A permanent place, where
Jesus Himself, has prepared for us. That is what we have to look forward to.
There may be difficulties and hardships and even tragedies along the way. But
we are just sojourners, on a journey passing through this land, on our way home
where we will be united with our Lord and Savior. We should be focusing what
energy and resources that we have toward that goal. If this life in the flesh
that we are living now is it, if there was no eternity, if there was no heaven,
then we should be devoting our every last drop of time, talents and treasures
attaining things and living selfish lives getting all that we can before we end
up in the grave. Those that have no hope do live like that. Sadly there are
experiencing their “best life now”. But we have a lively hope in Christ. Our
time, talents and treasures should be focused on our permanent mansion and not
this temporary shack that we are in. We may be strangers in this land but as
verse 2 says…we have God the father who knew us before we were even born, we
have the Holy Spirit sanctifying us and comforting us and we have the blood of
our savior Jesus Christ reconciling us and redeeming us who wants us to be
obedient to Him and invest ourselves in Him.
I have had the privilege to be able to
work in ministry with some people recently who, as I did, spent their lives up
to this point sowing to their fleshly desires and lusts pouring their whole
selves into searching for joy and peace but not looking to Christ for it. Many
ended up addicted to drugs, with addictive abusive behaviors and miserable. Now
in searching for Jesus they have found peace and joy in their lives. They are
sowing into their permanent dwelling. Is everything perfect in their lives? No.
But their perspective on what is important gives them stability in those
challenging times. They have a testimony that would encourage the lowliest of
Christians, so now they aren’t just experiencing joy and peace but they are
spreading it!
What are you sowing to today? Are you
sowing to your permanent mansion or to your temporary shack? Be a stranger not
a permanent resident of this land and look forward to going home. I have been
on some pretty amazing wonderful vacations but no matter how great it was.
There is still always something special about going back home.
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