Perhaps the most well known of Jesus’ disciples is Peter bar
Jona. His extroverted, blunt, enthusiastic personality leaps from the pages of
scripture. He is first to declare Jesus the Christ ~ yet denies him 3 times. It
is Peter who leaps from the boat to walk on water ~ then starts to sink. It is Peter who starts telling Jesus what to
do & finds himself equated with satan! It is Peter who rushes with John to
the empty tomb; Peter who recognises Jesus cooking fish from the shore &
leaps overboard, too impatient to wait on the boat arriving; Peter who cuts a
servant’s ear in the garden when Jesus is arrested. He suffers from chronic foot in foot. He has
grandiose ideas, wanting to bask in the glory of the transfiguration rather
than descending into the valley to deal with people’s very real & hardly
glorious needs.
I like
Peter. He is very human with such a big
personality that it is surprising to realise he contributed very little to our
bible as we know it. He wasn’t even one
of the 2 leaders of the church. James,
the brother of Jesus, led the church in Jerusalem; Paul led the gentile church.
Only The Gospel of Mark is attributed to
Peter’s memories of Jesus ~ & it certainly sounds like Peter. Then there
are just 2 short epistles under his name. Rather, as Peter himself puts it, he
was an apostle of Jesus Christ ~ a sent one ~ fulfilling the commission Jesus
gave him in Luke 22:32 But
I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So
when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers
Stērizō means to render mentally steadfast or
to stand immovable ~ & certainly the persecuted church in Asia Minor was in
need of strengthening.
For one
thing the Roman Empire regarded a people who turned away from the customs of
their society with distrust, believing them to undermine society by this
attitude. You are seeing something
similar happen in western society today with Christians being vilified for
protesting new societal norms.
People
also tended to blame this turning away for the disasters overtaking their world
& thus blamed Christians for their troubles.
Christians
were also suspected of cannibalism, incest, orgies, and all sorts of
immorality.
Up until about 54 AD Peter was in Jerusalem & part of the
Judaic church. In 54 AD he undertook a missionary journey into Asia Minor with
his wife. If you look at our map you
will see that all the countries mentioned in Peter’s epistle are part of Asia Minor
or part of Greece, which the Romans called Asia. These provinces were once part of the great
Babylonian/Assyrian Empire that covered all this territory.
I can’t think of anyone in the early church better qualified
to write to a persecuted church than Peter.
If Peter had learnt nothing else from his time with Jesus he had learnt
that it was fatal to take his eyes of Jesus!
This then is the central theme of 1 Peter: The God of All Grace. It so occupies
Peter’s mind that he can barely write a paragraph without mentioning Christ
& what He has done for us.
From his opening paragraph Peter makes it very clear that
believers are refugees, sojourners, foreigners, in this world, set apart &
sanctified by the Holy Spirit. He finishes with the benediction that the
believers might experience an ever increasing amount of God’s grace & peace.
Remember we have studied the close correlation between Charis [grace] &
chara [joy] before. Peter makes this connection clear as he proceeds, pointing
out that as believers who have been redeemed from the world we live with great
expectation & the outflow of all that we have in, through, & from Jesus
Christ should result in an overflow of joyful gratefulness that triumphs over
our trials & tribulations.
V3. In the Old Testament there
were 3 circumstances for the sprinkling of blood
This is the
pattern. Jesus blood over us is the New Covenant we have with Him [Matt. 26:28];
we are ordained as priests [1 peter 2:9]
after the order of Melchizedek; we are cleansed of our corruptness [Romans 11:27]. On top of all this Peter states in v5 that God is protecting us.
So why, oh why, are
the Christians of Asia Minor suffering?
Why do we suffer? Peter explains from v6 onwards that the trials are
allowed to prove the genuineness of our faith. V7 says we are refined like
gold. I’m pretty sure I’ve said this
before but it bears repeating. Gold is refined in the fire to rid it of all
impurities. How do you know when the
gold is pure? When the refiner can see
his reflection in the gold!
Trials &
tribulations are not arbitrary. We
become overcomers by overcoming. We
become holy by being refined in the fire. We become like Christ by imitating
Him in all things ~ & this includes our suffering. Trials &
tribulations are meant to force us to closeness to God where we learn to rely
on Him more fully & to form the image of Christ in us. They are not
a punishment! Of all men, Peter knew this to be true. This was a man of whom it
is written they put their sick out in the streets of Jerusalem that his shadow
might fall on them & they be healed. Acts 5:15 Peter learnt through his
pride that he could not stand in his own strength because he fell but he could
stand in Jesus because the Holy Spirit imparted the grace to stand!
Now some people
will tell you it is the will of God that you suffer trials &
tribulations. Not at all! They are allowed that you might put your faith
to work & become overcomers, exercise joy in tribulation & bring glory
to the father. It is not God’s will that
you live defeated, impoverished, downtrodden lives. We walk in the victory Christ bought for us
with His own blood & we put our faith to work. By faith in prayer Peter walked out of jail
[Acts 12:5~17] He didn’t sit there bemoaning his lot. Or consider Paul in Acts 16:25 singing
praises to God till everyone’s chains fell off!
I tell you trials & tribulations will come because the god of this
world is still satan & he is the destroyer, the liar, the murderer but we
do not have to live under his yoke. Rise up, saints, & take your authority
in Christ!
Salvation is such a
wonder & a mystery that even those who prophesied it & the angels who witnessed
its implementation desire to understand it!
In this chapter
Peter also gives the call to holy living. V 13 is correctly rendered as to gird up the loins of your mind. Or as
Romans 12:2 puts it: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind.
The Christian life is one of training. It is not one where we are expected to do
everything ourselves for we are to be led of the Spirit but the leading of the
Spirit will have certain results. For
one thing he will convict us of our sin & help to change our thinking so
that our thought patterns conform to God’s. He helps us to resist the call of
our fleshly nature & do the bidding of God.
As we move into chapter 2 Peter clarifies his thoughts on
holiness. He wants believers to grow
into maturity that we will have the full experience of our salvation. V2
It is in Peter that you find the imagery of believers as
*living stones*, *God’s Temple*, *A Holy Priesthood* offering *spiritual
sacrifices*. You see Peter understood
there is a correlation between reverencing Christ & his blood shed for us,
our hunger for the word [which washes us Eph 5:26] & the way we live. Little of the word in our life, little power
to overcome sin or present spiritual sacrifices. V8 clearly says they stumble
because they do not obey God’s word, which is why Romans 10:13/15 says: How then will they call on
Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have
not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are
sent?
I
am going to stop at chapter 2:11 because at this Point Peter shifts his focus
to how a Christian is to deal with various forms of authority & correct
submission.
Peter’s
focus in these 1st 2 chapters is on the joy we should have in our
salvation & the correlating fact that as new creations we should no longer
be subject to the ruler of this world.
Indeed Christianity has thrived as a diaspora, going into all the world
& Planting themselves as foreigners in their own countries that as Peter
observes when they see your honourable
behaviour, they will give honour to God when He judges the world.
Peter lists 5 things that are a cause for joy: Great
mercy, The new birth, A living hope, Resurrection from the dead, An imperishable inheritance.
There is a 6th thing that I also
think is a cause for joy: (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
verb phroureō, is a
military term meaning "to maintain a watch, guard, here 'to provide
security, guard, protect, keep.'"[9] This guarding will continue until
Christ returns -- and personally consummates our salvation [Heb 9:28]
This life is not always easy. It can be confusing & heartbreaking but we have no cause to despair for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous… This is a promise declared over & over in scripture, so much so that David declared, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…
I
urge you to cultivate your relationship with Jesus for this is the way to walk
in utmost confidence & yes, even victory, no matter what this world throws
at you!
No comments:
Post a Comment