It is possible that we now all have a deeper appreciation of just how good we’ve had it. Perhaps we’re all seeing that we’ve taken many things in our lives for granted. The life changes we are currently enduring are not nearly as drastic as say, those of the Polish people in the late summer and fall of 1939, or of those who suffered through the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918, or of the Jews during the siege and fall of
Over a month ago, when this
stay-at-home stuff all started, I encouraged you to continue worshipping God,
particularly by putting on some of your favorite worship music and reading His
Word. I hope you’re still doing that. If you’ve chosen not to do so, chances
are you’re battling some amount of anxiety, fear, anger, and/or depression; there
is also an issue of idolatry. On top of all that, it is late April and we’ve
had very little sun and warm weather here in western PA. I think February was
nicer than this! I cut grass last week in my parka, winter hat and gloves.
Right now I’m looking out the window and it is nothing but grey gloomy muck. We
need some sunshine (it won’t kill you) and more importantly we need to remind
ourselves of God’s glory through worship, giving thanks, and focusing on Him.
A long time before
Nebuchadnezzar’s army leveled Jerusalem Romans
12 ; 1 Corinthians 12 ),
but we’re all called to be His witnesses (Matthew 28:19-20 ; Acts 1:8 ; 2 Corinthians 5:20 -211 Peter 3:15 ).
The believers in Peter’s day suddenly became strangers in a strange land. When they gave their lives to Christ, things changed. One of those changes was persecution, as they experienced the sufferings of Christ. They lost jobs, homes, friends and even family. We don’t have it that hard. We still live in peace and comfort. Yes, there are some new challenges. We can’t go to our favorite restaurant, can’t go hang out with friends, and we can’t go play disk golf. More serious challenges include serious issues like knowing someone who is sick or in harm’s way, or being out of a job. Things are be harder now than they were a few months ago, but so far no one is threatening our homes and family with intentional harm if we don’t forsake our faith. Those who originally received the letter we know as 1 Peter were suffering that type of persecution. The Spirit was reminding them to be holy and to be thankful, for a believer’s inheritance is reserved in Heaven and no one, nor any circumstance, can eliminate or diminish it. Maybe you need that same reminder…
Guarded
by the Power of God
In
The Spirit at once turns
attention to God with a statement of praise to the Father saying, “Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant
mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that
does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God
through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5 ).
The word “blessed” in this
verse is an adjective; it’s not a command to praise God but a statement of the fact
that God is worthy of all honor and praise. That being the case, we should
certainly be offering our honor, praise and thanks to Him. Regardless of our
physical, emotional, financial and social situation. We should be worshipping
Him because of who He is and He is God Almighty. Revelation 4 , one of my favorite
chapters in the Bible, tells us a little about the worship that goes on in
Heaven constantly. Verse 8 of that
chapter tells of the four living creatures who never ceasing chanting, “Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” and verse 11
tells us that the twenty-four elders add, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they
exist and were created.” This happens because of who God is. He is worthy of
our praise no matter what’s happening because He is the glorious, all powerful,
all knowing, gracious and merciful God of Creation.
Notice how the Spirit,
through Peter, refers to this great God who is worthy of all praise. He reminds
us that He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a believer in
Jesus Christ you are now closely related to God. Many people talk about God being their Father,
and while He is their Creator, every human being’s relationship with Him has
been broken by sin. Outside of Jesus
Christ, God the Son, no person has a relationship with the Father – none (John 14:6 ). But for those who are the “elect according to
the foreknowledge of God, sanctified by the Spirit, obedient to Christ and
sprinkled with His blood,” God is their Father. The NT is filled with
references to God being the Father of those who trust in Jesus Christ for
salvation. The only way for God to be
your Father, is to trust in Jesus Christ.
I had a conversation with a
lady last fall who accused me of being a self-righteous elitist. Let me assure
you that nothing could be further from the truth. Let me again go on public
record saying that because of my sin I am absolutely deserving of God’s
judgment and eternity in Hell, but God in His infinite mercy redeemed my
wretched soul, washed me clean in the Blood of Christ and gave me the seal of
His Holy Spirit. Not for any good that I have ever done, on the contrary, it
was simply because of His grace. That is what He does for anyone and everyone
who stops trying to be good enough on their own, or assumes they already are
good enough on their own, and puts their hope and trust in Jesus’ sacrificial
death and glorious resurrection. No amount of perceived good that we do makes
up for the sin we commit against the Holy God. If someone did great intentional
harm to you or a loved one, would the courts be carrying out justice if they
convicted that person for criminal and then released them without any penalty
because they also did something kind to someone else once? Of course not, and
God is not only Love, He is also Justice. Now, back to 1 Peter…
For those who trust in Christ,
Almighty God is your Father and the rest of 1 Peter applies to you. If you
haven’t put your trust in Christ for forgiveness and new life, it doesn’t apply
until you do so. As a child of God through faith in Jesus, you endure the
hardships of being a stranger in a strange land by first understanding that
your Father God is worthy of honor, praise and worship. It’s about focusing on
Him rather than life circumstances.
Secondly, you endure life’s
hardships by remembering what God has done. He has begotten us to a living hope.
First Peter 3:1 says
that God has “begotten us,” “given us new birth,” or “caused us to be born
again.” The old is dead and we are new creations in Christ. “Old things have
passed away, behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ). He has begotten us; He did
the action to make us new. Romans 6:11 says, “Consider yourselves to be dead to
sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ.” God did this according to His
abundant mercy it says in 1 Peter
1:3 . And in Romans, not because of our value or worthiness, but “that
He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He
had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the
Jews only, but also of the Gentiles” (Romans 9:23 ).
Those who are saved are evidence of God’s mercy, for His own creation
rebelled and willingly sinned against Him, each and every one of us. Still, to
demonstrate His mercy He calls us into a relationship with Himself and He
purifies us through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
So He has given us life, that
is, He’s begotten us to a Living Hope. This hope we have grows and matures. The
more mature our faith, the more this hope will fill us and motivate us and
energize us (see Philippians 3:12 -16 ). Remember the
Parable of the Soils in Luke 8 ?
Jesus explains that parable to His disciples in 8:11-15 and He says, “Now the
ones (seeds) that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out
and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to
maturity.” That is exactly what may be happening for many people right now,
their faith was okay as long as things were going well, but now there are some
cares, riches (or lack thereof), and pleasures (or lack thereof) that are
choking it out. It wasn’t a mature faith and it’s not getting any better now
due to a self-centered focus. Look, brothers and sisters in Christ, this “living
hope” is not just some distant, irrelevant thought. The living hope is based
upon the resurrection of Christ and it impacts our daily lives unless we hinder
it by making life all about our desires, needs and wants. The Living Hope causes
us to live differently.
Part of living differently
means we as believers in Christ are not shaken by life’s circumstances. Are you
living differently as a Christian, not fearful of current or future events
because you know that you are eternally secure in Christ? Is He your all-in-all
or is your stuff, your freedom, your relationships, your health, or your
comfort what gives you hope? If the latter is the case, you are probably a
little shaken these days. You don’t feel like worshipping God because you’re
too worried about stuff, or maybe you doubt His love for you because things
aren’t going the way you want them to go. That’s the problem with the lie that
God just wants you to be happy in this life. What He wants for you is discussed
in large extent in 1 Peter. Consider 1 Peter 1:13-16 , “Therefore gird up the loins of your
mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought
to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming
yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you
is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy,
for I am holy.’”
We worship God because of who
He is and we worship Him because of what He has done. What He has done is give
us living hope through faith in Christ. Moreover, through Christ He has
begotten us to an inheritance (1:4). We suffer pain and hardship in this life,
but there is a reward for those who trust Christ and are faithful to Him. Not just
any reward, but one that is incorruptible, undefiled, and cannot fade away, and
it is guarded in Heaven for you. God has caused you to be an heir of this
future glory. It is secure because He has established it for you in Christ and
it cannot be taken away. In 1
John 3:2 we know that part of the inheritance is being made “like
Him.” We also know that there is no
suffering in this life that can compare to what awaits us in His presence, as the
Spirit testifies through Paul in Romans
8:18 .
Then look again at what it
says in 1 Peter 1:4-5 ,
“to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away,
reserved in heaven for you, 5who are kept by the power of God
through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Verse 5 is
no longer talking about your inheritance, it is talking about YOU. You are
“guarded by the power of God through faith for salvation.” This is an on-going
action by God; He guards us. The Greek term was often used as a military term meaning
to “keep from escaping” or “protect from attack.” Do you see, God is
continually preserving your salvation and protecting you from the enemy (the
world, the flesh, and the devil, and even your old sinful nature that battles
against the Spirit sometimes – see Galatians
5:17 ). No
matter what comes your way, persecution, hardship, suffering, even death, you
are eternally secured by the infinite power of Almighty God.
So what are you worried
about? Far too often our entire focus is on the life that is here and now,
which is actually a vapor and soon vanishes away, instead of upon spending our
time here seeking His glory as we do our part in the Body of Christ. Why does
He not have your continual worship and thanksgiving?
Conclusion
Be encouraged child of God;
He’s got this. He’s got you. But if you’re wandering around feeling sorry for
yourself, if life is all about you and the different situation you’re in now,
you are going to be miserable. The people first reading 1 Peter were suffering
hard persecution, and the Spirit told them to remember that their Heavenly
Father is Almighty God who is forever on the Throne. Moreover, the Spirit told
them to remember what the One True God continually does for them in guarding
their inheritance through Christ and guarding them as well.As believers in Christ, we have many reasons to worship and praise Him. By the way, if you pay attention in Scripture you’ll notice that “worship” is most often done by prostrating yourself, not standing in a pew. So do it. Don’t be like the Nation of Israel in
Grace to you and peace be
multiplied.
Pastor Mark
Pastor Mark
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