Some things just follow others. We see someone go out in the rain without a coat or a hat and we expect them to get wet. We lay out on a sunny beach and we get sunburned. We knock over a glass of milk and it spills. We become a Christian and…. And what?
What impact, if any, do the following have on your life?
Do you call God your Father? (1 Peter 1:17)
Are your sins washed away? (1:22)
Do you claim to be born again? (1:23)
Have you tasted the Lord’s goodness? (2:3)
Christianity is not a tee shirt or ball cap that we put on for certain places or events. “Christian” means “little Christ.” It was not a catchy name invented by the early church’s marketing department. It was what outsiders called those who followed Jesus. They saw that these believers acted, thought, spoke and reacted like Him. In other words, these disciples reminded them of Jesus.
To gird means “to encircle or bind with a flexible band; to securely fasten; to prepare for action.” When Peter was a fisherman, he girded his clothing about himself to prepare for work. Many jobs today require similar preparations: wearing a tool belt, safety goggles, gloves, steel-toed boots or putting on a hard hat.
Peter takes this idea beyond the protection and support of the body and applies it to our mind. The body often gets the blame for our uncontrolled desires and impulses. It is merely responding to the various stimuli and chemical reactions within it, we are told. But I think we know ourselves better than that.
The mind is the control center. The body does what the mind decides to do. An undisciplined body is the outworking of an undisciplined mind. Spiritually this is a disaster, as we leave ourselves open to every kind of enticement and attack of temptation.
Peter urges us to be sober. Certainly he means to not be under the influence of any intoxicating substance, but also to be serious minded, to have a secure grip on the true nature of things. And then to act. We can no longer afford to mindlessly allow the world to shape our desires and lead us back to the old lusts we once craved.
Paul echoes this same thought: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2). Peter expresses this another way, saying “be ye holy in all your conduct.” Being holy means to be set apart from the world for God’s purposes.
This means obedience to God and his way of doing things and thinking about life. Central to this is the hope that we have of grace. God will cover our frailties, strengthen our hearts and remove our sin. He is the reason we can be saved and granted eternal life. Nothing we could do would ever be enough to earn that kind of reward.
“…the prophets have enquired and searched diligently” 1 Peter 1:10
We have what others carefully searched for. It’s like a riddle that you puzzle over and can’t quite figure out. Once you know the answer, it seems incredibly simple and you wonder how you did not see it before.
The prophets of old did not have the full story. They knew and trusted that God had a plan, but did not know exactly how it would come about. They also knew they were writing for a future generation and would not see it for themselves.
Peter seems to recall the men on the road to Emmaus. Jesus met them and said, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” and then explained what the prophets were saying. (Luke 24:26)
In those times, many expected a crusading savior that would free them from their earthly troubles. We largely expect the same today. But the primary concern lies within each one of us. Changing the outside circumstances does not change what is inside.
And what’s inside exacted a terrible price to remove. The sin that overtakes us required suffering and death, which Jesus Christ took on that we might be free of it. For this he enters into his glory. And we enter into eternal life.
Which is way better than trying to fix up the old place.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” 1 Peter 1:8 ESV
Peter walked and talked with Jesus. Literally and actually. He saw the storm stilled and walked – momentarily – on water. He felt his great words of encouragement and the sting of rebuke. The people he writes to have not had that experience.
And neither have we. We say seeing is believing but are denied that opportunity. We can rely only on faith and the testimony of those who have gone before us.
In some ways, it may have been harder to believe with Jesus standing right there next to you. There was nothing special about him. The halos we see in paintings are only an artistic device – they were not actually there. He was just another man. The dampness of the rain and heat of the sun fell on him like anyone else. He shivered in the cold and tramped along dusty roads, leaving footprints like you and I. Most people of his day rejected any notion that he was anything but human. Maybe a better person than most, but still thoroughly human. Yet he was God in the flesh.
Even though we do not see Him, we love him. Our faith is not built on wishful thinking or an emotional high but on something very real – Jesus Christ himself.
“… so that the tested genuineness of your faith — more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire— may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:7 ESV
Precious. Greatly valued, loved, important. How many things do we regard as precious? People – children, parents, friends, sweethearts – often head the list, and sometimes things can vie for our affection, too. But how often is our faith included here?
It is not so much how we rank what is precious to us, but the process by which value is gained. The word for trial or testing comes from the industry of metallurgy. It deals with refining a raw ore to remove impurities and reveal the genuine metal. This is often accomplished by the application of heat or fire. Even modern mining operations excavate truck loads of rock, pulverize it into pellets, leach the precious metal out with chemicals and melt it with high heat before pouring it into an ingot mold. One mine reports that 12 tons of rock may produce only one ounce of gold. One ounce. That’s precious. Precious enough to go to all that trouble and expense.
Yet Peter declares our faith is of more value than gold. And he links it with the testing of that faith to be sure it is pure and genuine. How much of a trial does it take for you to back away and abandon your faith? Peter knows that pressure. Remember the night he denied knowing Jesus not once, but three times? (Mark 14:66-72)
What value does a gold ring have if it isn’t truly gold? At that final day of judgment, there will be no payoff for any currency but genuine faith.
“…you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation…” 1 Peter 1:5
Do you trust God to keep you safe? Think about it – isn’t that what it means to be “kept… through faith unto salvation”?
We have a cat who doesn’t always show that he trusts us much. Except in one area – food. He is ever hopeful that we will feed him. And we always do, perhaps too much. Especially since he’s developed a knack for convincing someone else he hasn’t been fed when he already has.
Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Matthew 6:25-26 ESV
Yet Peter assures us that God’s care for us extends well beyond the basic necessities of life. In fact, it extends beyond life itself, since he has given us new life by a new birth. We enjoy a lively hope of being resurrected from the dead. This is his certain promise to us, an everlasting gift that we will inherit as his children.
“…an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:4 ESV) That means it will never rot, be destroyed or damaged. What is promised will be delivered. There will be no claims that cannot be satisfied. Isn’t that better than anything the world can offer?
Maybe it’s some of each. If so, how much of each and which comes first? These questions generate much lively discussion within the body of Christ. I’m neither an expert nor an advocate for one side or the other, but since Peter brings it up, let’s see what he has to say.
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:2)
“Elect” is an interesting word to use here. Some English translations use the word “chosen” instead of “elect.” It comes from the Greek word eklektos, meaning “to select.” It refers to the selection of an individual out of a larger group for a specific purpose. Perhaps Peter has in mind the example of the nation Israel as God’s chosen people.
“Elect” to the Greeks was originally a military term for the draft, and for the practice of “volunteering” unwilling soldiers for unpleasant or dangerous duty. Our modern military follows the same word usage by giving the draft board the name “Selective Service”. By New Testament times, the word meant pretty much what we think of: the selection of an individual by vote for public office. But no doubt the former connotation remained, as it does in our own language. To tell someone “you’re elected” is essentially the same thing as saying they’ve been drafted.
But why this particular emphasis? Peter could easily have framed God’s choice of us in terms of his great and enduring love for us. This is seen in the word “foreknowledge” (knowing beforehand). Even though God knew exactly what kind of person we were and the kind of things we’d do, he chose us anyway.
God also knows what we will face. Peter is writing to believers who are beginning to experience persecution and suffering on account of their faith. If the choice was up to them, would they change their mind? Would they be tempted to say, “I’ll come back later and see if things are better then”?
While we enjoy many blessings from God, we remain in his service. We have been bought with a price; we are no longer our own. God may require many things of us that we would rather not face, but our sonship in him does not exempt us from obeying him.
There will be times when we must respond “Yes, sir!” without sensing any possible benefit for ourselves. Sometimes we will never know the impact of our obedience. We can only trust that we have been faithful in our task and leave the rest to him. The One we follow has set his example before us:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45 NIV)
“…to the strangers scattered throughout…” (1 Peter 1:1).
I once lost a friend. I realized later that I lost a few other friends because I lost that first friend. Then I lost some other friends because I moved. I found some new friends in the new place. I wasn’t upset with my old friends, nor they with me. They were just far away and not as easy to connect with.
We all know that friends and relationships can come and go. We know this happens sometimes because personalities clash, and other times simply because of a change in location. But Peter has in mind a separation caused by differences in faith and belief.
This separation could happen socially and economically while still living in your home town. It could happen on a continental scale, as it did with my ancestors who were forced to move from place to place across Europe and eventually to the new world because of their beliefs.
At some point, whether sooner or later, your decision to follow Jesus Christ will put you in conflict with those around you. The issue will not be what you do, what you say or who you hang out with. It will be Jesus. And the pressure will be to choose between Him and those in your family, in your neighborhood, in your class, at your job or even your government.
Peter sees these pressures mounting for some believers of his day that lived in an area that we now call northern Turkey. His letter to them is filled with encouragement and exhortation, as we shall see in the coming weeks.
