Easter Lenses (Third Sunday Of Easter , April 23, 2023)

EASTER LENSES

Text: I Peter 1:17 – 23

1 Peter 1:17-23  If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.  (18)  You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,  (19)  but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.  (20)  He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.  (21)  Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.  (22)  Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.  (23)  You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God (NRSV).

This world is a dark place without the right lenses. A 2022 estimate of the National Network of Depression Centers concluded that 21 million suffer depression. No wonder with all the stresses of life in the 20s. The Pharmacy Journal reported in 2022 that antidepressant prescriptions had risen by 35% in the previous six years. https://www.sermonsuite.com/emphasis-preaching-journal/sermon-illustrations-easter-3-2023 We are only twenty-three years into this new century, and things are out of control where we live as pilgrims in “exile”. We have more technological advances in the last 120 years in transportation, communication, education, medicine, the internet, cell phones. The more technology grows the more the world moves away from God. The more we move away from God as individuals and as a nation the more confusion develops.

Peter gives us the good news that this world is not our home! “If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile” ( 1 Peter 1:17). Peter tells us how to use our Easter lenses as exiles. Today we examine reverent fear, obedience and love.

REVERENT FEAR

What did Peter mean by reverent fear?

1) Walking by faith: Did Peter mean that we should fear God so much that we are afraid to approach God? No! Peter meant that we should fear what it would be like to live a life without “a living hope in the risen Lord that nourishes our faith in Him” (1 Peter 1:7 - 9).

2) Hope set on God: Even though we do not physically see the Lord, we know that because He is risen we can have “faith and hope that are set on God” (1 Peter 1:21). This is an important view to have in a world with many who walk by their physical sight that limits them!

3) Nearsightedness: We have to remember that the world we can see with our eyes is temporary because the unseen world is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).

4) Reverential awe: Someone has called this lifestyle evangelism “Reverential awe [that] surrounds a believer’s desire to live a life of holiness and obedience even in the face of difficulties. Reverential awe forms the major backbone of a believer’s life.” (David Walls and Max Anders. Holman New Testament Commentary; I & II Peter, I, II & III John. Nashville, Braodmabn and Holman Publishers, 1999, p. 13).

How can anyone who is a believer be Christian in name only?

1) Confession and profession: Isn’t Peter telling us that our confession to God and our professing our belief outwardly go hand in hand? In verse 19 Peter talks about purity, obedience and mutual love. Therefore, if our words say one thing and our actions another, then how can anyone be influenced if we claim to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven and live like heathen?

2) Committed opposition: We have secular opponents who are committed, cancel culture cheer-leaders, who promote gas lighting, wokism and hostility to our freedom of speech that contradicts their point of view. People who want to shut us down, threaten violence or silence those of us who want to witness for our Lord.

OBEDIENCE

Does our obedience demonstrate our holiness?

1) Holiness: 1 Peter 1:16  says, “for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy" (NRSV). Satan is going to try to temp us in the hopes that he can break us! We live in this world, but we are no longer of the world, because we are “exiles on a pilgrimage through this life to make a difference to those to those who go along to get along.

2) Compromise: “You have become spiritual adulterers who are having an affair, an unholy relationship with the world. Don’t you know that flirting with the world’s values places you at odds with God? Whoever chooses to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy! ” (James 4:4 TPT)