Navigating Safely Series

A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch. ... You may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building! So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. . . On the first floor the sign on the door reads: Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord. The second floor sign reads: Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, and love kids. The third floor sign reads: Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, and are extremely good looking. “Wow,” she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going. She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads: Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop-dead good looking and help with the housework: “Oh, mercy me!” she exclaims, “I can hardly stand it!” Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads: Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak. She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads: “Floor 6 - You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

Peter writes about these hunters of a different kind: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look” (1 Peter 1:10-12).

So the main point of this Passage is that we should be amazed at the greatness of our salvation. That this greatness is shown by the fact that prophets of God and angels of heaven long to look into it. Jesus said to His disciples on one occasion: “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matthew 13:16-17). Peter and Jesus are telling us that salvation in Christ is amazingly wonderful. We should appreciate what we have because so many generations before us have searched and longed for this discovery.

Recently, a team of eighteen people in our church took a mission trip to India. In order to arrive in Bangalore, India we flew from Fayetteville, AR to LAX (about a three hour flight). We sat in the airport for around seven hours. We then flew to Taipei, another fifteen hours, and then to Kuala Lumpur, an additional four hours, where we rested in a hotel for about three hours. We finally arrived in Bangalore at midnight only to take a bus trip to Dharmapurri that did not arrive until 6 am. If the hotel had a bed of nails, I would have been happy to sleep on it after this two-day trip. I slept from 6 am to noon and what made this sleep so wonderful, was that it was so long in coming. That is exactly what Peter is telling us – salvation in Christ is wonderful because so many godly people searched for this treasure.

More on this search next week, but today our text is verses eight and nine just before the verses we just read: “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, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9)

1. Suffering is not an Accident

Peter is writing to Christians in modern day Turkey where they are spread out over 300,000 miles. To get an idea of how spread out these believers are, if we began at Chicago, IL as our center. 300,000 square miles would extend as far north as the tip of Michigan and as far south as St. Louis, MO and KY. It would also extend as far east as Columbus, OH and westward to Des Moines, IA. To all of these scattered believers in Christ, Peter says that suffering is not an accident: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:5). He repeats much of the same thought later: “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19).