Reading: 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 1-9.
Quote:
• “We don’t look alike, we don’t act alike.
• We don’t dress alike.
• We have different tastes in the food we eat.
• The books we read, the films we watch, the cars we drive and the music we enjoy.
• We support different football teams or have different leisure interests;
• We ascribe to different philosophies and differ over politics.
• Our weights vary, our heights vary,
• So does the colour of our hair and skin.
• But we all have one thing in common;
• We all know what it means to hurt!”
Suffering is a universal language:
• Though the cause of our suffering may vary:
• We all have or we all will experience suffering in one form or another.
• At least fifteen times in this short letter, Peter will refer to suffering.
• And he will give us some insights as to how to handle life when things are difficult.
Background:
• In this letter (1 Peter) he is writing to a mixture of Gentile and Jewish believers;
• Who were scattered throughout Asia Minor.
• It was written to a people of distinct cultures,
• Varied geographical settings, and contrasting backgrounds.
Verse 1:
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.”
(The Message):
“Peter, an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah,
writing to exiles scattered to the four winds”.
These Christians had been scattered in five different parts of the Roman Empire:
• All five parts were in Asia Minor;
• Which today is Modern Turkey.
• The letter addressed the issue of suffering,
• And Peter's persecuted audience identified deeply with the message:
Quote: Chapter 4 verses 12-13 (The Message):
“Friends, when life gets really difficult, don't jump to the conclusion that God isn't on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.”
• For the readers of Peter’s letter, life was grim indeed.
• Many, many Christians perished under the Roman Emperor Nero's merciless persecution.
• Many believers were maliciously victimized,
• Ostracized by Roman society, and ruthlessly hunted as traitors.
Peter twice refers to their trials as:
• Being "tested by fire" (chapter 1 verse 7)
• And a "fiery ordeal" (chapter 4 verse 12).
Note:
• This letter contains only 105 verses,
• But this theme of suffering surfaces time and time again.
• e.g. Chapter 1 verses 6; “All kinds of trials”
• e.g. Chapter 2 verse 20; Beatings “for doing good”.
• e.g. Chapter 3 verses 14-17; Suffering “for what is right”.
• e.g. Chapter 4 verses 13; Participating “in the sufferings of Christ”.
• e.g. Chapter 5 verses 19; Suffering “according to God’s will”.
Key verse (chapter 1 verse 7):
“These (Trials) have come so that your faith…..………. may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Note:
• Although suffering is a key theme in this letter;
• Please note, that this is not a depressing letter;
• There is also another theme that runs throughout this letter;
• It is the theme ‘Glory’.
• One of the encouragements Peter gives to his readers is the assurance;
• That one day their suffering will be transformed into glory!
Ill:
• A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot.
• It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain.
• This principle is still true today.
• The furnace of trials refines our hearts and sanctifies our spirits.
Six Reasons We Can Make It
• Peter provided his readers with six reasons as to why they can make it;
• Through difficulties………and more than that,
• This is not just a letter of survival (hang on in there!)
• This is a letter of victory!
• We have six reasons to have joy and hope despite our trials!
(1). We Have a Living Hope (verse 3).
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”.
• A ‘living hope’ is one that has life in it;
• And therefore can give life to us.
• Because it has life,
• It grows and becomes even greater and more beautiful as time goes on.
• Time often destroys most hopes, they fade and then die,
• But the passing of time only makes a Christian’s hope that much more glorious.
Peter reminds us that our hope is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
• If God was able to raise his son back from the dead;
• Think of the incredible physical sufferings he endured (ill: Passion of the Christ)
• And also the spiritual suffering (that we know very little about) when:
• “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us”.
• Peter says to his readers;
• If God was able to raise his son back from the dead;
• Then he can certainly bring us through whatever situation we may face!
Peter reminds his readers:
• We have a living hope, one that has turned death into victory!
• So don’t give up no matter how thick the fog, one day it will clear.
• Whatever difficulties we are going through, it is never the end of the story;
• Nothing that occurs to us on this earth falls into the category of ‘The Final Chapter’.
• That chapter will not be completed until we arrive in heaven,
• Our final meeting is not with the antagonist (the opponent) but with the author himself!
• Peter called this hope an inheritance;
• Which takes us onto our second reasons as to why they and we can make it!
(2). We Have a Permanent inheritance (verse 4):
“And into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you.”
N.L.T:
“For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay”.
Our ultimate home is heaven.
• And every Christian has a place reserved there for us by our heavenly Father;
• A place that was purchased & is being prepared by Jesus Christ his Son,
Ill:
• Peel Common school in Gosport asked if I would do an assembly for them on heaven.
• I agreed and it went very well.
• The teacher then followed up with a question;
• “Well, boys and girls who would like to go to heaven?”
• Everyone put their hand up apart from one little girl.
• “Tracey”, the teacher said; “Don’t you want to go to heaven?”
• Tracey replied:
• “I do miss but mum said I had to go straight home after school!”
Our earthly homes and the possessions that we work so hard to get together:
• Will one day fade away.
• But nothing can destroy our home in heaven.
• Now notice the description of this inheritance;
• For it is totally unlike any earthly inheritance.
Note: Peter was a proper preacher!
• Because in this verse he makes three points all beginning with the letter ‘A’.
• Well they do in the Greek text if not the English.
• He describes our inheritance as ‘Aphthartos’ (‘Ap-tar-tos’) or ‘incorruptible’.
• It is ‘Amiantos’ (Am-ian-tos) or ‘Undefiled’.
• It is ‘Amarantos’ (Ama-ran-to) or ‘unfading’.
• Peter tells his readers that their inheritance cannot be corrupted from inside or outside,
• Nor will it fade away!
Peter’s description of our inheritance is totally unlike any we can truly imagine.
• It ‘Can never perish’ it is ‘incorruptible’.
• Death and destruction cannot affect it – it can never be lost.
• It is ‘undefiled’,
• Nothing can stain or pollute it – it is flawless and perfect.
• It will not ‘Spoil or fade’;
• Ill: The idea is a flower that withers or dies.
• In contrast to a withered, dying flower;
• Our inheritance will never lose its magnificence.
• It is ‘Kept’ or ‘reserved in heaven’:
• Its nature is fixed and unalterable.
• ‘Kept’ or ‘Reserved’ means ‘guarded’ or ‘watched over’.
• Our inheritance is being carefully guarded by God himself!
(3). We Have Divine Protection (verse 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.”
N.L.T:
“And God, in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. It will be revealed on the last day for all to see.”
The term ‘Salvation’ means ‘rescue’ or ‘deliverance’:
• We HAVE been saved - That took place at our conversion.
• We ARE being saved – That is happening at this moment.
• We SHALL be saved – That will happen in the future; when Christ returns.
BUT IN THE PRESENT TIME, WE ARE BEING SAVED:
• Think about it:
• Under heaven's lock and key,
Ill:
• Back home at 23 Abshot Road, Titchfield Common, Fareham.
• We have window locks, dead locks and an alarm system.
• Yet I know if a burglar wants to break in;
• If they are good enough or determined enough, they will!
Yet every Christian:
• Is protected by the most efficient security system available – the power of God.
• And nothing catches Him by surprise.
• He will not let us go!
• There is no way that we will be lost in the process of suffering,
• No matter how acute our pain may be.
• No disorder, no disease, not even death itself can steal us away from
• God's ultimate protection over our lives.
(4). We Have a Developing Faith (verses 6-7).
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
The Message:
“I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.”
Notice:
• Those two little words at the start of this verse:
• “In this” is linked to the previous verses:
• Our joy is not found in the trials and persecution and the suffering we face:
• Our joy is sourced in Christ’s resurrection (verse 3);
• The indwelling Holy Spirit (verse 2);
• And a secure and protected inheritance (verses 4-5).
• If our joy was to be found in circumstances then it would come and go and be erratic,
• Our joy would all be depending on whether circumstances are favourable or not.
• But our joy can be constant because it is found in a God who does not change;
• And rests in his promises, which cannot be broken.
Ill:
• A Christian man who in a time of business recession lost his job,
• He then also lost a sizable fortune, and his beautiful home.
• To add to his sorrow, his wife died; and having no children, and very few relatives;
• He found himself very much alone.
• The man was a Christian and despite his hardships;
• He tenaciously held on to his faith - the only thing he had left.
• One day when he was out walking in search of a job,
• He stopped to watch some men who were doing stonework on a large church.
• One of them was chiselling a triangular piece of rock.
• ‘Where are you going to put that?’ he asked.
• The workman said, ‘Do you see that little opening up there near the spire?
• Well, I’m shaping this stone down here so that it will fit in up there.
Peter reminds his readers:
• That God is shaping US down here so that it will fit in UP there.
• God is preparing us for life and service yet to come.
• Nobody yet knows all that is in store for us in heaven;
• But this we do know;
• Life today is a school in which God trains us for our future ministry;
• Both in this life and in eternity.
This explains one reason why God allows trials into our lives:
• Notice in verse 6 Peter uses the word ‘trials’;
• This is a good translation of the Greek.
• We are not dealing with the inner wrestling of a sinful nature;
• But rather undeserved suffering from without.
Note: vere 6:
• Verse 6: “All kinds of trials”.
• It literally means; “Many coloured”.
• Point being that because we have overcome one type of trial;
• It doesn’t mean we will easily overcome them all!
• e.g. Because we overcome our blue Monday;
• Does not necessarily mean we will overcome our green Tuesday!
• Link: Peter uses the same word “All kinds” or “Many coloured”.
• In chapter 4 verse 10: When he talks about God’s grace.
• In life we will face a variety of trials;
• But God matches our trials with his grace.
• Whatever type of trial we are facing;
• His grace is sufficient to help us overcome that trial.
Ill:
• God’s grace is like a Chameleon;
• It matches whatever our situation may be.
(5). We Have an Unseen Saviour (verse 8).
“Though you have not seen him, you LOVE him; and even though you do not see him now, you BELIEVE in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy”.
The Message:
“You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation”.
• Love and trust are two critical ingredients in any meaningful relationship.
• Peter exalts his readers to keep on practicing these two qualities.
• The reward of love and trust in a wholesome relationship is joy.
• Joy in a person and not nesercery in circumstances.
Although we cannot see Jesus with the physical eye.
• As Christians we know he is there and that loves us and;
• That He is standing with us throughout whatever trials we may face.
• Some, like the disciple Thomas, needed to see and touch Jesus in order to believe.
• But the words of Jesus still ring true!
• John chapter 20 verse 29:
• "Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed"
• Even though we can't see Jesus beside us in our trials,
• We are confident that he is there! (Matt. 28:20i Heb. 13:5).
Ill:
• The early American Indians had a unique practice of training young braves.
• On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday,
• After learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test.
• He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone.
• Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and the tribe.
• But on this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away.
• When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick woods and he was terrified!
• Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce.
• After what seemed like an eternity,
• Dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest.
• Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path.
• Then, to his utter astonishment,
• He beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow & arrow.
• It was his father. He had been there all night long.
• Even though we can't see Jesus beside us in our trials,
• We are confident that he is there! (Matt. 28:20i Heb. 13:5).
(6). We Have Guaranteed Deliverance (vs 9):
• N.I.V: “For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
• N.L.T: “Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls”.
The reward for the Christian is; “Future glory”.
• Peter urged his readers to remember that the final result of our faith;
• Is the deliverance of our souls,
• Which includes;
• Not only a deliverance from our present struggles with sin and circumstances;
• But also a glorification of our physical bodies.
Quote: Warren Weirs:
“Yes, for Christians, it is glory all the way!
When we trusted Christ, we were born for glory. We are being kept for glory. As we obey Him and experience trials, we are being prepared for glory.
When we love Him, trust Him, and rejoice in Him, we experience the glory here and now.
Joy unspeakable and full of glory!”
