1 Pet. 1:1-19 NAS
Shalom brothers and sisters. Lets turn to our bible and read from 1 Peter 1:1-19. I am reading from New American Standard (NAS) version and we can sum up the verses with reminders from verse 13 – 19,
i. gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit
ii. fix your hope completely on the grace
iii. do not be conformed to the former lusts
iv. conduct yourselves in fear
v. redeemed with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ
Lets study, who is the author?
Peter is a person with colorful characters. As all the Gospels unfold it will become clearer and clearer that beyond simply being listed first, Peter is the spokesman for the Twelve. Besides he was a fisherman, he also known with his strong characters, would die for Christ and a service management team or a flow manager before Christ started to preach. His commitment and energy for Christ is unbelievable and incomparable. This happened after Peter met with Christ on his fishing boat when Christ perform a miracle for Peter (Luke 5: 4-10). That changed his life from a fisherman to someone fully committed and someone who would die for Christ. But don’t we know Peter ever disappointed with Christ?
Even though he answered Christ correctly when Christ asked Peter, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." He knows that Christ is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. But still, when Christ was captured, in Simon's and everyone else's mind, the Messiah would never suffer, never submit, never serve. By the end of this long day Jesus will have done all three. And Simon will be bitterly disappointed with him. Jesus will fail to meet his expectations as the Christ. For them, Christ should lead the Jews to form an army just like recorded in their history to take out Roman empire. That resulted to Peter’s disappointment.
Do we ever wonder why Peter denied Christ that night? It’s not about Christ prophesied that Peter will deny Him. It’s about Peter’s attitude. He was disappointed with Christ and did not want to acknowledge who Christ is to him that night. Normally, when we are disappointed with someone or something, we will have two reactions. First, either we say we know the person very well and we talk all the bad things about the person. Secondly, we refuse to know the person. Or even we do not want to look at the person and want to know anything about that person. Let’s read it in this chapter
1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen
2. according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4. to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5. who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
7. that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
8. and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
9. obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
Those scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia they are afraid of persecution and some of them started to sway from their faith in Christ. They started to forgot who they are in Christ and what Christ has done to them.
Based on this introduction, are you in the same situation?
Are you disappointed with someone you trust or hope as your friend, as your colleague or as your leader? Are you disappointed with your ministry mates, maybe your church leader or Pastors or maybe right now you are disappointed as Christian or believer? Or are you disappointed with yourself? If you are, please stay and let’s dig together into the word of God today. I am not sharing the tips to become successful in overcoming disappointment. But we will learn together from what is written and the word of God speak to us this morning.
TRUTH OF GOD: GET YOUR MINDS READY FOR WORK (1 PET. 1:13 CJB)
Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
In a book I read this week, When Heaven Seems Silent: How to Wait explains that “Disappointment is an emotion, and emotions are neither right nor wrong. However, disappointment that is stuffed down and left to fester can tempt us to sin. Disappointment, if unresolved, can lead us to doubt God. Make no mistake about it: the enemy has no moral dilemma over lying to us as we walk through the process of regaining hope. While we are suffering, the enemy will tell us that God is not for us but against us so that we will be disappointed in Him. We may feel as if God isn’t hearing our prayers or that He is playing with our emotions just to test us. This can produce fear because we feel unprotected and manipulated.”
If I were to not feeding my mind with the word of God and not knowing who I am in Christ, I may have find a way to trace back the sender. Or worse, I will just feel down and disappointed of myself. Dwelling in our disappointment will kill our soul and mind. All what we think about is to keep our distance from someone who disappointed us. Many has decided to leave the ministry because of their disappointment. Some even decided not coming to church anymore because of the disappointment they receive from others. The saddest part is, many have turn their back to Christ. It happened when Peter wrote this letter and it happen today.
Peter wrote, “now is the time for you to gird your minds for action! Get your mind ready for work church. Be sober in spirit, filled and be guided with the holy spirit.
Why to gird our mind and be sober in spirit brother and sisters? We will easily get disappointed If our mind is focusing to what cause us disappointed. Once our mind got distracted and our spirit is not aligning or guided by the spirit of God, it will be mastered with anger, hatred, sadness, grudge and revenge as a result of our disappointment.
In situation like this, we need to always get our minds ready for work! How? Feed our mind with the word of God! With the word of God fed in our mind we will know who we are in Christ and who Christ is to us!
Let’s look at why Simon Peter was disappointed with his Teacher?
1. Simon Peter really hope and want Christ to reveal Himself as a mighty leader to take out Roman Empire.
2. Simon Peter expectation was that Christ will establish His Kingdom just like King David did or rebuild the Kingdom of Israel
3. Simon Peter’s expectation of his plan did not the same with what Christ intend to do.
God never intend to build a physical kingdom like most Israelites during that time expect to do. God plan to build Kingdom of God is actually the Kingdom of Heaven. An eternal and everlasting kingdom. But that different plan of God eventually never understood by those people during that time, including Peter. His expectation causes his own disappointment.
One of the well-known situation in the bible during Jesus time was about the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. We know that the Pharisees are using the word of God to attack others. They said to others how to pray while judging them and even talk about holiness but they themselves care less of the poor, the marginalized and the widow pertaining to giving. The Pharisees even condemn others and Jesus about the day of Sabbath without really understand the true understanding of Sabbath. The entire Jews during Jesus’ time was so disappointed with how the Pharisees carry the law. The interpreted the law based on their own understanding but not the true understanding of it.
1. WE ARE DISAPPOINTED BECAUSE OF OUR OWN EXPECTATION WHICH IS CONTRADICT TO GOD’S PLAN
How is it contradicting?
Most of the time we said, “let my will be done” not “Your will be done”. Most of the time we want, what we want to happen, or what we want to get to be accomplished. Not what God want to do to happen in our life. When these contradict, we will become disappointed. That disappointment, at the end of the days will make many of us to not disbelief God’s plan in us.
That was what happened to Simon Peter. He wanted the will of Israelites to accomplished. He wanted that plan to realized soon. Very soon. This same Simon Peter, who was once disappointed by the situation when Christ was arrested has now become a strong person and is used by God to strengthen others as well. He learns from his past and mistake that not knowing the truth of God made him easily disappointed. And he wrote this letter to remind and encourage the scattered believers outside Jerusalem to USE THEIR MINDS TO WORK. TO PREPARE THEIR MINDS TO WORK according to the truth of Christ.
1.1 HOW THEN TO PREPARE OUR MIND TO WORK OR TO GIRD OUR MIND AND BE SOBER IN SPIRIT?
Only by knowing the truth of God or the knowledge of God while prepare our mind and sober in our spirit will let the Holy Spirit to teach and guide us how to overcome our disappointment. The original word of Gird in Greek is ??a?????µ? or anazonnumi transliterated, of long Eastern robes gird up, bind up. Simon Peter wrote and remind us today, to bind up our mind at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Only that then our mind will not be sway away to our disappointment, hesitating or doubting the work of God in our life and the guidance of Holy Spirit in us. If we do not gird our mind and keep sober in spirit, we keep dwelling in our “disappointment will cause one of two things to happen. It will either draw us closer to God, or it will distance us from God. The choice is really ours because God does not distance Himself from us. He stays put. If there’s any moving away, it’s on our end.”
Overcome your disappointment with trusting in God’s plan instead not human plan!
2. WE ARE DISAPPOINTED BECAUSE OF OUR HIGH EXPECTATION ON OTHERS
“In whatever you do, don’t let selfishness or pride be your guide. Be humble, and honor others more than yourselves. Don’t be interested only in your own life, but care about the lives of others too.” Philippians 2:3-4.
A high expectation on others will eventually make us to compare the person with our self. When comparison and disappointment take place, selfishness or pride be our guide. No longer the truth of God and holy spirit is our guide. The more we keep that high expectation and whenever that person can’t meet our expectation that result to we are judging them based on our standard. When we set it to our standard we will tend to look down on that person. In Philippians teach us to be humble and honor others more than yourself. Not less that yourself. Bible tell us, the standard we use to measure others will also use to measure ourself.
Over the years in my ministry I learn one thing whether its related to ministry or myself, whatever changes we expect in someone or in ourself, it will be according to God’s timing. And it is back to be patience and trust the God’s timing in us. We need to be patience with one another. In Philippians 1:6 teach us, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (NASB1995)
Same to what Simon Peter has been through. His high expectation toward Christ to establish the Kingdom of Israel causes him to be disappointed. Patience with what you going through now. Whether you are disappointed towards your spouse, your friends, your bosses or your parents, your sibling or your children; that He, our God who began a good work in you or in their life will perfect it, until the day of Christ Jesus. He will brethren, He will. Don’t be disappointed until you are giving up with them. Christ has just begun a good work or probably now in the process of that good work in them!
Patience and overcome it with trusting in God’s good work in our lives or in their lives.
3. WE ARE DISAPPOINTED BECAUSE OF OUR UNASWERED PRAYER
How is it we become disappointed?
Again, when we become impatience of our unanswered prayer. When we want things to go according to our desire or what we want or our plan and our way, we become impatience with God’s beautiful timing. Impatience of God’s timing cause our own disappointment. When I ponder upon this verse or phrase, I can’t but relate it to 1 Pet 2:9, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
3.1. REDEEMED WITH PRECIOUS BLOOD (1 PET 1: 19)
The word chosen derive from the original word in Greek [??????] ‘favored with select status’, chosen – a. w. focus on an object of choice by God, without reference to quality of the entity chosen. When we are redeemed with Christ precious blood, we are also His chosen people. Eklego and its explain believers of Christ, you are favored with select status! Chosen by God without reference to our quality! Isn’t it amazing?
When we understand the truth, truly brethren, the truth will set us free. Our disappointment is nothing when we finally understand who we are in Christ. What more to say we are redeemed by His precious blood. Let me ask you, do we think Christ will just leave us after He have shed His blood and crucified on the cross for us? He redeems us with His precious blood and He surely will take care of His chosen people! He redeems you and I from our misery and from our disappointment.
And only by understanding and receive this truth we will overcome our disappointment. There is no other ways brethren. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. That’s the truth we need to swallow. Our disappointment is not bigger than His precious blood. Our disappointment is not bigger than who we are in Christ, the eklektos or eklego. He who call you and he will take care of you! Don’t be like Pharisees in the bible. They do not know the truth. They simply interpreted the bible with their own understanding and without knowing the truth.
All we need to say to ourself is, God I am your children, your chosen people and redeemed by your precious blood. I trust that you will take care of my hurt, my disappointment and what I am going through now. We are eklego, favored with select status without reference to our quality and redeemed with Christ precious blood. We are His and He sure will take care of us.
Simon Peter finally understand to purpose of Christ, His death and His resurrection, he finally waited what was promised by Father in Heaven, Holy Spirit. During Pentecost, Simon Peter filled with Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empower him again to became the Solid Rock like Jesus said. And Simon Peter wrote “ humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” 1 Peter 5:6-9 NASB1995
Even when you have unanswered prayers, maybe prayers for your family, your spouses, your business, your parents and your children. Do not let your disappointment take over your mind and life. In proper time, after we has casted all our anxiety our disappointment and our prayers to him, He cares! He Cares!
Realizing who we are in Christ will help us to overcome our disappointment
CONCLUSION
To recap, we can be disappointed:
I. BECAUSE OF OUR OWN EXPECTATION WHICH IS CONTRADICT TO GOD’S PLAN
II. BECAUSE OF OUR HIGH EXPECTATION ON OTHERS
III. BECAUSE OF OUR UNASWERED PRAYE
Therefore
But we can overcome it:
1. Gird your minds by putting our hope in Christ
2. Sober in Spirit with a total surrender to Holy Spirit.
Then will we as a Christian or believers of Christ will overcome disappointment we are in now.
Maybe today you feel that, no I do not want to put my hope in Christ anymore. No, I am totally disappointed with what happen and no, he or she be helped anymore. He or she won’t change, will never change.
Or we are saying, no…I have been in this health condition for many years. I have been praying for healing and restoration to my health condition, still no positive result. I lose my hope in God.
But this is the secret. Even you are quite, giving up. But said.
Isaiah 65:1 "I made myself accessible to those who didn't ask for me, I let myself be found by those who didn't seek me. I said, 'Here I am! Here I am!' to a nation not called by my name. (Isa. 65:1 CJB)
Simon Peter’s faith only be restored after he sink and cried out to Jesus. Cry out to Jesus. Save me Jesus! He will surely reach out His hand, grabbing your hand and pull you up to save you from drowning.
