11. Message in 1 Peter – Number 11 – CLOSING THE LETTER WITH A FOND FAREWELL (1 Peter 5:12-14)
[A]. AND A FOND FAREWELL
It is sometimes claimed that a person’s last words are their most significant. At times there have been those bizarre incidents of reading out in public, a deceased’s final comments to family members often to embarrass them. How often do we hear someone ask, “What was the last thing he said?” In interviews one might be asked, “And any final comment?” as if there was a conclusion of significance.
There are so many collections from dying people and Christians as to what were their last words of farewell. I have 4 here –
(a). DAVID BRAINERD (1718-1747) Missionary American Indians: “I am going into eternity; and it is sweet to me to think of eternity; the endlessness of it makes it sweet. But oh! What shall I say of the future of the wicked! The thought is too dreadful!”
(b). WILLIAM WILBERFORCE (1759 – 1833) Philanthropist and Worker against the Slave Trade: “My affections are so much in heaven that I can leave you all without a regret; yet I do not love you less, but God more.”
(c). CATHERINE BOOTH (1829-1890) Founder Salvation Army: “The waters are rising, but so am I. I am not going under, but over. Do not be concerned about dying; go on living well, the dying will be right.”
(d). CHARLES WESLEY (1707-1788), Methodist Hymn Writer: “I shall be satisfied with Thy likeness. Satisfied!”
The Bible contains quite significant final comments. We recall Jacob who dispensed his blessings and comments about his sons in Genesis 49, and Moses in Deuteronomy 33, and David in 2 Samuel 23. There were only seven sayings from the cross but how significant was the last one to show that the work of full restoration for the sinner was complete. {{John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “IT IS FINISHED!” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.}}
[B]. THE END OF ANY LETTER – BUT HERE, THE THIRD LAST VERSE
When we write a letter and reach the end, we may close in a number of ways. - lightheartedly; with some significant comment like a punch line; a repeat or reminder of some important point in the letter; or we can just finish it abruptly. We shall look at the points Peter chose with which to end his letter. This will examine the last three verses of the letter.
{{1 Peter 5:12 “Through Silvanus, our FAITHFUL brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is THE TRUE GRACE OF GOD. Stand firm in it!”}}
People have helped me in life and I mean non-Christians, people who have been kind (God has taken note of that in the “deeds” at the great white throne for the unsaved.). Personally, I do believe it will make some difference. However, when one Christians helps a needy brother or sister in the Lord, their reward will not be absent – {{Matthew 10:42 “Whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”}}
In verse 12 above there is one word that is significant, the word “faithful”. Two great requirements for the Christian – faithfulness and commitment – are honouring to God. It distresses me to see too many non-committed people in churches today. Too many go for entertainment, especially from the prosperity teachers leading to supposed riches, but leading them to hell.
This was written about Timothy – {{1 Corinthians 4:17 “For this reason I have sent to you Timothy who is my beloved AND FAITHFUL CHILD in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.”}} The highlight that set Timothy apart was his faithfulness to the Lord, and that had a corresponding playing out in his faithfulness to Paul.
The same was said of Tychicus – {{Colossians 4:7 “As to all my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and FAITHFUL SERVANT and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information.”}}. What the Lord desires to say to all His children is this – {{Matthew 25:23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SLAVE. You were faithful with a few things so I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’}}
(a). FIRSTLY, in Peter’s closing remarks in verse 12 we have Silvanus. This brother reminds us of assistance. To Peter he was a faithful helper in the writing of the letter. Peter used an amanuensis as did Paul a good deal of the time.
What a joy it is to have true friends and especially when they are faithful helpers in the Lord’s work, ones who are reliable. They are the stalwarts who are there when you need them. Far too many of us are inconsistent, promising to complete a task but leaving it unfinished. We let our friends down, but that did not apply to Silvanus, for Peter considered him faithful. We have a responsibility to be faithful to one another as members of the household of faith. For those of us reading this, we largely have not seen one another, but we can serve each other and be faithful in prayerful support, and in writing to encourage one another as that wonderful day approaches. Silvanus meant enough to Peter, for him to have given such a special mention.
(b). SECONDLY, Peter provides a few words’ summary of his epistle’s message, “EXHORTING AND TESTIFYING that this is the true GRACE of God. Stand firm in it!” As an apostolic eyewitness, his testimony is true. The word that reigns in this verse is “GRACE,” for all that Peter has written has been because of God’s grace freely given to all. So important is this grace that we are exhorted to keep standing firm in it. God wants consistency and true dedication to our calling in Christ Jesus. Anything less is unacceptable.
Those two words – “exhorting” and “testifying” sum up Peter’s ministry. At first he exhorted the Jews of Acts 2 to come to Christ. He exhorted all Christians to remain faithful to the Lord. He testified all the way through his letter about the Lord, NOT about himself. He set Jesus forth to his readers.
[C]. THE END OF ANY LETTER – BUT HERE, THE SECOND LAST VERSE
{{1 Peter 5:13 “She who is in Babylon, CHOSEN TOGETHER WITH YOU, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.”}}
How pleasant are greetings from afar. We recall individually many blessed thoughts that arise from a greeting of a distant friend. How we love to hear from one another we know, and some of us are certainly “afar off,” and the information is not “unwanted information. Many years ago it was quite a highlight to have a letter from a person in another country, long before the Internet was even thought of.
When I was about 12 or 15, something in that range, I was communicating with a boy about my age in Cambodia. I forget the circumstances of how all this came about, but it was such a joy to receive a letter from another country. That was sometime in the 1950s. The stamp on the letter was fascinating I remember. We used to write in those days on thin paper for airmail letters. Now we don’t even give it a thought with instant communication anywhere in the world.
How special it was to have had greetings from way off Babylon (If, indeed, it was literal Babylon). The KJV reads this way – {{“The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.”}}
That verse is vexed with many problems. There is no noun (church) in the original verse and it is most unlikely that any church is referred to. Many commentators suggest this is Peter’s wife that is referred to here for she travelled with Peter – {{1 Corinthians 9:5 “Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?”}}. If not Peter’s wife, then perhaps some other prominent woman.
Peter introduces as “She who is in Babylon,” and some suggest the expression means Rome, something the Roman Catholic church would love to believe because there is not one mention or hint in the bible that Peter had any connections with the church at Rome, or was even there. We have no historic proof that any church was at Babylon and nothing can be substantiated as to the meaning, but what cements the mutual unity is the expression, “chosen together with you.” Some church or individual (or Peter’s wife) sent greetings along with Peter, indicative of their close bond in Christ and of their unique position as the chosen of God (which is our claim too). No conclusions can be drawn.
It may not take long to do, but a greeting sent to those who need it means immense encouragement to the receiver. We have learnt that this group Peter was writing to was undergoing “fiery trials” (1 Peter 4:12) and the acknowledgement that fellow Christians were standing shoulder to shoulder, must have meant so much to them as that support is motivated by the Lord. Let us be conscious of the gracious part we can play by something as simple as a greeting to those in need; those who are finding the going tough.
These ones to whom Peter wrote were Christians (Jewish Christians) scattered through various provinces (the term used is “aliens”) and Peter’s letter would have been the greatest encouragement for them.
The end of the verse is likewise a difficult one. “and so does my son, Mark.”
(a). Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges says this:- [[It is natural, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, to assume that the Marcus so named is identical with the “John whose surname was Mark,” the son of the Mary to whose house St Peter went on his release from imprisonment (Acts 12:12), the cousin of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), the companion of St Paul on his first missionary journey (Acts 13:5). On this assumption the term “son” might be used of him either as implying the spiritual parentage of conversion, or as the expression of an affection like that which St Paul cherished for Timotheus (1 Timothy 1:2) and Titus (Titus 1:4).]]
(b). MacLaren adds [[“So, possibly, he was with Paul in his last days. And then, after that, tradition tells us that he attached himself more closely to the Apostle Peter; and, finally, at his direction and dictation, became the evangelist who wrote the ‘Gospel according to Mark.’”]]
[D]. THE END OF ANY LETTER – BUT HERE, THE VERY LAST VERSE
{{1 Peter 5:14 (a) “Greet one another with a kiss of love.”}}
We continue Peter’s fond farewell with the very last verse of the letter. This last sentence is a command, but not the strength of command that verses like, “Do not sin,” demand. This is an encouragement that helps maintain close ties. In our western nations this custom is not as prevalent as it once was, and I think that has something to do with society’s abnormal attitudes to sex that have influenced even the simplest of biblical greetings.
Next, Peter makes a comment about personal greeting. We may not go around kissing everyone in the assembly or church (I suppose our departure from that practice is through the impersonal English heritage that has influenced some of us) but I understand this custom continues still in some European cultures, especially the Mediterranean ones like Italy, France and Spain. Nevertheless what Peter is saying, is that among the saints, there should be an openness and full acceptance one of the other. There ought to be affection (love is relative to that). I won’t explore what the New Testament speaks about the love of the brethren.
It is sad when some in churches are aloof; when some are sectarian (meaning to have “favoured groups” within the church - from the word “to cut” as in cut off from others), and plainly partial in their dealings with the saints. It does not go well for “all one in the Lord.” Too often there are those who think their mission in life is to correct others with a superior attitude built up from conceitedness. Spiritual pride in the scriptures is fatal in acceptance of others not as well versed as yourself. Spiritual arrogance is very nasty.
Years ago I wrote a poem about this very matter because I saw some Christians putting others down because they were not as advanced as themselves. This is it:-
TRUTH WITHOUT ARROGANCE
To know the truth is blessed indeed,
For by the truth one’s mind is freed.
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Yet what a danger lies contained
In all the truth that may be gained.
Without the life, just truth alone,
Will cause the empty soul to groan.
To have some truth, but just pretend
You have the lot, from start to end,
Is arrogance and nothing less.
That problem we must all address,
For left unchecked, it builds a pride
That causes one to draw aside,
Discounting others of less worth,
To give them, then, a wider berth.
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“I am the Way, the Truth and Life.”
Why do we see such Christian strife
Among the ones who love the Lord,
When over “truth” some draw the sword?
Without the life, just truth alone,
Will cause the empty soul to groan.
But truth alone, without the love,
Dishonours Christ, the Truth above.
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But can it be that truths we own;
That we’ve ensconced upon a throne,
Dictate to us in regal form
To rally a divisive storm?
Is that the way the Lord would choose
That we, His truth, that way would use?
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Without His love at the control
What does a truth do to the soul?
In isolation, it will say,
That I alone, have the best way.
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The Lord may grant a greater sight;
Enlarge your vision with more light;
Reveal to you some treasured fact,
Or principle, on which to act.
Think not at all you have all right,
And from your special priv’leged height
Look down upon, and criticise -
Another’s ministry, despise.
My sheep they are who know My name,
And in My Flock, they’re all the same.
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But His child here, and that one there,
He’ll use them all that they should share
The message of His love and peace,
Whose presence with them does not cease.
Why do we brand those ones “outside”
For whom our Saviour likewise died,
As “saints in error” and “defiled”,
With such descriptions on them piled?
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Does it make us feel good that we
Have certain truths that they don’t see?
Or maybe they have not been told
Of certain things that you enfold!
Are they at fault? But even so,
Make sure you shun them as you go!! (that is sarcasm)
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A new commandment Jesus gave
To love ALL those His death would save.
As Christ loved them, He told His own,
Love one another! - don’t disown.
Love one another means far more
Than condescension’s loveless flaw.
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Self-righteousness and self-conceit
Will always bring their own defeat.
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If God has given special light,
Then humble be, and think aright.
15 July 1999 R.E.Ferguson 8 s Throughout
We must notice the greeting kiss is one of love. That single word is just so important as the greeting projects the underlying reason. The full motivation is love; the full operation of our calling is love; the bond that cements us together is love.
{{1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails . . .”}}
Now could it be said that the final comment is the most important? Anyway its distinctive importance can not be denied.
{{1 Peter 5:14 (b) “Peace be to you all who are in Christ.”}}
Peter closes with one of the four grand words of the Christian gospel (the other three being love, mercy, and grace). Three of them are used in this conclusion to the epistle [verse 12 and verse 14]), and the fourth one, “mercy” is used in 1 Peter 1:3.
Peace is a direct gift from God to an estranged, broken and warring world. Adam hid because division and enmity had come. Christ is the One who has broken down the partitioning wall between God and man and has given us peace. {{“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:27)}}. What a blessed position to be in, knowing the imparted peace of God; that is the contentment in the face of the gale; that steady assurance through every storm.
In LOVE, stand firm in His GRACE, enjoying His PEACE because His MERCY won our salvation.
