17Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
It is very easy to place our trust in the things we can control, or at least have an illusion of control over. Yet, there is much that is beyond our ability to control or even at times comprehend. With the quick pace of technological innovation that causes our culture morph, and presents us with a myriad of choices and possibilities we need a fixed point to make our way through the chaos of life and culture. Our morphing culture is quick to tell us that there is no right or wrong, nothing in and of itself that is wrong. If we attempt to find a fixed point in the cultural landscape it will subtly shift before we even realize the transition. We will end up with something we never intended or wanted. Cultural icons, institutions, organizations, people and ideas with shift before we have the ability to realize what has happen.
Such cultural flux is not a new thing, while at times cultures have experienced a degree of stability, there is always change and transformation of ideas, passages and thoughts. In the world that Peter knew, this was happening as well, the mix of Greek, Roman, Asian, African thoughts and ideas as well as those from the barbarians beyond civilization had an effect on the culture of the time. But, what Peter was reminding the church of was something more useful, a different way of life, a different lifestyle. What we often forget is that our lives are centered in what we value, and these values form the basis of our lifestyle. If we fix our minds on cultural points, we will live a lifestyle that is cultural centered, focused and dependent. It will be as inconsistent and as changing as what is popular in our culture. Oh, we may choose a less rapidly changing icon than the latest music fad, but all of our culturally centered ideas will change and morph.
Peter reminds us of the fixed point that will allow us to maneuver through the dangers of our culture and all those that will come. There is for us the constant point, a stable place, a rock and shelter that is the Father. While things may shift around us, while cultural may suggest new norms of morality and ethics, for us they are not centered in the changes of our culture, but rather in the character of our God. And while we will express much of our faith through the culture we know, if we are centered in character of the Father, we will have a consistent point in a constantly changing world.
Prayer
I. Our first point of investigation is recognize whom we belong to, the Father, but this does not
give us an excuse for sin, rather we should be all the more aware of consequences of
sin.17Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, or perhaps a better
translation would be something along these lines, “And if you call upon the One, as Father,
who judges each one according to their work”
A. Peter is telling us about the Father, about his character, and the point that he is making
is that God will judge impartially. It is not a question of if God will judge, it is a
matter of when God judges, he judges impartially. He is not going to show favoritism,
and from the text, there is a good indication that God is already judging.
1. When we call on or invoke God’s presence, we are making an appeal, calling
attention to, we are asking God to recognize us.
2. We are asking him to recognize us specifically as his children when we call
him Father. It indicates how we understand ourselves in relationship to God,
he is the Father we are his children and each other siblings.
A. Father is not a common title for God in the OT, we find references in
Jeremiah 3:19 and Malachi 1:6.
B. It is likely that the use of Father comes from Jesus’ use of Aba, as a
means of addressing God, Luke 11:2 is one of the best places to see this
use of an intimate term of relationship between God and his people.
The passage reads, 2He said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father,
hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, Give us each day our
daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who
sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.”
C. You’ll find additional examples in Romans 8:15 & Galatians 4:6. This
probably is an example of how widespread the use of the Lord’s prayer
was in the early church community.
D. An additional layer, or another possibility for this example from Peter
is found in the likelihood of Peter’s continued comments on Leviticus
19:1-3, which reads, “The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire
assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your
God, am holy. Each of you must respect his mother and father, and
you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.’”
1. If a person is to respect their earthly parents, how much more
should the Heavenly Father be approached with fear and
reverence.
2. And this will be a theme of Peter’s fear and reverence, as well
as holiness, but they all stem from an understanding of God’s
character which should be seen in his children.
E. My hunch is that we will have the most difficulty with is the notion of
God as judge. We don’t like to think of God this way, we want a soft,
warm, fuzzy God, one that will never tell us no, one that will never hold
us accountable for our behavior.
1. Scripture continues to recount God as not only faithful creator,
but also as the one who will hold all humanity accountable, be
they believers or not.
2. Scripture again and again reminds us the judgment of God.
Look at me if you will to Proverbs 24:12, “If you say, “But we
knew nothing about this, does not he who weighs the heart
perceive it? Doe not he who guards your life know it? Will
he not repay each person according to what he has done?”
3. Matthew 16:27 gives us another understanding of judgment,
“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory
with his angels, and then he will reward each person
according to what he has done.”
4. The judgment was not a secondary them, we may make it such
today, but in the early years of the church, it was central to the
understanding of who God is.
F. We are also told that God will judge impartially. That God will not
show favoritism. We have trouble with this, I think, because at times
we want our faith to be a “get out of jail free card.” Peter reminds us
that God is impartial, and that impartiality extends both Believers and
Nonbelievers. In 4:17 Peter tells us, “For it is time for judgment to
begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the
outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
1. Perhaps the best way to look at this is in these terms, faith does
not remove us from judgement, but it does ensure our ultimate
salvation.
2. But it does not exclude us from the judgement of God. Paul
tells us, “For no man can lay any foundation other than the
one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on
this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or
straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day
will bring it to light. I twill be revealed with fire, and the fire
will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built
survives he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will
suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping
through the flames.”
3. This is one of the points where people get their theology
confused, our actions have nothing to do with our salvation.
Our actions do have consequences, they do have value and we
will be judged for what we have done and not done. God will
be impartial, and while we will survive even if our works are
less than gold, silver and costly stones, we will none the less
suffer loss.
A. And this is the reassuring point, our salvation is not our
action but God’s in Jesus
B. But what follows salvation is ours
G. Because of God’s impartial judgement, we are to “live your lives as
strangers here in reverent fear.
1. We are not to make this culture our home, we are to live here as
strangers, aliens, sojourners, as those who are not from here.
2. Or to phrase this another way, we are to be in the world but not
of the world.
3. Our citizenship is not here, but in the kingdom of heaven. If we
try to live as if we can do both, be citizens of the Kingdom of
Heaven and citizens of any particular nation state, we will not
be able to serve two masters, either we will love on and hate the
other, so Jesus tells us. “No one can serve two masters. Either
he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted
to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God
and money.”
4. So here we are to live as strangers in reverent fear, or in reverent
respect. Fear had a different connotation in the ancient
languages, it had to do with the proper respect of a king.
A. It had to do with respect for the one who held your life
in the palm of his hand.
B. While our elected officials do not exercise that same
power of life and death that absolute monarchs did, God
still does.
C. And so we should show proper respect and reverence.
II. Peter then tells us, 18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or
gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your
forefathers,
A. What does it mean to be redeemed or ransomed?
1. The central Christian understanding comes from the gospel tradition, Mark
10:45 or the Parallel in Matthew 20:28. Mark 10:45 reads, “For even the Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a
ransom for many.”
2. But what does it mean for Jesus to give his life as a ransom for many? If a
ransom is paid who will receive the ransom of Jesus’ life?
A. Some have suggested the Devil received the ransom
B. Some have suggested that the Father received the ransom
C. The better answer may be found in a prevailing tradition in the
Hellenized Roman world.
1. A master could go to the temple of his choice and give a sum of
money for the purpose of redeeming his slave.
2. The money was give so that the god of his choice could buy the
slave and then the slave would become the property of the god.
A. The end result was that the slave was seen by society as
a free person.
B. Now why would a master do this rather than just saying
the slave was free? It was not the social convention, it
was just not done that way.
C. It seems to me that the redemption of believers is best
understood in this regard. Jesus gives, not as sum of
money to the temple, but rather gives his life to God,
and the result is that we as believers are now free
persons.
1. It removes the problem of who receives the
ransom and still frees us from slavery to sin and
separation from God
2. It does not make light of Jesus’ life, but rather
makes it necessary, the sum given to God for the
purpose of redeeming humanity.
3. We are not redeemed with something of passing value, gold or silver which is
perishable but rather with the life of Jesus the Son of God a nonperishable in
God’s economy.
4. What is it that we have been redeemed from? An empty way of life that we
inherited from our forefathers.
A. Empty way of life? This was a common description of gentiles by both
Jews and Christians in the first century. So this is not likely a Christian
comment on Jewish thought, but rather another confirmation that Peter
is writing to gentile Christians.
1. So what were they saying? They were saying that the pagan
religions and lifestyle would lead to nothing good, it was like
trying to get water from an empty cup.
2. You were redeemed from the futility of your old lifestyle and
religion to one that has real substance.
B. From this futile attempt at life, we have been given “abundant life” not
handed down to us by our forefathers but from the Heavenly Father,
and so we need to live in reverent fear.
B. So, we have been redeemed, not with perishable things, so what were we redeemed
with? Peter tells us in Vs. 19 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without
blemish or defect.
1. In Judaism there is a long tradition of redeeming with blood of a sacrifice.
Exodus 34:20 reads, “Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do
not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. No one is to
appear before me empty handed.”
2. The tradition goes back even further, to Genesis 22:8, “Abraham answered,
‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burn offering, my son.” And the
two of them went on together.’” What we do not often realize is that this
scene from the lives of Abraham and Isaac, were blended with the Passover
tradition. They were tied in Judaism long before Christianity
3. As Christianity in the first century reads the OT stories in light of Jesus death
and resurrection, they find here a powerful example for the redeeming of
humanity, that God himself would provide the lamb, faultless and blameless
whose blood would redeem us.
4. Again the thrust of this is not give us a history of Jewish theology, but rather to
remind us why our lifestyles matter. We have been redeemed, by a God who
will judge our lives. In fact, Jesus says, “But I tell you that men will have to
give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have
spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will
be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-7)
A. So, we should live as people who will be giving an account.
B. God will be just, and impartial, but he will judge!
III. This section closes with these words, 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him
from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
A. Through him you believe in God, through Jesus, the one whose precious blood
redeemed you from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers.
1. Belief in God is not a gentile tradition, it is not our cultural heritage, it is not
our history or ours by right of birth.
2. Our belief in God comes through Jesus Christ. Acts 10:44-46, part of the story
of Peter speaking to the gentiles in the home of Cornelius, recounts the surprise
of the Jewish Christians that God poured out his holy Spirit on the Gentiles.
A. It was assumed that the gift of God, that salvation was only to the Jews,
but it is seen now in gentiles.
B. But, as gentiles, this is not our heritage, nor is it our birthright, but we
have been adopted into the family of God.
C. Our belief in God, comes though Jesus Christ. In John 14:1 & 6, we
find these words, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God;
trust also in me. . . .I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.
1. What happens here, is that the ethnic and gender barriers are
torn down, anyone can come to the Father.
2. This is one of the most uniquely equitable and open paths to
God, no one is excluded because of race or gender.
3. There are no restrictions to admittance, but there is only one
path, one door, one route to the Father, and that is Jesus Christ.
Jesus also says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is
the gate and brad is the road that leads to destruction, and
may enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the
road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-
14)
B. We believe in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him
1. God raised Jesus from the dead, this is the first of God’s actions of redemption
2. The second is that he glorified Jesus. If you look at Ephesians 1:19b we will
find an example of the glorification that Peter speaks of, “That power is like
the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised
him from the dead and seated him at his right had in the heavenly realms,”
3. The redemption that God has begun in Christ Jesus, he will continue in us, we
find a quick example in Ephesians 2:6, where Paul writes, “And God raised us
up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of
his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
C. While it is easy to make our faith about institutions, buildings, people, and theological
patterns, it is ultimately about none of these, Peter says, and so your faith and hope
are in God.
1. When we make it about anything else, we end up with a faith that will end up
taking us down the broad road that leads to destruction.
2.If we could accomplish nothing but a steadfast belief in God, we will be able to
live a life of peace, grace and mercy. Our faith will not be shattered by clergy
who end up being all to human, it will not falter because our denomination has
ceased to be, it will not evaporate because we are unable to find a job, nor will
it be a trial when we face death. Everything we know is corruptible, tainted,
and on the brink of destruction.
A. If we put or faith in anything but God we will be destroyed.
B. But if we put our hope and faith in God, we will be saved, now we will
still be accountable for our lives and how we lived, but we will know at
the end of the day, we belong to God and we need not worry.
D. As you leave this place to day, leave knowing that your salvation is secure in Christ
Jesus, but that you will be judged for the way you live, so live your life in reverent
fear, so that on the last day, when we stand before the one who will judge all of
humanity impartially, that he will say to you, “Well done my good and faithful
servant!”
