The God Of All Grace Series

1 Peter 5:10-14 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. 12 With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. 13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

The Objective: Glory

One final time before closing out this book Peter wants to remind us again that we have been called to eternal glory. Peter has been telling us this all through the book. He started with it right off the bat in chapter 1 pointing us to that glorious inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you Peter has made repeated references to that Day when Christ is revealed, the Day of visitation, the end of all things, the Day His glory will be revealed and we will be overjoyed if we have rejoiced in suffering for Christ in this life. Even in this chapter, Peter used that crown of glory as a motivation for elders to serve humbly and eagerly. For Peter, understanding our calling into eternal glory is so critically important for living the Christian life. That living hope is absolutely fundamental. If you are not walking through life with your eyes on that future, heavenly prize, Peter would say you are not going to have a successful Christian life.

And what is the marvelous future reality that is our great hope? Eternal glory. Glory refers to everything that is wonderful about God - all His attributes. The reason you are going to like heaven is because you will have firsthand experiences of those attributes. The reason you like the things you like on earth is because they are an experience of some faint shadow of God’s attributes and glory. But all our experiences in this life - both good and bad, are momentary and light. In heaven they will be eternal and weighty - heavy - substantive. We understand that in a relative way in this world. If you stub your toe or spill something on the floor – that is light. If you are diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor – that is heavy. If you scratch and win a free order of fries at MacDonald’s - that’s light. If your first child was just born - that’s heavy. We understand the difference between light things and heavy things. And according to 2 Corinthians 4:17, the experiences of the attributes of God we will have in heaven will be so real and so life-changing and so substantive that they make every single thing in this life light by comparison.

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory.

We will have experiences: God’s wisdom, His power, His kindness, His creativity - all His attributes, and those experiences will be uncontaminated with our own sin, unencumbered with this fallen world, undiluted, unmixed - those experiences will be direct, immediate engagement with the countless attributes of God. No matter what it is you like in life - whether it be money or relationships or family or recreation or excitement or adventure or learning - whatever it is you like, you like it because in some way it is an experience of some faint shadow of God’s glory. Even sinful pleasures are typically good things that have been twisted and perverted in some way. But God is the source of all good and the source of all true joy. The level of joy in your life depends totally on how much you experience God’s glory. And what Peter is saying in this passage is that God has called you into eternal glory after this brief time of suffering in this life. That is the objective. That is our goal - to make it to eternal glory.

The Problem: Suffering

Threatens Glory

But there is a problem. We have an enemy who does not want us to make it to glory. The devil utilizes all kinds of tools to prevent us from making it to glory. And one of those tools is suffering. Satan wants to use suffering to cause you to destroy yourself by convincing you to let go of your faith.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith