Today, we continue our study of 1 Peter which has as its main theme: How to navigate living a God-defined life in a world that is contrary to the Christian faith. The recipients of this letter were enduring incredible pressure to turn away from God and His culture; they needed hope. I always find it mind-blowing when I know the need and I discover that God meets the need in a very unusual way. This most often is the case with God. You see, in order to get through the pressure and the trials they were going through, they needed to grow in their fear of God. When we get to the place where we are in an healthy way fearing God we will come to see that this type of fear is what is needed in order to cancel out the fear of man.
In v.17 we read, "Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear."
The Apostle Peter wrote this letter to believers, and according to the scriptures, Christians will never have to stand before God and give an account for our salvation on the basis of our good works. In this verse, the judgement Peter references is about the judgment seat of Christ, where Christians will give account for how we used the resources God had given us. According to 1 Corinthians 3:8-15, 5:10, God will judge our choices or works at the judgement seat of Christ. This judgement will not determine whether we will enter heaven; this judgement will determine the position we will have in eternity with God.
This is why the Apostle Peter wrote those final words in v.17: "...live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear." When we have a close walk with God and we call Him Father, then we will also know that He will impartially judge us according to our work at the judgement seat of Christ. With this being the case, we will live our lives in reverential fear of God. There are two types of fear in the Bible: one causes us to run from Him and the other causes us to run to Him. In this verse the Apostle refers to the latter. It is out of a deep respect and awe or fear of God that the believer in Christ lives his life; that is if We get it. When we come to the understanding that God is who He says He is and we understand that He knows how to live our lives better than we, we will yield our existence to Him. This will not mean that we will be perfect, it just means that we will grow at yielding to His sovereign wisdom.
In v.18-19 of today's passage we read, "18 For 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 ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."
The word "redeemed" means to buy back from bondage. The Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth as God's ransom in order to deliver us from the penalty and power of sin. As the Apostle Peter wrote these words, he no doubt, had in mind the Jewish Passover where an innocent lamb was slain for the forgiveness of the people's sin. The lamb had to be an unblemished and spotless lamb, slain to redeem those with willing hearts of belief. All of those innocent lambs that were slain down through the centuries ALL pointed to the Lamb of God once slain for the forgiveness of all sin.
The Bible is the Christian's flashlight which helps us to navigate in this dark world. When we live according to God's culture, we do so because we believe His truth is the truth. In addition, according to this verse, we believe there is coming a day when there will be a final reckoning before Him. God's judgment is the light at the end of this dark tunnel known as this fallen world. On that final the day of judgment God will bring to light what is hidden in the darkness and will expose the motives of everyone's hearts. At that time each one will receive good news from God or bad news. That which will determine the difference is what we chose to do with the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Much of the Bible is a call to faith in the God of the Bible, yet most are defined by the "fear of man" more often than not. This explains why the most often repeated command in Scripture is "fear not" repeated some 365 times in the Bible. The word translated "impartially" literally means that God does
not judge "by the face." He does not judge by superficial factors like economic status, education or skin color. God judges on the basis of what we did in response to the claims of Christ to be the Savior of all of the willing.
The Apostle Peter wrote this letter to believers, and according to the scriptures, Christians will never have to stand before God and give an account for our salvation on the basis of our good works. In this verse, the judgement Peter references is about the judgment seat of Christ, where Christians will give account for how we used the resources God had given us. According to 1 Corinthians 3:8-15, 5:10, God will judge our choices or works at the judgement seat of Christ. This judgement will not determine whether we will enter heaven; this judgement will determine the position we will have in eternity with God.
This is why the Apostle Peter wrote those final words in v.17: "...live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear." When we have a close walk with God and we call Him Father, then we will also know that He will impartially judge us according to our work at the judgement seat of Christ. With this being the case, we will live our lives in reverential fear of God. There are two types of fear in the Bible: one causes us to run from Him and the other causes us to run to Him. In this verse the Apostle refers to the latter. It is out of a deep respect and awe or fear of God that the believer in Christ lives his life; that is if We get it. When we come to the understanding that God is who He says He is and we understand that He knows how to live our lives better than we, we will yield our existence to Him. This will not mean that we will be perfect, it just means that we will grow at yielding to His sovereign wisdom.
In v.18-19 of today's passage we read, "18 For 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 ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."
The word "redeemed" means to buy back from bondage. The Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth as God's ransom in order to deliver us from the penalty and power of sin. As the Apostle Peter wrote these words, he no doubt, had in mind the Jewish Passover where an innocent lamb was slain for the forgiveness of the people's sin. The lamb had to be an unblemished and spotless lamb, slain to redeem those with willing hearts of belief. All of those innocent lambs that were slain down through the centuries ALL pointed to the Lamb of God once slain for the forgiveness of all sin.
The Lord Jesus Christ shed His precious and innocent blood in order to redeem you and me from the bonds of the evil one. The very life of God was offered up for you and me. God Himself paid the price that sin created. He, at the cost of His own blood, redeemed us to be His very own sons and daughters. These sobering facts, that God is a fearful God who paid the price for our salvation must be the daily motivation of the believer in Christ to yield our lives to Him for His purposes.
The price for sinful man's redemption was the death of the Lamb of God because it was God who was the One who had to be satisfied. And, the blood of the Lord Jesus was without blemish or defect; He is the perfect Son of God. This means His death was a substitutionary atonement made on the behalf of all humble enough to believe in His promise of eternal life through Him. Christ’s perfection was used to redeem us in our imperfect condition of sinfulness. All of our moral corruption, our heaped-up sins, our wayward thoughts, words, actions, and inactions were laid upon the Lord Jesus at the altar of sacrifice, the cross of Calvary. And all of God’s divine and eternal attributes were reconciled in Him to us by His death on that tree.
