1 Peter 2:11-12

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11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. ~ 1 Peter 2:11-12

Today, we continue our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter is giving us a reminder that our success as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is anchored in the sovereignty and the immutability of God Himself. It is in this context that Peter now challenges our faith in the all-sufficiency of our God. He does this by addressing of daily choices and whether we are being defined by God.

We are trichotomous beings, which means we have three parts: body, soul, and spirit. Our souls are also made of three parts: our mind, our will, and our emotions. There is a big difference between our justification and our sanctification. It is only on the basis of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and that He paid the penalty for our sin, that we are justified. This is what made us right before God whereas before our sin was atoned for we were the enemies of God.

Our sanctification, on the other hand, is different. Whereas our justification gets us into heaven, it is our sanctification that gets heaven into us now. Sanctification is the acquisition of God's wisdom which is what enables us to live the lives the Lord Jesus died to give us now.

In today’s passage, the Apostle Peter reminds us that we have two options to choose from to invest our souls on any given day: the way of the Lord or the way of this world. And, choosing the Lord's way of thinking will determine if we are wise or not.

In v.11 of today’s passage we read, "Dear friends, I warn you as 'temporary residents and foreigners' to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls."

Here, Peter reminds of who we are and what we are up against before he issues us a command. Peter addresses with us three designations that must inform the way we look at God, ourselves, and this world if we are to experience the life the Lord Jesus died to give us. The first is “Dear friends” which is a word Peter loved. He used it eight times in his two letters. Eight times he used it to remind us that "God loves us." Someone once said, "The shape of true love isn't a diamond. It's a cross." This quote echoes the words of the Lord Jesus when He said, "Greater love has no man than to lay down His life for His friends." It is this kind of love that we can truly invest our beings in.

The second designation Peter used to describe us is "temporary residents" which literally means "alongside the house." The reason Peter uses this designation is because you and I live alongside a people who make this world their home. This world is not our home, it's their home. We are just passing through this world for the time being. We must see ourselves as having been placed alongside unbelievers who make this world their home.

The third designation Peter uses of those who have entered into a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ is "foreigners." This word describes someone who is a traveler, a visitor, somebody who stops by temporarily but is on the move. We are loved by God and we are foreigners passing through this foreign land. Peter is merely reminding us that we don't belong here. "We are in this world but not of this world." 

In addition to reminding us of our identity, Peter reminds us of the worldly desires or lusts that wage war against our souls. And, the lure of those worldly desires is always short lived, due to the fact that they are of this world and not of God’s eternal kingdom. These lusts survive only in the context of the decaying.

Our biggest struggles are most often discovered inside of us. The Apostle Peter reminds us to "keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls." The word "war" describes not a single battle or a skirmish here or there, but a long-term military campaign being executed against us on a daily basis. This word "war" described how the Romans fought and conquered their foes. They would set up a village, a town, a city, around another city they wished to conquer for weeks, months, and even years. It was a long-term military campaign. All of the allurements afforded to us by this fallen world that produce desires within us, they are like an army of terrorists that want to subdue and enslave us. Therefore, we must be vigilant to not allow these to define us. This is why we must be reminded often that we are "loved of God, temporary residents and foreigners" in this fallen world.

But Peter’s greater concern in our text for today is what happens to our unbelieving neighbors who are watching how we live out our lives. How we live before our unbelieving neighbors makes a world of a difference with regard to whether they believe in the Lord Jesus or not. Of course, at the end of the day, they decide whether to trust in the Lord or not, but we have an influence on that decision.

In v.12 of today’s passage we read, "Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world."

Peter renders our witness to unbelievers as far more powerful than their ill-treatment of us. The example of the Lord Jesus is quite helpful here. When we render blessing to those who intentionally harm us, a power is unleashed in and through us that changes the world. It is a reverberating power that begins within us and it organically sends seismic messages that our neighbors can not ignore. This is the same power that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and it is also the same power that changed our unbelieving hearts.

Peter writes, "...they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world."

Our wise choices that are in concert with God's definitions of things will always have an influence on our unbelieving neighbors. When we determine to be authentic before the lost who are watching us live out our lives, they will be the more likely to ask us about the hope that lives in us. Then, we will find that it is more likely that the very ones who accused us wrongly will see that in reality we were not in error, and they will more likely trust in the Lord and will glorify Him "when He judges the world."

Daily, the sovereign God is giving us a story with Himself, including the good and the bad moments of life. It is so important for us to trust the Lord in the midst of even the most unwanted and most the difficult moments of our lives. We must not run from the deepening that God desires to impart to us through those most unwanted of moments. It is through these most unwanted of moments that we get to know Him best. It is also through these most unwanted of moments that we learn the most authentically and they always give us the most authentic context to deliver the gospel to a lost and dying world. It is these stories that resound the best with those who know not our Lord and are perhaps looking for that which is most substantive. When we share the gospel couched in these stories with our unsaved neighbors, it makes it more likely that they would believe and subsequently honor God when He judges this world in the end. 

1 Peter 2:10

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Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  ~ 1 Peter 2:10

Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter is doing for us what the Lord Jesus did for him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee after Peter had denied knowing the Lord Jesus on the morning of His crucifixion. He is showing to us the compassion and mercy of God.

In the first part of today's verse we read, "Once you were not a people."

After the Fall of man, mankind had no identity as a people or we had no identity as the people of God. Before we came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we were under the domain of Satan himself. We had been hijacked out of the family of our Creator. In fact, we never had a chance to be defined by none other than the evil one. That is until the Lord Jesus came to earth to be our Savior. But, while we were under the authority of the devil, we were complete nobodies, we were the slaves of the enemy.

In the second part of today's verse we read, "... but now you are the people of God."

The Apostle Peter reached way back into the Old Testament to the book of the prophet Hosea to provide an apt description of the lost condition of all who have not a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing so He alluded to Hosea 1 where God said, "I will call those who were not My people My people and she who was not My beloved, beloved." 

God has always been available to those humble and honest enough to recognize their utter need of Him. God had always reached out to wayward man beginning in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve rebelled against Him. And, God has made it possible for anyone to enter into a permanent and secure relationship with Him through His Son's satisfying sacrifice on the cross. Having believed in the Lord Jesus we now have been given meaning and purpose through and by the One who suffered separation from God, so that we could be included in God's family. 

The word Peter uses for "people" is used 142 times in the New Testament. By using this word, Peter is helping us to see the contrast between our aimless lives previously and our purpose filled lives at the present. As the people of God now, we have been blessed with a new desire that the Apostle Paul describes in Philippians 3:8 which reads, "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ."

In the third part of today's verse we read, "... once you had not received mercy."

At the center of this contrast is the mercy of God. This word communicates that we were down and out, finished, with nothing of value left to offer. We were at best hopeless with an awful future in hell awaiting us. Then the mercy of God entered the ring through the Lord Jesus Christ. This character quality of God enabled Him to give to His Son what we deserved. Of course, God did that when the Lord Jesus hung on the cross so many years ago. When hanging on the cross, the Lord Jesus purchased the mercy of God on the behalf of all who would believe on Him as our Savior.

In the last part of today's verse we read, "... but now you have received mercy."

Having trusted in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, we all share this story with God. The word translated "mercy" in this verse means "to have pity for" or "to show compassion towards." Mercy is God making the choice to withhold from guilty and vile sinners the just punishment of our sin. But, through believing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have accessed God's mercy. It is God's mercy that makes it a possibility for us to be included by Him into His family. And, we will spent our eternities understanding His great mercy for us.

There is an Old Testament story which illustrates God's mercy well. Hosea was a prophet. One day, God told Hosea his bachelor days were up. The problem with the wedding announcement was it came with a dreadful prophecy.
Hosea's wife would break his heart. Aware of Gomer's promiscuous reputation, Hosea humbled himself in obedience to the Lord. As a godly man, he surely had different hopes for marriage, hopes of pursuing a lover who would share not only his heart but also his faith and convictions.

After they were wed and they had a few children, Hosea began to hear awful rumors. And his heart began to break. His wife, Gomer, was prostituting herself to the men of the city. Hosea couldn't even be sure the children she bore were his. And, then came the final blow. Gomer's wanderings had drawn her into the most embarrassing arena of prostitution. Then, God told Hosea to do the unthinkable, to go redeem his wife. 

What is of great note in this story is when Hosea finally gave into the idea of going through the humiliation to buy his wife out of prostitution, he didn't have enough money. He needed 30 pieces of silver and he only had 15. Out of desperation, Hosea emptied his cupboards of all of his barley flour and purchased his wife. Hosea's frustrating lack was strategic because when Gomer saw the great lengths that her husband went to to buy her back, her heart was won over. In fact, after she was purchased by her husband, Gomer never ran around on Hosea again.

Hosea and Gomer's story is also our story. When we, like Gomer, were enslaved, God sent His Son to this earth in order to buy us back. God gave His most precious Son to redeem us out of our prostitution. He freed us out of our chains of ignorance, discontent, selfishness and fear. Even after we, by our very nature, had thrown God's love away, the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us. And, the more we learn of His great love for us, the more our hearts will be won to Him.

1 Peter 2:9

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But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ~ 1 Peter 2:9

Today, we continue our study of 1 Peter 2 where we are learning of many of the blessings God has given us to maintain a consistent walk with Him. In today's verse the Apostle Peter dips back into the Old Testament, as is his habit, and brings out a number of references to the nation of Israel. These are all blessings which God gave to His people, the Jews. Peter applied these blessings to all believers in the Lord Jesus in order to encourage us especially when we are encountering intense persecution. These blessings are partly designed to get us to forsake the self life which at every turn tries to destroy us.

Today's verse begins with a "but," the strongest adversative known to any language. In the previous verses the Apostle Peter shined his spotlight upon the doom of those who have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah. The contrast here could not be more obvious. Unlike those who are destined for destruction because of their rejection of Christ, those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus as such are a chosen people. In Ephesians 1:4 we read, "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love."

The most adjusted people on the planet are those who are valued not on the basis of anything temporal like looks or performance or status or economic status. And, those who are defined by the flimsy stuff of this world are the most unadjusted people in this world. Since God has deemed to include us in on His Son's performance and perfection, we should be the most secure people in the world, only if we are choosing to be defined by Him. And, of course, when we are being defined by Him, we will be obedient to Him.

In addition to being a chosen people, believers in Christ are "a royal priesthood." The work of a priest is to tell the truth about human brokenness for the purpose of forgiveness and reconciliation. And, our priesthood is royal meaning our position in Christ has granted us VIP status with God. This is due to the fact that our forever High Priest is God Himself and He has procured this position for us in His life, death, and resurrection. 

Then, according to this verse, the people of God are "a holy nation" which is a different designation from the royal priesthood. "A holy nation" exists to apply justice for the common good, especially to establish righteousness in the nation. All around this world a nation is judged according to whether its laws apply equally to all of its citizens. In addition, each nation is judged on the basis of whether its laws are fair and whether or not the weak are cared for and protected.

In addition, according to today's verse, believers in Christ are God's special possession. The better translation of this concept is "purchased possession" which would fast forward our attention to the cross where God shouted to the top of His lungs "I love you" too. 

The goal of all of these blessings in Christ is "that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." 

Darkness is the absence of light. Spiritual darkness is the state of a person who is living apart from God. Sin darkened our understanding and destroyed our spiritual sight, cloaking us from a personal relationship with God. Spiritual darkness refers to all that is in opposition to the light of God’s love in Christ. All humans past the Fall of man began our lives in the darkness, in the grip and bondage of death and darkness. The Lord Jesus Christ is the personification of the light. He is the "true light" of this world, and He will be the true light of the world to come and forevermore. It was through the redemption of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have passed into the light. 

The light is used here by Peter as a metaphor of God dwelling among His people. In the Old Testament God dwelt among His people. Now that Christ has remedied our sin, God now dwells in His people. And now, we are being given by God a story with Him, we are positioned to tell others of what it means to come out of the darkness into a personal relationship with God. Once we experienced the light, we gained God's heart for those who are yet in the darkness. 

1 Peter 2:7-8

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7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. ~ 1 Peter 2:7-8

Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter is presenting the Lord Jesus as precious to all willing to believe in Him as the Living Stone and as the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense to those who do not believe that He is the Messiah. When the Apostle Peter wrote these words, he, no doubt, had in mind those caretakers of the Jewish religious system who were the self-imposed builders of God's work on earth. They were those who took out their measuring instruments of their own religion, and they surveyed the Lord Jesus Christ and His claims as Messiah. Like many today, they concluded the Lord Jesus didn't fit their expectation of Him, so they rejected Him and the salvation He offers.

In v.7 of today's passage we read, "Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.'"

In this verse, the Apostle brings our attention to one of the most incredible contrasts in human history. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus as Messiah as contrasted by those who do not believe. For those who believe in God's definition of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus is precious. These are recognized through the Scriptures as those who to some degree have become obedient. These are those who have responded to the truth that God has given them. And, with their obedience to some truth, God has chosen to give them even more truth. To these the Lord Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. For these, the Lord Jesus Christ is increasingly becoming the firm foundation upon which to build their lives. 

On the other hand, to those who reject Him, He is the stone whom they keep tripping over. The word "rejected" means disallowed after close examination. They examined the Lord Jesus with a myopic view of God and they chose wrongly. They took out the measuring tools of their own religion, and they assessed the Lord Jesus by the wrong standard. They concluded Him as not being the one upon whom they should build their lives. Their choice accentuates that most reject Him because they already have a god. And, their god is themselves.

In contrast, God also has a measuring line. In concert with His measurements, God also examined the Lord Jesus and He concluded, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." In his book ''Mere Christianity" C.S. Lewis wrote, "Jesus, is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe. We either believe Him and make Him the foundation of our lives, or we reject Him and spend the rest of our lives falling over Him. There is no other alternative."

Many believe the answer is to try harder to be good enough before a holy God through their morality. Their problem is they do not understand the holiness of God nor do they understand their own wickedness. Those who believe that God will accept them into His heaven based upon their good behavior have an awfully small view of God. They do not understand that they can not measure up before this prefect God. His standard is perfection is well far beyond where man can jump. Whereas the Lord Jesus Christ measured up perfectly, and, His performance bridged the huge gap that was created between God and man by man's rebellion. 

In v.8 of today's passage we read, "And, 'A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.' They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed."

Many have trouble with this verse because it seems to mean that unbelievers earn their favor before God. This is impossible but if we believe we will obey. Many believe that unbelievers were appointed to disbelief. This is not the case. God has never been known to damn any human to hell. In fact, as this verse underscores, those who reject the free gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus were appointed to the penalty of not believing. 

Peter refers here to "a stone of stumbling" or a loose rock on the path that the unbeliever trips over. Then, he refers to "a rock of offense" or an obstacle one cannot get through or around. The Lord Jesus Christ is unavoidable. We will come to Him as our Rock of provision and protection or we will come to Him as the Rock of offense who will crush all who will not believe on Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is elect of God, precious to God, approved by God, and precious to all who choose to believe upon Him. 

1 Peter 2:6

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"Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, 'Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.'” ~ 1 Peter 2:6

Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter is training us on how to maintain a consistent walk with the Lord in the context of intense persecution. 

Today's verse is a quotation from Isaiah 28:16 and it begins with the word "therefore." We know that proper interpretation is to figure out why there is a therefore at this point in the passage. In our last study you will remember that Peter likened believers in the Lord Jesus to "living stones" who have the ability to yield the characteristics of the "living stone" who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. By virtue of the fact that believers in Christ are each a "living stone," we now have the where with all to yield the characteristics of God through our yielded lives. The key to it all is discovered in the words of the Lord Jesus, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

The Greek word translated "behold" in today's verse suggests that if we do not clearly see Him, we will miss the real purpose of our everyday lives amidst our many trials and sufferings. The first century believers to whom Peter wrote this letter were going through intense pressure and persecution from those who knew not God. In reality, through the pressure Peter's audience was being granted the ability to see and know more vividly through the trials. Accentuated in this verse is the very true idea of the fact that it is through our pain that we are enabled to really see what is really real.

But, the precedent to "beholding" is not pain, it is the brokenness that our pain grants us only if we embrace God through the pain. It is our brokenness that ushers us to the monumental decision to give up on the self life and to choose to be defined by God as we obey His word. For some, brokenness is a reminder of their imperfection while to others it is a heartbreak. It is always some form of weakness which prompts the response that leads us to repentance and to say "yes" to God.

The chief cornerstone is the stone on which the corner of the building rests. This stone is always is a large and solid stone. This cornerstone, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ who is central to all reality. And, He was positioned by God with the greatest of skill. He is the life we referenced in our last study. He is the strength of our lives only when we allow Him to be such.

"Beholding" the Lord Jesus is more than recognizing that He is alive. In fact, it is more than taking note that He is involved in our daily lives. This word "behold" is employed some 1298 times throughout the Bible. To "behold" means to see, to view, to face, to observe fully, to gaze upon with attention and earnestness, to survey with accuracy, to understand earnest spiritual contemplation, to look at purposely.

This admonition "to behold" Him is the primary means by which God enables us to rid ourselves of the self life. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 we read, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." 

When Moses met with the Lord face-to-face and he emerged with his face glowing which frighten the Israelites. Therefore, after meeting with the Lord, Moses would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites would not see the glory of the Lord in the glow of his face. Until we get to the place of beholding the Lord for ourselves, we all live behind a veil of unbelief. Apart from the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit in our souls, we cannot behold the glory of the Lord Jesus. But when the veil of unbelief was removed by the Spirit, we were enabled to gaze upon and behold the glory of the Lord.

The result of beholding the glory of the Lord is that we become progressively more and more like Him. We become what we behold. When we behold ourselves, we find ourselves miserable. When we recognize our deep need to behold Him, we will embrace the renewal of our minds that the Apostle Paul speaks of in Romans. In fact, in Romans 12:2 we read, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind." As we renew our minds by learning to behold the Lord of love, kindness, endurance, patience, and grace, we will know the joy of forgetting ourselves and we will find ourselves becoming more like the One who truly loves us. We become what we behold. And, when we behold Him for who He is, we "will by no means be put to shame." 

The key to all of this is that we are beholding and believing. Our problem is there are many things in a given day to cause us not to behold and believe. From God's slowness to deliver us  out of our trials, to our struggle of understanding what the Lord is trying to accomplish in our lives through our trials, we struggle with beholding and believing.

The Greek word that Peter used here in today's verse for believes means to think He is true, to be persuaded of, to give credit to, to place confidence in. This type of belief is a moment by moment proposition; it is an experiential type of a word. In order to get to this place, we must be willing to embrace the means by which He grants us this experience with Him. The inevitable trials of life potentially give the deepest part of our beings eyes to behold Him as He is. Most are not that willing for it is dis-easing. This is why many have no idea what is really means to believe.

The phrase "and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame" is better translated, "and he who believes on Him, he shall be satisfied." To "be satisfied" is a state of being, not a result of getting what we want. The key idea is discovering the One who is true to His promises. The Lord Jesus Christ is this steady and dependable stone of Zion. Figuratively, Zion represents the New Covenant of grace. The Apostle Peter chose the word "Zion" because in so doing, he emphases the New Covenant.

This Cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ is perfect in every way.  He is becoming progressively our confidence because as we behold Him and we are defined by Him, we discover that He will never forsake us and we will forever be satisfied and completed by Him. In everyday practical terms this means we will not be in a hurry to run away from Him out of fear because He is dependable, consistent and strong. 

1 Peter 2:5

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You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ~ 1 Peter 2:5

Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter is introducing us to eternal life which is the very life of the Lord Jesus Himself. In context, he has written of our living hope. He has also written of "having been born again" and he incorporated figurative language like "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word." 

In the previous verse Peter had written, "Coming to Him as to a living stone." It is the cornerstone that maintains the symmetry for the building. If the angle of the cornerstone is the slightest off alignment, the building would be insubstantial. If the cornerstone is not cut just perfectly, the building would collapse. So, the cornerstone, as the reference point for the whole building, must be strong. This is why the Lord Jesus is not only precious to God, but as we will see in just a couple verses, He is precious to us because He is prefect and He is God.

Today's verse begins with: "You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house." This figure of speech underscores the fact that the Christian life is all about our relationship with the Lord Jesus Himself. And, the odd thing is we know Him best through our sufferings. This is the case because relationships were meant to be reciprocal, interactive and they bind us together through mutual experiences. And, the more arduous the experience, the deeper our relationships will be with those with whom we go through those hard moments. Real life, eternal life is experiencing Him who is life who died to give us life. And, the products of life are meaning and purpose and stability in the midst of all the storms of life. 

It was Viktor Frankl who once wrote, “If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering.” 

It is only when we are entertaining the deeper questions of life which come out of our deeper struggles that we discover what is really real. Due to the myopic nature that we inherited from Adam, we default so easily to the shallow unless something happens that shakes us out of our narrow-mindedness. When this happens, we are positioned to entertain eternity with the right questions.

Peter then confirms the fact that the role of the Living Stone is to build up the living stones. A huge principle is tucked away here which is: When we come to the Lord Jesus who is the Living Stone, we become living stones. When we come to Him, we get to know Him and we learn how to follow Him. And, over time, we become more and more like Him. He sets the angles. He gives the direction because He is all about building people up, and, He builds us up with the truth. 

The implications of all of this are incredible. The Lord Jesus Christ who is God, lives in and through all who have and will ever believe in Him as our Savior. As a result, He loves, He speaks, and He serves through us. He even worships God through us. His life in us is eternal and will never leave us. His life in us works all things together for our good. He also is the One who conforms us to Himself. He is in us, available for every need, every trial, every possible circumstance of life. The expression of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ both in and through our yielded lives is evidence that we have accessed His life and we have eternal life. 

In today's verse we learn that as a result of being born again we are a part of "a holy priesthood." This means that everyone who trusts in the finished work of the Lord Jesus is now a priest unto God. The Old Testament contains two passages that predicted a coming day when all of God’s people would be priests; those passages are Exodus 19:5-6 and Isaiah 61:5-6. Those prophecies were fulfilled in Christ as He removed that which prevented us from being the tabernacles of God's presence. Interestingly, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are called priests in five different passages in the Revelation.

As priests of God, we "offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God." The footprint of the life of the Lord Jesus in us shows up in our lives as a "spiritual sacrifice." In essence, the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of our sacrifices which include our lives, our praise, our prayers and our work unto the Lord. Our spiritual sacrifices are actions motivated by our desire to glorify God. This happens when we turn our backs on the self life and we choose to be defined by the Lord Jesus Himself.

1 Peter 2:4

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Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. ~ 1 Peter 2:4

Today, we continue our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter is highlighting the secret to a stable life despite the fact that we might be going through the most arduous moments of life. You see, the real purpose of studying the Bible is to know God in a personal way. This means when we read the Bible, we must read it as if we are having a conversation with the Lord Jesus Himself. Christianity is a relationship and if we approach the Lord any other way, it will not be life-giving. This section of 1 Peter is Peter’s own commentary on the meaning of the words of the Lord Jesus to him in Matthew 16, where the Lord Jesus changed his name to Peter which means rock.

In this verse, the Apostle Peter refers to the Lord Jesus as the "living stone" which is a reference to the promised Messiah.

The word Peter used translated "living" is zoe, the Greek word for eternal life. According to John 6:57, zoe is the very life that God has in Himself. According to John 5:26, the Father imparted His life to His Son: "For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given to the Son to have life in himself." In John 1:4-5 we read, "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

The Apostle employed a stone to describe the Lord Jesus because He is the only one who is stable, unmovable, and unshakable. He is the bedrock of all of reality, the firm foundation for a well-lived life. When we are defined by Him, we will be rendered secure and mature, having the ability to withstand the pressures of life. In my many years of ministry, I have discovered that if I can get a struggling married couple to pray regularly together, most of their marital problems go away. This is because they are seeking the Stable One together. And when He is stabilizing them, He will stabilize their lives together.

In addition, Peter points out that the Lord Jesus was rejected by men. This was predicted some 700 years before the Lord Jesus walked this earth by Isaiah. In Isaiah 53:3 we read, "He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him."

Next, according to today's verse, the Apostle Peter refers to the Lord Jesus as "Chosen by God." This means that we must not depend upon fallen man's evaluation of the Lord Jesus since He was chosen of God to be mankind's Savior. It is truly only the definitions of God that truly amount to anything in this world. And, the Father has deemed the Lord Jesus to be the answer that our longing hearts yearn. It was Saint Augustine who once said it well when he said, "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee."

Finally, the Apostle Peter refers to the Lord Jesus as "precious" to God the Father. This word literally means "of greatest value." Christ could not be precious to us until He was first precious to the Father. The Lord Jesus said to the Father while on the cross, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" That was the only time when the Lord Jesus addressed His Father as "My God" rather than "My Father." At the cross the Father forsook the Son as the full wrath for our sin was placed upon Him. God the Father treated the Lord Jesus as if He committed every single sin by every single person. God treated His Son as if He lived your life, so that He could treat you as though you had lived the perfect, righteous life of the Lord Jesus. I close with a quote from Arthur W. Pink who  once said, "Surely this is the cry that ought to melt even the hardest of hearts."

1 Peter 2:2-3

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2 As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. ~ 1 Peter 2:2-3

Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter is equipping us with the weaponry needed to fight the good fight of the faith. In 1 Peter 1, Peter reminded us of our "new life" in the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter 2, he carries the analogy over by using "newborn babes" to describe the believer in Christ. If we do not fill our souls with the word of God, something else will fill the void.

In our previous study, Peter introduced us to a few words: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking. These define us when we are being defined by the flesh or the sinful desires that are yet within us even though we have been born again. This is why the Apostle Peter directs our attention to the word of the Lord. When His word defines us, He produces the life we all really want and are seeking.

The Apostle Peter wrote this letter to young believers in the Lord who were going through tremendous pressure. He refers to these young believers as "newborn babies" who weren't babies at all. The Apostle employed this analogy in order to help his readers to understand their utter need for spiritual growth and their responsibility in their sanctification. 

Recently we had a nest of baby Eastern Phoebe Flycatchers on our front porch. These five baby birds were born hungry. They demanded bugs all day, demanding of their mom and dad much work. Not a minute went by before either the mom or the dad was feeding them. It reminded me that the highest rate of growth in human life is the infant stage. Babies change weekly. When a baby is hungry, that baby will be faithful to let you and everyone else know exactly what they want. So when a baby desires milk, everyone will know about it. It's an unmistakable signal and it is quite normal.

It was appropriate for the Apostle Peter to use the object lesson of "newborn babes" to communicate a very important spiritual lesson here in v.2. In so doing, the Apostle was instructing his readers about the secret to their spiritual success. And, the practice must never change no matter how mature we get in our walk with the Lord. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, if we do not hunger and thirst for God and His word, we will atrophy. As believers in Christ we must greatly desire or crave God's truth just like a baby craves its mother's milk. And when we do that, we will grow because of it. 

To the degree that we long for the pure milk of the Word of God, is the degree that we will grow spiritually. The self-life must be replaced with a longing for a greater truth. The greater truth is none other than Jesus Christ who is gracious toward us. We simply cannot grow spiritually without a steady diet of the pure Word of God. And, it is His grace that creates the greatest desire in us to seek Him and to know Him and to make Him known to others.

In v.3 of today's passage we read, "If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious."

The Apostle did not use this conditional sentence to question his readers salvation. He was simply saying that if God's grace has not performed its transformational work in us, His word will not have its desired effect. The word translated "gracious" is derived from an Old Testament term which speaks of God's loyalty to His promises. God has always been true to His Word, and, it is His grace that creates a deep resolve in our souls to want to be obedient to Him. 

When we come to God's word, we must come to meet the Lord Himself. We must be careful to recognize that the Bible is like a pane of glass which is designed to enable us to see God through it. It is through His word that He delivers the life that we crave. If we were to center in on the word only, we would become etched. If we were to do that, we would miss the purpose of God's word which is to reveal to us the heart of our savior to us. It is through the power of His word, as we yield to it, that He expresses His grace in, to and through us. And, it is this grace that moves us to resolve, out of gratitude, to bring glory to the One who loved us to the point of His death.

I love the words of Mike Yaconelli who once said, "Looking back over the years, I realize the Bible isn't magic, but it is corrective; it isn't an answer book, it is a living book; it isn't a fix-it book, it is relationship book. When I confront God's word, I am confronted; when I read God's word, it reads me; when I seek God's presence, He seeks me."

1 Peter 2:1

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Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking. ~ 1 Peter 2:1

Today, we continue our study of 1 Peter where we are learning how to maintain a vibrant walk with the Lord amid the godless pressures of this world. Integral to a steady walk with the Lord is always a love for His word which plays a major role in our sanctification. Our love for the word of God will always lead us to squaring up the evil desires in our lives that are yet within us. As a result of determining the danger the flesh poses, we see the utter importance of consuming the word of God for ourselves.

In the previous verses the Apostle Peter reminded us that all of our attempts to try to gain meaning and significance in this life apart from God and His definition of all things will always render us wanting. In fact, when we feed the flesh, we will always experience some form of death in our lives. The sooner we recognize that our attempts at life apart from God is a losing proposition, we will give up on our definitions of life and we will conclude that our way is like grass and flowers that fade away. 

In context, Peter has been speaking about the utter value of the Word of God in our souls. In fact, Peter reminded us in the previous section of verses that we have been born again, not by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible seed, which is the word of God.

In addition, Peter described the word of God as living and abiding forever. Then to begin today's verse Peter wrote, "Therefore." With this one word, Peter introduces the main theme for this second chapter. This theme is craving the Word of God which will be evident in v.2. In the first chapter of this epistle, the Apostle wrote of the theme of salvation and the results of our salvation. And, the first result of our salvation is our holiness or wholeness. When we love people unconditionally, we show that we are growing in holiness or wholeness because we are loving whether they love us in return or not.

The words translated "laying aside" in today's verse means "to strip off," like getting rid of something despicable. As a result of having been made alive to God through the abiding Holy Spirit, we now have the ability sufficient enough to enable us to strip off this list of ungodly traits are often those which throw a wrench into our loving one another authentically. Again, the goal is loving. And, might I add, it really isn't loving people. No, the goal is to be the welcomed home of the love of God. When we are such, we will love unconditionally and without any strings attached.

God operates on the basis of many principles, one is: Truth is only given to those who respond to the truth given. God does not give His word to those who disregard it. He knows that if this were the case, we will be desensitized to the truth and to Him. God does not give us more truth unless we are acting on the truth we have already have been given. But when we begin to respond to the Word, then the Word opens up to us, and we begin to see the truth in it which will expand His very presence in our lives. It is at this point that we truly experience eternal life.

There are many threats to the life of God in the soul of the believer. Most of these threats are summed up by two words in the Scriptures: the flesh. Even though we are born again, we still struggle with the sin that is yet within us. This is why God commands us to get rid of certain expressions of the evil that we allow ourselves to be defined by from time to time. If we are not being defined by God which will show up in our obedience to His word, then we will be defined by the self life. And, the self life is the equivalent of following the enemy.

The first threat to our ability to love others is "malice" which describes a condition of irritability that causes us to lash out at others. Malice is the intent or the desire to cause harm or pain to someone. This is what feeding the flesh does to us, it gives safe haven to hate which is the mother of all the many expressions of the flesh. Peter says, "Strip it off."

In addition, we are to strip off "deceit."  This word originally meant fishhook which is a very deceitful thing because when we put bait on the fishhook a fish thinks he's going to get a nice meal not knowing that he has been deceived into becoming the meal. Deceit is the intent to defraud another. The enemy defrauds us with temptation which often arrives in the moment that God wants to do something most extraordinary. And, we can notice one fundamental similarity in all temptation: deception. Remembering this similarity will help us to recognize what is substantive and what is not.

We are also commanded to get rid of "hypocrisy" which literally means "to speak out from under a mask." The Apostle used an analogy out of a Greek drama portraying how actors would pick up certain masks, depicting a smile or a frown, and speak out from under the mask. The face used would not express the true attitude of the person behind the mask. Such is the nature of acting.

The next thing we are to strip out of our lives is "envy" which is feeling ill toward someone else because of the blessings that God has chosen to give them. Envy leads us almost inevitably to "speak evil of others" which explains Peter's next admonition to strip away "all evil speaking" which means to defame another. 

The reason Peter implores us to shackle these sins in their own prison is due to the fact that these expressions of the flesh always rob us of our hunger and thirst for the Word of God. As a student long ago reminded me, the truth is only for the hungry and the thirsty. When we resist being defined by these sins, we then will have an appetite for God and His word. This is the formula needed for resisting the "flesh" which is at the behest of the enemy himself and he is out to destroy us.

1 Peter 1:23-25

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23 Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. ~ 1 Peter 1:23-25

Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter where we are learning of the weaponry that we as believers in Christ have been given in order to withstand the pressures of this very dark world. In the previous verse the Apostle Peter challenged us to love one another. In order to make it in this world we must have the ultimate remedy to all that is wrong. And that remedy is the love of God. It is only His kind of love that is transcendent and transformative. 

This week I have been contemplating a song by Rich Mullins. It goes like this: There's a wideness in God's mercy I cannot find in my own. And He keeps His fire burning to melt this heart of stone. Keeps me aching with a yearning, keeps me glad to have been caught in the reckless raging fury that they call the love of God. Now I've seen no band of angels but I've heard the soldiers' songs. Love hangs over them like a banner love within them leads them on to the battle on the journey and it's never gonna stop. Ever widening their mercies and the fury of His love.

In that song, Mullins speaks of the type of love that endures and lays down one's life for His friends. This is the cornerstone concept of the Bible. This is the love that has been made available to all those who have been shaken enough to our core causing us to ask the right questions and to honestly pursue the truth. The Bible speaks of this truth and this love as one in the same. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the God who came to this world to rescue us from ourselves.

The spotlight weaponry in today's passage is the word of God. All of the Bible which is the word of God, points us to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. All who have ever honestly considered His claims have come away changed by Him. In every book of the Bible He is foretold. There are over 300 specific Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in His first coming. The reason this is the case is due to the fact that He is God and He offers a personal relationship with all honest and humble enough to believe that His work on the cross remedied our damned condition.

In v.23 of today's passage we read, "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever."

The phrase, "Having been born again" is one word in the Greek and it is a perfect passive participle. The result is in the past with present results. The believer in Christ has in the past been made alive to God and the relationship will only get better as time rolls on. This verb informs us that the word of God played a major role in the process of us coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter compares the word of God to incorruptible seed that creates life. This seed is a small investment with large potential value. And, the word of God is an investment whose value depends on the environment where it is received. And, the only soil wherein this seed flourishes is the one which is believing soil.

This seed takes the character of its source. In the previous verse the Apostle exhorted us to love one another authentically. When we were born again, the Father’s nature was given to us. We can only be holy because He is holy. We can love only because that’s who God is and His Spirit enables us to love. 

In v.24 of today's passage we read, "because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away."

It is the love of God that trains us to believe that we can be honest about our sinfulness and yet be convinced that we remain to be the object of His love. It is His love that convinces us that He loves us precisely because of our sinfulness. And, it is this honesty that enables us to be sincere not only with God but with one another. This kind of sincerity is based on a confident understanding of God's love that allows us to get beyond the illusion that the self life will fulfill us.

In v.25 of today's passage we read, "But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you."

Having heard the word of God, we believed in the Lord Jesus. It was then that we accessed His promise of eternal life and the Word gave us His life. This is crucial because our ability to love others is dependent upon the source of our love. As we have mentioned many times before God created us with two great needs: to be loved and to love. Most believe life is about being loved, but, in reality it is about loving others. But, we must be loved first in order to love others. We love because He first loved us.

The Apostle Peter wrote this book to a group of believers who were privileged to be given enough contrast to recognize what is substantive. It was a rough time for those scattered believers who had lost everything they had ever owned. The life this world offered them had been stripped away from them. When we find ourselves in that position we are blessed because we are positioned to be able to evaluate correctly. And, when it is all said and done, only two things in this world will last on into eternity. Those two things are the word of God and the souls of people. It is paramount that we invest our souls in the word of God. And, once we have done that, we must invest that which the Lord has given us with others. It is as simple as embracing the culture of God for ourselves and sharing it with those who are hungry.