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.

1 Peter 1:22

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Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. ~ 1 Peter 1:22

Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter. We are trichotomous beings; we have a spirit, a soul and a body. The only part of us that is "born again" is our spirit which is the arena of our justification. Having been justified by our faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ which is a one time event, we have been awakened to God by the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is what it means to be "born again." 

Our soul, on the other hand, is made up of our mind, our will, and our emotions. It is the arena for our sanctification. This process whereby God is changing our souls takes time, a long time for the desired change to happen. The goal of this process is not a better us, it is about us dying to the self life and being defined by God. As a result of being more and more defined by God, we acquire His wisdom which when applied, we grow in our sanctification.

Today's verse begins with: "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit." 

The word "purified" is written in such a way that it reveals that someone outside of us brought about the purification. It also reveals we have not only been cleansed, but we therefore have new capabilities; in this case to love authentically. This means our loving of one another is predicated on the purifying of our souls which has done and is continuing to do through the process of sanctification.

No human purifies himself. No, it was the Lord Jesus Christ who made us new creatures through our faith in Him. Apart from Christ, we cannot purify our hearts. Apart from Christ we are unable to truly love one another most sincerely. It was the Lord Jesus who purified our souls at the point of our salvation and He continues to purify our souls through the application of His word and His Spirit. Of course, we play a role in all of this as we avail ourselves to Him and obey His word. Godly conduct only comes from a godly character, and a godly character only comes from Christ, as we remain in Him and as He remains in us. When all of this happens, we will have received the capacity to sincerely love others, even in the most difficult of circumstances.  

In context the Apostle Peter has reminded these young believers in Christ that they had been selected by God, and they had been given a living hope because of the resurrected Christ. And, when we obey God, we are living the lives the Lord Jesus died to give us. When we obey Him or acquire and appropriate His wisdom, we will be less defined by sin. 

The next words in today's verse are: "in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart."

Having been made alive to God, we can authentically love others, especially those who struggle like we. The Greek word translated "sincere" means without hypocrisy. It literally means "in a full stretch" or "an intense strain." When we are being sincere or authentic or real, we are like a stretched blown up balloon which we are able to see through. When we come to know the Lord Jesus and His love for us, we will increasingly be defined by Him and His love for us. When this happens our authenticity will be seen by others. We will not be looked upon as phony, but real.

It is out of a heart that has been made pure that we love sincerely. When we operate out of Christ's love for us, we will be holy and we will have the ability to love others purely. Peter knew this principle very well. After all, he knew what it looked like to be inauthentic when he denied knowing the Lord Jesus three times the night He was betrayed. It wasn't until after the cross and the coming of the Holy Spirit that Peter began to truly experience the love of Christ and he began to learn to love this way, empowered by Christ. 

Peter never forgot the love the Lord Jesus showed him when he denied his association with Him three times, and no doubt the heart-desire of this aging apostle was to obey the Lord's command to feed His sheep. As a result, Peter, therefore, encouraged these young followers of Christ to prepare their minds for action in the difficult days they were facing, and to be sober in spirit and in soul learning to be totally dependent upon Him. 

Matthew Henry once said, "Hypocrisy is to do the devil's work in God's uniform." It is at this point that we discover that we best lead by our weaknesses, underscoring the word of God where it says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." We get the credit for leading but we know full well that we are at our core following servants. The Lord Jesus is the author and perfecter of our salvation. And, we are at our best when we are being empowered by Him to love others. We were made to be loved by the Lord Jesus who enables us to love others through His empowerment to do so. It is in the fulfillment of these two in our lives that we are able to realize what it means to be holy and complete in the Lord Jesus.

1 Peter 1:21

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Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. ~ 1 Peter 1:21

Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter where we are being given tools to withstand the onslaughts to undermine our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. After God created this world and all its inhabitants, man chose to give life a go apart from God. It did not go as well as they thought. In fact, they found themselves in the clutches of that fallen angel who had long ago decided the same thing. We naturally want to be autonomous beings but we can not make it on our own apart from our Maker.

As made obvious in today's verse, it is through the Lord Jesus Christ that we came to believe in the God of the Bible. The Lord Jesus Christ is the revelation of God to man. And, in His revealing, we have come to understand that God is love. It is out of our understanding that God is love that we discover our truest identity. God created us with two basic yet most profound needs: to be loved and to love. It is from our need to be loved that we discover security, the type of security that creates a certain familiarity with growing in our trust of God. And, from our need to love we discover our significance, or the true meaning or purpose for which we are on this earth. This is the essence of this revelation; We are most fulfilled in a relationship with God and making Him known to others.

The Greek word translated "raised" in today's verse is best translated: "having raised up." God, having raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead, grants those who honestly seek for truth the ability to evaluate correctly what is really real. It was Joseph Parker who once said, "An extreme condition demands an extreme remedy. Until you see that you are doomed and damned apart from Jesus Christ, you will never truly count his blood precious in your sight."

Once we have gotten to the point of believing in God, even though we are yet in the midst of our struggles, we will discover ourselves being more and more defined by God as He reveals His truth to us. This is the hope of the believer in Christ. And, the cornerstone of our hope, the hope of the alien who is living in a world that is not his home, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

In Romans 6:9 we read, “When Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death as the end.” 

This explains why our cemetery experiences are different now. We once went to cemeteries on this earth to say good-bye to the dead but now we go to say we will see you later. It is all because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead. Through His perfect life and perfect death and perfect resurrection, the Lord Jesus vanquished death for all who hope in Him. The resurrection of Jesus Christ shouts there is nothing too difficult for God. 

C.S. Lewis wrote, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ not only gives the believer hope, it emboldens us to place our focus on the goal of discovering Him and His purposes for each day of our lives. When our daily focus is on the purpose of His resurrection, it will draw forth the purpose of our suffering, enabling us to endure because we know that God's ways are enduring, purposeful and true. Many are His purposes for which we go through suffering, namely that others come to know Him through us. And, even though we suffer, we can rest assured that the results will be unfathomable when we are finally in heaven with Him.

In the end, as Peter points out in this verse the key is that the Lord Jesus is glorified. We glorify Him most when our faith and hope are firmly in Him. When we were slaves to sin, our fallen nature controlled us but once redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Christ, we entered into a new realm, a realm of wonder and endlessly beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus. The great theologian John Owen once wrote, “No man shall ever behold the glory of Christ by sight in heaven who does not, in some measure, behold it by faith in this world.”

1 Peter 1:20

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He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ~ 1 Peter 1:20

Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter where the Apostle Peter is giving us the where with all to maintaining a vital walk with God in the midst of a wicked world that does not like God. Today's passage proves that no man, woman, boy or girl has ever been an afterthought in the mind of God. It's not like you and I came along and God said, "Oh, yeah, what am I going to do with them?" No, we were never an afterthought; you and I were a forethought for God and this verse proves it.  

It was not as if when man sinned that God was caught off guard. No, God is never surprised because He sees everything in the instantaneous now. It was not as if when Adam and Eve sinned that God said to Himself that He had to all of a sudden become our Redeemer. No, no, no. Today's verse iterates: "He was chosen before the creation of the world." In Revelation 13:8 the Lord Jesus Christ is called "the Lamb that was slain from the foundations of the world." It was decided before this world was even created that the Lord Jesus Christ would come to earth to redeem man from his wicked condition of sin. The Lord Jesus chose to do this in order to reorient fallen mankind into a possible relationship with God. 

In John 1:1 we read: "In the beginning was the Word." Those words "in the beginning" in the Greek are identical to the first two words of the Bible: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." By using these words the Apostle John was saying that before there was any matter, before He made anything, the Lord Jesus was. "In the beginning was the Word." So, there at the beginning, when those things were brought into being, He was there already. 

In John 1:3, we read, "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." Everything that was made was made through the Lord Jesus who was there as the Son of God before the beginning of time, space and matter. The Lord Jesus was there not only before matter; He was there before time and space. And, we know that without matter, there is no time and space.

So, when John says, "In the beginning was the Word," he was highlighting the fact that before anything else was, the Lord Jesus was. He did not come into being, He was there when the beginning of time began. This is difficult for the human mind to grasp because we are limited by time, space and matter. We lack the ability to view all things from the standpoint of eternity.

As we see throughout the Bible, God operates according to covenants. The covenant of redemption is called a “covenant” because it is a plan involving two parties. It is not a covenant between God and man, it is a covenant between God, the Father and God, the Son. God is one in essence and three in person from all eternity.

According to today's verse, the Lord Jesus Christ "was revealed in these last times," which means His coming to the earth was a historical event, to make it plain that God loves man. His life, death, burial and resurrection is the most documented event in all of human history. The New Testament provides accounts from multiple sources who witnessed the Lord Jesus firsthand after His resurrection. In fact, the Lord Jesus made ten separate appearances to His disciples between the resurrection and His ascension into heaven, over a period of 40 days. Some of those appearances were to individual disciples, some were to several disciples at the same time, and once even to 500 at one time.

Particularly noteworthy is that there were no accounts of witnesses who came forth and disputed these appearances or called it a “hoax.” Not a single one. Nor do we find any historical record of any witness accounts that were contradictory. While there are skeptics of the biblical account of the Lord Jesus, there’s actually far more reliable historical evidence for His life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection than for any other historical figure of ancient times. 

The Lord Jesus willingly humbled Himself in order to embrace the plan of God the Father to redeem fallen mankind. And, the Lord Jesus agreed before the creation of the world to do the task. He was not forced by the Father to relinquish His glory and be subjected to humiliation. Rather, He willingly "made Himself of no reputation." The Father did not strip the Son of His eternal glory but the Son agreed to lay it aside temporarily for the sake of our salvation.

I have learned that when I lost all hope of being the perfect person of faith and I abandoned my hope in myself, it was then that I began to learn of the God-sized heart that the Lord Jesus has for me. When we have been granted such revelation, we enter into His joy and His joy keeps us in this massive fight of faith. You see, we arrive at this place of being declared winners by Him when we abandon the self life, even the self life that appears to be spiritual. The more His grace grips us the more we will recognize that which will not endure into eternity. We think that we are being spiritual when we seemingly make a name for ourselves through our determination to be perfect. When we do that we prove that we have failed to recognize the fact that all of our victories were earned by the Lord Jesus. And, it all began in eternity past.

1 Peter 1:17-19

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17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 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. ~ 1 Peter 1:17-19 

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 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.