(v 1-4) Shepherds: Peter is an elder, a witness and Heaven-bound; as such, he appeals to his fellow elders in churches that will read this letter. They are to shepherd the churches entrusted to them tenderly, so that when Jesus appears to them they will be rewarded. (You get the sense here that Peter is expecting the return of Christ from the clouds, rather than an appearance at death; not that the end result is different.)

(v 5-7) Sheep #1: listen humbly to those in charge. (Here Peter quotes Job 22:29 – as does James 4:6.) Being humble now also brings reward later – in this case you will be exalted. Similarly, He cares for YOU, so cast your cares on HIM.

[A side note – how interesting and consistent God’s method is: pray for patience and get the chance to exercise it (gack!); pray for wisdom with time management or humility likewise brings the opportunity. But the end result of gaining humility is to be exalted. What is the like result for patience and margin?]

(v 8-9) Sheep #2 (and presumably shepherds as well now): “Be sober-minded” – just as alcohol allows the drinker to make foolish decisions, in the same way avoid foolish choices in daily life – think before you act (indeed, ACT rather than REACT); be thoughtful and considerate. Be aware that the devil wants to bring you down – to devour you (or your witness – how many times in recent decades have we seen men with great witness brought down because they overlooked these words?). Resist him. All your suffering is shared by others. (Other Scriptures of note here: Jam 4:7; 1 Cor 10:13.)

(v 10-11) Back to suffering: At the end of suffering, all is more than restored – you are not just healed, you are confirmed (i.e., what you stood for was true), strengthened and established by the One who has all power for all time.

(v 12-14) Closing: Peter’s Greek in this letter was apparently far above the ability of a Galilean fisherman. Silvanus (or Silas), who also traveled with Paul was a Greek scholar though, and Peter here credits him with the writing down of this epistle.

“She who is at Babylon”: The Greek has “The elect one in Babylon”. Babylon was probably a code name for Rome. The KJV has ‘the church in Babylon’.

Mark: we also know him as John Mark, author of the Gospel of Mark; he traveled with Paul for a while (Acts 12:25), had a breakup (Acts 15:38-39) but later Paul referred to him as a trusted companion (2 Tim 4:11). Peter and Mark may have had something else in common: many think that Mk 14:51-52 refers to John Mark. If so, they both ran off on the night Jesus was betrayed.

(v 1-2) Suffer: Because Jesus suffered on Earth for the will of God, assume that you may well be asked to suffer for His sake as well. The verse does not mean that you quit all sin once having been made to suffer; nor does it imply that subsequent sin will be overlooked. Rather you yourself have changed. Once having suffered for Christ and for God’s will, you have made a high personal investment in what is right and will certainly continue in that vein.

(v 3-5) Rejected: You used to do all those things, but now you’ve put them behind you. However, your old cronies have not, and they resent your moving away into ‘Holier than thou’ status. They know what’s right; they see you doing what’s right; but because they like what’s wrong they put you down in order to feel you are somehow lacking (where they are not). However, at the end, they will have to pay for their unbelief.

(v 6) Preached to the dead: This is a bit tricky. There are apparently some who hold that, on the strength of this verse, when you are dead you get a second chance. But there is no Scriptural backing for that thought, and in fact it is quite contrary to the evident intent. Then there are some (for instance, the ESV study notes) who hold that ‘dead’ refers to those who have become Christians and then died by the time of writing – i.e., converts between Christ’s death and around 63AD when this letter was written. But that doesn’t explain the sense that the word ‘even’ brings to the verse. I think we have to see this as linked to v 19 of the previous chapter – it’s always wise to consider the context! – and see it as Jesus having preached to those faithful dead from before His death (cf 1 Peter 3:19; Luke 16:22; Psa 66:18; Eph 4:8; Isa 61:1; Luke 4:18). As such, they anticipated the coming Messiah, and this preaching completes their salvation (in the same sense with which today we use the expression ‘A completed Jew).

(v 7-11) The end is near: Not just an expression for sandwich boards and Hyde Park Corner! If the end is near, we must be vigilant over ourselves. There follows a list of areas to focus on: love, hospitality, using one’s gifts (prophecy and services are mentioned here) to the glory of God.

(v 12-14) And … back to suffering: Talk about the gift of prophecy! Peter was truly prophetic here (vv 12-19). The first persecution was a year away, started by Nero as an excuse for excess (the fire in Rome, 64AD); but it was coming! (And in view of the reason for the persecution, the adjective ‘fiery’ seems peculiarly apt!)

(v 15-16) Suffer for the right reasons, though: This thought too has already been put forth – suffering that you deserve is nothing to boast of or wish for; nor does it bring glory to God or His praise to you. Suffer for being a Christian is the only reason to be proud.

(v 17-19) If God’s children will suffer, what will happen to those who don’t have that protection to trust in? (v 18 is quoting Prov 11:31)

See you tomorrow!

(v 1-2) Wives: Here is a word to the wise. In Peter’s day and age, the idea that a woman should have a religion other than her husband’s was unthinkable. A Greek historian living c. 46-127AD, said,

“A wife should not acquire her own friends, but should make her husband’s friends her own. The gods are the first and most significant friends. For this reason, it is proper for a wife to recognize only those gods whom her husband worships.” Plutarch, Advice to Bride and Groom 19, Moralia 140D

So when she becomes a Christian, what should she do? Should she push/demand/nag her husband into becoming one as well? Should she separate from or divorce him? Peter says no. Instead, continue in the way you were going; only make sure you show him respect and purity of conduct.

(v 3-6) Adornment: Fashion is not a new phenomenon – dying hair, wearing wigs, new hair styles, jewelry, haute couture was all very much in vogue in those days too. And Peter wasn’t saying don’t do it (presumably in moderation); he was saying that the internal beauty was so much more important – “The imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”

(v 7) Husbands: Husbands only get one verse, but it’s a doozy! The stale old saw is that no man can understand a woman. Peter puts the lie to this – it is the husband’s job to do exactly that for his wife. And by understanding her, he finds her heart, for she is then loved and she knows it. What wife doesn’t long for that? Further, she should be shown honor, not treated as a second-class citizen just because the husband is physically bigger or has society ‘on his side’. She is fully his equal in God’s eyes; she is a fellow-heir to the kingdom. And lastly – if you’re messing with her, you’re messing with God – kiss that prayer life goodbye!

Do not miss what Scripture says each is to give the other – she craves love, which he is to develop and demonstrate through understanding. Love is not his deepest need – he yearns for respect, which she is to give without qualification. Respect is not a reward, any more than love is – it is what is right in God’s order of things.

(v 8-12) Unity: be as one with God and each other, and if you are thinking God’s thoughts, these areas will fall into place. (In vv 10-12 Peter is quoting Ps 34:12-16.)

(v 13-14) Be zealous for good: Peter is writing around 63AD, just before the burning of Rome when Nero outlawed Christianity and began the first of many waves of persecution. Up to this point, Christianity was perceived as a sect of Judaism which was a lawful religion in the Roman Empire. As a result, the general feeling at this time was that obeying the government was no harder for a Christian then than it is today. However, if you do suffer for righteousness, then there is a reward in Heaven.

(v 15-16) Defense: Be ready to defend your hope in the Savior who defended you against the cost of your sin.

(v 17-18) Suffering: here is a flavor of 1 Pet 2:19-23 popping up again – and our sufferings connect us to Christ as well (James 1:2-3).

(v 19-20) Christ in Hades: He preached to those who were lost before His crucifixion.

(v 21-22) Baptism: We are not saved by baptism but by the blood of Jesus; however, baptism is an indication that we are resurrected just as Jesus was – cleansed not of dirt but of sin.

(v 1-3) milk – Put aside the old junk from your life (malice, etc.); start all over again (milk) and if you’re really born all over again, the simple single-focused approach is what you’ll want. Straight answers, nothing devious or convoluted. Stuff from God is pure and good.

(v 4-8) The cornerstone was the first one laid in a building; it was always visible from the front and side of the building; it was used as a guideline so the walls would line up true; it was huge and unmovable; it was foundational. This cornerstone (Jesus) was placed by God, and although it was rejected by men, that didn’t stop it from being exactly what it was supposed to be. We are to be imitators of that stone, and together become a temple acceptable to God. For those who rejected the cornerstone, it turned into a stumbling block – they fall to their doom through His rejection.

(v 9) Priesthood – I have nothing to add to this utterly glorious verse!

(v 11-15) Again with the old ways! How often we need to be told. There’s a battle going on inside each of us, even though the war has already been won. It’s not just for us, though; our behavior influences others; they either copy or mock our faith walk, so we need to get it right.

(v 16) Live free – not to say, “I’m free so I can do whatever I want, including the old evil!”, but live in such a way as to show that you are free of the old evil.

(v 17-18) Honor everyone – Christian and non-Christian alike; presidents and all those in charge. Honor those generally and specifically to whom you owe responsibility.

(v 19-23) Don’t be proud of how you accepted with grace that smackdown that you deserved – it’s how you behave when it’s undeserved that counts. And it counts because you are behaving as the sinless Jesus did when He was executed as a criminal on your account.

(v 24-25) He was an example, but more than an example He was a conscious, deliberate sacrifice. (cf Isa 53:5)t have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. – 1Peter 2:1-25 (ESV)

1. This is known as one of the ‘general epistles’ – written to the church in general, rather than to a person (Timothy, Titus) or a city (Corinth, Philippi).
2. Peter is one of the ‘big three’ in the inner circle (Peter, James & John), and was the first to step up to lead after Christ’s death. His letters would have been considered very authoritative/important. No other disciple is quoted more often in the Gospels. He was both rebuked and praised more than any other disciple. He was impetuous and bold.
3. He speaks of the Christians in this letter as ‘pilgrims’ or ‘sojourners’, suggesting that they have a different home (Heaven) and are travelling toward it through a foreign land controlled by someone who doesn’t think as they do (Satan).
4. (v 2) Obedience – note that we see this word 3 times in this chapter – in vv 2, 14 & 22. Christians are ‘elect’ (pre-chosen – v 1) and ‘sanctified’ (made holy – v 2) for the express purpose of being obedient to Jesus Christ.
5. (v 2) Sprinkling of the blood of Jesus – Guzik notes that there are 3 times in the OT when blood was sprinkled: (1) at the establishment of the covenant on Mt Sinai (Ex 24:5-8), (2) at ordination (Ex 29:21) and (3) at the purification ceremony for a leper (Lev 14:6-7). Christ’s blood has bound us to Him, ordained us and cleansed us.
6. (v 3) A living hope – Christians are born again to a hope that never ends, thanks to Jesus being raised from the dead.
7. (v 4) inheritance – our inheritance is guaranteed safe; kept imperishable for us in Heaven.
8. (v 5) guarded – we are being guarded by God’s power – Heaven awaits!
9. (v 6-7) trials – we rejoice in what awaits, although we may well have trials initially. Those trials are to test the genuineness of our faith – (do we fall away? Then that faith wasn’t real). This testing will show it to us.
• NOTE – Part of the value of gold lies in its permanence – it doesn’t rust and is difficult to dissolve. Peter here calls gold ‘perishable’ when compared to our faith.
10. (v 10) The OT prophets knew OF the Messiah, but didn’t know who or when, although they searched diligently.
11. (v 11) The angels – who watch us (1 Cor 4:9) – wanted to know too! It must have been hidden from them as well (Mk 13:32, Eph 3:10-11).
• NOTE: At this point, Peter switches over to speak about how we should live:
12. (v 13) Action – prepare your minds for it! God’s plan is one of action, not passivity.
13. (v 13) Sober – get focused; get serious.
14. (v 13) Hope on the Grace – Grace is on its way when Christ reveals it to us.
15. (v 14) obedient – oh dear – here it is again. It only works when we are obedient. He’ll do the planning, we do the follow-through.
16. (v 14) passions – don’t stop half-way over the fence; don’t hang on to your old ways.
17. (v 15-16) holy – we are set apart by God as holy. We need to keep ourselves that way. (Lev 11:44, 19:2)
18. (v 17) fear – Peter isn’t suggesting we should have a cowardly, craven cringing fear, but an attitude of awe at God’s power revealed.
19. (v 18-19) ransomed – awe about being ransomed. The closer we come to Jesus, the more we can see how little we deserve His ransom.
20. (v 18-19) gold is perishable; His blood is not.
21. (v 21) Put your FAITH and HOPE in God
22. (v 22) obedience – purifies your so your love can be sincere and earnest.
23. (v 23) the Word – God’s Word caused for you to be born again, this time an immortal.
24. (v 24-25) the Word will abide forever.

The Hardest ‘Q’ Ever

… and the slides are here:

Further readings on ‘our way’:
Ps 36:1-2 - Sin whispers to the wicked
Matt 7:21 - Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter Heaven
2 Tim 3:1-5a - They have the appearance of godliness, but deny its power
Amos 6:1 - They say, “I don’t need anything”
1 Peter 4:4 - They are surprised that you do not join them
Rev 3:15-17 - The cost of being lukewarm

Further readings on ‘His way’:
Rev 3:20 - Open the door
James 1:2-4 - Count it all joy,…
Matt 22:37-38 - Peter’s epistle summed up

How Good Is ‘Good Enough’?

… and the slides are here:

1. Step up to your wrongdoing – own it.
   • “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14
2. Repent of it & confess it.
   • I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. – Psalms 32:5
   • If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:8-9
3. Trust in God for forgiving and forgetting.
   • I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. – Isaiah 44:22
   • The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. – Psa 34:18
   • “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” – Hebrews 8:12
   • as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. – Psalms 103:12
   • For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23
4. Stop bringing it up – start living. You’re free of it.
   • There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. – Rom 8:1-2
   • Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. – Romans 5:1
5. Make sure you do your bit too – forgiving others is essential.
   • “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” – Matt 6:14-15
   • Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” (22) Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. – Matthew 18:21-22
   • “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” – Matthew 18:35
6. Why forgive?
   • Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. – Ephesians 5:1
   • But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. – 1 Peter 2:9
   • See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. – 1 John 3:1
   • Applying to temptation resisted, sin confessed and life lived in Christ Jesus:
     Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. – 1 John 4:4
7. Summary.
   • Your best is never so good that you can redeem yourself; your worst is never so bad that God won’t redeem you.
   • The devil wants us to stay focused on our sin so we don’t focus on God.
   • If we are truly children of God, then we are princes and princesses of His family for all eternity – immortal. Isn’t it time we acted like it?

When you go to an evangelical-minded church, occasionally (or frequently or every Sunday) the preacher there will have an altar call. And how does he conduct it? He says the old ritual lines – ‘every head bowed, every eye closed. This is nobody else’s business – just between you and the Lord – yes, I see those hands…’ and so on.

And what I want to know all of a sudden is, WHY? Why are all the heads bowed? Why are all the eyes closed? And above all, Why is it nobody else’s business?

Shouldn’t everyone SEE who’s coming to the Lord? SEE who’s thrown off the chains? SEE who’s going to join them in Heaven? Isn’t this a time of God’s glory manifesting itself in the salvation and redemption of a sinner?

And shouldn’t those who are raising their hands want to jump up on their chairs and shout, “Woo-ha! I’m saved for all eternity by the Blood of the Lamb!!!!!” ? (Woo-ha is in the Christian dictionary, I’m sure. See the section on “speaking in tongues”.)

And shouldn’t the rest of the church be looking and seeing and clapping and rejoicing over the salvation of someone “once lost, but now found”?

The angels certainly go nuts –

What’s with the eyes closed and doing this in secret? Sure, it makes it easier for the timid to put up their hands. But I have an ugly suspicion that it’s a procedure being followed by the preacher for that very reason – so that he can gain some converts that he may otherwaise not be able to count.

I’ve always sensed that this was a silly or even childish practice. Now I think it through, I think it’s a very dangerous one as well.

We are called to tell the world about Jesus and bring them to Him. Good grief! If we can’t acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Saviour in church of all places, how can we do it in the World?

Am I missing something here?

The people I like, I like. But there are people I find it hard to like. The EGRs. The rough. The cynics. The cruel. The selfish. The bitter. The whiners. The broken.

People who are broken are sharp and prickly. They’re difficult. They interrupt conversations, or are opinionated or worse – they disagree with me.

The thing is, though: People who are broken were broken by others who were broken. Broken people break people.

So if broken people break people, who heals people? Healed people do, of course. You didn’t see Jesus going around breaking people – He went in the other direction and healed them (if they’d let Him).

I spoke about this last week in church (shameless self-promotional plug! – To Speak of Grace) as part of our stewardship series, and used a hospital analogy: If I break my arm, I don’t go to the bowling alley, I go where I know I can get help to get better – to a hospital. I don’t go to a philosopher or a witch-doctor, because they can’t help in this situation. Healing comes from a doctor. Similarly, when I need spiritual healing, I go to a spiritual hospital – which the Church is designed to be. The problem is, we’re sick of churches. We keep hearing about how they’re run by people who have not acted in a Godly manner – pastors or priests who have been abusive, or adulterous, or greedy. It’s hard to separate the institution from those who make themselves its figureheads.

But the Church has always been God’s sole design for the spiritual hospital, and it always will be. Pursuing this analogy further, the medical staff is headed up by Jesus, and – for those who can only say, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” – there are ambulances. We are the ambulance. When someone is so lost and broken that they can’t (or won’t or even daren’t) get to church, we are sent out into the world to rescue those broken souls.

Which brings me back to the broken and to my comfort zone.

There are certain people that fit very readily into my comfort zone. Nice people. It’s true for each of us – you too! We’re very good at inviting the people we like to church; in fact, we quite comfortably invite friends who are already going to other churches to come to ours instead, because ours is ‘more alive’, or ‘has better worship music’, or ‘great preaching’. We’re actively pushing them to join us.

If you’re wealthy, or good-looking, or charismatic, or popular then – just like high school – you make the in-crowd. We want you. If you’re not one of those, but you’re useful, or hard-working, or clever then well, OK, we’ll tolerate you.

But if you’re noisy, or over-emotional, or have bad breath, or wear the same clothes all the time, or exhibit some other social lack; if you’re homeless, or an addict, or abusive, or a hooker then would you please stay away? You’ll mess it up for the rest of us. You don’t fit in our comfort zone.

I might expand my comfort zone for old people, or – up to a point – even for noisy tots, but not for you. You’re broken.

The problem is: The ones I don’t want in my comfort zone … are the very people Jesus does want.

The people I think will totally mess up my church … are the ones Jesus says it’s there for.

He hung out with the homeless, the beggars, the prostitutes, the adulterers, the maimed, the forgotten, the side-lined.

The keys to His church were carried by smelly wet lower-class fishermen and by reformed Quisling-style tax-collectors. He accepted water from an adulterous woman and foot washing from a prostitute. He healed lepers and sent them to the temple. He healed blind people, lame people, crippled people, unclean people, demon-possessed people. His admiration was spent on the sacrifice of a widow who gave her last farthing to the temple; on the faith of a soldier of the occupation forces, and on the importunity of a gentile Syro-Phoenician mother.

These aren’t the people who should be getting into the church, right?

Wrong.

They need hospital. They’re broken. And when we deny them access – either actively by saying, “You’re not invited” when they show up at the hospital, or passively by failing to send the ambulance out to invite them – we’re not healing them. And if we’re not healing, we’re allowing the breaking to continue. And if we allow it to continue, we’re one of the breakers. And if we’re one of the breakers, we must still be broken ourselves.

What if we went out to the broken people and urged them to come to church with us – to sit beside us in church – with the same enthusiasm with which we urge our friends to come?

Getting into mischief

- and thinking about how often I am my own trouble. I’m an expert at causing all sorts of issues for myself, mostly because I ignore what is right in my quest for almost anything else. And yet, at the end of the day, when I realize how I’ve messed up yet again; when I’ve managed to prove to myself yet again that I can rocket off the straight and narrow path at a moment’s notice; when I recognize that I’m drowning – I am deeply grateful there is help at hand.

The danger, of course, is that we can take this help for granted. How are YOU doing?