Category Archives: 1 Peter

Eleos

Posted on May 17, 2020 | Leave a comment

I Peter 2:9 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. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. [ESV]

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I learned the meaning of the Greek word “eleos,” translated “mercy” in reading my commentary resources for this post.  Eleos also means pity and compassion so the Scripture could be read “but now you are God’s people; once you had not received pity and compassion but now you have received pity and compassion.”  

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles:” remember why you’ve been chosen!  You’ve been chosen to be a visible and undeniable display of God’s eleos, virtue and perfection.  The powerful, all-knowing, ever-present God of the universe looked at your separation from Himself and rather than exercise His power to punish you, chose to trust the power of His pity and compassion to change you.  You are chosen to be witnesses of that change: “Conduct yourselves properly (honorably, righteously) among the Gentiles, so that, although they may slander you as evildoers, [yet] they may BY witnessing your good deeds [come to] glorify God in the day of inspection [when God shall look upon you wanderers as a pastor or shepherd looks over his flock].” AMPC v12.

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A Visible Part

Posted on May 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

I Peter 2:1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  ESV

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At one point in time I took daily devotional walks and would pick up a stone [mostly unremarkable] everyday to put in a jar at home as a reminder to me of the purpose of the walk.  I’ve collected stones for many years now and they have become a visible part of my living room decor.  Most are just plain stones I’ve either found or been given but there are some I’ve purchased because they’re polished and show the beauty of what is underneath their natural exterior.  Both have meaning to me.  And therein lies the reality that makes this Word live for me. 

A stone is not like a book that’s known by it’s cover.  The significance of a “living stone” is this: “in the sight of God,” He saw the beauty beneath your natural exterior and gathered you up from the rubble pile of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all slander, to be a “living stone” in His  “spiritual house.”  You were purchased and polished by Him and His Word to be a very visible part of “a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” …in plain sight.

 

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Ransomed

Posted on May 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

I Peter 1:17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you…  21a who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.  [ [I Peter 1:17-21 ESV]

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“Call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile…”  My vague understanding of “exile” and it’s connection to fear has become more real as the days of coronavirus have turned into weeks and now months.  Days have been filled with images and circumstances that must not be wasted.  These days of isolation have not been meant as punishment but as protection to provide physical distance from the reality of death our eyes and ears have experienced.  Distance doesn’t help much with emotional relief.  Emotional relief requires more than man alone can accomplish.  

“19 But he [God] paid for [ransomed] you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him for this purpose [emotional relief] long before the world began, but only recently was he brought into public view, in these last days, as a blessing to you. 21aBecause of this, your trust can be in God who raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. Now your faith and hope can rest in him alone.” [I Peter 1:19-21 TLB]

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You Shall…

Posted on May 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

I Peter 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” NASB

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We’ve seen the reality of many people who’ve chosen to overrule their natural anxiety during this coronavirus.  People in many places and many jobs prepared their minds for action, and with sober spirits were willing to do what they were called to do.  Some have openly done that in the name of Christ but others have come forward out of an intuitive obedience and goodness they’ve not yet assigned to Jesus.  But…they’ve revealed a greater truth that I don’t want any of us to miss. 

Some might call that the human desire of goodness.  I am only an observer but I see an impact on too many hearts to believe only human goodness is involved here.  Hearts have NOT been been called out of familiar patterns of life by the power of an enemy virus but by the intuitive memory of their Creator.  Our hearts in this exile are being reshaped by God, NOT coronavirus!

Our hearts have witnessed something about holiness that in our human ignorance we never expected to see.  The power of holiness isn’t always clearly identified but it’s never absent.  We’ve seen a deeper truth that still motivates the intuition of the human heart to respond.  “…Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 

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About This Salvation:

Posted on May 3, 2020 | Leave a comment

I Peter: 1:10 The prophets searched carefully and tried to learn about this salvation. They prophesied about the grace that was coming to you. 11 The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets, telling in advance about the sufferings of Christ and about the glory that would follow those sufferings. The prophets tried to learn about what the Spirit was showing them, when those things would happen, and what the world would be like at that time. 12 It was shown them that their service was not for themselves but for you, when they told about the truths you have now heard. Those who preached the Good News to you told you those things with the help of the Holy Spirit who was sent from heaven—things into which angels desire to look. NCV

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Walking through the Coronavirus pandemic has been like a daily reminder of exactly how a walk of faith begins.  We’ve realized an awareness of needing to be saved.  Circumstances have revealed our best efforts to live well are not powerful enough to make us feel safe without help and following certain guidelines. “Feeling safe is not proof you are safe…You can need to be saved and not know it. For example, if a jet taking off from the airport were losing altitude and heading straight for this sanctuary right now, you would need to be saved; but you wouldn’t know it unless someone came running in here and shouted what was happening.  So you can see that feeling safe is no proof that you are safe.a”

“About this salvation:”
“Salvation [soteria from soter = Savior] is a broader term in Greek than we often think of in English. Other concepts that are inherent in soteria include restoration to a state of safety, soundness, health and well being as well as preservation from danger of destruction.b“

“About this salvation:” salvation is the inheritance of a believer in Jesus Christ and Grace is the promised allowance for the expenses of life.  That’s the “Good News.” Your life as a follower of Jesus Christ is now under a contract revealed long ago by diligent people writing on behalf of the Holy Spirit, “not for themselves but for you” today.  Today…when many of us see “suffering” as never before, we need an outpouring of that allowance of “grace” and “restoration to a state of safety, soundness, health and well being as well as preservation from danger of destruction” because the expenses have been too great for us to handle without help.  Come Holy Spirit!

Inheritance: property passing to those entitled to succeed
Allowance: a sum granted as a reimbursement for expenses

a John Piper, Desiring God
b https://www.preceptaustin.org/salvation-soteria_greek_word_study

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Corporate Grief

Posted on April 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

I Peter: 1:6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

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We are all are experiencing corporate grief right now.  Many of us are fortunate enough to only experience it second-hand through TV coverage of Covid-19 but there are so many more who are terrifyingly closer to it.  God bless them.  God bless us all.  Even from a distance we see the evidence of grief that impacts hearts in varied ways.  We see the productive side through testimonies of determined sacrifice and service.  We see tears of courage that will not bow to anxiety and loss.  We hear real stories of creative compassion that finds ways to bridge the circumstances of isolation in life and death.  We also see willful denial that balks at being told what we should be doing.  We see angry protests redefined as personal freedoms.  We see choosing risk over reality because it’s beyond the walls that isolate us in our own homes and neighborhoods.  These are how varied the responses are that define corporate grief during this very real trial.

All the elements are in place right now for Jesus to redeem the evidence of our corporate grief and make it productive, not destructive.   Grief that teaches us to put the other “person” back  into “personal” lives. Grief that reveals Jesus to the hearts of those who love, serve, weep and mourn as well as those deny and protest.  

Lord Jesus redeem our grief so that it will not be what defines our hearts, but what refines them.  May it be “though you have not seen him[Jesus], you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  May it be so!

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Elect Exiles

Posted on April 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

I Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.  3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

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Peter is writing to people who once had no place in society let alone with God but now they have access to His mercy, privileges, and grace.  “Once the people who had been different from others were the Jews; now the people who are different are the Christians.a”  People like us.  I have been using the word “exile” in regard to being isolated as a result of coronavirus.  I know “exile” is not a perfect comparison but it certainly fits the bill as far as being kept from activities and places that are easily defined as native to us is concerned.  In that context we are people experiencing exile as a modern-day wake-up call to another even a more important comparison.

God gave those early exiles a bridge to get to His great mercy.  Exile completely changed their focus from what was familiar to them and opened their eyes to Someone with the power to “elect” them “through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  Jesus became their “living hope” for that moment in time.  It’s an interesting idea to consider that what God did for them…then…He may be doing for us now; changing our focus from exile to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

Please consider this idea as you read I Peter with me over the next few weeks: today we are the “elect exiles.”   God intends what we read in His record of the past will prepare us for our future and open our eyes to a “living hope” today.  Today in the midst of our “exile” and “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, we still “are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  Jesus is still the bridge between our exile today and our inheritance tomorrow.”

a William Barclay on I Peter

 

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Second Chance: I Peter 2

Posted on July 3, 2019 | Leave a comment

I Peter 2
√ Re·new·al: the replacing or repair of something that is worn out, run-down, or broken

2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house…9 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. 10 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.

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God has designed our bodies from the inside out.  It’s a good design.  We have an internal structure that our entire body is built around.  We are born the first time with everything in miniature, a tiny skeleton along with tiny muscles and organs that all need to grow in relationship with one another. 

The second time we’re born it’s another version of miniature but still a new life.  We’re still “newborn babies” and still based on God’s original design..but this time we’re aware of life in relationship to God and equipped with faith to “grow up in your salvation.”  There’s a new structure that requires different muscles and organs; “your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” that must grow in relationship with one another into the spiritual house God has designed you to be. 

This is God’s truth: ”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.”  Go big!

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The Firsts: I Peter 1 – Application

Posted on March 27, 2019 | Leave a comment

NLT 1 Peter 1:1 This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.  I am writing to God’s chosen people… who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.  2…May God give you more and more grace and peace…3… Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay…8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls… 10 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you…12 They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

I’ve learned these first chapters of Bible are like pieces of a patchwork quilt for “God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners.”  Chapters that are separate and often unique somehow fit together to become an image of Christ so “you love him even though you have never seen him.  Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”  

Each of these chapters are pieces of a quilt meant to become a beautiful and useful part of your “priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.” The author’s “messages were not for themselves, but for you” spoken by “those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven” 

These first chapters are their God-given record of their relationship to God through Jesus.  That record is their application; exactly what God intended His book should teach us.  Application is where the power of the Bible lies.  Our personal application is pieced together from each of these individual chapters God has given us to complete our transformation.  “The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.”

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Growth

Posted on September 30, 2018 | Leave a comment

This morning I found myself wondering “what’s next.”   I’ve been reading various Scripture passages and resources for days hoping for the Spirit to give me a hint for this post.  I wish I’d hoped for something more but maybe learning to praise God for his Son and his Spirit even when I don’t know what’s next is “what God planned all along.”  It’s called Growth.

I need to re-read my own words about Spiritual Curiousity from 7/26/17
I Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Stories of what God has taught others are good but they are only meant to be a small cell the Holy Spirit plants in you with the possibility what “they” understood might become something more for you…spiritual curiosity. That’s spiritual conception.

It’s the work of the Holy Spirit that leads you to something more over a period of time. Spiritual curiosity develops the desire to “search and find” spiritual answers. That’s the period of your spiritual gestational development.

Finally curiosity, conceived and developed, gives birth to your own praise to “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” knowing with complete certainty that “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” the Holy Spirit has personally taught you spiritual truths you’d never known before.

I Corinthians 2:10-13 The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along.[MSG]

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