Scripture: 1st Peter 1:3-12
Structure:
- Introduction
- Salvation secured
- Faith tested
- Prophecy revealed
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
When you find yourself on holiday, browsing through a book store for that perfect summer read, you might look at the dust cover of a book to get an idea of what the story is about. The brief blurb does not tell you the whole story and it certainly won’t give away the ending, but it’s designed to whet your appetite and get you interested in reading further.
It’s similar with movies. Before the feature movie starts they usually play trailers advertising other movies. Just a small taster to sow a seed and invite your imagination in.
When you go to a friend’s home for dinner they normally greet you at the door with a warm welcome, a hug or a handshake and they offer you something to drink and some snacks before the full meal is served. The host wants to put you at ease and make you feel good about being there. That way you will let your defences down and simply enjoy the evening.
Today we continue our new series (started last week) in the letter of 1st Peter. Today’s reading, from chapter 1, verses 3-12, is one long sentence in the original Greek. This passage is like the dust cover of the book, or the trailer of a movie, in that it gives you an idea of what’s in store in the rest of the letter. It whets your appetite and invites your imagination in.
Today’s reading is also like the warm welcome you receive when you go to a friend’s house for dinner, in that it puts you at ease. It’s like Peter is saying to his readers, ‘I know you. I understand your situation. I get where you’ve come from. We are friends.’ In this way Peter helps his readers to feel comfortable, so they will lower their defences and allow his words in. From 1st Peter chapter 1, verses 3-12, we read…
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!In his great mercyhe has given us new birthinto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritancethat 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.
6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire— may result in praise, glory and honorwhen Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you,searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christin them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you,when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.Even angels long to look into these things.
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
There’s a lot going on in these verses. It is the theological equivalent of a Christmas cake – rich and thick. To help provide some clarity, I see this one long sentence in three parts:
Verses 3-5 are talking about salvation secured,
Verses 6-9 are about faith tested
And verses 10-12 touch on prophecy revealed.
First let’s consider the security of our salvation.
Salvation secured:
Imagine you are driving your car along a country road in the rain. It’s been pouring for days and the paddocks either side of the road are flooded. You come round a bend and see the road in front of you is underwater. You stop for a moment to consider what to do.
You have been driving for hours and are in the middle of nowhere. If you go back the way you came you might run out of petrol, or find that the road you’ve just travelled has become impassable. But if you go forward you risk stalling the car and getting stuck underwater.
You decide to risk it and very carefully drive forward, hoping the water doesn’t get too deep. Your car handles the first 50 metres well enough but then there is a dip in the road, the car bonnet is submerged and the air intake starts sucking water. The engine cuts out and won’t start again. You are stranded.
Water is filling your car quickly now and as the tide rises, so does the feeling of panic. You climb out the window and on to the roof. There is no cell-phone reception. You are wet, cold and alone. It’s just a matter of time before the whole car goes under, so you try to swim to higher ground, but the current is too strong and sweeps you away. It’s all you can do to keep your head above water.
The torrent carries you downstream for some miles – you can’t be sure how far. By this stage you are exhausted and thinking, ‘so this is how it ends’. Then, in the distance, you see a bridge with people standing on it. Hope flickers in you like a distant star. You wave out to them. Maybe they can help.
The people on the bridge see you. One of them runs away only to return moments later with something. What is it? As the current carries you closer you recognise it is a rope. They are lowering a rope to you and yelling for you to grab hold of it as you float past.
You manage to get a hand on the rope and find they have conveniently made a loop in the end, so the rope will hold you like a harness. You feel the rope snapping tight and realise the people up on the bridge are pulling on it. All you have to do now is hold on. You hope the rope will hold your weight. You hope your rescuers are strong enough.
After the two longest minutes in your life your rescuers have you out of the water and on the bridge with them. You look round and see the rope was tied to a four-wheel drive all along. A four-wheel drive with a snorkel. That’s how they roll in the country. You are still cold and tired but you are not alone. You were as good as dead but now you live again. It’s going to be alright.
Hope is the belief that something good is waiting for us in the future. Or said another way, hope is the ability to imagine a good future. The rope lowered from the bridge symbolises hope. Hope is like a rope connecting the future to the present. Hope gives us something to hold onto in the present moment. When we are struggling to keep our head above water, hope connects us – it keeps us afloat and allows us to imagine a future with a good outcome.
In verse 3 of chapter 1, Peter praises God for his great mercy in giving us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. God (Father, Son & Spirit) is like the people on the bridge who threw you the rope. You were as good as dead and powerless to save yourself but God, in his mercy, threw you a life line. God saved you. He gave you new birth.
Jesus talked about this new birth in John 3, when Nicodemus came to see him at night. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again… Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
Peter says we are born again into a living hope. If the people on the bridge had thrown a rope that was too short to reach, or too rotten to carry your weight, then that would be a dead hope. But the rope they threw you was long enough and strong enough and so it is a living hope. Meaning it is a hope that is sure and certain and secure. It is not a long shot, like winning Lotto. The rope of hope that God offers is a hope that will not disappoint.
The thing that makes Christian hope living and sure is the resurrection of Jesus. Whenever Peter preaches in the book of Acts he talks about the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ resurrection was front and centre of the Christian message in the first century. Jesus’ resurrection is the anchor of Christian hope. Our hope of salvation is tied to the resurrection of Christ like the rope (in my story) was tied to the four-wheel drive. It is because Jesus has been raised from the dead to eternal life that our hope of eternal life is not just wishful thinking.
In verse 4 Peter goes on to say that our new birth is also into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – an inheritance kept in heaven for you.
Just as people receive their ethnic identity, their citizenship, their socio-economic class (and so on) from their biological parents, Christians receive a new identity and a new citizenship from God (their heavenly Father) when they are born again. The new birth that God gives redefines the believers’ relationship with society and transforms their identity and character. [1]
There’s a line in that great hymn Be Thou my Vision which reads: “Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise. Be thou my inheritance now and always.”
The most common form of inheritance in the Middle East, of the first century, was land. In the context of this world, land represents security.
Some of Peter’s listeners had likely been disinherited for choosing to follow Jesus. Others may have been driven from their homeland by persecution, due to their Christian faith. So they had essentially lost their inheritance in this world. They had lost their physical and material security.
What an affirmation and an encouragement it would have been to have Peter, a hero and an icon in the early church, saying they have a heavenly inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. An inheritance which is immortal, pure and beautiful – and therefore more secure, more valuable, than land.
Again we hear the echo of Jesus’ words, where the Lord says (in Matthew 6:19-21) 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,where moths and vermin destroy,and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus is talking about eternal security here. The most valuable part of our inheritance is Jesus himself. We want to be building a quality relationship with Jesus now (in this world) that will serve us well for all eternity.
In verse 5 of chapter 1, Peter talks about the Christian believer being shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
The salvation Peter has in mind here is a deliverance from this world (which is hostile to God) and into God’s kingdom – a place where God’s will is done perfectly. For Peter, salvation is the coming inheritance, to which Christian believers are now fully entitled but do not yet fully possess. [2]
Okay, so our salvation, our hope of eternal life, our inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, is secure. The next thing I want to highlight is the way Christian faith is tested, as Peter describes in verses 6-9.
Faith tested:
Roald Dahl wrote a book called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It’s about a boy called Charlie who wins a golden ticket for a tour through Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Charlie and his family are very poor and so the abundance of Mr Wonka’s chocolate factory fills young Charlie with awe and wonder.
Other children win tickets too and are allowed to take one adult with them on the tour. Little do they realise but Mr Wonka is trying to find someone to inherit his chocolate kingdom. He wants to give it all away to someone he can trust; someone who will trust him.
As the children make their way through the factory, one by one, they get themselves into trouble so they cannot finish the tour. It’s not that Mr Wonka is trying to catch them out. It’s just that in a chocolate factory trials and temptations are inevitable.
In the end, only Charlie and his Grandpa Joe are left. But they are disqualified for stealing fizzy lifting drink. Charlie proves himself faithful by handing the everlasting gob stopper back to Mr Wonka. ‘So shines a good deed in a weary world.’
The analogy is not perfect, and should not be pressed too far, but in some ways God is a bit like Mr Wonka, wanting to share his kingdom with humanity. Likewise, Peter’s listeners are like Charlie, poor in material wealth but rich in genuine faith.
From verse 6 Peter writes: though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire— may result in praise, glory and honorwhen Jesus Christ is revealed.
Gold, in the ancient world, was the most valuable material there was and one of the most durable too. Peter is comparing Christian faith to gold. He is saying genuine faith in Jesus is more valuable and more resilient than gold.
The grief and trials his readers have had to suffer are not cause for shame or disgrace. They should not think of their hardship as a punishment from God. Suffering does not mean God is unhappy with you. Nor is God going out of his way to make life difficult for people.
As one commentator put it, this life is not an obstacle course that we must get through in order to make it into heaven. Rather, suffering in a world that is opposed to the ways of God is inevitable and serves to prove the true value of your faith.
Now, we may not suffer in the same way that Christians did in the first century. While NZ society has (generally speaking) become less friendly to the church, we are not yet openly persecuted for our faith in Jesus. But we do still suffer. This life is difficult and being a Christian does not make one immune from trials and grief.
Part of Peter’s message to us is that suffering provides an opportunity to test and prove genuine faith. Why are you a Christian? Is it just for the perks of forgiveness and grace? Is it just so you can get into heaven when you die? Or is it because you love and trust Jesus as your Lord and friend.
Peter shows us that suffering can be a positive thing. Suffering for Christ leads to glory with Christ. For this reason, Christians can find nuggets of joy in the gravel of suffering.
Now the thing about faith and hope is that one trusts in what one cannot see. When Charlie handed the everlasting gob stopper back to Mr Wonka he could not see how that was going to play out. Charlie was simply doing what he believed to be right, in faith, that things would work out in the end. Likewise, when a person who is drowning is thrown a rope, they take hold of it in faith that it will hold their weight and save them.
In verse 8 Peter admires his readers saying they love Jesus and believe in him even though they have never seen him. In some ways, their faith (and ours) is greater than Peter’s own faith, for Peter had seen Jesus, whereas his readers have not. As the risen Jesus said to Thomas, in John 20:29, Blessed are those who do not see [me] and believe. Peter’s readers are truly walking by faith and not by sight.
The inheritance of our salvation is secure and the presence of suffering is cause for joy because it tests and proves genuine faith. Which brings us to the third point of today’s message: Peter’s readers live at a time in history when the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus (the Messiah) have been revealed.
Prophecy revealed:
Throughout this year, the government in New Zealand have based their COVID management decisions on scientific evidence. No one can predict the exact timing or circumstances in which a virus cluster might arise but, through contact tracing and community testing, we can gain some understanding of the patterns of the virus and when it is prudent to move up or down levels.
Modern science is also working hard to find a vaccine against the virus, so we do not have to keep running and hiding every time a cluster flares up.
In many ways we are privileged to live at a time in history when science is able to reveal so much about the virus. When the bubonic plague broke out nearly 700 years ago, people simply did not have the technology to accurately identify it, let alone create a vaccine for it.
In verses 8-9 Peter applauds his readers for believing in Jesus, even though they have not seen him. Although there is an element of not being able to see with faith, this does not imply there is no evidence for Christian faith. Faith in Jesus is based (in part) on the evidence of the Old Testament prophets.
Peter observes how the prophets (people like Isaiah and Jeremiah and others) were able to predict the pattern that the Messiah would suffer and then be glorified. But they did not know the time and circumstances in which the things they predicted would take place.
Like the scientists of today, who are searching for a vaccine for COVID, the prophets of long ago searched intently and with greatest care to determine when and where the Messiah would turn up, but this was not revealed to them. It has however been revealed to us.
By recognising the Old Testament prophets in this way, Peter accomplishes a number of things at the same time. Firstly, Peter shows there is a continuity between the Old & New Testaments. The same Holy Spirit who empowered Christ and was poured out at Pentecost, is the same Spirit who pointed the prophets of old to the pattern of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection.
This pattern was not an accident of history but was in fact designed and planned for, by God, all along. Despite the way things may appear, God is still in control and his purpose will be achieved in the end.
Secondly, Peter is providing objective evidence for those believers who may have been struggling with doubts and thinking about chucking their faith away. The fact the Old Testament prophets predicted the pattern of Jesus’ suffering, death and glorification, confirms that Jesus is the Messiah and so their faith in Jesus is well placed. Not only that, but their current suffering confirms they stand in solidarity with Jesus – so they can take comfort in knowing they are on the right track.
Thirdly, for those who may be tempted to self-pity (due to their trials and grief), Peter points out how privileged they are; for they live at a time in history when the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus have been revealed. Something even angels long to look into.
Conclusion:
The things Peter touches on here, at the beginning of his letter, whet our appetite and invite our imagination in. Verses 3-12, of chapter 1, show that Peter understands his readers. He knows where they have come from and where they are headed.
The hope of our salvation is secure through Jesus’ resurrection.
The true value of our faith is tested and proved through suffering.
And we are privileged to live at a time in history when the ancient prophecy concerning Jesus, the Messiah, has been revealed.
Peter will develop these three ideas in the rest of his letter.
What is the take away for you today?
Are you weary with grief and trials? Are you struggling to keep your head above water? Hold on to the rope of hope. Jesus is standing on the bridge holding the other end. He’s got you.
Suffering is not a sign that God has abandoned you. Suffering provides an opportunity for the refining of our faith. It is an opportunity to show God that you love him for who he is and not just what he gives.
We don’t know how lucky we are to live at this time in history.
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
Peter says God has given us ‘new birth’. What are we born again into? What are the implications of this new birth for us?
What is hope? In what sense is hope like a rope? Where is your hope placed? (What rope are you holding onto?) Why is Jesus’ resurrection important to Christian hope?
Peter talks about an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. What does he mean by ‘inheritance’?
What purpose/meaning does Peter give to suffering? How might this inform (or transform) the way we interpret our own suffering? Why are you a Christian?
What three things may we glean from Peter’s reference to the prophets in verses 10-12?
Take some time this week to reflect on (and give thanks for) the privileges we enjoy at this time in history.
[1] Refer Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1st Peter, page 81.
[2] Refer Karen Jobes, page 88.
Tawa Baptist 