Topic : 1 Peter

Endurance in Suffering

• Bibliotheca Sacra 138:549:46

Our Status

1. Resident Aliens - 1:2, 2:11

2. Their Lifesyle: Holiness - 1:13-16

3. Their Responsibility: To do What is Right - 2:15, 20; 3:6, 13, 17; 4:19

4. And the Results: Glory to God - 2:12, 4:16 and Personal Suffering - 2:20, 3:14-17, 4:19, 5:9-10

Source unknown

Precious

”Of great price, costly, valuable, very dear, highly esteemed, expensive.” People and things are said to be precious to us; yet, how much more precious to us should things of a spiritual nature be. Peter loved to use the word, “precious” in his epistles. Note Peter’s precious treasures.

1. Precious Trials—”That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth” (I Peter 1:7).

2. Precious Blood—”Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1:18,19).

3. Precious Corner Stone—”To whom coming, as unto a living stone, chosen of God, and precious, a chief corner stone, elect, precious” (I Peter 2:4, 6).

4. Precious Lord—”Unto you therefore which believe He is precious” (I Peter 2:7).

5. Precious Faith—”To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Peter 1:1).

6. Precious Promises—”Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (II Peter 1:4).

7. Precious Death—”Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15).

This last verse is not from Peter, but should be included in the list of God’s precious things, serving, as it does, as the final evaluation of the things of this life. It is a precious, comforting thought to know that “to be absent from the body (is) to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). -NPS

Source unknown

Resource

• Ashamed of the Gospel, J. MacArthur, pp. 161ff

A Living Hope

We have a living hope:

I. Which Embraces. . .

A. the assurance of an incorruptible inheritance (v. 4).

B. a redemption purchased with a price of imperishable value (v. 18).

C. a life begotten of incorruptible seed (v. 23).

II. Which is Contrasted with . . .

A. heaviness of sprit, which is for a season (v. 6).

B. silver and gold, which perisheth (v. 18).

C. the glory of man, which falleth away (v. 24).

III. Which Demands of Those Begotten Again . . .

A. that they should greatly rejoice (v. 6).

B. that they should be sober (v. 13).

C. that they should love one another fervently (v. 22).

Threshed Wheat, Sword, p.31

Amazing Good Fortune

Columnist L. M. Boyd recently described the amazing good fortune of a man named Jack Wurm. In 1949, Mr. Wurm was broke and out of a job. One day he was walking along a San Francisco beach when he came across a bottle with a piece of paper in it. As he read the note, he discovered that it was the last will and testament of Daisy Singer Alexander, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune. The note read,

“To avoid confusion, I leave my entire estate to the lucky person who finds this bottle and to my attorney, Barry Cohen, share and share alike.”

According to Boyd, the courts accepted the theory that the heiress had written the note 12 years earlier, and had thrown the bottle into the Thames River in London, from where it had drifted across the oceans to the feet of a penniless and jobless Jack Wurm. His chance discovery netted him over 6 million dollars in cash and Singer stock. How would you like to have been making Mr. Wurm’s footprints on that San Francisco beach? What a find!

Now let’s compare Jack Wurm’s inheritance with yours if you are trusting Christ as your Savior. You have become an heir with Christ. Your eternal future is secure! Think about what you have. Think about what it will mean to you 100 years from now. Try to imagine the eternal life, the eternal happiness, the eternal gratitude, the eternal peace, the eternal profit. The psalmist said that this “inheritance shall be forever.” Six million dollars doesn’t even begin to compare with our spiritual inheritance! - M.R.D. II

Our Daily Bread, November 26

Acid Test

A severe trial is sometimes called an “acid test.” this term originated during times when gold was widely circulated. Nitric acid was applied to an object of gold to see if it was genuine or not. If it was fake, the acid decomposed it; if it was genuine, the gold was unaffected.

In God’s view, our faith is “much more precious than gold,” and it too must be tested (1 Pet. 1:7). But these “acid tests” are positive ones. The Lord is working to reveal genuine faith, not to expose false faith.

During hard times, though, we may feel overwhelmed with the fear that our faith is decomposing. Ronald Dunn, a Bible teacher who has experienced much personal tragedy, knows what we are going through. He writes, “I’m often mystified. I don’t understand why it is that as I endeavor to live for God and pray and believe, everything seems to be falling apart. Sometimes I struggle, and I say, ‘Dear Lord, why are You allowing this to happen?’” Dunn concludes, “It’s good for us to remember that God is not an arsonist; He’s a refiner.”

Our Daily Bread, January 28, 1997

The Rescuer

The price Jesus paid for our redemption was terrible indeed. When we think of the extreme suffering He endured to purchase our freedom from sin’s penalty, our hearts should overflow with love for Him.

Leslie B. Flynn told a story that illustrates this truth. An orphaned boy was living with his grandmother when their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to get upstairs to rescue the boy, perished in the flames. The boy’s cries for help were finally answered by a man who climbed an iron drainpipe and came back down with the boy hanging tightly to his neck.

Several weeks later, a public hearing was held to determine who would receive custody of the child. A farmer, a teacher, and the town’s wealthiest citizen all gave the reasons they felt they should be chosen to give the boy a home. But as they talked, the lad’s eyes remained focused on the floor. Then a stranger walked to the front and slowly took his hands from his pockets, revealing severe scars on them. As the crowd gasped, the boy cried out in recognition. This was the man who had saved his life. His hands had been burned when he climbed the hot pipe. With a leap the boy threw his arms around the man’s neck and held on for dear life. The other men silently walked away, leaving the boy and his rescuer alone. Those marred hands had settled the issue.

Many voices are calling for our attention. Among them is the One whose nail-pierced hands remind us that He has rescued us from sin and its deadly consequences. To Him belongs our love and devotion. -D.C.E.

Our Daily Bread, December 26

Redeemed!

A story told by Paul Lee Tan illustrates the meaning of redemption. He said that when A. J. Gordon was pastor of a church in Boston, he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, “Son, where did you get those birds?” The boy replied, “I trapped them out in the field.” “What are you going to do with them?” “I’m going to play with them, and then I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have at home.”

When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, “Mister, you don’t want them, they’re just little old wild birds and can’t sing very well.” Gordon replied, “I’ll give you $2 for the cage and the birds.” “Okay, it’s a deal, but you’re making a bad bargain.”

The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue. The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ’s coming to seek and to save the lost—paying for them with His own precious blood. “That boy told me the birds were not songsters,” said Gordon, “but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, ‘Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!”

You and I have been held captive to sin, but Christ has purchased our pardon and set us at liberty. When a person has this life-changing experience, he will want to sing, “Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!”

Our Daily Bread

Resource

• “Evangelical Preaching,” Charles Simeon, p. 147

Seven Rules for Good Health

A person who is “born again” starts a new life similar to that of a newborn infant. Seven rules that promote good health in babies can be adapted and applied to a Christian’s spiritual growth.

1. Daily Food. Take in the “pure milk of the word” through study and meditation.

2. Fresh Air. Pray often or you will faint. Prayer is the oxygen of the soul.

3. Regular Exercise. Put into practice what you learn in God’s Word.

4. Adequate Rest. Rely on God at all times in simple faith.

5. Clean Surroundings. Avoid evil company and whatever will weaken you spiritually.

6. Loving Care. Be part of a church where you will benefit from a pastor’s teaching and Christian fellowship.

7. Periodic Checkups. Regularly examine your spiritual health.

Source unknown

Pilgrims

As Christians, we need to think of ourselves as travelers who are just passing through this sinful world. We are not permanent residents, but pilgrims on a journey to a better land. Therefore, we need to “travel light,” not burdening ourselves with an undue attachment to the material things of life. The more we care for the luxuries and possessions of earth, the more difficult will be our journey to heaven.

The story is told about some Christians who were traveling in the Middle East. They heard about a wise, devout, beloved, old believer, so they went out of their way to visit him. When they finally found him, they discovered that he was living in a simple hut. All he had inside was a rough cot, a chair, a table, and a battered stove for heating and cooking. The visitors were shocked to see how few possessions the man had, and one of them blurted out, “Well, where is your furniture?” The aged saint replied by gently asking, :Where is yours?” The visitor, sputtering a little, responded, “Why, at home, of course. I don’t carry it with me, I’m traveling.” “So am I,” the godly Christian replied. “So am I.”

This man was practicing a basic principle of the Bible: Christians must center their affections on Christ, not on the temporal things of this earth. Material riches lose their value when compared to the riches of glory. To keep this world’s goods from becoming more important to us than obeying Christ, we need to ask ourselves, “Where is our furniture?” -D.C.E.

Our Daily Bread, July 26, 1993

Resource

• A. T. Robertson, Minister., p. 59

Resource

• Bibliotheca Sacra 139:553:32

Resource

• The Grace Awakening, C. Swindoll, Word, 1990, pp. 252ff

In Preparation for the Day

My clothes are chosen carefully,
my hair is set in place.
My world is greeted daily
with a calculated face.

Preserving youth becomes my quest
when years begin to toll,
but have I spent an equal time
in strengthening my soul'

The call of common vanity
is seldom left ignored,
but could my spirit meet as well
a calling from the Lord'

Approval of the public eye
is sought in vast amount,
but will the Lord approve today
should he demand account'

In preparation for the day
has faith been made a part'
For man may judge appearances,
but God looks on my heart.

Decision, July/August, 1992, p. 39

The Birthmark

Charles William Eliot (1834-1926), former president of Harvard University, had a birthmark on his face that bothered him greatly. As a young man, he was told that surgeons could do nothing to remove it. Someone described that moment as “the dark hour of his soul.”

Eliot’s mother gave him this helpful advice: “My son, it is not possible for you to get rid of that hardship. But it is possible for you, with God’s help, to grow a mind and soul so big that people will forget to look at your face.”

Our Daily Bread, June 15, 1992

Who Wears the Pants'

Denis Thatcher, the husband of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, is remembered for his good-humored answer to a question from a reporter probing for some sign of jealousy or discord owing to Mrs. Thatcher’s post. As the Thatchers were moving into the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street in London, the reporter queried Mr. Thatcher, “Who wears the pants in this house?”

“I do,” he answered, “and I also wash and iron them.”

Today in the Word, March 20, 1993

Quote

When men speak ill of you, live so that no one will believe them.

Source unknown

Sanctifying Christ

How am I to sanctify Jesus Christ? It is the same word used in the Lord’s Prayer as “hallowed.” We sanctify or hallow one who is holy already when we recognize the holiness and honor what we recognize. So the plain meaning of the commandment here is: Set Christ in your hearts on the pedestal and pinnacle that belongs to Him, and then bow down before Him with all reverence and submission. Be sure you give Him all that is His due, and in the love of your hearts, as well as in the thoughts of your mind, recognize Him for what He is—the Lord. Many of us only see a part of the whole Christ. He is our Creator as well as our Redeemer, our Judge as well as our Savior. Forgetting that, some do not hallow Him enough in their hearts as Lord. Embrace the whole Christ, and see to it that you do not dethrone Him from His rightful place or take from Him the glory due His name.

Alexander Maclaren

Jesus Descended into Hell

When Jesus descended into hell, he entered not Gehenna but Hades; in other words, he really died, and it was from a genuine, not a simulated death that he rose (Acts 2:31-32).

1 Peter 3:18-20 tells us briefly what Jesus did in Hades:

• First, by his presence he made Hades into Paradise (a place of pleasure) for the penitent thief and, presumably, for all the others who died trusting him during his earthly ministry, just as he does now for the faithful departed (Luke 23:43; Phil. 1:21-23; 2 Cor. 5:6-8).
• Second, he perfected the spirits of Old Testament believers (Heb. 12:23; 11:40), bringing them out of the gloom which Sheol (the pit) had hitherto been for them (Ps. 88:3-6, 10-12) into this same Paradise experience. This is the core of truth in the medieval fantasies of the harrowing of hell.
• Third, “he went and preached (presumably announcing his kingdom and appointment as the world’s judge) to the spirits in prison” who had rebelled in antediluvian times (presumable the fallen angels of 2 Pet. 2:4-10 who are also the sons of God in Gen. 6:1-4). Some have based on this one text a hope that all humans who did not hear the gospel in this life, or who, having heard it, rejected it, will have it savingly preached to them in the life to come. Peter’s words provide no warrant for this inference: a first, non-saving announcement to a group of fallen angels does not imply a second saving announcement to the whole host of unsaved human dead. Had Peter believed in the latter, surely he would have said it straightforwardly.

Your Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, page for April 6

Resource

• Bibliotheca Sacra 139:554:146

He Died Singing

John Huss, the Bohemian reformer, was burned at the stake in 1415. Before his accusers lit the fire, they placed on his head a crown of paper with painted devils on it. He answered this mockery by saying, “My Lord, Jesus Christ, for my sake, wore a crown of thorns; why should not I then, for His sake, wear this light crown, be it ever so ignominious? Truly I will do it willingly.”

After the wood was stacked up to Huss’ neck, the Duke of Bavaria asked him to renounce his preaching. Trusting completely in God’s Word, Huss replied, “In the truth of the gospel which I preached, I die willingly and joyfully today.” The wood was ignited, and Huss died while singing, “Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, have mercy on me.” P.R.V.

Our Daily Bread, March 7

Choose God’s Will

To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to choose God’s will even if it means suffering is a very different thing. No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God’s will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. Be merciful to God’s reputation. It is easy to blacken God’s character because God never answers back, He never vindicates Himself. Beware of the thought that Jesus needed sympathy in His earthly life; He refused sympathy from others because He knew far too wisely that no one on earth understood what He was going through. Notice God’s ‘waste’ of saints, according to the judgment of the world. God plants His saints in some of the most useless places. We say, ‘God intends me to be here because I am so useful.’ Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him most, and we are no judges at all of where that is.

Oswald Chambers

Outline

I. An Appeal (1-2a) Shepherd the Flock - every elder is to do this (What?)

II. A Process (2b-3) (How?)

A. Voluntarily - Not Under Compulsion - Master

B. Motives - Why'

C. Methods

III. A Result - Rewards(So What?)

Resource

• Bibliotheca Sacra 129:556:330

A Badge of Servitude

Commenting on I Peter 5:5, Charles Ellicott gives us some interesting sidelights on the sense of this text in the Greek. He says that it literally means, “tie yourself up in humility.” In other words, we are to gather it around us like a cloak to shut out the blighting winds of pride. But there is a still more delicate shade of meaning to the word “humility.” Ellicott says it originally referred to “a peculiar kind of cape worn by slaves.” Thus it was “a badge of servitude.” This implies that humility is not a mere passive quality. It includes performing selflessly any task God assigns, and bringing forth spiritual fruit.

Source unknown

Clothed in Humility

A young man who had been invited to a dinner given by the South African statesman John Cecil Rhodes arrived by train and had to go directly to Rhodes’s house in his travel-stained clothes. To the young guest’s horror, he found a room full of people in full evening dress. Soon Rhodes appeared, wearing an old suit. He had heard of the young man’s problem and wanted to spare him further embarrassment.

Rhodes literally clothed himself with humility, a clear picture of what the apostle Peter is speaking about in today’s text. Clothing ourselves with humility toward others puts us on their level, in their shoes, and keeps us from lording it over other Christians or flaunting our position.

Today in the Word, February 19, 1997, p. 26

Resource

• Neil Anderson, The Bondage Breaker, p. 178

My Burdens

Lord, I’m so discouraged
I don’t know what to do
I have so many burdens
And I gave them all to you.

But you didn’t take them Jesus
Will you tell me why that’s so'
The answer’s simply little one
Because you won’t let go.

Author unknown

George Mueller

George Mueller (1805-1898) built many orphanages at Ashley Down, England. Without a personal salary, he relied only on God to supply the money and food needed to support the hundreds of homeless children he befriended in the name of Christ. A man of radiant faith, he kept a motto on his desk for many years that brought comfort, strength, and uplifting confidence to his heart. It read, “It matters to Him about you.” Mueller believed that those words captured the meaning of 1 Peter 5:7, and he rested his claim for divine help on that truth. He testified at the end of his life that the Lord had never failed to supply all his needs. Audrey Mieir has expressed the truth of today’s text in these words:

Be not troubled with thoughts of the morrow,
Of duties you surely must do.
On the Lord cast your burden of sorrow;
It matters to Him about you!

Be not weary when trials are given,
But trust Him to carry you through.
He will make all a pathway to heaven;
It matters to Him about you!

Then be patient until His appearing,
‘Tis dawn almost now on your view;
For the mists of this dark age are clearing.
In love He is planning for you!

Source unknown