Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout… who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Praise to God for a Living Hope
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—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 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 your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when 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 goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls…
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers 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 forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord stands forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.
My Understanding: I love how the word of God is so practical and applicable to our everyday lives. It is not just a history book or a book of doctrine and theology for us to study so that we can have knowledge. It is alive and still speaks to us today about our lives and how we should live our lives. I once had a pastor whose most every sermon could be divided into three basic sections: 1. The problem, 2. The solution, and 3. How to go about applying the solution to the problem. I see those three basic sections in this passage, too.
The Problem
The main problem is sin. We are born with sin natures, due to the fall of Adam, and thus we have a bent toward and a propensity to sin that is in our human nature. This sin separates us from intimate relationship with Almighty God (Rom. 3:23), so it must be cleansed and forgiven, because the end result of sin is eternal separation from God in hell, i.e. spiritual death (Rom. 6:23a). In our sin nature, we cannot please God. Our tendency is rather to conform to the evil (sinful; selfish) desires of our flesh nature. V. 18 describes this sin nature as “the empty way of life handed down to you by your forefathers.” It is empty because it is devoid of intimate relationship with God, it is driven by selfishness, and its main goal is to please self without regard for God or for others. Without the hope of salvation from sin, we are destined to perish just like grass withers and flowers fall.
The Solution
Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and the second person of our triune God, thus came to earth, took on human flesh, was tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin, and suffered like we suffer so that he could become our great, sympathetic and compassionate high priest. He died a horrible death on the cross, taking upon himself all our sin. Our sin was thus crucified and buried along with him. When he rose from the grave, he left our sin in the grave, so he was victorious over sin, death, hell and Satan via his resurrection. What this means for us is that we can come to him in faith in who he is and in what he did for us via his death and resurrection in conquering our sin, and we can be set free from the penalty and the control of sin over our daily lives. And, we can have the freedom to walk in faith and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ and to have the hope of eternity with him when we die or when Christ returns for his bride and takes us to be with himself.
This plan of salvation from sin was provided for us by God the Father, who in his great mercy provided us a way into new birth (a new life) into a living hope. We, who have come to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, were chosen by God according to his foreknowledge. Not only that, but look at what we were chosen for. Through the sanctifying (cleansing; purifying; making holy) work of the Holy Spirit within us, we have been chosen for obedience (submission) to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood, i.e. cleansing from sin. We were not chosen to make some one-time decision to “believe” in Jesus Christ just so one day we could go to heaven and escape hell. Salvation means cleansing (daily) from sin and daily obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why it is called “new birth.” It means we start life anew with a whole different set of dynamics, i.e. sin is no longer our master but rather we are now slaves to Christ to serve him only and we are slaves to righteousness. This is accomplished through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit within us, and this is not of ourselves, but it is through faith, i.e. it is through our yielding of ourselves and our submission and surrender of our wills to the Father and to the Son, Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Spirit living in and working through us to make us holy and Christ-like.
The Application
Our faith will be tested to see if it is genuine faith. So, we should expect trials, temptations and tribulations to come our way to test us and to see what we are made of. If our faith is not genuine, it will be revealed by the fire of the tests. If it is genuine faith, which understands that true faith means submission, surrender, repentance and obedience to Jesus Christ and to his Lordship over our lives, then the tests will serve to mature us, to help us to persevere, to strengthen us in our faith, to develop our character, and to mold us and to make us into the image of Christ. This is sometimes a painful process because our flesh natures often battle against what the Spirit wishes to do within us in making us holy vessels fit for the master’s use. Yet, when we fight against what the Spirit wants to do within us, we only hurt ourselves and make matters worse. It is always best to surrender to Jesus Christ in these trials and to allow him to perfect us through them.
Then, our faith must be lived out on a day-to-day basis. This next section begins with the word “therefore,” which means “thus,” “as a result,” and/or “for that reason.” This refers back to the first twelve verses where it is described for us what God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit did for us in providing salvation and in performing the sanctifying work of God within us in cleansing us from sin and in choosing us for obedience to Jesus Christ. So, because of what God did for us in his work of grace to us, for that reason, and as a result of what he did, the following is how we should live our lives.
We need to be self-controlled, i.e. we need to not give into the control of sin over our lives any longer. We need to be obedient, i.e. we need to no longer be conformed to the evil desires or the empty way of life we were in bondage to before we were saved, but we need to follow the commands of God and the teachings of scripture in the New Testament (under the new covenant). And, we need to live holy lives through the working of the Holy Spirit within us in cleansing us from sin and in giving us the power, strength and willpower to live godly lives. And, we need to live on this earth as strangers, i.e. as though we are not part of this world, and to do this in reverent fear of God, i.e. with all due respect, honor and praise to God for what he has done for us in providing the way of salvation so that we could be free from sin and free to serve and to walk in obedience daily with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And, we should love one another deeply, from the heart, including love one another enough to share with others the gospel message so that they, too, can come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And, all this should be done in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the praise, honor and glory of God.
Faithful Friend / An Original Work / April 13, 2011
My loving Father; precious Lord,
To You I lift my voice in accord –
I hear Your pleads; I heed Your call
To worship You only, who ransomed us all.
O Gracious Father; faithful friend,
I know You’ll be with me to the end.
You sent Your Son to die on a tree
So from sin and death I can truly be free.
Oh, Jesus, Savior, King of kings,
You are the Lord of everything.
You died in my place, so I could be free
To serve You only, so all may believe.
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