1 Peter 1:17-25: Variety 51

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 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 ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you. - 1 Peter 1:17-25

"redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors..." I think we need to learn that we need redemption, not just salvation. Redemption has a depth to it that is beyond salvation, because it indicates that we were "sold" on something else. Salvation is rescue, we were under threat. Redemption is bought back, from a debt that we incurred, not to God but to devil. We have sold ourselves for an 'empty way of life'. It is like those laborers who find that they can never be free because their wages are less than their obligations for room and board. Each day makes $2 but requires $3. 

When we were born, these debts were built into the system. There may have been fifty varieties, but each left us more under its sway each day. We were born into debt, falling further behind. But Peter says, there is variety 51. Variety 51 is not some smarter way to earn merit or pay for our debt. Rather, variety 51 is a new start, and a new system, not based on what is in us, but rather a system based on what is in Jesus.

Given my default mode, I will neglect Variety 51 because I have years of trying and watching how to earn merit by being smart and morally upright. But those are the perishable seed, and a quick unbiased survey shows that these just varieties 1-50--they fail and lose vigor like grass and flowers at the end of summer. The eternal comes with the imperishable seed. What should I plant? I think I will like the variety 51, if I give it a chance and don't choke it out.

1 Peter 1:3-9: Entropy In Reverse

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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 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. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 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 honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 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, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. - 1 Peter 1:3-9

Life is like springtime, which inevitably gives way with the passing of days, to summer, fall and winter. We, like the grass and the flowers, burst forth in a loud, tumultuous display of vigor, only to fade and wither. As cynics would have it, we are born to die. Life proceeds in spurts, fits and starts, from that initial moment inexorably to death. 

Peter, though, speaks of another birth which God gives us. "...he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade." Not born to die, but born to live. 

Even if we have this new life, we still act like we are dying. Not only is the pattern that we are used to-that we see all around us-it is the what we feel in our own body. Paul says, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." (2 Cor. 4:16) No matter how we feel, if God's Spirit is at work within us, we are actually becoming more alive. That is the paradox. And one day, God will make our body catch up the renewal he's already done in our soul. That is the inheritance-the entropy in reverse-that Peter mentions that "is kept in heaven for" us.  So I am wondering, what does it mean to live as if it won't all eventually break, but rather it will eventually all be whole. 

 

1 Peter 1:3-9: What Is Suffering But Hope Certain but Deferred

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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 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. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 

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 honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 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, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. - 1 Peter 1:3-9

we are receiving the end result of your faith. Suffering has many varieties of pain but they are all temporary. It does not diminish in any way the reward the we will receive. Suffering proves we are alive and will go on living. Suffering proves that this world is not where it ought to be, that I am not who I ought, and in that gap-the distacce between what is and what ought to be-we are reminded how to long for Christ to make everything right.  

 

Call To Worship: Angels Long To Look Into These Things (1 Peter 1:8-12)

Call To Worship: 1 Peter 1:8-12

L1: Even angels long to look into these things.

L2: The prophets searched intently and with the greatest care,

L1: To find out the time and circumstances of the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

L2: It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you,

C: Though we have not seen him, we love him;

L1: And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him

L2: And are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

C: For we are receiving the end result of our faith, the salvation of our souls.

L1: In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

L1; This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 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.

C: In all this we greatly rejoice, though now for a little while we may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

L1: Even angels long to look into these things.

L2: The prophets searched intently and with the greatest care,

How Then Should I Search?

One of my favorite verses in the Old Testament is from Habakkuk 3:

Lord, I have heard of your fame;
    I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
    in our time make them known;
    in wrath remember mercy.

There are times when entropy seems to have taken hold of my world and, valiantly as I struggle, things fall apart. Oh, I run to fix them up, hold them together, and patch them with duct tape and the measure of the grace of God given me. But these days produce in me a deep longing for things to go right, for once! Many of my prayers have centered around this.

Worse is the creeping fear that Jesus has passed by and I didn't notice. Maybe I didn't notice because I'm just not smart enough. Or maybe I didn't want to notice.

The first one, I understand because I am continually discovering how ignorant I am and scrambling to recover. That's my job. Sheesh, that's my marriage. That's my life in the kingdom of God. So I search intently for evidence of God's movement (1 Peter 1:10-12). That is a disciple--an apprentice.

The second one is more subtle. Jesus told a story about people like us (Luke 14:15-24) who were too busy to go to the huge party, probably a wedding. They'd just purchased a new field, a new set of 5 oxen or they'd just gotten married themselves (cf. Deut. 24:5 and what it implies) and couldn't be bothered to celebrate. For us today, perhaps this might be a new business, a new car or a new relationship. They all are saying, in essence, "I'm in the middle of the good life. Don't bother me with what God is doing." We didn't miss God. We traded him away.

So I pray for God to show his power in my day, because I'm tired. But I also pray that I am ready to see, participate and celebrate.