Introduction
Last week, we began 1 Peter – a letter from Simon Peter (Jesus' disciple; eye-witness; key leader in the early Christian movement) to Christian communities scattered throughout Turkey (MAP). Peter calls them "aliens" because they were a small minority with very different values, without social power or prestige, and regarded with increasing suspicion and scorn by their culture. In other words, they were like you and me, like our church, like committed Christians in our culture. This is why 1 Peter should be the handbook for 21st-century American Christians. Peter wrote this letter, in part, to instill in them/us the mind-set that is required for "alien" Christians. This mind-set begins with a "big-picture" understanding of our place in God's plan. . .
Our place in God's plan
Read 1:10-12. The OT prophets studied their own Spirit-inspired predictions of the coming of God's Messiah. They realized that the Messiah would experience both great sufferings and great glory – but they didn't understand how all this fit together. (Even God's angels couldn't figure this out.) They didn't understand that the same Person would come twice – the first time to suffer and die for our sins, and the second time in glory to establish God's kingdom over all the earth (TIMELINE). God told them that this understanding wasn't for their benefit (or for the angels), but rather for us – believers who live between the two comings of the Messiah.
What a privilege to live in this period of God's plan! OT Israelites could only see these gifts through shadows (animal sacrifices & promises for the future). But everyone who receives Jesus as Messiah can look back on His death on the cross and know that all of their sins have been completely forgiven. Everyone who receives Christ receives His Spirit, and we can experience His presence in our lives. No wonder Jesus said Matt. 13:16,17 (read)!
But living in this period has another, sobering implication. We live after Messiah has died for our sins, but before He comes again to defeat His enemies and rule. Our position in history is like that of Allied soldiers in WW2 who were in Europe after D-Day (June 1944) but before VE-Day (May 1945; TIMELINE). D-Day was the decisive invasion of France that made VE-Day (the defeat of Nazi Germany) inevitable. But between D-Day and VE-Day was 11 months of the fiercest combat of the war. In the same way, we live after Jesus' death and resurrection, which broke Satan's dominion over humanity – but before Jesus' return, when He establishes His rulership. And between Jesus' two comings, we can expect a fierce spiritual battle as we represent Him as aliens in a spiritually hostile world.
What kind of mind-set should we have since we live between D-Day and VE-Day? Peter calls on us to adopt a two-fold mind-set that is appropriate to our place in God's plan. He explains the first part in 1:13-17, and the second part in 1:18-21 . . .
#1: Urgency: "I am in a battle/on a mission that matters"
Read 1:13-17. We can summarize this aspect as: "I am in a battle/on a mission that matters." Every imperative in these verses emphasizes this urgent mentality:
"Gird your minds for action" literally translates: "get your minds ready to learn and think." This is no time to be mentally lazy/passive. You need to be ready to learn about every provision God has given you, and about how to appropriate them. You need to be ready to think every day about the messages that are coming at you, and to distinguish between what God says and the lies of the Evil One.
"Keep sober" or serious. There is a place for appropriate recreation, but this is no time to be intoxicated, either by substances or by other distractions. If sobriety ("No drinking or texting!") is important when driving (because of what is at stake), how much more important is this kind of sobriety when living for Christ during this present evil age! Great matters are being decided, and you have a vital role that requires your full attention.
"Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." This is no time to fix your hope on any temporal thing (e.g., retirement account; romantic relationship; job; vacation; health/fitness plan; etc.) because none of them will rescue you. Only Jesus will deliver you when He returns. This is why the early Christians prayed: "Maranatha!" ("Lord, come quickly!"). Do you ever pray this way? If not, why not?
"Don't be conformed to the former lusts . . . but be holy yourselves in all your behavior." We get put off by the word "holy" – but it just means "different" (TEMPLE VESSELS) Specifically, be different from the lifestyle of the surrounding culture; pursue a Christ-like lifestyle. This is Peter's version of Rom. 12:2 (read). This is no time to let the world squeeze you into its mold. You already lived that way when you were ignorant of Christ. If it was so great, why did you come to Christ? We live in a very dark world, and we're here to let Christ's light (love and truth) shine through us, so that some might come out of the darkness into the light (Phil. 2:14,15). (More on this later in 1 Peter.)
Read 1:17. What is this fear in which we should conduct ourselves during our remaining time in this life? If God is our Father, in what sense should we fear Him? Not that He will reject or condemn us – Peter is emphatic about this in 1:18-21. This fear is what theologians call "filial" fear – a healthy desire to please our Father, a concern that we don't waste the new lives that He has given us, a desire to hear "Well done, good and faithful servant!" when He evaluates our service after He returns (2 Cor. 5:10,11).
SUMMARIZE: We are to put on this in-battle/on-mission mind-set because of our place in God's plan. Yet by itself it will over-stress us, like a guitar string that is over-tightened. It must be tempered by another mind-set aspect ("knowing" in 1:18a).
#2: Confidence: "I am secure in God who has already rescued me"
Read 1:18-21. We can summarize this aspect as one of confidence: "I am secure in the God who has already delivered me." As 1:21b emphasizes: "Your faith and hope are in God" – not in our competence, not even in our commitment. If 1:13-17 emphasizes urgency because of the battle we're in, this emphasizes confidence because of the God to whom we belong.
God has already redeemed us – not from human bondage by paying a cash ransom, but from spiritual bondage/futility by paying the ultimate ransom of His Son's death (1:18,19). 1:19 alludes to the first Passover, when God redeemed the Israelites from bondage to slavery to Pharaoh Egypt through the offering of a lamb's blood (explain). This was a foreshadowing of God's redemption of us from bondage to slavery to sin through Jesus' voluntary death (1 Cor. 5:7). And since He has been sacrificed, no one and nothing can reverse this (read Col. 1:13)!
God planned our redemption from eternity past (1:20). He was not caught off-guard when the first humans rebelled and separated themselves from Him. He already had a rescue plan, and His Son had already agreed to it. Likewise, He foreknew that we would respond to His rescue plan – that's why He chose you and came out and summoned you (read 1:1b,2a). So there is a sense in which we have been safe from all eternity!
God has raised Jesus from the dead (1:21) and this ensures our eventual resurrection (1:3b; 1 Thess. 4:14). We can now look back in history (to Jesus' resurrection) to see our future destiny!
SUMMARIZE: So if you belong to Christ, you are utterly secure in Him. You can be confident that He will provide you with everything you need to fulfill your mission in this life, and to bring you safely through to His kingdom in the next life (read Rom. 8:31,32,35,37-39). Since we know this, we can both relax about our ultimate security and leave it all on the field in the meantime!
Conclusion
Review the two aspects of this mind-set. You could call this a mind-set with healthy tension. Urgency without security is a mind-set with too much tension – but security without urgency is a mind-set with too little tension. Concerning this, Oswald Sanders says: "It is . . . not . . . that all . . . tension is harmful. The string of a harp fulfills its function only as it attains the tension necessary to produce the correct musical note. And so it is with the human life. Its highest achievement is reached only when every power is harnessed to the fulfillment of a worthy life purpose, and this involves a degree of tension." Ask God to enable you to live for Him with this mind-set of healthy tension!
NEXT WEEK: Sully will teach on Jesus' resurrection
QUESTIONS & COMMENTS
Many later rabbis concluded that there were two Messiahs – Messiah ben Yosef (the suffering Servant), who would be rescued by Messiah ben David (the glorious King). See Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Jesus Was a Jew (Ariel Ministries, 2014), pp. 15,16. Other rabbis ignored the suffering Servant (or wrongly interpreted Him as Israel)and focused only on the glorious King.
"On the one hand is the assumption that . . . eating, sleeping, growing, learning, breeding, and the rest, constitute the sum total of things; that in worldly prosperity and well-being lies the source of all meaning and value. On the other hand, is the . . . awareness of a spiritual war tearing at the heart of the universe, pushing its ruthless way into the lives of (people)—stabbing at you . . . in the impulses and choices of every waking moment; the belief that the thoughts and actions of every hour are molding a soul which is on its way to eternity; that we are choosing every moment of our lives in obedience or disobedience to the God who created and sustains all that is; that we are always responsible, always at war, always involved in what is spiritual and deathless . . ." Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind (Servant Books, 1973), pp. 75,76.
J. Oswald Sanders, A Spiritual Clinic (Moody Press, 1961), p. 10.