Month: April 2020

Peter Exhorts Elders

On By TimIn 1 Peter 05, ExhortationLeave a comment

I exhort the elders who are among you, as one who is also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

1 Peter 5:1 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Peter writes an encouragement to the elders… Not as someone who is above them in any way. He does it this way so as to not usurp Jesus Christ as Lord. Peter identifies himself as a witness of what happened to Jesus. He also tells the elder that he like them, and is looking forward to eternity with Jesus.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, take care of them, not by constraint, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly.

1 Peter 5:2 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

It is the elder who shepherds. A shepherd doesn’t just guide his sheep. He is with them always. He tends to their needs and pastures them for feeding. He even smells like his sheep. The sheep know the voice of the shepherd. These are all things to keep in mind when seeing the word shepherd.

The elder ought to also serve not because he is forced to do so. Nor should it be a burden. Such a person enters into the service willingly. He doesn’t do it for the accolades. Nor does he use his position for selfish gain.

Do not lord over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock.

1 Peter 5:3 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

The idea of being an elder is to be an example. This is for all leaders in the church. Elders don’t bark orders and expect the sheep to blindly comply. As a shepherd guides sheep, barking orders and expecting compliance won’t work.

Too many want to lead and be the one who orders charges to do the bidding. It doesn’t work that way in God’s economy. We are all fellow partakers, and an elder is an intimate part of the flock he tends. He must lead by example.

And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of glory that will not fade away.

1 Peter 5:4 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

The Chief Shepherd is Jesus Christ. He is coming back. When He does, what you’ve worked for is yours. It’s yours forever.

Those things that you sow in the kingdom of God don’t fade away. They don’t disappear and they cannot be taken away from you.

The elder ultimately serves because he wants to do it. Selfless service is costly in the real world we live in now. Yet we are promised it is handsomely rewarded in the next.

Suffering as a Privilege

On By TimIn 1 Peter 04, Daily Walk, Sanctification, SufferingLeave a comment

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice insofar as you share in Christ’s sufferings, so that you may rejoice and be glad also in the revelation of His glory.

1 Peter 4:12–13 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

There are some who would divide Scriptures up to say that Peter writes to Jewish tribulation saints. This could very well be. Given the assumption that people reading the text are already in a fiery ordeal would make it seem so. Yet, as written to first-century Christians, persecution would be a real and intense thing to those saints then. It seems to follow, we ought really to expect no different.

By and large, many of us live in western societies where Christianity still has some form of acceptance. For those paying attention, we do note the tolerance of Christianity is becoming less widespread. We do have brothers and sisters throughout the world who do suffer real and intense (read that fiery) persecution. Some suffer even unto death.

As it does, we know not to take it personally as though it were against us. It’s against Him. Yet in Him, you are counted worthy to participate in His sufferings. What Peter is saying is to think of persecution as a privilege. One that will bring happiness in the presence of Jesus Christ.

We might be tempted to gloss over and read these things lightly, but that is a mistake. These are written for our preparation. Just as we’ve seen before in this epistle, set the mindset beforehand. Persecution isn’t something that should be thought of as strange or foreign. That is, like it won’t happen to us. It will.

If you are reproached because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.

1 Peter 4:14 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Your suffering for Jesus’ name is a privilege. Though they blaspheme Him and His name because you suffer because of His name… He is glorified.

But not all suffering we might endure is because of Jesus.

Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or even as a busybody

1 Peter 4:15 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Sometimes the ordeals we suffer are brought on by our own actions.

Some think that Christians are supposed to be unable to sin. It’s like they believe in some sort of magic that keeps a believer from doing heinous things. Peter is clearly hinting that believers are capable of doing these things. But such is rather unseemly and incompatible with Christianity.

Nevertheless… Though a believer can and may do these things, it doesn’t mean that salvation is lost (as if that could really happen.)

My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you do not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One.

1 John 2:1 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

We do have an advocate, and the sin may be forgiven… But that doesn’t mean the real-time consequences of that sin won’t be removed. Peter emphatically commands each of us to not reap suffering as a result of sowing our own sins. This means we ought to think soberly all the time; knowing that there is no sin such as is common to man. We can fall into a ditch of our own making. We must be diligent to not haphazardly put ourselves in such positions.

For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins first with us, what shall the end be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

1 Peter 4:17 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

This gets really hard. Peter says we ought to really judge ourselves. Not just ourselves personally, but ourselves as it pertains to a local body of believers! This kind of judgment means that it is not limited to just judging our own actions.

This is not about whether a person is forgiven or not. When sin is confessed to God it is He Who is ready, willing, and able to forgive. Yet, there may be real-time consequences. Real-time consequences that may bring suffering to the entire body. These are going to affect the entire body of fellowship. Our standards of behavior must be tightly knit with that body of believers. We share the blessings. When sin enters, we endure the reproach, too. This means, if one is in sin and continues in it, such may be put out as we’ve been taught.

Remember the previous idea which Peter wrote?

He said love covers a multitude of sins. That is not meant as a way to hide them or cover them up. As this context is expanded to a body of believers, we need to deal with the shared consequences of the sin, even after it is confessed and forgiven. The individual will suffer. And the body will suffer, too.

Each of us ought to comport ourselves in this understanding, knowing that any of our sin can adversely affect not just ourselves, but the brothers and sisters we dearly love.

And “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
So then, let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.

1 Peter 4:18–19 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Yes, we may be saved. But we can still sin. If we continue unabashedly in sin, what incentive will we have to witness to others?

It’s not a question of who is better, as we are all in the same situation without God. That is, we are doomed to eternal perdition. Though a believer is saved from eternal perdition, temporal suffering for sin is really real. Take it as Peter once again encouraging us to not sin as part of a testimony to those who are not saved.

In any way… When we do suffer whether it be by trial or the reaping of our own sowing to sin, we still trust God. He is the faithful Promise Keeper. In the midst of that trust, let’s continue to do good.

It’s Near

On By TimIn 1 Peter 04, Faithfulness, Hospitality, LoveLeave a comment

The end of all things is near. Therefore be solemn and sober so you can pray.

1 Peter 4:7 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Even when Peter was writing this, his expectation was for Jesus was imminent. we live some almost two-thousand years later. By any stretch of the imagination that mass of time cannot be counted as near or imminent.

Perhaps Peter wasn’t emphasizing the timing of things, but using the anticipation of the return of Jesus as an impetus for us believers to be right-minded. The need to have that mental clarity comes from the faith that Jesus keeps His promises. We also have to gird up each other.

It’s not people, really… But the entities that work in the spiritual realm which we do not readily perceive. These entities are real, and they work tirelessly to influence people and events. It’s a real war. That’s why we all have trials.

Peter has previously spoken in this epistle to expect that suffering and those trials. He has been teaching us to think correctly in those trials by keeping our minds sharply focused on heavenly things. That way we can do the things we need to do. Live soberly, and war spiritually.

What we need to do is pray. Even Paul speaks of this spiritual mindset. Like Peter is telling us how to be prepared for that, Paul uses a different idea in Ephesians 6. The two ideas are basically the same, though Paul used the imagery of a Roman soldier in armor. That armor was to set your mind in a certain way, and be ready.

Pray in the Spirit always with all kinds of prayer and supplication. To that end be alert with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:18 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Be ready. Set your mind straight! And pray always.

If one isn’t sober, it is easy to get distracted and derailed, often leaving prayer behind.

Above all things, have unfailing love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Before we can pray rightly for anyone, we must love them. That is at the root of what Peter is teaching us. It is the most important way to treat each other. If you love your brothers and sisters in the faith, it will lead you to be burdened with their cares. And when they stumble, as each of us is prone to do… We don’t make another feel guilty.

Pray for them… Even as you pray for enemies. The time is too short for us all.

Show hospitality to one another without complaining. As everyone has received a gift, even so serve one another with it, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

1 Peter 4:9–10 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Sometimes hospitality toward another presents itself as a daunting task. Some people just rub us the wrong way. We don’t want to be hospitable.

Check yourself. Hospitality isn’t about us. Well, not in the way that comes to mind. It’s about extending a gift to another. That is, giving them something they don’t deserve to get.

Look! Each of us doesn’t merit what Jesus did for us. It came to us as a gift from Him. It is a gift rooted in the love He has for each us. A gift that comes because time is short. None of us are promised tomorrow.

Extending hospitality even when we don’t feel like it is being a good steward of the grace God gives. But you say you don’t have the gift of hospitality. Peter is saying you do. It comes with your salvation… And even before you were saved. God was hospitable toward you by sending His own Son to die in your place. The Bible says God commends His love toward us. That’s hospitality. It follows then that it ought be a necessary thing to do that for another, if you are a Christian.

If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone serves, let him serve with the strength that God supplies, so that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 4:11 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

When we do any of these things to and for others, it ought to be done in the same way God did it for us.

In that way, it lifts up Jesus in the eyes of all who look on.