1 Peter Chapter 1 Verses 17
• Not fear as in to be afraid of God or afraid really at all. This is not that type of fear. Can’t be. Wouldn’t make sense. Through Christ we have been set free from all fear! Romans 8:15 says, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’” So, what’s Peter talking about?
• Have you ever had someone in your life that is SO proud of you? Fond of you. Cares about you and for you just so purely? Maybe your father, perhaps your mother. Your wife, friend, maybe even a good boss you’ve had in the past, or currently have (staff please don’t all raise your hands and the same time, that would embarrass me, HA!)? When you have someone that believes in you so much, cares for you so purely, all you want to do is protect them and protect that. That’s a flavor of this fear that Peter is talking about. It’s reverence, its sobriety, its inspiration to be at your best because that’s what someone else is so rooting for…
• Another portion of this flavor of fear, so that we understand and can apply and benefit and connect with what Peter is saying, is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That we trust God at His Word, have found Him faithful and we KNOW that to disregard God’s instruction, direction and Word and walk in poor personal conduct…that surely, we and those we say we love will suffer. I fear that! In a very very good way!
• Romans 3:11-18 says, “They’re not righteous, they don’t understand, they don’t seek God, they’ve all turned aside, they have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways (this is the kind of people they have become and are). And the way of peace they have not known! (Why?) There is no fear of God before their eyes!” What Peter is talking about here is waking up, growing up and stepping into what God wants for you personally and that is for you to absolutely overcome the evil of this world…
1 Peter Chapter 1 Verse 18 - 21
• The grace and goodness of God is all over you. If you have received Jesus, allowed the work of the Spirit of God in your heart of hearts, then it’s just the way it is…God’s grace, His forgiveness, His mercy, it’s yours. It wasn’t secured by gold or by silver or by your own goodness because all of that is corruptible. Your salvation is secured by that which is incorruptible, proven by the resurrection! God brought life out of death! And listen, when I am slipping back into a works-based relationship with God, rather than a Jesus-bought blood-based family relationship with God, I’m slipping away from the hope and faith that doesn’t corrupt!
• And Peter says here that God raised Jesus from the dead which clearly casts a light of separation between God the Father and God the Son as two distinct Persons…but this is such a great question and opportunity to look at this one more time (because we have done so many times over the years). Who raised Jesus from the dead? Here we read it was God the Father. And yet we read in Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies…” So, it was the Spirit. And yet we read in John 10:18, Jesus say, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again.” SO according to Jesus, Jesus raised Jesus from the dead. So, who done it? God the Father, God the Son or God the Holy Spirit? The answer is, YES!
1 Peter Chapter 1 Verse 22
• (There is a purification affect in obedience!) Sanctification and being set apart unto God, the command and charge Peter gave in verse 15 to “be holy,” is impossible apart from sincere, fervent love of others. You can’t hang with God and spit at someone else hanging with God. He won’t stand for that. An unloving Christian first of all does not exist in truth, perhaps nominally…but the nominal unloving Christian is actually Satan’s greatest weapon and victory over and within the church!
• Now, lets be real…some people are entirely difficult to love. And someone that I find difficult to love intensely, you may find the opposite. So, for each of us, this is an issue. Peter wouldn’t have to point this out if it wasn’t… So, Peter and the Holy Spirit really help us out here in how this is given to us in the scripture.
• Peter says that we are to love with sincere love, with fervent love and with a pure heart in that order. However, the key to walking this out is to consider this perhaps in reverse. First, start with your own heart. The reason why you can’t love someone is not because they are unlovable…that would be calling God a liar because He loves them. You gotta work with your own heart and you’re not going to be able to rationalize or come up with enough reasons to love them…you’re going to have to yield to God and walk in the Spirit. That’s entirely how to purify your own heart…which really is the issue.
• I know they’re dumb, or mean, or stupid, or hurtful and ugly…but deal with those things. Deal with them all…, and yet love them even as you’re dealing with them. How? Purity of heart. Then, just when you want to say you can’t do it, they’re just too ugly, apply some fervency! Put some calories to your faith! Strive for unity in the bond of peace! Where you put effort, you will put importance. And then…, sincerity WILL flow! You will find purification in obedience! TRY IT!
1 Peter Chapter 1 Verse 23
• There’s a connection here that should be made because Peter in verse 19 said that which is not corruptible is the precious blood of Jesus and yet also in verse 23, Peter likens that which is incorruptible to the Word of God. Why am I making that connection? Because the importance of the Word of God cannot be understated. John, writing by the power of the Holy Spirit, said in John Chapter 1:1 that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” We read in Psalm 138:2, “You have magnified Your Word above all Your name.” We even see in Revelation Chapter 19 verse 13 that when Jesus returns to take over, His name is called, “The Word of God.”
• What’s this all mean? “That the Word of God is living (Hebrews 4:12) and active and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” We do not grow in the grace of God through worldly means. In terms of the world, academia, profession, we get smarter and stronger through experiences…through living life you learn more about life…but in the Lord, you get smarter and stronger only through the Word of God as revealed through Spirit of God. That is the power it is and has and the seed that is incorruptible.
• Peter calls it a seed…a seed is something to be planted, to be watered, to be cultivated, and to be patient with… No farmer plants a seed and then blows up on it then next second demanding it to do its thing! There’s patience involved…and there is care involved. Spending time in the Word and with God in prayer. Going in and out of your life scenarios looking for and trusting the Lord. Denying your flesh and obeying the Spirit of God… And over time, everything begins to grow and blossom so beautifully. Life becomes from death…only God can do this with me. I know that now. I’ve tried so hard to do it myself and I don’t do so well. God does so well…
1 Peter Chapter 1 Verses 24 – 25
• It is the Word of God that feeds you, that develops you in terms of Spiritual strength. You cannot grow spiritually apart from the Word of God. Apart from the Word you can experience spiritual excitement and sensationalism, but that does not produce real spiritual growth and sensationalism will not stand through a time of testing. It isn’t nourishing, it doesn’t strengthen.
• And so, make the Word of God the priority in your life. Not out of religiosity, but out of a lack of ignorance. And my prayer, God’s will, His want for you and for me is for my life to flourish with grace, strength, purpose and love…all according to His mercy, all a result of some personal table flips…as I press into His through this incorruptible seed.