• (By way of review)… God has given us and invited us to a living hope through the work of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ…that cannot be corrupted, cannot be defiled, cannot in the worst of my days, actions, attitudes and performances even fade because the reservation, my reservation to the marriage supper of the Lamb, is in Jesus’ name and He has invited Me! Why? How? According to His mercy!
• And from now until the end of time, that reservation, new birth, living hope is preserved and maintained by the power of God (not Matt) through faith (my connection with Him through the cross of Jesus) for salvation…how? Why? Don’t ever forget this…according to His abundant mercy!
1 Peter Chapter 1 Verses 10 – 12
• Have you ever considered…so many, if not all, of the prophets had no idea or certainly no complete grasp on the meaning of what they were writing. Psalm 22, as David wrote, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Not knowing he was writing from the abundance of the Spirit of Christ within Him. Isaiah 53, as Isaiah wrote, “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace upon Him…” I mean imagine if David were given a New Testament!? Isaiah perhaps…they probably wouldn’t be able to put it down!
• Guess who has it all? Me and you…and Peter says welcome, welcoming you and me and anyone who would press-in, welcome to what the prophets didn’t and couldn’t fully grasp and even what mystifies angels… The abundant mercy, love, provision and salvation, the grace of God through Jesus Christ, explainable and revealable through walking with the Holy Spirit!
1 Peter Chapter 1 Verse 13
• “Therefore,” in light of all that is contained in verses 1-12, “gird up the loins of your mind.” Certainly an expression we don’t use anymore today, we’d say, in modern speak, “Get our act together,” or something like that… But essentially what Peter is charging us to do is to get ourselves focused and go to work. Sometimes you have to change something drastically. You have to leave the realm of “good enough,” and get inspired again…in order to get focused and get to work.
• And look, don’t get lost there…don’t switch all of your neurons onto the challenge, but rather distribute evenly on both the challenge, the direction…and the reason. Because in one breath Peter says, “Gird up!,” but in the next breath he says, “rest!,” (“rest your hope fully upon the grace of God”).
• We get so caught up and stuck in the do’s and don’ts that we forget the why and Who! Huge, detrimental mistake! Peter says, “Therefore!” Verse 13 doesn’t work without verses 1-12 and you and I aren’t going to grow up in the Lord and walk in the joy and freedom of the Lord if we forget that all that we are, have, do and will be is super-soaked and consumed in the grace of God according to the unconditional vast mercy of God!
• To gird up the loins of your mind means to focus, get a direction and let’s go…and this word for mind isn’t just your thoughts…but it includes your thoughts. Align your thoughts with the mind of God. It also includes your emotions. One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. A work of God in your heart of hearts…and as Christians we are to master our emotions unto the will and heart of God, probably one of the hardest things ever…but, it is a fruit of the Spirit and that ought not be forgotten.
• If you’re like me, your mind spins and spins and sometimes tail spins…loses control and then panic sets in, fear, anger…all the emotions that seem to then just take over the flavor of my day or my attitude. You ever go to a restaurant or make something at home and you just sort-of over-do it with a certain spice? Then, no matter how well cooked or good tasting all of the other ingredients, its just too much…? That’s what fear does too, or distraught, or discouragement…anger… Well look, grace has that same overpowering property! Peter says here that your mind will find and be at rest when you focus on the grace of God.
• Rest your minds on the fullness of God’s grace…and in the age of eternity to come! Two excellent ingredients that overpower whatever it is that is ruining your recipe for your attitude, or relationship, or day…
• And the charge to “be sober,” this is a tough-one here, also means to avoid or at least be aware when you’re going there…extremes. To be sober means to be focused, aware and in control… That’s so hard for someone like me… I am extremes… but I take great heart as I know that this is a fruit of the Spirit and I have seen such progress in my life over the years in this area. (Still a ways to go…)
• Peter helps me out though… Because I want to be focused. I want to be filled with hope and steadied on the goodness and truth of God. I want to walk in wisdom and strength, power and purpose, with a mind that restfully handles all things and filters and sees all things through the grace of God… So, helping me out, Peter informs us how I am to and we are to enable that work of grace within our own selves…
1 Peter Chapter 1 Verses 14 – 16
• Ignorance means to simply not know. To simply not be aware. Following after personal bodily worldly wants…the urges of the flesh, the pangs of the mind in the moment, hopefully you know, hopefully you are aware NOW, (certainly not all my life or your life), that leads you entirely not where you want and to the result you do not really want. But as you grow in the grace and knowledge of God through your walk with Jesus, learning the Word, living with the Lord, making mistakes but also making corrections…, NOT BEING OK WITH “GOOD ENOUGH,” finding Him faithful and unconditionally loving and discovering the depth of truth to the Word of God…, you squelch your truth with God’s truth and ignorance flees and lusts are mastered! And in that, look, even in imperfection you ARE walking in holiness!
• Holiness is far less if nothing about perfection and everything about separation. No matter how many good decisions I make, wise moves I navigate, good moments I have and head knowledge of truth that I attain…until I am free of this flesh, I will still sin and fall short of the glory of God. Anyone who tells you differently is warped in their thinking and actually self-condemned (Titus 3), and they’re probably selling something (watch for the price tag). And so, the command, or better said, direction…the direction to be holy is not to be perfect but rather to separate yourself from the ignorance of being prey to the lusts of the world…and to pursue Jesus.
• And remember, table flipping is not out of the question. Jesus went into the temple one day and found people taking advantage of people… The house of prayer and worship and holiness…none of that was happening. And so, He flipped over the tables of the money-changers and commanded that place to return to its purpose. Many believe Jesus went off, in some sort of frenzy…the story is far more powerful when you apply the character of grace. That He saw what He saw, walked right over to their tables, and with eyes locked to eyes, overturned their purpose. I love that scene far more than the one so often preached.
• If you are tired of turning the tables or find that doesn’t work, I implore you to invite Jesus to not turn the tables but to flip them… Separating you unto His purpose because you see it now. That your fallen urges and actions lead you to such loss…you’re not ignorant of that any longer, right?
1 Peter Chapter 1 Verses 17 – 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 Verses 22 – 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.
• And 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.