“Thanking God” 1 Peter 1:3-7
“Thanking God” 1 Peter 1:3-7
Thanking God
1 Peter 1:3-7
Introduction
Preservation – see footnote 1
Prayer
_______________
Thanking God Because of His Promise of Freedom (vv. 3-5)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled , and unfading , kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Peter began this section stating that God is to be blessed because he has caused us to be born again. Our praise and thanksgiving should be directed to God because it is he who gave his Son so that we may have hope.
“The word “blessed” here is eulogétos, a word applied to God alone in the New Testament. We derive the word eulogy from it. It means to praise or speak well of someone. We are to eulogize the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our thoughts and hearts are to rise at every thought of Him.”
The word “According” points to reasons we should be grounded in our salvation – it is because of his great mercy. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. How deep, how wide, how immense is God’s span of mercy?
We are born again to “a living hope” – our hope of eternal life is not rooted in superstition, wives’ tales, but in the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ who was dead (not a comma, or swooned, or passed out from blood loss). The hope mentioned here is not “Are you saved?” “I hope so,” No – our assurance of our salvation is a hope in the living Lord. It is a living hope.
Hope is an essential element in human life. “without it even the finest and best which earth can yield is shrouded with a deadly miasma of futility. Lacking a realizable future, our most meaningful experiences of – and our most profound confidences in – reality are but tantalizing projections of our fancy. Of what value is the education of man, the cultivation of his implanted capacities, the arousal of his noblest potentialities, if he at last is enveloped in the dark night of death and the unfeeling grave of extinction?”
“God foresaw the fall of Adam and the subsequent ruin of the human race. He knew what He intended to do about that. When Father, Son, and Spirit decided that they would act in creation, they knew that the time would come when they would have to act in redemption. The plan of redemption also involved regeneration, giving us back in Christ what we had lost in Adam.”
“The human spirit was to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Man would thus be enabled to cooperate with God in all aspects of his life. When sin entered into Adam, however, the Spirit of God departed from the human spirit, leaving Adam, and his race, permanently crippled.” Regeneration happens when that spiritually crippled descendant of Adam receives Christ’s gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit comes into the believer’s soul and serves as proof of salvation in heaven.
Ephesians 1:13-14 “In him [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
You usually don’t receive an inheritance unless someone dies. Peter uses several analogies that direct our thinking to death – the word eulogy (blessed), being born again – indicating that we were spiritually dead, a living hope (pointing to Christ’s resurrection from the dead, and then the promise of an inheritance, which again, you don’t receive until someone dies).
Then Peter gives a description of what awaits believers when they die. He describes it as an inheritance. In the Old Testament the inheritance is the land that God promised the people. Abraham is promised an inheritance of the land of Canaan (Gen. 15:18; Acts 7:5; Heb. 11:8).
“In the Promised Land, every Israelite had his own possession, sat under his own fig tree, and enjoyed the fruit of his own vine (1 Kings 4:25).” But this Promised land was never safe and secure. “Marauders from the desert would invade the land and plunder the possessions of the inhabitants.” There was constant fear of insects and drought.
The things we consider wonderful fade – we may have wealth today, but tomorrow the market could crash. We have popularity today but tomorrow the crowds seek to cancel us. We have power today, but tomorrow we are voted out of office, — everything this world has to offer fades, spoils, and decays.
The “Peter used a triple word picture to describe this inheritance. Our inheritance can never perish, spoil or fade. These verbal adjectives indicate that our inheritance is untouched by death, unstained by evil, and unimpaired by time. Our inheritance is death-proof, sin-proof, and time-proof. This inheritance is kept in heaven, for believers.”
How do you explain eternal life, salvation, an inheritance in heaven? Peter has to describe them in negative words (perishing, spoiling, fading) because this is all we understand. “The glory of our heavenly inheritance is so far beyond human conception that the Scriptures must often resort to figures of speech instead of the literal terms or to weak comparisons with earth and thus to negatives, which tell us what will not be in heaven. The realities themselves transcend human language.”
For the believer, the inheritance already exists and is waiting for them in heaven. No matter what difficulties we endure in this life, there awaits an eternal life in the life to come. We don’t have to worry about losing it – for it is God’s power that guards it and keeps it.
This inheritance is also described as a salvation. “Salvation can be defined as being rescued from God’s judgement or wrath on the last day (1 Pet. 4:17; cf. Rom 5:9; 1 Thess. 5:9). Peter describes salvation as something that will be received in the future, it is a promised inheritance.
Salvation is discussed here in three different tenses. “As to the past, it cancels all of our sins, and because of Calvary, it cancels the penalty of sin as well. As to the present, by means of the indwelling Spirit of God, it deals with the power of sin. As to the future, we anticipate the return of Christ and an ultimate end to the very presence of sin.”
The power of God mentioned here does not shield believers from trials, suffering, anguish, or persecution. “It means that God himself guards and watches over our salvation, our inheritance. Our relationship with God now as we grow more like Christ is a foretaste of that salvation which will be revealed when Christ returns.”
Not only does God guard our inheritance in heaven, but he also guards us so that we do not lose our salvation. God does not operate in or upon our faith but above, over, and around us, upon our enemies. “It kept Daniel in the lion’s den, the three men in the fiery furnace, set bounds for Satan in afflicting Job, freed Peter from Herod’s prison, preserved Paul amid dangers, hardships, persecutions, etc. Great and wonderful is this protection of omnipotence, without which we should soon be overwhelmed.”
In the Greek, this verb “shielded” or “guarded” (v. 5) is a military term that can mean either “to protect someone from danger” or “to prevent someone from escaping.” It is the same word used in Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
“guarded through faith” – When we speak of faith, Peter mentions both God’s protective power and human responsibility. Although, God has promised to protect us, we must employ our faith in our fight against the evil one. Ephesians 6:16 “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;”
“It is as faith which commits one to the keeping power of God. It is not man’s power but God’s power which, like the watchman of a city gate, guards the security of the one who is trusting in him.”
Thanking God Because of His Provision of Faith (v. 6-7)
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
In response to this wonderful inheritance of salvation that is being guarded by God himself, “In this you rejoice” Our response to life, with all its’ pain and suffering is to rejoice, to have gratitude in this life. Peter says that these trials “though now for a little while,” are for a purpose. But to remember that this life is but a speck in light of eternity.
He also explains that there is a purpose behind the various trials. He explains this purpose with the illustration of a goldsmith. “To form a useful object, raw gold must be melted, requiring a temperature of 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit. When the gold is melted, the impurities rise to the surface, where they are skimmed off or burned off.
A goldsmith knows the gold is ready to cast when the liquid gold becomes mirror-like and he can see his face reflected in the surface.” Peter does not mention a refining, only a determining a genuineness.
The language of this illustration may also refer to the first-century process of making pottery. Potters baked clay pots to give them strength. The process sometimes cracked pots that had flaws, but the ones that survived the process were marked with the Greek word Peter used here (dokimos) for “genuine.”
“Sufferings function as the crucible for faith.” Our tested faith by the trials of life will prove to be far more valuable than gold when Christ returns, “at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Earlier, in verse 5 where it says, “to be revealed in the last time” is where we get the word apocalypse – “ready to be revealed” is a day when Christ is revealed in all his glory and power.
The sufferings and trials that we endure here and now are purifying and giving value to our faith, that will last for all of eternity. The faith we take with us, that has been found genuine, refined and purified will be with us forever.
We are to value the trials because they reveal our flaws and impurities. They are an opportunity to change. But Peter explains, “What God now finds is what pertains to the reward of grace which he will bestow upon us at the last day.” While I am here, I can change and become more like Christ, and God is working to make me more like Christ (through trials). So I can be thankful for the trials because they are purifying and strengthening what I believe in.
Conclusion
Christ’s Power Over Every Need The Gospel of Mark Sermon Series “Marriage & Children” Mark 10:1-16
Christ’s Power Over Every Need
The Gospel of Mark Sermon Series
“Marriage & Children”
Mark 10:1-16
Introduction
In 2005, the Guinness Book of World Records said that Percy and Florence Arrowsmith held two records—the longest marriage of a living couple (80 years) and having the largest married couple’s aggregate age (205 years).
Both Mr. and Mrs. Arrowsmith have since died, but they left good advice for those who want to have a lasting marriage. Florence said, “You must never go to sleep bad friends. If you’ve had a quarrel, you make it up. Never be afraid to say, ‘sorry’.”
Percy had slightly more humorous advice. He said the secret to his long marriage was just two words, “Yes, dear.”[1]
Prayer
In Intention of Marriage (vv. 1-12)
“And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. 2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”5 And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.
When we close chapter nine we have six months until the cross, and when we get to the opening verses of chapter 10 we are only weeks away. There are caravans and multitudes of people traveling to Jerusalem.[2] So, as they are moving and traveling, Jesus is teaching them.
(v. 1) “went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan” – “The fact that Jesus was in Perea, Herod Antipas’s territory, may be significant. Antipas had put John the Baptist to death because John had denounced Antipas’s marriage and divorce. The Pharisees are hoping that Jesus would get himself into trouble with Antipas and would suffer the same cruel fate as John (head on a platter).”[3] John the Baptist died because he took a stand on this subject.
Also, “Herod took John the Baptist’s criticism of his marriage as potential incitement to revolt, and it is likely that the political situation in Galilee best explains the original reason for which Jesus was questioned about his views on divorce.”[4]
Mark tells us these religious leaders, the Pharisees, are up to no good, and trying to trip Jesus up, when he says, “in order to test him.”
Jesus references Deuteronomy 24:1 when he says, “What did Moses command you?” and the Pharisees quote their source of authority, Moses, “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house,” Apparently, before Moses’ day, a man could divorce his wife with just a word.
The Pharisees are saying Moses permitted divorce providing a certificate of divorce was given to the wife.[5] Of course they had rules relating to the certificate (it had to be written on durable material, permanent ink, something that wouldn’t fade, etc.) – But they are not having the discussion of God’s intention behind marriage, only the loop holes, the short cuts, and the way out.
“On the question of the lawfulness of divorce, there was general unanimity among the Jews: divorce was allowed. The real difference of opinion centered on the grounds for divorce. . . In Duet. 24:1 the crucial words are “something indecent.”[6] There were two schools that one typically fell into.
“The school of Shammai, the stricter of the schools, understood these words to mean something morally indecent, in particular, adultery. But remember that “the penalty for adultery was not divorce, under the Mosaic code, but death.”[7]
The school of Hillel interpreted the words much more freely. Just about anything in a wife that a husband did not find to his liking was suitable grounds for divorce. Even if she burned food.”[8] Where Jesus stood between these two schools, and to get him to say something that could be used against him was their goal.
Remember that the book of Mark was not written to the Jewish people, but to the Roman believers; so there would be little interest in the rabbinical teachings on the law, their focus would have been “in Jesus’ teaching about God’s will.”[9]
Jesus does not question the law. But he reaches back to first principles. God’s design for a man and woman was that marriage should be an unbroken lifelong union. Jesus is pointing out that because man’s hearts are rebellious, he gives provisions that are intended to slow down the effects of sin upon society. The rabbis mistook God’s gracious provision in allowing divorce as his approval of it.”
(v. 5) “And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.” – The law was an attempt to promote some order and restraint in the society to which it was first given. The reason for the law was the people’s “hardness of heart.” The people were set on doing what they thought and desired; they were blind and unteachable as far as God’s will for them was concerned.[10]
When Jesus comments on Moses’ statement in that it is not a reflection of the will of God but instead reflects the stubbornness of the Israelites (v. 5) – this would have been unique and striking.[11] The men were throwing their wives to the side for the most insignificant of reasons.
6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Jesus moves the discussion from “is it lawful?” to the purpose of God for marriage. Jesus turns to the beginning of creation; It is God’s purpose for mankind, male and female, to be joined together by God – a holy union. God joined the man and woman together. Man should not separate what God put together. “Mere formal divorce does not annul the actual marriage consummated by the physical union. Breaking that bond does annul it.”[12]
Since marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman, its’ claims take precedence over ties to father and mother (v.7). “So they are no longer two but one flesh” – they are one unit.
(v. 9) “therefore God has joined together” – means literally “yoked together” It graphically stresses the importance of husband and wife working together as a team of oxen yoked together. God has put a man and woman together to work for the glory of God, with their family.
In Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” “In this passage men and women are presented on equal ground. Both are to be respected, and they are equal partners. “In the social and economic context of ancient Palestine, the absolute right of the husband to divorce often meant great hardship for divorced wives, who might be given one lump-sum economic settlement if they were not accused of unchastity.
This sum, however would be no more than the woman’s dowry given at marriage, and that might be very small if the woman had poor parents.”[13] Jesus is rejecting the idea of women being property and the wife has rights in the context of marriage, based upon the creation account.
“Jesus defines marriage as a relationship in which both husband and wife are responsible both to each other and to God for maintaining its sanctity.”[14]
10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Mark does not tell us how the Pharisees respond to Jesus’ comment. Instead, we go immediately into house again for a private conversation.
“In rabbinic Judaism a woman by infidelity could commit adultery against her husband; and a man, by having sexual relations with another man’s wife, could commit adultery against him. But a man could never commit adultery against his wife, no matter what he did.”[15]
(v. 11) By Jesus saying, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her” – is putting the man under the same moral obligation as the wife, thereby raising the status and dignity of women. Whatever the reason for a divorce someone’s heart along the way was hardened toward God, and this was reflected in the marriage. Jesus is directly targeting men who are being cruel in how they are divorcing their wives, and against their perverse disregard of the purpose of the Creator when he formed man from the dust and joined husband and wife together.
The Innocence of Children (vv. 13-15)
“And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.”
It was a custom for parents to bring their children to great men and have them blessed.[16] Here we then see parents bringing their children to Jesus, and he was blessing them. Parents are wanting a better future for their children, a blessed future.
This is the point of a godly household and parents, to bring their children to Jesus. Ephesians 6:4 “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
But the disciples are rebuking them. Why did the disciples want to keep parents and children away from Jesus? They were keeping parents and children from experiencing Jesus. The disciples tried to stop the anonymous exorcist (Mark 9:38-41) from casting out demons, and “Jesus said, “Do not stop him,” Here the disciples are again, trying to stop people.
The disciples haven’t captured the spirit of Jesus. We ask, how can they have been with Jesus so long, and heard all that He said, and still miss the things that Jesus really cared about. They still seem calloused toward people (ex. hungry people, those outside the twelve).
“he was indignant” – “It was a strong word of deep emotion (from agan and acthomai, to feel pain).”[17] “The disciples attempt to turn the children aside because they were unimportant, is one more instance of a persistent tendency to think in wholly human, fallen categories which Jesus had rebuked on earlier occasions (Mark 8:33; 9:33-37). The kingdom of God is made up of “childlike” earthly unimportant people.
(v. 14) “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them,” – hinder is an active, conscience, intentional blocking or obstruction. “for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter.”
“The kingdom is that which God gives and that which man receives. Essential to the comparison developed in verse 15 is the objective littleness and helplessness of the child, which is presupposed in verse 14 as well. The kingdom may be entered only by one who knows he is helpless and small, without claim or merit.”[18]
(v. 16) “And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.” – “A papyrus dated Alexandria, June 17, 1 B.C. contains a letter of instruction from a husband to his expectant wife, who he supposes may have had her child: “if it was a male child, let it live; if it was a female, cast it out.” Jesus shows his love for all children, which is freely given to all who would receive it.
________________________
[1] https://ministry127.com/resources/illustration/the-secret-to-a-lasting-marriage
[2] Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Volume 1 (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Press, 1930) 348.
[3] Frank E. Gaebelein, General Editor, The Expositor’s Bible Dictionary, Volume 8 (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 1984) 710.
[4] Larry Hurtado, New International Biblical Commentary, Mark (Peabody Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishing, 2001) 160.
[5] An example of an eleventh-century Jewish divorce certificate, “On . . .[date], I . . .[name], son of . . . and of . . .. of my own free will and purpose and without an coercion whatsoever, do divorce, set free, and repudiate you, . . . [name], so that you are now free and in full possession of your own person, with the right to go and be married to whmever you choose. . .” Buttrick, 796.
[6] Gaebelein, 710.
[7] George Arthur Buttrick, The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 7 (Nashville, Tennessee; Abingdon Press, 1953) 795. See also, John 8:2-11 The woman caught in adultery.
[8] Gaebelein, 710.
[9] Clifton J. Allen, The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 8 (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Press, 1969) 346.
[10] Allen, 346.
[11] Hurtado, 160.
[12] Robertson, 349.
[13] Hurtado, 160.
[14] Hurtado, 161.
[15] Gaebelein, 712.
[16] Genesis 48:13-20.
[17] Robertson, 350.
[18] William L. Lane, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, The Gospel of Mark (Grand Rapids, Michigan; William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1974) 361.
“The Transfiguration” Mark 9:2-13
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- …
- 18
- Next Page »