1 Peter 1:8-12
When I first moved to Hamburg, Germany in 1974, I had to find a place to live in a place I did not know – and for a price I could afford. I didn’t make a great choice. I found a rental room in a suburban town called Harburg with an older family. The house had several animals – and each time I went through the front door, I knew from the overwhelming odor that cats lived there. The room was dark and dingy. The owners wanted me to fit into their pace of living – being home before 8 pm, only using hot water once a week, etc. I was traveling because I did concert and evangelism work and often wouldn’t get home from meetings until 2 am – only to find that the front door was bolted shut. Bottom line: this residence was not working. But, I felt trapped. I didn’t know how to get out of the situation.
After a couple of months of enduring this living arrangement, I received an unexpected royalty for an album I did that was selling much better than expected. By that time, I knew the area and I had developed contacts with people who could help me. So, I found a very small two-room condominium in the beautiful little village outside Hamburg called Jesteburg and used the royalty I had received as my down payment. That took almost everything I had. So, one day, my music team partners went with me to help me move in. I had been given a couch that I thought I could use both as a chair and a bed. I had a table with chairs – some plates, cups and silverware – a cheap stereo system and… well, that was about all I had. We moved in and had an early dinner and my friends left so I could enjoy my new place. The only problem was that condos in Germany came with nothing in them – including light fixtures – which I discovered as the sun went down. Sitting in the dark in that little village with no streetlights, I realized all was not yet perfect. But, though I felt a little bit embarrassed that I had not noticed the fact that there were no lights, I was not in despair. Why?
- The past – what I had left behind was nothing I ever wanted to return to.
- The future – what was ahead was going to be better (for I knew I could find some lights)
- The present – what I experienced was joy in spite of the temporary trouble – in fact, I was still grateful and even ecstatic that I had a clean place that was my own. So, I was really happy where I was in spite of the fact that I was sitting alone in the darkness.
The Past: What we have left behind is nothing that we should ever want to return to.
God… has given us new birth into a living hope...(1:3), and an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade…(1:4). Through faith we are shielded by God's power until the coming of salvation…(1:5).
I want you to remember that verses 3-12 all make up one long sentence – so I need to take us back to earlier parts of that sentence so that we can get the Bible’s point. Peter is saying that we can be filled with praise and joy because we now have a living hope in a dying world, something to hold onto in a world in a perishing world that cannot be taken away, and a rescue (salvation) from our pasts that God himself accomplishes.
The Bible wants us never to forget that before we were born again and made alive to God, all we could do was live for temporary things. That’s all we were alive to. We sensed that there more to reality than just building our careers, multiplying our investments, experiencing physical pleasure, pursuing accomplishments, etc. – but we were not alive to anything else but this material world. Do you remember how Paul put that in Ephesians 2?
You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world... All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest of the world, we were by nature deserving of God’s wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions…
Sometimes, it takes us some time to come to grips with the fact that what most of the world is living for cannot satisfy. As the Old Testament puts it, “We have eternity in our hearts…” We can think that winning that golf tournament, getting that acting role, gaining a promotion, taking a vacation to Hawaii (fill in anything in the world in this place) will bring us joy and hope. But, deep down inside, we know it won’t. When trials come, we sometimes are tempted to think, “Oh when I get through this, then all will be great.” Even long-time Christians are tempted to go back to thinking that if only something in this world changed, all would be perfect. We begin to think a real answer to prayer is the positive receiving of some material thing! We sometimes think that a “blessing” is always the receiving of success or prosperity – as if those are the things that make life worthwhile. But… we know better, don’t we?
But, we have a living hope now. We’re alive to things that never fade. Those are the things we now should crave! So, we can really enjoy temporary things – because we have realistic expectations about them. They’re not God!! If they are gone, our joy is not taken away. If we have them, we enjoy them! I don’t want to go back to that way of life in which my heart’s craving is for things that won’t last.
And, a part of our past was our shame and guilt too. We all know there are things in our histories that are wrong. In the past we tried to get victory over them on our own. But, we couldn’t. We needed rescue. We needed both 1) forgiveness for the past and 2) power to live differently. And that’s exactly what God gives us when we trust Jesus. I don’t want to go back to that old way of life in which I had to pretend that everything was just fine when I knew it wasn’t.
Christians have often compared this to God’s people’s desire in the Book of Exodus to go back to Egypt. It was an awful life in Egypt. Slavery for them and their children. No prospects for the future. Never-ending abuse. No freedom. Then God rescued them. Of course, they had to go through the wilderness for a while. But there was a “promised land” - a land promised by this all-powerful rescuing God. Sometimes, if they were going to find joy in the wilderness, they had to remember that shackled and hope-less past. And that true of us too.
The Future: What lies ahead is worth waiting for.
Through faith you are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials… (1:5-6). You believe in Jesus and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1:8b-9).
Let me say a quick word to people who have grown up in evangelical or Baptist-type churches because I know this language might hit you as strange. We almost always refer to the gift of salvation as being in the past tense. We say, “I was saved…” But here, salvation is spoken of as being in the future tense. Salvation is “coming” – it is the “end result of our faith.” Now, don’t brand me as a heretic too quickly. Notice especially that this is what the Bible says!! If this troubles you, your struggle is with the Bible – not with me!
Let me explain it: Salvation begins when we believe in Jesus. Then God declares us right with him on the basis of what Jesus has done and gives his Holy Spirit to us. But, God’s work in our lives is not fully complete when we first believe. There is a lot of work to be done. God promises us he will complete it. When God is done, we will be free from sin. We will not experience disappointment or sorrow or death. So, right now, we are in an in-between time in which God’s salvation is promised to all who trust Jesus – but it is not completed.
And Peter tells us that God uses these trials that really just last a little while to bring his saving work in us to completion. It makes it so that we can have joy in the midst of the struggle. We know that we are built in such a way that an achievement that comes too easily is often not appreciated.
Pastor Albert said this reminded him of the championships the Chicago Bulls used to win. When the documentaries were done at the end of each season, no one ever took time to remember with great joy the ring or trophy – though those things is what they worked toward. They remembered the adversities that go them there. The hours of practice. The game played with the flu. The broken nose because of a Lambeer pick. The comeback from 20 points down – when half the United Center crowd had already gone home. All those trials were a big part of the joy.
So, we have a championship ring ahead:
- Lives without failure and and sin and disappointment;
- Lives centered on things that cannot be taken away;
- Lives in a world without sin and pain and death.
Different from the Bulls or the Lakers’ run now, we’ve already been told the end. Our completed salvation has been accomplished by God and, therefore, is “shielded by God.” That certainty, received by faith in Jesus, makes everything different when we face tough times.
The Present: What we experience now is joy even in tough times.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials… (1:6). Even though you do not see Jesus now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy… (1:8).
I can imagine Peter hearing his readers saying, “All this is fine and good, but trials are really hard and I’m still very imperfect. And, I cannot see the future – only trust that God is good to his Word. So, tell me again what I have now. Tell me how I can know I’m one of those promised salvation.
So, beginning in verse 10, Peter drives home his point. I’ll just summarize what he says. Peter says that the great people of God, even the prophets, in the Old Testament, know that God promised that he would have his rule and salvation break into this world. But, they didn’t know the specifics of it. They didn’t know through whom God would rescue people – or how he would do it – or the circumstances in which it would happen. They devoted their lives to understanding what God was saying to them when he told them that a Messiah, a rescuer, would come into this world and first have to suffer and then bring about a great victory! These great prophets longed for it but never experienced it. All that they had foretold has come to us in the person of Jesus.
And, Peter says, even angels, those great spiritual beings who carry God’s message are not creatures made in God’s image. They have never experienced this great rescue of God. But, in v. 12, they “crane their necks” to glimpse into the world to see that God is doing. It’s an amazing thing that causes them awe as they watch a holy God rescuing an unholy people simply because he loves us! And all that the prophets and searched for and the angels long for – we have through faith in Jesus!
What is it? How do I know it’s come to me? Peter summarizes it in one of the great “boil down” texts in the Bible. Peter sums up God’s salvation with the phrase, “grace has come to you” in v. 10. By “boil down,” I’m using a cooking metaphor to describe reducing something that might be very complex to its essential elements. Some scholars say that the whole Bible is about the history of God’s salvation. Well, the Bible says a lot about salvation – but, here, Peter boils down God’s salvation in our lives to this phrase, “grace has come to you.” In saying this, Peter anticipates an ongoing issue that many of us have, i.e., “I think I’m a Christian but I’ve also been going through all these troubles – and I’m finding it hard to rejoice! Help me!”
Peter responds by saying, “I want you to get back to the basics of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. So, let me help you – it means you know God’s grace has come to you. Well what does that mean practically? Let me break it down with three tests:
#1: When I’m a Christian, I know that it is God who has come to me – not I who have gone to him.
You and I understand that if God had left it up to us, we would have gone our own way. It is while we were sinner that Christ died for us. In the Bible, the initiative is always with God. God loved first. God sought us first. God is the one who comes to the rescue. Other religions are often a teaching that we must learn and follow. Or, it is a set of rules that we can follow and earn our way to enlightenment. But, Christianity, though it has teaching and tells us how God made us to live well, is first and foremost a report of an event. God has done something that is called “good news.”
To be a Christian, you and I don’t first go to the 10 Commandments or to the Sermon on the Mount – then begin to live according to the teaching – then come to God. No, our Christian faith begins with what God has done. The heart of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ, who is God, came, loved, died and rose again for us. This means that we know that the controlling factor in all our relationships (with God, with others, and with the world) is God. God has done something universe-changing. He came, paid the penalty for our sins, defeated sin and death by his resurrection. This changes everything.
So, when tough times come, we don’t think, “What do I have to do to get God to get me out of this mess?” We don’t think, “I don’t deserve this because I’ve been to church 5 weeks in a row!” We don’t want God to give us what we deserve because we deserve punishment for our sins. No, we come to Jesus knowing that nothing can be taken away that lasts. And we may ask for the trial to end – but we tell God we trust him to do whatever he needs to do in or through us in this trial.
Or, when we don’t want to pray because we know we’ve done something bad, we don’t say, “I can’t pray because I’m so rotten.” It’s not about us. God is the controlling factor. The Christian faith starts with what he does – not with what we do. And he is ready to bring grace to you. So… we pray. We turn back to him. To be a Christian is to know that your relationship to God, your joy in life, your standing for the future is all about something God has done and promises to do.
Test #2: When I’m a Christian, I know that God has come in – to me.
There is a strong preposition in v. 10 – grace has come into you. The Bible is teaching that a follower of Jesus is one who has been invaded by an outside power. This is the God of Genesis 1 – who created all that is through words. When he comes in, he takes over. This means that a Christian is a person with a new Lord. As Paul said in 2 Cor. 5, “We no longer live for ourselves but for him…”
This shows us why genuine Christian faith is so different from being religious. People in the world are incorrigibly religious. It’s becoming more religious than ever. Communism could not eliminate religious through force. Secularism cannot wipe it out by mocking it. People simply know there is more than just material reality in the cosmos. But the Bible, especially the Book of Romans, is careful to say that even though people have a sense that there is some sort of god in this world, people do not seek after the one true God. Though every human being has been made for God and needs God, “no one desires or seeks after God.” The reason? We don’t want to lose control of our own lives. So, we are left to fashion our own deities to fill the role that the one true God alone can fill.
You see, this God of the Bible breaks in to our lives and takes over. He re-directs us. He changes how we live. He transforms our values and relationships. His ways will always be different and better than our ways – but a Christian is one who has given over our lives to God’s control. You know you are a Christian when you know that you simply must turn your will over to God.
Test #3: When I’m a Christian, I have received God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ – not any other way.
This is the heart of the Christian message, i.e., God came in the person of Jesus Christ. Only one person was this sinless Son of God who could rescue sinful people. And, what Peter is saying, that the word that sums up what Jesus offers us is the word “grace.” The definition we often use for grace is “unmerited favor” or “an unearned gift” from God. But, those definitions might misguide us a bit. The word grace does not just mean that something is given to someone who hasn’t earned it. It’s giving to someone who deserves the opposite! It’s not just putting money into the hands of a needy person. It’s giving to a person who has robbed from you. It’s something both amazing and shocking.
And it’s humbling too. Do you remember the part of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables when the former prisoner, Jean Valjean, steals the gold and silver items from the Bishop and then is caught by the police? When he is brought back to the Bishop, the old priest says the items are his and even adds, “You forgot the most valuable pieces, the candlesticks.” This sometimes troubles us because it seems like the bishop lies. But Hugo’s book tells us that the pries knew what was in Valjean’s heart and knew that, if Valjean were given freedom, he would nonetheless steal from him. In effect, the priest had given the items to Valjean knowing thievery was in his heart. He loved Valjean even though he knew he was still at the point in his life that he would steal. Afterwards, the priest told him, “Now, you must begin to be a better man. You must begin to live without stealing.”
It was all grace. It was humiliating for Valjean to acknowledge that he had to be loved not for what he might become on his own – but loved in spite of who he was. Hugo comments, “Jean Valjean could not say whether he had been touched or humiliated” in the bishop’s act of grace.
Valjean knew he could never pay him back on his own. He knew what was in his heart and that it had been exposed. The point is that Jesus loves us even though he knows we are still at the state in which, until he does his work in us, we will plunder him. And, a Christian is one who has been humbled in this way. We know we cannot pay God back. We know, that all we can do is continue to walk away from God. We know we owe Jesus our lives. We live every day of our lives as people grateful for grace. Do you believe you owe Jesus everything? Do you believe that what God really owes you is punishment and death? Do you believe that Jesus, like that bishop, knows what is in your heart – and knows you still are fully capable (even likely) to walk away from him? That forgiveness is an act of grace? That the strength to be different tomorrow is also an act of grace? That, as Peter puts it in v. 11, the suffering of the Messiah that the prophets knew must happen was suffering for you and because of your sins? That what the angels try to get a glimpse of is why a holy God would show grace to unholy people like we are – and it is all out of love?
If so, then and only then will you understand vv. 8-9: Though you have not seen Jesus, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your soul.
It’s inexpressible – words cannot fully communicate what is in our hearts. It’s glorious! So glorious that, even though we may have to go through tough times for a while, we know that Jesus’ won suffering has brought us a living hope. And the phrase that boils it all down is simply, “grace has come to you!” Hallelujah!
