Peter wrote this letter to Christians spread over a large part of modern Turkey. Here is the rare writings of the apostle who was at the forefront of Christian experience. He was one of the first to meet Jesus, one of the first to be called to ‘Follow me’; he was there at the transfiguration and Jesus regularly picked him out with James and John to be witnesses of significant events like the healing of Jairus’ daughter. A strong personality who recovered quickly from the panic at the arrest of Jesus and was there at the trial, and there to check out the story of the empty tomb. His high profile in the church may have been overstated by the church but he remains  one of the closest friends of Jesus.

So what does he write many years after to a growing church?

 

Read 1 Peter 1:1-12

 

Wow! We will go on to the rest of the letter in the coming weeks and I recommend you read through the whole letter.Here is an outline to give you a glimpse of what is to come. I have called the series ‘living stones’ because Paul calls Jesus a living stone in 2:4; he calls us living stones in 2:5 and Petros is a Greek word for stone. Jesus made a play on this word in Matthew 16:18. But more of that next week. This weeks passage is the key to the rest of the letter. Everything Peter has to say flows from this paragraph of the letter.

 

Like all letters of the day, there is a greeting and some sort of concluding bits. These letters were designed to be read at a number of churches and copies would be made by scribes so the main part of the letter would be the same and the conclusion would contain the local notes and personal messages.

 

So how does Peter start a letter?

 In the usual style of the day it is more like a modern memo from to with a blessing. But what is amazing is how he describes the people he is writing to.

  They are first God’s elect. Not second class citizens, slaves, also-rans and the like as the rest of the world saw them but God’s elect. One of the great truths of the gospel is that God picks you rather than you picking God. That might sound a bit scary but actually it is a great strong point. Your salvation does not rely on you persuading God to love you, He loves you and he chose you to be his own. Remember  interviews for jobs? Sitting there waiting for a letter or a phone call to say you’ve got the job or sorry but we have make other arrangements. In Christ, you are through that stage, you are elected. Feel sorry for politicians this morning, they have to win votes every five years, but you are God’s elect. And before you think God made a bad choice notice that God has foreknowledge. He is outside of time so what happens in the future is as now to him. He knew before he chose you that you woiuld screw up and made a mess of being a Christian. But he chose you because he wants to demonstrate his grace, love and power in your life. So stop feeling washed up! God chose you knowing what you are like and he does not give up on you. We will find out next week what that means to be chosen.

 Now that is a surprise!  But in two weeks time we will look at this as Peter develops this theme. The Roman Empire was a time when large numbers of people moved either for work or because they were forced to. Not long after this was written the whole population of Jerusalem was forced out of Jerusalem, Nero booted all Jews out of Rome and so on. Being an immigrant was the experience of many, Asylum seeking was the lot of Christians, But notice which way round Peter puts it. This is an alien world not that we are the aliens! If you have put your faith and trust in Jesus then you have citizenship of the Kingdom of God. The rest of the world becomes aliens who cannot or do not understand what you are on about. They have no eternal salvation, no living saviour, no Holy Spirit and you talking about it to them marks you out as a stranger to their way of life.

 Thirdly Peter says you are ‘through the sanctifying work of the Spirit’. This is a process expression. God is at work in your life. The day by day circumstances are all part of his discipleship training and we here more about that both next week and throughout the book.  Here in summary Peter says you are sanctified to obedience. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives to engage with our wills to align our wills with God’s will so we say “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. The Holy Spirit also empowers us to obey God’s will.  And in sprinkling of blood. This speaks of grace. You slip up and fall, God has a way of cleansing. Jesus’ death on the cross was a sacrificial death. He died so that you might be made pure and holy – set apart and sanctified. Under the Old Covenant, a sinner was literally sprinkled with the blood of his sacrifice to identify that the sacrifice cleansed him of his selfishness and sin. Under the New Covenant that is as you come to Jesus sorry for your sin, seeking to turn from it to obey Jesus and by trusting God’s promises receiving forgiveness. So you are chosen by God and you receive forgiveness by responding to the love of God and accepting his salvation. If you have done that, this letter is from Peter to you. If you have not, it s message will sometimes appear strange because you are basing your life view from the wrong perspective. Make sure you start at the right place. That place is Jesus.

 

 Peter now describes the salvation we have. His readers have heard it and responded to it but Peter reiterates this good news because we need to be reminded of it, often.

There are three parts to this. We are reborn to hope,  we rejoice through faith and  we see that the salvation we enjoy was what the Old testament prophets look forward to.

 

First let this line of Peter’s letter roll around in your head. “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” Wow! Hallelujah! What a salvation!

Just savour some of the phrases.

 By His great Mercy! Our revelation of God in Jesus is that he is merciful. He is seeking to build relationships with us not tear them down. His great mercy cost Jesus his all , even his life so that you might live. 

 new birth into a living hope. This is where is begins. Salvation is no makeover it is new birth, a new beginning, eternal life instead of mortal life. And it’s a living hope because it is Jesus. He is your hope and he is risen from the dead. Uniquely we worship a living prophet, by the Holy Spirit Jesus is actually present with us now.

  and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil of fade – kept in heaven for you. This is real real estate! Your eternal security is based not on the word of man but of God. And he guarantees eternal quality. Sit back and relax, your future is secure!

 

  who through faith are shielded by God’s power It is more than a someday future hope, it is a here now hope. You are safe for eternity and safe now, the force shields are up, not dependant on your power or the electricity supply network, but God’s power. You can survive every threat, there is no demonic virus that can destroy you. You do need to keep your connection with God but that is by faith, trusting him that obeying his word will get you through every situation.

 

 until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. Our salvation is in process. It began in eternity past, when you were chosen by God to be loved and rescued from selfishness and rebellion. It came to a climax as Jesus cried out on the cross, “It is finished” and died. His great work of salvation, of giving his life that you might live was complete. It was applied to you when you heard the good news and responded by being sorry for your sin and receiving forgiveness by trusting God’s word and receiving it. One day either the day of your death or when Jesus returns, your salvation will reach its goal eternity with Jesus in heaven, free from temptation, pain and tears.  

 if you will allow me to jump, In verses 10-12 Peter comments that this salvation was what the Old testament prophets saw in their dreams and visions and heard in the voices and messages from God. They looked forward to Jesus. It is one of the excitements of reading the Old Testament that you keep coming across passages written hundreds of years before Jesus, telling exact details of his life and death. The very rituals of the Old Cevenant spoke of a Saviour who was to come. Now we ca see what they were talking about more clearly.

 

And Peter says to you, today,

 In this you rejoice.  It is important to understand that we rejoice in this salvation, we are not masochists, enjoying pain and suffering. We do enjoy God in Jesus, whether stuck in a prison cell, trapped in a wheelchair, an aging body, a difficult marriage, wayward children, a boring job, or persecution. We lift our hearts and minds out of the muck of life to the glory of the Son of God, who has risen with healing in his wings. (to mix a few metaphors.

And as we saw when we did the 40 days of purpose. Faith gives purpose to our trials. God is at work in your life and my life. The trials of life are their to prove your faith, to show and develop your faith to its finest quality. And why? Because faith brings glory and honour to Jesus. Peter sort of breaks of in worship here doesn’t he. Though you have not seen him – remember Peter had, the people he is writing to were like you and Peter, the great Saint Peter sees your faith and love as something to marvel at. Without having seen him love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are fill with an inexpressible  and glorious joy…. 

DO you feel that joy this morning? Lets stop the learning and start doing! Lets worship together.

 We will sing Here I am,

and then lets just worship.

 If you want to speak out praise do so; if you want to pray, do so, if you want to kneel or stand or, choose a song, I want you to respond to the greatness of the mercy of God this morning.