I. Peter’s Theme
As we start out in this letter it is important that we talk about the theme of Peter’s letter. This theme as we will see pervades Peter’s letter. His theme is that the grace of God is poured out on the elect, which results in suffering now and glory later. Peter uses these four terms again and again throughout his letter to outline his theme for us. Each of these terms, “grace,” “elect,” “suffering,” and “glory” occur 10 times or more in the letter. And the verse that encapsulates the entire theme of the book is 5:10. It includes each of the four major theme words in it. It reads, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”
Peter sent this message of God’s grace in the midst of suffering because the believers in these areas were beginning to experience the persecution and pain that is often associated with following the Messiah. They saw in the Old Testament that obedience brought blessing. They were beginning to wonder that if this was truly the grace of God, if they were on the right track, then why were they suffering?
So Peter clearly lays out for them that grace does not keep them from suffering but allows them to joyously continue in the midst of suffering. He makes it plain that our adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And for this reason we must constantly looking to the Father who will pour out His grace upon us. Peter says that though we experience a multitude of trials (1:6), there is a multitude of grace with which we are supplied (4:10). And he wanted his readers to understand (as he lays out in chapter 2) that if Jesus, the ultimate elect individual (Peter says that He is choice and precious in the sight of God) did not escape suffering, why should His elect brothers and sisters escape. For at the end of chapter 2 he says, “Since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”
Our hope in suffering is that we can keep entrusting ourselves to Him who judges righteously.” And so Peter calls us to set our hope on the glorious future in Christ awaiting us though we may experience difficult trials ahead. Our normal reaction in trials is to ignore it or be paralyzed by it or to blame God for it. Peter, in this letter, encourages us as we suffer to throw ourselves before our Father who cares for us. In 5:7, Peter says, “cast all your care on Him because He cares for you.”
Now let’s look at Peter’s introduction.
II. Peter’s Introduction (vv. 1-2)
Verses 1 and 2 are Peter’s greeting to those in the region of Asia Minor. Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia make up the region of Asia Minor just north of the Mediterranean Sea. From Peter’s address to these believers we learn two incredible aspects of their life in Christ.
A. Their Calling
The first incredible aspect of their life in Christ is their calling. God has called these people into a personal relationship with Himself. Most of the translations split up the adjectives Peter uses here to describe the people to whom he is writing. But Peter lumps them together at the beginning of verse 1. The description of their calling is best read this way, “To the elect dispersed strangers (on earth).” In these verses Peter answers two questions concerning our calling as believers.
1. What does this calling mean?
The first question that Peter describes concerning our calling is “What does this calling mean?” Peter says that as believers in Jesus Christ we are chosen dispersed strangers. This means that there are new things in our lives. First being a chosen dispersed stranger means that we have a new relationship with God. When we come to receive Christ as our Savior we are, as Peter says, one of God’s chosen. We are no longer enemies of God but are His special possession. We belong to Him forever. He will never leave us nor forsake us. This is a new relationship with God. Not everyone has a close personal relationship with God but only those who have come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Some say that they love God but refuse to come in the way that He has specified. These do not have this special elect relationship with God.
Also, being a chosen dispersed stranger means that we have a new home. Peter addresses these people as strangers but not because he doesn’t know them well. He addresses them as strangers because they no longer maintain their primary residence here on earth. We are now waiting for the place that we call home. We need to be prepared in living as strangers. Often strangers are treated harshly in a foreign land. They aren’t understood so well because they don’t quite speak the same language as those around them. As we speak about the Lord Jesus, our Savior, we are speaking a language for which the world doesn’t care. And we must look forward to the day that we go home.
This is why as strangers on earth we, likewise, have a new set of values. We have a new way of living. We are now serving the Almighty God, not the Almighty dollar. Our goal in life should be in living for God’s glory. Because our focus is turned toward Christ then we ought to desire to be like Him. We ought to be crying out to God to change us into his image since this is what our calling is.
2. How is this calling worked out?
The second question that Peter describes concerning our calling is “How is this calling worked out?” Verse 2 explains how our calling is worked out through each member of the trinity. As we will see, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all play an integral part of our calling as chosen dispersed strangers on earth.
a. Worked out according to the Father’s plan
to establish it
We see first that our calling as chosen dispersed strangers on earth has been worked out according to the Father’s plan to establish it. Peter says that this is according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Now this foreknowledge isn’t that God just knows about what is going to take place but that He actively participates in it. In God’s case it is His working it out to be so. Peter uses this same word in the book of Acts. In his first sermon on the day of Pentecost Peter says in 2:23 that Jesus was “delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.” God determined it to be so and saw its accomplishment as good as done.
In other words, it was part of the Father’s plan that we should be strangers on the earth. God seems to often work in ways like this. He uses the weak to confound the strong, He uses the foolish to confound the wise. And He causes us to long for heaven by letting us be outcasts on earth. C.S. Lewis once said, “The Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.” As Christians we must realize most clearly that our ultimate joy is to found in our future home in being with God, not in what the world can provide for us now.
b. Worked out by the Spirit to sanctify us
Next, we see that our calling as chosen dispersed strangers on earth has been worked out by the Spirit to sanctify us. Part of the great salvation that has been given to us by God includes the gift of His indwelling Holy Spirit. His work in us includes this sanctification process. Sanctification simply means, “being made holy.” And His job includes making every believer like Jesus Christ. He will poke and prod and convict and encourage us to be less like the world and its system and become more like the Savior.
Because the Spirit of God dwells in we who believe we have access to life changing power. We ought to be different from the world and we can be. We should see the fruit of the Spirit evident in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self-control should be the expression of our heart when the Spirit is in control of our lives. We ought to be calling out to God to let His Spirit control our lives. If He is not in charge of our lives then we are not going to be growing into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
What we have to understand whether we are new believers or have been Christians for many years is that we cannot grow or make progress in our Christian life apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. We have a tendency, when things are going right, to neglect to rely on the Spirit for our sanctification. Peter says that our calling is through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. If we don’t continue to recognize our powerlessness to change apart from the Spirit then we will fail to be living as we ought and will not become transformed into the image of Christ. As I have said before, there is no seniority in the Christian life when it comes to living the Christian life. Some, who have lived longer in the Christian life, ought to be wiser. But regardless of our age in the Lord we all need to rely on the Holy Spirit every moment of each day to live a supernatural life in the power of God’s Spirit. I don’t know about you but I do not want to live a common existence. I want to live empowered by His Spirit. I want to live in a manner that is beyond my ability so that He gets the credit for it. The power of His Spirit is to be so evident that people know there is something different in our lives and it is something that they want in their lives. I want my life lived in reliance on the power of His Spirit. And while we are on this earth it is not something from which we can ever graduate.
We must continue to rely on the Spirit of God to live through us or else we will be loveless, joyless, peaceless, patience-less, kindness-less, goodness-less, faithfulness-less, gentleness-less, self-control-less.
c. Worked out for obedience to and cleansing
from Jesus
Thirdly, we see that our calling as chosen dispersed strangers on earth has been worked out for obedience to and cleansing from Jesus. Some have called for us to ask the question, “What would Jesus do?” But that perhaps isn’t the appropriate question for a Christian to ask. Peter, in this section gives us two more appropriate questions. Obedience to Jesus calls us to ask the question, “What would Jesus want me to do?” and our sprinkling from His blood calls us to ask the question, “What did Jesus do?”
You see when Peter says that we have been called to obey Jesus Christ, he is reminding us that Jesus left us a command to obey. As Christians we need to obey Christ’s command to love one another. Part of our calling as outcasts in the eyes of the world is to show the world that Jesus Christ has given us a new love for one another. This is not a love that is based on condition but a love empowered by the Spirit. It is a love that loves despite the unloveliness of the one whom we are called to love. God showed this kind of love to us when set His love upon us though we were unclean in His sight. Yet He still sought to bring us to Himself though we were enemies with Him. Our obedience to Christ is showing this unconditional love to those around us.
And when Peter says that our calling includes being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus it answers our question, “What did Jesus do? We only have this relationship with the Father because of what Jesus did. His death on the cross and the shedding of His blood paid the price for our sins. The author of Hebrews says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. Apart from accepting the complete payment of your sins by the blood of Jesus you do not have a relationship with the Father. This is why it is so important that you do not deceive yourself into believing that you have a relationship with God or an eternal home in heaven unless you have at some time in your life called out to Jesus Christ to apply the payment of His blood to your sin. You may say, “I have prayed to God,” or “I believe in God,” or “I love God.” But if you have not had the debt of your sin removed then you are still at war with God. You do not have access to Him. Only those who have no sin to separate them from God have this access and relationship. If there has not been a time in your life that you have been born into the family of God through the blood of Christ then you are not part of this group of chosen people set apart for God’s purposes.
B. Their Blessing
We have seen that the first incredible aspect of their life in Christ is their calling and what that entails. Now we see the second incredible aspect of their life in Christ is their blessing. At the end of verse 2 Peter says, “May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.” Peter’s desire for these believers encapsulates God’s desire for each one of us. Peter wants these believers to be blessed with these two characteristics in increasing measure in their lives.
This first blessing Peter mentions that he desires for these believers is grace. Grace is getting from God what we don’t deserve. It is His gift to really live a God like life. When we love like God, it is because He has given us the grace to do so. When we have joy like God it is because He has given us the grace to be so. God’s grace is His gift to do what we wouldn’t normally do. When we act supernaturally by the power of His Spirit that is grace. And we need to ask God to pour out His grace upon us. So that in increasing measure each of us will experience God’s grace.
Let me explain what grace is. When I dislocated my shoulder this week God gave me grace. When the pain was excruciating with every little bump or movement and I said, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.” That is grace. Because Dave, he’s not like that apart from God’s grace. When we arrived in the hospital and the ER only had one stretcher left and I knew that sitting me up would be incredibly painful I said, give the stretcher to the other man who came in behind me. That was grace because Dave’s heart said, “Give me the stretcher.” But God’s grace said, “Philippians 2:3 in humility consider one another as more important than yourselves.” I wish I could boast about this and take credit for it but those of you who knew me before Christ know better than that. That’s not Dave. I was only receiving and responding to God’s grace.
And as Peter prayed for these believers God’s desire for them to experience His grace, God still wants each of us today to receive His grace in our lives to live with eternal purposes in view. We need to ask God for the grace to live not as living for ourselves but as chosen dispersed strangers on earth living for the one who has given us a new home with Him. May God pour out His grace on each of us. It also means for each unbeliever that God wants you to receive His grace to be saved. He wants you to recognize that He paid all that you needed to have a home in heaven and join those who will be with Him forever.
The second blessing Peter mentions that he desires for these believers is peace. Peace is not calm in the absence of conflict or trouble. Peace is the calm assurance from God that He is in control in any circumstance. Whether we are free from troubling situations or filled with them we can have peace as a believer. And Peter is writing to these believers in a time of growing persecution against the church. If anyone had reason not to be peaceful it was these people who could perhaps lose their lives because of their faith for Jesus Christ.
Yet God’s desire for you and I is that we have peace. We can have peace through an acknowledgment that God is in control of our lives. If we truly believe that and can give thanks to Him in the midst of difficult circumstances we can have peace. God’s peace is not the ordinary variety however. Paul in his letter to the Philippians says that God’s peace passes understanding. It is inexplicable. And this kind of peace in the midst of terrible times brings glory to God because it shows that we trust Him. Can you see why Peter desires these two blessings in the lives of these believers? They are certainly God’s blessings and available only to those who have faith in Christ alone.
In Peter’s theme and in his introduction we see that grace is the overarching theme of this letter. It is found in the opening of the letter in verse 2. It is mentioned in the body opening (1:13) and in the body closing (5:12). And so through this grace of God, Peter calls each one of us to set our hope on the glorious future in Christ awaiting us though we might experience difficult trials ahead. I pray that as we make this trek through 1 Peter we will see how God wants to pour His grace upon us so that we will live as trophies of His grace in our lives.