"The Challenges We Face"
Pastor John Salvesen
Bear Creek Bible Church
March 19, 2006
I Peter 1:1-2

 

 

Including the book we are about to begin, we will have studied 17 books of the Bible.  (Next week will be our 13th anniversary as a congregation). 

 

Each book of the Bible has a major theme or emphasis…

The last six we have examined –

 

I Corinthians – Christians are still under construction

Judges – We can have stability under turbulence

Ephesians – The identity and conduct of the church

Romans – God’s righteousness, Our need & His plan

Habakkuk – The God Who communicates

I Peter – Opposition & challenges are normal!

Sometimes those challenges come from within –

Sometimes they are failures…

 

Failure comes in all shapes and sizes…

The prize for the most useless weapon of all times goes to the

Russians.  They invented the “dog mine.”  The plan was to train the

dogs to associate food with the undersides of tanks, in the hope they

would run hungrily beneath advancing Panzer divisions.  Bombs

were then strapped to the dogs’ backs.  Unfortunately, the dogs

associated food solely with Russian tanks.  The plan was begun the

first day of the Russian involvement in in World War II…and abandoned

on day two.  The dogs with bombs on their backs forced an entire

Soviet division to retreat.

 

To a very large extent, the apostle Peter could’ve been considered

to be a failure.

·        In the upper room, he, at first refused the foot washing
from Jesus

·        During the Passover Feast, Peter prompted John to
ask Jesus who would betray Him.  The Lord predicted
that Peter would betray Him three times before the
cock would crow.

·        When the Romans came to arrest Jesus – Peter acted
impulsively & cut off the ear of one of the High
Priest’s servants. 

·        Peter denied Jesus 3 times. 

·        Paul criticized Peter in Galatians 2 for his not eating
with the Gentiles when the Jewish Christians came.

 

Just liked the other Bible books we’ve studied
            I Peter has a theme and purpose…occasion, time

 

Written during a time of political, social & personal persecution –

It emphasizes the reality of suffering in the Christian’s life –

(suffering is mentioned 16 times using eight different Greek terms)

 

The Church has identified as a sect of Judaism – now they

were gaining their own independence and no longer receiving

the protection of being associated with Judaism 
            at the beginning of persecution & opposition – Nero’s

            blaming of the burning of Rome on Christians. (AD 64)

            Because there is a purpose to opposition, there is a
                        way to bear our challenges.  There is a right
                        perspective & a wrong one – as well as a right

                        and wrong response

 

Peter was the author of I Peter because he states it in the

beginning although Silas was probably  his secretary –

 

The early church Fathers believed this –

There are also similarities between Peter’s sermons in Acts

 as well as quotations and passages in I Peter –

 

Peter was a fisherman who was not formally educated
(Acts 4:13), but it could be reasonably assumed was not an

Unintelligent person.

After 30 years of ministry & travel, Peter could write in
complex Greek, although he was a Hebrew.

Peter was probably fairly wealthy along with

(Mark 1:29-30) his partner & brother, Andrew, because he had

a house large enough (in Capernaum) that accommodated his

family, the Lord & the other disciples. 

 

*The Lord chooses to use people who the world does not

think are useable.

 

When John The Baptist pointed his disciples to Jesus,

Andrew went to find his brother, Simon –

 

<John 1:42>  Cephas = petros  = stone

 

Peter is not “The Rock” on which the church was
to be built, but Jesus was Rock (Matthew 16:18)

 

Peter, along with the other apostles, was one

Of the stones (Ephesians 2:20)

 

<verse one>

 

Peter was an “apostle” (messenger)

12 Disciples were apostles (Luke 6:13) “of Jesus Christ” – no

other office had this phrase attached to it.

 

Peter wrote this epistle to inform a mixed group of believers,

Jew and Gentile, that opposition & challenge were

normal & natural – but they had a supernatural way to

deal with it  -

 

A letter circulated

To believers in 5 Roman provinces; Asia Minor; current day
Turkey –

                       

Outline of I Peter:

I.                    Salvation

II.                  Submission

III.                Suffering

<verse 1b>


A purpose of the letter was to drive home the point that:

 

I.                    Believers Have An Alien Status In This World (1).

 

      foreigners, sojourners, aliens living in another Kingdom

We simply do not belong here – but God wants us here

for a time. 

 

“Chosen sojourners”             Citizenship is in heaven

                                                      <Philippians 3:20>

 

 

I come from a family of illegal aliens: Three of my grand-

parents entered the country illegally!  But all got their papers

eventually.  

 

For us, who live in the Bible belt of some of the most

Christianized countries in the world – we can get the

Feeling that we’re right at home.

 

This is an anomaly!  This experience is highly unusual –

 

One of the benefits of opposition & persecution is that this

fact of alien status is continually driven home.  How did we

get to this new status?

 

<2>

 

II.                  Our Foreign Identity Began As God Initiated His Work In Us.  Since This Progress Will Continue We Must Expect Opposition (2).

 

Chosen =                  selected

                                    Elect = eklektos

 

Foreknowledge      to know in advance, personally

(prognosis) =           (Romans 8:28-30)

 

There is determination.  Since foreknowledge is connected

to election  in I Peter 1:2 since foreknowledge is connected

to predestination in Romans 8:29-30 – foreknowledge is

more than just God knowing something in advance.

God makes the first move –

BECAUSE We Cannot!

 

Why does this matter?  It makes our salvation certain

because God started it & He will guide & manage the

whole process of Sanctification.

 

Trinity is involved – Father selects

                                    Son Saves

                                    Spirit sanctifies –

 

There is a certainty – Son’s blood is sprinkled on us as we

obey the gospel –

            We enter into the New Covenant -

I Cor. 11:25

 

Just like the Hebrews entered into the old Covenant

<Exodus 24:6-8>

 

There is hope & joy because we have solid security!

There is hope & joy because God is working in us –

                                    AND

Because God is working in us – we can be confident that

the world system, flesh & Devil are

working against us.

 

Peter writes this letter to encourage believers in their challenges.

 

I hope we will be bolstered as well as we study it together.