1 Peter chapter 3

In 1 Peter chapter 2 Peter speaks about believers submitting to God in heaven and submitting to leaders and rulers on earth.  There is order in God’s universe.  I believe that we are given instructions about God’s order in Ephesians 5 and in 1 Peter chapter 3.  In talking about submission, Paul and Peter are giving examples of God’s order in His Kingdom on earth and in the world.  We are to submit to God.  He must be first in the order of things in our lives.  The next most important relationships are found in the family.  Here is where they both talk about submission and the order of family relationships.  Under God is the husband.  Under the husband is the wife.  Under the father and mother are the children.  As we see today, with the breakdown of the family comes the breakdown of society.  When God is eliminated from society there are no absolutes.   People live without order or accountability and anything goes.  Wives are to honor and respect their husbands and husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church.  When parents disrespect each other, children do not learn to respect their parents and in turn do not respect others in authority.  God’s commandment found in Exodus 20:12 tells us to honor our father and mother.  God has given us His Word to teach us how to live and be blessed.    

Christ loved us in submission to Father God.  We are to love and submit ourselves to each other.  Husbands and wives are to live, love, and submit in obedience to God’s order for God’s blessings and for our benefit. We are of great worth to our Creator.  Our worth and beauty are internal, not judged by any external adornment.  God honors our quiet loving internal spirit.  We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others.

The eyes of the Lord are on those who love rightly (live righteously in Christ).  The eyes of God, not the eyes of man, are what we should be concerned about.  We want to please God.  We are not to be ashamed of professing Christ or our faith.  Our ultimate judge will be God, not man.   Some day we will answer to how we lived on earth. We will be at God’s right hand in the attendance of angels, authorities, and powers; all under God’s submission.  We will know and do in heaven what God has taught us on earth.

1 Peter chapter 2

In 1 Peter chapter 1 we saw that once Christ personally reveals Himself to us, we love Him, believe in Him, and are filled with His inexpressible joy.  This magnified faith is not dependent on us visually seeing Him or on the fact that the circumstances of our life are free from suffering or trials.  1 Peter chapter 2 tells us that once Christ is revealed to us we are called to grow in our Salvation.  We become hungry and thirsty to know more about God, our faith, and God’s Word.  We feed on the Word of God and feed on God’s truths and His promises.  Our learning and spiritual growth is cumulative.  We never want to stop growing and learning because “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).  First, we feed on the milk of the Word.  When we are able to understand the basics of our faith we move on to being able to digest more and more of God’s deeper concepts. We can eat solid food and feast on the meat of the Word.  The more we taste and see that God is good, the more our lives change.   We are able to rid ourselves of evil behaviors because we want to please and obey our loving God.  We are chosen.  When we are called out of darkness others see the obvious changes in us.  God’s goodness is seen in us and His light is reflected through us. 

There is order in the world; in God’s creation.  We submit to God’s authority and obey the rules of the world which we live in.  As citizens under a government and as employees in the service of employers, we respect leaders and those in authority.  Life is not always fair and sometimes we must endure unjust suffering.  Christ suffered for us.  He is our Shepherd and the overseer of our souls.  He died for us.  At the cross He set us free and “by His stripes (wounds) we are healed”(1 Peter 2:24) and (Isaiah 53:5).  I am free and I have received the free gift of faith.  This gift is by God’s Grace alone, not by anything I have done.  I believe and receive Christ’s many promises for my husband, my family, and for myself.  Christ will be Glorified in our lives because of His blood and our testimonies.  I praise Him, worship Him, and thank Him for all that He has planned and is doing in each of our lives.  God inhabits the praise of His people and calls us to always live in an attitude of thanksgiving.  

August 7, 2017 1 Peter chapter 1

First Peter was written by Peter to Christians, God’s elect, God’s chosen.  These Christians were being persecuted for their faith. His letter was meant to encourage them.  He reminded them that Jesus suffered and died for each of them; for each of us.  Along with his encouragement, he also reminded them of how Christ wants His chosen people to live and conduct themselves in this unholy world.  We are to be Holy, as Christ is Holy.  This we cannot do in and of ourselves.  Christ saves us from sin.  When we believe the truth of the Gospel in our hearts we experience a spiritual rebirth.  Physical birth into the world is our first birth.  Spiritual birth is our second birth.  Now we are born again into the family of God.  When we are born again, the Holy Spirit enters into our physical spirit.  He is the one who now sanctifies us by planting His seeds of spiritual fruit into us and empowers us to grow in our holiness.  God wants us to be more loving, peaceful, joyful, kind, good, gentle, patient, faithful, and to demonstrate self-control  (Galatians 5:22-23).  We are sprinkled by Christ’s blood and sanctified by His Spirit.

Our earthly lives are temporary, like a blade of grass.  When Christ’s Holy Spirit lives in our spirit, our new spirit will live eternally (John 3:16).  Verse 23 says, “you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God”. 

In summary, the following are key words which I saw in 1 Peter chapter 1:

Salvation- Believing and receiving Christ into our hearts saving us from sin and giving us the promise that our born again spirits would live in eternity with Christ.

Savior- God’s Son, the promised Sacrificial Lamb, the Messiah, the Way to the Father.

Suffering- The temporary pain and trials which we face here on our earthly journey.  Christ suffered.  We will have pain and trials too.  In times of trial we cry out for answers bringing us into a deeper spiritual walk, greater faith, and increased spiritual understanding.  We prioritize our lives and realize what is important and what is trivia.

Sanctification- Our spirits being made Holy by the Spirit of a Holy God.

Spoken of by the Prophets- The Prophets in the Old Testament pointed us to Christ even though God’s plan wasn’t fully revealed to them at the time.

Strangers on earth- We are in the world but not of the world.  Our minds, hearts, and spirits are changed when our spirit is born again. 

Sincere Love- God is Love.  When we receive Christ into our hearts, love enters our hearts.  We begin to love others the way God loves us.  God’s commandment to love Him and to love one another becomes part of our character.  We demonstrate Agape love as it overflows from God, through us, to others.

Seeds in us- The seeds of the Spirit within a born again believer are imperishable: forever and eternal.  Prior to the new birth, the things of this world were temporary and perishable.

Stands forever- God’s Love and His Word endure forever.