Bottom line up front: Tested Genuineness

Historical Context: Part of the reason I love Peter’s two New Testament letters is because Peter was so very human and yet God used him mightily. Peter was the apostle who denied the Lord Jesus three times on the night of His betrayal by Judas and arrest by the Sanhedrin and Roman soldiers. I am teaching through that passage currently to a group of believers each Sunday. It’s heartbreaking to see how fickle the crowds were in Jesus’s day. People have not changed, of course. Human nature’s a constant. Jesus told Peter to his face that he would deny the Lord Jesus three times before the rooster crowed and that is exactly what happened. Peter denied the Lord three times, the rooster crowed, and Peter wept. Bitterly (see Mt 26, e.g.).

Segue: But Peter was the real deal, nonetheless. Did he fail that night and at other times? Yes, absolutely. But he repented and was restored. He kept short accounts with God. And Peter made his theology visible by enduring, by sticking with it, by persevering in the faith. That’s why Peter wrote in the style he did in his two New Testament letters. When the various Ceasars and emperors persecuted Christians for their witness, Peter says it was “so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pt 1:7).

Connection to Our Day: I had a mentor and professor way back in my seminary days who taught me often about the disappointments and ups and downs in ministry. When I would go to him about people whom I thought were Christians who ended up being fakes, he’d tell me again and again in his gentle way, “Jon, there will be surprises. Not all who said they were believers are. And many we may’ve thought were genuine were in fact unbelievers. Again, there will be surprises. Just be faithful. Leave the results to God.” Yes and amen, Dr. C., you were so right.

Encouragement: I’ve been in ministry a long time now. My hair’s now gray. I’ve seen some people that I’ve mentored, purchased books for, discipled, and even baptized seemingly fall away. Perhaps they were not believers after all. I’ve seen still others blossom and stick and persevere in the truth. Some have even gone on to enter the ministry themselves. It is a special joy when that has happened. I thank God for it. And I think that’s what Peter is driving at when he writes of “tested genuineness.” It will be tested; that’s the thing. Pressures come and we learn who the real are and who the pretenders were, eventually. So, be encouraged, Christian pilgrim. Learn to embrace the challenges as they are part of revealing our tested genuineness that is “more precious than gold.”

Bottom line up front: A Living Hope

Introduction: When Peter opens his first letter, by the third verse of the very first chapter he has stressed that the Christian faith, because it is rooted in the personal, transcendent, living God, is a living hope. It’s not some pie-in-the-sky, hope-so theology. No, it is anchored in the God who is. This is no fairy tale bromide stuff.

Peter writes, “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). That’s as plain as day. Why is anyone who is born again in fact redeemed? Because God did it. It’s not something any of us decided for ourselves or worked ourselves into or up to. Peter makes that clear: He [God] has caused us to be born again. To what, exactly? To a living hope. Why? Because Christ has been raised. He is the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

A living hope. That’s vital for us to remember. Why? Well, because if you look at the 50-meter target only, you’ll be tempted to give in to despair. When you see mobs overrun Boston, it’s sad. When you see Antifa continually destroy Portland, it’s sad. When you see murder after murder after murder in Chicago, it’s sad. Yet people don’t learn the lesson. The mobs continue to do what mobs do. They cannot do anything but steal, kill, and destroy—just like their commander: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10a).

Encouragement: Peter, in writing to believers enduring persecution, then and now, stresses this: yours is a living hope. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6). Our job is fidelity and courage in the interim.

Introduction: I love church history. That is, I love studying the history of Christian believers through the centuries. Why? Well, it’s easy to become myopic. That is, it’s easy just to be so self-absorbed that one only sees the immediate. To use a shooting analogy, it’s easy to just focus on the 50-meter target and discount all the other targets. It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees. For many folks in our day, God has been banished, and politics is their religion. It consumes them. They wake up craving the latest breaking news. They’re glued to what’s ‘happening now.’ They want to be tracking the latest posts or tweets or whatever they’re called now. They crave the latest gossip. They live lives perched on the limbs of the immediate. But they miss the historic, the enduring, and the true. Here’s what I mean. Follow me . . .

Scriptural Connection: In coming weeks, I will begin teaching through Peter’s two New Testament letters. Why? One reason is straightforward: I’ve taught line-by-line through Matthew for over a year now, and we’re nearing chapter 28 next week, Matthew’s ending chapter. The ‘Great Commission’ passage is there, and it’s often quoted but less often understood and lived out. Christians are to go out proclaiming Jesus as Lord because death could not and did not hold him. He walked out of the tomb, was seen by hundreds, was touched, spoke, ate, and taught. In other words, empirical evidence undergirds all of Christ’s earthly ministry. We Christians welcome honest investigation. Bring it.

And Peter, a pillar of the 1st century Christian church, opens his first letter by writing to persecuted, dispersed Christians scattered across the Roman Empire. Due to persecution by Rome, he encouraged them with this opening salvo:

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you” (1 Pt 1:1-2).

Questions: Do you see what all Peter’s introducing? First, he’s an apostle, an eyewitness of the Lord Jesus. Second, he’s writing to Christians (“elect exiles”) scattered across the region. Third, it’s all known to the omniscient God of Scripture. Fourth, he tells us why—“for obedience to Jesus Christ.” It’s all right there. Peter was an eyewitness and friend of the Lord Jesus; Christians are persecuted by their plights but are known to the all-good and all-wise God; and we’re to labor to be obedient witnesses.

Encouragement: Is the world a mess? Yes. It has been before. Just ask Peter. Just ask the 1st century Christians/elect exiles dispersed across the Roman Empire, being persecuted for being Christians. Nothing’s new, folks. Be of good courage. There’s a long line of saints who came before you and me. We’re not special. Our job, like theirs, is to be faithful in our time.

The Issue: Uncertainty

Context: Ever had one of those moments when a topic was lingering in the air unspoken but you felt it in your bones? It was perhaps as real as anything you could weigh and measure. That’s what’s going on with this government shutdown. It hit me, too, like a punch in the gut when my paycheck showed up for this pay cycle, but it was filled with all zeros. That’ll get your attention, I assure you, when it happens to you. You work, you serve, you still do your duty, and the political leadership repays you with zeros. It can alter your perspective. It can make you question things. It can shake your confidence. It can rattle you. Moments like this can make you step back and think. I mean, what does it reveal about a nation that is not paying its military? That’s pretty scary, right? If one has skin in the game, it is indeed scary.

Question: Where does one turn in times of uncertainty? I try to put myself in other people’s shoes in order to see things from opposing viewpoints when thinking through an issue. If I were secular, there’s no one to pray to, no one listening, and we are just cosmic accidents, random atoms without intention or design, origin, transcendent meaning, or teleology. If I were like that, I would indeed despair. There are only the human machinations to remedy what human folly has wrought.

But for the Christian, he/she knows that all events in heaven, on earth, and under the earth are under the sovereignty of God. As one of our historic confessions reads,

God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy. (WCF 5.1)

Encouragement/takeaway: This Sunday I will again stand before the saints and open the Scriptures and labor to teach faithfully the Word of God. I, too, submit to their authority. I do not trust in chariots or horses but in the God who rules them and all things. We can learn from this moment to stay close to the Lord, to look to Him in all things, not just in the bad times or lean times. For the secularist, he/she has nothing and no one but the very people who got us into this mess. For the Christian pilgrim, however, he confesses this great verity: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).