Sermon Brief
Date Written: April 27, 2007
Date Preached: April 29, 2007
Where Preached: OZHBC (PM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: A Study on 1 Peter
Sermon Title: Introductory Sermon
Sermon Text: 1 Peter
Introduction:
It is almost unanimous among scholars that Peter wrote this book. Some of the reasons are that we know that Peter was a fisherman in Galilee which was a bi-lingual community, and Peter had to know both Greek and Aramaic to make a living.
Another solid clue that leads us to the authorship of Peter by Peter is that Peter was with the ‘master’ communicator Himself for 3 ½ yrs and he probably learned from Jesus how to express the kingdom of God to others.
Many believe that even though we find in the book of Acts that Peter was a untrained and uneducated man, we know that Silas was capable in that area. In fact many believe that Peter dictated this book to Silas and Silas ‘polished’ up the Greek.
There are many who say that 2 Peter is much more rough in its Greek and it shows that Peter possibly wrote 2 Peter without the editing help of Silas. But regardless, the evidence of Peter’s authorship for 1st and 2nd Peter is overwhelming.
Now we can see that the book of 1st Peter was written to believers to help them and to encourage them. This is because the believers Peter was writing to were experiencing life in hostile world of the Roman Empire and they were being persecuted because of their belief in Christ, both by the Roman government and by the Jewish religious leaders, and by society itself.
And because of all this persecution and trial, these believers needed Peter’s encouragement and help to cope with this day to day trouble that they were faced with.
These believers that Peter wanted to help were living in Roman occupied territories. They were in the area we now know as Turkey. This area has been long suspected of being one of the most persecution prone areas for the believers of the 1st century.
But the persecution that these people were facing was not just death from the government or pressure from the Jewish religious leaders.
It was also being socially ostracized by their friends and neighbors, it was being treated badly by that neighbor who had been so friendly toward you in the past, it was the Christian wife having to deal with her pagan husband’s rants, and it was the pagan masters taking out their frustrations on the Christian slaves…
In reading this letter we can determine a few things on our own…
First, we can see that the people Peter was writing to… the persecuted believers… were not just ONE people, but actually MANY people groups. So they came from many cultures.
Second we find Peter giving counsel a great many times to slaves, but we do not find him doing this with masters as much. So the implication here is that there were many more believer’s who were slaves than there were believers who were masters…
Thirdly, it seems that the majority of converts to Christ that Peter was writing to were converts from pagan religions and not from Judaism, but we know that there were some Jews that were converted as well…
Fourth, we can glean from this book is that Peter may not have known these churches personally, but he had been where they were now… and he had experienced persecution and was writing them to calm their fears and help them to cope with the situation.
But just what did Peter say to this group of many different people? Well as believers we have heard the phrase, “return good for evil” and we know this to be the Christian path…
However, when you are in the middle of a being persecuted, returning good for the evil your enemy is placing in your life is a very difficult thing to do.
So we can see that Peter is addressing this and many more topics as he writes to these wounded souls. We find in this letter that Peter combines 5 different themes that he teaches extensively about… they are:
1) Persecution for the believer is natural, don’t be surprised when you are persecuted…Jesus told us to expect it!
2) All believers are called of God to live holy lives… separate from the world, and with a godly attitude toward the world.
3) And although persecution is upon you… you do not deserve it and God will ultimately pull you out of it.
4) That all believers are to submit themselves in obedience to God and in servant hood they are to submit to others.
5) Finally we can see that Peter teaches the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The date of this letter is somewhat in limbo but we can gather that it was written between 64 and 67 AD. First because we find Paul making NO mention of Peter being in Rome and we have Paul in Rome and being executed around 60-62 AD.
And likewise we find Peter not mentioning Paul as a companion in Rome as it was Silas and John Mark. All of these facts suggest the book was written after 62 AD.
But the fact that Peter admonishes his readers to submit to governmental authority (2:13-15) may indicate a date as late as 64 AD, just before the great Christian persecution when Rome was burned down in 64 AD by Nero, and Nero places the blame on the Christians!
All of these clues suggest that Peter wrote this book from the city of Rome, but the book never is clear about this fact. But we do find Peter concluding his letter in 5:13, “…she who is in Babylon…” Now there was the city of Babylon on the Euphrates River, but by the 1st century it was a very insignificant city and we also have NO record of Peter ever visiting that Babylon.
But many times throughout Scripture the term ‘Babylon’ is used as a veiled reference to the city of Rome. Israel had been held captive for many years by the rulers of Babylon and now they were held captive by an oppressive government from Rome… to label their capital of Rome as a new Babylon would only be a natural thing for them to do…
It is like if we had another terrorist attack in this country, it would always be compared back to the 9/11 attacks of 2001. If our president was shot and assassinated, we would always think back to where we were on Nov 22, 1963 when Kennedy was assassinated. We can rest assured in the fact that Peter was referencing Rome when he wrote ‘Babylon.’
1. Chapter 1 – Comfort and Reassurance in suffering
In this chapter we find Peter greeting them with a warm and loving greeting and his intentional selection of words that single out the believers.
Peter addresses this letter to “…the pilgrims of the Dispersion…” The dispersion is seen by the Jews as an event when their country was disbanded and many Jews were forced to move to places they did not want to be in… They were actually dispersed all over the known world after they fell to Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century B.C.
And although Jerusalem and the nation of Israel had been rebuilt by Ezra and Nehemiah, there were still millions of Jewish people throughout the known world who had settled in the land where their ancestors had been exiled to…so many Jews were dispersed all over the known world…
In the1st part of the chapter after the greeting we find Peter focusing in on reassuring the believers by speaking of God’s grace and salvation… which all the believers had in abundance!
Beginning in v.13 we find Peter shifts gears a bit and begins to reassure the believers that God is going to deliver them because God is holy… and that they were a holy and set aside people… a nation of priests… and that God would NOT abandon them in this time of trial and tribulation. Peter’s emphasis was NOT on deliverance FROM the tribulation but the fact that God was not going to abandon them…
Peter assures them that no matter what happens God is with them, even if He rides out the storm of persecution with them, He will give them the strength and courage to make thru…
2. Chapter 2-3 – Practical Holiness for the believer
In the next 2 chapters we can find Peter jumping off into a teaching mode and revealing to his readers the way God’s children are supposed to act.
He begins this teaching by stressing the foundation of our holiness by stressing that for believers to grow they must immerse themselves in God’s word. He also describes what the new believer must be leaving behind in his or her life…malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and evil speaking…
These things are also listed in the teachings of Paul as well… do you remember our study in Colossians, especially chapter 3 when Paul says that if you are raised in Christ Jesus then you are to set your minds on things above… focus on God’s word is how Peter puts it…
But their teaching is also closely related in that Peter says to leave behind certain bad habits that we as humans have, but Paul addresses this with his teaching by stating that we must put ON the new and put OFF the old when we come to Christ!
The putting off of the old included, putting to death in yourselves all fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil desire, covetedness, anger, malice, blasphemy, filthy language and lying… Does it sound similar to you?
Peter says that we are to put away these things that damage and hurt us and we are to desire the pure milk of God’s Word to feed us and nurture us in our growth as Children of God.
The word of God is the foundation for all of our holiness and growth in our walk with God. But then we find Peter moving from the foundation of our holiness to our practical application of that holiness.
Peter goes on to teach that we are to be participators in the holy community of God. We are His chosen people, we are set aside by Him for His purpose and we are to be obedient to His call!
Beginning in v.11 Peter goes even deeper in his teaching by stressing that NOT ONLY are we to be participating in the Holy Community of God, but that we are to represent Christ in a high and holy manner.
We are to live as if people were seeing Christ thru our lives! Many people do not realize that they are the only Jesus some people may ever see… and when we fail to realize that, we show the world a Jesus that is faulty and fallible… we don’t reveal the REAL Jesus when we do that!
Peter says that if you will live according to God’s call on your life, there will be no accusers with any grounds to stand on because your integrity will shine forth and you will be protected.
But Peter goes on to say that even when you are doing all you can for the Kingdom there will be times when persecution finds its way into your life! However, when this happens we can know that even in suffering we can experience victory in Jesus Christ because of the grace and mercy He has shown to us… and continues to reveal in mighty ways!
Suffering is a difficult thing and believers in this world are going to suffer unjustly at the hands of evil people and our eternal enemy Satan, but understand that victory is not always found here in this world, but ultimately in the arms of Christ and eternally in our heavenly home!
In these 2 chapters we have found how Peter reflects that holiness must become a practical and everyday issue and act in the life of the believer, but in the following chapter we find Peter teaching…
3. Chapter 4 – The Spiritual Significance of Suffering…
Peter ended chapter 3 speaking about suffering and that we have victory in Christ even in unjust suffering, but here Peter expands on that teaching.
In v.1-6 of chapter 4 we find Peter teaching that physical suffering for the believers carries with it a spiritual significance in that physical suffering is a type of death to the flesh we battle each and every day.
What Peter is saying is that we can use the physical suffering to help us in our battle against our fleshly nature that wants us to return to the way we used to live.
Peter uses Christ as the example on how He suffered in the flesh, but it was not to help Him with His fleshly nature, but it He considered the joy of what was to come in the salvation of those who would accept Him as Savior.
Jesus did not desire the suffering in fact His human nature wanted to avoid it, but Jesus did understand the spiritual significance of the suffering He had to endure and that overrode His desire to avoid it…
We can look at our suffering and we can know that in that suffering we must lean on Christ and the more we lean on Him, the closer we draw to Him, and the closer we draw to Him the clearer His word is in our heart and the clearer His word is in our hearts… the easier it is to serve Him and face the persecution that the world has to throw our way!
But we also find that Peter teaching that we must continue in our love for one another despite the suffering that will come our way! The fellowship of believers should stick together and draw closer in persecution, not splinter and faction off into pieces as the enemy would desire us to do…
In v.8 Peter says, “…and above ALL things have fervent love for one another, for LOVE will cover a multitude of sins…” We know that is was the love of God that enabled Him to send Christ to the world to die for our sins…
JOHN 3:16 AND ROM 5:8
Likewise it is our love for one another that allows us to forgive and cover the sins of our fellowship brothers and sisters. Jesus tells us on more than one occasion that we cannot expect the forgiveness of God in our lives if we are not willing to forgive those around us…
Peter teaches this same thing with a little different outlook. He is saying that when we love each other, we can deal with the persecution better because to know we are loved by our brothers and sisters in Christ… to know we will be forgiven by our brothers and sisters in Christ, enables us to face the persecutions we are going to face.
Finally in this chapter Peter expounds on a teaching we find in James chapter 1. Read James 1:2-4…
Peter elaborates on this concept by teaching us that the fires of persecution are difficult but the purify us in our walk with the Lord. He tells us that we shouldn’t even think that it is a strange thing that we are suffering for the Lord… suffering for Christ should be expected.
But Peter goes onto say that when we suffer for Christ that we should NOT be ashamed. Many people equate suffering with shame… if you are suffering then you must have done something wrong.
Do you remember the story of Job? Everyone came to Job and told him to repent and God would take away his suffering. But Job knew he had not sinned…
There are going to be times when you are smack-dab in the middle of God’s will and suffering and persecution are going to find you and hit you hard! Don’t be ashamed but glorify God and rejoice as Peter and John did when they were beaten and chastised before the religious leaders of their day!
But Peter moves on in chapter 5 to cover another subject and it is…
4. Chapter 5:1-11 – Divine Love as a guide for the fellowship…
Peter begins this chapter with a call to the elders or leaders of the church. This would have been the men who were teachers and decision makers among the fellowship.
This would equate to the pastor, staff and deacons of a Baptist church. Although pastors, staff and deacons should be grounded in servant hood as their theme… theirs is a servant hood leadership type position. They lead by service and submission!
Peter sets forth some guidelines for the leaders of the church on how they are to govern the body of Christ. Leaders are called to serve out of their eagerness to serve God, NOT out of their own selfish ambition for power or money.
Leaders are called to serve the people by leading them by example and not driving them like a herd… the congregation is like a flock of sheep that must be led… not driven… driving a congregation will only lead to scattering them…Peter calls the leaders of the church to be humble leaders who are submitted to God’s call on their lives.
Peter goes on to caution these leaders to submit fully to God in their duties and in their walk and to resist and rebuke the devil. He says to be sober… level headed… looking out… because Satan is like a wild lion who is ravenous with hunger and he desires to destroy you and your witness and the fellowship of our church!
He then exhorts the leaders by telling them that even tho’ they may suffer a little while, God is going to honor your faithfulness.
Finally we find…
5. Chapter 5:12-14 – Closing statements and benediction…
Here in v.12 is where many of the scholars have come to the conclusion that Silas (Silvanus) actually penned the words that Peter dictated to him…
“…by Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand…”
Next Sunday we are going dive off into our first intimate study of this letter and it will be The Basics Characteristics of Christian Living where I will share 5 characteristics that are fundamental for us to live as we should in our walk with Christ! Please join us next week and bring a friend!
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