CHURCH IMPROVEMENT:
BUILDING A CHURCH THAT HONORS GOD AND LOVES PEOPLE
THROUGH JOYFUL WORSHIP
1 Peter 1: 1-9
INTRODUCTION
Several years ago a serious Christian woman asked me, "Where’s all
the joy that I keep hearing about?" She knew that the Christian life
is supposed to be a joyful life and yet her experience was not very joyful.
She was dutifully doing what was right but her life was frantic and fearful.
She was expressing a sentiment that all of us have felt. I want you to
note in the passage before us that Peter presumes that joy is the present
experience of the Christian.
We see it first in v. 3 where he exclaims, "Praise be to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Anytime a person is praising
anything they are doing it out of joy. True praise is always the expression
of delight as C.S. Lewis observes in his book, "Reflections on the
Psalms". After grappling with how strange it is that God demands
that we praise him he says, "But the most obvious fact about praise—whether
of God or anything—strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment,
approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment
spontaneously overflows into praise unless… shyness or the fear of boring
others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise—lovers
praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising
the countryside, players praising their favorite game—praise of weather,
wines, dishes, actors, cars, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages,
children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes
politicians or scholars…. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because
the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its
appointed consummation."
Then notice in v. 6, "in this you greatly rejoice" and in v.
8, "you are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy".
Both these verses use the same Greek word which means to be extremely
joyful, to be filled with joy. This word is used close to 70 times in
the Psalms and refers to the joyful worship of God as a group or personally
for whom he is and what he has done. Listen to a few of its uses: "I
will be glad and greatly rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name,
O Most High (9:2)". "We will shout for joy in your salvation
(19:6)". "O Lord, the king rejoices in your strength. How great
is his joy in the salvation you give! (21:1)". "In the morning
I will shout for joy in your mercy for you are my fortress, my refuge
in times of trouble (59:16)". Peter, in this passage is showing why
it is that Christians joyfully worship God. He is saying that…
MAIN POINT
Joyful worship characterizes each true Christian because of…
I. All God has done for you in Christ (vv. 1-3a)
There are five things that God has already done which create joy and
therefore praise in the Christian. We are also given two reasons for why
God has done these five things. I want to begin by looking at why God
has done what he has done for us. His motive is found in the two phrases
that start with "according to". In vv. 1-2 it is according to
God’s foreknowledge that we are chosen, temporary residents in this world
(This is a better translation than "strangers in the world"),
dispersed throughout the hostile nations of the world and living in the
sanctifying Holy Spirit. This word foreknowledge is not simply a synonym
for God’s omniscience. In other words it doesn’t simply mean that God
knows what’s going to happen in advance. Rather, when God is said to know
a person it means that he has determined to live in a personal relationship
of love with that person. In Amos 3:2 God says of Israel, "You only
have I known of all the families of the earth." Obviously this doesn’t
mean that God doesn’t know about any other people except for Israel. Rather,
he has entered into a personal relationship with only Israel. In Deut.
10: 14-15 we are told, "To the Lord your God belong the heavens,
even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord
set his affection on your forefathers and he loved them and he chose you
their descendants above all the nations as it is today." God acts
on behalf of Christians because he decided, before the world began to
love them and enter into a relationship of love with them. God’s motive
for what he does on behalf of Christians is his fatherly love for us.
Then look at v. 3. God the Father gives new birth to particular people
"according to his great mercy." In other words, God doesn’t
give people spiritual life because of anything they do but because he
has decided to have mercy upon them. This is the same thing that Paul
says in Eph. 1: 4-6. "For he chose us in him before the creation
of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he
predestined us to be adopted as his sons… according to his pleasure and
will for the praise of his glorious grace." God works on behalf of
Christians because of his love for them and his mercy towards them, not
because of anything we have ever done. Let’s look at the five things that
God does out of his Fatherly love and mercy.
First, he chose us out of the mass of humanity. Christians are called,
some 20 times in the New Testament, "the elect". The point is
that God looked over the whole mass of human beings, all living in rebellion
to him and all deserving only wrath and instead of just saying, "To
hell with all of you", which would have been perfectly just, he chose
to save, to have mercy upon some. Second, because of his fatherly love
for us he made us temporary aliens in the world. Our life in this world
is like living as a foreigner in another land. In other words, he made
us citizens of another world and has placed us in this world as a temporary
dwelling place. Don’t miss this, we are living in this world as temporary
residents because God loves us. Third, God disperses us throughout
the nations. God puts us in the countries, states, cities, homes we are
in because of his fatherly love. Whatever country or home you live in,
God put you there out of his warm affection for you.
Fourth, he placed you in the sanctification of the Spirit. NIV
has it wrong. You were not chosen by the sanctifying work of the
Spirit. Rather because God was determined to love you he placed you in
the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? To be sanctified
means to be set apart for God. It means to delight in God and in his ways
and to yearn to be with him and to be like him in the same way that a
toddler loves to be with her dad and to be like him. He gave you his Holy
Spirit who is now working in you causing you to love God and his ways
and to live more and more like Jesus. At the end of v. 2 we see the two
purposes of God placing us in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
We are in the sanctifying Spirit for obedience to Jesus. Obedience to
Jesus isn’t an optional add on to the Christian life. He loves us and
so he wants us to obey Jesus because obedience to Jesus is the happiest
way to live. However, the obedience we render in this life is never complete.
We often fail to obey and so we are placed in the life of the Spirit so
that we might keep on being sprinkled by the blood of Jesus. Peter is
using OT imagery of the blood of animals being sprinkled on ceremonially
unclean people and when they are sprinkled by the blood, they are made
clean and able to enter into the worship of God in the temple. The purpose
of God is that we obey him but our obedience is always partial and so
we continually need to be sprinkled by the blood of Christ to remain clean.
Finally, the fifth thing that God does for us because of his affection
and mercy is he gives us new birth. Here again is the language of fatherhood
and affection. There isn’t a person in here that caused his or her own
physical birth. In the same way, there is no Christian who caused his
or her spiritual birth. In the physical realm, when things are going as
they ought, the birth of a child is because of the love of the parents
for one another and for the child. In the same way God, out of his tender
mercy, has been kind to poor, helpless, dead sinners and given us new
life. He has given us his very own life, which we did not posses and never
could gain, out of his fatherly love.
How do each of these things fill our hearts with joy that overflows in
praise to God? If you know that you are a hell-deserving sinner, then
it is incredibly good news to find out that God, out of his fatherly love
for you has chosen you to belong to his people. If you are living in a
hard situation, feeling like you don’t fit in because you are a Christian
and you know that God, out of his great love for you, has put you there,
you will be happy. If you know that you have no desire, nor any ability
to obey Christ and yet you know that there is no better way to live, then
it is incredibly good news to find out you have been placed in the sanctifying
life of the Holy Spirit that causes you to want to and to be able to obey
Christ. If you know that you cannot render perfect obedience to Christ
because of indwelling sin then it is great news that his blood is covering
over not just your past sin but also, your present failure to obey. If
you know that you do not have spiritual life and you have no way to obtain
it, then discovering that God has been kind to you and given you his very
own life will fill you with joy and praise to God.
- Joyful worship characterizes each true Christian because of…
- All God has done for you in Christ
- And because of…
II. All God will do for you in Christ (vv. 3b-5)
Notice that all that God has done for us naturally leads Peter to talk
of what God will do for us in the future. The salvation that Christ has
won for us will not be completed until the "last time" as v.
5 says or at "the revelation of Jesus Christ" as v. 7 says.
On almost every page of the NT there is the expectation that the knowledge
of a glorious future is a powerful stimulus for joy and hope in the present
situation. This perspective infuses this passage in Peter. I’m reminded
of the play, "My Fair Lady". The professor enters into a bet
with a friend of his that he can take any beggar woman in London and turn
her into a lady of such charm, beauty and manners that she can fool the
royal court into thinking she herself is royalty. He chooses Eliza Doolittle
out of the mass of beggar women and begins the process of changing her.
The first thing he does is clean her up and give her new clothing and
a new place to live. He takes her out of the environment she was living
in and puts her in a new more ladylike environment. He then begins the
process of training her to be well mannered and charming. Everything that
he does to her and for her is for one reason, the royal ball. He works
with her to fit her for the ball. In the same way, all that God has done
to us and is doing to us has only one end, the enjoyment of God forever
in heaven. All he has done and all he is doing is for the purpose of fitting
us for heaven.
Look at the tight connection Peter draws in vv. 3-4. God gives us new
birth into a living hope and into an inheritance. We use
that little preposition, "into", in the same way when describing
the circumstances of the family into which a baby is born. We would say
about George W. Bush that he was born into a family of wealth and political
power. In the same way, we were born into a living hope and into an inheritance
that we will possess in the future. What this means, is that the level
of joy in your life is directly related to how much you think about and
yearn for heaven. We ought to be like a child during the weeks leading
up to Christmas whose excitement for the great day increases the closer
the day comes. Peter, in these verses gives us four descriptions of what
is coming in order to provoke our joy and anticipation.
First, he says that the hope we have is a living hope. What does he mean
by this? We have been born again into this living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. This means that our hope of heaven is not
vain; it is not a dream because it is founded upon Jesus’ power over death
as evidenced by his resurrection. It means that we are hoping in a future
life with Jesus who is alive. No matter how bad life is going now, I am
going to keep on living forever with God. Nothing in this life can take
that reality from me. We are like the sports fan watching a videotape
of his team playing in a game he knows his team won. When you are watching
the game live and you don’t know the outcome, your emotions go up and
down with the performance of your team. When there’s an interception,
you whine and moan and your heart is full of despair. However, if you
know that your team wins, you don’t despair no matter how poorly your
team might be doing at any particular moment. If you’re watching the game
with a fan of your opponent and he gloats over a mistake your team makes,
you’ll simply smile and say, "Just wait. You’ll see that this setback
will not stop them from winning."
Second, he says we have an inheritance that will not rot or decay, that
is free from the corruption of sin and that will never lose its value.
We’re like the person who owes the bank thousands of dollars but who has
a rich uncle who has promised to send the check to pay the debt. Even
though we don’t have the check in hand at the moment we are not afraid
or worried because we know that our uncle will come through and we will
suffer no harm. Peter is contrasting the nature of our inheritance with
the realities of this world. All the stuff of this world that you can
invest in, whether property or people, are eventually going to decay and
turn to dust. Everything in this world that you depend upon is tainted
by sin and evil. Everything in this life loses it value. How often have
we had our hearts set upon obtaining some possession or a relationship
or a position only to discover, after we have obtained it that it is no
longer valuable to us? How often must we be disappointed by things and
people before we will learn to fix our hope on the inheritance that will
never perish, that is not tainted by sin and that will never lose its
value?
In v. 5 we are told that the end for which God is guarding us is salvation.
In v. 9 the final destination we are heading for is the salvation of our
souls. I want us to think for just a moment about this word salvation.
From what are we rescued? Salvation always implies being rescued from
some danger. In Romans 5: 9 Paul says it this way, "Since we have
now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from
God’s wrath through him." The greatest danger that you and I face
is the danger of standing before the God who made us, having to give an
account of our lives. If we show up at that judgment seat without any
defense but our own behavior, we will most certainly be sentenced to an
eternal life of suffering in hell. It absolutely boggles my mind that
any human being can actually imagine standing before the God who knows
everything you have ever done and knows ever motive of your heart and
every thought you have ever had and can still presume that God will reward
you with heaven. Ah, but for we Christians, we look forward to appearing
at that judgment seat not by ourselves but with Jesus at our side. He
is the one who is perfectly righteous and who took all of God’s anger
against our sin upon himself. We will not stand and defend ourselves but
Jesus will be our defense against God’s righteous anger and so we will
escape the horror of God’s wrath through Jesus.
However, this salvation is not merely escaping hell. We must ask not
only from what we are saved but also for what are we rescued.
We are not like poor peasants in Afghanistan who survived the U.S. bombing
campaign but who are still living in abject poverty with only a bombed
out shell of a house to live in and grass to eat. Look at the end of v.
7. We will receive praise, glory and honor when Jesus returns. When Jesus
comes back and we appear with him before the throne of God we will not
only escape God’s wrath but we will be warmly welcomed into the joy of
living with God forever. God will treat us as favored sons and daughters.
We will live in the full experience of being children of the king of the
universe. According to Eph. 2:7 God will spend all of eternity showering
us with his infinite kindness and mercy.
The joy or lack of joy that thinking of this salvation creates is directly
related to how much you fear God’s judgment and how much you yearn for
God’s presence. What creates more fear in you, the thought of God’s wrath
or the thought of your retirement fund evaporating in a stock market crash?
The thought of hell or of getting cancer? The thought of eternal suffering
or of not getting married? What creates more joy in you, getting a different
job, or living with Jesus forever? The thought of someone paying off all
your debt or the joy of heaven? The thought of being admired and respected
by your friends and family or of being warmly welcomed by God into his
eternal home? I know that one of the reasons that Christ’s salvation does
not fill us with extreme joy is because we are fearing the wrong things
and seeking our happiness in the wrong things.
- Joyful worship characterizes each true Christian because of…
- All God has done for you in Christ
- All God will do for you in Christ
- And because of…
III. All God is doing for you in Christ
Peter seeks to stimulate our joy not only by talking about what God has
done for us and what he will do for us but also by describing what God
is doing for us right now. Four things that God is doing right now ought
to create massive joy in us. First, at the end of v. 4 he says that our
inheritance is "kept in heaven for you." The verb "kept"
is actually "having been kept". In others words, at a point
in time, when God caused you to be born again, he reserved a place for
you in heaven at the wedding banquet of his son. He continues to hold
your place and will never let it go. All those to whom God has given new
birth he has also made a permanent reservation in heaven. He is anticipating
your arrival at this very moment. All has been made ready by the Lord
Jesus for your eternal happiness. The table is set, the band is tuned
up, the meal is prepared, the maitre de is waiting your arrival.
Second, not only do you have a permanent reservation in heaven but God
himself is exerting all of his omnipotent power to guard you so that you
make it safely to your heavenly home. The NIV in its translation puts
the emphasis on faith rather than upon God’s power guarding us, as the
original does. Literally v. 5 begins by describing the "you"
at the end of v. 4 in this way: "the ones who are being guarded by
God’s power through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the
last time." As you have heard me say numerous times, we are on a
dangerous journey to heaven. There are traps and snares all around us.
The enemy of our souls is waging unremitting war against us to destroy
our faith. Our hope does not lie in our ability but in God’s power working
in us and for us to maintain our faith. Do not miss the relationship between
God’s power and our faith. God’s omnipotent power guards us; the tool
he uses is our faith. I built a garage one time. I designed it, bought
the materials and put it together. However, I did it using tools, a hammer,
a saw, a level, etc. In the same way, God has planned our salvation and
he is exerting his power to complete it but the tool he is using is our
faith. He is the author and perfector of our faith.
Verse 6 tells us both why God exerts his power and how he exerts his
power to guard us. This is one of the most amazing verses in the Bible
for several reasons. If you can get your mind and your heart around what
this verse is saying your joy will explode. One of the main reasons you
and I have limited joy is because we don’t get what this verse plainly
says. First notice that at the very same time that Christians are rejoicing
in our future salvation and in God’s preserving power we are also experiencing
grief as the result of various trials. The Christian life is always a
mixture of joy and grief as long as we live in this world. Second, notice
that the trials are of all kinds. We suffer sickness and broken relationships.
We’re bored with our jobs. We lose our jobs. We experience accidents.
Cars, homes, and toys fall apart. Plans change. The weather doesn’t cooperate.
People sin against us and we cause suffering by our own sin. We are mocked,
ridiculed, scorned, and sometimes killed because we are Christians. The
catalogue of human trials that create grief is almost infinite and varies
widely from Christian to Christian.
Third, notice the phrase in the middle of the verse, "you may have
had to suffer grief". Alternatively, as the ESV says it, "though
now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved
by various trials." It is necessary that you and I experience the
grief caused by various trials. Who says it’s necessary? God says it is
necessary. This little clause shows that God is the one who sends the
trials for our good. That good is in v. 7. He sends the trials to purify
our faith in the same way the goldsmith uses fire to purify gold, by burning
away all the impurities. God sends to each Christian the exact amount
of suffering that is needed to purify that person’s faith so that we will
make it to heaven. God sends suffering now to keep us from eternal suffering
later.
What is faith and why does it need to be purified? Frankly, after 25
years of talking with people about their faith I am convinced that faith
is one of the most misunderstood words in the English language. Faith
is being absolutely confident that all that God promises to be for me
in Jesus is better than everything else in the whole world. It is believing
that Jesus will do all he promises and that what he promises is the best
thing in the world. It is being confident that if I abandon all other
pursuits and pursue my joy in God I will not be disappointed. It is knowing
that to lose everything this world holds dear and to just have Christ
is infinitely better than having all this world can offer but to not have
Christ. My faith needs to be purified because I don’t naturally believe
what I just said.
I am in a constant struggle to believe God’s promises rather than the
promises of sin. Therefore, God sends me trouble, which is a removal of
some joy that this world offers to show me that he really is sufficient.
This is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1: 8-9, "We do not want you
to be uninformed brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province
of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure,
so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence
of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on
God, who raises the dead." Paul was under so much pressure; his troubles
were so great that he wanted to die. He couldn’t see any way out of his
trouble except through death. Have you ever felt that way? I have. I just
want to die. I can’t take any more pain or disappointment. Why does God
put us in these circumstances? So that we will not rely on our ability
but on him and his ability to give us all that we need to experience true
life and joy and hope. If my happiness depends upon life going well for
me here, then I will never have joy. But if my joy comes from confidence
that God is able to give me all I need, then my joy will not be threatened.
Finally, notice that joy comes now from living in vital union with Jesus
Christ. Verses 8-9 are a description of the present experience of the
Christian. I have never seen Jesus Christ, yet I love him. I don’t see
him now but I am trusting in him. As I live in a relationship of love
and trust with Christ, I am continually joyful and grateful as I revel
in his amazing love for me. Notice the present tense verb in v. 9. It
doesn’t say I will obtain the goal of my faith, it says I am obtaining
the goal of my faith. I am progressively obtaining the goal of my faith,
a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. It is not perfect but it is growing.
As I love him and trust him each day by drawing near to him and seeking
his will and aiming to do it in my life I progressively experience more
of heaven on earth because what makes heaven, heaven is the presence of
Jesus.
© Copyright
2002 John Swanson.
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