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  • Good Works – a letter from Peter – 3

    Good Works – a letter from Peter – 3

    What do our good works have to do with faith?

    Peter opens his letter to a persecuted church concerning this salvation with blessings.

    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…

    The Apostle calls us to holy living and then continues by defining it.

    1 Peter 2:

    Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.

    Peter asks new Christians to ‘desire the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow up into your salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is good.‘ He then continues by contrasting Christ, as the Living Stone of the Temple, to those who reject Jesus as a stone over which they stumble because they disobey God.

    This brings Peter to call upon all Christians to do good works now that we are no longer part of worldly unbelievers destined to destruction.

    Good Works

    1 Peter 2:11-

    11 [YLT] Beloved, I call upon [you], as strangers and sojourners, to keep from the fleshly desires, that war against the soul…

    Where do you stand with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, asks Peter?

    • Are you now a stranger to the worldly and sojourner through this mortal life?
    • Or do you cling to those same fleshly desires which always drag our flesh into sin and our souls into judgement?

    Live honorably among unbelievers

    12 [CEB] Live honorably among the unbelievers. Today, they defame you, as if you were doing evil.

    Young’s Literal Translation speaks of ‘having your behaviour among the nations right’ and the NASB states: ‘Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles.’

    Believers know God and true followers of the Way of Christ Jesus have received the Holy Spirit through His grace. We must live differently, Peter urges us. And he also gives a reason for good works through our honorable witness to those who do not yet believe.

    Though unbelievers accuse us as if we are doing evil (which, of course, they commit as well), ‘they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’ [NIV]

    How do others recognize Christ through our good works?

    In a word, subjugation; Christians submit to authority for our Lord’s sake.

    Submit yourselves

    I can tell you right now that you are not going to like this next part… because I don’t. I resist it and want to talk about freedom and grace instead.

    Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good.

    1 Peter 2:13 CSB

    You may say, “Emperor? That doesn’t apply to me.” But other versions use the example of ‘every human authority’ as ‘the king.’ And note that governors are sent out to praise those who do good, but to punish those who do evil.

    The sword of scripture gets even sharper by our examination of other versions.

    Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme… 1 Peter 2:13 KJV

    “Every ordinance of man?”

    A King, County Commissioner, Mayor… President of either political party? Ordinance, as in every Law passed by Congress or Parliament? I don’t like it one bit.

    The one in authority.

    Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

    Philippians 2:3-4 NASB

    “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,” Paul writes to the church in Philippians 2:5.

    Submit yourself for the Lord’s sake.

    It’s hard for us to act like Jesus. His humility is not the first thing that comes to mind in our witness of His benefits to us. Paul give us the reason in his letter to the Romans:

    “because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.” – Romans 8:7

    We do not want to submit to anyone, yet because of our faith must do so ‘because of the Lord.’

    1 Peter 2:15 For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. 16 Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves.

    Slaves

    There’s another word we don’t like. (Not very politically correct either.) -Slaves! Submit as God’s slaves.

    Shall we water it down or dilute scripture’s meaning?

    Some English translations call on us to become ‘bondservants’ of God and others simplify it with the word ‘servant.’

    Maybe that’s a little better, like a butler, gardener, waitress or food delivery person at your door. I might occasionally take on the role as a servant of God with minimal complaint. The actual Greek word is δοῦλος doulos.

    • a slave, bondman, man of servile condition
      • (of the Lord, maybe, but not likely to other men)
    • metaph., one who gives himself up to another’s will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men
      • How can I do that?
    • devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests
      • This is Peter’s meaning for Christ’s servants.

    Honor by Christian Servants

    I could mention names here, causing dissension between the believers, but honor in our public witness by ‘christians’ frequently falls far short. I’ll just ask you (and myself), “Do you honor those Peter lists as a bondservant of God?

    Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Have respectful fear of God. Honor the emperor.

    1 Peter 2:17 Common English Bible

    Honor everyone? I cannot keep words that do not honor some from my witness to unbelievers.

    Love everyone in our church? Is Peter serious? We are a bunch of sinners! And as Paul once suggested I can claim, ‘of whom I am the worst.’ The good works of Grace between Christians can be our most challenging witness. I have already mentioned that ‘the emperor could be the king, president or other most powerful government leader. Examine your own witness.

    Please note that Peter points to everyone or the world first. Then he narrows into our relational connection to others in the church. Peter reminds us to fear God. (Look it up.) And lastly, in essence, honor civil leaders responsible for the good works of our society at all level.

    Good Works of Christ’s Good Servants

    Next Peter will outline the reasons for us to serve from our various stations of this life in the flesh, a moral life of good works serving others. These include: masters and slaves, husbands and wives.

    Will you witness Christ when persecuted?

    Do your good works glorify God?

    To be continued...

  • They Stumble Because They Disobey – 1 Peter 2

    They Stumble Because They Disobey – 1 Peter 2

    The Apostle Simon Peter, who Jesus nicknamed, ‘the rock,’ warns the church about those who disobey God. He quotes scripture pointing to Christ as the cornerstone of the Temple and as a rejected stone causing some to stumble.

    As we suggested earlier in Apostates from Jude’s letter, these ‘religious’ opponents of Jesus often sway others to turn from the Lord. James also warns about Preaching to a Worldly Church, as do the Apostles.

    Peter reminds believers who hear his letter:

    For it stands in Scripture:
    See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and honored cornerstone,
    and the one who believes in him
    will never be put to shame.

    So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving,
    The stone that the builders rejected—
    this one has become the cornerstone,
    and
    A stone to stumble over,
    and a rock to trip over.

    They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.

    1 Peter 2:6-8 CSB

    The Cornerstone in Zion

    stone wall "city of David" in Hebrew and English
    Zion צִיּוֹן

    Peter had witnessed the injustice to Jesus by Zion’s rulers first-hand. These same scornful men, a brood of vipers leavening the crowds of John the Baptist and Jesus – these arrogant religious scofferes pursued Peter and the Apostles, James and the church, and also Paul, Apostle to the gentiles.

    Peter quotes the prophecies of Psalm 118 and Isaiah, powerful imagery of the Messiah the Apostle had witnessed as he had entered Jerusalem with Jesus, who was crucified and then appeared alive after death on a cross.

    I shall not die, but live,
    And declare the works of the Lord.
    The Lord has chastened me severely,
    But He has not given me over to death.

    Psalm 118:17-18 KJV

    Two Herodian kings could not kill Christ and religious apostates who had turned against the Lord could not keep Jesus in the grave! Though the Lord rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey triumphant as a king, His victory is that over sin and death by His Holy and Perfect Sacrifice on a Cross.

    Christ the Cornerstone

    Perhaps you know some lyrics from the 19th century hymn, The Church’s One Foundation, which shares this same imagery.

    The church's one foundation 
     Is Jesus Christ her Lord; 
     She is his new creation 
     By water and the Word... 

    Mid toil and tribulation, 
     And tumult of her war, 
     She waits the consummation 
     Of peace forevermore...

    The Apostle’s first letter to the church points back to the scripture of Isaiah, who states that the Lord’s foundation is firmly placed.

    “Surely My hand founded H3245 the earth,
    And My right hand spread out the heavens;
    When I call to them, they stand together.

    Isaiah 48:13 NASB – Strong’s reference H3245 – יָסַד

    In Scripture familiar to Peter’s first century readers, Isaiah chastises religious leaders who claim the Lord, but turn to a covenant with sin and death.

    Isaiah 28

    14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers,
    who rule this people in Jerusalem!

    … for we have made lies our refuge,
    and in falsehood we have taken shelter”

    Isaiah 28:15c ESV

    Peter quotes the LORD God from scripture in his accusation against those who turn from Christ Jesus.

    Isaiah 28:16 Therefore the Lord God said:
    “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion,
    a tested stone,
    a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
    the one who believes will be unshakable.

    Is your faith in the Lord unshakable?

    The church is Christ’s followers; saints all, every living soul gathered in His Holy Name. Peter refers to the faithful as living stones.

    No building of earth – not a Temple or grand Cathedral; but saved souls as living stones, placed by the Creator next to Christ our cornerstone. Unshakable – to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

    How firm is your foundation in the Lord?

    Peter shows us to be as unhewn but useful stones for the Lord’s holiest of Temples, the Living place of worship to the LORD founded in Christ.

    Isaiah 28:17-18

    “I will make justice the measuring line
    And righteousness the level;
    Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
    And the waters will overflow the secret place.

    “Your covenant with death will be canceled,
    And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
    When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
    Then you become its trampling place.

    Surely Christ has cancelled our covenant with death by His Sacrifice on the Cross.

    Peter’s Guidance for the Church

    Peter opens his first letter to the church: “To those chosen” or “To those who reside as aliens” or “To God’s elect, exiles scattered.. or “To the pilgrims of the Dispersion.

    These living stones are not recognized in this world as the church the Lord creates for true and eternal worship.

    Are you one who does not stumble?

    The world, even your neighbors, will treat you as aliens and attempt to shake your faith. Christians are as unwelcome in our 21st c. culture as the recipients of Peter’s first century letters to the church.

    In Jesus, Peter reminds us, our faith is solid – a firm foundation, level and straight. Peter precedes this call to the church from scripture with a firm exhortation meant to keep us from stumbling.

    Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.

    1 Peter 2:1 CSB

    1 Peter 2:

    4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God— 5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

    Do you stumble when you encounter Christ?

    How could you stumble? Or how will the faithful help you to keep from stumbling in your witness of Christ Jesus?

    By the plumb line of Christ’s righteousness in your works:

    • You no longer show malice [ill-will, wickedness, depravity, evil,trouble] toward others.
    • Of course you no longer use deceit, a key tool of Satan, to mislead any.
    • Christians more than most receive the world’s indictment of hypocrisy where Jesus is just a false mask taken on and off as we please.
      • If all the world’s a stage, then all wear the masks of hypocrisy.
    • Envy also shows a worldly desire over our hope for eternal riches in Christ.
    • All slander [backbiting] must stop in redeemed Christians.

    The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People

    Peter’s call to Christians, so clear to those introduced to Christ as a ‘chosen generation’ to proclaim the Gospel, bears repeating {from the NKJV} 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

    4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

    Now you are God’s people

    9 But you are a chosen generation… called out of darkness.. (the darkness of sin).

    Christ, the Cornerstone, called you into His Living Light, though you were once dead in your sins. Peter reminds the faithful saints called and hewn by Jesus into living stones:

    Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

    1 Peter 2:10 CSB

    Peter will continue to guide the church in our actions with each other and with others. Even some worshiping with us stumble, preferring our own easy grace, rather than be held accountable to our reshaping for a firm and level foundation formed by Christ Jesus.

    I have begun the first letter of Peter from his challenging scriptural call to faithfulness in the second chapter. Next, we will return to the Apostle’s encouraging opening in chapter one, God-willing.

    To be continued...
  • Jude -2- Necessity is the Father of Exhortation

    Jude -2- Necessity is the Father of Exhortation

    To Correct or Encourage?

    Do I just keep encouraging my child, servant or follower, or must I instruct them with words of exhortation? Every parent, master, or leader must judge between the value of correction versus positive reinforcement.

    Jude, a leader of the church no less loving of the recipients of his letter than the Apostles, faces this familiar dilemma of the parent. I want to encourage you, my beloved children, by acknowledging all of the good things you do. BUT, (Oh, oh, here it comes…) I have this against you.

    If this approach of dealing with the church and individual wayward relationships to the Lord and each other sounds familiar, it should. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John exhortation to the seven churches also takes this form.

    Like John, Peter, Paul and others, Jude has a close relationship with many individual saints of the church. As a father encourages a son or daughter, so the words of Jude touch the hearts of the hearers of his letter.

    They will hear Jude’s letter as words from a beloved mentor. Many know Jude, Servant of Jesus Christ as the brother of James or know of him.

    Jude’s greeting:

    Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

    Jude 1:2 KJV

    ἔλεος Mercy to you, Jude writes.

    It means kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them. Jude not only knows them but cares about their struggles and community.

    When Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan, our Lord convicts us that we often fail to show mercy to our fellow man. We too tend to qualify which neighbor we choose for our mercy. Yet like those who questioned the Lord we know which one acted as Christ would act.

    “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.
    Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

    Luke 10:37 CSB

    Jude shows the church compassion and mercy, also greeting them with peace and love multiplied. If you are one of those called by the Father you will recognize the same peace of Jesus Christ regardless of what exhortation will follow.

    “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

    The words of Jesus Christ, the Good News of John 14:27 NASB

    ἀγάπη – Love

    Love is much misaligned and misdirected in and by the church. Jude speaks here of agapē [ah-gah’-pay], the love by which all hearers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be known.

    ἀγάπη – Agape is affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love; that visible relationship between Christians. One key reason Jude and others must exhort individuals to such love is so that others will always recognize us as beloved children of our loving Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Jesus warns us in the Gospel of Matthew:

    “Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.

    Did our Lord not describe this familiar brokenness of the church in these last days? Jude must warn the saints faithful to the Lord.

    Jesus added an encouragement to this caution about our potential loss of agape love:

    “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

    Jude will exhort believers to keep in Jesus’ love, abide in His love or live as Jesus taught us by His example.

    “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

    If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

    Encouragement of Jesus – Gospel of John 15:9-10 NASB

    Occasion of Jude’s Letter

    Jude – NRSV

    Jude clearly states the reason for his exhortation replacing unsalted positive encouragement.

    3 Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

    His indictment is clear, a warning to the saints to watch out for those ungodly ‘christians’ who have stolen their way into the trust of the church. They pervert grace into licentiousness.

    Because now we rarely hear such pointed exhortation, let’s look just a bit closer into the problem outlined in verse 4.

    • Certain intruders pervert God’s grace.
      • It’s not everybody or even the majority of the saints.
      • These sinners were marked out beforehand for condemnation, pointing to their same sins from the Old Testament. Jude’s following verses point to these OT examples.
    • This is Jude’s and the church’s general condemnation of ungodly persons who turn from the grace of God, as opposed to the repentance possible for those God allows to return to righteousness.
    • They pervert the grace of God into licencentious.
      • one of Jude’s two serious indictments
    • and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

    How can ANY man or woman identified as a ‘christian’ deny Jesus as the Messiah (Christ), Lord God & ONLY lord and master of your mortal and eternal life?

    Jude, bondservant of Jesus, would have us ask this question of every hearer of his letter. Who truly serves Jesus Christ as your Master and Lord?

    Other Description of Jude’s purpose

    The Geneva Bible of 1599 states:

    3 He warneth the godly to take heed of such men, 4 that make the grace of God a cloak for their wantonness:

    Like licentiousness, wantonness leaves us thinking of an archaic approach to sin rarely mentioned in this day and translated gently for contemporary readers of Jude’s exhortation.

    All will agree that Jude urges the saints (all Christians) to contend earnestly or defend the true faith handed down to the church by Christ and through the faithful word of God in the the Old Testament. From there we easily stray when called upon to confront a false claimant of Christ.

    Who are these?

    Jude writes, ‘certain men have crept in unnoticed,’ or ‘by stealth’ some versions translate.

    Let’s examine Jude’s two-part accusation.

    ἀσέλγεια – Licentiousness

    Defined: unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence

    We tend to think of the sin of these men Jude describes as sexual sin, a sin which may accurately describe just part of their specific acts against God. Yet other sinful behaviors men and women would hide from the saints with whom they worship certainly apply to Jude’s warning.

    Jude’s exhortation describes a general conduct thought to be private which would cause a public disgust. These shameless excesses could include gluttony, tyrannical demeanor, greediness and other excesses of the fleshly senses, which include hunting for victims prone to your sins.

    You may notice the similarity of the Greek word translated as licentiousness, ἀσέλγεια, and it’s Hebrew root, ἄλφα.

    “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

    Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 22:13 KJV

    This Greek description as a compound negative participle of Alpha, the word of God and Christ, indicates an antichrist, a description other New Testament writers use of those opposed to the Gospel.

    ἀρνέομαι Ἰησοῦς Χριστός – Deny Jesus Christ

    This is the most serious of Jude’s two accusations against these antichrists who have found their way into the church, men and women against whom he must warn other followers of the Lord.

    Ungodly persons [ἀσεβής] καὶ τὸν μόνον δεσπότην καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἀρνούμενοι, that is: “only Master and Lord our Jesus Christ deny.”

    • Jesus is our Lord, the LORD God
    • The LORD IS our only Master
    • Jesus IS the Messiah, the Christ
    • We serve ONLY Him.

    Many deny the Lord, our personal Master whom we serve as Christians. Ungodly persons may claim Jesus or claim God, yet not serve Him. Many more will claim a god or antichrist because they oppose the LORD.

    Jude is not alone in his exhortation for believers. The Apostle John also warns of such antichrists:

    … so now many antichrists have come. …They went out from us, but they did not belong to us… I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you.

    First Letter of John, excerpts from 2:18-19 & 26 NKJV

    Biblical warnings from the Old Testament

    Next we will continue in Jude’s letter to saints of the first century church with his Old Testament examples. Remember, the Old Testament was the only Bible for Jesus, Jude, James and the Apostles. But feel free to preview these few verses as if you knew only this Bible, still applicable today.

    To be continued...