Hello All,
Please remember that you bless us with your presence, and may the Holy Spirit bring you His wisdom and His understanding.
10/19/2024 – Prologue - The family joins with others to form a polis (a society which moves via a series of hierarchical steps to form a nation.) This was emboldened in the US Declaration of Independence which declared, “We hold these truths to be self-evident That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (2ndC.C. 07/04/1776) This is a rework of: “We ask but for Peace, Liberty, and Safety.” (1st C.C. 12/01/1774) With this vision, the founders, based on their Christian faith, organized their nation’s political, economic and social conditions. It follows that within this system of rights each individual organizes his personal affairs, those of his family and of his nation.
In American history (1620 – 1790) we find Christian ideas dominated and were important intellectual influences. They determined religious liberty is a right and to be protected. The national government shall not create a state sponsored church, nor should a religious test be required to hold public office. Our founding was shaped by Christian moral truths and our nation should be hospitable to all religions. In the colonies 75 to 80% regularly attended church and lay people participated in the operation of the congregations. They were influenced by Biblical teachings and they followed a God who is active in the affairs of men. In sum, religion was integrated into their lives and it informed their world view.
[1 Peter 1:22-2:3] – Newborn Babies – The key to these seven verses is in the last verse [v. 2:3] It is the word taste. It is one of the keys to the heart of all Christian life. Imagine that we are to ‘taste’ that the Lord is gracious. Have you had that taste? Peter finds this in the OT [Ps.34:8] The taste is what we see shown by the newborn baby, having tasted his mother’s milk wants more, and more. Thus, as we see - the recently born baby needs to feed, to grow and learn to live within the family. Becoming a Christian is about a new life, coming to birth, being nourished, being sustained and growing to maturity. Part of all of this as with a child is discovering the good ways and the bad ways of relating to people. N.B. learning to make correct choices. Peter teaches like all the other early teachers that the good is eager, pure, sincere love. [1:22] How difficult can that be? The bad way is filled with deceit, hatred, malice, and evil-speaking. [2:1] That is easy to understand. Butboth are difficult to implement! That is why we need spiritual milk’. A modern challenge we have is the manner in which pastors deliver this message. Are they trying to be kind and understanding, thus, delivering a watered-down message. If that were the quality of nourishment we provided for babies we would find them failing to thrive – malnourished, spiritually listless and helpless. In a vital relationship with Jesus the key is: taste that He is gracious and thirst for that taste and like a smart baby refusing to settle for less. Peter also draws on Isaiah and the parable of the seed that matters. [Is. 40:6-8] What matters is the Word of the Lord; [v. 25] abiding word of God; [v. 23] word announced; [v.25] What is this ‘Word’? How does it work? In Peter’s case the ‘Word’ was not the Bible it did not exist. Scholars seem to agree that Peter means the message (the oral story) of the Messiah. But it is more than that it is the fulfilment of ancient scriptures. That is the key and that is what causes people to be ‘born again’. [v. 23]
How does this work? We receive a hint in [v. 1:1] where Peter, and others, declared that the followers of Jesus, when they spoke to people about Jesus something happened. It was not that folks made a simple choice to accept or reject the message. It was that the ‘Word’ carried an energy beyond the mere words. It was almost as if when the words were spoken a transfusion took place. People feel the transformation, the rinsing away, the presence of God. Yes, hearing the Word they tasted that the Lord is gracious. They had been born again. It is worth the time to look at Isaiah on its own sake. We have Peter’s quote [Is. 40:6-8] and we can add [Is. 55:10-13] If one has the time the entire central section of [Isaiah 40 - 55] is a vital study. What emerges is the ‘suffering servant’ the early prophets speaking of Jesus and His sacrificial death. Peter, calls again on Isaiah in the next section.
[1 Peter 2:4-10] – The Living Stone – Some countries (Ireland) and regions of the US (NY/NE) have fields surrounded by stone walls. Those stones were not manufactured or imported. They were gathered by heavy lifting and stone boats. Any 1st C. Jew who knew scripture knew the word stone carried a double meaning. First, there was the hope that the true God would return and live forever in the Temple. The Temple was traditionally talked about as the rock. Find the right stone and He will return. Second, stone in ancient Hebrew sounded like son. (son, ben; stone, eben) Read Jesus' famous story; [Mark 12:1-12] it is about the ‘son’, but Jesus’ punchline is about the ‘stone’ [Ps. 118:22; v. 7] In another famous promise God promises David that his son would build the Temple in Jerusalem and this son of David would be the son of God. [Sam. 7:12-14] The royal son, ben, says [Isaiah’s prophecy] will use the proper stone, eben. The early Christians reading [Isaiah] for everyone the ‘precious cornerstone’ will not be a mineral, but a human being – it will be quite new. Peter understands this, [v. 6] he says believe in Him. Complicated? Yes! But the picture is clear – God promises to send His son and His promise is to build a house where He will live forever. For Peter, Jesus is the ‘stone’ and the new Temple is already being built on Him. He is the living stone! [v. 4] Peter is thinking within the Temple building picture and not Isaiah, but [Ps. 118:22] Here builders will discard a stone if it does not seem to fit, they need one of the precise shape to be a ‘cornerstone.’ Jesus was rejected by His own people. He did not fit the plans of the people – Peter saw this. But God had shown Him as the most important stone. To say this scripturally we need support and Peter and Paul find that support in [Psalms and Isaiah]. This point is vital for Christian life. Peter, Paul, John, James and Jude were writing to distant scattered communities and those communities had to see they were part of the Temple, as we are. The new temple is a ’spiritual house’ constructed from ‘living stones’ and ‘built’ all over the world. And through that house fill the world with God’s glory. [Num. 14:21; Ps. 72:19] We are the ‘house’ in which God dwells! This means Peter is able to address this scattered group, in the scripture that belonged to the nation of Israel. (Solidly Jewish). But Peter, like Paul, saw God bringing non-Jews to share Israel’s destiny. Think though - all the apostles believed, despite the shock, that the Jews had crucified the Messiah. They were the ‘royal priesthood’ offering spiritual sacrifices. They were the chosen race [Ex. 19:3-6] Peter picks [v. 10] from [Hosea 2:23] The people who before were not ‘a people’ are now ‘God’s people.’ Those who had not received mercy, now received it. In ethnic Israel, Peter believed all of God’s promises were fulfilled in the Messiah, Jesus and thus all who belonged to Jesus were now ‘people of God – the true Temple. Not rebuilt in Jerusalem, but around the world! Only by being anchored in the truth of who Jesus is and that we are His followers will we live in the way that the remainder of this letter urges us to do. AMEN
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