Before we turn to Scripture this evening, I want to ask you to pray for me. Wednesday evening, I will be getting on a plane and flying to Northern Ireland for ten days. I'll be doing several conferences there and preaching several times; so please remember me in your prayers. Well, there's no way that you're going to avoid it. You just don't have that ability. You just don't have that power. Somehow, some way, trouble will enter your door. That trouble will come because you do live in a fallen world.
Nothing Operates the Way It Was Intended
This world is a broken place, and there's nothing in the world that operates the way it was intended to operate. The family doesn't operate perfectly, in case you hadn't realized that. Your heart doesn't operate the way it was meant to operate. Government doesn't operate the way it was meant to operate. The church doesn't operate the way it was meant to operate. Everything, somehow, has been dented and broken and marred by the fall, and God has chosen for you to live in this broken world. That's not a mistake.
That's not poor divine scheduling. That's not a mess-up of the plan; that is the plan. God means for you to live here, and God means for you to be a testimony to what the transforming power of Jesus Christ can do to people who are as broken as we are, because the grace of God isn't given to tweak together people; the grace of God is given to transform broken people. And as the world watches you live in wisdom, as the world watches you live as a person of grace, as the world watches you express the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, you become part of God's work of transformation and restoration of this broken world.
God means for you to live in the middle of this brokenness, and somehow, some way, you'll be touched by it. You won't escape trouble for another reason that God calls you to suffer. He calls you to suffer because God will take you where you haven't intended to go in order to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own. God knows how self-reliant we are, how self-righteous we are, how full of our own wisdom we are. And God knows He has got to take us beyond our strength, and beyond our righteousness, and beyond our wisdom, so that we begin to find our hope in Him and Him alone.
Listen, I've said it to you before, and you'll hear it from me again and again: true righteousness only ever begins when you come to the end of yourself. That's where God is taking you. Oh, you're afraid when you come to the end of yourself, but your Lord isn't. That's just where He wants you, because it's there that you let go of all of your proud self-reliance, and you begin to hold onto Him with both hands and say, "But by you, but through you, I have no hope." That's where God wants you. I've already hinted at this; there's another reason that you will suffer, because you will stand for the radical truths of the Gospel; and because of your claim to allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, because you will live in obedience to His commands, you will be misunderstood, and you will be mocked, and you will be rejected, and you will face opposition because you will be like an alien in this world.
For you, it's no longer your claustrophobic kingdom of one; it's no longer about your wants, your needs, your feelings. It's now about the grand Kingdom purposes of the Lord. What I've done for you is summarize for you the message of First Peter. It's really what it's about; it's about living in a world where trouble is always entering your door. And we said the remarkable thing about this little letter is you would think a letter written to people who are suffering would be just comfort from stem to stern, but that's not what I Peter is like.
Oh, there's tremendous comfort here; there's a beautiful comfort here, but these are marching orders. Because Peter is a good pastor, he knows if you are suffering, the worst thing to do is to get you to meditate on your suffering, because all of us are wired to be wonderful victims. You don't have to take the wallow class; you and I do that quite well. And so Peter wants to blow us beyond this little moment of pain, beyond this moment of rejection, beyond these moments of feeling and confusion to be taken up with the glory of what God is doing and say, "I'm suffering, but I want to be part of this thing."
That's the Christian life. I've finally been connected to something that is so big, and so awesome, and so beautiful, and so glorious, I can't not want to be part of this. Is that where you are? And I say, "If for one moment I could be an instrument of transformation in the hands of a Redeemer of grace, my life would be worth it." Now that brings us to the last few verses of this passage, let me read again: "By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God.
Stand Firm in It
Stand firm in it. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ." I want to dispense first with the mysterious names here. Silvanus was probably the one who delivered Peter's letters for him. He may have also been Peter's scribe, but someone that Peter clearly is thankful for and wants to be regarded well. Mark is Peter's prot‚Äög‚Äö in ministry, a man he's mentored, and he calls him his son; his son in ministry.
Who in the world is "She who is at Babylon?" Well, that's probably a reference to the church in Rome and to those who have been chosen there, and they're sending a greeting along with this letter from Peter. Now in these final words of closing, Peter really does touch on three of the overriding themes of this letter. I love these three themes. Here is the first one - "I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God." Whatever Peter says the topic has been, what I've been trying to communicate to you as you have been given, you are now the objects of the awesome grace of a God of redemption.
Your reason for getting up in the morning now is His grace. Your reason for courage is His grace. Your reason for hope is His grace. It's all His grace! And what I love about First Peter is how that grace is the grace for the 'here and now.' Yes, Peter does wave a hand at the past grace of my forgiveness in Christ Jesus, and he does wave a hand at that future grace of eternity with Him, but Peter wants you to know, right now, there is grace for every struggle of heart, and there's grace for every circumstance of life.
You have been bestowed with grace. Do you believe that? And so when I'm walking down the hallway to have another conversation with my argumentative child, I say to myself, "There's grace for this conversation; there's grace for this conversation; there's grace for this conversation." When I'm going into work, and I know I'm not received well there, and I know I'm persecuted, I sit on the train or on the bus or as I'm driving the car, and I say, "There's grace for this day. I'm not alone. I've been given the grace of a loving Redeemer for this circumstance."
When I'm fighting that inward struggle with sin, and I feel so defeated because I've blown it again, and the enemy is whispering in my ear, "Where is your God now?" I say to myself, "There's grace for this struggle! No, I don't have the wisdom, and no, I don't have the strength, but I am not alone; the grace of Jesus Christ is with me! I will win this battle!" It's grace! There's grace for your marriage as you begin to realize it's not the easy dream that you thought it would be. There's grace for late night when you sit on the edge of your bed, and you feel so alone.
There's grace for those later years in life when the body grows weak, and you don't look forward to the next day. It's grace! It's grace! Its grace! And if you run through First Peter, that grace is everywhere. Chapter 1, it's the uncomfortable grace of sanctification, but often God's grace comes to us in uncomfortable forms. In Chapter 2, it's the grace of a new identity in Christ that we are now a chosen race, a holy priesthood, hear this, a people for God's own possession! In Chapter 3, it's grace for daily living; those mundane experiences of everyday life that all of us live in that can draw out of us such irritation, such impatience, and such struggle.
Chapter 4 presents the awesome grace of God for suffering that in those moments you're never ever alone; you're never in a circumstance; you're never in a relationship; you're never in a situation without the Lord, your Savior, the King of Grace being with you. Chapter 5 turns to the church, and God has graced us in the church with leadership that guides us, and that protects us, and warns us, and encourages us. There is grace on every page, in every paragraph of this letter. Does that grace give you hope?
Does Grace Produce Courage?
Does that grace produce in you courage? Does that grace calm your fears and quiet your anxiety? Does that grace keep you from working through an endless catalog of 'what ifs'? Does that grace protect you from the covetousness of somebody else's life? Do you really believe that for every struggle of heart and every circumstance of life, you have been given grace? There's a second theme. I love just the way this is expressed, verse 14, "Greet one another with the kiss of love." There just ought to be a whole lot more kissing going on in the church of Jesus Christ.
I'm serious! This is to be a community of beautiful love. Life in a fallen world is hard. The uncomfortable grace of sanctification is hard. Rejection and opposition is hard. And we should have a sensitivity and a love for one another as we all struggle with that hardship, and there are ways that you can kiss one another with that love, grabbing somebody by the hand and say, "I love you, and I'm praying for you, and you will be on my heart this week." What a sweet thing to do! Reaching out to somebody and saying, "Tell me one thing I can carry with me this week where you're struggling.
I love you, and I want to help you bear your burden." Think if all of us did that just a couple times every Sunday, think of the encouragement that would happen in this place. It is such a little thing. And so Peter says, "Go look for somebody to kiss!" Don't be shocked; it's in the Bible. Why are we so busy? Why are we so preoccupied? Why are we so formal? Why are we so distant? Why are we so uncaring? Listen, what gathers here? Needy, broken people, every Sunday. That's us, beaten up by the struggles of life; we walk in here; we limp in here; we weep in here; we stumble in here.
And there's an opportunity to love. Are you taking advantage of that opportunity? And this epistle is full of that love. Chapter 1 talks about love in times of suffering. After Peter has talked about the uncomfortable grace of sanctification, what he says next is, "Love one another deeply and from the heart." We're called to live lovingly in response to authority in Chapter 2. We're called, in Chapter 3, to love in the practical everyday relationships of life. Chapter 4, we're called the love in the face of rejection and opposition.
Chapter 5 again looks at the need for and the provision of loving leadership in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. This letter is a letter about love. Are you part of God's transforming agenda of love? Is that not just a reaction for you; is it a commitment? Are you out there looking for opportunities to express love, to encourage with love, to give love to the people whom God places in your pathway? Every time you get up in the morning, you have an opportunity to call somebody. You have an opportunity to pray for somebody, text somebody, tweak somebody.
If you can't say, "I love you and I'm praying for you" in less than 140 characters, you just need work. May God help us. You should never walk out of this gathering feeling unloved. If that happens, we are just not being obedient to the call of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a third theme: "Peace to all of you who are in Christ." It is rest in the Gospel of peace. Is your life a life of rest even though you're suffering, even though things come your way that you don't understand, even though there are difficulties that you are facing that you would rather not have in your life, even though there's confusion about what you may face next, is your heart at rest?
Not at rest because you're strong, not at rest because your wise, not at rest because you've been able to cobble together enough control that you think you can handle your circumstances, not rest in your righteousness, not rest in your success, because you'll have moments where you will have none of that stuff. But rest in the presence, in the power, and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who has called you out of the mass of humanity and said, "You're going to be my nation. You're going to be my priesthood.
You're going to be the people for my possession. I am going to fulfill the covenant promises that I made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through you." You've been given an awesome new identity. We're not just people who are trying to slug our way through a broken world. God has taken us by His hands, and He's pulled us to His heart, and he says, "You're mine, and I will not let you go. And I won't lose you to difficulty, and I won't lose you to rejection, and I won't lose you to Satan, and I won't lose you to a broken world, and I won't lose you to a broken church.
You Are Mine
You are mine!" That's the message of this Book; that's the message of this letter. In Chapter 1, that rest is a rest in God's sovereign sanctifying grace. That grace will not quit doing its work until every cell of every heart of every believer has been delivered from every microbe of sin. That rest, as I've said already, is rest in your place as God's people - you're royal, you're priesthood, you're the treasured possession of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! You ought to be saying right now, "How could this happen to a person like me?"
Well, the answer is grace. You rest in God's wisdom for life, all of the ways of the Lord are right and true. I think of this every time Luella and I celebrate an anniversary, that we could've never ever figured out what it means to love one another and what it means to live in this lifelong union apart from the wisdom of the Word of God. Every anniversary, we celebrate this Book. And we celebrate the fact that we believe that wisdom is not an outline; Wisdom is a Person, and His name is Jesus, and He has spoken to us in this Book, and He has opened this book to us by His Spirit, and we live guided, and protected, and warned, and encouraged, by that wisdom.
The story of Paul and Luella wouldn't be the story of Paul and Luella apart from the rescue of that wisdom. And in the wisdom and rest that is found in God expressing His authority through the authorities that He sets up in His world and in His church, God knows we need authority. He knows how fickle we can be, how stubborn we can be, how self-oriented we can be, and so He says, "You rest in my authority, and you submit to the authorities I've placed in your life." Well, there it is. How do you live with peace and productivity in a broken world?
Well, you stand firm in God's grace, and you really do believe there's grace for every struggle of heart and grace for every situation of life. You celebrate the fact that you've been called to be part of a community of love, and you want to be part of the growth and the expression of that love, and you love the fact that you're loved, and you love the fact that you have opportunities to love others, and you want that love not to be happenstance, but you want it to be a commitment and an intention in your life.
And then you know you've been given the gift of peace. Rest in God's grace; rest in His sovereignty; rest in His wisdom. What a beautiful life even lived in the midst of brokenness. That life is the gift of the suffering Savior Jesus Christ. The Bible says, "He came and lived a perfect life; He suffered a cruel death; He rose, conquering death so that we might have life and have it abundantly." Rich grace for every need, a community of love to warn, support, comfort, and encourage. Peace that passes understanding.
Maybe you're here this evening, and you would say, "I don't know that grace. I don't know that rest. I don't know that peace. I don't feel like I live in a community with that kind of love." I would plead with you: cry out for the grace of your Redeemer this evening. Say, "I don't know You. I don't know Your grace. Please help me. Please rescue me; please draw me to Your heart and make me one of Your own." The Bible says when you pray that prayer, God will never turn His back on you. Celebrate His grace.
Kiss someone with His love. And rest in His peace. Let's pray: Thank you, Lord, for the beauty of these few and brief words that take us back through this wonderful letter that we have spent so many months on. Help us remember that our hope is not information; our hope is You. And You have been given to us; You are with us; You are in us; You are for us, and so there's grace, and there's love, and there's peace to be found. Thank you. In Jesus's name, Amen.
