1 Peter 1-2: Suffering with the Best of Them

We explore 1 Peter 1–2 through the lens of adoption, tracing how God’s heart for Israel reveals our identity and purpose as living stones and a royal priesthood. Peter’s call is simple and costly: set your hope fully, live holy, do good, and endure suffering like Christ.

• gratitude for listeners and the value of time in Scripture
• adoption analogy to read letters first written to Israel
• Peter’s story from impetuous disciple to refined shepherd
• new birth, living hope, and imperishable inheritance
• holiness as family resemblance grounded in Christ’s blood
• the enduring Word that grows sincere love
• living stones, spiritual house, and priestly identity
• honorable conduct among skeptics and civic submission
• suffering unjustly while entrusting ourselves to God
• closing challenge to choose sacrifice over comfort

Chapters

• 0:24 Welcome And Why This Matters
• 1:21 The Adoption Analogy
• 3:24 Who Peter Writes To And Why
• 5:53 1 Peter 1: New Birth And Holiness
• 10:10 1 Peter 2: Living Stones And Royal Priesthood
• 12:26 Exiles, Conduct, And Submission
• 14:33 Suffering Like Christ

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:13

Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. This is Mike, and I'm so thankful for you. I know you could spend this time any number of ways, even if you're trying to get into the Bible. You could read it in any number of translations and even hearing it. There's audio Bibles and different apps where you can hear the Word of God. And so the fact that you're here, I'm super encouraged by that. I'm encouraged every time there's another download of an episode or a download of a of a resource from the website or sending me a message through the little episode description here of this podcast episode. I'm so thankful for that. And that encourages me. And I'm thankful for you. And hey, you're doing it. You're in it. You're getting to know the God of the Word by spending time with the Word of God. And uh that is never time wasted. That is really, I don't want to be melodramatic, but that's the difference between life and death. And you're choosing life. Let's keep in it. Let's keep with it. Today, uh before we jump into our reading today, I'd like you to imagine with me. Imagine that you have been recently adopted. Now, for you that may not be a stretch to imagine. Maybe you are or have been. But either way, track with me. And your adoptive parents have a biological sibling. Okay, so you go into your new siblings' room when they're not there, and you kind of look around and you find a letter. It's a letter that your new father wrote your new sibling a while ago, before you were brought into the family. And you read it and it's beautiful. It's all about how much your new dad loves his son and uh just recounting some of the memories they've had together and so proud of you and looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you and and all these beautiful things, and it it's nice, but it makes you wonder, oh well, yeah, that that's nice, that makes sense because, you know, it's his real kid, you know, but what about me? Does he feel the same way about me? Well, you can't prove that from that letter necessarily, but you can from that letter learn a little bit about the heart of your father, and only with time, and unless you get a letter for yourself, with time you can learn more about what your father is like, and find out through time together and through watching him and getting to know him that yes, indeed, he does feel those same things about you. So that letter that you found wasn't necessarily for you, but that that heart behind it is really true and applies to you as well. It's uh maybe a rough analogy that breaks down at some point, but it does demonstrate how we can read some of these letters that we've been reading, where the author of Hebrews, for example, wrote to, well, God's people Israel. And today we're going to start the letter of 1 Peter. And he is writing to Jews. That was his ministry. Peter's ministry was to Jews. Paul's ministry was to Gentiles, but Peter was ministering to and writing to and teaching Jews about this new relationship with their father, that they've been in God's family since God birthed his family back through Abraham. And we, who are Christians, but not Jews, have a whole bunch of letters that our adoptive father wrote to his people that don't necessarily apply to us, but we can get to learn about him more. And this letter of 1 Peter now is like not exactly written to us, but can we learn the heart of our father? Yes. Can we find consistencies in the way that he treats his people and the messages that he has for his people that are really the same as he treats us, who he has brought in and grafted into our family? Yes. So as we are in this season of the podcast talking about building a kingdom, we find that God has brought into his family to work in the family business, we who were not originally in his family. And God's instructions for his people of how to live in his family today, in this era of Jesus, we can apply these same principles to our lives to learn how to be a family member in the family business of building his kingdom. And so we can take that same mindset as we read 1 Peter here. The author here, by the way, is the same Peter that we read in the Gospels. He is one of the first disciples, one of Jesus' best friends. Yes, the Peter who was quick to shoot off at the mouth, the one who denied Jesus, the one who said a lot of things that he probably would take back if he could. But he's also the Peter who has been changed by the power of the Holy Spirit, who on Pentecost got up and spoke to thousands of people, sharing with them the gospel, and added 3,000 people to God's new church that day. This is that Peter. So in the later years of Peter's life, when he's writing these letters, we find a Peter who has a much more refined passion and urgency. He's not shooting off at the mouth like he used to, and he certainly hasn't lost his zeal for Jesus. He is now putting to pen everything that you need to know if you're going to be a part of this new kingdom that God has been building. Peter, after all, is the rock on which Jesus would build the church, and this rock is gonna talk. So let's get into First Peter. We're gonna read chapters one and two today from the New English Translation. From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those temporarily residing abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by being set apart by the Spirit, for obedience and for sprinkling with Jesus Christ's blood. May grace and peace be yours in full measure. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in heaven for you, who, by God's power, are protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. This brings you great joy, although you may have to suffer for a short time in various trials. Such trials show the proven character of your faith, which is much more valuable than gold, gold that's tested by fire, even though it's passing away, and will bring praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. You've not seen him, but you love him. You don't see him now, but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy because you are attaining the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who predicted the grace that would come to you searched and investigated carefully. They probed into what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified beforehand about the sufferings appointed for Christ and his subsequent glory. They were shown that they were serving not themselves but you in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things angels long to catch a glimpse of. Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Like obedient children, don't comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, but like the holy one who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct. For it's written, you shall be holy because I am holy. And if you address as Father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, live out the time of your temporary residence here in reverence. You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed. Not by perishable things like silver or gold, but by precious blood, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for your sake. Through him you now trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. You've purified your souls by obeying the truth in order to show sincere mutual love. So love one another earnestly from a pure heart. You've been born anew, not from perishable, but from imperishable seed through the living and enduring word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and its glory is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers, the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was proclaimed to you. So get rid of all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander and yearn like newborn infants for pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, if you've experienced the Lord's kindness. So as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but chosen and precious in God's sight, you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it says in Scripture, look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and whoever believes in him will never be put to shame. So you who believe see his value, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stumbling stone and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. You once were not a people, but now you are God's people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul, and maintain good conduct among the non Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears. Be subject to every human institution for the Lord's sake, whether to a king as supreme or to governors as those he commissions, to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do good. For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God's slaves. Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king. Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse. For this finds God's favor if because of conscience toward God someone endures hardships in suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it? But if you do good and suffer, and so endure, this finds favor with God. For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps. He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. When he was maligned, he didn't answer back. When he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. For by his wounds you were healed, for you were going astray like sheep, but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. Peter makes it clear here in this first part of his letter, it doesn't matter who you are, if you have descended from the lines of David and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or if you and your family have lived the farthest from God that you can possibly imagine? Jesus' sacrifice demands a response. He did all the hard work. He's the one who suffered, he's the one who died, he's the one who had everything to lose and he willingly gave it up. What does that mean for you? What are you willing to give up? What are you willing to suffer for? How much are you willing to bleed? Are you making decisions that are in light of Jesus' sacrifice for you? Or are you making decisions based on what's comfortable for you? That's the thinking out loud, thought for the day.