April 22 Sermon

I'm sorry but the recording did not work this morning. There were a number of "technical errors" and apparently in the midst of trying to solve them, I inadvertently stopped recording on Garageband. BUT, here is the transcript for your reading!

CHOOSING TO BE DIFFERENT

Living God's Way -- Part 2

I Peter 1:13-2:2  04-22-12 Sermon

           

Last week I started a series called "Living God's Way".  What we're going to do over the next several weeks is to look at the book of I Peter and see what he has to say about how to live God's way in an ungodly world.

Before we dig in I want to set the stage a little by reminding you of the two worlds that the Bible refers to oftentimes using different terms.  Not the two earths, the two worlds, the evil side and the godly side.  The Bible also calls this the flesh versus the spirit, darkness versus the light, the old versus the new.  The Bible refers to this all through Scriptures that there's something very real happening with these two entities, these two realities.  If you are a believer, a Christian, if you've trusted Jesus as your Savior, you have been freed from the old side.  I love the image the Bible gives of being a slave in jail to sin and Jesus is the only one with the key and He comes along, opens the jail and you are delivered from being a prisoner to sin if you accept His gift of salvation and you live in the new. 

There was a little boy visiting is grandparents on their farm. And he was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods.  He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target and, getting a little discouraged, he headed back to dinner.  As he was walking back he saw his Grandmother’s pet duck.

Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it.  He was shocked and grieved.  In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to see his older sister, Sally, watching.  She had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch that day, Grandma said, Sally, let’s wash the dishes.”  But Sally said, Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.  Then Sally whispered to him, ‘Remember the duck?’  So Johnny did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help me make supper.  But Sally just smiled and said, Well, that’s all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help.  She whispered to Johnny again, ‘Remember the duck?’  So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s he finally couldn’t stand it any longer.  He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.  Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, Sweetheart, I know all about the duck.  You see, I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing.  But because I love you, I forgave you, I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you!”

Whatever is in our past, the devil keeps throwing it up in our faces.  We need to know that Jesus was standing at the window and saw the whole thing.  He wants us to know that we are forgiven and wonders how long we will continue to allow the devil to make a slave of us. When the devil reminds you of your past, you just remind him of his future!

Wouldn't it be great when we come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, if He would just take us to Heaven right away?  If that were to happen we wouldn't live in this tension between the old and the new.  But for some reason God has decided to keep us here.  He's left us on earth to figure out how to live for Him in what Phil. 2 calls, "an evil and perverse generation."  To live in a time that is opposing God's will, to live in a time that is anti-God, how is it that we can live God's way in this evil and perverse generation?

The world system lies in the lap of the evil one who nurtures and drives this way of thinking, cultivates evil, motivates it, and gives it nourishment.  The evilness is designed to appeal to us, to appeal to our fleshly desires, to make life easy and comfortable, and tempt us to go the way of the old.  Basically, to seduce us away from God. 

I want you to hear and see and recognize this tension as we dig in to what Peter says in this first chapter where he challenges Christians to be different.

1)  You have been made new. 

I Peter 1:14 "Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing.  You didn't know any better then; you do now.  As obedient children, let yourself be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness." 

He says don't slip into the old grooves of evil.  You know better.  Peter says, "As obedient children let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, energetic and blazing with holiness."  Also II Cor. 5:17 "If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation.  The old has passed away, behold the new has come."  You have been made new.  If you have a relationship with Christ, you've been made new. 

Obedience is at the very foundation of Christian living.  If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow him.  Jesus said that the person who really loves him is the one who obeys him. 

Peter takes it a step further and uses the word "holy".  Being made new is one thing...  I understood this when my first child, Luke, was born.  He came out new -- looked a little bit like E.T. -- but new, undefiled, pure, but born into a world of wickedness.  Peter adds that not only are we made new, but now we live God's way blazing with holiness.  In his second letter, Peter writes ‘You ought to live holy and godly lives’.

Holiness is a scary word.  It is a subject often avoided by even Christian people.  For some reason, it is very uncomfortable for us to talk about being holy. We seem to have little trouble talking about God being holy.  We sing the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord, God Almighty.  And yet when we want to talk about holiness in our own lives, we often think of what none of us wants to be—a person who is holier than thou. 

But holiness has a simpler definition-- "To be set apart."  Holiness is to be set apart from the ways of the world, from the ways of the flesh, from the ways of the wicked, from the ways of darkness.  That's what Peter is saying, "You've been made new, now be holy, be set apart."

Every kid knows that you don’t eat hot dogs and potato chips on good china. Mom’s china is reserved for special company or special occasions.  Hot dogs are for paper plates and every day dishes, china is for special events.  When God is calling us to be holy, he’s calling us to be china—something special just for him, and as Peter emphasizes, just like him.

God says, "You've got two paths.  You can run in your own direction or you can run in the direction I've given you."  Typically, we chose our direction because it seems easier.  It's more comfortable.  But the effects of not running God’s way, of not living God’s way, have a lot more consequences.  It's more painful.  We don't get as far.  Our relationships aren't as good.  God says "You're made new.  Here's the way.  Run this way.  Be set apart from the old."  He's saying choose to be different.

Choosing to be different is a discipline.  It's tough.  Living God's way and following His plan is not easy.  We have this tendency to be tempted to go back to the old. 

Two extremes:  Discipline and drifter.  A drifter is the opposite of discipline.  This is someone who loafs, who coasts, who does just enough with their faith to get by.  Doing just enough to get "in" at the end -- like eternal fire insurance. 

Where are you on this continuum?  Are you disciplined with your faith or are you a drifter?  Discipline is tough. 

Being disciplined is tough.  It's easy to drift.  To drift into the temptation of the old, always being tempted by the old.  Someone has said, "Opportunity may only knock once but temptation leans on the doorbell."  We're always being tempted to be brought into the old, to live in the wicked, to live by the flesh, and Peter knows this. 

He tells us 2)  Prepare yourself for a different life.  This is why he gives us such strong words in v. 13.  "So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives."

Peter is saying, this isn't the time to take it easy, to kick back.  He bears down on his pen, and says; roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear.  You are a new creation and as a new creation prepare for battle.  Get ready.  Don't lazily slip back into your old ways.  Prepare for battle.

You know that if a team goes in unprepared they're going to get wiped out.  Peter's saying prepare, get ready, roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear.

Do you know what the evil one is doing to those who are not prepared, to those who are falling by the wayside, those who haven't prepared for a new life?  He's circling around with no grace, no mercy, no kindness, and he's laughing as we fall away, as we give in to the temptation of the old.  We've been made new.  Now prepare yourself for a different life. 

         WHY?

3)  We need to prepare for a new life because God paid a price for you. 

When you're new, you're dealing with a new enemy.  If you wonder why you should prepare yourself.  v. 18-19 "God paid a ransom to save you from the impossible road to heaven which your fathers tried to take, and the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver, as you very well know.  But He paid for you with the precious life-blood of Jesus, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God." 

Do you remember the pictures of where that ship hit the bridge in Kentucky and a whole section of the bridge dropped out?  You could drive up on that bridge but there comes a point where you've got to stop, you can't go any further.  You can't drive your car to the other side.  You can't jump, skateboard, rollerblade to the other side.  The same thing is true with our relationship with God.  You might be going in the right direction, on the right path, but there was a separation.  God was on the other side and we need to be reconciled to Him.  So God sent Jesus down to build a bridge.  And Jesus built a bridge from one side to the other.  The bridge was made out of His cross.  That cross, when Jesus died in our place, gave us access to a relationship with God.  You've been made new, prepared for a different life.  God paid a price.  It wasn't out of silver or gold.  It was His blood.  Jesus died for you.  That's the motivation.  If you take nothing else away from here remember that.  You prepare for a new life because Jesus paid a price.  He shed His blood so that we might live forever.  Peter is saying this:  God paid a price for you.  You are that valuable.  You are worth it.  You are not dirt.  You don’t wash dirt…you wash dirt off something valuable.  You are different, now begin acting like it. 

Once we are in God’s family we are supposed to take on the family resemblance.  We should begin to reflect Jesus.  Others should see Jesus in us.  We need to be different.

"BE DIFFERENT BY HAVING..."  1)  Discipline with your love. 

v. 22 "Now you can have real love for everyone because your souls have been cleansed from selfishness and hatred when you trusted Christ to save you; so see to it that you really do love each other warmly, with all your hearts."  Peter is saying that there is no better test than love.  You've been made new, prepare yourself, now he gives us an action step -- love one another. 

I would have preferred him to start off with something a little easier.  Instead he goes for the jugular.  Do you love other people warmly?  Is love a filter that your actions go through?  Do you hold other people up to high regard?  Do you consider them better than yourself?  Do you put them before you put yourself?  Peter is saying that love is what sets us apart.  Love is the display of holiness.  Love is the litmus test for Christians.  It's not the actions of others; it's the actions that we have as Christians.  Do you love others warmly and with all your heart? 

Love is at the very center of Christian living.  In fact, love is the very character, the very essence of God.  And Jesus contended that it would be by this love that everyone would recognize his disciples.  In John 13:35 He says, "Others will know that you're My followers by the love you have for one another."  Love one another and people will know that you're My followers.  Do you want to be different, set part, holy?  It starts with love.  Do you love one another?  Do you love one another warmly? 

A man who was a pagan went to report on the early church movement.  The pagan went into the compound where a bunch of Christians were living together, intending to write something bad about them.  Instead he wrote these 6 words that had an impact on church history, "Behold, how they love one another." 

I wonder if someone from the secular world came into the Christian community today would be able to say that or would they say "Behold, how they judge one another.  Behold, how they criticize one another.  Behold, how they fight with one another.  Behold, how they hurt one another."  Being set apart, being different, being holy is to love one another, warmly and with all of our heart.  Christianity is not only to be believed; it must also be lived. 

A pastor gave a children's sermon.  He gave the children an opportunity to accept Christ.  A brother and sister came forward and the sister raised her hand that she wanted to have Jesus live in her heart.  The next morning the boy and girl were playing and the girl got mad and smacked her brother good.  The brother said, "I thought Jesus was living in your heart?"  The girl said, "He is, but He's sleeping right now." 

When it comes to discipline, loving one another, I think sometimes we've allowed Jesus to fall asleep, or back out, or step off the throne, or we put Him in a closet -- our reactions don't display love.  Do you love one another warmly and deeply?

BE DIFFERENT BY HAVING..."  2)  Discipline with your mouth. 

"Be sure, then, you are never spiteful, or deceitful, or hypocritical, or envious and critical of each other."  I have generalized these five areas under "mouth" but I think they have a way of displaying themselves by the words we use and what we say to others and how we treat them.  If we take care of the discipline of love then the words that come out of our mouth tend to have a different tone, tend to have a different direction, tend to have a different meaning.  When we perform a little heart surgery our words are displayed in a different fashion. 

This isn't my opinion, this is what Jesus said: "You will know a person's heart by the words that come from his or her mouth."  How does your heart measure up to these?  Spiteful, deceitful, hypocritical, envious, critical of others?  I think if we're being real, reality says that we may think some of these things but maturity says that we keep them to ourselves.  Reality says that these thoughts, may come and go, maturity says we keep them to ourselves.  Greater maturity says that these thoughts come up less and less. 

Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “Most people are bothered by those passages in the Bible which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always notice that the passages in the Scripture which trouble me the most are those which I do understand.”  His statement is a commentary on this passage.  The question is: what are we going to do about it?

BE DIFFERENT BY HAVING..."  3)  Discipline with your desire for God's Word. 

I Peter 2:2 "Be like new born babies, always thirsty for the pure spiritual milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up and be saved."  I love that image that you're always thirsty for spiritual milk.  He's not saying that you're spiritual babies.  He’s saying be thirsty for God's Word.  The word that Peter uses means to long for or to crave that pure spiritual milk.

Some of you have been believers for a long time.  You may be filled with God's Word from sermons and bible studies over the years, but maybe you're not thirsty any more.  Do you want to know how to live a different life, how to be set apart, how to be holy?  Consult His guidebook.  Consult the Bible, His love letter.  Some of you, you come on Sunday morning and that's the only milk that you get all week.  Discipline your desires for God's Word.  God's Word is more than a good book, more than a best seller -- it's God's love letter that's available to all of us, it's a gift. 

In the middle ages the Bible was chained to the pulpit.  Later it was in Latin where only the educated or the priests could understand it.  But now, we all have access to God's Word and it shows us how to be different. 

Always thirsty.  Remember as a new believer how exciting it was to tear into it?  You read the Bible with the desire to learn.  You had been born again, you were new.  Always thirsty.  God's word directs us to be different.

God is concerned that we grow up spiritually.  Peter uses the same word in his second letter where he concludes ‘But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’  Life begins with birth, but then birth must be followed by nurture and growth.  And just as a natural baby requires milk in order to be nourished and to grow, so must a spiritual baby have the milk of God’s Word in order to be nourished and to grow up in Christ. 

These action steps are not easy action steps.  Having discipline with our love, our mouth, our desires for God's Word -- these are not easy.  Peter, the man who wrote these words, was inspired by God.  But think about Peter in his earlier years when he walked with Jesus.  Peter was a big-mouthed, clumsy fisherman and Jesus came into his life and said "I'm going to call you Petros, the rock."  Then watch Peter's life.  He was instrumental in the book of Acts and the early church.  He was also very real and very human.  He denied Jesus three times.  This gives me hope.  Not only was Peter inspired by God when he wrote these words but he was also a fellow believer on the journey, somebody who has walked where we walk, somebody that knew what it was like to live in the tension between the old and the new.  That gives me hope.  He's saying "You've been born again, made new, begin to act like it."  You live by a different set of rules, a whole new game, when you live God's way.  Living God's way is playing a new game. 

(The military was doing a war-game exercise.  The people were split up into Side A and Side B.  They weren't using real guns or knives.  If you came up on somebody, caught them off guard, you said "Bang, bang" you shot them.  If you were in a battle and said "Stab, stab" you stabbed them.  If you saw them and they didn't see you, you could say "Lob, lob" and that would be a grenade and you blew them up.  Somebody from Side B sneaks up on somebody from Side A -- "Bang, bang", Person A turns around and starts walking right at him.  Person B, "Bang, bang,"  Still walking right at him, "Stab, stab."  Still walking right at him, "Lob, lob"  Person B, "You're not playing the game right!"  Person A, "Rumble, rumble, I'm a tank.")

When you're on God's team, when you're living a different life, when you're set apart, pursuing holiness, the evil one's game does not affect you.  Followers of God have changed the rules.  "If anyone is in Christ he or she is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold, the new has come." 

That's good news!  There's hope for those of us left here to live God's way.  My prayer is that you, the people of God, will be challenged to be men and women that live God's way, live in pursuit of holiness, set apart in how they live their lives.  And they don't live life in the ways of the old but walk in the ways of the new.

Let us pray:  Would you pray in your own heart…

Holy Father, forgive me for my sin.  Not just my blatant sins, but my willingness to dabble in things that are not holy, to flirt with things that are spiritually dangerous, and to expose myself to things that leave a residue of Satan’s world on my life.  Give me strength to say no to the things that distract me from you and to embrace with passion those things that make me more like you.  Through Jesus, our Lord, I pray,  Amen.

4-15-12 Sermon

To listen to today's sermon, click here.

GOOD NEWS FOR DISCOURAGED BELIEVERS

Living God's Way -- Part 1

I Peter 1:1-12  04-15-12 Sermon

Today’s sermon is the beginning of a series on 1 Peter. Today’s sermon is from the following portion:

¹I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. ²God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!

 ³What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, ⁴including a future in heaven--and the future starts now! ⁵God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all--life healed and whole.

⁶I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. ⁷Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

⁸You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him--with laughter and singing. ⁹Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation.

¹⁰The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. ¹¹The Messiah's Spirit let them in on some of it--that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. ¹²All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves--through the Holy Spirit--the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this! 

© 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

           

GOOD NEWS FOR DISCOURAGED BELIEVERS

Living God's Way -- Part 1

I Peter 1:1-12  04-15-12 Sermon

 

Funerals and cemeteries can be depressing and discouraging, but not always.

 

A newly appointed young clergyperson was contacted by a local funeral director to hold a graveside committal service at a small country cemetery in Iowa.  There was to be no funeral, just the committal, because the deceased had no family or friends left in Iowa. 

The young pastor started early to the cemetery, but soon lost his way.  After making several wrong turns, he finally arrived a half-hour late.  The hearse was no where in sight, and there were workmen relaxing under a nearby tree, eating their lunch.  The pastor went over to what he thought was the grave and found that the vault lid was already in place.  He took out his funeral book and read the service.  As he returned to his car, he overheard one of the workmen ask the other, “Should we tell him that was a septic tank or not?”

And you can find some pretty funny inscriptions on tombstones as well.  One read, “Here lies the dust of Marvin Peeper, swept up at last by the Great Housekeeper.”

Another read:  “She lived with her husband 50 years and died in the confident hope of a better life”

Another said:  “Here lies my wife in earthy mould, who when she lived did naught but scold. Good friends, go softly in your walking lest she should wake and rise up talking”

And finally:  “Beneath this stone lies Dr. John Bigelow, an atheist all dressed up with no place to go.”

In spite of that humor, there is much to be discouraged about in this world.  Would you agree that discouragement is a universal disease?  Everybody gets it from time to time.  We all get discouraged.  It's also a highly contagious disease.  You notice, when you get around discouraged people, what happens?  You get discouraged.  But it also is a very curable disease.

I've discovered that what you focus on in life determines your happiness.  If you're discouraged, I've got some good news for you.  Today we're going to begin a new series of messages from the book of I Peter.  It's a short letter at the end of the New Testament written by Peter about faithful, godly living, about living God’s way in an ungodly society.  It was written to discouraged believers.  It was written to encourage people who were hurting.  Do you think that can relate to any of us today?

In our passage it says, "I know you're going through a few trials right now."  That's the understatement of the century when Peter was writing that.  Christians at that time were being fed to lions.  They were being burned at the stake.  Nero burned Rome in 64 A.D. and blamed the Christians.  They were being tortured.  They were being imprisoned.  They were being taken to the Coliseum to be torn apart by wild animals.  Peter says, "I know you're going through a few tough times."  Just a few years after this Peter himself was crucified upside down.

         WHAT TO REMEMBER WHEN DISCOURAGED

In this passage he says, "When you start to get down you need to focus on what is really good in life."  He says there are three things believers ought to never forget.  If you're a believer there are three things to remember when you're discouraged.  They are simple, but they're really profound.  If you'll focus on them your discouragement will lift.

1.  GOD HAS CHOSEN ME TO BE A PART OF HIS FAMILY!

I Peter 1:2a:  "Dear friends, God the Father chose you long ago and knew you would become His children."  What is he saying here?  He's saying your salvation is no accident.  God chose you long before you chose Him.  He knew all about you and chose you.  He took the initiative.  Your salvation is not a fluke.  It was God's idea from the very start.  Good News Version:  "You were chosen according to the purpose of God."

To me that brings up a couple of immediate questions.  The first one is "Why in the world would God do that?"  Why would God choose you, or me, to be a part of His family?  The answer is, "Not because of something I've done, but because of Who He is."  Because He is a God of love.  He is a God of grace.  The more you understand grace the more you're going to be amazed by it.  God chose you.  Did you deserve it?  Not a chance.  Do you deserve to go to Heaven?  No way!  Are you good enough to be in God's family?  No.  But he chose you, anyway.  And that's good news.

On what basis did He choose you?  V. 3:  "For it is His boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that now we are members of God's own family."  Boundless mercy.  It's based on God's mercy not your performance.  You'll never earn it.  You'll never deserve it.  You couldn't work hard enough for it.  You couldn't be perfect enough.  It's just God's grace, God's mercy, that He says, "I want you in My family."  The Creator of the universe says, "I want you in My family."  If that doesn't encourage you, you'd better check your pulse.

Notice he says, "We are born again."  Some people don’t like that term, born again.  They think of fanatics.  Some think it means reincarnation.  But "born again" is a biblical term used by Jesus and Peter that means getting a fresh start.  That's all it means.  You’re painting a room and get halfway through and think "I wish I could start over."  Or you get half way through a life and think "I wish I could start over."  God gives you that option; it's called being born again -- a fresh start.  Not a new leaf, a new life.  He says He gives you the privilege of being born into God's family.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be born into royalty?  Let's say you could be born into the Queen of England's family.  You'd get perks.  You'd get privileges.  You'd get opportunities.

God says to you, "You’re in My family.  You are royalty.  You’re a king’s kid.  Act like it.  You're a child of God.  Realize it."  If somebody starts bragging about their business, look at them and say, "My father has offices in every city of the world.  In fact He owns this airplane.  He owns the air above it and the air below it.  He owns IBM, AT&T, Exxon ... He owns them all."  You are a child of royalty and you are deeply loved.

Some of you may be just barely hanging on by a thread.  Some of you may be deeply hurting.  Some of you may be facing a tough week, maybe getting some test results back.  Or you are dealing with a relational problem.  You're not here by accident this morning.  No, you're not.  Just as God chose you before you were even born, He brought you here today.  And He wants to say this to you today, He wants you to know, no matter what happens, God will always love you.  Here’s the first mood lifter--No matter what happens in 2012, God will always love you.  He will never stop. Nothing can stop Him from loving you.  No matter what happens in 2012, God will always love you.

2.  GOD IS WORKING IN MY LIFE

Then Peter moves on to a second encourager.  Not only does God choose you to be a part of His family but he says, God is still working in your life, even when you're going through problems.

Even though you don't feel it, even though you may feel God is a million miles away and you are all alone, God says, "I'm working in your life."  He's working in your life right now, even though you don't feel it.

Look at v. 2:  "And the Holy Spirit Who has been at work in your hearts, cleansing you with the blood of Jesus Christ and making you to please Him".  Notice he says God's Spirit does two things inside of you:  He cleanses you and He changes you.  He's always molding you, making you more like God.  Jesus Christ is the world's greatest interior decorator.  He's decorating you on the inside.  He's working on you on the inside even when you don't feel it.

There are two benefits to having God work in your life:  v. 2c:  "May God bless you richly and grant you increasing freedom from all anxiety and fear."  He says there are two benefits from having God work in your life:

1.  You are richly blessed.  The Bible calls this grace.  Grace means I'm richly blessed.  What's a blessing?  A blessing is when God gives you what you need, instead of what you deserve.  That's a blessing.  That's grace.

2.  You will have increasing freedom from anxiety and fear.  What does that mean?  The Bible calls that peace.  It's peace of mind.

As your pastor, the deepest desire of my heart, is that you will understand the grace of God and experience the peace of God.  That's my prayer for you just as it was Peter's prayer for these people.  I try to say it in a hundred thousand different ways so that you will understand the grace of God and you will experience the peace of God in your life.

You say, "But you don't know the problems I'm going through right now."  No, I don't.  But God does.

Look at v. 1b:  "You're not forgotten.  God the Father has His eye on each of you."  I don't know what's going on in your life, but God does, and He cares.

Here's the second mood lifter when you're discouraged.  Not only no matter what happens God will love me, but no matter what happens, God will help me.  He's working in my life. You may feel like the situation you're going through right now is hopeless, but it's not.  As long as you've got God, you're not hopeless.  You may feel it's hopeless.  It's not.  We have a living hope.  We celebrated Easter last week.  The tomb's empty, we have a living hope.  So no matter what happens, God will love me; no matter what happens, God will help me.

You say, "How is God working in my life?"  What about my current problems?  V. 7:  "Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine.  Even gold is tested by fire and so your faith must also be tested that it may endure.  Then you will receive praise and honor on the day when Jesus returns."

The purpose of problems is to refine and test your faith.  The result of that is that you're going to be rewarded in eternity for a tested and tried faith.  The reward is going to be long, long lasting while the problems you're going through are short and temporary.  Even if the problem is one you've had your entire life and you had to live with it and suffer from it, look at it in light of eternity and it's like a snap. 

Peter is saying, God is testing and refining your faith.  You know how they refine gold?  They heat it up.  They put it under intense heat, and as the gold gets hotter, the impurities rise to the top and they just skim them off.  Gold is refined through fire, through heat.  Your faith is far more precious than gold.

Someone asked a refiner of fine metals when he would know the molten metal was hot enough and pure enough.  He said, “I know when I can see my reflection in it.”  Jesus is refining you until he and others can see his reflection in your life. 

Are you feeling the heat these days?  Are you feeling a little pressure on you?  God is working in your life.  He's testing your faith.  He's strengthening it.

II Cor. 4:17 "This short time of distress will result in God's richest blessing on us forever and forever."  He says the short time of problems you're going through is going to result in the richest blessings forever and ever.  He says these hard times are just small potatoes compared to the coming good times.  Because God's working on your faith.  He's working on your character.

Sometimes a freak accident changes the direction of your life.  Sometimes an unexpected problem happens and you think "How in the world can God use this?" and you wonder what's going to happen.  But God has a purpose in it.

Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.  They are for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Philippians 3:13, "I am still not all I should be, but bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing, forgetting the past, and looking forward to what lies ahead."

God said if you never felt pain, then how would you know that I’m a healer?

If you never went through difficulties, how would you know that I’m a deliverer?

If you never had a trial, how could you call yourself an over comer?

If you never felt sadness, how would you know that I’m a comforter?

If you never made a mistake, how would you know that I’m forgiving?

If you knew all, how would you know that I will answer your questions?

If you never were in trouble, how would you know that I will come to your rescue?

If you never were broken, how would you know that I can make you whole?

If you never had problems, how would you know that I can solve them?

If you never had any suffering, how would you know what Jesus went through?

If you never went through the fire, then how would you become pure?

If I gave you all things, how would you appreciate them?

If I never corrected you, how would you know that I love you?

If you had all power, how would you learn to depend on me?

If your life was perfect, then what would you need me for?

  When you get discouraged remember first, I am a part of God's family; second, He's working in my life, and third...

3.  GOD HAS SECURED MY FUTURE

V. 4:  "And God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life.  It is kept in Heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay."

Peter says, God has given you this priceless gift of eternal life.  How long is eternal? It’s forever.  How much is eternal life worth to you?  It's priceless.  You couldn't put a price on eternal life.  Peter gives some good news:  you can know you are going to heaven.  In fact, he wants you to get the point so much that he emphasizes it four times in this verse.

"God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life."  That's one reservation that will never be canceled.  Then he says, "He's kept it in Heaven pure and undefiled [that means nobody can spoil it for you] beyond the reach of change and decay."  Peter says it four times.  He's saying, "Get the message.  I can keep you safe."  That is security. 

Titus 3:5 "It is not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us."  If I were saved on the basis of my work, obviously if I stopped working I'd lose my salvation.  If I were saved on the basis of what I did, obviously if I stopped doing it I'd lose my salvation.  But you're saved on the basis of what Christ did and He did it all and on the cross He said "It's finished". 

John writes in his concluding remarks to his first letter chapter 5:13, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life. 

Jesus said in John 10:29 "They're in My hand and no man can pluck them out."  Paul said in Romans 8:39 "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, not demons, nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus." 

We sing in one of our hymns, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.  That is almost an exact quote from 2 Timothy 1:12. 

That's security.  That's something to give you a boost when you get discouraged.

V. 5 "God in His mighty power will make sure that you get there safely."  Now, is that good news?  That's good news.  Because God will make sure that your assurance of Heaven isn't based on your performance, it's based on God's performance.  It's not based on your ability, it's based on God's power.  God, in His mighty power, will make sure.  That is an encourager to me.

There's the third spirit lifter -- no matter what happens I can be sure of my salvation.  He keeps it.  He holds it.  He protects it, reserved, kept in Heaven, undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.  I may lose so many other things in life but I can read the final chapter which God has already written.  The final chapter says this, "We win."  The world may be going to hell in a hand basket but in the end, we win.

What's Peter's conclusion?  V. 6, Phillips translation:  "This means tremendous joy to you, even though at present you may be temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials."  He says don't worry, relax, rejoice.  You may go through some tough times here on earth.  In fact, you will go through them.  But in light of eternity and what you're going to see in reward for the testing of your faith is so much greater it makes the problems seem insignificant.  Don't lose your perspective.

You may be going through problems right now but God has chosen you to be a part of His family.  God is still working in your life.  And God has secured your future.    It's settled.

So Peter concludes, v. 12 "Do you realize how fortunate you are?  Angels would have given anything to be in on this!"

I want to close with an allegorical story I had gotten off the internet sometime back.  It goes like this:

As I faced my maker at the last judgment, I knelt before the Lord along with all the other souls.  Before each of us lay our lives like the squares of a quilt in many piles. An angel sat before each of us sewing our quilt squares together into a tapestry of our life. 

But as my angel took each piece of cloth off the pile, I noticed how ragged and empty each of my squares was.  They were filled with giant holes.  Each square was labeled with a part of my life that had been difficult, the challenges and temptations I was faced with in everyday life.  I saw hardships that I endured, which were the largest holes of all.

I glanced around me.  Nobody else had such squares.   In fact, other than a tiny hole here and there, the other tapestries were filled with rich color and the bright hues of worldly fortune.  I gazed upon my own life and was disheartened.  My angel was sewing the ragged pieces of cloth together, threadbare and empty, like binding air.

Finally the time came when each life was to be displayed, held up to the light, under the scrutiny of truth.  The others rose, each in turn, holding up their tapestries. So filled their lives had been.  My angel looked at me, and nodded for me to rise.

My gaze dropped to the ground in shame.  I hadn’t had all the earthly fortunes.  I had love in my life, and laughter.  But there had also been trials—trials of illness, and death, and false accusations that took from me my world, as I knew it.  I had to start over many times.  I often struggled with the temptation to quit, only to somehow muster the strength to pick up and begin again.  I spent many nights on my knees in prayer, asking for help and guidance in my life.  I had often been held up to ridicule, which I endured painfully, each time offering it up to the Father in hopes that I would not melt within my skin beneath the judgmental gaze of those who unfairly judged me.

And now, I had to face the truth.  My life was what it was, and I had to accept it for what it was.  I rose and slowly lifted the combined squares of my life to the light.  An awe-filled gasp filled the air.  I gazed around at the others who stared at me with wide eyes.

Then, I looked upon the tapestry before me.  Light flooded through the many holes, creating an image…the face of Jesus!

Then our Lord stood before me, with warmth and love in his eyes.  He said, Every time you gave your life over to me, it became my life, my hardships, my struggles.  Each point of light in your life is when you stepped aside and let me shine through, until there was more of me than there was of you.”

May all the quilts of our lives be threadbare and worn, allowing Jesus to shine through.