OUR JOURNEY THROUGH THE GREAT FINALE

FROM PETER - BOOK 1
A MESSAGE FOR TWENTY FIRST CENTURY PEOPLE

Let's look at this message from God through Peter as people who are sojourners, exiles, (all of us away from our home - which is heaven) and elect or chosen ones. When we become Christians we are considered chosen because we have responded to a call from God to us. As Christian women and men we are expected to give a faithful response to this call with the help of the Holy Spirit. The result of this response produces the fruit of a Christ-like life.

Christ is the one to whom we owe our allegiance. In Christ we are a new creation with a living hope (or lively hope), which continually challenges us forward in conquering life's problems. These problems may be difficulty in our family ties, our work, or our relationships with each other. It is this inward, subjective hope that holds us steadfast as we contemplate the end of the Christian journey and our eternal future. As Christians, our inheritance is not subject to decay or dissolution. It is eternal! It is incapable of pollution or defilement. Like the imaginary Amaranth flower it is unfading and nonperishable. That we have an inheritance, is as certain as the faithfulness of God and is guarded (protected by the garrison of heavenly troops) for us in the dwelling place of God.

Our faith can be developed to fully trust God and be confident that in His way of life, we will be fully satisfied in the deepest yearnings of our soul. We look forward to our final deliverance at the Second Coming of Christ.
We rejoice and leap for joy in the living hope that we can feel an exaltation and freedom of spirit amid the burdensome trials of life, because we know that God will have the last word in the great battle between good and evil. In a world influenced by the powers of evil, troubles of every type are unavoidable and at times we are sorrowful and distressed. We may be subjected to a variety of annoyances, problems, disappointments, and grief, which Satan uses to destroy our personal faith in God.

The quality of our personal faith is revealed by the magnitude of the problems our faith can surmount. We are as gold tested and refined by fire. When we have gone through this refining process our value is fully displayed before the universe. The evaluation God places upon us as redeemed will be disclosed at the Second Coming of Christ and throughout eternity. Then He will bestow on us the glorious possessions of eternity.

We have not personally seen Jesus, yet by faith and trust we can experience a personal union with our Savior that words cannot describe. We may now taste the sweetness of the presence of God as we allow our femininity or masculinity to be directed by the Holy Spirit.

The prophets were not motivated by personal whims but by the direct influence of the Spirit upon their minds. They spoke as the Spirit's mouthpieces and wrote as His penmen. These prophets not only served their own generation but also the people of Peter's day through the prophecies fulfilled in the ministry of Christ and which are still finding fulfillment in the growth of the modern Christian church.

All of the beings of heaven are intensely interested in the revelation of God's character as exhibited in our salvation. Each manifestation of God's love and justice from the creation of Adam and Eve down to the present has been a source of wonder and gratification to angels. They are interested in the outcome of this drama because their own future peace is dependent upon the results of the great controversy between good and evil.
Just as the Oriental gathers up the long folds of the outer garment and tucks them into the waistband prior to physical effort such as walking or running, so we are called to prepare our minds for diligent activity. As Christians, we are to gather up the loose ends of our thinking, and cease speculating on unprofitable topics, and exercise our mind on the great truths of salvation revealed by the Holy Spirit. We must be intellectually and spiritually sober and balanced to persevere in the hope we have in Jesus. The purpose of the gospel is to restore the divine image in us while we are still in an imperfect world. We are redeemed away from our aimless traditions. This world is only our temporary residence. Heaven is our Home!

Our personal relationship with God will lead us to live life fully and richly with freedom. Although earthly slaves are purchased and freed by means of silver or gold, our spiritual ransom depends on an infinitely more precious payment. God gave His only Son for each woman, man and child.

It is only through the Christian life that we can successfully eradicate personal and social evils. As Christians we find satisfying meaning in the present life and hope for the future. A distinctly new way of life is needed to replace the aimless, futile philosophy of paganism.

The presentation of Christ as the redeeming Lamb was not an emergency plan introduced to meet an unforeseen change of circumstances, but was part of God's eternal purpose. Christ's life, death, and resurrection are the only basis for our hope of deliverance. Our invincibility as Christians centers in a resurrected Christ. A Christian's affection must extend over many areas of life that may not be lovable. It covers all incidents and includes all people. When we have been born again to a new life in Christ the word of God is sown in our hearts. (See the parable of the Sower Matt. 13:3-9, 18-23.) By faithful obedience to the truth of God we are ensured of everlasting friendship with the Eternal God.

The Lively Stones
Peter talks about our lively hope, then lively stones. When we become Christians and make Jesus the center of our life we begin to reflect through our lives the facets of His character. The Holy Spirit uses this to attract others to God. Others observing us have the opportunity to see a wonderful peace, happiness and trust that they do not have. We have become alive with the presence of God.

We are told that if we make Christ, the living stone, our foundation we will only then be lively stones. This temple, (the church) of living stones, will reflect through each one of us the living light to the world. As living stones we are jets of light piercing the darkness of error and superstition. Our lives then reveal the strong contrast between truth and error.

On Submission
Peter repeatedly relates our submission to government, business, and marriage to our submission to God. We must first ask ourselves how we are to submit to God. We are called to be whole-heartedly a child of God. We are to offer ourselves completely, obeying God because we have truly come to know God as our Friend and want to share our life with Him. We then bear the concerns of God in our hearts. That is the tender concern the Creator has for each created being. This means opening our hearts to be filled and nurtured by the Holy Spirit as a mother tenderly cares for her child. Only then can we have the kind of spirit that enables us to be true, faithful, honest, a helper in all of our relationships whether it is to government, business or marriage.

When this godly relationship is in our lives and also in the lives of our spouse or people we work with we will be joyous, creative, and be living life to the fullest. As team partners, this relationship will be that bit of heaven on earth that is a powerful example to others in the world. We are willing to be friends that can at times defer to one another to reach the goals we share. While working together we can freely exercise the give and take that indicates our true love and concern for each other. We become truly witnesses of God's power to change our sinful lives to glorious, victorious living.

In committed marriages, through difficulties, perplexities, and discouragement the husband and wife determine to be all they can possibly be to each other. They encourage each other with mutual love and forbearance. They will experience the warmth of true friendship. Husband and wife will treat each other as God treats them, by never forcing the other against their will or abusing the other's submission to personal wishes. Love cannot be retained by force. Successful marriage partners will not isolate each other, or shut themselves away from each other or from others. To do so is selfishness.

Some husbands, men in positions of authority, pastors and other church leaders, have taken Peter's words to mean that they have the right to "force" women to submit to their every wish. Such behavior removes from them every vestige of human worth. This is a satanic perversion and must be treated as such. If men who do such criminal acts do not repent of their sin and go into Christian counseling to help them overcome such tendencies, others must remove them from their positions of authority. If he is a husband the wife has a responsibility to herself and her children to have him leave the household. If action is not taken, then by our own act of doing nothing we may bear false witness and thus condone such vile behavior. We then are guilty of teaching our children from generation to generation that this kind of behavior is acceptable and Christian. This is the vilest misrepresentation of God to our children, neighbors, community and family.

Men and women must place their highest priority on allegiance to the One who created each of us and restored us. Only then can we have the kind of strength to deal with others in unpleasant situations. In life we are not always treated fairly, and may be abused, raped physically or by words, but there is power in that inner beauty that comes from God. This power of love and kindness is the coals of fire that can "destroy" our enemies. It is the love of God that can help us to separate our selves from a destructive relationship. If the situation we are in is not destructive, it is also the powerful love of God through us that may be able to warm our spouse's heart to melt before God. If their heart does not melt (we must remember it is their choice) then the way we treat them with Christian love may be the only bit of heaven they will ever know.

We must take a deeper look at what Peter is really saying about submission. Women have been told by well meaning friends and pastors that they must endure unchristian treatment by their spouse whether he professes to be a Christian or not. This text on submission in 1st Peter is quoted as their authority for this advice. Does God say one thing in one place, then completely reverse His counsel in another? God is not a fickle God. We need also to look at the Ten Commandments as well as what Jesus taught the disciples about true servanthood.
The Ten Commandments teach us what our relationship to God and each other is to be. Any relationship or person that interferes with our relationship to God that we allow to continue, then becomes as a false God in our life. Anti-Christ is anything that takes the place of God in our life. Putting self before God by self-depreciation or being co-dependent, we are placing our selves before God.

When we are living in an intolerable situation of abuse and suffer either physical or mental anguish, feelings of hatred will result and take their toll on us. This may take on the form of violent physical action or turn inward with disease that can eventually destroy us. Either way this is murder.

We can commit spiritual adultery by allowing an earthly relationship to separate us from our relationship with God.

By allowing ourselves to remain in slavery to another person by our own choice, we are causing that person to break the eighth commandment; "You will not steal".

When Jesus taught His disciples in John 13, He exemplified true servanthood by washing their feet. There was no one else to do this for them and they were reluctant to care for each other. Even when He did this act of love for them and explained it to them, they did not understand it because none of them, at that time, were willing to wash His feet. It was only later, after His death and resurrection that they began to fully understand that by being a servant of God we may lift each other up to a higher quality of life. We will not be too proud to help each other achieve success in this life. Likewise we will not be too proud to accept help along life's way. By Christ's example we are all made equals to serve.

Peter advises us that in submitting ourselves first to God, our lives will be changed. When people realize that we are truly children of the King of the Universe nothing nor anyone else can permanently harm us or separate us from that relationship. God calls men and women to a high calling to no longer live for evil lusts, but for the will of God. For too long men and women have wasted enough of their past lives doing the will of those who do not truly represent God. These evildoers will think it is strange that we will no longer associate with that kind of destructive evil behavior.

No discrimination
In God there is no class, race, or sex discrimination. God has chosen us to give the world a glimpse of heaven through us. God helps us to deal with others honestly and fairly. Through our continued relationship with Him, we develop integrity and purity in all that we do. We may be witnesses of God to our families, our place of work, as well as our government.

It is the power of God in our lives that gives us the sweet peace in the midst of strife, pain, and suffering. That is truly freedom!