one28 PodcastThe Best Is Yet to Come
Jonathan Sarr Teaching
1 Peter 1:3-5
2009-10-21
one28 Wednesday worship
I.
The Source of Our Inheritance
II.
The Motive of Our Inheritance
III.
The Means of Our Inheritance
IV.
The Nature of Our Inheritance
V.
The Security of Our Inheritance
READ 1 PETER 1:3-5
In the first century and before,
the practice of handing down something of value from parent to child was a
significant and important one. As
a parent, I love to give good things to my children, for a number of reasons. I like to see them happy and I like to
provide for them so that they have what they need to survive and grow and even
thrive. I also like to do things
distinctly for them that I do not do with other people’s children. I like little kids, but I rarely tickle
them or wrestle with them, except for my own. My children’s favorite games are Tickle Monster, Magic
Finger, and Pick-Abbie-Up-Chase-and-Play-Gumps, which is where I pick up Abbie,
who is getting heavy, and we race around the dining table chasing Ellie, then
end up by our gumball machine and make a modest purchase. Even though Abbie can run almost as
fast as Ellie, now, that’s not the way the game works. I have to carry her. Usually Joshua
passively observes with a puzzled look on his face. And this is fun for me (as long as I have the energy), and
it’s fun for them. But whether
it’s playing games, or making financial moves that we think will help them be
able to go to college, or whatever, I love to do good things for my children,
as most parents do. If life were
otherwise difficult for my children, I’d like to think that the love they enjoy
from us would help them to endure.
But at best my situation with
my children is but a sin-tainted shadow of our relationship with our Heavenly
Father. In Matthew 7:7-11 Jesus said, 7 "Ask, and
it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened
to you. 8 For everyone
who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it
will be opened. 9 Or
which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a serpent? 11
If you then, who are evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Father who is in heaven give good
things to those who ask him!”
In Christ, we have a promised
inheritance for which this world can only begin to prepare us. And as we’ve learned already in our
study, Peter wants for his readers to have a proper perspective and focus when
it comes to their hard life. Now
is their time to impact a dying world while dying themselves, and the worst
that could happen to them would be that they would get to see Christ earlier
than expected. Their souls and
their inheritance were secure in heaven, so they should embrace their
opportunity to glorify God in their affliction by depending on Him while suffering.
And though Peter writes about
their heavenly inheritance in Christ, it had to be hard for the Christians
reading this letter to stop thinking about their current situation. No matter how perfectly-aligned their
perspective might be, the loss of loved ones and possessions still hurts. These blows bruise us deeply and are
painful and can be discouraging.
As I continue to think about these believers reading this letter, there
is one analogy that keeps coming to my mind.
Have you ever watched a
blacksmith at his work? If not in
person, perhaps on television or in a movie? Centuries ago, smiths determined that they could manipulate
a black metal called iron into different shapes for use as tools and
weapons. The process involved
heating the metal to a medium glowing red and then, while it is hot, beating it
into its desired shape. Unless the
iron is heated close to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit, the smith will not be able to
shape it. The process is long, and
takes much heating, shaping, natural cooling off, reheating, pounding and so
on. Once the desired shape and
dimensions are obtained, the smith again heats the iron and then immediately
plunges it in an oil bath. This
process is called heat treatment and it tempers the metal so that it is not
only the desired shape, but much, much harder than it was at the
beginning. Now the smith has a
tool that needs only modest refining as it is sharpened or filed and it is
ready for use without worry of losing its shape under normal use.
I think that is a fitting
picture for the life of a believer.
The inexperienced believer may start out ignorant, but somewhat firm in
his convictions, like a piece of un-worked iron. But like the steady, consistent blows of a blacksmith’s
hammer, trials beat upon him, shaping him and forging him in his reliance upon
Christ. Death of a child –
BANG! Cancer – BANG! Fight
with my parents – BANG!
Persecution for following Christ – BANG! Over and over trials beat upon us.
And it’d be nice to think that
at one point, some trial is like that oil bath, and we’re quickly plunged
beneath the surface only to emerge tempered, solid, and much stronger than
before the process began. But it
doesn’t work like that. Rather, if
we are to continue the analogy, the only possible comparison with the oil bath
would be death. We’re beat upon,
and beat upon, and reheated in the fires of adversity, and forged, and shaped
and pounded and reheated and pounded some more, and molded…and then we
die. But that’s not all.
In Christ we too, have
victory over death, and we emerge from that figurative bath as an instrument
that has been carefully shaped and forged and manipulated by the skillful work
of the Master. We are fit for eternity
at that point, and are as different from who we once were as is the new tool
from the raw iron that first faced the anvil and hammer.
What if this life is nothing
more than the process of being beaten and shaped and forged into who God wants
us to be, though the process may be a series of figurative (or literal)
beatings and brutal circumstances.
What if all of our trials are to have that effect, and all of our
dependence upon God in work, in relationships, in play, in evangelism are
techniques to help shape us and others into instruments for His use and His
glory? What if it never gets
easier, and we’re never through being beaten upon until we’re plunged into
death like a scalding, glowing piece of iron that emerges from the oil bath as
a sword? For those who think they
are entitled to a life of ease after paying their dues, that they deserve a
retirement from work and ministry at 65, that they’ll no longer have any need
to be tried, tested, pounded and forged, I think they’ve missed the picture.
This life is a gift from God,
but it’s not always fun. We are now being forged into what God wants for us to
be. Christ is shaping and
perfecting us as His bride to present us to Himself as one without spot or
blemish. In an instant upon death
we will be changed and will be no longer tainted by sin, but in the meantime,
what we experience and undergo presents opportunities to glorify Him.
Scripture uses analogies like
this, as Jeremiah and Paul both talk about the potter and the clay. When we consider that we are mere
instruments in the hands of a skillful Master, and that we are to be used by
Him for His purposes, then we begin to properly understand the purposes behind
trials and troubles.
God offers us a glorious
promise of life in Him at the end of our days. He promises that – though this life is difficult,
though we experience devastating blow after blow to our pride, confidence and
dignity, in Christ we will emerge victorious in the end, coinheritors of the
Kingdom.
And I can’t get away from how
Peter’s readers would have received the words of his letter. Even as Sean reminded us on Sunday, we
need to know about the person of God NOW.
We need to know that He is sovereign NOW. We need to know that He works all things together for good
to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. We need to know that nothing and no-one
can remove Him from the throne. We
need to know that every blow, every trial is from the skillful hand of the Master,
who is conforming us to His image.
Knowing that God is sovereign and good may not originate in times of
distress or calamity, but it is tempered there.
And this isn’t just a coping
mechanism for Peter and his audience.
This is an exciting opportunity to be a part of God’s plan, to see Him
working in our lives. So it’s hardly
surprising that Peter is bursting with praise by the time he gets to our
passage for this evening. He’s
only three verses deep in his letter, and we find him exclaiming praises to
God, then instructing his readers about all that awaits them in heaven.
All that this world offers
and all of its troubles have a powerful contrast in eternity. The things of this world cannot
accurately be compared to what awaits the believer in heaven. Every joy here is temporal at
best. Our moments of greatest happiness
and pleasure are but momentary.
They will have an unimaginable upgrade when we are in God’s
presence. On the other hand,
trials and suffering that we experience here are guaranteed to come, but they,
too won’t last.
Think about what promises of health,
wealth and prosperity would have meant to the readers of 1 Peter. These believers led hard lives, and the
times had been difficult for them, settling in their various locations in the
Roman Empire as followers of Christ.
Imagine someone comes along and says, “Hey! God wants this to be the
best time of your life,” or “Happy, successful, fulfilled individuals have
learned how to have their best life now,” as one popular author and pastor promises
millions of readers today. Peter’s
audience would probably scoff or laugh, thinking, “Yeah, right. We got this way
by being obedient to God. If He
wants us to be blessed and prosperous, we must be in sin.” Well, for the unbeliever, this life is
as close to heaven as he will get.
For believers, this is as close to hell as we’ll ever be.
A reminder or a lesson about
what awaits suffering believers in heaven would – like the rest of
Peter’s letter – help to align the perspectives of his readers and help
them to endure their trials with joy and confidence that their inheritance in
eternity is secure.
MacArthur states it
well:
“We
make too much of life’s difficulties. We can’t be telling people that Jesus
wants them to live their best life now or Jesus will disappoint them because
this isn’t going to be your best life now. Don’t invest too much expectation in
it. It’s full of trouble. And if you expect too much out of this life, this
life will steal your joy. If you expect little and are grateful for every small
benefit, but you live in the light of the life to come, then this life can
steal nothing of your joy.”
Peter knows that when his
readers are rightly focused on the life to come, they will be able powerfully
to impact this world. So he bursts
out in praise and begins instructing them on their inheritance in Christ.
I.
The Source of
Our Inheritance
1 Peter 1:3a Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
This is a common Hebrew
praise. It is common in Scripture
and outside of Scripture for us to find blessings ascribed to God.
The immediate context of this
verse introduces and names God the Father before teaching about what He has
promised us. He is reminding his
readers that what they have and what they are promised comes from Him. Remember that this comes just a few
words after he has reminded them of their position in Christ as having been
chosen by God. He has wasted very little time in reminding them of whose they
are, which is helpful when we are facing suffering.
The very nature of Peter’s
bursting out in praise to God ought to be a good example for us. He is overwhelmed in his gratitude to
God, and he cannot help but ascribe blessings and praise to God.
Can you identify with
this? Are you so frequently aware
of and thinking about your blessings in God that you regularly burst forth in
praise to Him? Do your prayers
starts with praise to God or do you jump right into making your requests of
Him? Which is more natural? Listen again to the excited and joyful
tone to Peter’s writing. READ 1
PETER 1:3-5.
This is from GOD! God Himself. He is the one who promises this inheritance. He has chosen us and promises much to
us in Christ. And why does He do
this?
II.
The Motive of
Our Inheritance
1 Peter 1:3b According to his great mercy,
Occasionally we may be caused
to ask why God does what he
does. Why does He forgive
sinners? Why does He shower His
love on someone as bad as I am?
Why does He give us new life?
Well, Peter answers that in this exclamation: “According to his great
mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope,” etc. The short answer is that this sort of
merciful behavior toward His people is rooted in His very character. God loves us, and loves to demonstrate
that love by alleviating our miserable state.
How often do you think of
this? New life in Christ, a second
birth is merciful on the part of God.
Can you imagine how appealing
a little mercy would be for this group of believers? Typically we think of mercy as someone not getting what he
deserves. Others suggest that
grace is for guilt, while mercy is for misery. From a temporal standpoint, these believers were in a
miserable position, in dire need of mercy. And mercy is exactly what they get,
but it is not what we might expect. We would be inclined to think that the only
merciful thing to do would be to rescue them from their dangerous situation.
This is exactly the sort of
training that Peter’s readers needed and that we need. Far too often we approach God with a
man-centered request, expecting a man-centered response. I find that God rarely answers prayers
the way that I expect Him to.
Usually the answer is better than I could have thought or planned.
Such is the case here. These believers’ earthly lives were in
danger, their identity as enemies of Rome endangering them. They were being persecuted for their
identity with Christ, and were receiving little mercy from men. What God does for them in the midst of
serious trial is to cause them to be born again to a living hope. Forget about their earthly lives; He secures their spiritual lives.
Their God and ours is
motivated to act by the mercy that He demonstrates toward His people…the mercy
that flows out of His very character.
So what has He done for
us? That takes us to our third
point…
III.
The Means of
Our Inheritance
1 Peter 1:3c he has
caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead,
Our inheritance in Christ is
spiritual, and in order to receive spiritual inheritance we must first be
spiritually alive ourselves. Our
eternal life is knowing the Father
and the Son (John 17:3), and by having an eternal life it enables us to receive
an eternal inheritance.
Any hope that the unbeliever
has is in this world. When
contrasted with the believer’s “living hope,” the unbeliever’s hope is
dead. Really, what is there to
hope for in this world? An easy
life? Good health? A beautiful, happy family? A nice house and car? Material
wealth? Sounds like the American
dream. And this is for those who
are exceptionally fortunate. Most
people in the world don’t enjoy but one or two of these things, and any hopes
that they have are dashed to pieces as life and its trouble destroy our hope,
slamming us back to reality.
But let’s just say that
someone gets all of these good things.
How long will it last? At
best, a lifetime, which is an infinitesimally small speck on the timeline of
eternity.
But let’s not stray from our
context. What sort of hope did
these Christians in Peter’s mind have?
A hope that they might make it through the night, the week, or the month
without being robbed or killed?
Even if they did have such a hope, on what was it based? What is the best protection they could
possibly enjoy when Rome herself was behind their suffering?
In Christ, though we have a
living hope from God Himself, not an empty hope from the world.
And this is all effected
“through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
IV.
The Nature of
Our Inheritance
1 Peter 1:4 to an
inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for
you,
By nature, a view to an
inheritance is a look forward. When we are thinking about our
inheritance in Christ, we are not looking to what privileges we enjoy now, or
what we get in this world. Rather,
we focus on the life to come.
And I think that where and when we place our focus has a bearing on our conduct.
You might remember the story
of the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15.
In it the older son was bitter because he had always done what his
father asked, and it appears that he was motivated by the promise of his
earthly inheritance. I think this
is a self-interested focus, and that this son was obedient to his father
because he wanted to make sure he got as great an inheritance as possible. This
is not good. A promise of an
earthly inheritance will help us to behave well and keep our noses clean. And yet the inheritance Peter speaks of
is completely different. It is a spiritual,
permanent inheritance, and our good behavior in this world doesn’t have any
bearing on its permanence. In
fact, a focus on this inheritance will likely make your life harder now, but it
will ensure incomparable joy and bliss in eternity.
What does Peter say about the
nature of our inheritance? Let’s
take these one at a time:
1. Our inheritance is imperishable.
This stands in stark contrast
to any earthly inheritance. All
inheritances that we enjoy or anticipate here will perish with us. We cannot take them with us. Kings of ages past have figured that
they would be able to enjoy worldly riches in the afterlife. They have commanded to be buried with
treasures unspeakable and priceless.
As for Christians, we inherit
heaven. It’s not as though our
treasure is something here that’s particularly special, enabling us to take it with
us. Rather, it’s not even of this
world. Paul says in Ephesians 1:10
that the “Holy Spirit of promise” is a “pledge of our inheritance.” What a great inheritance if God Himself
is our pledge. When we become
Christians, we receive Christ as our Savior, and we are then indwelt by the
Holy Spirit. He is our earnest,
our guarantee.
If our treasure were of this
world, only a perishable document could guarantee what we would receive. As Christians, the guarantee is
spiritual, not subject to perishing or decay or death. When someone perishes, he dies. He is no more. Similarly, things we inherit or enjoy
also perish and are no more. Not
so with the believer’s inheritance.
IT WILL LAST FOREVER! What
the Christian is to receive will NEVER be taken away! This is speaking of our inheritance in heaven, to be sure,
but even now, true believers are no more in danger of their inheritance being
taken away than they will be in heaven, because God Himself has promised it; we
have received the Holy Spirit as the earnest (728 arrabon) of our inheritance. What we receive is absolutely guaranteed and
everlasting.
2. Our inheritance is
undefiled.
It has not been stained or
corrupted. Remember that
everything in and from this world is corrupted by man’s sin. Even the earth in its beauty maintains
only a fraction of the beauty with which it was designed because of the
fall. Israel’s inheritance was
still a pile of corrupted dirt, for all it was worth. Paul says in Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation
groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” Even
the most wonderful and beautiful things here are awaiting man’s redemption
because they are corrupt and defiled.
Not so with our inheritance
in Christ. This inheritance is in heaven,
and is untouched by sin or by corrupt creation. It has nothing to do with it, but is pure and undefiled and
will remain so until we come into our inheritance in the end.
3. Our inheritance is
unfading.
The Greek adjective that is
here rendered “will not fade away,” “was used in secular Greek to describe a
flower that did not wither or die” (MacArthur 35). In this context, then, it “suggests that believers have an
inheritance that will never lose its magnificence” (35). Are you getting the picture that what
we are promised in Christ is nothing like what we can fathom or imagine
here? It will not fade away. It is not subject to decay like things
of this world are. Even rocks and
mountains last ages, thousands of years, but they will eventually be reduced to
dust and ashes, and the span of their existence will have been but an
infinitely small speck on the time line of eternity, while our inheritance will still be new. “It is in a timeless, sinless realm”
(35).
4. Our inheritance is kept
in heaven for us.
The inheritance has your name
on it. It is securely guarded in
heaven, unable to be disturbed or destroyed.
This, too, stands in contrast
to Israel’s experience and ours.
Israel knew that their inheritance not only could be, but had been taken away on a number occasions. Every time they would turn from God,
they endangered not only themselves, but also their earthly inheritance.
Our own experience comes to
bear on our understanding here.
How many of you have had something stolen from you? The human mind is a debased and corrupt
thing if we would ever justify for ourselves simply taking from someone
something that belongs to them and not to us simply because we want it. Even if we “get away” with it as far as
not being caught by men, God sees all these things, and He knows, and He will
judge rightly in the end. No
earthly thing we have is really safe.
We understand that nothing we
have in this world is really guaranteed to us. It is all God’s, and He is absolutely entitled to give it an
to take it away from us. But with
our inheritance in heaven, it is already given to us, and awaiting us in
heaven.
It is important to remember
that the riches of our inheritance are not riches as we now know them. It’s not as though the Christian will
be extremely wealthy in a monetary sense when he gets to heaven. (Seriously, what we you possibly want
to buy when you’re in heaven and you have GOD?)
V.
The Security
of Our Inheritance
1 Peter 1:5 5
who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time.
A final reason that Peter
would suggest that our new inheritance is better than any earthly inheritance
is because it is payable upon death, and is as certain as our death. And even if we don’t taste death, we
will still get the inheritance.
Like earthly inheritances, it is guaranteed to one party alone, and is
payable to him alone. However, for
earthly inheritances, all guarantees are gone if the inheritor dies. For Peter’s readers, they needed to
know that that was when the inheritance was actualized and came to full
fruition.
So, the guarantee of our
inheritance is only as good as our certainty of fellowship with Him after
death. As such, 1 Peter 1:5
teaches us of our eternal security. A promised inheritance to one whose status
as an inheritor is not secure, is no promise at all. The reason we can glory in what is to come is because we are
“protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time.”
This had to have been a
tremendous source of encouragement for Peter’s audience. They were alienated, hated and
violently persecuted by the world around them, and Peter tells them that, no
matter what happens to them in this world, they are “protected by the power of
God.”
Many of us would like to be
on a divine insurance policy, where – with God on our side – nobody
can do any earthly harm to us.
Well, not only has God not promised this unilaterally, but he has warned
us that we should anticipate it (Matt. 5:11, 5:44, 10:23, 24:9, John 15:20,
etc.). This is no promise of
earthly protection. Peter was
himself executed under this oppression.
Rather, his point is that the spiritual far outweighs the worldly in
importance. It is lasting while
our inheritance here is temporal; it is infinitely great while what we have
here is poverty by comparison. And
God will protect them to receive their promised inheritance that awaits them in
heaven. Their eternal station was
secure and they would not forfeit what had been promised, and no enemy would be
able to steal it from them.
We know that we are justified
by faith (Rom. 3:28, 5:1, Gal. 3:11), and we know that it is by faith that we
are sanctified as well (Acts 26:18).
Faith is also that faith in Christ that activates His preserving work on
our behalf as well. We are
“protected by the power of God through faith,” etc.
Faith is the catalyst and the means.
The fullness of our salvation
and our spiritual inheritance are now “ready to be revealed in the last time.” When the last time comes for believers,
we will experience the full revelation of our salvation. Up to now we have only a small idea
what the glories of our salvation actually include. We are co-inheritors of the universe with Christ; we have
all things in Him. He has Himself prepared a place for us
in heaven. More than that, we will enjoy God is His fullness – in bodies
that will know no corruption – for all eternity.
This inheritance and hope are
cause for much joy and celebration on the part of believers. No distress or oppression at the hands
of their own government and society could rob Peters hearers – or us
– of the treasure we have stored up in heaven. It is a spiritual inheritance that no one can steal
away. With this hope in mind, Peter
continues his appeal for his readers to focus on spiritual life while the
physical world around them gets only worse for God’s people.
CONCLUSION
·
Are you thankful for
this inheritance? Do you tell that
to God?
·
Do you ever burst forth
in praise to God? If yes,
when? If not, why not?
·
What shaping blows have
you been experiencing lately by the Master’s hand?
·
Where has your focus
been of late? Are you living in
light of your eternal inheritance or are you living for this world?
·
What does a life of complete
dependence upon God actually look like?
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