Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

The underlying theme of 1Peter is about authentic Christian living which most likely will involve suffering. He

humility is not only suffering

starts off by alerting his hearers that the prophets of old searched the scriptures and testified that ‘the Christ’ would first have to suffer before his glory was revealed. He then focuses on the lifestyle of the individual believer; who we were, who we are and whose we are now that we have placed our confidence in Jesus. He encourages all those who are called to leadership to exercise caution in their dealings which should be done in humility to avoid the focus on money. This was a problem in Peter’s time as it is now. Many preachers only focus on the financial blessings that come from God without telling their hearers that suffering is part of the package. Blessing from God is multi-dimensional, that is, it will occur in every area of the individual believer’s life. And is underpinned by having a heart to give and particularly to give the tithe! Check out Abraham (Gen 12 onwards).

Peter knew what is was to prosper financially, he was a business man. He also knew the excitement and the adrenalin rush that occurred when Jesus called him. He had left everything and done and saw things that was out of this world, [the blind see, lame walked, the deaf hear, the dumb speak and a man walk on water]. He was an impetuous man, had a big ego and was someone who knew all the answers. In other words he was cocky, intelligent and proud. Over the three and a half years with Jesus [his undergraduate studies] his pride was transformed to humility (ch5:5), his impetuosity was transformed into an acceptance of suffering (references throughout 1Peter), and his ability to receive wise counsel was now complete. He had been completely restored and delivered from falsehood (St. John 21:1ff) and was now following Jesus all the way to his cross, whilst declaring the gospel that was fun, action packed but laced with suffering.

Today, our call as Christians is not to listen to other gospels that tells us about rituals, laws, or the praise of men, but let us listen to our brother Peter who knew what it was to follow Jesus only to fail miserably before being restored by the risen Jesus to shine like a star in his community. What a legacy! Let us conclude with chapter 5 of 1Peter.