Grace and Peace

1 Peter 5:12-14

Immanuel – 10/24/21

In five short chapters Peter has packed in such a density of theology that it has taken us over seven months and 30 sermons to unpack it all. And there are still depths we haven’t plumbed! What a journey it has been!

Peter has taken us from the darkest depths of human suffering to the highest glories of our union with Christ. He has put on exhibition our living hope, offered while we are in the exile of a hostile world: that we might set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13).

Anyone who thinks that theology is not practical has not truly been touched by that theology, which has amounted only to knowledge never allowed to penetrate the heart. But theology is the study of God, and God is personal, and His heart is aimed at your heart.

And Peter’s heart is absolutely electric with the theology of God, the One that he once walked Galilee with.

In the first sermon on this series I read this quote:

“Some may scorn the comfort and triumph of Peter’s letter as unpractical theology. His answers are answers of faith. But Peter knows that his witness is true, that Jesus Christ is real. He has tasted that the Lord is good, and this His goodness will not fail. ‘This is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it (1 Peter 5:12).’” -Edmund Clowney

Purpose

Remembering the journey Peter has taken us on.

Who or what are the figures in his farewell?

What fruit should this letter produce in us?

Read 1 Peter 5:10-14

Figures: Part 1

Peter regards Silvanus as a faithful brother. Do you know that Silvanus is a significant player in the Apostolic Era? Silvanus goes by another name, and one that you will likely recognize: Silas.

Silas was a Jew and evidently a Roman citizen. We can infer that he was a Roman citizen because of his Roman name, which Peter uses in verse 12: Silvanus.

Silas first appears in Acts 15. He is sent by the apostles in Jerusalem to carry a message to the church in Antioch. In Antioch he joins up with Paul and Timothy and accompanies him on his second missionary journey; enduring many sufferings alongside Paul. After a number of travels, Silas helps Paul and Timothy plant the church in Corinth. In Corinth, Paul writes both letters to the church in Thessalonica; and Silvanus has a hand in helping write both letters. Eventually, when Paul leaves for home, Silas stays behind – presumably to further minister to the new Corinthian church.

Obviously, at some point Silas leaves Corinth and links up with Peter. Remember, Peter writes this letter from Rome under the reign of Nero sometime between 62 and 64 AD. Peter died under Nero’s persecutions; and since Nero died in 65 AD, Peter only had a very short time before he was martyred. And when Peter was killed, Silas was very likely on a tour through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

Silas is probably the one carrying Peter’s letter to the churches in what is modern day Turkey.

Apparently, these churches have not met Silas, and Peter makes a point to let them know that the one carrying his letter can be trusted. There were so many false teachers and false prophets roving the land, many claiming to carry an apostolic message – similar to our day – and Peter wants his beloved churches to know that Silas is not one of them. Silas is a faithful brother.

Then, in verse 12, Peter states that he has written briefly to the churches. This sentence gives me a little chuckle. Yes, compared to some of the other epistles, 1 Peter is not one of the longer ones. But how incredibly dense it is! What riches are packed into every sentence; with not a single word haphazard or superfluous. And 30 sermons have only been a beginning. There are mountain ranges of theology beyond the little vistas we have shared together.

And though Peter’s fingerprints are all over his letter, how clearly he was carried along by the Holy Spirit as he wrote. After laboring over this letter these past seven months, there is no doubt in my mind that God is the ultimate author of 1 Peter. Carried by Silas, written by Peter, inspired by God the Spirit – and we are the benefactors. It has been a joy to feast upon this short and profound letter, and I pray it has been to you as well.

Read vs 12

This verse and the next do a great job of remembering where we were and helping us see where we are going.

Where we were, was all the glories of grace that Peter has been declaring. Where we are going is Revelation.

True Grace of God

First, where we were. Peter has been exhorting and declaring the true grace of God. Remember, grace is not just some term or some idea for you to think about. Grace is power. It is something that flows out of God’s goodness and love and wisdom and power, and it enters the elect to transform us. Then it moves through the elect and transforms the world around us.

Listen to Peter, for he starts his letter with grace and then proceeds to fill it with grace.

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for the sprinkling with His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. -1 Peter 1:2

The Father, Son, and Spirit are all at work to multiply grace to those who believe. And grace accords with the Father’s plan, the Spirit’s transforming power, forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, and obedience to Jesus. Grace is deeply, powerfully, practical – and deeply, powerfully, Trinitarian.

And God gives grace, in part, so that we can serve one another with it.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace…in order that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

-1 Peter 4:10-11

Brothers and sisters, you have been given grace; but not to gobble it all down and grow fat upon it. You have been given grace that you may extend that grace to others. Serve!

If you are a follower of Jesus and you are not serving others, then you are not stewarding your gift well and you are not bringing glory to God. God has been so generous to give you His grace. He sacrificed His one and only Son! Now He asks you to live with that same sort of generosity. With the grace you have been given, serve.

And grace is more than what is present. It transcends your brief life of 80 or so years. Grace is given to you now, to fill you with peace and a righteousness that serves. And grace is set before you, to fill you with joy and a living hope: a living hope that looks to the future and acts in the present.

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

-1 Peter 1:13

Future graces drive today’s hope. In your future, when Jesus Christ is revealed, graces upon graces will be given to you – real things, things you will touch and see and feel. Things that you did not deserve or earn, but they are given to you simply because God has set His love upon you and has decided to lavish you with praise and glory and honor.

As we saw last week,

After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. -1 Peter 5:10-11

Yes, this is the true grace of God. This is the living hope that God has birthed you into; that He is recreating you for. It is yours in Jesus Christ. And it fills our many present sufferings with purpose. For if God has set our lives on a trajectory of glory, then our present sufferings are light and momentary. If God uses our lives to glorify Jesus and reveal that same glory to others then our pain has meaning.

We do not endure in vain. According to the foreknowledge of God, our afflictions are working for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. And we long for the day when God Himself will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us. Stand firm in the true grace of God and you will conquer pain.

And when we get into Revelation, we will see some of these things described there.

Yes, do not loose heart. Stand firm in these graces – as Peter says at the end of verse 12. Stand firm in your faith, knowing that these graces are yours. They are yours today.

It is like you have been given a foreign bank account with an astronomical sum in it. From this account you are given some riches now, but you are unable to access all of it until you come of age. On that day, all that is within is yours to enjoy.

Graces are yours now. If you have love for Jesus, that is grace. If you look at your fellow man with a measure of love, that is grace. If any righteousness flows through your hands, that is grace. If your heart beats with joy and hope in Jesus, that is grace.

And all of these graces will so illumine you in the future that you will shine like the sun. Your physical body would break beneath the overwhelming flood of joy, and so God will give you a spiritual body able to soar on the heights of joy unmeasured.

This grace is yours. It is yours today and it is yours to hope in. And when you stand firm in such a faith, by the grace of God, you will be able to resist that roaring lion. Satan’s lies and accusations will mean nothing to you; for the God of the universe has called you righteous and the King of kings stands as your advocate.

The devil is nothing more than a defeated foe, and the book of Revelation describes just how defeated he truly is. Stand firm and conquer.

To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. -Revelation 2:7

Yes, this is the true grace of God. Isn’t there an implication in these words? Other things are being peddled as graces of God but are not the true graces of God?

I am certainly drawing an inference from Peter’s words, but I know it is true from his second letter and a number of other epistles: false teachers and false gospels are rampant in the 60s. Again, something we will see in Revelation. So many lies cloaked as truth, and so many falling away. But Peter declares that what he presents is the true grace of God. Stand firm in true grace and conquer lies.

And I am again reminded of glories Peter has already spoken:

You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

-1 Peter 1:23-25

Peter was the one who first proclaimed that word to these churches. Believe not in other gospels. There are no other graces. What Peter first proclaimed, and the words now carried by Silas, these are the true graces of God!

If anyone proclaims a gospel where every physical ailment is promised a healing, that is a false gospel. A gospel with promised of material wealth is a false gospel. A gospel primarily focused on social justice is a false gospel. If you look down on others – perhaps because they celebrate a day you don’t agree with – beware the false gospel of the legalistic Judaizers. If you look down on others – perhaps because they refrain from celebrating days you enjoy – beware the false gospel of epicureans, who gave no regard to law.

Read vs 13

Figures: Part 2

There is almost universal agreement that the “she,” in verse 13, is the church in Rome. Again, Peter is writing from Rome sometime between the years 62 and 64 AD.

She, that is likewise chosen, this is the church. I love this picture, the Roman church excited to greet those that are chosen in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. There is kinship between them, a love. So should we be excited to greet and fellowship with other churches – in our area and beyond – so long as they also stand firm in the true grace of God.

Peter refers to Rome as Babylon. The actual city of Babylon has been lying in ruin for centuries, so we know it is not Mesopotamian Babylon. Some people have said that Peter is trying to conceal his location; but I don’t think this is true. I think Peter is communicating something profound and prophetic, and I’m not certain how aware he is of his own prophetic utterance.

Calling Rome, Babylon, communicates four things.

Like Babylon once was, Rome is the center of global power – at least in terms of the globe as they understood it at the time.

Like Babylon, Rome was filled with all kinds of moral depravity and wickedness. Both were exceedingly arrogant and denied the truth of God for a lie. (Compare Isaiah 14:12-23 with Romans 1:18-32)

Babylon destroyed the first temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC. Here is where I am not sure if Peter understood his prophetic words. Rome would destroy the second temple in 70 AD. Much of Revelation has to do with the destruction of this rebuilt temple in 70 AD.

God judges Babylon for her wickedness and destruction of the temple, and God judges Rome for her wickedness and destruction of the temple. There are chapters upon chapters in the Old Testament that proclaim oracles against Babylon. There are oracles in Revelation that proclaim a destruction upon Rome. And God’s word is proven true, for Babylon and Rome no longer exist.

Calling Rome, Babylon, had a powerful and prophetic effect to every reader that understood the Old Testament and Jewish history.

(Parenthesis)

In Revelation, John also talks symbolically about Babylon, but he is not referring to Rome. There was another exceedingly wicked city that would be judged, and they are ultimately responsible for the destruction of the temple. But more on that in the weeks to come.

(Close Parenthesis)

Back to Peter’s words, where we find a little hint of a dissident. Remember what Peter said earlier:

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to the governors as sent by Him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. -1 Peter 2:13

Peter was giving an apostolic command that was to permeate time and location. In all places and at all times, it is God’s will that government punish evildoers and offer peace and praise to those who do good. God has established government and sent rulers for this purpose.

But when government deviates from the will of God, when they begin to praise what is evil and condemn what is good, then they will face judgement. Remember, in most cases government is a reflection of the people which it governs. If the people do not repent, as did the capitol of Assyria in the book of Jonah, then God will judge it like He did Babylon.

It takes wisdom, it takes endurance, it is not reactionary and divisive; but when the human institution of government resembles Babylon, then the elect live as exiles indeed. They do not participate in the evils of Babylon. Like Daniel, they are a people that live set-apart – a people of a holy nation. They live as dissidents, refusing to call what is evil, good; and what is good, evil. The elect will live not by lies. And the elect will not soil themselves with the evil expulsions of a diseased society.

And though the elect may face suffering as dissidents, they do not run, but they stand firm in the true grace of God.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduction among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak evil against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. -1 Peter 2:11-12

Yes, the church is not afraid of Babylon. Peter lived there, and he would be martyred there. Though the church would face horrible persecutions, it would eventually overcome the might of Rome, and Rome would one day call itself a Christian nation. I’m not saying that Rome was actually a Christian nation; but it does reveal the tremendous impact of the church that Peter once led.

Back in verse 13, Peter not only sends greetings from the church in Rome, but he also sends greetings from Mark, who he calls his son. Mark is not actually the son of Peter. Peter has discipled Mark, and Mark has become his spiritual protégé. Much like how Paul calls Timothy his son (1 Timothy 1:2).

Mark also has been a significant player in the New Testament. Mark, also called John Mark, first turns up in Acts 12 at a house church. God miraculously frees Peter from prison, and Peter goes immediately to a nearby house church. The house is owned by the mother of Mark.

Years later, Mark accompanies Paul and Barnabas on Paul’s first missionary journey. For some reason, Mark bails on that missionary journey and it causes a rift between Paul and Barnabas. Eventually, Mark ends up with Peter in Rome and from Rome he records Peter’s account of Jesus’ life. We know that as the Gospel of Mark. Peter and Mark worked closely indeed!

And now we come to the last verse in 1 Peter.

Read vs 14

Fruit

At the beginning of this sermon I said that one of my purposes is talk about the fruit that 1 Peter should produce in us. Inescapably, one of the fruits 1 Peter should produce in us is love for each other within the Church.

There is a bit of context we need for this holy kiss business. Greeting a person with a kiss was a sign of deep affection. It was not practiced in Jewish synagogues. It was not a part of public life. It was reserved for family and close friends.

It is an incredibly powerful and troubling moment when Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss. It’s this same type of kiss.

Peter is basically saying that we in the church should love one another like family. These are to be counted among your closest people. If you have no family, this is your family. If you have a family where love is scarce, there is love here.

We don’t need to try to figure out how we can give each other holy kisses. We do need to figure out how to earnest love one another. Just as Peter said,

Love one another earnestly from a pure heart. -1 Peter 1:22

We are to love one another, and this should be an enduring fruit of 1 Peter. For we all follow the same Lord and we all walk through this time of suffering together. Together we are being built into a spiritual house and together we worship as a royal priesthood. Indeed, we should earnest love one another!

Already I have spoken about two other fruits of 1 Peter: joy and hope.

What a joy that God has called you out of the darkness and into His marvelous light. What a joy that you are a living stone, built upon the Rock that is Christ! What a joy!

And the hopes that lie before you, all the contrivances of Babylon and the Devil cannot steal them away. All the sufferings of this exile cannot outweigh them. Our hope is living, and nothing can kill it!

And the final fruit that 1 Peter should produce in us is peace. For,

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. -1 Peter 2:10

Cast your anxieties upon God, my brothers and sisters, for He cares for you. He has shown you mercy, He fills you with grace, He ransomed you with the most precious blood of Jesus Christ. Have peace. If God is for you, who can be against you?

Let love, joy, hope, and peace swell in your heart. Meditate on all the promises and graces found in 1 Peter and stand firm in them. For if you do, you will be like a light in the darkness, like a living stone pulled from the rubble, like a burning brand of hope. People will not be able to help but wonder what is so different about you.

Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. -1 Peter 3:15

Yes, let your heart swell with love and joy and hope and peace. For when you do, when Jesus Christ the Lord is your love, joy, hope, and peace; then you know that God has said,

“You shall be holy, for I am holy.” -1 Peter 1:16 & Leviticus 11:44

Ultimately, the fruit of 1 Peter is holiness, a holiness that blazes with love, joy, hope, and peace which the sufferings of this brief moment will never extinguish!