1 Pet 1:17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

I have a picture of a family of mother, father and three children, out for the day, walking and playing in the woods and planning a picnic at the end of it. The children are told to remain in sight of their parents and in this instruction they feel quite secure. They know that if anyone came to threaten them, their father would be there for them. It is, first and foremost, a sense of security of which they are aware. But actually there is also another sense that they have and it is that of not straying over boundaries of behaviour that the family has set, otherwise they will be answerable to the father. Again though, it is something that creates security for they know that as much as they will be held accountable for misdeeds, so will their brother or sister. They feel secure in this.

Nicky Gumbel, originator of the Alpha Courses, tells the story of an occasion when he took his boys to weekend football and the referee had not turned up and so the boys asked Nicky to referee. The only trouble was that he didn't know all the rules and thus didn't have the authority. Within a short while the game degenerated into constant arguments and upset. After a while the proper referee arrived, apologetic for being late, but then took over. Suddenly the game took on order and, the most important thing, the boys started enjoying the game now there was order and authority there.

Peter has just reminded us in the previous verses that God is holy and, as His children, we are to be holy. The present verse reminds us that He will hold us accountable in the same way as the father in my illustration above does with his children, and the referee does in Nicky Gumble's story. But in calling us to do this, he says two helpful things.

The first is the reminder that God has revealed Himself to us as our Father. For many of us who have had bad family experiences with human fathers, the concept of God as Father may not fill us with joy – but it should. We should not see Him in the same mould as our imperfect human fathers, but He is The example of Fatherhood above all other examples. Yes, He is the One who created the world and brought us into being but now He is also the One who is constantly working to draw us back into close relationship with Him so that we may receive of all of His goodness and love. He is there to help us, support us, provide for us and protect us and in that He is the One who brings security to our lives. Everything about Him is love and goodness.

He doesn't have favourites – we are all His favourites. Think about the privileges that a favourite child receives in an imperfect family situation, and God gives that to ALL of us who are His children. A cynic has said that if we are all special then that means that none of us are special. That might be true of a limited human father but in God's case it is like when He draws near to us, we know that we are the most important person in the world – but so do all the other children of the Father! He can do that because He is God. A child who feels they are special has the sense of the father pouring out his love over and above the normal. Well God does that with every one of His children. It is only our own unbelief that hinders us receiving and enjoying that.

The second helpful thing is the reminder that we are “strangers” here. Although we tend to think that this life is the all important thing, and we are fearful of the thought of giving it up, we do have a destiny in heaven. Heaven is our ultimate home. But there is something even more significant in this: we are citizens of heaven NOW . The life we have in us, the Holy Spirit, is rooted in heaven. He is the One who provides a link with heaven. So often in the Gospels, the reference is to “the kingdom of heaven.” The character, the atmosphere if you like, of heaven is within us, linking us to heaven and that is where the origin of our present ‘life' comes from. The perfection and wonder of heaven is here within us in a measure and that is what makes us citizens of a different realm. Paul wrote, “he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son.” (Col 1:13) We are to see ourselves as strangers to this world because in reality we now live in another realm, the kingdom of God.

1 Pet 1:18,19  For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

These verses are packed full of truths but some of the language is not that used in modern common usage. Moreover it covers a subject that receives the scorn and ire of modern atheists. We need to examine it carefully, therefore.

First it is all about redemption or about redeeming things. This is the language of the pawnbroker which only a small percentage of the population tends to know about. When you pawn something you give it to the pawnbroker for safe keeping who in return loans you money. When you pay back the money plus interest he gives you your article back and you are said to have redeemed it. Thus it is paying to get back something. In the Old Testament it was also used to refer to something being paid instead of another penalty. Coming out of Egypt Israel were told, “Redeem every firstborn among your sons.” (Ex 13:13 ) i.e. give a lamb to act as a sign of their lives having being spared in the Passover. Within the Law we find in respect of a careless owner of a bull known to be dangerous that has killed someone, “the owner also must be put to death. However, if payment is demanded of him, he may redeem his life by paying whatever is demanded.” (Ex 21:29 ,30) i.e. the family of the person killed may spare the bull owner's life by taking money instead from him.

The picture that Peter paints for us is of them having been redeemed or purchased from “the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers.” i.e. they were slaves to the Law and to the traditions of their forefathers which did little to help them and had not resulted in a good relationship with God. No, this isn't the traditional picture of redeeming something using silver or gold or money. No, this is something very different, because we are talking about our lives being redeemed from Sin, from Satan and from hell. We deserved to be left to our own devices in our sin, a prey to Satan and bound for hell, but God didn't leave us in that state.

No this redemption, even if we don't really understand our own sin and our own need to be saved, stands out as something completely different and its very difference should speak to us about our need. Peter speaks about “the precious blood of Christ” and it is this sort of language that raises the ire of the atheist who sees it as bloodthirsty and primitive! Well, Paul did say that, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” (1 Cor 1:18) and that this was “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” (1 Cor 1:23). Of course it seems foolish to the natural mind yet, as a pastor, I have found nothing else that actually satisfies the person who is racked by their own guilt. Psychologists and therapists seem helpless but when they are told that Christ died for their sins, that and that alone brings gratefulness and peace!

References to Christ's ‘blood' come again and again in the New Testament: “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood , which is poured out for you.” (Lk 22:20) and “Be shepherds of the church of God , which he bought with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28) and “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” (Rom 3:25) and “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!” (Rom 5:9) and “In him we have redemption through his blood , the forgiveness of sins.” (Eph 1:7) and “now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” (Eph 2:13) and “For God was pleased to…reconcile to himself all things…, by making peace through his blood , shed on the cross.” ( Col 1:19,20)

1 Pet 1:20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

The Bible sometimes says big things or, if you like, big things are revealed. For example many people think that Jesus came into being when Mary conceived, but Jesus himself made it very clear that he had existed previously in heaven with his Father. You only have to read John's Gospel to see this again and again as he refers to himself as the one who came down from heaven: “ For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (6:33) and “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me,” ( 6:38 ), and “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” (6:51) and “ I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” (7:29), and “I know where I came from and where I am going.” (8:14), and “You are from below; I am from above.” (8:23) and “I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence.” (8:38). Oh yes, the record is quite clear; Jesus came from heaven where he had existed previously. But Peter expands our understanding of Jesus even more.

  “ He was chosen before the creation of the world,” speaks of Jesus being the agreed means of salvation from before Creation. The rest of the New Testament testifies similarly. Jesus praying said, “you loved me before the creation of the world,” (Jn 17:24) indicating a loving relationships with the Father existing from before Creation. Paul confirmed that our salvation goes right back before Creation: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world.” (Eph 1:4) i.e. the Father knew back then, as He looked into the future, who would respond to Jesus when he came. It was then that all the resources of salvation were determined for us, to come through Christ: “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,” (2 Tim 1:9) and the outworking of that planned salvation would be eternal life: “eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.” (Tit 1:2).

  In the end revelation Jesus is revealed as the Lamb of God: “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev 13:8) and the result of his work is that many would be written in God's record of who would eventually be saved – and who would not woud be obvious by their omission: “The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world.” (Rev 17:8).

  The crucial thing that is being displayed in all these verses is that the salvation that Jesus Christ brought, was not something thought up at the last minute, in a moment of crisis, but was carefully thought out by the Godhead before they made anything at all in the material realm. God knew that Adam and Eve would fall, He knew that sin would enter the world and have devastating effects, but having designed mankind with free will, He HAD to allow it to happen and if it was going to happen He had to have a plan to redeem whoever would come.

  Someone recently asked, “Why did Jesus comes at exactly the time he came?” Michael Green in his book Evangelism in the Early Church , puts forward a number of reasons why at that particular point in history it was the best time for the Gospel to spread across the world and why the international conditions were just right for Jesus to come down to Israel. The apostle Paul wrote, “when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law.” (Gal 4:4,5) and “at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Rom 5:6). When Jesus stood up to preach he declared, “The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mk 1:15) and the sense is that it was ‘the awaited time' had come. The Jews had been awaiting their messiah for centuries. For four hundred years heaven appeared to have been silent and nothing was added to the sacred record – and then he came! As Peter now said, “ revealed in these last times for your sake.”

  But see there is more than we've said. He came but he was also ‘revealed'. Initially at first very few recognised him. Shepherds were sent to see him (Lk 2:8-20), and wise men similarly (Mt 2:1-12). An old man, Simeon, and an old woman, Anna, heralded him in the Temple (Lk 2:25-38) but most didn't realise who had arrived. The Gospels are accounts of the revealing of the Son of God but it was down to Peter on the day of Pentecost to have the privilege of first publicly proclaiming Jesus as “Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:36). From then on, the door of revelation from heaven was open and the truth became clearer and clearer. He is the Son of God. Hallelujah!

1 Pet 1:21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God

I think over the recent years, one of the things that has become most clear in the war of belief that has raged in the West, is that atheist critics simply don't bother to examine the evidence for the Christian faith and for belief in God. They give an impression that they do but it is only a shallow impression built on a few cursory readings of Scripture with virtually no understanding. Over the years, as I have observed such people as Dawkins, Hitchens, Bertrand Russell and even Darwin, it has become very clear that their knowledge of the Bible and of the Christian faith is incredibly shallow. They simply have not bothered to examine the evidence in any depth at all.

In our verse today, Peter gives us a sublime and succinct summary of what the Christian faith is all about. How simply but profoundly he puts it: “Through him (Christ) you believe in God.” The world and the Bible give us multitudinous reasons for believing in God but THE one major reason for belief is Jesus Christ. There are two extremes that we can fall to. The first is, as I have already mentioned, that we barely give the Bible any thought and thus our understanding is minimal. The opposite extreme is that we have read it, and heard it preached so much, that we have become familiar with it, and now almost take what we read for granted.

Ask the Lord to open your eyes afresh to the wonder of the Gospels. Imagine you read it for the first time. What do you find? We find a man who is born in the midst of strange, divinely supernatural happenings. We find the man grows up and becomes a preacher who claims that God is uniquely his Father. He justifies this incredible claim by performing signs and wonders. Thousands are healed, many delivered of demons and some even raised from the dead. He further ratifies this claim by further miracles: he walks on water, he feeds thousands with a few loaves and fishes, he turns water into wine – and so it goes on! Being around him must have been one of the most incredible experiences given to men and women. He taught about living real lives, lives loved by God and not just following religious rules. But above all he kept pointing to himself as God's unique Son who had come from heaven.

But then came crisis. He was arrested, falsely tried, condemned to death for his claims, and crucified. He died and was buried. But then it happened: within three days he has risen and was walking, talking, touching and teaching his followers again. Dead men don't come back to life after three days of death, but this one did. If you bother to examine the evidence (as a solicitor by the name of Frank Morrison did, and who wrote a book detailing it called Who Moved the Stone) it screams to the world, this was and is the unique Son of God! Along with the rest of the Jewish people he almost assumed God's existence and so did not argue for it, but instead lived it and showed it in the most incredible ways. There is no other way to explain these Gospel accounts and what followed. Yes, “God…. raised him from the dead and glorified him.” Jesus is the most convincing piece of evidence who points to God. He is, if you like, God's primary sign post! Paul put it, “He is the image of the invisible God.” (Col 1:15). The writer to the Hebrews put it, “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.” (Heb 1:3). Want to know about God? Look at Jesus. He is the unique Son of God who reveals God's love and goodness in his fullness.

So, Peter concludes, “your faith and hope are in God.” Our faith is what we exercise now. Our hope is what we believe about the future. We have faith because God has spoken. Faith is responding to what God has said (Rom 10:17 ). Hope is having a strong assurance about the future because of what God has said. If we don't believe in God we become faithless and hopeless. The word ‘faithless' means having the character of a traitor, being disloyal and unreliable and in this context this means in respect of the truth. We are someone who has given up the truth and become unreliable. The word ‘hopeless' means having no belief in the future, or without a future. However, that is not so of believers. We have come to believe in God and as such we listen to what He says and we base our lives on what He says and suddenly we find we have the assurance of a wonderful future. Hallelujah!

1 Pet 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart

In recent years I have concluded that the most important characteristic of the Christian is love – and yet it doesn't seem to get the amount of air-time that it deserves. I'll start by suggesting you love as much as you have been loved, as John said, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” (1 Jn 4:10) but perhaps I should temper what I've just said by saying we love as much as we realise how much we're loved.

Peter obviously thinks similarly because he is going to encourage us to love one another: “love one another deeply, from the heart.” The last three words are interesting. How else can we love, we might ask? Well we might love with our mind, an intellectual love. We know love is what should be in us and so we declare that it will be. But love is far more than a mere mental assent. Perhaps that is why the commandments about God are summed up as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Mt 22:37). Put most simply, our love is to be whole hearted, mind and emotions together, if you like.

But in this verse there is an order of events: obey the truth – purify yourself – love for others .

The truth is simply that which has been revealed to us – the Gospel – which includes the truth that Jesus is both Lord and Saviour. As we have recently noted, he calls us out of the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of God where the rule of God prevails. The Gospel is first all about surrender to God. We give up our own rights to rule our lives because we realise (with the convicting help of the Holy Spirit) that we have made a mess of them, we are hopeless and we need saving. It is only then about what God does for us and in us. John the Baptist came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Mt 3:2) and Jesus followed preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Mt 4:17) It was exactly the same message: do a one hundred and eighty degree turn and submit to the rule of God which is about to come. “Jesus answered, "I am the …. truth.” (Jn 14:6) Everything Jesus speaks is the truth for he is the very expression of The Truth – God! Jesus never said anything that was not the truth. That's why, again and again, we find him saying, “I tell you the truth.” (Jn 3:3,5,11, 5:19 ,24,25 etc. etc.) Thus to obey the Father, we obey everything the Son has told us. The Christian life is first about submission and obedience.

But part of our obedience is moving into a life of purity. Jesus taught, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Mt 5:8) When we think of something that is pure – e.g. gold, silver etc. – we mean that it is free from impurities. Impurities in the Christian life are any forms of sin, or anything that mars our relationship with the Lord. The ‘pure in heart' do not let anything taint their heart that might spoil their relationship with the Lord. A heart that allows pride to reside in it is a tainted heart and not pure, and the pride will turn the heart hard. A heart that allows covetousness to reside in it is a tainted heart and not pure, and will cause the heart to be restless, discontented and critical of God's provision. There are a myriad of ways that our hearts can be tainted and not pure, but these are not the ways of the Christian for the Christian has submitted to Jesus and allows his rule to prevail, and that means the Christian realises their weakness and frailty and there is not room for pride. They also rest in their Saviour for he is alone is the means of their ongoing daily salvation.

As this purity comes to us at salvation and we are cleansed from our old life and empowered for a new one by the presence of the Holy Spirit, He wipes away all self and all opposition to other people. It is only as the enemy comes and we listen to him, do those things take hold again if we let them. But that is not what the rule of Jesus wants in our lives. He wants them to be as pristine clean as they were at the moment of our conversion when we were born again. At that moment at least we were utterly surrendered to him, at that moment we were utterly pure, and at that moment utterly open to him we were open to all others; there was within us this love for others that Peter speaks about. It was a natural part of the new us when we were born again, for we received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, and he expresses the love of the Father to all. It is only as we take hold of our lives again and start thinking and rationalizing and reasoning, that we think negatively about others and forget that of ourselves we have nothing to commend us.

That is how we are naturally in Christ, is what Peter is implying and so, he says, let that work out in you and love one another deeply, from the heart. Now we see another reason why it is from the heart, because that is where purity resides and there it is that is the motivation that we have. Our hearts were surrendered to him, and our hearts are made pure and that purity means in respect of how we view others as well, with the eyes of Jesus. Oh how easy it is to stray from the truth and take up the rights of self again, and as soon as we do that we find negatives about other people rising within us. It should not be so, for it means we have been listening to the enemy and not to our Lord. Let's check out who we've been listening to!

1 Pet 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

I noticed that near the end of the twentieth century the phrase ‘born again' was being used in the secular world. It was as if the world was trying to take over what had been an expressly Christian phrase. Within Christian circles there are those who are wary of this phrase but, as we've already had cause to note, it is a clearly Biblical phrase.

Its primary usage comes in Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in John's Gospel: “Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (Jn 3:3) and “You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again.” (Jn 3:7) The two words going together actually only come twice in that conversation and once here in Peter, but the use of the word ‘born' occurs again and again in John's writings: “to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God .” (Jn 1:12 ,13) and “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.” (1 Jn 3:9) and “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 Jn 4:7) and “everyone born of God overcomes the world,” (1 Jn 5:4) and “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin.” (1 Jn 5:18)

There is something very significant about this concept and it may be this that makes some people dislike it: it is that when you are born, you have nothing to do with the process. It is purely something that your parent brought about. Yes, it happened to you but you had no say in when it happened and how it happened. People who like to think of ‘being a Christian' in terms of being good like to think that they contributed and are contributing something to it, but that is not the New Testament picture of becoming a Christian. In the New Testament the process that brings us to ‘new birth' merely requires us to respond to the convicting of the Holy Spirit. That is all our part is.

We came to a crisis point in life when we realised we were in a mess, lost and hopeless and in need of God's help. Maybe we felt guilty and could do nothing about that either. In all of this, key words that described our position were ‘hopeless' and ‘helpless' and that awareness was brought to us by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. Without His help we wouldn't have even seen it. All we did it at that point was surrender to Him and cry out for help, confessing our sin and asking for forgiveness. At that point the Lord forgave us on the basis of what Jesus had done on the Cross, declared us His children, and placed His Holy Spirit within us. That is the clear teaching of the New Testament. Our being ‘born again' or ‘born of the Spirit' (Jn 3:8) came about when He placed His Spirit within us. Then, and only then, were we the new creatures that we are today.

What this teaching does do is challenge those who would like Christianity to be following rules, being religious or even simply being nice. None of those things make us a Christian – at least according to the Bible! Going to church on a Sunday morning doesn't make us a Christian; it just makes us a churchgoer! The “being born of God” takes it out of our hands, out of the mundane human endeavour, and puts it firmly in God's hands as an act of God which He brings about when He sees we have genuinely come to the end of ourselves, prodded by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. If we have never come to that place of need it is questionable that we are actually a Christian.

We have spoken here about the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. This is what Peter is indirectly referring to when he speaks of “been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” It is God's word that convicts; it is the truth applied to our lives, not academic truth but truth that we hear from God and know applies to me. We may not be very clear in our minds when it comes to it, but we know it is coming from God and it applies to me. This applies to my life and I have to do something about it. This word has come to my very innermost being and I know that I have to do something about it. In fact I cannot go on any further without doing anything about it. That is what happens when the Spirit takes the word of God and convicts us of its truth. We surrender and God acts and we are born again. God's word plus God's Spirit, my surrender and then God's action to impart His Spirit into me, and I become a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). THIS is what becoming a Christian is all about!

1 Pet 1:24,25 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.

As I have studied Scripture over the years, one of the secondary benefits of it, I have come to see, is that I have learned to appreciate words, For example these two verses above start out with that simple word, “For.” But then I notice that the previous verse also started out with the same word: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (v.23). “For” is a link word that ties together sentences or verses. This particular little string started in verse 22 which concluded with: “love one another deeply, from the heart.”

So the meaning becomes, “love one another (v.22) because you have been born again by God's word (v.23) and because God's word is always the same and so applies just as much today as when He first spoke it. (v.24)” There you are, we've given away the meaning without looking at it deeply, so we'd better go back and examine it and see why we have concluded that.

The end result (loving one another) comes about because we are new creations, who have been born again, and we've been born again because of the impact of God's word, applied to us by the Holy Spirit. In this Peter described God's word as “living and enduring.” It is alive and it remains or goes on. When God speaks a word, it always has impact. The world came into being by God's word. He spoke and things happened. When God spoke prophetically in the Old Testament the word was ALWAYS fulfilled. There was often a fulfilment in the immediate future, but often the fulfilment was centuries later. God never wastes words, He never speaks meaningless words. Often we may not understand what He says or we may misinterpret what He says, but when He speaks of future events they will always come about.

To emphasise this Peter quotes Scripture. He does this a number of times in this letter. Bearing in mind that originally he had been a simple fisherman, this suggests that he probably had the traditional Jewish upbringing with learning at the local synagogue. If not, he has certainly learnt something along the way in life. His master had justified all that had happened by use of the Scriptures (e.g. Luke 24:25-27) and so he had come to understand the foundational purposes of the Old Testament.

So we find him now quoting Isaiah 40 verses 6 to 8. It is a word that contrasts human beings with God's word. Human beings are frail and last only for a time on this earth: “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall.” That is the clear message of these words. We are compared to the grass or to the flowers in a field. There one minute, but gone the next. That is the way of human life. We look into the possible future and think eighty years or so is such a long time – we've got all the time in the world, we think – or we look back over a ‘long' life and think how much has happened, but in comparison with eternity it is less than a drop in the ocean. The older you get the more you tend to find timing rushing by. Where did that year go, we exclaim? Or maybe we find ourselves declaring, “How fast the children have grown up!” This is nearer the truth. Time seems to fly by and suddenly we are counting days that must be left to us. The grass is withering and the petals on the flower are falling. That is what human life is like. But God's word is completely different.

Human words are spoken – and forgotten! Human words can create or destroy but they are so limited and so easily forgotten, but when God speaks His words are embedded in the very existence of life and reality, and will remain there for the rest of time. When God speaks His words become part of the world and they will remain there as a living reality, becoming part of the energising force of life, waiting for their time of fulfilment and even perhaps becoming part of the energising that brings about the fulfilment, and once fulfilment has occurred, they remain there as a testimony to the One who planned it and brought it about. The words change from their energising power to create or bring about the fulfilment, to words that confirm, ratify and testify to the fulfilment.

So, when God speaks about His coming Son and all that he will achieve through his work on the Cross – that WILL come about and the fulfilment will be an ongoing thing so that when the Gospel is spoken in the first century it brought forth a fruit – the fruit of salvation of many, and when it is spoken in the twenty first century it STILL brings forth fruit – the fruit of salvation of many. It was originally declared by God before the foundation of the world and was then spoken by Him again and again through His prophets in the Old Testament period, and then His apostles in the New Testament period, and then His saints through the Church period. Thus it remains and continues and continues to have effect – the salvation of souls. How wonderful!

1 Pet 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

In the previous meditation I wrote about appreciation of words, and particularly link words. Well, here we have another important link-word: “Therefore”. Therefore simply means, so or because of what has gone before, this is what should now follow. It is a word that implies logic. What does this “therefore” link to? Surely it must be, “ you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again… therefore….” Peter is saying because you have been born again, because you have received this new Holy Spirit empowered life from God , because you are to have love for one another, it means that there are a number of things that you can no longer have in your life; they just don't go together.

Check out this list of things that Peter speaks of here. First of all malice. Malice is a desire or intent to harm physically or verbally another person. It is ill-will towards others. If you love others, how can you possibly hold malice in your heart toward them? Perhaps another way of putting it is to say how can you hold on to the malice you used to have in your life before you were born again, now that your life has been empowered by and filled with love for others?

Then there is deceit. Deceit is deceiving or lying to others, creating false or wrong impressions and seeking to lead others astray. How can you possibly seek to lead others astray if you love them?

Then comes hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is pretence, pretending to be what you are not. It is putting yourself forward as one thing but in reality being something else . Normally it is someone pretending to be greater than they are. It may be pretending to be a friend when in fact you are not. Where there is a loving relationship, truthfulness and honesty are required ingredients and there is, therefore no room for hypocrisy.

Next envy is mentioned. Envy is discontent and dislike because someone else has got something you haven't, and very often it can be in respect of a personal position or standing. If we love others deeply, we can never feel envy about them for we will always want the best of them and we will not begrudge them what they have.

Finally there is slander. Slander is simply speaking badly and wrongly about others, saying things about them which are untrue. If we love others deeply, how can we possibly speak ill of others?

Each of these things is something that is directly contrary to love. They are ‘bad relationship' issues and as such have no place in the life of the person who has been born again and who is indwelt by the loving Holy Spirit. Yet how easy it is to allow negative feelings to grow within us about other people! There is, I believe, only one way to make sure that these things do not get sown in our lives by the enemy and that is to have a positive strategy for good towards everyone else you know. If we pray for them and seek God's blessing on them, we will counter these things and stop them growing in us like weeds that eventually fill the garden if left unattended. No, we have to be proactive and look for their good, look to bless them in prayer, in word and in deed. Where there is hostility towards us from others we need to be loving and understanding and forgiving so that their words or actions cannot be taken and used by the enemy to sow these things in us that Peter has been speaking about.

There is a general point that we should pick up in passing, and it is that when a person is born again and becomes a Christian there are practical changes that we should expect to see coming about in their lives if this has been a genuine conversion. I am always very unhappy if there is an apparent profession of faith but no change in the life style. It simply says that the Holy Spirit has not done the life-changing work that is referred to in the phrase “being born again”. Whenever it does genuinely happen there will immediately be big changes in the person. They start on the inside and work outwards. For a friend of mine it was the conviction that he should stop smoking. It took him a little while but it happened. For me, one of the things was the desire to stop swearing once I became a Christian. However, so engrained was it in my life that it took six months before I knew the Lord had totally set me free from swearing. For others it may be the knowledge that they have to deal with anger, or even the things in Peter's list today. The things vary according to the person – but there will be change. A heart change always brings a behaviour change, a life change. Check it out.

1 Pet 2:2,3   Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Trying to follow the flow of thought in the letter writers in the New Testament is a fascinating exercise. In the previous chapter Peter spoke about us being ‘born again', and we have given some consideration to that, and so it is perhaps not surprising that he now speaks of “newborn babies.” But he doesn't now say that we are newborn babies, just that we should be like newborn babies in respect of what he is going on to talk about.

Really the last part of the verse could equally come at the beginning: “now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” i.e. you've been born again and you have experienced a little of the Lord, and what you have experienced is good. So, now you know this new life is good, yearn to be fed and grow. That is where this is going, so let's consider the individual parts of the verse.

“Like newborn babies”. We've already noted that he is using new babies as an illustration of what he wants us to be like. What do they do? “Crave…milk” or yearn to be fed, again and again. Young mothers know the reality of this and the first weeks are spent feeding and feeding and feeding which sometimes almost becomes a trial for the mother but is essential for the baby. In those early months the baby may be taken to be weighed and the hope is that it will be putting on weight through feeding, and if it hasn't then there is a checking out of its feeding.

This is the picture Peter is presenting to us as an illustration of what he expects to see in newborn Christians. He wants to see them craving for “pure spiritual milk.” Now he doesn't explain what he means by that but it has got to refer to spiritual food which we must take to mean the word of God. This is where the Bible – reading it and being taught it – is revealed to have a unique role as God takes it and feeds the new believer with it. There's nothing so wonderful as being instrumental in bringing others to Christ, but that is followed by the wonder of having the privilege of feeding hungry spiritual babies, new Christians. They are full of questions and when they first come across truths in the Bible their hunger is a delight to behold.

The writer to the Hebrews chides his readers using the same sort of language: “you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature.” (Heb 5:11-14) There he refers to milk as “elementary truths of God's word.” Milk, he says, is for infants and you need to go on to something more substantial.

And that is exactly where Peter is going: “so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” Do you remember something we consider earlier in chapter 1: “you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1:9). Do you remember, we spoke of it being an ongoing process that he is referring to there. So this process of going on receiving your salvation involves you receiving the truth of God's word into your life and thereby growing.

We need to realise that this isn't merely receiving new information; it is receiving it and applying it. Jesus taught, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, …. teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19,20) Becoming a disciple means becoming a doer of God's word, not merely knowing about it. For instance Jesus again taught, “Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” and “everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man.” (Mt 7:21 & 24). This is what the feeding the Peter speaks about should do. It should be taken in and received and then bring forth fruit of a changed life. Indeed that is what maturity is about.

That, we should note, is the goal of this verse, that we “grow up”. Paul spoke similar language: “as your faith continues to grow.” (2 Cor 10:15). Peter is going to finish his second letter with a further similar exhortation: “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Pet 3:18). Yes, when we come to Christ that is only the beginning. We have a life of learning infront of us and if we don't we will never mature but will remain spiritual pigmies. God doesn't want that; He has something better for you! Receive it, grow in it.

1 Pet 2:4    As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him

Stone is an amazing building material; it is a natural material. In one of the earlier phases of my life I had a lot to do with the construction industry and I have had cause to look at various sorts of stone that is used for both structural and aesthetic uses. I have seen stone cleaned so that the original wonder has been restored and brought out from under decades of grime. I have seen marbles and granites polished up like glass. I have seen stone shaped into beautiful patterns or pictures. Stone is perhaps one of our oldest building materials (after wood) and certainly one that lasts. Stone has been used to build castles and cathedrals as well as lowly homes and not so lowly homes.

Peter is now going to use the analogy of stone for both Jesus and for us. Why does he do that? He does it because as we shall soon see there are a number of prophetic Scriptures that refer to Jesus, using the analogy of stone. But this analogy of stone isn't really about stone as such, but about a specific stone or a stone that has been chosen for a specific use – a cornerstone or capstone. Now both of those uses are very specific uses with very specific meanings.

A cornerstone was the first stone that may even have been a foundation stone, but was the stone from which the rest of the building was set out. Because of its shape and position, the line of the walls and the verticality of the walls were judged or set out in line with this one first stone. Jesus is thus the baseline from which the rest of the church is designed. He is its starting point and he is the one against whom everything about us is checked. We are to be exactly in line with him. We are not to go off doing our own thing with our own nature or own characteristics but we are to do everything in line with him and take on his nature and his characteristics. Everything in the church should flow from him. I wonder how real that is?

But then there was a capstone which tended to be the final stone used in an arch that fitted at the top of the arch which held it in position. Jesus is thus our security, the one who holds us in position in the building called the church. It is also the topmost stone of a structure, and so Jesus is to be the one to whom the rest of us look up to, exalted above the rest – the Lord.

The apostle Paul wrote, “ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” (Eph 2:19-22) We'll no doubt come back to that again in the future but for the moment let's simply note that here Paul refers to the church as God's household, a building, a temple and a dwelling in which God lives, with Jesus being its chief cornerstone.

But Peter refers to Jesus as a “living stone” and so this isn't a static or inanimate role that Jesus has, he is conveying life to the building, he is interacting with the building and he ensures that we, the other stones (as we shall see in the next meditation) also have and convey life. This stone, as we shall see was “rejected by men”. The cause of his death was the rejection by the Jewish authorities and the Jewish people, and the Roman authorities (representing the Gentile world). They didn't like who he was, what he was and what he said and so they rejected him and killed him. Yet he was the Anointed One, the One “chosen by God”. We may not have been able to see it but that is the truth. The Father chose the Son to perform the task of revealing Him and redeeming the world.

But there is yet a further description: “precious to him.” J.R.R.Tolkien stamped this word in our consciousness with his character Gollum in The Lord of the Rings , who spoke of the ring as ‘his precious'. Precious means ‘of great value, held very dearly, very special to us'. Jesus is very dear to the Father and that awareness should make us wonder even more at the Father's love for us that He should give the Son for us: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” (Jn 3:16) How incredible that God should feel so strongly for His Son and yet be willing to sacrifice him at the hands of foolish and sinful mankind, to save that same mankind!!!

Thus from this verse we see that Jesus is the one from whom the whole building of the church is built, and the one who holds it together, the one who is Lord over it. We rejected him when God had chosen him. He was and is very precious to the Father which makes the wonder of their love for us even more incredible. Hold on to these things. Think on them, meditate on them, and rejoice in them.