13-16: With mercy as a backdrop, we move forward with gratitude. Having been given life, we must live it. Life looks different than death. Life takes action. Life works and acts. Not that works and acts are the basis for salvation. May it never be. But good works have been prepared beforehand that we might walk in them. We must work out our salvation, and we only work out what God is already working in. Therefore, Peter says, get up! Get ready! Set your Hope on Christ. Keep Jesus as your center. Rest fully in the grace that has been showered upon you. This requires sober thinking. We must concentrate, and understand it, chew on it and mentally digest it. For grace is a strange thing indeed to the unregenerate heart and mind. It doesn’t make sense. Even to the redeemed, grace has a way of undoing us. It is powerful, and strong. Therefore, be sober-minded, and set your hope fully on the grace that Christ offers. Grace is eternal. Grace has been extended to us from the beginning. Even the act of creation is an act of grace, an act of bestowing and giving. We have received grace upon grace. And yet we still are waiting for more grace at the appearance of Jesus. We have the grace of His second coming to look forward to. Then we shall know Him. Then we shall see Him face to face.
As we wait with eager expectation, we must be formed by the preaching of the word. Our lives are living testimonies of God’s grace. We bear witness of God’s grace with holy living. We are but children in the Lord, and as such are to be obedient to the desires of our Father. Much like earthly fathers know more than their children, and give them commands to follow in order to teach them to grow well, so our Heavenly Father has given us commands to obey, that we might grow straight and true. How can we who have been given a knowledge of the Lord, and have experienced His grace, return to acting as if we knew nothing of what we’ve been taught? How can we return to lives of ignorance? We can see now that it was not simple ignorance, but vile rebellion. How can we who have been shown such mercy, return to lives of disobedience? Is it not the core of ingratitude? Should we not say thank you in how we speak to one another? Should not our actions at work say thank you to a Father who provides? Should we not say thank you with the attitudes we harbor in our heart regarding life’s circumstances? Every breath we take is gift and mercy. Every moment of the day is a moment in which the Lord blesses us with grace and mercy. Should not every breath we take and every moment of the day be an opportunity for us to express our gratitude? In fact it is. We express either gratitude or ingratitude with every step we take. There are only two ways of doing/saying/thinking things. Either we do/speak/think by faith, or we do/say/think apart from faith, and anything not done in faith is sin. There is no middle road. Every thought/word/deed must be taken captive to the obedience of Christ; otherwise it is allowing ourselves to be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance. Our Father is Holy. He is Holiness. We are to be like Him. We were created to be like Him, made in His image. But in the garden we despised the gift. Therefore a new image was needed. The image of God had been defiled. So God made Himself in our image. In Christ we have the first fruits of redeemed mankind. And so now we are remade in the image of Jesus, the image of an obedient and faithful Son. Therefore let all our conduct be reflective of the new life we have been given; let it be a reflection of the image we have been recreated to bear. Let us be holy, as our Father in heaven is Holy. By the power of the Spirit, we can.
17-19: The Lord God Almighty sits enthroned in the capitol city of Heaven. He judges the nations of men. He rules with a rod of iron, brings justice to the poor, and is the strong right arm of the weak. We call on Him as a Father, as our Father, for so He is. He created us. He brought us into being out of nothing. He formed us in our mother’s womb. Therefore let us fear Him. Let us honor Him as God and give Him thanks. Let us not despise His word, nor trample underfoot the vineyard of His mercy. For we were nothing, and He gave us everything. We were a pile of bones, and He wrapped us with sinews and flesh. We were empty of life, and He breathed into us the fresh wind of the Spirit. We were sons of Adam, and He has purchased us with the priceless blood of His Son, so that we might be the adopted heirs of His riches. The spotless blood of the Lamb of God cleansed us of our iniquities, purchased for us freedom, and redeemed us from the futile ways of our forefathers. Therefore, again, let us fear our God with every fiber of our being. Let us honor and obey His word. How else do we say thank you?
20-21: Our God is eternally triune. Father, Son and Spirit. From before time existed, God has dwelt in community and in fellowship. This is why He is love. The monotheistic god cannot be love in himself, for there is no one outside himself to love. And true love is never self-love. True love always has both a subject and an object. True love always flows out. In the mystery that is the Trinity, our one God exists as three Persons, able to show love for one another. In the Trinity love is modeled for us. Love was shown in the manifestation of the eternal Son of God in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He took on flesh and dwelt among us to show perfect love, to show the greatest love. In Love He laid down His life for His friend, His bride, His Church. The Father showed love in honoring the sacrifice His Son had made; raising Him in new life, He defeated the enemy’s last stronghold. He gave the Son glory so that we might find our faith and our hope in Him. For no man can thwart the plans and intentions of God.
22-25: We have been made new. We have been washed with the purified water of the Spirit. We have dedicated our lives to obedience and faithfulness. Therefore let us love one another. With obedience comes love. Love for God and love for each other. We are family, united by a stronger blood than our own. Let us love one another with a pure heart as well. Peter knows the inclinations of our flesh. He knows we lean toward selfish desires, even as redeemed children of God. Our desire to love will be beset with temptations to demand love in return. But that is not our calling. We are to love with a pure heart, a heart that truly loves others for the sake of others, and not for anything we might receive in return. Peter calls us to love with purity because we have been born again. It does not fit the born again to love selfishly. The husband, newly married, cannot return to pursuing other women. It does not fit. It is off-key and out of tune. Furthermore, we have been reborn from imperishable seed. We were previously born of our mothers like the withering flower of the field; delicate and beautiful, but unable to last. We are now reborn of the living and abiding Word, who was with God in the beginning, and who was God. In Him we will abide forever. Unlike the flower of the field, the one who abides in the Lord will never fall, but will flourish for eternity. This Word is the good news that was preached to us. This is our Gospel hope.
As we wait with eager expectation, we must be formed by the preaching of the word. Our lives are living testimonies of God’s grace. We bear witness of God’s grace with holy living. We are but children in the Lord, and as such are to be obedient to the desires of our Father. Much like earthly fathers know more than their children, and give them commands to follow in order to teach them to grow well, so our Heavenly Father has given us commands to obey, that we might grow straight and true. How can we who have been given a knowledge of the Lord, and have experienced His grace, return to acting as if we knew nothing of what we’ve been taught? How can we return to lives of ignorance? We can see now that it was not simple ignorance, but vile rebellion. How can we who have been shown such mercy, return to lives of disobedience? Is it not the core of ingratitude? Should we not say thank you in how we speak to one another? Should not our actions at work say thank you to a Father who provides? Should we not say thank you with the attitudes we harbor in our heart regarding life’s circumstances? Every breath we take is gift and mercy. Every moment of the day is a moment in which the Lord blesses us with grace and mercy. Should not every breath we take and every moment of the day be an opportunity for us to express our gratitude? In fact it is. We express either gratitude or ingratitude with every step we take. There are only two ways of doing/saying/thinking things. Either we do/speak/think by faith, or we do/say/think apart from faith, and anything not done in faith is sin. There is no middle road. Every thought/word/deed must be taken captive to the obedience of Christ; otherwise it is allowing ourselves to be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance. Our Father is Holy. He is Holiness. We are to be like Him. We were created to be like Him, made in His image. But in the garden we despised the gift. Therefore a new image was needed. The image of God had been defiled. So God made Himself in our image. In Christ we have the first fruits of redeemed mankind. And so now we are remade in the image of Jesus, the image of an obedient and faithful Son. Therefore let all our conduct be reflective of the new life we have been given; let it be a reflection of the image we have been recreated to bear. Let us be holy, as our Father in heaven is Holy. By the power of the Spirit, we can.
17-19: The Lord God Almighty sits enthroned in the capitol city of Heaven. He judges the nations of men. He rules with a rod of iron, brings justice to the poor, and is the strong right arm of the weak. We call on Him as a Father, as our Father, for so He is. He created us. He brought us into being out of nothing. He formed us in our mother’s womb. Therefore let us fear Him. Let us honor Him as God and give Him thanks. Let us not despise His word, nor trample underfoot the vineyard of His mercy. For we were nothing, and He gave us everything. We were a pile of bones, and He wrapped us with sinews and flesh. We were empty of life, and He breathed into us the fresh wind of the Spirit. We were sons of Adam, and He has purchased us with the priceless blood of His Son, so that we might be the adopted heirs of His riches. The spotless blood of the Lamb of God cleansed us of our iniquities, purchased for us freedom, and redeemed us from the futile ways of our forefathers. Therefore, again, let us fear our God with every fiber of our being. Let us honor and obey His word. How else do we say thank you?
20-21: Our God is eternally triune. Father, Son and Spirit. From before time existed, God has dwelt in community and in fellowship. This is why He is love. The monotheistic god cannot be love in himself, for there is no one outside himself to love. And true love is never self-love. True love always has both a subject and an object. True love always flows out. In the mystery that is the Trinity, our one God exists as three Persons, able to show love for one another. In the Trinity love is modeled for us. Love was shown in the manifestation of the eternal Son of God in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He took on flesh and dwelt among us to show perfect love, to show the greatest love. In Love He laid down His life for His friend, His bride, His Church. The Father showed love in honoring the sacrifice His Son had made; raising Him in new life, He defeated the enemy’s last stronghold. He gave the Son glory so that we might find our faith and our hope in Him. For no man can thwart the plans and intentions of God.
22-25: We have been made new. We have been washed with the purified water of the Spirit. We have dedicated our lives to obedience and faithfulness. Therefore let us love one another. With obedience comes love. Love for God and love for each other. We are family, united by a stronger blood than our own. Let us love one another with a pure heart as well. Peter knows the inclinations of our flesh. He knows we lean toward selfish desires, even as redeemed children of God. Our desire to love will be beset with temptations to demand love in return. But that is not our calling. We are to love with a pure heart, a heart that truly loves others for the sake of others, and not for anything we might receive in return. Peter calls us to love with purity because we have been born again. It does not fit the born again to love selfishly. The husband, newly married, cannot return to pursuing other women. It does not fit. It is off-key and out of tune. Furthermore, we have been reborn from imperishable seed. We were previously born of our mothers like the withering flower of the field; delicate and beautiful, but unable to last. We are now reborn of the living and abiding Word, who was with God in the beginning, and who was God. In Him we will abide forever. Unlike the flower of the field, the one who abides in the Lord will never fall, but will flourish for eternity. This Word is the good news that was preached to us. This is our Gospel hope.
1 comment:
Vs. 13-16: often, the very cry of my soul.
Vs. 20-21: well said!
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