This amazing piece of photographic wonder is a picture of some flowers that my children have been collecting from our yard all week. The dead flower over on the right side (hanging down) is what’s left of a gorgeous orange rose that appeared on the bush just a few days ago. It was our first rose of the season, and we were excited about it.
And now it’s dead.
You know, it’s politically correct to say that things pass away. People and animals don’t “die” any more. They “pass” or “pass away.” I’ve been wondering why we don’t just say that they “die,” but I guess it’s too painfully realistic. It’s a little nicer to say that they “passed.”
But look at those flowers! They died! They actually died the moment we took them off their stems, but they remained pretty for at least a few more hours longer. Nevertheless, they have certainly “passed away.”
And like it or not, I am passing away, too. Like Adam and Eve, as soon as I was born, I started to die because of the curse of sin on the human race, and the process is speeded along by my daily choice to sin.
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall…” (Isaiah 40:6-8).
Death is painful and impossible to avoid. No matter what diets we try or which doctors we consult, death marches toward us. As we get older, we become painfully aware (literally) that we are losing strength, desire, and ability. We are fading away.
“They die in an instant, in the middle of the night;
the people are shaken and they pass away;
the mighty are removed without human hand” (Job 34:20).“All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:9-10).
So as we continue in our study of 1 Peter, I want to point out that the best news in the world is the very reason why Peter is writing this letter in the first place! As we said last time, we have been born again — but catch this! This new birth does not pass away! It is eternal and “can never perish, spoil, or fade.” Yup, the best news ever!
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5)
I’ve been creeping slowly through the first few verses of 1 Peter, but today I’d like to zoom over the entire first chapter to give us a bird’s eye view of this amazing, incorruptible new birth we’ve been given.
Everything Is New
Peter tells us that when we are born again by the Spirit, everything is new. We are adopted into a new family, and this adoption comes with an inheritance that is guarded in heaven by God Himself. It can’t be stolen or spoiled. I can’t accidentally spend it on something worthless. It has a greater worth than gold (1 Peter 1:4, 7).
This is so good to know, because while we’re living here in this life, things aren’t always so golden. Our bank accounts don’t have much in them, and the riches we have “surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (Proverbs 23:5).
“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (1 Peter 1:6).
Peter reminds his readers that they can “greatly rejoice” even in the middle of a hard life. Don’t you see how odd that is? Who is capable of rejoicing like that? Certainly not a normal human who is “passing away”! Only someone who has been reborn by the Spirit is able to act like this.
Even though the outside body is “passing away,” we can live life with an amazing joy.
“These [trials] have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:7-9).
And that’s just the point. There are certain “proofs” that you’ll be able to see in someone’s life when she has been “born again.” She can’t manufacture these characteristics in her own power. Only God can do a work and wonder like this!
So what are the evidences of new birth? How do we know that our faith is genuine?
New Desires
“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance” (1 Peter 1:13-14).
When someone has been born again, her desires completely change. She doesn’t necessarily live in sinless perfection. She just wants to.
And that’s odd, don’t you think? We start our lives wanting everything our own way. We desire… desire… desire. (Just think about your young children. Yup. Now you see what I’m talking about it. They want everything their way.)
But when the Spirit of Elohim breathes new life into our souls, we suddenly desire to do things His way. Our minds have been woken up, and we see things and hear things we didn’t see before.
This doesn’t come from our own effort to “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.” It’s truly a miracle, and now we hunger and thirst after righteousness.
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you” (Romans 8:5-9).
New Master
“Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 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 ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:17-21).
Peter has already told us that we were given “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).
Why does the resurrection matter so much? Why is the most fundamental doctrine we believe?
Because if Jesus was raised from the dead, and if we also will be raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15), then we will stand before our Master someday!
I don’t think this is talking about judgment for our sin. After all, Scripture says:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4).
What is “the law of sin and death”? It’s the death penalty. It’s the consequence for sin, declared to Adam and Eve in warning and passed along to all of us.
“You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17).
“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
One of God’s laws is that that the one who sins must die. We can’t be set free from this law because we just keep sinning — and deserving death all over again. However, God sent His own Son who was sinless. He because a sin offering in our place, dying a death He did not deserve. He met the “righteous requirement of the law” by paying the penalty for our sin. Now the Spirit has given us new life, and we are able to live according to His power.
So when Peter says that we “call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially” (1 Peter 1:17), I think this is referring to my Master before whom I will stand someday. He’ll take a look at how faithful of a steward I have been with the life and resources He entrusted to me during this life.
Even though life is hard, my strength fails, and my resources are limited, He is watching to see if I’m living to please Him. I see Him as my King, and He has sent me to have dominion over a little piece of His kingdom. In the little castle where I live each day, I want to do my jobs faithfully and carefully, to please Him.
Because His Son was resurrected from the dead, I don’t think of this life as the end. It is only a testing ground. Someday, in the Messianic Kingdom and beyond into eternity, in the New Heavens and New Earth, I want to stand before my Master and be told, “Well, done, good and faithful servant!” (See Luke 19:15-17).
So the second evidence that we’ve been miraculously born again is that we suddenly care more about the next life than we do about “eating, drinking, and being merry — for tomorrow we die.”
New Love for Others
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:22).
The Word of God is what breathes life into us. I realize that I said earlier that the Spirit of God is how we are born again. That’s true also. Of course, we can also say that it is all through Jesus, His Son. This is also true. Then again, we can say that the Father gives us life.
These are all true because Jesus and the Father are One. The Spirit only speaks what the Father says. The Spirit only speaks Truth. And truth is all in His Word. And of course, Jesus is the Word made flesh.
They are all the same.
The Father, the Son, the Spirit — they are all one.
‘This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one” (1 John 5:6-8, KJV).
And the Word of God is His truth.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
His Word purifies us. That is its job.
“The law of YHWH is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of YHWH is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of YHWH are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of YHWH is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:7-8).
His law (testimony, statutes, and commands) are the Word of God. Obedience to His commands purifies us, according to what Peter is saying.
Obeying the “big commands” — not worshiping false idols, not falling into witchcraft or homosexuality — these things are evidence that we have been born again. A desire to obey the “little commands,” too — avoiding unclean foods, honoring the sabbath day, and giving to the poor and widows — these also are evidence that we have been born again.
But we can give our money to the poor, fast, keep the sabbaths and feast days, and be pious in every way — and yet not keep God’s law!
“‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high” (Isaiah 58:3-4).
We can obey all the outward commands we’d like — but without love for others, they are nothing.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The apostle John correctly states that the definition of sin is breaking God’s law.
“All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:3-4).
But then he goes on to clarify what obedience to God’s law looks like in practical, daily life. (Note how many things are exactly the same as what Peter has been saying.)
“For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another… We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death… This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us” (1 John 3:11-24).
Yeshua our Master said it best:
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
His Word (the Law and the Prophets) has not been done away with; rather, it is all to be obeyed. However, it can be summarized in one phrase: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
And as we obey His Word, we are giving evidence that we’ve been born again and that we are His children.
It’s certainly a supernatural thing, because in the flesh, no human desires to love someone else. But when we are forgiven much, because Yeshua laid down His life for us, we can then take pity on others and love as He loved us.
His Word Endures Forever
It all boils down to this. God’s Word is eternal, and when the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and applies it to our hearts by faith, we are made alive in miraculous ways.
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever” (Isaiah 40:6-8).
When life seems too difficult, take the time to sit at the feet of the Master and listen to His life-giving Word. It will refresh and renew you.
“Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
YHWH is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in YHWH
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31).
We’re going to continue through the book of 1 Peter, and some of the things we’ll learn might seem impossible or radical. But when someone has been born again, everything is new. Even if her body wears out and her strength runs away — like a flower fading in a vase — she can be a radically new creation, prepared for good works for her Master.
“…even angels long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:12).
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