5th October
Read Psalm 129
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
This next Psalm of Ascents speaks of the hardships faced by God’s people caused by the antagonism of others who don’t go along with the attention to God and his word that his people are called to. It was not just that others around cared nothing for God but that they mocked and oppressed and that was hard – “Ploughmen have plowed my back” (v3) the Psalmist says.
But he emphasises that the Lord had cut him free from the cords of the wicked. It is not those round about whose view is important but that of the Lord who raises us up.
As you read the Bible Stop; Read; Ponder; and Pray.
Monday 1 Peter 1:17-21
Peter tells his hearers that as it is God who is their Father and ultimate judge that it is to him that the saints must obey and to do that they must learn to live as foreigners in this world. There is an old Negro Spiritual which goes like this, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through; if heaven’s not my home, then Lord what will I do. The Saviour beckons me from heavens open door and I can’t be at home in this world anymore”
He reminds them that they were redeemed or ‘bought out’ of this worldly life that came down from past ancestors by the blood of Jesus. He was chosen before the creation of the world (pause and think of that) and revealed in the recent time of the apostles who proclaimed him and it was their message that the hearers heard and believed. Their faith and hope were in God through the Lord Jesus who he raised from the dead.
Tuesday 1 Peter 1:22-25
The chapter is closed with Peter spelling out for them the results of what happened to them in their new birth which he spoke about in v3,4. This new birth brought them into a new ‘country’ (v17) such that they are now foreigners to that old life in which they lived and have been purified through their obedience (v2) to Jesus. Like new born babies they find they have brothers and sisters who love them and who they love. They are to develop this love – “love one another deeply, from the heart” (v22) – reminding them which seed they have been born of, not a seed of this world, but of the imperishable Word of God which will last forever.
He quotes from Isaiah (40:6-8) showing the difference of the new seed from the old, that of the Word of God compared to the strain of fallen humanity and it was the former that was preached to them by the apostles.
““All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Wednesday 1 Peter 2:1-3
Having spoken of the new birth that his hearers have received through Jesus, and how they have brothers and sisters whom their new nature will lead them to love, Peter tells them how this will come about. It means getting rid of things that the worldly nature of their ancestors passed on to them and would be endemic in them and he mentions malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. These kind of things must no longer be at work in their lives which means a purging must be at work. Linked to that there must be a consuming of what new born babes need to grow strong and in spiritual terms that is the Word of God. No great growth comes about in the Christian believer’s life apart from a regular diet of the contents of the Bible. Reading and sitting under its ministry is so important. Today people can hear online teaching of the Bible and if it treats scripture faithfully and obediently then that can help much but principally the regular fellowship in congregational worship is where that learning should begin.
Sadly thee is more than a good deal of Biblically illiteracy in our country today where the Bible, once having an important place in homes, has drifted to a forgotten book and Christians do not know how their lives should be lived. Let’s make a change and bring it back to its important place at the heart of our lives.
Thursday 1 Peter 2:4-8
Peter now moves his metaphor to a picture of house building. He speaks of Jesus as being a Living Stone, we might say the main stone, of a spiritual house or temple which his hearers are to be built onto as additional living stones. However, mixing his metaphors, he now sees his hearers as not only living stones but also as priestly inhabitants of this house of which they are part. The role of priests was to offer sacrifices to God so the believing people were to be both the building of God and also the priests in their building.
Peter goes on to state what is the case about Christ that he is rejected by the world. God has set him down as the chief cornerstone for this temple but he is rejected and he quotes from the Old Testament (Isaiah 28:16 & Psalm 118:22 ). This rejection is mentioned in many places in the Bible Isaiah 8:14-16 being one.
The Bible never sees the gospel as being something received as good news by everyone. Sometimes the impression can be had that all that needs to be done is for the Church to preach and practice the good news of the message and everyone will receive and welcome it. It isn’t the case. The apostle Paul teaches his Roman believers the same thing – Romans 9:22ff Let’s pray for everywhere where the Church is very openly opposed and resisted.
Friday 1 Peter 2:9-10
Some of these verses are difficult to understand because they bring out the paradox of the judgement of God and the grace of God. Peter speaks of those who disbelieve stumbling over the message “which is what they were destined for” (v8), whereas he speaks of those he is writing to as being a chosen people who were once in darkness but are now the people of God. How can we reconcile things that seem so different? Yet the Bible does say that our salvation is nothing to do with us but it is solely of God, we are his because he chose us; yet the Bible also tells us “Come unto me, all who are weary and I will give you rest” and again “Whosoever will may come”. So, is it my will and choice that makes me part of God’s family or is it entirely his choice? At the end of the day, we have to hold onto both sides even though we cannot reconcile them in logical terms.
Mathematicians are used to dealing with positive numbers (1,2,3 etc), rational numbers (1/2,3/4 etc), irrational numbers (any number that can’t be expressed as a simple fraction, their decimal representations go on forever like pi), and imaginary numbers (the square root of a negative number). All these numbers can be used in mathematical equations but they can’t be expressed in the set of numbers above them. They can’t be squeezed into the same way of working so it is with truths about God and us, we accept truths which can’t be banged together in our logic.
Saturday 1 Peter 2:11-12
Peter now comes up with a straightforward command but we first note it is addressed not to recalcitrant troublemakers but to “Dear Friends.” When you hear the Word of God to you that tells you such things as “abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul” (v11) remember that he is on your side and supportive of you. The Greek word is “loved ones”. We mustn’t picture God as surly, angry and hostile, rather he is a loving father who desires for us to steer clear of dangerous things and here it is carnal desires (that is the nature of the words behind this). The world’s view is that sexual desires are not some things to be worried about but we must say that scripture says the opposite. Forasmuch as sexual relations between a man and a woman are seen as God given in the faithful context of marriage, outside of that we see warriors of the soul.
Peter tells them to live such good lives that the pagans around them would have to see and acknowledge their lives as good. We ought not to be shouters of what the will of God is but demonstrators of it in our lives. That’s the way to put forth the truth.
