1 Peter 1:17-19 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 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, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
 
WHEN a family has no structure – no rules to follow, no consequences for bad behavior, no responsibility for one another – chaos results. Children grow up physically but not emotionally. They do not learn to relate to others or care about their siblings, friends and world around them. They are self-focused, desiring only what pleases them. Undisciplined children become wayward adults with no foundation for a purposeful life. Too many families like that can destroy a culture, a church and even a nation.
   That’s why we need to be attentive to Peter’s words. God is love. God is lawgiver and forgiver. God is Father. When Peter says God is a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, you can be comforted God’s will is to nurture his children into mature, loving and disciplined relationships with him and one another. The Almighty tells you what is right, disciplines your sins and rewards your obedience.
   In God’s family we must live as strangers here in reverent fear. Again this speaks to being holy, living as strangers from sin’s way. Reverent fear is healthy respect for the omnipotent God. As his children we must embrace his rules, warnings and judgments. He is not a casual father who will allow wrong to rule in his house. One way we love God is to love and respect our brothers and sisters in his family. Freedom in God is not doing what we want but doing what God commands for the good of all. He judges us all impartially, so we must be alert to know God’s rules and happily obey them.
   After all, God has not purchased our souls with temporary money. But we are his by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. The eternal Jesus has paid for our imperfections. The Father has given all, so you would be his child.
   If you are a father, how is your discipline? Do you teach rules? Do you love your children enough to judge their disobedience? Do they know you will be impartial with all your children?
   If you do, they know you love them.   

1 Peter 1:13-15 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
 
HAVE you ever tried to help someone see their sins and point them to Jesus? Did the person respond by accusing, “Who made you holy?” as if you had no right to talk of their sins? Did you answer, “God did. He made me holy through Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension.”
   It seems very rare that we Christians describe our lives as holy. Knowing our sins and imperfections, we are very uncomfortable and even resistant to define ourselves with a word that defines God’s perfection. Yet, Peter admonishes us to be holy in all you do because God has commanded “Be holy, because I am holy.” three times in Leviticus at the very beginning of the exodus. He wanted his nation separated from the world in location and law. It’s the same today. We are Kingdom citizens saved out of the world to obey God’s law. How do we obey the apostle’s teaching and God’s commands?
   Peter teaches the holy life is first a response to the salvation faith we have received. His therefore to open the passage is to say, “Now you have salvation. This is what you must do.” Your habits should include preparing your mind and body to obey God’s commands. Holiness is being self-controlled, dismissing the habits and influences that keep you away from God. One firm way to reject sin is to keep you mind on God’s gifts to you, particularly eternal life. How can you turn from the One who has freely and entirely given himself to you? Being holy is deliberately separating yourself from influences that stain your thoughts toward God.
   To be holy is to be set apart from the world and set into God’s righteousness. You will make mistakes and commit sins as you pursue holy living. But God’s point to his people in the Wilderness Journey, in the Promised Land and in the church is to live a life that reflects his glory and his love to the world. If you are not pursuing holiness, you are missing a crucial part of your Christian journey.
   God has given you a holy path to walk. Evil forces strive to distract you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (1 Peter 5:8-9)  
   Who has made you holy? God has. Live in that power. Show a desperate world how good it is to walk with the Holy God.  
 
1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 

1 Peter 1:10-12 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
 
PETER continued to stress the wonder of salvation’s blessings. More than eternal life, salvation is life right now to live into God’s gracious blessings. Peter wanted the church to fully grasp the knowledge and privilege of living in the time of God’s salvation.
   In faith the prophets proclaimed the grace to come, Jesus Christ. Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection were spoken by many prophets. But they did not understand how God would fulfill their words. Each looked to the scriptures present in their day and examined the words the Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit) had given them to proclaim. They longed to learn the time and circumstances when their words would come to pass. The church then and now know more than the prophets and the angels did before Jesus.
   On the Kingdom timetable then, the prophets’ words became the apostles’ proof. Acts records Peter giving such evidence in his first sermons. The Old Testament writings are crucial Scripture proofs that Jesus is Lord and Savior, Son of God sent to save the world. Peter wanted the church to understand they lived in a special time of God’s revelation. They knew when God’s grace had come in Jesus.
   The church today remains under this gift, doesn’t it? We have all the evidence from the Bible to know what God has done through centuries of planning and promise-keeping.
   In response, we have a prophet-like role today. We must proclaim the Bible’s truths regarding Jesus’ Second Coming. God has given us some signs, but we do not know exactly how and when these circumstances will occur. As the prophets prepared the Jews for Jesus’ incarnation, the church must prepare the world for Jesus’ coming again. 

1 Peter 1:6-10 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 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, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
 
PETER continues to praise the wonder of salvation. The term he used for “greatly rejoice” refers to a deep spiritual joy that is above all earthly challenges. It’s the type of exceeding joy Mary exclaimed as she heard she would bring forth the Savior: Luke 1:46-47 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” She knew this blessing would never leave her.
   That is how we are to see our salvation. Salvation is eternal life, and it is all the blessings of the Christian life on earth. Consider how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5:23-24a) give you the means to live out of sin and into Jesus’ redemption. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5:24b-26)
   Salvation also helps us anticipate the greatest blessings are to come as we enter the New Jerusalem. This future has begun. Why let the world weigh you down when the Savior has lifted you up to him? Rejoice even in the trials!
   Trials are purposeful. They refine your faith if you see them through Jesus’ love for you. You even thank God for the troubles because those difficult days help you have some understanding of Jesus’ very difficult life on earth. To bear the likeness of Jesus is to bear suffering with joy, obedience and love for the Lord, who has suffered for you.
   That’s why you love him. You know in your heart the inexpressible gift the Son of God has given to you. The Father’s will, the Son’s atonement and the Spirit’s power grant you salvation. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus paid the price. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Then the Spirit gave birth to your spirit (from John 3:6b) so you will be born again. Are you not then be filled with inexpressible joy? What a grand and glorious gift to know you will stand before Jesus one day to be welcomed into eternity.
 

1 Peter 1:3-5 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, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in Heaven for you, 5 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. 
 
YOU might summarize 1 & 2 Peter as “Keep the Faith for Your Future.” Many of Peter’s words urge believers to stay focused on the eternal life inheritance the gracious God has given them. No one or no thing can take that gift from them. Their task is to receive a born-again life and live in the fullness of God’s grace.
   A good way to keep and grow your faith is to continually praise God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  With this name of God, Peter summarized the gospel. He taught and reminded the church that God had mercifully given us new life into a living hope through Jesus. This is the New Covenant of grace in one name.
   To the Jews, of course, this name of God as Jesus Messiah’s father was entirely new. Their ancestors had given God many names that pointed to God’s diverse character. But now the Christians know God as Father, Son and Spirit. Our inheritance of faith by grace reveals that Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah. Believers know the historical Jesus is God incarnate. His life marks the gift of eternal life.
   Because faith in Jesus is a living faith, it grows and gains strength as we learn more about our Lord. Properly nourished with God’s Word, faith grows in the Spirit’s power to create a hope that eagerly looks forward to God’s will being done on earth as it is in Heaven.    
   Rejoice, too, the gift is forever. Know it is kept in Heaven for you. It is an inheritance that can never perish – disappear, pass away or come to ruin. The inheritance will never spoil to become unfit for us or corrupted by sin.
   When Peter wrote our faith is shielded by God’s power, he is assuring us no earthly power can destroy it. His language is rooted in the military protection within a walled city. An army garrison was formed inside a city as an inner sanctuary to be a second defense if the walls were breached. Or you can say our inheritance is within an impenetrable safe inside a fortress. Even if the outer walls are attacked and reduced to rubble – as it seems to happen too often to the persecuted and false churches, our faith is secure under God’s protection.
   One reason the epistles speak to our everyday challenges is because Peter, Paul and the others experienced those same daily challenges and more. Their letters are testimonies to God’s power to protect their lives, so they could live into the blessing of salvation into eternity. They knew Jesus was their hope. Now they are with him, living the promise. This is our future, too, as we daily praise God for the life he has given us.
 

1 Corinthians 15:50-53 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
 
DO you understand your future in Christ? One reason Paul taught about the imperishable body was to answer the often-asked question: “What will happen to believers who are alive when Jesus comes?” Remember, he had described Jesus’ Second Coming in 1 & 2 Thessalonians. But this is a different church. And there is always the necessity of repeating true doctrine. False teachings continually pollute our minds.
   Again Paul teaches our original flesh and blood bodies are incapable of living in Heaven. Mortality cannot inherit the immortal gift in the Kingdom of God. Paul then authenticates his teaching with, “Listen, I tell you a mystery.” This means Paul has received a divine revelation regarding this topic. At some point the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul how those alive in Christ, still in their fleshly bodies, will join Christ with their spiritual bodies in his Second Coming. Paul further affirms he is talking about living Christians by saying that not all people will die before Jesus comes. Again, he emphasizes the change we will experience. The dead are raised to life to meet their souls in the air. The living are instantly transformed into their spiritual bodies, so they, too, will join Jesus.   
   Perhaps some of Scripture’s most hopeful, encouraging words follow. What Christian cannot become joyous at the thought of our mortality becoming immortality? The trumpet sound from Heaven will burst forth upon the planet. Instant change will come for all mankind. 
   Listen now to this great promise: 1 Corinthians 15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
   The Christian life: Stand firm. Let nothing move you from God. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord. May you live the gift with joy.
 
 

1 Corinthians 15:46-49 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from Heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from Heaven, so also are those who are of Heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from Heaven.
 
THIS passage contains three magnificent miracles from our Lord God. To begin, Paul’s point seems obvious. We are first born to the earth. From our earthly life we obtain spiritual life in Jesus. All is God’s work. Paul illustrates this by contrasting Adam’s life to Jesus’ life. It is worthwhile to pause on this sentence to see the first two miracles: The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from Heaven.
   Yes, these are two magnificent miracles of God, aren’t they? Who could create life from lifeless dust but God, Creator of Heaven and earth? Who else would have the creativity and power to separate man from all other life? There is a personal intimacy in man’s creation. Mankind comes from the earth because God created us to be caretakers of his remarkable creation. Our Lord did not simply speak us into existence. He set us apart from other animals when he breathed life into Adam. We all carry with us the very breath of God.
   And then consider the second miracle: Jesus’ intimate incarnation into human existence. This, of course, is a very common teaching in the church. But might we miss this as a magnificent miracle from the LORD God, First Person of the Trinity? In the most personal intimacy possible, Jesus, Second Person of the Trinity, took form as a man to prepare the Holy Spirit, Third Person of the Trinity, to breathe spiritual life into our souls. Through Jesus’ complete life cycle as a man from conception to ascension, Jesus has created a new spiritual life for all who follow him. Because of Jesus we will bear the likeness of the man from Heaven.
   How, then, do we bear Jesus’ likeness? This brings us to the third miracle – and a great responsibility – the Lord has given to us. Recreated in Christ, we are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18) In God’s re-creation process, the Holy Spirit breathes into us the ability to learn and live into God’s truth. Our joy is to learn of God, so we increasingly become as he is. This is sanctifying discipleship – living a disciplined life set apart from the world’s sin, so you can grow into the likeness of the Lord you confess to follow.
   2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.  

1 Corinthians 15:37-41 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 
 
ONE could summarize this passage with Jeremiah 23:24 “Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord. Both the prophet and the apostle are teaching and reminding us that God is sovereign to form life at his will. Paul wants us to know this includes our resurrected lives.
   To help us understand this, Paul begins with the illustration of a seed. One plants a seed, not the entire plant. In the seed is the information to grow a particular plant. The seed, then, is the basis for the plant’s creation into a new creation to look as God determined. That is our physical body transformed into a spiritual body.
   Paul then expanded his example to the varied animal kingdom. Man, birds, mammals and fish are very different to God’s glory. Then he contrasted the heavenly bodies with the earth life forms. And finally he contrasted the various planets and stars.
          The seed and the variety of God’s creation illustrates how it will be when the dead are raised. The body that has died gives form to the resurrected body. The perishable becomes imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, meaning a dead body has nothing honorable about it. Yet, it will be raised into glory. Out of weakness it will raise to power. The body is truly resurrected into an eternal spiritual body. This is not a ghost-like existence. It is a real body clothed in Jesus’ righteousness prepared to live in Heaven. Our old bodies born into Adams’ sin will be dead. Our new bodies born into Jesus’ resurrection will be alive forever. 1 Corinthians 15:45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being.” the last Adam (Jesus), a life-giving spirit.  

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God – I say this to your shame.
 
AS Paul concludes his affirmation of Jesus’ resurrection, he urged us to have a correct view of our own faith.
   One challenge regarding our view of eternal life is our overall lack of a clear picture in Scripture regarding our heavenly bodies. Many people have ideas that are simply that. People think about Heaven in the context of what they know, but they don’t really know what is true. That’s why Paul urges us to be careful of the company we keep. In other words, discern what your friends and other influences are saying about Heaven. Understand distortions about eternal life can become truths as they are repeated and accepted because they sound good.
   For example, people talk about being married in Heaven. But Jesus is very clear there is no marriage in Heaven. Mark 12:25 “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in Heaven.”  There is also the popular concept that our loved ones who have died are looking down on us. Nothing in Scripture indicates this is true. Those who are alive in their faith are alive in Heaven only.
   Paul was calling the church back to what he had taught them. Cultural and false religious influences had confused them and caused them to sin in ways he addresses throughout the entire letter. The gospel truth in our minds keeps sin away. Some Corinthians had left the truth in the back of their minds and put culture’s corruption to the front.
   Paul’s words are a strong rebuke of Corinth’s lack of godly wisdom. It is a shameful thing to be ignorant of God! But how many of us are reluctant to grasp the knowledge of God? Might we be of habit to say, “The Bible is too hard to understand.” Or could we say, “I’ll let someone else tell me what the Bible means.” Is it possible we confess, “It’s too much work to read the Bible and learn from it.” And are there Bible students who are content to simply go to study but never consider how God’s Word applies to their everyday life? God is telling us through Paul that it is a shameful attitude to want less of God than he is willing to give you.   

1 Corinthians 15:29 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I die every day – I mean that, brothers – just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
 
PAUL continued to defend Jesus’ resurrection through the intense efforts made to bring people into faith.
   The reference those who are baptized for the dead refers to the definition of baptism Jesus spoke in Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!  Paul was referring to the extremes we must battle to win the war for Christ. The apostles and faithful church members had labored amid calamaties, trials and sufferings because they believed their efforts would yield a living harvest for the Lord Jesus. There is no point to suffer if there is no life everlasting.
   Paul continued with a more pointed summary of his ministry. He worked continually under many hardships to win the lost to salvation. He is grateful and praises God for those in Corinth who are saved.
   He reminds the church how he had also struggled in Ephesus. The wild beasts he fought in Ephesus were people who violently opposed him. Paul’s list of persecutions and trials can overwhelm us: 2 Corinthians 11:23b I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.   25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
   What is the point if Jesus did not rise?  What matters in life if we have no eternal life before us? The great trouble in the world is rooted in the unbelief about the Holy Trinity and Heaven. When we do not know God, we do not know why we live. To find any lasting meaning in ourselves is hopeless. It leads to a great emptiness as we cut our roots from the Almighty God, thinking we can find happiness and peace in things that quickly disappear.
          One great evidence of Jesus’ resurrection is the remarkable sacrificial lives the apostles lived. Their purpose was grounded in the Living Lord. Nothing would stop them.