Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
Summary: Peter’s message to distant churches was sent without any return confirmation. He sent it in faith that it would get there, and by faith we can enjoy it still today.
The final sentence in Peter’s letter leaves me a little sad. I have enjoyed getting to know Peter these past few months as we have explored his first letter. I don’t want it to end.
Imagine receiving this letter from Peter back in the first century. Peter is one of Jesus’ own disciples. An apostle appointed by Christ. A man upon whom the Holy Spirit has conveyed power and authority. The words of Peter might be the closest thing to hearing the words of Jesus that his readers could ever hope to hear.
Thanks to the diligence and faithfulness of those believers who received this letter, we are still able to read Peter’s words today. Today we read Peter’s words over a distance of time that is insurmountable. Yet, two thousand years ago his readers were separated from Peter by hundreds of miles. (Perhaps as many as a thousand miles away, depending on where he was writing from.) To receive a letter from Peter would have been a monumental event.
From Peter’s perspective, he was separated from the people he cared about. The exiles had been chased from their homes by political pressures at home. They had traveled to distant lands, and because they were so far away, there was likely no hope of ever seeing friends again. Like us today, they, too, were separated by time and geography.
In a sense, Peter’s letter was sort of like a message in a bottle. He wrote the words on parchment and sent them off with friends who could be trusted. There was no guarantee he would see his friends again. They may or may not have planned on coming back. Travel was dangerous. There was a real possibility that the letter would never get where it was going.
Yet here it is.
And what did Peter put in the bottle for us? What did he place in the bottle for us to find?
Peace.
Not just any peace either. Peace to all who are “in Christ.” As John wrote in his gospel account (John 14:27), “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
God’s peace is not a peace that can be bought or sold. It is a gift from God. It is the kind of peace that comes from the Creator of the universe. It is of more value than silver or gold. It is more sustaining than food or water. Peter conveys to us the peace of God.
Amen.
Application: Reread the entire letter from Peter.
Food for Thought: How does being in Christ affect our ability to experience peace?
Jesus not only gives us peace (I loved the verses you used), He is our peace. Without Him we cannot know peace that is beyond our circumstances. He is the Prince of peace (Isaiah 9: 6 – 7) and is “Himself our peace” with God and each other. (Ephesians 2: 14 – 17). As the saying goes: No Jesus, no peace. Know Jesus, know peace.
Thank you, Rich!
MY FAVORITE TOPIC!
How does being in Christ affect our ability to experience peace?
Christ is our peace. We are no longer enemies, separated from God, but through Christ we have the peace with God that comes from reconciliation.
RECEIVE GOD’S FORGIVENESS. Our immediate and ongoing task is to receive and consistently apply this truth to our lives. We must learn to live in the peace He has given to us. The reality, magnitude of what Christ has freely done for each of us, is the most intense when we initially receive our renewed hearts. In time our flesh and the world will begin to chip away at this eternal truth which is foreign to this world. Our enemy is determined to bring us down by resurrecting the old self, rendering us ineffective for Gods purposes. We cannot serve two masters and in time we increasingly seek our true master.
BECOME AN ADOPTED CHILD OF GOD. We have been given spiritual life as adopted eternal children of God. We still need to feed food to these bodies, put coats on them when it is cold, and maybe give them an ice cream bar each Tuesday, but they are no longer our boss. Following our spiritual birth, “born again”, we need to grow into healthy adults by consuming “spiritual food”. As babies, we are fed by others, adult christians, and in time we begin spending time with our true Father as we study His Word for us. We grow as knowing God gives greater strength and at some point we require a new coat of righteousness which comes from God. We begin living Gods Word and find we have a far greater inner peace and contentment as we do His will over the acts of our old ways. Our spirits seek more time in God and increasingly become boss over our flesh.
DON’T COMPARE OURSELVES TO OTHERS. We no longer look at others and begrudge or envy what they have achieved. We no longer seek loud music, drugs or alcohol to drown the call of the Holy Spirit. We may appreciate our pastors wisdom, or the self control of some, the peace of another, but we do so knowing they are living in the power of God. They are living examples of what God can do with a faithful servant, and they give us hope because we know we are in the process of becoming like them. We seek more time with the Holy Spirit as we seek to grow into what He has planned for us.
ACCEPT OTHERS JUST THE WAY THEY ARE. God came down from His throne, confined Himself to a covering of human flesh, to serve and give His life so that we may have an opportunity to receive eternal life with Him. He did not do this because we are good people, or have in any way earned His favor. He did it because He loves all mankind and desires a full time relationship with each of us. We have a new sight, new heart and a new understanding. We no longer judge others, but seek to serve others as we have been served. We must allow Christ in each of us to continue His ministry to the world through us. Accept who they are and let see others Christ in us.
LET GOD CONTROL OUR LIFE. God is Sovereign. There is nothing He does not know, there is nothing that happens without His Sovereign approval. Each of us is a unique creation of God who predetermined our DNA, and the environment we would be born into and raised in. We are each the unique product of His Will for a specific purpose. We need to study, apply, obediently serve our God as he has predetermined we would. Our ultimate peace will come as we live in God, in obedience to His will. Then we will know His Peace which is beyond all understanding
Ephesians 2:14-16, Romans 5:10,1 John 1:9, Ephesians 1:5, Romans 8:15-16, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Romans 15:7, Proverbs 16:9
Ron,
I never would have guessed that you liked this topic. : -) Well done! Thank you for sharing your wonderful treatise.
As Ron pointed out there are many ways to experience peace by being in Christ,..here is an affect,..this morning my wife told me she had a dream that she was like backed into a corner of some sort and she remembers saying in her dream, praise Jesus, praise Jesus and she actually saw in her dream whatever was there got shattered and she felt an enormous peace,..then I was saying praise Jesus,..
One thing I have learned from this letter is that,.obedience produces blessings,..there are more but I will stick here at one so I don’t get sidetracked,..
✌️