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Free Daily Bible notes by Rev Stephen Thompson

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1 Peter 2:9-10: ‘Once…but now’

“9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” NIV

It’s not unusual to see ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs on promotions for dieting products: ‘This is how I looked before, but look at me now!’ That’s the message. ‘Follow this plan and you can experience the life change I did.’ The photos are ‘testimonies’ in a way.

‘’Once…but now…’’ (v.10. See how these words are repeated).

 The Christian’s story is one of radical change. It goes much deeper than appearances. It’s a transformation on the inside that increasingly becomes visible on the outside. It is a ‘’darkness’’ to ‘’light’’ change (9). In the context, the way we ‘’declare’’ His praises very much appears to relate to the ‘’holy’’ (9) and ‘’good’’ (12) lives we lead in society. Obviously, words are also important (see 3:15), but here the emphasis is on deeds and lifestyle.

But although God changes persons (and we must ‘’come’’ (v.4) to Jesus personally), He is forming ‘’a people’’. It is the witness of this people of which the passage speaks. The language of verse 9 echoes Old Testament descriptions of Israel and applies them to the church.

In it all, we are to remember that the church ‘belongs’ to God. We are his treasured posssession:

‘’…the church of God, which he bought with his own blood’’ (Acts 20:28b).

PRAYER: Lord, even in days when your church cannot meet in the usual way, may your people still glorify you, and shine brightly into the darkness of the world.

 

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1 Peter 2:4-8: ‘What think ye of Christ?’

“4 As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:

‘See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.’

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,’

8 and,

‘A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.’

They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for.” NIV

I was on a return journey from school one day when I saw it through the bus window. In big white letters on a wall in the middle-distance, someone had painted the question, in ‘King James Version’ language, ‘What think ye of Christ?’ (Matthew 22:42). Of course, it could have been an irresponsible, if well-meaning, act of vandalism. It’s not a good idea to graffiti someone else’s wall, if that’s what had been done.But it’s an important question. The New Testament teaches that our personal response to Jesus is a matter of great and eternal significance.

Today’s passage shows that we can have one of two attitudes to Jesus. We can ‘’come’’ to Him (v.4. Note, trusting in Him, v.6b, and believing in Him, v.7a, are two other ways of expressing this same reality), or we can reject Him (v.7b – this is also described as disobeying ‘’the message, v.8). But nothing here encourages us to think that dismissing Christ is a good or wise choice. For someone who comes to ‘’believe’’ in Jesus, they now see Him in the same way God does. He is ‘’precious’’ (see verses 4b and 7a)

Also, our response to Him in no way alters His position as Lord of the church God is building. Jesus is both the ‘’cornerstone’’ and the ‘’capstone’’. He is all-important, and nothing can change the fact.

PRAYER: Lord, we pray that in these momentous days many people will turn from rejecting Jesus to accepting Him, and will taste just how precious he is.

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1 Peter 2:4-5: Spiritual sacrifices.

“4 As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” NIV

In a magazine article, a young woman wrote, ‘God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life. So why do I so often act like He made a big mistake when He made me?’

When David Watson was one of the most ‘famous’ clergymen in the country, and people flocked to the church he led in York, ‘St. Michael le belfry’, to hear him, he gave his congregation a wise piece of counsel: ‘‘When people come in here and ask who the minister is, say, ‘we all are!’ ‘’

In his commentary on Paul’s letter to the ‘Ephesians’, John Stott writes about visiting St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Darien, Connecticut. He says that on the front of the Sunday bulletin he saw the name of the Rector, and the associate Rector, and then the assistant Rector. Next came a line saying: ‘Ministers: The entire congregation.’ This is a thoroughly Biblical vision of the church. We believe in ‘the priesthood of all believers’ – namely, that every Christian has a ministry. We don’t all have the same ministry, but we do each have a ministry. Everyone, by God’s grace, gets to make a contribution.

We saw yesterday that the church is ‘’a spiritual house’’. It is not a material construction, but a ‘building’ made of people who have ‘’come’’ to Jesus.

( ‘’Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life…’’ it says in ‘The Message.’)

But Peter goes on to write that these people who compose Christ’s church offer ‘’spiritual sacrifices’’. Each one is a priest and has a ministry: something to present, to give.

Sadly, our best efforts are tainted by sin. It is so good to know, then, that our offerings are ‘’acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’’

 THOUGHT: ‘Be yourself; everyone else is taken!’

 PRAYER: Thank you Lord that in your Kingdom there are no ‘good-for-nothings’. Everyone counts. Thank you that there’s a work for Jesus none but I can do.

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1 Peter 2:4-5: A spiritual house.

“4 As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house  to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” NIV

If buildings were always intrinsic to Christ’s vision of the church, why did the first church meet primarily in homes for several hundred years?

The beautiful old building down your street, complete with tower, or spire, and stained glass windows, is not the church. Certainly, it may have been hallowed by years, even centuries, of worship offered within its walls, and I can understand the special ‘feel’ you sense as you step inside, but a building of dead stones is not the church. The church can meet in such a structure, but we must never confuse the building with the church itself.

We are living in days when some people feel a profound sense of loss and dislocation because they cannot meet in a ‘consecrated’ building. Whilst I understand, and sympathise to some extent, the church of Christ is not a physical building. It is ‘’a spiritual house’’. The true church is made up of all those who have ‘’come’’ to Jesus. (Peter describes Him as ‘’the living Stone’’). These believers ‘’like living stones, are ‘’being built into a spiritual house’’.

 In days when church buildings have been temporarily closed, we can rejoice that the ‘’spiritual house’’ is always open.

As Her Majesty said recently, ‘Easter has not been cancelled.’ We may also add that the true church has not been shut down.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord that you are building you church and nothing can stop you.

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1 Peter 2:1: Putting out the rubbish.

“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”NIV

‘’Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.’’

 Note the words ‘’all’’ and ‘’every’’. Take no prisoners! Show sin no mercy. Everything that needs to go should be shown the door. We need to live in an atmosphere of radical repentance.

In our homes, we regularly put out the rubbish. Imagine what it would do to the atmosphere if we didn’t. What a smell there would be. Peter tells us to put out all the sinful rubbish, knowing that we can do so as brand new people in Christ. (We have been ‘’born again’’ 1:23).

These are not the only sins people are capable of, but they are among those which ruin relationships – and in the next section he is going to write about the church.

It strikes me that we do need to distinguish between temptation and giving way to it. I’d be surprised if any Christian hasn’t felt tempted at times to hold on to resentment for example, or to be envious of someone else. But it’s one thing to feel the pull of temptation; quite another to give in.

‘Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin,’ says a famous hymn. (I’ve underlined the operative word).

Martin Luther apparently said, ‘You can’t prevent the birds from flying about your head, but you can prevent them building a nest in your hair.’

PRAYER: Lord, please help me by your Spirit to not let the smelly rubbish accumulate in my life. Strengthen me to keep on putting it in the bin – where it belongs!

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1 Peter 2:1-3: Grow up!

“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”NIV

Following on from yesterday, I was thinking about Paul writing:

‘’This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.’’ (2 Timothy 2:8b/9).

We may be confined and restricted, but God’s Word isn’t. It is very much alive and active in the world

Spiritual growth is not automatic. There are certain things we have to do (‘’…rid yourselves…crave…’’). Once again we find that the Bible, which is instrumental in our new birth, is also essential for our growth to maturity. Everyone loves a baby, but there is something quite wrong if the baby stays a baby; and there is something grotesquely sad about an adult who still behaves like he’s back in the nursery.

No, growth is not automatic. But it is wonderfully possible. Peter knows this. He is going to write in his second letter:

‘’His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness’’ (2 Peter 1:3).

We have the power supply for growth, and this is very good news.

Warren Wiersbe writes:

‘Just as a baby has an appetite for the mother’s milk, so the child of God has an appetite for the Father’s Word. If you lose that appetite and stop growing, check to see if any of the sins listed in verse 1 are infecting your life.’

‘’So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.’’ The Message.

PRAYER: Lord God, may it be true of me that I ‘’crave’’ your Word.

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1 Peter 1:22-25: “Word” Power

“22 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. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,‘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 for ever.’And this is the word that was preached to you.” NIV

Here is incentive enough, if we should require it, to go on ‘preaching’ God’s Word, whether formally in public, or informally one-to-one. There is power in His Word. There is life in the ‘’seed’’. Mysteriously, and wonderfully, it produces Christians. People are ‘’born again’’ by it. It has been said that God’s Word is His work.

‘’He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29).

The ‘’word of the Lord’’ is also described as ‘’the truth’’ in this passage. Not only are people converted by God’s Word; they are also transformed by it. As we ‘obey’ it, we become more ‘’deeply’’ loving (22). Christianity changes ‘’the heart’’ and we are enabled to live obediently and lovingly out of changed hearts.

In a book I’m reading at the moment, the author comments that in evangelical Christianity we have been too quick to measure spiritual growth in terms of how much we know, rather than how well we love. Knowing is important, but it has to lead somewhere.

Pause to ponder: What does loving ‘’one another deeply, from the heart’’ look like for you in these days of ‘social isolation’?

PRAYER: Lord, Peter gives a timely reminder of the transience of wealth and of people. Thank you that he points beyond this impermanence to the enduring quality of your Word. It is encouraging to know that the ‘seeds’ we sow now, may well bear fruit long after we have gone.

 

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Peter 1:21: ‘The Window into God’.

“21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.” NIV
 
In the New Testament the knowledge of God is unmistakably Christ- centred.
In Jesus we see most clearly what God is like. Canon Michael Green once observed, ‘Jesus is the window into God.’
It is only through Jesus that we can approach God and have a relationship with Him (See e.g.John 14:6/Acts 4:12)
How can we explain the resurrection and ascension of Jesus without taking seriously the Bible’s own explanation that this was a work of God? Although Jesus had the right to both lay down His own life and take it up again (John 10:17, 18), the uniform testimony of the New Testament is that the Father did this.
Therefore Christian ‘’faith’’  is in this very real God who is revealed in Jesus, and our certain ‘’hope’’ is of being with Him and seeing Him for ever. As I write these words on Easter Sunday afternoon, the Word of God shines even brighter than than the brilliant sunshine outside, and it’s warmth reaches my heart. The risen Lord still cause hearts to ‘’burn’’ (Luke 24:32).
 
There is a God, and if you want to know what He is like, take a long, hard look at Jesus. Then trust in this same Jesus to bring you to Him.
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1 Peter 1:17: Our true home

“17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.” NIV
 
Here is a further thought on being ‘’strangers here’’. In another ‘coincidence’, I just happened to read this extract from C.S.Lewis’s ‘The problem of pain’ on the same day I arrived at this text. In it, Lewis is writing about the effect crises have on us, and once again it seems so relevant to the present time:
‘My own experience is something like this. I am progressing along the path of life in my ordinary contentedly fallen and godless condition, absorbed in a merry meeting with my friends for the morrow or a bit of work that tickles my vanity today, a holiday or a new book, when suddenly a stab of abdominal pain that threatens a serious disease, or a headline in the newspapers that threatens us all with destruction, sends this whole pack of cards tumbling down. At first I am overwhelmed, and all my little happinesses look like broken toys. Then slowly and reluctantly, bit by bit, I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times. I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that my true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ.’
However, Lewis goes on to describe the human tendency to ‘backslide’ when everything returns to normal:
‘God has had me for but forty-eight hours and then only by dint of taking everything else away from me. Let Him but sheathe that sword for a moment and I behave like a puppy when the hated bath is over – I shake myself as dry as I can and race off to reacquire my comfortable dirtiness, if not in the nearest manure heap, at least in the nearest flower bed.’
That is so insightful.
But I pray that when we return to ‘normal’ – whatever that ‘normal’ may look like – we will not return to being the same, where during this time we have realised we need to be different. God gives all kinds of insights in uncomfortable situations. Let’s hold tightly to these ‘treasures’.
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