TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Mark 14:66-72
If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. - 2 Timothy 2:13
TODAY IN THE WORD
In his book, Peculiar Treasures, Frederick Buechner (refer to June 1) includes a vivid personality sketch of the apostle Peter. After noting that Jesus had prophesied Peter’s three-fold denial, Buechner writes, “That’s the way it was, of course--Peter sitting out there in the high priest’s courtyard keeping warm by the fire while, inside, the ghastly interrogation was in process, and then the girl coming up to ask him three times if he wasn’t one of them and his replying each time that he didn’t know what in God’s name she was talking about.”

By the end of this awful evening, Peter was ready to put himself under all kinds of curses and to swear an oath that he didn’t even know Jesus. This was certainly a defining mom-ent in Peter’s life--and without Jesus’ own intervention on Peter’s behalf in prayer (Luke 22:31-32), it would have been the end of the apostle’s ministry.

Peter did just about everything wrong that night. Earlier, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he had tried to defend Jesus and maimed a man named Malchus (John 18:10-11). But the Savior rebuked Peter and healed the wounded man (Luke 22:51).

Next, Peter unwisely left the other disciples and joined strangers at the fire outside the high priest’s residence while Jesus was being tried inside. Being among this hostile crowd left Peter open to accusations that caught him off guard and led to his quick denials.

But there is one very important thing Peter did right on the night he denied Jesus Christ. Immediately after hearing the rooster and realizing that Jesus had correctly predicted his actions, Peter “broke down and wept” (v. 72).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We all fail, and we are so much like Peter on that night. But our failure is never final, because Jesus remains eternally faithful and He is holding us in His hand (John 10:28). That means we can do anything He asks us to do and declare with Paul: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: John 21:1-19
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. - John 15:10
TODAY IN THE WORD
Two memorable things happened in the final seconds of the 1982 college basketball championship game between North Carolina and Georgetown. A freshman named Michael Jordan hit a jump shot to put North Carolina ahead; then, on the game’s last play, Georgetown guard Fred Brown accidentally passed the ball to an opposing player as he tried to set up for a final shot. The mistake sealed North Carolina’s victory, but Georgetown coach John Thompson embraced Brown in a reassuring bear hug. In 1984, Brown helped George-town win the national title.

Although few of us have blown it on national television with millions of people watching, we still know the sting of failure. So did Simon Peter. But Peter’s denial of Christ wasn’t an inadvertent mistake or even a simple error in judgment. It was pride and stubbornness that led Peter to drop his spiritual guard.

But thanks to God’s grace and the prayers of Jesus Christ on his behalf (Luke 22:31-32), Peter was forgiven, restored to fellowship with his Lord, and recommissioned to his ministry.

Let’s review this defining moment in Peter’s life before turning to the New Testament letters he wrote. Some Bible teachers believe Peter’s decision to go fishing that day was an admission that, as far as he could tell, his ministry was over.

We can’t know for sure what was in Peter’s mind, but he obviously knew that something was seriously wrong in his relationship with the Lord. It was essential that Peter’s relationship with the risen Lord be restored, not only for his sake, but also because of his influence on the other disciples.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
When Peter received forgiveness, he also received a fresh opportunity to serve Christ. This former fisherman made the most of this new opportunity.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 1:1-2
Grace and peace be yours in abundance. - 1 Peter 1:2
TODAY IN THE WORD
According to Baptist Standard reporter Robert O’Brien, “Desert-dwelling Bedouins come straight out of biblical history, but they don’t live in a land flowing with milk and honey. They eke out a hard existence, either as rootless nomads living in tents across the Middle East and North Africa or as cultivators who have gravitated into a more settled life in concrete and stone structures.” O’Brien goes on to say that, even for Bedouins who live in houses, “their nomadic past shapes and dominates their mindset and worldview.”

As Christians living in this world, we’re much like these modern-day Bedouins. Although most of us live in homes and not in tents, spiritually speaking we’re nomads and aliens whose mindset and worldview need to be shaped by this reality.

The apostle Peter knew what it was like to be a traveler with no permanent earthly home. He spent the last decade of his life in Rome, where he was eventually martyred around AD 67.

Many of the Christians in Peter’s day were also strangers in a strange land, scattered throughout the Roman world. Several years prior to his death, Peter wrote to a group of these believers living in provinces spread across Asia Minor, in what is now northern Turkey.

The apostle addressed his readers as “strangers in the world” (v. 1), a spiritual reality for people whose true citizenship was in heaven (Phil. 3:20). As such, they were subject to the misunderstanding, threats, insults, persecution, and other abuse that a pagan culture often inflicts on followers of Christ.

Peter wanted his readers to know how to handle persecution from a hostile world. The goal for people who claim to follow Christ is to display “the true grace of God” (1 Peter 5:12) that has transformed their lives.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Since we’re travelers and strangers, we can’t be too settled in our routines or too attached to our stuff.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Though you have not seen [Christ], you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him. - 1 Peter 1:8
TODAY IN THE WORD
Someone has said that Christians are an unusual group of people. We have to die in order to live, we discover our greatest joy and peace in the midst of our hardest circumstances, and we’re called to give up the things we can see and touch for a Person and a place we’ve never seen.

The Christian life is a paradox to a lot of people, especially those on the outside looking in. That’s understandable--but sometimes the Christian life is a paradox to those of us who are trying to live it. It’s not very easy knowing that you are a stranger whose real home is in another place.

Some of the believers Peter addressed in his first letter were also aliens. They were Christians scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Peter called them “strangers” (v. 1), a word that could also be translated “scattered.” The term “scattered” in verse 1 was a term used for Jews who were living outside Israel, and Peter applied it to Christians who were also separated from their homeland.

Peter had a welcome word for these followers of Jesus Christ who must have felt like nomads at times. Their past, present, and future were abso-lutely secure because of their new birth, the keeping power of God, and their inheritance in heaven!

This is why Peter could begin his first letter with a burst of praise (v. 3). Our faith is a “living hope” because God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead. We serve a risen, living Savior, not a dead idol or a vague ideal.

When we trusted Christ to save us, we also came into an inheritance. This is not the reward for faithful service that Paul refers to (1 Cor. 3:10-15), but the full realization of our salvation. Word pictures (“perish, spoil or fade”) abound in verse 4 to describe how safe our future in heaven is.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Let’s talk about the “present tense” of salvation--days such as today when we are being “shielded by God’s power” (v. 5).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 1:10-12
Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. - 1 Peter 1:15
TODAY IN THE WORD
During the recent mission of the space shuttle Endeavour, the crew collected radar images of the earth that will be transformed into the most accurate maps ever made of our planet. The shuttle’s two large radar antennas had to be held perfectly still while the readings were taken--an amazing feat. The result will be precise, three-dimensional maps of the earth.

God’s Word operates in much the same way in our lives. The Scripture provides us a precise, completely reliable “image” of what life is truly like from God’s perspective. The Word gives us the knowledge and guidance we need to map out our lives according to God’s will.

Peter had a deep appreciation for God’s revealed Word. The apostle lived during a unique time in history, the transition from the old sacrificial system of Judaism to God’s new work of salvation in Jesus Christ. Peter was present during the early, sometimes miraculous, events that brought the church into being; he even delivered the “keynote address” for the whole process--his incre-dible sermon on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).

Peter understood that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was God’s full and final payment for sin. Thus he could write to a group of Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor, suffering various kinds of persecution and harassment, and tell them that they were especially blessed.

That’s the point of verses 10-12. As believers in Christ and members of His body, the church, we are the recipients of a blessing that the Old Testa-ment prophets had longed to comprehend fully as they spoke and wrote God’s Word. Even the angels are in awe of God’s work of salvation.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
When he wrote “prepare your minds for action” (v. 13), Peter uses an interesting word picture to make his point understood.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 1:17-25
You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. - 1 Peter 1:23
TODAY IN THE WORD
The largest bill ever printed by the United States treasury was a $100,000 gold certificate that carried the picture of Woodrow Wilson. As you might guess, these bills were not exactly tossed around in everyday transactions. In fact, they weren’t issued to the general public at all, but were used only for money transfers between federal reserve banks.

This piece of trivia from the history of money reminds us of a simple fact. The more valuable something is, the more carefully it should be treated. Consider our salvation. It was bought at an unimaginably high price, the precious blood of Christ. We can’t afford to treat a sacrifice such as this lightly by living half-hearted, careless Christian lives.

Instead, God’s Word exhorts us to live as “strangers here in reverent fear” (v. 17). We’ve already discussed what it means to live as a stranger, or an alien, in the midst of a corrupt culture. This doesn’t mean we’re supposed to act strangely, but to realize that our loyalties and commitments are tied to heaven, not to earth.

Living entirely for Christ is the only reasonable response we can make to what He has done for us. Peter probably had very little silver or gold in his pocket as he wrote this letter, but he knew that money alone doesn’t get a person very far in the kingdom of God.

Verse 18 reminds us of Peter’s words to the crippled man who asked him for a handout one day: “Silver or gold I do not have . . .” (Acts 3:6). And then the apostle gave the man what he did have, and what no amount of money could buy--healing and salvation in Christ.

What does a life of reverent fear look like? Peter describes this life in the remaining verses of chapter 1, and continues into the next few chapters. For example, living reverently means a life of purity resulting from obedience to God’s Word, the “seed” through which we have been born again.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Peter talked about the “empty way of life” his readers had inherited from their ancestors (v. 18).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 2:1-10
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. - 1 Peter 2:9
TODAY IN THE WORD
Dr. Joseph Stowell remembers seeing railroad crossing signs from his childhood that said, “Look, Listen, and Yield.” Dr. Stowell says this combination of alertness and submission is not only a good formula at railroad crossings, but also an excellent pattern for Christians to follow in their relationship with God.

The apostle Peter would say amen to this formula. The apostle was writing to Christians living as aliens in the world, to encourage them in the face of suffering and to urge them to respond as Jesus Christ would. To do this successfully, these believers needed to be alert (see 1 Peter 5: and to yield to God’s will for them. God calls us to follow the same example.

We learned that God’s will for us is our holiness (1 Peter 1:15-16). Holiness is a big concept, so Peter clarified its meaning. Holiness means living with a reverence for God that takes into account the high price He paid to save us. It also involves loving other Christians with a pure love that avoids hypocrisy.

Living in this way is possible because we have been given new life through the gospel (1:12) that Peter and the other apostles preached to the church. Part of Peter’s Spirit-inspired preaching urged believers to grow spiritually the way a baby grows naturally--by taking in solid nourishment.

Peter changed metaphors in verse 4 and used a word picture that we might expect from someone whose name means “stone.” As a student of the Old Testament, Peter knew that the prophets had likened the coming Redeemer to a stone. The apostle had seen the Stone, Jesus Christ, with his own eyes and had heard Jesus refer to Himself as such (compare v. 7 with Matt. 21:42).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Today we don’t have to bring an animal sacrifice to a priest, so that he might offer the animal’s blood as a temporary covering for sin.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 2:11-17
Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. - 1 Peter 2:17
TODAY IN THE WORD
When the Roman Empire fell to barbarian invaders in the fifth century AD, many people blamed the empire’s collapse on Christianity, which was considered a cult opposed to the traditional Roman gods. One of the Chris-tian faith’s greatest defenders against this slanderous charge was the church father Augustine. This great theologian and leader wrote The City of God to demonstrate the superiority of Chris-tianity over any worldly system.

The accusations against Christians when Rome fell were the culmination of a stormy relationship between the Roman Empire and Christians living in it. Christians clashed with the empire when they refused to worship the emperor or otherwise conform to its pagan culture. At times, the church was the target of intense, organized persecution by the authorities.

Such persecution doesn’t seem to be the case in Peter’s day. He indicated that, in general, Christians could expect the protection of the government if they did what was right. But the recipients of 1 Peter were still the target of slanderous charges by some people who wanted to discredit them and their faith.

Peter reminded his readers that the best answer of all to false charges was the true evidence of a Christian’s “good deeds.” Like the prophet Daniel, we need to live with such personal integrity and honesty that even our worst accusers can’t make their charges stick.

One of the good deeds Christians are commanded to do is to show respect and submission to authority. That’s not always easy, and there are times when obedience to Christ demands disobeying human rulers. Peter himself applied this exception (Acts 4:19-20).

Under most circumstances, however, the rule is obedience to authority, because God both requires it and blesses it. Notice the motivation for living holy lives with respect to human authority. We do so “for the Lord’s sake” because it is “God’s will” (vv. 13, 15).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Hopefully few of us will have serious problems with the government or other authority figures.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 2:18-25
If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. - 1 Peter 2:20
TODAY IN THE WORD
A recent report from a mission board tells of a Christian in West Africa who was arrested and subjected to four days of intense pressure in an effort to make him renounce Christ. But the believer held firm, and as a result at least four people have put their faith in Christ. One of the new converts said of the mistreated Christian, “Nobody would endure what he endured for something that wasn’t true.”

This is a modern-day example of what Peter had in mind when he urged Christians to put up with suffering for the sake of Christ. The slave/master situation continues the theme of submission that Peter began in verse 13.

The closest equivalent today is the employer/employee relationship, and the message is the same. As believers, God calls us to submit to authority, even when that authority is not concerned with honoring God. That’s not part of our natural instincts--which is why we need the supernatural power of God to respond as Christ did when He was mistreated.

The kind of Christian endurance Peter called for here is not just incidental. In other words, following Christ’s example of enduring unjust treatment is something to which we are “called” as His disciples (v. 21). Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18).

Even though it may be hard, Peter presents the best possible motivations for obeying God in this area. The first motivation is our conscious awareness of God’s presence with us when we suffer. By patiently putting up with mistreatment, we are demonstrating His grace to the world.

A second motivation is Christ’s own example. He suffered for us in the way God asks us to suffer--except that Christ’s sufferings in His crucifixion were infinitely greater. It took His wounds to win our salvation, our spiritual healing from the deadly disease of sin.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We might not complain when we do something wrong and have to pay the price. But we might also be tempted to believe that every time we do the right thing, we should be rewarded.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 3:1-7
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. - Ephesians 5:21
TODAY IN THE WORD
Martin Luther was a latecomer to marriage, but the great reformer established a loving and happy home with his wife, Katie von Bora. Luther wrote: “Married life is no jest to be taken lightly, but it is an excellent thing and a matter of divine seriousness.... I have always taught that marriage should not be despised, but that it be regarded according to God’s Word, by which it is adorned and sanctified.”

Marriage, at least as the Bible presents it, is attacked in our culture today. One recent example is the firestorm of public criticism one Christian group endured for daring to suggest that the Bible instructs wives to practice loving submission toward their husbands.

Peter called for the same principle, because this is God’s design for marriage. Most discussions tend to start with the objections and exceptions, and the potential for abuse of the principle of submission. These problems need to be addressed in light of God’s intent, and not used to deny or avoid God’s good purposes.

When Peter wrote this letter, he had a particular kind of marriage in mind, that of a Christian wife and an unbelieving husband. In this case, a wife’s commitment to loving submission and to godly living can help lead her husband to Christ. God will bless the commitment of a wife who follows Christ’s example and submits “in the same way” He did.

The God-given responsibilities of a husband and wife in marriage are not limited to a particular situation. Peter refers to Sarah and Abraham to show that the principle of submission and the reality of the “unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit” (v. 4) are God’s will for wives with believing husbands.

Peter’s teaching is not one-sided. Husbands also have an obligation to act “in the same way” as Christ (v. 7). They have the lifelong assignment and delight of knowing their wives so intimately, and loving them so completely, that they can “be considerate” and respectful in the way they treat their wives.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
You won’t find many Christians who want their prayers to be hindered. But God says that it will happen in a home where a husband and wife aren’t in right relationship with each other.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 3:8-12
All of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. - 1 Peter 3:8
TODAY IN THE WORD
C. S. Lewis offers these thoughts on what it means for us to be members of Christ’s body, the church. “No one is like anyone else in the body of Christ. All are 'members’: all are different and necessary to the whole and to one another; each is loved by God individually.... How being a member of a body differs from inclusion in a collective may be seen in the structure of a family. The members are not interchangeable. If you subtract any one member, you have not simply reduced the family in number, you have inflicted an injury on its structure.”

Lewis notes some great reasons for treating each other the way Peter commanded in the verses we read today. Since every member of Christ’s body is uniquely valuable to Him and equally important to every other member, it’s vital for all of us to care for each other.

Peter wanted to emphasize his message to the church. The words used in the five exhortations of verse 8 are rare in the New Testament. Four of these words are found only in this passage in this form, and the word for “compassionate” appears just twice in Scripture.

How does God want us to treat our Christian brothers and sisters? We’re to “live in harmony,” or be “like-minded.” This suggests not uniformity, but unity of heart and purpose. This is possible when we are able to love, understand, and sympathize with each other, and humbly put others ahead of ourselves.

But what happens when our love is met with insult and evil? In verse 14, Peter’s words echo those that he heard from Jesus Himself: “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:28). Reacting with a blessing instead of revenge opens us to a special blessing from God. Peter appeals to Psalm 34:12-16 to restate and reinforce his point.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
On Sunday, we urged you to commit to God a situation in which you may be the victim of unfair treatment (see the June 11 study).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 3:13-17
Even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. - 1 Peter 3:14
TODAY IN THE WORD
The great Colonial-era pastor and theo-logian Jonathan Edwards once wrote, “The truly humble Christian is clothed with lowliness, mildness, meekness, gentleness of spirit and behavior. These things are just like garments to him. Christian humility has no such thing as roughness, or contempt, or fierceness, or bitterness in its nature.... Yet in searching and awakening the conscience, [the Christian] should be a son of thunder.... He should be like a lion to guilty consciences, but like a lamb to men and women.”

The person Edwards was describing fits the profile 1 Peter presents to us in today’s reading. Christians must be humble and yet fearless, with a powerful testimony for the Savior that makes them like lions in the presence of their false accusers. Both humility and courage are qualities especially important in situations where believers may have to suffer because of their faith.

We said that Peter’s purpose for writing his first letter was to help Christians live godly lives in a hostile world, and also to know how to handle persecution in a Christ-like way. In verse 13, this theme of suffering for Christ comes to the forefront.

In this verse Peter reiterated his counsel for Christians facing persecution: be sure that if you suffer, it’s for doing right, not for doing wrong. Continue to do what’s right and entrust your ultimate vindication to God, because He will give special blessings to those who stand firm in the faith.

Peter’s reference to Isaiah 8:12-13 is interesting because it helps to explain his reference to fear. Isaiah was telling godly Israelites not to fear the coming Assyrian invasion that would result in captivity and exile for the northern kingdom. Because these righteous people feared the Lord, He would take care of them even in frightening times.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
A major part of the “answer” we should be ready to give at any time involves being able to explain the gospel in clear and simple terms.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 3:18-22
Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. - 1 Peter 3:18
TODAY IN THE WORD
A U.S. Senate committee convened during the Civil War to investigate a rumor that Abraham Lincoln’s wife, Mary, was disloyal to the Union. The president himself appeared before the committee and said, “I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, appear of my own volition before this committee to say that I, of my own knowledge, know it is untrue that any member of my family holds treasonable communication with the enemy.” Lincoln then exited the Senate chamber, leaving the committee members speechless. Without another word being spoken, the investigation was dropped.

Lincoln’s eloquent statement of loyalty captures the spirit behind Peter’s plea for Christians to be loyal to Christ. If Jesus is first in our loyalties, we don’t have to fear anyone. Since Jesus was faithful in the face of the worst possible injustice and suffering, we can remain true to Him in our hard times.

Mention of Jesus’ death led Peter to the truth of His resurrection. The Savior was “made alive by the Spirit.” This reference is followed by three verses (vv. 19-21) that are hard to interpret with absolute certainty.

Some people use Peter’s references to baptism to teach that baptism saves us, but that idea is refuted by many other passages that clearly teach salvation by God’s grace, through faith alone (Eph. 2:8-9). We must not interpret the Bible’s clear teaching in light of more obscure passages. Instead, we should interpret difficult passages in light of Scripture’s clear teaching. So we conclude that Peter wasn’t teaching that salvation was affected by baptism.

But how were Noah and his family “saved through water”? (v. 20). Noah, like Christ, was faithful to God despite rejection and ridicule. As the eternal God, Jesus preached in the person of the Holy Spirit through Noah to the people of Noah’s day.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Peter left no doubt as to the power that saves us. It is not our actions that save us, but the death and resurrection of Christ.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 4:1-6
Since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude. - 1 Peter 4:1
TODAY IN THE WORD
Sukhwant Bhatia knows how costly faith in Christ can be. Sukhwant grew up in an affluent home in India. He was a Sikh like his father, who was an army officer. But Sukhwant’s heart was hungry for the truth, and he found truth when he trusted Christ as his Savior. Sukhwant’s decision enraged his father, who pulled out his pistol one day, pointed it at his son, and said, “If you come into this home again, I will kill you.” Yet Sukhwant remained true to Christ. Today he is studying at Dallas Theological Seminary to prepare himself for ministry in India.

Only someone who is “armed” with the same attitude as Christ can make the life-altering decision that Sukhwant Bhatia had to make. How do we acquire this Christ-like attitude? By turning our backs on our

former lives without Christ, as the apostle Paul explained in Romans 6:11 when he wrote, “count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

This doesn’t mean we won’t sin anymore--as great as that would be. But it does mean that we refuse to allow sin to dominate us. Christians who are done with sin are ready to live the rest of their lives for the will of God. This commitment also includes a determination to remain true to Christ even when one’s faith brings persecution or other suffering.

Verse 3 shows that some of the believers to whom Peter was writing were Gentile Christians who, like the Corin-thians, had come to Christ from very corrupt backgrounds. In fact, the word translated “pagans” is the same word the New Testa-ment often uses for Gentiles.

The problem here was that the pagans who had once been friends of the sinful Corinthians had since become their persecutors. These unbelievers were heaping abuse on the Christians who no longer participated in their wasted lifestyles.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
When Peter said we should arm ourselves with the same attitude as Christ, he used the same term that describes a soldier putting on his armor.

This picture makes us think of the Christian’s armor that God has given us for daily spiritual battle (Eph. 6:13-17). With this kind of protection available, we’d be foolish to go out without it.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 4:7-11
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. - 1 Peter 4:7
TODAY IN THE WORD
Prisoners of war from the Vietnam War, some of whom endured as much as seven or more years of captivity, say that the most effective tool their captors used against them was isolation. Prisoners who could communicate with each other generally fared better, even despite physical torture, than those who were completely cut off from their fellow captives.

People need each other--and the church is no exception. In fact, Jesus Christ specifically designed His church to function like a human body, in which each part needs the support of every other part. Times of persecution have a special way of teaching us this reality.

That’s what the readers of 1 Peter were learning. The apostle wanted these believers in Asia Minor to exhibit the “true grace of God” (1 Peter 5:12) in their circumstances. Part of that process included learning how to minister to each other.

Both Peter and Paul expected Christ to return at any time (v. 7, see 1 Cor. 7:29). Each generation of God’s people needs to live with this sense of expectancy, which helps to produce holy living (as we will see in 2 Peter 3:8-13). Here in today’s passage, the emphasis is on prayer, which keeps us clear-headed in the middle of hard times and which helps us to express the kind of dependence on God that brings Him glory and praise (v. 11).

God is also glorified when we love each other despite our faults and failings. We’re facing some tough enemies in the world, including our old sinful nature and the devil. We need the ministry of other believers to stay on track, because God never intended us to go it alone.

God has even given all of us spiritual gifts by which we can serve Him and each other. Peter divided these gifts into two categories: speaking gifts and serving gifts. These categories describe the basic ministries of the church outlined when the first deacons were chosen (Acts 6:1-7).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
God’s grace “in its various forms” (v. 10) is more than enough to help us thrive spiritually despite “all kinds of trials” (1:6).