Call to Commitment

 

Christian discipline in Acts

     

Chapter 4

 The end of all things is at hand 

      1.   Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in         the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 

2.      that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 

3.      For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 

4.      In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 

5.      They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 

6.      For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. 

7.      But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. 

 According to 1 Peter 3:8, there is to be a unity of mind among the brethren, but that unity is based on oneness with the mind of Christ. The divine principle is found in the prayer of Christ to the Father: “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (Jn.17:23). Unity among human beings outside of Christ is beyond useless; it is dangerous. It is the basis of ecumenicalism that is a religious unity, which rebels against godly principle. It will ultimately exist as Babylon, exposed and defined in the book of Revelation, as a harlot that has been unfaithful to her Husband…. Her Husband being her Creator, whom she has forgotten. It adulterates along with the world’s system, exalts itself and is empowered by the spirit of the devil.

 The mind of Christ is centered on God-ordained suffering. As He walked on earth, Jesus never diverted once from this purpose. A messianic phrase in Isaiah 50:7 states, “I have set My face like a flint.” and the account in Luke’s Gospel, 9:51, records the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “When the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.

 

Wesley:“Not the outward sign, but the inward grace.

 

Matrimonial responsibilities

      1.   Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, 

   2. when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. 

3.      Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 

4.      rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. 

5.   For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, 

6.     as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. 

      7.  Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the                         weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be                         hindered.

Warren Wiersbe commented that God has established three institutions on earth… the government, the church, and the home. The latter is formed first by a husband and his wife, and so, both Peter and Paul give inspired counsel to the married couple. I emphasize that, because as is true in all the Scripture, this counsel is also divinely inspired. It qualified Paul, who was not married, along with Peter, who was married, to give expert advice. Christian couples need counsel from heaven that goes beyond earthly experience. This world’s wisdom is not sufficient for any area of Christian living, and the believers’ home is a heavenly, supernatural institution. All counsel to believers must be based on biblical, Holy-Spirit directed wisdom.

 Peter begins with the wives and, because he is writing to first generational converts, he assumes that not all have believing spouses. Those, who are married in Christ, should have no need for advice concerning unconverted husbands or wives. Paul gave clear command: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial (the word Belial from Hebrew… worthlessness, unprofitableness, wickedness)? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?” (2 Co.6:14-15). 

 

Chapter 2

 

A Cornerstone with accompanying Living Stones  

1.     Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 

      2.      as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 

      3.       if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 

4.      Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 

5.      you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

6.    Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHIEF CORNERSTONE, ELECT, PRECIOUS, AND HE WHO BELIEVES ON HIM WILL BY NO MEANS BE PUT TO SHAME." 

7.      Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE," 

8.      and "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 

9.      But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 

10.  who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 

 The New Testament does not teach that Christianity is something to be added to a person’s natural, sinful existence. As in our chapter, verse 1, there must first be a laying aside, before any Christian ingredient can be added. This principle is confirmed by Paul in Ephesians 4:22 and 24: “Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man… put on the new man…”  He teaches it again to the Colossians: “You have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man…” (Col.3:9, 10). 

 

The flower fades

Chapter 1:13-25

 

The holiness of God and His people

13.  Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 

14.  as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 

15.  but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 

16.  because it is written, "BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." 

 “Therefore” is based on the previous verses… because Christians are involved in the theme and life that was the envy of prophets and kings. To this, the prophets dedicated their entire lives, searching and inquiring the time of Christ’s suffering and the subsequent glories. They understood that these supreme events of the ages would come to a future people. Not only holy prophets, but holy, heavenly hosts longed to study the matters of an elect people, who would receive these glories. 

 Peter’s readers were the recipients, not only those of his day, but down through the gospel ages to our day, the message has been heard and received, accompanied by the Holy Spirit from heaven. It is the good news of salvation to a sinful, condemned race, totally unworthy of its benefits. You are the ones, Peter says, who should “gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you…”

 In the apostle’s day, men of the Middle East wore loose-fitting robes. When they would embark upon some activity, perhaps a journey, they would tie their robes closely to their bodies, and shorten them under their belts, to allow freedom of movement. Girding was an act of preparation and Peter applies it to the thought-life of a believer. It must be brought under control… “girded” … to think seriously and deeply and then, be able to come to a place of confident and complete rest in the grace of God. There is no other source of hope for him and it will be brought to him in its completeness, when Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven. This is to occupy his mind. Jesus said, "Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master…” (Lk.12:35,36).

                Chosen and born again, with               resurrection life from Christ

       1.      Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,  

       2.      elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. 

3.      Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 

4.      to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 

5.      who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 

 After an introduction of the apostle Peter and the people, to whom he is writing, I want to refer to the first verse again, simply to look at the word pilgrims.  When Jacob met the Egyptian Pharaoh, he referred to his life as a pilgrimage… he was one, who had not settled down, but was on a continual journey: “Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years.” (Gen.47:9). He had learned that lifestyle from his father, Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham.

 In Psalms 39:12, David identified with his forefathers as a foreign sojourner: “I am a stranger with You, A sojourner, as all my fathers were.”  The writer of Hebrews referred to the Old Testament saints, using the same Greek word, translated pilgrims in Hebrews 11:13, as in Peter’s first verse: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Peter is writing to pilgrims and I can see no other position for a Christian in this world, than that of a pilgrim (1).

 The apostle goes to great lengths to express to these people, with temporal residency on earth, that they have a history that was initiated by God the Father in eternity. He had chosen them, from the time that He had knowledge of them. Now, of course, we must consider the fact that, due to His omniscience, there is no beginning to His foreknowledge. In the timeless eons of eternity, He knew these pilgrims and chose them for His own. The place that they occupy in Peter’s day, was the result of God’s special attention given them from before the beginning of time.