The Debbie Taylor Williams Podcast

Debbie Taylor Williams: Hi, this is Debbie Taylor Williams. Thank you for tuning in to my podcast. I'm so glad you're here and pray the Lord will speak to you through this message.

Hi, thank you for joining me for our study of 1st Peter. I'm Debbie Taylor Williams, and it's great to have you join me as we dive into chapter one with the good news, the great news that we have a God of grace and peace who wants to give us grace and peace increasingly. Would you like more grace and peace in your life? No doubt your answer is yes. Why?

We live in a world marked by cultural chaos. No one would argue otherwise. The May 24, 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, is but one of many examples. Bullying and an unstable home life, all too common today, have been named as contributing factors to the gunman Salvador Ramos's mental health condition.

The day before, a 17-year-old boy died of suicide due to sextortion, a crime unheard of in past generations. In regard to sex, our culture has moved far from God’s created order of male and female. Gender identity enthusiasts now tout 72 genders. Calvin Klein's Mother’s Day image of a person posing as a pregnant male is an affront to God’s creation of male and female, of women being created to bear children.

Added to the cultural chaos are the COVID pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, defunding the police, criminals robbing stores and not being charged, and protests over the leaked draft ruling of the Supreme Court regarding Roe v. Wade. We see the darkness increasing in our nation. We see intolerance for biblical values such as the sanctity of life increasing.

What happens when our business doesn't include abortion benefits? What happens when we speak up for the unborn baby? What is your position on premarital sex, extramarital relationships, homosexuality? Have your beliefs changed from what they were ten years ago? If they’ve changed, does that mean the Bible was wrong ten years ago?

How do we handle the shifting beliefs of our day? Are you willing to be persecuted for your faith? Are you willing to be ostracized? Are you strong enough to stand for biblical convictions if it in fact involves a cost, such as losing a promotion or losing a friend? If you, like me, have experienced that, you know how painful it is.

Peter addresses the persecution and suffering experienced by Christians. He gives us kingdom tools for how to navigate in a fallen world that is under Satan’s rule. He encourages us repeatedly that Christ is glorified and our faith is proved through suffering and through persecution. Peter keeps our eyes on the fact that Christ is returning.

Now, we live in a visually oriented society. What does that mean? It means that people demand we show, don't just talk to them and tell them about Jesus. In other words, we like a short YouTube video to show us how to bake, how to work out, even how to play a musical instrument. Because we are a visual society, our culture demands this: give me proof there is a God, show me the benefit of Jesus in your home, your marriage, your child-rearing.

Otherwise, I’m moving to a teacher besides Jesus and a book besides the Bible. Unfortunately, too often, Christians have not only been poor demonstrators of Christ in our lives, we have come across as hypocrites and unauthentic in a day when people seek and yearn for authenticity. In order for us to be show, don't just tell Christians, we must incorporate two practices.

We must do two things. First, we must learn Christ's ways. That's the easy part. We read the Bible, we study scripture. We're doing that right now. But second, we must live what we learn, and this is where we often fail. We need to go beyond knowing the word to showing it to others in the way we live. Are you ready to begin?

If so, let's read 1 Peter 1, verses 1 and 2, in which Peter gives us a lot to think about that we’ll break down into bite-sized pieces. "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure."

Peter, beginning with the acknowledgment that we have a triune God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—expresses the longing and in fact the prayer that we experience God’s grace and peace not just in an intellectual way, knowing that He saved us, but that we experience His grace and peace increasingly day by day. In order for us to do that, we must understand who we are and whose we are.

Peter uses the word aliens to describe Christians in the verse I just read, which means we live among people, but earth isn't our home. We're aliens on earth. Other Bible authors emphasize the very same principle. Paul in Philippians 3:20 says our citizenship is in heaven. Hebrews 11:13 refers to the heroes of the faith as strangers, exiles on earth.

In verse 17 of this chapter, Peter speaks of our stay on earth as if we were vacationing at a hotel. Our first key to experiencing grace and peace is realizing while we aren't in harmony with our culture, it is not our permanent home. Christian music group Building 429 well states this in their song called "Where I Belong." Are you familiar with it?

The lyrics include the words, "Sometimes it feels like I’m watching from the outside. Sometimes it feels like I’m breathing but am I alive? I will keep searching for answers that aren't here to find. All I know is, I’m not home yet. This is not where I belong. Take this world and give me Jesus. This is not where I belong.

So, when the walls come falling down on me and when I’m lost in the current of a raging sea, I have this blessed assurance holding me. All I know is, I’m not home yet. This is not where I belong. Take this world and give me Jesus. This is not where I belong." The lyrics are true in saying we’re not home yet, fellow believer.

However, this is where we currently belong as Christ’s ambassadors in order to carry His light and His message to those who don't know Him. So Peter tells us who we are, but also whose we are. Peter says that the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—chose us. We are theirs. You should feel very special knowing that God chose you and it was in His heart before the foundation of the earth.

Chosen, but for what purpose? Peter tells us in these verses: we are chosen to obey Jesus Christ. Our being chosen and set apart is to have a visible outcome, a visible appearance to those around us. Let me ask you something. If you were to purchase a home from someone and you remodeled it, it would probably be visibly apparent to your neighbors and friends, right? It was under different ownership.

God chose and purchased believers from the slave market of sin. He gave us a fresh washing with the pure, cleansing blood of Jesus. He painted us with Christ’s blood in our inner man. He installed new lighting in us: the light of Christ. We have the generator of the Holy Spirit to give us power when there are cultural blackouts or our own personal human nature blackout.

In other words, God’s light, God’s grace, God’s peace empowers us to visibly do life differently than those who aren't in Christ. For instance, as a Christian, when you feel like lying, you don't have to. When you feel like throwing in the towel with a project or a ministry project that God has given you to do or work or parenting, you don't throw in the towel; you have the power of the Holy Spirit to help you go forward.

When fear is overtaking others, you have inner peace. The principle that we see at work is because of who we are and whose we are. Friend, we should hold loosely to the world and the things of earth. We are less anxious, less angry. Grace and peace rest on us and are even multiplied in us as we walk with the Lord.

This grace and peace are not something we muster up. They are God-given as we mindfully tune our hearts and minds to Him and obey Him. Now, after addressing who we are and whose we are, Peter moves on in verses 3 through 9 and explains we are saved to a living hope. Yes, our hope is well-placed. How exciting! What good news!

Let's read verses 3 through 9. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

We will hear throughout the book of Peter that he speaks often of Christ’s return and Him being revealed, as in this case. Now let's stop and soak in his words for a moment. First, take this in: you are, as we have discussed, the recipient of not just mercy, but great mercy. You, Christian, are the recipient of a new birth.

You, Christian, are the recipient of a living hope. You are the recipient of an imperishable inheritance, so you don't need to worry as much about your earthly inheritance. And you—oh, we must soak this in—you and I as believers are the recipient of heaven, of God’s protection, of salvation. Oh, what better words could we hear during this time of cultural chaos on this earth?

Let me ask you, are you suffering at the hands of an unmerciful boss? Were you born into a family who doesn't love you? Are you currently, even as a believer, feeling a sense of hopelessness? Are you fearful about what tomorrow holds, which many of us can say? We're uncertain what tomorrow holds.

If so, then learning God’s plans offers you a different way to live because you are aware of your new birth into God’s family. You are aware of the hope you have in Him, the inheritance reserved in heaven and God’s eternal protection of you. Rather than be overcome with distress, you and I are to live mindful that this is not our home.

We are to live mindful of the promises of Christ and our inheritance and hope in Him. We cannot say those words too often. We cannot call them to memory too often. They need to always be on our minds. Now, beginning in verse 6, we read: "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

The scripture continues: "And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls." Peter nails it. He rightly aligns our thoughts. One, we are going to have trials and distresses. Amen?

Amen. Two, these tests prove our faith. And three, the outcome of our faith is the salvation of our souls. Yes, we may lose our job, we may get passed over for promotion, we may be slandered, but we will not lose our soul because of who we are and whose we are. Our soul is saved from hell, which leads us to Peter's next point.

The fourth point is our faith will result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. When you and I see Jesus, all else—the world’s trials and daily distresses—will fade into nothing. Having learned these truths, will we live in light of them? Will we face daily distresses mindful that they are temporary?

Will we face trials knowing they have a purpose to prove our faith to those watching and to make us stronger in the Lord? Now let's move to verses 10 through 12. He writes, "As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow."

In verse 12: "It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you." First, our being chosen to inherit God’s great mercy and the salvation of our souls through faith amazes even the angels. Second, Peter explains four points about the Old Testament prophets. As many times as I have read the Bible and read 1st Peter, I have never caught this before as I prepared for our study.

The Spirit of Christ—is our first point—was in them. I had always been taught and also read and understood that in the Old Testament, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, came upon somebody, anointed someone, but was not in them. But Peter says the Spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets.

The second point is, the Spirit of Christ in the prophets predicted His own sufferings and glories to follow. Christ in them predicted what was going to happen to Him. And third, they made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time Christ would come, His sufferings and glories. And fourth, the Spirit of Christ in them revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but us.

This is important. When you read Isaiah and Ezekiel, you are reading what the Spirit of Christ in these Old Testament prophets was telling them to prophesy. Now, as the spirit was in the Old Testament prophets and the apostles, now the Spirit of Christ is in us. And as they served us through the Spirit of Christ, now we are to serve others.

The baton has passed to us. We, through the Spirit of Christ in us, are to serve others. Will you? Will you take the baton from the hand of the apostles and, by the Spirit of Christ in you, lay down your plans in order to serve Christ’s plans? Is this what God is calling you to not only know, but to show others?

Are you doing a lot of things but possibly not serving Christ in the way that He would like? Now, in our last verses 13 through 21, Peter writes we are saved to be holy as Jesus is holy. Does that make your eyes pop open? He begins with therefore. In other words, as a result of all He has told us, there are seven important actions we are to do.

Get your pen handy. Number one, in verse 13, he tells us to do this: prepare your minds for action. The word prepare is a metaphor derived from the practice of the Orientals who, in order to be able to move freely when taking a journey or working, would wrap up their long flowing garments about them and fasten them with a leather belt.

Peter tells us to prepare our minds for action, to get ready, wrap up anything that is keeping you from living for Christ. You're on a journey to heaven, living in hostile territory. Be mentally prepared so you act according to God’s teaching, so you experience His grace and peace. Now, the second thing that Peter tells us to do in verse 13 is keep sober in spirit.

The word sober in this verse means to be calm and collected in spirit, temperate, dispassionate, circumspect. When you hear, for instance, that Satanists are holding after-school meetings in your city, when books that promote transgender ideology are in your child’s curriculum, how do you respond? Rather than respond the sky is falling, our world is horrible, instead, you're circumspect.

You're sober in spirit. You pray, you stand firm against the enemy in the ways the Spirit leads you, whether as a voice at a school board meeting, gathering others for prayer, running for office, or any other way. Rather than be an emotional wreck or simply angry, you are circumspect, spiritually guided. Don't we need that today, friends?

The third thing is we are to fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, we are told in verse 13. This word fix is a command and it means do it, and do it now. My husband is the tightener of all tighteners. If an instruction says tightly screw a piece into place, Keith is going to muscle down and tighten it to the point of possibly stripping the screw.

We should use this and take this as seriously, the words to fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is a command. It means do it now. Hitch your hope to Christ’s return, not to this world, not to a person to do the right thing, not to a promise someone makes, not to everything will turn out okay in this life.

If you fix your hope on the things of this world, you will be sorely disappointed and agitated all the time. Now, how do you fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you? You acknowledge that your hope isn't in the government, your hope isn't in your spouse, your child, your hope isn't in earthly promises, wealth, or even your career.

Your hope is in Christ’s return. Your eyes are on Him. If you've ever slalom skied, you can relate to the importance of fixing your eye in order to maintain balance. When I was taught to slalom, my friend told me to keep my eye on the tip of the ski rather than on the rough water all about me. The fixed focus was and still is the key to getting up and staying up on a slalom ski.

It’s the key to navigating a rough world. Fix your hope on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. If you do, grace and peace will win over anxiety and disappointment. Now our fourth point in verse 14 tells us to not be conformed to the former lust. Aren't all of Peter's teachings practical?

The word conformed in this verse means to fashion oneself to. Before Christ, we looked like the fabric of the world. No longer; we're cut from new cloth. I remember when I was a little girl and my mother taught me to sew. First, we would select a pattern and then the cloth, and upon arriving home, we would unfold the pattern and then we would unfold the cloth and cut the fabric by following the lines of the pattern.

Today, you are laying the pattern of Christ next to your soul, and the Holy Spirit is cutting off the excess that is not necessary to the pattern of Christ. Lusting for money, lusting for sexual context or contexts outside of marriage, lusting for fame—snip, snip, snip go the scissors so the fabric left of your life will be as the fabric of Christ’s life.

Our fifth point—and this one is the one that will cause you to pause perhaps as it did me—it says be holy in all your behavior. Be holy. Holy in this verse means pure, upright. I love this last part of the definition: it means distinctly of Him. Be distinctly of Christ.

What a good word for believers in today's culture. This is how we show people that Christ is real and faith in Him is vital for this life and the next. And six, here we have in verse 17, conduct yourself in fear during the time of your stay on earth. What does that mean? Fear in this context means reverence.

We have a healthy fear of the Lord. We don't want to sin, we don't want to be out of fellowship. We know that’s not a good plan. We know that even in God’s grace, there are consequences of sin. We don't want to disappoint our Lord. We want to serve Him well. Seven, in verse 22, we're told to fervently love one another from the heart.

Fervently—ooh, that can be hard, especially if someone has wronged you or hurt you or hurt someone you care for. To fervently love from the heart means to be of goodwill toward another person, to put differences behind you, to love as God loves. In other words, our being able to love others fervently from the heart is a result of our being born of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who is love.

Would you look back over today's notes that you've jotted down? What have you heard? What have you learned? What have you read? How is God calling you to live? Is it to obey Jesus? Is it to use your spiritual gift to serve others as the prophets and the apostles did to serve us? Is it to be holy as Christ is holy, distinctly His?

Which of the seven teachings or commands will you live having learned them? Will you prepare your mind for action? Will you be of sober spirit rather than react emotionally and then do nothing? Will you fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at Christ’s return rather than hoping in someone else or the things of this earth?

Will you be holy instead of conformed to the former lust? Will you conduct yourself with fear, reverence, during your stay on earth? Will you love others fervently from your heart? Do you agree that these are incredibly practical teachings to learn and live as you navigate daily challenges in a chaotic culture?

You know them now. Show God’s grace and peace to others who need to see Jesus. Thank you for listening to this podcast. To learn more about how to grow in Christ or to be saved, visit www.debbietaylorwilliams.com. Connect with me on Instagram @debbietaylorwilliams. God bless you.