Peace in Christ Jesus

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Will you please turn over in your Bibles with me to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. First Peter chapter five, I was encouraged this morning, I was trying to find the page numbers in the Pew Bible, by the way it's page 1079, but as I was flipping through it, it really easily opened up to First Peter, and I thought, okay, we've been turning there enough that it's kind of creased in the Pew Bible, that's good. All right, so we finally come to the end of First Peter. Final sermon. 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 12 through 14, brothers and sisters, hear now God's perfect word.

By Sylvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you. And so does Mark, my son.

Prayer for Illumination

Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. It is true, perfect altogether. Father, Your Word by Your Spirit is sweeter to us than honey and more precious than gold. Lord, we pray that this morning You would use Your Word by Your Spirit to convict, teach, reprove, correct, and train, comfort, and give us light. Lord, we pray that Your Spirit would be with us as we think through your word together this morning. Father, I pray that your spirit would be with me in both teaching, exhorting, and in comforting your people.

Sermon

In Jesus' name, amen. We come to the conclusion of 1 Peter, and I think that there's what I want to kind of press on you with the main idea here is that you need to stand firm in the grace of God. Christian, you need to stand firm in the grace of God. And because you stand firm in the grace of God, you're able to rest secure in the peace of Christ. You stand firm in the grace of God, and you rest secure in the peace of Christ. So let's work through this together as we move into how do we get to this place of this grace and peace. Well first notice in verse 12 that Peter is writing to the church.

He's sending this letter by most likely a courier, his name is Sylvanus. Elsewhere in the New Testament, his name's gonna be Silas, right? I asked my son Daniel yesterday, I said, what do we call you, Dan Dan? And he said, Dan Dan. And I said, but what's your real name? And he said, Daniel. And I said, exactly, right? So you have a nickname. He said, yeah. And I said, so what do you think Silvanus' shortened name or nickname was? Silas. And so he's sending this letter by Silas, And he considers, he thinks of, he judges Silas to be a faithful brother.

And he says it's just been a short letter. But there's been a purpose in this short letter. And what's been the purpose of this short letter he wrote to these churches? To exhort and testify that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. He's writing to the churches in Cappadocia, in Galatia, in Asia, all throughout what's modern day Turkey, in those five different Roman provinces, and he's saying to them, you are standing, you are standing, you all, as a church, as a corporate body, as a gathering of the saints, you are standing in the grace of Jesus Christ. You are standing in the grace of God.

That's why he's been exhorting them to this. He's been teaching them this. He's been testifying that these things are true. And when he says that this, what is the this? I'm always asking myself when my son will work on different coding projects and Nathan will say, well, dad, it's right there in that. And I'm like, what's the that? What are you talking about? What is this? What is that? The this here in verse 12, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God.

He's saying the short letter. The summary of the short letter that he's written to them in 1 Peter. As we've gone through 1 Peter, he started with their election. 1 Peter 1, 1 and 2, to the pilgrims of the dispersion, 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.

He spoke to them of the new birth in verse three of chapter one. 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. You see that he's given you a new life, he's given you a new hope. This is God's grace towards you who have been elect by the Father, who have been sprinkled in the blood of the Son, who have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit. This is the good news, this is the favor that God has given you. He's given you a living hope, a hope that even endures suffering.

Suffering has been a huge theme throughout this entire book. 1 Peter chapter 4, Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. This is the grace of God.

And not the grace of God that whoop, pulls you out of all your struggles and trials and the suffering that comes with your Christian life, but a grace that's present with you all through your Christian life. It is a grace of God that we have a future hope of glory. That the suffering here of this life isn't anything to be compared with the glory that is to come. is why Peter told the shepherds of the people in the churches in 1 Peter 5, 4, that the elders who are among you, I exhort, I am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. And then verse four, and when the chief shepherds appears, you will receive a crown of glory that does not fade away.

Brothers and sisters, you get to stand in that grace of God. The grace of God that tells you you didn't have to do something to be saved, but God elected you by his foreknowledge because he decided to love you. The grace of God that says he washed you in the blood of Jesus Christ. You didn't have to go and pay for your own sins, but while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. God demonstrated his love for you in that. that you are given a living hope.

This is the grace of God, that your hope is not something that's going to fail and falter and be dead, but you get to stand in a living hope that has a hope of glory eternal. A glory where you'll be able to stand with God forever in a right relationship with him.

But I know some of you in here this morning It may be springtime, but in your life, it's all shadows, and it's gray. Some of you are facing trials and hardships, and you say, I understand that this is the grace, but I don't really feel like God's grace right now. When cancer is looming, when finances are horrible, when relationships are shattered, but grace isn't about feeling strong. Grace is about what God is doing in your life through those hardships. Silvanus, who's carrying this letter, he suffered.

When Silvanus, otherwise known as Silas, went with Paul on his second missionary journey, and they found themselves up in Macedonia, they found themselves in a very specific city, Philippi. And there in Philippi, as Paul and Silas were preaching the gospel, what happened? Even though Roman citizens, they were locked up, thrown in prison, and in the dark, in their cell, the grace of God was still true to them then, and they sang hymns unto God. They sang God's praises in the jail, because they knew God's grace was real. And they stood firm in the grace of God. And the Philippian jailer and his whole household was saved.

You might say, I've tried to stand, but I find myself stumbling more than standing. Standing doesn't mean that you'll never stumble. But it means getting back up in grace. You're never going to be perfect in this life. We stumble, we sin. It's one of the most sobering and encouraging things in our entire confession. We but doth daily sin in thought, word, and deed. There hasn't gone a day in my life where I haven't thought a wrong thought, had a bad attitude about something, didn't do something I ought to have done to love someone else. We sin in commission and omission.

We do things God's told us not to do, and we don't do good things that God has told us to do. But the grace of God isn't about how well you keep the law. It's about clinging unto Christ. It's about confessing your sin, because he is faithful, Jesus is faithful, and Jesus is righteous, and you can be cleansed of all your sin. So you stand in the grace of God.

Just in a few, in the next verse, Peter's going to say that Mark, Mark's greeting him. Mark was the guy that Peter shared the gospel with in Jerusalem. And Mark went up to Antioch, and he was there, and he went on with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. They went to Cyprus, and then when they went actually to one of these regions that these letters are being written to, Mark said, eh, I'm not so sure I want to keep going with this, and goes back to Jerusalem. When it goes to be the second missionary journey, Barnabas is like, hey, let's bring Mark along with us again. And what did Paul say? No, and there was such a sharp division because in Paul's mind, Mark had loved the world too much. Going back home. Didn't want to keep going on the missionary journey.

And yet it's here, Peter is saying, oh, he's still standing and he's greeting you. He's my son in the Lord. So Christians, stand. Stand. We're not too far from verse eight. Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour. Brothers and sisters, resist him. Stand in the grace of God. Steadfast in your faith. Your sufferings in this life are not unique to you. Stand firm in the grace of God.

Satan may try to untie your shoes and get you to stumble instead of stand. Satan may try to come along and tie your shoelaces together to get you to stumble. Satan may come and try to put sand in your socks so you don't even want to walk, nonetheless stand. Satan may even try to malnourish you and tempt you into thinking you don't need the ordinary means of grace, you don't need word, sacrament, and prayer, and try to get you to be feeble and weak.

Brothers and sisters, stand firm in the grace of God. But secondly, secondly, as Peter continues on, he says, by Salvanus, this faithful brother, He's written this short letter, but he wants to give them greetings. She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you. And so does Mark, my son. Be greeted by the church of Christ. Be greeted by the church of Christ. It's real interesting here as I was wrestling with this and reading through different commentaries through different eras. Why is it she? Who's the she? And is Peter in Babylon right now? Is he really in Mesopotamia? Is he over by the Euphrates River? Well, the she, I am convinced, is the church. It's not an individual lady.

The church is the bride of Christ. Jesus Christ is the husband, and the church is his bride. Even the word church, the word church is a translation that's trying to get us at an idea in the New Testament, but it's e ecclesia, it's feminine. The church is grammatically feminine, it's a she. That's why we have a sister church in Washington, Iowa. That's why we have sister denominations that we associate with. The church is always regularly referred to as she, she, she, because of passages like this. So the church, she who is in Babylon.

Is Peter actually in Babylon? Or is Babylon something else? Many of the Reformers and those writing in that time period thought that, well, he says he's in Babylon, so he must really be in Babylon. And part of this is an anti-Roman Catholic kind of like, well, if he, because there's another implication here, but there's some problems with him possibly being in Babylon.

Number one, none of the church fathers ever mentioned Peter going to Babylon. So that's a challenge there. Another challenge there is that Babylon during the first century is in ruins. It's gone through war, it's largely rubble. Now can there still be a church amongst rubbles? Yeah, certainly, but it's unlikely.

So I think most likely where he's at here is Rome. And that's where Eusebius puts Peter during this time when he's writing this. So he's writing from what he considers in his mind Babylon. This stirs up all sorts of Old Testament ideas. When the people of God were unfaithful, and God brought his judgment, King Nebuchadnezzar came, and what happened? The people were drug away into slavery. If you've ever read the book of Daniel, right, that's the context. If you've ever read Jeremiah, or if you want to ever read about just the emotional angst and absolute despair of what the exile was like, go read the book of Lamentations.

It's an ugly picture. It's hard to make it through those books. And Babylon, going to Babylon is where when the Israelites are there, they hang up their harps. They can't sing the songs anymore. They can't sing the songs of Jerusalem because their hearts are so weary. The promises seem so far.

Peter started out his letter, his short letter saying to the elect saints, Those of the dispersion, sojourners, pilgrims, exiles. Peter put himself in that same boat. In his heart, he felt like he might as well be in Babylon. A place of imperial oppression, where it seems like everything is culturally opposed to the grace of Jesus Christ. but we, like them, are also called to live our lives in the midst of a foreign land.

You may be a Christian, and you may be an American citizen, but if you are in Christ, you know that there are times in your life where You're just like, I love my house, I love the fields, I love my garden, I love the lawn. Maybe I don't love mowing it like three times in a week, but I haven't done it in like a week yet. But the point being, but there are times where we look around the world at us and we see the shambles and we see the mess and we go, this can't be my eternal home. This isn't right.

We're often exiles and sojourners, pilgrims in this life. But if grace is true, then it's true that that grace sustains us in our exile. Grace sustains us while we are here. Grace doesn't remove us from, but sustains us in. Was the grace of God still with Peter when he was in the foreign land, away from the seas of Galilee, away from his mother and father, away from his boat, away from his fishing business, away from his family, away from everything he grew up with as a boy? Yes, the grace of God was with him, always, no matter where his feet were moving, because his God was with him.

I've got to tell you, this is one of the things that I enjoy a lot. I never anticipated when the Lord called our family to move here to Iowa. In my mind, if you were going to do missions, and if you were going to do evangelism, and if you were going to interact with people of different customs and cultures, you go to big cities. And I had never anticipated the amount of interaction I would get with internationals being here in the country.

I just this morning received a message from two different pastors in South Asia telling me about what they're going through. Both of them, actually, their families are both sick and asking for prayer. Both of these men, praying with them and caring for them, and regularly they ask, how are the people in your place?

That's how they say it. How are the people in your place? How are the people in Iowa? How are the saints at Sharon? Because they're praying for you. Just like we pray for them. See, there's this bond, even though they feel like they're sojourners in exiles there, they know that that's the way you often feel here. and they send their greetings, and they love you, and they pray for you, and when we send them encouragement, or we send them supplies, or we send them Bibles, or we go and visit them, they are over the top joyful because they know that their life isn't alone.

But there are others also standing in the grace of Christ. Brothers and sisters, you are not alone. There is a global church that's far broader than these four walls and far greater than any one nation. But the gospel goes out to the end of the earth to every tribe, tongue, nation, and people.

But amongst yourselves, greet one another with love. And greet one another with love. Look at me at the end of 13 and end of 14. She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you. And so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Mark is, like I said earlier, his Jewish name is John, his Roman, kind of Latinized name is Marcus. So this is John Mark, sometimes he'll be called. And this Mark sends his greeting Again, he was, at least has seen some of them. And so had Silas seen some of them in his missionary journeys with Paul.

But they're greeting now, not just those away, sending their greetings, but did you notice verse 14? It changed from outside people greeting you to verse 14, now what's it saying? Greet one another. y'all greet each other with a kiss of love. This kiss of love. It's not the first time, as in 1 Thessalonians, there's also greeting each other with a holy kiss.

And this is a cultural thing, right? In the Roman world, it was not unusual. If you're going to greet someone in your family or one of your close friends, you would give them a kiss on the lips. And that was a culturally normal, accustomed thing. I don't kiss my own father on the lips. And so I don't think I'm going to start kissing you on the lips either. But it's a culturally accommodated thing, right?

In our culture, we greet each other. How? Even in our directory for church government, when somebody becomes a member, what do we do? We're good Presbyterians. We give them the right hand of fellowship. A kiss is a little bit too much. But I remember just recently I was visiting a different church, and there was a pastor there, and I know the pastor. We're not best friends. We talk on the phone from time to time, but I make sure that I haven't made him too mad about something.

And when we visited their church, it was amazing. What was the first thing he did? He's a hugger. That's how he made sure that I knew I was welcomed there and I was loved as a Christian brother in Christ. He opened up his arms and he gave me a big hug and then he gave my wife the appropriate, you know, man-woman side hug, right? Like, hey, it's good to see you, sister.

Right, but the point is, right, there's culturally, what's the heart of this? The heart of this is a true affection and love for each other. I get it, some of you don't want to be touched. So maybe, Maybe the true love is waving and giving somebody a genuine smile and saying, I'm so glad you're here. That's part of this interpersonal relationship that we must work with each other on. But the point that Peter is saying is that really love one another. Show that affection towards each other. Speak it to each other. It's not about actually giving each other a literal kiss.

Actually, the early church, one of the things in the Apostolic Constitutions had to regulate this, right? Because some people would take that holy kiss a little bit too far, get a little bit sloppy. And so, actually, one of the reasons why the early church separated women from men was because they didn't want the men kissing other husbands' wives, right? And so, there were some problems in the early church of this, well, hold on, right? People aren't as sanctified as maybe they should be.

So, gotta work through that. The point is loving each other well. The church should be a place. The church ought to be a place. That when you come with a heart full of sorrow and hardship, that you know you're gonna at least find someone there who's gonna be able to care for you. Who's gonna be able to let you know they love you. who will greet you and walk beside you and encourage you, maybe even challenge you, correct you, turn your eyes towards Jesus and away from your problems. We're not gonna be perfect at that. Let's just get that straight out there, right? No church is ever going to be perfect at displaying this by every member, all the time, every Sunday, every day. We're sinful people.

But how do we stand in that grace of God, showing real peace and love towards others, being reconciled even when we have challenging relationships? So we practice sincere love, moving towards a genuine peace. So greet one another with a kiss of love. But then finally, rest in the peace that comes from Christ. rest in the peace that comes from Christ. Look with me at the very last clause of verse 14. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen. Greek word there, peace. Man, it comes with a whole bunch of this Jewish guy writing. If a Jewish person was to meet another Jewish person, what would be their typical greeting? It wouldn't be good morning. It'd be shalom. Wholeness. Restoration. All things in harmony with you. Well-being. And this well-being, this wholeness, Where does it come from?

Who are in Christ Jesus. Do not, Christian, be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. You see, you must be in Christ Jesus. You must be hoping in Christ Jesus. You must be clinging to Christ Jesus. Jesus must be the object of your faith, your only hope in life and death.

That is how you get a peace that surpasses your anxieties, gets past your fears, goes beyond and above your worries. Because see, when you fix your eyes on Jesus Christ, You think about those things that are lovely and good, praiseworthy and of good report. You stop, you realize that the transient things and the problems of this life are not the end of the story. And you're able to lift up your eyes to heaven and see that God is good.

And you're able to find rest for your soul. If you are trying to find peace, wholeness, harmony, rest for your soul in your financial security, you'll always be looking. If you're trying to find shalom in all your relationships of this life, finally not having any tension, you're going to be sorely disappointed. If you're trying to find peace and finally having all the logistics of your life just work out perfectly and nobody's ever going to throw a wrench into the gears of your plans, I promise you, you will always either be alone and frustrated with yourself or angry with others and without peace. But there is peace for you to have as you stand in the grace of God, if you're in Christ Jesus. You may not feel peace, because peace is something we receive by faith, faith in Christ. faith and trusting who He is and in His promises.

It's interesting, when Peter writes this, he said in verse 12, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying. That word testifying there, epimartireo, the root of it is where we get our word martyr from. Peter would have this peace of Christ because he stood in the grace of God even as he stood before Nero himself to be executed for his faith. As I talk, it's incredible, as I talk to persecuted Christians in other places, it's the words of Christ that give them comfort.

As they go into dangerous situations, as secret informants infiltrate their worship services, they don't worry about it. And they know they're there, and I'll say, how do you deal with that? And they say, Jesus told us this is going to happen. Why worry about it, Brian? See, their minds are fixed on Christ. They stand in the grace of God, and they have wholeness in their souls. Jesus is the anchor.

As there seem to be storms buffeting our life, I need to ask you, what is the anchor of your soul? As your life is buffeted, some of you have hard relationships. Some of you have hard providences. Your health fails. Your family may feel like it's falling apart. We have no certainty in the economy, it seems. There's wars and rumors of wars. Disaster seems to be told that it's around every corner. You fear the sickness that's hereditary in your family. You fear maybe even those who you love closest may die.

Closing Prayer

Where do you find peace? Stand firm in the grace of God. Greet one another with a kiss of love. The peace of God. To you all who are in Christ Jesus, rest in Christ. Brothers and sisters, stand in the grace of God and rest in the peace that comes from Christ. As we wait for that great shepherd of the sheep to appear, stand firm. Stand firm, brothers and sisters. Let's pray. Father, we need your Holy Spirit.

You know we're so tempted to put our trust in other things. God, please do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil. Lord, protect us from our own hearts. as they're so prone to try to cling to other things. Supersede our wills, Lord.

Turn us to yourself. Strengthen us. Father, we pray that we might, God, we pray that you might firmly fix our feet upon Jesus Christ, our rock, the author and finisher of our salvation. God, make us strong. Please let us stand firm. Please give us peace in Christ. Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.