"LIKE SHEEP"

“For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:25

As Peter encourages the scattered and persecuted believers, he draws an illustration from Isaiah 53, where the beautiful picture of the coming Messiah is illustrated. Indeed, we are like sheep (not the smartest animals on the farm) and we need shepherding. Jesus is the Great Shepherd, the perfect Shepherd. He tends to us like His flock and makes every effort to keep us under His care. But, we stray. Physically we lose contact with His flock and Him. Emotionally we are led astray by our feelings, and mentally we are scattered in our thoughts. He loves His sheep so much; He would die for each one. He did die for each of us to have a way through redemption to return to Him. We are inwardly drawn to Him. We know our need for guidance, and protection, and we are painfully aware of our tendency to be prone to wander away. We forget our vulnerability, we assume our own strength, and we are tempted by greener pastures or alluring opportunities. So, we have to constantly attach to Him, our Shepherd, our Overseer, and our Lord. We belong in a flock, for safety, fellowship, discipleship, worship, and service.

'UNJUST SUFFERING ADVICE"

"For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God." 1 Peter 2:19

It is not easy to think of God when we are suffering, especially unjustly. When I am in pain for an unjust reason, I am thinking about one thing pretty much exclusively, ME. Yep, ME. I mean after all, when it is unfair, it is about ME - MY rights, MY feelings, MY justice, MY problem. ME, ME, ME. God, make it right for ME. MY feelings have been hurt, MY heart has been broken, MY rights have been trampled. I feel like I take it all the time and I don't deserve that. I think I should be treated better. I think what is most important is what will make it right by ME. And so it goes very often as we pivot at the center of the universe, jockeying for good old number one.

"PROPER RESPECT"

"Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king." "1 Peter 2:17"

Wow, what a mouthful of advice and counsel this is, especially in this day and age. I want to just teach through this passage as if we were sitting at the table having a cup of coffee.

IS IT OKAY TO BOAST- Just Be Careful What We Boast About?!

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth for in these I delight,” declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9: 23-24

So we are not to boast in our own accomplishments, or strengths, even if we give credit to God who gave it to us. Our only "claim to fame" and reason to boast is that at some point we had the good sense (through guidance of the Holy Spirit) to "know" the Lord. It is from Him that all goodness and boastful attributes come from. The scripture does not reference knowing "about" the Lord…..most of the world knows about Him. It says to know Him, and that means knowing what He says, and how He would act in any circumstance. The only way to KNOW someone, is to spend time with Him and listen to His words through His word, and in our hearts. In that knowledge, we can boast that we know the Lord.

"THANKFUL, THANKFUL, THANKFUL"

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2

I love, love, love Paul's short and sweet directives. So often in life we get these long drawn out explanations of what to do. It is like directions. Give me the short and sweet step by step clear notes. Not a story or a paragraph of filler for me. Just as Jack Webb on Dragnet used to say "Just the facts, ma'am." I think I sometimes love Judge Judy for the same reason. Cut to the chase and get to the point. Don't sugar coat it or beat around the bush. Somebody just lay it out the way it is, and let's render a decision. We are so indecisive and try so hard too often, to soft sell or explain the details to a fault.

"NOT REJECTED"

"I ask then: Did God reject His people? By no means!" Romans 11:1

Paul answers his own question here. Paul is himself a Jew and now a believer in the Messiah and proponent of the Way, a follower of Jesus. Yet he knows from the promises of the Old Testament and in his own heart that he is not rejected for being a Jew. You see I too am a follower of Jesus and a proponent of the Way and a believer in the Messiah, but not a Jew. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, as the Word says and we are all one in the family of God, those that know Christ as Savior. God loves His people. Those that He chose and those that have been adopted. The most important part of this verse is the promise that He will not reject us. He is waiting to accept us and once He does, He will not forsake us. Anti-Semitism has been around for a long time. There is a fresh wave of Jew-hating going on these days and it would be easy for Christians to get caught up in the sentiment. God is not anti-Semitic. He has not turned on His people. So you say to me, is the Jew saved? The Jew who accepts the Messiah, before eternity is saved. Know this, God still desires that every Jewish person would know Him. I believe someday there will be a great turning to Jesus of many Jews, especially those that still anticipate the Messiah, and those who earnestly study the Scriptures. I believe that God will make every attempt to reveal Himself to His people, those He chose and those of us who have been adopted. He loves us all, as He does all humankind.

BE ZEALOUS

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." Romans 12:11

Today, this verse blesses me and convicts me. It is my greatest desire to be a servant of the Lord. Absolutely nothing brings me deeper or more lasting joy. At age 17, when I to the best of my ability, fully committed myself to the Lord, I have been on a lifelong quest to find and do His will for me. Through great success and miserable failure, I have endeavored to serve Him in whatever circumstance or situation. I have done so joyfully, at times, and with quite a bit of resistance and attitude at other times. I count it all joy to be where I am today and am grateful beyond words for His blessings and His gifting of me, for the privilege of having been able to serve a dozen or more ministries, churches, and organizations. As soon as I describe my life, the zeal for Him begins to mount and rally. My zeal causes me to serve Him and serving Him increases my zeal. Indeed, there is a veritable fountain of zeal within me…..
As long as I keep my eyes on Him.
As long as I keep surrendering to Him.
As long as I put Him first.
As long as I stay in His word and keep praying.
As long as I thank Him for at least one particular breathe, each day.
As long as I stay objective and admit I’m not always so, He keeps me going, He lights my fire, He holds me up, and He moves me forward.
My fervor is still strong, I do not lack zeal and I will not stop until He takes me home.

"Submission"

“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s Sake to every Authority instituted among men…” 1 Peter 2:13

Submission is not a very popular word these days. It almost exclusively means surrender. It is as if “giving in” means “giving up”. Totally different though aren’t they. I remember as a kid with my arm twisted up behind my back by bullies being forced to cry “Uncle”. I hated it, as I still hate bullying, today. Well, what about when the “authorities” are making you comply unfairly? We must obey the law of the land in the jurisdiction we live, unless it demands us too deny our faith. Be careful here. Being treated unfairly is not necessarily forcing you to deny your faith. Many around the world are hanging on to their faith and being persecuted totally disregarded, with little or no recourse. A ticket that exaggerates your mistake is not persecution. Very few of us, if any, have known true persecution. The Word is clear. Submit to the authorities. Use your recourse, but always with a Christian attitude and make sure any anger is totally righteous. Respect authority for its purpose even if it is enforcing its right, with wrong character. We must differentiate between rights and righteousness. We should not act un-righteously about out rights. We can be bold without being belligerent, bombastic or even brash. This is not easy. Being wise in this arena is a test of tact. One help I get from Peter is that he reminds us to do this submitting for the Lord’s sake, or in His name. In every situation, call upon Jesus for guidance, protection and wisdom. Submit, wherever you should and do so in His name and for His glory.

"Silencing Fools"

"For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men." 1 Peter 2:15

From time to time I just want to scream at the world to "shut up". Stop all the nonsense, quit with all the head games, be still for just a moment, take a deep breath and hear something different for a change. Could we just get a moment of peace and quiet so that we could hear God? Oh, He is still there in all the noise and distraction and constant barrage of stuff that is hurled at us from all quarters, for who knows what purposes. I only know this, all of it does not make much difference, and we are missing the most important thing, way too often. Have you heard plenty ignorant talk? Have you had your fill of foolishness? I have.

"HOPE"

“Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord.” Psalms 31:24

I am reading a book by Ray Johnson entitled, “The Hope Quotient”. The premise of the book is that we put too much emphasis on our I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) and ever-increasing emphasis on our E.Q. (Emotional Quotient) but really need to put our emphasis on our HQ (Hope Quotient). Everybody needs more hope, as the old song says, “High hopes, he’s got high hopes, high apple pie in the sky hopes.” But this kind of hope is more than emotional sensation, or a catchy phrase. Real hope that causes us people of the Lord to be strong and take courage. Hope is something that we can latch onto and use it as a bridge between discouragement and encouragement. This is what came to me after a quote I read in this book. All of the men in my Pastors Mentor Fellowship are reading this together. The quote from Howard Hendricks about discouragement says, “Discouragement is the anesthetic the devil uses on a person just before he reaches in and carves out their heart.” Wow! Graphic and gripping and so true; we need a bridge from discouragement to encouragement. It is hope. Hope makes us stronger so we can get stronger. Hope hands us courage so we can take it.1 Corinthians 13 says faith, hope, and love, and though love is the greatest and faith is the key, HOPE is most often what we need most. A lot is said and written about faith and love, but not about hope.