Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
Worship

      • 1 Peter 1:1–12ANGLNIV2011

  • Being saved

    Back in January this year, I was up in the highlands of Papua New Guinea with a team from this church as many of you will be aware.
    On one particular Sunday, I was given the opportunity to preach in a church in a place called Hogave but to get there, it was going to take a walk of somewhere around 7km and we estimated it would take 3 hours.
    So Elise and I, along with many locals, started our journey which included many steep ups and downs. For probably 4 or 5km, we’re on the main road - but when I say main road, I do mean a dirt road that gets pretty sketchy in places.
    But then we arrive at a place that can best be described as non-descript. There was no noticeable landmark. No signpost. The side of the road just had the same sort of bushes that we’d been walking past for a long time now. But they said - right, here’s a shortcut, do you want to take it?
    Now, I’m thinking at this point, I don’t see anything and I have no idea what this is going to be like, but I thought, what the heck, I’m willing to give it a go.
    Well, as soon as you get off the road everything just kind of drops away. There’s this path of sorts, but it’s wet and slippery and it’s very easy for your feet to kind of slip out from under you.
    I make it through the first section with only a few little wobbles.
    Shortly into the walk, one of the leaders hands me a big stick that can used as a walking stick.
    Now, here is where things get interesting. You see, I take a bit of pride in being quite good on my feet with paths like this. But after a few more wobbles, the leader of the group decided I needed help.
    So he got this young man, who I think was about 18, to walk directly in front of me to save me everytime I fell.
    Now this young man took his job to save me very seriously. Actually, he then proceeded to walk very close to me, which while I recognise how well intentioned that was, actually, I found it more difficult to walk.
    This all culminated as we headed down towards a stream.
    Now, Elise had gone ahead of me and she managed it all unscathed - apparently she didn’t need saving like me. But this meant she was able to stand by the stream and watching what she thought was hilarious as I stumbled over the last slippery part of the path.
    You see, in the last section before you get to the stream, the path becomes this smooth and very slippery rock and it’s slopping in such a way that if you start falling, the landing is not going to be pleasant.
    Well, at this stage, I’m still holding my walking stick, which actually made it harder because it took away one of my hands. My helper is right on top of me so I’m limited to where I can go. I start slipping, and then about two other people try to grab hold of me. I’m now trying to cling as best I can to this slippery rock with three other people trying to save me, all the while Elise is laughing at me at the bottom.
    Eventually I get to the stream where I can safely stand on the bank without any assistance. I was rather muddy at this point in ttime and I was wearing the clothes that I was to preach in.
    Now, here’s the thing about this story. I didn’t think I needed saving. I felt the “saving” I did get, actually just made the situation worse.
    You know, it can be very easy to think of our Christian salvation in a similar way.
    Let’s see… we live our lives, we have the occasional stumble here and there, but look, we’re capable and competent. We don’t need saving. Sometimes we just need to take a bit more care and we’ll be fine.
    Christianity then steps in and says: you can be saved.
    But what does Christianity offer? Perhaps a bunch of rules that just trip you up further. Maybe a sprinling of guilt. Oh, and a layer of church conflict for good measure.
    Sometimes I can almost get why people say no thankyou to the offer of salvation.
    But us Christians will say - ‘but don’t you realise that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness?’
    It’s a bit like me on that slippery path - yeah, I know I’ve stumbled a few times, but I’m fine.… I really am.
    Can I suggest that we may need to rethink our salvation.

    What is Salvation?

    You see, I was to ask “what is salvation?”, I think the standard response from an Evangelical (which, I’ll add, I count myself as one), is that we’ve all sinned and we’re all in need of forgiveness, but because Jesus died on the cross we are saved from our sins.
    Now, let me just be clear - what I just said is a very true statement and it is very much a part of salvation. Certainly the book of Romans takes us on this journey, showing just how we all are sinner, but how the sacrifice of Jesus was effective for all who confess him as Lord.
    My contention this morning is that by simplifying salvation to just a transactional arrangement, we can lose sight of a bigger picture that is happening in our salvation. When we open up Peter’s first letter as we are today, the picture of salvation becomes life giving and hopeful.
    My hope is that by the end of this message, you’re not just thinking - oh yeah, I do need salvation because I stumbled the other day… rather, you’ll be saying, I want salvation because I want to get caught up in this grand scheme that God is doing in this world!

    Context of Peter

    Before we get there, we are starting a new series and so it’s worth while just spending a little bit of time orienting ourselves to this letter.
    Firstly, this is a letter written by the apostle Peter. This was one of the first disciples called by Jesus. He’d been a fisherman and when Jesus called him, Jesus told him he was going to make him a fisher of men.
    Now there’s this interesting thing happening here where being a fisherman, Peter would have received very little formal education - certainly not what you’d expect from a leader of a religious movement - but then again, spending about 3 years with Jesus is probably better than any education you’re going to get from anywhere else.
    Now it’s also interesting to make note of Peter’s name. In fact, he wasn’t born with the name Peter. He was actually given the name Simon, but when Jesus first called him, he gave him the name Peter, which means rock.
    Later, when Peter makes the great confession that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus declares of Peter - on this rock (that being Peter), I will build my church.
    This is significant as we come to this letter, because what we’re going to see is Peter giving a solid foundation for new believers.
    Which brings us to the actual context of the letter.
    Now, you might have noticed in the first verse, that Peter is addressing this to those believers that have been scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.
    To give that a bit of perspective, this includes much of the land that Paul’s first missionary journey occurred in.
    What we can see is that Christians are now spreading and growing and in this early time, they are still trying to make sense of the world in which they are in.
    We don’t know exactly when this was written, but the best guesses are usually around the early 60’s AD.
    Now just a quick word about persecution of believers around this time.
    Sometimes we can almost get the impression that believers during this time faced severe persecution all of the time.
    The truth is, while severe persecution was known in this first century, the evidence suggests it was actually only isolated to certain areas and certain times.
    Even in today’s passage, we’ll see talk about facing all kinds of trials. We don’t actually know exactly what sort of trials they would have faced, it might have included some physical mistreatment, but it also might have included things like trading restrictions.
    Okay, so we find Peter then writing to these believers who are doing it a bit tought, and he wants to encourage them.
    And he’s going to do that by reminding them of their salvation.
    And so that is what we’re going to look at now.

    Salvation

    Well, in verse 3, he starts with praise - and given what he is about to say, this praise should include all the praise we can muster.
    Let me then read from 3b down to verse 5:
    1 Peter 1:3b–5 “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
    Well, I want to try to break this down, and what I want to show is that there is a past, present and future component to salvation.

    Rooted in Jesus - past

    Well, the description I just read started with the words “in his great mercy...”
    The word mercy means not receiving the punishment that you actually deserve. It means being let free.
    We’re talking about the mercy of Jesus here, but it’s not just a casual: ‘oh well, I guess it’s not too big a deal, I’ll let you off this time’… rather this mercy happens on the cross. Because if God is to be a just God, then something serious cannot be just dismissed. Thatwould be injust. But justice and mercy meet at the cross.
    This salvation, then, is rooted in the cross of Jesus.
    But, it’s not just the cross. Verse 3 goes on to talk about this being “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”.
    So now Peter is rooting this in the resurrection.
    Our salvation occurs, because Jesus did not stay dead in the tomb.
    We have our salvation because something happened in the past.
    But the past aspect of our salvation goes even deeper.
    Let me take you back to verse 2 which came before the section I read a moment ago. Here Peter talks about being chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.
    Now, I don’t want to get into the whole predestination debate today. People like to argue whether God chose us or whether we choose God. Personally, I think God does choose us, and we also need to call on the name of the Lord to be saved - both are true!
    But what I want to point out is that your salvation is something that God effected in the past.
    For those of you who have accepted Jesus, your salvation has happened. And no-one can take that salvation from you. This is so important to know. Because of what has happened in the past, you are secure, and this gives you an amazing base to work from.

    Living hope - present

    But while it’s true that salvation is something that has already happened to you, salvation is something that continues to happen with you.
    In the description I read earlier, verse 3, after saying that he has given us new birth, which in one sense is a past action, but it’s a new birth into a living hope.
    It’s this living hope - something that is working in us right now - that becomes our salvation. Our salvation affects us right now.
    But again, I want to take this deeper. Let me take you back to verse 2. Verse 2 talks about the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
    That word… ‘sanctifying’… it simply means the process of becoming holy.
    Our salvation is actually a process that is happening within us. We are being transformed. We are being made into the likeness of Jesus.
    You are in the process of being saved - in this present moment.
    Peter’s going to go on and talk about trials and suffering that these belivers are going through. You’ll see this in verse 6 and 7.
    Peter’s changing the perspective. We should see these trials as part of this ongoing process of salvation. Through these trials, because of what the Spirit is doing through us, we don’t get down, rather we grow and find new life. We find the living hope in our present moment right now.

    Inheritance - future

    But of course, our salvation points to something in the future, and Peter’s description certainly has this future aspect.
    Verse 4 talks about an inheritence that can never perish, spoil or fade. An inheritance that is kept in heaven.
    Our salvation is leading towards something. There is a time when Jesus will establish a new heavens and a new earth, and all those who have accepted Jesus… whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life… will receive their own resurrected body and salvation will be fully realised.
    We are being saved into something. We are going to enter the presence of the Lord, not in a veiled way, but in a fully realised way.
    It is almost impossible to fully know what this is going to look like. We’re not going to know unttil that final day. But we do know that it will be glorious.
    A time will come when you will be saved.
    You see, it is true to say that you have been saved, you are being saved, and you will be saved.
    What I hope you’re starting to see is that when we talk about salvation, we are talking about an incredible process that is rooted in an historical event, and is now completely transforming your life and is leading to the most amazing thing ever.

    Changing how we see the world

    This should give us a better perspective on how we look at our current circumstances.
    In this life, you have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
    Some of those trials are going to come about because of your beliefs.
    But there are other kinds of trials that can almost seem random. The cancer diagnosis. The house break-in. The car accident. The financial troubles.
    We stumble. Was that stumble because we made a mistake? Maybe.
    But you work through it - and we start to see the genuineness of your faith. Is your faith going to greater than that of gold.
    When you have that faith, we see those trials become something that strengthens us. Maybe not physically, but spiritually we draw closer to God. It’s our salvation. The ongoing process of being saved.
    We can look around and see a world that is falling apart. But we can also look around and see a world where God is drawing his people to himself and something incredible is happening.
    And so, as verse 3 started, we need to praise God. We need to thank God that he has given us this foundation that changes everuthing.

    Conclusion

    Let me come back to my story of hiking to church in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
    I had a bit of a grumble, partly due to my pride… partly due to what felt like something that felt too cumbersome.
    But you know what, that whole journey was an absolute delight and it was only posible because of my guides.
    If it wasn’t for my guides, I would have had no idea that the path was even there.
    The truth was, I did actually stumble. What they did was show great care and concern for me. They gave me a walking stick which actually did help.
    When I was getting caught up in myself, I just saw the problem, when I stepped back, I could take joy in everything that happened.
    Sometimes we need to step back in our Christian walk. Stop focussing on the hassles and struggles that constantly face us, and rather seeing what God is doing through this… the way that he is saving us.
    You know, in this whole process of salvation, there is actually only one aspect that is required of us - to have faith.
    And so I want to end by asking - do you have this faith to accept this salvation?
    If you’re not sure, but you think you’d like to, I’d love to talk to you after the message. Please come and see me, because this salvation that is on offer, is the most amazing thing that will ever happen to you.
    Let me pray...
Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
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