1 Peter 1:1-2 "In the summer of 1969, then-President Richard Nixon engaged in hyperbole to express his excitement over America's landing on the moon...The President obviously got a little carried away by the thrill of man's first steps on the moon. moon. When the Apollo 11 astronauts returned to earth following the first-ever moon landing, Nixon called their mission ""the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation, because as a result of what happened in this week, the world is bigger, infinitely."

1 Peter 1:2 According to Baptist Standard reporter Robert O’Brien, “Desert-dwelling Bedouins come straight out of biblical history, but they don’t live in a land flowing with milk and honey. They eke out a hard existence, either as rootless nomads living in tents across the Middle East and North Africa or as cultivators who have gravitated into a more settled life in concrete and stone structures.” O’Brien goes on to say that, even for Bedouins who live in houses, “their nomadic past shapes and dominates their mindset and worldview.”

1 Peter 1:3-6  There are plenty of ways to lose money, but not many ways to replace it. However, the government will replace currency that has been waterlogged, burned, torn, or otherwise marred, provided certain criteria are met. The Treasury will replace damaged bills if more than half of the bill is identifiable. If less than half remains, Treasury officials will replace the money if they are satisfied it was destroyed. Bills that are so damaged that their value is unrecognizable must be redeemed by the Bureau of Engraving.

1 Peter 1:3-5  Last spring's bizarre and tragic mass cult suicide in southern California underscored the dramatic difference between the Christian's hope and the false hopes of this world. The ""Heaven's Gate"" cultists' belief that death would free them to rise to the ""next level"" of existence became literally a dead hope when they acted on their leader's teachings and took their own lives.

1 Peter 1:6-9: Trials have an uncanny way of revealing what's inside a person. Consider the behavior of some passengers aboard the doomed luxury liner Titanic. As the great ship was sinking and the few lifeboats were being filled, the command on deck was ""women and children first."" According to one survivor, most of the men and older boys obeyed the order. But some men ran back to the ship's staterooms and changed into women's clothing in an effort to gain a seat on a lifeboat.

The crisis brought out the worst in these men. What about us? When God sends trials our way, do we respond in fear or in faith? God intends trials and testings to produce good fruit in our lives. This is one of the classic paradoxes of the Christian faith: great rejoicing in the face of real troubles. A Christian's joy is not driven by circumstances.

What is its source, then? Peter answers that question beginning with the first two words in verse 6. ""In this"" refers to the exciting truth that God has secured our past, present and future (vv. 3-5).

When trials and testings are seen against the backdrop of God's complete work in us, we realize that His purpose in them is to strengthen us, not to sink us. Peter makes that truth explicit in verse 7. God's goal in testing is to produce in us a pure, priceless faith.

To some, this kind of reasoning sounds like ""pie in the sky."" But Peter is not talking about grinning and bearing it or pretending it doesn't hurt. He knew what it meant to be beaten and imprisoned for his faith (see, for instance, Acts 12).

TODAY ALONG THE WAY - Need three great reasons to rejoice on this Lord's day? Consider what God has done for believers in Christ. Peter doesn't deny that trials can bring temporary grief.

1 Peter 1:10-12 Various cults believe they have ""revelation"" that is additional to the Bible. Joseph Smith, for instance, founder of Mormon-ism, claimed to have discovered and translated divine golden tablets. ""Christian Science"" is firmly based on the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. And the Jehovah's Witnesses and others have actually tried to set dates for Jesus' return.

The beliefs of these and other cults illustrate the strong spiritual curiosity and hunger in human nature. But their quest for additional revelation is in vain. God's ""final word"" has already been spoken in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. We in the church know what saints and prophets in the Old Testament longed to know.

The Bible often speaks of the fact that in Jesus Christ God's revelation was complete (Heb. 1:2). Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament.

It's clear from the Old Testament writings that the prophets did not have all the pieces of the puzzle. They wrote of the Messiah's coming and His sufferings, but according to Peter they strongly desired to know more.

It's a little overwhelming to think that in one sense the experiences of prophets such as Isaiah and Ezekiel are not complete without us in the church. Peter says this is so, however, and that these earlier believers were serving us in what they wrote. Even angels long to understand about salvation.

What a privileged position we enjoy, being on this side of Calvary and having God's complete revelation in our hands. Peter wrote to his scattered readers as one who was aware of his privileged position. As an apostle and a biblical writer, he was one of those to whom God entrusted His final revelation.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Need three great reasons to rejoice on this Lord's day? Consider what God has done for believers in Christ. It's amazing: the prophets of Scripture, and even the angels, are overcome with curiosity about our salvation.

1 Peter 1:13-21 A recent survey of Japanese and American parents revealed much about the values that people in various cultures hold dear. The question was submitted to these parents, ""What do you wish most for your children?"" The leading response among Japanese parents was that they wanted their children to be successful--a reflection of the high value Japanese culture places on marketplace success. The most frequent wish of American parents for their children was happiness--a reflection of our ""feel good"" culture.

1 Peter 1:22-25 Perhaps not even a single one of our readers has read all the way through the U.S. tax code. This document is about 9군 pages long, discouraging enough for even the most avid reader. But there's another challenge awaiting those who attempt to understand this massive piece of government regulation. The tax code is undergoing constant revision--and according to one certified public accountant, the manual for the 1996 tax year alone is more than 700 pages long!

1 Peter 2:1 The story is told that author Edgar Allen Poe died in 1849 in a drunken stupor while lying in a Baltimore gutter. But a new look at the medical evidence from Poe's last days shows that the writer was not drunk, but suffering from rabies. Furthermore, he did not die on the street, but in a hospital.

So how did the false story get started? It may have been concocted by Poe's doctor. A strong temperance advocate, he might have wanted to turn the writer's death into a propaganda lesson about the evils of alcoholism.

Whatever Edgar Allen Poe's personal shortcomings were, it appears that his reputation has suffered from more than a century of slander. It's a classic case. Like most slander, the story contains a kernel of truth. Poe was seen in a bar acting strangely shortly before his death, and he did drink occasionally. But these facts did not contribute to his death. Nonetheless, the slanderous account endured for more than one hundred years.

The Bible warns: ""Do not slander one another."" Slander has no purpose but to tear down the character and reputation of its target. It is often built on just enough truth to make it believable, especially to ears receptive to gossip. But slander inflicts damage that is almost impossible to undo. That's one reason it has no place in the family of God.

James links slander with a violation of the law of God, saying that the person who slanders a brother or a sister in Christ sets himself above the law. There is only one Person who is higher than the law: God, the Lawgiver and Judge.

In what way is slander the same as judging a fellow Christian? In many cases, the person spreading slander has made a judgment about another person's motives, which we learned earlier this month is a very dangerous step to take (see February 6).

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Slanderous gossip can be passed on only when there are ears and mouths willing to do the job.

1 Peter 2:1-3: Like many doting new fathers, President William Howard Taft was delighted with the birth of his first child, Robert. The elder Taft, writing in 1890, called his son ""the finest seven-month-old boy in the country"" and referred to the nightly ""interviews"" he and Mrs. Taft were obliged to have with their infant son.

Any parent of a newborn knows that those nightly ""interviews,"" as Taft called them, are really feedings. A baby doesn't try to hide or deny his hunger. He isn't hypocritical about it either, pretending he wants milk for any purpose other than to satisfy his hunger.

This is the way God wants us to approach His Word. If we are going to experience the full benefit of its nourishment, we need to rid ourselves of the attitudes that block God's work in our lives. Today's text contains five sins that can sour the ""pure spiritual milk"" of the Word within us.

These sins of the heart and the lips are for the most part self-explanatory. Peter borrows from one of them to show how God's Word is utterly different from anything that is tainted with sin. He calls the Word ""pure,"" the opposite of the word used in verse 1 for ""deceit.""

There is nothing deceitful at all in God's Word. ""The words of the Lord are flawless...purified seven times,"" the psalmist writes (Ps. 12:6). We don't need to worry that we will receive anything but pure spiritual nourishment when we take in the Scriptures.

And the goal of being nourished, of course, is to grow. Good parents don't feed their babies just to silence their cries. Feeding on milk is part of the growth process.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Everyone knows how much newborn babies crave the milk they need to live and grow on. Nothing else can satisfy them.

1 Peter 2:4-9  More than 120 years after General George Custer and his 7th Cavalry were destroyed at the Little Bighorn River in southern Montana, the famous battlefield is adding a new memorial stone. A monument was erected in 1881 to honor Custer and the soldiers and Indian scouts who fell with him. Now the National Parks Service has announced plans to add another monument in tribute to the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors who defeated Custer on June 25-26, 1876.

Memorial stones are important markers. The Bible speaks of another important stone--not an historical monument to people now dead, but a ""living Stone"" and a living Person, Jesus Christ (v. 4).

In today's Scripture reading Peter shifts his thought from our desire for the Word of God to our longing for the God of the Word. The coming to Jesus that Peter has in mind is clearly not salvation, since the verb form suggests a repeated coming. What the apostle is talking about is our fellowship with Christ, the heart of our Christian experience.

Peter's picture of Jesus as a cornerstone, rejected by some but precious to others, is borrowed from the prophets, particularly Isaiah. The cornerstone is that stone on which a building rests, which gives it its visible support.

Jesus the Messiah came as Israel's cornerstone, but the nation rejected Him. Its leaders stumbled over Jesus because they disobeyed His message of repentance and faith in Him.

As Jesus' apostle, Peter felt the sting of that rejection. But he was also privileged to participate in the construction of God's new building, the church.

Notice the lofty language Peter uses in verse 5 to describe the church. We are a ""spiritual house"" and a ""holy priesthood."" Priests offer sacrifices, so we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God and give Him a sacrifice of praise (Rom. 12:1-2; Heb. 13:15). As God's priests must be holy, so we are called to be holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The picture of the church as a group of ""living stones"" formed into a spiritual house tells us that for believers in Jesus Christ, church is not optional.

1 Peter 2:9 Dr. Joseph Stowell remembers seeing railroad crossing signs from his childhood that said, “Look, Listen, and Yield.” Dr. Stowell says this combination of alertness and submission is not only a good formula at railroad crossings, but also an excellent pattern for Christians to follow in their relationship with God.

1 Peter 2:9-12 When the secular world tries to define what is ""Christian,"" the result is often a bad case of confusion. Two recent surveys verify that fact. In one study, people suggested that the most widely read ""Christian"" magazine is the Reader's Digest! In another survey, the respondents said the most listened-to ""Christian"" radio programs were a popular newscast and a well-known conservative political talk show.

We should not be surprised by such thinking from the secular world. But the sad reality is that the Christian world often seems to be similarly confused about what makes believers distinctive.

Anyone who needs a short refresher course on this subject can find it in today's reading. In a series of rapid strokes, Peter paints a remarkably clear portrait of who we are in Christ and what we are supposed to be about as Christians.

That is, we Christians are not different because of the things we do or do not participate in. Nor are we different because we go to church. Fundamentally, we are different because God has called us out of the darkness of sin into the light of His salvation.

We are chosen because of the electing work of the Father (1:1-2). We are royal because we are children of the King. We are holy because God declared us righteous through the sacrifice of Christ. And we belong to God because He bought us with the precious blood of Christ (1:19).

That's a profound difference from the world! No wonder that we are considered ""aliens and strangers"" (2:11) in this world. But our uniqueness is not designed to make us feel proud or superior to unbelievers, or to cause us to withdraw and huddle together until Christ returns.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
There's nothing like a brightly shining light to drive away the darkness and dispel confusion.

1 Peter 2:11-17 When the Roman Empire fell to barbarian invaders in the fifth century AD, many people blamed the empire’s collapse on Christianity, which was considered a cult opposed to the traditional Roman gods. One of the Chris-tian faith’s greatest defenders against this slanderous charge was the church father Augustine. This great theologian and leader wrote The City of God to demonstrate the superiority of Chris-tianity over any worldly system.

1 Peter 2:13-17 The New York subway system has been trying what some are calling a ""grand experiment in efficiency and manners."" In an effort to cut subway train stops to less than 45 seconds and increase passenger flow, the New York City Transit Authority has painted orange arrows and black lines on the subway platform at Grand Central Station. The idea is for people to play by the rules by following the lines and making the train stops more efficient. After one month, officials reported that, to the surprise of more than one observer, commuters were for the most part obeying the rules.

Living as ""aliens and strangers in the world"" (v. 11) does not exempt believers from playing by the rules or the laws of society. On the contrary, we are also to set the example in this area.

This section of Peter's letter gives us further indication that his readers (in the five provinces he listed in opening the epistle) were undergoing some sort of persecution for their faith in Christ. It does not seem likely that organized persecution of Christians by the Roman government had yet begun. That was still to come, and under those conditions believers would face torture and death.

In the case of Peter's audience, it seems that the mistreatment was mostly in the form of slander and accusations (v. 12)--the ""ignorant talk of foolish men"" (v. 15) that was best answered by an exemplary life.

Since its earliest days, the church has wrestled with its relationship to the government. Peter himself gave us the principle that when obedience to the state and obedience to God are in conflict, ""we must obey God rather than men!"" (Acts 5:29; see also 4:19-20).

But Peter was also quick to admonish God's people to obey God-ordained authority. He even went so far as to tell slaves to bear with unjust treatment by a harsh master.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Do you ""play by the rules,"" even when no one is looking and when cutting a corner might save you time and hassle?

1 Peter 2:18-25 At the end of the 1500s, the Japanese church was thriving, with about 300 Christians. But at the beginning of the 1600s, the Japanese emperor decided that Christianity was a tool Western nations were using to gain political power. He issued a decree against the church and a time of severe persecution began.

In one incident, 70 Japan-ese believers were crucified upside-down on the beach at low tide. As the tide rolled in, the water rose higher on their bodies, finally covering their noses and mouths. The 70 Christians died by drowning and became martyrs for Christ.

The churches under Peter's care were also experiencing persecution, and the apostle wanted them to understand that suffering is part of the Christian life. His thoughts on this topic carry through to the end of chapter 2. Peter points to the sufferings of Christ as our ultimate example.

First, Peter states an obvious truth: suffering deserved punishment for doing wrong doesn't get us anywhere with God. If we are going to suffer, he says, make sure it's because we are doing right as Christians (see 1 Peter 4:16).

Peter has already told us several times how important it is for us to do good. Is he asking us to be ""do-gooders"" as the world uses that term? Hardly. Doing good in Peter's mind is the response of someone who has experienced salvation; good deeds are not themselves the path to salvation.

Verse 21 reminds us that for believers, suffering is not an accidental happening. We have been called to suffer as witnesses to the world of the character of Christ. We can imagine the images that must have been in Peter's mind as he recounted Jesus' sufferings and death, much of which Peter had witnessed.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Not all of the problems and setbacks we encounter in life are the result of our commitment to Christ.

1 Peter 2:19-23 Twelve Filipino evangelists visited a camp of Muslim rebels last July to pray for a group of hostages. The extremists decided to seize the ministers as well, keeping them as additional hostages. They were held captive for three long months.

1 Peter 3:1-7 A magazine for Christian leaders published a cartoon that showed a pastor peering out anxiously from inside a World-War-II-style bunker, which was behind the pulpit. The well-protected pastor announced, “My text for today is 1 Peter 3:1-7.”

Today, it’s very socially and politically incorrect to suggest that marriage is built on a wife’s loving submission and respect and a husband’s loving tenderness and consideration.

We shouldn’t be surprised that the world labels this concept outmoded, even dangerous. As the magazine cartoon suggests, Christians often seem just as reluctant to stand by what the Bible teaches. However, Peter lets us know that couples need these qualities for the success of their relationship. Moreover, this issue affects how God relates to us.

Tommy Nelson, whose insights on marriage we shared last week (see September 17), puts it on the line for married believers. “If your relationship to God does not show itself in being a tender husband and a responsive and respectful wife, then it is not penetrating the most essential area of your life.”

This requires serious reflection. Our reading indicates how essential the relationship between a wife and husband is. Much of a woman’s sense of self is tied to the way she presents herself, both outwardly and inwardly. The Bible has been accused of trying to shut away women at home in a subservient role, but that distorts Peter’s message. Accepting her husband’s leadership is not a statement of a wife’s inferiority. Both partners are equally valuable before God.

Peter’s caution against a woman investing her wealth and worth in her physical appearance to the detriment of her spirit reflects the same principle Jesus taught on several occasions. That is, believers cannot afford to invest their resources in things on earth to the neglect of eternal issues (Matt. 6:19-21; Luke 12:21).

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
You may recall the blast of media criticism that erupted in 1998 when a major Christian group dared to state that a wife should “lovingly submit” to her husband”

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A cartoon in a magazine for those in Christian ministry shows the front platform in a church, but instead of a pulpit there is a tank-like box with only a narrow opening at the top. Through the opening we can see the pastor's fearful eyes, widened in apprehension as he announces that his text for the morning is 1 Peter 3:1-7.

That cartoon is significant because it reveals the sense many believers have that when we venture onto the subject of submission, we are bound to get bad responses from all sides.

Peter didn't suffer from our modern tentativeness. He gave us the ""straight stuff,"" just as Paul did. In fact, our text bears at least one important resemblance to the passage in Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5:22 links a wife's submission to her husband to her submission to Christ. Similarly, Peter calls wives to submit to their husbands with the same spirit of submission Christ showed in going to the cross.

Notice how several of Peter's themes surface in the context of marriage. The first theme is a Christian's submission to God-appointed authority, which Peter had just discussed in relation to government and individual masters.

A second theme is the Christian's calling to live such an exemplary life that no charge of misconduct can stick. Peter applies that principle to a truly ""mixed marriage,"" a Christian married to a non-Christian. Just as believers in general are to win over unbelievers, or at least silence their criticism, by the purity of their lives (1 Peter 2:12, 15), so a believing wife can win over an unsaved husband by the quality of her life.

The woman who lives by these principles is a true daughter of Sarah, the classic example of a wife who honored her husband. A wife who lives this way need not fear what others may say or do.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
This is a great time for a Christian couple to reaffirm their love and devotion to Christ.

1 Peter 3:8-12 In a classic case of knowing versus doing, a recent survey published in the Journal of Health Education reported that only eight percent of 100 people polled met the so-called ""Five-A-Day"" goal, the recommendation to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day to maintain good health. The researchers pointed out that despite the widespread knowledge that eating fruits and vegetables is important, there is a great gap between what people know and what they actually do.
Every sincere Christian understands that gap. When it comes to godly living, most of us know far more than we do. Today's reading gives us more of the meat-and-potatoes (or we should say, fruits-and-vegetables) exhortations that form the basics of the Christian life. But Peter also gives us encouragement to act on what we know.

Having just dealt with husbands and wives, the apostle now draws the circle as wide as he can by aiming his words at all Christians. But one thing that does not change is his theme of the way believers should respond to ill treatment.

Although Peter does not mention Jesus by name until verse 15, it's obvious that He is our best example when it comes to returning good for evil. Peter has already said that Jesus did not retaliate when He was slandered (1 Peter 2:23).

Jesus is also our example when it comes to love for one another as brothers and sisters in His body. In verse 9 of today's reading we can hear echoes of the Beatitude concerning the blessing of being ill-treated for Christ (Matt. 5:11-12).

This is Peter's encouragement for us to be eager to do good. Even if our good results in suffering, we receive a blessing from God. And since life deals out some measure of suffering to everyone, it is better to suffer for doing good (v. 17) than for doing wrong.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
One way you can be prepared to give an answer for your hope is by thinking through and organizing your personal testimony.

1 Peter 3:14 The great Colonial-era pastor and theo-logian Jonathan Edwards once wrote, “The truly humble Christian is clothed with lowliness, mildness, meekness, gentleness of spirit and behavior. These things are just like garments to him. Christian humility has no such thing as roughness, or contempt, or fierceness, or bitterness in its nature.... Yet in searching and awakening the conscience, [the Christian] should be a son of thunder.... He should be like a lion to guilty consciences, but like a lamb to men and women.”

1 Peter 3:18 We've all seen cartoons featuring an oddly-dressed crank who carries a sign reading ""The End Is Near."" We laugh at the image, feeling superior. Perhaps the man is not quite sane. Perhaps he simply wants to attract attention. We don't really think he has ""inside information"" about the world's end or that his message is true.

1 Peter 4:1-11 Earlier this year, George Bush fulfilled a 52-year-old promise he had made to himself when he parachuted from an airplane and landed at the Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. The former President was a World War II bomber pilot who had had to bail out of his plane over the Pacific Ocean after it was hit by enemy fire on September 2, 1944. Since that day, Bush had promised himself that one day he would sky-dive for the fun of it. And at the age of 72, he did so.

When it comes to fulfilling these sorts of promises, no real harm is done if there is a long delay between promise and fulfillment or even if the fulfillment never comes. But when it comes to the duties God is calling His people to fulfill, we can't afford to delay our obedience.

This is the spirit with which Peter comes to the final portion of his first letter. The apostle, like his brother Paul, felt a sense of urgency regarding the lateness of the hour and urged his readers to get on with the business of serving Christ.

Verse 1 brings us back to the theme of suffering. And once again, Peter draws on the example of Jesus Christ to teach believers how to respond to life's trials. We need to take the same attitude toward suffering that Christ took, which was to accept it as the will of God.

When we do this, it helps us get rid of sinful attitudes that might cause us to become bitter toward God and others, lash out at those causing our pain, or give in to sinful desires that promise to ease our suffering.

Peter's audience had already spent enough time living like pagans (v. 3). Coming to Christ meant a complete break from their old way of life, a commitment these believers needed to make real in their experience.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Critics say one proof the Bible isn't fully true is that its authors were wrong in expecting Christ's soon return.

1 Peter 4:7-11 Prisoners of war from the Vietnam War, some of whom endured as much as seven or more years of captivity, say that the most effective tool their captors used against them was isolation. Prisoners who could communicate with each other generally fared better, even despite physical torture, than those who were completely cut off from their fellow captives.

1 Peter 4:12-19 Sufferers from poison ivy and related ailments can now find protection and relief in a new, non-prescription lotion approved last year by the Food and Drug Administration. The key ingredient in the new lotion is a drug that blocks the oil from poison ivy's leaves and stems, preventing it from producing the characteristic itchy rash. With as many as seventy percent of all people sensitive to these toxins, this new drug promises widespread relief.

It's good to see unnecessary suffering alleviated. But for the Christian, there is no remedy that will block the trials and traumas of life from afflicting us. We've gone deep enough into 1 Peter to know not only that suffering is as inevitable for believers as for everyone else, but also that it is part of God's will for us. He wants to refine and mature us, to draw us closer to Christ.

Peter states this truth very succinctly: ""Do not be surprised"" when painful trials come your way (v. 12). Some people would look at that and say, ""Why should I become a Christian if all it's going to bring me is trouble and persecution?""

It's true that the Bible does not shrink from telling us the truth about the problems we will encounter in this world. As someone has said, clashes are inevitable because believers are going one way while the world is going in the opposite direction.

But the implication that only Christians have problems is, of course, silly. The difference is not that one suffers while the other goes free. The difference is that as Christians, we endure trials that are infused with purpose and even blessing (v. 14), while unbelievers have no such redeeming value in their troubles.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
In verses 17-18, Peter asks a probing question. If disciplinary trials are necessary for God's children, what will become of those who don't know Him?
Sadly, unbelievers have nothing to look forward to but fiery judgment and eternal separation from God. We began the month by encouraging you to witness to an unsaved friend or loved