PETER'S EPISTLES

1 Peter: Living In Conflict With The Culture

VI. Revering God Opposite An Apostatizing World's Irreverence

(1 Peter 1:17-21)

I. Introduction

A. Several believers in different states of the nation have reported on the increasing difficulty they face in living in accord with Bible truth since doing so conflicts with the godless world's deteriorating culture around them.

B. "First Peter was written to Christians . . . whose stand for Jesus Christ made them aliens and strangers in the midst of a pagan society" (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 837), so we study 1 Peter for insight and edification.

C. 1 Peter 1:17-21 teaches us believers to revere God opposite an apostatizing world's irreverence (as follows):

II. Revering God Opposite An Apostatizing World's Irreverence, 1 Peter 1:17-21.

A. In contrast to the world, we must conduct ourselves in our earthly sojourn in reverence for God, v. 17c NIV.

B. The reasons for this great reverence in contrast to the irreverent world are given in 1 Peter 1:17-21:

1. Opposite the world's disrespect, we must revere God because of our great need for Him, 1 Peter 1:17a:

a. Peter introduced verse 17 with a first class conditional phrase that we can render, "since you call on the Father" (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 792; Dana & Mantey, A Man. Gram. of the Grk. N. T., 1957, p. 289) and "call" from the Greek verb epikaleisthe is in the middle voice (The Analyt. Grk. Lex. (Zon.), 1972, p. 157), indicating that believers call on God for their own needs.

b. According, we believers are in great need of respecting the Lord who meets our many needs!

2. Opposite the world's disrespect, we must revere God because of our great accountability to Him, v. 17b:

a. Peter noted that God judges us believers "impartially" (aprosopolemptos, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 102), that we cannot influence Him to be favorable or unfavorable toward us as we are utterly vulnerable to His infinite objectivity.

b. Peter also noted that God judges each of us (hekastos, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 122; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 236), that none of us can escape His evaluation of us!

c. Peter then noted that God judges us each according to our work, what leads Him to be accurate in His evaluations of us since our works are the product of our thoughts and beliefs!

3. Opposite the world's disrespect, we must revere God for His great cost to save us, 1 Peter 1:18-19:

a. We were not "ransomed" (elutrothete, Ibid., B. K. C., N. T., p. 843) from the slave market of sin not with "perishable things such as silver or gold" (1 Pet. 1:18b ESV), but with the precious blood of Christos, the "Messiah" Himself, as a lamb [of God] without blemish or spot, 1 Peter 1:19; Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.

b. The cost to our salvation involved the substitutionary death of the highly regarded and much longed-for Hebrew Messiah Himself, far above the price of mere gold and silver, what drives us to revere the Lord!

4. Opposite the world's disrespect, we must revere God for the vast value He put on our salvation, v. 20-21:

a. This Messiah and Lamb of God was foreknown of God the Father before the beginning of the world, but has been made manifest in the last times for our sake, 1 Peter 1:20. In other words, God had been preparing to present this Priceless Messiah and Lamb of God for thousands of years of Biblical history dating back beyond creation for our sake in our era, making our salvation enormously significant!

b. Through Him we are believers in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that our faith and hope are in the Lord, 1 Peter 1:21. The supernatural resurrection of Jesus Messiah from the dead following His substitutionary atonement for our sin directs us to put our faith in God Who raised our Savior from the dead, meaning God's great miracle of Christ's resurrection caps the value of our salvation!

Lesson: Opposite the ungodly, irreverent world, we believers in Christ must conduct ourselves in our earthly sojourn in deep reverence for the Lord, for in contrast to the godless world, we greatly need God's help seen in our constant prayers for help from Him, we are highly accountable to Him Who judges us impartially, individually and according to our undeniable works, He purchased us with the infinitely valuable cost of the precious blood of His Lamb, Messiah Himself, and He has put a vast significance of value on our salvation in having planned it from eternity past and capped it with the miraculous resurrection of the Messiah from the dead.

Application: May we greatly revere God in contrast to the godless world's irreverence toward Him due to our great need for His meeting of our needs in prayer, due to our great accountability to Him, due to the great cost He paid to save us and due to the vast value He has placed on our salvation.