Well hello Riv. Pastor James here.
It was great to be able to share some thoughts with you from 1 Peter 5 this past weekend.
If you haven't had a chance to listen to that sermon, you may wanna take a few moments to go back and
back and work your way through the text there in 1 Peter 5.
There was one piece that was on my mind that I wasn’t able to cover during the sermon.
And I wanna share some thoughts with you about that right now.
And it centers around this idea of Peter repeatedly mentioning
the command to be sober minded and to be alert.
And why does Peter emphasize that three different times. 1 Peter 1:13,
“Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded…”
1 Peter 4:7, “The end of all things is near; therefore, be alert and sober-minded...”
And then here at the end of the letter, “Be sober minded, be alert.”
The idea of clear thinking of a prepared mind.
Not distracted, focused, alert, mentally ready.
This is what Peter is talking about throughout his letter in the midst of suffering.
In the midst of trial, there needs to be something true about our minds.
We need to be measured, focused, prepared.
I keep thinking about this word “character”.
It speaks to the character of an individual
when they have that self control when they’re mentaly disciplined, mentally ready.
Character is the mental and moral qualities that are distinctive to an individual.
Right? And Peter throughout his letter if you’ve been following along, he distinguishes between people of strong character
and people of weak character. You may remember that he describes one
set of kind of person as a person who is filled with malice, and deceit,
and hypocrisy, and slander, and has unrestrained behavior.
That’s poor character. And then he contrasts that with the person who is gentle,
respectful, hospitable, humble.
That person is sober minded, they are alert. They’re minds
function in a different way. That's a person with strong character.
How would the people who are closest to you describe your character?
What are the distinct mental and moral qualities that you possess?
And when (it's interesting), there's different thinking about how characters develop.
If you read back through 1 Peter, it seems like prayer is a big part of it.
Certainly adversity develops character and I think also adversity reveals character.
Our character can be both forged during suffering and
it sort of bubbles to the surface at the same time during the same seasons.
It’s refined by fire and it’s also revealed by fire.
So I want to read one story that’s really been on my mind. Here it’s in Acts 17.
It sort of ties these issues together in a really powerful way, at least in my mind.
It says “Paul and Silas and his team came to Thessalonica...” This is Acts 17.
“And they went into the Jewish synagogue. As usual, on three sabbath (for three weeks)
they were reasoning with the Jews from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary
for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead. They were saying, ‘This Jesus
we are proclaiming to you is the Messiah.’ Okay?
But the Thessalonican Jews became jealous
and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, and formed a mob
and started to riot in the city of Thessalonica.
They attacked Jasons’s house (This is where Paul and Silas and them were staying).
They searched for them to bring them out ot the public assembly
When they did not find Paul and Silas they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials,
and they were screaming, ‘these men who have turned the word the upside have
come here to and Jason has welcomed them
(and there was a big threat going on there right for Jason).
These men are acting contrary to Caesar's decrees, saying there is another king Jesus.’
And the crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset.”
So there's this chaos; the behavior in Thessalonica was unrestrained.
Right? They described the people as jealous and wicked and they were,
there was sort of a visceral reaction.
And then is says this in verse 10, “As soon as it was night,”
Paul and Silus I guess have been hiding.
“the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.
Upon arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.”
Same step that they took. Same message.
“The people here in Berea were of more noble character
than those in Thessalonica,” Isn’t that interesting?
They had a completely different mindset. I think their minds were prepared.
They were ready, they were alert, they were calm, there wasn’t this sort of
jealousy and wickedness and there’s just sort of a reactive kind of thing.
Now why was that? Now don’t miss this, this is so powerful.
“The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica,
since they received the word
with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily
to see if these things were so.”
Their character was formed
through the wisdom of God‘s Word.
Every day they were seeking God’s wisdom through
the Word through the Bible.
And because of that, when this new truth
was brought to them. That Jesus was the messiah and was explained to them
using the scriptures, they knew what to do.
They didn’t overreact, they didn’t just deny. They didn’t (you know) form a riot.
Whatever they like, they said “Okay let’s compare what Paul is saying
from what we know from having studied the scriptures every day on our own.”
And so you see that God’s word grows a person in character so they can
receive the Gospel and handle
adversity in a biblical and Godly manner.
The other thing I wanna point out here.
I think is so important is, we if we have this Berean posture,
where we’re just measuring everything against the word of God.
In some cases I think there are people who tend to think if somebody doesn’t agree with everything I say,
or believe everything I believe I'm just not gonna pay attention to them.
And I’m not gonna learn from not gonna listen, I'm not gonna be around them.
And the news flash I have for you is that you only spend time around people that think exactly like you
and believe everything that you do, you are going to be alone.
In fact you might not even be with yourself.
Because I don't even believe everything I’ve said. I wanna retract some of the things that I’ve said in my life.
We aren't gonna find that sort of,
we should be able to listen to and learn from a variety of voices.
Not that we’re going to believe everything everybody says. Compare them with the scripture,
but to have love for one another.
To really have a sincere posture of humility and willingness to connect.
And stand on the truth when we need to stand on the truth like Peter says in his
letter, in a gentle and respectful way.
And the way that we connect with others.
I wanna end with one more verse here from 1 Peter 1.
This is the one that really has been marinating in my head and heart over the past several weeks here.
It says, “You are being guarded by God’s power through faith
for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
Now if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ.
Take that reminder and tuck it away in your heart and mind every single day.
God has a glorious eternal future that is awaiting you.
He has prepared a place for you.
He’s guarding it through your faith right?
1 Peter 1:5.
In verse 6 it says, “you rejoice in this,”
take joy in the fact that your eternal future is secure.
“even though now for a short time, you suffer grief in various trials”
And then, don't miss this, verse 7,
“so that the proven character of your faith
may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation
of Jesus Christ.” You see what he says there?
You have this mindset that’s shaped by the knowledge that
nothing is going to ever take away the eternal future that God has for you.
Through Jesus Christ by God’s grace through your faith, right?
That awaits you.
And now it gives you perspective on the difficult circumstances that you face.
And the challenge that Peter gives is for us to display
our proven character in the midst of suffering
so that the name of Jesus Christ can be praised
and that he can be brought glory and honor.