Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You are invited to come to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting and pray. (8:30 PM EDT Wed., Aug. 15, 2001)

The first two verses of Peter's letter are like the "To/From" and salutation part of a present-day letter. They tell us who wrote the letter and who is supposed to receive it. They also have a what amounts to a greeting -- "Grace and peace be yours in abundance." We might tend to think that this part of the letter is not too important as far as content is concerned, but this is a letter that was inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that every part of it is precious and valuable for building us up in the faith to become like Jesus. This introductory part is also.

This letter was written to God's elect by the apostle Peter. Peter was the fisherman who Jesus called to leave everything and become a fisher of men. He was with Jesus the entire time he went around teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God and healing the sick. He was the one to whom God revealed that Jesus was the "Christ, the Son of the living God." He saw Jesus glorified on the mount of transfiguration. Peter was the one who said that he would go to his death rather than deny Jesus, but then, after Jesus was arrested, denied him three times just as Jesus said he would. He was the one who, after he returned, as Jesus knew he would, was able to also restore his brothers. He is the one who, after Jesus was taken up to heaven, preached the gospel at Pentecost and 3000 believed. (No PA system, either!)

This is Peter. This first letter is said by the experts to have been written in the early 60's AD That would be around 30 years after Peter's preaching at Pentecost. He was writing to God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Asia minor. Usually, commentators take "scattered" to refer to the Jewish dispersion, but I don't really think Peter would restrict his writing to Jewish believers only. At any rate, I am convinced that the Holy Spirit meant this letter for all believers. That includes us. We are God's elect!

We are God's elect. We were chosen by God and are strangers in the world -- aliens, visitors, sojourners -- we don't belong here. Our citizenship is in heaven (Philip. 3:20). Let me quote some more of what the apostle Paul wrote in this passage from Philippians that tells us that our citizenship is in heaven:

"For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." (Philip. 3:18-21)

Peter, in his introduction to 1 Peter, calls us God's elect. What a difference there is between us and those who are not God's elect! They are enemies of the cross of Christ. While, for us, all of our life and hope is through the cross. It is our salvation. Their destiny is destruction. Our destiny is glory, honor and immortality. Their god is their stomach. Our God is the Lord Jesus Christ for whom and through whom all things were made. Their mind is on earthly things. Our minds are on heavenly things. They are citizens of this present corrupt world which is perishing. Our citizenship is in heaven. They can only look forward to eternal condemnation. We eagerly await a Savior from heaven, the Lord Jesus, who will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. What a vast, enormous, incredible difference there is.

We are God's elect because he chose us according to his own foreknowledge. God the Father knew us and he chose us. We didn't, through our superior knowledge or wisdom, choose him. He chose us -- for obedience to Jesus through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and for sprinkling by his blood. In the Old Testament times, people and things were cleansed and purified ceremonially by sprinkling with the blood of sacrificial animals. We are cleansed and purified in truth from all of our sin and rebellion through sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, God's sacrificial lamb.

All these things set us apart completely from the world. Though we live in the world, we do not belong to the world. Righteousness and wickedness have absolutely nothing in common. Light and darkness cannot possibly have fellowship together. There is no harmony between Christ and Belial. Believers and unbelievers have absolutely nothing in common. (2 Cor. 14,15)

If any of you have read C. S. Lewis's children's fantasies "The Chronicles of Narnia," you may remember the story of The Silver Chair. In that story, high on the mountain in the far east where the air was very clear, Eustace and Jill the main characters, were given a mission by Aslan (the Christ figure in the stories). To help them on their way, Aslan gave them four signs which they were to memorize and to repeat daily and to look for while they were on their mission. He told them that up on his mountain, where the air was clear, the signs seemed very simple and obvious. But, that, down where he was sending them, the air was thick and they would have to be very diligent in remembering and repeating the signs. (As it turned out, after a while, they weren't very diligent about the signs and, as a result, got into all kinds of trouble. Aslan had to help them out.)

The things Peter tells us at the beginning of his letter (and throughout the rest of his letter) may seem very clear when we are on the high mountain where the air is clear. But in the world, the air is thick and it's easy to lose sight of the "signs." We have to be diligent in remembering the word of God. We have to remember who we are in Christ or we will get into all kinds of trouble. Nevertheless, Jesus died for us and he won't let us fail.

Before Jesus went to the cross, he knew that Satan had asked to test the disciples, to sift them like wheat. He told them that he had prayed for them that their faith would not fail. That's when Peter insisted that he was willing to die for Jesus. But even when Peter denied Jesus, his faith did not fail. I know that this is true because Jesus had prayed for him, for his faith not to fail. God always answers Jesus's prayers. And Jesus is right now at the right hand of God interceding for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:34,35)? The answer: No one.

Come and let's pray for each other as well as for the whole church. Come and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Love them.

Love in Christ,
Dean

PS: If you absolutely can't make it to the prayer meeting, send your prayer requests back to me by e-mail and we'll pray for them.