1 Peter 1:20-25

In 1 Peter 1:20-25 we are reminded that the work of Jesus was not a plan developed late in the course of redemption. It was foreordained before the foundation of the world, though it was made evident in these last times. “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” God had this plan since creation – it wasn’t a hail Mary He came up with at the last moment. God’s love for us goes back to the very beginning of Creation.

The entire plan of redemption is for those who believe in God, though even their belief is through Him. Those who believe in God are not disappointed because their faith and hope has been substantiated by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. And it is the only plan. The blood of Jesus is what sets us free through salvation. It purifies us from our sin. “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;”

Holy living is incomplete if it is not accompanied by love. To be a Christian means to have a sincere love of the brethren, but we are encouraged to exercise that love fervently. This kind of love is only possible for those who have been born again and have the Holy Spirit living within them. Our salvation not only gives us eternal life, but it also gives us the means to truly love one another. It is the Word of God that not only gives us new and eternal life, but also empowers us to live out the love and holiness Peter charges us to do. We can never do it on our own.

Peter quotes the Old Testament in Isaiah 40 as he ends this chapter. “….for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” The word of the LORD certainly has endured. It has survived centuries of manual transcription, of persecution, of ever changing philosophies, of all kinds of critics, of neglect both in the pulpit and in the pew, of doubt and disbelief – and still, the word of the LORD endures forever! Bernard Ramm wrote “A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put.”

And Spurgeon wrote “God’s Word never dies, God’s Word never changes. There are some who think we ought to get a new gospel every few years or even every few weeks, but that was not Peter’s notion. He wrote, and he was divinely inspired to write, concerning ‘the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.’” The Bible isn’t going anywhere. It is eternal, just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is eternal, and it will last forever!

“Portions of this blog post have been taken from the Enduring Word commentary, (c) 2023 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – ewm@enduringword.com“

“Scripture (bold and italicized) has been taken from the English Standard Version, © ESV.org – www.esv.org”

Proverbs 6:20-23

In Proverbs 6:20-23 Solomon explains how God’s Word can keep us from falling to sin. “My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching.” It’s clear that teaching is a parental activity and includes both dad and mom. We can’t push that responsibility to the schools or church or anywhere else than the home. What and how we teach our kids matters. It’s a responsibility we must not take lightly. Ross wrote “Implicit in these verses is the basic understanding that a good home life—i.e., father and mother sharing the rearing of the children together—will go a long way to prevent the youth from falling into immorality.”

Parents are not responsible for the choices their kids make – those are theirs alone – but we are responsible to teach them God’s truth and commandments. Solomon tells us what that needs to look like; “Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck.” As parents, the charge is to teach in such a way that God’s truth is bound to their heart. A wise child will keep God’s word close, upon their heart and around their neck. Waltke explains that bind them means: “here it pictures him memorizing them in such a way that they are permanently impressed on his essential mental and spiritual being that prompts his every action.”

Solomon also tells us the outcome of having God’s Word in us. “When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.”  The word of God is living and active. When it is cherished and kept close, we benefit from its living power. It then will lead us, it will keep us, and it will speak with us. Anyone who wants God to lead, keep, or speak should begin with cherishing God’s Word. Proverbs 6:22 presents God’s word as a person who helps in many ways.

• A guide: will lead you.
• A guardian: will keep you.
• A companion: will speak with you.

God’s Word can light our path and lead us to God’s way. “For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life, to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.” When given attention and properly valued, God’s word brings light to us in our darkness. One of the outcomes of knowing God’s commandments and teachings is that they keep us from falling into sin. God’s Word keeps us from making the mistake of chasing evil or being deceived by the enemy who is out to destroy us. Jesus taught us that God’s Word is our defense against the attack of the enemy and we need to know it and use it to walk with Him!

2 Timothy 2:16-19

In 2 Timothy 2:16-19 Paul talks about the price of not staying focused and how that can impact us. “But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.” We need to avoid everything that takes the focus off of God’s Word. Man’s opinions, man’s teachings, man’s opinion polls, man’s stories, man’s programs, are all irrelevant babblings when compared to the simple Word of God. But once it gets out, it can spread quickly and become like a cancer that captures people. Paul isn’t shy here, and calls out two false teachers who were guilty of babble.

Paul lists two men who had lost their way. “Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.” It sounds like they may have started off right in the faith, but had done awry. It seems they were teaching that we were already in God’s millennial kingdom, or that there was no resurrection to come – it had already occurred. That teaching had derailed some. Undoubtedly, this was not their only error; and a fundamental error in such an area often leads to many more strange beliefs, until one has abandoned Jesus and His truth all together.

In spite of what false teachers may do, God’s truth never moves. “But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” God’s truth may have been under attack but it doesn’t change the fact that the foundation is secure and will not move. God has a plan, God has a purpose, God has a strategy, and it is not going to fail. It doesn’t matter how many fall away, how many reject the truth, how many go their own way – God’s truth not only stands the test of time but also the attack of anyone who attempts to babble against it.

There are two seals that show the solid foundation of God:

1. The Lord knows his own
2. Those who know the Lord will flee sin

God does not sit in heaven, wondering and worrying if you are saved or not. He does not hope or wonder if you will make it to the end. He knows. God also knows those who are His; and He calls those who are His to leave their sin behind. If you don’t desire or are not willing to act to depart from known sin in your life, the question has to be asked: are you really saved and belong to Jesus?

Philippians 1:9-11

In Philippians 1:9-11 Paul continues to talk about his prayers for the church at Philippi. The Philippians had a lot of love, and they showed it to Paul. Yet Paul didn’t hesitate to pray that their love would abound still more and more. It doesn’t matter how much love for others we have; we can still have more!

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

The love Paul wanted to abound in the Philippians was not “blind love.” It was love that had knowledge and all discernment; it was love that could approve the things that are excellent. Paul knew the danger of an undiscerning love. He rebuked the Corinthian church that seemed to glory in their “love” and “openness” which lacked any sense of knowledge and discernment. Being sincere is important, but alone it is not enough. Notorious sinners in the days of Jesus such as tax collectors were sincere, yet they still needed to repent. In this version (ESV) of God’s Word – sincere is being pure.

As well, being without offense before others is important, but alone it is not enough. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were without offense in the opinion of many. We want God to make us both sincere and without offense. In this version they translate the word as blameless rather than without offense. When we approve and receive the things that are excellent, we become sincere (speaking of inner righteousness) and without offense (speaking of outer righteousness that can be seen). Paul wants the church at Philippi to be ready for Christ’s return. Part of being ready is to be pure and blameless.

The work of becoming sincere and without offense is really God’s work within us. It happens as we are filled with the fruits of righteousness. Bearing fruit is always the result of abiding in Jesus. That’s God’s plan for us as Christ Followers. As we abide in Him, we receive the life and nutrients we need to naturally bear fruit to the glory and praise of God. That fruit comes from Jesus, not from our own efforts or work. Clarke explains “Every genuine follower of God has his glory in view by all that he does, says, or intends. He loves to glorify God, and he glorifies him by showing forth in his conversion the glorious working of the glorious power of the Lord.”

1 John 2:14-16

In 1 John 2:14-16 John talks with fathers (who have a deep and strong relationship with God) and young men (not only have they overcome the wicked one, but they have done it through the strength that comes to them through the Word of God. God’s Word is our source of spiritual strength). “And so I say to you fathers who know the eternal God, and to you young men who are strong with God’s Word in your hearts, and have won your struggle against Satan:….” He writes to an audience of fathers and young men who are walking with Jesus.  And remember that Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, said that he counted all his previous spiritual achievements as rubbish, compared to the surpassing greatness of just knowing Jesus.  This is the pinnacle of success as a Christ Follower.

But John goes on to rebuke these spiritually mature folks that they need to stop loving the world. “Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things you show that you do not really love God”. The world is not the global earth. Nor is it the people living on the planet as a whole. Instead it is the community of sinful humans that are rebelling against God. We are not to love either the world’s system or its way of doing things.  By loving the world we can gain earthly stuff, but it costs us our time, talent and treasure and the reward is no where near the cost when compared to God’s plan for us.

John calls out three key ways the enemy gets us to love worldly things:

1. Sex (lust of the world)
2. Stuff (lust of the flesh)
3. Power (pride of life)

His efforts are to get us to focus on things of the world rather than the things of God. “for all these worldly things, these evil desires—the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance—these are not from God. They are from this evil world itself.”

The world tries to buy our love through the stuff it offers us.  We get sucked into the race for status.  But loving the world never lines up with loving God.  It is impossible to love both. We seldom admit how much the world dominates how we think and act, but often the world is far more in control that the ways of God.  We need to carefully consider our thinking to be sure it aligns with God’s standards.  This reinforces what Paul taught that we need to be careful not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by a renewing of our minds.  We have to lift ourselves above the messages and lure of the world to be focused on what comes from God – His Word and the truth that is contained in it.