Preached Sunday, October 27, 2013 from 1 Peter 5:12-14
Theme: Peter’s closing words tell us how we are to stand together in the true grace of God.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
In studying the Bible—and particularly the letters of the New Testament—I have learned not to rush too quickly past either a letter’s beginning or its ending. Often, those two portions of the letter set the tone for much of what it is being said in its main body; and there are rich spiritual truths to be found in them.
This morning, we come to the final words of the remarkable New Testament letter of 1 Peter. And they are wonderful words indeed! In fact, in this case, I would say that it would be a terrible mistake to rush past the closing words of his letter; because in them, the apostle Peter gives us the whole purpose for his having written it.
In 1 Peter 5:12-14, he writes;
By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen (1 Peter 5:12-14).
There are, of course, a lot of details that surround it; but can you see in those words the main point that Peter had for writing? He said, “. . . I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.” And there you have it! We have been studying together from this remarkable letter since the beginning of this year. And even though Peter said that he had only written “briefly”of the things that he wanted to say—and that there were probably many more things that he wished he could have said—he has written what he has written for the purpose of exhorting and testifying to his persecuted fellow Christians that the gospel message that they have heard and believed, and for which they have suffered, is the real thing! It is the true grace of God! No matter what they may have to suffer in this world for being identified with it, the cost is worth it. This gospel is the real deal! It’s the true and only provision God has made for a sinner to be right with Him; and Peter wanted to tell those believes that they mustn’t let anything or anyone cause them to stray from it! They must stand firmly upon it!
In fact, in the original language, it’s put in the form of an imperative—a command. It’s as if Peter was saying, “I am exhorting you and testifying to you that this really is the true grace of God. You may not think so, because of all the things you are suffering for it. But remember that the Lord Jesus also suffered—setting an example for us. Just remember that the temporary times of suffering for your faith in Jesus Christ will soon give way to the glory that will be revealed at His coming! And don’t give up! Don’t quit! This is the true grace of God—and I want you to stand firm in it!”
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That’s an exhortation that we very much need today; isn’t it?
We’re living in time in which it is becoming hard—culturally speaking—to live for the Lord Jesus Christ. We live in an increasingly ‘secularized’ age; and in which an attitude of unbelief seems to prevail. In fact, it has come to be commonly assumed that ‘unbelief’ is—and should be—the natural default mode of people’s thinking today. We feel great ‘intellectual’ pressure to abandon a faith in Jesus Christ and in the testimony about Him that the Bible gives us. We’re made to feel that genuine faith is ‘abnormal’ or ‘odd’, and that skepticism is ‘reasonable’ and ‘liberating’. And more than that, we’re even seeing increased hostility being expressed toward those who will not abandon that faith, but who hold to it and willingly bring it to bear into the arenas of public life.
And that, to my mind, makes Peter’s great theme in this letter so important. At the end of it all, he expresses the bold assurance—he who is ‘Peter’, the great apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ; who followed Him for three and a half years on this earth, and ate with Him, and sat at His feet, and beheld His miracles, and heard His words—that this really is the true grace of God! The world may insist otherwise; but it, nevertheless, truly is the truth from God that is worth suffering for and giving our lives for.
Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God come in human flesh! He truly has taken the sins of mankind upon Himself and died in our place on the cross! God the Father truly has raised Him from the dead; and He truly is coming back one day to rule over this world as King of kings and Lord of lords. The time truly will come in which He will take His place as the Judge of all mankind; and that those who will have believed on Him and followed Him will be shown mercy and will inherit eternal life. This is the true grace of God; and we will not lose out in the end if we take our stand faithfully in it. So, Peter urges his readers to behave as if this is so, and to endure through the time of suffering and stand!
When I think of this bold exhortation from Peter at the close of his letter, I also think a bit ahead to what he said in the first chapter of the next of his letters—in 2 Peter. Listen to the bold certainty he expresses when he writes in 2 Peter 1:12-19;
For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.
For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts . . . (2 Peter 1:12-19).
This isn’t a ‘myth’! It isn’t simply one more ‘religion’ out of many! It’s not a mere ‘philosophical option’! It’s not simply ‘another way of looking at things’! It’s the absolute truth—and to deny it is to deny the truth! This is the true grace of God; tested and proven true! And we are to stand in it to the very end!
How glad we will be, on the day of His return, that we did so!
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Now; convincing us of that has been the main theme of this whole letter. All that we have studied together from it has been meant to encourage us to stand together faithfully in this ‘true grace of God’ that we know as the gospel.
But how are we to go about it? How do we ‘stand’ in it together? What are the things that should characterize such a stand—and that would strengthen us together in it if we did them? Those things are what the closing portion of Peter’s letter also reveals to us; and I’d like to ask that we spend the rest of our morning considering them.
First of all, we are to stand together in this true grace of God . . .
1. IN FAITHFUL MUTUAL EXHORTATION (v. 12).
Look at what Peter tells us in verse 12. He writes, “By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.”
It might surprise you to discover, here at the end of this letter, that the apostle Peter didn’t write it alone. He used what we might call a ‘secretary’ to write it for him. Peter was a fisherman—not a man who was skilled in the use of the Greek language. And so, he co-wrote this letter with a dear brother in Christ who was skilled—a man named Silvanus.
Now; does that name sound familiar to you? If you are a reader of the Bible, you might recognize that the apostle Paul also co-authored a couple of his New Testament letters with this man Silvanus—1 and 2 Thessalonians. In fact, most Bible scholars recognize that this man went by another name—a shortened version—Silas. In other words, this man was the missionary companion and co-laborer with the apostle Paul in many of his later missionary journeys. When we read of ‘Paul and Silas’ going out on their missionary journeys, we’re reading of this very man Silvanus. What a great man he would have been to help the apostle Peter in putting the message God had given him into well-written words!
Not only that, but it’s very probable that this man Silvanus also personally delivered this letter to those to whom it was sent. At the very beginning of this letter, Peter said that he was writing to the ‘pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bythinia” (1 Peter 1:1); and it’s very likely that, after helping Peter compose it in good, understandable Greek form, Silvanus was sent by Peter to deliver the contents of that letter to the various places in the Greek-speaking world where suffering believers were scattered.
And there might even be something more that Silvanus did. You’ll notice that Peter made a point of stressing that Silvanus is a “faithful brother as I consider him”? Peter wanted to assure the recipients of the letter that Silvanus was a trustworthy servant of Christ who could be depended on to faithfully represent what Peter wanted them to know. And because Peter said that he only wrote “briefly”, it is very likely that Silvanus took the time with those various gatherings of suffering believers to expand on what Peter wanted them to know personally, and to carefully exhort them and teach them how to stand faithful for the Lord Jesus. In fact, I’m sure of it—because that’s something that Silvanus was already very famous for.
Do you remember the story of Acts 15? In that chapter of Acts, a very serious controversy had arisen among the growing body of Christians. Many people from the Greek world were becoming Christians; but many of the Jewish believers were upset because these new Greek Christians were not following the law of Moses and observing the Jewish ceremonial rituals. The early leaders of the church met to discuss the matter; and the conclusion was that the Greek believers should not be made to feel that they must be under the outward ceremonies and rituals of the Jewish law. It was a pivotal moment in church history—and the very nature of our understanding of the Gospel would have been quite different if that decision hadn’t been made.
The decision was written up in a letter from the church leaders and the apostles, and primarily from James—the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. And they sent a couple of faithful and trustworthy men out to accompany the letter and declare its contents to the believers in the various cities. One of them was a man named Judas. And would you like to guess who the other man was? It was Silas—or, as we know him here, Silvanus. In Acts 15:32 we’re told; “Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also [that is, in the sense of preachers who explained and admonished people from God’s word], exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words.” And I believe that’s exactly what Silvanus did with this letter from Peter. Peter wrote this letter to ‘exhort’ and ‘testify’ to the people of the true grace of God; and he could trust Silvanus to do that ‘exhorting’ and ‘testifying’ work to his brothers and sisters on his behalf.
And the reason I point all this out is because I believe that this is to also characterize our ministry to one another in the body of Christ. God has given us His sure word—in which it is testified to us that this gospel of Jesus is the true grace of God. We’re to help each other stand strong in that faith—especially during tough times—by opening God’s word with one another and gently “exhorting” and “testifying” to one another from it. As the apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 3:16;
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16).
We greatly help each other to stand strong in this grace when we do so! That mutual work of exhortation is to characterize our stand together in the true grace of God.
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Another thing that is to characterize it is that we stand . . .
2. AS CO-ELECT WITH THOSE WHO SUFFER (v. 13a).
Peter goes on to write, “She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you . . .”
Now; who exactly is the “she” that Peter speaks of? Some have suggested that it was Peter’s wife. We know from the Scriptures that he had a believing wife. But it’s hard to think that he would speak of her this way if that’s who he meant. Rather, the best interpretation would be that he’s speaking of a local church. That seems to be what the apostle John means in 2 John; when he writes of the recipient of his letter as “the elect lady and her children” (2 John 1). Peter, in other words, was passing on greetings from another church family.
And what does he mean by “Babylon”? Many have suggested that he was speaking of a literal place—remnants of which still remained even in Peter’s day. But there was never any historical evidence that Peter went to that place—or that there was a body of Christians there. Instead, it makes most sense to think of Peter speaking of a place that is figuratively being called “Babylon”—a place in which Christians had gathered into a church. And the most sensible interpretation of that would be that Peter is speaking of Rome—the center of imperial power, and the place from which much of the official persecution of the early church originated. It may have become prudent to refer to Rome in a symbolic way—calling it “Babylon”—in order to avoid further trouble from Roman officials who might confiscate the letters of believers.
And you’ll notice that Peter refers to “she who is in Babylon” as “elect together” with the suffering believers to whom he wrote. At the very beginning of the letter, Peter wrote to the scattered believers as “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father . . .” (1 Peter 1:2); and here, he lets those same believers know that there were other believers—equally ‘elect’ of God—in the imperial city. They, along with Peter, sent their greetings—and with their greetings, their solidarity, and support, and prayers. Those suffering believers weren’t alone in their faithful stand in the true grace of God. There were others who were standing with them—and suffering with them too.
And this is yet another way that we are to stand together in this grace—that is, as co-elect in our sufferings for Christ. As the writer of Hebrews put it in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.” We are joined together in Christ as a body; and as the apostle Paul said, “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it . . .” (1 Corinthians 12:26).
This is another way that we are to stand together in the true grace of Christ—as those who are elect together, and are destined for glory together, and who suffer with one another in union and solidarity during our time together on earth.
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Yet another way is . . .
3. WITH GRACE TOWARD ONE ANOTHER’S IMPERFECTIONS (v. 13a).
And boy; do we ever need this! The wonderfully ‘true’ grace of God never changes; but we are weak and frail, and we are very fallible in the way we stand in it. We often fail. And because that’s true, we need to be gracious, and loving, and forgiving, and very accepting of one another.
The way that Peter shows us this is by the fact that in saying that others send their greeting, he adds, “and so does Mark my son.” The ‘Mark’ that he is speaking of is none other than John Mark—the man through whom God gave us the Gospel of Mark.
Mark was a man that God used greatly. But you’ll remember that his story, at first, was the story of a failure. The apostle Paul took him along with Barnabas on their first missionary journey. But along the way, Mark got fearful and quit in the middle of the effort. He returned home. Later on, when Paul and Barnabas wanted to go on another missionary trip together, Barnabas wanted to take Mark along—to give him another chance. But Paul wouldn’t go for it. The work was too important; and Paul didn’t want to risk it on someone that they couldn’t count on. So, they split up. Barnabas took Mark with him; and Paul—as it turned out—took Silas. But later on, Paul and Mark were reconciled. Near the end of his life, Paul could write that Mark was ‘useful’ to him for ministry (2 Timothy 4:11).
Well; Mark did indeed prove to be very useful in the Lord’s work. Did you know that, according to ancient church history, Mark wrote his Gospel—perhaps the first of the four that was written—on the basis of the gospel message as Peter preached it? Mark and Peter had become close ministry associates. In fact, Peter even goes so far as to call him, “Mark my son.” And I can’t help but think that when Peter wrote that Mark sent his greetings, people who suffered—and who sometimes failed—would have remembered that Mark had failed too; but that he proved faithful in the end.
This reminds us that one of the things that should characterize our stand together in the true grace of God is that we treat it like “the true grace”—that standing in it together means that we should be willing to forgive one another when we fail to stand as we should, and help one another stand more faithfully in the future. We all fail. We all fall. We all get scared and freeze up at times. We all have times when we feel like quiting. And we need to do toward one another what Paul urged the church in Colossae to do; “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” (Colossians 3:12-13).
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We also take our stand together in the true grace of God as we should by . . .
4. HAVING AFFECTION FOR ONE ANOTHER (v. 14a).
Peter writes; “Greet one another with a kiss of love.”
Now; before we start breaking out the Tic-Tacs; you should know that this was simply the standard way for people to affectionately greet one another in those days. It’s still true in many places in the world today. I had the privilege of preaching in a church in Eastern Europe many years ago; and after the service, the pastor would walk around, take the other elders by the shoulders, and kiss them on the lips. I was getting nervous when he started coming toward me. But that was because that was the accepted manner for brothers in Christ and partners in ministry to show affection to one another.
Today, we have other methods. I like it that we’ve gotten over our shyness and are willing to give one another a warm hug. But that, I believe, is how we communicate the same idea today—a warm hug or a hearty handshake or a gentle squeeze on the arm. It’s a way that we show that we truly love one another and express our affection for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
I believe it’s a very sad thing when people come and go from church and hardly have any contact with each other. And I also wish that good, believing church families exchanged greetings from one to another more often. It’s a way to show that we stand together in the same cause, and love the same Lord Jesus. We’re all going to be standing next to each other very soon in glory as we behold the majesty of the Lord Jesus together. What a wonderful time of mutual love we will share together then! We ought to show it now!
In fact, the Lord Jesus says that we must. It’s a part of how the world knows that we belong to Him. “A new commandment I give to you,” He said, “that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). How can the world know it if we don’t show it?
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And finally, Peter says that we’re to do all this . . .
5. ENJOYING PEACE IN CHRIST (v. 14b).
Peter’s closing words are, “Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.” And the peace that he’s speaking of isn’t the kind of peace that the world can know or understand. It’s a peace that can come only through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
When the people of this world see that we suffer for our devotion for Jesus Christ, and yet, that we have an inexplicable peace that is not of this world—when they see that we have a sense of peace in our relationship with God, because we truly are at peace with Him in Christ; and when they see that we have an inward peace that remains untroubled by the things that we suffer; and when they see that we even live in and sacrificially pursue peace with one another—then it testifies to them that this ‘the true grace of God in which we stand’.
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So; the conclusion of this whole letter is that the gospel of Jesus Christ that we believe and proclaim is the true grace of God. We should give our all to it, and never let anything or anyway sway us from it. We will never lose if we stay true to it.
But we should take our stand in it together in the ways that prove to the world that it is the true grace of God. We should stand in it with faithful mutual exhortation and encouragement; and as those who are elect together and who therefore suffer together; and as those who are characterized by gentleness and grace toward one another’s faults and failings; and as those who have—and show—genuine, holy affection for one another; and as those who enjoy the peace of Christ together.
May God help us prove to the world what we have come to be convinced of—that this is the true grace of God in which we stand.