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Ps Luke Williams
Sunday August 14th, 2016

“Alien” Series (1)
Letter of 1 Peter
“Pain & Promise”
Message Notes
TEXT: 1 Peter 1-12

Q. Why have we called the series “Aliens?”
The reason is that Peter (who is revealed as the author of this letter),in verse 1, is writing this letter to a group of people who felt like aliens and strangers in their culture.

V.1 identifies the recipients of the letter: They were God’s elect, exiles (older versions of the NIV say Strangers in the world) scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.
· The letter was written around the year AD62 and the exiles had been scattered through the provinces of Rome as a result of extreme persecution. In that time Christians were seen as strange and also perceived to be in opposition to the Roman Empire and therefore the emperor and the officials were persecuting, torturing and killing Christians in horrific ways.
· It was a dangerous time in history to be a Christian and the culture was hostile to Christianity.
· This letter is a warm, encouraging, pastoral letter written by Peter who cares for these people who are suffering.
· Peter reminds them of who they are and what God, has promised, so that as they get a picture of the glorious future they have in Christ, they may be able to stand in the present.
· Christians were viewed as people who were quite peculiar and in chapter 2:11 Peter says Dear Friends, I write to you as aliens and strangers in the world.

Dictionary definition of alien: a foreigner, especially one who is not a naturalized citizen of the country where he or she is living

We are aliens because we are not of this world and we have a higher citizenship.
Philippians 3:20 Their mind is set on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ

What is it to be a citizen?
· To be a citizen is to be in a place where you belong. It’s to be in a place you connect with, it’s a place you call home.
· Most of us here today are Australian citizens BUT the Bible teaches that we are citizens of heaven.
What Peter is saying is this.
That there will be times in this life when we’re going to feel like we don’t belong here, that there’s something different about us.

If you’re a Christian you live for someone, for something and for somewhere greater than this.
APOSTLE PAUL: Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
· While he’s here on earth He’s living for Jesus and telling everyone about Him BUT when he dies he’ll be better off because he’ll find himself where his true citizenship lies- Heaven.
· This is a RELIEF because this life can be miserable at times. LIFE can have some incredible highs, BUT it can also have some really painful lows.
· The someone we live for is Jesus, the something we live for is relationship with God and the somewhere we long for is heaven.

· In the first chapter and in the entire letter of 1 Peter, for these people suffering in many ways, this is critical to remember and Peter reminds them of it on many occasions and in many ways.
· In the midst of pain and suffering that seemed so unfair, so unjust and so incredibly painful and in the presence of hostility from the world around them, that they could still have hope in the promises of God.
· 5:12: Peter says the reason he wrote the letter is to remind them of God’s grace so that they can stand firm in the midst of what they were going through.
· It was such a critical message for them and it’s a critical message for us.
Q. How do we as Christians live in the midst of suffering and in a culture that is becoming more hostile to the Gospel?

The title of today’s message is “Pain and Promise” and they are the two main themes in the 12 verses we will focus on today.

1. Pain
Pain is so important to talk about because it’s common to each of us in varying degrees throughout our lives.
All of us will fit into at least one of three categories when it comes to pain: Been through pain, going through pain, YOU WILL go through pain.
It’s unavoidable.
We need to have a proper understanding of pain and suffering, because it is part of the human condition.
Emotional, physical, relational, spiritual.
All of us will go through it BUT none of us have to go through it alone.

a) God understands our pain
In this passage Peter reminds the exiles in verse 3 that Jesus died.
Verse 11: He reminds them that the prophets of old predicted the sufferings of Christ.

Most world religions have a symbol that represents their faith.
Judaism: Star of David, which represents strength and connection
Islam: Star and the Crescent, which represents strength and the presence of the divine.
Hinduism: Omkar- written in Sanskrit and it presents something that is fluid and different to other religions
Buddhism: Lotus Flower- represents growth and the unfolding of self.
Christianity: Cross- symbol of weakness and pain.

On the cross is the place where our God hung.
He understands the pain and we don’t ever go through it alone. \

E.g PASSION OF THE CHRIST




Whatever we go through in life we have a God who has experienced it at an even greater level.
There is nothing you will ever go through that God can’t connect with and hasn’t first experienced when it comes to pain.
Relationally, emotionally, physically and even spiritually.

Lost a loved one?
· God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.
· Person most precious to Him
· Died on a cross.
· Jesus himself lost friends on earth. His cousin John the Baptist was beheaded,
· John 11: We read the story of Lazarus. When Jesus was told that he was dying the lady said to Him Lord, the one you love is sick.
· Lazarus was a dear friend and by the time he arrived Lazarus was dead.
· Verse 35 we find the shortest verse in the Bible: Jesus wept.

Physical pain- illness, accident?
· Jesus knows how you feel.
· Beaten severely, flogged, his back whipped until it looked like mince meat, Nails thumped through His hands and his feet
Relational Pain- let down by friends or family?
Jesus knows how you feel.
· Every one of his friends fled when he was arrested.
· Not one stuck by him- utterly deserted and betrayed
· Peter said I don’t even know Him, never met the man.
Spiritual Pain- Distant from God? Feel like he’s left you?
· Jesus knows how that feels.
· On the cross; My Father, My Father, why have you forsaken me?
· In that moment he took our sin upon him and blackness came over the land.
· Totally alone, completely forsaken, separated from His Father for us.

We have a saviour who understands our pain because He went through it on our behalf and not only that but he invites us to follow in his footsteps.

Jesus says in Luke 9:23: If you want to be my disciple you must deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me.

In verse 6 of todays passage Peter says now for “a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”

The Christian life is not a guarantee of a pain free existence, but rather an invitation to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, knowing that whatever we go through He understands and will be with us.

b) Pain produces

Romans 5:3-5
Rejoice in your sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance;4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint.
Pain produces in our lives.
Perseverence (going through pain teaches us to endure)
Character (It forces us deeper- become stronger, learn about ourselves, we grow in wisdom, press into God)
Hope (Forces us to remind ourselves of the promises of God)

We do everything but rejoice in the pain.
Pain is something we suppress, avoid, grumble through or run from.
The Bible presents an alternative...
EMBRACE it....
LEARN from it.....
GROW through it....
USE it....
Learn to embrace the pain, to learn from it, to grow through it and now to use it to minister to others.

Whatever you’ve gone through God can use that to grow you as a person and to help others who are going through similar things.
Pain Produces.
Verse 7: 7These (TRIALS) have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

What’s it producing in your life?

c) Promise helps us in and through the pain




· These people would have been discouraged and afraid.
· Perhaps they were thinking that God had abandoned them and that their situation was hopeless.
· Peter shows them the opposite- you’re not abandoned- you’re chosen!

V.1 To God’s elect
V.2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ

Peter acknowledges their circumstances BUT he encourages them to lift their eyes above the circumstances to a greater reality.
The greater reality he takes them too is the promises of God.

Thjey were not only chosen but also:

v.3 Born again into a living hope- Jesus is alive and with them through His Spirit

v. 4 an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.

v.5 through faith are shielded by God’s power

v. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

v.12 Even angels long to look into these things.

This letter acknowledges the pain but is jam packed full of promise.
· It reminds us that we have a someone, a something and a somewhere that’s so much greater than this life.

Encourage you today that whatever you’re going through, God understands your pain, that you’re pain is producing in your life and that the promises of God remind us that the someone is Jesus, the something is relationship with God and the somewhere is heaven.