Bible Shorts

We read in 1Peter 1:18-25 a passage which has caused controversy. In my opinion, the controversy is ill-founded since I don't believe that this passage at all supports the idea of slavery as a valid trade.

However, there is something beautiful in here, something which has possibly been lost in some circles of the intelligent. For while they may scoff and holler their disapproval, there is a great truth in here;

1Peter 2:18 "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable" - This doesn't sound fair, does it? This alone makes me reassess my relationship with my employer (who I happen to believe is unreasonable). But no matter how unreasonable he is, I must be submissive....

1Peter 2:20 "But if when you do what is right and suffer {for it} you patiently endure it, this {finds} favor with God" - Ouch! But it's easy for God to make these demands! He's God and so He doesn't know what it's like to have to submit to an unfair master......

1Peter 2:21 "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps".

And to what extent did Jesus show submission and obedience?

Philipians 2:8 "Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross"

Jesus has, Himself, led the way in servanthood - He knows what it is like and He knows what needs to be done. The Passage in 1Peter talks of being submissive even to unfair masters, but within the context it uses this submissivness as a means of winning people over and saving their souls.

This submission isn't about punishing the old nature and the natural man, neither is it about a God who wants to whip us until we bleed - it's about winning people over to a new and eternal life in Jesus and His example.

Does this method work?

Well, you could put it like Toby Mac; "Been on a roll for two thousand years or so - we've got momentum baby!"

I came across a verse today which caught my eye because, at first (at least), it didn't make much sense; "And coming to Him as to a living stone1Peter 2:4.

How do you approach a 'living stone'? If Peter here is trying to help me 'come to Jesus', how does telling me that I must come to Him as though He is a 'living stone' help? I've never met any living stones!

But the passage of 1Peter 2:1-8 talks about our place in Christ's organisation and verse 5 makes the illustration complete by saying that we also are living stones.

So if I'm to approach Jesus as if He were a living stone, and I am a living stone and we are all living stones, then we are comging together, in all probability, to build something - and that is the church, a spiritual house.

So let's go back a bit to verse 1 where we're told to put "aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander". While it's Jesus who cleanses us from our sin, we have to be willing to turn from our evil ways and put away the things that would spoil our fitting into the spiritual house that He is building. What kind of builder would put a stone into a wall if it has all sorts of weeds and moss and slugs and snails growing on it. They need to be brushed off else the stone will be insecure in its place!

We're also told "like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation". The phrase 'long for' means, in Greek, to desire and be absolutely full of need for something. Like a baby knows how to find its mother's breast and earnestly seeks it when it needs to feed, so we must go to the Word of the Living God and feed off that because the food we get from that is pure. And, like a mother's milk, it has what we need to grow, and antibodies to help defend us against spiritual infections.

But don't expect your move to make you popular and don't even expect it to be applauded because the stone to which we are turning has been rejected. To us, Jesus is a cornerstone, but to those who have rejected Him, He has become a stumbling block - something that will lead to their downfall.