Category: 1 Peter - Jethro TOOLS

Suffering

11/2/2025

1 Peter 3:13-4:6
It has been said we are either in a trial, coming out of a trial or about to go into a trial. That is true of each of us. Trials are the events in our life that introduce pain into our life. Pain is the hurt that is felt, while suffering is the continued condition of feeling the pain. Some years back I was diagnosed with cancer. That was a trial that I had never experienced before. I had a serious condition that required immediate attention and surgery. Enter pain. The testing and surgery introduced pain into my life that I had never before experienced. For months I continued to suffer with the lingering side effects and pain as I recovered from surgery. Eventually the hardship of suffering decreased, the pain subsided and the trial ended. Was there any benefit to the suffering? Good health was the outcome, but is that the only outcome? In God’s eyes pain and suffering does have a purpose and a good outcome. 1 Peter 3:18 tells us that that the death of Christ was for the purpose of bringing us to God. Through the pain and suffering God brought good. 1 Peter 4 reminds us that we are to live in imitation of Christ having the same attitude (1). The message of the gospel is proclaimed through the pain of suffering. We can only know restoration to God through Jesus Christ who suffered and died for us. That is good news. In much the same way God redeems our suffering as we submit to Him using our pain for His purpose. On a human level that is hard. We want life to be pain free. However, I can personally say that God allowed me to tell others of His love and grace through the suffering caused by cancer. God wants to redeem your pain for His good. Will you let him?

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Membership Standard

8/17/2025

1 Corinthians 13
“I don’t like my job!” Have you ever said that. There is part of every job that is unpleasant. Most jobs are tolerable, some are terrible, while many jobs are terrific. Yet within every job there is often one component that is unpleasant and therefore we often avoid doing it. Simply avoiding the task does not remove our responsibility to complete it and therefore complete our job. The same is true when it comes to living the christian life. The church of Corinth was having a problem exercising genuine faith, love and service to God. As a whole they had distorted their relationship with Christ and turned it into a practice of self centered love. In essence they had turned their relationship with Jesus Christ into a self centered religious practice. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul challenges their distorted spiritual practice by addressing love as the central standard measurement for believers in Jesus Christ. This passage highlights what is wrong in the Corinthians spiritual practice (1-3), and what is actually the display of true love (4-7). The distinguishing characteristic of love within the believer is progress in Christlike maturity (8-12). We are immature and can never measure up to Christ’s standard of love, but there is progress over the course of our spiritual life. We are called to be followers of Christ and follow His example (1 Peter 1:13-16). Love is to be the substance of our actions because Christ loved us first (1 John 1:19). This passage is simple, yet so deep and confronting. If we are honest it is difficult to love and be loving. Yet, our belief in Christ the Savior who loves us changes us and connects us with His body the church so we can become people who serve with His love. Christ and His display of love for us is the standard measurement for our love and service. That is a hard job, but one that is attainable through His grace and strength.

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Belief in One

4/13/2025

Luke 23:26-48
Good news and bad news are on the opposite spectrum. The doctor calls and says the health report is not good, or you get a call about the birth of a grandchild. We enjoy the good, but our life is build around the bad. Our brain has a way of paying attention to what is bad and looking for a solution out of the predicament. Very simply we become people that want to find the good in the midst of the bad. God has intentionally created us to be searchers. Why are we like that? We are born into a broken world as people needing answers to life and we spend a lifetime working to provide those answers. We think, read, and search for God’s good in the bad. In the crucifixion of Jesus we see the bad news play out. Some mourned (27-28) while rulers and soldiers mocked Jesus (35-37) as he was placed on a cross between two thieves (32-33). The bad news and the reality of death seemed hopeless. Yet Luke records the change that occurred in one of the thieves , the centurion and even the crowd. God was at work bringing His good out of the worst bad that could ever happen. 1 Peter 3:18 states that, “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God.” The broken world of Jesus day contained people looking for something better. The centurion found a righteous man in the midst of corruption and death (47). The thief found new life at the end of his own life (42-43). God even worked in the crowd to change their thinking (48). The good news is that Jesus has taken the bad news of our sin for us. Our broken world can only show us more brokenness and death, yet Jesus came to be the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Belief in Jesus is good news for a broken world.

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Restored

3/16/2025

Romans 6
The old shed on the back corner of our property seemed like a worthy investment. So in the spring, after thinking and planning repairs all winter, I started. The building had settled and rotted its original support beams, requiring the foundation to be rebuilt. Once the shed was level and stable the roof and the door were replaced to keep the structure dry and free from roaming critters. Since the outside was able to withstand the extremes of weather, I turned my attention to the inside to make the shed functional. A simple shelf and some hooks made a once rundown and deteriorated building useful again. In many ways we are like an old shed. God sees us, and purchases us, to restore us to the functional purpose that He designed us to be. In Romans chapter 6, Paul calls this process sanctification. From the point of salvation, God begins a process of removing the practice of sin from the life of the believer. The control of sin is broken (1-14) through what Christ has accomplished on the cross for us. But God does not just leave us there. He wants to restore us to the true servants that He originally intended us to be. There is a change that takes place as the believer no longer serves sin, but gives the control of their life to God (15-23). Gradually, the practice of sin is replaced with purity and a righteous life that pleases God. Sanctification is God’s life long process that He works in us to restore us to His standard. Speaking of our relationship with Jesus, Peter writes, “like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You Shall Be Holy, For I Am Holy. (1 Peter 1:15). What we believe will change the way that we live. What we live will prove what we truly believe.

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The Disciple's Purpose

2/16/2025

1 Peter 2:1-10
It was January of 2020 and we watched in shock as the coronavirus in China exploded out of control. The problem grew so much that the government immediately began building a thousand room hospital to try and deal with the epidemic and needed beds. Soon people were in desperate need of doctors, specialized care, and medicine all over the world. Medical teams and essential workers functioned in a ballet-like dance, as each one did a specific task for the purpose of eliminating the virus from their country. Throughout the pandemic we saw medical staff repeatedly praised for their sacrificial service. As we open the book of 1 Peter, we read along with an audience of believers who was living in hard times. In chapter 2 Peter reminds these believers under pressure that they have been given a new spiritual life for the purpose of growing in Christ, building others for Christ and continuing on with their belief in Christ. The end result is praise for what Christ has done in each life, regardless of the trials that have been faced in the process. Peter is challenging his readers, and us as well, to remember what God has done and what He is doing. This spiritual birth (1-3), formation and connection (4-5) are not things we can accomplish on our own. This is accomplished through God’s initial work of grace on the cross that is built on the foundation of Jesus our Savior (6-8). God’s purpose is to change us, and grow us, so we can praise Him (9-10). Just as a doctor is praised for his work on desperately sick patients, likewise, we are called to believe and carry the message of salvation and healing through a great Savior. If we can tell others how great our doctor is, can we not also tell others how great our God is?

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Participate in Worship

7/14/2024

Psalm 95
Last night I walked outside before heading off to bed. The evening was quiet except for the singing of crickets, the occasional faint rumble of distant thunder, and the systematic staccato flash of lightning. The pitch black night sky was illuminated by the continued and consistent bursts of lightning that almost hurt the eyes to look at. Without a doubt, I knew there was a storm brewing because of what I saw. The pulsating flashes in the night sky announced that God was doing something. Just as the night sky as not silent about God’s work neither should the believer in Jesus be silent about His work in their life and world. In Acts 2:46-47 we see that the believers in the early church were beacons that displayed God’s greatness through their committed worship and devotion to God. What is our worship like? Do we have the same enthusiasm for God like the early church? Did you realize that believers in Jesus Christ are designed by God to be worshipers? Just as lightning lights up the night sky, we are to declare the praises of God who has saved us (1 Peter 2:9). So how do we worship? Psalm 95 provides a good starting point in directing our worship. The author begins with an invitation, and challenges his audience to participate in worship of the LORD (1-2). We are to worship God who is great (3-5) and proclaim His greatness (7). However, like the Psalmist, we must come to worship in humility (6). Worship is more than the songs we sing. Worship is a personal and corporate lifestyle honoring God. We are to sing and declare His praises, but we are also to daily live the reality of His power displayed through us. Like lightning, we as believers we are to be beacons that display God’s greatness through our committed worship of Him.

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God's Grace and the Courage to Stand

3/17/2020

1 Peter 5
Have you ever tried to feed a stray feral kitten? The smallest kitten will put up a terrific fight if you try to grab it with your hand. They will holler, scratch and bite all because they do not trust your hand. The only way to socialize the feisty kitten is to teach it to eat from your hand. After a long commitment of hands on contact and even removal from its environment the kitten will learn that your hand is not a bad thing but a good thing. Their courage needs to be redirected from fighting to trusting. The same in true in our relationship with God. In the final chapter of 1 Peter we see that God’s grace gives the courage to stand in trials. However, like the stray kitten, we often fight God for all we are worth because of what His hand is doing to us. Peter wants us to see that God has rescued us and is caring for us in our trials. Like the kitten we need to learn to trust the hand that is feeding us. We can always trust God’s grace.

Commitment to God in Suffering

3/17/2020

1 Peter 4:7-19
There is a TV show called Ice Road Truckers. I find the show interesting because of where they are filmed as I have been to some of the locations. In the north there is a lot of water in the summer, but in the winter that water turns to ice and roads are built on top of the ice for big trucks. The driver is responsible to assess if the ice is strong enough to hold the weight of his load. Once the truck pulls onto the ice the driver is totally committed to go forward. If the truck stops there is a good chance the weight will break the ice and sink the truck. Peter personally understood this principle. He had been invited by Jesus to come and walk on the water to Him, but Peter took his eyes foo Jesus and sank (Matt. 14:22-33). As Peter writes this book he desires for his readers to have a singular commitment to Jesus. Peter knew all too well that if you take your eyes off Jesus in the storm of suffering you will sink. Be committed to Jesus at all times or sink.

God's Will in Hard Times

3/17/2020

1 Peter 3:13-4:6
There are times I have been caught in the kitchen with tears streaming down my face. No matter what I do I can not get rid of the tears. The cause of this personal predicament is nothing more than having the task of slicing an onion. However, onions are best after they have been cooked. It is interesting how a little heat and butter tenderizes and caramelizes the onion to make it a tasty addition to many food dishes. In much the same way the heat of suffering is one way that God uses to soften our character in order to display His grace. Peter writes to help his audience see the grace of God in the heat of suffering. God will sustain them through His grace and help them tell others of His grace in the midst of trials. Trials do not define the believer in Jesus Christ. Trials refine us as we rely on the grace of God to help us live for Him in the trial. God is shaping your character in the heat of your trial and that is a good thing.

Practice of God's Grace in Submission

3/17/2020

1 Peter 2:11-3:12
The year was 1976. The event was the 100 yard dash of the Special Olympics being held in Seattle, Washington. The runners were set and the starting gun went off, but one contestant stumbled and fell. Several of the other runners turned back to help their fallen competitor. Together they stood and made their way toward the finish line. As one group they crossed the line to the unanimous cheers and some tears from those in the stadium. We often see life as a competition on how to get ahead rather than how to get others across the line. God has given us His grace that was displayed through Jesus on the cross for our salvation. If we as believers in Jesus have been truly saved and changed by Him it should show in how we submit to and serve others. Let us allow God’s grace to be seen through us as we submit to God and help others come to know His grace. The goal is simply to get as many people across the finish line as possible.

Evidence of God's Grace in Our Purpose

3/17/2020

1 Peter 2:1-10
This week we have watched in shock as the coronavirus out of China has exploded out of control. The problem has grown so much that the government is building a thousand room hospital to try and deal with the epidemic and need for beds. People are in desperate need of doctors, care, and medicine. The medical teams function as each one doing a specific task for the purpose of eliminating the virus from the country. In 1 Peter 2 we see that believers in Jesus have a purpose by growing in Christ, building others for Christ and continuing their belief in Christ. The end result is praise for what Christ has done in each life regardless of the trials that have been faced in the process. Doctors work and are praised for their work for the patients. God is at work in believers and deserves our praise for what He has done. If we can tell others how great our doctor is, can we not also tell others how great our God is?

Evidence of God's Grace in Our Practice

3/17/2020

1 Peter 1:13-25
We as people can become creatures of habit. Sometimes that is out of necessity an other times we just act without thinking. For example, I have learned to leave my car keys in one or two places otherwise I will not remember where I placed them. Another habit is to drive the car to the store on one particular route. With many road choices I will only take one out of continual practice or habit. In much the same way God desires that our life as a believer in Jesus be one where His grace is seen as real through the regular practice of our faith. In 1 Peter we see the author write to encourage Christians to keep practicing their faith by living a holy life, honoring God through their life and living a life of love toward others. This is still true today. We need God’s grace to help us live for Him alone when life is difficult. God’s grace strengthens us to practice the reality of being God’s children and not walk away from Him during life’s trials.

Evidence of God's Grace in Us

3/17/2020

1 Peter 1:1-12
Across the country, each state is moving to implement a new drivers license system. A photo and signature is no longer enough for your identification. The new system will contain other information like your passport. You old license will no longer be valid identification to fly within the country. But, does a piece of plastic with al kinds of information really identify who we are? Within each and every person there is a deep longing to be known and belong. As believers in Jesus Christ it is easy to fall into the trap of believing that we are not known and that God does not care. As we begin our study of 1 Peter we need to remember that Peter’s audience is scattered among an ungodly culture. In light of the difficulties that his readers face, Peter encourages their belief in God and challenges them to continue living for God. God’s grace helps us know that we are God’s children and not walk away from Him during life’s trials.