Title: Faith Through Christ (1 Peter 1:18-25)
Contents
Faith in Christ (1 Peter 1:18-25)
Faith in Christ
1 Peter 1:18-25
18) You know that it was not with perishable things like silver or gold that you were redeemed from the profane conduct inherited from your fathers, 19) but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (21) For you have believed in God through Christ, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22) Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth, and have come to love your brothers and sisters without deceit, love one another with passion in your heart. 23) For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of immortal seed, by the living and enduring word of God. 24 Therefore, all flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25) But the word of the Lord endures forever. This is the gospel that was preached to you.
1. I need a retreat
We usually live our lives thinking that our bodies are healthy. Occasionally, I feel abnormal signs, but there are times when I find a big problem while I waste time thinking, “It’s going to be okay, you’re still young.” Of course, some people say that there are many people with health anxiety who visit the hospital even with insignificant symptoms. However, it is clear that our body is a very sensitive and weak organism that does not know when it will break out, so it would be good to get regular checkups.
In that sense, our life path should also be reviewed on a regular basis. I need to take the time to check whether I am really on the right path, whether I am living a valuable and meaningful life, and whether my faulty character is causing any harm to my neighbors.
Summer vacation seems to have started from last week. I am going on a trip with my family and friends because I am on vacation with my vacation. It's called a summer retreat, and it's mainly to avoid the heat and go to a cool place to rest. At the same time, it may be an opportunity to look back and check one's life through this opportunity.
So, if the retreat becomes a retreat, it will be a very beneficial time. 'Retreat' is an abbreviation of 'Pi-sejeong-ryeong (避世靜靈)', which means 'to purify the soul by avoiding the world.
2. Our filthy deeds
The Jews highly valued the traditions they had inherited from their ancestors, and it seems that they believed that if they followed the rules they had inherited, they would all be righteous. So, in that habit, they live without thinking, which Peter today calls “the profane conduct of your forefathers.”
Here, the English translation of “wish conduct” is expressed as “the empty way of life”. It means an empty, empty way of life. He said that he had been living hard in his own way, but looking back, it was an empty and meaningless life. However, this was not a mere nihilistic expression, it was a sin for the Jews.
That's right. I don't think our lives are the path of this kind of sin after all. Solomon's book of Ecclesiastes is very honest.
“3b) And what should I do, so that I may become foolish and know what it is like to live the rest of my life under heaven? 4) I have made my business great. I planted trees 6) I digged ponds to water the tree-growing forests 7) Slaves bought and gave birth to them, and made more cattle and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me 8) I have built up silver and gold, the treasures of kings, and the treasures of many provinces, and I have many singers, men and women, and wives and concubines that delight in men. 9) In this way I have multiplied, and passed all those who were in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom remains with me. 10) Whatever my eyes desire, I have not withheld, nor have I stopped my heart from rejoicing, for all my toil my heart rejoiced, and this is the portion of all my toil. 11) Then I saw that all the work that I had done with my hands, and all the toil that I had toiled, was in vain, a chasing after wind, and nothing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:3b-11).
“Therefore, all flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever” (24-25a).
Only when people realize that the way of life is a vain deed like this can they find a savior. This is the content of the retreat. When we are in the world, we do not see the truth of ourselves. We must leave the world for a moment and take a retreat to purify our souls.
3. Jesus the Savior
British evangelical leader John Stott taught that the path to becoming a Christian begins with acknowledging that one is a sinner, and that acknowledging that the Savior is Christ Jesus is the Christian faith. That is, there is nothing but the blood of Christ that purifies our souls.
In today's sermon text, the Apostle Peter exclaims:
“18) Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, that you were redeemed from the profane conduct inherited from your fathers.”
It is neither silver nor gold that will save our lives from the empty and vain path. It, too, is futile. No matter how much gold and silver we embroider our way of life, we cannot make it clean. If you embroider with gold and silver, the more you put it, the more futile it becomes.
Let's compare our lives to pretty drops of soap. When the light shines on the water droplet, it becomes more beautiful with a brilliant rainbow color. Blowing in the wind gives it a cleaner color and makes it bigger. However, the bigger it gets, the thinner the droplet becomes. It's about to explode soon. Then, even if it collides with the wind or very fine dust, it bursts and disappears in an instant.
Only Jesus can save this fragile life.
“With the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (verse 19).
Only that blood will wash away and renew life's empty and vain steps. Because the blood of Christ is the blood shed for all our sins in our lives.
Only the blood of Jesus can purify me
The only evidence for an apology is the blood of Jesus.
Jesus' shed blood makes me white
Precious and precious, there is nothing but the blood of Jesus (Chan 184:2)
4. The God Who Raises
Christ not only washes away our sins, but also gives us true hope in our lives. Why? Because Christ rose from the dead.
“For you believe in God through Christ, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (verse 21).
“Who is God?” Many philosophies and religions have studied and explored this. That is why they claim that “every one of us is such a God.” It is explained only in pedantic expressions as “absolute other” as “absolute good” and as “absolute truth”. But we have a very real and clear answer. It is a revelation obtained through Christ Jesus.
It is the God who raised Christ from the dead. Life is a slave to death because of death. In this way, God is the one who solved the problem of death, the greatest task in our lives. Previously, death was the master of our lives. insisted on us. But now it is God who makes us overcome that death.
This belief comes only in Christ Jesus. Christ became the firstfruits of the resurrection, making the resurrection possible for all of us. So we can cry out in Christ Jesus.
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
Here we get a place where we can have true hope in our lives. There are too many suicides in our society these days. This is mainly due to credit card debt. They try to pay for what happened for money with death. Because I couldn't find any hope beyond money.
But we must rely on God with the resurrection faith that “God will raise me up again” and “God will give me new opportunities” through the resurrected Christ.
“He revives my soul and leads me in paths of righteousness for the sake of his name. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:3-4).
This is living faith. It is the true hope through Christ.
This is an article from Ko Do-won's morning letter.
what is hope
It cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist.
It is like a road on the ground.
Originally, there was no road on the ground.
When more people walk
That will soon be the way.
- From "Hometown" by No Xin (魯迅) -
We must make this way of hope in Christ. Let us walk and walk and make the way of resurrection by faith through Christ.