The God of All Grace

The God of All Grace

Surviving Times of Suffering
1 Peter 5:10-14

God’s people have always been a misunderstood minority.  We should expect opposition because we’ve chosen to live under the rule of a different King.  Peter concludes his letter with a prayer for divine strength.  He sends a greeting from the church in Rome that he calls Babylon.  In the Old Testament, Babylon became an archetype for any and every corrupt nation and so we can deduce that Rome had become a corrupt nation.  God’s people are destined for their true home in heaven.

God uses suffering to bring a to our lives.

Four reminders:

1.   Have . (v. 10)

Exodus 32:5, 6

“. . . You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God . . .”                                                              Psalm 86:15

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”                          John 1:17

Grace is how God deals with you and it’s not based on what you deserve, it’s based on .

“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”                                                                                                                2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)

God’s purpose for my life goes beyond a grace-filled life and includes .

John 17:24

1 Corinthians 15:19

2 Corinthians 4:17, 18

“Christians who do the most for this present world are those who think most of the next.”                 -C.S. Lewis

“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:17-19

2.    Have a . (v. 11)

“Resolved . . . to cast my soul on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust and confide in him, and consecrate myself wholly to him.”                                                                                                                        -Jonathan Edwards

“[It] brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness and ravishment to the soul. In other words, it made the soul like a field or garden.”                                                                                         -Jonathan Edwards

We should celebrate what we do know about God, but our response should also be one of REVERENCE AND AWE.

3.   Be a picture of (v. 12)

This is such a good illustration of the attitude of a .

4.   Show love to (vv. 13, 14)

How does this love grow?  We’re obedient to put it into .

1 John 3:18

“The commonest description in the Scriptures of a follower of Jesus is that he or she is a person “in Christ.” The expressions “in Christ,” “in the Lord,” and “in him” occur 164 times in the letters of Paul alone, and are indispensable to an understanding of the New Testament. To be “in Christ” does not mean to be inside Christ, as tools are in a box or our clothes in a closet, but to be organically united to Christ, as a limb is in the body or a branch is in the tree. It is this personal relationship with Christ that is the distinctive mark of his authentic followers.”                                                                                                                                           -John Stott

John 14:6

Daily Meditations

Memory verse: “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”                        1 Peter 5:10

Monday
Read 1 Peter 5.  To what did Peter say these believers had been called in 5:10?

Describe what it means to you to have confidence in God.

Tuesday
Read 1 Peter 5.  Also according to verse 10, what did Peter assure his readers God would do after they had suffered a little while?

What are you most looking forward to about heaven?

Wednesday
Read 1 Peter 5.  Reread verse 11.  Write your own sentence of praise to God.

What is one of the attributes of God you would like to learn more about?

Thursday
Read 1 Peter 5.  What did Silas help Peter do?  See verse 12.

In your own words, write out what you think it means to be faithful.

Friday
Read 1 Peter 5.  Who sent greetings along with Peter in verse 13?

How does love grow?

Saturday
Read 1 Peter 5.  How did Peter tell these believers to greet one another in verse 14?

When have you suffered as a believer?