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Study Of 1 Peter
In 1 Peter, the apostle Peter recommends that Christians live their lives in a way different from non-believers. Lets look at I Peter to discover what way Peter wants us to live.
In 1 Peter 1, Peter starts out in his discussion of “being holy” in verses 13 to 17 saying, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.”
In these verses we learn we should be “holy” as God is holy. But what does being “holy” mean? One hint is that Peter says we should be self-controlled and obedient and not “conform to the evil desires” we had before we were saved.
So what are those evil desires that we should not conform to? Peter mentions some of them in 1 Peter Chapter 2, verse 1 where Peter says, “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”
This list of sins are those sins which cause jealousy and anger in our lives. This list of sins moves our tongue to say things to others and about others that are not nice. This list of sins causes us to lash out at our spouse when our spouse does not meet our expectations. This list of sins causes us to harbor bitterness against our spouse because of things they have done in the past.
Later in 1 Peter Chapter 4 verses 1 to 3 Peter gives us some more examples of “evil desires” when Peter says, “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.” (NKJV)
The Bible In Basic English (BIB) translation interprets 1 Peter Chapter 4 verse 3 as follows: “Because for long enough, in times past, we have been living after the way of the Gentiles, given up to the desires of the flesh, to drinking and feasting and loose behavior and unclean worship of images.”
The key point for us as a Christian is where Peter says we “not longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” While Peter goes on to pen a list of ways to gratify the flesh, we know from other scriptures that any love of the world or love of the things of the world are equally sinful.
The apostle John teaches this concept in 1 John 2:15 and 16 when he says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
If the apostle John were here today, I believe he would point out that the American dream of having a nice house and a nice car are included in what he called “the pride of life” and are a form of “loving the world”.
James the half brother of Jesus states this concept in a different way when he says in James 4:4 “You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”
And so whether we spend all our free time watching TV, or watching sports, or playing sports, or fishing, or woodworking, or whatever it is, it may be love of the world and the things of the world and may be a form of gratifying our flesh.
But the apostle Peter does not simply tell us to not live our lives for self-gratification. Peter also tells us how to live our lives.
Interestingly Peter does not give us a set of rules of “dos and don't” to live by. Instead the apostle Peter pleads with Christians to love others.
In 1 Peter 1 verse 22 Peter says, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.”
In 1 Peter 2 verse 17 Peter says, “Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.”
In 1 Peter 3 verses 8 to 13 Peter says, “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?
In 1 Peter 4 verses 8 to 10 Peter says, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.”
In 1 Peter 5 verse 14 Peter says, “Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.”
So the apostle Peter teaches us to live our life with a purpose. Instead of simply living our life for self-gratification (whether that be for immoral sin or for sports, for money, for entertaining ourselves through movies or TV, or for the prestige of life) we should live our life for God and the way we show God we love Him is by loving others consistently.
The apostle Peter would have us do everything we do for the glory of God. Everything we do should be for a purpose.
As an example, we need not simply go out to dinner for the sake of gluttony. Instead we might think of using that money to give to an organization that feeds the starving. Instead we should go out to dinner when there is a good reason, such as Mom has been helping Dad all day and she did not have time to cook, or maybe the family has not gone out for some time and it would help build the relationships in the family to go out to eat as a family, or maybe Mom and Dad need some time alone to help their marriage relationship.
Maybe as Christians, we could ask ourselves before we do things; “Will this help me better serve God or help me love others more?” And if what we want to do or we want to buy, does help us serve God or love others more, then we can do it. But if it doesn't help us serve God better or help us love others more, then maybe it is for our own self-gratification and maybe we are loving the things of the world and we are not living our life for Christ.
But is having sex with my spouse self-gratification? No, it is showing God's love to your spouse. In marriage, intimacy between the husband and wife is very important.
The apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 7:5) instructs married couples to have sex regularly and the implication is to enjoy it. A strong happy healthy sex life helps the married couple to be emotionally fit to serve God. A marriage with a bad sex life is a formula for a frustrated and unproductive Christian couple that will eventually end up harboring bitterness towards each other.
It is important that married couples be creative and willing to compromise and try different things with each other in the marriage bed in order to maintain a happy exciting sex life. Just like eating is important to maintain our physical strength, so also fulfilling sex in marriage is important to maintain a healthy emotional relationship.
But is using sex aides in the bedroom self-gratification? Using sex aides to help in the marriage bedroom is not sinful. Using candles, romantic music, fragrances, and moral erotic materials can help a married couple enjoy each other more.
So often Christians confuse issues and think that anything erotic is wrong, in all circumstances. This is not true. Within the marriage bed the Bible says that the “marriage bed is undefiled”.
In I Corinthians 6: 12 and also in 1 Corinthians 10:23 the apostle Paul says as Christians everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial. Applying these verses to sex aides in the marriage bed, the idea here is that as Christians, we do not need to be governed by legalism but rather we can try different things. If the sex aide helps our spouse better enjoy intimacy and thus helps our relationship then it is glorifying to God.
God even put the book of “Song Of Solomon” in the Bible which many would say is an erotic story. God wants married couples to enjoy sex with each other.
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