Hope: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward A Study of First Peter Teachers Guide by Howard and Bonnie Lisech
HOPE: The AnchorThat Moves Us Forward A Study of First Peter by Howard and Bonnie Lisech Teachers Guide This PDF ebook is for your personal use Please respect our copyright. ISBN 978-1-930547-23-0 9 781930 547230 Deeper Roots Publications Copyright 2006, Revised 2016 www.deeperroots.com Scriptures are taken from the NIV unless noted. With special thanks to: Jan Harris for editorial perspective, and to Barb Snyder for editorial detail.
HOPE: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward With the sensitive heart of a shepherd caring for his flock, Peter speaks of hope. Moved deeply with compassion and love, Peter offered encouragement, challenge, and practical counsel to a suffering church. He teaches believers how they can grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ regardless of external circumstances. Howard & Bonnie Lisech Table of Contents Lesson 1 HOPE: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward...Page 4 Lesson 2 Jesus Christ: Our Living Hope...Page 8 Lesson 3 A Lasting Joy...Page 12 Lesson 4 A Holy Lifestyle...Page 16 Lesson 5 An Evidence of Grace...Page 20 Lesson 6 Life Changing Power...Page 25 Lesson 7 Growing in Grace...Page 29 Lesson 8 God s Building Project...Page 33 Lesson 9 Holy Living in a Hostile Environment...Page 38 Lesson 10 Called to Be Servants...Page 43 Lesson 11 The Silent Eloquence of a Submitted Wife...Page 48 Lesson 12 Living to Harmonize...Page 53 Lesson 13 The Lordship of Christ...Page 58 Lesson 14 Victory Through Christ...Page 63 Lesson 15 Live For The Will of God...Page 68 Lesson 16 The End is Near...Page 73 Lesson 17 Gifted to Serve for God s Glory...Page 78 Lesson 18 Suffering for God s Glory...Page 82 Lesson 19 Living in God s Sustaining Grace...Page 87 Lesson 20 A Review of First Peter...Page 93
HOPE: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward HOPE: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward (It will greatly enhance your study if you take time to read the five chapters of 1Peter at one setting.) Introduction to 1 Peter Lesson 1 This encouraging and hope-filled book was written to believers suffering persecution because of their faith in Christ. In addition to the persecution, many believers faced the cultural stresses of living in a foreign land they were strangers and aliens, scattered across the world. Peter wrote with the sensitive heart of a shepherd caring for his flock. Moved deeply with compassion and love, Peter offered encouragement, challenge, practical counsel, and especially hope regardless of the external circumstances. Hope is...like an anchor, our hope in Christ stabilizes us in the storms of life; but unlike an anchor, our hope moves us forward, it does not hold us back. Warren Wiersbe 1 Peter was written about A.D. 64, which was the beginning of Emperor Nero s persecution of believers. Nero was infamous for brutality and mercilessness. Both Paul and Peter were martyred during Nero s reign. Peter s words of concern and care prepared his flock for increased persecution to come. 1. Read 1 Peter 1:1-2. Peter encouraged these believers in verses 1-2a. How did he address them? Why might they have felt isolated and insignificant? How did Peter s statement encourage them? 1 Pet. 1:1-2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Teacher s Notes Introduction: Peter wrote this letter to Christians who were living in a foreign culture. Various types of persecution caused much pain and suffering to the church. 1 Peter is a how to book how to live as an ambassador of Christ in a hostile environment. 1. Peter addresses them as God s elect who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. This would indicate that they are a special, unique people. They were far from Israel and the hub of the church in Jerusalem. They were isolated from Israel and other believers but not from God, and certainly they were not insignificant. Peter s words encouraged them to remember who they were in Christ. He reminded them that what they were experiencing didn t diminish God s love for them. 2. Israel was once God s chosen people, but now, under the New Covenant, all who have experienced salvation through the death of Christ on the cross for their sins are also, His very own holy people His treasured possession. 2. Peter s letter was written to both Israelite and Gentile believers. How do Deut. 7:6, Mal. 3:17, and Titus 2:14 reflect God s heart for those chosen to be His people? Deut. 7:6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. *Quote by Warren Wiersbe adapted from Holman New Testament Commentary General Editor Max Anders Copyright Deeper Roots Publications 4
HOPE: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward Mal. 3:17 They will be mine, says the LORD Almighty, in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. 3. Do you think of yourself as God s elect, His treasured possession? If this is true of you, what should be your heart s desire? 4. The word scattered in this context, means that believers were dispersed around the world. They can be described as sojourners in the world, but Peter has a deeper meaning in mind. Read Heb. 11:13 and Phil. 3:20. Explain how our sojourn in this world is not just political, geographical, or social. Heb. 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. Phil. 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 5. Many of the believers Peter wrote to were facing persecution. Define persecution. There are many forms of persecution, but biblical persecution occurs because of faith in Christ and transpires on many levels. Even a negative attitude by someone can be persecution. Write examples of persecution that would be considered light, moderate, and extreme. (Note: Living everyday life in the world, and not being of the world can be considered persecution. Those who walk in the light are hated and persecuted by those who live their lives in darkness. Read John 17: 14-19.) 6. How does choosing a sojourner s attitude about life in this world affect you personally? 7. Reread 1 Peter 1:2. This verse identifies the Trinity. Using your own words, write what is stated about each person of the Godhead. Teacher s Notes 3. It should be the heart s desire of a believer to glorify God through obedience. 4. As believers, we do not belong or fit into the world s system; therefore, all believers are strangers and aliens. Because we are the elect, a unique people of God, we oppose the world, and the world is opposed to us. Life here on earth is temporary. No matter where we are, we are only sojourners in this world. The world in not our home. Our home is in the Heavenly Kingdom of God. 5. Answers may vary widely due to the amount of pressure involved in each situation. Examples: Persecution may be as light as a look, a hurtful word, or discrimination. Moderate persecution could be the destruction of property, or physical abuse to yourself or someone significant that doesn t end in death. Extreme persecution could be torture and martyrdom. Webster s dictionary defined persecution: The act or practice of persecuting; especially, the infliction of loss, pain, or death for adherence to a particular creed or mode of worship.* John 17:14-19 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 7. God the Father chose us according to His foreknowledge. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us for obedience to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ shed His blood as a sacrifice for our sins. Copyright Deeper Roots Publications 5 *American Dictionary of the English Language Noah Webster 1828 *NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible
HOPE: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward 8. From verse 2, write in your own words the works of God. What is the responsibility of every believer, and how does God provide for it? (Note: The relationship between God s sovereignty and man s freedom to choose is a true mystery in Scripture. We may not understand how they can coexist, yet Scripture does teach the existence of both.) 9. Many of Peter s readers knew and understood the phrase the sprinkling of blood. The Old Testament tells of three times the Israelites were sprinkled with blood. (1) Moses sprinkled blood on the people of Israel to signify their admittance into the Old Covenant. (2) Blood was sprinkled to set apart or to sanctify Aaron and his sons as priests of Israel. (3) Lepers were sprinkled with blood to symbolize their cleansing. Read Ex. 24:5-8 and Ex. 29:19-21. Consider the meaning of each of these sacred acts in light of the New Covenant. Read Heb. 9:11-15, 18-28. Write what you think Peter meant to communicate in 1 Peter 1:2 when he wrote,...for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood. Heb. 9:11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. 10. According to 1 Peter 1:2 the elect of God are sanctified through the Spirit for obedience. The word sanctify means holy, separate, or set apart. Paul A. Cedar wrote in The Communicator s Commentary, Anything less than obedience is hypocrisy. What does his statement mean? (You may need to define hypocrisy.) Teacher s Notes (Note: Sanctification means to separate or set apart. Sanctification is the process or result of being made holy. * 1 Cor. 1:2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ their Lord and ours: Foreknowledge God knows everything in the past, the present, and the future. Eph. 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love.) 8. The works of God were choosing, sanctifying, and saving (made possible through the blood sacrifice of Christ). The believer s responsibility is to obey (live in holiness), which is made possible through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. 9. Peter may have been communicating that the three sacred acts of the Old Testament were symbolic of what has taken place through Christ s blood sacrifice in the New Covenant. (1) Salvation Christ s blood shed on the cross to save us making us fit for the New Covenant. (2) Our sanctification setting us apart as priests. (3) The cleansing of sin through Christ s blood. 10. Hypocrisy means to pretend to be what we are not or to believe what we do not. Paul Cedar probably meant that since we are set apart from the world, to disobey God is a denial of who we are in Him. Also, when a believer disobeys God, he is showing by his actions that he does not really believe what he professes to believe. Obedience is the evidence of a true believer. Copyright Deeper Roots Publications 6
HOPE: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward 11. Cooperation with the Holy Spirit in His work of sanctification requires separation from the world. According to 1 John 2:15-17, what are the characteristics of the world in this context? How does a life characterized by holiness separate believers from the world? 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. 12. Give an example of something that must be forfeited when a believer chooses to be separate from the world. 13. Have you ever experienced persecution for taking a stand against the world s political thinking, geographical, or social thinking or activities? Explain. 14. Review this lesson and write what God has done to make you unique. What should be your response? Teacher s Notes 11. The world in this context is a system characterized by sin and controlled by Satan. It is opposed to God and righteousness. Eph. 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. It is impossible to love God and the world at the same time. Light and darkness cannot coexist. The love of the Father through the Spirit does not operate when we are involved in loving the world (walking in darkness). Only as we walk in the light is God s love (agape) flowing from within by the Holy Spirit. Gal. 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 15. Why do you think Peter ended verse 2 with Grace and peace be yours in abundance? And Can It Be And can it be that I should gain, An interest in my Savior s blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain, For me who Him to death pursued. You left your Father s throne above, So free and infinite your grace; Emptied yourself of all but love, And bled for Adam s helpless race. And Can It Be Hymn by Charles Wesley Believers must separate themselves from the world and walk in the light. The world will not last it will pass away. God is eternal. (Note: Some read Verse 16 and think that it indicates that they can lose their salvation. This verse states that the LOVE of the Father is not in him, not that the Father is not in him (John 10:27-30). 15. When we consider what Peter has expressed in these first two verses God the Father by His grace chose us, and God the Spirit sanctified us through the atoning blood of Christ, the Son we can only focus on God s abundant grace and the peace it guarantees us. Journal your thoughts and insights. Copyright Deeper Roots Publications 7
HOPE: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward Jesus Christ: Our Living Hope Lesson 2 Peter s introduction in verses 1-2 began a theological foundation of acceptance and encouragement for believers living in times of persecution. With a shepherd s tenderness and compassion for suffering saints, he meticulously laid blocks of practical application on this foundation for the life of God s chosen people. He challenged those who were sanctified through the Spirit to live as witnesses to a lost and indifferent world. 1. Read 1 Peter 1:3-5. If after your study of verses 1-2, you felt encouraged to praise God for all that He has done for you through Christ, you are echoing Peter s emotional response in verse 3. Reread verse 3. Remember that Peter was writing to suffering believers living in a foreign culture where idol worship was prevalent. Why do you think Peter identified God in the way he did? Read also 1 Cor. 8:6 and Phil. 2:11. 1 Pet. 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Cor. 8:6 Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. Phil. 2:11...And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 2. According to verse 3, what attribute of God made salvation possible? Read Eph. 2:4-5 and Tit. 3:5. Define mercy. Define grace. Why do you think that Peter felt a need to remind these suffering believers of God s mercy? Eph. 2:4-5 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved. Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 3. Explain how (1) Eph. 2:4-5 and (2) Titus 3:5 expresses the definition of mercy and the definition of grace. Teacher s Notes Review of Lesson 1: Peter began his letter by describing those saints that were scattered through out Asia Minor as strangers and aliens. He reaffirmed the basics of salvation by reminding them of their election, sanctification, and responsibility to obey Christ. Verse two mentions the works of each person of the Godhead. This was a great encouragement to Peter s readers. 1. Peter praised God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. In foreign cultures where idol worship was so prevalent, it may have been important to specify the god that was being praised. This is true in our world today. Often people believe any god will do, but the God who saves His people from their sins is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. This title describes the one and only True God. 2. God s attribute of mercy made our salvation possible. Student s definitions my vary. The biblical definition is: unmerited favor or withholding what the sinner deserves. God s mercy is poured out to the pitiful and undeserving sinner. Grace gives what is undeserved. God s mercy flows from His attribute of love ( lovingkindness ). 3. (1) Eph. 2:4-5 God expressed mercy to us by giving us life though we deserved to remain in death. Through His grace, He gave us what was undeserved Salvation through Jesus Christ. (2) Titus 3:5 expressed God s mercy when He withheld what we deserved death. Because of His grace, He saved us through the washing (purification) of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Salvation was a gracious gift from God, not a reward for any good works of man. Copyright Deeper Roots Publications 8
HOPE: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward PDF Student Workbook downloads are also available from www.deeperroots.com 3off Use coupon code during checkout and get $3.00 off Hope: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward Student Workbook