City Life Starter

I. The Word: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3 (NKJV)

²² Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, ²³ having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, ²⁴ because

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

2:1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, ² as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

II. Study Questions:

1. In addition to our daily reading, please read 1 Peter 1:13, 15, & 16.  What is the responsibility given to the reader according to these verses?  In verse 22, what is the reader’s responsibility?  What is the difference in these verses and why are they important?

2. In verse 24 & 25, there is a direct quote from another writing.  Which Old Testament Scripture Peter is these verses referring to?

3. What is Peter trying to emphasize in verse 25 and why?

Today’s Scriptural reading is rich with revelations about our salvation in Christ, the supremacy of the Word of God, our call to love one another, and challenges in our moral excellence.

The Truth

Obedience is a call for everyone who is a Christian.  We are called to obey the truth even when the whole world opposes the truth.  What is the truth?  Truth is a fact, proven and measurable reality that one cannot oppose.  One of the main purposes of the truth is to expose lies that are based on fiction rather than facts.  We see this in history, how fiction or lies lead to division, discrimination, hate, and sometimes death.  In the 20th century, the lies of one individual led to killing six million Jews during WWII.  Hitler’s ideology, that was based on lies, fiction and propagated agenda, led thousands of Germans to believe that the problem of the world was the existence of the Jewish race and the extermination of one race would lead to Aryan domination of the world.  So many innocent lives were lost, including soldiers who fought against Nazi Germany.  This all because Hitler’s twisted mind and ideologies that were based on fiction, rather than the truth.

For you and I, we are living a society where truth is relevant. Frequently narratives are made based on twisted or incomplete facts that can lead to whatever conclusion an individual prefers.  That’s is not all, this fiction is becoming facts to some, through social media and dishonest media outlets.  There was a time where truth and facts were the center of belief, but today we are basing our beliefs based on emotion/feelings that can lead to devastating conclusions.  (Note: I am not talking about this election!)

Let me tell you what is a fact: The Cross.  It is not a fiction or an emotional drama that we feel sorry for, but it is a historical event that took place 2,000 years ago in Golgotha, Jerusalem where an innocent man was crucified.  He was not just an ordinary Man, but He was the Son of God who came to be the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, and to be the substitute on our behalf (Substitutionary Atonement).  What does this mean?  You and I deserve to be on the cross, but Christ was the substitution on our behalf.  Why?  1. This is God’s plan of restoring the broken relationship that occurred in Genesis 3, and 2. Because He loves you.  This is a fact.

Let me give you another fact: The Resurrection.  The message of New Testament goes beyond the sacrifice of the Son of God, but the hope of eternal life.  Jesus was buried in that lonely tomb and if He remained there, I do not believe Christianity would exist today.  The Scripture tells us, that on the third day, He rose from the dead.  The resurrected Savior appeared to masses, and their eye-witness testimonies are written in the New Testament assures us that this event is factual and not fiction.

The last fact, although there are many: The Ascension.  The disciples witnessed the Son of God ascend into heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father (Acts 7:55-56, Rom. 8:34, Eph. 1:20, Col. 3:1, Heb. 1:3, 8:1, 10:12, 12:2, & 1 Pet. 3:21).  Paul says in Romans 8:34,

“Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (NKJV)

I believe Paul’s word confirms the facts of the New Testament: The Cross, Resurrection and Ascension.  He is making intercession for you and I, the Son of God, seated at the right hand of the Father, the Creator of the universe, at this very moment, as you are reading this, this very second is interceding for you.  This is the truth that you and I were saved by, and now live, by obeying the truth that is found in Jesus.  By this truth, Peter tells us that “you have purified yourselves.” (v. 22)

The Word of God is the truth that you can fully depend on, trust-in and live-by without a doubt.  Two-thousand years of church history affirms that what we possess in our hand is the Book that changed the course of history, but moreover the message of salvation and hope of eternal life.  Please make reading and understanding the Bible a priority in your life and I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed.  JY