Ep. 139 - Shepherding God's People - 1 Peter 5:1-14

[00:00:00] Hello, welcome back to Adorned Podcast. This is episode 139 and we are finishing our study of 1st Peter.

[00:00:09] Hi friends and welcome to the Adorned Podcast. We're your host Erin and Kacie.

[00:00:15] We would love for you to come join us each week as we discuss what it means to be made beautiful by God's word.

[00:00:21] Whether you are a college student walking to class, a mom folding laundry during nap time, or a boss babe sitting in rush hour traffic.

[00:00:28] We hope that we can encourage and inspire you to pursue a deeper understanding of the Bible.

[00:00:34] Can you believe this is the final section of scripture in 1st Peter?

[00:00:43] I know, craziness.

[00:00:44] And we will have like a recap but this is our final actual digging into verse by verse scripture.

[00:00:50] So let's start today's episode with a glimpse of grace. Where is the glimpse of God's grace you've seen recently?

[00:00:57] So if you've been listening, you might know that I love to garden.

[00:01:02] It is a hobby that I picked up during quarantine days.

[00:01:07] But I do not love gardening in July and August in Texas.

[00:01:12] Because it's so hot?

[00:01:13] Because it's so stinking hot.

[00:01:15] And I really love that you garden in July and August because then I get all the okra.

[00:01:20] I was going to say that's really the only thing that grows is the okra.

[00:01:24] And I think that's part of why I don't like it because part of what I love about gardening are the flowers.

[00:01:29] And there's just not a lot of flowers that do great, even the vinkas which like the heat okay, they struggle in July and August.

[00:01:40] And so we are now recording this in September, which means even though it's still hot outside, the sun's going down earlier.

[00:01:51] It's cooler in the mornings and I can tell my plants are starting to perk up.

[00:01:55] We planted some fall things.

[00:01:57] We planted potatoes a couple of days ago.

[00:01:59] I've got kale started inside.

[00:02:01] So working on all that.

[00:02:03] I'm going to have like 20 kale plants.

[00:02:05] I was going to tell you hopefully it works.

[00:02:07] Can you sum for my smoothies?

[00:02:08] Yeah, we started like planning all the fall things.

[00:02:11] They had mums in the store yesterday.

[00:02:13] So I bought some mums and I'm like okay there's hope.

[00:02:16] There's hope.

[00:02:17] Falls coming.

[00:02:18] Pumpkin spice is in the coffee shops like feeling that glimpse of a new season, a little bit of coolness even though I love summer.

[00:02:27] Honestly, summer is probably my favorite time of year.

[00:02:30] I love summer but also love a fresh new season.

[00:02:34] So that makes me excited and it is definitely a glimpse of God's grace that he gave us seasons.

[00:02:40] Yeah.

[00:02:41] Oh for sure.

[00:02:42] I love how much the Bible says so much about seasons and there's so much to be said for seasons.

[00:02:46] So what about you?

[00:02:48] I think a big glimpse of grace and I'm saying that kind of sarcastically but that we got our couch.

[00:02:54] We got a couch.

[00:02:55] Woohoo!

[00:02:56] For upstairs we've been waiting like six months for this couch to come but tomorrow night, tomorrow will be Friday

[00:03:01] and we try to do like movie nights with the girls but we've been so busy the last couple weeks.

[00:03:06] So I'm excited for just a movie night, tomorrow night, pizza and movie and watching a movie and not having to sit on the floor.

[00:03:13] You know what movie y'all are going to watch?

[00:03:15] No.

[00:03:16] We just watched Free Willy with the girls last week.

[00:03:18] Free Willy.

[00:03:19] All about those 90s movies and they just loved it.

[00:03:23] Like they loved it so much.

[00:03:24] I don't know your girls might get a little scared in some parts because they but Julia and I loved it.

[00:03:29] It was it's it I love watching those like old movies.

[00:03:32] I don't remember that movie at all.

[00:03:33] Oh man it was one of our favorites in our house.

[00:03:35] You got to be careful with the 90s kids movies.

[00:03:37] The Michael Jackson.

[00:03:38] Yeah.

[00:03:39] There's a little bit of gang activity.

[00:03:42] But there's like we were going to watch Little Rascals the other day and I was like oh my gosh these kids are so mean to each other.

[00:03:48] They're so mean.

[00:03:49] And they like say they hate each other and I'm like oh stop.

[00:03:53] I know.

[00:03:54] I know.

[00:03:55] Sorry if you love the Rascals.

[00:03:56] What were we doing in the 90s?

[00:03:58] I don't remember thinking it was a big deal when I was a kid is it?

[00:04:01] No it was.

[00:04:02] So I guess we were just mean kids.

[00:04:03] I'm just like an overanalyzer when it comes to movies and stuff.

[00:04:06] Yeah.

[00:04:07] So yeah.

[00:04:08] Okay let's get to this.

[00:04:09] So where are we picking up?

[00:04:10] Well we see again that we're starting with the word so.

[00:04:14] Some all some sort of translations might also say therefore so we always have to see what the therefore is there for.

[00:04:21] And so we're coming off of a couple of heavy weeks of passages talking about suffering and trials and how God uses those for our good and how we are to live holy lives in light of those things.

[00:04:32] And today there's a little bit of a shift where Peter is going to more specifically address.

[00:04:38] He calls out elders so like the leaders within the church but don't let that stop you from thinking this is for you.

[00:04:46] All scriptures breathed out by God it's all important it's all good and we're all of us are most of us are leading in some way whether that's in your church in your home of your kids in your work.

[00:04:59] But also all of us are being led.

[00:05:02] We should all be under leadership within our church should be and so yes call to the local church.

[00:05:10] But so this passage is for us in both ways in whether you're leading or whether you're being led.

[00:05:17] So let's keep that in mind and let's not write this off and think this doesn't apply to me because I'm not an elder because that's just not true.

[00:05:24] Yep.

[00:05:25] So verses one through four.

[00:05:28] So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed shepherd the flock of God that is among you exercising oversight not as not under compulsion but willingly as God would have you not for shameful gain

[00:05:46] but eagerly not domineering over those in charge in your charge but being examples to the flock.

[00:05:52] So when the chief shepherd appears you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

[00:05:57] So like Aaron said why does this matter to us like most people listening to this podcast right now more than likely are not elders if you're an elder listening to this podcast welcome thank you for listening but most people aren't and so why does it matter.

[00:06:13] I was reading a commentary and what he was saying was that it reminds us of their role that a shepherd's primary task was to feed their sheep and we'll see in a minute shepherds had other tasks other than just feeding the sheep but that was their primary role

[00:06:28] and it's like I told the girls at lunch because they were talking about they asked why we pray for our food.

[00:06:35] And so we talked about how it's it's shown for us in the Bible like Jesus gives us that example in the Bible but I said also I believe that we pray before we eat because food is one of our very basic needs.

[00:06:48] And so it's just reminding us over and over and over when we thank God for our food that he's our provider and he's providing this very basic need.

[00:06:56] And so that was one of the shepherd's primary task if the sheep couldn't eat they were doomed.

[00:07:01] They had to eat and so a pastor's primary role is to feed the church the word of God through sound preaching and teaching not entertainment.

[00:07:10] He's not there for therapy and I feel like this feels kind of counter cultural right now because pastors have so much put on them.

[00:07:19] They have so many different roles that everybody thinks they're supposed to fulfill just because maybe it hasn't been taught very well what a pastor's role actually is and their actual role is to feed the sheep which means to feed us as the church the word of God.

[00:07:40] And so we as the congregation as the church underneath their leadership need to be sure to let them do that as their primary role.

[00:07:52] They will have other talents and giftings that they can also use but those things need to be secondary.

[00:07:59] Their first calling is to preach and teach the word of God.

[00:08:03] That's good.

[00:08:04] That's good.

[00:08:05] I couldn't help but think as I was studying this I couldn't help but think of I mean that this is written by Peter and back in the Gospels we see when after Jesus had died and he was talking to Peter and well he obviously had risen again at that point.

[00:08:21] He wasn't still in this room right.

[00:08:23] Yeah it's after he died and he was he had come back.

[00:08:28] I'm pretty sure that's right when he was here for the 40 days.

[00:08:31] I'm pretty sure.

[00:08:32] Okay and Jesus was talking to yeah because it was after Peter had denied him.

[00:08:37] Okay got that straight.

[00:08:38] So Jesus went over to Simon Peter and asked him do you love me and Peter's like yes I love you and he asks and he says to him then feed my lambs and he asks him again do you love me.

[00:08:50] He asked him three times and he tells him to feed my lambs to tend my sheep to feed my sheep.

[00:08:55] So I couldn't I just I'm just like pictures of Peter's a real person having had that real experience where Jesus is like do you love me then feed my sheep.

[00:09:03] And now Peter is then taking exactly what Jesus had said to him and saying that to the leaders of the church.

[00:09:10] This is what Jesus said to do.

[00:09:11] Jesus said to feed the sheep to take to be a shepherd to his people and I just love that like direct seeing that directly like this is what Jesus told him this is what he's telling the leaders of the church and that's that's what we're called to do right.

[00:09:24] Like none of this is alright Casey and my ideas none of this is you know it's all yeah what we're trying to do is this is what Jesus says to do now let's encourage one another and let's do it.

[00:09:34] Let's do it.

[00:09:35] Yeah.

[00:09:36] Yeah and he even says that he says as a fellow elder and so I love that and I love that you drew that connection and I think this is where knowing the story of scripture and knowing your Bible can be so cool and beneficial.

[00:09:49] We talked about in the first episode that you don't want to you don't want to necessarily obsess over Peter's past before you read this book.

[00:09:57] You don't have to know every single thing about him but Aaron has read the book of John.

[00:10:03] I mean she she knows this part about Peter's story and so she's able to make that connection and she's able to think wow how awesome is that that Jesus himself told Peter go feed my sheep and now Peter is passing on.

[00:10:20] Those same instructions to fellow elders.

[00:10:23] Well and even like we could take this a lot further but I think even the fact that this happened where Jesus was saying like do you love me like that was probably a very hard conversation for Peter.

[00:10:34] Oh absolutely because he had denied him.

[00:10:36] Yes.

[00:10:37] He had denied Jesus and then now Jesus has risen and he's like do you love me and in Peter's feeling like he has to justify like yes I do.

[00:10:43] I do.

[00:10:44] I know I denied you and so this was probably a very I don't want to say the word traumatic but it's probably bringing up a lot of shame for him or embarrassment.

[00:10:52] And so the fact that he's able to take something that would have probably been a suffering to him in turn is still use that he's like he's modeling for us what he told us in the last chapter.

[00:11:02] Like trust yourself to the Creator and do good.

[00:11:06] Right.

[00:11:07] He's doing he's trusting that God is using even his mistakes and even his you know this hard time in his life and he's still continuing to do good with it.

[00:11:16] Yeah, that's good.

[00:11:17] Okay verses six and seven likewise you who are younger be subject to the elders.

[00:11:23] I mean you could just underline the amount of times we see the word humble or humility in those three verses like it's just the same theme that we've seen throughout when I love that Peter so consistent and just drilling that point home.

[00:11:51] I'm thinking a lot about humility and if you want to read a book about humility, there's a book called humility.

[00:11:58] And it's by Andrew Murray.

[00:12:00] And it's a short book it's maybe 70 pages, but it is like mind blowing about to really how to grasp humility and how to live it out and look at Christ but I think just one very minor takeaway of that in a practical way if you're like well I want to do this is really

[00:12:19] just keeping your eyes on Jesus.

[00:12:22] Yep.

[00:12:23] Because if you take your eyes off Jesus, you're either looking at, you know the situation in front of you or you're looking at yourself and either of those ways are going to turn to either pride or self pity or self hatred or just it's all going to be inward and so humility is really about keeping your

[00:12:41] eyes on Jesus and not thinking about yourself or your situation as much.

[00:12:47] Yep.

[00:12:48] I ran across a clip from a Elizabeth Elliott podcast it was probably from like her radio show.

[00:12:56] And she said the roles of men and women are not earned, they are not deserved, they are assigned.

[00:13:03] And I thought this was good in thinking about all of the times we've talked about submission and first Peter.

[00:13:10] Because again it's saying be subject to the elders, those that are younger.

[00:13:15] And I just think that I think it's really cool how Peter has tied together this submission and this humility because humility is so necessary for submitting to other people to leadership of other people and then just remembering in that that these are roles that God assigned to us.

[00:13:36] It's not like that elder that is leading your church or that pastor that's leading your church is better than you or has something more special.

[00:13:49] Like it's an assigned role by God and just remembering that and if we do submit ourselves to the faithfulness of God and to his will like we've talked about on other episodes then that takes a lot of humility to do that.

[00:14:03] Yeah, yeah I think one of the things about humility is like it's almost like the more you want to work on it the worse it is because you're like harder it is.

[00:14:14] Yeah, kind of like don't pray for patients they say yes.

[00:14:18] And so in one of the commentaries I was reading I thought this was a really helpful point to think about so it says humility and submission were the consistent marks of Jesus's character.

[00:14:28] If any young man had the right to put himself above elders it was Jesus of Nazareth.

[00:14:33] But the Bible is clear that he resisted taking the reins of leadership before God's appointed time came rather he was quite content to simply increase in wisdom and stature in favor with God and with man.

[00:14:45] And he says as it was for the Son of Man it's true for each one of us we are to be known for our submission and humility.

[00:14:51] And I think that's like such a good point because sometimes we might think well maybe I have a higher education than my elders or maybe I have more life experience than my elder or whatever it is.

[00:15:02] But it's like if anybody had the right to be you know not submit to their elders or not to submit it would have been Jesus he had all knowledge all wisdom all you know.

[00:15:12] I remember one time I asked on it and we're talking about that as like do you think it was hard for Jesus like not to say anything and not to teach and not to preach and you know like not that he was I mean not that he was like not letting truth out of his.

[00:15:28] Of course he was teaching real ministry didn't start until later in life and then also this week we were talking about something completely different I think we're while we're reading the book of Acts with the girls so I think that's why it came up but how Paul.

[00:15:42] There was such a long time and you see what David to you see several times in the Bible that God called these people to ministry and to teaching or they were converted or whatever and then there was a long period of time before their actual ministry started or David.

[00:15:59] That's a word that is a word right there.

[00:16:02] And so that's one thing that we it goes back to gardening that I was talking about at the beginning of the episode but just knowing that like sometimes Lord will plant these seeds and it takes a long time for them to grow to their full potential or full calling character and yes and so time like things take time and that's that's okay.

[00:16:26] And good and we don't like that but it's good and how God designed it.

[00:16:31] And that's good.

[00:16:33] So verses nine and 10 or eight and sorry versus eight and nine be sober minded I promise I'm sober be sober minded be watchful your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

[00:16:56] This path like these verses almost bring me to tears right now because thinking about our brotherhood throughout the world and the suffering that fellow Christians are facing they've always had persecution throughout the world but seeing that in such a clear way right now is just like it just makes this so much more real.

[00:17:14] But I think it's interesting that Peter uses a lion here when talking about because I always think of as land.

[00:17:19] Yeah, I'm like, yeah, that's Jesus.

[00:17:22] Yeah, and that's that's what we think about a lot of times is the Lion of Judah which Jesus.

[00:17:25] But this imagery is actually also used in the Psalms and I looked it up for the wicked and enemies.

[00:17:32] So Alliance use for both Jesus and Satan.

[00:17:37] And I think right here it's such a good picture and a reminder of how vicious Satan actually is like he seeks to devour like you think about a lion prowling around like always think about the Lion King and like at the end where the bad lions have like take where scar has like taken over and he's like prowling around like.

[00:17:55] I've been watching that movie since I was seven because it scarred me and I didn't want to think about my dad dying.

[00:18:00] I know it's so sad. It's so sad. But that's what I think about.

[00:18:04] I think about scar when when the Bible is talking about about Satan as a lion and just how mean he is and how he's just looking to hurt and harm how he how he killed Simba's daddy.

[00:18:19] It's just awful. But it reminds us that we need to be alert and not let our guard down because Satan is seeking that right.

[00:18:27] He wants to yes he wants to devour us.

[00:18:31] And so again it's a call to action to be alert and be aware of that.

[00:18:36] So the first time I read this I read it like completely different emphases on the different levels or you know that's silly saying I was like wait what are you saying what.

[00:18:45] So I read it the first nine I first read it as like knowing that their suffering going on all around the world is like really discouraging.

[00:18:54] So you need to stand firm. But I think what Peter is actually saying is what you're saying Casey is that knowing that suffering is being experienced throughout the world kind of gives us this brotherhood that allows us to resist him and in stand firm.

[00:19:10] So we're not isolated and alone.

[00:19:12] I think that's good because right now we could look around and see all the suffering in our world and be disheartened by that and let it make us feel overwhelmed.

[00:19:22] Yeah just real heavy all the time.

[00:19:24] Right.

[00:19:25] Like right now within the church there's just this like heaviness which is appropriate because there are a lot of things going on but that's one of the things Peter has been talking about throughout this whole book is rejoicing anyway having joy through those times.

[00:19:41] So I think one of the ways we can have joy and we can rejoice is knowing that we're not alone. They're not alone.

[00:19:50] We're all in this together kind of like at the beginning of COVID like I've told Jonathan several times lately sometimes I wish I could go back to March of 2020 because I don't think our nation in our world has ever felt so united.

[00:20:06] Like at the very very beginning of the pandemic you didn't see right or left. You didn't see anything. I'm talking those first few weeks everybody just wanted to get through it. Everybody was helping everybody like dropping off food for people like there was just this united brotherhood amongst everybody

[00:20:25] I think we can look at our brothers and sisters across the globe and have peace and joy and hope because of that.

[00:20:35] Yeah that's good.

[00:20:37] Alright verses 10 and 11.

[00:20:55] I feel like that's a benediction right there.

[00:20:57] Yeah.

[00:20:58] Here's what I love about this and if you have your Bible out like you can highlight underlined circle you may have already done this but I love where it says that God himself will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

[00:21:12] So it says like yeah there is suffering you're going to suffer but you know what God is going to do this.

[00:21:19] God is going to restore you. God is going to confirm you. God is going to strengthen you and he's going to establish you and I just love that like that imagery like envisioning God doing that like coming up beside you and strengthening you

[00:21:34] and the creator of the whole world is doing that.

[00:21:37] So I think the one that's like a little tricky is establish you like what do you think that means?

[00:21:42] So another translation actually says settle you and Augustine said and this is going to sound familiar because it's in a popular song right now but it said he said Almighty God you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.

[00:21:59] And the only way our souls can truly be settled is by the grace of God.

[00:22:04] So it says the God of all grace who has called you and then it finishes with that that he will settle you.

[00:22:12] And so I just think of like just this piece in our soul when I when I hear that and that things are chaotic things are crazy.

[00:22:22] You feel restless and the only way that you're going to truly be settled is through the grace of God.

[00:22:27] That's good.

[00:22:28] So we've got our final greetings here versus 12 through 14 by Sylvanas a faithful brother as I regard him.

[00:22:35] I have written briefly to you exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God.

[00:22:39] Stand firm in it.

[00:22:40] She who is at Babylon who is likewise chosen sends you greetings and so does Mark my son.

[00:22:45] Greet one another with the kiss of love.

[00:22:48] So that means go around kissing people.

[00:22:54] Let's talk about that.

[00:22:55] In the commentary it said he was like that's not necessarily what it means.

[00:22:59] But if you want to have it.

[00:23:01] Oh my gosh, I'm reading his biography now.

[00:23:05] And one of the stories he just told was about when his good friend Jim Boyce found out he had cancer and he said that Jim Boyce was very like strong and stoic man.

[00:23:14] But he had a picture.

[00:23:16] Sprol had a picture in his office of boy standing at his pulpit and then Sprol kissing him on the cheek.

[00:23:23] He must have liked the kisses of love.

[00:23:26] That's so funny.

[00:23:27] Well, when I was looking that up, it was talking about that this is really just a good reminder of us that we are called to be family because in that time you would really just greet family with the kiss of love, which was just a kiss on the cheek.

[00:23:39] And so he was just that reminder of you guys are brothers and sisters in Christ.

[00:23:43] We are a family.

[00:23:44] Some other things that I think we can pull from these greetings sometimes with greetings and introductions when we're studying a book, we're just like, oh, that's just the intro.

[00:23:52] That's just the game over it.

[00:23:54] But there's some cool things in here.

[00:23:57] Peter is telling us why he wrote this letter.

[00:23:59] He's kind of summarizing.

[00:24:00] He says that he wanted to declare the true grace of God and he wants us to stand firm in it.

[00:24:06] So he's still he's reminding us that he wants us to know the gospel and how it works in our lives.

[00:24:11] He's calling us to stand firm.

[00:24:14] One of the sermons I listened to on this side that was really helpful was that thinking about foundation.

[00:24:20] So like the foundation of a house right at the foundation of the house is wobbly like then the house is not going to be great.

[00:24:26] But then he kind of drew even more of a word picture with this that I've kind of been processing and in for some reason to me it's helpful.

[00:24:33] So I'm going to try and explain it on here.

[00:24:35] But basically he was saying sometimes without saying it or knowing it, we might get it reversed and we might think the foundation is our obedience and that God's grace is poured out on top of that, which then saves us.

[00:24:51] And he's like, it's the complete opposite.

[00:24:53] God's grace is the foundation and our obedience is what comes from that.

[00:24:59] I was trying to think of like, why does that really matter?

[00:25:02] Like it seems like almost a really small difference, right?

[00:25:05] Because either way we're still saying it's God's grace and obedience both matter.

[00:25:10] But it matters everything.

[00:25:12] It matters everything.

[00:25:13] If we think our obedience has anything to contribute to our salvation, then we're completely missing the gospel.

[00:25:19] And so I was trying to think of like what are some what is like a practical way that that might play out.

[00:25:24] And so again, Casey, you can call this one out if there's a lot of flaws in this thinking.

[00:25:28] But I've been talking with my girls a lot about why we eat healthy foods.

[00:25:33] And so I was thinking there's if they were to get the gospel backwards, if they were to think it was obedience with the little grace poured on top, then that would look like them eating the healthy foods because I told them to and they want to earn my love.

[00:25:48] Yeah.

[00:25:49] So, but if they get the gospel correctly and understand that it's God's grace poured out on us that they know obedience flows from then what they can do is they can rest and know that mom loves them.

[00:26:01] And the reason that I'm giving them healthy food is because it's for their good.

[00:26:05] And though it might not always feel good or always taste good or be what they want it ultimately is for their good.

[00:26:11] And the big difference that in that is in the first one, they're thinking what they do is earning some of the second one.

[00:26:18] And what they're doing is flowing from the fact that they trust my love.

[00:26:22] And so they can say, okay, I don't understand this, but I know mom, but in reality God loves me.

[00:26:29] And so I feel like that helps me with like all the things we talked about with the submission with the suffering with all these different ways that Peter is calling us into holy living is I'm not doing this to earn love, but I can trust God and I can trust his love for me.

[00:26:43] So I can do these things and I want to do these things in response to what God has already done because of who he is.

[00:26:50] Yeah, yeah, that's really good.

[00:26:52] That made me think just as you were talking about that maybe part of the reason our culture has trouble grasping the gospel this way is it might actually kind of flow from some of our parenting.

[00:27:09] I've seen this trend towards letting your kids kind of make the calls and do whatever they want.

[00:27:16] Because they think they know what's best you're like, I've heard well they're their own person, they're their own human they know what's best for them so like letting a four year old do whatever they want to do so in your example, your kids would be eating chocolate all the time or candy or whatever they like and not

[00:27:34] realizing that like no as parents because we love them and we know what's best for them. We need to guide them and let them and tell them these things that are best for them even if they don't feel like it's that way and so I think that in our culture we have just this like independence

[00:27:53] and this need to like push against authority or not be under authority and we think we know what's best for us, but it's just like we truly know what's best for our four year old.

[00:28:04] God truly knows what's best for us.

[00:28:07] And so I'm seeing this as you were talking like I was thinking about all the places I'm seeing this in our culture right now and I think things are so jumbled up.

[00:28:17] And if we would just go back to how the gospel truly plays out, I think these other things could flow from that and there will be other areas in our life that could also fit into place better because that's how God has designed it.

[00:28:32] Yeah, I always come back to the Psalms as the boundaries have fallen for me in pleasant places.

[00:28:36] Yeah, you know, it's probably wouldn't say pleasant places because mom gave me turkey today and I wanted peanut butter and honey that was the argument this morning.

[00:28:43] So but at the end of the day like the boundaries have fallen for me in right places.

[00:28:48] Yeah. And then yeah, like we talked about with the greeting one another and even just the way that we hear him talk about like so does Mark my son in most commentators say that this is actually about Mark who wrote the gospel of Mark.

[00:29:00] Who's not actually Peter's son.

[00:29:02] But just reminding us of this unity and this family and this brotherly call that we have when we are identity is in Christ, we are family.

[00:29:14] Yeah, it's good. I have a friend that always always like in her text she all I'll say hey friend, but she always says hey sister, she always calls me sister.

[00:29:22] And it's always just such a good reminder to me that we truly are family.

[00:29:27] Yeah, we're truly sisters in Christ. Yeah, it's just a really cool thing.

[00:29:30] Yep. So we end with this final.

[00:29:35] Not greeting what's opposite of greeting is it it's kind of an exhortation. Yeah, he said benediction, benediction piece to all of you who are in Christ.

[00:29:44] And we could just take this as what it is is a greeting or a benediction of peace to all of you who are in Christ.

[00:29:50] But I like to think that maybe he's doing a little bit more here and this could just be me.

[00:29:54] But I think that he's kind of he's kind of doing what he's done this whole letter.

[00:29:58] He's kind of saying who you are and what you're called to and he's he's telling them peace to all of you who are in Christ.

[00:30:05] So he's reminding them, you are in Christ.

[00:30:08] And you can have peace as you're in Christ.

[00:30:10] That is the biggest thing about you more than where you live more than where you're from more than what you do.

[00:30:15] The biggest part of your identity is that you are in Christ.

[00:30:18] And now you know from all the things we've talked about in the last nine weeks that because you're in Christ,

[00:30:25] here's some things about how you're supposed to live.

[00:30:28] Yeah, it's good.

[00:30:29] And that's 1st Peter.

[00:30:30] And that's 1st Peter.

[00:30:32] So if I were to ask you to sum up the whole book of 1st Peter for me, what would you say?

[00:30:39] Remember when I asked you to do that about Genesis and you had like no preparation?

[00:30:42] Yes, but I did it and I did a great job.

[00:30:44] You did do a great job.

[00:30:45] You did a great job.

[00:30:46] Okay, so I probably this is probably going to be too summarized where I probably should have gone into more detail.

[00:30:52] But I think you could summarize it if you wanted to get it into one long run on sentence or like two shorter sentences.

[00:30:58] I would say Peter tells us who God is and what he's done and what our identity is as chosen exiles.

[00:31:07] How we are to live out that identity being shaped by the gospel in holy living to be servants like Christ and to see suffering and submission as a way to grow in Christ likeness all for the glory of God.

[00:31:21] That's good.

[00:31:22] It is a big run on Senate.

[00:31:25] Well, Paul does it.

[00:31:26] Yes, he does.

[00:31:28] He does.

[00:31:29] It's really good.

[00:31:30] Really good.

[00:31:31] What would you say was kind of your big takeaway or what do you think like the Lord really showed you through this study of first Peter?

[00:31:38] Okay, so when I first thought about this question, there were two things that came to mind and this could be kind of because this was like on the tail end of what we were studying in the last part of the book.

[00:31:49] But he talks about this all throughout.

[00:31:51] It's expect suffering, but rejoice.

[00:31:54] So rejoicing through suffering and just remembering that it's going to happen and remember the purpose of suffering and how we are to respond in suffering that we're not alone, that Christ suffered that we have fellow brothers and sisters that are also suffering for the same reasons.

[00:32:11] So that really stood out to me and then part of the reason that we can rejoice is because it's not the end remembering heaven, but then also to live like Jesus.

[00:32:23] And the number one thing, and Aaron actually mentioned this earlier and I was like, oh, that's exactly what it's going to talk about.

[00:32:28] I think the number one way to do that is through humility.

[00:32:30] We see humility woven all throughout talking about submission and just living this humble life.

[00:32:37] And the whole reason we are to do that is because it's showing the world Christ because he's so humble.

[00:32:46] I mean, everything he did was humble and it's such a big part of his character.

[00:32:50] And so we are to image that well.

[00:32:52] Yeah.

[00:32:53] What about you?

[00:32:54] What was your biggest takeaway?

[00:32:55] Well, kind of similar to your second one.

[00:32:56] I kind of too.

[00:32:57] So I think the first one is going along the lines of humility, but I think of more like the word submission and servant hearted.

[00:33:04] I have a tendency.

[00:33:05] I'm a seven eight on the enneagram.

[00:33:07] So my tendency is any, any rule or whatever.

[00:33:11] Well, I got to challenge that.

[00:33:12] And so just recognizing that throughout the last few weeks have kind of just been like, why is my immediate response when someone tells me to go 60 on the road?

[00:33:20] My immediate response like, well, can I go 61?

[00:33:22] Like that's a silly example.

[00:33:24] But like, why is that my heart posture and trying to just repent of that and ask for God's grace and not doing that and really just being servant hearted.

[00:33:33] And instead of my first response being like, why do I have to listen to you?

[00:33:36] Yeah.

[00:33:37] Really just not being that way.

[00:33:39] But second is just the one of my biggest takeaways is just the beauty of studying scripture this way.

[00:33:47] And my push would be is even if you don't have a study to go through immediately after this, just continue to study this way on your own.

[00:33:57] Yeah.

[00:33:58] And really, I think the reason the Lord is really just showing them beauty of that through this book in particular is because there's so many things in this book that if you were to just read on your own one random verse here or there would be really challenging and would be really easy to misinterpret.

[00:34:16] And so just the beauty of walking verse by verse and then it making so much more sense of when he says, you know, wives don't be adorned with jewelry and braided hair.

[00:34:29] Like that, you know, how do we interpret that?

[00:34:32] Oh, well, we're able to because we see what Peter's doing here.

[00:34:35] Right.

[00:34:36] You know, we see the intent.

[00:34:37] We see the context.

[00:34:38] So I think that's my other big takeaway.

[00:34:40] That's good.

[00:34:41] Okay.

[00:34:42] So I think we're going to have like a recap episode.

[00:34:46] So stay tuned for that coming next.