Participants: Tom Shepherd & Deyvy Rodriguez
Series Code: PBOTB
Program Code: PBOTB00016A
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00:21 Hello and welcome to "Books of The Book."
00:24 We are studying the Books of 1st and 2nd Peter 00:26 with Dr. Tom Shepherd. 00:27 He is a professor of New Testament Interpretation. 00:30 Dr. Shepherd, welcome. Thank you. 00:32 If I were to tell our audience here 00:34 that you are called the bowtie man, 00:37 I think they would probably have an idea why. 00:40 Why do they call you this and why? 00:42 I'm called the bowtie man 'cause that's what I always wear 00:44 when I am at the seminary. 00:46 And if they are looking for, if somebody is taking a class 00:48 and they say, oh, you were with Shepherd, 00:50 with Shepherd, Shepherd, who is he? 00:51 You're having a class with him. 00:53 Oh, he's the guy that wear bowties." 00:54 Yup, they know who I am 'cause they see me around. 00:56 Actually this particular tie that I'm wearing is interesting. 00:59 It's from the Horn Archaeological Museum there. 01:02 And it has the--it's a bowtie with the Dead Sea Scrolls on it, 01:06 and my wife got it from the-- they have a little store there 01:10 and she bought it there for my anniversary 01:13 or birthday or something like that. 01:15 Now I know the answer to this question, 01:17 but maybe there are some curious people out there. 01:19 Is this one of the-- are these your bowtie 01:21 is one of those that clip on here or? 01:23 No, no, I don't-- I don't wear clip ons. 01:25 I tie them myself. 01:27 When I first did it, it took me half an hour. 01:30 Okay. To tie the tie. 01:31 But now I can tie the tie 01:33 in about 15 seconds or so. All right. 01:36 Sometimes give demonstrations. 01:38 I won't today for the audience here, 01:40 but I-- Maybe next time. Maybe another time, yeah. 01:44 All right, what we are talking about 01:46 1 Peter and we are going to be discussing 01:49 from verses 12-19. Of Chapter 4? Yes. 01:53 So what is this last section of the book all about 01:56 or perhaps if you want-- 01:58 you want to do a short review of what we've been studying? 02:00 Yeah, well, we just have a graphic here that shows us 02:02 the outline of the book. 02:04 And this graphic we started with the first section 02:08 establishing the Household of God 02:10 that was Chapters 1:2-10. Rebirth that leads to holiness. 02:14 Metaphors of growth. The house of God. 02:16 All these things dealing with or focusing and revolving around 02:20 the establishment of these people and their mindset. 02:23 The second section we have just finished and that was, 02:27 how Christians are to live in the world 02:29 that goes from 2:11-4:11. 02:33 And that's about submission and an upright life. 02:36 Vindication that is to come. And living like a Christian. 02:40 This leads us to the last section of the book, 02:43 which is from 4:12-5:11, facing trouble and each other. 02:48 The first section we're gonna talk about 02:49 now is the fiery trial, then relationships in the church 02:52 and then fighting the devil 02:54 in relationship of God to the devil. 02:56 So the interesting thing is that this last section of the book 03:01 really parallels the second 03:02 or middle section of the book quite closely. 03:05 In those sections, they open with direct address. 03:09 They are followed by a general exhortation 03:11 that Peter gives to the people, 03:13 then there is instruction to specific groups 03:16 within the church, 03:17 then there is an appeal to all believers 03:20 with some reference to the scriptures, 03:21 and then finally there is a concluding doxology. 03:24 So the second section of the book 03:25 and the third section of the book 03:27 just seem to kind of lockstep as he is thinking 03:30 the process of how he'll present his message, 03:33 he walks through these things. 03:35 In 4:12-5:11, this is a last section of the book. 03:39 The topic of suffering 03:41 appears in each of the three sections of that-- 03:43 of this last part of the book that doesn't surprised us 03:46 since he is talking about suffering a lot. 03:48 He also talks about relationship to God. 03:51 Again, no big surprise because that's what 03:53 he has been talking about all these chapters, 03:56 and each subsection also refers to glory, 04:00 salvation and blessing for the faithful. 04:02 Again, similar kind of theme 04:05 as we've seen him talking about before. Okay. 04:09 And where does Peter begin the section? 04:11 All right, this section begins with a negative command. 04:15 So we look at verse-- verse 12 once for. 04:19 He says, "Beloved, do not." 04:20 So you see, here's the-- here's the command. "Do not. 04:24 Do not be surprised at the fiery trial 04:27 when it comes upon you to test you, 04:29 as though something strange were happening to you." 04:33 Now it's actually reminiscent of James 1:2-4 04:37 where James gives a positive command 04:40 that you should counted all joy when you suffer trials. 04:45 Peter describes the testing quality of trials. 04:48 We've already seen that before. 04:51 But he says, "You shouldn't think it strange." 04:55 Now there's kind of an interesting 04:56 parallel to what we just talked about before 04:59 back in 1 Peter 4:4. 05:02 We found that the Gentiles think it strange 05:06 that you don't run with them to their parties anymore, 05:10 but the Christians are not to think it strange 05:13 when the persecution comes. 05:15 So it says, "Though the pagans are in the dark 05:19 and the Christians are in the light." 05:21 See, they think it strange, 05:23 you shouldn't think it strange, you know. 05:24 This is the expected thing that's gonna happen 05:27 to a Christian in a sinful world 05:29 that you're gonna face these kind of problems. 05:32 And why does verse 13 put suffering and joy together? 05:36 Yeah, just take a look at that. Shall we read that? 05:37 Well, would you read those-- that verse, verse 13? 05:39 "But rejoice to the extent 05:41 that you partake of Christ's sufferings, 05:44 that when His glory is revealed, 05:45 you may also be glad with exceeding joy." 05:49 Now the present sufferings, he says are caused for joy now. 05:56 That's a-- that's pretty hard to take. 05:59 But he says, "It's a participation 06:02 in the sufferings of Christ." 06:04 I remember Ellen White said that, 06:05 "There is no higher privilege 06:07 than to suffer with Christ in this life." 06:11 And that's the kind of idea that we have here. 06:15 The joy is in being with Jesus 06:18 even when it's in situation of suffering. 06:22 He does point forward to the second coming, 06:26 you know, that's going to-- 06:28 that's going to come in and solve all problems. 06:32 But we still have this interesting paradox 06:35 of joy and suffering co-joined. 06:39 And it just doesn't seem almost to us like, 06:42 you know, something that that we should even accept, 06:46 but that's the kind of idea that he tells us about. 06:49 Let's read verse 14. 06:51 It says, "If you are reproached for the name of Christ, 06:54 blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory 06:56 and of God rests upon you. 06:59 On their part He is blasphemed, 07:01 but on your part He is glorified." 07:04 Here seems that continues that contrast. Yeah. 07:09 Here is reproach. He talks about reproach. 07:13 The problem of being reviled people heaping insults on you. 07:19 And he says, "He puts this together 07:20 with the idea of being blessed." You know, fortunate or happy. 07:27 And he describes this experience as 07:30 some kind of experience of rest 07:34 that the Spirit of God is resting upon you. 07:42 It's as though there is this incredible storm 07:45 going on around you. 07:47 People are reviling you, people are reproaching you, 07:51 people are giving you a harsh time. 07:54 And yet in the midst of this storm 07:58 there you are at rest. 08:00 There is a famous story about two painters 08:04 being given the assignment to make a painting 08:10 that depicted the concept of peace. 08:14 And one painter painted this beautiful quiet picture, 08:18 you know, lake and trees and the beautiful mountains, 08:21 you know, it just like, oh. It's just, you know, rest. 08:25 The other painter went a very different way. 08:27 There was this incredible storm 08:30 and you look anywhere on the canvas 08:32 it was just covered with, 08:33 you know, turmoil and back and forth and everything. 08:37 He's like, "What does this have to do with resting?" 08:38 Right in the center of the picture 08:42 was a mother bird sitting quietly on her nest 08:48 in the midst of the storm and this was rest. 08:53 So this is perhaps some of that kind of picture that we have. 08:57 Now he actually, he quotes a text, 09:01 he quotes from Isaiah Chapter 11. 09:03 I wanna look-- us to look at that text, 09:05 Isaiah 11:1-9. 09:11 Okay, so Isaiah Chapter 11. Verses 1-9. 09:16 This passage actually talks about the Messiah, 09:20 the coming of the Messiah 09:22 and we'll see how it links into our story here. 09:26 Isaiah 11:1-9. 09:28 "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, 09:32 and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 09:35 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, 09:37 the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, 09:39 the Spirit of counsel and might, 09:41 the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. 09:44 His delight is in the fear of the Lord, 09:46 and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, 09:50 nor decide by the hearing of His ears, 09:53 but with righteousness He shall judge the poor 09:55 and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. 10:00 He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, 10:03 and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. 10:08 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, 10:10 and faithfulness the belt of His waist. 10:13 'The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, 10:15 the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, 10:18 the calf and the young lion and the fatling together 10:22 and a little child shall lead them. 10:24 The cow and the bear shall graze. 10:26 Their young ones shall lie down together 10:29 and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 10:32 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, 10:36 and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 10:41 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, 10:45 for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord 10:48 as the waters cover the sea.'" Beautiful, isn't it? 10:53 He describes the work of the Messiah 10:55 and what He will do. 10:57 And particularly we notice in verse 2 of Isaiah 11, 11:00 "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, 11:03 the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, 11:06 the Spirit of counsel and might, 11:07 the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord." 11:10 And if we go back to Peter, 11:13 we notice in Chapter 4:14, 11:19 it says, "If you're insulted 11:22 for the name of Christ you are blessed, 11:24 because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." 11:31 So just as Jesus had God's spirit resting upon Him, 11:35 when we go through these experiences of trial, 11:38 He promises to rest upon us and to help us up. 11:42 My wife and I had a challenging experience back in 1997. 11:49 We had major job change, major surgery, my father died, 11:56 major surgery for another member of the family, 11:58 my wife's grandmother died all within about six weeks time. 12:02 It was an incredibly challenging, 12:06 challenging experience for us to go through. 12:08 And you just wished for boring normal days, 12:16 that's what my prayer was, "O Lord, 12:17 just let 1998 be a boring year." 12:21 Everybody else's life around us 12:23 was just going on normally, you know. 12:25 And you could be tempted to think 12:28 that normal life was a mirage and that it didn't really exist. 12:35 But there were two things that helped us 12:37 particularly through this very difficult time. 12:39 I remember it quite well. 12:41 It was very precious friends at Union College, 12:44 just since from the days when we were at Union College, 12:47 very precious friends. 12:49 And then the promises of the Bible. 12:52 I remember going to class one day, 12:53 I didn't talked to students about this very much, 12:54 but there was a student 12:56 who'd been a student missionary in Siberia the year before. 13:00 Siberia and he'd the difficult experience. 13:04 And as I came in the class he was just there alone, 13:08 just before class began. 13:10 And for some reason I started talking about 13:14 how my wife and I were 13:15 looking for promises of the Bible. 13:18 We were writing them down in this time of turmoil for us. 13:22 And the student said to me, 13:24 "They're not hard to find, are they?" 13:27 And I said, "No, they are not." 13:30 And it was just special link that happened 13:32 between the two of us and we'd both realized 13:34 that we have been through some challenging experiences. 13:38 And the promises of the Bible 13:40 helped to support us through that time. 13:42 And it actually bonds you to other people around you, 13:45 when they have had that experience, 13:47 you have had that experience and you could share it together. 13:49 Well, we got some more things to talk about 1 Peter Chapter 4, 13:54 so we'll be back after a short break. |
Revised 2014-12-17