2 Peter 2v1 - 10 (15th October 2010)

You can read the passage here.

From the earliest days of the church, false teachers have been a constant “thorn in the side” of believers. Throughout church history, false teachers and their teachings have eroded the life of the church. Peter warns “there will be false teachers among you” (v. 1). They are motivated by greed (v3) and are after financial and material gain e.g. prosperity gospel.

The fate of false teachers is clear: destruction (v1 and 3). Their fate is also definite. In verse 4, Peter relates how God did not spare others like them in the past. If that was the case, God also will not spare the false teachers who seek to undermine and destroy the Church of God with their false teachings.

God’s judgment is also ‘precise’, in the example of Lot, the city of Sodom was destroyed but Lot was rescued(v 9). The righteous will be spared from God’s judgment. God’s judgment will be complete and decisive.

As we face false teachers, it is important that we remain untouched or unaffected by their wrong doctrines. Unfortunately we might be desensitized to many sins in the world and we develop ‘grey areas’ in our decision making. For e.g. adultery being condemned more overtly than materialism, no Malaysian Christian opposition against an openly gay singer performing in the country. In God’s eyes, there are no middle ground, no ‘semi-righteous’ people. God cannot be bluffed by our human rhetorics. In 2 Peter 2 it is only mentioned of two kinds of people; the ungodly and the righteous. Like Lot, we need to be tormented in our soul (v 8) when we see and hear of lawless deeds being committed. However we need to deal with others in gentleness and respect, not leading to legalism or crusades. Mercy, love and compassion are to be exhibited.

Prepared by Kok Choong

2 Peter 1v8 - 21 (8th October 2010)

You can read the passage here.

All living organism must grow to survive. In a same way we must grow spiritually, otherwise we will die. But what does it mean to grow spiritually?

Growing spiritually is to be more like Christ. 2 Pet 1:5-7 lists some of the Christ like qualities to be sought. To be more like Christ we must know our Lord in a deeper way. Failing to do so brings disastrous consequences.

We become ineffective and unproductive (v 8) We become unfruitful and useless to our Lord. We will miss out in knowing Christ in a deeper way.
We become near-sighted and spiritually blind.(v 9) We will be unable to see the things that really matter and take our salvation for granted.
In verse 10, we will fall. Any structure with a weak foundation will not stand.

The Apostle Peter warns us against false teachings which discredits the witnesses of the apostles. Today we have cults like the Jehovah Witnesses, we have false teachings in the form of the prosperity gospel, we have liberal theologians that denies the bible as the word of God.What assures us the biblical witness is true?

The bible was written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit.(2 Tim 3:16) The Holy Spirit helps us to understand and interpret the bible.(1 John 2:26-27)
The apostles were eye witnesses of the majesty of Christ. They gave their lives for Christ. They would not if it was all a lie.
Fulfillment of old testament prophesies confirms it to be true.
The bible is still relevant today despite it being written more than 2000 years ago. It stood the test of time.

So we are to honour God's Word by reading it, believing it and obeying it.

Prepared by Jit Boon

2 Peter 1 v 1 - 7 (1st October 2010)

[You can read the passage here]

We finally started our study on 2 Peter. Here are the main points:-


(a) The goal of our calling is godliness – to be like God. The means to attaining godliness is not by our own strength but through the power of Christ. (2 Pet 1:3)

(b) When we claim the promises of God, our lives can and will be changed – we can have the ‘divine nature’! We shared about some Bible promises that have indeed changed our lives. Here are some promises which we can claim:

• promise of life in the Spirit (Rom. 8:11);
  
• promise of spiritual transformation (Rom. 12:2);
  
• promise of spiritual strength (1 Cor. 1:7, 8);
  
• promise of spiritual deliverance (1 Cor. 10:13);
  
• promise of comfort (2 Cor. 1:3, 4);
  
• promise3 of provision (2 Cor. 9:8-11);
  
• promise of rewards (Gal. 6:9).

(c) We then looked at certain virtues that enable us relate to God, to our circumstances and to others.

• Qualities that relate to God: virtue (following in God’s footsteps and becoming more like God) and knowledge (having our minds changed by God so as to be able to think like God).
• Qualities that relate to our circumstances: self-control (dealing with passions, temptation, etc), perseverance (dealing with hardships) and godliness (showing our best face in the midst of challenges, ie. God’s face).
• Qualities that relate to others: brotherly kindness (concern for fellow believers) and love (showing God’s love to all).

Verse 5 reminds us that we must make every effort – it will not be easy. Here is a suggestion on some steps we can take:-

1. desire to have these qualities;
2. pray, really pray, regularly for it;
3. try to exercise them, eg. show kindness instead of anger, self-control instead of letting loose, try patience instead of retaliation, etc.
4. when we fail, we try and try again until we get it.

Reference: AHF Leaders' Guide

The ending marks the beginning

We have concluded out studies on 1 Peter. Can I just briefly summarise the main thoughts:-

• The Christians recipients of the letter are aliens, living in a hostile world.

• But they are reminded of their position in Christ, called to be holy. To the world, they are aliens, to God, they are the chosen ones!

• Peter goes on to give practical tips on how to relate to the government, to the non-Christian masters and spouse, and generally to everyone.

• Peter dealt with the issue of suffering - Christians should not be surprised but instead, expect it and follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• He ends off with the response of church - leaders, young men, all. The emphasis is on the importance to maintain the unity of the Church.

In his first epistle, Peter was addressing the churches on the subject of suffering. The enemy was without and he gave detailed instructions on how to maintain the faith against the external enemy.

In his second epistle, the enemy is within – false teachers. This time he gives instructions on how the Christian can maintain his or her faith against the internal enemy.

Here is a brief outline of 2 Peter to help us study it better:-

Chapter 1 - Peter taught that knowledge of Christ is the remedy against false teachers.

Chapter 2 - Peter assures his readers that God will deal with false teachers but in the meantime gives important information on how to identify false teachers.

Chapter 3 - Peter teaches believers to be holy in the light of the climax of all things. When believers understand the purposes of God for the future they will best be able to live for God in the present.

Source: Leaders' notes

1 Peter 5 v 5 - 14 (23rd July 2010)

[You can read the passage here]

In this last portion of his letter, peter addresses the different groups of people in the suffering church - we saw last week how he addresses the leaders and the young people (basically, the leaders to be good examples and the young people to submit).

In the second part of v 5, he instructs all to have humility. After all, in difficult times, we can be proud and look down on others - eg those who are not coping as well as we are, those who suffer more.

We can see how Peter is emphasising the importance for the church to be united in difficult times - together, we shall stand!

Let us be one voice that glorifies his name, then the world will know that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Finally, we looked at who is the Christian's ultimate enemy. He is none other than the devil.

First, we noted that he is not the source of our suffering - God is! Suffering is good for us (see James 1:2-4) and God only wants what is good for us (Heb 12:5-11). Secondly, we noted that the devil's modus operandi is more of a subtle approach - think back what happened at the Garden of Eden. He plants doubts and wrong ideas in our minds. So we must be careful - especially in times of suffering and difficulty, we are most vulnarable to his attacks.

Peter teaches us 3 ways to overcome the devil:-

1. "Concentration" - Verse 8: be self-controlled and alert

Basically, we are to be prepared. How? We are to understand suffering, know its purpose. That way, we will not doubt God's will and God's love for us.

2. "Conviction" - Verse 9: stand firm

Do not doubt. Carry on serving the Lord.

3. "Consciousness" - Verse 9: know that you are not alone

There are others who are going thru the same thing as you are. What you are experiencing is not uncommon.

Suffering is to be expected - we can see it in the lives of the godly men and women in the past. We agreed that it should not be feared too. God will enable us to persevere thru it - and at the end of the day, it will be for our own good, that we may be "mature and complete, not lacking anything".

Hallelujah!

1 Peter 4 v 12 - 5 v 5a (16th July 2010)

[You can read the passage here]

Christians should not be taken by surprised when they have to suffer for the sake of their faith (v 12). Instead they can look at the benefits they can obtain.

Verse 13 tells us that we should rejoice when faced with suffering as it is in fact an opportunity privilege to be able to 'participate in the sufferings of Christ'. This was something that Peter himself went thru (see Acts 5 v 40 -41) - the disciples counted it their privilege to be considered worthy to go thru wat their Lord went thru!

Do we just bear and grin with it - or do we also rejoice?

Peter also reminded us that the suffering is only temporal. In the same verse he points us to the fact that Jesus will return and reveal his glory - we will then be with him forever!

So what shud be our attitude and response when we encounter suffering? Verse 19 reminds us to commit our situation to our faithful Creator and to continue to do good.

When we commit our situation to our Lord, we are basically trusting in him, knowing that he is in control no matter what happens. He is the "faithful Creator" and therefore we can count on him to take care of us and work only for our good (Rom 8 v 28, Jere 29 v 11).

At the same time, we should not use our sufferings as an excuse to no do anything. We are after all created to do good works (Eph 2 v 10).

So in times of suffering, let us rejoice and look towards the day when Christ will return, let us continue to trust in him and persevere in doing good.

I shared the example of a missionary family, when they were in Africa, the daughter drowned. But they committed themselves to the Lord, trusting in him and continue to do good. Today, they are still serving God faithfully.

We then moved on to chapter 5v 1 - 4. Altho this portion is addressed to the 'elders' among them, the verses are just as relevant to all of us today - we are after all, leaders in some way, to some Christians and/or to our younger frens and family members.

Peter reminded us that leaders are not to have the wrong motives - to be leaders for personal gain or to be leaders reluctantly (v2). Instead, we are to lead by example (v3).

Finally, we turned the tables around and considered how we are to relate to our leaders - verse 5a. The Bible is clear - we are to submit to our leaders. After all, God placed them as our leaders. They have experienced more than we have. We should therefore listen to them and not be disunited. If we are of the view that the elders should be doing something, we should then pray to God that the Holy Spirit will indeed lead them to do it if it is in God's will.

1 Peter 4 v 7 - 11 (9th July 2010)

[You can read the passage here]

In the midst of persecution and suffering, Peter exhorts the believers to continue praying and to love each other deeply.

Praying helps us to maintain our relationship with our God. We are to be clear minded and self controlled so that we can pray (v 7).

Being clear minded is to see God in the center of everything and that God is in control. We are to pray intelligently with purpose and understanding. In times of adversity, we may have feelings of anger, hatred, vengefulness. Such negative emotions are a hindrance to our prayers and must be controlled.

We are also to love one another. Verse 8 mentions that love covers a multitude of sins. When love is practiced as per 1 Cor 13:4-7, we will indeed commit less sin. Love also helps us to forgive and to overlook the sins committed against us. Peter focused on hospitality and service to one another as ways to express our love.

Hospitality extends to those whom we don’t know. In Peter’s time, Christians open up their homes to shelter other Christians who lost their homes through persecution. Today, we can provide hospitality to Christians who are away from their homes, or to those who may lose their homes through natural disaster. And we are to do so without grumbling (v 9)

We are to use our gifts to serve others. Especially in times of persecution, serving others helps to encourage them and in turn builds up the church. The source of our gift is from God, and we are to serve with the strength that God provides.

Our possessions and gifts kept to ourselves, bless no one but ourselves. What is shared and given away bless others.

(Prepared by Jit Boon)

1 Peter 4 v 1 - 6 (2nd July 2010)

[You can read the passage here]

Having looked at the example set for us by Christ thru his sufferings (see previous chapter), we are now specifically encouraged to follow such an example. After all, the gospel was preached to all of us for us to live for the will of God (v6).

Living in God's will - how can we know God's will? By looking into God's word and having a close relationship with him, no short cuts.

And what does living in his will entail? It will entail the following:-

1. To have the attitude of Christ (v1) - to be willing to submit our selves to the will of the Father even if it costs us our all (cf Jesus' prayer in the garden of Gethsemane)

2. To not live for evil human desires (v2)

3. But instead to live for the will of God (v2) - following his plan in every area of our lives.

Peter goes on to remind us not to live any more following pagan practices. Such practices are as listed in v 3, which can be simply summed us as sex, alcohol (physical stimulants) and idolatry.

In our sharing, we could conclude that Christians today are not free from such practices and we are to be careful lest we fall. We are to be accountable for each other too and support each other in our group.

Finally in verse 4 and 5, we can agree that non-Christians will see us strange as we live our lives for God - and some will even abuse us. But we are all to stand before God at the end of the day - to receive judgement or for us Christians, to see how faithful we have been.

1 Peter 3 v 17 - 22 (4th June 2010)

[You can read the passage here]

We ended off the last time by considering that even in times of suffering, all the more we are to testify for God.

1. Example of Jesus

We start off this study by looking again at Jesus' example when he suffered and dies for us. The results were that we are brought back to God (v18) and he went to declare his victory to the fallen angels (v19).

So in our suffering for doing what is right, we should focus also on the end result - at the end of the day, victory is ours. And other people will also benefit thru our testimony and our sharing of the gospel. Just like Jesus, we should fix our eyes not on our sufferings but on the ultimate goal (see Heb 12v2).

2. Baptism

We ended off by talking about baptism. We all know what baptism is and what it is not - it is an outward show of what had taken place. But more than that, Peter describes it as a 'pledge of good conscience' (v21) - this basically means that by being baptised, we commit ourselves to obeying God's commands all our lives. That is how we keep a 'good conscience'.

We shared about our experiences when we were baptised and what made us do so. We also thought about our enthusiasm then compared with now.

For those of us who found that our enthusiasm has increased, we should not be too complacent but to give God the glory and continue to persevere in our walk. For those who found that our enthusiasm seemed to have decreased, we should remind ourselves that our walk with God is for our whole lives - and we still have opportunities to be more committed.

As Winston Churchill once said - Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.

1 Peter 3 v 10 - 16 (14th May 2010)

[You can read the passage here]

In 1 Pet 3 v 10 - 12 we looked at the nature of the life of the righteous person. there are 3 qualities:-

1. how we speak

• he/she keeps his tongue from evil - do not talk bad or let bad things be spoken (see oso James 3v9-12)

• he/she does not speak deceitful things - we dun tell lies no matter what. we speak the truth!

2. seek peace

unlike the response of the people of this world, we try to live at peace with everyone (see Rom 12v18 - if it is possible and as far as it depends on us)

3. turn from evil and do good

we talked about how we can do good and how as a group we can seek to do good too. perhaps to help out in the work among the Burmese people in our chapel?

The righteous will be rewarded with 'good days' - not just wealth and long life, but a life filled with peace, love, joy, etc. But hose who do evil, God's face will be against them - they will not receive any of the said blessings from God even if they may be rich or live long lives.

In 1 Pet 3 v 15 - 16, we could see that in times of suffering, it is a great opportunity to witness for Christ! from the 2 verses, we saw the following points to help us do so:-

• remember the Lordship of Christ - he is still in control even if things seem bad to us

• we should speak out for Christ - in suffering, ppl will expect us to be very negative. but when they see us being positive and filled with joy, they would surely want to know our 'secret'. we should then seize the opportunity to talk about Christ

• when we talk about Christ and out faith, we should do so in gentleness and with respect

• we must 'keep a clear conscience' no matter how difficult it is. when times are hard, tt's when it's all the more important for us to maintain a good witness! our true colours will be revealed - what is our colour?

We ended off by looking at a wonderful illustration by Mary Sullivan - Are we a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? You can read it here.

1 Peter 3 v 8 - 9 (7th May 2010)

[You can read the passage here]

After talking about how to relate to the authorities, the masters, the spouses, peter moved on to talk about how to relate generally to the Christians and the non-christians.

in 1 peter 3v 8 provides that we should relate to fellow believers in the following manner:-

1. live in harmony with each other - be of the same mind, be united

on a simpler level, we should bear with other's differences and accept each other for who we are. however, if they are not behaving in a christian manner, we should point it out in love for the good of everyone and for the glory of God.

2. be sympathetic - feel for each other's sufferings and pain

3. love each other - how to love? the answer is easy - look at 1 cor 13. the application is hard!

4. be compassionate - we spent a bit of time here. it would surely overlap with no. 2. but it is more than just feeling for each other. it is being pitiful and doing something about it.

5. be humble - consider each other better as we all have the same Holy Spirit in us who can empower us to do great things (Phil 2v2-3).

How do we relate to non-christians? 1 pet 3v9 tells us not to seek revenge but to bless them instead. (see Rom 12v14-21).

We spent quite some time on these points, trying to figure out how to apply it in our lives. much easier said than done. we surely need the Holy Spirit to enable us and the support of each other!

finally, we looked at jesus' example - his teachings on this or his actions which reflects these points. I ran thru the verses quite quickly and so i'll reproduce them here:-

• harmony (John 17:20-23)

• love (John 13:34-35; 15:9-17)

• compassion (Matt. 14:14)

• humility (Luke 14:7-11)

• treatment of enemies (Matt. 5:43-48)

we can see that the reasons why we behave like this is to bring glory to God, to bear a testimony that we God's ppl, and to reach out to others. this is how christians are to behave in a 'hostile' world - just like how we are to behave in today's world.

interestingly, those who came for 2nd service on sunday, our elder min choon talked about the church being used by God to teach even the angels. in the john 17 passage above, we can see that we are to be united as a reflection of the relationship between God the father and God the son - and we are the object lessons of that wonderful truth!

how wonderful God's words are to us - just 2 verses and so rich and so many things to learn and apply!

1 Peter 2 v 21 - 3 v 7 (23rd April 2010)

[You can read the passage here]

As was correctly pointed out, the role of submission does not mean a person is inferior in anyway… we are called to submit to one another, submit to the authorities, and just as Christ is one and equal to the Father, our Lord chose to submit to the Father. As such the call to submit to one’s husband should be viewed as a different role responsibility.

Men are to be considerate to their wives and to treat them with respect. In Eph 5:25, they are to love their wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. It is a call, a responsibility not an option. It is agape love, we have to love whether she is lovable or not. Differentiate that to the world view of Eros love.. which is based on feelings, emotions and subject to ups and downs.

Both must play their role in God’s blueprint to enjoy the full blessings that God intended. Even if one of the spouse is an unbeliever as noted in 1Pet 3:1, it will provide some stability in the marriage and may also win over the heart of the unbelieving spouse.

On the issue of abusive spouse, it may be beyond the scope of the passage. The victim should seek temporary shelter and professional help sought. There are trained Christian counselors who are better equipped to tackle such issues.

(prepared by Jit Boon)

1 Peter 2 v 18 - 20 (9th April 2010)

[Your can read the passage here]

1 Peter reminds the Christians (which applies to us, of course) that while we are believers in a hostile world, we are God's chosen people and should live to declare his wonderful praises to all. Peter goes on to pretty practical stuffs and talked about how we should respond first to the authorities. During the study, we looked at how we should respond to our 'masters' - employers.

Here's a quick summary of the study:-

• who? we are to submit to our masters, good or bad

• why? this is commendable and because we are conscious of God. Keep in mind that watever we do, we do it as if we are doing it for God

• how? with all respect. God placed us in our jobs

• what makes us different from non-christians who also submit? we do it to please God, not just 'eye-service'

• But do we do everything? no, as Peter talks about us being 'beaten' for doing good.

• it is commendable if we suffer for doing good - so while we submit to our employers, we draw the line if it does not please God

• finally, we considered the option of staying on to make a change/difference or moving on. we need God's wisdom and guidance on this.

1 Peter 2 v 13 - 17 (12th March 2010)

[You can read the passage here]

As believers in a hostile world, and as God's chosen people and priests, Peter goes on to talk about how we are to deal with different groups of people. The first are those in authority.

We learned from the passage and from Romans 13 that we submit to the authorities because it is the Lord's will and for his sake. We are at the end of the day submitting to God's authority as the people in authority are there because of God.

By submitting to the authorities, we also silence those who may want to falsely accuse us of disrespecting our Government.

Therefore, as we are doing it for God, we will only not submit if submission requires us to disobey God.

We also talked about ways of how we can submit - being involved in politics, speaking out, learning and sharing our rights, join NGOs etc.

I am of the personal view that we can choose disobey the government but still submit to them - ie to follow the example of great men of God like Daniel and his 3 friends in the OT, Peter and the apostles in the NT, and activists like Martin Luther King Jr in recent times.

Finally, we also talked about the role of Christians in the society - the sharing of the gospel (as emphasised the previous week in 1 pet 2v9) must go hand in hand with the show of God's love in practical ways.

1 Peter 2 v 1 - 12 (5th March 2010)

[You can read the passage here.]

Chapter 2 of the epistle talks about the function that we Christians have in this 'hostile world'.

In last half of chapter 1, we were asked to be holy. We continue in chapter where Peter concludes 'therefore' that we are to put off the negative things like slander, envy, deceit and hypocrisy.

He then goes on to tell us Christians that we are all "living stones" when put together make up the entire household of God! Jesus is the cornerstone - and he too faced the hostility of this world when he was here physically.

Peter concludes with the wonderful verse 9 - "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light".

So although we are living as aliens in this world, we are to be reminded that all of us with NO exception are chosen by God to be set apart as his people and priests, offering spiritual sacrifices.

During our study, we shared many examples of the spiritual sacrifices that we can offer - let us start and/or continue to do so.