Call to Worship
Our help is in the name of the LORD,who made heaven and earth. ~Ps 124:8
Silent meditation on the Lord’s provision
Confession
In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! ~Isa 30:15, 18
Lord God, eternal and Almighty Father, we confess and acknowledge without pretense before your Holy Majesty, that we are poor sinners, conceived and born in iniquity and corruption; prone to do what is evil, incapable of any good; and that in our depravity, we endlessly transgress your holy commandments. And so, in your just judgment, we deserve ruin and damnation. But Lord, we are displeased with ourselves for having offended you, and we condemn ourselves and our vices with true repentance, longing for your grace to relieve our distress.
May you, therefore, have mercy upon us, most gentle and merciful God and Father, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And as you blot out our vices and blemishes, extend and increase the graces of your Holy Spirit to us day by day, so that as we acknowledge our unrighteousness with all our heart, we might feel the sorrow that gives birth to true penitence, which as we mortify our sins may produce fruits of righteousness and innocence pleasing to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
~John Calvin’s Prayer of Confession
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. ~Gal 3:13a
Thanksgiving
Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD! ~Ps 117
The Lord is a covenant-keeping God. Even when we are unfaithful, he remains faithful (2 Tim 2:13). His commitment to his people will never cease.
Silent meditation on our security in the gospel (see Rom 8:33–39 for guidance)
Devotional
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ~1 Pet 1:3–9
First Peter is written to a group of believers either facing impending persecution or in the midst of persecution. Either way, Peter wants to remind them of their security in the gospel. He begins by reminding them of God’s unilateral decision to redeem his people. Notice the line: “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again.” This is, of course, accomplished only through the work of Christ. The inheritance that is ours in Christ is described with three terms, “imperishable,” “undefiled,” and “unfading.” Furthermore, it has been kept in the heavens for you. The verb translated “kept” above is in the perfect tense, which means, it happened in the past with present results. This is security. God has acted decisively on our behalf to secure our salvation and guard it until the final day.
How should we respond to these things? We should rejoice even if our present circumstances are hard. Our present circumstances provide us opportunity to be refined. Notice Peter talks about the “tested genuineness” of our faith. According to the Bible, faith is not merely intellectual belief. Faith is trust. It is dependence. Trials provide us with two options. We can depend on God or we can depend on something else. The first option is faith. The second option is sin or idolatry. This is why Peter can write to encourage these suffering believers. Dependence on the Lord is more valuable than gold. The end result of this dependence is praise and glory and honor. It’s unlikely that this refers to our praise and glory and honor. Instead, we will share in the praise and glory and honor that is Jesus’s. He, after all, is our sole hope. Hence, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.” Our dependence on Christ fills us with joy. Why shouldn’t it? Our guilt and sin were laid upon him. He has dealt with our biggest problem. “By his wounds we are healed” (see 1 Pet 2:24). This joyful dependence on Christ is the evidence that the best things are still to come. What security we have in the gospel of Christ!
Reflection
1. What impact does the gospel have on my day-to-day view of life?
2. Where am I showing independence (i.e. lack of faith) from the Lord? What am I relying on? In what ways am I relying on myself?
3. Do the words, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” reflect your experience? Put another way, does the gospel cause your heart to rejoice even in troubling circumstances?
4. Think about this quote from John Bryan Smith: “I am one in whom Christ dwells and delights. I live in the strong and unshakable kingdom of God. The kingdom is not in trouble and neither am I.”
Pray
1. Praise God for his faithful and constant character.
2. Praise him for his divine plan of salvation. The Father initiates. The Son accomplishes. The Spirit seals.
3. Confess your attempts at independence. Confess your lack of dependence on the gospel.
4. Confess other failures.
5. Thank God for the security you have in Christ.
6. Make your requests known to the Lord.
Slowly pray the Lord’s Prayer, pausing with each line.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
*See the guide on the resources page for a helpful guide to the Lord’s Prayer.