In January 2017 we began an all-church reading plan which took us through the entire Bible once and through the books of Psalms and Proverbs several times over the course of two years. When we finished that plan, we started reading through the entire Bible in chronological order, a two-year plan we will finish at the end of this month. In January of 2021, we will begin another plan that will take us through the entire Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice by the end of 2022. In preparation for that reading schedule, I would like to make a case for why you ought to join us in reading through the Bible together as a church. And since we just finished reading 1 Peter this morning, I will begin by drawing from the teaching of this short letter to lay the foundation for my case.
1. You will follow the example of the Old Testament prophets. Peter comforts suffering saints by reminding them of the salvation they have in Jesus. He says, “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1:10-11).
The prophets studied the Scriptures which they themselves wrote to discover when God would fulfill the promise of salvation. They learned that not themselves but a future generation would see the sacrifice of Christ and enjoy the blessings bought by his death. When we search the Scriptures, we learn of this great salvation and the ones to whom it came first.
2. You will enter into the ministry of the apostles who preached Christ first. He says, “To them [the OT prophets] it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven–things which the angels desire to look into” (1:12).
While the OT saints did not see the fulfillment of the salvation promised to them, Peter and the rest of his generation did see Christ. And not only that, but they proclaimed the gospel as the Holy Spirit taught them and wrote down the message which has been preserved for us as the New Testament. When we read and study the whole of God’s word, we are participating in and benefiting from their ministry which continues to this day. These are things which the angels in heaven are not privileged to experience.
3. You will be encouraged to pursue holiness. Quoting from the book of Leviticus, Peter writes in v.15-16 “…as he who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” God’s holiness is the motive for our personal holiness, and it is revealed in the Scriptures.
4. You will be stirred up to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. Still in the first chapter, Peter writes in v.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.” The outcome of believing the gospel, which is found only in the Bible, is that we would have genuine and fervent love for one another as co-recipients of the Spirit of Christ.
5. You will gain an appreciation for your eternal salvation. Peter continues, saying, “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of Yahweh endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you” (1:23-25).
In other words, it is by God’s word that we have been saved. This is what he calls “incorruptible seed,” which is eternal and cannot pass away. Since the word which saves us is eternal and unchanging, the salvation we receive is also eternal and unchanging. The more we meditate on his word, the more we will appreciate the nature of our blessed salvation.
6. You will grow in the grace of God. As a kind of conclusion to what he said up to this point, Peter writes in 2:1-3, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” When we trust in Christ and receive the grace of God, we are born again, and like all babies we naturally desire life-sustaining milk in order to grow. Peter says that this is exactly what we find in God’s word. It is the means of grace by which we can move from infancy to maturity in the Christian life.
7. You will come to appreciate Christ as the foundation of his spiritual house, the church. Peter tells us that we come to Christ “as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” To prove these things, Peter refers back to the OT prophet Isaiah and the Psalms.
In other words, when we believe the Bible which we have heard and read, we find Christ to be the foundation of our faith and of the spiritual house to which we belong. However, there are some who find Christ to be something different altogether. They find him to be a stumbling block, that which prevents them from being a part of the house the Spirit is building. Why is that? Peter says in v.8, “They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.”
These seven reasons from the letter of 1 Peter show us why we need to read and study God’s word. In the coming weeks, I plan to argue for why we should read it together as a church.