And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
I John 1:5
Have you ever stopped to consider God’s timing? Today we go through our emails and delete half of them before we ever open them. Communication is merely a text or an instant message away. If we do happen to keep the communiqué, it is often buried under a mountain of megabytes that may never get opened again. This was certainly not the case when the fullness of God’s time came and the message of the Good News was being spread through the world. Letters were cherished! There was no such thing as a postage stamp. They were hand-carried across the miles and delivered by someone you really trusted. They were passed around and shared as though they were precious treasures. As we continue to go through these priceless letters we realize that one of the reasons they have been preserved is because people in that day valued the price of a handwritten correspondence.
This week our mailbag contains letters from three fathers of the faith - Peter, John, and Jude. This is our second correspondence from Peter. Peter’s letters deal with such practical living. It is truly a handbook for relationships on all levels. Marriage, work, the church, young, old – there is something for everyone! Peter constantly encourages us to lead by example and not merely by words.
Peter speaks to the leaders in the church and addresses them as shepherds.
Shepherd the flock of God among you, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; (I Peter 5:2)
You can hear the heart of the Great Shepherd as Peter goes on to say,
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (I Peter 5:8)
You may recall when Jesus spoke to Peter after His resurrection and told him to “tend My lambs,” “shepherd My sheep,” and “tend My sheep.” Even today Peter’s written words continue to minister as a shepherd to Jesus’ flock.
The salutation of Peter’s first letter causes me to consider without drawing a conclusion. Peter expresses greetings from the church where he is, but he also expresses the greetings of a young man named Mark. Peter also calls this individual his son. I haven’t found any evidence to suggest that this Mark is John Mark, the relative of Barnabas and the one that had been with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. I know Paul referred to Timothy as being “like” a son to him, but in this passage Peter says Mark is his son. We know that Peter was married when he followed Jesus. We also know that Peter was married during the time of his ministry after Jesus’ ascension. I can’t imagine that Peter didn’t have children. Could it be that this one who stands alongside him at this crucial time in his life is truly his own flesh and blood. I’d like to think it is!
In Peter’s second letter you can hear his patient endurance. Along with many others, Peter has been unwearyingly waiting for Christ’s return. Obviously, when Jesus told them He would come back again, none of them were expecting that it would take two thousand years. You may recall quite some time ago, when we were looking at the lives of King Saul and King David. They both were put through test. One test was go and do, and the other was go and wait! We see that the early saints were also put through the same character-proving tests. In the midst of the waiting period, false teachers began to preach heresies that were birthed out of false dreams and visions, and self-ambitions. The test of “wait” continues to reveal the true hearts of men. In spite of the years that have passed, Peter stands assured that the day of the Lord will come and encourages others to stand firm, no matter how long it takes!!!!!
Our letters from John confirm the character of the man. Remember when John wrote his testimony of Jesus’ life, which we refer to as the Gospel of John? John’s reference to himself was always, “The disciple whom Jesus loved.” Love was always at the core of John’s being, and so it is his very nature to write about the love of God. Leave it to John to say, “God is love!” When Jesus commanded the apostles at the Passover before He was crucified to “love one another,” John embraced that command. This mandate is the very heart and soul of his letters.
If some one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. (I John 4:20-21)
John echoes the words of Jesus as he continues to declare Christ’s command to us in our generation.
Our last letter this week is from Jude, who is the brother of James. He is believed by most scholars to be one of Jesus’ half-brothers referred to in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3. What a precious thought that is when you stop and remember that while Jesus walked this earth, His brothers refused to believe in Him. Obviously, that all changed when He rose from the dead!!!!!! Jude’s letter is small but powerful! His context spans from Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, to Judgment Day. It is quite apparent that Jude knew the Scriptures and, by the Spirit, was able to weave the threads of their prophetic meaning into current events. His understanding of the power and authority of the unseen world is a topic that the church at large would do well to listen to today.
In my files I have letters from precious loved-ones that, every now and then, I will take out and read. Their messages never fail to touch my heart. This week, as we finish reading the epistles of the New Testament, I pray that their words find greater expression in our hearts and that we are drawn to consider them over and over again. May each reading reveal greater insight and spur us on to a purer walk of holiness.
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