What motivates you on a daily basis? Most often people look for something from the present to motivate them. Perhaps it’s the importance to provide for the needs of your family that motivates you to get up and go to work. Maybe it’s the good feeling you get from working out that motivates you to get up early each day to exercise. We can all identify some of the present motivations in our lives. What about your motivation for serving God and being a good steward of all that He has provided for you? Peter gives us some insight into past, present, and future motivations in dedicated service to the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:1–9 (ESV) — 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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. 8 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, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Let’s break down the various motivations in that first paragraph from 1st Peter.
First, there’s the motivation from past actions of God on our behalf. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, which simply means that God loved us before time and chose us as we read in Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:3–5 (ESV) — 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Back to 1st Peter, we read that we were “in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.” The triune Godhead was involved in our salvation before the foundation of the world and pointed to the carrying out of that salvation by the work of redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ and the work of separation in regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Looking back on the work of God in the past should be a motivation that He thought of you before time and set His love on you in Christ, who carried out the work on the cross, hence the Holy Spirit has called you to a relationship with God. Think of all the little details of the work of God to claim you as His own. That will motivate you to step it up today. If it doesn’t, maybe you should read those verses again but it doesn’t stop there. Peter continues the mounded-up blessings.
1 Peter 1:3 (ESV) — 3 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,
The present motivation of the fact that as Christ is risen from the dead, so you have been raised in newness of life to serve Him. Motivation? Oh yes! You are no longer dead in trespasses and sin but made alive in Christ.
Ephesians 2:1–6 (ESV) — 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Wait! There’s more. There are future blessings for which we are assured. Notice that God has given us an inheritance that is reserved in heaven and to make sure you get it, He is guarding you for the glorious moment that your inheritance is revealed.
1 Peter 1:4–5 (ESV) — 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Future blessings are a great motivation. Focusing on the future is proven to get you moving now and whenever things get difficult. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ and how He focused on the joy of His return to heaven having completed the task given to Him by God the Father, and for the great joy of receiving His bride at the marriage supper of the Lamb who He has redeemed with His own blood.
Hebrews 12:2 (ESV) — 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Peter doesn’t stop with reminders of past, present, and future blessings to motivate us, He gives us a handle on facing difficulty along the way as he reminds us that in those moments of difficulty, we get a glimpse of the beauty of Christ and that gives us joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.
1 Peter 1:6–9 (ESV) — 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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. 8 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, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Now that is motivation – viewing the past, present, and future through the eyes of faith, seeing the boundless blessings that are yours in the Lord Jesus Christ. That will get you moving for sure.
Godspeed,
Bob Brubaker, Pastor
Christ Community Presbyterian Church
Clearwater, FL
Check out the PowerBreak podcast wherever you download podcasts or via Bob’s website: www.bobbrubaker.com
