9/5-9/6 Teaching - Our Inheritance

Text: 1 Peter 1:3-5


This week, we continue our look at 1 Peter. In this passage, Peter talks about the inheritance we have in Christ.
What is an inheritance? An inheritance is something that we receive because someone who has died choose to place us in their last will and testament. For whatever reason, they thought enough of us to leave a part of themselves behind in their passing, whether it be money, property, or anything really. In this passage, Peter speaks of the inheritance we have in Christ, but the our hope is not in the possessions of a dead man, but in the life of the resurrected Christ, and the hope we have in the resurrection. Because we have been born again in Christ, we are given this glorious inheritance, which culminates in our spending an eternity with him in the place he has prepared for us. What do we need to do in order to get this inheritance? Nothing. That is the glory of it all – that we didn’t do anything to be put in God’s will, and we can’t do anything so bad as to make ineligible. He not only makes us alive in Christ, but he also keeps us.
What is often our response to this inheritance we have in Christ? Instead of embracing the riches of Christ, we often turn back to the scraps we had before Christ. Consider this: God is the King, and we, before Christ, were just beggars outside the gates, convinced that our life is the only way there is, even though it stinks. For reasons only known to him, the King comes and brings us into his castle, puts a robe on our backs and a ring on our finger and calls us a son. We love our new surroundings, but there is that part of us that always longs to be back outside, living on scraps. Why is that? Until we get to heaven, we will continue to struggle with that side of ourselves that wants to deny the inheritance we have in Christ and embrace the perishing things of this world.
What tools do we have in the struggle? First, we have Christ, interceding to the Father on our behalf. We need only go to him, in prayer, with a simple cry for help. Our realization that we can’t do it alone is a big step in our growth as believers. We must continually belief the same gospel that saved us in order to grow. We also have the means of grace, whether it be prayer, the reading and hearing of God’s Word, or partaking of the sacraments. Also very importantly, especially in the life of students, is the fellowship of other believers. Only another believer can understand the struggles of our Christian life. Believers should be free to talk about their struggles and doubts, because hiding or masking them will only serve to create a huge mess. We must walk this perilous road, but we need not walk it alone. God has put other believers in our lives to share our struggles with and in turn grow in the grace we have in Christ.
Some questions to discuss with your child:
1. Scripture Memory: Ephesians 1:13-14
2. What is an inheritance? What is the inheritance that we have in Jesus Christ?
3. How are we “born again?” What does that mean?
4. What are some things that we choose as opposed to the inheritance we have in Christ?
5. What tools do we have in the struggle of choosing earthly treasures over the imperishable inheritance we have in Christ?