North Anderson Baptist Church
1 Peter 3:8-12 NIV
1. Living with Godly Character - v. 8-12
When Peter says “Finally…” He is getting to the end of his recommendations on how to live a life that is like that of Jesus Christ, one which would honor and glorify our
Savior and Lord.
Warren Wiersbe shared the following story, “A devoted pastor was facing serious surgery, and a friend visited him in the hospital to pray with him. "An interesting thing happened today," the pastor told him. "One of the nurses looked at my chart and said, 'Well, I guess you're preparing for the worst!' I smiled at her and said, 'No, I'm preparing for the best. I'm a Christian, and God has promised to work all things together for good.' Boy, did she drop that chart and leave this room in a hurry!"
Then he said, “Peter wrote this letter to prepare Christians for a "fiery trial" of persecution, yet his approach was optimistic and positive. "Prepare for the best!" was his message. Peter wants us to love like Christ and if we do make that a priority, then all that we do will be undergirded by love. So when we go through these ideas of Peter about life, he is saying love is evident if our lives include these. In these verses our actions and attitudes are mostly for the brothers and sisters of the household of God.
Live in harmony with each other, be like-minded
This is of the same mind, the kind of behavior and thinking that will bring true harmony into the fellowship. Of course, not everyone thinks alike or has the same opinions but when we are speaking of spiritual things and that which affects the spiritual life, then we need to combine our hearts and minds together in unity, not uniformity. Our Savior clearly spoke to this characteristic, "that they all may be one" (John 17:21). Love is then seen in our life.
Again Wiersbe shares a story about D. L. Moody. He said, a man criticized D.L. Moody's methods of evangelism, and Moody said, "Well, I'm always ready for improvement. What are your methods?" The man confessed that he had none! "Then I'll stick to my own," said Moody. Whatever methods we may use, we must seek to honor Christ, win the lost, and build the church. Some methods are definitely not scriptural, but there is plenty of room for variety of opinions and ways to do things in the church.
“This unity is no "spiritual luxury, but... something essential to the true being of the Church." The common loyalty of Christians to their Lord does not eliminate real and tense differences among them, whether of race or nationality or economic status; but it holds them together in a higher bond. It must ever be stronger than all our divisions. When those divisions become more evident than that unity, we commit sin; our interests become more important than the lordship of Christ. Tensions within the church ought to drive Christians not to bitter conflict but to greater humility and penitence, lest Christ be dishonored and the Christian witness weakened.” WW
Be compassionate and sympathetic
Really these two words are close in thought and action and when they are evident then love can be seen in a believer's life. Having a sincere feeling for or with is an expression of Christ’s action and attitude. Armed with these treasures in our lives we will not become hardhearted toward others.
Having compassion one of another: In the Greek this is one word, συμπαθεῖς, "sympathetic" (cf. RSV), and it signifies community of all feelings, whether of pleasure or pain (Bigg). Barnes
Love as brothers
Here it is, we are to love as brothers. How else can the church of Jesus Christ be genuine and honor the One who died to establish it and who said that He will one day present His bride to the Father in heaven. I want to be a part of that kind of brotherly fellowship.
Be humble
In the days of the first century, being humble was not in style. That was slavish, weak and not admired by the world. A person was showing fear and was clearly saying he had no pride or strength to live with honor in their world. I really liked this statement from one of the scholars on this subject.
“But Christians must be done with that egoistic pride which looks with condescension and even disdain upon others, with that autonomous self-centeredness which breaks communion with others.”
We need only to look at Jesus to see the qualities we need and should want in our lives.
Philippians 2:5-8 NIV
That is true love as He displayed His humility for each of us as He chose to come to earth and die on a cross.
Do not repay evil with evil or insult for insult
But repay all with a blessing
I would like to take these two thoughts together. Sure, we could just talk about not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but we need to combine these with being a blessing for complete understanding of why we do what Peter says is best. We know that evil is everywhere and it touches our lives so very much. I don’t know if back in Peter’s day how much different it was, but we can surely see the evil that is alive in today’s world. We seemed to have it pushed into our faces regularly. Just because the world is that way doesn’t mean believers have to be. Warren Wiersbe again points out, “A new redemptive relationship must be set up to counteract evil.” Because Jesus is our example He desires that we counter the evil with blessings and harsh words with tenderness. When someone reviles you then don’t just insult back but express the blessings of God upon them. They may actually be stunned to hear that! No one who is a follower of the Lord Jesus would desire to insult someone or become ugly toward another. If one does that, then they express the idea of pride and arrogance; that they are so much better than the others who insulted them or those who had done evil to them.
When Jesus saved you and me He made us a new creation, our old “man” had been done away with and now we are new in every way, our action, attitude, speech and thought. We are supposed to change.
“One of the most difficult problems of the Christian is this: How can the disciple of Jesus Christ live up to such high demands? Being a Christian is hard, since it counters the basic desires of the "natural man." Motivation comes from two truths: Man's high calling to a life of eternal meaningfulness and dignity, and the marvel of God's gift to a prodigal race. The ultimate motivation is in that "unspeakable gift." The Christian ethic rests upon it.” WW
J. Vernon McGee said it like this, “This is turning the other cheek. If another believer says something evil about you, something that is not true, are you to strike back? No. Commit him to the Lord -- the Lord will take care of him.”
And Peter says the underlying reason for expressing yourself positively is that, You do all of this because you were called to receive a blessing from God.
1 Peter 3:13-15 NIV
2. Living without Fear - v. 13-15
We should live our lives without living in fear. Living with Jesus brings to us a sense of peace for He is the Prince of Peace and He is our hope, therefore why fear someone or something that might hurt us? He is our strength and shield, our very present help in time of trouble. Being blessed by the Lord Jesus brings a sense that God is with you and He will never leave you no matter what the situation is that you might find yourself. Peter says even in persecution or evil which is done to you, you should realize that you are still blessed! That counts for more than we can imagine. People may say, “How can you act the way you do in the midst of what you have gone through?” You can answer back to them, “I am blessed! God is in charge of my life, I am His lock, stock and barrel.”
Our hearts are to continue to love and honor the Lord God, in all situations, and because of that, we are to witness to all about our faith, even in difficult circumstances. In times where there is trouble or persecution, when we stand firm in our faith, you may be asked why you don’t fear, or why you're so calm in the face of trouble? If that is so, you are to be prepared to give an answer to whoever may ask you about that or about your faith in Christ. Witnessing to your faith about the Lord Jesus during difficult times may be hard but it provides a very special opportunity to talk to someone who may never have heard the Gospel any other time or way.
When people question you about what you believe, you are to be kind and gentle as you give your answer, showing respect to them even though they may not have respected you. How else will they see Jesus in you if you are like the world and respond in anger. Jesus and an angry spirit do not go together. In fact, when you are “in a discussion” with someone and you are pressing your opinion, you need to remember that winning is not always the point, but how you treat and talk to people who may disagree with you, is more important to God.
You may be talking with others about Jesus and salvation, and they differ with how you believe, if you are kind and gentle in your conversation and show respect for their beliefs, then you may have a better opportunity to get the Gospel across before they close their hearts to the truth.
1 Peter 3:16-17 NIV
3. Living with a Clear Conscience - v. 16-17
Each believer can truly have a clear conscience while going through trials and tribulations if we treat others kindly and with respect regardless how they treat us. Our behavior has to be a model of godliness before the world to have them realize that there is a difference in us than others without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God uses His children to reach hardened godless people with the Gospel. But no one will ever be reached if we are guilty as charged for the things they claim we have done.
A officer of the law told me this week that he came across a preacher of a church that he had visited, while the preacher was out with his mistress. He was so surprised and particularly so, when the officer said in referring to the preacher's unChristian behavior, “What if I told your wife about this incident?” The preacher said, “It really doesn’t make a difference.” Of course, the office told me that he never even thought of returning to that church.
You and I want to live our lives free of wrongdoing and sin so that when we are accused of doing wrong, that they will have no evidence against us.
1 Peter 3:18-22 NIV
4. It is Christ who Suffered and Christ who Reigned - v. 18-22
a. Jesus Christ’s Sufferings - v. 18
Folks, our Jesus suffered so much for us to have forgiveness of sins and to be given eternal life. Not like the priests of old, where they had to year after year sacrifice burnt offerings, Jesus gave His life once for all never to have to have a sacrifice again for the sins of mankind. Paul told us, much like Peter does here in 2 Corinthians 5:21,
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
Jesus took our unrighteousness upon Himself and gave us His righteousness. Jim Stephens, Nan’s husband, used to say, “That was the Great Exchange.” Because of His death we have His life in us and we are made alive in our Spirit, who is Christ in us because He was raised from the dead and is alive evermore.
b. Jesus Christ - The King - v. 19-22
Here is not only the conclusion of what Peter says for this chapter but it is our invitation.
King Jesus has been King from the very beginning! Evidently sometime between the time Jesus died and rose again it is believed, and mostly from this passage, that Jesus went into the depths of the earth, Hades, or Sheol, to proclaim a message to the “spirits imprisoned” there. Jesus proclaimed something to those imprisoned spirits but we don’t really know what it was. Some believe that He went to preach the Gospel to the lost pre-church spirits. In fact many believe that but some believe it was the group whom Noah preached to for 150 years.
Others believe it was not preaching the Gospel but proclaiming His victory over evil and sin.
There are several interpretations of this passage but let me share with you three points about it. First, this is the passage that many Catholics get Purgatory from. Jesus went into hell to preach to those souls there, and some then would be saved. You see that in the Apostles Creed, “He descended to the dead.” or some read it “into hell.”
Second, was the thought that the Spirit of Christ was in Noah as He preached to the “now” imprisoned spirits. The third, which some called the traditional interpretation, is that Christ sometime between his death and His resurrection descended to the place of the Old Testament righteous dead to give them an opportunity to hear the Gospel and give them a chance to receive salvation.
I guess I have to give you my interpretation. I do not have a dogma about this passage, but Jesus when sometime between death and resurrection He went into the place of the dead declared to all, including the spirits from Noah's time, that He was Lord of all, and that Victory was won and salvation had been accomplished through the Cross, salvation was not preached.
Peter then relates again back to Noah’s time to share the thought of salvation through the water by Noah and his family. They were saved by God, not salvation from the water, but their lives were spared because of the Ark on which they were living. He uses this same thought to remind us that baptism is not just the removal of dirt but it represents the pledge you share with God that your faith in Him is just like Noah’s was in God to save him and his family. The baptism is the symbol of anyone’s faith that God would save you through the death, burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Your conscience is clear because God knows your heart and it is sincere as to your faith in Him and therefore your salvation is real from Christ. This same Christ went back to heaven to be with God, His Father, and presently sits at the right hand of the God with angels and authorities and powers in submission to Him!
Now this is the invitation.
Have you submitted to this Jesus who wants your life to shine for Him?
Have you begun your journey of life transformation by the power of God to give honor and glory to the Father through the way you live, think and act?
Are you ready to say to Him who died for you, “I want to live for you giving you honor and glory all the days of my life by the way I live.”
Are you ready to say to Christ, “I am lost and want so much your offer of salvation and forgiveness of my sins.”
Today is the perfect day to make those decisions.