Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Suffering for Doing Good | 1 Peter 3 | Shawn Miller
When your good intentions lead to unexpected hardships, how do you respond? In today’s episode, we explore the profound themes within 1 Peter 3:13-22, anchored by a heartfelt story of a family grappling with adversity despite their quest to grow closer to God. We dive deep into the scripture, drawing out encouragement to maintain hope and honor Christ even when suffering for doing good. We'll contrast this with the early Christians’ harsh realities under Roman rule, posing thought-provoking questions about what suffering looks like in our modern lives.
As we shift our focus to the broader issue of suffering in today’s society, we tackle how Christians often perceive macro-level suffering through media and political discourse. Reflecting on Jesus' teachings from the Sermon on the Mount, we emphasize the importance of inner joy and spiritual stability amidst trials. Drawing parallels between the historical context of early Christian exiles and present-day challenges, we stress the necessity of honoring Christ in our hearts and being prepared to defend our faith with gentleness and respect, all underscored by a personal anecdote that brings these principles to life.
Finally, we delve into the heart of evangelism and the two-step process of salvation. We explore how living a life that naturally prompts others to inquire about our faith allows us to share our beliefs with authenticity and humility. Highlighting the significance of maintaining integrity and a clear conscience, we discuss the importance of aligning our actions with our words to avoid hypocrisy. Through the lens of Jesus’ unjust suffering and exaltation, we reflect on the importance of public baptism as a declaration of our new identity in Christ, concluding with a heartfelt prayer for understanding and embracing these transformative scriptures.
You may be seated, turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter, 3, and this morning we'd like to cover verses 13 through 22. And as you turn in your Bibles to that portion, I'd like to just tell you a little bit of a story that happened just recently, and this is more of a conversation piece than an actual story. So my wife was sitting with a group of ladies recently and, just so there's no speculation, it was a group of ladies outside of church, so it was not the lady that gave this experience, was not from church here, but she was with a group of ladies and the one lady started talking about how, in the last year, she and her husband and their family decided to really make an effort to draw closer to God With their whole family through personal relationship. They decided to again start tithing the first fruits right off of the paycheck and they wanted to make this a year of doing really good and of drawing closer to God. Through the course of this year, things have happened to them that they were not used to seeing happen. The neighbor's dog came over into the pasture field and was ready to chase their cattle which was a pre-existing problem and they took the BB gun, shot the dog just to scare him off, ended up in a court case still ongoing court case. They're not sure what's going to happen. They had an accident, a road accident, where the mom broke her arm. They had a lot of different things just happening during the course of this year that hadn't happened before this and this was a year that they had intentionally decided to do good, to do everything well, to draw closer to God. And now this.
Speaker 1:Certainly, the question is why? But I think even the more important question is how should they respond to these happenings? This morning, as we look at 1 Peter 3, verses 13 through 22,. The question that I'd like for us to pose to ourselves as we go through this scripture for sure, the first part, verses 13 through 17, is what is our response when we attempt to do good and we get harmed? What is our response when I attempt to do the right thing and I'm misunderstood? What is our response when we attempt to live godly lives and bad things happen? What is our response? I've asked Nevin to come up and read the text. This morning. He'll be reading 1 Peter 3, verses 13 through 22. So, nevin, if you want to come forward and in my Bible. It starts right here and it goes through here your hearts.
Speaker 2:Honor Christ, the Lord, as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you.
Speaker 2:Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities and powers. Thank you, nevin.
Speaker 1:So, as you can see, this is a lot to cover in about 25 minutes or 30 minutes. So we're going to pick out a few themes as we go through this portion. The first theme I'd like to look at in verses 13 through 17 is suffering for what is good, suffering for what is good. Verses 13 through 15, I'm just going to read those again Now. Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? Verses 13 through 15, I'm just going to read those again Now. Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason of the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. Even yet, in today's world, the general rule of society is that if a person does good, harm should not come to that person. That's the general rule of society. If we see somebody do good, generally people will wish well for that person. If we see somebody not doing good or doing evil, oftentimes, unfortunately even some of us as Christians, will wish ill to that person, which is not scriptural.
Speaker 1:So let's put ourselves into the setting here in 1 Peter again and I know I've said this numerous times because of preaching through 1 Peter, but I think it's good to remind us of the readers of this passage. They were in the Roman rule and this would have been in the 50s and 60s AD, right before the persecution of Nero took place. Now their suffering was quite a bit different from what we would classify as suffering today. I would like to here, in a few minutes, open it up to you with the question what does suffering look like for us today, in today's world, in America? Do we suffer? What does suffering look like? And I don't know if we can even compare it to what their suffering was in the setting that they were in here as Peter was writing this letter and them being the first readers of this letter, peter didn't give them a lot of grace with the setting that they were in. He could have said yes, you should do good even to those who persecute you, but I realize you're in a very tough spot, so I give you some leeway to. If it's possible, do good. If not. I understand he didn't say that. He said do good even if it brings harm.
Speaker 1:The Christian is called to do good no matter what. So what is the opposite of doing what we know is good? James 4.17. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. As Randy mentioned, we started the baptism class this morning and we were talking about the sin that happened in the garden and the question came up so what is sin? What is sin? Is all not good sin or what is good? James is fairly specific when he says let him that knows to do what we know, what our conscience tells us through God's word, what we know to do good, and if we decide to not do it, we're sinning.
Speaker 1:There are times when a person will suffer for doing what is right. Does anybody have an experience that they could share with us, that's a tangible get-a-hold-of type of experience that would bring out this point of where were you misunderstood or what kind of suffering have you experienced within the last few years? Is there anybody that would have an experience that you could help us bring out this point to where you would feel that you were suffering and don't compare it to the exiles that were dispersed into these five different regions. But in today's world that you would have said I was suffering, but this is how I felt God, what I felt God calling me to do, does anybody have an experience that you'd be brave enough to share with us? Or, as you're thinking through that, I'd like to have some response. What is suffering for us today? I'd like to get you involved this morning. Yes, can we have the mic up here? I want everybody to hear.
Speaker 2:Can we have the mic up here I want everybody to hear. I think on kind of like a macro level it can feel like suffering when we hear the identity of Christianity kind of slandered, for sure in popular media, especially around politics and for sure woke culture. It can be kind of disheartening when you hear the name Christian kind of thrown in the dirt and tossed around as a people group who only sees one side and really doesn't have a heart for the world. And while that's not direct suffering, I think it is a type of kind of macro-level suffering.
Speaker 2:Okay, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:Do we not experience direct suffering because we run away from it in today's world? Are we not bold enough in today's world? Are we not bold enough? Is that why we're not? Is that why we think we might not be enduring suffering? Are we not out there enough with who we are as God's people, or are we just in a different setting than they were back then? I'm not necessarily looking to answer all those questions this morning, but I'd like to get us to think. If we find ourselves to where we think we are being harmed because of something we were doing well, how do we respond? How are we called to respond?
Speaker 1:Jesus said this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, verses 10 through 12. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account. It's not about us, it's about the one we serve. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. In this context, blessed means the condition of inner satisfaction and untouchable joy that comes from knowing Christ and walking with him. In other words, if we find ourselves in a position where we feel harmed, where we feel hurt, where we feel misunderstood, if we have that joy that can withstand anything, which only comes through our daily walk with Christ, we will respond accordingly. He also goes on to say, in the latter part of verse 14, have no fear of them, nor be troubled. Now put yourself again for just a few seconds into the setting of the elect exiles. Have no fear of the Roman government, have no fear of Nero, don't be troubled. How hard would that be? How hard would that be? And we ask ourselves the question how is that at all possible? How is that at all possible?
Speaker 1:Troubled in this context means don't be unsettled in your faith in Christ. Be settled Spiritually and mentally confused. Don't be spiritually and mentally confused. Know why I dispersed you into these areas, and that is to be the light in the darkness. Along with your dispersion will come persecution. But if you're settled on your conviction and faith in me, christ, you won't need to be troubled. This same trouble was used in John 14, verse 1, when Jesus was telling his disciples about his death, his upcoming death, and what all he'll be facing, the persecution he'll be facing. And then in John 14, verse 1, he says but don't be troubled. If you believe in me, if you believe in God, believe also me. I go to prepare a place for you.
Speaker 1:Troubled, where is my faith in Christ? Is it settled? Do I know what I believe or am I mentally and spiritually confused? So how is it possible to endure suffering for good or suffering for when we think we're doing well? Let's read verse 15.
Speaker 1:But in your hearts, honor Christ, the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason of the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. But in your hearts, honor Christ, the Lord as holy, in order for us to respond well to whatever suffering you might be going through currently, or what is yet to come, or what you've gone through in the past. It starts with having the highest regard for what Christ did for us, and as we'll get into verse 18, we'll just look back at what Christ did for us to give us a passage of hope. Christ suffered unjustly because of my sin. How did he handle it? He knew his mission, he knew where his trust was, and that was in God, the Father. My response starts with having the highest regard for what Jesus did for me and then, because of that, knowing in my heart that I'm sold out for him, knowing in my heart where my faith is rooted, as I began studying for this sermon again, I don't think I said it audibly, but I'm sure God heard my groans when I was like, oh no, not again talking about suffering.
Speaker 1:Peter kind of repeats this whole theme through the first epistle and I was tempted to just dodge it and talk about something else. I don't know what's going to come in the future. I don't know where our nation will be in 30 years from now. I don't know where our nation will be in 50 years from now. Some of you will probably still be here. Some of us will probably have passed off the scenes by then. Like we spoke before, the sufferings today cannot compare to what these people were going through. Those sufferings might be coming, but it is now time for us to know how do we deal with disappointments, how do I respond to things that I now interpret as sufferings, and that is part of why I followed God's heating and I'm preaching again about suffering and how we respond to it. Then he talks about if we do endure suffering, and then people see how we respond and then we might get asked so why are you responding in this way? Then he says always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you.
Speaker 1:So recently my wife and I were in one of the local towns and we were at a gas station and as I was pumping the gas there was a minivan that pulled up on the other side of the pump and I noticed the minivan and I didn't really think much about it and all of a sudden my wife was pounding on, she was inside the truck and she was pounding on the window and I opened the door and she says, sean was inside the truck and she was pounding on the window and I opened the door and she says, sean, I think we should buy a tank of gas for that lady. And I was like okay, and then I, then I walked over and as soon as I kind of saw the, saw the condition of the van and this was, it seemed, like a young mother with two children, and I praise God for Mernita to be sensitive to the spirit. So, as awkward as it kind of was. I walked up to her window and I asked can I buy a tank of gas for you? And she looked at me like who are you? And then she said, um sure. And then she goes.
Speaker 1:I was actually just sitting here trying to figure out how much gas I can afford, because I have a water bill to pay and I have other bills to pay. And as I started pumping her gas she looked at me and said why are you doing this? And that gave me an opportunity to tell her it's not me, it's because of what God has done for me. And I asked her do you know who God is? And she said this is kind of strange because she said just in the last couple of days this has been happening to me. She said somebody gave me a Bible just recently, but I haven't read it yet. And I asked her do you know who God is? Then she said my family was really religious, but I think I should start reading my Bible. And I said go home and start reading your Bible. And after I was done, she asked if she can at least pay a little bit of it, and of course I didn't allow her to. She asked if she can at least pay a little bit of it. And of course I didn't allow her to.
Speaker 1:The moral of the story is it would have been quite a bit different if I would have gone up on her window and knocked and just started preaching to her about who God is. But she asked why are you doing this? So that brings us to another question. So is evangelism according to what peter's asking here and I'm not trying to open a can of worms, I'm trying to get us to think is evangelism supposed to be reactive or proactive? And I'll let you decide that. I'm not here to answer that. But what I am saying is am I living my life to where people are prompted to ask why are you doing this? Am I living my life to where people want to know what's different about him? And then they ask, and then it gives us opportunity to defend my belief how are you living your life this morning? How am I living my life this morning? Am I living my life that people want to know what's different?
Speaker 1:But Peter says here always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason of the hope that is in you. But then he says, basically says, don't shove it down their throat. He says do it with gentleness and respect. This is not an argument we're trying to win when we defend our beliefs. We want to draw others to Christ. Pride and arrogance will greatly hinder our defense of Christ. Self-righteousness, the better-than-thou attitude will turn people away rather than draw them to Jesus. We are not trying to win an argument when explaining our beliefs. The challenge in this portion that I'd like to leave with myself first and all of us this morning when you suffer harm for something that you thought you were doing right, how are you responding? And is your response generating that question? Why did you respond that way? And if you're asked, why did you respond that way, can you give a defense of? Why did you do that? It opens the door for us to even treat that person that we think did us wrong to point them to God.
Speaker 1:Verse 18,. Having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile you, your good behavior in Christ, may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer. We as believers must understand what we believe and why we are a follower of Christ, and then we must be able to articulate our belief humbly, thoughtfully, reasonably and biblically, verses 16 through 17. Actually, I just read those A couple more points on those. What does he mean by having a good conscience in verse 16?
Speaker 1:Have you ever been evangelizing to someone or trying to encourage someone, while in the back of your mind you knew that exactly what you're encouraging them to do? You don't have a clean conscience in that same area. That's happened to me when I'm trying to encourage somebody else or trying to bring somebody else to a better state of mind or pointing them to Christ, and I know in my own heart that my conscience is not clean. I have something to clean up, folks. If we do that, if we are living lives to where we are living with a clean conscience, we're going to be very ineffective in our ministry to other people. It actually, if we try to help other people without or with knowing that our consciences aren't clean, it gives that person the opportunity to bring reproach and scorn back on us.
Speaker 1:When we defend our beliefs while having an unclean conscience, we are giving the unbeliever an opportunity to accuse us in return, which is ultimately a mockery of Christ. We've all experienced people where they might say one thing and do another and we've all experienced probably hurt through those, and we might have been that person that did that to somebody else. The Christian who says one thing and does another thing is repulsive to an unbeliever. I know a man that I was friends with for years. He is no longer with us, he's passed on, but one of the things that kept him from coming to Christ was his business dealings that he had with the Mennonites years and years and years ago. It could have been literally 50 years later and it was still keeping him from believing on who God is.
Speaker 1:Do my actions align with the verbal defense of my beliefs? Does my walk match my talk? It is better to suffer unjustly for doing right than to suffer justly for doing wrong. Verse 18 through 22. I don't think we're going to read these. I would like to read verse 18. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but being made alive in the Spirit Actually, I'm just going to quickly read down through again In which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, and I'll stop right there until we then will take it more verse by verse, verse 19 through 20.
Speaker 1:Actually, let's cover verse 18. I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here. Let's cover verse 18 first. Christ does not ask of us what he was not willing to do himself. Hebrews 4, verses 14 through 16. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who, in every respect, has been tempted as we are. Jesus suffered unjustly. He bore the punishment that rightfully was ours. How did he respond? He went on with the mission. He said, not my will, but thy will be done. That's why we can be here this morning with the hope of redemption.
Speaker 1:Verses 19 through 20. I'm just going to read these again In which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight persons were brought safely through water. I concur with Martin Luther when he said this, and he was referring to this passage. Martin Luther once said that this is perhaps the most obscure passion in the New Testament and that he could not understand it nor explain it. And I stand before you this morning not being able to totally explain what verse 19 means.
Speaker 1:Now there are a few ideas out there and, as you can imagine, there's a lot of scholars that don't agree on verse 19. But here are a few of the ideas. We can see that from verse 18, we can conclude that the events of verse 19 happened sometime in the three-day span between the crucifixion and the resurrection. According to verse 20, the spirits in prison mentioned in verse 19 appeared to be tied way back to the disobedience of the people, back in the days of Noah, when God warned them of the destruction to come. Of Noah, when God warned them of the destruction to come. According to verse 18, we can be fairly certain that it has something to do with the disobedience of those people.
Speaker 1:Some other ideas 2 Peter 2.4 mentions that God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down into hell to be reserved for judgment. Could those be the ones that he was referring to as the spirits in prison, jude? Verse 6, refers to angels reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, reserved for judgment, and some even think that this refers to the sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6, verse 2, who left their angelic status to come down to earth and have sexual relationships with humans. Some people think that Jesus was ministering to some spirits connected to that. This is more to this verse and what I'm saying. This is more to whet your appetite to do a deeper dive into those verses.
Speaker 1:I will say this despite these varying opinions, the main point for us as believers is that Christ suffered unjustly on our behalf. Because he was willing to suffer in this way, we now have the opportunity to be delivered from death and destruction by putting our faith and belief in him. And then, as verse 21 indicates, just as Noah in the ark, just as the ark represents the deliverance from the waters of the flood, now baptism by water represents the visual representation of the believer's deliverance through Christ. Believing in Christ as our Lord and Savior is the first step to being saved and too often we have kind of segregated coming to Christ and baptism. Here as a church and I know Crosspoint, since us as pastors have talked about this extensively we would like to start bringing more of a recognition with the saving of the sinner, followed by baptism.
Speaker 1:Baptism does not do the saving part. There's a two-step process and I'd like to be very clear in this. Believing in Christ as our Lord and Savior is the first step in becoming saved, but there is a second step that should follow closely. The next step that follows is being publicly identified as God's child and making a public statement that God is now controlling my life and I am no longer in control of my life. I have now made Jesus Lord and Savior, and that is demonstrated publicly by baptism with water. It's a two-step process, but let's not segregate the two.
Speaker 1:And then verse 22 in conclusion who has gone to heaven talking about Jesus and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities and powers having been subjected to him. Jesus suffered unjustly for you and I. His suffering, unjustly for you and I, his suffering unjustly brought him to the right hand of God. Jesus today is sitting at the right hand of God and he is second in power only to God himself. And that is a God, that is a Christ, and that is the team that we serve today.
Speaker 1:Folks, this morning, if you believe you are suffering unjustly because of doing well, how are you responding? Are you responding in a way that generates that question. Why are you responding that way? And then, if you are asked that question, can you defend your beliefs? And how are you defending your beliefs? It's not about us. It's about drawing people toward the Father and toward Christ. Let's bow for prayer, father. God, thank you for this time this morning. Lord, I pray that you might grant an increase to what was spoken this morning. Lord, continue to reveal these scriptures to us and help us to take them to heart. I pray this on your name, amen.