1 Peter 3:18-4:11
The question I get asked most often as a pastor is "Why?" Why did my 20 year old die after that skiing accident? Why have I been diagnosed with cancer or Alzheimer's disease? Why did I fail that exam when I studied so hard? Why did I lose my job when I have a family to support?
For a small percentage of people, this is an intellectual problem that, they claim, keeps them from faith as they ask, "How could a good and all-powerful God allow so much pain in this world?" But, for most, it is a personal problem. "Why is this happening to me or to those I care about? Even avowedly non-religious people ask the question -- which is always interesting to me. It shows me they may not be as far from faith as they think they are. They must think there is an answer to the question "why"– that someone outside themselves is accountable to bring about justice or they wouldn't ask it.
The Bible is also filled with people asking the question "why" – especially in the Old Testament. We all know that the book of Job is permeated by this question. "Why did I lose so much – my health, my possessions, my family -- when I've been faithful to God?" But, Job is not the only one? Asaph asks it in Psalm 73? "Why are rotten people prospering when I am suffering?" David asks it in countless situations in his poetry found in the Psalms. Jeremiah asks it. It's asked all the way until the end of the Old Testament era as the OT writers -- all the way through the smaller prophetic books like Habakkuk and Malachi – are asking "why"? Why is this happening to me? Why is this happening to us?
But, when we come to the New Testament, a radical shift takes place in this question. Oh, it's still asked. Jesus asked it on the cross. Paul dealt with it in Romans 8. But, after Jesus' own suffering and death, the question about suffering changes completely. The central question is no longer, "Why am I suffering?" The central question became, "Why did Jesus suffer?"
And, have you noticed? Those questions that flow out of Jesus' suffering are central to 1 Peter? This world is filled with suffering, Peter admits. The people to whom he first wrote, who were living in what is now Turkey, were going through extremely difficult times. But 1 Peter is not a philosophical treatise about the problem of pain. No, Peter calls all followers of Jesus to look at life's challenges in the light of Jesus' life, cross and resurrection.
And, we come today to the key texts in 1 Peter related to this life transforming question – 1 Peter 3:18 and 4:1: Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God (3:18)... Since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude (4:1)...
Today, I want to show you from Peter's teaching, how this historic event of Jesus dying on the cross and then defeating death through resurrection changes how live with the question -- "why".
Reviewing the Foundation: A word about our faith and it's commitment to history and "truth" (or, why does pastor Greg teach doctrine so much and why should I beg him to do it more than he does even if my jr. higher is bored by it?).
In 4:1-6 and then again 4:7-11, the Bible calls us to live in certain ways in the midst of tough times. The first section is about what we should avoid and second is what we must engage in. But notice how each section is introduced with the word "therefore." This happens over and over again in the New Testament, i.e., practical admonitions are launched with the world "therefore" -- so, of course, we should see what "therefore" is "there for." And what we always see is that the "therefore" points directly to something that we believe to be true or to something that we believe to have happened.
Bottom line: The Bible insists that that there is a direct relationship of truth to life.
We see this in the Book of Romans. For 11 chapters, the Apostle Paul taught doctrine. He taught about God, abut people, about the world, etc. Then after 11 chapters of teaching doctrine, Paul wrote in 12:1, "Therefore..." Therefore, in view of God's mercy, your whole life has to change. Offer your bodies to God – this is worship. Offer your minds to God, which will transform your daily living. The same thing happens in Ephesians. We have 3 chapters telling us all about God's eternal plan and what he has done in Christ to bring glory to his name. Then, in 4:1, we read, "Therefore, live a life worthy of the calling you have received...
For Jesus-followers, the way we live is always based on what we believe is ultimately real and true. The Bible teaches that if you do not know what you believe, you will not know how God would have you live. Even more, you won't know why God calls you to a different life than those around you. The directives in Scripture will feel like legalism unless you know the truth that leads to God's commands. So, mark this down: The Bible never gives instructions for living that are just busy-work, The Bible doesn't give commands to squelch our joy. My third grade teacher might have given me busy-work just to keep me out of trouble. (I.e., write 500 times, "A verb is an action word that tells what the subject does.") No, there is always reality and purpose behind God's instructions. The Bible insists that correct living flows directly from what is real and true. Let me take just one example to show you what I mean.
Some people in our world might say, "Pastor, the Bible's commands sound like absolutes and I don't believe in absolutes." But then, those same people will say that racism is always wrong. I say, "Come again? If you don't believe in those kinds of absolutes, why do you absolutely believe racism is wrong?" Their answer is usually something like, "Well, it's self-evident" or "all people feel that way" or "everybody knows it." No they don't know it. There have been countless examples of people who wipe out entire people groups on the basis of racism and have argued genocide is good. And many of them were well-educated people."
But, Jesus-followers, we say racism is wrong and base it on ultimate reality. We oppose racism because of what the Bible says about how human life started. God created human life, all human life, in his image. All of it has its origin in that single source. We're all related to one another as human beings and intrinsically valuable because we are made in God's image. God underscored this truth when he sent Jesus to die for and to rescue all people who come to him. And each one who comes to him becomes a part of God's family regardless of issues of skin color, race or ethnicity. What we believe is rooted in that those realities. God therefore commands us to love all people as he loves."
The Bible teaches that truth and life must connect. The way we live must flow from what is real. Jesus-followers have a basis for arguing that racism or child abuse is bad or honesty and justice are good. We have a basis for saying, "You should..."
So, sometimes, we ask how we should live when we are going through tough times – when people mock us or abuse us and treat us unjustly. And Peter says, "Let's start with what we believe." He begins with "therefore." So, what does Scripture teach this week?
Lesson #1: What to Avoid in This World – the way of life that our culture sweeps us into (4:1-6)
The issue at stake in these verses is that Christians in what is now Turkey were being scoffed at and abused because they had quit doing the things that everyone around them thought was the height of fun and entertainment. I was in that part of the world recently looking at the ruins of the ancient cities in Turkey. In all of those cities I visited, the huge theaters were known for the sexually explicit and violent shows. The arenas were the entertainment places where immigrants and religious misfits were killed as they were slaughtered by wild animals or by gladiators. Even the religious settings were temples such as those built for Dionysius and Asclepius where people went to meet prostitutes and engage in orgies. These things were what people did to have a good time. Notice how Peter put it in v. 3: You have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
Some people find it surprising that Peter just takes it for granted that the Christians had all engaged in this way of life before Jesus – all of them had done it a lot. But, we shouldn't be surprised – this was the way of life for the whole culture. This was the society offering "the good life", "la belle vie" (French), "la vida Buena" (Spanish), "das gute Leben" (German), "la dolche vita" (Italian), "xing fu sheng huo" or the idiom "hao ri zi" (Mandarin)... In every culture and language people are looking to live well.
You can imagine the 1st C world: "What a rotten week this has been at work, Markus. What are you doing Friday night? Did you hear, there's an unlimited bar over at the Dionysius Temple and beautiful women coming in from Rome! I've got two free passes. I'll pick you up at 7." To say no would have been unthinkable. Going to the temple orgies or the savage gladiator games is what boys and their fathers would have done when the boy passed from childhood to adulthood in the ancient world. And, just like now, the pursuit of pleasure always included what Peter talks about here, i.e., sex and heavy drinking.
But Christians said, "No, we don't have to do those things anymore to find real life. Those things didn't satisfy anyway. The pleasure didn't last and our marriages and families were harmed." Do you remember the "Top Ten List" of commitments the early church made that distinguished our brothers and sisters from the world from an earlier message I gave? One of them was this:
*Entertainment: They refused to go to bloodthirsty entertainment venues like gladiatorial competitions and were therefore called antisocial.
According to the Bible, people from all over the world who look for "the good life" are searching for what was lost in Genesis 1-3. Human beings were made to live well, to experience shalom, when God was walking and talking with them. Then and only then were relationships with people and with the world in order. But, remember, in Genesis 3, people walked away from God and everything was harmed. From that time on, people were made to know God but no longer were alive to him because of sin. But, we still long to live well and search in countless places to try to find "the good life" again. It's an important search – but usually with the wrong solutions. We're "lookin' for life in all the wrong places..." In ancient Turkey, people looked for it drunkenness, temple orgies, and violent entertainment venues. They had no idea where else to look!
Notice the profound way it is put in 4:4: They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. The word Peter uses is for being swept along in a flood. It's just the way everyone is moving and thinking and living. You hardly even notice it because it has become so commonplace in the culture.
Does this say anything to us? I think of the Christian student at the university who is at lunch when all his friends are talking about a big party coming up next Friday at the fraternity. "All the women from the best sorority are coming! Jim's older brother, who's now a lead partner in his law firm, is paying for all the alcohol. Hey, we'll come get you at 8!" You know you'll be mocked if you say no.
I think of the political leaders in Bell city recently who were swept along by the ever-increasing salaries they could give themselves with no accountability. These salaries became absurdly out of proportion with what the salaries should have been. I'm sure they were "swept along" with the idea that they were providing services so why not keep increasing the compensation.
I think of Major league baseball with the whole world cheering the home run battle between Sammy Sosa and Mark Maguire several years ago – passing Babe Ruth's and then Roger Maris' home run record. Getting lots of fame and money for each triumph. It's not hard to imagine all the other players thinking, "I'll bet they're on steroids. It's just what people do. If I don't do it, I'll miss out!" We get swept along with the way people live thinking if we do what they do, we'll really find "the good life." But, in reality, they're not really living – as the countless stories of celebrities and CEOs substantiate.
What should we do in the midst of these floods? Peter says, in v. 2, that we have learned that we don't have to live in those ways in order to find the good life. We have found it instead in seeking the will of God: We do not live the rest of our earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.
But, that commitment to God's will – though it pleases God and brings us an inner shalom – also brings with it scorn and abuse. How do we handle those tough times? We start with doctrine – we start by coming to church and remembering what we believe.
What We Believe
The historic event – the reality -- to which Peter points them is the death and resurrection of Jesus. Remember the word "therefore" in 4:1. It goes back to 3:17-22 when Peter says that we will sometimes suffer for doing what is right in this world. But this is hard. How should we live in such times? Peter says, "Start by remembering Jesus. He was perfectly righteous yet he suffered more than any of us. The implication: There is no dishonor in being mocked and going through tough times if Jesus did it."
"What good did his suffering do?" we might ask. In a very complex text, Peter says – eternal good was accomplished because of Jesus' suffering:
*His death brought you to God (3:18).
*His defeat of sin declared victory over all evil – even the worst rebels against God – those mentioned in Genesis 6 as referred to in 3:19-20. An earlier book, 1 Enoch, refers to the Jewish view that these beings referred to were the very worst offenders of God's goodness in the views of the people. Peter says, Jesus' death and resurrection was a culminating proclamation that all evil has been defeated.
*Jesus' death led to resurrection and his enthronement at the right hand of the Father (3:21-22) – and thereby offers us salvation – the very thing symbolized by baptism.
Knowing this, we can go into this difficult world with confidence. 4:1: Since Christ suffered in the body, arm yourselves with the same view of the world that he had. God's will is good. Living for him is right. Evil is still in the world though -- and will clash with God's will again and again. Don't be surprised if living for God brings some mocking and abuse. Your own resurrection and triumph is secured because you are in Christ and Christ is in you.
And, in 4:5-6, Peter anticipates people in church saying something like this: "But, Peter, when we live for God and stay away from the things everybody else does, we're mocked because some of our brothers and sisters in the church family gave up those things -- and then died anyway. What good did living for the will of God do them?"
Peter simply says, "This life is not all there is. God is working his plan in this world. When people stand before God, they will find that trusting Jesus and living for God will not be regretted. We will have given up only what does not satisfy. People might judge you as fools now – but God's judgment is what matters eternally. All of us will stand before God – both those living and now dead. Those who live lives of self-indulgence and evil will be judged because evil matters to God. And those who are in Christ will know that our evil was judged on the cross. His gift of forgiveness belongs to all who trust him. His triumph is something we as his followers will share.
May I show you again what we believe about this work of Christ? It's in the Statement of Faith we will be presenting to you next year:
God's gospel is accomplished through the work of Jesus Christ -
5. We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
God will bring His gospel to fulfillment at the end of the age -
9. We believe in the glorious and personal return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will come in power and great glory to gather His people, to raise the dead, to judge the nations, and to bring His Kingdom to fulfillment. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and motivates the believer to godly living, growing faith, sacrificial service, and energetic mission.
You see that Peter gets to the return of Christ in the very next verse, 4:7. We will come back to that on the second weekend in September (so don't be away!!). What we believe about the work of Jesus will change how we respond to hard times. So, now we will remember Jesus. As we go to the Lord's Table, let me ask:
1. Have you come to Jesus? If so, do you see that there is no indignity in going through tough times? The issue is no longer, "Why am I suffering?" It is, "Why did he suffer?" And we see, it was to bring us God and enable us to start living as our Creator made us to live – life to the full. But that full life of Christ has always led to Jesus' followers feeling like aliens and strangers in this world – always and everywhere.
2. Are you being "swept along" by the ways of our culture? Sometimes, when everyone is doing it, we cannot even see clearly that we're being caught up in it. In what ways does your commitment to God make you feel like an alien and stranger in the world? Take time to recommit yourself to the will of God today.
3. Will you pray that the Spirit of God will lead you into places where you will live according to God's will – that your transformed life will be seen to be different from the world -- and you will know you are his because you will feel like an exile in this world?
