Pilgrim Living: Good News for Exiles!
I Peter 2:24,25
Introduction: We left off in our series on I Peter, “Pilgrim living in a
fallen world,” back in November. Peter had just begun to talk about how
Christians, living as exiles and pilgrims in the world, should respond to
authority, speaking about respect for government. Today I am going to read the
next passage, 2:18-25, but for the message today we are going to focus on the
last two verses, which are really our motivation for us to submit to authority in
this entire context, that is, the example of Christ himself. It is similar to
Paul’s argument in Philippians 2:5-8,
5 Let this mind be in you which was
also in Christ Jesus, 6
who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with
God, 7 but made Himself of no
reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of
men. 8 And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of
death, even the death of the cross.
There, Jesus’ servant attitude
in His suffering and death is our motivation to persevere in serving God by serving others, even when life isn’t
fair. Here in I Peter, His sacrifice for us is the foundation for
Pilgrim living, what we might call Gospel-shaped living. Through His passion,
He, the sinless Son of God, suffered in our place, so that we could be saved. The good news is that the price was paid for our redemption. That is so much greater than we can express... it is the well, the spring of living water, that more
than overwhelms the bad news of life in the Valley of Baca (Ps 84:6). As Paul said, “The sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared to the
glory that shall be revealed in us!” (Rom 8:18).
Next
week we will expand on the implications for our living, as we will back up and look
at I Peter 2:18-25 under the title, “Gospel-Shaped living: Pilgrims in the
workplace.” (I am still not sure if that will be one message, or two). For today,
a Communion Sunday, and our first Sunday of the New Year, we will focus on verses 24 and 25, rich and important
sentences that express so beautifully the Gospel. It’s an old, old story but it never gets old!
And it is the greatest “good news” that humans have ever received. That is…
The BIG* Idea: Jesus took our sins and died as our
substitute so that we could have new life in a living relationship with God... and that will change our relationships in the world!
I. Jesus willingly became our substitute and paid the penalty for our
sins (24a).
24a He himself bore our sins in
his body on the tree…
First of all, we have to understand
that we all, every human since the fall, have a sin problem. The first humans
were created directly by God, in his image. With the rest of creation, He
pronounced them “good.” They were without defect, without moral flaws, without
sin. God’s masterpiece. Then, what was
good and perfect was plunged into darkness by human rebellion. God warned Adam
and Eve that sin would bring death. As you read the genealogies in Genesis a
refrain carries through, “…so and so
lived X number of years… and then he
died…” A question we have all heard or consider is that if God is good, why is
there sickness and suffering in the world? Answer: Because of human rebellion against
the authority of God, because of sin. Paul said it like this in Romans,
“...by one man
sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men,
because all have sinned...” (Romans 5:12).
A little further down in
the same letter he says,
“...the wages of
sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord...” (Romans 6:23, NASB).
In that verse Paul points
to both the bad news (what we deserve because we are sinners) and the good
news (the gift God graciously offers us). Peter gets to it right in the
beginning of this verse. Yes, we have a sin problem, but...
“He
himself bore our sins...” The wording here is emphatic. “He himself...” did it. If He himself didn’t do it, we ourselves would have to! If we did not have his intervention, we
would have no hope. If we had to answer for our own sins, it would mean no hope
for reconciliation with God, no possibility for eternal life. There had to be another, a perfect sacrifice,
a substitute. And so, Jesus, the only
human who was sinless by birth and by choice, who was fully man and fully God, He
himself bore our sins in his body... Paul is equally emphatic when he says...
“For our sake he
made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in
him we might
become the righteousness of God...” (2 Cor
5:21).
That unimaginable
exchange took place. He was sinless, the spotless Lamb of God. We all, like lost
sheep, had gone astray, we had turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord
laid on Him, on Jesus, the iniquity of us all. The rest of the verse amplifies
the awesome act, since it happened “…in His own body on the tree…” The word “tree” is
not typically used to describe the cross in the NT, so why did Peter use this
particular word? What point is he trying to make? It seems he is inviting us to
think of the OT!
“...on
the tree...” The Law said that whoever committed a capital crime was to be
hanged “on a tree” and “was cursed by God” (Dt 21:22,23). By using that same word, Peter wants to make
sure that we understand what Jesus did for us. The Law promised “blessing” for
obedience to the stipulations of the covenant, “Do this and you will live.” It also warned that disobedience would
bring “cursing.” Peter says Jesus absorbed the “curse” that we deserved, so
that we could receive a “blessing,” He died so that we could have life. He
took our sin. That is the heart of
the Gospel.
As he said in 2:21, “Christ died for you.” In Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, near the end of the book, Sydney Carton takes the place of Charles Darnay, sacrificing himself so his friend could live. He said, “It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done before...” He was his substitute. Jesus took our sins and died as our substitute so that we could have new life a living relationship with God, and that will change our relationships in the world.
II. What he did for us makes it possible for us to have a new
life (24b,c).
“…that we might die
to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed…”
Someone might read this and think, “Is Peter saying that a believer in
Jesus will never sin?” I don’t think that is the point he is making. The point
is we were in bondage to sin, we were dominated by our old sinful nature, and
now, through faith in Christ, our sins were “nailed to the cross.” Paul said in Romans 6:8-11,
8 Now if we have died with
Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ being raised
from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he
died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider
yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Notice what he says, Jesus “…died to sin, once for all.” And because of that “…you also must consider yourselves dead to
sin…” What Jesus did objectively, as our substitute, has to be
subjectively, personally lived out in our life. This is what Jesus has done,
now live like you believe it! If you
know him, you are not a slave to sin! Paul
said it this way in his letter to the Galatians,
I have been crucified with Christ. 20 It is no longer I who live, but
Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me… (Gal 2:19b-20).
Paul wasn’t literally, at least not
physically, crucified with Christ. Yet He understood that Jesus died as his substitute,
and that now He lived his life in obedience to the crucified and resurrected
Savior. He lives by faith: notice that
he believes who Jesus is, “the Son of God,” and he trusts in what He
did, “…who loved me and gave himself
for me…” The last phrase of I Pet 2:24 is a clear allusion to Isa 53:5 which
says...
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our
iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes
we are healed.
Here Peter says, “By his wounds you have been healed.” The only two times in the entire Bible that this exact word appears are
in I Peter, and in Isaiah 53 (in the Greek translation). Do you remember the
old song, “There is a balm in Gilead, that heals a sin sick soul...” That seems to be the idea, healing our
brokenness, restoring us to fellowship with God. By his wounds. As He addresses believers the verbal tense
indicates Jesus did it all, they were passive: “...you have been healed...” Jesus took our sins and died as our substitute so that we
could have a new life in a living relationship with God that will most certainly change our relationships in the world.
III. Jesus met our deepest need, doing for us what we could
not do for ourselves
(25a).
“For you were [constantly] straying like sheep...”
Remember the scene after the resurrection, when Peter was
restoring Peter, who had three times denied Him. He told him, “Feed my sheep.” Jesus is the Good Shepherd, we are His sheep. Of all the animals
we might be compared to, this is not the most flattering! I never raised sheep, but in talking with
those who have I have learned that they are dumb animals. They depend on the
Shepherd for everything. They are without
any natural defenses, so they need protection and care. They depend on the
shepherd to lead them to water and green pastures. If they fall over, they may
even need help to get back up! Even
though they are so needy they are prone to wander. That need is the point of the metaphor here,
“You were constantly straying like
sheep...” The verbal tense (present participle) indicates an ongoing condition
that was characterizing Peter’s readers before they turned to Jesus. It’s
like what the writer describes at the end of Matthew 9:36,
“When he [Jesus] saw the
crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd.”
Think back to your life before you
trusted in Jesus. In my case it was just like the book of judges, “Every man did that was right in his own eyes…”!
Paul said the “natural man” simply “does not understand the things of the
Spirit of God” (I Cor 2:14). It’s not that we are as bad as we could be, it’s
that our “badness” touches every part of our being. My dad used to say, “Beauty
is only skin deep; but ugly runs right to the bone!” That is true of sin. As
the prophet said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked, who can know it?” That is
where every human is apart from Christ.
By the way, think about this in terms of
our mission. We need to see the harvest
fields more like Jesus sees. Instead of judging the conduct of our neighbors or
lamenting their lifestyles, we should be moved with compassion, we should ache
with the realization that apart from Jesus they will be judged, eternally, for
their own sins. The first man and woman
tried to hide from God—there will be no hiding at the Great White Throne. We need to take seriously our responsibility
to point our friends and relatives and neighbors to Jesus. After all, Jesus took our sins and died as
our substitute so that we could have a new life in a living relationship with
God. As we think about God's grace toward us, our attitude will change toward the people around us.
IV. Now, in Him, we have been reconciled to God by grace
through faith (25b).
“…BUT have now
returned…”
The word “BUT” is a strong
contrast. You were a lost sheep,
wandering, in desperate need, “BUT NOW…” For Peter’s readers, they were
no longer in that hopeless position. They
had turned in their need in a new direction. Have you ever made a wrong turn? I frequently do! During our time in Brazil we lived in a huge
city. Once, when we were fairly new there I remember making a turn on a road
and very quickly a car pulled up alongside of us. It was the grounds keeper
from the school our daughter attended! He made it clear we were going the wrong
way, into a dangerous neighborhood. We thanked him and turned around! There are many wrong turns that people make
trying to find peace and purpose in life. There is only One way that leads to
life. Jesus said it plainly, “I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me…”
(John 14:6).
Peter says that his readers have
“returned” or “turned” to the Lord. The
prophet Isaiah expressed this idea centuries before,
“...let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to
our God, for he will abundantly pardon...” (Isa 55:7).
The Hebrew word “return”
[shuv] is translated in the
Septuagint (the Greek Bible that most of the church was using in the first
century) by the word epistrepho, the
same word Peter uses, “turn, return.” It can be used of a literal change in
direction, like coming down a mountain and returning to the camp, or going back
to a city. It is frequently used of returning (or turning) to God (I Thes 1:9),
or negatively, of turning away from Him to idols (Gal 4:9). They had turned
from their old lives to the Lord...
“…to the
Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
These are familiar words
in the New Testament. “Shepherd” is also translated “pastor,” and “overseer” is
the word “episkopos,” which refers to
a “bishop” in the KJV, simply “overseer” in most modern translations. Both
words are used in parallel with the word “elder” when talking about the church
office. The men that God raises up in the church have a role as His
under-shepherds, but JESUS himself is the “Good Shepherd” who laid down his
life for his sheep and watches over us. I like the way the NLT puts this verse,
“Once you were like sheep who
wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your
souls...” (1 Peter 2:25).
That is exactly what Peter is saying. The contrast is
between our lost state, wandering, without direction, without hope, and turning
to the one who is our Shepherd & Guardian.
What is God saying to me in this passage? Jesus took our sins and died as our
substitute so that we could have new life in a living relationship with God, which will certainly change our relationships with the people around us.
What would God have me to do in response to this
passage? Every human
being, by birth and by choice, is a sinner, and “The wages of sin is death…”
Eternal separation from God. That is the bad news. The Good News: “…but the free gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” As we consider the Gospel of God’s
grace, the price that was paid for lost sheep like you and me, the first
question every person should ask, am I sure of my salvation? Have I received
the gift of True Life through faith in Christ? The price has been paid, a
perfect sacrifice of infinite worth, but the salvation is effectual only for
those who believe. Do you hear the Shepherd’s voice? Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me. And I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish...”
(Jn 10:27,28a).
To “hear his voice” is to respond
in faith the truth of His Word. He is who He claimed to be, the Son of God,
He did what He promised to do, died on the cross for our sins, to purchase a
place for us in heaven, which He offers as a free gift. Have you received
the gift that He is offering you, trusting Him, entrusting yourself to Him?
For those who are His, these verses should
motivate us to share this “Good News” with the people around us. I’ve
been urging you to write down the names of the people God has place on the
“front burner” of your life, and to start praying for them every day. And as
you pray, ask God for an opportunity to speak about your faith in Jesus, and perhaps
to invite them to come to a church meeting.
In James 5:20 we read,
“...let him know that whoever brings back a sinner
from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of
sins.”
James
is not saying that we save anyone by our effort. But he is indicating that God
has chosen to use weak and fumbling creatures like us to bring that life-changing message of salvation to the world! You are part of God’s mission to
the world! It starts with your extended family and friends, your oikos.
Are you willing to allow God to use you?
As we
prepare our hearts for Communion remember the plan that God worked in history
so that we could be saved. One of my favorite Christmas verses that I cited
several times during Advent (again!) is I Jn 4:9. The NIV reads, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son
into the world that we might live through Him.” Paul expresses the idea in
Rom 5:8 where he said, “God demonstrated
His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” We
are saved by grace. It is His act of substitution and sacrifice that we remember today as we
share the Table. Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples in the
upper room and gave new meaning to the familiar elements. This is an ongoing reminder that Christ, our Passover,
has been sacrificed for us. AMEN.
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