Pilgrim Living: The Message, The Mission, and the Master
I Peter 3:18-22
Introduction: First Peter, this little letter written by Peter to believers, elect exiles scattered among the nations, has been our focus, except for Advent, since August. We are still on track to finish before Easter. God is using Peter to speak to us as well, as Pilgrims living in a fallen world. He is writing to encourage us as followers of Jesus to persevere, to have hope, to live a “good” life, and to continue to proclaim the message of Jesus. The attitude he calls for was expressed by Cyprian, the north African church father from the middle of the third Century A.D., who wrote this in a letter to a friend,
It is a bad world, Donatus, an
incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and good
people who have learned the great secret of life. They have found a joy and
wisdom which is a thousand times better than any of the pleasures of our sinful
life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of
their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are
Christians. and I am one of them.
In the previous paragraph, which
we’ll go back to next week, Peter calls us to be ready to share our faith,
ready to “give a reason for the hope that
is in us.” We are to do that with gentleness and respect. Even
so, it may not be well received. We may suffer, even for doing something good,
even for telling the truth. Again, Peter appeals to the Gospel itself as a
motivation for our witness. This week I read about the Robert E. Lee, a river
steamboat which caught fire at 3 am on September 30, 1870. As the crew ran through the boat trying to
wake the passengers, some were angry at all the racket that was being made—and
21 people died because they didn’t heed the warning in time. We are called to
speak the truth, in love. Many won’t heed to warning but warn them we must!
The passage we come to today has some of the most discussed and disputed
verses in the entire NT. None other than the reformer Martin Luther in his
commentary on I Peter 3:18-22 said, “A
wonderful text is this, and a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in
the New Testament, so that I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means.”
Even so, any uncertainty as to some details shouldn’t obscure the big idea that
Peter is emphasizing which, it seems to me, is clear enough. That is…
The BIG Idea: We
are called to persevere, proclaiming the message of Christ, the One who
suffered, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. He has sent us, and He
is Lord!
We’ll look at this from three
perspectives…
I. The Message: A Perfect Substitute. Jesus purposefully
suffered for us (18).
II. The Mission: Proclaiming the Gospel. God is announcing
His message through us (19-21)!
III. The Master: Jesus is Presiding over His Creation—He
is Lord (22).
First then…
I. The Message: A Perfect Substitute—Jesus purposefully suffered
for us (18).
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
made alive in the spirit…
Most people, when
they think of Christians and Christianity, default to the idea that our faith,
like most religious systems, is about a set of rules, about being good enough
to earn the favor of “God.” A lot of our non-Christian friends probably think
that is what we believe. A question that I learned to ask people that reveals
the heart of the matter comes from D. James Kennedy and the Evangelism
Explosion ministry: “If you were to die today, and stand before God, and He
were to ask you ‘Why should I let you
into my heaven?’ what would you say?”
Most people I have asked that question through the years (who had not
yet come to faith in Christ) have responded in a similar way, “I am a pretty
good person... I try to treat people right… I try to keep the 10
commandments…” The answer is typically
about what “I” have done. We’ll see in
this verse that the Bible gives a different perspective, it points to Jesus and
what He has done for us.
It is always important to remember the context when we read passages
like this from the Bible. Let’s back up
for a moment and read 3:17…
17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will,
than for doing evil.”
The BIG Idea in that paragraph seems to be that, “our devotion to Christ should motivate us, regardless of the cost, to
lift up Jesus as the only way to salvation, and to live a life that points
others to Him.” Peter now reminds us that if we suffer for doing good,
like sharing our faith, we should remember that Jesus did only good, and He was rejected, beaten, mocked, scourged, and
nailed to a cross! The message of the cross was an offense to the Jews and
a stumbling block to the Greeks. The Jews asked, “How could God allow his
messiah to be crucified? Impossible!” The Greeks complained, “What does the
death of a Jewish rabbi on a hill outside Jerusalem have to do with me? Ridiculous!”
The Bible teaches that the Cross was
necessary because we have a sin problem. Sin separates fallen humans from
holy God. God is just, and he must punish sin. In His grace, God made a way
for sinners to be reconciled to Him: the cross. Liberal theology may use the
name of Jesus, but it rejects that message. One writer said, “A God without
wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the
ministrations of a Christ without a Cross…” That’s an inclusive, affirming,
unoffending message! But there is one problem with it: It is a lie. The truth
is that “…Christ also suffered once for
sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…” That
is the Gospel, that is Good News! Notice what
Jesus did, why He did it, and how he did it.
First, what He did. He suffered for sins, once for all.
There is no need for repeated sacrifices. He was a perfect sacrifice, He
provided atonement for all who would believe past, present, and future, once
for all, by His blood. He suffered for sins… but not His own. He was righteous,
without sin, but He willingly suffered for the unrighteous, for fallen humans
like you and me. He bore our sins in His body on the tree! He was our
substitute. Jesus paid it all. Once for all, as He said, “It is finished,”
the price is paid.
Notice why He did it:
“…that He might bring us to God…”
This is the greatest need of fallen humans. Our sin has separated us from
God. Since the fall of Adam there has
been a barrier between sinful, fallen humans and our holy God. He is of
purer eyes than to look upon iniquity… He will by no means leave the
guilty unpunished. Jesus took our sin so that we could receive his
righteousness. The song by Natalie Grant, “Clean” says…
There is nothing too dirty, that you
can’t make worthy, you wash me in mercy, I am clean! …What was dead now lives
again… Washed in the blood of your sacrifice,
your blood flowed red and made me white, I’m clean!
Do you realize what that means? Jesus
loved you that much, He died for you, He paid the penalty for your sins and for
mine. The enemy would whisper His lies in our ears, saying there is no hope,
God could never love someone who did the things that you did. Well, Jesus paid
it all. I’m clean! Jesus did that for us, that He might bring us to God. That
is why the veil of the Temple was torn in two, from the top to the bottom. We
now, in Christ, have free access to the Holy of Holies!
Finally, Peter tells us how He did it: “…being put to death in the flesh but made
alive in the Spirit…” That is the good news: Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, he was buried, and He was raised up the third day,
according to the Scriptures. He was the perfect substitute, bearing our
sins is His body on the tree. That message hasn’t changed. So, the “BIG Idea”
is that “We are called to persevere, proclaiming the message of Christ,
the One who suffered, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. We are sent
by Jesus… and He is Lord!” The Gospel is the message, and this
is…
II. The Mission: Proclaiming the Gospel—God is announcing His Word through His servants (19-21)!
These are the especially difficult verses in this text…
…in which he went and proclaimed to
the spirits in prison, 20
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. 21
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…
These are some
challenging verses, they raise many questions!
Who are the imprisoned spirits? When did Jesus preach to
them? The time of Noah? After his resurrection? How does baptism save
us? What is that about? There are more theories than you can imagine about
this, so we need to approach these verses with humility, and I am not going
to try to touch on the different ideas that interpreters have suggested this might mean. Rather I’ll give you the
explanation that seems most likely, that seems to fit best in the context. Then you can go home and search the
Scriptures for yourself. Peter’s readers no doubt knew exactly what the apostle was
referring to, we want to humbly seek to discern his meaning. One writer proposed an alternative
translation that may make it easier to understand what Peter is saying. Wayne
Grudem translates,
“He went and preached to those who
are now spirits in prison when they formerly disobeyed when God’s patience was
waiting in the days of Noah.”
The translation is a little awkward, but the description of the people
being preached to is important. They “…formerly
disobeyed …in the days of Noah…” The
writer to the Hebrews twice used the same form of the word “disobeyed.” First,
we read in Heb 3:17-19,
17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who
sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his
rest, but to those who were disobedient?
19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of
unbelief.
The other usage is in the great “Hall
of Faith,” in Hebrews 11:31,
31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were
disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
In both cases the writer is pointing
to the “disobedience” of human unbelief in a time past. Humans are
called to hear the word of the Lord, and to take God at His word. A form of
this word is used in John 3:35,36,
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has
eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God remains on him.
“Believing” is contrasted with disobedience.
It is the disobedience of unbelief. In our passage in our passage, I Peter 3, Peter
points to those who did not believe during the time of God’s patient waiting in
the days of Noah. As Noah built the ark, for over a hundred years, he
warned of impending judgement. God patiently waited, yet just eight souls,
Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives, were saved from the flood. The rest of humanity perished in
unbelief. They are “now imprisoned,”
that is, they are in Hades, awaiting the final judgement when they will be cast
into the lake of fire. Peter is saying, it seems to me, that Jesus preached to
them, before the flood, through Noah.
The Bible is clear, “It is appointed unto men once to die, after
this, the judgement.” The idea that the Lord speaks through his people has
already been alluded to in this letter. We read in 1 Peter 1:25, “…but the word of the Lord remains forever.
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” It wasn’t the merely
human words of the prophets that saved, but is was God’s word that came through
them. Now in 3:19-20 Peter says that Jesus spoke, through Noah, to
the people of Noah’s day. Yet only 8 believed and were saved. Just as they
demonstrated their faith by getting on the ark and were saved through the
water, believers today demonstrate their faith through the waters of baptism.
It’s not the outward washing that takes away sin, Peter says that might remove
a little dirt, but it can’t cleanse the heart! It is through faith in Jesus,
our unity with Him in His death and resurrection, that cleanses our conscience,
our heart, as we put our trust in Christ alone. Washed in the blood of His
sacrifice, we are clean!
Listen: Jesus spoke through Noah as He
called on that generation to repent and believe. And He still speaks through
us, as we bring His word, the gospel, to the people around us. Many people you know don’t come to church to
hear that message. I hope you are praying for the unchurched and unsaved in
your sphere of influence, and looking for an opportunity to invite them! But
know this: even though many of your friends may not come to church, because
you are in their life, the church goes to them! God has intentionally put
them in your life and you in theirs. Just as Noah preached while he lived his
life and built the ark for a hundred years, you are God’s “undercover
missionary,” in your neighborhood, in your workplace, in your school, in your
family. You need to be praying for an
opportunity to give a reason for the hope that is in you!
The message hasn’t changed, the mission is still in force…
Jesus is still building His church. The BIG Idea is that we are called to
persevere, proclaiming the message of Christ, the One who suffered, the Just
for the unjust, to bring us to God. We are sent by Jesus, and He is Lord! He
reminds us of that in v.22 which points to…
III. The Master:
Presiding over His Creation—Jesus Christ is Lord (22)!
…who has gone into
heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers
having been subjected to him.
Consider the scene in Acts 7 as Stephen is
being stoned. He saw the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the Father’s
right hand. Even as he testified to what he saw, he showed grace, praying for
his attackers, “Lord, don’t hold this
charge against them…” Peter is writing about Christians suffering, and
about the promise of ultimate vindication because Jesus conquered death. He may
be alluding to Psalm 2 which anticipates the coming reign of the Messiah. We
read in Ps 2:6-11,
6 "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." 7 I will tell of the decree: The
LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the
nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod
of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." 10 Now therefore, O kings, be
wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling…”
We won’t look at the details again here,
but I believe Jesus intentionally alluded to this passage when He commissioned
His disciples (and us!) at the end of Matthew…
“All authority is given unto me in
heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:18-20).
The promise of the Father realized, Jesus Christ is Lord! He is at the right hand of the
Father and has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and He
says, “Go, make disciples…” That is
His Word, as the Lord of the Harvest, to the church, to us. Will we listen?
When Jesus looked at the needy multitude, He told His disciples to “Pray
that the Lord of the harvest would send forth workers into His harvest…”
That isn’t just a call to missionaries going to the foreign field. It is a call
to every follower of Jesus to embrace our part in His mission. We are saved and
sent, each of us, right where we live!
What is God saying to me in this passage? The Message is still the same,
the Mission is still in force, and the Master is still on the
throne… There are some difficult details in these verses, but the BIG Idea is clear enough: We are called to persevere, proclaiming the
message of Christ, the One who suffered, the Just for the unjust, to bring us
to God. And so, as Pilgrims in a Fallen Word, we are sent by Jesus, and He is
Lord!
What would God have me to do
in response to this passage? Has everything been smooth sailing since you believed? No, there are always storms in life, even for believers. This
letter makes it clear that we should not be surprised, nor should we be
discouraged. Remember, Jesus came into the brokenness of this sin-cursed world,
to do the work, and to make a way, for sinners to be forgiven and reconciled
with God. And He has left us here to proclaim that Good News to the world.
He
is not just looking down from Heaven, He has promised to be with us…
always. And somehow, He speaks, even through our faltering witness, and He
continues to build His church! We are here this morning because of His amazing
grace... that is what we are singing about and Who we are celebrating…
our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! It is Him that we remember as we share
in the Table, it is His saving work that the elements recall. Let’s
prayerfully, thoughtfully, celebrate Jesus together. AMEN.
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