1 Peter: Always Ready

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, the first petition we make is, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” The first priority in the heart of Jesus is the name of his Father. And it is the first priority of the followers of Jesus. We pray, first and foremost, “Father, cause your name to be hallowed. In the church, all over the world, work with sovereign power to bring hearts to the place where they hallow your name.”

That word “hallow” is the same word that Peter uses in verse 15 of this text when he says, “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” Hallow Christ as Lord in your hearts. He is God-with-us. He and the Father are one. Hallowing the name of God the Father and hallowing God the Son are one.

I. READY TO DEFEND

1. Peter wants his readers to know that God watches over His people; He knows exactly how the world treats us and when it mistreats us

a. the word now that begins vs. 13 points us backward to vs. 12

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”” (1 Peter 3:12, ESV)

b. the believer who is zealous of doing what is good generally doesn’t have to worry about how the pagans will treat them

1) the pagans of the 1st and 2nd centuries were often astounded at the goodness of Christians

ILLUS. The Christians fed the hungry and offered shelter to the homeless, their own and also the pagans, in so far as they could. When a plague ravaged a community , and all the healthy and able-bodied pagans fled, it was the Christians who stayed or came rushing in to help. (For example, you don’t see the Freedom From Religion Foundation, or Atheist Alliance International – For a Secular World rushing to help hurricane victims in Florida. You do see Christian groups rushing in). The Christians did not divorce or mistreat their wives, and this made them popular among women. They did not abort, kill or abandon their children but rather took care of the children abandoned or exposed by others. They were reliable: kept their promises and paid back their loans and this was a great advantage in the business community.

2) most historians agree that these examples of Christian charity were the main cause for the spread of Christianity in the ancient world

c. “Now who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?” is rhetorical and reminds us of a similar question asked by Paul: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31)

ILLUS. As the sixteenth-century Scottish Reformer John Knox used to say, “With God on his side man is always in the majority.”

d. and still, at times, Christians were persecuted because they were different

1) most of the early persecution of Christians came at the hands of Jews who persecuted fellow Jews for following Christ

a) Jewish leaders considered Jesus a false messiah, and a blasphemer and persecuted those fellow Jews who believed that Jesus was Lord

2) later, the Roman Empire began to persecute the Christians because they refused to worship the Emperor as a god

2. Peter gives us assurance of the Father’s attentiveness to believers, and His opposition to evildoers

a. the Father’s eyes watch us and His ears are always open to our prayers

b. He also knows those who perpetrate evil against us — and is against those who do evil

1) ya really don’t want to be on God’s “bad side”

3. vs. 13-17 teach us several things

A. CHRISTIANS SHOULD BE ARDENTLY DEVOTED TO GOOD WORKS

1. Peter’s assumption is that the Christians he is writing to are zealous to do the works of God among the pagans

a. good works are part-n-parcel of the Christian life

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16, ESV)

b. let me also say something all of you should know ... good works should not to be viewed, in any way, shape, or form, as the means to justification and grace

1) the only way one can achieve righteousness is through faith

2) but good works are a testimony that our faith is genuine, and are to be a regular part of our lives

ILLUS. Martin Luther was correct when he said, “God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does.’

2. God, Himself, gives us grace so that we might minister to the needs of others

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8, ESV)

a. this of course begs the question, “What are good works?”

b. according to Ephesians 2:10 each of us were created in Christ Jesus for good works

1) they are to be the pattern for our life

c. a good work is any action that 1) brings glory to the Father, 2) or springs from obedience to the Word, and 3) or encourages other believers to live faithfully for Christ, 4) or ministers to another whether lost or saved

3. Peter assumes Christians will be zealous for good works

B. CHRISTIAN SUFFERING SHOULD BE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE

“But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,” (1 Peter 3:14, ESV)

1. we live in a strange time ... a time that Isaiah said would come

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isa. 5:20)

a. it’s one thing when the pagans are critical of or mistreat the righteous

b. it’s beyond strange when supposedly righteous people are critical of or mistreat the truly righteous

ILLUS. Back in early July (2022), the Episcopal Church held its 80th general convention at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. There are 1.5 million Episcopalians in the United States. It’s an old and venerable church. About three-quarters of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were affiliated with the Episcopal Church. I’m sure many of them were “rolling over in their graves” considering what took place at the July convention.

At that meeting the Episcopal Church officially condemned crisis pregnancy centers that exist to save the lives of mothers and children, and fully supported abortion on demand for any reason at any time during a woman's pregnancy.

A resolution was submitted to the delegates that "denounces" the work of Crisis Pregnancy Centers and apologizes for the Church's previous support of them. Throughout the United States, there are nearly 3,000 Crisis Pregnancy Centers staffed by volunteers ready to provide real help to women facing unplanned or untimely pregnancies. In addition to providing pregnancy tests and counseling, these centers often offer a full range of services, helping women obtain housing, maternity and baby clothes, baby equipment, pre- and post-natal medical care, legal assistance and financial support, information about adoption, and even advice on how a woman in school can continue her education. Offering real and tangible assistance, these centers have helped thousands of women to realize that they didn't have to choose between their own lives and the lives of their unborn babies. Episcopalians now (officially at least) believe this work is evil.

2. Peter would remind Christians that if you’re going to be mistreated let it be for doing good and not for committing evil

a. if and when Christians are persecuted Peter reminds his readers that they are held securely in God’s grace

1) the actions of the unrighteous cannot separate the righteous from God

b. the apostle is not blind to the possibility of physical or material attacks on Christians who are zealous to do good

1) he also knows that God does not forsake his children when they do his will

3. when we suffer for doing righteousness ... (1 Peter 3:15a)

a. 1st, we are blessed

1) blessed is literally happy are you

2) it’s a word that stresses God’s approval of right living

3) God favor rests upon us when we act righteously and are condemned or ridiculed for it

b. 2nd, we don’t have to fear or be disturbed

1) we should not be intimidated into backing off from our devotion to Christ

ILLUS. So much of what is happening with LGBTQ lawsuits against Christian business owners is just that — intimidation. A generation ago, the LGBTQ community was simply asking for acceptance. It was a live-and-let-live attitude — just accept us for who we are and leave us alone and we will leave you alone. But with every pro-LGBTQ law that was passed, including the Supreme Court decision legalizing Gay Marriage, the plea for acceptance grew into a demand to celebrate their perversity, and if you will not, you must be punished. And all over America Christian bakers, and florists, and internet web page designers and Christian schools have experienced the ire of the LGBTQ activists attempting to intimidate Christian store owners and retailers into support. And if you won’t support them, they will shut you down. When thoroughly secular School Boards tell Christian parents “We’re the professionals and know what’s best for your children ... sit down and shut up” they’re attempting to intimidate.

c. 3rd, we honor the Lord as holy

1) to honor the Lord means to decisively commit ourselves to Christ despite the world’s mistreatment of us

C. OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS GIVES US OPPORTUNITY TO DEFEND THE FAITH

“ ... , always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” (1 Peter 3:15, ESV)

1. the Christian is to be an apologist

ILLUS. In Peter’s time, the Greek word apologist was a legal term for a lawyer’s courtroom oration defending his client.

2. when others see that our lives are different and want to know why, we ought to be able to give them Jesus 101

a. we’re to do so with gentleness and respect

3. the goal is not to give pagans or the lost reason to speak ill of us, but if they do our winsome response will put them to shame “having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” (1 Peter 3:16, ESV)

a. when unbelievers maliciously direct falsehoods against Christians who seek to live by the example Christ has set, truth eventually triumphs — if not in this life, certainly in the next

4. in the end, if the believer suffers at the hands of pagan unbelievers, let it be for the good we have done

“For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:17, ESV)

II. POINT TO CHRIST

“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, 19 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.” (1 Peter 3:18–20, ESV)

1. when it comes to unjust suffering, Jesus is the supreme example for the believer

a. his life is an encouragement to believers who are being slandered, rejected, or mistreated for the faith

A. CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE DEATH OPEN THE WAY OF GRACE TO SINNERS

1. vs. 18 is one of the great Christological statements in the New Testament

a. it is perhaps the most concise expressions of the Gospel there is

2. 1st, the Savior Suffered So Sinners Don’t Have to

a. Jesus suffered the punishment that all sinners ought to suffer — the wrath of God on sin that leads to separation from Him

1) at 3:00PM Jesus cries out My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

2) for however brief a time it was, the absence of the Father’s presence in his life must have seemed like an eternity to Jesus

a) it was something he had never, ever experienced before, and now the Savior knows what sinners experience

b. the reason for his forsakeness is that Christ became sin and in His holiness God cannot look upon sin, but must judge it

“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 Corinthians 5:21, ESV)

c. this is the doctrine of imputation — on the cross, our sin was imputed to Christ

1) that is how Christ paid our sin debt to God

2) he had no sin in Himself, but our sin was imputed (attributed) to Him so, as He suffered, He took the just penalty that our sin deserves

3) at the same time, through faith, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, and now we can stand before God sinless, just as Jesus is sinless

ILLUS. In Christ Alone (My Hope is Found) by Keith Getty / Stuart Townend

In Christ alone who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save

Till on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live

3. 2nd, the Savior Suffered Once for All

a. that is, unlike the Jewish High Priests, who for 1500 years the High Priest of Israel had performed the same ritual — slaughtering one goat and splashing its blood on the altar, and confessing the sins of Israel over a second goat, the Scape Goat which was than led into the wilderness to symbolically carry Israel’s sins away — until the next Yom Kippur when it was done all over again

ILLUS. For the Jews so familiar with their sacrificial system, a “one time only” sacrifice was a new, and unacceptable, concept. To atone for sin, they had slaughtered millions of animals over the centuries. During their annual Passover celebration, as many as a quarter million sheep would be sacrificed.

b. but Jesus’ entered into the Heavenly Holy of Holies just once and that once was all it took to cover all the sins of all the sinners who would come to him by faith

4. 3rd, the Savior Suffered Once for All the righteous for the unrighteous

a. Jesus was perfectly righteous — the spotless sacrificial lamb of God from all eternity — who died for the unrighteous — the spiritual deplorables who deserve death and hell

b. he suffered all this that he might bring us to God through his death and resurrection ... being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit

ILLUS. In Matthew 27:51 we read that at the moment of Christ’s death the temple veil from top to bottom. It really happened, and symbolically demonstrated the reality that Jesus had opened the way to God. The heavenly Holy of Holies, the “throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16), was made available for immediate access by all true believers. Therefore, we can come to God any time for anything and we will not be refused!

Stephen Neil says in his History of Christian Missions (p. 43) that in the first three centuries, when the Church was spreading like wildfire, “Every Christian knew that sooner or later he might have to testify to his faith at the cost of his life.”

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