1 Peter 2:21-25

1 Peter 2:21-25

Turn to the second chapter of 1 Peter. Our passage tonight picks up in the middle of a topic we started last week. Last week we saw how Peter said that we are to submit to our bosses. The passage flows into the next thought and I could have covered it last week. However, with this being the week before Easter I thought I would hold off on these verses till tonight as they address the crucifixion of Jesus.

Because Peter intermingles these topics so closely I’m going to pick up our reading with the passage from last week. So let’s start with verse 18.

1 Peter 2:18-25 18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Verse 18 talks about submitting to the authority over you. Peter talks about a slave submitting to a master. We applied it to today saying that we are to submit to our employers. Peter says this submission applies even to and perhaps especially to cruel masters and bosses. The reason he gives is because Jesus suffered unjustly and left that suffering as an example for us. Christians are therefore called to follow Christ’s example in suffering even while doing what is right. Christ himself suffered unjustly and left us an example of how to suffer and showed that good can be brought about through suffering. Here are the lessons we need to remember.

First, follow Christ’s example.

1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

We briefly looked at this last week. When Peter says, “To this you were called,” he’s referring to the previous verse where he addressed suffering unjustly. Sometimes we suffer because we deserve it, but there are other times when we haven’t done anything wrong but suffer anyway. Peter is talking about this second kind of suffering. Peter suggests that unjust suffering is a fundamental part of being a Christian. That means that to follow Jesus is not only imitating the good that he does but being will to suffer while doing it. Since Jesus suffered as a part of his calling from God we should expect to suffer as well. And that’s exactly what Jesus taught his disciples.

Why did Jesus suffer? Peter says it was for us. Jesus suffered for our benefit. Because Jesus suffered on the cross we now have forgiveness for our sins. That means that we benefitted from his suffering. When we truly understand what Jesus has done for us we can’t help but feel thankful. Jesus suffered in our place for our sin. But we must also see that his suffer was an example for us.

The word “example” referred to making a copy. The Greek word literally means “writing under.” They would take letters of the alphabet written neatly on a piece of paper and place them under another piece of paper so children could trace them. The children learned to write the letters by following the example set for them. The original writing was a perfect model and was intended to be used as the master trainer by the students to develop their skill.

Likewise, Jesus lived the perfect example for us to follow and part of the example he left involved suffering. All true Christians in this world that would walk with Jesus must expect to share the sufferings of Jesus. To follow in his footsteps is to follow the way of suffering.

Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

We are to follow his example. The Greek word for follow indicates following so closely that we walk in his steps.

Sometimes when guys go out hunting in dense backwoods, where there are no roads or paths of any kind, they take their hatchet and cut a little chip out of the bark of the trees as they go along. These initially white markings make it easy to find the way. They call it “blazing the trail.” Christ has “blazed the trail for the Christian.” He has traveled the road himself, and knowing the way, he tells us to follow him because he will lead us safely home. Therefore, we follow closely after him.

I remember when our children were young and it would snow how we would go out and play. When the snow was deep I’d go first and they would then step in my tracks. I helped pack down the snow and left a path for them to follow. I read that scouts sometimes found an Indian trail consisting of only one footprint, as if only one man had walked down the trail. What really happened was the chief went first and the rest of the warriors followed him carefully putting their feet into his footsteps. That is what Jesus wants us to do. He has passed through life successfully and has forged the way to heaven. Now he wants us to follow in his steps.

Amy Carmichael was an Irish missionary in the 1920s and ‘30s. She moved to India where she started an orphanage. Her ministry was to rescue children who would have been used as part of a sexual ritual in Hindu temples. She brought them to the home and raised them. She served in India for 55 years without furlough. In 1931 Amy Carmichael was praying one day and she said:

Lord, whatever you want from my life, that’s what I want to do. Whatever it costs, whatever it takes, I want you to do whatever you want to do in my life.

The next day she fell down and she broke several bones that rendered her basically immobile for years to come. As a result she couldn’t have the same workload that she had with the children. Never one to be bitter, she decided that this was the Lord’s gracious way of allowing her to have time to write. She wrote letters, books, and poems. One of the poems she wrote was titled, “Hast Thou No Scar?”

Hast thou no scar?

No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?

I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,

I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star,

Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?

Yet, I was wounded by the archers, spent.

Leaned me against the tree to die, and rent

By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned:

Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?

Yet as the Master shall the servant be,

And pierced are the feet that follow Me;

But thine are whole. Can he have followed far

Who has no wound nor scar?

Peter says that we are to follow the example of Jesus who suffered for us.

The second lesson is trust God.

1 Peter 2:22-23 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

The second lesson explains how Jesus was able to suffer for others. Jesus was able to suffer for others because he entrusted his life and its final outcome to God’s care.

Why is it best for us to follow Jesus? The reason we can rest assured that following in his steps and copying his life is best is because we know that Jesus was without sin. As I’ve mentioned before, the word most often used for sin, hamartia, means “to miss the mark.” You aim for the bull’s eye but you miss it. But Jesus never missed the goal God had for him. Therefore, following Jesus can help keep us from missing the mark too. Following his words and way will remove “deceit” from the believer’s life. Jesus was the perfect Passover lamb, “unblemished and spotless.” Because he had no sin, he could bear our sin.

The stress of verse 23 is on the silence and submission of Jesus in his unjust suffering. Jesus, the Sinless One was challenged, despised, belittled, slandered, spat upon, and mocked, yet he maintained his self-control even with divine retaliation always at His disposal. As I mentioned Sunday, he could have called down twelve legions of angels to put it all to a stop. That’s 72,000 angels. But he didn’t. He suffered undeservedly and without protest because of his confidence in the righteousness and vindication of God. He didn’t argue back or join in on the name calling. He uttered no threats, but remained silent, leaving his case in the hands of God.

It’s human nature to defend ourselves and seek revenge. And it’s that human nature that has to be restrained, brought in, and taught say no to. We naturally want to fight back. We can be like the maid who was fired from a large estate. On her way out the door as the family was standing around, she took a five dollar bill out of her purse and threw it to the family dog. And the family said, “What's that for?” She said, “I never forget a friend. That’s for all the times she helped me clean your dishes.”

We laugh at that because we know that would feel good. I don’t know if this is true, but I heard about a man who created an aerosol product. He was tired of smokers blowing smoke into his face so he decided to create a pocket-sized aerosol can that could give smokers a dose of their own medicine – bad air. It would spray out this foul-smelling disinfectant that would irritate their nose and eyes. That was his way of getting revenge. But Jesus never did that. Peter says he didn’t retaliate or make any threats. And for Jesus it wouldn’t have been a threat. He could have fulfilled every word. Instead, the first words from his mouth on the cross were words of forgiveness.

Frederick Buechner a theologian and author once said concerning anger:

Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to savor the last toothsome morsel is in many ways a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.

That was meal Jesus never tasted. He didn’t get mad. When attacked he gave it to God.

The Greek emphasizes that Jesus endured these attacks not once, but repeatedly and never once lashed out. He was a victim of abuse, but he abused not. Jesus could live this way because he kept entrusting himself to his Father. Christ’s inspiring character came about because he lived life by continuously trusting that his earthly circumstances of oppression were either designed or permitted by a sovereign who was wholly righteous in his judgments and his decisions. The sting is removed from suffering if it can be left in the hands of the Lord knowing that his knowledge of the situation and his ability to deal with it are far greater than ours.

By living life in faith Jesus instituted a precedent and principle to those who follow Him that although they may suffer unjustly they should entrust their lives to their Faithful Father as well. Believe that in God’s due time, just as He raised Christ, He will raise the faithful Christian up out of suffering also. [Though it should be recognized that the believer may be raised up out or suffering through death.] This attitude is difficult to attain and only trust in the sovereignty and righteousness of God can bring it about in the life of one who has suffered unjustly for the cause of Christ.

To protect itself from aggressors, the horned lizard uses some unique defense mechanisms. When the lizard is threatened by a large predator it runs through an elaborate behavioral ritual. First, the lizard will hiss and swell its body with air. If that doesn’t work, the animal will flatten its body into a dorsal shield and tip it up toward the attacker. The predator may decide that this little animal might just be too difficult to swallow. When all else fails, however, the lizard’s eyelids will suddenly swell shut. A hair like stream of blood will come shooting out from a tiny opening near the animal’s eyelids. The blood must contain noxious compounds because it usually repels the attacker. Then the eyelids shrink back to normal size, and the horny toad – its own cheeks streaked with blood – will look around with what at least one human observer saw as a triumphant expression. Like the horned lizard, when we feel we have to defend ourselves, anything can happen. But when we’re threatened, God wants us to entrust ourselves too Him.

And the third lesson is that suffering has value.

1 Peter 2:24-25 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Our passage has talked about the suffering Jesus endured, but the point is not the fact that there were wicked men that caused him to suffer. The point is that why Jesus suffered. He suffered on our behalf so that we might be saved. The third lesson in this passage then is that Christ’s suffering was the means of our redemption. Suffering has value. It had value for Jesus and it has value for us. The author of Hebrews wrote:

Hebrews 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

We can obediently endure suffering knowing that from it we learn righteousness. There is value in our suffering even as there was in the suffering of Jesus. And we can find the power to die to ourselves because Christ died for our sins.

On June 22, 1997, parachute instructor Michael Costello jumped out of an airplane at 12,000 feet with a novice skydiver named Gareth Griffith, age twenty-one. The novice would soon discover just how good his instructor was. The two were jumping tandem with Michael strapped to Gareth’s back. When Gareth pulled his rip cord, his parachute failed. Plummeting toward the ground, he faced certain death. Just then the instructor then did an amazing thing. Just before hitting the ground, the instructor rolled over so that he would hit the ground first and the novice would land on top of him. The instructor was killed instantly. The novice fractured his spine in the fall, but he was not paralyzed. Michael’s wife said he knew exactly what he was doing. Michael took the place of Gareth. He died so that Gareth might live. So it was at the cross when Jesus died for our sins so that we might live forever. Peter says that Jesus died physically that we might die to our sins.

The Greek word translated “might die” means to remove from existence. Literally it is a removal from this existence. We are to die to our sins. We can die to ourselves and to sin and live with him. By his strips our wound or our sin nature is healed. We have now been given an opportunity to live righteously. Through the hurt done to Jesus we get healing.

Peter describes Jesus as the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. Sheep know their Shepherd will not follow another. And the shepherd knows his sheep. To those unfamiliar with the sheep they all look alike, but good shepherd can tell them apart.

Alan Carr shares the story of a man who was tending a large flock. He had a Christian friend who expressed surprise at his familiarity with each animal. “See that sheep over there?” he asked. “Notice how its toes bend in a little. The one behind it has a squint; the next one has a patch of wool off its back; ahead is one with a distinguishing black mark, while the one closest to us has a small piece torn out of its ear.” Observing all of them, the believer thought about Christ, the Chief Shepherd, who also knows the individual weaknesses and failings of his flock and watches over the members with discerning love and sympathetic understanding. With infinite concern he notes the doubts, fears, trials, conflicts, and defeats that disturb their peace, and he swiftly comes to their aid.

Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He knows all there is to know about his sheep. Every battle we face, he is right beside us. When we stray he knows where we are. When we hurt he feels our pain. No matter how strong our storm, he is stronger. When we are fearful he is faithful. He is the Good Shepherd and he will take care of us.

A small boy was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. His father met him in the living room and said nothing.

At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water. He looked at his father’s full plate and then at his father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed.

The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy’s plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in front of the boy, and smiled at his son. When that boy grew to be a man, he said, “All my life I’ve known what God is like by what my father did that night.”

God loves us and allowed his Son to suffer that we might have life.