An Example to Follow

Introduction

Why would you want to follow the example of a crucified Messiah?

Because the cross leads to glory.

Our Calling to Follow

Peter is instructing Christians, specifically Christians in positions in which they are wrongfully oppressed and suffering.

1 Peter 2:19 ESV

For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

This isn’t empty encouragement, but rather a strong pointer to Gospel-centred thinking. It is also not as if Peter is writing this not having suffered much under evil men himself. He suffered beatings, imprisonment, and would end up giving his life painfully in service to Christ.

When a Christian is called, through providence as they seek to live a life pleasing to God, to suffer, it is not to come as a surprise. Instead, it is to be viewed as part of the Christian’s calling.

What is the reasoning behind this? Why should a Christian see unjust suffering as part of their calling? The answer is simple, profound, and ultimately overshadows the person to reveal to one to whom they belong: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

There is no doubt in my mind that, as Peter dictated these words, he remembered the first time he declared his faith in Jesus as the Son of God. In Matthew 16, right after this famous confession and where Peter is called the Rock, Jesus goes on to speak about his upcoming death by crucifixion. Peter had rebuked Jesus to his face, and was rebuked back in perhaps the harshest way a disciple could be as Jesus said, “get behind me, Satan!”. Over the years, Peter had discovered the true paradox of the Gospel; he saw his saviour arrested and afterwards denied knowing him three times. He wept in shame while Jesus died. Three days later, he stood before the empty tomb and wondered what all this meant. Then he met the risen Christ, who asked him three times if he loved him. Jesus then told him in John 21:18

John 21:18 ESV

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”

Jesus had forgiven Peter, he loved him dearly, but there was a hard pill for Peter to swallow along with that. Peter would one day have his own hands stretched out on a cross and die a similar death.

This is the point that Peter is teaching his readers here. When you suffer for righteousness, or suffer in your persuit of righteousness, at the hands of unjust people, you are walking in the footsteps of Christ. This is the calling of a Christian, to take up our cross and follow him (Matt 16:24), that is, follow him to a painful death at the hands of wicked men. He left an example, we are told, to follow in his steps.

When we say that Christ died so that we might live, there is a cost and that cost is the giving up of our life. Or, in the words of Christ, “whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” To follow our calling as Christians means to follow Christ into the kind of life and death he lived and died if faith that he will bring us into the same kind of resurrection which he himself achieved.

His Calling to Lead Us

But of course, the focus is not on us here or what we do. Rather, the focus is one centred on Christ in which we are brought to follow him. This is why Peter goes into the calling that Christ had from the Father. \

First, in verse 22 we see that Jesus was free from both sin and deception. In other words, he did not deserve, provoke, or in some other way bring down some just retribution on himself as we might when we sin and experience the consequences for it.

Verse 23 takes this even further, not only showing that Christ did not deserve the abuse he took in the first place, but also how Christ responded to being treated this way. When abusive things were said of and to him, he did not return with the same kind of language. When words turned into blows and he suffered physically, he did not threaten revenge or violence against them. He did not retaliate in any way to the things he suffered unjustly, even where it would have been understandable and even encouraged by anyone looking on from the outside.

Retaliation is done, not in faith, but in a conviction to make things right by yourself. Christ, as the judge of all the earth, had every right to make things right himself. But in that moment, he entrusted himself to the Father, to him to who judges justly. Instead of taking on his role as Judge, a role he certainly will one day take, he humbled himself before the Father and said “not my will, but yours be done”. He trusted the Father to redeem, restore, and bring what is right through his suffering at the hands of cruel people.

But what was the purpose of all of this? What does suffering at the hands of evil men accomplish? When we see the evil winning and the poor and oppressed losing, it seems that all is lost. It seems that evil itself has overcome good, and perhaps God isn’t going to bring about his good purposes. But we see that Christ suffering at the hands of corrupt religious leaders and cruel Roman soldiers was not in vain.

Verse 24 says that e himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. The greatest evil ever done brough about the payment, cleansing, and removal of all that separates humanity from a good God. When Christ suffered unjustly, he did not bitterly threaten them with the wrath of God that they deserved, he pitied them and forgave them.

On Sunday, we talked about our great high priest who is sympathetic with our weaknesses and sinfulness. The corruption of humanity will one day arouse his anger, but first he came to the world with a heart full of pity even towards those who crucified him. As the sacrificial Lamb of God, he provided a way of cleansing from sin.

The result is that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Salvation from sin is an entire whole. By his blood, we are saved from the guilt of sin, we are saved unto a righteousness imputed to us from Christ, but the result is also a salvation from the power of sin, the life of sin. Being joined in his death by dying to sin joins us to a life raised to live in righteousness. This, Peter says, is the healing we recieved by his wounds, those very wounds which were inflicted by the wicked men who crucified the one true God.

The calling of Christ was to endure the unspeakable evil of corrupt humanity in order to give those corrupt people, like you and me, a chance to be saved from ourselves and live the life we were created for.

Verse 25 contrasts our life before being in Christ and our life now. Referencing the famouse prophecy of Isaiah, Peter reminds us that we were once straying like sheep. We were the evil and corrupt ones. We all play a role, whether small or great, in making fallen humanity what it is. But now in Christ we have returned to the Shepherd and guardian of our souls. Now, with our sins forgiven and the power of sin uprooted and abolished, we are free to live in the rightouesness of Christ. This is the glory of the Gospel, that the wicked actions done against Christ resulted in the destruction of wicked actions and healing for all who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

This is what we remember on Good Friday, the death of Christ, motivated by love, for our salvation. But we cannot miss the application that Peter gives us for this message. Believing in the message of the cross does not consist of coming here, hearing about Jesus dying and rising from the dead, saying “ya, I believe that!” and then going home. To believe means to become a disciple. It means to follow the way of Christ because that is the way to eternal life. You cannot be a disciple unless you go where he goes, do what he does, and when the time comes, suffer when he suffers at the hands of evil people, and endure that suffering in the same way that Christ did; entrusting yourself to him who judges justly. He who bore your sins in his body on the cross will lead you to the same resurrection life he has.

So, on this Good Friday, the Word of God calls to you.

If you know the Lord, if you have believed in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, it calls you to remember the substance of that calling. To be a Christian means to suffer for doing what is good and right. So when it happens, do not be alarmed. Do not think you missed something, that God has left you, or that a Christian life should be easy and soft. How do you react to such suffering? The call here is not some kind of hyper macho “take it like a man” attitude, but rather a trustful, confident knowledge that you are in Christ, and so you have a just and loving heavenly Father who will not only bring justice to your situation before all is said and done, but will also raise you up to newness of life beyond all tears, pain, and beyond the cruelty of this world.

And if you do not know the Lord, consider the Gospel of the one who died to take away sins, and the free yet costly calling which is before you today. God took on human flesh, allowed himself to be nailed to a cross in suffering and shame, and rose from the dead to offer you forgiveness of sin, freedom from it’s power, and life forever with him. This great love is an invitation to you; will you take hold of it? Will you follow the Lord Jesus Christ, though it be through darkness and death, knowing that his promises of life and everlasting joy are true for he is faithful. He is worthy of your trust, so will you finally come and recieve all that he suffered and died to give to you?