1 Peter 2:18-25

I suppose it’s a little strange to give thanks for Western Christian and the chamber singers, give thanks for school, and then read a passage from the Bible that talks about slaves. We’d never want to encourage kids that school is some how some kind of forced labor.

I don’t think that is what is intended.

First of all, let’s make it clear. The apostle Peter, as well as Paul in several of his letters simply recognize something that was common in that time. Slavery was practiced. They didn’t endorse or promote it, but recognized that it was there. If anything, in their writing, they were concerned about slaves, and considered the to be spiritual equals to anyone else.

Slavery still happens today, but we ourselves don’t practice it. However, there are people in this world who are bought and sold on a daily basis.

Slavery might not be part of our experience, but all of us have had to take orders or follow the directions of others. Sometimes you had no say in the matter.

All of are or will be answerable to someone, sometime. It won’t always be easy. How are we called to live?

In a few short days, a good number of you are going to graduate. You’ll enter a new stage of life—some of you will go straight into the work force. Others of you head on to more school somewhere. As it were, you’ll have new masters who will expect things from you. In this text Peter says, that no matter where we are, that we are...

Not exempt from suffering.

Not all work is suffering. New experiences in life are often exciting and fresh. But, there will be times when you are tested and things aren’t easy.

Let’s put it simply. You’ve been raised in families where we have been reminded that character matters. The choices that you make have long term and short term consequences. When we forget this, when we make mistakes, sometimes there is a price to pay. It might be as simple as a speeding ticket, a lower grade because of a late assignment, etc. As you get older, tardiness doesn’t mean a grade anymore, it means that you might lose your job. If you break the laws of our state or country, there are penalties.

In Peter’s time the consequences were worse. Slaves were considered to be, at best, 2nd class citizens, at worst property. A slave didn’t have many rights, yet Peter says if a person who was a slave is caught for doing wrong then:

1 Peter 2:20 NIV

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.

1 Peter 2:20

If we are punished for doing wrong, we receive what we deserve.

But, look at the second half of the verse. There will be times where you will be in situations where you want to do the right thing. Perhaps you will be asked to something that goes against your values and who you are called to be as a Christian. Sometimes you will have to say, “No.”

Because of this you might suffer for those choices.

1 Peter 2:21 NIV

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

1 Peter 1

If there is anyone in history who did everything right, it was Jesus. As Christians, we hold to the truth that Jesus did nothing wrong, however, he was put to death as criminal.

If anyone had a right to protest his sentence, it was Jesus, yet as the prophet Isaiah reminds us, Jesus didn’t fight or protest.

Isaiah 53:7 NIV

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

We remember that

Jesus died for our sin, so that we can live for righteousness.

Peter quotes from . “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.

1 Peter 2:23 NIV

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.

1 Peter 1:23 NIV

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

1 Peter 1

“He entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”

Over the years, I’ve visited people who are spending time in jail. Some of them I knew personally, others I visited as part of a missions group to prisoners.

Very few of the prisoners would admit that they deserved to be there. In their minds, the charges were false or the whole story wasn’t told. Their part in the crime wasn’t as serious as what others did.

The jail was full of men who had excuses and reasons why they weren’t supposed to be there. They felt that they weren’t judged justly.

When we appear before the throne of God and asked to give an account of ourselves, we need to ask do we believe that God is a just judge?

What will we have to say when we appear before God? That he didn’t have all the facts? That he really shouldn’t judge our behavior? Using the diagnostic question that D. James Kennedy asked in Evangelism Explosion, God asks, “Why should I let you into my heaven?”

Being good people doesn’t count. Being not as bad as other people doesn’t count. Being a slave or the lowest person on the pay scale at your job doesn’t count. The only thing that matters is that we remember what Jesus has done for us.

1 Peter 2:24 NIV

“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.”

1 Peter 1:

No excuses. Only Jesus.

Including today, it’s been four Sundays since Easter.

The grave is still empty. Jesus has still defeated death. How is the empty grave and the resurrection of Jesus still changing your life.

Are we still making excuses why we are somehow better than others, or not as bad as the rest?

It’s a little over two weeks until those of you who are seniors will walk through the doors of high school as students for the last time. You will be free to move to the next step in life.

What are you free to do today? Some thoughts, practical thoughts. Some of you know that you’ve hurt someone else with your words, and up to now you’ve either been to afraid or maybe you haven’t cared enough to apologize. Everybody has someone. I challenge you to say your sorry to someone this week and mean it.

It could be a friend, a classmate, a teacher, your parents, etc. Own up to what you’ve done and apologize for it, even if people are still so hurt and angry that they can’t bring themselves to forgive. Say your sorry.

What else? Do the right thing. Speak up for someone when you have the chance. When the opportunity comes to hurt someone by passing along the latest rumor, see that it stops with you. Maybe encourage others to stop.

When the opportunity comes to help others, don’t turn the other way and say, “Not my job.”

Remember,

We were lost, but now we are found.

1 Peter 2:25 NIV

For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 Peter 2:25

We belong to the Good Shepherd. This morning, at Hope we were reminded that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the Gate, and the Gatekeeper. He is the one who calls, guides, and protects us.

We were lost, but we have been found by Jesus, the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. If we are in Jesus, there is nothing we can lose. Without Jesus we have nothing.

Even if we are the lowest of the low by whatever measure our world measures things, in Jesus, in eternity, we have everything. Let’s live today as if we have nothing to lose.

Let us live with confidence in Jesus. Let us live in gratitude with Jesus. Let us stand up for the truth given to us by Jesus. Let us live for righteousness, for “by his wounds we have been healed.”