2020-07-22 1 pet 3:18-20
Notes
Transcript
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
19 in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison
20 who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few—that is, eight people—were saved through water.
I. Our sacrificial obedience is driven by Jesus’ sacrificial obedience.
I. Our sacrificial obedience is driven by Jesus’ sacrificial obedience.
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
A. Verses 13-17 can only make sense through verse 18.
A. Verses 13-17 can only make sense through verse 18.
13 Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good?
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated,
15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
16 Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.
17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
Illus: Context matters when reading scripture. It is always important
Knowing what Jesus did is important. beautiful. But verse 18 has an essential and overlooked word. for or therefor.
In other words, verse 18 lays the foundation for the verses that preceded it.
“Since Jesus suffered for sin, then live in the same manner.”
Gentleness, reverence, and suffering are practices of the christian life because they were the hallmarks of Jesus’ life.
When Jesus taught that we should take up our crosses and follow him, 1 peter defines what that looks like.
We should live such sacrificial lives that we embody the cross to a world that doesn’t know nor understand Jesus.
The willing suffering of Christ should define who we are.
5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.
7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,
8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.
9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth—
11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
B. It is important to see who Christ suffered for so that we see who we suffer for.
B. It is important to see who Christ suffered for so that we see who we suffer for.
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
Illus: Every church I have ever served has has openly said that they are a friendly church. When you meet with them, and ask them to describe themselves, they say, We are a loving and caring congregation.
It is interesting because I would go and talk with folks around the church and get the exact opposite response. Many times people would say they didn’t feel welcome, or loved. Many times they expressed how unwelcoming the church was.
I began to wrestle with how on one hand a church body could feel such love for those who attended, but outsiders felt the opposite.
The answer was simple. Churches consider themselves loving/friendly/caring when they love each other. As a member of the church I feel loved by the people I have relationships with.
We love those who love us. And that is good. But it is not enough.
Many times we as churches fall into the trap of becoming so enamored by the love we have for eachother that we are not intentionally loving those outside of our church.
Peter said Jesus suffered (i.e. loved with his death) both the righteous and the unrighteous.
We tent to love those who stand with us, while fighting those against us.
If we are truly to follow Jesus who suffered for both the righteous and the unrighteous, then that means we also suffer for....
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die.
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath.
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
II. Our hope does not rest in earthly treatment, but in eternal resurrection.
II. Our hope does not rest in earthly treatment, but in eternal resurrection.
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
A. Jesus did not lose when he faced persecution or death.
A. Jesus did not lose when he faced persecution or death.
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
Illus: Humor me here for a moment. I want to illustrate how far we have fallen from God’s way.
Imagine if we dropped Jesus into today's day and time. Imagine if we looked at him within the comments of our culture war.
When Jesus said turn the other cheek he would have been eaten alive by the internet. I can imagine the comment section, “What a coward. How can we bring America back to God through surrendering.”
When Jesus told people to take up their crosses and follow him they would have said , “how dare he call me to lose my rights like that.”
When Jesus died on the cross, “What a useless life. He had such a following, he could has led us back to glory, but instead he threw his life away.”
Think through the virtues we have hung our hat on lately. They are truly anti christian.
It is time we returned to Christ. It is time we looked at both what he taught and the way he lived and followed in his footsteps.
Remember Jesus’s death was not his end. Instead, it was the culminating moment of victory for the human race.
For the church, we should embrace a love of sacrifice like jesus, and only then show the world how great our savior is.
6 So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him.
B. Jesus saw through death to the resurrection of the dead.
B. Jesus saw through death to the resurrection of the dead.
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
Illus: I’m an endurance athlete. I love putting my body through the torture of miles and miles of foot pain and anguish.
The most difficult race of my life was the Ironman. It is a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run. All on the same day.
My ironman race did not go the way I planned. I ran out of fuel about 80 miles into the bike. On top of that I had not dried my feet enough putting on my bike shoes which meant that I formed blisters on my feet before I ever began the marathon portion of the race.
Every step of the 26.2 miles I could feel the needles of blisters shooting through both feet.
I nearly quit 5 or 6 times during the run.
My discomfort was great enough at one point that a medical staffer attempted to pull me off the course.
The fuel that kept me going through the intense pain of the race was a single phrase, “Wes Faulk, you are an ironman.”
I looked through the pain to the finish line. Over and over I visualized the prize that was waiting for me.
This is what Jesus did. He looked through the suffering of this earth to the resurrection that awaited him. He was able to endure because he knew what was coming.
This is what we are called to do. We are called to sacrificially endure the pain in love and grace because we look to our resurrection.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
III. What on earth?
III. What on earth?
19 in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison
20 who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few—that is, eight people—were saved through water.
A. What on earth do verses 19-20 mean?
A. What on earth do verses 19-20 mean?
We are going to finish on an odd turn of the passage.
I want to deal with them fairly with you, while saying I really am not confident in giving you a solid answer.
In fact Martin Luther was bold enough to say he did not know the answer to what the end of this passage says.
There are 3 major ways verses 19-20 can be interpreted.
1. Jesus went and preached in hell after he died.
2. Noah, empowered by Christ, preached to the lost of his time.
3. Jesus preached to the Nephelim who were imprisoned at the flood.
Though many have held the position of Jesus preaching in hell after he died, there is little scriptural/historical evidence of this theory.
Many have held to the second theory and a case could be made for Jesus speaking through Noah.
My own opinion is that of the Nephelim. Here is why. 1. Context. 2. The book of Enoch used widely during this time dealt greatly with the nephalim.
Look with me at Gen 6:1-8
1 When mankind began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them,
2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves.
3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth both in those days and afterward, when the sons of God came to the daughters of mankind, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men.
5 When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time,
6 the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved.
7 Then the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.”
8 Noah, however, found favor with the Lord.