Living as Believers

Christ, Our Example

1 Peter 3:17–22 NIV

For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

Through the entirety of the Peter’s first letter, he has been over and again pointing us to the supremacy of Christ. If Christ is our hope and example, then we should willingly follow in His footsteps and trust in His and the Father’s plan. Today, Peter is once again going to ppoint us toward Christ as the reason for responding to the brokenness, cruelty, pain and sorrow of the world with love.

Christ came to suffer, but in His suffering, God works good for His people. Jesus was righteous, but in his suffering, the unrighteous became righteous. It is one thing to suffer alone, but we never suffer alone. We join ourselves with Christ in our suffering. He knows exactly how deep, difficult and damaging our suffering is.

Christ is not our only example of God calling us to join Him in suffering for our good. Noah, who was called to preach the message of trusting God to a wicked generation, suffered as he alone was the only one righteous in the whole world. Genesis 6 tells us that for 120 years, the Lord proclaimed that His judgment would swallow up the unrighteous. During this time, Naoh was tasked with building an ark even though it was not raining and he was not near a body of water. Through Noah’s trust in God, he and his family were saved from judgment and we today owe it to Noah’s faith for the breath that we breathe.

Peter then points us to the spiritual suffering that we embark in as we surrender our lives to Christ. Trusting in Jesus is not easy and requires a daily taking up of our cross, and yet Peter sees fully the good of this suffering as we are moved from death to life, from being far from God to being pledged to Him.

Our Active Response

1 Peter 3:8–12 NIV

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

So then how are we to live in the midst of suffering? Peter lines out our active response. We are to be:

Unified in Christ

Be Empathetic

Love One Another

Be Compassionate and Humble

Repay evil and insult with blessings

Peter moves to quote Psalm 34:12-16 as the reasoning for obeying. David teaches in this psalm that as we seek the Lord in the midst of our suffering, we begin to love life. When our focus is on our suffering, our hearts become hard and we revenge against any and all who have caused our suffering. Our hope moves from the Lord to our own hands.

Our Verbal Response

1 Peter 3:13–16 NIV

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Peter then moves to our verbal response to our suffering. When we seek to obey God and do good. When we are empathetic, listening first, compassionate and loving, it is amazing how the ears of others bend. God desires for us to be in control of what we have ability to control, our response.

Our verbal response should truly take on the persona of What Would Jesus Say? In every situation, with compassion, love and truth, Jesus pointed his hearers to the Father. In the same manner, we as the church should be verbalizing the Father in our suffering. Before you post ask, how is the hearer pointed toward God by my comment, post, response.

Finally, always be ready to give an answer with gentleness, respect, and most importantly, without sinning. If you feel the need to go to confession after posting on Facebook, you did not respond as God desires.