Healed By His Wounds
It Is Well • Sermon • Submitted
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ME: Intro - Facing Evil in this World
ME: Intro - Facing Evil in this World
“Violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children: organized religion ought to have a great deal on its conscience.”
This was how Christopher Hitchens described Christianity in his book,
God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.
You know when you search for things on Amazon,
Below will be a list of similar items,
Well this book is not alone.
Other similar books include Against All Gods by A.C. Grayling,
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins,
And The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality.
Bookstores are filled with these kind of books that are outright against Christianity.
And these kinds of books are selling.
But this is nothing new.
In the late 1700s, Thomas Paine was another atheist, making similar assaults against Christianity,
Listen to what he wrote in his book, The Rights of Man,
“Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, women, and infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody persecutions, and tortures unto death, and religious wars, that since that time have laid Europe in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but from this impious thing called religion, and this monstrous belief that God has spoken to man?”
The message of Christianity is universally true,
But it is not universally accepted.
It is not today,
And it has never been.
While some of the words found in some of these books use strong language,
Many Christians throughout history have faced far worse suffering because of their faith.
And this theme of the godly suffering can be found all throughout the Bible.
Psalm 34:19 says;
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
The OT includes the account of Joseph,
Who repeatedly suffered for his godly actions.
But the most prominent example,
Is Jesus Christ Himself.
He told His disciples in John 15:18-20;
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
And in John 16:33, He also said;
John 16:33 (ESV)
In the world you will have tribulation.
After the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus,
His followers continued to teach this understanding.
Paul said in Acts 14:22;
Acts 14:22 (ESV)
Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
And Peter taught this in our passage this morning.
To understand our passage this morning,
We must first understand the context.
So, before getting to our passage,
We will gloss over 1 Peter 2:13-20 to understand the context.
Then, we will look at the first half of our passage and see how Christ is An Exemplary Sufferer.
And the second half of our passage shows us how Christ is An Extraordinary Substitute.
The application from our passage this morning is a three-part application;
First, like Jesus, do good when facing evil.
Second, when you inevitably fail, trust Jesus as your substitute,
Third, repeat step one and two continuously.
The entire letter of 1 Peter is an exhortation from Peter to believers.
The strategy Peter is communicating is that we would live such a good life in front of a lost world that they might have a desire to follow Christ.
Our passage this morning is smack dab in the middle of Peter’s exhortation.
He talks about enduring,
About continuing to do good,
Specifically, when facing insults, trials, mockery, and suffering for being a Christian.
This is really what his entire letter is about.
When you look through 1 Peter,
You start to see the situation that Peter is addressing,
That situation is the persecution early Christians were facing.
The type of suffering seems to be accusations and insults
For times sake, we will not read each of these passages,
But we gain an understanding of this suffering from 1 Peter 1:6-7; 2:4, 11-12; 3:9-17; 4:12-19; and 1 Peter 5:6-10.
Peter’s message is clear,
Do good in spite of persecution.
The problem Peter’s audience faced was as Christians,
How do they deal with the evil they are facing?
So, for us, how do we deal with our own sinful, selfish desires,
Desires like retribution, punishment, or vengeance,
When we suffer be wronged by others?
How do we handle suffering for doing good?
What do we do when we are insulted, rejected, or accused for being a Christian?
Our passage this morning informs us that we are to live righteously,
Especially when we suffer.
This call to live righteously is a call to emulate the life of Christ.
Pastor Mark Dever summarizes this as entrusting rather than retaliating.
This call brings with it the ethical implications of Christ’s death as our substitute,
Laying down His life for our benefit.
Simply put, Peter says that Jesus is the answer to this problem of dealing with the evil we face as Christians.
In the life and death of Jesus,
He was both an Exemplary Sufferer and an Extraordinary Substitute.
WE: Context (1 Peter 2:13-20)
WE: Context (1 Peter 2:13-20)
Please turn in your Bibles if you have not already to 1 Peter 2:13-20,
We are going to look at these verses to better understand our passage this morning.
If you do not have a Bible,
We do have free Bibles available for you in the back,
Please take and keep one of those Bibles.
Follow along with me in 1 Peter 2:13-20;
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
Peter is talking a lot about authority here.
He understands that human authority is a God-given right to command.
For example, if a parent tells their child to do something,
It is very different from a friend who gives advice.
The parent and the friend may say the same thing,
The child may respond the same to the parent and the friend.
But the command from the parent comes with the authority given by God,
Which the friend does not have.
We all have God-given authorities over us.
Within these authorities,
Peter says to live as people who are free.
This is an important teaching.
Freedom does not mean we do whatever we want.
Our freedom is like train tracks.
If a train ever goes off the tracks, it becomes incredibly destructive.
So, Peter says to use our freedom to show the world God.
Then he outlines the tracks we are to stay on for the train that is our lives.
Live as servants of God,
Honor everyone,
Love fellow believers,
Fear God,
And honor your leader.
Then Peter specifically addresses servants.
In this context,
It would be more like a household slave.
And Peter is telling slaves to submit.
Submit to your master with all respect, he says.
Not just the good and gentle masters,
But submit to the unjust and cruel masters as well.
We tend to understand this exhortation to servants as an exhortation to employees.
And there are some principles we can correlate here.
But Peter does not say employees here,
He is speaking to slaves because there are differences between an employee and a slave.
As an employee, you have the right to walk away.
You can quit.
Slaves do not have that privilege.
This is why Jesus is referred to as the suffering servant.
He was unable to disobey the Father’s will.
Because disobeying the Father’s will would have been sin,
And He is not capable of sinning.
Likewise, we who trust in Christ are described as slaves of God.
Why?
Because when we are with God in heaven,
We will not be able to quit, or walk away, or disobey.
But not all masters are like God,
We can be under the authority of people who are unjust or cruel.
And when we are,
Peter says to submit.
This is a gracious thing, he says.
Enduring sorrow while suffering unjustly brings favor.
If we endure punishment for our sin, it does not matter much.
But if we are punished when we do good,
And we endure in this suffering,
Well, this is a gracious thing in God’s eyes.
This is a challenging charge Peter gives in this context.
He is telling slaves to submit to masters by doing good,
Even if they suffer unjustly at the hands of their masters.
Doing good in these circumstances, Peter says, brings favor with God.
Despite this reward,
Doing good in these circumstances is so difficult,
Therefore, Peter points to the example of Christ.
GOD: An Exemplary Sufferer (1 Peter 2:21-22)
GOD: An Exemplary Sufferer (1 Peter 2:21-22)
In 1 Pet. 2:21-22, we see Christ is An Exemplary Sufferer;
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
When Peter says “to this you have been called,” in vs. 21,
He is talking about the suffering we briefly talked about in the verses that precede it.
Christians are called to suffer patiently,
Following the example Christ left for believers.
Christ’s example shows that He did good by submitting to the Father’s will all while suffering unjustly.
When it comes to being a Christian,
Vs. 21 teaches that suffering is part of the calling.
Experiencing harm or emotional pain comes with the Christian life.
Similarly, 2 Tim. 3:12 reinforces this when it says;
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
But why exactly is suffering part of the Christian’s calling?
Because Christian means follower of Christ,
Suffering was part of Christ’s calling.
Therefore following Christ means suffering will be part of the Christian calling.
It is a path marked by suffering.
Being a Christian is not meant to be a generally loose and meandering following of Christ.
Think of it more like the way a trailer follows the truck it is hitched to.
That is the way Christians are to follow Christ.
It is this united relationship.
So, Christians follow Christ through suffering and into resurrected life.
Multiple NT references teach this:
2 Cor. 1:5; 4:8-10; Phil. 3:8-10;
Christians follow Christ closely through suffering and into resurrected life,
Like a trailer follows behind a truck.
When I was a kid, my family would go camping in the Adirondacks every other summer.
My Aunt and Uncle have a cabin in a deep wooded area.
It was my favorite place to go as a kid.
There were plenty of great trails in the woods to hike.
We had a short walk to a practically private section of beach on a lake.
There were a bunch of great spots for fishing.
And there was this small island attached to a dam there,
We would walk there because it was filled with wild blueberries that we would pick to make blueberry pancakes in the morning.
I cannot fully express to you how much I enjoyed going to this cabin.
The only issue was the trip to get there.
It is only a few hours but as a kid it always felt like such a long time.
But the trail to actually get there required a four wheel drive vehicle.
It was a single lane trail through the woods that was basically climbing a small mountain filled with plenty of large rocks and steep edges.
So, it was no easy feat.
Despite the struggle,
The joy of the end destination made the challenge of getting there worth it.
Knowing the terrain getting there,
I just saw my aunt post on Facebook this past week something I never would have expected,
They towed a pull-behind camper through that terrain,
To the property where their cabin is.
The journey of that camper illustrates the Christian life.
That camper was not going to get to the end destination on its own,
It was completely dependent on the power of the truck pulling it.
Likewise for the Christian life,
Christians are not able to get to heaven on our own,
We are dependent on the power of Christ, who we are to be united with,
Like the camper was united to the truck.
It is a struggle for both the truck and the camper to get through that terrain and arrive at the cabin-site.
Likewise for Christ and Christians,
Life on this earth is marked by suffering.
The camper followed the truck through the same terrain,
But my aunt and uncle, cousins, and their kids did not ride in the camper,
Why?
Because the camper was way less stable and safe.
It was borderline reckless getting to that destination,
In fact, all of the stuff inside the camper was thrown about by the time it arrived at the campsite.
The same is true for the Christian.
Christians do not carry people to heaven,
Christians are not as stable or safe as Christ,
Christians are sinners who can be borderline reckless.
In vs. 21 of our text this morning,
Peter says that being the camper,
Being the trailer pulled through rough terrain by Christ,
This is what you have been called to.
This is the mission Jesus has assigned to His people.
To follow in union with Him through the suffering of this world and into resurrected life.
But not only is Christ the power that pulls His followers,
He left an example for believers to follow.
Christ’s example is a pattern by which His followers are to pattern our lives after.
He is our representative,
The model we are to imitate.
In the late 19th century, Charles Sheldon published a book based upon vs, 21.
The title of the book is “In His Steps.”
The subtitle of the book is “What Would Jesus Do?”
Which is amazing because over 100 years later,
This question from this 19th century book,
Was abbreviated to WWJD,
And became a bit of a phenomenon.
WWJD was everywhere:
Bracelets, t-shirts, social media pages, and all sorts of different forms of pop culture were inundated with these four letters.
Which came from this book written in the 1800s,
Based upon vs. 21 in our passage this morning.
This means the context of asking WWJD comes in the midst of unjust suffering.
And being able to do what Jesus would do in the midst of unjust suffering,
Is a testimony to the rest of the world.
So, what example did Jesus set for His followers specifically?
An example of sinlessness.
Peter says at the start of vs. 22 that Jesus committed no sin.
Reinforcing this point by saying that no deceit was found in His mouth,
Isaiah 53:9 prophesied the same thing.
This is true regarding His entire character,
Jesus is a person with no deceit.
Hebrews 4:15 says it this way;
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Repeatedly, we see the NT teach that Jesus was without sin.
2 Cor. 5:21 describes Jesus as Him who knew now sin,
Heb. 7:26 says He is our high priest who is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
Our passage this morning says flat out that He committed no sin,
And John wrote in 1 John 3:5 that in Christ there is no sin.
So, it is clear that Jesus was entirely free from sin.
This means Jesus never once disobeyed the Father,
But it also means He loved God’s law,
He took joy in keeping the law!
But unlike Jesus,
We people are reluctant to obey God, at best,
Or we despise God’s law, at worst.
As Romans 8:7 says;
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
Jesus did not have this fleshly, fallen nature.
So, unlike with the first person, Adam,
And every person since,
Satan could not exploit Jesus to sin.
Jesus loved the Father,
And loved the Father’s will,
With all His heart, mind, soul, and strength,
And He loved His neighbor as Himself,
At all times.
Going back to Heb. 4:15, it says that Jesus was tempted as we are in every respect,
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Yet He never sinned.
Think about the temptations we face,
Temptation to wrongfully indulge natural desires,
To avoid spiritual issues,
To take moral shortcuts,
To seek the easiest way out,
To lack love or sympathy for others,
To be selfish,
Or to be consumed with self-pity,
And the list could go on.
Jesus was tempted in all these ways,
Yet He never once succumbed to these temptations.
The temptation to take the easy way out pressed heavily on Him when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane,
Pleading with the Father to let this cup pass from Him!
But through His prayers, He resisted the temptation to succumb,
He fought against the allure of sin all the way to His death on the cross.
Those who follow Him,
Must learn to do likewise.
But thanks be to God that our salvation is not contingent upon our ability to do likewise.
No, our salvation is contingent upon Jesus’ ability to remain unstained by sin.
1 Pet. 1:19 describes Him as a lamb without blemish or spot,
This spotless Lamb offers His precious blood for us.
You see, if Jesus sinned, then He would have needed a savior just like us,
And His death would have been for nothing.
But Christ obeyed the entire law on our behalf,
Applying His obedience in place of our disobedience.
In doing so, Jesus fulfilled the Father’s will.
His perfect obedience qualifies Him to be our sufficient Savior.
Many people struggle with understanding how Jesus can sympathize with us having never sinned.
Seeing Jesus as a little to clean or sterile to understand the mess I am in.
As if, Jesus could only understand what it is like to be in my shoes,
If He made the same mistakes that I make.
I heard an illustration once that helps us to understand why it is a mistake for us to think in this way.
The temptation to sin we face in this world is like a gale force wind pressing against us as we seek to walk toward righteousness.
At first, the wind does not seem like any real issues,
You just carry on walking against the wind,
Bound and determine to march toward righteousness.
But over time,
That wind will eventually wear you down,
It will make you feel tired,
It has suddenly gotten you to a point where you no longer want to endure walking against it,
In fact, all you can focus on anymore is relief from the now overwhelming force of the wind.
So, you succumb to the strength of the wind.
You stop walking against you,
You sit to rest,
You are just going take a quick break.
But when you do,
The relief from no longer walking against the wind feels so satisfying,
And the thought of walking toward righteousness no longer sounds as appealing,
Or no longer feels possible.
So, you wait longer than you intended,
Or you begin frequently stopping,
Repeatedly giving into the pressure of the wind blowing against you,
Or even worse,
Giving completely into the direction of the wind,
Giving yourself over entirely to force of the wind against you,
And you begin walking,
Perhaps even running,
Away from righteousness,
Because heading in the direction of the wind feels better or more satisfying in the moment,
Than marching against the wind toward righteousness any longer.
Picture the state of fatigue that wind can put you in,
That is the same type of fatigue the temptation of sin can cause.
And Jesus has been tempted as we are in that same way.
Jesus marched against the mighty gale force wind His entire life.
He felt the relentless pressure of the wind against His face,
His soul was chapped from the might of temptation He faced in this world,
Yet He never sinned.
He never stopped marching against the wind.
Where we stopped to rest,
He was faithful to press on.
When we turned to begin moving with the wind,
He persevered toward righteousness.
So, not only has Jesus been tempted in every respect we have been,
He has pressed on beyond the points we succumb to our temptation.
Because He was without sin.
The humanity of Jesus has never been in doubt.
In John’s epistles, he condemns those who deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh,
Because they were teaching that Jesus was not God incarnate,
Rather, He was a supernatural being who only seemed human in His appearance.
But the Gospels clearly teach a different story.
Jesus got hungry, tired, and sad.
He experienced the limitations of what it means to be human.
As this verse in Hebrews emphasizes,
If Christ had not shared in the weakness, temptation, and pain of the human experience,
Then He would not be able to help us in our trials.
Therefore, because He was fully man,
His experience guarantees that in every moment of our relationship with God,
We may go to Him boldly,
With full assurance that Christ has gone before us,
He is the help that we need.
The fact that Jesus was fully man does not diminish that He was also fully God.
But it was not as if Jesus was fully God pretending to be a man.
As if His hunger or His moments of tiredness were merely an act.
No, He was God incarnate,
In a mysterious way, He existed as both God and Man,
Lacking in neither.
It was not as if Jesus sometimes acted in His divine nature,
And other times acted in His human nature.
He was fully God and fully man at all times.
So, as a human,
He was tempted in every way we are,
But never sinned.
The primary example is seen in Matthew 4 where Satan tempted Jesus to disobey the Father,
Trying to appeal to a sense of self-gratification, self-display, and self-aggrandizement.
So, because Jesus was human,
His resistance against temptation was a struggle,
But because He was also fully God,
It was His nature to obey the Father’s will,
Therefore He fought the temptation until He overcame it.
His human nature and divine nature are inseparably interconnected,
Making it ultimately impossible for Him to fail in His effort to resist temptation.
It was certain that He would endure temptation to the end,
Feeling the full force of the wind against Him,
He inevitably marched against temptation all the way to victory for His people.
The same people who get worn down and succumb to the temptations He overcame.
So, we praise God in Christ,
Because, as Heb. 2:18 says;
For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
YOU: An Extraordinary Substitute (1 Peter 2:23-25)
YOU: An Extraordinary Substitute (1 Peter 2:23-25)
Yes, Christ helps as an exemplary sufferer,
But He is more than an example,
1 Peter 2:23-25 shows that He is An Extraordinary Substitute;
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
He is the sin-bearer.
He bore the burden for our sins.
He is an extraordinary substitute.
He is the perfect sacrifice,
As Peter said back in 1 Pet. 1:19,
He is the Lamb without blemish or spot.
We talked last week about how He became the curse for us.
Jesus suffered the curse of our sin,
He accepted the punishment that our sins deserve,
And by doing so,
He provides us forgiveness and freedom.
So, in vs. 23, Peter begins teaching about Christ as the substitute by talking about Jesus being reviled.
Peter saw firsthand Jesus being reviled.
This reviling is like being severely insulted,
Similar to being verbally abused.
Despite the abusive insults against Him,
Jesus never reacted by insulting back.
Further evidence that Christ is an example for us,
In 1 Peter 3:9, Peter tells us,
Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
Like Jesus, we must entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly,
As vs. 23 in our passage says.
Because God judges justly, sins must be paid for.
So, our sins will be paid for either by God’s wrath or by Jesus’ blood.
This means the same is true for anyone who sins against you,
Anyone who is an authority over you who uses their authority in corrupt or unjust ways against you.
That person’s sin will be paid for by God’s wrath or by Jesus’ blood.
When you understand this,
The injustice you may face means,
That though you are suffering temporarily,
You are building up crowns in heaven.
But the unjust offender is storing up eternal wrath for themselves.
This is the reason Scripture tells us to pray for this person.
Because this person needs the Gospel.
And vs. 24 of our passage this morning is the Gospel.
Jesus Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree,
That we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
Peter is using this for his argument that we are to live such a good life in front of a lost world that they might desire to follow Christ.
But also, because this verse is the Gospel,
I am going to work on memorizing this verse this week.
I invite you all to join me.
It is a great discipline to memorize Scripture,
And what better then a passage of Scripture that is the Gospel?
As we have already emphasized by His example,
Jesus was sinless,
And yet He suffered to the point of death on the cross.
He bore up under unjust suffering.
As vs. 24 says, He Himself bore our sins.
Jesus was not obligated to do this,
He offered Himself up to take our sins for us.
This echoes the words of the prophet in Isaiah 53:12;
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Peter is telling us,
Just like Jesus bore up under unjust suffering,
When we suffer unjustly,
We must bear it patiently.
Vs. 24 goes on to say that He bore our sins in His body on the tree.
Acts 10:39 refers to the cross upon which Jesus died as a tree.
Referring to the cross as a tree is an intentional reference to an OT phrase that Jesus died by bearing a curse.
Again, this ties into what we talked about last week in Gal. 3:13.
The reference comes from Deut. 21:22-23 which says that cursed is he who dies on a tree.
Christ became the curse,
He bore the curse for our sin when He died on the tree.
The cross was an execution device during NT times.
Criminals were staked to the cross by their hands and feet,
Hanging there until they suffocated to death.
It was a symbol of severe affliction.
Historically speaking,
Nearly 300 years after Christ was crucified on the cross,
Constantine the Great used the cross to be a symbol of the Christian faith.
He had claimed to have seen a flaming cross in the heavens,
And on the cross was an inscription that said ‘in hoc signo vinces,’
Which means, ‘by this sign, you shall conquer.’
Constantine claimed the next night,
Jesus Himself appeared and commanded him to take the cross as the symbol for his armies.
So, in the 300s, the Roman armies were branded with a form of a cross called a Labarum.
This remained until their eventual downfall.
The debate about the authenticity of Constantine’s claims has been long and extensive,
So, we won’t get into the debate.
But after the fall of the Roman empire,
The symbol of the cross remained an association of the Christian faith,
Because it was on the cross where Jesus bore our sins in His body.
Peter concludes this point by saying that By Christ’s wounds,
You have been healed.
Again showing how Christ is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 53:4-5.
The wounds Peter is referring to are the wounds He endured when He was crucified.
Including all the beatings and whippings he endured leading up to the cross,
Culminating in His death.
Meaning, it is by the death of Christ,
We are spiritually healed.
Jesus took your sins,
In your place,
So, that you can be holy.
This is the therapeutic model for your soul.
By Christ’s wounds, you have been healed.
It is important we remember,
Peter is writing to believers.
So, in vs. 25, he says you were straying like sheep,
This is the same thing Isaiah 53:6 prophesied.
You were living in such a way that was moving away from Christ,
But have now returned.
Peter is referring to the conversion of believers.
Being a Christian means you return to Christ,
You redirect your life,
Your personal attachment is now to Christ,
Not your sin.
Peter describes Christ here as the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul.
When he says Shepherd, Peter is using familiar OT imagery for the way God tends to, cares for, and guards His people like a shepherd.
The famous Psalm, Psalm 23, begins by saying the Lord is my Shepherd.
Similarly, Ezekiel 37:24 says;
“My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes.
Peter is applying this OT imagery of God’s care to Christ.
He repeats it again in 1 Pet. 5:4,
Where he refers to Jesus as the Chief Shepherd.
This theme is repeated all throughout the NT.
Jesus Himself taught this in John 10:11;
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The author of Hebrews concludes his letter referring to Jesus as the great shepherd of the sheep in Heb. 13:20;
And in his heavenly vision, John describes Jesus as the Lamb in the midst of the throne,
Shepherding and guiding to the springs of living water in Rev. 7:17.
When Peter says Overseer,
He is referring to the watching over leadership Christ provides for the church.
This is the model given for elders in the church.
Every other reference to overseer in the NT refers to the office of elder.
Which is why in ch. 5,
Peter also calls elders undershepherds.
But the focus of Peter’s words here are meant to strengthen us.
Christ’s role as Overseer and Shepherd of our souls is where we get the strength needed to follow Peter’s command.
WE: Application
WE: Application
The best way I can summarize Peter’s command is to...
First, like Jesus, do good when facing evil.
Second, when you inevitably fail, trust Jesus as your substitute,
Third, repeat step one and two continuously.
One final application I would like to close with,
Is an appeal to trust Jesus if you have yet to trust Jesus.
Once a person trusts in Jesus Christ,
One of the first steps that follows is what we call baptism.
Baptism is an act of obedience.
Jesus instructs us to be baptized,
And He Himself was baptized.
Baptism is an outward representation of an inward transformation.
You may have noticed we have a tank filled with water here today.
Let me assure you,
We filled this tank with water from a hose.
It is not magical, supernatural water.
It does not save you.
The act of going under the water and coming back up illustrates the miraculous work Jesus has done in the person.
When you go under the water,
It illustrates the burial of Jesus.
When you come back out,
It represents the resurrection of Christ.
So, the entire act of baptism illustrates this idea of dying to self,
And being transformed into new life in Christ.
Baptism is a celebration.
A celebration we are excited to share with someone this morning.
Before I ask Pastor Ryan to introduce you to the person we are celebrating with,
I want to welcome anyone who trusts in Christ but have not yet been baptized,
You are welcome to come forward this morning,
Myself and some of the deacons will be in the front row,
If you are interested or have any questions,
We would love to celebrate with you this morning.
As we prepare to celebrate this baptism,
Please join me in a word of prayer.