Something New

SOMETHING NEW 1 Peter 3:8-12 October 10, 2021 Before we start talking about today's Scripture, I want to read you something from the book of Exodus (21:22-24), "Now suppose two men are fighting, and in the process they accidentally strike a pregnant woman so she gives birth prematurely. If no further injury results, the man who struck the woman must pay the amount of compensation the woman's husband demands and the judges approve. But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot." Now, I like that. And, I think most people like that. We like it because it's fair. If you steal my goat, you owe me a goat. If you hit me in the mouth and knock out a tooth, I get to knock out your tooth. It's fair. And, fairness is appealing. Most of us are familiar with the statue of justice. There's a lot of symbolism here. First off, Justice is blind. She doesn't favor you because of how you look, or whether you're rich. Everyone gets treated the same. Second, her scales are balanced and even. The goal isn't to simply render a verdict. The goal is to provide a perfectly equitable verdict. An eye for an eye. And third, and most people never notice this, she is holding a sword. After the verdict has been reached, Justice acts. With that sword she acts all the way to a life for a life, if necessary. We like fair. So, I like the verses from Exodus because they tell me God is fair. These rules Moses gives the Israelites came from God. Moses didn't make them up. God is the one who decided an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a foot for a foot. I read those verses and all is right in my world. Now, we're going to come back to fair in a minute. Both Apostles, Peter and Paul, are in Rome when this letter is written. Life in Rome is really bad for Christians. They are burned at the stake. They are thrown into the Coliseum and attacked by animals, as a warmup for the gladiator fights. They are evicted from their homes. It is legal to rob them of any valuables they possess. Shortly after this letter is written, both Peter and Paul will be sentenced to death. Life is hard and unfair for Christians. And, not surprisingly, there is a movement within Christianity to fight back.1 When you attack the Church of Jesus, you are attacking the will of God himself. That's just wrong. No man has the right to do evil against God. That's not fair. And, our God is fair. So, it just seems right to take an eye for an eye. If the police chief evicts you from the home you own, then later that night burn his home to the ground. If your wife is stolen from you and sold as a slave, kidnap his daughter, and sell her. If your parents are eaten by lions while the crowd laughs and applauds, poison the Prefect's entire family. Certainly, God will approve of this. An eye for an eye. Then, along comes Jesus. And, his thoughts are radical. Jesus says there is a way to live which is better than fair. There is a way to go through every day which is much more rewarding that seeking justice. If you focus on an eye for an eye, every day becomes a hunt for who has wronged you. Wake up of a morning and my wife says something a little harsh, I will chew her out. Eye for an eye. Someone at Walmart takes the shopping cart I wanted, when they're not looking I will poke a hole in their watermelon. Eye for an eye. My neighbor lets his dog relieve himself in my yard, I will pour salt in his flower bed. Eye for an eye. Your entire life becomes focused on getting even. Do you know people like that? People who spend all day looking for a reason to be angry? People who continually see themselves as a victim? Jesus says if you want a better life, forgive those who offend you. Learn to let it go. Stop focusing on fair. Most of the anger, and disappointment in your life will evaporate if you choose, willingly, to stop demanding fairness. Use your freedom to choose forgiveness. Living a more satisfying life, through denying yourself vengeance, was an absolutely radical concept. Peter and Paul want the Christian Church to be like Jesus. Follow the teachings of Jesus. Please, do not try to strike back at those who are persecuting the Church. Leave that to God. Peter is writing this letter to the churches in Turkey. Paul, founded most of the churches in Turkey. He founded them as home churches. Typically, a church was 10-15 people meeting on Sunday morning in a house. If it got bigger than that, it needed to split in two. Pastors were not seminary trained. Four or five families got together, started a church, and someone either volunteered, or was elected to be the pastor. Didn't matter whether they were skilled or not. They did the best they could to teach about the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Second Coming of Jesus. Same topic every week. There was no such thing as the New Testament. There were no written Gospels. Most Christians knew very little about Jesus' teachings. They knew he rose from the dead. And, if they believed that was true, they would rise from the dead. Ideas like forgive your enemies - that never came up in church. They knew Jesus was Jewish. If they found a Jewish Bible, what did they read? An eye for an eye. And, that sounded good. It sounded fair. So, if we want to get even with the people who are persecuting us, why not? There was another problem at this time. Each family church saw itself as a completely independent entity.2 They didn't really feel like they were part of a world-wide movement. They were just four families, trying to survive, until Jesus comes back. Once you left Jerusalem, and went out into the Gentile world, there was no concept of unity. We are not the Church of Jesus. We are hundreds of churches of Jesus. And, we are completely free to go our own way. We can do whatever we think is best, as long as we believe Jesus rose from the dead. This is when we see Paul trying to set up a Church administration system. First off, pastors need to be selected by the Holy Spirit, not by who has the largest living room. And, all of the family churches need to be linked together. Paul starts writing about Deacons, and Elders, and Bishops. Deacons take care of suffering people. Elders counsel the Pastor on what the church should, and should not, be doing. And, every city has a Bishop, who coordinates the messages of the pastors for the next Sunday. Let's get everyone on the same page, teaching the same message. For the past two weeks Peter has been writing instructions to people who are just figuring out they are part of something larger than their home church. Peter's letter is sent to the Bishop of each city in Turkey. The Bishop is supposed to coordinate reading the letter in each family church. And, the expectation is that each church will submit to the authority of Peter.3 But, these are hard things Peter writes. These are unpopular things Peter writes. But, these are all things Peter heard Jesus himself say. Voluntarily submit to your government, even if they are bad at their job. Slaves, voluntarily remain in your situation, even though it is not fair. Wives, voluntarily submit to your husbands, even if he's a tyrant. And now, today, Church voluntarily submit to my authority as given to me by Jesus. When Peter writes, be of one mind - he means his mind.4 I'm the one who spent three years listening to Jesus. I'm the one who tried to walk on water. I'm the one who denied Jesus three times, but was blessed with forgiveness by Christ. I want that blessing for each of you. So, I am asking the entire Church, to voluntarily submit to my authority. Here's how I know you have chosen submission. You start loving each other the way Jesus loves you. Peter then gives the Church five markers. Show each other sympathy, love, tender heartedness, humility, and forgiveness. I want you to treat everyone in your family church, just like your family. And, I want you to treat everyone in the family church down the street, just like your family. And, I want you to treat everyone in your city, just like your family. So, starting today, I am putting an end to an eye for an eye. You didn't walk with Jesus like me. So, you don't know this. So, I'm telling you now. No more eye for an eye. Do not repay evil with evil. Do not do it in your family. Do not do it in your family church. In fact, do not do it with people who persecute your family church. I need you to love people. All people. Jesus loved everyone. He even loved the men who beat him, and killed him. His love was so fantastic, he willingly chose to die for us. I want you to willingly choose to be nice to people. Then, Peter does something different. He quotes Psalm 34. But, the verses he quotes suggest if you don't love your neighbor and give up vengeance, you may not be saved.5 Up to this point all you had to do, was believe Jesus rose from the dead, and Jesus would come back for you. Peter is adding something new. It's not a new teaching - Jesus himself taught this. But, it's new for the Church. Sanctification. Getting up every morning, and doing everything you can, to be more like Jesus. That's not optional. That's mandatory. We are required to strive to be better. Today, most Christians still think of Sanctification as optional. If, during the course of my life, I happen to become a better person - great! But, if not, that's ok too. Both Peter and Paul shout at us, if you don't understand the need to change, then you don't get Jesus at all. Real faith in Jesus changes you. When you become aware you cannot save yourself, you finally embrace Christ. Embracing Christ means doing what he says. And, what Jesus says is - love God, and be nice to people. Don't just talk about it. Do it. Seminary professor Joel Biermann writes, "Being like Jesus is hard, so we don't even try. Instead of church being a force of change in our lives; church is nice people telling other nice people, how nice it is to be nice."6 I do the best I can to keep us focused on the Bible. And, I do that, so the church can be of one mind. But, not my mind. I am deeply flawed. The mind we want to follow is God. God in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus, who knows if you give up vengeance your life becomes better. If you stop keeping track of everyone else's wrongs against you, you can move forward. You can move forward to better. You can move forward to something different. Something better. Something new. 1 R. C. Sproul, general editor. New Geneva Study Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1974. 2 William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 259. 3 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 2183. 4 Donald Senior, New Interpreter's Study Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 2186. 5 Seyoon Kim, "Paul's Common Paraenesis (1 Thess 4-5; Phil 2-4; and Rom 12-13): The Correspondence Between Romans 1:18-32 and 12:1-2," Tyndale Bulletin, 62 no. 1 (January 2011), 109-139. 6 Joel Biermann, "Truth and Unity," Concordia Journal, 46 no. 4 (Fall 2020), 9-21. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2