Informed & Winsome Ambassadors | 1 Peter 3:13-17

For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. This is the word of the Lord. Good morning.

It's good to see each of you. It seems like it is going to get cold this year. I was hoping it wouldn't, but it's happening.

I certainly appreciated our worship team leading us this morning. I happened to read Psalm 19 this week, where it speaks of the heavens declaring the glory of God. Our worship time together certainly brought that focus to me, as we think about all the ways that God speaks to us, and we see the evidence of His presence in our world, and then the precious thought that that's the God who cares for us and sees us.

We continue in our series through 1 Peter this morning. We're going to be beginning to look at 1 Peter 3, verse 13. As I was preparing for this sermon this week, I couldn't help but think back over the life of Peter, the man that wrote this passage of Scripture that we're considering together this morning.

Peter is a bit of a character, for what we know about him in the New Testament. He's very confident, very sure of himself. He appears to be a natural leader, and yet Peter, if we go to that slide of Peter's denial, we're reminded over and over in all four Gospels that this confident, assured Peter, who boldly proclaimed that he would never leave the Lord, even if all else did, he would not forsake Jesus, even if he had to die.

And then we see the results recorded in all four Gospels of Peter three times, denying Jesus on the night of Jesus' betrayal. Yet, as we continue to read in the New Testament, we come to the book of Acts, and there we see a bold, courageous Peter that's not intimidated by the suffering and the opposition that he faces. And it just struck me as I was reading the passage that we're looking at this morning, over and over, that this is the Peter that's writing this advice to us.

He's not giving us theory about how we can handle suffering and oppression and opposition as we go through life. Peter is speaking from experience, from hard-fought battles, from hard-won wisdom. And it seems to me that as we look at these five verses in 1 Peter chapter 3, that all the wisdom and experience of Peter when it comes to dealing with suffering and opposition gets poured into this passage that we have the privilege of looking at this morning.

So I'd like to look at it under three headings with you. I'd like to look at God's will for us when we're suffering, and then our foundation when we're suffering, and finally, our defense when we're suffering. So if you don't mind turning with me, if you're able, to 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 13.

Let's first of all look at God's will for us when we are suffering. It's under slide two. Peter writes, Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed.

And then this theme gets picked up again in verse 17, For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. Now, before we dig into this, I just want to clarify something that has been foggy in my mind, I think, for all my life. The type of suffering that Peter is talking about in this passage is not the kind of suffering we have through physical illness or disease.

It's not from injury. Peter's not talking about suffering that comes through natural disasters. Peter, in this passage, is talking about a very particular kind of suffering, and that's suffering or oppression, opposition that comes because we name the name of Christ, because we're followers of Christ.

I used to think that the background here on the next slide was a background of Nero's persecution. There's horrendous stories that come out of church history about how Nero put Christians on pikes in his gardens and burned them for light in the evening. About how Nero would wrap Christians in animal skins and turn them free in an arena to be killed and devoured by wild beasts.

And that's the kind of picture I had of the opposition that Peter is talking about in this passage. But evangelical scholars are in agreement that Peter was actually written, 1 Peter was actually written before the persecutions of Nero broke out in Rome. So the kind of suffering and opposition that Peter's talking about is not Nero's persecution, it's more the kind of persecution we've seen as we've worked through this letter.

It's the discomfort, the oppression, the objections that come from families and in our employment and sometimes from those officials that are in power. It's the suffering that was coming on the Christian community of Peter's day because they named the name of Christ as a minority amongst a majority Jewish population or a Roman population. What was getting the Christians in trouble were they were proclaiming that this crucified Jesus was actually a Messiah of God, the Son of God.

And they were proclaiming that Jesus is Lord and not Caesar. And these commitments to Jesus Christ were rubbing against their society and causing friction, opposition. Now, why do I mention all that? Mainly because as I look back over my thoughts about 1 Peter through my life, the question I often ask myself is, boy, how would I respond if I was going to be burned alive or thrown to the wild beast? And perhaps a more helpful question for us to think about and consider as we work through 1 Peter is what kind of opposition, what kind of intimidation am I feeling because I named the name of Christ and what advice does Peter have for me in that regard? It makes sense? Thanks for sticking with me.

So let's dig in to this passage. 1 Peter 3, verse 13. Peter says here, he asks a rhetorical question.

Now, who is there to harm you if you're zealous for what is good? Now, do you pick up what the assumed answer for that question is in the context and in the way the syntax is structured? The assumed answer is, who's there to harm you if you do what's good? The assumed answer is no one. No one would harm us for what would be good. Now, is Peter a little bit confused here? If you look later on in 1 Peter, Peter seems to assume the opposite, that it's natural that we should expect to suffer for the cause of Christ, for doing what is good, holding to what is good.

He says, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. So Peter here, in this passage, is assuming that we're going to face opposition, suffering for the cause of Christ. So how are we to bring these two things together? If we assume that harm shouldn't follow from doing good, and yet we see that it does, what point is Peter making here? Well, I think Peter, in that rhetorical question, is laying out the way we, in our bones, know things should work.

We have an intuition. I think it's a God-given intuition that the natural order of things is when we do what's right, we don't get punished for it. When we do what's good and right, we expect to be recognized, to be praised, to be rewarded for us.

As I was thinking about that this week, it just crossed my mind how deeply that is ingrained in my bones. Have you ever had to stand in a line? Maybe election day, you can relate to that. Sometimes long lines.

I don't know about you, sometimes I've had to wait in a line for like two minutes. I mean, it's oppressive. Now, what goes through our mind when we've been a good, righteous citizen, we went to the back of the line, we're patiently waiting our turn, what goes through our mind when someone cuts in front of us? Boy, I'll tell you.

Fortunately, Don keeps me under control. The righteous indignation that comes into my mind when I've done what's right and I'm getting punished for it, I'm getting set back for it, it's just baked in our bones. No one should suffer for doing what is right.

And yet, here Peter is recognizing or pointing out to us that even though that's the natural order of things, that's the way things should be, very often for the follower of Jesus Christ, there's some penalty, there's some pushback, there's some cost, there's some suffering to naming the name of Christ. Job suffered. Daniel suffered.

Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they suffered. Jeremiah suffered. The prophets suffered.

Peter suffered. Paul suffered. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, suffered for what is good and right.

That's a difficult message, isn't it? Peter goes on in this passage to give us some help, some guidance for how we should think about this suffering when it comes. So look at verse 14. First Peter 3, 14.

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Even if you should suffer, so Peter here recognizes that it could happen, even if you should suffer, you will be blessed. The language, the original language here basically says even if you should suffer, blessed, plural adjective.

The label of God is upon us. Peter's point here is that God is going to make this right. The suffering and the oppression and the disappointment in life, it comes from pushback for us doing what is right.

God sees, God recognizes it, and God promises to make it right. The alternative to that is we're not called to make it right in a lot of ways. I think Peter in this passage is referring to the words of Jesus.

If you think, for example, in the Sermon of the Mount, when Peter speaks of us being blessed, what does he mean? Matthew 5, 10 reads, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

With your good company. So what is Peter's point here? Peter's point here is that the suffering and opposition that we face, the injury that can come upon us for doing what is good and right is recognized by God, and he promises to see that and to reward us for it. Peter goes on to make another point here in verse 17.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, rather than for doing evil. So what's the point of that verse? It kind of sounds like it's God's will for us to suffer, but that's not really the point that Peter is making in this passage. Peter's point here is that it's God's will for us to do good, to do what is right, even if that results in suffering, even if it costs us.

It's God's will that we do what is good and right, rather than what is evil. So one of the quotations that appeared in three or four of the commentaries I read was from John Eliot. Yeah, John Eliot in his commentary writes the qualification, if this should be God's will, refers to suffering for doing what is right, and not simply suffering per se.

The point is not that God wills suffering, but that God wills doing what is right, rather than doing what is wrong, even if and when this results in suffering. Peter makes this point in other places in this letter, the passage that Nick shared from a couple weeks ago speaks about the relationship of slaves to their master and how they represent, how a slave would represent Christ in that situation. Peter writes in 1 Peter 2.20, to the slave, what credit is it if when you sin or 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. It's God's will that we do what's right, what's good, even when it brings suffering. And then later on in 1 Peter chapter four, if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you, but let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or a meddler.

Therefore, this is, I didn't include this on the slide, because I just ran into it late this week. In verse 19, therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will, entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. What's it mean, those who suffer according to God's will? It's the people that are suffering according to God's will are the people that are suffering because they have done what is good, and what is righteous.

So a couple applications from this, I think. Now, I've lived as a Christian long enough to know that once in a while, I can be obnoxious. I can be offensive, and sometimes, I will admit that I'm inclined to wrap that in spiritual cloak, and think I'm suffering for the Lord.

And what Peter, the point Peter was making here, one of the points he's making here, is that's exactly what he's saying not to do. He's not calling us to be obnoxious, offensive, abrasive, selfish, and invite people's opposition. Peter is calling us to what is good and righteous, even when it does bring suffering on our behalf.

There's another kind of poignant application that strikes me about this passage as well. We live in a time, I think we're all well aware of, we're living in a time of stark divisions. There is issue after issue on which people are taking black and white stances, and people on both sides of the issues are viewing the other side as evil, and the logic begins to run, well, the issues are so important, what's at stake is so serious, that we need to fight fire with fire.

Divide and conquer, thank you. So the thinking is, Jesus calls us to love our enemies, and Jesus calls us to forgive, but that just doesn't work anymore. The issues are too great.

We have got to respond in the way that we're being oppressed, the way we're being treated. We have to respond in like, to preserve our community, our freedom, our way of life, and what I think it's important for us to see here, is that this is exactly what Peter is calling us not to do. Peter is calling us, according to God's will, to do what is good and right, even if it brings suffering.

That's tough, that's tough, isn't it? The hard message to hear, it's not the message we good Americans appreciate. Well, how do we, what resources do we have in this kind of difficult call, this kind of difficult command from Peter, from God, from scripture? Well, let's dig into the second point. That is our foundation when we're suffering.

Look at 1 Peter 3, 14, again. We'll pick up in the middle of the verse. Peter says, That statement there is a, pretty much a copyright out of the Greek version of the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter eight.

So if we bring up that next slide, we'll see this comparison between 1 Peter 3 statement and Isaiah eight, and you can see pretty clearly the parallels there. Now, one interesting thing is that you see Peter substitutes Christ the Lord for where Isaiah spoke of the Lord of hosts, of Yahweh. So you see this very high view of Christ being reflected already in Peter's letter here.

But the context here is suggesting that we should honor the Lord as holy rather than falling or being motivated by fear and be troubled by fear. The context of Isaiah chapter eight is a situation where Ahaz, the king of Judah and the leaders in Jerusalem are in deep fear. There's an alliance.

If we go to that next slide, that map slide, there's been an alliance between Syria and Israel and they brought their armies together and they're marching against Jerusalem and their intent is to replace the Davidic king with a king of their own choosing who will back them and take their bidding. And the people in Jerusalem are, the rumors are spreading. Isaiah talked about the conspiracies.

Don't call everything a conspiracy that people are calling conspiracies. The rumors are flying. What are we going to do? Our lives are at risk.

Our city's going to be conquered. We're going to be deposed. And Isaiah comes to Ahaz and the leaders of Jerusalem and he says to them, don't fear.

Don't fear but honor the Lord in your hearts. In other words, don't be driven by your fears. Be driven by your faith in God.

Unfortunately, in Isaiah's day, Ahaz chose the fear route. He emptied the temple treasury and sent all the wealth that had been given by the people for the service of the Lord. He sent it all to the empire that was building even further north of Assyria and he asked the Assyrians to come and protect him from this alliance that was bent on destroying him.

And indeed, the Syrians came but they conquered Israel. They conquered Syria but they also oppressed Judah and one of the outcomes of this lack of faith, this acting on fear, was that the temple itself was converted to the worship of the Assyrian gods. So Peter is saying to us, look at this example from the life of Isaiah.

We have a choice. We can act in fear or we can act in trust in God and Peter is calling us. When the time comes and the suffering comes and it feels like it's not working to do what is good and right in obedience to God, remember that's not fear that drives us.

It's trust in the Lord. It's the choice to obey and trust in the Lord even when there is cost to it. So the foundation, our foundation in this type of suffering is our trust in God rather than being motivated by our own fears.

The third heading for our thoughts today, what's our defense when we are suffering? Look at 1 Peter 3. Again, we're in verse 15, working our way to the end. Verse 15, This is a passage, a favorite passage of apologetic organizations, apologists that are defending the Christian faith by using the tools of Scripture and history and science and logic. And there's good reason that this is the passage they often use to explain their purpose, their ministry, their work because the language Peter is using in this passage is the language of the courtroom.

Peter is calling us to be prepared to give a defense, a logical defense, a rational defense as someone would give in a courtroom, a court of law. This is the language that Luke uses in Acts 22 when Paul asks for the ability to defend himself, the opportunity to defend himself before the Jewish mob that is accusing him of desecrating the temple. This is the language that Luke uses in Acts chapter 25 when Paul gives his defense against the accusations of the Jews before King Agrippa and Bernice.

And this is the language that Paul uses in 2 Timothy 4.16 where he speaks of the fact that he made his defense before Caesar and no one stood with him. This is the logical, rational, mind-centered defense of our faith, our hope in Jesus Christ. Now, so often both Christians and non-Christians assume that good faith, pure faith, the best faith is faith that acts contrary to reason, contrary to the thinking, the processing of our mind.

Mark Twain, next slide, he made this pretty pithy quip on this subject when he said, faith is believing what you know ain't so. Faith's believing what you know ain't so. In other words, in Twain's skeptical view of Christianity, he felt like Christians were people that just turned their minds off.

And often I think we kind of assume the same, that when we talk about faith, we're talking about making some kind of a leap into the dark and that we turn off all of the objections, all the questions, all the learnings of our mind and we just choose to step out in trust of God. And I understand that. There's some beauty in that, but even when we talk about stepping out into the blind abyss in trust from God, there's something going into our minds that it convinces that God is worthy of being trusted.

And so Peter, in this passage, is calling us to engage our minds. You remember that passage in early, yeah, 1 Peter chapter 1, where Peter told us to gird the loins of our minds. Remember that passage? Peter here is once again pointing out and urging us to not turn off our minds, but to engage our minds in our pursuit of our knowledge of God and appreciation for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, what I'd like to start doing in this passage is developing our mission statement as we work towards the end. So we've already seen that we're called to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We're not acting in fear.

We set up Christ as Lord in our hearts and we're acting in obedience and trust in him. So if we go on to the next.

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