Sermon
for Trinity 5, July 12, 2020
Grace and peace to you, from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
1 Peter 3:8-15a 8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one
another. Show sympathy, brotherly love,
compassion, and humility. 9 Do
not repay evil with evil or insult with insult.
Instead, speak a blessing, because you were called for the purpose of
inheriting a blessing. 10 Indeed: Let the one who wants to love life and to see
good days keep his tongue from evil and his lips from saying anything
deceitful. 11 Let
him turn from evil and do what is good.
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are
on the righteous, and his ears are open to their requests. But the face of the Lord is against those who
do evil. 13 Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14 But even if you should happen to suffer because of
righteousness, you are blessed. Do not
be afraid of what they fear, and do not be troubled. 15 But regard the
Lord, the Christ, as holy in your hearts. (EHV)
Dear redeemed bought by the blood of Christ,
Many people in our
times question the relevance of the Bible.
They question whether after so many years, how could it still speak to
our needs? Peter’s letter, especially,
has a tendency to grate at the modern listener because Peter speaks so much
about submitting to authority and loving those under ours. However, we must remember who Peter is
writing for, and to whom he is writing, and take to heart the message of this
text: Do not be afraid, you who are blessed.
Peter was writing to people who were falsely suspected
of being traitors to their rulers, a menace to their neighbors, unwilling to
compromise, and worthy of death for their radical ideas of a Savior and God who
made no allowance for the gods of the nations yet demanded obedience to laws
that were inconvenient to the masses.
Commands to love your wife, not to kill your children, to have only one
wife, and worship only the God who they said had died and rose again. Heretics to the Roman authorities. Equally heretical to the Jews.
So, is Peter relevant to our times? How does our situation compare to that of
those early Christians? To be honest, we
are still much better off here in the United States. Those early Christians could be hauled before
a judge at a moment’s notice and condemned to death for refusing to worship the
idols of the nation. They could be
betrayed by neighbors taking financial advantage of the situation, and many an
early Christian died without a fair trial after enduring much torture.
We haven’t had to face anything like the
harrowing reality of the Christians living in the 60s a.d. under Emperor Nero
and others like him. Yet, today, you Christians
are highly likely to be under suspicion merely for the color of your skin, no
matter what color you might be. You are
also likely to be mocked for holding to the Bible as the true Word of God. You will be hated by some for demanding
allegiance to the teachings of the Bible.
The thought police of today’s cancel culture can make your life a living
trial. Give the wrong response to the
wrong person and you become a pariah to the politically correct. Don’t give enough respect to the insane ideas
of the most radical and you could lose your job, or your business could be torched
or boycotted. You could lose friends
simply for saying something out of step with the surrounding culture. Freedom of speech is permitted only to those
who agree with the crowds, and many are demanding that you must pay for crimes
you didn’t commit, and make reparations to descendants of people who suffered
indignities hundreds of years before you were born. So, tell me how Peter’s letter isn’t relative
to the faithful of our times.
When you break it down, Peter’s letter is
really expressing how we should live in times Jesus told us would happen. The world will hate us because it hates
God. The world will turn against any who
follow Jesus because the world is still under the heavy influence of the devil
and the sinful flesh. The answer is not
to submit to the world’s ugly demands, but to love the Lord your God with all
your heart and soul and mind, and your neighbor as Jesus loved us.
After telling his readers to submit to
authority, and to one another, as to the Lord, Peter wrote, “Finally, all of
you, live in harmony with one another.
Show sympathy, brotherly love, compassion, and humility. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with
insult. Instead, speak
a blessing, because you were called for the purpose of inheriting a blessing.” How
radical and offensive these ideas are to the modern man! Live in harmony? Isn’t it more productive to protest, slander,
hate, and destroy?
Not when the goal is eternal life.
The world around us is filled with suspicion
of those who look different, with ideas of revenge for every hurt, and
retribution for every offense whether real or imagined. Where do you suppose those ideas come
from? They can only come from the devil
and the sinful nature in the unregenerated person.
However, who does Peter write for? He writes for the Lord Jesus. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Peter writes
for the God who wants all people to be saved, because He gave His Son into
death for the sins of the world. Likewise,
Peter writes to the Christian Church telling us to live for Jesus who said, “In
this world you are going to have trouble. But be courageous! I have overcome the world.” (John
16:33)
Because God wants to save sinners, and because
He reaches out to those who do not yet know Him through ordinary believers like
you and me and all the saints who have gone before us, He wants the world to
see a difference between us and the unbelievers who serve the devil whether
they know it or not. Therefore, we are
to live with the same compassions Jesus showed us. We are to be in harmony with God’s Word and
with our fellow believers, and we are to strive for this always. Even to those who would abuse or hurt us, we
are to show respect and kindness, even when it hurts. And why?
Peter wrote, “Speak a blessing, because you were called for the
purpose of inheriting a blessing.”
Why should we turn the cheek when the world
abuses us? Because God called us out of
sin and darkness into His marvelous light.
He reached out to the unworthy and made us His own dear children who
have every true and certain promise of life everlasting in heaven. Why should we be kind to those who don’t care
about us, or even truly hate us? Because
through us, God may save some.
The Holy Spirit had Peter write, “Indeed:
Let the one who wants to love life and to see good days keep his tongue from
evil and his lips from saying anything deceitful. Let him turn from evil and do what is
good. Let him seek peace and pursue it.” Jesus never promised that life in this
troubled world would be easy for His people.
The Lord knew what we would face because He already faced all of it and
worse. The Lord also knew that if we
treat those around us with respect and kindness, life would be better for us
here on earth, and His Father will reward us in heaven.
Along with these instructions, there is a
promise and a warning: “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and
his ears are open to their requests. But
the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” No matter what the world might think, God is
on our side. The Lord is always paying
attention to His people. That doesn’t
mean we will never suffer, but truly, He has our ultimate good in mind, but for
those who reject Him, God reserves judgment, and there will be no escape. Sometimes, it looks like the wicked win here
on earth, but not in God’s court. God’s judgments
are always just and always correct.
Those who reject His Son have rejected the Father also. His kindness will not help those who refuse
it.
Even in a world of trouble, and surrounded by
God’s enemies, those who walk with Jesus will most often have a relatively
peaceful journey through life. Peter
said, “Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?” The evidence bears this out. If you live your life as a faithful
Christian, walking with the Lord in purity and truth and submitting to the
authorities He places over you, you are highly likely to be happier, to live
longer, and to have little trouble with the law of the land. God gives government for the good of His
people and by and large, He makes sure it helps us.
But even if governments, or the people in them,
should become wicked and attack God’s children, Do
not be afraid, you who are blessed.
Our text says, “But even if you should happen to suffer because of
righteousness, you are blessed. Do not
be afraid of what they fear, and do not be troubled. But regard the Lord, the Christ, as holy in
your hearts.” Jesus once told His
followers, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the
soul. Rather, fear the one who is able
to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) Christians may well suffer for their
faith. Radical unbelievers sometimes go
to great lengths to hurt or kill those who offend them with the truth of
God. But why be afraid of them? Their end is hell, but our future is life
everlasting. Theirs is a dismal future
no matter how powerful they might seem on earth. But in the end, in company with the Lord
Jesus, faithful Christians will judge the wicked.
Twice Peter tells us “You are blessed.” It’s not the suffering that blesses us, yet
the Holy Spirit had James write, “Consider it complete joy, my brothers,
whenever you fall into various kinds of trials, because you know that the
testing of your faith produces patient endurance. And let patient endurance finish its work, so
that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
Our Lord Jesus promises, “If the world
hates you, you know that it hated me first.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own. However, because you are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of it, for that very reason the world hates you.”
(John 15:18-19)
Dear Christian friends, we are blessed because
Jesus chose us out of this world. With
His holy life and innocent death, He purchased our futures and made us
acceptable to our Creator. Jesus paid
the penalty for our sin, and with His resurrection from the grave, He announced
to the world that salvation is ours.
Then, Jesus and the Father sent the Holy Spirit to bring us the Good
News of what Christ has done. Therefore,
no matter the skin color, station in life, wealth or poverty, Christians are
blessed with forgiveness, blessed with adoption into God’s family, and blessed
with eternal life in His heavenly mansions.
By the power of His Word, the Lord picked us
up out of the muck and mire of humanity, washed away the filth of our sin, gave
us rebirth into a life that will not end, claimed us as His own dear children,
and promises us that nothing can take away His love nor our future home in
heaven. And, no matter what trials and
struggles we might have to endure as we journey through this rotten world,
Jesus promises that we are not alone, for He is with us every step of the way. The righteous cry out, “O Lord, holy and
true, how long until you judge and exact justice for our blood from those who
live on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10)
By faith we were given the righteousness of Christ Jesus. By faith, we rest in His loving care. The day is coming when the martyrs’ deaths
will be avenged.
My friends, have no fear, God sees every evil
that is done against you. Acknowledging
that life can be a trial, Peter wrote, “But regard the Lord, the Christ, as
holy in your hearts.” Put your hope
in Jesus and He will save you. Cling to
Him with everything you’ve got, because through faith in Jesus, you have
forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
Through your faith, you have the key to heaven, and you can share it
with any and all around you. Jesus said,
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say
all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.” (Matthew
5:11-12)
Do not be afraid, you who are blessed. Amen.
Now, may
the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all. Amen.
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