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We’re going to start by reading one of the harshest things Jesus ever said to one of his closest friends. You ready?

[Read Matthew 16:21–24.]

In Matthew 16:16, Peter rightfully declares that Jesus is the Messiah and we all cheer Peter on! But next, Jesus begins to declare that the Messiah will suffer, he will be killed, and he will rise again. Now, Peter is caught off guard: in his mind, the Messiah shouldn’t suffer. So, Peter pulls Jesus aside to rebuke him and say: “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!”

And Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan! … You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Then Jesus goes even a step further: anyone who wants to follow him has to take up a cross too.

If we can be really honest, we’re like Peter too. We assume that truly following Jesus means a smooth life, not a harder life. And when things get hard, we’re caught off guard and wonder: why is this happening? But, the reality is: if you are truly following Jesus, his path leads you towards suffering not away from it.

So years later, Peter is writing the letter that Kathye just read. But, there’s a change: Peter saw the cross, the empty tomb, and he has the Holy Spirit now. So, he’s writing this letter to Christians who are suffering for following Jesus. And where he once said: “Never, Lord” – he’s now saying don’t be surprised! SLIDE Suffering for Jesus isn’t strange, it shows you belong to him.

Two Wrong Responses

So when suffering comes, there are two wrong reactions that Peter warns us of:

1.      Surprise in verse 12.

2.    Shame in verse 16.

Let’s talk about surprise first. This is a simple fact of life: there are going to be difficult things that happen to you, that are outside of your control. But, for the Christian: this is where things can get interesting. Many of us rightly reject the prosperity gospel (God wants you to be wealthy) as false but we sometimes still latch onto a different form of the prosperity gospel. It may not be financial prosperity, but we believe following Christ means we never get a cancer diagnosis, we never are treated unjustly, we never lose a job, and we never struggle with clinical depression or anxiety.

We can often adopt a worldly mindset that if we do good things, good things will likely happen to us. And if we don’t get good things, what have we done that God is punishing us? But, Peter flips the script here: he tells us not to be surprised at the fiery ordeal that we find ourselves in, it’s not strange. But, rather Peter says it has a deliberate purpose: God can redemptively use your suffering to purify your faith or to test your faith.

Many of you know Joni Eareckson Tada but in case you don’t, she’s a follower of Jesus who at age 17 had a diving accident and became paralyzed from the neck down.  SLIDE And in her book “When God Weeps,” she wrote: “God permits what he hates to accomplish that which he loves.” God hates that Joni became paralyzed but he is still accomplishing something beautiful through her life. And to my friends today carrying suffering, God sees it. He hates it and he hates sin but trust that he is still accomplishing something through it – all out of love for you.

Now, Peter says there’s suffering you should be ashamed of, and suffering you shouldn’t be. Years back, Westboro Baptist Church was all over the news for having hateful signs where they rejoiced over soldiers killed in the Middle East or thanking God for AIDS. They faced public ridicule, for frankly, being jerks. The suffering and ridicule they faced was brought upon by themselves for being angry, abrasive jerks. Most of us don’t hold up signs like that. But, are you a person who cannot let a conversation go at the Thanksgiving table? Or we’d leave a nasty comment on social media? Then, we get upset because we have pushback?

Peter designates this sort of suffering as something you do to yourself but there’s a unique suffering for bearing the name of Christ. Now, some of you may are thinking: Anthony, I’m not facing arrests or beatings for following Christ. You’re right! But, we do have brothers and sisters who are. And even if we’re not beaten for our faith, there are still some ways we may suffer for our faith. Here’s what I mean.

When we suffer because we choose to follow Christ, Peter says we should praise God that we bear that name. But, Peter himself didn’t follow this example all the time in his life. Think back with me to the night Jesus is betrayed. Peter follows Jesus and the mob who arrested his rabbi at a distance. Soon, Peter finds himself in the High Priest’s courtyard where he asked by a servant girl: hey, you’re one of Jesus’s disciples, aren’t you? Peter responds: I don’t know the man. Peter does this two more times in the night and by the third denial, the rooster crows and Matthew and Luke tell us: Peter went outside and wept bitterly. Why would he weep bitterly? Peter was so afraid of the shame of being linked to Jesus that he did deny him and then he felt the shame after it.

Now, how many of us have quietly denied Jesus and felt the shame associated with it? How many of us have avoided speaking up in the break room, in a circle of friends, or anywhere else? Why would we do that? We’re afraid of the suffering or backlash that may come with it. And my friends, remember Peter’s story didn’t end there and neither does yours. After Jesus rose again, Christ restored Peter and encouraged him. And now years later, he’s speaking from a new identity where he exhorts us to not be ashamed but praise God when we’re insulted for the name of Christ. There is hope for you, my dear friend.

Why can Peter encourage us to do that? Is he just oversimplifying things? No, he actually tells us why in this passage:

What is really going on?

In verse 13, Peter tells us we can rejoice as we participate or share in the sufferings of Christ. Why would we do that? So we can be overjoyed when his glory is revealed at the return of Christ. Peter is repeating a common theme that we’ve seen come up again and again: Jesus is returning and that should give us strength to endure the difficulties we have now.

And that word “participate” means a special sharing that have with Christ when you suffer for him. See, you suffer with him because you belong to him.

And while you suffer, Peter is saying to draw strength from the future reality of Jesus’ return. Or Peter’s friend, the apostle Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

At this point, you may be thinking: cool, but what about the right now? I understand our future reality but it’s not here yet. Verse 14 takes us to the now. Peter tells us if we’re insulted because of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

What could that mean? Peter is referencing Isaiah 11 which is a Messianic prophecy detailing how from the stump of Jesse (King David’s father), God will raise up a King and God’s own Spirit will rest upon him to demonstrate that he is God’s chosen King. He will judge and rule a Kingdom that spreads across the entire creation – healing God’s broken world.  

Who is that King? That King is Jesus Christ who is a descendant of King David. And Jesus who entered into human suffering and he identified with us even as he was baptized. And as he was baptized, Matthew 3:16 tells us that the Spirit of God rested upon Jesus and that God’s voice was heard saying: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” And it’s that same Spirit who rested upon Jesus for his entire ministry: Jesus knew insults as he was mocked and rejected by his own people. While disgrace and insults rested on Jesus, something even more important and more powerful rested upon him: the Spirit of God. And Jesus’ path led to suffering and to his death.

But through his death, the Spirit that rested on him raised him to new life – demonstrating that sin, death, and hell have no claim over God’s chosen king. And now, he invites every one of us to repent and believe in him. And when we believe in him, that Spirit of God rests upon us – showing that we truly belong to God. So my friends, if you’ve ever been shut out, left out, or insulted because of your faith – rejoice! It’s a reminder that God calls you his own and you belong to him. Or as I said earlier, Suffering for Jesus isn’t strange; it shows you belong to him. What may be strange is never suffering for your faith.

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” 2 Timothy 3:12 NIV what do we do with this?

In Acts 5, we learn that the apostles were arrested again by the religious authorities. They decide to let the apostles go after interrogating them but not before they whip and flog the apostles. And Acts 5:41 tells us something startling, it says: “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.”

Why could they rejoice? They knew the Spirit of God rested upon them and not even death itself could tear them out of the grip of God’s hand. And the same household God’s Spirit rests on is where Peter says God’s refining judgment begins.

The final judgment has already begun and it doesn’t start with the world, it starts with us. For God’s people, this judgment isn’t condemnation – rather, it is a purification of our hearts through the hardships that come from following Jesus.

See, God will not condemn his people anymore. It was Jesus himself who was condemned in our place and who suffered for us – the righteous for the unrighteous as 1 Peter 3:18 puts it.  So whatever you’re walking through right now, it is not God punishing you. Jesus already took that, the righteous for the unrighteous. It’s simply the truth that suffering for our faith is a way God refines our hearts.

As I shared previously, when we would do a longer-term hosting with Safe Families for Children – things would be really difficult. When we started doing that, we had some pure motives but the challenges we faced revealed some impure motives as well: like wanting to be super Christians or to impress others. I’ll tell you what: nothing purified those motives like walking through the heartache, the joys, and frustrations of loving someone else’s kids like your own. God used those hard experiences to show what was really in my heart and to burn it out of me.

But, Peter goes onto issue a question of: “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

 He essentially states that if believers go through such a hard refining fire, what will the final fire be for those who are not believers? And if you’re not a believer today, I’m so glad you’re here and listening. Suffering in your life can be a wake-up call. Like the prodigal son who realized his need for forgiveness from his father in a pigpen, suffering will have a way of orienting your heart that something needs to change. And that something is coming to faith in Jesus Christ and you can do it today as we pray later. Don’t wait for the final judgment when it’s too late, decide today.

And for those of us who do belong to God today, what are we to do in light of everything we just heard? Peter gives us a good idea in verse 19: “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”

Now, let’s make this concrete. First thing, Peter calls God your “Faithful creator.” The very God who made you is the same God who will faithfully care for you – regardless of how you feel. He’s the one who made you and who will resurrect you into new life. So, entrust yourself to him and continue to do good when you’re suffering. After all, this is what Jesus himself did. As Jesus suffered on the cross, he entrusted himself to his Father when he said in Luke 23:46: ““Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” That is a surrender into the faithful care of God and it comes from Psalm 31:5.

And my friends, I want to invite you to do two things today. One inward focused and one outward.

First, I want you to pray how Jesus prayed by starting and ending your day by praying Psalm 31:5 – Into your hands, I commit my spirit. This is a prayer that simply tells God: “I trust you with whatever I’m coming through. I trust you even if this decision brings me suffering as a Christian.”

Second, I want you to continue to do good even if it costs you. That could mean:

·      Mentioning you’re a Christian to others and share that you’re a part of a church

·      Doing something good for someone who has treated you poorly because of your faith

·      Return to doing a good thing you quit because it hurt and cost you something. It could be praying for your enemies, it could be fostering children, or it could be waking up a bit earlier so you can pray and read the scriptures before work.

Right now, you’re going to be given a card and it says: “The good I’ll keep doing this week: “ – fill it in with what fits your situation. Some of you may be in a season where you genuinely can’t do much. That’s okay, you can still practice the prayer every morning and evening.

The prayer alone is a step towards committing yourself to your faithful creator, regardless of your outcomes. And Peter would know this first-hand. In John 21:18-19, Jesus told Peter: “Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

As Peter was writing this passage, I imagine him recalling Jesus’ words – knowing that eventually, he would die for his faith. As I said at the start, if you truly follow Jesus, you can expect suffering for your faith. And yet, Peter is encouraging believers everywhere to commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue to do good. Eventually, church tradition tells us that Peter would be martyred by Emperor Nero and it’s hard for me not to imagine him also saying: “Lord, into your hands, I commit my Spirit.” And as he Peter said that, he enters into glory received into the arms of his Savior and friend, Jesus Christ. The man who once rebuked Jesus over his idea of suffering ends his life by praying Jesus’ own prayer of trust.

So, my friends: regardless of what you’re carrying today (and if it’s something heavy, we have folks in the back available to pray with you or get out of your seat to pray for someone who is struggling) – remember this: suffering for Jesus isn’t strange. It shows you belong to him. So, entrust yourself to him and keep doing good.  

Growing up, I was extremely close with my mom’s parents. They were immigrants from Lithuania who came to the U.S. after World War II. Many of my earliest memories involve sleepovers at their house where I could eat as many Hershey kisses as I wanted and drink a coke. I’d often hear them share stories of life before the Soviets or Nazis invaded and how despite all odds, they made a beautiful life after the war – even being married for 69 years. Through all of my interests and mistakes, they were a constant source of love and encouragement to me. My grandma even went so far as to knit a blanket for a great grandchild she would never even meet: Piper.

My grandmother died suddenly in 2019 and one of my biggest regrets in life is not sharing how much she meant to me before her death. I believe she knew but my heart still aches. So when my grandfather’s days in 2020 were numbered, I resolved to do something differently: I’d rather encourage people while they’re still alive than remember them in a eulogy. So on my grandfather’s death bed, I tried to express my deep love and gratitude for him before he died. I shared memories we had together. He couldn’t talk at the time, but his tear-filled eyes told me he understood.

And if the end of a life can wake us up like that, what about the end of everything? My knowledge of their death changed how I lived now. It’s not meant to signal we’re running out of time but rather, the glory that is coming is worth living for now. Peter tells his church under pressure: “The end of all things is near*” In other words, Live and love like it. *near has an asterisk and we’ll get to that soon, I promise.

Christ Suffered so arm yourselves with his resolve (verses 1-2)

The first two verses of today’s passage want us to get ready for battle. What are we fighting? Evil human desires. What’s our weapon? The same attitude that Christ Jesus had when he suffered in his body. What could that mean?

First, this passage starts out with the word “therefore.” Which points us back to last week where Christ suffered once for sins and achieved a cosmic victory over sin, death, and spiritual powers. So, is Peter saying: you’ll also achieve cosmic victory through your suffering?

No, that was Christ’s work alone. But Peter is trying to get us to adopt the mindset of Christ. And what was that mindset? Jesus was really tempted by Satan in the wilderness and by the agony of the cross in front of him, though unlike us, Jesus never sinned. Jesus could have escaped suffering by compromise with Satan or giving into the crowds taunts to come down from the cross. Instead, going back to 1 Peter 2:23, it tells us that Jesus didn’t retaliate – he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He trusted God’s will which led to suffering. At the same time, it also led to Jesus’ resurrection and ultimate victory over sin and death. That’s what we draw our strength from, not within ourselves.

So, Peter is telling us: arm yourself with that attitude. Look to Jesus – resolve to follow God’s will over evil human desires, even though it may lead to suffering. When Peter says that hard line of ‘whoever suffers in the body is done with sin’, he means you become a person who accepts suffering rather than giving into sin. And if you can accept suffering, sin often has no bargaining chips with you. That’s how you fight it.

Does this mean you’re now perfect and never struggle with sin again? By no means! You’ll still be tempted and some days, the temptation will feel stronger than you are. For me, this played out in my own life:

As many of you know, God rescued me from many sins as a young adult. Drunkenness and drug usage was common for my friends and me. But coming to faith in Christ, I had a real challenge: my friends still wanted to do those things and I saw those actions rightfully as sin. Even though I was now a Christian, I still stumbled with those sins when I was with those friends so it was difficult. But, I felt trapped: a lot of them were my only friends at the time and I wanted them to come to faith. So, I still hung out with them for a season.

But eventually, I had to draw a line in the sand: I’d rather lose these friends than continue to give ground to sin. So, I chose Jesus. And it was a real cost because I felt lonelier than ever. I haven’t seen some of those friends in years. I’m still friends with a few others though because our friendship didn’t just revolve around partying. I still share Jesus with them and it has been a real gift to see one of my good friends from high school come to faith in Christ through my sharing.

In my story, please don’t get it twisted: we are to have non-Christian friends and witness to them. But, that’s what loving like the end is near can look like. I couldn’t keep loving the sin. I could keep loving my friends who weren’t believers.

So, a hard question I want you to ponder is this: where have you made peace with a sin because fighting it would cost you something? Sin is a manipulative thing because sin will lead you to worrying more about what other people think than what God thinks. That’s where Peter is heading next.  

God will judge so be encouraged, not embarrassed. (verse 3-6)

These verses reveal something we can relate to: we worry a lot about what other people think of us. Verses 3 and 4 share that 1 Peter’s audience once lived a life doing what pagans do but now, they don’t join in that sin anymore. But, they’re paying the price because they’re having abuse heaped on them. It’s not difficult to imagine some of them wondering: is following Jesus worth it if others don’t even like me?

We haven’t grown past this either. For all of us here, we also care a lot about what others think of us. Because of that, we struggle to see verses 5 and 6 as a reason to hope. We care so much about what other people think that we become embarrassed by what God thinks. Some of you grew up on only fire and brimstone sermons with no grace. But in recovering from that, we’ve swung from all grace and no judgment. So, we end up apologizing or ignoring God’s judgment because we’re afraid of other people’s judgment. Peter turns all that upside down: he says other people’s opinions are temporary, God’s is final.

In verse 5, Peter says: “They will have to give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” So, other people don’t get the final word about you – they may heap abuse on you for your faith but ultimately, their words don’t get the final say. God’s words do.

Verse 6 is often misread but most commentators believe Peter is referring to people who have heard the gospel, believed it, and have since died. The world judged them as weak or as weirdos for not partaking in sin anymore. But, God judged them as his dearly loved children who are now alive because of what Christ has done. The world’s judgement was flawed, God’s judgment is not.

On the cross, you can see the perfect combination of God’s profound mercy and serious judgment. I want you to see three scenarios:

1.      There is no God. No one ever answers for any wrong they’ve committed. The abuser, the trafficker, the adulterer, and the murderer die in bliss. Every victim’s story ends without justice. This is despair.

2.    There is a God but he does not judge. He sees the abuse, the trafficking, genocide, and he shrugs his shoulders. He resigns and says: “I’m too loving to address this.” God leaves the courtroom. That’s not mercy, it’s indifference in spite of overwhelming evidence that human beings can be exceptionally cruel.

3.    There is a God and he does judge. Every wrong will be named and dealt with. This God takes the judgment upon himself on the Cross. So anyone who comes to him finds mercy, not condemnation. His followers are then equipped to show justice and mercy to a hurting world.

My friends, mercy only means something if judgment is real.

But, here’s the trouble we have to reckon with: what if we’ve been the ones who have heaped abuse on others? What if we’re the ones who judge by earthly standards? Will God judge us? For the Christian, the answer is your sin has already been judged through the merciful and sacrificial death of Christ. Yes, you will stand before the Lord to give an account – but it’s as his dearly loved child, not a condemned criminal. You do not have to fear condemnation (Romans 8:1).

Now that we’ve been shown mercy, that changes things for us. Remember Jesus’ example? When they insulted him, he did not retaliate. He entrusted himself to the perfect judge. That’s our freedom too. Since God will make things right, I don’t have to. I can love the person who mocks me instead of fighting them. I can share Jesus with them because the same mercy that rescued me can rescue them. Because the Judge is coming, I don’t have to settle every score. I’m free to love and that’s loving like the end is near.

Now, if we know the end is near and the judge is coming, how should we really live our lives?

The end is near, so love one another. (verse 7 – 11)

When we hear the “The End of all things is near”, some people panic. Others speculate. And some others get obsessed with charts, books, and every headline a sign. But, Peter  instructs us to be alert and sober-minded or in other words, level-headed and calm. Why? The ending isn’t a puzzle to solve, it’s a reason for us to live differently today. And remember that asterick to the word ‘near’ – here’s the explanation.

When Peter and the early church talked about the end being near, they simply meant the next step in God’s plan was going to be Christ’s return. Instead, the end of all things is near is meant to say: Jesus’ kingdom is established now and the next thing on God’s calendar is his glorious return. Nothing else needs to happen first.

When you obsess, frenzy, or speculate, what’s a spiritual practice that gets even more challenging? Praying. That’s why verse 7 says: be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. A clear head exists for the sake of prayer.

In the next verse, Peter gives us the biggest command and he’s actually quoting from Proverbs 10:12. He says: Above all, love one another deeply because love covers a multitude of sins. Above all means: this is the most important thing for you to get! Why is this mentioned? When you love one another deeply, that love is willing to overlook minor grievances against others. It’s meant to offer forgiveness quickly when needed. But, my friends that does not mean hiding serious sin or abuse either. Love never covers those things that need to be brought into the light. This command is talking about not sweating the small stuff.

This is important for Peter’s audience in the midst of the stress and difficulties of persecution. And it’s important for us because no believer or church is perfect so when any of us makes a mistake, the solution isn’t to just leave without saying a word or ignore others: it’s to love. And with that language of “Above all”, think of it as an umbrella and then underneath are practical commands on what to do:

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

In this context, Peter is telling the believers to show hospitality. This isn’t an option – it’s a base-level command for the followers of Christ, even if hospitality doesn’t come naturally. 1 Peter’s audience would have no choice but to show hospitality to each other: why? They met in homes and traveling missionaries needed a place to stay. That’s why hospitality means love for strangers.

For the church to survive, they had to offer hospitality.Was that always easy? No, of course not. That’s why Peter says “Without grumbling” – hospitality costs you something. It costs time in your schedule, your finances, and your home. But if you’ve already chosen to suffer for the sake of fighting sin, you can handle a messy kitchen or imperfect home. And as more and more people continue to turn to AI chatbots for relational needs, imagine how the church can create physical community through hospitality. Imagine the witness we could have through a simple sharing of a meal.

My friends: hospitality isn’t about having a five-course meal, a perfect and clean home, or a Joanna Gaines level of aesthetic. It simply means sitting down with someone and talking, eating, and laughing. For our family, that means we keep Wednesday evenings open for meals with others. We keep food simple (lasagna + garlic knots), we don’t worry about putting our kids toys away, and we don’t put down a tablecloth. And through this experience, our kids have gotten to know so many of you and play with you. We’ve been blessed to hear stories of how marriages started or how people came to faith in Christ.

So, my challenge for you all today is this: before Thanksgiving, have a meal with someone you don’t know well in this church. It doesn’t have to be a meal in your home or it can be pizza on the couch. If you want to do a meal with a family with young kids, bring them pizza – don’t invite them to a restaurant. It can be La Libertad or a coffee at Britton. But, I want you to pick that person today and set it up. Do it right after service. I bet you’ll make someone’s day by asking them. If you don’t know their name, ask them. If the end is near, what else on your calendar could be as important as this?

The other command under the “Love All” umbrella is also simple but extraordinary. Peter shares “each of you” should use whatever gifts you have received to serve others in verse 10. That means the body of Christ isn’t meant to be made up of spectators, every single one of us is called to use our gifts. It’s about being faithful with what God has given us – when we serve in seen ways and unseen ways.

If you don’t serve yet or struggle to know what your gifts are, I’d suggest you open your home or table or couch first. By loving and serving people right there, I have a strong feeling you’ll discover them that way. And Peter says, we don’t conjure up the ability to serve on our own. He says God is the one who provides our strength which is why he goes to say:

So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. It’s only Jesus who suffered for our sins. It’s only Jesus who took God’s judgment upon himself. And it’s only Jesus whose love for us compels us to love one another. That’s why Peter ends this passage by a doxology where he says:

To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. And this morning, we get to see all of this at the table as we celebrate communion together. We remember the judgement that Christ took for us: his body that was broken for us, his blood that was shed for us. And here’s God’s hospitality: he sets a table for us – people who were once enemies to him and strangers to each other. God didn’t grumble about the cross. And every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, Paul reminds we proclaims the Lord’s death until he comes again. The end is near, friends. So now, come, eat, and live and love like you know this to be true. And if you’re not sure you’ve trusted Christ yet, today’s the day to trust him. And I’m glad you’re here but I’m lovingly asking you to abstain from participating in communion. Come talk to me after service.

When I was in my Senior Year of college, I was interning at a digital marketing agency. As I’ve shared before, it was a dream job for me at the time. But, I hit a bit of a snag – I had become a follower of Jesus and it soon became clear to me that there would be challenges concerning my new faith in the workplace.

In June, I hit the biggest challenge: one morning we received a Slack message that during lunch time that day, we’d be taking an all-team photo to post on social media recognizing Pride Month. Although I was a new believer, I was convinced that the Scriptures remain clear and Historic Christianity remains clear that biblical marriage is between a biological man and a biological woman. But, what was I to do? I never even thought about this dilemma before and the photo was at lunch time. So I did what I thought was best: I tried to just ignore the all-team photo by staying at my desk.

Unfortunately, a co-worker came over to remind me about the photo. I wish I could tell you that I said “I’m sorry, my friend – my faith in Jesus doesn’t align with celebrating Pride Month.” Instead, I just stood and took the photo. Even though it all happened so fast, deep down, I was afraid of what people would say to me and I was afraid of losing that dream job. And that was a mistake.

But, here’s the thing: I don’t think I’m alone in this. When we’re afraid of things, we either hide like I did, give in to the peer pressure, or lash out in anger. Fear is often the Lord (instead of Jesus) of our lives and it drives our decisions.

This passage gives us the remedy to this tension and the remedy is this: The Risen Christ is Lord, fear is not. (SLIDE)

Let’s dig that into that a bit more by going through this passage together.

You can repay evil with blessing because Jesus blessed you when you were his enemy.   (SLIDE)

Peter opens this passage up with a summary of what we are called to be as the family of God. That’s why he says: “All of you” – like-mindedness, sympathetic, loving each other, compassion, and humility is what it means to be a part of a church. You may think that’s obvious but if it was, Peter wouldn’t have said so. This is key for us – why? We’re in a season of change and rebuilding. During these times, unity, sympathy, love for each other, compassion, and humility are at great risk of becoming options. May these values define our church culture.

But in verse 9, you hear: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult.” Okay, that’s tough but then Peter goes a step further: he writes – “repay evil with blessing.” Peter isn’t saying anything new here either – he’s repeating his rabbi’s words from Luke 6:28 where Jesus said: “bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you.”

Why in the world would we do that? Peter tells us that God has called (one of his purposes) us to repay evil with blessing so that we may inherit a blessing. So, this means that repaying evil with blessing isn’t a far-out command for the super Christians out there – it’s an expectation of what it means to follow Christ. After all, is this not what Jesus did for us? To drive this point home, Peter quotes from an interesting Psalm.

Why? Psalm 34 is a Psalm by David that he wrote after he’d been so afraid of a king that he pretended to be insane. And in Psalm 34, David says he is there to teach others the fear of the Lord which is ironic given that David himself feared the king more than he feared God.

Psalm 34:16 tell us: God is against those who do evil. And my friends, you do not want to go up against God. That would be like the Kansas City Chiefs going against the Hanover Little Hawks. And what’s interesting here is that Peter leaves out the next part of Psalm 34 which says that God will blot out the names of evil people from the earth. Why would Peter leave that out? He is trying to remind us that it should be our hope that evil people will not be cursed like that. Instead, they will be won over to the faith through our words and deeds.

So, you may be thinking to yourself: that sounds really hard, Anthony! And you’re right, it is. But, I’d ask you to consider this fact: this is the way of Jesus. Did Christ repay evil with evil or insult with insult? No, he died for his enemies which includes people like you and me. As his followers who have been redeemed by grace, this is what he calls us into as we follow him. Jesus isn’t inviting us into uncharted territory – he’s already blazed the trail before us.

Back around 155 AD, there was a Christian bishop in Smyrna named Polycarp. Polycarp was actually a disciple of John, Jesus’ beloved disciple. And Polycarp knew 1 Peter well – he even quoted it in a letter he sent to the church at Philippi. During Polycarp’s life, a localized persecution against Christians began in Smyrna and Polycarp was targeted by the Romans. They found Polycarp and walked into something they didn’t expect. The bishop welcomed them in and prepared a table with food and drink for the soldiers. Polycarp only asked that they let him pray for one hour before they arrested him and guess what? They let him pray for two hours. Polycarp repaid evil with blessing and can you imagine what was going through the Roman soldiers minds when that happened? I wonder if any of them came to faith in Christ because of this? The soldiers took him to the proconsul of Smyrna who asked him to renounce the faith and here’s what Polycarp said: (SLIDE)

“Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I then blaspheme my King who saved me?” Before he died, I imagine Polycarp remembering what Jesus said to the church at Smyrna through his old friend John in Revelation 2:10 which says: “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.^”

Polycarp was faithful and our brother will receive the victor’s crown.

So, how do we get that sort of courage? Let’s keep moving through.

You can fear the Lord more than man because Jesus is alive. (SLIDE)

Verse 13 opens up with a rhetorical question: who is going to harm you if you’re eager to do good? Peter is trying to get us to be extremely practical here: people who are eager to do good are less likely to be harmed or persecuted. Not always but generally speaking. In those cases, we head to verse 14 that “even if you should suffer for what is right, we are blessed.” This means suffering or persecution is a real possibility for Peter’s readers but not the entire story of their life.

Peter goes on to quote from Isaiah 8:12-13 and does something fascinating He quotes Isaiah 8:12 which says “Do not fear their threats, do not be frightened.” Isaiah then goes onto say honor or revere the LORD/Yahweh as Lord. Peter copies and pastes from Isaiah. So, Peter puts Jesus in the place of Yahweh himself. Despite what the Da Vinci Code says or TikTok Influencers say, the church has always believed in God as the Trinity. In the Eyes of Peter and the Early Church, Jesus is the one God of Israel, the same God as the Father – just a distinct person, one being.  

That passage from Isaiah comes at a time when King Ahaz of Judah was deeply afraid. He was so afraid of being conquered that he forged an alliance with the godless empire of Assyria which is a grievous sin. So Isaiah’s prophecy is exhorting them to not fear men or their clever conspiracies.

And instead, we are to fear the Lord and place our trust in his power, his goodness, and his faithfulness. This message is true for us and it was true for Peter’s life too.

Think with me to the story of Peter. In Acts 4, Peter and John are in front of the High priest and the elders and teachers of the Law – they’re being questioned by what authority they are healing and preaching. Keep in mind: these are the men who conspired and succeeded in having Jesus killed. And just weeks ago, Peter himself denied even knowing Jesus in the High Priest’s courtyard. Now, he’s in front of the High Priest himself. Will Peter deny Jesus again?

No, Acts 4 details how Peter courageously answers the high priest’s question for the hope that Peter had. Peter tells the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Peter tells them they can’t stop sharing it because they have seen the risen Christ with their very own eyes and desire to obey him, not the religious elite. The religious elite were marveled that these men had been with Jesus and were astonished by their courage.

That is Peter revering or honoring Christ as Lord, giving his reason for hope, and doing it with gentleness and respect. Peter believed that the Risen Christ was Lord and that fear is not.

My friends, Peter’s heart was completely transformed by God’s love that was revealed through Christ. When his heart was transformed, he had to share the reason for his hope as well. Peter knew what Jesus did for him and he knew his power so he didn’t fear the religious elite, he feared Christ. You don’t have to summon up infinite willpower here, Peter wants you to look at Jesus, see his ultimate victory, and because of that, fear him. That’s where this passage goes next:

You can revere Christ as Lord because he has conquered evil, rescued us, and is coming back. (SLIDE)

What does verse 18 say? “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.” Behold, that’s our Savior. That’s our King. That’s the Christ who Peter loves and who you and I love.

He suffered for sin by being rejected by his people, by being the Passover Lamb, and by being crucified for all to see. He did not hurl insults back nor did he retaliate – he was righteous and was put to death by unrighteous men. If we were in their shoes, we would have done the same thing. On the Cross, Jesus died in the flesh which represents the old ways of the world: suffering, human limitations, and death. But, he was raised to new life which ushers in his Kingdom to this world: new life, self-giving love that dies for enemies, and vindication/proof that the resurrection get the final say – not death. My friends, if you have trusted Christ, this new life is yours as well.

What’s more is going on into some of the weirder passages of 1 Peter: what does he mean “he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits”? a lot of debate about this strange passage with multiple views but I’m just going to focus on one because it goes along with the larger point for today.

Back in Genesis 6, Moses makes some odd statements about the “Sons of God” who are rebellious angels. These rebellious angels end up intermarrying with humans and having children called the “Nephilim.” Long story short: the flood happens, wiping away human and Nephilim alike but Noah and his family. But, what about those rebellious angels? Peter’s other epistles tells us. 2 Peter 2:4 says that “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment.” So on his way to the Throne at the Father’s right hand, Jesus shows those imprisoned angels that their rebellion has been in vain. They have lost, they have chosen the wrong side, and Christ is King – no matter what.

Then Peter compares all of this to Noah’s day. God waited patiently while the world mocked, and in the end only eight people were brought safely through the water. Peter says baptism is like that, and notice what he says baptism is and isn’t. It isn’t a bath: “not the removal of dirt from the body.” It’s “the pledge of a clear conscience toward God,” and it saves “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” The water doesn’t save you. The risen Christ does. Baptism is the symbol of your salvation.

So if you’ve been baptized, that’s what you celebrated. In front of everyone, you went under the water and came up saying: Jesus is Lord, and I’m with him. And if you trust Christ and haven’t been baptized, that’s your next step, and I’d love to talk with you about it.

This passage ends with Jesus taking his place at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities, and powers (both good and evil) in submission to him. So, what’s the takeaway? Peter wants us to see this glorious truth of Jesus life, death, and resurrection:

Christ has defeated evil, he’s rescued his people from sin and death, and he is the King of the Universe who is making all things new.

So, my friend, do you believe that you have sinned willingly and that you have lived life according to your flesh? But, do you believe that Jesus suffered and died in your place out of love and that Jesus’s offer of forgiveness leads to a life in the spirit? Do you believe that when Christ returns he will give you a new body like his?

If you do, my friends, we can revere Christ as Lord. Going back to Polycarp, how could he not give into fear when the Roman Authorities arrived? How could he keep the faith even when his life was threatened? He believed the glorious truth of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. He didn’t fear what others would do to him because he knew even death itself could not keep him from his Saviour – that’s what the resurrection proves. Death is dead Christ is alive.  Do you know what he said when the Proconsul threatened him with death by fire? Polycarp responded (SLIDE): “You threaten fire that burns for an hour and is soon quenched; for you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment.” That is a man who believed in the resurrection and the certainty of God’s judgement.

Because of that, you can repay evil with blessing and know that God sees those actions. Even if that person still commits evil against you, God sees your heart and he sees that person’s heart. If you feel scared to share the gospel with a neighbor, family member, and friend, remember Jesus’ total victory. Even if they respond negatively, Jesus is still on the throne and your actions will be proven right eventually. When we feel afraid to be prepared to give an answer for our hope in Jesus, we are not treating Christ as Lord – we are treating other people as Lord. And that’s precisely what Jesus came to rescue us from – our sin, yes but to also free us from the need for other people to validate us. Jesus has already validated you, live like it.

So, what are some really practical steps you can take today to remember that the Risen Christ is Lord and that fear is not?

Repay Evil with Blessing (SLIDE)

I want you to think of that family member, co-worker, or ‘friend’ who has said unkind words to you, who has left you out of something intentionally, or who has ignored you on-purpose. I want you to pray for them – pray that God would bless them. I want you to speak well of them when they’re not around, refuse to give into gossip. If it’s safe for you to do so, treat them to a coffee, send them an encouraging text, or offer them forgiveness even and especially if they don’t deserve it.

You don’t do this because I’m saying this. You do this because this was what our savior did: he did not repay evil with evil. He repaid evil with spiritual blessing of salvation and redemption for all who would believe.

Rehearse why you have hope in Christ (SLIDE)

Verse 15 tells us to “Always be prepared.” Are you prepared to share why you have hope in Christ? If someone asked you, how would you respond? Rather than winging it, I’d invite you to write it out and practice it. Think through these questions (take a photo):

1.      What has Jesus done for me that gives me hope?

2.    When did faith in Jesus become my own? What has carried me through life?

3.    What am I hoping in that the world cannot give me?

This will stir up feelings of gratitude but also give you confidence that you do know why you have hope too.

If I could repeat the Pride Month photo situation, here’s what I would’ve done instead. I’d send an email saying: “I’m going to sit this photo out. It’s a conviction I have about my faith, not anything about you all. I’d be happy to grab lunch so we can discuss it more.” Could I have been fired? Maybe but I still would have done it with gentleness and respect and my conscience would have been clear and I’d have opened a door to talk about Jesus.

So, my friends, as we close today. Remember (SLIDE):

1.      You can repay evil with blessing because Jesus blessed you when you were his enemy.  

2.    You can fear the Lord more than man because Jesus is alive.

3.    You can revere Christ as Lord because he has conquered evil, rescued us, and is coming back.

So, remember the Risen Christ is Lord, fear is not. Let us pray.

As I sit and talk with people or other pastors, one of the most heartbreaking things they share with me is this: my kids grew up hearing the Gospel and being involved in the church but now, they do not walk with the Lord. That grieves my heart. And some of the people who have said that are pastors – people who preach and explain the Gospel as their vocation. And yet, their kids also have walked away.

Sometimes in these situations, the parents try a variety of ways to get their kids back on the path that leads to eternal life. So, the parents turn to prayer which is great. They also may try other things like: a long lecture, a recommended book or podcast, or a comment at a family dinner – hoping something will create change in their child, only to feel a larger gap widening between them and their child. Often, these parents feel like failures because nothing seems to be working.

We all have someone whose heart we want to change. So, imagine that person isn’t your child. It’s the person you’re married to – that’s the situation Peter is writing to. And for my friends who are not married, hang with me – I’ll show you why this passage applies to you too.  

What do we see? First, Peter is speaking to all wives but he zeroes in on wives with the hardest problem: they’re married to a man who rejects Jesus. (SLIDE)These women have already broken a social norm. They have rejected their husband’s gods – as I shared last week, it would be expected for Greco-Roman Households to embrace whatever religion the man embraced. But, these women boldly profess faith in Christ while living under a man who rejects Christ. Now, imagine with me how hard that must be and for some of you, this is your story and your life. The conflicts within that household would be immense – imagine the husband asking: why do you want to give money to the poor and to that church? Why do you only worship this Jesus and why aren’t you coming to the festival and partying? In that world, a father could order a newborn to be left outside to die if he didn’t want it and often times, it was girls who were left outside. So a husband could ask: why did you bring that girl back in? It’s my decision.

Here’s the other side of the problem: the husbands. The wives likely want to change their husbands but has no power to do it in their current status. Husbands want to change their wives and they do have the power to try: through intimidation and force to get their way. (SLIDE)

When Peter calls women the 'weaker partner,' he's not saying they're worth less — that's why he calls them 'heirs with you.' He means two things: men tend to be physically stronger, and in that culture women had far fewer rights and were treated with far less dignity. Men could get away with a great deal. And men still do this today, whether through physical force or yelling to get their way. Peter is calling these believing men to go against everything their culture permitted and celebrated.

With these things in mind, what are the things 1 Peter tells us that we can’t do as believers?

You can’t argue or nag anyone into the faith. (SLIDE) In verse 1, Peter tells wives that their non-believing husbands may be won over to the faith through behavior, not their words.  When it says “if any of them do not believe the word”, that means that they have heard it and they have chosen to reject it. In our natural tendency, we will feel the temptation to bring up Jesus every time and try to win them over to the faith through words or clever arguments. It’s the same instinct as the parent with the lecture or podcast. We think that if we finally find the perfect words or argument, we’ll finally get through.

Does this mean we never talk about Jesus? Of course not – next week, 1 Peter 3:15 will tell us to always be ready to share a reason why we have hope in Christ. This just means we stop treating every conversation with that person as a sales pitch on Jesus.

You can’t secure your own worth.  (SLIDE) Your value isn’t decided by what other people see but what God sees. This passage talks about “the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.” Humans can’t see it. It’s not a personality type but rather, it means you’re not grasping for control, not retaliating, and not trying to win. Whether you’re an extravert or introvert, you can have a gentle and quiet spirit. And that’s precious and worthy in God’s sight. But, what are we tempted to do instead? We try to secure our worth through external means anyways. For some of us, it may be the salary. For others of us, it’s how we look. But, you’re always chasing something to give you worth and it’s always coming up short when you finally get it.

You can force compliance but you can’t force a heart. (SLIDE) These Greco-Roman believers could have used their power to force compliance upon their wives. But, that doesn’t produce a co-heir with you and it doesn’t produce a partner to follow Jesus with you. If men have to use power over their wives, that’s not leadership or a sign of strength, it’s actually fear and dishonoring to God.

In parenting, your children start to act up and a very natural instinct is this: raise your voice at them to regain control of the situation. Your kids may be compliant then but they only comply our of fear, not a changed heart.

So what's underneath all of it: the lecture, the image, the raised voice? Fear. (SLIDE)When we feel powerless, fear makes us grasp for control. We push, we nag, we perform, we give in to keep the peace. When we have power, fear makes us dominate and overpower others. We intimidate, we raise our voices, we force our way.

And Peter shows us the alternative. Listen again to verses 5 and 6:

"For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear."

What’s the opposite of fear in verse 5? Hope in God.

Now, Peter points us to Sarah, so we need to head back to Genesis for a bit. Who was Sarah’s husband? Abraham – the father of faith but he was far from perfect.

In Genesis 12, Abrahm and Sarah head to Egypt due to a famine. As they're about to enter, Abraham gets scared. Sarah is beautiful, and he says to her: "When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you." Did you hear that? "So that I will be treated well." Pharaoh takes Sarah into his palace, and Abraham is treated well. (SLIDE)

Then, years later, in Genesis 20, he does it again but with a different King and Kingdom in Gerar. He feared people and didn’t place his hope in God so he allowed Sarah to be taken again after his lie.

Abraham had no power against Pharaoh or the king of Gerar. So he grasped for control the only way he could: by using his power over his wife to protect himself. He put his hope in his own shrewdness, and Sarah paid the price.

And both times, God stepped in. God struck Pharaoh's household with disease. God warned the king of Gerar in a dream. When Sarah's husband wouldn't protect her, God did.

Now, I need to be very clear here. Peter is not telling wives to imitate Sarah going along with that. God himself stopped it. Submission never means following your husband into sin or into danger. That's exactly why Peter says, "Do not give way to fear." Put your hope in God – when your husband wants to lead you away from him.

Here’s what Sarah's story tells us. The woman Peter holds up as a model wife was married to a man who failed to protect her, twice. Her hope couldn't have been in Abraham. It had to be in God. That's exactly the situation of the wives Peter is writing to: they were married to men who were failing them too. Peter isn't saying, "Trust your husband." He's saying, "Trust God, the way Sarah had to."

But Sarah wasn't perfect either. (SLIDE) In Genesis 15, God promised Abraham a son of his own. Then ten years pass and nothing happens. In Genesis 16, Sarah says to Abraham: "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her."

When we’re desperate, we’ll do just about anything. Sarah got desperate. She couldn't see how God would keep his word, so she took matters into her own hands. And it didn't work. Hagar got pregnant. Sarah turned on Hagar, and Hagar ran away. Sarah's grasping nearly destroyed her household.

So here's the couple Peter holds up: a husband who protected himself at his wife's expense, and a wife who grasped for what only God could give. Neither of them could fix the other. Neither could even fix themselves. But, God kept his promise anyway. SLIDE Isaac came in God's time, not theirs.

So, Fear makes us grasp for control, and grasping for control always comes up short. What we need isn't a better strategy. We need someone we can actually trust.

There's only ever been one person who never grasped for control and never used his power to protect himself at someone else's expense. Peter told us about him a few verses ago.

What do we see in Jesus Christ? (SLIDE) We see Jesus as a person who did not have any beauty that would make the world want him, according to Isaiah 53. Earlier in this letter, Peter reminds us that Jesus was rejected by humans but precious and chosen in God’s sight. That’s what Peter says about these wives too – their beauty is of great worth in God’s sight. You can stop adorning or trying to earn your value, you’ve been bought with the precious blood of Christ.

We see Jesus who won us without a word. (SLIDE)When facing insults, Jesus did not retaliate with words. He didn’t argue. He continued towards the cross. And before Peter asks wives to consider that they may win over their husbands to the faith without words, Jesus already did that for you. It was Jesus’ suffering, not arguments, that brought us home and back to himself: the good shepherd and overseer of our souls.

We see Jesus who used his strength, power, and authority to lay down his life for his bride, the church as Paul says in Ephesians 5. (SLIDE) Unlike Abraham, Jesus protected us at his own expense – bearing our sins and our failures on the cross to the point of death.

(SLIDE) We see Jesus who entrusted himself to his Father even to the point of death and his trust was proven to be right because three days later, Jesus rose from the grave. That’s why we can live without fear because the tomb is empty. This is why the women of 1 Peter’s letter could put their hope in God because the one who trusts in Jesus will never be put to shame as Peter said in 1 Peter 2:6.

So because Jesus did all this for us, how should we live our lives? That’s 1 Peter wants us to understand: what will people see in our day-to-day lives? How do we live faithfully in Babylon?

For wives with non-believing husbands, here are three things you can do:

1.      Stop pitching Jesus and the church. This will be a hard one and I can imagine how frustrating it may be to see his passion for sports or work but not for Jesus or to see a lack of interest in anything spiritual. But, for a season, let your life do the talking.

2.    Keep praying for him and trust God’s timing. Prayer is how you can put your hope in God because you’re unable to save your husband, only God can. It may take 1 year for him to come faith, it may take 50 years, or he may never come to faith. But, by pressing into prayer, you will not give way to fear and instead trust that your good conduct is pleasing in God’s sight.

3.    Know where submission stops. If your husband pressures you to disobey God or tries to hurt you or place you in danger, you have biblical reason to not submit. At the same time, wives are inited to submit which means recognizing and placing yourself under the order that God has designed with a husband at the top. Submission is everyday trust to your husband for normal decisions but Jesus still gets your allegiance even when that upsets your husband. And Jesus wants your safety so he doesn’t want you to put up with harm from your husband either.

 (SLIDE) And hear me clearly. If you're afraid of the person you're married to (husband or wife) — if you change what you say to avoid their anger, if you've been hit, shoved, or threatened, if they control the money so you can't leave — this passage is not asking you to stay quiet. Talk to me or to Katlyn this week. You will not be in trouble. You will be helped. And if you've been carrying something from the past that you've never told anyone, that door is open too.

For wives with believing husbands, I’d invite you to place your hope in God, not your husband. Even though your husband is a believer, he will still fail you – don’t attach your value as a wife or as a women to how your husband treats you. Jesus has already given you your worth through the cross.

For husbands, before I share what you can do. I want to remind you what Jesus has done for you: he had all the power in the universe and he used it to protect and rescue you at his own expense. He loves you and he made you his co-heir. Everything I say next flows from this:

1.      Ask yourself: do I give my wife a reason to fear me ? In verse 6, Peter instructs the wives to not give in to fear which means it’s likely that some of these wives were afraid of their husbands. Search your heart and then ask your wife and truly listen. Ask her: is there anything I do that makes you nervous or scared? The way I talk to you when angry? The way I handle money and don’t loop you in on certain things? Then, listen. And if that is you today and that frightens you, come talk to me and we will figure it out together, brother.

2.    Use your strength to serve, not to control: If you know your wife well enough and know the things that are challenging for her, do those things for her. That’s how you can treat her with respect as the weaker partner. I’m not perfect but I know my wife dislikes going to La Libertad to get our carryout. So, I’ll happily go every Sunday to pick it up. That’s small stuff but there’s also bigger stuff like our family’s future finances. Katlyn and I share everything and she’s in the loop. But, I handle the day-to-day budget tracking, savings plans for our kids, and health insurance fun.

3.    Treat your wife as your equal and co-heir. Pray with your wife, talk about Jesus with your wife, and ask her how she is doing emotionally, spiritually, and physically. That’s how you be considerate as you live with her. She is an heir with you in the gracious gift of life that God has given you. You are one flesh, that means you do not get to decide major things on your own. You forfeited that right when you said ‘I do.’ So, treat your wife as your equal and co-heir – that’s how you can live your life in a worthy way that your wife actually wants to submit to you and trust in you.

4.   Find other men. Men’s breakfast. Ask to get breakfast or coffee and go through a book together.

Last thing worth mentioning: did you catch the last part of verse 7? “so that nothing will hinder your prayers. Have you ever considered the weight of that? If your prayer life feels old or stale, maybe you should ask how you’re treating your wife.

For parents who have a prodigal child, your child's faith was never yours to produce. It belongs to God. Hear me, please: you are not a failure. Be ready to answer if they ask, but for now, let your presence and your love do the talking.

If you’re a widow or widower or single or divorced, your value in God’s sight isn’t less than. You are also chosen and precious in God’s sight through Christ. Remember that. It’s not a consolation prize, it’s a true treasure.

For everyone else and for our church, in verse 2 – Peter says “When they see the purity and reverence of your lives”. Peter used that exact word one other time, back in 2:12: 'they may see your good deeds and glorify God.' Same word. So pick one person in your life who doesn't know Jesus. What do they see when they watch you? And as a church: what does Hanover see when it watches us?  

So, my friends: here's where we land. You can't argue anyone into the kingdom. You can't secure your own worth. You can't force a heart. And you don't have to, because Jesus won you without a word, bought your worth with his blood, used his strength for you, and walked out of an empty tomb. That's why you don't have to give way to fear. Your hope is in God. And God has never once failed to keep his word. Amen?

In a previous life, I was a Deli and Food Services clerk. So when you needed 2 pounds of ham sliced, I was your guy. If you needed a 50pc fried chicken order, I was also your guy. One morning, the health inspector walked in for a surprise inspection and being the only one working, my stress levels peaked. Unfortunately, we were woefully out of compliance on some things but the biggest thing was: the hood / vents above our fryers were totally caked with grease. Because of that, we were given a strong warning and the inspector said they’d be back within 3 days.

Our store manager tore me up over this about we were jeopardizing everyone’s jobs and needed to get it cleaned. There wasn’t much understanding, only barked commands. If you’ve ever tried cleaning those hoods above fryers, you will know it’s a total nightmare. But, we worked hard to do it and when the inspector came back, we passed with flying colors. Now, my manager had a point: it was our responsibility to keep them clean and we dropped the ball.  But a few days later, the store manager was elated that we passed and said: “Well, thank golly we were ready.” And I thought to myself: “Yeah, you didn’t do a single thing to help us, you jerk.” He never said thank you to us or acknowledged his harshness. And for the rest of the time I worked there, I resented him.

This letter would have come in handy for me. It has to do with my problem and problems that we all face. But before we dig into too far, a few reminders and things worth noting.

This letter specifically addresses slaves and it addresses women (which we’ll talk about next week). In Roman culture, it would be expected that whatever religion the head of the household embraced would be what his wife would embrace and what his slaves would embrace. But now that these slaves and women go against that grain, they’re ostracized and unjustly treated.

Now, I want to clear the air too: these verses that we just read have been used to justify two grievous sins: slavery in the US and telling women who are in abusive relationships to stay and endure the abuse. But, notice how Peter never gives slave masters instructions. Nothing in here makes slavery right or abuse against a spouse right. Later on today, we’ll address those things head on.

So the thing we face today is this: how do we handle unjust treatment from those in authority SLIDE – whether that’s a boss, a government, a teacher, a coach, or anyone else? We have all likely have a story about unjust treatment from someone in authority but how do we handle it? When this suffering happens, we usually end up responding in two ways:

We will feel tempted to retaliate. SLIDE And I mean, who can blame you? When my manager was barking orders at me, I felt tempted to just do a poor job cleaning the vents so we would fail the inspection and he’d have to answer for it. But most of us retaliate in a quitter way.

Later on in our passage, Peter talks about retaliation in the context of hurling insults and making threats. It’s the Facebook post or news broadcaster tearing apart the politician or leader you can’t stand as you rejoice over it. We all love revenge stories and most of us plot elaborate revenge ideas in our head. That’s why everyone can sing “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood.

Our second response is this: We will fear those in power more than God. Look with me at verse 17 – show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.  SLIDE

Do you notice who gets respect and honor? Everyone and the emperor which is Nero at the time – arguably the least friendly emperor to Christians. In the Greek or some other translations, respect and honor are actually the same words. But, do you notice who we’re supposed to fear? God alone. 1 Peter 1:17 told us that God judges impartially meaning he is the one who gives us the final verdict on our lives. And when I use that term verdict, remember this: I mean the final word on who you are and where you stand.

But when there are people who have authority over us, we’re tempted to give us a final verdict instead. That means we may go along with something we know is wrong if our boss asks us. We flatter people who have control over our salaries. That’s more than worry. It’s fear that has taken God’s rightful place.  

Here’s the issue with these two things: both of them remove God from the judge’s seat. SLIDE When we’re tempted to retaliate, we place ourselves in the judge’s seat – eager to retaliate in the name of justice, not realizing our own flaws. When we’re tempted to fear others more than God, we place other people’s verdicts about us as higher than God’s verdict.

After the hood incident, I couldn’t help but feel resentful to that manager the rest of my time there. It wasn’t a conscious resentment; it just existed without me actively trying to resent him. What’s the deal with my heart and what’s the deal with your heart?

Last week, Peter told us our sinful desires "wage war against the soul." When we get treated unjustly, those sinful desires flare up even more and we want to take matters into our own hands.

We don’t trust that God is going to judge rightly. So instead of trust, we do things our own way or give way too much power or fear to those above us.

But, here’s our problem: we’re awful at judging justly. Remember my grease story? I was condemning my manager for being a jerk but really, we should have kept the vents clean – I was guilty too. We all want to be judges, but we forget that we are unable to judge rightly because we aren’t righteous ourselves. We all are guilty – standards we hold for others, we failed to meet ourselves.

So, we need someone who did what we can’t do. Who trusted himself to the true judge of the world who would judge rightly. And we need someone who can carry our guilt and our sin so that we can live differently. Peter tells us who that is.

Look at verse 20: "But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God."

Remember the greasy hoods from my deli days? When my manager was upset as part of the team, I earned that. We neglected to clean them. Peter says there's no credit in enduring what you deserve. But the harshness, doing nothing to help, taking the credit afterward — that's the other kind of suffering. That's what Peter is talking about. And let me be clear because these verses have been used to justify abuse, abuse is never earned nor is it ever okay.

Then verse 21: SLIDE To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps." Peter's encouragement to the church isn't to just try harder at handling unjust treatment well. That word "example" is the picture of a child learning to write by tracing letters that are already on the page. A child doesn’t invent those letters, they follow the example that’s already there. Peter points us to a person whose lines we trace: Jesus Christ. And what do we see in Jesus?

Jesus trusted the Judge and was perfectly righteous: despite having insults hurled at him, despite pain and death, Jesus did not retaliate and he made no threats. [READ VERSE 22-23] Instead, he trusted himself to his Father who judges justly. Jesus is the only one who is actually qualified to judge and he refused that. He trusted his father instead.

It’s only Jesus who committed no sin and who absorbed our sin on the cross. What’s verse 24 say? SLIDE [READ VERSE 24] I couldn’t let go of my resentment towards my manager the whole time I worked at this deli. It’s only Jesus who can enable us to die to sin. His life, death, and resurrection is what leads to our heart transformation – not us trying harder. Because of that, we may live a life of righteousness as his royal priesthood.

Jesus’ wounds have brought healing to us: 1 Peter’s audience likely faced beatings and had the welts/bruises to prove it.

Now let's state the obvious: Peter never says, 'Slaves, get out of slavery as fast as you can.' Roman Slavery was brutal. Slaves were legal property– they were usually victims of war, abandonment as infants, or children of slaves. They could be beaten, sexually used, even tortured to make them testify in court – they had close to zero rights. Unlike our country’s slave trade, Roman Slavery was not based on race and some slaves eventually earned their freedom. But, different doesn’t mean better.

So, you may be wondering: why doesn’t Peter try to encourage people to bring down the whole system? He’s writing to slaves, not the Roman Emperor. These slaves had no vote and no voice to change the broken system they found themselves in. But, Peter elevates them by addressing them directly to tell them: you do have a choice. And notice, he doesn’t give masters a verse to use.

While Roman slavery was abhorrent, Peter shows them a Lord who was beaten like them. Jesus wasn’t on the side of the masters and he didn’t watch beatings from the sidelines. He took the beating and verse 24 says: “By his wounds (or welts), you have been healed.” To be clear, Peter is quoting Isaiah 53 that specifically is talking about spiritual healing from the sickness of sin, not physical or emotional healing here. Jesus understands their experiences and its his wounds that bring healing and hope. If you’re hurting today, that doesn’t mean you stay in harm’s way either – Jesus suffered once, for us. You don’t need to stay in a harmful or abusive situation either.

He brought us back to the shepherd and overseer of our souls. This has already been accomplished – it’s the past tense. [READ VERSE 25] Did you notice that? You don’t have to keep striving or worrying about whether or not Jesus has brought you back. Do you believe in him? Do you trust in him? Then, he’s brought you back to himself – he’s your shepherd now, he’s your true overseer now. He’s not getting rid of you. The slaves that Peter is writing to have crooked masters and crooked overseers. But, Jesus’ oversight is good. And Jesus’ verdict over you is the one that matters and in Peter’s own words, that verdict is this: you've received mercy, you're God's own people, your sins were carried, and you've returned to the Shepherd. No performance review and no election can overturn that.

So in light of all this, how does this change the way we handle those who are above us?

Verse 25 ended with a verdict: you've returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. And verse 16 tells us what that verdict makes us: 'Live as free people… live as God's slaves.' SLIDE Free from needing to be the judge, because the Judge has it handled. Free from fearing the people over you, because their verdict isn't the final one.

That freedom is where submission comes from. So what is submission? It's choosing your place under authority 'for the Lord's sake,' verse 13, because you're free, not because you're afraid. It means you’re willingly acknowledging legitimate authority for God’s sakes. And it has some limits. It never means doing wrong, because fear God comes first. It never means staying in danger, because God put authorities in place to stop people who do harm. And it never means obeying authority over obeying God.

So here's the whole passage in one sentence: because Jesus entrusted himself to the judge and gave us his verdict, we can submit without fear and suffer without striking back.

So what does a free person do when they're treated unjustly? Because Jesus carried our sins and gave us his verdict, we can trace his steps. Here's what that looks like.

Stop being the judge. Jesus entrusted his case to God, and even though he suffered, he kept doing good.

That means that while it’s easy to join in with coworkers or friends talking poorly about your boss or a political rival, you entrust that to God. By doing good work under a bad boss and refusing to join with other people’s foolishness, that’s how you show your workplace what Jesus is like. For some of you, the unfair treatment comes precisely because you follow Jesus. That's exactly who Peter was writing to.

And, you love the family of believers. You don’t gossip about a boss, you bring your struggles to your brothers and sisters. You ask them to pray for you and you ask them for godly wisdom and guidance in the situation.

Fear God only and honor everyone else. That means if your boss ever asks you to lie or do something you know is wrong, you say no because you fear God more than your boss.

This means you treat our president and your waiter at Chili’s the same way – with respect and honor because they are made in the image of God.

This means you honor all of our politicians by speaking charitably about them, praying for them, and turning out voices that make their living by tearing the other side apart. Imagine how that could silence the talk of foolish people if Christians were widely known as praying for Republicans AND Democrats.

Get help if you need it. Specifically with abuse, victims often feel like submitting means you never report it. But, that’s not the truth. According to verse 14, governors are the ones appointed by God to punish wrongdoers, that is one purpose of governmental authorities. So, getting help is exactly what God would want you to do.

If you are a person who may be in an abusive situation, please talk to me. I will believe you and will walk alongside you to get the help that you deserve and that God wants for you.

So, what would I have done differently if I could back to my deli? Well, I did the right thing in some ways – I cleaned the vents. But, looking back, I would’ve been honest with God about my manager: he was harsh, unkind, and didn’t even say thank you. And then, I’d give it to God and entrust it to his care. I would treat my manager with respect and honor him still – not because he deserved it but because that’s what 1 Peter instructs us to do. IF I would have done that, I would have been free from holding on to that resentment.

So here's the whole passage in one sentence: because Jesus entrusted himself to the judge and gave us his verdict, we can submit without fear and suffer without striking back. You don’t have to be the judge and you don’t have to fear other people’s verdict. God has already given us a new identity in Christ.

And my friends, when you hand your case to God and entrust your verdict to Jesus, you can find that freedom too. As we prepare to pray together, I want you to picture someone. This can be someone who you’re resenting or the person you’re afraid of. Tell God the truth about what they did and how it impacted you but then release that to God. He judges justly and his verdict over you is the one that matters. Amen?

Have you ever wondered what other people really thought about you? For the early church, there are a few accounts from Romans in the 2^nd and 4^th  century that shows what some Romans (ie. Pagans) thought of the church.

Pliny (PLIH-nee) the Younger, who was governor of Northern Turkey around 110 A.D., wrote a letter to the Roman Emperor asking what to do with Christians. In the letter, Pliny makes some observations about Christians: he detailed they’d meet before dawn on a fixed day, they would sing a song to Christ as if he was a god, they would share an ordinary meal together, and they would vow to not commit robbery, theft, adultery, and more. Pliny got this information from two women slaves that he tortured. Who were the women? They were deacons from the church – they were given a ministry title to serve God’s people.

This wasn’t a second century thing either. Around 362 A.D., Julian is the Roman Emperor right now. Julian is interesting too – he actually was a Christian but then left the faith and became a pagan. He actively worked to establish paganism as the default religion in the Roman Religion but there was a problem. And do you know what he observes about Christians? He complains about Christians because they care for poor Christians but they also care for poor Romans, even better than the Roman Empire. He complains that it’s actually embarrassing because everyone can see Christians loving and serving the poor more than the organized Roman Empire.

These are outsider descriptions of what the Christian church looked like in the second and fourth century and what do you see? You see a commitment to community and to Christ, you see a commitment to the poor, and you see a commitment to serving even when its hard.

Put simply, Pliny and Julian are no friends of the church and yet, they wrote about the good deeds that the church was doing – unintentionally. So, a question I want us to think of is this:

How would an outsider honestly describe our church if they watched us? (SLIDE)(PAUSE)

Would it be easy for them to see that we loved each other? Would it be easy for them to see that we care for the poor? Would it be easy for them to see that we worship Christ, together as a family and are eager to serve each other? Or another question we can ask is: do our good deeds even make a blip on people’s radar?

When we dropped off invite cards for the block party, many people seemed genuinely shocked and surprised to see us. From what I gathered, in our 69 years of existence as a church, many neighbors have never met anyone from this church.

1 Peter 2:9-12 tells us to live such good lives among pagans that they notice our good deeds. What would the pagans around us notice and what would they write about us?

These are questions that our church, Peter’s churches in Turkey, and every church across the globe needs to wrestle with honestly. And these are questions that each of us needs to wrestle with in our own lives too. Why do we struggle with this?

1 Peter 2:9-12 gives us two reasons or instructions on why this is a struggle:

We struggle to abstain from sinful desires – verse 11 This is a tough one for most of us to hear. But, 1 Peter is a letter that is relentless in calling us to holy living. Unfortunately, the call to holiness is often viewed with suspicion in our context. As I shared a few weeks ago, we can’t pursue holiness out of pure willpower alone AND we can’t discount holiness because of grace. Peter views the mercy of God and the call to holy living as best friends, not enemies.

But, we struggle with sinful desires. My friends: take this passage seriously. Peter is saying to abstain from sinful desires because they wage war against your soul. That means sin is actively trying to conquer your soul so you will fall away from the faith and stop being part of the chosen people, royal priesthood, etc. Do you hear how serious that is? You cannot make the mistake of downplaying your sin, if you do, you will lose that war.

Think with me of the story of David and Goliath. Goliath views David as weak and downplays him. Goliath views David with contempt and feels superior to him. Then, what happens? Goliath falls because of David’s faith in God. It was Goliaths underestimation that got him killed.

In the same way, you can’t downplay sin. You can’t feel superior to it as a believer because when you do that, you will fall and give into your sinful desires.

And since we struggle with sinful desires, that also leads us to the second thing we can’t do:

Our witness is inconsistent. Notice in verse 9 – it says to declare the praises of him. And in verse 12, it says to live such good lives. That means the goal of the Christian life and role of the church is to commit itself to both word and deed – to speak of Christ and to live life like him.

But often times, it’s easy to have one of those and not the other. That’s an incomplete faith then. What do I mean? (SLIDE)

On an individual level, it may mean you are kind and demonstrate sacrificial love to others – that’s you being committed to good deeds. But, no one knows you’re a Christian. They just assume you’re a nice person or have good manners. You have the deeds without the word.

On the flip side, you may be really passionate about Jesus and your beliefs online and even have a bible verse in your Instagram bio. But in-person, you treat others poorly, participate in worldly sin like drunkenness or sexual immorality, and are far from careful with your speech. You have the word (online) without the deeds.

Don’t make the mistake of saying: “My life is my witness.” That’s true to a point, your life and good deeds are valuable but 1 Peter is clear: you need deeds AND you need the word.

Jesus himself rebukes this in Matthew 23:23 where he announces woes to the Pharisees for tithing (which is good) but ignoring the weightier matters of the law like: justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

1 Peter 2:9-12 encourages us to have a consistent witness of word and deed together, every time and in every area of our life.

These two issues reveal that there is something deep within us that makes this difficult for us to do. What is that? There are two things we forget (SLIDE):

We forget our true identity– read verse 9 with me again…a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession (our identity) – can you grasp the weight of that identity? Can you hear the splendor of who you are because of what Christ has done? And when you embrace that identity, it leads to life transformation. When you remember you’re chosen, a priest, a nation, and a special possession of God, your desires reorient to God.  

But, if you forget that identity, your desires reorient and end up giving into sinful desires. It leads you to abandon your trust in God as your good father who knows what’s best for you.

When a child knows that they are loved by their mom and dad, they tend to flourish. But, when a child forgets their mom or dad’s love or if it feels distant, kids often go looking for love in places that won’t give it back.

We forget the coming day – look at verse 12, the day of visitation. This phrase can have two meanings: first, it means that we should have hope that pagans will see our good deeds and be won over to the faith. That will bring glory to God. Second, it is also talking about the day when Jesus returns – to vindicate God’s people but also judge those who mocked God’s people. Jesus is going to return!

Most of us live our lives totally unaware of these realities. We downplay the power that is available to us through the Spirit and potential that each of us has to witness to a nonbelieving world. Have you ever considered that the salvation of your co-worker, neighbor, or relative could be tied to your visible witness of word and deed? God often chooses to work through our words and deeds in redeeming people but do you really believe that? That’s what 1 Peter wants you to see but we often don’t believe it so we do nothing.

We also forget that day when Jesus returns which makes sharing the Gospel feel like an option or feel like the most terrifying thing. We’re less likely to share the Gospel with that coworker because judgement of their sin feels far off. And we’re more likely to feel afraid of sharing the Gospel because we’re worried someone will respond poorly. The coming day is meant to give us hope and resolution but yet, many believers live their lives as if they don’t believe that. That’s what Revelation is meant to do – give us hope and urgency to share.

So, what hope is there for us?

The hope can be found in verse 10 – once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. It is the mercy of Christ that enables our identity. What even is mercy? This is one of the huge biblical words that we use often and it has multiple meanings.

But in the context of 1 Peter, mercy is God’s compassion to those in genuine need or distress. Peter is quoting Hosea in this passage. In Hosea, God is  reminding the people of Israel that they are struggling because of their unfaithfulness to him. Despite that, he is going to show them a mercy.

Just like God chose to show mercy to Israel who was unfaithful, God chooses mercy to us despite our unfaithfulness. Before God’s mercy intervened, we were not a people – we had sinful desires that were destroying our souls. Those sinful desires lead us to running away from God who is the only one capable of restoring our souls. We run to sinful things that refuse to show us mercy like God shows us mercy. In doing so, we harm ourselves and harm the good world that God has created. We lived in spiritual darkness. So, why would God, who has every right to abandon us, instead draw near to us?

It’s all mercy. Rather than leaving us to fate, God became flesh and dwelled among us. Jesus Christ walked in the darkness of this world – allowing the powers of this world to crucify him on the cross. And for three days, Jesus dwelled in the darkness of death. But on that third day, he arose – announcing that mercy gets the final say and that he will not leave his people to stumble in the darkness anymore. He will instead rescue us and make us his own special possession. And if that doesn’t get an amen, I don’t know why we’re here.

Mercy is the mechanism underneath our core identity that’s revealed through this passage (SLIDE):

·      We’re a new race (chosen people): the apostle Paul in Romans 5:12-21 puts it this way: every race has a father. Every people has an origin. As humanity, our origin lies in Adam who sinned against God and ran from him. Likewise, we inherit that same failure. But, Jesus Christ succeeded where Adam did not and he chose total obedience to God over disobedience. Why? To reveal his mercy and make us a new race, a chosen people.

·      We’re royal priests:  We now have access to God through what Jesus Christ has done. And we can now make spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to him as we saw last week. Paul tells Timothy the same thing in 1 Timothy 2:5 that there is just one mediator between God and man – that mediator is Jesus Christ.

·      We belong to a King of a holy nation: We belong to God and that means we are now part of something bigger than ourselves. That means our top allegiance is to Jesus – not our countries, not our families, and not our sports teams.

All of this is because of God’s marvelous mercy, not our merit. Taste and see, my friends – the Lord is good!

So now that we’ve been shown such great mercy by God, how then do we live our lives? Our new identity also gives us a deep purpose too: God wants us to display mercy to his world so that others will be rescued by him.

Our big application idea today is this: (SLIDE) Mercy — not effort — is what constitutes God's people, and that same mercy is what now presses outward into how you live before a watching world.

We’re going to give two examples, one for you personally and one for us corporately as a body.

Personal and Household: I’d invite you personally or your household to do two things:

1.      If you struggle with doing good deeds but not sharing the word, pair your act of service with the why behind it. For example, if you’re talking to a neighbor and you know they’re struggling, offer to bring them a meal or a dessert. When you do that, ask if you could pray for them or share that you’re doing it because Jesus loves them and as a follower of his, you’re called to serve.

2.    If you struggle with sharing the word but lack good deeds, look for a way to serve someone that you’ve shared the word with. If that’s a relative or a co-worker, pray to God that he would give you an opportunity to bless that person or to serve that person. Guess what? I have a feeling God will answer that prayer.

Corporately: right now, friends, we do not have a set local missions and outreach plan in place. That’s a real problem for our church and one that your leadership is actively working on. This past year, we’ve continued to make strides in this area with our block party, Halloween outreach, and a few other things that are cooking.

So, I’d invite you to take two steps today because mercy is already working in your life if you’re a follower of Jesus. And because of that mercy, it presses you into two next steps:  

1.      Pray for your church board – these are your spiritual leaders and shepherds over your life. We’re actively discerning what God has called us to do in this neighborhood and city. In the New Year, we’ll have some solid steps in place but we really need your prayers.

2.    If your convictions allow it, sign up to be a part of our Trunk or Treat outreach. As that event unfolds, there are going to be hundreds of people that are watching our church – what will they see? An intergenerational group of people who love each other and want to serve their community? That’s my hope.

As we prepare to close today, I’d invite you to reflect on two things then during our time of singing and time to receive prayer. Pliny and Julian wrote about their experiences with Christians and so I want you to think about:  

1.      If an outsider was writing about your life, would it be clear that you are a person who follows Jesus in Word and in deed?

2.    If an outsider was writing about our church, would it be clear that we are people who follow Jesus in Word and in deed?

My friends: sit with those questions. Reflect on the great mercy that has been give to you through Jesus Christ. And because of that mercy, you now have a new identity and a purpose: to be a follower of Jesus who is committed to word and deed. If you have the word without deed, you have an incomplete calling and vice versa. When you have both, that’s when you can live such a good life among pagans that they will notice and you can boldly share why you’re different in hopes that they will be won over and with the reality that Jesus is coming back someday. Live your life knowing that to be true.

Amen?

On Sunday afternoons, my kids get to watch a movie. It’s a real special occasion in our home because we don’t keep a TV upstairs. It’s in the basement and meant to be a bit of a pain to use. So on Sundays, the kids know they get to watch a special movie.

One of their favorites is the classic: Toy Story. Most of us are familiar with that movie but in case you aren’t, Toy Story is a film series that centers around Andy (a boy) and his toys. His toys come alive when Andy isn’t around and get into all sorts of mayhem. In Toy Story 2, we’re introduced to a new character: Jesse. Jesse is a cowgirl who is about to be sold to a museum in Japan, alongside Woody and Stinky Pete because they are super rare toys. When Jesse is first introduced, she seems normal but over time, more of her story is revealed.

Jesse was owned by a little girl who loved her and played with her all the time. She was chosen and precious to this little girl. But over time, that little girl grew and grew – she got into nail polish and all sorts of other things. Eventually, Jesse is left behind by the girl and donated to a local thrift store. Once chosen and precious by that girl, Jesse has been deemed worthless and has been rejected. However, Jesse doesn’t know that’s she actually extremely valuable – so much so that Al from Al’s Toy Barn does all sorts of sketchy things to get Jesse so she can be sold for millions of dollars.

And because of that, she has deep trust issues and deep pain. As the story progresses, Woody works to convince Jesse to join him in going back to Andy and Jesse’s scars come through. She tries to dissuade Woody because of her experiences. She tries to convince him that Andy will abandon Woody eventually. Finally, her true colors shine as she is about to join Woody in being Andy’s toy where she says: “what if Andy doesn’t love me?”

I share Jesse’s character story because it’s relatable to us as followers of Jesus. What did this passage say?

It gave us two verdicts about Jesus. (SLIDE) Two verdicts that are both true at the same time. First, we see that the Living Stone, which is Jesus, was rejected by humans. But at the same time, Jesus is chosen by God and precious to him. Then, this passage goes onto force us into a choice: do we believe in the Living Stone or do we disobey the message? If we believe in it, Jesus becomes precious to us as well but if we don’t believe Jesus, he becomes a stumbling block we trip over instead of trusting in it to hold us up in a bit of a chaotic world.

So, here’s the tension we live in: do we trust in God’s verdict about who Jesus is? Do we trust God’s verdict about who Jesus is enough to completely re-orient our lives around that truth? (SLIDE)

As we live life in this tension, there are two things that we cannot do:

As hard as this is, we can’t force the world to stop rejecting Jesus. Like me, you likely have someone in your life who is outright hostile to Jesus and the Gospel. This is true in our time, Peter’s time, and in the Old Testament time – Peter is quoting from the prophet Isaiah and the Psalms in this passage.

Why is this such a timeless issue? Jesus doesn’t give the world a gray option – this passage in 1 Peter 2 is black and white.

You either view Jesus as precious as your Lord OR you reject him as your Lord. There’s no in-between. 1 Peter 2:8 tells us that those reject Jesus stumble because they disobey the message. And Jesus himself lays this out clearly for us in John 3:19-21 as he’s talking to Nicodemus: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

So, we shouldn’t be surprised that the world rejects Jesus. That may grieve us but it shouldn’t surprise us. We may wish things were different but it shouldn’t surprise us – Jesus came to bring a sword (not for war) but rather his message is inherently offensive and divisive according to Matthew 10:34.

The second thing we can’t do though has to do with us: we can’t conjure up more willpower to trust that God’s verdict about Jesus is right. Most of us can be like Thomas, Jesus’ apostle. Of the remaining 11 after Christ’s death, Thomas was the only who didn’t see Jesus alive in his resurrected body yet. It didn’t matter what his friends were saying. In Thomas’s mind, he couldn’t believe until he actually felt Jesus’ wounds from the cross. He couldn’t grit his teeth and say: “Okay, Lord – I believe in what you said.” It took the resurrected Jesus for Thomas to trust.  

We’re the same way – when we are struggling with some sort of suffering or belief, it’s difficult for us to trust. We may even want to trust but we can’t just conjure that up within ourselves. Why can’t do that?

We tend to treat human judgement as final because it’s what we can see and experience. We trust human judgement more in nearly every area of our life over God’s judgement. Many of you are likely familiar with the old childhood saying of: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” That’s a horrible saying because words will indeed hurt you. Even as I say that, you can likely think back to something that someone said to you that hurt deep (I know I can) and you took it to heart. If you’re a follower of Jesus, you know God’s verdict over you is the verdict that matters. But someone else’s verdict over you – an unkind word, rejection, whatever still holds weight on you.

Why do other people’s verdicts or judgements about us sting so bad when we know the truth? It stings because it’s immediate. It’s a person you know, it’s an unkind text message, or a person avoiding you – it’s right there in your face. God’s verdict is clear through what Jesus has done but our faith only becomes sight when Jesus returns or we die.

In Jesus’ ministry, we see this same thing. (SLIDE) Breaking under the weight of Roman oppression, many Jewish folks of the day placed their hope in a Messiah who would conquer Rome, usher in a golden age for the nation of Israel, and defeat their enemies through war. That was the human judgement at the time.

So imagine with me: Jesus arrives from a non-glamorous area, Nazareth. Instead of conquering Rome, he tells Israel to forgive their enemies and to pray for them. Instead of ushering in a golden age for Israel, Jesus begins healing and ministering to Gentiles. Instead of defeating his enemies through war, Jesus dies for his enemies in a humiliating way through voluntary sacrifice.

After his death, I imagine many people who were interested in Jesus walked away. Human judgement had rendered Jesus as a phony as a blasphemer and the religious authorities working with Rome had him killed. Many people may have thought, “Well, that’s it. Jesus isn’t coming back from this one.”

But, what if human judgement is wrong? Going back to Toy Story, the little girl who owned Jesse from Toy Story was wrong, Jesse was valuable and precious – both to Andy and to Al who wanted to sell her. What about Jesus? Is human judgement about Jesus wrong?

Yes, judgement about Jesus during his life was wrong and judgement about Jesus today has been wrong. The world rejects Jesus but we know that he has been chosen and vindicated by God. How can we know that?

(SLIDE) He’s the Living Stone – not the dying stone. Although he was rejected by humans which caused his death, Jesus Christ did not stay dead. 3 days later, Jesus appeared to some women disciples as alive. Peter and John discovered an empty tomb. And finally, Jesus appeared to his close friends in the upper room and later to over 500 believers.

In Matthew 28:11-15, Matthew reports that the chief priests tried to cover up the resurrection by bribing the Roman guards to say that Jesus’ disciples came in the night and stole Jesus’ body. But, does that seem likely? Something earth-shattering had to have happened if Peter had denied Jesus and then weeks later, during Pentecost, Peter preaches a bold sermon preaching Christ as King and as alive. That transformation only happens through resurrection.

So, the world can say what they want about Jesus but he is alive and he’s the King – whether they like it or not.

You don’t have to conjure up more willpower to believe on your own – you only need to look and experience the Resurrection. When Thomas doubted, what did Jesus do? He didn’t condemn him but invited him to experience the reality of the Risen Jesus. In the same way, that’s what Jesus offers you. Look at the evidence, look at Christ’s wounds, and see his love for you.

God’s verdict about Jesus is the one we can trust. It’s the only one that matters. So if trust God’s verdict about Jesus, verse 7 tells us that Jesus is precious to us. And if that’s true, how should we live our lives?

Verse 5 tells us – it reads: “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (SLIDE)

Here’s the thing, my friends: a single stone can’t be a house. And a stone that’s cut off from the Living Stone isn’t alive at all. In verse 5, notice the verb choice. It doesn’t say you’re building a spiritual house for your holy priesthood. It says: “you’re being built into a spiritual house.” That means God is the builder and we are all the stones he uses.

I’d invite you to let yourself be built in to the spiritual house instead of adding yourself on where you want to be added on. That means you’ll need to give up your personal preferences to be part of God’s church. That means you’ll have to have hard conversations and work things out with your sibling in Christ. That means you’ll have to make sacrifices but know that God is pleased with those sacrifices because they’re acceptable through Jesus Christ.

Practically speaking, I’d invite you to consider three ways to allow yourself to be built into the spiritual house: (SLIDE)

1.      Commit to being here, even when life’s busy: my friends, you can’t be built into a spiritual house if gatherings with the family of God only happen when you’re not busy with something else. Whether that’s a Sunday morning or sharing a meal together, commit to being here (vacations are totally fine) so that you can be built into a spiritual house. A house doesn’t get built sporadically – it gets built through steadiness and consistency. Before I trusted Christ, I treated Sunday gatherings here as optional or only if I didn’t have anything better to do. Katlyn would invite me to and I’d often give all sorts of lame excuses – I’m at a friend’s house and they parked me in. My parents are doing something or I have a lot of homework. Once I actually trusted the verdict God had rendered over Jesus — and over me (that I’m not my own, I was bought with a price) — Sunday gatherings stopped being an occasional errand and started being how I understood myself to belong to something.

2.    Commit to serving here, even if it’s unglamorous: I’ve never heard anyone say: “that’s a nice stone in the middle of that wall.” And yet, without that middle stone, the entire wall will just collapse. It’s the same way for serving. There are often unglamorous ways to serve here. These are things you may never get thanked for but you do it anyways, knowing that serving is how you allow yourself to be built into a spiritual house. One way you can do this is:  we could use more volunteers in our Tech Team. It’s unglamorous – you advance slides, adjust audio, and monitor our livestream. Our tech team often only gets noticed if something goes wrong. But, those sacrifices are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. God is looking for servants in his church, not just spectators.

3.    Commit to relationships, even when they cost you something. When stones are placed in a building together, they don’t get to pick what stone is next to them. They don’t get to remove themselves when the other stone is pushing up against them. And it’s actually that pressure and friction that holds the building together. In the same way, you don’t get to pick who’s a part of this church. If you only interact with people in this church who are easy to love or you get along with, you’re not allowing yourself to be built into anything – you’re just settling for a convenient social club. So being built in means you apologize if you need to apologize, you forgive if you need to offer forgiveness, and you speak the truth in love if you need to have hard conversations. Remind yourself what 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 teaches us that we are God’s temple and his Spirit dwells within us. So if that’s true, consider how you’d treat your other brothers and sisters.  

As we get ready to close today, I want us to go back to Jesse’s fear of: “What if Andy doesn’t love me?” That fear was only fixed when Jesse trusted that Andy did indeed love her and began to play with her alongside all the other toys. It was only fixed when she trusted Andy’s verdict about her and when she allowed herself to be used by him. It’s the same way for us in our faith journey. Look to the resurrection.

To help you search your heart, I’d invite you to reflect with these two questions: do I trust God’s verdict about Jesus? If so, am I allowing myself to be built into a spiritual house or am I trying to control the house myself? As we pray together, ask yourself those questions – plead with God. And if you feel something stirring, there are folks able to pray with you in the back.

God made the verdict clear through the resurrection of Christ. God does love you and he wants to use you to build his spiritual house. So, will you trust his verdict or the world’s verdict? Please stand.  Let us pray.

In my last role, I had a coworker and a dear friend who was difficult for me to love. They were often unorganized, would show up to meetings late, and get me details for important projects way too late. I found myself often picking up the pieces of important relationships and apologizing for their behavior to others. Although we shared the same faith and they were my sibling in Christ, I began to really get frustrated with them and begin holding malice towards them – and I felt tired of ‘cleaning up their mess.’ At times, I’d feel the temptation to give in to slander when others would talk about them and I wouldn’t rush in to defend them either.

I share that story though because it’s relatable and it fits our passage for today. As believers, we are commanded to love each other – deeply from the heart. That’s not a command for the super Christians; it’s a command for any follower of Jesus who has been born again through Christ. We know this and yet, if we’re honest with ourselves and each other, this is hard for us. For reasons that we’ll get into later, we know this command and yet, we struggle.

Years before Peter writes this letter, he’s in a room with Jesus and the rest of the disciples. He hears Jesus give this radical command to the 12 that they should love one another – right after they spend much of the night arguing with each other over who was the greatest. Same group of people, same night, and same failure we share in. And now, Peter is passing that command to the churches he oversees in Turkey.

But, is loving one another easy for us? If it was, Peter likely wouldn’t be encouraging us to love one other deeply. It’s hard because there are fleshly barriers that make it difficult for us to obey this command and Peter gives us those barriers in 1 Peter 2:1 which is what we can’t do. We cannot do these things if we want to love one another.

In this passage, there are actually five fleshly barriers that make it difficult and a struggle to love one another deeply. They’re all found in 1 Peter 2:1. For all of us, you may not struggle with every single one of these but you likely at least struggle with one of them. Here’s why we struggle (SLIDE):

1.      We fake love (hypocrisy) – this shows up in actually two places in today’s passage. 1:22 says we are to love one another sincerely (in the Greek, it means love one another unhypocritically) and verse 2:1 warns of the opposite which is hypocrisy. That means you can’t fake loving someone – performed affection is just that, it’s a performance not a reflection of your heart that’s been totally transformed by your new birth.

a.   This is like when you worked in customer service and you’ve had a really irksome customer who says “thanks” and you say: “I’m happy to help!”

2.    We hold malice – malice is this general ill-will you may hold toward your brother or sister. Maybe you’re holding onto an offense that someone caused you and you haven’t offered forgiveness to them. When something bad happens to this person, you’re secretly glad that it happened to them.

3.    We act deceitfully. You may love or serve somebody but for the totally wrong intentions. You’re only doing it to get something from them – it’s not true love because you expect something in return.

a.   This is like when you’re buying a car and the salesperson is asking you all these questions about your family, your dreams, and your hobbies. They don’t care, they just want you to buy a car.

4.   We envy others. You become jealous of your brothers and sisters who seem to have it better than you. Rather than being content with what God’s given you and what God’s given them, you desire what they have.

5.   We slander. You hear others talking about that one person in our church who is really frustrating or has made some bad decisions. Rather than defending them, you join in by agreeing with their insults. If that doesn’t happen, you may not slander them but you’ll join in by staying silent and complicit in the slander. You feel the conviction of the Spirit but you ignore it.

Which of these is your vice? Which one of these specifically makes it harder for you to love your brothers and sisters? Your brothers and sisters aren’t obstacles to overcome or people to use, they’re your sibling in Christ.

But moving forward, why in the world is this a struggle for us? 1 Peter just told us that we’ve been born again through the living and enduring word of God. And yet, we are encouraged to rid ourselves of these vices because these are the things that will erode and hurt a church. What’s our deal?

Those fleshly vices are our default setting. Last week, our passage highlighted this empty way of life that Christ’s blood ransomed us from. These vices are leftovers from that old way of life. We’ve been reborn but that doesn’t mean the old reflexes or ways we would look at things went away quickly.

Left to our own powers, we default to slander more than we care to admit. Left to our own power, we will love like the world loves – only to get something from someone. We’ve been given this new life and new birth that will never perish and yet, our default is these vices. Why is this default so deep?

1 Peter 2:1 uses the phrase: “rid yourselves.” Rid yourselves in this context really means putting off or removing clothing. (SLIDE) That means our default clothing as human beings is malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. It’s the result of the empty way of life that’s been passed down to us according to 1 Peter 1:18. Peter tells us to get rid of those things – recognize that they are dangerous and shed that clothing as fast as you can instead of treating this as an option. Take these clothes to Community Aid and never look back. The default will always be there and when you feel it creeping up again, your go-to is the same: off, immediately. But, is it that easy or is it actually difficult?

All of this can be a disheartening experience for sure because it always seems like we have so far to go. But, the major battle has already been won through what Christ has done.

God has given us a new birth and a new life – it’s imperishable, meaning it’s not going away. It’s a permanent change that begins today and stretches to eternity. How did God do this? He did this through the living and enduring word of God.

Peter quoted Isaiah 40 – this is a chapter right after the Lord just spoke through Isaiah to the King Hezekiah and Isaiah told Hezekiah: everything in your palace, your people, and more will be carried off to Babylon. When he says that “the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” What or who is the word then? Peter tells us in verse 25 of chapter 1: “the word that was preached to you.” Some translations render it as “the good news” that was preached to you. The good news of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. It’s the Gospel that brings life and will endure forever.

Although we have sinned with malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander, Jesus never did. Those sins lead to our death but Jesus intervened on our behalf. Instead of us, Christ died in our place – under the weight of what our vices deserve. But, he didn’t stay dead – he rose again three days later which means he will endure forever like Isaiah 40 said. Jesus is imperishable – he will never be destroyed or defeated. Romans 6:9 tells us that death no longer has dominion over him. And that’s why he is the only one who can give you an imperishable new life. But, it’s that good news that also feeds and nourishes our new life in him.

My friends, the Gospel is our starting point and our ending point. This is where you begin new life and where you continue to fuel the new life. That’s what this passage is telling us too – it says we’ve been born again through the Word. But then 1 Peter 2:2 tells us that same spiritual milk is what causes us to grow up in our salvation.

Put simply: the same word that gave you life is the same word feeds your life. (SLIDE)

My friends, never grow tired of the gospel. When you get tired of the Gospel or stop feeding on it, that’s when the vices of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander begin to rise up in you again. That’s why I want to encourage you to take 2 steps today:

First , crave the pure word like a newborn craves milk. In this passage, Peter is saying that every newborn needs and craves milk to survive and grow. The newborn isn’t forced to crave nor do they have to summon willpower to do it. It’s a natural response.

In the same way, that’s how it should be for the followers of Jesus. That’s why 1 Peter 2:3 says: “NOW, that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” It means that we are to crave the pure word because we have experienced God’s goodness. It’s about tasting and savoring the sweetness of God’s faithfulness and forgiveness to you despite your flaws and failures. It’s about recognizing the fragility of all the perishable things we put our hope in and realize that if we only had Jesus, Jesus is enough.

And here's what's remarkable: the word Peter uses for 'pure' in verse 2 — Greek word is: adolon — literally means 'without deceit.' It's the exact same word for 'deceit' you heard back in 2:1, just in the negative. Peter is telling you that the very milk you're starving for is the direct opposite of the vice that's starving you. You don't out-discipline deceit. You out-taste it with the Word. It means you realize God’s word is better than deceit.

So, have you tasted that the Lord is good? And I know some of you are going through some really hard trials right now but in the midst of that, can you still recall times or even recent moments where God has been good to you? If you search for them, you’ll find them and when you do, you’ll be reminded of his goodness and crave him more.

This is also one of the reasons why we gather as a church – to hear pure spiritual milk from the reading of the word, the preaching of it, and the reminders of it as we sing. 1 Peter 2:2 is actually an encouragement to the whole body, not just individuals.  

And going back to my old coworker, I soon began to feel conviction over our relationship. As I sat and would continue with my bible reading, I would be reminded of how good God has been good to me. While I was an enemy of God, Christ Jesus died for me. I tasted and saw how God was loving and pursuing me despite my own failures and weakness. I wanted to then love and pursue my coworker the way God pursued me. Malice, deceit, slander, hypocrisy, and envy may taste good in the moment but they soon turn sour – unlike the word of God.

And something began to change: my coworker and I began to pray together and as they prayed for me, I knew they loved me even if they frustrated me.

So crave the milk and allow that to be what drives you to remove the clothing of the vices that 1 Peter 2:1 warns us about. This is the only way we can supernaturally love each other. Don’t lie to yourself – holding the door open for your brother or sister is the kind thing to do but that’s not sincerely loving them. Sincere love means looking to your left and right and saying: “I will go to the cross for you. I will die for you because that’s what Jesus did for me and commands me to do.” Don’t confuse nice and polite things as radical love for your brother or sister.

Second thing I want you to do today, if I’m being honest with you, it’s going to be a hard thing. Peter doesn’t spell this out clearly either but he makes it clear that these vices have to go. (SLIDE) And for some of you, that means you need to have an honest conversation with yourself and with someone else. Bring what’s in the darkness into the light.

Ask yourself: have I sinned against anyone in this church through malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, or slander? If so, take time to go to the Lord about it as we pray. Pray that God would give you conviction around if you need to ask for that person’s forgiveness and walk in humble repentance. Will that be hard? You bet. Will it be uncomfortable? Oh yes. Will God be pleased with that? Most definitely.

And I realize that may be asking you for a lot. But if you have tasted his goodness, you’ll know this call to repentance and asking someone for forgiveness isn’t me being harsh – it’s exactly the kind of thing God’s word calls you to. If you feel the Spirit’s conviction to ask for someone’s forgiveness, don’t ignore it – talk to them after service or during our prayer time. If you can think of an example right now, that’s most likely a good indication to have a hard conversation with someone today. Don’t wait.

And dream with me: what could God do with a church that takes these vices so seriously that we’d own up to them and take responsibility for them? First, we’d find forgiveness for our sins but second, we would continue to reach maturity and deeper levels of faith as we actually practice what Christ commands.

So as we prepare to sing, examine yourself. Remind yourself: these vices are things we all struggle with but you’ve been reborn according to the imperishable seed of Jesus Christ. They don’t have to be your normal. You’ve been saved and tasted that the Lord is good. You crave him more and more. As you crave him, you can stumble your way toward loving one another deeply, from the heart because that’s how Jesus loves you. Amen?

I want us to talk about memory. Specifically, I want all of us to think about the major things we remember in life and what happens if we forget them. Back in 2011, there was a massive snowstorm that happened. School was cancelled for multiple days. I was ecstatic – we still had power and internet so this meant long days playing Call of Duty with my friends. Or so I thought. Now, my parents live on a farm and their driveway goes up and down a hill. Every time, it snows – there’s a massive snowdrift. In this particular snowstorm, it must have been around 2 feet. My parents couldn’t leave for work. So, my dad walks into the room as I’m gearing up for a day of video games. And he tells me that we’re heading outside to plow and shovel our way out. Keep in mind: my parent’s driveway is at least half a mile and the lane they live on is another half a mile. So, we’re talking at least one mile – shoveling and using a tractor to plow. I can remember feeling so irritated that I had to help. I hated every minute of it and the worst of it was we didn’t even finish it all in one day.

Why was I feeling so upset about helping my family? I had forgotten that I belonged to them as a kid and that I had a responsibility to help them when they asked for help. I didn’t stop being a son in my family, I just stopped living like one. And it reminds me of the quote “you remember what you want to forget and you forget what you want to remember.” And that’s a problem because we forget significant moments from our lives and end up acting in a way that produces more harm than good.

In the spiritual world, every day, we face a decision of: obedience to God or disobedience to God. When we disobey, we forget that we belong to God and he’s paid a price to bring us back into his care.

If you’ve read the Old Testament, this idea may sound familiar. Over and over again, God reveals himself as: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Why does God do this? He knows memory can be a powerful thing.

God is wanting the Israelites to remember that they are not their own people, they belong to God. And God went through a price to set his people free. Oftentimes, God lays out who he is and what he’s done first. Grace comes before the command. Then, he begins to lay out his commands for his people. Why?

He knows Israel will forget. And if they forget what God’s done for them, why will they bother with obedience? In the same way, that’s what Peter wants us to see in this passage. In verse 18, he says: “For you know that” and then he shares how God has redeemed them. This whole passage speaks of the intentional way that we are called to remember and to know that we are God’s and we were bought with a price. But, do we remember that?

When temptation comes our way, do you give in or remember who God is and what he’s done for you? Do you pursue holiness because God is holy? In case you need a reminder, holiness isn’t about a checklist that you mark off. Holiness isn’t about doing the right things and avoiding the wrong things. Holiness is about remembering what God has set apart. He sets things apart for sacred purposes. That’s why in Leviticus, God makes tables holy. And that’s why he invites us into holiness because he’s set us apart for sacred purposes – to love him and to love our neighbor.

Here’s our issue: we struggle with holiness because we forget that we belong to God and he has paid a high price for our redemption.

And here’s the thing: knowing that issue doesn’t solve it right away. Instead, we typically create two issues with holiness.

1. We can’t generate holiness on pure willpower alone.  You may hear a convicting sermon or feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit about some sort of sin. So, you tell yourself: it’s time to get serious and stop playing around. You convince yourself that you’re strong enough to do this on your own and are you? You’re not. I’m a huge ice cream fan and if we go to Half Pint, I convince myself that I’m strong enough to get just one scoop of ice cream. But then we get there, I see all the flavors, and I’m like I can’t just do one – I need two!

2. We can’t discount holiness because of grace. When we start talking about holiness, some of us may throw up guard rails and say – holiness is close to legalism, I’m about grace! Me too. But, holiness is what it means to be a follower of Christ. That’s what Peter tells us in verse 15 and 16 – it’s also what God commands Israel to be as well. When we emphasize grace and leave out holiness, we tend to downplay sin and the seriousness of it. We are to fight against sin – tooth and nail. If you can remember a few weeks ago, 1 Peter 1 opens up with the grand declaration that – “In God’s great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.” In Peter’s mind, mercy and grace go right along with living holy lives – they’re friends, not enemies.

In 1 Peter 1:13, Peter gives us an insight on how to avoid these two areas: he tells us “set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.” He’s telling us that holiness does take intentional thought and discipline BUT it’s all motivated by grace (God’s blessings that he gives to us even though we don’t deserve it). Sit with that thought for a bit and we’ll see later why that does change everything for us.

But if we pursue holiness out of pure willpower alone or neglect holiness because of grace, we don’t grow closer to God – we grow further away and fall a sin that 1 Peter 1:14 warns us about.

In verse 14, Peter warns his audience by saying: “do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.” What are those evil desires? Peter tells us later in his letter – chapter 4:3 tells us: “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.

That’s quite the list and you may think you’re off the hook. But, my friends, you’re not – we’re all condemned because of that last, all-encompassing phrase: “detestable idolatry.” So, Peter is warning us to not be conformed back to those levels of ignorance. That means there are pressures that are constantly trying to shape us to follow a god, not the God of the bible. There are these cultural pressures that want us to shift our focus from God, to our old ways of life.  

How can this play out for us today? The truth is we don’t just worship on Sundays, we worship every day of the week. People say church can feel too ritualistic but my friends, we follow rituals every single day of the week.

Think with me for a moment what a typical day looks like for most people:

1.      You wake up in the morning and the first thing you look at is your phone. Depending on your preference, you’ll either open up the news app, realize the world is in chaos, and you should hate your political enemies. If you dislike the news, you open Facebook or Instagram – hoping to see that you got a lot of likes only to be disappointed that someone else got more than you.

2.    After stewing on your phone for a bit, you get ready for the day and drive to work – passing by multiple advertisements trying to sell you discontentment and their product as a solution.

3.    You’re at work – you found out that a lazy co-worker of yours just got promoted. Instead of being happy, you’re angry and you join everyone else in ridiculing them.

4.   You get home from work – make dinner and eat it while watching TV. You’ve had a tough day so you do a combo of watching TV and scrolling – all while being shaped and formed by advertisers who only have shareholder profits in mind, not your flourishing in mind. You see a friend posting on social media who seems to have a better life than you and you go to bed disgruntled and annoyed.

Do you see what sort of person you’ll become if this is your day? Sure, you’re not sacrificing a golden calf but you’re worshipping something else throughout the day. And that’s what Peter is warning us about.

Throughout the day, you have no practices to remind you that you belong to God and he bought you with a price. Instead, the cultural pressures of our day are reminding you to partake in detestable idolatry – whether it’s finally making enough money, the perfect marriage, or easy circumstances, our natural default is to be conformed to the evil desires we have.

Left to our own devices, there is no hope for holiness. We need someone else to rescue us and to do what we can’t do.

That someone else is Jesus Christ. Our passage today shows us that it’s not those perishable things like silver, gold, great jobs, or fancy cars that redeemed us – it was the precious blood of Christ that set you free from the slavery of sin. Jesus was the perfect lamb without blemish or defect. As I explained a day in the life for a typical person, did you feel how it felt empty and meaningless? That’s what Jesus redeemed us from in verse 18 – the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors. But, with Jesus, we don’t have to have an empty way of life – he came to give us new life.

And here’s the thing – nothing else but Jesus has the power to do this for you. Nothing else will give you the hope that Christ does. This is why 1 Peter has hit on the idea that there are perishable things that we’ll be tempted to put our hope in. You may put your hope in pursuing holiness out of willpower but eventually you’ll cave and give into that temptation. You may put your hope in getting that promotion finally, only to get let go a year later when the company gets bought out.

All those things will perish or turn away from you. But, Christ will not. (SLIDE) Christ cannot perish. Faced with every temptation we face, he didn’t run away – he did what we couldn’t do. It’s with his precious blood that you’ve been set free. He can’t perish because he’s been raised back to life. He can’t turn away from you because he’s been glorified and is continuously interceding for you at the right hand of the Father according to Romans 8:34. And when you understand this, it solves the issues we talked about earlier with pursuing holiness out of pure willpower or discounting holiness because of grace.

1 Peter 1:13-21 wants you to see that you pursuing holiness out of pure willpower gets you nothing. Christ has already purchased you, has already redeemed you, and made you belong in God’s family. He’s bought you, he’s not going to return you like an amazon package.  

But at what cost? The cost of his precious blood which is why you can’t discount holiness. You finally see the great lengths that God underwent to redeem you, you understand what it cost him. And because of that, you’re devoted to God – you want to serve him, obey him, and love him.

Imagine with me that you have $50,000.00 in credit card debt. It grew faster than you ever thought and its finally caught up with you because the creditors are threatening to take your home, your car, and your future wages to pay off the debt. You’re feeling totally helpless and have no clue how you’re ever going to pay it. A few days later, you get a notice in the mail saying an anonymous donor has paid off your credit card debt. They paid it off at a real cost to themselves - $50,000.00. Now, are you going to live your life in the same way and rack up even more debt? Or, has your life dramatically changed because someone came to your rescue?

That’s what Christ does to our lives. He’s rescued us with great cost.

Since he’s rescued us and made us belong to him, how should we live holy lives?

First things first, we must recognize that holiness does indeed take intentional effort that’s enabled by grace. In verse 13, Peter uses language that is similar to “gird up your loins” which is a bit odd to us. But for Peter’s audience, they would know exactly what he meant. In that time, men would wear an outer cloak like this but as you can tell, it is not easy to move around in. You can’t run, you can’t stretch yourself, or really get down to work. So Peter instructs his readers to tuck this outer shirt into their belts so they can get to work. We would say something like: time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

That means, you have to be deliberate in setting your hope on the grace that Christ is bringing when he returns. It takes conscious effort to stop placing your hope in those perishable things that will disappoint you. That’s why we’re to roll up our sleeves. You literally need to retrain your mind. Ask yourself: does my day look like the typical day I described earlier? What ways am I forming myself to look more like Christ or am I allowing myself to be conformed back into the ways of life that Jesus rescued me from? Like John Mark Comer says, “We’re all being formed by something or someone. The question is: who or what is it?”

And when you begin to roll up your sleeves, something, by the Spirit’s help will begin to change. You begin to live your life in a way that’s actually oriented towards Christ returning instead of someone who lives in a way that forgets that Jesus is coming back.

Second, verse 17 likely made some of you uncomfortable because it talks about God as a Father and also as a judge. (SLIDE) Both things are true – God is a loving Father who calls us his beloved children. God is pleased with us on account of what Christ has done. At the same, our Father is judge of the entire world and he doesn’t pick favorites. That means believers and non-believers will be judged by the King of the Universe. As believers, our sin has been judged by God already and dealt with by Jesus Christ on the Cross. So hear me clearly: your sin is dealt with, full stop — and God still cares deeply about how you're living. However, Peter wants us to realize that just because our sin has been judged in Jesus, that doesn’t mean any of us are off the hook. I imagine him remembering his rabbi’s words from Matthew 12:36 “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.”  

That’s why Peter tells us to live our lives in reverent fear – not because we’re afraid of losing our salvation or falling into eternal separation from God. But rather, we know we have a loving Father who also knows all things. He knows our heart motives. He knows our thoughts. He knows the things you’re afraid of other people finding out. He knows all things – so live your life in reverent fear. So, are you putting up a façade for others to see? If so, God sees through your façade. God is approachable but he is also fiercely holy.  

As we prepare to participate in communion together, this is a time for you to examine yourself like Paul tells us to in 1 Corinthians 11:28. This is a time to reflect honestly — not because you need to become acceptable to God, that's already settled by Christ's blood, but because a Father who knows all things is asking whether you're living like someone who knows what that cost him. Ask yourself: am I living my life as a redeemed member of God’s family or am I living my life however I want? Remember, God has set you apart (made you holy) for his purposes. When my dad asked me to help plow out our driveway, I was living my life in a way that showed I didn’t care about belonging to my family. I wanted my own way. I didn’t care about my dad’s purposes, I only cared about my own.

If that’s you today, my friend – take the conscious effort right now to set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus is revealed at his coming. Meet Christ once again here at the table and remind yourself of what it cost to redeem you. And we don’t come to this table just as individuals, we come to the table as a new family – as exiles with Christ as our King.

Note: this transcript has been created using AI. It’ll likely contain some errors.

So, as I shared last week, we're starting this new series in First Peter, uh, life is exiles, proclaiming Christ in a Christless culture. Because whether we like it or not, we do not live in a day and age in the United States of America where being a Christian earns you a nice gold star. Uh, youth group culture is no longer as cool as it was in the 90s and the early 2000s. Sundays for most Americans is just a second Saturday. So we don't necessarily live in a Christian culture that many of us may have grown up with. So how do we stay faithful to the way of Jesus? How do we live our lives according to the way of Jesus in a culture that has no regard for him? And so that's what we're kind of going uh through together as a church family. And so some of you will know this story. Uh but four-ish years ago, Caitlyn and I did a hosting through Safe Families for Children. And we had this adorable little girl who's one year old. And that girl's mom was homeless. And so that led to that little girl living with us for around four months the first time and then another four months uh a year after that. And the first time we had her was like our second long-term hosting with Safe Families. And to put it lightly, that was an intensely difficult season of life for our family. I thought I had this really pure heart for the work that we were doing. Was feeling really charged up, inspired. My family and I, we love kids. We love and want to love the least of these that Jesus talks about in Matthew 25. And we had this face in our home. So, it was a no-brainer. But over the time of that hosting of those four months, I quickly realized that my heart was not as pure as I thought it was because I would find myself getting frustrated at the mom's lack of progress. I found myself getting frustrated at the long drives to York, which some of you are like, "York's not that far." Looking at Brian, who drives for a living, York feels far to me. I have to drive like three minutes to my favorite restaurant. Like, York feels far. Um, but I would find myself getting frustrated at visitations because then we would be there and have to figure out something to do while we're in New York City and there were just challenges with that cute little girl who would find herself in all sorts of trouble. And I found myself more anxious and angry than I care to admit. And if you've ever adopted or if you've ever fostered or you've ever even just watched somebody else's kids for an extended period of time, I think you might know what I'm talking about. And I wanted that mom to express more gratitude for what my family and I were doing for her. I wanted others to weep with me and to acknowledge the hard things that my family and I were going through. And I wanted people to help, but at the same time, I was too proud to ask for help. You guys ever feel that way? You want people to help, but you're too proud to ask for help. And I also wanted God to make things easier for us because, hey, we're stepping out in faith, doing this hard thing for the Lord, and he's making things really complicated for us. So what are you doing God with this? At which point it's like wait I thought my heart was pure. I thought my reasons for doing this were accur accurate and uh wanting to be a blessing. And those few months revealed new sinful parts of me as well as new passions for me. It wasn't all bad, but it revealed new sinful parts of me. And even though it was hard, God was already doing something in me that I couldn't see yet. And if you guys were paying attention when Sharon was reading, that's what First Peter 1:7 tells us, too. Is that what suffering does, what these trials do in our lives is they reveal the impurities of our faith. Hard things reveal the impurities of our faith. And I share that story because it reveals something that is not unique to any of us here. Is that every single one of us here will face suffering or we will face deep trials. I hope you guys know that. If you don't, I'm glad you're here today. And when we're going through suffering or difficulties, our natural question is, why is this happening? Have you wondered this? Why is this happening? And for first Peter's audience, they face suffering. Like we talked about last week, they face suffering because of their social status and newfound faith. They're nobodyies in Greco Roman culture. They're women. They're slaves. They're children. Again, clarify, women are somebody's. Just want to make sure we're clear. But in Greco Roman culture, women held no value. I'm sorry, ladies. It's sad. It's barbaric. It's one of the gifts that Christianity has given to the world that we say women have value. Because before Jesus came onto the scene, that was not the way the world viewed women. Same with children, especially if they were girls. And same with people who were disabled. Same with people who uh were slaves or in a lower social class. And these are the people that first that Peter is writing to in this letter. They're nobodyies. And at the same time though, they've been chosen by the God of the universe. But because of that, they're facing unjust treatment and sporadic persecution in modern day Turkey. And I can imagine them thinking to themselves, if this is what it means to be chosen, I'm not sure if I actually want to be chosen because life is getting so hard. But in first Peter, he addresses kind of two types of suffering. Number one, there's this like general suffering that we go through in life. Again, as Sharon read, verse six says, in all kinds of trials. So, that's just kind of like the normal hard things that exist in our life. Do you guys know what I mean by that? And that's what Peter is most likely talking about based on our passage for the for the day. But then also later on in around chapter 4, we're going to get to a very specific type of suffering that Peter wants us to process. And it is the suffering that goes along with persecution of our faith. So we're talking about though this general suffering that we go through in life. And my friends, this suffering that we go through in life isn't meant to be an anomaly. It's not an anomaly to Peter's audience. It's a given. And it's not meant to be an anomaly to us. It's very common, I think, for most of us in Western culture who still in regards even though you may feel like money doesn't go as far as it used to, we are still extremely wealthy compared to the rest of the world. We have brothers and sisters who live on less than $2 a day and are in ex genuinely difficult and heartbreaking circumstances. And at least in my experiences working with some uh international nonprofits, they don't struggle with suffering, I think, in the way that we do. I've I've never heard my friends in Zimbabwe talk about, man, I don't know if I can believe in God if suffering is a part of the process. I think this is a very us issue. But thankfully, God's word has some answers for us because suffering is going to inevitably come our way, my friends. So, I'm sorry if you were really looking for like a super exciting message today, which it is going to get exciting, I promise. But hang with me. So when suffering does inevitably come our way, we wonder, God, why are you letting this happen to me or to that person? Do you guys know that question? And that is a valid question to ask of God because there are real painful things that we go through as human beings. But a better question may be, God, I understand that this is really hard and difficult right now, but how do you want me to view this trial? What are your purposes behind this? because God's never promised us an easy life, friends. So, I'm I'm hoping that through this time that we will see that asking why certain things are happening is maybe not where we should land. Instead, asking God, what do you want to teach me through this? And so, in light of First Peter and the rest of the scriptures, I think it's good if we talk about the things that we can't do when it comes to suffering because this is an area of the Christian faith where things can get really weird. And so I want to talk about three way three things that we can't do together friends. So when suffering does come our way there I think can be three reactions and we have Christians with really good hearts and really good intentions who give away nice and easy platitudes like God works in mysterious ways. Have you guys heard this story? Have heard that platitude? Or God gives his toughest battle or his hardest battles to his toughest soldiers. Have you heard that one? Those may sound nice and maybe some of you have shared those with people. I trust that your heart was in the right place. But if I can tell you something, those are not really biblical and they're not really helpful to people who are suffering to give you true hope in darkness. If you're walking through a rebellious teenager, just hearing some vague thing of, "Well, God works in mysterious ways is like, yeah, but I'm weeping because this is driving our family apart." Like that's not a super helpful thing to hear. But other times, what we as believers can do is we can end up being like Job's friends. And if you're unfamiliar with the story, Job is the greatest man in the East. Thanks, Aubrey, for reminding me of this story actually just a week ago. But Job is the greatest man in the East. He has a terrific family, has 10 kids, he has vast wealth, cows, he's richer than Elon Musk, most likely. And in a single day, he loses everything. He loses his family. He loses his wealth. He loses everything. And his wife isn't very supportive. She tells him, "Why do you bother following God? You should just curse God and tell him to die." Is what his wife tells him. But later in the story, Job has three really good friends, and they come and they come to just mourn with him. And they start out on a great foot. They're weeping with him. They're in sackcloth and ashes and they're being great friends. But unfortunately, they start to overstay their welcome because they start to probe Job. They ask him, "What sort of sin have you committed against God for him to punish you like this? What have you done that God needed to take away your family, your wealth, everything? What sort of sin did you commit that God needed to do this?" They tell him, "You better get things right between you and God to avoid any more pain in your life." And if you know the story, you will know that's not the case. Job was a righteous man. That means he walked with the Lord. He didn't commit sin. He didn't sacrifice to other gods. He was a righteous man. He followed the Lord. God was not punishing Job in that story. Job was under a spiritual attack and his friends were the ones who were wrong. And at the end of Job, what God does is he rightfully rebukes his friends for failing to understand God's purposes and suffering. Because what Job's friends believed is that if you do the right things in life, you won't suffer. If you do the right things in life, you won't suffer is what Job's friends believed. And then they also believed if you do sin, you are going to suffer. And what Job's friends viewed, they viewed God not as a loving father, but as kind of a vengeful drill sergeant who's just looking for you to mess up. And what God says to Job's friends is, "You're wrong. You have not spoken the truth about who I am. My ways are not your ways." And then on the flip side though, there are people who want to a avoid pain or suffering at all costs. And Job's friends weren't just wrong about God. underneath their belief system was a real fear about who God was. Because if we can believe that good behavior ensures no suffering in life, if good behavior ensures pain-free existence, suffering then is always somebody else's fault. You guys know what I mean by that. If we can always tie suffering to something that we've done, it's easier to get behind. But if suffering is just something that happens to all of us, that's a little scarier. It's a little less comfortable. But what Job in the larger narrative of the scripture shows us is that suffering happens to every single one of us because we live in a fallen world. Jesus, Matthew chapter 5, he says God sends rain on the righteous and the fill in the blanks unrighteous. Bad things come to good people that have follow the Lord and love him and good things happen to bad people who hate the Lord. And so in our culture, what we try to do is we try to avoid hard things in life. You guys ever avoid hard things in life? Yeah. Me too. If we're facing a big decision or we're needing to have a big and hard conversation, our natural tendency is most likely to avoid it. We don't like those things. Why do we not like those things? It may introduce new hard things in our life. So, for instance, if you have this extended family that is really unhealthy and toxic, you may need to have a hard conversation with them about boundaries and about what they're doing to your own family. But you're scared to have that conversation because I've had to have conversations like that. It's scary because what may happen in that conversation is you may be misunderstood. You may be it may lead to even more hard things. It may lead to isolation. It may lead to breaking of relationship. So instead, what we do is we stay put because we're afraid of the change. Because we don't want hard things to happen to us. And so why do we do those things? Why do we give easy platitudes to people who are hurting? Why do we blame people for their own suffering? And why do we avoid hard things? And the truth is, we all like to be in control. We all like to be in the driver's seat. I'm sorry. If I've ever ridden with you in the passenger seat in a car, I've always thought, man, they're driving too slow or too recklessly. I'm sorry. That's a confession uh in front of all of you. But we all like to be in the driver's seat, right? We like to be in control. But oftent times what happens in suffering is suffering reveals that we actually don't have very much control in our lives at all. You guys know what I mean by that? Suffering reveals how little control we have in our life because we don't get to decide to have a cancer diagnosis. We don't get to decide to get into a horrific car accident. Those things by and large are outside of our control. And when we give these easy platitudes to people who are suffering, we try to stay in control of that situation because those platitudes really cost us nothing. They make you feel wise and spiritual because you may say God works in mysterious ways, but it really doesn't cost you anything. What would cost you is sacrificing and being present to that person to just listen and share how they're feeling. And my friends, I say this with love. If you've shared those statements before, I know that you had a good heart in sharing it. But please stop saying those things. They're not helpful to people who are hurting. So if you let people share though, if you ever talk to a person who is going through a really hard time and you let them share and they start crying, are you in control of that situation? No. You're wondering, "Oh man, what's going to happen?" You feel uncomfortable because people are crying. For whatever reason, we get very anxious and unwilling to just let people cry in front of us or we don't cry in front of other people. And so we put on this facade. my friends, we can cry with each other. It's okay. Or on the flip side, when we try to be like Job's friends, when we obey God simply to guarantee a good outcome, we try to stay in control. We become like one of my favorite characters in the New Testament. We become like the elder brother in the prodigal son's story. And things may go okay for a while. That elder brother, he was doing his thing. His younger brother had left. It's great. He's getting the entire inheritance himself. His brother's nowhere to be seen. and things are going okay for him. But eventually a trial comes his way. His younger brother comes home. His father now takes the inheritance that was going to go 100% to him as the elder brother. And now he's going to split it. He's not going to get as much money. He's not going to get as much land. And what does the elder prodigal son tell his dad? After all I've done for you, dad, this is what I get. This is how you're going to treat me. You may have wondered that God, after all I've done to serve you, this is what I get. You owe me a good life, God. My friends, if you can show me the passage of scripture that says that, that God owes us a good life, let's talk because you won't find it. And I know that's hard. I'm not trying to discount that. It's hard. And when we avoid these hard things though in life, we try to stay in control because we limit difficulties. In modern America, we dislike difficulties. I like talking about Door Dash because Door Dash is a great example of this. Why drive 25 minutes to the restaurant when you can pay somebody $5 to deliver it. You don't have to interact with them at all. You don't even have to leave your couch. They can just deliver the food right to you. We kind of avoid these harder things. I'm not saying Door Dash can be clutch sometimes, but you guys know what I mean. We dislike hard things in our life. So, we try to stay in control by limiting the difficult things that happen to us. But what happens in that is you never take risks. You never take steps of faith because that'll cause you to lose control. And the fact of the matter is this, all of us here are control freaks. Every single one of us. You may not think you are, but deep down depending on the thing, you will it'll be revealed to you that you are a control freak. And suffering just reveals them in brand new ways. And what happens if you continue to grasp for control and suffering? The suffering is going to become totally unbearable. And there needs to be a better way for us. And that's the way of the cross. Because here's the thing, we all cling to control in our own ways because we're fallen people. But what first Peter 1:7 wants us to reflect on is what does happen when the fire comes. What happens when suffering and difficult things comes into our lives? Verse 7 talks about how fire removes the impurities of gold. So when we go through hard things, does your desire for control get exposed? Does it get burned away? Or do you hold on to control tighter and tighter? And Peter says that that's what refining does. When gold is mined from the earth, it's not 100% gold, my friends. It's got all sorts of impurities in it. And so they have to consistently refine it in order to make what you may get at a jeweler's. And it exposes what's already there so it can be removed. And so then once the process of gold refinement is finished, what's left is purer than what went in. And it's all because the fire did its work. And in the same way, my friends, that's what suffering is for us. Oops, sorry. Thought there was a slide there. There was not. Ignore that. Suffering is this refinement process that God uses to help us to trust less in our control. And it asks us to trust more in him and his control. Suffering is a refinement process that God uses to help us to trust less in ourselves and less in our control and trust more in him and in his control. And so I understand that that may be hard. It's hard for me, my friends. I'm a control freak just like you. I obsess over things. I like things to be organized a certain way and it really destroys me when I see clutter. Just being real. And there are more serious examples of that. But we need to trust less in our control. That's what suffering does for us. But you may be thinking to yourself, man, I I don't know. I'm not necessarily convinced. But what I want to share with you guys is, do you guys think that God gives us a good reason to see why suffering can bring about good? I think there is. Because if you again were following along as Sharon was reading, 1 Peter 1:11 says, "The sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow." The sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. My friends, Jesus Christ suffered himself. Matthew 26, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. Maybe you're familiar with this story. It's Thursday. It's the night before he's going to be executed by crucifixion. And Jesus is afraid. He's taken his three closest friends up there and they keep falling asleep. The people that Jesus was hoping would encourage him, cheer him on in this incredibly dark time continue to be kind of tired and poor friends by falling asleep at that hour. And we would do the same. And so Jesus is afraid. But what's Jesus doing in that story? He's praying. He's talking to his father. And that prayer is actually quite simple. Jesus shares with his father that if it's possible, dad, take this cup. The suffering that is to come, take it away from me. Is what Jesus is asking God to do. But he doesn't stop there. The second part of that prayer is he says, "But not what I will, but what you will." Not what I will, but what you will. Have you ever prayed like Jesus where you've asked God to remove this hard thing from your life? We all have. I would encourage us though to pray that second part though, too. Not what I will, but what you will. And what Jesus does in that moment, friends, is Jesus gives up control. He does the thing that doesn't come naturally for us. He gives up control and he throws himself into the purposes of God. He entrusts himself to his father's will. But my friends, if you know the story, that leads to more suffering, not less. Because later on, after Jesus says, "Lord, I'm trusting your will for this." The King of Kings, the eternal son of God, he's betrayed by one of his own. And the God man who has the power to raise Lazarus from the dead allows himself to be stripped naked to be nailed to a cross and to be lifted up on lifted up for all to see. You guys ever think about how crazy that is that Jesus who had the power to raise Lazarus from the dead trusted God the Father's plan so much that he was willing to give up that much to control to endure that much humiliation and shame and suffering. And on the cross, that's what Jesus did. He gave up the control. He absorbed the just consequences of sin and evil into himself because God is holy and we are not. He gives up his spirit and he dies. And unlike the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son who only obeyed to get something, Jesus obeys and he's given the cross. But first Peter 1:11 doesn't say that Jesus just suffered. There's a second part with that, friends. It says there were glories afterwards. And what was that glory? Well, after dying on the cross, my friends, Jesus came back to life. I know we kind of say that all the time and you're maybe thinking like, "Wow, Anthony, give me something amazing and new from the scriptures." I'm giving you something new and amazing in the scriptures. There was a man who was died and three days later he's alive. If we can't get excited about that, friends, I don't know what can get you excited. And so, the power of sin had no hold on Christ. And for those of us who have faith in Jesus, the power of sin no longer has any power on us. And Paul says, when these perishable bodies die, we will be given imperishable bodies just like Jesus. So, if you're worried that heaven you'll just kind of be this weird ghost that floats around, my friends, you're not going to be a ghost that just floats around. You're going to be given a body just like Christ has a body. It won't have that creaky knee that you got. So, you can take heart if you have a bad knee or a bad back or whatever. My friends, God is accomplishing his mission of living with his people once again, just like in the garden. And the kingdom of heaven is spreading out through the work of the church. And one day, Jesus is going to return. He's fully ushering in the kingdom. He's going to defeat Satan and evil once and for all. And he's going to bring the new heavens and the new earth, where we will dwell with him, where we will see him face to face, where everything wrong will be made right. And that's the glory of the gospel. Did you guys catch it at the end that even angels long to look into these things? We get interested in angels and yet angels are interested in what's going on in our lives because they don't get to experience salvation. They're spiritual beings that serve God. They're in the throne room and they're jealous of what we get to experience because of what Christ has done. But my friends, this future glory that is guaranteed because of what Jesus has done, it only happened because of Jesus's suffering. And so if we are going to be people that follow Christ, that means we are going to have to join Christ in his suffering. And then so how should we actually live our lives then in light of Jesus's example and in light of what first Peter says? Well, number one, here's what we should do. Instead of platitudes that cost us nothing, we enter other people's pain because that's what Christ did for us. My friends, if you ever study different world religions, you will know that Christianity is unique because God didn't stay absent from us. God became flesh and dwelt among us. That's what John chapter 1 says. He entered into the human story. He experienced real pain, real suffering, real misery. And if we are to follow Jesus, that means we follow his example. We take time to weep with those who weep just like Jesus did at the tomb of Lazarus. And we don't just weep though, my friends. We can't just stay there. We step in to help in any way that we can. As I was sharing earlier, that difficult hosting through Safe Families, I can remember another host family mom. Her name's Janita. She's a very sweet brethren home woman. Not brethren home woman, sorry. Brethren woman. Get them confused sometimes. She dropped off this stuffing casserole for us. Did it have probably three sticks of butter in it? You bet. It's delicious. And Piper loves it, too. It's one of her favorite meals. So, it's been a Snively family tradition now. But Janita just dropped off that stuffing casserole for us one day. And she listened without judgment to us about our struggles. And she didn't say much. She's not much of a talker. But her casserole and her presence was enough for us. That gave us the assurance that we weren't alone in what we were facing. And so instead of platitudes that cost us nothing, we enter other people's pain because that's what Christ did for us. But number two, instead of obedience to gain God's favor, we obey because Christ obeyed on our behalf and he gives us God's favor. You and I cannot perfectly obey God. If you think you can, you don't have to come here anymore. Maybe you do actually because Jesus needs to do a work in your life. But I think you guys know what I mean. We are imperfect people who are always going to fail. You may feel like you're doing really good, but eventually you're going to mess up and not live up to your own standards. But the only person who has ever lived up to our standards and to God's standards is Jesus. And because he did that, we get to have his favor. And salvation is this gift that God gives. It's not something that we earn. But because we've received a gift and we know we're deeply loved, we want to reciprocate that love through obedience. My kids know that I deeply love them, no matter what. Even Jude says this thing. He's he's been on a tear some days lately, and he'll just remind me in these moments after we sit in timeout where he just says, "Daddy, I love you." And I said, "I love you, too, buddy." And then he's like, "No matter what." And then you're just stabbed in the heart. And on my kids' best days, they obey me because they know my love for them is secure and my purposes for them are good. And God's love is the same way. You are going to be radically insecure if you feel like you need to earn God's love because there's always going to be somebody who is doing it better than you. There's always going to be more spiritual disciplines you could be doing. God loves you, my friends. Just believe that. Like genuinely believe that. That God does love you. And because he loves you, that's why we can live changed lives. And then lastly though, instead of avoidance to hard things in life, we can trust that God can bring good through our suffering because that's what happened to Christ. And I know that's hard and I know there are hard things that we go through in life. But the resurrection gives us hope. The resurrection proves that our fing future ending is secure in Jesus. And so we don't have to try to protect ourselves from hard things. We don't have to avoid the difficult things that come in our lives or think that God's forsaken us. Jesus already was forsaken by God so that we wouldn't be forsaken. So my friends, we can trust that the resurrection proves that whatever we go through in life, God can bring something good from it. And so this week, my friends, I want you to know that with suffering, you really only have two options. With suffering, you only have two options. You can either number one, allow suffering to become unbearable, which I wouldn't recommend, or number two, allow suffering to push you into deeper joy in Christ. And that doesn't mean you need to just try harder. It doesn't mean you need to minimize your pain. But rather, if you guys will think with me of the God that Jesus serves in the Garden of Gethsemane, that same God who strengthened Jesus because left to Jesus's own will, Jesus wouldn't have gone to the cross, but he submits himself to his father's will. So the same God that strengthened Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is the one who's going to strengthen you, friends. like they're the same God. So the God that strengthened Jesus in that moment is going to strengthen you. And when I say this thing, deeper joy, that isn't this unrealistic call then to ignore your pain and ignore your suffering. Jesus doesn't want you to ignore your pain and suffering. If he did, when he saw Martha and Mary weeping because their brother Lazarus died, he would have just said, "Get over it, friends. I'm about to do something pretty crazy." Is that how the story goes? No. It's the shortest line in the Bible where it says Jesus wept. Two words, powerful reflection of who God is. So deeper joy isn't about ignoring our pain or ignoring our suffering. What deeper joy really means is smiling and trusting in Jesus while you are still crying and mourning. And Paul describes that feeling in second Corinthians when he says he's sorrowful. So he's sorrowful on this hand and yet he's always rejoicing. And it just takes a simple prayer, my friends, to orient yourself in that way. Not my will, Lord, but your will. And my friends, continue to stare into the glories of Jesus Christ like the angels do. Even angels long to look into these things, my friends. Angels long to look into what we get access to through Christ. They long to look into the glories of what Jesus has done for us and what he's going to do. Stare into the glories of Jesus Christ and remember just things like Jesus's amazing promise in John 16:33. He says, "In this world, you will have anybody fill in the blank? Trouble." Man, Jesus, that kind of stinks. The second part of that though is take heart for I have overcome the world. Christ is one. Christ is one. Jesus is the one who gets the final word. Not your suffering, not your circumstances, and not your control. Jesus gets the final word. And as we kind of prepare to sing to God one more time today, I want you to just take a reflective moment as we pray and ask yourself these two questions. That God, am I choosing control over you in this season? God, am I choosing control over you in this season? And then number two is when I am suffering, do I hold on to control or do I give it up like Jesus? And if you are a person who is going through a difficult season right now, my friends, come talk to me maybe after service if you haven't already done that to me. But there are also people in the back who would love to pray with you as well. They have new name tags as well, so you can easily find them out. Um, there are folks available to pray with you in the back. Or it doesn't even have to be them. If there's somebody that you trust that's a part of this congregation, go talk to them today. Share with them your heart. And if somebody comes to you, my friends, pray with them. Don't give easy platitudes like God works in mysterious ways. Listen to them, weep with them, and pray for them. And that's what the church is here for, friends. Not people who pretend to have it all together, but people who can be real with each other. And what you can do then is you can allow that person to speak truth over you and to encourage you to give up control and instead push towards deeper joy in Christ even through the tears. Even through the tears, guys, because God cares about those tears. Amen. Amen. All righty. I'm going to invite you to stand. Stand again, my friends. We're going to pray again as a family and just ask yourself this question. Am I choosing control over you in this season? And when I'm suffering, do I hold on to control or do I give it up like Jesus? Because I'm not inviting you to give up control just to give up control for control's sakes. I'm saying if Jesus is the one who did it and the resurrection came out because of it, you can trust that God is going to redeem all the broken things that happened to us, my friends. So, let's pray together. God, thank you. Thank you that you are not a God that is distant or far off from what we go through as human beings. human beings who live in a world where people get hurt, where bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. Lord, we thank you that your cross, that your resurrection reveals that there can be purposes behind suffering and pain that we don't know about. that God, we may not understand on the Friday that it happens, but three days later it may make the most sense in the world. And God, we may not always get that resolution that the early followers did. Lord, the resolution may come when we finally see you face to face. Because God, before you, all questions fade away. all worries that we had fade away because we will see you for who you are. We will experience you being good and faithful to us even when it was hard to maybe believe that down here. God, I pray that you would give us faith, give us belief, help our unbelief, help our doubts. God, give us the boldness like your dear friend Thomas who believed in you even though he had doubts. God, I pray that you would give us eyes to see, eyes to see your purposes behind our pain. Give us eyes to see the glory of the risen Christ. And that glory is that pain and suffering does not have the last word, but Jesus does. God, give us the eyes to see the glory of the new heaven and the new earth. Where our savior himself is going to wipe every tear from every single eye, which must be billions and billions of people who will trust you. God, give us eyes to see the glory for who you are. Lord, let us not grow weary of doing that, Lord. And even as we just sing this last song, I pray that we would be reminded that you are holy. You are set apart. Your ways are not our ways. But God, you are a good father. We can trust you because of what Christ has done. So Lord, I pray that you would bring conviction, that you would bring comfort where it's needed this morning, God. and that as we would sing to you, we would make a joyful noise even with some tears as well. So it's in Jesus name I pray. Amen. flows from your throne. You wear the crown of majesty.

When I started high school, I really wanted to fit in. My only problems were that I was intensely shy, I was self-conscious about my acne, and I felt embarrassed every time my mom dropped me off at school because she drove a loud, Ford F-250. These problems only increased when Winter 2010 rolled around: it was basketball team tryouts. For 2 weeks, I practiced every day after school with 25 other boys but only 15 of us would make the cut. I thought I was doing great but by the time the team was selected, my name wasn’t on the list.

I silently packed up my stuff and hopped into my dad’s car. I cried the whole way home because I wasn’t chosen. I felt embarrassed that I didn’t make the cut. I felt shame because I had worked hard but it wasn’t enough. Did I learn some valuable lessons through that experience? Sure but I’d be lying to you if I said it didn’t hurt in the moment.

I share this story because I think all of us have a moment or moments like this in our lives. We all have this deep desire to feel special and to feel chosen And yet, we know the crushing weight when we’re not picked for a team or that promotion or doesn’t invite us to a friend gathering/party.

The recipients of Peter’s letter knew this feeling well: they were women, slaves, and others who were the lower class of society. They weren’t special nor were they chosen by the world. They had no value in the Greco-Roman world. Scot McKnight describes 1 Peter’s audience as people who are homeless in the world. Here’s the cool thing though: these group of nobodies who have been rejected by the world have been chosen by the God of the universe. They have found their home in God and In his church.

But since they’re nobodies who have been chosen by God, they live life as exiles. What is an exile?

An exile is someone who lives in a country that is not their own, their true home or country is someplace else. Peter is being intentional with his word choice here because by using the word exile, he’s setting up the idea that the church (or God’s elect) are the New Israel. Israel had a deep history of exile which led to its people being scattered across Babylon and Assyria. People of Israel didn’t truly belong in Babylon or Assyria, they belonged in Israel. And so it is with 1 Peter’s audience. They don’t belong in Turkey, they belong in Heaven with God and that’s where they’re heading. But for now, they’re exiles – they don’t fit in with the culture and they’re not supposed to. Why?

Because they have something better. SLIDE Verse 2 shows us that the Triune God accomplished their salvation in three ways:

1.      God the Father chose them before the foundations of the world

2.    The Spirit worked in their hearts to set them apart and bring them to faith in Christ so that they may be obedient to him.

3.    Jesus cleansed his people from their sin and offered them forgiveness.

Peter's not writing a philosophy textbook here, and he's not trying to settle every question about how God's choosing and your believing fit together. But notice what he does say: you weren't chosen because you had something to offer God. You were nobodies to Rome and nobodies is exactly who God set his love on — not because of your track record or how special you are, but because of his purpose, sealed in blood before you had a vote in the matter.

But when you’ve been chosen, it also means you have a certain responsibility to the person who did choose you. If I was chosen for my basketball team in ninth grade, I would have had the responsibility to play ball. In the same way, that’s what we do – 1 Peter 2 tells us to be obedient to Christ. But, does obedience come naturally or is it hard for us?

Here’s what we must do

1 Peter is written to a group of exiles who are facing unjust treatment because of their faith. At this time in the church, there isn’t widespread and systemic persecution – that comes later. It’s more sporadic but what’s more regular is: unjust treatment like exclusions, slander, or insults. They’re low and they follow a ‘soft god’

So, they’re facing this pressure of obeying Christ in a culture that is hostile to him. According to verse 2, they’ve been set apart by the Spirit to look different from a culture that doesn’t have Christ in it. They’re called to covenant level loyalty like Israel was called to – to remain distinct from the crushing oppression of Babylon. They’re called to this even when it costs them something like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to a golden idol. Peter isn’t just saying this to his audience, he’s saying it to all of us too. You and I are called to true allegiance to Christ and to remain distinct from our culture – no matter the cost. So, are you set apart or do you look like the culture?

Because my friends, we are past the days where it’s a normal and socially cool thing to be a Christian. Youth group is no longer the cool place it was in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. Sunday is no longer a day to go to church, it’s just a second Saturday for the majority of Americans. In 1 Peter, you won’t see Peter wishing for easier circumstances – you’ll see him embedded in a hostile culture, resisting the cultural forces of Rome and proclaiming Christ. So, the question is: do we fold into cultural pressures or do we stay faithful to Jesus no matter the cost?

Why We Can’t Do It

Left to our own power, we can’t do this. When we are born, our desires are all out of whack. Here’s the thing: Katlyn and I spend a lot of time training our kids to make good and responsible choices. But, do you know what we’ve never trained them on? We’ve never trained them to hit others when things don’t go their way and we’ve never trained them to lie to avoid punishment. But, guess what they do sometimes? They hit and they lie.

Our heart’s desires are messed up. Even for us as adults who follow Jesus, our hearts are messed up. That can be bad news though because it means we fold into the cultural pressures of our day. Because we have a strong desire to belong, to be picked, to fit in — it doesn't disappear when you become a Christian. If anything, it's the very craving our flesh uses to keep us quiet, keep us blending in, keep us compromising exactly when Christ is calling us to be distinct.

And so, ask yourself:

1.      Are you afraid of telling other people that you’re a follower of Jesus?

2.    Have you compromised your faith to keep a relationship intact?

3.    Do you stay silent and ignore that burning in your chest when you know you should say something about your faith to someone but you don’t?

On the flip side, you don’t need to believe what Peter believes for you to feel this failure – it’s burned into every person’s conscience. We fail to meet the standards of obedience required by God and expected of ourselves. For instance: have you ever stayed quiet when you know that speaking out would have cost you something? Have you ever gone along with something you knew was wrong but you did it anyways?

So regardless of our beliefs, we can’t do this. We look for things like great vacations, well-paying jobs, or belonging in a group to fulfill us but they come up short. If we convince ourselves that once we get that special vacation, we’ll be happy. So, what happens? We go on that vacation, it’s great, and then it ends. We share a photo of it on social media but then get jealous because a friend of ours just posted about their cooler vacation. So, we plan a new vacation – this will be the one! But, it just repeats the cycle. Or if we convince ourselves that once we’re in a certain friend group, we’ll find that belonging we’ve been craving. We finally feel accepted but at some point, conflict arises and we feel misunderstood and rejected.

Those things like great vacations, well-paying jobs, or belonging in a group will eventually perish, spoil, or fade. And in our quest for those things to fill us, we sin against the God who loves us, who made us, and who knows what we need for our lives to flourish.

What is that? We need to be reborn through Jesus Christ.

How Jesus did it

1 Peter 1:3 opens with the phrase: “Praise be” – that means to speak well of. Why would we speak well of God? Well, the rest of our text tells us: Praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Put a different way, we no longer have to put our hopes in vacations, our jobs, or our friend groups, we can put our hope in Christ because he’s alive. This is not a distant or fools hope, it’s a confident expectation that Jesus will satisfy our deepest longings because his love has conquered death.

Jesus didn’t cave to the cultural pressures of his day. When pressured to hate, Jesus chose love. When pressured to avoid “unholy” people, Jesus chose love. When pressured to demonstrate his power and leave the cross, Jesus chose love. And here’s the thing: you and I couldn’t do that. We feel the pressure to stay quiet and to blend in to avoid the cost of sticking out. Jesus faced that pressure at the cross himself – where we fold under pressure, Jesus didn’t. He didn’t just succeed where we all fail, he did this all for you.

When Jesus saw your sin and how your heart was all out of whack, he didn’t turn away. He turned to the Cross – paying the punishment of sin but also conquering sin’s effects through his self-giving love.

And our new birth is only possible because of Jesus’ resurrection. Death couldn’t hold him and it won’t hold what God’s promised you.

That means we don’t look for an inheritance that will spoil, fade, or perish – we look to what Christ has promised and know that it’s guaranteed. Israel was promised the land as their inheritance. We get something even better: we get God and we have the certainty that Jesus will give us everything we truly need.

Jesus’ resurrection guarantees it. God’s power is so great that he conquered death. But, what does verse five say? Our future inheritance is made secure by God himself. God’s power keeps us in his hand. Our salvation is shielded by him so that we’ll arrive to our inheritance. If God beat death, he’s not going to lose us now. You may say: Anthony, I’ve really messed up this time – there’s no way God will forgive me. To which I say, Philippians 1:6 – he who began a good work will carry it into completion on the day of Christ Jesus.

And how do we get all this? Verse 5 tells us: by our faith or our trust in God.

So, have you trusted in God who alone can give you new life? Do you trust him like a person jumping out of an airplane trusts their parachute? If so, this glorious inheritance is yours. And when you mess up, what do you do? You trust again in the living hope that God has chosen you, the Spirit has set you apart, and Jesus has cleansed you.

Now that you have it, how do you live your life?

How we should live now

But, this rebirth means the old us has to die. You have to stop looking at others or other things for your sense of belonging and acceptance. Instead, you look to God – he chose you, he set you apart, and he cleanses you from sin. That’s who makes you belong and accepts you on account of what Christ has done. You no longer fear sticking out because you’re chosen by God and his view of you is more important than how others view you.

And when you belong to Christ, you also belong to his people: the church. Remember, 1 Peter is written to a group of believers – to God’s elect. God’s elect was Israel. But now, in Christ, the New Israel is everyone united to him whether you’re Jewish or Gentile – this is the church. And so we live with confidence because we have a living hope and future inheritance protected by God himself. Like Israel, we are meant to be a blessing to the nations.

That means we don’t exist to stay comfortable inside these four walls. It means every single one of us is sent out to see others join with us in praising God for what he’s done. Is it scary? Sure. Will we face rejection for sharing Jesus with others? Yep. But, it doesn’t matter – we’ve been chosen by God, we have an inheritance, and we have a living hope that matters more to us than worldy acceptance. And God wants more people for himself- will you join him In that work or stay on the sidelines?

So, my friends – let us be bold. Please don’t confuse saying something like “I go to the church” as the same thing as sharing the Gospel with them. Please don’t feel content to keep this glorious inheritance to yourself. Please don’t feel satisfied that we baptized three people a few weeks ago. Let’s be people who are sent out and resist the cultural pressures like Peter and his churches in Turkey. We live In the world but we don’t look like the world.

And I know that can be hard too, rejection still stings. Fear of man is still a real fear for many of us. You can’t resist these cultural pressures on your own so I’d encourage you to belong to God’s people through this church as well as joining a community group like we talked about last week.

Community groups are a unique space where people can remind you of God’s grace but also remind you of his invitation to obey him – no matter the cost. It’s a group of friends who want to live in a distinct way and a group of people who keep you accountable on that journey. It’s a group of believers who have been chosen by God to strengthen each other and resist the pressures of our culture.

To sign up, you just need to fill out a connect card in front of you. You can scan the QR code or fill it out with a pen and drop it in the offering box. You have this week and next week to sign up. Don’t wait.

As we prepare to pray and sing together once more, I want to encourage you to reflect. If you’re carrying the weight of not being picked or seen by others, talk to God about and thank him that he did choose you and he does see you – even when others don’t.

So this week friends, I want you to remember this: the world may not pick you. Like me, you may not make the cut for your basketball team. But, those things don’t matter. You have been picked and your name is on the list that truly matters because you’ve been chosen by God, you’ve been set apart by the Spirit, and you’ve been made clean through Christ. Amen? Let us pray.