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I've included in the news and notes and I hope I haven't uh violated some copyright law. Um, a chart uh that I took the style and
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adapted it to the New American Standard Version of Version of 1 Peter 2 vers 20 through 25. And I'm
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I'm going to read from that. So, if you'd like to follow along, um, as you know, uh, Peter quotes and has illusions to Isaiah 53 in
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this section, and I've tried to highlight those and italicize those uh, for your instruction. 1 Peter 2 verse 20b.
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But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose since
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Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit
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found in his mouth. And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who
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judges righteously. judges righteously. And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that he might die to sin and live to righteousness.
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For by his wounds, you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. Let
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us pray. us pray. Our heavenly father, again we we do ask that you would speak to us by your holy spirit that you would help us to understand not
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only the words of Peter but the depth of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.
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And we ask, Father, that we might exalt him and that we might in turn exalt in him as we celebrate his passion, as we
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celebrate his sacrificing himself on the cross. And so we ask that you would do these things that we would become to you, your your holy ones, your separate
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ones to worship you and honor you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen.
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So Peter interweaves Christ's passion with the with the words of Isaiah the prophet,
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the one that has been named over the years, the suffering servant of the Lord. And from what I understand that by the time of Peter's writing uh there was
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no question no question uh that it had become a tradition in among the Christians and it was firmly established that this
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was what Isaiah was writing or this was who Isaiah was writing about the suffering servant of the Lord.
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But in the context of 1 Peter chapter 2, we're trying to also answer a question
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uh put by one of the commentators this way. What would it have meant specifically for Peter's first century readers and I would add also 21st century readers to
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follow Christ's footsteps within their own socopolitical own socopolitical situation? What what would they have learned from the passion of the Christ?
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What would they have taken away to practice to walk as Peter says to walk
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in the footsteps of Jesus? What would that mean to them where they lived with the situations they were involved in? Remembering that these were mostly
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household slaves, probably mostly Gentiles. And yet again, I think it applies to us in our own situations.
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Peter exalts Christ as he traces his steps with uh what the the Greek calls relative clauses. They're they have a
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demonstrative force demonstrating for us what Christ did, but they're emphatic because there's the repetition. He who did these things or and I have
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changed them. Christ the one who did these things these things repeated four times in the words of Peter as he traces scene by scene Christ
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moving from G uh Gethsemane to Gabatha to Golgtha. And as I hope that we will see by the end,
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to add another G to the list, to glory. Believers are to suffer, Peter says, as Christ did, enduring
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every pain, enduring every insult because of your faith in Christ. But our suffering, please understand,
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and Christ's suffering do not uh compare in every respect. Because what we see here is Christ's substitutionary atonement,
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substitutionary atonement, his substitution in death for us. And that is the sole basis of our faith. As Peter has already established in chapter 1 again in your
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hearing verse 18 and 19, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your feudal way of life inherited
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from your forefathers, but with precious blood as of a lamb unblenmished and spotless, the blood of
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Christ was sinless. That's the first of the clauses. Christ, the one who did not commit sin. He was sinless. We are not. So only he could be the vicarious
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sacrifice for believers. Isaiah attests to this because he had done no lawlessness. Verse 9 in Isaiah
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53. He had done no violence in some of your translations, nor was any deceit in his mouth. his mouth. John in his first letter writes this.
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You know that he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin. And I found it interesting looking at
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some of the commentaries. One of them pulled out a verse from Luke 23. And I thought, how does Luke 23 help us to understand that Jesus was sinless? But
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even the thief on the cross testifies to what Isaiah and Peter have to say. One of the thieves says to the other
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thief, "We are receiving what we deserve for our deeds." But this man pointing probably to Jesus says this man has done nothing wrong.
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nothing wrong. Jesus and again translating the Greek literally Jesus did not do sin. He did not sin in any way nor did he
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commit sin of any kind. He was absolutely sinless. And again from what we just read in chapter 1 verse 19 as a lamb
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unblenmished and spotless. And it goes on to say neither was there any deceit in his mouth.
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Slaves often used deceit and guile with their masters. time understanding and that probably doesn't change today as someone mentioned I think in Sunday school we want to abs uh avoid suffering
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do we not we we don't want to be belittled and so we resort to trickery and Jesus had many clashes with his
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enemies and yet the scripture tells us he did not resort to deceptions s in Peter's words and that's what I was trying to look back and and remember
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from chapter 2 of of in Peter's writings he says he says that no deceit was found in his mouth.
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Listen to these words from Mark 14. This was Jesus trial. Now the chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put him to death and they were not finding any for many were giving false
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testimony against him but their testimony was not consistent. No deceit was found in him. And then we see the gospels tell us exactly they couldn't
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find any even as they tried furiously. But understand that Peter is not just saying that Jesus did not sin in
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enduring suffering. enduring suffering. Isaiah reminds us in verse three of that famous chapter 53.
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Jesus was acquainted with grief that he knew sickness that he knew suffering that he knew pain. He suffered intensely even though he was wholly righteous
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but he was sinless during his entire life. John Calvin said of him he was the quote the perfection of innocency.
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What we note here from Peter is how unjustly he was treated more than any human. And therefore
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And therefore trying to answer this question, what would it have meant for people of the centuries to follow in Christ's steps?
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His disciples His disciples following one who was perfect, we are imperfect. And yet we follow his example by refraining from sinning or using
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deceit when mistreated. The Lutheran The Lutheran commentator Lensky says, "James certainly got it right when it comes to
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understanding who we are." He says, "Because sin of any kind will show itself first of all by means of the
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tongue." James writes, "And the tongue is a fire. The very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on the fire the course of our life and it is
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set on fire by hell. The first line of defense when we are illreated is it not
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to speak to speak to say something to react with our mouths. And yet Peter in several places, chapter 2 verse one,
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therefore putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, put it aside, he says. And
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later in chapter three, he'll say, "Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult. The one who desires life to love
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and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Christ was one who did not commit sin
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nor was any deceit in his mouth. But Christ was also one who when verbally abused did not retaliate.
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The verbal abuse perhaps that we see here was referring to his time
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with in front of the Sanhedrin and in front of the Romans. Perhaps again I think of Mark in chapters 14 and 15.
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Turn our attention to the words perhaps inspired uh given to Mark by Peter himself. But he says some began to spit at him. These are the Sanhedrin,
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the lawyers of the time began to spit at him and to blindfold him and to beat him with their fists and to say to him,
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"Prophesy." And the officers received him with slaps in the face. Ridicule by the Roman guards comes next. Mark 15.
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They dressed him up in purple and twisting a crown of thorns they put it on him and they began to acclaim him. Hail King of the Jews, they kept beating
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his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling and bowing before him. And then what happens as he approaches
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the cross? the cross? The crowd gets involved, the bystanders. And then the scribes come up and then one of the crucified thieves
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again from Mark chapter 15. Those passing by were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads and saying, "Ha, you who are going to destroy the temple and
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rebuild it in three days. Save yourself and come down from the cross." In the same way, the chief priests also along with the scribes were mocking him among
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themselves. And those who were crucified with him were also insulting him.
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But what does the scripture say about Jesus response? retaliating. He stood before his tormentors in
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silence as Isaiah 53 prophesied of him like a sheep that is silent before its sheers. What does Mark say? But he kept silent
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and did not answer. Then Pilate Then Pilate questioned him again. Mark writes saying, "Do you not answer? see how many
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charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further answer. So even Pilate was amazed.
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Three descriptive scenes as Jesus moves through Gabatha to the cross are depicted here. Jesus did not resort to reviling suffering. He did not reply by
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threatening. And standing silently, Peter says he committed himself to the one who judges rightly. Jesus trusted judgment
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and justice to God alone. But what is confusing is but who or what did Jesus entrust to God's judgment?
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Some of your Bibles will put in he kept entrusting. This is verse 23. Entrusting himself to him who judges rightly. And the himself is written in italics, which
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means that the editors of your Bible translation have thought that that is the word that goes in there. It's not in the Greek.
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the Greek. Did he leave only himself to God? Or did he leave his persecutors in God's
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hands because he expected God to execute judgment for their behavior? I believe that what we could say is that he did indeed leave himself
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and his entire situation in God's hands. his own vindication. Yes. And his persecutor's judgment left up to God.
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But why? Because he trusted God. He trusted God that this was his will. Nevertheless, what does he say in Gethsemane? If this cup may pass from me, but nevertheless, not my will, but thy will
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be done. Of course, Jesus knew that any response but silence would bring down further slander and further
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threats against him. But don't misunderstand, this is not passive resignation on Jesus' part,
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but patient confidence in his heavenly father. The judgment of unbelievers today is the same as it was in Jesus day. I
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don't think that's changed. Their basic question is your life that you say is motivated by your faith in Christ, is it of any good in this world?
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But the world's hostility and the world's unjust actions against Christians does not nullify the purposes of God.
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The lesson again for all readers of Peter, do not yield to their judgment of you. Just as Jesus did not consider his
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adversaries judgment of him, if we wait patiently and endure, we shall have God as our defender.
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In chapter 4, Peter writes this, "Therefore, let even those who suffer according to the will of God entrust themselves to the faithful creator by
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doing good." doing good." John Calvin wrote, "We will be prepared to endure if we give God his own honor, but we must first check ourselves.
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Do we ask anything inconsistent with the righteous judgment of God? Or do we say, "Thy will be done."
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Christ was also the one who himself bore our sins. I think Peter gets really personal here personal here in Isaiah 53:12. At least in the New American Standard, it says that he bore
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the sins of the many. But Peter says he himself bore our sins. He changes the words.
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He says, "You, dear readers, you are the ones for whom the one who bore sins in his body on the tree. You are the ones
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that he did that for you. Yes, you. For you he was crucified. that horrific
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that horrific and humiliating death for you. for you. Deuteronomy 21 is what many refer to. It says, "A curse by God is anyone who
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hangs on a tree." It it was yes punishment then. But in 2 Samuel 21, we we read something similar when David
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allowed the Gibeonites to have revenge on the ones that Saul uh allowed to to be killed. The Gibeonites, it says
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translating Gibeonites exposed them for display by hanging them in the mountain before the Lord. The idea was they would be put on the
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cross and displayed before them as a criminal. This man is guilty of
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But Peter reminds his readers that Jesus himself was cruy and unjustly executed as a criminal. He's being very realistic. Remember, he's speaking to household
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and many of them face the possibility that they themselves would be severely hurt or even killed.
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It's not just that there were wicked men then and there are wicked men now and some helpless slaves will suffer from these men.
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But what Christ suffered he suffered in our behalf. our behalf. That's his emphasis. And the vicarious bearing of the judgment for sin by Jesus was for these
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people and again for us ethical. Verse 24 says, "So that we might die to sin and live to righteousness."
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literally is having exited sin or perhaps could be translated for having no involvement with sin, we might live
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righteously. The the Greek means it it actually happens. It it could be written this way to actually cease to exist for sins
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even as they actually now live for righteousness. We we we sang a phrase that caught my attention this morning uh from one of the those songs to to lay uh lay the the
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life's glories dead. The idea of they are they're have no meaning to me. I am dead to them. They
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are dead to me. that it actually there is a sessation of living for the sins, the glories of this life. We want to be appreciated. We want to be um held in
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esteem. We we want to enjoy the pleasures of this life. And and Peter is saying, "But you have exited from those sins,
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And yet again, remembering that it was Christ who bore our sins. In 2 Corinthians 5, Corinthians 5, Paul writes, "And he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that
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we might become the righteousness of God in him."
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When Peter writes that he bore our sins, I'm not sure that I've plumbed the depths of the bearing of sins. What did that actually mean? It's a ritual term and it goes back to Leviticus from the
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the translation of the Septuagent, the Hebrew into the Greek. It has the idea of bearing a sacrifice or or or bringing up a sacrifice. It it said of uh Abraham
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that he he bore up Isaac when he put him on the on the altar to sacrifice him.
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what it means for Jesus. Again, I'm not sure that I understand the depth, but we see Jesus on his way to Goltha. We see him not carrying his cross.
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Someone else bore that, but he's carrying our sins in his body as he goes to that tree. And the writer to Hebrews to the Hebrews
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tells us that his body was perfectly made to do this. It's kind of this little enigmatic phrase from Hebrews chapter 10. But Jesus says through him,
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"A body he has prepared for me." The body that would bear our sins. He is making a sacrifice
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and he's doing just what Isaiah prophesied of him in verse 6 of Isaiah 53. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. In verse 10,
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if he would render himself as a guilt offering in verse 12, and as a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied.
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side with John the Baptist when he said, "Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world."
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Jesus committed no sin. When he was abused, he did not retaliate. and he was the one who bore our sins in his body on the tree. But he is also the one by whose wounds you are healed. Again,
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Peter is sending, I think, an important signal to his readers. Isaiah says, "By his scourging or by his stripes, we are healed."
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Peter says, "You are healed." He's driving it home to them. per perhaps he's resorting back to the style of writing uh we talked about the household
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codes for you have been called he says in verse 20 for you by his stripes are healed he may be
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speaking specifically to the Gentiles among his readers and trying to make sure that it's not just the Jews but you
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are included in the household of faith Regardless, what we understand is that the fatal wounds inflicted upon Jesus had personal
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impact on the believers. Isaiah 53 again verse 5, he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The
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chastising uh chastening, sorry, of for our well-being fell upon him. and by his scourging you are healed.
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The scourging, the wounds, the welts in some translation, the stripes perhaps refers not just to the whipping
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that Jesus had before crucifixion, but the entirety of his suffering on the cross. Remember cross. Remember Mark 15. They were beating him. They
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were spitting on him. They were mocking him. They crucified him. But also think about the household slaves. They experienced mockery. They
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experienced belittling by their masters. And that's one thing to endure. But the reference to Christ's wounds,
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his stripes, his stripes, would certainly speak to their being threatened with physical abuse because probably many of them even bore
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the healing red wounds stripes on their own backs. But Peter is not referring, I don't think, to physical healing, but to the
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forgiveness of sins, which was assured them by the stripes that Jesus bore for our sins.
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25, the but now you have returned. That certainly speaks of forgiveness. But now you have returned to the shepherd and
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guardian or overseer of your souls. Richard Lensky again I think nails it when he says put all
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this together. this together. Peter was no moralist like we hear from some pulpits today. He has expeation. He has substitution and he has
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regeneration. All done by Christ for us, not by us trying to reach him. And what a wonderful encouragement these
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people must have had for their oppressors were their own masters. But now to realize, yeah, you're my earthly master. But to hear Peter say to them,
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"My master is the shepherd and overseer of my soul."
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So do not forget that the whole section begins with the ethics in Peter's teaching. Verse 13 of chapter 2. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human
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institution. For such is the will of God, that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. And as much as we now as we take
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communion, we remember the Lord's death, we remember this path from Gethsemane to Gabatha to Goltha and to glory.
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But remember the context as NT Wright writes, "The sufferings of Christ are not only the means by which we ourselves are
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rescued from our own sin. They are the means when extended through the life of his people, by which the world itself may be brought to a new
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place." Let us pray. Our father, we do rejoice and we exalt in what Christ has done
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that being sinless, there was no deceit in him. And when he was abused, he did not retaliate, giving insult for insult or threat for threat,
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but he remained in silence as a lamb before it cheers. And yet And yet he bore our sins in his body on the tree
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and by his stripes we are healed. Father, we pray that we would walk in this knowledge and understanding
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that we might glorify you as we endure whatever you bring our way, whatever your will and purpose is. that not only
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understanding our standing with you, but also rejoicing that you by our standing and enduring you might bring others to yourself. We ask all of these things in
