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We're once again In 1 Peter chapter 3, chapter 3, I'm going to read uh verses 13- 17.
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Being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence, and keep a good conscience, so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who
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revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for
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doing what is wrong. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, again we we come before you asking that you would
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by and through your Holy Spirit, you would speak to our our hearts, that you would instruct us and teach us the way that we ought to go and you would be
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glorified in your in your saints, in your people, and that we would walk again in that that manner that pleases
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you. but in a way that is a witness to the world. And so we ask, Father, that you would do these things, you would build your church in Christ's name.
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Peter begins a new section here. Um perhaps the um ones who outline the verses and the chapters of the scriptures should have started chapter 4 here. Um I believe that it goes down
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through uh Rap 4 11. These thoughts we have seen something of instructions to the the household people the the slaves
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to um servants than to wives and to husbands. And yet here a more general instruction to all believers.
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But Peter begins this section with a rhetorical question and I I think it's a question that we will have opportunity to come back to
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over and over as we read through uh these verses um that we'll have to re remind ourselves
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of the of the answer. Um it's an illusion in verse 13 to Isaiah 50. Um but you'll
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hear echoes again of Psalm 34. Um, and here citations from Isaiah chapter 8 and
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um, illusions to Peter sitting under the feet of that great teacher Jesus Christ. And we'll hear those illusions of
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Matthew 5 throughout this section. But he asks this question in verse 13. And who is there to harm you if you
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prove zealous for what is good? Isaiah says bel behold the Lord helps me. Who is he who wishes to condemn me?
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Peter writes because all the believers potentially face this this problem this problem this problem of unjust suffering.
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And as we we've seen that the church is still in its infancy at this point I believe in in Peter's writing and we he's already uh seem to indicate that
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it's under it's under inspection. It's under scrutiny of the pagan world, the the world that they live in in Asia Minor that they're
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questioning, well, what do you really believe and and what are your practices and how does that fit with your being in our society?
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How does it match, in other words, or or contrast with with their social values and their practices in the Greco Roman world. One author wrote, "Worshiping a man who
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had been executed as a criminal but was reported to be alive may have seemed observed to most. I mean I mean perhaps they were not um wanting to kill
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them or hurt harm them but certainly questioning what is this religion that you are now speaking of and practicing.
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Many historians believe that that Peter was writing in a time before Emperor Neo Nero. um he of the one who
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persecuted and killed Christians. His uh reign that I can understand AD 64-67. So somewhere just earlier than that, but but he may have also Peter had sensed
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the tension and the ill treatment of Christians maybe growing stronger, maybe being um elevated to a level that had
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not been seen before. the tone of Peter's words from what we looked at last week, verse 11 in chapter
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3, um, let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. It's still operative here.
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And yet when we get to this next section, he's saying, "But always be ready in case of suffering."
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Even in the face of persecutions, we're to be ardent be uh the words could be translated devotedly pursuing godly
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For Peter says in verse 14, "But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed." Even if you are treated badly, even if you are u persecuted, even if you're slandered,
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and he's speaking in this life, in this world, as you go about your daily life, even if you should suffer for the sake
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of righteousness, of righteousness, he's already reminded us, and our our brother uh quoted that verse this morning in Sunday school, that God's eyes um verse 12
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God's eyes are on the righteous. His ears are attending to their prayer. God is still aware of the things that they're going through
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and they've experienced some of these things already. Peter's in in chapter 2 verse 12, they slander you as evildoers. In verse 15 of the same chapter, he's
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talking about how they're confronted by um ignorant men, men that that are foolishly uh slandering what what they are what they believe.
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And in verse nine of chapter 3, we've already seen that insults and some kind of of base treatment, some kind of evil
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has already come upon them. But Peter's in this verse is using a a rare form of the Greek uh verb. Um for
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those interested, it's called the optative case. It means you may suffer. In other words, it's a real possibility,
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but it's not a present one. So he's preparing them. He's saying you got to understand that yeah, you you may face
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some things now, things that you where people don't agree with you or or don't agree in in the case of the um the words
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here of your definition of doing good. And maybe you've been under some pressure to conform to the world standard of what's called acceptable
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behavior. Um you're in a situation where someone has uh just uh brought the other people to laughs and
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giggles with some kind of vulgar joke and you don't participate in that. and you get the old side eye. Why didn't you join in when everyone else did? One of
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the commentators calls this wording of Peter uh quote sporadic reality. the idea that you you may not be
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undergoing continuous suffering, but there will be the sporadic suspicion or that one who is kind of hostile to
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what you believe, but it's not always going to be of a violent nature, violent nature, Peter. And we could translate the
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beginning of verse 14 as as the word indeed in the midst of such treatment. Whatever level that is that comes to
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you, remember this, you are blessed. And it may seem like and if the people
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that Peter is writing to are beginning to experience the things that Nero did. And it is perfectly uh realistic to
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think that perhaps not occurring directly in Asia Minor, but those who are governors, those who are magistrates under the emperor could be following the
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examples that are things that are happening in Rome. And it may be that to them they're going, "Uh, Peter, you asked the
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question, who is there to harm you? this guy named Nero. You've lost your senses, Peter. At least you've lost the sense of the word
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suffering and the word blessing. They they don't go together, Peter.
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But the meaning of Peter's words, I think, could be defined in the words of one writer, privileged recipients of divine favor. Where do the blessings
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come from? They don't come from me. They don't come from me. as we talked about in Sunday school psalm what I do and working myself up to blessings the
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blessings come from God and and we hear again here's here's the echo of Matthew 5 blessed are those who
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have been persecuted Jesus says for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven it's a sign of God's favor it's a sign of our inheritance
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It's a sign of the privilege of living rightly with Christ. And understand, it doesn't mean that it's all going to be pleasant, that that you're going to
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enjoy suffering. enjoy suffering. But what it does mean is that we will have our reward
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ultimately. Who can harm us? Nothing. and no one can harm us because we will be vindicated by God on the last
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But Peter doesn't stop there. He tells us what the Christian response to unjust suffering should be. First, he gives the negative in verse 14. And do not fear
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their intimidation their intimidation and do not be troubled. And then in verse 15, he gives us the positive. Again, I look at this as the putting off
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and the putting on. Do not be do not fear their antipination, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.
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and Peter is quoting from Isaiah chapter 8. And then we don't have time to go through all of the the background, but the kingdom of Israel had been divided
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10 to two, the northern kingdom of of Israel and the southern kingdom that included Judah and Benjamin. And Isaiah is
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warning, but at the same time, he's also encouraging those of of Judah that the people of the north
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are against you. There is an alliance of the king of Israel and of Syria.
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But they're also afraid as well because there are powerful threats from Assyria against us all.
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The wording, the literal wording of the Greek from Peter is in verse 14. The fear of them do not fear. And there is the question, it's somewhat
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ambiguous. Does it mean do not fear the things that these people fear or does it mean do not fear these people?
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Peter contextualizes Isaiah 8. situation. There is oppression. There is threat.
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They're they are looking at what is it that we're going to suffer here. But it's meant as an encouragement. Do
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not fear not fear or be afraid of those who may threaten you even if you have an eagerness
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to do what is good. again because no one can ultimately harm you and suffering is a sign of blessing.
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The fear of other people is forbidden. Whether it is do not have the fears that they have
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they have or whether it is do not fear them how they might harm you. do not fear them
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because fear and again when I when I read the translation in my scriptures using the word reverence I I want to I want to just take a red pen and and cross it
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out. um out. um we'll have opportunity to look at that further down in um the verses in I think verse 17
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because it's I think it's mistransated there in most of our English it is the word fear word fear and Peter contrasts that do not fear
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And again there is some ambu ambiguity here. Is Peter stressing that we understand that Christ is Lord or is he stressing that we ought to treat Christ as Lord? That's how it
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seems to be translated here in the New American Standard. American Standard. And again for time's sake we won't go through all the details there.
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But in reality, the wording in the Greek is what's called a a unit designation.
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unit designation. It is Lord Christ. And so yes, we have to understand that Christ is Lord and then we must sanctify
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him as Lord. And and yet the whole thing is that we can see that Peter identifies Jesus Christ with the Lord Jehovah in
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the Old Testament. And I think by implication it says Jesus deserves that honor and that glory.
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Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. in Isaiah 8, in another section of that
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uh encouragement, uh encouragement, it's it's almost as if Isaiah is saying to those who would harm the the people of Judah, bring it on. He he says,
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"Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted. State a proposal, but it will not stand for God is with us."
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Well, where where do we read that? We read that in the Christmas story, quote unquote, do we not? He is Emmanuel, God with us, our Lord Jesus
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Christ. And we're therefore to treat him and fear Christ as holy and not people.
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It it says sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. It it means treat him or count him as holy. We know he is holy, but it it's our hearts. It's our minds
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that have to honor his name as holy. And wasn't it Peter in Acts chapter 2 at Pentecost? Isn't he the one who who pointed out that unit designation?
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He says to those who would listen, know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ.
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And this we acknowledge Peter says in our hearts. Our heart is not just that place where we have emotions
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but as we have seen it is the origin and the source of everything we do.
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Thomas Shrin Shriner wrote it's not merely a private reality but we will be evident to all when believers suffer for their faith. See, this is not not just something that we we keep inside and and
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we we hold precious, but it is something that comes out in our lives as we live it, as we speak, as we do stuff.
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One of the commentators, and I don't remember which one, said something to the effect of this. Remember, we're not the first of God's people to
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My thought went to Hebrews 12. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, people who
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have gone before us have lived through much more than I have, much more than most of us have, mistreatment by unbelievers for their faith.
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Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every incumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set
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before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith. See the socopolitical situations differ in our day from
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Isaiah's day and from Peter's day. But the purpose is the same to encourage and strengthen all the
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saints to be prepared for any potential suffering. Again, we go back to the verse that Peter alludes to in Isaiah 50. Who is
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among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. See, that's that's the
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right kind of fear. Adversaries change, political powers change,
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and the societal issues, they get more coverage in the media than ever before. ever before. But the basis for the imperatives that
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Therefore, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.
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He's not asking everyone to be a professional apologist. professional apologist. That's the word that's used here for defense. It's apologia.
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evangelist and he's not expecting and the the background of the word is a defense in a court of law. He's not asking you to defend against
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legal charges in a court of law. But we are expected to defend the hope that we have in Christ.
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He says we have a living hope. Chapter chapter 1 verse three. Again, because we're born again in Christ, we we have a future hope, a future resurrection hope.
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But I I would warn here that it's not so much the hope that we have as individuals. And I and I think that's where a lot of Christians have kind of gotten off the path here. It's not so much our hope as individuals, but the
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hope that is among believers, among the saints, the the shared belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that which unites us and gives us what we call
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fellowship, the unity of the saints. statement of your Christian hope that an
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I became a believer when I was a freshman in college and I um over the ensuing couple of months or so I got involved with uh a
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church parurch organization on campus, one of the campus ministries and um and um many of the meetings especially if it
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was intended to be uh an evangelistic meeting where we would invite our our peers, our friends from the dorm, our
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classes. They would include a time of testimonies and sometimes those testimonies came across um as if
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the the speaker was uh I am the chief of sinners and the sin as if they were proud of the
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extent of their sin prior to knowing Christ. Um, and we saw that that Peter didn't or sorry, David didn't do that in Psalm 34. He mentioned that he feigned
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madness before Aimilec, but he didn't he didn't glory in that sin. And and sometimes the testimony came across as as u to designed for maximum shock value
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or something. Uh sometimes the testimonies were full of church jargon that uh was totally I I grew up in a in
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a Lutheran church and some of the fundamentalist jargon was foreign to me. I don't I don't know what you're saying.
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And sometimes it would the testimony would fall into subjectivism. Well, this is what Jesus means to me and
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this is what he did for me. But but Peter gives a broader command here less formal charge. Answer
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everyone who asks of you. So the the question is uh he says always being ready or always being prepared to make a defense.
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How do we prepare? I guess is the And as I've thought about this and meditated on this, I I think being
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prepared is more is less about what we're going to say and and and has more about listening
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to prepare ourselves. The the idea is to be preparing, be being prepared, preparing continually or
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daily. And and we don't have to look out and try to imagine what the suffering would. We we look at just what's right in front of us,
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reading the scriptures, and thinking about what we read as we've been hearing on on Thursday nights. And it's it's been very instructional for me listening for to see if I can get them right. The
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citations, the illusions, and the echoes of the Old Testament as my instruction, listening to the scriptures.
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But we also, I think, can listen to what our unbelieving friends and some of you unbelieving family members think about Christianity. about Christianity. Listen to what their objections are.
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Listen to what offends them. What is their perception of who we are? What causes their biggest reactions?
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And then I think we're informed to be preparing and answer why we hope in why we have the expectation of eternal life with Christ.
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There are those who refer to Matthew 10, and I won't quote from that, but when Jesus sent out the 70, there there are people who who kind of glom on to the
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part where he says, "Well, you you don't have to to know what you're going to say because the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say at that time." Well, sorry, airhead,
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sorry, airhead, but that's that's out of context. They they were new believers and God Christ sent them out to to evangelize and to understand what their ministry was. But
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it wasn't like they emptied their brain. We do rely on the Holy Spirit to give us words and to help us say what we ought to say. But Peter saying, but always be
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preparing, always be learning, always be thinking about the situation. what you hear somebody objecting to, how would you answer that? How do you explain why
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I have this hope? Thessalonian 1 Thessalonians, this is from chapter 4,
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Paul writes, "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
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again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. See, he's he's teaching them you you have this hope within you. Can you
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express it in a way that an unbeliever can get it?
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And so again, Peter begins this section on unjust suffering with that rhetorical question. And who And who who is going to harm you if you are
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zealous for doing good? Isaiah's answer was he who vindicates me is near. Behold, the Lord God helps me.
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Paul's answer is, "What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"
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And Peter says, "For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears attend to their prayers." Let us pray.
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father, these are these are comforting words, encouraging words. Father, we we do not know what we may face. We may not face any more
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persecution or slander than we've already felt in our lives. But I pray, Father, that we would always be prepared
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be prepared and that our fear would be that right kind of fear that we would sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts and we'd be prepared to answer why we have this
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great hope that on that great day you will deliver us. Father, these these things we ask that you would comfort us in these words and you would cause us to
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walk confidently in them and in the things that you're doing by working through us in the Holy Spirit. Thank you for these things in Christ's name. Amen.
