Here Lord: Take It! - 1 Peter 2:21-25 Series

1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Introduction

We are in a section of 1 Peter where Peter is teaching us how the Church is to interact with the world. And basically it boils down mostly to two words: holiness and submission. We are to avoid worldliness and live holy lives. And we are to submit to authorities. Free people are to submit to the governing authorities, slaves are to submit to their masters, and wives to their husbands. But when he gets to the part about slaves, and he mentions that they are to continue to submit even when they are treated unfairly, Peter launches into some extended remarks on that whole subject of how to deal with unfair treatment in general. We have been talking about that now for the last three sermons, and today we get to the really practical part where Peter tells us exactly how to do this. The goal is to follow Jesus’ example.

1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

Our ultimate goal, whenever we are mistreated, is to imitate Jesus.

Exact Imitation

The goal is imitation, and not just imitation, but exact imitation. Look at the two word pictures Peter gives us.

21 …Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

The word example means to trace. That word was used to describe little children learning how to write by putting the letters under a paper and tracing out the lines. Peter says, when it comes to learning how to live, Jesus’ life and death are lines that we are to trace out.

The other word picture is at the end of the verse – follow in his steps. When I was a kid I used to go hunting with my dad and when we got into the deep snow, I would walk behind him and step in his footprints so I didn’t have to plow my own trail. But it was hard because my dad walks in kind of a strange way – he puts each foot directly in front of the other like he is walking on a tightrope.

Both those images give us a picture of very carefully following Jesus’ example. Not just in a broad, general way, but every individual footstep, every exact curve of a line. We should strive to follow Jesus’ example down to the smallest details of life where we can find an example in Scripture – especially in those times when His footprints are not placed in the spot where we would most naturally step.

Millions of people in the world think of Jesus as a good example and they follow His example in a general way. But they pick and choose. Certain things about Jesus they really like – they try to emulate that. But other things about Jesus they just ignore. Just like any other human example - pick out what seems good, leave the rest. But that is not what Jesus called us to. We are called to retrace every step, every detail – everything about Jesus that we can follow, we are to follow. When you are tracing a letter on paper, there is no room for creativity. You just follow the line. That is the kind of strict imitation Peter is describing.

We are all going to have to bring our notebook up to the Teacher’s desk one day and the Teacher will look at the letters marked out by Jesus’ life, and compare them with the letters of our lives, and we will be evaluated based on how well they match. Nothing else will matter. All the money you earned in your life will be long gone –your house, your clothes, all your stuff – your old, unredeemed body, your career – all of that will be long gone. None of it will matter. The only thing that will matter will be how closely your life traced out the pattern of Jesus’ life.

Isaiah 53

And so Peter is going to give us that pattern. And I think it is fascinating how he does it. Instead of just describing the historical account of the cross, he quotes Isaiah 53. Instead of giving his own eye-witness account, he goes to an Old Testament prophecy.