“Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in 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, yet with gentleness and reverence; 16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. 17 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. 18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”
I would like to begin by reading an excerpt for you from Francis Schaeffer’s “How Should We Then Live?” published in 1976.
“In our era, sociologically, man destroyed the base which gave him the possibility of freedoms without chaos. Humanists have been determined to beat to death the knowledge of God and the knowledge that God has not been silent, but has spoken in the Bible and through Christ – and they have been determined to do this even though the death of values has come with the death of that knowledge.
“We see two effects of our loss of meaning and values. The first is degeneracy. Think of New York City’s Times Square – Forty-second and Broadway. If one goes to what used to be the lovely Kalverstraat in Amsterdam, one finds that it, too, has become equally squalid! The same is true of lovely old streets in Copenhagen. Pompeii has returned! The marks of ancient Rome scar us; degeneracy, decadence, depravity, a love of violence for violence’s sake. The situation is plain. If we look, we see it. If we see it, we are concerned.
“But we must notice that there is a second result of modern man’s loss of meaning and values which is more ominous, and which many people do not see. This second result is that the elite will exist. Society cannot stand chaos. Some group or some person will fill the vacuum. An elite will offer us arbitrary absolutes, and who will stand in its way?” (How Should We Then Live? [Westchester, Ill.: Crossway, 1976], 226-27)
Those of you in our local congregation may remember that a few weeks ago we had occasion in our evening study to observe that we miss something when we focus only on what is going on around us today and in very recent years and try to analyze what we see within the framework of that narrow scope.
We agreed that in order to understand what is going on in the church and in the world now, there has to be a viewing of a much wider scope of history and the developments that led to where we are.
This is how Schaffer came to the conclusions he did in his book and in his teaching, and we must realize that even though he wrote these things 30 years ago, 30 years is just a blink; if the statements he made rang true then, they can only ring truer now.
Things have not changed for the better; the degeneracy, decadence and depravity he reported on are only more widespread and more apparent today.
Schaffer said, “The marks of ancient Rome scar us” and that is why I refer back to our discussion about taking in the broader picture. Schaffer was right and if our modern society so resembles the decay of ancient Rome then we can only conclude that we are in grave danger of going the same way as that depraved society.
Now Peter was writing to people who were being personally persecuted because they were Christians. We may not be presently facing the sort of punishment they were receiving from a Godless society, but remember that in many places around the world today that is exactly what is happening, and we may soon find it coming to our streets and even our front doors.
For this reason, these words of Peter are deeply significant for us now, in A.D. 2007, if we implore the Holy Spirit to teach us in our spirits and we truly internalize what they mean for us and will continue to mean for us, unchangingly, if they are applied to our lives in preparation for whatever may come.
STANDING FOR THE RIGHT
Peter has been talking about Godly relationships and you may remember that in each case he was talking about one-sided relationships in regards to the obedience of faith.
Then in verse 9 of this chapter he has admonished the believer to bless and not curse; to avoid responding in kind to harmful treatment.
So the thought is continued here in verse 13 when he asks this rhetorical question.
Now at first glance we may be inclined to let out a snicker and answer, ‘There are plenty to harm me! Being zealous for what is good is not a guarantee that I can’t be touched!’ Is that right? Of course it’s right.
Being zealous for what is good may be the very thing that makes them want to harm you! Isn’t Jesus our greatest example of that?
So what’s the point here?
Well that’s what we’re going to spend the rest of our time today getting to.
There is not a word in all the Bible that promises clear sailing for the believer who is walking with God. There is not a word that implies trouble and persecution will be kept from the obedient child of God unless it is relating to our final state in Heaven with Him.
In fact, the promise of scripture is that ‘…all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” 2 Tim 3:12
There are other passages like that; some of them from the mouth of Jesus Himself. But how many times does God have to say something for it to be true? So there you have it, in 2 Timothy 3:12.
Remember the discussion about the wrong questions being asked? And when we looked at the question “Does God want us to be rich?” we said that is the wrong question? And we said God is not as concerned with what we have in this world as with how much of us He has?
Here’s another wrong question. “Doesn’t God care if His children suffer?”
Or “Does God want His children to suffer?”
So what would be the right question pertaining to Christian suffering under persecution? “What is the Christian’s proper response to persecution?”
Oh! Good! I like that question. That’s one we can answer, because Peter answers it here. First he says not to think like them.
Really? I don’t see that in the text.
Yes, you do. Look closer.
“But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.
AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED.” (VS 14)
You see, Peter is quoting Isaiah again. Chapter 8 verse 12.
“You are not to say, ‘it is a conspiracy!’ In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, and you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.”
Now in the context of Isaiah’s words the people who had rejected God’s wisdom for their own wisdom had devised their own plans and made their own assessments of their situation and then said ‘God is with us’ and comforted themselves with that false declaration.
So Isaiah was telling the people in verse 12 & 13 not to think that way and not to align themselves with that sort of error, but that they should be fearing God, not their circumstances, and making Him their sanctuary, not trusting in their own devices for their safety.
So Peter applies the words of Isaiah here in our text and says that those who would intimidate and trouble us would trust in their own devices in their rejection of God. That’s what Schaffer was talking about in the quote I opened with.
Peter says instead of thinking the way they think, we are to set Christ as Lord in our hearts and let the fear of God reign there, not the fear of men.
Only then will we stand for what is right; only then can we demonstrate a zeal for what is good.
See how Peter continues his admonition in verse 15.
“…always 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;”
That’s a pretty familiar scripture verse for most of us, isn’t it? We pluck it out and toss it around with abandon to exhort one another to knowing the gospel and being willing to share it.
Do you notice now the context in which it is said? And do you notice that what the Bible is really saying is that at that moment when we are being reviled and persecuted and made to suffer for righteousness sake THAT is when with gentleness and reverence we are to be prepared to defend our beliefs and give an account to them for the hope that is in us?
Remember Paul’s defense before Agrippa? It’s in Acts 26.
“I would to God, that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains.”
He spoke in gentleness and reverence to the one who had him in chains and imprisoned, giving an account for the hope that was in him as his only defense.
Standing for what was right.
Christians, in John 16:2 Jesus told His disciples that the time would come they would be outcast from the synagogue and that those who killed them, meaning the Jews, would do so thinking they were doing God a favor.
Well we are in a time when those who want to kill us the most are not Jews, but they do so thinking they are earning favor with God.
Do these words of Peter apply to the church of Jesus Christ in A.D. 2007? You bet they do.
CLEAR CONSCIENCE A PREREQUISITE
There are two ways, as I see it, to apply this next exhortation of Peters, to keep a good conscience.
The most obvious, and I believe the one Peter intended, would simply mean, ‘don’t be guilty of whatever it is they might accuse you of’.
Don’t provide them with an opportunity to slander you and then prove it to be true.
Referring back to Acts 26, how impressed do you think Agrippa or Felix or anyone else in the room would have been with Paul’s defense, if they knew for a fact that he was living an immoral lifestyle?
He was in trouble only because he preached righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come.
If they had known that he was a womanizer and a drunkard and a thief, they would have laughed in his face and called him a hypocrite. Instead they drew aside and had a little whisper conference about what to do with him since he was obviously innocent of any wrong-doing.
Do you see why when a preacher is exposed in sin he has to step down and shut his mouth? What good can be done telling you the gospel if you saw me last week at a motel with a strange woman? How can I talk to you of righteousness and self-control and the judgment to come, if my life says to you that I do not fear God or His judgment?
See verse 17. “For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right…”
Listen. Even if the persecution being brought to you is for doing what is right, you cannot receive any blessing in it if your conscience is not clear.
What are you going to be telling yourself?
Well, I may be innocent of what they are accusing me of, and I may be being persecuted in their minds only for being a Christian, but God knows I’m guilty of thus and such; no blessing to be found.
Keep a good conscience in regards to your own life and behavior, so that when the time comes you can stand straight for what is right, not fearing man but with Christ as Lord in your heart, and let Him be your defender.
The other application I make to this phrase, ‘keep a good conscience’, which like I said I do not believe was intended necessarily by Peter but I do believe it is valid anyway, comes from Hebrews 10:22, but I’ll read verses 19-25 for the sake of context.
“Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
The author of that letter wanted his readers to remain mindful that they have been ushered into the very presence of a Holy God, by the blood of Christ which cleansed them from sin.
He wanted them to approach in full assurance that the atoning sacrifice of Christ has completely removed their bloodguiltiness before God and their consciences are now clean.
I make this second application also in 1 Peter because if we know in our hearts, where Christ has been sanctified as Lord, that by His sacrifice we are pure and right before God the Father who has imputed Christ’s righteousness to us, then in persecution we can stand with confidence entrusting ourselves also to Him who judges righteously.
A GOOD TESTIMONY
There is another reason for us to seek to maintain a clear conscience before God and men, and also to be relieved of an unnecessary weight of guilt concerning our past sins, by the knowledge and understanding of the efficacy of Christ’s atoning work.
It is so we can deliver a good testimony before our persecutors.
Now I use the word ‘good’ in two different applications also.
First, and the lesser of the two, is ‘good’ in the sense of the testimony of our personal life. If we maintain, with the Lord’s help, a lifestyle that is above the reproach of men, then we are freed to suffer for doing what is right and not for doing what is wrong.
We can then endure without defensiveness, unafraid to say what needs to be said because we will know that no charge against us can be substantiated and our accusers can only shame themselves.
My second application of that word ‘good’ is infinitely more important. We will be freed to deliver the testimony of Christ, who “…died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” (vs 18)
And it is the testimony of both Scripture and history that when God’s Godly people suffer for the sake of righteousness, God, who brings life from death, causes rich spiritual harvest that far outweighs the pain endured.
It is the knowledge of this truth that brought Paul to declare:
“…momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison…”
So we come back to verse 13 and ask anew, “Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good”, and this time our answer has to be, ‘There is not even one’.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What if there comes a time, friends, when some will come to kill us thinking they are offering service to God?
What if? God knows. We only have to be certain, each one in our own heart, that we can face them with a clear conscience and a good testimony, able to give them an account of the hope that is in us, gently and reverently giving testimony of the Christ who died for sins once for all; and who rose, and who is at the right hand of God.
