Staying True to God’s Command
I Peter 3:13-17
Since we are outdoors this morning, I thought I’d share this little article with you about comments made to the staff of the Bridger Wilderness Area in the Bridger – Teton National Forest in Wyoming. (Some people want convenience in the pursuit of enjoying the outdoors.) From Perfect Illustrations (Preachng Today.com) pg. 125
They don’t get it when it comes to adversity. They aren’t learning from the pain.
Peter goes back to the theme of 2:12 – live exemplary lives. He wants his readers to keep doing good in the context of suffering.
God may not shield the believer from the external causes of suffering, but He is always standing with them to support them in doing good.
Psalm 118:6 “The Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man can do to me.”
OK. I may just be a bit too picky, but I think the breakdown of these verse numbers gets in the way of the flow of what Peter is saying. The verse numbers aren’t inspired. They were broken down in 1551 by a French printer named Robert Etienne . As I studied this passage, here’s what I saw:
Vs. 13 and 14a complete the thought of vs. 9
When evil comes your way… vs. 9 says don’t respond with evil but give a blessing
Vs. 13 says when you know that God is working with you and on
your side, what harm can man do to you?
Vs. 14a says, “and even if you do suffer, you are blessed.”
Then I saw that vs. 14b and vs. 15 a go together!
Do not let them intimidate you. If you keep on making Jesus Lord of everything in your life, He’s
got your back! Keep your eyes focused on Him, not on the intimidation.
Then 15 b completes the thought of 14b – “don’t be intimidated, rather be filled with hope.”
OK. Peter wants us to keep the right perspective about any trouble that we face.
What is the perspective supposed to be?
I. The Mind – “I’m blessed.” I’m not intimidated. They may hurt you, but they cannot harm you. They may intimidate you, but they cannot tear you away from God.
Romans 8:35-39 there is nothing that can separate me from God’s love.
II Corinthians 4:7-7-9 we are afflicted, but not crushed, we are intimidated, but not broken… we want to make sure that it is the power of God that gets us though.
This is where Philippians 4 is so valuable. Vs. 6,7 remind us to NOT be anxiety filled, but turn
everything over to God in prayer and allow the peace of God to then rule over our
troubled hearts and minds.
Did you notice that vs. 17 opens up the possibility that the suffering and trouble we are facing is SUPPOSED TO BE THERE as part of God’s plan!!!! See where it says, “If God should will it so…” Maybe God wants the suffering to be there!
When Paul realized that his thorn in the flesh was there because God wanted it there, Paul was then able to say (II Corinthians 12:7-10) “I will boast about my weakness…I am well contented with
my suffering… my weaknesses and sufferings are there so that the power of Christ can dwell in me.” When I realize that God wills some trouble in my life, I can have a totally different attitude about that trouble. When I realize that some troubles are there by God’s design, and not some random act of bad luck or bad karma, I can then rely on God to get me through and accomplish His purpose in that trouble.
II. The Heart. What is supposed to be the attitude of the heart?
Two attitudes I need to keep in my heart:
A. I am blessed -- I am still the object of God’s blessing. Vs. 14
When we have troubles, our tendency is to feel unhappy, unfairly treated or that God has pulled His protection away and we are neglected and forgotten.
Remember, “the vinedresser is never closer to the vine than when he is pruning it.”
Matthew 5:10,11 says “Blessed are you when men persecute you and insult you and say all kinds of false things about you.” I am blessed. Keep that in your mind. Let it be settled in your heart.
B. Vs. 15 I am supposed to make sure that as far as I’m concerned, Jesus Christ is Lord. This is the attitude of my heart. He is Lord. He is in control. He is still ruling my life – even if outside rulers try to make me change my faith, I will not be moved. I will not be shaken. My heart is still ruled by Jesus Christ.
Peter is quoting Isaiah 8. This sounds like an episode of SURVIVOR where people make up alliances in order to survive. Assyria intends to invade Israel, Judah and Syria. Ahaz, the king of Judah refused to join up with Israel and Syria to fight Assyria. Now Israel and Syria also intend to invade Judah. Meanwhile, Ahaz, King of Judah decides to aligned Judah with the King of Assyria. Isaiah warns Ahaz against tying himself to an ungodly king. Isaiah is challenging Ahaz and the people of Judah to keep their hearts focused on their powerful God. Isaiah 8:13 says, “Let Him be your fear; let Him be your dread.” Don’t be afraid of an earthly king; be afraid of what your heavenly Father thinks about you! Don’t fear impending disaster – fear God. Peter literally says, “Do not fear your fear.”
The heart controls the emotions. I’m supposed to turn my emotional turmoil over to the Lordship of Christ. Turn over your worries, your fears, your doubts and your cares. Cast your cares on Him because He cares for you. Cast your cares on Him and allow Him to fortify your heart with confidence in His power and sovereignty.
That word “sanctify” means “to set apart” = dedicate yourself to His Lordship. Designate Christ to be the Lord that rules your life. Some people think that this is a reference to the pressure to worship the emperor or other pagan deities. The world says, “Worship what everyone else is worshipping and there will be less trouble in your life!”
Peter is saying, “Don’t do it. Keep Jesus Christ as your Lord.”
Peter is saying, “Don’t walk away…don’t go back to your old way of life (see 4:2-4). Don’t go back to those old practices – live your life for God.”
III. The Conscience -- keep it clean. Make sure there is nothing in your life that they can point at and accuse you. Keep your conscience clear. The sign outside the Railshake tavern on Walnut said, “A real friend is one who will erase your computer history when you die.” Peter would answer that by saying, “Make sure there is nothing in your computer history that you would be ashamed of.”
Keep your conscience clear. A clean conscience fortifies the believer because he knows that he is right with God and any criticism from man is unfounded. A good conscience gives peace because the believer lives without guilt of being found out.
Keep your conscience clear can also relate back to vs. 13 – how can anyone accuse you if there is nothing there to accuse you of doing?
In II Corinthians 6:3 Paul wants to make sure that he is “giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the gospel ministry will not be discredited. Guard your lifestyle and guard your conscience so that your witness will not be invalidated by your short-comings.
IV. The Mouth – talks about hope.
For centuries, this verse has been the foundational verse for the study of apologetics – the theology of how we defend our faith; the theology about the existence of God; the theology of the validity of Christianity. Defending the faith has always been a matter of defending creationism or the resurrection of Jesus Christ or the existence of God or the verification of Christianity through fulfilled prophecy.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with pursuing these arguments. But in this verse, Peter doesn’t tell us to be ready to defend our faith with all kinds of arguments and reasons and scripture verses. Don’t be ready to challenge theology. Don’t be ready to argue church doctrines.
BE READY to talk about why you can have hope when your world is crumbling.
BE READY to talk about how you can have hope when the economy is in the dumpster.
BE READY to talk about how you can have hope when your health is failing.
BE READY to talk about how you can have hope when it looks like nothing is going right.
A family had twin boys whose only resemblance to each other was their looks. If one felt it was too hot, the other thought it was too cold. If one said the TV was too loud, the other claimed the volume needed to be turned up. Opposite in every way, one was an eternal optimist, the other a doom & gloom pessimist. Just to see what would happen , on the twins' birthday their father loaded the pessimist's room with every imaginable toy and game. The optimist's room he loaded with horse manure.
That night the father passed by the pessimist's room and found him sitting amid his new gifts crying bitterly.
"Why are you crying?" the father asked.
"Because my friends will be jealous, I'll have to read the all these instructions before I can do anything with this stuff, I'll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get broken." answered the pessimist twin.
Passing the optimist twin's room, the father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. "What are you so happy about?" he asked.
To which his optimist twin replied, "With this much manure, there's got to be a pony around here somewhere!"
THAT’S HOPE.
Peter says “Be ready to give an answer about your hope.” When you are standing in a life of manure, do you believe you are blessed and you have hope? Each crisis becomes an opportunity for witness. Each difficulty becomes an opportunity for God to do something really big. Be ready to talk about the hope you have in a big God.
Our greatest argument to unsaved friends and neighbors is the hope that we show. It is a faith that we have an eternal life. It is a confidence that we are blessed. Like vs. 17 says, it is an understanding that we are still in God’s will—and that means that He really does have a reason for the trouble we’re facing. We are supposed to rely on God in all situations so that we can have hope that He will get us through, that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose, and that we are on the winning side and in the end, God is keeping score and we’ll come out just fine.
The Book of Hebrews was written to Christians who were contemplating drifting back into their old religion to avoid persecution. The whole book is telling them why they need to stay with Christ.
Hebrews 10:23 is a challenge to those wavering Hebrew Christians, “Hold unswervingly to the hope we profess.”
CONCLUSION: Faithfulness. That’s what God wants from us. Years ago, Our Daily Bread told about a man whose dog had just been killed in a forest fire. The man worked outdoors and often took his dog with him. One morning, he told his dog to stay in a clearing near his lunch bucket while he went deeper into the woods to work. His dog understood and did exactly as he had been commanded. That day a forest fire swept through the woods and spread to the spot where the dog had been left. Later, fire fighters found the remains of the dog next to the remains of the lunch bucket. He had stayed right where he had been told, in perfect obedience to his master’s instructions.
Obedience to God’s instructions. That’s what God wants.
Peter knows how difficult it is to fight off pressure. Some commentators point to this passage and remember how Peter himself collapsed when confronted. He wasn’t ready to give a defense…he wasn’t ready to stand firm in the face of opposition…and he wilted under pressure.
What changed Peter was his commitment to a resurrected Christ. What changed Peter was a desire to make Christ Lord of everything and let the circumstances then fall where they might.
Peter wants us to focus on Christ, not the troubled waters where we are walking.
Peter wants us to focus on obedience to God and not conformity to the world.
Peter wants us to build friendships with people who also want to seek God.
And Peter wants us to look forward to the day when God will point out how we have been faithful and will smile at us.
