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1st Peter 2:15-25
'For
so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men: as free, and not
using your liberty
for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the
king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to
the good and gentle, but also to the forward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering
wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your
faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found
in his mouth: who, when he was
reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth
righteously: Who his own self bare
our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live
unto righteousness: by whose
stripes ye were healed. For ye
were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop
of your souls."
In Review
'1st Peter chapter 2, we had really come as far as verse 15 last week, I'm going to
back up to verse 11, taking a running start at that, and we'll finish the
chapter, Lord willing, and save wives and husbands for next week and the week
after, so we can really take a look at that. You see there's much more there about wives than husbands,
but we'll divide up an hour to each there. Ah, verse 11, Peter said, 'Dearly beloved," and it's a family word, 'dear friends, dear brethren," no doubt thinking of
those who were spread through the Roman Empire that were facing unimaginable
difficulties. Possibly by this
time Paul in prison in Rome, which would be some time in 64AD, Peter it seems
arriving there in 66AD. 'Dearly
beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the
soul;" 'foreigners and
pilgrims," those passing through. Not just fleshly activities, take note, but fleshly lusts, ah, he boils
it down to what gives birth to the action, and that is the desire. 'Abstain," it has the idea of to detest fleshly
desires, those things that go on inside of us that when they happen we should
go "oh, man, where'd that thought come from? oh Lord help me, oh, I'm such a low-life, oh Lord, those
things get in my mind and find a place to bounce around there, Lord. You know I sure wouldn't think this way
if it was up on the screen in church where everybody could see, if there was a
wire connected to my head, and what's going to the projector where everybody
could see it. Lord help me not
to...' and it says we're
to bring every thought into captivity to Christ, that the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but powerful to the pulling down of strongholds (cf. 2nd Corinthians 10:5), and the idea is that we guard our heart with all diligence,
because from it the issues of life flow. So, it's very interesting, Peter goes all the way back, and he's
speaking to these believers 'who were to gird up the loins of their
minds, as newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the Word, built into this
living Temple, a chosen race, a royal priesthood,' he's saying now, 'I beg you,
friends,' he said, 'abstain from just the kind of carnal desires,' he says, 'that war against the
soul, that put you into that internal struggle.' 'having your conversation" your
lifestyle 'honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they shall behold,
glorify God in the day of visitation." It's not just speaking evil about you,
but against you. So that they may
be without real accusation, and that some of their lives would be touched by
your behavior. Now he does some
interesting things, as we move into these verses, and I'm not sure as we look
at them, exactly the situation that Peter is in here. Some of course feel that he has come to Rome, and he's
writing from Rome. Some feel that
this was written from Babylon before he was brought to Rome. No doubt he is aware of the environment
that the Church is in, Nero it seems by this time has taken the throne, 21 year
old. It appears by this time Paul
has appeared before him the first time, and here was the most powerful ruler in
the world, and Paul the apostle stood in front of him and gave testimony under
the power of the Spirit to this man. And it seems that as he rejects the testimony of Paul, that at that
point, he goes mad. And I think,
you know, even today, people like Billy Graham, there's people, even the rulers
of this world, God doesn't despise any of them, and he takes time to make sure
they get testimony. They may
reject it, that's for sure. After
the Billy Graham crusade here, I think it was in '91, Jerry and I had gone out
with Rick Marshal, who organized the whole crusade for Billy Graham, and as we
talked he said, 'You know, it's interesting, he said every world ruler since
Winston Churchill has asked Billy Graham about Armageddon and the end of the
world, every world ruler." So God has testimony to give, and Nero
had been given testimony. And then
it seems he goes mad. He became
vile in his behavior, he murdered all of the prostitutes, the lovers he was
with, he had banned Octavia who was his legal wife, outside the city of Rome,
and then decided to have her killed, and had her head brought to him, where he
met with the Senate, and of course they started to realize that he was loosing
his mind. He then decided to
assassinate his mother, and had the craftsmen in Rome pull out some of the
wooden supports that held up the stone roof over her bed, hoping that the stone
roof in her bedroom would cave in and kill her in the bed. That didn't happen, so then he got
these craftsmen to work on her boat on this lake, going to a palace she had on
this lake, so that the boat would fall apart on the lake and she would drown,
and that didn't happen, so finally he sent assassins into her bedroom with
daggers and killed her. And when
the Senate started to protest, he threatened to poison the entire Senate, Nero
did, at this point in time. And he
hated the Christians in Rome, in particular, but all over the Empire. And they attached a certain title to
the Christians, and it's interesting, Peter uses this phrase, he says 'having
your lifestyle honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you
as,' the Greek
word 'evil doers' was the exact word that Nero put in the testimony against the Christian
communities. And then finally in
AD 64, on July 19th of AD 64, just in case you're wondering, just
for your information, at Circus Maximus a fire broke out, and of course Rome
burned, and it was through Nero's insanity that all started, and it destroyed
more of the city than would have been destroyed by invading armies, and by that
time, the Senate, the generals were furious with him, and Nero convinced them
successfully that it was the Christians that started the fires and burned
Rome. And then of course it was
open season on Christians, and that was when Nero took so many of them and
pasted them with pitch and tied them to poles and used them as lanterns in his
garden, lit their bodies on fire. He took Christians and sowed them inside of wild animal skins, sowed
them in the skins of animals, and threw them in the arena to the dogs and
watched them be ripped apart while he drove through them in his chariot. Just Satan took him over, he lost his
mind. And Peter says, you know, 'in
the middle of that, I want you to live a certain way. They may speak against you as evil doers, but they are going
to face the day of their visitation.' [And Rome,
as an Empire did face their day of visitation, during the Plague of Galen, in
155AD. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/LegacyOfLove.htm. And it was the Christians who through their good works, nursed many back
to health, risking their own lives to do so. Good works, and this principle of good works have a lot to
do with each other. God gives us
opportunities to serve with good works, and then he makes sure those efforts of
ours are not wasted. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/evangelism/samaritan_purse.htm and http://www.unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/wearesalt.htm] 'And even in that, possibly through your behavior, they may come
to know the truth.' So he says, verse 13, 'Submit
yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake:" great advice. Now look, he's saying that, because through the history of God's people, one of the first charges that's
always brought against the Jews or against the Church [Body of Christ] is that
of political revolt. You remember in the days of Ezra, when
Ezra came to rebuild the Temple, they came and protested and said 'This
city, Jerusalem, was always a rebellious city, it always caused trouble,
anybody whoever ruled over it,' you remember the Book of Acts where the Christians are blamed there for causing
this uprising, it's typical. And
we see enough of it happening around us today. And that kind of thing, in our own government there is a
heightening of the voice on one side that would condemn us. That probably will increase until
Christ comes. And there's several
reasons for it. And one of the
reasons is because there is certainly a warfare. And people hate God. And the problem is, that's why you see this big debate going on over
Creation and evolution, because if the issue, and it really isn't called
Creation anymore, it's called Intelligent Design, and leading scientists have
protested against Darwinism and said 'We're not Creationists, but this is
foolishness, Darwinism, evolution, because we know now from examining the DNA
and the helix and so forth, that this is all a digital code and there is design
here, not evolution.' But the world doesn't want to hear
about it, because if there is a Designer, there's a God, and if there is a God,
there's accountability, and if there is accountability, then there's
standards. [the Ten Commandments
anyone?] And sin is sin and
there's right and wrong, and people don't want to hear that. But they're mad at God, but God is hard
to hit. When you're mad at God
it's hard to get at him. But you, with your big mouth, talking about
God, you're easy to get at. And
the persecution that came on the Christians in Rome came on them because Caesar
hated their morality. He hated the
morality of the slaves who worked in houses, who were pure, and did what's
right. He hated the fact that
their masters didn't want to kill them or get rid of them, even though they
disdained them, because they were better than pagan slaves. [All through my years of employment,
due to the strong work ethic I had, due both to the influence of my father, and
Christian influences, that in spite of what they considered 'my nutty
Christian beliefs,' Sabbath-keeping, Holy Day observances, having to take those days off to observe
them, they never got rid of me, except in a few isolated instances over those
things. My Christian work ethic
was so strong, I was worth two to three ordinary employees who were
unbelievers.] And he's not saying,
with 60 millions slaves in the Roman Empire, he's not saying at this point, 'Become
vigilantes, form brigades,' because Christianity is not spread that way, it's spread one heart at a time,
and Rome would crumble and Christianity would be still alive. [Of course, one church, which took over
in Rome, did believe in spreading its so-called brand of Christianity through
war and conquest. See, http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch3.htm and http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm] They tried to subdue Israel, and you
go to Israel today and have an Israeli guide taking you on tours of Roman
ruins, it's kind of ironic. Don't
let anyone speak against you as that kind of political, revolutionary, saying
that our kingdom is of this world, that we're evil, all we want to do is tear
down the government, we want to protest against it. You know, the way the Kingdom is spread is one heart at a
time, that's why I'm here, that's why you're here. And he
says 'Don't let that happen, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man,
for the Lord's sake.' That has to be our motive, 'whether
it be to the king, as supreme;" and in his day, that's Nero, 'or unto governors, as unto them that are sent
by him" by God, 'for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well."
(verse 14) You know, the Scripture indicates as you
go through it, and Nero was cruel, Rome was in power, the Bible always
indicates that tyranny is a better system than anarchy. [Very interesting, we fought a war to
'free" the Iraqis from their tyrannical leader, Saddam Hussein, now the Iraqis
are worse off, we've pulled out of Iraq, and anarchy reigns, and the people are
worse off. When Pastor Joe was
giving this sermon, this had not come to light, as we were still fighting that
war in Iraq against Al-Qaida.] We
love democracy, we love the Republic that we live in. There are places in the world where there was a dictator,
but order, and the Church [Body of Christ] would flourish under that. Anarchy is worse that tyranny, and in
Rome there was tyranny. And he's
saying 'submit to the ordinance of man.' The Psalmist would say that 'Promotion doesn't come from the east
or the west or the north and the south, it cometh only from the Lord.' Nebuchadnezzar, chapter 4 of Daniel, verse 25, was going to loose his mind, and
Daniel says 'You're going to be driven out, have the dew of heaven in
your hair, your fingernails are going to grow long, you're going to eat grass
with the wild beasts, until you learn that the Most High God is the One who
gives the kingdoms of this world to whomsoever he will.' Jesus was standing before Pilate and said, 'You can have no power
over me unless it was given you from above.' Jesus said to Pilate who was ready to sentence him to death, 'You
can have no power unless it was given to you from above.' Paul of course in Romans 13, verses 1-7, tells us to submit to the
powers that be, because they are ordained of God. Now, we talked about this last week, both Paul and Peter
were put to death for not submitting to the powers that be, they submitted to
the powers that be until those powers that be asked them to deny what they
believed, and when they ask us to deny what we believe, and to deny Christ,
then there is a line that's drawn, as it were in the spiritual sand. But here, we're told not to suffer as
evil doers, we're not to give fuel to the idea we're political revolutionaries,
that all we want to do is overthrow the government, and he says submit to those
government ordinances, they are ultimately from God, God established
government, 'and as they that are sent by him, to punish evil doers, and
for the praise of them that do well.' 'For so is
the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of
foolish men:" (verse 15) 'or put a muzzle on,' it's the same word used by Jesus when
he rebukes the wind and the sea, 'that you may muzzle the ignorance of
foolish men.' What an exhortation. 'As free," he says, 'and not using your liberty for a cloke of
maliciousness, but as the servants of God." (verse 16) Now isn't it interesting, he tells us, we're free, as the servants of
God. In the same sense. 2nd Peter, you don't have to turn there, chapter 1, his introduction is 'Simon
Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ." A
doulos, a slave of Christ, so he says 'Whom the Son sets free,' and Peter heard Jesus say it, 'is
free indeed.' He was there with Christ. So he tells us that we have tremendous
freedom, we're free in Christ. It
doesn't matter whether we're slaves or submitted to government, we're free in
Christ. There are plenty of
wealthy people out there that are incarcerated, they're enslaved, to their
business, to their money, to their pleasure, to pornography, to one thing or
another. He says 'as free" yes, we should live that way, 'and
not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness," for wickedness, 'but as the servants of God." And too often, and sadly in the Church [Body of Christ] there are those
who live in sexual sin, in one kind of sin or another, and their spiel is 'Hey, I'm in grace, God knows my
heart, I'm ok with the Man upstairs, everything is hunky-dory, don't worry
about me.' He says 'You should live as free,
we're free in Christ, but don't use that liberty as a cloak for wickedness, for
sin, but rather in your freedom, live as slaves [servants, doulos, bond-slaves]
of God.' And of course he was with Jesus, and
listened to him say 'If you seek to save your life, you'll lose it. If you lose your life for my sake, for
the Gospel, you'll find it.' He was there when James and John said, 'Lord,
can we sit one on your right hand and one on your left hand,' they even sent their mom, 'These are
my boys, they're good boys, when you come into your Kingdom, can one sit on
your right hand and the other on your left hand?' And Jesus said, 'You know how the Gentiles rule over one another, their
great ones exercise authority over them, but with you it shall not be so, the
greatest among you shall be servant of all.' And
Peter's saying here, 'Look, this is the way to live, don't let people be
able to accuse you, don't let those things come against you as political
revolutionaries. Yes, we're free,
but it's not for some cloak for maliciousness and revolution, it's rather we're
free to live as servants of Jesus Christ.' All
of us in the room are completely free to serve Jesus, we are free to serve
Jesus Christ. Isn't that
wonderful? Because before I
thought I was free to serve all kinds of things, you know, I had different
masters. Everybody has masters,
drugs, alcohol, pleasure, money, career, power, all masters. But now we have a Master who spread out
his hands on the cross and lays down his life so that we can live, what a
Master, what a Master. So we're
completely free to live as slaves of Jesus Christ, to serve him.
Honour All Men,
Sometimes Not An Easy Thing To Do
In
that freedom he says that these things should be taking place. First, 'Honour all men," hard to do in traffic sometimes, I know. No, honour all men, we're created in
the image and likeness of God, you look around, God considers the unsaved
people around you a treasure. 'For
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
should believe would not perish, but have everlasting life." And it becomes very easy to despise, it can become very easy to get
hardened by what we see going on around us. It says in Matthew chapter 24, verse 12, 'Because iniquity shall abound,
be multiplied, that the love, the agape' of many will grow cold,' it must be speaking of believers, because it's a reproof. So that is a negative thing there, for
our agape' to grow cold. Because
we can let that happen. He says
here, look, 'Honour all men," and many of these Peter's writing to
were exposed to Roman cruelty, and that's arotist, the structure is, 'once
and for all, make up your mind, honour all men.' Somebody may believe something different than you, they may look
different than you, they have a different cultural background than you, they're
a human being, and Jesus Christ died for them, if they'll avail themselves of
that. So there's a decency as
Christians we should express to other humans. 'Honour all men," then
the rest of these are present-perfect, 'love the brotherhood." That's 'continually be loving the other believers in the family of
God.' And sometimes you think, 'Can't I
just take one day off once in awhile of loving these brethren?' 'Fear God. Honour the king." (verse 17) You know, 'Continually be loving the brethren,' 'Continually be fearing God,' being in reverence of God. And 'Continually honour the
king,' Caesar in
his day. Now you can't honour the
king without fearing God. Right in
the center of that, our reverence towards God puts all of these things in
place. If there's no reverence
towards God, and I'll tell you something, reverence of God includes fear. Not an unhealthy fear. It says 'The fear of the LORD is clean, rejoicing the heart." It says 'Perfect love casts out all fear" in 1st John, but that's the
kind of fear that causes torment. The perfecting of God's love towards us gets rid of the kind of fear
that torments us. But there is a
fear of God that is clean and healthy, it's good. Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 19 says, that what they had done was 'they had cast off
the fear of the LORD, and that their own sins would
reprove them and rebuke them.' Because he says 'It is an evil thing
that thou hast left off the fear of the LORD." The
problem with America is we've left off the fear of the LORD as a nation, there's no fear of
God. Look, he loves us, but he's
God. We can say 'Abba, Father,
Dad,' but he's
God. Anybody in this room who had
a good father knows both his love, and his fear. My dad, great dad, and when I was a kid, I knew he loved me,
and I feared him. Because he was
dad. And my mom could beat me all
day, but when she said 'I am telling your father" there was a different vibe to
that. Fear God, not in the sense
of torment, but we should stand in awe of him. In that there should be the respecting of other men, 'honour
men, love the believers that are around you,' 'Honour
the king."
Putting Peter's
Advice Into Historic Context
He's
going to write some very insightful things here to servants, those that are
subject to difficult circumstances. It is very interesting to hear them coming from Peter at this point in
his life. July 19th,
64AD when Rome burned and Nero convinced the Senate and the Romans that it was
the Christian's fault, one of the first things he did then was he took Paul
back into custody, who had already appeared before him [Paul was in a city of
Greece, on the northwestern coast of Greece], and put Paul in the Mamertine
Prison. The Mamertine Prison can
be visited today, and there in the Mamertine Prison Paul was there for a number
of months. And in the lower
chamber there was no light, there was a pole there he would be chained to,
sometimes it was knee-deep in human waste, sometimes prisoners died from the
fumes. And Paul was chained down
there. Peter was sent for, and we
know that Paul lived at least a year, because Peter got there, it seems in
66AD, and Peter was kept down there for over nine months, it said the two of
them led 47 guards to the Lord in those nine months. They're down there in the dark, together, we're not sure
what period of time. Chrisostum,
Tertulian, Arineus, the early church fathers tell us they were taken out the
same day and killed. That's an
early church tradition, no Biblical foundation for that. But it was generally believed amongst
the early church. Here's two men
that haven't seen each other, as far as we know, since, it tells us in
Galatians that Paul went up to Jerusalem, and our Lord's brother was there, and
Peter was there, and he met with the apostles (cf. Acts 15), and imagine all
that's happened since then. He had
to rebuke Peter to his face at Antioch, and now imagine these two old cronies,
chained down there in the dark together. You know, Paul and Silas sung when they were in the prison in Philippi,
you could almost here Paul saying, 'Hey, Pete, you know this one?' you know, these guys down there
together, how remarkable it must have been. Peter would write to us in the next Epistle, he says, 'Knowing,
yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle, this tent, to stir you
up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my
tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me.' You remember at the end of John's Gospel we read that Jesus said to
Peter, 'Peter, when you were young, you went wherever you wanted to go,
but now when you are old, they're going to take you, they're going to lead you
forward and spread out your hands,' and it says 'He said this signifying what manner of
death he should die.' And Peter of course, just like Peter,
looked at John and said 'What about him Lord, what's going to happen to
him?' And Jesus said, 'Never mind
what's gonna happen to him.' These guys, you know. And Paul, in his 2nd Epistle
[to Timothy] says 'I'm here alone, Demas has forsaken me, having loved
this present world, and Luke alone is with me, bring the parchment,' but he said, 'I'm ready to be offered. I've finished my coarse, I've kept the
faith.' So what was it like for these two guys
chained down in there? Did Paul
say 'Yea, it's funny, I knew too, the last letter I wrote I said 'I'm ready
to be offered, I've fought the good fight,' Peter said, 'Me too, the last one I wrote I said 'The
time of my departure is at hand. I'm ready to put off this tabernacle.' Paul said, 'Man,
my tabernacle is beat up, I got stoned, and beat up, I'm ready to get rid of
this tabernacle.' And Peter's older, he's older. And what must it have been like, these
are two physically worn out giants, chained down there together? And Paul is taken out, and because he's
a Roman citizen, and has some rights, normally he's not even supposed to be in
the Mamertine Prison, he's taken to the Apian Way, and there his right as a
Roman citizen was to be beheaded by the axman's sword. Peter, no doubt, was taken out, and
they said his wife was taken to be crucified in front of him, and he cried to
his wife, 'Remember thou the Lord, oh woman.' Great husbandly advice, right ladies? Believe me, these two, from what we know from tradition,
that was all she wanted to hear. And Peter, probably no doubt then scourged like Christ. And when they took him to crucify him,
he said 'I'm not worthy to be crucified like my Lord,' they turned him upside down when they
nailed him to the cross and put the cross in the ground upside down, and he
died hanging on that cross upside down. Tradition says when his old buddy, the last remaining apostle, John, and
they had known each other since they were boys, in the area of Bethsaida,
fished the same waters together, when John heard that Peter had been martyred,
church tradition says that it was then that the Holy Spirit put it on his heart
to write his Gospel. And
it's interesting in the postscript, he said of this old fisherman, 'When
you were young you went wherever you wanted to go, but when you're old another
is going to lead you forth and stretch forth your hands.' And John wrote, 'This he said signifying what manner death he
should die.' Then he thought, 'And that Peter,' 'What
about this guy, what's gonna happen to him?' What remarkable, remarkable men. And you know they're at that point in their lives where this advice is
flowing forth from their hearts. It was nothing for them to be martyred, because they had died a long
time ago. Matthew had been skinned
alive in Persia, Andrew shot full of arrows, crucified, Thomas impaled in
India. James thrown from the roof
of the Temple. When you go down
the list of those guys, these guys on fire for Jesus Christ, they weren't
struggling with 'Oh should I go to Atlantic City? Should I watch pornography on tv, should I do this?' No, no, because when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus
said 'You wait until you are endued with power, that you might be,' not go witnessing, 'that you may
be a marturos, martyrs.' And dying the martyr's death only
proved that they had become martyrs long before that. And it was nothing for Paul to put his head under the axman's
sword, and it was nothing for Peter to yield himself to the cross, because they
had been dead for decades. They
had lost their lives, taking up their cross long before that. And you know, you read 'Foxes Book
of Martyrs,' you know
God's grace was there with them in those things, to go through that. And what visions of glory must have
been before their eyes.
You're Free In
Christ, But You're Also Servants, Slaves Of Christ
He
gives advice, with these things from the Spirit, premonitions no doubt on his
heart, he says this, 'Servants," slaves, 'be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to
the good and gentle, but also to the froward." (verse 18) or to the 'unreasonable." He had told them that they're a 'chosen
race, a royal priesthood." He had
told them that he himself was a servant. And he knew that every man, whatever he did, if he's really a Christian,
is a slave anyway. He said 'Yes,
you're free, but not to use your liberty as some license to live carnally,
you're free to live as slaves of Jesus.' So whether
you're a master or whether you're a servant, whatever situation you're in,
you're a slave anyway. Paul when
he was in prison and wrote to the Philippians the first time, told them that he
was the prisoner of Christ, not the prisoner of Rome. Paul had the Quaternion, the four soldiers that would be on
every six hours come and be chained on each side of him, and as far as Paul was
concerned, he said 'The brethren here salute you, especially those of
Caesar's household,' Paul had a captive audience, he was not the prisoner of Rome, Rome was his
prisoner. He had a Roman chained
to his arms each time they'd change watch, you know you think of when he was
writing to the Ephesians he must have said, 'Let's see, the breast plate,
that's good, you got a breast plate there, oh yea, and the sword, the sword of
the Spirit, ah yea, you got the sword there, and the helmet, I like that
helmet, the helmet of salvation there, and you have your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel,' you
know, Paul had Rome chained to him. He wasn't a prisoner of Rome, he wrote to them and said 'I'm the
prisoner of Jesus Christ, a prisoner of Christ.' There
was no situation that came to bear on his life that brought him to any low
position, because he was in the highest position that he could be in, the
prisoner of Christ. Peter himself
a servant here, a servant of Jesus Christ. He says 'Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to
the good and gentle, but also to the froward." Now
look, that doesn't define our culture today, it's applicable to employees, 'Employees
be subject to your employers, not only to the good and gentle,' God bless 'em if you got one like
that, pray he never changes or she never changes, 'but also to the
unreasonable.' You have an unreasonable boss? I don't want to see anyone working here
shaking their head, please. You
have an unreasonable boss, you have somebody who just gives you a hard
time? It says 'Don't just be
subject to those that are gentle and good, but also to the unreasonable, the
cranky, the miserable,' 'For
this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering
wrongfully." (verse 19) Thankworthy is a word, a specific word,
it means 'it is taken note of, and it is valued by God." It is 'thankworthy" he says, 'if a man
for conscience toward God, endure that." 'Lord, you put me in a situation, you gave me this cranky boss, I'm
not his servant, I'm your servant.' Look in verse
21 he's going to say 'For
even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example," Now look, we're not saved by following Christ's example. We're saved by coming as a sinner to a
Saviour. After salvation is
imitation. That we're being conformed into his
image and likeness, and it's the imitation of Christ. He's saying here, even to the masters that are unreasonable
and difficult, if you have a boss like that, if for conscience toward God you
endure, that's thankworthy towards God, it's notable, because it reminds God of
his Son. Because what Jesus Christ
demonstrated to us all, is that you may be an individual who is dearly loved of
God, and individual who is in the middle of God's will, and yet an individual
who is unjustly treated. Jesus
Christ was the beloved of the Father, Jesus Christ was in the middle of his
Father's will. And Jesus Christ
was unjustly treated, and would cry out 'Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do.' He's taking us somewhere. He's going to apply it to marriage,
he's going to apply it to, he's taking us somewhere, here. And he would do it without blinking, he
would go to the Mamertine, he would lead his guards, who were unreasonable
employers at that point in time, 47 of them to the Lord before he dies. Hadn't laid down to sleep in nine
months, let me tell you this, if I don't sleep for a night and a half, I'm
cranky. If you're a Roman guard
and you're around me after I've missed a couple nights sleep, you're glad you have a shield. The tradition says Peter didn't lay down
in a sleeping position for nine months, he was chained in an upright
position. And the love of Christ
found its way through him. So he's
not giving cheap advice, this is something he took to his own heart. He says 'This is thankworthy, if
you have the right attitude towards a difficult person, and you endure grief,
suffering it wrongfully,' for he says, 'For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take
it patiently? but if, when ye do
well, and suffer for it,
ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." (verse 20) Big deal, 'I was a bad employee and
my boss yelled at me, and I didn't say nothing back.' Well
so what, you should have got yelled at. Now this is what he says, 'What glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your
faults, ye shall take it take it patiently?" What's
the big deal? 'but if, when ye
do well, and suffer for it, ye
take it patiently, this is acceptable
with God." This is acceptable with God, 'For
even hereunto were ye called:" he's
going to go on and say. And he
uses an interesting word, 'If you're buffeted' and it's the word that means 'to be
beaten with the fist," it's the same word used in Matthew 26, verse 67 where
Jesus is beaten beyond human recognition, Isaiah 52, verse 14. He was beaten with a human fist to the
point he wasn't recognizable as a human being. Peter says 'If when you're buffeted,' and he's talking to slaves, who might
often have this experience, 'if you're beaten with a fist, and you're
beaten because you did something wrong, and you take that patiently, you can
expect that. But,' he says, 'when you do well, and
you suffer for it, and you take that patiently, this is acceptable with God,' 'For even hereunto were ye
called: because Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:"
(verse 21) he does
something very interesting here, 'that you should follow in the steps of
Christ,' and it's
a Greek construct that can be taken a very interesting way. Those of you who have raised kids or
have very little kids at home now, you know what it's like in winter, when the
snow is about this deep, and it's really too deep for them to walk in. If you go out in the yard and you step
through the snow, and you make those holes in the snow, and then you look out
and see your little kid trying to walk, and he has to put his feet right in the
footsteps that you made, because if he doesn't do that he can't walk that
without difficulty. That's the
construct here. That's the
construct here.
We're Commanded To
Walk In Christ's Steps, What Does That Mean?
'For
even hereunto were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye
should follow his steps: who did
no sin, neither was guile [deceit] found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not
again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth
righteously: who his own self bare
our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live
unto righteousness: by whose
stripes ['stripe" singular in original Greek] ye were healed." (verses
21-24) I don't have this down. OK? I'm not preaching this because I have suffering 101,
suffering 102, and suffering 103 merit badges. I'm saying this because I know that it's true, and I'm
learning, also. That in difficult
circumstances, if my heart is open to the Lord, he's gone there before me. He's gone before me. He's the author and finisher of my
faith. And it may be difficult for
me to walk in that deep snow, but there are footprints there that I can put my
feet right into them, and I can find my way through that, though it's
difficult, I'm able to walk the path, because he's walked it before me. I do something wrong, somebody gives me
a hard time, it's hard enough for me to take that patiently. But if I do good, and somebody gives me
a hard time---ever have that experience? If you've been in the church for more than a month you have. We're just the best dysfunctional
family going. You know when God
gives you [idea is develops within you] the fruit of the Spirit he doesn't stop
at 'love, joy, peace," does he? You wish he would. It's
that 'longsuffering, meekness, temperance [self control], patience" that
bothers me. I think 'Oh man, am
I going to have to use these things?' But when somebody does something to you
unjustly, you have done well and you receive the rotten end of the stick for
it, if at that point you act like Christ because of your conscience toward the
Father, that he looks favorably on that. He says 'even hereunto were you called,' you're being conformed into that image
and likeness, so much so, that Jesus has left footprints in the snow and you're
going through the difficult things where you're too immature to walk yourself,
because the problem would be too deep, we can follow in his footsteps. And here's the one, 'who did no
sin," you think of how
he was treated, Peter now, imagine what is going through Peter's memory, 'who did no sin," now
here's a remarkable verse for us tonight, 'neither was guile found in his
mouth:" look, 'neither
was' if you have a
translation that says 'deceit' that's the better idea, neither was deceit found in
his mouth,' that's
so important to us this evening. There's no deceit found in his mouth. That's important when we hear him say 'anyone who
comes to me, I will in no wise cast out.' There's no
deceit in that. 'Come unto me
all of you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 'Take my yoke upon you and learn of me,
for I am meek and lowly in heart, you shall find rest for your souls." There is no deceit in that. And if we come to him, he says 'You shall know the truth,
and the truth shall set you free." No
deceit in that. 'Well, you
don't understand, I'm an adulterer, I'm immoral, I've murdered someone, I'm in
my addiction, I've ruined my family, everyone hates me.' The Son of man has not come into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through him might be saved. He says 'I didn't come to condemn you, whatever your
mountain of sin is. I came so that
you could be saved.' And Peter says 'There is no
deceit in his mouth, there's no deception in it.' He's come to set us free, and he takes us as we are, we don't have to
get it together first, he takes us with all of our baggage and all of our
problems and all of our sin. And then he transforms us, and he sets us free
and he gives us new life. [How? Upon receiving the
Holy Spirit, we start to live lives of overcoming, spiritual growth, where we
lead lives of successfully putting all of that sin out of our lives, right to
the thought level, cf. 2nd Corinthians 10:5.] No deceit found in his mouth. 'who did no sin, neither was there
any deceit in his mouth: who, when
he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but
committed himself to
him that judgeth righteously:" (verse 23) Peter that
night, standing at the fire, the maiden saying 'Aren't you one of
them?' 'I don't even know the man,
never saw him in my life,' but Peter there, as the beating would continue, as he was mocked, as he was
spit upon. Peter says and was an
eye-witness to it, he says, 'that when he suffered, and when he was
reviled, he reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not,' but 'he committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:" [Comment: One
thing to note, when it says in verses 21-22a, 'For even hereunto were ye
called: because Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in his
steps: who did no sin," we find the apostle John defining sin
as the transgression of the law, the law of God, in 1st John
3:4. As Peter shows us here, Jesus
never broke God's law, even under intense suffering, and we have record of that
in the four Gospels, that he observed all Ten Commandments of God's law, kept
the Holy Days of Leviticus 23, and kept the whole law of God all the way
through his intense suffering. As
many scholars know, when Peter and Paul were writing the epistles, much of what
we have in the New Testament didn't exist yet, so the law of God being referred
to by John, and kept by Christ was the Old Testament, 10 Commandment law of
God. We're being told by Peter
that Jesus left us an example, that we should follow in Jesus' steps, who did
no sin. This is not being
legalistic, this is just plain Scripture. But people don't tend to see these things in the Scripture. To read about the early Christian
Church which the apostles Paul, Peter and John were administering, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1.htm and read through that
series.]
The Mystery Of What
Took Place On The Cross
Now,
no doubt, we're to do that same thing, 'who his own self bare our sins in
his body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (verse 24) Very interesting thing that he says to us here. He says, 'his own self" no one else, it's emphatic, him alone,
nobody else. He says, what he did
is 'he bore our sins,' we find that in the Septuagint in Leviticus, it's a Levitical phrase for
putting the sin on the lamb before it comes to the sacrifice. That he bore up, literally, onto the
cross, our sins. It's the word of
the sacrifice bearing the sins. And very important for us to see here, Christ, what he did. You remember, those of you here who saw 'The Passion of Christ' or you read through the Gospel, and you think of Jesus, all that he went through, he
sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane, hemotridrosis. He was under so much strain, people can
die from a heart-attack at that point, that the capillaries in his sweat glands
were bursting, and he was sweating blood. And it tells us that those guys warmed themselves at the soldier's fire,
because it was cold. Well Christ
was under so much stress on a cold night, he's sweating great drops of
blood. Beaten beyond human
recognition, his beard ripped out of his face, you know the things that took
place, the movie didn't even portray the half of it. The scourging, 188AD, through that period, the church at
Smyrna, when you read the book of Revelation, you hear of the church there of
the martyrs. The records of those
martyrs of Smyrna [in secular Roman history], many of them were scourged, and
it gives a description of their kidneys being exposed, of the skin and muscles
being torn off where the bowels would hang out the side. Many people died of the scourging. No doubt Jesus is dehydrated, Jesus is
scourged, and again the Romans, as cruel as they were, when they laid that
scourge on and ripped out the flesh, if you cried out the names of those that
were accessories in the crime with you, that were in the crime with you, they
would lighten up on the lash. If
you kept your mouth closed, they would lay it on heavier and heavier, trying to
break you. It says, 'as a lamb
before his shearers is dumb," Isaiah says, 'so he opened not his mouth." That's when
they brought him back to Pilate, he put him in front of the crowd and Pilate
said 'Etsai Homo, behold the man,' they must have said, 'He never even
cried out.' Because he would have had to cry out
your name, or my name. And the
crown of thorns, then the mocking that took place. And then the carrying of the cross, he crumbles under
it. Simon the Cyrene has to pick
it up and finish carrying it for him. I believe that an ordinary mortal would have died, dehydration, an
ordinary mortal would have collapsed and died along the way. Many died from the scourging. But if he had died along the way our
sins would not have been paid for, because the Bible teaches us that he bore
our sins 'up onto the tree, the timber' literally. 'Cursed' Galatians 3:13, 'is everyone who is nailed to
a tree,' Paul
quoting from the Law. It was
there, and it's what Mel Gibson could never put on film, somehow, there on the
tree, the sin of the world came upon him, the sin of the world. Think of that. All of the sin of Osama bin Laden, the
death of Christ was sufficient for him, if he repents and turns [he was still
alive when Pastor Joe gave this sermon]. The sins of the most unscrupulous hated people you know through history,
don't be too hard on them, they're like you and I. Our sins, every thought, every word, every bit of
anger, everything we have ever done, it's the wonderful news, an abortion 20
years ago, something where we abused somebody, we did something wrong, all of
our sins were there, because it says, as the Scripture says, and Peter is very
specific, 'by whose stripe" singular, 'ye were healed." Because he's talking about something
that happened in the spirit, a stroke fell on him. God laid the iniquity of us all on him. And by a stroke, the wrath of God fell
there on that sin, on the cross, a stroke. 'by his stripe" singular 'ye were healed." [And 'ye" is you plural in the King
James.] Isn't it interesting,
because before he gives up the ghost, he says, 'Tu telisti, it is
finished.' Before he died physically, he said that his spiritual death
had paid the price, 'it is finished, tu telisti, paid in full.' Then he died, then he died. In his physical death, in the shedding of his blood, yes, and his
crucifixion, but what we could never imagine in those three hours of darkness,
the sin of the world coming upon him, the stroke of God falling upon him,
making him the place of propitiation where the wrath of God is satisfied. Peter, you know Peter, what is in
Peter's mind as he writes these things, these things he was reminiscing about,
what must be dragging painfully through his memory, and yet wonderfully. As he thinks of this, he says 'who
his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree," he had denied Christ, he had fled out
into the night, weeping. And
Jesus, Resurrection morning, the angels come and say, 'Go tell his
disciples, and Peter, that he is risen.' Imagine what
it was like when the women came back and said 'Angels appeared to us, and
they said 'Go tell his disciples, and Peter, they said to tell you, he is
risen,' and Peter
must have thought, 'My name is mud.' Because the
last time he saw Christ he had denied him three times, and pronounced anathema
upon himself, saying, 'If I know him, let me be eternally damned,' and the rooster crowed. But he says 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto
a lively [living] hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1st Peter 1:3) He himself, he says, himself, no one
else, him and the Father settled this on the hill, like Abraham and Isaac left
the servants behind, no one else could go there, no human work, no hewn steps
to this altar, no hewn stones, no human hand, 'his own self bare our sins in
his own body on the tree, [up onto the tree], that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness: by
whose stripe ye were healed." you were made whole.
'For You Were All
Like Sheep Going Astray'
'For
ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and
Bishop of your souls." (verse 25) 'Bishop, Overseer." 'You were as sheep going astray, but
now are returned to the Shepherd," that's a great picture, you know, I have a
particular love for that idea, because I'm a pastor, in case you hadn't
known. You know, it's funny, when
there's fifty people or a hundred people coming to the church, you think you
can do it, and you think you need to do it. People will say 'What's it like to pastor a giant
church?' and I think, 'It's
a breeze,' because
when there's a hundred people coming or a hundred and fifty people coming, you
think you can do it, you think you have to do it, but when there's 12,000,
13,000 people coming, you know you don't have nothing to do with it at
all, nothing to do
with it at all. [Comment: And Pastor Joe has, reputedly 30,000
people whom God has drawn to Christ through his ministry, all a part of Calvary
Chapel of Philadelphia, which I believe now, he's wisely broken up into various
satellite congregations scattered around Philadelphia, under associate
pastors. I don't know for sure,
I'll have to ask him next time I see him.] And you know that there's a great Shepherd, and you know the
shepherd is never dependant on the IQ of the sheep. All he expects from the sheep is 'Baaah, baaah.' It is so encouraging to me that 'You know, Lord I don't
know what to do in this circumstance, I don't know what to do here.' But I know if I'm willing to follow, he will lead, he's the Great
Shepherd and Overseer of my soul, Great Shepherd and Overseer of my soul. And we were once, all of us, like sheep
going astray, and now we have come to the Shepherd. Isn't it wonderful tonight, you don't have to figure the
whole thing out? Imagine a
sheep-meeting, with a shepherd standing there with his staff, and there's a
sheep council, 'Baaah, what do you think we should dooo? Baaah. I don't know, I vote thaaat,' no, no, the shepherd is not dependent
on the IQ of the sheep. If their
heart is willing to follow, he leads and he's faithful and he cares. It even says, 'He shall lead his
flock like a shepherd, he shall carry the lambs in his arms, and shall carry them
in his bosom, and shall gently lead those who are with young,' and what it speaks of is the shepherds
in Israel, Isaiah was saying, that when the seasons changed, and the summer
came, and the shepherd would want to take the sheep to the highlands for grazing,
that they're not inclined to move from any comfortable place, they're not
inclined to go uphill, that he would take one of the newborns from the leading
ewe in the flock, and he would take that little lamb and start to walk, and as
that little lamb would go 'baaah, baaah,' that leading ewe would go, and the rest of the flock
would then follow, and he would gently carry that little one in his bosom, and
lead the flock to higher ground, We have gone astray, isn't it amazing? I think back to my life before I was saved, it was a
different life, a different person. You know, I'm sitting here tonight, and into my mind all kinds of things
swirling through as I study the Scripture, and I was thinking about the Tsunami,
and in all of this, he's lifted our hearts where we're thinking about the
coming of Christ. We're thinking
about heaven [on the Sea of Glass and the coming Wedding of the Lamb, and then
coming back to rule with Christ over the whole world, cf. Revelation 19; Isaiah
11; Zechariah 14], when there's no tears, no sorrow, no hatred, no bigotry, no
sickness, no hospitals, no diseases, no lawyers, no orphanages. You know, we're thinking of that
day. Isn't it amazing what he's
done? He's lifted us, lifted our
heads above the clouds to where we can see, he's given us hope and a future, as
Peter says, an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for us that have followed him by faith, whom we love with
joy unspeakable, full of glory, yet having not seen, he says, yet you still,
you love him. Because we were once
lost and gone astray, but now we have come to the Shepherd and Overseer of our
souls. What a great Master, who he
himself, bore all of our sins, once and for all, up onto the cross, where the
stroke of Almighty God fell upon him, that we might have lifeÉ[connective
expository sermon on 1st Peter 2:15-25, given by Pastor Joe Focht,
Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]
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