Introduction

In 1 Peter, from chapter 2 verse 13 to chapter 3 verse 12, Peter talks about how to live for Christ in all kinds of social relationships. I’m going to skip over 1 Peter 3:1-7 this week so that I can teach a 3 week session on Marriage and Family in February. The purpose of every relationship, whether it is with the government, our employer, our family or the church, is evangelistic. 1 Peter 2:9 says:

…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We live in a world that is hostile towards Christians and toward Jesus. Peter has given us a charge to live evangelistically. He knows that our values and our morals will be at war with the society that we find ourselves in. So, we can’t put our trust in the things this world trusts in. Instead, we put our trust in the promises of God and the inerrancy of His perfect written Word.

5 Ways to Maintain a Clear Conscience During Times of Suffering

#1 Fervor for Goodness (verse 13)

¹³ Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

A zealot is a person with passion for a cause. In our culture, we have people who are zealous for gun control and free speech and abortion and various marriage related issues. Many of our zealots are passionate about good things. Some are passionate about some evil things.

If you are a student of the New Testament, you know that there was this group in Israel at the time who were referred to as (CAPITAL Z) Zealots. Amoung the 12 disciples, one of the was a former Zealot – Simon the Zealot is what they called him. They were fanatical patriots in Israel. They pledged to liberate Israel from foreign rule – even if it cost them their lives. They were so committed to freeing Israel from foreign power that they were willing to literally murder, cheat, lie, steal or die in order to see it happen.

Peter is saying here that you can be a zealot, but be zealous for the right things. If you have a passion for goodness – a zeal for loving others sacrificially – then the world will have trouble finding fault with you. Verse 13 gives us a very simple and clear statement: Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? If you spend your life pouring yourself out for the needs of others …you’ll always honor Jesus and often you’ll avoid persecution.

People have a hard time hurting folks who are always doing good things.

• Children aren’t (usually) punished for obedience
• Employees aren’t (usually) fired for working too hard
• Innocent people are (usually) not put into prison
• Wives don’t (usually) leave husbands who always treat them kindly

There are always exceptions. BUT, persecution (the kind of treatment that result in physical pain, imprisonment, torture, etc) is often avoided by having a zeal for goodness. This is not a heavy doctrine. It’s very practical.

You may avoid direct persecution, but the fact remains that we live in a fallen world and we are often faced with the consequences of other people’s sins. Look at what Paul says in 1 Thesssalonians 5:15:

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

If someone takes away your rights or your freedom or your possessions or your comforts or your healthcare, don’t get angry or bitter. Caring about our rights as Americans is OK, but having zeal for Christ is far better.

Kindness and mercy and compassion are far more valuable to the cause of Christ than demanding priviledges. The Bible says very simply to imitate Jesus and show kindness in return for evil. When non-believers see a person who is genuinely kind, they have a hard time finding fault with that life. In fact, they are often totally confused by it and wonder why you don’t act like everybody else.

#2 Fearlessness in Suffering (verse 14)

¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,

So first we understand that if we are doing good, we often won’t suffer for it. In our goodness, we’ll be blessed. Verse 14 says that if against the odds (old English – perchance) we do have to endure suffering for our good deeds, God will bless you for that as well. The idea of a blessed man here is not so much that of a person who is happy. It is more refers to a person who is privileged or honored.

Mary was said to be blessed among women. It did not mean that she was going to be happy or have it easy. When she presented Jesus at the temple, Simeon said to Mary that because of Jesus, “a sword will pierce through your own soul also.” Luke 2:35

Mary knew hardship and sorrows, but she was zealous for good. She was blessed. Mary was an honorable woman who was the object of special favor and privileges from God. She was given the special task of raising Jesus as her son – that was a special priviledge that no other woman would ever have.

Even if you suffer for righteousness sake, God will still see to it that He pours out his blessings upon you. Receiving God’s blessing is far better than receiving the approval of men!

The part that says “Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,” is a quote from Isaiah 8: 12-13. Here is what the whole passage says in Isaiah:

¹² “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. ¹³ But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

In Isaiah 8, Ahaz, the King of Judah, faced a crises. At this point Israel was divided into 2 kingdom – Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and Judah (the southern Kindgom). The Assyrian army was planning an attack. The Kings of Israel and Syria wanted Ahaz to join them in an alliance against the Assyrians. Ahaz refused to join their alliance.

Because he refused to join, both Israel and Syria were planning to invade Judah. All the while behind the scenes, Ahaz made a secret alliance with Assyria and the prophet Isaiah warned him against making ungodly alliances and urged him to trust in God alone… to let God “be your fear, and let him be your dread.”

In other word, don’t’ be afraid of the Assyrians like the northern kingdom and Syria are afraid of them. Don’t fear their fear. Fear God.

Peter is exhorting us to not fear the things that this world fears, but to fear God. Don’t be shaken from the firm foundation you have in Jesus. Don’t let the intimidation of secular people disturb you. And if, against the odds, you suffer persecution for your good works, then God will reward you for it in eternity. So don’t be afraid of what the world is afraid of. By fearing God and keeping you eyes on Jesus, you can face the world with courage.

#3 Focus on Christ (verse 15a)

¹⁵ but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy…

When it says here to honor Christ, it means to put Him into a place in your heart all by himself –

• Put Him in the highest place
• Give Him the greatest value
• Cherish Him as the greatest treasure
• Admire Him the Most
• Treat Him as the most cherished prize
• Esteem and honor and love Him more than all other people or things in the whole world
• Admire and honor His Lordship in every area of your life
• Stand in awe of his supreme power over the whole universe
• Bow before His sovereign ruling power

When it says to honor Christ, it is referring to the kind of honor you would give a great and righteous king. The Greek word for “honor” is the word hagiazō. It is the same word translated in the Lord’s prayer as “hallowed.” Matthew 6:9, Jesus models prayer by beginning with this statement, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

As disciples of Christ, the ultimate purpose of our lives is to honor or hallow Christ. How do we do that? How do we exalt Jesus with our lives? Simply, by placing our hope in Him

Christ calls us to come and die. To put the old self behind us. To cast our cares upon Him. What sets Christianity apart from all the man-centered religions out there is the glory of it’s Savior.

Christianity exalts a Savior who glory and whose weightiness are worthy of being hoped in. It does not call us to first work for God and hope He accepts us. It calls us to allow God to work in us and to change us from the inside out.

This transformation is symbolized in Baptism.   Baptism represents a complete break with a person’s former life. In verse 21 of 1 Peter 3, Peter touches on the symbolism of Baptism. Let turn their briefly.

In the waters of baptism, a person is proclaiming to the world that they are dead to their former life. They are dead to being self-sufficient. They are no longer living for themselves. They have been given a new life. They are raised and made alive – not because of anything they did, but because they responded to God’s call and allowed Jesus to rule and reign in their hearts. Verse 21 says,

²¹ Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

I had a man call me a couple of months ago and ask me if Canyon believed in baptismal regeneration (that is being saved through baptism). I told him that we believe that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. He then opened up to 1 Peter 3:21 and asked me how I explained this verse. Here’s how I explain it:

This verse does not mean we are saved by baptism. We have to read this verse slowly and very, very carefully. In the context of the verse “corresponds to this” an illustration Peter gave about Noah. Here’s a brief summary: In Noah’s day, flood water brought judgment upon the Earth. Only Noah and his family were saved from God’s judgment because “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” (Gen 6:8) Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord and the Lord delivered him from His worldwide judgment of sin.   It wasn’t the water that saved him. It was not the removal of dirt that saved him. It wasn’t a boat that saved him. It was his immersion in God that saved him. Noah was saved because he trusted in God and his trust in God was proven because obeyed God.

Baptism corresponds to that trusting and obeying. It has nothing to do with the removal of dirt or getting wet. It’s an immersion. The Greek word (baptisma) means immersion. You can immerse youself in a lot of different things. You can immerse yourself in a book or in a culture or in a train of thought. As it is used in this instance, “baptism” is referring to immersing ourselves in the person of Jesus. It is fully trusting in Him and no longer trusting in ourselves.   It is an appeal to God for a good conscience. It is only possibly through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are save by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone and water baptism is an outward symbol of our inward transformation. The inward transformation is what saved us.

NOTE: Baptism and salvation are very closely connected to one another in the New Testament. People who were saved in the early church, were baptized. The early church did not understand the concept of an unbaptized believer. Baptism does not save people, but baptism tells people that you are saved – that you’ve made a break from your old sinful life and are now a follower of Jesus. If you have not been baptized, come let me know after service and we’ll work on scheduling a time for a believers baptism right here at Canyon.

#4 Formulate a Defense (verse 15b)

¹⁵ but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Christ is not honored by groundless hope. If someone were to ask me, “why did you decide to become a Christian?” and I gave an answer like:

• Because I grew up that way or
• Because it seems like a good gamble
• Because everyone needs some kind of faith and I choose Christianity as mine

If I gave one of those answers, Christ is not honored in my answer. If I say that he’s my hope and I can’t explain why He’s my hope, then I look like a fool believing in fairy tales. Christ isn’t honored by groundless hope. But worse than that, is this warning: If I can’t articulate the reason for my hope to someone else, I might fall into doubt when my beliefs are questioned.

If you can’t articulate your faith I could encourage you to run to your Bible and put together a systematic defense of you faith or to go out and get a book to read on apologetics. If you know me at all by now, you know that daily Bible study is really important to us here at Canyon.

I’m not going to encourage you to develop an academic understanding of your hope. Canned answers about Christianity can be spotted by unbelievers a mile away. Here is what I am going to encourage you to do:   PRAY

GO to your prayer closet and fervently ask the Lord, “Lord, why do I hope in You? What about you is so compelling to me? Why do I count Jesus as my greatest treasure? Reveal to me the basis of my hope in Jesus.” Search your own heart in regard to this area.

Perhaps after a time of prayer you would come up with a reason for your hope that is sincere and authentic. It might be that:

• No man ever taught like Jesus and I’m deeply impacted by His Word
• Christ gives meaning to history and better yet…he give meaning to my life
• Maybe the power of the resurrection is most compelling to you: Christ is the only man to die and raise again to life
• Maybe it’s the power of changed lives: that when Jesus takes over a person’ life, He changes them from the inside out.

What ever YOUR answer is, it should be yours and not just a carbon copy of everyone else’s answer. Christ is honored by well-grounded hope.

#5 Filter out Sin

¹⁶ having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

Your conscience is a God-given mechanism that either accuses you or excuses you. If you have a good conscience, it is telling you that all is well. If you have an evil conscience, it is reminding you (even as I’m speaking) that not all is well because there is sin in your life.

Peter is telling us here to listen to our conscience. Keep a clear conscience. Why? If you face criticism, hostility or persecution, the man with a clear conscience does not face any guilt.

How do we keep a clear conscience? When I received the Holy Spirit into my life, my conscience went on overdrive! It probes us. It knows what is true about us and what we are hiding. It knows if we are in sin and it pokes at that sin.

It also knows if we are in obedience and it affirms that obedience. Peter said in 1 Peter 2:12,

¹² Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

In other words, he’s saying that when people slander you, make sure they slander you for what is good and not for what is hypocritical. Suffering is inevitable. We have a choice for what we will suffer for:

• We can suffer for doing right
• We can suffer for doing wrong

God will use either situation for you to be strengthened and for Him to be glorified. Suffering for doing right bring about God’s blessing. However, if you choose to sin, you choose to suffer… and you choose to endure God’s discipline.

Follow Jesus’ Example

Peter now explains that Jesus is our perfect example of sinless and guiltless suffering look at 1 Peter 3:18

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹ in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

Let me briefly touch on verse 19-20 first. Good, reliable, conservative theologians are not in agreement over the interpretation of this passage. Martin Luther said of verse 19, “This is a strange text and certainly a more obscure passage than any other passage in the New Testament. I still do not know for sure what the Apostle meant.” Millard Erickson, a well-known Baptist theologian, said that he can see as many as 180 different exegetical combinations (critical explanations) in this text. Let me give you 4 common interpretations and you can decide for yourself:

• The Spirit’s in prison were disembodied souls from Noah’s day that were waiting in Hades. These souls heard Christ preaching through Noah during their lifetime and did not obey. They are now suffering judgment
• The Spirits are referring to fallen angels or demons. These demons may have thought they had won victory over Jesus because they killed Him. Jesus showed up in Hades to proclaim his victory over sin and death to these demonic entities and spoiled their celebration of Jesus’ crucifixion.
• The spirits are referring to the demonic “sons of god” in that co-habitated with women in Genesis 6. They had been held in a spiritual prison since the time of the flood and were now going to face judgment by Christ.
• The spirits are not referring to dead people, but to living people who are held captive to their sin. This event did not happen between the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus went to the Father during that time. It is happening after his resurrection and up until the time he comes again.

There are 4 views. It is not a primary issue in this text and it should be a point of division at all among believers. The primary message in the text is in verse 18. Let’s finish by unpacking that text:

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

This verse encompasses the entire life and death of Jesus. Christ began his life with suffering. He was born into the world to a poor mother and in a birthplace that was insufficient for a delivery room. Shortly after His birth, Herod was trying to kill the Christ-child, so he suffered the relocation of his entire household to Egypt. He was a stranger to the earth and now a living as a foreigner as well. After Herod’s deadly rage subsided, he returned to the carpenters shop and certainly he knew the rigors of manual labor. He prepared himself during this time for his public ministry. As soon as his ministry begins, he endures a 40 day fast in the wilderness while being tempted by Satan. As you read through his life, you read things like, ““Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matt 8:20) He was a man of sorrows, living a life of sorrow. He was familiar with grief. A lifetime of suffering that lead right up to Gethsemane.

• The betrayal by Judas.
• The denial by Peter.
• The agony of the cross.

He was falsely accused, beaten, bruised and insulted. Jesus suffered and he suffered perfectly. If you find yourself poor or needy or sick or bankrupt remember that Christ also suffered. Hebrews 4:15 says:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

And then remember that Jesus’ perfection in suffering resulted in his honor

²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Suffering like Jesus suffered results in God blessing our lives as well.

 Teaching Outline

5 Ways to Maintain a Clear Conscience During Times of Suffering

#1 Fervor for Goodness (verse 13)

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 1 Thesssalonians 5:15:

#2 Fearlessness in Suffering (verse 14)

“a sword will pierce through your own soul also.” Luke 2:35

¹² “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. ¹³ But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. Isaiah 8:12-13

#3 Focus on Christ (verse 15a, 21)

but in your hearts honor (hagiazō ) Christ the Lord as holy… 1 Peter 1:15a

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed (hagiazō ) be your name.” Matthew 6:9

“Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” (Gen 6:8

#4 Formulate a Defense (verse 15b)

“always being prepared to make a defense” – 1 Peter 3:15

#5 Filter out Sin (Verse 16)

¹² Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:12

Most of all:

Follow Jesus’ Example

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrew 4:15