A Reason For The Hope

 

1 Peter 3:13-22

Bridge Over Troubled Water

When you're down and out

When you're on the street

When evening falls so hard

I will comfort you

I'll take your part

Oh, when darkness comes

And pain is all around

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down...

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will ease your mind...

Paul Simon

What a tough and challenging passage.  In his commentary on this passage Kistemaker said, “Indeed, this passage is one of the most difficult to interpret.” Also, Martin Luther concludes, “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.” I’m not sure either, but this I know...no matter what this world throws at us and as tough as it may be, we can be encouraged, more we can be fueled by the gospel so much so that we can share the gospel. We can share the reason for the hope!

Big Idea:

We are born into a broken, filthy, messed up world and as such will face trials, tribulations, division, pandemics, economic stress, inequality, racism…you get the picture…but because ‘Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous’ we have a great and certain and eternal hope.  

And as that hope, as the love and grace of God fills our hearts we are able to persevere, to move forward, to share the good news in kind and gentle and respectful ways.  We can move forward in certainty, trusting and knowing the inheritance that awaits because we know how the story ends.  

We can move forward through the troubling mud of this world, because if God is for us, who can be against us!  And even though in this broken world there will be those that throw that mud on us, it will not stick and they will come to see that they are the ones that need a bath - that are in need of rescue (The Message). And we will be there to help.

Grace and Peace!

Perfect Harmony

 

1 Peter 3:8-12

I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing

I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I'd like to hold it in my arms
And keep it company

I'd like to see the world for once
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills
For peace through out the land.

The New Seekers

Big Idea:

Because “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 (v18);” because of all Jesus has done for us, may we all imperfectly ‘press on’ striving to live in peace, in harmony with sympathy, loving our neighbors tenderly and humbly, blessing (praising, celebrating, helping to prosper, making happy) because of the blessing we have in Christ.

May we all persevere in these qualities growing/maturing spiritually.  May we attempt this with our speech - in prayer and in person; edifying and encouraging. May we move forward in our actions - more than lip service but acting gently and humbly lending a helping hand.  May we grow with purpose; the purpose of bringing light to darkness.  May we persevere in peace, with the grace of God as our motivation and the love of Christ as our assurance.

Grace and Peace!

Winning Without A Word

 

1 Peter 3:1-7

This is such a challenging passage especially in the context of our current culture/worldview…but maybe that is part of the point. Maybe because we are followers of Christ we are to be at times “other worldly.” Maybe we are to be a witness to the beauty of Christ.

Big Idea

And because Jesus submitted to the cross for each of us, because of his grace, mercy and love for each of us…as aliens and exiles in this world we should be different than this world in winsome ways.   Because we are called to “do good and suffer” as it is “gracious...in the sight of God,” because we have been called so that we “might follow in his (Christ’s) steps. (2:20-21), we should strive to have this voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and a willingness to carrying a burden, to treat those we love with respect and honor, to treat others with respect and honor.  And can we do this understanding that real beauty "comes from the heart.”  Can we do this with adoration for God, for Jesus and for the Spirit as our motivation. Can we do it all for the purpose of giving glory to God and pointing others to Christ, “that they might be won without a word.”

Perhaps it could be said that I sort of avoided the specifics of how a wife might submit even to an unbelieving husband, but couldn’t it be said that by having an attitude of deference, cooperating, assuming a responsibility you might not want with a willingness to carry a burden, just as Christ carried our burden, wives; and husbands for that matter, can submit.  And perhaps it could be said, I sort of avoided the specifics of how a husband should treat a wife, but couldn’t it be said that treating those we love (including wives) with respect and honor (the word means the same honor bestowed upon an emperor; to treat as precious) is how husbands and wives for that matter should treat their spouse, it is how we should treat everyone.  

Could it be that moving forward in this way brings honor and glory to God and is gracious in his sight?  May we all move forward in ways that honor God and display our love and gratitude to a world desperate for such examples.

Grace and Peace!

Follow Me

 

Follow Me (UNCLE KRACKER)

All you know is when I'm with you

I make you free

And swim through your veins

Like a fish in the sea

I'm singin'

Follow me

Everything is all right

1 Peter 2:18-25

Big Idea:

Because Jesus unjustly suffered for us, because in the midst of his suffering he said, Father forgive them, because we live in a broken and unjust world, because we all suffer, as followers of Christ we should suffer reflecting on the hope of the cross, on the knowledge that one fine day all will be made right and perfect, we should suffer with the love and grace of Christ as our foundation and motivation, we should turn to God in our suffering.

Looking to the cross, understanding, really understanding how our Savior suffered unjustly and with the divisiveness of our times, with the injustice, with Pandemics, with personal struggles; we can see we all suffer.  For me as I am currently suffering (barely - when reflecting on the suffering of Christ), I am somehow made aware of the blessings, the grace, the love of Jesus for me a sinner.  Somehow it makes me see and understand the call to suffer, it helps me “so that you might follow in his steps (v21).”

With Covid and currently with an extended flare-up of arthritis, I more clearly see glimpses of grace and the many blessing provided.  As I currently walk with pain and a limp, I smile thinking about how wonderful it was when I could walk along the beach, it filled me with gratitude to God for the grace, to Jesus for his rescue and to the Spirit for helping me along the way.  

What keeps us going?  Christ and him crucified! So I know one fine day we will all be walking pain-free again.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Abba Father, help me delight in weakness, hardship, persecution, difficulties, even pain.  Help me always know that in my weakness, with you, I am strong.

Grace and Peace!