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When we come back we will pick it up at 1st Peter 2 verse 17.
Okay. So Peter has been imploring his reader in that day to be subservient to governors and Kings and those put in places of authority over them.
Let’s pick it up at verse 17 where he presents us with a summary:
1st Peter 2.end
Meat
September 6th
1st Peter 2:17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Then he moves on to the attitude servant should have, saying:
18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
20 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.
21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
24 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.
25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
Alright back to verse 17
17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
This is advice I have learned, through trial and error, to appreciate. Honor all men. Hand in hand with the idea that “it is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance,” if we have the attitude that we will honor or show respect to all men – the likelihood that they will glorify Christ in the future appears to be much greater.
When I was LDS I believed I only needed to honor those who were either LDS or had the potential to become LDS.
When I was an unthinking evangelical I sort of thought the same thing – except as it applied to people who called themselves Christians.
But Peter says Honor all men. All. I’ve had to repent, and find myself free from the prison of thinking I had the license to treat some men differently than others.
He adds: “Love the brotherhood.”
We know that our love is not limited to the brethren. Jesus clearly taught that we are to love neighbor as ourselves and when asked, “Who is my neighbor,” responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
But Peter’s specific instructions here is to love unconditionally the brethren or band of brothers it says – with agapao love.
“Fear God,” and the word suggests revere and hold him in awe – have a holy veneration for Him, and he ends this passage with, “Honor the king.”
We covered the nuances of this topic (which are great) last week. Now at verse 18 Peter addresses servants – and these would be Christian servants. And he says:
18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
The word for servant here is oikatace and it refers to people who live in the homes of another as a servant of some sort – a cook, butler, maid, nanny – whatever the application.
Scripture presents us with another type of slave. Ephesians 6:5 says:
“Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ.”
But the word translated servant here is doulos and this means a literal slave.
So Peter in this context is referring to household help – whether hired or in bonds.
“Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.”
“Be subject – submit to your masters with all fear,” Peter says.
The word here rendered masters here is despotace and means someone who is giving the orders – as simple as a householder or as complex as a series of corporate managers.
With all fear, Peter says, again with the root word meaning with all proper reverence and respect.
Then Peter drops the other shoe, adding:
“Not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.”
The real deal of Christianity – doing good to those who do evil, turning the cheek to them who have struck the other side, forgiving those who do not deserve it, rendering good – always – to those who least deserve it.
Such actions are at times so taxing and difficult to bear. We are used and abused and believe we are justified in returning such treatment to those distributing it.
But Peter says, Not just to those over us who are pleasant but those who are (the King James says) forward. The Greek word is (skoli os) which means “bent.”
There are several English words we apply to skolios – crooked or bent (you know, like scoliosis), or wicked, and evil.
So think of it this way: You are employed or a servant of a person that could be described as:
“bent” “crooked,” “wicked” and even “evil.”
Peter tells us to fear them (revere them) and submit to their crooked evil ways.
This is utterly revolutionary. And it is advice that is far afield from anything the world suggests.
Peter explains (verse 19 and 20)
“For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 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.”
I gotta tell you these passages rocked my world this week. They set me back on track of what I once understood but started to forget.
Let me read them again – this time from another version – a literal translation:
1st Peter 2:19-20 (MNT) which says:
“For it is a graceful thing to God, if from a sense of duty to him, a man endures a wrong, even suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you are struck for a fault, you take it patiently? But if when you are doing well and suffer for it, you always take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.”
It’s interesting but the King James translates the line to “For this is thankworthy,” but the Greek word here is Charis which is best known to mean grace – favor.
I love the literal translation. “If you are laboring for an despotace, and they are crooked, and you submit and revere them, this is grace.”
This is bestowing on others what has been bestowed upon us. The master of the house, crooked and bent, does NOT deserve our allegiance or support, but to give it, Peter says, “This is grace.”
Have you ever desired to give grace without fail? I would think this is something Peter is speaking to. Like Jesus, who certainly taught truth and stood for the will of God but gave grace to all who least deserved it, namely, you and I.
This is grace, “if a man for conscience toward God, . . .”
. . . “If a person in his conscience toward God leads him in this.” That’s pretty subjective, isn’t it? Peter says it, not me!
“This is favor (or grace) if a man regards himself as serving God, endures a wrong and suffers unjustly.”
And then Peter adds (at verse 20)
“For what credit is it if, when you are struck for a fault, you take it patiently?
In other words, when we have made an error and we are called out for it, where’s the reward for bearing the correction patiently? We made the mistake! We deserved the reprimand so of course we would bear it patiently.
This insight, while right on the money, is sort of humorous because many people, when called out on their stuff do NOT bear it patiently but instead project all their stuff on someone else.
But the thinking is solid:
“Where is the goodness in bearing a reproach for your error? There is none! It is what is due you.
But then he adds:
But if when you are doing well and suffer for it, and you always take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.”
So on the one hand he points out that as Christians there is no reward for patiently accepting correction or ill treatment for our faults.
To understand the context and culture of the day we look to the Greek because the words Peter uses is: “Kolafidzo” – a word that the King James describes as “buffeted” and means to be hit in the face with a fist.
In other words if you mess up and are punched in the face and you bear it patiently, where’s the reward?
That’s a pretty cruel world they were living in, folks. We’ve gotten pretty darn soft in this day and age when we consider this passage.
However, Peter adds, if when we are doing well and suffer for it and accept the poor treatment patiently, this is acceptable with God.
I have witnessed this in Mary, my wife. In the past, when we were younger, she was not good at taking hits when she was only trying to do good.
But I’ve watched as she has grown in the Spirit and in her walk with the King, that today, when she is just trying to do good and is attacked for it through criticism she bears it patiently.
Amazingly, to tell you the truth. God does marvelous work in us if we allow Him through the Word and Spirit.
Peter continues and tosses up a most meaty, hard to hear for some, saying, in verses 21-23
21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
This is a high, high mark to pursue – the highest – to respond and walk as Jesus walked and responded. But the difficulty did not stop Peter from pointing out our need to at least consider it, pursue it, maybe even live it?
He starts with the line:
“For even hereunto were ye called:”
Speaking to believers who were NOT one bit different than us, Peter makes it clear –
“This is what you were called to do!”
“This is God’s purpose for calling you.”
“For this is your calling.”
We are in the Body for the ultimate means of presenting these very same attributes.
Now, hear me clearly. If you are receiving this message today and you are still a babe in Christ, you haven’t matured yet in the faith, you haven’t chewed on the meat of the word, this could really mess you up.
And most people respond to such teachings in the flesh – and having started in the Spirit react by trying to become perfected in their flesh. Don’t do it.
Instead, look to Christ, spend time in the Word, let the Holy Spirit move you to complicity, not the taskmaster of your own flesh – it has never worked.
This being said if you are a babe it is vital that you do taste the sincere milk of the Word so that you can grow thereby – first.
For those of you who have walked with Jesus a while and eaten enough plates of meat you embody spiritual strength and maturity, Peter is calling us to suffering.
He is calling us to suffer to the wiles of selfish people.
He is calling us to self-effacement.
He is calling us to die to our fleshly reactions and to move and respond as Jesus moved and responded.
He is pushing for us to submit to the injustices that run rampant in the world.
Like many of you the Lord works on me in the very same areas I happen to be teaching on in scripture in the months and weeks prior to teaching.
These past few months the refinements have been on withholding judgement of those who I believe are at fault, and submitting from the heart to those who despitefully use me.
I realized this past week that in this world a person is either the predator or the prey.
Even in Christianity. If you don’t want to be the prey, you have to be a predator. Force your ways and needs on others and get them to comply. If you don’t, then predators will seek to do the same to you.
This is ESPECIALLY true when we try and do the selfless work of Christ in this world. In His name we can put others in bondage, we can master them, make demands on them, and tell them what they need to do to serve us, or we can follow the lead of Jesus and serve them, doing all we can to set them free.
The more we seek to set them free the more they will abuse or prey upon us. It’s the law of the jungle and even though some people have been forgiven for being animals they still let the animal instincts rule.
Peter says, do well, as Jesus did – especially in the face of persecution, and this is what you and I were called to do.
Paul writes in 1st Thessalonians 3:3, that he writes to comfort the saints:
“So that no one should be drawn aside by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to them.”
Meat eaters have to recall – sometimes in the heat of the trial – that we were called, we – listen – like Jesus, have been appointed unto suffering.
Peter gives us a sort of round about reason for this to be our calling:
“because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.”
Paul said something really interesting relative to this concept in Philippians 3:8-11:
8 . . . and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (READY?) and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (READY?) That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (and then he adds the really wild verse) If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”
As an aside, do a search or study on that last verse – “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”
It’s fascinating because Paul uses a word there “ex-ana-statias” which is not used anywhere else in the Bible to describe resurrection.
Anastasis is the typical word translated resurrection. Why Paul used exanastatius is unknown but the emphasis appears to mean he was humbly hoping to attain the resurrection of a believer, and not just participate in the general resurrection.
There is some considerable thought that those who are Christs, those who do submit to suffering of the flesh and will, may obtain a believers resurrection that is in some way superior to the general resurrection.
Such conjecture lead Joseph Smith to suggest that the best resurrections will include fully functioning reproductive parts.
It also caused Lily Thomlin to suggest that there is sexual union in hell but no sensation. (sorry)
ANYWAY . . .
Peter’s objective is to hold up (I really hate this phrase because of my religious upbringing) but his purpose is to hold up “the example of Christ” to those who are called to suffer, and to say to them that they should bear their trials in the same Spirit that He bore them.
The Greek word for example here in the King James is another word not found anywhere else in the New Testament.
The term is hupo grammas – and is a compound terms taken from hupo (meaning under) and grapho (write).
It refers to my favorite and most honed skill taken from my public school education – copying the writing of another.
Remember learning to write cursive? How the teacher gave us papers that had the letters printed on the line above and we had to copy (or try to copy) it on the line right below it – hundreds of times over?
Hupogrammas.
Taking Christ and His life and the imagery is obvious.
You know I want to say something I take very seriously. I do not want to die and find out I was copying the drawing of Jesus from the wrong person.
And so we, like the Bereans, seek and search the Word and its descriptions of Him so as to know how to hupogrammas or trace the pattern He has provided us of Himself.
This is one of the single most important values of possessing the Word. It opens our Spirit up to images and imagery of Him that otherwise would not be accessible to us – unless we had a direct revelation like say, Paul.
The more I read of Him the less things I can justify cutting away from the pattern that He left us.
I mean, even things that appear so cultural and of the time, like what He wore, ate, drank, and how He lived illustrate something for those who want to discover them.
Of course His characteristics, His approach, His responses, His teachings, His very words cannot be erased.
Adding to the imagery of Him being an illustration or pattern Peter adds that “we should follow in His steps.”
Walk His walk.
It’s an interesting combination of commands. The first is the noun – the person place of thing, to pattern ourselves after the pattern or the graphicos and the second is the verb, to walk.
Looking to animation, the first instruction is to be drawn or patterned after Him and then the second is to replicate that figure over and over given us movement.
Peter is not just telling us to be like Jesus, he is telling us to act like Jesus – which of course is through our love.
I am beyond convinced that every single one of us has the liberty to choose to what extent we will allow ourselves to be “drawn” or illustrated in His image and to what extent we will allow Him to lead our walk.
In the end the decisions are ours and we are all responsible before God for what we decided to do.
I don’t think we have it in our power to look upon another person and decide if they are patterned well or rightly enough either. It’s God’s job. All we can do is decide for ourselves, and support people, in love, for what they believe mirrors and honors Him in their lives.
I know this last part would be refuted by most people, but that’s okay. So after telling us to follow Him, Peter adds a reminder most of us know.
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
Now Peter goes into the heart of Jesus and after telling us to hupogrammo Him – he reminds us that in Him there was no deceit, there was no hypocrisy, there was not a shade of darkness.
First Peter tells us that we ought to suffer rebuke when we do well – that this is God pleasing.
Then he tells us to huppogrammo Jesus, who ONLY did well . . . and now he adds, yet . . .
23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
Herein lies the basis of all we do as Christians – Him – who He was and what He did.
Peter, who walked with Him says, “When he was reviled, He did not reviled back. When He suffered he threatened not.”
It’s interesting. There would times when He would say things like, “How are you going to escape punishment?” But He never said, “You’re going to hell,” as an imprecation against those who attacked Him. In fact He often blessed those who attacked.
He plainly said He did not come to judge or condemn the world but to save it? Drawn after Him are we not in the same boat?
He was openly criticized by the most influential of the Nation. It occurred publicly, they sought to alienate people from Him and His influence, they used biting remarks and inference about His person, but Peter says He did not
“revile those who had reproached him.”
When I have taught through the gospel accounts I have suggested that some of Jesus responses have been obviously biting. I think I must have interpreted this remarks incorrectly based on Peter’s words here.
And he would have known. So context, word choice and tone escaping me I have assigned to His person false attributes.
I’m sorry Lord.
Certainly, He asked that justice be done. And He demanded to know that if he had spoken evil it be proven – but beyond that He did NOT revile when reviled and when He was suffering He didn’t lash out with threats.
Amazing.
But, what did He do? Peter says:
“But He committed Himself (meaning His cause and situation) to Him that judgeth righteously.”
I would LOVE to reach the point where I commit ALL THINGS to Jesus and trust that He will handle them.
This means I hold my tongue – especially regarding other people.
That when I am frustrated I let it go to Him.
That when I am slighted I give it to Him.
That when I am slapped, I give it all for Him to judge.
Of course the whole point is if He who had every right to revile and judge and threaten when harmed didn’t . . . neither should we.
But Peter doesn’t stop there (verse 24) but speaking of Jesus says:
24 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.
The line, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body,” means He didn’t offer up an animal sacrifice for our sins, like the former high priests would do in the temple, but in His own person, in His own sinless body He bore our sins . . .
Where did He bear our sins?
On the tree. On the cross. This is a tremendous passage for those who believe He bore our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane. His chief apostle Peter tells us right here where the bearing was done – on the cross (of course on a tree means on wood and hearkens back to the Old Testament).
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, THAT . . . (for the purpose of, so THAT . . .)”
“We” – (those who were called) “being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
“We being . . . should live.”
“We being . . . should live.”
The little combination of words perfectly lay out the order. And in order to appropriately understand them we have to start with “we BEING.”
We are. We be. We be what? Dead to sin.
By virtue of Jesus having been suspended on a cross and bearing our sins, He vicariously paid for and DIED with our sin on His person.
Suppose we live in an apartment full of rats. Nothing has worked getting rid of them. Nothing on earth and every measure has been attempted.
These things have made you utterly miserable. You can’t sleep. You afraid to eat. You refuse to entertain or be hospitable because they have overrun your life.
One day a guy comes in and opens up this giant white shirt that he’s wearing and all the rats not only in the apartment itself but the whole complex, city, state, nation and world come crawling out of the darkest recesses and into his shirt.
And then when the last one climbs up his leg and makes a home on Him, He buttons the shirt up, walks down to a pier, and jumps, taking every single dirty rat with Him, down into the deep where He and all the rats drown.
The rats are gone. There are no more rats. They are all dead. You used to fear moving. Walking. Eating. The dark. All of it.
And you are now completely free of rats.
Of course so it is with SIN.
Because Jesus died bearing our sin with Him, we are as dead to sin as we would be dead to the existence of rats.
Rats are gone.
They are all dead with Christ.
Our sin is gone – nailed and buried with Christ. As a result we too are DEAD to sin. The line dead to sin in the Greek is better translated, “to be absent from sin.”
How could you be in the company of a rat if ALL THE RATS were drown?
How could sin overwhelm or invade or present itself in your life if they were all taken on by Him on the cross?
We are dead to sin just like we would be dead to rats if they were all taken and drown.
Did you catch that word – “IF.” IF they were all taken a drown. You see, if a person starts to live as if sin still exists they are making the sacrificial work of the man who drown them all null and void.
And if you believe that they are still around you will live as though they are still around.
And if you live as if sin is still around, you will begin to live NOT in faith (that Jesus paid it all) but in fear. And His work for us will be rendered less and less effective.
Does sin exist? Only one. Faithlessness. Not placing it all in His hands and trusting that He really took it all away.
All the rats. Gone. There is no rat remaining. And if they are truly all gone we are truly free.
“We being” . . . free, saved, sinless . . . “should be.”
With all the rats gone that once trapped and manipulated us we being (completely free of them) “should be.”
Fearless.
Full of faith in Him
Loving
Carefree
Hospitable
As He was, as He walked.
Go back to thinking you can sin, or that He didn’t take them all away for you, you will cease “being,” and therefore you will fail in the “should be” category.
All of us are absent from sins. There is no purpose under God’s glowing sun for any believer to be focused on sin. They are gone by and through Christ who bore them on a tree.
It is immature faithlessness to look over our shoulder or to examine every action as if sin remains – just as if we spent time searching for rats once all of them have been drown.
Instead, being free, we should now live for Him, through Him, as Him to our neighbor.
Sin ought not influence us any more than rats should influence us once they have all been removed from the entire earth!
The influence of sin in our lives is an foolish as someone wandering about today afraid of T-Rex.
T Rex is gone. So is sin. But the fail, the waste, the loss is time and attention spent on looking for T Rex and protecting ourselves from it, and building fortifications, and weapons.
Because he’s gone.
Paul said in Romans 6:
How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
So being effectually separated from sin–it no longer influences us—“we should,” live unto God – as Christ.
“We being” . . . (dead to sin) “Should live unto righteousness.”
I read this as a natural result and not a condemnation. “Dude, all the rats are gone. Be free. Live well! There is no fear and no reason to judge or be angry or hate or not forgive. Be free! Live well.
And then Peter adds, referring to Isaiah 53 and its prophesy of Jesus, reminds us:
“By whose stripes ye are healed.”
It’s like saying to the rat infested apartment dweller:
“Live free, my friend, you have been given new life by His drowning.”
In other words, Christians remember, you have been healed by His taking your sin upon Him and dying. By the stripes He endured you have been healed, with sin often being likened to disease, by His stripes you have been cleansed of disease.
And a final reminder
25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
Again Peter seems to appeal to Isaiah 53:6 which says, “All we like sheep have gone astray.”
“But we are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop (episkopas – overseer) of your souls.”
The phrase returned unto the Shepherd is a bit problematic to me because it conveys this idea that we were all His from the beginning.
But the Greek is translated turned just as it is translated returned and that solves the problem and agrees with the context of the rest of the New Testament.
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