Author: missionspaul

Having given instructions to how to live under authority, slaves with masters and living in marriage, Peter now closes off his household code with the wide-ranging ‘how to live within community’.

“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. ⁹ Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. ¹¹ They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. ¹² For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3 v 8-12)

Here are 6 qualities that we all should strive for. They should be in the centre of all our decisions and our responses and our ambitions. The Church is a body of sinners saved by grace. I accept that. But we must all do far more to be a good person as the Spirit helps us.

1. Be like-minded: if the Church is divided what will happen when the world attacks the church?
2. Be sympathetic: if the Church cannot think less of themselves and stand in the place of the pain of another how will the world ever see what Christ has done?
3. Be loving: if the Church does not show love then how will the world know love?
4. Be compassionate: if the Church cannot weep over the predicament of others then how will the world know the tender heart of the Father?
5. Be humble: if the ego of the Church drives it to humiliate others instead of humbling itself then how is it any different to the world?
6. Be a blessing: if the Church retaliates and cannot be gracious to those who hurt them then how will the world see the blessing of God on the Church?

Whether this applies to you or not you will know this passage has caused much arguments and sadly pain as Christians take Peter’s counsel and apply it to suit their desires.

Peter didn’t write it for the purpose or intent for harm at all.

He is writing a section teaching essentially about what to do with the freedom Christ has given the believer. Firstly under human authority, finding the right attitude in life and then being a slave. He then moves onto another illustration of our relationships in life.

He uses the imagery of a wife who becomes a believer but the husband doesn’t. How should the wife live with someone who doesn’t share her faith?

He then speaks to the Christian husband who is wanting his prayers to be answered and says how he lives with his wife (whether she is Christian or not) is key to that prayer life.

So here is the passage:

“Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, ² when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. ³ Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. ⁴ Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. ⁵ For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, ⁶ like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. ⁷ Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” (1 Peter 3 v 1-7)

Some observations …

To the Christian wife

1. There isn’t any encouragement to leave.
2. There isn’t instruction to speak the gospel to them.
3. There isn’t any command to view their marriage as less important to God.
4. There isn’t justification to not participate and give into the marriage.
5. There isn’t a need to fear.

To the Christian husband

1. If you want God to listen to you then make sure you listen to your wife, think of her when you make decisions, have her at the centre of how you live.
2. If you want God to listen to you then treat her differently to how the world objectifies women.
3. If you want God to listen to your prayers then view her as your equal for that is what she is according to Christ.

As an explanation for how slaves should respond to harsh treatment Peter then uses the example of Jesus.

This is not a call to simply put up with abuse, that is not the focus, but it is to highlight the importance of trusting God on those bad days ‘who judges justly’. It is to be like Jesus.

“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2 v 22-25)

We know that the Bible tells us not only does God ‘judge justly’ but that there is a day of reckoning, a vindication day, a judgment day. But what of today? What of now, this next 24 hours? How do I handle this bad day better?

Peter gives us the example of Jesus.

Here is The Message: “He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step. He never did one thing wrong, Not once said anything amiss. They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right.”

He didn’t do wrong to get out of the bad situation.

He didn’t twist the truth.

He didn’t retaliate.

He didn’t threaten.

He let God sort it out. He knew He would.

But there is more. This was not just some passive example to us. Trusting his Father was far more than that. It was to produce something incredible for all of us.

Drawing from Isaiah 53 and the Suffering Servant, we are reminded of the beauty of what Jesus did for us.

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Peter is then saying look what Jesus accomplished through His suffering.

Today? Are you going through some tough stuff? How do we handle the bad days better? We look to Jesus and we try and do what He did.

• He trusted God the Father and so should we.
• His suffering accomplished the amazing work of God and so can our bad day be used of God as we handle it better.

There’s nothing quite like injustice to make us angry. Working for a harsh manager can become unbearable and we must not keep silent on certain issues. How does a Christian respond when they know absolutely they are in the right and their manager is in the wrong?

We are moving further into this code of conduct that Peter is writing. We get to the work place. To something that is hard for us to get our minds around: slavery.

Slavery seems to have been universal at this time. There are estimates of up to 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire. Many were well-treated but many were equally abused. They included not only domestic slaves and manual labourers but educated people as well. The problem Peter was addressing was that it seemed that some Christian slaves were believing that if God made them free then it meant they could run away from their masters and Peter says ‘no you can’t do that.’

“Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2 v 18-21)

Though this is difficult to read because we all believe slavery is abhorrent it does have teaching that we need to apply to our lives, especially in serving/working for people in authority over us:-

1. If you are a bad employee and the consequence is punishment then you deserve it and God is not glorified in your life.
2. If you recognise that you are actually serving God and not man then if your work becomes difficult because you are unjustly treated then this is a God matter.
3. The outworking of revering God is the ability to submit to difficult managers. When others see Christians doing this they are likely to wonder where do they get the strength to do so?
4. We will adopt this submissive attitude because our model is Jesus Christ and our lives will point to what He has done for all. He suffered sinful treatment to atone for sin.
5. To walk in the steps of Jesus is to respond well to tough treatment even when you’re in the right.

I read an email this week forwarded to me from one person to another. It was vile and vitriolic and I wondered how the person was who it was addressed to.

I was shocked that this was not from some juvenile delinquent but a respected member of their community.

I was even more shocked that it was from a Christian leader within the Church addressed to their own Christian leader.

Clearly they need to go back to the classroom to learn how to hold the right attitude.

It is hard to understand a list of conduct dated over 2,000 years ago. We are in 2023 how can it be still for us today? I think we are helped knowing that life for the Christian in Peter’s day was significantly more difficult than for us in this Western world of ours.

“For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honour the emperor. (1 Peter 2 v 15-17)

Here are the 6 attitudes:

1. Do good – even when you are criticised.
2. Live as free – but still pay your taxes and obey the law.
3. Show respect – on all people not just the nice ones.
4. Love the Church – they are God’s family, they belong to Him.
5. Fear God – walk under His gaze even when you write an email.
6. Honour the ruler – emperor, king, government, even if they kill Christians as Peter’s emperor did, for it is the office you honour not necessarily the ruler.

Today choose the right attitude to live.

These people lived under the Roman oppressive regime which was particularly difficult as a follower of Jesus. This was not a democratic society nor was it a godly one either. It would be very easy to copy the Jewish thought and not obey a non-Jewish leader but Peter tells them that it doesn’t matter who they are they should obey. (The qualifier is always Acts 4:19 where we never submit to something if it means we are disobedient to God.)

Like Paul, Peter has a household code which covers all the social settings at the time. In each one he is basically saying ‘don’t fight but submit.’ Living under authorities; slaves and masters; wives towards husbands; husbands towards wives and everyone in the Christian community. That’s what is ahead of us in this letter. But for now …

“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.” (1 Peter 2 v 13-14)

Who do we submit to?

‘To every human authority’. Every human authority. Human authority. Every.

Whether you like them or not.

Whether you recognise them or not.

Whether you voted for them or not.

The highest authority to the lowest who carry out the orders.

Why?

1. For the Lord’s sake. It doesn’t matter whether you agree or disagree God has ordered authority within society.
2. They are sent by him. God has sent them into society, whether you would have sent them or not. If Peter believed the Roman Emperor was sent by God then we can believe ‘every human authority’ is sent by God too.
3. The purpose of order. So that the wrong is punished and the right is rewarded.

If this is how it is with the Roman Empire and with our governments today; if this is for every human authority in our social settings so in education, social services, healthcare etc. Then it is also for the Church. It applies to the church. Don’t fight but submit.

Beautiful without make-up and a face-lift.

Beautiful without super-white teeth and hair replacements.

Beautiful without Nike, Louis Vuitton and Hermes.

Live beautifully, act beautifully.

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2 v 12)

Peter uses the word ‘good’ but it seems rather weak though the translation from ‘kalos’ is its meaning.

However it means this, ‘beautiful, good, excellent in its nature, genuine, honourable’ and it also means, ‘handsome, admirable, beautiful to look at’.

Ever met an ugly Christian?

It has nothing to do with how they look. But how they speak, how they respond and their decisive actions in the world they live.

In Peter’s generation the followers of Jesus would be accused of many things. For example the word, ‘atheists’ was first used for the Christians because they would not worship idols. In our world we still struggle with wanting to fit into the neighbourhood and work place and yet not compromise on our behaviour. Peter says in this difficult world of ours, be beautiful.

Can people see the beauty of Jesus in you? Can they hear the words of Jesus from your lips? Can they see the servanthood of Jesus in your actions?

This is the meaning of kalos. It is kalos that will lead them to become Christians themselves and not face judgment but His glory.

Be beautiful today. On social media be real but be beautiful. Let your world see you and give glory to God.

Having reminded these suffering believers of who they were Peter now tells them what they must do.

The temptation in the midst of suffering is to withdraw, to hide away and become a hermit. Peter gives instructions so that his friends (and that’s what they are to him) do not do this.

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2 v 11)

There is a war that is hidden yet is more destructive than any disease or attack on your body. It is the war against the soul, the inner man.

I recently sat with a man who for decades of his life had battled this inner war. This onslaught will not stop until it has taken everything. The man has lost his testimony, his trophies of success, his family, he is a shell of what he was and yet the war will continue until every ounce of life is taken.

‘Sinful desires’ are the grasping, reaching, longing, chasing after false dreams, deceptive satisfaction, poisonous fruit, which doesn’t give us to us what we hoped for but rather in turn attacks us with a vengeance in order to steal, kill and destroy our lives. And before we begin to itemise these sinful desires in order to thank God we do not commit them, it is not that simple. The Message helps us to understand by saying, ‘Don’t indulge your ego.’ How and why do people behind pulpits and on pedestals fall? The answer is found within the ego. “I deserve this, I need this, I am justified to do this, I have to have this, this will benefit not just me but the whole, I need to step into a moment of fantasy, I need to hide in another world, I must find happiness, excitement, I need more ‘drugs’, I need a higher high.’ Ego.

This is why Peter tells us that we do not belong here. We pass through. We are foreigners, strangers, exiles, sojourners. There is nothing you need that will be found in this world. The answer is of course Jesus.

How is your soul today? What do you think you deserve?

Are you in this war that Peter describes? The man I spoke with had countless opportunities to tell a close friend, to get help, but his ego prevented him. His ego trapped him. His ego stole all that he was.

Watch your ego. Kill it before it kills you.

Some days we need to be reminded of who we are as Christians. In fact much pain in the world is exactly that: who am I? In our lifetime we have begun to use words to describe people in ways our previous generation never envisaged: ‘them’; ‘non-binary’; asking the question who am I has never been more important.

Coming aside from gender identity and the changing of our bodies to fit who we think we really are: what does God think of you today? Who does God say you are beyond your identity because whatever we change about our bodies our soul is the same. Only God can do surgery on our soul.

Drawing from what God said to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, from the prophet Isaiah and also the story of Gomer found in the prophet Hosea.

Basically Peter says this, ‘No matter what is going on for you, no matter how difficult your life is right now, all of what God said to His people back then is true for you who believe and follow Jesus.’ Isn’t that amazing?!

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2 v 9-10)

So let’s unpack that a bit with encouragement for you:

1. He hasn’t made a mistake with your life. You are a chosen people.
2. He has called you to reign with Him as the King. You are a royal priesthood.
3. He has set you aside to think, speak and act differently to the world you live in. A holy nation.
4. You belong … to Him! God’s special possession.
5. You are called … to Him! Called out of darkness into his wonderful light.
6. You have an identity … in Him! People of God.
7. You have mercy for your undeserved restoration and transformation. Have received mercy.

The work of Christ was that the building upon Him as the cornerstone would be a house of worship for both Jew and Gentile.

However as we are fully aware the Jews didn’t want to share the house with the Gentiles. They either wanted Judaism to have a face-lift or definitely 2 houses built. There was no appetite for union. There still isn’t.

But these Old Testament prophecies which Peter quotes from are for both Gentile and Jew.

So the cornerstone which is the foundation for life becomes the falling stone which crushes the future because of offence.

“Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.” (1 Peter 2 v 7-8)

If this letter was written between AD62-64 then within 8 years the Romans had entered the city of Jerusalem, flattened it and then led the religious leaders bound in chains into foreign nations. They came under God’s judgment. The stone had fallen on them just as Jesus had also said (Matthew 21)

It is far better to make Jesus the cornerstone of your life. There is a key place in all our lives.

Is Jesus occupying the place of huge importance? Is he in the decision making part? If he is not Lord then you may stumble over him and worst still you may be crushed by Him.

Be careful what you become offended by.