Living as Exiles - 1 Peter 3:13-15

We have been studying the book of 1 Peter for some time now. I had no intention of going at this pace, but as I have studied the word there is so much to unpack, so much to bask in and really enjoy. There are things here that we need to know - that are fundamental to who we are as believers.

My series is called living as exiles - coming straight from the beginning of the book 1Peter 1:1

1 Peter 1:1 CSB

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ: To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen

Peter was a disciple of the the Lord Jesus Christ. He walked with him, lived with him, dined with him throughout his public ministry. Peter studied the Lord, he was corrected often by the Lord. He was loved by the Lord. He knew what it meant to have a relationship with God. After the death of the Lord, Peter went out to minister himself, planting churches, leading people - it is from all of that experience that he writes to us.

We believe that the bible is the word of God, that it is inspired by Him, for His people. We commit ourselves to the faithful study of it, and to allowing it to shape who we are. From that perspective, lets open the word together.

Don’t Fear, Honor God, Share The Gospel

1 Peter 3:13–15 CSB

Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Let’s pray, and ask the Lord to give us understanding.

This passage opens with these words - Who then will harm you

If you were to read this passage by itself, just that first verse, you might say - The Bible says that no one will harm me! And you will be disillusioned.

You can pull this one verse out of context and make the Bible say exactly what you want it to say, in this case, that you are free from any threat of harm as long as you are a good person.

This is one of very many places in the word that we can do this, we can take a verse and say HA! I’ve got it all figured out, who will harm me if I am devoted to being a good person? No one, obviously.

But then you live in this life, and you know that there ARE people that want to harm you.. in fact there are people who succeed at harming you. There are people that get so far under your skin that you lose your actual mind.

And then what happens? We cast away the word, and the God that wrote it because what we think it says - it doesn’t say. We must be careful to study the word of God in context, pulling from it the meaning that was written, not our own.

This isn’t about what the Bible means to me - its what the Bible actually means. Lets look at it together, closer this time.

Who, then… points back to the verses that come before.

1 Peter 3:10 CSB

For the one who wants to love life and to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit,

1 Peter 3:11–12 CSB

and let him turn away from evil and do what is good. Let him seek peace and pursue it, because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil.

So here we have a recipe for a good person, a righteous person, and then in verse 12, we see the result.

A person who pursues good things, an honest person, a righteous person - the Lord hears that person, the Lord sees that person. So all of a sudden verse 13 isn’t about how awesome I am that since I am pursuing good - but a declaration of who God is and His posture towards us.

We see from this verse a reality that God is sovereign. That He rules and reigns. That he is in control. And as a result of that, those of us who pursue righteousness are under His care. And we should pursue righteousness! Proverbs 11:27

Proverbs 11:27 CSB

The one who searches for what is good seeks favor, but if someone looks for trouble, it will come to him.

That recipe is laid out for us in 10-12.

Be honest

Turn from evil.

Do what is good.

Seek and pursue Peace.

We talked a little bit about that list last week.

Good is not a natural consequence from turning from evil. you can turn from evil and then do nothing.

It is not enough to wake up in the morning and decide not to rob a bank today. We are told to pursue good things. To do good things.

Seeking and pursuing peace requires effort. Sometimes there must be a battle before the peace can happen. We are to pursue it.

And through that, Peter suggests - no one will be able to harm you.

Not that people won’t want to or that suddenly you are going to live a carefree easy life. He seems to echo Isaiah 54:7

Isaiah 54:17 CSB

No weapon formed against you will succeed, and you will refute any accusation raised against you in court. This is the heritage of the Lord’s servants, and their vindication is from me.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

No weapon formed against you will succeed.

There will be attempts on your life, there will be hard times. There will be struggles and temptations. But we are reminded of who God is, and his posture in all of this.

John 16:33 CSB

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

That is the promise of our Lord.

Vs 14 continues this thought process to explain

1 Peter 3:14 CSB

But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated,

Peter has established the promise of the Lord. That we have nothing to worry about, because who God is, and then he says - But even if you should suffer.

We know from the rest of scripture that suffering is part of the deal. But I want to take a closer look at it. Because on the surface, suffering is uncomfortable - but as believers there are promises attached.

1 Peter 2:20 CSB

For what credit is there if when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.

Enduring suffering brings favor with God

1 Peter 4:16 CSB

But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in having that name.

Suffering gives us an opportunity to Glorify the Lord - in a special way. It is often a good reminder of what God has accomplished and the hope that we have in Him. Sometimes, when things are going well - we forget about God. We forget about the lowly times.

1 Peter 1:6–7 CSB

You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Suffering becomes a test for us, a time of refinement. an abundance of Money, alcohol, and suffering all have the same effect on people - they reveal your true nature. Suffering has the ability to become a refinement, a time to burn everything else off and focus on the Lord and what he has done for us eternally.

Suffering may result in praise - like the disciples when they found themselves imprisoned.

1 Peter 5:10 CSB

The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while.

Christ rewards suffering… with restoration, establishment, strength, and support. With or without suffering that is where I want to be.

Peter says you might suffer. He established who God is, who you are in Him. And then he says - yeah, you might suffer.

1 Peter 3:14 CSB

But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated,

And he says that if you do - if you suffer for righteousness. You are blessed.

I would add here that we have other opportunities for suffering than we are pursuing righteousness. Sometimes we suffer because we make bad decisions, not because we were fervently serving the Lord.

Maybe I’m alone in that?

IF you suffer for righteousness - you are blessed. First of all - with all of those things that we already mentioned that are tied to suffering. Refinement, Opportunity to worship, restoration and establishement.. all of those things, but there is more to it than even that.

1 Peter 3:9–12 CSB

not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing. For the one who wants to love life and to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, and let him turn away from evil and do what is good. Let him seek peace and pursue it, because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil.

Peter tells us that part of this whole equation, as we pursue righteousness - is the incredible blessing that we are under the watchful care of the Lord. That God - the creator of the universe, is LOOKING AT YOU. HE IS LISTENING to you.

My kids repeat themselves.

God is aware of my needs, he is aware of my strife, my struggle, My lord is aware of my pain.. he is aware of who I am. And he cares.

1 Peter 4:14 CSB

If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Anointed preacher? Nah. Getting loud and adding huff to the end of your sentences doesn’t make one anointed. Ive seen a lot of terrible preachers be called anointed because they were full of charisma.. only to watch them fall from grace.

The Bible says that if you suffer - you truly are anointed. That the Spirit of Glory and of God rests on you.

In all of these passages Peter is echoing the Lord.

Matthew 5:11–12 CSB

“You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

What do we know so far? That we are safe from actual harm - that we may suffer - and that if we do, we will be blessed. Lets go on, because it is starting to get good.

1 Peter 3:14 CSB

But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated,

You are blessed - Do not fear them.

Peter says we don’t have to be afraid of suffering, of those who would persecute you. We don’t have to be afraid of anybody - or anything. What is the worst thing that can happen? We die? That just means I get to go home!

1 Peter 3:15 CSB

but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Peter is sharing his pastoral heart here.. he is talking to a group of people that he knows is suffering already, and a people who will endure further suffering later. And in this passage - he is quoting Isaiah again. It is fun to see these tie ins in scripture.. the single message that is given over hundreds of pages… Isa 8:12-13

Isaiah 8:12–13 CSB

Do not call everything a conspiracy that these people say is a conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified. You are to regard only the Lord of Armies as holy. Only he should be feared; only he should be held in awe.

Peter knew this scripture - it is possible that he had been studying the book of Isaiah himself recently - he has quoted it several times in this letter so far. And from it he pulls this encouragement… Study the word, so that you can share it with the people that need it.

That was where Peter was - he let the word of God flow through him to bring hope to others, and helping them put things in the right order. And that is what we have been working towards in this church, right?

We want to Glorify God - equip the saints - and share the gospel. He prepares that same kind of message for the recipients of this letter.

He said to those people - and to us, knowing our situations - we don’t have to be afraid! We don’t have to fear. We don’t fear death. We don’t fear the enemy. We don’t fear the world.

To accomplish that we put God in his rightful place of honor.

Don’t Fear. Honor God. Share The Gospel.

The last part of this verse - says to be ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you.

There is an assumption here - that people are going to ask.

Why? Because hope is uncommon, but you should have it in abundance. Hope is invisible - but you should be covered by it.

Hope is your lack of fear, it is is your faith put on display. It is a right understanding of the Lord.

How we respond to suffering puts our heart on display

Do we have hope? Well.. how do we respond to things? Do we rightly value who God is?

It might go something like this:

“You mean - you aren’t worried about layoffs?”

You mean - you aren’t concerned about the war?

You mean - you don’t worry about?

When they ask? What do you say?

We are only christians because we have hope. We don’t have to worry about the rest.

Your answer doesn’t have to be extravagant.

My answer is Jesus.

I want to end with this.

In just this book we see:

1 Peter 1:20–21 CSB

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Jesus was made manifest.

1 Peter 2:24 CSB

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Jesus bore our sins.

1 Peter 1:3 CSB

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

Jesus was resurrected.

1 Peter 3:22 CSB

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

Jesus has all authority.

1 Peter 1:13 CSB

Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is coming back.

1 Peter 3:18 CSB

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

Jesus is taking me with him.

1 Peter 1:7 CSB

so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.