Did Peter Really Say That?
For years I have started and ended my day with scripture. Many times it has had a great effect on how my day has gone. It has also caused many sleepless nights. Invariably when I want to sleep and grab a bible or open an app to read a little before bed, God grabs me, shakes me and forces me to think. Such is the case tonight.
I Peter 3 is an amazing chapter that many people want to skip over because it begins with that pesky stuff about how God wants a marriage to work. You know, wives submitting and being called the weaker partner. Nevermind that these verses are often misinterpreted, I want to talk about something else.
Beginning in verse 8, Peter throws out a challenge that is difficult. It is very counterintuitive to today’s culture, even in the church. He says that ALL of us are to be like-minded and sympathetic. He says that we must love one another, be compassionate and humble. AND we are not to repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, we are repay evil with blessing, because to this we were called so that we may inherit a blessing.
Think about that in today’s culture, both spiritual and secular. We are ALL to be like-minded. It is hard to find 2 people who agree on 10 things, much less everyone being like-minded on everything. Love? Do we love everyone? If we do we certainly have a funny way of showing it sometimes. Are we compassionate with plight of others? Are we truly humble? I mean these challenges are tough!! Aren’t they? But that last one is one that I fear most of us fall into. Do we repay evil with evil? Do we repay insults with insults? It sure is hard not to isn’t it? I mean, someone does something we think is just evil and what is our first response? To love them? To be compassionate toward them? Probably not. Our first response is to either shun them or get even. How about when someone insults you? What is your first reaction? It is usually, “Oh yeah? I know you are but what am I?” Rather than trying to be a blessing to those who hurt us or others, we want to be judge, jury and executioner. None of those are our jobs.
Peter then gives reasoning for this challenge quoting a beautiful passage from Psalm 34. He wants us to know that God loves us, He is righteous and good, He hears our prayers, but He is also wants His people to live His way and not try to take on roles they were never meant to take on.
One of my favorite passages in this chapter brought me to a realization this evening. It is not enough to know what you believe about your faith. You must also know why you believe it. Peter, point blanks, says that we must always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope that we have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
We must know why we believe what we believe. And that doesn’t mean. “because my grandpa said so and that’s good enough for me!” If you don’t know why you are a Christian and why you believe what you believe, you need to do some serious soul searching. We should never take the word of man in our walk with God. We need to see what God himself has to say. Too many times we take what others say they “know” about something as the truth. Rather than taking what “they” say about a subject, go to the source and find out for yourself.
Peter also says that when we do share our faith with others, we do so with respect and gentleness. Wow! That is a novel idea. Respect the faith of others and be gentle. I thought we were supposed to beat them over the head with our Bibles and tell them they are going to hell! Once again, we try to take on roles God never intended us to take. I am confident of this, God will not ask my or your opinion on who goes to heaven or hell. And quite honestly, I wouldn’t want Him to give an opinion anyway, because I only know one aspect of their life. I only know part of the story.
The chapter closes with some pretty tough verses to understand. There is a lot of controversy over verse 19 and where Jesus went and when. There is a great symbol of what baptism is, which sparks more debate over the method and necessity of being baptized. But nestled in those verses of argument is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.
Verse 18 says “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.”
Christ died ONCE FOR SINS! There is no more need for animal sacrifices. No more blood of bulls and goats. The perfect sacrifice was made. Why? To bring us to God! WOW! The perfect died for the imperfect, the righteous for the unrighteous so that we may be with God!
Words cannot describe the love Jesus has for us. And I can’t help but feel, in this year of the most negative and nasty elections in the history of our country, that we all need to read this chapter again. We need love, humility, compassion. We need to repay insults and evil with blessings. We need to come together and be like-minded. This is not only for the church, but for our nation as well.
Where does it start? It starts with you. You show these God attributes in your life. Stop being hateful to those you don’t agree with. Stop talking about people. Stop insulting people. Reach out with humility and compassion to those you have harbored ill will with. Stop trying to do God’s job and take care of doing yours.
It is high time that the people of God become an influence in the world once again. It is high time that people look to the church for answers instead of false teachers and drugs. But how can they look to the church if they church doesn’t possess the qualities Peter challenges her to have in I Peter 3? It all starts with you.
God bless and good night.
I Peter 3 is an amazing chapter that many people want to skip over because it begins with that pesky stuff about how God wants a marriage to work. You know, wives submitting and being called the weaker partner. Nevermind that these verses are often misinterpreted, I want to talk about something else.
Beginning in verse 8, Peter throws out a challenge that is difficult. It is very counterintuitive to today’s culture, even in the church. He says that ALL of us are to be like-minded and sympathetic. He says that we must love one another, be compassionate and humble. AND we are not to repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, we are repay evil with blessing, because to this we were called so that we may inherit a blessing.
Think about that in today’s culture, both spiritual and secular. We are ALL to be like-minded. It is hard to find 2 people who agree on 10 things, much less everyone being like-minded on everything. Love? Do we love everyone? If we do we certainly have a funny way of showing it sometimes. Are we compassionate with plight of others? Are we truly humble? I mean these challenges are tough!! Aren’t they? But that last one is one that I fear most of us fall into. Do we repay evil with evil? Do we repay insults with insults? It sure is hard not to isn’t it? I mean, someone does something we think is just evil and what is our first response? To love them? To be compassionate toward them? Probably not. Our first response is to either shun them or get even. How about when someone insults you? What is your first reaction? It is usually, “Oh yeah? I know you are but what am I?” Rather than trying to be a blessing to those who hurt us or others, we want to be judge, jury and executioner. None of those are our jobs.
Peter then gives reasoning for this challenge quoting a beautiful passage from Psalm 34. He wants us to know that God loves us, He is righteous and good, He hears our prayers, but He is also wants His people to live His way and not try to take on roles they were never meant to take on.
One of my favorite passages in this chapter brought me to a realization this evening. It is not enough to know what you believe about your faith. You must also know why you believe it. Peter, point blanks, says that we must always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope that we have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
We must know why we believe what we believe. And that doesn’t mean. “because my grandpa said so and that’s good enough for me!” If you don’t know why you are a Christian and why you believe what you believe, you need to do some serious soul searching. We should never take the word of man in our walk with God. We need to see what God himself has to say. Too many times we take what others say they “know” about something as the truth. Rather than taking what “they” say about a subject, go to the source and find out for yourself.
Peter also says that when we do share our faith with others, we do so with respect and gentleness. Wow! That is a novel idea. Respect the faith of others and be gentle. I thought we were supposed to beat them over the head with our Bibles and tell them they are going to hell! Once again, we try to take on roles God never intended us to take. I am confident of this, God will not ask my or your opinion on who goes to heaven or hell. And quite honestly, I wouldn’t want Him to give an opinion anyway, because I only know one aspect of their life. I only know part of the story.
The chapter closes with some pretty tough verses to understand. There is a lot of controversy over verse 19 and where Jesus went and when. There is a great symbol of what baptism is, which sparks more debate over the method and necessity of being baptized. But nestled in those verses of argument is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.
Verse 18 says “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.”
Christ died ONCE FOR SINS! There is no more need for animal sacrifices. No more blood of bulls and goats. The perfect sacrifice was made. Why? To bring us to God! WOW! The perfect died for the imperfect, the righteous for the unrighteous so that we may be with God!
Words cannot describe the love Jesus has for us. And I can’t help but feel, in this year of the most negative and nasty elections in the history of our country, that we all need to read this chapter again. We need love, humility, compassion. We need to repay insults and evil with blessings. We need to come together and be like-minded. This is not only for the church, but for our nation as well.
Where does it start? It starts with you. You show these God attributes in your life. Stop being hateful to those you don’t agree with. Stop talking about people. Stop insulting people. Reach out with humility and compassion to those you have harbored ill will with. Stop trying to do God’s job and take care of doing yours.
It is high time that the people of God become an influence in the world once again. It is high time that people look to the church for answers instead of false teachers and drugs. But how can they look to the church if they church doesn’t possess the qualities Peter challenges her to have in I Peter 3? It all starts with you.
God bless and good night.
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