1 Peter 3:18-22 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”
Last Sunday, Pastor Kyle continued through our church’s Sermon series through the book of first Peter with a Father’s Day message. He pointed out that in the Bible, we fine the doctrinal teaching of the “Trinity” principle of the Heavenly Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost or Spirit; on God in three persons. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to ready with a defense of the faith answer in order to give an account to anyone who asks for the reason for the gospel hope that that is within us, doing it with great kindness and respect. Verses 16-17 talks about how not everyone will take that message well, but our calling as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ is that when people ask, to speak and put our answer out to them, regardless whether they are going to receive it or reject it. Jesus modelled rejection for us and His message of forgiveness, redemption and salvation remains the same and saves souls still today. It is God’s plan.
In 1 Peter 3, we see Jesus’ traits that reflect the heavenly Father and shows us how we should live as disciples (student/followers) of Christ, our Lord and our life. The first trait is that Jesus suffered so that we would be safe. Christ suffered and died upon the Cross for our sins to bring us safely home to God. Safety often comes at the cost of someone else’s sacrifice and suffering. Between safety, wisdom and impact, we have to make decisions as to what is best in a given set of circumstances. Freedom isn’t free and neither is safety; it costs someone’s sacrificial service as the good of another. If everyone only did what was safe in their life, then nobody would do anything extraordinary. Jesus suffered to bring us spiritual and eternal life., but we must accept this gift of God and take His hand.
We are, figuratively, hanging on the edge of a cliff in this fallen world. The reality of our mortality is evident and clear today, and we see that we really are not safe on planet Earth. It is a lost in sin dying world, but the Christian is secure in this world because they have taken the hand of God unto His blessed assurance in Christ. Everyone is truly one breath away from eternity. The myth that society has bought into is that we are safe, but when we took an honest look at everything around us, we realize that there that there must be something more than what we experience on this side of Heaven. Jesus suffered on the Cross to bring us safely off the cliff of sure death and bring us into the blessed assurance and certain hope of eternal life. Jesus took a beating unto death for you! He suffered on the Cross so you would be saved and could be safe.
The second trait is that Jesus has always been patient when we are on the wrong path. We may wander and get lost, stumble and fall, but the point is God’s patience. The Bible story of the global flood that destroyed all life on land, except for Noah’s family of eight in the Ack, was not about God annihilating life on earth because of sin. It was about God saving the world. God is patient with us today, but those who choose to reject their Almighty Creator and His sovereign reign and rule as Lord come to the point when God gives them over to their hardened hearts, their godless desires and their chosen sinful ways. God continues to wait on us time after time, not desiring any one to perish but to come to repentance and return to Him through Christ. We know exactly what we are doing when we get off track by our selfish and sinful choices. God isn’t fooled by us, and we are not really fooling anyone else either. Sometimes, we think that our path to happiness will get us to where we want to go faster. The reality is that we start looking around for shortcuts and end up shorting ourselves.
Let's continue PAstor Kyle's message on the traits of Jesus in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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