Transcript

One author pointed out that a high number of successful entrepreneurs suffer with dyslexia. He then quoted a neuroscientist who asked a gathering of very successful businesspeople how many of them had been diagnosed with a learning disorder. Half of these individuals raised their hands. This author went on to suggest two possibilities for their unusual success in the business world. They succeeded in spite of their disabilities through determination and creativity; or “they succeeded, in part, because of their [disabilities] … they learned something in their struggle that proved to be of enormous advantage.”[1]

I cannot help but think of the advantages we Christians are given through our suffering. While we would never volunteer to suffer, there are advantages to trials and how we respond to them.

Now as we sail back into 1 Peter 3, the apostle points out to his persecuted readers some of these benefits.

First, suffering as Christians provides an opportunity for a powerful testimony. Peter begins in verse 13 by stating that if you pursue righteous living, no real harm will come to you. This does not mean you can avoid suffering, though. The reality is, you might suffer because of your righteous lifestyle. But when this happens, Peter writes, “You will be blessed” (verse 14).

Here is what he means:

In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. (verse 15)

In other words, some who see you honoring Christ in spite of your suffering will be moved to ask you why. Why are you putting up with this mistreatment for Jesus? And this provides you with an opportunity to present a “defense,” explaining the reason for your hope. The Greek word for “defense” is apologia. From it we get the word apologetics—a defense of the faith.

Do not misunderstand. Peter is not talking here about a scholarly defense of Christianity. That is not what people want to know anyway; they just want to know the reason for your hope! And you do not have to be a scholar to answer them. Just give them your personal testimony. Tell them about Jesus—what He has done for you. Give them the gospel, pure and simple. That is your “defense.”

But answer them, Peter says, “with gentleness and respect.” Your goal is not to win an argument but to win their hearts for Christ.[2] Your respectful and gentle response, Peter writes, will “put to shame” those “who revile your good behavior” (verse 16).

So, the burden of suffering for doing good has this blessing: an open door of opportunity for the gospel.

Peter does not leave it there, though. He presents Christ as our ultimate example of one who suffered for doing good. He writes what one author called the shortest, simplest, and richest summary of the cross of Jesus.[3]

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. (verse 18)

These are very encouraging words for Christians who are suffering for following Christ, especially if it does not seem the right side is winning. Listen, the cross did not look like Jesus won at all—but did He ever!

Christ died, paving the way to heaven. But then, as we are about to see, Christ descended, proclaiming the victory of heaven.

Peter writes about that in verses 19-22:

[Christ] went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

I believe verse 19 describes something that took place while Jesus’ body lay in the tomb. His body was dead, but His spirit was fully alive. Peter pulls back the curtain on something the Lord did during this period of time, telling us He made a proclamation to “spirits in prison.” “Spirits” normally refers to angels—here, specifically, to fallen angels, or demons.

We are not told where this prison was located, but the Bible tells us that certain demons are even now held in chains in “gloomy darkness” (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). Some particular sin, back in the days of Noah and the flood, brought these demons to this early judgment. Jesus went to that prison and proclaimed to them their final defeat and the defeat of their master, Satan himself.

Peter then writes that this global flood and Noah’s ark corresponds to believer’s baptism. He writes in verse 21, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you.” The word translated “corresponds” is the Greek word antitupos, which refers to a symbol or an analogy. Peter is not saying the act of baptism saves you but that baptism is a picture, a symbol, of what saves you.

Did the water save Noah and his family? No, their faith in God’s word, demonstrated by their entering the ark as God commanded them, saved them. The water represented death, not life; it was the ark that kept them alive.

So, Peter says that corresponding to that event, when you step into the water of baptism, you are stepping into that which represents judgment and death—in fact, that water represents the grave. But you are safe in Christ. You are already in the Ark—Christ—who gives you life. There is the analogy. Baptism is simply an outward picture of an inward reality. You are publicly professing that you have been saved, as you identify, by faith, with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Beginning in chapter 4, Peter speaks of another benefit of suffering for righteousness’ sake, and that is a Christlike life. When we follow Christ’s example and suffer “in the flesh” as He did, we are choosing to suffer rather than compromise or abandon our faith. And this means we have ceased to allow sin to control us.[4] We are choosing to live for “the will of God” (verse 2).

God’s will is contrasted in verses 3-4 to the sinful actions that characterize the world—and characterized our lives before we trusted Christ. Unbelievers, who still follow this sinful lifestyle, do not understand Christians, so they “malign,” or slander, them.

Do not strike back, beloved; do not yell louder. Why? Peter explains that those who malign you and persecute you will ultimately give an account to the “judge [of] the living and the dead” Jesus Christ (verse 5). Do not turn around and speak evil of them. We should pity them instead, because their judgment may not be far off. Peter says in verse 7, “The end of all things is at hand.”

Peter then writes, “Therefore.”  Remember, when you see the word therefore, you need to ask what it is there for. It is there to communicate this thought: In light of everything we have just read—therefore—here is what we are to do. And Peter gives us a list of action steps as we await the return of Christ, as we suffer in this world, and as we give a defense for our hope in Christ.

In verses 7-10, the action steps for believers are spelled out: “be self-controlled and sober-minded,” “keep loving one another,” “show hospitality . . . without grumbling,” and “serve one another” with our spiritual gifts.

And the ultimate goal, beloved, has nothing to do with the world changing their attitude toward us. Our goal is “that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (verse 11).

Let us live with that goal in mind today.