Dear Student of the Word,
Greetings once again from my home office in Pittsburgh. I got back from Kenya last week, and it always takes me a week to catch up. But I am caught up, so that afforded me the luxury of catching up on our study in Peter's epistles. This week, we move into 1 Peter 3, where Peter addressed issues of the home and the tongue! Here is what I wrote in part five of this seven-part study, which you can download below:
Study Three, Part Five
14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." 15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
3:14 - Fear is debilitating and almost always makes you do the wrong thing or make the wrong decision, which is often to do nothing because you are afraid of doing the wrong thing, or doing the right thing in the wrong manner. What’s more, Peter gave us advice that seems counterintuitive, for he stated that if you suffer for what is right, you are a blessed person! That seems like it can’t be, for you are being unjustly accused of doing something you did not do. That’s the time to stick up for your rights and clear your name. Not according to Peter. Are you being accused of doing wrong when you did right? Then relax and enjoy your blessing in God’s sight!
3:15 – If you are to overcome this fear of being vulnerable, then you must set Jesus apart as Lord. In other words, you must make Jesus’ Lordship a more important issue than your fears, reputation or vindication. That means you must die to self and live to God and His will. You must pursue what is important to God and His priorities and abandon you own.
Whenever you behave so contrary to human nature, you can expect questions as to why you are doing so. At that point, you are not to complain or draw attention to myself. You are rather to give testimony to God’s work in your life and to the reality of His kingdom. Your are to point them to the hope that you have in God’s ability to bless you when you obey Him. When is the last time someone asked you about the hope that is in you? If no one has, then you must ask whether there is anything that sets you apart from everyone else who isn’t serving the Lord?
3:16 – The early Christians were certainly slandered for their goodness. They were so distinct from their pagan neighbors that they were labeled as incestuous, sexually immoral and anti-state. And probably this was wearing on those to whom Peter wrote. Yet he directed them to respectfully respond with gentleness to any who asked them about their chaste behavior. Once again, Peter was instructing the Church on what to say – how to use their tongue for good.
There is no guarantee that people who slander you will feel guilt when they behold your good behavior. So you must continue to do what God wants regardless of whether you suffer or not. You must respond to those who ask about your behavior, knowing that this may not change their opinion or cause them to correct the slander that they have spread. My only hope in these matters is to use Jesus as my model and then ask the Spirit to create Jesus’ behavior in my own life. I can’t produce what God requires without the Spirit’s help. I must want to be like Jesus, but then I must surrender to the work of the Spirit if I am to be conformed to the image of Christ.
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the unpublished volume of The Faith Files. But you had better hurry on The Faith Files, for Volume 3 goes to press in a few days, and then I will remove it from my website.
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