The Pattern of Christ

1 Peter - Hope in a World not our Home • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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We are back in 1 Peter which is almost done. If you do not remember 1 Peter is dealing with how to have hope in a world that is not our home. Why do we need Hope? because we can expect persecution and evil to come our way in the midst of this fallen world. But our hope remains in the fact that we will one day be in heaven with our savior. We have been going through the fact that if we say we have hope, then we need to live like it. We need to act as if we are children of God. Though we struggle with sin, we need to turn to God. previously we have gone through the idea that we need to repay evil for love and blessing because of what Jesus has done for us. Though evils we may face we must cultivate love in our lives which comes through Jesus and what he has done for us.I ran out of time so we are going to go through the rest of the passage

To have hope in this fallen world we must look at the pattern Christ set before us and become imitators of Him. We look to His example and all that He has done for us We must pattern our lives after Jesus and look to what He has done. This alone should give us great hope and peace in the midst of this world.

today. we follow the idea of imitating Christ. As we are re payed evil for the good we do, as we learn to live by looking at the life of Christ. As we hope in the coming of the messiah we must pattern our lives after Him. For opposition will come our way and we must be prepared.

This is one of the more difficult passages in the Bible to try and understand. We may not be able to solve all the problems today that people argue and debate over, but never the less we may be encouraged by what we read here today.

18 - The pattern of Christ

1 Peter 3:18 (CSB) 18 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,

How are we to be imitators of Christ? He suffered for what he did not deserve. we see the pattern of the suffering of Christ. As he suffered and died for us so we must be willing to suffer in this life for the sake of the gospel.

we are told to suffer for doing good rather then trying to fight our way out of it. we are told to bless others when they curse us and the reason why we do that is the pattern of the suffering of Christ. We identify with Christ when we suffer willingly for doing good.

this is a parallel of 1 Peter 2:21 and following.

1 Peter 2:21 (CSB) 21 For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

he was insulted and stayed quite, this was the pattern that we are to follow. Paul tells us in the book of Romans that Christ died for us while we where yet sinners.

died for sins once for all

what the death of Jesus did for us is enable us to live a life for Him. it was not something that had to be repeated again and again. If this was not the case then we would not be able to live for Him. I love the book of Hebrews that explains this well In

Hebrews 7:27 (CSB) 27 He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself.

The sacrifice Jesus paid was once for all. he died for all people for all time.

what Great hope should this give you? that your faith in Jesus as Lord and savior allows you to be with Him for all eternity. Jesus death was once for all people that would choose him for all time. all those who came before who followed God and all those that will come after that will turn their lives to Him.

The righteous for the unrighteous

this is the theme of 2:21-22 as well, tying everything together. it was an unjust suffering. the righteous for the unrighteous. this is also something that was prophesied of Jesus back in

Isaiah 53:11 (CSB) 11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities.

the righteous servant will justify many, even those that do not deserve it. The righteous for the unrighteous. Christ substitutionary death for those that deserved death. How many of you would die for family? How about for a good friend? what about for those that deserve death or punishment? for the guilty? He became sin who knew no sin so that we might become righteous through His death. If you need hope go back to the fact that the death Jesus paid for us was one we did by no means deserve.

To bring us to God.

the purpose of the substitutionary death of Jesus for the guilty is so that we may be brought to God. It was all to lead us to God. did you get that? we did not deserve this but it is offered to us anyways. Eternal life based on the death of someone else for all the laws of God we have broken.

it allows Jesus to take us by the hand and lead us across enemy territory so to say safely to the other side safely into the presence of God the father. to bridge the gap, the great chasm that lay between us and God.

This is why we are imitators and what it looks like. Sacrifice without anyone else giving us a reason to do it. Joy in spite of suffering. Love in spite of evil. this is the pattern that we are to follow. Imagine if we all do this, if we all pattern our lives after Jesus and what He did for us. If we all loved and cared in spite of evil and hate. If we shared the gospel in the face of hate. if we became a people that stood on the word of God in love no matter what people did to us. The hope we have is in the fact that it is what was done for us first by Jesus. We are just doing what Jesus has already done for us.

death did not destroy Him

Just as death did not destroy the messiah so death will not have its way with those who are followers of Jesus, though we may die that is not the end. This is how we can have hope as well. The fact that death is not the end. Our hope lies in eternity and what is waiting for us when we go to see Jesus again.

19-20 - Proclamation of Christ

death did not destroy Him, the Crucifixion of the righteous messiah for the unrighteous sinners, a death that was once for all people so that we might become righteous. we get more into the death of Jesus sand how that should change our lives and what that should look like. This is where it starts to get a little difficult. There are some things that are not said and sometimes we just need to say we don't know, or try to figure out what the main point of the passage is.

1 Peter 3:19 (CSB) 19 in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison

what does it mean that Christ went and made proclamation to the spirits in heaven?

this is a tough one, though we can know a few things. Following the resurrection of Jesus. That is after His death on the cross as He rose to heaven we see something else happened in Jesus defeat of sin and death.

spirits - never refer to people but to non-human beings. When in reference to people the word used would usually be souls. so spirits would mean spiritual beings unless said otherwise. thus we can take them to mean angelic or demonic beings.

1 John 4:1 “1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

In the reference to the days of Noah as we see in the next verse it does kind of come together. it is another very controversial passage of scripture that we don't have time to get into today. in the next verse where there then disobedient spirits then? depends on how you interpret Gen 6 you could take it to mean there where.

proclaim - The word used here to proclaim is a word that is not used to mean be the proclamation of the gospel but rather would mean to just proclaim something. Words do have a lot of meaning when we start looking into things. This all comes together to help add meaning to what we see here. We don't know everything for sure, and many people have argued over what this all means. but what I believe is being talked about is

The First Epistle of Peter 2. The Example of Jesus (3:13–22)

Thus it seems likely that this passage in 1 Peter refers to a proclamation of judgment by the resurrected Christ to the imprisoned spirits, that is, the fallen angels, sealing their doom as he triumphed over sin and death and hell, redeeming human beings

going to the fallen angels, the imprisoned spirits and telling them, you have lost, I have won, you are done for. This is the messiah we worship, the one whom we suffer for. The one who has defeated sin and death and reigns over all.

1 Peter 3:20 CSB

20 who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few—that is, eight people—were saved through water.

like the people who in Noah’s day who where the faithful few surrounded by the unfaithful being swayed by the spirits Jesus imprisoned. we will be the delivered minority as in the days of Noah while those being led by the disobedient spirits, by their own sin will be swept away as in the great flood till all that is left are those righteous ones.

21-22 - we are saved - act like it.

Baptism and salvation

following the theme of water wiping away the evil of the world as in the days of Noah we have another fun verse. Baptism does not save so what does this mean? We have gone through what Jesus has done for us and How he showed everyone including Satan and his minions that he defeated sin and death once for all. now we move into Baptism, which corresponds to this it says. The wiping away of sin

1 Peter 3:21 CSB

21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

the problem we get from this is that it would almost say that salvation comes from baptism but that is not what it means. following the idea that Jesus defeated sin and death and what that means we have to explain this a bit. Baptism is the antitype of the event of the flood and Noah. That is that it represents the opposite. While The flood cleansed the earth of the sinful people. Baptism represents the public declaration of Christians being cleansed from their sin.

not in the removal of dirt

it is not in the washing or the dipping in the water that saves us. Baptism itself does not save is what this is saying to us it does not have some magical quality. as the flood washed away the sinners of the world so Baptism represents the washing away of our sin from our lives.

good conscience

then the salvific aspect of baptism arises from the pledge of oneself to God as a response to questions formally asked at baptism. But this answer must be given from a good conscience a half hearted commitment will not do. this would all be useless without the resurrection of Jesus but we must do this with a pure heart. we must in good conscience commit our lives to Jesus and live for Him.

everyone is subject to God.

1 Peter 3:22 CSB

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

we begin and end with Christ whose resurrection is the means of salvation. Everything and everyone is subject to Him and He is at the right hand of God. He has yet though to bring everything under His subjection. It is already written but will come later. we suffer as Christ suffered and this should bring us some sense of peace. But through the act of baptism we are seeing as rising as Christ was resurrected. Though we will one day rise with new bodies to Be with Jesus.

So What?

we must follow the pattern of Jesus and His life to have hope in this world which is not our home. But how do we do that? This is how we can have hope in the midst of this all. do you know why you are to imitate? after all Jesus has done for us what does this mean for us?

we must expect opposition.

This is the first thing that we must remember from all of this, that we read in Chapter 3. we have gone over this and it is all in how we respond to this. which we have already gone over but as we expect opposition we look to the pattern Jesus has set before us.

it should come as no surprise that Opposition will come our way. It is what we do when this happens that we need to think about. How do we act when people oppose us? we have already gone over this but we will be reminded again that we act in love

if we identify with Christ in His suffering we can also identify with Christ in His victory.

We are identified with Jesus in His suffering and we identify with Jesus in His victory. Be encouraged and have hope. If you pattern your life after Jesus then we can find hope in identifying in the victory of Jesus. we can go with confidence in love to the world around us because no matter what they have done Jesus has bought the victory with His blood.

but we also need to know that death ends any opportunity we may have for this hope in salvation. so the goal of it all, the purpose for which we are here is the sharing of the gospel. Difficult days are ahead but what they do is make multiple opportunities for sharing the gospel. How have you been identifying with Christ? How have you patterned your live after Him.

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