The Blessedness of Hope

Father, we thank you that you are one God in three persons.

Thank you that it has always been this way, and because it's always been this way,

the love that you have had for the Son and the Son that you've had for the Father and the Holy Spirit,

loving both and emanating love, that is what our God is.

That is who you are.

That you are a God of love.

It always has been that way, and because of that love, you have invited us through Christ to enjoy that and partake of that

and to be witness of that forever.

So Lord, as we open up your word, we pray that we will not have difficulty understanding your word,

that it will not perplex us, but rather draw us ever closer to yourself, to the God of love.

Help us to see Christ more gloriously this morning, that we would treasure him in our salvation.

And ultimately, Lord, we pray that by your Spirit, you would minister to us.

Lord, we come with arms open.

They are empty.

We can't bring anything to you that you would take from us and so love us more.

But we come empty, open, ready to receive, because you delight to give.

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Again, if you have a Bible, please turn with me to 1 Peter 3.

There are still a couple Bibles left at the back table.

So you can grab that at any time or follow along on your phone.

Before we get into it, just a bit of an introduction.

So during the week, we're not perfect with this, but we try our best as a family after breakfast to sing a hymn,

read a chapter of the Bible, and pray together.

I mean, it's a whole six minutes or seven minutes.

And seldom do we get through it uninterrupted.

But it's wonderful.

It's beautiful.

That's the plan that we try to have every day.

And a couple weeks ago, as we were going through the reading plan,

we were in 1 Samuel.

And we read chapter 17.

Fan favorite, David and Goliath.

It was the first time I read it in a while.

And I was struck by how ridiculously David must have seen to the Philistines and also the Israelites.

This small adolescent boy, man, still growing, definitely not a soldier, not in armor,

no sword, but with a sling, who approaches this enormous,

grizzled warrior.

And yet, to my kid's delight, but also to my delight, he slays Goliath.

It's an incredible story.

But I was...

I was...

I really...

It struck me at how ridiculous this scene must have been.

And it made me think about how Christianity seems very counterintuitive,

and it seems counter...

contradictory to the outside world.

And I would venture to guess also to us as well.

Apart from the story of David and Goliath, many such stories or teachings have this ridiculousness,

so to speak, about them.

They seem irrational or counter to conventional wisdom.

Think about Jesus' teachings.

The last will be first.

If you want to be great, you must serve.

Or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed are you when others revile and persecute you.

Even certain stories like God making a promise to a geriatric couple who are barren that through them and through their seed,

the world would be full.

It is a crazy, ridiculous story.

But yet the Bible is full of them.

I mentioned Jesus' Sermon on the Mount where he says,

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Being cursed is a blessing, is what Jesus is saying.

That seems so very counter-cultural and counter-intuitive to us.

And if you're saying, well, no, this is Jesus' teaching.

This is what I believe.

Of course there's this idea of the servant leader.

That's only because the Bible has washed over our culture and your mind for your entire life and over generations and generations.

But the world over, that is a very irrational, counter-cultural thing to say.

I would say that being cursed isn't a blessing.

Being blessed is a blessing.

So, as we enter into 1 Peter,

and we consider how the Christian life is one full of blessings,

and yet also full of being reviled, suffering, being persecuted, even death,

we must ask the question, why is it a blessing?

And why is it not just a blessing for us, but a blessing, an invitation to the entire world,

that we may enjoy divine blessing even though we suffer?

We're going to look at our text, verses 8 to 22.

And I've broken it up into three parts.

Verses 8 to 12, we'll take a look at the blessing of our call.

Verses 13 to 17, I'll take a look at the blessing of our suffering.

And then finally, we'll take a look at the blessing of our victorious Savior.

We'll see how, again, this is all on one hand counter-intuitive, counter-cultural.

It seems irrational.

And yet, it is the greatest news for us and for the world.

So, if you can jump into it with me, verses 8 to 12,

we'll take a look at what the blessing of our call truly means.

So, just before we get into it, we're continuing 1 Peter.

We're reading the concluding section of Peter encouraging the church to use their freedom in Christ

for the sake of service for others, not from responsibility.

We've looked at that for a few different weeks now.

He's addressed citizens.

He's addressed servants or slaves.

He's addressed wives.

He's addressed husbands to bear up under unjust treatment as a part of their calling.

And now, he addresses how these same Christians are to interact with one another in the church.

So, look with me, starting in verse 8.

We'll be in and out of the text the whole morning, but we'll just read verse 8 right now.

Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

We have been reminded for seven weeks, that's how long we've been in 1 Peter thus far,

that Christians are resident aliens.

We are sojourners.

We are citizens of heaven, even though we are citizens here on earth.

And that that is fraught with challenges.

That is fraught with persecutions, frustrations, and sufferings.

We are reminded that as citizens of heaven, the church then becomes an embassy of heaven, so to speak.

It's an outpost of heaven.

It's an outpost of heaven, where the culture of heaven, the fragrance of heaven, the ethos and the ethic of heaven is here on earth.

So, for the weary believer, who is, by God's grace, trying to live faithfully by Christ's call,

the Christian community is a place of refuge and refreshment and support.

When we say to come to church, it's not because we have a role where we collect numbers for stats and growth charts and all that stuff.

We do. It's part of our bylaws.

But we say come to church because six plus days of the week, you are working and you are interacting with other people.

And that you are in the world and the world has an ethos and an ethic that on one hand, there's some good things about it.

But common grace is a real thing.

God causes the rain to shine on the just and the unjust.

There's a lot of good about our world, but there's a lot that is counterintuitive to the Christian faith.

And that beats over you, beats over you daily, week after week, day after day.

And when you come to church, the idea, the hope, the prayer, is that we gather as God's people and we receive from him.

We encourage one another. We pray to him. We are built up. We are exhorted. We are filled up.

We are equipped for the week ahead.

And a part of it, it's like stepping out of Canada and stepping into heaven.

Listen, it's a gym. You guys are wonderful saints still growing into your sainthood.

It's not quite heaven, but it's in part. It's a taste of heaven.

It's like getting recharged.

And here, this is what Peter is trying to remind the church of.

He lists off five characteristics of what it means to be a citizen of heaven.

And what these five characteristics do, this unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind,

these counteract our hyper-individualism in our day.

That was not as pronounced in the Roman world, but certainly existed.

But especially in our world, it counteracts this hyper-individualism.

It does not...

The hyper-individualism that we experience day in and day out,

it does not promote communal stability and cohesion for very long for...

It sees the value of community only in what that community can do for me.

And Peter here in verse 8 is saying,

listen, this situation, you are to receive from God,

but you are also supposed to give to those around you.

And it's not about how you are to take,

it is about how you are to give.

Once again, we see our freedom in Christ is for service,

not from service.

We need to be refreshed.

We need to be equipped.

Which means, ultimately, we need to be real with our shortcomings and our struggles.

It does not do us a service to pretend like things are always okay.

And it's great if you've had a fantastic week,

and you don't want to be fatalistic and see everything as a Debbie Downer,

or everything, you know, shadowed with despair or struggle.

But to be honest, that life can be difficult,

and that you need help,

and that you have no ability within yourself

to help yourself in the way you need to be helped.

The church builds us up

because Christ is in us, working through us by his Spirit.

Verse 8, again, finally, all of you,

unity of mind, sympathy,

brotherly love,

a tender heart,

a humble mind.

That is a community that builds up,

that does not tear down,

that gives,

that does not take,

that seeks the betterment

and the welfare of each other,

and not for themselves.

In order to faithfully live out verse 8,

oh, sorry,

it goes on to verse 9,

that if we are to live in such a way,

we are going to see some kind of pushback.

Again, the world,

although a lot of good things in the world,

a lot of good qualities,

there's beautiful things happening in our city,

but again, it's counter to the faith,

and if we are to live as an outpost of heaven,

Peter tells us to expect pushback.

In verse 9, he says it plainly.

He says this,

do not repay evil for evil,

or reviling for reviling,

but on the contrary,

bless,

for to this you were called,

that you may obtain a blessing.

I'll say this,

verse 9 can't happen

unless verse 8

is going strong in the church.

How on earth do we not retaliate

when evil is thrown our way?

How do we not revile others

if we are being reviled,

if we are not being built up

by each other

through the Holy Spirit in the church?

This is a hard, hard calling,

but by God's grace,

he has equipped us to do just that.

So Peter is reminding us

to live as citizens of heaven

and not as pagans,

to not seek out vengeance,

to not go after our enemy,

to not burn down their home,

so to speak,

but rather take the example of Christ.

And we saw that example of Christ

in verse 21 to 22 of chapter 2.

I'm not going to read it,

but if you go back to it,

this was Peter, in a sense,

summing up all of Isaiah 53,

of Christ laying down his life

willingly for the blessing of others,

for the salvation of others.

Consider how non-retaliation

in the early church

transformed Roman society.

Retribution, revenge killings,

coups, wars,

started to regain or maintain honor.

All such behavior

adding to the ongoing

and increasingly evil cycle of death.

It continues on,

it continues on,

it continues on.

But in following Christ's example,

which is verse 9,

the cycle of death is broken.

So Christians repay evil with love.

Right actions are done

to those who look to malign us

and to destroy us.

To bless, in this case,

means to speak well of,

to invoke God's favor on somebody.

The word bless here

is the word where we get eulogy,

to speak well of.

It's calling us to speak well

of those who speak evil against us.

Very hard, very difficult.

How can we do that?

We can't do it alone.

Obviously we need God's help.

But we need to have the encouragement

of one another.

And that's why we go back

to verse 8 here.

We need a unity of mind.

We need sympathy,

brotherly love,

a tender heart,

a humble mind.

We need to be praying,

which implies for sure

praying for one another,

walking with one another,

saying no to maybe times of recreation

because somebody has given us a call

or sent us a text.

Hey, I need a call.

Let's grab a drink.

Let's grab a coffee, whatever.

I need to run through some stuff.

I need help.

So it is no surprise that

as Peter continues on,

he quotes Psalm 33

in verses 10 to 12.

And he speaks about

the power of speech.

Interestingly, again,

going back to verse 9,

that we are called to bless

those that persecute us.

And that blessing is

to speak well of

invoking God's favor

upon their lives.

And then Psalm 33

is quoted in verses 10 to 12.

And this is what it says.

Whoever desires to love life

and see good deeds,

that idea of good deeds,

or sorry, good days rather,

it is like the end of the age,

like the culmination of salvation.

Whoever desires to love life

and see good days,

let him keep his tongue from evil

and his lips from speaking deceit.

Let him turn away from evil

and do good.

Let him seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord

are on the righteous,

and his ears are open

to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord

is against those who do evil.

Friends, right living

always starts in the heart

and continues in the mouth

and then proceeds

to a life lived.

We see again the call

to live authentically,

where our inner life

matches our outer life.

The Christian life

is a call of authentic,

godly living.

That is not that we have

the outside of the bowl

washed, so to speak,

the outside of the vessel washed,

but the inside is filthy.

We have to make sure

the inside is washed,

and then the outside

of the vessel,

when it is clean,

it's a beautiful vessel,

worthy of use.

Like husbands in the previous section,

verse 12 reminds us here

that our spiritual growth

and vitality

is directly connected

with responding

to the grace of Christ

through faithful living.

If you remember

the end of verse 7,

when Peter is talking

to husbands,

right at the end here,

he says,

I'll just read the full thing.

Likewise,

husbands,

live with your wives

in an understanding way,

showing honor

to the woman

as the weaker vessel,

since they are heirs with you

of the grace of life.

Here it is.

So that your prayers

may not be hindered.

How we live in secret

will inform

how we live in public,

and it is very clear

that our spiritual vitality

hangs in the balance.

Therefore, friends,

we must fight against

harboring ill towards anyone,

especially in the church,

amongst our family,

amongst those that are close to us

that have hurt us,

here,

the blessing

that Peter is calling for

isn't thinking

really nice thoughts

about somebody,

but it's actively

seeking their good

and lifting them up

and blessing them,

praying that the Lord

would meet them.

And sometimes,

by the way,

that means rattling their cage,

opening their eyes

like the wayward son

in the story

of the two sons,

the prodigal son.

But it ultimately

is a call

that our hearts

would be turned

towards their benefit,

their good,

their flourishing.

And how can we do that

if we are harboring

a bitterness

in our hearts,

resentment,

anger,

that is not dealt with,

but is festering.

You can't bless somebody

if you hate them.

So we also see here

that implied in this

is that gossip and lying

are also deeply,

deeply problematic.

It says here in verse 11

to pursue peace.

We serve the Prince of Peace,

Jesus Christ,

who has given us peace

first in our souls

and that is why

we turn to him

when we feel the struggle

and we ask for help

as many times

as we have to ask for help.

As we are called

to live such a life,

by faith we will be blessed

and be a source of blessing

because we are mediating

the very presence of Christ

in our culture.

And our culture is,

much like in Roman times,

becoming a culture

where there's a cycle of death,

a death spiral

that has taken us,

that we value

not the things

that promote life,

but the things

that promote death.

But like any formidable enemy,

sin, death,

and Satan will not go down

without a fight.

Therefore, Christians

from every generation,

not just under Nero

in Peter's day,

but today

and in all times,

should expect

some kind of suffering,

some kind of struggle,

some kind of big pushback.

And this leads us

to our next section,

verses 13 to 17.

And we'll see that

there is blessing

in our suffering.

Again, another,

seems like a contradiction

or it's counterintuitive,

but let's take a look

at the text

and see what it says.

We'll look at verse 13

and then we'll continue on.

Now, who is there

to harm you

if you are zealous

for what is good?

This is a question

rhetorically asked

and the people

in Asia Minor

and here this morning,

we should say,

no one.

But, my goodness,

they're living under Nero.

Who is there to harm you

if you are zealous

for what is good?

The entire apparatus of Rome,

the entire culture we live in.

What do you mean

that who is there to harm you?

How can Peter say this

to the church

who has suffered so much

but will suffer even more

in the coming years,

but especially

in the coming decades,

in the coming centuries?

Take a look.

Let's continue on

in verse 14.

I'll read 13 again

but we'll focus on 14

and following.

Now, who is there

to harm you

if you are zealous

for what is good?

But even if you should suffer

for righteousness' sake,

you will be blessed.

Have no fear of them

nor be troubled

but 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.

Yet do it

with gentleness

and respect,

having a good conscience

so that when you are slandered,

those who revile

your good behavior

in Christ

may be put to shame.

Verse 17.

For it is better

to suffer for doing good

if that should be

God's will

than for doing evil.

As a general rule,

as a general principle,

hope is essential

for endurance

and mental fortitude

in the face of stressors

and difficulties in life.

Hope is so very important

to the human existence.

It's the very idea

that tomorrow

will be better than today.

We see hope is essential.

But what is more important

than having hope

is who is

or what is our hope in.

If our hope is in Christ,

he has conquered death.

The worst persecution

that we may experience

is death

and nothing more.

In the case of verse 15,

but in our hearts

honor Christ,

the Lord is holy,

always being prepared

to make a defense

to anyone who asks you

for a reason

of the hope

that is in you.

This hope

is a future hope

that we have now

that looks to the final salvation

where we will experience

in full what we have

in part now.

So we are saved.

We have hope now.

But the hope

that this envisions

is the hope to come,

the hope at the end of the age.

When Christ will come back

for his church

to the dead

in him will rise.

He will judge

the living and the dead

like it says in our creed

and we will be with him

glorified for eternity.

That is our hope.

We are saved.

But we have that

in part now.

But not in full.

Peter is telling us

to be ready

to explain

what our hope is.

That future hope

that we have

in the here and now.

And it would stand

to reason then

that verse 13,

this rhetorically

asked question,

now who is there

to harm you

if you are zealous

for what is good,

would appear

that Peter is saying,

listen,

you are eternally secure.

They can attack

your body,

they can imprison you,

they can slander you,

you can lose your job,

you could not have

a promotion,

you can suffer

in a myriad

of different kind

of ways,

but the most

they can do

is harm

your temporal body.

But they can never

touch your soul.

Eternity is secure.

Verse 14, though,

nevertheless,

says,

listen,

you might suffer

for righteousness' sake,

but know that

you will be blessed.

Why will you be blessed?

You'll be blessed

because you are

united with Christ

and you are

walking in His ways.

That, like Christ,

you are suffering

because you are

choosing

to proclaim

the goodness

of the gospel

of God.

That righteousness

and light

and life,

it is far greater

and more powerful

than death

and despair

and darkness.

This hope

animates our life

so that our existence

becomes impenetrable

and imperishable

because it's in Christ.

Christ,

He draws us

into Himself,

blessing us

with this eternal hope

that is to come,

but that we have

in part now,

and we get to

proclaim this hope

to others.

And notice the language here

in verse 15,

that as we proclaim

this hope,

giving a reason

for this hope,

we are to do it

with gentleness

and respect.

And we hearken back,

it harkens back,

rather,

to the previous section

where,

with husbands and wives,

where we are to share

our hope

with those around us

in the pattern

as women

are to show gentleness.

In verse 2,

let me read this

really quick

so I'm just not

stomping on anybody.

Apologies.

Oh, sorry.

Here it is.

Do not let your adorning

be eternal,

verse 4,

but let your adorning

be the hidden person

of the heart

with the imperishable beauty

of a gentle

and quiet spirit.

We're seeing that

this is not just

for women

in verse 3,

but it's connecting,

Peter's connecting it

to all Christians

here in verse 15.

And that we

then are to

seek people

out,

sharing them

the hope that we have

in a way

that they can understand,

that it is

articulated to them

in language

that they can

grasp,

so that they would

understand the

universal human need

for forgiveness

and meaning

and love,

and that where

they're searching

for it,

they will not find it,

for it is only

in Christ.

And yet Peter

reminds us once again

that doing good

may very well

result in suffering,

and that is

God's will.

So what this

isn't saying,

though,

is that suffering

is certain,

and that God

delights in us

being persecuted,

or being hurt,

or being maimed,

or martyred,

but rather

that it is God's

will that we may

do good,

and that very well

might lead to

suffering.

Remember,

this is an

encouragement for us,

and it's a blessing

for us.

It is something

that should build us

up and not scare us.

Ultimately,

everything is under

God's sovereign control.

No one can persecute

God's children

apart from

Him permitting it,

but He has severely

handicapped,

kneecapped

our enemies

through the

passion of Christ,

so that all

they can

really truly do

is affect

our temporal life.

Our eternal

hope is secure

in our Savior,

who has conquered

all and is

victorious over all.

And this leads us

then to our

final point,

verses 18 to 22,

the blessing

of our victorious

Savior.

Let's take a look.

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,

in which He 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

of 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

and authorities

and powers

having been subjected

to Him.

This section

marks the third time

Peter has

a big Christological

vision of Jesus,

which is to say

this big description

of Jesus

connected to

Old Testament

prophets

and different allusions.

In the case

of verses 18 to 22

here,

we see that

Peter is describing

Christ as the victorious

one,

the one who has

conquered all,

that our blessings

are in Him

because He

has destroyed

our foes.

I'll just say

this at the outset.

This is

quite possibly,

if not,

the most difficult

passage in the New Testament

to interpret.

It is tough

with the reference

to Noah especially.

Over church history,

there has not been

consensus

about the interpretation

of this.

Tertullian,

Augustine,

Aquinas,

Luther,

Calvin,

contemporary scholars,

they've labored

and poured over

this text

with great difficulty

and still

there is not

a consensus

on what this means.

So as we enter

into it,

I humbly ask you

for some grace

because it's a tough one.

It really is a tough one.

But I'll suggest

to you

that

that this is not

some kind

of

proof text

for the

harrowing of hell,

so to speak,

where Christ

descended into

the hell

and preached

the gospel

to the dead

that died

before him.

It doesn't work

for a couple

different reasons.

A big reason

is that hell

is not mentioned

here.

It doesn't seem

like that there

is any

flow to

Peter's argument

for that.

There's also

the hypothesis

that

the pre-incarnate

Jesus

somehow preached

through Noah

to the

sinners

before the

judgment came.

Again,

hardest text

in the New Testament

to figure out.

Okay,

so that sounds

kind of crazy.

It might be.

I don't think

that's where

the text

is going

either.

Once again,

because it seems

like it's

a bit of a stretch

and it doesn't

work out

in the original

language

or again

in the flow

of 1 Peter.

Rather,

and again,

this is,

I'll throw this

out there,

we can wrestle

with it

over food

at the potluck.

It seems

that Peter

is using

a well-known

Jewish tradition

around the Noah

story

to communicate

that Jesus'

victory

on the cross

was a cosmic

victory.

That it wasn't

just him

atoning for

our sins,

although it

certainly was

that,

which is

incredible,

it's our

salvation,

won on the

cross of

Calvary.

But that

in dying

on the cross,

being buried,

and rising

again,

Christ is

victorious

over all

powers,

all spiritual

forces.

That there

is nothing,

no one,

no being,

no corner

of the

universe

that is

somehow

unconquered

by Jesus,

that he

doesn't have

dominion

over.

It's a

cosmic

victory

that this

text is

proclaiming.

And in

the flow

of 1 Peter,

it would seem

like this

fits,

because again,

the church

is going

through persecution

and is

struggling to

maintain a

faithful witness

to the

world around

it,

to faithfully

live as

God's

people,

mediating the

presence of

God wherever

they're going.

Nero is

strong.

Rome is

strong.

Opposition

is strong.

And it

would make

sense that

Peter is

trying to

encourage his

people by

saying,

but Christ

is stronger.

He is

stronger than

Rome.

In fact,

he is

stronger than

any spiritual

force that

has ever

existed,

the scariest

boogeyman,

the biggest

devil.

The scariest

giant.

The dragon

himself is

nothing compared

to Christ and

his victory on

the cross.

And you are

in him,

church.

That's what

Peter is

saying.

And I would

say this to

us, we

are in him.

And if this

is our

savior, and

if this is

the one who

has secured

for us

eternal

salvation, I

mean it

says it

right at the

beginning of

verse 18,

chapter 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 being

made alive

in the

spirit.

If he

is the

one who

has won

us salvation

on the

cross,

then he's

in our

corner, he's

got our

back.

They can

take our

body at

most, but

they can

never take

our soul.

It is

hidden in

Christ.

So the

whole bit

about Noah,

and this

is where

it can be

a bit

tricky, so

again, this

is just what

I'll put

forward to

you, that

in the

same way

that Noah,

that the

Noah story

communicates

a salvation

through an

ark, Christ

becomes an

ark himself,

that if we

are in

Jesus, we

pass through

judgment.

Judgment

does not

have any

hold upon

us, we

are saved,

and God

has made

provision for

us to be

saved in a

very similar

way as

Noah, that

through Christ,

his life,

death, and

resurrection, we

are baptized

into him.

Christ is the

new ark.

He shields

us from

judgment, he

brings us to

God, we

are saved.

This bit

here that

talks about

salvation,

that we

can be

saved by

baptism.

This doesn't

mean that

baptism,

regardless of

one's faith

in Christ,

grants salvation.

We are not

called to

splash all

we see.

Remember, we

are called to

give the hope

to everyone

that we have,

not to try to

baptize everyone

we have, and I'm

being a bit

facetious, but

just to make

the point that

baptism itself

alone doesn't

save.

Peter, he

qualifies this

statement by

saying baptism

saves, by

saying that

there must be

active faith in

Christ once and

for all, work on

the cross through

his life, death,

and resurrection.

We see this in

verse 3,

verses 21 and

following.

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.

In our prayer

book, in the

original baptism

liturgy, it says

that baptism

regenerates the

soul, it saves.

And that can be a

tricky thing to

read, because in

our church, we, and

I would set forward

in Anglicanism,

that's not what we

believe.

That would be more

akin to maybe some

Lutheran views or

even some Roman

Catholic views.

But that baptism

is, it is God's

declaration upon us

that we are his.

In this case,

though, in this

case, Peter is

saying that it is

actually, in addition

to that, even though

he's not touching

that, he is saying

it is our pledge

made to God that we

are obediently

following him all

our days.

That we are looking

to the cross of

Christ for our

salvation and

nothing else.

And that through

baptism, we are

united to Christ.

Not only that, but

it stands to reason

that the majority,

if not all, of the

original recipients of

this letter were

Christians already,

and therefore are

already, that we're

already baptized.

So, also, there's a

call in this to

remember your

baptism.

to remember that God

has on you promised

to bring you

through this life

into eternal

salvation with him.

Through the ark that

is his son.

Lots to talk about

over a lunch.

If you are struggling,

this has been one of

the hardest texts to

wrestle through.

But, again, if we

see this, remembering

that this is a

section to encourage

us in our faith,

as we suffer for

the gospel to

faithfully live out

the Christian life,

that even when we

suffer by the hands

of strong forces,

we seek to live

this life in the

cosmic victor,

the one who has

conquered all, the

one who is the

ultimate champion.

we must see,

friends, as we

wrap things up,

we must see

this life of faith

as eternal

blessings that

begin now,

that come through

our calling to

love and serve

Christ, through the

suffering that will

inevitably come as

we seek to serve

him in righteousness,

and because,

ultimately,

Christ's victory

on the cross,

once and for all,

won us our

eternal freedom,

and now he is

enthroned in heaven,

and there is no

power that is even

coming close to

kicking him off the

throne.

That's who we serve,

that's who we are in,

that's who our hope

is found.

Let us pray.

Father in heaven,

thank you for your

word, thank you that

it is an encouragement

to us, even though

it is difficult at

times to figure out

and to discern and

to wrestle through,

but Lord, you've

given us your word

not to perplex us,

not to confuse us,

not to divide us,

but to unite us

and to encourage us

and to equip us

and to give us

strength to endure

and to obey

and to lift up your

name and proclaim

your goodness

wherever we may go.

Lord, remind us

afresh that this is

good news,

this is balm for our

souls, this is the

very gas in our

tank to keep us

running.

Lord, help us to

see you and to see

the victory of your

son as no small

thing, that this

wasn't just some

blip in time, but

all of time now

revolves around the

cross, for Christ is

the truly victorious

one.

Thank you.

We pray this in

Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.