God works through Us
Pastor Gary Tolbert
1Peter 3, V
March 1, 2008
Intro: Ill. This might hurt. At a time when Internet porn now outsells cigarettes, booze, and hard drugs combined; when digital worlds open up new horizons and yet shut down human intimacy; when globalization reminds us we are one world and yet sometimes exploits the weak; when AIDS threatens tens of millions of human beings; when Islam, fueled by oil, is disgusted by the immorality of the West, is once again resurgent, we have major challenges to confront. Ill. Suffering without God. We need to start trusting him again.
God wants to do things in our midst and he wants to do them through us. It may not be easy but it might end up joyful and fulfilling in the end.
We are studying 1 Peter 3:15-22.
I. Witnessing
The first letter of Peter contains a strong emphasis on suffering. The words translated to suffer or suffering appears 16 times. No other NT document uses these words more frequently than 1 Peter. The topic of suffering is found in all five chapters. But Peter also presents the Christian. He wants to encourage his audience to live a holy life in spite of suffering, knowing that Christians have a wonderful hope. Sharing your faith in the midst of suffering is a difficult yet powerful example of God's love.
1 Peter 3:15-17, Be ready to answer. I like the way Peter puts it. He doesn't tell us to assault people with the truth. He doesn't tell us to harass people who are doctrinally incorrect. He doesn't tell us to go out and straighten people out where they are wrong. He says we are to be ready to give an answer for the reason of the hope that is within us when somebody asks us a question.
If you are not good at thinking on your feet then you need to write down what you're going to say now, so when someone asks you, you will have an answer. Sometimes people are fearful of walking up to someone and talking to them about the truth. There is nothing scary about preparing to answer people who ask questions. That is the purest and least confrontational form of witnessing possible. It is God directed because is not initiated by us. And our response is expected and desired by the people asking.
II. What is not meant?
The next section is more difficult to understand. Verse 18 refers to the beautiful gospel of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. Verse 21b again mentions the resurrection. Verse 22 continues and reports about Jesus’ Ascension and his reign. So verses 18, 21b and 22 form a parenthesis in which another section is inserted. It is this other section that we have trouble with.
1 Peter 3:18-22, Christ died for all once. Before I was in Adventist, I believed as most of the Christian world does today, that the people who lived back in Noah's day were still alive, in prison somewhere. Between the time Jesus died on the cross and he rose, he was alive and left to visit this prison and preach to them giving them another chance to repent and be saved. This interpretation concludes that there is an immortal soul that people have a second chance of salvation after death and that Jesus went to hell and came up again. You can easily come to that conclusion by reading the text and listening to various preachers around, especially if you forget the rest of the Bible. But that is not what the text says.
If taken that way, there are at least four problems that arise which disagree with other Scripture:
1-The Ministry of Noah was pointless: (Genesis 6:3), Man's days will be 120 years. At the preaching of Noah for 120 years, only eight were saved in the ark. If someone comes along later and preaches to them again then that invalidates Noah. Why did Noah preach if someone else was going to do it later anyway?
2-Death is not death: (John 11:11), Lazarus is asleep, I go to wake him. Jesus refers to death as a sleep but it is still death. When one is asleep he is not conscious somewhere else. Jesus died. But when people of Noah's day died, they weren't dead; they were awake somewhere in a prison? That seems to say people don't die when they die, they are alive somewhere maybe as disembodied spirits. But the Bible says,
(1 Timothy 6:16), Only God is immortal.
3-God is partial to those in Noah's day: He gave them a second chance? He didn't give Adam and Eve a second chance before kicking them out of the garden; or the people of Sodom and Gomorrah who were destroyed; even the people of Jesus day didn't get a second chance, only those of Noah's day? There is no justification for an after death, second chance in Scripture. Hebrews 9:27, We die once and face the judgment.
4-Jesus was not in the grave: (Matthew 16:21), He would be killed. Was Jesus telling the truth? He was not really dead; he would be alive somewhere visiting some prison? This is a teaching similar to Purgatory. You have to believe in disembodied spirits of loved ones chained up somewhere. If the Bible is your guide, there is nothing there to support.
So what do we do with this text?
III. Explain the text
let's look at verses 18-22 phrase by phrase and see if we can make sense out of it.
Remember; in the original language there are no verse numbers or punctuation. The reason for that is because they needed to use all of the paper for the words. They didn't have reams of paper like we have today. So they crammed everything together. The translators added the verses and the punctuation, they were not inspired. They could have done a little better here.
Verse 18: He was put to death in the body but may alive by the Spirit. Here is a beautiful explanation of the gospel story. Christ died but he arose. He wasn't alive until he rose. He died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday, the third day. He also died unjustly, a good example for us. Peter makes that point over and over. We are blessed by God as we suffer unjustly.
Verse 19: Through whom... who is whom? The spirit; the Holy Spirit. He went and preached... in prison. If Jesus is dead he is not alive going to some prison and preaching.
It was through the Spirit he went and preached to the other spirits in prison. Luke 4:18, Freedom for the prisoners. The devil and sin put us in prison. Jesus comes to save us and release us from that jail. Ill. Prisoner of appetite.
We do not believe in necromancy, it is not taught in the Bible. Spirits of people who have died do not come back from the dead to talk to us. If it sounds or looks like a dead relative it is simply a demon impersonating them. But the Spirit of Christ does speak through people who plead with sinners to accept salvation. That is a principle work of the Holy Spirit in this world, today and back then. (John 16:7, 8), The Spirit convicts the world.
Verse 20: Who disobeyed long ago... The people who lived back in Noah's day and rejected his message were disobedient. The Holy Spirit was speaking through Noah to lead them to repentance. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God or Jesus which touches the hearts of those people who are open to God. God works through people by his Spirit.
Part of the confusion here is that the people who lived back in Noah's day are called spirits. The term spirits in the plural occurs 34 times in the NT. About 20 of these 34 refer to demons, 2 or 3 to the Angels, 4 to the seven spirits of God in Revelation, 5 to human spirits, and 1 to spiritual gifts. It depends on the context as to how the word is used. Some scholars believe it is referring to demons here, but I believe it is talking about those people who lived in Noah's day.
Verse 21: Water symbolizes baptism... there is nothing magical about baptism.
Water is destructive but also life-supporting. While it drowned Noah's contemporaries, it saved him and his family. It killed what was sinful and purified the world; so also baptism. Jesus saves us through the water of baptism. What is sinful is destroyed. A new being arises. So, Peter says baptism saves you.
Baptism is a symbol of the work that Christ has done in our minds and bodies. Christ is the one who saves us not baptism. But we must be baptized to be saved, the Bible says in (Mark 16:16). Notice Romans 6:1-6, We enter into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The earth was washed with water through the elements cleansing it from the corruption of the past and started a new world with Noah's family. This washing of the earth is seen in baptism which is performed by people today.
Verse 22: Christ is in heaven preparing to return to our earth again.
Though the details of the text are difficult when we look at the text as a whole, it does present a valid message: Jesus works through us to save the world. In the midst of suffering our witness is powerful.
The example of the Holy Spirit working with the sinners in Noah's day is given. The eternal God, through Noah labored to save all of those rebels.
Jesus triumphant resurrection paves the way for our salvation; Christ then is seated at the throne of God with all the Angels, authority and power under him. He doesn't do it alone; he works through us.
Conclude: Ill. Trust and invisible God. God has a message here:
The gospel of Christ is powerful, especially in suffering
His resurrection proves he has conquered sin and death
God works through people, his Holy Spirit speaks through us to save the world as it spoke through Noah.
That work continues today, if we are willing to have God work and speak through us. He wants to work through you.
God works through Us
1Peter 3
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1 Peter 3:15-17, Be ready to answer
1 Peter 3:18-22, Christ died for all once
Hebrews 9:27, We die once and face the judgment
Luke 4:18, Freedom for the prisoners
Romans 6:1-6, We enter into Christ's experience
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