1 Peter 3:15

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0:00 The rest of us were moving on from the Thomas Keating Book this morning. I went through the rest of it and felt like we got a cover just to put a bookend on that for you. Thomas Keating, the Human Condition, the lecture for Harvard, he framed the reality of the human condition. Remember, we talked about this first article, Truth, that there are things in the way that God made the world that you can learn without special revelation.

0:38 They're just in the way the world works. And there are aspects of the human condition that are first article, Truth, whether you come to them through faith or just through study, you would find them. Thomas Keating says that there is a first article, Truth, that is shared among all humanity, that people are born with these three basic needs. And he structured his conversation around where are you and who are you. And the where are you is around your need for power and control, affection and esteem, and security and survival.

1:08 And then the who are you is that you over-identify with your schemes to meet those things. And the last thing that we said last week that really stuck with me is that story about the friend of mine who said, I can't help but worry, I'm just a worrier. And Thomas Keating, finally in his book on the human condition, says one of the ultimate traps of the human condition is that we over-identify with our schemes for affection and esteem, power and control, and security and survival.

1:42 And so no longer am I just someone who happens to worry because I struggle with the faith that God might work all things together for my good. I'm not just a person who happens to worry, now my identity is a worrier. And he says this is the finally the flaw of the human condition, that we believe that we are no more than the sum total of our schemes that we've developed in life to try and find satisfaction and contentment.

2:12 And he's calling us up out of that. And he says the way to release your over-identify with your schemes, in fact, to drop schemes altogether and allow God to meet your needs most fully, is to develop a regular practice of moving into the presence of God. And so last week we fifth asking you, if you think back through your days and then group your days into weeks and your weeks into months, in what way are you cultivating a practice where you move into the presence of God?

2:47 And we said of course gathering together as his people is a primary way where we encounter the presence of God, a place where he promises to be where we're two or three are gathered in, in my name, there I will be. And then of course he promises to be in his word. And so how do you engage God in his word and in his people? So I feel like we said all that. So I just restated it so you know we closed the book. There it is. And I want to now take a step and look at something that we're going to spend the next several weeks on that comes out of this idea a little bit that we had in the Holy Spirit book two times ago and a new idea from 1 Peter.

3:30 So if you want to find in a copy of the scriptures 1 Peter, chapter 3, there is a little bit of debate on did Peter actually write this book, the Apostle Peter, you know, the one that spoke at Pentecost, the fishermen.

4:01 But not enough that there's even consensus on who else it might be. The general consensus is that the Apostle Peter wrote these two letters, 1 Peter and 2 Peter. And most people think that he wrote them later in life from Rome. Peter was crucified under the Emperor Nero in Rome kind of famously he said you have to hang me on a cross upside down because I'm not worthy to be crucified the same way as Jesus.

4:34 So I don't know the kind of weight that was on the nails in his feet, but they put Peter on an upside down cross because he didn't want to be on a right side up cross like Jesus that was in around 64 AD. So these two letters were written towards the end of his life, but before 64 AD two churches who were under persecution under this Emperor Nero. Now we know why they were being persecuted by Roman emperors, right? Because Roman emperors called themselves sons of God.

5:08 They printed on their money that they were the son of God. And so they wanted in addition to taxes, they wanted people to acknowledge their deity in order to kind of lock in their rule of the known world. And the followers of the way had particular trouble with this. The Israelites had worked out a system where they felt like it was okay. It's why they had special money that could be used at the temple because you'd go to the temple, you'd have to exchange your money into temple money so that you weren't using money that said emperors, the son of God at the temple.

5:46 So they were allowed their religious practices so that they could live under the Roman rule. The followers of the way of Jesus didn't have that luxury because Jesus made a real point that he was the king of all kings, that he was the Lord of all lords. And his main movement in the world was to say, I've come to establish a reign that never ends under which you now get to live. And so the followers of the way of Jesus had direct conflict for a significant period of time trying to figure out how to live in a world where people made strong authoritative claims that contradicted the claims of Jesus.

6:23 And so the Roman emperors were persecuting them a lot. Nero might have been the worst. There are stories of Nero like lighting Christians on fire as lampposts and things at parties. He was pretty brutal in his persecution of the church. In this context, when Peter is imprisoned in Rome and is writing to followers of the way of Jesus under persecution in his letter, First Peter.

6:54 And the phrase that got me, and then we'll back up, but the phrase that got me that I thought we could sit here for a couple of weeks is in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15. But let's go to 14 so we can start the sentence. I said this before, but there's no rhyme or reason to where the verses are. I asked one time in exegenical class in seminary how did they decide where to put the verses and he said there's an old story about that.

7:31 I said, oh, interesting. There's a monk, you know, they used to have to transcribe by hand the copies of the scriptures that there's a monkey. He told me the name of the monk in the story. I can't remember. But there's a monk who decided where the verses would go because he was transcribing his copy of the scriptures. Well, he wrote on a donkey between towns and wherever his pen bumped as he wrote on the donkey, that's where he put a new verse mark. They had tried over and over again to find some kind of rhyme or reason to where the verse marks are.

8:04 And for the life of them, it looks like somebody right on the back of a donkey when he hit the page. That's where he made a new verse mark. So I wanted us to start in verse 15, but that's not even the start of the sentence. So let's go to verse 14 of chapter 3 of 1 Peter. Even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, then, nor be troubled. But in your hearts regard 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.

8:41 You have to 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. That phrase always be prepared to give a defense for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus is what got me thinking. We could sit here for several weeks and we will on this idea. Always be prepared to give a defense for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus. Now in the context that Peter is writing, he actually at the end of the letter, the reason we are pretty sure he wrote it from Rome is because he references that he is writing from Babylon, which in the first century church, they often use Babylon as a metaphor for Rome.

9:31 So we think he is writing from jail. He is writing from Rome where he is in prison two people who are being persecuted and he is telling them to always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus. Which is interesting, if we back up a little bit, we will see he is trying to make the case that they would have hope. Look with me back to the first chapter of 1 Peter.

10:03 In verse 3, he says, he starts out the letter, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his great mercy. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading. Captain heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.

10:36 In this you rejoice. The persecution in Rome was some physical and enslavement that was probably mostly for the people who were loudly proclaiming the way of Jesus and recruiting people to it. The good practitioners, the problem they had was they couldn't engage in the commerce because they weren't willing to make the requisite offerings and sacrifices to the Roman emperors. So they were kind of hemmed in financially.

11:06 They couldn't engage. They couldn't make money the way that they used to. They couldn't trade the way that they used to. They couldn't eat at the markets the way that they used to. Their whole life was kind of challenged. And then any gatherings or worship gatherings, they had to do in secret because they would come in and arrest people if they caught you worshipping together. So a lot of practices in the history about how to use their vie as the church amidst persecution. But the point is their life is seriously disrupted by the persecution.

11:39 And at times their life is put in danger. Like death is threatened. And Peter is telling them to have hope in the midst of this. In fact, he's saying he's taking it for granted that they would have hope. Always be prepared to give a defense for the hope that you have because people might be wondering how on earth does this person have hope. Because there's no earthly reason for you to have hope.

12:09 And that's why he starts the letter reminding them first of the thing they have hope in. Let's read it again. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

12:40 Captain heaven for you. This sentence is meant to say first through the Christ Jesus rebirths us into a living hope. Meaning Jesus Christ was killed but raised up from the dead so that no matter what they do to you take your money, take your food, take your home, take your livelihood, take your life. They can't put Jesus back into the grave. You have been reborn into a living hope so that no matter what happens today, tomorrow, in the weeks to come, nothing puts Jesus back into the grave.

13:16 So as we walk forward, whether it's into financial hardship, food, trade, family, death, it doesn't matter what we walk into because we are born into a living hope. One that goes through the grave up into life forever. He says you have been born into a living hope and then he says through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance. The living hope is an inheritance, something that you will come into that has been set aside, waited for the moment to be given to you, an inheritance that cannot be shaken, taken, moved, and

13:58 cannot be changed or marred. He says that you have a living hope, cannot be killed, to an inheritance, something that you come into that's given to you by the fact of who you are, to an inheritance that is imperishable. It will not perish to say the same way. It can't be destroyed or defiled. It can't be broken down or go away. No matter what you walk through here, today, tomorrow, in the weeks, months, years to come with money, with life, with food, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

14:43 It doesn't diminish or fade before it's waiting for you. Your struggle may seem prolonged, even extended, but your inheritance in your extended struggle does not fade or wear out. It does not perish, doesn't go away. It doesn't even fade or get worse. He says you have been reborn into a living hope in the resurrection of Christ Jesus which comes with an inheritance that is imperishable and unfading.

15:20 It sits there waiting for you. Unsading, kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation to be revealed at the last time. What's the first part of this letter? It goes through what it means that they have this kind of faith, but you can see how they would need it.

15:51 They would need faith in a living hope, right, and within an inheritance that is imperishable, unfading, and waiting for them in heaven. Because their life is hard. How's yours? How's your life?

16:23 Relative to Christians under Nero? Yeah, maybe better. We were talking about this a little bit. Brian and I were talking about this a little bit this week. And then last week I was mentioning a little bit because I was like, I had watched a news report of Syrian refugees trying to survive in the refugee camps.

16:57 And then at the same, right after watching that, I picked up and went to Walt Disney World by myself. And as I was watching the Lion King Show and people dance around smiling, singing beautifully in amazing costumes in the air conditioned space, I was thinking about what would it be like to take someone out of a tent in the Syrian refugee camp and put them in this experience watching the Lion King Show? Like, what would they, how would that go? Yeah.

17:27 And I was thinking about the difference in their experience of life and wondering how I ought to feel about the fact of where I was that day. And I decided it is a trap. It is a short-sided to say, wow, I've got it so good. I mean, I don't want to live in a Syrian refugee camp and everyone living in a Syrian refugee camp.

18:02 Their lives would be improved by moving out of the tents and into safe living. Let's get that off the table. But it does it mean that somehow my life is without struggle or hardship. And it's a short-sided for us to suggest or to think that we have no persecution in our life that requires hope.

18:32 What happens if we believe that we have no struggle or persecution that requires hope is we just stick our head in the sand. We have a life full of diversion because underneath the trips to Disney, the restaurant we want to eat at, the comfortable homes, the trips we can plan is struggle all the same. The first thing I want to suggest is that if you move through life pretending that there is no struggle, then you are sticking your head in the sand, living with diversions, right?

19:13 Like, not addressing the challenges in front of you. We all lose people that we love. We all have to drop certain dreams on the ground. We all struggle with recurring challenges where we're not all the way who we'd like to be. We all have resources that we squander and wonder how we might steward. We all have struggles and difficulties.

19:44 And I think like the encouragement of Peter to remember that we people of the way are those who would have hope is important. Because our hope is not in the next vacation, though they'll be lovely. Or a raise, right? From jobs that we have more money. Our hope is not in simple things because we have no struggle, so it just gets better.

20:18 Our hope is in the inheritance that is imperishable and unfading and awaiting for us. This is where our hope is. And I think like the first danger for us may be different from the first century Christians where their danger is to despair at hardship. Our danger is to settle for the goodness that the world has to offer.

20:54 And forget that we have an inheritance waiting for us that far surpasses what the world may have to offer. We're thinking about that when we talked about last week we mentioned that phrase from Hebrew, but for the joy set before him did Christ endure the cross, mourning the chain. That in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus picks the cross, submits to God giving him the cross.

21:24 And Hebrews tells us that he does it not because he's a glutton for punishment, not because he likes the feeling of the weight of the guilt of all the world on his back and the nail through his hands and his feet. Not because he's a glutton for punishment. Hebrews says that Jesus Christ allowed God the Father to give him the cross, but for the joy set before him. The banquet be coming, the camaraderie of all he loves for all time.

21:54 Jesus knew, was aware and acquainted with the deep scope and lasting joy away from his inheritance, unperishable, unfading. And what I'm saying is I want to remind us that though we don't have people at every corner hemming us in, taking our money, threatening our life, or following the way of Jesus, we have a world that consistently and persistently offers us the opportunity to settle for something way less than the inheritance that we have for us.

22:26 And if we would be people who continue to move forward in life with our hope in this inheritance rather than this, we'll find a deeper satisfaction in life and maybe some suffering. Maybe some suffering. I, at multiple points in my life and conversations with God, have asked him, how good must it be the things that are coming that it would sustain the Christ through the cross?

23:02 Give me a glimpse, O Lord, of the inheritance awaiting me in heaven that I might continue on your path and not settle for something less. If we start to believe that there is an inheritance waiting for us, that this world is not all that there is and begin to live like it, if we begin to manage our money, our relationships, our work, and our time, as though this world were not all there is and we're heading towards an inheritance in eternity,

23:39 pretty quickly we come against struggle. If there's inheritance waiting, why does disease dog us? Why do bodies quit? Why does money run out? Why do jobs fade away? Why are relationships so hard? Why do buildings collapse? If we start to deal with the reality and live as though it were true that there is an inheritance waiting for us in heaven and we begin to organize our life that way, pretty quickly we become acquainted with the struggles in the world.

24:12 And what I hear Peter saying, this is where his readers are, very acquainted with the struggles in the world. The first step for us is to reacquaint ourselves with the struggles in the world because we get so many diversions we often forget. We've just settled for life here, we've figured out a way to make it as good as we possibly can and not that bad as we stay on the diversions. So the first step for us is to realize that this life is not as good as we think it is and we're heading for something much better in comparison. This life is not as good as we think it is in comparison to what's coming.

24:42 When we start to realize that we get acquainted with the trials and the sufferings. When we quiet out the diversions we're reminded of what's hard. And this is where Peter's readers find himself and this is why he says, I feel like he's saying, do not despair. Just don't give up.

25:15 Don't resign yourself to sadness and apathy and the way of the world. Do not despair. There is inheritance to you. This is difficult because when we look at this squarely and we allow ourselves to engage in the world knowing that there's more to come and look at this world honestly for what it is, we begin to realize how sad some things are.

26:05 How sad death and disease. How sad injustice and bigotry. How sad poverty. And this is where Peter comes with his message for us today and mind to you wherever you are in life. Look at it honestly. Experience the brokenness of the world. Don't paint it over as though bad were good.

26:42 Bad there is bad in the world. Experience the sadness. Move through it though. Don't stay there. Do not despair. But for the joy set before us can we endure the suffering of the world. Move right through it just like the Christ through the cross and the grave out into life. This is the way of reality. And this is the way that our people have moved through persecutions right and plenty from one generation to the next with hope in the inheritance awaiting us in heaven.

27:24 Imperishable and unfading. I don't know where all of you are at today. I don't know what you are dealing with. What diversion or struggle. I don't know. But I know that for all of us here today. Whatever we are enduring will pass away. It will stay for a season and be gone.

27:57 Your inheritance will never pass away. Imperishable. Unsending. Awaiting you in heaven. This is the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. A living hope. Let me pray that it would be your hope today. Lord Jesus, make us people of hope in a diverted and world.

28:29 Make us people of hope. Lord in the midst of suffering and plenty make us people of hope. And give us glimpses, Lord, of the joy set before us. In Jesus name, before His sake, we pray. Amen.