And so to our third exposition from 1 Peter.

At last you say, he’s about to talk about witness that works. Well I hope you’re not really saying that, because I hope that you’ve seen clearly that everything we’ve seen in Peter’s letter is a formative element of our Christian witness. Our beliefs and assurance. Our private holiness. Our interaction with other believers. Our church participation. These are all blocks that build who we are, and if there is one thing our world needs it is authentic whole life Christianity seen in the lives of ordinary believers and acting as a signpost to Jesus.

So the passage we’re looking at today is concerned with how we live and how we speak among non-believers.

We start with chapter 2:11-12 which I mentioned yesterday are a turning point in the letter as they direct the reader’s attention clearly to think of the way we impact non-believers.

The great thing to notice about these verses is that Peter really anticipates that the way we ordinary Christians live out our lives in the midst of a non-believing world will in fact cause non-believers to come to glorify God!

This block dealing with how we live among non-believers runs at least as far as chapter 4 verse 6 possible you could argue it runs as far as the end of chapter 4. But our time today will be spent on understanding the flow from 2:12 through to 3:15, which in the Greek s a poor place to stop as the paragraph runs right through from 3:8 to 4:6. However it will have to do. The way this section is structured is as follows: chapter 2 verse 11-12 and chapter 3:15 are the bookends – two consecutive points in Peter’s minds, while what flows in between these verses is Peter’s practical outworking of the impact of verses 11 and 12 in the lives of his readers. It is as if 2:13 through to 3:7 are three case studies picked by Peter to show what ‘such good lives’ will look like in the circumstance of his readers.

It won’t have escaped your attention form our reading just now that many of the specific circumstances of Peter’s readers are wildly different to our own – for example few if any of us are slaves! This means that we need to approach these passages with a degree of caution lest we inappropriately apply his teaching directly to our own different circumstances. Nonetheless, there are both specific details in these case studies, and general principles which underlie them that we have to grasp if we’re seeking to become authentic Gospel witnesses to our world.

So let’s look at the case studies one by one.

Case Study 1 - Authority
Of course Peter’s readers lived in the Roman Empire, a tightly controlled political and judicial system that was at this stage opposed to the expansion and possibly even the survival of the Christian church.

Yet Peter’s approach to dealing with despotic power is not anarchy, but submission – not a passive submission but a deliberate and almost counter cultural submission whereby determined goodness and respect for the authorities might silence the accusations of those who mean to harm the church. We are to show proper respect, but to fear only God.
Think of the example of Paul in the last chapters of Acts. What he wanted to do was to plead the case of the Gospel at the highest level in the Empire. He didn’t run around breaking the jaws of officials, but instead presented Jesus to them with patience and respect and in so doing won their sympathy and possibly even support. His approach won him opportunity after opportunity to present Jesus to those in authority... and with results as we read Paul’s greetings from the palace guards who shared his beliefs even while he was a prisoner.

The general rule from Peter’s teaching is that we should do what the authorities tell us. There is however an interesting alternative to this in the book of Acts where Peter himself twice challenges the authorities as they seek to silence him and stop him teaching about Jesus. On two occasions in chapter 4 and chapter 5 he says “we must obey God rather than men”.

The difficulty faced by Christian ethicists over the centuries is: when do we have to do what Peter says in his letter and when do we have to do what he demonstrates in Acts? The answer seems to be straightforward. When Peter was banned from speaking about Jesus he said he had to obey God, but in all other matters of civil activity he expects us to obey the authorities we live under.

Now we don’t live under a dictatorship but under democracy. And this gives us legitimate rights to question the government and to vote in opposition. Our submissiveness to authorities can legitimately involve us in political activism but we need to be careful in case our political ideas distract those in authority to think ill of the church.
The German theologian and pastor Deitrich Bionhoeffer summarised: it is the job of the church to support the government in keeping law and order but also to critically assess whether the government is ruling in a godly and just manner, and if not to oppose them.

Remember Peter wants us to be living in a way which causes others to glorify God, so we need to know which battles are worth fighting. We should never allow ourselves to become complicit in the wrong dealings of government, but also we should judge and test our motives before wading into the political fray. Are we interested in the Gospel if so perhaps we should follow Peter’s line of submission in order to undermine those who oppose the church.

Case 2 Slaves and Masters
What Peter has in mind here seems to be a situation where a slave becomes a believer while still remaining the slave of a non-believer.

On face value his instruction is simple:
• Submit to your masters with respect even if they are bad masters;
• Failure to submit will lead to punishment for doing wrong, and that has no merit;
• But if you’re punished for doing right, presumably because of your faith, then endure it;
• And the justification he gives for this instruction is the example of Jesus who endured so much suffering at the hands of evil people despite doing absolutely nothing wrong.
• Jesus entrusted his well being to the Father who judges justly because he had his eyes on an eternal life rather than just a 9-5 one.

Now of course none of us here are slaves – at least in the conventional sense. But it is fair to assume that some of us work for bad bosses, or with colleagues who victimise us because of our faith.

In such circumstances we have the legitimate opportunity to use our employment freedom and change job. But before rushing off to grab the paper and look for new opportunities we ought first to consider whether the place we are is the place the Lord wants us to be even if it is a far cry from our ideal job scenario.

In our world the places where we work are the front line of Christian engagement with non-believers. At work we share our lives with all the pressures and strains and joys with non-believers on a completely level playing field. Our places of work are in effect one of the most important mission fields in our country. So before running away from our abuse or boredom at work we should prayerfully ask the Lord what His will is for our lives. And if we decide to stay put then we should submit, and taking any abuse that comes our way in the strength and grace of Jesus, because that alone will show adequate authentic Christianity to those we work with.

I love the account of Daniel. A man living in the middle of a pagan society, with a top-level job and surrounded by plenty of people who would love to see him perish.

In Daniel 6 when Daniel’s opponents try to get him sacked they can find no fault in either his work or his integrity. The only weakness they think they can find is his devotion to God.

You know the story, they invent a spurious law pandering to the ego of their ruler Darius, which bans any prayer to God. Does Daniel obey this law? No he rushes straight off to pray to the one true God. And he is taken straight from his prayer to a den of hungry lions.

Now you only have to look at Darius’ reaction to Daniel’s fate to know that Daniel was no pert-timer. He was obviously someone who did his job extremely well.

Anyway Daniel survives and his opponents become cat food.

Over his 60 years of secular employment Daniel had three bosses. And out of those three two came to declare that the God of Israel was the one true God. Two bosses out of three – that’s not bad.

This is what Peter’s after. He doesn’t want the slaves to become painful detractors who legitimately incur the wrath of their masters, but rather he wants them to see their submission as a godly thing and as a legitimate part of living such good lives, that who knows even their slave masters might come to glorify God.

Who is the last person in your workplace you expect to come to know Jesus, or expect to have the opportunity to share the Gospel with? Probably your boss, because the power she or he holds over you in terms of job security and future prospects seems to make any idea of witness to them a complete and utterly embarrassing impossibility. What do you think Peter of Daniel think about that?

Can I ask do you ever dare to pray that your boss will come to know Jesus? Or any other of your colleagues for that matter? Because you should be praying this. Their need for salvation and grace is every bit as great as yours. And as you pray determine to live and work in a way which shows the authenticity of your discipleship of Jesus – submitting, showing respect, putting up with abuse – not because you have no alternative, but because you can as Jesus was able to because of his eternal hope.

Case Study 3
Again the context here is not our common circumstance. Peter here is writing with women and men in mind who have come to know Jesus while those they are married to have not.

His desire is that the married partner might also come to know the Lord.

Of course if you find yourself in exactly this circumstance you can take these verses and apply them directly to your life, but for the rest of us we need to do some careful reading to know how to use this teaching in our own lives.
The first thing Peter says should be no surprise to us by now – he tells the believing wives to submit! Just as with slaves and governments, submission is not a choice of weakness but a deliberate act because we know that by it there is more chance of people being turned to Christ than by our vocal opposition.

So again in verse 2 he sees godly behaviour as something which has the potential to draw people to Jesus.

The advice he gives on beauty is not a tirade against beauty, but rather a request that inner beauty should be greater than any external showings. Because ultimately it is the inner beauty which reflects Jesus’ transformation of our lives, and so will point people to Jesus. Good looks are just good looks and say nothing for your heart!

Husbands in verse 7 are to treat their wives as equals because the gift of life they have through Jesus, is just the same as the gift of life their wives could have. It may not sound much but equality within marriage in the 1st century AD was unheard of and a legal impossibility. Showing such respect to a non-believing wife could be the thing which caused them to come to Jesus.

Now you may be thinking this passage has no relevance for me as my husband or wife are already believer – or as I have no husband or wife to worry about. Can you take a side-step with me? Who are your non-believing relatives? Your parents, your siblings, your aunts and uncles? What should your attitude be towards them? Do you stand high on the freedom you have in Christ and boldly tell them to go to hell and let you do your own thing. Or do you submit to them on non-Gospel matters, in the hope that your inner beauty as a regenerated believer might cause them to think twice or three times or four times about the claims of Jesus. I can assure you that haughty defiance is a sure way to set your relatives against you, and by extension against Jesus.
You see for Peter, as it should be for us, it is their conversion that is important not your claims to rights and freedom and independence.

 

Overview

I said before that as well as looking at the specifics of these case studies we would also be looking for the general principles which underlie them. I think these principles are as follows:
1. Submit – for the Lord’s sake. Not passively like a front door mat ready to walked over by everyone because you’re afraid. But instead standing distinct from the world’s craving for rights, freedom and independence, because our bigger concern is the glory of God.
2. Show proper respect, and don’t behave like an anarchistic fool.
3. Be good at what you do so people can’t legitimately blame you for being useless.
4. Be prepared to suffer for being a Christian even if you’re doing everything right. Jesus suffered this way, and those who stand with Him should expect it.
5. Let your inner holiness be more beautiful than your outward appearance.
6. Care for those who society would see as of less value than you.
7. Live for Christ's glory not for personal comfort – because in the long term only His glory will count.
Peter does not want his readers, nor us, to separate ourselves out of society. He wants us to be fully immersed into society whilst at the same time knowing that we are set aside by God to be His Holy Nation and Royal Priesthood. He wants us to be secure in Jesus; participating in the church; and involved in society at every level. Because only if we are like this will we bring the relevance of Jesus to our needy world.

I want to rush ahead now to 3:15 and look at the words we put onto the signpost. But before I do so I just want to pause to consider chapter 3:8-9.

These are curious verses because verse 8 by it’s language ‘love as brothers’ sounds as if Peter is back onto the issue of how believers behave with believers; while verse 9 sounds as if he’s talking about how we should respond to the abuse of non-believers.

I think though that we should read both these verses in relation to our attitude to non-believers, here’s why:
a) In the Greek verses 8 and 9 are a continuous sentence, with no grammatical split;
b) Also they are positioned within the letter directly between Peter’s advice on how we live among non-believers and his instruction on what we should say to non-believers.

So I would like you to read these verses with me as a summary of Peter’s advice on how we should interact with non-believers whether our circumstances fit his case studies or not. So what does he say:
1. Live in harmony with those around you – not in discord;
2. Be sympathetic – perhaps by remembering that the salvation we have is ours by grace not by merit;
3. Love as brothers – which is of course what Jesus means when he commands us to love our neighbours as ourselves;
4. Be compassionate and humble – because insincerity and pride are two of the most cast iron impediments to people coming to Jesus;
5. Repay insult with blessing – because as the people who fulfil God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 – we are called to be a blessing to all nations. To bless even in the face of abuse.

Of course Peter might have meant this instruction to be for Christian to Christian relationships. But it seems to me wholly legitimate and not a little challenging to consider whether I really do behave with these loving characteristics towards non-believers. And if I don’t then I think I should start doing so.

 

And all of this leads me finally to chapter 3:15 – the Words

Much of the teaching on Christian witness that we get in the church zeros straight in on this verse as if it were the holy grail of Christian witness, and the only thing of significance in Peter’s letter.

I hope that in arriving at this verse contextually we can see that rather than being a fresh topic, this injunction is in fact completely embedded within the wider call to authentic whole life Christian witness.

The dangers of abstracting this verse from it’s context are twofold:
a) We might be tempted to preach Christ without the authenticity of discipleship our world need to see to legitimise our claims;
b) We might be tempted to think that this is advice only for evangelists or high powered apologists.
By putting this verse into its correct context we can instead see that:
a) The command to be ready to explain our hope in Jesus is a command given to all believers, not just the exceptionally gifted ones!
b) Peter has a real expectation that if we live our lives in every area for Jesus and for the glory of the Father, then it is an inevitable consequence that sooner or later someone somewhere will start to ask us why we do the things we do the way we do them – and this is our opportunity to present Jesus.

What Peter instructs every one of his readers – including you and I – is that we should be ready and waiting for questions to come – so that we avoid being chastened into silence when someone eventually asks us what we believe.
Let’s look at the verse in a bit of detail because it isn’t just about speaking but it’s also about attitude:
1. In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. The truth is that if Christ isn’t Lord of my life then I am! And if I am Lord of my life then I’m highly unlikely to risk social embarrassment through the horror of sharing my innermost feelings about Jesus. In fact if Christ isn’t Lord then there’s a good chance that my innermost feelings about Jesus are just empty habit. If you have trouble setting apart Jesus as Lord, then get into the habit of preaching the Gospel to yourself every day as I said before. Not only will this remind you of the grace through which you are saved, but also it should remind you of the sheer glory of Jesus – the Lord of heaven and earth ... the one who is greater than even your greatest fears.
2. Always be ready to give a reason for the hope you have... no excuses... always be ready, even if being ready means politely suggesting that you’ll answer a question over coffee after work in order to avoid preaching in the boss’s time.
3. Be ready to give a reason for the hope you have – many would use this verse to urge you to clue up on the very latest arguments between science and faith, or the 29 undeniable proofs of the resurrection in ancient Australian texts. I think the point is rather more simple than that, because the reason people are asking you about Jesus is that they have already seen the proof of His existence in your life. the strongest apologetic you and I can ever make is a life lived among non-believers that supports our claims of Gospel truth in every dimension. I think the point here is know the truth, know the basics and be ready to explain them.
4. Peter doesn’t say ‘always be ready to win every argument you have about Jesus... because that’s not the point of Christian witness. We are not meant to intellectually bulldoze people into a corner. We are to present Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work of opening blind eyes, even if that means we have to keep on presenting Christ again and again to the same people – so what – it’s an immense privilege the Christ has called us to be involved in His work of salvation.
5. When we present the Gospel we are to do so with gentleness and not with aggression or hostile defensiveness.
6. And finally we are to present it with fear. Many Bibles translate this last word in the verse as respect, but the Greek word here is phobos which means fear, and elsewhere in the letter where we have respect used Peter has used the word timao. Why am I being pedantic? Because in the different translation there is a world of difference in the meaning of the verse and the weight it carries. If we are to present the Gospel with respect that implies respect of the person asking the question, which in turn assumes that we might at some stage just have to back down form the conversation out of respect. However if we have to present the Gospel in fear then that can only be fear of God (because Peter tells us on a number of occasions - including verse 14 directly before this verse - not to be afraid of the things non-believers are afraid of). So if we are to fear God as we present the Gospel to people it is because we need to remember the preciousness of the opportunity He has given us to lead others to glory. So in verse 16 our clear conscience will be towards God for using the opportunities we’ve had.

Friends we’re at the end.
If we want to learn about witness that works. If we want to see the church in our country not only survive but flourish. If we really want to see Jesus lifted high as a banner that flies across our continent. The Peter’s letter is for us.
Learn from it.

Form your foundation on the assurance of the Gospel of faith. Build your life into one of holiness (both private and public) in response to God’s grace. Dwell with the people of God in the church, pursuing God’s glory and Gospel unity. Live as strangers right in the very heart of society in a way which is influenced by our love of God and which will cause non-believers to glorify Him. And be ready always to use the opportunities God gives us to speak the words of eternal life to those we share this planet with... whether at work, on the train, at university, over the garden fence, on holiday, at the kitchen table – wherever the opportunity presents.

Tim Vickers