SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning and welcome to Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Mike, and I'm one of the pastors here.
SPEAKER_00: And I'd like to invite you this morning to turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible, please don't hesitate to hop up and grab one from the stack in the back.
SPEAKER_00: You can find 1 Peter chapter 3 on page 954 and 955 in the church Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: And while you're flipping there, let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_00: How would you describe the good life?
SPEAKER_00: Is it a life where you like your job?
SPEAKER_00: Where you're popular at school?
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps where you don't have to worry much about money, can take fantastic vacations whenever you'd like?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you imagine the good life when you imagine retirement, a life of ease.
SPEAKER_00: Sleeping in, plenty of pickleball, long walks on the beach.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you imagine time spent with loved ones in a place you enjoy.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you imagine a life with no pain or suffering or heartache.
SPEAKER_00: In our text today, Peter asks and then answers this question.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got a Bible open, you can see it right there in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: Do you desire to love life and see good days?
SPEAKER_00: He's actually quoting Psalm 34, which we just read a moment ago.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, I certainly would like to love life and see good days.
SPEAKER_00: So let's see what Peter has to say about it this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But first, let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Gracious God, thank you for this morning for the chance to gather, to worship, to pray, to hear from your word.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray now that as my words line up with your words, that they would fall on ears and hearts, ready to receive them and respond.
SPEAKER_00: And gracious God, if I say anything that isn't from you, I pray that those words would quickly be forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Now, first let me say, how many of you hear the beeping?
SPEAKER_00: You're not crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And I know sometimes you can come in, you're like, is that beeping, or is that my hearing aid?
SPEAKER_00: Or like, what's going on?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, this is a rented space from our HOA community center.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, my collar.
SPEAKER_00: I came on.
SPEAKER_00: This is awkward.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna go.
SPEAKER_00: It's hot anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: We rent the space from the community, this community center from an HOA, which is not open on Sundays.
SPEAKER_00: And from time to time, we arrive here in a Sunday morning, and there's a beeping coming from a closet with a lock on it somewhere in the building.
SPEAKER_00: So, yes, you're not crazy.
SPEAKER_00: There is a beeping.
SPEAKER_00: It's coming from back there, up there in a closet with a key that is not the master key.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you right now, it could be worse.
SPEAKER_00: We've had it happen before from that closet.
SPEAKER_00: So you're not crazy.
SPEAKER_00: We'll just name that, say it right out front, all right?
SPEAKER_00: Now, this Easter season, we've been tracking with the lectionary.
SPEAKER_00: It's the assigned seasonal readings that Christians around the world read each week.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we looked at 1 Peter chapter 2, and this week it gives us 1 Peter chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: Now, one of the arguments for preaching the lectionary is that it ensures a varied diet, so to speak.
SPEAKER_00: It forces a preacher to deal with texts that they might otherwise skip.
SPEAKER_00: Mary was making this case to me last week where we're talking about our summer sermon series, and she's like, we should just stick with the lectionary.
SPEAKER_00: It forces preachers to preach texts they might otherwise skip.
SPEAKER_00: And it's true.
SPEAKER_00: It does.
SPEAKER_00: The lectionary also sometimes picks and chooses of its own accord.
SPEAKER_00: And this is particularly true this week.
SPEAKER_00: And so, in order for us to understand what exactly Peter is doing here in chapter three, we need to back it out, zoom out just a bit.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got a Bible in your lap, you'll see this.
SPEAKER_00: The verses that immediately precede that the lectionary conveniently skips press against our modern sensibilities.
SPEAKER_00: But if we're going to understand our assigned text this morning, we need to at least give these verses a flyover.
SPEAKER_00: So here are the practical matters Peter addresses, the end of chapter two and the beginning of chapter three.
SPEAKER_00: First, end of chapter two, the little subheading that my ESV Bible gives it, submission to authority, everybody's favorite topic.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna speak specifically about how we're supposed to interact with and respect the government and our political leaders.
SPEAKER_00: And then he's gonna spend some time talking about how servants should interact with their masters.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if that's not controversial enough, it was just as controversial in the Roman Empire as it is today.
SPEAKER_00: He's actually gonna go on here, look at the beginning of chapter three, my little subheading in my ESV, what does yours say?
SPEAKER_00: Wives and husbands, that's right.
SPEAKER_00: How wives should interact with husbands and husbands with wives, and there's actually a little aside in the middle where he speaks specifically about how women should dress, what they should wear.
SPEAKER_00: And the lectionary conveniently slides right past those which this morning I don't hate.
SPEAKER_00: I would be happy to get into those conversations with you some other time, preferably on a walk or at bunny man.
SPEAKER_00: But what he's gonna do, what he does in these verses is he zooms in on real practical matters that were pressing the churches in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, to which he was writing.
SPEAKER_00: That's the context.
SPEAKER_00: And it would have been just as controversial or at least uncomfortable for his audience then as it would be for us today.
SPEAKER_00: He finishes giving this practical, tangible instruction regarding matters his audience would have been thinking about.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verses eight and nine, where our text this morning starts, he sums it all up.
SPEAKER_00: He writes, finally, all of you.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, that's how we know he's summing it up.
SPEAKER_00: Have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tender heart, and a humble mind.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: How we live matters deeply to God, and it has a significant impact both on our lives together as a community and our witness to our neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: But the primary point isn't a point about braids or gold jewelry, she specifically addresses in chapter 3, verse 3, but about a posture of living that is deeply countercultural.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we see here in verses 8 and 9.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's describing a way of living, he's describing a posture that is deeply countercultural.
SPEAKER_00: And it's just as deeply countercultural today as it was nearly 2,000 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling his audience, and by extension, us to live lives together marked by unity, sympathy, which actually could be better translated as compassion, brotherly love, tender hearts, and humble minds.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, in an age of tribalism, unity of mind is different, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: In a world where the two options are either consider empathy of any kind to be toxic, or you must be tolerant of whatever someone says is their truth, true compassion, true compassion is different.
SPEAKER_00: True, brotherly love in a world that is increasingly disconnected, where friendship is reduced to a like on Facebook.
SPEAKER_00: True, brotherly love is different.
SPEAKER_00: To be tender-hearted towards others in a world that prioritizes self above all else is different.
SPEAKER_00: And a humble mind don't even get me started.
SPEAKER_00: We live in an information age where everyone is an expert on literally everything.
SPEAKER_00: Peter instructs his audience, instructs us to have a humble mind.
SPEAKER_00: That sort of posture in 2026 is about as countercultural as it gets.
SPEAKER_00: What he's describing is a way of living that's markedly different from the world.
SPEAKER_00: Countercultural to be sure.
SPEAKER_00: And it's definitely costly, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Friends, is this the sort of posture that one uh is this sort of posture one that others might say describes your life?
SPEAKER_00: Humble, tender-hearted, compassionate, compassionate, one that seeks unity, abounds in love.
SPEAKER_00: Frankly, living like Peter describes here doesn't quote unquote drive engagement, it won't garner likes, doesn't win elections, it won't always lead to a larger paycheck or popularity.
SPEAKER_00: But it's the way the Christian is called to live.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the best, it's the best way to live.
SPEAKER_00: And the verses that follow, which themselves quote Psalm 34, Peter tells us why.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: For whoever desires to love life and see good days, the world would say, if you want to love life, see good days, make a boatload of money.
SPEAKER_00: Do whatever it takes to make a boatload of money so that you can be happy and have a life of ease.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter if you tell the truth or not, doesn't matter who you anger along the way, doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: Get those likes, drive that engagement, get the votes, whatever it takes, lie against a coworker so that you can get the promotion.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil, keep his lips from speaking deceit.
SPEAKER_00: Let him turn away from evil and do good.
SPEAKER_00: Let him seek peace and pursue it.
SPEAKER_00: For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.
SPEAKER_00: But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
SPEAKER_00: This way of living, Paul argues, is countercultural to the world, but it is 100% the good life.
SPEAKER_00: You want to live life, see good days, live like this, Peter's writing.
SPEAKER_00: Keep your tongue from evil, turn away from evil and do good, seek peace in a world that favors, that favors strife and division.
SPEAKER_00: May not lead to a bigger house, but it will lead to a good life.
SPEAKER_00: And why?
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 12, and this is the crux of Peter's argument here.
SPEAKER_00: Because the good life is a life lived with God.
SPEAKER_00: For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.
SPEAKER_00: A life lived like this, turning from evil and toward good, seeking peace, a humble heart, brotherly love.
SPEAKER_00: It's living life God's way.
SPEAKER_00: And God's way, Peter argues, is the best way.
SPEAKER_00: It's the way that leads to life.
SPEAKER_00: So let me encourage you, encourage, let me encourage us.
SPEAKER_00: The way Peter's encouraging his audience, seek God.
SPEAKER_00: Do the right thing every time.
SPEAKER_00: Live a life of humble service, be tender-hearted and compassionate towards your neighbors because life is hard.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone's carrying their own stuff.
SPEAKER_00: So be patient and kind, open-hearted and open-handed, and love well.
SPEAKER_00: This is how the people of God are called to live.
SPEAKER_00: And it is, it is the good life.
SPEAKER_00: Now you might say, but Mike, the people I see getting ahead in this world don't live like that.
SPEAKER_00: They're cruel, self-seeking.
SPEAKER_00: They'll do and say whatever they need to in order to get ahead.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, that's true.
SPEAKER_00: It's also true that the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
SPEAKER_00: It's verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: God will deal with it.
SPEAKER_00: On the flip side, you might say, but Mike, I really, I really do seek to live life like this.
SPEAKER_00: And not only do others get ahead, but my life still seems awfully hard and full of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Frankly, I don't always love it.
SPEAKER_00: There's plenty of days.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't seem like the good life at all.
SPEAKER_00: Does anybody relate to that?
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I get that.
SPEAKER_00: I have those same questions myself.
SPEAKER_00: Especially, especially on the hard days.
SPEAKER_00: And they're hard, there are hard days.
SPEAKER_00: It's true for Peter's audience too.
SPEAKER_00: If you were here last week, you might remember that 1 Peter was written for a handful of churches in what was modern-day Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: And you might remember that those churches were dealing with persecution at the hands of their neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: They were dealing with slander, hate at the hands of their neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: They, like us, were trying to figure out how to follow Jesus in a world that continued to try to pull them away from the way that Jesus would have them walk.
SPEAKER_00: And so here Peter is telling them that to live in a way that was quite countercultural, and he's telling them that living this way is the good life.
SPEAKER_00: And you can sense their protest.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same as ours.
SPEAKER_00: If this is the good life, then why is it still so hard?
SPEAKER_00: Why are our lives still so full of pain?
SPEAKER_00: It's a question that Peter seeks to answer here in our last few verses.
SPEAKER_00: Starting at verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Look at them with is addressing this question.
SPEAKER_00: But even if you should suffer, for righteousness' sake, even if you suffer for living the right way, you will be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Have no fear of them nor be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy.
SPEAKER_00: Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
SPEAKER_00: But do it with gentleness and respect.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is again.
SPEAKER_00: You hear those same words?
SPEAKER_00: The gentle way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And love.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, having a good conscience.
SPEAKER_00: So that when you are slandered, not if, but when those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
SPEAKER_00: That is a little bit of indication.
SPEAKER_00: For it is better, he writes, to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will than for doing evil.
SPEAKER_00: And now we're getting to the heart of the matter.
SPEAKER_00: For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, suffering is inevitable.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering is inevitable.
SPEAKER_00: And frankly, whatever other person out there you think of, when you imagine the good life, he or she is suffering too.
SPEAKER_00: That's par for the course.
SPEAKER_00: The difference is for the Christian suffering isn't meaningless.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering is not just pain and hardship, but it serves a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's arguing in these verses that suffering is a gift that provides three unique opportunities for the Christian.
SPEAKER_00: First, it creates an opportunity for witness.
SPEAKER_00: In your suffering, verse 15, be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
SPEAKER_00: Yet do it with gentleness and respect.
SPEAKER_00: I've become increasingly convinced that, especially in the suburbs, most true opportunities to share our faith come around suffering.
SPEAKER_00: After all, modern life, especially life in the suburbs, is perfectly designed to match the world's vision of the good life.
SPEAKER_00: But as Peter well knows, and you and I well know, that illusion falls apart when life falls apart.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly people begin wondering if there's more to life than a stable job, a nice car, good health insurance, and a pension.
SPEAKER_00: It's when things fall apart, either for you or for those around you, that there are real opportunities to speak about the hope that we have beyond good health insurance in a 401k.
SPEAKER_00: I guarantee I've become more and more and more convinced that the arguments that people made for why trusting Jesus is worth it 40 years ago, they don't work in the same way.
SPEAKER_00: At least not in my experience.
SPEAKER_00: People aren't asking the same questions.
SPEAKER_00: In the suburbs, the question arises when things fall apart.
SPEAKER_00: And when things fall apart for us, which they will, there's a unique opportunity for us to bear witness to our friends and neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: And when things fall apart for them, there's a unique opportunity for us to bear witness to our friends and neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: Especially when we've already done so.
SPEAKER_00: When we're in the midst of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, you've got to know your neighbors well enough to get there, right?
SPEAKER_00: There's got to be enough trust to get there.
SPEAKER_00: But our suffering creates a unique opportunity for witness.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, nothing will mess up your life in the best sorts of way as seeing a friend or neighbor, someone you love, come to trust Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering creates an opportunity to bear witness.
SPEAKER_00: Second, suffering creates an opportunity to grow in Christ's likeness.
SPEAKER_00: This is the thing you'd expect the preacher to say.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter says it right here in verse 18 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.
SPEAKER_00: The reason preachers say this so often is because the Bible says it so often.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says it over and over and over again, and Peter says Says it here too, that suffering forms us into the image of Christ who suffered.
SPEAKER_00: And it forms us into the image of Christ who suffered like not much else does.
SPEAKER_00: It is awfully hard to grow up in Christ-likeness without ever suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus himself suffered.
SPEAKER_00: We can't look like him without suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And so when things are hard, we cling to him.
SPEAKER_00: And we receive the hardness as a gift that draws us to him.
SPEAKER_00: Which is easier said than done, I know.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't make it any less true, does it?
SPEAKER_00: It's the second thing.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering creates an opportunity for us to be formed in Christ-likeness.
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, a life in Christ full of suffering is still the best life.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's still life with God.
SPEAKER_00: A life in Christ full of suffering is still the best life.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's a life with God.
SPEAKER_00: Look, when you trust in Jesus, when you walk in his ways, even, and perhaps especially when things go sideways, it's still a life in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And we see that language in verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's suffering that's not wasted, but can be found within God's will.
SPEAKER_00: That's the language Peter uses in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: And as we just noticed, it can be a tool for forming us in Christ-likeness.
SPEAKER_00: That's verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean life in Christ will always be neat and tidy and easy.
SPEAKER_00: It isn't.
SPEAKER_00: I've been doing this work long enough and been let into enough lives to know that everyone, everyone is carrying stuff.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the unique privileges of being a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: We get let in to people's stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And I know, and what I know is only a fraction of what I know you're carrying.
SPEAKER_00: The same is true for your neighbors, your friends, your loved ones.
SPEAKER_00: The most put together person you know is barely hanging on.
SPEAKER_00: But in Christ, the suffering has purpose.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how many of you in this room have ever spent a significant amount of time away from a life in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you in this room are there.
SPEAKER_00: It's been a while.
SPEAKER_00: God feels awfully distant.
SPEAKER_00: If you have, you know this to be true, don't you?
SPEAKER_00: Life in Christ is still better than a life with it's still the good life.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's a life in Him.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so what?
SPEAKER_00: Let's sum it up for us here at Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: First, there's an invitation here to walk the way Scripture exhorts us together with unity of mind, humility, gentleness, brotherly love and care, tenderness and compassion.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be quick to forgive, for that's the good life.
SPEAKER_00: A life full of love for God and one another.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the sort of life together that's a witness to our neighbors who live in a world that doesn't look at all like that.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, our neighbors yearn for that sort of life.
SPEAKER_00: Even if they don't know it, they're sick and tired of the enmity they see on Facebook, just like we are.
SPEAKER_00: And they're looking for a place to belong, to give love, to receive love.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's walk like that.
SPEAKER_00: A life lived like that is a witness to a world that doesn't look anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: And then, second, when we suffer, which we will, let's walk together in that same way, with gentleness and compassion, always pointing back to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, it is worth, it is worth letting each other in to your stuff.
SPEAKER_00: It's worth it.
SPEAKER_00: I know it's hard and it's scary.
SPEAKER_00: We worry that people would think less of us.
SPEAKER_00: Or we think, man, I know they've got their own stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I can't let them into mine.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be the sort of people who ask and who listen and meet each other in that with grace, gentleness, tenderheartedness, and compassion.
SPEAKER_00: No doubt we will get this wrong, for sure.
SPEAKER_00: But let's keep at it because it's the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it all for the sake of others, that they might come to know Jesus too.
SPEAKER_00: For the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: Will you stand and pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Oh gracious God, we need your help to be this sort of people.
SPEAKER_00: And so we pray, come, Holy Spirit, even now, would you form us and transform us?
SPEAKER_00: Our hearts are so prone to hardness.
SPEAKER_00: We know the world would pull us that way.
SPEAKER_00: And so would you form in us, would you give us, please, soft hearts towards you and one another, and our neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: That our suffering might produce fruit.
SPEAKER_00: That in it we might abide in you together.
SPEAKER_00: We pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.