WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:03.680 So we're taking a break from our journey through the book of Acts. 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:06.559 That's what we had been doing for the past couple of months. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:10.560 Lent started this past week on Ash Wednesday. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:12.640 It began, and Lent means springtime. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:16.160 It's the 40 or so days leading up to Easter. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:27.600 So each Sunday leading up to Easter, we will take a passage from the lectionary, the Book of Common Prayer, a historic book that sets out passages for each Sunday in the season of Lent. 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:32.240 And so this 1 Peter passage is our passage for this morning. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:36.719 This morning, the question I want us to ask is what kind of God do you have? 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:38.159 What kind of God do you have? 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:40.079 What's your view of God? 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:45.600 Now let's imagine Karen and Janet go to summer camp, and this is a really, really good summer camp. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:55.679 It's a summer camp at the base of a mountain, and there's a river to fish on, and there's a lake where you can fish also, or you could canoe, and they actually even have ski boats at this camp. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:56.960 This camp's incredible. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:59.759 The directors of the camp are unbelievable. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:02.960 They have fun dances, they have creative arts programs. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:07.599 Every night there's campfires and singing and some more. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:10.799 I mean, this is a fantastic camp. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:14.560 And Karen has a fantastic camp counselor. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:22.719 This camp counselor, you know, when Karen's feeling a little homesick, the counselor comes along and befriends her and loves her and prays for her. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:27.359 If there's conflict in the cabin, the counselor works it out and everything works out. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:32.480 But Janet, Janet gets the one horrible counselor. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:39.680 And when she's homesick, if best, if she even has any attention paid to her, it's just sort of like, hey, toughen up, kid. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:49.280 When there's conflict in the cabin, all these girls bickering and there's groups forming and going against each other, the counselor doesn't even pay attention to it. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:59.760 So Janet pretty much cries every day of summer camp until the last day when she gets picked up, while Karen doesn't cry at all until the last day when she gets picked up, right? 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.000 And this is the same summer camp. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:06.799 But Karen will get in the car and her parents will say, How was camp? 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:09.840 And Karen will say, it was unbelievable. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.960 That is the best camp I've ever been to. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:14.560 It's the best camp, period. 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:17.599 Janet will get in the car, same camp. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:20.560 She'll get in the car and her parents will say, What, what, how was camp? 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:25.439 And Janet will say, that is the worst camp of all camps. 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:33.759 And it was the same exact camp because their view and experience of camp came through one counselor. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:41.199 The counselor is the lens by which Karen and Janet view this same exact summer camp. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:42.240 And that's the point. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:45.360 Often our problem with God is not God. 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:50.560 Our problem with camp with God is a really bad camp counselor. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:56.719 Meaning we can have a bad lens upon something that's really actually good. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:04.639 And for most people in church and around church, it's easy to come away with this thought that God is sort of disappointed with you. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:07.039 Or maybe even angry with you. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:11.280 Or he's just like based on your behavior, it goes back and forth. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:17.439 He's disappointed in one moment, and then you shape up, and then he's okay with you, but then you mess up, and then he's disappointed, or he's angry with you. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:29.120 And all of this kind of adds up to this behavioral mindset to spirituality that I need to shape up more and more and more and more as to receive the love and acceptance that you really want. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:33.360 And the times you're not doing so well, all of that is at risk. 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:39.680 And so a few questions begin to haunt us over time when this lens like this is implemented in our lives. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:41.759 Is God disappointed with me? 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:43.599 Am I a mistake? 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:49.599 Can I or do I do something that causes God to be angry with me? 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:52.400 Is he for me? 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:55.280 Is he always with me? 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:04.000 And see, if these questions are sort of in limbo, an incredible amount of anxiety and fear is added to your life. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:06.479 But do you see that that's not necessarily God? 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:13.520 That can actually be the lens by which you view God, but not necessarily the God of the Scriptures. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:17.439 Which brings us to this morning's passage, 1 Peter 3. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:19.439 I'll read verses 18 through 20. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:22.639 For Christ also suffered once for sins. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:35.839 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, strange little verse, we'll talk about it in just a sec. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:47.839 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. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:49.600 So a few points. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:57.519 Point number one, in Jesus you do not, and we've said this before, in Jesus you do not just have a teacher. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:02.000 You have that, but in Jesus, you do not just have a teacher, you have a substitute. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:02.480 Right? 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:07.439 Verse 18, Christ suffered once for sins, meaning it's over. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:09.120 You don't have to do that. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:14.079 You don't have to live your life trying to atone for your mistakes, past, present, or future. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:16.240 There's nothing else for you to add. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:21.519 Jesus was the revelation of a substitutionary, atoning God. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:24.639 He, Jesus, was the substitute. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:27.439 Now we love making a new commitment, a new plan. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:35.040 We love saying we're promise keepers, even though we don't perfectly fulfill a lot of our promises. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:50.079 We know we should go to bed early to give ourselves margin in the morning to have a prayerful, meditative, devotional time, followed by a light run in the morning sunshine. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:54.720 But we grab a box of Nella wafers and watch more Olympics. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:06:00.319 Because at 11 o'clock, curling is so important to us right now. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:00.879 Right? 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.040 We just make those types of decisions. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:05.920 We're never as loving or patient or kind as we want to be. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:08.879 We're never as generous as we want to be. 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:13.680 We're never any of these things as we should be, as Jesus calls us to be. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:37.680 And this is why it says in verse 18, and this is why for those of us in touch with this reality that we are more broken than we originally thought, this verse 18, the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God is incredibly relieving because what brings you and permanently sets you secure with the Creator God is God, not you. 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:54.720 And that's the best possible news you could ever hear because it is relief to all the ways that we try to earn salvation to get into the kingdom, into the family, right with God, and all the ways we try to continue to earn our salvation even after we're Christians. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:59.040 All the ways we try to earn our wholeness and our value in this world. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:08.639 But to hear that God Himself died the righteous for the unrighteous to make us whole, that's incredibly relieving. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:10.560 And then Peter brings up this Noah story. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:12.480 In verse 19 is a strange little verse. 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:19.040 Did Christ preach to dead people or to people from Noah's day, or did Christ preach to angels or demons? 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:20.319 And where did that happen? 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:22.240 And what point in history did that happen? 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:30.720 And I should say, that's a big debate with a lot of people, and we're not going to chase that right now, but this Noah story is pretty fantastic in general. 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:32.319 And maybe you remember it, right? 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:34.560 Big arc, big flood. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:38.639 The world is populated at this point, and everyone is forgetting about God. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:39.680 They're living their own way. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:44.240 There's an incredible amount of selfishness, an incredible amount of abuse going on at this point. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:47.279 So God decides to flood the earth. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:48.879 Just start over, wipe it clean. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:51.040 He's just gonna wipe it clean. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:08:00.959 But Noah found favor, Genesis 6.8, but Noah found favor, or better put, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:05.519 So Noah starts building this ark, huge boat in the middle of the desert. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:07.279 People think he's crazy. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:16.399 And Noah and his family and some animals get on it, and then it begins to rain, and it floods, and they are saved. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:19.519 Now, other people groups had flood stories. 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:21.199 Flood stories were common. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:24.480 It's not like the Jewish people and us through the Jewish people. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:25.759 This is not special to us. 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:35.919 Babylonians had flood stories about rain wiping away cities and people, which makes sense because that's what floods do. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:38.720 So this was actually a common story. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:50.559 And the common view of the flood story was that the rains were coming to judge the people by the gods, to punish evil that people were creating in the world. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:53.200 And everyone knew how this story went. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:56.799 So even hearing this story, the people hearing the story would be nodding along. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:08:57.519 They know this story. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:58.399 This story's around. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:00.320 Flood stories are around. 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:08.480 Everyone knew how this was told, how this what was going to be taught, that people would just be nodding right along, but see, this flood story is different. 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:11.919 And that's the point of this story in our scriptures. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:24.399 Because this one true God does not say at the end of the story, and if you keep doing all this, I will flood you again, and I will flood you again, and I will flood you again. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:28.559 This story ends differently. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:40.639 Genesis 9, 12 through 13, and God said, This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all, all generations to come. 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:45.679 I've set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:51.360 And then God says, Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:55.360 And the literal word there for rainbow is warbo. 00:09:55.840 --> 00:10:01.200 So here we have this great imagery of God laying down his warbo. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:05.519 And it comes back to that question: what kind of God do you have? 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:07.360 Because do you see it? 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:08.559 Do you see it in this story? 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:10.720 The point is not that floods will stop. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:12.559 Floods are still happening. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:14.559 So it's not that floods stopped. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:17.279 Floods kept happening, floods still happen. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:26.320 The point was to subvert any tendency that we have to believe that God is condemning and vindictive. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:28.559 That's what this story does. 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:35.440 Point number two is this your gods still judge you, but this God does not. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:43.440 This story would have blown people's minds at the time because all the other stories ended the same way, and this story ended differently. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:47.279 All the other gods are angry, and this God is gracious. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:50.080 And our gods are still angry. 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:53.039 My gods and your gods are still angry. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:57.759 Our gods of materialism and status, power, greed. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:09.360 They promise love, wholeness, and actually they only deliver flood after flood after flood because we get there and it's just never quite enough. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:15.279 But this one true God makes a covenant to not relate with us like that. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:17.919 See, that's what the story is saying. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:24.799 God is gracious, while all the other gods will wear you out with condemnation. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:26.960 And this is what Peter's saying. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:28.960 Christ died once for sins. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:30.639 There's no condemnation here. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:32.480 That's what Peter's saying. 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:33.840 Back into 1 Peter. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:36.960 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 21 and 22. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.279 Baptism, which corresponds to this. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:41.440 So he carries this water imagery through. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:47.039 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:52.799 So it's not that baptism, the actual practice, the duty of it as some merit that saves you. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:54.559 No, he says, no, no, that's that's not it. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:12:09.200 It's the appeal, it's the heart of it to appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven, is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers, having been subjected to him. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:14.000 So we have all this water imagery, Noah in a boat. 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:20.000 And then Peter carries straight into people, us being immersed in water. 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:27.279 And here's point number three is you exist immersed in this good, loving God. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:46.159 Philosopher Pete Rollins says this the idea of a ship sunken in the depths of the ocean, while the ship contains the water, and the water contains the ship, the ship only contains a fraction of the water while the water contains the whole of the ship. 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:54.639 Our saturation by God does not merely fill us, but also testifies to an ocean we cannot contain. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:58.480 Thus, desire for God is born in God. 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:05.679 This week I read a parable about a man who buried a million dollars in another person's backyard. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:07.519 Not a true story, it's a parable. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:08.720 But so imagine this. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:11.840 Imagine I've buried a million dollars in your backyard. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:15.919 And I come up to you and I say, hey, uh, I buried a million dollars in your backyard. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.639 It's under a flat rock in the middle of your backyard, but easy to find. 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:19.840 It's back there. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:21.679 I have no intention to come get it. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:25.759 It's not my money anymore, it's on your property, it's yours. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:27.759 All you have to do is go get it. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:29.039 I'll never go get it. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:30.399 I'll never claim it again. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:33.279 It's there, and that is that, it's yours. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:36.320 So now you have some incredibly good news. 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:37.120 Right? 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:39.919 This is some incredibly good news for you. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:44.720 There's a million dollars in your possession in your backyard right now. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:46.399 Go home and look for it. 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:48.000 Just go home and look for it. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:53.279 But it will end there unless you trust me and go and get the million dollars. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:54.799 It could sit there forever. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:58.720 It would be in your possession, but you would have no enjoyment of it. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:07.840 And the point of the parable is that your faith does not earn you the money or cause me to give you the money. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:09.600 The money's already there. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:14.080 Your faith has no relationship to the cause of the money. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:23.519 Your faith only comes into play in regards to your enjoyment of the money, your enjoyment of the gift. 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:31.200 Because if you trust me, if you trust me, then you will go get the money and you'll enjoy it. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:43.759 But the parable also goes on to say it's also very, very possible that you will hear all of that good news about that million dollars buried in your backyard under a flat rock. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:45.519 It's in your possession. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:46.639 It's there. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:54.320 You can hear all that good news and think there's no way news like that could be that good for me. 00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:58.240 And that's the gospel. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:01.679 The gospel is the good news that's there. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:03.360 And it's just there. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:11.279 You didn't cause it, you don't earn it, but your faith is implementing your enjoyment of it. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.000 Relief from this world. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:15.360 Salvation. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:18.960 So your God still judge you. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:20.639 But do you see it? 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:24.480 The God of grace, known in Jesus the Christ, does not. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:26.879 That's what Peter is saying. 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:29.840 That's why he's referring back to the story of Noah. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:31.039 The gift is there. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:34.240 May you not just know about it, but receive it and enjoy it. 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:39.279 My brothers and sisters, there is no judgment and condemnation anymore. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:40.960 That store is closed. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:43.519 Your salvation is by Christ alone. 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:45.039 Let's pray together. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:49.840 God, thank you for this good word that Christ died for sins once. 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:52.080 Once and for all. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:02.559 And that you promise to us in the great covenant that we see in this picture in Noah. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:11.840 That you promise to us, not to relate to us in condemnation and vindication, but you promise to relate to us out of love. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:22.000 And thank you for Jesus that we see that revelation, that substitutionary atonement, that it is all over, nothing for us to atone for, but only to receive. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:25.919 Your graciousness, the fullness of it, the sufficiency of it. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:28.159 May we surrender our lives in a greater way. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:30.240 May we implement faith. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:35.039 Not to earn something or cause something, but to rest deeper. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:38.000 And your grace and salvation for us. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:39.440 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:40.080 Amen.