Hope in Eternal Life

Not everyone buys into God’s way of peace and righteousness. Christians often experience the effect of this reality, as Peter reminded his readers.

“But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’ (1 Peter 3:14*).

The blessing believers have in God provides courage in the face of suffering and opposition.

God warned Isaiah not to follow wayward people,

“Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy,

do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.

The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,

He is the one you are to fear,

He is the one you are to dread” (Isaiah 8:12-13).

• It’s as if these words were written to us today.
• All around us people look for conspiracy and lead others to fear and dread the unknown.
• We studied the prevalence of falsehood in the previous section.

*What does it look like to be blessed when we suffer for what is right?

*What do people fear and dread today?

*How can we regard the Lord as holy?

It’s God’s truth against Satan’s lies in this battle, as Paul wrote.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms… Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:12, 17)

Our faith in Jesus gives us confidence to follow Peter’s next instruction.

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

• God wants us to sanctify, set apart, and acknowledge Jesus as holy in our lives.
• Many people do not recognize Jesus as holy.
• Even Christians don’t always set Christ apart in their lives, revered above all.
• It’s more likely He is mixed up with everything else.
• It’s so tricky to be in the world and not of it, to have Jesus in our everyday life yet set above all else.
• But “in our hearts,” the center of our inner life, He is Lord.

*What does it mean to set Jesus apart in our hearts?

 Timothy, another believer in the early church, expanded on Peter’s ideas.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2).

• We are to be “ready for anything,”¹ which reminds me of Winnie the Pooh.

“Christopher Robin was sitting outside his door, putting on his Big Boots. As soon as he saw the Big Boots, Pooh knew that an Adventure was going to happen, and he brushed the honey off his nose with the back of his paw, and spruced himself up as well as he could, so as to look Ready for Anything.”²

• Our walk with God is truly an Adventure, and we should be ready—with the Word—for Anything.
• Giving an answer is not only providing a reason or defending our hope in Christ.
• It leads to an end result: pointing others to that hope.
• Those who ask may seek to understand the basis for our hope. They require or demand a reason or explanation.

*What is the hope we have?

*How can we be ready to give an answer for our hope?

*What does it mean to be ready for Anything in the Christian life?

The hope in 1 Peter 3:15 is the same word we studied in 1 Peter 1:3,

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

• God is the author and source of our hope.
• We have hope because we have salvation, eternal life, and blessedness through Christ.³

When we share about the hope we have, Peter said we should

“…do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

• Gentleness is an inward “grace of the soul,”⁴ expressed primarily toward God.
• Perhaps this implies gentleness arises out of seeing others as God sees them.
• The word for “respect” comes from a word sometimes translated as “fear,” as in fear of God, reverence, or honor.
• If we treated others gentleness and respect as described here, they might be won to receive God’s truth and hope.

*How do you define gentleness?

*How can we share God’s Word with gentleness and respect?

 Peter then finished his thought,

“keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:16-17).

• When we speak from a position of gentleness and respect, we speak with integrity.
• What we say will line up with who we are, those who have accepted God’s salvation and live the hope of eternal life with
• Those who have a clear conscience exercise an ability to choose between right and wrong.⁴
• Believers’ behavior is contrasted with those who speak and do evil.
• Eventually, their false accusations against believers will lead to their shame.
• Our “good” behavior includes words as well as actions.
• It is of more value, nobler, and more excellent to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.⁵

As Paul pointed out, the more excellent way is

“whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy… put it into practice” (Philippians 4:8-9).

When we do good to others, we may be subjected to evil in return.

That’s a cheery thought, which is why we need to keep our focus on God.

*How do Christians today suffer for doing good?

*What is the value in suffering for doing good instead of following the world in our behavior?

*How can our integrity in Christ help us when we suffer for doing good?

 Next week we’ll unpack the next few verses, in which Peter describes Christ’s sacrificial death that brings us to God. This is our hope.

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

 

 

*Scripture quotations taken from New International Version, NIV Compact Thinline Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.

 

1. Spiros Zodhiates Th.D., The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament (Chattanooga, Tennessee: AMG Publishers, 1992), 667
2. A.A. Milne. Winnie the Pooh. (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1926) 111
3. Zodhiates, 570
4. Zodhiates, 1339
5. Zodhiates, 887