Peter calls Christians both to be a blessing and to suffer, and encourages us that in doing both we imitate Christ, who suffered to bring us to God.
Speakers
Nick Jones, one of the pastors at Trinity Church of Loudoun.
Christians are called to be a blessing
Peter opens verse 8 with "finally" — the Greek carries the sense of a final aim, like a coach's last pep talk before the championship game.
Blessing works three ways in Scripture: God blesses us with His favor and presence, we bless God through praise and worship, and we bless one another in the church.
God binds Himself to blessing His people through His covenants.
In Genesis 12:1-3, God blesses Abram so that he will be a blessing, and through him all the families of the earth.
Verse 9 says we bless so that we may obtain a blessing — not prosperity or works-righteousness, but God giving joy, peace and sanctification.
Amy Carmichael, an Irish woman, served the "shawlies" in the Belfast slums as a young woman — Bible studies, meeting needs, bringing them to church — before ever going overseas.
Do you see your life as a means of blessing others, or is your life lived primarily in pursuit of self?
Christians are called to suffer
Suffering is a blessed thing: verse 14 says if you suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed.
Suffering displays God — verses 15-16 call us to honor Christ, be ready to give a defense, and keep a good conscience so slander is put to shame.
Suffering is God's will (verse 17), and Philippians 1:29 says we are called not only to believe in Christ but to suffer for His sake.
Carmichael moved to India at 28, rescued Hindu girls from temple prostitution, and labored over 55 years, ministering to more than a thousand girls.
At 63 she fell into a construction pit, broke her leg and injured her spine — nearly bedridden, she began her writing ministry from that room.
She wrote: "Joy is not mere jolliness. Joy is perfect acquiescence, acceptance and rest in God's will, no matter what happens."
Tim Keller: the most mundane daily suffering is denying our flesh — saying no to sin is choosing to die to the old self.
What suffering looks like here
Peter's readers faced death and imprisonment under Rome; in Loudoun County that is less likely, but slander and reviling for good behavior is not.
Students entering high school may be mocked for refusing gossip, crude jokes, or certain activities.
Adults may be sidelined at work for declining compromising conversations or speaking well of a gossiped-about coworker.
Other forms include physical suffering, illness, loss of loved ones, and broken relationships.
What is your response when suffering comes — despair, or seeing it as God's means of blessing others?
Delivered through the waters
Verse 18: Christ suffered, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God — the ultimate example of faithfulness in suffering producing blessing.
Martin Luther on verses 19-22: "A wonderful text is this, and a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament, so that I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means."
Views on the spirits in prison differ, but the bottom line is that Christ is victorious over Satan and all spiritual powers.
Noah's name in Hebrew means rest, comfort, or to settle — God settled him safely on the mountain after the flood.
Scripture repeats the pattern: Abraham crossing the Jordan, Moses in the Nile and at the Red Sea, Joshua's stones of remembrance, Elijah parting the water in 2 Kings 2, and John baptizing.
Baptism saves not as removal of dirt but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection — an outward sign of inward change.
In Revelation 21:1 the sea is no more; the tumultuous waters are finally gone.
Key Takeaways
God blesses His people so that they become a blessing to others.
Both blessing and suffering are callings, and God gives His joy and peace in each.
Suffering faithfully displays Christ to a watching world.
Christ was brought through death to glory, and He will deliver you safely into eternal rest.