Good Stewards 1 Peter 4:7-11 - August 22, 2021

 

1 Peter 4:7-11 Good Stewards

Good morning! We are returning to 1 Peter 4, verses 7-11 this morning, page 1016 in the pew Bibles.

Last week we talked about the path to Parmacheenee Dam, the long walk through the puckerbrush that is the Christian life and how our goal is not just to get to the end but to stay on the path that Jesus has cut for us no matter how thick the bushes might get or how alluring or easy leaving the path might seem.

In our passage for this morning, Peter’s concern is not so much the path or staying on the path but more about how we think about and act towards ourselves and the others that are walking the path along with us.

So let’s read the text and dive in.

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Let’s pray.

As I said last week, our goal should not just to be to get to the end of the path that Jesus has cut for us, our goal should be to stay on the path. In either case, the truth of the matter is that with every passing day we are getting closer and closer to the end of the trail.

Peter believed this to be true, the Apostles all believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime. But even though they were wrong about that, that doesn’t negate Jesus’ promise to return, and Peter’s words in verse 7 are more true now than ever, “The end of all things is at hand.” 

The return of Christ and the end of this age is approaching its end and we ought to live with that attitude. If we live as if we know our time is short it will rearrange our priorities, and that’s exactly what Peter was hoping to communicate. Jesus is coming soon to judge the living and the dead; therefore here is a short list of general principles that ought to help you realign your priorities.

The first principle he mentions, in verse seven, “be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”

As we walk along the path we must have sound judgment, we must be sensible, we must have understanding about practical matters, we must be in control of our thought process and not in danger of irrational thinking in order to pray.

18th Century German theologian Johann Bengel wrote, “Temperance facilitates vigilance, and both aid prayer.”

Having sound judgment and understanding, being sensible, being in control of our thought process, all effects how we pray, when we pray, how often we pray, how long we pray, what we pray for, and who we pray for.

I would argue that is the lack of sound judgment and understanding, the lack of sensibility and control of our thought process that keeps us from praying!

If we truly had a handle on the reality of this life and what we were truly up against, and the help that is available to us, we couldn’t help but pray!

Verse eight says, Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Peter is quoting half of Proverbs 10:12 but the whole verse bears repeating, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.”

Paul echoes this thought in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Peter doesn’t exhort the church to keep tolerating each other at least while you’re at church, or try to keep from killing each other while you’re in the same room. His command is to keep loving one another earnestly. The Greek word for earnestly is to strain and stretch out like an athlete trying to cross the finish line first, give it your all.

Why do we need to be commanded to do this? Simple: because we don’t do it naturally. Jesus had to tell us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us because it’s in our nature to do the opposite.

But how does love cover a multitude of sins? Martin Luther rightly wrote, “The covering up relates to man and not to God. Nothing can cover your sin before God except faith. But my love covers my neighbor’s sin, and just as God covers my sin if I believe, so ought I also to cover the sin of my neighbor.”

It’s this love for one another that really fuels or motivates us to do the rest of what Peter instructs here along with the reality that nothing that we really don’t have the power in ourselves to do any of this good anyway.

Look at verse nine. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

This may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but that’s because our 21st Century idea of hospitality is limited to having people over for supper. In the First Century church it was a regular occurrence that people would be displaced from their homes and would be dependent on the charity of others to provide them with food and housing. Peter’s original audience were exiles living in foreign lands, this idea would be a lot more familiar to them than it is to us.

But there is still a principle that we can apply. Practicing hospitality without complaining in the 21st Century church is nothing more than cheerfully offering our homes as ministry centers, whether that is providing housing for those in need, hosting Bible studies and group meetings, or simply welcoming people into our homes for no purpose other than blessing them with a meal and being blessed by the fellowship.

The best way to adopt this way of thinking is to remember that nothing that we have belongs to us anyway; we need to adopt an attitude of stewardship.

John Calvin wrote, “For nothing is more fitted to correct our murmurings than to remember that we do not give of our own, but only dispense what God has committed to us.”

Stewardship is the management of property by a servant on behalf of its owner, and the owner of all things is God. 

As a very dear friend of mine, Pastor Ben Heald used to say, “Good stewardship does not equal cheap!”

Our tendency is toward hoarding the good that we have and keeping it for ourselves or saving for a rainy day and calling that good stewardship, but in truth God is calling us to give what He has entrusted to us fully to His service. As Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give.”

10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Each of us has gifts, and these are not limited to the incomplete lists of spiritual gifts that are in so many of the “Spiritual Gift Assessment Tests,” these are all the gifts and abilities that we possess both spiritual and natural that when surrendered to the use of the Lord get supercharged by His Spirit for His glory.

Those gifts are not ours to hoard, we are stewards of them, they belong to the Lord and He is calling us to use them for His glory and the good of His church.

Peter breaks these down into two categories but the first one is really part of the second one. The categories are speaking and serving.

Verse 11 says, “Whoever speaks, as one who speaks the oracles of God;” Whether it’s preaching or teaching, words of comfort, or encouragement, when we speak, we speak the messages of God and these messages should be delivered with earnestness and humility. It is God’s holy Word that He entrusts to the lowly instrument of the speaker’s mouth.

And whoever serves should serve by the strength that God supplies.

19th Century English theologian Christopher Wordsworth wrote, “Let each man apply to his neighbor all the good in his power with the utmost humility, knowing that of himself, without God’s supplying, he cannot have anything to apply.”

When we have the attitude of stewardship rather than ownership of our gifts and abilities the opportunities to serve others in Jesus’ Name and the power to perform that service will come and it will come from the hand of God.

John Calvin said, “Whatever part of the burden you bear in the church; know that you can do nothing but what you have been given by the Lord, and you are nothing but an instrument of God: take heed then not to abuse that grace of God by exalting yourself; take heed not to suppress the power of God, which puts forth and manifests itself in the ministry for the salvation of the brethren.”

This attitude of stewardship of God’s varied grace is all grounded where we first began: being self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of our prayers.

When we are sensible and have understanding about practical matters, when we have sound judgment and are in control of our thought process we can clearly see that all the good we have is from God our Heavenly Father. 

It is by His grace that we have forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ and it is by His grace that we have time, talents, and treasure to offer for His use, for His glory and the growth of His kingdom.

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Amen.

Ancient Paths - 1 Peter 4:1-6 - August 15, 2021

These are the Sermon Notes for August 1, 2021. We are meeting in person and streaming online (facebook and youtube) every Sunday at 9:37 am. You can also watch livestream recordings at any time.

 1 Peter 4:1-6 Ancient Paths

Good morning! I’m very happy to be back with you today. Last weekend Sam and I were at Camp Washington up in the woods of Maine to celebrate the ordination of my good friend Darrell Young. It was a very encouraging time there at the camp that I grew up going to. I think Sam is hooked too!

Immediately after we got back from that celebration we headed straight for New Jersey for six days for our last baseball tournament of the year. That trip was not without its own twists and turns with field temperatures over a hundred degrees, not to mention flat tires on the highway.

And it’s the idea of twists and turns along our path that has been swirling around in my spirit as I considered our text for this morning, 1 Peter 4:1-6, page 1016 in the pew Bibles.

Usually we read our text for the morning and then pray but this morning I would like to read a different text and then pray. The text I’d like to read in Matthew 7:13-14.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Let’s pray

Christianity has its own vernacular, its own vocabulary, “Christianese,” if you will. There’s actually a website called dictionaryofchristianese.com, if you get a kick out of that sort of thing you might also like stuffchristianslike.net.

One of the most popular phrases used to describe life as a Christian is the phrase, “Christian walk,” or, “our walk with Christ.” The verse that this phrase is borrowed from is Colossians 2:6-7 and of course Matthew 7:13-14 that I read earlier. 

Colossians 2:6-7 says, Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

I think the idea of hiking on a path very closely parallels our text for this morning. So let’s read that together and get to work. 1 Peter 4:1-6:

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

Ten years ago on Father’s Day my Dad and I went on a memorial fishing trip. My Grandfather had died that spring and we wanted to do something to honor him that Father’s Day. 

So we decided to hike the old trail along the Magalloway River to Parmacheenee Dam where Grampa taught my dad to fly fish and, in turn, my dad taught me. 

It was about a three mile hike along the river from the Number 10 bridge to the dam, which isn’t a dam anymore just some old wooden pilings that also used to be a bridge a hundred years ago.

The dam isn’t the only thing that isn’t there anymore, the old trail isn’t there anymore either. 

It had been so little used that any sign of it had all but disappeared. So we bushwhacked for three miles to Parmacheenee Dam so we could fish down the river back to our truck. 

Three miles, through thick brush, in waders, carrying fly rods, for three… miles…

The irony here is that there is a road on the other side of the river that we saw several Subarus zip along with their kayaks and out of state plates. That would have been so much easier but would kind of miss the point of our memorial adventure.

We finally made it all the way to the dam and fished our way back down the river and caught salmon and trout in every hole we put a line in. 

It was the best day of fishing I have ever experienced.

So what does this have to do with 1 Peter? I’m glad you asked! Look at verses 1-2.

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

Now you have to remember the context here, remember where Peter has just come from, he had just been discussing how baptism is an appeal to God for a good conscience, and how Christ had suffered for our sins but now at the right hand of God. 

So when Peter says to arm yourselves with the same way of thinking he is telling us that those of us who follow Christ, follow on the path that He has cut through the wilderness and we need to be prepared, we need to arm ourselves with His way of thinking.

And this isn’t just an arbitrary, nebulous statement about having the mind of Christ, this is taking up Christ’s perspective on suffering as a shield.

Jesus knew that there was purpose to His suffering and that there was a glorious goal at the end of the trail. 

But don’t be deceived into thinking that Christ’s suffering was just on the cross, it certainly culminated there at His death but it began with His birth. He was faced with all the same temptations that we are yet He did not sin. He followed the Law of God and the will of God to perfection and was constantly assailed by the temptation to stray from the path, to find an easier way, to reject the end goal and avoid all the trouble.

But Jesus chose to endure the suffering, to bear up under temptation, to continue blazing the trail that God the Father had laid out for Him, and at the end of that trail was a glorious reward for Him and for us who believe in Him, and that is: an end to sin and therefore a reunion with our Heavenly Father.

When we come to faith in Jesus Christ and repent of our sin, temptation to sin no longer has any power over us, sin no longer has mastery over us. 

Those apart from Christ don’t know this freedom, but the truth is, those of us who walk this path with Christ, seldom know that freedom either, and it’s not because that freedom from the power of sin isn’t real, but we just choose to allow the power of sin to control us.

As we walk along the path that Jesus has cut through the wilderness of this life, it is easy to lose the markers of the trail and get lost. 

Sometimes the trail of Christ is not a four lane highway and it’s hard to see through the bushes and trees to see where to go next. Sometimes it’s tempting to find another way around the obstacles in front of us when He is calling us to go straight through.

But it’s that suffering, that bearing up under trial, that consistent turning from sin, choosing not to follow the passions of our flesh that reminds us that the power of sin over our lives really is broken, we don’t have to stray from Christ’s path.

I don’t know how to say this any clearer: If you belong to Jesus, every time you leave the path it is because you chose to. Every time you sin, it is because you chose to. You believed the lie that sin is better, sin is more satisfying, that the path of sin is easier than following Christ through the thicket.

Acquire the mind which is done with sin, so that your relation to sin may be that of one who has died and risen again, dead to sin and alive to Christ.

Robert Jamieson wrote, “The Christian is by faith one with Christ: as then Christ by death is judicially freed from sin, so the Christian who has in the person of Christ died, has no more to do with it judicially, and ought to have no more to do with it actually.”

Simply put: We’ve played around with sin enough already, it’s time to move on. 

When we become dead to the flesh through faith in Christ, we can have no more to do with sin, that it should reign in us and exercise its power in our lives.

Peter gives us that reminder in verses 3-4, he also reminds us that we are not the only ones who are aware of our past and our choice to follow this new path.

3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

As we walk along this path, no matter how smooth or how difficult, there will be times when the people that we knew before we knew Christ will be surprised at our new way of life and our choice to stay true to the narrow way. 

Many of us, I’m sure, have been made fun of or questioned by those we know and love that don’t understand why we act differently from before we knew Christ, or will remind us of how we were and what we used to do and use those times to accuse us.

But what we were is not what we are now, the old has gone and the new has come, in Christ we are new creations! 

And though there may be those on the far side of the river on the nice smooth road in their Subaru’s laughing at us winding our way through the puckerbrush, judgment is looming for those who reject Christ and His Way, we are on the trail that Christ has blazed for us. 

The statement in verse six is tricky, For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

It could be referring back to what Peter said in the previous chapter about Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison, but I think a more obvious meaning is that the gospel had been preached to people who have since died at the writing of this letter, and though their flesh died as if they had been judged, by faith in Christ they still have eternal life just as we were promised in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

Sometimes the path of Christ is confusing, sometimes it doesn’t make sense to us, sometimes it’s just hard and people will make fun of us for sticking with it, but that doesn’t give us an excuse to wander off.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “The will of God comes from the heart of God and therefore is an expression of the love of God. We may not always understand what He is doing, but we know that He is doing what is best for us. We don’t live on explanations, we live on promises.”

The question I’ve been wrestling with in thinking about this path that Jesus has cut for us is simply, “What is your goal in life?” 

Finishing the path, reaching the end, getting to Parmacheenee Dam, really isn’t up to us, the Father determines when and how this life will end. 

Our goal has to be: to stay on the path no matter what, and the only way to consistently stay on the path is to consistently say, “no,” to sin. 

In our dark hours of temptation to sin He is not absent, He has not left us to walk this path alone, He has given us His Holy Spirit, He has given us His Word, the Bible, and He has given us each other. If we call out to anyone of those, help will come.

“This is what the Lord says, ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’” Jeremiah 6:16

Amen.

Boats, Baptism, and the Briar Patch - 1 Peter 3:18-22 - August 1, 2021

These are the Sermon Notes for August 1, 2021. We are meeting in person and streaming online (facebook and youtube) every Sunday at 9:37 am. You can also watch livestream recordings at any time.

 1 Peter 3:18-22 Boats, Baptism, and the Briar Patch

Good morning! We are about to embark on a little journey through the briar patch. Our text for this morning represents one of the main reasons that we study the Scriptures in the way that we do, one book at a time, one chapter at a time, one verse at a time in order. It would be a whole lot easier for me personally to skip over this section and just preach on a topic that I liked or a topic that is really relevant for us at this time in history, something that would be really helpful…

But the way that we study the Scriptures together does not allow us to skip over the parts that we don’t like or are difficult for us to understand. We cannot simply gloss over the parts of Scripture that we find offensive or confusing nor try to explain them away or ignore them altogether.

If you don’t read ahead as a habit of preparing for our weekly study then this warning might seem a little foreboding. If you do read ahead and you’ve been waiting for this one, we need to pray for you.

There’s no sense in putting it off any longer, let’s read the text and dive in. 1 Peter 3:18-22, page 1016 in the pew Bibles.

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, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 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. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Let’s pray

Now if you remember from last week, Peter’s focus has been on suffering, and in fact it remains his focus into the next chapter. Peter started talking about suffering and enduring suffering back in chapter 2 and he reminded us of the example of Jesus and how He stood up under suffering even though He was innocent.

At the end of our passage from last week, in verse 17, Peter wrote. “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

And again, in verse 18, he reminds us of Jesus’ example of suffering.

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,

Here is the shortest, simplest, and richest summary of the meaning of the cross of Christ. If you ever find yourself wondering, “What exactly is ‘penal substitutionary atonement’?” Here it is!

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,

Christ suffered ONCE for sins. 

Once was all that was necessary, not an endless ritual of animal sacrifices. The work is complete.

The righteous suffered for the unrighteous. If anyone should have been spared suffering it’s Him, but He willingly suffered in our place.

He suffered so that He might bring us to God. Jesus serves as our High Priest. Sin is what separates mankind from God, but because Jesus willingly suffered and died in our place on the cross He has made a way for us to be reunited with our Heavenly Father through faith.

He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.

Martin Luther said, “This is the meaning, that Christ by His sufferings was taken from the life which is flesh and blood, as a man on earth, living, walking, and standing in flesh and blood and He is now placed in another life, and made alive according to the spirit, He has passed into a spiritual and supernatural life, which includes in itself the whole life which Christ now has in soul and body, so that He has no longer a fleshly but a spiritual body.” 

This does not mean that Jesus is a ghost. But His resurrection body is different from our fleshly bodies. He still ate and drank with the disciples after His resurrection, they could still touch Him, but He could no longer be touched by death.

Peter says this to remind the church that suffering is not permanent and not without purpose, evenif suffering ends in death, for the believer death is not the end.

Then it gets weird.

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, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 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.

When I consider what I would like to preach on on any given Sunday, these verses never come to mind. In fact, there are few passages of Scripture that have given scholars and preachers a harder time than this one. This passage is why I was nervous about working through 1 Peter at all… Some of you just love to see me squirm…

There are three classical interpretations of these verses.

First, Jesus descended into Hell and preached to the people who died in the flood of Noah.

Second, Jesus, in the Spirit, or, the Spirit of Christ, preached through Noah as he was building the ark.

Third, Jesus descended into Hell and proclaimed His victory to the fallen angels.

Each of these interpretations has its own problems.

In truth, they reveal some potential problems with our own ideas about what happens when a person dies. The main problem is with our ideas of Hell. What comes to your mind when you think of Hell? What comes to your mind when you think of Hades? They are not the same thing but are both very real.

Hell is the lake of fire that Satan and his demons are all destined for along with all those who have rejected Christ. Revelation 20:14 calls this “the second death.”

If Hell is the second death, what is the first death? That’s Hades, the place of the dead, some scholars call it, “the intermediate state.” 

I know I don’t often quote from Revelation but, chapter 20:13-14 says:

Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

Hades is not Hell. Hades is also not purgatory. 

Purgatory is a teaching of the Catholic Church and is not found in Scripture at all and clearly violates the teaching of Scripture that people can somehow be perfected after they die, it may just take a couple thousand years. It’s heresy, false teaching plain and simple.

Jesus referred to Hades when He told the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus was in a place Jesus called, “Abraham’s Bosom,” while the rich man was in a place of torment and they were separated by a large chasm.

So, lot’s to talk about there… Did Jesus descend into Hell? No, He descended into Hades, the place of the dead and preached to the spirits in prison.

If we use the most basic strategy for Biblical interpretation, a plain reading of the text, we can clearly see that Peter declared that Jesus Christ preached in Hades to the unbelieving contemporaries of Noah; nothing more, nothing less. It took Noah 120 years to build the ark. Noah was also called a preacher of righteousness. He preached righteousness for 120 years, yet only seven people joined him in the ark.

The real question is, why even bring this up? Why bring up Noah and the ark?

Here’s John Calvin’s answer: “The sum of what is said is this, that the world has always been full of unbelievers, but that the godly ought not to be terrified by their vast number; for though Noah was surrounded on every side by the ungodly, and had very few as his friends, he was not drawn aside from the right course of his faith.”

Christ was alive in the flesh as we were before we came to faith in Him, only He without sin. 

Christ died in the flesh but was made alive in the Spirit as we were when we came to faith in Him. 

Christ preached the gospel to those who were lost in the power of the Spirit as we ought to now. 

Christ ascended to the right hand of God in heaven and we will be welcomed into His eternal kingdom when He returns.

So what remains is the question of Noah and baptism. How do the two correspond? They must, because that’s what the Word says.

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, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 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. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

How does baptism correspond to the rescue of Noah and his family on the ark?

The flood was a form of baptism, by the baptism of the flood Noah and his family were transferred from the old world of sin and wickedness and transferred to the new world.

The baptism of a believer in Jesus is a similar symbol.

Noah and his family were saved by faith from the flood. In faith Noah obeyed God and spent 120 years building the ark and he and his family were saved. They were given new life when the waters receded. 

By faith in Christ, the church is saved from death and Hades and is raised to new life. We are buried with Christ by faith and raised again to new life in Him, that’s what baptism symbolizes.

John Calvin wrote, “When we speak of sacraments [baptism and the Lord’s Supper], two things are to be considered, the sign and the thing itself. In baptism the sign is water, but the thing itself is the washing of the soul by the blood of Christ and the mortification of the flesh.”

The act of baptism is not what saves us, it is the outward symbol of an inward occurrence, it is, as Peter puts it, and appeal to God for a good conscience. But baptism is so closely connected there is no reason that anyone who has faith in Jesus Christ should wait to be baptized.

So what are our takeaways?

Jesus Christ, the One who deserved suffering the least, showed us how to suffer the best, when life gets hard look to His example.

God’s Word is not a riddle to be solved, it was written so that we can understand it and not have to decipher codes, even if we don’t fully understand some of the little things we can certainly embrace the big things.

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

And if you believe this and you have not been baptized there is no reason to wait, no reason to put it off any longer, let’s fill the tank, if not today, for those of you watching online, we’ll fill it next Sunday and have a baptism! 

Just let me or one of the elders know if you’re interested.

And finally, if you don’t know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior…

Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.

Believe this, call out to Him in faith, accept that His death on the cross was for you, and invite Him into your life, then you too will be saved and can be baptized!

Amen.