General Epistles: Transcript & Slides: How Goodness Wins (1 Peter 3:8-22)

How Goodness Wins (1 Peter 3:8-22)
By David Feddes

We turn again to our study of First Peter, and today we're dealing with the question: how does goodness win? How does goodness win? There are a variety of approaches to that. One way is to say, well, goodness wins by power. If only the power were in the hands of the right people, then goodness would triumph. A related approach is that goodness wins by publicity. If only we could figure out how to put a better face on goodness—to make it more attractive, to get a better advertising department for the cause of rightness and goodness, or to get more publicity and bigger rallies for it—then goodness would prevail.

If you look at how the Bible answers that question, and how Peter answers that question, it seems to be quite a different answer. He seems not to think that if only we were counting on some powerful government officials to carry forward the program of the gospel and of goodness, then goodness might win. Or that if only the salespeople and the publicists and those who organize big events, if only the church could attract more and more attention, then goodness would prevail.

Peter's answer is really quite simple: goodness wins by staying good and suffering for it. That doesn’t sound all that fun, does it? You win if you're good. Goodness wins by staying good and by suffering for it. We’ll look in more detail at that, but that is the short answer: by remaining faithful to God and to his goodness, by letting his goodness flow through us, and by suffering as the Lord Jesus Christ suffered. Behind that, of course, stands the unimaginable power of God, but his power works and his goodness prevails in this world through the suffering of his Son and the suffering of his people.

¹³Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” ¹⁵But 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, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.¹⁷It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸ 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,¹⁹through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison ²⁰who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,²¹and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,²²who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. (1 Peter 3:8-21)

How does goodness win? By staying good and suffering for it. That’s the core answer. Now we’ll look in this passage in more detail at how goodness wins. Goodness wins by staying unified with fellow believers who are committed to the goodness of God and living his life. Goodness wins by blessing your enemies as God has poured out his blessings on you. Goodness wins by doing good, pursuing peace, and praying to the God who can change things. Goodness wins by fearing the Lord and dismissing all the other things that scare you. Goodness wins by being ready—ready for wise and winsome witness, ready to tell the story.

Above all, in all of that, goodness wins by counting on Jesus—counting on his saving death. Because again, if goodness is going to win, our own goodness isn’t going to cut the mustard. When we go through a list like this, you might feel less good than you did when the sermon started. You realize again that it is the saving death of Jesus Christ and his glorious resurrection, and your union with him in baptism, and the work of the Holy Spirit that gives you the power to be good in the first place, and for the goodness God gives you to prevail.

So let’s look at what the apostle says, inspired by the Holy Spirit, on all of these matters. First of all, he says that in order for goodness to prevail, we need to stay unified with fellow believers. “All of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble” (1 Peter 3:8).

When Peter says that, he doesn’t use nearly as many words. He uses basically five: one-minded, co-suffering, sibling-loving, tenderhearted, and lowly-minded. The Greek terms help us see this. “One-minded” comes from homophron—homo means “same” or “one,” phron means “mind.” “Co-suffering” is sympathes—you feel with others. “Sibling-loving” is philadelphos—loving your brothers and sisters, as in the name “Philadelphia,” the city of brotherly love. “Tenderhearted” (eusplagchnos) literally means feeling compassion in your inner being. And “lowly-minded” (tapeinophron) means humble in spirit.

You’re one-minded—you think the same way and have a similar attitude of love and care. And to do that, you must be lowly-minded, because the moment you’re high-minded and feel superior, you’re no longer in union with your fellow believers. So Peter begins this section of his letter by calling believers to be unified in love, thought, and attitude. That doesn’t mean we all have exactly the same opinion on everything. But on the great matters of the faith, we share the same mind and doctrines; in the attitudes of the faith, we share the same love, compassion, joy, and peace of the Holy Spirit.

If goodness is to prevail, believers can’t always be at each other’s throats. We don’t want the army of the Lord to lose half its troops from friendly fire, with God’s people attacking each other over things that have little to do with loyalty and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We were playing a basketball game the other night, watching our team get off to a great start, blasting the daylights out of the other team in the first quarter. Afterward, I talked with the kids a bit. I said, “Were you worried about them coming back?” “Oh no,” they said, “we weren’t worried about a comeback at all.” Not because they were so much better, but because by the end of that quarter, one kid was saying to another, “We stink. I’m so embarrassed,” and another said to a parent, “This team is terrible.” They were at each other’s throats, and you knew that team wasn’t coming back.

We’ve been in games where we were behind heading into the fourth quarter, but the boys joked a little, regrouped, and boom—there was a comeback. You don’t win them all, of course, but when they’re not a team, when the going gets tough and they start getting mad at each other, there’s not much room for a comeback. When you’re united, when God’s people are a team, when we’re on the same page in our minds, then we’re in a position for goodness to prevail and win the day.

And this isn’t just something to strive for—it’s something that, if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, you already have. You need to know it. The Bible says, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). We have the mind of the Spirit; “the mind of the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). But not only does it say we have the mind of Christ—it also says, “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). You have it—now have it.

That’s how the Bible often speaks. It tells us what we already have, but we, being forgetful, act inconsistently with that fact. The important thing is not whether you have Christ in you—you do—but whether you remember it when you’re tempted to focus on opinions about the latest hot topic. Have whatever opinion, but don’t forget that you have the mind of Christ. In him you know the truth of the gospel, and your fellow brothers and sisters—your adelphoi—are to be philadelphia, loved brothers and sisters in Christ.

The more united Christ’s people are in him, the greater advances we make for the cause of Christ and his kingdom. When we’re divided, it sends a terrible message to the world and drains our strength. And the fact that Peter says these things implies that it needs saying. We can’t take it for granted—“We have the mind of Christ, so we never need to talk about unity again.” We need constantly to be encouraged to be unified in the mind of Christ.

A second aspect of goodness winning comes from Peter’s call to bless your opponents as you’ve been blessed: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9). We’re called to inherit a blessing, and the way you inherit that blessing is by passing along the blessings you’ve received.

What’s your position in Christ? Are you blessed? Are you blessed? And a second question—did you earn that blessing and deserve it? The answer is yes, I’ve been blessed, and no, I didn’t deserve it. Christ died for me while I was still his enemy; Christ died for me when I was still a sinner. He suffered so that I might be blessed. I’ve been blessed, and I didn’t earn it. Now that person I think is a jerk—do they deserve it? Maybe not. But I’ve been blessed, and I’ve got blessings to spare.

There are a couple of blessings in suffering that Peter brings out. Earlier in the letter he said that when you suffer, you’re proven and refined, and your faith gets purer and stronger when you face trials. So when that trial with a face comes into your life—that person who is hard to deal with or who is insulting or attacking you—you can say, “Thank you, God, for this occasion for blessing. My faith is going to be purified by my encounters with this unpleasant person.”

Is that how you approach it? That’s not how we naturally approach it. But if you pay attention to the prompting of the Spirit and to the Word of God in Scripture, then you see every encounter with a difficult person as a chance for your faith to get stronger. And also as a chance for you to pour out God’s blessing into the life of someone who really needs it. People who live wicked lives or with nasty attitudes are not joyous people. Many of them do not know the Lord Jesus Christ at all.

So when they insult you, you have an opportunity for the blessing of Christ to flow out from you. You speak words of blessing to them, you pray words of blessing down upon them, and you ask God to bless them. It’s the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people falsely accuse you, when they insult you and persecute you because of me. Great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10–12).

We have the word of Jesus himself that if you’re called to inherit a blessing, then you’re going to have opportunities to repay evil with good. The apostle Paul echoes similar words in Romans 12: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Do not take revenge. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:14, 17, 19, 21).

That’s why I said the way you defeat evil is by staying good and sometimes putting up with suffering because of it, while continuing to pour out blessing.

If I were to look at how people today think goodness prevails, they might say, “Well, in the cause of goodness, I shall go on social media and insult everybody who’s on a side different from my own. I’ll throw out a few more insults, slam a few more people, give them a few more nasty nicknames, and drag them down—and goodness will prevail.” No. You’ve just behaved the way badness behaves, and your own cause doesn’t prevail.

I look at riots in the nation’s capital and hear people say, “That couldn’t have been people from our side. It had to be the other side sneaking in and doing bad things, because people who side with me politically would never do anything bad.” What kind of theology is that? Born-again Christians do stupid, wicked stuff. What about pagans? Just because pagans are on your side politically doesn’t mean they’d never riot or wreck anything. Where have we been? People are sinners.

Passing out insults and stirring up political rage is not how the kingdom of God prevails. It prevails by repaying evil with good and with blessing. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43–45). That’s how you act like God—when you love those who hate you, when you bless those who insult and persecute you.

The apostles didn’t just say it—they showed it. Remember Peter and John before the council in Jerusalem. They were ordered not to preach about Christ, but they did anyway and got whipped for it. The Bible says the apostles rejoiced that they were considered worthy of suffering for the Name (Acts 5:41). Paul and Silas were whipped terribly, then thrown into a dungeon and clamped into stocks so they couldn’t move. What was their reaction? “About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).

That’s their reaction. That’s how you get other prisoners to listen. When you’re praying and singing hymns, people listen. When you’re cursing the people who mistreated you, they say, “Yeah, that’s just one more person who behaves like everyone else.” When they get slammed, they slam back; when insulted, they come back with a bigger insult; when attacked, they hit harder. But when you get whipped and sing, people notice. In that case, it even set off an earthquake, the prisoners were freed, and the jailer was saved. People don’t get saved when you say, “I hate that jailer, that no-good guy who mistreated us.” The jailer is saved when you’re praying and singing hymns, and suddenly his world collapses, and he asks, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).

So don’t be overcome by evil; overcome evil with good. Peter says you need to do this because you were called to inherit a blessing. You have to understand—it’s a package deal. If God forgives you and pours blessing into your life, then you will be someone who forgives and pours blessing into the lives of others. Jesus also says the opposite: “If you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:15).

It’s a package deal. Do you want the policy of blessing and forgiveness, where you are blessed and forgiven and then extend blessing and forgiveness? Or do you want the policy where everything is counted and paid back, maybe more harshly than deserved? You can have that policy too—that one is called hell.

You don’t get to say, “I want the policy of God forgiving and blessing me, and then me going out and getting my revenge, insulting those who insult me, attacking those who deserve it, and not forgiving those I don’t want to forgive.” You don’t get that choice. You either choose the package of blessing and forgiveness poured out on you and then through you, or the package of no forgiveness and no blessing. You don’t want that one.

Jesus told the story of the unmerciful servant who had enormous debts. The master forgave the debt, but then the servant went out, grabbed someone who owed him a little, and demanded payment. The king called him in and said, “If that’s how you’re going to be, then you can head to the debtor’s prison yourself until you’ve paid it all back.” Jesus said, “That’s how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart” (Matthew 18:35).

Goodness prevails by receiving God’s blessing and then forgiving others. It’s a package deal, and it’s a wonderful package. But you need to realize what a blessing it is to be forgiven—and what a blessing it is to forgive. What a miserable thing it is to be a grump all day and all night because somebody wronged you. Forgiveness doesn’t just free them—it frees you. It brings you such tremendous blessing to know that your life is filled with God’s goodness and his kindness and his blessing, even when the insults and attacks of others intrude.

The next thing Peter says is to do good, pursue peace, and pray: “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:10–12).

Peter is quoting almost directly from Psalm 34. That psalm begins, “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:1, 8). Peter quoted that verse earlier in his letter, and he clearly loves that psalm because it declares, “I will praise the Lord at all times,” even when times are tough. That same psalm also says that “evil will slay the wicked” (Psalm 34:21). So you don’t have to worry about how to take down the wicked—God has that part covered. Your job is to serve the Lord.

Psalm 34 also says, “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all” (Psalm 34:19). Peter has that whole psalm in the back of his mind when he says, “Reject evil, do good. Reject bad speech, speak well. Seek peace, seek shalom, seek the well-being of others and of society. Keep on seeking that.” And always remember that God’s watching and listening.

If you think that doing good and praying is a waste of time and you say, “I need more publicity, I need to fight fire with fire, I need to use the world’s weapons to accomplish spiritual objectives”—it can’t be done. You cannot achieve spiritual victories with worldly weapons. The end cannot make the means right. You need to realize that you must entrust all to God. “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayer.” He’ll take care of the wicked. He’ll make them vanish from the earth in his own good time.

But remember, there’s a lot of wickedness God wants to make vanish from the earth by making wicked people good—by causing them to be born again, by saving them. So do good. Pursue peace. “As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). Keep on praying.

Remember the vision in Revelation where mighty angelic beings hold golden bowls full of incense, and those bowls are the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8). Later, there are bowls poured out as judgment and wrath. God knows when it’s time for judgment and when it’s time for mercy. The prayers that rise to God—“How long, O Lord, until you judge and avenge our blood?” (Revelation 6:10)—are heard and held by the Lord until his perfect time.

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Yet he has plans to save many of the wicked during this season of grace. So we live by his grace, we pour out his grace, and we receive his blessing.

“Whoever would love life and see good days,” Peter says, echoing Psalm 34. Do you love life? Do you want to see good days? Then live this way. Peter once asked Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (Matthew 19:27). Jesus replied, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29; see also Mark 10:29–30).

Jesus said you will receive father, mother, brothers, sisters, houses, and lands—and with them, persecutions—and in the end, eternal life. Even in this life, you’ll receive flourishing relationships if you live his way. You’ll also receive persecutions—count on it. Don’t be shocked when it happens. He told you in advance that’s part of the deal. Even in this life, this is the better way to live, even if it’s harder or less natural. You will have joy in God’s kingdom now and eternal life in the end.

So keep on doing good, pursuing peace, and praying. Then Peter asks, “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?” (1 Peter 3:13). He’s not really implying that the answer is “nobody.” We might read it that way, but actually quite a few people may harm you. Peter knows that—the whole theme of his letter is suffering and glory. He knows there are people who would like to harm you if you’re eager to do good. But he still asks the question to make you think.

Who’s going to harm me? Well, there might be this person or that government official. Those are the ones who want to harm me if I’m eager to do good. But then Peter says, “Even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed” (1 Peter 3:14). Keep that in mind. Yes, some will want to harm you, but even if you suffer for doing right, you are blessed.

Elsewhere in the letter he says several times, if you’re going to suffer, please don’t suffer for being a fool, for doing wrong, or for being a jerk. You’re going to suffer in life, so suffer for the right things.

Who’s going to harm you if you’re eager to do good? The people who will harm you for doing good may be the enemies of God, or those who badly misunderstand, or those who are outright wicked. But think about the alternative. Who’s going to harm you if you’re not eager to do good?

If you end up on the side against the living God, now that’s a problem. When God is against you, you really are in a world of hurt. If it’s just people who are against you, don’t worry about it. Even if it’s demons who are against you—just demons—don’t worry about it.

It’s the same reasoning Paul gives in Romans 8: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). He goes on to list all kinds of things that can oppose us, but concludes that “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us,” because “nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37–39).

So think about who’s against you—and then say, “So what? If God is for me, it doesn’t really matter.” Peter wants to free us from needless fears. Many of the things we fear aren’t even worth fearing. And many of the real threats can’t ultimately harm us, because we’re in God’s hands. We have eternal life from him, and his protection is over us at all times to fulfill his purposes.

We need to hear what Peter is saying, because here he’s actually drawing a lot from the prophet Isaiah. When he says, “Set apart Christ as Lord” and “Don’t fear what they fear,” he’s echoing Isaiah’s words. In Isaiah, God says, “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a 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).

When Peter says, “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord,” he’s reflecting this same truth. He 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. Everybody’s got a conspiracy theory, but Isaiah—and Peter with him—says, “Forget the conspiracy theories.” Don’t call everything a big plot that’s going to ruin everything. God knows which plots are real and which aren’t.

Conspiracy theories have become a national pastime after elections. After one election, there was a theory that the Russians had manipulated the whole thing to throw it one way. After another election, there was a theory that the whole thing was rigged in the opposite direction, that millions of extra votes were manufactured and electoral results overturned. The Russians did it, or the voting machines did it, or the shadowy elites did it. People are prone to believe conspiracies whenever things don’t go their way.

It’s like basketball teams that lose a game. You get behind and lose, and then you say, “Those guys cheated! It was the refs!” Or maybe you blame your own teammates for not showing up when it mattered most. The same thing happens in the political world. “The other side cheated, the judges are corrupt, even my own party can’t be trusted—it’s all a conspiracy!”

That’s how the human mind works. We blame, and we fear. When your life is controlled by fear of what might happen if everything doesn’t go your way, and when your life is ruled by the habit of blaming everyone else when it doesn’t, then goodness is not prevailing anymore. Where do you think fear and paranoia come from? Not from the mind and hand of God.

So we need to lift our hearts again to the throne room of God and hear Peter’s question: “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?” (1 Peter 3:13). Just do good. Don’t worry about those who might harm you. If you suffer for doing good, you’re blessed.

American Christians sometimes seem to think that the kingdom of God will fall apart unless our politicians are running the show. To tell the truth, I can’t find anyone who could run the show completely Christianly—and probably never have. Even when Christians are in office, politics is always the art of compromise. Sometimes it’s a catastrophe. Often God gives us rulers better than we deserve. But if you’re counting on Constantine to win the day for you—well, think again.

In the early centuries of the church, there were emperors who were against the Christians. Then, finally, there was an emperor on their side. But that emperor soon started meddling in the church, telling bishops what to do and how to think. Later, Charlemagne—the great Charles the Great—fought enemies of God and “converted” people at sword point. He did a lot of good for the cause of Christianity, but let’s be honest: you hold a sword to someone’s throat and say, “Do you believe in Jesus?” “No.” Slash. “I believe,” says the next guy. Wow—great conversions. That’s what happens when you try to make goodness win by force.

That’s what you get when you want to use the government’s power of the sword to win the day for the Lord. Peter himself learned this lesson firsthand. When Jesus was about to be arrested, Peter thought, “This can’t be. He’s the Son of God! Nobody’s going to arrest the Messiah and get away with it!” Out came his sword—he took a swing and cut off someone’s ear. Jesus said, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). Swords don’t win the day. Goodness does not win at sword point.

When Peter couldn’t win by the sword, he went into panic mode. He was afraid of a servant girl who asked, “Didn’t I see you with Jesus?” “Not me! Not me! Not me!” One minute he was wielding a sword, the next minute he was a coward. That’s what happens when you fear what everyone else fears—one moment you’re violent, the next you’re trembling.

But when Peter knew that Jesus had risen from the dead, and when he was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, he could stand before anyone. He could face a crowd and see thousands come to faith in Christ. Peter knew from firsthand experience that being willing to suffer and counting on God’s power—that is how goodness prevails.

We’ve spoken before about glimpsing the throne room of God in Scripture. That’s what you need to do. Set apart Christ as holy, as Lord. Fear him, and no one else. Let your heart be lifted up to his throne room, and let his throne room come into your heart, where he reigns. Then and only then will you be able to fear God and not others.

And in all of that, Peter adds, “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, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (1 Peter 3:15–16).

Be ready. When you suffer and run into opposition, this is opportunity time. You are not getting opportunities to witness when the only people you meet are fellow Christians. You are not getting opportunities to witness when everybody already likes what you think and the Savior you trust. You get opportunities to witness when you’re running up against people who don’t believe in Jesus and don’t see things your way. So be prepared for those opportunities.

What does being prepared involve? For one thing, be ready to explain the gospel very briefly and clearly. Can you do that? If somebody said to you, “What is the gospel? What does it mean to be a Christian?” do you have an answer ready to give—right on the spot?

One thing I’ve tried to do to help you—and maybe some of you haven’t paid much attention to it—is to provide a little pamphlet for you. There’s a pamphlet in the lobby; it’s always there. Some of you have seen it or looked at it: Receiving and Sharing the Gospel of Salvation. That pamphlet asks, What is the gospel? The gospel is: my sin—God’s holy law condemns my sin, and without Jesus I’m spiritually dead, serving Satan, unable to save myself. If sin is the first thing you need to know when it comes to the gospel, the second thing is Christ’s cross. In love, God put my sins and the penalty for them on Jesus on the cross; he took away my penalty and my punishment and he disarmed Satan and his accusations against me. The third aspect of the gospel is new life, new birth. The Holy Spirit makes me alive in Christ. So the gospel is as simple as acknowledging and seeing my own sinfulness, the wonder of what Jesus did at the cross in bearing our punishment, and the new life he gives by putting the Holy Spirit in me. Then God credits all of Jesus’ goodness to me and takes all my sins and puts them on Jesus, and I can leave behind my old ways and live a new life in Christ.

How do I receive that gospel? It’s as simple as ABC: admit my sin, believe in Christ as my Savior, and commit my life to walking with him and following him. You may have a slightly different way of summarizing the gospel, but have a way. If you are always going to be prepared, you need to know what you are going to say. What is the gospel?

Then be prepared to share your personal testimony: how did you become a Christian, and what does it mean to you now that you are a Christian? That doesn’t mean you need to have the most dramatic and exciting testimony in the history of humankind—“I once was a drug dealer and an axe murderer, and now I lead a seminary and have led thousands to Christ.” There are dramatic conversions from a horrible life to one of great visibility and public effectiveness. But your testimony is your testimony, and it might seem ordinary to you. You might be called to witness to an ordinary person, and then your ordinary testimony might be used by God to help that ordinary person in an extraordinary way and lead them to the Lord. You’ll find that if you’re willing to talk about the ordinary ways God worked in your life, the faith you have in him for eternal life, and some of the ways Jesus makes a difference for you right now, that will hit home with people you meet.

Be ready. At first it might help to write down your testimony in a couple of paragraphs to be prepared. What would I say my spiritual journey has been? How did I become a follower of Jesus in the first place? Then answer two basic questions: how did I become a follower of Jesus, and what’s the impact of being a follower of Jesus in my life? What difference is he making, and how am I going to explain that to somebody else? Explain the gospel and offer your testimony; those are two vital elements of always being ready to give an answer to everyone who asks the reason for the hope you have.

In the original, Peter uses the word “apology” or apologetics—make a defense. “Always be ready to make a defense” for the hope you have when you’re asked about it. A lot of people who are into apologetics love this verse. I teach a course on apologetics, the defense of the faith—explaining reasons for believing and dealing with objections against believing—and this is one of the texts I use in that course. At this point I could expand on this text and give you a whole course—maybe forty hours of lecture in the midst of this sermon—and expand on point three of my six-point outline. I will not do that here. I’m saying that, to the degree you have the capacity, it’s good to think through some things, to be able to answer common questions other people might have, and also to be able to use three magic words: “I don’t know.”

When asked by somebody, an honest “I don’t know” is actually a better answer in apologetics than a shoddy, foolish answer. If you don’t know science very well, don’t try to act like the latest authority on science who can debunk the whole fear of evolution in the next five minutes. Maybe you know the theory of evolution inside out and backward and have great arguments against it; if so, you can marshal some of those. If not, don’t try to act smarter or more knowledgeable than you are.

A big part of apologetics is listening. You might have a long speech ready about why they should believe in God—and they already do. You might have a big speech on why the Bible is authoritative—and they already believe that. Don’t try to convince them of things they already believe. Sometimes you have to listen to learn their hang-ups and difficulties. My point is: be ready, to the degree God gives you, to show reasons without trying to be more than you are, without faking it. Say what you know and admit what you don’t.

As you do that, here’s a piece of advice I heard and will pass along. In apologetics and defending the gospel, realize what you are doing and what you are not able to do at all. You cannot give somebody new life in Christ by excellent apologetics and explanations. You can’t. Only Christ can make somebody alive. Only Jesus can change a heart or a life. One thing you can do, maybe, is help remove a few of the obstacles and loosen a few of the things that still bind them.

I’ve heard this compared to the resurrection of Lazarus. Lazarus had been dead, lying in the grave, wrapped in grave clothes, and sealed behind a stone. All seemed lost—until Jesus showed up. Jesus said, “Take away the stone,” so they removed it. Then he called out, “Lazarus, come forth!” and Lazarus came out. Jesus then said, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go” (John 11:39, 43–44).

They moved the stone. They took off the wrappings. But it was Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead.

In apologetics, there are sometimes obstacles, and you may be able to roll one aside. If people have hang-ups about this or that, you might be able to answer those questions. Go ahead and do that—it can help clear the way. But only when the voice of Jesus says, “Come forth,” will they actually come to life. After they’ve been converted, they may still have some questions that hold them back. Those are like the grave clothes—you can help unwrap them. But never be under the illusion that you raised someone from the dead. No, Jesus did that.

So show reasons and realize what reasons can and cannot do.

And then, as important as any of these, walk the talk. Peter says, “Do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience” (1 Peter 3:15–16). This has been one of the most tragic areas of failure for Christian witness and even for Christian apologists. One of the foremost Christian apologists of recent decades had catastrophic revelations come out after his death that cast a shadow over everything he argued for and wrote. Prominent pastors who once made a huge impact have fallen through abuse—verbal, emotional, or sexual. Some were domineering and manipulative, and when their behavior finally came to light, it wrecked much of the good they had done. There was even a man who worked on behalf of persecuted Christians, seeking to draw attention to the suffering church around the world, who himself was guilty of abusing children and ended his own life.

These are the tragedies that happen when we think the problem is always “out there,” and if only we had more power and publicity, goodness would prevail—while we fail to watch our own hearts. The apostle Paul said, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). Watch your life closely. Keep a clean conscience. That’s how the early Christians prevailed.

Many of them didn’t have massive volumes of apologetics. Some were brilliant thinkers, like Justin Martyr, who wrote profound defenses of the faith. But what is he remembered as? Not “Justin the Genius,” but Justin Martyr. That’s how history knows him—because he died for the truths he taught. He lived what he taught.

We’re called to live what we teach. When we are good and suffer for goodness, we have an opportunity to make a greater impact than any clever argument ever could.

One of the greatest thinkers and most courageous men of the twentieth century was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. He was locked up in the Soviet prison system under Stalin, suffering for years. His “crime” was that, as a soldier serving the Soviet Union abroad, he had seen what life was like outside—and when he returned, that made him dangerous. Many soldiers like him were thrown into prison after their service.

While in prison, Solzhenitsyn developed cancer and met a doctor there who was a Christian. That doctor spoke to him about Jesus Christ. Solzhenitsyn pondered the doctor’s testimony. One night, he heard something happening in the next cell. He found out that the doctor was being beaten to death by the guards. That was the end of the doctor’s life—he lived in prison as a Christian and died under torture.

But the man to whom he had spoken—the man who heard those blows—began to write. Solzhenitsyn wrote and wrote, and his writings were smuggled out of the prison, and later out of the country. While major Western newspapers were saying things like “I have seen the future, and it works,” praising Stalin’s regime, Solzhenitsyn was sending a very different message. He exposed the truth about that vast network of prisons, oppression, and persecution—the Gulag. His words shook the world. And eventually, that system collapsed.

So goodness that suffers and is even beaten to death still wins in the end. Peter and all the apostles were killed. They walked the talk. They suffered for the cause, and they triumphed.

And in all this, we count on Jesus. We believe in him, and he himself “bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18). That’s Peter’s way of summarizing the cross.

He reminds us of that for two reasons. First, when you hear this way of Christ, you may think, “Yikes, I’ve failed badly.” Then, to hear that Christ died for you and brings you forgiveness fills you with new hope and life. Second, Peter reminds us because this is the way Christ worked—and he called us to follow in his steps. He is our standard.

If he suffered so that others could be saved, then we too, when we suffer and bless those who persecute us, can extend his salvation. Peter says that Christ did all this, was made alive by the Spirit, and “has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him” (1 Peter 3:22).

He won. Goodness won.

That’s the question you must ask yourself again and again: Did Jesus win, or didn’t he? And if he won, and this was his way to victory, then my way to victory runs along the same path—the path of remaining faithful to God, of suffering for God, and of triumphing when God gives the triumph.

The apostle then goes off on what seems like a little tangent. He says, “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, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:18–21).

His mind goes to Christ’s preaching and to the time of Noah, and this is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible for interpreters. When he says that Christ “went and preached to the spirits in prison,” what was going on there? There are many pages of commentary on this, but we can summarize the three major interpretations.

One view is that Jesus preached through the Holy Spirit way back in the time when Noah was preaching. When Noah was calling his generation to repentance, it was really the Spirit of Christ speaking through him, preaching to those wicked people imprisoned by sin. That’s true enough in a general sense—Noah did preach in the power of the Holy Spirit to sinful people—but that’s probably not what this passage refers to.

A second view is that Christ visited people in the prison of death between his own death and resurrection, offering a second chance to those who had perished in the flood. But there’s little biblical support for that idea, and quite a bit that goes against it—the idea that after death people get a second chance and that Jesus personally offers it doesn’t fit with the rest of Scripture.

The third view is that Christ preached his victory to evil angels who had been imprisoned by God after the time of the flood. This understanding fits best with both the Bible and Jewish thought at the time. A popular book then, the Book of Enoch—which Peter and Jude both echo—speaks of fallen angelic beings who cohabited with women in Noah’s time, producing a race of giants. These especially wicked demons were judged by God at the flood along with that corrupt world. When Peter writes here, it seems he’s thinking in that framework: that after his resurrection, Jesus declared his victory over all principalities and powers, including those fallen ones who once dominated the world.

In the New Testament, when “spirits” are mentioned, the term almost always refers not to human souls but to fallen angelic powers. So it’s likely that this passage means Jesus triumphed over those hostile forces and proclaimed his victory to them. As Peter says later, Christ has “angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him” (1 Peter 3:22). The good angels worship and serve him, and even the evil ones are now subject to his rule.

All this comes flooding into Peter’s mind as he writes, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it’s a fitting reminder for us. Think of Noah’s time: the giants in the earth, the mighty ones, the whole world hostile to God—yet only eight people following the Lord. Think of what that was like. You’re not going to win an election with eight people. You’re not forming a movement that everyone admires. They all think you’re crazy, building that boat while they mock and laugh. All you can do is keep saying, “Here’s what’s coming—and you’re invited.” Then one day God shuts the door, and the flood comes.

Peter compares that to baptism. The flood, he says, symbolizes baptism. The flood wiped out a wicked world and separated Noah from it. Baptism does the same. Baptism saves you because it marks your break from the old world and your entrance into a new one. “Not the removal of dirt from the body,” Peter says—not the water itself, not any magic in the ritual—but “the pledge of a good conscience toward God.” Baptism saves you “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Paul says something similar: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4). In baptism you die with Christ and rise with Christ. It’s a sign of your participation in his resurrection.

So when you’re living in a hostile world, remember Noah. When it’s eight against the world, if the eight have an ark and they have God, they’re the ones who are safe. Be willing to suffer for the cause of Christ. Thankfully, God’s plan of salvation is not limited to eight. So always be ready to give an answer, because when you are, there will be people who hear and believe. God has appointed many for eternal life—from every tribe and language and people and nation.

How does goodness win? By staying good and being willing to suffer for it. By staying unified with each other. By blessing our enemies. By doing good, seeking peace, and pursuing it. By fearing God and no one else. By being ready for wise and winsome witness. And by counting on Jesus—his saving death, his resurrection, and the great pledge of baptism.

Remind yourself of what your baptism means: that you belong to God, that the old world has been washed away, and that you’ve been brought into a new world that God has given to those who love him.

Prayer

Dear Father, thank you for the wonder of salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to feel like privileged, blessed people who can afford to be generous with others, who can afford to take some shots and insults because we’re so well off through your kindness in Christ Jesus. Lord, you’ve given us all we need and more than enough to spare, so that we can share with others. Help us to be those who are prepared to give an account of the hope that we have—the hope of eternal glory, the hope of being with Christ forever, rejoicing in him. We pray that you’ll give us opportunities, and that you yourself will do the mighty work of calling the dead to life, that more and more people may know Jesus as Savior. We pray in his name. Amen.

How Goodness Wins (1 Peter 3:8-22)
By David Feddes
Slide Contents

⁸Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. ⁹Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.¹⁰For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.¹¹He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”¹³Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” ¹⁵But 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, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.¹⁷It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸ 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,¹⁹through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison ²⁰who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,²¹and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,²²who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

How goodness wins

• Stay unified with fellow believers.

• Bless enemies as God blesses you.

• Do good, pursue peace, and pray.

• Fear the Lord; dismiss other fears.

• Be ready for wise, winsome witness.

• Count on Jesus’ saving death and resurrection, pledged in baptism.

Bless opponents as you’re blessed

⁹Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Do good, pursue peace, and pray

Whoever would love life and see good days … must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer. (3:10-12)

Fear God, not others

Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a 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)

Be ready for wise, winsome witness

• Explain gospel

• Share testimony

• Show reasons

• Walk the talk

Jesus and baptism

Count on Jesus’ saving death and resurrection, pledged in baptism.

Christ died for sins… and was made alive by the Spirit… … in the ark a few people were saved through water. This symbolizes baptism.

Preaching to spirits

Christ preached through Noah to people imprisoned by their sin?
Christ preached to people killed by Flood, offering second chance?
Christ preached his victory to evil angels imprisoned after Flood.