"United in the Passion" Sermon: I Peter 3:18-22

"United in the Passion"
[I Peter 3:18-22]
September 2, 2007 Second Reformed Church

We remember that Peter was writing to Christians on the run -- Christians that the Emperor Nero had condemned to death. Peter was writing to encourage these Christians -- to let them know that their faith was not in vain -- that they should stand fast in their confession of Jesus as the Only Savior, no matter what came their way.

And it was likely that some of them would meet their death at the hands of Rome. But Peter told them not to worry -- that suffering for Christ, even unto death, was a gracious thing in the eyes of God. Therefore, he told them that they were not to do evil or suffer for evil, but recognize that each person has an authority over him, and Christ is the authority over all. So, Christians ought to live like the holy people we were called out to be, doing good, that God would be glorified by our lives, our confession, and our deaths.

In this morning's Scripture, we see that Christ is righteous and did not think it too much to suffer for the Glory of God and for the good of the unrighteous -- our good. Peter tells us that Christ, the Holy One, suffered once, in life and death. Because Jesus is Holy, He only needed to suffer once for all of the sins of everyone who would ever believe in Him. And He suffered this willingly, to the Glory of the Father and to bring us back to the Father, even though it meant He was put to death in the flesh.

So, Peter asks those Christians on the run, and he asks us this morning: if our Holy God was willing to suffer for unrighteous sinners like us, if Jesus Who had never done anything wrong, Who committed no sin, willingly gave Himself up to die for we who sin again and again, shall we not also be ready and willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

At this time in history, we have it easy in the United States. But there are countries in the world now where Christians are put to death for confessing Christ. Let us pray that they will continue to stand strong in their confession; let us pray that when the day comes, we will be willing to lose job, home, family, even our lives that we might confess that there is no salvation except through Jesus Christ Alone.

Peter explains that though Christ was put to death in the flesh, He remained alive in the spirit. What spirit is he talking about? He cannot be talking about Jesus' Spirit or Soul, because he goes on to say that this spirit preached to those in Noah's day. Peter must be referring, in verse eighteen, to the Holy Spirit, Who inhabits Jesus, just as He inhabits us.

So, Peter tells us that the Holy Spirit witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Peter's day, and in our day, in the same way that He did in the days of Noah. In the days of Noah, there was gross wickedness over the whole earth, and the Holy Spirit witnessed, as Peter puts it, "to the spirits in prison." Now, who is this?

We know that everyone is born a slave to sin, so, here, we may understand Peter to be referring to all the people of Noah's day. People who were slaves to sin, imprisoned by sin, unrighteous, and continuing in their unrighteousness and disobedience. So, there was a witness to salvation in the Savior Who was to come, even in the days of Noah, and in these days, we know that this Savior is Jesus -- we have a fuller understanding of the Gospel. Still, it is the same Gospel that is presented to the spirits in prison in 2007 as it was in the days of Noah.

But God is not patient forever, and He will not be patient with this generation forever. And here, Peter draws a parallel between Noah and Jesus: We remember that God called Noah to build the Ark and to call all the people of the world to repentance and to save two and seven of every unclean and clean animal, respectively. So Noah built the Ark, and he preached the Gospel, and he collected the animals -- and what happened? The humans -- the spirits in prison -- mocked Noah, they didn't believe his Gospel, they didn't believe the judgment was coming. And Noah entered the Ark with his family, eight persons in total, and every other human being drown.

Likewise, Jesus came to preach the Gospel, to call the world to repentance, and to save the elect. Christ came, He lived, He preached, and the response of most of the world is to mock Him and deny Him, to not believe His Gospel, and not believe that the judgment is coming. So Jesus was put to death and entered into the Ark of His tomb, bringing with Him all those across time who had and would believe in Him Alone for salvation.

Then Peter tells us that the eight in the days of Noah were brought to safety -- or salvation -- through the water. And in Peter's day -- and our's -- baptism saves us. And the Roman Catholics and the Nazarenes, and certain other denominations say, "Aha! If a person is baptized, he's saved, no matter what he believes."

But that cannot be: if salvation is a matter of the work of baptism, then we save ourselves, or the minister saves us, or the parents save us. No, Peter cannot be saying what the text sounds like it is saying.

It will help us to remember why Paul said a Christian cannot persist unrepentantly in sin: "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:3-4).

Paul is saying that we are united in the passion of Christ. Just as Christ actually suffered and died and was buried. In baptism, we symbolically die and are buried. But just as it is not the Jesus' Actual Death and Burial that caused His Resurrection, so our symbolic death and burial does not cause our resurrection to new life in Christ, and, one day, to life in the Kingdom in all its fulness.

Jesus died for our sins and was buried, so we would die to sin, and we are symbolically buried in baptism. But we are united in Christ, and we are saved in Christ, through His Work, not our work. We are saved through His suffering, death, and burial, not through our baptism. Baptism reminds us of the Work of Christ, and in the believer, it seals that Work and Christ's Promises to us, so we know that we have been raised and will rise from the dead on that final day.

And we have confidence in that truth, because Jesus ascended to the heaven and is seated at the Right Hand of God. That is, Jesus ascended back to His Throne in Heaven and received back the fullness of His Glory as the Son, that He had put aside in the Incarnation (Philippians 2:6). After Jesus ascended, He again received the glory that was due Him as the Son of God.

And Peter brings this encouragement full circle, reminding us that Jesus is the Authority above all authorities, "with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him."

In our Scripture, then, we see Peter encouraging these Christians to stand for the Gospel and not deny their confession for several reasons: first, Jesus is Holy and suffered for the sins of the unholy -- us -- to make us right with God. Second, the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we find in the Scripture is the same Gospel that was preached since the beginning, and even in the days of Noah; there is One Gospel and One Salvation in Jesus Christ Alone. And thirdly, Christ's Work, His Passion, saves us and unites us with us -- and we symbolically remember Christ's Word and meet with Him in the sacrament of baptism.

We also meet with Jesus, Himself, spiritually, as we receive the bread and the cup in the Lord's Supper. Jesus is present with us, giving us His Grace as we receive the elements. So, let us prepare to meet Him in the sacrament, and let us not be "ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16b).

Let us pray:
Almighty Savior, we ask for Your Grace to stand firm in our confession of Your Gospel. Open our mouths to confess that there is no other Savior but You Alone. Make us a glory to You in all that we do, even if we suffer. Give us courage and persevere us for Your Glory. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.