Jesus the Example

Understand Peter’s Context:

"Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust." — 1 Peter 2:18

You must understand the historical context in which Peter is writing. We are not talking about the type of slavery that was prevalent in the 1800s here. There is no biblical justification for that type of slavery. Theologians and pastors, who used biblical texts to support slavery, were just plain wrong. So when you read a passage like this, I can understand how it might evoke an emotional response, but we are not talking about that type of slavery.

Instead, these servants or slaves were paid for their services, they were allowed to have their own homes, and they were not all slaves for life. It was not race-based slavery. Many times people were slaves to pay off their debt because bankruptcy didn’t exist in the Greco-Roman world. Slaves could own slaves, and those that were enslaved were often doctors and teachers. I’m not trying to defend slavery in any way, but I want us to understand the context in which Peter is writing.

So when you are not in a position like these exiles to overthrow the institution of slavery, what do you do? Your best chance for survival and to have an impact on your slaveowner is to let your conduct stand out. It’s to treat your master with respect—even the one who mistreats you—because that shows God respect. The respect focuses more on respect for God than respect for the master. You act this way because you love God, and it pleases him.

These exiles can behave in this way and be encouraged as they do it because Jesus did it for them. He endured sorrow while suffering unjustly. Jesus never committed a sin, healed people, spent time with social outcasts, and yet still was sentenced to death. These slaves can identify with Jesus in their unjust suffering.

So what about us? We don’t live under a system of slavery. What is Peter’s word to us on this issue? Most people have had a supervisor or a boss that had unrealistic expectations of them, mistreated them, or took advantage of them. Perhaps you know going to that supervisor and having a conversation about how you feel will not end well for you. It could result in termination, a demotion, or the inability to move up the company ladder. So you treat them with respect, and you do what they ask you to do assuming it doesn’t go against the law or your Christian conscience.

And as we behave in this manner, we remember the example that Jesus set for us. He has experienced equal unfair treatment at the hands of those that were in authority over him.

*Think of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who run the risk of imprisonment, torture, and execution for following after Jesus. Many of whom have to listen to their superiors speak negatively of Christianity, and the dangers it poses to society. One young lady, by the name of Meryem, came to faith in Christ in a Central Asian country. She stood up in a classroom full of 38 students, and boldly defended the Gospel after her teacher had critiqued many of the beliefs of Christianity. The principal at the school was threatening her with expulsion, public shaming, and the possibility of reporting her to a local prosecutor on charges of missionary activity. Sometimes we experience unfair treatment at the hands of those that have authority over us, but Jesus is with us.

We are Called to Suffer:

"For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps." — 1 Peter 2:21

Peter is not just saying that Christ suffered and we should be thankful that he did, but rather, we will suffer as well. Peter is not saying you should strive for suffering or that you might suffer, but that you are called to suffer. This is part of what it means to be a Jesus follower.

Suffering can take on many different forms. Perhaps you physically suffer from an illness. Maybe it is cancer and you battle it off and on for years. I know some of you in this room have experienced that type of suffering. Perhaps others of you deal with mental suffering. Anxiety and depression are real conditions that many Christians through the centuries have struggled with. Fortunately, there is medicine for many of these conditions to be controlled, but there are still seasons where even when you take your medicine, you don’t feel well. Both the physical and mental suffering that we can endure as believers primarily revolve around us.

But there is another kind of suffering I want us to think about this morning. And it involves the suffering that we encounter when serving or helping someone else. None of us enjoy suffering. That’s a given. No one comes up to me after the services on Sundays and tells me how excited they are that are suffering. That’s just not human nature. But in order to be the church that I believe God desires for us to be, we are going to have to suffer in the process of helping people in our city.

When you do life with people, it gets really messy. And it hurts, sometimes they disappoint you, sometimes they get mad at you, and sometimes they reject you. It can be heartbreaking to invest in a person or a family for years only to see them make decisions that are not in their best interest. But think this through with me, isn’t this exactly what God’s relationship with us is like. He knows what is best for us, he desires for us to follow after him, and many times we still choose to do life our way. God suffers for us daily.

Let me tell you why we don’t always experience suffering in this way, it’s because a lot of us don’t have those types of relationships. We might have them with our closest families, but everyone else is kept at a distance. I love this quote from my man Tim Keller, “Everyone says they want community and deep friendship. However, because it takes accountability and commitment, we run the other way.” Hear me, you MUST do life with people, and if you do that, you will be hurt, and you will suffer, but you identify with Jesus when you do this.

I was reminded this week how many of our brothers and sisters around the world relish the opportunity to suffer in the name of Jesus. They rejoice when they are beaten or imprisoned. Acts 5:40-41 says, “and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” It is my prayer that my heart and mind get to this place where I am grateful when I share Jesus with people and am rejected or despised. That my love for Jesus and my worth in him would be so secure that I just don’t care what happens to me or what people say about me. 

Model Jesus’s Example:

"When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly." — 1 Peter 2:23

For the slaves that Peter is writing to, he wanted them to know that no matter how unfairly they were treated ultimately, God would judge their master. He wanted them to trust that God would do what he said he would do.

Jesus’s example is so countercultural. The human tendency is to retaliate, to defend our reputation, to get the last word in, to win the argument or the debate. That is not the model Jesus gave us though. Sometimes I think we forget that Jesus has the power to remove himself from difficult situations. He was spit on, mocked, shamed, beaten, and willingly took on that type of punishment for us.

He trusted that God was the judge. We can allow our words and emotions to get the best of us. It is so easy to desire to take control of situations ourselves to ensure the greatest possible outcome. Do you believe that God is the ultimate judge? There are always going to be people that are bad people who have great worldly success.

In the same way, many Godly people don’t have good health, wealth, or safety. The world’s idea of success is not God’s idea of success. The world’s idea of what is fair is not God’s idea of what is fair.

You have to trust that God is the just judge. But there is a danger in rejoicing in this, however. We don’t ever want to be thankful for another person’s suffering or think to ourselves one day God is going to get that person. That’s not the type of attitude that reflects Christ. God is the judge, but it’s not his job to handle all of the revenge that we have in our hearts towards others. Let’s be careful about our attitude when we talk about God being the judge.

It is human nature to desire to be removed from the suffering that we are experiencing as quickly as possible, but what if God intentionally put us through a period of suffering to grow our dependence and faith in him. I would encourage you to not simply endure the suffering that you experience but to embrace it. View it as an opportunity to grow deeper in your intimacy with Jesus.

• Asma is a young Central Asian believer. Her parents became suspicious of her faith in Christ, and they withdrew financial support. She could no longer pay for school, so she dropped out of college halfway through. She found work at a home goods store, but even working long days and weekends couldn’t make a livable wage. The following summer she decided to take the 12-hour bus ride home to visit her family. When she arrived home, her family held her hostage. They told her she was not allowed to return to the city where she had met Christian friends and missionaries. A full two years passed before she was able to return still without her parents’ blessing. She reenrolled in the local university but was still struggling financially. The challenge of taking a full course load and providing for her basic needs continued to weigh on her heavily. Fortunately, a Canadian family opened up their home and provided a clean and safe place for her to live. The Christian missionaries contacted her via email and told her that her brothers and sisters in America loved her very much. Asma’s reply was, “I’m so happy to be a part of this family. I’m just happy to be a stone in this temple. I love you, my family, very much. There are countless stories of Asma all over the world. Christians who are oppressed, persecuted, and estranged from their families, and yet are grateful to be a part of the kingdom of God. Oh, that God would give us that type of outlook on life when we experience persecution and suffering.

Rejoice in Jesus’s Suffering:

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." — 1 Peter 2:24

It seems a little strange to say that we should rejoice in the suffering of Jesus, but I would submit to you that it is necessary. Peter concludes his argument by taking us back to what Jesus endured for us. He wants his readers to know that we can be grateful in our suffering because Jesus modeled it for us.

Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree. The tree is simply a reference to the cross which was made from wood from a tree. We find other references to “Tree” representing the cross in Deuteronomy, three times in Acts, and once in Galatians.

How did Jesus bear our sins on the cross if we had not yet sinned? Jesus’s death on the cross signified Jesus taking on all the sins of the world past, present, and future. So anytime you and I sin, Jesus has already suffered the punishment for that sin on our behalf. He died for our sin. Because of our sin, we should have been the ones to die on the cross, but he died as our substitute. We are incapable of being in the presence of a Holy God because it is not in God’s nature to be around sin. Jesus came and lived a perfect life and died on our behalf. So the only reason we are able to have access to a Holy God is because Jesus came and lived the perfect life that we could not live on our behalf therefore giving us access to God through what Jesus did on the cross.

This is why I am constantly saying that salvation can never be achieved; it can only be received. There is nothing you can do to be made right in the sight of a Holy God. It is only Jesus that can stand before God because he lived a holy life. But his holy and perfect life was lived not just for himself but for you and me.

Peter says that all of us who do not have Christ are straying like sheep. These Christians who are living in exile before they knew Jesus were straying like sheep. They were living according to their own standard not the standard that God had set for them. But once they made a decision to believe that Jesus died for their sins and forgave them of all the sin they returned to the shepherd and overseer of their souls.

Let me ask a few questions as we close today for all of us to reflect and consider:

1. What do you think makes you right with God? If the answer is anything but Jesus, than you are looking for salvation in the wrong places.
2. Have you trusted in Jesus to save you from your sins? I’m not talking about confessing that Jesus was a real historical person, but have you trusted that what he did on the cross was for you.
3. If you haven’t made this decision, what is stopping you from doing it? Are you embarrassed? Are you afraid? Hear me, this is why the church is here. You don’t have to be embarrassed or afraid.

We will come alongside of you and walk with you as you begin this journey of faith with Jesus. You have heard the Gospel today in this message. How will you respond?