Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Aug 15 2020 - 1 Peter 3:8-4:6 – Always be prepared…

In his second letter, Peter says that Paul wrote his letters by the wisdom of God, nevertheless there are some things in them which are hard to understand (2 Peter 3:15-16). I think that the same could be said of the apostle Peter. What does he mean when he writes that, after his resurrection, Christ went and preached “to the imprisoned spirits – to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built” (1 Peter 3:19-20). When did Jesus perform the preaching referred to here and who are those to whom he preached? Did he go to free these imprisoned spirits or simply to declare his own triumph over death? And what does Peter mean when he says, “the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead” (4:6)? As someone has wisely said, “There are more questions than answers.”

When there are passages or verses in Scripture that seem too difficult to understand, it’s best to focus on what is quite clear, praying always that God may increase our understanding. That’s what I plan to do this morning

The passage this morning begins with an echo of Jesus’ words in what is commonly called “The Sermon on the Mount.” Peter writes that our lives are to be marked by love one for another, by compassion and humility. “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult”, he says. “On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” (3:8-9).

Many admire the Sermon on the Mount and are quite ready to admit that the world would be a far better place if people would only live the life described by the Lord Jesus. But it just does not seem possible to do so. We live in a competitive world and if we don’t grab for ourselves the things we want – the things we tell ourselves we need – someone else will grab them first and we will be left behind in the race to have the most stuff. What could persuade us to live differently?

Peter writes, “Christ … suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit” (3:18). Christ died for us. He did not play the game of “Get them before they get you”. He died precisely for those who do play that game, for the unrighteous – for us. He died for us to bring us to God. And he has been made alive in the Spirit to enable us to live as he lived.

When Peter writes of Jesus that he has been “made alive in the Spirit”, he is not denying Christ’s bodily resurrection – remember how he began this letter (1:3). He is saying that the risen Christ inhabits the realm of the Spirit and that he is the one who has poured out his Spirit on those who have come to trust in him. By the Spirit he has begun a work in our lives of making us like him – enabling us to live the life of the kingdom described in the Sermon on the Mount. The resurrection of Jesus is not only the source of our hope, it is also the power by which we live transformed lives.

And such lives will promote questions; “Why do you live like that? Why don’t you want to live the way we live?” (see 4:4). Our lives may prompt abuse but they will also provide opportunities for us to tell others of the Lord Jesus whose death and resurrection have changed our lives. "Always be prepared”, says Peter, “to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (3:15).

Could it be that our few opportunities for sharing the message of the gospel are a reflection of the poverty of our Christian discipleship? It's certainly a question I need to be asking of myself.

Lord Jesus, fill me with your Spirit that my life may reflect the wonderful character of your life. Help me always to be ready to speak of the living hope you have given me through your death and resurrection. And may my proclamation to the dead be used to give them life.

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Aug 15 2019 - Jeremiah 7:1-20 – Empty worship

Can you imagine the scene: Jeremiah standing at the gate into the temple berating those who were coming to worship? He tells them that the Lord is not happy with their superstitious worship. They are confident that since this is God's house, "the temple of the Lord", God will protect it from all harm and thereby keep them safe also. But Jeremiah points out that they are living in arrogant disregard for God's law. They are oppressing foreigners, exploiting the fatherless and widows and shedding innocent blood (vv.5-6). They have been stealing, committing adultery and perjury and offering worship to Baal and to the Queen of Heaven (vv.9,18). Their trust in the temple as if it were a religious talisman is "trusting in deceptive words that are worthless" (v.8). They have turned the temple of God into "a den of robbers" (v.11).

The Lord calls the worshipers in Jerusalem to go and take a look at Shiloh. Shiloh was situated in the northern kingdom of Israel. It was the place where the tabernacle was first set up after the conquest (Judges 18:1-10), and formed the centre of worship for God's people until David moved the tabernacle to Jerusalem. Shiloh had been a sacred site but, says the Lord through Jeremiah, go and look at it now. It has been utterly destroyed. The Lord calls those worshipping at Jerusalem to recognise that the same could easily happen to this temple and to Jerusalem if they continue to ignore God's word and to live in immorality and idolatry. Their conduct is not just provoking God's judgment, it is harming them (v.19).

When the Lord Jesus visited the temple in Jerusalem, he quoted Jeremiah 7:11, accusing the temple authorities of turning God's house into a den of robbers or thieves. He warned them that the clouds of God's judgment were gathering and that their temple would be destroyed – not one stone would be left on another. God takes no pleasure in empty worship where careful observance of external forms is not accompanied by a heart and life utterly devoted to God and his word.

What a contrast there is with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He referred to himself as the temple for he was the one in whom the living God had made his dwelling among us. He was holy and his life was devoted to doing the will of his Father in heaven. His was a perfect obedience to the word of God. Yet this temple also was destroyed – it was destroyed by the concerted action of those who were the guardians of the temple in Jerusalem along with the Roman authorities. Yet this temple – the temple of his body – was also destroyed under the judgment of God. He bore the penalty for our sin and rebellion when he was nailed to that cross and left to die.

But Jesus had told the puzzled Jewish leaders, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days" (John 2:19, Mark 14:58). On the third day he rose again from the dead and lives for ever as the meeting place between humankind and God.

And now he calls us to learn of him and to follow him. He calls us to worship the living God not just in outward forms but in spirit and in truth. He calls us to devote our lives to him as living sacrifices, utterly given to pleasing God just as he devoted himself to doing the Father's will. He tells us that the path of obedience is the path of unimaginable blessing while the path of rebellion ends in hurt and in loss for ourselves.

Father God, keep us from thinking that your grace and goodness to us in the Lord Jesus means that we can live as we like and be assured of our acceptance with you – "Let us continue in sin that grace may abound." Rather, may your grace teach "us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." Make us like your Son and help us, by the character of our lives as well as the words we speak, to draw others to him.

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Peter Misselbrook