“Seeing Beyond Troubles” – “Living in Harmony” – 1 Peter 3:8-22

Every year, around Christmas, there is a soft drink ad with a group of fervent, young people standing on a snowy hillside. They begin to sing, and they sing of the desire to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.

Harmony is not that everyone is singing the same notes, but that the notes that are being sung or played complement the other notes. Harmony is the desire to work toward the same goal, even if it is approached in different ways. When harmony works, the music is richer and stronger and can elevate a piece to new heights.

Peter has spent the last 20 verses telling us that one of the ways we successfully live in a hostile world is to be submissive. Our submission is not coming from a place of weakness, but of strength. When we submit to Christ, we are strengthened in ways that allow us to see beyond our selfish needs and look to the good of all.

One of the ways we look to the good of all is to live in harmony. And that’s where Peter took the next passage of his first letter.

Background

Peter was inspired to write these words because he knew that those who would receive the letter were people who were either suffering or potentially about to suffer because of their faith. When persecution comes as a result of one’s faith, Satan uses that as a means to tempt us to renounce our faith. After all, almost everyone wants to avoid conflict if at all possible, and one of the ways to avoid conflict is to try to get along with everyone. If everyone is against us because of our faith, can it be so bad to renounce the faith, or at least to hide it under a basket?

Jesus was very clear, though, that He expects us to stand firm in the faith. When Jesus spoke about the trials and tribulations that awaited the world prior to His coming, He stated very simply, “Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:12-13).

Having discussed the need to be submissive, Peter then went on to discuss how we should live in a hostile world. While the world would tell us to strike back when the world strikes us, Peter’s words remind us that God’s ways are not man’s ways, and that God’s desire is for us to walk in harmony as much as it is possible in us.

Just as Paul began his lessons on submission in Ephesians 5 with the words that we must submit to one another as to Christ, Peter uses the summary of his teachings on submission with the statement found in v. 8: “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another.” What follows is a discussion of the attitudes you and I must take when we are confronted with a hostile world.

Central Truth: We gain victory over troubles by the attitudes we reflect.

God calls us to have an attitude of:

1. blessing (8-14)

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 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. For, “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.” Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.”

Reading Peter’s letter, we can see that one of the prominent features of our walk with Christ is found in the ability to practice self-control. We saw it in 1:13, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action,” and again in 1:22, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth” and once again in 2:1, “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit.” There are other verse in this short letter, but the idea is there. Recognizing that self-control is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, Peter spent these verses reminding the readers that living in harmony is a continuation of practicing self-control in the Spirit.

How do we live in harmony with one another? Peter states that we must be a blessing to all we meet. We do this by being sympathetic, loving and compassionate and humble. To be sympathetic and compassionate, it means we need to use our God-given imagination to put ourselves in others’ shoes. We express our sympathy and compassion when we can see past the surface issues and realize that each person has troubles and cares that we may not be aware of.

Please not that harmony doesn’t mean we have to walk lock-step with one another. We can have different views on matters great and small. Walking in harmony is celebrating our differences with sympathetic love, compassion and humility.

Just as sympathy and compassion are a team, so are love and humility. The love that we are to express is the love that Christ expressed by His willingness to die for us at Calvary. Such a love is one that wants the best for everyone and that same love is willing to recognize that we do not need to promote ourselves. Humility is not to deny one’s gifts and abilities, but it is foregoing the need to toot our own horn. The loving, humble person is willing to become servant to all, to become, in a word, submissive.

The reason we are blessing is because we have been called to inherit God’s blessing. Peter quoted from Psalm 34:12-16 to express how we are blessed. A reading of Psalm 34 shows it to be a psalm of praise and encouragement to all who would seek after the Lord. In the verses Peter quoted, we are encouraged to watch our words and our actions. When we commit ourselves to living as God wants us to live, we are promised that God’s eyes are on us and that He is quick to hear our prayers. God delights in giving us blessings, and we must also have the attitude that we are to be blessing to those around us. When we have such an attitude, we find that it is seldom for someone to return evil for good. God tells us not to be afraid, because our place is in Christ at the right hand of the Father.

We live in harmony when we have an attitude of blessing.

2. a clear conscience (15-17)

But 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, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Do you remember the Disney version of Pinocchio? In this version, the wooden boy is given Jiminy Cricket to be his conscience. The role of Jiminy is to appeal to Pinocchio’s better sense, to encourage him to make wise and morally right decisions.

Instead of having a cricket in our pocket, God gives those who have faith in Christ a Spirit within us to act as our conscience. When we walk in obedience to the Spirit, then we have integrity and weight behind our testimony. If we live in harmony with others as Peter wrote in the first verses we looked at today, then we will have a clear conscience.

The way we have a clear conscience is to set Christ apart as Lord in our hearts. By acknowledging Jesus as the One who reigns in our lives, we bring ourselves into alignment with His will and find a clear conscience through a life of obedience.

Walking in obedience—with Christ set as Lord in our hearts—we find it easier to express the reason for our hope. That’s not to say that sharing our faith will be easy—Satan loves to distract and discourage us from doing so. What we do find is that we don’t have to grope for words, because the Spirit Himself will give us the words to say when we stand before others (cf. Matthew 10:19-20). It doesn’t require an in-depth exposition of the Bible and theology, simply a reason why we have faith in Christ.

Peter wrote that we are to do this with gentleness and respect, going back to the ideas stated in vs. 8-9. There are those who are eager to use their faith as a battering ram, designed to beat people down and into submission. That’s not our job. We are called to share the good news and the reason for our hope. We do so with the same attitude Jesus showed the woman at the well and the woman caught in adultery. We take on the same gentleness that Christ showed to Zacchaeus and Nicodemus. With Christ set as Lord in our hearts, we are more likely to display His character in the way we deal with people.

The attitude we demonstrate as we share will allow us to stand in good conscience even when we are accused of all sort of things. I can’t tell you how many times people have said false things about me simply because of my faith. The irony is that the people who call me names and accuse me of things are usually demonstrating the very things they accuse me of.

Whether our message is received favorably or not, God will see us through the persecution and animosity. In the Beatitudes, Jesus reminded us that we are blessed when people persecute us for His sake. Let’s make sure the persecution is for that reason, and not because we are bullying others or condemning them because they don’t believe as we do. Sometimes, people treat Christians as jerks because the Christians are acting as jerks. That’s why Peter wrote that we are to be gentle and respectful.

Having the attitude of gentleness and respect leads to an attitude of a clear conscience.

3. trust in God through Christ (18-22)

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. HE was put tot 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, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him.

Peter wrote about suffering for Christ by doing good. He knew the recipients of the letter were possibly experiencing or about to experience persecution for their faith. To remind them, and us, that suffering does not necessarily mean we are out of God’s will. Sure, we suffer the consequences that arise from our sins, but we can also suffer because of our obedience. Peter reminded us that Jesus is the perfect example of that. Jesus suffered on the cross to bring salvation to a lost and dying world.

Jesus died once for all. Unlike the sacrifices of the Jewish worship or the idol worship in the Greek cities, Jesus’ redeeming activity only needed to happen once. He was the unspoiled lamb sacrificed once for the unrighteous. By giving us salvation and eternal life, we are now in fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Spirit.

Peter wrote that Jesus went to “preach to the spirits in prison.” The early church understood this to mean that the period between Jesus’ crucifixion and His resurrection was spent in Sheol. Recalling the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, the Bible seems to teach that hell is a future event, that currently the dead are awaiting final judgment in Sheol or Hades. As Lazarus went to be with Abraham while the rich man was sent to a place of suffering, Jesus appeared to those who had died awaiting His coming. To those with Abraham, they would be responsive to Jesus’ message, while those on the other side of the chasm probably jeered and rejected Jesus.

Peter then alluded to those who had the opportunity to repent and find salvation when Noah was building the ark. Despite Noah’s actions and words, they refused to listen and perished in the flood. Peter then compares the flood waters to baptism, claiming that this baptism now saves us.

We need to know that Peter is not saying that baptism is necessary for salvation. He is saying that the attitude of the person who comes to Christ will allow him or herself to be baptized into the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as a testimony of the commitment to follow God—“not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God.” We find salvation and union with the risen Christ who sits as Lord at the right hand of the Father.

We live in harmony when we trust in God through Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

“I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.” We can begin to change our world when we commit to walk in harmony with God, with each other and in a good conscience. When we love, express sympathy, compassion and humility and speak with gentleness and respect, we demonstrate that harmony that comes from the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God.

What does your world look like? Is it filled with strife and discord? Seek the harmony that comes from a heart that sets Christ as Lord of your life.