Re: I Might Die..
Sandrine Willert
I told Tom before I left last week that I was eager for him togo ahead with the planning of the summer preaching series on the"one another" commands of the New Testament. I said that I thoughtmy sermon this morning could be seen as a kind of foundation forthose commands. Before I go on vacation and take some writing leave,I wanted to finish at least the second chapter of 1 Peter. So ourfocus this morning is on the last paragraph of that chapter.
When I began the series on 1 Peter last September I had no ideawhat was about to happen to us as a church. It has been far morehurtful than if several of our staff had died. Sometimes the textsfrom 1 Peter seemed exactly right. Other times it seemed that theLord had some other word for us.
So here we are at the end of chapter 2 as just anothertestimony to how many precious things have been cut short in thesemonths. But that's not the main thing we see here at the end of 1Peter 2. The main thing in this text is God's word to us about hispurpose for Bethlehem and what he did to accomplish and assure thatpurpose. And nothing that has happened to us can thwart God'spurpose for his people.
So what I hope you hear this morning from this text is amassive, unshakable, infinitely compelling commitment from God tobring about his good purpose for us. And I hope you see that thispurpose has to do with the "one another" commands and how we treateach other.
Three times in this text Peter tells us that Christ died andthat the purpose of his death was to enable us to live differently.Or another way to put it is that he tells us that God's purpose forus as a church is that we live like Christ, that we liverighteously; and he tells us three times that his unshakable,infinitely compelling commitment to fulfill that purpose in us isthe death of his Son to make it happen. His commitment to make ithappen is seen in the sacrifice of his Son to make it happen.
First, verse 21: "Christ also suffered for you, leaving youan example for you to follow in His steps." Literally: "Christ alsosuffered for you, leaving you an example, that you might follow inhis steps."
And in suffering "for us" he showed his commitment and God theFather's commitment to bring their purpose for us to pass.Something happened in the death of Christ "for us" that guaranteesits success in bringing us to follow in Christ's steps. The purposeis that we live like Christ. The power is the substitutionary deathof Jesus. He died for us to make us like him.
Here it is again: the purpose of God for us, and the commitmentof God behind the purpose backed up by the death of Jesus for us.God's purpose for us is stated like this: "that we might die to sinand live to righteousness." God's commitment to make it happen isstated like this: "He Himself bore our sins in His body on thecross."
So the thought seems to be identical to the thought in verse 21,only things are made more explicit. Peter says very clearly what hemeant in verse 21 by "Christ suffered for you." He meant, "Christbore our sins in his body on the cross." Christ's suffering was theagony of being nailed to the cross and dying there. And hissuffering "for us" was his bearing our sins. It was a substitution.He bore them in death instead of our having to bear them in death.It's the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have goneastray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord haslaid on him the iniquity of us all." That is, "Christ bore our sinsin his body."
You remember how Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1, 3, "I remindyou, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel . . .that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures."That's what Peter is spelling out here in language taken from those Scriptures: Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross; that is,he died for our sins according to Isaiah 53:6.
We need to linger here. Do you believe this about your own sinsand about the sins of your brothers and sisters? The implicationsof this for us individually and as a church are huge. It meansthat, if we will, we can leave the past with God. We can say, "Itrust you, Jesus, that all my sins; all the ones that are publicand all the ones that are private, all of them, have been lifted,borne, suffered for, and therefore removed from me. I bear them nomore. I do not carry their guilt into the future with me."
Let this sink in. You do not have to carry your sins or beburdened by them. You do not have to wake up with guilt or go tobed with guilt. You can bank your hope on the commitment of God inJesus: "Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross." Let's dothat together as a church. Do it this morning even if you are notpart of this church.
But notice again clearly what God's aim is in this guilt-liftingdeath of Jesus on the cross (v. 24): " . . . that we might die tosin and live to righteousness." This corresponds with the purposementioned in verse 21: "that you might follow in his steps."Following in Jesus' steps is the same as living torighteousness.
Now this is so important and so forceful in this text, we need topause here a moment. Does this feel like good news to you? Or doesit feel like the good news of the cross is being given with onehand and taken away with the other. Does it feel like good newsthat the message of the cross on the one hand is a lifting of guiltand on the other hand is a laying on of burden?
There are many people today who feel the first work of the crossas liberating good news and who feel the second as burdensomebad news. For them, the grace of the cross is one thing: liberationfrom guilt and shame. And when they hear that the grace of thecross is not just liberation from the guilt of sin, but is alsoliberation from the power of sin, it doesn't feel as good.
Now there are all kinds of reasons for this, ranging fromrebellion in the heart to painful memories from the past totheological misunderstandings. I don't have time to analyze allthose reasons. What I want to do is simply stress that the designof the cross to liberate from the enslaving power of sin as well asthe guilt of sin does not diminish the good news; it doublesit.
What verse 24a is saying is that when Christ bore our sins inhis body on the cross, he secured not only the removal of our guilt,but also release from our bondage. Christ bore our sins in his bodythat we mightdie to sin and live to righteousness. That is thedesign and purpose and commitment of God in the cross. That is whathe commits himself to in the new covenant.
The third and final statement of the purpose of the cross inthis text makes that very unlikely. Verse 24b, again quoting Isaiah53 (v. 5): "By His wounds you were healed." It does not say: By hiswounds healing is offered. Or: By his wounds healing is apossibility. It says, "By his wounds you were healed." In otherwords the cross is efficacious. It achieves what God designs for itto achieve. The cross does not merely create new possibilities; itcreates new persons.
Now Peter is not thinking here mainly of physical healing forcancer and arthritis and so on. As a matter of fact the cross willone day accomplish that in our lives whether here or in the age tocome. But that is not Peter's thinking at all here.
He explains in verse 25 what he has in mind by the healing thatthe suffering and death and wounds of Christ accomplish: namely, aspiritual healing that sheds tremendously important light on whatwe have seen so far.
Verse 25: "For you were continually straying like sheep, but nowyou have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." Thisis the healing Peter has in mind: the return of straying, perishingsheep to their Guide and Provider and Keeper.
Now I ask, is this good news? Is it good news that the designand purpose of the cross is not only to save us from the guilt ofsin, but also from the power of sin? I hope you see that Peterwants you to feel it as good news by the way he describes it inverse 25: the word of the cross brings us to a shepherd not a slavemaster. Yes, the Shepherd guides. He does not let sheep stray veryfar or very long. He uses a rod and staff when he must. He provides. He protects. And he relentlessly pursues us with goodnessand mercy all our days. His commitment to do this is signed withthe blood of Jesus. It is the New Covenant, sealed with the bloodof the Covenant.
And I ask one other question before we leave this text. Whatdoes it mean to die to sin (v. 24a)? I wait until now to ask thatquestion because I get the answer from Peter's word about theShepherd in verse 25.
I think it works like this: When the word of the cross breaksinto our heart by the power of God's Spirit (cf. 1:3, 23), and weawaken to the fact that God loves us so much that he takes the lifeof his own Son in order to bring us under his Shepherd-care andShepherd-protection and Shepherd-provision and Shepherd-guidance,at that moment we die to the lie of sin. We die to the power ofsin's deceit which tries to persuade us that a better future can behad through sin than through righteousness.
What causes our death to sin is the work of the cross convincingus in the depth of our heart that God is committed to us like amighty Shepherd. We are alive to sin, and believing in sin, andfollowing sin, until the cross unleashes on us the conquering loveof God and constrains us to see that we are straying; we areerring; we are self-destructing in the path of sin. And when thecross releases that power in us, we die to sin. And we awaken tothe beauty of righteousness in the pasture of our all-satisfyingShepherd.
Consider the design of the cross for your life this morning.Embrace it and return to the Shepherd and Guardian of your soul.And what we will find unleashed if we do this is the will and joyof all the "one another" commands of the New Testament, and thepower to move forward out of our guilt and hurt as a church.
Everyone is different, so no one can say exactly what will happen and when someone will die. When someone has a terminal illness and their death is expected, they may experience certain symptoms and signs as they approach the end of life (listed above).
7fc3f7cf58