Click on this title to listen to the message: “Keeping a Good Conscience While Suffering for Doing Good”
NOTE: What follows is only a basic outline of the sermon, not a word-for-word manuscript.
1 Peter 3:16-18
First Christian Church, Owensville, IN
July 5, 2020
Bart W. Newton, Preaching Minister
(Abbreviations for Bible translations that may be quoted: ESV = English Standard Version; NLT = New Living Translation; CSB = Christian Standard Bible; GW = God’s Word; Amplified Bible = AMP; KJV = King James Version; New King James Version = NKJV; The Message = MSG; KNT = Kingdom New Testament)
• It is amazing the courage that a good conscience can do for a godly person of faith in Christ.
• On Martin Luther’s monument at Worms, Germany are his words spoken before the church council on April 18, 1521, “Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” Trained by God’s Word, Luther’s good conscience, along with the Holy Spirit, gave him the courage to stand against the whole established Catholic church of that day. (Wiersbe, Be Hopeful, p. 86).
• Luther understood how we are to handle situations in which we run the risk of suffering for obedience to Jesus.
• As we learned last Lord’s Day, the original recipients of Peter’s first letter needed to know and so do we.
• Remember, Rome had suffered a tragic fire. Christians were falsely accused of setting it. Peter was doctrinally trying to prepare Christians for possible suffering due to persecution by the government. (Reese, Peter & Jude, p. 78)
• So let’s return to the passage of interest: 1 Peter 3:13-18.
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…(ESV)
Review of verses 13-16a:
• To suffer for choosing what’s best, means by God you’ll be blessed. (vv. 13-14a)
• People we won’t fear, if Jesus we revere (vv. 14b-15a) .
• When asked, humbly share the reason why it’s Jesus you’re pleasin’ (vv. 15b-16:a)
• Main Point: When the Lord in your heart is most dear, of others’ threats there is no reason to fear.
• Now let’s pick up where we left off last Sunday.
16 having a good conscience,
• GW: 16 Keep your conscience clear.
• What is a conscience?
• Gareth Reese defines it as “that innate faculty which urges us to do what our mind thinks is right, and criticizes us when we do what our mind thinks is wrong. A ‘clear conscience is one that doesn’t bother us, or criticize us concerning our behavior.” (Jude & Peter, p. 82)
• Different types of consciences:
• Defiled conscience: Like a window that has gotten so dirty it cannot let in the light to see things clearly.
• Seared conscience: So sinned against it no longer is sensitive to what is right and wrong.
• Evil conscience: Approves of things that are bad and accuses of things that are good! (Wiersbe, p. 85)
• “Conscience is a safe guide only when the Word of God is the teacher.”
• “A strong conscience is the result of obedience based on knowledge, and a strong conscience makes for a strong Christian witness to the lost. It also gives us strength in times of persecution and difficulty.” One of the benefits of a good, clear conscience is that it “removes from us the fear of what other people may know about us, say against us, or do to us. When Christ is Lord and we fear only God, we need to fear the threats, opinions, or actions of our enemies.”–Warren Wiersbe, Be Hopeful, pages 85-87
• It is that kind of conscience the Christian needs when suffering for doing good, according to Peter, …
… so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
• When motive and conduct are honorable, once people hear the reason for our hope, perhaps some will reconsider their accusation, and go home feeling ashamed to falsely accusing us for our obedience to Christ.
• Peter has already alluded to this earlier in this letter:
• 1 Peter 3:1-2: Wives, in a similar way, place yourselves under your husbands’ authority. Some husbands may not obey God’s word. Their wives could win these men for Christ by the way they live without saying anything. 2 Their husbands would see how pure and reverent their lives are. (GW)
• Within a couple of weeks after George Floyd’s tragic death, I was introduced to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Rule of Life.”
• It was Dr. King’s rule for participants in the civil rights movement. In it you see his desire for protestors to be able to protest from a good conscience. Here are King’s requirements:
• Meditate daily on the teaching and life of Jesus.
• Remember always that the nonviolent movement in Birmingham seeks justice and reconciliation, not victory.
• Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.
• Pray daily to be used by God in order that all might be free.
• Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all might be free.
• Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
• Seek to perform regular service for others and the world.
• Refrain from violence of fist, tongue, or heart.
• Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
• Follow the directions of the movement and the captains of a demonstration.
• Peter continues:
17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
• 1 Peter 4:19: So then, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator while doing what is good. (CSB).
• 1 Peter 2:23 tells us that when Jesus suffered unjustly, instead of threatening He just kept right on entrusting Himself to His Father who judges justly and was willingly allowing His son to suffer though innocent, just like Isaiah prophesied:
• Isaiah 53:10a: Yet, it was the Lord’s will to crush him with suffering.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous,…
• Verse 18 has been described by others as “’as one of the shortest and simplest, and yet one of the richest, summaries given in the New Testament of the meaning of the cross of Jesus.’ (Ross)” (In Gareth Reese’s Jude & Peter, p. 84)
• Isaiah 53:10-11: 10 Yet, it was the Lord’s will to crush him with suffering.
When the Lord has made his life a sacrifice for our wrongdoings,
he will see his descendants for many days.
The will of the Lord will succeed through him.
11 He will see and be satisfied
because of his suffering.
My righteous servant will acquit many people
because of what he has learned through suffering.
He will carry their sins as a burden. (GW)
18…that he might bring us to God…
• Mark 10:45: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (ESV)
• 2 Corinthians 5:21: For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (NLT)
• God is moving history along the pathway of renewal that was inaugurated at the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
• He desires all people to repent and be saved.
• Reminder, America is not the last, best hope for the world, as some have said and say in speeches. Rather, as the New Testament clearly teaches, Jesus is the only hope of the world.
• And we are His ambassadors to help with that!
Some of the benefits of a good conscience while suffering according to God’s will:
• It proves the genuineness of our faith while at the same time purifying it.
• 1 Peter 1:7: These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. (NLT)
• It might convict your persecutors that they are wrong to ridicule your Christian lifestyle (v. 16).
• It follows Jesus’ example (vv.. 17- 18).
• It assists Jesus in bringing others to God (v. 18).
• 1 Peter 2:12: Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. (NLT)
Let’s spend some time reflecting on what God’s Word has shown us, using the acronym SPECKS:
• Sin to confess?
• Prayer, promise or praise to hold onto?
• Example to follow?
• Command to obey?
• Knowledge to retain?
• Share the passage with whom?