The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 3:1-7 (day three)

“Wives, be submissive to your own husbands … husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way”

Does the Bible tell you who is to make the financial decisions in your marriage – if you are married? Does the Bible reveal who is to “have the final say” in a dispute between the husband and wife? Does it tell you who is to make more money, or whether a wife should take employment while her husband stays home with the children? The Bible does not. Some will think such matters are implied, and others will disagree. Meanwhile, each couple will find their own way to arrange their household. The thing that Peter is explicit about here is this: When demanding gives way to softness toward each other, husband and wife will move closer together. And both deeply desire this.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 3:1-7 (day two) 

In the same way…vs 1a

There are few New Testament passages that cause more angst than this one, and a similar discourse found in Ephesians. There are many ways that this letter can be abused, but it is not an outdated text. What strikes me is Peter’s constant use of the phrase ‘in the same way.’ When you hear this misused, I think that part of the scripture is not dealt with sufficiently. As Pastor Chris pointed out in the Re:Vlog yesterday the continuity of the letter flows from citizenship, to slaves, to wives, to husbands, and the connecting clause is the phrase ‘in the same way.’ Believers in anyone of those classifications should take the admonishment uttered to the others as if Peter were speaking to them….because he is. Now re-read chapters 1-3 and change the audience to you. Apply the directives he gives for submission, gentleness, and integrity to your life. This was his intent.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 2:18-25 (day seven)

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. vs 18

By the grace of God, our human institutions have begun to realize the injustices of our past as we have sought to eradicate slavery across the globe. It is that same grace of God that we as individuals are imparted with to endure the injustices that linger in its wake. What becomes hard to swallow is when we realize that we are called to love those who are unjust. It is one thing to suck it up and endure injustice from them, but it is another to love them in the midst of it. Love is the only way that Jesus endured the cross. Love is the only way the Father endures our constant rebellion. Love not only will be the way we endure the injustices of this world, it is the cure!

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 2:18-25 (day six)

There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:2

You who are slaves…1 Peter 2:18

Peter was writing to churches that were socially very diverse. This is a staggering thought. There were slaves, free citizens, rich business men, poor families, wives and husbands, the politically connected and the powerless, all together because of Jesus, which was virtually unheard of in the Roman empire during the first century.

That’s what the Gospel does, it tears down all barriers, bringing all people together. No one had seen anything like it!

Jesus makes us family; citizens of a new and different and glorious kingdom! Only the Gospel could do something like that!

 

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 2:18-25 (day five) “For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”  Of all the words Jesus spoke to Peter, none had the impact as the those by the campfire after the resurrection. “Feed my sheep.”  It was certainly a moment of conviction. It was also a moment of commission- a clear task and responsibility. I love the personal and possessive facet Jesus wants Peter to understand- “MY sheep”. Peter uses those same words and pictures in this verse. We are sheep. Jesus is shepherd. Peter never forgot. He never grew past that simple truth. In fact, the more life changed and became more complex and difficult, Peter held that truth even closer.
When our lives get hectic, when circumstances (or even our own sin) would seem to have us distracted, scattered, and uncertain in our minds and hearts, we can hold to that same comforting and foundational truth- as believers Jesus is our shepherd.
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 2:18-25 (day four)

God’s ways are certainly not our ways!  Sin and the world have taught the exact opposite of God’s instructions here in Scripture.  The world teaches us to fight back against what we judge to be inequity.  God’s instruction is to keep our eyes upon Him and submit to authority.

All through Scripture, we find Satan saying we should do the opposite of what God says.  God said, “Don’t eat the fruit, you’ll die.”  Satan said, “you will surely not die.”  God says, “Forgive your enemy,” Satan says, “Crush your enemy.” God says, “Humble yourself.” Satan says, “Exalt yourself.”   Over and over, Satan perverts God’s message.  We have to ask ourselves, “Who will we obey?”

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, declares the Lord, For as the heavens are higher that the earth, So are My ways higher than your  ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 2:18-25 (day three)

“Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect…”

Read “servants” as “slaves.” Nothing in 2022 sounds more unconscionable to one’s ears, perhaps, than a statement like this. Do these words minimize injustice by admonishing oppressed persons to refrain from seeking release from subjugation? Note carefully that the scripture here addresses enslaved persons without excusing societal oppression. The question the Bible deals with is this: How can the oppressed live in such a way that maximizes their well-being and simultaneously begins the project of dismantling the institution of slavery? The answer is the passage you see before you. The moment Peter associated the concept of injustice with slavery, its destruction began. That destruction still moves at the speed of the church’s obedience to Christ and advocacy for the marginalized – which is to say slowly – but the church is coming for the oppressed.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 2:18-25 (day two) …and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously…vs. 23

For most of us our sense of justice has a ring of the old covenant to it. We feel that if someone wrongs us, there should be some retribution. Mentally, we feel there needs to be accountability, and often payback. That rings of ‘an eye for an eye’, doesn’t it? Let’s be clear there are offenses that require that kind of justice, but how often do those things occur? What is more likely to happen is that our pride is hurt and rather than deal with it we demand justice. Sometimes the offense is intentional, and we think the only way forward is that they get what’s coming to them. We operate like there is a cosmic scale of justice. We know Christ’s words on this subject, and they rarely call us to that kind of equality. Jesus’ words and example were that of extreme forbearance. Our prayer should be to take our eyes off the offender and focus them on Jesus.