1 Peter 2:21-25 

We are just over half way in our studies in this letter and at this half way point Peter reminds us of what is central in his belief and behaviour system – it is the cross. It is not only the cross centred life it is the cross shaped life. Verses 21-25 are in the context of submission as he looks at different relationships. But if are to not only follow Christ’s example but be motivated and empowered to submit to each other then we need to stick close to the cross; if we are going to endure unjust  suffering or being marginalised for being a christian then we need to stick close to the cross.

 Scott McKnight in his commentary on 1 Peter writes “I am convinced that churches today need to hear the message about the cruciform nature of Christian existence, especially since our litigant society is wasting far too much of its energy in defending personal rights.”  You see we tend to forget that Jesus did not spend his time defending his personal rights but as we saw last time in v.23 it says “Jesus entrusted himself to him who judges justly”. Jesus surrendered so much of his glory and rights and majesty when he chose to come to earth and to die in our place. Phil.2 reminds us that he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped and held on to – he released it, he surrendered it for a greater and higher purpose. The way of Christ is the way of surrender and submission; it is the way of the cross.  In his great wisdom God took an instrument of brutality and torture and shame and exalted it to the status of an instrument of salvation.
Tragically rather than an attitude of entrusting our circumstances to God perhaps too many of us are adopting the standards and culture of the world and insisting on our rights.  We forget how radical the cross centred life is.
 At this half way point, at this hinge point, of his letter Peter draws us back to what is most important. When the church suffers how we react should be determined by the cross; when the church has an opportunity to submit how we do that is shaped by the cross; when we make important decisions in life again the key is the cross shaped life. If we take away the cross we take away what is most distinctive about the christian faith and what is most distinctive about the christian lifestyle. Apart from the cross we are just another religion, apart from the cross we are trapped in the way the world thinks and acts.

 In this passage can I point out four truths that should encourage us to see how important it is that we see what Jesus did and why he did it. Hopefully we will see that the cross centred life is the only way to live. Jesus is our standard, Jesus is our substitute and Jesus is our sanctifier. I want us to see here a Tracing, a Tree, a Transformation and a Turning.

1.A Tracing

We sometimes smile at the rubber bracelets with WWJD on them – what would Jesus do? And yet there is a profound truth here that we should not take lightly. Jesus is our example. Verse 21 says “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” Christ’s life was supremely an example of suffering and when suffering comes, not that we actively seek it, but when it comes Peter says you should count this as something good and worthy for you are following in the footsteps of your master and Lord. When trial comes, when difficulty comes, see it as an opportunity to follow Jesus and his example. The Greek word for example is the word hupogrammon, which takes us into the Greek primary school classroom and the idea of writing over, or tracing over, the letters of the alphabet. As a child began to learn to write the teacher would give out the letters of the alphabet and the children would copy the example – we would think of putting tracing paper over it and copying the letters. This is how they learnt – they traced, they followed the teachers writing. Peter says to us when we are encountering difficulty as a Christian then place your life like tracing paper over the life of Christ and follow his example, emulate his example, seek to behave in the way he would behave, react in the way he would react.

Listen to Scott McKnight again  - “Recently I heard of legal suits over apples dropping in one’s garden from a neighbour’s tree, of neighbours tearing down next door’s fence because it was partly in their lawn by just a couple of inches). In such a society it is fundamental for christians to sound forth a different message – that of Jesus Christ who suffered injustice in order to testify to God’s grace.” Paul says in 1 Corinthians “One brother goes to law against another-and this in front of unbelievers. The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated.” These are strong words. I know of people who have been wronged and they chose not to go to court for they felt that it would be a bad witness on Christ. What would Christ do? It impacts every area of our lives. If we bear the name Christian then we take seriously the example of Christ, and that can mean financial loss.  So we need to ask ourselves what would Christ do, if I proceed with this action will it be a good witness or a bad one. How will it impact the church of which I am a part? Will it glorify God or not. These are the questions we need to ask if we are serious about our faith.

But there is more here. For although Jesus lived and died in such a way as to leave us an example to follow, what he did was so much more than that and this is where people can go so very wrong. Many times people will say that Jesus was a great human being, a great and profound teacher, and he lived in a way which we should emulate and copy, and they stop there. They say Jesus was just a very good man and his teachings are worth following, although sometimes a bit impractical and idealistic. But they miss a vital point, that Jesus living well and then dying on the cross was not just an example but an act of salvation, it was not just an example, but it was much, much more. And so Peter goes on in v.24 to talk about a tree.

2.A Tree

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.”  What is the tree about? Why do we need talk of a tree? Well let’s go back to our first point and the tracing and the idea of Jesus as an example. It is good to have an example to follow but the problem is that the Bible claims that we are sinful, that we fall short of God’s perfect standard. Rom.3:23 “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”; Isaiah 53:6 “we all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way”. John Wimber used to comment that that little word “all” in the original Greek was interesting. It means all. We are all sinners, we all fall short of God’s standard. So we have a problem here. If we are all sinners, and if God is a perfect God, and if his standard is perfection then no matter how hard I try and follow an example – even the example of Jesus – I am going to fall short. Jesus was the Son of God and he was perfect. I and you are not divine, we are human and very imperfect so no matter how hard we try and follow an example, no matter how close we get to following that example, we are going to fall short. 

 Not only this but as we read our Bibles we get the distinct impression that living a good life, no matter how good, cannot actually save us or get us into a totally right position with God. The best of our good acts are but filthy rags if we are relying upon them to get us right with God. Good acts are good, kind acts are kind, and we are better doing them than not doing them, but they fall short of saving us. Eph.2:8 is clear “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast.” It is not by giving money to church, it is not by church attendance, it is not by doing good to the neighbour, it is not by reading the Bible. These are good things but they are not good enough to get us into a right place with God. No for that we need a tree, and Peter tells us about the tree.  

“Jesus  bore our sins in his body on the tree.” What is this tree. In Peter’s mind is probably a verse from the Old Testament – Deuteronomy 21:23 “Anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse”.  That verse is in the context of someone who had committed a serious offence like murder, after they were killed their body was hung on a tree. The idea was of prolonged exposure which gave extra attention to the crime and to the criminal. Hanging a body on a tree indicated the curse of God, the displeasure of God and of the community. A body on a tree indicated divine displeasure and rejection. But even then the body was not to be left overnight but was to be taken down and buried.

 So a body hanging on a tree was a sign of judgement and God’s displeasure against the crime committed. In the days of Rome the most popular punishment of criminals was to crucify them on a wooden cross – a tree. It was brutal, it was cruel, it was fully exposed to the public and it was meant to match the severity of the crime. Peter says Jesus bore our sins on the tree. This was the tree – it was the tree of sin, the tree of a murderer or thief, it was the tree that was under the judgement of God and God placed his own Son who was sinless and who was no thief, no murderer, no rapist, he placed his body on a tree. He became our substitute – our sin was placed upon him, God’s curse was placed upon him, the punishment for sin was placed upon him. Paul sees this as he writes in Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree”.  You see we are all guilty of breaking God’s law, we are all under the curse, but Jesus voluntarily took that curse upon himself and he went to the cross for us.  He bore my sin, he bore your sin, he died on the tree. You see his death was much more than an example. An example only takes us so far. We need more than an example, we need a saviour and until and unless you see Jesus as more than an example but actually as your saviour then you will be unable to follow his example. The tracing depends upon trusting in the tree.

3. And that leads to Peter’s third point – A Transformation.

Verse 24 says “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness, by his wounds we have been healed”.     When we trust in the Tree, when we place our lives intentionally over Christ’s then we find a transformation takes place, we find the power to live a changed and changing life. Another version makes this even clearer as it says “that we having died unto sins might live unto righteousness”.  As we come to the cross and die to the old sinful way of living we are enabled and empowered to live unto righteousness. We will not be able to follow Christ’s life unless we come to the cross first of all.

You know it seriously troubles me when I hear people say that they are followers of Christ and yet I see no discernible change in how they live - in how they behave, in how they speak - from people in the world. It troubles me when people say they are Christians but simply put a superficial gloss or veneer over their lives. It is  bit like saying they are a member of the local golf club, or a season ticket holder for the local football club - they pay their annual fees and they attend the Course or game and play the odd game themselves but it does not actually impact their life.

For some the christian faith is an add on, a hobby or interest, a bit like supporting a football team. This is not the christian faith. If we have come to the cross then we find that the life of Christ will flow into us and change our priorities and enable us and empower us to live a transformed life. It will not be a perfect life but we will increasingly die to sins and live for righteousness. We will live a holy life, we will make church a priority, we will give sacrificially of our money and time, we will have a desire to pray, we will want to explore God’s word and have a desire to understand it and apply it to our lives, we will resist temptation, we will want to find what our gift is and use it for the glory of God, we will seek to be generous and caring to our neighbours. So much of what passes for christianity today  is a weak, emaciated, shadow of the real thing, and perhaps that is because people do not have the real thing for they have not come to the cross or perhaps they have been to the cross but have left it far behind as if they have outgrown it. Far from being at the centre the cross is far away from the centre.

 Are we dying to sins, are we living a righteous life because the power of God is in us  - a power that is only available by way of the cross. If this is to become a reality then we find something needs to happen.

4. A Turning

There needs to be a deliberate turning away from self to Jesus as the Good Shepherd. V.25 says “For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls”.   In the story of the Prodigal son, the lost son, there comes a turning point. He decides to turn around and head back to the father. The theological word for this is repentance. It indicates a turning around 180 degrees. One day you are walking in this direction, then you turn around. The sobering and terrifying thing is that the walking away from God can happen without too much effort, it is a kind of mindless drifting, just the way a sheep wanders. But to reverse that we need a more intentional turning back to God. As God’s Spirit nudges and prompts us we should not ignore that – we should turn around.

Today do you need to turn around. Your life is not showing forth or emulating Christ, that is because you are not at the cross, or not near the cross, but today you can go there. You find it hard to submit, hard to suffer, hard to serve. You resist these things. You are proud. You are a self made man or woman. You want to be in control of your destiny. But actually you are weak and helpless like a sheep. You are lost and confused if you would but admit it. You need to come to the shepherd who took your punishment – by his wounds you can be healed. He bore your sins in his body on the tree. Come to the tree, entrust yourself to Jesus and receive his life and his direction. Turn and be healed.  

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