Sermon Nuggets Week of Aug 17 1 Pet 3:18-22
Sermon Nugget Mon Aug 17
Theme -The Work of Christ
Verses I Pt. 3:18-22
This passage talks about baptism and I would like a reminder of the teachings from Scriptures. Every time someone is baptized they symbolize the work of Jesus Christ and their faith in what He has done for his or her life.
Next Sunday we will be witnessing two baptisms during our morning service. I wish there were more. I don’t think many people today realize this is a commandment by our Savior.
According to Romans 6 it ties readily into identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord. I am a Baptist by conviction. Among the other distinctives we follow the teaching of a believer’s baptism. I remember having to do a study during my Sunday School days in 5th and 6th grade class to look up baptism in the New Testament and check off if faith or belief comes first or baptism comes first. I got a prize for my Bible study. But more importantly it was very clear that never was water baptism mentioned in the Bible without faith and belief being the condition of baptism. It is to be practiced by a believer in Jesus not done to a baby or a child.
When many people within the Christian faith baptize babies they do so believing that baptism and salvation is so closely tied together that if someone wasn’t baptized they were not saved. I was attending a Church of Christ denomination at the time where salvation was preached but it was not complete until one followed the Lord in baptism by immersion. The verses quoted included Acts 2:37b-38 “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
My church taught that if someone accepted Jesus in the morning service they better get baptized that same day unless they die or the Lord comes and they are not fully saved.
The passage that convinced me otherwise was 1 Cor 1:14-18 when Paul stated, “I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.)
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel-- not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ‘
Indeed if baptism was a requirement for salvation Paul would have not made such a radical statement. It was based on acceptance of the message, the preaching of the gospel on the cross and why Jesus died.
If baptism was a pre-requisite for salvation Paul would have sought to baptize every one he could but Christ did not send him to baptize but to preach the gospel.
The facts are there- we are not saved by water baptism; only believers should be baptized. But it is commanded by Jesus. It is the public witness that we trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. He wants all followers to be baptized. The word means immerse.
I talked with a man and his wife about joining Stanchfield. He confessed his salvation by faith in Jesus but since baptism is clearly not part of salvation he didn’t see any reason why he should. I turned to the passages that commanded it. Would that not be a good enough reason? If my child loved me he would obey me. That was Jesus point. Why call Him Lord, Lord and not do the things He tells us?
Out of obedience we submit ourselves to Him in following the commitment by water baptism. The more we ignore his commands the more we create what we are willing to do and not do our of our conveniences or wisdom rather than submit to his will and let him do with that as He wishes.
I was baptized at the age of 9 in a Baptist church. The Lord convicted me that I did so for the wrong child hood reasons and I indeed never trusted Christ for forgiveness of my sins. When the Holy Spirit spoke to me of my need I trusted him to save me. It wasn’t until I was in Seminary that I was “re-baptized” in a Baptist Church as I realize my baptism was not a believers baptism. It is a doctrine that I think has been pushed in the background of importance in our day.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues Aug 18
Verse 1 Peter 3: 18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
The Christian message is about a Death
Peter points to the work of Jesus beginning with His death. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. There is body and there is spirit. The way the Bible explains death humanly is when man's spirit leaves body. The resurrection has no meaning apart from death. Jesus died once for all.
The Salvation story begins with the physical death of Jesus, as the Son of God. There are many modes of capital punishment, sawing people in half, being thrown to lions. According to some commentaries some people were also drowned, suffocated, and beaten to death, or put to the sword. But crucifixion was considered the worst.
We are reminded that Jesus was falsely charged. The arrest, the trials, the mockery, the scourging with whips, the humiliation, was all part of the suffering of our Lord prior to the cross. The carrying of the cross with a raw and ripped bleeding back, the nailing of his hands and feet to the cross, were part of His bearing with our sin. It was not only the suffering in his body, but the point that hatred, lies, hypocrisy, man made religion, abuse, rejection, mockery are all part of the human heart against God.
During a crucifixion the victim was offered a drug to deaden the pain, but Jesus refused that. Left to heat, bleeding, fever, headache, thirst, anxiety, but when all was accomplished and his work on earth was finished, he gave up the ghost as according to Scripture.
Peter previously pointed people who were suffering to think of Jesus suffering. He suffered in order to bring us to God. This death is to introduce us to the king. Jesus continually brings us to God. In the name of Jesus we have fellowship with Almighty God. He died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust. He paid our penalty and removes our sin.
But the baptism story is not only about the death of Jesus, but about our own death too. Romans 3:23 says For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” 6:23 tells us that price for our sin is death. Death is a physical and spiritual curse that affects each and every person. We are all spiritually dead to God. Our sin has to be removed for us to be alive to God.
There is another term for sin which translated means missing the mark. There are lots of good deeds, and many religions activities, and noble actions, but regardless how happy we feel about it or what others think it all misses the mark of God’s righteousness. It is sin.
Jesus paid the price for our offense and character. He is innocent, but he died for me because I am not innocent.
Did you notice that, once for all? Christ is not and cannot be crucified again according to the Bible. That's also why the temple veil was torn in two and the priests need not offer sacrifices any longer for the perfect sacrifice was paid. We completed the job and there is no more suffering that can be added by other people to complete salvation's requirements.
When A.J. Gordon was a pastor of a church in Boston, he met a young boy in front of the church carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered. He discovered that the boy had trapped them out in the field and was going to play with them and feed them to his cat. Gordon offered to buy them,
"Mister, you don't want them" he told him. "They're just little old wild birds and can't sing very well."
"I'll give you $2 for the cage and the birds." "Okay, its a deal, but you're making a mistake."
Gordon walked around the back of the church property opened the door and let the birds soar into the air. The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ coming to seek and save the lost-paying for them with His own precious blood. "That boy told me the birds were not song birds, but when I released them, they winged their way heavenward and it seemed to me they were singing, "Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed."
You and I have been held prisons, we have been dead but Christ death purchased our pardon and set us free.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Aug 19
Verses- 1 Peter 3:19-21 He was put to 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.
The Christian message is about a Burial.
Proclamation is not evangelism, it is heralding an announcement.
Often the phrases I am using for this week’s devotional become foundational for the faith. Paul affirms this bedrock truth by stating
1 Cor 15:3-4 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” He preaches the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
Why is make the point that He was buried? That seems to be an important part of the dogma. What happened from the time Jesus died until he rose again? Scholars give us different answers.
These verses are quoted and interpreted differently, so there is no firm agreement as to what exactly Peter means. One interpretation is that the Spirit of Christ was with Noah preaching repentance to the people before the flood came. They rejected the gracious message of God even then. Now they are doomed to destruction.
Another interpretation indicating by the Apostle’s Creed that when Jesus died His Spirit went to the place where dead souls are kept and preached to those who didn't have a chance to hear Noah's message before destruction came and now they could know the truth. Such preaching gave them a chance to respond to faith in Jesus.
There is also the interpretation that the word, Spirit, doesn't refer to the human dead. It is used for angels. So that when Jesus was in the Spirit He went to the fallen angels and proclaimed victory. He proclaimed defeat over Satan. Fallen angels or demons were the recipient of Christ message and Jesus proclaimed their eternal doom. They lost the war. It is now too late.
Now which do I think is right? I favor the thought that He preached to those who died and brought the faithful with Him to glory. But one thing is sure- Jesus was not resting. He was proclaiming victory.
There is a spiritual consciousness after death. The souls of the saved and the unsaved have some awareness after death. When we are buried, we do not lose consciousness, but rather expand our consciousness in new dimensions. Whomever Jesus was preaching to He was busy while His followers were grieving.
For His followers Jesus burial was an event of sadness. It was the time to prepare His body for the tomb and grieve His physical death. It seemed as if all their dreams and hopes were also buried. There was the sense of disappointment and loss. But something was going on with those who had already departed. The world of the unseen were being introduced to the living Lord before His bodily resurrection.
He pictures for us salvation by the type of Noah and the Ark. Judgment came. The water was the means of destroying the earth. It was buried in water. God graciously provided an Ark to save some of his creation and 8 people who were saved. Before the “burial” of the earth, people refused to accept the message of repentance and faith. Peter takes this picture and applies it to the New Testament preaching. The message of repentance and faith in Christ is preached and still many do not respond. As Noah was saved through water by the safety of the Ark, so the baptized are passed through the water or made safe through Jesus Christ. Water didn't save them, the ark did. Water doesn't cleanse us spiritually, it is the clear conscious. How do we get the clear conscious? We are having all our guilt taken away. There is only one way that happens and that is by Jesus. We trust in His works, not ours, and commitment ourselves to him.
Burial means the old is dead. Sin is destroyed for the one in faith. Our old nature is put to rest. The sin put upon Christ is also buried. But there is the wonderful news of the resurrection.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thur Aug 20
Verses- 1 Pet 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
Christian message is about the Resurrection.
We talked about the phrase “made alive by the Spirit” when we acknowledged death was from a bodily perspective but Jesus was conscious and working among the spirits-either those who died before and/or angels and demons.
But there is another victorious truth. By the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus also bodily arose from the grave. Death could not even hold his body. Our Savior died, but He rose again. On the first day of the week as it began to dawn, as the sun was gleaming through the olive trees and lit up the garden of Joseph of Arimathea the early arrivals to the tomb found it was empty. They found the grave clothes left there. They wondered what could have happened.
The first to see Jesus, according to John 20, was Mary Magdalene. She saw Him in the garden with a new white robe of righteousness. He left the grave clothes for us. The angels touched the stone which covered the tomb. It was removed. Jesus came forth from its vault. Do you know that as just a sign for the soldiers and for the women and disciples? None of that was needed in the new resurrected body. In fact when he met the disciples later in that night he did need a door to be opened, or an opening to let him in or out. I believe that open grave was for our benefit. It was necessary to give witness and glory to the watching world that the grave was opened in this glorious resurrection.
Jesus stayed around on the earth for 40 more days, a time sufficient for the confirmation of his identity and teaching. People saw and talked with Him as proof He really did rise from the grave. I don’t know for sure, but the Scripture passages only included sightings by believers in Jesus. Were those the only ones?
We remember when Thomas doubted Jesus alive He invited Thomas to put his finger in the print of the nails and hand into the side. 500 people at one time according to Paul's account in Corinthians were eye witnesses of His appearances. His appearance was not a vision held by one or two but before a great company of people in various stages of acceptance of the resurrection.
During those days He brought comfort to his disciples. He wiped away their tears. They were no longer sorrowful.
But as we think of the resurrection of Christ we cannot minimize the hope that is ours of our personal resurrection. When will that take place? At the glorious return of Jesus Christ.
That is why we have hope. “We serve a risen savior who is in the world today!” “He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own.”
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri Aug 21
Verses -1 Pet 3:22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand-- with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Christian Message is about the Ascension
The ascension of Jesus is part of the Christian story. Jesus’ physical body is no longer on earth as described more clearly in the first chapter of Acts. But His physical and resurrected body ascended up into the clouds and out of sight with the promise of returning again in the same manner.
The ascension message is that He is at “God’s right hand”. The picture is one of authority and intercession. In the role of the high priest Jesus represents us before the Father in heaven. The Son is before the Father interceding on our behalf. His prayers are ever within the holy place. He is now in heaven as our representative.
All spiritual powers are in submission to him. All angels and demons are in submission to Him. At the present time not all creation is acting according to the will of Jesus, but some day at the Father’s timing it will do so.
Jesus did not go to heaven until it was settled and confirmed by the believers that He was alive again. He had the power over death itself. During this time He also prepared them for His departure. He made them see that it was to their advantage that He goes away because then the Holy Spirit would come and commune with them and they would be filled with His peace.
They were children now of a different world. They were strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. They heard Him speak to them and they were commissioned to proclaim the truth.
Verse 22 points to the glorification of Christ. He is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God. They could not embrace his feet or listen to his stories. But neither is Peter at home on earth anymore. Just as he longed to be with Jesus also in Heaven, so he is now.
The right hand of God is a place of honor. This expression of course, is a figure to point to the shadow of human authority and honor before a sovereign king. It helps us better grasp the heavenly truths of respect love, power and honor to Jesus in the Heavenly is giving. He has conquered and is presently ruling. Jesus is the victor! He is in control. He is preparing a place for us and will come again to receive his bride. As He loves us, the Father loves Him and receives us as His own through the work and will of the Son, who delights in serving the Father. It is a beautiful picture causes us to trust in not only what Jesus did, but what He is presently doing.
As William Barclay writes, "Here is the great belief that there is no created being in heaven or earth outside the empire and the power of Christ. Christ the sufferer has become Christ the victor, and Christ the crucified has become Christ the crowned?"
In the passages of this week Peter pointed to Jesus as our example for being a sufferer, but at the end the proclamation is victory. That's the story! There is victory even in your suffering. It was the will of a loving God that His Son suffers. It was God's will that He be buried, and praise God it was the plan even from the Old Testament that He be raised to life again. All that happened was according to God's great design. The Death, Burial and Resurrection are the heart of the Christian message. The ascension reminds us it is already done, but not quite yet realized until He returns.
Come, Lord Jesus.
Pastor Dale
