- Ignorant and foolish
- Ignorant - don't know the facts
- Foolish - don't want to know; don't want to upset their apple-cart
- Submission
- God - live such good lives such that the pagan must glorify God on the day He visits
- Citizen to Authorities - obey the laws
- Employee to Employer - when deserved and not deserved
- Wife to Husband - inward beauty
- Husband to Wife - considerate; respectful; spiritual leader
- One to another - harmony; love; compassion; humility
- Goal: force the ignorant and foolish to consider our worldview (and our faith)
- According to Apostel, a worldview should comprise seven elements:
- An ontology, a descriptive model of the world
- An explanation of the world
- A futurology, answering the question "where are we heading?".
- Values, answers to ethical questions: "What should we do?".
- A praxeology, or methodology, or theory of action.: "How should we attain our goals?"
- An epistemology, or theory of knowledge. "What is true and false?"
- An etiology. A constructed world-view should contain an account of its own "building blocks", its origins and construction.
- Everyone has a worldview. Whether or not we realize it, we all have certain presuppositions and biases that affect the way we view all of life and reality. A worldview is like a set of lenses which taint our vision or alter the way we perceive the world around us. Our worldview is formed by our education, our upbringing, the culture we live in, the books we read, the media and movies we absorb, etc. For many people their worldview is simply something they have absorbed by osmosis from their surrounding cultural influences. They have never thought strategically about what they believe and wouldn't be able to give a rational defense of their beliefs to others.
- This type of lifestyle has it's inherent dangers. What worry is Peter addressing?
- We could suffer by being too different
- Our worldview could be so different as to be seen as a threat to those around us. What could our worldview threaten?
- Actions -- lying to avoid paying taxes; lying to avoid punishment
- Lifestyle -- marriage ( living together)
- What is Peter's argument (it is a little subtle)?
- Who is going to harm you? Well certainly not God
- There is blessing -- suggests a reward; suggests an eternal perspective
- Hebrews 13:6 (ESV) — 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
- Man can kill us, but the writer does not see that as something to fear
- Matthew 10:28 (ESV) — 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
- Jesus tells us to fear the person to kill. But to fear what happens after death (this statement was evangelistic)
- The key is making Christ Lord. But what does that mean and how is that worked out?
- There are a number of applications in this verse regarding how to respond when our worldview is challenged. What are they?
- Be prepared
- Number one thing you can do: Know the bible
- Live the life. Confess and repent and return when you fail
- Study apologetics
- Mere Christianity. CS Lewis
- Norman Geisler
- Ravi Zacharias
- Josh McDowell
- Have a testimony
- Different versions: 30 seconds to 3 minutes
- Should have a before, how, and after
- Gentleness
- Great debate today (radio and web blogs) about civility. In my mind, this confirms man's problem with sin
- If your blog, life, talk, etc reads like the world's blog, full of cynicism, gutterisms, and complaining, … you won't attract anyone to the savior
- Recognize that conviction is a work of the Holy Spirit and not you. Ultimately, a person must choose
- Respect
- Same argument in regards to civility, but also people are important. They are not marks on the belt. They are made in the image of God and greatly loved by God, no matter how ugly
- Clear conscience
- Words should match your life
- Don't say anything you might regret
- Don't talk about pagans or believers behind their back. If you do, they should be able to listen in to your conversation without getting angry
- Results:
- People will speak maliciously of your good behavior. They will make fun of you
- Ultimately, they should be ashamed because your life (worldview) works and theirs does not
- We need to maintain our context. We are discussing the difficulties of living a world-view that is counter culture
- What did Noah deal with in his life?
- Noah, not only lived a counter-culture lifestyle, he spent 120 years building an ark when there was no water around
- People laughed at him
- For doing what God had commanded him to do
- For doing something that seemed to have no logical purpose
- For not engaging in their sin
- Noah is a picture of a person saved from an ungodly, ignorant, and foolish population
- Let me say that 1 Pet 3:18-20 is probably the most difficult passage in all of scripture to understand. There are six major views:
- Christ “in spirit” preached through Noah when Noah was building the ark. This was a message of repentance and righteousness, given to unbelieving persons who were then on earth but are now “spirits in prison” (i.e., persons in hell).
- Between His death and resurrection Christ preached to humans in Hades, giving them a message of repentance and righteousness, thus giving them opportunity to believe and be saved, though they had not availed themselves of such an offer during their time on earth.
- Between His death and resurrection Christ went to people in Hades and announced that He had triumphed over them and that their condemnation was final.
- Between His death and resurrection Christ proclaimed release to people who had repented just before the Flood. He led them from imprisonment in purgatory to heaven.
- Between His death and resurrection or between His resurrection and ascension, Christ descended into Hades and proclaimed His triumph over the fallen angels who had sinned by mating with women before the Flood.
- The reference to Jesus’ preaching is not to be taken literally. It is symbolic, conveying in this graphic form the idea that redemption is universal in its extent or influence.
- What is Peter saying in this passage?
- Sometimes it takes great suffering to finally begin to peel you away from the world
- Example: Luke and trache incident. Afterwards, all my sin and selfish desires seemed so worthless
- How does the ignorant and foolish view your lifestyle?
- They think it strange
- How do the ignorant and foolish respond to your lifestyle?
- They heap abuse on you
- But what is the bottom line?
- Everyone will be judged
- Justice will come
- Requires an eternal perspective. If you live for this life, you will be greatly disappointed because most of the time, you will not see justice
- We have no reason to be afraid on the world
- We need to be prepared
- Starts with the bible, a testimony, a lifestyle, and some extra study
- We need to respond with gentleness and respect (opposite of how the world will respond to us)
- People will make fun of our lifestyle
- People will abuse us because of our lifestyle
- We can be assured that there will be justice
REVIEW:
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_view>
Pasted
from <http://www.christianworldview.net/>
1 Peter 3:13–15 (ESV) — 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, 15a
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, …
1 Peter 3:15b–16 (ESV) — 15b … 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.
1 Peter 3:17–22 (ESV) — 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, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when
God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared,
in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now
saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for
a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the
right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected
to him.
[Dallas
Theological Seminary. (1995; 2002). Bibliotheca
Sacra Volume 152 (152:137). Dallas Theological Seminary.]
1 Peter 4:1–6 (ESV) — 1 Since therefore Christ
suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for
whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer
for human passions but for the will of God. 3
For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do,
living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and
lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this
they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery,
and they malign you; 5 but they will
give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even
to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are,
they might live in the spirit the way God does.
APPLICATION:
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