“Honor Christ As Lord” – 1 PETER 3:14-22

We have taken so many steps alongside Peter as he followed in Jesus’ footsteps. Now, Peter challenges us to put our very soul on the line. He calls us to honor Christ. He challenges us to honor Him as Lord. His lordship can only mean my submission to Him.

Even when others attack, I can truly honor Jesus as my Lord when I am prepared to speak up. Just as Jesus was prepared when His moment came, discipleship requires readiness. Many believers are ready to speak of God’s love. Please don’t miss my point. Love is essential. But, The Holy Spirit inspired Peter to challenge us to speak on another matter. Many believers are ready to speak on faith, crying out “I know what I believe!” Faith too is essential, but Peter is asking us to go deeper still.

Always be ready to explain your HOPE. Really? Hope?

Think about it … The love of God is about God. The faith that saves is about you. But hope is an enmeshing of both. Honoring Jesus as Lord is obedience to the One who came out of love to call on people to believe in His divinity, His humanity and His sacrifice. Faith is honoring the story of Jesus in the mind, then translating belief into action. Faith is a believing trust that is so much more than simple belief.

Hope is the result.

Honoring Jesus Christ as Lord means you are ready to give an answer to people, because you have already given your answer to God. Obedience to the gospel – Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection – is the appeal to God for a clear conscience. God loved. Jesus rose. I believed. So, I obey. The same Peter who called on the believers on Pentecost to “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38) is the same Peter who says that “baptism now saves you”.

Wait, what about grace?

What about faith?

The example Peter (by inspiration, just like on Pentecost) give is that of Noah and the ark. In the Genesis account we learn that Noah found favor (i.e., “grace”) in the eyes of God. Was Noah saved by grace? Absolutely. God told him the flood was coming and commanded that he build the ark precisely according to the divine instructions. Upon hearing this, Noah believed God (Hebrews 11:7). Was Noah saved by faith? Certainly. Peter says that Noah and his family were saved by the ark through the flood water. Was Noah saved by the ark. Sure he was. Had he NOT built it he would surely have drowned with everyone else. His faith would have been in vain and the grace of God would have been ignored.

In the same way that Noah was saved by the ark, we are now saved by baptism.

Unless you obey the divine instructions of God, your faith is in vain and you will ignore the grace of God.

Baptism in faith is the sinner’s appeal to God for inner cleaning, not a superficial bath. Baptism does nothing for the body, but everything for the soul. Everything, including giving hope. Simply because you have honored Jesus completely. Hope.

A refusal to be baptized dishonors Jesus. In essence, it would be the same as Noah saying, ‘God, I believe you, but I expect you to save me without building the ark because MY faith is so strong”. By faith we are not in the position to make any demands of God, only to make an appeal to Him.

God’s grace. My faith. Our union in baptism (Romans 6:4-5). Hope.

Only when you have appealed to God, are you truly ready to answer “anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you”.