(Back to Helps Home Page)     (Sermon, March 9, 2003)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)    (Back to Shultz Home Page)

March 9, 2003 - 1 Peter 3:18-22

Open It

1. How many times do you think a person ought to suffer for the same offense?
2. What is it that so few people are willing to believe and accept the "good news" of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
3. What activities hinder or help a person to achieve a relationship with Jesus Christ?

Explore It

4. What did Peter say about Christ's death? (3:18)
5. Through whom and to whom did Christ preach? (3:19-20)
6. How many people were save din the ark? (3:20)
7. What role does God's patience play in the preparations for the flood? (3:20)
8. What is the purpose of baptism? (3:21)
9. What do the flood waters from which Noah and his family were saved say to us? (3:21)
10. How are we saved? (3:21)
11. Where did Christ go after His resurrection? (3:22)

Get It

12. What role, do you believe, Noah play in the proclaiming of the "good news" to the people of his day?
13. How prepared are you to explain your hope in Christ?
14. What can you do to be better prepared for discussions about Christ with non-Christian friends?
15. Why is it better to suffer for doing good rather than evil?
16. Has Christ's death and resurrection changed your life?
17. How does Christ's place of authority at God's right hand make you feel about your relationship with Him?

Apply It

18. What steps can you take this week to reinforce your faith and trust in God's promises?
19. What is necessary for you to accomplish so that you can be better prepared to answers questions about your faith and hope in Jesus?

The meaning of preaching "to the spirits in prison" is not completely clear, and commentators have explained it in different ways. The traditional interpretation is that Christ, between his death and resurrection, announced salvation to God's faithful followers who had been waiting for their salvation during the whole Old Testament era. Matthew records that when Jesus died, "the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people" (Matthew 27:52-53). A few commentators think that this passage says that Christ's Spirit was in Noah as Noah preached to his contemporaries who were in danger of being lost in the flood. Still others hold that Christ went to Hades to proclaim his victory and final condemnation to the fallen angels imprisoned there since Noah's day.

In any case, the passage shows that Christ's "good news" of salvation and victory is not limited. It has been preached in the past as well as in the present; it has gone to those who have died as well as to the living. God has given everyone the opportunity to come to him, but this does not imply a second chance for those who reject Christ in this life.

Peter says that Noah's salvation through water symbolized baptism, a ceremony involving water. In baptism we identify with Jesus Christ, who separates us from the lost and gives us new life. It is not the ceremony that saves us, but faith in Christ's life, death and resurrection, (Romans 5.10). Baptism is the symbol of the transformation that happens in the hearts of those who believe (Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12). By identifying themselves with Christ through baptism, Peter's readers could appeal for help in the development a "good conscience" that would help them to remain faithful to the call and purposes of Jesus Christ.

(Back to Helps Home Page)     (Sermon, March 9, 2003)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)    (Back to Shultz Home Page)