1 Peter 2:21-23

THE PURPOSE OF THE INCARNATION

‘For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.’

1 Peter 2:21

What a full description we have here of the purpose of the Incarnation! Christ came to the world, He suffered for us, and left us an example that we should follow His steps. How can we follow in His steps? This is the real meaning of the text, that in this twentieth century, in this place, we are to try to so read the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ that our life will be as near as possible to the life we should imagine our Lord Jesus Christ would have lived had His lot been thrown, not in the first century, but in the twentieth, not in the Holy Land, but here. How are we to know what kind of life the Lord Jesus Christ would have lived had He been in my place? No one can decide that for us except ourselves, guided by the Holy Spirit, and the one great work of the Holy Spirit is to show us how Jesus would have us live.

I. Two principles.—The Lord Jesus Christ laid down two principles for our life, and no matter what our circle may be, no matter what our peculiar duty in life may be, whether it be in the public gaze or the background of the home, it matters nothing, these two principles can be applied by every one to the circumstances of our lives. The Lord Jesus Christ always put these two things before everything else: (1) His duty to God the Father, and (2) the work He had come to do for man. Those two things were the guiding principles of His life. Everything fitted in with them. Was there a single act or corner of His life that was out of harmony with the fact that He had come to do the will of God? Everything revolved round it. The second principle was this: ‘I have come to give My life for others, to put other men first before Myself.’ Was there ever an occasion all through His life in which He did not put others before Himself? He has left us an example that we should follow His steps and make these two principles the principles round which our life revolves.

II. Our duty to God.—I have here, in my own individual circle, to do the will of God. We read of Enoch that he walked with God. Christ shows us how that is to be done by each one of us. You look at two people walking along. Walking side by side means this, that the walkers see from the same point of view. Now when you walk with God, when you just simply put your will by the side of God’s will, then it comes about that you begin to look at things through the eyes of God Himself, and hence there comes harmony and concord between you and your heavenly Father. ‘Am I sure that this is God’s will? Am I certain of this being the life God would have me live?’ If we would only apply that touchstone to the details of our life, what a different life many of us would live! ‘Am I certain that it is the will of God that I should say, that I should think, that I should do this thing?’ Is this of God? That is what Christ always practised in His life. He has left us an example, and we are to follow in His steps and ask ourselves moment by moment, day by day, thought by thought, word by word, Is this the will of God?

III. Our duty to man.—Jesus Christ came down to minister unto others, to give His life a ransom for others. He lived and worked for others, and He has left us an example that we should follow His steps. In other words, are we selfish, or are we unselfish; let us test this matter now before God. Do we live for others? Think of His marvellous life of self-denial, He gave up everything for men. Not self, but others, that was the life that Christ lived. Have you lived up to the standard He laid down? What is the answer? Do we ever think of Him, do we remember Jesus Christ? You look at a bricklayer, and see that every now and then he gets a plumb-line to see whether he has been keeping straight? What is the great plumb-line? Let us say it reverently, it is Jesus Christ, and we have got to put Jesus Christ by the side of our life, to see whether it is straight, whether our life is being built up by the side of Christ or not.

The Master would have us follow His steps every day.

Rev. J. E. Watts-Ditchfield.

Illustration

‘In old days children at day-school had their copy-books with the “copy” on the top line, and they started to write the first line well. But when the next line came, many would look not so much at the top line as at the line they had just written. The consequence was that number two was not written so well, and by the time they got to the bottom of the page they had been copying all mistakes until the last line was the worst of all. According to the modern way of teaching children to write, the copy is on the top line, but the child begins at the bottom line and works upwards. The line just written is covered up; the child is bound to look at the top line. Hence every line he writes is better than the preceding line. That is a parable. Many of us start our line well, but, unfortunately, when that first line is written, instead of keeping the eye fixed on our “copy,” the Lord Jesus Christ, we begin to copy what we have done the week before, we fall into habits similar to the previous week, and, bit by bit, these habits deteriorate just like the child’s writing. The Lord Jesus Christ leaves us an example. He means this, that every day should be a separate line. Every day should be a complete line. To-morrow we are not to look at to-day’s life, and try to live like to-day, but to-morrow we are to start afresh, and just live to-morrow as a new day, looking unto Jesus. He has left us an example that we should follow His steps.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE

I. The perfection of Christ’s example.—St. Peter represents the example of Christ in connection with the sufferings of Christ, and in his epitome of them fixes on two all-important facts.

(a) Their magnitude. We are not equal to the task of describing the sufferings of Christ. They were multifold, and their greatness corresponded with their number and variety.

(b) Their manifestation. Albeit matchless, undeserved, and trying, Christ’s sufferings provoked no retaliation or curse from Him. Instead, He exhibited the virtue of patience in all its passiveness and beauty.

II. The intention of Christ’s example.—Just as St. Peter placed the sufferings of Christ before us in a twofold manner, so he has done with the example of Christ.

(a) It is to be faithfully copied. Every act of His is a letter to be followed; and especially as it regards suffering, He has written us a pure and perfect copy in clear, large letters, even with His own blood. True, His example is so perfect that no disciple will ever prove an exact transcript of it; but he that aims high shoots all the higher for his aim, though he falls short of hitting the mark (Php_3:7-14).

(b) It will surely be rewarded. Conscience will at once experience this (2 Corinthians 1:12). Men also will admire and praise the exhibition of the nobler virtues (1 Peter 2:12). But, above all, heaven will approve and recompense them. ‘Learn of Me,’ says Jesus; ‘for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’ And again, ‘He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ And this pledge holds good, not only for this world, but likewise for that which is to come (Revelation 2:10).