Message from Pastor Ken Radant
Hi everyone! Once again, it’s time for me to wish you all a happy Thursday, with the hope that you’re having a wonderful week.
This past week I spent quite a bit of time editing another chapter in the Bible study book on the Spirit’s gifts. It was a fun one (largely because this chapter starts into the actual Bible study work in earnest), but also a lengthy one. So I really am going to keep my musings short this morning. As it happens, I don’t have a lot of exciting news to share anyway … and there’s quite a bit to do yet to prepare for this Sunday’s message from 1 Peter.
On the subject of 1 Peter, I’d appreciate your prayers as I prepare. I always value everyone’s prayer support, of course. It’s important that the Holy Spirit guide the prep as well as the presentation of each week’s message, since we ultimately want to hear what He has to say. His points are much more important than mine! But some weeks I’m especially conscious of the need for Him to guide, and this is one of them.
There’s a quite famous quote from Martin Luther which expresses his thoughts on 1 Peter 3:18-22. Luther says: “This is as strange a text and enigmatic a saying as there is anywhere in the New Testament, so that I do not yet know exactly what St. Peter means.” One of the books I was reading earlier in the week adds: “Commentators have shaken their heads in despair!”
You get the picture. First Peter 3:18-22 is widely considered to be one of the hardest passages in the NT to understand. Pastors often just skip it. In fact, pastors are sometimes inclined to bypass the whole book of 1 Peter just because they’d need to address this passage if they preach their way through it! Wouldn’t that be sad? There’s so much good stuff in 1 Peter that it really deserves our attention. But that means dealing with every passage; and this week we’ve arrived at the tricky one.
So … pray for me as I prepare. Pray for all of us that we will have open eyes to understand and receptive hearts to respond to this passage as we wade through it on Sunday. Come expecting something that might be just a little different than usual, as we try to sift through a challenging text.
And by all means, don’t hesitate to read ahead this week so the passage will be familiar. If you do, I strongly recommend that you include some of the context from earlier in chapter 3 and on into chapter 4 as well. Remind yourself: what are the big problems that Peter is trying to address as he writes this letter? What themes has he been exploring? In what ways might this week’s verses be encouraging and helpful against that background? Hopefully that will help to make the reading a little more understandable.
Thanks for your prayers. Have a wonderful week, filled with blessings from our Lord and opportunities to share blessing with others. See you soon!
—Pastor Ken