By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
May 10, 2026
Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship
1 Peter 3:13–22 (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, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, 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. 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.
We have been looking at the words written by Peter for a few weeks now. This letter is considered the first catholic epistles. And I mention that for one reasons, mainly it gets us a bit excited. What it means is that it was not written to one church in particular like most of Paul’s letters, but it was written to the universal or catholic church or all the churches in general. That being said it was written for a reason. There was an area of the church, particularly Asia Minor, that was facing intense persecution.
It is not something that was new to the church in the first century. We see throughout the writings of John that there was persecution from the established religion within Israel. John would write things like, “for fear of the Jews.” This has given that Apostle some criticism because they see it as being anti-Semitic, but it is important to remember that the early Christians were fiercely persecuted by the established religion. They were stoned, thrown off the roof of the temple, and many faced ridicule or were disowned by their family. They faced this because the established religion thought them to be heretical. They saw Jesus as heretical. They saw the miracles, they listened to the teachings, they saw the crowds, but they did not understand.
We need to be mindful of this in our own lives. I am often examining my response to traditions I am not used to. I examine my response because at times I will judge groups without looking a bit deeper. I will also examine what they say and teach and make an attempt to understand. I do this with many faith traditions. I used to work with several people of Muslim faith, and we had great conversations at lunch, I asked them many questions and they asked some of me as well. After about a year, I asked one of them to read a book that I had read about their faith. I asked them to do this because I found that book to be beneficial but I wanted to make sure the author was accurately portraying the basics of their faith. I told them that it was written by a christian, and I went so far as to tell them which chapters because I only wanted to know if the history and basic beliefs were accurate. It surprised me that he took the time to read the book, he made comments, and asked if it would be alright if he read the rest because he was curious about why this man was writing about the Muslim faith to Christians. I let him keep the book and let him know that I would love to talk with him after, if he had questions or concerns that might be presenting things in a light that might not be true.
We need to examine and study. We need to explore and interact. We as humans were not created to live alone but we were commissioned by God to go into the world name the animals, gain understanding of the earth, and to use what we have to be fruitful and multiply. This is more than just having big families. It is studying science. It is exploring interpersonal relationships, and systems of government. We were created to live in community for the benefit of the community. We cannot do this well if we do not develop understanding and discernment.
The early Christians in Jerusalem faced persecution. The persecution they faced was expected, they had the resources to speak to it because both the established religion and the early Christians were using the similar teachings and scriptures. They were also living among people that had similar life experiences. When the Church was dispersed throughout the empire they faced something different. They were not living among their countrymen anymore. They were no long just one branch of teaching within the established religion already being practiced within Judea. They were foreigners. They were the minority.
They were forced out of their homeland and were living among people that had completely different lifestyle, and religious practices. There were Jewish communities within these lands, but even these communities rejected them. They would come to Ephesus or Corinth, thinking they could join the Hebrew communities. The people within those communities would see them as Jewish, but the Jews rejected them. This then caused the ones outside the Hebrew faith to look at them suspiciously. It did not help that many of these communities were built and dedicated to the worship of other deities, and once the Christians began to teach people began to neglect those temples.
They accused them of being antisocial for not attending the celebrations of the roman gods. They accused them of being atheists, because they did not worship with idols. They made laws attempting to keep them on the outside of the community and potentially to encourage them to leave. Laws that would force them to prove that they had made sacrifices to the Roman gods, before they were able to purchase the things they needed. They were wrongfully accused of causing earthquakes, or other disasters. And the leaders were hunted and at times killed.
Peter wrote this letter to the churches of Asia Minor because they were the ones that were feeling this pressure. Widespread persecution had not yet begun throughout the empire. It was focused mainly in this one area.
Peter tells them, “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed.” This word blessed, is the same word that Jesus used in his teaching. And that is what Peter is reminding them of. In just a few words he is reminding them of the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor, the meek, the sorrowful, the peacemaker. Why? Why are we blessed when we suffer for righteousness’ sake?
A few years ago there was a ministry that was taking food out to those that did not have homes. This ministry had been doing this for years, but one day they had trouble. The city decided that the food was not prepared in a kitchen properly licensed and they followed the vans out into the community confiscated the food, and in front of the hungry people they poured chemicals in them to make it inedible. I was shocked when I first read that story. I was shocked because they were doing good things to help people. I was shocked because to me it was excessive. Now do not get me wrong, the city did have concerns that needed to be addressed. The kitchen should have been licensed and the ministry should have been doing all they could to ensure that the food was safe.
They were persecuted in a way, they suffered. What happened from that? People were motivated. They could not believe that such a horrendous thing happened, and they for a while provided additional funding. It stopped the ministry for a day, but the ministry continued, and it continued more safely.
If we are doing good, if we loving our neighbors with all that we have and all that are, who is there that can really cause us harm? Peter goes on to say, “Have no fear of them, nor be troubled but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy,”. It is important to look at this portion of scripture more deeply because it almost seems like Peter is repeating himself. “Have no fear, nor be troubled.”
The word fear is one that has multiple and often contradictory meanings. It can mean being afraid of something or someone because it could potentially cause harm. But it can also mean having respect or honoring something or someone. Scripture says in Proverbs, that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the lord. We can twist that to do our bidding if we would like, telling our children that God is always watching so you better be good. But that is not what that means, the writer of Proverbs is encouraging us to honor and respect God first, or before everything else. Honoring God, putting ourselves into a proper position or mental framework of knowing that who ever we are or how important we are, God is still greater is the beginning of wisdom. So Peter is saying have no fear of them. He is telling us to not give them any greater honor nor respect than they deserve.
Why is this important? How many of us have heard of Romans 13? “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” This is a passage that is often used during campaigns. I say used, but in reality it is misused. To be subject to the governing authorities does not mean to accept everything they do as being blessed by God. It means that if you oppose injustice being committed by governing bodies and you do resist, which scripture also tells us to do, then we are willing to submit ourselves to what the governing body sees fit for punishment. Basically it means you are not to use violence.
Peter says, “Have no fear of them.” Do not give them greater honor or respect than they deserve as they too are subject to the justice of God. Peter is saying be zealous for what is good, be bold even if the people around you speak out against you. Be zealous for what is good all the more, and do not be troubled by what others will do. Be zealous, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.
In our zeal, are we honoring Christ the Lord as holy?
This is where I have found myself stopping as I prayed and studied this week. I can be a very outspoken person on things I care about. This has gotten me into some trouble at times, but usually I am willing to accept the rebuke. But in my zeal for what I perceive to be good, am I honoring Christ the Lord as holy? I have had to stop and think deeper about this. I have often said that we can be right and still be wrong. We can be right but if we take improper actions to achieve the goal it does not matter because we have closed the door of opportunity.
“Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, 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, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”
Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. This was where I spent much of my young adult life. I wanted to have all the answers. I wanted to be able to win every debate. I wanted to prove to everyone what was true. This is part of my argumentative nature. And I gravitated toward people that I thought had good answers. I wanted to live in a black and white, right and wrong world. There are classes and books that you can take that focus on these very things. The word defense here is apologia, which is what forms the word apologetics. The sense of the word is to give a legal defense, or to be able to prove something.
It would be nice to be able to have all the answers, unfortunately from all my study of apologetics the questions that are often covered in the books are not the questions I have received. Occasionally I have been asked the typical can God make a rock so big that he cannot lift it. I have read the defenses of that question and have found them laughable, because there is not an answer. But usually the questions that we are really asked have nothing to do with our knowledge of scripture. The questions we are asked are usually not even expressed in words.
Twenty-seven years ago, I had one of those questions. I was mourning the loss of my little sister. I was questioning my faith. I was studying genetics and crop science and the things I was reading in the science books and the things I was hearing at church were not coming together. I was struggling and I could not formulate questions let alone ask them. In that state I had to admit to my mom that I had sinned. My girlfriend was pregnant and we were not married. What was I going to do?
There are countless answers to that question. Some we might agree with and others we might find appalling, but what is the person in that moment actually asking?
It is not black and white, right or wrong in that moment. The real question being asked is am I still loved? Am I still part of the community? Am I still accepted? Will you be here for me when everything seems to fall apart?
“Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”
You can make a defense for whatever position you have but those are just words. Will you be there, zealous for what is good, no matter what happens? I was asking questions I did not even know I was asking, and my church was giving me answers. They did not gloss over the sinful aspects of my actions, but they also did not let that define who I am. I was a confused young man looking for a reason to go or to stay, they gave me hope. They did not have fancy words or arguments that could convince me one way or the other. They expressed their beliefs and I knew they were true because they were ready to help no matter what.
We are not going to know what someone will need. We are not going to know the questions that they might ask. That is why we should always be prepared. We should always be actively learning, asking questions, finding solutions. We should always be looking around to see a place or person that needs some attention and strive to shine light. We should speak out when we see injustice, but we should not only speak out we should be zealous for what is good, meaning our words and our actions should resemble one another. But we should know why we do what we do.
When I was in Ukraine, I was asked a lot of questions. But one of the funniest questions I was asked was, “Is that why we do this in church?” I grew up thinking that the Soviet Union was filled with a bunch of atheists, and that is not completely wrong, it is not completely right either. They were facing the very same struggles that we in America and everyone else in the world was facing. They like us, were looking at the technology, the various social practices and philosophies, science, and everything else and they were trying to make sense of it all. An author I respect once said this, “science excels at explaining ‘how’ the universe works (mechanisms), while faith and theology address the ‘why’ (meaning, purpose, and the existence of God).” This is what the students of Ukraine were wrestling with. It was what I was wrestling with. I would go through the things the we were supposed to share, and then we would just talk. I did not know anything. I was just a punk kid, but I would share stories of my life and they would ask why I did what I did and I would answer. Eventually it came down to the, “Is that why we do this in church?” They were Orthodox and I am a Quaker. I answered honestly. I have absolutely no idea why your church does that, but from what you are saying I would make that assumption. Ukraine is filled with Christian. It is filled with people that are asking the same questions we are. It is filled with people looking for answers and looking for a reason to believe.
I presented the 4 spiritual laws more times than I can remember, and not a single person was convinced by my arguments. But I saw light. I saw people turn back to God. I saw God change lives. It was not the arguments, it was the conversations. It was the honesty of me being there zealous for what is good, and being willing to talk to them not as a project but as a friend. And together a bunch of confused college students found hope.
Peter wrote this letter to a church that was facing struggles that not many had yet witnessed. He encouraged them to learn as much as they can about everything around them so that they could speak. And he encouraged them to be zealous for what is good. What is good, and how do we honor Christ the Lord as holy in our hearts? It is found within the rhythm of life Jesus taught us. Worship with the community. Withdraw often to isolated places to pray. And minister to the people around you with words and actions. We as a meeting of Friends have translated that into our mission or purpose statement. We encourage each other to become a people: “Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the love of Christ with others.” It is the same thing that Peter is encouraging. Know God’s ways by learning the depths of his teachings. Spend time in conversation with God, not only talking to him but listening to the Spirit as his teachings peculate within us. And then take what we have learned and apply it.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (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…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
May 03, 2026
Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Click to read in Swahili
Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili
1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV)
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk.” I am often floored by the use of language that the writers of our scripture use. They have a way to verbally construct an image within out minds that with only a few words can explain a concept that would take me an hour to get across.
Peter tells us that we should be like a newborn infant, longing for the pure spiritual milk. I want you to just imagine what that looks like. Unfortunately today we do not have infants among us, as they have grown up and now they run around and help us sing. But we remember just a couple of years ago, when they were at that age. An infant longs for milk every couple of hours. They long for it. This verb long, is not merely a desire, it is a feeling of deep necessity, something so needed that one cannot keep quiet until the need has been met. We understand that longing if we have ever been around a baby. They let us know what they need, and when they receive what they need, they quiet down, they are at peace, they grow, and mature.
This is an amazing image of the spiritual life. This is how we begin. Just like a infant we do not know anything. We make a lot of noise. We get food and we end up throwing it across the room and wearing all over us. But little by little something gets inside, it begins to nourish us and we grow. We begin to see beyond the words on the pages. We begin to see them enacted and lived around us. The words of scripture are not supposed to remain on the page. They should become who we are. They should become what we do. We are to embody every aspect of scripture, to grow into them.
There is another word image that scripture has used to describe this concept. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
In this Moses is telling us that the word, the law, the commandments, or the teachings of God should become so much a part of you that you literally cannot speak without the teachings of God coming out of your lips. You cannot sit down to relax within you house without the teachings of God becoming like your recliner, giving you the rest your body needs. You cannot raise a child without the commands of God reflecting to them. Those commandments should wrap themselves around your arms like a shirt you wear in public, it should hang down over your eyes like the hair upon your head. Everything about you should be filled with the teachings of God.
It truly is a beautiful images composed on the pages of a book. And the various writers expand this even more. John wrote this in his Revelation of Jesus Christ, “Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” (Revelation 13:11-17)
I want us to consider what these words are painting before us. In the first written by Moses, the commands of God are to be embodied in every thing we do. In the second the words of or the name of the beast is written upon humanity. It is his teaching that they embody. So often we are told not to take the mark of the beast as Christians, we think that it is an end times prophecy but in reality it is the inverse of God’s teaching. It is the kingdoms of men replacing that of God. It is and has always been part of this world. For those that are found within the kingdom of God, they embody the teachings of God in all they do, but those within the kingdoms of the world embody the desires and the teachings of that kingdom.
Peter tells us in this second chapter of this letter to put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. To put away all the teachings of this world. And like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk. Long for the justice of God. Cry out for grace and mercy to flow freely into our bodies so that we can grow into that being we were created to become, and image bearer of God.
I have begun today with some fairly heavy concepts, but this is the human experience. This is what every person upon this earth must endure. We were born within a rebellion, we find ourselves living within a battlefield caught within the crossfire between the beast and a lamb. Some of us will become the embodiment of the beast, while others will clothe themselves in Christ. Those are the only two options, we can embody the rebellion or bear the image of the creator.
Peter tells us to cast off or to put away, rip off and remove the dead skin of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. And to put on instead something different. To become like a newborn infant crying out for milk. We should long for the teaching of God, and clothe ourselves in them, seek the things of Christ as if our very existence depends upon it. And we should do this because we have tasted the things of Christ. We know that his life, and lifestyle is good.
Peter then continues by saying, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
I want us know to consider the idea of living stones. I want us to think of them not so much from our frame of reference but from the mind of the ancient world. The culture of Israel, was similar but different from ours. The things they had available to them were slightly different. We often read scripture and see that Jesus was the son of Mary, and she was married to Joseph the carpenter. We get this translation because of the culture surrounding England when they were translating the first English Bible. The actual term is builder or handyman, in most cases it would have been used as a reference to stonemason instead of carpenter, but more people in England in 1611 were familiar with carpenter instead of stonemason, because to build in stone was a luxury, where stone in Israel at the time of Jesus was common. It was a luxury in first century Israel to have something made of wood, because there was not an abundance of trees in Israel. Stone was a common building material for Peter, and for the people Peter was writing to in Asia Minor. These early Christian knew stone work, they carved cities within the rocks and lived underground to hide from persecution and I assume heat.
They used stones to build their houses and communities. They also used stones to build walls for defense. The temple of God was also constructed out of cut stone. I mentioned that Joseph was likely a stonemason. Tradition says that he worked on the temple during Herod’s expansion project. I do not know if this is accurate, but it is interesting.
Peter says that we are to put away the things of this world, and to long for the nourishment that comes from Christ. He then calls Jesus a living stone. Each of those concepts of stone: the home, the community, the protection, and the worship, are wrapped up in this one idea. Jesus became, he embodied, or he became the living incarnation of all these things. In Jesus we find rest. In Jesus we find safety from danger. In Jesus we find access to God. He is the living stone, but he is rejected by men.
I began with putting on God’s lifestyle, and how Moses described it. How it marks us through our words and actions and how everything revolves around God. I then showed how the mark of beast is not something to be feared necessarily, but it is a life and lifestyle lived contrary to lifestyle of God. We are either marked with God, or with the beast of this world. The worldly systems look at the things of God and they reject it. They look at the teachings of Christ and they say that it is weakness.
Scripture tells us that true religion protects the widows and the orphans. These were the words written by James the brother of Jesus. True religion, true faith protects widows and orphans, this is coming from a man that had once told the crowd that his brother was out of his mind. Yet once he tasted that the lord is good, something changed within him. He became known as James the Just. He became the most well respected leader within the church in Jerusalem, and he gave his life for his faith. He once rejected Jesus, called him a mad man, and then he went to the grave proclaiming the gospel of Jesus.
Widows and orphans are what James focused on, but there is another group of people that is spoken of often within the pages of scripture, the foreigner. Scripture speaks of these groups because these are the groups that are often excluded in worldly kingdoms. In ancient cultures the family was extremely important. We think it is important today, but in the ancient world the family was not only a place to live and raise children. It was your community, your career, it was your hospital, and your social safety net. Everything needed to survive was to be found within your family. What happens when that breaks down?
When the husband died, the widow was left with nothing. She could not just go out to start a career because that was not an option available to her. All the property would legally be transferred to the husband’s heir. In a perfect world this would be the eldest son, and that son would keep the family intact and care for his mother. But there were rare occasions where the widow did not yet have children, and everything her husband had was transferred to his brother or the next nearest living male relative . Once that brother had possession of the property he could do whatever he thought was right. And the care of his brother’s wife may not be high on his list of priorities. Often women in this situation lived on the charity of others, or they would submit to exploitation in every form just to survive.
Orphans are similar. In Jewish law a child would be someone under the age of thirteen. Once they became a teenager, they would begin to work as an adult and were no longer under the direct care of the parents. This does not mean you no longer have to listen to your parents, because in that culture honoring your father and mother was required until your parents died. You were an adult meaning, if you were a daughter you could be given in marriage at that age, and if you were a son you were required to join you father in the family business. You were no longer a child but an active participant in the survival of your community. But if your father died before you came to that age, you did not have rights because you were not yet an adult. If your father had property that land would be given to your uncle to manage until you came of age to inherit the property. You and everything your family had owned went to a relative to manage.
This system usually worked out, but there is a vulnerability. What if you father did not have enough property to raise your uncle’s children and you? You became a source of financial difficulty and you could be sent away to satisfy a debt. To become a widow or an orphan means that you exist at the grace of those around you. You are vulnerable. You are not necessarily an asset, but you are a liability. The foreigner is also vulnerable.
Boarders in the ancient world were not exactly as they are today. Yes there were laws about where plots of land were, but in reference to nations there were no boarders. Instead there was influence, and most of that influence resided in the extent you could exhibit force. The Roman Empire stretched from Britain to Spain, down into Northern Africa, and across into the Middle East today. They might say they reached beyond that, but even Israel was questionably ruled because they did not have a firm hand of control, which is why they often treated the people so violently. For a foreigner to come into the land it could mean one of to things. The first is an army was approaching. And the second there was a famine and this person had lost everything. People usually do not move unless they have to. If you were able to provide for your family doing what you loved to do there would be no need to leave home. The only reason to leave home is if you cannot do that. Your homeland is either unsafe or lacks the opportunity. The foreigner within your land does not have property, they do not have status, they do not have a family to fall back on. Their continued existence requires mercy and grace.
If you were to read through scripture you will see these three groups mentioned often. And I know I am sounding political right now, but it is important. God judges the nations and the people of nations based on justice. Justice is often determined by how we treat the widows, orphans, and the foreigners within a nation. You see this written in the teachings of the prophets over and over again. The kingdoms of humanity often turn away from these because there is no profit only extra expense.
But Jesus is a living stone. He once taught, “come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” He once commanded his disciples not to exclude the children but to let them approach because any that receives a child receives the kingdom of God. Jesus became the community, the protective wall and the place of divine acceptance for the weary, he became the place of refuge.
Peter goes on and says, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” And he goes on by quoting the words of the prophet by saying “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Jesus began the work. That is the meaning of the cornerstone. It is from that one stone that the entire structure’s foundation is set. Jesus is the living cornerstone, and we are the living stones that align with him to build the church. We together with Christ, become the place of rest for those that have had a hard day. We together with Christ, become the wall of protection surrounding those that are vulnerable. We are the living stones laying along side Christ to build up the place of worship and together we become the church.
I want us to think about what it means to be a living stone. We are to be common places of comfort. We are to be the strong fortress for those that are threatened. We are to be a lighthouse attracting and warning those out in the darkness of the danger that surrounds them.
Do we protect the widows, the orphans, the foreigner? Are we stones or are we like those in Jesus’s day rejecting the precious stone that is Christ. Do we reject his direction, his teaching and his grace?
The world stumbles because they reject the teachings of God. They were born into a world of rebellion. Their words, their actions, everything about their lives are focused on that. They are marked. They live in fear and are easily swayed because their foundation is not built on the standard of whose image they were created. They broke that stone and everything built upon their ways will eventually come crashing down.
But we, we have been marked, we have been sealed, we have been formed to a different life. We might face rejection and ridicule, but we are living stones, built upon the rock of Jesus Christ the son of the living God. We are members of his living temple and church that the very gates of hell cannot overpower.
We stand at a crossroad, and we must choose a path forward. What will we be? And whose name will be etched into our lives? Will we put away all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander and be living stones? Or will we remain marked by the beast?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
April 26, 2026
Click here to join our Meeting for Worship
Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61)
Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and endeavor to train them for upright and useful lives?
Are you thoughtful and careful to supervise their social activities and to guard them against harmful reading and associates?
Do you encourage them to read and study the Scriptures?
Do you prayerfully seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your efforts for their conversion and growth in grace?
Ephesians 6:4 (ESV)
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
1 Peter 2:19–25 (ESV)
19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
What does it mean to follow Christ? What is a true Christian?
These are questions that have been asked for probably the past two thousand years. Questions that we have all asked, and probably been unable to answer adequately in our minds. We have these ideas in our mind of who is good, what it means to be born again. But as time goes on we find that some of the people we once aspired to be like had skeletons in their closets. CS Lewis for example. Today we would not think much of it but when he married his wife it was a scandal. At that time it was unacceptable for a divorced individual to remarry in the church. He married Joy anyway. He married Joy even though she had cancer. He married her because it was the right thing, and at times the right thing is hard. Sometimes it carries pain. The world and even our closest friends do not understand. And even worse the people we respect may not have guidance. He married Joy.
He loved her, and it brought great pain to his life. I cannot tell you why he did it. He did not have to do it. His life would have been easier had he not married her, yet what everyone else thought was logical did not convince him. He loved her and her children.
Lewis’s marriage was a scandal, but he also accepted evolution as a manner of explaining creation. In the time of history and in his location that train of thought was widely accepted. Even among evangelicals that was accepted. It was only after the second world war that fundamentalist ideas began to take prominence, along with dispensational theology. Now there are groups that forbid children from reading the works of CS Lewis because they claim he promotes magic and erroneous creation theologies. Can you imagine a childhood without Narnia?
I bring this up because what people find scandalous in faith often changes. We like to say our stances have never changed, but this is not fully accurate. We as people of faith have changed over time. We have recognized areas where our testimonies of faith did not coincide with our understanding of scripture. Our understanding of history has deepened. We gained greater knowledge of the grammar of ancient languages. And most of all, we have found manuscripts that confirm or provide broader insight into how we translate the words. This causes some to question faith, but for me it is exciting. With everything we have found, with all the textual criticism, or research, we have found that, by in large, the text used to translate scripture has been faithfully transmitted through history with very few errors.
Most of the differences that have been found are nonuniform spelling. There are some other errors that are attributed to scribal clarifications primarily in the Latin sources. As we do this work we become more aware of how various passages connect with others. We find how they connect with writing inside and outside the church. It gives us more context and when we have more context we can then look at the passage with greater clarity.
We have learned more, and this can cause scandal. When I use the word criticism, I am sure most of us cringed just a bit. That word is the proper thing to use, but usually when we use that word it is negative. We criticize someone’s clothing. We criticize the pastor’s sermon. We speak criticism in reference to someone’s cooking when it is not like our mother’s. We criticize. We speak negatively. This is not the fullness of criticism. When we speak of textual criticism regarding scripture, it basically means we are looking at the text and considering all the sources we have, and we are attempting to determine with scholarship if it is part of the original text or if it was potentially added. They do this by considering if the handwriting, the word usage, the context fit with the rest of the text around it. And if it does not seem to fit, some translations move that portion into a footnote, or add some sort of editorial notation explaining that this might not be original.
I have gone completely into nerd mode, but I do this for a reason. It makes us uneasy. We do not like the feeling we get when our faith is challenged. We are more comfortable with our faith when it is unquestioned and dictated to us. Faith is not supposed to be dictated, it is supposed to be experienced, lived in, and explored.
Living faith is difficult. CS Lewis wrote about it in many ways. He spoke about injustice in his children’s books in a manner that most kids can understand, “The White Witch cast a spell which caused it to always be winter but never Christmas.” Children can understand that. They understand the pain in their fingers when they get too cold and warm back up. They understand the need for heavy coats and blankets just to be able to function. They understand all of that, but when you say never Christmas, that is unfair. Christmas is what makes winter bearable.
Peter tells us, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.”
I will not be one of those teachers that tell you that if you come to faith your life will get easier. Life is never easy. We will have pain and sorrow, we will have to deal with thorns and weeds, we will have to endure the antics of governments lording over the governed. This was promised in Genesis. Coming to faith does not change this completely because we still live in a world with people of different understandings and different faiths.
Those that do not understand us often speak out against us. I mentioned last week how I have been accused of things simply because I hold to a traditional testimony of Friends in regard to peace. I will be honest with you, there was a time where I was not so traditional. I thought I was a maverick when I boldly said in worship one Sunday evening that I supported the invasion of Iraq, and I justified it in my mind because we were going to protect the Kurdish people. I have regretted that statement. We did not protect the Kurdish people, they are just as oppressed today as they were twenty years ago. And this caused me to reexamine why I believe things, and why Friends have their stances. I do not hate those that have a different opinion, I love many who have served. But I believe that we should do all that we can to prevent the use of violent means.
These misunderstandings have caused me a great deal of stress of late. I have suffered. I have been told to keep my mouth shut. I have been called things from a liberal communist to a mindless sheep. Why, because I have tried to explore, and live within faith.
Peter wrote this letter to Christians that most likely lived in Asia Minor. He likely wrote it just prior to his death while he was in Rome. This was early in church history, those that followed Jesus were often persecuted. They were beaten and imprisoned because they did not make sacrifices to the Roman gods. They were rejected from commerce because they did not carry a form of identification that indicated that they offered sacrifices to the emperor’s temple. People made a sport of violence against the followers of Jesus. And tradition tells us that Peter was the first Pope, the first bishop over the entire Church within the Roman empire.
He is telling that the suffering is good. And we look at these words and we think Peter has lost his mind.
He says that it is good because, “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed not sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”
I want us to think about this for a moment. None of us like suffering. We tend to avoid it at all costs. But there are times where we do need to endure. Peter encourages the churches, not to focus on their suffering, but to turn their attention to Jesus. How did Jesus respond to the world around him?
In the sixteen years that I have served as your pastor, I have mentioned often the lifestyle or the rhythm of Jesus’s life. He made it his custom to worship with the community at the synagogue. He withdrew often to isolated places to pray, and he ministered to the people through teaching and activities. I have expressed that this rhythm can be seen in our own mission statement: Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the love of Christ with others. We love God through worship. We embrace the Holy Spirit through prayer, and we live the love of Christ when we use the gifts and resources we have available to us to encourage and help those around us. This is the same thing that Peter is telling the first century church to do. This is the same thing that Paul tells the churches to do when he encourages us to discard the old life and put on the new. We are to clothe ourselves in the very life and lifestyle of Jesus.
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When we think of sin, most of us think of the breaking of a rule, or one of the ten commandments. I want us to broaden our understanding a bit on this. If sin was only the breaking of the ten commandments, then the gospels tell us that Jesus sinned a great deal. How can I say this? In his culture they were very strict on keeping the commandments, and Jesus was pretty liberal when it came to Sabbath keeping. We justify this in our minds, we say well the religious leaders of his time were just being to legalistic in their interpretations, where Jesus was focused on the heart of the law instead of the letter of the law. I want us to reflect of that for a moment, we are not wrong in saying that.
The commands were not merely rules. They were conversations or concepts to be explored. And Jesus gave us the framework or guide to use while exploring the commandments. When he was asked what the greatest commandment was he said it was to love God with everything we are and all that we have, and that the second is like the first to love our neighbor as ourselves.
This is profound if we think about it. But there was another instance where Jesus even challenges this. The gospels tell us that Jesus became angry when he entered the temple and saw the tables of the money changers, and the pens of animals being sold for sacrifice. He became angry and he made a whip the hair of a beast, and he began shouting, “that God’s house is to be a place of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.” How is Jesus loving his neighbor as himself in that instance?
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. Sin is missing the mark. It is an action that is done that falls short of what of the goal. The goal is to love God with all we are and have, and we do this by loving those around us as we would love ourselves. We show our love for God in how we interact with those around us. This is why Jesus says that the first and second commands are the same. We cannot love God without loving our neighbor, and we cannot truly love our neighbor without loving God.
What this boils down to is one thing. Living justly. When we speak are we speaking truth, with grace and mercy to encourage those around us to a better place? Or are we twisting our words so that we can convince them to do things for our own benefit? That is deceit. That is sin. When people spread untruths or gossip about us are we striking back at them with the same venom or are we responding with truth filled with grace and mercy? When people commit acts that cause us harm, are we responding with the same threats of harm or are do we instead encourage them with grace and mercy?
I want us to really consider the words that Peter is speaking and apply them to our lives, apply them to our actions. Apply them to the activities we encourage our government to enact. Are we following Christ or are we following the world? Are we entrusting ourselves to him who judges justly or are we entrusting ourselves to the powers and principalities of this world?
We suffer in life. It is just part of human existence. We suffer because of things we have done, and we suffer because of things others have done to us. When we endure suffering because of actions we do for the good of others, it is a gracious thing in the sight of God. I have often wondered about that statement. But as I have matured in my faith I have gained understanding. The commandments of God, are not mere rules, but conversations. And one of my favorite podcasts have been doing a series on this the past couple of weeks. Why does God command us not to make idols and worship them? Why should we refrain from making images and setting them within a temple? It is because God created the image for us. We are the image of God, we were fashioned out of the dust of the earth and placed within the garden. The garden is the place where God dwells, it is the temple or sanctuary. When we love our neighbor as ourselves we are offering gifts of praise and worship to the one that created us.
When we suffer for doing good, we engaged in the Lambs war. We are participating in the expansion of the kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. When we suffer for doing good we are following in the footsteps of Christ. But we need to be humble. We need to be careful, we need to examine ourselves and encourage those under our care. Are we providing suitable educations and activities for those under our care and are we making every effort to train them for upright and useful lives? Are we exploring life with those around us so that they are able to live the love of Christ with others?Are we thoughtful and careful to supervise our activities and our media consumption, and do the groups we participate in promote the lifestyle of Christ? Do we prayerfully seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we can be conduits of God’s mercy so that they took can know God and entrust their lives to him?
As we enter into this time of open worship and communion in the manner of Friends. I encourage you all to sit with these queries. Consider the suffering around us. Where is it coming from and how are we responding? And let us seek out our Shepherd and Overseer so that our wounds can be healed by the hands that were wounded for us. And let our lives be renewed just as he was raised.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church February 22, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:12–19 (ESV) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all…
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