“The Answer is Always Jesus”
(1 Peter 3:13-21)
Series: What Difference Does It Make?
by Pastor Nate Walther
Fifth Sunday of Easter (Confirmation), 05/03/2026
“13 Who will harm you if you are eager to dowhat is good? 14 But even if you should happen to suffer because of righteousness, you are blessed. Do not be afraid of what they fear, and do not be troubled. 15 But regard the Lord, the Christ, as holy in your hearts. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you. 16 But speak with gentleness and respect, while maintaining a clear conscience, so that those who attack your good way of life in Christ may be put to shame because they slandered you as evildoers. 17 Indeed, it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, 18 because Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in flesh but was made alive in spirit, 19 in which he also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison. 20 These spirits disobeyed long ago, when God’s patience was waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In this ark a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. 21 And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body but the guarantee of a good conscience before God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
It’s the basic Sunday School answer. Every child knows it. THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS JESUS… As you get older, you realize there’s a bit more to it than that. Otherwise there wouldn’t be any need for confirmation classes, nor would we need Bibles as thick as they are, and the catechism could just be a single page long! Except, today as we think about what we confess as Christians, and as this week causes us to consider what adult membership in a church is all about – as we look to the past to our baptisms, and as we look to the future to what that has in store for us – we see that everything in a Christian’s life – as varied and as confusing and as rich as it may be at times – it does all boil down to Jesus in the end.
That’s especially evident in our sermon text today from 1 Peter 3. As we go back to our sermon text, there are lots of deep topics worthy of a confirmation Sunday. There are the basic topics in the first few verses: There’s justification – that hope we have as Christians that we are righteous before God. There’s sanctification too –this talk of living our life differently and doing good because we are Christians. There are more in-depth topics too: When Peter talks about Jesus being “put to death in the flesh” but “made alive in the spirit” in verse 18 – it is in reference to Jesus two states of humiliation and exaltation: his state of humiliation where he didn’t make full and frequent use of his divine powers in coming to earth, hence resulting in his death; but then his state of exaltation where he resumed full and frequent of his divine abilities, starting with the resurrection. There’s also reference to Jesus’ descent into hell, which we confess every time we speak the Apostles Creed. When Peter says in verse 19, “(Jesus) also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison”, this was language they used back then when a conquering general would march through a captured territory & announce victory over them – so also, this brings to mind quite a picture of Jesus marching down the streets of hell, alive & victorious even after his death! Additionally in all these verses, there’s an emphasis on following the Word, which tells us these things. In verses 20-21 there’s also emphasis on Baptism, which helps secure these gifts. After all, when Peter talks about the “guarantee of a good conscience before God”,it reflects the fact that they understood back in those days that you couldn’t just come before a king whenever you pleased. Rather, this was language they used to describe when a king sanctioned someone and granted them the right to come into his presence. So also, God says that we are able to come into his presence through washing waters of baptism.
And yet, despite everything that is discussed in these verses, did you notice a common thread? It’s ALL. ABOUT. JESUS. Peter says that again and again. Verse 21: Baptism saves us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Verse 18: Christ suffered for sin to bring us to God. Verse 16: Our good way of life is always found in Christ. Verse 15: The Lord, the Christ is the reason for the hope that we have… In other words? The answer is always Jesus!
We forget that. Too quickly for you confirmands – too quickly for the rest of us who were long ago confirmed – confirmation becomes a graduation where we think, “Now I can move on.” Statistically that’s a strong temptation for all young confirmands. Whether it’s that they think, “I’m set, I’m saved; I know this stuff, I don’t need to keep coming!” – or it’s that life gets busy with school and coursework, sports and extracurriculars, jobs and starting a career – many young confirmands will stop coming to church. But that’s not good. Every pastor has stories of people who have been out of church for just a couple of years (that’s all it takes), and when he reconnects with them and asks them about their faith and whether they still feel like they’re on the right path – the path to heaven! – they will almost always respond, “Oh thanks Pastor, but I think so, I try to be a good person.” That’s what happens even after we spend so much time in confirmation class studying the Bible’s teachings that we cannot be good enough people for the Lord God Almighty. It happens because our sinful nature is hard at work, and Satan is working furiously to snatch salvation away from us. It can happen to you too!… By the way, that “graduation mindset” is not just a temptation for our young confirmands. It’s a temptation for us old confirmands too – yes, even if you have been going to church for decades! Still, do we see the importance of being in Bible Study every week? Do we see the need of being in Scripture & in devotion every day? Or have we settled for the basic truth, “Jesus loves me this I know, and this is all I ever want to know”? That’s not the kind of strong faith Peter describes here. Then, is it any wonder that we can grow so loveless as we follow our loving Savior? Sure, we may still hold to the teachings – maybe we even are in church and Bible Study regularly, we may be adamant about the Lutheran beliefs we confess! – yet do these teachings become a club to use that we wield against others, and then we lose Christ at the heart it of?
It’s why the answer must always be Jesus. That’s because of the answer he uniquely gives to every situation: Jesus became weak like us to deliver us from such weaknesses. Jesus went to the cross to earn such a complete & total victory over the dominating forces of sin & Satan that he was able to go down to hell itself – body & soul alive reunited as a sure sign of victory over eternal death – then march down that street and declare, “I OWN THIS PLACE!” as a conquering general… Then he connected us to this new life in baptism. He washed you of your sin through the working of the Holy Spirit, and he gave you that pledge of a good conscience so that you could come before God the Father, fully sanctioned as he extended his divine scepter to you. That’s the hope Jesus gives us. That’s what we confess. That’s the life we now live.
And that’s why we keep going to church. In fact, it’s why we’re never done with catechism – that is, with studying God’s Word. Because this isn’t a graduation. How can we ever be graduated as long as we’re still in a struggle with sin and death? That’s what heaven is for, we’re not there yet, let’s not pretend like we are! No, this is confirmation – being confirmed in something – which is all about remaining in the Christian faith. So stay in Jesus and remain in his teachings. Confess it and live it, even when others speak against it or it isn’t easy. As we do so we’re in really good company: the company of our Savior who confessed it and lived it perfectly, even when we didn’t. Again, it’s all about Jesus even when we think it’s not. In fact, it’s all about Jesus especially when we think it’s not. Because that’s when we need him the most. And that never stops being true. Amen.
