📖Scripture:
“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps.”
- 1 Peter 2:21
🔎Examination:
Here is the zenith of Peter’s argument: the call to endure unjust suffering is not abstract ethics; it is Christ-shaped discipleship. “For to this you were called” — not to a comfortable, customized, consumer-minded spirituality, but to a cross-shaped (cruciform) life in union with the crucified and risen Savior.
Christ didn't merely suffer before us; He suffered for us. His suffering unto death is primarily substitutionary, not exemplary. He bore the wrath we deserved, carried our sins (expiation) in His body on the tree, and satisfied divine justice (propitiation) in our place. Any call to “follow His example” that does not first respond by faith, submitting in humble obedience at His once-for-all atoning work, is nothing more than the filthy rags and abomination of moralistic striving. The point is not, “Do what Jesus did so God will accept you.” The point is, “Because you are united to the One whose suffering saved you, walk in His footsteps, i.e., the pattern of humble obedience that He set.”
The word “example” carries the picture of a pattern children trace, line by line. Christ’s footsteps form the pattern for the regenerate Church. How did He walk? Not only did He not sin in His full and undeniable humanity, He was incapable of sinning (impeccability) because of His immutable character as fully God. Jesus didn't retaliate when reviled. He didn't threaten when suffering. He could only do what He saw the heavenly Father doing, and entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. That is the pattern or “example” of resurrection union lived out in a hostile world.
The sermon exposed our alternatives. The Judas-imitating church in America that betrays Jesus for the silver of cultural acceptance and comfort. It wants a bedazzled crown of autonomy without the inconvenience of humble surrender; it wants the Holy Spirit's power and influence without faithfulness (Simon the Sorcerer); and it wants to steal the spotlight and applause for self rather than shining it on the Savior. But the true Church — the elect, saints, ambassadors of Christ — understand that being “little Christs” means sharing in His sufferings to truly share in His glory.
This demolishes every counterfeit gospel that promises glory now and a little decorative novelty cross for show. The prosperity gospel, the therapeutic gospel, the progressive gospel, and countless others — all try to remap the pattern so that Christ’s footsteps avoid the valley of death, rejection, reproach, and loss. But the Word is clear: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” We are not called to chase suffering via some manufactured monastic lifestyle, but we are absolutely called to refuse compromising the overt obedience that brings it.
This is not about self-determined pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps human willpower. Flesh can only imitate some externals for a while, but only those truly born of God supernaturally endure with rejoicing. Resurrection union means His life is the engine of our obedience. The same Christ who went first now walks with us by the Holy Spirit, enabling us to say “no” to sin, “yes” to costly obedience, and “amen” to whatever providence the Father appoints for our good and His glory.
To follow His footsteps is to embrace our baptism/identity as those crucified with Christ. It means we stop asking, “How can I conform Christ to my image and desires?” and start asking, “How can I pour my life out to magnify the immeasurable worth of my King?” It means we stop measuring faithfulness by worldly standards of success and start measuring it by conformity to the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
🤺Action:
Examine your call (2 Cor 13:5): Do you view suffering for Christ as a strange accident to be avoided at all costs or as a privilege received when you were born again?
Test your pattern (Jas 1:22–25): Is your life tracing Christ’s footsteps in how you respond to insult, slander, and loss, or is it following the world’s pattern of outrage and self-defense?
Weigh your hopes (1 Thess 5:21): Are you clinging to any “Jesus + comfort, Jesus + popularity, Jesus + safety” expectations that contradict His command to deny self, pick up your cross daily, and follow Me?
Search your heart (Ps 139:23–24; Heb 4:12–13): Ask God to expose where you are avoiding obedience because you fear suffering or man more than you fear the LORD.
🧠Reflection:
You were not called to drift, dabble, or decorate your life with religious activity. You were called to follow His footsteps — the footsteps of the Lamb who was slain and now reigns. That path is narrow, costly, and often misunderstood, but it is also the only path saturated with His presence and guaranteed to end in His glory.
Do not romanticize the cross He gives you, and do not despise it. Receive it as evidence that you belong to Him. As you step into another day in a collapsing culture, remember: the purpose of the Church is not to escape discomfort or curate an image, but to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Let every choice, every sacrifice, every quiet endurance say, “Your footsteps are enough for me, Lord Jesus.” And walk — not in your strength, but in the resurrection power of the One who went ahead and now walks within you.
Blessings & love,
Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor
Click the following link for a short video of today's post:
Click the following link for the corresponding sermon:
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