We can bear witness, too

That pile of stones in the photo is a "witness." Just like we are. We'll get into that in just a minute, so bear with me, OK? (Grin)

Our point today that I want to discuss is that we can bear witness through our suffering for Christ - and that we can count on God to justify, or vindicate us. To stand up for us and prove that He is our protector, and that the faith we show to others is a well-established one....

I think Peter is implying in the last of our focus passage that we can bear witness through baptism and through holy living. This is a new nuance to his message; we've discussed good behavior and thoughtful words before. Now he brings baptism into the picture.
Why?
Many of the believers who would read (or hear someone read) Peter's letter were suffering because they had borne witness to their faith in Christ through baptism. Because of this, it appears that some may have confessed Christ verbally, but were hesitant to be baptized because they had seen what happened to other believers. So, Peter is encouraging, even urging these Christians to make public confession of their faith through baptism.

He uses the flood and the deliverance of Noah and his family as a fairly loose analogy of what is portrayed in baptism -- just as Noah passed through flood waters into salvation from the judgment of God, so believers pass through baptism into salvation from His judgment.
BUT WAIT! you may be saying.....baptism doesn't save us!

You're exactly right, pardner! And Peter clarifies his words by saying it's not the act of baptism that saves, but what baptism signifies - the appeal to God for a good conscience.

and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. (I Peter 3:21a)

Now, the word "appeal" that Peter uses (the NIV uses the word pledge) can point to the moment of salvation, when we cry out to God because we realize the sin in our lives that needs cleansing. Or it can mean the pledge that is sometimes included in a baptismal ceremony, when we promise to live in a manner that pleases God.
Either way, though, baptism is a testimony - an unspoken picture of our faith in Christ's death as our Redeemer. Peter is urging his readers to be baptized, even if it means persecution, so that they can bear witness to all of Christ's saving grace.

Now let's switch gears for a moment, and look at another facet of Peter's reference to Noah. We can, as Noah did, bear witness through holy living.
Think about it.....the Bible indicates that it took many years (maybe about 120 years) to build the ark in obedience to God's words. Don't you know that his neighbors far and wide must have watched and ridiculed the old man building a huge ship in the middle of dry ground? Well, by his godly life, Noah preached righteousness to that entire generation.
But was there a long line of peeps waiting, ticket in hand, to board with him? Nope.
Only eight persons climbed on board - Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. The rest of the world? Gone.
So, Peter's point is clear: his readers were a small minority. They wanted to please God, but they were surrounded by a godless culture. (Hey, does that sound like us today? Yup!)  Peter was reminding them to stand alone for God if they must. To not cave in and conform to the wicked world. And he was reminding them that like Noah, they could bear witness, and they would be delivered while the sinful world would perish.
God vindicated Noah, even though he and his family were vastly outnumbered. God vindicated Christ, even though it looked to everyone like He was defeated on the cross. And even if we were to give our lives as martyrs, the day is coming when we will be vindicated:

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.  (Revelation 6:9)

Let me encourage all of us to search our Bibles for other examples of those who have given testimony to their faith in God, and have been vindicated. There are many!
Abraham.
Moses.
Daniel, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Samuel.

Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. (I Samuel 7:12-13)

What an awesome way to memorialize the help and vindication of our Father God! Anyone who passed by that stone, or sometimes they'd raise a pile of stones, would remember God's help and provision.
Our take-away from these should be that God is sovereign - and Christ's resurrection and ascension confirms to us that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

We don't need to fear what the world can do to us!