1 Peter 3:8-12
First Christian Church, Owensville, IN
June 7, 2020
Bart W. Newton, Preaching Minister
Below is only a skeleton outline of main points, Scriptures and quotations of the message presented via Facebook Live on June 7, 2020.
(Abbreviations for Bible translations that may be quoted: ESV = English Standard Version; NLT = New Living Translation; CSB = Christian Standard Bible; GW = God’s Word; Amplified Bible = AMP; KJV = King James Version; New King James Version = NKJV; The Message = MSG; KNT = Kingdom New Testament)
• Through the Word of God the Son, God the Father created all things.
• When God created human beings, He created us in His image.
• We sinned, we rebelled, against God, separating us from His intimate presence and casting us out of His family.
• But according to God’s plan that was already made, through Christ, He made a way for us—His image bearers, to be brought back into His family through faith in Jesus.
• Jesus Christ, fully divine and fully human, God-Man, bore the sins of God’s image bearers in His body on the cross that we might be dead to sin and able to live right lives before God. Through Christ’s unjustly received wounds, we were healed of our self-inflicted wounds of sin.
• Through faith in/allegiance to Jesus, not only are we forgiven of our sins, but our relationship with God is restored. We’re adopted into His family and His Holy Spirit is given to us to live in us, to be God’s immediate presence to guide, comfort, correct us and to identify us as His children.
• Jesus died for all mankind regardless of the color of our skin for all mankind bears His image and all mankind sinned against Him.
• Not only that, but all mankind rebels against all mankind because of selfishness, including racial, ethnic and socio-economic differences
• Over the past week and a half, we have once again been reminded of the necessity of the Incarnation—the taking on of human flesh—of the eternal Word, Jesus.
• Only a genuine, transforming relationship with Jesus is the solution to our racist tendencies, regardless of the color of our skin.
• Only through the Spirit of Christ and humble obedience to His Word can we be transformed into His likeness.
• George Floyd died needlessly and unjustly. Lives were disrupted, hearts were broken, pain was inflicted, families wounded.
• At the same time that legitimate, peaceful protests began, opportunists of various colors inflicted more pain and needless destruction onto the Floyd family, as well as to thousands upon thousands of innocent others.
• How does our local white church respond, particularly in regards to our brothers and sisters in Christ who are black and who are our equals before God?
• Galatians 3:26-28: 26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. (And we can legitimately say black and or white or Latino or Asian). For you are all one in Christ Jesus. (NLT)
• Well for one, Paul tells us in Romans 12:15b: …weep with those who weep. (CSB)
• Jesus tells us in Luke 6:31: Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them. (CSB)
• James, the ½ brother of Jesus, commands us in James 1:19-20: 19 My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, 20 for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. (CSB)
• In our study of 1 Peter, the apostle Peter has reminded us that everything God calls us to do throughout this letter flows out of the hope of our eternal salvation (1:3-13) and our identity as God’s children (2:4-10).
• Our identity includes being a royal, holy priesthood, a holy nation, a chosen race (regardless of the color of our skin).
• And today’s passage provides us eternal truth applicable to this country’s current events.
1 Peter 3:8-12: 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (ESV)
Prayer
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
What Peter writes is for every Christian—“Finally, all of you.” No exceptions!... have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
• “If as a whole [Christians] behave positively and beautifully towards each other, Christianity will be more attractive to the outsiders…Each of the members of a congregation are part of a team, and it hurts when one or more of the church members is not consistent in his witness, for if one of the team lets down, the whole team suffers.” --Gareth Reese, 1 & 2 Peter & Jude, p. 74
• Remember, whatever the individual Christian chooses to do at any given time is what the church is choosing to do at any given time for each of us are living stones that make up the spiritual temple of God in the world!
• If you or I choose to do good, the church is doing good. If you or I choose to do bad, the church is doing bad.
• What Peter instructs is directed primarily with relations between fellow Christians, but can mostly apply with non-believers as well. The instructions have to do with how we relate to one another.
• So Peter says to…
…have unity of mind,… (harmonious, like-minded)
…sympathy, …
• “sympathetic” carries with it the idea of getting involved in the other person’s life as opposed to being aloof and indifferent. It speaks of entering into each other’s feelings and showing regard and concern for each other’s welfare.” –Gareth Reese, p. 74
… brotherly love,…
• My education hero is Booker T. Washington. I’ve read a few biographies of him, including his classic autobiography Up from Slavery, which I encourage everyone to read.
• When I was in graduate school studying adult education, I chose to write a term paper regarding Booker T. Washington’s holistic view of education of adults.
• When I had the privilege of serving of as director of a brand new, public alternative school for middle and high school students who had chronic behavior problems and/or academic failure, the staff and I tried to operate it following Booker T. Washington’s view that education should involve not just one’s head, but the hands and heart as well.
• Washington rightly declared, “Great men cultivate love...only little men cherish a spirit of hatred.”—Booker T. Washington (via azquotes.com)
…a tender heart,… (kindhearted, compassionate)
• You ever notice how often in the Gospel accounts Jesus is described as feeling compassion or being moved with compassion toward sinners so much so that he would spend time teaching them, healing them, feeding them?
• I remember the late Jim Reed, a former elder of FCC, counseling me in my driveway around 19 years ago, saying, “Bart, you need to have a tough skin and a tender heart.”
…and a humble mind.
• “Humble in spirit” = inner attitude of voluntary submissiveness to authority. It’s 180 degrees from haughtiness and high mindedness.
• It’s what Jesus did when He voluntarily submitted to the Father’s will, and laid aside His privileges, took on human flesh, became a servant, and humbled Himself even to the point of death on a cross in order for people to be reunited with God’s intimate presence.
9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling,
• v. 9a, GW: Don’t pay people back with evil for the evil they do to you, or ridicule those who ridicule you.
• Remember 1 Peter 2:23: When [Jesus] was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly?
• v. 9: Andreas (7th Century) writes, “What is humility? It is to bear the insults of others, to accept sins against oneself, to bear punishments. Indeed this is not just humility, but prudence as well.” –Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, Vol. XI, p. 102
…but on the contrary, bless,
• Luke 6:28: Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who insult you. (GW)
• v. 9, to bless: “Bless means to speak well of, to call down God’s blessings on them, and to actively do appropriate deeds to minister to them” –Gareth Reese
…for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
• Instead, bless them, because you were called to inherit a blessing by blessing those who insult you!
• Just as we were called to follow in Jesus’s steps and go through periods of enduring the sorrows of unjust suffering, we are called to inherit the blessing that comes from doing good to those who do evil and insult us!
Remember, it isn’t the conduct of others that is to determine our conduct, but the example of our Lord to whom we belong!
• vv. 10-12 see Psalm 34:12-16:
• At the beginning of our time together, Corey read Psalm 34.
• Psalm 34 has been called “’an ancient recipe for a happy life.’” (Reese)
10 For
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
• 1 Peter 2:15: For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. (ESV)
• 1 Peter 4:19: Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (ESV)
… let him seek peace and pursue it.
• v. 11b, NLT: Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
• “The followers of Christ have been called to peace. . . . And they must not only have peace but make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. In the cause of Christ nothing is to be gained by such methods . . . . His disciples keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They renounce hatred and wrong. In so doing they overcome evil with good, and establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate.”—Dietrich Bonhoeffer via azquotes.com
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
• “The first service one owes to others in a community involves listening to them. Just as our love for God begins with listening to God’s Word, the beginning of love for others is learning to listen to them. God’s love for us is shown by the fact that God not only gives God’s Word but also lends us God’s ear. . . . We do God’s work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them." —Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
• Perhaps the best supervisor I ever had is an African-American man. Though I’ve not seen him for over 20 years, his good example of what it means to be Christian image-bearer of God, still influences me. My experience with him was one in which he demonstrated a character of love, strength, integrity, grace, humility, and Christian faith. He happened to be very intelligent, wise, and discerning. He loved people of every shade, and he particularly loved the underprivileged and did all he could do to help them. One of the chief ways he helped was by first listening with a Christian ear.
• This past week, I spent some time talking with a black brother in Christ whom I also consider a friend. He’s a man I respect highly and whose opinion and insights on society and the church I value.
• He said to me that Christians of all people should know how to enter into the space where people are suffering in order to suffer with them.
• And though American churches have struggled with addressing social challenges, one thing we can do and need to do is to listen to our brothers and sisters who are suffering, including, and especially now, our black brothers and sisters.
• I asked him how could I and the rest of this congregation rightly respond to the events surrounding George Floyd’s unjust treatment and death and all it represents.
• His simple, initial answer was to the effect that if we are truly seeking God’s way to respond, God will provide it.
• You know what, He does. But, we must listen to Him through whatever avenue He speaks!
• And it’s often in simple, everyday acts of kindness that happen when you least expect it.
• Jesus has not given me permission to share with you the details of what happened two days after our discussion, but let me share with you that right here in our small, almost entirely white community, God provided me a way to promote peace and both bless (I hope) and be blessed by (I know) some African Americans through kindness and simple hospitality. God even provided us a little time to be in prayer together though we were strangers to one another.
• The eyes of the Lord are on those trying to do right in His eyes, and his ears are open to our prayers.
…But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (ESV)
• Regarding Peter’s referencing of Psalm 34:12-16, Bede (late 7th, early 8th Centuries) writes that “Peter reminds us…that God keeps an eye on both the good and bad and will reward us in eternity for the kindness which we show when we choose to do good to those who persecute us. Furthermore, he will also punish our persecutors if they do not repent, but if they do repent we shall also receive a crown of thanksgiving, because we have prayed to the Lord for their salvation.” – “On 1 Peter”, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, Vol. XI, p. 102
• Let me read today’s passage again, this time from The Message translation:
vv. 8-12, The Message: Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
Whoever wants to embrace life
and see the day fill up with good,
Here’s what you do:
Say nothing evil or hurtful;
Snub evil and cultivate good;
run after peace for all you’re worth.
God looks on all this with approval,
listening and responding well to what he’s asked;
But he turns his back
on those who do evil things.
In light of the Holy Scripture referenced in this sermon, please write down your answers to these questions using the acronym SPECK:
• Sin to confess?
• Prayer, promise or praise to hold onto?
• Example to follow?
• Command to obey?
• Knowledge to retain?