Pastors Message on June 7, 2015

June 7, 2015

 

If Love is Who I Am

Then This is Where I’ll Stand

(1 Peter 3:8-12)

 

Turn to 1 Peter 3 in your Bible.  Two weeks ago we started in chapter 3 and looked at the first 7 verses which talked about wives and husbands.  The subtitled of this section in the NASB is “Godly Living.”  Peter is writing this letter to Christians who were being persecuted for their faith, suffering for their faith, dying for their faith!  Don’t we see this still happening in our world right now in the year 2015?  With all the persecution, suffering, and dying – Peter says:

 

1 Peter 3:8-12 (NASB)

(8) To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; (9) not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. (10) For,

“The one who desires life, to love and see good days,
Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
(11) “He must turn away from evil and do good;
He must seek peace and pursue it.
(12) “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,
And His ears attend to their prayer,
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

 

The Declaration of Independence contains the well-known phrase “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” which its author Thomas Jefferson listed as among the “unalienable rights” God gave to people.

 

For most in today’s postmodern society, pursuit of that Jeffersonian ideal means primarily chasing after objects of self-gratification such as money, houses, cars, vacations, fine clothes, gourmet food, the best seats at sporting and entertainment events, and health and fitness.

 

While there is nothing wrong with having these things – the problems comes when these thing become more important than your relationship with God.  Many times I have seen many people who have obtained many of these things thinking that they will fill the void in their heart.  And all of a sudden they don’t have time for God and have no hunger or passion to seek Him, and to live out His plan because they are focusing on the stuff and not Him.

 

So I am here to tell you – “Don’t feel guilty about having stuff, feel guilty about how much that stuff means to you, or feel guilty about how much you give from the abundance God has blessed you with…”

Didn’t Jesus tell us?

Luke 9:23-25 (NASB)

(23) And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to (*1) come after Me, (*2) he must deny himself, and (*3) take up his cross daily and follow Me.

(24) For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. (25) For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?

 

The sad reality is that such things (stuff) are merely a temporary fulfillment that will eventually fall far short of the genuine good life that really satisfies our heart.

 

As believers we should love the life God has granted us and enjoy its goodness day by day.

 

I heard this song a couple of weeks ago and you have probably heard it.  It’s by a group called Sidewalk Prophets and it’s called” I Wanna Live Like That”.  For the next several weeks I am taking the lyrics from that song and entitling each message as we continue through 1 Peter.

 

The song starts out by saying:

Sometimes I think
What will people say of me
When I'm only just a memory
When I'm home where my soul belongs

 

Was I love
When no one else would show up
Was I Jesus to the least of us
Was my worship more than just a song

 

One of the lines in the chorus which became the title for today’s message is

If Love is Who I Am

Then this is Where I’ll Stand

 

In these five verses 1 Peter 3:8-12, Peter gives us four basic insights for living and loving the good life, even when we go through trials and tribulations in our lives.  Four basic insights for us as believers - to take our stand as followers of Jesus Christ.

 

1.) Having the Right Attitude

1 Peter 3:8 (NASB)

To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;

 

Everything begins with the right attitude. You see in verse 8 that there are spiritual virtues that constitute this God-honoring perspective.

Ø  Believers are to be harmonious - which means believers are to live in harmony together, maintaining a common commitment to the truth that produces an inward unity of heart with one another

 

We should not be in conflict with each other, even if we come under severe persecution.  Paul told the believers at the church at Philppi…

Philippians 1:27-28 (NASB)

(27) Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; (28) in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.

 

Ø  Sympathetic, is the second factor listed in 1 Peter 3:8, which means “sharing the same feeling.” Christians are to be united on the truth, but also ready to sympathize with the pain of others, even of those they do not know.

 

Ø  Next, Peter used the term brotherly. This refers to affection among people who are closely related in some way. Those who demonstrate that affection will do so by unselfish service for one another.

 

Ø  Next, Peter mentions Kindhearted which is much like being sympathetic.  This expression calls for us to be so affected by the pain of others as to feel it deeply. (News…) This follows the kind of tenderhearted compassion God, through His Son, has for sinners

 

^Ø   The final factor in Peter’s list for enjoying the goodness of the Christian life is being humble in spirit.  Humility is arguably the most essential, all-encompassing virtue of the Christian life

 

(Everyone read this) The joys of our lives in Christ are maximized when we as believers are united in truth and life with one another, peaceful in disposition, gracious toward those who need the gospel, sensitive to the pains of fallen sinners, sacrificial in loving service to all, compassionate instead of harsh, and above all humble like our Savior. (See those key words?)

 

Now the 2nd basic insight for us to take our stand as believers is…

 

2.) Having the Right Response

1 Peter 3:9 (NASB)

not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. 

A godly approach to life incorporates not only the right action motivated by the right attitude, but the proper reaction when mistreated.

 

Romans 12:19-21 (NASB)

(19) Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. (20) “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” (21) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

When mistreated by someone with a wicked disposition - we as believers should not retaliate.

 

Rather than retaliating when treated in a hostile way, verse 9 tells us that believers are to respond by giving a blessing instead.

 

Ö      Believers can bless people by loving them unconditionally

^Ö                They can give a blessing by praying for the salvation of an unbeliever or the sanctification of a fellow believer.

 

^Ö                Believers can bless people by expressing gratitude for them

^Ö                And the most crucial thing believers can do to bless people is to forgive those who persecute them

 

Peter’s point here is that as believers we have received the divine, unmerited, and eternal blessing of complete forgiveness of an unpayable debt to a holy God and heavenly life forever with Him

The 3rd insight for us as believers to stand up is…

3.) Having the Right Standard

1 Peter 3:10-11 (NASB)

(10) For,

“The one who desires life, to love and see good days,
Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
(11) “He must turn away from evil and do good;
He must seek peace and pursue it.

A Young boy one day went to a monk and said, “I have slandered my neighbor. What can I do?”

 

The monk said, “take a feather and put it on every step in the neighborhood.”

 

And so the boy put out a couple of hundred feathers.  He went back to the monk and said, “Ok.  Now what?”

 

“Now go pick them up”  But when the boy went to pick them up, most of them had been blown away by the wind, to which the monk said, “Once you gossip, it’s nearly impossible to stop it.

  

The tongue is often unruly and prone to sin.

 

James 3:6 (NASB)

And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

 

In addition to refraining from verbal retaliation, as believers we must stop our lips from speaking deceit. We must be absolutely committed to the truth and opposed to all lying, deception, and hypocrisy. 

(You know a lot like we see the media doing everyday)

 

These matters of speech are controlled, not at the mouth, but on the inside.  Jesus told us

 

Matthew 12:34 (NASB)

You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.

 

Verse 11 of 1 Peter 3 is drawn from Psalm 34:14, which contains some straightforward imperative commands.

 

Ö      First, believers are to turn away from evil

Ö      Second, Peter commanded his readers to do good, what is excellent in quality, what expresses deep-down virtue. That contrasts sharply with the contemporary notion of the good life as “doing one’s own thing,” whatever feels good at the expense of obeying God’s will

Ö      The third and fourth imperatives appear together in the command for believers to seek peace and pursue it.

 

Christians are to seek peace and hunt for it aggressively, even peace with their persecutors and others who do not know Christ.

 

We are to be known in the world as peacemakers, those who strive for harmony with others as much as possible without compromising the truth.

The 4th and last insight I want to share with you today is…

4.) Having the Right Incentive

1 Peter 3:12 (NASB)

“For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,
And His ears attend to their prayer,
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

 

Peter’s quote here of Psalm 34:15–16 vividly fixes the reality that ought to motivate us as believers to live our lives with pleasing God. 

“The eyes of the Lord” is a common Old Testament phrase that relates to God’s special, caring watchfulness over His people.

 

God is looking toward the righteous so that He can attend to their prayer.

 

God is always fully aware of everything in the lives of His children.

 

This ought to be a great incentive for us to live as Peter has outlined, knowing that we can have confidence that the Lord is always watching and waiting, ready to hear and answer our prayers. (please fill out your prayer requests on the green sheet in your listening guide – 7:30am…)

 

Like the title of the message says: If Love is Who I Am - Then This is Where I’ll Stand

 

On the other hand, the “face of the Lord is against those who do evil.  I am worried that many pastors or other believers are afraid to say this because they don’t want to offend anyone.

 

In contrast to the “eyes of the Lord”, which refers to watchfulness, the Old Testament concept “face of the Lord” refers to judgment

 

His eyes represent His all-seeing omniscience, whereas His face in this context represents the manifestation of His anger and displeasure.

God’s wrath is against those who do evil and those who disobey His Word.

 

Revelation 6:16 (NASB)

and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;

 

Christians, whether today or in Peter’s time, have always had to contend with a hostile world.

 

But (Let’s read this statement together) we can live humbly, respond to persecution in a Christlike manner, and adhere to God’s standard of authority because we have the promise that even in the midst of trying circumstances God is watching over us, protecting us, and ready to extend His blessings.

 

So to review this morning - in 1 Peter 3:8-12, Peter gives us four basic insights for us as believers - to take our stand as followers of Jesus Christ:

1.) Having the Right Attitude  2.) Having the Right Response

 

3.) Having the Right Standard 4.) Having the Right Incentive

And - If Love is Who I Am - Then This is Where I’ll Stand