Every Christian's High Calling for How to Treat Every Christian
1 Peter 3:8-12
Please turn to 1 Peter 3:8-12. 1 Peter 3:8-12 is our text under study. As you are turning there, I want us to consider that God intends for us to sense a certain interconnectedness in the Spirit when we gather together as a church; like right now. It is the sense that most of us here are experiencing at this moment as the called out and gathered in Christ. All of us who are saved should be experiencing this sense of interconnectedness in the Spirit that I am talking about. It is not the same kind of interconnectedness that those who hold to a membership in a secular political party have. It is not the same kind of interconnectedness, and camaraderie, of clubhouse groups who happen to gather in much the same way that we do, or do projects together; like the Masons, the Shriners, the Rotary Club, the Peace Corps, or similar groups. We have a togetherness in the bond of Christ. In it, we are seeking to have a biblically defined church meeting in true communion. At its core, our fellowship manifests that we are all together in unity as we focus upon our Christianity which means focusing upon Christ and the things of Christ. Knowing all of this, we also recognize that there are special ways that God wants us to treat each other in our interconnectedness as the living organism--as the body of Christ. God wants us to treat each other this way in church meetings such as this; but God wants more out of His people. In other words, our Christian relationship is not relegated to only a few formal meetings in a week, with only a few select people. We are all connected to the expansive church of God in Christ. With this in mind, God wants this treatment to come from us to one another all the time, everywhere we go, and in every situation. The way that God wants us to treat every Christian everywhere is based upon the way Christ treats us. It is the way of Christ in us as our hope of glory. Peter is covering this standard in our text. It is a standard that has immediate application in respect to the social sphere of our Christianity. Please read the section with me starting in verse 8,
"8 To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic; have brotherly affection love, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; 9 not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; because you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit 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.'" 1 Peter 3:8-12
Please prepare your heart to learn, along with me from the preaching of God's word, in this sermon titled,
Every Christian's High Calling for How to Treat Every Christian
[pray]
In the contextual flow of the passage we are learning from, Peter has been thorough in his teaching on how Christians should interact with the lost world culture. Peter has also touched upon relationships with the brothers and sisters in Christ. Peter has covered areas like submission to authorities. He even tied it together when he said,
"17 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." 1 Peter 2:17
Then Peter went through various other relationships that require godly attitudes concerning submission and authority: Slaves with masters. Wives with husbands. Husbands with wives. In all that Peter has been teaching, he has made it clear that we act in certain ways as Christians. It is clear that we do so for the Lord's sake according to the way of the Lord. This keeps our relationship actions with others in the arena of our relationship with our God. The result is that we are a living testimony of God's work in us. You are a living testimony of God's work in you. Part of this work in us is that we are serving our Lord in obedience to Him when it comes to how we treat others. Peter explains that these are things that come from being set apart by the Spirit to be regenerated to a living hope. It is part of being made into a set apart nation, and a royal priesthood of Christ. Then, when Peter gets here to 3:8, he says,
"8 To sum up, ..."
What this means is that Peter is punctuating all that he just said with some finalizing teachings that bring it all together in a tight little package. His summary comments are pregnant with wonderful teachings for living out the life of the Spirit that is in our hearts. With this summation in mind, I want us to glean some important principles from God's word concerning every Christian's high calling for how to treat every Christian. As we look at the fruits of the Spirit that God is urging us to bring out of our hearts as the harvest that the rest of God's people partake in, we notice that there are seven Christian character manifestations that we are commanded to operate in on a consistent basis.
/1/
This is the first principle I want us to explore out of three principles: The Spirit gives us 7 manifestations of Christ in us in our high calling for how to treat His people. Each is a manifestation of the Spirit. Each is a manifestation of Christian love. Looking at the first one, Peter says,
1a
"8 To sum up, all of you be harmonious, ..." 1 Peter 3:8
@1 God wants His people to be ____________ with one another. 1 Peter 3:8
To be in harmony is to be united and flowing together in our commonality in Christ. It means that we are beautiful music because we blend our notes together to make the chords that resonate with God's will in sympathetic frequency. We may have nothing else in common; but we have Christ in common as holy nationals according to the kingly priesthood. That commonality is God's major-key that produces the great concerto of Christ in all of us. Something very profound lies underneath this exhortation. What this demonstrates is that you, me, and all Christians, can be among each other and not be harmonious. If you have ever noticed this in yourself in respect to another Christian, then you know exactly what this is like, don't you? It may not be your fault, but then again, it may be. In thinking about this, we must recognize that at the fundamental level, harmony among the holy nation of the royal priesthood is a fruit of the Spirit, right? What this means is that God, in Christ, through the Spirit, initially brings us all into harmony spiritually. There are no exceptions. If you are the exception, then you are not saved spiritually. So, spiritual harmony is already in us. We are already,
"... as living stones being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:5
So the fact that we are all living stones means that we share this miracle work in harmony with one another. It is based upon this attribute that God wants us to be harmonious with one another in our attitudes and actions. The Spirit is telling you and me, that our task, as His living stones, is to live according to the Spirit, and manifest the Spirit, out of ourselves, to each other. I want us to think about what happens when we don't do this. Think about when things don't fit together well; like for example, bricks of a wall. The disharmony of a few misshaped bricks causes stress, pain, and disharmony, for more than just themselves. The incongruence is like a weakening, destructive, far reaching, problem that effects the integrity, and stability of everyone. In the same way, disharmony among God's living stones is a horrible, and debilitating, problem. Disharmony with God's children hurts us personally. But it does more than that. Listen to what I am saying--It hurts the other Christians too. Division and dissension is a poisonous fruit of the flesh that comes out and taints the fruits of the Spirit. This is disharmony, and this is why it is so important for us to realize that the Spirit is talking to us who are saved. Peter is not saying that we need to be in harmony with the world. Peter is talking to Christians about our relationship with other Christians. We may have differences, but we are still Christians. When we think about this harmonious living with one another, we must consider that this does not mean that we all must have the same tastes in music styles, or clothing fashions. Our unity in music should be more about listening to music that has a godly, edifying, message. Our unity should be more upon wearing body banners that are modest and godly instead of immodest and ungodly. The point is that true harmony is found in Christ in our bond of the Spirit in spite of our other differences. The probing question is:
Am I manifesting the Spirit to others in this way?
Now, I want us to think about what this means in terms of our own efforts to nurture this harmony. What this means is that we are going to need to recognize that Christ is in the other person that we are tempted to be out of harmony with. It is a faith issue. What I mean, is either you believe that Christ is in your irritating brother in Christ or you don't. Either you believe that Christ is in that coarse, grating, sister in Christ, or you don't. The thing is that we actually do believe this about our brothers and sisters, so what is the problem? It is faith without works. Your faith is dead when it comes to that sibling in Christ that you are not flowing with in God's harmonious melody. You are not acting like you believe that Christ is in them as their hope of glory. This also means something else: It means that we are going to need to be forgiving of one another. Forgiveness is the only way we are going to have this harmony. We are going to have to overlook our irritations with one another. You say,
"Yes, but Kerry, so and so drives me crazy."
"I can't stand that woman. I can't stand to be around that guy."
Listen: It doesn't matter. You are not going crazy. You can stand to be around them. You say,
"What do you mean?"
I mean that God says that you, and I, and all Christians, must practice God's spiritual sanity by the Spirit within us. God knows that you can be obedient to Christ according to the way of Christ for His sake. God knows that you can stand to be around those other Christians even though they irritate you. You say,
"Why?"
Because God says for you to be harmonious. But supernomianism (higher law standard of the royal law, James 2:8; of the royal priesthood, 1 Peter 2:9) presses us further than that doesn't it? What I mean is that we must do more than just "stand" to be around those irritating brothers and sisters. We must be what God says we can, and must, be. We must be harmonious with those people. Likewise, it may come as a shock to our pride, but others in the body may be saying the same things about us too; You drive them crazy. They can't stand to be around you. You say,
"Who cares?; I can do without them anyway. I have Jesus and that is all that matters."
We already know who cares, don't we? God cares; and He's telling all of His children the same thing. We brothers and sisters have no excuse to foster disharmony with one another. But further, we have no excuse to say that it does not matter. Why? Because it is not all about me, or you, exclusively. It is primarily about God. It is about His word, His will, and His way. To foster the harmony of the beautiful concerto of Christ, according to His way, will mean that we are going to have to not be so rigid in areas where we have our own ideas of how the way things should be done. This means that we are going to need to be flexible, forgiving, and faithful. But you say,
"What about all those doctrinal differences that are out there."
Yes, this is a problem in the church. But we must be careful, because if we dig down deep enough, we can all find that we all have some disagreement with each other over some doctrinal thing at some level. To get to whatever it is, is just a matter of digging and discovery. Nevertheless, God still wants us to preserve true spiritual harmony in the midst of our disagreements that we know are there somewhere. The question is,
"How can we do this when it comes to doctrine?"
When it comes to doctrine, we should seek our commonality in agreement on the essentials. Everyone has their lists of essentials. I know that. But essentials keep us in harmony. I am talking about essentials like: There is One true God as a triune being, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All people are born in sin, and are sinners. Everyone is born radically corrupt and estranged from God. Salvation unto eternal life is through Jesus Christ's death on the cross providing the penal substitutionary atonement for sins; and in His bodily resurrection from the dead three days later. In salvation, we are rescued from God's wrath by His unmerited grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone. These kinds of things are bare essentials that will keep us striking the chord of harmony together. Way too many Christians separate according to doctrinal, and theological constructs that just don't matter when it comes to being in harmony with the rest of the body. This bring us to the next summary item of Peter's instruction,
1b
"all of you be ... sympathetic,"
@2 God wants His people to be ____________ with one another. 1 Peter 3:8
Again, sympathy is a manifestation of God's love from His indwelling Spirit. And again, this exhortation also demonstrates that it is possible for us to not be sympathetic with one another. To be sympathetic is not too deep to understand. It means to be deeply concerned. Ask yourself,
Am I deeply concerned about the lives of my brothers and sisters in Christ?
If not, why not?
Why are you diminishing this fruit of the Spirit Who is within you?
To be sympathetic means that we truly care about the needs of others. It means to really care about their pain. This is a volitional action on our part. In other words, it is something that you have to choose to do from your renewed mind. But, there are ways that being sympathetic can be eclipsed. For example, it is easy for us to be so focused upon our own stress, that we fail to see the stress and hurt that others are going through. Sometimes we are so absorbed in own perceived problems, that we just don't want to perceive what others are going through. Then what happens? We don't sympathize with them. The irony is that if the body is operating correctly, then we are all being obedient to what the Spirit is telling us to do here in harmony, right? Then what happens? We will all build each other up as we encourage, and help, one another in the stressful times. Sometimes it ebbs and flows. You may be the one who is exceptionally hard hit. You need the body to be sympathetic with you in those times, don't you? God designed us all to be this way. But then again, you may be the one who is on the mountain top. Then you notice someone who is walking through the valley. Your sympathy at the time is what they need to bring them up there on the top of the mountain with you. Maybe all they need is an encouraging, sympathetic, word from you. But they are not going to get it if you don't recognize that they need it, and you are not going to recognize their need if you are not being sympathetic. This brings us to the next thing that the Spirit wants us to manifest,
1c
"all of you ... have brotherly affection love,"
@3 God wants His people to be showing brotherly ____________ to one another. 1 Peter 3:8
"Brotherly affection love" here is translated from the Greek word philadelphia. The NASB fails to put a reference to the loving aspect of the affection here. It simply put be "brotherly;" but that is an incomplete translation of the word. It's brotherly affection kind of love. Sisters in Christ are also implied in this affection. To be accurate with the sense, it is to have sibling affection love for the rest of our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. This manifestation is one that really shows, in a strong way, that Peter is talking about every Christian's high calling for how to treat every Christian. In other words, this one especially spotlights the fact that this list of manifestations of the Spirit belongs us to be expressed to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, in learning from this, we must remember that since we already love the brothers and sisters in Christ because we are those who have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, it is not possible for us to not love Christians as Christians. Nevertheless, Peter is clear that Peter exhorts us to have this special endearment for one another. What Peter means is in the manifestation--he means in making it tangible, and real, to others so that they experience these things as being part of you in their relationship with you. Let's notice the way Peter uses the term in the rest of the epistle. This will help it to make more sense. He says in 1:22,
[first it is already there]
"22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere affection of the brothers,
[now you do something about it]
fervently love one another from the heart," 1 Peter 1:22
Notice that the brotherly affection is already there. It is the love of God that has been poured out in our hearts already like Paul says in Romans 5:5. Then from there, Peter's exhortation is to fervently love one another from the heart. It is the urging to express what you already have by the Spirit. This is what we are talking about here too. (This is the consistent New Covenant Theology of indicatives, imperatives, and supernomianism as the "royal law," etc.) In Peter's second epistle, in 2:17 he says essentially the same thing,
"5 ... make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
[first it is already there]
7 and godliness with brotherly affection,
[now you do something about it]
and brotherly affection with love." 2 Peter 1:5-7
The point is that a "functional" family that manifests the beautiful relationship affection of brothers and sisters who love each other, is a family that practices out that love relationship with each other. It is a relationship that looks at those other Christians around you and says,
"I am connected to him. I am her brother. I am his sister. I need to act like this is true--we need to act like this is true by being like Jesus to one another."
For you, and me, to do our part as loving brothers and sisters means that we are going to have to get personal with one another. We are going to have to manifest our true familiness. We are going to have to be open, and willing, to become actively involved with one another's lives. God wants us to be real with one another as we seek the best for His family. Part of doing this requires what the Spirit lists next,
1d
"all of you be ... kindhearted,"
@4 God wants His people to be ____________ with one another. 1 Peter 3:8
This is sometimes accurately translated according to the word particles as having a "compassionate heart." The sense here is to have a merciful heart that is kind and compassionate to your brothers and sisters. This attribute, that comes from the spiritual DNA, so to speak, of your family, is an attitude that ministers grace to your brothers and sisters. Being kind hearted means giving to help your brothers and sisters when they are in need. John uses the same word root, when he describes a heart that is closed to this kindness,
"17 But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" 1 John 3:17
A closed heart is not a kind heart. Let's think about this a moment; Whenever you run into an unkind Christian, it confuses you doesn't it? It makes you wonder why this attribute from the Spirit is not there. Since kindheartedness comes from the heart, then it is easy to wonder if that person (who claims to be a Christian) is really saved. Kind heartedness is a magnifying glass on the love that has been shed abroad in our hearts. The Spirit does not want us to confuse the rest of our siblings in the family. He doesn't want us to discourage one another with the attribute of unkindness that marks the world. Let's be kind hearted to one another as a matter of ambition. Then Peter says,
1e
"all of you be ... humble in spirit;"
@5 God wants His people to be ____________ in spirit. 1 Peter 3:8
Peter repeats the exhortation in 5:5,
"all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another,
[Then Peter quotes Proverbs 3:34 from the Old Testament, in the rest of 5:5, to show God's disfavor with pride]
because God is opposed to the proud but gives favor to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5
James quoted this same Proverb in James 4:6. James says that God gives "greater" favor to the humble. Being humble means to diminish yourself, especially in light of others. Now I want to remind all of us of something. Do you remember the interwoven theme that Peter has been referring to in his contextual flow? We looked at it with wives submitting to husbands. We looked at it in the way husbands are to treat wives. It started way back in Peter's contextual stream. It is doing all for the sake of Christ according to the way of Christ. I want us to remember that "way" because I think that Paul the apostle best explains this humble way we are supposed to be with one another in Philippians. As I read I want us to notice Who our example is, and the way we are urged to be:
"3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Philippians 2:3-8
You know, whenever I read that, I just say "wow." With our Lord as our model, we recognize that he emptied Himself, and humbled Himself to the point of death, even to the shameful death that occurred on a cross. Now think about us. We are wretched sinners who are held up only by the arms of Christ who forgives us of our foul sinfulness. We think about this, and it should be easy for us to understand that we need to look at one another with humility of mind. We know who we are. In grace filled self diminishment then, we should regard one another as more important than ourselves. Christ, on the other hand, is the perfect Lord of glory, and yet He humbled himself in these ways. Ultimately, this comparison with Christ is what God wants us to do, as in all the other things listed. He is the one who empowers us to be humble like He was humble. This humbleness is a manifestation of His Spirit. So, even when we humble ourselves, we can not take pride in it. We are thankful to God for enabling, and convicting, us to do so. In this way, all glory goes to Him. This leads directly to what else the Spirit indicates that we need to do,
1f
"all of you be ... not returning evil for evil or insult for insult,
@6 God does not want His people to return ____________ or ___________ back to others. 1 Peter 3:9
This verse clearly indicates that Christians are capable of returning evil for evil, and so that is why God's children are commanded not to do so. Paul knew the same thing as a weakness that God's people are able to succumb to, so he was also directed by the Spirit to command,
"17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone." Romans 12:17
"15 See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another ..." 1 Thessalonians 5:15
It's also clear that Christians can return insult for insult, and it is also clear that we are commanded not to do this either. Now, I want us to think about how easy it is to use "pay-back" as a reason for returning evil, or for insulting someone. In fact, for a lot of Christians, they return evil for evil, and insults for insults, and the very reason they give to try and excuse their behavior, is the reason that God says not to do. They use pay-back as an attempt to excuse their behavior. God knows this about us. But God also knows that this is not the way of Christ. And so once again, Jesus is our example. Peter explained his example,
"21 ... Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly." 1 Peter 2:21-23
Goodness in actions are what colors us as Christians who have the goodness of Christ in us. Goodness in speaking about one another is part of the palette. We want to be bringing the vibrant pigments of Christ out of us. So, the Spirit is telling us not to return evil, or to be insulting; but God is not merely interested in what we are not to do. God gives the prescriptive replacement action. Instead of returning evil to others and insulting them, the Spirit says,
1g
"... but giving a blessing instead; " 1 Peter 3:8-9
@7 God wants His people to give a ____________ to one another. 1 Peter 3:9
I think that the bigness of this teaching can be missed if we do not consider what is exactly being said by giving a blessing. Essentially this is the supernatural reaction of asking the Lord to bestow favor upon those who do evil to you, and to those who insult you. We also give blessings to others by being blessings to them in something we do for them. None of this makes sense to the natural mind does it? This was even hard to understand for saved Israelites who were used to the Old Testament teachings that they had been raised in. This is a radical departure from what was called the lex talionus which was what the Jews called an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth sense of meeting back justice when wronged. The roots for justifying retaliation are found in the Old Testament in Exodus 21:22–25, Leviticus 24:19–21, and Deuteronomy 19:21. But this New Covenant teaching is such a radical departure because it finds its roots in our radical Lord and Savior of the New and better eternal covenant. He is the one who prophetically taught the way of His kingdom in the Spirit, when he told His pre-cross students (who were still under the Old Covenant),
"28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." Luke 6:28
This is the ministry method that is meant for all of us who follow Christ. Later, the apostles followed this example, as we all should, by the power of the Spirit. Paul lived it, when he said,
"... when we are cursed, we bless; ..." 1 Corinthians 4:12
This is what God has called us to do; and it leads to the second principle.
/2/
The second principle is that we were called for this purpose of blessing others so that through us, Christ in us, blesses them now as a taste of the eternal inheritance of blessing we will all have forever in Him,
"but giving a blessing instead; because [Gk. hoti] you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing."
As God's kingdom people of living stones, and royal priests, we are the set apart nation that represents the blessings of Christ. What this means is that you are a blessing incarnate. You are holy ground. In the future, you are going to inherit the blessing of everlasting glorious life with Christ in a much more wonderful place. As we consider the many facets of blessing, we must consider that we are actually living expressions of all these aspects of blessing right now. The thing about this that is so important in what Peter is saying, is that though these things are true, we can withhold what we are. You are able to withhold what you can express. Whenever we do, we become reflections of the curse that we were delivered out of. But we were not made to be curses. We were delivered out of the curse. We were not made to inherit curses. Our Christian life, as pilgrims passing through the dark lost culture around us, is not meant to be a cursing kind of "way." Remember, You were re-created to do all all for the sake of Christ according to the way of Christ. We are made to bless. We are made to be blessings. Now think about this. As we continually bless others--even those who do evil to us and insult us and all those kinds of things, what we are doing is manifesting our future by bringing it out of our lives right now. It is "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Paul calls it shining the glory of Christ out to others. So, whenever you manifest the supernatural reaction of asking the Lord to bestow favor upon your brothers and sisters who do evil to you, and to those who may insult you, you are declaring the future glory right now. As we love the body in real tangible ways, we are showing the eternal blessings to come by being blessings to others in the immediate. The true essence of what I am driving at in this second principle is that your life is a prophetic utterance whenever you express the eternal blessing out of yourself in the midst of the curse. This is why it is so vital that we do it. We are not so much doing all of this because being harmonious is such a great organizational tactic for living together. It is not merely because being sympathetic is something great for others to experience so that they will benefit from your sympathy. It is not that having brotherly affection love, and being kindhearted, and being humble in spirit, is something we do because it helps make living in the world, a little bit nicer. It is not that returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead keeps us from going to war. What it is, is all for the Lord's sake, where we are living right now according to what He made us to be forever in Himself, for Himself. This is the prophetic revelation of the blessing we will inherit.
/3/
This leads to the third and final principle. It has to do with Peter's special apostolic insight into an Old Testament prophecy. It is a reference for some principles in what he is saying about the high calling of God's people in how to treat the rest of God's people. The prophecy is the principle that contrast us with the lost,
"10 For [since, because, Gk. gar] '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.'" 1 Peter 3:10-12
Peter is giving a strong supporting reason for all that he just said. He quotes Psalm 34:12-17. What Peter says more closely matches being a quote from the Septuagint. What this passage means is that our actions now are not only a prophetic revelation of what is to come, but are also a prophetic fulfillment of what has been stated in the past in the Psalms. We know that the sense that Peter is getting across is that there is a proper blessing manner in which Christians are to act as a direct contrast with the lost cursed world culture they are delivered out of. Peter is making a contrast between the lost, and their affinities, as being radically different from the Christian nation, and how it is expected to be in the affinities of Christ. God, in His sovereignty, intended for this Psalm to be written for us, who are the righteousness of God in Christ, to see the contrast. We love life and want to see the good days of our blessing inheritance forever. Therefor, according to the prophecy, we should act differently from the world. We should be the ones who keep our tongues from evil and our lips from speaking deceit. Speaking evil and being deceitful is the world's job--not ours. We are the ones who should be turning away from evil and doing good. We are the ones who were prophesied to seek peace and pursue it in Christ. All of us, who are in Christ as the set apart nation of the royal priesthood, have the eyes of the Lord on us. Why? Because we are the righteously declared ones who have the righteous Spirit living in us. God's ears are always open to our prayers, because Christians are the ones who pray to the One true God, and they are the ones He listens to in His new and better covenant. On the other hand, the face of the Lord is against the lost whose natural affinity is to do evil that lostness produces. And in the context of the whole Peter epistle, the ones who do evil against the Christians are the lost of the world who are perishing in their sins. Therefor, the Spirit urges us not to do anything that remotely resembles their affinity in their part in the prophecy. Their part is what? Cursing, opposition, disharmony, and doom. Our part is blessing from A to Z. In fact, in the Psalm, the Psalmist of the Old Testament prophecy reminds the singers that the Lord rescues all His people out of the suffering; but on the other hand, He will judge the wicked who oppose Him, and His people. We know this eternal rescue as our blessed hope in our everlasting future. The summation is that we are the fulfillment of the prophecy, so therefor, we need to live out the fulfillment in our actions while we await the ultimate fulfillment which is our glorious future inheritance. This is the good news!
Let's recap all we have covered this morning: Our theme has been every Christian's high calling for how to treat every Christian. The Spirit gives us 7 manifestations of Christ in our high calling for how to treat his people. Each is a manifestation of the Spirit. Each is a manifestation of Christian love. Each of the seven is very important for us to nurture. God wants us to be harmonious, and sympathetic. God wants us to manifest brotherly affection love toward our Christian family. God wants us to be kindhearted toward one another. God also wants us to diminish ourselves in respect to others. It is to be humble in spirit. God does not want us to return evil for evil or insult for insult. Instead, what does God want? He wants us to give a blessing instead. The reason is because you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. We must also remember the very high calling we have: We were called for this purpose of blessing others so that through us, Christ in us, blesses them now as a taste of the eternal inheritance of blessing we will all have forever in Him. It is part of our living ministry to one another. Finally, we are the contrast with the world that God is displaying. So, unlike the world, we need to keep our tongue from evil and our lips from speaking deceit. We need to be the ones who turn away from evil and do good. We are the ones who need to seek peace and pursue it. The reason is because the eyes of the Lord are on us who are the righteousness of God in Christ. His ears are open to our prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. We are God's lights of contrast who manifest the glory of God in the midst of the darkness. Amen.
@1 God wants His people to be ____________ with one another. 1 Peter 3:8
@2 God wants His people to be ____________ with one another. 1 Peter 3:8
@3 God wants His people to be showing brotherly ____________ to one another. 1 Peter 3:8
@4 God wants His people to be ____________ with one another. 1 Peter 3:8
@5 God wants His people to be ____________ in spirit. 1 Peter 3:8
@6 God does not want His people to return ____________ or ___________ back to others. 1 Peter 3:9
@7 God wants His people to give a ____________ to one another. 1 Peter 3:9
