Open your Bibles today to I Peter 3:8. Read text. The Bible says that God ears are attentive to our prayers. Let s pray now.

Transcription

1 Text: I Peter 3:8-12 Title: The Secret to a Really Fabulous Life INTRODUCTION Open your Bibles today to I Peter 3:8. Read text. The Bible says that God ears are attentive to our prayers. Let s pray now. Well, Peter started this section way back in 2:11 with a general appeal to everyone: 1 Peter 2:11 (NIV) - Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. He then proceeded to address believers in various roles in life citizens, servants, wives, and husbands. Now Peter returns to address everyone. 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) - Finally, all of you Someone has observed that Peter is a typical preacher. He says, finally, then he goes on for a lot longer. Actually, he s just concluding this section that begins back in 2:11. Now as Peter dictates this letter to Silas, his brother in the Lord and helper, he has in mind Psalm 34. He quotes from it in vv Some scholars believe that Psalm 34 was sung as a hymn in the early church, and it may have also been used as a kind of discipleship manual. That s the beauty of singing rich songs; they provide for us a great study. What Peter is doing is that he is taking an OT text and teaching from it. Just hold your place there and turn back to the psalm Peter uses here. In that Psalm the psalmist addresses a particular category of people: Psalm 34:11 (NIV) - Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Parents, here s a great pattern for instructing our children and grandchildren. Psalm 34:12 (NIV) - Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days Do you love life? Do you want to know how to see many good days? Do you want your life to be full? Do you want your family to be happy? Do you want your church to be harmonious? Do you want to the prosperity and blessing of God all over your life and your land? Do you want a really fabulous life? If your answer to those questions is yes, then Peter and the David (the psalmist) have just the secret, just the prescription, just the recipe, just the life-plan for you and it s not what you would expect.

2 It has nothing to do with your retirement investment strategy; it has nothing to do with the vacation package of a lifetime; it doesn t even have something to do with a medical breakthrough to add years to your life. What is the secret to a really fabulous life? Psalm 34:13-14 (NIV) - keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. 14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. So it s these verses from the OT psalm that Peter has in mind as he exhorts his readers in the churches. And Peter takes this OT passage and applies it to his NT readers in I Peter 3:8-9. Let s turn back and look at it. 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) - Live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. So the secret to a really fabulous life has to do with your relationships your relationship with Jesus Christ and how you treat the people around you in light of your relationship with Jesus Christ We all know that it is possible to have all the things that are associated with the American definition of the good life, and still be empty and unfulfilled. They have money and possessions and houses and club memberships but their relationships are a mess. NOTE: There s an underlying application that we need in our church at this particular time. Perhaps you have heard and seen the promotion of the start up of something called A2C groups, or Acts 2 Community Groups. What exactly is this? They are groups of believers who get together at some time other than Sunday mornings for the purpose of prayer, Bible study, fellowship, encouragement, accountability, and ministry. As we look at these qualities of the good life, you ll see that we learn these things as we live in community with other people certainly with our families, but also, very importantly, with other believers. You don t get to practice these things very much in a worship service. There s a different goal for public worship. You may not get to practice these things in a Sunday School class on Sunday mornings. There s a different goal for Sunday School. But when you can be in a connection with some other believers where you can really focus on ministry to and with each other, you learn and you practice these qualities. We need to help each other, week after week, become the kind of people that only God can make us, and live lives that bring blessings to others. So let s see what God s Word and wisdom have to tell us about this. There are five qualities here in v.8 that tell us the secret to a really fabulous life.

3 1. HARMONY 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another Literally be like-minded. We are to think alike. ILLUSTRATION - Now harmony is primarily a musical term. It refers to that beautiful thing that happens when various notes are sung or played at the same time so as to produce a beautiful sound. We hear our band/choir do these every week in worship leadership. Harmony starts with everyone singing the same song. What a terrible sound it would produce if we were all singing different songs. That s not what we re after. But neither does it mean that we are always singing the same note. Harmony happens when people sing the same song, but not in exactly the same way. This is exactly what Jesus prayed for: John 17:21 (NIV) - that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. And this is what the early church experienced: Acts 4:32a (NIV) - All the believers were one in heart and mind. It s what is expected of every church: 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NIV) - I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. ILLUSTRATION When your body goes from one part of the house to the other, does just part of it go? No, it all goes together. The head (brain) says OK, we re going here, and the body goes. And that s the way the church is to function as a Body. Now how do we know what the Head, Christ, wants the body to do? Primarily we know it through the Scriptures. For example, this passage we are studying today tells us how we are to treat each other in our families and in the church. And if all of us listen to and respond to what the Head, Jesus, wants us to do, the result is a healthy Body or church. So there s harmony. And the next quality is: 2. SYMPATHY 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) Finally, all of you be sympathetic When we have the mind of Christ, we will all be stirred by the same thing. The word sympathy means to feel together co-suffering. The Holy Spirit builds this ability of the church to feel together.

4 This is why we don t do all our activities in the Christian life alone. There is value in coming together where we feel together. Truth causes us to feel together. Truth that comes from Scripture causes us to feel together. Truth that comes from singing causes us to feel together. Praying together helps us to feel together. That s why we have times when we pray together. The knowledge of certain needs and the praying about those needs creates this feeling together. Now I cannot be sympathetic with someone else when I m preoccupied with myself. I can t feel together with someone else when I m only concerned about me. There s a great picture of this in an instruction that is given in Hebrews 13:3 (NIV) - Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. ILLUSTRATION Suppose in an intimate time of prayer someone says, Pray for me. We ve just received the reports from the doctor, and my husband has cancer. Now you might nod with interest at that, and agree to pray. But what if you took that bit of news like you would take it if the doctor was giving the report about your wife or your husband. You would feel differently. That s sympathy. And the next quality is 3. SINCERITY 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) Finally, all of you love as brothers Peter was talking about this same quality when he affirmed them back in 1 Peter 1:22 (NIV) - You have sincere love for your brothers, With this kind of sincere love you don't view each other as strangers, or as mere acquaintances, or as distant relatives. You view each other as close family. The next quality is 4. MERCY 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) Finally, all of you be compassionate Literally it was guts. KJV calls is bowels of compassion. Ancient people believed that feelings came from your abdomen. You can understand why. That s where we feel many emotions. But the

5 word doesn t really have to do with you stomach or intestines, but with your heart and not the pump in your chest, but center of who you are. The word is translated sometimes as tenderhearted. The opposite of this would be to be hardhearted toward God and others. It is to feel something so deeply that you are moved to do something about it. ILLUSTRATION From my vantage point I see this happening in our church all the time. I saw when a young adult Sunday School class responded to a need in the lives of some children we reach through an apartment ministry who had no beds. They slept on the floor every night. The class got the money together, bought beds for the kids and took them to their apartment and set them up. I saw when a mother was in a hospital two hours from Fort Worth. Another mother knew that the mom would want to see her daughter, and the daughter would want to see her mom. So she drove her four hours round trip to visit the hospital. That s mercy. Feeling something and then doing something. The last quality Peter mentions here is 5. HUMILITY 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) - Finally, all of you be humble. We can never be like-minded if we aren t humble-minded. We re talking about humility toward God. We feel that we are utterly dependent on God for life and everything that sustains us. We feel sinful and unworthy as we look at ourselves apart from the God s grace. We are humbled before God. We re talking about humility toward others. It means that I am not too good to get my hands dirty with the messy needs in someone else s life. You can never do any of the other four things if your heart is filled with pride if all you are interested in is yourself. 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) - Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Then Peter gives an application to all of this. There s some indication in the wording of the text that the believers in the churches Peter addressed were trying to settle their squabbles and disputes in a way that was not honoring to the Lord or His Word. Here s what this might look like in a real-life situation: Literally Peter is saying, Stop retaliating and repaying evil for evil and insult for insult. This is unacceptable.

6 When we are abused by someone with a wicked disposition, we don t retaliate with wicked actions or words. If fact, we go to the other exact other end of the spectrum we bless them. To bless them means we pray for them and do good to them. So it s not that I can just go away and hide from this person who has done evil to me or insulted me. Rather, we are to bless them. ILLUSTRATION I have a friend who is in a very high-profile position that places him in the line of fire when it comes to criticism as a leader. He told me once that whenever he reads criticism in the press, or hears it from someone, he makes a mental note of who it is, and the first opportunity he mails that person a tie (necktie). And he s not suggesting that they go hang themselves with it. He sends it with a blessing. And why do we do this? We are called to do it. We are called to live this way. We have been called to endure evil and insults and to return all that with blessings. If you give a blessing you receive a blessing. That s what we re told in the last part of Now this is important: We do not do all these things in order to impress God, and get stars in our crowns so that God will somehow be more pleased with us. These are not means to earn God s favor. We inherit a blessing. It is purely a gift of God s grace. CONCLUSION Peter not only had the benefit of the Holy Spirit inspiring him as he wrote these words. He also had the benefit of his own personal experience with the Lord. Remember, this is the same Peter who stood next to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested. He watched and listened as Jesus related to those who did evil things to Him and insulted Him all without repaying evil for evil or insult for insult. He knew that Jesus prayed for His enemies and blessed them when He died for their sins on the Cross. But there was a personal note to all of this. This very Peter had denied Jesus three times on the night Jesus was arrested. He remembered the anguish he felt when on that last denial Jesus looked at Peter with piercing eyes and Peter ran ashamed into the night. But then Peter also remembered how, after the resurrection, the Lord came looking for him. Peter had gone back to fishing, and one morning Jesus appeared on the shore. And in one of the most amazing examples of forgiveness and love, Jesus restored Peter. Do you need that today?