1 Peter 1:22-25
Peter has been writing to “The Rejected Selected”
Because they had been chosen by God, and had accepted that calling, their lives had been thrown into turmoil.
Persecution was real. They were scattered.
Anytime we face such difficulties,
The temptation is to pull back into our turtle shell,
And begin to focus on and look out for number one.
Our focus can quickly shift from service to survival.
But Peter has written this letter to help these suffering saints steer clear of that pothole.
When obedience causes suffering, we are tempted not to obey.
(1:1-2) “…who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ…”
When God allows suffering, we are tempted to turn on God,
(1:3) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
When hardship comes, we are tempted to get depressed.
(1:6) “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,”
When taking a stand fbrings opposition, tempted to get complacent
(1:13) “Therefore prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
When purity brings slander, it is tempting to forsake a little holiness
(1:14-15) “As obedient children; do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.”
Tonight Peter tackles another massive temptation.
When we suffer, we are tempted to stop focusing on service, And to start focusing on survival.
When people are placed in harms way,
The flesh always wants to look out for your own flesh first.
CHRISTIANS WERE INTENDED TO BE BETTER THAN THAT.
Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;”
Matthew 22:39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
We are called to love others as ourselves.
We are called to place the needs of others above our own.
Jesus continually reminded us of this truth, first, by example:
Matthew 14:13-14 “Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.”
Secondly through His teaching.
TURN TO: Luke 10:25-37
Suffering can cause us to stop focusing on service,
And only focus on survival.
Peter wants to make sure that if you are in the Christian life, and it is hard,
That you still keep your priorities where they should be.
Philippians 2:4 “do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
#1 ASSUMPTION
1 Peter 1:22a
“Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love for the brethren”
Peter assumes these people have readied themselves for genuine love.
“Since you have in obedience to the truth…”
Peter has the right to assume that since these people call themselves Christians that they are walking in obedience to the truth.
1 John 2:3 “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.”
Peter also has the right to assume that since these people call themselves Christians that they have “purified your souls”
1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
But there is more to what Peter is saying.
Peter is assuming how they are walking in obedience,
And WHY they have purified their souls.
“Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls FOR a sincere love for the brethren”
The word “sincere”
Greek word – ANUPOKRITOS
(A = not) (NUPOKRITOS = hypocrite)
Peter says “you have purified your souls for an unhypocritical love for the brethren”
It is a love that really only wants the best for the other guy.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
It is the idea that these people shouldn’t be loving each other for selfish reasons. Their love should be pure in motive.
Luke 6:31-35 “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”
Peter assumes they have prepared themselves
For this type of love
By obediently purifying themselves.
UNDERSTAND,
If you want to love others unhypocritically,
Then you will have to purify yourself too.
There is no room for selfishness in this type of love.
You cannot love self and God.
REMEMBER: The opposite of love is self
In order to truly love,
You must first of all remove self from the equation.
Philippians 2:3-8 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
He assumes they are prepared to unhypocritally love the brethren.
Are you even to a point where you are prepared to do this?
First the assumption
#2 EXPECTATION
1 Peter 1:22b “fervently love one another from the heart”
Peter is asking them to follow through
With what they have prepared themselves to do.
Since they have purified themselves for a sincere love, go ahead and do it.
“FERVENTLY”
EKTENES – strained or stretched
(EK = out) (TEINO = to stretch)
It is the same word used of the disciples prayer for Peter
Acts 12:5 “So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.”
It is the same word used of Jesus praying in the garden.
Luke 22:44 “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.”
Peter is expecting you to give your love everything you’ve got.
Peter wants these scattered saints to remember to follow through with their calling and love each other even to a point of pain.
This is what a Christian looks like.
1 John 3:14-16 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
1 John 4:7-12 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”
1 John 4:19-21 “We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”
Not only is brotherly love a characteristic of a disciple,
But it is commanded of a disciple as well.
John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”
John 15:17 “This I command you, that you love one another.”
There is never a time when we are allowed to look out only for number one.
No matter how hard it is,
There is no circumstance bad enough when a believer
Can stop showing love for other believers.
BUT I’LL BE HONEST
This is hard.
WHERE DO YOU FIND THE STRENGTH DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?
Contrary to popular belief, love is not natural.
Lust is natural, love only comes from God.
Where do we find the ability to do this?
HOW CAN PETER ASK US TO DO SUCH A THING?
#3 FOUNDATION
1 Peter 1:23-25
Peter here gives us the foundation upon which he asks for selfless love, and why we know we are able to do it.
And of course, that foundation is the word of God.
And there are three characteristics about the word of God
That you will see allow you to selflessly love one another.
1) PENETRATING
(23) “for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”
This is one of the characteristics that really sets the word of God
Apart from any other word ever spoken.
It has the power to change you.
Maybe other authors have the power to influence you to change,
But God’s word can change you.
You have the ability to go ahead an selflessly love one another
Because “you have been born again”
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
This person isn’t born “of seed which is perishable”
In other words, this person isn’t motivated by worldly lusts.
This person is made up of much better stock.
This person is made up of “imperishable” seed.
You are born again “through the living and enduring word of God.”
This is one of the things that makes the Bible alive.
This is one of the things that makes the Bible so incredible.
IT DOES NOT WORK FROM THE OUTSIDE IN
IT WORKS FROM THE INSIDE OUT.
This is something that God promised long ago.
Jeremiah 31:33-34 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Ezekiel 36:25-27 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
Now these promises have come to pass.
Colossians 1:26-27 “that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
It gets inside of you, and then you reflect His characteristics.
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
This is why Peter can ask you to do something so difficult,
Because God’s word is now in you to guide you from the inside out.
This is why Paul wrote what he did:
Colossians 3:12-16 “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
You can love like this,
Because you were born again through the penetrating word of God.
2) POWERFUL
(24-25a) “For, ‘ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL IT’S GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.”
Now he desires to show you just how powerful this word is.
It is not weak like the human flesh.
Romans 7:14-15 “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”
Indeed, “ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL IT’S GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF”
Your strongest attempt is like withering grass,
And your best looking attempt is like a fallen flower.
Not very strong, and not very pretty.
“BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER”
God’s word in you makes you strong enough to love like you should love.
Romans 15:1-6 “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “THE REPROACHES OF THOSE WHO REPROACHED YOU FELL ON ME.” For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Now that text begins asking for the same thing Peter asked for – true love.
And of course Paul asks for it because that is what Jesus did.
WHERE DO WE FIND THE MOTIVATION TO DO THIS?
“the encouragement of the Scriptures”
WHERE DO WE FIND THE STRENGTH?
“the God who gives perseverance…grant you to be of the same mind”
I might not want to love someone.
A voice in my mind says, “and the second is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself”.
It is the word of God in you with power that allows you to love selflessly.
3) PRESENT
(25b) “And this is the word that was preached to you.”
It is available to us.
We can have it whenever we want it.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. “It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘ Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ “Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.”
Here is the point thus far.
Peter wants us to go through with our convictions and love each other selflessly.
We have a penetrating power within us that gives us the ability.
BUT THERE IS AN EVEN GREATER APPLICATION HERE.
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW THE BEST WAY TO SHOW LOVE TO OTHERS IS?
Personal Obedience.
1 John 5:1-3 “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”
CAN YOU SEE HOW CLOSELY RELATED BROTHERLY LOVE AND PERSONAL OBEDIENCE ARE?
Now look back at what Peter said in verse 22.
“Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.”
There again you see obedience and love thrown together.
You cannot love others if you are not walking in obedience to God.
If you throw holiness out the window,
You will also be throwing love out the window,
And it is vitally important too.
There is no doubt that the Christian life is difficult.
It comes with many temptations to quit.
That is when we must look to the word God has planted in us,
And obey it to the letter, showing love for one another,
And fulfilling what God intends for us.
Philippians 2:3-8 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
