Sermon Text:

We are continuing our journey through the letter of 1 Peter. Peter is writing to believers who are living in a culture growing increasingly hostile to their faith. This is God’s word to us as we face a similar challenge. We come together not merely to be informed, but transformed by the power of God’s word. We come to be changed by the Holy Spirit as he uses his holy word to shape us and prepare us for the glory that is promised to us through Jesus Christ.

Over the past several weeks the apostle Peter gave specific instructions to citizens, servants, husbands and wives. Today, he will shift his attention back to believers generally. Beginning in verse 8, he says, 

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.”  

This command brings everything back to a focus on our relationship with God. Our response to the world outside of us depends not on what they do, but on our relationship with God. We are to live in this hostile world following the example of Jesus. Peter’s main point, and the main point of the message today is,

Like Jesus, believers are called to bless others, even those who curse us, trusting God for our reward.

In this passage, Peter calls us to this radical Christlikeness and he shows us how it is possible and why we should do it. The main command appears in verse 9 where he says,

9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called…

We are called to be a blessing, even to those who are opposed to us. Peter says when the world hates you, respond by blessing them. Peter is simply applying what Jesus taught. In Luke 6:27–30 Jesus says,

27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

Peter is applying the same radical calling to trust God so much that we are willing to overlook the hostility of the world and seek to bless those who curse us and even seek to do us harm. Modern American evangelicalism often neuters the gospel and turns it into something comfortable. Something that is compatible with respectable middle-class suburban values. Jesus, however, calls us to far more than that. Peter understands how radical the gospel life is and he shows us how and why we are able to truly pursue it.

Look at how Peter lays this out: 

1. Be this way: “have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind”

1. Then do these things: 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.

1. Because it leads to this: bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing… and these things lead to loving life and seeing good days.

1. Because: 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.”  

That is the logic of his teaching. Peter is applying the gospel promises to this gospel command. Let’s unpack this a bit. He begins verse 8 with a description of who and what we should be,

8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 

I say these are descriptions of what we should be rather than what we ought to do for a couple reasons. First, these are things that he says should characterize every believer. Peter says “all of you”, every one of you. Second, notice these are not actions, they are all dispositions of the mind. These are all internal character traits, virtues of the heart. He is telling them to pursue a state of mind or a way of thinking. Notice that the list begins and ends with references to the mind. 

Being always comes before doing. When we speak or act, we are expressing who we are. We are giving evidence of what is in our heart. The foundation Peter lays is what kind of heart we are to have. Our minds and our affections are connected. What we love and what we think are inseparably linked. Notice how tightly connected this is. Those of you in the Bible Institute get extra credit if you noticed this list has a chiastic structure. It essentially repeats itself.

have unity of mind, 

         sympathy, 

                 brotherly love, 

        a tender heart, 

and a humble mind.

Humility and unity are parallels. They go together. One isn’t possible without the other. If we are proud, we turn minor disagreements into major issues and unity becomes impossible. Similarly, when we are committed to unity we will be drawn to be more humble in how we assess our own opinions, recognizing our fellowship in Christ as of far more importance than secondary issues.

Sympathy and having a tender heart are also parallels. As I have mentioned before,  Roman culture considered compassion to be a moral weakness. Peter’s advice here is radical and countercultural in calling the strong and mature to be tender and sympathetic. The heroes of the flesh are and have always been bold and brash. They get things done and tell it like it is. If you are smart enough and witty enough you will be rewarded for your brutal sarcasm. If you are successful enough and make enough money, nobody will pay much attention to the people you hurt. The world celebrates these things, at least until you are no longer useful to them.

But Peter says believers must pursue tender and sympathetic hearts. Being right doesn’t give us the right to be brutal. Telling the truth doesn’t justify being hurtful. Our example is Jesus, who always confronted error and hypocrisy, but had a gentle spirit and was sympathetic to people. We need to be careful about using the worlds logic to justify our hard-heartedness.

Notice that at the center of this list is love. Unity, humility, tenderness, and sympathy are all expressions of love in our hearts. If we had to summarize our faith with one word, it would be love. We are called to love everyone, especially other believers. Peter says we are to pursue a heart of love. Everything else flows from this. Peter is not, however, saying that we can build up ourselves in this kind of love through our own efforts.

Keep in mind, he is writing to those who are born again and who have received a new heart that expresses itself through faith in Jesus. Remember how he began the letter in chapter 1 verses 3–5?

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  

He is building them up on a foundation of what God has done and is doing. We cannot be what he is calling us to be through our own power. He is calling us to pursue what God has called us to be. Only God can create this life in us. No amount of discipline or morality will do it. If you want to see the kingdom of God you must be born again. In John 3:5 Jesus says,

5 …“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

This isn’t something we do for ourselves, it is something God has promised to do in the New Covenant. Ezekiel 36:25–27 says,

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.  

It isn’t something we earn, it is a sovereign act of grace and mercy. Titus 3:4–7 says,

4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  

Salvation is of the Lord. Our hearts are sinful and it is only by being born again by his power that we inherit eternal life in his kingdom. When a baby is born, it cries out. In the same way, when we are spiritually born again, we cry out in faith. We know we have received this new birth when we place our trust in Jesus as our savior and through that faith we are adopted as the children of God and heirs of his kingdom. John 1:12–13 says,

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  

We therefore have confidence that we can pursue this love because by faith we know God is at work in us. If we were spiritually dead, we could not do any of this, but we are to be encouraged knowing that it is God who is at work in us and so we can pursue the sanctification that Jesus bought for us.

Only God can bring those who are spiritually dead to life, but once we have received spiritual life, we are truly alive and can pursue love. The Spirit of God uses the word of God to transform our perspective and our passions to place God at the center so that our entire life is offered in service to him. This is what Paul was saying in Romans 12:1–2,

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.  

That is what Peter is saying. Pursue the renewal of your mind. Pursue humility and unity. Pursue tenderness and compassion. Pursue love. These things do not come from the world, they come from above. We learn them from Christ in the word and in each other. We are to put off the old man and put on the new man through the power of the spirit. That is what enables us to do what he says in verse 9.

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. 

It is only if we have love and humility and compassion in our hearts that we will be able to respond to curses with blessing. This does not come from us but from Christ in us.

Notice that this is the calling of all believers. This isn’t just for super christians, this is for everyone. Peter says “for to this you were called.” This is part of what God is doing in your life if you are a believer. 

Becoming a believer in Jesus isn’t like buying a car. It isn’t like some of us have the luxury trim package and someone else is over here saying, well I just got the base model. We are all gifted differently, but we have all received the same Spirit and the same Christ. We are all called to take up our cross and follow him. We are all called to the same commission.

Part of the calling is to be a witness to Jesus in the world and we will be rewarded for our faithfulness in doing so. Peter says we are to bless,

that you may obtain a blessing. 

Peter says that our rewards are connected to our being a blessing. The New Testament teaches that our works are never the basis of our salvation but that they are necessary to it. We see this here and throughout the New Testament. We are saved by grace apart from works, but that does not mean our works do not matter.

Peter says God has caused us to be born again by his great mercy. It wasn’t earned, God did it. We have been made alive to an eternal inheritance kept by God’s power and guarded in faith. Our calling is certain because it isn’t dependent upon our works, but God’s sovereign grace. 

Sovereign grace is not, however, opposed to good works as a result, it is opposed to them as a cause. A changed live, growing in Christlikeness is the evidence the Bible gives that we have indeed been transformed by the grace of God. We can do nothing on our own, but if Christ is in us, we will be changed. A pursuit of holiness does not contradict the doctrines of grace. Ephesians 2:8–10 says,

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  

This is the same logic behind what Peter is saying. Peter’s points to Jesus as the model for the works we are called to do. In 1 Peter 2:20–23, just before our passage he says,

20 … But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because 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.  

This is the amazing part. God, who makes us who were dead alive, and enables us who could do no works to grow in holiness, then rewards us for those good works that he works through us! Our growth in holiness is evidence of his blessing upon us and yet he rewards all the works we do that are of faith.

We see an illustration of this in the life of Abraham, the father of the faithful. In Genesis 18:17-19 as God is preparing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah we have this very interesting passage. It says,

17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”  

Notice that the promise to Abraham is certain. 

Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation…

Because God says, I have chosen him…

Here is God’s sovereignty. Abraham will bless the nations because this was God’s plan. But look what else this plan includes. Abraham being chosen results in Abraham teaching his children the way of the Lord and doing righteousness and justice. Why? 

so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. 

God’s choice did not depend on Abraham but having chosen him, God will create in him that which will result in more blessing. The evidence that God is at work in Abraham is his faithfulness and God rewards that faithfulness.

It is the same with us. The evidence of our saving faith is Christlikeness and love. Our works contribute nothing to God accepting us and forgiving us, but they are the evidence of his love and acceptance of us. That is why the puritan preacher Thomas Watson said,

“Good works are such curious things that no person will be saved because of them, but no person will be saved without them.”

To put it another way, if we have received the righteousness of Jesus Christ we will be changed by it. If the Spirit is within us we will be growing in holiness until we reach the final step of our salvation when we are perfected and glorified with Jesus in his kingdom. Our being a blessing in a hostile world is not the root, but the fruit of God’s grace in us but being all loving and all merciful, God rewards the fruit of his own grace.

Therefore, by faith we pursue the fruit of the Spirit in transforming our mind and hearts. That enables us to live increasingly like Christ. We do this knowing we were called by God to do this and that by walking in faith, the blessings rebound back to us. Peter says,

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. 

When we are walking in faith we are at peace. If we desire to love life and to enjoy our days, we will do these things that lead to us being a blessing to others, even those who curse us. Keep watch over our mouths, not only avoid doing evil, but do good things when we have the opportunity to do them. Avoid strife and pursue peace. These things are the evidence of the Spirit working in us and they will bring us peace.

In the face of hostility, by pursuing Christlikeness, we can obtain a peace that is beyond understanding because to be at peace with God is the greatest desire of those in whom the Spirit is working. The righteous cannot be disappointed because they rest in the unchangeable truth Peter reminds us of in verse 12 where he says, 

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.”  

What an amazing thought that we who were guilty, condemned sinners, can be included in the promises to the righteous. That we can be made righteous by exchanging our sin-filled lives for the perfect life of Jesus. We have all sinned. We have all rejected God and rebelled against him but in an act of amazing mercy, he sent Jesus to die on the cross in the place of anyone who would repent and accept him as lord and savior. 

He died and was buried, but three days later he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven where he is now seated at the right hand of the Father. This proves he can do what he claimed. He can save us from sin and death. All we need to do is stop trusting in ourselves and trust in him as our only savior. 

By faith in Jesus we are transformed from God’s enemies to his beloved children. In Chapter 1 Peter says those who believe have been ransomed by the precious blood of Jesus. This brings us not only the promise of heaven, but the power to live the life of faith now. Our sin is washed clean under that blood. In 2:24 Peter encourages us with this amazing truth about Jesus,

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  

If you do not yet know the joy and peace that comes from this, go to him now. If you have been washed clean but struggle with sin and fear, cling to him now and don’t let go. 

I want to finish this morning by reading Psalm 34. Much of what Peter has been teaching has this psalm in the background. Consider these words in light of the promise and the power of the gospel. Consider its implications for how we live in light of it. Psalm 34:1–22

1  I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2  My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. 3  Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! 

4  I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5  Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6  This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

8  Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9  Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! 10  The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

11  Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12  What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? 13  Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. 14  Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

15  The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. 16  The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 

17  When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18  The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. 20  He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21  Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 22  The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.