How We Should Live

After a 6-week break from 1 Peter for our Christmas series, we probably need to get our bearings all over again. 1 Peter is a masterful letter, written by the apostle Peter to the scattered Christians living throughout Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).

Peter writes about salvation and assurance and hope, the promise of God for a people who are suffering and struggling. Living as a believer in a non-Christian world carries with it all manner of hardship and difficulty (as you well-know, or can at least imagine).

1 Peter is packed with encouragement and instruction; encouragement about who we are in Christ, and instruction about how to live for Christ in a pagan society.

The few sermons I preached before Christmas were about everyone’s favorite subject: submission! Not a real popular topic, no one’s favorite sermons, not a subject I was real jazzed to preach on.

But it’s a good word. For me and for you. We submit for the sake of Christ. The theme throughout the section on submission is the same as theme of the Christian life: what we do, what He calls us to do, we do for Him.

We don’t submit to governing authorities for their sake; we submit because Jesus, our Lord and Savior, tells us to.

Slaves were called to submit to their masters, and they do so, not necessarily because they feel like doing it, but because Jesus calls them to it.

Christian wives are to submit to their husbands because Jesus says they should.

Submission, like most of what Jesus calls us to do, is tough. Most of what Jesus calls us to is unbelievably tough. It’s tough to walk the Christian life.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is either a fool or they simply haven’t yet come up against any opposition, ridicule, or difficulty.

Peter is writing here to Christians in the early church. These men and women are separated from us by time and geography, but there’s no measurable gap in our experience. Christians today are trying to live in the 21st Century like Peter’s original audience was trying to live in the 1st Century.

We are, all of us, hopefully striving to walk the Christian life. To follow Jesus. To do what He’s asked us and called us to do.

I didn’t intentionally break-up the preaching of 1 Peter so that these verses would be the text for the first sermon of 2024, but this is a very appropriate text for the New Year.

It’s going to, Lord willing, make us think about how we are following Jesus.

This text—just 2 verses—will, Lord willing, make us stop and think about what it means to be a Christian.

>What do you think of when you hear the word Christian?

I wonder what the general population thinks about when they hear the word Christian.

There’s probably a good portion of people who think of Mother Teresa or other philanthropic people, those who care for the underprivileged and impoverished.

When thinking of Christians, some people will go back to the crusades in the 11th-13th centuries and point out how people marched under the banner of the cross, murdering pagans and non-Christians. A very dark time in history and the witness of the cross.

My alma mater, Manhattan Christian College, used to be the Crusaders—the Manhattan Christian College Crusaders. Many students over the years (myself included) suggested we pick a new name. They’ve changed it now to “The Thunder”, which I think is pretty silly, but it is much less problematic.

What I hear most often when people outside the church talk about Christians is that they’re hypocrites. Every few weeks, someone will tell me the reason they don’t go to church or the reason a friend or family member doesn’t go to church is because it’s full of hypocrites.

The point is, even the Mother Theresas in the house don’t live-out the Christian life perfectly; we can’t. No one lives a perfect life.

Only Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. This is why we need Him—not as a role model, but as our substitute (the One who steps in and does for our sake what we could NEVER do).

We need Jesus, not as a standard bearer or poster child, but as the One who gives us the strength and the ability to live lives pleasing to God.

Still, imperfect as we are and will always be this side of heaven, our desire is to live rightly. Our desire is to live as He’s called to live for His glory.

Peter helps us to think about how we should live, particularly how we should love toward one another and then toward those outside.

He addresses everyone within the churches he’s writing to—citizens wherever they find themselves, men and women, husbands and wives, slave and free, young and old, those in power and those who are suffering.

He writes to “all of you”, requiring the attention of us all.

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Peter. If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word:

1 Peter 3:8–9 NIV

8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

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Peter address the whole community, addressing relationships within the church first. And then addressing relationships with unbelievers.

HOW WE SHOULD LIVE TOWARD ONE ANOTHER (v. 8)

In the Greek of verse 8, Tom Schreiner points out, there are five adjectives without any verb. So most translators supply the verb be.

It’s called a helping verb for a reason.

These five adjectives, these five words, when we look at them all together and obey these exhortations in our relationships with one another, they will lead to smooth relationships within the church.

If you spend anytime in the church, you know how fraught with drama it can be.

Now, it’s true drama and tension are present in any group of people, not just in the church. The problem is, the church—the redeemed people of God in Christ Jesus—is meant to be different, distinct from the ways of the world.

So when drama and discord and bitterness creeps up among the people of God, it’s especially disappointing.

I don’t want drama anywhere, but drama within the church can be especially difficult and damaging—not only to its members but to its witness.

We need help to relate to one another properly. We need reminders from God’s Word about how we should live, especially when life is difficult.

David Helm writes:

Peter “having finished his demanding section on the difficult work of submission…is keenly aware that his early readers will need encouragement. So in this text, he encourages Christians to get on with the difficult work of gracious living.”

“The difficult work of gracious living”—that’s a good phrase. And that’s what we’re being called to here.

How should we live toward one another? It’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s a really good start that Peter gives us. He begins by telling us to:

Be like-minded

This is a call to harmony; this word, only used here, means “sharing the same thoughts and attitudes, thinking harmoniously.”

Of course, this teaching is common to the NT—being likeminded and living in harmony; it’s an oft-repeated teaching, mostly because the church doesn’t do a great job of this. Being likeminded is a goal too infrequently attained among Christians.

The unity of mind that Christians are to show includes harmony of attitude as well as understanding. It relates to the humility and love Peter will mention in just a few words.

Being of one mind means having a common understanding of the truth, but there’s more.

It’s truth and love. Not love at the expense of truth or truth devoid of love. It’s both, together.

Being like-minded doesn’t mean that we have to agree with everyone all the time (in fact, there can’t be/won’t be harmony where God’s truth is absent).

But where truth is not sacrificed, where God’s Word is central and submitted to, harmony can exist. And it’s part of how we should live our lives toward one another.

Believers are to:

Be Sympathetic

This is how we care deeply for one another, about each other’s needs and joys and sorrows.

We “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15)

In 1 Corinthians 12:26, Paul reminds us of the sympathy that exists among parts of our physical bodies. When one part suffers, the other parts suffer with it.

Stub your toe and watch your whole body react. Catch the cold that’s going around and be prepared to not get out bed for a few days.

As a body of believers, we enter into one another’s pains and sorrows. We sympathize. It starts here (in the heart) and extends to action here (the hands).

Peter continues, teaching us how to live toward one another, saying, not surprisingly:

Love One Another

This is about loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is distinctly Christian behavior. Our love for one another is a family love. Christians have been adopted by God the Father, and as such, we are related to one another through Him.

Evidence of our faith in Christ is our warm love for one another. As God has loved us, so we must love our fellow believers.

This isn’t always easy; there are people—you’re thinking of some right now—there are dweebs named Barrett, for instance, who are awfully hard to love.

Sometimes impossibly hard to love.

But the call is to love. And we have a God who loves us with an incomprehensible love. It’s His love that pours over to others. It’s His love that makes it possible to love one another.

Be Compassionate

Christians are to be full of compassion for those who are experiencing pain. Compassion springs from mercy experienced in the forgiveness we’ve received.

If we truly understand what Jesus has done for us, the compassion He’s shown us, we will be overflowing with compassion toward others.

We will feel deep in our guts (that’s what this word actually refers to)—we will feel deep down within us a concern for those around us, specifically those within the fellowship of believers.

Finally, Peter instructs the church to

Be Humble

Humility here means that others are considered more important than oneself.

To be humble is to make sure arrogance doesn’t find a place in the community of believers.

Humility was scorned in the ancient world. In Greek literature, the word Peter uses here was an insult: low-mindedness.

For Christians to be called to humility reveals just how distinctive the Christian vision for moral life is. Christians have different values.

Only within the Christian community is humility a value. And it is because Jesus—the One who is gentle and humble in heart—is our model.

How should we live toward one another? We have five words listed for us, but it’s basically about living out the ethics of Jesus.

If we are CHRISTians, we are to reflect Him. To reflect Jesus, to show Jesus to others, to be like Jesus—well, that’s what it means to live as a CHRISTian.

Peter now, in verse 9, switches focus and directs out attention to how believers should respond to unbelievers who mistreat them.

1 Peter 3:9 “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”

HOW WE SHOULD LIVE TOWARD OUTSIDERS (v. 9)

There is, as Edmund Clowney states, “a marvelous contrariness” to God’s calling of the Christian.

Opposition and hatred cannot effect how the Christian lives. Even when Christians are cursed, they are to bless. Even when Christians are hated, they are to bless.

This is how Christians “get even.” They pay back evil with good, insults with blessing.

This is the teaching of Jesus. This is the example of Jesus. Peter has already written about this:

1 Peter 2:23 NIV

23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

In one of the most unpopular teachings of Jesus, our Savior says to us:

Matthew 5:38–48 NIV

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

How do you respond when insulted?

How do you respond when evil is done to you?

How do you respond when you experience hatred and mistreatment?

Peter says Christians are “free from being vindictive because they trust God is just. Christians are likewise free to bless because they know God is good.” - Ed Clowney

Those who bless others will receive a blessing from God. to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

In the Greco-Roman world, people would retaliate verbally to defend their honor (much like I tend to do). This fits our human nature. This is why Facebook exists.

The non-defensive stance of Christians following Jesus would have stood out in the day Peter was writing. Certainly today, the non-defensive stance stands out.

In not retaliating, Christians live in the way Jesus lived.

To bless those who injure, to show grace to those who show hatred, means that believers are to ask God to show His favor and grace upon the ones who have hurt them.

Petrine scholar Karen Jobes writes:

“For it is exactly when we are insulted and treated with malicious intent that we are most tempted to respond in kind by gossip, exaggerating the extent of the fault, or with outright slander.”

We are, by God’s grace and His indwelling presence, able to behave differently than our nature would dictate. We are compelled by Christ to behave differently.

This is how we should live toward outsiders. Peter tells us why in the next few verses, but we won’t get there today.

>Listen to John R. W. Stott:

“The problem we experience, whenever we think about the church, concerns the tension between the ideal and the reality.

The ideal is beautiful. The church is the chosen and beloved people of God, His own special treasure, the covenant community to whom He has committed Himself for ever, engaged in continuous worship of God and in compassionate outreach to the world, a haven of love and peace, and pilgrim people headed for the eternal city.

But in reality we who claim to be the church are often a motley rabble of rather scruffy individuals…uninspired in our worship, constantly bickering with each other, concerned more for our maintenance than our mission, struggling and stumbling along the road, needing constant rebuke and exhortation...”

The truth is, the song is beautiful but the ones performing the song don’t do it perfectly.

Picture this: you take your friends to a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The members of the symphony that night are grade school children, just learning their instruments. The performance is understandably chaotic.

As you leave the symphony, your friend speaks up and says, “No offense, but Beethoven kind of stinks. That was terrible.”

We know what happened wasn’t Beethoven’s fault. There are, no doubt, some pretty terrible performances of Beethoven around.

Here’s the parallel we need to make: there has been and there still is some truly horrible, sinful, diabolical acts perpetrated by Christians. The church has done much evil over its history.

But Christians have been given the most beautiful song to sing; it’s just that all too often we’ve been completely out of tune or terrible at playing our instrument.

The problem is the singers, not the song. The song is beautiful—the best song in the wide world. We try to sing the song, and sometimes sing it way off-key. Sometimes we’re well off the page.

Peter gives us a loving and gentle reminder of how we are supposed to live as Christians in a fallen world. We’ll do an imperfect job; at times, we won’t get anywhere close to reflecting our Savior.

But Jesus is our helper.

Jesus is the source of our strength to live lives pleasing to God.

As we start this new year, we realize the myriad ways we’ll fail to sing the song aright, but we ask the LORD to help us sing it well enough that people will say: ‘It’s a really good song.”

1 Peter 3:8–9 NIV

8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.