Zealously Loving Others

Introduction:

Imagine for a moment, what your life, family life, work life, and this church would look like if you resolved this morning to zealously love others. What would happen to your spiritual health if you responded in love instead of harshness. What rifts in your family life would be healed if you resolved to love them the way Christ loves you. How would your boss, co-workers or employees change if you resolved to zealously love them as fellow image bears of God. What would happen to your church if you resolved above all to zealously love one another the way Christ loves us.

Zealously Love Others:

Our passage this morning, is prefaced by Peter stating in 1 Peter 4:1 for Christians to imitate Jesus as they seek to be faithful in a world that rejects their faith. Peter states, 1 Peter 4:1 “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.” What Peter does in the following verses is explain to us what it looks like to be armed with the mind of Christ.

In v. 7, Peter frames his encouragement in light of the “end of all things.” Peter says, 1 Peter 4:7 “The end of all things is at hand; therefore.” Calling Christians to live in anticipation of the seconding coming of Christ. Now the seconding coming of Christ marks the end of this world and the beginning of the next, for God has said that he will roll this world up like a scroll, and that this creation because of sin, has been reserved for fire, meaning total destruction, but the hope that Christians have is that God has already prepared a new heaven and a new earth for those who trust in Christ.

That bring us to verse 8, where we are encouraged in light of the second coming 1 Peter 4:8 to, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” This is not merely a suggestion but a command. Our natural inclination may be to love conditionally, saying, "I'll love you as long as you meet certain criteria." Therefore, when trials arise and conflicts emerge, we often discard Peter's directive.

But Peter’s statement is, “Above all.” Peter means that love is to be pre-eminent in our character, a superior emotion, focus, attitude, and guide to our actions. We need to understand what this means, because generally we are quick to lash out, quick to find fault, quick to speak our minds. And when we do, we show that what compels us is not the love of Christ, but the love of self.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

Additionally, Peter adds the qualifier here that we are to 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” This is hard to see in English, but the Greek word Peter uses, ektene, means something more than earnestness.

In the greek usage we get the picture of a great stallion (horse) stretched out in full gallup, pounding across the ground straining to go faster and further. In context, Peter means then to zealously stretch yourself out in love for others, seeking their good. That means with full effort we strain and strive to bring about God’s goodness in the lives of other people, speaking the truth in love.

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

We do this because as Jesus says in, Matthew 24:12 “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”

We are to “Above all keep loving one another earnestly”, zealously, because the effects of sin are active and according to Matthew 24:12 increasing in severity. Our love for one another works to push back the darkness, and transform societies, and our families, because it drives us to preach the Gospel of life to those we are dead in their sins.

Love Covers a multitude of sins:

Peter gives us a second lesson here, in the last half of verse 8 we read, 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

Allow me explain what this does not mean. It does not mean that our love provides atonement for sin. Peter is not saying that our love atones for our sin, or the sin of others, only the blood of Jesus provides that. Instead, what Peter is saying is that when, God produced, love in us serves as the guide to our actions, it allows us to over look the failings of others, not take offense at them, and gently call out their sin, requiring repentance so that a healthy relationships can be established. Love for others drives us to see them reconciled to God and others.

Dr. Schreiner a Bible commentator says, “The clear meaning is that love covers over the wrongs of others, while those who are full of hatred use the sins of others as a springboard to attack them.”

MacArthur says, “Such love is sacrificial, not sentimental, and requires a stretching of believers’ every spiritual muscle to love in spite of insult, injury, and misunderstanding from others.”

The love that Peter is talking about is a genuine love that is characteristic of forgiving the offenses of others. Proverbs 10:12 says “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.”

Paul says in Galatians 5:15 “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” This is what we once where, those who devour one another, but now if you are in Christ Jesus, you are children of God, and if children then we are filled with the Holy Spirit who works in us life, peace, joy, patience, kindness, love, etc.

Seeing that we are called to 1) zealously love one another above all, and 2) because love covers a multitude of sins, what should I do?

Action 1: Seek to resolve conflict -

2 Thessalonians 3:15 “Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”

Matthew 18:15–20 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Leviticus 19:17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.”

Action 2: Consider how to stir up each other to love and good works -

Hebrews 10:24 “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,”

Hebrews 3:13 “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Action 3: Walk in humility -

1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Matthew 20:26–27“It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,”

Conclusion:

Therefore, since the end is at hand, seeks above all to keep loving one another earnestly, since lover covers a multitude of sins.

Colossians 3:12–14“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

Prayer: