A Church of Excellence

2007 was a year that changed our lives forever. It was just 18 years ago that the standard for communications and technology was raised forever. On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the very first iPhone. It was the very first smartphone to fave a multi-touch display and it is the reason the word app is a common word in our vocabulary today. It was a groundbreaking technological marvel, but Steve Jobs was known for setting a high standard of excellence for this device that would change the market forever. Eighteen years later, I think everyone would agree he succeeded.

The church is a product, but not a consumer product like an iPhone. It is a product of a labor of love. It is the result of thousands of years of hard work and sacrifice. The church is the people of God, and God has a high standard of excellence for his people.

We are into the last of a series within a series. The sermon series is called Hope in Hard Times. The subject matter from the second half of 1 Peter 2 to the first half of chapter 3 is about living lives of excellence as Christians immersed in a culture hostile to the message. The churches this letter went out to had been dispersed among five Roman provinces in what we know now as the nation of Turkey, and while we have enjoyed a history in our own country favorable to Christianity, the culture we live in today is not so favorable.

In the unfavorable cultural context the early church found themselves in, there was a call from Peter for the church to conduct themselves with excellence, then he proceeded to provide several examples. The first was the citizen’s relationship to his government. The citizen was to set an example of godliness regardless of the behavior of the government. The servant was called to serve his master regardless of the behavior of his master. The wife is called to serve her husband regardless of the behavior of the husband. There are many exceptions we can find to this principle as we apply it to various situations, but the intent is to communicate how one should model godliness to the rest of the world when the world thinks you are strange and crazy.

Today, we will be looking at the final example, a church of excellence. We find it in chapter three, starting in verse eight. This creates a nice bookend for this section of the letter.

1 Peter 3:8–12 NASB95

To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. “He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it. “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

We should be reminded once again that the church is not the building that we occupy. The church is those who occupy the building. So the church is us, not a place. I know what we mean when we say we are going to church, but we should also remember we can’t go to what we are.

So, if the church is what we are, and we are called to live lives of excellence, the Bible provides insight into how to do that.

An excellent church reflects God’s character through three essential practices.

An excellent church embodies Christian virtues.

Verse eight outlines five adjectives that describe what an excellent church looks like. All of these are directed at behaviors toward one another. So there is in this principle an internal factor, and we will see in the next one an external factor. We are going to turn our attention first to the internal.

Within the body of Christ, Peter is calling his readers to be harmonious. The other way of putting this is to be like-minded. The original wording literally means “having the same understanding.” It isn’t that we will agree on every topic, but we do agree on the essentials. This is the reason we have doctrinal statements like the Baptist Faith and Message and our own doctrinal statements on our website. Harmonious is that within diversity, we are unified in core doctrines and in mission.

To be sympathetic is to have those feelings of concern when someone among us is going through something difficult. It does not mean that we have to identify with their pain to qualify, for that may be an impossibility. But I can have some sympathy (or compassion) toward someone going through a trial I may have no experience in. We are called in our same understanding to be sympathetic toward one another. I have learned in my years of ministry that a person’s hurt often runs much deeper than I think and I must resist asserting an opinion over a person’s situation until I have done my own investigating.

Brotherly love is simple to understand, but can be difficult to execute. Loving one another is a difficult thing. It’s easy when we don’t ruffle each other’s feathers, but God doesn’t call us to love one another only when it feels good. He calls us to do so in every moment, whether easy or hard, but especially when it’s hard.

We are called to bear one another’s burdens, tolerate one another, give preference toward one another, not to think too highly of ourselves. These things require compassion and humility.

To embody these virtues, we must take off the old self and put on the new self (Eph. 4:22-24). We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2). We reflect the character of God when we embody these values.

Are these qualities not the qualities of Christ, who stepped out of heaven, came to earth to be born as one of us, live a life according to the will of his father without error so that he could offer his life as a sacrifice for us? Did we deserve such love? How many of you would die to yourself and genuinely and lovingly serve someone sacrificially while they continued to reject you? Yet this is what Christ has done for us.

What are we filling our minds with? Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A man is what he thinks about all day long.” What are we filling our minds with? Are we filling our minds with the things of God, or are we filling it with the things of the world? How much are we allowing the world to influence us? If we want to embody these virtues, we must develop a healthy spiritual appetite. What does yours look like?

An excellent church blesses those who oppose her.

Peter moves on in verse nine from an internal factor to an external factor. He is no longer talking about relationships within the body of Christ (though sometimes it can be like this). He is directing their attention to the outside aggressors. The church reading this letter is facing persecution. Their people are being attacked, beaten, imprisoned, maybe even killed. Lives are on the line here and Peter says don’t return evil for evil, or insult for insult. Instead, bless them.

I know…not exciting news. Our instinct when we are mistreated is to let someone have it, isn’t it? If someone comes and hits me, my first instinct is to hit back twice as hard. When someone is nasty to me, I want be nasty right back. We have a natural inclination to defend ourselves, our honor, our dignity, our name, whatever we want to call it. Modeling the character of God often requires going against what feels most natural to us in the moment.

Instead, give a blessing. Why? This is what you were called to do, and if you do this, there is a blessing for you. Now, God is not transactional. Just because you do A, does not automatically mean God will do B every time. He is not a machine. But if you bless those who oppose you, there is a blessing in it from God. I recommend not trying to predict what that blessing is ahead of time. He has a way of blessing us in ways we could never expect.

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus introduces to his audience the law of non-retaliation.

Matthew 5:38–42 NASB95

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ “But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

He is not suggesting we let people take advantage of us. We have to exercise wisdom in how we apply these principles, but the idea behind this is the same as 1 Peter. So far as it depends on you, don’t return evil for evil. Go out of your way to be a blessing instead. Why? Because Jesus commanded it, and that alone should be enough. But it is hard for someone who treats you poorly to continue to do so in the face of persistent blessing. When you refuse to engage someone on their level, it has a way of bringing the temperature down in the relationship.

Matthew 5:43–45 NASB95

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Is there someone in your life right now that you honestly can’t stand? What would it look like to serve them outrageously? Could it be that God is calling you to such a task? It seems impossible, I know. And the truth is you lack the strength to do this. But the Holy Spirit in you does not. If there is someone in your life like that, I want you to do something. I want you to start praying for that person, even if it is the only thing you end up praying about, just pray for that person. Pray that you would see that person the way God sees them. Pray that God would soften their heart and yours. Pray that while you are in this season you might be given the strength to endure.

An excellent church blesses those who oppose her. How might you be a blessing to that person you are thinking about right now?

An excellent church strives for righteousness.

As a justification of his previous claim, Peter begins to quote Psalm 34:12-16. This was written by David, provides in poetic fashion, instructions for living a long life. Do you want to live a long life? Here’s how to do it. Step one: watch your mouth. The temptation to speak ill of someone is high, but we have to be careful. You can be critical of one’s behaviors or attitudes, but we must be careful of the conclusion we might draw about a person based on what we know about them. We should have a high code of ethics and our speech should reflect that.

Step two: RUN from evil! Don’t just turn your back to it, RUN! The temptation to rebel against God and return to bondage to the very sin he sought to free you from is lurking around every corner! RUN from it! Don’t be caught near it! When you do, confess it, find restoration, and keep running! Run from evil and do good. Strive after the things of God.

Step three: seek peace and pursue it. Now, this is not a formula for success. These are principles that are generally true, and if followed, generally lead to the desired outcome of living a long life. Romans 12:18 says,

Romans 12:18 NASB95

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

I know there are nasty people out there and you would rather live in a positive relationship with them. But there are also some people who are just going to be there and it doesn’t seem to matter what you do, they are just going to stay nasty. I want to remind you that the issue is far deeper than what is on the surface and it is not your job to change someone’s heart. But so far as it depends on you, be at peace with even the most contentious people.

“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ears attend to their prayer.” One should not expect the king of the universe to answer his prayers if he is a practitioner of evil. He turns his face from the one who does evil, yet at the same time pursues us to call us from evil to righteousness. If you habitually give God the cold shoulder but then cry out to him, what responsibility does he have to answer that prayer? God is a rescuer, but he does not rescue us from trouble without addressing the behaviors that got us there in the first place. So when God responds, be prepared to address whatever He brings to light. This is what the righteous do.

We live in hard times, yet 1 Peter provides hope in those hard times. You and I have yet to face persecution on the level these original readers were. May God be gracious enough to allow us not to experience such things. But in this season of life and in this moment in history, may we stand as lights in the darkness and live lives of excellence. Living a life of excellence puts the character of God on display. To be an excellent church, we must embody Christian virtues, bless those who oppose us, and strive for righteousness.

For someone here today, you may not be feeling like there is much hope to be had. I want you to understand that at the center of that hopelessness is a disconnect from God. Maybe you have never heard this stuff before. I want you to know that the brokenness we experience was not a part of God’s design. He designed everything perfect, but our first ancestors chose their own way, which has slowly snowballed into the pain and suffering we experience today. God did not create a broken world. We broke it by rejecting his standard for how things should be done.

The good news is there is hope. The Bible says that God sent Jesus into the world to live as one of us, modeling what a life lived according to God’s design looks like, then offered himself as a sacrifice for you and I. We could not satisfy God’s justice on our own, so Jesus stepped in and offered himself instead. The Bible says that if we will turn from our own wickedness and accept Christ as the Son of God who died, was buried, and raised from the dead, we can be restored to a relationship with God. If we will follow Jesus, he will help us recover and pursue God’s design for our lives.

Some of us have already made the decision to follow Jesus, but today we find that we have faltered. Somewhere down the path, we stepped off and now we are having trouble finding our way back. The good news is if you will listen for his voice, he is calling. All you have to do is stop seeking your own way and return to letting him be the guide. In both situations, we call this surrender. We surrender control of our affairs to the one who can lead us on the right path.

What decision do you need to make today to get back on the right path?