Family Relations Part 2: Love One Another Fervently

1 Peter 1:22-2:3 Family Relations Part 2 (Love One Another Fervently) Introduction: As Peter has taught us about our relationship to God as Father now he teaches about our relationship with one another. We often understand in very personal terms that Jesus died for us on the cross and celebrate this with songs filled with singular pronouns, and the gospel is certainly not less than this. The Son of God "loved me and gave himself for me" says Paul (Gal 2:20). But the gospel is much more than this. Christ died for his people. He died so he could present his bride (the Church) to himself, radiant and pure. He died so that he could be the second Adam, creating a new humanity that is righteous in him. Therefore becoming a Christian is not simply a change of mind or lifestyle. It is about being born again into a new race. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” - Titus 2:11-15. As a new people, a new race, we have a new Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we have a new family- the Church. Christians have become "without Home" in the culture. Roman society was viewed as a family with Caesar as the Patriarch. Their new birth meant Peter's readers had moved outside this family. They had become outsiders, homeless, un-family. But they are given a new family in God. Therefore, their lives were to tell a different story. Peter wants us to know how to live as this new family; not only do we need to know how we are to live in relation to our Father but we also must know how we are to live in relation to our Brothers and Sisters. Peter considers this of great importance. In this letter, where Peter teaches us How We are to live as the people of God, he begins his letter reminding us of who God is and what he has done, then he tells how we are to live in relation to the Father, we are to live in obedience, out of reverence and gratitude, displayed in a life of holiness. Peter’s next concern is that we understand how we are to live in relation to one another. Before we begin to live in relation to the world, we are first and foremost called to live in right relation to the Father and to one another. Peter’s call is to fervent love. 1. Born Again for Brotherly Love. a. “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart”. -1 Peter 1:22 i. Notice how Peter says this, "having purified your souls by obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love…" Brotherly love is not a by-product of purification by obedience to truth; it is it's purpose. We have been born again for brotherly love. The goal or purpose of our conversion is a genuine love for fellow believers. - We have been saved to be God's holy people, to be Christ's bride, to be a new family. ii. Going back to what was stated in the intro. Christ died not simply to reconcile us individually to God but corporately, and to reconcile us to one another. This is a manifestation of how the gospel is already making all things new. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree their sin not only separated them from God but it also separated them from one another. And ever since then man has been separated from his fellow men because of the sin that remains in us. But in Christ we have been reconciled both to God and men and woman who have been born again. 1. We have been born again in order that God’s love might be perfected in us as we love one another. 2. Christian are born for brotherly love. 2. Love One Another Strenuously. a. Peter’s command is not to a blasé love. b. His command is that our love would be fervent. The term that Peter uses is the same word that is used for Christ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. It means passionate intensity. c. We are to be aggressive in our love, we are to be proactive, not just passive with one another. Love is not passive, or only reactive, it is proactive! d. Can we say that we love one another this way? e. I would love to define my relationship with you (the members of Refuge) as an intense love. i. Remember, Tertullian reported that the Romans would exclaim,in reference to the early church, “See how they love one another!” 1. Our love is to be intense in such a way that it is felt by those who interact with our community, if they aren’t part of our fellowship, they feel it, and they desire to be a part of this intense love. 2. Example: Dating someone in a really tight knit family. ii. So Peter commands intense love, and reminds us that this is what we have been born again for: to love one another intensely from pure hearts. 1. As we grow and desire to grow in holiness towards God we must also grow and desire to grow in love for one another. 2. It’s not that we are always going to get it right, but this is our aim, this is the mark that we have been called to and that we are striving for. 3. Born Again by the Enduring Word a. “(Y)ou have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” - 1 Peter 1:23-25 i. "Here in verse 23 Peter speaks again of being born anew, but this time we are reborn into a new family. The language of family runs through this section of the letter (1:3-2:10). We are “children” with God as our “Father”. This comes with an obligation to display the family likeness: we are to be holy because God our Father is holy. ii. Peter goes on : "For you know that it was not with corruptible things like silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ like a lamb without blemish or defect....” iii. Forefathers" is literally "fathers." In other words, we have been redeemed from one family tradition into another. Our family background has a big influence on our actions, but we have been set free from a destructive family background. We are now to live as God’s family, as members of his household. b. Often times when I come across biblical demands like holiness and love, I do one of two things, I either generalize or I focus so much on my failure and become so overwhelmed and condemned. i. Example of generalizing: C. S. Lewis once said: "It is easier to be enthusiastic about humanity with a capital "H" than it is to love individual men and women, especially those who are uninteresting, exasperating, depraved, or otherwise unattractive. Loving everybody in general may be an excuse for loving nobody in particular." ii. Two things that can help us in this context: 1. The right view of one another. a. Christians are not commanded to love one another because all of a sudden, when we are born again, we become the most amazingly, agreeable and lovable people. Christians are commanded to love other Christians simply on the basis that they are fellow Christians. Often times as we interact with one another, we love people based on their personality, or what they do for us. This is not true love, nor the kind of love that God calls us to. We did not deserve the Love of God and he showed it to us by sending his son to die so we could be saved. The Love that God calls us to have for one another is a self giving love. A love that desires the best for the individual even at cost to ourselves. This is how God has loved us. b. So Christian Love is not based on a matter of the worthiness of the individual. Christian Love is based on family likeness and a family loyalty. We are called to love other believers simply because they also are children of God. i. We are to see them as God sees them. ii. “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - These are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” -Lewis 1. “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” -2 Corinthians 5:16-18 2. The right understanding of the source of this love. a. It is so good for us to remind ourselves where this love, that we are commanded to have, comes from. i. It comes through being born again by the everlasting word of God. It is given us by our Father in heaven, we have been given a new nature. ii. The source of our love is not us, but the life giving power of the enduring word of God. iii. Peter’s command to love one another earnestly from a pure heart is rooted not in our power, capacity, or charity, it is rooted in the life giving power of the word of God. iv. The same word that commands us to love is the word that gave us new life! 1. When you are overwhelmed by this command or by that frustrating individual, look to this. Conclusion: "As Christians we have got to allow the gospel to define our identity rather than the prevailing secular and socially fragmented story that our society tells. In Christ we have been restored to what we were originally made to be: men and women who live in community and are characterized by sincere brotherly love." Let your life tell a different story. "The Christian community demonstrates the effectiveness of the gospel. We are living proof that the gospel is not an empty word but a powerful word that takes men and women who are lovers of self and transforms them into lover's of God and others. We are living proof that the death of Jesus was not just a vain expression of God's love but an effective death that achieved the salvation of people who now love one another sincerely from a pure heart” - Everyday Church