DON'T STAY DOWN, TURN UP

TEXT: I PETER 3:8-12

1 Peter 3:8-12 (ESV) 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.”

INTRODUCTION

You know it’s hard to keep up with the changing EXPRESSIONS OF OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. My daughter tries her best to keep me current. When our young people want to declare something to be especially exciting, something that really has it going on they say it is lit. It seems like it was just about a month ago that they would say something that was exciting was “turned up.”

We live in a world that chases the exciting and the thrilling. We just like our young people want things to be turned up. We have short attention spans even when it comes to the worship of God. We are much more interested in the thrilling of the Spirit than we are the filling of the Spirit.

I declare we want to live the high life, we want things to be popping, to be jumping, to be happening, to be lit. In a word we want things to be turned up. Unfortunately we look for excitement in all of the wrong places. We seek fulfillment in all of the wrong ways. You can’t get turned up by:

· Possessions you own

· Pleasures you seek

· Prestige you acquire

· Car that you drive, clothes you wear or the house where you live

The fact of the matter is that life lived on the highest plain cannot be produced by anything this world has to offer. No matter what the world throws at you, gives to you or heaps on you it will never produce for you what could truly be called the high-life.

This world will push you down, knock you down, throw you down and keep you down. Peter tells us we don’t have to be down we can turn up. The bible gives examples of those who pursued what they thought was the high-life only to end up being disappointed. Solomon had incredible wealth in the form of land, palaces, chariots and horses, gold and silver, and many beautiful women. Because he was king over Israel, he also had great power and influence. He seemed to possess everything that constituted the high-life. In fact, 2 Chron 9:3-4 says that when the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon and observed his immense wealth, power, and imposing presence she was breathless. But toward the end of his life, Solomon was not content and failed to experience life to the fullest. In Eccl 2:17 he wrote, "So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind."

Having tested and tasted all this life had to offer Solomon concluded the highlife cannot be found in what the world offers. He appropriately admonishes in Eccl 12:13-14

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. KJV

As we unpack the passage to uncover the principles there are three truths threaded into the tapestry of this text. They form the substance of the sermon and offers the homiletical hinges on which this message swings. Notice: THE SCRIPTURAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TURNED UP, THE SPIRITUAL REACTION OF THE TURNED UP, and THE SPECIAL VINDICATION OF THE TUNED UP.

I. THE SCRIPTURAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TURNED UP

1 Peter 3:8 (KJV) 8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

God wants His children to live lives turned up. . The person who is growing consistently and faithfully in his or her spiritual maturity is the person the bible would declare is living the highlife. Spiritual maturity is living life on its highest plain.

The question is how does a person determine whether or not he is growing and developing in his spiritual maturity and thereby experience the highlife? Is there a measurable and observable way to determine spiritual maturity? The answer is yes.

Peter shares five fundamental factors which describes for us a life turned up.

A. UNBROKEN UNITY- Peter admonishes us to be of “one mind”. That is a call for harmony; it is a call for unity. Unity is possible on when we have the right attitude.

The phrase “one mind” is the compound Greek word HOMOPHRONES. From HOMO which means, “the same”, and PHRONES, this means, “mind”.

As members of the family of God, the Church of Christ we must be characterized by a unity that exist because we have the same mind. The same mind that we are to possess is the mind of Christ. Phil 2:5; “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”, NKJV

Peter is not calling for uniformity. It is possible to wear the same uniform and not act like you are on the same team. Peter is not talking about unanimity where there is 100 percent agreement of everything and no variation of thinking or opinions.

Peter is talking about unity where the differences of opinions and ideas all take a back seat to our relationship with Christ and with each other. We must have one mind when it comes to Christ message, mission and model.

In matters of opinion where there is no clear word or principle from God in His word there is room for disagreement as long as we don’t become disagreeable. When it comes to the matter of doctrine and duty there can be no disagreement or disunity. We must do what the bible says. We must have the same mind about:

· Sovereignty of God

· Deity of Christ

· Unity of the faith

· Simplicity of the gospel

Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1 “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all”. NKJV

For unity to exist Paul declares we must have the right mentality, there must be lowliness, and gentleness, longsuffering and the forbearance of love. This is the mentality that promotes peace that Paul says we must endeavor to keep. Some of the things we pull on each other says some of us don’t even try to keep the peace.

For unity to exist Paul says there must not only be the right mentality, there must be the right message. We must have the same mind when it comes to the one Body, the one Spirit, the one hope, the one Lord, the one faith, the one baptism and the one God.

There is no room here for variations. One means one! Because there is no room for variations here this means there can be no room made for denominations. It is the different doctrines that produce the different denominations. If we taught the same thing, believed the same thing, obeyed the same thing, we would be the same thing. We would have unity. That is the distinctive plea of the Church of Christ. Let’s do what Jesus prayed for in John 17. Let’s be one!

Someone might say to be a Christian you don’t have to be in the same church any more than to be a musician you have to play the same instrument. I think I ought to tell you we don’t all have to play the same instrument but we do have to all be in the same orchestra and we must all play from the same sheet of music. When that happens there will be harmony. When that does not happen all you have is noise.

B. UNCEASING COMPASSION- The word translated “compassion” is SYMPATHES. This word obviously gives us our English word sympathy. It means to feel for others so much that...

· one suffers with those who suffer.

· one weeps with those who weep.

· one rejoices when others are honored.

· one understands the pressure that a leader is under when he has to lead.

· one hurts with those who are criticized and attacked.

· one grieves with the sorrows of others.

Unity cannot exist unless believers feel compassion and sympathy for one another. Believers cannot be selfish and aloof; they cannot be seeking attention and seeking to get their own way.

"Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep" (Romans 12:15).

Oh my brothers and sisters we ought to feel it when:

· Our brother is in pain

· Our sister is burdened down

· The storms of life start raging in someone’s life

· A member grieves because of the lost of a love one

· A member is told that their service is no longer required or desired at the job

· A sister who because of some bad choices is forced to try to raise a child as a single parent

If you love the Lord and you are committed to His people in this place look at somebody and say, “I’m feeling you”.

C. UNENDING AFFECTION- The phrase translated “love as brethren” is PHILADEPHOS. Adelphos means, “brother”, and Phileo means, “love or affection”. There is no greater force than love. The love that believers are to have for one another is what the Greek calls philadelphian love, a very special kind of love. The word is "rarely found except in Christian writings." Philadelphian love means brotherly love, the very special love that exists between the brothers and sisters within a loving family, brothers and sisters who truly cherish each other. It is the kind of love...

· Binds our hearts together in a unbreakable union

· Binds our souls together with an unshakable commitment

Oh if we could only remember that we are family, we share the same Father, we are members of the same family, we have the same faith and we anticipate the same future.

D. UNSELFISH TENDERNESS- The word "pity" is eusplagchnoi, and means to be tenderhearted; to be sensitive and affectionate toward the needs of others; to be moved with tender feelings over the pain and sufferings of others. Believers are to have pity upon the sufferings of others. Believers are to feel pity to the point that they are moved to act, moved to sacrifice and to reach out and meet the needs of the suffering.

Pity demands that a person deny himself and help others in their desperate needs and sufferings. Note also how pity draws people together. Helping and ministering to one another binds and knits people together.

E. UNPRETENTIOUS HUMILITY- Humility isn’t a show we put on. In fact if we think we are humble we probably are not. Oh how the church could use some folks with genuine humility in this age of:

· Self promotion

· Self assertion

Believers must be "courteous" (tapeinophrones ). The word means to be humble-minded; to be lowly in mind, not to be highminded, proud, haughty, arrogant, or assertive.

A humble person may have a high position, power, wealth, fame, and much more; but he carries himself in a spirit of lowliness and submission. He denies himself for the sake of Christ and in order to help others.

There are people who will never be as tall as they think they are. They never truly stand tall because of their inability to stoop down in humility. If you are blessed with abilities, if you are especially gifted, if you are tremendously talented and greatly used by God it is easy for you to start believing your own stuff. Humility punctures pride, halts haughtiness, and arrest arrogance.

II. THE SPIRITUAL REACTION OF THE TURNED UP

1 Peter 3:9 (KJV) 9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

If you want to live life turned up it is important to remember that as Christians we must have the right actions. We also must have the right reactions when we are being mistreated.

Not returning evil for evil begins with an imperative present participle expressing a negative command which can also mean "stop returning." If a believer is not retaliating to evil with more evil, he must not start; if he is, he must stop.

A. STOP BEING NEGATIVE- The Greek word for “render” is APODIDOMI, and means, “to pay back”. The life turned up means you have grown spiritually to the point where you don’t waste your time trying to get people back. Retaliation is a sign of immaturity while restraint is a sign of maturity. I declare it’s a waste of time:

· Trying to hurt those who hurt you

· Talk bad about the people who talked bad about you

· To be mean to people who are mean to you

· To cuss back at the folks who cuss you out

Spending your time trying to get even with people won’t do anything but get your pressure all up. Take the chip off your shoulders, don’t retaliate show some restraint. If you and a fool get in an argument and start cussing each other out it will be difficult for others to pick out the fool.

Joseph was done in by his own brothers. He was left in a pit, and then sold into slavery. I think I ought to tell you what goes around comes around. These same brothers end up having to stand before Joseph and ask for help. It was within Joseph’s power to pay his brothers back. Joseph didn’t retaliate, he released them from their debt. That is forgiveness, that is acting just like our Lord who while being crucified on a skull shaped hill was heard to pray, “Father forgive them…”

So many people who are supposed to be Christians are just like Peter whose first response to confrontation was to reach for his blade. There are some people if you mess with them they will cut you:

· With their hatred and hostility

· The mean spiritedness

· With their harsh and hateful words

· Vengeful and spiteful actions

If you push them too far and get on their last nerve they just might cut you for real! I think I ought to tell you when ever you sling mud even if its in retaliation you always lose ground!

START BEING POSSITIVE- Rather than retaliating when treated in a hostile and hateful way, believers are to respond by giving a blessing instead. The term translated blessing is the word from which the English word eulogy derives. It means to praise or speak well of others (cf. Luke 1:42).

· When they hurt you help them

· When they persecute you pray for them

· When they scandalize you evangelize them

good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matt 5:44).

III. THE SPECIAL VINDICATION OF THE TURNED UP

1 Peter 3:11-12 (KJV) 11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

Let’s be honest sometimes it is extremely difficult to display the right attitude with people who you know are being hateful, vengeful, and spiteful. Our natural tendency is to strike back, to fight back. What God empowers us to do is not to react naturally, but to act spiritually.

Peter shares with us how God vindicates His children who dare to do right even to people who are out to do them wrong. Peter shares two tremendous truths regarding this vindication.

A. WE MUST DO RIGHT HERE- The command of God is to turn away and flee evil. Turning away and fleeing is also a deliberate choice. Turning away and fleeing evil is up to us. We are the ones who have to repent; we are the ones who have to turn away from wrongdoing and turn to God.

B. GOD WILL BE RIGHT THERE- Peter's quote here of Ps 34:15-16 vividly fixes the reality that ought to motivate believers to live lives pleasing to God. The eyes of the Lord is a common Old Testament phrase that relates to God's special, caring watchfulness over His people (Prov 5:21; Zech 4:10).

God is also looking toward the righteous so that He can attend to their prayer. The word translated prayer is deesin and means "entreaty," "petition," or "supplication," and relates to believers' crying out for God to meet their needs. God is always fully aware of everything in the lives of His children. It ought to be a great incentive for believers to live as Peter has outlined, knowing that they can have confidence that the Lord is always watching and waiting, ready to hear and answer their prayers.

I declare its good news to know that God will be right there, right there when:

· I am being misunderstood and mistreated

· Somebody is scandalizing my name

· My burdens too heavy

· My way gets too dark

· Those who promised to have my back put a knife in it

· I fumble, falter and fall

· I do my best and it still doesn’t seem to be enough

· My eyes are filled with tears

· My shoulders are stooped with burdens

· My hands grow weary from the effort

I don’t know how you feel but I’m so glad, I am so glad that God keeps His eyes on me.

Conclusion

The great hope that is ours even when people try to keep us down is we can choose to live life on the highest plain. We can turn up. We can turn up because we know CHRIST WILL TURN UP:

· TO LIFT US UP WHEN THE WORLD THROWS US DOWN

· TO BEAT BACK THE POWERS OF HELL

· TO MAKE A WAY FOR US OUT OF NO WAY

· TO DRY OUR WEEPING EYES

· TURN OUR BURDENS TO BLESSINGS

· TRANSFORM OUR CROSS TO A CROWN

· ONE DAY A PUT HOSPITALS OUT OF BUSINESS

· STRIP SICKNESS, SORROW AND SUFFERING FROM THE LEXICON AND LANGUAGE OF GOD’S REDEMED PEOPLE