Living & Loving the Good Life
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Living & Loving the Good Life
Living & Loving the Good Life
“How are you?” or “How are you doing?” are questions that we should ask others, and wait patiently for an answer. Whatever the answer, and there should be an answer, we should focus only on that person and in every way possible demonstrate that we care, really care. We should also be prepared to ask a noninvasive followup question because we care.
I would also suggest that we ask, “How might I pray for you?” It should go without saying that if a confidence is shared, the confidence/trust is guarded!
A few years ago I overheard someone else ask the question, “How are you doing?”. Without hesitation, the answer came back, “Living the good life!” Because of the context of the conversation and both parties, “Living the good life” seemed to be code for saying, things are going my way, life’s a blast and no one’s rocking boat or stopping me doing what I want.
“Living the good life” is something that most people would prefer to define in their own terms.
But what happens when that which is defined as good really isn’t that good?
There is also the fact that “Living the good life” will continue to change and be subjective, that is unless there is a reliable, unchanging definition of what is good and the good life. It would seem that those to whom Peter wrote had been asked and for that reason had asked Peter and the word of God for some help
Peter explained that those who “live the truly good life” will have the:
Right attitude - 1 Peter 3:8
The Declaration of Independence” most of which has been attributed to Thomas Jefferson contains the well-known phrase, that God gave people the “inalienable rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For most people today, that seems to involve chasing and accumulating things that do not last and do not really satisfy - money, houses, cars, fine this and better that and more of that.
Sometimes the things have some base components, some of which enslave and addict. To be sure, some of these things seem to initially fill some holes, needs and heartaches. All too often though the short term answer to pain soon screams for attention and controls. Sometimes it destroys.
1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 17: Living and Loving the Good Life (1 Peter 3:8–12)
One of the most notorious twentieth-century personifications of the hedonistic life was famed novelist Ernest Hemingway. The author of noted literary works such as The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway also became notorious for his avant-garde lifestyle. He had little regard for the teachings of the Bible or traditional systems of morality. He pursued the “good life” with a vengeance. His literary talent brought him fame, prestige, and money, which allowed him to seek pleasure all over the world through hunting and fishing expeditions, celebrity parties and gatherings, heavy drinking, fighting in and reporting on several wars and revolutions, and sleeping with women wherever he went. However none of that ultimately gave Hemingway any lasting or genuine satisfaction. His life ended tragically one day in 1961 when he inflicted himself with a fatal shotgun blast to the head.
Even the Scriptures include examples of those who knowingly pursued the good life in the wrong places.
King Solomon had everything that he could want. Queen Sheba was impressed.
And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his cupbearers, and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her.
In the end Solomon was not content. He same to understand that the good life is not found in things.
So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.
Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
Christ explained that the issue is more than the right definition.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Unity of mind
Harmonious - homophrones - same think - only NT use
Common commitment to the truth that produces an inward unity of the heart with one another
Does not mean say and think the same but there should be harmony
It also means that we avoid strife even in difficult circumstances
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Sympathy
Sharing the same feeling - sumathes - sympathetic to the pains of others
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
Brotherly love
Philadelphia - love brother - only time in NT - brotherly love is expressed in both words and deeds.
Unselfish service for one another - love as brothers
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
A tender heart
Kindhearted -eusplaghchnoi - refers to one’s internal organs, bowels or intestines - deep powerful kind of feeling - deep tender hearted compassion similar God’s concern for sinners through Christ.
only time in NT
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Jesus wept.
Humble mind
Humble in spirit - one word in Greek - tapeinophrones - low minded - meek - lowly - only here in NT
One of most essential underlying attributes for a believer
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Right response - 3:9
A godly response in life incorporates both the right motives and the right responses.
If our motives are right, that is Christlike, we will not return evil for evil or insult for insult. When the responses are wrong, we have every reason to question the motives & heart.
Evil - kakos - inherent quality of badness/wickedness
Peter echoed what Jesus taught.
“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 the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
“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 makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Not to return insult for insult.
Paul did his best to respond with grace even when insulted. Grace and truth when genuine are inseparable.
And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ”
When we are reviled, we are to bless.
and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
Called to bless that might be blessed
Blessing - eulogy - derived from the Greek word - speak well, praise. Does not mean that we distort the truth but as much as we can we can we present it in a way that will build up rather than tear down.
How do believers bless unbelievers?
Love unconditionally
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Pray for the unbeliever and their salvation
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Express gratitude
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
Forgive those who persecute you - Matt 18:21-35
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Right standard - Scripture - 3:10-11
Christ, the disciples and the NT believers saw the Scriptures as their final right standard of faith and practice.
Peter quoted Ps 34:12-14 as the OT example of how to respond
What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Having the Right Standard
A Christian—described here as the one who desires life, to love and see good days—must refrain from speaking anything that comes from the underlying evil of an immoral disposition
The one who loves the truly good life, does not live an no holds barred, unrestrained life. The tongue is kept from evil. The lips speak no deceit.
Seek peace and pursue it. Believers are peace makers. They do not pour an accelerant on the potentially flammable situation.
Right incentive - 3:12
The Lord sees and hears those who live righteously. God is sovereign
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Justice belongs to the Lord.
Holds people accountable for what they do. But here, Peter reminded those to whom he wrote that God cares for His people
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
“Be careful little eyes what you see.”
Right motive/securities - 3:13-22
Who = few people do harm to you if you are zealous to do good.
Devotion to Christ - 3:13-17
Who will harm you? - 3:13
Although most are slow to harm those who are kind and care, it does happen.
Who will bless you? - 3:14
God will bless those who suffer for righteousness’ sake - Matt 5:10-11
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
You will be blessed!
Today there is an escalating hostility toward biblical Christianity throughout Western culture. But the roots of that hostility are decades, even centuries, old. Francis Schaeffer provided the following analysis in the 1970s:
“ In ancient Israel, when the nation had turned from God and from his truth and commands as given in Scripture, the prophet Jeremiah cried out that there was death in the city. He was speaking not only of physical death in Jerusalem but also a wider death. Because Jewish society of that day had turned away from what God had given them in the Scripture, there was death in the polis, that is, death in the total culture and the total society.
In our era, sociologically, man destroyed the base which gave him the possibility of freedoms without chaos. Humanists have been determined to beat to death the knowledge of God and the knowledge that God has not been silent, but has spoken in the Bible and through Christ—and they have been determined to do this even though the death of values has come with the death of that knowledge.
We see two effects of our loss of meaning and values. The first is degeneracy. Think of New York City’s Times Square—Forty-second and Broadway. If one goes to what used to be the lovely Kalverstraat in Amsterdam, one finds that it, too, has become equally squalid! The same is true of lovely old streets in Copenhagen. Pompeii has returned! The marks of ancient Rome scar us: degeneracy, decadence, depravity, a love of violence for violence’s sake. The situation is plain. If we look, we see it. If we see it, we are concerned.
But we must notice that there is a second result of modern man’s loss of meaning and values which is more ominous, and which many people do not see. This second result is that the elite will exist. Society cannot stand chaos. Some group or some person will fill the vacuum. An elite will offer us arbitrary absolutes, and who will stand in its way? (How Should We then Live? “[Westchester, Ill.: Crossway, 1976], 226–27; emphasis in the original. MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2004). 1 Peter (pp. 195–196). Chicago: Moody Publishers.
Honouring the Lord as holy by what you say and do
In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord
Sanctify - set apart Christ
Humbly explain why and what believe
Defense - apologia
Give an account - equals formal courtroom setting - answer those who asked - asks - right answer to present ask
Not in the sense of make an excuse but in the more radical sense of defense and clearing yourself.
“Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.”
It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.
Speak truth humbly and with love.
Reverence - fear of God
Good conscience potentially puts revilers to shame
for you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the Lord will reward you.
To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
We do not lose heart.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Knowing that we are where we are called to be and are serving as we are called to serve should give us some degree of peace even in difficult situations.
Prince Philip interview - question re fear as served in the Royal Navy- doing what called to do.
“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary A Willingness to Suffer—For Wrong and for Right
As the seventeenth-century English preacher and writer John Bunyan accepted imprisonment in the Bedford Jail for preaching without a license, and Reformer Martin Luther stood before his enemies and refused to recant his scriptural beliefs, so Christians today must stand firm in the face of suffering. Believers whose minds and affections are set on things above (Col. 3:2–3) will rejoice when they must undergo sufferings because they see through to the blessings to be gained.
Covenanters - Scotland - 800 executed, 1400 imprisoned - John Knox - Presbyterian Church - Christ not Earthly monarch head of the Church.
Have a good conscience - in that renewed and directed by the word.
Right model/example - Christ - 3:18-22
Suffered once for sin - 3:18
Righteous for the unrighteous - 3:18
Just for the unjust
Jesus died for sins. God required a sacrifice for sins.
so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
He bore our sins.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Penal substitutionary atonement/vicarious atonement
Salvation affirmed - 3:19-21
Jesus made alive in spirit
1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Christ’s Triumphant Sermon
Thus Peter’s point here must be that though Jesus’ body was dead, He remained alive in His spirit (cf. Luke 23:46)
Disobedient spirits/those who confess Christ
Jesus went to proclaim His victory, triumph over sin.
1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Christ’s Triumphant Sermon
Christ went to proclaim His victory to the enemy by announcing His triumph over sin (cf. Rom. 5:18–19; 6:5–6), death (cf. Rom. 6:9–10; 1 Cor. 15:54–55), hell, demons, and Satan
This is not preaching the Gospel but announcements to imprisoned evil spirits - imprisoned - that the one with whom they rebelled is defeated.
Noah and the flood - Through the ark, God saved 8 people from judgment
Baptism - immersion in/faith in Christ saves/saved
1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary His Triumphant Salvation
Just as the Flood immersed all people in the judgment of God, yet some passed through safely, so also His final judgment will involve everyone, but those who are in Christ will pass through securely. The experience of Noah’s family in the Flood is also analogous to the experience of everyone who receives salvation. Just as they died to their previous world when they entered the ark and subsequently experienced a resurrection of sorts when they exited the ark to a new post-Flood world, so all Christians die to their old world when they enter the body of Christ (Rom. 7:4–6; Gal. 2:19–20; Eph. 4:20–24). They subsequently enjoy newness of life that culminates one day with the resurrection to eternal life
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Exalted at God’s right hand
Rather than being left to its lowest common denominator, “Living the good life” is best defined by the Scriptures.
Whoever really loves life, God’s truly good life, will seek peace with God and others.
Living the good life is not about amassing more of what I want but as beginning understanding that all of our wants need to be redefined and re-calibrated.
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It isn’t that things are wrong. They are not first. When they are first there will always be problems between us and God, us and others.
When that redefining, re-calibrating has not taken place, we tend to congregate with those who affirm our distorted definition.
The word defines and explains the good life and how to live it.
2. Living God’s good life honours God and more often then not involves suffering.
Those who have determined to live the good life as God defines it will not be in the norm. This surprises some.
With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;
It makes other uncomfortable, even to the extent that they turn on you. Whenever we re-define the good life, some will react and suffering will result.
Trinity Western University - sexual code for students seen as creating bias in proposed legal faculty
Supreme Court ruling blind to their own definition of a broader sexual code of the good life.
Adoption process - increasingly biased again those who do not sexual parameters as acceptable in the widest parameters.
IN THE DEMAND FOR TOLERANCE THERE IS EXTREME INTOLERANCE
People lose employment and tenure because they dare to define the good life differently.
3. God’s good life is lived only in Christ, who through His suffering/death brought us to God.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
4. God’s good life is not about physical and sensual, but a good conscience toward God.
A life free of ongoing, unconfessed sin lived submitting to the Lord will produce a clear conscience.
And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied:
“Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense. You can verify that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem, and they did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city. Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me. But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man. Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings. While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple, without any crowd or tumult. But some Jews from Asia— they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation, should they have anything against me. Or else let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council, other than this one thing that I cried out while standing among them: ‘It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.’ ”
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.