A Strange Reminder To Love
A Strange Reminder To Love.
1 Peter 1:20-25
Reminders that we have…notes, string, wake up calls, etc. Reminder of piano tuning. Reminders in God’s Word for us to love.
1 John 4:7-8Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
As you read the context of this passage, brotherly love is tied to our wonderful salvation that we have been afforded through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. But then at the end of the chapter, it is basically telling us to show love for our brother because the Word of God is eternal. To me that is a strange reminder to love.
Here is a great question fofr tonight’s lesson—Why must we be reminded to love?
I think the answer is given to us at the end of verse 20. We have been saved during the last times. Turn to 2 Timothy 3, and look at the description of the last days. We can say that the last days are a time of progressive corruption where men will wax worse and worse. Look at the picture we are given of love and affection. It is selfish, unnatural, and seeks after pleasure. So follow this…We were saved out of these last days, and like it or not, we bring some of this baggage with us right into this body of believers.
We are also reminded to love so that we can eliminate hypocrisy in the assembly. You can only have this kind of love if you have been purified, and that is a work of God.
Deuteronomy 30:6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Once the heart is changed then the old can be worked out and the new can move in. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Here is where hypocrisy comes into play. If there is no desire to extend brotherly love, then the heart must be examined. That is why we keep preaching the Gospel, to eliminate the pretenders, the tares, the players.
Verse 22 outlines the manner in which we are to love one another. Unfeigned—sincerely—without disguse—easily recognized. Think about the sporting world..much of it is based on deception or trickery. There is no call for that in any area of Christianity.
Fervently—Give it your all---extend and expend. The effectual…
Pure heart—it should come from the very core of our being.
Since we are born again by incorruptible seed, the ability to show love to the brethren is a part of our nature. This was the verse that I read in my Morning and Eveneing devotion. Spurgeon said that many times royalty is recognized by what is on the outside, but for the Chrisitian, who is a child of the king, it is all on the inside. Christ in you…Your salvation is eternal, and the Word of God that brought your salvation is eternal.
Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith's door
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
When looking in, I saw upon the floor,
Old hammers worn with beating years of time.
"How many anvils have you had," said I,
"To wear and batter these hammers so?"
"Just one," said he; then with a twinkling eye,
"The anvil wears the hammers out, you know."
And so, I thought, the anvil of God's Word,
For ages, skeptics blows have beat upon;
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
The anvil is unharmed - the hammers gone.
Verse 24 teaches us that man does not live forever, even the one’s that get under your skin. To me the Bible is almost saying, you may as well love them while they are here.
Verse 25.
The story of the bounty—9 mutineers, all but three died or were killed. John adams and Ned Young murdered the third with a hatchet. One day Adam’s found the ship’s Bible in a chest. He decided that the precepts contained in it ewould be a good way to govern a peaceful society. He was eventually saved, and so was Young. Thet quit drinking and carousing, and preached the Gospel to the inhabitants of Pitcarin Island. Every citizen came to Christ.
That Word is the same Word that is used to preach the Gospel to you. The indestructible Word reminds us to love the brethren.
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.