1 Peter 3:8
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As many of you know, I have been in school, the entirety of being your pastor here. I hope to be done with school by the end of this year.
In my current program, for those of you who don’t know, I’ve been studying Church Health.
In doing so, I’ve had to read most of the well known books and the new books on church health, church growth, church revitalization.
One thing I’ve come to realize-
There are no shortages of opinions on what you must do as a pastor to grow a church numerically. On its face this is just wrong.
And Its wrong because this understanding assumes that the pastor is in charge and in control of numerically growing the church.
A pastor doesn’t grow the church.
In fact, no where in the Bible, is the pastor commanded that his job is grow the church numerically.
He is called to preach the Word, to shepherd the flock of God among him, and to equip the saints for the work of ministry.
In fact, to think that I or another pastor could “build the church” is to mistakenly and pridefully put ourselves in the place of Christ.
Jesus said in Matthew 16:18
“I will build My church.”
In Acts 2, we see our God given church growth strategy-
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
But if you read church growth books and strategies
What you will find is that the majority of church growth strategies are fueled by a man centered commitment to pragmatism- if it works (gets people to show up- because that is the measure of success and faithfulness in our culture) do it, rather than a true commitment to the ordinary mean of grace that God has set up.
The more I read “Church Growth” books, the more frustrated I became.
I chose rather to focus my attention mainly on Church Health.
Probably the most popular book, and definitely near the top of the crop of books, was a book written by Mark Dever, the pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, in Washington DC.
He wrote a book that I would commend to each of you called, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church,
In that book, he identifies and defines the 9 marks of a healthy church. In other words, when we gauge church health, these are the essentials.
His 9 marks of a healthy church are:
Expositional Preaching- Preaching from the text of Scripture. Allowing the Scripture to drive the sermon.
Biblical Theology- Right beliefs and doctrine.
Proper Understanding of the Gospel- The church must know the good news of Jesus Christ- The church must understand properly what the Gospel is- Not Legalism- Not Easy Believeism-
A Proper Understanding of Conversion- What does it mean to be converted and how does that practically work itself out?
Evangelism- The church must be seeking to reach out to lost people.
Membership- The church must have a healthy understanding of church membership. What it means to be a member- How to become a member- And what membership entails.
Discipline- The church must discipline its members. The church has to hold its members accountable.
Discipleship- The church should be making disciple of its members. People ought to be growing in their faith, from the youngest to the oldest.
Leadership- The church should have a strong group of men leading the church.
Those are the 9 marks of a healthy church according to Mark Dever. I think that is a fantastic list. I could spend a lot of time on each of those, but thats not my point this morning.
My goal this morning is to preach 1 Peter 3:8
My point this morning is Even if we can check off all 9 marks of a healthy church, if we lack the attitudes of 1 Peter 3:8, we are not a healthy church.
This verse today summarizes what Peter has been saying for the better part of 3 chapters.
The first three words of verse 8, here are “to sum up”
He is summing up that-
He has explained what it means to be a Christian in the sinful world.
He has dealt with how we are to live as citizens to harsh governing authorities.
He has dealt with how servants are to live in submission to his master.
And last week we dealt with God’s expectation of marriage as a whole.
So now, he is going to turn and address the church as a whole.
How ought the church conduct herself?
What does the attitude faithful church look like in the midst of a fallen world?
What are the 5 essential attitudes of a Faithful Church?
Look with me at verse 8
To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;
“To sum up, all of you”
So here again, he is addressing the whole church. Now this is different.
Last week, verses 1-6, were specifically addressed to the wives, and then verse 7 addressed specifically the husband.
Now he turns his attention more broad. All of you. ALL believers.
These are to be our attitudes.
Look at the first one-
“All of you be Harmonious.”-
Can also be translated- like minded- unified- or my personal favorite rendering of this word-
Of One Mind
Of One Mind
The first attitude he mentions here that should be present in the church is the the attitude of unity.
As the people of God, we ought to be of the same mind.
We have a commonality in Christ and in the Gospel that should be powerful enough to overcome any differences that may have once divided us.
In other words, though we are different, and may even at times have differing opinions on important matters, there ought to be a uniting mind among Christians and the purpose of the church.
Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 2:16- that we have been given the mind of Christ.
If we have the mind of Christ, then we ought to be focused on the same goal and purpose that Christ had.
Too often churches are divided by trivial, unimportant matters over and above being united on important matters and purposes.
We know this because-
Very rarely do you hear of churches splitting over theological differences anymore. (To be clear- Doctrine is worth dividing over, because practice flows from doctrine. What you believe determines what you do). But rarely do you ever hear of division in the church over doctrine.
But it is common to hear of churches fighting over building maintenance, the color of the carpet, jobs and positions in the church, the color of the walls, someone didn’t get their way, so now they are causing trouble.
Church, hear me and hear me good here
Jesus didn’t hang naked on a cross, take the eternal punishment of sin on his shoulders, for us to act like children about not getting our way. Our way is what put him on the cross to begin with, maybe its time we don’t get our way.
I believe what Peter is trying to emphasize here with “harmonious” is that the bond of unity ought to be stronger than that among Christians.
We ought not fight and get upset over trivial matters.
I want to challenge you today, that if there is something that you personally, hold against over someone else in this church body, to ask yourself very honestly:
Am I upset over whatever it is out of a love for them or out of a love for me?
Is that thing that I hold over them worth hindering my worship of Jesus Christ? Because it does.
Is it worth hindering my or their service to the Lord?
And is it worth sacrificing the unity of the church as a whole?
Because that really is what is at stake.
The word “harmonious” there reminds me of the word harmony. When we think of harmony, we think of singing, and singing together, but we all know how bad it sounds when someone isn’t singing the same key in a song. It doesn’t matter how well the rest of the group is singing at that point, it makes the whole group sound terrible, so too it is evident when we are not in harmony here at church as well, even a little bit.
Church family, lets be of one mind. Let’s be of one heart. Let us pray that the Lord will give us strength to let go of trivial things and press on knowing that what we have in common is far greater and worth more than our differences.
Let’s be harmonious. Let the song we sing as a church be beautiful to God and to others.
Sympathetic
Sympathetic
The word sympathy literally means “to suffer with” someone else.
Paul in Romans summarized this attitude this way-
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
Sympathy is an attitude that must characterize every believer in the church as well. It ought to bring us pain, when others experience pain.
It ought to bring us joy when others experience joy.
Part of being the church according to Galatians 6:2 is to
Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
When other are hurting, we ought to hurt with them. We ought to be there for them and minister to them by proclaiming the common Gospel hope that we have.
As Christians and church members, we are to be sensitive to the needs and desires of others.
We don’t get to have the attitude of the world that dismisses the feelings of others as if they don’t matter.
No it is an ungodly thing to have that mindset about another believer.
There’s no room to have a sort of selfish callousness that dismisses the needs and desire of others for our own good.
That was not the attitude of Christ. He had the attitude of sympathy and compassion.
In Matthew 9, for a crowd of people because their spiritual health.
Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.
In Matthew 14, for a crowd of people who were dealing with sickness and infirmity
When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.
And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”
Even in the middle of his crucifixion and his own pain-He asked the Father to forgive them.
Our Lord was sensitive to the needs of those around them. He had compassion and sympathy for people, because he loved them.
He suffered with us.
Do we suffer with others? Are you sympathetic or are you inconsiderate?
SDFS
Probably the best question to ask is: Are we like Christ?
The third attitude is-
Brotherly
Brotherly
Now, when we think of brotherly, I know the idea of brotherly love has a negative connotation. I have two older brothers, and I remember as a kid getting into fights with them, and people looking on would say, “Brotherly love.”
So just to be clear-
By calling us to be “brotherly,” He is not saying that we are to fight like cats and dogs.
He is saying that in Christ there is a familial bond that ties us together that should go deeper than blood itself.
In other words, the most important family you belong to as a believer is not the family you may or may not share Christmas meals with.
The most important family we belong to is the family that we share Christ with.
There is no room in the church for our family vs. theirs. Its not us and them.
Its us.
The New Testament is so clear on this
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;
Let love of the brethren continue.
Again, this is an attitude that we must have. The people in the church are not dispensable portions of your life.
As believers and brothers and sisters in Christ, we are not merely friends here, we are family.
Through the good and the bad, we are family.
Which means we apologize and make things right when we are wrong and We accept those apologies and move on when we are wronged.
I legitimately can’t tell you from the pulpit some of the thing my brothers and I have said and done to each other, but even still, I shared a meal with him yesterday as if none of that ever happened. Why? Because he is my brother and I love him.
Believers are brothers and sisters in Christ. And theres more to that union than there is with my blood brother.
Let’s act brotherly.
The fourth attitude is
Kindhearted.
Kindhearted.
No surprise here that this would be an attitude expected of believers. Right?
Kindness is one of the fruits of the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Kindness along with the rest of those ought to characterize our church, because those things ought to characterize every individual believer.
There ought to be a kindness among those who are believers.
Are we kindhearted? This one like sympathetic means we have to think of others. We have to think of their feelings in what we say and the way we say them.
Do we think this way? Do we desire to be kind?
Please don’t excuse being unkind to thats just the way that I am.
We know all the stereotypes of people of the world- He’s a grumpy old man, She’s a grumpy old woman, oh well that person is from here or there, this person has this color hair or that color hair, and there are many other external factors that people use as an excuse to be mean and hateful.
But those excuses will not work when we stand before a holy God.
On judgment day, You won’t be able to excuse your unkindness, on the basis of your age, your genetic makeup, skin color, hair color, the part of the country you were raised in, or any other external feature.
Don’t excuse or rejoice in your sin.
That type of attitude used described you (past tense), but now, in Christ, and by the Spirit, one of the fruits that ought to be manifesting itself in our lives as tangible proof of our salvation is a heart of kindness. No excuses. We feed the flesh when we are any other way.
Let’s be kind.
Lastly, the attitude of a healthy Christian and a healthy church is-
Humble in Spirit-
Humble in Spirit-
He saved maybe the hardest for last. God is clear in His Word that pride is abhorrent to Him.
Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly Than to divide the spoil with the proud.
For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.
When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
There are many many others I could quote.
Pride is a fleshly and worldly idea. Pride is contrary to Christ and contrary to the Spirit of God and what he desires to make us as His children.
But it seems, I know in my life, that pride is the fleshly vice that I see most in my life.
And ultimately it flows from an improper understanding of who God is and who I am.
CJ Mahaney is His book Humility- defined humility as this-
“Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.”
He goes on to say
“Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him.”
He’s right.
We will only come to a humble opinion of ourselves whenever we rightly understand who God is and what we deserve as sinners.
The Gospel should humble us.
Think about this message for a second-
We are sinners. Incapable of saving ourselves. We were utterly hopeless on our way to eternal damnation. God sent His Son, who humbled Himself, he left heaven and all its glory, to come to earth and take upon Himself the sin of those who would believe. He was crucified. Buried and rose again. And our Only Hope is Him.
How can we hear that and still be prideful?
How can we believe that and still be prideful? How can I?
This is why it is so important for us to be ever reminding ourselves of the Gospel, because it humbles us.
It gives us a grand picture of God and a low view of ourselves, and that is right and proper.
Do we have an attitude of humility? To be a healthy Christian, we must.
To be a healthy church, humility must be the attitude of our hearts collectively.
I want this sermon to be an evaluation of both us individually and corporately as a whole.
I want you to ask yourself individually these questions.
Is your attitude:
Of One Mind?
Sympathetic?
Brotherly?
Kindhearted?
Humble in Spirit?
I desperately want our church to be healthy and grow into what God would want us to be, but that cannot happen if these attitudes aren’t present.
We can set up any program, doctrinal statement, evangelistic outreach plan, discipleship pathway.
But if we aren’t of one mind, sympathetic to the needs of each other, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble, those things want matter.
Let’s pray for repentance today.