The Right A.I.M.

In pretty black-and-white terms, Peter has called the church to holiness, and he’s been fleshing that out in different ways. Here, he’s talking about an ideal picture of how the church should function, what it should look like…having the right “AIM,” if you will.

The Right Attitude

Attitude sets the direction, and Peter first says the church should be like-minded. There should be such a spirit and desire for unity in the church that division would seem unthinkable.

Does NOT mean we never have differing opinions.

It DOES mean not letting differing opinions divide a church in non-essential theological matters.

It DOES mean settling disputes in Christ-honoring ways.

Being like-minded is much easier when you have the same goal: glorifying God and expanding the kingdom of Christ.

You must also be playing from the same “playbook.”

Sympathy is more than just feeling sorry for someone. It’s seeing the needs of others and being motivated to alleviate their suffering, which plays right into the next part.

K.U.B.O.L. - They will know us by our love. More often than not, love is shown in service and commitment throughout Scripture. Our love should seek to benefit others and draw the body of Christ into deeper authenticity in our relationships.

Compassion should govern our emotions toward one another. This is a deep, abiding sensitivity toward the feelings of others. It’s more than just feeling sorry for others, but you feel their hurt/pain/joy/etc. in your gut.

Finally, humility. I think the quickest path to humility comes from an honest assessment of self in light of God’s perfection. This leaves us humble, reminds us of man’s supreme value (created in God’s image), and recalls the price of our ransom (Christ’s own blood).

The Right Interaction

If you’ve ever been in a passionate and heated verbal interaction where there are two opposing sides, you know the natural thing to do is return volley for volley, looking for your next zinger.

Scholars seem to agree that verse 9 deals largely with verbal interactions. Both “evil” and “insult” center around speech, and in particular, speech that is abusive…one commentator said, “…speech with a snarl attached.”

Have you ever heard the platitude, “I don’t get mad, I get even.” Christ removes our need to get even.

Rom.12:14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”

Rom.12:17 “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.”

1 Cor.4:12 “we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;”

1 The.5:15 “See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.”

Rather than looking for ways to get even, we are called to bless instead.

Blessing appears in Gen.1:28 (“God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.””) and attaches itself to life — being fruitful and multiplying.

In Gen.3, sin enters the world and chief among the curses is that Adam and Eve will be cut off from the Tree of Life…death enters the world.

In broad terms, blessing has to do with that which brings life/abundance, and curse deals with that which destroys or brings death.

We are called to speak life. Two suggestions:

Words should be wise and timely spoken. (Eph.4:29 “No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.”) The right words at the right time.

Beware of emotionally charged, character damaging language that is accusative and assaulting in nature.

The Right Motivation

Peter says we bless in order to “inherit” a blessing. Scholars are a little scattered on this…not near as much unity. A couple of thoughts:

Blessing is tied to life, right? That’s been the case since the beginning. And, what did Jesus come to give us? John 10:10 “A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” I think you will miss out on the fullness of an abundant life if you are weighed down by the need to avenge yourself.

Peter consistently ties his instruction to us to what Christ has done for us. Christ has secured an eternal blessing — eternal life — for His followers. When we bless instead of curse, we attach our hope to what is to come and who is to come.

Then Peter returns to Ps.34. Remember, this is the psalm (vs.8) that Peter appealed to early where, no longer do we have to be instructed to “taste and see,” we have tasted, we have seen that the Lord is good! We are happy because we’ve taken refuge in Him!

This same psalm gives further grounding for what Peter is saying:

If you want to see a good life, and abundant life, there are certain ways you should live, certain things you should seek after.

It’s like Peter saying, “Hey, guys, I’m not making this up!”

Vvs.10-11 seem to restate what Peter has said already:

Keep your tongue from evil and deceit — in other words, speak life, not death.

Seek peace and pursue it — or dwell in unity with sympathetic and compassionate love toward one another.

And then finally Ps.34:15-16 “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry for help. The face of the Lord is set against those who do what is evil, to remove all memory of them from the earth.”

This is a word of comfort — you can refuse to seek revenge, choosing righteousness through obedience to God’s word — because He is mindful of you. He sees you, and He listens to your cry for help.

This is also a word of caution — it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a holy God!

One last word concerning God’s face being toward the righteous. It may sound familiar because it is part of a recorded blessing in Scripture.

It appears when God instructs Aaron/the priests on HOW they are to bless God’s people (Num.6:24-26 ““May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’”) The idea is the perpetual pledge of God’s good favor to be upon someone.

When used in Numbers, it revealed God’s will to bless all of Israel.

It was a blessing that was mediated by the priests.

The perpetual blessing for God’s people comes when they taste and see that the Lord, who is the Great High Priest, is good.

The blessing is then perpetuated as the Living Temple composed of royal, holy priests, expands the kingdom of Christ.

If you aim at nothing, you’re going to hit it every time.