A Loving Congregation Series

Series: 1 Peter

Sermon: “A Loving Congregation”

1 Peter 1:22-25

Pastor John Bright

1 Peter 1 “22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because

“All flesh is as grass,

And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.

The grass withers,

And its flower falls away,

25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.”

When I start teaching a new book in Bible Study, I like to ask the “newspaper questions” – Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Why was 1 Peter written? As we need have exhortation (encouragement) today, they needed it the Early Church. You see, they were living in a culture that was hostile to God’s Word. Do we?

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We are at the end of this first section in Chapter One. This is the fourth exhortation – or encouragement – for these 1st century Believers. Quick review – Peter was encouraging them to:

• Have hope v. 13

• Live holy lives v. 14-16

• Live in fear of God v. 17-21

All of these are important if we are going to be a Faithful Congregation in the 21st century. Now we come to one of the most misunderstood exhortations – loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Loving one another v. 22

“22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,”

To understand what the love means in the Bible – here’s a little explanation: “The ancient languages differentiate among sexual, brotherly, and familial love, and also the kind of love that God has for creation and that we may have for Him.

The Hebrew word yada and the Greek word eros are the words used to indicate sexual love. In the New Testament, the Greek word eros is not found because there is no context in which it might be used.

The second type of love is the brotherly love that exists between close friends regardless of gender. There is no sexual connotation; it is the love for and by a friend. The Hebrew word is ahabah, and it is used to describe the love between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:17. The Greek word for brotherly love or affection is phileo, as used to refer to friendship in John 15:19, Romans 12:10, and Hebrews 13:1.

Of family or tribal love, the Hebrew word is once again ahabah, indicating a deep affection, and the Greek word is storge. We find ahabah throughout the Old Testament because of its broad range of meanings, but the Greek word storge is only found in the New Testament as a negative word, astorgos, meaning "without natural love" (e.g., in 2 Timothy 3:3).

Finally, there is the Hebrew word chesed and the Greek word agape, which are used to express the kind of love God demonstrates toward His elect. Chesed is often translated as “steadfast love” or “lovingkindness.” A good example of chesed is found in Numbers 14:18, “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression” (ESV).

Agape love is the goodwill and benevolence of God shown in self-sacrifice and an unconditional commitment to the loved one. Agape is similar to chesed in that it is steadfast, regardless of circumstances. Agape love is the kind of love we are to have for God in fulfillment of the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37). Jesus wants to instill agape in His followers as we serve others through the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 22:39; John 13:34). https://www.gotquestions.org/definition-of-love.html

We find two of these Greek words in v. 22 – “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren (philadelphia), love (agapeo) one another fervently with a pure heart.” These Believers have come together and found there starting point was learning to love each other like brothers and sisters in Christ. Not the easiest thing to do!

We also have to consider how we love one another before salvation and after salvation. Before salvation we have not been purified and we are not obeying the truth. In that state, we loving others is optional. After you are saved, loving one another is a requirement. (Does that sound better than saying it’s a commandment?) This is the greatest need we have in the local congregation today – to be seen as a place where love for on another is present. What does that look like? A quote from St. Francis of Assisi: “Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and an be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face.”