I’d Like To Teach God’s People To Sing… - 1 Peter 3:8a Series

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. 11 He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Introduction

I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony.

A song of peace that echoes on, and never goes away.

I'd like to see the world for once, all standing hand in hand.

And hear them echo through the hills, for peace throughout the land.

Is that ever going to happen? Is this world every going to join together in perfect harmony? Yes, someday Jesus will return and bring harmony to this world (after He brings final judgment on the wicked.) But what about in this age – are we ever going to have a point where we reach harmony in the world? No. This depraved, fallen world is not capable of that. But what about in the church? Is it possible for a church to live in harmony? It had better be, because it is commanded:

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another

We are not permitted to lack harmony in the Church. When you walk through the doors of a church building, this is what you should see:

8 live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing

Context

We have been studying verse-by-verse through the book of 1 Peter together as a church, and we come today to a section that teaches us how we are to behave toward one another in the household of God. Starting halfway through chapter 2, Peter has been teaching us how we as individuals are to deal with a hostile, unbelieving world. Now, starting in verse 8, Peter is going to wrap up that discussion by talking about how we are to deal with conflict inside the Church. There are some commentators who would disagree with that. They would say that verse 8 is about how we deal with one another in the church (harmony, love, humility, etc.), but then in verse 9, he is back to talking about hostility from the outside. And the only argument they offer to support that is the fact that verse 9 talks about people insulting you and doing evil against you. So the assumption is that has to be the unbelieving world, because Christians would never do that sort of thing to each other, right? I wonder if the people who hold that view have ever actually been in a church. Anyone who has ever been a member of a church knows that insults and evil do occur within the household of God. That is why we need to be commanded to live in harmony. If you and I are supposed to live in harmony with each other, what are the two threats to that harmony? What are the two things that could potentially spoil our harmony? One is you, and the other is me. I can sin against you or you can sin against me – that is the only way our harmony can be spoiled. So the fact that we need to be commanded to live in harmony is evidence that there is such a thing as people sinning against one another in the church. We know that verse 8 is talking to believers, because it commands brotherly, family love, and I see no reason at all to assume that verse 9 suddenly changes focus. It is all one sentence in the Greek, and I believe it is a unified idea. Part of living in harmony with fellow believers means returning their insults with blessings rather than getting even.

That is important, because not all persecution comes from the outside. There is such a thing as in-house persecution. In fact, most of the persecution I have faced in my lifetime has been from believers. I have suffered far more at the hands of the saints in the church than I ever have from unbelievers on the outside. Peter is not naive. He commanded us to have a deep, powerful love for one another at the end of chapter 2, but he understands reality. There is what we are commanded to do, and what we actually do, and they do not always line up exactly. So now Peter is going to teach God’s people to sing, in perfect harmony.