Everyone hates to be deceived. Once someone realizes that they have been deceived, there exists serious credibility problems with the one who deceived them. A case in point regards the charges laid on Morris Cerullo. The onetime leader of the Inspiration Network, now based in Fort Mill, S.C., is in court next week in San Diego on tax evasion charges. Dr. Morris Cerullo raised the Inspiration Network up from the shambles it was in when owned by Jim Bakker’s PTL Ministry.
On the federal indictment filed against Cerullo in San Diego. In it are claims that Cerullo lied on his income tax returns, omitting more than $500,000.
This, just 15 years after Cerullo’s ministry took over what was left of Jim Bakker’s fallen PTL television network.
Cerullo will get his day in a San Diego court on March 20.
If convicted, Cerullo could spend up to nine years in prison and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
On his Web site, Morris Cerullo claims that 2007 will be your year for financial breakthrough, even as he prepares to face charges for lying about his own personal finances.
The Apostle Paul went to extremes to show that sincere brotherly love meant the exact opposite to ministering for money. In Acts 20:33 he showed how:
Acts 20:33 I coveted no one�s silver or gold or apparel. (ESV)
What God is calling for in 1 Pt. 1:22-25 flows from what we have seen. What we have seen about God in verses 1-12 results in what we are to do in verses 13-25. We move from the indicative, what is, to the imperative, what we are to do. From the vertical, our relationship with God, to the horizontal, our relationship with one another.
The directive in these verses is really a summary of Scripture. When they asked Jesus:
Mt. 22:36-40 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (ESV)
And in:
1 Cor. 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love. (ESV)
It is pretty obvious that selfishness conflicts with genuine love. When we put ourselves first, we are not able to genuinely serve others. If we claim to be Christians, then how can we love as Jesus loves us? In 1 Pt. 1:22-25 we can see the answer to four basic questions which explain supernatural love: 1) When were believers enabled to love? 2) Who are believers to love? 3) How are believers to love? 4) And why are believers to love?
1) WHEN WERE BELIEVERS ENABLED TO LOVE?
1 Pt. 1:22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart
Scripture repeatedly makes it plain that the unconverted person is far from having the ability to demonstrate genuine love (cf. Job 14:4, Ps. 58:3, John 15:18, 25, Rom. 8:7�8, 1 Cor. 2:14, 2 Cor. 3:5).
John Said:
1 John 2:9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
1 Jn. 3:10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (ESV)
1 Jn. 4:20 If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. (ESV)
Please turn to Ez. 36
How are believers able to do this?
It was at salvation that believers received the capacity to demonstrate supernatural love (Rom. 5:5).
Rom. 5:5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (ESV)
Ezekiel looked forward to this spiritual reality when he prophesied of what God would do for believers under the new covenant:
Ezek. 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (ESV)
(Ezek. 36:25-27, cf. Jer. 31:31-34, Matt. 26:28, John 3:5, Eph. 5:26, Titus 3:5)
Peter is therefore declaring in his letter 1 Peter, that when believers show evidence of salvation or obedience to the truth, they also purified their souls.
Purified is a perfect participle that describes a past action with continuing results. Not only did God cleanse Christians’ impure past (cf. 4:1-3, Heb. 9:22-23), He also gave them new capabilities for the present and future (2 Cor. 5:17, cf. Rom. 6:3-14, Col. 3:8-10, 2 Peter 1:4-9).
If genuinely given by God it will result in believers’ regularly obeying the truth (cf. James 1:22-25, 2:14-26, 1 John 2:3-6, 3:7-9, 24) and manifesting God’s love to others (cf. 1 John 2:10-11, 3:10-11, 14-17, 4:7-8, 16, 20).
We have seen 1) 1) WHEN WERE BELIEVERS ENABLED TO LOVE?
1 Pt. 1:22, and now:
2) WHO ARE BELIEVERS TO LOVE?
1 Pt. 1:22 b for a sincere brotherly love
At salvation, believers become members of Christ�s body, the church, which then becomes the target for their new, Spirit-empowered capacity for love (Rom. 5:5, 1 Thess. 4:9, 1 John 3:14, 23, cf. John 15:12, Phil. 1:9, 1 John 3:18, 4:7-8, 5:1-2). This brotherly love (philadelphia) is to be sincere (anupokriton, unhypocritical).
Knowing the danger of hypocrisy, Paul admonished the Romans:
Rom. 12:9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (ESV)
-There is nothing that turns people away from an assembly of believers faster than hypocrisy. We lose all credibility to proclaim the message of truth when our lives do not match our message.
-People look at who you are before they listen to what you say.
-Who you are speaks louder than what you say.
Sincere brotherly love is the prevailing standard for believers (2 Cor. 6:6, 8:8, Phil. 2:1-2, Heb. 13:1, 1 John 3:11, 18)
-Remember the context of 1 Peter. These were people under persecution. It is natural to have our witness short-circuited and snipe at each other in times of stress.
-The concept of sincerity is an interesting one. The word literally means: without wax
-When potters made pottery, if there was a mistake in the process, the vessel would be useless. Unscrupulous potters would cover their mistakes with wax. But when put under stress, the vessel would fall apart.
-Genuine love does not fall apart under stress.
In a beautiful passage of what sincere brotherly love looks like, Paul writes:
Phil. 2:1-2 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (ESV)
Our ultimate love in an earthly sense is to be directed to those of faith. One verse that comes to mind, that I didn’t list in your outline is:
Gal. 6:10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (ESV)
Please turn to Mt. 10
The hardest thing to comprehend on the living out of brotherly love is its predominance. People in their sinfulness are prone to extremes.
-On one extreme, people think they are safe if they misunderstood the love of God, leads them to isolationism, believing that God is impressed by isolationist devotion:
-This exhibits itself today in the love of spirituality over the people of God. People pride themselves that they love Jesus, but have no time for those Jesus died for, His church.
Quotation: Christian love links love of God and love of neighbor in a twofold Great Commandment from which neither element can be dropped, so sin against neighbor through lack of human love is sin against God.
GEORGIA HARKNESS (1891-1979)
Lest you think this sincere brotherly love is easy, Jesus put it in perspective:
Mat 10:34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person�s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
When properly understood, this explanation looks like:
1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (ESV)
The hardest things to work out in the proper exercise of sincere brotherly love, is its proper superseding of all earthly limitations and considerations
When misunderstood, this sincere brotherly love is what the cults twist to the other extreme of isolation. Everton used to belong to the disciples of Christ denomination. In examining the denomination, I came across its most infamous member.
Illustration: The Peoples Temple congregation led by Jim Jones was affiliated with the Disciples of Christ at the time of the mass suicide of its members on 18 November 1978 at its compound in Guyana. Jones was ordained by the Disciples of Christ. His fellowship and standing with the Disciples was in the process of being revoked due to mental defect at the time of the events in Guyana. Because of the congregational polity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), regional leaders did not have the power to intervene in a decisive manner.
God can use the genuine sincere brotherly love of believers to attract a lost world and awaken it to its need for salvation:
John 13:34-35 [34]A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. [35]By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (ESV)
We have seen 1) 1) WHEN WERE BELIEVERS ENABLED TO LOVE? 1 Pt. 1:22, 2) WHO ARE BELIEVERS TO LOVE? 1 Pt. 1:22 b and now:
3) HOW ARE BELIEVERS TO LOVE?
1 Pt. 1:22c love one another earnestly from a pure heart
The well-known New Testament verb agapa expresses the ideal kind of love, that which is exercised by the will rather than emotion, not determined by the beauty or desirability of the object, but by the noble intention of the one who loves.
Earnestly/fervently is a physiological term meaning to stretch to the furthest limit of a muscle�s capacity. Metaphorically, the word means to go all out, to reach the furthest extent of something (Luke 22:44, Acts 12:5, cf. Acts 26:7).
-The Greek word is often used in relation to prayer, as when the people prayed for Peter when he was imprisoned in Acts 12. Here the word is translated without ceasing in Acts 12:5
To love earnestly means you try to understand the other person
It means you will give the person the benefit of the doubt�
It means you will not be easily offended.
It means you take the effort to reach out to others
Quotation: Every love has its own force, and it cannot lie idle in the soul of the lover. Love must draw the soul on. Do you, then, wish to know the character of a love? See where it leads.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (354�430)
Such strong love, however, does not derive from some external, legalistic requirement (cf. Ps. 40:8, Rom. 8:2, Gal. 5:1). On the contrary, Peter told his readers that this love is an attitude compelled from within, from a pure heart (Prov. 4:23, Matt. 22:37-39, Eph. 4:32, 1 Tim. 1:5, cf. Rom. 12:10, 1 Cor. 13:8, 13, Gal. 5:14, 1 Thess. 1:3, Heb. 6:10), because it is a fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Paul told the Galatians that if they lived by that Spirit, they would see His fruit in their lives:
Gal. 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (ESV)
Gal. 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (ESV).
(cf. Eph. 5:15-21)
Quotation: Joy is love exalted, peace is love in repose, long-suffering is love enduring, gentleness is love in society, goodness is love in action, faith is love on the battlefield, meekness is love in school, and temperance is love in training.
DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY (1837-1899)
We have seen 1) 1) WHEN WERE BELIEVERS ENABLED TO LOVE? 1 Pt. 1:22, 2) WHO ARE BELIEVERS TO LOVE? 1 Pt. 1:22 b 3) HOW ARE BELIEVERS TO LOVE? 1 Pt. 1:22c and finally:
4) WHY SHOULD BELIEVERS LOVE?
1 Peter 1:23-25 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God, for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (ESV)
Please turn to 1 Jn. 5
The perfect tense of the participle of "have been born again" emphasizes that the new birth occurs in the past, with ongoing results in the present.
-Just as God is the author of physical life, He is the author of spiritual life.
Believers are to love one another to the fullest extent because it is consistent with new life in Christ.
The apostle John wrote:
1 John 5:1-2 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. (ESV)(1 John 5:1�2, cf. 3:14, 4:7).
Those who are born again go from being godless, lawless, and selfish (Rom. 3:9-18, 8:7-8) to manifesting genuine repentance, trust, and love. The Holy Spirit enlightens them to discern spiritual truth (1 Cor. 2:14-15, 2 Cor. 4:6) and empowers them to serve the law of God (truth contained in His Word) rather than the law of sin (Rom. 6:17-18).
The new birth is monergistic, it is a work solely of the Holy Spirit. Sinners do not cooperate in their spiritual births (cf. Eph. 2:1-10) any more than infants cooperate in their natural births.
(cf. John 1:12-13, Eph. 2:4-5, Phil. 2:13).
Quotation: The egg’s no chick by falling from the hen,
Nor man a Christian till he�s born again.
JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688)
Seed represents the source of life. Everything that comes to life in the created order begins with a seed, the basic life source that initiates plant and animal existence. But nothing in the material world has the capacity to produce spiritual and eternal life. Thus God did not effect the new birth using seed which is perishable. In contrast to how an earthly father initiates human birth with his corruptible seed, God initiates the spiritual birth with an imperishable seed. Everything that grows from natural seeds is a sovereign creation of God (Gen. 1:11-12), but it all eventually dies (Isa. 40:8, James 1:10-11). However, sinners born again of Gods Spirit gain eternal life. That is because He uses the imperishable seed of the living and enduring word of God. (cf. Rom. 10:17).
To strengthen his point, Peter quoted from Isaiah 40:6, 8, which contains a familiar biblical principle about life’s transience (cf. Job 14:1-2, Pss. 39:4, 103:15, Matt. 6:27, 30, James 4:14). All flesh refers to all humans and animals, and grass refers to the wild grass of the typical Middle Eastern countryside. The phrase glory like the flower of grass denotes the beauty of that scenery in which colorful flowers (cf. Matt. 6:28-29) occasionally rise above the grass. So Peter noted that whether something is as common as grass or as uniquely lovely as a flower, it eventually withers or falls off-it dies.
Human life is brief in this world. People pass away like dry grass under a withering east wind. In their graves, the poor and illiterate of no influence are equal to the wealthy and highly educated of great influence (cf. Job 3:17-19).
In Christ, however, whether people are common or uncommon, they will never deteriorate or die spiritually. Instead they are like the word of the Lord which remains forever.
That saving word is the gospel, as Peter�s choice of words indicates. He used a for word (rather than the usual logos, the more broad reference to Scripture), which denotes specific statements. Preached is euangelisthen, from the same root word that means "good news," or "the gospel". He is referring, then, to the particular message of the gospel, that scriptural truth which, when believed, is the imperishable seed producing new life that also remains forever.
Quotation: Hope is like a harebell, trembling from its birth,Love is like a rose, the joy of all the earth,
Faith is like a lily, lifted high and white,
Love is like a lovely rose, the world’s delight.
Harebells and sweet lilies show a thornless growth,
But the rose with all its thorns excels them both.
CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI (1830-1894)
Though believers possess new life in Jesus Christ and the capacity to love in a transcendent, godly manner, the continued presence of their unredeemed flesh (cf. Rom. 7:14-25) causes them to fail to love as they should. Thus, as in all matters of obedience, the New Testament contains a number of other exhortations for believers to genuinely love (John 13:34, 15:12, Rom. 12:10, Phil. 1:9, 1 Thess. 3:12, 4:9, 2 Thess. 1:3, 2 Peter 1:7, 1 John 3:23, 4:7, 21).
Those are admonitions for the church to do what it, by God�s grace and power, is already capable of doing. The call in this text is for saints to manifest an undying love for fellow believers, which is consistent with an imperishable new life in Jesus Christ by the power of the gospel word which is itself imperishable.
Poem: Love For Others by Anonymous
Lord, let me live from day to day
In such a self-forgetful way,
That, even when I kneel to pray,
My prayer shall be for others.
Help me, in all the work I do,
Ever to be sincere and true,
And know that all I’d do for Thee,
Must needs be done for Others.
Let "self" be crucified and slain,
And buried deep, nor rise again,
And may all efforts be in vain,
Unless they be for Others.
And when my work on earth is done,
And my new work in heaven begun
May I forget the crown I’ve won,
While thinking still of Others.
Yes, Others, Lord, yes, Others.
Let this motto be,
Help me to live for Others,
That I may live with Thee.
