There are some things about food that we do not understand:
• How you can eat a one pound box of chocolate candy and gain five pounds?
• WHY is it that when we sit down to eat a big meal, we call it a "square meal" when it makes us round?
Talking about food though, I heard they have come out with a new baby food. It's half orange juice and half garlic. It not only makes the baby healthier, but also it makes the baby easier to find in the dark.
Now I have mentioned all these things about food, so that I can remind you again, that the job God gave Peter was to, “Feed my sheep.”
WHAT KIND OF FOOD DOES HE SERVE IN THIS VERSE OF SCRIPTURE?
Illus: Years ago, a church announced they would be having a "Hobo Soup Supper." As soon as the announcement was made, people began to inquire, “What is a Hobo Soup Supper?” It was explained that everyone was to bring a can of vegetable soup, and when they arrived, they were to open their can of vegetable soup and dump it in the large pot, and they would have a "Hobo Soup Supper."
God told Peter to feed His sheep, and in verses 8-9, Peter serves a conglomeration of spiritual food.
He starts this portion of Scripture off by saying, "Finally....” Generally when someone is talking and they have a lot to say, they will save the most important for the last.
Illus: When we eat at a good meal, the desert is always at the end.
Maybe Peter thought this was the most important part, because he says - “Finally,”
He has addressed the:
• Citizens (1 Peter 2:13)
• Servants (1 Peter 2:18)
• Wives (1 Peter 3:1)
• Husbands (1 Peter 3:7)
While all of the above may not have applied to some directly, in the closing part of this section, in verses 8 and 9, he gives something that does apply to everyone.
He speaks to Christians about OUR RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER. He speaks about:
I. OUR UNITY
Look at verse 8, we read, “Finally, be ye all of one mind….” When we think of being all of ONE MIND, we can not help but to think about the Book of Acts. Every chapter is filled with the exciting ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. This church was the greatest church that has ever existed. They surpass any church that has ever existed.
They did not have the buildings, technology, comfortable pews, air-conditioning, classrooms, buses and vans, printing presses, computers, electric lights, and microphones that we have today, but no church that has ever existed has been able to go on record as accomplishing greater things than they were able to achieved.
WHAT MADE THEM SUCH A GREAT CHURCH? The Book of Acts tells us what made them such a great church.
Look at Acts 1:18. We read, “These all continued with ONE ACCORD in prayer and supplication….”
This church had congregated for one purpose ONLY: to worship God.
Listen, today’s church brings people together for many reasons. And what is sad is that we have church leaders who do not care if people come for the wrong reasons, all they care about is that they come.
• Many come to be entertained
• Many come for social reasons
• Many come looking for a handout
• Some come wanting someone to perform their wedding
• Some come looking for someone to bury their dead
• Many come looking for business prospects
• Some come looking for a boy or girl friend
People go to church today for all kinds of reasons.
BUT THE BOOK OF ACTS RECORDS THAT THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH CAME TOGETHER FOR ONE REASON - TO WORSHIP GOD!
Because they came for that one right reason, God mightily used them. After God’s Word tells us what brought them together in Acts 1:18, God’s Word wastes no time telling us how God used them.
Look at the next chapter. Look at Acts 2:1-4, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with ONE ACCORD IN ONE PLACE. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
God filled the church with the Holy Ghost in such a way, that on the day of Pentecost the Bible says they stood up before the lost people of that day, and preached the Gospel to them in their “own language”.
Look at Acts 2:6. “Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.”
This is something that has never been done since the days of the New Testament church. If it has, it certainly has not been documented. We hear all kinds of rumors, but there has never been a case documented that shows that what took place in this new testament church has been repeated somewhere else.
God has never been able to use a church until the people came together for the right purpose.
Peter says our relationship to each other should be one of conformity, that is, we should all be willing to lay aside our ideas and plans, to conform to His ideas and plans.
In God's sight, WHEN A MAN IS SELF-CENTERED, HE IS OFF-CENTERED
Illus: Someone said, "The trouble with most people, is that every time they think, they think only of themselves."
Illus: When some people say that they are trying to find a church, what they should be saying is, “I am trying to find a group of people that think the way I think.”
Listen, it is not a matter of you having your way, or of me having my way, it is a matter of God having His way. It is only when I lay aside my ideas and plans, and you lay aside your ideas and plans, and we come together for one reason, because we love him and want to worship Him, that he can use this church.
Peter said, “Finally be ye all of ONE MIND…” He spoke of OUR UNITY and also:
II. OUR COMPASSION
Peter says, "Finally be ye all…having compassion one of another,"
You see, if we come to church because we love the Lord and we do not want to do anything to hurt him, we also are going to come to church caring about how our brothers and sisters in Christ feel.
Look at the word “Compassion”. This is the word “sumpathes”, which means having feelings for someone.
When you live in a selfish society like ours, it is hard to find people who have feelings for others. Why? Because their lives are so filled with their own selfish desires, they do not have any room in their lives to have feelings for others. We live in a society where many have no feelings for others.
Illus: For example, a young man worked very hard to buy himself a motorcycle. After weeks and months of hard work, saving, and sacrifice, he finally had enough to buy himself one. He was so proud of it. It was everything he hoped it would be. He parked that motorcycle in his yard one evening, and a thief came along and stole it from him. This lazy thief, who did not do one minute of hard work to get this motorcycle, stole it from him.
DECENT PEOPLE CAN’T HELP BUT ASK, “HOW CAN A PERSON DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?” It is because they have no feelings for anyone. All they can think about is themselves. None of us have any feelings for a thief.
Illus: The other day I heard a report in the news about a thief who made a dumb mistake. He held up a group of tourists on their way home from Las Vegas. HE DID NOT GET A PENNY FROM THAT CROWD! Listen, he should have known that any person coming FROM Las Vegas would not have money! But I confess that I do not feel the least bit sorry for him.
Criminals are evil men who have no feelings for their fellow man. They steal, vandalize, and rape, having no feelings for their victims. They just do not care about the feelings of others.
And what is sad is this SAME SELFISHNESS can be found in God’s church. Sometimes in God’s church you will find Christians making fun of other Christians. They make fun of them:
• For being overweight
• For being bald headed
• For not being intelligent
• For having false teeth
• For having dyed hair
• For being ugly
• For having a bad complexion
They make all kind of remarks about these people, thinking such things are funny. But the reason they do such things is because of IGNORANCE, and they have no COMPASSION.
Peter is telling the children of God that they are to have "Compassion one for another." He speaks of OUR UNITY, OUR COMPASSION, and:
III. OUR LOVE
Look at verse 8 again. We read, “Love as brethren.” Generally, a brother's relationship is a very special relationship. Sometimes we find that this is not the case.
Illus: In some families, parents should have spaced their children further apart, - about a hundred years apart.
When it comes to the family of God, we should have a loving, brotherly relationship. This brotherly relationship that we Christians have makes us very close to each other.
Peter picks up on this very special relationship of “Brethren”, and says to us as the family of God: "ALL" of us should love as "Brethren".
We have the same heavenly Father, and now we have the same spiritual bloodline, we are heirs together with Christ. Peter says, "All" are to love as "Brethren."
He speaks of OUR UNITY, OUR COMPASSION, OUR LOVE, and:
IV. OUR MANNERS
Look at verse 8. “…Be pitiful, be courteous...”
What this means is this: "Have a tender heart and humble mind."
Illus: We can compare our relationship to a situation where a child has fallen and hurt himself, and he is crying because of the pain that he is experiencing. His mother sees his situation, and runs over to him and embraces him, and says, “Let me kiss it so it won't hurt.” She tenderly kisses his wound, and all of a sudden the child quits crying. The mother has a tender heart.
Now certainly there was no magic in that kiss, but the child feels better knowing that mom cares.
We have many professing Christians today who actually rejoice when another Christian is hurting, because of some disagreement.
Peter says, "All" Christians should be tenderhearted about other Christians who are hurting.
Romans 12:15-16 says, “Reioice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same minde one toward another...”
Peter used of the word, “courteous”, which is derived from the term “court”, referring to kings and princes, who, in their courts DID THINGS IN A PROPER WAY.
The most tenderhearted and the most courteous people on this earth should be Christians. They do things in a PROPER WAY.
God's Word teaches, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
I am satisfied that hell will be full of people who never had a desire to attend church because of all the "religious" snobs that treated them like second class citizens. May God help "All" of us who profess to be Christians to be tenderhearted and humble in mind.
In the book of Mark, the Lord was aware of some sinful attitudes that the twelve disciples had.
Look at Mark 9:33, “And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?”
But they would not answer him because they were ashamed because they had been arguing among themselves over who would be the greatest.
Jesus then said this, “... If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servants of all.” (Verse 35b)
If Peter and the disciples had come to Pentecost with that same sinful attitude, arguing over who would be the greatest, we would not have had this great chapter in Acts 2 that tells us how God used these disciples in such a marvelous way. They had to get this right before God could use them.
And the same thing applies to the church. Before God can use the church in a mighty way, we must get right with God and with each other.
The Lord refers to getting things right in 1 Peter 3:9-10. “Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.”
May God help us to be clothed in His Spirit, and not have the attitude as the lost world. Let us seek to have a relationship with each other that will please Him.
Conclusion:
Peter said, “Finally….” He addresses-
I. OUR UNITY
II. OUR COMPASSION
III. OUR LOVE
IV. OUR MANNERS
