INTRODUCTION: The Difference between Mediocrity & Greatness in the Church
1. Just before Jesus told His disciples that the world would hate them (John 15:18—“If the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first”), He commanded them to “love one another just as He had loved them. The Apostle Peter was present the day Jesus said this. How do we know? This command is all throughout Peter’s letter to his flock in Asia Minor. Peter knew that the church was going to thrive on the love they had found from God and the love they experienced through each other.
2. The Big Idea: God, our Heavenly Father, commands that His children are to love one another deeply.
3. Transition: With this big idea in mind, we must accept that people admonishes these first century Christians to sincerely love one another because the continued existence and emergence of the Christian movement (i.e. the church) is at stake. This morning, we will look more closely at this command from 1 Peter 1:22, with a goal towards understanding it better and exactly what is required of each of us in fulfilling this command. Please keep this maxim in mind: The healthy church is made up of healthy Christians. Love is a clear sign of health. Therefore, healthy churches are made up of Christians who willingly give and receive love.
4. Story: Lee Iacocca once asked legendary football coach Vince Lombardi what it took to make a winning team. The book, Iaccoca, records Lombardi’s answer: There are a lot of coaches with good ball clubs who know the fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don’t win the game. Then you come to the third ingredient: if you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another. You’ve got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and saying to himself: If I didn’t block that man, Paul is going to get his legs broken. I have to do my job well in order that he can do his. “The difference between mediocrity and greatness,” Lombardi said that night, “is the feeling these guys have for each other.” Point: In a healthy church, each Christian learns to care for others. As we take seriously Jesus’ command to love another, we contribute to a winning team.
I. UNDERSTANDING OUR HEAVENLY FATHER’S COMMAND (1 Peter 1:22-25)
A. The Divine Command Is Reasonable: It is important to keep this one thing in mind. When considering the commands of God, this rule generally applies: God never gives a command without first living out that command. In other words, God never asks you to do anything that He is unwilling to do first. When it comes to love, the Apostle John offers a definitive word on this rule: “We love because He loved us first” (1 John 4:19). Peter’s words wonderfully illustrate God’s love in Christ. He reminds us what it cost God for us to become His children. “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1:18-19). Therefore, God’s command is reasonable. His expectation—that we love one another—comes to us at His own great expense. But, maybe you wonder, “Is it practical to love one another deeply?” “Can we truly love one another from our hearts?”
B. The Divine Command Is Possible: Yes it is possible to love one another sincerely from the heart. It is possible because it is reasonable. Remember—“God never gives His children a command without first living out that command.” Well, now let me share this corresponding rule with you: “What God commands you to do, He empowers you to do.” How do we know this? Let’s look at a couple verses: “Now that you have purified yourself by obeying the truth…”(1:22); and “For you have been born again…of imperishable seed…”(1:23). Peter is referring to the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and the living, enduring Word of God. Practically speaking, when we heard the Gospel and received it, confessing our sins, God forgave us and instantaneously sent His Spirit regenerate us into new spiritual beings. In other words, you and I were “born again.” This tandem work of the Spirit and the Word is imperishable. Our dead sin nature was made righteous and alive in Christ. Therefore, it is now possible for us to love one another deeply. The Spirit of God has awakened our mind, soul, and spirit to God’s love. It also enables us to love God, each other—even those who are most difficult to love. Think about it—what greater testimony of our God than the love we show one another. It is possible to love like God because He is now living in us. Without His Spirit, Christ’s command to love one another would be unreasonable because fulfilling it would be impossible.
TRANSITION: So, this command—“to love one another deeply”—is both reasonable and possible. Yet, do not be misguided. It may still not be your natural inclination to put the interest of others before our own. Therefore, this divine command requires supernatural strength that can only come from God. Supernatural strength requires spiritual growth. Spiritual growth requires good, spiritual “food.” That is where Peter now turns—good growth requires good food. Now, isn’t this exactly what your mother has been telling you your whole life? If you want healthy bones, drink your milk. If you want 20/20 vision, eat your carrots. For protein, eat your beans. And the list goes on.
II. GOOD GROWTH REQUIRES GOOD “FOOD” (1 Peter 2:1-3)
Before I go too far with this point, let me remind you of the earlier maxim: The healthy church is made up of healthy Christians. Love is a clear sign of health. Therefore, healthy churches are made up of Christians who willingly love and receive love. Now, would you believe that what you eat could positively and/or negatively effect your relationships? If I want to relate healthily with my wife or my sons, what I eat is important. If I digest too much sugar, then I am too tired to play. If I ingest too much caffeine, then I am too wired to listen to Lisa. If I lack the right amount of protein, then I lack the energy to play ball with the boys. You probably can track many of these same results with food that you choose to eat. The same is true for our soul’s spiritual growth. Really! Turn to the person sitting next to you in your pew and ask them, “Did you eat something good for me this morning?”
Essentially, Peter tells us that if we are going to love our Christian brothers and sisters deeply then each of us must “eat” properly so that we might grow. After all, the corporate vitality of this church is as strong or mature as its weakest or immature member. To assist us with our spiritual diet, the Apostle gives us a “menu” complete with good options that stimulate our spiritual growth, as well as a list of those “junk food” items that will stunt our spiritual growth.
A. Good Food—Growth-Stimulants: First, let’s begin the good stuff that stimulates and enhances our spiritual growth and deepens our love for one another. In the very last verse of our section this morning, Peter points out that those who have “tasted” the Lord understand and admit that He is “good.” Now, Peter is not suggesting cannibalism. He simply is referring to the experience these Christian have had with the goodness of Christ and His Word. Interestingly, this Word of Christ is understood both as “milk” (1 Peter 2:2) and “meat” (or “solid food” Hebrews 5:11-13). Let’s attempt to understand these metaphors a bit more clearly. For the Bible says that we are to move from one to the other.
1. The Word of God as “Milk”: Drawing upon an earthly analogy, Peter reminds us that as newborns we are to crave pure spiritual milk. Milk refers to the elementary truths of the Gospel—salvation, grace, forgiveness, baptism and the resurrection. These things draw us together as a Christian community. These are the foundations of our beliefs. With them we stand on common ground. But, we are not to be satisfied with milk. The Hebrew writer says that we are to move onto solid food, or meat.
2. The Word of God as “Meat”: Meat refers to the hard realities of living out our faith in relationship with God’s spirit an in community with one another. Moving to sacrifice, service, forgiveness, and love. The meat of the Word means that we are living out the fruit of the Spirit and employing the gifts of the spirit for the betterment of the church, not our selves.
Transition: The Word of God—milk and meat. This is the daily diet of the healthy Christian. Eat it and grow. Eat it and strengthen the church. However, as good as the Lord “tastes,” there is always some leftover “junk food” sitting around to stunt our growth and cause our one-anothering love to decay and deteriorate.
B. Junk Food—Growth-Stunters: Peter lists five items on the junk food menu that the Christian must stay away from. In fact, we need to see them as leftovers from the days before we tasted the goodness of God.
1. Malice: Malice is the evil, natural desire to hurt somebody else, or to at least wish that something bad happen would happen to someone else. It is wishing a person got struck by lightning for the lie they told you. It is hoping that someone cheats on a person for that person cheating on you. If not thrown out, malice is a spiritual leftover that will sicken your Christian soul. And, if allowed to fester in the church, malice will cause unnecessary pain in the body.
2. Deceit: Like malice, deceit is love’s opposite. Deceit is the desire to harm others through trickery. It lacks honesty and the truth. A deceitful person hides, sometimes knowingly and at other time unknowingly, behind façade of perception fabricated to fraudulently relate with others. Unfortunately, that person is unable to give and receive love because love requires an atmosphere of honesty and acceptance.
3. Hypocrisy: This most dastardly vice is what Jesus condemned in the Pharisees. The hypocrite covers up his own evil intent with a show of righteousness. Again, the idea is to damage and destroy someone else. If you have tendencies in this area, get rid of the leftovers.
4. Envy: If there is any such thing as spiritual salmonella, it is envy. This is truly spoiled meat. When envy is allowed to build within the Christian soul, it turns on the believer. He is unable to rejoice with those who rejoice and truly grieve with those who grieve. The envious person negatively affects the health of those around him. Are you envious? The next time something good happens to one of your brothers or sisters in Christ ask yourself, “Can I truly rejoice with him?”
5. Slander: Finally, there is the leftover junk food of slander. Slander is truly anti-Christian and from the pit of hell. The Father of Lies is the chef of this foul food. Slander’s purpose is simply to destroy another person’s reputation. As Christians, we are to love one another deeply “from the heart.” While as Christians we are to build one another up, slander only seeks to tear a person down. Slander is not to be tolerated in the body of Christ. After all, if this is how you treat your family, who would want to join.
Transition: We cannot afford these leftovers to tempt and tantalize us anymore. They are detrimental to us personally, and they erode the collective soul of this church body. Jesus said, “The world will know you are my disciples if you love one another.” When we do love, especially the unlovable among us, we reflect the heart of our heavenly Father. A little story will help us understand the heart of our Father a little bit better.
Story: Ian Pitt-Watson adapts this portion from A Primer for Preachers: There is a natural, logical kind of loving that loves lovely things and lovely people. That’s logical. But there is another kind of loving that doesn’t look for value in what it loves, but that “creates”: value in what it loves. Like Rosemary’s rag doll. When Rosemary, my youngest child, was three, she was given a little rag doll, but none tat she loved like she loved the rag doll. Soon the rag doll became more and more rag and less and less doll. It also became more and more dirty. If you tried to clean the rag doll, it became more ragged still. And if you didn’t try to clean the rag doll, it became dirtier still. The sensible thing to do was to trash the rag doll. But that was unthinkable for anyone who loved my child. If you love Rosemary, you loved the rag doll—it was part of the package. God says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God’ yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20). “Love me, love my rag dolls,” says God, “Including the one you wee when you look in the mirror. This is the finest and greatest commandment.”
CONCLUSION: GETTING EVEN WITH LOVE
1. Question: So how do you love those who are hard to love? A final story will help us with the application of this difficult, but reasonable and possible command.
2. STORY: J. Allan Peterson, in The Myth of the Greener Grass, writes: Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. “I do not only want to get rid of him; I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me.” Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan. “Go home and act as if you really loved your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believer you love him. After you’ve convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that you’re getting a divorce. That will really hurt him.” With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, “Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!” And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting “as if.” For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing. When she didn’t return, Crane called. “Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?” “Divorce!” she exclaimed. “Never! I discovered I really do love him.” Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often-repeated deeds.
3. FINAL CHALLENGE & INVITATION: Brothers and Sisters, our heavenly Father has given us a command—Love one another. It is a reasonable command made possible because of the Holy Spirit who resides within us. We can love because “greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.” Won’t you today commit yourself to “love it up” in the body of Christ? After all, our community will know we are Christ’s disciples if we love one another.
