1 Peter 3:8-4:11
"The High Octane Life of Influence"
INTRODUCTION
Most people want to change something.
Hairstyle; car; address; Family situation; job; world events (poor and needy)
At the very least many people would like to influence their world to make it a better place. But what kind of life influences change? Well here, Peter describes it – and it’s what we might call the high-octane life.
The high-octane life is a powerful and effective life; it’s explosive; when it goes off it moves things along; it’s a fuel for getting things going. The high-octane life ignites, provokes, and awakens people. The high-octane life “gets things done” and really makes a difference in our world.
So how can we live the high-octane life of influence? Well to bring about change we need to ….
1. EARN THE RIGHT AND THE PRIVILEGE TO BE HEARD (3:8-17)
a. To earn the right to be an influence we need to live in harmony with one another - (v8-10)
We need to prove that we are someone who is worthy to be an influencer of change – someone who is worthy of a hearing.
1PE 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 1PE 3:9 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. 1PE 3:10 For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.
Ill: James Dobson’s experience at the public school system from 1960-1963)
At the final year, he had to say goodbye to 25 to 30 teary-eyed kids.
One young lady whom he said goodbye to in 1963 called him in 1975. Julie had grown up. James remembered her as a seventh grader with a crisis of confidence in herself. Her Latin heritage embarrassed her and she was overweight. She had only one friend who had moved away the following year. She and Dr. Dobson talked on the phone about the good ole days.
“Where do you go to church?”
He told her, and she asked if she could visit. He told her she could, and the next week she came. In the coming months, she became a vibrant Christian.
A few months after her initial visit, Dobson asked her, “Julie, I want to ask you a question. Will you tell me why you went to so much trouble to obtain my unlisted number and call me last Autumn…?”
“Because when I was a seventh-grade student in junior high school, you were the only person in my life who acted like you respected and believed in me…and I wanted to know your God.”
The high-octane life earns the right to be heard by promoting harmony where harmony is absent. This girl was in emotional turmoil, but Dobson brought harmony – and he earned the right to influence his former student.
The bible says …
…live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble (1Pt 3:8).
We need to earn the right to be heard, but the high-octane influnecer of change also needs to earn the privilege to be heard. And to do that we need to ….
b. Be prepared to give a reason for your hope – earning the privilege (vv15-16)
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have (1 Pt 3:15).
If we want to bring about change in our world, then we obviously believe that the alternative we have to offer is better than what is already in existence – at least we are hopeful that it is!
You want to bring change to your world? What makes you hopeful that you can?
You want to be an influence? What makes your philosophy any better than mine? Can you give a reason why you are so hopeful?
You see, we will earn the right to be heard by the way we act (promoting harmony), but we must also earn the privilege to be heard by what we say.
Can you give a reason for the hope you have in life? Do you have a hope for the future?
The Christian Believer certainly does. - - i.e. Jesus Christ rules the world supremely and will one day come back to take them all home to Paradise! That’s why Believers are so positive about the future.
But you know, I’m astounded at how many Believers don’t know how to give a reason for their hope! Do you know the gospel? If someone asked you – how can I have the faith you’ve got, could you explain it clearly to them?
If you want to live as a high-octane follower of Jesus Christ you will know how to clearly explain the gospel. By this you will earn the privilege to be heard.
Think about it ….. why would God give us the privilege of leading someone to Christ if we don’t even know how to!? Of course he’s going to find someone who can explain it – someone who is prepared. So prepared Christians are high-octane Christians. And they alone get the privilege of a hearing.
RO 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes
If we want to bring a saving change to someone’s life – then we simply have to know how!
So the high-octane life earns the right and the privilege to be heard. For the Believer, these two qualities are crucial to sharing your faith effectively.
The high-octane life also lives for a cause.
What’s your cause? And how high is it?
Maybe your cause is freedom – maybe your cause is the alien and the refugee – maybe your cause is the environment – maybe your cause is the rspca or the WWF.
All of these causes are noble because they address evil in our world. But that evil originates in the hearts of people. That’s why the cause of the high-octane life is to change people’s hearts.
For the Believer this means ….
2. TUNING OUR HEARTS TO THE CAUSE OF THE CROSS (3:18-20)
a. Tune our hearts to the message of the cross (v18)
Jesus Christ died once for all ….. in order to bring you to God (1 Pt 3:18).
That’s it! Reconciliation between people and God - - this is the core message of the high-octane life. It’s what God wants; it’s what changes our heart and who we are and how we act. Reconciliation to God is the answer to all brokenness, evil and hurt in the world – because it gets the human heart right again.
So the high-octane life will tune their heart to the message of the cross – i.e. that God wants a real and lasting relationship with people.
b. Tune our hearts to the need (Gen 6:5-8; 1 Pt 3:19-20)
And the high-octane life has a heart of compassion tuned to those in need.
This is what Peter is referring to when he goes off on a tangent about Noah in the middle of our reading
1PE 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 1PE 3:19 through whom n also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 1PE 3:20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,
The days of Noah were wicked – that’s why God wiped everyone out with a flood – everyone except Noah and his family that is.
(Read about it in Gen 6:5-8)
v8 God was motivated by compassion to save Noah and his family. And compassion is what motivates the person living the high-octane life. Their heart is tuned to the needy.
Ill: And we don’t need to look too far to find them. (“WA children Nations biggest drug users.” “West Australian” last Saturday) Evil is raping the souls of our generation!
Yet the high-octane life, motivated by compassion, will influence change because their heart is in tune with God’s heart. They will share a compassion similar to that of the writer of this poem …
The Way of a Disciple
I wish to be your tears
The tears that comforted me after my dark year of wandering
The tears that prayed with fervent passion in solitude
The tears that came upon me with a radiant smile and soft voice
Tears like the morning dew made after a long eternity’s wait
Tears which I can embrace with my small heart
I yearn to share the love You showed
When You saved me in the lion’s lair
Protected me from the valley of death
Led me in the desolate wilderness
Shined upon me in the dark world
I wish to share the love You shared with me in times of despair
I want to walk in your path
Though it may be rough, Though it may be painful
Though I may encounter storms of hardship, the sorrow of parting
I believe in Your peace
I have faith in Your blessing
I wish to walk in the path You walked, bearing the cross in solitude
The writer’s desire is to share the compassionate heart of Christ, knowing full well that this would not be easy. But the image of the flood in Noah’s day - that Peter refers to - reminds us of the urgent needs around us. High-octane people to share the compassionate heart of God – they have tuned their hearts to the cause of the cross - and so they point others to a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The high-octane life also knows that to influence change we can’t be distracted from the main game.
3. DON’T BE DISTRACTED FROM THE MAIN GAME (4:2-3)
a. Seize the day! (Ephesians 5:15-16; Luke 12:16-21)
EPH 5:15 Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, EPH 5:16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Ill: The Titanic’s Last Hero
The most famous ship of all time is possibly the Titanic, the supposedly unsinkable ship that went down on its maiden voyage. Many movies have been made and many books written about the fateful journey. Few will include the story of Scottish evangelist John Harper. Harper was a passenger on the Titanic.
In 1912 Harper was travelling to Chicago to take up his new appointment as Pastor of Moody Church. He had his daughter Nana on board with him. His wife had died a few years earlier. When the Titanic struck the iceberg and began to sink he put Nana into a lifeboat and then ran throughout the ship yelling "Women, children, and unsaved into the lifeboats!" When the ship finally went down he had already given his lifejacket to another passenger. Survivors report that to the very end Harper was witnessing to anyone who would listen. One survivor recalls clinging to one of the ships spars when Harper floated near him. "Man, are you saved?" cried Harper. "No I’m not" replied the man. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved" pleaded Harper. The waves carried Harper away and brought him back a little later. "Are you saved now?" asks Harper. "No, I cannot honestly say that I am" says the man. Again Harper pleads with him, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved". Shortly afterward Harper went down. The man who survived was one of only six people rescued, but in a public meeting four years later, recounting this episode he said "There, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper’s last convert."
Source: Adapted by Scott Higgins from Elesha Coffman, Christianity Today, August 7,200. The story is told in The Titanic’s Last Hero (Moody Press, 1997)
Harper had an eternal influence on a life because he wasn’t distracted from the main game – and he seized the day. That’s a high-octane life – powerful and effective; awakening people to their need.
But there are many things that can distract us from the main game.
Peter’s advice to us is that, if we want to lead a high-octane life of influence we need to seize the day. He says … (vv2-3)
….. he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 1PE 4:2 As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 1PE 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do--living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
Where do you spend most of your time? Living in the past or seizing the opportunities of today? The life of influence will make the most of every opportunity.
b. Employ your resources wisely.
And the high-octane life of influence knows how to employ resources wisely. John Harper knew that his time was short, so he used it wisely. Not on himself – but for the benefit of others and the kingdom of God.
John Harper knew that self-employment is unspiritual.
You see, God has granted each of us many gifts that we can use to influence others. To employ those gifts for ourselves (i.e. to be self-employed), will not influence anyone – but ourselves.
Peter writes …
1PE 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 1PE 4:11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
God’s gifts are not for self-employment, they are at his disposal alone. The gifts, skills and abilities God grants us are to be spent on things that matter for eternity. The high-octane life of influence doesn’t waste these precious resources – they find ways to use them responsible for the kingdom of God.
The NIV bible has a subtitle here (in 4:1-11), “Living for God.” Are you? How far does this “Living for God” encroach upon your life? (Money – the credit card statement is the gauge of the heart; time; residence; career)
The life of influence is not distracted from the main game – it will seize the day, and it will invest time and resources in things that last, things of eternal value.
CONCLUSION
Let me finish with this story of a high-octane life of influence.
The African Bishop, Desmond Tutu, was once asked why he became an Anglican rather than joining some other denomination. He replied that in the days of apartheid, when a black person and a white person met while walking on a footpath, the black person was expected to step into the gutter to allow the white person to pass and nod their head as a gesture of respect. "One day" Tutu says, "when I was just a little boy, my mother and I were walking down the street when a tall white man, dressed in a black suit, came toward us. Before my mother and I could step off the sidewalk, as was expected of us, this man stepped off the sidewalk and, as my mother and I passed, tipped his hat in a gesture of respect to her! I was more than surprised at what had happened and I asked my mother, ‘Why did that white man do that?’ My mother explained, ‘He’s an Anglican priest. He’s a man of God, that’s why he did it.’ When she told me that he was an Anglican priest I decided there and then that I wanted to be an Anglican priest too. And what is more, I wanted to be a man of God."
Peter helps us understand how we too can live a high-octane life that influences change in the world around us.
We must earn the right and the privilege to be heard; we must tune our hearts to the cause of the cross and we must not be distracted from the main game.
