Behold How They Love One Another
I Peter 4:7-11
When we realize the true character of some unsaved people, or the values they have, or the way they treat other people, why do we as Christians put up with them? Well...
We treat them nice because we want them to like us.
We treat them nice because we want to have fun with them--or we want to have a peaceful holiday celebration.
We treat them nice because we have to work with them or live next door to them or go to school with them.
We treat them nice because we want to give a good impression for witnessing.
And yet like the Apostle Paul says, "we bite and devour other believers" (Galatians 5:15). We treat Christians like dirt--ignore them, talk about them, fight with them. We’ve got it backwards. We need to treat believers better than we treat unbelievers. People are staying away from church and they are ignoring the gospel because of the lousy way Christians treat each other and because of the lousy way church people treat each other.
How are we supposed to treat each other?
Galatians 6:10 says, "so then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those who are of the household of faith."
How are we supposed to treat each other?
Philippians 2:3 says, "with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves."
How are we supposed to treat each other?
Romans 12:9-13 says, "be devoted to one another in love, give preference to one another in honor, not lagging in diligence..."
How are we supposed to treat one another?
Christ said, "A new commandment I give to you..." His tone had changed. The disciples probably thought, "Here it comes. Here comes the hard part, the complicated part...beyond everything that Moses commanded and all the laws we already have to remember, here comes Christ with more to do." But Christ simply said, "Love each other." That’s it. That’s the new commandment. Love each other. As Peter repeats it for us now in I Peter 4, he says, "Love each other; share with and care for each other; serve each other."
But, as Peter talks about this new commandment, he points out something very important: we are told to go the extra mile; we are supposed to go above and beyond the ordinary. As Emeril Lugassi on the Food Channel would say, "Kick it up a notch!"
Take your love to a HIGHER level.
Stretch your hospitality BEYOND what you usually do.
Serve each other BETTER than you treat yourself.
How does the passage state this higher level of fellowship and caring between believers?
1. Love is to be fervent
Fervent = to stretch or strain (a Middle Ages use of this word was a description of a body on the torture rack!) A better translation of it would be full strength or maximum effort. Holding nothing back. Giving it everything you’ve got.
Let your love be without reservation. Let your love be without hesitation. Let your love be without qualification. (I’m sounding like Jesse Jackson!)
2. Love is to be forgiving
"COVERS" does not mean "forgives". Only God has the ability to forgive sins.
Covers means "Does not stir up or broadcast sins."
I Corinthians 13:5-7 Love suffers long and bears all things. "Love thinketh no evil" means love gives people the benefit of the doubt. Love doesn’t expect people to fail, but understands that they might fail anyway.
From what I understand, you will never find an imperfect piece of Waterford Crystal (the real fancy stuff from Ireland). While others may sell imperfect pieces or seconds at bargain prices, there are no seconds in Waterford crystal. Any time an inspector finds even the slightest imperfection, the piece is crushed, melted and made over entirely. The church, however, is made up completely of seconds. The church is filled with imperfect people who have all been forgiven by the grace of God.
Proverbs 10:12 "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions."
Love refuses to stir up strife. Instead of reminding people of their sins and using those sins against them, love understands that we are all sinners and we all need a little bit of grace and for others to cut us some slack.
3. Hospitality is to be without complaining
Matthew 25:35,38,40 "to the extent you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me." If Christ were to come in here today and ask us to give him a pair of shoes or a winter coat, we’d have a stampede of people trying to give stuff to Christ. If Christ was to say, "Anyone here willing to come down out of your Zacchaeus tree and let me come to your house for dinner today?" we’d have people complaining that they didn’t get a chance to do it first.
But Christ says, "why not do it now to people all around you? Why not show that same hospitality to one of these the least of my brethren?"
"Without grumbling" implies that the demands on some people who were showing hospitality may have caused some hard feelings. The demands of hospitality were probably frequent and heavy. If they were the only ones doing it, there may have been resentment and complaining. But such opportunities to show Christian hospitality ought to (this is a command from God) be seen as a Christian privilege and a form of service to Christ himself.
Without complaining, grumbling, murmuring. Why would we complain about having to help someone? Maybe cost, inconvenience, effort, nobody says thank you, it seems like they’re always asking you...
Paul used the same word in Philippians 2:14 (LOOK IT UP) "Do ALL THINGS without grumbling and complaining--because it will be a shining testimony to those people who live in a dark, crooked and perverse world!" People are turning away from the gospel because of the way Christians grumble and complain about each other and about having to help each other!
In Albania, hospitality is evidently very common. It is part of their culture. It stems from the fact that before Communism, most Albanians were Moslems. A guest, even if he is a total stranger, is offered some tobacco to smoke and given a seat next to the hearth--a place of honor. If he has traveled far, the woman of the house will wash his feet. He is served coffee and after that invited to the table to eat. Every house is supposed to keep special food ready in case there are guests. The key to it all is an old Albanian saying--"an Albanian’s house belongs to God and His guests."
If we are only taking care of God’s house and God’s food for Him, we need to be ready to share hospitality with His people.
4. Service is to be used for the good of God’s people
Good stewards -- you’ve received God’s grace, right? You know what it means to be forgiven, right? You want to serve your Master, right? Well, then, unless you use that grace and mercy and love to serve each other, you are a bad steward because you are hoarding it and not using it to bless other people. That’s what the verse says. Get busy serving.
What? Well, look at vs. 11:
If you’ve been given the opportunity to teach, understand that you are handling the very Word of God. If you’ve been given BY GOD a message--that could change the course of their entire lives, and a message so important that it could keep them out of hell for eternity, why would you come up with an excuse for not showing up to present that message to people because you were going to your family’s house for dinner or you had a headache or you weren’t prepared or something came up?
A. Peter says, Folks, I don’t think you understand how important the message is I’ve asked you to give these kids.
B. If you were asked to help and your excuse was "I don’t have the energy after a long day of work" or "I just can’t seem to handle it in my condition" or "It’s too hard."
Peter says, Folks, I don’t think you understand that you are trying to work for God, but you aren’t asking God for the strength to do it.
If you want to be a good steward and have your Master say, "Well done, good and faithful servant..." then you need to ask God for the PRIVILEGE of serving others who are part of your church family. According to these verses, your participation in the church family is not for your benefit--it is for others.
5. Service is to be God-glorifying
Take your eyes off yourself and your schedule and your abilities and your wants and needs and comfort--and serve God for once!
Philippians 1:15-18 Paul says, stop your grumbling and complaining about who is doing what, and for what motive and understand this--the gospel is getting preached and people are getting saved.
Peter puts it this way: (vs. 11) SO THAT (= purpose statement) God would get the glory. Hold it. I thought coming to church was so I could get something out of it.
I thought I was supposed to have my needs met.
I thought I was supposed to be fed.
I thought I was supposed to be blessed by the music.
I thought I was supposed to feel welcomed and wanted.
I thought the church existed to help me!
I thought people were supposed to invite me over.
I thought God put teachers in the church so I could grow.
I thought the nursery workers served so I could worship without crying babies.
Peter says, SO THAT...
God is not glorified unless you are more concerned about others during your participation in the church than you are yourself.
God is not glorified unless you are serving in His strength.
God is not glorified unless you hold this message so precious and dearly that almost nothing would prevent you from showing up to teach or lead your Awana kids or help in children’s church.
God is not glorified unless you treat members of the household of faith better than you treat people outside the church.
A local church asked members to donate money for a new building. The building committee made one stipulation: no plaques or recognition of any kind would be placed in the building to honor the givers. The response was mediocre at best. When the committee withdrew their requirement and allowed for a memorial registry with a listing of donors, the building was easily subscribed. What had changed? At first, the building committee was appealing solely to people’s charity and generosity. Later, they offered an appeal to their egos, and the egos won. Christian service that is worthy of Christ’s name is for God’s glory and not for personal gain.
Let’s put our egos aside and serve each other.
All of this is to be in view of the coming of Jesus. Lots of people are all excited about this Left Behind stuff. Well, Peter puts this serving one another into a Left Behind frame of thinking:
vs. 7 In view of the last days, here’s how you need to act. He says, wake up, straighten up, sober up.
Luke 12:35-43 Blessed is the slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Blessed is the servant who is doing what he is supposed to be doing when the master comes home.
