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RUBBING UP AGAINST ONE ANOTHER!
During the school year teachers will occasionally
have what is called a "work" day. Despite the name, this is not
the one day out of the year that they actually work. It's a day in which
they have a chance to either prepare for what's ahead or to grade final exams
and turn in grades. Either way, it is a day without kids.
Invariably, as teachers work alongside each other,
someone will make the remark "If it were not for kids, teaching would be
a great career." The statement, of course, is nonsensical in the
sense that if it weren't for the kids, teachers wouldn't have the option of choosing
teaching as a career. But the statement reflects the fact that what makes
teaching difficult is the kids. Hence, on occasion, it is nice to have
a day at work without them.
On the same note, I was once told by someone who
used to attend Bethany that he was happy until he became a member of the church. In
context, it could have been any church. For in the context of any church,
as you can imagine, he meant that he was happy until he was involved enough to
really know people and in knowing them knowing where they stood on various issues. That
is, he was happy until he discovered that on some issues he was in conflict with
others within the church.
You see, Ben Rumson (Lee Marvin) of Paint Your
Wagon was right. It's people who gum everything up. In particular,
or rather more precisely, it is everyone else who gums everything up. Personally,
I never chew gum so the problem with this world, this church, couldn't possibly
be me!
This is where Peter is at in his first letter
to the saints scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Up
to this point he has simply been addressing the wonder of our new birth into
a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He's drawn our
attention to all that God, by his grace, has done for us and has encouraged us
to respond by being holy in all that we do.
In fact, reading the first twenty-one verses of
the first chapter is like basking in the warm sun without a care in the world. It's
like taking a warm shower or bath on a cold and miserable day. It's like
curling up with a good book that warms our heart and soul.
But the rub that tends to rub us the wrong way
invariably enters the room. Kids flow into the room and suddenly teachers realize
that teaching isn't a piece of cake. Or, someone becomes a member of the
church and without warning they find themselves at odds with the person sitting
next to them in the pew. We can quit and find a new career, or a
new church, or we can listen to what Peter has to say about rubbing up against
one another.
He addresses this issue of Christians relating
to each other in I Peter 1:22 through 2:1 - 3. We read,
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying
the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply,
from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed,
but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of
the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the
Lord stands forever."
And this is the word that was preached to you.
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all
deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies,
crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3
now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
To understand this passage, it is best to start
in the middle, go back to v. 22, and then go to the first three verses of the
second chapter. Today, if we obtain a good handle on v. 22, we will be
doing well. I believe the first three verses of chapter two form a unit
with vv. 22 - 25, but we won't focus on them until next week.
It is clear from v. 22 that God expects us, you
and me, to be bound together in love. This is the verse that is going
to rub up against us. This is the verse that is going to rub us the wrong
way. This is the verse that we are going to respond to by saying "no
way!". It is going to happen in this church, or any church, for every
church has people in it that somewhere along the way will rub us the wrong way.
This being the case, it is important that we come
to grips with this verse. But the key to this verse ever becoming a reality
in any church is not found in the verse itself. It is found in vv. 23-
25. These verses tell us that the love that binds the redeemed together
flows from the word of the Lord.
Look at it this way, Peter knows that no one can
export what has not been imported. He knows we cannot give away what has
not been given to us. But that is not the case here. For the initial
recipients of this letter, just like you and me, have been born again. The
seed of life had been sown in their hearts, and it has been sown in our hearts.
Okay, so what difference does this make in our
life? Well, it makes all the difference and Peter explains this when he
quotes a few verses from Isaiah 40. He says,
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the
field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord
stands forever."
In contrast with human beings, God's word is imperishable. The
sun beats down on us, the wind blows, the cold bites, and eventually we wither
away much like the flowers of the field. But the word goes forth with the
power of the Spirit and stands forever, as seen in the next two illustrations.
On one bright morning long ago, God and two others
appeared to Abraham and spoke to him. We pick up the conversation in v.
9 of Genesis 18 and read:
"Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked
him.
"There, in the tent," he said.
Then the LORD said, "I will surely return
to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son."
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the
tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already old and well
advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah
laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is
old, will I now have this pleasure?"
Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah
laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything
too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and
Sarah will have a son."
A more literal translation of v. 14 is as follows: "Is
any word too hard for the LORD?" God's word of promise is self-fulfilling. It
is self-fulfilling because it goes out with the Spirit's power. When God
spoke he knew Isaac was to be the punch line that would bring laughter to Abraham
and Sarah while bringing glory to Himself.
When Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced her
upcoming pregnancy she didn't laugh, but she did question Gabriel who happened
to be in a good mood this time around. He answered her in Luke 1:35 - 37
by saying,
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy
one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative
is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is
in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God."
You will note that Gabriel repeated to her, in
v. 37, the very words shared with Abraham after Sarah laughed at the notion of
being pregnant at the age of ninety. He said, "For nothing is impossible
with God." Again, a more literal translation would be "For no
word is impossible with God." When God's word goes forth it goes forth
with the Spirit's power.
By the word of God, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. By
the word of God, Mary gave birth to Jesus. By the word of God (insert your
name) was born anew. The word of God that has given us life is enduring,
it is not subject to decay, and it is transforming. It rewires the spirit
within us to conform to the Spirit of God.
This was the word that was preached to the original
recipients of this letter. It is the same word that was preached to us. It
went out with the power of the Spirit and changed the hearts of the original
recipients as it has changed our hearts. It changed our hearts so much
that we now like the people we once thought of as nothing but a bunch of hypocrites!
Having begun in the middle, let's go back to v.
22. It reads,
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying
the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply,
from the heart.
The obedience to the truth of which Peter speaks
is their initial response to the word that was preached to them. The gospel
was preached to them by someone other than Peter, as see in v. 12, and they accepted
it as the truth. They recognized themselves as lost sinners in need of
the saving hand of God as seen in the person of Christ Jesus. In
receiving the word as the word of God their hearts were changed.
What changed? I don't know, but I can make
some good guesses. I suspect, their appetite changed in that they no longer
lusted after the things of the world; no longer turned to alcohol as the solution
to their problems; and no longer wrung their hands in despair. Instead,
they tasted the word of God and found it to meet their deepest needs. This
meant, in part, they no longer looked at others in the same way.
Because of the changes in their heart, because
they have been regenerated, they had sincere love for their brothers and sisters
in Christ. The Greek word for "love" is the word phileo. In
other words, Peter is initially commending them for reaching the "friendship" stage
in their interpersonal relationships.1
This is not where the rub comes in in regards
to other Christians. Unfortunately, Peter goes on to say that "sincere
love" is not enough. Within a church, it is not enough to simply love
each other as friends. In the long run, or even the short run, this is
insufficient because invariably our "friends" are going to step on
our toes!
So Peter commanded the original recipients of
this letter, and he commands us, to love one another deeply. Here, near
the end of the verse, the Greek word for "love" is agapao which means
we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ as God loves us. Furthermore,
when Peter uses the word "deeply" he is using a word that means "stretched" or "strained."2
This is the rub! When I have a sharp disagreement
with others in the body I can still like them as people who are as fallible as
I am in regards to one's understanding of Scripture in regards to some issue. I
can like them even though I believe they are dead wrong. However, it is
not enough to like them. I am to love them, sacrificially.
Frankly, in the heat of a disagreement this is
tough. But Peter is commanding us to make every effort, to stain every
nerve, to do our very best to be gracious toward our brothers and sisters in
Christ. 1 To the Thessalonians Paul said: "Now about
brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been
taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all the
brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and
more." See I Thessalonians 4:9 - 10. We see the same
sentiments in Romans 12:9 -10, Hebrews 13:1, and II Peter 1:7.
2 The same term describes the earnestness of Christ's prayer
in Gethsemane. See Luke 22:44.PETER: THE MAN AND HIS LETTERS 12/30/07 1
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