To This You Were Called

1 Peter 3:8-12

Immanuel – 7/18/21

Peter has taken us on an expose of the living hope that God has caused us, the elect, to be born into, an inheritance we are being kept for, and a belief abounding in inexpressible joy. From 1:3 to 2:10, Peter soared through these theological glories. All this so that we may proclaim the excellencies of His who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

In 2:11 Peter began to bring these theological glories down to earth; and this is where we began the very practical part 2 of his letter. Peter is teaching us how we – as elect exiles – are to live in a hostile world.

But part two of the letter is broken down into two sections. The first section is marked by these themes: (1) we are to live distinctly, different from the world; and (2) we are to live submissively to the authorities God has graciously given.

We live distinctly as exiles. We subject ourselves to those that govern us and to those that employ us. Wives subject themselves to their husbands and husbands are to be distinct in how they treasure their wives.

And today in our passage, Peter tells the church how to live with other-worldly distinction. The effect is that nothing else on earth is like the church. The church is utterly distinct, different, holy. And the first section of part two – which we have been in now for five weeks – concludes with Peter’s exhortation to the church.

Next week we will enter into the second section of part two, dealing with right attitudes – especially in the face of suffering.

Purpose

Survey five attributes of righteousness.

How do we see good days?

Read 1 Peter 2:11-3:12 (Jean Wellenstein)

Verse 8 begins with a “finally.” This is a conclusion. As I said in the introduction, Peter is wrapping up a section of thought. What he started in 2:11 is coming to a close in our passage today.

And he is addressing the church. “All of you” refers to the elect exiles to whom he is writing. Peter has taken us through numerous ways to practically apply our faith in this hostile world. But here at the end, he applies the most important application: how we are to love one another within the church.

Read vs 8

Here are five virtues of righteous love, five means of deferring to one another, five ways we live distinctly from the world: unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

But these five virtues are not independent of one another. We are not to strive for unity of mind while neglecting tender heartedness. These five qualities are to work and grow together, like the fingers of a hand. To lose one is to be less than whole. We are all to diligently work to foster and mature in unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

There is no refuge in a hostile world like a church practicing these qualities. There is not greater subversive force, as the nations rage, than a church abounding in these five virtues.

So let’s take them one at a time.

Unity of Mind

First, what unity of mind is not. Unity of mind does not mean that everyone in the church must agree on absolutely everything; like the color of the carpet, or how we are implementing some program, or how the end times unfold. That’s the kind of slavish thinking that marks a cult, not the church.

Unity of mind means that no matter our background, no matter our preferences, no matter our struggles; we hold the same faith and we are alive to the same hope. At Immanuel, it means that we all agree on our statements of faith. But there exists a statement of faith far older; it is the most ancient creed known to the church: The Apostles’ Creed.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

the Creator of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven

and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,

whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and life everlasting.

Since the earliest days of the church’s existence, this has been a fundamentally binding creed. These were the teachings of the apostles and this is the faith that binds us. And through this creed we can have unity of mind with those that came before us, those that are with us, and those that will come after.

This also means, that if we are to strive to have unity of mind, we need to be diligent in teaching the Bible. We need to be diligent about learning God’s word. We need to be rooted and grounded in the truth of God!

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us; either by our spoken word or by our letter. -2 Thessalonians 5:15

Only then will we know the will of God; and when we know the will of God, then His will can be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. -Romans 12:2

For us to have unity of mind, we need God’s word to transform our minds; and we need to help each other to understand God’s word. So let no petty divisions tear us apart, but let us increasingly grow in unity as we together love the truth more than our differences.

Sympathy

Sympathy comes from the Greek word Sumpathes: which literally means “with feeling.” To sympathize with someone is to feel with someone. It is to come alongside them in their pain. Sympathy also celebrates another’s joys. Just as Paul writes:

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. -Romans 12:15

Sympathy sees a person in their struggle and has compassion. Therefore, some action must follow. Sympathy requires action. When Job lost everything, his friends sympathized when they silently sat with him for seven days (but when they began speaking their sympathy went out the window). When the crowds were hungry, Jesus sympathized and fed them.

Sympathy understands – on some level – the struggle of another; and then seeks an appropriate, loving, honest, understanding means of helping someone through their pain. And wise sympathy understands different struggles require different helps; and even within a particular struggle, different stages of that struggle require different expressions of sympathy.

The person going through difficulty may respond to their pain with some very unhelpful behaviors. They may begin to adopt some very unhelpful beliefs. Sympathy does not affirm such things. Sympathy never abandons truth. Sympathy is like grabbing onto a tree, with one foot on solid ground and another in the quicksand, then reaches into the quicksand to help the one being pulled under.

I believe it is critically important to draw a distinction at this point, because, sympathy is not empathy. In our modern world, empathy is touted as the highest of virtues. But I want to show you that empathy is dangerous. Sympathy is the Biblical virtue.

Empathy is a word created in the 20th century that means “in feeling;” rather than the “with feeling” of sympathy. Empathy means joining someone in their feeling. Their pain becomes your pain. Their hurt becomes your hurt. Whatever they feel, however they respond, you must wholeheartedly affirm as legitimate, even if their responses are unhelpful.

Empathy relativizes truth. The greatest truth becomes the pain of the person hurting. If someone is sinking in the quicksand, empathy jumps in with both feet. The result is that both end up being sucked in.

If someone feels attacked because of their sexual orientation, empathy affirms their feelings and tries to fight the oppressive institution – even if that institution is grounded in truth. If someone feels hurt or angered by written words, empathy cancels those words – even if those words were true.

I spend all this time drawing a distinction between sympathy and empathy because we live in a world with empathy as its highest virtue. Sympathy loves the neighbor, while remembering God. Empathy abandons God for the sake of the neighbor. Empathy turns their neighbor into god. But sympathy never abandons truth, because truth is a person. Sympathy’s first allegiance is to Jesus, and then to the person hurting.

So let us sympathetically rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep; and let us do so while we hold fast to the Righteous Branch that is Christ Jesus.

Brotherly Love

This is the second time that Peter is using the term “brotherly love.” Look back at 1:22 with me.

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. -1 Peter 1:22

And in 2:17 Peter said, love the brotherhood. Three times Peter has exhorted us to love each other. Loving one another is a massive outflow of the gospel that binds us. Yes, we are to be loving towards all people. But there is a special affection we are to have towards one another in the church – the affection of family. Despite all our differences, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

We share the same Father; for our Heavenly Father who caused us to be born again to a living hope, as Peter said in 1:3. Through faith we share the same brother. As Jesus said:

“For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

-Mark 3:35

We love each other because we have been adopted into the same family. And this family will literally last forever. So we serve one another, we defer to one another, we look out for each other. We truly love one another. Among all the institutions of man, above all humanities striving after love, the church is absolutely distinct.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” -John 13:34-35

The Lord’s teaching has become the burden of Peter’s ministry. Let it also become the burden of our hearts, as we love one another earnestly from pure hearts.

Tender Heartedness

We are to have a tender heart towards one another. Some translations use the word compassion here. Other translations used the word compassion earlier, instead of sympathy. That’s because there are 7 different Greek words we translate as compassion in English.

What we have here is the strongest Greek word for compassion. It is a word that means feeling compassionately at the very deepest level of who you are. To be literal: from the bowels of your being.

Sympathy is compassion that is moved to action in some way. Being tender hearted means that you are quickly moved to emotional identification. It means being quick to feel love, pity, joy, sorrow, hope, and other shared emotions.

Therefore, if you are tender hearted, you are not indifferent, you are not callous, you don’t just say what’s on your mind regardless of how the other person will take it. Being tender hearted is being sensitive and gentle (one of the fruits of the Spirit). It is being emotionally intelligent and invested. And it means being authentic.

But being tender hearted does not mean that we are to be emotional saps. Nor does it mean we are to be empathetic. When Jesus was confronted with the self-righteousness of the religious leaders, He was anything but tender hearted. He was forceful and direct, fighting for the truth, standing against sin. He, in fact, offended the sensibilities of those leaders. He was absolutely uncompromising on the truth.

But He was a tender heart to the broken hearted.

A bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench.

-Isaiah 42:3

Let us follow our Lord, fiercely living for truth and righteousness, and with hearts tender and wide open for every bruised reed and flickering candle.

A Humble Mind

The Greek word Peter uses here, carries the connotation of humble courtesy. Some translations use the word courteous instead of humble. Again and again since 2:11, Peter has encouraged honorable conduct and respectfulness - which indeed is courteous behavior. He continues that theme here with exhorting a humble mind.

Humbly lay aside your preferences, opinions, even your rights, so as to not become offensive to others. And not just so that you can avoid being offensive, but so that you can truly serve others. Because if you are going to truly unify, sincerely sympathize, authentically love, and open your hearts; then you will need to humbly consider others as more significant than yourself.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each one of you look not to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. -Philippians 2:3-4

Paul writes those words to the Philippians, and then goes on to ground them in the incredible humility of Christ Himself.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. -Philippians 2:5-8

Yes, to pursue a humble mind is to pursue the mind of Christ.

Clearly, you cannot exercise sympathy without a tender heart, and neither function without brotherly love. All require humility. And each lose their way without the truth that unifies us. Each virtue needs the others; like fingers on a hand – the hand called righteousness.

Read vs 9

When someone wrongs us, we do not get aggressive, we do not try to intimidate, we do not threaten. When someone says something offensive, we do not seek to cancel them. Instead, we are to exercise the same type of love as Christ, who prayed for the forgiveness of those driving nails through His wrists.

“You have heard that it said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” -Matthew 5:43-45

If someone does something evil to you, return to them a blessing. This is godly retaliation. Again, from Paul’s writings in Romans 12:

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head.” -Romans 12:19-20

Here, again, we see the unique nature of the church. No one naturally lives like this. No institution of man blesses its enemies. None, except those that have been touched by Christ. For to this you have been called.

We have been called to be a blessing in this world; so distinct that we are like a light in the darkness, salt in a tasteless malaise, the city of God set upon a hill. Yes, we, the church, are the hope of the world and the tree with healing in its leaves (Revelation 22:2). We are the hope because on the throne of this city is Christ Jesus the Lord, risen and glorious!

Let us therefore go and bless; that all people will know joy in God. Yes, if we live in this righteousness, following our Lord, then we will know the blessing of being near to Him – now and forevermore!

Peter then goes on to quote from Psalm 34.

Read vs 10-12

Seeing Good Days

This is the second time Peter quotes Psalm 34. He did it last in 2:3. It is a Psalm about the goodness of God, and how we are to respond to His goodness. I want to highlight just a small portion of it: the first two lines. Whoever desires to love life and see good days.

Isn’t that all of us? Do we not all want to see good days? Do we not want to love our lives? The Psalmist writes, and Peter affirms, that the righteous will love their lives and experience good days. The righteous will! Those that are unified in Christ, sympathetic and loving, tender hearted and humble. Those that bless their enemies. These righteous ones will know good days!

Oh my friends, brothers and sisters, this does not mean that your days will be easy! There is no prosperity gospel to be found in these words. For in the very next verse, Peter goes on to talk about suffering for the sake of righteousness.

The blessing that God gives the righteous is contentment in this life – no matter the circumstances – joy when we meet trials of various kinds (James 1:2), a living hope though the world be in the throes of death, and inexpressible joy in our unseen Lord and Savior. When filled with such powers of grace we will know what it means to have the good life.

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” -John 10:10

Our best life now is not in homes and vacations and paychecks. Our best life now is found as we take up our crosses and follow Jesus, rejoicing as we lay down our lives for those around us.

Think of Paul and Silas, locked in a Philippian jail, backs bleeding and bruised by the rod, feet in stocks, presumably so uncomfortable they were unable to find a position to rest, not knowing if tomorrow was coming.

Even in the midst of their sorrows, they were filled with joy. At midnight they began to sing hymns. Suddenly there was an earthquake. The shackles fell from all the prisoners. But they did not run. They stayed in their cell. After witnessing all this – before the sun could come up – the jailor was baptized as a brand new follower of Jesus.

But before anything changed their circumstances, while their wounds were still fresh, Paul and Silas we loving God and the life He had given them. There was no complaining, no grumbling. And what most would call a horrific day was in reality a good day indeed.

This is the blessing for the righteous. Every day, any day, a good day; and a love for life because you have been given the life of Him who truly is good. So just as our Lord did, let us open our hearts and humbly, self-sacrificially love each other. And we will know life, and know it abundantly. For to this you were called.

And through this calling, the church will be the most distinct institution on the face of the planet: a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of the darkness and into His marvelous light!