Crucial building blocks in the kingdom

1 Peter 3 – Part 2

In this section Peter deals with more of the nuts and bolts issues in building this new kingdom of God. However, this time he looks at some the issues that will directly involve the Christian community.

All Christians

8 Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. 

Peter now turns from relationships in the home to relationships within the Christian community. However, we need to understand what he means when he bids us to be one mind. Disunity seems to have been an issue that has plagued the church since its inception and still continues until this day. It is certainly not a new concept in biblical literature, nor in the mind of Jesus. In His great high priestly prayer Jesus utters these words: I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. (John 17:20-21- NLT)

The Apostle Paul was continually frustrated by divisions and quarrelling with the very gifted church at Corinth and has to write: I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. (1 Corinthians 1:10 - NLT)

So what are we to make of this advice of Peter to be of one mind? Perhaps the difference we can draw is that between unity of purpose and personal perspective on how to achieve the unified purpose. One of the great tragedies of church leadership is there have been leaders who have tried to impose their personal opinions and perspectives on the body of Christ as a necessity for unity of purpose.

There is a strong case that suggests that the Christian community greatly benefits when its members have differing perspectives on it operations and it seems, in the light of spiritual gifts, that how it ought to be.

Unity of purpose was quite another matter and we could look at Jesus’ mission statement in the temple where he clearly defines the purpose for his coming. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come. ” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day! (Luke 4:17-21 - NLT)  His purpose was crystal clear:

Ø  bring Good News to the poor

Ø  proclaim that captives will be released

Ø  the blind will see,

Ø  the oppressed will be set free,

Ø  the time of the LORD’s favor has come.

There could be no disunity over Jesus’ purpose. The disciples could have said that they thought there were preferable objectives but understood that there had to be a crystal clear purpose if Jesus was to achieve his ministry objectives. However, how that all might be achieved could be open to personal opinion and negotiations. They are two completely different elements in ministry. One is the purpose on which there cannot be disunity, the other is the operation that will fulfil the purpose, and on that there will always be legitimate and differing points of view.

Sympathy

His call to sympathize with each other reaches to the very heart of Christian concern and compassion; a crucial element which should be active within the Christian community. While sympathy generally means to feel sorry for or show compassion for, genuine Christian sympathy may go somewhat deeper for it seeks identify the reason for suffering, then to hear and take on board the pain of others, and where possible assist with a solution. We see this operative in the life of Jesus. 35 Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 He said to his disciples, The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. (Matthew 9:36 – NLT)

While ministering to people Jesus becomes aware of their pain and suffering: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. His immediate reaction was to feel their pain and identity their problem: because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. And then the solution: So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.

When Paul wrote to the Christian community in Rome he lays it out a little more clearly: Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. (Romans 12:14-15 - NLT) It is in really feeling and sharing the pain of others that we authentically communicate real Christian sympathy. Very often the person in need of sympathy needs nothing more than to know that someone else can feel and share their pain. Often, that is enough.

Love

There is a sense in which this new Christian community, the church, was somewhat unique. Jesus based the relationship of his disciples on love; Love one another as I have loved you. (John 13:34-35) Several times in his letters Peter will appeal to the same principal: You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.  (1 Peter 1:22 – NLT)

Love within the Christian community takes on a whole new dimension quite different from emotions or compassion we may feel for those outside the community. It operates on the blood is thicker than water principal. It is, essence and quality, the same as the love within the family since those within the community are children of the same Father. The early Salvation Army was very strong on this principal with members being known by the prefix brother or sister.

John in his pastoral letters also goes to great lengths to reinforce the crucial need for genuine Christian love among the community but also has a very direct and harsh criticism to those who hates a fellow believer. Such a person is a liar. We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. (1 John 4:19-21- NLT)

Now we need to get a clear understanding of the essence of Christian love and focus on its biblical substance and there is no clearer picture that painted by Paul in 1 Corinthian ch 13 – particularly verse 4-7.

The current thinking is that we serve God within our Christian community out of love rather than duty, which is quite correct. However, in saying that we need to have a clear understanding of what we really mean by love in a Biblical sense. The danger is that when we speak of love we are, more often than not, unsure of what exactly we are talking about. As the late General Frederick Coutts once remarked: "Love describes anything from Hollywood to heaven." All too often when we speak of love we are speaking of feelings or emotions.

Love that is Biblical, practical and authentic

1 Corinthians 13 is still the ultimate description of Christian love that we have, often regarded by many, both within and without the church, as one of the great pieces of literature. Nowhere does it identify love as a feeling or emotion, quite the contrary, they are more intentional actions that require discipline and duty; actions that must be performed, regardless of feelings.

As we survey the fifteen qualities of love as Paul delineates them in verses 4-7, we are hard pressed to find a warm fuzzy feeling among them. The reality is that they are, in the most, qualities or characteristics that will take some tough work and implementation. Characteristics like being kind, not demanding our own way, enduring through all circumstances etc.

I suspect many of these qualities are actioned at times, simply because it is the right thing to do, our duty as Christians. The reality is that for all of us, there will be times that, given our feelings, we would avoid these actions, but we do them because it is our duty as a Christian.

Real Christian love requires understanding, insight, empathy, a huge dollops and discipline, duty, and grit to make it work. It is not acquired on the easy street of soppy emotions. Genuine Christian love as Paul sees it is an acquired mindset influenced by the Holy Spirit, and not mercurial feelings.  Christian love requires a strong sense of discipline and duty if it is to be authentic and effective.

Be tenderhearted - Meaning: kind, kind-hearted, tender, warm, warm-hearted, gentle, easily moved.

We are living in a desensitised age where we are confronted daily, sometimes hourly with horrific scenes of human suffering in all its graphic detail, the like of which we have never witnessed in our lounge rooms before. There is a sense in which such scenarios have a subliminal intrusion into our mindset and they begin to lose their impact and become common place, to the point almost unconsciously, we lose something of our Christian tender-heartedness and become desensitised and almost the antithesis, cold-hearted. It is a natural human reaction against something that is too hard for us to cope with.

The real danger here is that, almost unknowingly, the effects of such desensitisation begins to impact our tender-hearted relationships with others in our Christian community and very contrary characteristics can take their place. Perhaps this was what Paul was facing when he wrote to the church in Ephesus: Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:31-32 - NLT)

It was the compassionate, tender heart of Jesus that took him to the cross and the kind tender heart of God that offers us amazing grace. Christianity must fervently embrace tender-heartedness if is to have a heart and soul, and you can only wonder what Christianity may become without this characteristic.

Humility

Nothing will turn the general populace away from a Christian community more than Christians who appears proud an arrogant. It seems to fly in the face of the character of Jesus who saw himself as the servant of all. An interesting phenomenon does arise today within some of the mega-churches where leadership appears to be ostentatious and arrogant. However, that is not the pattern of biblical leadership.

Genuine, natural humility is a rare thing and there are probably not too many who have it as part of their core personality. That leaves the rest of us who are at times more likely to exhibit the opposite characteristics of pride and arrogance. Perhaps here lies one of the secrets of the early church; they knew how to develop this virtue, by God’s help, within their personalities. Paul may well provide the clue and the exercise necessary to enmesh it into our own character. Note the words in bold: Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (Colossians 3:12 -  NLT)

Who is it that is taking the initiative and doing the hard yards here to bring this about? YOU must clothe yourselves. There is a strong sense of personal, cognitive decision making here which cannot be sidelined or avoided. We have to face up to it; we have a personal responsibility from the word of God to initiate this virtue.  When we have confronted our own pride and arrogance and made an honest decision to do something about it, the Holy Spirit comes alongside to guide, direct and comfort us.

Somewhere we have to have some sort of measuring stick if we are to initiate and develop true humility. If we run a comparison exercise with those we know around us we might look OK. However, they are as fallible and self-serving as we are. What we need is a biblical measuring stick by which we can get some idea of our own humility.

The first is an honest and ruthless appreciation of our own sinful nature, and if we are honest and ruthless, we will come to the place of King David and utter the words: My sin is ever before me. One of the greatest levellers of humanity is to know that we are all, without exception, sinners saved by grace.

The second measuring stick is perfect, proven and incontestable; You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 - NLT) Can’t do any better than that! It is, admittedly the ideal for which we can strive knowing full well that at times we will fail, but our results would be far less without this ideal to aim for.

Peter will now move on with some more fundamental building blocks for this new Christian community, these chosen people, this Royal priesthood.