Tag: Psalm 34

Scripture: 1^st Peter 3:8-12

Structure:

• Introduction
• Defined by character
• Defined by blessing
• Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

What would you say defines a banana cake? [Wait]

That’s right – a banana cake is defined by bananas. It is made out of bananas and as a consequence its very character, its smell and taste, is banana-ish.

What about a custard square – what defines a custard square? [Wait]

That’s right – custard. Take the custard out of a custard square and it is no longer a custard square, it’s just a piece of pastry. Keep the custard and it does not matter what shape the pastry is, it is still a custard square.

What about a Christian – what defines a Christian? [Wait]

That’s right – Christ. A Christian is defined by Jesus. If a person stops walking in the way of Christ, they are no longer Christian. But how might we define the way of Christ?

Today we continue our series in first Peter, focusing on chapter 3, verses 8-12. In this passage Peter talks about some of the things that define the way of Jesus and therefore are characteristic of Christians. From verse 8 we read…

⁸ Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be understanding, love one another as brothers, be compassionate and humble-minded. ⁹ Do not repay evil with evilor insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to thisyou were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

¹⁰ For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. ¹¹ They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. ¹² For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

In these verses we learn what defines a Christian. We are defined by our distinctive Christ-like character and we are defined by blessing. First let us consider what a Christ-like character smells and tastes like.  

Defined by character:

In my hand here I have a Griffin’s Vanilla Wine biscuit. Vanilla Wines are a plain round biscuit with a distinctive smell and taste. They remind me of my Nana. Often when we went to visit she would put some Vanilla Wine biscuits out for us to eat.

It’s not that my Nana did not do her own baking. She made amazing peanut brownie cookies but I’ve never found a peanut brownie biscuit that tastes just like hers. Fortunately, Griffins have not changed their Vanilla Wine recipe so whenever I want to remember my Nana I simply smell and taste a Vanilla Wine biscuit.  

Character refers to the mental and moral qualities distinctive to a person or community. Character therefore refers to the inner substance of a person or group. Not their physical substance but their moral substance. Character is the seed bed of speech and behavior.

In considering what Christ-like character smells and tastes like, Peter lists five character traits for Christians. In verse 8 we read: …all of you, be like-minded, be understanding, love one another as brothers, be compassionate and humble-minded.    

Notice that Peter starts by saying all of you. In contemporary Western society we tend to think of character in individual terms. But Peter is writing in a cultural context which is more collective in its way of thinking. So these five mental and moral characteristics apply to all Christian believers, both individually and collectively as a community of faith.    

The first moral quality by which Christian character is defined is like-mindedness. Like-mindedness implies working together with other Christians as part of a team or family and not acting in isolation. Like-mindedness also refers to sharing a common heritage and ethical tradition. [1]

Some translations paraphrase the word like-minded as harmony, which provides a lovely image. The church is a bit like an orchestra made up of different people playing different instruments but all playing in a like-minded or harmonious way.

The thing that makes an orchestra like-minded is playing from the same musical score and following the same conductor. In a similar way, the thing that makes the Christian community like-minded is reading the same Bible and following the same example of Jesus Christ.

Closely related to being like-minded is having understanding for one another. Understanding on both an emotional level and an intellectual level. Being happy for people when things go well for them and being supportive of them when life is tough. Understanding requires us to see things from the other person’s point of view and ask ourselves the question; if I was in their shoes what would I find most helpful?

So for example: if the person in question has a problem with alcohol then understanding requires that we don’t buy them a bottle of wine for Christmas.

Or if someone has been abused as a child then understanding might mean not imposing a hug on them because you know they don’t like to be touched.

Or if a couple are not able to have children then understanding means not complaining about your kids keeping you awake at night.

Or if you are a married woman and you have a female friend who is on their own then understanding might mean going on a girls’ night out, rather than inviting your single friend to dinner with lots of couples. You get the idea.

The third character quality that Peter mentions is brotherly love. This comes right in the center of the five virtues, which might indicate it is the most important.

Some more modern translations take out the word brotherly and say ‘love one another’. They do this to appear more gender neutral, more inclusive. But the original text uses the expression brotherly love and when we remove key words in translation we risk watering down the meaning of the text. Brotherly love does not exclude women in any way. As we heard a couple of weeks ago, with the section on instructions to wives, Peter is not writing to men only.

The point is the kind of love Christians are to have for one another is the love that one has for family, for blood relations. We tend to put up with more from family members because they are family. The bond between family members is stronger somehow than other relationships. By using the term brotherly love Peter is saying the church is a spiritual family. So the bond between Christian believers should be at least as strong as the bond between blood relations.

The Hebrew word for love is closely related to the Hebrew word to give. Therefore, in Jewish thought, to love is to give. [2]

Let me share with you a traditional folk story that illustrates brotherly love well.          

Once therewere two brothers who lived in two villages and shared the land between them. Every year they would divide the harvest.

During one abundant year the older brother, who was married and had many children, was worried about his younger brother who did not have a family. Who would support him in his old age? In the middle of the night, the older brother secretly brought some grain to his brother’s storehouse, but when he woke up in the morning he still had exactly the same amount of grain that he had the night before.

The younger brother was also worried: How will my older brother support all his children? So, the younger brother decided to secretly travel to his brother’s storehouse and place some grain of his own inside, but in the morning, he discovered that he still had exactly the same amount of grain as he had before he gave any away.

This went on for two nights until on the third night, the two brothers met as each one was on the way to the other’s storehouse carrying grain. At once, they both understood what had happened and they embraced in brotherly love.

In Jewish folklore it is said that God decided the ground where the two brothers met would be the site of His holy temple. I’m not sure if that is historically accurate but it certainly contains some beautiful truths. Those brothers were defined by like-mindedness, understanding, love and compassion.

Compassion is the fourth word Peter uses to define the Christian believer and community.  In Biblical thought compassion is a strong gut feeling which moves someone to act in kindness for someone else’s well-being. The classic story of compassion is Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan.

You know the one; where a man is beaten up by robbers and left for dead on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite each, in turn, see the wounded man and pass by without stopping to help. But when a despised Samaritan sees the man in need, he has compassion on the stranger. And his compassion moves him to stop and care for the man’s wounds. Then the Samaritan puts the man on his own donkey and carries him to an inn to recover, paying the expenses himself.     

One of the finer points of Jesus’ parable of the Samaritan is that the wounded stranger had been stripped of his clothes. And in that culture the clothes a person wore identified which race and religion they belonged to. So without seeing any clothes it was impossible for the Samaritan to know who he was helping. It could have been a Jewish enemy.

The point is compassion is blind when it comes to matters of race and religion. Some of you may sponsor children through World Vision or Tear Fund. Although both of these organizations are Christian, some of the communities they support through child sponsorship are not Christian. But that does not matter. As Christian organizations, World Vision and Tear Fund are not defined by the communities they help. No, they are defined by compassion.

Now in saying that compassion is blind to race & religion, I do not mean to imply that Christian compassion is stupid or unthinking. The exercise of Christ-like compassion requires wisdom and discernment.

Being compassionate makes us a target for deceitful people. You would not believe the number of scam emails we receive in the church office. If you try and help everyone who presents some kind of need, you will quickly destroy your capacity to remain compassionate.   

With this in mind, there are three basic questions we should ask ourselves when we come across someone in need:

Firstly, what is the real need here?

Secondly, is it in my power to help this person?

And thirdly, will my helping this person put other vulnerable people at risk?

The Samaritan in Jesus’ parable could see there was a real need. There was a man bleeding out on the side of the road. It was a life and death situation.  

It was also in the Samaritan’s power to help the injured man. It probably was not convenient but he did have the resources to save the man’s life.

And thirdly, the Samaritan helped the wounded stranger in a way that did not put other vulnerable people at risk. There may have been some risk to the Samaritan himself, but there was no risk to anyone else.  

If someone drives up to you in a Lexus and asks for money for petrol, you have to ask yourself, ‘What’s the real need here?’ Because it is probably not money. It’s not likely to be a life & death situation.

Or if a complete stranger, who is sleeping rough, wants a bed for the night then you might ask yourself, do I have the resources to pay for a motel room for them? If you have a wife and children at home, then it would be unwise to let the stranger stay in your house because it would put your family at risk.

Jesus said, ‘Do not put your pearls before swine.’ In other words, do not offer things of value to those who will treat them with contempt. Be discerning about how you spend the pearls of your compassion.      

Being humble-minded is the fifth virtue defining the followers of Christ. Humility was not considered a virtue in Greco-Roman society, although it was a virtue in Jewish culture. In the first century, humility was regarded as a sign of weakness and shame, because it meant an inability to defend your own honour. Only those of degraded social status were humble. [3]     

Another finer point from Jesus’ parable, in Luke 10, is the way the Samaritan puts the wounded stranger on his own donkey to carry him. This shows that the Samaritan was humble-minded. In that culture, the person riding the donkey had greater status than the person walking beside the donkey. The Samaritan gave up his status for the man in need by carrying him on his donkey. 

We kiwis may be tempted to think we are the very picture of humility, but I’m not sure we are. In the Christian sense of the word, a truly humble person does not attempt to defend their personal honour. When insulted, a truly humble person forgives the offence and trusts in God to vindicate them.  

Jesus was humble-minded. He had the power to defend his honour but he chose not to and instead embraced the shame of the cross, trusting God to glorify himself.

Like-mindedness, understanding, brotherly love, compassion and humility. These are some of the essential character qualities that define Christians. Put those virtues together and you have a Vanilla Wine biscuit that reminds people of Jesus.

Having outlined how his readers are defined by Christ-like character (in verse 8), Peter goes on (in verses 9-12) to discuss how we are defined by blessing. 

Defined by blessing:

Our church’s mission statement summarizes our purpose: We are to glorify God and be a blessing to his world. Christians are defined by blessing. We are both the recipients of God’s blessing and the agents of God’s blessing to others.

Verse 9 reads: Do not repay evil with evilor insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to thisyou were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

These words resonate with the teaching of Jesus who instructed his disciples to love their enemies and to bless those who curse you.

The temptation when we are maligned or insulted is to exaggerate the offence in our own mind and use the hurt as fuel for getting our own back against the one who has insulted our honour. But a tit for tat response allows our enemies to set the agenda and define us. As difficult as it is, in the heat of the moment, we need to hold on to who we are. We need to remember that we are not defined by insult and grievance. We are defined by blessing.

What then does Peter mean by blessing? Well, a blessing can be in word or deed. When we speak well of others, publicly, we are blessing them. Or when we ask God to show favour to someone, we are invoking God’s blessing on them. Of course, words of blessing that are not substantiated by deeds of blessing tend to sound a bit thin.

The story is told of a Christian soldier living in a barracks with his unit. Each evening, when he read his Bible and prayed before going to bed, he was insulted and verbally abused by one of the other soldiers opposite him.

One night a pair of muddy combat boots came flying across the room at the Christian. The next morning, the hostile soldier found his boots at the foot of his bed, cleaned and polished and ready for inspection. Several soldiers in his company eventually became Christians as a result of the winsome witness of this one Christ follower who returned blessing for insult. [4]

In this situation the Christian soldier did not allow himself to be defined by his antagonist. He was defined by blessing. God had shown him grace and so he passed this grace on to his enemy. 

In verses 10-12 of chapter 3 Peter provides some Old Testament support for what he is saying by quoting from Psalm 34. Psalm 34, as a whole, focuses on suffering and the Lord’s deliverance of those who are afflicted. Peter chose Psalm 34 because it speaks to the same sorts of issues faced by Peter’s first century readers.

Psalm 34 is attributed to king David who spent some time in exile with the Philistines. David was on the run from king Saul and had to hide in a pagan society, surrounded by people who were hostile to him.

David’s situation was a fitting parallel to the situation of Peter’s readers, who also lived in a pagan society, surrounded by people who viewed them with suspicion if not outright contempt.

Just as God delivered David from his exile among the Philistines, God will deliver Christians from their afflictions caused by their faith in Jesus. [5]

Verses 10-11 of chapter 3, outline the pathway (or lifestyle) of blessing…

For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. ¹¹ They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.

The wisdom here is that our words and deeds need to be in line. We don’t want to be bad talking someone behind their back and then nice to their face. Our words and deeds need to be positive & consistent, both in private and in public.

In the world we live in, speech and words have become a bit cheap. We often say things we don’t mean and swearing and cursing is common place. It’s like we imagine our words don’t matter. But it has been scientifically proven that the things we say to ourselves and to others have a very real effect in shaping our brain and thought patterns.   

We need to watch what we say because, if our speech is deceitful, we will end up believing a lie.

I have mentioned before that Robyn has an acrostic she uses with her class. T.H.I.N.K. – think before you speak. Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it inspiring? Is it necessary? Is it kind? If the answer is yes, say it. Otherwise think a bit more.

The idea that we must seek peace and pursue it indicates that peace does not simply find us as we sit quietly in a room. Peace requires some effort, some pursuit. Specifically, the effort of acting justly. There is no peace without justice. We cannot control how other people might act but we can control our own actions.    

Jesus’ command to love our enemies does not refer to an emotional feeling. You do not necessarily have to like your enemies. Enemy love means acting justly and kindly towards our adversaries, regardless of the emotions we may feel, and that’s where the effort in pursuing peace comes in. It takes real strength of character and divine energy to go against the grain of what we are feeling and love our enemies. 

I was at the Dentist recently, sitting in the waiting room, and I saw a newspaper article warning against the use of mouth wash. Research has found that we need a diversity of bacteria in our mouth, in order to maintain good oral health. Apparently mouth wash tends to reduce the diversity of bacteria.

This made me think of a parallel with our reading of Scripture. Sometimes we apply a kind of mental mouthwash to the Bible. We can be tempted to sanitize the Scriptures, by reading selectively to remove the parts we don’t like or that sound a bit harsh or offensive or out of date.

For example, we might tend to steer away from the passages that talk about God’s judgement and anger and justice because that makes us feel uncomfortable or embarrassed or fearful. But if we remove the justice and judgment of God from our Bible reading, then we will find it very difficult to believe in the goodness of God as well. And if we lose faith in the goodness of God we won’t be able to repay insult with blessing.

Verse 12 of 1^st Peter 3 concludes the quote from Psalm 34…

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

This verse alludes to the justice and judgement of God. We might be tempted to sanitize it by removing the part about the face of the Lord being against those who do evil. But actually we need to hold on to that because it tells us our doing good in response to evil is not in vain. God, who is just, will not tolerate evil indefinitely. There is a reckoning for those who insult others without just cause.

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard what defines the followers of Jesus. We are defined by our distinctive Christ-like character and we are defined by blessing.

The ideals Peter holds up here are not easy to attain. If we spent too long measuring how far we fall short, we might become discouraged and give up. Loving our enemies takes some heavy lifting, it is hard work.

Two things to bear in mind. Firstly, God is on your side. He wants to bless you. He wants to see you succeed in overcoming evil with good. If (or when) we slip up, God is gracious and willing to forgive, provided we are honest and willing to repent. 

Which brings us to the second thing. The perfection of our character is not achieved in a day. So think marathon, not sprint. Pace yourself. Break it down into manageable pieces. Take little steps in the right direction, every day, and stay the course. By God’s grace, and through the power of His Spirit, you will get there in the end.   

Let us pray…

Loving Father, we thank you for your goodness, your justice and mercy.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil we ask.

Help us to remember who we are in Christ.

Help us to be like-minded, working in harmony with other Christian believers.

Help us to be understanding, quick to see things from the other person’s point of view.

Help us to demonstrate brotherly love, for by this will all people know that we are Jesus’ disciples.

Help us to be compassionate, in a wise and discerning way, not wasting our pearls but making them count for your glory.

Help us to be humble, not quick to defend our own honour when we are insulted, but ready to embrace the shame of carrying our cross, in faith that you will vindicate us, if not in this life then at the day of judgement.

Save us from giving in to the temptation of being defined by our enemies.

Help us instead, Lord, to love our enemies and to repay evil with a blessing.

We thank you for the blessing of eternal life that is promised to those who trust and obey Jesus. Amen.  

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

• How does Peter define the Christian community in chapter 3, verses 8-12?

• Discuss / reflect on the five character virtues Peter lists in verse 8. How might you apply each of these in your context?

• Which of Peter’s five character virtues do you find hardest to practice? What small steps could you take to become more Christ-like in this aspect of your character?

• Which Christian character qualities do we see in Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan? What three questions should we ask to help us spend our compassion wisely?

• Why do you think Jesus taught his disciples to bless those who curse them? Can you think of a time (from your own experience) when someone repaid an insult with a blessing? What happened?

• How might you be a blessing to those around you? (Whether they be friend or foe.)

• Take some time this week to audit what you say. How much of what you say is true, helpful, inspiring, necessary and kind?

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[1] Karen Jobes, 215

[2] https://www.ifcj.org/learn/holy-land-moments/daily-devotionals/brotherly-love-2/

[3] J.H. Elliot, 605.

[4] Refer Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1^st Peter, page 218.

[5] Karen Jobes, page 223.