Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Most likely you are part of many different groups of people. Your nuclear family, your extended family, your neighborhood, perhaps several groups of social friends, your coworkers or classmates, and if you are part of a local church, of course there may be several groups there. So, life in groups should be a common experience for all of us. May I ask, what have you discovered are some keys to peaceful living in groups? And to the contrary, what causes friction and conflict in groups of people?
Once again, we join the disciple Peter as he is writing his first letter to Christians in the first century who also lived in all types of groups, but they often found themselves at odds with groups all around them. Why? Simply because they were trying to live their lives as God honoring people in a very wicked society! So, Peter rolls out his parchments again and starts writing: “…all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing because to this you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:8,9)
Now, don’t rush past these powerful words, my friends. Imagine if this is how people lived in your city! Maybe that’s too outrageous. Ok, how about just your neighborhood, what if you and all your neighborhood lived like this? What if your church, no matter what type of church or size of church, treated each other like this? And finally, what if your extended family lived like this?
Is it preposterous friends? Well, yes, it actually is! Why? Because this is NOT human nature! You, me, all of us, everywhere in the world, are born with a personal, sinful nature that is selfish, prideful, impatient, cantankerous, unloving, and simply difficult to live with, especially when we are frustrated about something! Am I right? So what Peter is describing is an unrealistic utopia, UNLESS, unless I say, God somehow gets involved and CHANGES people, from the inside out!
That is why Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to live among us. Jesus showed us how to live like this. It’s how Jesus lived! Jesus showed us the impossible is possible with God’s help! So, let’s look at Peter’s statement again: “all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.”
Now watch this my friends: “Like Minded” is only possible when everyone is focused on the same thing, right? Athletic teams play much better together; work teams work better together; families live better together when we are ‘like-minded’, but that only happens when everyone submits their individual agenda and preferences and priorities to the single, shared, purpose. That’s what Jesus did. Jesus lived every day, in every situation with one overarching objective… to ALWAYS, in every situation, bring honor to His Father, Almighty God! There’s the secret. You and I can be ‘like-minded’ with others if we all share the objective of honoring Almighty, HOLY God with every aspect of our lives... our words, our attitudes, our choices, our behavior! Ponder that a moment… do you agree, is it true? That’s what Peter is challenging us to do! The night before Jesus went to the cross, Jesus prayed with His disciples and among other things Jesus prayed: “Father, I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do” (John 17:4) Ok, so if my mind and heart are filled with the Holy Spirit of God, and my continual objective is to honor God with every aspect of my life, then I will absolutely and always be in ‘like-minded’ harmony with anyone else who fits the same criteria! Now think about that, a moment!
The rest of that phrase which Peter wrote is: “…be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.” Now can you see that EACH of these are additional, strategic, attributes of a person who is ‘like-minded’ with Jesus and seeking to bring honor and glory to God with every aspect of their life? That person will relate to others with both sympathy and empathy, just as Jesus did, as motivated by the tender Holy Spirit of God! That person will naturally pour out the love of God in them toward others, especially those whom Jesus would love while other people might not love them!
Do you remember many occasions when Jesus did that while He was here on earth? Jesus received, touched and healed lepers when others demanded they stay at a safe distance declaring themselves to be ‘unclean’. (Luke 17:11-19) Jesus invited the little children to Himself, when adults wanted to send the kids away. (Matt. 18:1-9) Jesus showed God’s love to tax collectors, even inviting one of them, Matthew, to be one of His disciples! (Matt. 9:9-13) And Jesus even intentionally went into Samaritan territory and stayed two nights in one of their towns, to show the people there that God loved them, even when they were hated by so many others! (John 4:1-42) So what are the situations and relationships in your life, my friends, which allow God to show Himself loving, sympathetic and compassionate through YOU?
Did you think I forgot the last word in that phrase, “HUMBLE”? Humble is one of the most amazing attributes of a true follower of Jesus, someone who is being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, am I right? Look around your part of our big world. Who do you see who is a humble person and treats others with respect, sympathy, love, and compassion? Here’s a powerful statement from God’s Word that really challenges me: Isaiah 66:1,2 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool…these are the people I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit and tremble at My word.” WOW, that simply overwhelms me as I let it penetrate my mind, my heart and my life. What about you, my friends? That is a perfect description of Jesus, which is why Paul wrote this about Jesus leaving heaven to come to live here among us: “Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His advantage, rather He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:6-8) So if that is the example God set for us in Jesus, what does humility look like in you my friends, and how does God honoring humility permeate your reputation and mine, your legacy and mind?
That is so big I think we’ll stop with Peter right here and we’ll take up his concluding statement tomorrow. For today, would you accept my challenge that we all memorize this short, powerful, life guiding statement of Peter’s and repeat it over and over today, and let’s try to live it with God’s help, making a difference in our world: “…all of you, be like-minded, [with Jesus and other followers of Jesus] be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.” And here’s a song to help us live this today. It’s from a family I’ve just discovered. They call their music “Sounds Like Reign”…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Peter 3:8, 9.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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