How To Live A Godly Life

Let’s open our Bibles to . There are times when a service is put together that intentionally flows together from music to testimony to preaching and there are other times when God does this for us. I believe that today is a day that God has kindly worked our service together in this way because after hearing from Joab and Emily, our attention is going to be devoted to the next verses of our study in 1 Peter, which are verses 8-12 of . Please read with me as I read

Read . Pray.

I have entitled this message, “How to Live a Godly Life” because I believe as we look closely at this passage you will see that this text speaks to everyone of us, in whatever situations we may be facing and however deep your sufferings for Christ may be, this passage tells us how to live a godly life. Whether you are living peacefully in Hastings or serving as missionaries in Northwest China, this passage informs us how to live a godly life.

How are you supposed to live today, while we mostly enjoy peace in America as Christians? How are you supposed to live when the opposition against Christianity gets turned up and you are persecuted and slandered for your faith? How does God want you to respond then?

For the original readers of this letter the idea of being slandered for their faith was not a hypothetical situation, as it may be for you. In we read how these churches were being called “evildoers”. In verse 19 of chapter 2 we read that they were suffering unjustly. So the concern to live godly lives in the midst of suffering for them was not hypothetical.

As we look at this passage we are going to divide it into two parts. We are going to see how this passage calls us to live a godly life among the church and how it calls us to live a godly live among our persecutors. Let’s look at first, how to live among the church.

What do we see?

Love One Another As The Family Of God

How does your Creator want you to live among the church? It is summarized for us in verse 8 and can be summarized with one phrase: brotherly love. Read verse 8 again:

1 Peter 3:8 ESV

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

Peter begins with the word “finally”, but what is he referring to? Here he is actually concluding the exhortations he began in 2:11 when he was urging us, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of our flesh and to live honorably among non-Christians. From that point on he has described for us what honorable living looks like in many situations and now he is telling us how we ought to be in the community of the church.

He lists 5 characteristics here. But do you know what’s interesting about these characteristics? In the original language they are all adjectives, not verbs. This means that what Peter is commending to us here is not to do 5 things but to be a type of people. Since God has called you out of darkness and made you a people for his own possession, he is working among us to be a type of people. This is much more profound than the call to do a certain thing. Anyone can do an act of love for a friend, but only the church can collectively be this kind of people.

What kind of people should we be? A unified, sympathetic, loving, tender, and humble people. These 5 traits should identify the community of the church.

Unity - Another word to describe Peter’s intention here would be “harmony”. He unified or be harmonious. Likely division is more common among churches than the gospel. It is common and easy for us to be a divided people. We differ on minor points of doctrine and various preferences. Despite these differences, however, God’s Word says that we should be a unified people. This doesn’t mean that we’re the same, but that we share thoughts and commitments to the essentials in our faith. Treasure the gospel of Christ, the necessity of regeneration, the inspiration of His Word, the divinity of the Trinity, and the call to make disciples. Be a unified people. As Paul prayed in Romans 15:

Romans 15:5–6 ESV

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sympathy - We must also be caring toward one another. Be people that are sensitive to the needs, joys, and sorrows of other people. Cry and rejoice with one another. Sympathize with the pain and struggle of other people. Don’t be people that push the hurting and broken away, but care and sympathize with them.

Loving - Show brotherly love for each other. Now this likely is the apex of the character traits Peter is describing. All of the others can be summarized by this one: be a loving family. This isn’t the first time Peter has called us to be this type of people. From Jesus to Peter to the rest of the Apostles and writers of the NT, love is undeniably the character trait that should identify God’s people. If we have all been united to Christ, then we are all one family. This should show in our love for one another.

Tender - We should be tender-hearted or compassionate. The root of the word here refers to the inner organs of a human being. This tells us that we should feel deeply, have deep rooted feelings, for one another’s suffering and pain. Don’t turn your back toward another person’s suffering. Be compassionate and caring. This is the heart of a Christian:

1 John 3:17 ESV

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

Humble - Consider others more important than yourself. Do not be dominated by thoughts and actions that are primarily self-serving. Don’t look out for your own advantage first. Recognize your own dependency on grace, the unmerited favor that you have received from God, and wish that for others. Don’t just look out for your own interests. Be humble people. This is the people God is making us to be. This is the people God shows grace to:

James 4:6 ESV

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Church, these 5 traits are more than a to-do list for you this week. This is who God is making you to be. We are to grow to be unified, sympathetic, loving, tender-hearted, and humble. We are growing in this grace because we have been united to a sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and humble Savior. He has cared for us in our suffering from sin. He has shown us love and compassion while we were still dead in our sin. He humbled himself by taking on flesh and dying on the cross.

Live this way as Christ lived this way. (both for the church and before evildoers)

This is the Savior you have been saved by and now joined to. You are being made into his image! Be this kind of person, be this kind of community. Love one another as the family of God.

And secondly,

Bless Evildoers

The second part of our passage turns our eyes away from our community and toward the world that slanders, reviles, and persecutes us. How can we live a godly life in the world that is against us? Peter’s answer is clear: bless evildoers. Look at this in verses 9-12:

1 Peter 3:9–12 ESV

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Having become the person that Peter describes in verse 8, our attention is now turned to how we live in a world of hostility. In response to the hostility that they are experiencing, how should they live? How can you live a godly life when you are treated poorly?

I know that we can look at an experience like the Meyers and have compassion for them while assuming that we will never experience something like that. Sadly, that is not the case. For those who are faithful to God, you will experience slander, opposition, and hostility because of your faith in Jesus. It is coming. Your response to this hostility can be summed up in 1 word: BLESS. God calls you to bless those who slander you.

Of course our natural impulse is to retaliate. We want an “eye for an eye” and a “tooth for a tooth” but those that have been transformed by the grace of God respond in a new way. We don’t revile, instead we bless. We do not retaliate with evil. Just as Romans tells us:

Romans 12:17 ESV

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

So instead of retaliating with evil, we are called to bless. What does it mean to bless? This doesn’t mean that we agree with their actions but it means that instead of repaying evil for evil, we pray for those that malign us. We pray for God to show them his grace, to save them, and be good to them.

Jesus said this in Luke 6:

1 Thessalonians 5:15 ESV

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

Luke 6:28 ESV

bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Luke 6:28–29 ESV

28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.

Church, as the world turns against us, the proper response is not retaliation, but prayer. Think for a moment of those that have gossiped about you, slandered you, or been in opposition to you because of your faith in Christ. Have you been teased and mocked at school for not fitting in? Have you been laughed at for not enjoying the worldly life? Have you been scoffed at for serving your wife and children instead of yourself? Have you been mistreated for not prizing financial gain above everything else? Have you been rejected by former friends because of your conversion?

If so, bless those that have done evil and reviled you. Pray for them. As God to transform their hearts, to show them his grace, and be good to them.

When we are persecuted we should be like Stephen. In we read about his stoning for preaching the gospel. How did he respond? He prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And you know what? God answered his prayer. Standing close by him was a young man named Saul. This man would go from there and persecute the church, but only for a season. One day, Jesus answered Stephen’s prayer and transformed this man, who we know as the Apostle Paul.

So pray for those that oppose you. But this isn’t easy is it? Am I the only one that hopes for the judgment of God against those that are evil to me? But we are to pray. Praying for them will change your heart. And this is what you are called to do. Praying for your opponents is your calling.

The reason we do not respond in kind is because we are called by God to pray for our opponents. Read verse 9 again:

1 Peter 3:9 ESV

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

You have been called to suffer for the gospel and suffer while praying for those that persecute you. You have been called to this so that you will obtain a blessing. The blessing that Peter is referencing is the blessing of eternal life that we will inherit in the future. You are called to pray for those that persecute you so that you will inherit the blessing of eternal life.

So is Peter advocating a works-based salvation? Certainly not! Peter has been clear in this letter that salvation is only by the grace of God BUT this salvation does produce a character in God’s people that is seen in many ways, including the ways that we respond to our enemies.

Then, in verses 10-12 Peter grounds this calling by looking back to . In particular, Peter quotes . Let’s read this Psalm:

Psalm 34:12–16 ESV

What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

This Psalm was written by David as he was running away from King Saul who was seeking to kill him. In David is suffering and David reminds us that the Lord will rescue his own when they suffer and that he will judge the wicked. Peter references this Psalm in verses 10-12:

1 Peter 3:10–12 ESV

For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

This Psalm, quoted by Peter, directs our attention to good days. This is a blessed life. You can have a life that you love and one that is filled with good days. And you can have good days and love life both in this world and in the world to come. How? By keeping your tongue from evil and lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil, do good, seek peace, pursue it. THIS is the good life. These are good days. Despite whatever persecution you may experience, you have been given good days because of the grace of God.

The reason we can hope in the good days of this life and love life in spite of evil around us and toward us is found in verse 12:

1 Peter 3:12 ESV

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

1 Peter 3:13 ESV

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

God is actively caring for you. He is with you. He is shepherding you. His eyes being upon you does not imply passivity in God’s dealing with you. Instead, this means that God is looking after you for your good and is meeting your needs. He hears your prayers and is eager to bless you with good days and a life that you love.

And not only will God be gracious and good to you, but he will be just toward those who do evil. You can bless those that do evil to you because God’s face is against those that do evil.

You have been called to this. You have been called to this so that you will inherit eternal life, and you have been called to this because you are united to a Savior who did the same:

1 Peter 2:21–24 ESV

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

We are all evil-doers. We deserve God’s opposition. But because Jesus suffered for us, in our place, we have been transformed from evildoers to new creatures that now bless those that oppose us. His face was once against us but because of his divine love, we have been forgiven of all our sins and now have good days and a life we love. We have hope of eternal life. We have these because Christ has blessed us while we were evil.