Sincere Love
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Sincere Love
I Peter 1:13-25
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
I Peter 1:22
Last week we heard a wonderful message from Jodi Collins and we had a wonderful celebration of Mother’s Day. The children were asked why they loved their mother, we had some wonderful answers. In our scripture, we heard Jesus ask Peter three times, “Do you love me.” Three times Peter responded, Lord, you know I love you.” Many scholars believe that since Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus was forgiving Peter three times; kind of like saying, “Even Steven,” “Start Over” “No Prolemo.” Jesus’ love covered all of Peter’s denials.
As the Beatles said, “All we need is love.” Jesus would agree. So would Peter.
Over the next few weeks, we are going to look at the “love one another” passages in the Bible.
As we walked to Jerusalem during the Lenten season, our series was based on “One Another” passages. During this time, we looked at “Greet One Another,” Honor and Be Devoted to One Another,” “Serve One Another,” “Submit and Live in Harmony with One Another,” “Accept One Another,” and “Bear with One Another.” As we journey from the cross to the empty tomb and to the risen Christ, it is fitting that we study how to “Love One Another.”
Here is some Bible trivia. There are eleven times in the Bible in which we are encouraged to “love one another.” Jesus spoke these famous words first. Do you remember when? Remember the Last Supper? Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and gave them a new command, “Love one another.” Look at John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Three times in two verses Jesus commands them to “love one another.” Peter denied Jesus that same night, not once but three times. The rooster crowed and Peter wept. Fast forward to the beach and the risen Christ cooking fish and chips. He gives Peter three chances to declare his love for Him. Peter goes on to win souls for Christ and writes the book of first and second Peter. “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” (I Peter 1:22) Remember it was Peter and John who ran to the tomb after the women told them Jesus was alive. John wrote one of the four Gospels and used these “love one another” words six different times in his letters to the church. “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” (I John 3:11) “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” (I John 3:23) “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” (I John 4:7) “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:11-12) “And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.” (2 John 5) Jesus, Peter, John and now the Apostle Paul uses these powerful words to encourage the church in Rome, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8)
Wow! We could stop there and reflect and rest in the love that God has for us and the love that we should have for one another. Over the next few weeks, as we journey to Pentecost (when Jesus finally ascended to heaven,) we are going to dive deep into God’s love. We are going to study how to love one another.
Our passage comes from I Peter. We will pick up in verse 13 and read to the end of the chapter. We will see the foundational verse for The Seed in verse 23.
Let us pray. “God of all love, help us to learn how to love one another the way you love us. Help us to be born again through Your living enduring Word. Amen”
I Peter 1:13-25
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.[i]
God’s Sincere Love
On a beautiful afternoon in April of 2008, two college women’s softball teams faced each other under the blue sky of the Cascade Mountains. One team was from Western Oregon University and the other team from Central Washington. Inside a chain-link fence before a few hundred fans, the two teams played a decisive game. The winner would advance to the division playoffs. The loser would hang up their gloves and go home. The Western Oregon Wolves were a sturdy team that had several strong batters, but Sara Tucholsky was not one of them. She hit a strong .153 and played in the game only because the first-string right fielder had muffed a play earlier in the day. Sara had never hit a home run in her career, but on that beautiful Saturday, with two runners on base, Sara connected with a curveball and sent it sailing over the left-field fence.
In her excitement Sara missed first base. Her coach shouted for her to return and touch the base. When she turned and started back, something popped in her knee. Down she went. Sarah drug herself back to first base, pulled her knee to her chest in pain, and asked the first base coach, “What do I do?” The umpire wasn’t sure. He knew if any of Sara’s teammates assisted her, she would be called out. Sara knew if she tried to stand, she would collapse. Her team couldn’t help her. Her leg couldn’t support her. How could she cross home plate? The umpires huddled to talk.[ii]
While the umpires huddle and the Sara groans in pain, we are going to reflect on I Peter.
You and I have a lot in common with Sara. Sometimes we sit on the bench. Sometimes we stumble and fall. Sometimes we fall and our fall causes us pain or causes others we love pain. Sometimes the umpires in our lives don’t know what to do with us. We have stumbled, we have fallen, and we need to be rescued.
This is a powerful reading today. Peter is writing from Rome around 62 A.D. If Jesus died in 33 A.D., it’s been almost 30 years of soul-winning for Peter. At this time, Peter is in prison under Emperor Nero and will be crucified upside down for his faith in Christ. Peter has written this letter to remind all Christians who are dispersed throughout Asia Minor that they have an incredible hope, a living hope as Peter describes it. This living hope is in the resurrection of Jesus. Sounds like maybe this letter is Old Peter’s “Resurrection Response.” (I’m still hoping for a few more of you to come forward. You don’t have to share your entire story; just share a tiny glimpse of what Christ’s resurrection means to you.)
Peter tells us that we have an inheritance. He uses these words to describe our inheritance, “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you.” (I Peter 1:4)
“Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”
Peter tells us that we have been redeemed from our empty way of life. If we have fallen rounding first, or second, or even third base, we have a living hope. Peter uses the Greek word for “redeemed” which is “lutroo.” In Greek it means “to purchase release by paying a ransom,” or “to deliver by the payment of a price.” To the Greeks it was a technical term for paying money to buy back a prisoner of war. (repeat)
Peter tells us that we have been redeemed by the blood, the precious blood of Christ. Through Christ, we come to believe, and, through Christ, we are raised from the dead and we glorify Him.
Thomas Watson, a Puritan pastor, once wrote that God’s greatest work was redemption. “Great was the work of creation, but greater the work of redemption; it cost more to redeem us than to make us; in one was the speaking of the word, in the other was the shedding of blood.”[iii]
Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever really thought about what it cost to redeem you?
Our Sincere Love
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” (1 Peter 1:22
It’s been a really low week for me. Jac says I’m right where I should be—the lowest of the low. It took me 10 weeks to get here but she says I’ll only need another 6 weeks to recover! Let me see, I’ve been taking at least two naps a day. I’ve pulled way back in ministry. I’ve left my house key in the front door lock. You know when you gas gage says, “Empty” and you keep driving your car? And it starts dinging. And you keep driving your car? Because you know you have at least 30 miles—give or take a few? That’s where I’ve been. Running on empty. Maybe I didn’t trip, fall or stumble—but let’s just say, my face has been in the dirt lately.
As I sat and studied this week, I was struck by the word that Peter used to describe how our love for one another should be. SINCERE. Peter says that our love for each other should be sincere. The Greek word for sincere is “ἀνυπόκριτος anupokritos”[iv] which means “unhypocritical or without hypocrisy, being authentic, upright, genuine and sincere.” Think about it. Peter goes way back with Jesus. He was one of the first fishermen Jesus ever called. Peter was there for everything: the miracles, the healings, the feeding of thousands from nothing. Peter heard every single sermon Jesus ever preached. My guess is that Jesus was sincere. And Peter has learned that God’s love for us is without hypocrisy, God’s love is genuine and sincere, and he wants our love for one another to be without hypocrisy. Our love is to be genuine and sincere. Peter tells us that we should love one another “ekteno” which is “deeply, fervently, earnestly, zealously, and without ceasing.” We have love here at The Seed like this; love that is deep, fervent, earnest, sincere, and genuine. LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
An old story from the early 1900s illustrates how to love one another deeply, fervently earnestly, and without ceasing. While on a three-story scaffold at a construction site one day, a building engineer tripped and fell toward the ground in what appeared to be a fatal fall. Right below the scaffold, a laborer looked up just as the man fell, realized that he was standing in exactly where the engineer would fall, braced himself and absorbed the full impact of the engineer’s fall. The impact slightly injured the engineer but severely hurt the laborer. The brutal collision fractured almost every bone in his body. The good news is that he recovered from the injuries but he was severely disabled. Years later, a reporter asked the former construction laborer how the building engineer had treated him. The handicapped man told the reporter: “He gave me half of all he owns, including a share of his business. He is constantly concerned about my needs and never lets me want for anything. Almost every day he gives me some token of thanks or remembrance.”
Do you see it? Jesus is that laborer who absorbs our fall. As we round first, second or third base—and we stumble or trip—whether all on our own or because of circumstances we cannot see—Jesus absorbs our fall. Often, we forget that on the cross, and at Calvary, Jesus stood in our place and took the full impact of our fall. Jesus redeemed us by His shed blood. Jesus bought us back. Jesus payed our ransom. Jesus paid in full and reclaimed each prisoner of war.
So What?
Back to my opening story. Remember, Sara, is the girl we left at first base writhing a pain, clutching her knee, with one hand touching first base. Sara is a long way from home plate. Her teammates cannot her or she will be called out due to interference. The umpires are huddled talking. Fans are yelling for someone to take Sara off the field. Sara does not want to leave. Enter into the story Mallory Holtman from Central Washington. Mallory was playing first base and she stood there listening to Sara cry in pain. Mallory was senior that year and she was a home run queen. She really wanted her team to win so that they could move on to the league finals. You would think Mallory would be happy, in a round-about way that fate often delivers, to see that Sara could not make it home. Mallory was not! Mallory asked the umpires if it would be okay if she and another teammate carried Sara around the bases. The umpires agreed. Mallory signaled to her shortstop and the two came to Sara, who had tears rolling down her cheeks, and lifted Sara up. Mallory and her teammate paused at second and third base to allow Sara’s good foot to touch each base. The fans were cheering and crying at the same time. Sara made it home safe.
https://youtu.be/yaXVk5GBx-s
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers (and sisters), love one another deeply, from the heart.
“Father God, thank you for loving each one of us with a genuine and sincere love. Thank you for redeeming us. Now, as we pray, show us how to love one another. When we see someone who has stumbled, who has fallen face first in the dirt, give us Your love. Help us to LOVE ONE ANOTHER sincerely—from the heart. This week open my eyes, my ears, my mind and my heart and show me just one person who needs a shoulder to lean on. Amen.
Let us pray …
The Seed Christian Fellowship
Rancho Cucamonga, California 91701
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com
May 19, 2019
Pastor Dave Peters
[i] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (1 Pe 1:13–25). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[ii] Thomas Lake, “The Way It Should Be: The Story of an Athlete’s Singular Gesture Continues to Inspire. Careful, Though, It Will Make You Cry.” Sports Illustrated, June 29, 2009 www.si.com
[iii] Thomas Watson, Body Divinity, Grand Rapids, Baker, 1979
[iv] Thomas, R. L. (1998). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : updated edition. Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc.