Blessed in the Good Life | 1 Peter 3:8-12 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 1/18/2026

We've been studying the little letter of

first Peter in the back of your New

Testament. And uh this morning we're

going to pick up again where we left off

a few weeks ago. And we're going to be

looking at 1 Peter chapter 3:es 8-12.

Now we do a small review. And uh I want

to do that first before we even talk

about the title. Um but notice here with

me Peter's overarching theme. So his

overarching theme in the whole letter is

holy living amid suffering and exile.

So Peter is calling the church to a holy

life. We're not called to live like the

world lives. We're called to live as God

has designed us to live. And um this is

even amid suffering. The people were

under persecution.

Peter's readers were being already

persecuted in the Roman Empire and uh

they were being persecuted not only by

the Roman Empire but also if you were

Jewish and you had come to faith in

Jesus then maybe the Jewish community

was persecuting you for turning to this

new group that they saw as a diversion

and they were called exiles. They were

called exiles because Peter was saying

you're not home yet. This world is not

our home. We are not yet in the promised

land of being home with God. So we are

called to live a holy life amid

suffering and while we wait on eternity.

Notice that chapters 1 verse 1 through

chapter 2:12 is Christians are a chosen

people set apart to declare God's

excellencies

even while living as sojourers and

exiles in a hostile culture. So we've

just kind of mentioned that but he makes

very clear and here was the point if you

if you're taking notes you want to maybe

put this out to the side. Peter is

saying by that is the world may have

rejected you but God has selected you.

>> Isn't that beautiful? The world may have

be rejecting you but God has selected

you. And that's that's made very clear

in first Peter chapter 1 vers um and and

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

through chapter 2. Then we came to Peter

giving instruction about how to live

with people. how to live with people in

the earth. Notice here Peter now applies

holiness to fill it in social

relationships. So the various areas of

social relationships and we see this

from chapter 2:13 through the passage

that we see today uh we and he starts

off with government. So the government

is over your life. How to live in

submission to the government and all of

the effect that it has on us as people.

And he to next he chooses uh to select

your submission in employment whether it

be just employment or injust employment

whether you're a slave or whether you're

free you have an employer and he's

talking about how to live as a Christian

with employment.

And then what did we study over the last

several weeks as we looked at this in

December?

>> That's right. That's exactly right.

Y'all are dialed in. Um, chapter 3 1-7,

submission in marriage. So, as a husband

and a wife are called to submit to one

another. And what does that look like?

And if you're interested in that, you

can go back and look at the sermons from

um December where we covered that. when

I was um overseas and talking with some

people, they said, "Well, pastor, we

went on your website and we looked at

some of the things that you were

preaching on and those first few

messages were there, submission and

marriage and for husbands and for

wives." They said, "Boy, you guys handle

some hot tamales." And I said, "Well,

the word of God is the word of God, and

we don't pick and choose what we study.

We dive right into it, and we are

blessed by it." And so um well this

morning we come to this idea of

submission within the body of Christ. So

we come to this most basic family that

we have not just an earthly family but

the eternal family of the body of

Christ. And so that's where we are going

to study this morning as we come to this

passage. And what we're going to see

this morning, you can see the title of

the message is blessed in the good life.

What is the good life? And what is how

does the good life come about? And what

does it look like? Now, there's a lot of

people who come to faith in Christ and

they're still trying to figure out how

do I live as a Christian? We have people

in the life of our church and people

that are here right now that you didn't

grow up around church. You didn't grow

up around religion. You didn't grow up

around whether it just be cultural

Christianity or biblical Christianity.

You you really and so you you've kind of

seen this and heard about this some.

What does the Christian life look like

and how do you live it? Some of you had

really good examples of that in your

life and some of you had really bad

examples of that. Some of you had people

who claimed Christianity and they

claimed Christ, but they lived in ways

that were very dishonoring to Christ. Um

maybe in their own morality or maybe in

their relationships or maybe just in

their demeanor and the way that they

lived. Well, this passage that we're

going to look at this morning really

deals with this.

What is the good life?

Now the other aspect of this good life

is

here in America we have a little bit of

wealth. Excuse me. We have a lot of

wealth. And you say, "Well, I don't feel

wealthy." Well, that's because you

haven't lived in other places. When you

go to other places, you realize how

wealthy we are. You may live in the

smallest apartment here at Sheran Hills,

uh, represented by the family of Sheran

Hills, but let me tell you that that is

far wealthier than most of the world. We

have all of these entertainments. We

have all of these things before us. And

many many Americans would be saying,

"Well, I just want the good life. I want

the good life for my kids. I want the

good life in my own marriage. I want the

good. I want to be able to I want to be

able to go and do what I want to do."

My friends, the good life

is far more than what the American ideal

of the American dream or the American

leisure that has the good life. We're

going to see what the real good life is

in people in the first century that were

actually being persecuted for their

faith. People in the first century that

were being rejected because of their

faith, they could live the good life.

And the greatest part about it all was

this is the life, listen to this,

that God

blesses.

And God blesses with things that are out

of this world.

God blesses the with things that are out

of this world. So, we're going to look

and see what is the good life. How do

you live a life that is the good life

honoring God? Because Peter is calling

his readers, that includes you and me,

Peter is calling his readers to live the

good life. And this is in submission

beginning in the life of the church. And

so we looked at government, employment,

and even family. So it's getting from

far away to closer and closer and closer

to right now our hearts with the people

of God. And the circle is very tight. So

notice here in verse 8, it begins and he

says finally, because he's just finished

talking to husbands in verse seven. So

now he says finally, and this is the

last group that he's going to deal with,

government, employment, family, and now

this one. Notice what it says there.

Finally, all of you. So, not just men or

women, not just masters or slaves, not

just but he's saying now all of you

have unity of mind,

[snorts] sympathy,

brotherly love, a tender heart,

and a humble

mind. Look at that. Two references to

the mind there. Look at verse nine.

This is how not to live the good life.

He says, "Do not repay evil for evil or

reviling for reviling, but on the

contrary,

bless

for to this you were called." And then

look at this. That you may may obtain a

blessing.

Verse 10, look what it says. four and

then it breaks away and he's quoting

from Psalm 34. So, put out there to the

side a bracket and where you see the

indentation that turns over into poetry

from Psalm 34. And so, uh, beautifully

the Apostle Peter quotes back to the Old

Testament. And here's what he comes with

Psalm 34. Whoever desires to love life,

you see this is the good life. And see

good days,

you want that? Let him keep his tongue

from evil and his lips from speaking

deceit.

Let him turn away from evil and do what?

>> Good. You see, this is this is the good

life.

Let him seek peace

and pursue it. Verse 12. For the eyes of

the Lord are on the righteous and his

ears are open to their prayer. Let's

read out loud together the last line.

But the face of the Lord is against

those who do evil. So we see this

contrast between the good life and the

life that is evil.

And we see it not only in this text, but

we also see it and feel it because we

are tempted to not be this. We are

tempted to not live like this. There's a

reason that there's a contrast. And and

we see here that the Christian [snorts]

life is called to be the good life and

it's not about comforts, but it's about

righteousness.

>> Amen.

>> And we see that this is the life. listen

to this. That God blesses.

And so, do you do you want to really

live a good life? It's going to be more

than just getting a great college degree

in a great position somewhere with a

great salary and benefits.

It's going to be more than getting a

trophy wife or a trophy husband. It's

going to be more than having two and a

half kids

um in a great brick house somewhere.

The good life has a radically different

economy. And it's the economy where God

has his finger on the scale. And when

God has his finger on the scale, that is

the scale that you want. So notice here

with me what is the central theme of

this whole verses 8 through 12. Here's

the central theme. The good life God

promises is not found in self assertion.

We're going to see that or retaliation

that was mentioned in this.

But in Christ shaped submission

that fill it in blesses others.

Even when wronged. Even when wronged.

And that's what Peter's bringing up

here. He's saying, "Do you want the good

life? Well, live like Jesus."

And what did Jesus do? Jesus blessed

others even when wronged.

God's blessing rests, notice this. God's

blessing rests on those who pursue

righteousness in three ways.

Relationally,

verbally, because the tongue is such a

big deal, and even what?

>> Inwardly.

because

it's easy to put on a show on the

outside, but what about the inside? How

do we deal with the heart? And that's

what the Apostle Peter is dealing with

here. He's calling for a true

comprehensive

approach to it's not just what you do,

but we see here it is who you are as a

Christian. And that's really the whole

point of Peter's entire level letter is

what is it that you are? So the first

thing I want us to notice here is that

who is this being written to and who is

it referring to in the the section that

is here? Um he says finally all of you.

So again, this is not just certain

people in the church being singled out

in different ways like he did in the

previous sections,

but he's saying this is this is each

one. Notice this. God's word always

defaults to his people. This is an

important statement. God's always word

always defaults to his people as the

basis for our social relationships.

You see his family and circle those

words on the next line. His family, his

family of redeemed and transformed

children

have the greatest common denominator.

So

when we look at what Peter's talking

about here, he's saying not just live in

submission with these other areas of

life, but in the basic the most basic

area of those who know God, those who

have been redeemed by the blood of the

lamb. And that's the next statement

here. The saving blood of Christ

supersedes all other bonds and

identities.

The blood of Christ that changes who you

are that causes the new birth, a new

identity. The Bible says that if you

have come to Christ, the old is passed

away. Behold, new, the new has come.

He's saying that you've been transformed

from the kingdom of darkness into the

kingdom of his beloved son. This is

amazing. This is a totally different

identity. And that's why the um the Lord

Jesus would look at Nicodemus and we

talked about this in starting point.

Nicodemus, a priest, a Pharisee um in

the in the Jewish community around Jesus

came to Jesus and he had he had heard

Jesus say something when he was teaching

in public and he came to him at night

and he said, "Jesus, I don't understand

what you're saying. You're saying that

we have to be born again. Do I reenter

my mother's womb?" And Jesus said,

"Nicodemus,

have you not studied the Old Testament?

Don't you know what it says?"

He's saying that you're born once of

your mother, but you have to be born

again from God.

You're born once physically, but you

have to be reborn spiritually. Now, the

older crowd in this room remembers a man

from Georgia who was a peanut farmer who

became, Adam, a nuclear engineer on a

submarine like you were and then he

became president of the United States.

Who am I talking about?

>> Jimmy Carter.

Jimmy Carter. He said, I don't know.

When I was a kid, we used to say, "My

name is Jim Motta and I love peanut

butter." Um,

but Jimmy Carter was unashamed. Whatever

you think about his politics, some

things I agreed with, some things I very

much disagreed with, but whatever you

think about his politics, um, he was

unashamed to say, "I am a born again

Christian."

And he would that people would say,

"Born again? What do you mean by that?"

And he said, "Well, a born again

Christian." And and that kind of

popularized the term in American culture

once again. what is a born-again

Christian? Chuck Coulson wrote a book on

it and um just the the the whole term of

that. But the point is and Jimmy Carter

was saying, well, we have to be

transformed by Christ. We have to

receive a new life in Christ. And when

we receive a new life in Christ, that

fundamentally changes our identity from

being identified by our sin to being

identified by Christ.

Either God looks at us through the lens

of sin or God looks at us through the

lens of the blood of the lamb who washes

away sin. And this is the difference

between one who knows Christ and who

doesn't know Christ, one who has come to

faith in Jesus for cleansing and one who

is not. And so here we see the body of

Christ or the church is God's spiritual

and eternal family.

This is Peter's greatest basis for our

social relationships. Now, think about

it with me. This is on the last line

that is here. I want you to think about

this. Think about it. Your biological

family is incredibly important, right?

But it's not

eternal.

We die in this life. Some of us have

already lost parents and grandparents.

Some of us have lost children. Some of

us have lost brothers and sisters. I

know you're turning over the page, but

don't miss the point. I want you to be

careful to get this.

We have an earthly family and an earthly

life, but it's not necessarily an

eternal family.

And what makes eternal relationships is

not the

bloodline of your mother and your

father. But listen, what makes eternal

relationships is the bloodline of Jesus

Christ.

This is what causes relationships to be

eternal. So there are many people in

this church that would say, "I love my

family. I love my family dearly, but I

relate on so many different levels more

to the people in my church family than

in my biological family." Because my

biological family doesn't know God. my

biological family maybe doesn't know

what it means to walk with Christ with

to the beat of a different drum in a

world that's fallen. So there's a

relationship

difference there that is a powerful and

and I know that for many of you you're

praying for your family and you're

praying that they would come to know

you. We we feel that way. We we pray for

our friends and for our family that they

would come to the knowledge of the new

life in Christ which is eternal life.

And so very very important picture

there. Well, let's dive into the text

and let's see exactly what this is. The

first thing that we see in verse 8 is

the mindset of the righteous. Fill that

in. The mindset of the righteous. And we

see this in verse 8. Notice verse eight

at the top of the page in the box on the

page. Finally, all of you have uni you

unity of mind. So this is talking about

your mindset. This is the way you think.

Sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart

and a humble mind. So the first one that

comes up here is unity in mind. What is

unity in mind? The c the church is

called to be unified in our thinking.

Unity doesn't mean uniformity. And

that's an important thing. We're not all

just exactly the same. Um it's kind of

like um the beautiful Latin statement um

for America and the seal of America.

What what are we called? Eloruribus.

What? Ununim. Eloruribus

unum. The idea is from many one. Well,

that could be overlaid on the life of

the church. We come from many but we are

one. That is the picture of a unity of

mind. It doesn't mean uniformity but it

does mean choosing agreement

whenever possible.

And so we're not supposed to be choosing

disagreement whenever possible. Do you

guys know what a contrarian is?

What is a contrarian?

Do you know what a contrarian is? Young

people.

Young people, it's a good thing to learn

what a contrarian is to make sure you're

not one of them.

A contrarian is someone that no matter

what comes up, they're going to always

gravitate to the

other view. Now, we should be

intellectual. And intellectual means

that you're asking, is that true?

Uh

God has given us an intellect. And the

intellect is designed to process truth.

And so Christians should think upon the

terms of is that true or is that not

true.

>> That's that's the way we think. That's

what we're called to think. I mean, it's

the way we're called about other things.

Now, one part of the is that true or is

that not true is part of that is is that

important? It's because there are some

things that are very important. There's

other things that are not important.

Whether the toilet paper goes over the

front of the roll or whether it goes

over the back of the roll is not that

important. You don't need to. Well, the

truth of the matter is it's supposed to

go over what? The front or the back?

>> Oh, some of you say the front. There's

others that say no, it's the back.

That's just not something to get upset

about.

However,

there are some things that are very

important and the contrarian will often

take the other point of view just to

kind of enjoy that. Well, we're not

called to have a contrarian disposition.

We're called to have a a disposition

of wherever I can

in the body of Christ. Wherever I can

with these other children of God that

I'm associated with, wherever I can

agree, I want to agree and I will agree.

That's that wherever we can, unless

prohibited by major aspects of truth. So

notice this. Unity of mind is a settled

commitment. Fill that in. a settled

commitment to three things to Christ, to

truth, and look at this, gospel

priorities.

So he's saying as a church, if you want

to live the good life, just say, "Hey,

this decision has been made. We are

unified on who Jesus is and his

prominence. We are we are unified on the

fact that we're going to live by truth

and we're going to live by gospel

priorities. We don't want to be d

sidetracked with a bunch of things that

are worldly priorities, but we want to

be big on the things of the gospel.

And so this is a unity of mind. You see,

remember this whole context of these all

of these things from government to

employment to family and now to the

church. It's all about submission. And

so notice the third bullet point. We

submit we submit our preferences to the

needs and the preferences of others. So

the idea is is that I want my mind to as

much as possible be together and where

if there's a preference that is a

difference and there's a a potential

division in this I want to minimize that

maybe sometimes even sacrificing what I

want for the unity of mind. So there's a

balance in that and there's a beauty in

that. Notice Philippians 1:27. I love

Philippians 1:27

this and and follow along here. Look

what it says. Uh I remember when I was

in college, I memorized this verse. Um a

guy named Peter Sharpentiier

um and I he was a little bit older than

me and um he spent a lot of time with me

as a college freshman and and sophomore

and he said, "Why don't we memorize some

scripture together?" And I remember we

we memorized this one and it was really

important. Look at Philippians 1:27.

Philippians 1:27

Only let your manner of life be worthy

of the gospel of Christ. Wow. Let your

man, see this is talking about the good

life. Let your manner of life be worthy

of the gospel of Christ. So that whether

I come and see you or or abs or am

absent, I may hear of you that you are

what does it say there? Standing firm in

one spirit with one mind. And then look

what it says striving side by side for

the faith of the gospel. So you're going

to continue to serve the Lord together.

You're going to continue to walk in

truth but in one spirit with one mind.

This is unity of mind. Very important.

Then the next one is beautiful as well.

Look what it says there. Finally, all of

you have unity of mind. Sympathy.

Sympathy

for this picture of being together. Now

sympathy literally means sharing the

same feeling. sharing the same feeling.

That's that's part of the idea here.

Sharing the same feeling and and the

idea is that you are able to understand

the way somebody else feels. Now,

sympathy

um is a mix between the intellect of the

mind and the emotion of the heart. It's

a bringing together of facts with

feelings.

God has made us emotional creatures.

Some are more emotional than others, but

we're all emotional creatures. We feel

we we have a sensation of that. And the

world around us affects those feelings.

And we see that the Greek word that is

listed here literally means to suffer

with. To suffer with. That's where it

kind of comes from. So it has to do with

the context of difficulty or the context

of pain.

So the apostle Paul is or excuse me, the

apostle Peter is saying we are to be

emotionally attentive. Fill that in.

Emotionally attentive to the burdens and

the pains of others. So a true church is

going to actually care about how each

other is living life and the pains and

the difficulties that we are all going

through. And you know that's all of us

because every single person in this room

has pains.

Every single person in this room has

difficulties and hardships, has

disappointments. Every some may have

more than others but we all go through

and you know what you say? Well, I'm

doing pretty good. I don't know if

that's really applies to me. Well, I'll

pray for you

because

if you haven't gone through it and

you're not in it now, what's the door

deal? It's coming.

That is simply the reality of living in

a fallen world.

There is darkness and difficulty and

sorrow and death. And this is part of

what the gospel helps us deal with.

Notice the third bullet point there. We

are not to be detached.

One, you see one way of dealing with

this is to just be completely detached

from others

or dismissive of others.

Um we we don't just dismiss their pain.

The the picture of the gospel is is that

we now we live in a world where

victimization

has become a major part of the American

psyche.

um victimization and um the the whole

picture of defeatism and the whole

picture of uh of a real a real sense of

being disabled because of the issues of

our life and the traumas and the

difficulties of our life. And instead of

seeking to encourage overcoming, we have

gone into very often a toxic empathy.

A toxic empathy is when we elevate the

pains and the sorrows that someone has

to the controlling issue of their life.

And to say, well, the reason that you

are doing this or the reason that you um

are are the way you are is because of

these difficulties. And there's really

we we just are called to feel for you in

that and not call you to deal with that.

But the gospel calls us to bring our

pains and our troubles to God and then

to live lives that are righteous and and

empowered

by the gospel in victory over these

things. So we are not called to a toxic

empathy that simply excuses everyone for

their trouble and their pain or their

sin. um because of their difficulties.

We are called to certainly engage and to

feel for one another, but to live, as

we'll see here, a holy life, a righteous

life, a responsible

life. So, we're not to dismiss and we're

not to um be detached. We're to be

engaged, emotionally attentive. Look at

the last one here. We submit ourselves

to carefully consider the pain of

others.

You know, in the life of our church,

when someone shares that they've had a

difficult time,

we don't just go on to the next subject.

When someone shares that this week has

been a really, really hard week, we need

to be willing to say, "Oo,

what do you mean?"

We need to be willing to say,

"Hey, let's talk later this afternoon."

Or, "Hey, let's get together."

Now, I just want to say that we want to

be sensitive to where each other is

hurting and and struggling. Now, again,

we don't want to enable that. And if

someone is overly sensitive and overly

emotional, overly those things, we want

to help them come to bring those things

to Christ and find victory in that. But

we want to be willing to carefully

consider this is what it means to be a

church that has sympathy, to consider

one another. How about the next one?

Number three, brotherly love. brotherly

love. This is a family type loyalty

that's rooted in our shared new birth.

This is what we were talking about

earlier that this is a family but it's

not your blood family as important as

that is. This is your Christ blood

family that shares salvation, shares

eternity, shares the promises of God.

And so when we have brotherly love,

fileos, which is brotherly love, the

city of Philadelphia is the city of

brotherly love. Now I'm unfortunately

um my friends that live in Philadelphia

would say we lost that character a long

time ago. Philadelphia is a rough place.

Um but we pray for that. We want that.

There are churches there that have

brotherly love, but that's what we're

called to.

is to live with brotherly love. You see,

this is a love that is durable.

It's not fickle. It doesn't just come

and go or it's selective.

And by the way, this issue of brotherly

love, this can affect all ages. It can

affect ages, later years in your life,

middle part of your years, but it is

often most felt and most beginning to be

experienced, listen to this, in middle

school and in high school.

I want to say to you that for parents

and for students that are here, middle

school and high school is a very

important time to learn about what is

what is true friendship.

What is true love? Because middle

schoolers and high schoolers in their

lack yet of maturity, they haven't lived

long enough to know, you know, I'm going

to I may know this person for a long

time, for decades, for years to come. I

really need to be in right relationship

with them. Instead, the immaturity says,

"How do I feel right now?" And and what

can I do right now regarding this? And

it may not be being kind.

It may not be being patient. It may not

mean being considerate. Instead, it

might mean being hotty or mean or

demeaning

to others.

Well, the Apostle Peter is saying,

"Don't live like the world lives where

we cut one another and we jab at one

another and we go down the road in

strife and seeing who's better and who's

be, you know, who's who's got this or

who's got that, looking for status." The

Apostle Peter is saying, "No, no, no,

no, no, no. Live with a durable, patient

love." This is what true friendship is.

You know, sometimes there's a bully.

Sometimes there's somebody who exerts

their their their influence in a way

that is demeaning to others. And I want

to say if you struggle with that

tendency where you seek to lord over

others, where you seek to oppress

others, where you seek to make cause

others to feel badly or to be

embarrassed. That's what bullying is.

And that is the opposite of brotherly

love.

If you have bullying tendencies, you

need to bring that to Jesus and say,

'Lord, this is ugly and I don't want to

be a bully.

If you are very vulnerable to bullies

where they affect you greatly, listen,

you can bring that to Jesus and say,

"Lord, I know you. I don't know know why

I need to be afraid of this bully or be

affected by this bully. You have

accepted me. Whether they do or whether

they don't is not so critical to me. But

Lord, what you think about me is what is

so so very important. Love that is

durable, not fickle or selective. How

about this one? It's love that survives

when relationships are strained. Every

relationship is going to have strains.

Every single relationship. Why? Because

we're fallen people. But brotherly love

says, "Nope, we're family. We stick

together.

Nope. We survive this. We forgive one

another. We go on with one another.

Brotherly love.

How about the last one here? We submit

ourselves to stay engaged when

withdrawal

feels easier.

>> We stay engaged when withdrawal. Now,

there's so many different ways that this

works out in our lives, but when it

comes to your marriage, God calls us to

to stay engaged with each other when

flight would be easier.

When God calls us in our relationship in

a church, you know, maybe there's a

disagreement or maybe there's some

difficulty that comes up and it would

just be easier to say, "Forget it." And

like he's saying, "No, brotherly love

sticks with it.

and learns to not it all be about these

preferences. Sometimes we have to work

through things. Sometimes we have to

have hard conversations. Sometimes we

have to find a compromise that doesn't

violate scripture and truth. But we we

have brotherly love. We actually care

for one another. It's not just warm

fuzzies and emotions. It's sometimes

real sacrifice. How about this? a tender

heart, not so unlike sympathy, but it's

the idea of this. It's compassion that

remains soft instead of becoming

hardened.

It's compassion that remains soft

instead of hardened.

Have you ever heard of having a hard

heart

where there's no more there's no more

flexibility here? There's no more no you

know cold stone. How about this one?

Opposite. It's the opposite of a

calloused heart.

It's the opposite of a calloused heart.

A heart that has calluses on it from

wear and tear.

God calls us that we are to have a

tender heart. What about the last one?

And I love this one. Number five. I

think Peter saved this one for for

perhaps the most important. A humble

mind. A humble mind. A humble mind is

perhaps the most essential the allenco

encompassing virtue of the Christian

life.

Humility in our mind and in our heart.

Um

nothing describes the mind of Christ

more than humility.

And we see that from Philippians chapter

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

2. And we see that I could have quoted

Philippians chapter 2 where he did not

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

regard equality with God a thing to be

held on to. But he humbled himself

by coming in the form of a man, coming

in the form of a a servant and even

going to the cross. This is the ultimate

humility of Christ. Peter is saying be

like Jesus. Look at Matthew 11 and verse

29. I want you to read this out loud

together with me. This is Jesus

speaking. And we see here, look what it

says. Let's read it together. Take my

yoke upon you and learn of me for I am

gentle and humble in heart and you will

find rest for your souls. You see, it's

listen, don't turn the page over. It's

exhausting to not be humble.

Pride is exhausting.

But humility is restorative to us

because that's that's the antidote to

all of the pride and the arrogance that

the world seeks. Jesus came and he said,

look at this verse. He says, "Take my

yoke upon you." Yes, it's a burden. He's

saying, "Come and and get hooked up to

the oxen with me and pull with me. Take

my yoke upon you." And look what it

says. and learn of me.

That's one of the reasons we study the

Bible. We are called to learn of Jesus.

And the more we learn about Jesus, the

more we learn the way he thought and the

way he called us to live, the we more we

learn about what he did, we see that he

is gentle and he's humble in heart. Now,

the world wants to paint God in a

totally different view.

Um, many of the world scoff at God's

justice and his wrath. They scoff at the

fact that he's a God of standard,

[snorts]

that he's a God of accountability. And

they do not see the many places of

scripture where we see that the Lord is

gentle and he's patient and he's

gracious and he's merciful and he's

humble.

and he calls us to see his character as

he really is. So, unity of mind,

sympathy, brotherly love, a tender

heart, a humble mind. We see all of

these things. So, um let's flip the

page. Yes, you can safely turn it. Let's

go to the last page and let's see here.

Look at verse eight with me in the top

of the box. Finally, all of you have

unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love,

a tender heart, and a humble mind. Now,

look at verse nine.

Do not pay 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. First of all,

notice number two, the reflex of the

flesh. The reflex of the flesh versus

the way of blessing. And that's what

this point is all about. We either going

to go the reflex of the flesh in how we

respond to people or we're going to go

the way toward blessing. And this is a

very very big difference between the

two. And we see it in verse 9 A, B, and

C. We'll see this. Number one, the

natural reflex of our flesh is

retribution.

That's what we naturally want to do when

somebody wrongs us in the church,

outside the church, in your biological

family and your friends and whatever. If

somebody wronged I95, Sheridan Street,

whatever. When somebody wrongs you, you

want to you want to get them back.

That's the flesh crying out. Crying out

for vengeance. Now, look at that in

verse 9. Do not repay evil for evil or

reviling for reviling. Reviling is when

you're cursing someone or you're being

cursed when someone reviles you. Um so

evil done to you or words spoken to you

in this notice this this is the natural

reflex is retribution evil for evil

insult for insult. You see retaliation

feels right but it never produces

righteousness.

It feels right but it never produces

righteousness. It in fact produces just

the opposite. It will it will harm you.

It will take you further away from God

instead of bringing you to God.

This does not bring blessing. Evil for

evil, insult for insult does not bring

blessing. It never delivers what it

desires.

So the desire that is there is for some

type of payback. And you may even win

with that, but um you ultimately are not

fulfilled. I have several friends that

are lawyers. My best friend growing up

is a lawyer. And I said, "Chapman, why

do you have a job?" And he goes,

"Because of sin." I said, "Okay, I

know." And Chapman just talked about he

he said I said, "Where do most lawsuits

come from?" He said, "Anger.

Most lawuits come from anger. people get

mad and then then and I said, "Well, how

what is the outcome of that?" And he

said, "It's usually just makes me

wealthier, them poorer, and more upset.

Even when you win a lawsuit, very very

often it winds up without being

satisfied." He said, 'There's been many

times when we win and somebody walks out

and they're just they're happy at the

moment, but then they're going on to a

greater. He said, if the answer and if

the meaning and the purpose is

retribution,

um it rarely is rewarding.

It really turns into greater. Now, if

you're defending yourself, that's a

different issue. Defending yourself

against an aggressor, that's a different

issue. you're just trying to let's but

when it comes down to I want to hurt

this person. I want to get them back.

That is where many lawsuits are settled

and or that's where many law lawsuits

are sourced and that winds up being you

know Benjamin Franklin said

he said two or three times you should

you should be very very careful to avoid

lawsuits at all cost.

That was a lot of wisdom from Benjamin

Franklin. Notice this as well. Number

two, we see it in the second part of the

verse. Look at verse 9. Do not repay

evil for evil or reviling for reviling.

But look what it says. But on the

contrary,

bless.

Very simple. Bless.

Instead of attacking, bless them. That's

why there's a comma after it. It's not

explained. It's just one word. Just

bless them as much as you can.

Bless for this. For to this you were

called. So the gospel way is this.

Blessing your enemies. Jesus said it.

More than restraint from doing harm, do

good to those who hurt you.

Wow. That's a radically different way to

view it. Do good to those who hurt you.

Look at the next one. To bless is to

entrust justice to God. To entrust God's

God's the one who's going to bring

justice. I don't have to be worried

about bringing justice.

While choosing love.

While choosing love. So look what it

says there. Don't repay evil for evil or

reviling for reviling. On the contrary,

bless for to this you were called.

This is what God called you to. Now, the

greatest example of this of all is Luke

Luke 23:34

23:34.

From the cross, Jesus is nailed to a

cross. He's languishing physically and

he's languishing taking on the sins of

the world. the innocent son of God who

did not deserve to die

perfectly whole and perfect. The sins of

the world are coming upon him on the

cross. And what does he say as he looks

down from the cross at those who nailed

him to the cross and he said Jesus said,

"Father, forgive them for they know not

what they do."

And then I think it's very interesting

immediately following that statement,

Luke puts the statement and they cast

lots to divide his garments.

Jesus is up there expressing forgiveness

and love and they are down there arguing

over the wealthy robe that had been

placed upon him. and they're wanting

that expensive material,

fighting over that as Jesus forgives

them. This is amazing.

1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 23 also

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

points to this in the picture of you are

to come and consider him who endured the

cross

despising the shame for us.

Notice number three,

and we see this in the passage. We see

the law of the harvest. What you sow,

you will reap. Look at the verse. It's

right there on the screen in front of

you or at the top of the page. Do not

repay evil for evil or reviling for

reviling. But on the contrary, bless for

to this you were called. And then look

at the last part of that. That you may

obtain a blessing. So this is amazing.

that what you sow you're going to reap.

If you sow a blessing, you will reap a

blessing.

And this is not prosperity theology. But

this is moral and spiritual causality.

And the picture is this is that God has

just set the universe up so that when

you bless others, you by God's economy

of scale and in God's provision, you are

going to be blessed. whether if it's in

this life or whether it's in the next

life.

>> Amen.

>> I saw a t-shirt one day in the mall that

said a

guy was walking along in the mall. This

was in Tallahassee many years ago. And

his t-shirt said,

"I'm in the ministry of Christ.

The pay isn't that great, but the

benefits are out of this world.

You see, sometimes the blessing comes

out of this world

to the Christian who's put to death in

North Africa for his faith. To the

Christian in China who's imprisoned and

dies in prison to the Christian in South

Africa that is rejected by his family

and

experiences great difficulty. Look, the

picture is is that the blessing is out

of this world very often. But God's plan

is a plan that when you sow, you will

reap. Look at James 1:25. I love this.

James 1:25

But the one who looks into the perfect

law, the law of liberty, and perseveres,

this is the one who continues in God's

way.

being no hearer for who forgets, but a

doer who acts,

he will be blessed in what he's doing.

So when we obey the Lord, when we are

obedient to the Lord to live the good

life that he's called us to live, we're

going to be blessed in what we do. This

is God's great call. So the apostle

Peter is calling the church,

don't repay evil for evil, but on the

contrary, bless because this is why you

were called. This is what Jesus did and

you're going to be blessed. And then

notice this, the pathway to the good

life. And we see this quoted from Psalm

34. The good life is not characterized

by comforts. Fill that in. The good life

is not characterized by comforts but

righteousness.

And that's the big difference. I mean,

comforts are nice, but something that's

far better is being right with God and

being with him. Look at verse 10. For

whoever desires to love life and see

good days, let him keep his tongue from

evil and his lips from speaking deceit.

So, if you want the good life, it has to

do with your words.

In fact, there's three of them that are

here very quickly. Three active pursuits

for the good life. Kids, get this. Guard

your speech. That's the first one. Look

what it says out there to the side. Let

him keep his tongue from evil and his

lips from speaking deceit.

How about the next one? We see it in the

next verse, the next part of that. Moral

turns. Let him turn away from evil and

do what? Good. This is the good life.

let him turn away from evil and do good.

So these are moral turns. You take

turns. You don't you don't go the wrong

way. You go the right way.

And then the last one here is relational

peace. If you want the good life, go the

way of relational peace. Let him seek

peace and pursue it.

>> And middle schoolers can learn to seek

peace with friends and pursue it. High

schoolers can start learning to do that.

You work on it in middle school and high

school. When you become a college

student and a young adult, it's going to

get stronger in your life. And you know,

Jesus said, "Blessed are the

peacemakers, for they shall what?

Inherit the earth."

I mean, the great picture here is there

is blessing when you're a peacemaker.

Again, like we talked about, some people

are just contrarians. They're contrary

to everything. There are some people who

are peacemakers. The Bible tells us in

Proverbs that the Lord hates one who

spread spreads strife among brothers,

but the one who brings peace inherits

the earth.

So in a church, we have to guard our

speech. We don't revile each other. Keep

our tongue from evil. Don't speak

deceit. Keep turning to what is good.

Moral turns. And how about this?

relational peace. You're seeking to be a

peacemaker, not a troublemaker.

Now, at the beginning of the sermon, I

just said some of you lived around

really godly examples in your life that

called themselves Christians. And some

of you grew up in context where it was

very ungodly.

Maybe you were even part of churches

where people didn't act like this. They

just said whatever they wanted to say.

And there were people who lived very

immoral lives and everybody kind of knew

it. And then there were people that they

were just troublemakers. They had a feud

with this family or this person or that.

They hadn't forgiven each other for

years. And you grew up seeing that

played out.

My friends, Peter is teaching against

that. He's saying that's not

Christianity.

Christianity is you guard your tongue.

you keep turning to what is right and

you seek to live at peace with one

another. And there's a very big

difference.

So sometimes we got to let those things

go so that we can embrace and see what

God has said about this. Look at verse

12 with me. Look at verse 12. 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. So I want you to see

this. Roman numeral number four at the

end is this. You can count on God's

justice. That's what this verse is

saying.

God sees it. He hears it. He's going to

reward the righteous and he is going to

punish the wicked. It is a great

reminder to us to embrace what is holy

and good because that's the best life.

But it's also a great reminder to us to

not embrace what is wicked because God

is going to punish that. You see, number

one, God is attentive to the righteous.

He sees. He hears. Do you see that in

the verse? You see his eyes are on the

righteous. He hears. He knows.

When Marcy had the heart attack and she

was in a coma and we really thought she

was going to die, I remember being in

that Paris hotel room in the middle of

the night

down with my face on the floor pleading

with God.

And um I remember I was in Genesis in my

Bible study during that time. And I I

went back to Genesis and it was just

amazing how he spoke to me through

Hagar in the fact that God said to

Hagar,

"I see you

and I hear you in your pain." And it was

that night that I just remember seeing

and hearing the scripture say that God

sees and hears me.

God sees you. He sees. He's attentive to

what's happening. He's attentive to the

righteous. He doesn't ever miss a

payday. He will reward is what this is

saying. But also, look at this. God is

against the wicked. He stands fiercely

against the wicked. Look what it says.

But the face of the Lord is against

those who do evil. You see, Satan would

love to convince the evil, the wicked

people that are doing their thing. God

doesn't see me.

God God doesn't know about this. I can I

can hide it from man. And you know,

they're not really thinking about that.

But listen, friends, you need to see

what this verse is saying. The face of

the Lord, the face of the Lord is

against those who do it. That means he's

looking right at you.

and he's a god of justice.

That is a powerful reminder. And what

it's saying here is there is no escape.

There is no escape.

God will reward those who have come to

faith in Jesus with righteousness and

salvation. And God will punish the

wicked who have rejected Jesus.

And this is his good justice. Well, may

his word find its mark in our hearts.

May we be people who live according to

his word and may we embrace the good

life as we submit to one another in the

life of the church. Amen.

>> Let's stand together for prayer.

Father, I thank you for your word that

tells us how to live the good life.

>> Lord, you tell us what to do. If we're

confused about it, you tell us what to

do. And so, Lord, I pray that we would

live according to what this word says. I

pray that we would control

that we would control our minds and our

hearts that we would be think of others

that we would have sympathy and have a

tender heart toward one another. I pray

Lord that we would be unified in mind

that we would be humble in mind like

Jesus was. I pray that this would be the

characteristic of people at Sheridan

[music] Hills when we think about each

other. Lord, when the flesh tempts us to

pay back [music] evil for evil or

curse for curse, Lord, I pray that we

would remember this passage

and say, "No, God's called us to bless

instead and that he will reward."

Lord, thank you that you're this kind of

God. I pray that you would help us to

grow in maturity,

that we would maybe even ask forgiveness

where we've harmed others,

and that we would live in unity and

grace. In the wonderful name of Jesus,

we pray. Amen.