Peter's Command to a Comprehensive Love (1 Peter 1:22-25) | Worship Service

2 views

August 7, 2023

Peter's Command to a Comprehensive Love (1 Peter 1:22-25) | Worship Service This stream is created with #PRISMLiveStudio

13:13: Well, good morning. Happy Sunday. We're glad you're here at Kootenai Church. Would you all please come in and be seated if you're in the hallway?
13:22: And we're going to get started this morning. We're going to stand and sing All Creatures of Our God and King. Creatures of our
13:54: God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing.
14:02: Oh, praise Him, hallelujah. Thou burning sun with golden beam.
14:13: Thou silver moon with softer gleam. Oh, praise
14:20: Him, oh, praise Him, hallelujah.
14:27: I worship
14:49: Him and rejoice in His great love.
15:43: Has defeated, returning power to reign.
16:18: Joined to save, oh, praise Him, hallelujah.
16:25: Who shall fall on bended knee?
16:32: All creatures of our God and King. Oh, praise
16:38: Him, oh, praise Him. Immortal, invisible,
17:29: God only wise. Invited, accessible, hid from our eyes.
17:36: Most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days.
17:41: Almighty, victorious, by great name we pray. And silent as light, not wanting or wasting.
17:56: You rule us in light. Your justice like mountains, high soaring above.
18:03: Your clouds which are mountains of goodness and love.
18:14: Most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days. Almighty, victorious, by great name we pray.
18:36: All life comes from you, Lord, to both great and small. In all life you live,
18:43: Lord, the true life of all. We blossom and flourish, but quickly grow frail.
18:50: We wither, there's night.
19:07: All praise we will render, oh, Father of grace. He's seen face to face, ancient of days.
19:47: Almighty, victorious, by great name we pray.
20:02: In Psalm 147 it says, praise Yah. For it is good to sing praises to our
20:07: God. For it is pleasant and praise is becoming. Yahweh builds up Jerusalem. He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
20:15: He is the one who heals the brokenhearted and who binds up their wounds. Who counts the number of the stars.
20:22: He gives names to all of them. Great is our Lord and abundant in power.
20:28: His discernment is infinite. Yahweh helps the afflicted. He brings down the wicked to the ground.
20:34: Let's end our first set this morning and sing, oh, praise the Lord for it is good. Psalm 147.
20:40: Oh, praise the
20:51: Lord for it is good to sing unto our
20:56: God. Tis bright and pleasant for his saints to tell his praise abroad.
21:07: The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He seeks her exiled sons.
21:15: He binds their wounds and gently heals the brokenhearted ones.
21:28: Our Lord is great. He calls by name and counts the stars of night.
21:36: His wisdom is unsearchable and wondrous is his might.
21:44: The Lord lifts up the poor and meek. He brings the wicked low.
21:53: Sing praise to him and give him thanks and all his goodness show.
22:06: No human might, no rose superior he delights in those who trust his blood.
22:22: Oh, Zion, praise the Lord, your God is old and blessed.
22:39: You may be seated. I'll try to combobulate this.
23:07: So in your bulletins, everything's pretty much self -explanatory, but there's a pull -out, and the morning ladies'
23:15: Bible study and the Thursday night ladies' Bible study, the time correction on the morning,
23:22: Monday morning ladies' Bible study or the date correction is to correct it to Monday, September 18th at 9 o 'clock.
23:31: Both of these can be signed up for after the service in the foyer out here. There'll be people there to take your name down and sign you up.
23:41: Our scripture reading this morning is from 1 Peter, and we'll read the entire first chapter, 1
23:50: Peter chapter 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout
23:59: Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the
24:05: Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood.
24:11: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. Blessed be the God and Father of our
24:16: Lord Jesus Christ who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
24:38: In this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary you have been distressed by various trials that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
24:56: And though you have not seen him you love him and though you do not see him now but believe in him you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
25:10: As to this salvation who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
25:25: It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you in these things which now have been announced to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the
25:33: Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
25:47: As obedient children do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance but like the
25:54: Holy One who called you be yourselves be holy yourselves in all your behavior because it is written you shall be holy for I am holy.
26:03: And if you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each man's work conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless in the blood of Christ for he was foreknown before the foundation of the world but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God.
26:38: Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren fervently love one another from the heart for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable that is through the living and abiding word of God all for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass the grass withers and the flower falls off but the word of the
27:01: Lord abides forever and this is the word which was preached to you. Let's prepare our hearts by praying
27:09: Father Father as you bring your word to us today through Dave we pray for wisdom context and care from him as we have come to expect from him
27:19: Lord we pray that you would boldly proclaim through him your word you have told us to be obedient to the truth and you have told us to fervently love one another through the heart and as we look at these things might our hearts be moved in obedience to do the very things which you have commanded us to do as Dave preaches your word this morning and we thank you for it in Jesus name.
27:51: Would you please stand and we'll sing with grateful heart my thanks I bring Psalm 138
28:17: With grateful heart my thanks I bring before the grave your praise
28:26: I sing I worship in your holy place and praise you for your truth and grace for truth and grace together shine in your most holy word divine in your most holy word divine
28:50: I cried to you and you did say your word of grace new courage gave for the kings of earth shall thank you lord for they have heard your wondrous word yea they shall come with songs of praise your great and glorious are your ways your great and glorious are your ways did glory bright you reign above in heavenly height the proud in vain your favor seek but you have mercy for the weak through troubles oh my pathway be you will revive and strengthen me will stretch forth your mighty arm to save me when my foes alarm the work you have for me begun shall by your grace be fully done your mercy shall forever be oh lord my maker think on me oh lord my maker think on me your mercy shall forever be oh lord my maker think on me oh lord my maker think on me
31:25: Ephesians chapter 3 verses 17 to 19 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being firmly rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God let's sing together speak oh lord speak oh lord as we come to you to receive the food of your holy take your truth planted deep in us shape and fashion us in your likeness that the life of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith speak oh lord and fulfill in us all your purposes for your teach us lord full obedience holy reverence to you our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity cause our faith to rise cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority words of power that can never fail let their truth prevail over us speak oh lord and renew our minds help us grasp the heights of your plans for us truth's unchanged from the dawn of time that will never go down through eternity and by grace we'll stand on your promises and by faith we'll walk as you walk with us speak oh lord till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory well good morning
35:20: I think you're already turned there it's 1st Peter chapter 1 this morning and I'll kind of let you know
35:28: I heard from Jim this morning he is on his way to Philadelphia for a conference with Justin Peters and some others so surprise
35:38: I'm here today I'm going to pray here in a minute I'll have my eyes closed my head down if anybody would like to exit
35:46: I will not be offended haven't taken any screenshots so we're good
35:52: I did think this morning though this is the first time I preached that Jim hasn't stolen my thunder and then
35:59: I came to Sunday school where David Hankey had been working behind the scenes with Jim to steal my thunder so if you were in Sunday school we're going to continue the theme that David taught this morning so let's pray together oh first of all before we pray
36:17: I have to say something to the kids the word of the day is Philadelphia okay but I may pronounce it that way or I may pronounce it
36:25: Philadelphia either one of those count okay so you should be at two right now okay alright now let's pray father we do pray as we have sung we pray that your voice would be heard through your word pray lord that we would remember the words of your scripture that your words the holy spirit given words
36:48: I pray that we would apply them to ourselves that this would be a time when we would contemplate our love for one another when we resolve to deepen that love as we're commanded to do here in this word pray this in Christ's name amen 1st
37:03: Peter 1 22 is really the our scripture for today I know it says 22 through 25 didn't get there so it's going to be verse 22 today but let's read verses 22 through 25 since you have an obedience to the truth purified your souls for sincere love of the brethren fervently love one another from the heart for you've been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable that is through the living and enduring word of God for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass the grass withers and the flower falls off but the word of the
37:38: Lord endures forever and this is the word which was preached to you as I said focus will be on verse 22
37:46: I'll allude to 23 to 25 briefly but we're going to be in verse 22 now when you read this verse there are some thoughts and questions that arise in your mind immediately and I'd like to ask you what those are but in this format
38:02: I can't do that so I'm going to tell you what I see in it and I'm going to pray that that answers a lot of your questions around it let's look at it first of all the language of verse 22 is challenging to interpret you may have a different translation than what
38:18: I read there's different translation choices and on first reading I'm not sure what Peter means by that first phrase since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren not sure exactly what that means
38:33: I'm especially interested in what purified means here but we'll have to study that whole phrase second the passage is clearly about love right you see that twice in verse 22 apparently this sincere love of the brethren is something that we have something we've acquired in some way
38:56: I have to understand that opening phrase to see how but then there's a command this is the fourth and last command of chapter 1 of 1st
39:07: Peter there's a command in verse 22 you see that fervently love one another from the heart that's the command so there's a sense in which we have to make progress from something we possess to something something greater in both cases we're commanded to love the same people one another or the brethren refers to the same people our brothers and sisters in Christ each other so those are things we have to make connections around we have to understand all of those things we understand what
39:37: Peter and the Spirit has intended for us to understand from the verse so that's what we're going to do today if you like outlines
39:45: I have five points and six Ps if you don't like outlines I have five points and six
39:52: Ps but you can ignore them it's in your bulletin if you have one if you don't someone near you does so you can
40:01: I don't know borrow steal barter share I guess would be better in the context of the verse share would be better so we're going to begin with the purification for love that's an attempt to understand that opening phrase since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls and then second we'll look at the possession of love the brotherly love that Peter claims that we have for one another then we'll look at the progression or the progress of love see what
40:27: Peter means by that brotherly love being sincere then fourth we'll examine the command to love we'll see the pinnacle of love that fervent love for one another from the heart then we'll end with two applications what
40:41: I'm calling my fifth point we'll call it 5a and 5b if you like the practice and preservation of love and so we're going to understand verse 22 as well as we can certainly as well as I can and then we'll apply it in a couple of ways at the end at the heart of the verse lies the command we're to love one another we don't want to lose track of that we won't that's going to be our emphasis but before we can get to the command there's a participle phrase that starts the verse it's hard to translate hard to interpret it's one of the fun and challenging things about 1st
41:09: Peter there's a lot of interpretive challenges in there Peter's language is very sophisticated it's interesting it's challenging and the man absolutely loves participles this book is full of them now a lot of kids know what participles are by the time we become adults we generally have forgotten the verb translated purified there is a perfect participle in the original language so we would more literally translate it as having purified that's a perfect participle usually starts with having in English having done something and then the rest of the sentence so having purified your souls
41:48: ESV for example has it that way having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so a perfect participle refers to something that has been done in the past something that happened in the past that has ongoing effects so we have purified our souls having purified our souls we now have purified souls that's right it's something that has happened to us in the past and has changed something about us and that's still with us so that's our first point the purification to love but what does it mean what does it mean that we have purified our souls what did we do we're given a couple clues in Peter's statement the purification of our souls was done in obedience or by obedience to the truth so whatever it means it has to be connected to that the other clue is it was done it was done for or unto sincere brotherly love okay we have those clues but what does it mean now it's interpreted in at least two ways both of them are good
42:48: God glorifying interpretations of the text okay I think one of them does a better job of paying attention to the subject here
42:57: I think it is more true to the way the word is used in the scripture elsewhere and I think it's better connected to the immediate context of chapter one in particular the other commands so the first interpretation what
43:10: I'm going to disagree with mildly is that the purification of the soul is regeneration or conversion being made alive in Christ given repentance and faith so in short this would mean our salvation then if this interpretation is correct so if having purified our souls means being saved then what would be entailed in obedience to the truth if we were saved in obedience to the truth what would that truth be that we obeyed be the gospel right the gospel we live in obedience to that gospel and there's a lot to like about that interpretation obedience is sometimes used to mean that initial saving faith we see that a couple times in Romans where it's referred to the obedience of faith but here are some of the problems that I see with that interpretation
44:02: I think it's unlikely first look at your verse who is said to be doing the purification in the verse who's doing it us you the readers so Peter would if this is salvation then
44:19: Peter would be claiming that we have at least some part in our salvation that's something that the Bible doesn't support in fact look at verse 23 we're born again through the living and enduring word of God in what
44:35: Cornell read earlier back in verse 3 so the God has caused us to be born again right so I think that's misplaced second the word for purification of the type we're talking about here the word that's used doesn't normally mean conversion it usually means sanctification the word for purified is
44:54: Hognizo it's from Hognos it's the base for words like pure and purified purification in your
45:01: New Testament it's used either to refer to ceremonial purification or to being made more holy doing the work of sanctification this is
45:13: James 4 8 draw near to God and He will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double minded so that's an act of the person to purify their hearts to sanctify themselves now doesn't mean sanctification is solely the work of a human but we strive in sanctification we participate in it this word always refers to something a person does to himself it never refers to something
45:41: God does to the person third is the context living a holy life that's
45:48: Peter's emphasis sanctification is Peter's emphasis you see that in the immediate context be holy in verses 15 and 16 conduct yourselves in fear in verse 17 so I agree with Grudem he says in his commentary this purification signifies some clear progress in gaining more purity from the moral pollution of sin so I think you can see what
46:09: I think is a more reasonable interpretation purification isn't salvation here it isn't conversion and regeneration it's post conversion growth and moral purity it's sanctification progressive sanctification that process so then what would obedience to the truth here mean we could take it at face value it's plain reading obedience to all the truth of God's word in particular the ethical requirements of the new covenant living in obedience to those to what
46:40: Paul calls the law of the spirit or the law of Christ now you understand there are laws there are commands of scripture that pertain to the believer in the new testament here's one now love one another right you see that that's a command that pertains to us so we have commands that we have to follow there are other commands in 1st
47:02: Peter you can see more and more of them over the years as we go through 1st Peter yeah but you know there's lots of commands in the
47:13: Bible that pertain to the believer in Christ and we obey them we live in obedience to not in order to be saved not to obtain justification but because we have obtained justification and so and so we live we live in obedience to Christ although we've been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone so I'm interpreting this to mean kind of paraphrase since you've grown and are continuing to grow in sanctification by living in obedience to all the truth of scripture that pertains to you including the saving truths of the gospel and all the sanctifying commands of scripture you have gained a sincere love of the brethren your sanctification has grown to include a sincere love of the brethren
47:59: I think that's what Peter is saying so I have to take a little bit of step off of 1st
48:06: Peter to establish a fact so that we don't get confused about about this it's one of the key lessons at 1st
48:14: John David Christians all Christians love one another
48:21: Christians love one another that's a lesson of 1st John we just do if you read 1st John you'll see John does not usually or generally express love for the brethren as a command he doesn't usually it's usually as evidence of genuine conversion he says that Christians love one another he's not ordinarily commanding
48:41: Christians to he does do that we'll see that here but let me give you the flavor of the message of love in 1st
48:48: John this is 310 by this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God as well as the one who does not love his brother 1st
49:01: John 5 1 listen to this carefully everyone who believes that Jesus is the
49:07: Christ has been born of God and everyone who loves the one who gives new birth loves also the one who has been born of him if you are in Christ having been born of him you love all who have been born of him if you love the one who gives the birth that's his point
49:29: Christians love one another if you if you claim to be united with Christ you share in the life of Christ you do you don't have love you don't have that preferring sacrificial love for those for whom
49:42: Christ died you're a liar that's John's message Christians love one another it's just part of the new birth it's something we possess by virtue of our joint union with Christ it's a possession of every believer so that's our second point the possession of love on the part of every
49:59: Christian for one another okay so you may be thinking through this a little bit if my understanding of the participle phrase in Peter is correct that Peter seems to be contradicting that message of John's right you see that he if Peter if Peter is claiming that we've achieved brotherly love through the work of sanctification purifying our souls by living in obedience to the truth that's different from what
50:27: John is saying that we have brotherly love by virtue of our salvation our regeneration okay so that's the question is brotherly love something we have as John says or is it something we get over time as Peter seems to be saying is love for the brethren a gift of the
50:43: Holy Spirit that we acquire as part of our regeneration or is it something that only happens when we reach a certain point in our sanctification it's an important question well that's where the adjective comes in there's an adjective here describing one of the our love of the brothers in verse 22 as sincere that's one of the adjectives sincere or without hypocrisy or unfeigned so that word has the alpha the a in front of a word meaning hypocrisy and the word for hypocrisy had its origins in saying lines as an actor in a play so it's saying this type of love is not like that it's not just playing a part it's not just speaking or acting in a way that's inconsistent with your affections so this is a love that moves beyond feeling and it's reflected in action right your words and your thoughts and your deeds are consistent all of them feelings of love toward one another so this sincere love is not an immediate gift of the spirit to all believers this is something that we grow into this is the progress of love my third point right all believers have a preferring affectionate love for one another we get that by nature of our conversion our being united in fellowship with Christ and so with one another but it's not true that our actions are immediately consistent with those feelings we have to learn that kind of love right we have love for one another but we have to learn it it's true in 1st
52:20: Peter and in 1st John John clearly says that brotherly love is something we gain at regeneration but he also commands sincere love listen to this 1st
52:28: John 3 17 and 18 but whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him how does the love of God abide in him little children let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth he commands a consistent love a sincere love a love that acts in the way that it feels right that's a command from John we saw a command in what
52:50: David read this morning in Sunday school right so we're taught that Christians love one another
52:56: Christians also are commanded to pursue love in action to make brotherly love consistent or sincere right so that's that's what's happening
53:07: I'm trying to put all this together in my head so by following by living in obedience to the commands of scripture we gain we grow in sanctification and gain a more sincere form of the love that we all have by virtue of our regeneration that's the message okay well that's good that makes sense right but why do we need a command then if Peter is saying we have accomplished that sincere love of the brethren then why do we need a command why does he tell us to fervently love one another from the heart why tell us to do something we're already doing that would be curious well let's understand exactly what that command is and this is the heart of this verse what exactly does this command mean first point we have to make is a difference in the verbs there are two verbs translated as love in the verse two different Greek words the love of the brothers and kids you're thinking is he ever going to say the word get your pencils out because it starts now and there'll be a burst of you putting your little notches on the papers okay
54:19: I don't know how many there are I just tell you and we just shortcut the whole thing but so the two the two verbs the verb that is translated as brotherly love or the love of the brothers is that philadelphia that comes from phila or phileo for love and adelphos for brother the love in the command is that familiar agapa or agape love so we're assumed to have a sincere version of the one philadelphia and we are commanded to have a fervent agapao that's from the heart so peter and peter more than the other writers of scripture seems to see a progression in intensity between the two words to peter philadelphia seems to be less intense lower than agapao so peter here declares we have a sincere philadelphia brother love for one another then he commands a fervent agapao love implying that its readers don't have that they don't always have it in the right intensity to the degree that they should you can see peter's view of these two types of love in second peter it might be worth turning to second peter chapter one it's right after first peter yeah they arranged it nicely they also put all the t's together in the new testament which i find very helpful second peter one in verse three he tells us there that god has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness he tells us in verse four we are partakers of the divine nature that sounds very much like first john that he commands us to make diligent efforts to supply or add to our lives a list of virtues that seem to be if you look at them of increasing moral quality moral intensity look at verses five through seven now for this very reason also applying all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence knowledge and in your knowledge self -control and in your self -control perseverance and in your perseverance godliness and in your godliness brotherly kindness that's philadelphia and in your brotherly kindness love that's agapao the list ends with those two philadelphia then agapao brotherly kindness then love so if this is a list of moral virtues that is increasing in value for peter then the two highest virtues are there at the end with love agapao surpassing philadelphia brotherly kindness so let's talk about peter for a minute you can't get away from this i think some of you know where you have to go when you start thinking about peter's use of these words peter learned a lot about love from his own life with christ i think this may account why peter has such an emphasis on the progress of love in the letter so you remember the record of peter's betrayal of christ and his restoration after jesus rose from the grave i want to talk about that a little bit you may not remember peter had betrayed christ after he declared he never would even though all may fall away because of you i will never fall away jesus said to him truly i say to you that this very night before a rooster crows you will deny me three times and you remember what peter said even if i have to die with you i will not deny you wow so you know he did he did it repeatedly obstinately loudly even profanely peter denied he even knew christ he betrayed him after he had so so self righteously and emphatically said he never would i'll go to death for you luke records in his gospel at the time of his betrayal jesus looked at peter and peter remembered what he'd said and he went out and cried bitterly luke says so then after his resurrection you know the story after christ's resurrection you can follow along on this in john 21 if you like it's john 21 15 through 18 i'll be referring to jesus orchestrates an event where he has breakfast with peter on the beach remember that he asked peter three times if peter loves him three times peter says he does three times peter expresses his love and each time jesus tells peter to tend or shepherd his sheep the first two times jesus asked the question he asked peter do you love me using a form of agapao do you love me both times peter responds with you know that i love you but he uses phileo which is the same word as word for love in philadelphia just doesn't have the brother part on it it's that same strength and intensity third time jesus changes it up he says do you love me this time he uses phileo and peter was grieved by the question it says he again claims that he loves phileo christ peter never would claim at least he's being honest this time right he can't claim that he has that agapao love for christ he can't do it not even now he recognizes i didn't demonstrate that kind of love i'm not sure i can claim that even now so when jesus switched his words what was so grieving to peter so jesus is admitting the same thing he's confronting him with it i've asked you twice if you love me with this most intense sacrificial type of love and twice you have deflected so now i'm only going to ask you if you have affection for me and he says yes i have affection for you then jesus gives peter peter tells him to or jesus tells him to tend his sheep we see that again but then he gives him a prophecy about how he's going to die about how peter's going to die so jesus knew that peter would in fact grow into that kind of love he knew that he would so for our purposes they both had an understanding there's a difference of some kind between these two words for love peter had the one philadelphia but he hadn't shown the other agapato and on the beach he didn't possess that intense kind of love so what's the difference what is the difference between those two it's mainly difference in emphasis brotherly love or philadelphia stresses affection and feeling it's used outside of the scripture to mean exactly literally love between brothers so if you have a sibling you love them it's kind of natural for you to love them you may fight with them more than anybody else but you love them it's natural for you to have a concern for them an affection for them an emotional bond you have each other's back you can beat each other up but nobody can type of you know that's natural now when we are when we are united in christ that sort of affection is extended to one another to your brothers and sisters in christ that's natural agapato love on the other hand that's different that places an emphasis on preference actually esteeming the other more highly than yourself and on will determination to follow that feeling it doesn't leave out the affection but it includes and emphasizes decisiveness this type of love it's a love that flows from reason and will so to love this way is to prefer easy way to think of it is preferring one another over worldlings and also preferring others even over ourselves it extends that far it's to live out preference by action by sacrifice for one another putting each other ahead of ourselves actually thinking that other people are more important than us and acting that out hebert puts it this way in his commentary in the passage agape does not make prominent the emotional aspect of philadelphia it is rather the love of full intelligence and understanding coupled with corresponding purpose the love of full intelligence and understanding coupled with corresponding purpose it is a love of rational goodwill that desires the highest good for the one loved even at the expense of self that's a high love now peter's an interesting case study in love i think understanding his life helps us understand what he intends here peter had to learn love didn't he he hadn't loved christ certainly not sincerely certainly not without hypocrisy you see the hypocrisy i will die before i deny you i don't know who he is never heard of him right that's hypocrisy that was peter's certainly not sincere love sincere jesus had sincere love didn't he jesus was willing to make the sacrifice that peter needed for his good and for ours peter wasn't so jesus told peter at his restoration to do something he told him to do that which would be an expression of genuine love by peter for christ and for his sheep for christ's sheep he told him to tend the sheep that's how peter would demonstrate love as chief among the apostles as an elder his work was to show love for christ by showing love for the sheep through shepherding through loving and sacrificial leadership that was his to be his expression of love so by the time peter wrote this he knew about love he knew about hypocritical love he knew a lot about that he knew about insincere love he knew also knew now about sincere practical preferring love he understood fervent love he understood love from the heart he'd seen it he'd seen it in christ and he spent the rest of his life expressing it for his sheep we see that from the rest of peter's life we see it in acts we see it here in his letters the prophecy of his death and the tradition of how he died he followed through so now we can see the content of the command we can see the progression here brotherly love is the possession of all christians if you're a believer you love one another we can't help but look to our fellow believers as having that same central core of our being in common at liam and molly's wedding i met someone i never met before in my life can't remember his name he's my friend you've experienced that somebody you've never met before you're on a plane you start talking about oh they're believers you see maybe you try to share the gospel with them it doesn't work because they're trying to share it with you and it doesn't immediate friendship that we all have in common but a sincere love of the brethren grows over time as part of our sanctification process we make progress in love we grow increasingly willing to suppress our own selfish self interest we grow so philadelphia that is sincere that's a more mature brotherly love more sanctified brotherly love pervades more of our actions more of our faculties takes more of our time and our money and our affection becomes sincere then as we continue to grow we tend toward agapao and not just a bare or mere agapao that'd be very similar to a sincere brotherly love but to a fervent agapao and one that's from the heart we're to love fervently and from the heart let's look at those words fervently
01:06:43: I was going to bring something but I forgot to bring it I was going to bring a bungee cord nobody ever does illustrations really like that from here so I decided not to but then
01:06:53: I decided I would this morning then I forgot Jamie talked me into it and I forgot but that's what if you imagine something that has some stretch to it it gets to the end of its stretch that's what fervent means stretch to its limit you might hear our word extend that's what it means to extend be completely taught we're to push our love to the limits of what we're capable
01:07:27: I would say of what we're capable and willing to do we're to push it to its limits take all of the gifts and resources and talents abilities that we have been given on this earth and use them to fervently love one another that's what
01:07:43: Peter's telling us that word fervently is a strong word push it to the limit it's said to be from the heart and I need to spend a little time on this because we think of the heart as the seat of emotions that's how we speak we think of the heart as that place of strictly emotion as opposed to the brain that's where the intellect and the will and the decisiveness and all of that reside that's how we think but that's not how scripture talks in scripture the heart is not the source of emotional affection only apart from the intellect or reason or will it includes it does include emotional feelings affection but also determination reason conviction the will it is the word cardia it does literally mean heart that organ that pumps blood but it has a figurative meaning and my point is only that the figurative meaning isn't confined to emotion loving from the heart doesn't mean with emotional affection only but the whole mental and moral the whole mental moral inner direction of the person what
01:08:54: I think is most easily understood of as the will we're to love willfully with resolve determination and affection all of our faculties our faculties of conscience decision making affection desire all of that are to be bound up in this love it's to be comprehensive so if you put all that together that's
01:09:24: Peter's strongest possible expression of love it's the pinnacle of love you see the progression we go from the brotherly love that we all possess as part of our regeneration to a more sincere brotherly love as we grow and are sanctified as we learn to learn what
01:09:41: God's word expects of us and we obey his commands and then we continue on to a fervent love for one another it's extensive it's willful it's sacrificial it's obvious that's what he's looking for Paul makes exactly the same command in a similar way 1st
01:10:00: Thessalonians 4 9 and 10 now concerning love of the brothers you have no need for anyone to write to you for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another that's that love we all have at regeneration love one another for indeed you do practice it toward all the brothers who are in all
01:10:20: Macedonia they're expressing their love sacrificially they have a sincere love and Paul tells them but we urge you brothers to excel still more they haven't reached fervent love for one another from the heart none of us will ever reach this completely but this is our objective this is our command you love one another love one another more that's what
01:10:47: Peter's telling us so Peter will go on to tell us in verses 23 to 25 that unfortunately don't have
01:10:52: I could do it you guys got another no yeah good thank you student of the week verses 23 through 25 you can look at them 1st
01:11:06: Peter 1 23 through 25 you can see that our really what he's telling us is that our love for one another is a good investment it's a good investment in that it's benefits are eternal loving anything else is a bad investment about that loving anything other than Christ or one another other believers is a really bad investment it's only gonna last a few more years to have any benefit and then it's gone but love for one another is eternal it has eternal benefits he tells us then why our love is eternal you see it's because our salvation is eternal and our salvation is eternal because his promise is eternally valid the truths of the gospel are eternal his word is always true never changing so because of that we can love one another and we can understand that it has eternal benefits like when that person whose name
01:11:57: I don't know he's dressed nice had a tie some of you probably met him I don't it's okay that I don't know his name
01:12:05: I'm not gonna talk to him again because I could take AJ and I were talking about this last week I can say let's take 10 ,000 years and get to know each other it's this love has benefits that last forever but getting into that will be for another time but what's the application
01:12:26: I'm gonna make two applications I think we can make safely according to the scripture the first is a personal one it's what
01:12:34: I'll call the practice of love and that application is very clear look at 1 Peter 1 22 it's the command do that that's the application fervently love one another from the heart extend your sacrificial love for one another to its outer limits stretch it as far as you are willing and then grow in your understanding of God's word so that you see the heart of God toward his people making you more willing right this is that this is a virtuous cycle you love you learn you love more you learn more you move towards this fervent love that's the command go and do this it's the practice of love that's commanded here now
01:13:18: Peter gives us more specific application of this later in the book and this is very brief way too quick survey of this repetition application we're told to love the brethren in chapter 2 verse 17 we're told to be like -minded sympathetic brotherly tender -hearted and humble in spirit in chapter 3 verse 8 we're told to keep fervent in your love for one another almost a verbatim repetition in chapter 4 verse 8 then we're told to express our love practically through hospitality in 4 9 we're told to use our gifts for one another in 4 10 and 11 we had a glimpse of how love works itself out between Peter and Silas and Mark in chapter 5 and we're even given a cult now listen a culturally appropriate physical expression of this love between believers in the last verse greet one another with a kiss of love okay culturally appropriate in the first century not now please there's two people in here that would be okay but beyond that you know who you are
01:14:30: I hope but love is on Peter's mind from beginning to end and I'm never going to get to preach on that last verse unfortunately because I'm going to die long before I ever get there but it's a really good verse to preach on somebody who else who preach it's a good verse to preach on it's good for hermeneutics helping us understand how literal we ought to be and so on but the point is
01:14:58: Peter talks a lot about love gives us more specific application you can see that if you read this book but I want you to see this love is not burdensome it's not burdensome it's sacrificial it's costly and it can cost you money and time and emotional investment frustration awkwardness it can be really hard work but it comes from the will it's consistent with your affections and desires it's therefore ultimately fulfilling it's happy making it's sin avoiding it's sanctifying it's maturing assuring it is for the good of the recipient but it's also for the good of the giver and for the glory of God I'll make one last application you guys are like I zipped up my bible cover after the first application unzip it this is kind of a warning for our church in particular
01:16:05: I think it's something we need to be on guard against in our church so we're a church that emphasizes what if you had a friend or family member that asked you what makes
01:16:16: Kootenai Church distinctive what would you say I'm going to let you think about it would you say
01:16:29: I made some guesses commitment to biblical sufficiency something like that would you say a biblical eldership model comes to mind commitment to exposition reformed soteriology would you say things like that I think most likely it would be along those lines we're known for biblical precision from the pulpit
01:17:02: Sunday school classes in our music you notice we change words some well known choruses and hymns we change some words if we don't think they're biblical we don't sing some songs biblically precise our youth group is biblically oriented our men's and women's bible studies any ministry of our church that has pastoral oversight and that's what defines the ministry of our church will have that biblical precision so okay so believers to whom biblical precision is important will be attracted to our church people who believe in biblical sufficiency have a high view of scripture will be attracted to Kootenai church for that reason and that's a really good reason that's a great reason but I thank
01:17:57: God that many of you would also speak about the love that we have for one another you do that you do express love for one another and it's a real blessing
01:18:08: I hear about those things and sometimes you know kind of it's very touching you hear about some of the things that you do for one another you're loving people you bear one another's burdens and that's what's true long before I showed up here 20 something years ago was a very loving people and that continues on today now were this not so eldership here would be a tremendous burden because right now at the moment there's four elders and about 400 of you that's not fair right that would be very very difficult if you weren't bearing one another's burdens to the degree that you do so very thankful for our deacons and for just all of you who bear one another's burdens love one another but be on guard those things are not always held jointly church that insists on doctrinal precision and expresses that affectionate willful sacrificial love that fervent love for one another from the heart that's unusual it's not unique it shouldn't be unusual at all but it is church can go off in two ditches either cold orthodoxy like the church at Ephesus in Revelation or the other ditch kind of an affectionate ignorant tolerant disobedience like Laodicea and Sardis I don't see us going the way of Laodicea I mean who knows right three generations two generations things could who knows but I don't see us going that direction but the way of Ephesus is a possibility if we don't obey the command to fervently love one another from the heart we have to preserve this love that we have for one another we have to protect it and maintain it we have to pass it from one generation to another we have to organize everything our formal activities our informal activities programs your own private fellowship time together everything around this idea of protecting our love for one another because what's the danger what's the danger if our determination our determined obedience to the word of God if that makes us enemies of the lost or of one another if we can't tolerate disagreements over tertiary matters we'll lose that love we could lose it if we this is gonna be oh well
01:20:48: I can still teach Sunday school after this if we too closely identify with a political party some political affiliation or even a nation there's a danger we have to live out our lives in love for one another in service we have to use our gifts if you have a spiritual gift you have something you're good at you have to use it for God's glory or I pray he'll take it away
01:21:22: God calls himself a moth he will take away that which you use for someone else's glory he will take it away
01:21:28: I pray that he would use your gifts for his glory use your money for his glory we have to excel in hospitality and generosity if we see this hour or this