All of you be harmonious, sympathetic, loving and compassionate

1 Peter 3:8-4:6 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and humble; ⁹ not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you would inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
¹¹ He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it.
¹² For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against evildoers.”

¹³ And who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be in dread, ¹⁵ but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect; ¹⁶ and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who disparage your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. ¹⁷ For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; ¹⁹ in which He also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. ²¹ Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.

4 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ² so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human lusts, but for the will of God. ³ For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of indecent behavior, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries. ⁴ In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same excesses of debauchery, and they slander you; ⁵ but they will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as people, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.

Today’s text begins saying:  All of you be harmonious, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and humble; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you would inherit a blessing. For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against evildoers.”   It’s important that we remember that these letters of instruction and exhortation are written to believers, not to the world. We should not expect that the world will follow what scripture says. For us as believers though, we are not to operate by the world’s standards, but rather by God’s. Isaiah 55:8-9 says:  “My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”  We are not to return evil for evil or insult for insult, but give a blessing instead. We are to turn away from evil and do good. We bless people, even those who have wronged us, but we turn away from the evil that they do. We seek peace and pursue it, but we should not be at peace with evil. In Matthew 5:17-19 Jesus says:  “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”    Our being harmonious, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, does not mean that we relax God’s standards, condoning sin and teaching others that it’s okay.   Those who claim to be believers, but relax God’s commandments will be least in the kingdom of heaven at best.

The text says:  Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?  But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be in dread, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.  Are we always ready to make a defense of the hope that we have?  In Acts 1:8 Jesus says:  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”  It’s not that we should have a prepared speech or a rehearsed testimony. Our testimony; our witness for Christ should change according to the circumstance before us. In Luke 21:14-15 Jesus says:  “Make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.”   It is possible, or perhaps probable that we will suffer for the sake of righteousness and for doing what is good. In John 15:18-25 Jesus says:  “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’”   The text says:  sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. If Christ is Lord, then we cannot tolerate and embrace sin; we cannot be concerned about how the world feels about us. If we love the Lord, then we must speak His words of truth.

The text says:  The time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of indecent behavior, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same excesses of debauchery, and they slander you; but they will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as people, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.  As believers, there should be a perceivable difference between the way we act and the way the world acts. The world will expect that we would run with them, but we instead should live in the spirit, according to the will of God.   In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says:  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  Many in the world will despise the light and those who shine it, but some will see the good works of God and glorify the Father in heaven.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, thank You for empowering and enabling me to live by Your Spirit, to be set apart from the world, shining Your light and love in the world and speaking the truth to the world.  May Your kingdom come and Your will  be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.