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1 Peter 1:22-25

For the last time, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn (with me) to 1 Peter 1. It’s our final sermon (at least for now) in 1 Peter 1.

I’m so glad that we’ve been studying this epistle of hope. Aren’t you? Four weeks ago, when we started this journey, we noticed how Peter referred to his audience as aliens and strangers. And every single one of us agreed. We all said, “Yeah, I feel like that too.” Well, again, this week I’m sure we all felt like that. What is going on? What has become of our world? We don’t belong here.

And then, if you’re like me, you’ve just been so weighed down by all the immediate political wrangling and media comments. Even among friends, we’ve likely had spirited conversations about these things. And so many people think that the problem(s) can be fixed with a single solution, a political solution, a community solution, a medical solution, or a money solution. And I want to scream: “There’s only ONE solution and His name is Jesus.” The problem isn’t guns. The problem isn’t mental health. The problem isn’t economics or politics. The problem is sin and unless a person has an encounter with the risen King of kings and Lord of lords, and receives a new heart by the grace of Jesus, then none of this is going to end.

And so, Peter is writing to encourage his audience in the midst of their persecution, in the midst of their being scattered around, in the midst of their chaos – like us. And his message is one of hope that can only be found in and through Christ Jesus.

This morning, we finally find ourselves at the end of the chapter, and I’ll be reading verses 22-25:

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for

“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

“O God, we ask that You might speak to us as we come to You to receive the food of Your Holy Word. Our Father, may You take Your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in Your likeness in order that the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith. Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all Your purposes for Your glory. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen” (Speak, O Lord by Keith & Kristyn Getty).

Peter began this wonderful epistle with a marvelous discussion of the hope of our salvation in Jesus. Beginning in verse 1, right on through verse 12, he discussed the hope of glory in salvation. And now he’s talking about the grateful response to salvation.

How we respond to God was his theme in verses 13 through 21. And there, he called us to a proper response to God, responding with deep gratitude that would lead us to three things, hope, holiness and honor. And now, as we come to verse 22, he calls for a second response, a response toward others. If we’re genuinely grateful for what Christ has done for us on the cross, then we should have a proper response toward God and we should have a proper response toward others. And what is to be our response to one another? How are we to treat each other, all of us who have been given salvation? The answer comes in that wonderful statement, in verse 22, “love one another earnestly.” Love one another.

Our response toward God (v. 13), “hope fully,” (v. 15), “be holy,” (v. 17) “conduct yourselves with holy fear.” That’s the right response toward God. But in regard to each other, very simple, we are to love each other. That’s the proper fruit of salvation directed to each other.

Peter’s exhortation is not new. We understand this.

“Love one another” is an age-old command. Peter says it numerous times so you might as well get ready; we’re going to see it again and again. Chapter 2 verse 17 he says, “Love the brotherhood.” Chapter 3 verse 8 he says, “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.” He says it again in chapter 4 verse 8, “keep loving one another earnestly…” So, four times in this epistle he calls us to love one another.

But it’s not just Peter. Back in John 13:34 you remember Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you,” it was new then, “that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Peter learned it from Jesus and Peter passes it on here.

Other New Testament writers repeat this same command. In fact, Jesus said, “By this will all men know that you’re My disciples” (John 13:35). Paul, in Romans 12:10 says, “Love one another with brotherly affection.” In Philippians 2:2, Paul calls us to the same kind of love toward one another that Jesus exemplified. Perhaps you remember Hebrews 13:1, “Let brotherly love continue.” And 1 John 3:11, “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” So, it’s a basic Christian message.

Peter says it. Paul says it. The writer of Hebrews says it. John says it. And they all said it because Jesus said it. And Peter uses our love for one another as evidence of our growing holiness. For example, notice that most of your Bibles have a heading just before 1 Peter 1:13. What’s the heading? Called to Be Holy (ESV). Be Holy (NIV). A Call to Holy Living (NLT). Living Before God Our Father (NKJV). If you want to know how to live a holy life, then Peter says demonstrate it in the love you have for one another. And the first thing that Peter highlights is…

Holiness and Love Filled with Integrity

Look at the first part of verse 22, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love…” Now, notice that there’s no modifier for the word brother. You say, “Well yes there is. It’s the word sincere.” No. The word “sincere” describes the kind of love that we’re to have, but it doesn’t describe the brother/sister. By the way, the Greek word for “brotherly love” there is philadelphian – coming from philos (“loving friend”) and adelphos (“a brother”). Smush the words together and you get brotherly love, but it’s not limited to the male gender. This is love of anyone that’s a believer in Jesus. And Peter doesn’t qualify or modify the type(s) of brothers and sisters.

For example, he doesn’t say that you should have sincere love for the “rich brothers/sisters.” He doesn’t say that. It doesn’t say that you should have a sincere love for the “white brothers/sisters.” He doesn’t say that. It doesn’t say that you should have a sincere love for the “highly educated and societally successful brothers/sisters.” There’s no modifier. It simply says that you should have a sincere love of brothers/sisters (period).

Now, the word “sincere” is an interesting word in the Greek. That’s the word an-upo-kritos. It contains the alpha primitive (a), which makes it negative. The rest of the word is hupo, which is a preposition meaning “under” and krino, which means “to judge, or to decide, or to distinguish.” You put those two words together and you get hupokrinomai. If I change the pronunciation just a little bit, then you get hypo-crinomai, which is the word “hypocrite.” An actor. A phony. Someone that’s pretending. But don’t forget, it has the alpha primitive, so it’s not an actor, not a phony, not pretending.

Peter says that’s the way you love brothers/sister in the Christ – as not hypocritically, not as an actor, not as a phony, not pretending. Holiness doesn’t try to fake people out. Holiness doesn’t love like that. If you’ve had your soul purified by obedience to the truth of Jesus Christ, then you love sincerely. And we saw that on display this week in Texas when Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia jumped in front of their students to save them from gunfire.

Holiness and love filled with integrity. Secondly, Peter says that holiness and love are demonstrated intensely.

Holiness and Love Demonstrated Intensely

Look at the next phrase, “…love one another earnestly from a pure heart…” Maybe your bible uses the word “fervently,” there. It’s love with a passion. Love with intensity. The Greek word is ektenós, again a combination of words – ek (“wholly out”) and teino (“to stretch”). It literally means “to stretch out, without slack, completely taut.” What Peter is saying here is that holiness and love are demonstrated when we stretch ourselves out to others, when we extend ourselves to others.

I got a call the other week from a family in Greenville that needed some help. I didn’t ask them if they were Clemson or Carolina fans before we helped them. I didn’t ask them what their race or religion was before we helped them. No, we just stretched out our arms and helped this low-income family with four kids get some groceries and gas. We were able to get them connected with Foothills Family Resources. In fact, Mary-Lu is the one that did all leg-work.

I got a call on Friday from Hope Cummings, Director of Patient Care Services for the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Greenville. She has a 22-year-old Hispanic man named Noel from Honduras that’s scheduled for back surgery on Thursday, June 16. His mother is deceased. His father is nowhere to be found. He’s over here from Honduras and he’s living with a host family. Hope was looking for someone that could speak Spanish and just befriend the guy and help encourage him. I said, “Hope, I don’t speak Spanish, but I think I can find somebody.” I got off the phone and called our friend and muscianary, Rodrigo, who just returned from Albania and Romania, and he said he’d be happy to stop by and talk with him and even introduce him to the guitar.

As many of you know, Dave Tyner, down at the front gate, has experienced some damages to his house that apparently aren’t covered by his insurance. He’s been having difficulty getting builders and contractors to come out and give him a quote. We told him that once he gets a bid, then we’d get our Habitat for Humanity team out there to help get the place back in order.

Holiness and love demonstrate themselves intensely. Finally, Peter says that holiness and love are expressed in identity.

Holiness and Love Expressed in Identity

Look at verse 22 again. All of this is coming out of verse 22, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” This kind of love comes from the heart. And this love identifies the One who is loving me. When we surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ, something in our hearts changed. It’s different. It’s been purified, and we didn’t do that. God did that.

Notice the next verse, “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” We’ve seen this again and again; you and I don’t have the capacity and the facility and the ability to birth ourselves again. Just like our first births, our spiritual birth is something that God does. We’ve been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. And then he quotes Isaiah 40.

One of my favorite old Bible illustrators was a man named William Biederwolf. He was born in 1867 and died in 1939, so he lived in the early years of the 20th century, and he had very unusual insights into Scripture. Dr. Biederwolf relates the incident of a construction engineer who was inspecting a building site. And while he was out on a scaffold about three stories high, he suddenly tripped and his body plummeted to the ground in what appeared to be certain death.

Dr. Biederwolf says, “A workman below happened to be looking up just as the engineer fell and since he was standing where the man’s body would strike the ground, he instantly braced himself, taking the full impact of the falling man. The engineer was only slightly injured but the workman was driven into the concrete. With almost every bone in his body broken, he walked the streets from that time on as an object of pity.”

Later, in an interview, a reporter asked him how the man whose life he had saved was treating him. The crippled man’s replay was, “Well he gave me half of everything he owns. I also have a share in his business. He never lets me want for a thing. He is constantly concerned about me and hardly a day passes that I don’t receive from him some little token of remembrance.”

It’s a beautiful story of gratitude, isn’t it? We understand that. But I think, as Christians, so many times we forget that on Calvary there was One who caught the full impact of falling man, One who caught us when we would have been crushed in death. “He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). He made Himself expendable for us and certainly we ought to express gratitude to Him. We do that when holiness and love are filled with integrity, when holiness and love are demonstrated intensely, and when holiness and love are an expression of our identity in Christ.

“Our God and our Father, we pray that by the power and working of the Holy Spirit we might be able to love this way. Oh, it’s easy to say that we will when we’re in church. Oh, it’s easy to say that we do when we’re around people we love and friends we care for. But Lord, this is seriously hard work – to love with integrity, to love intensely, and to love as an expression of our identity with You. Make it so. We pray also that others might see our love and feel our love and experience our love and be drawn to know You as their personal Savior. For we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.”