Love One Another
1 Peter • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 23 viewsWe are commanded to love one another but we cannot do that until something else takes place first. Learn what that is as Pastor Steve teaches from 1 Peter 1:22-25.
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
This morning we are looking again at the first chapter of 1 Peter
Please take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1
We will conclude chapter 1 today as we look at verses 22-25
Peter says...
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 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 Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.
Since verse 13 Peter has called his readers to action
First he called them to fix their “hope” on the return of Jesus (v.13)
Second they were to be holy because God is holy (vv.14-16)
Third they were conduct themselves in fear towards God (v.17)
Now he says they are to “love one another” (v.22)
This is the only command in verses 22-25
Before they would be able to love one another they would have needed to be purified because...
LESSON
LESSON
I. Love Begins with the New Birth (v.22a)
I. Love Begins with the New Birth (v.22a)
1 Peter 1:22 “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren”
The new birth is described by two phrases in verse 22: “obedience to the truth” and “purified your souls”
One is the result of the other
The “truth” is the gospel
Ephesians 1:13 (NASB95)
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Colossians 1:5 (NASB95)
because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel
2 Thessalonians 2:13 (NASB95)
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
The “truth” is also embodied in a Person
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
“Obedience to the truth” is obedience to the Gospel
“Obedience” as a compound noun (hupo, “under,” and akoē, “the act of hearing”) conveys the thought of attentively listening to an authoritative pronouncement and then submitting to it in obedience. (D. Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1997), 112)
Mark 1:14–15 (NASB95)
Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
John 3:36 (NASB95)
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
2 Thessalonians 1:7–8 (NASB95)
and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,
dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Peter’s hearers were “chosen” (1:1) “to obey Jesus Christ” (1:2)
The results is the purification of the soul
“Purified” (hagnizo) is in the perfect tense and “refers to a decisive act in the past, the consequences of which continue in the present” (Robert H. Mounce, A Living Hope: A Commentary on 1 and 2 Peter, (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2005), 22.
It is literally “having purified” (Vincent)
The cleansing took place at the time of the readers’ regeneration, and so they were in a state of being clean (cf. John 13:10; 15:3; 17:19). (D. Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1997), 111.)
A positive result of obeying the truth is a purified life (Roger M. Raymer, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, 1985, 2, 844.)
This is the only way to have a “sincere love of the brethren”
The word “Sincere” (anypokritos) means “unhypocritical”
It means unfeigned, without pretense, that is that which is genuine, free from deceit, authentic, undisguised, without pretense or sham and to use the "king's old English" to be "without dissimulation" (KJV) (dissimulate = hide under a false appearance). In classical Greek drama, the hupokrites (actor) wore a face-mask projecting an image but hiding his true identity under (hupo) a mask. Peter is saying that the Christian’s love should not be acting a part or wearing a mask, but should be an authentic expression of warm Christian affection.
Believers are not simply to be "playing the part" but are to exemplify a love which is completely genuine, unhypocritical, without pretense or deceit. A believer's love is to be "the real thing".
Metaphorically and morally, a hupokrites (a hypocrite) is anyone who pretends to be something they are not. It is interesting to note that our English word sincere comes from the Latin sincerus, which means "without wax" which stems from a practice of the early Roman merchants who set their earthen and porcelain jars out for sale. If a crack appeared in one, they would fill it with wax the same color as the jar, so a buyer would not be aware that it was cracked. But astute buyers learned to hold these jars out in the sun, and if the jar was cracked, the wax would melt and the crack would be revealed. So the honest merchants would test their wares this way and mark them sincerus -- "without wax (https://www.preceptaustin.org/1_peter_122-25#1:22)
John Calvin said that “nothing is more difficult than to love our neighbors in sincerity. For the love of ourselves rules, which is full of hypocrisy; and besides, every one measures his love, which he shews to others, by his own advantage, and not by the rule of doing good. He adds, fervently; for the more slothful we are by nature, the more ought every one to stimulate himself to fervor and earnestness, and that not only once, but more and more daily. (John Calvin, 1 Peter: Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles, Calvin’s Commentaries, electronic ed., (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), 1 Pe 1:22.)
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
The word “love” (philadelphia) means “brotherly love”
It’s translated “brotherly love” in Romans 12:10 and “brotherly kindness” in 2 Peter 1:7
It’s not ‘love men as though they were your brothers,’ but ‘love men because they are your brothers.’ ” (Hiebert).
The Holy Spirit gives us God’s love in our hearts
and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
God teaches us to love
We love, because He first loved us.
Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;
for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more,
Jesus teaches us how to love one another in John 13
So this is where love begins...
II. Love is Commanded from the Heart (v.22b)
II. Love is Commanded from the Heart (v.22b)
1 Peter 1:22 “fervently love one another from the heart”
The word “fervently” (ektenos) means, “ to stretch, and signify intense strain” (Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 1:640).
The word means to go all out, to reach the furthest extent of something (Luke 22:44; Acts 12:5; cf. Acts 26:7). (John F. MacArthur Jr., 1 Peter, MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004), 90).
Ektenos was an athletic term conveying the meaning of “striving with all of one’s energy” and was used to describe a runner who was moving at maximum output with taut muscles straining and stretching to the limit.
This meaning presents the clear picture that love is not something that will just happen, but is something we have to work at like an Olympic athlete who strives to master his area of expertise with all his energy. (https://www.preceptaustin.org/1_peter_122-25#1:22)
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
The word “love” is different from the previous
This word (agapao) is “deep-seated, thorough-going, intelligent and purposeful. [It is] a love in which the entire personality - not only the emotions but also the mind and the will - expresses itself” ( William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, New Testament Commentary : Exposition of Ephesians, New Testament Commentary. 250).
Agapao (aor.act.imp.) refers to self-sacrifice which is the highest expression of love
This is the love that God has for the elect
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
“Sacrificial love is undeserved, yet it goes to the furthest extremity, as exemplified in Christ. It says, ‘You don’t deserve anything, but I’ll give you everything. You don’t deserve anything, but I’ll die for you. You don’t deserve even My best, but I’ll give you My life.” (Taken from John MacArthur’s sermon, “The Duty of the Husband” Series: The Fulfilled Family).
Love is something we have to work at, just as an Olympic contestant has to work at his particular skills. Christian love is not a feeling; it is a matter of the will. We show love to others when we treat them the same way God loves us (unconditionally, sacrificially). God forgives us, so we forgive others. God is kind to us, so we are kind to others. It is not a matter of feeling but of willing, and this is something we must constantly work at… Jesus must be always increasing in us and our old self always decreasing. How do we love this way? By letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly and by being continually filled with (controlled by) the Holy Spirit of God. The same truth that we trusted and obeyed to become God’s children is our "power source" to nurture and enable us. It is impossible to love the truth and hate the brethren. The Spirit of God produces this agape type love as a beautiful “fruit” in our lives (Gal 5:22-note; Gal 5:23-note). (https://www.preceptaustin.org/1_peter_122-25#1:22)
They were also to “love…from the heart”
The “heart” (Kardia) refers to the innermost part of one’s being
It’s obvious from Scripture that references to the heart refer to more than an organ in your body
We hear phrases like “thoughts of his heart” (Gen.6:5), “grieved in His heart” (Gen.6:6), “intent of man’s heart” (Gen.8:21), “said in his heart” (Gen.17:17)
A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
We are told in...
And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Loving from the heart “demands that love should flow from within as an expression of the Christian’s true inner being.” (D. Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1997), 113).
But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Since they had obeyed the truth and purified their souls, they could now love in this way
They can also fulfil such a command because of the ever present Spirit in their lives
1 Peter 1:2 says, they were chosen “by the sanctifying work of the Spirit”
Verse 22 is His work in the heart of the believer producing this kind of love as they obey His Word
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Their love then should be proceeding from a heart in which there is no guile or hypocrisy; and (2) that it should be intense affection, (ἐκτενῶς;) not cold and formal, but ardent and strong. (Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: James to Jude, ed. Robert Frew, (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 130).
Looking forward to verses 23-25, Peter again affirms their ability to “love one another” because of the new birth but this time he adds that...
III. Salvation and Sanctification are by the Word of God (vv.23-25)
III. Salvation and Sanctification are by the Word of God (vv.23-25)
In verse 22 Peter says they purified their souls in obedience to the truth, now he says in verses 23-25 their new birth came by “the living and enduring word of God.
Therefore, the word of God teaches us to love one another fervently and from the heart and that can’t happen apart from being born again
He says...
They were “born again” (anegennao, perf.pass.part.)
It comes from gennao, “to be born” and anothen, “again” or “from above” or “a new”
It’s used here in the perfect tense and refers to a decisive act in the past, the consequences of which continue in the present” (Robert H. Mounce, A Living Hope: A Commentary on 1 and 2 Peter, (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2005), 22.
Peter has already used this term in verse 3
Blessed be the God and Father of our 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,
Jesus said this two times to Nicodemus
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
“Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
Jonathan Edwards says being born again “is meant that great change that is wrought in man by the mighty power of God, at his conversion from sin to God: his being changed from a wicked to a holy man.
When a man is changed from a sinner to a saint, the change is not a mere change of manners, a change in outward appearance; but ’tis a change of nature.
There is in conversion infused a principle of spiritual understanding and spiritual action that is as far above any principles that man had before, as the heaven is high above the earth. And this change of nature is such that he not only acts above what he did before, but contrary. The principles that were before, as they were ungoverned and inordinate, were most contrary to those supernatural principles that are infused. They are sinful, and these are mortified when spiritual principles are infused.
So, in conversion, there is a new principle of understanding, a principle whereby the soul knows God and understands his glory and excellency, and the truth and excellency of spiritual things: the great things of God’s Word, the glorious doctrines of the gospel, and things pertaining to Christ the Savior, which the soul had no power to understand before. ’Tis as if there were added to the soul “eyes to see,” which before was blind and had no eyes (Deut. 29:4). (Jonathan Edwards, Sermons and Discourses, 1730–1733, 1999, 17, 187–188).
Peter says they were “born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God”
D. Edmond Hiebert says, “The seed out of which natural life springs is “perishable” (phthartēs), corruptible and subject to decay and destruction, and can only give rise to a life that is subject to decay and death. But the new life of the believer is not derived from such a transient source; it springs from that which is “imperishable” (aphthariou), not subject to corruption and death. It has the same nature as the inheritance that awaits the redeemed (v. 4). (D. Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1997), 115.)
The Word of God is the source of their new birth
In verse 24 he quotes from Isaiah 40:6 to compare the temporary nature of man verses the eternality of God’s Word (v.25)
God’s Word is living
In verse 23 the words “Living” and “enduring” are both present active participles
God’s word is constantly living and enduring
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
God’s Word is eternal
The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
God’s eternal Word was “preached to you” (v.25)
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
We are to love one another
Sincere love is evidence of the new birth
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
Peter’s readers were born again
They now had the capacity to love in this way
The same is true for you and me
As we conclude, let me ask, “Do you love God?”
Do you love Christ?
Have you obeyed the Gospel, the word of truth?
Have your souls been purified?
Come this morning to the Savior
Jesus is the only one who can cleanse and forgive you of all your sin against Him
Let’s pray