Monthly Archive for November, 1997

1 Peter 4:10d

Published on November 30, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
 
 
of the manifold grace of God
 
“Manifold” means various kinds, diversified. Originally it meant many-colored, variegated and was used of spotted leopards or fawns. God gives us our gifts to diversify God’s many graces to the body of Christ.   God’s grace shows itself in many kinds of manifestations. God also gives great variety in the various gifts he bestows on the church. God uses various means by which we can serve him (Ro 12:3-8). God makes the church of God multi-faceted. 
 
God gives the Christian the responsibility to manage the many faceted graces of God to the body of Christ. The Christian’s gift is itself a grace from God and everything that that gift gives represents God’s grace. Since God gave us the gift we cannot claim merit for it. No gift we possess belongs to us. It belongs to God and we must use it in God’s interest. Every use of God’s gift must manifest God’s grace, not merit.
 
PRINCIPLE: God’s gifts of grace come in all sizes and shapes. 
 
APPLICATION: The grace of God comes in all colors, shapes and sizes. It takes great variety of gifts to have a healthy, growing church. Our computer has outward functions but below the surface is many little parts that make it work. You may be one of those small parts that without you there would be no effective church of God. That is the way God works.  The church needs big parts and little parts, big roles and little roles without which the church would not be the church. 
 
Will you make yourself available to be used of God in the local church? Without you, the work of the Lord will suffer loss. We ultimately do not serve the church but we serve the Lord. 
 
Say to the Lord, “Lord, here I am. Harness me. Put a saddle on me and I will do my best.”   All he expects is our best, nothing more. All he wants us is to do what we can with what we have. 
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1 Peter 4:10c

Published on November 29, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
 
 
as good stewards
 
God not only asks us to be a steward but a “good” steward. “Good" emphasizes quality. God wants us to use the stewardship of our gift in a qualitative way. First Timothy 4:6 says that we are to be a “good minister” and second Timothy 2:3 urges us to be “good soldiers.”
 
In the first century, land owners placed stewards over great estates. These stewards were slaves captured from other parts of the world. Often these slaves were the leaders of their countries or business types.  A “steward” was first a manager of a household or estate.
 
The owner of the estate held the steward accountable to faithfully fulfill the trust committed to him. The owner put his goods and property into the steward’s hands. God wants us to faithfully administer our gift like a manager of an estate. A steward is one to whom God entrusts certain property. Joseph of the Old Testament was a trustee of Pharaoh’s goods. God placed us as a trustee of our gift.
 
Lk 12: 48, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”
 
Lk 16: 10, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.”
 
God uses “steward” of the leader of a local congregation.
 
Tit. 1: 7, “For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money.”
 
PRINCIPLE: The Christian is a manager of God’s grace through is gift.
 
APPLICATION: God wants us to be faithful, not famous. He does not even want us to be successful but faithful.
 
1 Co 4: 1, “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” 
 
A steward serves others by distributing his gift to meet the needs of others. A good steward manages God’s provisions well. As a minister of Christ, God entrusts us with the treasures of the gospel. The first requirement is trustworthiness.
 
What kind of steward have you been with God’s gifts to you? Have you opened your gift? Have you neglected your gift? Do you use your gifts to serve others?  There is room for everyone in the service of the King.
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1 Peter 4:10b

Published on November 28, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
 
 
minister it
 
“Minister” signifies to be a servant, attendant, to serve, wait upon, minister.  The New Testament uses this term in connection with official service in a local church, “they that have served (well) as deacons” (1 Tim. 3:13).
 
1 Tm 3: 10, “But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless.” 
 
 “Minister” is used of believers who serve one another in various ways. “Minister” is service:
 
Mt 25: 21 “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’”
 
Ac 20: 24, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
 
to one another
 
“To one another” has to do with ministering to each other. Verses eight and nine also emphasize the reciprocal relationship of fellow Christians.
 
Peter throws forward the phrase “to one another” in the sentence. This emphasizes the object of the gift. Our gifts are for others, not self. Gifts are not to terminate in selfish gratification. Our gift is from God and for others. 
 
Ac 13:36 “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption.” 
 
What a tribute to a man’s life! The summary of David’s life is that he served his generation by the will of God.
 
PRINCIPLE: Gifts serve no purpose except to serve.
 
APPLICATION: Each gift is a pipe that relays the blessing for which God designed the gift. We are a pipe, not a reservoir. We are a channel of God’s blessing to others. We are the channel through which God’s blessing flows to others. 
 
The idea of “minister” is that we are to use our gift. Get with using this gift for the glory of God. 
 
Re 2:19, “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.”
 
He 3: 5, “And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward.”
 
Jesus ministered by serving:
 
Mt 20: 26 “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant… 28“just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
 
Mk 10: 45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
 
Do you willing serve the body of Christ?
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1 Peter 4:10

Published on November 27, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
 
 
As each one has received a gift,
 
“As” means to the degree that we received our gift.  “As” sets up an analogy between the grace of how we received our gift and the grace of how we are to minister the gift. It is by grace we received the gift and it is by grace that we use the gift. We serve God because God gives, not because we earn the right to be used of God.  God gave us our gift entirely by grace and we minister it entirely by grace. 
 
“Each one” indicates that every Christian has at least one spiritual gift.  God excludes no one in the distribution of gifts to the body of Christ. We receive these special supernatural endowments at our salvation (1 Co 12:11-13). Spiritual gifts enable the body of Christ to function as a whole (1 Co 12:15,21). All spiritual gifts must operate in the environment of love (1 Co 13). We should give greatest priority to the gifts that relate to maturity (1 Co 14). 
 
Each of us “received” the gift. We did not work for it. We did not earn it. God gave it to us with no strings attached. Everything that we have, God donated to us. Therefore, there is no ground for bragging. What do we have to brag about? 
 
What did we do to get the gift? Nothing. It was a donation. How did we “receive” our gift? By grace. We do not get this gift by some super sacrifice, by working for it, by hustling for it, by living a clean life or by agonizing in the closet.  Since we did nothing to acquire our spiritual gift we should minister it in grace. 
 
1 Co 4: 7, “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
 
This use of the word “gift” is the only occurrence outside the writings of Paul. A spiritual “gift” is a special, supernatural bestowing of a special capacity to serve the body of Christ or reach those without Christ. It is a special, supernatural endowment by the Holy Spirit to do the work of God (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 1:7; 12:4, 9, 28, 30, 31; 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6; 1 Pet. 4:10). 
 
The word “gift” derives from the same root as “grace” denoting something freely given, a favor bestowed.  A gift is the capacity to benefit the body of Christ. The Christian cannot claim that this capacity came from himself. He cannot claim to produce this gift because it was a grace given by God. Our gifts belong to the purpose of God. 
 
Two chapters in the New Testament catalogue the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Romans 12 catalogues 7 gifts and I Corinthians 12 catalogues 11 gifts. Some gifts are duplications. Eliminating duplications there are 14 distinct gifts in those two chapters. All total, there are over 20 gifts when we take into consideration the aggregate of all the gifts of the New Testament. 
 
PRINCIPLE: We exercise our gift in grace because we received our gift by grace.
 
APPLICATION: God does not want us to be ambivalent about the gifts he gives us. In fact, he warns us not to neglect our gifts:
 
1 Ti 4:14, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.”
 
Some of us may not feel gifted but nevertheless God has gifted us. We may not have a public gift or a sensational gift but we have a gift.  Paul tells us to activate our latent gifts. Our gift will not function without animating them. In order to discover what our gift is, we must read the label on the gift to see if God addresses the gift to us.
 
2 Ti 1: 6, “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
 
If someone were to give us a gift at Christmas and we threw it in the attic without opening it, it would be an insult to the giver. If Christians receive special supernatural endowments to do the work of God and leave them latent, this is an insult to God who gave the gift. God gave every Christian a special endowment to do his work without exception.
 
Will you stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ empty handed with no representation of using our gift responsibly? It will do no good to say, “Well, I wasn’t talented. I really do not have anything to offer the church. I am a speckled bird that does not fit in. I couldn’t do anything. All I could do was sit. All I could do was be a religious spectator all my life. I watch others serve. All I can do is pity myself all these years.” 
 
Neglect of our gift is an indication of our lack of appreciation for the grace of God. Very few Christians seize their gifts and use them for God’s glory to the benefit of the body of Christ. Never did so many owe so much to so few.
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1 Peter 4:9c

Published on November 26, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.”
 
 
without grumbling
 
“Grumbling” means to mutter, murmur, speak secretly. The idea is to express one’s discontent, to complain and murmur as a sign of displeasure. The way we carry out hospitality is important. We are to do it without complaint. A person who is hospitality oriented does not mutter or grumble at the expense and inconvenience. It is one thing to be hospitable and it is something else to give hospitality with cheer. 
 
“Murmur” is an onomatopoeic word representing the significance by the sound of the word. The meaning is to say anything in a low tone as in the word “murmur” itself. “Murmur” was used for the cooing of doves and means low muttering, especially of discontent. 
 
Ac 6. 1, “Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.”
 
Phil 2: 14, “Do all things without complaining and disputing.”
 
The papyri used “murmur” of the murmuring of a gang of workmen. Also the papyri used this term of the Romans murmuring while the Emperor (late 2nd cent. a.d.) was interviewing a rebel. 
 
Israel spoke against God with a complaining mentality,
 
 Nu 14: 26, “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.” 
 
“Murmur” is a term of rebellion. “OK, God, I will do it, but I am revolting on the inside.” These statements reveal our rebellion against our lot in life. “Why do they always call on me to…” “I do not have the money to entertain.” Such grumbling is protest against God. It is a cancerous attitude that has selfishness at its core. Selfishness pushes out love. Are you a person who only “gets” but does not “give?” 
 
II Co 9: 7, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”
 
PRINCIPLE: Complaint is a manifestation of discontent toward our lot in life. 
 
APPLICATION: Grumbling does not encourage Christians nor show gratitude to God. It is a complaint against satisfaction with how God made our lot in life. 
 
When we complain we assail the providence of God. “God, give me my desires but do not inconvenience me with having to deal with the problems of people.” God wants us to do this with more than just an outward smile of apparent pleasure to serve others. No, his desire is that we serve others with a smile of the heart. 
 
Do not give with a grudging attitude. If we do, we lose the blessing. When we use our car, house, finances for God, God will bless us. Do serve out of a sense of duty? Do you complain because someone asked you to give to others?
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1 Peter 4:9b

Published on November 25, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.”
 
 
to one another
 
“One to another” means to others of the same kind. This means that believers are to give hospitality to fellow believers. If Christians do not treat each other well, we surely will not treat those without Christ very well. 
 
Ro 12: 13 “Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.” 
 
He 13: 2 “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” 
 
Think of entertaining an angel. Angels usually appear as men, not women, in the Bible. “Angels” means messengers. It may be that these messengers were those who were spreading the gospel around the world.
 
PRINCIPLE:  If Christians do not treat each other well, we surely will not treat those without Christ very well. 
 
APPLICATION: God expects Christians to give to Christians. Selflessness is at the core of the character of Christianity. Jesus established this model. 
 
This is the complete opposite of the philosophy of the world.. The world’s philosophy is “me first,” “the survival of the fittest,” “the law of the jungle,” “might makes right.” That is not Christian. We think that if we say that I am number one loud enough and long enough people will believe it. 
 
When Christians conflict with each other, we accentuate emotions of distrust, hatred and fear. In this we lose sight of our true goals and turn to focus on undermining each other. Strife on football teams ruins many great teams. Our true goal is to life and share the wonder of the glorious gospel of our wonderful Lord and glorify God with this.
 
A great accusation against many churches is that they are not friendly. They are like country clubs that exercise discrimination. If you are not the right color, or do not dress properly, or are not from the right strata of society, they give you a cold shoulder. “I will not attend there again. They are not friendly.” Do people say that about your relationships? 
 
Sometimes teens are clannish and catty. If you do not look like them and dress as sharp as they do, they will cut you dead. This is non-Christian. 
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1 Peter 4:9

Published on November 24, 1997 in 1 Peter. 4 Comments
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“Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.”
 
 
We come to the fourth directive of 4:7-11. 
 
Be hospitable
 
“Be hospitable” means to be friendly to strangers or guests (I Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:8). A “stranger” is someone who is not regarded as a member of the extended family or a close friend. Strangeness produces mutual tension between natives and foreigners but hospitality overcomes the tension and makes friends of aliens. 
 
“Hospitality” is not entertainment or an attempt to amuse people who do not need it. The idea is not that of showing hospitality to people who require help. Hospitality was usually extended to travelers and strangers. 
 
Times of persecution and distress obligated Christians to be hospitable to one another. Some Christians lost everything they owned and were driven to distant countries for safety. This hospitality sustained people uprooted by persecution. Many of their homes were ravaged and burned.   Parents were taken away into the great slave market of the Roman Empire. Children were often slaughtered. 
 
Rapport love was pragmatically important to these ravaged Christians who escaped from this treatment. Hospitality enabled these desolate Christians to relocate, to establish new business, to find work and to assist them on their travel. In the first century there were very few Motel 6’s or Holiday Inns. Those that did exist were places of prostitution. Hospitality became an important means of dealing with a number of issues for the church in that day.
 
“Hospitality” became a customary means of Christian living in the first century: Ac 16:15; Phile 22; Mt 10:9-13; Ro 12:13; He 13:21; I Ti 3:2; Ro 12:12-14; Phil 2:14; Tit 1:8; He 13:2.
 
Hospitality is a manifestation of the love of the previous verse. Hebrews makes the connection between love and hospitality.
 
Rom. 12: 13 “Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.”
 
Heb. 13: 1 “Let brotherly love continue. 2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.”
 
Traveling ministers also required this service in order to spread the gospel around the Roman Empire. Thus, hospitality was crucial for strategic transmission of the gospel. God strategically used those with the gift of hospitality. Can we use this gift strategically today?
 
Hospitality was also used for evangelism. By inviting non-Christians into their homes, Christians could demonstrate the reality of their life in Christ.
 
PRINCIPLE: If we have room for people in our heart we will have room for them in our home as well. 
 
APPLICATION: Our attitude toward hospitality should be this: if we have freely received from God we ought to freely give to others. 
 
Hospitality gives a great opportunity for us to share our life’s experiences and personal history with others. This places us in close social contact with others. For non-Christians to value Christianity they need to see it up close in the life and behavior of a Christian of authenticity. 
 
One of the best strategies for evangelism in our day is evangelistic home Bible studies or simple evangelistic parties. In this way non-Christians can get up close and personal. They can see the reality of Christ in our lives. We live in a transient world where people have very few roots or friends. People move regularly. The ability to establish lasting friends is not very great in our society.
 
Hospitality also enriches the Christian. It will expand our fellowship and understanding of the dynamics of Jesus Christ in the lives of other people. 
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1 Peter 4:8c

Published on November 23, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’”

 

for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins’
 
“Cover” carries the idea of conceal, to veil, to cover over.   God expects us to conceal the sin of others so that no one can see a trace of their sin. This is not our own personal sin but the sin of our fellow Christian!  
 
Fervent love orients us to forgive and forget wrongs committed against us. We readily cover their sin against us. We will not aggravate the wrong by spreading gossip around the Christian community.  When we do not publish the failings of others, we eliminate a lot of gossip. Gossip does not love; it hurts others.   True love does not hint at past failure. 
 
 “Multitude of sins” indicates a mass of sins that has come to the notice of a particular Christian because of some special personal contact.  Do you have some unique association with out of the loop with God? This passages forms a principle for how to deal with them. 
 
Ja 5: 19 “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”
 
The phrase “love will cover a multitude of sins” is a quote of Proverbs 10:12,
 
“Hatred stirs up strife,
But love covers all sins.”
 
PRINCIPLE:  Sacrificial love protects the reputation of fallen Christians.
 
APPLICATION: True love is blind to the faults of others. Do you drag the problems of your fellow Christians into the open so that all can see? This will not build a bond between you and will hurt their reputation. By protecting fallen Christians and seeing them as Christ sees them, we encourage one another and strengthen each other. 
 
Some of us think that God commissioned us to expose the sin of others. Instead of covering their sin, we advertise their sin. There is a sadistic glee in this. A true family protects its own. They cover up for their loved ones because they love each other. This is a missing element in the church of the living God [codependency notwithstanding]. 
 
We hold little interest in covering the sins of fellow Christians. We have great interest in covering our own sins. We would rather cover our sins than confess them (I Jn 1:9). God wants us to make a clean cut break with sin.  If we rationalize our sin away, we will not deal with our personal sin. This is like an alcoholic who will not admit he is an alcoholic. He will not address his alcoholism until he admits that alcohol controls his life. We will not address the sin of our lives until we confess our sin. Our natural tendency is to cover our personal sin and expose the sins of others.
 
An environment of love among Christians helps sustains believers under persecution. Love cannot endure indifference. All of us need to be wanted and understood.  Hate does the opposite. Some people snoop about in order to find some sin in someone else and then broadcast it over their personal network. They may even exaggerate their sin and gloat over the sin. 
 
We often slight Christians who fail. We eliminate a lot of gossip when we cover the sin of fellow Christians. A gossip does not truly love others. If we ask someone to spread feathers around the neighborhood and go pick them up a week later, this would be an impossible task. It is also an impossible task to retrieve gossip spread around the community. 
 
Love forgets as well as forgives. Love does not keep hinting at past failures. Love is willing to hide the sin of others in an anonymous grave. Who is without fault? If we attack others, this implies that we are innocent of sin.
 
Covering the sins of others, on the other hand, does not imply that we condone their sin (Prov. 28:13).  We should deal with public sin publicly and we should deal with private sin privately. Nor does covering sin imply that Christians not confront their sin.
 
Do you have a passion for bringing stray believers back to fellowship with God? Do you love people as they are, faults and all? Would you rather proclaim their failures from the housetop? 
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1 Peter 4:8b

Published on November 22, 1997 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’”
 
 
have fervent love
 
The word “have” in the Greek carries the idea of “keeps on having.”  “Fervent” love should not be not sporadic or occasional. God’s desire is for us to unceasingly love with perseverance. God wants us to be eager to preserve our love in a warm environment. The idea is to keep love constant.
 
“Let brotherly love continue,” Heb. 13:1. 
 
The word “fervent” denotes strained, stretched, eager, earnest, hence, metaphorically, “fervent.” This is an adjective of intensity. Have intense love for others.
 
The Greek used “fervent” for the taut muscles of an athlete who strains every ounce of energy to win a race. In the 100 yard dash the runner strains and stretches his body to stretch across the tape first. This love is intent, earnest and will extend oneself to the limit for others. Do you exert yourself for others? Do you go out of your way to help others? You say, “Yes, if it is convenient.”  However, this love has a quality of fervency that sacrifices self for another person’s welfare.
 
Jn 15: 13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
 
Gal 2: 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
 
I Jn 3: 16 “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
 
This love is the opposite of self-centered love.   Sacrificial love gives self to others. We will exert every effort and go to the limit of our strength to love others properly. This love is not sentimental, sloppy emotion but demands the best of our spiritual sinew. It means loving the unlovely, unloving and unlovable. This love is not easy but will love in the face of insult and injury.  We will love when someone does not return love.  We love even love is spurned. 
 
This kind of strenuously sustained love is not blind but recognizes and understands the faults of others (Prov. 10:12; I Cor. 13:4-7).
 
for one another,
 
Peter does not say "Have fervent love for those without Christ” but for “one another” as Christians. 
 
PRINCIPLE: Christian love requires mussel and sinew. 
 
APPLICATION:  It is not good enough for Christians to stop rendering malice toward other Christians. Sacrificial love goes far beyond the negative. Positively, sacrificial love intensely loves other Christians. We spare no effort to make sure we love Christians. 
 
Do you keep your love at the boiling point? Do you have an ardent love? This love is not easy. It takes effort to love properly.   True love is not sentimental, sloppy emotion but exerts itself to the limit of its strength. This love demands our greatest effort. The Christian loves as an athlete who strains every mussel to reach his goal. This means he will love the unlovely. He will love in the face of insult and injury. He loves when no love is returned. 
 
The Christians of Asia Minor were about to face a storm from the Roman government. They needed to keep short accounts in their relationships. When we face personal the personal storm of suffering, we need to be free from attitude sins. We want to rig our attitudes for the storm. If we do not batten down our hatch and free ourselves from attitude sins, the storms of suffering will sink our ship. We will not be able to face disaster when it comes because we are out of accord with those closest to us. 
 
What we are like on the inside determines how well we will do when disaster comes. For example, the person with attitude sins ties himself up in knots thinking about his guilt.  If we keep all the hatches and port holes open when we enter suffering, we will sink our spiritual ship. 
 
Have you properly rigged yourself for spiritual storms? Do you have a hole below the water line of your spiritual ship? If you harbor attitude sins, you will not be prepared for the storm. You will sink under the storm. 
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1 Peter 4:8

Published on November 21, 1997 in 1 Peter. 3 Comments
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“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’”
 
 
And above all things
 
The phrase “above all things” makes love first priority above all other virtues. We see the priority of love in other passages such as these:
 
I Corinthians 13: 13 “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
 
Colossians 3: 14 “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”
 
Love is the most important virtue (Jn 13:34; I Jn 4:7,8; 3:14) and is indispensable for Christian relationships.  Sacrificial love is the first order of importance of living out our relationship to others. 
 
Love is more than simple emotional affection but a divine capacity to sacrifice self for others. This kind of love is at the very essence of the love of God (Jn. 3:16).  The very essence of God is love (I Jn 4:8) for God loves us with an everlasting, an unconditional love. God loves without limit. Such love manifests itself in unlimited sacrifice for others. 
 
Eph. 5: 2 “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
 
PRINCIPLE: Sacrificial love is the highest priority of Christian virtues. 
 
APPLICATION:  Sacrificial love is the preeminent virtue of the Christian life and is a prerequisite to all other virtues of the Christian life. Three great apostles agree that love is the highest virtue:
 
Paul said that Love was the greatest virtue (I Co. 13:13; Ro 13:8).
John said the same thing (Jn 13:34,35; I Jn 3:23).
Peter here in this passage.
 
All three apostles agree that love is the supreme qualification of character for the Christian. Love makes all other virtues of the Christian life what they should be. Love is a prerequisite to any activity of Christianity. Our love to God will show itself in sacrificial love for fellow Christians (I Jn 3:17). 
 
Show me electricity without energy and I will show you a faith that does not produce the love of God. Show me fire without heat, then I will show you a faith that does not express itself in sacrifice for other Christians. As the sun shines its light so must a person who has come to Christ shine his love to others. 
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