Let's begin our worship by singing to God's praise. We're going to sing in Psalm 100,
the Scottish Psalter, the first version of the psalm. Psalm 100, singing the whole of this psalm.
All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice,
himself with mirth, his praise forth tell, come ye before him and rejoice. We'll sing
the whole of this psalm to God's praise.
All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, him said with
mirth, his praise forth tell, come ye before him and rejoice.
Know that the Lord is not indeed. Without doubt he did us make. We are his lucky, doth us
be. And for his sheep he doth us take. O enter then his gates with praise. Approach with joy his
words and two. Praise Lord and bless his name always. For it is simply so to do. For why the Lord
our God is good. His mercy is forever sure. His truth at all times firmly stood. And shall from age to
the word that he should lay the Lord. And shall from age to be. And shall from age to the Lord.
Amen.
Well, let's join together in prayer. Let us pray.
Amen.
Our Father in heaven, as we come before you anew today, we thank you, Lord, to be able to join together in singing praise to you, calling upon your name in this way, and joining in with many people all over the world.
with many people all over the world who come together to worship and praise your name.
Even at this very hour and at this very moment, we know we join in with praise
that is being offered up to you in heaven. And we thank you for the multitude of your people
far and wide who sing your praise and recognize that you are the God of heaven and earth,
the one who has made us, the one who has sustained us to this point, and the one who goes before us
in all things. So may we come truly with a sense of praise and worship in our hearts and to offer up
that singing from the very bottom of our hearts, expressing our thanksgiving and our delight in you.
And we know, Lord, that there are times too when as we worship, we worship with much sorrow in our
hearts. We can have much sadness in our lives, but yet we thank you that you are a God who remembers
us in this as well. You remember individuals and families. You remember us as a congregation and
as a people far and wide. And we thank you for your great love towards us. We thank you for every way
you do remember us, in every way you bless us. We thank you for every gift that is ours on a day-to-day
basis, even getting up anew this morning and being able to dress and to come together in worship,
to be able to have food on our tables and to be able to go on in your strength. Lord, we thank you for
every blessing that is ours. And we do pray, Lord, that you will help those in need, help those who find the
way difficult, help those who are struggling in different ways. We pray, Lord, that you will
surround them and draw near to them. And we do pray the blessing of your Spirit upon us as a people
today, that your Word, as we read it and share it together, at our time of worship and our times of
fellowship today, will be blessed and touched by you. We thank you that we come to share together,
and we look forward, God willing, this evening to hearing a testimony of one of your own. We pray
for Jack as he will be speaking this evening, and we pray for all who will gather and hear what he has
to say, Lord, that truly you would be with us in it, and it would be a blessed time to us all. We thank
you for the means we have to share your Word. We thank you for everyone tuning in online, whether it's live
or later on. We thank you that your Word goes out far and wide, and we do pray your blessing on it
to all of us together as a people, young and old alike. May we know the blessing and the power of
your Spirit. Remember our young ones, Lord. We pray for them. We thank you for our Sunday school and
creche and tweenies and all that is done. And we do pray, Lord, that you will protect them and keep them
and watch over them each and every day. We thank you for all who help in leading and teaching in
these things and for all that goes on through the week as well, both in our day schools and in
events that take place with youth clubs and all kinds of activities, the explorers and all of these
things. We pray, Lord, your hand of good and blessing upon us in all of these. So continue with us now,
guide us and keep us. And we ask all with forgiveness of our sins. In Jesus' name. Amen.
It's good to have the young ones here today and to see you both upstairs and downstairs. And
I just want to ask you a question. And you maybe put your hand up if your answer is yes. Did you all
have breakfast this morning? Did everybody have breakfast this morning? Hands up if you had breakfast
this morning? Yeah, I'm seeing lots of hands going up. Seems like most of you had your breakfast this
morning. That's good. And what did you have for your breakfast? Did you all have maybe something you
like to have on a regular basis? Maybe cereal or toast or something like that, was it? Yeah? And what
do you put on your toast or what do you put on cereal when you're having it? There's some things that
just, they go together quite naturally, isn't there? So you maybe have a slice of toast and you put maybe
butter and jam on it. That just, it just goes together quite well, doesn't it? Or maybe you had cereal.
And if you had cereal, what do you put on that? You put maybe milk on your cereal because these two
things, they just go together, don't they? Did any of you get up this morning and have a slice of toast
with a bit of gugah on it? Probably not. It just, just doesn't work, does it? Or did you get your
bowl of cereal and pour orange juice or coke on it? Or maybe poured your cup or tea on it? No, it just,
it doesn't work, does it? There's just certain things that they just go together. Last night we had
chips. And when you have chips, very often you get asked, do you want salt and vinegar on it? And again,
they just, they go together. You don't get asked, do you want sugar and vinegar on it? Because it just,
it just wouldn't work, would it? So there's certain things that just, they go with each other.
And today we're going to be thinking about Christians and the kind of things that goes
together with the idea of what it is to be a Christian. And there's certain things that they
just go together when you think of being a Christian. So if you're a Christian, you go to
church and you come and praise God. It just, they go together. Because you love the Lord,
you want to come together with all his people and praise God together. If you're a Christian,
you read your Bible and you study the word and you serve the Lord. Again, these things,
they just go together. You don't, as a Christian, say to yourself, I just really don't want to go to
church. I really don't want to see God's people. That's not what it is to be a Christian. We're to
have a hunger and a thirst for coming to church and being with God's people. What we're going to be
thinking especially about today is, as Christians, we're to love God and love one another. And again,
that's just something that should go together. It should be quite natural. But sadly, it's not
always the case. But God tells us that this is something we are to be like as a people.
So in the same way as we have our breakfast, we have our cereal with milk because they go together,
we have our toast with butter and jam because they go together. To be a Christian is to love the Lord
and to love each other because that is what goes together. The Bible tells us you can't be a Christian
and hate your brothers and your sisters in Christ. That doesn't work. To be Christians is to love God
with all our hearts and to love one another too. So that's what we want to see going together with us
young and old alike. That we come together as Christians with things that just go together,
loving God and loving one another. So may God bless these thoughts to us. We're going to share the
Lord's prayer together now. So we'll say the Lord's prayer together. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Well, let's again sing to God's praise. This time we're singing in Psalm 86 in the Scottish Psalter.
Psalm 86. This is on page 340. We're singing from verse 5 to verse 11. For thou art gracious,
O Lord, and ready to forgive, and rich in mercy all that call upon thee to relieve. We'll sing
from verse 5 to verse 11. Psalm 86, to God's praise.
O Lord, and ready to forgive, and rich in mercy all that call upon thee to forgive, and rich in mercy all that call upon thee to forgive.
O Lord, and ready to forgive, and rich in mercy all that call upon thee to forgive.
Hear, O Lord, and ready to forgive, and rich in mercy all that call upon thee to forgive.
Hear, O Lord, my prayer unto the voice of my request, and rich in mercy all that call upon thee to forgive.
And godless times I'll call on thee, for no will I suspend.
Lord, there is none among the gods that deal with thee from here.
And like the words which thou hast done, not any word is there.
All nations whom thou made shall come and worship reverently.
Before thy face and thee, O Lord, thy name shall glorify.
Because thou art exceeding great, and words by thee are gone.
Where it's hard to be admired, and thou art for thyself alone.
Teach me thy ways, and in thy truth.
O Lord, then what will I unite my heart?
That thy, thy name may fit continually.
Well, we'll turn and read God's word together.
Two readings.
First of all, we're going to read in 1 John, chapter 3.
1 John, chapter 3.
We take up our reading at verse 11.
And then we'll turn back a few pages to 1 Peter, chapter 1.
1 John, chapter 3, at verse 11.
And again, this is the theme of our service this morning,
as we're looking at 1 Peter's loving one another,
loving one another earnestly.
For this is a message that you have heard from the beginning,
that we should love one another.
We should not be like Cain, who was the evil one and murdered his brother.
And why did he murder him?
Because his own deeds were evil, and his brothers righteous.
Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
We know that we have passed out of death into life,
because we love the brothers.
Whoever does not love abides in death.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.
And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
By this we know, love, that he laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need,
yet closes his heart against him,
how does God's love abide in him?
Little children, let us not love in word or talk,
but in deed and in truth.
By this we shall know that we are of the truth,
and we assure our heart before him.
For whenever our heart condemns us,
God is greater than our heart,
and he knows everything.
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,
we have confidence before God.
And whatever we ask, we receive from him,
because we keep his commandments,
and do what pleases him.
And this is his commandment,
that we believe in the name of his Son,
Jesus Christ,
and love one another,
just as he has commanded us.
Whoever keeps his commandments,
abides in him,
and he in them.
And by this we know,
that he abides in us,
by the Spirit whom he has given us.
Then we'll turn back to 1 Peter chapter 1.
I'm just reading the last few verses of chapter 1.
1 Peter chapter 1,
and at 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,
since you have been born again,
not of perishable seed,
but of imperishable,
through the living and abiding 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,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.
And this word is the good news
that was preached to you.
Amen.
And may God bless these readings from his word.
Let's again join our hearts together
in a word of prayer.
Amen.
Our gracious and eternal God,
as we look to you at this time,
we do thank you that there is the promise
of your presence always,
that you as our God and Lord
and as our Father in heaven
has given us so many promises.
They are so abundant in number
and yet so fulfilled in Christ Jesus
as our Lord.
We thank you for the promise
that you will never leave us
or forsake us.
What a wonderful truth that is
for us to keep a hold of,
especially in our times of great need,
our times of difficulty.
There may be others who aren't there to help us
because of a variety of reasons,
being unable to do it
or the timing being all wrong
or even when we're alone,
even through the watches of the night
and there seems to be no one to call out to.
We thank you that those promises of your word
can come to us then,
that you will hear our cry,
that you are near to us
because you are near to all
who call upon your name.
And so, Lord, may you be that
to us today and always,
the God who is near
and the God of all comfort,
the God of all grace.
We do thank you, Lord,
that you have done much for us
and as we come to your word,
we are assured that it is a word
that lasts forever.
All that changes around us,
you know, as we have been reminded
of the flowers and the grass that grow,
their glory is temporary.
The grass withers and the flower falls,
but we know that the word of the Lord
remains forever.
And we thank you that this word
is unchanging and unchangeable.
It is your truth to your people
for every generation.
And how we need your truth,
how we need your spirit
to come in a day of your power,
to bring healing to our nation,
to bring healing to our world,
to bring glory,
the glory of your name
to all ends of the earth.
Oh, Lord, we pray that
even as the sun rises and sets today,
that the glory of your name
will rise with it
and that there will be many people
touched by the promises
of your truth
throughout the world this day.
We pray that even for ourselves
here today,
that as we join in worship
throughout this day,
your truth will minister
to our hearts,
that it will reach deeply
into our souls,
that it will bring us
out of darkness
into the marvelous light
of your truth
and the wonder
and the joy
of salvation
in Jesus Christ.
So we do pray, Lord,
your continuing blessing
upon your church
as you build it up.
You have promised
that nothing will break it down.
And we pray, Lord,
that even here
in our town
and throughout our islands,
your kingdom
will come in power.
We thank you
for every home and family
who belong to us
as a people.
We thank you
for every home
and family represented
here in our midst
and all who
tune in online as well.
And we do pray, Lord,
that you will minister to us,
that you will draw near to us
even in this hour of worship.
You know our needs
and you know that
there are many
in our midst at this time
with sorrow and sadness around,
with ill health
and infirmity all around us,
with so many things
that are uncertain
in our lives.
We thank you, Lord,
that each of us
is known unto you.
And so we pray
for one another.
And even as we're here today,
help us to love one another
and to do so earnestly,
to remember one another
in our different needs
and to be there
for each other.
Help us, Lord,
not just to think
that someone else
will deal with it,
but to ask,
what can we do
for each other?
Lord, we pray
that you will build us up
in our faith
and strengthen us in it
and help us
to recognize
all the wonderful commands
that are there for us.
Commands not to burden us,
not like they once did
with the law
in the days of the Pharisees
when there were commandments
that they could never keep
for they were so many,
but to recognize
the greatest commandments
that you have given to us,
to love the Lord our God
with all our heart
and to love our neighbor
as ourself.
These are not there
to burden us,
but to build us up
in the faith
and to help one another.
So we pray
that you will encourage us
and help us to that end.
We do remember
our leaders today, Lord,
in every aspect of it.
We pray for our King
who rules over us now
and as he continues
to mourn the passing
of his mother,
as he continues
to seek to guide his family
and as he takes up
his responsibilities as King,
we pray that you will
uphold him
and strengthen him
and above all, Lord,
that your word
will minister to him.
We pray, Lord,
your blessing on him
and his family
and all the royal family, Lord.
May you be with them
and help them to rule well.
We pray for our governments,
O Lord.
We pray for our new Prime Minister
and First Minister.
We pray, O Lord,
for all who lead us
and guide us
in the ways
of our day-to-day lives.
Lord, help us
that we would see
a ruling by your power,
a ruling by your agenda,
not just our own agendas.
We pray, Lord,
for your turning
as towards you
as a people.
Remember your church
far and wide.
Remember all your missionaries
who go out
to all ends of the earth,
sometimes in large groups,
sometimes individually.
But we thank you
for those you have called
to take the word
to many different parts
of the world.
We pray your blessing on them
and upon the ministry
of your word
and in every challenge
that they face,
that again,
they will be confident
that you are with them.
Remember your persecuted people.
We do thank you
for the strength of faith
you give
in the midst of persecution.
And we thank you
for the blessings
that there are in it,
something that sounds
so strange
as they do not seem
to go together.
But your word reminds us
that blessed are those
who are persecuted.
And we ask that
for all your people
far and wide.
So continue with us now,
Lord.
Lord, lead us into your word
and into your truth
and help us to continue
to praise your name
as we acknowledge
all our sin before you.
Pardon us, we pray,
from all our iniquity.
Cleanse us anew
for all we ask.
We ask in the name
of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ,
for his sake and glory.
Amen.
Let us again sing
to God's praise
in Psalm 18,
on page 21.
Let's sing
Psalm's version.
Psalm 18.
And we're going to sing
from verse 27.
Psalm 18 at verse 27,
page 21 of the Psalm books.
You save the humble
and the meek,
but bring the proud
down from their height.
You, Lord,
will keep my lamp aflame.
God turns my darkness
into light.
We'll sing from verse 27
down to verse 36
to God's praise.
Amen.
You save the humble
and the meek,
but bring the proud
down from their height.
You, Lord,
will keep my lamp aflame.
God turns my darkness
into light.
With help from God,
I can advance
against the truth
and rout them all.
And with the aid
my God will give.
I can't leap over
any wall.
I can't leap over
any wall.
For perfect is
the way of God.
No flaw is found
within His word.
To all who put
their trust in Him,
as shield and refuge
is the Lord.
For who is God
except the Lord?
Besides our God
who is a rock,
He is the God
who gives me strength,
and He perfects
the path I walk,
and He perfects
the path I walk.
He makes my feet
like feet of deer,
upon the heights
He makes me stand.
My hands can bend
a bow of bronze
In skills of one
He plays my hand.
His right hand,
Your right hand
gives me victory
You stood down low
to make me great
so that my footsteps
Do not turn
You smooth the pathway
for my feet
You smooth the pathway
for my feet
IMPUSH
Well we can turn
together now
to a reading
in 1 Peter
and again
at verse 22.
1 Peter chapter 1
at 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
and so on. As we continue to move through this letter of Peter, we're coming to the end of here
of chapter 1 today, and we've seen already how the people of God, they have been scattered far
and wide throughout the region we know today as modern-day Turkey. So there are pockets of God's
people scattered all around, congregations, if you like, of God's people scattered all around,
and they are suffering greatly for their faith. In many different ways, they are suffering
persecution. And Peter has written to them to remind them of the many great truths that they
have from God. He's reminded them of the hope that they have in God, the inheritance that is theirs
to be brought to them eventually, what their faith means in their day-to-day life, and the salvation
that they have through faith in Jesus Christ. There have been all these wonderful promises and
truths that he reminds them of at the start of the chapter. But then we saw last week how in verse 13,
as we move through, we begin to see how these truths will work themselves out in the day-to-day lives
of the people. There's a word in verse 13 that shows this movement. It says, therefore. And that word,
therefore, moves us on. It's about remembering all the promises that God has given to us, but then
seeing how these truths apply on a day-to-day basis and the great instructions that they give to us.
And last week, we were looking at how Peter was showing us the initial part of that is focused
on our relationship with God. That as a people, we are to seek to be holy. We are to set our minds
on God, fixing our minds on God, girding up our minds as we thought about last week, preparing for all
the challenges that we'll come our way by our focus being on God and pursuing holiness because God
himself is holy. And our faith and our hope are in God. And that's where we finished last week in verse
21. There you see there's how it says, 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. So, there was very much an upward-looking
people there. They were looking upwards toward God, seeking to live a holy life. Now, in verse 22,
it follows again, there's a shift. So, going from this upward look when we're looking to God
and seeking to be holy because he is holy, it's shifting from a relationship with God but taking
that with it and looking into a relationship with one another and a relationship with the word of God.
So, from upward looking, we're now going to be more outward looking. How is our lives of seeking to live
holy lives for God? How is it going to now look as we look outwards? What impact is it going to have
on our lives? And that gets expanded on throughout the letter here now. You may have heard the phrase
at some point, you're so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good. You may have heard that phrase said.
It's attributed to a man from America originally, a man called Oliver Wendell Holmes. He was a poet
and he is said to have penned these words first of all, you're so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good.
If you're into your music, perhaps these words resonate with you too. They're words from a song by
Johnny Cash called No Earthly Good. So, these words have been put out there on a number of different
occasions but are they true? Is it true to say that we're so heavenly minded that we're no earthly good?
Is it a fair thing to say? It's meant in these cases as a criticism, an accusation put against
Christians who just seem to be just so focused on heaven or maybe on the future or just looking to
God all the time but actually doing no earthly good. Is it a fair statement? Christians being accused of
not paying attention to earthly matters and to what's going on around us. I mean, there are many
different ways that Christians do receive criticism and rightly so at times but this one, it just doesn't
seem to add up. There may be the odd occasion where you think that may be true but then you have to ask
well maybe there's problems there but on the whole it shouldn't be true of any Christian. To be so
heavenly minded that we're no earthly good, these things, just like we were saying with the children,
they're just not things that go together because the more heavenly minded we are, the more earthly good
we should see as a people. And to be heavenly minded is something very scriptural. It is based in God's
truth, what we're seeing here and what we see in other parts of Scripture. For example, Colossians chapter 3
verse 2 says, set your minds on things that are above, not things that are on earth.
So our faith begins first and foremost by setting our minds on the things that are above,
just as Peter has been doing in this letter. But never is it left there. Never does the Scripture tell us
just do that and stay there with that focus. You read through Colossians chapter 3 where it says that,
set your minds on things that are above, not on things of earth. But later on in that chapter in
verse 12 and 13 it says, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts,
kindness, humility, meekness and patience bearing with one another. So the more heavily minded you are,
the more earthly good you should do. And so Peter moves on here from the upward holiness that we are
to have and it leads us to the outward good that we are to see being put in practice. And that's what
we're going to start looking at today. And there's three things from these last verses of chapter 1 I
want to take. From verse 22 to 25, the truth going outward. And the first thing is obeying the truth.
And secondly we'll see practicing the truth. And then thirdly, very briefly, just trusting the unchanging
truth. So the first thing is obeying the truth. To be heavenly minded and to be of earthly good is grounded
in obedience to the truth. It would have been easy perhaps for those in Peter's day who he was writing to
to try and avoid all the problems that surrounded them by hiding away from the truth. We've thought about this
before us well. They were persecuted for their faith. So if they were to hide their faith, to bury their
faith and not make it evident to those around them, perhaps that would spare them then from the persecution
that they were facing. Perhaps that was the answer to their problems. Just put away our faith.
But Peter knew that that was not the answer. Peter knew that that was not for their good. And the growth
they needed as a people was to obey the truth. Not just to know the promises of God, but to live by them.
Not just to know the truth. Not just to know the truth. Not just having their minds fixed on their heavenly
things, but on the earthly good as well that they were to do. And this comes from obedience to God's Word.
Having, it says in verse 22, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth.
Your obedience to the truth.
What is obedience to the truth? And are you being obedient to the truth yourself?
Well, it's coming back to this pattern that we see here. The pattern that we see throughout Scripture.
The commands that God gives to us. To love the Lord our God with all our heart. But not just to stop there,
but to love our neighbor as ourselves. And that's the pattern you see with godly men and women down
through the generations. Can you do good apart from God? It's often a challenging question. And people
will say, yes, there's many ways that we can do good apart from God. We don't need God to do good.
And there are many people who do good in this world who have no thought of God and no thought of Christ.
But our ultimate good and the ultimate good for this world is always with our focus on God.
And that's what you see when you look at godly men and women down through the generation.
They did good but focused on God and His truth.
Because the Lord Himself says, apart from me, you can do nothing.
And so if you go through the Scriptures and you look at the characters that you see in the Scriptures,
you see many people who did good. Imperfect people. People who had all of their faults,
but who were heavenly minded, but also with earthly good in their mind as well.
So many of them are mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, the great passage of faith.
Just to touch on a few of them. Think of Noah. Was he so heavenly minded that he did no earthly good?
Well, his faith and his focus on God, by faith, what did he do? He built the ark.
Noah was described as a righteous man, a good man. But that goodness led to action.
David, another described by God as the apple of his eye. Again, very much a man who was heavenly minded.
But he did earthly good. He did much good. And still his goodness speaks to us in so many different ways.
You think of some of the women you see in Scripture in the Old Testament.
Ruth and Esther, to name but two. You see them too with God's grace in their lives being focused
heavenwards, but yet so much earthly good as well. And so it goes on down through the generation.
You think of Peter himself and all that went on in his own experience and how, yes, he was heavenly minded,
but earthly good. Paul, the apostles. You just look through the Scriptures.
The two go together hand in hand. Heavenly minded leading to earthly good.
You think of some of the great Christians down through the years, from Lutheran, Calvin, John Newton,
William Wilberforce, Corrie ten Boom, Joni Erikson Tadda, Ann Judson. All of these people and all the
good that they did in this world as Christians. It came from being heavenly minded to being earthly good.
And that is what we see with Peter here. That is what he is telling God's people then. That's what he is
saying to ourselves today as well. Obey the truth. Set your mind on the things above, but show it in
how you live your lives out as well. It comes back to this thought of what Peter wanted for his people.
It wasn't just to survive, but to thrive. And to thrive, the foundation of thriving,
and this doesn't just mean, oh, everything's going to go well for us now. They were still
going to suffer for their faith in many ways, but they were to know God's blessing. It was to obey
the truth. And so what does that mean for them? And what does that mean for us? Well, the basis is
to listen to God and to heed his commands, to listen to his word and to seek to live by his truth in every
aspect of our lives. Heavenly minded and seeking earthly good. It was a man who once told a story about
a lesson he learned, a lesson he learned from his father and a dog that his father had. He said,
my father used to put a bit of meat or a biscuit on the floor near the dog and say to the dog,
no. And the dog wouldn't touch it. He knew he wasn't to touch it. His master had given him a command
and he was to be obedient to it. And what the dog did was never to look at the biscuit or the meat,
but always to keep his eyes on his master. The man who was telling the story said this,
it's a great lesson for the Christian life to fix our eyes on our master, to look to the Lord.
Otherwise, if we start looking around us too much and the temptations that are around us,
we could so easily drift away. But our first and foremost calling is obedience to God and his word.
And the more we are fixed on him, the more then it will lead to right good works going out as well.
As somebody once said, when Christians have their eyes on Christ, they gain an eternal perspective
and they are of great earthly good as their faith impacts their lives and the lives of others.
There is a danger that these people of God would be of no earthly good in Peter's days,
same as it is for ourselves. And so the warning and challenge here is for us to be obedient
obedient to the word of God. Obedience to the truth is the foundation here as we think of going outwards.
The second thing we see then is practice the truth. As we move on, we see how this looks and it begins
with a wonderful word, but a very challenging word to us. A call to obedience in this truth. And what is
disobedience? What's it start with? Well, verse 22 continues, for a sincere brotherly love,
love one another earnestly from a pure heart.
And let'sстра for Brooks.
Thank you.
Peter's day was a time of great persecution, a great suffering for them as a people.
and the people that he was addressing they would have been saying to themselves you know what's
this all about why is this happening and when these things are happening it's so easy for them
the people to turn on each other so instead of loving one another as God's word commands
instead it leads to personality clashes things going wrong at a time selfish interests instead
of selfless interests and so it goes on and the devil can often become so active in the midst of
this you may have heard of the the strategy divide and conquer it's when an enemy seeks to divide a
people and make them turn against themselves so then they are of no good in any way because they're
fighting amongst themselves and it's one of the devil's great tactics especially among God's
people he would love nothing better than all of God's people just to turn on each other backbiting
and snapping at one another saying the wrong things about each other gossiping about each other all of
these things that just divide a people the devil would like nothing better but what we see throughout
scripture is the call to be on our guard against that and we all have our part to play in this it's what
we see in this verse as verse 22 says love one another earnestly it's this call to of Peter towards the
people then to come together to unite their hearts together to be looking out for each other and it's a
command to repeat
first Peter 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 above all keep loving one another
earnestly since love covers over a multitude of sin it's something Peter himself has known in his own
experience he was with Jesus on the night before his crucifixion when Jesus said a new command I give to you
to all the disciples who are there love one another just as I have loved you you also are to love
one another and the importance of it is said by what he says after by this all people will know that you are my disciples
if you love one another the witness of the church is based on this loving one another
our reading in first john again a powerful message there love one another for this is a message that you have heard
from the beginning that we should love one another and Peter knows that he cannot make them love one another earnestly
just as I know today it's not something I can do myself for you or force upon you
but I can say as Peter said too this is a command this is something we are to strive for and to earnestly pursue
love one another earnestly from a pure heart
in Peter's day as he wrote these there were many needs but Peter knew all these needs could be met
by loving God and loving each other loving God and loving each other and you ask yourself well how did Peter know this
well because he had experienced it so personally himself he'd experienced it with the Lord Jesus Christ
coming to him and asking Peter Peter do you love me and Peter's response was Lord you know I love you
and how did then Peter see it in action among others well you go into the book of Acts
Acts chapter 2 and you have Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost what did he see after that as the spirit
was poured out it says in verse 43 and awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done
through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common it's a word there that's used
10 times in the book of Acts having all things in common being of one accord and it belongs it's unique to the
Christian community community and this is what Peter is longing for them to have here all these Christians
Christians who are scattered to have this bond of love and unity in their midst to have all things in common
do we have that today you know in many ways there's much we are to be thankful for but are we of one accord
do we of one accord do we of one accord do we of one accord do we of one accord do we of one accord
if we're honest we don't not to this degree not to this extent to love one another as Christ has loved us
and so that is the challenge for us to pray and long for this unity and this love more and more in our midst to love
one another earnestly it's something we must work on it's something we are to strive towards to be able to
trust one another fully to be able to share in one another more openly to be able to comfortably come
together individually in twos or threes small groups and pray earnestly together to be able to share our
burdens with one another to help one another in practical ways not just to leave it at somebody else
we'll do that but to ask what can i help how can we help one another and the the challenge often comes
we maybe say but i don't have much in common with that person i just don't seem to click with that person
and we are all different in that sense every one of us is different and there are people we will get
on with better than others that's just natural but here it's talking about the community of god's people
and how in every way we are to love one another so do we have something in common well the clue is in the
name christian we have christ in common that is our common nature when we are god's people that we see
the christ in each other and whatever our differences are surely they can be overcome the more heavenly
minded we are and the more we see christ in each other just as paul wrote to the philippians he was saying
complete my joy by being of the same mind having the same love being in full accord and one mind
doing nothing out of rivalry or conceit but counting others more significant than yourselves what was the
foundation of that having this mind among yourselves which is yours in christ jesus to have the mind
of christ that is what peter is praying for and seeking for the people here to have this love of christ to love one another in all our differences
in all our unique attributes that we all have different from each other but to see christ in each other
and to love one another in a week when we will remember the great sacrifices made for us
in times of conflict that passage we read in john it speaks about that love that would lay down our life
for our friends as we remember the many who gave their life in conflicts past this week the great sacrifices
made it's a reminder to us too that all of the loss and difficulties wasn't just in the battlefields
but how many suffered at home as well how many lost people they loved how many lives were just
changed in a blink so much tragedy and sorrow we remember at this time there's a story i read just this week
it was about a young christian couple and it was just before world war one and they had become engaged
engaged and shortly after they became engaged the man was called up to service he was called up to the army
and he was sent away to the battlefields sent away into this awful conflict but they were writing
regularly to each other letters were going back and forth but then all of a sudden the letter from the
young man stopped no letters were coming and the fiancee was getting worried and a good number of weeks
passed and then she received a letter in strange handwriting she didn't recognize the handwriting but as she
began to read the letter she recognized who it was from she recognized the words it was from her
fiancee he had managed to get someone else to write a letter to her and the reason was that he was now in
hospital and he explained that he was in hospital in england having ended up in the middle of the battlefield
and having lost both his arms seriously wounded and here he was now in hospital writing to her and he said in
his letter now i won't be able to help you i won't be able to give you all the things that i hoped i'd be able
to give to you our lives have changed and he said i think the engagement should be off the young woman
didn't reply to the letter at least not in writing instead she jumped on the first train and made her way to the
hospital where he was lying and surprised him by appearing by his bedside and with tears in their eyes
they looked at one another and she said i will never leave you these hands of mine will work for you
and we will live our life of love together what wonderful love that was and that's the love
that christ had for us how we think of how our lives are so ruined by sin and yet christ didn't cast us away
he called us to himself and we're told in his word to look to his hands those hands that were pierced for us
all that he did for us he showed his love for us and so the more we set our minds on heaven and on christ and what he has done for us
surely the more that we should look to each other and earnestly love one another
we are to love one another because that is the command of god's word and as you see at the end of this section
this is a word that is an abiding word an unchanging word a word that will never change for all eternity
we are to listen to this word because what it says is this word is the good news that was preached
to you it is the good news that we hear today kevin de young in his book the whole now holiness says
good works should always be rooted in the good news and so may we seek to be heavenly minded
our focus on god the lord but also to put this into practice by being earthly good as well
and especially as we see here by loving one another earnestly it's a great challenge
but something we are all to work towards that we would love one another as he has loved us let us pray
our father in heaven we know how far short we so often fall when we think of these words that we are to love one another
but we pray your help to us lord as a people that we would seek to do this earnestly by being obedient
to your truth by listening to your word by seeing christ in it the hope of glory for us as your people
but by seeing christ and those we look upon us well and to love them with all our hearts
build us up lord to this end we ask in jesus name amen
we conclude by singing to god's praise in psalm 71 in the scottish psalter page 311
psalm 71 at verse 15 thy justice and salvation my mouth abroad shall show
even all the day for either of the numbers do not know we'll sing from verse 1 to verse 18 to god's praise
by justice and salvation
by justice and salvation my mouth abroad shall show
even all the day for i thereof the numbers do not know and i will constantly go on
in strength of god the lord and thine own righteousness
righteousness
even thine own righteousness
alone i will record
for even from my youth oh god
and my i have been taught
i have been taught
and hitherto i have declared the wonder song has come
and now lord we may not be taught
i have been taught and hitherto i have declared the wonder song has come
the wonder song has come
and now lord we may not when i hold and great headed through
till to this age my strength and power to all to come i show
now may grace mercy and peace from god father son and holy spirit rest upon and abide with us all now and forevermore amen
amen
so
and
so