Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Compassion and Forgiveness as a Lifestyle | Shawn Miller
Have you ever stopped to truly savor the blessings that each day brings? Join us as we embark on a journey of gratitude and benevolence, where we not only recognize our own gifts but also extend an open hand to those around us. Today's heartfelt talk dives deep into the soul-stirring verses of 1 Peter 3:8-12, inspiring unity, sympathy, and a love that goes beyond mere words. I'll walk you through the profound ways in which respect and honor can transform our interactions within our communities and beyond—reshaping the way the world sees the power of living a life of genuine faith.
The practice of compassion and forgiveness takes the spotlight as we uncover the layers of Ephesians 4:32 and 1 Peter 3:8, revealing how these timeless teachings are not just about steering clear of wrongdoing but actively seeking to do good—even towards those who may have wronged us. As we navigate these teachings, we'll understand how embodying this radical love can create a fellowship so inviting that it piques the curiosity of outsiders. So, gather around for an episode that promises to fortify your spirit with prayerful guidance and the practical wisdom needed to reflect the love that the New Testament so vividly exemplifies.
All right. So before I get into the sermon this morning, I would like to do something that we started doing at work this week, and it's been such a blessing for me to hear other people share things that they're grateful for. We just call this time Gratefuls, and so I'm just going to open it up, and if you have something on your mind that you know you're grateful for, just don't wait on the mic, just tell us. What are you grateful for this morning? Who's first? Sunshine, sunshine, my family, family, beauty of the earth, beauty of the earth, health, health. Your new? What kind of coffee maker? Clever dripper coffee maker? We'll be over for. Clever maker, coffee dripper, coffee. Beauty of God's creation. Day of rest and a day of worship. Your pastors, friends. We have a lot to be grateful for, and so often we scurry through life, we scurry through our days, without thinking about what are we grateful for. It's a good way to start our morning, thank you. Thank you for doing that, and I'd love to keep doing that, just to remind us of all the things that we have to be grateful for. So this morning, the title of the sermon is Do Good to All. Do good to all. Turn your Bibles to 1 Peter 3.
Speaker 1:And today I would like to look at four verses. And as I'm preaching my way through 1 Peter, I told Mernita. I said I wish I could travel a little bit faster through 1 Peter because I don't want to bore people. And a lot of what 1 Peter, or a lot of what Peter has in his first epistle here he repeats himself quite a bit. But as I started studying I had fully intended to take a chunk of verses. But as I started studying again I was like there's so much in here, I think today I can only handle four verses. Was like there's so much in here, I think today I can only handle four verses. So I hope you won't get bored with my words, because a lot of what I want to preach this morning is God's word. It's God's word. It's not my words, it's God's word. So I hope that, even though there's nothing news this morning, a lot of what I'll be saying is reminders. I hope that you can latch on to what Peter is telling us here and take it with you and make it practical.
Speaker 1:1 Peter 3, verses 8 through 12. 1 Peter 3, verse 8. Finally, all of you have unity of mind, have sympathy, have brotherly love, have a tender heart and have a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but, on the contrary, bless evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it, for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Let's bow for prayer. Father God, as we look into your word this morning, I pray that you might speak through me as your servant, and I pray that you might have all of us prepared for what you have for us this morning. Lord, open to us what this means and how we can, in a practical way, take it with us and apply it. So, lord, we commit this time into your hand. I pray this on your name, amen. So Peter's first words are finally, all of you. So finally, he is saying in the word, finally he is saying he is bringing a summary to basically everything that he said up to this point.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to go back and just briefly remind us what we had been looking at up to this point, or in the last two chapters, or rather in chapter two, or rather in chapter 2. I had talked about what it means to show respect to those that are in authority over us. Is it civilly, is it at work, is it at home? Wherever it might be? What does it look like to show respect and honor to those in authority over us? And then, in the last sermon, I talked about the family structure, of what is the wife's role in the family structure of a non-Christian husband, and then what is the husband's role in his headship to the wife. And now he is saying, finally, in summary, I'm not only talking about respect to those in authority, I'm not only talking about the family setting in the home, but I'm talking to all of us, all of you. Now, when I say the word all, that includes everybody here. That includes everybody under the sound of my voice, that includes me. It includes the young guys up here, it includes the young marrieds, the middle-aged and those of us that are a bit older. All it includes all. Now I'd also like to remember, or remind us, of the setting of the people that he's talking to.
Speaker 1:At the beginning of 1 Peter, in chapter 1, he talks about the exiles that were sent out into the five different regions. This was under Roman rule. Regions this was under Roman rule, and the Roman rule was not a glorious rule to be under at this point in time in history. They were facing a lot of persecution, but even through the hard times, he has this thread of honoring and respecting each other and the rulers that they are under. Now he brings it closer to home, right into their own circles, talking about brother to brother. Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind.
Speaker 1:There's two things that I'd like for us to take away from this sermon this morning, and the first one we'll be talking about in the first half of the sermon. The second one comes in the first half of the sermon. The second one comes in the second half of the sermon. The first point is this Our witness to the unbeliever will be directly affected by the level of love we have for one another. Our witness to the unbeliever will be directly affected by the level of love that we have for one another as a brotherhood. And in the second part of the sermon we're going to look at blessing our enemies. And the point that I'd like to leave with us this morning in that part of the sermon is this the way God has blessed us. We are called to bless others the way God has blessed us. We are called to bless others.
Speaker 1:Let's take a look at verse 8. What does he mean by saying have unity of mind. And in everyday language, I'm going to just say this be agreeable. Just say this be agreeable. Be agreeable. If we intend to have a strong witness to those that do not believe in God and to the unchurched people, we as a church need to get along. We as a church need to love each other. Don't be almost said cankerous, cantankerous. Don't be quarrelsome. Be easy to get along with.
Speaker 1:We've all worked with people. We've all had people in our lives that we probably dreaded meeting or that we knew that anything that comes up there's going to be a fight on hand. And on the flip side, we've probably all worked with people that we just loved working with People that, even though our opinions varied, we were able to reach agreements, to be agreeable. We don't all have to have the same opinions, but we as Christians should be of one mind. That's why we have our core values here at Grace Point To align our thinking. To align our thinking in worship. To align our thinking in holiness how to live holy lives, to align our thinking in discipleship, to align our thinking in evangelism, united by a common interest, a common goal, ultimately to please God, be agreeable.
Speaker 1:There's a difference between uniformity and unity. Uniformity would be if we'd all be sitting in here this morning in uniforms, and that could be like UPS We'd all be dressed in brown, or that could be. We could all be dressed in black pants, white shirts, we could all be dressed in Grace Point uniforms. We could all be dressed in whatever you might call. We'd all look the same. That is uniformity. Unity is being one in mind and feeling.
Speaker 1:I'm going to use the example of going to Holmes Lumber and, as I would drive back into their yard, I might see a bunk of two-by-fours. Those two-by-fours all look the same. They're all three and a half inches wide, they're all inch and a half thick and, depending what bunk I'm looking at, they're all 10 feet long. They all look the same. Now, the tree that those two-by-fs came out of probably had a lot of different looks to the same tree and I know two by fours don't come out of an oak tree, but I'm going to use an oak tree as an example. If you look at a mighty oak tree. You have the trunk and you have the limbs and you have the twigs. They're all different shapes, they might even be a variance in color, they all have their different purposes, but they're all part of one tree the tree.
Speaker 1:Yes, there's similarities, but not all parts of the tree look the same, but there's one common band inside that bark that connects everything. That's unity. Let's be agreeable, let's all pull in the same direction. Let's all fight for the same cause. There can be unity and variety when connected by the Holy Spirit along with the common cause. Actually, I would dare to say that variety is good. We don't all want to be cut out of the same thread. We don't all have the same personality, but as Christians we are called to the same cause and thus we need unity to be effective witness to those that do not believe in God. I would like for you all to stand and, chris, if we could have the song A Common Love, I'd like to sing the song twice, as we normally do.
Speaker 3:No, a common love for each other, a common gift to the Savior, a common bond holding us to the Lord, a common strength when we're weary, a common hope for tomorrow, a common joy in the truth of God's word. A common love for each other, a common gift to the Savior, a common bond holding us to the Lord, a common strength when we're weary, a common hope for tomorrow, a common joy in the truth of God's word.
Speaker 1:You may be seated. The next thing he says here sympathy, have sympathy, be sympathetic. Now, I know there are some of us men in this uh building today that we probably struggle with at times being sympathetic to different situations. For sure, if we're at work and we have a lot to be done and you have in my case, you have somebody might walk into my office and I have a lot of things to do. I have a meeting to go to in the next five minutes and somebody walks into my office and I can tell that they just need to be heard. What is my response to that person? Do I very subtly try to convey to that person that, yes, I have two minutes, but then I have to be out the door to a meeting? Or do I pick up my phone and I text the chairman of whatever meeting and say I'm going to be a little bit late, and I take the time to sympathize with that person? Be conscious of what others are going through. In order for us to love each other as a brotherhood, we need to be aware of others' situations. In order to do this, I need to take the focus off myself and I need to focus on other people. Sometimes all it takes is a kind word, sometimes all it takes is a cheerful smile, but it takes us caring about the other person. It's not about me, it's about them Be sympathetic.
Speaker 1:The next thing Peter says is have brotherly love referring to Christians towards each other. As Christ loves us, we are to love one another. And again I'll say what I did at the beginning the effectiveness of our witness to the unbeliever is directly connected to how we love and respect each other as Christian brothers. I believe that as I was studying, and as that dawned on me as I was studying this passage, it really hit me hard. Of what are others seeing when they look at us? Are we conveying something that they want to be a part of? Are we in an accurate way portraying to them who God is? If they see us fighting, if they see us bickering, if they see us make huge mountains out of small things, is that what they want to be a part of? Is that the God they want to serve? How is our love for each other? And then my last point on brotherly love is simply be nice to each other.
Speaker 1:You might get tired of me referring to work, but that's a huge part of my life right now is work, as it is for a lot of us. But recently, recently, our owner. We were talking about three things that make a business function well and one of the things he just mentioned. He just said one of those things is be nice all the time. Be nice to everyone all the time. That's a lot easier said than done, but it goes along with loving your brother. Is it here at church? Is it at work? Is it at home? Be nice, be nice. Is it at home? Be nice, be nice.
Speaker 1:The next thing he says have a tender heart, have a heart that is soft. And if I think of having a tender heart, compassionate comes to mind. What does it mean to be compassionate? Again, it goes along with showing sympathy. We are to show love and pity to those who are suffering. It's not rocket science, it's actually quite simple. Too many times we might become self-absorbed and again lack the awareness of what somebody else is going through.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 4, verse 32. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as what God Amen, we've been forgiven, extend it to somebody else. Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. And then the last one. In verse 8, he says have a humble spirit, be humble. Do not elevate yourself above your brother. All of us need Christ's grace, all of us need God's love. None of us is better than the other. Don't exalt yourself higher than your brother. Again, verse 8,. Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind.
Speaker 1:I'd like to read a portion in Colossians 3 to just summarize what Peter just said here in verse 8. Colossians 3, verses 12 through 15. Put on, then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive and, above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony, and let the peace of God roll in your hearts to the which, indeed, you were called in one body, and be thankful and be thankful. I had to wonder. So what made Paul just kind of tack that last phrase onto those deep thoughts that he just shared, and be thankful? It comes back to our attitude of gratefulness. If we're grateful for each other, all these things are a lot easier to fall into place and be thankful.
Speaker 1:I'd like for you to again stand and I'd like to sing another song that pretty much puts in a nutshell what we just went through. If you can stand and if we could have the song Love One Another or the Greatest Commandment, I'd like to sing that song as well. All right, I know we've sung this song numerous times here at Grace Point. I believe it's Alto's Start, and then it's Bass Join, and then I believe it's the Tenors, and last are the S, the sopranos, coming in Love one another, for love is of God. There we go, there we go.
Speaker 3:Noel does love one another, for love is of God. He who loves is born of God and knows God and knows God. He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love, god is love. Love bears all things.
Speaker 2:God is love, god is love.
Speaker 3:God is love.
Speaker 2:God is love, God is love. God is you is love. God is love. God is love. God is love. God is love. God is love, God is love.
Speaker 1:Amen you may be seated, just as God loved us. We are called to love our brother, so the first section was love one another, and the last section here I'd like to talk on briefly is bless your enemies. Bless your enemies, verse 9. Do not repeat evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but, on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. In the Old Testament it was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. There was a lot of killing, there was a lot of bloodshed in the Old Testament Since the ultimate lamb, since the blood of the ultimate lamb was shed. We are now called to a higher calling. We are no longer called to repay evil for evil, but the standard has risen. Even now, if we hate our brother, we are guilty of murder. Instead of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth approach, the Christian is called to bless his enemies. Not only are we called to not repay evil for evil, we are called to go an extra mile and to bless those that do evil. How difficult is that? We are called to go on the offensive and not just be on the defensive.
Speaker 1:One thing that often has bothered me when we talk about the golden rule is we talk about how we are to do unto others as you would have them do unto us, and too often I've looked at that as I should not do to Merlin what I don't want Merlin to do to me. But it's actually a statement of offense and not of defense. It says do Actually a statement of offense and not of defense. It says do I'm not supposed to dwell on what I don't want Merlin to do to me. I'm supposed to dwell on doing to him what I want him to do to me Blessing, not cursing. Let's not focus on what people are doing to us, but let's focus on what can I do for him. Do unto others what you want people to do to you. Don't just not do what you don't want done to you. As a child of God, I have received many blessings and I trust I will keep receiving blessings from God, just as I have received blessings as a child of God. I am now called to bless others, even if they're not believers. Others even if they're not believers. Blessing means to speak well or to praise. That even ratchets the standard up a little bit higher If I have people doing evil to me. Not only am I not supposed to be not angry at them, but I'm supposed to speak well of them.
Speaker 1:So I don't know how many of you are into following golf, but this week in the golf arena, something very strange happened. There was a big tournament going on down in Louisville, kentucky, and on the second morning of this tournament there was an accident at the entrance of the country club they were playing at and there was a lot of confusion as the traffic pattern as the pro golfers were coming in for their morning workouts and rounds, and this one golfer he is known right now as the number one golfer in the world he came up to a detective or a cop and he was confused of what he was supposed to do. He thought he was doing the right thing and he turned over into another lane and the cop tried to stop him and he tried to keep going and until everything was said and done, they arrested the number one golfer in the world and took him in, put him in an orange jumpsuit, took his mug shot and put him in a jail cell. And I'm saying this story because of what he said later and, from what I know, scheffler is a believer or he is a person of faith. And later, in an interview that day, he said there was a big misunderstanding. He never once defended himself as I'm Scotty Scheffler, why are you taking me into jail? I thought I was doing the right thing. You have no right to do this. But this is what he said. He said the cops were actually. He said the cops were really nice to me. He said they are our protectors. He said they treated me really well. Now, that could have something to do with who he was. I'm not dismissing that, but what got my attention is he, in a lot of people's eyes, would have had every right to talk down on man. They made a big mistake. I was doing what I was supposed to do, but in retrospect he actually said they were doing their job, they were really nice to him and he actually had a good word for him.
Speaker 1:How are we, as Anabaptist Christians, when people do what we feel is wrong to us, how do we respond? Peter says we are not only called to not return evil, but we are called to bless those that have done wrong to us. That is not easy, my friends. It is only through the love of Jesus working through us that we can attain that. Don't speak evil about another person to other people. Don't gossip, don't gossip.
Speaker 1:I'd like to read a portion in Psalm as we go into verse 10. I'd like to read verse 10 first. Verse 10 here in 1 Peter 3 says For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. This portion comes directly out of Psalm 34, verses 12 through 16. I like to read those in having an Old Testament scripture going into being used in the New Testament as well Psalm 34, 12 through 16. What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good and seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. So we have Psalm 34, 12 through 16, pretty much in verbatim, saying the same words that Peter used here in verses 10 through 12. Used here in verses 10 through 12. What does he mean when he says for whoever desires to love life and see good days let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
Speaker 1:Now, we have all kinds of personalities in here. Some of us might talk 200 words a minute, some might talk 300 words a minute and some might talk 100 words a minute. We all have different personalities and no matter how much we enjoy speaking or how much we don't enjoy talking to other people, I'm sure we've all had the times when we had to literally I say literally, figuratively slash, literally, bite our tongue before we said something on impulse that we knew we would later regret. It is a fact of life that the more we talk, the greater opportunity for us to say something that we later regret. In Ecclesiastes 6, verse 11, solomon reminds us that the abundance of words actually lead to vanity. The Bible has a lot to say about the words that we speak.
Speaker 1:The word keep in this context means to refrain. It means to not say something that is impulsive. In other words, we might be in a conversation and somebody says something and it gets us fired up and we're just like ready to pounce on it, and then we bite our tongue and we keep from saying something impulsive that we later regret. That is literally what Peter is saying here, or what the psalmist is saying in keep my tongue from speaking evil. What filter do I have in order to filter my words before I speak? There's a reason that we have two eyes, two ears and one mouth and, as I recently heard somebody say, in order to lead well, we need to have big ears and big eyes and a small mouth. We need to observe, we need to listen and we need to choose our words wisely. Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. James 3, verse 2,.
Speaker 1:Now, as we're going through this, let's again put us into the setting of the first hearers of Peter's epistle. They were facing persecution. Some of them might have been facing torture. Being a Christian in this time was not a popular thing. And here he is saying watch what you say, be mindful, be kind, submit to your authorities. Submit to your authorities. Verse 11, let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it.
Speaker 1:Verse 11,. We have a continuation of verse 10. The thread goes on. As a Christian, he is calling us to turn away from evil. Not only turn away from evil, but to do good. Replace that temptation of evil with something good. This morning, as I have experienced in my own life and I'm sure that a lot of us probably have. If there is something that we keep coming back to as far as temptation, if there's evil that you're tempted with, that temptation will keep coming back unless we replace it with something good, the place that that temptation has reserved in your heart. Unless we fill that place with something else, that will keep coming back. We are not only called to flee from evil, but called to do good.
Speaker 1:Where is your line of sin this morning? And what I mean by that is I've experienced in my own life, is I've experienced in my own life if I find myself yielding to a temptation that I'm struggling with, if I look at where is my line of sin. Too often I have moved my line what I classify as sin too far forward and by the time I get to that line, I might have committed the sin I'm going to use for us men. I'm going to use lust as an example. This morning, if we have our line of sin at looking at pornography, we have our line too far forward. We've gone there and it might be small steps. How much would it have helped us if we moved the line back to lusting after another woman is sin. Where is my line of sin when I flee from evil this morning, in any kind of sin, whatever that might be. Where is your line of sin? Is it too far forward? Is that why I continually struggle with a certain temptation?
Speaker 1:He calls us to seek peace, be peacemakers. Don't go looking for something to continually stir up. Don't be a pot stirrer. Don't be the one always stirring the pot. Seek peace, pursue peace.
Speaker 1:And then verse 12, for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Some strong words there. The blessing of God rests on those that seek him. God notices our actions. God notices our actions. God notices us. The righteous person is committed to prayer. He alludes to that. He does not come out and say that directly, but he says the prayers of a righteous person will be heard. Righteous people are prayer warriors, and then. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. This morning, because of the holiness of God, he has to turn his face away from evil. The evil person. God will not hear like he does the righteous, if the evil person is coming to God and is requesting the presence of God. God will honor that.
Speaker 1:In conclusion, the two points that I'd like to leave with us this morning.
Speaker 1:In the first section of loving one another, our witness to the unbeliever is only as strong as our love for each other. Do they see something they want when they observe us as Christians? Do they see something they want to be a part of when they observe us as a church? And then, in the second part, in blessing our enemies. As God has blessed us, we are called to bless others, even our enemies. Let's pray Our Father, god, thank you for visiting us this morning. And, lord, as we take this scripture and we attempt to apply it to our lives, I pray that you might help us to do this and to remember that our love for each other, first of all our love for you, translating it into our love for each other and then into our love for those that do evil against us. Lord, I pray that you might help us to be able to capture this and to apply this. Lord, thank you for being here and I pray that you might grant the increase. I pray this on your name, amen.