11-01-09 To Sum Up...A Little More

Our study of 1^st Peter has brought us to chapter 3, verses 8-12,

a passage in which Peter tells us

that he wants to summerize what he’s been trying to say up to this point in his letter.

In fact, the passage begins with Peter saying, To sum up...

And we started this section last week

but didn’t have time to finish it,

so this morning I want us to drop back into our study where left off.

The passage says,

To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For, "Let him who means to love life and see good days Refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. And let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Last week we spent our time

looking closely at Peter’s call to us

that we be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit.

From there he goes on to say,

not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.

And with those words

he puts into words

what we have known since the day we entered the family God,

that His presence within us

is calling us to an approach to life

that is utterly foreign to our flesh.

When Peter talks about that evil-for-evil and insult-for-insult thing

all he’s doing is bringing to light

the natural response of the human nature apart from God.

Sticking up for #1 is the way life works.

It’s what we do best.

If someone uses us

our minds just naturally go to work

trying to find some way of giving back as good as we got.

It’s simply the way life operates -

if we’re cheated,

or attacked,

or insulted,

or used,

we want some way to even the score.

And if we can’t get even

then at the very least we want to find some way of protecting ourselves,

building stronger emotional defenses

so that we don’t get hurt again in the future.

Evil for evil...insult for insult...

give back as good as you get and more.

And then here comes Peter,

once again dismantling the way life operates,

calling us to respond to evil and insults

by blessing those who have attacked us,

and giving back good

to those who have declared themselves to be our enemies.

It’s hard enough that he’s called us into submission to those who rule over us,

but now he’s even removing from us

our right to revenge.

And if this is going to make any sense to us

here again we must remember the purpose of this letter.

This is Peter equipping us with the weapons we will need

to live effective lives in a hostile world.

And what he’s giving us right here

is among the most powerful weapons in his arsenal.

And I’ll bet when many of you first read that verse

it simply slid off your minds

as being another nice, meaningless religious platitude.

“Oh yes, good Christians bless those who curse them

and passively walk away

when others seek to do them evil.

Right! Well, I’ll just file that away

in my mental “Things That Never Work In the Real World” file.”

OK, to help us make some sense out of this

let me begin by sharing with you

three major reasons why Peter points us in this direction.

And before I do that,

let me first ask the questions

that we never dare ask ourselves

when we follow the leading of our flesh.

How did it work our for you

the last time you returned evil for evil and insult for insult?

How did that revenge thing play out for you in your life?

True, you may have gotten even,

or maybe even a little ahead,

but what happened to the relationships in the process?

Do you now have one more enemy for life?

Did crushing that other person

enrich your spirit?

Did you like the person you became in the process?

Did you enjoy the way your mind

was forever feeding on vengeance,

consumed with what you could do

to bring them pain, or suffering, or defeat?

And this is a tricky thing for us, folks.

You see, there is within each of us

a very legitimate longing

for righteousness to prevail and be vindicated on the earth.

And along with that

comes a desire for evil to be seen as evil

and for those who have given themselves over to evil

to reap the consequences of their choices.

It is impossible to read the Psalms

without being confronted again and again

with David’s words crying out to God

that He bring judgment and destruction on his enemies,

and when God did

David rejoiced at their downfall.

To want justice in this world is not wrong,

and to want the defeat of evil

is a natural response of the righteous heart.

But here’s the thing God wants us to know -

to long for the judgement of evil is in no way wrong,

but to seek to bring about that judgement ourselves

will in the end destroy our own soul in the process.

It will consume us in a way

that poisons our lives and the lives of everyone near us.

So then, what do we do?

We do what David did -

we recognize that loving righteousness and hating evil

is part of what our God does within us,

but we also recognize that we are not qualified

to act as the Moral Judge of the universe,

and so we pray to the only One who is qualified for that role - God Himself

and ask that He will vindicate righteousness,

knowing that ultimately He will make certain

that all the moral scales are balanced perfectly.

Our role right now

is not to bring down wrath and judgment

on those around us who live unrighteous lives,

our role is to relate to them

in the way that makes it easiest

for them to turn from their evil

and respond to the forgiveness offered to them by their God.

But it’s certainly not wrong for us to hate evil in the world.

In fact, there is something very wrong within us if we do not.

But it is wrong for us to convince ourselves

that we have the ability

to act as the moral judge over that evil

or that we have the right to bring vengeance on those who have committed that evil against us.

And of course Paul said it with far more simplicity and clarity than I ever could.

ROM 12:19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.

And that helps, doesn’t it?

It helps to hear our God promise us

that He is our great and perfect defender

and making certain all moral scales are balanced perfectly

is one of the many things He can and will do perfectly.

But how about here and now?

Why does our God ask us not to return evil for evil now?

Well, at least three reasons came to mind immediately.

The first is simply that it makes our life easier.

And I didn’t say it makes our life easy,

I said it makes it easier.

It makes it as good as it can be in a world currently immersed in evil.

You see, returning evil for evil, which is simply the desire for revenge, is a poison,

a poison that, once we let it in, will seep into every aspect of our lives.

It will consume both our mental and emotional energy,

keeping us focused on the darkness,

robbing us of our ability to see those endless expressions of grace and kindness

that our God pours out on each of His children each day.

Our God has carefully designed our mental and emotional systems

so that we can only focus on one thing at a time.

And then He has given us the ability

to choose that point of focus.

Once we have chosen to focus on the evil

there are simply no emotional or mental resources available

to focus on the good.

Many years ago I was involved in a conversation

with a man who had gone through a brutal divorce.

It had been his ex-wife’s goal

to inflict as much evil on him as possible

and she’d been very good at what she’d done.

When he invited me into his thinking

he was filled with this driving desire to get even.

But there were children in the mess as well,

children who desperately needed

to know both a mom’s and a daddy’s love.

He went to some length

explaining to me the legal maneuvering he had in mind

as he planned his attack against the one who had hurt him so deeply,

and when he finished

I told him he had a clear choice he had to make.

He could either fight against his ex-wife

or he could fight for the hearts of his children,

but he could not do both.

If he chose to pour himself into attempting to defeat his ex-wife

he would loose the hearts of his children in the process.

In the end focusing on the evil

would destroy everything he valued the most.

But if he would let go of his driving desire for vengeance

and turn his heart toward his children

he could still bring healing and good out of the mess.

He chose not to take my advice

and in the end the children didn’t even want to be around dad

because of the darkness that surrounded him.

At the top of the list of the reasons why Peter calls us not to return evil for evil

is because even if we succeed in gaining our revenge

the negative impact on our own mental and emotional health

and on the relationships that matter most to us

will be devastating.

The second reason I’d mention

for following Peter’s counsel

to respond to evil committed against us

by seeking to do good in the life of the one who attacked us

is that doing so will have the most powerful impact possible

on the life of our enemy.

It gives us power in their life

at a level that returning evil for evil could simply never do.

Whenever a person commits evil against us

it increases their own personal internal moral debt load.

Because we are moral creatures by design,

with the moral image of God imbedded in our conscience,

when we commit evil against another person

it increases our sense of moral debt.

By far the most common way for a person to handle this moral debt

is to find some way to convince themselves

that what they did was justified -

it was a good thing to do

because the one they did it to deserved it.

And as soon as we respond to their evil

by seeking to do evil to them in return

we have given them exactly what they wanted -

absolute proof that their actions toward us were correct.

And as soon as we return evil for evil we

free them from any sense of moral accountability for their actions against us -

we simply remove that portion of their internal moral debt load.

But if we respond to their evil

not with seeking revenge, but rather with seeking to do good to them

it intensifies their debt load ten fold.

Doing evil against someone whom we know is truly good

is a very hard thing to do.

It plays havoc with our internal moral accountability mechanism.

And it will move them to find some kind of resolution to their guilt

as nothing else can do.

In other words, it provides the Spirit of God

with far greater leverage

as He works in their life

to bring them to their Redeemer.

Do you want to have power in the life of those who do you evil?

Respond to their evil with kindness

and you will have power far beyond anything you could ever gain through revenge,

and it will not be a power that destroys,

but rather a power for great good in their life.

And the final reason I’d mention

for not returning evil for evil

is one that comes right out of Peter’s letter

just a few verses later in chapter 3.

There is nothing we could ever do

to more powerfully proclaim the presence of Christ within us

than responding to evil with good.

Peter knows they simply will not be able to understand it and tells us to not be surprised

if they ask us for some kind of explanation.

1PE 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

OK, Peter tells us to not return evil for evil or insult for insult,

and then he goes on to say, but giving a blessing instead.

And what does that mean?

Well, I can tell you what it does not mean -

it does not mean you turn to them and say, “Bless you, my child!”

The word literally means “to speak well of”,

but I think Peter has more in mind here

than just our words.

What he is asking from us

is that we return the exact opposite

of what we’ve been given.

And the question we need to ask ourselves

is, “What can I do to show kindness to this person?”

And the answer, of course,

will be different with every person and every situation.

But the key is that our response to them

should be seen by them

as something that is truly good - an act of kindness toward them.

And then Peter does something

that we’ve seen Paul do in his writings as well.

And yet, every time I see it

I once again come away amazed

at how little I understand about my God

or about the way he feels about me and relates to me.

On the surface it appears as though

Peter is simply telling us

that he wants us to do what he says

so that we can then have the best life we could possibly have.

He says, for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

But there is a far more significant message

being given to us in that phrase,

a message about why God has done what He’s done in our lives.

Ever wondered about that?

Have you ever looked at your own life

and seen those places where God has simply poured out His grace and kindness on you,

places where He stepped in at exactly the right time

in exactly the right way

through exactly the right person

or exactly the right truth

and changed the course of your life forever?

Have you felt His almighty arms around you,

loving you,

holding you,

giving you what you did not deserve,

making your life rich beyond measure

and then found yourself wondering why...why has He been so good to you?

Well, Peter’s words offer us an answer to that question...sort of.

He says for you were called for the very purpose ...

and if we were to finish that sentence for Peter

we would very likely say something like,

for you were called for the very purpose ... so that we would worship God and serve Him forever,

or ...so that we could demonstrate His great grace and kindness.

But that’s not what Peter says.

He says for you were called for the very purpose ...that you might inherit a blessing.

In other words, God called you to Himself so that He could bless you.

God has been good to you so that He could continue being good to you forever.

Does that make sense?

It only makes sense if our God is very different than most of us think He is.

It only makes sense

if He finds joy in bringing us joy.

It only makes sense

if His love is the kind of love

that finds it’s deepest fulfillment

in making our lives truly good.

And that only happens

if He is involved in each of our lives

at the level that allows Him to feel what we’re feeling.

I’m not saying this as well as I want.

Maybe it will help

if I ask you a question.

Who is there in your life

who brings you your deepest happiness

when you are able to make them happy?

That only happens because of the depth of the love you feel for them.

And that’s what’s happening between God and us.

His greatest joys come from His being able to be good to us.

Well, from there Peter then supports the instructions He’s just given us

by doing something

that he does a total of 15 times in this letter.

He takes us to a passage in the Old Testament

and shows us where he learned

what he’s now trying to teach us.

And in verses 10, 11, and 12

Peter quotes Psalm 34:12-16.

"Let him who means to love life and see good days

Refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile.

And let him turn away from evil and do good;

Let him seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,

And His ears attend to their prayer,

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Our time is gone for the morning,

but let me just point out

that this Psalm says exactly the same thing

that Peter has just said to us.

The Psalmist tells us that if we truly want to love life and see good days

we can do that by turning away from the evil that’s shoved in our face

and responding to it with good instead,

which, of course, is exactly what Peter has just said to us.

I find it interesting, though, that Peter gives us greater insight into the passage

than we would have had without his application.

The Psalmist says, And let him turn away from evil and do good;

Let him seek peace and pursue it.

And if we were just to read that passage

we would most likely think

that the evil being referred to

is evil in our own life.

But when Peter applies this Psalm to us

he makes it clear that he’s not talking about our evil,

he’s talking about the evil that others do to us.

And then the Psalmist ends

with a powerful contrast between the kind of relationship that exists

between God and His people

and between God and those who are doing evil against us.

For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,

And His ears attend to their prayer,

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Isn’t that a nice reminder -

His eyes are always on us,

watching out for us,

sharing life with us constantly,

and His ears are always listening to our prayer.

In other words, whatever we go through in life

we go through with Him.