“Do not repay evil with evil, or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
For whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.
They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer,but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened. But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.” (I Peter 3:9-15a, NIV)
When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I was forgiven of all my sins, saved from eternal death, adopted as God’s son, and sealed for eternal peace and joy in heaven. Peter’s not talking about any of that that here. He’s addressing you and me, as much as he was the early Christians, about how to live and finish our lives in a manner that glorifies God on this earth.
When we’re born again, we’re supposed to start living different, in regards to how we see things and we react to meanness and slander. Paul said, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” But are we? Well, let me offer you this” Some people that profess to be born again—some of them pastors!, appear (at least to me) to be just as mean as they were before they were saved. They are just as vengeful, gossipy, and selfless. Why?
I think of two things:
First, even though in Christ we are a creature, old habits can linger. God does not remove our freedom to choose to be stupid or commit evil. We maintain our free will, and I , for one, often make the wrong decision. The newness, that we celebrate as Christians, is primarily a new relationship with God, because of Jesus Christ, not a brain transplant or a new life in which we can never makes mistakes. I still sin, but my sins have been blotted out, in terms of my relationship to my Father, because of the blood of Jesus—not my imperfect nature. Christ has restored me to the relationship for which my soul has always yearend—-to know Him and to know that He loves me. But the last thing the enemy wants me to do is to live like a child of the king! I still do the most outlandish things because, sadly, I listen to the enemy!
That’s why Christian fellowship, such as we are doing right now, and praying and reading His Word is essential! Choosing to study the Bible and read about His saints, allows us to be reminded that God is in control and that He is watching over us—-and all things that about to happen to us this coming week are not catching Him unaware.
I am reminded that for each of us, this our first time on this earth! And while it is a strange and wondrous place, and contains awesome beauty that we can’t find the right words to describe, unless we allow ourselves to be reminded that it is our Father’s world, we slip into not marveling, but imagining and doing things He never intended. What’s happening now in Ukraine, Venezuela, and the middle east, is not what He imagined—-but what Satan has inspired.
Sometimes a hike in the mountains, or a walk in a cool stream, just enjoying the multi-colored pebbles, or watching a trout swim past us, reminds us that He has created all things for a good purpose. Too often we take things like friendship, family and true love and “devalue them with the carelessness and monotony of modern life.” (Chesterton) These are things we ought to hold onto as visions of what heaven will be, rather than a burden of how things are.
Remembering that we are Christians….by spending time in the Word….by fellowshipping with Him ever morning…. has a way of reminding us of the lost beauty of life. Don’t let the joy of being a child of God pass you by! Friends, the appearance of all the onerous laws and rules of Christianity were not meant to devalue life and its pleasures, but instead to fill us anew with the true joy of living, to remind us of how precious God’s creation is, and to point to how God reveals Himself to us in His very creation, i.e. the natural revelation of God.
Second, even though as a Christian we all lack perfection, and we all are sometimes unkind and un-Christlike, the Holy Spirit will yet strive within us until we DO give up those bad antics. Jesus Christ will not be satisfied with you and me until we totally yield to Him in all the compartments and hidden attics of our souls! He intends to make us perfect, and only our stubborn, lazy refusal stands in the way.
But the point is, controlling our minds and actions, keeping ourselves away from sexual sin, practicing forgiveness, etc, is not something that happens automatically when we become a follower of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we follow Him——but very often we follow from Him from very far behind, rather than walking right beside Him. You are not going to be a gossip, a grouch, or a swindler if you’re intimately related to Him—-that’s a fact. (You don’t see people speeding their cars when a State Trooper is beside them either!)
This first thing Peter says we need to do as new creatures is PROVE IT—-show it by how you treat mean people! “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” Let me tell you from personal experience: Revenge is not sweet and pleasing to what God expects of me! He wants me to treat mean people like Jesus did—-i.e. to pray, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing!” Now that prayer might not result in THEM becoming nice—-but it sure does change me and brings a smile to my Father’s face. Jesus must be proud of us when we begin to act totally contrary to common sense and are kind to the unkind.
To be clear, they’re some people I do not want to forgive! They’ve been mean to me, lied about me, and hope that I am removed from this earth! Yes, I want to give back what they gave to me—-with interest! But getting even is a game you cannot win if you also want to follow Jesus Christ! You lose ground when you get even—it never makes things better—it’s a very hollow victory.. And worse, your witness is diminished. If the an insult comes, let go and give God the space to work things out. God sorts things out and takes care of His own—in His own time. Trust Him to give you peace—-and to take the proper action against those that trying to hurt you.
Next Peter said, “For whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.” If this was practiced today, the world would be a lot quieter—-wouldn’t it? Is what you’re saying, truly, the real, complete, unadulterated truth? If not, why share it? Who benefits? How is God glorified by out dishonesty?! Become known as one that speaks the truth, from the heart, and people will probably give you more attention when you do speak.
Peter tells us that God’s children must, “… must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Are your prayers being answered? Are you being obedient to Him in this regard. or are you, a professed Christian, doing things you know you should not be doing? God is attentive to those of us that are doing our best to be righteous and bring about peace—-not trouble.
Finally, “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened. But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.” (I Peter 3:9-15a, NIV)
The truth is, of course, that sometimes, bad things happen to good people. Just read the Bible and look at the fate of prophets, the disciples, and of course, our Savior. But sometimes we also get what we deserve—and then whine and complain about it! The question is this: “Are you eager to do good?” And are you known for that? Our reputation among with non-believers should be absolutely pure—-and when all else is considered, we’re found to humble, hard-working, and honest people!!!!
Now, some practical observations to consider. IF you choose to do this, that is forgive, be kind, do nice things to mean people, and watch your mouth, God will bless you. But I have also seen that “if you do one good deed, part of God’s reward is for you to be set to do another and harder and better good deed! That’s how our heavenly Father is—-and when I compare my parenting to God’s, I realize what a failure I am in this regard..
But as a Christian, a father, a pastor, a friend and fellow disciple I want to not only place my total confidence in Him and be totally obedient—I want to inspire others by my devotion to Him! God knows that this is the truth! But do you? Do you want others to place their faith in Jesus as they watch you endure financial set-backs, health challenges, the loss of friends that you thought would never turn their backs on you? If we try, we can find people of faith and they inspire us—but you to be looking you looking for them—-and also staring at yourself in the mirror every now and then.
But praise God, he has allowed me to become acquainted with men and women that excelled me in their lives! St. Francis was in love with Jesus. In the flesh, his life is my inspiration, and among Christians, he is my hero. While sharing the gospel, for example, Francis was brought before the sultan Al Kamil, of Egypt—a Muslim leader and defender against the crusades. But Francis went there, he preached hoping to be martyred! He preached directly to the Sultan about his about love of God and the meaning of Jesus’ life. When Francis finished his sermon he then challenged the Sultan’s imams to a religious test to determine which was the true religion – Islam or Christianity.
“Francis said to the Sultan: “Please have a bonfire lit, and have your imam, along with me, enter the fire – so let it be that his God is the true God whoever emerges from the flames unhurt.”
The Sultan’s eyes lit up – and he proclaimed, “Now this is a man of faith! His imams, however, felt that they had better things to do and declined the test.
But from that moment on Al Kamil was so impressed with Francis that he loved him, and he gave the Franciscans safe passage to travel and stay unhindered, anywhere, in Muslim occupied territories; and as a direct result of this act, eight hundred years later, if you go to Jerusalem you will see that the Franciscans are still there.
We need more people like Saint Francis…..