1 Peter #10 1 Peter #10 1 Peter 3:8-12 Retaliate: Overcoming the Temptation to Strangle Some Idiot that Desperately Deserves It.
1 Peter #10 1 Peter
3:8-12 Retaliate: Overcoming the Temptation to Strangle Some Idiot that Desperately Deserves It.
To
silence the critics, those who disparage the Christian faith, believers are to
live exemplary lives in the public and private sectors of life, out in the
world and the home. Peter has given instructions
to slaves, wives, to husbands on how to treat others. It has to do with submission to Jesus, set
aside your wants until your wants are what Jesus wants. Jesus desires for you to love, to love God,
to love others, there is no greater commandment.
Peter
is going to reveal to us how we can express love during our difficult
situations. Peter has explored how to live an exemplary life in public and
private. Now he draws our attention to
life within the Church. The advice
shared also works when you are having to deal with someone outside of the
Church. Let’s figure out what to do
instead of giving in to that overwhelming temptation to strangle some idiot who
desperately deserves it.
It’s
shaping up to be a bad day. There is
stress, frustration, disappointment, or even sadness. Life is not going your way. Prayers are not being answered according to
your timeline. Maybe there’s a conflict
with a loved one. A terrible diagnosis
from the doctor explains why you’re hurting and are having a hard time
physically. Maybe your kid is acting out causing you problems at home and they’re
30 years old. It could be a professional problem at work, a co-worker or boss
that is driving you crazy, the deadlines, or the workload. You’re late, you’re late. Maybe you’re dealing with employees that are
more of a detriment than an asset. Then
there’s the paperwork and hoping through the bureaucratic hoops, the system
makes it so hard to get stuff done. Possibly media generated fear is gnawing
away at your security. A late payment.
Pressure, pressure, pressure. The promotion, the business deal, the
breakthrough doesn’t happen. Then that
idiot cuts you off on the freeway.
There’s a Karen in a neighborhood and she’s going off on you. The kids don’t get their chores done; worse
your spouse doesn’t get their chores done. The honey-do list just keeps getting longer. On
the other end of the phone is another unsolicited sales call. The knock on your door is another unsolicited
service call worse, Girl Scout cookies. Your spouse is grumpy, your friend is
grumpy, your dog is grumpy and you’re grumpy.
You’re experiencing “a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.” You
feel like exploding. You see the straw
that breaks the camel’s back falling and the weather person says it’s going to
rain tomorrow, and you had a picnic planned.
What do you do? I want to give
them the small remaining piece of my mind. The movie Castaway starts looking
like a wonderful vacation minus the toothache. More times than not, I want to
retaliate.
Peter
instructs us that in the public sector, in the private sector, in persecution,
in hard times, or a bad moment, and this advice carries right on over to the
Church: there is no retaliation for the person who follows Jesus.
1 Peter
3:8-12 (MSG)
Summing
up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That
goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm.
Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a
blessing.
10
Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, Here’s what
you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub evil and cultivate good; run after
peace for all you're worth. God looks on
all this with approval, listening and responding well to what he's asked; But
he turns his back on those who do evil things.
No retaliation, no retribution, no revenge, instead love. If
this is the way Christians are to behave, we may have missed the mark. Throughout the New Testament, there is a call
to maintain unity. Jesus prayed that all
His disciples would be of one heart and one mind, as He and the One He called
Father are one (John 17:21-23). We read
of this unity lived out in Acts 4:32: “The whole congregation of believers was
united as one—one heart, one mind!” But
people get out of step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). The Apostle Paul tells
the congregation in Rome to be of one mind (Romans12:4, 12:16). To the Corinthian congregation Paul told them
they are one body, and that they must live in peace. In his letter to the Philippians Paul urges
quarreling members to settle their differences (Philippians 4:2). Unity is essential for the Church to be
Christian. Yet we have congregations that
are full of backbiters, gossip, and abusive leadership. Infighting and politicking and power grabs in
Jesus’ church are sure signs that it’s Jesus’ church in name only. A family divided against itself will destroy
itself (Matthew 12:25). Disagreements turn into factions and congregations
split. Denominations are the result of theological or doctrinal arguments. My
way, my interpretation, my desires, and my wants are more important than
maintaining the unity of the Church. How
we like to climb on that high horse of self-righteousness and give our Godly
reasons as to why we need to maintain the purity of the Church, therefore
someone must go. What does disunity have in common with “Present yourselves as
building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which
you'll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God” (1 Peter
2:5 (MSG)? Sin is the reason for
disharmony in the family of God. This
should not be, but like slavery in the time that Peter wrote, it is just the
way it is. It breaks Jesus' heart.
Being of one mind, one heart, and one Spirit, does not mean
that we all think alike. Christianity is not a conformity cult. Jesus sets you free to be the person God
created you to be. We all have different
life experiences that cause us to see things differently. We all have different ways of cultivating our
spiritual lives. Different opinions,
different interpretations of scripture, different doctrine, different
methodologies, and different culture do not create disunity within the
body. Egoism causes disunity. Egoism with its stubborn pride demands that
it’s my way of no way. Egoism convinces you that God has shown you the truth
and therefore your way is the only right way.
When things are not the way we want them, we retaliate. Christians sabotage, stop using their gifts,
stop supporting financially, and move on to greener “Pastors.” Being of one mind, one heart, and one Spirit
means we are united in our loyalty to our Lord. He comes first, His will, His
way, that’s more important than me getting my way. Being of one mind, one
heart, and one Spirit means we are united in our loyalty to one another.
In the family of God, there will be people that you
inherently like and others that you dislike.
There are personality clashes and there are strong opinions that are
incompatible. In the family, some are
perpetually immature. There are the
EGRs, extra grace required, who can drive you nuts with their
idiosyncrasies. Notice the end of that
word idiosyncrasies, it’s crazies, there will be brothers and sisters in Christ
that drive you crazy. One of my crazy makers is “The Lord told me to tell you.”
Unfortunately, there will be family that hurts you, family that lets you down,
and family that sins against you. You want them out of your life, you want to
retaliate.
When you stub your toe hard, so hard your mouth squeezes out
an expletive, have you ever thought “I’m just going to cut it off?” Most likely
not, it’s part of your body, it’s a hurting part of your body, but you’re not
going to cut it off, you’re going to baby it.
The reason you baby it is that it's part of you. Consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV): “Now you are the
body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” Are you going to cut off
the part that hurts you?
It is Christian to keep the unity of the body through
forgiveness and love while protecting yourself from further harm. “Blessed are the peacemakers; they shall be
called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9).
In the gospel according to Matthew Jesus instructs us on how to handle
the faults of a brother or sister (Matthew 18:15-17). If there is no resolution, then the matter is
brought before the entire congregation and a course of action is decided upon. Protecting
yourself from further harm may mean that it is necessary to break fellowship
with someone. This should never happen
between committed followers of Jesus.
But again, egoism gets people out of step with the Spirit. If you have to break fellowship, you can do
so while still maintaining loyalty to the Lord by refusing to retaliate. The
scripture reads in Romans 12: “Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If
you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even;
that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll
take care of it" (Romans 12:17-19 (MSG). This is not as fine a line as it
appears. You’ve been hurt, maybe the
reputation of the congregation has been put into question and the other party
refuses to reconcile. You can break
fellowship but what you are not to do is seek revenge, or call down some sort
of punishment. Let go, and give the
entire situation to God.
In the public sector and the private sector, you steer clear
of retaliation when you follow Peter’s instruction: “Be agreeable, be
sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble.”
Being agreeable means living in harmony. Tap the keys of a piano in the right order
and the different tones can make a beautiful sound. Disciples of Jesus do their best to blend
their differences in with their brothers and sisters to make something
beautiful called community. Choose to be agreeable.
Being sympathetic means working at understanding the other
person. The adage “Don’t judge someone until you’ve walked a mile in their
shoes” reminds us “not to judge the book by its cover, which reminds us that
“there are two sides to every story,” and that we should be slow to speak and
quick to listen (James 1:9). There are
reasons people are so abnormal. When you hear their story, it helps you to love
on them. Choose to be sympathetic.
We know what being loving is all about. Love is seeking to meet the need of
another. It’s holding their best
interests as your own (Philippians 2:4).
It’s giving them respect, it’s not giving up on them, it’s entrusting
their well-being to God and then doing what God asks you in helping them to be
well. Choose to be loving.
Being compassionate always leads to action. When a person is suffering, or being
oppressed, abused, or taken advantage of, compassion calls us to come alongside
and support them, doing our best to alleviate their problem. Choose to be
compassionate.
Being humble is the realization of knowing that if it wasn’t
for God’s grace in your life that prompted you to make the decision you have in
life, you’d be in worse shape than where you determine someone else to be.
“There but for the grace of God, go I” (most likely John Bradford 1555). Humility allows you to treat others as you
would want to be treated. Choose to be
humble.
When you choose to exercise the empowerment given to you by
the Holy Spirit to be “agreeable, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and
humble” you do not retaliate. No retaliation, not even a sarcastic
comment. That’s hard to do for a
Christian like me who uses sarcasm to express their anger. Too often I have
given some idiot the power to call my practice of Christianity into question.
Instead of calling down curses upon all those involved in my “terrible,
horrible, no good, very bad day,” my job is to bless and be a blessing to the idiot,
I mean my fellow human being, who just may also happen to be a brother or
sister in Christ. I get angry all too easily, it just brings out the worst in
me, and reminds me how much more I need to mature in faith, how much more I
need to grow deep, grow up, and grow fruit. If I am going to live my life to
the full I must surrender my anger to the Holy Spirit. There was a time in my life when I didn’t even
know why I was angry, but when you deal with the issue, the Holy Spirit will
guide you to the source and once in the light be dealt with. When you choose to exercise the empowerment
given to you by the Holy Spirit to be “agreeable, sympathetic, loving, compassionate,
and humble” you can bless those who like yourself, do not deserve a blessing.
Blessing others is our job.
Even when evil is done to you, instead of curses and retaliation, you
bless. That’s an eye-opener for someone
who is mistreating you. Most angry
people expect to be treated angrily. “A
gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire”
(Proverbs 15:1 (MSG). When you bless others there’s a kickback. The big kickback is the feeling that you did
well. Even if you didn’t want to bless,
and you were internally kicking and screaming as you did, you blessed. Shortly after you feel the satisfaction of
doing what God wanted. You did well, you did right, you accomplished the
righteous thing, and you did your job. To sense God’s approval is a blessing.
Blessing others when you are mistreated is to live an exemplary life, a holy
life.
Peter
summarizes what he has instructed by quoting Psalm 34:12-16. “Whoever wants to embrace life and see the
day fill up with good, Here’s what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub
evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you're worth. God looks on all this with approval,
listening and responding well to what he's asked; But he turns his back on
those who do evil things.” You are empowered
to live a life of no retaliation, choose to do so, choose to live the Yes.
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