Hope, Holiness, Fear, Love

Peter started this letter by saying:

1 Peter 1:1 (ESV) -- "To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion..."

Peter closed this letter by saying:

1 Peter 5:12 (ESV) -- "This is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it."

These opening and concluding remarks tell us how Peter viewed his entire letter. It was for Christians in exile -- people marginalized by their society because of their allegiance to the gospel.

And his letter described the true grace of God. Peter did not think the exilic Christian should lash out in anger, retreat in fear, or conform to society. Instead, he wanted us to stand firm in the life he described, a life he thought of as the true grace of God.

So far, in making his case, Peter has taken us through a range of attitudes we must possess to live the exilic Christian life.

First, he told us we must operate in hope, setting our gaze firmly on the grace coming when Jesus returns (1:13).
Second, he told us we must pursue holiness because our Father in heaven is holy (1:14-16).
And third, he told us we must operate with the fear of the Lord -- reverence and respect for God along with an honest assessment of the damage our sinful inclinations could do to us and our community (1:17-21).

Please stop to consider these three exhortations: hope, holiness, and reverence. The person who angrily fights neglects all three. The person who retreats neglects all three. The person who conforms neglects all three. But when you hope in his coming, pursue holiness, and revere God, you become strong to stand firm in the kind of life God has designed: exilic Christianity. Normal Christianity.

At this point in the letter, Peter has one more attitudinal shift we must make. To hope, holiness, and fear, we must add love. I will call it Exile Love; it's the brand of love in action and emotion that we must display in our exiled Christian community to live the way Peter tells us to in the rest of this letter. We must love well, or else we don't stand a chance.

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Love Your New Community

22b love one another earnestly from a pure heart...

Biblical Definition of Love

The main exhortation of this entire paragraph is straightforward: love one another earnestly from a pure heart (22). This action is built, according to Peter, on the foundation of a change that took place in us. This change enabled us to have sincere brotherly love (22). In other words, love is built upon love. Reciprocal, brotherly love is meant to develop into sacrificial, even non-reciprocal love.

We will think in a moment about what love looks like, but first, we should consider the shift Peter is making here. He is taking us from the personal to the communal. You can hope, be holy, and fear God alone, but loving one another takes...well...another.

This is a major application for Peter. The exiled Christians he wrote to were outcasts from society, so Peter pushed them towards a new society -- the church. He wanted this to become the Christian's primary social context, and he will spend the rest of his letter explaining the importance of Christian relationships.

Shift Your Community

For some of you, this is a significant shift that needs to occur in your life. If you've grown up in a Christendom culture, one where Christianity was a sort of baseline grid society used to view the world, you might not feel an intense need to push into the church. One reason for that might be that you have built a good network of relationships where your values are generally shared with Christian and non-Christian alike. But this will likely shift as even older generations begin massaging their views to the new value systems being promoted by today's society.

But many of you have never lived in a Christendom culture. For you, Christianity has always been on the margin, and now you are watching it get pushed further in that direction. So you especially need to press into the church. You must love the body of Christ, the family of God, God's flock.

There was a time in our society when the vast majority of people were not true Christians, but Christianity was still well regarded and respected. During that time, many people saw the Bible and the faith as untrue, but with some good teachings and morals that were helpful to society. To them, Christianity was like Aesop's Fables -- untrue but (perhaps) helpful.

Then society shifted, and many began to see Christianity as a silly belief system. At that point, the Bible and its doctrines were seen as nothing more than fairy tales. To people in this camp, Christianity is like a belief in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny -- harmless, but not helpful, and certainly only received by immature and undeveloped minds.

But we are in a new day where society has shifted once again. No longer do people think of Christianity as untrue but helpful or untrue but silly. Now many think of Christianity as untrue and harmful, a major oppressive force in historical and contemporary society. It holds up things like the traditional family and biblical sexual morality. And many today cannot comprehend human happiness if those fixtures are in place. For people with this view, Christianity is not like Aesop's Fables or a belief in Santa Claus, but Mein Kampf, the dangerous and damaging ideologies and plans of Adolf Hitler.

I don't mean to be provocative or extreme by saying so. I am merely trying to demonstrate how many are thinking about Christianity today. Not everyone thinks this way, but many are being taught this way, and it poses many challenges to Christians. One of them is the challenge of community -- Where do we find it? Who do we turn to for it?

Part of Peter's answer is that we must turn to the church community. We must grow to love the church. For all its flaws and imperfections, it is loved by God and created by his gospel. We must embrace it.

But many modern narratives abound about the modern church, stories that turn us off to it as our option for community. But don't give in to the world's way of viewing the church. Trust me, like any family, you will get hurt, confused, and treated awkwardly in church relationships. It happens. But as we center ourselves around the gospel and the Bible that gives us the gospel and the God who gave us both, we will have the very best community humanity can build on this side of eternity. Press into it. Love it.

That's Peter's exhortation: Love one another earnestly from a pure heart (22). Give your church everything you got. Love other believers. Be earnest about it (22).

I told you recently about a Danish friend of mine. On one visit to Denmark, he could not wait to take us to a soccer match. He had been baffled by American sports. He couldn't believe how chill we all are during sporting events. Too much sitting and talking for his taste. So he delighted to bring us to a minor match between the Danish national team and Luxembourg. He was right. I couldn't believe it. From the national anthem onwards, the whole stadium was on its feet. When the players were announced, there was no need for fireworks or a highfalutin announcer because the crowd chanted the names of each player. And all through the match, they stood and cheered and booed and sang -- even at the most mundane moments. They were earnest.

It makes me think of this exhortation from Peter -- love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Get after it. Don't be half-hearted and lazy in your relationship with the body of Christ. You need the church. During times of exilic Christianity, you cannot go without it.

With this main exhortation in mind, let's look at the rest of the passage to discover why Peter thought love for the church community is essential for exiled Christians.

1 Because of Holiness (22)

What Does "Having Purified Your Souls" Mean?

The first reason Peter gives for Exile Love is holiness. He said, " having purified our souls by obedience to the truth (22). What does this mean? There are two options. Peter could be referring to our conversion -- when you became a Christian, you were purified. Or he could be referring to continued growth in the Christian life -- becoming holy in practice like God is holy.

The second option makes sense because Peter has just recently exhorted us to be holy like God and to walk in reverence towards God. What happens when we make holiness and the fear of the Lord our pursuit? We experience the purification of our souls.

As James said:

James 4:8 (ESV) — 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Or John:

1 John 3:3 (ESV) — 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Love Is Holiness-Induced

So Peter exhorted us to love because we have purified our souls. The word "love" is a word almost beyond rescue. Our society has hijacked it to mean things like acceptance at the neglect of truth or approval that flies in the face of wisdom. What is true and what is wise don't matter anymore. All that matters is that someone feels completely and totally affirmed no matter what to live however they are compelled to live. But this is not biblical love.

And Peter's statement helps us understand that our love for one another is rooted in our pursuit of holiness. To live in the Christian community, as in any community, there is a code of conduct the citizens strive for. We are not perfect in our pursuit, but we at least want to live holy lives.

I want to encourage you to grow to this point. Many versions of love in our modern time are rooted in feelings and emotions, sympathy or empathy, but have no foundation in God's holiness or truth or wisdom. You must make this shift.

Moses

For this, consider one of the people in the Bible who experienced the holiness of God firsthand: Moses. Moses interacted with God's holiness at places like the burning bush, Mount Sinai, and the tent of meeting. And how did he respond to God's holiness? With love for God's people.

Moses fought hard to see God's people set free from their captivity in Egypt. He worked to get them the law of God. He confronted them about their worship of a golden calf. And he rebuked them for their unbelief. There was even a moment he requested to be cut off from God instead of the nation. He wanted their success so badly. And all of Moses' loving activity towards Israel was driven by his understanding of God. And this was driven by what he knew of God.

We are called to be a holy community, and our love for one another begins there. It is immature or false believers who affirm unholy desires and tell people to build their lives on them. But mature believers who have purified their souls -- as Peter said -- will lovingly lead people back to the waters of holy living, the life of goodness and joy God has designed.

2 Because of the New Birth (23)

A Repeated Theme

The second reason Peter gives for Exile Love is the new birth. He said, "Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God" (23).

This is not a new statement from Peter; he had already rejoiced in the opening paragraphs of his letter about our new birth and great salvation (1:3-12). He said we have a living hope, an inheritance, and the salvation of our souls (1:3-9). He said our salvation is great, foretold by the prophets, and studied by angels (1:10-12). If we've trusted Christ, we are born again.

And Peter says it was not perishable seed that gave us a second chance on life (23). It was the imperishable seed of God, the living and abiding word of God (23). Peter had great respect for the word of the gospel and the Bible itself, and he knew both were involved in bringing us salvation. Through belief in the word, we were given new life!

The Bible uses many different images to describe itself. It is likened to a lamp that illuminates our path (Psalm 119). It is like a hammer that breaks our hard-heartedness (Jeremiah 23). It is like water that cleanses us from sin (Ephesians 5). It is like a sword that attacks invading thoughts (Ephesians 6). It is like a mirror that reveals our shame, so we'll run to God (James 1). But, here, Peter likens the word of God to an incorruptible seed.

Jesus had done the same. In his famous parable of the sower, for instance, he talked about the power of the seed to produce incredible fruit when it finds the right soil (Matthew 13:1-23).

Some seeds fell on the hardened path, so the birds came and ate them -- and Jesus said that hardened path represents those who cannot give even a moment of thought to the gospel.
Some seeds fell on stony ground, so there was brief growth before the shallow roots killed that crop -- and Jesus said that stony ground represents those who have joy for the gospel until trials come for the faith.
Some seeds fell on thorny ground, so it grew up with the thorns and weeds and was eventually choked out by the competition -- and Jesus said that thorny ground represents those who get caught up in the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.
But some seeds fell on good soil, so it bore massive fruit -- and Jesus said that good ground represents those who consider, understand, and receive the word. It is not snatched away. It has a depth of root. It lacks competition. And they bear fruit.

Peter has this seed in mind. He saw his audience as people who had been rocked by the true and real word of God. And with this new birth which had been caused by God's incorruptible seed growing in them, they were bound to bear fruit.

Fruit of the Spirit

And the best fruit you can grow is the fruit of the Spirit. Paul said:

Galatians 5:22 (ESV) — 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love...

Brothers and sisters, if you are a true believer, you are born again. The incorruptible seed of God's word is in you. So fruit is absolutely, totally, and completely possible. Love can flow through you to your fellow believer because of who you are -- God has changed you, so live out the love he has designed you for!

3 Because It Lasts Forever (24-25)

Isaiah Quotation

We have seen that Exile Love is made possible by the pursuit of holiness and the new birth. But the third reason Peter gives for Exile Love is that it lasts forever.

To demonstrate this, Peter quotes from Isaiah 40: "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" (24-25).

When Isaiah originally spoke those words, he said them to a generation of Israelites who were about to be carried off to Babylonian captivity. After centuries of neglecting God's commands, it was time for them to endure God's chastening hand.

But, as much as Babylon would come in power and authority, God assured them they would not last forever. Even in all their glory, they were like the grass. The grass always withers. The flower always falls. But God's promises to them that they would return, God's word, remains forever.

You see, though the kingdoms and philosophies of the world might seem strong, they are like the grass and flower which eventually wither. Even the invincible Roman Empire Peter's audience toiled under, a machine of eventual persecution, would not last forever. But God's word -- and all the promises in it about his kingdom -- will endure forever.

Babylon Won't Last

Why should we love the people of God's church? Holiness demands it. The new birth makes it possible. But we should also love the church community because it will last forever.

I am sad for the false Christians of the first three soils. At some point, society pressed in on them. Maybe they were ridiculed for believing an invisible God designed all we see and know and decided to abandon the Lord. Maybe they felt temptations and desires that contradicted God's word and decided to justify their actions by declaring they would live "their truth." Maybe they saw the wealth and ease and luxury of our day and decided to set their heart in that direction.

But the saddest part is that they've invested in a system that will not last. Babylon will break. Babylon won't last.

But Our Word-Community Lasts Forever

But the shocking truth is that our little holiness-pursuing, born-again, word-community will last forever.

This is the truth God hints at all throughout his word.

In the age of Noah, while everyone did what was right in their own eyes, Noah's little family made it through.
When God looked to establish a new people for himself, he chose an old barren couple named Abraham and Sarah.
He chose a small group of slaves in Egypt to be his nation.
He chose the eighth and last and forgotten son of Jesse to slay Goliath and rule Israel.
He chose to come to overshadowed and outshined places like Bethlehem and Nazareth and the Galilee to do his glorious work.
And he chose a ragtag group of fishermen and tax collectors and political zealots to form his team of disciples.

This is always God's way. He elects the small and humble and powerless. He chooses the weak.

1 Corinthians 1:27–29 (ESV) — 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

This little team, our small community, our tribe-on-the-margins, is going to endure into the grandest and most glorious kingdom of kingdoms. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church, Jesus said, meaning our community will one day bust through into prominence and permanence. One day, our Aslan will return to our Narnia, and winter will be over. Forever.

Concluding Applications

Stop looking (forever) for a church.
Get involved with your church.
Be in a small group in your church (Life Group, Discipleship Group, or both).
Serve your church.
Deal with the warts.