Rev. David Holwick D
Boothbay Baptist Church
Boothbay, Maine
March 27, 2022
1 Peter 3:8-14, NIV
QUALITIES OF THE LOVERS OF LIFE
I. Not your typical saint.
"St. Vincent" is a 2014 movie starring Bill Murray as an
angry, anti-social, alcoholic slob.
His only companion is a white Persian cat, and his only
pleasure is criticizing people.
In the beginning of the film, a single mom and her son are
moving in next door.
Their movers knock a branch off a tree and it falls on
Vincent's car.
He screams at them and threatens to sue the single mom.
You know, just a typical nasty and selfish old geezer.
The days go by and the mom has a problem - she works at a
hospital and needs someone to watch her son Oliver after
school until she gets home.
In desperation she hires Vincent.
Vincent hates kids but he has a big gambling debt so he
becomes a babysitter.
He takes Oliver to his favorite bar, to the horse track, to
a strip club.
Oliver goes to a Catholic school and all the kids are given
a homework assignment.
They are to find and report on a real person who might qualify
as a living saint.
Not "saint" as in the New Testament where they are any genuine
Christian, but in the Catholic sense of a super-Christian.
Oliver decides to do his paper on Vincent.
The young boy observes that Vincent is lonely, has many
disappointments, and is quite self-destructive.
But he finds out Vincent was a hero in the Vietnam War.
And the old man regularly visits a woman who is in a nursing
home.
Vincent lavishes attention on her and expects nothing in
return.
In his speech to the school, Oliver credits Vincent for
giving him the courage to take risks and to stand up for
his principles.
He portrays Vincent as a sinner who keeps on trying to be
good and to do good.
In short, he is a good-enough saint.
#66545
A. Our world needs more saints.
1) Not the Hollywood kind, but the God-loving kind.
2) A true, God-loving, saint will not just have a strong
connection to the divine, but to people around them.
3) Are you this kind of saint? Are you worthy of a homework
assignment?
B. Peter has come to a critical point in his letter.
1) He has focused on our need to submit to government and
bosses and spouses.
2) In each case, we may find ourselves submitting to people
who don't treat us right. But we submit to them anyway.
3) We do it because we don't have to have worldly power.
We need to portray God's sacrificial love.
4) In this short passage Peter sums up the qualities of those
who do it right.
II. Five qualities God wants to see in his saints.
A. Like-minded.
1) Our character is determined and revealed by what we focus on.
2) Christians should share common values that are informed by
God's Word.
3) Like-minded is not just agreeing among ourselves on doctrine
but sharing in the truth of God.
4) We to try to think the way Christ thinks.
B. Sympathetic.
1) Root of Greek word - suffer together with others.
(Randy brought this out in one of his S.S. classes)
2) Like the rest of these qualities, it is a virtue that
focuses on others. It deals with relationships.
3) The best sympathy is shown concretely.
In December 2020, police officer Matt Lima was called to a
food store in Somerset, Massachusetts.
Two women were caught not scanning all of their groceries.
When Lima questioned them, the family said they had fallen
on hard times and couldn't afford to pay for all the food.
They just wanted to give their children a decent Christmas
dinner.
Officer Lima served them with a "no trespass" order but
did not press charges on them since it was only for food.
Instead, he gave them $250 in food cards, from his own money.
The women were shocked. They thought they were going to be
arrested or have to go to court.
Officer Lima said afterwards, "I just did what I felt was
right. I just tried to put myself in that family's shoes
and show a little bit of empathy."
#66366
C. Lovers of one another.
1) The Greek word here is "philadelphoi" from which we get the
word Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.
a) Well, maybe not too brotherly - it has the 12th highest
murder rate in the United States.
1> Philadelphia, 22 per 100,000.
2> Boothbay Harbor, 2 per 100,000.
3> (one murder in Boothbay would give us a rate of 33,
or 50% higher than Philadelphia)
2) This is the only place in the New Testament it occurs as
a verb.
a) Our culture equates love with eroticism but the Bible
associates it with true caring.
b) To Jesus, it's the truest sign of Christian faith.
1> By our love, others know that we are Christians.
John 13:35
A> What do they think about YOU??
2> Similar to a wheel - the closer we get to the hub
(Jesus) the closer we get to the other spokes
(people).
c) Christian love emphasizes how we are related to one
another... even if we don't realize it.
Jane and Robert Handly wrote about a high school English
teacher in Texas.
A few days before the start of a new school year, one of her
former students visited her in her classroom.
She did not recognize the young man who knelt down beside her
to thank her for all she had done for him.
"I have a good job, a wonderful wife, and two little girls,"
he told his former teacher proudly.
She desperately wanted to remember who he was, but she
couldn't.
Over the years there had been so many students that she lost
track.
He told her, "I came to tell you that I graduated from high
school because of you.
"I knew you loved me when I was your student because you would
walk around the room while you lectured, and you would stop
at my desk and put your hand on my shoulder."
This teacher made a world of difference in the life of this
young man.
He told her, "When you returned my papers and they weren't
very good, you always wrote something encouraging."
This young man's high school years were very difficult.
His father had shot and killed his mother in a drunken
argument.
He said, "The other teachers acted as if they despised me,
but you kept on treating me as if I was somebody.
"I want to thank you for loving me.
It's made all the difference in my life."
The teacher hadn't even known that this tragedy had happened
to the young man.
She had simply loved all of her students.
Do people feel loved this way by you?
#2764
D. Compassionate.
1) Some translations have "tender hearted."
2) Literally, it means our intestines yearn for them.
a) The ancient Jews associated the intestines with tender
feelings. (think of that quaint phrase in the King
James Bible, "the bowels of Christ)
b) The Greeks did not - they associated intestines with
courage. That is why we still refer to having
"guts" to do a bold action.
c) "Hearts" is a good modern equivalent to intestines.
3) As a verb, this word is only used of Jesus in the
New Testament.
4) Compare Ephesians 4:31-32.
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling
and slander, along with every form of malice.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving
one another, just as in Christ God forgave you."
a) Compassion involves forgiveness and understanding,
and concern for each other's needs.
b) Even among Christians, compassion can be sorely lacking.
Judy Bates was attending a huge Christian music event
and was waiting in a line to enter a restroom.
When she finally made it inside, about 20 other women
were also there.
Above the roar of hand dryers there was chatter and
laughter, but there was also another sound.
In the far corner, a woman faced the wall and was
sobbing uncontrollably.
Judy didn't know how long this had been going on, but
she was appalled to see how every woman there was
simply ignoring the situation.
They either didn't know how to handle it or didn't
want to become involved in it.
Judy couldn't ignore her.
She excused her way through the crowd and went to the
lady.
She gently put her hand on her shoulder and asked,
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
The woman turned and, between sobs, said she was the
mother of a family group that was currently on stage.
She had just received a phone call that her own mother
had passed away.
Surrounded by professing believers at a Christian event,
this woman was dealing with a devastating heartache
alone.
Jesus Christ had compassion for the hurting.
How much are you like Jesus?
#64404
5) It is important to feel others' hurts.
a) We cannot know how other people feel, but we can try.
1> Listen to their hurts.
2> Spend time with them even when you don't have words.
b) A little compassion can make a big difference.
Mother Teresa once said this:
"The biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer.
It's the feeling of being uncared for or unwanted, of
being deserted and alone.
The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity.
It's an indifference toward one's neighbor who may be
the victim of poverty or disease or exploited and
at the end of his life, left at a roadside."
#2825
c) Don't burn out.
1> Charities and "compassion fatigue."
2> We want to see results, and quickly. We want it
over with.
3> Christian compassion is patient and doesn't quit.
E. Humble.
1) Not a quality the Greek world admired - they saw it as a
virtue for doormats.
2) Christians honor humility.
a) We admit that humans are sinners and need God.
b) We look to Jesus as the ultimate example of the power
of humility.
3) Don't take humility for granted.
a) One person has said, "Humility is a trait so rare,
when you realize you have it, you've lost it."
b) It is interesting that Numbers 12:3 says that Moses
was "a very humble man, more humble than anyone
else on the face of the earth."
Who wrote the book of Numbers? Traditionally, Moses
is given the credit.
Did he write this about himself??
(Most modern translations put the verse in parentheses
to show a later editor has inserted it.)
E. Are you lacking in these qualities?
1) Get involved in a ministry that forces you to use them.
2) For me, becoming a pastor put me in situations where I had
to overcome my natural shyness and connect with people.
III. What do we do with rotten people?
A. Easy to get along with nice people - real test is rotten ones.
The German philosopher Schopenhauer compared the human race
to a bunch of porcupines huddling together on a cold
winter's night.
He said, "The colder it gets outside, the more we huddle
together for warmth;
But the closer we get to one another, the more we hurt one
another with our sharp quills.
And in the lonely night of earth's winter eventually we
begin to drift apart and wander out on our own and
freeze to death in our loneliness."
Christ has given us an alternative: to forgive each other
for the pokes we receive.
That allows us to stay together and stay warm.
#3931
1) It can be hard to get along with other Christians.
a) Churches can have conflict just like any other group.
b) Our own church has had its fair share.
2) It was even harder in Peter's situation because they were
opposed by persecutors and hostile governments.
a) The Christians had no earthly power.
b) But they had God on their side.
B. Positive love can seem unjust.
1) Not repaying evil or turning the other cheek to insults
doesn't seem fair.
a) It lets bad people get off the hook.
b) And it isn't fair - it is pure grace.
c) It is also taught explicitly by our Lord Jesus Christ.
2) Notice that we must go beyond non-retaliation.
a) Peter calls us to actively love and bless them.
b) This is what loving our enemies is all about.
c) Do to them what you would want done to you.
C. Almost seems wrong to us - fake our feelings?
1) We are not called to have fuzzy feelings but loving actions.
a) We can choose to be loving to anyone.
b) Rabbi I knew said it was hard to understand this.
c) It is hard, and requires faith in a God who is in
control, even when we cannot see it ourselves.
2) If we practice this we will receive a blessing.
a) Even when strained relationships don't end up
reconciling, we can still be blessed by God.
b) God's approval is all that should matter to us.
IV. It is ancient wisdom.
A. Peter's advice in grounded in Jesus, and even King David.
1) Peter quotes extensively from Psalm 34.
a) He already alluded to this psalm in 1 Peter 2:3,
where he quotes "you have tasted that the Lord is
good" from the psalm.
2) This psalm is about how God delivers the righteous who are
suffering. This is also the main point in 1 Peter.
B. David was opposed by evil people who wanted to tear him down.
1) This was not an excuse for him to be evil in return.
a) He has to keep control of his words.
b) He has to keep his actions positive.
2) These actions are still needed today: do good, seek peace.
a) God will deal with the enemies.
V. Why can't people just get along?
A. It is common sense that loving people will be loved.
1) Peter assumes this in verse 13.
2) But he knows this isn't always the case in our broken world.
a) You can suffer even if you are doing the right thing.
b) But God is still on your side, so don't fear their
threats.
B. Rodney King's meek request.
1) In 1991, Rodney King was brutally beaten by a mob of police.
A bystander had a video-camera and recorded Rodney being
kicked and hit at least 33 times with nightsticks.
The cameraman offered the video to the police but they
weren't interested.
So he took the tape to a local TV station.
It went viral, as we say today.
The policemen were put on trial in a California court.
The jury acquitted all of them.
Los Angeles erupted in a riot that killed 63 people.
Rodney King made a plea to his city: "We all can get along.
We just gotta. We gotta."
It is often paraphrased, "Why can't we all just get along?"
[1]
2) We cannot get along just because we wish it, and it cannot
be commanded.
a) People have to be changed first.
3) It is not enough to go out and do some nice things.
a) The "St. Vincent" movie might give that impression.
b) Bible scholars call that "works righteousness."
1> Many people think that is what religion is all about
but they are wrong.
2> In the Bible salvation comes when you admit how far
you have fallen from God.
3> And God is the only one who can do anything about it.
A> He did something by sending his Son, Jesus, to
die for you.
B> You must acknowledge this and pledge from your
heart to follow him.
C. God takes moral sides.
1) He favors the righteous.
a) They are ones who can expect prayers to be answered.
b) God sends his blessings on them, now or in heaven.
2) Are you one of the righteous, the real saints?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
1. “Rodney King,” Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King>.
A separate federal trial convicted the officers.
# 2764 “A Teacher Who Made A Difference,” by Jane and Robert Handly,
Dynamic Preaching (www.sermons.com) Disk, Winter 1993 "A"
January 1993. Original source is Jane and Robert Handly,
“The Life Plus Program for Getting Unstuck (New York: Rawson
Associates, 1989), pp. 56-57.
# 2825 “Why Do We Call Him Good?” by Dr. Ronald Love, Dynamic Preaching
(www.sermons.com) Disk, July 1993
# 3931 “To Illustrate: Harmony,” by Wayne Brouwer of Holland, Michigan;
Online Leadership Journal (America Online), August 23, 1992.
#66366 “Policeman Buys Family Food Instead of Arresting Them For
Shoplifting,” (no author given), BBC News, January 3, 2021;
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55522825>.
#66545 “A Good-Enough Saint,” by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat; adapted
by Rev. David Holwick; <https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/27342/st-vincent>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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