06-13-2021 – “Life, Love, Good Days”

Bible Text: 1Peter 3:10-12 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: 1Peter |

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6-13-2021
1Peter 3:10–12
Life, Love, and Good Days…

Today we will be studying 1Peter 3:10–12, but for context let’s go back and read from verse 8.

Read 1Peter 3:8–12…

Notice the connecting word “For,” at the beginning of verse 10; this connects Peter’s instruction in verses 8-9 to his summation in verses 10-12, where Peter quotes Psalm 34:12-16, in order to show that even before Christ, as written in the Old Testament, mankind desired to love life and to experience good days.

Ecclesiastes 2:24,
“There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.”

Ecclesiastes 3:10,
“I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.”

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13,
“I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God.”

Ecclesiastes 5:19,
”Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.”

If we are to truly love life and see good days, as God intended, we will do so according to the authority, the provision, and the purpose of God. Let’s look more closely at the

first part of 1Peter 3:10 :
“The one who desires life, to love and see good days.” Peter doesn’t use the Greek word bios [biological, mortal life] here for the word “life,” but instead he uses the Greek word zoen [the fullest life, i.e., spiritual, eternal, pleasing to God life]. Unbelievers are physically alive but spiritually dead!

For the word “love,” Peter uses the Greek word agapan, the noun form of the Greek word agape [this is selfless, sacrificial, Godly love, like God the Father has for us], it is a love that is an action of the will, the intentional doing what is necessary, not just having feelings about it

(see John 15:13),
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

There are two main Greek words translated love in the New Testament: Agape, the highest form of love [Godly love, divine love], the love that only children of God can know and share; and Phileo, the love of kind feelings and affection [brotherly love], the love of close friendship.

Now let’s add the

second part of 1Peter 3:10,
to the first part: “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.” If you really want to love life and see good days, you must keep control of your tongue and the words that come out of your mouth; this is not an easy task all the time, for most of us.

James 3:3-10,
“Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.”

Now, look again at

1Peter 3:11,
“He (The one who desires life, to love and see good days) must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.” God commands His people to turn completely away from all evil, to do only what is good, to seek after peace like one aggressively hunting after the most valuable treasure, making an intense effort to be a peacemaker.

This is the message Peter has been proclaiming since

1Peter 2:11-12,
“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

It is not only important because we are brothers and sisters in Christ; but because we are ambassadors of Christ, urging unbelievers to be reconciled to God through Christ’s death and resurrection

(2Corinthians 5:17-21),
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

In 1Peter 3:9,
we are commanded not to respond to insult with insult or evil with evil, but we are to be, “giving a blessing instead.”

We should be a blessing to both believers and unbelievers; for we are called to be peacemakers, in a world that doesn’t have and cannot know peace, because it rejects Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Please turn to Matthew 5:1-9…

As citizens of God’s Kingdom, we must be the peacemakers here on earth, even though the world is against us (see Matthew 5:10-11).

Paul says (Romans 12:18),
“If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men,”

(Romans 14:19),
“So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.”

We are to be peacemakers.

We are to do everything possible to maintain peace in family of God, but also in the chaotic, confused and corrupt culture around us.

1Peter 3:12
[quoting Psalm 34:15-16],
tells us why we are to live like those who desire life, to love and see good days; those who keep their tongues from speaking evil and deceit, trying to do good while seeking peace: “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Look again at the first two phrases of 1Peter 3:12. God is watching over us, listening to our prayers, like a loving Father.

Some Christian parents have said to their children, at one time or another, “God is watching everything you do. I may not see it, your mother may not see it, but God sees it.”

That is not the focus of what Peter means here. This is not about putting fear in your heart concerning the Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God; but instead, that God is looking out for and listening to the prayers of His children; God is watchful so that He might provide for and protect us.

God knows our every need, and yet He wants us to come to Him in prayer, asking for His help. God even tells us what to pray for (see Matthew 6:7-13).

But look at the last part of 1Peter 3:12,
“But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

How is “the face of the Lord” different from “The eyes and ears of the Lord?” In the Old Testament, “The eyes of the Lord” has to do with God’s watchfulness, whereas, “The face of the Lord” is most often used to refer to God’s anger and His judgment.

Leviticus 17:10,
“Any man from the house of Israel or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person.”

Leviticus 20:6,
“As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.”

Psalm 34:16,
“The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.”

We are to live in such a way that the eyes of the Lord are on us as He listens to our prayers and meets our needs; rather than to live in wickedness and evil, so that God’s face is set against us in anger.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray

(Matthew 6:13),
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Does God lead us into temptation? Does God tempt us? No! But He does allow us to be tested.

1Corinthians 10:13,
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

James 1:13-15,
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

How does God deliver us from evil? He protects and provides for us, and He has given us everything we need so that we will not be deceived or corrupted by sin, but instead will be victorious in Christ.

Romans 12:2,
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

2Timothy 3:16-17,
“All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man (woman and child) of God may be adequate [complete], [fully] equipped for every good work.”

2Peter 1:2-4,
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

Paul exclaims

(1Corinthians 15:57),
“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The truth is, those who desire life, to love and see good days, as children of God, ambassadors of Christ, and temples of the Holy Spirit, should exemplify what is commanded in

1Thessalonians 5:16-18,
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

In Christ we have everything now and forever; without Christ we have nothing.
No wonder Paul writes
(2Corinthians 9:15),
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” That Gift is Jesus Christ: crucified, resurrected, and coming again.
Pastor Mike
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