Fifth Sunday after Trinity
1 Peter 3:8-15

The World Cup Championship between Germany and Brazil was played very early this morning. The American soccer team played their best World Cup ever this year, so did South Korea. In fact, South Korea made it to the semi-finals. I heard that several thousand Koreans gathered in Los Angeles to watch that game on big-screen television. The conduct of the Koreans was admirable. As soon as the game was over, they all got up and politely went home, picking up their trash. What a contrast with American teams. Typically, fans riot, break windows, burn cars, and destroy property after an important game. Such behavior reflects a widespread character problem.

What are the marks of Christian character? How should Christians treat each other? What kind of attitudes should a believer have toward those outside the Church, including enemies? The apostle Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, puts good counsel at our disposal. We do well to seize these principles. They can assist us as we use God's grace to emulate the character of Christ.

First Peter 3:8 says, "Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous." St. Peter sets down five duties of Christian discipleship. Let's consider them one at a time.

"One-mindedness or being of one mind" suggests harmony. Christians share the same faith and thinking, and thus we benefit from a common vision and purpose. We may not walk lockstep on every detail of doctrine, but we agree on the essentials and we hold them agreeably. What a blessing one-mindedness is! A similar worldview and lifelong goal does much to smooth out marriages, bring harmony to the Church, and create close bonds of friendship. Isn't it one-mindedness that causes relationships between brothers and sisters in the Church to become more intimate than bonds between physical brothers and sisters? Kent Bartel and I were commenting on this truth as we camped this week. Sharing the same mind on matters of faith and life allows our discussions to bounce back and forth between deep issues and superficial ones. Time spent together is pleasant. On the other hand, if people hold dissonant ideas on the crucial matters of life, to avoid strife they must limit their conversation to shallow topics.

Aside from one-mindedness, believers are marked by "compassion." Compassion means literally "suffering together." Compassion moves one to share emotions, whether those emotions are sad or joyful. We suffer with those who suffer and rejoice with those who rejoice. Is compassion a natural feeling? Probably not. For most, it is a habit that we acquire by God's grace and the Holy Spirit's assistance. Moreover, compassion must be guided by good judgment and justice. Author Marvin Olasky wrote a book called The Tragedy of American Compassion . He was referring to the mindless bureaucratic programs of compassion that throw money at societal problems. Too often bureaucrats concoct compassionate sounding schemes without a thought for the long-term consequences. They appear unaware that their projects may actually hurt the people they are intending to help.

True compassion demands personal involvement. It seeks a genuine, long-term solution to the needs of people. Our Heavenly Father smiles when we show concern and care for those in distress or in tough situations.

"Love as brothers" is the next duty. This is Philadelphia love as opposed to agape and eros love. The Greeks used the term philadelphoi with regards to the love of physical brothers and sisters. The Church took the word and made it apply to the brotherhood in Christ. As Calvin remarked, "Where God is known as a Father, there and only there brotherhood really exists."

"Be tenderhearted." The root of this word has to do with the viscera: the heart, liver and kidneys. The Hebrews believed that emotions originated from the inner organs. Philadelphia love between God's children is warm and affectionate as we sing together, rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. The sufferings and trials of others stir us to the depths. Such tenderhearted, compassionate feeling toward the needy shouldn't be restricted to the Church. We are also sensitive to the emergencies and difficulties of those outside the Church.

John Donne brings out this truth in his sermon "For Whom the Bell Tolls." John Donne was an Anglican Priest who lived from 1572 to 1631. It was a custom in his day that the Church bell be sounded when somebody in the parish passed away. Perhaps a mother or father working in the field might hear the sad bell tolling. They would ask one of their servants or children to run and inquire who had died. This custom sets the context for John Donne's sermon. He said,

The Church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and engrafted into the body whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author and is one volume.

Here we see that Donne's affection for mankind crosses over the frontiers of the Church. He asks that our tenderheartedness extend to every innocent person on the earth's orb. You've probably heard the next words of Donne's sermon: "No man is an island. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

The example of Christ asks us to sympathize with the pain and death of every person in the world. In our day, this is hard. With so much tragic news bombarding us daily we tend to get jaded. Our hearts become hardened and are rarely touched to compassion. How can we feel anything for the slavery of southern Sudanese? What emotion rises up in us at the drowning of hundreds on a ship off the coast of Indonesia? How about the thousands left homeless by a hurricane in Bangladesh? The sudden end of hundreds in a train accident in India? Or even the ambulance siren that we hear going down the street? Is there no more pity in our being? O Lord, you have commanded us to be tenderhearted. Please help us to overcome the terrible jadedness of our hearts.

"Be courteous" Peter admonishes. Christian character is marked by good manners. We are friendly with others. We say "please" and we say "thank you." We treat people with politeness, proper etiquette, and reverence.

Summing up the verse: one-mindedness, compassion, Philadelphia love, tenderheartedness, courtesy ­ these qualities highlight our relationship with believers; to a large extent they frame our relation to those outside the Church as well.

Now reading 1 Peter 3:8-12:

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For

He who would love life
And see good days
Let him refrain his tongue from evil
And his lips from speaking deceit.
Let him turn away from evil and do good;
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their prayers;
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

The apostle now instructs Christians how they are to treat the unfriendly, and those who try to run them down. What does it mean to bless those who speak evil of us? It means that we show them active kindness, speaking well of those who speak ill of us, bestowing blessings upon them, and praying God's benediction upon them.

Peter tells us in effect: "If you love eternal life and desire to see good days on earth and in heaven then you must refrain from language calculated to harm."

No doubt, there is a proper place for powerful and prophetic proclamations against sin and sinners. Yet under normal conditions and circumstances we are to resist the temptation to return evil for evil, insult for insult. Such verbal retaliation can lead not only to the breakdown of relationships but to the deterioration of soul and body as well. St. Peter says in verse ten, "He who would love life and see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it." Peter brings out a link that we should not neglect. He binds longevity and good living to self-restraint. The one leads to the other. Self-control leads to long life and peace. Do long life and good days appeal to you? Then control your tongue. Don't lash out at people. Get a grip on your anger.

The reverse is also true. Do you want to live a miserable, short and nasty existence? Then get mean and get even. Vent your steam. Rant and rave and throw fits.

The 60s generation told us that it was healthy to vent. Catharsis became a popular psychological technique. Catharsis means "cleansing" or "cleaning out." The goal was to clean out one's ugly and hateful feelings within by releasing them. One counselor I knew worked with teenage criminals. As a therapy he taught his counselees to hit him with a pillow while yelling obscenities. The theory was that you could clean out the badness in an innocent setting so as not to trigger the fury in a real situation. I saw my counselor friend one day with a bruise on his arm. "How did you get that?" "A pillow session got out of hand a couple days ago," he responded.

Well, the catharsis theory has been debunked. No reputable professional believes it anymore. Hot wind blowing on a fire actually makes the fire bigger. It has been found that the violent expression of anger is harmful to your health. Have you ever known walking pressure cookers? Angry, impatient personalities are ready to explode if someone is slow or reckless with them. They distrust people. They are cynical and tend to distrust the motives of others. When someone annoys them they thirst for revenge. They are walking pressure cookers. Does God bless them? No. Recent research reveals that pressure cookers suffer from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and undergo heart attacks at a much younger age.

I once had a friend who grew up in a large family of five brothers. They liked pets. Their house was a zoo ­ cats, dogs, iguanas, turtles, frogs, you name it. One summer day it occurred to the brothers to release the iguana lizard from his cage and let him play with the cat. One brother brought the cat upstairs into the bedroom as my friend Charlie took the iguana out of his cage. Now they could have fellowship.

However, things did not turn out as expected. Charlie crouched on the floor holding the iguana with both hands around the belly. The other brother put the cat down on the floor. He zeroed in on the iguana with eyes ablaze. As quick as light the cat pounced on the iguana, bit off its head, and began crunching it. The sight of a decapitated iguana and the sound of crackling skull bones meant that there was nothing left to do but watch the kitty swallow the treat.

Justice was served three days later when the cat got sick and died. Apparently, iguanas possess some kind of toxin in their bodies that make them poisonous to felines. What is the point? It does not pay to bite off another person's head. An angry tongue will not prosper. Hostility kills the body and the soul.

How do we avoid reviling and revenge? St. Peter tells us to "turn away from evil and do good;" "seek peace and pursue it." How does this work in practice? I know a pastor who has the habit of responding with humor when someone says something rude or does something obnoxious to him. It's amazing. He's able to put a comical spin on a negative situation. When someone cuts him off on the way to Church he says, "That guy must be in a hurry to get to Church and worship the Lord." The joke strategy may not work for everyone however, but it is worth a try.

Another strategy is to let the snub go and give it some time. Letting it go does not mean that you are going to ignore it; you'll take time to make an intelligent choice about how you will behave, then respond calmly. Frequently people try to get even without a time to cool down. That spells trouble. Quick-reacting, impetuous anger results in lips that speak deceit and a tongue that utters evil. Do you want to regret your words? Then retaliate immediately when your feathers are ruffled.

How else can we pursue peace and attain righteousness in this matter? Distrusting other people's motives is a major obstacle. Ascribing the worst possible motives to the actions of others violates our Lord's commandment to love our neighbor. Children get caught in the habit of distrusting the intentions of their playmates, and if not taught differently, it can make them bitter and angry. "The reason he didn't pick you on his baseball team is not because he hates you, he just wanted a better team." "She didn't leave your room a mess in order to make you angry, she was merely having a lot of fun and forgot to clean it up." We adults as well need to put the best possible analysis on things. "She did not fail to return your phone call with the intent to insult you. She must be busy or out of town." How can we avoid anger and reviling? By learning to judge more charitably the motivations of those who appear to treat us unfairly.

Does St. Peter have any more council for preventing blow-ups? Yes, he calls us to prayer: "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers." Do you have a daily time of prayer and solitude? Prayer helps us become easy- going and better equipped to deal with our emotions. Prayer teaches us self-control.

On this fifth Sunday after Trinity the Church calls you to Christian character. We desperately need it. Ours is a perverse and jaded age. The Christian often feels like an alien living in a foreign country where courtesy, self-control, and godly character are things to be laughed at. Look around and we see plenty of emphasis on health and prosperity, good grades and getting ahead, sex and entertainment, but precious little about good character. Do you want to be truly counter-cultural? Then strive to be Christ-like. No other goal brings such blessing for this life and the next.

Return to Sermons