Unselfie Part 3 (3 of 3)
Series: Unselfie
Craig Smith
1 Peter 4: 8-11
I. Introduction: Hard week...(between Charlottesville and Spain). Lots of people asking the question ''what can I do?'' and feeling hopeless.
Two things:
1. As long as God is on His throne and His people are on the ground, there is hope.
2. Think ripples, not results. [ripple image]
II. Main Body
A. Restating the Goal
Peter starts with a command that sounds very much like the one we began our series with. Jesus said ''my command is this: love one another as I have loved you''. Peter picks up that same command and adds a couple of important details:
8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
Peter adds two things here to the command to love others as Jesus has loved us:
1. First, he says love each other deeply. Or at least, that's how the NIV translates it. Other translations say things like ''love each other fervently'' or ''zealously''. I really like ''deeply'', but I want to make sure that we don't misunderstand what he's saying. ''Deeply'' isn't talking about to a depth of feeling...it's talking about an intensity of action. It's the same Greek word used in the Gospels to describe Jesus' prayer on the night before he went to the cross. What Peter is saying is that we are called to love others with an intensity of action.
2. The second thing he adds is that ''love covers over a multitude of sins.'' He's actually quoting Proverbs 10:12 here, which says that hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over wrongs. What he's communicating here is that intense love smothers conflict. It is very difficult to keep a conflict going when someone is loving you intensely, with intense action. [Illustrate]
We could spend a lot of time on just that one truth, but the reason we're looking at this passage today as part of our Unselfie series is what Peter says next. What he says next begins to unpack what this ''love ...
Series: Unselfie
Craig Smith
1 Peter 4: 8-11
I. Introduction: Hard week...(between Charlottesville and Spain). Lots of people asking the question ''what can I do?'' and feeling hopeless.
Two things:
1. As long as God is on His throne and His people are on the ground, there is hope.
2. Think ripples, not results. [ripple image]
II. Main Body
A. Restating the Goal
Peter starts with a command that sounds very much like the one we began our series with. Jesus said ''my command is this: love one another as I have loved you''. Peter picks up that same command and adds a couple of important details:
8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
Peter adds two things here to the command to love others as Jesus has loved us:
1. First, he says love each other deeply. Or at least, that's how the NIV translates it. Other translations say things like ''love each other fervently'' or ''zealously''. I really like ''deeply'', but I want to make sure that we don't misunderstand what he's saying. ''Deeply'' isn't talking about to a depth of feeling...it's talking about an intensity of action. It's the same Greek word used in the Gospels to describe Jesus' prayer on the night before he went to the cross. What Peter is saying is that we are called to love others with an intensity of action.
2. The second thing he adds is that ''love covers over a multitude of sins.'' He's actually quoting Proverbs 10:12 here, which says that hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over wrongs. What he's communicating here is that intense love smothers conflict. It is very difficult to keep a conflict going when someone is loving you intensely, with intense action. [Illustrate]
We could spend a lot of time on just that one truth, but the reason we're looking at this passage today as part of our Unselfie series is what Peter says next. What he says next begins to unpack what this ''love ...
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