“Whoever desires to love life
    and see good days,
let him keep 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 prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”—1 Peter 3:8–12

Introduction

2020 is one of those years that we will tell our children and grandchildren about. I recently read a report saying that pastors will be among the casualties of 2020. There is widespread fatigue and burn out and the survey said the number one reason was the polarizing response to government regulations (like whether to wear masks or not), political tensions (Republican vs. Democrat), and race relations (everyone has an opinion on what should be done). 

This survey was discouraging to me for a number of reasons, but perhaps the biggest reason was that this is exactly the polar opposite vision of 1 Peter. When the church finds itself in the cultural pressure cooker, that is when the church is called to unite together, not splinter apart. Peter’s proposed remedy for social hostility and alienation from the citizens of earth is the rich fellowship found among the citizens of heaven. In fact, Peter has a vision for what distinctive Christian conduct will look like both (1) in the church and (2) outside the church.

Main Point

Christians show family love to those in the church and they are called to obtain an eternal blessing as they offer blessing to those outside the church rather than retaliation. 

Outline

1. In the Church (1 Peter 3:8)

• The Mind: Unity of Mind and Humility of Mind (v. 8)
• The Heart: Sympathy and Tenderness of Heart (v. 8)
• Family Love (v. 8)

2. Outside the Church (1 Peter 3:9–12)

• The Call to Give Blessing (v. 9a)
• The Call to Obtain Blessing (v. 9b)
• The Proof of Psalm 34 (vv. 10–12) 

1) In the Church (1 Peter 3:8)

One of the things that I enjoy doing is grilling. I like to experiment with different flavor profiles in making rubs and sauces. One recipe that I always look forward to making is a smoked strawberry parfait. I apologize for any drooling that reading about this dessert may cause. One of the best aspects of this dessert is that it is sweet, sour, and smoky.

This text gives us a stunning flavor profile as Peter highlights the necessary ingredients in the recipe for a vibrant Christian community. Five ingredients are essential for this type of community, and they are all found in 1 Peter 3:8. 

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

Peter’s list of ingredients are (1) unity of mind, (2) sympathy, (3) brotherly love, (4) a tender heart, and (5) a humble mind. In fact, these five ingredients show a symmetrical structure called a chiasm:

A Unity of Mind
   B Sympathy
       C Brotherly Love
   B´ Tender Heart
A´ Humble Mind

In fact, the first word and the last word share the same root word, which the ESV has translated as “mind” (ὁμόφρονες) and (ταπεινόφρονες). In each case, a prefix is added to tell us what kind of mind we should have. The first is “like”-minded or “of the same mind,” which the ESV translates as “unity of mind.” The last word has the prefix “low,” so it means “lowly-minded” or, as the ESV translates, “humble mind.”

A) Unity of Mind/Humble Mind

Like-mindedness is essential in that it creates community cohesiveness. What is interesting is that when you look at Greco-Roman literature during Peter’s day, they also valued this attribute as a community virtue. Commentator Karen Jobes puts it very well.

For instance, the first term, “like-mindedness” (ὁμόφρων, homophrōn), refers to sharing “a common heritage of faith and ethical tradition” (Selwyn 1958: 189) that is valued by Greco-Roman society because it produces the cohesion needed to sustain a community. Even though like-mindedness was valued by society at large, Peter calls the Christian community to a like-mindedness that does not reinforce their cohesion with society at large but actually subverts it. As defined by the apostle, the like-mindedness implicitly calls them to reject the religion and ethical tradition that has informed their former “useless” way of life inherited from their ancestors (1 Pet. 1:18) and to embrace apostolic teaching. Like-mindedness is perhaps the foundational value of the Christian community that unifies people from various races and religions joined together in belief in Christ.[1]

But this common mindset does not create high-mindedness (i.e., “look at us, aren’t we special, we are better than others”). Rather, the Christian community is marked by low-mindedness. This attribute was extremely countercultural because it was not prized by Roman society. Quite the opposite. Listen to Karen Jobes again. 

The second quality mentioned, humility (ταπεινόφρων, tapeinophrōn), was disdained in first-century Greco-Roman society and would have been quite a countercultural value. As J.H. Elliott observes (2000: 605): “In the highly competitive and stratified world of Greco-Roman antiquity, only those of degraded social status were ‘humble,’ and humility was regarded as a sign of weakness and shame, an inability to defend one’s honor. Thus the high value placed on humility by Israelites and Christians is remarkable.”[2]

This mindset is the opposite of pride. Pride is self-fixation and self-preoccupation. Humility practices self-forgetfulness—not thinking less of yourself but thinking about yourself less (C.S. Lewis) and thus being free to focus more on the needs of others. This same word shows up in Philippians 2:3—with lowliness of mind counting the needs of others as more important than your own.

B) Sympathy/Tender Heart 

The word for sympathy (συμπαθεῖς) literally means to “feel with” or to “suffer with.” It is used only here in the New Testament. Once you are free from being trapped inside your own bubble, you can live outside of your own thoughts and feelings and cultivate sympathy and compassion for others. 

The term for having a “tender heart” is very picturesque. The word translated “tender heart” refers to your gut (εὔσπλαγχνοι). We get the word splanchnology from this word—the study of the gut. It is like having a gut feeling—something that you feel not just lightly on the surface, but deep down. If you care about something enough, you can sometimes get a stomachache. This word means that you “ache” for the hurts and struggles of others. And obviously you cannot do this type of deeper feeling work if you are fixated on yourself. But you have to enter into the life of another person—feel what is hard for them, care about what they are thinking about and feeling and where there are areas of hurts and fears.

C) Family Love

In other words, he begins with the mind, then the heart, and in the middle you have “brotherly love.” Peter has taken this call to love one another as family and threaded into throughout the entire letter (1 Peter 1:22–23; 2:17).

It is striking that both terms “tender heart” and “brotherly love” were kinship terms in the first century.

These terms, particularly “brotherly love” (φιλάδελφος, philadelphos) and “compassion” (εὔσπλαγχνος, eusplanchnos), were used with reference to kinship obligations (Pilch and Malina 1993: 28–115). Peter feels free to apply to the Christian community terms commonly used of family relationships, apparently following the thought that their new birth generated by God the Father (1 Peter1:3–4) makes the Christian community into a family.[3]

Family love for fellow Christians will flow out of thinking less about yourself and cultivating a heart that cares about what is hard for others so that you can set your love on them. What a great summary: After going through household instructions for Christians, he reminds them that they are the household of God, and thus they have family obligations to one another that were expected only of biological kin in Roman society.

This solidarity of thinking and affection and action is the only way that these believers from different ethnic backgrounds are going to have harmony within the household of God and have the united front that they would need in the face of a hostile world. 

Application

We have to recognize how counter-cultural these virtues are – not only in the first century, but especially in the West today in which we live. These ingredients all presume a commitment to community, which can clash with Modern Western individualistic thinking (commitment to myself first and foremost). Commitment is often evaluated in terms of individual needs (how will this benefit me)? We even talk about a fear of commitment because something better will come along for me (keep my options open until the end). Christ created a community that is his family. Therefore, our oneness or unity of mind must include a focus on conforming our goals and expectations and actions to the greater flourishing of Christ’s family over and above our individual conveniences and personal preferences.

2) Outside the Church (1 Peter 3:9–12)

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For

These verses have three main movements: first, a calling to offer blessing (v. 9); second, a calling to obtain blessing (v. 9b); and third, biblical proof (vv. 10–12; Psalm 34).

A) Called to Offer Blessing (1 Peter 3:9)

Peter calls us to a life of blessing non-believers. When people talk about living a life of blessing, they tend to think of blessing they receive, not blessing that they give. But these are more interrelated than we may first think. 

Peter says you may receive reviling from others, but give blessing in return. This verse is a great transition into the wider point of 1 Peter in terms of how citizens of heaven should engage as exiles on earth with a society that is often hostile to Christians. What kind of hostility did they face? It is vitally important to get the historical context and the cultural context before us so that these verses will make even more sense. 

Citing Malina (1993: 28–62), J. H. Elliott (2000: 607) identifies the expressions of hostility as insult, defamation of character, and verbal abuse, the “weapons typically employed in an agonistic honor-and-shame society for challenging the honor of others and publicly shaming and discrediting those who are different or regarded as one’s competitors.” So understood, the Christian response of non-retaliation would be startling within that culture. Peter instructs Christians to forgo the usual verbal retaliation that would be necessary to successfully defend one’s honor and the reputation of one’s community. Given the tendency of human nature to retaliate, coupled with the social expectation to do so, the Christian who refrains from verbal retaliation and instead offers blessing would give unbelievers pause.[4] 

People often wonder what evangelism can look like in today’s world. Too often people have the idea that evangelism is just going door to door and sharing the gospel with people who answer the door that you have never met before (cold call evangelism). But rarely do we understand that what Peter is saying here is a necessary part of our evangelistic witness. People may not feel compelled to listen because of extensive evidence or persuasive arguments. We often win a hearing when they see inexplicable kindness and compassion—it will be so different that it will seem like it came from a different world. And it did. It came from those who are citizens of another world.

We avoid a “get even” mentality. Instead, we recognize that our calling is to bless, not curse. When we are criticized, maligned, and scorned, it does not take any special grace or any Holy Spirit power to retaliate and fight back. In fact, one author called it the dodgeball effect. When the ball is thrown at us, it is very hard not to throw it back (cf. Elliot Clark, Evangelism as Exiles, p. 70).

Peter talks about something here that is not natural, but supernatural. That is why it is beautiful behavior that shows the excellencies of Christ. We are not just called to the absence of retaliation, but the active response of blessing (3:9). We show respect and honor to everyone (2:17; 3:2) – whether tyrants like Nero (2:17), or unjust masters (2:18), or unbelieving husbands (3:2) or deadbeat dads. Part of honoring is not just showing respect with our actions, but speaking a blessing with our lips. Again, this is a call to bless everyone. Not just people who deserve it. The very people that are scorning and criticizing and cursing you (unjustly) are to receive not what is due them (cursing back), but blessing.

Called to Obtain Blessing (1 Peter 3:9)

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

Why would Christians be so intent on giving a blessing? Peter cites Psalm 34 to prove that speaking blessing is essential for obtaining the blessing of eternal life.

Christians are called to obtain an eternal blessing as they offer blessing to those outside the church rather than retaliation.

B) The Proof of Psalm 34 (vv. 10–12)

Who are the people that have eternal life as heaven’s citizens and are headed for everlasting blessedness? You can tell by their tongues. Listen to verse 10.

For

Recall that Peter alluded to this Psalm already back in 1 Peter 2:3 (“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good”). Peter did not just haphazardly quote this psalm out of context. The entire psalm profoundly applies to Peter’s readers. The theme of the psalm is that the righteous can be confident that God will deliver them even when they are afflicted and suffering. They are to set their hope in God (Psalm 33:9, 23; 1 Peter 1:13) and are to fear the Lord (Psalm 33:10, 12; 1 Peter 1:17). In fact, there is a powerful connection in the Greek version of Psalm 34:4 to the context and setting of 1 Peter.

 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears [Septuagint, “all my sojournings”]. 

Remember the superscription of the Psalm:

Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

David is a sojourner away from the Promised Land, having to turn to the Lord during this time of sojourn.

This section of the Psalm has a special focus on what we do with our tongue. 

For

Peter already gave believers this warning that the Christian community should be free from these types of sins: So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander (1 Peter 2:1).

Now he extends that to our interactions with non-Christians. We should not speak evil and we should not tell lies about others in an attempt to tear them down. The same was true of Jesus: “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22).

Verse 11 is a fantastic summary of Peter’s point throughout 2:11–3:7. “Turn away from evil” and “do good.” Peter stresses that Christians should not suffer for things that they have done wrong; rather, when they suffer, they should continue to do good as they await the hope that they will glorify God in either salvation in this life or condemnation at the last day.

Application

This is going to be hard, but Christians in this country are going to have to make a change. We cannot mock and scorn and disrespect atheists, Muslims, homosexuals, or people on the other side of the political aisle. Shaming was never a good strategy, but the church could do these things and get away with it when they were the cultural and moral majority. Those days are past. I don’t think mockery was ever a good strategy, but it is even more counterproductive now. These are days to tone down the anger and turn up the dial on our kindness and respect.

We are called to show honor to all, which includes the people with whom we disagree—indeed, perhaps especially so with them. This includes not just the politicians we support, but those we do not. Not just family members who support us, but those who scorn us. Not just the neighbors who are friendly with us, but those who feel difficult and cold.

Therefore, Christians must not play by the world’s rules. Christ calls us away from an unending game of dodgeball. We cannot live like we are engaged in an old-fashioned shootout with muzzleloaders in which shots are fired and you watch the people across from you reloading and preparing to fire back at you. Do you really think the church will win the culture war that way? 

Two Sheep Gates to Shut

When Christ was reviled, he did not throw bombs back at people. Two sheep-gates that need to be shut: (1) non-retaliation means reckless endangerment, and (2) non-retaliation means not caring about justice. 

1. Don’t Retaliate Can Sometimes Mean Run for Cover
   

The Bible does not call us to expose ourselves to as much suffering as possible. The apostle Paul sometimes went into a city knowing that people were going to stone him, while other times he escaped from the city at night. After Paul suffered in Philippi and they wanted to send him away, he sought public justice because they beat a Roman citizen without a trial (he wanted to protect the fledgling church at Philippi from further suffering). But the best example is David in Psalm 34. Saul is trying to kill him. He does not just sit there and let Saul do it. He escapes. He will not take vengeance into his own hands, but neither will he sit there and let Saul spear him. 

2. Don’t Retaliate Does Not Mean You Stop Seeking Justice

The only way you can read non-retaliation as a total lack of concern for justice is to stop reading before the last line of verse 12.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Psalms is also helpful because it helps us see that the righteous sufferer endures injustice because he or she believes that perfect justice is coming. Listen to Romans 12:19–21.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Conclusion: The Family Resemblance

How are we to “put off” a certain way of living? We can only put something off by “putting something else on,” to use the New Testament language for change and sanctification. Being conformed to Christ produces the beautiful behavior that Peter calls for as part of our calling.

How does this text look and feel and sound like Jesus? 

1. The Teaching of Christ
   

First, it sounds exactly like what Jesus taught (Luke 6:26–33).

Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

2. The Life of Christ
   

Second, it sounds like what Jesus did.

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.—1 Peter 2:22–23

Doesn’t that sound like the gospel? Doesn’t that sound like how Christ responded to you?

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.—1 Peter 2:24–25

And he also fulfills these words about sympathy and compassion. He had compassion on the crowd because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). And Hebrews 4:15 tells us we can hold fast to our confession of Christ (v. 14): “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” 

3. The Mind of Christ
   

But even the way we ought to think toward each other is found in Christ. In fact, the word for lowly mind in verse 8, shows up in Paul as well in Philippians 2.

Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Paul goes on to show that Christ set his mind on the needs and interests of others by coming to earth and taking not only the mind of a servant, but the very form of a servant. He came as the suffering servant who set his sights on doing whatever it would take to save us and bring us into his family.
_______

[1] Jobes, K.H. 1 Peter (2005), p. 215, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic
[2] Ibid., p. 215
[3] Ibid., p. 214
[4] Ibid., pp. 216–217

Sermon Discussion Questions

Outline

1. In the Church (1 Peter 3:8)

• The Mind: Unity of Mind and Humility of Mind (v. 8)
• The Heart: Sympathy and Tenderness of Heart (v. 8)
• Family Love (v. 8)

2. Outside the Church (1 Peter 3:9–12)

• The Call to Give Blessing (v. 9a)
• The Call to Obtain Blessing (v. 9b)
• The Proof of Psalm 34 (vv. 10–12)

Main Point: Christians are those who show family love to those in the church and they obtain eternal blessing by offering those outside the church blessing rather than retaliation. 

Discussion Questions

• How does Peter structure verse 8? How does he move from the mind to the heart and then to love?
• How does the call of verse 8 run counter to the culture of Peter’s day?
• How does Peter expect Christians to respond in a hostile culture when they are maligned, criticized, or shamed according to verse 9?
• How does the call of verse 9 run counter to the culture of Peter’s day in an honor and shame culture?
• What is the relationship between the calling to give a blessing and the calling to obtain a blessing in verse 9?
• How does Psalm 34 prove Peter’s point that Christians are called to obtain a blessing (vv. 10–12)?
• How do verses 8–12 invite us into the glories of the teaching of Christ, the life of Christ, and the mind of Christ?
  

Application Questions

•  How does the call of verse 8 run counter to the culture of our day? What are some specific things you could do in different contexts and relationships to live it out more fully and thus shine more brightly in our world today?
• How does the call of verse 9 run counter to the culture of our day? What are some specific things you could do in different contexts and relationships to live it out more fully and thus shine more brightly in our world today?
• How does the teaching, life, and mind of Christ challenge and inspire you and shape you for your calling and growth in sanctification?
• What truths landed upon you in this message that you need to share with others in your life? How can you share these truths? Devote it to prayer!

Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to show family love in the church, and pray for grace to speak blessing outside the church rather than retaliation.