After talking about how to relate to the authorities, the masters, the spouses, peter moved on to talk about how to relate generally to the Christians and the non-christians.
in 1 peter 3v 8 provides that we should relate to fellow believers in the following manner:-
1. live in harmony with each other - be of the same mind, be united
on a simpler level, we should bear with other's differences and accept each other for who we are. however, if they are not behaving in a christian manner, we should point it out in love for the good of everyone and for the glory of God.
2. be sympathetic - feel for each other's sufferings and pain
3. love each other - how to love? the answer is easy - look at 1 cor 13. the application is hard!
4. be compassionate - we spent a bit of time here. it would surely overlap with no. 2. but it is more than just feeling for each other. it is being pitiful and doing something about it.
5. be humble - consider each other better as we all have the same Holy Spirit in us who can empower us to do great things (Phil 2v2-3).
How do we relate to non-christians? 1 pet 3v9 tells us not to seek revenge but to bless them instead. (see Rom 12v14-21).
We spent quite some time on these points, trying to figure out how to apply it in our lives. much easier said than done. we surely need the Holy Spirit to enable us and the support of each other!
finally, we looked at jesus' example - his teachings on this or his actions which reflects these points. I ran thru the verses quite quickly and so i'll reproduce them here:-
- harmony (John 17:20-23)
- love (John 13:34-35; 15:9-17)
- compassion (Matt. 14:14)
- humility (Luke 14:7-11)
- treatment of enemies (Matt. 5:43-48)
we can see that the reasons why we behave like this is to bring glory to God, to bear a testimony that we God's ppl, and to reach out to others. this is how christians are to behave in a 'hostile' world - just like how we are to behave in today's world.
interestingly, those who came for 2nd service on sunday, our elder min choon talked about the church being used by God to teach even the angels. in the john 17 passage above, we can see that we are to be united as a reflection of the relationship between God the father and God the son - and we are the object lessons of that wonderful truth!
how wonderful God's words are to us - just 2 verses and so rich and so many things to learn and apply!
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