Living a Life of Mutual Love

Introduction: The Context of Peter's Letter and Gospel Assumptions

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, October 31st, 1999, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to 1 Peter and chapter 4, 1 Peter and chapter 4, and follow please as I read verses 7 through 11, 1 Peter 4 and verse 7. But the end of all things is at hand. Be therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer.

0:46 Above all things, being fervent in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins. Using hospitality one to another without murmuring, according as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards, of the manifold grace of God. If any man speaks, speaking as it were oracles of God, if any man ministers or serves, ministering as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1:36 As we continue to think our way through this sermon, Peter's letter, a letter which many of you by now know was written by the Apostle Peter, written about 30 years after the death, the burial, the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus, written to groups of Christians scattered throughout the Roman Empire in those provinces that are named in the opening verses, an area which we now know as Asia Minor or Turkey. Peter is assuming when he writes, he writes to these groups of Christians in that area of the world that they have experienced the reality of salvation in Jesus Christ. We have come to chapter 4 and in particular this morning we'll be focusing our attention upon verses 8 and 9 in this section of the Epistle. But we must constantly remind ourselves that when Peter writes these words, above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins, using hospitality one to another without murmuring, that Peter writes those with the assumption that those to whom he is writing have and are presently experiencing all the dynamics, all the realities of salvation in Jesus Christ.

3:03 And because we have people coming into our assembly at various places in the exposition, in the exposition, there's still some signal of事 거는 gets. And you'll see that it's rather sometimes than ever, was much more vital from time to time simply to look back over our shoulder for a few moments and remind ourselves of what those gospel assumptions were in the mind of the apostle Peter.

3:27 When he writes to these Christians saying, Be fervent in your love. Tells them what love will do. He's writing to those described in the first chapter as begotten again. By the resurrection.

3:39 unto a living hope. He's described them as those who love and have faith in an unseen Christ. He's described them as those who've been redeemed by precious blood. He further describes them toward the end of chapter 1 as those who have purified their souls in obedience to the truth.

3:57 He describes them as those who've been begotten again by the word which lives and abides forever. In chapter 2, he's described them as those who are coming to Christ, who are united to Christ and made living stones in this living temple. He describes them as those who are God's elect race, royal priesthood, holy nation, people for God's own possession. That's how he describes them.

4:23 So when he comes in chapter 3, and in the course of dealing with this pastoral concern of giving comfort and direction and exhortation to suffering saints, Peter is conceiving of these saints. As those who have experienced all of those gospel realities. And it is only on the basis of those realities that he tells them to do what we find in these verses. Peter understood well the words of his Lord.

4:56 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a bad tree bring forth good fruit. Jesus said, make the tree good and its fruit good. And Peter...

5:08 Is in perfect sympathy with his Lord. And so must we. When we come to these verses, where we are looking at Christian duty, we must remind ourselves that it is only the child of God who has the stuff in order to perform those duties. But, if we are in Christ, then God is at work in us to will and to work for his good pleasure, and we should give ourselves in the strength of Christ, to performing the duties that are set before us.

The Taproot of Horizontal Duties: Sound Mind and Prayer

5:42 Now here in this section, as we've already mentioned, Peter is concerned to enlighten, to comfort, to exhort and counsel suffering saints. And in chapter 4 he begins by telling them if they are to suffer as they ought in the path of righteousness, they must be armed with the mindset of Christ. And the essence of that mindset is simply, this, it is better to suffer than to sin. He has told them that they spent enough time fulfilling the lust of the flesh and the lust and desires of their fellow sinners, that now that they are united to Christ, they are committed to live to the will of God in the strength and power of God's grace. Now here in verse 7, Peter turns from this admonition, the only imperative in the first six verses is the imperative to arm yourself with the mind of Christ. He now turns from this directive that focuses primarily upon each individual believer, and in verses 7 through 11, he's going to give them directions as to how they are to live in the midst of suffering, particularly in the midst of the world. He's going to give them directions as to how they are to live in the midst of suffering, particularly in the midst of the world. He's going to give them

7:00 directions as to how they are to live in the midst of suffering, particularly in their horizontal relationships, that is, in the fellowship of the church. And in this paragraph, as we saw two weeks ago, the only imperative is found in the opening words of verse 7. The end of all things is at hand, therefore be of a sound mind and be sober unto prayer. As he stands on the porch or the threshold of giving directives to these Christians, he's going to give them directions as to how they are to conduct their corporate life with the shadow of present persecution over them and the growing clouds of even greater persecution which is going to come upon them. He starts dealing with that in verse 12. He is careful to focus upon the taproot of all horizontal Christian duties, and that is the Christian's vertical relationship with his God. And so he begins by saying, in the light of the certainty of the coming of the Lord Jesus, the end of all things is at hand, two imperatives. You are to have a sound mind, and you are to be sober. You are to have a mind that is

8:14 constantly in touch with reality, and it is to issue in a life of prayerfulness. And if that injunction is regarded with indifference, none of the others will follow. Peter is concerned to underscore the crucial point of the scripture. He is concerned to underscore the crucial point of the scripture. He is concerned to underscore the crucial point of the scripture. He is concerned to emphasize the crucial importance of the vertical relationship of the individual believer as being the source of effective horizontal relationships among believers. It is only when you're out of sorts with God that you get out of sorts with your brethren. And when you're out of sorts with your brethren, you cannot claim to have everything hunky-dory between you and God, because John says if a man says he loves the God, then he cannot see. And he does not love the brother who is the God who loves the God and he cannot see. And he does not love the brother who is the God who loves the

9:00 whom he can see, he is kidding himself. It is ethically and morally impossible. And so Peter recognizes this principle. And he says, the end of all things is at hand.

9:13 You are to live in the light of the certain return of Christ. And in the light of that, you're not to go off on some wacko pursuit of trying to fit together all the pieces of prophecy and make weird predictions about when he's coming. No, no, that's to be of an unsound mind. In the light of his coming, you're to be of a sound mind.

9:34 You're to be marked by spiritual sobriety. You're not to be drunk with the heady wine of preoccupation with the things of this life. You're not to be drunk with the heady wine of thinking that you can make progress in the spiritual life while neglecting the spiritual disciplines. Be of a sound mind and sober unto literally, prayers, all kinds of prayers, personal prayers, formal prayers, ejaculatory prayers, social prayers, prayers with your wife, prayers with your husband, prayers with the church.

The Explicit Call to Corporate Life and Mutual Love

10:10 You must be sober unto prayer. Now then, that brings us to verses 8 and 9. From this vertical dimension, he then moves out into the horizontal relationships of believers. And that this is what he is dealing.

10:27 With this clear in these verses. Look at verse 8. Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves. Verse 9.

10:39 Using hospitality one to another. Verse 10. According as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves. So we have among yourselves, one to another, among yourselves.

10:57 Two uses. Of what? One of a reflexive pronoun, one of a reciprocal pronoun for you grammarians. Now it becomes abundantly clear that in all that Peter has previously written and in all that follows, he does not envision these Christians as lone ranger Christians.

11:19 Now there have been some very clear references to the fact that they are bound together in a common church life. There will be some more when he comes to chapter. Five and speaks of elders, shepherds, pastors of the various congregations. But what has been implicit now becomes explicit.

11:41 What has been latent now becomes patient. As Peter writes this section of his epistle and remember what he's doing. He is seeking to instruct, to enlighten, to comfort, to exhort suffering believers that they may suffer to the glory of God. And.

12:00 In a way that will result in the advancement of the gospel. And as he thinks of these suffering Christians, I say again, he does not think of them as lone ranger Christians. But he assumes that they are living out their life before God in the context of their fellow believers. That is, they are living out their life in the dynamics of true and God honoring church relations.

12:29 So he tells them in this section in the light of the coming of Christ, live a life of spiritual sanity and sobriety issuing in a life of prayerfulness. But secondly, you're to live a life of mutual love manifested in three ways, the covering of sin, the engagement in hospitality, the exercise of their gifts, and all of this to the glory of God through Christ. If you want a summary. Of verses eight through 11, that to me is a fair summary of what is in the text with our hearts fastened on the great reality that the end of all things is at hand, keeping a sober sound mind, leading to a life of prayer. We are to be concerned at the horizontal level to live a life of mutual love, a love manifested in the covering of one another's sins. In the engagement, in hospitality, and in the exercise of our God-given gifts, and all of that to the glory of God through Christ Jesus.

The Preacher's Dilemma: Rhetoric vs. Truth

13:42 Now if I were expounding the whole passage, I would do so under three headings. The directive concerning mutual love, verses eight and nine. The directive concerning mutual service, verses 10 through 11a. And then the ultimate purpose for these directives, verse 11b.

14:00 But in the interest of time, I'll only be able to take up heading number one. And here I want to just bare my heart. This is the great, to me, perhaps the greatest difficulty in expository preaching. If you're going to be true to the language, the grammar of the text, in believing that the Spirit of God inspired the grammar as well as the words, you cannot disconnect what God has connected.

14:26 But if you're going to be a preacher, you've got to respect some of the basic principles of the Bible. But if you're going to be a preacher, you've got to respect some of the basic principles of the Bible. But if you're going to be a preacher, you've got to respect some of the basic principles of the Bible. And one of those principles is that in any discourse, there ought to be unity of discourse.

14:35 And one of those principles is that in any discourse, there ought to be unity of discourse. There ought to be a beginning, a middle, and an end. There ought to be a beginning, a middle, and an end. Now, put yourself in the place of the preacher who looks at a passage and says, Now, put yourself in the place of the preacher who looks at a passage and says, The only way to be true to the grammar, to the Spirit-wrought emphases of the passage is to go from here to here.

14:48 The only way to be true to the grammar, to the Spirit-wrought emphases of the passage is to go from here to here. is to go from here to here, but it would take you two and a half hours. And you know it's not right, for a number of reasons, to preach for two and a half hours, and you have to split the thing up. Well, it means there are times when in splitting it up, there will be something that will suffer from a rhetorical standpoint, and at that point, as I tried to teach the men in the academy, rhetoric must always be subject to the dictates of God in his word.

15:14 Whenever we can sublimate rhetoric to serve the purposes of God's truth, then we ought to sublimate every single facet of what constitutes effective communication when communicating the word of God. But, when in communicating the word, to be true to the word, we must in a sense spit in rhetoric's face, we've got to spit in his face, and tell him not to be insulted, we'll treat him better the next time. Alright? Now you didn't know that, and you wouldn't know it if I didn't tell you, but I live with that.

15:44 And you need to understand that, because all you're getting is heading number one of a two and a half hour sermon, alright? Or a two hour sermon. Heading number one this morning. God willing, next week, headings two and three.

The Supreme Importance of Mutual Love

15:56 And what is our heading? The importance, this directive concerning mutual love, verses eight and nine. Having turned from being sober unto prayer, that's your horizontal relationship, above all things, when he comes to these horizontal relationships, now turning from the vertical, above all things, being fervent in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins, using hospitality one to another, without murmuring. Now in seeking to open up, this first heading, the directive concerning mutual love, note with me first of all, what is obvious to the children who are listening, the importance, the supreme importance of mutual love.

16:39 When Peter turns from the fundamental and foundational, issue of the believer's vertical relationship and starts to address the horizontal, he writes above all things. Whatever's coming, Peter says, I want you to know this is a first class concern. This is not a second class concern for you computer whizzes. Here you push the buttons to make sure the type comes out bold, in a bigger font, italicized, and underlined. And when you pick up a text and the thing is in a bolder print, bigger print, italicized, and underlined, you say the author's trying to get something through to me. That's what Peter's doing. Above all things, bold font, slanted, underlined, maybe even a different color. Someone was bragging to me the other day how he can highlight words in a different color.

17:40 I leave that to you computer experts. But whatever you do to make a reader understand that this is not to blend into everything else. This is to be regarded as standing out in bold relief. That's what Peter does by the very first words he uses in this thing.

17:58 Pro pontum. Above, before, all things. He is underscoring the tremendous importance of this matter of mutual love. Now, it's not as though he's not already mentioned it.

18:13 In this epistle, he's already mentioned it three times. In chapter 1 and verse 22. Seeing you've purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfamed, unhypocritical love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently. Now, he's already stated, hasn't he?

18:36 He says, your new birth results in putting you in a posture where you have genuine, unfamed, unfaked, no sham, deep brotherly affection for all those in the family of God. And since the new birth has landed you there with this brotherly affection, now he lays upon them this duty, love one another from the heart fervently. You have the beginnings of that brotherly affection. Let it rise to true agape love and let it not be in the modicum of it but in the maximum.

19:12 Love one another from the heart fervently. And he uses the same root word that is translated here. Fervent love. One is an adjective, one is an adverb, but it's the same root word.

19:22 So he's already emphasized it. And then he's emphasized it in chapter 2 and verse 17. In those string of imperatives, honor all men. Love the brotherhood.

19:34 You're to love the brotherhood. That is the family of God in which he has placed you. Chapter 3. In verse 8.

19:41 Finally, be all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brethren. Peter, do you think we're thick? Yes, he says, I do. When it comes to this issue of loving one another, we're all thick.

19:59 We're thick with the remains of Adam's nature over our souls. It is not natural for us to love. And though in the divine begetting we are put in a posture where we can love, with unhypocritical love, Peter now, in this setting, brings forward the tremendous importance of mutual love by saying, above all things. Now notice, he does not say, as the sum of all things, as though if you love the brethren, you've done all your Christian duty.

20:32 Nor does he say, as a substitute for all other things. No, he says, above all things. In the vast mountain range, of Christian duties that have to do with our horizontal relationships, love of one another in the family of God is the Mount McKinley among all the other mountains. It's the Mount Hood among all the other mountains.

20:58 It's the Mount Fuji. It's the Everest. Above all things. Now, in giving this emphasis to mutual love, Peter is simply echoing what is the emphasis of the entire New Testament.

21:12 Remember, what Jesus said in John 13 in the Upper Room Discourse, in verses 34 and 35. Listen to these familiar words of our Lord. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.

21:38 And what our Lord states, the Apostle Paul, in that marvelous poem on love, 1 Corinthians 13. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, have not love, I'm become sounding brass and a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and he goes on to describe what love does and what love does not do, and then he concludes by saying, now abide faith, hope, love, these three, and the greatest of these is love. When faith and hope submerge in sight and realization, love will be the grace that is left to permeate all of the vast multitudes who will dwell with Christ in the new heavens and the new earth. Faith will be turned to sight. Hope will issue in fruition. And love will be left.

22:33 That's Paul's emphasis. And in Colossians chapter 3, when Paul has been giving many directives to believers with respect to practical and specific, concerns of the Christian life, he writes in Colossians 3 and verse 14, and above all these things, and what were some of the other things? A heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing any, forgiving, and above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.

The Quality of Mutual Love: Agape and Fervency

23:11 When Peter says, above all, before all, listen carefully, you saints of God, scattered throughout those Roman provinces in Asia Minor, what I'm about to lay before you is of supreme and critical importance. Now, having looked at the importance of mutual love, note with me, secondly, the quality of this mutual love. The quality of mutual love. The quality of anything refers to the features that make something what it is.

23:44 And when Peter is giving directives, to these saints, concerning mutual love, he underscores the quality of that love in two ways. By the specific word used for love, and by the adjective that he uses to highlight another aspect of its quality. The word Peter uses is agape. Peter uses this word that addresses what we might call the highest form of love.

24:15 He had used, phile, or philos, and phileo earlier in the letter. And that is a Christian grace. It speaks of brotherly love. That's the word he used in 122.

24:26 You've been obeyed the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren. That is a noble spirit wrought love. But here he says, above all things, there is to be in the hearts of the people of God a growing measure of this love among themselves. That love, which is a love of realism and intelligence.

24:53 It's not blind love, because it is the love with which God loved you and me. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And when it says God loved the world, or as John says in 1 John 4, here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins, God's love was realistic to the core. He saw you and me and all of our native vileness and wrath deservingness.

25:31 That's why in his love he sent Christ to be propitiation. Propitiation is a sacrifice that turns away wrath. He saw us in all our wrath deservingness. We can't begin to imagine what revulsions, revulsion there must have been in the heart of God to look upon the ugly moral mess that you and I are.

25:56 But he loved with a realistic love. A love that was not only realistic, considering realistically its objects, but it is a love that moves him with purpose to do for those objects that which will cost him dearly. This kind of love is a realistic love. It is a purpose to do, and a willing love.

26:21 And it is a love that wills and pursues the good of its object even at great personal cost. Christ loved the church, there's our word, and gave himself for it. You see, it's just the opposite of lust. Lust is a burning desire that wants to have no matter what it does to its object.

26:44 Love is a passion that's seeing what the object needs, is willing to move toward that object and meet that need at great personal cost to itself. Peter writes and says, above all things, above all things, he says, there is to be what? There is to be fervency in their love among themselves. And the quality of that love is underscored by the word that he uses, agape.

27:20 But by the adjective that he uses, it is to be this kind of love, ektenes. And this word means to be stretched out, to be on the stretch, to be strained. We're told that in the secular writers of Peter's day, if someone were describing what happened at a given horse race, when a certain horse in the last part of the race marshalled all of its powers and all of its ability to win the race and stretched its neck out at the finish line, this is the adjective you would use. If you were describing an athlete whose muscles were caught in straining under some athletic feet, this is the adjective you would use.

28:05 It is this kind of intelligent, self-giving love on the stretch, taught and exercised to the full in the presence of its objects. That's the quality of this love. Now, as we indicated in our previous study, there's no imperative here. The only imperatives in this paragraph are up in verse 7.

28:30 Be of a sound mind and be sober unto prayer. What we now have are participles or regular finite verbs in the indicative, but no imperative. But the manner in which Peter lays this out, it has the weight of an imperative. He's not dangling this before the eyes of the people to see whether or not they think this is something that they ought to exercise.

28:55 No. He is enjoining upon them this mutual love, this love that has as its quality intelligence, purposing and willing, good for its object, even at cost to itself. And it is that love raised to this intensity. The adverbial form there in chapter 1 is in most translations translated fervently.

29:25 Unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently. You get the flavor of it. It's not a blasé, laid-back, ho-hum kind of love. It is to be an intense, passionate, earnest, stretched love.

The Activity of Mutual Love: Covering a Multitude of Sins

29:41 Now, having looked at the importance of mutual love above all things, the quality of mutual love, agape love, then it is to be actenes, it is to be fervent. Now look with me thirdly at the activity of mutual love. The activity of mutual love. This kind of love is not a dormant, inactive feeling.

30:08 It is not having occasional fuzzies when I think of my brethren, my sisters. Peter describes it as an active love, a powerfully active love. Specifically this morning, we are going to look at two of its activities. And here the commentators differ and the language and the grammar and the structure does allow some differing perspectives.

30:31 Some are bold to say that all of these things, the covering of sin, the exercise of hospitality, and the exercise of gifts are all subsets under mutual love. It is love covering, love inviting, and love serving. But in trying to have some kind of unity to our study this morning, we are going to look at the activity of mutual love in just these first two headings and then we will take as a second heading the activity of ministering one to another. The activity of mutual love, notice first of all its action in covering sin.

31:10 Peter writes, above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins. Now of all the things he could have said about love, this is the one he highlights. He could have said, have fervent love among yourselves for love, and then you could take any of the things out of 1 Corinthians 13 and they would be applicable. Many things that love will do in the context of the life of God's people.

31:43 But the one Peter highlights is this, that it is the love that covers a multitude of sins. A multitude of sins. Now what do these words mean? Well let me state first of all what they don't mean.

31:59 Peter is not saying that we can by our love to others cover their sins in the sight of God. That we can earn for others some acceptance in the court room of heaven, some adjustment of the books of heaven where the sinful deeds of men are recorded. No. Only God can cover sin from his own sight in the court of heaven.

32:23 Only God can do that. Now thank God he does do it. Psalm 32, 1. All the blessedness of that one whose iniquity is forgiven, whose sin is covered by God the judge on the basis of the work of Christ the Messiah and the mediator.

32:43 So when Peter says, have this love among yourselves for love is covering, present tense use of the verb, is covering a multitude of sins. He is not saying that by their love to one another they can cover each other's sins before the tribunal of God. Nor does he mean that we should in love wink at the sin of others so as never to admonish or reprove them and certainly never to be part of formal church discipline because of their sin. Peter is not saying that.

33:17 And how do we know that? Well we know it from the analogy of scripture. We know it from the rest of the teaching of the Bible. Matthew 18, 15.

33:24 If thy brother sinned against thee, throw the banquet of love over it in all cases, in all circumstances, at all times. That ends the discussion. No, Jesus said, if thy brother sinned against thee, go, tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hear thee, you have gained your brother.

33:39 If he hear you not, take with you one or two, that at the mouth... No, no.

33:43 Peter is not negating what Jesus said. There are certain sins that need to be addressed one to one among believers. Nor is he saying we shouldn't reprove Luke 17, 3. If thy brother sinned against you, rebuke him.

33:58 If he repents, forgive him. It is not love that fails to rebuke a brother when he has clearly sinned. Nor is he saying that under no circumstances should there be any kind of public admonition or church discipline. This would contradict many portions of the word, not the least of which is 1 Corinthians 5, Romans 15, 14, and 1 Thessalonians 5, 14.

34:22 He speaks in those latter two texts of believers admonishing one another. And that means to point out a fault and call to correction. Well, what do these words mean? Well, if you turn to Proverbs 10 in verse 12, I think, if Peter was not actually quoting this verse, it was certainly in his mind.

34:45 And I'm fully aware that the Septuagint translation of this is entirely different. And some commentators are careful to point out that Peter, if he were using this verse, had to be thinking of this verse as it appears in the Hebrew text and not the Septuagint, the working Bible of first century Christians. But letting Scripture interpret Scripture, I believe, here's our key to understanding what Peter's saying. Proverbs 10 and verse 12.

35:16 Hatred stirs up strikes. But, and you know in the structure of Hebrew parallelism, you can have the same thought amplified, you can have a contrast, and here we have a contrast. Hatred stirs up strikes, but love covers all transgressions. What does the absence of love in the human heart do?

35:40 It fastens on any and every transgression it sees in order to foment strife among brethren. There's a fault. Here's a fault. There's a shortcoming.

35:54 There is a moral deviation, not the kind that would warrant open rebuke and reproof, but which the heart that is devoid of Biblical love will take as the occasion to stir up strife. And what's the opposite of that disposition? But love covers all transgressions. All, under all circumstances, without reservation, without qualification, no, no, no.

36:23 I've already quoted the other verses. Some transgressions need to be reproved and rebuked and become the subject of church discipline. But what the writer to the Proverbs is speaking about is precisely what Peter has picked up and is speaking about. Those many transgressions that do not warrant reproof and rebuke, they are part of our existence as those who, though we have been begotten again, and though we believe in and love an unseen Christ, and though we are living stones in a living temple, God's called and elect ones, we have remaining sin.

37:00 And with James we say in many things we all offend. And as we live together in the life of the church and those offenses are seen and known and evident, what are we going to do with them? Have a heart that magnifies every defect and shortcoming and stir up inflammation, stir up in full men's strife? No, not if we are dwelling in love.

37:23 Love covers all transgressions. Look at Proverbs 17.9 for another parallel passage. He that covers a transgression seeks love, but he that harps on a matter separates chief friends.

37:44 Where the spirit of love is present in the heart, that love will be manifested in covering a transgression. The opposite of that is harping on a matter, putting the magnifying glass upon it, bringing the spotlight of constant reiteration of that fault, that shortcoming, that area of moral and ethical defect, that area where the believer, though he strives for universal conformity to Christ, falls pitifully short. So when Peter writes, the activity of mutual love will first of all be an activity in which it is constantly looking for transgressions, not to harp on them, but to throw the blanket of love over them. Love covers, it is constantly covering a multitude of sins. And the word for sin is the standard word for sin. It means missing the mark, the mark of God's absolute standard embodied in His law.

38:51 Perfect love to God, constant selfless love to one's neighbor. The first commandment is, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength, and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Every falling short of that standard is sin.

39:09 It is a missing of the mark. And Peter says, in the context of the people of God, and here's his pastoral realism, he says you're going to see each other's sins, you're going to see a multitude of them. You see coming into real vital church fellowship in many ways is like marriage. There's not a person here who's been married for longer than six months that will not agree with me when I say, I don't care how long you courted.

39:35 My wife and I courted in one way or another for four or five years before we were married, four years. But you'll agree with me, you don't know what you got. So you walked down the aisle, you had the honeymoon, and you started living under the same roof. And it wasn't that you were defrauded, you were not deliberately deceived, deliberately deceiving one another, but there are many facets of what you are that simply don't come to the surface until you're living in the multi-layered, inescapable pressures of marital intimacy.

40:10 And what happens? You begin to see character traits that are good, that you never knew were there, and you love him or her all the more for that character trait that is pleasing in your sight. But for every one noble character trait you discover, you discover something else that wasn't in the deal when you said, I take you. You didn't know in taking that you were taking this.

40:35 Did you? You didn't know that. Not because you were deliberately hiding, but it takes the pressure, the pressure of marital intimacy not only to cause undiscovered virtues to surface, but undiscovered vices. You see, the more intimate any human relationship is, the more what you really are is going to be discovered.

41:00 So Peter, a realistic, apostolic pastor knows that if these people are really living stones formed into a living temple, who have living, vibrant, multi-leveled exposure to one another, they're not plastic saints who greet each other at the door on a sunny morning, smile and look like they're ready to have wings sprout out their shoulders. There's enough real intimacy and interaction that you see the sins and they see your sins. What are you going to do? Peter says, have fervent love among yourselves and that love will be constantly acting to cover each other's sins.

41:44 That's what he's saying. Fervent love among yourselves for love is constantly covering a multitude of sins. Now what happens in marriages happens in churches. You begin to shortcut the dynamics of God's grace that can cause you to love with growing love someone in whom you see more moral, ethical defects.

42:13 If you don't lay hold of the grace of God, what happens? Distance emotionally begins to creep in. And with that emotional distance there begins to be the squinty eye that now begins to find fault where no fault is. Whereas the joy of a marriage where gospel dynamics are operative, the couple welcomes those manifestations that need to be addressed biblically, need to be worked on biblically, yes, but they welcome them as an opportunity to manifest gospel grace.

42:48 And the same thing is true in churches. And Peter understands that. And so he says, in the midst of your suffering where pressures are coming upon you from society around you, they think it's strange that you don't walk with them to the same excessive riot. They speak evil of you.

43:05 The more the pressure is brought from the society, what happens to believers? They are drawn closer together. You read the account of the fellowship of saints in the crucible of persecution and suffering, and they know a level of fellowship that many times they never knew in fairer days. And Peter with his pastoral realism standing back, trying to give them spirit directed or actually giving them spirit directed counsel, what they are to do in the midst of their suffering, he says, when I descend to your horizontal relationships above all things, fervent in your love one to another, for love is covering a multitude of sins.

The Activity of Mutual Love: Practicing Hospitality Without Murmuring

43:49 But then there is the second activity of mutual love in verse 9. More briefly, and what is that? He describes it this way, using hospitality one to another without murmuring. Now notice what happens if we just drop out the previous phrase and read it this way.

44:12 Above all things, fervent in your love among yourselves, verse 9, using hospitality one to another without murmuring. And grammatically, that's what we can do. And therefore, I am describing this as another activity of mutual love. This mutual love that delights to cover the multitude of sins.

44:36 And the word multitude is the standard word for multitude. In the book of Acts, when the multitude of the disciples grew, by then it was at least 5,000, many sins, and love covers them. Peter envisions that love acting in this area, showing hospitality, literally hospitable among one another. And here a reciprocal pronoun is used, not reflexive.

45:01 Fervent love towards yourselves, this is using hospitality one to another. It pictures the people of God being hospitable among one another. Listen to the very helpful words of Mr. Hebert, from whom I have quoted a number of times in the course of these expositions.

45:22 He writes, hospitality translates an adjective that describes one who has an affectionate concern for strangers. A concern that expresses itself in offering them food and shelter. The practice of hospitality was highly valued in the early church and is frequently mentioned in the New Testament. Romans 12 and verse 13, Romans 16, 1 and 2, 1 Timothy 3, 2, one of the requirements for an elder, Titus 1, 8, Hebrews 13, 2, and 3 John 5 through 8, and then those classic words of our Lord Jesus in the day of judgment.

45:58 The only thing he highlights in Matthew 25 is how people dealt with his people. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison, you came. I was naked, you clothed me.

46:11 When did we see you, Lord? He said, inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these, my little ones, you did it unto me. And when the wicked say, when did we see you in those conditions of destitution, in need of our love and our practical ministry? Inasmuch as you did it not.

46:28 So this whole matter of hospitality as showing affection and concern for strangers, offering food and shelter, is a generic duty found throughout the New Testament. But then Mr. Hebert goes on to say, whenever Christians were on journeys in the first century, they realized the value of such hospitality. It was undesirable to lodge in public inns.

46:51 Often they were the scene of drunkenness and immorality. The Christian's faith had cut him off from the pagan practices that were generally found in these public inns. It was highly preferable to find lodging in Christian homes, resulting in mutual fellowship and strengthening Christian ties. That's the generic concept of hospitality.

47:12 But notice in this passage, Peter is not speaking so much of the generic duty of being hospitable in a broader sense, but he says, using hospitality, or more literally, hospitable one to another. He's talking about the hospitableness between the people in the family of God. That within the local congregation we are to have a heart that is open and manifest its openness by the open door and by the shared table. The primary emphasis, as some of you will remember from sermons preached decades ago on this duty of hospitality, it's more the open heart and the open door than the fancy table. The table may be spread with very simple fare, but when the heart is open, the door will be open and the family of God will know that there is a love that cannot be satisfied with just that interaction that we have when we gather to worship, to pray, to interact with one another. There's a sense in which you're lingering after the services in little groups and interact. That's an expression of this spirit.

48:29 But Peter says that spirit should also find a legitimate avenue of expression in the open door, in the more relaxed setting where there can be a communion of open hearts as well as open doors and shared table. But you see here again, Peter is a realistic pastor. He does not simply say hospitable one to another. He adds two words.

48:55 You see them? Without murmuring. Now where in the world do you get an idea that someone might murmur about being hospitable? Because he was a keen observer of human nature.

49:11 And he saw that in some instances where people were hospitable, those to whom they were hospitable took advantage of their hospitality. They never even grunted or snorted like a pig will do when he sticks his snout in the flock. He at least snorts. And they've put themselves out for people who don't even snort.

49:34 Let alone write a note and say thank you. And they've had the experience. I don't know whether this was true. When I was in the itinerant ministry, that is I wasn't a resident pastor many, many years ago, I was told the story of a woman who had shown great hospitality to visiting preachers.

49:54 And one time she had a preacher who was supposed to be there from a Sunday through Friday and the meetings were over, supposed to leave Saturday morning. Every morning he came down for his two eggs and his piece of toast. Well, lo and behold, the meetings were over. He comes down Saturday morning, two eggs, piece of toast.

50:10 He stays on to Sunday, two eggs, piece of toast. This went on until the beginning of the next week. And finally, around Wednesday morning, the woman gave him three eggs and two pieces of toast. And he was very pleased and said to his hostess, well, I'm so thankful you gave me three eggs and two pieces of toast today.

50:29 Any reason for that? She said, yes, sir, you're going to take a long trip today. Now, I don't know whether the story was true. It was told to me.

50:38 But you see the point. And we laugh because we see a point of reference. Not everyone expresses appreciation. That's their sin.

50:46 But Peter's saying, don't let it be your sin and cause you to narrow your heart and to shut your door and to withdraw your table. Hospitable one to another without murmuring. That very sin, this is the word used, of the sin of the nation under the leadership of Moses, and in 1 Corinthians 10, in verse 10 he says, neither murmur you. Murmuring is that mumbling under our breath with the spirit and the language of discontentedness.

51:21 Peter said, no, God loves the cheerful giver. And when we show hospitality as unto the Lord and we are doing it in Christ's name, believing that he will regard it as done unto him, then if someone takes advantage, if it becomes at times irritating, we nonetheless give ourselves to that Christian grace. And I must, if I'm to leave this morning with a good conscience, say a word of unfamed commendation to the family of God here at Trinity. You have given yourself to hospitality during this pastor's conference in a way that to me, there's no explanation but the grace of God.

52:03 You've opened your home, you've shoved people out of their normal rooms and put them in other rooms and I'm sure at times you felt an irritation. You'd be less than human if you didn't. But remember this injunction, hospitable without murmuring. Lord Jesus, I'm doing this as unto you.

52:21 In receiving your servants, I'm receiving all of Christ in the flesh that I'll be able to receive until I see him in the last day. That's all you're going to see of Christ in the flesh is Christ and his people. And that's why he regards our treatment of his people as our treatment of him. In as much as you did it unto these, you did it to me.

52:43 Why? Because in receiving God's servants, you're receiving Christ. In refusing to receive them, you refuse Christ. And so as the people of God, I do not in any way have an ounce of desire to scold.

52:59 I commend and in the language of Paul, I exhort you to abound more and more. This is not an area where many of you need anything other than the encouragement of commendation and the gentle admonition to pursue and abound in this particular grace. That's what Peter envisions among the people of God in the midst of present suffering. And then as he begins to tell them in verse 12, it's going to get hotter.

53:28 The pressure is going to get greater. He envisions the people of God in the midst of all of this, keeping a sound mind, not allowing the rumblings of increased persecution and the fiery trial that is among them to disrupt their spiritual sanity. No, in being united to Christ, I'm united to Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. It is better if the will of God be so that I suffer for righteousness.

53:56 And all of these things, they keep a sound mind with respect to them. They keep in a state of spiritual sobriety, knowing their weakness, their vulnerability, their tendency to want to strike out at those who harm them, to lose their bearings. They give themselves to a pattern of prayer. And as they keep the sound and sober mind and a context of consistent prayerfulness, Peter envisions them in the midst of those nasty realities, fervent in their love among themselves, hospitable one to another without murmuring.

The Ultimate Purpose: God's Glory Through Christ

54:34 And what does that mean? What will the end result of that be? Well, down at the end of this passage, we have to at least look at it. I can't stop to expound it.

54:42 The end of all of this is what? That in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. You see, the ultimate goal of the apostle in writing these things is not that they might have happier church fellowship, though that's included. It's not that they might know the blessedness of a context where sin is covered in love, rather than augmented and magnified in a spirit of hatred.

55:09 God's glory is at stake. They bear the name of Christ. He has told them several times in this epistle that they must never forget that they are living before God as well as before men, and that he desires that God will be glorified among these pagans in the day of their visitation as they live to the glory of God. And so we come around full circle to where we began.

55:38 What is the will of God for his people in the midst of suffering for righteousness' sake? Armed with the mindset of Christ, they are to be determined to suffer rather than sin. They are to regard the past time in their lives as more than enough time to have served their carnal lust. Furthermore, they are ready to wait for God to deal with their enemies in the day of judgment, a day in which they know that with their fellow believers they will be vindicated.

56:11 Verse 5 of chapter 4 Remembering that the end of all things is at hand, they are determined to keep a sound and sober mind leading to pervasive prayerfulness. And as they do this, fervent, on the stretch love among themselves is their goal, a love that will be manifested in the constant covering of the multitude of sins and the maintenance of a hospitable spirit toward one another, done with cheerfulness. Now you see why I emphasized at the beginning Peter's not writing to people who are only grafted into Adam's stock. This is far too much to expect of old Adam.

56:54 He's writing to people who've been grafted into Christ, are indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, and have the grace and influence of the motivation of loving Christ, and longing for the appearance of Christ. And such a people, by the grace of God, can be marked by these very qualities that Peter emphasizes. May God grant that it will mark our life together until Jesus comes. Let's pray.

Prayer of Confession and Exhortation

57:24 Our Father, we're so thankful for Your Word that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. And Your Word has exposed some of the dark areas of our hearts, and we would confess our sin of having too little of that love that covers a multitude of sins. Forgive us when we have been marked by the Spirit that has stirred up strife, when we have fomented divisions among Your people. Lord, cleanse and purge us in the blood of Christ.

58:02 Give us, we pray, this love at a stretch, love stretched out one to another, delighting in every opportunity to cover that multitude of sins. And then we pray for an increased measure of the Spirit-wrought grace of hospitableness, one toward another. And may we glorify You by exercising that grace without murmuring. Lord, we thank You for the extent to which these graces are already manifested in Your people here.

58:36 But we pray that we may all abound yet more and more to Your praise and to the glory of our Lord Jesus. Hear us. Seal Your word to our hearts. We ask in Jesus' name.

58:50 Amen.