Scripture reading, 1 Peter 3, verse 8. This is the second of a two part series. And today we're going to be covering four more virtues. Last Sunday we talked about the virtue of unity, being of one mind. And here now, once again, 1 Peter 3, verse 8. Finally, all of you Be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous. Lord God, for us, the people of God, let us once again look to God in prayer. Father and our God, may the weak words of my mouth in the meditations of our hearts. Be transformed by your Holy Spirit. To the praise of your glory in Christ, in whose perfect name this prayer is made. Amen. 1 Peter 3, verse 8, we encounter five virtues The first that we talked about last time, unity. Unity among the members of the body of Christ. There's a few more things should be said about unity. I like what Warren Wiersbe had to say. Unity does not mean uniformity. Hear that again. Unity does not mean uniformity. It means cooperation. in the midst of diversity. The members of the body work together in unity even though they're all different. Cooperation in the midst of diversity. And today's culture has a backwards because today's culture worships diversity. Christianity, however, is quite different. Christianity is about worshiping God through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the nations, who brings diverse persons into a church. The great head and king of the church, Jesus Christ, merges diverse persons into the body of Christ throughout the world and throughout time. These persons, different though they are, are summoned to unity. That's one virtue. And remember that a virtue is a positive or commendable moral or spiritual quality. Being of one mind is positive. It's commendable. It's a good thing. Second virtue. Compassion, having compassion for one another, genuine compassion. Adam Clarke spelled it out, being sympathetic, feeling for each other, bearing each other's burdens. Makes sense, if you're united, if you're unified, you're part of a team. bearing one another's burdens. And of course that reminds us of Galatians 6 verse 2. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. That presupposes an active sympathizing for other members of the body of Christ. This is a virtue, an attitude which takes action to reduce the strain of life, the hardships of life, the dangers of life, which others endure in a fallen world. Zechariah 7, verse 9, thus says the Lord of Hosts, execute true justice. Show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. And thus, the virtue of compassion in 1 Peter 3, verse 8, is not entirely passive. It's personally engaged in the lives of others, in doing acts of ministry for others. Recall the parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10. Jesus told that parable A couple individuals observed the man who had been ambushed, beaten, left for dead. They passed him by. In Luke chapter 10, verse 33, a certain Samaritan, Jesus said, as he journeyed, came to where this man was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him, the scripture says. And he helped him and nursed him back to health. Paper's logic. So that virtue of compassion is a willingness to be emotionally involved in the struggles of others. That principle is enlarged upon regarding the body of Christ as a whole. In 1 Corinthians 12, verse 26, if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. That frame of mind represents true compassion. True compassion naturally flows into the next virtue, love as brothers. And we've talked about this before. Remember the sermon, good love. from 1 Peter 1, verse 22. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. And during that message, we mentioned that the entire verse was positive. Everything is positive about it. Obeying the truth is positive. Being cleansed of sin is positive. 1 Peter 3, verse 8 indicates that loving Christian brothers is something virtuous. Additionally, Hebrews 13, verse 1, let brotherly love continue. Keep it going. Unity, compassion, love are three beautiful virtues. And then in verse 8, we're also told, be tender-hearted. King James Version renders it, be pitiful. That's a negative connotation in present-day English, to be sure. Being pitiful now is understood as being pathetic, being substandard, being useless. That's pitiful. However, the archaic meaning has to do with being full of pity for others, being full of tenderness for others who are hurting. Similar way to that pity referred to in Psalm 103 verse 13 as a father pities his children So the Lord pities those who fear him Thus we see an element of mercy Involved in being tender-hearted full of pity Toward others if you're cold-hearted you have no pity for anyone Matthew chapter 18, Jesus told the parable of the unmerciful servant. A day of reckoning came for that servant who refused to forgive a comparatively small debt owed to him by another servant. In Matthew 18 verse 33, the master put forth the question, should you also not have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? We can see then an overlap between these virtues of unity, compassion, love, Tender mercy. We have no haphazard, random listing of virtues here. We have a logical sequence of those virtues in 1 Peter 3, verse 8. Also, we see a logical sequence of virtues in James 3, verse 17. The wisdom from above is first pure, and then peaceable, and then gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality, without hypocrisy. What would our American society look like if more Americans embraced those values? Full of mercies and good fruit. willing to yield. For the people of Christ, these virtues make us stand out in the present day society in strong contrast to it. Much, much of our culture wallows into negative emotions and that's it. That's all that's emphasized. Anger and fear. That's it. A lot of people are gripped by anger and fear. No other emotion, no other reaction seems to matter. But we belong to the Prince of Peace. We are directed and challenged by the word of God written to embrace, to embody, to radiate genuine virtues. Unity, compassion, love, tenderheartedness, involving mercy, and then lastly in our text, be courteous. Rudeness and loudness are a style today, but they're not virtuous according to scripture. In fact, biblical virtues are the opposite of those values promoted in our society, and much of it. Witness the words of Paul in Ephesians chapter 4. Verses 31 and 32, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God and Christ forgave you. It's extremely counter-cultural. But like 1 Peter 3, verse 8, it targets the people of Christ. It targets the people of the church. It doesn't target outsiders. It targets us. And the end of verse 8 in some manuscripts, some translations, is rendered, be humble or be humble-minded. Recent Sunday school lessons from Ezra have dealt on humility and being humble-minded, humbling oneself before the Lord and so forth. But one verse not mentioned is Proverbs 29 verse 23, a man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor. Being humble in spirit is honorable. That's God's evaluation. And it can be argued in 1 Peter 3, verse 8, that being humble is foundational to true courtesy from the inside out. Sincere courtesy, not pretense. a genuine courtesy. Because a genuinely humble individual puts others before himself or herself. Of course, all this sets the stage for verse nine, talking about our relationships with people largely outside the church. Not returning evil for evil. That's a novel thought. not returning evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing. Knowing you are called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. Because of Jesus Christ, we will inherit a blessing, and that is fleshed out in our daily relationships with believers and unbelievers alike. So Christian virtues, values, behaviors illustrate our belonging to the supremely virtuous Messiah who died for the ungodly. And our destiny of eternal blessing is with him, Albert Barnes. wrote about this and we conclude with these words. Expecting such a blessing yourselves, you should be ready to scatter blessings on all others. You should be ready to bear all their reproaches and even to wish them well. The hope of eternal life should make your minds calm. And the prospect that you are to be so exalted in heaven should fill your hearts with kindness and love. Cherishing such a hope of salvation, we cannot but wish that all others may share it. And this will lead us to wish for them every blessing. The Christian who has this hope of heaven should abound in every virtue. Let's pray together. Father in our God, we cannot begin to thank you for the richness of your love and your grace and your mercy. We can only thank you for your son in some limited way. resolve to yield to your spirit in us and pray that you would work so graciously as to make these virtues obvious in us so that others may see your work in us and thank you for your son how we thank you for him Praise you for him. And pray all this in Jesus' strong and perfect name.