Come to the end of Peter's letter, and I'll be preaching from the final verses of 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 5. Pray that you would listen to these words, not as some sort of Afterthought or P.S. postscript added to a letter. Oh, I forgot these little details that I want you to know about. These are the very word of God and we treat them that way by listening and discerning the gospel in them and applying it to our lives. Listen as I read God's word. By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I've written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you. And so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen. Greet one another with the kiss of love. I have to confess that the kiss gets all the attention in these verses. Our mind and our wondering kind of gravitates in that direction. We begin to wonder just what that is. Who wouldn't want to talk about a kiss? Well, I will explain the kiss today, but you should actually concentrate on what the kiss represents. And you shouldn't look at these other verses as if they are kind of throwaway verses, miscellaneous greetings that Paul gives to certain people and from certain people. Now they certainly aren't packed full with doctrine and application like the rest of the letter is, but they still express gospel truth. And it's a truth that I'll organize under the heading of Christian Fellowship, or the love for one another that Christ has commanded. And I say it that way because once more, Peter is following the words of Jesus Christ. And I hope you can sense the pattern that I've used in my messages from this letter. I have said how often Peter takes the teaching of Jesus, the words that he personally heard and the ministry that he was a witness to. And he brings that now into his ministry and into this letter and A record of the word of God that now comes down throughout the generations to every believer comes to us. So I'll be preaching, greet one another with a kiss of love. And as I said, organizing that under the heading of Christian Fellowship, where it is what Jesus commanded. I'll come to that in a moment, but first let me explain what it is, this greet one another with a kiss. And I do that because I think it probably gets the most attention and I wanna answer the question right off the bat so that it's not distracting. I want to jump right in by explaining what this kiss is. Very simply, I hope that you would read this as a culturally accepted greeting. A culturally accepted greeting. This isn't a universal Christian command that Peter is giving for all believers everywhere that must be practiced. some point in the service or as you come or go that you actually give a kiss on the cheek to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Rather, it is a culturally accepted greeting. I describe it that way because even in our own congregation, we have a variety of nationalities. It would be fascinating to hear the types of greetings that are culturally accepted in the country that they've grown up in. You might do that over lunch today, ask someone from another country what is common in the ways that you would say hello. when you see someone for the first time in a while. So here in the United States, you probably know that a formal greeting would be a handshake. Walk up to someone, you would grasp their hand and give them a warm handshake, say, hello, how are you? And in more informal settings, you might put an arm around their shoulders or pat them on the back, give them a high five or a fist bump. That would be a more informal greeting. But other countries, it would be common to actually give a kiss on the cheek or sometimes other greetings. Some cultures bow to each other rather than a handshake. We just enjoyed Bridget's presence here over the summer, and she would describe the types of greetings that she would go through as she walked through downtown. If she were to greet someone, there would be a formal conversation that would happen that was expected as part of the greeting. When I said goodbye to her this week, I gave her a big, long bear hug. And I told her how much we loved her and how much we were praying for her. Those are culturally accepted greetings. And that's the key here in understanding what the kiss is. They are an expression of greeting to someone. And here, Peter speaks of a kiss as a greeting and as representing something deeper than that. Just as the hug that I gave to Bridget was communicating something deep and loving. A kiss represents that fellowship or the love that we have as brothers and sisters in Christ. They virtually enact what Peter learned from Jesus, which leads me to speak about how the kiss is the kiss of love. It's not a kiss of passion. It's not a kiss of romance. It's not a kiss of allegiance. It's not a kiss of betrayal. It is a kiss of Christian love. An outward expression of your commitment to love one another as Christ has commanded. Here I want you to think of what Jesus told his disciples. This comes from John chapter 13. A new command I give you. that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. This has been said by many, but it bears saying again that biblical love is not a condition. It is a decision. It is an action. To love is to deliberately give yourself to someone else, to consciously live in such a way that nurtures that other person. And this is especially so shown by the way in which God has loved us in Jesus Christ. I want you to think of that love that God has shown you. Think of the fact that without Jesus Christ that you were once living in darkness, that you were under the condemnation of God because you were a rebel against him, you were his enemy, that there was nothing that you could do to change that. But out of love, God sent his own son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for you. And out of love, he has acted to grant you eternal life, to raise you out of that darkness in which you were, to break a heart of stone, and to give you the grace that brings eternal life to you. By faith, you are saved. You are transferred into the kingdom of his son. The son that he is loved by the way, and that out of love he is sent to be our savior. As you meditate on that, think of what God draws you into. He draws you into the most pure and intimate expression of love. The love that is shared between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's what he does for you. He draws you into that purest light, that purest love. And you enjoy union with God because of this. Not only does he draw you into that, but he also draws you into the love of the church, the body of Christ. And this body is characterized by love as well. The love of God and the love for one another. Listen again to those words of Jesus, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you love one another. This love is really the most basic principle of the Christian life, to be loved by God in Christ, to love him in return, and then to love brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. I've already said that you are drawn into the purest expression of love. A love that has no fault or failing, the love of the triune God, and you take part in that. But there is also a love within the Christian church that you enjoy. That's harder to see because it's not pure and perfect like the love of God. Instead, it is marked by a lot of imperfections. It is marked by a lot of failings. And not just by others around you, but by your own failings. When you're honest about that, you have to recognize that I contribute, I contribute to the failings of love in the body of Christ. And yet, God has shown his love to me still. And has promised to never leave off the work of his hand. For all of you in Jesus Christ, he has promised that. And that then gives courage and gives help to us in following the command that he has given. That we would love as we've been loved. We would love as Christ has loved us. I like the way the Apostle John does something similar in explaining this. In 1 John 3, he says this. In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous. I want you to notice a couple of things here in John's word. Very similar to what Peter says. John warns about the lion, doesn't he? He warns about the adversary, the devil, who prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. In this case, it is the warning of an attack of hating your brothers and sisters in Christ. It's one of the oldest tricks in Satan's arsenal, to sow seeds of hatred and division among the family of God. It's as old as the very first family, Cain and Abel. Cain who hated his brother Abel and murdered him. John says this has no place in the kingdom of God. You might say, well, I would never kill anybody. Well, good. But if you harbor hatred in your heart against your brother or sister, that is not of God, says John. That is of the devil. It is one of those tactics of the prowling lion to devour the church and to devour you. Having received love from Jesus Christ, he commands you to love one another. He commands you, be in fellowship with one another. to practice the same type of love that you have received from the Lord Jesus Christ. What Peter does is to give some examples of this type of love, a love that lays down its life for another. I want to draw your attention to these greetings as being an application of fellowship, an application of the command to love. I want to call attention to three benefits or three blessings of the fellowship of the Christian church that are demonstrated by Peter. The first is that of assurance. This comes from the very fact that Peter wrote a letter to assure a persecuted church that God loved them. He had not forgotten them, that they weren't cast off forever. Instead, he starts off in the very first verses to say that you have been elect by the foreknowledge of God the Father. He says to them that you're sanctified, you're purified by the work of the Holy Spirit. And that their cleansing comes by the obedience and sprinkling of blood of Jesus Christ. So right off the bat, Peter himself is is loving the church by assuring them of Christ's love for them. This has deep meaning for every believer, but especially those who are suffering. When you go through the tragedies of this life, when you face the attacks of the lion, you can wonder, where is God in all of this? You can wonder, does God really love me? So what Peter does is by love, he tells them, you are united to Christ in his suffering. And you are united to each other. So he speaks about a pilgrimage, others who are on the same road with you, looking to Jesus Christ in the midst of suffering. Seeing his work on our behalf, and the brothers and sisters that are also standing fast with us. In fact, Peter says that you can stand fast by standing fast together. There's a blessing in that union that we have with each other. And there's a privilege of being lifted up by others. And it's an awesome responsibility of praying for others in their suffering. And it's to this end that Peter wrote his brief letters, he calls it in verse 12. And he summarizes the message they sought to exhort and testify that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. There is assurance, assurance of God's grace and pardon. And not only that, but Peter sent this letter by the hand of a man named Silvanus. We would also recognize him by a shortening of that name of Silas. You recognize that name, Silas? Some of you may have a nephew named that or a friend in school, I think. But you know someone named Silas. Well, that's a person from the Bible as well. He's most often associated with Paul. Come to that in just a moment. Peter entrusted this letter to the hand of Silas so that he would deliver it. Practically speaking, you know that they didn't have email in the Bible times, no Twitter. They didn't even have universal postal service. Then go out to your mailbox and put a stamp on this letter addressed to all of these who are suffering dispersion in Pontius and Galatia. No, you had to make sure that that letter was delivered by giving it to someone who was traveling there. And you could hire somebody in personally to do that. But Peter gets someone known to the churches, known by him, known to the churches, settled and mature in the faith. He was one who traveled with Paul, who was not only educated and trained in the faith, but was a minister of the faith to others. So this is who Peter entrusts his letter to, so he could come and deliver it. and not just put it in their hands and say, see ya, but he was there to possibly read it publicly to them, explain it, answer their questions, take time to do even as Peter is saying that he desires his letter to do. To testify that this is the true grace of God, and that you are standing steadfast, even though you're suffering persecution, that God is with you, and others are with you. And that Peter's written this letter to build you up in that, and I'm here to build you up in that. To assure you of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Peter did this out of love. I want you to think of how you can love one another in the same way. You can love one another by going to those who are suffering a fiery trial of their faith. Who knows what that trial is, but you know that they are suffering a trial. And maybe you've experienced that. Maybe you know the doubts that plague you in the midst of that trial. Go to them. And out of love, assure them of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. What a beautiful expression of love that is. To come and stand with one who is suffering. And help them to see Jesus. Show love to one another. A second application is one of protection. This comes from she who is in Babylon, elect together with you, who greets you. This is a little more obscure than Sylvanus, because Babylon has been destroyed long ago. It was no longer a major city. But the New Testament writers, Peter and the other apostles are beginning to refer to non-Christian opposition as coming from the city of Babylon. Not an actual city, but that opposition. They even would say that Rome itself is identified as Babylon. You read this especially in the book of Revelation. So think about Rome, think about the persecution they faced. They were facing persecution too, the loss of life and home and liberty. And in that midst, here is a woman of faith who is recognizing the same fiery trials in these other churches in Asia Minor. And she greets them. The effect of that is to identify with them in their suffering and to communicate that they are not alone. First act of love was an assurance of that union with Christ. The second act is an assurance of the idea that there are others with us in this suffering. There's a sense of protection that comes from that. In fact, it goes back to Peter's instruction in verses eight and nine. There, as he warned about the lion that was seeking to devour them, he says to be sober, be vigilant, be steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Part of the protection, that we have is to know that we are bound up together, that there's something about walking together on the pilgrimage, walking together and suffering the same things. Here, Peter talks about the brotherhood and now the sisterhood, we could say, of this elect lady who greets them. I like to imagine Peter sharing what's going on in Asia Minor with the church in Rome. Here, at least one, and possibly the she is referring to the church at large. I tend to think of it as an individual though. But they hear of the suffering. They begin to pray for others who are suffering, even though they were suffering too. Because they see that greater work of Jesus Christ and they see their brothers and sisters in need, so they pray for them. Much like we have been prompted just recently to join together in prayer for those suffering in Pakistan and in India. They are our brothers and sisters. It's the protection of the body. Think about Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 12. He describes the church as a body and if one member hurts, the whole body hurts. So show love by reaching out to those who suffer in ways that you can protect, provide, pray with them. know that you are with them on that pilgrim journey. Third, I'll call the ministry of love as reconciliation. Peter closes his letter by speaking, peace with God be with you. These are the last words of the letter. In the midst of persecution, they would know that God had pronounced that in the benediction that I preached on last week. And even with these parting words, that there's peace. There's peace with God, but there's also peace with each other. And that comes from the example of Mark. Peter calls Mark, my son. It's a really sweet story, sweet example of Christian love. Who is Mark? Well, in calling him his son, Peter identifies Mark as one who had been around the disciples, even during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. He wasn't one of the 12 disciples, but he was often there, and Being closely associated and attached with them, later he begins to be a follower of Peter. It's commonly thought that Mark, who wrote the Gospel of Mark, is taking what he heard from Peter. He was taking what he heard from Jesus. And he was recording, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the sermons and the instructions of Peter, the apostle. But we also know about Mark, because he deserted Paul on one of his mission journeys. This is a very painful part of the story. There was a breaking of fellowship that took place because Mark failed. He deserted the mission, and it became a point of contention between brothers, Paul and Barnabas, and they divided. That's not the end of the story. Because by the grace of God, Paul and Mark and Barnabas were reconciled. And there is something really powerful just in acknowledging here that Mark is a faithful brother. Paul would later say, would you please send Mark? is useful to me." That doesn't happen in the world today. You offend someone, the brokenness lasts forever. But in Christ, Paul and Mark are reconciled. And he asks for him, he becomes a trusted helper. And he is entrusted by Peter to write down these words. These words that we have today as the gospel of Mark. Paul Harvey might say, and now you know the end of the story, the rest of the story. There's much here, there's much love that is demonstrated by Mark, my son. The love of Christ redeemed all of these players. It redeems all of you. And the love brings reconciliation when we sin against each other. So the last application is that of reconciliation. Show love by seeking this out. seeking out reconciliation with your brothers and sisters whom Christ has loved. And out of love for him, and out of love for each other, and out of obedience to Jesus Christ, pursue such fellowship. I'll put it provocatively. I want to hear of a lot of kissing going on. Laugh a little bit, but I want you to practice Christian love, because Christ has loved you. And if he has loved you, then love one another with the same love. Show it by acts of assurance, protection, reconciliation. Amen, let's pray. Lord, give us grace to do this. It is miraculous that you have loved us. And shameful when we are so hard-hearted. We would not open our hearts to love others. Lord, I pray that these really wonderful examples in real life of Christian love, I pray that we would take them to heart. And that we would decide, by your grace and by your strength, that we would decide to pursue this type of love with each other. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's sing Psalm 70, Selection A. I chose this at the end of the service as an expression of our faith in God. We're crying out for him to show us goodness and favor. We're assured that he does that. But in response to a message that is very direct, and in response to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper coming up, it is appropriate for us to say, God, I am needy. Oh, come to me, I pray. You're my help, my Savior. Lord, do not delay. Let's stand and sing these words together. Psalm 70a.